Differences In Quality Levels Research Articles

Merging Footwear Design and Functionality

Abstract Functionality and appearance are key aspects of good footwear. Developments in recent science and technology offer a wider scope of innovations, contributing to diversity and higher complexity of the production concept of footwear. Contemporary industrial footwear market offers a practically limitless number of new design and fashion solutions, often of quite similar appearance, but with significant differences in quality level, both regarding manufacture, raw material content, durability, and in some special functional finishes. The materials for footwear manufacture are functionalized for functional protective purposes, such as antimicrobial, waterproofing, fire resistant, wear and tear resistant, and recently for some therapeutical purposes. Novelties in material functionalization for the materials built in the footwear are most often promoted and presented on tags and labels and are used as advertisement issues, while some functionalities have become a logo for some brands.

Specific versus ad valorem taxes in the presence of cost and quality differences

We take into account the cost and product differences in an oligopolistic framework to examine the superiority of a specific tax versus an ad valorem tax. We obtain the following main results. First, given a fixed total output and assuming that both differences in quality levels and in marginal costs are arithmetic progressions, a specific tax can be superior to an ad valorem tax if the quality difference is larger than the marginal-cost difference. Second, provided that products differ in quality levels, in horizontal levels, and in terms of marginal costs, a rise in the difference in horizontal levels will enhance the superiority of a specific tax over an ad valorem tax. Third, the above two results remain valid, regardless of whether the mode of competition is Cournot or Bertrand. Finally, when the difference in quality levels is larger than the difference in marginal costs, not only is a specific tax welfare superior to an ad valorem tax, but the former also Pareto dominates the latter.

Robust NIRS models for non-destructive prediction of mango internal quality

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is increasingly being used with success in fruit supply chains for the non-destructive assessment of internal fruit quality. However, the prediction performance of NIRS was reported to be sensitive to changes in the pre- and post-harvest factors involved in fruit quality variations. This study attempted to establish robust NIRS models to predict mango internal quality, regardless of the conditions encountered by fruits on the tree and after harvest.A database involving mangoes (n=250) from different production years and orchards and which were harvested at different maturity stages and stored at different temperatures for various periods was used to characterize mango quality using NIRS. The large variations measured in mango total soluble solid (TSS) content, dry matter, flesh color and acidity ensured that the dataset considered in this study covered differences in quality levels that can be encountered for the mango cultivar studied. Variable selection procedures and pre-processing techniques were used to improve the performance of the Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) models that accurately predicted the mango quality traits studied, regardless of the origins and storage conditions. The root mean square errors in prediction (RMSEP) were 0.6°Brix, 1.4%, 5.9meq 100gFM−1 and 3.16°Brix for the TSS content, dry matter content, titratable acidity and the hue angle of flesh color, respectively.The results presented in this study confirmed that robust NIRS models can be developed to predict mango quality by considering the pre- and post-harvest factors involved in fruit quality. Further studies should assess the use of NIR spectra on fruits to address internal quality variation issues, as well as the ability of NIRS to predict fruit shelf life and eating quality at harvest.

On the question of how Web 2.0 features support critical map reading

Web 2.0 technologies enable users to produce and distribute their own content. The variety of motives for taking part in these communication processes leads to considerable differences in levels of quality. While social media contexts have developed features for evaluating contributions, user-generated maps frequently do not offer tools to question or examine the origin and elements of user-generated content. This paper discusses the effects of the integration of Web 2.0 features with web maps for critical and reflective map reading. The initial findings of a content analysis study of user-generated web maps show evidence of a lack of assessment tools. Based on this, I characterize a framework of debatable maps that might encourage critical map reading.

What Works Best, a Cemented or Cementless Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty?: Minimum 17-year Followup of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been associated with high survival rates, but debate remains concerning the best fixation mode of THA. We conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 250 patients with a mean age of 64 years between October 1987 and January 1992 to compare the results of cementless and cemented fixation. Patients were evaluated for revision of either of the components. One hundred twenty-seven patients had died (51%) and 12 (4.8%) were lost to followup. The minimum 17-year followup data (mean, 20 years; range, 17-21 years) for 52 patients of the cementless group and 41 patients of the cemented group were available for evaluation. Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis at 20 years revealed lower survival rates of cemented compared with cementless THA. The cementless tapered stem was associated with a survivorship of 99%. Age younger than 65 years and male gender were predictors of revision surgery. The efficacy of future RCTs can be enhanced by randomizing patients in specific patient cohorts stratified to age and gender in multicenter RCTs. Including only younger patients might improve the efficacy of a future RCT with smaller sample sizes being required. A minimum 10-year followup should be anticipated, but this can be expected to be longer if the difference in level of quality between the compared implants is smaller. Level I, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Scheduling projects with heterogeneous resources to meet time and quality objectives

In service organizations, heterogeneity in workforce skills can lead to variation in end-product/service quality. The multi-mode, resource-constrained, project scheduling problem (MRCPSP), which assumes similar skills among resources in a given resource pool, accounts for differences in quality levels of individuals by assigning different activity durations depending on the skill level used. This approach is often inadequate to model the problem type investigated here. Using typical projects from the customer training division of a large telecommunications company (which motivated this research), a labor assignment problem using a successive work–time concept is formulated and solved using integer programming optimization procedures. The setting represents a multiple-project environment where projects are separate and independent, but require the same renewable resource mix for their completion. The paper demonstrates how the output of the model can be used to identify bottlenecks (or critical resource skills), and also demonstrates how cross-training the appropriately skilled groups or individuals can increase throughput. The approach guides decision-making concerning which workers to cross-train in order to extract the greatest benefits from worker-flexibility.

The Heart in Haart: Quality of Life of Patients Enrolled in the Public Sector Antiretroviral Treatment Programme in the Free State Province of South Africa

This paper reports on the quality of life of patients enrolled in the public sector antiretroviral treatment programme in the Free State province of South Africa. Statistical analysis of cross-sectional data reveals that it is not access to treatment per se that enhances the quality of life of those who have come forward for ART. Rather, it is the health benefits associated with treatment, levels of stigmatisation, quality health care services, and the ability of persons to access support and care, both from within and outside the health care sector, that are independently associated with improvements in and differences in levels of quality of life.

Socioeconomic Characteristics as Incentives for Financial Reporting

The purpose of this paper is to put forward the relevant role that socioeconomic factors play as an incentive to increase the quality of accounting information. Although accounting regulation has traditionally been considered as the main determinant of the quality of corporate disclosures, recent empirical evidence shows that it also significantly affected by institutional factors as well as by the existence of additional incentives. This paper analyzes the importance of such incentives across 17 Spanish regions (Autonomous Communities). Our results suggest that differences in the socioeconomic level across regions - captured by a proxy for the level of education, culture and wealth of each Autonomous Community - induce differences in level of quality demanded for accounting disclosure. In sum, the socioeconomic level shows a positive and significant relationship with the degree of quality of financial disclosures in each region, as it induces better practices, and thus, a lower degree of manipulation of accounting information. The evidence presented here is robust after controlling for differences in size, ownership structure, profitability, industry weights and growth across regions, as well as for the endogeneity of the socioeconomic level and the effects of alternative conditional variables.

Measuring quality by process capability indices and the effects of non-normality

Process capability indices are widely used in the industry as part of TQM practices. The reliability of indices like Cp and Cpk depends on the assumption of a normal distribution that underlies the production process. Departures from normality, especially skewness and kurtosis, can lead to situations where a process with a high Cp such as 1.5, can yield lower levels of quality than expected. In this paper, we study the effects of departure from normality (measured in terms of third and fourth central moments) on process capability indices and estimate the difference in quality levels to be expected on account of such departures from normality.

Quality engineering in japan

For controlling quality of products, there are two things we have to consider; how to measure the quality and how to improve it. The former is discussed in section 2 by introducing the difference in quality levels between Japan and USA. After briefly introducing all countermeasures for improving quality of products, an on-line quality control system design is proposed as the one which is more economical than removing defec- tives after manufacturing by conducting inspection. It has been ma?y Japanese companies' policy to keep pro- cess conditions at best in order to produce uniform products as far as possible. This paper discusses the optimum feed-back process control system design by checking either quality characteristics or process pa- rameters after introducing overall quality countermea- sures starting with product design.

PRICE‐QUALITY RELATIONSHIPS FOR BEEF IN SMITHFIELD MARKET

Smithfield beef prices are regressed on quality measurements made on beef selling in Smithfield market. Optimal weight, conformation and fat levels are derived and the revenue foregone by not obtaining these optima is estimated for Scotch, English, Republic of Ireland and Northern Irish beef. For other quality characteristics Scotch beef is taken as the norm and the revenue foregone by not producing to Scotch standards is estimated for English, Republic of Ireland and Northern Irish beef. Differences in quality levels are found to explain only a relatively small proportion of the price gap which exists between Scotch beef and beef from the three other areas.