Problem Formulation Stage Research Articles

Planning Transboundary Ecological Risk Assessments at Military Installations

ABSTRACT Ecological risk assessments at military installations that are performed to support natural resources management objectives rely on information from the surrounding region. Stressors such as noise, ozone, and ozone precursors cross installation boundaries, and effects of urbanization and highway development are regional in scale. Ecological populations are not limited to one side of the installation boundary. Therefore, a framework for transboundary ecological risk assessment at military installations is under development. This article summarizes the problem formulation stage. Components include: (1) regional management goals such as installation Integrated Natural Resources Management Plans and land acquisition, (2) involvement of multiple stressors, and (3) large-scale assessment endpoint entities. Challenges of selecting measures of exposure include: quantifying exposure to aggregate stressors, describing land cover consistently in the region, describing rates of land-cover transition, scaling local measurements to a region, and aggregating or isolating exposures from within and outside of the installation. Measures of effect that are important to transboundary or regional ecological risk assessments at military installations are those that represent: effects at a distance from the stressor, large-scale effects, effects of habitat change or fragmentation, spatial extrapolations of localized effects, and integrated effects of multiple stressors. These factors are reflected in conceptual models.

Integral assessment — putting safety on the agenda for mitigation and preparedness

Infrastructure planning in densely populated areas like the Netherlands is a complex endeavour. Despite high construction costs, underground constructions and tunnelling have become popular solutions in highly congested areas as they can mitigate many of the negative external effects of infrastructures. Under such circumstances integral assessment of alternatives is considered important but in practice uncommon. In the Netherlands, for instance safety issues are largely neglected in planning procedures. In this paper a participatory Quick Scan approach is presented: a methodology for strategic impact assessment that can be used to help select promising solutions in the early stages of decision making. Special consideration is given to the methodological issues of which risks should be taken into account when considering an integral assessment. It is argued that involving representatives of safety management organisations in the problem formulation stage guarantees attention for safety issues and regulations throughout the design and planning processes.

Uncertainties Associated with Assessing the Risk of an Endocrine Active Substance in the Canadian Environment

Abstract A number of biological responses and multigenerational effects, mediated through the disruption of endocrine systems, have been observed in biota exposed to relatively low concentrations of environmental contaminants. These types of responses need to be considered within a weight of evidence approach in our risk assessment and risk management frameworks. However, including endocrine responses in an environmental risk assessment introduces a number of uncertainties that must be considered. A risk assessment of nonylphenol and nonylphenol polyethoxylates (NP/NPE) is used as a case study to demonstrate the sources and magnitude of some of the uncertainties associated with using endocrine disruption as an assessment endpoint. Even with this relatively well studied group of substances, there are substantial knowledge gaps which contribute to the overall uncertainties, limiting the interpretation within the risk assessment. The uncertainty of extrapolating from in vitro or biochemical responses to higher levels of organization or across species is not well understood. The endocrine system is very complex and chemicals can interact or interfere with the normal function of endocrine systems in a number of ways (e.g., receptors, hormones) which may or may not result in an adverse responses in the whole organism. Using endocrine responses can lead to different conclusions than traditional endpoints due to a variety of factors, such as differences in relative potencies of chemicals for specific endpoints (e.g., receptor binding versus chronic toxicity). The uncertainties can also be considerably larger and the desirability of using endocrine endpoints should be carefully evaluated. Endocrine disruption is a mode of action and not a functional endpoint and this needs to be considered carefully in the problem formulation stage and the interpretation of the weight of evidence.

The process of problem-formulation

The methodology described deals with the problem-formulation (PF) stage and is independent of the overall OR process. It is set-theoretic in principle. In more recent practice, new techniques for interviewing clients have been used and the inclusion of some of Checkland's ideas has improved the design of the underlying questionnaire. The central focus is the use of diagrams to encapsulate the stated problem and to aid communication.

Assessing ecological risk in watersheds: A case study of problem formulation in the Big Darby Creek watershed, Ohio, USA

AbstractThe Big Darby Creek watershed, a highly valued ecosystem in central Ohio, USA, threatened by intensive agriculture and suburban encroachment, served as an example of how case specifics can be applied to refine and direct the planning and problem formulation stage of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ecological risk assessment framework. Big Darby Creek was selected as one of five national pilot risk assessments designed to provide specific examples of how to perform an ecological risk assessment and, at the same time, to refine and improve the assessment process. The case study demonstrates how characteristics of the watershed were used to give direction to the components of establishing goals, identifying and characterizing the resource and threats to it, selecting appropriate assessment endpoints, and developing conceptual models. The hypotheses generated in the conceptual model describe expected relationships and interactions between the ecosystem at risk, identified potential stressors, and ecological effects and set the groundwork for the analysis phase that follows problem formulation.

Sediment Quality Values (SQVs) and Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA)

A wide variety of sediment quality values (SQVs) have been promulgated. Ecological risk assessment (ERA) provides a framework for objectively and systematically evaluating the risks posed by environmental contamination to ecological resources. SQV application to ERA should be restricted to the initial problem formulation stage where they can be used either alone (i.e., in jurisdictions with accepted SQVs) or in a weight-of-evidence approach (i.e., multiple SQV types; in jurisdictions without accepted SQVs) to screen out contaminants posing negligible risks to ecological receptors.

On the effectiveness of cognitive feedback from an interface agent

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of task information (TI) provided by an interface agent during the idea evaluation and integration step of the problem formulation stage of the problem solving process. The effectiveness assessment was based on solving diagnostic decision problems in the domain of complex industrial machinery. Ten domain experts participated in this study. Decision support was provided by a case-based reasoning system. Findings suggest that TI provided by the interface agent had no effect on the decision maker's performance, nor on the associated cognitive effort. However, a verbal protocol analysis revealed that the ten subjects used the interface agent to verify their decision processes. The results and their implications are discussed with respect to current findings in the area of decision support systems.

Assessing the Risks Associated With Exposure to Waterborne Pathogens: An Expert Panel's Report on Risk Assessment

The resurgence of outbreaks of waterborne diseases in the United States underscores the need for quantitative methods for assessing the human health risks associated with various types of waterborne pathogens in diverse environments (e.g., drinking water, waste water, recreational water) under different exposure scenarios (e.g., ingestion, inhalation from aerosols). An expert panel developed a three-stage general framework for conducting risk assessments of waterborne pathogens. An initial problem formulation stage involving all stakeholders identifies the purpose of the risk assessment, the critical issues to be addressed, and how the results might be used to protect public health. The analysis characterizes both the exposure and the health effects. This compilation of quantitative and qualitative data, expert opinion, and other information yields a host/pathogen profile that explicitly identifies the assumptions and uncertainties associated with the profile. The final stage, risk characterization, states the likelihood and types and magnitude of effects likely to be observed in the exposed population under the expected exposure scenario, including all the inherent assumptions and uncertainties. This characterization will be used by risk managers and policy makers to reduce human health risks and by risk communication specialists to inform the public.

On the effectiveness of decisional guidance

The objective of this study was to determine the impact on decision makers of two forms of computer support — suggestive guidance and informative guidance — on the problem formulation stage of judgmental tasks. Three hypotheses were postulated regarding the effectiveness of these two forms of guidance. The three hypotheses were tested in two experiments comprising two judgmental tasks of differing complexity. The task performance of 282 subjects provided the basis for the assessment of the two forms of computer support. In the first experiment, which had the less complex task, we found that the availability of DSS improved task performance. In this scenario, suggestive guidance was found to enable subjects to perform significantly better than those subjects using informative guidance. However, in the second experiment, which had the more complex task, subjects using informative guidance outperformed those who were either supported with a suggestive guidance or who received no-DSS support at all (i.e., only pencil and paper was used). No significant difference was demonstrated to exist between those who were supported with suggestive guidance and those who were not supported with DSS. The results are analyzed with respect to current findings in decision research.

Integrating Research: A Guide for Literature Reviews

Introduction The Problem Formulation Stage The Data Collection Stage The Data Evaluation Stage The Analysis and Interpretation Stage The Public Presentation Stage Conclusion

Instability of a conducting drop in a variable electric field

In solving the problem of the stability of the capillary waves in a drop placed in a variable electric field a drop with an infinite set of capillary waves is treated in accordance with the Rayleigh approach as an oscillatory system with an infinite number of generalized coordinates, in particular the amplitudes of the different modes. In the problem formulation stage the general model used in [7, 8] is employed.

The Integrative Research Review: A Systematic Approach

Introduction The Problem Formulation Stage The Data Collection Stage The Data Evaluation Stage The Analysis and Interpretation Stage The Public Presentation Stage Conclusion

Relocating Motivational Effects: A Synthesis of Cognitive and Motivational Effects on Attributions for Success and Failure

The long-standing debate over motivational biases as explanations for asymmetrical (i.e., sell-serving) attribution patterns for success and failure is examined in the present paper. Following the suggestion of Tetlock and Levi (1982), our analysis focuses on development of a more precise model of attribution processes, rather than on pitting motivational and cognitive models against each other. We propose a two-stage attribution model, in which motivational manipulations influence the selection of the knowledge structures to be used in the subsequent selection of an attribution. Three experiments demonstrate that a popular ego-involvement manipulation does, in fact, change the perceived relevance of several self-beliefs, and that this knowledge-structure effect does produce the typical asymmetrical pattern of attributions for success and failure, even in uninvolved (i.e., not ego-motivated) observer subjects. It is suggested that the location of motivational impact is at the problem-formulation stage of an attributional task, but is not at the attribution-selection stage. Implications for future research are discussed.

Exact expression for stored energies in the cavity volume of microstrip antennas

Exact expressions for the stored electromagnetic energies in planar microstrip antennas of arbitrary shape are derived as simple functions of the normal electric field. These expressions provide a considerable reduction of computation time and also great simplifications at the stage of problem formulation.

Problem formulation using array processing techniques

This paper outlines the evolution of array processing computational techniques and systems and briefly discusses the important concepts of the software and programming strategies which enable these systems to be used effectively. For very large problems, the advantages of parallel processing techniques are stressed and the use of a mathematical programming array language outlined for removing some of the arbitrariness from the problem formulation and programming stages of solving partial differential equations. The purpose of the proposed approach is to eliminate errors in the logical formulation early in the design of a large scientific program and hence prevent many of the logical errors that can creep into a program because of its sheer size and complexity. The discussion includes the solution of both boundary and initial value scientific problems using an approach in which APL augments FORTRAN in the problem formulation stage.

Discovery-oriented behavior and the originality of creative products: a study with artists.

In order to examine the significance of the “problem-formulation” stage of creative activity, 31 advanced art students were observed in a quasi-naturalistic setting of an art school while carrying out an assignment to produce a still-life drawing. Observations of “discovery-oriented” behavior were recorded for each subject from the time he began organizing the still-life objects until he completed the actual drawing. The finished art work was independently evaluated by an expert panel on three dimensions: overall value, originality, and craftsmanship. A positive relationship was found between discovery-oriented behavior at the problem-formulation stage and the originality (but not the craftsmanship) of the creative product. The study affirms the theoretical and empirical importance of the problem-formulation stage of the creative process and suggests a method for observing and analyzing behavior at this stage.