Partial ordering as decision support to evaluate remediation technologies

Lars Carlsen; Lars Carlsen

doi:10.3934/environsci.2015.1.110

AIMS Environmental Science

2015, Volume 2, Issue 1: 110-121. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2015.1.110

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Research article

Partial ordering as decision support to evaluate remediation technologies

Lars Carlsen ^,

Awareness Center, Linkøpingvej 35, Trekroner, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

Received: 23 January 2015 Accepted: 17 February 2015 Published: 25 February 2015

When facing necessary remediation actions a series of potential technologies may be considered. Typically the eventual selection of the more appropriate remediation technology cannot be made based on a single indicator. Thus, the analysis turns into a multi-criteria decision analysis and an initial step is consequently the development of a multi-indicator system (MIS). A one-dimensional metric serving as an ordering index can easily be obtained by combining the component indicators via aggregation techniques, which unambiguously will lead to loss of information and possibly to more or less severe compensation effects. The present study proposes an alternative to aggregation based on simple concepts of partial order methodology. Hence, for illustrative and explanatory purposes an exemplary MIS corresponding of 5 possible remediation options, ROi, i = 1-5, in addition to the non-remedied situation, RO0, and the complete remediation, ROmax, for 3 chemicals was set up and subsequently analyzed. The results are shown to be distinctly different from an ordering based on an aggregated indicator. In contrast to the total order that is constructed from an aggregated indicator partial ordering allow only for a weak ordering, as e.g., based on average orders. It is shown how the more appropriate remediation technology may be selected and further how the results obtained may serve as a basis for selective improvement of specific remediation options. The methods described here is not limited to, e.g., chemicals but have a more universal applicability.
- remediation,
- partial order,
- Hasse diagram,
- average order,
- decision support
Citation: Lars Carlsen. Partial ordering as decision support to evaluate remediation technologies[J]. AIMS Environmental Science, 2015, 2(1): 110-121. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2015.1.110

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Abstract

When facing necessary remediation actions a series of potential technologies may be considered. Typically the eventual selection of the more appropriate remediation technology cannot be made based on a single indicator. Thus, the analysis turns into a multi-criteria decision analysis and an initial step is consequently the development of a multi-indicator system (MIS). A one-dimensional metric serving as an ordering index can easily be obtained by combining the component indicators via aggregation techniques, which unambiguously will lead to loss of information and possibly to more or less severe compensation effects. The present study proposes an alternative to aggregation based on simple concepts of partial order methodology. Hence, for illustrative and explanatory purposes an exemplary MIS corresponding of 5 possible remediation options, ROi, i = 1-5, in addition to the non-remedied situation, RO0, and the complete remediation, ROmax, for 3 chemicals was set up and subsequently analyzed. The results are shown to be distinctly different from an ordering based on an aggregated indicator. In contrast to the total order that is constructed from an aggregated indicator partial ordering allow only for a weak ordering, as e.g., based on average orders. It is shown how the more appropriate remediation technology may be selected and further how the results obtained may serve as a basis for selective improvement of specific remediation options. The methods described here is not limited to, e.g., chemicals but have a more universal applicability.

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