The evolution of quality management within telecommunications

A look back over more than 100 years of progress in managing quality in telecommunications reveals several phases of focus: on product quality, on manufacturing processes, on ancillary services and products, on macro processes quality, and currently, on integrating strategic quality and business planning. The associated progression of managerial processes, such as inspection, quality assessments, and strategic quality planning are presented. The development of of tools and methodology, e.g., sampling plans, storyboards, robust designs, and quality awards are highlighted. Primary examples are presented of applications and results from the USA, Japan and the UK. Additional examples are drawn from the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany and Italy     

A dental CT study for preoperative assessment of maxillary atrophy

According to a new technology in the planning of endo-osseous implantation, based on a new CT-software for evaluation of the bone structure of the jaws, anatomico-morphological changes after the loss of teeth are measured much more accurately than with conventional methods like the panoramic intraoral x-ray or conventional tomography. 30 mandibles and 22 maxillae of 36 patients were examined. Besides the topographic course of the mandibular canal and the location of the foramen mentale, the anatomic structures as the important aspects for planning endo-osseous implants are seen more accurately. It is now possible to recognise morphological changes with paraxial reconstructions in a very short time more clearly and precisely than with former techniques.     

Adsorption of Pb2+ on blast furnace sludge

An evaluation of the applicability of blast furnace sludge, generated during the purification of blast furnace gases, as an adsorbent to remove heavy metals from industrial effluents is presented. The influence of residence time and temperature on the adsorption efficiency of the sludge is studied for the particular case of Pb²⁺. The adsorption data, which fit the Langmuir equation well, show that the blast furnace sludge has a high adsorption capability, up to 80 mg Pb per g dried sludge at saturation. The order of magnitude of the adsorption enthalpy, calculated from the apparent equilibrium constant, indicates that the adsorption of Pb²⁺ on the sludge is of a physical nature. XPS and EDAX analysis suggest that the physical adsorption process partially occurs through ionic exchange between Pb²⁺ and other ions such as Ca²⁺. Techniques exist for the recovery of metallic iron and either metallic lead or lead oxide from the sludge. The rendering of sludge into pellets, followed by their controlled heating, allows not only the extraction of these metals, but also makes use of the coke within the sludge. These techniques are clearly interesting alternatives to the dumping of this toxic and hazardous waste.     

Demand for storage of natural gas in northwestern Europe: Trends 2005–30

We provide an estimation of the additional need for underground storage facilities in northwestern Europe until 2030.     

Investigations into the properties of emulsifiers in yeast-leavened dough by means of infrared spectroscopy II. Experiments on the interaction of emulsifiers with starch and flour and in dough

High-resolution infrared (IR) spectra of emulsifiers for yeast-leavened bread were measured together with those of the individual components of wheat flour. Using the IR reflection technique, the entire dough was also investigated to give an insight into the development of structures in dough. The emulsifiers react with different components of wheat flour in a specific way. Using IR spectroscopy exact data for the strength of bonding and the kind of bonding between emulsifier and dough component can be obtained.

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Infrarotspektroskopische Untersuchungen zur Wirkung von Emulgatoren in Hefebackwaren. II. Versuche zur Wirkung von Emulgatoren auf Stärke, Mehl und im Teig

Zusammenfassung Emulgatoren, Weizenmehlinhaltsstoffe und Hefeteig wurden mit FT-IR-Spektroskopie in Transmission bzw. Reflexion gemessen. Es konnte anhand der Verschiebung der Carbonylabsorption gezeigt werden, wie verschiedene Emulgatoren mit unterschiedlichen Substraten in Wechselwirkung treten, so daß ihre Wirkung spezifisch ist. Die Wirksamkeit einzelner Emulgatoren kann mittels IR-Spektroskopie parametrisiert werden.

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Part I: Ref. [4]     

MRI for attenuation correction in PET: methods and challenges

In current combined PET/MR systems, PET attenuation correction is based on MRI, since the small bore inside MRI systems and the strong magnetic field do not permit a rotating PET transmission source or a CT device to be integrated. Unlike CT measurements in PET/CT scanners, the MR signal is not directly correlated to tissue density and thus cannot be converted by a simple transformation of intensity values. Various approaches have been developed based on templates, atlas information, direct segmentation of T1-weighted MR images, or segmentation of images from special MR sequences. The advantages and disadvantages of these approaches as well as additional challenges will be discussed in this review.     

Round Table Discussion FWPR, 2001, Future Trends in Ferroelectric Materials Research and Application

At the end of two days exciting seminars and poster presentations on ferrolectric materials, a concluding round table discussion on future trends of research and applications of these materials had taken place with Prof. R. Ramesh as moderator. Several aspects of ferroelctric materials research and applications were discussed with a major focus on the need of practical device demonstration. It was concluded that the field has still immense research opportunities for existing and new materials for practical applications as well as fundamental research. The need of proper educational books was emphasized for training of the students in this field. There was also concern about the slow reduction of funding in this field. The demonstration of prototype devices, therefore, along with research was considered necessary in order to boost the funding and research in ferroelectric materials. The discussion was divided on two major issues 1) research and teaching and 2) materials and device applications.