Use of Expert Systems for Life Cycle Analysis

The life cycle analysis (LCA) is a methodology that allows us to contemplate the environmental impact of a material during the different stages of the life cycle. The impact categories were used to measure the repercussions caused to the planet due to the high demand generated by construction materials. This study addressed the stages of a life cycle analysis, according to the ISO 14044 [1] standard, with the aim of evaluating, quantifying and comparing the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture of mortar with similar mechanical behavior: A conventional mortar and a geopolymeric mortar, the latter developed from a geopolymerization process of waste from the Peruvian mining industry [2,3]. The scope of the work sought to evaluate the main environmental impacts of both mortars, focusing on a "cradle to door" life cycle analysis. The application of LCA allowed optimizing the manufacturing process, reducing adverse environmental impacts. The results showed that the environmental impacts of the geopolymeric mortar presented better performance in the medium impact categories: Environmental impact and water consumption. On the other hand, the conventional mortar presented better performance in the stratospheric ozone depletion impact category.

Environmental life cycle assessment of edible oils: A review of current knowledge and future research challenges

Regarding the evaluation of building systems, the analysis of existing buildings environmental certification systems reveals that there are few tools to evaluate environmental performance objectively and holistically through Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) predominating the product attributes recognition and thus losing the global perspective of impacts. Among the main difficulties encountered in the application of LCA in building systems, lies the lack of inventory data available for building systems in the Brazilian scene, which makes the application of the methodology even more complex and time consuming. In the other hand, international databases provide a considerable amount of information, which are often used for studies addressing the Brazilian context. Thus, this research aimed to answer the following questions: a) whether collected for identical processes, the data available in the international validated databases would lead to results similar to those obtained by studies based on primary data collected in the Brazilian context? b) Are the impact assessment methodologies currently available able to fully and consistently evaluate the main potential impacts derived from the lifecycle of traditional building materials? Therefore, the objective of this research was to perform a sensitivity analysis of the results of a comparative LCA case study to the use of secondary data (provided by European databases) or primary data (collected in the Brazilian context), as well as the use of different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methodologies, identifying the impact categories of most significant contribution in the evaluation of traditional construction systems, through the application of the methodology in a case study. The results showed that the geographic scope of the data sources and the choice among different LCIA methods are points of high sensitivity of LCA studies, which must be evaluated and described in detail to avoid misleading conclusions.

An important aspect of the production of quality software is that of software assessment and certification. This involves the measurement of a finished software product using a set of recognised Software Assessment Units. It is essential that at the specification of a piece of software a set of relevant software attributes with a suitable subset of Assessment Units is identified. The set is used to determine whether or not the finished product meets an appropriate quality standard. It has been recognised that a Software Assessment Advisor (SAA) is a necessary tool to assist with this task. An SAA can help in determining the software attributes which should be measured and in selecting an appropriate set of Assessment Units. The SAA will use information concerning the categorisation and functions of a proposed software product, the user's requirements, available tools, and prior assessment experiences in these tasks. So far, no clear approach has been identified for the development of an SAA. The investigation of the modelling required by an SAA indicates that Expert Systems techniques could provide a useful step forward in this development. Expert Systems techniques are able to relate the information required by the certification procedure intelligently by means of the knowledge model and to support symbolic reasoning to advise the software certifier. Also an Expert System's capability for knowledge learning is significant with respect to the relatively young area of Software Assessment and Certification. This paper discusses the activities involved in the Assessment and Certification process, describes how an SAA can assist for the process and how an Expert Systems approach has been used in the development of a prototype SAA.

Product development process analysis and improvement are very important to enterprises, but most Product Data Management (PDM) systems are not good at them. This paper presents a method that integrates Design Structure Matrix (DSM), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Expert System (ES) techniques to intelligently analyze and improve the product development process managed by PDM systems. Based on DSM representation, GA orders the sequence of activities in process with ES's guiding to get a reasonable and optimal sequence. Based on theoretical research results, the Computer-Aided Process Improvement (CAPI) system was developed and was integrated to PDM.

A new method to assess sustainability of agricultural systems by integrating ecosystem services and environmental impacts

A natural language for implementing algebraically Expert Systems

Knowledge-based operation and management of communications systems

Sustainable wastewater management plays a vital role in mitigating environmental concerns. In this context, the present study evaluates the efficiency of methylene blue (MB) removal using a novel H3PO4-activated chicken bone adsorbent (CBAAC) in a batch adsorption process. The optimum conditions were determined at pH 7.5, contact time between 30 and 150 min, dye concentrations ranging from 10 to 50 mg/L, and adsorbent doses of 0.15–0.75 g/100 mL methylene blue (MB) dye solution. The maximum MB removal efficiency of 92.29% was achieved using 0.6 g of adsorbent after 90 min. CBAAC composite was characterized with FE-SEM to identify morphological structure, while FT-IR spectroscopy indicates the appearance of stretching functional bond groups. Response surface methodology (RSM) optimization using a central composite design (CCD) was evaluated showing a promising regression analysis of R2 = 0.9661. The research results demonstrated a well-defined Temkin adsorption isotherm (R2 = 0.9804), with a capacity for adsorption of 49.56 mg/g, closely followed by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.9997). The process was thermodynamically spontaneous and exothermic. A comprehensive Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) dealing with ten important parameters that resulted in the lowest global warming of 1.531 (kg CO2-eq.) and 5.047 MJ/kg, highlights the sustainable and effective use of CBAAC for the removal of organic dyes from wastewater.

The GREET® (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation) model has been developed by Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy(DOE). GREET is a life-cycle analysis (LCA) tool, structured to systematically examine energy and environmental effects of a wide variety of transportation fuels and vehicle technologies in major transportation sectors (i.e., road, air, marine, and rail). There are two GREET modeling platforms; GREET Excel is a multidimensional spreadsheet model that provides a comprehensive LCA tool, and GREET.Net provides an interactive graphical toolbox to perform LCA. The GREET 2018 release includes expansions and updates for both platforms, and this report provides a summary of the release.

8 - Real-time fault-tolerant control systems

Decreasing supporting resources and increasing complexity of horticultural crop production necessitate the new technologies be developed to transfer information to farmers as well as commercial producers. Expert systems, a sub area of artificial intelligence of computer science offer the possibility to implement horticultural knowledge into field practice in the form of computer programme in order to support the farmers in decision making at farm level. This paper provides an overview of the concept of expert system and examples of areas of horticultural applications of these systems are in use at present are also outlined. This paper further examines how expert system techniques are being used at present in problem solving and why someone in the field of horticulture might want to use them.

Diagnosing the vibrating behaviour of the PWR internal structures using expert systems techniques and algorithmic treatment

This chapter describes an innovative curriculum developed for a new Logistics Engineering degree programs at the Faculty of Engineering Management of Poznan University of Technology. The core of the program is based on a sequence of four major courses, which focus on the Product Development, Process Analysis and Optimization, Logistic Processes and Service Engineering, respectively. Each course is built around a practical team project. Projects introduce entrepreneurial components, as the teams have to develop their concepts in the context of a start-up company. One key element of all the courses is an emphasis on the use of various simulation tools. These tools may vary from physical mock-ups, through simple Excel spreadsheets to the use of industrial-strength simulation software. One of the courses, offered to the 3rd year students, introduces fundamental concepts related to industrial process analysis and improvement. Students learn necessary data collection and analysis techniques (such as, for example, Value Stream Mapping) and also the basics of process simulation using a commercial software package. Student teams work with industrial sponsors and develop competing innovative ideas for process transformation and improvement. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the student work and final results. Top projects are offered to present at technical conferences, publish their results in technical journals, and also participate in project competitions. Projects focus on the supply chains and logistic processes, assessment of their performance, lifecycle analysis and management. The student group projects are typically carried out in an industrial setting, dealing with real-life assignments. The chapter highlights one case of collaboration between University of Technology and commercial business company from aerospace industry. This case is the base for building a reference model of transition from a student project to a business project. The chapter aims to accomplish the following: Point out the gaps in management of logistics-oriented student projects in industry, which rely on use of simulation tools; Identify clearly evolution phases of student projects transitioning into business projects; Share the preliminary project transformation experiences, which may serve as practical foundation to build a reference model for such transitions. The key highlights of presented work consists of the following: Consistent portfolio of courses leveraging student group work; Concept of a transformation model capturing transition from student project to a business project; Use of simulation technologies as an effective means of engagement with industrial partners, in particular when they are neither using nor familiar with simulation tools.

This study provides a comprehensive lifecycle analysis (LCA), or cradle-to-grave (C2G) analysis, of the cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of a variety of vehicle-fuel pathways, as well as the levelized cost of driving (LCD) and cost of avoided GHG emissions. This study also estimates the technology readiness levels (TRLs) of key fuel and vehicle technologies along the pathways. The C2G analysis spans a full portfolio of midsize light-duty vehicles (LDVs), including conventional internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). In evaluating the vehicle-fuel combinations, this study considers both low-volume and high-volume “CURRENT TECHNOLOGY” cases (nominally 2015) and a high-volume “FUTURE TECHNOLOGY” lower-carbon case (nominally 2025–2030). For the CURRENT TECHNOLOGY case, low-volume vehicle and fuel production pathways are examined to determine costs in the near term.