Towards Industry 4.0: an overview of European strategic roadmaps

New achievements in information and communication technologies (ICT) are drastically influencing several industrial sectors. The provision of connectivity, networked entities, real-time data, and pervasive information is shifting paradigms in industries. However, this rapid evolution requires a proper comprehension and definition by scholars and practitioners in order to achieve a broad dissemination of the technological progress. Today, the trend towards a digital revolution in manufacturing is known as “Industry 4.0”. However, the footprint of these evolutions, the technological borders, and the application frameworks are not yet specified. Therefore, the adoption of this paradigm change still requires more research to further develop the knowledge about the drivers and accomplishments of Industry 4.0. Towards this goal, this paper reviews some major EU industrial guidelines, roadmaps, and scientific literature that led to the depiction of the term Industry 4.0, and explores how key technologies and concepts have been addressed over time.This work is financed by the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project CMUP-ERI/TPE/0011/2013 of the CMU Portugal Program and by Project "TEC4Growth - Pervasive Intelligence, Enhancers and Proofs of Concept with Industrial Impact/NORTE-01-0145FEDER-000020" financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)".info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Low Incidence of Chest Wall Pain with a Risk-Adapted Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy Approach Using Three or Five Fractions Based on Chest Wall Dosimetry

Purpose To examine the frequency and potential of dose-volume predictors for chest wall (CW) toxicity (pain and/or rib fracture) for patients receiving lung stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) using treatment planning methods to minimize CW dose and a risk-adapted fractionation scheme. Methods: We reviewed data from 72 treatment plans, from 69 lung SBRT patients with at least one year of follow-up or CW toxicity, who were treated at our center between 2010 and 2013. Treatment plans were optimized to reduce CW dose and patients received a risk-adapted fractionation of 18 Gy×3 fractions (54 Gy total) if the CW V30 was less than 30 mL or 10–12 Gy×5 fractions (50–60 Gy total) otherwise. The association between CW toxicity and patient characteristics, treatment parameters and dose metrics, including biologically equivalent dose, were analyzed using logistic regression. Results: With a median follow-up of 20 months, 6 (8.3%) patients developed CW pain including three (4.2%) grade 1, two (2.8%) grade 2 and one (1.4%) grade 3. Five (6.9%) patients developed rib fractures, one of which was symptomatic. No significant associations between CW toxicity and patient and dosimetric variables were identified on univariate nor multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Optimization of treatment plans to reduce CW dose and a risk-adapted fractionation strategy of three or five fractions based on the CW V30 resulted in a low incidence of CW toxicity. Under these conditions, none of the patient characteristics or dose metrics we examined appeared to be predictive of CW pain

The economics of debt clearing mechanisms

We examine the evolution of decentralized clearinghouse mechanisms from the 13th to the 18th century; in particular, we explore the clearing of non- or limitedtradable debts like bills of exchange. We construct a theoretical model of these clearinghouse mechanisms, similar to the models in the theoretical matching literature, and show that specific decentralized multilateral clearing algorithms known as rescontre, skontrieren or virement des parties used by merchants were efficient in specific historical contexts. We can explain both the evolutionary self-organizing emergence of late medieval and early modern fairs, and its robustness during the 17th and 18th century

X-ray radio-enhancement by Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes in soft tissue sarcoma

Radiotherapy is a cornerstone of cancer treatment. However, due to the low tissue specificity of ionizing radiation, damage to the surrounding healthy tissue of the tumor remains a significant challenge. In recent years, radio-enhancers based on inorganic nanomaterials have gained considerable interest. Beyond the widely explored metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, 2D materials, such as MXenes, could present potential benefits because of their inherently large specific surface area. In this study, we highlight the promising radio-enhancement properties of Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes. We demonstrate that atomically thin layers of titanium carbides (Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes) are efficiently internalized and well-tolerated by mammalian cells. Contrary to MXenes suspended in aqueous buffers, which fully oxidize within days, yielding rice-grain shaped rutile nanoparticles, the MXenes internalized by cells oxidize at a slower rate. This is consistent with cell-free experiments that have shown slower oxidation rates in cell media and lysosomal buffers compared to dispersants without antioxidants. Importantly, the MXenes exhibit robust radio-enhancement properties, with dose enhancement factors reaching up to 2.5 in human soft tissue sarcoma cells, while showing no toxicity to healthy human fibroblasts. When compared to oxidized MXenes and commercial titanium dioxide nanoparticles, the intact 2D titanium carbide flakes display superior radio-enhancement properties. In summary, our findings offer evidence for the potent radio-enhancement capabilities of Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes, marking them as a promising candidate for enhancing radiotherapy.ISSN:2047-4830ISSN:2047-484

Fuel Cell Technologies, Applications, and State of the Art. A Reference Guide

The reliance upon fossil fuels is one of the most important problems that we have to deal with nowadays, because using them is highly not sustainable, and leads to serious environmental issues, such as air pollution and global warming, beside its negative effect on the economic security and development. Alternatively, environmental-friendly, sustainable, efficient new power sources are needed. Among all of the different technologies associated with the renewable energy, fuel cell technologies represent one of the most promising ones. In this article, an overview of the technology and its advantages and disadvantages compared with competitive technologies was revealed. Application of different types of fuel cells is covered in the stationary, portable and transport power sectors. Furthermore, a special focus was made on the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells; in that its structure was studied in detail. The current limitation and promising development in PEM technology were stated