The best of both:a study of the feasibility of integrating scale of design and production for sustainable products

Contemporary design assumes and employs a highly diverse range of materials, skills and technologies to create new products for production. A close consideration of the relationships and characteristics of this multifaceted design and production system can help designers better understand the social and environmental implications of current practices, and help move us in constructive and positive directions for change. Academic researchers are able to take the long view on such change, they can analyse the existing situation and suggest beneficial possibilities for the future. This discussion takes such a view by bringing together design research, systems thinking and product design explorations. From this, we have developed a fresh approach that we have termed ‘integrated scales of design and production for sustainability’ (ISDPS). This integrated approach was first proposed by Walker in 2000. Since then the concept has been developed and elaborated upon (Dogan and Walker, Restoring Local Scale: Rethinking the Company Structures for Sustainable Product Design. Sustainable Innovation Conference 3, October 26–27, Stockholm, Sweden). This present discussion focuses on the feasibility and implications of sustainability of the ISDPS concept

Constraints on the pMSSM, AMSB model and on other models from the search for long-lived charged particles in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

Stringent limits are set on the long-lived lepton-like sector of the phenomenological minimal supersymmetric standard model (pMSSM) and the anomaly-mediated super-symmetry breaking (AMSB) model. The limits are derived from the results presented in a recent search for long-lived charged particles in proton-proton collisions, based on data collected by the CMS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. In the pMSSM parameter sub-space considered, 95.9% of the points predicting charginos with a lifetime of at least 10 ns are excluded. These constraints on the pMSSM are the first obtained at the LHC. Charginos with a lifetime greater than 100 ns and masses up to about 800 GeV in the AMSB model are also excluded. The method described can also be used to set constraints on other models

Qualitative risk assessment of a Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system for heavy-duty trucks

A Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system can be applied to heavy-duty diesel trucks for achieving environmental benefits in comparison to existing diesel vehicles. Because of lack of reports about risk assessment of this technology, we performed a qualitative assessment based on a framework of some literature techniques for risk identification, analysis and evaluation. After constructing a Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) to establish the context, we conducted bow-tie analysis, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), likelihood and consequence analysis, and used a risk matrix. We applied these methods and techniques qualitatively to identify causes (e.g. collisions), critical events (e.g. releases of natural gas), related consequences (e.g. fires and explosions), and different possible pathways from a specific cause to its consequence, and to assess some negative accident scenarios related to use and parking of the vehicle. The bow-tie analysis also allowed to make explicit barriers and controls that prevent critical events and/or mitigate consequences. Therefore, we identified a set of safety measures, including design, technical, management, and emergency actions, which shall be implemented in each step of the system's life cycle.Our risk assessment showed that the risk level of the Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system is similar to the risk level of a traditional diesel system. Future research will overcome current lack of data and, therefore, permit a quantitative rating of the risk of the Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system