Benefits Of Projects Research Articles

Aligning Project and Benefits Management With Balanced Scorecard Approach to Achieve Project Success

The organizations have spent an increased amount of financial resources in systems and technology without getting all the potential of their investments or collecting the promise business benefits. Organizational success is widely defined as winning in the marketplace, and firms tend to measure this with financial and economic indicators. There is also a general agreement that although schedule and budget performance alone are considered inadequate as measures of project success, they are still important components of the overall construct. An early identification of the critical success factors (CSF) and project success criteria (PSC) during the initial project assessment is a vital start for ensuring successful project completions. This paper combines project management (PM) and benefits management (BM) practices with balanced scorecard (BSC) approach to align the projects with the organizational strategy. The usage of this mix of different management tools led to more effectiveness in project success.

Valuing the benefits of forest restoration on enhancing hydropower and water supply in California's Sierra Nevada

Forest restoration through mechanical thinning, prescribed burning, and other management actions is vital to improving forest resilience to fire and drought across the Western United States, and yields benefits that can be monetized, including improvements in water supply and hydropower. Using California's Sierra Nevada as a study area, we assess the water and energy benefits of forest-restoration projects. By using a scalable top-down approach to track annual evapotranspiration following forest disturbance, coupled with hydropower simulations that include energy-price information, and marginal prices for water sales, we project the potential economic benefits of hydropower and water sales accruing to water-rights holders. The results found that water-related benefits from strategically planned fuels-reduction treatments now being carried out can be sufficient to offset costs of management actions aimed at forest restoration, especially in the face of climate change. Our findings justified investments in restoring forests and reinforce the central role of water and hydropower providers in partnerships for management of source-water watersheds. Results also highlighted the importance of accurate, scalable data and tools from the hydrology and water-resources community.

Determinants of overfunding in reward-based crowdfunding

AbstractWhile research on factors contributing to the success of a reward-based crowdfunding project is abundant, research dedicated to projects that were not only successful, but received significantly more funds than initially targeted—overfunded projects—is still scarce. Following a qualitative case-study approach, this study sought to shed light on this phenomenon through examining expert interviews with supporters and team members of an overfunded crowdfunding project considered a critical case. The results are divided into three phases that differentiate characteristics ascribed to the crowd, the project, and the communication. The main findings highlight the central role of the project founders’ reputation and experience, that a positive sentiment among the crowd towards the project must be encouraged and maintained and that the core target group must be correctly identified and attracted. This core target group is crucial for attracting a broader audience, a mechanism that is supported if the project benefits from network effects. A narrative of the project as a vision or ‘dream’ of the project founders thereby contributes to creating a hype and ‘social buzz’. Ultimately, this study contributes to reward-based crowdfunding literature through offering novel insights on project overfunding and illustrating possibilities for new and small ventures how to attract and maintain customers through reward-based crowdfunding.

Evaluation of peer-mediated systems navigation for ageing families of individuals with developmental disabilities.

As individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) age, services often diminish, with many family caregivers experiencing challenges finding and navigating services. The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of a state-wide family support project for ageing caregivers (50+) of adults with I/DD in accessing and using services. A one-group pre-test-post-test design was used to determine if participation in the MI-OCEAN intervention grounded in the Family Quality of Life (FQOL) theory reduced ageing caregivers' (n=82) perceptions of barriers to accessing, using and needing formal services. After participating in the study, there was a reduction in reported barriers to accessing services. There was also greater use and reduced need for 10 of the 23 listed formal services. Findings indicate that a peer-mediated intervention grounded in FQOL theory can be beneficial in empowering ageing caregivers by reducing perceived barriers to accessing services and increasing their use of advocacy and support services.

Agent-Based Simulation Modeling for the Evaluation and Dynamic Adjustment of Project Benefits in Urban Rail Transit PPPs

Urban rail transit (URT) public–private partnership (PPP) projects are long-term, complex projects involving numerous stakeholders. Various unforeseeable events make the benefits of these projects uncertain, and disputes about the distribution and adjustment of benefits can seriously threaten project success. Therefore, there is a pressing need to effectively evaluate the project benefits available to various stakeholders and design a dynamic benefit-adjustment mechanism to ensure the successful completion of URT PPP projects. In full consideration of the complexities of projects of this nature and the adaptive behaviors of different stakeholders, a modeling framework was proposed to simulate the realization and dynamic adjustment of project benefits as a complex and comprehensive system defined by the microlevel dynamic behaviors of stakeholders and interactions among these behaviors through agent-based modeling (ABM). The framework was utilized to emulate a real-world URT PPP project for demonstration purposes. Next, two scenarios were simulated that considered the effects of the purchase behavior of the public and decisions concerning benefit adjustment on project benefits. The framework is a powerful decision support tool with regard to the benefits of URT PPP projects in that it can promote the maximization of overall benefits and the sustainability of URT projects.

Investigative Research Projects for Students in Science: The State of the Field and a Research Agenda

One of the ways in which students can be taught science is by doing science, the intention being to help students understand the nature, processes, and methods of science. Investigative research projects may be used in an attempt to reflect some aspects of science more authentically than other teaching and learning approaches, such as confirmatory practical activities and teacher demonstrations. In this article, we are interested in the affordances of investigative research projects where students, either individually or collaboratively, undertake original research. We provide a critical rather than a systematic review of the field. We begin by examining the literature on the aims of science education, and how science is taught in schools, before specifically turning to investigative research projects. We examine how such projects are typically undertaken before reviewing their aims and, in more detail, the consequences for students of undertaking such projects. We conclude that we need social science research studies that make explicit the possible benefits of investigative research projects in science. Such studies should have adequate control groups that look at the long-term consequences of such projects not only by collecting delayed data from participants, but by following them longitudinally to see whether such projects make any difference to participants’ subsequent education and career destinations. We also conclude that there is too often a tendency for investigative research projects for students in science to ignore the reasons why scientists work in particular areas and to assume that once a written report of the research has been authored, the work is done. We therefore, while being positive about the potential for investigative research projects, make specific recommendations as to how greater authenticity might result from students undertaking such projects.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ОЦЕНКИ РЕЗУЛЬТАТИВНОСТИ ПРОЕКТОВ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННО-ЧАСТНОГО ПАРТНЕРСТВА: МОДЕЛИ И ПРИНЦИПЫ

Over the past thirty years, service delivery through public-private partnerships has enabled the government to make significant strides in health, education, water, construction, and transportation. Many of the benefits of such projects have been reported in reports from the National PPP Center, although discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of PPPs have long focused on achieving public policy goals. To achieve maximum benefit, PPP projects should be designed with specific performance improvements in mind, within a framework that shares risks and rewards between the public and private sectors. The Russian PPP market is considered complex and quite developed. Nevertheless, despite the sufficient level of development of PPP in the Russian Federation, the lack of effective approaches to measuring the effectiveness of projects was noted as a factor that gives rise to problems associated with corruption and guarantees. According to the reports of the Ministry of Economic Development, the lack of an effective methodology for measuring the effectiveness of PPPs is the main reason for unsatisfactory demand in the construction sector and natural monopolies. There is a widespread belief that performance evaluation plays a critical role in business planning. Based on this, this study conceptualizes a dynamic model for measuring the performance of public-private partnership projects.

Using Our Strengths: Establishing a Community-Academic Partnership to Tackle Menstrual Health Concerns in Philadelphia.

Menstrual health is a secretive, stigmatized, and understudied topic in the United States. To begin addressing this stigma requires understanding menstrual communication patterns in the community; however, few studies have applied community-based participatory research to explore menstrual health stigma. To describe the team and lessons learned building a community-academic partnership aimed to explore menstrual health stigma and communication in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Partnership: A menstrual health non-profit and a social-reproductive epidemiologist forged a community-academic partnership using a unique program that encourages partnerships between researchers and community organizations. Three lessons are described: 1) take time to build trust, 2) be patient and respectful navigating challenges and unforeseen difficulties, and 3) ensure equitable distribution of project resources and benefits. Our partnership accomplished impactful work by acknowledging the unique resources, skills, and networks that each partner possessed.

Benefits of Beach Erosion Control on the East Coast of Korea

Lee, J.S. and Chang, J.-I., 2023. Benefits of beach erosion control on the east coast of Korea. Journal of Coastal Research, 39(2), 347–353. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Coastal erosion control projects bring various benefits to people, such as reducing damage from coastal disasters, reducing erosion and flooding damage, and providing water-friendly spaces. Nevertheless, it is difficult to evaluate a project because there are few analyses of the economic impact of the project. Thus, this study aims to estimate the benefits of coastal erosion control and maintenance projects using people's willingness to pay (WTP). In particular, information on the effectiveness of a project for relatively unknown coastal regions is lacking. Therefore, this study targeted the Yeongrang coast in Gangwon-do, located on the east coast of Korea. The annual WTP per household was estimated to be approximately KRW 1999 (USD 1.81). The benefit–cost ratio based on this was estimated to be approximately 2.98, which is considered to be a sufficiently large benefit compared with the cost of the project. The findings of this study can be used as the basis for decision making regarding coastal erosion control policies for similar case areas.

Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Is the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign an Opportunity to Improve Adherence to Cancer Screening Programmes? The Challenge of a Pilot Project in a Large Local Health Authority in Rome

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected health services worldwide. The suspension of cancer screening programs during the lockdown period, coupled with the other measures taken to limit the SARS-CoV-2 spread, contributed to the idea that cancer preventive interventions are deferrable. In this opinion paper, we present some data on cancer screening coverage in one of the largest Local Health Authorities in Italy in recent years. Within this context, we introduce the benefits of a pilot project in which we took advantage of the great attention on the COVID-19 vaccination campaign to improve screening uptake. In this project, we offered men and women eligible for cancer screening the opportunity to book appointments while waiting to be vaccinated. In addition, trained healthcare personnel were available on-site to discuss any barriers to participation with the attendees. Despite the project having only just started, preliminary results are encouraging, with positive feedback from the attendees. In conclusion, we advocate for the need to adopt a comprehensive approach when it comes to population health, and we use this project as an example to discuss how it is possible to contribute to minimizing the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with resources already in place.

Review of Geotechnical Properties of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement for Reuse in Infrastructure

Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) has been extensively studied for potential use as a recycled material in infrastructure construction. There is consensus that utilization of RAP provides environmental and economic benefits for most projects. However, impacts to engineering performance are less known, owing to the highly variable nature of RAP sources with different asphalt pavement mixtures and milling processes, which has limited the adoption of RAP as fill material in geotechnical infrastructure. This study conducted a comprehensive review of geotechnical properties reported for RAP in the experimental literature. The gradation, specific gravity, density, moisture content, hydraulic conductivity, leaching, shear strength, and creep properties of different RAP sources are summarized and compared. These geotechnical properties, as well as recent investigations into the effects of temperature and aggregate mixing, were used to identify the potential reuse of RAP in highway transportation applications beyond just asphalt mixture design, such as embankments. Additionally, correlations between gradation properties (Cu, D10, D85), asphalt content, and the geotechnical properties of maximum dry density, saturated hydraulic conductivity, and shear strength were identified.

Use of Ripple Effects Mapping to assess student-perceived benefits of undergraduate research and learning objective attainment with Irish nutrition students.

Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) is a qualitative data analysis approach that combines mind mapping with inductive analysis to condense data obtained from group interviews. One benefit of REM is the ability to identify unintended outcomes, or "ripples," of the intervention of interest. Ripples are visually represented by a mind map created during the REM session. Mind maps connect related concepts, typically with the main concept in the center of the map and supporting ideas radiating from a central node. This project applied REM to undergraduate course evaluation. The purpose of this study was threefold: to use REM to identify undergraduate student-perceived benefits of research projects, to assess whether REM could be used to confirm achievement of course learning objectives, and to compare the themes identified from the mind mapping component of REM to those identified by inductive analysis. Mind maps were generated with Xmind (Xmind Ltd., Hong Kong) during online sessions by two groups of students, those who completed a "mandatory" research project (n = 11) and those who chose to participate in an additional "optional" research project (n = 9). There was considerable overlap in identified themes between mind mapping and inductive analysis, with skills, relationships, career direction, and unexpected benefits identified by both techniques. Mind mapping identified several additional themes. Findings from both approaches were compared to course learning objectives, and both confirmed that all objectives were met. In situations where time is a limiting factor, mind mapping could be superior to the complete REM approach for course learning objective assessments.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study used Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) to identify undergraduate student-perceived benefits of research projects, to assess whether REM could confirm achievement of course learning objectives for a research project-based course, and to compare themes identified from the mind mapping component of REM to those identified by inductive analysis. Mind mapping confirmed achievement of course objectives and may be a better choice compared to inductive reasoning when time is limited.

The origins and development of free-electron lasers in the UK

This review article covers close to 45 years of free-electron laser (FEL) activity in the UK from the mid 1970s until 2022. Technical details of the projects are given together with personal insights provided by those who worked on specific projects. Both funded and unfunded projects are included to highlight the breadth of ideas generated over the years; this approach also clearly reveals the evolution in FEL activities from the early imperative to reproduce and understand first results at long wavelength towards the development of ever-higher-quality FEL output at very short wavelengths. Also included are the longer-term and broader benefits of the early projects. One aspect of this is the many years of UK experience in the design, operation and use of FEL facilities (in the UK and abroad) which reveal the wider value, financial and intellectual, of much of the work that has been undertaken and that is often not apparent. Continuous development of the UK technological base in this area has led to innovative contributions on a global scale and considerable financial return.

ISSUES ON QUADCOPTER DESIGN CUSTOMIZED FOR URBAN AERIAL SURVEILLANCE

The topic of this paper is in line with the efforts to reduce the spread of the pandemic effects; the objective is to design a quadcopter meant to perform urban aerial surveillance, focused on monitoring the urban traffic of cars and monitoring the traffic of groups of people, who should not gather in groups larger than three persons. The specificity of the work is given by the requirements of the European Project Semester EPS, where international teams of students actively experience a multidisciplinary and multicultural project for one semester in another university. This opportunity has allowed them to develop research and industrial partnerships. To this purpose, the approach provided by the I.N.C.A.S. as Research Partner is oriented towards Problem Based Learning and Project Organized Learning. The University as Organizer provides Project Related Courses and complementary Project Organized Learning. The research was oriented towards the customized design of a drone able to efficiently achieve the objective. The benefits of the research project are related mainly to the potential applications of the drone, with a good effect to cost ratio and to allowing the students to subsequently acquire valuable professional knowledge and experience from this research project

The Concept of Resistance to Substance Use and a Research Approach: The Resist! Project.

Illicit substance use is dangerous in both acute and chronic forms, frequently resulting in lethal poisoning, addiction, and other negative consequences. Similar to research in other psychiatric conditions, whose ultimate goal is to enable effective prevention and treatment, studies in substance use are focused on factors elevating the risk for the disorder. The rapid growth of the substance use problem despite the effort invested in fighting it, however, suggests the need in changing the research approach. Instead of attempting to identify risk factors, whose neutralization is often infeasible if not impossible, it may be more promising to systematically reverse the perspective to the factors enhancing the aspect of liability to disorder that shares the same dimension but is opposite to risk, that is, resistance to substance use. Resistance factors, which enable the majority of the population to remain unaffected despite the ubiquity of psychoactive substances, may be more amenable to translation. While the resistance aspect of liability is symmetric to risk, the resistance approach requires substantial changes in sampling (high-resistance rather than high-risk) and using quantitative indices of liability. This article provides an overview and a practical approach to research in resistance to substance use/addiction, currently implemented in a NIH-funded project. The project benefits from unique opportunities afforded by the data originating from two longitudinal twin studies, the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent and Behavioral Development and the Minnesota Twin Family Study. The methodology described is also applicable to other psychiatric disorders.

Public–Private Partnership Highway Projects: Identifying Project Selection Factors

Among various project delivery methods, there is a growing tendency to deliver transportation infrastructure projects, particularly highway projects, through public–private partnerships (PPPs). This necessitates further investigations on PPP arrangements. Despite previous research efforts, a question remains unanswered: What are the contributing criteria for selecting projects that fit the PPP method, and of these, which factors play key roles? This study aims to address such a question through a Delphi study approach. To meet this objective, experts at state DOTs participated in interviews and questionnaire surveys during two rounds of a Delphi study. After achieving a consensus among responses, this study identified factors: the PPP project’s screening factors and characteristics, requirements for an evaluation panel to assess a potential project, common risks, risks needed to provide appropriate incentives to private parties, requirements for involved staff, specializations required in PPP units to facilitate project phases, roles of the public sector or federal government or state, associated factors to enabling legislation, economic analysis, and suitable project size. Some of the major findings are that PPPs are suitable for large projects, the value of money should be a mandatory study, an economic analysis must be performed by comparing different delivery methods, and it should be determined whether PPPs are legal (and allowed) in the state. The primary contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is to focus academicians’ and industry professionals’ attention on PPP highway project selection criteria and the factors that are required to maximize project performance and benefits.

An Exploration of Cross-Patch Collaborations via Patch Linkage in OpenStack

Contemporary development projects benefit from code review as it improves the quality of a project. Large ecosystems of inter-dependent projects like OpenStack generate a large number of reviews, which poses new challenges for collaboration (improving patches, fixing defects). Review tools allow developers to link between patches, to indicate patch dependency, competing solutions, or provide broader context. We hypothesize that such patch linkage may also simulate cross-collaboration. With a case study of OpenStack, we take a first step to explore collaborations that occur after a patch linkage was posted between two patches (i.e., cross-patch collaboration). Our empirical results show that although patch linkage that requests collaboration is relatively less prevalent, the probability of collaboration is relatively higher. Interestingly, the results also show that collaborative contributions via patch linkage are non-trivial, i.e, contributions can affect the review outcome (such as voting) or even improve the patch (i.e., revising). This work opens up future directions to understand barriers and opportunities related to this new kind of collaboration, that assists with code review and development tasks in large ecosystems.

Cost-benefit research and potential solutions of ecological restoration programs in China

The value realization pathways of ecological products are major challenges for China’s ecological civilization construction, which plays a critical strategic and practical role. In the process of ecological restoration projects, the selection of value realization pathways provides a feasible basis for the practice of ecological restoration. Cost-benefit analysis can be used to select the best restoration measures or models for the government or businesses, maximizing the environmental and economic benefits of restoration projects. This paper reviewed the value accounting research related to cost-benefit assessment in China. Currently, traditional independent empirical studies on specific ecosystem services are the focus of research and some policies have been established from these. In the assessment, the relevant methods were seen to still have limitations in terms of data sources, reference systems, and database improvement. It is noted that the benefit transfer method is still underdeveloped in China but has good prospects. The paper analyzed the main role of benefit transfer in policy making and the method’s scientific development, as well as elucidating the problems and challenges of the benefit transfer method. This study also presents a review of current policies and research on ecosystem service valuation policies and potential ways for ecological restoration. Due to the great spatial variations in socio-economic conditions and resource endowments in different regions in China, it is necessary to consider regional differences and adjust ecological restoration to local conditions. Furthermore, relevant realization paths and future research perspectives were put forward.

Student Engagement and Educational Benefits of Web GIS-Based Projects

The evolution of geographic information systems (GIS) based on the internet (Web GIS) created new opportunities for the use of GIS technology in education. In the present study a learning environment was developed which incorporates the project-based learning (PBL) methodology based on Web GIS technology. In this context, 3 research projects (GIS based projects) were designed and implemented. Project 1 and 2 combined fieldwork and GIS, and the topic was related to local community issues. Project 3 was an internal project since it was conducted only in the computer lab with data collected from the internet. In order to investigate the effectiveness of this learning environment in students' engagement, a quasi-experimental study was conducted on 58 senior high school students. A pre-test was conducted in advance and a post-test upon concluding all three projects. The results reveal the pedagogical value of the aforementioned learning environment, since it provides multiple pedagogical benefits, having a positive effect on students' engagement.

Digitalization and enterprise architecture management: a perspective on benefits and challenges

Many companies digitally transform their business models, processes, and services. They have also been using Enterprise Architecture Management approaches for a long time to synchronize corporate strategy and information technology. Such digitalization projects bring different challenges for Enterprise Architecture Management. Without understanding and addressing them, Enterprise Architecture Management projects will fail or not deliver the expected value. Since existing research has not yet addressed these challenges, they were investigated based on a qualitative expert study with leading industry experts from Europe. Furthermore, potential benefits of digitalization projects for Enterprise Architecture Management were researched. Our results provide a theoretical framework consisting of five identified challenges, triggers and a number of benefits. Furthermore, we discuss in what ways digitalization and EAM is a promising topic for future research.