Integrated Environmental Process Planning for the Design & Manufacture of Automotive Components

Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) logic is widely used by manufacturers for the design and manufacture of automotive components. Manufacturers are increasingly finding difficulties to incorporate environmental considerations in the broad range of products that they manufacture. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic method for environmental process planning to evaluate product configurations and their associated environmental impact. The framework and models discussed in this paper can deal with a variety of product characteristics and environmental impacts through a selection of Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs) for a final product configuration. The framework and models have been applied in a real-life application and have proven that changes in product design or process selection can reduce the product's environmental impact and increase process efficiency. Hence, manufacturers can use the framework and models during the Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) process to benchmark each product variation that they manufacture in a standardised manner and realise cost saving opportunities

Leaving care and mental health: outcomes for children in out-of-home care during the transition to adulthood.

There were 59,500 Children in out-of-home care in England in 2008. Research into this population points to poor health and quality of life outcomes over the transition to adult independence. This undesirable outcome applies to mental health, education and employment. This lack of wellbeing for the individual is a burden for health and social care services, suggesting limitations in the current policy approaches regarding the transitional pathway from care to adult independence. Although the precise reasons for these poor outcomes are unclear long term outcomes from national birth cohorts suggest that mental health could be a key predictor for subsequent psychosocial adjustment.Researching the wellbeing of children in out-of-home care has proven difficult due to the range and complexity of the factors leading to being placed in care and the different methods used internationally for recording information. This paper delineates the estimated prevalence of mental health problems for adolescents in the care system, organisational factors, influencing service provision, and pathways through the transition from adolescence to independent young adult life. The extent to which being taken into care as a child moderates adult wellbeing outcomes remains unknown. Whether the care system enhances, reduces or has a null effect on wellbeing and specifically mental health cannot be determined from the current literature. Nonetheless a substantial proportion of young people display resilience and experience successful quality of life outcomes including mental capital. A current and retrospective study of young people transitioning to adult life is proposed to identify factors that have promoted successful outcomes and which would be used to inform policy developments and future longitudinal studies.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Structural and functional studies of cannabidiol interactions with voltage-gated sodium channels

Cannabidiol (CBD), is a major non-psychoactive compound isolated from the cannabis plant and has been associated with the treatment of a range of conditions which are often related to voltage-gated sodium ion channels (VGSCs). The aim of this research was to use X-ray crystallography to provide a detailed insight into the interactions which occur between CBD and the prokaryotic VGSC NavMs. CBD was found to bind at a novel site deep within the fenestration of NavMs, near the central hydrophobic cavity (Sait et al., 2020). Binding at this site would block sodium ion translocation, thus providing a mechanistic explanation for CBD’s channel inhibitory effects, which were validated via electrophysiology experiments performed on designed mutants in collaborative studies with the Ruben lab (Simon Fraser University).In addition, modelling studies conducted suggested why the closely related psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may have different binding interactions with VGSCs. Comparisons were also made between the proposed Transient Receptor Potential Cation Subfamily V member 2 (TRPV2) channel CBD binding site and the NavMs binding site. Finally, thermal melt circular dichroism spectroscopic experiments were carried out to explore CBD interactions with NavMs, which showed CBD does not affect NavMs stability during interaction. In summary, this study provides, for the first time, an insight into the possible mechanism underlying CBD interactions with sodium channels

Clinical characteristics associated with the prescribing of SSRI medication in adolescents with major unipolar depression.

Unipolar major depressions (MD) emerge markedly during adolescence. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) UK recommends psychological therapies, with accompanying selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) prescribed in severe cases only. Here, we seek to determine the extent and rationale of SSRI prescribing in adolescent MD before entering a randomised clinical trial. SSRI prescribing, together with their clinical characteristics was determined in 465 adolescent patients with MD prior to receiving a standardised psychological therapy as part of the Improving mood with psychoanalytic and cognitive therapies (IMPACT) clinical trial. Overall, 88 (19 %) had been prescribed antidepressants prior to psychological treatment. The clinical correlates varied by gender: respectively, depression severity in boys and self-harming behaviours in girls. Prescribing also differed between clinical research centres. Medical practitioners consider severity of depression in boys as an indicator for antidepressant prescribing. Self-injury in girls appears to be utilised as a prescribing aid which is inconsistent with past and current revised UK NICE guidelines.RCT Study supported by a grant to IMG (Chief Investigator) from the NIHR-HTA (trial number ISRCTN83033550, grant number 06/05/01).This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Springer

A hub for education and research: linking New Zealand manufacturing and universities through systemic development for enhanced communication

Perth, W

Learning organization in New Zealand and Malaysian manufacturing companies

This paper presents a comparison between learning organization culture in New Zealand and Malaysian manufacturing companies. Learning organization was measured by using Watkins and Marsick ’s Dimension of Learning Organisation Questionnaire (DLOQ) survey questionnaire. The collected data were analysed to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement score of the DLOQ. The data were further analysed so as to determine the differences between New Zealand and Malaysian companies with respect to the presence of a learning organisation-oriented culture. Results of the analysis show that DLOQ are equally reliable and valid in both New Zealand and Malaysian manufacturing context. It was also found that there are significant differences between New Zealand and Malaysia in several dimensions of learning organisation; namely team learning, dialogue inquiry and empowerment. The differences may be attributed to cultural differences between New Zealand and Malaysia

Strategic guidance model for product development in relation with recycling aspects for automotive products

This paper discusses a strategic guidance model for the product development process of automotive components in order to fulfil the requirements of the recycling aspects in End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive. This proposed model will enable automotive designers to assess products for their technical and economic viability at end-of-life. The paper presents an example of the whole vehicle as a case study in order to demonstrate and validate the proposed framework. It argues that indicators from the analysis can be used to inform the strategic development plans of the vehicles, infrastructures and spare part businesses. Based on this concept, a design guidance model is presented in order to help the designer make a right decision in the product development process so that value can be maximised at a product’s end-of-life