scholarly journals Sampling for Decision Making in Crop Loss Assessment and Pest Management: Introduction

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (11) ◽  
pp. 1080-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Hughes

Data obtained by sampling are crucial for decision making in crop loss assessment and pest management. Such data improve farmers' perceptions of the threat of pests and can, therefore, improve the quality of decision making in the practice of crop protection. The concept of a threshold, representing the dividing line between two alternative courses of action relating to seed or crop health, is an important aspect of crop protection decision making. Sampling is the means by which the required judgment can be guided. Operating characteristic curves are an important tool in the evaluation and comparison of the performance of sampling schemes. Precision integrated pest management, in which the objective is spatially variable pest management within fields, poses new problems for decision makers and statisticians developing sampling methodology in the context of crop protection.

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 611-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Avelino ◽  
Clémentine Allinne ◽  
Rolando Cerda ◽  
Laetitia Willocquet ◽  
Serge Savary

Assessment of crop loss due to multiple diseases and pests (D&P) is a necessary step in designing sustainable crop management systems. Understanding the drivers of D&P development and yield loss helps identify leverage points for crop health management. Crop loss assessment is also necessary for the quantification of D&P regulation service to identify promising systems where ecosystem service provision is optimized. In perennial crops, assessment of crop losses due to D&P is difficult, as injuries can affect yield over years. In coffee, one of the first perennials in which crop loss trials were implemented, crop losses concurrent with injuries were found to be approximately 50% lower than lagged losses that originated following the death of productive branches due to D&P. Crop losses can be assessed by field trials and surveys, where yield reduction factors such as the number of productive branches that have died are quantified, and by modeling, where damage mechanisms for each injury are considered over several years.


2012 ◽  
Vol 538-541 ◽  
pp. 895-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Chen Huang

A number of factors must be considered when selecting a convention site. Typically, most selections are based on the decision makers’ knowledge and experience, which may lead to biased decisions based on the decision makers’ subjective judgment. This study establishes decision-making evaluation factors and attributes for convention site selection based on a literature review. After surveying experts’ opinions using questionnaires, we employed the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to analyze the weighting of the factors and attributes. The results show that of the five evaluation factors, site environment is the most important, followed by meeting and accommodation facilities, local support, extraconference opportunities, and costs. Additionally, the five most important attributes among the 20 evaluation attributes are the suitability of convention facilities, suitability and quality of local infrastructure, climate, city image, and political conflict or terrorist threats.


2011 ◽  
pp. 1531-1542
Author(s):  
Zita Zoltay Paprika

Many management scholars believe that the process used to make strategic decisions affects the quality of those decisions. However, several authors have observed a lack of research on the strategic decision-making process. Empirical tests of factors that have been hypothesized to affect the way strategic decisions are made are notably absent (Fredrickson, 1985). This article reports the results of a study that attempts to assess the effects of decision-making circumstances, focusing mainly on the approaches applied and the managerial skills and capabilities the decision makers built on during concrete strategic decisionmaking procedures. The study was conducted in California between September 2005 and June 2006 and it was sponsored by a Fulbright research scholarship grant.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (s1) ◽  
pp. 140-140
Author(s):  
Negin Fouladi ◽  
Margit Malmmose

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Promote knowledge translation and evidence-informed decision-making by assessing barriers and facilitators to balancing cost and quality of care within the US state of Maryland and nation of Denmark. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Open-ended and semi-structured key-informant interviews were conducted in 2016 and 2017 among high level decision-makers in Maryland (N=21) and the Danish (N=17) healthcare systems, including hospital, local, regional, and cross-organizational administrators and elected officials. The interviews consisted of questions related to: (1) currently practiced and preferred approaches to resource allocation and development and use of quality performance measures, and (2) preferred sources, formats/styles, modes of information, and decision-making strategies based on a shift from volume to quality-driven care. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Decision-makers in Maryland expressed the need for collaboration in a changing environment, yet increasingly rely on cost and quality outcomes data to drive decisions and note the struggle to identify credible and useful information. Maryland decision-makers also face challenges in regulating utilization and costs without mandated participation of physician practices within the global budget cap model, which is perceived to be a primary driver of healthcare utilization in the hospital sector. Similarly, decision-makers in Denmark conveyed the importance of quantitative data to aid decisions, however, stress collaboration and dialogue as driving factors and important sources of information. Danish decision-makers also express challenges to wide-spread adoption of a quality-driven approach due to unsustained quality assurance regulatory bodies. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The findings suggest implementation of value-based healthcare is highly driven and influenced by availability of credible data, which may significantly impact development of policies and innovative cost control strategies, and regulatory oversight to promote adoption of quality measures in decision-making. Furthermore, collaboration within and across healthcare organizations remains a key component to health system improvement as it fosters dialogue and sharing of best practices among stakeholders.


Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossi ◽  
Sperandio ◽  
Caffi ◽  
Simonetto ◽  
Gilioli

The rational control of harmful organisms for plants (pests) forms the basis of the integrated pest management (IPM), and is fundamental for ensuring agricultural productivity while maintaining economic and environmental sustainability. The high level of complexity of the decision processes linked to IPM requires careful evaluations, both economic and environmental, considering benefits and costs associated with a management action. Plant protection models and other decision tools (DTs) have assumed a key role in supporting decision-making process in pest management. The advantages of using DTs in IPM are linked to their capacity to process and analyze complex information and to provide outputs supporting the decision-making process. Nowadays, several DTs have been developed, tackling different issues, and have been applied in different climatic conditions and agricultural contexts. However, their use in crop management is restricted to only certain areas and/or to a limited group of users. In this paper, we review the current state-of-the-art related to DTs for IPM, investigate the main modelling approaches used, and the different fields of application. We also identify key drivers influencing their adoption and provide a set of critical success factors to guide the development and facilitate the adoption of DTs in crop protection.


Safety ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Burggraaf ◽  
Groeneweg ◽  
Sillem ◽  
van Gelder

The field of safety and incident prevention is becoming more and more data based. Data can help support decision making for a more productive and safer work environment, but only if the data can be, is and should be trusted. Especially with the advance of more data collection of varying quality, checking and judging the data is an increasingly complex task. Within such tasks, cognitive biases are likely to occur, causing analysists to overestimate the quality of the data and safety experts to base their decisions on data of insufficient quality. Cognitive biases describe generic error tendencies of persons, that arise because people tend to automatically rely on their fast information processing and decision making, rather than their slow, more effortful system. This article describes five biases that were identified in the verification of a safety indicator related to train driving. Suggestions are also given on how to formalize the verification process. If decision makers want correct conclusions, safety experts need good quality data. To make sure insufficient quality data is not used for decision making, a solid verification process needs to be put in place that matches the strengths and limits of human cognition.


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