Trade-off Framework Research Articles

Applying portfolio theory to benefit endangered amphibians in coastal wetlands threatened by climate change, high uncertainty, and significant investment risk

The challenge of selecting strategies to adapt to climate change is complicated by the presence of irreducible uncertainties regarding future conditions. Decisions regarding long-term investments in conservation actions contain significant risk of failure due to these inherent uncertainties. To address this challenge, decision makers need an arsenal of sophisticated but practical tools to help guide spatial conservation strategies. Theory asserts that managing risks can be achieved by diversifying an investment portfolio to include assets – such as stocks and bonds – that respond inversely to one another under a given set of conditions. We demonstrate an approach for formalizing the diversification of conservation assets (land parcels) and actions (restoration, species reintroductions) by using correlation structure to quantify the degree of risk for any proposed management investment. We illustrate a framework for identifying future habitat refugia by integrating species distribution modeling, scenarios of climate change and sea level rise, and impacts to critical habitat. Using the plains coqui (Eleutherodactylus juanariveroi), an endangered amphibian known from only three small wetland populations on Puerto Rico’s coastal plains, we evaluate the distribution of potential refugia under two model parameterizations and four future sea-level rise scenarios. We then apply portfolio theory using two distinct objective functions and eight budget levels to inform investment strategies for mitigating risk and increasing species persistence probability. Models project scenario-specific declines in coastal freshwater wetlands from 2% to nearly 30% and concurrent expansions of transitional marsh and estuarine open water. Conditional on the scenario, island-wide species distribution is predicted to contract by 25% to 90%. Optimal portfolios under the first objective function – benefit maximization – emphasizes translocating frogs to existing protected areas rather than investing in the protection of new habitat. Alternatively, optimal strategies using the second objective function – a risk-benefit tradeoff framework – include significant investment to protect parcels for the purpose of reintroduction or establishing new populations. These findings suggest that leveraging existing protected areas for species persistence, while less costly, may contain excessive risk and could result in diminished conservation benefits. Although our modeling includes numerous assumptions and simplifications, we believe this framework provides useful inference for exploring resource dynamics and developing robust adaptation strategies using an approach that is generalizable to other conservation problems which are spatial or portfolio in nature and subject to unresolvable uncertainty.

A critical trade-off between nitrogen quota and growth allows Coccolithus braarudii life cycle phases to exploit varying environment

Abstract. Coccolithophores have a distinct haplo-diplontic life cycle, which allows them to grow and divide into two different life cycle phases (haploid and diploid). These life cycle phases vary significantly in inorganic carbon content and morphology and inhabit distinct niches, with haploids generally preferring low-nitrogen and high-temperature and high-light environments in situ. This niche contrast indicates different physiology of the life cycle phases, which is considered here in the context of a trait trade-off framework, in which a particular set of traits comes with both costs and benefits. However, coccolithophore's phase trade-offs are not fully identified, limiting our understanding of the functionality of the coccolithophore life cycle. Here, we investigate the response of the two life cycle phases of the coccolithophore Coccolithus braarudii to key environmental drivers: light, temperature, and nitrogen, using laboratory experiments. With these data, we identify the main trade-offs of each life cycle phase and use models to test the role of such trade-offs under different environmental conditions. The lab experiments show the life cycle phases have similar cell size, minimum nitrogen quotas, uptake rates, and temperature and light optima. However, we find that they have different coccosphere sizes, maximum growth rates, and maximum nitrogen quotas. We also observe a trade-off between maximum growth rate and maximum nitrogen quota, with higher growth rates and low maximum nitrogen quotas in the haploid phase and vice versa in the diploid phase. Testing these phase characteristics in a numerical chemostat model, we find that the growth–quota trade-off allows C. braarudii to exploit variable nitrogen conditions more efficiently. Because the diploid ability to store more nitrogen is advantageous when the nitrogen supply is intermittent, the higher haploid growth rate is advantageous when the nitrogen supply is constant. Although the ecological drivers of C. braarudii life cycle fitness are likely multi-faceted, spanning both top-down and bottom-up trait trade-offs, our results suggest that a trade-off between nitrogen storage and maximum growth rate is an essential bottom-up control on the distribution of C. braarudii life cycle phases.

Multi-objective Optimization Framework for Trade-Off Among Pedestrian Delays and Vehicular Emissions at Signal-Controlled Intersections

Traffic congestion has several adverse effects on urban traffic networks. Increased travel times of vehicles, with the addition of excessive greenhouse emissions, can be listed as harmful effects. To address these issues, transportation engineers aim to reduce private car usage, reduce travel times through different control strategies, and mitigate harmful effects on urban networks. In this study, we introduce an innovative approach to optimizing traffic signal control settings. This methodology takes into account both pedestrian delays and vehicular emissions. Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II and Multi-objective Artificial Bee Colony algorithms are adopted to solve the multi-objective optimization problem. The vehicular emissions are modeled through the MOVES3 emission model and integrated into the utilized microsimulation environment. Initially, the proposed framework is tested on a hypothetical test network, followed by a real-world case study. Results indicate a significant improvement in pedestrian delays and lower emissions.

A Framework for Tradeoff Between Location Privacy Preservation and Quality of Experience in Location Based Services

A Framework for Tradeoff Between Location Privacy Preservation and Quality of Experience in Location Based Services

Paper More Cops or More Jobs? A Trade-Off Framework in Economics of Crime

Paper More Cops or More Jobs? A Trade-Off Framework in Economics of Crime

Selective-Fading Multiple-Access MIMO Channels: Diversity-MultiplexingTradeoff and Dominant Outage Event Regions

We establish the optimal diversity-multiplexing (DM) tradeoff for coherent selective-fading multiple-access MIMO channels and provide corresponding code design criteria. As a byproduct, on the conceptual level, we find an interesting relation between the DM tradeoff framework and the notion of dominant error event regions, first introduced in the AWGN case by Gallager, IEEE Trans. IT, 1985. This relation allows us to accurately characterize the error mechanisms in MIMO fading multiple-access channels. In particular, we find that, for a given rate tuple, the maximum achievable diversity order is determined by a single outage event that dominates the total error probability exponentially in SNR. Finally, we examine the distributed space-time code construction proposed by Badr and Belfiore, Int. Zurich Seminar on Commun., 2008, using the code design criteria derived in the present paper.

Analyzing the Tradeoff Between the Economic and Environmental Performance: The Case of the Chinese Manufacturing Sector

The so-called by-production approach, introduced by Murty and Russell [“On modeling pollution-generating technologies,” Department of Economics, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA, 2002], has provided researchers with an improved methodology for approximating polluting production technologies. However, the original by-production model is not capable of addressing the potential tradeoff between the economic and environmental performance since it does not impose any relationship between its economic and environmental subtechnologies. Although this link has been recently proposed in the extensions to the original by-production approach, the tradeoff framework remains ambiguous with respect to the weights that can be assigned to the economic and environmental subobjectives. This article proposes a novel approach for estimating the green productivity growth in the Chinese manufacturing sector based on the scenario analysis that simulates policy preferences. Our results suggest that environmental inefficiency is generally higher than economic inefficiency and that the annual growth rates of economic and environmental productivity are sensitive to the chosen scenario or the weights assigned to the different types of performance. We demonstrate that productivity growth can range from −0.43%, when only the environmental performance is considered to 2.56%, when only the economic performance is taken into account.

Cultivating a Secure Digital Future: The Nexus of Innovation and Data Protection in Modern Organizations

In the digital era, the interconnectivity between producers and consumers has evolved, presenting both opportunities and challenges. This article delves into the role of fostering innovation behavior in organizations, emphasizing its significance in data protection and the cultivation of a technology security culture. Introducing the "Data Tradeoff Framework", the article provides a comprehensive perspective on big data application scenarios, highlighting the importance of understanding data's intrinsic characteristics. With the rise of Fintech in regions like China and Southeast Asia, questions about data ownership, privacy, and competitive dynamics have become paramount. The article argues that while data has the potential to influence market dynamics, its responsible use can lead to a vibrant competitive landscape, promoting innovation and safeguarding consumer interests. The overarching message is the necessity for organizations to adopt a holistic approach to data, ensuring protection, transparency, and innovation in tandem.

The impact of child mortality on fertility in South Africa: Do child support grants and antiretroviral treatment matter?

This paper investigates the effect of under-five mortality, child support grant (CSG) coverage and the rollout of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on fertility in South Africa. The study employs the quality-quantity trade-off framework to analyse the direct and indirect factors affecting fertility using the two stage least squares fixed effects instrumental variable approach. The analysis uses balanced panel data covering nine provinces from 2001-2016. This period was characterised by significant increases in the child support grant coverage and ART coverage. Furthermore, this period was characterised by a significant decline in the under-five mortality rate. We find no evidence to support the hypothesis that increases in the CSG coverage are associated with an increase in fertility. This finding aligns with previous literature suggesting that there are no perverse incentives for childbearing associated with the child support grant. On the other hand, results indicate that an increase in ART coverage is associated with an increase in fertility. Results also show that a decrease in under-five mortality is associated with a decline in fertility over the sample period. HIV prevalence, education, real GDP per capita, marriage prevalence and contraceptive prevalence are also important determinants of fertility in South Africa. Although the scale up of ART has improved health outcomes, it also appears to have increased fertility in HIV-positive women. The ART programme should therefore be linked with further family planning initiatives to minimise unintended pregnancies.

Trade and economic growth: Does the sophistication of traded goods matter?

Since the appearance of the seminal paper of Frankel and Romer (Am Econ Rev 89(3): 379–399, 1999), ‘Does trade cause growth?’, the impact of aggregate trade openness on income has been controversial. This research shows that the type of product that is traded has first-order effects, while overall trade intensity has second-order effects on per capita income because of (i) the hierarchical structure of learning-by-doing in products with different levels of sophistication of the production processes; and (ii) the fertility and education effects of trade specialization following the quantity–quality tradeoff framework of Galor and Mountford (Am Econ Rev 96(2): 299–303, 2006). Using data on trade disaggregated by the level of technological sophistication of the production process for 223 countries over the period 1962–2019, we find that (1) the effects of foreign trade on income differ widely across technology categories; (2) high-tech trade has permanent growth effects; and (3) a significant fraction of the impact of trade on income is mediated through education and fertility.

A Trade-off-centered Framework of Content Moderation

Content moderation research typically prioritizes representing and addressing challenges for one group of stakeholders or communities in one type of context. While taking a focused approach is reasonable or even favorable for empirical case studies, it does not address how content moderation works in multiple contexts. Through a systematic literature review of 86 content moderation articles that document empirical studies, we seek to uncover patterns and tensions within past content moderation research. We find that content moderation can be characterized as a series of tradeoffs around moderation actions, styles, philosophies, and values. We discuss how facilitating cooperation and preventing abuse, two key elements in Grimmelmann’s definition of moderation, are inherently dialectical in practice. We close by showing how researchers, designers, and moderators can use our framework of tradeoffs in their own work, and arguing that tradeoffs should be of central importance in investigating and designing content moderation.

Individual response in body mass and basal metabolism to the risks of predation and starvation in passerines.

Wintering energy management in small passerines has focused on the adaptive regulation of the daily acquisition of energy reserves within a starvation-predation trade-off framework. However, the possibility that the energetic cost of living, i.e. basal metabolic rate (BMR), is being modulated as part of the management energy strategy has been largely neglected. Here, we addressed this possibility by experimentally exposing captive great tits (Parus major) during winter to two consecutive treatments of increased starvation and predation risk for each individual bird. Body mass and BMR were measured prior to and after each week-long treatment. We predicted that birds should be lighter but with a higher metabolic capacity (higher BMR) as a response to increased predation risk, and that birds should increase internal reserves while reducing their cost of living (lower BMR) when exposed to increased starvation risk. Wintering great tits kept a constant body mass independently of a week-long predation or starvation treatment. However, great tits reduced the cost of living (lower BMR) when exposed to the starvation treatment, while BMR remained unaffected by the predation treatment. Energy management in wintering small birds partly relies on BMR regulation, which challenges the current theoretical framework based on body mass regulation.

A process simulation-based framework for resource, food, and ecology trade-off by optimizing irrigation and N management

Improving food production and resource utilization efficiency and mitigating the functional degradation of agroecosystems are major challenges worldwide. However, few studies have reconciled the conflicts among resources, food, and ecology (RFE) in agricultural production. This study develops a water–carbon–nitrogen process simulation-based framework for RFE trade-off by coupling the agro-hydrological model, i.e., AHC (Agro-Hydrological & chemical and Crop systems simulator) with the ecosystem service value (ESV) assessment method and decision-making method, i.e., VIKOR (VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje). The framework is capable of (1) quantifying farmland ESVs; (2) reconciling conflicts among resource utilization, food production and ecosystem development by optimizing farmland irrigation and nitrogen (N) application strategies (FINS). The framework was used to analyze the FINS, and then to obtain the compromise decision focusing on a lower negative ESV and the maximizing group utility decision focusing on a higher yield and positive ESV for spring wheat farmland in Northwest China. Results indicated that under the local FINS, i.e., 450 mm irrigation and 340 kg ha−1 N application, the total ESV generated by spring wheat farmland per season was [4.76, 4.87] × 104 CNY ha−1. Among these ESVs, every 1 CNY ha−1 positive ESV generation was accompanied by approximately 0.11 CNY ha−1 negative ESV. Compared with the local FINS, the compromise decision, i.e., the FINS with 210 mm irrigation and 200 kg ha−1N application, significantly reduced negative ESV but caused slight losses in yield and positive ESV, while the maximizing group utility decision, i.e., the FINS with 210 mm irrigation and 260 kg ha−1N application, increased yield and positive ESV but resulted in a small negative ESV mitigation. Moreover, both FINSs could save irrigation water and N fertilizer resources, and improve water and N productivity to various degrees. This framework has excellent performance in reconciling conflicts among RFE systems and generating coordinated solutions and has potential to achieve sustainable development goals in agricultural RFE systems.

Optimization and trade-off framework for coupled green-grey infrastructure considering environmental performance

Implementing runoff control infrastructure has been regarded as an efficacious measure in stormwater management. The issue of its cost-effectiveness is a primary concern for decision makers since it is an exorbitant investment. However, most of existed studies only concentrated on the cost-effectiveness optimization of runoff control infrastructure, especially green infrastructure, between hydrological and economic aspects, and therefore, the potential layout scenarios with high extra environmental benefits could be neglected in the traditional two-dimensional frameworks. In this study, a novel carbon dioxide equivalent-based index was quantified to represent the extra environmental benefits of runoff control infrastructure besides stormwater management and was further integrated into the assessment framework. The effectiveness of green and grey infrastructure was comprehensively evaluated and traded off between hydrological, environmental and economic aspects. The results demonstrated that grey infrastructure is a better measure than green infrastructure when only hydrological (HF index) and economic (CI index) performances were considered. Nevertheless, the environmental performance (EROI index) of green infrastructure prevails over grey infrastructure, and when optimizing green and grey infrastructure simultaneously in the three-dimensional framework considering environmental effectiveness, green infrastructure is comparable with grey infrastructure. Furthermore, an appropriate composition of coupled green-grey infrastructure is requisite, which could achieve an optimal trade-off between hydrological and environmental effectiveness. The sources of environmental benefits were also identified and analyzed from three representative preference scenarios. The findings of the study could serve as a trade-off basis between green and grey infrastructure, as well as between EROI and HF.

A Novel Application of Risk-Risk Tradeoffs in Occupational Health: Nurses' Occupational Asthma and Infection Risk Perceptions Related to Cleaning and Disinfection during COVID-19.

Nurses face the risk of new onset occupational asthma (OA) due to exposures to cleaning and disinfection (C&D) agents used to prevent infections in healthcare facilities. The objective of this study was to measure nurses' preferences when presented with simultaneous OA and respiratory viral infection (e.g., COVID-19) risks related to increased/decreased C&D activities. Nurses working in healthcare for ≥1 year and without physician-diagnosed asthma were recruited for an online anonymous survey, including four risk-risk tradeoff scenarios between OA and respiratory infection with subsequent recovery (Infect and Recovery) or subsequent death (Infect and Death). Nurses were presented with baseline risks at hypothetical "Hospital 1", and were asked to choose Hospital 2 (increased OA risk to maintain infection risk), Hospital 3 (increased infection risk to maintain OA risk), or indicate that they were equally happy. Over 70% of nurses were willing to increase infection risk to maintain baseline OA risk if they were confident they would recover from the infection. However, even when the risk of infection leading to death was much lower than OA, most nurses were not willing to accept a larger (but still small) risk of death to avoid doubling their OA risk. Age, work experience, and ever having contracted or knowing anyone who has contracted a respiratory viral infection at work influenced choices. We demonstrate the novel application of a risk-risk tradeoff framework to address an occupational health issue. However, more data are needed to test the generalizability of the risk preferences found in this specific risk-risk tradeoff context.

A causal structure-based multiple-criteria decision framework for evaluating the water-related ecosystem service tradeoffs in a desert oasis region

Study regionQira oasis, a typical catchment alluvial fan composed by agriculture and natural shrubs at the south margin of Taklimakan Desert, China Study focusWater management modeling involves causal interaction effects of various water-related ecosystem services (ESs) under multiple-criteria water management alternatives, measuring expected benefits of water-related ESs. Many multi-criteria decision tools have been developed to mitigate some of major challenges of ESs tradeoffs. However, few formal ES trade-off frameworks have focused on the multiple-criteria alternatives assessment and indifference point identifications of water-related ES. This paper proposes a causal structure-based multiple-criteria decision framework to model water-related ESs, and to detect the points where the decision makers would be indifferent between two alternatives and to compare with the optimum recommendation value using Bayesian networks (BNs) with analytic hierarchy process (AHP). New hydrological insights for the regionThe study confirms that the proposed causal structure-based multiple-criteria decision framework is a promising approach to modeling possible climate, irrigation, and water policy scenarios and to examining influences of those scenarios on water-related ESs. The framework can be used to effectively recommend optimum water management alternatives and to identify the indifference points by combining BNs into AHP under stakeholder participation. The framework also provides a qualitative and quantitative assessment to reduce the conflicts and uncertainties of multiple-criteria weights in diagnosing water-related ES trade-offs, owing to different stakeholder preferences.

Plant carbohydrate storage: intra- and inter-specific trade-offs reveal a major life history trait.

Trade-offs among carbon sinks constrain how trees physiologically, ecologically, and evolutionarily respond to their environments. These trade-offs typically fall along a productive growth to conservative, bet-hedging continuum. How nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) stored in living tree cells (known as carbon stores) fit in this trade-off framework is not well understood. We examined relationships between growth and storage using both within species genetic variation from a common garden, and across species phenotypic variation from a global database. We demonstrate that storage is actively accumulated, as part of a conservative, bet-hedging life history strategy. Storage accumulates at the expense of growth both within and across species. Within the species Populus trichocarpa, genetic trade-offs show that for each additional unit of wood area growth (in cm2 yr-1 ) that genotypes invest in, they lose 1.2 to 1.7 units (mg g-1 NSC) of storage. Across species, for each additional unit of area growth (in cm2 yr-1 ), trees, on average, reduce their storage by 9.5% in stems and 10.4% in roots. Our findings impact our understanding of basic plant biology, fit storage into a widely used growth-survival trade-off spectrum describing life history strategy, and challenges the assumptions of passive storage made in ecosystem models today.

Computer-mediated political expression: A conceptual framework of technological affordances and individual tradeoffs

ABSTRACT Digital media provide individuals platforms to express political views. Despite the significant scholarly attention to how and why political expression occurs through technologies and to what effect, research remains fragmented in its theoretical frameworks. The present work synthesizes research on computer-mediated communication and political communication to offer a framework that describes theoretically (a) which technological affordances lead (b) to which psychological processes with (c) which politically relevant actions. We address these questions in the context of four different technological affordances. In doing so, we emphasize the psychological cost-benefit calculations that occur when deciding whether to engage in political expression online.

Optimization and Trade-Off Framework for Coupled Green-Grey Infrastructure Considering Environmental Performance

Optimization and Trade-Off Framework for Coupled Green-Grey Infrastructure Considering Environmental Performance

A classification framework for interspecific trade-offs in aquatic ecology.

In some cases, wildlife management objectives directed at multiple species can conflict with one another, creating species trade-offs. For managers to effectively identify trade-offs and avoid their undesirable outcomes, they must understand the agents involved and their corresponding interactions. A literature review of interspecific trade-offs within freshwater and marine ecosystems was conducted to illustrate the scope of potential interspecific trade-offs that may occur. We identified common pitfalls that lead to failed recognition of interspecific trade-offs, including, single-species management and limited consideration of the spatial and temporal scale of ecosystems and their management regimes. We devised a classification framework of common interspecific trade-offs within aquatic systems. The classification can help managers determine whether the conflict is species based through direct relationships (i.e., predator-prey, competition, other antagonistic relationships) or indirect relationships involving intermediate species (i.e., conflict-generating species) or whether the conflict is driven by opposing management objectives for species that would otherwise not interact (i.e., nontarget management effects). Once the nature and scope of trade-offs are understood, existing decision-making tools, such as structured decision-making and real-options analysis, can be incorporated to improve the management of aquatic ecosystems. Article Impact Statement: A synthesis of interspecific trade-offs in aquatic ecosystems supports their identification and resolution.