Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study

This work proposes an approach to analyze water quality data that is based on rough set theory. Six major water quality indicators (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, specific conductivity, and nitrate concentration) were collected at the outlet of the watershed that contains the George M...

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Main Authors: Maryam Zavareh, Viviana Maggioni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
Series:Data
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/3/4/50
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author Maryam Zavareh
Viviana Maggioni
author_facet Maryam Zavareh
Viviana Maggioni
author_sort Maryam Zavareh
collection DOAJ
description This work proposes an approach to analyze water quality data that is based on rough set theory. Six major water quality indicators (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, specific conductivity, and nitrate concentration) were collected at the outlet of the watershed that contains the George Mason University campus in Fairfax, VA during three years (October 2015⁻December 2017). Rough set theory is applied to monthly averages of the collected data to estimate one indicator (decision attribute) based on the remainder indicators and to determine what indicators (conditional attributes) are essential (core) to predict the missing indicator. The redundant attributes are identified, the importance degree of each attribute is quantified, and the certainty and coverage of any detected rule(s) is evaluated. Possible decision making rules are also assessed and the certainty coverage factor is calculated. Results show that the core water quality indicators for the Mason watershed during the study period are turbidity and specific conductivity. Particularly, if pH is chosen as a decision attribute, the importance degree of turbidity is higher than the one of conductivity. If the decision attribute is turbidity, the only indispensable attribute is specific conductivity and if specific conductivity is the decision attribute, the indispensable attribute beside turbidity is temperature.
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spelling doaj.art-40baad9fa8d543ed808c6f636c8746c32022-12-22T02:22:15ZengMDPI AGData2306-57292018-11-01345010.3390/data3040050data3040050Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case StudyMaryam Zavareh0Viviana Maggioni1Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USADepartment of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USAThis work proposes an approach to analyze water quality data that is based on rough set theory. Six major water quality indicators (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, specific conductivity, and nitrate concentration) were collected at the outlet of the watershed that contains the George Mason University campus in Fairfax, VA during three years (October 2015⁻December 2017). Rough set theory is applied to monthly averages of the collected data to estimate one indicator (decision attribute) based on the remainder indicators and to determine what indicators (conditional attributes) are essential (core) to predict the missing indicator. The redundant attributes are identified, the importance degree of each attribute is quantified, and the certainty and coverage of any detected rule(s) is evaluated. Possible decision making rules are also assessed and the certainty coverage factor is calculated. Results show that the core water quality indicators for the Mason watershed during the study period are turbidity and specific conductivity. Particularly, if pH is chosen as a decision attribute, the importance degree of turbidity is higher than the one of conductivity. If the decision attribute is turbidity, the only indispensable attribute is specific conductivity and if specific conductivity is the decision attribute, the indispensable attribute beside turbidity is temperature.https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/3/4/50rough set theorywater qualityattribute reductioncore attributerule extraction
spellingShingle Maryam Zavareh
Viviana Maggioni
Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study
Data
rough set theory
water quality
attribute reduction
core attribute
rule extraction
title Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study
title_full Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study
title_fullStr Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study
title_short Application of Rough Set Theory to Water Quality Analysis: A Case Study
title_sort application of rough set theory to water quality analysis a case study
topic rough set theory
water quality
attribute reduction
core attribute
rule extraction
url https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5729/3/4/50
work_keys_str_mv AT maryamzavareh applicationofroughsettheorytowaterqualityanalysisacasestudy
AT vivianamaggioni applicationofroughsettheorytowaterqualityanalysisacasestudy