Browsing by Subject "Multi-criteria decision analysis"
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Item Open Access Construction of a Decision Analysis Tool for Choosing Corporate Environmental Management Systems(2010-04-30T04:31:57Z) Bomher, Mary PatEnvironmental managers are continually faced with new challenges to improve stakeholder relationships, save money and reduce the organization’s environmental footprint. Many of these challenges can be efficiently addressed by implementation of an environmental management system (EMS). However, there are a number of different environmental management systems which are available. Selecting the system that is the best fit for an organization can be difficult.
Fortunately, multicriteria decision analysis is well-suited to this type of decision problem. The objective of this project was to construct a decision analysis tool to differentiate among environmental management systems based on organizations’ preferences. The project focused on three environmental management systems: ISO14001, Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) and The Natural Step (TNS). The tool was built using the expertise of environmental management system practitioners to evaluate the systems on criteria representing financial, logistical and environmental goals. I tested the tool using the preferences of environmental managers at two chemical and two manufacturing facilities to show that the tool is useful. I improved the tool’s user-friendliness based on comments from a typical user.
The results showed that the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme system scored best on the majority of attributes, and was the preferred alternative for three out of four sample cases. Additionally, the most important attributes amongst all respondents were verification reliability and environmental stewardship. Slight similarities in the importance rating of attributes were seen between the facilities of equivalent size.
Overall, the process demonstrated that how an EMS is implemented at an organization will be based on the preferences of the organization and what they are hoping to accomplish with their system. While some organizations want to focus on saving money, others choose to focus on a reduction in emissions. The decision analysis tool I developed is flexible enough to accommodate such differences in priorities.
Finally, this research showed that none of these three systems scored perfectly on all company objectives. It is possible to identify the single system that best matches a facility’s preferences, but the best environmental management system may be a hybrid among the three.
Item Open Access EVALUATE NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR FLOOD MANAGEMENT IN CHINESE CITIES: A CASE STUDY OF NINGBO, ZHEJIANG(2024-04-26) Chen, Lufei; Dong, SiyuThis Master's Project delves into the pressing issue of flood management strategies in Ningbo, China, a region vulnerable to riverine flooding. As China experiences an unprecedented surge in urbanization, propelled by rapid industrialization and economic growth, cities face a plethora of challenges, including strained infrastructure, environmental degradation, and increased vulnerability to climate change impacts. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of NbS in enhancing urban resilience against flood risks, addressing the intricate interplay between urbanization and environmental degradation. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative spatial analyses with qualitative literature reviews and document analyses. A systematic review of policies related to NbS in China reveals that while the country lacks a comprehensive policy system dedicated to NbS, relevant policy contents are scattered across various ministries, each using context-specific terminology. The study identifies flood management as the most pressing challenge faced by Chinese coastal cities, particularly in the Yangtze River Delta, where millions of people are already exposed to the serious risks of severe floods and storms, a phenomenon expected to intensify due to climate change. Through GIS-based Analytical Hierarchy Process and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, a flood susceptibility map is generated to identify high-risk areas along Ningbo's riverbanks. The analysis integrates diverse criteria, such as elevation, slope, rainfall, and land use land cover, into a unified decision-making process. Considering complex socio-economic factors, Fenghua River in Guangdu Village, Fenghua District, is selected as the research site for examining the implementation of Setback Levees as the preferred NbS. A Cost-Benefit Analysis is conducted to assess the economic viability of implementing Setback Levees in the selected area over a 10-year period. The analysis covers initial and ongoing expenses, reduction in flood-related damages, opportunity costs, transaction costs, and potential ecological or social externalities. The results demonstrate a favorable Benefit-Cost Ratio of approximately 11.95, indicating that the potential benefits significantly outweigh the costs. Sensitivity analysis further confirms the robustness of the project's economic feasibility under various scenarios. The findings contribute to the strategic planning and implementation of flood control measures that are adaptive to climate change, sustainable, and aligned with ecosystem-based management principles. The study highlights the potential of NbS as a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional flood control measures, offering valuable insights for urban flood management in Ningbo and other delta cities across China facing similar challenges of urbanization and climate change. By integrating NbS into urban planning and policy frameworks, cities can build resilience to climate change while simultaneously promoting ecological sustainability and socio-economic development.Item Open Access Management Prioritization in a Public-Facing Urban Wetland(2023-04-28) Carvalho, Juliana; Chase, BenjaminThe Museum of Life and Science is a nature center and science museum located in Durham, North Carolina, working to understand and improve the health of an urban wetland ecosystem located on their campus. The majority of the natural land cover within the wetland’s watershed is forested and managed by the Museum, so a forest inventory and management analysis was conducted to understand potential impacts on the wetland. Interviews and a literature review produced alternatives for community-based environmental management in urban ecosystems that formed a basis for a multi-criteria decision analysis framework. This paper provides a decision-making methodology for the Museum of Life and Science to assess potential environmental management decisions and recommendations through a forestry lens to improve watershed health while meeting their mission.Item Open Access Periodic benefit-risk assessment using Bayesian stochastic multi-criteria acceptability analysis.(Contemporary clinical trials, 2018-04) Li, Kan; Yuan, Shuai Sammy; Wang, William; Wan, Shuyan Sabrina; Ceesay, Paulette; Heyse, Joseph F; Mt-Isa, Shahrul; Luo, ShengBenefit-risk (BR) assessment is essential to ensure the best decisions are made for a medical product in the clinical development process, regulatory marketing authorization, post-market surveillance, and coverage and reimbursement decisions. One challenge of BR assessment in practice is that the benefit and risk profile may keep evolving while new evidence is accumulating. Regulators and the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) recommend performing periodic benefit-risk evaluation report (PBRER) through the product's lifecycle. In this paper, we propose a general statistical framework for periodic benefit-risk assessment, in which Bayesian meta-analysis and stochastic multi-criteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) will be combined to synthesize the accumulating evidence. The proposed approach allows us to compare the acceptability of different drugs dynamically and effectively and accounts for the uncertainty of clinical measurements and imprecise or incomplete preference information of decision makers. We apply our approaches to two real examples in a post-hoc way for illustration purpose. The proposed method may easily be modified for other pre and post market settings, and thus be an important complement to the current structured benefit-risk assessment (sBRA) framework to improve the transparent and consistency of the decision-making process.