Environmental sustainability

Presented at Ground water and surface water under stress: competition, interaction, solutions: a USCID water management conference on October 25-28, 2006 in Boise, Idaho.Includes bibliographical references.A study was conducted on a large-scale irrigated area located in southern Italy to analyze the cumulative effects of long-term water management practices on soils and aquifers. Assessing the environmental sustainability of irrigation systems operations was the main goal of the present research. This included envisaging feasible changes to "business-as-usual" in the study area with the aim of reducing pressures and of meeting current and future management objectives. The Determinants-Pressure-State-Impact-Response methodology suggested by the European Environmental Agency was applied to the case study to analyze cause-effect relationships between driving forces, pressures and potential impacts. Simulations of alternatives in water management and evaluation of resulting consequences were conducted by developing a spatial Decision Support System (DSS) on the study area. This basically involved development and ranking of alternatives by using a commercial software package (DEFINITE DSS). Evaluation of the most likely resulting consequences was conducted by creating maps of environmental risk by means of two commercial GIS software packages (ArcGIS and IDRISI). The used approach showed its usefulness for achieving better understanding of relevant aspects related to management of irrigation water at regional scale, for designing strategic monitoring programs to be implemented and for envisaging feasible management alternatives on large-scale irrigation systems

Risk assessment and relationship management: practical approach to supply chain risk management

The literature suggests the need for incorporating the risk construct into the measurement of organisational performance, although few examples are available as to how this might be undertaken in relation to supply chains. A conceptual framework for the development of performance and risk management within the supply chain is evolved from the literature and empirical evidence. The twin levels of dyadic performance/risk management and the management of a portfolio of performance/risks is addressed, employing Agency Theory to guide the analysis. The empirical evidence relates to the downstream management of dealerships by a large multinational organisation. Propositions are derived from the analysis relating to the issues and mechanisms that may be employed to effectively manage a portfolio of supply chain performance and risks

A Graphical Adversarial Risk Analysis Model for Oil and Gas Drilling Cybersecurity

Oil and gas drilling is based, increasingly, on operational technology, whose cybersecurity is complicated by several challenges. We propose a graphical model for cybersecurity risk assessment based on Adversarial Risk Analysis to face those challenges. We also provide an example of the model in the context of an offshore drilling rig. The proposed model provides a more formal and comprehensive analysis of risks, still using the standard business language based on decisions, risks, and value.Comment: In Proceedings GraMSec 2014, arXiv:1404.163

Indicators and methods for assessing the quality of logistic activity processes

Purpose: This article is aimed at identifying and evaluating the quality and safety indicators of processes in the logistics system and solving the problems of product control in the goods’ distribution process. Design/Methodology/Approach: In order to assess the risks and quality of control methods in the goods’ distribution processes, studies were carried out in the process of grain supply, on which the risk assessment was tested using the fault tree using a qualitative approach with a deductive logic, which allowed to identify events at the lower levels of the system. To evaluate the results when comparing various methods of monitoring the characteristics of products in the product distribution process certain statistical tools were used. The evaluation with comparative tests is required in order to determine the way of measuring products in the goods distribution logistics system. The study uses the methods of formalization, analysis, measurement, experimental and comparison. Findings: The considered risk assessment method and the given example allow us to recommend its use for the product distribution processes for various purposes. A technique is proposed for comparing various control methods based on statistical tools that can be recommended for various goods’ distribution operations. Practical implications: The results of the study can be applied in practice to improve the quality of goods’ distribution processes and reduce risks in the various supply chains. Originality/value: The main contribution of this study is to shift the emphasis on the assessment of processes in goods’ distribution to the positions of a risk-based approach and the use of various statistical tools in logistics’ activities.peer-reviewe

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation

Managing Operational Risk in Payment, Clearing, and Settlement Systems

Awareness of operational risk has increased greatly in recent years, both at individual financial institutions and for payment, clearing, and settlement systems (PCSS). PCSS consist of networks of interconnected elements (i.e., central operators, participants, and settlement agents); operational problems at any one of the key elements have the potential to disrupt the system as a whole and negatively affect financial stability. The author describes the key features of systemically important PCSS in Canada and the oversight role of the Bank of Canada with respect to those systems. She also describes one approach that could be used to assess and manage operational risk in Canadian PCSS. This approach relies on a consistent definition of operational risk that can be applied across all elements of a PCSS. It uses a recent methodology adapted from the management of operational risk at individual financial institutions. This methodology, called the loss-distribution approach, assesses risk in terms of the potential outcomes of operational events owing to certain risk factors (such as systems problems, human error, process problems, and external events), their likelihood, and their frequency. Once operational risk databases are developed that record the frequency and severity of operational events, it will be possible to estimate parts of the loss distributions for PCSS. In the meantime, qualitative analysis provided by operations experts associated with the various elements of PCSS will be important for judging the potential impact and frequency of events. In a changing financial environment, it is hoped that this methodology could be used to supplement core aspects of operational risk management, such as sound corporate governance, internal controls, policies and procedures, knowledgeable people, and robust contingency plans.Financial institutions; Payments, clearing and settlements systems

Architecture-based Qualitative Risk Analysis for Availability of IT Infrastructures

An IT risk assessment must deliver the best possible quality of results in a time-effective way. Organisations are used to customise the general-purpose standard risk assessment methods in a way that can satisfy their requirements. In this paper we present the QualTD Model and method, which is meant to be employed together with standard risk assessment methods for the qualitative assessment of availability risks of IT architectures, or parts of them. The QualTD Model is based on our previous quantitative model, but geared to industrial practice since it does not require quantitative data which is often too costly to acquire. We validate the model and method in a real-world case by performing a risk assessment on the authentication and authorisation system of a large multinational company and by evaluating the results w.r.t. the goals of the stakeholders of the system. We also perform a review of the most popular standard risk assessment methods and an analysis of which one can be actually integrated with our QualTD Model

New Directions in Compensation Research: Synergies, Risk, and Survival

We describe and use two theoretical frameworks, the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory, as lenses for examining three promising areas of compensation research. First, we examine the nature of the relationship between pay and effectiveness. Does pay typically have a main effect or, instead, does the relationship depend on other human resource activities and organization characteristics? If the latter is true, then there are synergies between pay and these other factors and thus, conclusions drawn from main effects models may be misleading. Second, we discuss a relatively neglected issue in pay research, the concept of risk as it applies to investments in pay programs. Although firms and researchers tend to focus on expected returns from compensation interventions, analysis of the risk, or variability, associated with these returns may be essential for effective decision-making. Finally ,pay program survival, which has been virtually ignored in systematic pay research, is investigated. Survival appears to have important consequences for estimating pay plan risk and returns, and is also integral to the discussion of pay synergies. Based upon our two theoretical frameworks, we suggest specific research directions for pay program synergies, risk, and survival