Environmental and Resource Management Under Myopia

This overview article for the special series, "Bayesian Networks in Environmental and Resource Management," reviews 7 case study articles with the aim to compare Bayesian network (BN) applications to different environmental and resource management problems from around the world. The article discusses advances in the last decade in the use of BNs as applied to environmental and resource management. We highlight progress in computational methods, best-practices for model design and model communication. We review several research challenges to the use of BNs in environmental and resource management that we think may find a solution in the near future with further research attention.

There are a variety of contexts in which "pitching in" to address environmental or resource management problems could benefit from individuals or firms working not just on their own but also working together collaboratively as a group. Examples include working together on promoting conservation or habitat protection, the sharing of information, or the development of less polluting products or production processes. However, to date, the literature on environmental policy has considered only the incentives for individual parties (e.g., firms, landowners, or individuals) to take steps (i.e., exert "effort") to reduce pollution or meet resource management goals where those steps impact that party's own environmental footprint or performance. Missing from the literature is any consideration of the ability of one party to undertake activities that instead help another improve the latter's performance. Such help could be either a substitute for or a complement to one's own effort. This paper presents an analysis showing that traditional policy approaches based on individual performance cannot generally efficiently incentivize both effort and help, but a (properly designed) collective approach where rewards or punishments are based on group performance can. This suggests an additional rationale for the use of collective approaches as a potentially important tool for promoting sustainability that has not been recognized in the literature.

Increasingly, the urgency of reorienting conventional development paradigms to take into account indigenous institutions and their ecological knowledge base is being recognized in both developed and developing countries. Based on a field research in Ghana, this paper discusses the nature and operation of indigenous economic institutions, their ecological knowledge, norms, beliefs, and practices pertaining to sustainable utilization of natural resources and environmental management. The institutions provide a framework of ideas, guiding principles, and practices that could serve as a foundation for endogenous options and broad-based efforts to solving resource and environmental management problems in the developing world. The paper also discusses limitations of indigenous ecological knowledge and practices.

We consider resource management problems in multi-user wireless networks, which can be cast as optimizing a network-wide utility function, subject to constraints on the long-term average performance of users across the network. We propose a state-augmented algorithm for solving the aforementioned radio resource management (RRM) problems, where, alongside the instantaneous network state, the RRM policy takes as input the set of dual variables corresponding to the constraints, which evolve depending on how much the constraints are violated during execution. We theoretically show that the proposed state-augmented algorithm leads to feasible and near-optimal RRM decisions. Moreover, focusing on the problem of wireless power control using graph neural network (GNN) parameterizations, we demonstrate the superiority of the proposed RRM algorithm over baseline methods across a suite of numerical experiments.

Addressing the problems of natural resources management requires an understanding of the complex interactions between human and natural systems. Modeling and computer-based simulation has been utilized increasingly as a tool to facilitate this understanding. Numerous simulations of natural systems have been developed, from global-scale general circulation models to more localized models of watersheds or fisheries. Such simulations are useful in providing resource managers with an indication of how these systems behave under different conditions. But while considerable effort has been devoted to the simulation of natural systems, the amount of effort devoted to modeling human systems, and their interaction with natural systems, has been relatively small. Recently, researchers have outlined the importance of developing a discipline devoted to the modeling and simulation of human systems. Increased efforts are now being devoted to the simulation of social phenomena (see, for example, Doran and Gilbert). The tools now exist to develop simulations that incorporate the behavior of both a natural resource and the human individuals or institutions that interact with the resource. A considerable body of work exists devoted to understanding the behavior of the institutions that people have developed to manage natural resources. Specifically, a large number of studies have been undertaken in an effort to understand how common pool resources (CPRs) have been managed in differing natural and institutional environments. Numerous field studies and laboratory experiments using human subjects have supported the evolution of a theoretical foundation for the study of resource management institutions. But while field studies and experiments have been useful tools for exploring the management of natural resources, to date little effort has been devoted to exploring the potential role of modeling and computer-based simulation for understanding the behavior of resource management institutions. This chapter seeks to combine the theoretical foundations of research on institutions for resource management, with recent advances in human systems modeling to outline a framework for modeling individual decision making in resource management environments. Starting with a brief review of social simulation and intelligent agent-based modeling formalisms, this chapter moves on to discuss models of individual decision making in the social sciences and in simulations..

The process of calculating market-clearing prices for cap and trade policies for air quality remains problematic. The permit trading processes are designed to mimic the cost-minimizing outcome. An additional shortcoming is the lack of attention to elements of uncertainty in the permit price calculations. In this paper, we design a market process for allocating permits to achieve the same type of behavior we observe for each decision-maker in the overall cost minimization model. We aim to design a modeling system that would be easy and efficient to operate. We use a method known as a computer-assisted “smart market” which has been used in a number of electricity-pricing situations proposed and applied to some types of environmental and resource management problems. The theoretical structure of the smart market model with a safety margin is provided and then the elements of the margin of safety are explored in depth. Finally, a set of pricing rules for the permits that reflect a margin of safety are examined, and issues related to their implementation are explored.

The cloud provider plays a major role especially providing resources such as computing power for the cloud subscriber to deploy their applications on multiple platforms anywhere; anytime. Hence the cloud users still having problem for resource management in receiving the guaranteed computing resources on time. This will impact the service time and the service level agreements for various users in multiple applications. Therefore there is a need for a new resolution to resolve this problem. This survey paper conducts a study in resource allocation and monitoring in the cloud computing environment. We describe cloud computing and its properties, research issues in resource management mainly in resource allocation and monitoring and finally solutions approach for resource allocation and monitoring. It is believed that this paper would benefit both cloud users and researchers for further knowledge on resource management in cloud computing. On the other hand, the resources on the cloud are pooled in order to serve multiple subscribers. The provider use multi-tenancy model where the resources (physical and virtual) are reassigned dynamically based on the tenant requirement (5). The assigning of the resources will be based on the lease and SLA agreement, whereby different clients will need more or less amount of virtual resources. Subsequently, the growth of demands for cloud services is bringing more challenge for the provider to provide the resources to the client subscriber. Therefore, in this paper we provide a review on cloud computing which focus on resource management: allocation and monitoring. Our methodologies for this review are as follows:  We provide a cloud computing taxonomy covers the cloud definitions, characteristics and deployment models.  We then analyze the literatures and discuss about resource management, the process and the elements.  We then concentrate literatures on resource allocation and monitoring. We derived the problems, challenge and the approach solution for resource allocation and monitoring in the cloud. This paper organizes as follows: Section II introduces an overview of Cloud Computing, Section III discuss about resource management and its processes, Section IV discuss about related work with resource management in the cloud, section, Section V describes about approach solution to resource allocation and monitoring and, finally Section VI concludes the paper.

Environmental management straddles the natural and social sciences. The problems it addresses, likewise, are capable of being tackled through both scientific and social research methodologies. Many environmental managers, however, have been educated largely in one or the other discipline, and are likely to favour one area of quantitative, numerically-based, ‘scientific’ or qualitative, value-based, ‘social’ methodologies. Quantitative research is popularly associated with the rational and objective, while qualitative research concerns itself with meaning and values. There is, however, a growing body of literature calling for an integrated approach in which the two research paradigms are perceived as being complementary to each other. Here we review the basic published tenets of these two traditions. To test their relevance to environmental management, we examine their application in a selection of published environmental management journal articles. Our review suggests that both quantitative and qualitative attributes play a role in solving environmental management problems. We find a general reliance on quantitative research and statistical analysis, while many researchers also use social surveys and interviews for data collection. These patterns imply that the use of quantitative and qualitative methods is not as clearly distinguished as is often presumed, and that interdisciplinary approaches—especially those embracing inclusion of the ‘social’ in research—may be valuable in addressing environmental management problems.

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Part 1. Environmental Security.- Environmental Security, Critical Infrastructure and Risk Assessment: Defmitions and Current Trends D.A. Belluck, R. Hull, S.L. Benjamin, I Alcorn, I. Linkov.- Security and the Environment in the Middle-East Water Issues B. Morel.- Potential of Solar Thermal Desalination to Defuse Water as a Conflict Issue in the Middle East - Proposal for Functional Cooperation in the Gulf of Aqaba H. G. Brauch.- Water Resources Management and Environmental Security in MediterraneanTransboundary River Basins I. Ganoulis .- The Role of Comparative Risk Assessment in Decision Analysis. Marshlands of Mesopotamia and Affected Riparian Countries C. Maxwell .- A Future for the Dead Sea Basin: Options for a More Sustainable Water Management C. Lipchin .- Are Standard Risk Acceptability Criteria Applicable to Critical Infrastructure Based on Environmental Security Needs? D.A. Belluck et al.- From global warming to water scarcity: what are the most urgent environmental problems of the region. Report of the discussion Group on Environmental Security A. Morel, B. Morel .- Part 2. Environmental Management.- The Interconnection Between the Built Environment, Ecology and Health H. S. Koren, C. D. Butler.- Statistical Models for Distributions of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter S. Yeh, M J. Small.- QnD: A Scenario-Based Gaming System for Modeling Environmental Processes and Management Decisions G. A. Kiker et al.- Mapping of Relative Risk U. Schlink et al. Understanding Risk Culture and Developing a 'Soft' Approach to Risk Assessment Methodologies S. Rao .- Different Preventive Strategies Require Diversified Risk Assessment Models S. Menoni.- Coupling Public Participation and Expert Judgment for Assessment of Innovative Contaminated Sediment Technologies T. P. Seager et al. Environmental Risk Assessment and Management: Promoting Security in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean Region.Report o fthe Working Group on Environmental Risk Assessment and Management J. Ganoulis, L. Simpson .- Part 3. Case Studies in Environmental Security and Environmental Management.- Reuse of Wastewater in Agriculture- Economic Assessment of Treatment and Supply Alternatives as Affecting Aquifer Pollution N. Haruvy.- Minimizing the Risks Associated with Water Scarcity S. Arlosoroff.- Integrated Risk-Based Management of Water Resources in the Jordan River Basin E. Levner.- Outcome of Nato Workshop on Radiological Risk in Central Asia M.K.. Zaidi et al.- Public Transport Policy & Measures That Could Improve the Air Quality in Major Cities in Syria, A Case Study: Damascus J. Chahoud .- The Modeling of Combine Impact of Waste Heat Discharge into Offshore Strip from Cooling Systems and Power Plants A. Andrijievskij et al.- Role of Synergy in Biological Risk Assessment N. Goncharova.- Cooperative Networks for Environmental Risk Analysis Studies: The Case of the Middle East Region M.K. Zaidi, I. Ganoulis.- List of Participants.- Author Index .-

Environmental problems are becoming serious in India because of the interacting effects of increasing population density, industrialization and urbanization, and poor environmental management practices. Unless stringent regulatory measures are taken, environmental systems will be irreversibly degraded. Lack of political commitment, lack of a comprehensive environmental policy, poor environmental awareness, functional fragmentation of the public administration system, poor mass media concern, and prevalence of poverty are some of the major factors responsible for increasing the severity of the problems. Environmental problems in India are highly complex, and management procedures have to be developed to achieve coordination between various functional departments, and for this, political leaders have to be convinced of the need to initiate environmental protection measures.

Many governments are considering changing the institutional arrangements for resource and environmental management. These changes often shift more responsibility to local governments, and increase the use of land use planning and regulation. This paper examines the implementation of floodplain land use regulations by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) in London, Ontario. Data were collected from application files, an examination of air photographs, site inspections, and interviews with relevant government officials. The research suggests that while the practice of floodplain regulation is effective, present policy does not address basic management issues related to: (1) uncertainty in our understanding of natural systems; (2) shared jurisdiction among the province, local governments and conservation authorities; (3) financial arrangements (4) the lack of enforcement and adequate sanctions to deter development on floodplains; and (5) communication problems within and between different levels of government. Some implications arising from these findings are considered in the context of proposed changes to the institutional arrangements for environmental and resource management in Ontario.

Multi-user multimedia applications such as enterprise streaming, surveillance, and gaming are recently emerging, and they are often deployed over bandwidth-constrained network infrastructures. To ensure the quality of service required by the delay-sensitive and bandwidth intensive multimedia data for these applications, efficient resource (bandwidth) management becomes paramount. We propose to deploy the well-known game theoretic concept of bargaining to allocate the bandwidth fairly and optimally among multiple collaborative users. Specifically, we consider the Nash bargaining solution (NBS) for our resource management problem. We provide interpretations for the NBS for multi-user resource allocation: the NBS can be used to maximize the system quality. The bargaining strategies and solutions are implemented in the network using a resource manager, which explicitly considers the application-specific distortion for the bandwidth allocation.

The basaltic landscape planning on the hot semiarid ecosystem in cotton growing Yavatmal district, Maharashtra tends to concentrate on 52 per cent of total cultivated area with 43 per cent of rural families living below poverty line posing major problem for environmental protection and resource management. Concepts of sustainable development at regional-level planning suggested that there is a growing concern for the landscape community to develop a strategic regional agricultural planning perspective in order to assist landscape planning goals. These challenges were explored with particular reference to the cotton growing Yavatmal district in Maharashtra through baseline land resource / agronomic surveys and assessing the production potential of regional rural landscapes for crop planning. Landscape analysis, premised on the geopedological and elevation constructs, culminated in a spatial coverage of hills and ridges (12.6 per cent of total area) in northern and central parts whereas plateaus (29.3 per cent) in association with isolated hills, mesas and butte and escarpments (17.7 per cent), pediplains (28.8 per cent) and plains (8.1 per cent) in south western parts of the district. Regional level analysis revealed spatially variable soil typologies dominated by vertisols and vertic intergrades. An exploration and brief account of integration landscape planning was discussed with some reflections on the experience and highlighting some of the problems and potentials of this approach within the regional context.

We consider continuous and impulse control of a Markov chain (MC) with a finite set of states in continuous time. Continuous control determines the intensity of transitions between MC states, while transition times and their directions are random. Nevertheless, sometimes it is necessary to ensure a transition that leads to an instantaneous change in the state of the MC. Since such transitions require different influences and can produce different effects on the state of the MC, such controls can be interpreted as impulse controls. In this work, we use the martingale representation of a controllable MC and give an optimality condition, which, using the principle of dynamic programming, is reduced to a form of quasi-variational inequality. The solution to this inequality can be obtained in the form of a dynamic programming equation, which for an MC with a finite set of states reduces to a system of ordinary differential equations with one switching line. We prove a sufficient optimality condition and give examples of problems with deterministic and random impulse action.

This paper considers the optimal resource management problem for microgrids. Microgrids provide a promising approach to fulfil challenges of the integration of distributed renewable generations and energy storage systems. However, the resource management in a microgrid encounters the new difficulty, i.e., supply–demand imbalance, caused by the intermittence of renewable sources. Therefore, an optimal solution is proposed to the resource management by enhancing the communication and coordination under a multiagent system framework. An agent is a participant, for instance, the distributed renewable generator/energy storage system of the microgrid. With this multiagent system, the distributed optimal solution only utilizes the local information, and interacts with the neighboring agents. Thus, single-node congestion is avoided since the requirement for a central control center is eliminated, and it is robust against single-link/node failures. The analysis will show that the proposed solution can solve the resource management problem in an initialization-free manner. Additionally, the proposed strategy can maintain the supply–demand balance under a time-varying supply–demand deviation. The simulation studies are carried out for IEEE 14-bus and 162-bus power systems to validate the effectiveness of the proposed distributed solution.