OBJECTIVE: The goal of this review is to provide sleep physicians, dentists, and researchers with an evidence-based overview of the literature on smart mandibular advancement devices (MADs) for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted by two blinded reviewers and an information specialist. A smart MAD was defined as any MAD with additional functionality besides mandibular protrusion. The bibliographic databases Medline, Embase, and Scopus were used to identify relevant publications. Studies were included if they described any stage of development of smart MADs. A total of 3162 titles and abstracts were screened for their relevance. In total, 58 articles were selected for full-text screening, 26 of which were included in this review.
RESULTS: The overall quality of the available literature was low. Most of the studies were observational, clinical or applied-research articles. The authors classified MADs into two main groups: passive and active. Passive MADs measured patient data, most commonly patient compliance. Active MADs adjusted protrusion of the mandible in response to patient data and were found in various phases of technological readiness (in development, demonstration, or deployment).
CONCLUSIONS: Innovations in smart mandibular advancement devices most frequently track patient compliance. Devices measuring other health parameters and active, feedback-controlled, devices are increasingly reported on. However, studies demonstrating their added benefit over traditional methods remain sparse. With further study, smart mandibular advancement devices have the potential to improve the efficiency of obstructive sleep apnea treatment and provide new treatment possibilities.

The study focuses on mixed plastics waste (MPW), whose complex and unpredictable composition (due to high polymer heterogeneity, additives, and contaminants) makes its valorisation a true technical, environmental, economic, and regulatory challenge. Chemical recycling by means of advanced thermochemical treatments (ATT) could be a successful strategy, able to support the transition from a carbon intensive to a carbon negative sector, and alternative to the current treatments of energy recovery or mechanical downcycling. Some of these ATTs provide an efficient recovery of valuable resources, such as fuels and chemicals, but their role is mainly limited by time necessary to complete the process optimization and implement the required infrastructures. A reliable identification of the best alternatives is thus crucial. A specific LCA approach quantifies the environmental performances of a selected set of ATT technologies for resource recovery from MPW. It includes plastics-to-energy, by combustion or gasification; plastics-to-methane and plastics-to-hydrogen, by gasification; and plastics-to-oil, by thermal pyrolysis. The results highlight the crucial role of carbon capture and storage (CCS) units, which partially reduces that of the specific thermochemical treatment. The best performances, particularly for Climate Change category, are those of the MPW-to-hydrogen by gasification, followed by those of MPW-to-energy by combustion or gasification, all equipped with CCS. The sensitivity analysis considers the evolution of the European energy mix, characterised by a larger utilisation of renewable energy sources, and highlights the corresponding increased sustainability of chemical recycling by ATTs. This suggests that the MPW dilemma should be definitively solved in a close future.

Process sustainability has been one of the most challenging issues faced by process designers. Conceptual designed processes do not overcome this stage because aspects such as context and technological readiness level are left aside. This paper proposes a strategy to consider different processing routes for biomass (compendium of existing routes) towards sustainable development. The strategy comprises five stages where a supported bioprocesses selection is made by considering the chemical composition of the raw material and the context where biomass is produced and processed. This strategy aims to give decision tools to designers to filter and reduce the number of options to be considered when proposing an alternative biomass use. The proposed strategy was applied to upgrade orange peel waste and sugarcane bagasse to demonstrate how it can be applied. In conclusion, selecting of bioprocesses and considering the proposed strategycould improve the biorefineries design. Even so, more bioprocesses must be included.