Browsing by Subject "conservation practices"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Exploration and Visualization of Patterns Underlying Multistakeholder Preferences in Watershed Conservation Decisions Generated by an Interactive Genetic Algorithm
    (Wiley, 2021-05) Piemonti, Adriana Debora; Guizani, Mariam; Babbar-Sebens, Meghna; Zhang, Eugene; Mukhopadhyay, Snehasis; Computer and Information Science, School of Science
    In multiple watershed planning and design problems, such as conservation planning, quantitative estimates of costs, and environmental benefits of proposed conservation decisions may not be the only criteria that influence stakeholders' preferences for those decisions. Their preferences may also be influenced by the conservation decision itself—specifically, the type of practice, where it is being proposed, existing biases, and previous experiences with the practice. While human-in-the-loop type search techniques, such as Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGA), provide opportunities for stakeholders to incorporate their preferences in the design of alternatives, examination of user-preferred conservation design alternatives for patterns in Decision Space can provide insights into which local decisions have higher or lower agreement among stakeholders. In this paper, we explore and compare spatial patterns in conservation decisions (specifically involving cover crops and filter strips) within design alternatives generated by IGA and noninteractive GA. Methods for comparing patterns include nonvisual as well as visualization approaches, including a novel visual analytics technique. Results for the study site show that user-preferred designs generated by all participants had strong bias for cover crops in a majority (50%–83%) of the subbasins. Further, exploration with heat maps visualization indicate that IGA-based search yielded very different spatial patterns of user-preferred decisions in subbasins in comparison to decisions within design alternatives that were generated without the human-in-the-loop. Finally, the proposed coincident-nodes, multiedge graph visualization was helpful in visualizing disagreement among participants in local subbasin scale decisions, and for visualizing spatial patterns in local subbasin scale costs and benefits.
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    Interactive genetic algorithm for user-centered design of distributed conservation practices in a watershed: An examination of user preferences in objective space and user behavior
    (Wiley, 2017-05) Piemonti, Adriana Debora; Babbar-Sebens, Meghna; Mukhopadhyay, Snehasis; Kleinberg, Austin; Computer and Information Science, School of Science
    Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGA) are advanced human-in-the-loop optimization methods that enable humans to give feedback, based on their subjective and unquantified preferences and knowledge, during the algorithm's search process. While these methods are gaining popularity in multiple fields, there is a critical lack of data and analyses on (a) the nature of interactions of different humans with interfaces of decision support systems (DSS) that employ IGA in water resources planning problems and on (b) the effect of human feedback on the algorithm's ability to search for design alternatives desirable to end-users. In this paper, we present results and analyses of observational experiments in which different human participants (surrogates and stakeholders) interacted with an IGA-based, watershed DSS called WRESTORE to identify plans of conservation practices in a watershed. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate how the IGA adapts its search process in the objective space to a user's feedback, and identify whether any similarities exist in the objective space of plans found by different participants. Some participants focused on the entire watershed, while others focused only on specific local subbasins. Additionally, two different hydrology models were used to identify any potential differences in interactive search outcomes that could arise from differences in the numerical values of benefits displayed to participants. Results indicate that stakeholders, in comparison to their surrogates, were more likely to use multiple features of the DSS interface to collect information before giving feedback, and dissimilarities existed among participants in the objective space of design alternatives.
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    A web-based software tool for participatory optimization of conservation practices in watersheds
    (Elsevier, 2015-07) Babbar-Sebens, Meghna; Mukhopadhyay, Snehasis; Singh, Vidya Bhushan; Piemonti, Adriana Debora; Department of Computer & Information Science, School of Science
    WRESTORE (Watershed Restoration Using Spatio-Temporal Optimization of Resources) is a web-based, participatory planning tool that can be used to engage with watershed stakeholder communities, and involve them in using science-based, human-guided, interactive simulation–optimization methods for designing potential conservation practices on their landscape. The underlying optimization algorithms, process simulation models, and interfaces allow users to not only spatially optimize the locations and types of new conservation practices based on quantifiable goals estimated by the dynamic simulation models, but also to include their personal subjective and/or unquantifiable criteria in the location and design of these practices. In this paper, we describe the software, interfaces, and architecture of WRESTORE, provide scenarios for implementing the WRESTORE tool in a watershed community's planning process, and discuss considerations for future developments.