abstract = "A land use many-objective optimization problem for a
1500-ha farm with 315 paddocks was formulated with 14
objectives (maximizing sawlog production, pulpwood
production, milk solids, beef, sheep meat, wool, carbon
sequestration, water production, income and Earnings
Before Interest and Tax; and minimizing costs, nitrate
leaching, phosphorus loss and sedimentation). This was
solved using a modified Reference-point-based
Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II augmented by
simulated epigenetic operations. The search space had
complex variable interactions and was based on economic
data and several interoperating simulation models. The
solution was an approximation of a Hyperspace Pareto
Frontier (HPF), where each non-dominated trade-off
point represented a set of land-use management actions
taken within a 10-year period and their related
management options, spanning a planning period of
50 years. A trade-off analysis was achieved using
Hyper-Radial Visualization (HRV) by collapsing the HPF
into a 2-D visualization capability through an
interactive virtual reality (VR)-based method, thereby
facilitating intuitive selection of a sound compromise
solution dictated by the decision makers preferences
under uncertainty conditions. Four scenarios of the HRV
were considered emphasizing economic, sedimentation and
nitrate leaching aspects, giving rise to a triple
bottomline (i.e. the economic, environmental and social
complex, where the social aspect is represented by the
preferences of the various stakeholders). Highlights of
the proposed approach are the development of an
innovative epigenetics-based multi-objective optimizer,
uncertainty incorporation in the search space data and
decision making on a multi-dimensional space through a
VR-simulation-based visual steering process controlled
at its core by a multi-criterion decision making-based
process. This approach has widespread applicability to
many other wicked societal problem-solving tasks",
notes = "This paper was the winner of the 2013 Wiley Practice
prize
https://beacon-center.org/blog/2013/06/21/wiley-practice-prize-awarded-to-beacons-multi-criterion-decision-making-team/