Allocation Of Projects Research Articles

Estimating the Value of Proposal Power

This paper investigates the role of proposal power in the allocation of transportation projects across U.S. congressional districts in 1991 and 1998. The evidence supports the key qualitative prediction of legislative bargaining models: members with proposal power -- those sitting on the transportation authorization committee -- secure more project spending for their districts than do other representatives. Support for the quantitative restrictions on the value of proposal power is more mixed. I then empirically address several alternative models of legislative behavior, including partisan models, informational roles for committees, models with appropriations committees, and theories of committees as preference outliers.

A genetic algorithm for the project assignment problem

In this paper we present a genetic algorithm as an aid for project assignment. The assignment problem illustrated concerns the allocation of projects to students. Students have to choose from a list of possible projects, indicating their preferred choices in advance. Inevitably, some of the more popular projects become ‘over-subscribed’ and assignment becomes a complex problem. The developed algorithm has compared well to an optimal integer programming approach. One clear advantage of the genetic algorithm is that, by its very nature, we are able to produce a number of feasible project assignments, thus facilitating discussion on the merits of various allocations and supporting multi-objective decision making.

Student project allocation using integer programming

The allocation of projects to students is a generic problem in many universities within the UK and elsewhere, not only in engineering but also in various other disciplines. This paper defines the student project allocation problem explicitly by an objective function and a number of constraints. Two integer program models are presented, the first of which is a dynamic program. A general purpose solver is used to solve the models, and the input files are included in the Appendix. The models are computationally efficient and easily solved on a PC. Important issues in interpreting the model outputs are highlighted. As with any optimization problem it is possible for constraints to be too tight to permit any feasible solution. Application of the models is demonstrated by using data from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southampton, for the academic year 2001-2002. The model has been used successfully to allocate Individual Project and Group Project to students and is likely to become the defacto method of allocation of projects in the future. This paper demonstrates how operations research techniques used widely in optimizing use of resources can be applied in education.

The tendering process: flaws and all.

The tendering process has become the dominant and now traditional approach to the allocation of research and consultancy projects. This is largely built around the notion that it ensures accountability and probity within the allocative procedure, and that high quality of work and 'value for money' are the outcomes. It appears to have become an institutionalized and unchallengeable process. Yet it is rarely costed in terms of the true resource implications for all the organizations involved, nor is quality assessed in terms of alternative processes that might be employed. This paper explores the tendering process in terms of factors that may suggest that the quality of work produced via the tendering process is not always as good as it might be. Also in a hypothetical example involving the university sector and the National Health Service, data are presented indicating that the overall cost to the public sector is often actually greater than the value of the contract being allocated. An alternative preferred provider relationship-based allocative process is advocated as an improvement to the current established tendering procedure.

Top-Notch Indian Companies for Government Projects: Creating Symbiosis

Indian software exports have long been the cynosure of all eyes. While India's top-notch firms have won laurels for themselves internationally and have created quite a few millionaires in the process, there is still a big question mark on their involvement in Indian government projects. These firms cite corruption and lack of transparency in the bidding process as reasons for their shying away from Government projects. This paper presents both sides of the story on the basis of surveys of top Indian IT firms and senior government officials. Based on the findings of these surveys, the conflict of interests between the two parties has been analyzed. Towards the end of the paper, a model for allocation and implementation of government software projects has been suggested as a step towards minimizing this conflict.

Limited-Liability and Incentive Contracting with Multiple Projects

I examine a principal-agent model with multiple projects where a risk-neutral manager is protected by limited liability. The analysis has several interesting implications: (i) incentive problems are shown to be a natural source of economies of scope, as combining multiple projects under the management of a single manager relaxes the limited-liability constraint; (ii) as a result, managers may be overloaded with work and exert inefficiently high effort; and (iii) the analysis has implications for the optimal allocation of projects to different managers. Copyright 2001 by the RAND Corporation.

LAS INTERACCIONES ENTRE LOS PAÍSES DEL AFTA Y DE LA APEC Y SUS INFLUENCIAS EN LA REGIÓN

It attempts to trace and identify the divergences of ASEAN and APEC member countries with respect to the three areas of work agreed upon by ABPEC at the 1993 Seattle Summit: trade liberalization, trade facilitation and economic cooperation; differences that are explained, among other reasons, buy the different degrees of economic development achieved, different industrialization policies and different tariff structures. It is concluded that, within ASEAN, member countries differ in the speed of the trade liberalization process and in the allocation of industrial projects in the pursuit of industrial cooperation. Within APEC, countries have different points of view and interact differently in terms of focus, timelines, trade blockade issues, and open regionalism. But in both cases, countries converge on the need to achieve liberalization and openness to trade and investment.

The Benefit and Cost Allocation of the Conservation Projects of Rural Landscape

The Benefit and Cost Allocation of the Conservation Projects of Rural Landscape

Social and epidemiological aspects of Guinea worm control

Dracunculiasis prevention should be simple: in a population at risk, everyone may be protected by the filtration of drinking water. The research described in this paper allowed the authors to follow the acceptance of new information by villagers in nine localities in Mali. Two strategies were studied: safe water supply (bore-hole or cement lined wells) plus health education on the one hand, and health education alone (based on filtration) on the other. Safe water supply is undoubtedly an effective strategy whereas the success of the health education intervention is uncertain. This experience showed that health education as the only means of control failed due to a lack of social cohesion or of coordinated group-action. Also, when dracunculiasis control is not a population's priority goal, the constraints on systematic filtration are too great and a tendancy to discontinue the filtration process occurs. On the other hand, when dracunculiasis is considered to be a serious problem by the population, new information about systematic filtration is better assimilated and leads to behavioural changes. In order that the goal of eradicating dracunculiasis by 1995 should not be an utopic dream, it is necessary to prioritise the allocation of clean rural water supply projects only to those endemic villages where the conditions that allow for health education to be successful are met.

Comparative Pork Barrel Politics

A growing literature exists on constituency service and pork barrel politics in the United States. Comparative research on an electoral connection between representatives and their constituents has been limited, generally confined to the British case. The research reported here takes an initial step in broadening comparative research on pork barrel politics beyond the American and British cases. Although a case study of the Federal Republic of Germany, this article maintains a strong comparative perspective through its analysis of different types of electoral systems - single- and multimember districts. Our analysis tests the hypothesis that, ceteris paribus, single-member district systems possess stronger incentives than multimember districts for the distributive allocation of pork barrel projects. Through a close-ended mail questionnaire of representatives of the 1983-1986 German Bundestag, this research produces significant evidence to corroborate empirically this theoretical argument. We conclude that district type affects representatives' perceptions of pork barrel allocations as a special type of constituency service.

Coordinated Planning for Science in Communist Europe

The Council is not engaged in the supranational formulation of policy and planning on scientific research and technology, but has made considerable progress in coordinating research policies and plans on a limited number of scientific and technical problems of priority interest and of common concern to all members. The establishment of national science-planning institutions in CEMA countries and the adoption of a uniform approach to the formulation of national science policies and plans must be considered basic procedures for achieving international coordination of their efforts. The creation of organizational units within CEMA to deal specifically with the coordination of science policies and plans represents a strengthening of the institutional framework that is necessary for coordination of an internationally cooperative effort in research and technology. Moreover, CEMA's 1-year plan for science and technology has probably been of considerable value as a pilot project for the formulation of the research plan for 1966-70. The delineation of a limited number of important scientific and technical problems of common interest to the members, and the allocation of research projects to a country having the highest capability to conduct them, hold considerable promise for financial savings and for improved utilization of the limited scientific manpower and research facilities of the CEMA countries. While all these measures are significant in CEMA's attempt to improve coordination of science policy and planning, only time will enable true assessment of their effectiveness. The Council's scheme for the specialization of labor in research and technology has met and will undoubtedly continue to meet, considerable opposition by various segments of the scientific communities because of deep-rooted and long-standing national prejudices, and reluctance of vested interests to give up research activities in which they are interested and to which their professional futures are tied. Moreover, opposition to CEMA-sponsored programs for specialization in research will continue to stem from the desire of some member countries further to reduce Russian influence in their domestic affairs. While recognizing the financial savings that can accrue to them from division of labor in research within CEMA, the smaller countries cannot be unaware that there is probably a limit to which the Soviet Union, with its vast scientific and technological base, is willing to participate in the division of-labor scheme. As a world power, the Soviet Union can hardly become dependent upon other members of CEMA in any field. Nevertheless, by promoting the coordination of research plans and a division of labor among CEMA members, the Soviet Union stands to gain by having its scientific-research effort augmented in several fields by the efforts of other members.

Cost Allocation of Water Projects in California

Paper describes separable costs-remaining benefits method of allocating cost of multiple-purpose water projects and summarizes allocations made by Corps of Engineers for several reservoir projects in Central Valley of California.

The Problem of East Pakistan

S EVEN YEARS of bitter wrangling have at last forced the recognition of po0 litical parity between the two parts of Pakistan and the consolidation of the western wing into one administrative unit. Yet although the most recent crisis has been temporarily overcome, the basic conditions of instability have altered little except in degree of accentuation. In addition to its many other problems, Pakistan has the unique handicap of being divided into two sections lying more than a thousand miles apart. The resulting difficulties involve more than merely communication; the two parts have less in common than many neighboring states. East Pakistan is a riverine province, with heavy rainfall and lush vegetation, inhabited for the most part by descendants of pre-Aryan stock who were converted to Islam. West Pakistan is dry and largely barren, and is inhabited by descendants of either the earlier Aryans or the later Muslim invaders. East Pakistan has the majority of the population, West Pakistan the larger area. West Pakistan was formed out of the old provinces of Sind, the Northwest Frontier, and the western part of the Punjab, along with peripheral areas including Baluchistan, Khairpur and Bahawalpur. East Pakistan, however, is only half of the former province of Bengal plus the district of Sylhet. Some of the politicians who first assumed power in Pakistan preferred to regard the matter in this light-counting East Pakistan as only one province among many. Such a view disregards the important fact that East Pakistan not only has the majority of the nation's population but also earns the largest share of the nation's foreign exchange, chiefly through the export of jute (though this position is now being challenged by the export of cotton from West Pakistan). The Bengalis of East Pakistan have thus far lacked the qualified professional political leadership needed for the full exploitation of their province's assets. They have been treated unfairly in such matters as the allocation of national revenues, development projects, and government posts by the Central Government. As early as March I949 the then Muslim League Chief Minister of East Pakistan felt it necessary to expose the legitimate grievances of the province in a speech before the budget session of the provincial legislature.'

Recent Suggestions for Cost Allocation of Multiple-Purpose Projects in the Light of Public Interest

Recent Suggestions for Cost Allocation of Multiple-Purpose Projects in the Light of Public Interest