Current Industry Standards Research Articles

A Study on the Improvement of Standards for Installation of Waste Treatment Facilities and Improvement of the System for the Installation of Landfill Facility in Industrial Complexes

Problems related to waste disposal, such as a shortage of landfill facilities and a surge in illegal waste, are becoming a major social issue. The quantity of wastes generated is continuously increasing, and the rate of wastes from facilities, which accounts for a high percentage of the quantity generated, is gradually increasing. In order to establish an appropriate capacity landfill facility installation plan when planning to develop of industrial complex that discharges large quantity of industrial wastes, the appropriateness of the current industrial complex waste treatment facility installation standards was reviewed, and institutional improvement measures were derived. The research results are as follows. First, industrial complexes showed a large difference in the distribution of the total site area and the industrial area by type, and the quantity of wastes generated in industrial complexes had a higher correlation coefficient with the industrial area than the total site area. Second, it was proposed to change from the total site area to the industrial area as an improvement plan for the area standard among the current standards for installation of industrial complex waste treatment facility. Third, the average value of the generated unit without considering the size of industry is applied to the generated unit, and there is a limitation in that there is a difference in actual quantity due to the application of the subjective generated unit due to the absence of guidelines for calculating the quantity of wastes generated and the application of the generated unit in the middle classification stage. Fourth, as an improvement measure to the calculation of the quantity of wastes generated in industrial complexes, it was proposed to be specified Industrial Complex Code of the Industrial Land Information System and Korea Standard Industry Code in waste discharge report form to improve utilization and subdivide the industrial waste classification unit. Fifth, considering the limitations of the current industrial complex waste treatment facility installation standards, regional concentration of landfill facilities, and lack of remaining capacity, a total amount management plan was proposed that comprehensively considers the overall status of landfill capacity. Sixth, a plan was proposed to introduce a performance guarantee system, enforcement fine imposition, and deposit system to introduce sanctions on non-fulfillment of the obligation to install waste treatment facilities in industrial complexes.

Reclaim Mode Post Etch Residue Remover Solutions for Advanced Technology Nodes

Back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing for creation of vias in advanced technology node semiconductor manufacturing warrants a wet chemistry capable of removing post-etch residue (PERR), titanium nitride hardmask (TiN HM) and etch stop layer (ESL), while being compatible with metals, such as copper, tungsten and cobalt. In accordance with BASF’s core competency of innovating sustainable solutions with minimal environmental impact, our reclaim mode BEOL PERR chemistries allow semiconductor manufacturers to minimize not only their cost of ownership (COO) but also their waste footprint.BASF’s reclaim mode PERR chemistries, when mixed with appropriate amount of hydrogen peroxide, facilitate oxidative wet etching of TiN HM. In this paper, we demonstrate that optimization of formulation and spiking protocol extends the bath lifetime of these chemistries beyond 24hr, which is significant improvement vis-à-vis current industry standard of single use (drain mode) chemistries. Beaker-level bath lifetime investigation of BASF’s leading formulation confirms that TiN etch rate (ER) and bath pH are stable for 48hr (Fig. 1a) when bath is loaded with commensurate amount of Ti ions. Beaker-level performance was also corroborated by 300mm wafer level assessment. BASF’s reclaim mode PERR chemistries with bath lifetime greater than 8hr offer progressively favorable cost of ownership (COO) vis-à-vis drain mode chemistry (Fig. 1b). Figure 1

Mild acoustic processing of Tisochrysis lutea for multiproduct biorefineries

Cellular agriculture could represent a more sustainable alternative to current food and nutraceutical production processes. Tisochrysis lutea microalgae represents a rich source of antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids essential for human health. However, current downstream technologies are limiting its use. The present work investigates mild targeted acoustic treatment of Tisochrysis lutea biomass at different growth stages and acoustic frequencies, intensities and treatment times. Significant differences have been observed in terms of the impact of these variables on the cell disruption and energy requirements. Lower frequencies of 20 kHz required a minimum of 4500 J to disrupt 90% of the cells, while only 1000 J at 1146 kHz. Comparing these results with current industry standards such as bead milling, up to six times less energy use has been identified. These mild biomass processing approaches offer a certain tunability which could suit a wide range of microorganisms with only minor adjustments.

Reclaim Mode Post Etch Residue Remover Solutions for Advanced Technology Nodes

Back-end-of-line (BEOL) processing for creation of vias and trenches in advanced technology node semiconductor manufacturing warrants a wet chemistry capable of removing post-etch residues (PERR), titanium nitride hardmask (TiN HM) and etch stop layer (ESL), while being compatible with metals, such as copper, tungsten and cobalt. In accordance with BASF’s core competency of innovating sustainable solutions with minimal environmental impact, our reclaim mode BEOL PERR chemistries allow semiconductor manufacturers to minimize not only their cost of ownership (COO) but also their waste footprint. BASF’s reclaim mode PERR chemistries, when mixed with appropriate amount of hydrogen peroxide, facilitate oxidative wet etching of TiN HM. In this paper, we demonstrate that optimization of formulation chemistry and spiking protocol extends the bath lifetime of reclaim mode PERR chemistries beyond 24hr, which is a significant improvement vis-à-vis current industry standard of single use (drain mode) chemistries. Beaker-level bath lifetime investigation of BASF’s formulation confirms that TiN etch rate (ER) and bath pH are stable for 48hr when bath is loaded with commensurate amount of Ti ions. Beaker-level performance was also corroborated by 300mm wafer level assessment. BASF’s reclaim mode PERR chemistries with bath lifetime greater than 8hr offer progressively favorable cost of ownership (COO) vis-à-vis drain mode chemistry.

Affinity Sedimentation and Magnetic Separation With Plant-Made Immunosorbent Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Protein Purification.

The virus-based immunosorbent nanoparticle is a nascent technology being developed to serve as a simple and efficacious agent in biosensing and therapeutic antibody purification. There has been particular emphasis on the use of plant virions as immunosorbent nanoparticle chassis for their diverse morphologies and accessible, high yield manufacturing via plant cultivation. To date, studies in this area have focused on proof-of-concept immunosorbent functionality in biosensing and purification contexts. Here we consolidate a previously reported pro-vector system into a single Agrobacterium tumefaciens vector to investigate and expand the utility of virus-based immunosorbent nanoparticle technology for therapeutic protein purification. We demonstrate the use of this technology for Fc-fusion protein purification, characterize key nanomaterial properties including binding capacity, stability, reusability, and particle integrity, and present an optimized processing scheme with reduced complexity and increased purity. Furthermore, we present a coupling of virus-based immunosorbent nanoparticles with magnetic particles as a strategy to overcome limitations of the immunosorbent nanoparticle sedimentation-based affinity capture methodology. We report magnetic separation results which exceed the binding capacity reported for current industry standards by an order of magnitude.

Hybrid ultrasonic technique for non-invasive evaluation of argon gas content in insulated glass units

At present, the heat loss of energy-efficient buildings through transparent partitions, i.e. curtain walls and windows, make more than 40 % of the total heat loss. Since most of area of these partitions (70–80%) are covered by the insulating glass units (IGU), it accounts for the largest part of the building’s heat losses. These losses increase with the lifetime of the building as the heat transfer coefficient of the IGU increases with decreasing argon gas concentration in a cavity of glass unit, due to the ageing of the surrounding seals. While the content of Ar gases decreases, a soft low-E coating of glass is oxidizing, decreasing insulation of the radiant heat flux which determines for about 50 % of the total heat flux through the IGU. In order to make targeted decisions on replacing of degraded IGUs their insulation properties have to be evaluated using reliable in-situ measurement method. In this paper, non-invasive adaptive ultrasonic technique for assessment of Ar gas content in the gas mixture of IGU was proposed. The technique is based on the sound velocity measurements and is combined with electromagnetic field phase measurement methods for precise estimation of the thickness of IGU at any spatial position. The technique was verified on the IGU samples with known Ar gas concentrations and compared with commercial systems and gas chromatography in range of 27–93% of Ar content. It was estimated, that technique is capable of measuring Ar concentration with accuracy of ± 3.15%, which exceeds the current industry standards.

Ensemble of Fine-Tuned Deep Learning Networks for Wet-Blue Leather Segmentation

As part of industrial quality control in the leather industry, it is important to segment features/defects in wet-blue leather samples. Manual inspection of leather samples is the current norm in industrial settings. To comply with the current industrial standards that advocate large-scale automation, visual inspection based leather processing is imperative. Visual inspection of wet-blue leather features is a challenging problem as the characteristics of these features can take on a variety of shapes and colour variations to constitute various normal and abnormal surface regions. The aim of this work is to automatically segment leather images to detect various features/defects along with the background through visual analysis of the surfaces. To accomplish this, a deep learning-based technique is developed that learns to segment wet-blue leather surface features. On our own curated leather images dataset, the proposed ensemble network performed well, with an F1-Score of 74 percent.

A Benchmarking Platform and a Control Allocation Method for Improving the Efficiency of Coaxial Rotor Systems

Coaxial rotors used on multirotor Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) are complex aerodynamic systems that are typically treated in a simplified manner, operating in sub-optimal conditions. In this letter, we propose: i) an open-source benchmarking platform for coaxial rotor systems that allows us to analyse and improve their efficiency and ii) a map of the whole actuation domain of coaxial systems based on extensive experimentation. In particular, we test three systems built using off-the-shelf components and different rotor configurations. Results demonstrate the existence of a maximum efficiency boundary, which covers the whole thrust range of each system. We also analyze how this boundary changes with respect to the rotor configuration. We compare it with the performance of coaxial rotors controlled with the current standard method (i.e., equal commands for both rotors). Finally, we propose a control allocation strategy that improves the efficiency of coaxial rotors by up to 11% over the current industry standard. Implementation on an octocopter with four sets of coaxial rotors validates the proposed methods across two different rotor separation designs and two different payload scenarios.

How will last-mile delivery be shaped in 2040? A Delphi-based scenario study

• Digitization and sustainability shift current industry standards. • The expert panel defines the scope of used technologies in 2040. • The last-mile delivery sector will become more segmented. • We provide managerial and policy guidance for key stakeholders. Last-mile delivery (LMD) has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, primarily driven by e-commerce. The LMD sector is characterized by strong competition, with new entrants addressing unexplored business segments, while digitization and more sustainable operations are shifting current industry standards. This paper explores upcoming trends in the LMD sector using a Delphi-based scenario study for 2040. We develop projections of future consumer behavior, delivery technologies, delivery services, and regulation to validate them by conducting a two-round Delphi study among 36 experts from the LMD industry, academia, and politics. Based on the results, three future scenarios are identified by fuzzy c-means clustering, set within the context of innovation diffusion theory and the technology acceptance model. There is expert consensus on the scope of technologies that will be used in 2040 and how consumers’ preferences may change, but the future design of delivery services is less certain. The identified scenarios provide managerial and policy guidance for logistics service providers, suppliers, municipalities, and e-commerce retailers to adapt their long-term strategies.

Managing Relationships Between Restaurants and Food Delivery Platforms: Conflict, Contracts, and Coordination

Restaurant delivery platforms collect customer orders via the Internet, transmit them to restaurants, and deliver the orders to customers. They provide value to restaurants by expanding their markets, but critics claim they destroy restaurant profits by taking a percentage of revenues and generating congestion that negatively impacts dine-in customers. We consider these tensions using a model of a restaurant as a congested service system. We find that the predominant industry contract, in which the platform takes a percentage cut of each delivery order (a “commission”), fails to coordinate the system because the platform does not internalize its effect on dine-in revenues; this leads to prices that are too low, reducing the restaurant’s margins and leaving money on the table for both firms. Two commonly proposed remedies to this problem (commission caps and allowing the restaurant to set a price floor on the platform) can increase restaurant revenue but do not solve the coordination issue. We thus propose an alternative, practical coordinating contract that is a variation of the current industry standard: for each delivery order, the platform pays the restaurant a percentage revenue share and a fixed fee. We show that this contract, appropriately designed, coordinates the system, protects restaurant margins by ensuring a lower bound on its revenue per delivery order, and allocates revenue between the restaurant and the platform with a high degree of flexibility. This paper was accepted by Victor Martinez-de-Albeniz, operations management. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4390 .

Artificial Neural Network Modeling for Airline Disruption Management

Since the 1970s, most airlines have incorporated computerized support for managing disruptions during flight schedule execution. However, existing platforms for airline disruption management (ADM) employ monolithic system design methods that rely on the creation of specific rules and requirements through explicit optimization routines, before a system that meets the specifications is designed. Thus, current platforms for ADM are unable to readily accommodate additional system complexities resulting from the introduction of new capabilities, such as the introduction of unmanned aerial systems, operations, and infrastructure, to the system. To this end, historical data on airline scheduling and operations recovery are used to develop a system of artificial neural networks (ANNs), which describe a predictive transfer function model (PTFM) for promptly estimating the recovery impact of disruption resolutions at separate phases of flight schedule execution during ADM. Furthermore, this paper provides a modular approach for assessing and executing the PTFM by employing a parallel ensemble method to develop generative routines that amalgamate the system of ANNs. Our modular approach ensures that current industry standards for tardiness in flight schedule execution during ADM are satisfied, while accurately estimating appropriate time-based performance metrics for the separate phases of flight schedule execution.

Non-functional Requirements Elicitation in Agile Base Models

The elicitation of non-functional and functional needs is one of the most critical jobs of a requirement engineer. This scenario involves the imposition of limits on non-functional needs, whereas functional requirements call for the operation of a system in order to carry out functionality. Over the last few years, agile software development approaches have gained widespread acceptance in the software industry as a problem-solving paradigm. Non-functional requirements (NFRs) are frequently cited as a point of contention in non-functional requirements (NFR) approaches. As well as functional requirements like speed and efficiency, security is desired, amongst a host of other things. Aspects like usability, security, and privacy must all be taken into account. Functional needs must be treated as though they were first-class under the current industry standard of practice. Functional requirements are distinguished from non-functional requirements by the fact that only implemented requirements can be evaluated. To give an example, this method attracts the attention of the system's end users to a critical defect in its architecture. Projects of this type frequently fail because to dissatisfaction among the target audience. If you'd like a great demonstration, consider the London Ambulance System. When dealing with non-compliance to the necessary degree of detail, it is feasible to raise the likelihood of software success this is the first study of its kind in its sector to bring attention to the most critical NFR issues. The problems that arise during the elicitation stage of requirement engineering in agile base models. It also outlines the techniques and strategies that are being considered. Proposed in the literature as a means of dealing with these problems.

Application of Cognitive Automation to Structuring Data, Driving Existing Business Models, and Creating Value between Legacy Industries

To build high quality datasets and unlock the value of unstructured data, a systematic approach for data capture is necessary. Cognitive automation (CA), that is, automation of processes with artificial intelligence (AI), enables the information extraction from unstructured data to provide relevant insights and further processing with AI. This study provides an overview of this new technology and shows how it can be used to transform existing business models. Our case studies in the insurance auditing, healthcare, and banking industries show the potential managerial impact of CA, which prepares these legacy industries for their digital future’s challenges and opportunities. We present the novel data extraction pipeline for textual and visual data and demonstrate its efficiency in extracting information from the company’s unstructured data. We show its performance in quality, cost, and time compared with current industry standards and provide management insights for business applications using CA.

Effect of bupivacaine liposome suspension administered as a local anesthetic block on indicators of pain and distress during and after surgical castration in dairy calves

Castration is a routine procedure performed on beef and dairy operations in the United States. All methods of castration cause behavioral, physiologic, and neuroendocrine changes associated with pain. The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Bovine Practitioners recommend that anesthesia and analgesia be administered during castration. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of bupivacaine liposome suspension, a novel, long-acting, local anesthetic formulation administered as a nerve block at castration. The authors chose to investigate this novel formulation as an alternative to the current industry standards using lidocaine nerve blocks alone or in combination with meloxicam. Thirty male Holstein calves, 16 to 20 wk of age, were enrolled and randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups prior to surgical castration: 1) bupivacaine liposome suspension block + oral placebo (BUP), 2) lidocaine block + oral placebo (LID), 3) lidocaine block + oral meloxicam (1 mg/kg) (LID + MEL), and 4) saline block + oral placebo (CON). Biomarkers were collected at −24 h and from 0 to 120 h post-castration and included infrared thermography, pressure mat gait analysis, chute defense and behavior scoring (pain and activity), and blood sampling for serum cortisol and prostaglandin E2 metabolites (PGEMs). Responses were analyzed using repeated measures, with calf nested in treatment as a random effect, and treatment, time, and their interaction designated as fixed effects. The results from pressure mat gait analysis show that the CON had a shorter front limb stance time from baseline (−8.73%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: −24.84% to 7.37%) compared with BUP and LID + MEL (>5.70%; 95% CI: −22.91% to 23.79%) (P < 0.03). The CON tended to have an increase in front limb force from baseline (6.31%; 95% CI: −1.79% to 14.41%) compared with BUP, LID, and LID + MEL (<−5.06%; 95% CI: −14.22% to 0.95%) (P < 0.04). The CON displayed higher counts of hunched standing (2.00; 95% CI: 1.68 to 2.32) compared with LID + MEL (1.43; 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.72) (P = 0.05). The CON had higher cortisol concentrations at 24 h (7.70 ng/mL; 95% CI: 1.52 to 13.87 ng/mL) relative to BUP (3.11 ng/mL; 95% CI: −2.56 to 8.79 ng/mL) (P = 0.002). At 4 and 24 h, LID + MEL had lower PGEM concentrations from baseline (−32.42% and −47.84%; 95% CI: −78.45% to −1.80%) compared with CON (27.86% and 47.63%; 95% CI: 7.49% to 82.98%) (P < 0.02). The administration of bupivacaine liposome suspension as a local anesthetic block at the time of castration was as effective at controlling pain as a multimodal approach of lidocaine and meloxicam.

Cyber Physical Systems Security for Maritime Assets

The integration of IT, OT, and human factor elements in maritime assets is critical for their efficient and safe operation and performance. This integration defines cyber physical systems and involves a number of IT and OT components, systems, and functions that involve multiple and diverse communication paths that are technologically and operationally evolving along with credible cyber security threats. These cyber security threats and risks as well as a number of known security breach scenarios are described in this paper to highlight the evolution of cyber physical systems in the maritime domain and their emerging cyber vulnerabilities. Current industry and governmental standards and directives related to cyber security in the maritime domain attempt to enforce the regulatory compliance and reinforce asset cyber security integrity for optimum and safe performance with limited focus, however, in the existing OT infrastructure and systems. The use of outside-of-the-maritime industry security risk assessment tools and processes, such the API STD 780 Security Risk Assessment (SRA) and the Bow Tie Analysis methodologies, can assist the asset owner to assess its IT and OT infrastructure for cyber and physical security vulnerabilities and allocate proper mitigation measures assuming their similarities to ICS infrastructure. The application of cyber security controls deriving from the adaptation of the NIST CSF and the MITRE ATT&amp;CK Threat Model can further increase the cyber security integrity of maritime assets, assuming they are periodically evaluated for their effectiveness and applicability. Finally, the improvement in communication among stakeholders, the increase in operational and technical cyber and physical security resiliency, and the increase in operational cyber security awareness would be further increased for maritime assets by the convergence of the distinct physical and cyber security functions as well as onshore- and offshore-based cyber infrastructure of maritime companies and asset owners.

Abstract P006: Novel machine-learning tools improve cost-effective development of personalised immunotherapies: Lowering false positive rates in the search for actionable (personalised and largely shared) immunogenic neoantigens

Abstract Personalised immunotherapy approaches rely on the ability of tumour-derived neoantigens to elicit a T-cell immune reaction able to recognise and kill the tumour cells expressing them. Clinical attempts to leverage the power of neoantigens have however yielded mixed results. This can mostly be attributed to the difficulty of finding truly immunogenic peptides from the set of novel peptides generated by mutations in a given cancer patient. In silico approaches can help alleviate this heavy cost by reducing the neoantigen search space, prioritising epitopes based on various parameters such as epitope expression or MHC binding likelihood. Here we present a suite of tools aimed at further assisting clinicians in selecting the most actionable peptides from a set of potential candidates. We developed neoMS, a neural network algorithm able to predict epitope presentation at the cell surface with unparalleled performance. The model achieves up to 0.61 precision at recall 0.4 on its test set, vastly outperforming the current industry standards. In addition, due to his sequence-based comparison method, neoMS exhibits extrapolation capabilities, achieving non-zero predictive power when evaluated on ground truth ligandome data derived from an HLA allele completely absent from the training set. In some cancer indications we showed, moreover, that the neoMS-predicted rate of neoantigen presentation can be used in combination with tumour mutational burden as a high-specificity predictor of response to immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. Furthermore, the neoIM algorithm is able to discriminate, in an HLA-agnostic fashion, which of the presented peptides will elicit a T-cell immune reaction. This first-in-class algorithm is a random forest classifier specifically trained to classify short peptides of length 9-11 amino acids as immunogenic or non-immunogenic. neoIM vastly outperforms the currently available methods and can predict peptide immunogenicity with high accuracy (AUC=0.88). Interestingly, neoIM confirmed ELISPOT data obtained by Dillon et al. (2017) showing a response in 4 out of 11 breast cancer patients to a vaccine consisting of 9 MHC class-I restricted breast cancer-associated peptides. The 2 antigens that resulted in a CD8+ T-cell specific response were predicted by neoIM as the highest scoring showing its potential in finding the truly immunogenic neoantigens. Taken together, these tools decrease false positive rates significantly as they enable improved identification of immunogenic peptides and the predictions correlate with intensity of immune response and clinical benefits. As such, these tools represent a cost-efficient preliminary step in the search for actionable, immunogenic neoantigens. Citation Format: Cedric Bogaert, Lena Pfitzer, Nil Adell Mill, Bruno Fant. Novel machine-learning tools improve cost-effective development of personalised immunotherapies: Lowering false positive rates in the search for actionable (personalised and largely shared) immunogenic neoantigens [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC Virtual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2021 Oct 7-10. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2021;20(12 Suppl):Abstract nr P006.

A novel passive sampling device for low molecular weight PAHs with a proteinaceous medium

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), highly concentrated in petroleum products, are persistent, toxic and mutagenic compounds that can be released into environmental water systems in cases such as accidental oil spills. Due to the acute and chronic toxicity, it is important to accurately monitor their concentrations to make informed decisions for effective control and mitigation. In this study, we describe the development of a novel proteinaceous medium for passive sampling devices (PSDs) that complements current lipid-based industrial standards. The medium, RHCC-Nanotube (RHCC-NT), shows rapid uptake of low molecular weight PAHs with reuse capabilities that provides quantity information with an improved equilibration time. This nanotechnology addresses current difficulties in accurately monitoring small and volatile hydrocarbons in aqueous system. In addition, biophysical experiments showed that the RHCC-NT based media can be regenerated and, due its proteinaceous nature, presents itself as an environmentally friendly PSD technology. The combination of controlled laboratory studies and environmental testing allowed for the full characterization of the RHCC-NT PSD in monitoring PAH levels for aquatic systems.

Review and Assessment of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PRO) in Patients with Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia (CIA)

OBJECTIVES: Chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA) is a common adverse event of cancer treatment and is associated with several symptoms that negatively impact health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Due to the nature of CIA signs and symptoms, the use of fit-for-purpose PRO measures reflecting patients' experience of the disease and its treatment is an important step in drug development and evaluation. In this project, we aimed to review and assess the most commonly used PRO measures to best capture the experiences of patients with non-myeloid malignancies.METHODS: A targeted literature review (TLR), including searches of the OVID database, US FDA/European Medicines Agency (EMA), clinical trial databases, regulatory labelling data and health technology assessment (HTA) reports/payer landscape recommendations, was conducted to identify PRO measures used to capture symptoms and HRQoL outcomes in non-myeloid cancer patients with CIA (2008-2021). PRO measures were identified from published studies, phase 2-4 clinical trials, and categorized according to the concept(s) measured and cancer type. Study outcomes were used to determine the optimal PRO strategy to capture the CIA symptoms of patients with non-myeloid cancer. The concepts captured from PROs identified in the TLR were used to develop a preliminary ‘conceptual model’: a graphical representation of signs and symptoms, and the perceived impact on HRQoL.Selected PRO measures, most relevant to the study objectives, were evaluated for their reliability, validity, responsiveness, and extent to which they cover HRQoL domains of interest and, in relation to the current regulatory environment, industry standards and guidance (e.g., FDA Guidance For Industry: Patient-Reported Outcome Measures, 2009). Reviews of the HTA guidelines and reports were conducted to provide insights into the applicability of PRO data from an HTA perspective.RESULTS: The conceptual model captured fatigue as the most important disease-related symptom experienced by non-myeloid cancer patients with CIA (Figure). The OVID search identified 17 PRO measures, which were then categorized by the key CIA-related concepts they assessed, including: sleep quality; HRQoL; anemia-related symptoms; depression/anxiety; and work productivity/activity impairment. The most frequently used PRO was the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue (FACT-F, N=11), followed by the FACT-Anemia (FACT-An, N=6). Ten PRO measures were identified from Phase 2-4 ongoing/completed US clinical trials and 6 PROs from EU clinical trials, with FACT-F (N=13) being the most common instrument used . FDA and EMA HRQoL-related product labelling information included the FACT-An, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Cancer Linear Analogue Scale (CLAS).From the TLR results, 9 PRO measures were selected for further review: FACT-An (An, Anemia); FACT-F; FACT-G (G, General); Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-F; Patient-reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-F; Brief Fatigue Inventory; Visual Analogue Scale-F; Fatigue Symptom Inventory; and EORTC QLQ-C30. Of these, FACT-An was the only PRO measure specifically developed to measure fatigue and HRQoL in anemic cancer patients. FACT-An includes four HRQoL domains (assessing physical, social/family, emotional and functional wellbeing) from the FACT-G, plus an anemia subscale that comprises a fatigue subscale (13 items) and 7 anemia-specific questions.Results from the HTA/payer landscape review also indicated that the majority of recent HTA submissions reported findings from EORTC QLQ-C30 alongside the EORTC disease-specific adaptations for oncology-related indications and the EQ-5D. Many of the recent HTAs reported data from 2 or more different PRO measures.CONCLUSIONS: CIA impacts various aspects of patients' HRQoL; however, current PRO measures may only partially capture concepts of interest to patients. Multiple measures may be needed to adequately reflect all domains affected by CIA. Future studies may consider conducting concept elicitation interviews with patients and clinicians, to inform future updates to the conceptual model, and validation work to estimate meaningful change thresholds for these measures if not available. [Display omitted] DisclosuresMorga: Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd.: Current Employment. Atzinger: Astellas Pharma Inc.: Current Employment. Barsdorf: Clinical Outcomes Solutions: Current Employment. New: IQVIA: Current Employment. Alexandre: Astellas Pharma Europe B.V.: Current Employment.

Early performance of several Prunus interspecific hybrid rootstocks for Redhaven peach in southern Ontario

A multi-year orchard experiment was established to measure the performance of Rootpac®-R, Rootpac®-20, Rootpac®-40, and Rootpac®-70 rootstocks using ‘Redhaven’ peach (Prunus persica var. persica) as the scion, compared with the ‘Bailey’ peach seedling rootstock, the current industry standard. Tree survival after five years was 79% on Rootpac-40, whereas the remaining rootstocks showed no tree mortality. Tree vigour and canopy height and width were influenced by rootstock genotype beginning the year of planting in 2016. For the first five years of production, Rootpac-70 consistently produced the largest trees based on truck cross-sectional area (TCSA) and by year five, all rootstocks produced trees with similar TCSAs, except for Rootpac-70, which was 38% larger than Bailey. By year five, cumulative yields were greatest on Rootpac-70, which were 10% higher than Bailey; cumulative yields of Rootpac-R, Rootpac-20, and Rootpac-30 were 98%, 89%, and 84% that of Bailey, respectively. Cumulative yield efficiency was significantly influenced by rootstock although the magnitude of the differences was small and likely of insignificant commercial importance. Rootpac-40 consistently produced the largest fruit. These results are only reflective of the orchard establishment years and additional data are required before peach producers can make fully informed decisions concerning the rootstocks evaluated in this study for their orchard systems. However, at this juncture, all the Rootpac rootstocks evaluated in this study are likely to impart excessive vigour to be used in a higher density system and offer little advantage over Bailey.

Analytical Model and Numerical Analysis of Composite Wrap System Applied to Steel Pipeline.

Composite overwraps are a cost-effective repair technology, appropriate for corrosion defects, dents, and gouges for both onshore and offshore steel pipelines. The main benefit of polymer-based sleeves is safe installation without taking the pipeline out of service. This paper presents a new calculation procedure proposed in the form of an algorithm for the sizing of composite repairs of corroded pipelines when the sleeve is applied at zero internal pressure. The main objective of the presented methodology is determination of the effective thickness of the composite repair without its overestimation or underestimation. The authors used a non-linear finite element method with constitutive models allowing analysis of the steel, putty, and composite structures. The validation of the results of numerical computations compared to the experimental ones showed an appropriate agreement. The numerical calculations were applied to compare the analytical results in relation to those obtained by the standards ASME PCC-2 or ISO/TS 24817. The comparison showed that the proposed solution confirmed its effectiveness in reducing the thickness of the sleeve significantly, thus, showing that the current industrial standards provide a considerably excessive composite wrap around the steel pipe corroded area, which leads to an unnecessary increase in the repair costs.