Taking a learning approach to community-based strategic environmental assessment: results from a Costa Rican case study

This paper describes an innovative approach to environmental assessment that built local capacity enabling a more sustainable management of natural resources. It presents learning outcomes from a community-based strategic environmental assessment (CBSEA) involving communities from two Costa Rican watersheds who assessed the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad's (ICE) proposed agro-conservation programme. Participants were engaged throughout the CBSEA process, from planning to the implementation of four highly interactive workshops representing steps in a strategic environmental assessment. Instrumental learning results included: learning about CBSEA and its role in programme planning; developing problem-solving skills related to assessing impacts and creating mitigation strategies; effective group-working strategies; and technical information. Communicative learning outcomes included becoming more self-aware, and appreciating environmental conservation and collaboration. ICE learnt a participatory methodology and reconsidered communities' role in programme planning. Findings contribute to understanding the process of adult learning in cross-cultural contexts and the link between individual learning and social action.     

An integrated approach for detecting and quantifying the topic evolutions of patent technology: a case study on graphene field

Scientometrics - Comprehensive, in-depth and accurate analyses of patent technology topic evolutions become increasingly significant since the analytical results can offer related personnel the...     

An integrated scheduling and material-handling approach for complex job shops: a computational study

We suggest an extension of the shifting bottleneck heuristic for complex job shops that takes the operations of automated material-handling systems (AMHS) into account. The heuristic is used within a rolling horizon approach. The job-shop environment contains parallel batching machines, machines with sequence-dependent setup times, and re-entrant process flows. Jobs are transported by an AMHS. Semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities (wafer fabs) are typical examples for manufacturing systems with these characteristics. Our primary performance measure is total weighted tardiness (TWT). The shifting bottleneck heuristic (SBH) uses a disjunctive graph to decompose the overall scheduling problem into scheduling problems for single machine groups and for transport operations. The scheduling algorithms for these scheduling problems are called subproblem solution procedures (SSPs). We consider SSPs based on dispatching rules. In this paper, we are also interested in how much we can gain in terms of TWT if we apply more sophisticated SSPs for scheduling the transport operations. We suggest a Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) based SSP for this situation. We conduct simulation experiments in a dynamic job-shop environment in order to assess the performance of the suggested algorithms. The integrated SBH outperforms common dispatching rules in many situations. Using near to optimal SSPs leads to improved results compared with dispatching based SSPs for the transport operations.     

An approach to computer integrated production management

A new paradigm is proposed for the realization of computer integrated production management. Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) can never be constructed just by combining the automated devices available at present, such as CAD, CAM, CAPP and MRP systems. To realize successful CIM, the automation of friendly communication between experts is required, which plays a most important role in the integration of the various functions of production management. This points to the importance of computer integrated production management. In order to confirm the validity of the paradigm proposed in this paper, a prototype in process planning has been developed which aims at integration with CAD.     

Hesitant fuzzy integrated MCDM approach for quality function deployment: a case study in electric vehicle

Quality function deployment (QFD) is a product planning management instrument which has been used in a broad range of industries. However, the traditional QFD method has been criticised much for its deficiencies in acquiring experts’ opinions, weighting customer requirements (CRs) and ranking engineering characteristics (ECs). To overcome the limitations, an integrated analytical model is presented in this study for obtaining the importance ratings of ECs in QFD by integrating decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique and Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method under hesitant fuzzy environment. In particular, the hesitant fuzzy DEMATEL is used to analyse the interrelationships among CRs and determine their weights, and the hesitant fuzzy VIKOR is utilised to prioritise ECs. Finally, the feasibility and practicality of the proposed method are verified by an example regarding the product development of electric vehicle.     

An integrated approach to document decomposition and structural analysis

A document image is a visual representation of a paper document, such as a journal article page, a cover page of facsimile transmission, office correspondence, an application form, etc. Document image understanding as a research endeavor consists of developing processes for taking a document through various representations, from scanned image to semantic representation. This article describes document decomposition and structural analysis, which constitutes one of the major processes involved in document image understanding. The current state of the art and future directions in the areas of document segmentation, layout analysis, and logical block grouping are indicated. A system that performs decomposition and structural analysis (including logical grouping and read-order determination) on complex multiarticled documents is presented. This system uses bottom-up segmentation techniques to identify the block structure of a document, and layout rules to classify and group these blocks into logical units that represent meaningful subdivisions of the document. Experimental results showing the efficiency of this approach are presented and discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An unconventional approach to integrated ground and surface water development

The conjunctive use of surface water with groundwater development in the Ganga Basin is considered more desirable due to unacceptable environmental conditions created by using all the low flows and the limited possibilities of surface storages. There are several ways to increase infiltration during the monsoon season. One method is to create groundwater storage by pumping during the non-monsoon period. A procedure for estimating the extent and the rate of pumping such that it is replenished in 120 days of the monsoon season and equilibrium is achieved, is outlined in this study. The areas in the Ganga Basin suitable for such groundwater storage schemes have been marked out and the economic aspects of the scheme have also been studied. It is concluded that with this scheme of underground storage of flood water the total potential irrigation in the Ganga Basin may be limited by the area of irrigable land rather than the water supply. It is suggested that this potentially advantageous scheme should be systematically studied and investigated in detail and factors like sediment transportation which may reduce the infiltration rate, the possible hazards of subsidence due to lowering of the water table, the possible ecological effects, and other relevant issues should also be considered.     

Measuring the environmental performance of new products: an integrated approach

Environmental awareness and legislation are pushing manufacturers to introduce new ‘green’ products that, during their whole life cycle, have a low impact on the state of natural resources. Unfortunately, it is not completely clear how accounting information, physical measures and qualitative information, expressing the effects of each product development initiative, can be structured to support decision making. The paper is aimed at designing an integrated approach that takes both tangible and intangible effects into consideration and starting from the available information, suggests different decisional tools according to the decision maker's objective. In particular, at an earlier stage the paper defines an operating framework for the identification of significant evaluation criteria to support decision making on programmes aimed at introducing new ‘green’ products. At a later stage, the paper analyses whether different managers' environment related priorities require distinct types of data to be included in the selection procedure and hence suggest the most effective evaluation technique within different decisional contexts.     

A portfolio approach to maintenance: a case study of a residential estate

The choice between repairing and replacing a defective piece of equipment is an economic decision that is faced by all maintenance managers, including housing estate managers. Such decisions need to be made within the limits and constraints set by maintenance expenditure budgets and by manpower availability. Our particular problem is concerned with the development of a maintenance policy for a residential estate of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. Our approach is to treat the numerous housing systems as a portfolio and to exploit flexibilities in performing or delaying the repair/replacement of these systems. The cost of a repair/replacement plan for the portfolio is formulated as an integer programme and genetic algorithms (GAs) are employed to generate optimal and sub‐optimal solution plans. The novel features of the approach are the model developed and use of GAs in this particular optimization context. The results and discussion of the case study will help practitioners to better understand the difficulties involved in collecting relevant cost data and in formulating repair/replacement plans for a group of buildings. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An integrated group decision-making approach to quality function deployment

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a multi-disciplinary team process in which team member preferences are often in conflict with respect to varied individual objectives. Successful applications of QFD, thus, rely on: (1) effective communication among team members to reach a consensus; (2) assigning importance levels that reflect each individual member's preferences; and (3) mutual interaction of these two factors. No previous paper in the QFD literature has attempted to aggregate team members' opinions in the case where each individual has his or her own criteria. In this study, we consider both agreed criteria, if any, and individual criteria, simultaneously; whereas AHP, MAUT, and others are based only on an agreed set of criteria. Specifically, we modify the nominal group technique to obtain customer requirements, and integrate agreed and individual criteria methods to assign customer's importance levels in general situations where some members in a team have an agreed criteria set while others prefer individual criteria sets. By using voting and linear programming techniques, the proposed approaches consolidate individual preferences into a group consensus in situations starting with or without (partial) agreed criteria sets. This integrated group decision-making system minimizes inconsistency over group and individual preferences and provides preference ordering for alternatives through iterative communication and the resolution of any inconsistencies that exist between the group and individuals, and amongst the individuals themselves.     

An integrated sustainability assessment framework: a case of turning process

Sustainable manufacturing is a valuable tool for measuring and enhancing the machining performance. The implementation of sustainability frameworks in concerned industries poses enormous challenges despite various frameworks available in the literature. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present an integrated sustainability assessment framework wherein two machining scenarios (dry and wet turning) have been analysed by conducting experiments based on the process for a manufactured component in an industry from economic and environmental perspectives. The study further evaluates the economic and environmental indicators such as cost per component and energy consumption for Taguchi array design using empirical relations to evaluate sustainability by grey relational analysis and further optimise the machining performance by particle swarm optimisation. The results, however, indicate the possibility of transitioning the machining process from wet to dry at specific operating conditions with improved performance. In addition to this, the study also presents an illustration of social sustainability assessment framework which has been proposed after consultation with various manufacturing industries in order to make it convenient for them to implement and enhance the sustainability aspects of the machining process.     

The environmental bill of material and technology routing: an integrated LCA approach

This paper deals with the environmental bill of material and technology routing: evaluating components and process impacts on the environmental strategy map through an integrated LCA approach. It introduces these two new elements in the definition of new approaches to complement environmental and financial considerations into a single sustainability indicator. The basic idea presented is that each component of a specific product has a certain environmental burden and consequently contributes to the environmental footprints. Those contributions are identified as environmental performance points (EPP). When an item is routed through different technology processes to build the final product, it keeps contributing to the overall environmental burden. These contributions are again identified as EPP. The sum of all EPPs, categorized by footprints, provides the basis for creation of the characteristic environmental performance strategy map, previously developed by the authors of this paper. This new approach allows wide flexibility: the impact of changing a component, material or a production process will be reflected immediately on the map.     

An integrated approach to the vehicle routing and container loading problems

Real-world distribution problems raise some practical considerations that usually are not considered in a realistic way in more theoretical studies. One of these considerations is related to the vehicle capacity, not only in terms of cubic meters or weight capacity but also in terms of the cargo physical arrangements. In a distribution scene, two combinatorial optimization problems, the vehicle routing problem with time windows and the container loading problem, are inherently related to each other. This work presents a framework to integrate these two problems using two different resolution methods. The first one treats the problem in a sequential approach, while the second uses a hierarchical approach. To test the quality and efficiency of the proposed approaches, some test problems were created based on the well-known Solomon, Bischoff and Ratcliff test problems. The results of the integrated approaches are presented and compared with results of the vehicle routing problem with time windows and the container loading problem applied separately.     

An integrated approach to the facilities and material handling system design

The facility layout problem involves the optimal location of manufacturing facilities into a workshop. The classical approach to the layout design is carried out in two separate steps: the first step is the construction of the block layout, i.e. the location of the departments into the workshop, and the second step is the design of the material handling system. The separate optimization of these two aspects of the problem leads to solutions that can be far from the total optimum. In this paper, an integrated approach to the facilities and material handling system design is proposed. Referring to a physical model, named the bay structure , and to a unidirectional AGV system, a genetic approach is proposed to individuate the locations of the departments, the positions of the pickup/delivery stations and the direction of the flow-path. The minimization of material handling cost is adopted as optimality criterion.     

An integrated method for interdisciplinary topic identification and prediction: a case study on information science and library science

Given that many frontiers and hotspots of science and technology are emerging from interdisciplines, the accurate identification and forecasting of interdisciplinary topics has become increasingly significant. Existing methods of interdisciplinary topic identification have their respective application fields, and each identification result can help researchers acquire partial characteristics of interdisciplinary topics. This paper offers an integrated method for identifying and predicting interdisciplinary topics from scientific literature. It integrates various methods, including co-occurrence networks analysis, high-TI terms analysis and burst detection, and offers an overall perspective into interdisciplinary topic identification. The results of the different methods are mutually confirmed and complemented, further overviewing the characteristics of the interdisciplinary field and highlighting the importance or potential of interdisciplinary topics. In this study, Information Science and Library Science is selected as a case study. The research has clearly shown that more accurate and comprehensive results can be achieved for interdisciplinary topic identification and prediction by employing this integrated method. Further, the integration of different methods has promising potential for application in knowledge discovery and scientific measurement in the future.     

An integrated product service system modelling methodology with a case study of clothing industry

Product-service system (PSS) is a business model designed to help enterprises achieve servitisation. PSS not only considers service-oriented logic to increase product value but also supports enterprises with waste reduction. An increasing number of studies have emphasised PSS development. However, much of the literature remains focused on separate development phases, such as idea generation or a specific product or industry application. An integrative system modelling methodology designed to help companies formulate a complete scenario is absent. This study provides a methodology for developing a systematic and complete PSS strategy. It combines failure modes and effects and importance-performance analysis to identify potential customer needs. A service-product development matrix and a product-service life cycle analysis are developed. Following the service concepts generation, grey relational analysis and scenario analysis are utilised to evaluate the alternatives. A case study involving the clothing industry was conducted to test the proposed approach. Results indicate the methodology can help service providers identify existing problems and develop service alternatives systematically. These alternatives can then be evaluated and the scenario which achieves the highest profitability, is the most environmental friendly, and is the most social friendly can be identified.     

Application of fuzzy logic-based environmental conscious QFD to rotary switch: a case study

General public and government agencies seriously view the environmental issues. Environmental issues have become an imperative concern for most companies in relation to modern product development. These activities stimulate the environmentally friendlier production technologies with a focus on minimization of environmental impact. Special procedures have to be formulated during the product development process to comply with recent green directives. In order to improve the focus on eco-designed products with regard to customer needs and cost considerations, this study presents the application of fuzzy eco-quality function deployment (QFD) to aid product design team in considering environmental concerns. This fuzzy multi-objective model considers the overall customer satisfaction and encourages enterprises to produce environmentally friendlier products. The case study describing the evolution of eco-friendly model of rotary switch has been presented. An optimal balance between environmental acceptability and overall customer satisfaction has been obtained as an outcome of the conduct of the study.     

An integrated approach to the retrofitting of mass exchange networks

 The synthesis of optimal mass exchange networks (MENs) deals with the identification of a cost-effective network of mass exchangers that preferentially transfer certain species from rich streams to lean streams. To date, MEN synthesis has dealt with grass-root design where the emphasis is on the maximization of process lean streams usage and the minimization of operating cost. Another important class of problems is the retrofit of MENs in which mass-exchange units already exist in the plant and the focus is to maximize the usage of the process units so as to minimize capital cost of newly added units and trade it off with operating cost. In this paper, we develop a systematic procedure for the retrofitting of MENs. First, we identify alternative structural configurations of interest through heuristics. Series and parallel structures are addressed. Next, we focus on two primary retrofitting strategies: those restricted by no capital constraints and those involving capital expenditure. The no-capital alternatives include enhancing performance of a current system as well as solvent substitution. The capital-based alternatives include the addition of new equipment. A new type of mass-pinch analysis is developed to maximize the utilization of existing capital while reconciling added capital with operating cost. The main concept in this novel pinch diagram is identifying maximum performance as dictated not only by thermodynamic limitations but also by physical size limitations. Different process alternatives are considered and screened to attain the optimum design. A case study is presented to demonstrate the broad applicability and potential benefits of the novel approach. Received: 30 July 2000 / Accepted: 11 October 2000     

An integrated approach to the synthesis of geometrically non-linear structures

An integrated approach to the minimum weight design of geometrically non-linear three dimensional truss structures with geometric imperfections, subject to inequality constraints on static displacements, stresses, local buckling and cross sectional areas, is investigated. The integrated structural synthesis problem involves design and response quantities as independent variables and equilibrium equations, describing the finite element model, as equality constraints. The non-linear structural analysis and the optimization are thus merged together into a single process. A computer program developed to compute the contraint values and analytical gradients is coupled with a generalized reduced gradient algorithm to solve the integrated problem. Numerical results for a geometrically non-linear shallow dome example problem are presented for various types of imperfections. Furthermore, it is found that the algorithm is capable of detecting and guarding against system as well as element elastic instability using equilibrium information only, that is, without imposing system and local buckling inequality constraints.     

An integrated approach to path analysis for weighted citation networks

Scientometrics - Profuse growth of scientometrics as a research field owes a discernible attribution to the introduction of citation networks and other scientograms. Centrality analysis, path...