Reference points and reference directions for size-based indicators of community structure

Abstract Size-based community and ecosystem metrics, such as mean body mass and the slopes of size spectra, have been proposed as indicators to support the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM). These metrics show relatively consistent responses to size-selective exploitation, and “unexploited” indicator reference points may be predicted with models of size-structured foodwebs. Whereas unexploited reference points provide a baseline for assessing the relative magnitude of fishing impacts, target or limit reference points are needed to guide management. Values for target or limit reference points are difficult to justify on scientific grounds. However, given that fishing impacts in most ecosystems need to be reduced to meet the objectives of the EAFM, we argue that reference directions provide alternative medium-term management targets. We show that the power of surveys to detect trends consistent with reference directions depends on the range of body size classes included in the analysis. Selection of different size ranges will weight metrics to respond to the release of small fish from predation, the depletion of larger individuals as a consequence of exploitation, or both. Such weightings may not be consistent over time, because the differential vulnerability of larger species, within-population changes, predator–prey relationships, and the effects of competition depend on contemporary rates of fishing mortality and the history of exploitation. The power of the surveys investigated is poor on time scales of less than 5–10 years. Therefore, size-based indicators provide better support for medium-term, rather than year-on-year, management decision making.

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The Use of Water Quality Models in Management Decision Making

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1982.0145 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 14 (9-11) ◽

pp. 1095-1107 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Thomas O. Barnwell ◽

Peter A. Krenkel

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Source Control ◽

Management Decision ◽

Local Planning ◽

Quality Models ◽

Planning And Design ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

History Of ◽

Water Quality Models

The use of water quality models in three management contexts is described: screening, planning, and design. Screening models are illustrated by describing a methodology applicable to large areas of land and another applied to a large number of chemicals. The application of models in a planning context is illustrated by a local planning agency's use in developing nonpoint source control strategies and by the federal government's use in assessing potential exposure to a pesticide. Development of design criteria is illustrated by summarizing the long history of model use to develop effluent limits in the Holston River basin (Tennessee).

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Geography and Statistics: On the Anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society

Voprosy statistiki ◽

10.34023/2313-6383-2021-28-1-92-104 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 92-104

Author(s):

E. S. Zavarina

Keyword(s):

Scientific Discipline ◽

Scientific Activity ◽

Historical Background ◽

Management Decision ◽

Geographical Society ◽

Social And Economic Development ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

History Of ◽

The Russian Federation ◽

Historical Relationship

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS), primarily to the interaction between geography and statistics. The author examined in detail the evolution and stages of this interaction, noting that since its foundation, despite all the political storms, the Society has not ceased its activities, preserved continuity and traditions established by its founders.The article opens with the analysis of the historical background and economic prerequisites for the foundation of geographical societies worldwide. The author gives a detailed account of the founding history of the Russian Geographical Society (following in the footsteps of France, Germany and England), focusing on trials and tribulations that accompanied the foundation and naming of the Society. The author provides biographical information on statesmen and scholars who are founders and organizers of the RGS, describes the functions speciﬁed in the Charter. One of the four branches in the structure of the RGS was the department «Statistics», which allowed the author in the following sections to consider the interaction between statistics and geography.A separate section of the article addresses the historical relationship between geography and statistics, which has resulted in the development of a methodological and analytical tool for management decision-making on social and economic development of countries and regions. The article also describes a new direction of scientiﬁc activity in the world «Regional science», combining a multitude of sciences into its research, including statistics, economic geography and demography. In conclusion, in the twentieth century, statistics and geography were within the same scientiﬁc discipline, complementing and enriching one another and giving an impetus to social development.The article concludes with information on the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society in the Russian Federation and prospects for the development of a modern public organization.

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Spatial and temporal quantification of forest residue volumes and delivered costs

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2015-0451 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (6) ◽

pp. 832-843 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Lucas A. Wells ◽

Woodam Chung ◽

Nathaniel M. Anderson ◽

John S. Hogland

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Basal Area ◽

Management Decision ◽

Forest Inventory And Analysis ◽

Forest Residue ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

Sensing Model ◽

History Of ◽

Quadratic Mean Diameter

Growing demand for bioenergy, biofuels, and bioproducts has increased interests in the utilization of biomass residues from forest treatments as feedstock. In areas with limited history of industrial biomass utilization, uncertainties in the quantity, distribution, and cost of biomass production and logistics can hinder the development of new bio-based industries. This paper introduces a new methodology to quantify and spatially describe delivered feedstock volumes and costs across landscapes of arbitrary size in ways that characterize operational and annual management decision-making. Using National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery, the forest is segmented into operational-level treatment units. A remote sensing model based on NAIP imagery and Forest Inventory and Analysis plot data are used to attribute treatment units with stand-level estimates of basal area, tree density, aboveground biomass, and quadratic mean diameter. These methods are applied to a study site in southwestern Colorado to assess the quantity and distribution of treatment residue for use in bioenergy production. Results from the case study demonstrate how this generalized approach can be used in the analysis and decision-making process when establishing new bioenergy industries that use forest residue as feedstock.

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Esg company ratings – the nature and features of formation

Galic'kij ekonomičnij visnik ◽

10.33108/galicianvisnyk_tntu2020.06.104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 67 (6) ◽

pp. 104-113

Author(s):

O. Tyvonchuk

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Corporate Sustainability ◽

Management Decision ◽

Rating Agencies ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

History Of ◽

Financial Decision ◽

Market Coverage

The article examines the essence of ESG ratings, the causes and history of their origin and dissemination. It has been found that sustainable development of the companies is in the interests of both investors, companies themselves and other stakeholders, as there is a clear positive correlation between commercial success, financial performance and the efforts of businesses to implement the principles of sustainable development. One of the important tools for evaluating the effectiveness of sustainable development of companies, their risks and potential opportunities in environmental, social and corporate governance spheres are ESG ratings, which provide the conversion of large amounts of information into assessments that can be used in management decision-making. It has been defined that ESG ratings are determined by more than one hundred specialized rating agencies and companies – providers of information and financial decision-making tools. The classification and characteristics of the main ESG ratings are presented. The proposed classification differentiates ESG ratings on such attributes as the level of coverage of companies; specialization; transparency of formation methodology; information used for ratings’ preparation; scale used to rank companies. Examination of the nine best in terms of quality and usefulness international ESG ratings (RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment, Climate, Water & Forest Scores, Sustainalytics' ESG Risk Ratings, MSCI ESG Ratings, ISS ESG Governance QualityScore, ISS-Oekom Corporate Rating, Bloomberg ESG Disclosure Scores, FTSE Russell's ESG Ratings, Thomson Reuter's ESG Scores) and the first in Ukraine professional corporate sustainability rating Sustainable Ukraine allowed to establish that they differ significantly in algorithms of their formation, areas and indicators for companies’ assessment, sources of data used, etc., however, the common characteristics of the most authoritative ESG ratings are wide market coverage, transparency and correctness of the methodology used, experience and competence of specialists – developers of ratings.

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A review of challenges to determining and demonstrating efficiency of large fire management

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf16137 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (7) ◽

pp. 562 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Matthew P. Thompson ◽

Francisco Rodríguez y Silva ◽

David E. Calkin ◽

Michael S. Hand

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Fire Management ◽

Wildland Fire ◽

Fire Suppression ◽

Initial Response ◽

Relative Magnitude ◽

Management Decision ◽

Future Research ◽

Decision Factors ◽

Management Decision Making

Characterising the impacts of wildland fire and fire suppression is critical information for fire management decision-making. Here, we focus on decisions related to the rare larger and longer-duration fire events, where the scope and scale of decision-making can be far broader than initial response efforts, and where determining and demonstrating efficiency of strategies and actions can be particularly troublesome. We organise our review around key decision factors such as context, complexity, alternatives, consequences and uncertainty, and for illustration contrast fire management in Andalusia, Spain, and Montana, USA. Two of the largest knowledge gaps relate to quantifying fire impacts to ecosystem services, and modelling relationships between fire management activities and avoided damages. The relative magnitude of these and other concerns varies with the complexity of the socioecological context in which fire management decisions are made. To conclude our review, we examine topics for future research, including expanded use of the economics toolkit to better characterise the productivity and effectiveness of suppression actions, integration of ecosystem modelling with economic principles, and stronger adoption of risk and decision analysis within fire management decision-making.

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Genesis of the role of asset in different concepts of balance theories

Herald of Ternopil National Economic University ◽

10.35774/visnyk2019.03.140 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 140-151

Author(s):

Rostyslav Romaniv

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Balance ◽

Balance Sheet ◽

Financial Statements ◽

Management Decision ◽

Scientific Methods ◽

Historical Method ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

History Of ◽

Separate Balance

Introduction. The history of accounting has always been directly dependent on the needs of users of such information. It was they who formed the queries for the financial statements that formed the basis of the management decision-making process. This historical process has contributed to the emergence of various balance theories. The assets of the company were recorded in the balance sheet for several stakeholder groups. It is the understanding of the dialectic of the formation of such requests that determines the process of displaying the assets of the enterprise. purpose. The purpose of the article is to study the genesis of balance theories and to determine the list of factors that influenced the understanding of the essence of the assets of the enterprise. A historical approach to research allows you to identify trends and predict the formation of approaches to balance in the future. Metods. To achieve this goal, scientific methods were used, both at the empirical and theoretical levels of research. The methods of analysis were used to compare the determination of the essence of static and dynamic balance theories in different scientific calculations. The historical method was used to understand the logic behind the development of these theories. Modeling and abstraction techniques have been used to address different situations related to the display of assets in different theoretical constructs of the balance sheet. Results. The article discusses the development of static and dynamic balance theory in the context of the doctrines of different scientists and gives a critical analysis of the trade- offs. The dominant influence of conflicting interests of different groups of users of accounting information on the formation of variants of dynamic and static balances is proved. For the first time, the peculiarities of reflecting assets in general and intangible in particular, within the legal and economic concepts of the theories under study are identified. The risks that compromise approaches to forming the domestic balance are identified and the ways of overcoming them are identified. Discussion. In order to increase the level of objectivity and materiality of the asset information presented in the financial statements, it is necessary to search for trade-offs between legal and economic concepts within separate balance theories. Studies have shown that attempts to synthesize the balance theories themselves and to bring them together into a single accounting document run into claims from users who have different interests. Consideration of issues regarding the priority of forming a balance sheet for the benefit of stakeholders allows to state the necessity of reporting on a specific purpose: solvency, investment attractiveness, etc.

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Centralization and Effectiveness of Reward Management in Multinational Enterprises

Journal of Personnel Psychology ◽

10.1027/1866-5888/a000195 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 55-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Tekieli ◽

Marion Festing ◽

Xavier Baeten

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Social Identity Theory ◽

Multinational Enterprises ◽

Role Identity ◽

Management Decision ◽

Role Identities ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

New Perspective ◽

Subsidiary Managers ◽

The Relationship

Abstract. Based on responses from 158 reward managers located at the headquarters or subsidiaries of multinational enterprises, the present study examines the relationship between the centralization of reward management decision making and its perceived effectiveness in multinational enterprises. Our results show that headquarters managers perceive a centralized approach as being more effective, while for subsidiary managers this relationship is moderated by the manager’s role identity. Referring to social identity theory, the present study enriches the standardization versus localization debate through a new perspective focusing on psychological processes, thereby indicating the importance of in-group favoritism in headquarters and the influence of subsidiary managers’ role identities on reward management decision making.

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