Solution Approaches for the Management of the Water Resources in Irrigation Water Systems with Fuzzy Costs

[EN] Currently, the management of water networks is key to increase their sustainability. This fact implies that water managers have to develop tools that ease the decision-making process in order to improve the efficiency of irrigation networks, as well as their exploitation costs. The present research proposes a mathematical programming model to optimize the selection of the water sources and the volume over time in water networks, minimizing the operation costs as a function of the water demand and the reservoir capacity. The model, which is based on fuzzy methods, improves the evaluation performed by water managers when they have to decide about the acquisition of the water resources under uncertain costs. Different fuzzy solution approaches have been applied and assessed in terms of model complexity and computational efficiency, showing the solution accomplished for each one. A comparison between different methods was applied in a real water network, reaching a 20% total cost reduction for the best solution.Sanchis, R.; Díaz-Madroñero Boluda, FM.; López Jiménez, PA.; Pérez-Sánchez, M. (2019). Solution Approaches for the Management of the Water Resources in Irrigation Water Systems with Fuzzy Costs. Water. 11(12):1-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11122432S1221112Biswas, A. K. (2004). Integrated Water Resources Management: A Reassessment. Water International, 29(2), 248-256. doi:10.1080/02508060408691775Pahl-Wostl, C. (2006). Transitions towards adaptive management of water facing climate and global change. Water Resources Management, 21(1), 49-62. doi:10.1007/s11269-006-9040-4Wu, K., & Zhang, L. (2014). Progress in the Development of Environmental Risk Assessment as a Tool for the Decision-Making Process. Journal of Service Science and Management, 07(02), 131-143. doi:10.4236/jssm.2014.72011Hernández-Bedolla, J., Solera, A., Paredes-Arquiola, J., Pedro-Monzonís, M., Andreu, J., & Sánchez-Quispe, S. (2017). The Assessment of Sustainability Indexes and Climate Change Impacts on Integrated Water Resource Management. Water, 9(3), 213. doi:10.3390/w9030213Hunink, J., Simons, G., Suárez-Almiñana, S., Solera, A., Andreu, J., Giuliani, M., … Bastiaanssen, W. (2019). A Simplified Water Accounting Procedure to Assess Climate Change Impact on Water Resources for Agriculture across Different European River Basins. Water, 11(10), 1976. doi:10.3390/w11101976Pérez-Sánchez, M., Sánchez-Romero, F., Ramos, H., & López-Jiménez, P. (2016). Modeling Irrigation Networks for the Quantification of Potential Energy Recovering: A Case Study. Water, 8(6), 234. doi:10.3390/w8060234Corominas, J. (2010). Agua y energía en el riego, en la época de la sostenibilidad. Ingeniería del agua, 17(3). doi:10.4995/ia.2010.2977Romero, L., Pérez-Sánchez, M., & Amparo López-Jiménez, P. (2017). Improvement of sustainability indicators when traditional water management changes: a case study in Alicante (Spain). AIMS Environmental Science, 4(3), 502-522. doi:10.3934/environsci.2017.3.502Davies, E. G. R., & Simonovic, S. P. (2011). Global water resources modeling with an integrated model of the social–economic–environmental system. Advances in Water Resources, 34(6), 684-700. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2011.02.010ALCAMO, J., DÖLL, P., HENRICHS, T., KASPAR, F., LEHNER, B., RÖSCH, T., & SIEBERT, S. (2003). Development and testing of the WaterGAP 2 global model of water use and availability. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 48(3), 317-337. doi:10.1623/hysj.48.3.317.45290Sanchis, R., & Poler, R. (2019). Enterprise Resilience Assessment—A Quantitative Approach. Sustainability, 11(16), 4327. doi:10.3390/su11164327Rahaman, M. M., & Varis, O. (2005). Integrated water resources management: evolution, prospects and future challenges. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 1(1), 15-21. doi:10.1080/15487733.2005.11907961Markantonis, V., Reynaud, A., Karabulut, A., El Hajj, R., Altinbilek, D., Awad, I. M., … Bidoglio, G. (2019). Can the Implementation of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Support Economic Growth in the Mediterranean Region? The Current Status and the Way Forward. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 7. doi:10.3389/fenvs.2019.00084Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)www.fao.orgDirective 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilhttps://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2000/60/ojNamany, S., Al-Ansari, T., & Govindan, R. (2019). Sustainable energy, water and food nexus systems: A focused review of decision-making tools for efficient resource management and governance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 225, 610-626. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.304Archibald, T. W., & Marshall, S. E. (2018). Review of Mathematical Programming Applications in Water Resource Management Under Uncertainty. Environmental Modeling & Assessment, 23(6), 753-777. doi:10.1007/s10666-018-9628-0Chen, S., Shao, D., Gu, W., Xu, B., Li, H., & Fang, L. (2017). An interval multistage water allocation model for crop different growth stages under inputs uncertainty. Agricultural Water Management, 186, 86-97. doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2017.03.001Xie, Y. L., Xia, D. H., Huang, G. H., Li, W., & Xu, Y. (2015). A multistage stochastic robust optimization model with fuzzy probability distribution for water supply management under uncertainty. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 31(1), 125-143. doi:10.1007/s00477-015-1164-8Heumesser, C., Fuss, S., Szolgayová, J., Strauss, F., & Schmid, E. (2012). Investment in Irrigation Systems under Precipitation Uncertainty. Water Resources Management, 26(11), 3113-3137. doi:10.1007/s11269-012-0053-xPereira-Cardenal, S. J., Mo, B., Riegels, N. D., Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K., & Bauer-Gottwein, P. (2015). Optimization of Multipurpose Reservoir Systems Using Power Market Models. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 141(8), 04014100. doi:10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0000500Kumari, S., & Mujumdar, P. P. (2017). Fuzzy Set–Based System Performance Evaluation of an Irrigation Reservoir System. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 143(5), 04017002. doi:10.1061/(asce)ir.1943-4774.0001155Jairaj, P. G., & Vedula, S. (2000). Water Resources Management, 14(6), 457-472. doi:10.1023/a:1011117918943Li, M., Guo, P., Singh, V. P., & Zhao, J. (2016). Irrigation Water Allocation Using an Inexact Two-Stage Quadratic Programming with Fuzzy Input under Climate Change. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 52(3), 667-684. doi:10.1111/1752-1688.12415Bozorg-Haddad, O., Malmir, M., Mohammad-Azari, S., & Loáiciga, H. A. (2016). Estimation of farmers’ willingness to pay for water in the agricultural sector. Agricultural Water Management, 177, 284-290. doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2016.08.011Raju, K. S., & Duckstein, L. (2003). Multiobjective fuzzy linear programming for sustainable irrigation planning: an Indian case study. Soft Computing - A Fusion of Foundations, Methodologies and Applications, 7(6), 412-418. doi:10.1007/s00500-002-0230-6Regulwar, D. G., & Gurav, J. B. (2012). Sustainable Irrigation Planning with Imprecise Parameters under Fuzzy Environment. Water Resources Management, 26(13), 3871-3892. doi:10.1007/s11269-012-0109-yMula, J., Poler, R., & Garcia-Sabater, J. P. (2008). Capacity and material requirement planning modelling by comparing deterministic and fuzzy models. International Journal of Production Research, 46(20), 5589-5606. doi:10.1080/00207540701413912Díaz-Madroñero, M., Mula, J., Jiménez, M., & Peidro, D. (2016). A rolling horizon approach for material requirement planning under fuzzy lead times. International Journal of Production Research, 55(8), 2197-2211. doi:10.1080/00207543.2016.1223382Mula, J., Poler, R., & Garcia, J. P. (2006). MRP with flexible constraints: A fuzzy mathematical programming approach. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 157(1), 74-97. doi:10.1016/j.fss.2005.05.045Mula, J., Poler, R., & Garcia-Sabater, J. P. (2007). Material Requirement Planning with fuzzy constraints and fuzzy coefficients. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 158(7), 783-793. doi:10.1016/j.fss.2006.11.003Díaz-Madroñero, M., Mula, J., & Jiménez, M. (2014). Fuzzy goal programming for material requirements planning under uncertainty and integrity conditions. International Journal of Production Research, 52(23), 6971-6988. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.920115Pérez-Sánchez, M., Díaz-Madroñero, M., Díaz-Madroñero, D.-M., … Josefa, J. (2017). Mathematical Programming Model for Procurement Selection in Water Irrigation Systems. A Case Study. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review, 10(6), 154-162. doi:10.25103/jestr.106.19Herrera, F., & Verdegay, J. L. (1995). Three models of fuzzy integer linear programming. European Journal of Operational Research, 83(3), 581-593. doi:10.1016/0377-2217(93)e0338-xHerrera, F., & Verdegay, J. L. (1996). Fuzzy boolean programming problems with fuzzy costs: A general study. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 81(1), 57-76. doi:10.1016/0165-0114(94)00324-6Alavidoost, M. H., Babazadeh, H., & Sayyari, S. T. (2016). An interactive fuzzy programming approach for bi-objective straight and U-shaped assembly line balancing problem. Applied Soft Computing, 40, 221-235. doi:10.1016/j.asoc.2015.11.025Torabi, S. A., & Hassini, E. (2008). An interactive possibilistic programming approach for multiple objective supply chain master planning. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 159(2), 193-214. doi:10.1016/j.fss.2007.08.010Yager, R. R. (1981). A procedure for ordering fuzzy subsets of the unit interval. Information Sciences, 24(2), 143-161. doi:10.1016/0020-0255(81)90017-7Lai, Y.-J., & Hwang, C.-L. (1992). A new approach to some possibilistic linear programming problems. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 49(2), 121-133. doi:10.1016/0165-0114(92)90318-xZimmermann, H.-J. (1978). Fuzzy programming and linear programming with several objective functions. Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 1(1), 45-55. doi:10.1016/0165-0114(78)90031-3Selim, H., & Ozkarahan, I. (2006). A supply chain distribution network design model: An interactive fuzzy goal programming-based solution approach. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 36(3-4), 401-418. doi:10.1007/s00170-006-0842-6Bellman, R. E., & Zadeh, L. A. (1970). Decision-Making in a Fuzzy Environment. Management Science, 17(4), B-141-B-164. doi:10.1287/mnsc.17.4.b14

Interoperability, Trust Based Information Sharing Protocol and Security: Digital Government Key Issues

Improved interoperability between public and private organizations is of key significance to make digital government newest triumphant. Digital Government interoperability, information sharing protocol and security are measured the key issue for achieving a refined stage of digital government. Flawless interoperability is essential to share the information between diverse and merely dispersed organisations in several network environments by using computer based tools. Digital government must ensure security for its information systems, including computers and networks for providing better service to the citizens. Governments around the world are increasingly revolving to information sharing and integration for solving problems in programs and policy areas. Evils of global worry such as syndrome discovery and manage, terror campaign, immigration and border control, prohibited drug trafficking, and more demand information sharing, harmonization and cooperation amid government agencies within a country and across national borders. A number of daunting challenges survive to the progress of an efficient information sharing protocol. A secure and trusted information-sharing protocol is required to enable users to interact and share information easily and perfectly across many diverse networks and databases globally.Comment: 20 page

Recent advances on recursive filtering and sliding mode design for networked nonlinear stochastic systems: A survey

Copyright © 2013 Jun Hu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Some recent advances on the recursive filtering and sliding mode design problems for nonlinear stochastic systems with network-induced phenomena are surveyed. The network-induced phenomena under consideration mainly include missing measurements, fading measurements, signal quantization, probabilistic sensor delays, sensor saturations, randomly occurring nonlinearities, and randomly occurring uncertainties. With respect to these network-induced phenomena, the developments on filtering and sliding mode design problems are systematically reviewed. In particular, concerning the network-induced phenomena, some recent results on the recursive filtering for time-varying nonlinear stochastic systems and sliding mode design for time-invariant nonlinear stochastic systems are given, respectively. Finally, conclusions are proposed and some potential future research works are pointed out.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant nos. 61134009, 61329301, 61333012, 61374127 and 11301118, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the UK under Grant no. GR/S27658/01, the Royal Society of the UK, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

On the convergence of autonomous agent communities

This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 IOS Press and the authors.Community is a common phenomenon in natural ecosystems, human societies as well as artificial multi-agent systems such as those in web and Internet based applications. In many self-organizing systems, communities are formed evolutionarily in a decentralized way through agents' autonomous behavior. This paper systematically investigates the properties of a variety of the self-organizing agent community systems by a formal qualitative approach and a quantitative experimental approach. The qualitative formal study by applying formal specification in SLABS and Scenario Calculus has proven that mature and optimal communities always form and become stable when agents behave based on the collective knowledge of the communities, whereas community formation does not always reach maturity and optimality if agents behave solely based on individual knowledge, and the communities are not always stable even if such a formation is achieved. The quantitative experimental study by simulation has shown that the convergence time of agent communities depends on several parameters of the system in certain complicated patterns, including the number of agents, the number of community organizers, the number of knowledge categories, and the size of the knowledge in each category

Using electronic health records to support clinical trials: a report on stakeholder engagement for EHR4CR

Background. The conduct of clinical trials is increasingly challenging due to greater complexity and governance requirements as well as difficulties with recruitment and retention. Electronic Health Records for Clinical Research (EHR4CR) aims at improving the conduct of trials by using existing routinely collected data, but little is known about stakeholder views on data availability, information governance, and acceptable working practices. Methods. Senior figures in healthcare organisations across Europe were provided with a description of the project and structured interviews were subsequently conducted to elicit their views. Results. 37 structured interviewees in Germany, UK, Switzerland, and France indicated strong support for the proposed EHR4CR platform. All interviewees reported that using the platform for assessing feasibility would enhance the conduct of clinical trials and the majority also felt it would reduce workloads. Interviewees felt the platform could enhance trial recruitment and adverse event reporting but also felt it could raise either ethical or information governance concerns in their country. Conclusions. There was clear support for EHR4CR and a belief that it could reduce workloads and improve the conduct and quality of trials. However data security, privacy, and information governance issues would need to be carefully managed in the development of the platform

Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian discontinuous Galerkin schemes with a posteriori subcell finite volume limiting on moving unstructured meshes

We present a new family of high order accurate fully discrete one-step Discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element schemes on moving unstructured meshes for the solution of nonlinear hyperbolic PDE in multiple space dimensions, which may also include parabolic terms in order to model dissipative transport processes. High order piecewise polynomials are adopted to represent the discrete solution at each time level and within each spatial control volume of the computational grid, while high order of accuracy in time is achieved by the ADER approach. In our algorithm the spatial mesh configuration can be defined in two different ways: either by an isoparametric approach that generates curved control volumes, or by a piecewise linear decomposition of each spatial control volume into simplex sub-elements. Our numerical method belongs to the category of direct Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) schemes, where a space-time conservation formulation of the governing PDE system is considered and which already takes into account the new grid geometry directly during the computation of the numerical fluxes. Our new Lagrangian-type DG scheme adopts the novel a posteriori sub-cell finite volume limiter method, in which the validity of the candidate solution produced in each cell by an unlimited ADER-DG scheme is verified against a set of physical and numerical detection criteria. Those cells which do not satisfy all of the above criteria are flagged as troubled cells and are recomputed with a second order TVD finite volume scheme. The numerical convergence rates of the new ALE ADER-DG schemes are studied up to fourth order in space and time and several test problems are simulated. Finally, an application inspired by Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) type flows is considered by solving the Euler equations and the PDE of viscous and resistive magnetohydrodynamics (VRMHD).Comment: 39 pages, 21 figure

Route Planning in Transportation Networks

We survey recent advances in algorithms for route planning in transportation networks. For road networks, we show that one can compute driving directions in milliseconds or less even at continental scale. A variety of techniques provide different trade-offs between preprocessing effort, space requirements, and query time. Some algorithms can answer queries in a fraction of a microsecond, while others can deal efficiently with real-time traffic. Journey planning on public transportation systems, although conceptually similar, is a significantly harder problem due to its inherent time-dependent and multicriteria nature. Although exact algorithms are fast enough for interactive queries on metropolitan transit systems, dealing with continent-sized instances requires simplifications or heavy preprocessing. The multimodal route planning problem, which seeks journeys combining schedule-based transportation (buses, trains) with unrestricted modes (walking, driving), is even harder, relying on approximate solutions even for metropolitan inputs.Comment: This is an updated version of the technical report MSR-TR-2014-4, previously published by Microsoft Research. This work was mostly done while the authors Daniel Delling, Andrew Goldberg, and Renato F. Werneck were at Microsoft Research Silicon Valle

Supply chain uncertainty:a review and theoretical foundation for future research

Supply-chain uncertainty is an issue with which every practising manager wrestles, deriving from the increasing complexity of global supply networks. Taking a broad view of supply-chain uncertainty (incorporating supply-chain risk), this paper seeks to review the literature in this area and develop a theoretical foundation for future research. The literature review identifies a comprehensive list of 14 sources of uncertainty, including those that have received much research attention, such as the bullwhip effect, and those more recently described, such as parallel interaction. Approaches to managing these sources of uncertainty are classified into: 10 approaches that seek to reduce uncertainty at its source; and, 11 approaches that seek to cope with it, thereby minimising its impact on performance. Manufacturing strategy theory, including the concepts of alignment and contingency, is then used to develop a model of supply-chain uncertainty, which is populated using the literature review to show alignment between uncertainty sources and management strategies. Future research proposed includes more empirical research in order to further investigate: which uncertainties occur in particular industrial contexts; the impact of appropriate sources/management strategy alignment on performance; and the complex interplay between management strategies and multiple sources of uncertainty (positive or negative)