Life methodological framework

Frischknecht, R., Jungbluth, N., Althaus, H.-J., Doka, G., Dones, R., Heck, T., HeUweg, S., Hischier, R., Nemecek, T., Rebitzer, G., Spielmann, M., 2005. The ecoinvent database overview and methodological framework. International Joumal of Life Cycle Assessment 10, 3-9. 

Frischknecht R, Jungbluth N, Althaus HJ, Doka G, Dones R, Heck T, et al. The ecoinvent database overview and methodological framework. Int J Life Cycle Assess 2005 10(1) 3—9. 

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodological framework for estimating and assessing the environmental impacts attributable to the life cycle of a product, such as climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, tropospheric ozone (smog) creation, eutrophication, acidification, toxicological stress on human health and ecosystems, the depletion of resources, water use, land use, noise, and others [3,4]. 

Despite its weaknesses (such as described in the 1975 collection of essays The Mythical Man Month [11]), the traditional software development life cycle (collect requirements, design, implement, test, deploy, maintain) has remained the standard framework for software development. However, in recent years it has become clear that the life cycle is not well suited to applications that are experimental in nature (i.e., where there is no precedent for the particular kind of application) or that exist in rapidly changing environments. This has led to the development of agile methodologies (also known as lightweight... 

Advisory Group are considering different facets of LCA. In 1993, they developed the Code of Practice ,the first worldwide accepted technical framework for LCA. This was an important step towards the harmonisation of the method and has initiated and supported the standardisation process by ISO. Between 1997 and 2000, ISO produced the international series of standard defining the different stages of the LCA methodology (ISO 14040 1997, ISO 14041 1998, ISO 14042 2000 ° as well as ISO 14043 2000° ). As mentioned above, these standards were replaced by two improved editions of life cycle assessment standards in 2006 (ISO 14040 2006 and ISO 14044 2006°). 

Initial work on the design of structured products has been presented by, for example, Meeuse et al. 2000, Wibowo and Ng, 2001, 2002. In this chapter a real life example of a process redesign project where process synthesis techniques were applied to a structured food product, is presented. First, we position this work in the framework of integrated product and process design. Then we describe how we translated existing process synthesis techniques into a useful methodology for structured products. Then the actual case study is presented. Finally some perspectives are given. 

Barnthouse, L. Fava, J. Humphreys, K. Hunt, R. Laibson, L. Noesen, S. Norris, G. et al. (eds.), Evolution and Development of the Conceptual Framework and Methodology of Life-Cycle Impact Assessment an Addendum to Life-Cycle Impact Assessment The State-of-the-Art, 2nd edn., Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Pensacola, FL, 1997. 

The methodological and scientific framework for impact assessment is still being developed. Models for impact categories are in different stages of development. There is subjectivity in the life cycle impact assessment phase such as the choice, modelling and evaluation of impact categories. Therefore, transparency is critical to impact assessment to ensure that the assumptions are clearly described and reported. 

The proposed framework for formal vulnerability assessment [FVA] for maritime supply chains is presented below. In short, this is an expansion of the Formal Safety Assessment [FSA] methodology described by IMO for maritime applications (IMO 2002). FSA is a structured and systematic, tested and provenmethod-ology for enhancing safety, including protection of life, health, the marine environment and property, latest used for risk based design of vessels (SAFEDOR 2009). 

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodological tool used to quantitatively analyze the life cycle of a product or an activity with a generic framework provided by ISO Standards (14040, 14044, and 14047). When analyzing environmental impacts, LCA takes into account the complete life cycle of a product delivering a functional unit. 

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