Evaluation of process capability indices of linear profiles

Purpose: In profile monitoring, which is a growing research area in the field of statistical process control, the relationship between response and explanatory variables is monitored over time. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the process capability analysis of linear profiles. Process capability indices give a quick indication of the capability of a manufacturing process. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the proportion of the non-conformance criteria is employed to estimate process capability index. The paper has considered the cases where specification limits is constant or is a function of explanatory variable X. Moreover, cases where both equal and random design schemes in profile data acquisition is required (as the explanatory variable) is considered. Profiles with the assumption of deterministic design points are usually used in the calibration applications. However, there are other applications where design points within a profile would be i.i.d. random variables from a given distribution. Findings: Simulation studies using simple linear profile processes for both fixed and random explanatory variable with constant and functional specification limits are considered to assess the efficacy of the proposed method. Originality/value: There are many cases in industries such as semiconductor industries where quality characteristics are in form of profiles. There is no method in the literature to analyze process capability for theses processes, however recently quite a few methods have been presented in monitoring profiles. Proposed methods provide a framework for quality engineers and production engineers to evaluate and analyze capability of the profile processes. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

The prevalence and selected characteristics of non-fatal opioid overdoses attended by ambulance in Australia

Key Points
1. Ambulance attendance at non-fatal opioid overdose is a common event in mainland Australia (among heroin users in particular).
2. The monthly rate of non-fatal opioid overdose attended by ambulance was generally highest in Victoria (Melbourne) followed by NSW with the rates substantially lower in the remaining mainland states over the period Jan  1999 - Feb 2001.
3. Non-fatal opioid overdose victims were most likely to be male in all states with the proportion of males highest in Victoria (77%).
4. Non-fatal opioid overdose victims were aged around 28 years with ages lowest in WA (26) and highest in NSW (30).
5. The rates of transportation varied according to ambulance service practice across the states with around 94% of cases transported in WA and around 19% and 30% of cases transported in Melbourne and NSW respectively.

Boomerang effects of gambling warnings exposed to non-problem gamblers

Gambling is the most popular form of entertainment in most markets where it is legal. The
industry has embraced technology and is a growing category online and through mobile
platforms. Governments throughout the world worry about the product when gambling is
more widely available and more private to play. Warnings for problem gambling have long
been used in land-based gambling venues but online gambling often does not have this
remedy. In addition, non-problem gamblers make up about 99% of gamblers but little
research has tested their reaction to warnings. An online casino was developed to test
warnings and found that a significant proportion of non-problem gamblers gambled more
frequently after exposure to the warnings. Because increased frequency of gambling is one symptom of problem gambling, the implications of these findings are discussed in terms of future remedies for consumers that have problems with gambling products.

Estimating the proportion of metabolic health outcomes attributable to obesity: a cross-sectional exploration of body mass index and waist circumference combinations

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggests that a substantial subgroup of the population who have a high-risk waist circumference (WC) do not have an obese body mass index (BMI). This study aimed to explore whether including those with a non-obese BMI but high risk WC as 'obese' improves prediction of adiposity-related metabolic outcomes.

METHODS: Eleven thousand, two hundred forty-seven participants were recruited. Height, weight and WC were measured. Ten thousand, six hundred fifty-nine participants with complete data were included. Adiposity categories were defined as: BMI(N)/WC(N), BMI(N)/WC(O), BMI(O)/WC(N), and BMI(O)/WC(O) (N = non-obese and O = obese). Population attributable fraction, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and odds ratios (OR) were calculated.

RESULTS: Participants were on average 48 years old and 50 % were men. The proportions of BMI(N)/WC(N), BMI(N)/WC(O), BMI(O)/WC(N) and BMI(O)/WC(O) were 68, 12, 2 and 18 %, respectively. A lower proportion of diabetes was attributable to obesity defined using BMI alone compared to BMI and WC combined (32 % vs 47 %). AUC for diabetes was also lower when obesity was defined using BMI alone (0.62 vs 0.66). Similar results were observed for all outcomes. The odds for hypertension, dyslipidaemia, diabetes and CVD were increased for those with BMI(N)/WC(O) (OR range 1.8-2.7) and BMI(O)/WC(O) (OR 1.9-4.9) compared to those with BMI(N)/WC(N).

CONCLUSIONS: Current population monitoring, assessing obesity by BMI only, misses a proportion of the population who are at increased health risk through excess adiposity. Improved identification of those at increased health risk needs to be considered for better prioritisation of policy and resources.

Quantifying the proportion of deaths due to body mass index- and waist circumference-defined obesity

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk of mortality associated with and quantify the deaths attributable to combinations of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). METHODS: This study included 41,439 participants. For the hazard ratio (HR) calculation, adiposity categories were defined as: BMI(N) /WC(N) , BMI(N) /WC(O) , BMI(O) /WC(N) , and BMI(O) /WC(O) (N = non-obese, O = obese). For the population attributable fraction analysis, obesity was classified as: (i) obese by BMI and/or WC; (ii) obese by BMI; and (iii) obese by WC. Mortality data was complete to the end of 2012. RESULTS: The prevalence of BMI(N) /WC(N) , BMI(N) /WC(O) , BMI(O) /WC(N) , and BMI(O) /WC(O) was 73%, 6%, 6%, and 15%, respectively. There was an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in those with BMI(N) /WC(O) (HR (95% CI) 1.2 (1.2, 1.3) and 1.3 (1.1, 1.6)) and BMI(O) /WC(O) (1.3 (1.3, 1.4) and 1.7 (1.5, 1.9)) compared to those with BMI(N) /WC(N) . The estimated proportion of all-cause and CVD mortality attributable to obesity defined using WC or using BMI and/or WC was higher compared to obesity defined using BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Current population obesity monitoring misses those with BMI(N) /WC(O) who are at increased risk of mortality. By targeting reductions in population WC, the potential exists to prevent more deaths in the population than if we continue to target reductions in BMI alone.

Health care-associated native valve endocarditis: importance of non-nosocomial acquisition.

BACKGROUND: The clinical profile and outcome of nosocomial and non-nosocomial health care-associated native valve endocarditis are not well defined. OBJECTIVE: To compare the characteristics and outcomes of community-associated and nosocomial and non-nosocomial health care-associated native valve endocarditis. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: 61 hospitals in 28 countries. PATIENTS: Patients with definite native valve endocarditis and no history of injection drug use who were enrolled in the ICE-PCS (International Collaboration on Endocarditis Prospective Cohort Study) from June 2000 to August 2005. MEASUREMENTS: Clinical and echocardiographic findings, microbiology, complications, and mortality. RESULTS: Health care-associated native valve endocarditis was present in 557 (34%) of 1622 patients (303 with nosocomial infection [54%] and 254 with non-nosocomial infection [46%]). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common cause of health care-associated infection (nosocomial, 47%; non-nosocomial, 42%; P = 0.30); a high proportion of patients had methicillin-resistant S. aureus (nosocomial, 57%; non-nosocomial, 41%; P = 0.014). Fewer patients with health care-associated native valve endocarditis had cardiac surgery (41% vs. 51% of community-associated cases; P < 0.001), but more of the former patients died (25% vs. 13%; P < 0.001). Multivariable analysis confirmed greater mortality associated with health care-associated native valve endocarditis (incidence risk ratio, 1.28 [95% CI, 1.02 to 1.59]). LIMITATIONS: Patients were treated at hospitals with cardiac surgery programs. The results may not be generalizable to patients receiving care in other types of facilities or to those with prosthetic valves or past injection drug use. CONCLUSION: More than one third of cases of native valve endocarditis in non-injection drug users involve contact with health care, and non-nosocomial infection is common, especially in the United States. Clinicians should recognize that outpatients with extensive out-of-hospital health care contacts who develop endocarditis have clinical characteristics and outcomes similar to those of patients with nosocomial infection. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Investment opportunities and leverage: some Australian evidence on the role of board monitoring and director equity ownership

This paper tests the hypothesis that the negative relationship between investment opportunity set (IOS) and debt is moderated by board monitoring and director equity ownership. According to contracting theory, firms with high growth opportunities (high IOS) are associated with lower levels of debt as a result of the asset substitution and the under-investment problem. However, our hypotheses test the conjecture that the negative debt / IOS relationship will be moderated by the proportion of non-executive directors (NEDs) on the board and director equity ownership. NEDs provide higher monitoring which reduces management discretion while director equity ownership provides incentives for managers to maximize the value of the firm. More specifically, we expect that high growth firms with a higher proportion of non-executive directors and director equity ownership are less likely to be associated with asset substitution and under investment. Thus, the negative investment opportunity set / debt relationship will be weaker for firms with higher levels of non-executive directors and high director equity ownership. Data collected from Australian companies support both these two hypotheses. Results have significant implications for corporate finance theory.

Four by two theory of non-profit museum governance

As plainly illustrated by the collapse of Enron in the US and HIH in Australia, the world of organisational governance is complicated. In response to ongoing trustee tensions, legislative reforms have been adapted to encourage organisational performance. However, limited theoretical foundation exists regarding how trustee dynamics are forced to adjust within non-profit museums. The trustee’s world requires insights from different mindsets to be synthesised into a whole. The purpose of this article is to examine the research conducted on governance and apply it to the non-profit museum. The article contends that most research on governance has been conducted in the for-profit arena, with little robust empirical research having been conducted on non-profit governance. It identifies concerns with the thrust of articles published as they restrict new theory development. The article provides a four by two theory of non-profit museum governance, that is characterised by close interaction with the research published and application to the non-profit museum. It concludes by demonstrating the increased performance opportunity of a model to the non-profit museum seeking to be accountable in an increasingly complex and demanding environment.

The effect of events context on children's recall of non-experienced events across mutiple interviews

Purpose: The current study examined whether young children's willingness to assent to, and provide details about, a false (non-experienced) activity differs depending on whether the activity was allegedly embedded within (a) a specific event or (b) a broad (non-specified) time frame.
Method:  Ninety-nine children aged 4--5 years (from both low and high socioeconomic backgrounds) either (a) participated in a staged event that consisted of two activities or (b) did not participate in the staged event. One or two days later, all children were given false suggestions about a non-experienced (false) activity that had either high or low plausibility. Approximately 8, 15, and 22 days after the event, children were asked to recall the activities, and to answer a series of specific cued-recall questions.
Results: There was no effect of event context on assent rates, and the rate at which children reported interviewer suggestions. However, children who participated in the staged event provided fewer details about the false activity. Further, among those children who assented to the false activity, fewer subjects, objects, actions, temporal markers, locations, fantastic/improbable details, and confabulation errors were reported when the activity was embedded within the specific staged event.
Conclusion: The degree of error in children's accounts of a completely false activity is reduced when the activity is suggested to have occurred within a specified event as opposed to a broad (non-specified) time frame.

"Who 'curls up' with Ulyses? a study of non-conscripted readers of Joyce"

This article presents a study of non-conscripted readers of the journal "James Joyce Quarterly". In Who Reads "Ulysses," Julie Sloan Brannon demonstrates the mobilization of academic opinions disempowering the common reader. From a survey conducted in 2003-2004, the respondents had read Joyce's works for a long time since they were considered modern classics and because of Joyce's iconoclasm and reputation for obscenity. Some considers its texts as cultural capital which is independent of its literariness.

Density based fuzzy c-means clustering of non-convex patterns

We propose a new technique to perform unsupervised data classification (clustering) based on density induced metric and non-smooth optimization. Our goal is to automatically recognize multidimensional clusters of non-convex shape. We present a modification of the fuzzy c-means algorithm, which uses the data induced metric, defined with the help of Delaunay triangulation. We detail computation of the distances in such a metric using graph algorithms. To find optimal positions of cluster prototypes we employ the discrete gradient method of non-smooth optimization. The new clustering method is capable to identify non-convex overlapped d-dimensional clusters.

Fuzzy clustering of non-convex patterns using global optimization

This paper discusses various extensions of the classical within-group sum of squared errors functional, routinely used as the clustering criterion. Fuzzy c-means algorithm is extended to the case when clusters have irregular shapes, by representing the clusters with more than one prototype. The resulting minimization problem is non-convex and non-smooth. A recently developed cutting angle method of global optimization is applied to this difficult problem

Parallelization of the discrete gradient method of non-smooth optimization and its applications

We investigate parallelization and performance of the discrete gradient method of nonsmooth optimization. This derivative free method is shown to be an effective optimization tool, able to skip many shallow local minima of nonconvex nondifferentiable objective functions. Although this is a sequential iterative method, we were able to parallelize critical steps of the algorithm, and this lead to a significant improvement in performance on multiprocessor computer clusters. We applied this method to a difficult polyatomic clusters problem in computational chemistry, and found this method to outperform other algorithms.