The use of a figure-of-merit (FOM) for optimisation in digital mammography: a literature review

The use of image quality parameters in digital mammography such as contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and detective quantum efficiency (DQE) has been widespread, with the intention of detector evaluation and/or quantitative evaluation of the system performance. These parameters are useful in ensuring adequate system performance when tests are done against international standards or guidelines. Parameters like CNR are relative quantities that lie within a range that is manufacturer and system dependent. The use of a figure-of-merit (FOM) is a relatively new concept as a tool in digital mammography permitting quantitative assessment in terms of image quality and patient dose. This review summarises the available evidence for the use and applicability of an FOM in digital mammography.     

Pilot plant experiences using physical and biological treatment steps for the remediation of groundwater from a former MGP site

The production of manufactured gas at a site in Vienna, Austria led to the contamination of soil and groundwater with various pollutants including PAHs, hydrocarbons, phenols, BTEX, and cyanide. The site needs to be remediated to alleviate potential impacts to the environment. The chosen remediation concept includes the excavation of the core contaminated site and the setup of a hydraulic barrier to protect the surrounding aquifer. The extracted groundwater will be treated on-site. To design the foreseen pump-and-treat system, a pilot-scale plant was built and operated for 6 months. The scope of the present study was to test the effectiveness of different process steps, which included an aerated sedimentation basin, a submerged fixed film reactor (SFFR), a multi-media filter, and an activated carbon filter. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) was 7.0 h during normal flow conditions and 3.5h during high flow conditions. The treatment system was effective in reducing the various organic and inorganic pollutants in the pumped groundwater. However, it was also demonstrated that appropriate pre-treatment was essential to overcome problems with clogging due to precipitation of tar and sulfur compounds. The reduction of the typical contaminants, PAHs and BTEX, was more than 99.8%. All water quality parameters after treatment were below the Austrian legal requirements for discharge into public water bodies.     

In situ oil/water separation using hydrophobic-oleophilic fibrous wall: a lab-scale feasibility study for groundwater cleanup

Kapok, a natural plant fiber, possesses excellent hydrophobic-oleophilic characteristics. Its innovative use as hydrophobic-oleophilic wall that allows permeation of oil but not water into an oil recovery well is proposed. Its performance was investigated through laboratory experiments, in which diesel was used as the experimental oil. A two-dimensional hydraulic flume was setup to physically model the oil/water separation by the kapok wall. The influences of packing density, kapok wall thickness and oil thickness on the oil recovery rate were examined. The oil permeability of the packed kapok decreased from 0.0165 cm2 at 34 g/L packing density to 0.0038 cm2 at 70 g/L packing density. The kapok wall exhibited complete rejection of water while allowed oil to permeate through. The excellent oil/water separation by the kapok wall was due to surface interaction between the kapok fibers and the oil, which resulted in spontaneous penetration and permeation of the oil through the kapok wall. The oil recovery rate increased with thickness of the oil layer in the feed stream. When the oil thickness exceeded 60 mm, a constant flux of 3.8-5.0, 3.2-3.3 and 2.5-2.7 L/(m2 min) could be achieved by the kapok wall of 55-, 75- and 95-mm thick, respectively, under the natural pressure gradient. The kapok wall could be reused for several wetting/drying cycles, and only lost 27% of its initial oil permeability.     

Microemulsions as transdermal drug delivery systems for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs): a literature review

Abstract

Pain is a global crisis and significant efforts have gone into the development of drugs that can be used to treat pain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are a class of analgesics that act to selectively relieve pain and inflammation without significantly altering consciousness. Although there have been many advancements with NSAIDs drug development; these drugs still present with severe adverse effects and toxicities, which often limits their use in many patients. Moreover, others are inadequate in relieving specific types of pain such as localized or nerve pain because of poor systemic absorption with conventional delivery systems. The topical route of drug delivery has been used to avoid many of these effects, but not without challenges of its own. The skin acts as an impermeable barrier to most polar drug candidate and absorption across the dermal membranes is often too slow and incomplete to produce meaningful therapeutic benefit. Nevertheless, the use of microemulsions as topical delivery systems for small molecule drug candidates like NSAIDs has been posited as a solution to this problem for years. This review focuses on the recent use of microemulsions as a probable solution to the challenges of transdermal drug delivery of NSAIDs and how microemulsions may be used to enhance the development of more effective but safer analgesic drug products for patients.     

Mesostructure optimization in multi-material additive manufacturing: a theoretical perspective

As multi-material additive manufacturing technologies mature, a new opportunity for materials science and engineering emerges between the scale of the microstructure and the scale of an engineering component. Here we explore the problem of “mesostructure optimization,” the computational identification of preferred point-to-point distributions of material structure and properties. We illustrate the opportunity with two simple example problems for 1D and 2D mesostructure optimization, respectively, namely (1) a functionally graded cylinder that is computationally optimized to redistribute the Hertzian contact stress fields and (2) a thin plate made of digital materials computationally designed to simultaneously maximize bending resistance and minimize total weight. The mechanical performance of materials in these two problems is significantly improved as compared to any monolithic-material counterpart, including a topology-optimized monolith in case (2). These results point to new opportunities for multi-objective performance enhancement in materials.     

Supply chain risk management: a literature review

Risk management plays a vital role in effectively operating supply chains in the presence of a variety of uncertainties. Over the years, many researchers have focused on supply chain risk management (SCRM) by contributing in the areas of defining, operationalising and mitigating risks. In this paper, we review and synthesise the extant literature in SCRM in the past decade in a comprehensive manner. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we present and categorise SCRM research appearing between 2003 and 2013. Second, we undertake a detailed review associated with research developments in supply chain risk definitions, risk types, risk factors and risk management/mitigation strategies. Third, we analyse the SCRM literature in exploring potential gaps.     

Organizational routines: a review of the literature

Over twenty years have passed since Nelson and Winter put theconcept of routines firmly at the center of the analysis oforganizational and economic change. A growing number of researchershave followed their example since. However, researchers havenot always had the same idea of what routines are and what effectthey have on organizations. Over time, this has left the literatureon routines riddled with ambiguities. For researchers who wantto apply the concept of routines in their research, it is noteasy to get an overview of the current thinking about routinesand their effects. This article offers a systematic review ofthe literature that has contributed to the theoretical developmentof the concept of routines, and of the empirical literaturethat has applied the concept of routines.     

Hazard and operability (HAZOP) analysis. A literature review

Hazard and operability (HAZOP) methodology is a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) technique used worldwide for studying not only the hazards of a system, but also its operability problems, by exploring the effects of any deviations from design conditions. Our paper is the first HAZOP review intended to gather HAZOP-related literature from books, guidelines, standards, major journals, and conference proceedings, with the purpose of classifying the research conducted over the years and define the HAZOP state-of-the-art.     

Large scale and long term application of bioslurping: The case of a Greek petroleum refinery site

This paper presents the course and the remediation results of a 4-year application of bioslurping technology on the subsurface of a Greek petroleum refinery, which is still under full operation and has important and complicated subsurface contamination problems, mainly due to the presence of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL). About 55 wells are connected to the central bioslurping unit, while a mobile bioslurping unit is also used whenever and wherever is necessary. Moreover, there are about 120 additional wells for the monitoring of the subsurface of the facilities that cover a total area of 1,000,000 m². An integrated monitoring program has also been developed and applied on the site, including frequent LNAPL layer depth and thickness measurements, conduction of bail-down and recovery tests, sampling and chemical analysis of the free oil phase, etc., so as to evaluate the remediation technique's efficiency and ensure a prompt tracing of any new potential leak. Despite the occurrence of new leaks within the last 4 years and the observed entrapment of LNAPL in the vadoze zone, bioslurping has managed to greatly restrict the original plume within certain and relatively small parts of the refinery facilities.     

Ergonomics aspects of knob designs: a literature review

Hand-related apparatus designs that fail to accommodate appropriate hand postures can cause hand-related musculoskeletal disorders. While there have been studies on the handling and design of various hand-related apparatus, little has been written on the ergonomics aspects of knob designs. The aim of this paper is to review various knob designs and their ergonomics aspects. The literature review suggests that gearshift knobs, door knobs, gas valve knobs, butterfly nuts and screw knobs are common knobs used for daily living activities. Other knobs like the convex, knurled, spherical, cone-shaped and ridged knob are often used for industrial-related applications. The ergonomics considerations identified in knobs include aesthetic attraction, position, torque requirement and shape-coding. This literature review can be used as groundwork for the development of ergonomics theory and hand-related studies. Engineers can use this literature review to identify certain ergonomics aspects in knobs to improve equipment designs, operating efficiency and working comfort.     

The relevance of convection in clinical practice: a critical review of the literature

Convective treatments (high-flux hemodialysis (HD), hemodiafiltration and hemofiltration) are characterized by enhanced removal of middle and large molecular weight solutes compared with conventional low-flux HD. As these molecules are claimed to play an important role in the genesis of many complications of chronic HD, the availability of these techniques represented an intriguing innovation and a possible means to improve the still poor prognosis of HD patients. Here we will critically review the most important published studies comparing convective treatments with low-flux HD on chronic morbidity, preservation of residual renal function, and long-term survival.     

National culture and operations management: a structured literature review

National culture has received a substantial amount of interest in the operations management literature. We present the first structured review of articles studying national culture in operations management. Our search returned 51 papers published in ten leading journals between 2000 and 2017. We sort and analyse the papers according to three focus areas of operations management (strategy, execution and improvement). We also analyse the papers according to whether they address the relevance of national culture, the impact of national culture or the actions managers can use to manage or mitigate the effects of national culture. We find that national culture appears as a relevant variable in all focus areas of operations management research but that the direction and strength of its impact remain undetermined. Only a handful of papers address how managers can actively deal with challenges related to national culture. We propose a research agenda and a guiding framework for future research.     

Scientometric portraits of recognized scientists: a structured literature review

Scientometrics - The purpose of scientometric portraits is to recognize prominent scholars, inspire others, and guide those who dedicate their lives to scientific advancement. This study presents...     

The development and empirical study of a literature review aiding system

Literature review is an important but time-consuming task that involves many disparate steps. A simple query to a library database may return voluminous literature that often bewilders novices.We believe the bibliographic techniques developed by the information scientists provide useful process and methods that facilitate literature analysis and review. We thereby developed a citation-based literature analyzing and structuring system, which may facilitate novices to perform tasks that are usually carried out by trained professionals. A field study was carried out to gauge the utility as well as users?? perception using a questionnaire adopted from relevant empirical studies. Graduate students participated in the field study are able to publish papers in their first semester by utilizing this system. The utility and usefulness of the intellectual structuring system are demonstrated by the objective evidence of the high acceptance rate of papers utilizing the system as well as the subjective positive response from the users. A system utilization model utilizing the structure equation modeling technique found the task characteristics construct affects the information quality construct, which in turn affects the perceive usefulness of the system.     

Air tornado-like vortices: Mathematical modeling (a review)

Computational and theoretical works devoted to studying the generation and dynamics of air tornado-like vortices are reviewed. Currently developed approaches to mathematical modeling of the main characteristics of vertical atmospheric vortices are presented.     

Models for automated storage and retrieval systems: a literature review

Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) are warehousing systems that use mechanised devices to accomplish the repetitive tasks of storing and retrieving parts in racks. Since these systems represent a significant investment and considerable operating costs, their use must be as efficient as possible. AS/RS performance is the result of the interaction of many complex and stochastic subsystems. This reality creates a need for robust and efficient evaluation models. This article complements previous surveys on AS/RS by focusing on the particular research question addressed by each work and the associated assumptions used for the various models designed for evaluating AS/RS. Dynamic models based on simulation dominate the most recent literature; however, static approaches based on travel-time modelling have strongly contributed to the study of AS/RS. This review includes dynamic – simulation-based – models, but considers also steady-state (travel-time-based) models. We believe that this review may be of great help to researchers and industrial users in their search for the best modelling approach for a specific problem.     

Electron paramagnetic resonance (a review)

For the purposes of this review, the termelectron paramagnetic resonance is taken to refer to the resonant absorption of electromagnetic radiation by electronic systems which possesspermanent magnetic moments (due, in general, to the orbital as well as to the spin angular momentums of electrons) and which are therefore paramagnetic. The termparamagnetic resonance, which is frequently encountered, refers strictly to the magnetic resonance of permanent magnetic dipoles of any type, including nuclear magnetic resonance. On the other hand, the termelectron resonance includes cyclotron resonance (diamagnetic resonance).In a short article of this nature, it is clearly impossible to discuss, in detail, all aspects of such a wide field. Rather, the intention is to discuss the basic principles of the electron paramagnetic resonance technique together with some results in certain fields which illustrate its range, applications, and potentialities.