Regional hospital solid waste assessment using the evidential reasoning approach
Armaghan Abed-Elmdoust1, Reza Kerachian
1School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. armaghanabed@ut.ac.ir
The Science of the Total Environment
|November 9, 2012
Summary
This study applies the evidential reasoning (ER) approach to regional hospital solid waste assessment, effectively handling uncertainties in qualitative and quantitative data for improved waste management strategies.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Waste Management
- Decision Analysis
Background:
- Hospital solid waste assessment involves complex qualitative and quantitative criteria.
- Human judgment in qualitative assessments introduces uncertainties like fuzziness and ignorance.
- Existing methods struggle to adequately model these inherent uncertainties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and apply the evidential reasoning (ER) approach for regional hospital solid waste assessment.
- To develop a methodology capable of handling diverse data types and uncertainties.
- To provide a robust framework for analyzing hospital solid waste in Khuzestan, Iran.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the evidential reasoning (ER) approach to model assessment criteria.
- Employed a cohesive belief structure to represent incomplete, imprecise, and uncertain information.
- Aggregated multiple assessment criteria to derive distributed assessments for alternatives.
Main Results:
- Successfully applied the ER approach to regional hospital solid waste assessment in Khuzestan, Iran.
- Demonstrated the ER approach's capability to integrate qualitative and quantitative data with uncertainties.
- Generated distributed assessments for hospital solid waste management alternatives.
Conclusions:
- The evidential reasoning (ER) approach is a suitable method for hospital solid waste assessment, effectively managing uncertainties.
- The proposed methodology offers a novel and robust tool for regional waste management analysis.
- This study provides valuable insights for improving hospital solid waste management practices in the studied region and beyond.
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