The demand for more stringent environmental regulation on product end‐of‐life and production processes is enhanced by customer concerns for environmental protection. This has increased the need for industry to address environmental issues in the product design process. The emergence of international standards for environmental management, such as the ISO 14000 series, has also created a strong incentive for manufacturers to promote environmentally conscious products and processes. Considerable progress has been made in design for the environment (DFE). However, there is still a need for a structured approach to DFE that addresses environmental concerns in a coherent way. This approach should also support an environmental management system (EMS). This paper describes an organised process to address the problem of integrating environmental concerns into an early product design process that is consistent with such international standards as ISO 14001 EMS. This approach may help to improve the environmental performance of a product and to support an organisation’s EMS.

Mexicans are fearful and concerned about the waves of crime that have permeated the fabric of their cities and even that of small villages. In order to understand the growth of crime, institutions need to answer a key question about the rate of change of crime: How does crime evolve through time? Both academia and the public sector have paid significant attention to crime issues over the last few years. Existing approaches to crime seem to view it as an isolated event and very little attention has been given to the study of the behaviour of crime through time. This research project uses a generalised logistic model and nonlinear regression in order to develop an understanding of the dynamics of crime in Mexico. It seems that crime performance is an orderly diffusion process. The patterns of temporal diffusion of crime seem to grow slowly at the beginning, followed by an accelerating and then decelerating growth, culminating in saturation or decline. It is hoped that this sheds some light on a better understanding of the rate of crime change so that improved approaches can be formulated for preventing and controlling crime.

Both academia and government institutions have paid signifi cant attention to approach crime, over the last two decades. It seems that these approaches view crime as an isolated event and very little attention has been given to study the dynamic behaviour of crime through time. To understand the dynamics of crime, organisations need to answer a key question: How does crime evolve through time? This research uses a three parameter logistic function and nonlinear regression process to develop an understanding of the dynamics of crime in Mexico. It seems that crime behaviour is an orderly diffusion process. The patterns of temporal diffusion seem to grow slowly at the beginning, followed by an accelerating and then decelerating growth, culminating in saturation or decline. This might help to a better understanding of the rate of crime change so that better approaches can be formulated for preventing and controlling crime.

Product design is a strategic activity in companies due to the intense competition, more sophisticated market needs, and diverse and rapid changes in technology. Effective engineering design can improve quality, reduce costs and lead-time, thereby better satisfying customer needs. The means to reduce cost, time to market and to improve product quality are more complicated. Product performance, quality, aesthetic and reliability, once considered as fundamental factors in developing new products, are now minimum requirements, as markets have grown more demanding for environmentally friendly products. Product designers are required to conceive faster innovative products of high quality at lower cost and environmentally sound in order to maintain competitiveness in today's global market. Over the last few years, a significant number of tools and methods have been developed in order to assist designers in addressing these issues. In line with this trend, this paper explores the following research question: how would nature solve conceptual product design issues? It maps the process of design in nature into the traditional product concept design, resulting in a creative process for conceptual product design. It is hoped that this insight may help designers gain further understanding of a creative product concept design process so that they comply with market needs.

Over the last decade, designers have been seeking to improve the environmental performance of their products or systems as a result of rapidly increasing market pressures. Additionally, there is a growing concern on integrating crime issues into the design process. Significant progress has been achieved with the development and use of tools and methods of sustainable design. Also, biomimetics has been researched and used as an approach to sustainable design. From the perspective of engineering design, design against crime may benefit through the use of biological design principles in order to address crime issues. Thus, in dealing with crime issues, how would these principles assist designers to approach crime when designing and developing new products? This paper recounts an ongoing research project that has identified some biological design properties or principles of living systems that can be extrapolated, synthesised and integrated into new products or systems. It seems that these properties have enabled biological organisms to survive in rough environments and evolve through time. It is hoped that designers, when approaching crime in the design process of new products or systems, can use these principles.