Preface

The Fourth Industrial Revolution that started less than a decade ago in Germany is taking the world by storm. In a report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines Industry 4.0 as: "… the use in industrial production of recent, and often interconnected, digital technologies that enable new and more efficient processes, and which in some cases yield new goods and services. The associated technologies are many, from developments in machine learning and data science, which permit increasingly autonomous and intelligent systems, to low-cost sensors which underpin the IoT, to new control devices that make second-generation industrial robotics possible" (OECD, 2017, p. 27). OECD thus addresses twelve so-called enabling technologies that are driving the core parts of the latest industrial revolution. These technologies range from big data and analytics to autonomous robots and synthetic biology to augmented reality and cloud computing, among others, assisted by the Internet of Things (IoT) and covering anything and everything in between.

For all technologies to "shake hands" with one another, digitalization is regarded as the main driver, with emphasis on the word "smart" in terms of producing sustainable products. In a 2016 study, the European Parliament 2016, [1] defined the primary features of this revolution:


It may be argued that the COVID-19 pandemic may inadvertently have contributed to an accelerated transition into digitalization in several sectors. The latter holds true for both developed and developing countries. In the former category, Greece experienced an increase of 18%, with Ireland, Hungary, and Romania following suit with 15%, whereas in the latter group, the United Arab Emirates led the way with an increase of 36%, followed by Thailand, Bahrain, and Uzbekistan. The 2021 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report claims that "…online purchases increased from 53% …to 60%." These percentages, however, are the result of statistics obtained from sixty-six countries [https://unctad.org/news/ covid-19-boost-e-commerce-sustained-2021-new-unctad-figures-show].

To further facilitate and safeguard quality levels, the term "quality 4.0" has been coined. Prof. J. Oakland stated that "…if properly defined and understood", quality 4.0 has the potential to link present-day advances with technological breakthroughs to foster customer expectations, requirements, and experiences.

This book provides a comprehensive review of quality control, illustrating its application in several different cases and scenarios. Chapter 1 introduces techniques relating to computing performance measures in aquatic environments to assist users in the monitoring process for evaluating environmental outcomes.

Nigeria possesses the largest road network in South Africa covering 195.000 km, of which approximately 30% (60.000Km) is paved [2]. Non-conformance to established guidelines and requirements results in failures that may either be gradual or sudden. Chapter 2 introduces the underlying physical processes involved in the gradual degradation of road pavements and recommends a set of actions.

The global textile industry, predominantly driven by China, was appraised at approximately US \$920 billion in 2018 and is estimated to exceed US \$1,230 billion by 2024. Turkey ranks fifth among the top ten textile exporters globally, achieving an export value of US \$11.9 billion in 2018. Chapter 3 presents a novel statistical approach pertaining to multiple-stream processes based on a spinning mill exercise.

According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 67.54% of Ethiopia's leather products were exported to the United States in 2018. In Europe, Germany, and Italy are regarded as the main leather import countries, representing 11.35% and 3.63% of exports, respectively. The export of raw hides and skins to Italy and China generates more than US \$446 million as foreign currency [United Nations, UNCTAD, National Green Export Review of Ethiopia: Leather and Sesame Seeds, 2018]. It is thus regarded as one of Ethiopia's main economic drivers. Despite considerable bottlenecks, further growth opportunities do exist. Chapter 4 discusses quality control aspects within the garment manufacturing sub-sector.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also referred to as additive layer manufacturing (ALM) is yet another term for three-dimensional printing. The use of fused deposition modelling (FDM) has found its way into a variety of industrial applications. However, problems still occur in FDM-specific processes and focus on the failure rate of printed items. To overcome this, Chapter 5 introduces a quality gate reference process including defined requirement criteria capable of being applied both in quality control and in situ process monitoring.

Major disruptions in logistics may lead to detrimental consequences in the supply chain. Although international trade recovered in 2021, the OECD argues in a 2022 report that "…the heterogeneity of trade impacts and changes in trade flows…" calls for the implication of risk mitigation measures and strategies. Early recognition and identification of potential problem areas minimize overall costs for returning the system to its normal operation. Chapter 6 analyzes the contribution of prevention costs to total costs.

Quality control equally applies to the food industry. Of particular interest is Africa because although food safety management systems are in place, the risk of microbiological and chemical contamination levels in most food products in Africa is still high. Chapter 7 describes the ISO22000 series of quality standards and recommends its implementation.

Network security is of paramount importance. The intrusion detection system (IDS) is a widely applied network tool for fostering network security management. Chapter 8 postulates that its use may be perplexing to users and elaborates on software interfaces and assessment procedures to appraise novel heuristics. In doing so, it presents new paths for assessing programmed usability.

Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology is widely applied for manufacturing a variety of products that incorporate integrated circuits. Currently applied methodologies utilize redundancy-based approaches to identify fault tolerance in multi-core scenarios. Based on several implications, Chapter 9 introduces a novel multi-core system.

Concrete build structures are subjected to periodic quality control assessment, as structural problems may have detrimental effects on safety, stability, and integrity. The use of advanced technological means assists in effectively identifying defects while minimizing future repair-specific costs. Chapter 10 introduces a computer vision-based automated crack inspection technique that is applied to a structure in Hong Kong.

The COVID-19 outbreak led to increased use of digital communication means with companies and academia, among others, intensifying work-from-home distancelearning schemes. Chapter 11 discusses the development and usage of electronic teaching technologies in a technical university and addresses the stages and structures thereof.

Numerous scientific papers have addressed the terms quality, quality control, and (total) quality management in businesses worldwide, resulting in the optimization of processes and techniques alike while facilitating the development of new tools and fostering product innovations. Chapter 12 explores the effects of learning capability and innovation on quality management-specific organizational performance.

Finally, Chapter 13 investigates artificial intelligence (AI) deployment for the purposes of safeguarding the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). It presents an analysis of the various security challenges confronted by IoT systems as well as a comparative study of recommended AI categories.

> **Dr. Leo D. Kounis** Hellenic Ministry of Defense, Telecommunications and Informatics Battalion, Athens, Greece
