Samuel Ratick

Clark University · Geography and environmental science and policy

A 2019 inventory of ASR projects indicates that there are a total of 233 ASR sites in the US. Of this number, 127 had sufficient information and sufficient longevity to evaluate their success. A logistic model was run using the reduced variable set, and (1) Injection Capacity, (2) Withdrawal Capacity, and (3) Ratio of Planned Pumping In/Out had sli...

Key Takeaways Aquifer storage and recovery, or ASR, is used to provide a stored water source where water supplies are unreliable or to address future demand. A 2013 inventory of ASR systems was updated in 2019 to evaluate project parameters and determine which variables are best at predicting the success of future ASR projects. With a time frame of...

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB, Anoplophora glabripennis) is an invasive pest species currently infesting major port cities in North America and Europe. There is limited knowledge regarding the pathways of movement across heterogeneous landscapes at local scales. This study models dispersal pathways using circuit theory in Worcester, Massachusett...

Composite indices are used to assess and prioritize mitigation and adaptation strategies for addressing the impacts of global environmental change. We evaluate different aggregation tools for creating these indices and their potential effects on mitigation and adaptation efforts. We assess the association of each aggregation tool with different typ...

During the past several decades, the decision-making process and the decision-makers’ role in it have changed dramatically. Because of this, the use of analytical tools, such as Excel, have become an essential component of most organizations. The analytical tools in Excel can provide today’s decision-maker with a competitive advantage. We will illu...

This paper explores predictors of juvenile tree mortality in a newly planted cohort in Worcester, MA, following an episode of large-scale tree removal necessitated by an Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis, ALB) eradication program. Trees are increasingly seen as important providers of ecosystem services for urban areas, including: cl...

Since the early 1990s, the number of research articles examining vulnerability and frameworks for its assessment has increased markedly (Dow, 1992; Cutter, 1996; Clark et al., 1998; Turner II et al., 2003; Adger, 2006; Wisner, 2009). This has largely been driven by concerns over the potential impacts of global climate change (Adger et al., 2004; Sc...

Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) plays an important role in moderating the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) effect, which poses threats to human health due to substantially increased temperatures relative to rural areas. UTC coverage is associated with reduced urban temperatures, and therefore benefits both human health and reducing energy use in cities. Me...

A flexible procedure for the development of a multi-criteria composite index to measure relative vulnerability under future climate change scenarios is presented. The composite index is developed using the Weighted Ordered Weighted Average (WOWA) aggregation technique which enables the selection of different levels of trade-off, which controls the...

The maximal covering location problem (MCLP) model and the large number of applications and modifications that have emanated from it have been extensively used to site facility networks in a wide variety of applications. In this article, we formulate and apply an extension of MCLP, the Maximal Covering Location Problem with Hedging (MCLPH), to addr...

Land-use-change drivers related to institutional dynamics, including historical path dependencies and political dynamics associated with urban land transformation, are difficult to relate to specific spatial locations and thus are not easily included in spatial models of urban land-use change. In this paper we describe a land-use model with variabl...

The multi-objective land allocation problem is to optimize the selection of land for different uses based on a set of decision objectives. For most applications, a geographical information system (GIS) is either absent or loosely coupled through file exchange. In this article the evolutionary algorithm (EA), a heuristic solution method for optimiza...

This paper is the result of a survey and analyses of available data from 204 Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) sites in the United States. This ASR site survey included all active and inactive sites and collected both operational and construction details. The inactive sites are of particular interest here because these are the projects from which...

This study assesses heat-related mortality in Massachusetts during the months of May through September from 1990 to 2008. Daily maximum apparent temperature was interpolated across space via kriging, and aggregated to 29 municipality groups (MGs), a spatial unit composed of municipalities that was designed to have minimal variation in population. D...

There are several suspected sources of lead contamination in the Dominican Republic (DR) to which populations, to a greater or lesser extent, may be exposed. These sources include: a lead battery recycling plant, a gold mine and vehicles using leaded gasoline. In this paper we create and compare indices of spatial vulnerability using different inde...

In response to the US federal renewable fuels standards, new ethanol plants of varying sizes are being established in the US. The transportation challenge is to decide on how best to move raw materials to these existing and new ethanol plants, and to ship the fuel from the ethanol plants to markets around the country. In this paper, we extend the I...

This paper presents an interperiod network storage location-allocation (INSLA) model to solve the just-in-time production planning problem. The model is extended to a multiobjective problem in which trade-offs between delivery time and transportation costs are analyzed. The results for a hypothetical problem show that in an attempt to reduce invent...

One of the most perplexing problems in risk analysis is why some relatively minor risks or risk events, as assessed by technical experts, often elicit strong public concerns and result in substantial impacts upon society and economy. This article sets forth a conceptual framework that seeks to link systematically the technical assessment of risk wi...

Introduction The initial focus of mathematical programming models for facility location was based upon the spatial availability of a server to fulfill demand [for a review of covering models, see ReVelle (1987) and Schilling et al. (1993)]. Toregas et al. (1971) formulated the Location Set Covering Problem (LSCP) that required coverage of all deman...

A great deal of uncertainty accompanies predictions of the potential effects of global climate change on the coastal hazards associated with severe storms. One way to obviate the effects of this uncertainty on the design of policies is to understand the manner in which populations are currently vulnerable to these types of hazards. In this chapter,...

In a paper published in Management Science in 1982, George Moore and Charles ReVelle proposed a location model for siting a hierarchical system of medical facilities. In this paper we apply the Moore and ReVelle Hierarchical Maximal Covering Model to the location of medical facilities in the Kohat district in Pakistan. Optimal solutions of the Moor...

How does information technology (IT) alter the organizational dynamics in an industry? In this article, we examine changes in competition and interfirm relations in the U.S. logistics industry, particularly whether “trust-based” interfirm relationships are being substituted by “competition-based” relationships and the rationale for outsourcing. We...

The use of emergency backup and storage facilities to supplement existing facilities in response to the potential effects of various natural and anthropogenic hazards (e.g., floods, fires, outages, and acts of malice) can be an effective way of reducing vulnerability and enhancing the resilience of supply chain and other logistics functions. Althou...

The use of emergency backup and storage facilities to supplement existing facilities in response to the potential effects of various natural and anthropogenic hazards (e.g. floods, fires, outages, and acts of malice) can be an effective way of reducing vulnerability and enhancing the resilience of existing supply chain and other logistics functions...

Many types of facility location/allocation models have been developed to find optimal spatial patterns with respect to various location criteria that include cost, time, coverage, and access among others. In this paper we develop and test location modeling formulations that utilize data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency measures to find optimal...

Although the logistics industry provides critical services to all sectors of the economy, few studies exist in economic geography that examine and explain the organizational dynamics of this industry. This article highlights the significance of the logistics industry in contemporary industrialization and argues that an enriched understanding of the...

The mathematical programming-based technique data envelopment analysis (DEA) has often treated data as being deterministic. In response to the criticism that in most applications there is error and random noise in the data, a number of mathematically elegant solutions to incorporating stochastic variations in data have been proposed. In this paper,...

In this article, we analyze patterns and recent trends of the logistics industry with specific emphasis on the impact of business-to-business (B-to-B) electronic commerce on its industrial organization. From this conceptualization, we develop an optimization-based logistics model comprising two interlinked networks representing commodity flow and i...

This paper provides a case study of a method to estimate the value of additional information, before its acquisition, to aid decision making in the face of uncertainty. The approach employs conditional simulation in a Monte Carlo framework to conduct a Bayesian assessment of the value of information in an explicitly spatial setting. This paper demo...

Models developed to analyze facility location decisions have typically optimized one or more objectives, subject to physical, structural, and policy constraints, in a static or deterministic setting. Because of the large capital outlays that are involved, however, facility location decisions are frequently long-term in nature. Consequently, there m...

Climate change may affect the frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution of severe coastal storms. Concurrent sea-level rise would raise the baseline of flooding during such events. Meanwhile, social vulnerability factors such as poverty and disability hinder the ability to cope with storms and storm damage. While physical changes are likely...

Hazardous materials (hazmat) logistics management has received increased attention in the past two decades. Important decisions in such management include the selection of sites for hazmat processing and storage, the selection of transportation routes from sources to processing facilities, and the determination of quantities of hazmat shipped over...

Planning for the maintenance and improvement of water navigation infrastructure in the United States is a difficult task exacerbated by the uncertainties and variability in natural, engineering, and economic conditions. The Risk Analysis for Water Resources Investments Research Program in the Institute for Water Resources of the U.S. Army Corps of...

The strategic location of servers by a firm in a competitive environment is basic in the determination or division of market shares. Let us suppose that a firm wants to locate p servers so as to maximize market capture in a region where competitors are already located but where there is uncertainty -- there are several possible future scenarios wit...

In recent years there has been increased public and governmental concern regarding hazardous materials management, and a concomitant increase in activities associated with designing and using hazardous material management systems. To be effective these systems must consider the costs and risks associated with the transport of hazardous materials as...

Due to federal and state legislative action, industrial plant environmental pollution measurements are becoming available. These data provide an opportunity to monitor environmental management progress. This article suggests the mechanics of a new data envelopment analysis model for pollution monitoring. This model is sensitive to economic and tech...

One option in decisionmaking under uncertainty is to reduce uncertainty by acquiring information. The decisionmaker will choose to acquire additional information if its value exceeds its cost. This paper describes the use of nested conditional simulation in implementing a Bayesian assessment of the value of information in an explicitly spatial sett...

The paper reviews the U.S. experience in using decision models to support environmental policy making. Cost benefit and cost effectiveness are examined in the context of efficiency and equity considerations. Risk assessment and risk benefit analysis is then reviewed in the same framework. A mathematical programming approach to environmental managem...

Since enacting a unique facility siting law in 1981, Wisconsin has had unusual success in siting solid-waste management facilities. The law mandates a state-level technical review and licensing process and a local-level negotiation/arbitration process that deals with host community impacts and concerns. Data from the negotiated compensation agreeme...

Accurate forecasts of hydrological and hydraulic conditions used in planning for the maintenance of navigation channels are important for ensuring safe and cost efficient water borne transportation. The uncertainties inherent in forecasting and in the availability and operating conditions of dredges make planning difficult and may require that an u...

This article analyzes the recent negotiations connected with siting 24 solid-waste landfills in Wisconsin. We examine the association between the type and amount of compensation paid to host communities by facility developers and the size of facilities, certain facility characteristics, the timing of negotiated agreements, the size of the host comm...

Abstract This paper develops a network-optimization planning methodology for U.S. coal port infrastructure. The model analyzes the economic and geographic impacts of harbor deepening and offshore topping-off, improvements which are considered essential for the U.S. to maintain export levels in the face of lower-cost competition because they enable...

Hazards generated by new technologies may differ from those associated with established technologies, not only owing to differences in the processes employed and the products produced, but also stemming from the lack of data, monitoring capability, regulation, and management protocol for those technologies. The power to anticipate the sources and c...

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of over 11,000 accidents involving toxic chemicals in the United States from 1980 to 1986. This analysis is accomplished using the Acute Hazardous Events Data Base (AHE/DB) which was developed by the authors under sponsorship of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide supportiv...

This paper summarizes work completed on human factors contributions to risks from spent nuclear fuel transportation. Human participation may have significant effects on the levels and types of risks from transportation of spent nuclear fuel by enabling or initiating incidents and exacerbating adverse consequences. Human errors are defined as the re...

Clarification of several issues in the human dimensions of global environmental change is essential to the creation of a balanced research agenda. Global environmental change includes both systemic changes that operate globally through the major systems of the geosphere-biosphere, and cumulative changes that represent the global accumulation of loc...

ABSTRACT Hazardous facility siting policies have shifted gradually from an exclusive focus on risk mitigation measures to strategies which combine mitigation unit compensation for unavoidable risks. Despite widespread practice among regional and state government entities, such strategies have achieved limited success. We argue that risk sharing thr...

This paper is a product of the Institute for Water Resources (IWR) research on uncertainty in benefit analysis. The research is intended to enable Corps of Engineer economists to make better estimates of project benefits with limited resources, and to help the Corps to better orient its research program to provide useful methods and empirical data...

One of the most perplexing problems in risk analysis is why some relatively minor risks or risk events, as assessed by technical experts, often elicit strong public concerns and result in substantial impacts upon society and economy. This article sets forth a conceptual framework that seeks to link systematically the technical assessment of risk wi...

This paper addresses one quite specific part of this broad range of issues -- the distribution of impacts to the state of Nevada and to the nation likely to be associated with the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. As such, it is one of four analyses of the overall equity problems and needs to be read in conjunction with our proposed overall frame...

An Acute Hazardous Events Data Base (AHE/DB) has been developed that codifies the characteristics of over 11,000 accidental releases of toxic chemicals in the United States, primarily from 1980 to 1986. Initially developed as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's response to the 1984 toxic chemical release in Bhopal, India, the AHE/DB...

This paper presents the development of a mathematical programming model for evaluating options for the continuance of the Essential Air Services (EAS) program, a provision of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. The EAS program was established to guarantee continued air service to small communities that suffered air service losses as a result of c...

The recent proliferation of facility-siting conflicts underscores the need for new analytical techniques in which the external effects associated with noxious facilities are considered explicitly. In general, in prescriptive facility-location models it is assumed that having populations "closer", as characterized by transport or accessibility advan...

This paper presents the estimation of a long-run average cost curve for the flue gas desulfurization of coal-fired electric generating plants. Long-run average costs are shown to decline asymptotically with the level of sulfur dioxide removal and to decline with the sulfur content of the coal burned.

The formulation and use of a mixed integer mathematical programming location-allocation model, the Coal Logistics System (COLS), is presented in this study. COLS is used to evaluate the potential for reducing water-borne coal transportation costs, and concomitantly the costs of delivering coal to European markets. This cost reduction is accomplishe...

Many factors will determine the extent to which the U.S. will be a significant supplier of coal to world markets. Important among these factors is the ability of the domestic coal transport system to move coal from mines to export ports and the capability of these ports to efficiently transship the coal to export markets. This paper describes the u...

The Coal Logistics System (COLS) is developed and used to determine the effects of world coal demands on U.S. ports. The model simultaneously solves for the optimal sources and qualities of coal for export, systemwide least cost routes and modes for transporting coal, and the locations and activity levels of coal transhipments, or other maritime im...

Mandated electric generation coal conversions in New England could place a severe strain on the coal handling and transportation facilities in New England ports. This paper presents an analytical scheme leading to the development of optimal plans for the reuse and redevelopment of marine transport networks in New England. Utilizing the port invento...

A method is developed using n-person game theory together with multiple objective programming and is applied to aid-regional decisions on utility coal conversions. Converting oil fired electric utilities to coal is seen as being of great strategic importance. There are, however, many impediments to utility coal conversions including costs and envir...

Historically, waterborne movements of coal into the New England region were very important. This paper presents the results of a systematic study of the transportation of coal into the region to satisfy the anticipated energy demands of the electric utilities. The results of this analysis indicate that waterborne movements of coal can once again pr...

This document presents the results of a systematic study of the transportation of coal into the New England region. This coal movement is to satisfy the anticipated energy demands of the electric utilities in the regions which have been ordered to convert to coal under the 1978 Fuel Use Act. Historically, waterborne movements of coal into the New E...

The successful implementation of public policy often requires the cooperation of many individuals including those who can affect and those who are to be affected by the proposed policy. In this paper, the structure of such cooperation is modeled by combining multiobjective programming and solution techniques for n-person cooperative games. An integ...

The last decade has witnessed a growing concern with the adequacy of energy resources and with the quality of the physical environment. This concern stems from such factors as the unrelenting growth of energy use, the end of an era of abundant and cheap energy, adverse environmental effects of economic growth, and the increasing participation of go...

Increases in onshore air and water pollution levels for four New Jersey coastal counties resulting from the proposed Mid-Atlantic oil and gas lease sale (Sale no. 40) were estimated based on the projections of economic activity for 1975, 1980, 1985, and 1990. (GRA)

As used in the discussion that follows, and in our research papers treating equity in the Yucca Mountain Socioeconomic Impact Study, equity refers to the fairness of the process or results of a particular activity or development on the various affected groups or individuals. The proper role for equity analyses, in our view, is not to provide final...

Mandated electric generation coal conversions in New England could place a severe strain on the coal handling and transportation facilities in New England ports. This paper presents an analytical scheme leading to the development of optimal plans for the reuse and redevelopment of marine transport networks in New England. Utilizing a port inventory...

This document contains summaries of records of 3,121 accidental releases of hazardous substances. Because of sampling, these records represent a larger population of 6,928 events. One section describes the background and methodology. Another discusses the 468 events associated with the reported 4,717 injuries and 138 deaths. Other sections summariz...

Thesis--Johns Hopkins University, 1979. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-150). Microfilm of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms, 1979. -- 1 reel ; 35 mm. -- (Doctoral Dissertation Series ; 79-14301).