Ecosystems are usually complex, nonlinear and strongly influenced by poorly known environmental variables. Among these systems, marine ecosystems have high uncertainties: marine populations in general are known to exhibit large levels of natural variability and the intensity of fishing efforts can change rapidly. These uncertainties are a source of risks that threaten the sustainability of both...

The development of software systems from already built COTS components has been motivated by the prospect of reduced cost and development time. However, developing COTS-based systems introduces new challenges and risks different from building systems from scratch. In particular, this new paradigm requires simultaneous tradeoffs among user requirements, COTS products and system architecture. In ...

There is a growing discussion about the possibility of arsenic mitigation measures in Bengal and similar areas leading to undesirable substitution of water-borne-pathogen attributable risks pathogens for risks attributable to arsenic, in part because of uncertainties in relative pathogen concentrations in supplied and end-use water. We try to resolve this discussion, by assessing the relative c...

Supply chain risks, vulnerabilities, complexity and uncertainties have emerged as key challenges to supply chain management. Supply chain risk management assumes importance in making the organizations understand that their risk sensitivity is dependent on other constituents of their supply chain. These risks are prone to disruptions, Forecast inaccuracies, breakdowns, economic and political cha...

Methods used to project risks in low-Earth orbit are of questionable merit for exploration missions because of the limited radiobiology data and knowledge of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) heavy ions, which causes estimates of the risk of late effects to be highly uncertain. Risk projections involve a product of many biological and physical factors, each of which has a differential range of uncertai...

............................................................................................................................ 1 1 BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION.................................................................... 1 2 OPPORTUNITIES AND GOALS.................................................................................. 2 3 TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT........................................

Management of environmental risks in river basins needs to address quality aspects of sediment – both because of its storage capacity for contaminants and due to its potential function as a secondary source of pollution. Assessment of sediment quality, however, is still prone to a number of uncertainties and insufficient information with regard to regulation, analytical methods, risk assessment...

There is a growing demand for alternatives to Sweden's current dominant silvicultural system, driven by a desire to raise biomass production, meet environmental goals and mitigate climate change. However, moving towards diversified forest management that deviates from well established silvicultural practices carries many uncertainties and risks. Adaptive management is often suggested as an effe...

Real options modeling, which extends the ability of option pricing models to evaluate real assets, can be used to evaluate risky projects because of its capacity to handle uncertainties. This research utilizes possibility theory to represent private risks of a project, which are not reflected in the market and hence are not fully evaluated by standard option pricing models. Using a transformati...

Engineers must deal with risks and uncertainties as a part of their professional work and, in particular, uncertainties are inherent to engineering models. Models play a central role in engineering. Models often represent an abstract and idealized version of the mathematical properties of a target. Using models, engineers can investigate and acquire understanding of how an object or phenomenon ...