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Allocation Decisions (allocation + decision)
Kinds of Allocation Decisions Selected AbstractsRobust Resource Allocation Decisions in Resource-Constrained Projects,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 1 2007Filip Deblaere ABSTRACT The well-known deterministic resource-constrained project scheduling problem involves the determination of a predictive schedule (baseline schedule or pre-schedule) of the project activities that satisfies the finish,start precedence relations and the renewable resource constraints under the objective of minimizing the project duration. This baseline schedule serves as a baseline for the execution of the project. During execution, however, the project can be subject to several types of disruptions that may disturb the baseline schedule. Management must then rely on a reactive scheduling procedure for revising or reoptimizing the baseline schedule. The objective of our research is to develop procedures for allocating resources to the activities of a given baseline schedule in order to maximize its stability in the presence of activity duration variability. We propose three integer programming,based heuristics and one constructive procedure for resource allocation. We derive lower bounds for schedule stability and report on computational results obtained on a set of benchmark problems. [source] A Framework for Facilitating Sourcing and Allocation Decisions for Make-to-Order ItemsDECISION SCIENCES, Issue 4 2004Nagesh N. Murthy ABSTRACT This paper provides a fundamental building block to facilitate sourcing and allocation decisions for make-to-order items. We specifically address the buyer's vendor selection problem for make-to-order items where the goal is to minimize sourcing and purchasing costs in the presence of fixed costs, shared capacity constraints, and volume-based discounts for bundles of items. The potential suppliers for make-to-order items provide quotes in the form of single sealed bids or participate in a dynamic auction involving open bids. A solution to our problem can be used to determine winning bids amongst the single sealed bids or winners at each stage of a dynamic auction. Due to the computational complexity of this problem, we develop a heuristic procedure based on Lagrangian relaxation technique to solve the problem. The computational results show that the procedure is effective under a variety of scenarios. The average gap across 2,250 problem instances is 4.65%. [source] Momentum investing and the asset allocation decisionACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 4 2007Karen L. Benson G23 Abstract This study examines the active asset allocation decisions of Australian multisector fund managers to determine whether active fund managers engage in momentum strategies. We find evidence supporting the existence of momentum investing in active asset allocation strategies. This evidence exists in the Australian Equities, Australian Fixed Interest and Listed Property asset classes. Interestingly, balanced funds adopt contrarian strategies in the International Equities asset class. We also examine whether there is any association between a fund's market timing skill and the execution of momentum strategies. Our results show that fund managers with no market timing skill are momentum investors. [source] Adaptive workflow processing and execution in PegasusCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 16 2009Kevin Lee Abstract Workflows are widely used in applications that require coordinated use of computational resources. Workflow definition languages typically abstract over some aspects of the way in which a workflow is to be executed, such as the level of parallelism to be used or the physical resources to be deployed. As a result, a workflow management system has the responsibility of establishing how best to execute a workflow given the available resources. The Pegasus workflow management system compiles abstract workflows into concrete execution plans, and has been widely used in large-scale e-Science applications. This paper describes an extension to Pegasus whereby resource allocation decisions are revised during workflow evaluation, in the light of feedback on the performance of jobs at runtime. The contributions of this paper include: (i) a description of how adaptive processing has been retrofitted to an existing workflow management system; (ii) a scheduling algorithm that allocates resources based on runtime performance; and (iii) an experimental evaluation of the resulting infrastructure using grid middleware over clusters. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A Framework for Facilitating Sourcing and Allocation Decisions for Make-to-Order ItemsDECISION SCIENCES, Issue 4 2004Nagesh N. Murthy ABSTRACT This paper provides a fundamental building block to facilitate sourcing and allocation decisions for make-to-order items. We specifically address the buyer's vendor selection problem for make-to-order items where the goal is to minimize sourcing and purchasing costs in the presence of fixed costs, shared capacity constraints, and volume-based discounts for bundles of items. The potential suppliers for make-to-order items provide quotes in the form of single sealed bids or participate in a dynamic auction involving open bids. A solution to our problem can be used to determine winning bids amongst the single sealed bids or winners at each stage of a dynamic auction. Due to the computational complexity of this problem, we develop a heuristic procedure based on Lagrangian relaxation technique to solve the problem. The computational results show that the procedure is effective under a variety of scenarios. The average gap across 2,250 problem instances is 4.65%. [source] Rent seeking and collusion in the military allocation decisions of Finland, Sweden, and Great Britain, 1920,381ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2009JARI ELORANTA Analysis of military acquisition policies in Finland, Sweden, and Great Britain in the period from 1920 to 1938 produces evidence of rent seeking, both quantitative and qualitative, in all three cases. The Finnish institutional environment offered the most extensive rents and collusion opportunities, which translated into tangible price advantages for domestic producers. The Swedish and British domestic producers operated under more efficient institutions and thus had to settle for more moderate rents. Evolving institutional environments determined the extent of the rent seeking. [source] Asset allocation and age effects in retirement savings choicesACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 2 2010Paul Gerrans D91; G11; D14 Abstract We examine the asset allocation decisions of members of three large Australian retirement savings funds. Superannuation Guarantee legislation in 1992 made Australian employees compulsory investors by requiring employers to contribute a fixed proportion of earnings to a superannuation fund on behalf of employees. A majority of these employees can choose an investment strategy for these contributions. We examine how actual investment strategy and asset allocation choices of members change with age in view of the conventional wisdom that individuals allocate less to risky assets as they age and investments theory which provides conflicting advice on the issue. [source] Test of a developmental trade-off in a polyphenic butterfly: direct development favours reproductive outputFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2008Bengt Karlsson Summary 1Evolutionary theory predicts that resource allocation decisions taken during development are adjusted to an organism's life-history. These decisions may have irreversible effects on body design and strong fitness consequences. Holometabolous insects that have a long expected life span typically postpone reproduction, and so are expected to allocate resources for somatic maintenance prior to investing in reproduction. In contrast, insects that have a short expected life span are expected to allocate relatively less to soma and more to reproduction. In support of this theory, an earlier investigation of resources allocated to soma vs. reproductive reserves in the comma butterfly, Polygonia c-album, revealed that short-lived females indeed allocate more resources to reproductive reserves as compared to longer lived females that hibernate before reproduction suggesting that short-lived females should have higher fecundity. 2Here we test this prediction, using the comma butterfly as our study organism. Depending on daylength and temperature this butterfly produces one of two morphs: (i) a light summer morph that reproduces directly after adult eclosion and has a short expected life span of a couple of weeks; or (ii) a darker winter morph that normally lives for 8,9 months before the onset of reproduction. Our test is based on experimental manipulation that allowed us to induce reproduction without prior hibernation in winter morph comma butterflies, and comparing lifetime fecundity among three groups: (i) directly reproducing summer morph commas; (ii) directly reproducing winter morph commas; and (iii) winter morph commas reproducing after overwintering. This protocol allowed us to tease apart trade-offs during development and the hibernation period. 3The results showed that the short-lived summer morph had a substantially higher fecundity (total number of eggs = 586 ± 19, mean ± SE) than the winter morph females manipulated to reproduce without hibernation (total number of eggs = 334 ± 42). We argue that this is a consequence of a resource allocation trade-off during early development observed in this species; females with a short expected life as adults allocate relatively more of their resources to reproductive parts and thereby reach a higher reproductive output compared to females predisposed for a long adult life. 4There was no significant difference in lifetime fecundity between winter morph females that did, or did not, hibernate before reproduction. This suggests that the cost of hibernation per se is small and hence corroborates our conclusion that the life-history implemented trade-off made during early development underlies the lower reproductive output of the winter morph butterflies. [source] Recognition of Indigenous Interests in Australian Water Resource Management, with Particular Reference to Environmental Flow AssessmentGEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2008Sue Jackson Australia's new national water policy represents a substantial change from the previous approach, because it recognises a potential need for allocations to meet particular indigenous requirements, which will have to be quantitatively defined in water allocation plans. However, indigenous values associated with rivers and water are presently poorly understood by decision-makers, and some are difficult to quantify or otherwise articulate in allocation decisions. This article describes the range of Australian indigenous values associated with water, and the way they have been defined in contemporary water resource policy and discourse. It argues that the heavy reliance of indigenous values on healthy river systems indicates that, theoretically at least, they are logically suited for consideration in environmental flow assessments. However, where indigenous interests have been considered for assessment planning purposes indigenous values have tended to be overlooked in a scientific process that leaves little room for different world views relating to nature, intangible environmental qualities and human relationships with river systems that are not readily amenable to quantification. There is often an implicit but untested assumption that indigenous interests will be protected through the provision of environmental flows to meet aquatic ecosystem requirements, but the South African and New Zealand approaches to environmental flow assessment, for example, demonstrate different riverine uses potentially can be accommodated. Debate with indigenous land-holders and experimentation will show how suited different environment flow assessment techniques are to addressing indigenous environmental philosophies and values. [source] Momentum investing and the asset allocation decisionACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 4 2007Karen L. Benson G23 Abstract This study examines the active asset allocation decisions of Australian multisector fund managers to determine whether active fund managers engage in momentum strategies. We find evidence supporting the existence of momentum investing in active asset allocation strategies. This evidence exists in the Australian Equities, Australian Fixed Interest and Listed Property asset classes. Interestingly, balanced funds adopt contrarian strategies in the International Equities asset class. We also examine whether there is any association between a fund's market timing skill and the execution of momentum strategies. Our results show that fund managers with no market timing skill are momentum investors. [source] System design in normative and actual practice: A comparative study of cognitive task allocation in advanced manufacturing systemsHUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 2 2004Sotiris Papantonopoulos The Human Factors Engineering approach to human-machine system design is based largely on normative design methods. This article suggests that the scope of Human Factors Engineering shall be extended to the descriptive study of system design in actual practice by the application of theoretical frameworks that emphasize the role of the system-design practitioner and organization in the design process. A comparative study of system design in normative and actual practice was conducted in the design of cognitive task allocation in a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) cell. The study showed that the designers' allocation decisions were influenced strongly by factors related to their own design practices, yet exogenous to the tasks to be allocated. Theoretical frameworks from Design Research were applied to illustrate differences between normative and actual practice of system design. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 14: 181,196, 2004. [source] Estimating the effectiveness of a rotational irrigation delivery system: A case study from Pakistan,IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE, Issue 3 2010Noor ul Hassan Zardari warabandi; allocation de l'eau; bassin de l'Indus; Pakistan Abstract In this study, basic principles of the rotational irrigation water delivery system of Pakistan (i.e. the warabandi) and the performance of the warabandi system under current socio-economic conditions have been investigated from a farmers' survey completed from 154 farmers located on five watercourses of the lower Indus River Basin. It is shown that irrigation water allocation based on very limited criteria does not give much incentive to the farmers for improving agricultural income. Also, the survey results suggest that the productivity of limited irrigation water could not be maximized under the warabandi system. We have therefore suggested the basic principles of the warabandi system should be revised by making them suitable for the current socio-economic conditions. We propose that the existence or non-existence of fresh groundwater resources along with other critical variables should be taken into consideration when making canal water allocation decisions. A framework to allow distribution equity and efficiency in water allocations , such as considering the gross area of a tertiary canal, sensitivity of crop growth stage to water shortage, crop value, bias of allocation towards most water use efficient areas, the potential losses from water deficiency, etc. , should be developed as a tool to improve water productivity for Pakistan and for individual farmers. The contribution of groundwater in the farmers' income from agriculture and the economic value of irrigation water have also been estimated. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Cette étude analyse les principes de base et la performance du tour d'eau (le warabandi) selon les conditions socio-économiques à partir d'une enquête auprès de 154 agriculteurs situés sur cinq cours d'eau du bassin inférieur de l'Indus. Il est montré que la répartition de l'eau d'irrigation basée sur peu de critères n'incite pas les agriculteurs à améliorer leurs revenus. En outre, les résultats de l'enquête suggèrent que la productivité de l'eau rare ne peut pas être améliorée dans le cadre du système warabandi. Nous avons donc proposé que les principes de base du warabandi soient révisés de façon à les adapter à la situation socio-économique actuelle. Nous proposons que la disponibilité en eaux souterraines ainsi que d'autres variables soient prises en compte dans les décisions d'allocation. Un cadre permettant une allocation de l'eau équitable et efficace , prenant en compte la surface brute commandée par un canal tertiaire, la sensibilité de la croissance des cultures au moment de la pénurie d'eau, la valeur de la récolte, l'orientation vers les zones valorisant le mieux l'eau, les pertes dues au déficit en eau, etc. , devrait être développé comme un outil pour améliorer la productivité de l'eau pour le Pakistan et pour les agriculteurs. La contribution des eaux souterraines au revenu des irrigants et la valeur économique de l'eau ont également été estimées. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Market Efficiency, Bounded Rationality, and Supplemental Business Reporting DisclosuresJOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2001J. Richard Dietrich The AICPA Special Committee on Financial Reporting has urged disclosure of relevant forward-looking information on risks and opportunities to supplement conventional financial statements. We conduct a laboratory market experiment to assess the effects of such disclosures on capital allocation decisions. We develop two sets of competing hypotheses regarding how capital markets react to supplemental disclosures. One set is based on the assumption of semi-strong market efficiency, while the other posits that the bounded rationality of individual traders leads to inefficient market prices. We find that explicit disclosure of management's best estimate of an uncertain quantity improves market efficiency, even though this disclosure is redundant with information in financial statements. Second, we find disclosure of an upper bound of management's estimate has the potential to bias security prices upward, while informationally equivalent disclosure of both upper and lower bounds removes this bias. These results suggest that experimental market reactions to these supplemental disclosures are inconsistent with market efficiency. Supplemental analyses of individuals' price predictions and trading behavior support our conclusion that inefficiencies are at least partially attributable to individual information processing biases. [source] Resources and the Rule of Rescue1JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHILOSOPHY, Issue 4 2007MARK SHEEHAN abstract The central issue that I consider in this paper is the use of the so-called ,Rule of Rescue' in the context of resource allocation. This ,Rule' has played an important role in resource allocation decisions in various parts of the world. It was invoked in Ontario to overturn a decision not to fund treatment for Gaucher's Disease and it has also been used to justify resource decisions in Israel concerning the same condition. In the paper I consider the nature of the Rule of Rescue and its moral justification. The latter involves consideration of the distinction between agent-relative and agent-neutral obligations. If the Rule of Rescue is to be justified, it is plausible to think that it will be in the context of agent-relative obligations. Two problems with this suggestion are considered: the role of identifiability in the Rule of Rescue and the extent to which policy makers in a health care system can be taken to have such obligations. It is argued that in both cases these problems can be overcome and hence that there is a prima facie obligation to follow the Rule of Rescue. [source] Measuring social values in philanthropic foundationsNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 3 2009John R. Whitman Philanthropic foundations are seen as organizations that allocate resources to achieve their visions of a better world. Drawing on a sample of foundations in Canada, the United States, and Europe, this research undertakes to reveal the social values that constitute such visions and to measure the consistency between espoused social values and those conveyed by resource allocations. A social values identification and measurement instrument is described and tested. The social values that comprise the instrument are presented in a chart of social values. A methodology for measuring the consistency between social values espoused by a foundation and those actually conveyed by resource allocation decisions is described, tested, and critiqued. It is argued that the results of this research provide a basis on which to pursue development of a standardized vocabulary of social values that may enhance understanding and discourse regarding the purposes and work of foundations, as well as provide a basis for cross-cultural comparative analyses of foundations. [source] Predicting the Financial Vulnerability of Charitable OrganizationsNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 2 2000Janet S. Greenlee This article describes a model that can be used to predict which nonprofit organizations are vulnerable to financial problems. The model is based on financial indicators developed by Tuckman and Chang (1991), adapts methodologies that have been developed in the for-profit sector to predict financial vulnerability, and was empirically tested using a multiyear Internal Revenue Service database provided by the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Both internal and external stakeholders can use the model when making allocation decisions during the strategic planning process and in evaluating financial risk. [source] The dynamic efficiency of the Ramsey model with endogenous labour participation rateOPTIMAL CONTROL APPLICATIONS AND METHODS, Issue 3 2001João Ricardo Faria Abstract This paper incorporates the hypothesis of labour participation rate into the Ramsey model. It is shown that the economy can be dynamically inefficient if the average productivity of capital is greater than the sum of the rate of time preference, the population growth rate, the depreciation rate and the marginal rate of substitution between labour and consumption. The modified golden rule holds when the wage rate is equal to the marginal rate of substitution between labour and consumption. However, there is no guarantee that it will happen, since labour supply is driven by capital allocation decisions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Klimaschutz oder Interessenpolitik: Über einige ungewollte Resultate ökonomischer PolitikberatungPERSPEKTIVEN DER WIRTSCHAFTSPOLITIK, Issue 3 2005Georg Erdmann For the time being, the quantitative emission reductions defined in the National Allocation Plans (NAP) are still minor, but this outcome seems acceptable because institution building is of high priority during the first phase 2005,2007. Later, more ambitious emission reductions will follow. A closer look at the genesis of the NAP raises however some doubts about the future effectiveness of the new instrument. By analysing the CO2 allocation decisions in Germany the article shows that the greenhouse gas issue can today successfully be misused by politicians and interest groups towards achieving egoistic goals and it concludes that this did happen at the expense of the proclaimed environmental target. Due to the particular character of the greenhouse gas problem this diagnosis may hold as long as no socially and economically acceptable greenhouse gas abatement technologies have become available. [source] Introducing ethics in hospital drug resource allocation decisions: keep expectations modest and beware of unintended effects Part II: the use of ethicsPHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 7 2002Roel Fijn PhD MS MA RPh RCE First page of article [source] Introducing ethics in hospital drug resource allocation decisions: keep expectations modest and beware of unintended effects Part I: An explorative overviewPHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 6 2002Roel Fijn PhD First page of article [source] Developmental plasticity in fat patterning of Ache children in response to variation in interbirth intervals: A preliminary test of the roles of external environment and maternal reproductive strategiesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Jack Baker A firm link between small size at birth and later more centralized fat patterning has been established in previous research. Relationships between shortened interbirth intervals and small size at birth suggest that maternal energetic prioritization may be an important, but unexplored determinant of offspring fat patterning. Potential adaptive advantages to centralized fat storage (Baker et al., 2008: In: Trevathan W, McKenna J, Smith EO, editors. Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives. New York: Oxford) suggest that relationships with interbirth intervals may reflect adaptive responses to variation in patterns of maternal reproductive effort. Kuzawa (2005: Am J Hum Biol 17:5,21; 2008: In: Trevathan W, McKenna J, Smith EO, editors. Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives. New York: Oxford) has argued that maternal mediation of the energetic quality of the environment is a necessary component of developmental plasticity models invoking predictive adaptive responses (Gluckman and Hanson 2004: Trends Endocrinol Metab 15:183,187). This study tested the general hypothesis that shortened interbirth intervals would predict more centralized fat patterning in offspring. If long-term maternally mediated signals are important determinants of offspring responses, then we expected to observe a relationship between the average interbirth interval of mothers and offspring adiposity, with no relationship with the preceding interval. Such a finding would suggest that maternal, endogenous resource allocation decisions are related to offspring physiology in a manner consistent with Kuzawa's description. We observed exactly such a relationship among the Ache of Paraguay, suggesting that maternally mediated in utero signals of postnatal environments may be important determinants of later physiology. The implications of these findings are reviewed in light of life history and developmental plasticity theories and ourability to generalize the results to other populations. Recommendations for further empirical research are briefly summarized. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Transfer of life-history phenology from mothers to progeny in a solitary univoltine parasitoidPHYSIOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 2 2010ANDREW A. FORBES Among univoltine insects that experience diapause, differences in emergence timing between adult males and females are expected to be dictated by sex-specific developmental factors. In multivoltine insects without a diapause, there is often an additional relationship between the date of oviposition and the date of adult emergence. Differences between male and female emergence timing in the latter case can therefore be influenced by female sex-allocation decisions. In the present study, it is shown that eggs of a univoltine parasitoid wasp Diachasma alloeum Muesebeck (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) that are laid earlier also eclose earlier during the subsequent year, independent of (although complementary to) sex-related differences in development time. The implications of this pattern for sex allocation decisions by female univoltine parasitoids are discussed. [source] The Role of Resource Access, Market Considerations, and the Nature of Innovation in Pursuit of Standards in the New Product Development ProcessTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2003Arvind Sahay Standards influence new product development (NPD) in high-technology markets. However, existing work on standards has focused exclusively on one aspect of standards,compatibility standards. This article has the following goals. First, we delineate the concept of customer interface standards as distinct from compatibility standards. This distinction is important from a product development and technology adoption perspective. Second, we propose and show that antecedent factors may motivate a firm differently about the emphasis that the firm should put on a type of standard (compatibility or customer interface) that it follows. For example, we propose that appropriability regime affects pursuit of customer interface standards and compatibility standards differently. Finally, we illustrate how resource access and the nature of the innovation also influence a firm's decision to pursue a standard type. Finally, we propose that pursuit of different standards (customer interface or compatibility) affects the NPD process in terms of (1) sourcing and dissemination of technology and (2) the customer utility for the product, which influences adoption. We collected perceptual data from a sample of marketing and technology managers in high-tech industries in the UK using both formative and reflective scales to measure the constructs. Analysis of the data using LISREL supports our contention that compatibility standards and customer interface standards are distinct constructs and that appropriability regime influences compatibility standards and customer interface standards differently. We also find that pursuit of compatibility standards helps a firm to create direct externalities pursuit of customer interface standards helps firms to develop indirect network externalities and technological advantage in the market. Our findings have the following implications. First, managers need to account explicitly for the difference between compatibility and customer interface standards, as resource allocation decisions during the NPD process will determine where a firm puts more focus. The choices made by the firm,as to whether it pursues compatibility standards or customer interface standards,will determine the type of advantage that it can gain in the market. Given a firm's situation at a point in time, a greater focus on one standard type rather than the other may be the right approach. Such choices will influence resource allocation in the product development process. [source] Viral Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) and OPO-Level Disposition of High-Risk Donor OrgansAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 3 2009L. M. Kucirka The use of Public Health Service/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PHS/CDC) high-risk donor (HRD) organs remains controversial, especially in light of a recent high-profile case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission. Nucleic acid testing (NAT), while more expensive and time consuming, reduces infectious risk by shortening the period between infection and detectability. The purpose of this study was to characterize HRDs and disposition of their organs by organ procurement organization (OPO), to measure NAT practices by OPO and to examine associations between NAT practices and use of HRD organs. We analyzed 29 950 deceased donors (2574 HRDs) reported to UNOS since July 1, 2004 and May 8, 2008. We then surveyed all OPO clinical directors about their use of NAT, average time to receive NAT results, locations where NAT is performed and percentage of the time NAT results are available for allocation decisions. In total, 51.7% of OPOs always perform HIV NAT, while 24.1% never do. A similar pattern is seen for HCV NAT performance, while the majority (65.6%) never perform HBV NAT. AIDS prevalence in an OPO service area is not associated with NAT practice. OPOs that perform HIV NAT are less likely to export organs outside of their region. The wide variation of current practice and the possibility that NAT would improve organ utilization support consideration for a national policy. [source] ,The double identity' of Taiwanese Chinese: A dilemma of politics and culture rooted in historyASIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2004Li-Li Huang The ,double identity' of Taiwanese as both Chinese and Taiwanese identity was measured among both general and student samples using categorical and continuous measures. As predicted, Mingnan (native province) Taiwanese were higher in Taiwanese identity whereas outside-province Taiwanese were higher in Chinese identity. Both groups shared similar representations of the history of Taiwan, but evaluations of leaders followed patterns of in-group favoritism. These representations of history were used to predict and find zero correlations between Chinese and Taiwanese identity. Taiwanese and Chinese identities were mutually compatible in cultural domains, and mediated the effect of demographic group. However, in issues concerning politicized allocation decisions (and language), Taiwanese and Chinese identity worked in opposite directions, and demographic group (and a critical evaluation of an historical leader) were significant even after controlling for identity. Implications for social identity theory, realistic group conflict theory, and the cross-straits relationship are discussed. [source] An Evaluation of the Economic Approaches Used by Policy Actors towards Investment in Place-Based Partnerships in VictoriaAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, Issue 1 2010Chris McDonald Place-based partnerships are supported by the state and include various organisations and interests within particular geographic areas. The Victorian government has established place-based partnerships to plan and coordinate resource allocation decisions to meet objectives such as economic development and social inclusion. In the literature there are positive and negative views of these partnerships. One view is that they allow regions to build competitive advantage, while another is that they are a means of pursuing a neoliberal policy agenda that seeks to reduce government protection and investment. We help clarify the tensions between positive and negative views of partnerships by examining the economic approaches used by policy actors toward place-based partnerships in Victoria. We find that policy actors combine neoclassical and institutionalist approaches to argue that partnerships generate networks that enable more efficient and equitable resource allocation within places. [source] The impact of prognosis without treatment on doctors' and patients' resource allocation decisions and its relevance to new drug recommendation processesBRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 2 2008D. Ross Camidge What is already known about this subject ,,The dominant health economic units upon which new treatment funding decisions are made are the incremental cost per life year gained (LYG) or the cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. ,,Neither of these units modifies the amount of health gained, by the amount of health patients would have had if they had not been given the treatment under consideration, which may unfairly undervalue the treatments for poor prognosis conditions. ,,How certain patients make decisions about their own treatment has previously been explored, but not how they, or doctors, would allocate hypothetical resource within a healthcare system given information on disease-treatment scenarios' prognoses with and without treatment. What this study adds ,,Information on prognosis without treatment is used within the resource allocation strategies of many doctors and most patients. ,,Individuals use this information in a variety of different ways and a single dominant strategy for quantitative modification of health units is not apparent. ,,Information on prognosis without treatment, or prognosis with standard treatment, is available from the control arm of randomized controlled clinical trials and should be used qualitatively to facilitate decision-making around the second inflexion point on cost per QALY/LYG acceptability curves. Aims Health economic assessments increasingly contribute to funding decisions on new treatments. Treatments for many poor prognosis conditions perform badly in such assessments because of high costs and modest effects on survival. We aimed to determine whether underlying shortness of prognosis should also be considered as a modifier in such assessments. Methods Two hundred and eighty-three doctors and 201 oncology patients were asked to allocate treatment resource between hypothetical patients with unspecified life-shortening diseases. The prognoses with and without treatment were varied such that consistent use of one of four potential allocation strategies could be deduced: life years gained (LYGs) , which did not incorporate prognosis without treatment information; percentage increase in life years (PILY); life expectancy with treatment (LEWT) or immediate risk of death (IRD). Results Random choices were rare; 47% and 64% of doctors and patients, respectively, used prognosis without treatment in their strategies; while 50% and 32%, respectively, used pure LYG-based strategies. Ranking orders were LYG > PILY > IRD > LEWT (doctors) and LEWT > LYG > IRD > PILY (patients). When LYG information alone could not be used, 76% of doctors prioritized shorter prognoses, compared with 45% of patients. Conclusions Information on prognosis without treatment is used within the resource allocation strategies of many doctors and most patients, and should be considered as a qualitative modifier during the health economic assessments of new treatments for life-shortening diseases. A single dominant strategy incorporating this information for any quantitative modification of health units is not apparent. [source] The effect of environmental information on investment allocation decisions , an experimental studyBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2008Pall Rikhardsson Abstract This paper focuses on the use of environmental information in investment decision making. The research approach employed is based on an experiment where three groups of final year finance students were asked to allocate investment funds between two companies based on financial accounts and information material from these companies in which environmental information was included in varying degrees. The overall conclusion is that the qualitative environmental information affects short term allocation decisions, hence indicating a risk reduction potential of environmental information comparable to the classic interpretation of financial information. The quantitative environmental information included in the experiment seems to mitigate rather than extend the directional effect of more environmental information. The evidence also seems to indicate that decision makers are not always aware which information categories affect their decision making. Hence, this has implications for how the potential value of environmental information is to be assessed. Finally, experimental studies as a methodology seem to be better suited to indicate actual effects of different types of information on decision making than attitude surveys. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Identifying and Applying a Comparative Advantage Framework in Canadian Supply-Managed AgricultureCANADIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2008Michael Katz The marketing of table eggs, broiler hatching eggs, chickens, and turkeys in Canada is limited by federal and provincial supply management (SM) legislation through production quotas. The respective national regulatory agencies in each of these industries allocate, among the provinces, growth in national quotas called "overbase." Federal legislation stipulates that the allocation of overbase among provinces must take into account the principle of comparative advantage (CA) of production. None of the agencies pertaining to the feather industry has ever identified and applied CA in national quota allocation decisions. To fill this void, we modify the revealed comparative advantage approach developed by Balassa and Bowen to identify CA and develop a provincial agricultural CA index to assign overbase allocations among provinces. Overbase quota allocations should shift toward the agriculturally intensive Prairie provinces that have a CA in the Canadian feather industry and away from the nonagricultural industry-intensive provinces. Our method of SM overbase quota allocation is consistent with the objectives of Canadian SM legislation. Au Canada, la commercialisation des æufs de consommation, des æufs d'incubation de poulet de chair, du poulet et du dindon est régie par un régime de gestion de l'offre encadré par des lois fédérales et provinciales. Chaque organisme de réglementation national divise, entre les provinces, la croissance des contingents nationaux appelés ,contingent supplémentaire,. La loi fédérale stipule que l'attribution des contingents supplémentaires entre les provinces doit tenir compte du principe d'avantage comparatif en matière de production. Aucun des organismes du secteur de la volaille n'a déterminé l'avantage comparatif ni ne l'a appliqué dans les décisions d'attribution des contingents nationaux. Pour combler cette lacune, nous avons modifié la méthode de ,l'avantage comparatif révélé,élaborée par Balassa (1965) et Bowen (1983; 1985; 1986) pour déterminer l'avantage comparatif et établir un index des avantages comparatifs agricoles provinciaux pour l'attribution des contingents supplémentaires entre les provinces. L'attribution des contingents supplémentaires devrait être dirigée vers les provinces des Prairies très agricoles qui ont un avantage comparatif dans le secteur canadien de la volaille et devrait être écartée des provinces moins agricoles. Notre méthode d'attribution des contingents supplémentaires concorde avec les objectifs de la loi canadienne sur la gestion de l'offre. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||