CBR respond and preparedness system development for environmental emergency

Abstract

Effective response and preparedness plans are important for successfully coping with environmental emergencies. ‘Quickness’ and ‘accuracy’ are the most important requirements of environmental emergency response and preparedness planning. We propose the use of case-based reasoning (CBR) technology to develop response and preparedness plans using these principles. Taking into account the characteristics of a real environmental emergency, the development is presented using the example of a CBR – Oil Spill Response and Preparedness System. This paper introduces the methodology, which includes system architecture, inputs and outputs, case structure, case retrieval, case adaptation, case evaluation and retention, and management of the case base. The following methods are presented to meet the requirements of environmental emergency response and preparedness planning: the Frame method for defining case representation; the modified Heterogeneous Euclidean-Overlap Metric method for defining the similarity function; and the Attribute Hierarchical Model method for assigning relative weights to attributes. The effectiveness and uncertainty of the methodology are also discussed.

Keywords:

• environmental emergency
• emergency preparedness
• case-based reasoning
• oil spill

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by High-Tech Research and Development (863) Programme ‘Demonstration of Emergency Technologies for Great Affairs of Environmental Pollution in Megapolis’ (No. 2007AA06A401), and the Foundation of Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education (Tongji University), China, (No. YRWEY 1010 and No. YRWEF08005).

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