Pair-wise comparison has been successfully utilised in order to prioritise test cases by exploiting the rich, valuable and unique knowledge of the tester. However, the prohibitively large cost of the pairwise comparison method prevents it from being applied to large test suites. In this paper, we introduce a cluster-based test case prioritisation technique. By clustering test cases, based on th...

The aggregation of usability problems is an integral part of a usability evaluation. Numerous problems can be revealed and given that there are usually limited resources for fixing or redesigning the system then prioritisation of the problem set is essential. This paper examines the prioritisation of usability problems from a single heuristic evaluation and multiple heuristic evaluations of Que...

Fuzzy qualitative simulation combines the features of qualitative simulation and fuzzy reasoning in order to gain advantages from both. However, the output of a fuzzy qualitative simulation process is a behaviour tree which for complex systems will be large. In order to overcome this and permit focussing on preferred behaviours priortisation was developed. In this paper a new prioritisation sch...

The demand for referrals and diagnostic procedures in Italy has been rising constantly in recent years, making access to diagnostic services increasingly difficult with significant waiting times. A number of Health Authorities (known as Local Health Units) have responded by implementing formalised waiting-time prioritisation tools, giving rise to what are known as Homogeneous Waiting Groups (HW...

A new approach for deriving priorities from fuzzy pairwise comparison judgements is proposed, based on -cuts decomposition of the fuzzy judgements into a series of interval comparisons. The assessment of the priorities from the pairwise comparison intervals is formulated as an optimisation problem, maximising the decision-maker’s satisfaction with a speci4c crisp priority vector. A fuzzy prefer...

In 2004, the German public health institute, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), prioritised pathogens by public health criteria and presented the methodology and findings. In order to further improve the methodology, the RKI invited experts to give feedback on this via a structured web-based questionnaire. The survey was completed by 72 participants during 15 July 2008 to 15 January 2009. Priorit...

The 'edge of existence' (EDGE) prioritisation scheme is a new approach to rank species for conservation attention that aims to identify species that are both isolated on the tree of life and at imminent risk of extinction as defined by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The self-stated benefit of the EDGE system is that it effectively captures unusual 'unique' species, and doing so will prese...

BACKGROUND Problematic waiting lists in public health care threaten the equity and timeliness of care provision in several countries. This study assesses different stakeholders' views on the acceptability of waiting lists in health care, their preferences for priority care of patients, and their judgements on acceptable waiting times for surgical patients. METHODS A questionnaire survey was c...

BACKGROUND Prioritisation instruments were developed for patients on waiting list for hip and knee arthroplasties (AI) and cataract surgery (CI). The aim of the study was to assess their convergent and discriminant validity and inter-observer reliability. METHODS Multicentre validation study which included orthopaedic surgeons and ophthalmologists from 10 hospitals. Participating doctors were...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a range of strategies based on conventional clinical information and novel circulating biomarkers for prioritising patients with stable angina awaiting coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). DATA SOURCES MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched from 1966 until 30 November 2008. REVIEW METHODS We carried out systematic reviews and m...