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Both an environmental and an economic assessment are needed to judge the potential of sustainable chemical technologies. However, decision-makers may be challenged by conflicting conclusions. The integration of life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic assessment (TEA) can enhance decision-making, as integrated assessments provide more information than a simple reporting of separate TEA and LCA results. The analysis of integration approaches reveals a lack of consistency in terms of defining criteria and methodological aspects for integration. A gap remains where guidance for practitioners is needed on how to select a suitable integration type for their different purposes. To fill this gap, we conclude that a one-size-fits-all solution of integration cannot adequately serve all purposes along the technology development phases. Therefore, a framework to guide through integration in three distinct parts is proposed. In Part I, a four-phase approach for every integrated assessment to link the results from TEA and LCA is defined. Part II develops three integration types classified by their core characteristics: qualitative discussion-based (Type A), quantitative combined indicator-based (Type B), and quantitative preference-based (Type C). Finally, in Part III, a step-by-step method to select the appropriate integration type according to the assessment purpose, while considering restrictions imposed by technology maturity and resource availability is introduced. Thus, the framework is a basis for increasing the number of integrated assessments by guiding practitioners towards tailored studies.

The term “in situ processing” has evolved over the last decade to mean both a specific strategy for visualizing and analyzing data and an umbrella term for a processing paradigm. The resulting confusion makes it difficult for visualization and analysis scientists to communicate with each other and with their stakeholders. To address this problem, a group of over 50 experts convened with the goal of standardizing terminology. This paper summarizes their findings and proposes a new terminology for describing in situ systems. An important finding from this group was that in situ systems are best described via multiple, distinct axes: integration type, proximity, access, division of execution, operation controls, and output type. This paper discusses these axes, evaluates existing systems within the axes, and explores how currently used terms relate to the axes.

Following the design of flexible elements in Chap. 3, their integration is further discussed in this section, which eventually leads to the construction of compliant mechanisms. The typical integration type of flexible elements includes serial, parallel and hybrid. Since the hybrid configuration is always a mixture of the first two types, this chapter will focus on evaluating the serial and parallel integration of flexible elements. Then compliant mechanisms are constructed in forms of their compliance/stiffness matrices. For a compliant mechanism in the serial configuration, its compliance matrix is derived; in contrast, the stiffness matrix is formulated for a compliant mechanism in the parallel configuration. Particularly, considering the difference between single-DOF and multi-DOF flexible elements, their integration formulations are also derived separately in both configurations. Further based on the development of compliance/stiffness matrices, several key design problems of compliant mechanisms are discussed, and they will be addressed in the following chapters.

Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites are a promising type of navigation augmentation satellite for current global navigation satellite systems. Aiming at the navigation function, an effective broadcast ephemeris model needs to be designed for LEO satellites. An enhanced integration-type broadcast ephemeris model is proposed in this study. First, the short-term periodical variation characteristics of LEOs’ accelerations in the Earth-centered Earth-fixed coordinate system are analyzed. The Chebyshev polynomials and harmonic functions are then applied to represent the variation perturbation of accelerations. Tests using simulated and real data from LEO satellites at altitudes from 600 to 1400 km are conducted to evaluate the fit accuracy of the proposed models in terms of arc length, integration method, integration step length, orbital altitude, inclination, eccentricity, etc. The fit accuracy is dramatically improved compared to that of the current GLONASS integration-type broadcast model, where fit errors less than 10 cm are achieved with an arc length of 20 min.

In this paper, we propose some biologically motivated local image-sensor adaptation methods. The special feature of these methods is, that they change the integration time of the imager on the pixel level. Using these methods, low dynamic-range integration type CMOS sensors will be able to perceive high dynamic-range scenes, and at the same time, compress their dynamic range by keeping high contrast and without introducing nonexisting edges.

This paper develops a research framework to investigate measures of enterprise integration. In our view the term enterprise integration is an umbrella term that incorporates what we term integration types. The integration types are connectivity, information sharing, interoperability, coordination, and alignment. To determine which technology and/or enterprise integration method is best in a given situation we believe measures of integration are needed and must be grounded in empirical findings.