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This paper explores Lean Six Sigma principles and the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) methodology to propose a new Lean Six Sigma 4.0 (LSS 4.0) framework for employee occupational exams and address the real-world issue of high-variability exams that may arise.

This study uses mixed methods, combining qualitative and quantitative data collection. A detailed case study assesses the impact of LSS interventions on the exam management process and tests the applicability of the proposed LSS 4.0 framework for employee occupational exams.

The results reveal that changing the health service supplier in the explored organization caused a substantial raise in occupational exams, leading to increased costs. By using syntactic interoperability, lean, six sigma and DMAIC approaches, improvements were identified, addressing process deviations and information requirements. Implementing corrective actions improved the exam process, reducing the number of exams and associated expenses.

It is important to acknowledge certain limitations, such as the specific context of the case study and the exclusion of certain exam categories.

The practical implications of this research are substantial, providing organizations with valuable managerial insights into improving efficiency, reducing costs and ensuring regulatory compliance while managing occupational exams.

This study fills a research gap by applying LSS 4.0 to occupational exam management, offering a practical framework for organizations. It contributes to the existing knowledge base by addressing a relatively novel context and providing a detailed roadmap for process optimization.

Biodegradable polymers are widely used in personalized medical devices or scaffolds for tissue engineering. The manufacturing process should be finished with sterilization procedure. However, it is not clear how the different sterilization methods have an impact on the mechanical strength of the three-dimensional (3D)-printed parts, such as bone models or personalized mechanical devices. This paper aims to present the results of mechanical testing of polylactide-based bone models before and after sterilization.

Polylactide specimens prepared in fused filament fabrication technology were sterilized with different sterilization methods: ultraviolet (UV) and ethylene oxide. Mechanical properties were determined by testing tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness.

The tensile strength of material after sterilization was significantly higher after ethylene oxide sterilization compared to the UV sterilization, but in both sterilization methods, the specimens characterized lower tensile strength and Young’s modulus when compared to the control. In comparison of toughness results, there was no statistically significant differences. The findings are particularly significant in the perspective of using individual implants, bone grafts and dental guides.

Although fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing devices equipped with UV light sterilization options are available, experimental results of the effect of selected sterilization methods on the mechanical strength of additively manufactured parts have not been described. This paper completes the present state of the art on the problem of sterilization of FFF parts from biodegradable materials.

This paper aims to investigate the wear behaviour of different materials for cylinder liners and piston rings in a linear reciprocating tribometer with special focus on the wear of the cylinder liner in the boundary lubrication regime.

Conventional nitrided steel, as well as diamond-like carbon and chromium nitride-coated piston rings, were tested against cast iron, AlSi and Fe-coated AlSi cylinder liners. The experiments were carried out with samples produced from original engine parts to have the original surface topography available. Radioactive tracer isotopes were used to measure cylinder liner wear continuously, enabling separation of running-in and steady-state wear.

A ranking of the material pairings with respect to wear behaviour of the cylinder liner was found. Post-test inspection of the cylinder samples by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed differences in the wear mechanisms for the different material combinations. The results show that the running-in and steady-state wear of the liners can be reduced by choosing the appropriate material for the piston ring.

The use of original engine parts in a closely controlled tribometer environment under realistic loading conditions, in conjunction with continuous and highly sensitive wear measurement methods and a detailed SEM analysis of the wear mechanisms, forms an intermediate step between engine testing and laboratory environment testing.

This paper aims to study the resulting Brag peak and secondary particles (neutrons, photons, deuterons, alpha, helium_3, and tritons) along protons’ path in tissue.

MATLAB program and MCNP code were used to read abdomen Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images and build a 3D phantom to liver in purpose to study resulting Bragg peak and secondary particles (neutrons, photons, deuterons, alpha, helium_3 and tritons) along protons’ path.

From the study, it was found that Bragg peak varies from a 2 cm depth within the tissue for 50 MeV protons to a 14.2 cm depth for 150 MeV protons; in the other hand, the total deposited energy decreases from 0.656 [MeV/g]/proton, at the depth 2 cm and 50 MeV protons, to the value 0.220 [MeV/g]/proton, at the depth 14 cm and 150 MeV protons.

As for the flow rate of secondary neutrons and photons, the flow rate of secondary neutrons takes a maximum value (peak) in the middle of the proton path, i.e. when the energy of the protons drops to the value of 30 MeV, and this maximum value of the neutrons flow rate is accompanied by a maximum value of the photon flow rate, as for the rest of the secondary particles produced (alpha particles, deuterons, electrons, tritons and triple helium), they deposit most of their energy locally.

Recently, the United Statesgovernment plans to introduce electronic container seals on all imported containers as a mandatory requirement. Further, containers without electronic seals may be prohibited or restricted for import based on this planned regulation. An electronic seal is a tamper-free seal with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in it. It could provide additional security information such as the tamper evidence and the history of tampering status. In this paper, a brief review of the types of container seals, the characteristics of electronic seals, and their system components are presented. International efforts for securing cargo security are also reviewed including Container Security Initiative (CSI), Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and International Standards Organization (ISO) requirements. Finally, the current issues and the status of technology development are discussed with future directions as a final word

The purpose of this study is to assess the spatiotemporal patterns of future meteorological drought in the Yellow River Basin under different representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios.

Delta method is used to process the future climate data of the global climate models, then analyzed the spatiotemporal variation trend of drought in the Yellow River Basin based on standardized precipitation evaporation index (SPEI) under four RCP scenarios.

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41901239), Soft Science Research Project of Henan Province (212400410077, 192400410085), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0602703), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M640670) and the special fund of top talents in Henan Agricultural University (30501031).

This study can provide support for future meteorological drought management and prevention in the Yellow River Basin and provide a theoretical basis for water resources management.

This paper seeks to analyze the relationship between China and the Northeast region of Brazil, aiming to identify how the renewable energy sector is being developed.

The authors analyzed secondary data from the official databases from China-Brazil chambers of commerce to establish the main points related to renewable energy in Brazil's Northeast.

It is possible to notice the main investments, highlighting the wind energy as a more prominent source recently. The authors also point the huge influence from China on Brazil's Northeast energy sector.

It is difficult to identify the amount of Chinese capital due to the large number of mergers and acquisitions that has been taking place in recent years.

Identification of regions that have been receiving investments and the main interests of Chinese investors in the renewable energy sector.

Demonstration of how the renewable energy sector has taken an important turn in Brazil due to Chinese investment.

To evaluate a regional consortium, analyzing its strategies for partnerships with China to help each other in global questions, as is the case of renewable energy.

Farmers' adaptation strategies in agricultural production are required to minimise the negative impact of climate change on a nation's food production in developing countries. Based on the panel data of the provincial level in China from 2000 to 2017, this study aims to analyse the changing climate over recent years and farmers' adaptation strategy in terms of cropping in agricultural production.

This study uses Simpson's diversity index (SDI) to measure the degree of crop diversity planted by farmers and evaluate the influence of climate change on farmers' cropping strategy using the fixed-effect model. Further, the authors estimate the impact of farmers' cropping strategy on their economic performances in two aspects including yields and technical efficiency of crops.

The empirical results show that the overall climate appears a warming trend. Different from farmers in some other countries, Chinese farmers tend to adopt a more specialised cropping strategy which can significantly improve the technical efficiency and yields of crops in agriculture. In addition, as a moderating role, the specialised cropping can help farmers to alleviate the negative impact of climate change on technical efficiency of their crops.

First, previous studies showed that the changing climate influenced farmers' adaptation strategies, while most studies focussed on multiple adaptation strategies from the farm-level perspective rather than cropping strategy from the nation-level perspective. Second, the present study investigates how the cropping strategy affects the economic performance (in terms of the technical efficiency and crop yields) of agricultural production. Third, the stochastic frontier analysis method is used to estimate the technical efficiency. Fourth, this study explores the moderating effect between farmers' cropping strategy and technical efficiency by introducing an interaction item of SDI and accumulated temperature.

The purpose of this study is to examine the state of research into adoption of machine learning systems within the health sector, to identify themes that have been studied and observe the important gaps in the literature that can inform a research agenda going forward.

A systematic literature strategy was utilized to identify and analyze scientific papers between 2012 and 2022. A total of 28 articles were identified and reviewed.

The outcomes reveal that while advances in machine learning have the potential to improve service access and delivery, there have been sporadic growth of literature in this area which is perhaps surprising given the immense potential of machine learning within the health sector. The findings further reveal that themes such as recordkeeping, drugs development and streamlining of treatment have primarily been focused on by the majority of authors in this area.

The search was limited to journal articles published in English, resulting in the exclusion of studies disseminated through alternative channels, such as conferences, and those published in languages other than English. Considering that scholars in developing nations may encounter less difficulty in disseminating their work through alternative channels and that numerous emerging nations employ languages other than English, it is plausible that certain research has been overlooked in the present investigation.

This review provides insights into future research avenues for theory, content and context on adoption of machine learning within the health sector.

The purpose of this study is to understand how neuroscientific tools are used and discussed in ongoing research on strategy in organizations.

The authors used a bibliometric study of bibliographic pairing to answer the research question. They collected data from the Web of Science and Scopus databases using the keywords “neuroscience*,” “neurostrategy*” and “neuroscientific*.”

This study presents a framework that relates fundamental aspects discussed in current research using neuroscientific tools: Neuroscience and its research tools in organizations; emotions and information processing; interdisciplinary application of neuroscientific tools; and moral and ethical influences in the leaders' decision-making process.

The inclusion of neuroscientific tools in Strategic Management research is still under development. There are criticisms and challenges related to the limitations and potential to support future research.

Despite recognizing the potential of neuroscientific tools in the mind and brain relationship, this study suggests that at this stage, because of criticisms and challenges, they should be used as support and in addition to other traditional research techniques to assess constructs and mechanisms related to strategic decisions and choices in organizations.

Neuroscientific methods in organizational studies can provide insights into individual reactions to ethical issues and raise challenging normative questions about the nature of moral responsibility, autonomy, intention and free will, offering multiple perspectives in the field of business ethics.

In addition to presenting the potential and challenges of using scientific tools in strategic management studies, this study helps create methodological paths for studies in strategic management.