Suchergebnisse

AbstractAn experiment in multicriteria decision support was conducted that examined two types of information displays, two different multiattribute models and two levels of task complexity in a laboratory setting with students as subjects. The findings focused on the 'process' behaviour and the 'design' elements of the human‐machine interface. Findings concerning the process behaviour suggested that the subjects' actions on data acquisition were guided by their cognitive preference for the attributes, but that the subjects had no discernible search pattern for evaluation. Findings for design included a significant interaction between display and model in weight estimation and assessment. The practical implications for software design are also discussed.

2010 Fall. ; Includes bibliographic references (pages 166-187). ; Covers not scanned. ; Print version deaccessioned 2022. ; The lack of uniform and integrated water resources regions that support sustainable water management within river basins is a critical issue. Overlapping and redundant efforts in planning and management result from conflicting water resources regions, which hamper Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). In addition, the process of delineating these regions has often been executed without sufficient scientific support or a commonly agreed upon approach, usually resulting from political and historical circumstances. In spite of this, it is possible to improve the results by using knowledge gained from prior experiences, employing modern techniques, improving decision support systems (DSS), and also by taking into account multiple stakeholders' interests. In order to harmonize multiple objectives, promote good governance practices and reflect the linkages between environmental, socioeconomic, political and historical aspects, it is imperative to define appropriate territorial limits for water resources planning and management regions. Given the presented problem, this study introduces an approach to support the process of delineating water resources regions based upon recognition of more comprehensive aspects and incorporation of these aspects into a DSS. A harmonized division of water resources regions, agreed upon between stakeholders, is the first step to promoting IWRM, furthering cross boundary cooperation and preventing conflicts. The proposed Water Resources Planning and Management Regions (WARPLAM) DSS is designed to be used by federal and state governments, international commissions and water councils. Although river basins are considered to be the most suitable boundaries to attain IWRM goals, the proposed DSS simulation model offers the option for decision makers to include socioeconomic, political and environmental aspects into the analysis. Its main goals are to promote a common approach relating to the reasoning used in this process and to reinforce the principles of IWRM. It is based upon the use of geographic information systems (GIS), knowledge-based systems (KBS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) combined with cluster analysis, dynamic programming (DP) and fuzzy analysis. WARPLAM DSS is also a flexible solution to support the delineation of regions in multiple levels of subsidiarity and to be adaptable to regional characteristics. The process of developing WARPLAM DSS can be summarized into the following three main phases: Phase 1) Evaluating the aspects related to the delineation of water resources planning and management regions through a comparative analysis in eleven different countries; Phase 2) Building the DSS through the definition of a suitable approach utilizing the aspects identified in Phase 1; and Phase 3) Demonstrating the capability of WARPLAM DSS through a case study in Brazil. The results of the study illustrate the potential for exploring different options for defining water resources regions depending upon the water resources management objectives and priorities. It is demonstrated that additional aspects, beyond solely river basin limits are being adopted in several countries. In addition, the results show that WARPLAM DSS provides a multifaceted and comprehensive solution to the complex issue of delineating water resources regions. The proposed DSS can also support multiple interests and multiple users; capacity building and access to knowledge from prior experiences; human judgment, intuition, experience and preferences; and flexibility. The building and operating of the DSS into an integrated system between ArcGIS and Excel is an adequate solution to address the user-end focus. Moreover, the combination of GIS with Cluster Analysis and DP in an adequate approach to address the presented needs. Finally, it is expected that WARPLAM DSS will improve the chances of successful IWRM practices, help lessen the boundary effects and promote cross-boundary cooperation, as well as support future decision-making processes and facilitate multiple stakeholders' involvement. Key Terms: water resources planning and management, institutional framework, IWRM, decision support systems, GIS, cluster analysis, dynamic programming.

Summarization: All UK companies are required by company law to prepare financial statements that must comply with law and accounting standards. With the exception of very small companies, financial accounts must then be audited by UK registered auditors who must express an opinion on whether these statements are free from material misstatements, and have been prepared in accordance with legislation and relevant accounting standards (unqualified opinion) or not (qualified opinion). The objective of the present study is to explore the potentials of developing multicriteria decision aid models for reproducing, as accurately as possible, the auditors' opinion on the financial statements of the firms. A sample of 625 company audited years with qualified statements and 625 ones with unqualified financial statements over the period 1998–2003 from 823 manufacturing private and public companies is being used in contrast to most of the previous works in the UK that have mainly focused on very small or very large public companies. Furthermore, the models are being developed and tested using the walk-forward approach as opposed to previous studies that employ simple holdout tests or resampling techniques. Discriminant analysis and logit analysis are also used for comparison purposes. The out-of-time and out-of-sample testing results indicate that the two multicriteria decision aid techniques achieve almost equal classification accuracies and are both more efficient than discriminant and logit analysis. ; Presented on: European Journal of Operational Research

This discussion paper presents the Integrated Methodological Approach for participatory multi-criteria decision support under uncertainty (IMA), which emerged from the debates about participation, multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and benefit-cost analysis (BCA). It provides a framework for participatory and science-based evaluation processes with combined use of BCA and MCA to support large-scale public decisions. While IMA does not claim to realize an all-inclusive participation scheme, it offers the advantage to improve the quality of decision making through advances in competence and fairness. Its practical application with emphasis on its participatory elements is demonstrated by the case study on the water allocation conflict of the German Spree River, which involves the German capital of Berlin, an important wetland, and the needs to remediate a post-mining landscape.

AbstractEmployees need to acquire new qualifications throughout their lives in order to deal with the multiple changes in the labour market. This knowledge and competences (formally or non‐formally acquired) must be identified and evaluated. For that reason, an integrated approach to the evaluation of Information and Communication Technology knowledge and skills is proposed. The multicriteria method that has been developed refers to professionals who wish to be accredited in a particular specialization through the evaluation of their professional experience, studies and vocational training. The aim of this paper is to present the multicriteria decision support system, Skills Evaluator, which brings into effect the aforementioned method. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this report we develop a GIS-based multicriteria flood risk assessment and mapping approach. This approach has the ability a) to consider also flood risks which are not measured in monetary terms, b) to show the spatial distribution of these multiple risks and c) to deal with uncertainties in criteria values and to show their influence on the overall assessment. It can furthermore be used to show the spatial distribution of the effects of risk reduction measures. The approach is tested for a pilot study at the River Mulde in Saxony, Germany. Therefore, a GISdataset of economic as well as social and environmental risk criteria is built up. Two multicriteria decision rules, a disjunctive approach and an additive weighting approach are used to come to an overall assessment and mapping of flood risk in the area. Both the risk calculation and mapping of single criteria as well as the multicriteria analysis are supported by a software tool (FloodCalc) which was developed for this task.

Abstract Purpose: To provide the decision-making agency with a hybrid composite model for a qualified decision and maximize the quality of public management when challenged by the tradeoff between own and leased fleet. Originality/value: The proposed methodology innovates by integrating a framework based on a set of quantitative and qualitative criteria, increasing accuracy of the decision-making process regarding the management of the Ceára Public Safety Secretary's fleet. With a multicriteria model, one can understand and identify the fundamental criteria in terms of management to select alternatives and avoid making these decisions based only on experience or feeling. Design/methodology/approach: To support the decision-making process regarding the choice or combination between own and leased fleet, optimal solutions are built using a hybrid model that combines techniques from the multi-attribute utility theory (Maut) models of economic engineering with the help of the total cost of ownership (TCO). The alternatives are weighted (considered) qualitatively and quantitatively through the proposed model. Findings: The results confirm the compatibility between the methods used, providing the agency with a methodological tool that qualifies the decision based on a model that reveals the decision-makers' preferences in terms of relevant attributes to good management, while respecting budgetary constraints.