Managing Under Uncertainty

Managing Under Uncertainty

Handbook of Management under Uncertainty

A mere few years ago it would have seemed odd to propose a Handbook on the treatment of management problems within a sphere of uncertainty. Even today, on the threshold of the third millennium, this statement may provoke a certain wariness. In fact, to resort to exact or random data, that is probable date, is quite normal and con venient, as we then know where we are going best, where we are proposing to go if all occurs as it is conceived and hoped for. To treat uncertain information, to accept a new principle and from there determined criteria, without being sure of oneself and confiding only in the will to better understand objects and phenomena, constitutes and compromise with a new form of understanding the behaviour of current beings that goes even further than simple rationality. Economic Science and particularly the use of its elements of configuration in the world of management, has imbued several generations with an analytical spirit that has given rise to the elaboration of theories widely accepted by the international scientific community. In this work we are proposing something a little more modest: to use, in the best possible way, data and information that are available for drawing up and applying techniques and instruments that are useful for current reality within the world of businesses and institutions, in an attempt to mislead ourselves as little as possible.

Groundwater Modeling and Management under Uncertainty

Groundwater is a vital resource of water, in some regions of the world the only source of fresh water. Its use for domestic use and agriculture dates back thousands of years. In recent decades the over-exploitation and unabated use of this resource has lead to severe environmental problems such as resource depletion, land subsidence and groundwater contamination. To mitigate these adverse impacts and protect this valuable resource, it is imperative that rational groundwater management practices and policies as well as robust modeling and analysis tools be developed. This volume and the accompanying USB memory card include the abstracts and full papers that were presented at the 6th International Groundwater Symposium that was held in Kuwait between 19 and 21 of November, 2012. The Symposium was jointly organized by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and the Groundwater Hydraulics and Management Committee of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). More than 100 researchers, engineers, geologists and water specialists from more than 20 countries attended the Symposium to exchange ideas and expertise relating to the latest developments in the fi eld. The papers presented at the Symposium were organized under the following themes: modeling and management under uncertainty, sustainable groundwater management in arid and semiarid environments, Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) as a groundwater management tool, management solutions for groundwater rise problems, fl ow and transport modeling, and subsurface contamination and remediation. This volume provides a state-of-the-art discussion of the latest issues relating to groundwater exploration, management and protection, with an emphasis on bridging the gap between research practice and policy. The volume will serve as an important reference to students, researchers, modelers as well as practitioners and policy makers.