Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Environmental systems are complicated with various uncertainties and their interactions. Such complexities can lead to difficulties in clarifying the related vulnerabilities, risks and liabilities under a variety of policy scenarios. Consequently, development of effective methodologies for tackling these difficulties is desired. The objective of this research is to develop inexact factorial programming (IFP) approaches for managing environmental risks under such interactive uncertainties. This objective entails (a) analysis of complexities in environmental systems, (b) development of IFP techniques under interactive uncertainties, (c) advancement of IFP-based risk management approaches, and (d) incorporation of the developed IFP and risk management approaches within a general decision-support framework. The developed methods will then be applied to environmental management within a western Canada context.* Advanced IFP methodologies will be developed for addressing various forms of interactive complexities that exist in air and waste management systems. In fact, factorial analysis was recognized as a powerful approach for revealing multi-level interactions among factors of interest as well as their contributions to system performance. Consequently, advanced IFP methodologies will be developed for addressing various forms of complexities that exist in air and waste management systems. Each proposed methodology would be an integration of multiple techniques within a general optimization framework; they are capable of addressing multi-level interactive uncertainties in modeling parameters and their relationships, as well as their effects on system performances. Based on the IFP results, a set of vulnerability/risk assessment methods will be further developed for analyzing comprehensive effects of interactive human interventions and the associated environmental risks. A number of source-pathway-receptor processes in air/waste management systems will be analyzed through integrated approaches. They will help identify vulnerabilities and risks under multiple uncertainties, generate desired risk prevention and mitigation plans, and ensure effective responses to existing and upcoming hazards. The developed technologies will then be applied to air and waste management within a western Canada context. Decision alternatives for controlling contaminant emission and protecting public health under a variety of system conditions can then be generated.* The proposed research will imply a range of innovative techniques for environmental systems analysis. It will facilitate investigations for methodologies of inexact optimization, vulnerability/risk analysis, multivariate inference and their integrations for tackling challenges of environmental management under interactive uncertainties. The proposed methodologies will allow systematic considerations for a number of critical socio-economic, environmental and technical factors that are related to air and waste management, as well as their interrelationships and the related policy implications. They will be useful for not only accomplishment of more effective environmental management but also extension to other management problems that are associated with various interactive uncertainties.* The enormous pollution abatement costs and significant socio-economic impacts of waste management practices necessitate sound design, planning and management for them. Applications of the proposed methods to Canadian cases will help industries and governments to improve their effectiveness in managing environmental problems. These techniques will also benefit the related stakeholders by providing them with not only effective but also cost-saving methods for their environmental management practices.