Application of fuzzy logic to multiple criteria decision making in aquacultural planning

The field of regional planning is characterized by the large number of issues and attributes involved, and regional planning for aquaculture development is no exception. Moreover, aquacultural plans do not have clearly defined objectives and require information that, if exist, is often imprecise and uncertain.This paper applies fuzzy set theory to multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) in aquaculture planning. In effect, the paper demonstrates how fuzzy set theory can be used to explicitly account for the inherent uncertainty encountered when planning for aquaculture development in a given region. A case study for regional aquaculture planning in Northern Egypt demonstrates the proposed fuzzy MCDM framework

Optimal Coastal Land Use and Management in Krabi, Thailand: Compromise Programming Approach

This paper identifies the optimal options of Krabi’s coastal land use to facilitate the final planning decision. Through compromise programming approach, the optimization models with respect to the weights assigned to two objectives of maximizing the net private and environmental benefits are formulated to derive the options. Various externality management scenarios based on different applications of policy tools are assessed. All scenarios suggest the optimal options in favour of mangrove conservation when both objectives are considered equally important. This is not the case when the private benefit objective is assigned a higher weight at a certain level for each scenario, which results in the pro development of shrimp farming. The policy framework based on a combination of carrying capacity and green taxation regime would ensure that even if the pro development option were chosen, the positive net environmental gain and the integrity of coastal receiving waters would be obtained.coastal land management, weighted compromise programming, decision making, Krabi province

Evaluating factors of government investment in new industrial parks

Abstract: There are factors to consider in investment decisions that include the potential Return on Investment (ROI) and value creation. Government authorities have a responsibility to create an investment friendly climate and attract new business into their countries. In South Africa government has taken a step to build industrial parks to attract new investment. In order to achieve sustainable industrial development the government and other actors need to increase their investment in building of accessible and equipped industrial parks. On this paper, we use a multiple objective criterion to evaluate the factors of government’s investment in new industrial parks. The problem investigated on this paper is that conflicting political preferences which dominate economic advances regarding industrialisation. This paper identifies key factors essential for consideration in government decisions when investing in industrial park developments. The implications of industrial development for the developing world include improvement of livelihoods for citizens and the youth that is actively seeking job opportunities. However, it is not a straightforward path and it is for this reason on the paper we use MOCDM to understand the issues that require attention in order to achieve economic development that is sustainable

Integration of environmental sustainability and product quality criteria in the decision-making process for feeding strategies in seabream aquaculture companies

Economic criteria have traditionally been taken into account as the most important factor for the selection of the most suitable feed in aquaculture. However, currently, management decisions have become increasingly complex, taking into account issues such as environmental sustainability and product quality. In this regard, there is growing recognition that the quality of the environment in which an organization operates has a direct effect on its financial results. Unfortunately, the complex integration of all these factors, which are sometimes opposing, limits the ability of aquaculture producers to adapt their production strategy to cleaner production systems. In this context, the aim of this work is to address this problem with the development of a novel, multiple-criteria decision-making optimization methodology that allows producers to include different preferences in the design of feeding strategies. Here, this methodology is applied to gilthead seabream production. The results obtained show the utility of this methodology for integrating numerous criteria in the evaluation of various alternatives and for carrying out an efficient sensitivity analysis which test the impact of different hypotheses on stakeholders' preferences.This research was undertaken under the MedAID project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no 727315 (http://www.medaid-h2020.eu/). The authors wish to thank the Ibero-American Program for the Development of Science and Technology (CYTED) and the Red Iberoamericana BigDSSAgro (Ref. P515RT0123) for their support of this work, and Juan B. Cabral for the package scikit-criteria for MCDM

Determination of feeding strategies in aquaculture farms using a multiple-criteria approach and genetic algorithms

Since the 1990s, fishing production has stagnated and aquaculture has experienced an exponential growth thanks to the production on an industrial scale. One of the major challenges facing aquaculture companies is the management of breeding activity affected by biological, technical, environmental and economic factors. In recent years, decision-making has also become increasingly complex due to the need for managers to consider aspects other than economic ones, such as product quality or environmental sustainability. In this context, there is an increasing need for expert systems applied to decision-making processes that maximize economic efficiency of the operational process. One of the production planning decisions more affected by these changes is the feeding strategy. The selection of the feed determines the growth of the fish, but also generates the greatest impact of the activity on the environment and determines the quality of the product. In addition, feed is the main production cost in finfish aquaculture. In order to address all these problems, the present work integrates a multiple-criteria methodology with a genetic algorithm that allows determining the best sequence of feeds to be used throughout the fattening period, depending on multiple optimization objectives. Results show its utility to generate and evaluate different alternatives and fulfill the initial hypothesis, demonstrating that the combination of several feeds at precise times may improve the results obtained by one feed strategies.This paper is part of the MedAID project which has received funding from the European Union's H2020 program under grant agreement 727315. The authors also wish to thank the Ibero-American Program for the Development of Science and Technology, CYTED, and the Red Iberoamericana BigDSSAgro (Ref. P515RT0123) for their support of this work

Integración de la Lógica Difusa a la Dinámica de Sistemas para la selección de terrenos de cultivos agrícolas

La instalación de un sistema agrícola es un proceso complejo que requiere de un conocimiento tanto del tipo de cultivo como de análisis de suelos de tal forma que se puedan obtener los mayores beneficios. Es por esto que el propósito de este artículo es integrar la lógica difusa a modelos realizados con dinámica de sistemas, con el fin de apoyar la toma de decisiones de los agricultores. Con el modelo, el productor puede simular y experimentar de forma iterativa para evaluar posibles escenarios que le permitan tomar acciones correctivas antes de realizar la instalación de determinado cultivo

Options and Tradeoffs in Krabi's Coastal Land Use

This paper explores the tradeoff options for optimal coastal land use in Krabi’s coastal land development zone (CLDZ). Maximizing the net private benefit and maximizing the net environmental benefits, subject to the constraints set by land availability, effluent discharge from shrimp farms, and rice consumption are optimized via multiobjective programming. It is found that although the benefit from present land use pattern is close to the efficient level (Pareto frontier), reallocation of land use and revision of CLDZ are required in order to achieve an efficient outcome of planning. Designating aquaculture zones on the basis of carrying capacity is found to be an important scheme to control the impacts of shrimp farm discharges. The combined measures of carrying capacity and green taxation would lead to economically and environmentally responsible aquaculture. Compliance with aquaculture effluent standard alone could potentially lead to the detrimental optimum, and would be superfluous if aquaculture zones based on carrying capacity were designated.Coastal management, Pareto frontier, multiobjective programming, Krabi

Heuristic algorithms for solving a class of multiobjective zero-one programming problems

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