Figure 1 - uploaded by Stelios Rozakis
Content may be subject to copyright.
Variable space, feasible area and regret cuts.
Source publication
Environmental consciousness and accompanying actions have been paralleled by the evolution of multi-criteria methods which have provided tools to assist policy makers in discovering compromises in order to muddle through. This paper recalls the development of multi-criteria methods in agriculture, focusing on their contribution to produce input or...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... This problem has a feasible region delimited by the five vertices (Fig. 1). The set of all the extreme objective functions is Y={ ( ...
Context 2
... r . This time the regret is positive and the corresponding solution is not a vertex (see in figure 1). has been obtained by taking into account extreme cases that might prove "fatal" for a decision maker. ...
Citations
... Additionally, drought [6], water pollution [7,8], and poor water resource management [9] threaten the agricultural sector's sustainability. Certainly, it has been widely recognized for some time now that the natural resources (soil and water) employed in agricultural practices are no longer viewed as abundant and infinite reserves [10]. ...
Focusing on sustainability, the new Common Agricultural Policy (2023–2027) sets ambitious goals for water management, as reducing irrigation water use is a vital issue. Cooperation among farmers, relevant authorities, and researchers plays a significant role in achieving these objectives. Therefore, this study applies a multicriteria mathematical programming model to optimize land use, considering water use, profit, labor, and cost. The model was applied to three farmer groups located in Greece and proved to be valuable in the implementation of irrigation water use. Using the same methodology, two additional cases of farmer groups that utilize drylands are presented in complementary ways to investigate how the new CAP affects non-irrigated land uses. Regarding the irrigated case, reducing water usage involves decreasing the land dedicated to crops characterized by high water demand, such as rice, corn, vetch, and clover. This adjustment stems from the necessity to replace irrigated land with non-irrigated land because climate change demands low water consumption for crops and underscores the importance of the new policy framework to promote sustainable agriculture. As for the non-irrigated case, achieving optimal farm planning entails reducing the cultivated areas of vetch, grassland, and sunflower. This result is driven by the need to increase crops receiving primary subsidies, highlighting the necessity for non-irrigated farms to enhance their profitability through the benefits provided by the Common Agricultural Policy. Lastly, it is important to note that this study significantly contributes to guiding decision-makers in achieving alternative agricultural land uses and farm plans while also aiding in the comprehension of the new cross-compliance rules.
... As our results show, the PT-PROMETHEE methodology can be used to explain the actual behaviour of decision makers, and it also provides insights into risk-related mechanisms when small numbers of alternatives are ranked. This element reveals the positive nature of the MCDA reducing the probability of proposing compromise alternatives that will never be realised, thus it enhances its validity and usefulness as well as the applicability of the 'best' alternative [80].The proposed methodology is extremely relevant and necessary for the implementation of development policies and strategies formulated by local urban and regional authorities. The solutions proposed in this paper have proven that local authorities will look for an optimal structure of KHK or will strive to work out novel rules of cooperation in order to achieve the goal of creating a Closed Circuit Economy recommended by the European Union. ...
Decision-making for cooperation between municipal entities involves elected members serving public interest who argue in both quantitative (e.g. financial performance), and qualitative (e.g. social acceptance) grounds. Policy support should consider conflicting objectives in a context of uncertainty and imprecision as well as in presence of organizational lock-ins that tend to favor incumbent arrangements. In search of appropriate algorithm to support decision making in such cases we opted for the PROMETHEE outranking method integrating novel findings of behavioral theory. Thus its preference functions are specified so that they reflect bounded rationality that shapes risk attitudes of decision makers within the uncertain environment of public management. Moreover alternative weighting procedures have been applied for group decisions. The prospect theory multi-criteria methodology, termed PT-PROMETHEE is implemented relating proposed options to observed behavior providing useful insights especially regarding status quo options also allowing for sensitivity analysis. Thus acceptance of MCDM support by the stakeholders is enhanced leading to solid compromise institutional arrangements.
... Rozakis [53] observes two caveats in multicriteria decision making analysis with regard to environmental problems: firstly, criteria related to environmental dimensions as suggested by scientists are in fact not necessarily adopted by private agents in their decision problems; and secondly, that models used in decision making are most often managerial ones whose optimal solutions do not approximate the observed behaviour of the decision makers in the field. These points are taken into account in this exercise, the first one by arbitrarily selecting two distinct farmer viewpoints in addition to the one of expert/policy maker. ...
This study aims at exploiting research outcomes concerning tillage practices in order to make solutions available to farmers to mitigate negative environmental impact to soils. Two alternative practices have been analysed against conventional full tillage based on data provided by a long-term experiment conducted at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG) farm in Grabów, Central Poland. Reduced Tillage and Direct Sowing are evaluated against Full Tillage on the basis of socio-economic and environmental criteria. Multi-criteria decision analysis undertaken using the PROMETHEE method provided evidence that the ‘optimal’ maize cultivation system depends on the decision maker’s viewpoint and preferences. In fact, criteria selected and related weights elicited from representative farmers, as well as from an expert agronomist, reveal different viewpoints. Direct sowing was the most preferable for the large farm and expert perspective, whereas in case of small farm reduced tillage ranked first. Prospect theory developed by behavioural economists was incorporated to take into account decision biases. As a matter of fact, based on Prospect Theory-PROMETHEE from the small farm and the expert perspective, the conventional system was now ranked first, while for the large farm, the most preferable practice was still direct sowing.
... Xydis and Koroneos (2009) integration of environmentally friendly processes for the satisfaction of the energy needs of Lasithi Prefecture, paying attention at the same time to the financial viability of these systems. Rozakis (2011) recalls the development of multicriteria methods in agriculture, focusing on their contribution to produce input or output functions useful for environmental and/or energy policy. ...
It is difficult to model household electricity consumption by considering environmental consciousness through conventional methods. This paper presents a flexible framework based on artificial neural network (ANN), multi-layer perception (MLP), conventional regression and design of experiment (DOE) for estimating household electricity consumption by considering environmental consciousness. Environmental consciousness is evaluated through standard questionnaire. Moreover, DOE is based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan multiple range test (DMRT). Furthermore, actual data is compared with ANN MLP and conventional regression model through ANOVA. The significance of this study is the integration of ANN, conventional regression and DOE for flexible and improved modelling of household electricity consumption by incorporating environmental consciousness indicators.
Morphological analysis (MA) is a reliable technique for identifying research opportunities in policy analysis. This article presents a MA of the energy policy analysis literature of over four decades of research to enable structured understanding of the field. A three-stage research method has been adopted to identify and review journal articles and research publications. The MA affirms that energy policy analysis research literature points to energy–economy–sustainability–policy interactions. These interactions are studied from the issues and concerns perspective. The MA framework (MAF) representation of energy policy issues and concerns comprises 4 dimensions, 11 sub-dimensions and 50 variants. This MAF representation of the energy policy analysis literature can be useful for researchers to systematically study the domain and identify significant research opportunities, emerging themes and priorities in energy policy analysis research. The article also suggests immediate and promising research opportunities in the domain using the MAF. MA is also a reliable method for researchers who study other public policy domains.
