scholarly journals Enhancing Performance-Based Regulation: Lessons from New Zealand's Building Control System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Peter John Mumford
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Building Control ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Technology Shifts ◽  
A Performance

<p>Performance-based regulation establishes mandatory goals rather than enforcing prescriptive standards. Performance-based regulation has become popular over the past two decades as an alternative to prescriptive regulation, as it holds out the promise of simultaneously achieving health, safety and environmental outcomes while facilitating innovation and reducing regulatory costs. In the early 1990s New Zealand adopted a performance-based building control regime. This demonstrably failed and was replaced in 2004 with a new regime, still performance-based but more conservative. Using legal determinations, adjudications and court cases, and reviews of the failures, contributing factors have been identified. An assessment has been made of the extent to which these factors can be attributed to the performance philosophy and features of the regime. Strategies to addresses the weaknesses of performance-based regulation have been explored. The change from a standards-based regulatory regime, where technology shifts are on the margin and occur through a process of incremental trial-and-error, to a performance-based regime, displaced traditional institutions for aggregating knowledge required for risk-based decision-making. At the same time, the new performance-based regime was permissive of greater technology shifts, which demands more of decision-makers who are operating in an environment of inevitable uncertainty. The significance of the regime change was not well understood and new institutions did not evolve. Reverting to traditional institutions is not an option as they are inherently conservative and therefore innovation as one of the normative benefits of performance-based regulation is likely to be constrained. New institutions are required to aggregate knowledge, but also permit decisions that enable the technology threshold to be pushed out in situations where it is not possible to measure accurately how a novel technology will perform in all of the circumstances of its use, and failure in the field is a possibility. This requires knowledge that is both technical and evaluative. Technical knowledge is more than science, but increasingly knowledge in other domains such as psychology, economics, and both domestic and international law. Evaluative knowledge is that which is required to assess risks and consequences. This study explores two strategies for resolving the challenges of decision-making in a permissive performance-based regulatory environment: improving the predicative capability of decision-making systems through the better application of the intuitive judgment associated with expertise and wisdom, and treating novel technologies as explicit experiments. Both strategies show promise, but may be difficult to implement. If the conditions for materially pushing out the thresholds of technology while managing the risks cannot be met, it may be necessary to revert to incremental trial-and-error in high-risk areas. This does not preclude innovation, but it will be at a slower rate.</p>

Enhancing Performance-Based Regulation: Lessons from New Zealand's Building Control System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Peter John Mumford
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Building Control ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Technology Shifts ◽  
A Performance

<p>Performance-based regulation establishes mandatory goals rather than enforcing prescriptive standards. Performance-based regulation has become popular over the past two decades as an alternative to prescriptive regulation, as it holds out the promise of simultaneously achieving health, safety and environmental outcomes while facilitating innovation and reducing regulatory costs. In the early 1990s New Zealand adopted a performance-based building control regime. This demonstrably failed and was replaced in 2004 with a new regime, still performance-based but more conservative. Using legal determinations, adjudications and court cases, and reviews of the failures, contributing factors have been identified. An assessment has been made of the extent to which these factors can be attributed to the performance philosophy and features of the regime. Strategies to addresses the weaknesses of performance-based regulation have been explored. The change from a standards-based regulatory regime, where technology shifts are on the margin and occur through a process of incremental trial-and-error, to a performance-based regime, displaced traditional institutions for aggregating knowledge required for risk-based decision-making. At the same time, the new performance-based regime was permissive of greater technology shifts, which demands more of decision-makers who are operating in an environment of inevitable uncertainty. The significance of the regime change was not well understood and new institutions did not evolve. Reverting to traditional institutions is not an option as they are inherently conservative and therefore innovation as one of the normative benefits of performance-based regulation is likely to be constrained. New institutions are required to aggregate knowledge, but also permit decisions that enable the technology threshold to be pushed out in situations where it is not possible to measure accurately how a novel technology will perform in all of the circumstances of its use, and failure in the field is a possibility. This requires knowledge that is both technical and evaluative. Technical knowledge is more than science, but increasingly knowledge in other domains such as psychology, economics, and both domestic and international law. Evaluative knowledge is that which is required to assess risks and consequences. This study explores two strategies for resolving the challenges of decision-making in a permissive performance-based regulatory environment: improving the predicative capability of decision-making systems through the better application of the intuitive judgment associated with expertise and wisdom, and treating novel technologies as explicit experiments. Both strategies show promise, but may be difficult to implement. If the conditions for materially pushing out the thresholds of technology while managing the risks cannot be met, it may be necessary to revert to incremental trial-and-error in high-risk areas. This does not preclude innovation, but it will be at a slower rate.</p>

scholarly journals The Psychological Puzzle: Contributing Factors to the Top-Down Politicization of Intelligence

Elements ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Moretti
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Intelligence Community ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Rational Decision ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Rational Decision Making

Policy and intelligence are intimately intertwined. Policymakers need intelligence to make decisions, while the intelligence community derives significance from its ability to provide policy makers with reliable information. In this symbiotic relationship, it is healthy for intelligence consumers to at times check and direct the work of intelligence producers. However, if undertaken maliciously, this checking mechanism manifests as top-down politicization. Here, leaders use intelligence post facto to legitimize their policies instead of using it to guide them, reversing the rational decision-making process. Certain factors may compel leaders to manipulate intelligence to reflect their policy preferences. This essay demonstrates how three distinct processes of top-down politicization can arise from ambiguous evidence, the psychology of intelligence consumers, and the nature of the leaders’ political positions and responsibilities. It then proceeds to argue that political leaders’ psychology is the most potent source of top-down politicization.

scholarly journals The Transformation of the Crimean Tatars’ Institutions and Discourses After 2014

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-66
Author(s):  
Elmira Muratova
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Great Support ◽  
The Face ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Crimean Tatar

Abstract The article deals with the transformation of the Crimean Tatars’ institutions and discourses after the 2014 conflict around Crimea. It shows the change in the balance of power of traditional institutions such as Mejlis and Muftiyat, which for many years represented secular and religious components of Crimean Tatars’ ethnic identity. It tells how the Mejlis was dismissed from the political stage in Crimea, while the Muftiyat has enjoyed a great support by new authorities. This transformation and threats to societal security inevitably led to reassessment of previous views and goals of the main actors in the Crimean Tatar community and the formation of new institutions with hybrid composition and discourse. The article focuses on organization such as ‘Crimean solidarity,’ which was formed in 2016 as a reaction to authorities’ pressure over the Crimean Tatars. Using discourse analysis of statements of activists of this organization and content analysis of social media, the author presents the main topics of its discourse and types of activity. She shows how the traditional Islamic discourse of activists of this organization has been transformed by the incorporation of the main concepts of secular discourse developed by the Mejlis. The author argues that the appearance of ‘Crimean solidarity’ indicates the blurring of lines between secular and religious, and ethnic and Islamic in the Crimean Tatar society. It shows how people with different backgrounds and agendas manage to leave their differences aside to support each other in the face of a common threat.

Performance-Based Adaptive Automation: Number of Task Types and Response Time Measures Triggering Level of Automation Changes

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-41
Author(s):  
Gloria Calhoun ◽  
Heath Ruff ◽  
Elizabeth Frost ◽  
Sarah Bowman ◽  
Jessica Bartik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Response Time ◽  
System Performance ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Adaptive Automation ◽  
Level Of Automation ◽  
Control Schemes ◽  
Task Types ◽  
A Performance

A key challenge facing automation designers is how to achieve an ideal balance of system automation with human interaction for optimal operator decision making and system performance. A performance-based adaptive automation algorithm was evaluated with two versus six monitored task types. Results illustrate the importance of level of automation choices in control schemes.

The Governance System of the European Energy Union and Climate Action

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Schlacke ◽  
Michèle Knodt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
National Level ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Member States ◽  
Energy Union ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Protection Goals

On 24 December 2018, the Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 on the governance system of the Energy Union and Climate Action entered into force. The Governance Regulation provides the European Union with a new regulatory regime for renewable energies and energy efficiency. It has the function of an ‘Umbrella Regulation’ which aims at the overarching control of energy and climate policies for the period 2021 to 2030. Its target is to implement the climate protection goals of the Paris Agreement. At the same time, it represents a compromise and compensation for the European Union’s lack of competences in the area of energy supply, especially concerning the determination of the energy mix of the Member States. Despite choosing a Regulation (which applies automatically) as the legislative tool, its steering and sanctioning mechanisms are in this respect rather ‘soft’: The Regulation gives the Member States a wide scope of decision-making. Which goals and instruments are established by the Governance Regulation, which scope of decision making remains at the national level, how Germany exercises its decision making powers and how it should be exercised are key questions addressed in this article.

Difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis: contributing factors and burden of disease

Rheumatology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia M T Roodenrijs ◽  
Marlies C van der Goes ◽  
Paco M J Welsing ◽  
Janneke Tekstra ◽  
Floris P J G Lafeber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Burden Of Disease ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Trial And Error ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Pain Syndromes ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Comprehensive Study

Abstract Objectives Treatment of difficult-to-treat (D2T) RA patients is generally based on trial-and-error and can be challenging due to a myriad of contributing factors. We aimed to identify risk factors at RA onset, contributing factors and the burden of disease. Methods Consecutive RA patients were enrolled and categorised as D2T, according to the EULAR definition, or not (controls). Factors potentially contributing to D2T RA and burden of disease were assessed. Risk factors at RA onset and factors independently associated with D2T RA were identified by logistic regression. D2T RA subgroups were explored by cluster analysis. Results Fifty-two RA patients were classified as D2T and 100 as non-D2T. Lower socioeconomic status at RA onset was found as an independent risk factor for developing D2T RA (OR 1.97 (95%CI 1.08–3.61)). Several contributing factors were independently associated with D2T RA, occurring more frequently in D2T than non-D2T patients: limited drug options because of adverse events (94% vs 57%) or comorbidities (69% vs 37%), mismatch in patient’s and rheumatologist’s wish to intensify treatment (37% vs 6%), concomitant fibromyalgia (38% vs 9%) and poorer coping (worse levels). Burden of disease was significantly higher in D2T RA patients. Three subgroups of D2T RA patients were identified: 1) ‘non-adherent dissatisfied patients’; 2) patients with ‘pain syndromes and obesity’; 3) patients closest to the concept of ‘true refractory RA’. Conclusions This comprehensive study on D2T RA shows multiple contributing factors, a high burden of disease and the heterogeneity of D2T RA. These findings suggest that these factors should be identified in daily practice in order to tailor therapeutic strategies further to the individual patient.

Risk-Based Analysis and Decision Making in Multi-Disciplinary Environments

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin S. Feather ◽  
Steven L. Cornford ◽  
Kelly Moran
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Electromagnetic Interference ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Critical Systems ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Novel Technology ◽  
Technology Applications ◽  
Development Risks

A risk-based decision-making process conceived of and developed at JPL and NASA, has been used to help plan and guide novel technology applications for use on spacecraft. These applications exemplify key challenges inherent in multidisciplinary design of novel technologies deployed in mission-critical settings: 1) Cross-disciplinary concerns are numerous (e.g., spacecraft involve navigation, propulsion, telecommunications). These concerns are cross-coupled and interact in multiple ways (e.g., electromagnetic interference, heat transfer). 2) Time and budget pressures constrain development, operational resources constrain the resulting system (e.g., mass, volume, power). 3) Spacecraft are critical systems that must operate correctly the first time in only partially understood environments, with no chance for repair. 4) Past experience provides only a partial guide: New mission concepts are enhanced and enabled by new technologies, for which past experience is lacking. The decision-making process rests on quantitative assessments of the relationships between three classes of information-objectives (the things the system is to accomplish and constraints on its operation and development), risks (whose occurrence detracts from objectives), and mitigations (options for reducing the likelihood and/or severity of risks). The process successfully guides experts to pool their knowledge, using custom-built software to support information gathering and decision-making.

scholarly journals Odin Teatret’s The Tree: performing in the interstices

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Campbell ◽  
Jane Turner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Complex Space ◽  
The Status ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Recent Addition ◽  
A Performance

Abstract: This article aims to critically engage with Odin Teatret’s most recent addition to the repertoire, The Tree (2016), in order to investigate the ways in which Barba’s dramaturgical decision-making processes create a performance field that metaphorically comments on the status of the group today whilst critiquing contemporary geo-politics. Importantly, we argue that notions of interculturalism - which have often been employed by scholars to critique the Odin’s work - do not address the full complexity of the embodied concatenation of the group’s practice, and we employ the term interstitial to more effectively articulate the complex space produced by the group’s training and performances.

scholarly journals Climate change governance in the anthropocene: emergence of polycentrism in Chile

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Arriagada ◽  
Paulina Aldunce ◽  
Gustavo Blanco ◽  
Cecilia Ibarra ◽  
Pilar Moraga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Climate Change Responses ◽  
New Institutions

Multilateral efforts are essential to an effective response to climate change, but individual nations define climate action policy by translating local and global objectives into adaptation and mitigation actions. We propose a conceptual framework to explore opportunities for polycentric climate governance, understanding polycentricity as a property that encompasses the potential for coordinating multiple centers of semiautonomous decision-making. We assert that polycentrism engages a diverse array of public and private actors for a more effective approach to reducing the threat of climate change. In this way, polycentrism may provide an appropriate strategy for addressing the many challenges of climate governance in the Anthropocene. We review two Chilean case studies: Chile’s Nationally Determined Contribution on Climate Change and the Chilean National Climate Change Action Plan. Our examination demonstrates that Chile has included a diversity of actors and directed significant financial resources to both processes. The central government coordinated both of these processes, showing the key role of interventions at higher jurisdictional levels in orienting institutional change to improve strategic planning and better address climate change. Both processes also provide some evidence of knowledge co-production, while at the same time remaining primarily driven by state agencies and directed by technical experts. Efforts to overcome governance weaknesses should focus on further strengthening existing practices for climate change responses, establishing new institutions, and promoting decision-making that incorporates diverse social actors and multiple levels of governance. In particular, stronger inclusion of local level actors provides an opportunity to enhance polycentric modes of governance and improve climate change responses. Fully capitalizing on this opportunity requires establishing durable communication channels between different levels of governance.

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