Technology and quality management: a review of concepts and opportunities in the digital transformation

Purpose - The Digital Transformation brings change to organizations, their processes, and their production systems. Nevertheless, most efforts observed in its context tend to be technology-driven, and it is often argued that Quality Management is inadequately integrated into the discussion. Design/methodology/approach - Surveying the literature, this work reviews, list, and organizes the different technological concepts and integration opportunities that have been explored in the scope of Quality Management in the Digital Transformation. Findings - Findings include the expanded capacity of quality tools and methods for managerial purposes; the reinforced importance of Data Quality; the increased automation and augment resources for Quality control; and the increased process optimization and integration of systems and between organizational areas. Originality/value - It is demonstrated that although scattered in the literature, there are already a number of works exploring the impacts of technology in the management of Quality in the scope of the Digital Transformation. Three main areas for integration arise: (a) Digital Quality Management (application of industry 4.0 technologies to Quality Management itself, its tools, methods, and systems), (b) the management of the Quality of digital products and services, and (c) the management of the Quality of digital product development and production processes.(undefined

Improving polyhydroxyalkanoates production in phototrophic mixed cultures by optimizing accumulator reactor operating conditions

The authors would also like to acknowledge the Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (Portugal) for funding through SFRH/BPD/101642/2014. co-financed by ERDF under PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007728).Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production with phototrophic mixed cultures (PMCs) has been recently proposed. These cultures can be selected under the permanent presence of carbon and the PHA production can be enhanced in subsequent accumulation steps. To optimize the PHA production in accumulator reactors, this work evaluated the impact of 1) initial acetate concentration, 2) light intensity, 3) removal of residual nitrogen on the culture performance. Results indicate that low acetate concentration (<30 CmM) and specific light intensities around 20 W/gX are optimal operating conditions that lead to high polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) storage yields (0.83 ± 0.07 Cmol-PHB/Cmol-Acet) and specific PHB production rates of 2.21 ± 0.07 Cmol-PHB/Cmol X d. This rate is three times higher than previously registered in non-optimized accumulation tests and enabled a PHA content increase from 15 to 30% in <4 h. Also, it was shown for the first time, the capability of a PMC to use a real waste, fermented cheese whey, to produce PHA with a hydroxyvalerate (HV) content of 12%. These results confirm that fermented wastes can be used as substrates for PHA production with PMCs and that the energy levels in sunlight that lead to specific light intensities from 10 to 20 W/gX are sufficient to drive phototrophic PHA production processes.authorsversionpublishe

Impact of CO2 concentration and light exposure on process performance

Funding Information: This research was financed by national funds from FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia , I.P., in the scope of the project LA/P/0140/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute for Health and Bioeconomy—i4HB. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The AuthorsThe utilization of non-aerated microalgae-bacterial consortia for phototrophic biological nutrient removal (photo-BNR) has emerged as an alternative to conventional wastewater treatment. Photo-BNR systems are operated under transient illumination, with alternating dark-anaerobic, light-aerobic and dark-anoxic conditions. A deep understanding of the impact of operational parameters on the microbial consortium and respective nutrient removal efficiency in photo-BNR systems is required. The present study evaluates, for the first time, the long-term operation (260 days) of a photo-BNR system, fed with a COD:N:P mass ratio of 7.5:1:1, to understand its operational limitations. In particular, different CO2 concentrations in the feed (between 22 and 60 mg C/L of Na2CO3) and variations of light exposure (from 2.75 h to 5.25 h per 8 h cycle) were studied to determine their impact on key parameters, like oxygen production and availability of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), on the performance of anoxic denitrification by polyphosphate accumulating organisms. Results indicate that oxygen production was more dependent on the light availability than on the CO2 concentration. Also, under operational conditions with a COD:Na2CO3 ratio of 8.3 mg COD/mg C and an average light availability of 5.4 ± 1.3 W h/g TSS, no internal PHA limitation was observed, and 95 ± 7%, 92 ± 5% and 86 ± 5% of removal efficiency could be achieved for phosphorus, ammonia and total nitrogen, respectively. 81 ± 1.7% of the ammonia was assimilated into the microbial biomass and 19 ± 1.7% was nitrified, showing that biomass assimilation was the main N removal mechanism taking place in the bioreactor. Overall, the photo-BNR system presented a good settling capacity (SVI ∼60 mL/g TSS) and was able to remove 38 ± 3.3 mg P/L and 33 ± 1.7 mg N/L, highlighting its potential for achieving wastewater treatment without the need of aeration.publishersversionpublishe

Evidence of the Generation of Isosaccharinic Acids and Their Subsequent Degradation by Local Microbial Consortia within Hyper-Alkaline Contaminated Soils, with Relevance to Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste Disposal

The contamination of surface environments with hydroxide rich wastes leads to the formation of high pH (>11.0) soil profiles. One such site is a legacy lime works at Harpur Hill, Derbyshire where soil profile indicated in-situ pH values up to pH 12. Soil and porewater profiles around the site indicated clear evidence of the presence of the α and β stereoisomers of isosaccharinic acid (ISA) resulting from the anoxic, alkaline degradation of cellulosic material. ISAs are of particular interest with regards to the disposal of cellulosic materials contained within the intermediate level waste (ILW) inventory of the United Kingdom, where they may influence radionuclide mobility via complexation events occurring within a geological disposal facility (GDF) concept. The mixing of uncontaminated soils with the alkaline leachate of the site resulted in ISA generation, where the rate of generation in-situ is likely to be dependent upon the prevailing temperature of the soil. Microbial consortia present in the uncontaminated soil were capable of surviving conditions imposed by the alkaline leachate and demonstrated the ability to utilise ISAs as a carbon source. Leachate-contaminated soil was sub-cultured in a cellulose degradation product driven microcosm operating at pH 11, the consortia present were capable of the degradation of ISAs and the generation of methane from the resultant H2/CO2 produced from fermentation processes. Following microbial community analysis, fermentation processes appear to be predominated by Clostridia from the genus Alkaliphilus sp, with methanogenesis being attributed to Methanobacterium and Methanomassiliicoccus sp. The study is the first to identify the generation of ISA within an anthropogenic environment and advocates the notion that microbial activity within an ILW-GDF is likely to influence the impact of ISAs upon radionuclide migration

Prediction of intracellular storage polymers using quantitative image analysis in enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems

Intracellular polymers, such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) synthesized by microorganisms for energy and carbon storage, can be commercially used as biodegradable plastics in a wide range of applications. The possibility of obtaining high PHA contents (where the most common monomers found are poly-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and poly-hydroxyvalerate (PHV)) from inexpensive inocula and raw materials emerges as a promising and commercially interesting alternative. For this purpose, mixed cultures operated under feast/famine cycles are most frequently used. PHA is an important storage polymer in the metabolism of microorganisms involved in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems. It is stored by polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAO) and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAO), as described in previous publications [1,2]. Monitoring intracellular storage polymers in bacteria is usually performed through laborious and time consuming off-line chemical analyses. Thus, there is clearly a need to develop new techniques in order to promptly monitor these processes. Image analysis techniques have the potential to be a non-invasive and rapid means of assessing the amount of different storage polymers inside microbial cells, providing the evaluation of these important biotechnological processes. The present study focuses on predicting intracellular storage polymers in EBPR systems. For that purpose, quantitative image analysis techniques were developed and partial least squares (PLS) were used to model PHA results. An EBPR fed with synthetic wastewater containing volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and orthophosphate was used. Biomass samples were collected at the end of the anaerobic and aerobic phases. Analytical PHA quantification was performed by biomass digestion and gas chromatography analysis. In the concurring image analysis methodology Nile blue was used as a fluorescence staining method for PHA granules identification. The results from image analysis allowed establishing a PHB prediction ability presenting a regression value (R2) of 0.854, a PHA prediction regression value (R2) of 0.843 and a PHV prediction regression value (R2) of 0.779. The lower prediction ability for PHV could be explained since this parameter presented only a small contribution to the overall PHA. The analysis performed based on the variable importance in the projection (VIP) established a core of three image analysis parameters (granules total area, granules total intensity and image intensity) as the most important regarding PHA, PHB and PHV prediction

Development of image analysis methodologies to quantify intracellular PHA, polyphosphate and glycogen within wastewater treatment plants

In wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) processes are performed by mixed cultures containing polyphosphate (PAO) and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAO). In these processes, it is of crucial importance to monitor the intracellular metabolism, namely glycogen, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and polyphosphate (polyP) inclusions, to determine its efficiency. However, traditional monitoring, carried out through off-line chemical analyses, is laborious and time-consuming. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop new techniques to promptly quantify these intracellular polymers, with image analysis emerging as a promising tool. The use of staining methodologies with specific fluorescent dyes is widespread in EBPR research, including Nile blue for PHA and DAPI for polyP. Although rarely applied in EBPR studies, Aniline blue is a fluorescent stain that can be used for glycogen determination. Furthermore, these fluorescent stains have generally been employed for qualitative rather than quantitative analysis. Therefore, this study aim focused on developing fluorescence-based staining methodologies for glycogen, and on acquisition, processing and image analysis procedures for PHA, polyP and glycogen. Image analysis data was then correlated with traditional analytical data by multivariable statistics. Regarding the determination of the glycogen intracellular concentration, results have been promising, presenting a good correlation (R2 of 0.915) between analytical and image analysis data. The staining and image analysis procedures for the determination of the intracellular concentration of PHA and polyP are currently being optimized. This study will provide a quantitative means to assess PAO and GAO metabolic activity in-situ in WWTP, facilitating the optimisation of these processes

Desenvolvimento de metodologias de análise de imagem para quantificar PHA, polifosfatos e glicogénio intracelular em estações de tratamento de águas residuais

O processo de remoção biológica de fósforo, em estações de tratamento de águas residuais, é um processo efetuado por culturas mistas contendo organismos acumuladores de polifosfatos (PAO) e de glicogénio (GAO). No decurso deste processo os microrganismos podem formar inclusões de glicogénio, polihidroxialcanoatos (PHA) e polifosfatos (poli-P). Neste processo, é fulcral monitorizar o metabolismo intracelular para determinar a sua eficiência. Contudo, a sua monitorização, realizada através de análise químicas em diferido, é laboriosa e morosa. Deste modo, existe uma clara necessidade do desenvolvimento de métodos mais expeditos, como metodologias de análise de imagens, para a monitorização destes polímeros intracelulares. Estas técnicas foram implementadas neste estudo, encontrando-se, no caso da determinação da concentração intracelular de poli-P, em fase de desenvolvimento dos protocolos de coloração e aquisição de imagens. Para a determinação da concentração intracelular de glicogénio, foi obtida uma boa correlação inicial. Na determinação da concentração intracelular de PHA, este estudo foca-se na otimização dos protocolos de coloração e no desenvolvimento do programa de análise de imagem

Novel method to quantify intracellular accumulation of polyphosphate in EBPR systems

A new method for intracellular storage polyphosphate (poly-P)identification and quantification in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) systems is proposed based on image analysis. In EBPR systems, 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) is usually combined with fluororescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to evaluate the microbial community. The proposed technique is based on an image analysis procedure specifically developed for determining poly-P inclusions within biomass suspension using solely DAPI by epifluorescence microscopy. Due to contradictory literature DAPI concentrations used for poly-P detection, the present work assessed the optimal DAPI concentration for samples acquired at the end of the EBPR aerobic stage when the accumulation is performed. Digital images were then acquired and processed by means of image processing and analysis. Regarding image analysis results and considering the current operational conditions, a promising correlation could be found between average poly-P intensity values and the analytical determination, although presenting a correlation coefficient somewhat far from the ideal. The proposed methodology can be seen as a promising alternative procedure to quantify intracellular poly-P accumulation in a faster and less labor intensive way

Extension of internationalisation models: drivers and processes for the globalisation of product development – a comparison of Danish and Chinese engineering firms

This paper develops an extension to established production- and supply chain management focused internationalisation models. It applies explorative case studies in Danish and Chinese engineering firms to discover how the globalisation process of product development differs from Danish and Chinese perspectives. The paper uses internationalisation and global product development theory to explain similarities and differences in the approaches. Grounded in case study results, a new model for internationalisation is proposed. The new model expands the internationalisation process model to include steps of product development and collaborative distributed development beyond sourcing, sales and production elements. The paper then provides propositions for how to further develop the suggested model, and how western companies can learn from the Chinese approaches, and globalise their product development activities from the front end of the value chain rather than from the back-end