Quality Assurance Improvement Research Articles

Chemometric analysis for river water quality assessment at the intake of drinking water treatment plants

Most of the Mediterranean rivers are suffering the effects of industrial, urban and mining discharges, as well as a reduction in water quantity and quality. Additionally, due to the Mediterranean climate, the natural water resource availability is periodically lower than the water demand in the area. Operation of drinking water plants in these geographical areas needs advanced process control systems where real-time and in-line water quality monitoring tools are key components. Data sets with parameters generated by monitoring sensors and from laboratory analysis are used to reveal the main factors that characterize water quality. Chemometric tools like Principal Component Analysis (PCA) can be used to explore and analyze correlations among different physicochemical and microbiological parameters with the aim to assess the river water quality at the water intake of drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs). Strong seasonal trends in the organic and inorganic matter contents and unusual events in the raw river water quality at the DWTP water intake are revealed. Organic and inorganic patterns are then associated with climatological, meteorological and industrial pollution circumstances typical for the geographical region under study. In addition, microbiological events can be detected at the water intake of DWTP which may occur simultaneously with increasing water contents of organic matter, especially at the beginning of rainfall episodes. The application of PCA on sensors data in the water intake at DWTPs offers new possibilities for improved quality assurance and control procedures for DWTP management and its strategy.

National platform for Rare Diseases Data Registry of Japan.

IntroductionIn Japan, there are approximately 300 projects conducting research on rare diseases supported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (MHLW) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). Diverse data, including clinical, genomic, and sample‐related data, are generated by these projects. However, at present, such data are managed individually by each project. This makes it difficult for third parties to ascertain the data generated by projects.MethodsAgain this background, at the beginning of 2017, the AMED started the National Platform for Rare Diseases Data Registry of Japan (RADDAR‐J), whose mission is to construct a cross‐sectional data integration platform incorporating projects supported by the AMED and MHLW. RADDAR‐J promotes data sharing by the projects in accordance with the data‐sharing policy established by the AMED, which classifies data sharing into three categories based on the strategies used to protect the rights of researchers while promoting data sharing. RADDAR‐J integrates and analyzes data shared by each project to add value to the resources and promote secondary use by third parties while protecting the rights of the researchers who shared their data. The platform is designed to provide incentives to projects that shared their data by supporting registry construction or genomic analysis to promote data sharing. RADDAR‐J also has the function of data identification to securely integrate data originating from the same person. RADDAR‐J accelerates clinical research by encouraging each project to utilize a central ethics committee.Results/ConclusionThe use of the platform by projects is expected to lead to streamlined data collection, improved quality assurance, improved access to data, and promotion of joint research and the secondary use of shared data. These benefits will accelerate research into diagnosis and treatment technologies and will hopefully lead to improved quality of life for patients with rare diseases.

Impacto de una estrategia de mejora de calidad asistencial y gestión de riesgos en un servicio de urgencias pediátricas

IntroductionEmergency departments are a high risk area for the occurrence of adverse events. The aim of this study is to analyse the impact of a strategy to improve the quality assurance and risk management in the notification of incidents in our Unit, and describe the improvement actions developed from the reported incidents. Material and methodsA retrospective observational study was developed during one year, divided into two periods: P1 (Start: training session and implementation of the risk management process), and P2 (Start: feed-back session of incidents reported in P1 and improvement actions developed). In each period, the number of reported incidents in relation to the number of emergencies attended (‰) and the descriptive data of each incident were recorded. The improvement actions developed from the incidents reported in P1 were described. ResultsThe number of notifications from P1 (4.1‰; 95%CI 3.2-5.0‰) increased in P2 (10.9‰; 95%CI 9.8-10.2‰, P<.001). The most frequent incidents in P1 were medication (33.3%), and identification errors (25.9%): both were significantly reduced in P2 (16.9%, P=.001 and 9.3%, P<.001, respectively). In P2, prescription errors of the P1 were reduced (35.9% vs 62.9%, P=.02). The factors of “Knowledge and training” (23.5%) were the most frequent in P1, decreasing in P2 (7.4%, P<.001). ConclusionIt is considered that the implementation of a risk management process, and the promotion of a safety culture, through training and feed-back sessions to all professionals, contributed to increase the volume of notifications in our Unit. The voluntary and anonymous reporting of incidents is useful to identify risks, and plan corrective measures, contributing to improve quality assurance and patient safety.

Study of health and safety in the manufacturing industry using Pareto analysis

The present paper carries out a study on health and safety in the manufacturing industry. The health and safety is analyzed for industrial workers in Brasov county for the years 2017 and 2018. The analysis is based on data for work related accidents and the processing was made using the Pareto Analysis. By complying with the 80/20 rule, it can be focused on the analysis of the 20% of the causes of work accidents that account for 80% of the total work accidents analyzed. Finally, it is presented which actions that can be taken to reduce accidents based on the analysis of the specific stages. After applying the Pareto Analysis in the year 2018 are obtained satisfactory results compared to the year 2017, thus optimizing the performance of the industrial activity in terms of health and safety and improve Quality Assurance in Industrial Manufacturing.

OP91 Developing A Celtic Connections Regional Health Technology Assessment Alliance

IntroductionThe Irish, Scottish and Welsh national Health Technology Assessment (HTA) bodies (Health Information and Quality Authority, Health Technology Assessment Group, Scottish Health Technologies Group, Health Technology Wales) have recently (2018) established a ‘Celtic connections’ regional HTA alliance on non-medicine technologies. The primary purpose is to add value by realizing potential economies of scale and scope in non-medicine HTA efforts.MethodsA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was agreed to: formalize collaboration and partnership working; improve shared understanding of work programs and processes; collaborate on and co-produce evidence reviews of mutual interest; increase both the volume and range of technology topics for which advice is developed in each nation; promote knowledge exchange; and enhance professional and personal development for each agency's staff.ResultsEarly benefits include: collaboration on one technology topic resulting in the production of bespoke guidance in three countries; an update of a partner's rapid review; identification of a further potential topic collaboration (sacral nerve stimulation); a six month senior staff secondment; and reciprocal observer membership on each country's national committees. Other general benefits have included: reduced duplication of effort; improved quality assurance through ‘critical friend’ peer review; enhanced access to methodological advice and a broader range of stakeholders; and development of a forum for discussion and peer support.ConclusionsThe alliance offers real potential to optimize use of the scarce resources for non-medicine technologies across the three countries and increase evidence review and guidance volume through adapting or co-producing outputs. Longer term benefits are anticipated to include: improved knowledge exchange; advancing skills of staff; building and broadening capacity through shared learning and access to a wider professional peer group; improved staff recruitment and retention; production of joint publications and other modes of dissemination; and increased profile for each country's work.

Investigating the Factors Affecting Quality Assurance in E-Learning

Background: Universities and institutes of higher education are always regarded as centers for thinking and disseminating sciences. To improve the scientific quality of such centers, direct their intellectual, religious, and political movements, and ensure that they fulfill their responsibilities and maintain their dynamism, the programs pursued by such centers should undergo constant quality assurance. The major objectives of e-learning are reducing costs, increasing accessibility, and improving quality. The concept of quality, however, is still a challenging issue in electronic and virtual courses and requires lots of research. Despite numerous assessments of e-learning from different perspectives, many experts believe that no comprehensive study has focused on e-learning quality assessment. Thus, the current study was an attempt to conduct a systematic and scientific research with the aim of offering scientific and executive suggestions for improving quality assurance in e-learning in those centers that are implementing or have offered to implement this type of learning. Method: This study adopted a comparative approach by studying papers through case-review. Then, the factors related to quality assurance were extracted, coded, summarized, and combined. Subsequently, using case analysis table, the main factors for e-learning quality assurance were identified. Results: Overall, 27 factors that are related to e-learning were identified and were subsequently reduced to nine factors using case analysis table and summarization and categorization of factors with similar themes. Conclusion: Establishing a proper structure to assess quality is one of the main factors leading to success in assuring quality in higher education. To this end, a suitable organizational structure should be created to assess and improve e-learning educational system. In this study we aimed to identify the main factors influencing e-learning quality assurance. At the end, nine factors were identified. Keywords: E-LEARNING, QUALITY ASSURANCE, FACTORS

Dose reconstruction from PET images in carbon ion therapy: a deconvolution approach

Dose and range verification have become important tools to bring carbon ion therapy to a higher level of confidence in clinical applications. Positron emission tomography is among the most commonly used approaches for this purpose and relies on the creation of positron emitting nuclei in nuclear interactions of the primary ions with tissue. Predictions of these positron emitter distributions are usually obtained from time-consuming Monte Carlo simulations or measurements from previous treatment fractions, and their comparison to the current, measured image allows for treatment verification. Still, a direct comparison of planned and delivered dose would be highly desirable, since the dose is the quantity of interest in radiation therapy and its confirmation improves quality assurance in carbon ion therapy.In this work, we present a deconvolution approach to predict dose distributions from PET images in carbon ion therapy. Under the assumption that the one-dimensional PET distribution is described by a convolution of the depth dose distribution and a filter kernel, an evolutionary algorithm is introduced to perform the reverse step and predict the depth dose distribution from a measured PET distribution. Filter kernels are obtained from either a library or are created for any given situation on-the-fly, using predictions of the -decay and depth dose distributions, and the very same evolutionary algorithm.The applicability of this approach is demonstrated for monoenergetic and polyenergetic carbon ion irradiation of homogeneous and heterogeneous solid phantoms as well as a patient computed tomography image, using Monte Carlo simulated distributions and measured in-beam PET data. Carbon ion ranges are predicted within less than 0.5 mm and 1 mm deviation for simulated and measured distributions, respectively.

How the quality of essential medicines is perceived and maintained through the pharmaceutical supply chain: A perspective from stakeholders in Nigeria.

Limited access to essential medicines for maternal and child health is a preventable cause of pregnancy-related deaths. This remains a predominant challenge in Nigeria, where sub-standard and falsified medications have historically been associated with maternal mortality. An in-depth understanding of perceptions surrounding quality assurance of essential medicines is pertinent for developing effective and sustainable interventions. To examine stakeholder perspectives on quality control of essential medicines for maternal and child health, while characterizing pharmaceutical distribution of medicines in Nigeria. Key informant interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 26 participants between January and June 2018. Eligible participants included: pharmacists, pharmaceutical sales representatives (pharm reps), supply chain employees of pharmaceutical industries and regulatory agency personnel, working in the public or private health sector in either of the four states: Lagos, Enugu, Imo or Port-Harcourt. A 6-item survey was administered to collect demographic information on the participants. This was followed by 15 semi-structured questions to gather qualitative data on the subject matter. Verifying vendor credibility and use of identifiable regulatory markers were the most common methods adopted by pharmacists and pharm reps with the intent to control quality of medicines. Key challenges in assuring quality included: inefficiency of regulatory agencies, illicit sales of prescription medicines by patent medicine vendors, existence of open markets and failed policy implementation. While pharmacists and pharm reps solicited improved regulations and policy implementation; NAFDAC personnel primarily recommended an increased government funding to improve their efficiency. Beyond stakeholder recommendations, a fervent and consistent commitment on the part of the government is needed to improve quality assurance in Nigeria's pharmaceutical system. Public-private partnerships should be explored to address funding limitations to quality assurance. Future studies need to examine challenges and opportunities surrounding policy implementation, and regulatory enforcement in pharmaceutical distribution.

Accreditation, setting and experience as indicators to assure quality in oncology biomarker testing laboratories

BackgroundPredictive biomarkers allow clinicians to optimise cancer treatment decisions. Therefore, molecular biomarker test results need to be accurate and swiftly available. To ensure quality of oncology biomarker testing, external quality assessments (EQA) for somatic variant analyses were organised. This study hypothesised whether laboratory characteristics influence the performance of laboratories and whether these can be imposed before authorisation of biomarker testing.MethodsLongitudinal EQA data from the European Society of Pathology were available over six (metastatic colorectal cancer) and four years (non-small cell lung cancer), including the percentage of analysis errors and technical failures, and information on laboratory characteristics (accreditation status, laboratory setting, number of samples analysed and detection method). Statistical models for repeated measurements were used to analyse the association between the EQA results and the laboratory characteristics.ResultsLaboratory accreditation was associated with fewer analysis errors in early stages of biomarker introduction into the laboratory. Analysing more samples, or university and research laboratories showed better performance. Changing the detection method did not have an effect.ConclusionThe indicators support the clinicians in choosing molecular pathology laboratories by improving quality assurance and guaranteeing patient safety. Accreditation of laboratories, centralisation of biomarker testing or a university and research setting should be stimulated.

I208] Annual quality assurance testing of radiological equipment: Why is this an important task of the MPE?

Purpose Often the role of the medical physicist in radiology is restricted to a quick annual test of the X-ray devices against set standards. Next to this, the medical physicist should perform many other tasks, such as optimization and justification. Aim of the lecture is to explain why Annual Quality Assurance testing of radiological equipment is an important task of the MPE: a complete series of tests next to a careful may point to the needs for system specific optimizations. This lecture selects material from the EUTEMPE-RX, module 6, devoted to improved Quality Assurance (for new equipment or when standards are insufficient to guarantee good practice). Methods Discuss the difference between testing the ‘acceptability’ of radiological devices and verification of the complete imaging chain. Illustrate how the annual QA test can be used to learn about the equipment and its use, to measure the (application specific) system performance and to launch optimization processes. Results Better awareness of what can be done by the MPE at the occasion of the annual QA test should lead to better annual test protocols that will help guarantee the optimized use of radiation. Conclusions It is important to perform relevant tests, to focus on the radiological tasks performed with a device and test accordingly, to verify the complete imaging chain (up to the visualization of the digital image), to compare to peers and to communicate with the imaging team at several occasions.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf: The Perceptions of Reporting Near Misses in the Radiation Therapy Program

This study was conducted to determine the current state of reporting near misses and the effectiveness of the reporting system within the radiation therapy program at our institution. A literature review was performed to guide the synthesis of interview questions in evaluating the state of reporting near misses at our institution. One-on- one semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventeen radiation therapists regarding their perceptions of near misses and their opinions of the reporting systems. The interviews were conducted with the primary investigator and participant, audiotaped, and passed through a mixer to ensure anonymity. Each interview was transcribed and the data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. To increase validity, a co-investigator conducted an independent blinded thematic analysis. The themes which were present and reoccurring between participants were gathered and discussed. The perception of interviewees is that reporting near misses is integral to a good practice; awareness, prevention of future near misses, correction and improvement of QA were listed as reasons that near misses should be reported. The data suggest participants understand that near misses and errors may occur at any point of the planning to treatment process. Additionally, the results demonstrated recurrent barriers from reporting near misses, such as the lack of impact, the format of the reporting system, lack of time, and fear from others. Participants concluded that the current monthly staff meetings with discussion of error reports were effective and helpful. However, participants felt that it could be improved in various ways, such as changes in the meeting format, incorporation of written records, and immediate notifications. The results of this study emphasized the importance of reporting near misses within the radiation therapy program at a large, academic, Canadian Cancer Centre. In addition, the participants acknowledged potential barriers that may prevent other radiation therapists from reporting near misses. Future studies should investigate various ways to eliminate the barriers of reporting near misses and better educate radiation therapists on how reporting and discussing near misses can improve quality assurance programs.

Statistical Modeling for Quality Assurance of Human Papillomavirus DNA Batch Testing.

Our objective was to simulate the distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA test results from a 96-well microplate assay to identify results that may be consistent with well-to-well contamination, enabling programs to apply specific quality assurance parameters. For this modeling study, we designed an algorithm that generated the analysis population of 900,000 to simulate the results of 10,000 microplate assays, assuming discrete HPV prevalences of 12%, 13%, 14%, 15%, and 16%. Using binomial draws, the algorithm created a vector of results for each prevalence and reassembled them into 96-well matrices for results distribution analysis of the number of positive cells and number and size of cell clusters (≥2 positive cells horizontally or vertically adjacent) per matrix. For simulation conditions of 12% and 16% HPV prevalence, 95% of the matrices displayed the following characteristics: 5 to 17 and 8 to 22 total positive cells, 0 to 4 and 0 to 5 positive cell clusters, and largest cluster sizes of up to 5 and up to 6 positive cells, respectively. Our results suggest that screening programs in regions with an oncogenic HPV prevalence of 12% to 16% can expect 5 to 22 positive results per microplate in approximately 95% of assays and 0 to 5 positive results clusters with no cluster larger than 6 positive results. Results consistently outside of these ranges deviate from what is statistically expected and could be the result of well-to-well contamination. Our results provide guidance that laboratories can use to identify microplates suspicious for well-to-well contamination, enabling improved quality assurance.

The Belgian commitment to pharmaceutical quality: a model policy to improve quality assurance of medicines available through humanitarian and development programs

Today, a combination of globalization of pharmaceutical production, lack of regulatory harmonization, and weakness of Medicines Regulatory Authorities, creates the “perfect conditions” for poor-quality medicine to circulate in the global market and to penetrate the less-regulated countries. Medicines regulation is the responsibility of the national regulatory authorities in the recipient country, but in the poorer countries, in practice, the responsibility of supply of quality-assured medicines is often taken by Non-Governmental Organizations and other implementers. But with some notable exceptions, many donors lack a pharmaceutical procurement policy with adequate quality requirements; and many implementers lack the skills and expertise needed to orient themselves in the complex web of global pharmaceutical supply. Thus, patients served by humanitarian or development programs may remain exposed to the risk of poor-quality medicines.When public money is used to purchase medicines for medical programs to be carried out overseas, adequate policies should be in place to assure that the same quality requirements are set that would be required for medicines marketed in the “donor” country.We will describe here a policy recently adopted in Belgium, i.e. the “Commitment to Quality Assurance for Pharmaceutical Products”, signed in October 2017 by the Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation and 19 Belgian implementing agencies. By signing the new policy, the counterparts committed to ensure quality of medicines in the programs funded by Belgium’s Official Development Assistance, and to build quality-assurance capacity in the recipient countries. Implementers are requested to integrate in their financing applications a section for pharmaceutical quality assurance, with a justified budget. They are also invited to consider how costs could be rationalized and mutualized by aligning the strengths of the various implementers. This model policy has the potential to be considered for adoption by other donors, to help to reduce the current multiple standards in pharmaceutical quality, and to contribute to protect vulnerable communities from the plague of poor-quality medicines.

The Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016)

Background and purposeThe Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016), a Japanese-specific set of clinical practice guidelines for sepsis and septic shock created jointly by the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, was first released in February 2017 and published in the Journal of JSICM, [2017; Volume 24 (supplement 2)] https://doi.org/10.3918/jsicm.24S0001 and Journal of Japanese Association for Acute Medicine [2017; Volume 28, (supplement 1)] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jja2.2017.28.issue-S1/issuetoc.This abridged English edition of the J-SSCG 2016 was produced with permission from the Japanese Association of Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Intensive Care Medicine.MethodsMembers of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine were selected and organized into 19 committee members and 52 working group members. The guidelines were prepared in accordance with the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) creation procedures. The Academic Guidelines Promotion Team was organized to oversee and provide academic support to the respective activities allocated to each Guideline Creation Team. To improve quality assurance and workflow transparency, a mutual peer review system was established, and discussions within each team were open to the public. Public comments were collected once after the initial formulation of a clinical question (CQ) and twice during the review of the final draft. Recommendations were determined to have been adopted after obtaining support from a two-thirds (> 66.6%) majority vote of each of the 19 committee members.ResultsA total of 87 CQs were selected among 19 clinical areas, including pediatric topics and several other important areas not covered in the first edition of the Japanese guidelines (J-SSCG 2012). The approval rate obtained through committee voting, in addition to ratings of the strengths of the recommendation, and its supporting evidence were also added to each recommendation statement. We conducted meta-analyses for 29 CQs. Thirty-seven CQs contained recommendations in the form of an expert consensus due to insufficient evidence. No recommendations were provided for five CQs.ConclusionsBased on the evidence gathered, we were able to formulate Japanese-specific clinical practice guidelines that are tailored to the Japanese context in a highly transparent manner. These guidelines can easily be used not only by specialists, but also by non-specialists, general clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, clinical engineers, and other healthcare professionals.

Technological CAD/CAM chain for automated polishing of geometrically complex workpieces

Despite recent advances in automation technology, geometrically complex workpieces are still often finished manually. An example for this is the post-processing of dental prostheses, which display exceptionally high surface requirements. Aiming for an improved quality assurance, this article presents a methodology for an adaptive tool path planning for polishing of geometrically complex workpieces. For this purpose, the initial roughness of the workpiece is determined using a machine-integrated measuring system. Next, suitable process parameters are selected based on machine knowledge and the adapted NC code of the polishing process is generated and simulated. The results of the simulation and the actual polishing process are compared afterwards and transformed into process knowledge. Thus, the adaption of the process parameters and the quality of the simulation are continuously improved. The article highlights the implementation of the methodology with special emphasis on the selection of the process parameters.

The Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J-SSCG 2016).

Background and PurposeThe Japanese Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2016 (J‐SSCG 2016), a Japanese‐specific set of clinical practice guidelines for sepsis and septic shock created jointly by the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine, was first released in February 2017 in Japanese. An English‐language version of these guidelines was created based on the contents of the original Japanese‐language version.MethodsMembers of the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine were selected and organized into 19 committee members and 52 working group members. The guidelines were prepared in accordance with the Medical Information Network Distribution Service (Minds) creation procedures. The Academic Guidelines Promotion Team was organized to oversee and provide academic support to the respective activities allocated to each Guideline Creation Team. To improve quality assurance and workflow transparency, a mutual peer review system was established, and discussions within each team were open to the public. Public comments were collected once after the initial formulation of a clinical question (CQ), and twice during the review of the final draft. Recommendations were determined to have been adopted after obtaining support from a two‐thirds (>66.6%) majority vote of each of the 19 committee members.ResultsA total of 87 CQs were selected among 19 clinical areas, including pediatric topics and several other important areas not covered in the first edition of the Japanese guidelines (J‐SSCG 2012). The approval rate obtained through committee voting, in addition to ratings of the strengths of the recommendation and its supporting evidence were also added to each recommendation statement. We conducted meta‐analyses for 29 CQs. Thirty seven CQs contained recommendations in the form of an expert consensus due to insufficient evidence. No recommendations were provided for 5 CQs.ConclusionsBased on the evidence gathered, we were able to formulate Japanese‐specific clinical practice guidelines that are tailored to the Japanese context in a highly transparent manner. These guidelines can easily be used not only by specialists, but also by non‐specialists, general clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, clinical engineers, and other healthcare professionals.

EVALUATION OF QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

This study is to investigate the implementation of the evaluation program of quality assurance State Islamic High School Curup. This study design is evaluative survey. In this study, the level of implementation of the evaluation results are divided into five categories, namely: excellent, good, average, less, much less. The results of the evaluation study the implementation of quality assurance programs included in both categories. Program quality assurance Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Curup necessary to repair all fronts, this can be illustrated as follows: (1) Basic policy program quality assurance, (2) resource program quality assurance, (3) implementation of the guarantee program, (4) Results the achievement of a quality assurance program. The results of the study suggested the central quality assurance to be able to follow up on some of the findings, especially concerning the quality assurance program resources, training and dissemination of quality, and implement improved quality assurance program so that the process of quality assurance programs to be more effective.Keywords : Evaluation, Implementation of the quality program, CIPP

EVALUATION OF QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM

This study is to investigate the implementation of the evaluation program of quality assurance State Islamic High School Curup. This study design is evaluative survey. In this study, the level of implementation of the evaluation results are divided into five categories, namely: excellent, good, average, less, much less. The results of the evaluation study the implementation of quality assurance programs included in both categories. Program quality assurance Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Curup necessary to repair all fronts, this can be illustrated as follows: (1) Basic policy program quality assurance, (2) resource program quality assurance, (3) implementation of the guarantee program, (4) Results the achievement of a quality assurance program. The results of the study suggested the central quality assurance to be able to follow up on some of the findings, especially concerning the quality assurance program resources, training and dissemination of quality, and implement improved quality assurance program so that the process of quality assurance programs to be more effective.Keywords : Evaluation, Implementation of the quality program, CIPP

Data Mining as a Tool for Quality Assurance in HLIs : Experience from Dissertation Evaluation Process at UDSM

This paper seeks to better understand how data mining can be used to improve quality assurance system in HLIs in Tanzania. A time series analysis of 133 pairs of examiners’ reports from the University of Dar es Salaam Business School (UDBS) was conducted. The analyses covered reports of three years from year 2014 to 2016. Analysis of means and correlation analysis were performed. In addition, content analysis of overall recommendations and comments provided by examiners was done. The results suggest that assessment reports contain useful information that could serve purpose other than awarding grades to students. The information contained could be used to inform future decisions geared to improving supervision, assessment and teaching in HLIs.

Subsurface metrology using scanning white light interferometry: absolute z coordinates deep inside displays.

Mobile devices with interactive displays are ubiquitous commodities. Efficient quality control (QC) drives competitiveness. Scanning white light interferometry imaging offers a fast and nondestructive tool for QC purposes. Relying on optical compensation and image stitching, one can rapidly and cost-effectively produce sharp 3D images of a display's inner structures with a few nanometers' accuracy along the z direction. As a practical example, 3D images of a mobile device display revealed 0.92±0.02 μm height variation in the top glass assembly. The proposed method improves quality assurance methods of display manufacturing.