Transparent Decision-making Process Research Articles

Correlation-oriented complex system structural risk assessment using Copula and belief rule base

Structural risk assessment is very important for maintaining the safe operations of many complex systems. However, there are two major requirements that still need to be addressed, namely the correlation among multiple factors and high interpretability to produce a trustworthy result. For the first challenge on correlation, the Copula model is applied to quantitatively measure the correlation among the data gathered from multiple sources. For the second challenge on interpretability, the Belief Rule Base (BRB) model is applied since it is essentially a white-box approach that can provide good interpretability by its transparent inferencing and decision-making process. With this, a novel approach is proposed by combining the Copula model and BRB, namely Copula-BRB. Moreover, two frameworks are separately designed as well. The first is a knowledge-driven inferencing framework when experts’ knowledge is available but with limited data. The second is a data-driven optimization framework when there is a large quantity of data. Correspondingly, a numerical case with only limited data and another practical case with 1000 sets of data are studied to explain and validate the two frameworks of the Copula-BRB approach, respectively. The numerical case is mainly used to explain the knowledge-driven Copula-BRB inferencing framework, and the practical case is conducted in a comparative fashion where three Copula functions are used, namely Clayton, Frank, and Gumbel, and the results are compared with the Support Vector Machine (SVM) and conventional BRB (without consideration of the attribute correlation). The results of the two case studies show that, by using the Copula-BRB which incorporates the attribute correlation into the conventional BRB, superior performance has been achieved in comparison with SVM and BRB. A detailed exploration of how this superior performance concerning outputs in intervals has been conducted as well.

A survey of the life cycle assessment of food supply chains

Food supply chains have substantial impacts on our environment, using large amounts of fossil fuel and other non-renewable resources, as well as water and land. Food supply chains are also complex systems, and their evaluation thus requires a study of the entire system, from primary production to end-of-life food-waste solutions. This paper examines the current state-of-the-art of the published food supply chains Life Cycle Assessment studies and their quality and coherency with the existing standards from the methodological perspective. In particular, we have followed the framework of the International Organization for Standardization, and considered the standard’s requirements, emphasising goal and scope, inventory, life cycle impact assessment and interpretation. We have surveyed forty-nine research and review papers, sourced from the Web of Science. Additionally, we have carried out a content analysis, identifying research areas and existing research trends. The results identified possible improvements in terms of goals and scope, as well as inventory and life cycle impact assessment, to increase the consistency and reliability of studies. These studies, in turn, affect a transparent and sustainability-oriented decision-making process, which is essential at various levels – company, stakeholders, national and global. Concept maps reveal the most dominant research directions, which are production, use, system and packaging. Missing is a role of socio-economic effects, as food life-cycles include societal and economic functions as well as circular economy options, during production or end-of-life processes.

Intensive and pharmacological care in times of COVID-19: A \u201cspecial ethics\u201d for emergency?

BackgroundThe Authors have laid out an analysis of Italian COVID-19 confirmed data and fatality rates, pointing out how a dearth of health care resources in northern regions has resulted in hard, ethically challenging decisions in terms of granting patient access to intensive care units (ICU).Main textHaving to make such decisions certainly entails substantial difficulties, and that has led many health care professional to seek ethical guidance. The Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) has attempted to meet that growing need by a set of recommendations, applying “clinical soundness” as a beacon standard; that approach tends to prioritize patients with higher life expectancy, which could be characterized as a “moderately utilitarian” approach. Yet, such a selection has engendered daunting ethical quandaries. The authors believe it can only be warranted and acceptable if rooted in a transparent decision-making process and verifiable, reviewed criteria. Moreover, the authors have stressed how clinical experimentation in a pandemic setting is a subtext of great interest from an ethical perspective. In Italy, no drug therapy and trials were undertaken for COVID-19 patients for a rather long period of time. When the epidemic was already circulating, an intervention proved necessary on the system of administrative procedures, aimed at expediting the authorization and validation of protocols, then bogged down by bureaucracy. A new system has since been instituted by a government decree that was signed about one month after the first Covid-19 case was officially recorded in the country. Such a swift implementation, which took just a few weeks, is noteworthy and proves that clinical trials can be initiated in a timely fashion, even with a pandemic unfolding. The concerted, action of supportive care and RCTs is the only way to attain effective forms of treatments for COVID-19 and any other future outbreak.ConclusionsThe authors have arrived at the conclusion that the most effective and ethically sound response on the part of any national health care system would be to adequately reconfigure its organizational mechanisms, by making clinical trials and all related administrative procedures consistent with the current state of emergency.

Towards a fair and transparent research participant compensation and reimbursement framework in Vietnam.

BackgroundProviding compensation for participants in clinical research is well established and while international guidelines exist, defining a context-specific and fair compensation for participants in low-resource settings is challenging due to ethical concerns and the lack of practical, national compensation and reimbursement frameworks.MethodsWe reviewed Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) internal reimbursement documentation over a 10-y period and conducted a scoping literature review to expand our knowledge of compensation and reimbursement practices including ethical concerns. We developed a preliminary reimbursement framework that was presented to community advisory boards (CAB) and clinical investigators to assess its applicability, fairness and transparency.ResultsThe main topics discussed at the workshops centered on fairness and whether the reimbursements could be perceived as financial incentives. Other decisive factors in the decision-making process were altruism and the loss of caregivers’ earnings. Investigators raised the issue of additional burdens, whereas the CAB members were focused on non-monetary elements such as the healthcare quality the patients would receive. All elements discussed were reviewed and, where possible, incorporated into the final framework.ConclusionOur new reimbursement framework provides a consistent, fair and transparent decision-making process and will be implemented across all future OUCRU clinical research in Vietnam.

A Bayesian approach for assessing the boundary between desirable and undesirable environmental status – An example from a coastal fish indicator in the Baltic Sea

Ecological indicator approaches typically compare the prevailing state of an ecosystem component to a reference state reflecting good environmental conditions, i.e. the desirable state. However, defining the reference state is challenging due to a wide range of uncertainties related to natural variability and measurement error in data, as well as ecological understanding. This study propose a novel probabilistic approach combining historical monitoring data and ecological understanding to estimate the uncertainty associated with the boundary value of an ecological indicator between good and poor environmental states. Bayesian inference is used to estimate the epistemic uncertainty about the true state of an indicator variable during an historical reference period. This approach replaces the traditional boundary value with probability distribution, indicating the uncertainty about the boundary between environmental states providing a transparent safety margin associated with the risk of misclassification of the indicator’s state. The approach is demonstrated by applying it to a time-series of an ecological status indicator, ‘Abundance of coastal key fish species’, included in HELCOM’s Baltic Sea regional status assessment. We suggest that acknowledgement of the uncertainty behind the final classification leads to more transparent and better-informed decision-making processes.

Impediments to fisheries recovery in Canada: Policy and institutional constraints on developing management practices compliant with the precautionary approach

The status of many Canadian fisheries is poor, a consequence of inadequate implementation of sustainable fishery policy within the context of the Precautionary Approach (PA). A key component of implementation lies with the provision of science advice. Scientists are responsible for advising on options likely to meet policy intent and objectives. Here, we examine PA-compliance in the role of science in Canada's fisheries management decision-making. We distinguish science-based from science-determined decisions and processes. Science-based decisions emerge from consultation processes involving stakeholders; science need not always have a clear and accountable role that can be transparently separable from other inputs. Science-determined decisions result from impartial, publicly available, peer-reviewed scientific determinations clearly distinguishable from other inputs. Our findings are consolidated with a comparison to the European Union (EU), which is legally bound to PA implementation, but which differs in its institutional organization and decision-making process. Compared to the EU, Canada's science advisory process is less structured and transparent, scientific advice is not always clearly distinguishable, and policy formulation is not explicit in affording science a responsibility compliant with the PA. The institutional structure and policy framework in Canada has potential to obfuscate the role of science, leading to an erosion of credibility and accountability of fisheries management decisions. We emphasize the strengths of a structured and transparent decision-making process, the existence of a coherent system for categorizing uncertainty with respective rules for decision-making, and unambiguous definitions of the responsibility of science in sustainable fisheries policy.

To what extent does evidence support decision making during infectious disease outbreaks? A scoping literature review

Background:Infectious disease outbreaks require decision makers to make rapid decisions under time pressure and situations of scientific uncertainty, and yet the role of evidence usage in these contexts is poorly understood. Aims and objectives:To define and contextualise the role of scientific evidence in the governance of infectious disease outbreaks and to identify recommendations for overcoming common barriers to evidence-informed decision making. Methods:A scoping review and an expert workshop to provide additional input into recommendations on enhancing evidence uptake during infectious disease outbreaks taking place in European settings. Findings:Forty-nine records reporting on multiple decision-making processes during infectious disease outbreaks of the past ten years were included in the study. Decision makers prioritise expert advice, epidemiological data and mathematical modelling data for risk characterisation and management, but tend to be challenged by scientific uncertainties, which allow for conflicting interpretations of evidence and for public criticism and contestation of decision-making processes. There are concrete opportunities for optimising evidence usage to improve public health policy and practice through investment in decision-making competencies, relationship building, and promoting transparent decision-making processes. Discussion and conclusions:It is not necessarily a disregard of evidence that puts a strain on decision making in health crises, but rather competing interests and the lack of clear, unambiguous and rapidly available evidence for risk characterisation and effectiveness of response measures. The relationship between science and public health decision making is relatively understudied but is deserving of greater attention, so as to ensure that the pursuit of evidence for decision making does not challenge timely and effective crisis management.

Smarter organizations: insights from a smart city hybrid framework

Smart cities (SC) are communities that use digital technology infrastructure to improve the lives of the individuals and groups, while increasing the productivity and competitiveness of their organizations. This paper suggests that innovative organizations should be designed under the same principles that make smart cities better places to live and work in. In order to do so, Smart Organizations should be redesigned in three levels: firstly, they should rethink their systems and structures to support more flexible processes and facilitate collaboration from a distance, while taking measures to improve the work environment and reduce the ecological impact of their activities. This infrastructure level borrows on the SC concepts of Smart Mobility / Smart Environment. Secondly, they should adapt their knowledge management systems to encourage the emergence of more collaborative and innovative communities in their ecosystems while facilitating more participative, transparent and open decision-making processes among all stakeholders. This intermediate level borrows on the SC concepts of Smart Economy and Smart Governance. Finally, they should attract and develop talented, creative, skilled and diverse knowledge workers who contribute to a corporate culture of innovation through learning, sharing and growth while at the same time creating meaningful values, social cohesion and well-being at work. This top level, much lower in technology intensity, builds upon the two lower levels and borrows on the SC concepts of Smart People and Smart Living. This article conducts a multi-case study of 18 innovative companies that have adopted several elements of the hybrid smart city model to (re)design their organizations. The cases illustrate 18 performance sub-categories that could help innovative organizations think about the way they can combine their lower level “hard” components with their upper level “soft” ones in order to better adapt to smart city environments.

Ineffective Public Participation for EIA: The Cause of Environmental Issues in Malaysia?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) foster communication between participators to yield a more environmentally sound decision for a proposed development. Public participation is an integral element in EIA to ensure a successful EIA. Effective public participation encourages community empowerment, fair and democratic decisions and reduce thus avoid public confrontation and delay. Effective public participation is one of the key pillars to achieve effective EIA. Environmental issues are known to be the negative outcome of a poorly implemented EIA process. This paper discusses seven environmental cases that were produced from ineffective application of EIA such as Bakun Dam, Murum Dam, Baram Dam, bauxite mining in Kuantan, gold mining in Bukit Koman, sturgeon farming in Kuala Tahan and Lynas plant. The seven cases focused on the lack of public participation in the administration of EIA. Public objections and protests were results of ineffective public participations and ineffective EIAs in the chosen cases. Four out of seven cases have made substantive results where the projects stopped or ceased due to the public objections. Meanwhile, the three cases went on till today. Conclusively, these cases has shown that public participation in EIA is a valuable tool which encourages transparent decision-making process and defies corrupted influences.

Social scientific knowledge in times of crisis: What climate change can learn from coronavirus (and vice versa).

"Crisis, by its very nature, requires decisive intervention. However, important questions can be obscured by the very immediacy of the crisis condition. What is the nature of the crisis? How it is defined (and by whom)? And, subsequently, what forms of knowledge are deemed legitimate and authoritative for informing interventions?""

Treating the SARS-CoV-2-positive patient with cancer: A proposal for a pragmatic and transparent ethical process.

The treatment of patients with cancer who test positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) poses unique challenges. In this commentary, the authors describe the ethical rationale and implementation details for the creation of a novel, multidisciplinary treatment prioritization committee, including physicians, frontline staff, an ethicist, and an infectious disease expert. Organizational obligations to health care workers also are discussed. The treatment prioritization committee sets a threshold of acceptable harm to patients from decreased cancer control that is justified to reduce risk to staff. The creation of an ethical, consistent, and transparent decision‐making process involving such frontline stakeholders is essential as departments across the country are faced with decisions regarding the treatment of SARS‐CoV‐2–positive patients with cancer.

Exact integer linear programming solvers outperform simulated annealing for solving conservation planning problems.

The resources available for conserving biodiversity are limited, and so protected areas need to be established in places that will achieve objectives for minimal cost. Two of the main algorithms for solving systematic conservation planning problems are Simulated Annealing (SA) and exact integer linear programing (EILP) solvers. Using a case study in BC, Canada, we compare the cost-effectiveness and processing times of SA used in Marxan versus EILP using both commercial and open-source algorithms. Plans for expanding protected area systems based on EILP algorithms were 12–30% cheaper than plans using SA, due to EILP’s ability to find optimal solutions as opposed to approximations. The best EILP solver we examined was on average 1,071 times faster than the SA algorithm tested. The performance advantages of EILP solvers were also observed when we aimed for spatially compact solutions by including a boundary penalty. One practical advantage of using EILP over SA is that the analysis does not require calibration, saving even more time. Given the performance of EILP solvers, they can be used to generate conservation plans in real-time during stakeholder meetings and can facilitate rapid sensitivity analysis, and contribute to a more transparent, inclusive, and defensible decision-making process.

Strategic Planning Based on Sustainability for Urban Transportation: An Application to Decision-Making

Public transportation is one of the main goals of a developing city. This topic includes not only administrators, but also city residents and the environment, with economic, environmental, and social factors. This paper presents a multicriteria decision-making process for prioritizing alternative public transportation projects in Kırıkkale, considering the urban type of a developing city. It outlines three planned projects for improvement: “electric municipality bus”, “light rail system”, and the “modernization of existing vehicles and network optimization”. In this study, we use the analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal situation (TOPSIS) application to prioritize transportation projects using economic, social, transportation, and environmental sub-criteria. The aim of this study is to select the most suitable project, based on sustainability, for more urban livability in Kırıkkale city. In the strategic decision-making process, the weights of each sustainability criteria have been determined using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The fuzzy TOPSIS method has been applied for ranking the proposed alternative projects for Kırıkkale. Finally, the analytic decision process results are compared, and the electric municipality bus is selected as the best project alternative. The results of this study can not only offer a solution for current needs related to urban planning, but also ensure as a more transparent decision-making process for developing sustainability in developing cities in the near future.

Is there a role for agricultural production cooperatives in agricultural development? Evidence from China

In recent years, China witnessed a boom in the formation of agricultural cooperatives. While most of them have been set up as agricultural service cooperatives, there is also the option of forming agricultural production cooperatives (APCs). Although both models stem from a similar long tradition, it was argued that production cooperatives were not competitive, thus having no role in agricultural development. Historically, these cooperatives were formed under specific conditions only. However, in recent years, they have been observed in villages characterised by family agriculture. Taking the example of Chongzhou County (Sichuan Province, China), this exploratory study investigates the salient conditions under which farmers voluntarily join such cooperatives. The results show that APCs still have a role to play in agricultural development after all. Certain conditions have to be met, like government support and recruitment of professional farm managers, but particularly a homogeneous membership and transparent decision-making processes.

Taiwanese Researchers' Perceptions of Questionable Authorship Practices: An Exploratory Study.

In 2014, SAGE Publications retracted 60 articles authored by Taiwanese researchers due to suspected peer-review fraud. This scandal led to the resignation of the Minister of Education at the time since he coauthored several retracted works. Issues regarding the lack of transparent decision-making processes regarding authorship were further disclosed. Motivated by the scandal, we believe that this is one of the first empirical studies of questionable authorship practices (QAPs) in East Asian academia; we investigate Taiwanese researchers' perceptions of QAPs. To meet this purpose, a self-reported survey was developed. Four hundred and three local researchers, including research faculty (e.g., professors), postdoctoral researchers, and Ph.D. students, participated in the survey. Four major findings resulted. First, the underlying causes of Taiwanese doctoral students' engagement in QAPs were attributable to their desire to achieve particular academic-related successes and their feeling of reciprocal obligation to support other researchers. Second, the underlying motives for Taiwanese research associates' (i.e., research faculty and postdoctoral fellows) engagement in QAPs were attributable to their attempts to achieve particular career successes and of the desire to consolidate their professional networks. Third, the participants generally agreed that QAPs had a long history among local academics but were rarely reported. Fourth, participants' backgrounds (i.e., research discipline, academic rank, and type of affiliations) had significant effects on their responses regarding particular authorship issues; however, their gender did not have a significant effect. QAPs are a critical issue in Taiwanese academia; therefore, we discussed the implications of the current findings including subsequent instruction and future research.

Comparing 3 Approaches for Making Vaccine Adoption Decisions in Thailand.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Total System Effectiveness (TSE) framework to assist national policy-makers in prioritizing vaccines. The pilot was launched in Thailand to explore the potential use of TSE in a country with established governance structures and accountable decision-making processes for immunization policy. While the existing literature informs vaccine adoption decisions in GAVI-eligible countries, this study attempts to address a gap in the literature by examining the policy process of a non-GAVI eligible country. Methods: A rotavirus vaccine (RVV) test case was used to compare the decision criteria made by the existing processes (Expanded Program on Immunization [EPI], and National List of Essential Medicines [NLEM]) for vaccine prioritization and the TSE-pilot model, using Thailand specific data. Results: The existing decision-making processes in Thailand and TSE were found to offer similar recommendations on the selection of a RVV product. Conclusion: The authors believe that TSE can provide a well-reasoned and step by step approach for countries, especially low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), to develop a systematic and transparent decision-making process for immunization policy.

Governing sex workers through trust: Evaluating policing practices for sex workers’ safety through a procedural justice lens

ABSTRACTDrawing on qualitative fieldwork with differen key actors in Geneva, Switzerland, I apply procedural justice theory to the governance of prostitution. My findings show that the vice squad is ill-equipped to protect sex workers from violence and exploitation because their everyday practices during interactions with sex workers, aimed at creating trust, rely on affect alone. Conversely, the community RLD unit utilizes both fair treatment and a transparent decision-making process which successfully creates trust relationships with sex workers, increasing their willingness to report incidents of violence and exploitation. This has important implications for prostitution policy aimed at improving sex workers’ safety.

Tripartite periodization of the Antarctic Treaty System from a systemic perspective

In 1959, twelve countries with a strong record of interest in Antarctica signed a Treaty allowing accessibility to all signatories wishing to conduct peaceful scientific research. The Antarctic Treaty established science and international cooperation as its cornerstones but raised controversies because of its hosting of sovereignty claims over Antarctic territory. This research aims to fill a gap in literature proposing a strict periodization of the Antarctic Treaty System under a systemic perspective. The paper also examines Brazil's accession into the Treaty. Using as indicators of legitimacy the increase in membership and the transparency of decision-making processes, the author argues that the Antarctic Treaty System has become recognized as a legitimate international regime.

Housing challenges in shrinking and aging Japanese cities

Housing challenges in shrinking and aging Japanese cities

Planning of sport and recreational facilities informed by interdisciplinary knowledge

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a design strategy that investigates the systematic use of interdisciplinary knowledge through a transparent decision-making process. The study identifies relevant design parameters that should be considered in the development of this design strategy.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data were collected through observations of the design process of two new sport facilities, meetings with sport, well-being and aging experts and through semi-structured interviews with end-users. The development of the proposed design strategy is based on a methodology with elements from “Knowledge to Action (KTA),” “Action research” and a “List of value concepts.” The rigid timetable guaranteed systematic progress, where both knowledge from the end-users and experts were incorporated throughout the decision-making process.FindingsThe two case studies documented results involving end-users and experts in a systematic way. In conclusion, it was apparent that the use of interdisciplinary collaboration informed the design outcome.Practical implicationsBased on the two cases, the following advice can be given to the architectural profession: architects should use the KTA model or similar in order to target the search for relevant interdisciplinary knowledge and ensure that relevant evidence is involved in the design process of upcoming projects regarding sport and recreation. Architects should make the design process transparent so that one can see which design decisions have been made through the design process. This must be done to ensure that there is greater coherence between vision and practice.Originality/valueThe study showed how architects could import knowledge, skills and values from other disciplines such as environmental psychology and active living research to improve the decision-making process of future sport and recreation projects. It was also clear that this design decision process could be made more transparent in the effort to allow the various stakeholders to take ownership of the resulting design outcomes.