National Aeronautics and Space Administration fundamental research program. Information utilization and evaluation

In the second half of the 1980's NASA can expect to face difficult choices among alternative fundamental and applied research, and development projects that could potentially lead to improvements in the information systems used to manage renewable resources. The working group on information utilization and evaluation believes that effective choices cannot be made without a better understanding of the current and prospective problems and opportunities involved in the application of remote sensing to improve renewable research information systems. A renewable resources information system is defined in a broad context to include a flow of data/information from: acquisition through processing, storage, integration with other data, analysis, graphic presentation, decision making, and assessment of the affects of those decisions

SIGNIFICANT WASTE FACTORS INFLUENCING DELIVERY COST PERFORMANCE OF DESIGN AND BUILD LOW-COST HOUSING PROJECTS IN IMO STATE NIGERIA

Published ArticleEffective performances particularly on Low-cost housing projects has been a major problem in many developing countries. In Nigeria, public sector clients have adopted the design and build (DB) procurement strategy as one of the strategies to deliver Lowcost housing (LcH) projects following potential benefits to facilitate improved performances particularly as it pertains to project cost. Yet, many design and build low-cost housing (DBLcH) projects are not delivered within expected target cost performances resulting from the influences of waste factors amongst several others identified. This paper aim to identify the waste factors that significantly influence poor cost performances of DBLcH projects based on the investigation of the LcH sector in Imo State Nigeria. A mixed method design, using literature review and survey questionnaire, was adopted in this study, to identify and validate contextual waste factors influencing DBLcH project cost performances. Findings revealed the significant waste factors influencing poor cost performances of DBLcH projects. This study’s findings is expected to increase the awareness of the project team on the significant waste factors that will need to be mitigated towards improving the cost performances of DBLcH projects in Imo State Nigeria

Optimizing the Prioritization of Natural Disaster Recovery Projects

Prioritizing reconstruction projects to recover a base from a natural disaster is a complicated and arduous process that involves all levels of leadership. The project prioritization phase of base recovery has a direct affect on the allocation of funding, the utilization of human resources, the obligation of projects, and the overall speed and efficiency of the recovery process. The focus of this research is the development of an objective and repeatable process for optimizing the project prioritization phase of the recovery effort. This work will focus on promoting objectivity in the project prioritizing process, improving the communication of the overall base recovery requirement, increasing efficiency in utilizing human and monetary resources, and the creation of a usable and repeatable decision-making tool based on Value-Focused Thinking and integer programming methods

A role delineation study for the SME

The purpose of this research was to perform a role delineation study to validate and prioritize the competency areas included in the body of knowledge developed by SME/AME/Shingo for their three levels of certification examinations in lean manufacturing. A modified Delphi technique was used to gather data and describe what experts in the field consider important for candidates to know and become certified in the discipline of lean manufacturing. Seventy-six Delphi panel experts were selected to serve on the Delphi panel, based on their experience, expertise, and commitment. The study incorporated a Web-based pre-Delphi study followed by three rounds of Delphi questionnaire iterations in both mail and electronic format. A hybrid quantitative and qualitative research design was used for this study in which the Delphi experts were asked to rate the importance of competency areas for testing at each level of lean certification using a 5-point Likert scale and provide additional comments. A convergence of opinion on the competency areas obtained from the Delphi study provided a basis for validating the body of knowledge. A combined grand average of the mean rating of importance and yes percent rating for inclusion was utilized to determine the number of items to be included under each major domain for the Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels of lean certification examinations. The results of the study indicated a need for modifications in the body of knowledge, change in percentage of importance to five major domains under each certification level, and inclusion of a few additional competency areas

Toward collisions produced in requirements rankings: A qualitative approach and experimental study

Requirements prioritization is an important issue that determines the way requirements are selected and processed in software projects. There already exist specific methods to classify and prioritize requirements, most of them based on quantitative measures. However, most of existing approaches do not consider collisions, which are an important concern in large-scale requirements sets and, more specifically, in agile development processes where requirements have to be uniquely selected for each software increment. In this paper, we propose QMPSR (Qualitative Method for Prioritizing Software Requirements), an approach that features the prioritization of requirements by considering qualitative elements that are related to the project's priorities. Our approach highlights a prioritization method that has proven to reduce collisions in software requirements rankings. Furthermore, QMPSR improves accuracy in classification when facing large-scale requirements sets, featuring no scalability problems as the number of requirements increases. We formally introduce QMPSR and then define prioritization effort and collision metrics to carry out comprehensive experiments involving different sets of requirements, comparing our approach with well-known existing prioritization methods. The experiments have provided satisfactory results, overcoming existing approaches and ensuring scalabilityThis work was partially supported by the Spanish Government [grant number RTI2018-095255-B-I00 ] and the Madrid Research Council [grant number P2018/TCS-4314

Using multi-scale spatial prioritization criteria to optimize non-natural mortality mitigation of target species

Non-natural mortality is a major threat to animal conservation worldwide. Its origins are extremely diverse and include infrastructures that cause animal casualties. Its effects are widely felt and so prioritization criteria are necessary when implementing mitigation actions. Most of the threats causing non-natural mortality have in common the fact that they are distributed unevenly across several spatial scales. Thus, here we present a protocol for prioritizing conservation measures in: (i) population fractions suffering from high levels of non-natural mortality whose demographic effects are the most serious, and in (ii) areas with the highest risk of casualties due to heterogeneities in both spatial use by individuals and the inherent hazards of the infrastructures causing mortality. To do so, the protocol consist of 5 steps: 1) to identify sink populations over large geographical areas; 2) to identify sink areas of high mortality within target populations; 3) to identify areas intensively used by individuals in target areas; 4) to identify spatial points or individual infrastructures showing high mortality risk; and 5) using direct evidence of casualties to complete information on high-risk sites and infrastructures. To show the potential of this protocol, we use as an example the mitigation of mortality due to electrocution in Bonelli's eagle in SW Europe, where this species is of conservation concern. Thanks to the retrofitting of dangerous pylons, we demonstrate that our protocol can help restore Bonelli's eagle territories to levels that will ensure the persistence of the studied population. In addition, we show that our criteria enhance the optimization of resource investment in mortality mitigation as our criteria identify the pylons with the most devastating effects on the population. To summarize, we provide the basis for a framework applicable to many different species and scenarios whose costs in terms of mitigation actions and benefits in terms of population viability prospects can be explicitly calculated

2020 Mom Community Action Toolkit

2020 Mom developed this toolkit to serve as a roadmap for coalitions working to improve the continuum of care for maternal mental health (MMH) disorders in their communities. 2020 Mom is committed to facilitating A.C.T.I.O.N. (Advancing Collaboration through Toolkits, Initiatives, and Online Networking) among community coalitions.This project is intended for existing maternal child health community coalitions or group leaders looking to improve screening and treatment rates for MMH disorders in their communities. We believe local leaders understand the unique needs in their regions and are best suited to address gaps in care, drive policy change, and build partnerships to improve maternal mental health.The Community Action Toolkit is a manual for creating an MMH community action plan by working through the 2020 Mom Action Cycle. This process includes: assessing the community's MMH services, analyzing findings, setting priorities, determining local interventions, and ultimately drafting an evidence-based MMH Action Plan.The toolkit includes templates for developing a membership invitation, meeting agendas, meeting minutes, project workplans, a strategy grid, SMART objectives, a logic model, and the action plan with built-in evaluation. The toolkit also provides a menu of interventions with guidance for selecting those that will address local issues within a realistic budget

Supply Chain Risk Management of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in Australia

This research examines the supply chain risk management of Australia’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply chain. The study develops a risk management methodology based on quality function deployment and 0-1 multiobjective optimization model. The research reveals 33 LNG supply chain risks and 30 risk management strategies (RMSs) for Australian LNG supply chain. Optimal sets of RMSs are found using the methodology which would be beneficial for the LNG risk managers in a limited resources scenario

Final Report-Workshop on Experiences and Options for Priority Setting in NARS, August 12-16, 1996, Nairobi, Kenya

The motivation for this workshop came from two sources. First, under a project funded by USAID (AFR/SD/PSGE/TDT Office), Michigan State University (MSU) has been carrying out various activities to assist African national agricultural research systems (NARS) and regional organizations to improve their capacity for strategic agricultural research planning, including technology assessment and priority setting within a commodity sector framework. Second, recent collaborative work by the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) has focused on the development of a process and methods for program-level priority setting. The objectives of the workshop were (1) to provide a forum for ASARECA member NARS to synthesize their experiences with institute and program-level priority setting and technology assessment; (2) to examine the process and methods developed by KARI/ISNAR and other NARS in commodity program planning; and (3) to develop country-specific frameworks and action plans for a priority-setting/technology assessment study in a focus program area, to be carried out beginning in late 1996.food security, food policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Downloads July 2008 - June 2009: 11, F0,