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Dong-Ling Xu

Bio: Dong-Ling Xu is an academic researcher from University of Manchester. The author has contributed to research in topics: Evidential reasoning approach & Multiple-criteria decision analysis. The author has an hindex of 44, co-authored 166 publications receiving 7692 citations. Previous affiliations of Dong-Ling Xu include Chinese Ministry of Education & Hefei University of Technology.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 2002
TL;DR: The fundamental features of the ER approach are investigated and new schemes for weight normalization and basic probability assignments are proposed to enhance the process of aggregating attributes with uncertainty.
Abstract: In multiple attribute decision analysis (MADA), one often needs to deal with both numerical data and qualitative information with uncertainty. It is essential to properly represent and use uncertain information to conduct rational decision analysis. Based on a multilevel evaluation framework, an evidential reasoning (ER) approach has been developed for supporting such decision analysis, the kernel of which is an ER algorithm developed on the basis of the framework and the evidence combination rule of the Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory. The approach has been applied to engineering design selection, organizational self-assessment, safety and risk assessment, and supplier assessment. In this paper, the fundamental features of the ER approach are investigated. New schemes for weight normalization and basic probability assignments are proposed. The original ER approach is further developed to enhance the process of aggregating attributes with uncertainty. Utility intervals are proposed to describe the impact of ignorance on decision analysis. Several properties of the new ER approach are explored, which lay the theoretical foundation of the ER approach. A numerical example of a motorcycle evaluation problem is examined using the ER approach. Computation steps and analysis results are provided in order to demonstrate its implementation process.

841 citations

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TL;DR: The ER rule completes and enhances [email protected]?s rule by identifying how to combine pieces of fully reliable evidence that are highly or completely conflicting through a new reliability perturbation analysis.

508 citations

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TL;DR: The ER approach will be used to aggregate multiple environmental factors, resulting in an aggregated distributed assessment for each alternative policy, and a new analytical ER algorithm will be investigated which provides a means for using the ER approach in decision situations where an explicit ER aggregation function is needed.

468 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presents the correct centroid formulae for fuzzy numbers and justify them from the viewpoint of analytical geometry and a numerical example demonstrates that Cheng's formULae can significantly alter the result of the ranking procedure.

336 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a utility-based grade match method is proposed to transform both numerical data and qualitative (fuzzy) assessment information of various formats into the fuzzy belief structure, leading to a fuzzy belief decision matrix.

329 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI

3,152 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Dec 2016-Nature
TL;DR: Using three million Landsat satellite images, this globally consistent, validated data set shows that impacts of climate change and climate oscillations on surface water occurrence can be measured and that evidence can be gathered to show how surface water is altered by human activities.
Abstract: A freely available dataset produced from three million Landsat satellite images reveals substantial changes in the distribution of global surface water over the past 32 years and their causes, from climate change to human actions. The distribution of surface water has been mapped globally, and local-to-regional studies have tracked changes over time. But to date, there has been no global and methodologically consistent quantification of changes in surface water over time. Jean-Francois Pekel and colleagues have analysed more than three million Landsat images to quantify month-to-month changes in surface water at a resolution of 30 metres and over a 32-year period. They find that surface waters have declined by almost 90,000 square kilometres—largely in the Middle East and Central Asia—but that surface waters equivalent to about twice that area have been created elsewhere. Drought, reservoir creation and water extraction appear to have driven most of the changes in surface water over the past decades. The location and persistence of surface water (inland and coastal) is both affected by climate and human activity1 and affects climate2,3, biological diversity4 and human wellbeing5,6. Global data sets documenting surface water location and seasonality have been produced from inventories and national descriptions7, statistical extrapolation of regional data8 and satellite imagery9,10,11,12, but measuring long-term changes at high resolution remains a challenge. Here, using three million Landsat satellite images13, we quantify changes in global surface water over the past 32 years at 30-metre resolution. We record the months and years when water was present, where occurrence changed and what form changes took in terms of seasonality and persistence. Between 1984 and 2015 permanent surface water has disappeared from an area of almost 90,000 square kilometres, roughly equivalent to that of Lake Superior, though new permanent bodies of surface water covering 184,000 square kilometres have formed elsewhere. All continental regions show a net increase in permanent water, except Oceania, which has a fractional (one per cent) net loss. Much of the increase is from reservoir filling, although climate change14 is also implicated. Loss is more geographically concentrated than gain. Over 70 per cent of global net permanent water loss occurred in the Middle East and Central Asia, linked to drought and human actions including river diversion or damming and unregulated withdrawal15,16. Losses in Australia17 and the USA18 linked to long-term droughts are also evident. This globally consistent, validated data set shows that impacts of climate change and climate oscillations on surface water occurrence can be measured and that evidence can be gathered to show how surface water is altered by human activities. We anticipate that this freely available data will improve the modelling of surface forcing, provide evidence of state and change in wetland ecotones (the transition areas between biomes), and inform water-management decision-making.

2,469 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of a hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set is introduced to provide a linguistic and computational basis to increase the richness of linguistic elicitation based on the fuzzy linguistic approach and the use of context-free grammars by using comparative terms.
Abstract: Dealing with uncertainty is always a challenging problem, and different tools have been proposed to deal with it. Recently, a new model that is based on hesitant fuzzy sets has been presented to manage situations in which experts hesitate between several values to assess an indicator, alternative, variable, etc. Hesitant fuzzy sets suit the modeling of quantitative settings; however, similar situations may occur in qualitative settings so that experts think of several possible linguistic values or richer expressions than a single term for an indicator, alternative, variable, etc. In this paper, the concept of a hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set is introduced to provide a linguistic and computational basis to increase the richness of linguistic elicitation based on the fuzzy linguistic approach and the use of context-free grammars by using comparative terms. Then, a multicriteria linguistic decision-making model is presented in which experts provide their assessments by eliciting linguistic expressions. This decision model manages such linguistic expressions by means of its representation using hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets.

1,876 citations