Human ecological effects of tropical storms in the coastal area of Ky Anh (Ha Tinh, Vietnam)

Thinh An Nguyen, Dung Anh Vu, Phai Van Vu, Thanh Ngoc Nguyen, Tam Minh Pham, Hang Thi Thuy Nguyen, Hai Trinh Le, Thanh Viet Nguyen, Lich Khac Hoang, Thanh Duc Vu, Tung Song Nguyen, Tuyen Thi Luong, Ngoc Phuong Trinh & Luc Hens

Environment, Development and Sustainability volume 19, pages745–767(2017)

Vietnam is prone to tropical storms. Climate change effects contribute to sea level rise, floods, progression of the low water line and coastal erosion. This paper inventories the perception of local people, assesses and values main aspects of the livelihood damage caused by the tropical storms of the period 2008–2013 in three coastal communes of the Ky Anh District of the Ha Tinh Province in Central Vietnam. The communes were selected because the location of their coastal line is perpendicular to the storm itself, which made them prone to damage. The effects of increasingly extreme weather conditions on three communities in an area most affected by storms and floods on the local residents and their responses to these changing environmental conditions are analyzed and assessed. The results of questionnaires completed by randomly selected local inhabitants of these communes show that storms and related hazards such as flood, sea level rise and heavy rain are perceived as the most impacting climate change intensified phenomena on agriculture and aquaculture, livestock, household property and income. Opinions and measured data provided by the commune and district authorities allow estimating the total direct cost of the tropical storm at 1.56 million $US (The used conversion rate VND/$US is 21,730 when the research was conducted in 2014) during the period 2008–2013. The long-term costs of adaptation and social impact measures will be significantly higher. Details of the monetary figures allow identifying the physical and natural capital of the area as being most affected by the storm. Trend and cost analysis show that the total financial support for hazard prevention and management during 2014–2019 is estimated at 1.19 up to 1.32 million $US. Local stakeholders indicate that climate change adaptation should not be limited to technical measures such as strengthening dikes, but also should target planting protection forests and mangroves and land use planning. Financial support for the relocation policy, stakeholder involvement and integrating climate change adaptation in both the socioeconomic development master plan and local land use planning are also of importance.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-016-9761-3

Analyzing the Ranking Method for Fuzzy Numbers in Fuzzy Decision Making Based on the Magnitude Concepts

Vincent F. Yu, Luu Huu Van, Luu Quoc Dat, Ha Thi Xuan Chi, Shuo-Yan Chou & Truong Thi Thuy Duong

International Journal of Fuzzy Systems volume 19, pages1279–1289(2017)

Ranking fuzzy numbers is an important component in the decision-making process with the last few decades having seen a large number of ranking methods. Ezzati et al. (Expert Syst Appl 39:690–695, 2012) proposed a revised approach for ranking symmetric fuzzy numbers based on the magnitude concepts to overcome the shortcoming of Abbasbandy and Hajjari’s method. Despite its merits, some shortcomings associated with Ezzati et al.’s approach include: (1) it cannot consistently rank the fuzzy numbers and their images; (2) it cannot effectively rank symmetric fuzzy numbers; and (3) it cannot rank non-normal fuzzy numbers. This paper thus proposes a revised method to rank generalized and/or symmetric fuzzy numbers in parametric forms that can surmount these issues. In the proposed ranking method, a novel magnitude of fuzzy numbers is proposed. To differentiate the symmetric fuzzy numbers, the proposed ranking method takes into account the decision maker’s optimistic attitude of fuzzy numbers. We employ several comparative examples and an application to demonstrate the usages and advantages of the proposed ranking method. The results conclude that the proposed ranking method effectively resolves the issues with Ezzati et al.’s ranking method. Moreover, the proposed ranking method can differentiate different types of fuzzy numbers.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40815-016-0223-8

A Fuzzy MCDM Approach for Green Supplier Selection from the Economic and Environmental Aspects

Hsiu Mei Wang Chen, Shuo-Yan Chou, Quoc Dat Luu, and Tiffany Hui-Kuang Yu

Mathematical Models for Supply Chain Management, Volume 2016

Due to the challenge of rising public awareness of environmental issues and governmental regulations, green supply chain management (SCM) has become an important issue for companies to gain environmental sustainability. Supplier selection is one of the key operational tasks necessary to construct a green SCM. To select the most suitable suppliers, many economic and environmental criteria must be considered in the decision process. Although numerous studies have used economic criteria such as cost, quality, and lead time in the supplier selection process, only some studies have taken into account the environmental issues. This study proposes a comprehensive fuzzy multicriteria decision making (MCDM) approach for green supplier selection and evaluation, using both economic and environmental criteria. In the proposed approach, a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is employed to determine the important weights of criteria under vague environment. In addition, a fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is used to evaluate and rank the potential suppliers. Finally, a case study in Luminance Enhancement Film (LEF) industry is presented to illustrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed method.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2016/8097386/