Targeting resource investments to achieve sediment reduction and improved Great Barrier Reef health

Concerns about excessive sediment loads entering the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon in Australia have led to a focus on improving ground cover in grazing lands. Ground cover has been identified as an important factor in reducing sediment loads, but improving ground cover has been difficult for reef stakeholders in major catchments of the GBR. To provide better information an optimising linear programming model based on paddock scale information in conjunction with land type mapping was developed for the Fitzroy, the largest of the GBR catchments. This identifies at a catchment scale which land types allow the most sediment reduction to be achieved at least cost. The results suggest that from the five land types modelled, the lower productivity land types present the cheapest option for sediment reductions. The study allows more informed decision making for natural resource management organisations to target investments. The analysis highlights the importance of efficient allocation of natural resource management funds in achieving sediment reductions through targeted land type investments. © 2012.

Assessing the significance of climate and community factors on urban water demand

Ensuring adequate water supply to urban areas is a challenging task due to factors such as rapid urban growth, increasing water demand and climate change. In developing a sustainable water supply system, it is important to identify the dominant water demand factors for any given water supply scheme. This paper applies principal components analysis to identify the factors that dominate residential water demand using the Blue Mountains Water Supply System in Australia as a case study. The results show that the influence of community intervention factors (e.g. use of water efficient appliances and rainwater tanks) on water demand are among the most significant. The result also confirmed that the community intervention programmes and water pricing policy together can play a noticeable role in reducing the overall water demand. On the other hand, the influence of rainfall on water demand is found to be very limited, while temperature shows some degree of correlation with water demand. The results of this study would help water authorities to plan for effective water demand management strategies and to develop a water demand forecasting model with appropriate climatic factors to achieve sustainable water resources management. The methodology developed in this paper can be adapted to other water supply systems to identify the influential factors in water demand modelling and to devise an effective demand management strategy.

Eddy diffusivity: A single dispersion analysis of high resolution drifters in a tidal shallow estuary

In an estuary, mixing and dispersion resulting from turbulence and small scale fluctuation has strong spatio-temporal variability which cannot be resolved in conventional hydrodynamic models while some models employs parameterizations large water bodies. This paper presents small scale diffusivity estimates from high resolution drifters sampled at 10 Hz for periods of about 4 hours to resolve turbulence and shear diffusivity within a tidal shallow estuary (depth < 3 m). Taylor's diffusion theorem forms the basis of a first order estimate for the diffusivity scale. Diffusivity varied between 0.001 – 0.02 m2/s during the flood tide experiment. The diffusivity showed strong dependence (R2 > 0.9) on the horizontal mean velocity within the channel. Enhanced diffusivity caused by shear dispersion resulting from the interaction of large scale flow with the boundary geometries was observed. Turbulence within the shallow channel showed some similarities with the boundary layer flow which include consistency with slope of 5/3 predicted by Kolmogorov's similarity hypothesis within the inertial subrange. The diffusivities scale locally by 4/3 power law following Okubo's scaling and the length scale scales as 3/2 power law of the time scale. The diffusivity scaling herein suggests that the modelling of small scale mixing within tidal shallow estuaries can be approached from classical turbulence scaling upon identifying pertinent parameters.

A Fair Contract for Managing Water Scarcity

In public utilities, under supply constraints, fairness considerations lead to a market failure. This paper characterizes a two-period principal-agent contract for demand management, that mitigates this market failure in urban water systems. The contract is designed as an extensive form mechanism using subgame perfect Nash equilibrium (SPNE) as the solution concept. The contract is fair; and is shown to be economically efficient if, in case of deviation by the agent, the gain to the agent and the loss to the principal are small. It is shown that the assumption can be avoided in an infinite horizon contract.

Statistical tools for analyzing water quality data

Water quality data are often collected at different sites over time to improve water quality management. Water quality data usually exhibit the following characteristics: non-normal distribution, presence of outliers, missing values, values below detection limits (censored), and serial dependence. It is essential to apply appropriate statistical methodology when analyzing water quality data to draw valid conclusions and hence provide useful advice in water management. In this chapter, we will provide and demonstrate various statistical tools for analyzing such water quality data, and will also introduce how to use a statistical software R to analyze water quality data by various statistical methods. A dataset collected from the Susquehanna River Basin will be used to demonstrate various statistical methods provided in this chapter. The dataset can be downloaded from website http://www.srbc.net/programs/CBP/nutrientprogram.htm.

Integration or disintegration? Human resource implications of a common corporate language decision in a crossborder merger

The primary purpose of introducing a common corporate language in crossborder mergers is to integrate two previously separate organizations and facilitate communication. However, the present case study of a cross-border merger between two Nordic banks shows that the common corporate language decision may have disintegrating effects, particularly at organizational levels below top management. We identify such effects on performance appraisal, language training and management development, career paths, promotion and key personnel. Our findings show that top management needs to work through the consequences of the language decision upon those who are expected to make such a decision work.

The Evolving Roles of the Human Resource Function: Understanding Role Changes in the Context of Large-Scale Mergers

The human resource (HR) function is under pressure both to change roles and to play a large variety of roles. Questions of change and development in the HR function become particularly interesting in the context of mergers and acquisitions when two corporations are integrated. The purpose of the thesis is to examine the roles played by the HR function in the context of large-scale mergers and thus to understand what happens to the HR function in such change environments, and to shed light on the underlying factors that influence changes in the HR function. To achieve this goal, the study seeks first to identify the roles played by the HR function before and after the merger, and second, to identify the factors that affect the roles played by the HR function. It adopts a qualitative case study approach including ten focal case organisations (mergers) and four matching cases (non-mergers). The sample consists of large corporations originating from either Finland or Sweden. HR directors and members of the top management teams within the case organisations were interviewed. The study suggests that changes occur within the HR function, and that the trend is for the HR function to become increasingly strategic. However, the HR function was found to play strategic roles only when the HR administration ran smoothly. The study also suggests that the HR function has become more versatile. An HR function that was perceived to be mainly administrative before the merger is likely after the merger to perform some strategically important activities in addition to the administrative ones. Significant changes in the roles played by the HR function were observed in some of the case corporations. This finding suggests that the merger integration process is a window of opportunity for the HR function. HR functions that take a proactive and leading role during the integration process might expand the number of roles played and move from being an administrator before the merger to also being a business partner after integration. The majority of the HR functions studied remained mainly reactive during the organisational change process and although the evidence showed that they moved towards strategic tasks, the intra-functional changes remained comparatively small in these organisations. The study presents a new model that illustrates the impact of the relationship between the top management team and the HR function on the role of the HR function. The expectations held by the top management team for the HR function and the performance of the HR function were found to interact. On a dimension reaching from tactical to strategic, HR performance is likely to correspond to the expectations held by top management.

Risk minimization in water quality control problems of a river system

Methodologies are presented for minimization of risk in a river water quality management problem. A risk minimization model is developed to minimize the risk of low water quality along a river in the face of conflict among various stake holders. The model consists of three parts: a water quality simulation model, a risk evaluation model with uncertainty analysis and an optimization model. Sensitivity analysis, First Order Reliability Analysis (FORA) and Monte-Carlo simulations are performed to evaluate the fuzzy risk of low water quality. Fuzzy multiobjective programming is used to formulate the multiobjective model. Probabilistic Global Search Laussane (PGSL), a global search algorithm developed recently, is used for solving the resulting non-linear optimization problem. The algorithm is based on the assumption that better sets of points are more likely to be found in the neighborhood of good sets of points, therefore intensifying the search in the regions that contain good solutions. Another model is developed for risk minimization, which deals with only the moments of the generated probability density functions of the water quality indicators. Suitable skewness values of water quality indicators, which lead to low fuzzy risk are identified. Results of the models are compared with the results of a deterministic fuzzy waste load allocation model (FWLAM), when methodologies are applied to the case study of Tunga-Bhadra river system in southern India, with a steady state BOD-DO model. The fractional removal levels resulting from the risk minimization model are slightly higher, but result in a significant reduction in risk of low water quality. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aspiration-based utility functions in a planning model for timber flow management.

The study presents a theory of utility models based on aspiration levels, as well as the application of this theory to the planning of timber flow economics. The first part of the study comprises a derivation of the utility-theoretic basis for the application of aspiration levels. Two basic models are dealt with: the additive and the multiplicative. Applied here solely for partial utility functions, aspiration and reservation levels are interpreted as defining piecewisely linear functions. The standpoint of the choices of the decision-maker is emphasized by the use of indifference curves. The second part of the study introduces a model for the management of timber flows. The model is based on the assumption that the decision-maker is willing to specify a shape of income flow which is different from that of the capital-theoretic optimum. The utility model comprises four aspiration-based compound utility functions. The theory and the flow model are tested numerically by computations covering three forest holdings. The results show that the additive model is sensitive even to slight changes in relative importances and aspiration levels. This applies particularly to nearly linear production possibility boundaries of monetary variables. The multiplicative model, on the other hand, is stable because it generates strictly convex indifference curves. Due to a higher marginal rate of substitution, the multiplicative model implies a stronger dependence on forest management than the additive function. For income trajectory optimization, a method utilizing an income trajectory index is more efficient than one based on the use of aspiration levels per management period. Smooth trajectories can be attained by squaring the deviations of the feasible trajectories from the desired one.

Non-industrial private forest landowners’ choices of timber management strategies and potential allowable cut.

In the study, the potential allowable cut in the district of Pohjois-Savo - based on the non-industrial private forest landowners' (NIPF) choices of timber management strategies - was clarified. Alternative timber management strategies were generated, and the choices and factors affecting the choices of timber management strategies by NIPF landowners were studied. The choices of timber management strategies were solved by maximizing the utility functions of the NIPF landowners. The parameters of the utility functions were estimated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The level of the potential allowable cut was compared to the cutting budgets based on the 7th and 8th National Forest Inventories (NFI7 and NFI8), to the combining of private forestry plans, and to the realized drain from non-industrial private forests. The potential allowable cut was calculated using the same MELA system as has been used in the calculation of the national cutting budget. The data consisted of the NIPF holdings (from the TASO planning system) that had been inventoried compartmentwise and had forestry plans made during the years 1984-1992. The NIPF landowners' choices of timber management strategies were clarified by a two-phase mail inquiry. The most preferred strategy obtained was "sustainability" (chosen by 62 % of landowners). The second in order of preference was "finance" (17 %) and the third was "saving" (11 %). "No cuttings", and "maximum cuttings" were the least preferred (9 % and 1 %, resp.). The factors promoting the choices of strategies with intensive cuttings were a) "farmer as forest owner" and "owning fields", b) "increase in the size of the forest holding", c) agriculture and forestry orientation in production, d) "decreasing short term stumpage earning expectations", e) "increasing intensity of future cuttings", and f) "choice of forest taxation system based on site productivity". The potential allowable cut defined in the study was 20 % higher than the average of the realized drain during the years 1988-1993, which in turn, was at the same level as the cutting budget based on the combining of forestry plans in eastern Finland. Respectively, the potential allowable cut defined in the study was 12 % lower than the NFI8-based greatest sustained allowable cut for the 1990s. Using the method presented in this study, timber management strategies can be clarified for non-industrial private forest landowners in different parts of Finland. Based on the choices of timber managemet strategies, regular cutting budgets can be calculated more realistically than before.

Optimal crop planning and conjunctive use of water resources in a coastal river basin

Due to increasing trend of intensive rice cultivation in a coastal river basin, crop planning and groundwater management are imperative for the sustainable agriculture. For effective management, two models have been developed viz. groundwater balance model and optimum cropping and groundwater management model to determine optimum cropping pattern and groundwater allocation from private and government tubewells according to different soil types (saline and non-saline), type of agriculture (rainfed and irrigated) and seasons (monsoon and winter). A groundwater balance model has been developed considering mass balance approach. The components of the groundwater balance considered are recharge from rainfall, irrigated rice and non-rice fields, base flow from rivers and seepage flow from surface drains. In the second phase, a linear programming optimization model is developed for optimal cropping and groundwater management for maximizing the economic returns. The models developed were applied to a portion of coastal river basin in Orissa State, India and optimal cropping pattern for various scenarios of river flow and groundwater availability was obtained.