Life Cycle Framework Research Articles

Life cycle framework construction and quantitative assessment for the hydrogen fuelled ships: A case study

The integration of hydrogen energy into the maritime industry requires a comprehensive evaluation of the life cycle of hydrogen fuel, encompassing all stages from production to operational use in ships. This research aims to analyze the entire technology chain of marine hydrogen fuel. Six methods of hydrogen production, including steam methane reforming, coal gasification, coke oven gas, propane dehydrogenation, water electrolysis, and biomass gasification, are evaluated with regard to their energy consumption, environmental sustainability, and economic cost. The life cycle assessment is divided into two processes: hydrogen production and hydrogen fuel cell ship application. Calculations are based on a real-world case study of Dalian Port in China. A sensitivity analysis is also performed to assess the impact of various ship-specific conditions, such as speed, route distance, and transportation conditions, on the performance of hydrogen fuel-powered ships. The findings indicate that the current power cost structure does not necessarily make electrolytic hydrogen production the most environmentally responsible option. In the long-range route, the life cycle cost of water electrolysis is 2.49×106USD. Among the six methods, coke oven gas hydrogen supply method produces the highest carbon emissions. The optimal sailing speed of hydrogen fuel cell ships is between 14 and 14.5kn.

Practical Applications of Optimal Claiming of Social Security Benefits

In <ext-link><bold><italic>Optimal Claiming of Social Security Benefits</italic></bold></ext-link>, from the Winter 2023 issue of <bold><italic>The Journal of Retirement</italic></bold>, authors <bold>Steven Diamond</bold> of <bold>Gridmatic</bold>, <bold>Stephen Boyd</bold> and <bold>Mykel Kochenderfer</bold> of <bold>Stanford University</bold>, <bold>Andrew Ang</bold> of <bold>BlackRock</bold> and <bold>David Greenberg</bold> show that when an individual’s wealth is above a certain threshold, they should defer claiming Social Security. Using a life-cycle framework, the authors compute wealth to primary insurance amount (PIA) ratios and provide thresholds to aid in this decision-making process (the PIA is the monthly benefit one would receive at full retirement age). The authors explain how an individual’s monthly Social Security benefit payment amount is based, in part, on the age at which they elect to begin their benefit payments. This decision of when to begin claiming benefits is both highly complex and important because it determines income for the rest of a claimant’s life. One can begin collecting benefits as early as age 62 and as late as age 70, and the longer one waits, the larger the monthly benefit payment will be.

A Medical Equipment Lifecycle Framework to Improve Healthcare Policy and Sustainability

The healthcare sector is struggling to become more environmentally friendly compared to other industries, evidently seen by the contribution to global emissions. These struggles have elicited some research on sustainable methods regarding the lifecycle of medical devices. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) encourages the reuse of equipment and ethical donations, namely for the sake of the environment and sustainable global health. However, there is a lack of synthesis–multiple greener alternatives to the current healthcare system are developing without a connection to each other, hindering an increase in sustainability. Thus, there is a lack of global organization and standardization in medical equipment lifecycles. Inspired by the findings and guidelines of the Safe and Sustainable Medical Equipment Supply Subgroup (SASMES) of the International Rotary Fellowship of Healthcare Professionals, we created the Re-processing Medical Equipment: Rotarian Research Group for the Environment (Re-MERGE) to expand on these challenges. Re-MERGE follows the life cycle of medical devices in the United States of America through its initial stages of classification and various regulatory pathways, the middle stage of post-market requirements, and the end stage of disposal or donation and reprocessing. Our findings indicate that current medical device end-stages are inefficient, damaging to the environment, and burdensome to donation recipients; however, existing processes can provide improvements to medical device end-stage methods by drastically reducing environmental damage, improving healthcare globally, and increasing sustainability in the field. We identify that more research is needed to connect the implications of different medical device end stages. Additionally, we encourage the findings to be implemented to create more sustainable, effective methods of medical device disposal, donation, and reprocessing.

A STUDY ON USING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE FOR IMPROVING MARKETING EFFORTS

A major success criteria for the marketing department of the company is the understanding of the consumers and the success of the campaigns. Based on the outputs of certain data mining tasks, a marketer would be able to chalk out his strategy. But the major barrier against proper utilization of business intelligence is that often the marketer is unable to see the actual benefits the system can provide him in meeting his objective. Firstly this article provides a basic knowledge of the various data-mining tasks which can create value to the marketer. A major concern becomes, even if the marketer is convinced of the benefits to be obtained, he is unaware of the process involved to get it done. The data requirements are huge for a business intelligence system. This article also provides some insights on what kind of data requirements the data-mining system would require to perform such business intelligence tasks. Thirdly, this article maps how business intelligence can be collaborated with marketing strategy to create value in each stage of the product development life cycle following Kotler's product life cycle framework. The entire paper provides these conceptualizations based on theoretical understanding of the areas under discussion. Key Words: Business Intelegence, Business Success, Cluster Analysis, Pattorn Association, Link Analysis, Task Discussion.

Cooperative Lifecycle Framing—Reinvention or Regeneration and Does It Matter?

The co-operative lifecycle framework has been a very useful concept in depicting the historical lifecycle of co-operatives. It is also particularly helpful in identifying and communicating if a co-operative is on a degenerative trajectory and points to the possibility of choice and re-invention. This paper focuses on this re-invention phase of the lifecycle framework and questions if re-invention is the best concept to use either in theory or practice. The paper explores whether regeneration may be a more promising concept, drawing on regenerative development and relationality literature. This paper concludes with an adaptation of Cook’s co-operative lifecycle framework by incorporating a regenerative enabling capability as a metric for success.

Mobile augmented reality-based visualization framework for lifecycle O&M support of urban underground pipe networks

The structural deterioration of urban underground pipe networks is the accumulated combined effects of physical, environmental and operational factors during the whole lifecycle. Accurate on-site locating and mapping of pipes and their conditions has been a great challenge for construction, maintenance and emergency response in a dynamic manner. Existing approaches, mostly based on design-centric and static visualization, are unsuitable for implementation within the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase because they are performed in a completely virtual environment and are unable to interact with buried assets on site. An integrated hyperrealistic visualization framework based on mobile augmented reality (MAR) is developed to support various real-life project tasks for O&M support of urban underground pipe networks. The proposed approach consists of three parts: a cloud-based data management platform, a 3D visualization development platform, and a location-based registration method for MAR. A cloud–edge–mobile layer is proposed to manage, analyze, process and visualize multisource data, especially for dynamic data. Field experiments on a real-life urban gas pipe network were carried out to investigate the feasibility of the proposed framework to achieve informed O&M support. The results demonstrate that (1) a smartphone linked to a Lite RTK device allows for both accurate locating and easy operation; (2) both the 3D virtual digital model and the multisource data visually superimpose onto the realistic environment, enabling on-site human–machine interaction in a hyperrealistic manner; and (3) MAR-based immersive visualization contributes to avoiding excavation damage, improving O&M efficiency and assisting emergency responders to make timely and better–informed decisions based on multisource information fusion.

Sustainable Management of the Built Environment from the Life Cycle Perspective

Decisions made at every stage of the built environment life cycle impact how materials in that environment are eventually managed at the end of their life, whether in a linear or cyclical manner. Linear fates often terminate in landfills, whereas more sustainable cyclical fates are continuously extended through reduction, reuse, repair, recycling, and recovery (5Rs) practices. Despite a notable increase in the literature on sustainable construction and demolition waste (CDW) management, there is still a lack of studies comprehensively addressing the full life cycle of the built environment. A gap also exists in the understanding of the root causes underlying unsustainable CDW management practices. To address these gaps and shortcomings, this study synthesizes the literature on CDW management to identify the causal factors contributing to the current unsustainable management practices, their root causes across the life cycle of the built environment, and sustainable strategies with proven efficacy in mitigating the detected root causes. Considering the implications of these strategies on the management of CDW, as well as their applicability across different stages of the built environment life cycle, this study characterizes them using the 5Rs waste hierarchy and using a five-stage built environment life cycle framework: interim, planning, construction, use, and end of life. All such information is integrated into a single ranking framework that proposes prioritized sustainable strategic pathways to address the most relevant root causes of unsustainable CDW management across the entire built environment life cycle. The actual implementation of the proposed framework for the sustainable management of the built environment is demonstrated through an analysis of Louisiana, in which peacetime construction/demolition and disaster debris generation and reconstruction/demolition have resulted in large amounts of CDW that often ended in landfills. Future decision makers can avoid similar fates by mitigating their own root causes of unsustainable waste management by better utilizing relevant mitigation strategies.

The Implementation of Business Process Blockchain Technology Based of MSCWR SmartBox Model

Blockchain technology uses in many fields, and one of them is logistics. This study aims to propose designing and implementing a blockchain technology-based application for logistics delivery combined with the Internet of Things (IoT) called MSCWR. Logistics and delivery of valuable products have a common problem, and security is also questionable. Therefore, the research process in making prototypes starts by defining the problem, planning, prototyping, testing, and designing validation. The methodology used is User-Centered Design, focus group discussion conducted with business actors directly, and system or prototype development using the System Development Life Cycle framework. As a result, the business processes create using an activity diagram, the features define using a use case diagram, and the screen design to show the prototype development created at an early stage in the research. Finally, the testing conducts to test how well the system is running. In the end, the validation of test results performs in good results&#x0D;

Platforma narzędziowa SELF w modelu SaaS do automatyzacji i standaryzacji wytwarzania rozwiązań

In the article the functionalities and possibilities of using the SELF tool platform (Soneta Elevation LifeCycle Framework) are presented. The four defined layers of the platform are discussed, the process of implementing the solution and the integration of individual layers is presented. The market of ERP systems in Poland and alternative solutions available on the market are also discussed. The presented SELF platform, created in the SaaS (Software as a Service) model, is one of the key technological tools introduced in Soneta to implement an effective method of work organization within the firm and with its network of authorized partners.

Optimizing registry of inhabitants’ record management: the development of municipal consolidation system for local governance

This study focuses on developing a municipal consolidation system to optimize the registry of inhabitants' records management and address local government units' challenges. The system was created employing the iterative waterfall model, anchored to the system development life cycle framework. It is a crossplatform application, runnable on Windows and Android operating systems. The system underwent user testing and evaluations utilizing the system usability scale measure and an evaluation patterning the ISO 9126-1 software quality model standard to ensure its functionality. The results of the testing and evaluations show positive feedback from users, indicating that the developed system meets the users' needs and requirements and has a high acceptance rate from the local government unit. Therefore, the system can be considered a successful support tool for local governance. Consequently, we recommend that other local government units in the region adopt the system to improve their record management practices.

Development of a Circular Building Lifecycle Framework: Inception to Circulation

Circular Economy requires a closed-loop material cycle and seeks ways to apply circular principles. However, existing lifecycle approaches not only omit the early stages to observe such principles but fail to reflect the evolving nature of the building lifecycle. This study develops the first circular building lifecycle framework, namely Inception to Circulation, by (i) clarifying the R principles, (ii) differentiating lifecycle approaches, (iii) unifying fragmented building lifecycle stages, and (iv) integrating R principles with building lifecycle stages. The study found that most studies focused on three lifecycle stages (design, construction, operation), and no study covered all seven lifecycle stages as opposed to the proposed framework. The linear nature of the current building lifecycle is proven as most studies considered none of the R principles, in which 22 R principles were clarified into 14 R principles. Addressing such issues, a novel framework of seven stages (Inception, Feasibility & Planning, Design, Construction, Handover, Operation, and Circulation) is developed with R principles. The framework establishes a platform to facilitate industry stakeholder collaboration and guidance on applying R practices to the building lifecycle. The study made contributions by developing circular building lifecycle stages, exemplified R principle implementation, and a path for policymakers and industry professionals toward a circular transformation. The framework has the potential to be utilized by future studies to assess the circularity of building investments. Additionally, its multidirectional structure enables modifying different performance dimensions or metrics in line with stakeholder interest contributing to the collaborative platform needed for a circular economy.

Design and Programming for Multicore machines: An Empirical study on time and effort required by programmer

As the demand for high-performance computing continues to surge, harnessing the full potential of multicore architectures has become paramount. This paper explores a pragmatic approach to transition from sequential to parallel programming, capitalizing on the computational prowess of modern hardware systems. Recognizing the challenges of enforcing parallelism in early software development phases, we advocate for a focus on the implementation stage, where architects, designers, and developers can seamlessly introduce parallel constructs while preserving software integrity. To facilitate this paradigm shift, we introduce the “SDLC model with Parallel Constructs,” a modified Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework comprising additional phases: “Parallel Constructs” and “Test Parallel Constructs.” This model empowers development teams to integrate parallel computing efficiently, enhancing performance and maintaining a structured development process. Our observations reveal intriguing dynamics. Initially, the single-threaded program outperforms its parallel counterpart for smaller datasets, but as data sizes grow, the parallel version demonstrates superior performance. We underscore the pivotal role of available CPU cores and task partitioning in determining efficiency. Our analysis also evaluates the programmer’s effort, measured by lines of code, needed for the transition. Leveraging OpenMP constructs streamlines this transition, reducing programming complexity.

Inbound tourism in Latvia during three decades of independence: development phases, key drivers and challenges

This article reviews the development of inbound tourism in Latvia over the three decades following the restoration of its independence following occupation by the USSR. The analysis uses the tourist area life cycle framework, which describes tourism development and factors during different development stages. The first stage can be described as the post 1991–2000 “economic pivot and transition phase”, where the orientation of the tourism economy shifted from east to west. Secondly, a “tourism boom phase” occurred between 2001–2009, bookended by the commencement of the EU transition process and concluding with the global financial crisis in Europe. Thirdly, a “managed growth phase” was characterised by a period of steady growth of the tourism economy. This phase included the demand surge associated with Riga becoming the European Union’s “capital of culture” and greater integration with external industry trends, concluding with the COVID-19 crisis of 2020. The article describes the crucial developmental factors and challenges in each development phase of post-independence inbound tourism.

Essential Regulatory Update for Implementation of Clinical Decision Support Software in the Psychiatric Field

Decision-making in the field of psychiatry, including diagnosis, is highly complex and is hindered by use of a dichotomous categorical classification system that is ill-suited to mental disorders which are multi-factorial behavioral conditions. In addition, traditional use of results from randomized controlled trials to guide medical device regulation in the field of psychiatry is also problematic, as marked heterogeneity exists within psychiatric patient groups, which precludes results from these trials being projected onto the general patient population. In the past 20 years, clinical decision support software (CDSS) has been found to improve decision-making abilities, but the traditional regulatory approach based on the categorical classification system and randomized controlled trials does not allow the necessary flexibility for CDSS-based decision-making in psychiatry. In this article, we will use Major Depressive Disorder as an example and will discuss regulatory considerations for CDSS, including artificial intelligence, in psychiatry. We will also provide an adjusted life-cycle framework for CDSS in psychiatry, given that the particular complexity of psychiatric disorders demands new and innovative decision support tools. We suggest that any new software would need to perform at least as well as the standard-of-care, which in psychiatry is an unfortunate trial-and-error process. This would be demonstrated during the pre-market validation stage using clinical data from back-end testing of the CDSS. We propose that pre-market evidence of CDSS efficacy should be based on parameters that are used to measure the software success rate, with evidence of safety including demonstration of the low risk of CDSS due to human involvement in the decision-making process. In the post-market stage, CDSS would be used by doctors to generate real-world data that would allow ongoing evaluation and improvement of the algorithms. Furthermore, CDSS would collect data beyond the initial intended-use patient population, allowing the CDSS to learn about related indications. These data would inform the pre-market phase, during which the CDSS could be updated with an expanded patient population. We anticipate that such changes would support effective use of CDSS in psychiatry and improved patient care, which is particularly important given the trial-and-process that comprises the current standard-of-care in the field.

Linking bioenergy production by agricultural residues to sustainable development goals: Prospects by 2030 in China

Large-scale bioenergy production utilizing agricultural residues (ARs) in multi-paths has potential energy, environmental, economic and social (EEES) impacts. If, how and to what extent these impacts integratively bring sustainability contributions at regional scale remains to be explored. Herein, the EEES impacts quantified based upon a multi-resource-technology-output life cycle framework are reflected as 17 indicators, and linked to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their sub-goals to explore the sustainability contributions and trade-offs in 31 Chinese provincial regions by 2030 in three scenarios of ARs availability. Results indicate that the ARs can contribute to 1.86 billion GJ net energy output and 32.1 billion yuan net profit by 2030 in the complete scenario with the highest ARs availability. Attributed to open burning avoidance and fossil energy offset, there are mitigation effects on 11 out of 13 life cycle environmental impact categories, however intensification effects on Freshwater eutrophication and Marine eutrophication. Regional sustainability score closely depends on ARs availability, while does not strictly parallel it. The ARs-abundant regions, such as Heilongjiang, Henan and Jilin, benefit outstandingly from bioenergy production to enhance regional sustainability (especially on SDG1, SDG7 and SDG13). The findings can provide decision-makers with references to soundly boosting agricultural bioenergy development to consolidate regional sustainability.

Money as Insurance

Liquid money controlled by a trustworthy central bank can serve as an insurance against external surprises such as stock market crashes, bank fails and other setbacks that endanger the yield of illiquid savings. In turbulent times, the insurance property of money is particularly accentuated. The paper constructs a life cycle framework for the analysis of rational and irrational motives to save money, answers to questions about the effects of saving liquid money on labor supply, illiquid saving and education, and examines the inherent cost of saving cash. The main findings are the following. The rational insurance motive to save money increases total savings by replacing deposit saving more than one-to-one. The share of deposit savings depends positively on the expected interest rate, while the share of cash savings is the higher the less there is inflation. Deposit saving correlates positively and education negatively with the expected market interest rate thus affecting the relative proportion of liquid and illiquid saving, but the implicit cost of cash insurance is independent of education. Money illusion adds an internal bias to consumers’ life-time optimization, thus making them save excessively in cash at the cost of market deposits and increasing the cost of using cash as insurance against external uncertainty.

Estimates of Food Losses and Wastes at Each Node of the Wheat Value Chain in Morocco: Implications on Food and Energy Security, Natural Resources, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Several research and development efforts have been made to ensure food security in developing countries. Dissemination of improved agricultural technologies was used as the main avenue through which some increases in food supply have been achieved. However, food insecurity remains a major challenge. This paper argues and provides empirical evidence that reducing food loss and waste can be an effective food and energy security, and natural resource, and environmental conservation strategy. Following the life cycle framework, the annual amount of wheat-based food lost or wasted from farm-to-fork in Morocco was estimated at 4 million tons (equivalent to 36% of total supply) valued at US$1.0 billion. Among all nodes, the magnitudes of farm management-related losses, wastage during consumption, and storage losses rank first to third accounting for about 17.4%, 7.92%, and 7.06%, respectively of total wheat supply in the country. Were these losses and wastes entirely prevented, Morocco would have been able to feed 29.3 million more people, or save 1.79 million hectares of land, 2.66 billion m3 of water, and 64.28 million GJ of energy, and prevented the emission from landfills of at least 16.61 million kg of methane annually. Besides the ongoing efforts to disseminate agricultural technologies, the Moroccan government needs to develop short- and medium-term national strategies to reduce food losses and wastage particularly targeting the storage and consumption nodes. Replacing bread subsidy with food vouchers targeting only the needy and creation of public awareness about the magnitudes and consequences of food loss and wastage alone may go long way in reducing them.

Needs assessment of nurse researchers through a research lifecycle framework.

Health sciences librarian roles are evolving to better meet the needs of faculty. This study explores nursing faculty needs at the University of British Columbia through the research lifecycle framework of planning, conducting, disseminating, and assessing the impact of their research. A mixed methods survey study with Likert scale, multiple-choice, or ordinal ranking-scale questions and six open-response questions was conducted. The format was a web-based Qualtrics survey; participants had approximately three weeks to respond. Nursing faculty identified the dissemination phase as benefiting most from library support prioritizing reference management and archiving research data as the top needs in that phase. Assessing impact skills such as citation analysis and Altmetrics training was ranked second. The Planning phase was ranked third with systematic review and literature review support most needed. The Conducting phase was identified as the phase where they needed the least support. Understanding the needs of researchers and enhancing scholar productivity is vital to offering responsive library research services. Across the research lifecycle, nursing faculty identified reference management, data management, metrics evaluation, systematic reviews, and literature reviews as the key areas for which they need support.

Using marketing frameworks to predict the effects of e-cigarette commercials on youth

PurposeThis paper aims to apply the Product Life Cycle (PLC) and Product Evolutionary Cycle (PEC) frameworks to the nicotine and tobacco market to predict the impact of television commercials for electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) on youth.Design/methodology/approachSurveys were administered over a three-year period to 417 alternative high school students from Southern California who had never used e-cigarettes, cigarettes or cigars at the baseline. Covariate-adjusted logistic regression causal mediation models were used to test competing hypotheses from the PLC and PEC frameworks.FindingsResults support a refined version of the PEC framework where e-cigarette commercials increase the odds of e-cigarette use, which leads to subsequent use of competing products including cigarettes and cigars.Practical implicationsThis investigation demonstrates the utility of frameworks that conceptualize youth-oriented marketing as a two-part process in which potential customers are first convinced to adopt a behavior and then enticed to use a specific product to enact the behavior.Social implicationsRising rates of nicotine and tobacco product use among youth may be partially attributable to e-cigarette commercials.Originality/valueRegulations in the USA that permit television commercials for e-cigarettes but restrict the promotion of cigarettes and cigars have created an opportunity to study product adoption among youth consumers when one product has a strategic marketing advantage.

Towards an integrated and longitudinal life-cycle framework of international entrepreneurship: Exploring entrepreneurial orientation, capabilities, and network advantages overcoming barriers to internationalization

Towards an integrated and longitudinal life-cycle framework of international entrepreneurship: Exploring entrepreneurial orientation, capabilities, and network advantages overcoming barriers to internationalization