Engineering Decisions for Life Quality: How Safe is Safe Enough? provides a foundation and a theoretical basis for managing risk to an acceptable level under the real-world constraint of limited resources. The focus is not on risks as such, but on what can be done to maximize the positive outcomes of risk in terms of improvements to the quality of life. The principal focus of Engineering Decisions for Life Quality: How Safe is Safe Enough? is on the development of guidance for establishing rational standards of practice. Standards should meet the requirement of utilizing resources to achieve the maximum net overall benefit to society within society’s capacity to commit such resources. The ideas discussed within this book will be of interest to engineers; advanced undergraduate and graduate students; public health officials; and risk specialists.
Machine Intelligence is changing every aspect of our lives. Internet traffic and sensors in households, cars, and wearables provide data that oligopolistic companies collect and use to extract patterns of human behavior. Further, active digital assistants are taking over more and more of our everyday decisions. Humanity is on the verge of an evolutionary leap and it is time to determine if this development will benefit people’s wellbeing or will just mean the accumulation of capital and power with no regard for quality of life. This book integrates the perspectives of various disciplines that are striving to establish resilient foundations – computer science, economics and social sciences, political science, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, ethics and religion – in order to clarify a number of positions and, as a result, objectify the discussions. Written by Hubert Osterle, a researcher working at the interface of these disciplines, the book promotes debate on the future of man and machine, on happiness and evolution and on the major changes brought about by digital technology. Last but not least, it is a manifesto calling for a new – integrated – discipline to be founded: life engineering. „If you want to think more deeply about what machine intelligence (aka AI) really means for humanity, you should read this book. Hubert Oesterle takes an amazingly broad and multi-disciplinary look at all relevant aspects, from the roots of human behavior to the impact advanced digital assistants might have on our daily lives (and who will control these assistants). Highly recommended!” Andreas Goeldi, Partner at btov Partners
During the eight years since the publication of Maintenance Excellence: Optimizing Equipment Life-Cycle Decisions the business environment has changed drastically. Globalization, consolidation, and changes in technology challenge asset management and maintenance professionals to be more efficient. Globalization and consolidation have been particula
Engineering Decisions for Life Quality: How Safe is Safe Enough? provides a foundation and a theoretical basis for managing risk to an acceptable level under the real-world constraint of limited resources. The focus is not on risks as such, but on what can be done to maximize the positive outcomes of risk in terms of improvements to the quality of life. The principal focus of Engineering Decisions for Life Quality: How Safe is Safe Enough? is on the development of guidance for establishing rational standards of practice. Standards should meet the requirement of utilizing resources to achieve the maximum net overall benefit to society within society’s capacity to commit such resources. The ideas discussed within this book will be of interest to engineers; advanced undergraduate and graduate students; public health officials; and risk specialists.
This book presents the state-of-the-art in quality and reliability engineering from a product life-cycle standpoint. Topics in reliability include reliability models, life data analysis and modeling, design for reliability as well as accelerated life testing and reliability growth analysis, while topics in quality include design for quality, acceptance sampling and supplier selection, statistical process control, production tests such as environmental stress screening and burn-in, warranty and maintenance. The book provides comprehensive insights into two closely related subjects, and includes a wealth of examples and problems to enhance readers’ comprehension and link theory and practice. All numerical examples can be easily solved using Microsoft Excel. The book is intended for senior undergraduate and postgraduate students in related engineering and management programs such as mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering and engineering management programs, as well as for researchers and engineers in the quality and reliability fields. Dr. Renyan Jiang is a professor at the Faculty of Automotive and Mechanical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, China.
Environmental engineers support the well-being of people and the planet in areas where the two intersect. Over the decades the field has improved countless lives through innovative systems for delivering water, treating waste, and preventing and remediating pollution in air, water, and soil. These achievements are a testament to the multidisciplinary, pragmatic, systems-oriented approach that characterizes environmental engineering. Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges outlines the crucial role for environmental engineers in this period of dramatic growth and change. The report identifies five pressing challenges of the 21st century that environmental engineers are uniquely poised to help advance: sustainably supply food, water, and energy; curb climate change and adapt to its impacts; design a future without pollution and waste; create efficient, healthy, resilient cities; and foster informed decisions and actions.
IIE/Joint Publishers Book of the Year Award 2016! Awarded for ‘an outstanding published book that focuses on a facet of industrial engineering, improves education, or furthers the profession’. Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management emphasizes practical issues and examples of decision making with applications in engineering design and management Featuring a blend of theoretical and analytical aspects, this book presents multiple perspectives on decision making to better understand and improve risk management processes and decision-making systems. Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management uniquely presents and discusses three perspectives on decision making: problem solving, the decision-making process, and decision-making systems. The author highlights formal techniques for group decision making and game theory and includes numerical examples to compare and contrast different quantitative techniques. The importance of initially selecting the most appropriate decision-making process is emphasized through practical examples and applications that illustrate a variety of useful processes. Presenting an approach for modeling and improving decision-making systems, Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management also features: Theoretically sound and practical tools for decision making under uncertainty, multi-criteria decision making, group decision making, the value of information, and risk management Practical examples from both historical and current events that illustrate both good and bad decision making and risk management processes End-of-chapter exercises for readers to apply specific learning objectives and practice relevant skills A supplementary website with instructional support material, including worked solutions to the exercises, lesson plans, in-class activities, slides, and spreadsheets An excellent textbook for upper-undergraduate and graduate students, Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management is appropriate for courses on decision analysis, decision making, and risk management within the fields of engineering design, operations research, business and management science, and industrial and systems engineering. The book is also an ideal reference for academics and practitioners in business and management science, operations research, engineering design, systems engineering, applied mathematics, and statistics.
Considering maintenance from a proactive, rather than reactive, perspective, Maintenance Excellence details the strategies, tools, and solutions for maximizing the productivity of physical assets—focusing on profitability potential. The editors address contemporary concerns, key terms, data requirements, critical methodologies, and essential mathematical needs. They present maintenance in a business context, review planning, measurement, feedback, and techniques related to cost, efficiency, and results, and summarize applications of tools and software from statistics and neural networks to cost-optimized models.
This is one of the most comprehensive books on complex subjects of environmental engineering assessment and planning. Addressing these issues requires an understanding of technical, economic, and policy perspectives; based upon extensive research and practical experience of the authors, these perspectives are thoughtfully and clearly presented. Covered in this book are subjects related to environmental engineering and planning which include environmental laws and regulations, international perspectives on environmental analysis engineering and planning, economic and social impact analysis, public participation, and energy and environmental implications of major public works and private projects. Contemporary issues ranging from climate change to ecorisk and sustainability are covered in a special section as well. Under Contemporary Challenges are environmental issues that have received considerable public support and concern; they include: climate change, acid rain, deforestation, endangered species, biodiversity, ecorisk, cultural resources, and sustainability. For most of these issues, there are scientific agreements and disagreements; there are many uncertainties, thus views differ widely. These topics are discussed in considerable detail. Notwithstanding uncertainties and differing views on such topics, all of this information is put in a policy context such that progress towards addressing these contemporary challenges can be made while consensus on the nature and extent of the problem and resultant solutions are being developed. The book provides considerable information about many timeless issues. These issues range from resources needed for sustaining the quality of life on the planet: air resources to natural resources. Specifically covered are: air, water, land, ecology, sound/noise, human aspects, economics, and resources. For each of these areas, some of the key elements are described so that one can effectively manage complex environmental engineering and planning requirements. Each of the elements are clearly defined and other information, such as how human activities affect the element, source of affects, variable to be measured, how such variables can be measured, data sources, and evaluation and interpretation of data, etc. are provided. Material presented provides a rich source of information so the reader can efficiently and effectively use it to make meaningful environmental engineering, planning, and management decisions. - Help with every aspect of analyzing the environmental implications of a project - Complete coverage of current approaches, practices, procedures, documentations, regulations, and issues related to environmental engineering and planning - Step-by-step directions for preparing environmental impact analysis, and environmental reports - Valuable expert advice on international perspectives, public participation, social and environmental impacts - A comprehensive write-up on contemporary issues ranging from climate change to sustainability - A comprehensive description and analysis of timeless issues ranging from air resources to natural resources
