Poor Quality Control Research Articles

Cadastral development in Norway: the need for improvement

Cadastral systems provide important information for the public and private sectors. To understand the functions and impacts of a cadastral system one needs to understand its development. The Norwegian cadastral system has its origins in the 1600s and is defined as a German-style cadastral system. In the early 1800s, an economic survey was initiated in the kingdom of Denmark-Norway to modernise the tax cadastres. After the defeat in the Napoleonic wars, Norway entered into a union with Sweden in 1814 and the survey was stopped. Consequently, cadastral mapping would not be introduced in Norway until 1960, and at that time photogrammetric methods with poor quality control were used. Land subdivisions were undertaken by laymen until 1980. The paper describes cadastral development in Norway, challenges that have arisen and how they can be addressed. Measures to improve the system are proposed.

State of the art review: Strengthening of reinforced and pre-stressed concrete beams using externally bonded technique

Corrosion or other types of degradation caused by aging, etc. under environmental influences, poor routine maintenance leads to deterioration of concrete structures, which required repairing of these structures. In addition,structures, which needs to increase load carrying capacity because of changing usage, or considering some ofdesign and construction defects due to poor quality control, must strengthened. So studying the effect of different methods of strengthening is very important. Using of fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) is one of the more widely accepted methods for strengthening and repairing of reinforced concrete (RC) and prestressed concrete structural elements. FRP had a number of benefit characteristic such as lightweight due to low density, easy handling, high strength, high stiffness and high corrosion resistance, which make it durability and require less maintenance.

P.043 Cannabis treatment in children with epilepsy: practices and attitudes of neurologists in Canada

Background: Cannabis has been shown to be an effective therapy for epilepsy in children with Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Despite the fact that many pediatric epilepsy patients across Canada are currently being treated with cannabis, little is known about pediatric neurologists’ attitudes towards it. Methods: A 26-item online survey was distributed to 148 pediatric neurologists across Canada. Results: 56/148 neurologists responded and reported that over 600 children with epilepsy are currently taking cannabinoids. 34% of neurologists authorized cannabis to children, 38% referred children for authorization, and 29% did not authorize or refer their patients. Of those neurologists who referred, 76% referred to a community-based non-neurologist. The majority of physicians authorized cannabis to patients with Dravet syndrome (68%) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (64%). Cannabis was never authorized as a first-line treatment. 54% of neurologists stated that their patients were taking CBD alone, despite this option not being available in Canada. All physicians reported having at least one hesitation regarding cannabis, the most common ones being poor evidence (66%), poor quality control (52%), and cost (50%). Conclusions: The majority of Canadian pediatric neurologists use cannabis as a treatment for epilepsy in children. However, there appear to be knowledge gaps and hesitations.

The Task of Definition of Nonconformity of the Emergency Response plan Level for the Emergency Level

An analysis of accidents at oil and gas processing facilities was carried out. It is shown that one of the main organizational reasons for emergencies is a poor-quality control over compliance with the industrial safety requirements. An assessment of the accident level compliance at the level of operating personnel and emergency formations was carried out. To improve the effectiveness of personnel, a mathematical method is proposed for processing the actions under the emergency response assistance plan and their automatic categorization at levels “A” and “B”. The mathematical model of the emergency response assistance plan categorization was obtained by evaluating the informativeness of the parameters using the Kullback’s measure. The developed model of an automatic categorization made it possible to identify a situation in which the actions of the personnel were at one level, and the emergency response assistance plan was of a lower level. Conclusions are drawn on the need to review the level of the emergency response assistance plan. To verify the efficiency of the model, a calculation for an additional group of emergency response assistance plans was carried out. Conclusions are drawn about the application possibility of this model in determining the level of an emergency situation.

Coup de Grâce for a Tough Old Bull: “Statistically Significant” Expires

ABSTRACT Many controversies in statistics are due primarily or solely to poor quality control in journals, bad statistical textbooks, bad teaching, unclear writing, and lack of knowledge of the historical literature. One way to improve the practice of statistics and resolve these issues is to do what initiators of the 2016 ASA statement did: take one issue at a time, have extensive discussions about the issue among statisticians of diverse backgrounds and perspectives and eventually develop and publish a broadly supported consensus on that issue. Upon completion of this task, we then move on to deal with another core issue in the same way. We propose as the next project a process that might lead quickly to a strong consensus that the term “statistically significant” and all its cognates and symbolic adjuncts be disallowed in the scientific literature except where focus is on the history of statistics and its philosophies and methodologies. Calculation and presentation of accurate p-values will often remain highly desirable though not obligatory. Supplementary materials for this article are available online in the form of an appendix listing the names and institutions of 48 other statisticians and scientists who endorse the principal propositions put forward here.

An FNLP Approach for Planning Energy-efficient Manufacturing: Wafer Fabrication as an Example

Energy efficiency is a key manufacturing goal. This paper propose a novel fuzzy nonlinear programming (FNLP) approach to production planning to minimize energy wastage due to poor quality control. Manufacturing is modeled a fuzzy yield learning process to quantify energy savings for each specific product, and these values can be summed to produce total power consumption for the factory. Finally, the proposed FNLP approach formulates and solves a FNLP problem to minimize the total energy consumption in the factory by optimizing the product mix. Some theoretical properties of the proposed FNLP approach are discussed. A wafer fab is used as an example to illustrate the applicability of the proposed FNLP approach, with experimental results showing a potential reduction of 17.2% of total power consumption by optimizing the product mix.

Adulterants and Contaminants in Psychotropic Herbal Medicines Detected with Mass Spectrometry and Next-Generation DNA Sequencing

The role of herbal medicine in the treatment of common psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and insomnia has become more established over the past decade. Some herbal preparations such as St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) have demonstrated clinical evidence but have also been included in recent reports of widespread adulteration and contamination. Herbal medicines sold in Australia are required to be listed on the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and must comply with strict ingredient and manufacturing guidelines to assure quality and safety. The aim of this research was to assess whether pharmaceutical adulterants and contaminants were present in psychotropic herbal medicines available in Australia, as a measure of quality, and the effectiveness of regulation. A two-pronged approach combining next-generation DNA sequencing and small-molecule analysis techniques was undertaken to audit a subset of herbal medicines for the presence of prescription medications, illicit drugs, pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals and contaminant DNA. Small-molecule analysis included liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (LC-QTOF-MS) detection, liquid chromatography with UV/vis diode array (LC-UV) detection, gas chromatography with nitrogen–phosphorus and mass spectrometer detection (GC-NPD/MS) and heavy metal analysis using inductively coupled plasma with mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) detection. In total, 49% (29 of 59) of the investigated herbal medicines had one or more materials not listed on their labels or ARTG registration, including Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)-listed material (one medicine), heavy metals (12%) or components that could trigger food sensitivity, such as wheat (12%). In contrast to previous studies, no prescription pharmaceutical adulterants were detected, although 10% had undeclared caffeine. Twenty-four percent of herbal medicines had DNA from animal species, including mice and bats, indicating poor quality control. The surveyed herbal medicines included both traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) and Western herbals. Ninety-four percent of TCMs were contaminated or adulterated, compared with 37% of the Western herbals. Only two of the 59 samples contained the listed active ingredient(s) without additional adulterants and contaminants, or missing ingredients. The high levels of contamination found in this study suggests that closer surveillance of herbal medicines is needed in order to assure the required level of quality of herbal medicines available in Australia. The results suggest that the TGA’s low-/high-risk system for regulation coupled with post-market auditing is not keeping unapproved and/or unsafe herbal medicines from the market.

Perceived Challenges in Implementing Integrated Project Delivery (IPD): Insights from Stakeholders in the U.S. and Canada for a Path Forward

ABSTRACTConventional project delivery in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry is plagued by: cost over-runs, delayed delivery, and poor quality control. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) seeks to improve project outcomes by fostering collaboration among key stakeholders through shared risks and rewards as well as early and sustained engagement. The objective of this study is to identify the challenges in implementing IPD by drawing on 39 semi-structured interviews with owners, constructors and designers. 90+% of respondents reported challenges in: (1) sustaining a collaborative environment, (2) dealing with the operating environment, (3) selecting the right team, (4) embedding IPD concepts, and (5) making sound and timely decisions. These observations were insensitive to level of IPD experience. Detailed analysis of stakeholder experiences led to four key insights for improved implementation of IPD: (a) focus on partnership capability in IPD team selection; (b) empower IPD team members and establish a flatter organizational structure; (c) bridge the knowledge gap on IPD concepts and their implementation; and (d) establish a balance between efficient resource allocation and collaboration. More generally, this study shows that IPD will not succeed by principles alone. It requires cultural change in the AEC industry and rethinking project planning and management.

Risk Impact on Agri-Food Supply Chain Performance in Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the key risk components (probability and consequence) and their respective thresholds affecting agri-food supply chain operations in Malaysia. In addition, it seeks to understand the relationship between the major risk sources and to fathom the risk/disruption impact on agri-food supply chain performance in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – Cross-sectional survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The risks threshold associated with agri-food supply chain were categorized using the risk matrix scale and classification described in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (Project Management Institute, 2013). Next, the Pearson correlation was used to understand the relationship between the various risks and agri-food chain performance. Lastly, to investigate how firms’ supply chain operations have been affected by risks/disruptions, an ordinary least square regression model was employed to quantify the impact of some major risk sources on agri-food chain performance in Malaysia. Findings – The results in this paper show variations in risks’ probability, impact and threshold in agri-food supply chain. While risk sources such as periodic change in interest/exchange rate policies and volatility in customer demand are high-rated risks, uncertain land policies/tenure and poor quality control are low rated risks in the operations of the chain. The performance of the agri-food chain significantly but negatively correlates with all the major risks studied. Whereas demand, supply, weather, logistics/infrastructure and financial risk sources significantly undermined the chain’s performance, risks emerging from biological/ environmental, management/operational, policy/regulations and political-related issues insignificantly affect the performance of agri-food supply chain in Malaysia. Research limitations/implications – This research is an area biased. However, some insightful managerial implications can be drawn from this paper to manage agri-food chain operations in a similar unstable environment. The result implies that risks are inevitable in agri-food chain but they differ in terms of menace to the chain’s operation. Therefore, tomanage agri-food supply chain risks effectively, managers should periodically identify, quantify and categorize risk sources before making risk response decisions. In addition, the results show that risks account for about half of the overall agri-food chain performance in Malaysia. This infers that managers/ practitioners could improve the performance of the agri-food chain if limited resources are allocated to plan and effectively respond to major risks sources (such as demand, supply, finance, weather and logistical/ infrastructural services-related risks) undermining the performance of the chain. Originality/value – This research contributes to the agri-food chain risk literature and provides managers/ practitioners with empirical evidence of risk thresholds and their corresponding major impact on agri-food chain’s performance. Since risks explained about half of agri-food chain performance in Malaysia, this research would prompt decision makers to improve on their risk assessment and responds (e.g. by employing efficient demand, supply and weather forecasting systems, logistic/infrastructure services, hedge to finance, etc.) to improve the chain’s performance.

Cancer Cell-Derived, Drug-Loaded Nanovesicles Induced by Sulfhydryl-Blocking for Effective and Safe Cancer Therapy.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) pose great promise as therapeutic carriers due to their ideal size range and intrinsic biocompatibility. Limited scalability, poor quality control during production, and cumbersome isolation and purification processes have caused major setbacks in the progression of EV therapeutics to the clinic. Here, we overcome these setbacks by preparing cell-derived nanovesicles induced by sulfhydryl-blocking (NIbS), in the desirable size range for therapeutic delivery, that can be further loaded with the chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin (DOX), resulting in NIbS/DOX. Applicable to most cell types, this chemical blebbing approach enables efficient, quick, and simple harvest and purification as well as easily scalable production. Cellular uptake and intracellular release of DOX was improved using NIbS/DOX compared to a liposomal formulation. We also confirmed that in tumor-challenged C57BL/6 mice NIbS/DOX significantly slowed tumor growth and led to improved survival compared to treatment with free drug or liposomal drug. NIbS are a promising therapeutic carrier for improving cancer treatment outcomes since they are easy to prepare at a large scale, good candidates for drug loading, and capable of efficient administration of therapeutic agents with avoided nonspecific major distribution in vital organs. In addition, the utility of NIbS can be easily expanded to immunotherapy, gene therapy, and cell therapy when they are derived from applicable cell types.

Para-probiotics for Preterm Neonates-The Next Frontier.

Current evidence supports the use of probiotics in preterm neonates for prevention of necrotizing enterocolitis, mortality and late onset sepsis. Despite the strong evidence, the uptake of this intervention has not been universal due to concerns including probiotic sepsis, pro-inflammatory response and transmission of antibiotic resistance. Critically ill extremely preterm neonates with potentially compromised gut integrity are at higher risk of probiotic sepsis due to translocation. In most countries, probiotics are sold as food supplements with poor quality control. The traditional definition of probiotics as “live microorganisms” has been challenged as many experts have questioned the importance of viability in the context of the beneficial effects of probiotics. Paraprobiotics (ghost probiotics), are defined as non-viable microbial cells (intact or broken) or crude cell extracts (i.e., with complex chemical composition), which, when administered (orally or topically) in adequate amounts, confer a benefit on the human or animal consumer. Current evidence indicates that paraprobiotics could be safe alternatives to probiotics in preterm neonates. High-quality pre-clinical and clinical studies including adequately powered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are warranted in preterm neonates to explore this new frontier.

Autophagy as an emerging target in cardiorenal metabolic disease: From pathophysiology to management.

Although advances in medical technology and health care have improved the early diagnosis and management for cardiorenal metabolic disorders, the prevalence of obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and kidney disease remains high. Findings from numerous population-based studies, clinical trials, and experimental evidence have consolidated a number of theories for the pathogenesis of cardiorenal metabolic anomalies including resistance to the metabolic action of insulin, abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism, oxidative and nitrosative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, apoptosis, mitochondrial damage, and inflammation. Accumulating evidence has recently suggested a pivotal role for proteotoxicity, the unfavorable effects of poor protein quality control, in the pathophysiology of metabolic dysregulation and related cardiovascular complications. The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy-lysosomal pathways, two major although distinct cellular clearance machineries, govern protein quality control by degradation and clearance of long-lived or damaged proteins and organelles. Ample evidence has depicted an important role for protein quality control, particularly autophagy, in the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis. To this end, autophagy offers promising targets for novel strategies to prevent and treat cardiorenal metabolic diseases. Targeting autophagy using pharmacological or natural agents exhibits exciting new strategies for the growing problem of cardiorenal metabolic disorders.

On the completeness of scenario identification in process hazard analysis (PHA)

Process hazard analysis is used to identify hazard scenarios so that the adequacy of process safeguards in protecting against incidents can be addressed. Of course, it is unlikely that this objective can be achieved with an incomplete set of scenarios. Also, scenarios from PHA are used as the basis for risk analysis studies such as LOPA and QRA which depend on having a complete set of scenarios to avoid underestimation of risk. Consequently, PHA studies should strive to identify hazard scenarios as completely as possible. The completeness of scenario identification is the most important issue for PHA. Missed scenarios can equate to the occurrence of incidents.The ability to achieve the identification of a complete set of hazard scenarios is limited by a number of factors. They include technical constraints posed by PHA methods and practices, human behaviors during PHA study sessions, and poor quality assurance and control in conducting studies. The latter arises from both external factors that adversely impact PHA team performance and internal factors that detract from the effectiveness of studies. This article identifies and discusses these factors and makes recommendations on how they can best be managed.

Bacteriological Screening of Paediatric Cough Syrups Marketed Within Port Harcourt Metropolis, South-South Nigeria

Non-adherence to good manufacturing practice alongside improper handling during dispensing, packaging and inadequate post-marketing surveillance of pharmaceutical products accounts to product’s deterioration reduced therapeutic effect and adversely affects patient’s safety especially the paediatrics. This study evaluates the microbiological quality of various brands of paediatric cough syrups marketed and used within Port Harcourt metropolis. Twenty cough syrup brands were experimented on in duplicate, coded as USS and UNS (used and unused respectively). They were subjected to organoleptic assessment, pH, viscosity, total aerobic viable count, as well as resistance- susceptibility test of isolates using standard conventional techniques. Results showed viscosity value of 0.22 - 9.09 Pascal seconds (Pa.s), pH values of 3.13 - 8.34 across the UNS and USS categories respectively. While 80% of the UNS cough syrup samples were free from potential microbial threat, 20% fraction and all USS cough syrup (100%) samples were contaminated with objectionable microorganisms and non- compliant with USP permissible limit. The potentially pathogenic isolates were Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, demonstrating varied resistance pattern to exposed antibiotic categories. Microbial contamination might have been caused by poor quality control and improper handling of the products during use. This calls for more stringent measures during product manufacturing and handling to ensure patient’s safety and forestall possible transference of resistance strain.

Risks associated with lamotrigine prescription: a review and personal observations.

To detail some serious lamotrigine side effects and their management, and raise awareness about the possible lack of quality control of some brands of lamotrigine. A literature review is provided and some personal observations added. While most psychiatrists are aware of the risks of Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), awareness of two other serious side effects - toxic epidermal necrosis (TEN) and drug-related eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) - is seemingly lower. Awareness that failure to respond to lamotrigine and that the prevalence of serious side effects may reflect poor quality control of some preparations is also less well recognized. While lamotrigine may be retrialled at a lower dose escalation rate following some skin reactions, it should not be recommenced following a SJS, TEN or DRESS reaction. Prescribers should be aware of quality control concerns about some available brands of lamotrigine.

Quality control process improvement of flexible printed circuit board by FMEA

This research focuses on the quality control process improvement of Flexible Printed Circuit Board (FPCB), centred around model 7-Flex, by using Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) method to decrease proportion of defective finished goods that are found at the final inspection process. Due to a number of defective units that were found at the final inspection process, high scraps may be escaped to customers. The problem comes from poor quality control process which is not efficient enough to filter defective products from in-process because there is no In-Process Quality Control (IPQC) or sampling inspection in the process. Therefore, the quality control process has to be improved by setting inspection gates and IPCQs at critical processes in order to filter the defective products. The critical processes are analysed by the FMEA method. IPQC is used for detecting defective products and reducing chances of defective finished goods escaped to the customers. Reducing proportion of defective finished goods also decreases scrap cost because finished goods incur higher scrap cost than work in-process. Moreover, defective products that are found during process can reflect the abnormal processes; therefore, engineers and operators should timely solve the problems. Improved quality control was implemented for 7-Flex production lines from July 2017 to September 2017. The result shows decreasing of the average proportion of defective finished goods and the average of Customer Manufacturers Lot Reject Rate (%LRR of CMs) equal to 4.5% and 4.1% respectively. Furthermore, cost saving of this quality control process equals to 100K Baht.

PROTOCOL: Efficacy and effectiveness of micronutrient supplementation and fortification interventions on the health and nutritional status of children under-five in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PROTOCOL: Efficacy and effectiveness of micronutrient supplementation and fortification interventions on the health and nutritional status of children under-five in low and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

Supply chain quality management: An investigation in the Chinese construction industry

Recently, in China, the issue of poor quality construction has drawn much public attention. This problem is related not only to poor quality control on the part of the construction firm, but also to the use of inadequate materials and inexperienced subcontractors, that is, to poor quality assurance in the construction supply chain. The purpose of this article is to examine supply chain quality management (SCQM) in the construction industry. Using a case-study approach, this research focuses on a Chinese medium-sized private enterprise in order to determine the most efficient way to conduct a high-quality project when collaborating with material suppliers and subcontractors. To this end, we replicate and extend the SCQM practices to help develop a more refined SCQM conceptual model relevant to the construction industry. Based on the different perspectives of managers and engineers, two frameworks are presented to illustrate (1) the correlation between SCQM and purchasing function (PF), and (2) how to work with material suppliers and subcontractors; the proposed models also show how these aspects will influence and control the quality of projects. Although constrained by the limitations inherent in case-study methodology, this article consolidates the work in one particular area of supply chain management. It also succeeds in meeting two core challenges, namely to explicate the interaction between SCQM and PF, and to provide guidance to construction firms on how to deal with SCQM issues with material suppliers and subcontractors.

The Dangers of Direct-to-Consumer GeneticTestingfor Alzheimer's Disease : Comment on "Personal Genomic Testing, Genetic Inheritance, and Uncertainty".

The overarching issue with this case study is poor regulation and quality control over direct-to-consumer genetic testing, delivered in the absence of any medical oversight.

Evaluation of the Deki Reader\u2122, an automated RDT reader and data management device, in a household survey setting in low malaria endemic southwestern Uganda

BackgroundEarly diagnosis of suspected malaria cases with a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) has been shown to be an effective malaria control tool used in many resource-constrained settings. However, poor quality control and quality assurance hinder the accurate reporting of malaria diagnoses. Recent use of a portable, battery operated RDT reader (Deki Reader™, Fio Corporation) has shown to have high agreement with visual inspection across diverse health centre settings, however evidence of its feasibility and usability during cross sectional surveys are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the Deki Reader™ in a cross-sectional survey of children from southwestern Uganda.MethodsA two-stage, stratified cluster sampling survey was conducted between July and October 2014 in three districts of southwestern Uganda, with varying malaria transmission intensities. A total of 566 children aged 6–59 months were included in the analysis. Blood samples were collected and tested for malaria using: the SD Bioline Malaria Ag Pf/Pan RDT and microscopy. Results were compared between visual inspection of the RDT and by the Deki Reader™. Diagnostic performance of both methods were compared to gold-standard microscopy.ResultsThe sensitivity and specificity of the Deki Reader™ was 94.1% (95% CI 69.2–99.6%) and 95.6% (95% CI 93.4–97.1%), respectively. The overall percent agreement between the Deki Reader™ and visual RDT inspection was 98.9% (95% CI 93.2–99.8), with kappa statistic of 0.92 (95% CI 0.85–0.98).ConclusionsThe findings from this study suggest that the Deki Reader™ is comparable to visual inspection and performs well in detecting microscopy-positive Plasmodium falciparum cases in a household survey setting. However, the reader’s performance was highly dependent on ensuring adequate battery life and a work environment free of dirt particles.