Is output performance all about the resources? A fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of street-level bureaucrats in Switzerland

This article refines Lipsky’s (1980) assertion that lacking resources negatively affect output performance. It uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to analyse the nuanced interplay of contextual and individual determinants of the output performance of veterinary inspectors as street-level bureaucrats in Switzerland. Moving ‘beyond Lipsky’, the study builds on recent theoretical contributions and a systematic comparison across organizational contexts. Against a widespread assumption, output performance is not all about the resources. The impact of perceived available resources hinges on caseloads, which prove to be more decisive. These contextual factors interact with individual attitudes emerging from diverse public accountabilities. The results contextualize the often-emphasized importance of worker-client interaction. In a setting where clients cannot escape the interaction, street-level bureaucrats are not primarily held accountable by them. Studies of output performance should thus sensibly consider gaps between what is being demanded of and offered to street-level bureaucrats, and the latter’s multiple embeddedness.

FORA - A Fuzzy Set Based Framework for Online Reputation Management

The Social Web offers increasingly simple ways to publish and disseminate personal or opinionated information, which can rapidly exhibit a disastrous influence on the online reputation of organizations. Based on social Web data, this study describes the building of an ontology based on fuzzy sets. At the end of a recurring harvesting of folksonomies by Web agents, the aggregated tags are purified, linked, and transformed to a so-called fuzzy grassroots ontology by means of a fuzzy clustering algorithm. This self-updating ontology is used for online reputation analysis, a crucial task of reputation management, with the goal to follow the online conversation going on around an organization to discover and monitor its reputation. In addition, an application of the Fuzzy Online Reputation Analysis (FORA) framework, lesson learned, and potential extensions are discussed in this article.

Fuzzy Set Theory Approach as the Basis of Analysis of Financial Flows in the Economical Security System

The problems of formalization of the process of matching different management subjects’ functioning characteristics obtained on the financial flows analysis basis is considered. Formal generalizations for gaining economical security system knowledge bases elements are presented. One of feedback directions establishment between knowledge base of the system of economical security and financial flows database analysis is substantiated.

Identifying the configurational paths to innovation in SMEs:a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis

Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this study investigates the conditions leading to a higher level of innovation. More specifically, the study explores the impact of inter-organisational knowledge transfer networks and organisations' internal capabilities on different types of innovation in Small to Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) in the high-tech sector. A survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of UK SMEs. The findings show that although individual factors are important, there is no need for a company to perform well in all the areas. The fsQCA, which enables the examination of the impacts of different combinations of factors, reveals that there are a number of paths to achieve better incremental and radical innovation performance. Companies need to choose the one that is closest to their abilities and fits best with their resources.

Modulating membership grades to gain consensus for fuzzy set uncertainty values in a clinical decision support system

This paper deals with a very important issue in any knowledge engineering discipline: the accurate representation and modelling of real life data and its processing by human experts. The work is applied to the GRiST Mental Health Risk Screening Tool for assessing risks associated with mental-health problems. The complexity of risk data and the wide variations in clinicians' expert opinions make it difficult to elicit representations of uncertainty that are an accurate and meaningful consensus. It requires integrating each expert's estimation of a continuous distribution of uncertainty across a range of values. This paper describes an algorithm that generates a consensual distribution at the same time as measuring the consistency of inputs. Hence it provides a measure of the confidence in the particular data item's risk contribution at the input stage and can help give an indication of the quality of subsequent risk predictions. © 2010 IEEE.

Entrepreneurship rates the fuzzy-set approach

A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis is applied to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for higher entrepreneur rates. Based on Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data, it is shown that the most relevant conditions are Media Attention to Entrepreneurship, as well as Perceived Capabilities and Perceived Opportunities. The non-existence of Fear of Failure is also an important factor in determining higher entrepreneurship rates. When the sample is split, this condition is more important for most developed countries. This can be viewed as relevant information for policymakers to better define their policies to promote entrepreneurship, which is a key to more sustainable growth in countries.

What are the conditions for good innovation results? A fuzzy-set approach for European Union

Innovation is one of the main concerns of European Union countries since the beginning of the century. Despite failing to reach their targets, innovation remains a priority because innovation enables countries to achieve better economic performance. This study analyzes the relation between the level of innovation and the economic effects and applies a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to study the relation between six conditions and two different outcomes. The data comes from the Union Innovation Scoreboard. The study finds that research systems, linkages and entrepreneurship, and intellectual assets are necessary conditions for the outcomes of a high level of innovation and positive economic effects. The main sufficient condition for both outcomes is a good research system.

Instituições de Ensino Superior e movimentos migratórios em Portugal: uma aplicação do método fuzzy

As Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) localizam-se ao longo de todo o território português, em cidades de dimensão distinta mas sempre âncoras dos territórios envolventes. Um dos efeitos mais imediatos, entre os “efeitos de procura”, relaciona-se com a dimensão populacional das cidades onde as IES estão instaladas. Logo que todos os agentes diretamente envolvidos com a IES chegam à (permanecem na) cidade – funcionários docentes e não docentes e estudantes – provocam efeitos vários, quer pela dimensão demográfica (quer em termos de volume quer de estrutura) quer pelos efeitos multiplicadores na atividade económica. O enquadramento teórico deste estudo prende-se com duas teorias fundamentais: os estudos acerca dos impactes das IES e a teoria das migrações jovens. Esta investigação visa estudar a existência de correlações entre as cidades que acolhem as IES, estas instituições e os movimentos migratórios ao longo do país. As questões de investigação são as seguintes: a dimensão das IES está relacionada com a dimensão da cidade onde está instalada e a capacidade de atração de ambas é proporcional? Podem as IES servir para inverter os fluxos migratórios que se verificam com destino às cidades onde existem IES? Os objectivos do trabalho são: - relacionar a dimensão das IES com as cidades de acolhimento, bem como os respectivos níveis de atração; - estudar os fluxos migratórios, destacando os jovens do conjunto do total da população que se desloca para as cidades / concelhos onde existem IES. Utilizar-se-ão dados relativos i) aos estabelecimentos da rede pública, universitária e politécnica; ii) às migrações internas em Portugal por grupos de idades e, iii) caracterização das cidades de acolhimento das IES. Os dados serão analisados com métodos de estatística descritiva, multivariada e com a metodologia fuzzy que visa conhecer as condições necessárias e/ou suficientes da atratividade das cidades relativamente aos fluxos migratórios jovens.

Fuzzy Monte Carlo model for transmission power systems reliability based decision making

This thesis presents the Fuzzy Monte Carlo Model for Transmission Power Systems Reliability based studies (FMC-TRel) methodology, which is based on statistical failure and repair data of the transmission power system components and uses fuzzyprobabilistic modeling for system component outage parameters. Using statistical records allows developing the fuzzy membership functions of system component outage parameters. The proposed hybrid method of fuzzy set and Monte Carlo simulation based on the fuzzy-probabilistic models allows catching both randomness and fuzziness of component outage parameters. A network contingency analysis to identify any overloading or voltage violation in the network is performed once obtained the system states. This is followed by a remedial action algorithm, based on Optimal Power Flow, to reschedule generations and alleviate constraint violations and, at the same time, to avoid any load curtailment, if possible, or, otherwise, to minimize the total load curtailment, for the states identified by the contingency analysis. For the system states that cause load curtailment, an optimization approach is applied to reduce the probability of occurrence of these states while minimizing the costs to achieve that reduction. This methodology is of most importance for supporting the transmission system operator decision making, namely in the identification of critical components and in the planning of future investments in the transmission power system. A case study based on Reliability Test System (RTS) 1996 IEEE 24 Bus is presented to illustrate with detail the application of the proposed methodology.

Relação entre modelos de programação não-linear com incerteza no conjunto de restrições

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Modelagem e controle de sistemas fuzzy Takagi-Sugeno

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS

Modelos computacionais fuzzy e neuro-fuzzy para avaliarem os efeitos da poluição do ar

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Modelo de avaliação de impacto ambiental utilizando a teoria dos conjuntos fuzzy: um estudo de caso para a indústria automobilística

Pós-graduação em Ciências Ambientais - Sorocaba

Novas condições de estabilidade de sistemas não lineares utilizando funções de Lyapunov fuzzy

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Elétrica - FEIS