Applying voting theory in participatory decision support for sustainable timber harvesting

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1511-1524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Laukkanen ◽  
Teijo Palander ◽  
Jyrki Kangas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Forest Area ◽  
Voting Theory ◽  
Rural Municipality ◽  
Support Methods ◽  
Decision Support Method ◽  
Support Decision Making

Several multi-criteria decision support methods have been introduced to sustainable management of natural resources, but different methods suit different planning situations. One way to support decision-making is to apply voting theory. In this study, a multi-criteria decision-support method based on voting theory, called multicriteria approval (MA), is applied to wood supply chain management in a forest area owned by the state of Finland. The area is called Leikko and is located in the rural municipality of Pieksämäki. MA seems to have some promising features in relation to participatory decision support. The most essential advantages are its ease and comprehensibility. MA is also able to deal with ordinal and imprecise information. Since the method does not demand much preference information from interest groups, the inquiries may be conducted using the Internet. In the case study, nine timber-harvesting alternatives were devised for the forest area. The study involved seven interest groups, whose representatives defined seven criteria by which the alternatives were compared. The purpose was to find a consensus or compromise solution for a practical harvesting schedule. Two different versions of MA were tested and compared from the participatory decision-support aspect. Usability and ease of method, the comprehensibility of the inquiries, and the congruence of the results were examined.

scholarly journals A decision support method for evaluating database designs

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erki Eessaar ◽  
Marek Soobik
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Data Model ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Transaction Processing ◽  
Database Management System ◽  
Pairwise Comparisons ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Hierarchy Process ◽  
Decision Support Method

It is possible to produce different database designs based on the same set of requirements to a database. In this paper, we present a decision support method for comparing different database designs and for selecting one of them as the best design. Each data model is an abstract language that can be used to create many different databases. The proposed method is flexible in the sense that it can be used in case of different data models, criteria, and designs. The method is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process and uses pairwise comparisons. We also present a case study about comparing four designs of SQL databases in case of PostgreSQL? database management system. The results depend on the context where the designs will be used. Hence, we evaluate the designs in case of two different contexts - management of measurements data and an online transaction processing system.

scholarly journals Comparison of Multi-Criteria Decision Support Methods for Integrated Rehabilitation Prioritization

Water ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Tscheikner-Gratl ◽  
Patrick Egger ◽  
Wolfgang Rauch ◽  
Manfred Kleidorfer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Management Scheme ◽  
Support Methods

The decisions taken in rehabilitation planning for the urban water networks will have a long lasting impact on the functionality and quality of future services provided by urban infrastructure. These decisions can be assisted by different approaches ranging from linear depreciation for estimating the economic value of the network over using a deterioration model to assess the probability of failure or the technical service life to sophisticated multi-criteria decision support systems. Subsequently, the aim of this paper is to compare five available multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods (ELECTRE, AHP, WSM, TOPSIS, and PROMETHEE) for the application in an integrated rehabilitation management scheme for a real world case study and analyze them with respect to their suitability to be used in integrated asset management of water systems. The results of the different methods are not equal. This occurs because the chosen score scales, weights and the resulting distributions of the scores within the criteria do not have the same impact on all the methods. Independently of the method used, the decision maker must be familiar with its strengths but also weaknesses. Therefore, in some cases, it would be rational to use one of the simplest methods. However, to check for consistency and increase the reliability of the results, the application of several methods is encouraged.

scholarly journals INDEX OF ANTHROPOGENIC LOAD ON LAND (ALOL) AS DECISION SUPPORT METHOD IN TERRITORIAL PLANNING

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-124
Author(s):  
Rimvydas Gaudėšius
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Anthropogenic Impact ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Load ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Territorial Planning ◽  
Support Methods ◽  
Decision Support Method

Not all international indexes of sustainability can be easily applied to Lithuanian specialists who organize territorial planning documents. Therefore, the index assessing the anthropogenic impact can be applied in spatial planning documents is required. The proposed method is beneficial in a way that it is based on the available free statistics data. Not only land use changes can be assessed by using presented ALOL index, but also newly presented spatial planning documents. The anthropogenic load on the land index have been calculated and the comparison with another popular multi-criteria decision support methods was conducted in this study. The results showed that the value of the anthropogenic load index is deteriorating in one of the Lithuanian metropolitan areas and the proposed method does not let others down with the precision for other mathematical methods.

scholarly journals Research and Application of Simulation-Based Decision-Support

2012 ◽  
Vol 6-7 ◽  
pp. 250-255
Author(s):  
Chun Yu ◽  
Fang Yuan ◽  
Qian Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Simulation Model ◽  
Support System ◽  
Key Technology ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Decision Support Method ◽  
Support Decision Making

To find a way to support decision making on basis of simulation, this paper researches the technology of simulation and decision support, and proposes a decision-support method based on simulation, illustrates the actual administrative demand of university, establishes a simulation model, builds the architecture of simulation-based decision-support system, discusses the key technology in the implementation. This module, by summarizing the results of testing and forming the advice of supporting, can well achieve the combination of simulation and decision-support, and thus getting a better result.

scholarly journals Efficiency of Polder Modernization for Flood Protection. Case Study of Golina Polder (Poland)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8056
Author(s):  
Ireneusz Laks ◽  
Zbigniew Walczak
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Fuzzy Ahp ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Flood Protection ◽  
Current State ◽  
Decision Methods ◽  
Historical Objects ◽  
Support Methods ◽  
Flood Protection System

This paper presents an analysis of the effectiveness of variants of the reconstruction of a polder, which is part of the flood protection system of a large urban agglomeration. The Golina polder, located in the floodplain of the Warta River, was selected as the case study. The multi-criteria decision support methods AHP and Fuzzy AHP were used to assess the effectiveness of individual variants. Information on the floods from 1997 and 2010, data on land cover, land development, nature and historical objects were used to estimate the value of the coefficients for the multi-criteria decision methods. It was shown that the planned deep modernization of the hydrotechnical infrastructure and the purchase of land in the polder area is less effective than maintaining the current state of development of the polder.

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