Construction of an optimum system design method considering product lifecycle

This paper proposes an optimum system design method that especially considers product lifecycles and aims to help designers make effective decisions during the product design phase. By considering and estimating all lifecycle factors of cost and environmental impact in addition to the product performance, this method facilitates development of optimum design solutions that incorporate requirements pertaining to the product's entire lifecycle. Furthermore, quantitative estimation of lifecycle factors enables the numerical expression of optimum solutions, rather than depending primarily on experiment and designer intuition. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, this paper develops an optimum system design method for a milling machine as an example of a machine product designed for long term use. The lifecycle cost and the lifecycle environmental impact are generally expressed as the summation of each value during manufacturing phase, usage phase, disposal phase and recycling phase. In this example model, Eco-indicator 99 is used to evaluate environmental impact. In the proposed lifecycle design optimisation method, the relationships among the product performance, the lifecycle cost and the lifecycle environmental impact are evaluated as a multi-objective optimisation problem. Analysis of the obtained Pareto optimum solution sets subsequently enables designers to pursue breakthrough product design solutions.     

Sustainable supply chain network design: a multicriteria perspective

In this paper, we develop a rigorous modelling and analytical framework for the design of sustainable supply chain networks. We consider a firm that is engaged in determining the capacities of its various supply chain activities, i.e. the manufacturing, storage and distribution of the product to the demand locations. The firm is faced with both capital costs associated with constructing the link capacities and the links' operational costs. Moreover, the firm is aware of the emissions generated associated with the alternative manufacturing plants, storage facilities and modes of transportation/shipment, which may have different levels of emissions due, for example, to distinct technologies of, respectively, production, storage and transportation. The firm is assumed to be a multicriteria decision-maker who seeks to not only minimise the total costs associated with design/construction and operation, but also to minimise the emissions generated, with an appropriate weight, which reflects the price of the emissions, associated with the various supply chain network activities. We provide both the network optimisation modelling framework and an algorithm, which is then applied to compute solutions to a spectrum of numerical sustainable supply chain design examples in order to illustrate our approach.     

A novel chemical product design framework with the integration of safety and health aspects

Computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) technique is a powerful tool for the design of molecules that meet a set of desirable properties. In most of the CAMD problems, the molecular physical and thermodynamic properties are often selected as the target properties, while safety and health aspects were not taken into consideration. However, certain chemical substances may cause adverse effects to human's health after prolonged and repeated exposure. Therefore, in order to ensure that the generated molecule does not bring harm and health-related risks to the consumers, it is crucial to incorporate both inherent safety and health into the existing CAMD techniques. In this work, a novel chemical product design methodology has been developed to integrate both safety and health aspects into the CAMD framework presented by a single optimisation model. The measurement of safety and health indicators are based on the molecular properties that have impact on both of these aspects. Each property is assigned with an index or penalty value based on the degree of potential hazards. A molecule with a higher index value has a higher hazard level and vice versa. Hence, a molecule that satisfies the target properties and has a low penalty value will be selected as the most reasonable choice. This new approach ensures that a product that possesses the desirable properties, and at the same time meets the safety and health criteria, is produced. A case study on the solvent design for gas sweetening process has been carried out to determine the optimal molecule.     

Characterization of particulate products for aging of ethylbenzene secondary organic aerosol in the presence of ammonium sulfate seed aerosol

Aging of secondary organic aerosol(SOA) particles formed from OH– initiated oxidation of ethylbenzene in the presence of high mass(100–300 μg/m~3) concentrations of(NH_4)_2SO_4seed aerosol was investigated in a home-made smog chamber in this study.The chemical composition of aged ethylbenzene SOA particles was measured using an aerosol laser time-of-flight mass spectrometer(ALTOFMS) coupled with a Fuzzy C-Means(FCM) clustering algorithm.Experimental results showed that nitrophenol,ethyl-nitrophenol,2,4-dinitrophenol,methyl glyoxylic acid,5-ethyl-6-oxo-2,4-hexadienoic acid,2-ethyl-2,4-hexadiendioic acid,2,3-dihydroxy-5-ethyl-6-oxo-4-hexenoic acid,1H-imidazole,hydrated N-glyoxal substituted1H-imidazole,hydrated glyoxal dimer substituted imidazole,1H-imidazole-2-carbaldehyde,N-glyoxal substituted hydrated 1H-imidazole-2-carbaldehyde and high-molecular-weight(HMW) components were the predominant products in the aged particles.Compared to the previous aromatic SOA aging studies,imidazole compounds,which can absorb solar radiation effectively,were newly detected in aged ethylbenzene SOA in the presence of high concentrations of(NH_4)_2SO_4seed aerosol.These findings provide new information for discussing aromatic SOA aging mechanisms.     

Water quality assessment in Qu River based on fuzzy water pollution index method

A fuzzy improved water pollution index was proposed based on fuzzy inference system and water pollution index. This method can not only give a comprehensive water quality rank, but also describe the water quality situation with a quantitative value, which is convenient for the water quality comparison between the same ranks. This proposed method is used to assess water quality of Qu River in Sichuan, China. Data used in the assessment were collected from four monitoring stations from 2006 to 2010. The assessment results show that Qu River water quality presents a downward trend and the overall water quality in 2010 is the worst. The spatial variation indicates that water quality of Nanbashequ section is the pessimal. For the sake of comparison, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and grey relational method were also employed to assess water quality of Qu River. The comparisons of these three approaches'' assessment results show that the proposed method is reliable.     

Availability estimation of a multi-state wind farm in fuzzy environment

Wind is one of the fastest growing renewable energy resources in the electric power system. Availability of wind energy is volatile in nature due to the stochastic behavior of wind speed and non-linear variation of the wind power curve of wind turbine generator. Because of this impression and uncertainty, the availability estimation of wind power has become a challenging issue. In this paper, Markov Fuzzy Reward technique has been proposed for finding out the reliability of wind farm by assessing the availability of wind power. According to this technique, availability of the wind power has been estimated considering wind farm and demand both as a multi-state system. In addition to the availability, different reliability indices such as the number of absolute failures, mean time to deficiency, and probability of failures of a wind farm have been assessed in a time horizon, which can provide useful information for the power system planner at wind farm installing stage. A comparison of this study reveals the efficacy of the proposed Markov Fuzzy Reward approach over the conventional Markov Reward approach.     

大型商圈安全评价体系及案例研究*

为整体评价大型商圈的安全性,结合公共安全科技三角形理论,从突发事件的危险性、承灾载体的脆弱性、应急能力3方面构建大型商圈安全评价指标体系,通过网络分析法和模糊综合评价法确定指标间权重系数,对大型商圈进行安全风险评价。结果表明:体系全面考虑了大型商圈安全风险影响因素及其内在关系,可为大型商圈安全评价体系构建和定量评估提供参考。     

IFRP: a hybrid interval-parameter fuzzy robust programming approach for waste management planning under uncertainty

In this study, an interval-parameter fuzzy-robust programming (IFRP) model is developed and applied to the planning of solid waste management systems under uncertainty. As an extension of the existing fuzzy-robust programming and interval-parameter linear programming methods, the IFRP can explicitly address system uncertainties with complex presentations. Parameters in the IFRP model can be represented as interval numbers and/or fuzzy membership functions, such that the uncertainties can be directly communicated into the optimization process and resulting solution. Furthermore, highly uncertain information for the lower and upper bounds of interval parameters that exist due to the complexity of the real world can be effectively handled through introducing the concept of fuzzy boundary interval. Consequently, robustness of the optimization process and solution can be enhanced. Results of the case study indicate that useful solutions for planning municipal solid waste management practices can be generated. They reflect a compromise between optimality and stability of the study system. Willingness to pay higher costs will guarantee the system stability; however, a desire to reduce the costs will run the risk of potential instability of the system. The results also suggest that the proposed hybrid methodology is applicable to practical problems that are associated with highly complex and uncertain information.     

模糊评判模型在边坡稳定性评价中的应用

本文以澜沧江中下游流域边坡稳定性评价为实例，为模型评判模型的应用问题和处理技术进行了论述。认为该模型简便实用、效果稳健、适应性强，是边坡稳定性评价工作中适宜推广的一个实用模型。此外，文中还提出了用于模型评判模型的信息检验法，讨论了这一方法在遴选有效评价因子和优化模型效能中的作用。     

Optimal Harvesting of the Norwegian Spring-Spawning Herring: Variable Versus Fixed Harvesting Strategies

In this paper we study optimal harvesting of the Norwegian spring-spawning herring stock. The biological model is described by a discrete time age-structured model. The optimal harvesting patterns are studied numerically and the results show that when using a linear cost function and constant price in the optimisation model, the optimal harvesting pattern is pulse fishing. However, optimal constant fishing effort gives only slightly lower profit. Moreover, when price is made responsive to harvest the optimal harvesting strategy is substantially smoothed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.