An evaluation of the significance and use of the K factor of yarn strength and its relation to raw-cotton quality.

Mode of access: Internet.

An application of factor analysis to water quality data /

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Assessing the quality of risk factor survey data: lessons from the WHO MONICA Project

Background and purpose Survey data quality is a combination of the representativeness of the sample, the accuracy and precision of measurements, data processing and management with several subcomponents in each. The purpose of this paper is to show how, in the final risk factor surveys of the WHO MONICA Project, information on data quality were obtained, quantified, and used in the analysis. Methods and results In the WHO MONICA (Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease) Project, the information about the data quality components was documented in retrospective quality assessment reports. On the basis of the documented information and the survey data, the quality of each data component was assessed and summarized using quality scores. The quality scores were used in sensitivity testing of the results both by excluding populations with low quality scores and by weighting the data by its quality scores. Conclusions Detailed documentation of all survey procedures with standardized protocols, training, and quality control are steps towards optimizing data quality. Quantifying data quality is a further step. Methods used in the WHO MONICA Project could be adopted to improve quality in other health surveys.

Visual functioning and health-related quality of life in diabetic patients about to undergo anti-vascular endothelial growth factor treatment for sight-threatening macular edema

Purpose To examine patient-reported outcome (PRO) in a selected group of Swedish patients about to receive anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment for diabetic macular edema (DME). Material and methods In this cross-sectional study, 59 patients with diabetes mellitus, who regularly visited the outpatient eye-clinics, were included. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and the patients completed PRO measures before starting anti-VEGF treatment. PRO measures assessed eye-specific outcomes (NEI-VFQ-25) and generic health-related quality of life (SF-36). Results The participants consisted of 30 men and 29 women (mean age, 68.5 years); 54 (92 %) patients had type 2 diabetes; Five (9%) patients had moderate or severe visual impairment; 28 (47 %) were classified as having mild visual impairment. Some of the patients reported overall problems in their daily lives, such as with social relationships, as well as problems with impaired sight as a result of reduced distance vision. Conclusions Further studies are needed to investigate PRO factors related to low perceived general health in this patient population. It is important to increase our understanding of such underlying mechanisms to promote improvements in the quality of patient care.

Employing the five-factor mentoring instrument : analysing mentoring practices for teaching primary science.

Primary science education is a concern around the world and quality mentoring within schools can develop preservice teachers’ practices. A five-factor model for mentoring has been identified, namely, personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, and feedback. Final-year preservice teachers (mentees, n=211) from three Turkish universities were administered a previously validated instrument to gather perceptions of their mentoring in primary science teaching. ANOVA indicated that each of these five factors was statistically significant (p<.001) with mean scale scores ranging from 3.36 to 4.12. Although mentees perceived their mentors to provide evaluation feedback (95%), model classroom management (88%), guide their preparation (96%), and outline the science curriculum (92%), the majority of mentors were perceived not to assist their mentees in 10 of the 34 survey items. Professional development programmes that target the specific needs of these mentors may further enhance mentoring practices for advancing primary science teaching.

Age-related differences in exercise and quality of life among breast cancer survivors

Purpose: Physical activity has become a focus of cancer recovery research as it has the potential to reduce treatment-related burden and optimize health-related quality of life (HRQoL). However, the potential for physical activity to influence recovery may be age-dependent. This paper describes physical activity levels and HRQoL among younger and older women after surgery for breast cancer and explores the correlates of physical inactivity. Methods: A population-based sample of breast cancer patients diagnosed in South-East Queensland, Australia, (n=287) were assessed once every three months, from 6 to 18 months post-surgery. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast questionnaire (FACTB+4) and items from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) questionnaire were used to measure HRQoL and physical activity, respectively. Physical activity was assigned metabolic equivalent task (MET) values, and categorized as < 3, 3 to 17.9 and 18+ MET-hours/weeks. Descriptive statistics, generalized linear models with age stratification (<50 years versus 50+ years), and logistic regression were used for analyses (p=0.05, two-tailed). Results: Younger women who engaged in 3 or more MET-hours/week of physical activity reported a higher HRQoL at 18 months compared to their more sedentary counterparts (p<0.05). Older women reported similar HRQoL irrespective of activity level and consistently reported clinically higher HRQoL than younger women. Increasing age, being overweight or obese, and restricting use of the treated side at six months post-surgery increased the likelihood of sedentary behavior (OR>3, p<0.05). Conclusions: Age influences the potential to observe HRQoL benefits related to physical activity participation. These results also provide relevant information for the design of exercise interventions for breast cancer survivors and highlights that some groups of women are at greater risk of long-term sedentary behavior.

Measuring building quality of shopping centres in Surabaya by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Quality has been an important factor for shopping centers in competitive conditions. However, quality measurement has no standard. In Surabaya, only two regional shopping centers will be measured in this research. The objective is assessing quality of shopping centers building using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and calculating the Building Quality Index. An overall ranking of Hierarchy priorities of quality criteria founded as a result from AHP analysis. Access and Circulation became the highest priority in affecting quality of shopping centers building according to respondents’ perception of quality. Weightened value as a result from comparison between two shopping centers as follows: Tunjungan Plaza get 0,732 point and Surabaya Plaza get 0,268 point. The first shopping center got higher weight than the second shopping center. The BQI for Tunjungan Plaza is 66% and for Surabaya Plaza is 64%.

A new multilevel converter configuration for high power and high quality applications

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) allows the presentation of theses for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the format of published or submitted papers, where such papers have been published, accepted or submitted during the period of candidature. This thesis is composed of ten published /submitted papers and book chapters of which nine have been published and one is under review. This project is financially supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant with the aim of investigating multilevel topologies for high quality and high power applications, with specific emphasis on renewable energy systems. The rapid evolution of renewable energy within the last several years has resulted in the design of efficient power converters suitable for medium and high-power applications such as wind turbine and photovoltaic (PV) systems. Today, the industrial trend is moving away from heavy and bulky passive components to power converter systems that use more and more semiconductor elements controlled by powerful processor systems. However, it is hard to connect the traditional converters to the high and medium voltage grids, as a single power switch cannot stand at high voltage. For these reasons, a new family of multilevel inverters has appeared as a solution for working with higher voltage levels. Besides this important feature, multilevel converters have the capability to generate stepped waveforms. Consequently, in comparison with conventional two-level inverters, they present lower switching losses, lower voltage stress across loads, lower electromagnetic interference (EMI) and higher quality output waveforms. These properties enable the connection of renewable energy sources directly to the grid without using expensive, bulky, heavy line transformers. Additionally, they minimize the size of the passive filter and increase the durability of electrical devices. However, multilevel converters have only been utilised in very particular applications, mainly due to the structural limitations, high cost and complexity of the multilevel converter system and control. New developments in the fields of power semiconductor switches and processors will favor the multilevel converters for many other fields of application. The main application for the multilevel converter presented in this work is the front-end power converter in renewable energy systems. Diode-clamped and cascade converters are the most common type of multilevel converters widely used in different renewable energy system applications. However, some drawbacks – such as capacitor voltage imbalance, number of components, and complexity of the control system – still exist, and these are investigated in the framework of this thesis. Various simulations using software simulation tools are undertaken and are used to study different cases. The feasibility of the developments is underlined with a series of experimental results. This thesis is divided into two main sections. The first section focuses on solving the capacitor voltage imbalance for a wide range of applications, and on decreasing the complexity of the control strategy on the inverter side. The idea of using sharing switches at the output structure of the DC-DC front-end converters is proposed to balance the series DC link capacitors. A new family of multioutput DC-DC converters is proposed for renewable energy systems connected to the DC link voltage of diode-clamped converters. The main objective of this type of converter is the sharing of the total output voltage into several series voltage levels using sharing switches. This solves the problems associated with capacitor voltage imbalance in diode-clamped multilevel converters. These converters adjust the variable and unregulated DC voltage generated by renewable energy systems (such as PV) to the desirable series multiple voltage levels at the inverter DC side. A multi-output boost (MOB) converter, with one inductor and series output voltage, is presented. This converter is suitable for renewable energy systems based on diode-clamped converters because it boosts the low output voltage and provides the series capacitor at the output side. A simple control strategy using cross voltage control with internal current loop is presented to obtain the desired voltage levels at the output voltage. The proposed topology and control strategy are validated by simulation and hardware results. Using the idea of voltage sharing switches, the circuit structure of different topologies of multi-output DC-DC converters – or multi-output voltage sharing (MOVS) converters – have been proposed. In order to verify the feasibility of this topology and its application, steady state and dynamic analyses have been carried out. Simulation and experiments using the proposed control strategy have verified the mathematical analysis. The second part of this thesis addresses the second problem of multilevel converters: the need to improve their quality with minimum cost and complexity. This is related to utilising asymmetrical multilevel topologies instead of conventional multilevel converters; this can increase the quality of output waveforms with a minimum number of components. It also allows for a reduction in the cost and complexity of systems while maintaining the same output quality, or for an increase in the quality while maintaining the same cost and complexity. Therefore, the asymmetrical configuration for two common types of multilevel converters – diode-clamped and cascade converters – is investigated. Also, as well as addressing the maximisation of the output voltage resolution, some technical issues – such as adjacent switching vectors – should be taken into account in asymmetrical multilevel configurations to keep the total harmonic distortion (THD) and switching losses to a minimum. Thus, the asymmetrical diode-clamped converter is proposed. An appropriate asymmetrical DC link arrangement is presented for four-level diode-clamped converters by keeping adjacent switching vectors. In this way, five-level inverter performance is achieved for the same level of complexity of the four-level inverter. Dealing with the capacitor voltage imbalance problem in asymmetrical diodeclamped converters has inspired the proposal for two different DC-DC topologies with a suitable control strategy. A Triple-Output Boost (TOB) converter and a Boost 3-Output Voltage Sharing (Boost-3OVS) converter connected to the four-level diode-clamped converter are proposed to arrange the proposed asymmetrical DC link for the high modulation indices and unity power factor. Cascade converters have shown their abilities and strengths in medium and high power applications. Using asymmetrical H-bridge inverters, more voltage levels can be generated in output voltage with the same number of components as the symmetrical converters. The concept of cascading multilevel H-bridge cells is used to propose a fifteen-level cascade inverter using a four-level H-bridge symmetrical diode-clamped converter, cascaded with classical two-level Hbridge inverters. A DC voltage ratio of cells is presented to obtain maximum voltage levels on output voltage, with adjacent switching vectors between all possible voltage levels; this can minimize the switching losses. This structure can save five isolated DC sources and twelve switches in comparison to conventional cascade converters with series two-level H bridge inverters. To increase the quality in presented hybrid topology with minimum number of components, a new cascade inverter is verified by cascading an asymmetrical four-level H-bridge diode-clamped inverter. An inverter with nineteen-level performance was achieved. This synthesizes more voltage levels with lower voltage and current THD, rather than using a symmetrical diode-clamped inverter with the same configuration and equivalent number of power components. Two different predictive current control methods for the switching states selection are proposed to minimise either losses or THD of voltage in hybrid converters. High voltage spikes at switching time in experimental results and investigation of a diode-clamped inverter structure raised another problem associated with high-level high voltage multilevel converters. Power switching components with fast switching, combined with hard switched-converters, produce high di/dt during turn off time. Thus, stray inductance of interconnections becomes an important issue and raises overvoltage and EMI issues correlated to the number of components. Planar busbar is a good candidate to reduce interconnection inductance in high power inverters compared with cables. The effect of different transient current loops on busbar physical structure of the high-voltage highlevel diode-clamped converters is highlighted. Design considerations of proper planar busbar are also presented to optimise the overall design of diode-clamped converters.

An alginate-based hybrid system for growth factor delivery in the functional repair of large bone defects

The treatment of challenging fractures and large osseous defects presents a formidable problem for orthopaedic surgeons. Tissue engineering/regenerative medicine approaches seek to solve this problem by delivering osteogenic signals within scaffolding biomaterials. In this study, we introduce a hybrid growth factor delivery system that consists of an electrospun nanofiber mesh tube for guiding bone regeneration combined with peptide-modified alginate hydrogel injected inside the tube for sustained growth factor release. We tested the ability of this system to deliver recombinant bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) for the repair of critically-sized segmental bone defects in a rat model. Longitudinal [mu]-CT analysis and torsional testing provided quantitative assessment of bone regeneration. Our results indicate that the hybrid delivery system resulted in consistent bony bridging of the challenging bone defects. However, in the absence of rhBMP-2, the use of nanofiber mesh tube and alginate did not result in substantial bone formation. Perforations in the nanofiber mesh accelerated the rhBMP-2 mediated bone repair, and resulted in functional restoration of the regenerated bone. [mu]-CT based angiography indicated that perforations did not significantly affect the revascularization of defects, suggesting that some other interaction with the tissue surrounding the defect such as improved infiltration of osteoprogenitor cells contributed to the observed differences in repair. Overall, our results indicate that the hybrid alginate/nanofiber mesh system is a promising growth factor delivery strategy for the repair of challenging bone injuries.

Talking the talk and walking the walk : how managers can influence the quality of work-life balance in a construction project

Purpose – The construction industry in Australia is characterised by a long work-hours culture, with conditions that make it difficult for staff to balance their work and non-work lives. The objective of this paper is to measure the success of a work-place intervention designed to improve work-life balance (WLB) in an alliance project in the construction industry, and the role the project manager plays in this success. Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on an alliance case study. Interviews were conducted at two points in time, several months apart, after the interventions were implemented. Findings – Results showed that staff on the whole were more satisfied with their work experience after the interventions, and indicated the important role that managers' attitudes and behaviours played. Originality/value – Managerial support for work-life initiatives is a critical element in achieving WLB and satisfaction with working arrangements. The fact that the manager “talked the talk and walked the walk” was a major contributing success factor, which has not previously been demonstrated.

Benchmarking clinical indicators of quality for Australian residential aged care facilities

To undertake exploratory benchmarking of a set of clinical indicators of quality care in residential care in Australia, data were collected from 107 residents within four medium-sized facilities (40–80 beds) in Brisbane, Australia. The proportion of residents in each sample facility with a particular clinical problem was compared with US Minimum Data Set quality indicator thresholds. Results demonstrated variability within and between clinical indicators, suggesting breadth of assessment using various clinical indicators of quality is an important factor when monitoring quality of care. More comprehensive and objective measures of quality of care would be of great assistance in determining and monitoring the effectiveness of residential aged care provision in Australia, particularly as demands for accountability by consumers and their families increase. What is known about the topic? The key to quality improvement is effective quality assessment, and one means of evaluating quality of care is through clinical outcomes. The Minimum Data Set quality indicators have been credited with improving quality in United States nursing homes. What does this paper add? The Clinical Care Indicators Tool was used to collect data on clinical outcomes, enabling comparison of data from a small Australian sample with American quality benchmarks to illustrate the utility of providing guidelines for interpretation. What are the implications for practitioners? Collecting and comparing clinical outcome data would enable practitioners to better understand the quality of care being provided and whether practices required review. The Clinical Care Indicator Tool could provide a comprehensive and systematic means of doing this, thus filling a gap in quality monitoring within Australian residential aged care.

An intelligent data mining technique for product quality improvement

Advances in data mining have provided techniques for automatically discovering underlying knowledge and extracting useful information from large volumes of data. Data mining offers tools for quick discovery of relationships, patterns and knowledge in large complex databases. Application of data mining to manufacturing is relatively limited mainly because of complexity of manufacturing data. Growing self organizing map (GSOM) algorithm has been proven to be an efficient algorithm to analyze unsupervised DNA data. However, it produced unsatisfactory clustering when used on some large manufacturing data. In this paper a data mining methodology has been proposed using a GSOM tool which was developed using a modified GSOM algorithm. The proposed method is used to generate clusters for good and faulty products from a manufacturing dataset. The clustering quality (CQ) measure proposed in the paper is used to evaluate the performance of the cluster maps. The paper also proposed an automatic identification of variables to find the most probable causative factor(s) that discriminate between good and faulty product by quickly examining the historical manufacturing data. The proposed method offers the manufacturers to smoothen the production flow and improve the quality of the products. Simulation results on small and large manufacturing data show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An examination of factors influencing effective and continuous improvement of Indonesian contractors' quality management systems

This paper presents the results of a pilot study examining the factors that impact most on the effective implementation of, and improvement to, Quality Mangement Sytems (QMSs) amongst Indonesian construction companies. Nine critical factors were identified from an extensive literature review, and a survey was conducted of 23 respondents from three specific groups (Quality Managers, Project Managers, and Site Engineers) undertaking work in the Indonesian infrastructure construction sector. The data has been analyzed initially using simple descriptive techniques. This study reveals that different groups within the sector have different opinions of the factors regardless of the degree of importance of each factor. However, the evaluation of construction project success and the incentive schemes for high performance staff, are the two factors that were considered very important by most of the respondents in all three groups. In terms of their assessment of tools for measuring contractor’s performance, additional QMS guidelines, techniques related to QMS practice provided by the Government, and benchmarking, a clear majority in each group regarded their usefulness as ‘of some importance’.

Luxury fashion: The role of innovation as a key contributing factor in the development of luxury fashion goods and sustainable fashion design

Luxury is a quality that is difficult to define as the historical concept of luxury appears to be both dynamic and culturally specific. The everyday definition explains a ‘luxury’ in relation to a necessity: a luxury (product or service) is defined as something that consumers want rather than need. However, the growth of global markets has seen a boom in what are now referred to as ‘luxury brands’. This branding of products as luxury has resulted in a change in the way consumers understand luxury goods and services. In their attempts to characterize a luxury brand, Fionda & Moore in their article “The anatomy of a Luxury Brand” summarize a range of critical conditions that are in addition to product branding “... including product and design attributes of quality, craftsmanship and innovative, creative and unique products” (Fionda & Moore, 2009). For the purposes of discussing fashion design however, quality and craftsmanship are inseparable while creativity and innovation exist under different conditions. The terms ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ are often used inter-changeably and are connected with most descriptions of the design process, defining ‘design’ and ‘fashion’ in many cases. Christian Marxt and Fredrik Hacklin identify this condition in their paper “Design, product development, innovation: all the same in the end?”(Marxt & Hacklin, 2005) and suggest that design communities should be aware that the distinction between these terms, whilst once quite definitive, is becoming narrow to a point where they will mean the same thing. In relation to theory building in the discipline this could pose significant problems. Brett Richards (2003) identifies innovation as different from creativity in that innovation aims to transform and implement rather than simply explore and invent. Considering this distinction, in particular relation to luxury branding, may affect the way in which design can contribute to a change in the way luxury fashion goods might be perceived in a polarised fashion market, namely suggesting that ‘luxury’ is what consumers need rather than the ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ fashion that the current market dynamic would indicate they want. This paper attempts to explore the role of innovation as a key contributing factor in luxury concepts, in particular the relationship between innovation and creativity, the conditions which enable innovation, the role of craftsmanship in innovation and design innovation in relation to luxury fashion products. An argument is presented that technological innovation can be demonstrated as a common factor in the development of luxury fashion product and that the connection between designer and maker will play an important role in the development of luxury fashion goods for a sustainable fashion industry.