Intelligent modelling of the environmental behaviour of chemicals [Elektronische Ressource] / Shefali Kumar

INTELLIGENTMODELLINGOFTHEENVIRONMENTALBEHAVIOROFCHEMICALSA Dissertationsubmitted to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciencesof the University Rostockin fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree ofDoctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.)Shefali Kumar, born on July 19, 1978 in Jaipur (INDIA)Rostock, October 2007c Copyright by Shefali Kumar 2007All Rights ReservediiPrefaceIn view of the new European Union chemical policy REACH (Registration, Eval-uation, and Authorization of Chemicals), an interest in “non-animal” methods forassessing the risk potentials of chemicals towards human health and environment hasincreased. The incapability of classical modelling approaches in the complex and ill-defined modelling problems of chemicals’ environmental behavior, together with anavailability of large computing power in modern times raise an interest in applyingcomputational models inspired by the approaches coming from the area of artificialintelligence. This thesis is devoted to promote the applications of neuro/fuzzy tech-niques in assessing the environmental behavior of chemicals. Some of the bottleneckslying in the neuro/fuzzy modelling of chemicals’ behavior towards environment havebeen identified and the solutions have been provided based on the techniques of com-putational intelligence.