Centralized Management Approach Research Articles

A framework for linking forestry co-management institutional arrangements with their associated livelihood outcomes

Co-management of forest resources has gained acceptance among governments, development agencies and development practitioners as an alternative natural resources management strategy to the top-down or centralized government management approach. However, a significant methodological issue in the current literature on evaluation of co-management institutional arrangement is how to link these institutions with sustainable livelihood outcomes of the poor forest dependent communities. To address this limitation, there is need for linking co-management with the sustainability of the community, effectively for the sustainability of its livelihood. This article links two theoretical concepts—co-management and sustainable livelihood approach (SLA)—to formulate an evaluative framework for co-management of forest institutions and their associated livelihood outcomes.

Design and performance evaluation of distributed mobility management schemes for network mobility

Distributed Mobility Management (DMM) is a current alternative paradigm for developing IP mobility management schemes to address the centralised mobility management problems in existing IP mobility management schemes. This is to allow these schemes to cope with the current increase in the number of mobile users and mobile data traffic volume, as well as the trend in the mobile Internet towards a flat architecture. To date, schemes׳ development based on DMM approach is still at preliminary stages in the IETF, and there is no current standard in place. In this paper, we develop network-based DMM schemes for the Network Mobility (NEMO). The schemes are developed for non-nested and nested NEMO scenarios – with the goal of mitigating the sub-optimal routing, high packet overhead and packet delivery latency, especially in a nested NEMO scenario, due to the employment of a centralized mobility management approach in NEMO. Additionally, the proposed scheme improves the packet delivery and location update (i.e., binding update) costs. The paper presents in detail the schemes’ design, operation mechanism, and the performance evaluation (through analytical and simulation in ns-2). Both the analytical and simulation results show that the proposed schemes yield a significant improvement – in terms of reducing packet overhead and packet delivery latency, as well as binding update and packet delivery costs.

Distributed Mobility Management with Distributed Routing Management at Access Routers for Network-Based Mobility Support

Currently existing IP mobility management protocols deploy a centralized anchor to manage mobility of the mobile nodes in both control- and data-planes. As a result the data traffic and mobility control signaling for all the mobile nodes registered in the network are handled by the centralized mobility anchor. Considering the ever increasing number of mobile users and mobile data traffic volume, the centralized mobility management approach presents performance drawbacks, such as low scalability, traffic bottleneck, and single point of failure. Furthermore, this approach causes non-optimal routing and creates significant delays on packets, especially when the two communicating nodes are close to each other yet far from the mobility anchor. However, mobility management schemes developed based on a distributed mobility management (DMM) approach can overcome these limitations. In this paper, we present a network-based DMM scheme which eliminates the drawbacks of the centralized mobility management approach such as the traffic bottlenecks and single point of failure. Furthermore, our proposed scheme optimizes the route for ongoing mobile node communication(s), such that both handover and newly established communications are optimally routed. Analytical and simulation results show that the proposed schemes yield a significant improvement with respect to the currently proposed DMM schemes--in terms of reducing packet delivery cost, tunneling cost, and total cost as well as end-to-end packet delivery delay and handover delay.

Comprehensive performance evaluation of distributed and dynamic mobility routing strategy

In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive performance study of distributed and dynamic mobility management (DDMM). DDMM presents a new architectural paradigm for a sustainable mobile networking against an ever-increasing amount of Internet data traffic, providing IP mobility management with distributed deployment of mobility anchors and dynamic activation when mobility is needed. Such a distributed mobility management concept is generally and intuitively accepted in terms of effective distribution of mobile traffic when compared with centralized mobility management (CMM) approaches. Nevertheless, the routing strategy of DDMM has not yet been properly examined through performance studies, and especially the impact of potential mobility routing strategies on the user plane is an open question. We perform a mathematical analysis of DDMM and present numerical results aiming to identify in which conditions, by which factors, and how much, DDMM improves mobility performance. For comparison, Mobile IPv6, Proxy Mobile IPv6 (PMIPv6), and PMIPv6 localized routing (PMIPv6-LR) were considered as representative IP mobility protocols following CMM approaches. Analytical results demonstrate that DDMM generally achieves higher performance when compared with CMM-based protocols in terms of packet delivery cost, tunneling overhead, and throughput, but specific performance varies in function of multiple input parameters.

Dismantling and rebuilding bureaucracies: reinventing wheels on rebranded hubs.

Dismantling and rebuilding bureaucracies: reinventing wheels on rebranded hubs.

Mobile Agent Framework for Distributed Network Performance Management

traditional centralized network management approach presents severe efficiency and scalability limitations in large scale networks. The process of data collection and analysis typically involves huge transfers of management data to the manager which consumes considerable network bandwidth and causes bottlenecks at the manager side. Mobile agent technology provides an effective solution to alleviate this burden by distributing the management functionality over the network elements. A Mobile Agent has the ability to autonomously move among network elements to perform the required tasks locally. Thus, the code is transferred to the data location instead of moving the entire data to the manager's site. The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using mobile agents to overcome the limitations of the centralized structure. Focusing on the network performance management functional area, a prototype is developed to assess the effectiveness of a distributed mobile-agent-based network management system. The developed prototype installs itself automatically on remote machines and periodically checks their software and hardware status. Experiments are done to measure the network traffic volume when managing a typical network. Practical measurements are compared for the traffic generated by both the developed prototype and the current centralized network management standard (SNMP). This comparison confirms that mobile- agent-based management employs much less traffic than the centralized system. An estimation of the required management delays is provided for both sequential- and parallel- dispatching of the mobile agents.

D-MSR: A Distributed Network Management Scheme for Real-Time Monitoring and Process Control Applications in Wireless Industrial Automation

Current wireless technologies for industrial applications, such as WirelessHART and ISA100.11a, use a centralized management approach where a central network manager handles the requirements of the static network. However, such a centralized approach has several drawbacks. For example, it cannot cope with dynamicity/disturbance in large-scale networks in a real-time manner and it incurs a high communication overhead and latency for exchanging management traffic. In this paper, we therefore propose a distributed network management scheme, D-MSR. It enables the network devices to join the network, schedule their communications, establish end-to-end connections by reserving the communication resources for addressing real-time requirements, and cope with network dynamicity (e.g., node/edge failures) in a distributed manner. According to our knowledge, this is the first distributed management scheme based on IEEE 802.15.4e standard, which guides the nodes in different phases from joining until publishing their sensor data in the network. We demonstrate via simulation that D-MSR can address real-time and reliable communication as well as the high throughput requirements of industrial automation wireless networks, while also achieving higher efficiency in network management than WirelessHART, in terms of delay and overhead.

Decentralisation of public service delivery in the Central Himalayas: The myth of community participation

This paper attempts to examine whether decentralisation of decision making and implementation improves efficiency of public service delivery in the mountain and the marginal areas, such as the Central Himalayas, or is efficiency in the sector, at present, best achieved through a centralised top-down planning and management approach? It challenges some of the claims made by the advocates of participatory modes of planning, where the World Bank-sponsored Swajal Project in India (1996–2002) is cited as a case of best practice. The survey based study of the Swajal village communities found that intra-community conflict and interest group politics disrupt and suborn community deliberation, decision making and hamper true representativeness. It explored the politics of community participation, examining the question of true representatives and comprehensive participation of a community. Findings indicate that the traditionally marginalised sections of the village, the women and the backward castes still do not have adequate representation. The communities do not show the resilience and capacity for decision making necessary for the effectiveness as agents in decentralisation. So far, the process of decentralisation in the public service delivery sector, especially in the water sector in the region, has merely created new winners and losers, instead of resulting in substantial political devolution of control to communities.

Transitioning from Data Storage to Data Curation: The Challenges Facing an Archaeological Institution

Introduction Archaeological activities, whether in the field or in the laboratory, generate significant amounts of data. To cope with the ever-expanding amounts of data, archaeological institutions need to carefully manage their information resources for historical (and bureaucratic) purposes as well as to organize data for easy retrieval, allowing data to be shared with colleagues and the interested public, and to be used for research and publication. This makes it imperative for any institution engaged in archaeological investigations to carefully manage its information resources. An equally important responsibility is to ensure that data collected during any of the institution's projects remain live for extended periods of time or be archived in a manner that ensures quick access should there be any need for the archived data (Greene, 1995; Lock, 2003; Ryan, n.d.). Written from the perspective of an IT professional with over twenty-five years of experience in programming and in systems analysis and design who is currently training to become a professional archaeologist, this paper explores what a fifteen year old archaeological institution with rather fragmented information resources (in that project-related information are personally curated by individual archaeologists) needs to do to transition to a more centrally organized, institutionally curated approach to manage its information resources. Beyond its expected academic and research functions, part of this institution's mandate is to be the leading archaeological research institution in the country. Given the current budgetary and manpower constraints that affect practically all academic and research organizations around the world, finding ways to effectively manage its information resources and still deliver on its mandate is a top priority of this institution's administrators. This paper is not about the whole process of scientific archaeological inquiry but is only concerned with what happens to the primary data gathered in the field during digs as well as to the data generated as a result of analytical techniques and procedures employed in archaeological laboratories post-dig. After an archaeological project or season ends and all the accessioning-related and analytical activities are completed, all those artifacts are stored away in shelves, boxes and crates, and the associated archaeological data will be stored as digital files and in file folders. Beyond reports and inventories submitted to the National Museum and funding institutions, the public gets to learn about these discoveries and research results through published reports, news features, or through museum exhibits. There are two critical questions: In a time of downsized organizations and shrinking budgets, how can the archaeological data and related scientific information pertaining to each of these archaeological projects be preserved and made available to other researchers? How do we make sure that future generations are able to access these information resources? I ask these questions as a relative newcomer to archaeology. This paper is a quest to understand how archaeological institutions can transition from an individually curated, per project/per season information gathering and data storage approach to a centralized information resource management approach known as institutional data curation. Specifically, this paper will look at the challenges that archaeological institutions face as they attempt to shift from narrowly-focused project-related data storage concerns to a broader and long-term focus on the management of the archaeological information resources of the entire institution. Discussion The Nature of Archaeological Data Archaeological data consists of observations about artifacts and their contexts. Archaeological sites, especially those which present clear evidence of past human activity and occupation, are investigated over many years. …

Distributed and Dynamic Mobility Management in Mobile Internet: Current Approaches and Issues

Cellular networks have been hierarchical so that mobility management have primarily been deployed in a centralized architecture. More flattened network architecture for the mobile Internet is anticipated to meet the needs of rapidly increasing traffic from the mobile users and to reduce cost in the core network. Distributing the mobility management functions as opposed to centralizing them at the root of the network hierarchy is more compatible with a flat network architecture. Mobility management may be distributed at different levels: core level, access router level, access level, and host level. It may also be partially distributed or fully distributed. A distributed mobility management architecture avoids unnecessarily long routes, is more scalable with the increasing number of mobile users, and is a convenient platform for dynamic mobility management which means providing mobility support to mobile users only when they need the support. Dynamic mobility management can avoid waste of resources and also reduce signaling overhead and network cost. The desired distributed and dynamic mobility management needs to solve existing problems, meet the needs of changes in traffic and network architecture, and be simple and inexpensive to deploy. This paper surveys existing mobility management solutions in mobile Internet, explains the limitations of a centralized mobility management approach, and discusses potential approaches of distributing mobility management functions. The issues and challenges in the design of distributed and dynamic mobility management are also described.

Optimization of warehousing and transportation costs, in a multi-product multi-level supply chain system, under a stochastic demand

The centralized management approach provides a general view to set a better coordination between the ele- ments of the supply chain, and look for the equilibrium between the stock and the shipped quantities. This paper describes a stochastic model predictive control algorithm to optimize the warehousing cost and the shipping cost on the same time. We consider a multi-level and multi-product supply chain dealing with a stochastic demand. We solve the stochastic model predictive control problem by a dynamic programming to determine the optimal policies to minimize the costs of shipping and warehousing products.

Domestic wastewater management in South and Southeast Asia: the potential benefits of a decentralised approach

Owing to its enormous construction and maintenance costs, the management of wastewater in many urban centres of developing countries via a centralised wastewater management approach is very difficult. Often, untreated wastewater is directly discharged into adjacent natural water courses, causing a grave threat to both public health and the aquatic environment. A decentralised wastewater management approach is a prospective solution to overcome this adverse situation because of its low cost, simple operation and revenue return. To identify the potential of a decentralised wastewater management system in developing countries, the wastewater management policies, institutional frameworks, reuse practices and sanitation situations in selected Asian countries were reviewed and recommendations for effective wastewater management are proposed.

An integrated mobile agent framework for distributed network management†

Conventional network management based on simple network management protocol (SNMP) is often run in a centralized manner. The centralized management approach is limited to small-scale networks because it incurs excessive processing load and heavy network traffic in the management station. For scalability, this paper presents a new management framework that integrates mobile agents with the SNMP protocol. The mobile agent technology provides support for distributed network management. The integrated framework allows the network operators to deploy an appropriate management approach according to the characteristics of target networks and the nature of management activities. A quantitative latency model is developed for the mobile agent based approach. We have implemented a prototype of the framework based on an in-house developed Naplet mobile agent docking environment and the AdventNet SNMP package. We have experimented with the system in network interface performance monitoring and fault diagnosis applications. Experimental results demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and distributed management approaches and the flexibility of the integrated framework and verify the accuracy of the latency model.

Análise de políticas de gestão em cadeias de suprimentos por modelos de simulação

A comparação de diferentes enfoques para a distribuição da informação e gestão é relevante para o projeto e a operação de Cadeias de Suprimentos. Por ela, ganhos no nível de serviço podem ser identificados, seja por maior troca de informação ou por aumento de estoque, e seus custos, medidos. Este artigo discute os enfoques distribuído e centralizado para a gestão, define um ambiente para Simulação distribuída entre empresas, projetado especificamente para a representação de Cadeias de Suprimentos, que tem como principal vantagem a evolução em tempo discreto da simulação e, por fim, utiliza uma aplicação para demonstrar os recursos do ambiente e avaliar os ganhos obtidos, quando aplicadas diferentes políticas de distribuição da informação e gestão.

Creating Special Literature Resource Databases in Western China Under a Digital Environment

This paper addresses the issue of special literature database resources in the creation of Chinese database groups, and it holds that the extremely rich Chinese literature resources should naturally become an indispensable part of global information resource networks. Nevertheless, the digitization foundation for Chinese literature resources, having been subject to various factors, is still very weak. Among other things, there is yet no relevant scientific awareness for guiding macro policy stipulations, and from a micro-perspective there are no complete technical solutions available for realizing the digitized project goals. The national program for Western China development currently has provided us with an opportunity to establish a paradigm. The rational development and digitization of the local literatures, rare copies of ancient Chinese manuscripts, and those cultural resources indigenous to the minority nationalities and ethnic groups in Western China, will greatly enrich Chinese digital resources on the Internet and enhance the position of the Chinese literature resource database groups on the global information resource platform.

Developing co‐management in an artisanal gill net fishery of a deep hydro‐electric reservoir in Sri Lanka

Abstract Victoria, is a recently (1984) impounded, deep, hydro‐electric reservoir in Sri Lanka with an established commercial fishery. Participatory appraisal of the fishing community revealed decreasing reliance on fishing income with many fishermen moving away to supplementary occupations because of declining fish catches. Illegal fishing and theft of fishing gear resulting from open access, difficulties encountered in enforcing fisheries regulations and the need for fishermen to find alternative sources of income during low water levels are the major management problems. The top–down centralized management approach previously practised was ineffective in addressing any of these issues. Therefore, the possibilities and limitations for introducing co‐management as an alternative management strategy were discussed. Financial hardship coupled with perceived benefits through state sponsored welfare schemes caused a positive attitude change among fishermen, making them respond favourably to fishery management. Establishing a licensing system for controlled access, ensuring greater user‐group participation through equitable distribution of state sponsored benefits among members, attempting to enforce penalties for illegal fishing linked with surprise checks to enforce management regulations, and obtaining stakeholder perceptions regarding management issues are some of the recent steps taken by the Fishermen's Co‐operative Society which would positively contribute towards developing effective co‐management in this reservoir.

An Empirical Study of Task Scheduling Strategies for Image Processing Application on Heterogeneous Distributed Computing System

Heterogeneous Distributed Computing (HDC) system consists of Workstations (WSs) and Personal Computers (PCs). In HDC system, each WS/PC may have different processor and performance. In order to take advantage of this diversity of processing power of a system, an effective task partitioning, scheduling, and load balancing are needed to get the optimum performance. This paper examines the effectiveness of task partitioning and scheduling strategies for image (raytracing) processing application on HDC system. The static and dynamic/Run-time Task Scheduling (RTS) strategies are shown inadequate for balancing the load of HDC system. Two adaptive tasks scheduling strategies are proposed for HDC image computing system. These adaptive strategies are: i) Master Initiate Sub-task size (MIS) strategy (based on centralized resources management approach), and ii) Worker Initiated Sub-task size (WIS) strategy (based on semi-decentralized resources management approach). The measured results show that the adaptive (MIS & WIS) strategies dramatically improve the performance of HDC raytracing system and remedy the defects of static and RTS strategies. Performances of the all investigated strategies are evaluated on manager/master and workers model of HDC system. In performance comparisons of MIS and WIS strategies, the WIS strategy shows a slightly better speedup and scalability over MIS strategy.

Remodularization of a product line: Adding complexity to project management

Faced with ever-tighter schedules, product development professionals employ various methods for staying at least one step ahead of the competition. In particular, an autonomous, cross-functional team offers an effective structure for meeting the sometimes conflicting objectives of timely delivery of a high-quality, easily manufactured product. To complicate matters, however, companies must manage not only individual projects, but also entire product lines. Changes in product and process technology eventually necessitate revamping of the product architecture—that is, the remodularization of a product line. Can an autonomous project team provide the long-term perspective necessary for such efforts? Or, does remodularization of a product line require centralized oversight by functional management? Mats Lundqvist, Niklas Sundgren, and Lars Trygg explore this issue by examining product development efforts at two Swedish manufacturing companies. Specifically, their study explores this research question: Does a high degree of project autonomy limit the possibility for effective remodularization of product architecture? Both companies were involved in remodularization projects with stringent requirements for project cost and duration, but the companies employed markedly different managerial models in these efforts. One company took a centralized approach, except that two design engineers worked full time on the project. The other company used the autonomous model, with two exceptions: functional managers worked closely with some project members during the task specification phase of the project; and the project leader, though a heavyweight in many respects, did not have formal decision-making power. The latter project demonstrated that an autonomous project team can maintain a long-term perspective during development of a product. In other words, this project team was able to meet challenging time and cost objectives while developing a product consisting of highly compatible modules and subsystems. Although a centralized management approach might be expected to offer greater efficiency, the company using that approach failed to meet project goals for development time, product cost, and long-term product line effectiveness. However, the shortcomings of that effort are more directly attributable to the management style of the project leader than to the management structure employed.

Remodularization of a Product Line: Adding Complexity to Project Management

Faced with ever‐tighter schedules, product development professionals employ various methods for staying at least one step ahead of the competition. In particular, an autonomous, cross‐functional team offers an effective structure for meeting the sometimes conflicting objectives of timely delivery of a high‐quality, easily manufactured product. To complicate matters, however, companies must manage not only individual projects, but also entire product lines. Changes in product and process technology eventually necessitate revamping of the product architecture—that is, the remodularization of a product line. Can an autonomous project team provide the long‐term perspective necessary for such efforts? Or, does remodularization of a product line require centralized oversight by functional management?Mats Lundqvist, Niklas Sundgren, and Lars Trygg explore this issue by examining product development efforts at two Swedish manufacturing companies. Specifically, their study explores this research question: Does a high degree of project autonomy limit the possibility for effective remodularization of product architecture?Both companies were involved in remodularization projects with stringent requirements for project cost and duration, but the companies employed markedly different managerial models in these efforts. One company took a centralized approach, except that two design engineers worked full time on the project. The other company used the autonomous model, with two exceptions: functional managers worked closely with some project members during the task specification phase of the project; and the project leader, though a heavyweight in many respects, did not have formal decision‐making power.The latter project demonstrated that an autonomous project team can maintain a long‐term perspective during development of a product. In other words, this project team was able to meet challenging time and cost objectives while developing a product consisting of highly compatible modules and subsystems. Although a centralized management approach might be expected to offer greater efficiency, the company using that approach failed to meet project goals for development time, product cost, and long‐term product line effectiveness. However, the shortcomings of that effort are more directly attributable to the management style of the project leader than to the management structure employed.

Implementing Multicenter, Multinational Clinical Trials

European good clinical practice (GCP) guidelines are currently under review and development for regulatory implementation. The cultural differences, regulatory requirements, harmonization status, and project management issues are reviewed with specific emphasis on multinational, multicenter studies. The use of written informed consent, institutional review boards, and source documentation are key areas, along with adverse event reporting, in understanding the differences in culture, language, and medical practices between countries. A centralized management approach with a peripheral force for monitoring these projects is essential for success.