Flexible Manufacturing Systems: background examples and models

In this paper, we discuss recent innovations in manufacturing technology and their implications on the design and control of manufacturing systems. Recognizing the need to respond properly to rapidly changing market demands, we discuss several types of flexibility that can be incorporated in our production organisation to achieve this goal. We show how the concept of a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) naturally arises as an attempt to combine the advantages of traditional Job Shops and dedicated production lines.The main body of the paper is devoted to a classification of FMS problem areas and a review of models developed to understand and solve these problems. For each problem area, a number of important contributions in the literature is indicated. The reader, interested in the applications of Operations Research models but not familiar with the technical background of FMS’s, will find the descriptions of some essential FMS elements useful. Some final remarks and directions for future research conclude the paper.<br/

Imported Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Cases Detected in Truck Drivers in Hatay

Leishmaniasis, seen in tropical and subtropical regions, is an infectious disease caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania species. There are three main forms of leishmaniasis: cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) has become an increasing problem as the number of travels around the world increases and people go to work in endemic areas. Turkey has received great numbers of immigrants in recent years, from its neighboring countries like Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and the Syrian Arab Republic because of the political instabilities in these countries as well as the job opportunities caused by large-scale development projects undertaken by Turkey. In this report, imported CL cases detected in five truck drivers transporting from Hatay to Turkmenistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Georgia, Uzbekistan and Azarbaijan countries were presented. The patients admitted to Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine Dermatology Policlinic, with wound complaints on their bodies were directed to the Department of Parasitology to obtain smear samples from their wounds. The age range of the patients were 38 to 43 years. Patients with wound trail for a period ranging from one month to one year had a number of lesions varying between 2-7 and in all cases, a smear preparation was prepared from the lesions for diagnostic purposes. Clinical material obtained from five patients with pre-diagnosis of CL was firstly examined with Giemsa stain. Samples taken from the patients were inoculated into modified NNN (Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle) medium for the evaluation of the presence of the promastigotes. Promastigotes obtained from the inoculated medium were also genotyped using the ITS1 region. In all of the slides prepared from the clinical material taken from the patients amastigotes were determined. The growth of promastigotes were observed in only three of the clinical specimen inoculated media. The genotyped three species were Leishmania tropica, Leishmania infantum/donovani and Leishmania major. In this study, the importance of support for the diagnosis of different microbiological methods used in the diagnosis of leishmaniasis infection which occurred during the outbreaks of the disease has been put forward. In addition, it was aimed to draw attention to the importance of imported CL cases in our country diagnosed in five truck drivers making transportation from Hatay to Turkmenistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan

Clarifying the distinction between case series and cohort studies in systematic reviews of comparative studies: potential impact on body of evidence and workload

Abstract Distinguishing cohort studies from case series is difficult. We propose a conceptualization of cohort studies in systematic reviews of comparative studies. The main aim of this conceptualization is to clarify the distinction between cohort studies and case series. We discuss the potential impact of the proposed conceptualization on the body of evidence and workload. All studies with exposure-based sampling gather multiple exposures (with at least two different exposures or levels of exposure) and enable calculation of relative risks that should be considered cohort studies in systematic reviews, including non-randomized studies. The term “enables/can” means that a predefined analytic comparison is not a prerequisite (i.e., the absolute risks per group and/or a risk ratio are provided). Instead, all studies for which sufficient data are available for reanalysis to compare different exposures (e.g., sufficient data in the publication) are classified as cohort studies. There are possibly large numbers of studies without a comparison for the exposure of interest but that do provide the necessary data to calculate effect measures for a comparison. Consequently, more studies could be included in a systematic review. Therefore, on the one hand, the outlined approach can increase the confidence in effect estimates and the strengths of conclusions. On the other hand, the workload would increase (e.g., additional data extraction and risk of bias assessment, as well as reanalyses)