Title: A decision support tool for emergency planning

Authors: Haibo Wang, Bahram Alidaee, Jiefang Li, Hongman Gao

Addresses: A.R. Sanchez Jr. School of Business, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX 78041, USA. ' School of Business Administration, The University of Mississippi, MS 38677, USA. ' School of Busines Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. ' College of Business, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA

Abstract: We propose a framework on developing a decision support tool for emergency management planning. This framework involves development of innovative dynamic risk and uncertainty analysis methods known as quality function deployment. Instead of simply computing the weight of emergency planning criteria, we used rule-based expert system to handle the interdependency among the criteria. The expert system with composite rules is encoded into a Boolean satisfiability problem, which can be solved by a quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation method. We also discuss the approach based on the use of the visualisation tools by integrating with GIS and other information support systems. In this respect, this proposed approach completely changes the current practice of emergency management planning.

Keywords: decision support systems; DSS; emergency management; quality function deployment; QFD; Boolean satisfiability; SAT; risk assessment; uncertainty analysis; visualisation tools; GIS; information support; emergency planning; geographic information systems.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCI.2009.024938

International Journal of Services Sciences, 2009 Vol.2 No.2, pp.162 - 173

Published online: 04 May 2009 *

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