Product and process innovation in manufacturing firms: a 30-year bibliometric analysis

Built upon a thirty-year dataset collected from the Web of Science database, the present research aims to offer a comprehensive overview of papers, authors, streams of research, and the most influential journals that discuss product and process innovation in the manufacturing environment. The dataset is composed of 418 papers from more than 150 journals from the period between 1985 and 2015. Homogeneity analysis by means of alternating least squares (HOMALS) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) are used to accomplish the objectives listed above through the keywords given by authors. Initially, the paper highlights and discusses the similarity between the topics debated by the main journals in this field. Subsequently, a wide-range map of topics is presented highlighting five main areas of interests; namely, performance, patent, small firm, product development, and organization. A SNA is also performed in order to validate the results that emerged from HOMALS. Finally, several insights about future research avenues in the manufacturing field are provided

Radionuclide arthrogram with SPECT/CT for the evaluation of mechanical loosening of hip and knee prostheses

ObjectiveTo evaluate the value of SPECT/CT in radionuclide arthrogram (RNA) for the assessment of mechanical loosening of hip and knee prostheses.MethodA retrospective audit of 117 RNA SPECT/CTs evaluated by a single reader--40 hips, (1 hemiarthroplasty) and 77 knees (12 unicompartmental). The detection of any radiotracer within the bone/prosthetic interface was deemed positive for loosening. The operative assessment of 29 hip and 44 knee prosthetic joints was known and used as the gold standard. A subsequent blinded reassessment of the planar images was performed and compared with the SPECT/CT results for 26 of the 29 hip and 42 of the 44 knee prostheses.ResultsThe respective SPECT/CT versus planar results were as follows: hips--acetabular cup: sensitivity: 73 versus 0%; specificity: 71 versus 100%; positive predictive value: 62% versus indeterminate; negative predictive value: 80% versus 72% (p = 0.0044). Hips--femoral component: sensitivity: 78 versus 63%; specificity: 90 versus 94%; positive predictive value: 78 versus 83%; negative predictive value: 90 versus 85% (p = 0.2482). Knees--femoral component: sensitivity: 75 versus 17%; specificity 63 versus 97%; positive predictive value: 43 versus 67%; negative predictive value: 87 versus 74% (p = 0.0001). Knees--tibial component: sensitivity: 86 versus 63%; specificity: 86 versus 76%; positive predictive value: 55 versus 38%; negative predictive value: 97 versus 90% (p = 0.6831).ConclusionFor evaluation of mechanical loosening of the hip prosthesis SPECT/CT was significantly better than planar scanning for the acetabular cup, but not for the femoral stem. For evaluation of the knee prosthesis, a significant improvement was noted using SPECT/CT for the femoral component, and although superior results were also noted for the tibial component, statistical significance was not reached. Taking into account the limitations of this retrospective audit, the value of using RNA SPECT/CT appeared to lie in the exclusion of mechanical loosening.Chong Ghee Chew, Peter Lewis, Fiona Middleton, Rene van den Wijngaard, Annie Deshaie

Palaeozoic Innovations in the Micro- and Megafossil Plant Record: from the Earliest Plant spores to the Earliest Seeds

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