Resource Interdependence Research Articles

Prediction of multiproject resource conflict risk via an artificial neural network

PurposeInadequate balancing of resources often results in resource conflict in the multiproject management process. Past research has focused on how to allocate a small amount of resources optimally but has scarcely explored how to foresee multiproject resource conflict risk in advance. The purpose of this study is to address this knowledge gap by developing a model to predict multiproject resource conflict risk.Design/methodology/approachA fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to transform subjective judgments into quantitative information, based on which an evaluation index system for multiproject resource conflict risk that focuses on the interdependence of multiple project resources is proposed. An artificial neural network (ANN) model combined with this system is proposed to predict the comprehensive risk score that can describe the severity of risk.FindingsAccurately predicting multiproject resource conflict risks in advance can reduce the risk to the organization and increase the probability of achieving the project objectives. The ANN model developed in this paper by the authors can capture the essential components of the underlying nonlinear relevance and is capable of predicting risk appropriately.Originality/valueThe authors explored the prediction of the risks associated with multiproject resource conflicts, which is important for improving the success rate of projects but has received limited attention in the past. The authors established an evaluation index system for these risks considering the interdependence among project resources to describe the underlying factors that contribute to resource conflict risks. The authors proposed an effective model to forecast the risk of multiproject resource conflicts using an ANN. The model can effectively predict complex phenomena with complicated and highly nonlinear performance functions and solve problems with many random variables.

ЭТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ВНЕДРЕНИЯ ЦИФРОВЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ И КОНФЛИКТЫ «УМНОГО РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЯ»: ОПЫТ ГЕРМАНИИ И ЭСТОНИИ

This article analyses ethical elements of institutional designs which are being used in digital public administration models. The author views digitalization as a process based on principles of diversity, openness to polemics and conflict, which leads to creation of new connections meanings. Various conflicts, arising during the introduction of digital technologies and “smart regulation” become the major focus of authors attention. The specifics of institutional designs in Germany and Estonia lead to the conclusion that as the range of available objective information technologies increases, the gap with practically feasible technologies also expands. This is caused by various organizational and institutional barriers, the overcoming of which is possible through the formation of a certain ethical system, the development of “digital talent” and “digital abilities” of citizens. The success of the digitalization policy implementation depends on building a system of state and non-state formations that use common norms and values that interact with each other on the basis of resource interdependence in order to achieve a common agreement, a public good. The process of institutionalization of digital innovation, when the exchange of knowledge and technology becomes vital for the development of each firm, industry and national economies, and pluralization makes rigid regulation ineffective forms a new attitude based on a common ethical principles and values. It serves to ensure coordination for the management of knowledge and social information processes. Thus, digital public administration stimulates the permanent development of innovative solutions, the search for new communication channels and the improvement of social learning, based on trust.

Resilience and Stress in Later Life: A Network Analysis Approach Depicting Complex Interactions of Resilience Resources and Stress-Related Risk Factors in Older Adults.

BackgroundEmerging systemic approaches on resilience propose that a person’s or group’s adaptability to significant stress relies on a network of interdependent resources. However, little knowledge exists on systemic resilience in older survivors of early-life adversity (ELA) and how ELA affects their resource network in later life.ObjectiveThis study investigated how ELA may be linked to the interplay of resources and stress-related risk factors in later life.Research Design and MethodsData from N = 235 older adults (Mage = 70.43 years; 46.40% female) were assessed. Half the participants were affected by ELA through compulsory social measures and placements in childhood, and/or adolescence (“risk group”). The other half were age-matched, non-affected participants (“control group”). Using psychometric instruments, a set of resilience-supporting resources in later life and current stress indices were assessed. Regularized partial correlation networks examined the interplay of resources in both groups, whilst also considering the impact of stress.ResultsBoth groups demonstrated only positive resource interrelations. Although the control group showed more possible resource connections, the groups did not significantly differ in the overall strength of connections. While group-specific resource interrelations were identified, self-esteem was observed to be the most important resource for the network interconnectedness of both groups. The risk group network showed a higher vulnerability to current stress.Discussion and ImplicationsNetwork analysis is a useful approach in the examination of the complex interrelationships between resilience resources and stress-related risk factors in older adulthood.

Seafood-energy-water nexus: A study on resource use efficiency and the environmental impact of seafood consumption in China

Issues regarding resource securities have risen exponentially because this global change corresponds to energy and water use intensification. Measures to mitigate the effects of the severity of the depletion and their environmental impacts require that resources accounting are not performed in isolation; a framework widely acknowledged as “nexus”. This study focused on the seafood supply chain taken into consideration the flow intensity and efficient usage of the resources along the chain. The study dealt in details the sub-units in the processing and packaging (PP) unit and the distributing and marketing (DM) unit along the chain. Moreover, the strength and efficient use of the resource was quantified as “nexus strength and nexus quality” to have a unified indicator to assess the interdependency and efficient use of resources in the seafood system. Result shows that; (1) about 2.92 × 108 kWh of energy and 4.23 × 107 m3 of water was used along the entire chain because of the direct consumption of seafood in China. It was further shown that, the quantity of seafood decreases along the chain and PP unit accounted for the highest usage of both energy (52.29%) and water (81.74%). (2) Handling and storage (HS) sector had the least nexus strength because it uses less energy and water though it received the highest quantity of seafood and PP had the highest SEW nexus strength. The PP unit was revealed the less efficient (lower nexus quality) unit because it uses majority of energy and water consumed in the whole chain hence contribute highly to related environmental impact released in the chain. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis (transport efficiency scenario, seafood use efficiency scenario) was conducted to compare resources consumption and efficiency usages in the sector. This information can assist with coherent policymaking and management to achieve efficiency and sustainability in the seafood sector.

Different Strokes for Different Folks: A Configurational Analysis of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

We conceptualize regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) as heterogeneous configurations of interdependent actors, resources, and capabilities with the potential to encourage various types of entr...

Water–Energy–Food Nexus Framework for Promoting Regional Integration in Central Asia

This paper focuses on regional integration through the lenses of the Water–Food–Energy (WEF) nexus, a concept putting strong emphasis on cross-sectoral and multi-level interactions as well as on resource interdependencies. There is an extensive amount of published research focusing on the Aral Sea basin. In this paper, the authors build upon these different contributions and provide a meta-analysis of the literature of WEF nexus opportunities in Central Asia (CA) countries. This paper contributes to ongoing discussions regarding how the WEF Nexus can represent an opportunity for reinforced collaboration regarding resources management. To do so, focusing on existing literature, this paper first (1) explores how the nexus can be a relevant instrument for regional integration. Second (2), it provides an overview of water, food, energy conditions and challenges in the Aral Sea basin in particular. Third (3), synthesizing existing research, the authors identify critical variables to be considered as hurdles or leverage points for WEF nexus implementation in the Aral Sea basin. Finally (4), we go back to our initial set of questions and identify some possible avenues for future research.

Resource interdependence and project termination: An analysis in the biopharmaceutical industry

Firms typically manage project portfolios with specific characteristics, including lengthy and high-risk projects with many similarities in human and technological resources and whose sequence and movement through the pipeline create longitudinal interdependencies. Interdependencies increase the complexity of project portfolios and create constraints in decision-making. This paper focuses on resource interdependencies and aims deepen our understanding of the extent to which resource interdependencies affect project termination. We study a sample of 417 new biotechnology-based drug discovery and development projects initiated by 25 biopharmaceutical SMEs. To test the hypotheses, we employ survival analysis and model terminations as a conditional probability and a corresponding hazard function. Our results show that for drug development projects, only certain types of interdependencies have a significant effect.

Joint resource allocation algorithm based on multi-objective optimization for wireless sensor networks

With the limitations of the network resources and battery energy of wireless sensors, the competition of resources in the process of communication will increase the network energy consumption and reduce the Quality of Service (QoS), resulting in that the application of Multi-Radio Multi-Channel (MRMC) Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) face many challenges. In this paper, we concentrate on the resource allocation of joint time slot assignment, channel allocation and power control for MRMC WSNs. Due to the diversity of research objectives and the computational complexity of the non-convex problem, this paper develops a two-stage resource allocation optimization algorithm by analyzing the interdependence of various resources. Specifically, to exchange information with conflict-free transmission among all sensors, a graph coloring algorithm for time slot assignment is designed firstly. Then based on the first stage of this algorithm, the problem of joint power control and channel allocation is studied and formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem to achieve the trade-off between energy efficiency and network capacity maximization under the constraints of link interference and load balance. Multi-objective hybrid particle swarm optimization is introduced to obtain the Pareto optimal solutions. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm significantly performs better in terms of achieving the trade-off of multi-performance.

An approach to modeling resource optimization for substitutable and interdependent resources

We develop a hierarchical approach to modeling organism acclimation to changing availability of and requirements for substitutable and interdependent resources. Substitutable resources are resources that fill the same metabolic or stoichiometric need of the organism. Interdependent resources are resources whose acquisition or expenditure are tightly linked (e.g., light, CO2, and water in photosynthesis and associated transpiration). We illustrate the approach by simulating the development of vegetation with four substitutable sources of N that differ only in the cost of their uptake and assimilation. As the vegetation develops, it uses the least expensive N source first then uses progressively more expensive N sources as the less expensive sources are depleted. Transition among N sources is based on the marginal yield of N per unit effort expended, including effort expended to acquire C to cover the progressively higher uptake costs. We illustrate the approach to interdependent resources by simulating the expenditure of effort to acquire light energy, CO2, and water to drive photosynthesis in vegetation acclimated to different conditions of soil water, atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, CO2 concentration, and light levels. The approach is an improvement on the resource optimization used in the earlier Multiple Element Limitation (MEL) model.

Through scarcity to prosperity: Toward a theory of sustainable growth

To make progress toward a comprehensive theory of sustainable growth, this paper integrates fertility choice and exhaustible resource dynamics in a tractable model of endogenous technological change. The model identifies conditions under which the interdependence of population, resources and technology produces a transition that consists of three phases: (1) an initial phase where agents exploit exhaustible natural resources to support population growth; (2) an intermediate phase where agents turn on the Schumpeterian engine of endogenous innovation in response to population-led market expansion; (3) a terminal phase where knowledge accumulation becomes the sole engine of growth. The last phase is crucial: not only economic growth no longer requires growth of physical inputs, but technological change also compensates for the exhaustion of the natural resource.

On the interplay between motor sequencing and linguistic syntax: Electrophysiological evidence

Abstract In this study, we used a paradigm combining two different sequential motor tasks, namely linear vs. non-linear self-administration of sentences, with correctness judgment of the sentences (half of them could include a morphosyntactic violation) while recording event-related potentials, ERPs. The sentences could be of either three types: subject-relative sentences, embedded PP sentences -with a displaced prepositional phrase between the subject and the verb-, or coordinate subject sentences - with two conjoined noun phrases as subject. Overall, results revealed significant modulations in the ERP components, connected to the number of different actions involved in both the motor task and the sentence (number of verbs). The motor task seemed always to hamper the occurrence of proper early syntactic processes, as no frontal negativities (LAN) could be observed. The latter were replaced by an N400 effect when motor and sentential structures matched, a component that reflects lexico-semantic processing. In turn, a mismatch in this regard seemed to completely impede the appearance of any type of early processing. The present findings extend support that syntax and motor task computations draw upon interdependent resources, in line with embodied perspectives of language processing.

A relational view of climate adaptation in the private sector: How do value chain interactions shape business perceptions of climate risk and adaptive behaviours?

AbstractStudies exploring climate change adaptation in the private sector have seldom investigated the effect of business network interactions on climate vulnerability and adaptation outcomes. This paper proposes a novel theoretical framework to explore how business–network dynamics affect risk perceptions and adaptive behaviours in business firms. The framework is empirically grounded in a comparative analysis of business–network dynamics from three agricultural value chains in Jamaica that are vulnerable to climate change impacts. The results illustrate how the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of value chain actors are influenced by business interdependencies and interfirm relationships. We find that the level of formality of business exchanges (contractual or noncontractual), the level of resource interdependency, and the ability to diversify access channels to critical resources can influence the propagation of climate‐related risks and influence actors' exposure and sensitivity to those risks. The study also offers evidence of the role played by bonding and bridging relational ties on adaptive capacity. The framework and findings provide a foundation for a new research agenda exploring a relational view of firm adaptation strategy in response to climate risks.

Quadruple helix as a network of relationships: creating value within a Swedish regional innovation system

A regional smart specialization initiative is investigated from a quadruple helix framework (industry, government, academia, and users/civil society). Based on a qualitative case study, we examine the interdependencies of actors, resources, and activities from a micro perspective. The aim is to understand the relationships and the value created between the different actors. From the results we conclude that the fourth helix should be viewed as a whole – an arena where triple helix actors in different value adding relationships take on different roles – where they create value to civil society, for example, new jobs or products for improved elderly care. In line with this, we state that the fourth helix is far more complex than limiting it to simply become a fourth separate helix of users or civil society. There is a complexity in that the fourth helix consists of both different users (including triple helix actors) as well as civil society. Users in the quadruple helix framework can also be defined in several ways depending on the context of the arena (the fourth helix) and what value adding activities they bring to civil society. Thus, users can be businesses, organizations, citizens, society, and many more things.

Emergence of integrated institutions in a large population of self-governing communities.

Most aspects of our lives are governed by large, highly developed institutions that integrate several governance tasks under one authority structure. But theorists differ as to the mechanisms that drive the development of such concentrated governance systems from rudimentary beginnings. Is the emergence of integrated governance schemes a symptom of consolidation of authority by small status groups? Or does integration occur because a complex institution has more potential responses to a complex environment? Here we examine the emergence of complex governance regimes in 5,000 sovereign, resource-constrained, self-governing online communities, ranging in scale from one to thousands of users. Each community begins with no community members and no governance infrastructure. As communities grow, they are subject to selection pressures that keep better managed servers better populated. We identify predictors of community success and test the hypothesis that governance complexity can enhance community fitness. We find that what predicts success depends on size: changes in complexity predict increased success with larger population servers. Specifically, governance rules in a large successful community are more numerous and broader in scope. They also tend to rely more on rules that concentrate power in administrators, and on rules that manage bad behavior and limited server resources. Overall, this work is consistent with theories that formal integrated governance systems emerge to organize collective responses to interdependent resource management problems, especially as factors such as population size exacerbate those problems.

Optimizing dynamics of integrated food–energy–water systems under the risk of climate change

Integrated management of food–energy–water systems (FEWS) requires a unified, flexible and reproducible approach to incorporate the interdependence between sectors, and include the risk of non-stationary environmental variations due to climate change. Most of the recently developed methods in the literature fall short of one or more aspects in such integration. In this article, we propose a novel approach based upon fundamentals of decision theory and reinforcement learning that (1) quantifies and propagates uncertainty, (2) incorporates resource interdependence, (3) includes the impact of uncontrolled variables such as climate variations, and (4) adaptively optimizes management decisions to minimize the costs and environmental impacts of crop production. Moreover, the proposed method is robust to problem-specific complexities and is easily reproducible. We illustrate the framework on a real-world case study in Ventura County, California.

National Gross Domestic Product, Science Interest, and Science Achievement: A Direct Replication and Extension of the Tucker-Drob, Cheung, and Briley (2014) Study

We replicated the study by Tucker-Drob, Cheung, and Briley (2014), who found that the association between science interest and science knowledge depended on economic resources at the family, school, and national levels, using data from the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In more economically prosperous families, schools, and nations, student interest was more strongly correlated with actual knowledge. Here, we investigated whether these results still held despite substantial changes to educational and economic systems over roughly a decade. Using similar data from PISA 2015 (N = 537,170), we found largely consistent results. Students from more economically advantaged homes, schools, and nations exhibited a stronger link between interests and knowledge. However, these moderation effects were substantially reduced, and the main effect of science interest increased by nearly 25%, driven almost entirely by families of low socioeconomic status and nations with low gross domestic product. The interdependence of interests and resources is robust but perhaps weakening with educational progress.

Towards extractive justice: Europe, Africa and the pressures of resource dependency

ABSTRACTThe relationship between Europe and Africa, in the context of the extractives sector, is multi-faceted, influenced by historical, political, social, environmental, geographical, religious and cultural factors. It is the premise of this article that Africa can benefit more fully from its mineral resources, and Europe from its investments into minerals and energy in Africa, if strong capacity is developed to create and implement more sound legal frameworks and better governance in the extractives sector. This contribution explores the historical and current asymmetries in resource interdependency between the two continents, as well as the policy tools that must direct future development of the intercontinental relationship in as far as the extractive sector is involved. The article then proposes three ideas about justice key to building a theory of resource interdependency, pointing to three areas that will require further scholarly engagement in imagining a new future relationship between Europe and Africa.

Assessment of sustainability of groundwater in urban areas (Porto, NW Portugal): a GIS mapping approach to evaluate vulnerability, infiltration and recharge

The urban water cycle concept demonstrates the connectivity and interdependence of urban water resources and human activities, and the need for integrated sustainable management studies and approaches. The role of climate, geology, geomorphology, land-use/cover, hydrogeochemistry, hydraulics, human activities among other features is significant in urban areas. In addition, land-use development has a stronger influence on terrestrial hydrology than climate variability. The need for provision of safe water, sanitation and drainage systems is key elements to consider for the groundwater resources in complex urban environments. In recent years, a new focus has emerged, addressing issues on integrated GIS mapping studies on urban water supply systems, particularly in historical cities. To illustrate that approach the Porto urban area (NW Portugal) was selected. This work presents a comprehensive study to demonstrate the key importance of urban groundwater studies, as well as the evaluation of the Urban Infiltration Potential Index and the potential groundwater yields that might be available for non-potable uses, such as irrigation of parks and lawns, street cleaning and firefighting. This strategy is useful for the planning and management of urban groundwater abstraction in an equitable and sustainable manner.

For whom do we write?

For whom do we write?

Nested branch-and-price-and-cut for vehicle routing problems with multiple resource interdependencies

This paper considers vehicle routing problems (VRPs) with multiple resource interdependencies and addresses the development and computational evaluation of an exact branch-and-price-and-cut algorithm for their solution. An interdependency between two resources means that the two resource consumptions influence one another in such a way that a tradeoff exists between them. This impacts the feasibility and/or the cost of a solution.The subproblem in branch-and-price-and-cut procedures for VRPs is very often a variant of the shortest-path problem with resource constraints (SPPRC). For the exact solution of many SPPRC variants, dynamic-programming based labeling algorithms are predominant. The tradeoffs in problems with multiple resource interdependencies, however, render the application of labeling algorithms unpromising. This is because complex data structures for managing the tradeoff curves are necessary and only weak dominance criteria are possible, so that the labeling algorithm becomes almost a pure enumeration. Therefore, we propose to solve also the SPPRC subproblem with branch-and-price-and-cut. This results in a two-level, nested branch-and-price-and-cut algorithm. We analyze different variants of the algorithm to enable the exchange of columns and also rows between the different levels.To demonstrate the computational viability of our approach, we perform computational experiments on a prototypical VRP with time windows, minimal and maximal delivery quantities for each customer, a customer-dependent profit paid for each demand unit delivered, and temporal synchronization constraints between some pairs of customers. In this problem, tradeoffs exist between cost and load and between cost and time.