IntroductionModel Forest (MF) is a concept based on an innovative approach that combines the social, cultural and economic needs of local communities with the longterm management of sustainable forest landscapes (Brandt et al., 1996). MF is a partnership of public and private organizations that have a common interest in achieving sustainable forest management (SFM) within a locally defined forest area. The International Model Forest Network (IMFN) is a voluntary association of partners (countries and organizations) from around the world working toward a common goal, which is the sustainable management and use of forests and forested landscapes. Each MF in the network is unique by virtue of its ecosystems, history of resource use, and the cultural and political realities that are in place.
AbstractAim of study: In this paper, we present a decision support system (DSS) to support decision making where different stakeholders have to generate landscape and forest level strategic plans. We further present an interactive approach that may take advantage of a posteriori preference modelling (i.e. Pareto frontier technique) to facilitate the specification of the levels of achievement of various objectives.Area of study: The approach was applied to one planning cycle of a real world study case, the Leiria National Forest in Portugal. The Leiria National Forest, a managed area of approximately eleven thousand hectares in which 8,679 hectares are even aged stands of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait) aimed at the production of wood.Material and methods: The interactive approach, at first, tries to generate Pareto efficient frontiers for different objectives. Then, multiple decision makers are involved in the process to seek an agreement towards the definition of a consensual strategic plan.Main results: The system developed in this article integrates an information management subsystem, a module to generate alternative management regimes, growth model routines and a decision module that generates and solves mathematical formulations. It also provides a module to display reports and view the resulting solutions (management plans). We also build the Pareto frontier for different criteria. The results show that the proposed DSS can help solve strategic planning problems subject to sustainable management constraints where people organize themselves and participate jointly to manage their natural resources.Research highlights: The interactive approach facilitates the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the decision making process.
The design of industrial facilities is often dependent on the layout characteristics. Thus, a simultaneous approach to the design and layout of facilities is an important problem to be addressed. In this paper, the simultaneous design and layout of an industrial facility is studied, taking into account interactions that might be relevant when designing industrial facilities. The model developed here is essentially focused on the layout characteristics, whereas the design aspects are addressed more simply by considering the possible existence of a certain equipment item or connection. This is determined by adequate design models based on the specified industrial design characteristics (as will be explored in part II of this work; see following paper). The proposed model has therefore the particularity of being adjustable to alternative design problems. In this way, different operational and topological problem characteristics can be addressed, often dictated by the type of plant being designed (e.g., flow-shop or job-shop structures and operations such as continuous or batch plants). The optimal plant layout is obtained through the minimization of the connectivity cost, where different topological and operational characteristics are considered, along with equipment costs over a two-dimensional continuous area. The model leads to a mixed integer linear problem (MILP) in which binary variables are introduced to characterize design and topological choices and continuous variables are used to describe the distances and locations involved. To conclude, the applicability of the proposed formulation is illustrated through a set of representative examples.
Introduction: The international research project IEA EBC Annex 72 investigates the life cycle related environmental impacts caused by buildings. The project aims inter alia to harmonise LCA approaches on buildings. Methods: To identify major commonalities and discrepancies among national LCA approaches, reference buildings were defined to present and compare the national approaches. A residential high-rise building located in Tianjin, China, was selected as one of the reference buildings. The main construction elements are reinforced concrete shear walls, beams and floor slabs. The building has an energy reference area of 4566 m2 and an operational heating energy demand of 250 MJ/m2a. An expert team provided information on the quantities of building materials and elements required for the construction, established a BIM model and quantified the operational energy demand. Results: The greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts of the building were quantified using 17 country-specific national assessment methods and LCA databases. Comparisons of the results are shown on the level of building elements as well as the complete life cycle of the building. Conclusions: The results of these assessments show that the main differences lie in the LCA background data used, the scope of the assessment and the reference study period applied. Despite the variability in the greenhouse gas emissions determined with the 17 national methods, the individual results are relevant in the respective national context of the method, data, tool and benchmark used. It is important that environmental benchmarks correspond to the particular LCA approach and database of a country in which the benchmark is applied. Furthermore, the results imply to include building technologies as their contribution to the overall environmental impacts is not negligible. Grant support: The authors thank the IEA for its organizational support and the funding organizations in the participating countries for their financial support.
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