Prioritization Of Objectives Research Articles

The biodiversity audit approach challenges regional priorities and identifies a mismatch in conservation

Summary Despite a strong uptake of evidence‐based approaches, conservation often proceeds from a grossly incomplete understanding of species priorities. To optimize conservation impact within a biogeographical region, quantitative knowledge is needed of the species present, which should be prioritized, and the management interventions these require. The next challenge is to avoid a proliferation of competing species plans, or conversely, a lack of detail within generic habitat‐based approaches. We present a methodology for biodiversity auditing. We quantified regional biodiversity by systematically collating available species records, allowing objective prioritization. We collated autecological information to integrate multiple species into management guilds with shared requirements, providing evidence‐based guidance for regional conservation. For two regions of Eastern England, Breckland (2300 km2) and The Broads (2000 km2), we collated 0·83 and 1·5‐million records, respectively. Numbers of species (12 845 and 11 067) and priority species (rare, threatened, designated or regionally restricted: 2097 and 1519, respectively) were orders of magnitude greater than previously recognized. Regional specialists, with a UK range largely or entirely restricted to the region, were poorly recognized posing a risk of regional homogenization. A large body of autecological information existed for priority species and collating this allowed us to define cross‐taxa management guilds. Numbers of priority species requiring different combinations of ecological processes and conditions were not matched by current conservation practice in Breckland. For example, the current agri‐environment agreements for designated grass heaths potentially catered for only 15% of the 542 priority species and 21% of 47 regional specialists that could potentially benefit from evidence‐based management. A focus on vegetation composition rather than the ecological requirements of priority species underpinned this failure. Synthesis and applications. The biodiversity audit approach provides an objective model for prioritization and cost‐effective conservation, applicable to regions of Europe where biodiversity has been well characterized. By using this approach to collate available information, management guilds with similar requirements can be defined across taxa, providing evidence‐based guidance for regional conservation.

Modeling State-Dependent Priorities of Malicious Agents

With ever-increasing terror threats, governments and security officials would benefit from a better understanding of what motivates terrorists to cause social unrest. A recent research trend is on gaining greater knowledge about the values of malicious agents to help manage the risk of terrorism. As a result, there seems to be the potential to use decision analysis as a means to model what may drive malicious agents to commit harmful actions. So far, research on this topic has assumed static preferences of such agents. In this paper, we present a framework that may be used to infer how terrorists' priorities may change over time and their impact on their choice of a harmful action. We suggest modeling state-dependent priorities of a terrorist group via a multicriteria model that incorporates state-dependent priorities to account for preference change caused by exogenous triggers and representing the environment as a system dynamics model. We describe how terrorists' visceral factors may affect the prioritization of objectives and show how such an analysis may support risk management in this context.

An environmental assessment of risk in achieving good environmental status to support regional prioritisation of management in Europe

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) aims to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in Europe's Seas. The requirement for regional sea authorities to identify and prioritise issues for management has meant that standardized methods to assess the current level of departure from GES are needed. The methodology presented here provides a means by which existing information describing the status of ecosystem components of a regional sea can be used to determine the effort required to achieve GES. A risk assessment framework was developed to score departure from GES for 10 out of the 11 GES descriptors, based on proposed definitions of ‘good’ status, and current knowledge of environmental status in each of the four regional seas (North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea). This provides an approach for regional evaluation of environmental issues and national prioritisation of conservation objectives. Departure from GES definitions is described as ‘high’, ‘moderate’ or ‘low’ and the implications for management options and national policy decisions are discussed. While the criteria used in this study were developed specifically for application toward MSFD objectives, with modification the approach could be applied to evaluate other high-level social, economic or environmental objectives.

Managing financial market expectations: The role of central bank transparency and central bank communication

In this paper, we study the influence of central bank transparency and informal central bank communication on the formation of money market expectations. The sample covers nine major central banks from January 1999 to July 2007. We find, first, that transparency reduces the bias in money market expectations and dampens their variation. Second, informal communications help manage financial market expectations by reducing the variation of expectations. Third, various subcategories of the Eijffinger and Geraats (2006) transparency index lead to a smaller bias in expectations (in particular, evaluation of policy outcome and explanation of interest rate decisions) and to a reduction in the variation of expectations (in particular, explicit prioritization of objectives and provision of information on unanticipated macroeconomic disturbances).

Developing a B2B web site effectiveness model for SMEs

PurposeThe study examines SMEs' investment in B2B web sites and the relationship between organizational drivers such as adoption readiness and constraints and evaluation of investments. We investigate how these drivers influence the perception of B2B web site benefits and the effect a great understanding of issues has on stakeholder satisfaction in the investment.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach is used to test the hypotheses, which are developed from the literature. Following a pilot study, a survey of 1,000 Australian SMEs with B2B web sites is used to collect the data, which is analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques.FindingsFindings reveal the mediating relationships between organizational drivers and their influence on SMEs' perceptions of benefits and stakeholder satisfaction and support the B2B web site evaluation effectiveness model. Further insights show that SMEs do not understand the complementary nature of the organizational drivers that support strategic alignment and therefore fail to realize benefits from their web sites.Research limitationsLimitations of the research are noted and discussed with regard to constructs and the views of survey respondents.Practical implicationsResults suggest that SMEs consider reallocation and/or prioritization of resources and business objectives in order to improve their IT investment evaluation practices. This would have a direct impact on the level of IT benefits realized, and ultimately affect the degree of stakeholder satisfaction with B2B web site adoption.Originality/valueA key contribution is the development of a B2B web site evaluation effectiveness model that supports greater understanding of how SMEs can gain more value from their B2B web sites.

Managing Financial Market Expectations: The Role of Central Bank Transparency and Central Bank Communication

In this paper, we study the influence of central bank transparency and informal central bank communication on the formation of money market expectations. The sample covers nine major central banks from January 1999 to July 2007. We find, first, that transparency reduces the bias in money market expectations and dampens their variation. Second, informal communications help manage financial market expectations by reducing the variation of expectations. Third, various subcategories of the Eijffinger and Geraats (2006) transparency index lead to a smaller bias in expectations (in particular, evaluation of policy outcome and explanation of interest rate decisions) and to a reduction in the variation of expectations (in particular, explicit prioritization of objectives and provision of information on unanticipated macroeconomic disturbances).

An Intelligent Healthcare Management System: A New Approach in Work-order Prioritization for Medical Equipment Maintenance Requests

The effective maintenance management of medical technology influences the quality of care delivered and the profitability of healthcare facilities. Medical equipment maintenance in Jordan lacks an objective prioritization system; consequently, the system is not sensitive to the impact of equipment downtime on patient morbidity and mortality. The current work presents a novel software system (EQUIMEDCOMP) that is designed to achieve valuable improvements in the maintenance management of medical technology. This work-order prioritization model sorts medical maintenance requests by calculating a priority index for each request. Model performance was assessed by utilizing maintenance requests from several Jordanian hospitals. The system proved highly efficient in minimizing equipment downtime based on healthcare delivery capacity, and, consequently, patient outcome. Additionally, a preventive maintenance optimization module and an equipment quality control system are incorporated. The system is, therefore, expected to improve the reliability of medical equipment and significantly improve safety and cost-efficiency.

Prioritization of new objects during visual search is limited by the capacity of visual short-term memory

Prioritization of new objects during visual search is limited by the capacity of visual short-term memory

The EU in Central Asia: successful good governance promotion?

A reappraisal of security and economic interests has led to increased engagement by the European Union with Central Asia in the past few years. As a new foreign policy tool the EU adopted a new partnership strategy for Central Asia in 2007. The strategy aims to integrate both interest-based and governance-related policy ambitions. In the two years since the strategy was adopted activities concerning the implementation of good governance-related initiatives are still rather weak. This article discusses the obstacles and prospects for good governance promotion in Central Asia. The prospects for external good governance promotion in stable authoritarian environments are limited. Domestic economic pressure increases the willingness of the Central Asian incumbent governments to enter into international agreements and widens the scope of external good governance promotion. Yet the prioritisation of interest-based policy objectives and the reluctance to employ conditionalities on the part of the EU provide an opportunity for the Central Asian regimes to limit their concessions and feign reforms. Initiatives focusing on grassroots levels appear to be the most promising in terms of the diffusion of ideas of good governance and democracy.

Overt attentional prioritization of new objects and feature changes during real-world scene viewing

The authors investigated the extent to which a change to an object's colour is overtly prioritized for fixation relative to the appearance of a new object during real-world scene viewing. Both types of scene change captured gaze (and attention) when introduced during a fixation, although colour changes captured attention less often than new objects. Neither of these scene changes captured attention when they occurred during a saccade, but slower and less reliable memory-based mechanisms were nevertheless able to prioritize new objects and colour changes relative to the other stable objects in the scene. These results indicate that online memory for object identity and at least some object features are functional in detecting changes to real-world scenes. Additionally, visual factors such as the salience of onsets and colour changes did not affect prioritization of these events. We discuss these results in terms of current theories of attention allocation within, and online memory representations of, real-world scenes.

The need of optimal conservation strategies

The biodiversity crisis that the world is facing (Pimm et al., 1995) urges immediate conservation actions to counteract it, and the extreme paucity of the resources available to undertake these actions means that conservation managers are in urgent need of optimal choices. Prioritization among possible actions is therefore of paramount importance to choose strategies that give the best return on conservation investment and thus maximize benefit (Murdoch et al., 2007; Wilson et al., 2007). Yet conservation biology is by definition (Soule, 1985) a crisis discipline, with conservation scientists often asked to make tactical decisions based on scarce information. This is one of the reasons why conservation biology is pervaded by uncertainty (Regan, Colyvan & Burgman, 2002; Rondinini et al., 2006), which in turn paves the road to subjectivity (much more so than in other related disciplines, e.g. ecology and genetics) because incomplete data complicate the task of comparing objectively alternative, competing hypotheses and reject wrong hypotheses. In the last 25 years, quantitative techniques that allow an objective prioritization of conservation strategies have been developed for systematic conservation planning (Margules & Pressey, 2000), the selection of sites to form networks of conservation areas to protect a species assemblage. The first, intuitive but groundbreaking paper on the subject introduced a technique to identify the minimum set of sites that represented a given assemblage of species in an area (Krikpatrick, 1983). Although not explicitly stated in that paper, the method did allow to rank alternative conservation strategies and select the most parsimonious. Thousands of papers on the subject have been published since. The theory has developed in complex algorithms that aid the identification of optimal strategies for large numbers of species and natural processes while taking into account cost, threats, temporal dynamics, zoning and uncertainty. The techniques are now routinely used to inform conservation action (Pressey, Johnson & Wilson, 1994; Ball & Possingham, 2000; Wilson et al., 2006). Optimization methods for conservation strategies other than site selection have been much less explored. Recent investigations include: how to minimize conflicts between humans and large carnivores in a spatially explicit manner (Rondinini & Boitani, 2007); the investigation of the tradeoffs between collecting data on threatened species and taking conservation action based on incomplete data (Chades et al., 2008); a multi-criteria evaluation framework for making conservation decisions that have consequences for multiple species, when each possible decision is more beneficial to some species than others (Drechsler, 2004). Gilioli et al. (2008) extend the scope of optimization to the choice among alternative conservation strategies for a metapopulation of a single species. They do it in a particularly intuitive and appealing manner, by measuring the distance to extinction of the metapopulation, modelled by an incidence function model (Hanski, 1994) under the alternative conservation strategies. As reviewed by Gilioli et al. (2008), a few indices of risk of extinction of metapopulations exist, but the Kullback–Leibler information measure (Kullback & Leibler, 1951) proposed by the authors has advantages over these indices: it can easily be computed irrespective of the number of patches modelled, and allows to evaluate the contribution of each patch to metapopulation persistence under the hypothesis of equilibrium. Gilioli et al. (2008) apply the measure on populations of amphibians, a group of particular conservation interest because one-third of their species are threatened with extinction (Stuart et al., 2004). While the species selected for the analysis (Bufo bufo and Rana temporaria) are still common outside the study area and therefore are not a conservation priority worldwide, the same technique could be readily applied to other, threatened amphibian species. Even though (as Gilioli et al., 2008 point out) it is always difficult to assess if a real population behaves as a metapopulation, their paper may be relevant for a large number of species beyond amphibians. Habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation, mechanisms that may induce metapopulation dynamics, are for example the highest threat worldwide to mammal persistence (Schipper et al., 2008).

Contractor selection: fuzzy-control approach

This paper presents a fuzzy-logic-based system for selecting contractors. This tool, which was based on the fuzzy control technique, was created for the private sector client in traditional design–bid–build projects with one-step selection processes, but its philosophy can also serve other types of clients, industries, contracts, and selection processes. The system develops an assessment of different qualitative and quantitative issues that influence a contractor’s suitability for constructing a specific design in a specific environment (client’s needs and objectives, objectives prioritization, etc.), taking into account the risk of not achieving the client’s objectives. A computer application was developed and validated, including a Delphi analysis with professionals who are experts in contractor selection. The application covers the possibility of using different selection policies, when the essential project objective is cost, time or quality. As part of the validation process, a neural network was developed to prove that the fuzzy-control tool has a behavior that can be recognized by a neural network.

Objective Prioritization Using Lexicographic Minimizers for MPC of Sewer Networks

In this brief, objective prioritization of multiobjective cost functions using the lexicographic approach is applied in the model predictive control (MPC) framework of sewer networks. Using the lexicographic approach, the control problem solution can be obtained by solving a sequence of single objective, constrained, convex programming problems. This brief demonstrates with an elaborated case study treating a portion of the Barcelona sewer network, that important improvements can be achieved in performance using lexicographic optimization. At the same time, costly commissioning and implementation efforts related to the traditional weight based approach for implementation of priorities are avoided.

Different ranking methods: potentialities and pitfalls for the case of European opinion poll

Prioritization and ranking of objects are primary needs in various substantive fields. It might be said that ranking and comparison are the first step in every risk assessment procedure, whatever the ‘risk’ is intended as: social, environmental, political or economic. Often objects to be ranked are valued by a multi-dimensional attribute which is usually transformed into a composite numerical score. In spite of conventional solutions, the author agrees with recent recommendations of performing multiple ranking, keeping indicators separated. Different innovative methods are analyzed and compared: Hasse diagrams method, POSAC and Nonlinear PCA. The first one stems directly from partial order theory, the second one may be seen as an approximation of Hasse representation in a two dimensional space, whilst the third one belongs to the wide set of non-linear multivariate techniques and it is particularly suitable in handling data of categorical type. Among them, the first two methods compare objects on the basis only on order property of data, whilst the last one simultaneously performs an optimal scale of qualitative attributes and a ranking of objects. The case study is based on the Eurobarometer survey carried out in 2002, at the request of the European Commission, which collects Europeans opinion about various political and social issues. The analysis is focused on users’ level of satisfaction about access easiness, cost, quality, information received and contracts of various services of general interest, such as telephone services, power (gas and electricity) providers, water and postal utilities, urban and rail transports. Separate indicators are set up for each facet of each service within different European regions. Eventually, the ranking of European regions is performed on the basis of the overall performance of services of general interest, as perceived by users. Selected methods lead to almost alike results, still with some differentiations due to different approaches used. As it frequently occurs, each method has its own advantages and pitfalls which are here explored and compared.

Objectives and Constraints in Geographical Fieldwork: Teachers’ Attitudes and Perspectives in Senior High Schools in Taiwan

This paper considers the objectives for geographical fieldwork within senior high schools in Taiwan, and the constraints on the implementation and development of fieldwork. It introduces briefly the position of fieldwork in geography education in Taiwan, then uses a model adapted from the work of Boardman in 1974 and Smith in 1996 in England to examine teachers’ perspectives on the objectives and constraints in geographical fieldwork. The paper concludes that teachers in Taiwan have a balanced range of objectives for fieldwork across cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains, while they see safety, the impact of lessons missed by teachers supervising fieldwork, and large classes as the main constraints to developing fieldwork. Whereas the detailed prioritisation of objectives and constraints shows some differences between Taiwan and England, the broad pattern shows strong similarities between the two educational settings.

The preview search task: Evidence for visual marking

A series of experiments are reviewed providing evidence for the idea that when new visual objects are prioritized, old objects are inhibited by a top-down controlled suppression mechanism—a process referred to as visual marking. Evidence for the top-down aspect of visual marking is presented, by showing that new object prioritization, as measured in the preview paradigm, depends on task settings and available attentional resources. Evidence for the inhibitory aspect is presented, by showing that selection of new items is impaired when these items share features with the old items. Such negative carryover effects occur within as well as between trials. Alternative accounts and the evidence for them is discussed. It is concluded that the various accounts are not mutually exclusive and that the data is best explained by a combination of mechanisms.

Objective prioritization of positional candidate genes at a quantitative trait locus for pre-eclampsia on 2q22

Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E) is a common, serious medical disorder of human pregnancy. Familial association of PE/E has been recognized for decades, but the genetics are complex and poorly understood. In an attempt to identify PE/E susceptibility genes, we embarked on a positional cloning strategy using 34 Australian and New Zealand PE/E pedigrees. An initial 10-cM resolution genome scan revealed a putative susceptibility locus spanning a broad region on chromosome 2 that overlaps an independently determined linkage signal seen in Icelandic PE pedigrees. Subsequent fine mapping using 25 additional short tandem repeat (STR) markers in this region and non-parametric multipoint linkage analysis did not change the overall position. Under a strict diagnosis of PE, we obtained significant evidence of linkage on 2q with a peak log-of-odds ratio score (LOD) of 3.43 near marker D2S151 at 155 cM. To prioritize positional candidate genes at the 2q locus for detailed analysis, we applied an objective prioritization strategy that integrates quantitative bioinformatics, assessment of differential gene expression and association analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Highest priority was assigned to the activin receptor gene ACVR2. This gene also showed >10-fold differential gene expression in human decidual tissue from normotensive and PE individuals. We genotyped five known SNPs in this gene in our pedigrees and performed tests for association and linkage disequilibrium. One SNP (rs1424954) showed strong preliminary evidence of association with PE (P = 0.007), whereas two others (rs1364658 and rs1895694) exhibited nominal evidence (P < 0.05). Haplotype analysis revealed no additional association information. There was evidence of weak linkage disequilibrium among these SNPs. The highest observed LD occurred between the two strongest associated SNPs, suggesting that the observed signals may be the signature of an observed functional variant.

Safety and reliability analysis in a polyvinyl chloride batch process using dynamic simulator-case study: Loss of containment incident

In this paper, a novel methodology in batch plant safety and reliability analysis is proposed using a dynamic simulator. A batch process involving several safety objects (e.g. sensors, controller, valves, etc.) is activated during the operational stage. The performance of the safety objects is evaluated by the dynamic simulation and a fault propagation model is generated. By using the fault propagation model, an improved fault tree analysis (FTA) method using switching signal mode (SSM) is developed for estimating the probability of failures. The timely dependent failures can be considered as unavailability of safety objects that can cause the accidents in a plant. Finally, the rank of safety object is formulated as performance index (PI) and can be estimated using the importance measures. PI shows the prioritization of safety objects that should be investigated for safety improvement program in the plants. The output of this method can be used for optimal policy in safety object improvement and maintenance. The dynamic simulator was constructed using Visual Modeler (VM, the plant simulator, developed by Omega Simulation Corp., Japan). A case study is focused on the loss of containment (LOC) incident at polyvinyl chloride (PVC) batch process which is consumed the hazardous material, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).

Managing risks in the supply chain using the AHP method

PurposeThe aim of the research is to provide a method to evaluate supply chain risks that stand in the way of the supply chain objectives.Design/methodology/approachAn analytical hierarchy process model is proposed to identify supply chain risk factors with a view to improving the objective of customer value. The two phases of the method are the prioritization of supply chain objectives; and the selection of risk indicators. A case study is also presented.FindingsThe appreciation of the most critical supply chain risks comes from careful evaluations of the impacts and a consideration of the cause‐effect relationships. The involvement of key managers is essential. In the case study the two most divergent evaluations were from the logistics manager and the sales manager.Research limitations/implicationsFurther application in various companies and industry sectors would be helpful to compare different cases and findings.Practical implicationsThe model allows for flexibility in using (and the frequent monitoring of) a panel of indicators by management. The dashboard is composed of only a few indicators and helps in ensuring a synthesis among different perspectives. For these reasons it gives an useful contribution to practitioners.Originality/valueThe model seems helpful in creating awareness of supply chain risk. The involvement of managers from different areas is essential in establishing a thorough consideration of critical issues and interdependencies in determining a complete risk analysis. The method can support managers in setting up a priority hierarchy for risk treatment.

Integrating or Setting the Agenda? Gender Mainstreaming in the European Constitution-Making Process

The European Union (EU) constitution-making process has adopted an “integrating” rather than an “agenda-setting” approach to gender mainstreaming. This argument draws on analysis of both the European Constitutional Convention and its product—the Constitutional Treaty. Five indicators of application of mainstreaming serve as reference points for exploring how it has been applied in the EU Constitutional Convention: a broader concept of gender equality, the incorporation of a gender perspective into the mainstream, equal representation of women, the prioritization of gender policy objectives, and a shift in institutional and organizational culture. The article provides a tentative explanation for the failure of the EU constitution-making process to adopt an “agenda-setting” approach to gender mainstreaming.