Inom vården utförs ofta schemaläggning av personal manuellt, vilket kräver mycket tid och resurser. Att planera arbetet för en grupp läkare, med dess ofta mycket komplexa sammansättning vad gäller exempelvis arbetsuppgifter och kompetenser, är ingen lätt uppgift. Detta examensarbete studerar huruvida en automatiserad taktisk bemanningsplanering med en tidshorisont på ett halvår till ett år, skulle kunna underlätta denna uppgift. I rapporten presenteras en måloptimeringsmodell som implementerats i AMPL för att med CPLEX som lösare generera förslag till bemanningsplaner. För att utveckla en matematisk modell som väl representerar de förutsättningar som råder vid bemanningsplanering av läkare har alternativa formuleringar provats och utvärderats. Den mest lovande av modellerna, som baseras på måloptimering, har i en pilotstudie testats på data från Onkologiska kliniken vid Linköpings universitetssjukhus. Flexibiliteten i modellen gjorde att den enkelt kunde användas på de data som erhölls därifrån. Resultatet från pilotstudien indikerar att den utvecklade modellen har kapacitet att ge förslag till rimliga bemanningsplaner. / Scheduling of staff in the health care industry is typically done by hand, thus consuming a lot of time and effort. To plan the work for a group of physicians is a complex task, having to take into account factors like individual preferences and competences among the physicians. This thesis studies whether an automated tactical workforce planning, with a time horizon of half a year to a year, could facilitate this task. This thesis presents a goal programming model for generating suggestions to workforce plans for physicians. The model has been implemented in AMPL and is solved using CPLEX. During the development of the mathematical model for workforce planning, alternative model formulations have been tested and evaluated, and some of these are presented in the report. The most promising of them is one based solely on goal programming, and it has been tested in a pilot study on data from the Oncology Clinic at the University Hospital in Linköping. The flexibility of the model made it easy to use on the data provided by the clinic. The result of the pilot study indicates that the developed model has the capacity to give reasonable suggestions for workforce plans.

Mass customization (MC) was developed to capitalize on the combined benefits of economies of scale and economies of scope. Balancing the tradeoffs involved in an MC system warrants the determination of the degree or the extent of customization. Most of the literature views the degree of customization as how early or how far the customer is integrated in the production cycle, which is defined as the order decoupling point. In this study we are addressing the degree of customization from a product structural perspective. There are two objectives in this research. The first is to develop a unit of measurement for the degree of customization of a product in an MC system. The second is to construct an optimization model to determine the level of customization that would best satisfy the organizational goals. The term "Magnitude of Customization" (MOC) has been introduced as a measuring unit for the degree of customization on a customization scale (CS). The MOC is based on the number of module options or the extent of customizable features per component in a product. To satisfy the second objective, an analytical model based on preemptive goal programming was developed. The model optimizes the solution as to how far an organization should customize a product to best satisfy its strategic goals. The model considers goals such as increasing the market share, and attaining a higher level of customer satisfaction, while keeping the risk or budget below a certain amount. A step-by-step algorithm is developed for the model application. A case study of an aluminum windows and doors company is used to verify and validate the model. A double panel sliding window is selected as the subject of our study. Information related to company goals and objectives vis-a-vis customization is gathered, through interviews and questionnaires, from the upper management including Operations, Marketing, and Finance Departments. The Window design and technical information are collected from the Manufacturing Department. The model and its solution provided specific recommendations on what to customize and to what degree to best satisfy primary strategic goals for the organization. Results from the model application shows that the company is able to meet the five goals that they had identified with two goals having a deviation of 4.7% and 6.6% from the targets. To achieve the stated goals, the model recommends an overall degree of customization of approximately 32.23% and delineates that to the component and feature levels. For validation, the model results are compared to the actual status of the company and the manufacturer's recommendation without prior information about the model outcome. The average difference, for attaining the same goals, is found to be 6.05%, at a standard deviation of 6.02% and variance of 36.29%, which is considered adequately close. The proposed model presents a framework that combines various research efforts into a flexible but encompassing method that can provide decision-makers with essential production planning guidelines in an MC setup. Finally, suggestions are provided as to how the model can be expanded and refined to include goal formulations that accommodate potential MC systems and technology advances. To the best of our knowledge, this research is a pioneer in quantifying customization in an MC environment and relating it to the organizational goals through modeling and optimization.

Automotive industry has moved from manufacturing automobiles using mechanical units to using Electronic Control Units (ECUs). One of the integral parts of ECUs are the microcontrollers. Selecting the right microcontroller unit for the ECU in automotive industry, involves high time and cost factors, as several criteria need to be examined for each microcontroller in the market. There is a need for a methodology for selection of the microcontroller based on the given requirements, with the aid of some tools, to reduce the time and cost factors. This thesis involves determining criteria for automotive microcontrollers and selection of the microcontroller by following a systematic process. A part of the systematic process involves filtering or ranking microcontrollers according to the requirements and plotting microcontrollers for the required criteria along with pareto-front analysis of rank versus cost. Ranking of microcontrollers is done using Goal Programming and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods. The result from the thesis shows various criteria for the microcontroller in an ECU and the methodology to be followed for microcontroller selection using case study of Exterior Lighting System. The results of Goal Programming and TOPSIS methods show that they could provide good aid in selection by ranking the microcontrollers along with pareto-front analysis. Finally, a selection methodology guideline has been formulated to aid the selection process with the help of the methods. / Fordonsindustrin har gått från att tillverka bilar med mekaniska styrsystem till att använda elektroniska styrenheter (ECU:er). En central del i styrenheterna är mikrokontrollers. Att välja rätt mikrokontroller för en ECU i fordonsindustrin är tidskrävande och kostnadsintensivt eftersom många faktorer behöver tas i beaktning och undersökas för varje mikrokontroller på marknaden. Det finns ett behov för en metod att välja mikrokontroller utifrån en given kravställning, med hjälp av olika verktyg, för att minska utvecklingstid och kostnad. Detta examensarbete handlar om att fastställa relevanta kriterier för fordonsrelaterade applikationer som använder mikrokontrollers samt urval av mikrokontrollers genom att följa en systematisk metod. En del av den metoden är filtrering och rangordning av alternativen utifrån kravställningen och visualisering hur jämförelsealternativen uppfyller kravställningen jämte Pareto-front analys mellan rangordning och kostnad. Rangordning görs med hjälp av metoderna Målprogrammering och Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Resultatet av examensarbetet visar olika kriterier för en mikrokontroller i en ECU och metoderna att använda sig av för val av mikrokontroller i studieexemplet ett belysningsstyrningssystem. Resultaten av metoderna målprogrammering och TOPSIS visar att de kan vara till god hjälp i valet genom rangordning av mikrokontrollers med tillägg av Pareto-front-analys. Slutligen har en guide för urvalsmetod skapats för att hjälpa urvalsprocessen med hjälp av metoderna.

The spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the world and the importance of controlling it in all regions have made managing this crisis a great challenge for all countries. The devastating effect on global automotive supply chains due to the disruptions has resulted in losses and shut down of production facilities owing to government restrictions due to the spread of infections leading to supply breakdown across all tiers of supply chain. It has resulted in shortage of crucial components to the automobile industry. A stochastic goal programming model is developed to incorporate disruptions in the supply chain. The model is used to simulate the current crisis of COVID-19 as numerical cases. Supply chain resilient strategy such as China Plus One strategy that involves diversification of supplier base to other locations along with China is analysed. The key finding is that a China-Plus-One strategy appears to be beneficial to both parties involved, organizations that seek to pursue it for reasons of risk diversification, cost reduction or avoidance of overreliance on China and for Plus-One host economies which gain the benefits of FDI. The contribution of the study is in integrating the supply chain resilience literature and operational research tools to model a global supply chain under uncertainty and making a case for change in supply chain strategy from efficient supply chain to resilient supply chains. The study attempts to support the implementation of the China Plus One Strategy as the most suitable resilient strategy post COVID-19. / Spridningen av covid-19-pandemin i världen och vikten av att kontrollera den i alla regioner har gjort att hantera denna kris till en stor utmaning för alla länder. Den förödande effekten på globala fordonsförsörjningskedjor på grund av störningarna har resulterat i förluster och nedläggningar av produktionsanläggningar på grund av statliga restriktioner på grund av spridningen av infektioner som leder till leveransuppdelning över alla nivåer av försörjningskedjan. Det har resulterat i brist på avgörande komponenter till bilindustrin. En stokastisk målprogrammeringsmodell utvecklas för att införliva störningar i försörjningskedjan. Modellen används för att simulera den nuvarande krisen med COVID-19 som numeriska fall. En strategi för motståndskraftig leveranskedja som China Plus En strategi som innebär diversifiering av leverantörsbasen till andra platser tillsammans med Kina analyseras. Nyckelresultatet är att en China-Plus-One-strategi verkar vara till nytta för båda inblandade parter, organisationer som försöker eftersträva den på grund av riskdiversifiering, kostnadsreduktion eller undvikande av övertilltro till Kina och för Plus-One-värdekonomier som vinner fördelarna med utländska direktinvesteringar. Studiens bidrag är att integrera litteraturen om försörjningskedjans motståndskraft och operativa forskningsverktyg för att modellera en global försörjningskedja under osäkerhet och göra ett argument för förändring av strategin för försörjningskedjan från effektiv försörjningskedja till spänstiga försörjningskedjor. Studien försöker stödja implementeringen av China Plus One-strategin som den mest lämpliga motståndskraftiga strategin efter COVID-19.

Tesis por compendio / [EN] The main objectives of this research are the following. First, to analyse the models and methods in Decision Support Systems (DSS) for forest management, taking into account the important features which allow forestry related problems to be categorized. Second, to define strategic criteria for the sustainable management of Mediterranean forests, as well as to elicit and aggregate the stakeholders' preferences. Third, to propose a robust methodology to implement collaborative management focused on ESS and to develop indicators for the main functions of ESS. The methodology is based on a workshop and surveys to elicit the decision makers', experts' and other stakeholders' preferences. Several techniques were then used to aggregate individual judgements and determine social preferences, in particular, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Goal Programming (GP). In addition, a PROMETHEE based method has been developed to provide indicators of the ESS, classified into provisioning, maintenance and direct to citizens services. The analysis of DSS for forest management has shown that the best choice of approach to solve a given problem depend on its nature, which can be characterized by the temporal scale, spatial context, spatial scale, number of decision makers or stakeholders, objectives and finally goods and services involved. A decision hierarchy for strategic management of Valencian forests has been developed by involving experts during the design phase. This was later validated in consultation with the stakeholders in a workshop and provides the base from which to obtain the social preferences. The results show greater importance for environmental and social criteria and lesser relevance for economic criteria, valid for both public and private Mediterranean forests. This result is the same regardless of which preference aggregation technique was used and takes into account the preferences of the majority of the stakeholders and also the minority opinions furthest from the consensus. New products and services such as rural tourism, renewable energies, landscape, hydrological regulation and erosion control, biodiversity and climate change mitigation are relevant. This research also proposes a robust methodology to implement collaborative management focused on ESS provided by protected areas and aggregated indicators for their main functions. Decision makers, technical staff and other stakeholders are included in the process from the beginning, by identifying ESS and eliciting preferences using the AHP method. Qualitative and quantitative data are then integrated into a PROMETHEE based method in order to obtain indicators for provisioning, maintenance and direct to citizens services. This methodology, which has been applied in a forest natural park, provides a tool for exploiting available technical and social data in a continuous process, as well as graphical results, which are easy to understand. This approach also overcomes the difficulties found in prioritising management objectives in a multiple criteria context with limited resources and facilitates consensus between all of the people involved. The new indicators define an innovative approach to assessing the ESS from the supply perspective and provide basic information to help establish payment systems for environmental services and compensation for natural disasters. / [ES] Los principales objetivos de esta investigación son los siguientes. En primer lugar, analizar los modelos y los métodos de los sistemas de ayuda a la toma de decisiones para gestión forestal, teniendo en cuenta las características relevantes que permiten clasificar los problemas forestales. En segundo lugar, definir los criterios estratégicos para la gestión forestal sostenible del bosque mediterráneo, así como obtener y agregar las preferencias de los decisores y otras partes interesadas. En tercer lugar, proponer una metodología robusta para implementar una gestión colaborativa centrada en los servicios del ecosistema y desarrollar indicadores para las principales funciones de estos servicios. La metodología se fundamenta en una jornada de trabajo con decisores, expertos y otros grupos de personas interesadas, así como en encuestas a todos ellos. Después se han utilizado varias técnicas para agregar las preferencias individuales y determinar las preferencias de los distintos grupos sociales, en particular el proceso analítico jerárquico y la programación por metas. Adicionalmente, se ha desarrollado un método basado en PROMETHEE que permite obtener indicadores de los servicios del ecosistema, clasificados en servicios de producción, mantenimiento y directos a los ciudadanos. El análisis de los sistemas de ayuda a la toma de decisiones para gestión forestal ha puesto de manifiesto que los mejores enfoques para resolver los problemas forestales dependen de su naturaleza, caracterizada por la escala temporal, el contexto espacial, la escala espacial, el número de decisores o personas interesadas, el número de objetivos y por último los bienes y servicios involucrados. Se ha desarrollado una jerarquía de decisión para la gestión estratégica de los bosques valencianos involucrando a expertos en la fase de diseño. Este modelo fue validado posteriormente por las partes interesadas en una jornada organizada con esta finalidad y ha sido la base para obtener las preferencias sociales. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto la mayor importancia de los criterios medioambientales y sociales y la menor relevancia de los económicos, tanto para el monte mediterráneo público como privado. Este resultado es independiente del método de agregación utilizado y tiene en cuenta tanto las preferencias de la mayoría como de la minoría más alejada del consenso. Son relevantes los nuevos productos y servicios tales como el turismo rural, las energías renovables, el paisaje, la regulación hidrológica y el control de la erosión, la biodiversidad y la mitigación del cambio climático. Esta investigación también propone una metodología robusta para implementar una gestión colaborativa centrada en los servicios del ecosistema que proporcionan las áreas protegidas e indicadores agregados para sus principales funciones. Los responsables de las decisiones, el personal técnico y otras personas interesadas han participado desde el inicio del proceso, identificando los servicios del ecosistema y proporcionado sus preferencias mediante la técnica del proceso analítico jerárquico. Después se integran los datos cualitativos y cuantitativos en un método basado en PROMETHEE con la finalidad de obtener indicadores para los servicios de producción, mantenimiento y directos a los ciudadanos. Esta metodología, que se ha aplicado en un parque natural, facilita la explotación de los datos técnicos y sociales en un proceso continuo y proporciona resultados gráficos muy fáciles de entender. Este enfoque también permite superar las dificultades que surgen al priorizar los objetivos de gestión en un contexto multicriterio con recursos limitados y facilita el consenso entre todas las personas involucradas. Los nuevos indicadores representan un enfoque innovador para la valoración de los servicios del ecosistema desde el punto de vista de la oferta y proporcionan información básica para establecer sistemas de pagos por / [CA] Els principals objectius d'aquesta recerca són els següents. En primer lloc, analitzar els models i els mètodes dels sistemes d'ajuda a la presa de decisions per a gestió forestal, tenint en compte les característiques rellevants que permeten classificar els problemes forestals. En segon lloc, definir els criteris estratègics per a la gestió forestal sostenible del bosc mediterrani, com també obtenir i agregar les preferències dels decisors i altres parts interessades. En tercer lloc, proposar una metodologia robusta per a implementar una gestió col·laborativa centrada en els serveis de l'ecosistema i desenvolupar indicadors per a les principals funcions d'aquests serveis. La metodologia es fonamenta en una jornada de treball amb decisors, experts i altres grups de persones interessades, i també en enquestes a tots ells. Després s'han utilitzat diverses tècniques per a afegir-hi les preferències individuals i determinar les preferències dels diferents grups socials, en particular el procés analític jeràrquic i la programació per metes. Addicionalment, s'ha desenvolupat un mètode basat en PROMETHEE que permet obtenir indicadors dels serveis de l'ecosistema, classificats en serveis de producció, manteniment i directes als ciutadans. L'anàlisi dels sistemes d'ajuda a la presa de decisions per a la gestió forestal ha posat de manifest que els millors enfocaments per a resoldre els problemes forestals depenen de la naturalesa d'aquests problemes, caracteritzada per l'escala temporal, el context espacial, l'escala espacial, el nombre de decisors o persones interessades, el nombre d'objectius i, finalment, els béns i serveis involucrats. S'ha desenvolupat una jerarquia de decisió per a la gestió estratègica dels boscos valencians involucrant experts en la fase de disseny. Aquest model ha sigut validat posteriorment per les parts interessades en una jornada organitzada amb aquesta finalitat i ha sigut la base per a obtenir les preferències socials. Els resultats posen de manifest la major importància dels criteris mediambientals i socials i la menor rellevància dels econòmics, tant per a la muntanya mediterrània pública com privada. Aquest resultat és independent del mètode d'agregació utilitzat i té en compte tant les preferències de la majoria com de la minoria més allunyada del consens. Són rellevants els nous productes i serveis, com ara el turisme rural, les energies renovables, el paisatge, la regulació hidrològica i el control de l'erosió, la biodiversitat i la mitigació del canvi climàtic. Aquesta recerca també proposa una metodologia robusta per a implementar una gestió col·laborativa centrada en els serveis de l'ecosistema que proporcionen les àrees protegides i indicadors agregats per a les seues funcions principals. Els responsables de les decisions, el personal tècnic i altres persones interessades hi han participat des de l'inici del procés, identificant els serveis de l'ecosistema i proporcionant les seues preferències mitjançant la tècnica del procés analític jeràrquic. Després s'integren les dades qualitatives i quantitatives en un mètode basat en PROMETHEE amb la finalitat d'obtenir indicadors per als serveis de producció, manteniment i directes als ciutadans. Aquesta metodologia, que s'ha aplicat en un parc natural, facilita l'explotació de les dades tècniques i socials en un procés continu i proporciona resultats gràfics molt fàcils d'entendre. Aquest enfocament també permet superar les dificultats que sorgeixen a l'hora de prioritzar els objectius de gestió en un context multicriteri amb recursos limitats i facilita el consens entre totes les persones involucrades. Els nous indicadors representen un enfocament innovador per a la valoració dels serveis de l'ecosistema des del punt de vista de l'oferta i proporcionen informació bàsica per a establir sistemes de pagaments per serveis ambientals i compensacions per desastres naturals. / Segura Maroto, M. (2015). ASSESSMENT OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES BASED ON MULTIPLE CRITERIA AND GROUP DECISION MAKING [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/57955 / Compendio

Pinhole leaks in copper plumbing pipes are a big concern for the homeowners. The problem is spread across the nation and remains a threat to plumbing systems of all ages. Due to the absence of a single acceptable mechanistic theory no preventive measure is available to date. Most of the present mechanistic theories are based on analysis of failed pipe samples however an objective comparison with other pipes that did not fail is seldom made. The variability in hydraulic and water quality parameters has made the problem complex and unquantifiable in terms of plumbing susceptibility to pinhole leaks. The present work determines the spatial and temporal spread of pinhole leaks across United States. The hotspot communities are identified based on repair histories and surveys. An assessment of variability in water quality is presented based on nationwide water quality data. A synthesis of causal factors is presented and a scoring system for copper pitting is developed using goal programming. A probabilistic model is presented to evaluate optimal replacement time for plumbing systems. Methodologies for mechanistic modeling based on corrosion thermodynamics and kinetics are presented. / Master of Science

Wik, Wik-Way and Kugu people (Wik people) in Aurukun Shire on Cape York Peninsula (CYP) are among the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in Australia. While Wik people are presently reliant on government work for welfare programs for income, elders have a vision of economic independence and self-reliance. The large area of native Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) forest on traditional Wik land is a potential engine for economic development, which could provide meaningful employment, and contribute to other Wik socio-economic objectives, including facilitating population decentralisation and consolidation of cultural obligations to manage country through provision of on country employment, reducing welfare dependency and expenditure on timber purchases from outside CYP, and increasing income and skill levels in the community. A large proportion of the higher-quality timber resource on traditional Wik land is situated on bauxite mining leases and the current practice is to clear, windrow and burn this timber prior to commencement of mining. A Wik native forest timber industry could make use of this wasted high-quality timber resource. The objectives of this thesis were to: determine the property rights of Wik people to the timber resource on their traditional land; assess whether forestry operations in Darwin stringybark forests in the study area are likely to be financially viable; and generate a suite of optimal timber utilisation strategies for Wik people, subject to cultural, ecological and economic constraints. This required economic research in the areas of indigenous property rights, private and social costs and benefits of forestry, timber markets, and evaluation and application of economic analysis techniques for appraisal of forestry development opportunities. A social cost-benefit analysis of the privately optimal timber utilisation policies has also been performed to support the decision-making of government policy-makers. This research project was a demanding and complex undertaking, not least because the research was being performed in a unique and diverse indigenous cultural environment where there is a need to respect cultural and research ethics protocols, where formal participatory research methods are inappropriate and where gatekeepers are particularly zealous about ‘protecting’ Wik people from ‘outsiders’. In addition, the property rights of Wik people to timber resources had never previously been analysed methodically, timber inventory and timber market information was lacking for CYP, and there are difficulties in transferring parameter estimates from the industrial hardwood timber industry of Australia to culturally appropriate indigenous operations on CYP. A critical research step was to develop a rapport with Wik people and gain an insight into their forestry objectives, through a number of visits to Aurukun Shire and informal discussions with elders on country. The property rights of Wik people to timber resources have been assessed by reviewing Federal and State Government legislation, court rulings, regional development policies and the Queensland Code of Practice for Native Forest Timber Production on State-owned lands. A timber inventory was conducted over 580,000 ha of Darwin stringybark forest, individual-tree volume and taper models were developed, and a geographical information system was used in estimation of harvestable timber volume and its spatial distribution. To facilitate information transfer to Wik people, expertise was gained in the use of forest visualisation software to pictorially display timber inventory data. A review of literature and discussions with experts identified technically feasible timber processing opportunities for CYP timbers. An informal telephone and in-person survey of 46 businesses, local councils and government agencies in north and south Queensland and the Northern Territory provided market information about CYP timbers. Concepts of a culturally appropriate working week and culturally appropriate rate of production were developed to assist the estimation of cost structures for a Wik timber industry, based on cost estimates for non-indigenous Australian hardwood forestry enterprises that had been obtained from discussion with forestry experts and ‘grey literature’. Generation and evaluation of a suite of privately optimal timber utilisation strategies for Wik people has been supported by the development of a mixed-integer goal programming (GP) model using the GAMS software package. The social analysis of the privately optimal strategies has been performed by adjusting private net present values (NPV) estimated by the GP model with shadow prices and transfer payments. In particular, a carbon model has been developed to estimate the value of carbon emitted by the Wik timber industry. The GP model analysis suggests that a Wik timber industry can generate a positive financial NPV if seed funding of at least $0.5 M is available. In general, privately optimal forestry strategies for Wik people generated by the GP model utilise relatively low-technology equipment, including portable sawmills and air-drying sheds, and produce undressed timber products such as structural timber. This contrasts strongly with Wik visions of an industry selling mostly unprocessed logs or woodchips and non-indigenous representatives of Wik people favouring the manufacture of high-value strip-flooring and furniture. The social analysis of privately optimal timber utilisation strategies reveals that social NPVs are much higher than financial NPVs, even when accounting for the costs of ecosystem services foregone by logging native forest. The establishment of a culturally appropriate Wik timber industry can be expected to generate net social benefits for Australia.

Wik, Wik-Way and Kugu people (Wik people) in Aurukun Shire on Cape York Peninsula (CYP) are among the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups in Australia. While Wik people are presently reliant on government work for welfare programs for income, elders have a vision of economic independence and self-reliance. The large area of native Darwin stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) forest on traditional Wik land is a potential engine for economic development, which could provide meaningful employment, and contribute to other Wik socio-economic objectives, including facilitating population decentralisation and consolidation of cultural obligations to manage country through provision of on country employment, reducing welfare dependency and expenditure on timber purchases from outside CYP, and increasing income and skill levels in the community. A large proportion of the higher-quality timber resource on traditional Wik land is situated on bauxite mining leases and the current practice is to clear, windrow and burn this timber prior to commencement of mining. A Wik native forest timber industry could make use of this wasted high-quality timber resource. The objectives of this thesis were to: determine the property rights of Wik people to the timber resource on their traditional land; assess whether forestry operations in Darwin stringybark forests in the study area are likely to be financially viable; and generate a suite of optimal timber utilisation strategies for Wik people, subject to cultural, ecological and economic constraints. This required economic research in the areas of indigenous property rights, private and social costs and benefits of forestry, timber markets, and evaluation and application of economic analysis techniques for appraisal of forestry development opportunities. A social cost-benefit analysis of the privately optimal timber utilisation policies has also been performed to support the decision-making of government policy-makers. This research project was a demanding and complex undertaking, not least because the research was being performed in a unique and diverse indigenous cultural environment where there is a need to respect cultural and research ethics protocols, where formal participatory research methods are inappropriate and where gatekeepers are particularly zealous about ‘protecting’ Wik people from ‘outsiders’. In addition, the property rights of Wik people to timber resources had never previously been analysed methodically, timber inventory and timber market information was lacking for CYP, and there are difficulties in transferring parameter estimates from the industrial hardwood timber industry of Australia to culturally appropriate indigenous operations on CYP. A critical research step was to develop a rapport with Wik people and gain an insight into their forestry objectives, through a number of visits to Aurukun Shire and informal discussions with elders on country. The property rights of Wik people to timber resources have been assessed by reviewing Federal and State Government legislation, court rulings, regional development policies and the Queensland Code of Practice for Native Forest Timber Production on State-owned lands. A timber inventory was conducted over 580,000 ha of Darwin stringybark forest, individual-tree volume and taper models were developed, and a geographical information system was used in estimation of harvestable timber volume and its spatial distribution. To facilitate information transfer to Wik people, expertise was gained in the use of forest visualisation software to pictorially display timber inventory data. A review of literature and discussions with experts identified technically feasible timber processing opportunities for CYP timbers. An informal telephone and in-person survey of 46 businesses, local councils and government agencies in north and south Queensland and the Northern Territory provided market information about CYP timbers. Concepts of a culturally appropriate working week and culturally appropriate rate of production were developed to assist the estimation of cost structures for a Wik timber industry, based on cost estimates for non-indigenous Australian hardwood forestry enterprises that had been obtained from discussion with forestry experts and ‘grey literature’. Generation and evaluation of a suite of privately optimal timber utilisation strategies for Wik people has been supported by the development of a mixed-integer goal programming (GP) model using the GAMS software package. The social analysis of the privately optimal strategies has been performed by adjusting private net present values (NPV) estimated by the GP model with shadow prices and transfer payments. In particular, a carbon model has been developed to estimate the value of carbon emitted by the Wik timber industry. The GP model analysis suggests that a Wik timber industry can generate a positive financial NPV if seed funding of at least $0.5 M is available. In general, privately optimal forestry strategies for Wik people generated by the GP model utilise relatively low-technology equipment, including portable sawmills and air-drying sheds, and produce undressed timber products such as structural timber. This contrasts strongly with Wik visions of an industry selling mostly unprocessed logs or woodchips and non-indigenous representatives of Wik people favouring the manufacture of high-value strip-flooring and furniture. The social analysis of privately optimal timber utilisation strategies reveals that social NPVs are much higher than financial NPVs, even when accounting for the costs of ecosystem services foregone by logging native forest. The establishment of a culturally appropriate Wik timber industry can be expected to generate net social benefits for Australia.

Η ποιότητα, άρα και ο τρόπος παρακολούθησης της, δηλαδή ο ποιοτικός έλεγχος, σχετίζεται άμεσα με την κερδοφορία μιας επιχείρησης• είτε αυτό επιτευχθεί μέσω αύξησης των πωλήσεων είτε μέσω μείωσης του κόστους παραγωγής ή παροχής υπηρεσιών. Ολοένα και περισσότερο γίνεται αποδεκτό το γεγονός ότι η υψηλή ποιότητα του προϊόντος και των υπηρεσιών και η σύνδεσή τους με την ικανοποίηση του πελάτη, είναι το κλειδί για την επιβίωση οποιασδήποτε επιχείρησης. Επομένως, κρίνεται επιτακτική ανάγκη η μελέτη και έρευνα γύρω από την σχέση της ποιότητας και των επιχειρήσεων και ειδικά σε περιόδους οικονομικής κρίσης και έντονων πιέσεων των καταναλωτών και της αγοράς. Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να παρουσιάσει τη μεθοδολογία σχεδιασμού ενός συστήματος ποιοτικού ελέγχου με τη χρήση μεθόδων πολυκριτηριακής ανάλυσης και να γίνει σύγκριση αυτών των μεθόδων. / The purpose of this thesis is to describe the methodology of a Quality Control System planning using methods of multictiteria analysis and to compare these methods.

Problems in the public policy decision-making environments are typically complex and continuously evolve. In a resource-constrained environment, several alternatives, criteria, and conflicting objectives must be considered. As a result, solutions to these types of problems cannot be modelled solely using single-criteria techniques. It has been observed that most techniques used to shape energy policy and planning either produce sub-optimal solutions or use strong assumptions about the preferences of decision-maker(s). This difficulty creates a compelling need to develop novel techniques that can handle several alternatives, multiple criteria and conflicting objectives to support public sector decision-making processes. First, the study presents a novel scenario-based multi-objective optimisation framework based on the augmented Chebychev goal programming (GP) technique linked to a value function for analysing a decision environment underlying energy choice among low-income households in isolated rural areas and informal urban settlements in South Africa. The framework developed includes a multi-objective optimisation technique that produced an approximation of a Pareto front linked to an a priori aggregation function and a value function to select the best alternatives. Second, the study used this model to demonstrate the benefits of applying the framework to a previously unknown subject in public policy: a dynamic multi-technology decision problem under uncertainty involving multiple stakeholders and conflicting objectives. The results obtained suggest that while it is cost-optimal to pursue electrification in conjunction with other short-term augmentation solutions to meet South Africa's universal electrification target, sustainable energy access rates among low-income households can be achieved by increasing the share of clean energy generation technologies in the energy mix. This study, therefore, challenges the South African government's position on pro-poor energy policies and an emphasis on grid-based electrification to increase energy access. Instead, the study calls for a portfolio-based intervention. The study advances interventions based on micro-grid electrification made up of solar photovoltaics (PV), solar with storage, combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and wind technologies combined with either bioethanol fuel or liquid petroleum gas (LPG). The study has demonstrated that the framework developed can benefit public sector decision-makers in providing a balanced regime of technical, financial, social, environmental, public health, political and economic aspects in the decision-making process for planning energy supply interventions for low-income households. The framework can be adapted to a wide range of energy access combinatorial problems and in countries grappling with similar energy access challenges.