RESUMO
In recent years, circular economy has become a matter of great importance because of its ability to contribute toward economic, environmental, and social aspects of the sustainability. The circular economy approaches help in resource conservation by reducing, reusing, and recycling products/parts/components/materials. On the other hand, Industry 4.0 is coupled with emerging technologies, which support the firms in efficient resource utilization. These innovative technologies can transform the present manufacturing organizations by reducing resource extraction, CO2 emissions, environmental damage, and power consumption and improve it into a more sustainable manufacturing organization. Industry 4.0 along with circular economy concepts greatly improves the circularity performance. However, there is no framework found for measuring the circularity performance of the firm. Therefore, the current study aims to develop a framework for measuring performance in terms of circularity percentage. In this work, graph theory and matrix approach are employed for measuring the performance based on a sustainable balanced scorecard such as internal process, learning and growth, customer and financial with environmental and social perspectives. A case of an Indian barrel manufacturing organization is discussed for the illustration of proposed methodology. Based on "circularity index" of the organization and the maximum possible circularity index, the circularity was found to be 5.10%. It indicates that there is a huge potential for the improvement in the circularity of the organization. An in-depth sensitivity analysis and comparison are also performed to validate the findings. There are very few studies on measuring the circularity. The study developed the approach for measuring circularity, which may be utilized by industrialists and practitioners for improving the circularity.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: There are no Indian data of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Being an alternative, still experimental modality, reporting short-term safety outcome is paramount. AIMS: This study was aimed at to assess the safety and short-term outcome in patients with prostate cancer treated by HIFU. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective study of case records of 30 patients undergoing HIFU between January 2008 to September 2010 was designed and conducted. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The procedural safety was analyzed at 3 months. Follow-up consisted of 3 monthly prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and transrectal biopsy if indicated. All the patients had a minimum follow-up of 6 months. RESULTS: A mean prostate volume of 26.9 ± 8.5 cm(3) was treated in a mean time of 115 ± 37.4 min. There was no intraoperative complication. The postoperative pain visual analogue score at day 0 was 2.1 ± 1.9 and at day 1 was 0.4 ± 0.8 on a scale of 1-10. Mean duration of perurethral catheter removal was 3.9 days. The complications after treatment were: LUTS in seven patients, stress incontinence in two, stricture in two, and symptomatic urinary tract infection in five. Average follow-up duration was 10.4 months (range, 6-20 months). Mean time to obtain PSA nadir was 6 ± 3 months with a median PSA nadir value of 0.3 ng/ml. Two patients had positive prostatic biopsy in the localized (high risk) group. CONCLUSIONS: HIFU was safe in carcinoma prostate patients. The short-term results were efficacious in localized disease. The low complication rates and favorable functional outcome support the planning of further larger studies.
