Welcome to the fourth and final issue of 2013. With this issue we have successfully completed our sixth year in publication and wish to thank all of those people who have contributed to the Journal this year. We are grateful to our authors, reviewers and administrators and, as is our normal practice, we have formally acknowledged those reviewers who have been active on our behalf during this year.
In our final issue of the year we are presenting nine papers whose subjects range from renewable energy through process control, pollution control to recycling.
In the first of two papers focusing on solar power, Baiju and Muraleedharan conducted an experimental programme to analyse the energy and exergy associated with a solar hybrid adsorption refrigeration system. The second solar power related paper by Albadi et al. presents a case study that considers the optimal allocation of a solar photovoltaic system in a rural area network using genetic algorithms with a focus on power losses for alternative scenarios. This is followed by a paper that considers the use of Karanja oil as a diesel substitute in a diesel engine with a particular emphasis on the use of cooled exhaust gas recirculation. We next present two papers with a biomass emphasis with that by Gopalakrishnan providing a focus on the use of a lignin-containing bio-fuel co-product for stabilising soil beneath roads. The paper by Arca et al. considers the use of an extract from Soya beans as the basis of a bio-based gear oil that demonstrates performance equivalent to conventional commercial oils.
Given that maintenance can extend the life of equipment and thus promote sustainable principles, Nezami and Yildirim evaluate a maintenance strategy from the perspectives of sustainability metrics for a manufacturing environment. Moving from this aspect of process control to an emphasis on pollution control, the paper by Brems et al. seeks to define a general set of waste prevention guidelines that would apply to drug manufacturing within the pharmaceutical industry.
The paper by Hasanov et al. introduces a closed-loop supply chain model that considers the economic value and energy content of products. It also offers a novel framework for studying lot-sizing policies of production processes in that context. This is followed by the final paper of the issue which considers lithium-ion battery recycling. Sangwan and Jindal present an integrated fuzzy multi-criteria decision model using a fuzzy analytical hierarchical process and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution for the evaluation of different lithium-ion battery recycling alternatives and the proposed model was validated by a case study.
As we look to the future for IJSE, we shall be moving forward with a change in the role of Co-Editor as Dr Allen Clegg is retiring and his duties will be taken over by Miss Leila Sheldrick.
Over the past two decades Dr Clegg has made significant contributions to both research and teaching in the area of Sustainable Engineering. Allen has played an influential role in introducing sustainability into engineering education across Universities both in the United Kingdom and internationally, including the University of Damascus in Syria, the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, the PSG College of Engineering in India, the TU Bergakademie Frieberg in Germany and the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology.
Dr Clegg's tremendous commitment has been instrumental in establishing IJSE as a key publisher of world class sustainability papers, as well as a growing platform for sharing this knowledge among different engineering disciplines. In addition, he has been particularly supportive, over and above of what is expected in an editorial role, in encouraging and improving publications by early career researchers. The editorial team would like to express their sincerest gratitude for all of the hard work and devotion that Dr Clegg has shown. The future success of IJSE will owe significantly to his vision and dedication, and we look forward to his continued contribution and support as a member of our Editorial Board.
In his place, we are pleased to welcome Leila Sheldrick as the new Co-Editor of the journal. Through her academic background in design engineering and sustainability, and her experience in a number of industry based engineering roles, Leila brings invaluable knowledge and passion for the subject to this post.
Finally, we plan to publish a Special Issue on ‘Design for Sustainable Behaviour’ and a call for papers is included in this issue, and remain keen to encourage prospective authors to submit new papers to the Journal.