Search results

Photoresist imaging traditionally uses silver halide or diazo based phototools for contact exposure to an actinic UV light source. By contrast, laser direct imaging uses digital imaging data to control a laser beam scanner to write directly on to the photoresist, therefore eliminating the need for phototools. In the past, even though the benefit of a UV system was recognised, laser direct imaging was mainly limited to the use of a visible laser as early UV lasers were low in power, unreliable and expensive. So far, no visible systems have gained commercial recognition because of the inherent deficiencies of the visible system. Recent advantages in UV laser equipment and UV sensitive photoresist have now made UV laser direct imaging a viable alternative to traditional contact imaging. As new UV laser imaging systems start to emerge, interest and attention are also growing among printed circuit board manufacturers. This paper discusses various attributes of a UV laser direct imaging system and fundamental differences in photophysics between laser direct imaging and conventional UV imaging.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the barriers and enablers to lean implementation as part of an imaging quality improvement programme from a socio-cultural perspective.

An in-depth 33 month ethnographic study, using observation and qualitative interviews, examined the process of lean implementation as part of an improvement programme.

Implementation of lean was more successful compared with other reports of lean in healthcare settings. Key enablers of lean were high levels of multidisciplinary staff involvement and engagement; the professional credibility of facilitators and clinicians as early adopters, all within a wider culture of relatively strong inter-professional relationships in the imaging department. These enablers combined with the more routinised and standardised nature of imaging pathways compared to some other acute specialties suggest that imaging is fertile ground for lean, linked to the manufacturing origins of lean.

When introducing lean within healthcare settings, special attention needs to be paid to the specific healthcare context and the existing cultures of inter-professional relationships. Fostering an improvement culture and engagement with training, together with adequate financial resource, are a key to contributing to the level of acceptability of an improvement tool such as lean.

This ethnographic study, bringing together rich multi-source data, has provided a detailed insight into the cultural workings of the process of lean implementation within a complex healthcare system.

Imaging is rapidly gaining usage across businesses and institutions because of its special technology which allows huge numbers of words, pictures and other illustrations to be reduced to a tiny fraction of the space needed to store originals. The emergence of imaging is being seen in numerous and varied applications around the world. Some of them chronicled in the article are: — Images on billions of pieces of paper are being transformed to image systems at the US National Archives. There, documents are stored in less than 0.5% of the space required on paper. — Businesses in the United States have an estimated 324 billion paper documents stored — 95% of business information is stored on paper. Corporations are seeking ways to apply imaging systems to this problem. The Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) estimates that the market for imaging systems will be $6.8 billion by 1993. — Imaging technology is established to enable users to use a kind of electronic shorthand to reduce such illustrations as engineering drawings from 8 Mb to 300 kb — thus enhancing ability to transmit and share such drawings at remote sites. — Banks have a massive need to use imaging systems to process checks, now a time‐consuming and expensive task. Since all of this work is now done by humans, use of imaging eliminates the repetitive and boring aspect of the work. — Electronic filing systems can retrieve file folders in a matter of seconds. Ordinary file folders require manual handling and misfiling is a problem. Insurance claims processing requires massive amounts of paperwork and storage. With imaging systems, these claims can be electronically processed and available to remote users. — Companies such as American Express, American Airlines and American Hospital Corporation all are using imaging systems to gain competitive advantage in dealing with their enormous loads of paperwork.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between hospital adoption and use of computed tomography (CT) scanners, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and in-patient mortality and length of stay.

This study used panel data (2007–2010) from 124 hospital corporations operating in Ontario, Canada. Imaging use focused on medical patients accounting for 25 percent of hospital discharges. Main outcomes were in-hospital mortality rates and average length of stay. A model for each outcome-technology combination was built, and controlled for hospital structural characteristics, market factors and patient characteristics.

In 2010, 36 and 59 percent of hospitals had adopted MRI machines and CT scanners, respectively. Approximately 23.5 percent of patients received CT scans and 3.5 percent received MRI scans during the study period. Adoption of these technologies was associated with reductions of up to 1.1 percent in mortality rates and up to 4.5 percent in length of stay. The imaging use–mortality relationship was non-linear and varied by technology penetration within hospitals. For CT, imaging use reduced mortality until use reached 19 percent in hospitals with one scanner and 28 percent in hospitals with 2+ scanners. For MRI, imaging use was largely associated with decreased mortality. The use of CT scanners also increased length of stay linearly regardless of technology penetration (4.6 percent for every 10 percent increase in use). Adoption and use of MRI was not associated with length of stay.

These results suggest that there may be some unnecessary use of imaging, particularly in small hospitals where imaging is contracted out. In larger hospitals, the results highlight the need to further investigate the use of imaging beyond certain thresholds. Independent of the rate of imaging use, the results also indicate that the presence of CT and MRI devices within a hospital benefits quality and efficiency.

To the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the combined effect of adoption and use of medical imaging on outcomes specific to CT scanners and MRI machines in the context of hospital in-patient care.

The process of building dynamic capabilities remains understudied, although deliberate learning is posited to be the key to developing and maintaining dynamic capabilities in turbulent environments. Based on the case study of Kodak’s responses to the shift from traditional to digital technology in the imaging industry (1993-2011), the purpose of this paper is to examine the role of managerial cognition in building dynamic capabilities.

The paper employs case study and qualitative method approach.

The results reveal that, when facing environmental turbulence, deliberate learning is subject to routine disruptions through entrepreneurial activities, and these organizational routines and activities are determined by organizational schema. Organizational schema itself is updated as a result of managers’ ongoing interpretation of the organization’s fit with the environment. The study findings contribute to the organizational studies and management literature by highlighting the role of managerial cognition into the microfoundation of dynamic capabilities.

The results demonstrate managerial cognition, and organizational schema in particular, as a microfoundation of dynamic capability.

Because of the small size and high integration of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) component, it can be made into large-scale array, but this lead to high hardware complexity, so the purpose of this paper is to use less elements to achieve better imaging results. In this research, an optimized sparse array is studied, which can suppress the side lobe and reduce the imaging artifacts compared with the equispaced sparse array with the same number of elements.

Genetic algorithm is used to sparse the CMUT linear array, and Kaiser window apodization is added to reduce imaging artifacts, the beam pattern and peak-to-side lobe ratio are calculated, point targets imaging comparisons are performed. Furthermore, a 256-elements CMUT linear array is used to carry out the imaging experiment of embedded mass and forearm blood vessel, and the imaging results are compared quantitatively.

Through the imaging comparison of embedded mass and forearm blood vessel, the feasibility of optimized sparse array of CMUT is verified, and the purpose of reducing the hardware complexity is achieved.

This research provides a basis for the large-scale CMUT array to reduce the hardware complexity and the amount of calculation. At present, the CMUT array has been used in medical ultrasound imaging and has huge market potential.

Investigate the use of two imaging‐based methods – coded pattern projection and laser‐based triangulation – to generate 3D models as input to a rapid prototyping pipeline.

Discusses structured lighting technologies as suitable imaging‐based methods. Two approaches, coded‐pattern projection and laser‐based triangulation, are specifically identified and discussed in detail. Two commercial systems are used to generate experimental results. These systems include the Genex Technologies 3D FaceCam and the Integrated Vision Products Ranger System.

Presents 3D reconstructions of objects from each of the commercial systems.

Provides background in imaging‐based methods for 3D data collection and model generation. A practical limitation is that imaging‐based systems do not currently meet accuracy requirements, but continued improvements in imaging systems will minimize this limitation.

Imaging‐based approaches to 3D model generation offer potential to increase scanning time and reduce scanning complexity.

Introduces imaging‐based concepts to the rapid prototyping pipeline.

Electrical impedance measurement and imaging are techniques that are widely used in a range of applications. Electro‐conductive knitted structure is a major new development in wearable computing. The purpose of this paper is to carry out a preliminary investigation of applying electrical impedance analysis to predict the behavior of electro‐conductive knitted structure. This can potentially pave the way for a low‐cost solution for pressure mapping imaging.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has been used as a mapping technique for deformation imaging in conductive knitted fabric. EIT is an imaging system used to generate a map of electrical conductivity. Pressure and deformation mapping scanner is being developed based on electrical conductivity imaging of the conductive area generated in a fabric. The results are presented using these new sensors with various deformations.

Experimental results show the feasibility of qualitative deformation imaging. In particular, it is promising that multiple deformations can be mapped using the proposed technique. The paper also demonstrates preliminary results regarding quantitative pressure and deformation mapping using EIT technique.

The results presented in the paper are laboratory‐based experiments for proof of principle and will be evaluated in specific application areas in future.

The paper shows, for the first time, detection of multiple pressure points as well as quantifying the pressure map using the new imaging sensor. The sensor proposed here can be used for robotic touch sensing application, as well as some biomechanical observations.

The purpose of this paper is to provide details of recent developments in terahertz (THz) imaging technology and its applications.

This paper first discusses the properties, perceived imaging uses and sources of THz radiation. It then describes passive and active imaging systems through reference to commercial products and their applications. Finally, it considers future prospects and key technological developments.

This paper shows that the commercialisation of passive and active imaging systems has been gradual but uses are emerging in a range of security, material testing and healthcare applications. Market development has been hindered in part by the high cost of systems and certain technological and operational limitations. Research which aims to overcome these problems is widespread and much involves the development of improved sources and detectors.

The paper provides a detailed insight into the present state of THz imaging technology and its applications and identifies and describes critical technological developments.

Building information modelling (BIM) is a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a building. Its use offers a range of benefits in terms of achieving the efficient design, construction, operation and maintenance of buildings. Applying BIM at the outset of a new build project should be relatively easy. However, it is often problematic to apply BIM techniques to an existing building, for example, as part of a refurbishment project or as a tool supporting the facilities management strategy, because of inadequacies in the previous management of the dataset that characterises the facility in question. These inadequacies may include information on as built geometry and materials of construction. By the application of automated retrospective data gathering for use in BIM, such problems should be largely overcome and significant benefits in terms of efficiency gains and cost savings should be achieved.

Laser scanning can be used to collect geometrical and spatial information in the form of a 3D point cloud, and this technique is already used. However, as a point cloud representation does not contain any semantic information or geometrical context, such point cloud data must refer to external sources of data, such as building specification and construction materials, to be in used in BIM.

Hyperspectral imaging techniques can be applied to provide both spectral and spatial information of scenes as a set of high-resolution images. Integrating of a 3D point cloud into hyperspectral images would enable accurate identification and classification of surface materials and would also convert the 3D representation to BIM.

This integrated approach has been applied in other areas, for example, in crop management. The transfer of this approach to facilities management and construction would improve the efficiency and automation of the data transition from building pathology to BIM. In this study, the technological feasibility and advantages of the integration of laser scanning and hyperspectral imaging (the latter not having previously been used in the construction context in its own right) is discussed, and an example of the use of a new integration technique is presented, applied for the first time in the context of buildings.