Towards cleaner technologies minimising the environmental impact

This editorial introduces and provides an overview of a special issue dedicated to the ninth conference on Process integration, modelling and optimisation for energy saving and pollution reduction—PRES 2006. It contains ten selected papers covering various fields of Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, namely, catalytic and thermal cracking with natural zeolite catalyst, recovery and reutilisation of copper from sludge, aerosols monitoring by satellite observations, utilisation of high throughput technologies, CFD modelling solid biomass combustion, fluorides removal and recovery for resources saving, siloxane removal from biogas by bio filtration, software tools for water reuse evaluation, pollutants emission abatement and integrated pollution prevention and control in the surface treatment industries.     

Energy-aware manufacturing operations

This editorial introduces the special issue on energy-aware manufacturing operations in the International Journal of Production Research. The 12 papers in this special issue were selected because of their high quality and also because they deal with topics related to energy-aware manufacturing operations. Three broad challenges are collectively addressed by the papers in this special issue: energy-efficiency vs. manufacturing-system effectiveness in optimisation; the volatility in energy availability, supply and cost; modelling energy consumption in varying scales and across different sub-systems. Previous global discussions about the state of the art in energy-aware manufacturing operations are provided, as well as exploratory guidelines for future research in this area.     

Radioactivity Protection: 1st International Meeting on Applied Physics (APHYS-2003)

This special issue of Radiation Protection Dosimetry containspapers presented at the 1st International Meeting on AppliedPhysics (APHYS-2003), held in Badajoz (Spain), from 13 to 18October 2003, and more specifically, selected papers presentedduring the conference sessions on Radiation     

Instabilities of flows due to rotating disks: preface

There are many flows driven by the rotation of one, or more, disks, and this paper is concerned with the instabilities of such flows, and their laminar–turbulent transition. The original, and most studied, rotating-disk flow is the von Kármán swirling flow produced by an infinite rotating disk in an otherwise still fluid. This flow shares many stability characteristics with three-dimensional boundary layers of engineering interest over aerofoils; most notably, the cross-flow instability giving rise to stationary cross-flow vortices. Various basic flows produced by rotating disks, and their stability, are reviewed, and motivations for assembling this special issue dedicated to the instabilities of rotating-disk flows are presented. The papers appearing in this special issue are discussed and related to major research themes in the field, and to one-another.     

Introduction to the Special Section on Computational Nanobioscience

The ten papers in this special section illustrate the variety of applications that computational methods find in the field of nanobioscience, ranging from computational modeling of molecular processes and bioassay design all the way to integrative data analysis methods and system level simulation. Selected papers demonstrate the central role played by computational methods in contemporary nanobioscience research. The selected papers are briefly summarized.     

Laser applications to chemical and environmental analysis: an introduction

This issue of Applied Optics features papers on the application of laser technology to chemical and environmental analysis. Many of the contributions to this issue, although not all, result from papers presented at the 1996 OSA Topical Meeting on Laser Applications to Chemical and Environmental Analysis, which was held in Orlando, Florida, in March 1996. This successful meeting, with nearly 100 participants, continued the tradition of earlier Laser Applications to Chemical Analysis (LACA) meetings. The title change reflects an expended scope and an even greater emphasis on environmental analysis than the previous four LACA meetings.     

Combining full-text analysis and bibliometric indicators. A pilot study

Summary In the present study full-text analysis and traditional bibliometric methods are combined to improve the efficiency of the individual methods in the mapping of science. The methodology is applied to map research papers from a special issue of Scientometrics. The outcomes substantiate that such hybrid methodology can be applied to both research evaluation and information retrieval. The subject classification given by the guest-editors of the special issue is used for validation purposes. Because of the limited number of papers underlying the study the paper is considered a pilot study that will be extended in a later study on the basis of a larger corpus.     

Message From the Editorial Board Chairs

The 250 papers in this special issue were selected from those accepted for presentation at the 2007 COMPUMAG Conference, which took place in Aachen, Germany, on June 24-28, 2007.     

A brief historical perspective of the Wiener–Hopf technique

It is a little over 75 years since two of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century collaborated on finding the exact solution of a particular equation with semi-infinite convolution type integral operator. The elegance and analytical sophistication of the method, now called the Wiener–Hopf technique, impress all who use it. Its applicability to almost all branches of engineering, mathematical physics and applied mathematics is borne out by the many thousands of papers published on the subject since its conception. The Wiener–Hopf technique remains an extremely important tool for modern scientists, and the areas of application continue to broaden. This special issue of the Journal of Engineering Mathematics is dedicated to the work of Wiener and Hopf, and includes a number of articles which demonstrate the relevance of the technique to a representative range of model problems.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Modeling, Optimization, and Design of Acoustic Devices

The 18 papers in this special issue focus on modeling, optimization, and design of acoustic devices.     

Design and function of molecular and bioelectronics devices

Further rapid progress of electronics, in particular the increase of computer power and breakthroughs in sensor technology for industrial, medical diagnostics and environmental applications, strongly depends on the scaling of electronic devices, ultimately to the size of molecules. Design of controllable molecular-scale devices may resolve the problem of energy dissipation at the nanoscale and take advantage of molecular self-assembly in the so-called bottom-up approach. This special issue of Nanotechnology is devoted to a better understanding of the function and design of molecular-scale devices that are relevant to future electronics and sensor technology. Papers contained in this special issue are selected from the symposium Nano and Giga Challenges in Electronics and Photonics: From Atoms to Materials to Devices to System Architecture (12-16 March, 2007, Phoenix, Arizona, USA), as well as from original and novel scientific contributions of invited world-renown researchers. It addresses both theoretical and experimental achievements in the fields of molecular and bioelectronics, chemical and biosensors at the molecular level, including carbon nanotubes, novel nanostructures, as well as related research areas and industrial applications. The conference series Nano and Giga Challenges in Electronics and Photonics was launched as a truly interdisciplinary forum to bridge scientists and engineers to work across boundaries in the design of future information technologies, from atoms to materials to devices to system architecture. Following the first two successful meetings in Moscow, Russia (NGCM2002) and Krakow, Poland (NGCM2004), the third Nano and Giga Forum (NGC2007) was held in 2007 hosted by Arizona State University. Besides this special issue of Nanotechnology, two other collections (in the journal Solid State Electronics and the tutorial book in the series Nanostructure Science and Technology Springer) have published additional selected and invited papers from NGC2007. The NGC2007 meeting, which included two days of tutorials (Spring School) and a three day symposium, attracted approximately 400 participants from academic, industrial and governmental research institutions from 41 countries, and covered recent developments in the fabrication and functionality of nano-scale materials, devices and system architecture from advanced CMOS to molecular electronics, photonics, optoelectronics and magnetic materials and devices. The success of the conference would not have been possible without generous support from many sponsors and research institutions, especially from Arizona State University (conference host and co-organizer), International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), National Science Foundation (NSFT), Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA), Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, Computational Chemistry List (CCL), Springer Publisher, City of Tempe, STMicroelectronics, Quarles & Brady LLP, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Canadian Consulate in Phoenix, Salt River Project (SRP) and many other local, national and international and individual supporters. We would like to acknowledge the shared responsibility for this special issue of Nanotechnology on molecular and bioelectronics, and the highly professional support from Dr Nina Couzin, Dr Alex Wotherspoon and the Nanotechnology team from the IOP Publishing. We also acknowledge the exception made in allowing the publication of some material that is outside the normal scope of Nanotechnology.     

Pricing optimization,channel and uncertainty

This paper conducts a state-of-the-art review for a particular emerging field of Production Research: pricing optimisation, channel and uncertainty. This is achieved by presenting a set of state-of-the-art papers accepted to this special issue, and co-word analysis to trace the development of this research field. Data for co-word analysis is based on literature search in the International Journal of Production Research, since 1961 using Web of Science with the Keywords ‘pricing optimization’, ‘channel’ or ‘uncertainty’. Pricing approaches and tools have attracted more and more attentions from multiple disciplinary such as supply-chain management and marketing. The objective of this special issue is to contribute new insights to the extant body of knowledge in pricing optimisation, channel and uncertainty, specifically for 55th anniversary of International Journal of Production Research.     

Fourier-transform spectroscopy: new methods and applications: introduction by the feature editors

We are pleased to introduce this special issue of papers on Fourier-transform spectroscopy, which grew out of a recent topical meeting sponsored by the Optical Society of America. The topical meeting welcomed all researchers who practice the art of Fourier-transform spectroscopy in the laboratory, in the atmosphere, and in space. The power and the wide applicability of Fourier-transform spectroscopy unite these fields with a common mathematical and instrumental bond. The meeting probed each of these areas in depth, bringing out new ideas for instrumentation, analysis, and applications. There was a strong sentiment at the meeting that the quality of papers and posters was exceptionally high and that it would be important for future progress in the field to have the results of this meeting captured in print. This special issue is the fruit of that effort.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Electroceramics

The Electroceramics series of conferences has established itself over the past 20 years as a major international forum for presenting developments and innovations in the field of electroceramics. For Electroceramics XI, we combined forces with the UK Ferroelectrics Network, the UK Institute of Physics Materials and Characterisation Group, and COST539 to expand the scope of the meeting and provide opportunities for interactions with new groups. In response to the submission of almost 800 abstracts, Electroceramics XI was structured around 14 separated symposia. More than 300 papers were selected for oral presentation. This special issue contains a selection of the papers presented in symposium D2: Piezoelectric Ceramics.     

Optical computing: introduction by the feature editors

This feature issue of Applied Optics: Information Processing contains 19 papers on Optical Computing. Many of these papers are expanded versions of presentations given at the Optical Society of America's Sixth Topical Meeting on Optical Computing held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in March 1995. This introduction provides a brief historical account of the series of optical computing meetings and a brief review of the papers contained in this special issue.     

Using big data to make better decisions in the digital economy

The question this special issue would like to address is how to harvest big data to help decision-makers to deliver better fact-based decisions aimed at improving performance or to create better strategy? This special issue focuses on the big data applications in supporting operations decisions, including advanced research on decision models and tools for the digital economy. Responds to this special issue was great and we have included many high-quality papers. We are pleased to present 13 of the best papers. The techniques presented include data mining, simulation and expert system with applications span across online reviews, food retail chain to e-health.     

Laser applications to chemical and environmental analysis: introduction to the feature issue

This issue of Applied Optics features 15 papers that describe laser techniques for measurements in chemical and environmental analysis. Many of these contributions were presented at the Optical Society of America Topical Meeting on Laser Applications to Chemical and Environmental Analysis, held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 11-13 February 2000.     

Editor-in-Chief's Note—I$^{2}$MTC 2008 Special Issue

The 62 papers in this special issue are extended versions of papers presented at the 2008 International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, held in Victoria, BC, Canada, from May 12 to 15.     

On the ISAPS ’11 in Hakone

The Eighth International Symposium on Applied Plasma Science (ISAPS ’11) was held at the Yumoto Fujiya Hotel, in Hakone, Japan on September 26 through 30, 2011. The selected papers presented at ISAPS ’11 were written after the symposium. Those were peer refereed and are compiled in this special issue of Vacuum.     

A bibliography of the literature on process capability indices: 2000–2009

This paper contains a bibliography of approximately 530 journal papers and books on process capability indices for the period 2000–2009. The related literature is classified into four major categories, namely, books, review/overview papers, theory‐ and method‐related papers, and special applications. Theory‐ and method‐related papers are further classified into univariate and multivariate cases, and special applications include acceptance sampling plans, supplier selection, and tolerance design and other optimizations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.