Development and application of process capability indices

In order to measure the performance of manufacturing processes, several process capability indices have been proposed. A process capability index (PCI) is a unitless number used to measure the ability of a process to continuously produce products that meet customer specifications. These indices have since helped practitioners understand and improve their production systems, but no single index can fully measure the performance of any observed process. Each index has its own drawbacks which can be complemented by using others. Advantages of commonly used indices in assessing different aspects of process performance have been highlighted. Quality cost is also a function of shift in mean, shift in variance and shift in yield. A hybrid is developed that complements the strengths of these individual indices and provides the set containing the smallest number of indices that gives the practitioner detailed information on the shift in mean or variance, the location of mean, yield and potential capability. It is validated that while no single index can fully assess and measure the performance of a univariate normal process, the optimal set of indices selected by the proposed hybrid can simultaneously provide precise information on the shift in mean or variance, the location of mean, yield and potential capability. A simulation study increased the process variability by 100% and then reduced by 50%. The optimal set managed to pick such a shift. The asymmetric ratio was able to detect both the 10% decrease and 20% increase in µ but did not alter significantly with a 50% decrease or a 100% increase in σ, which meant it was not sensitive to any shift in σ. The implementation of the hybrid provides the quality practitioner, or computer-aided manufacturing system, with a guideline on prioritised tasks needed to improve the process capability and reduce the cost of poor quality. The author extended the proposed hybrids to fully measure the performance of a process with multiple quality characteristics, which follow normal distribution and are correlated. Furthermore, for multivariate normal processes with correlated quality characteristics, process capability analysis is not complete without fault diagnostics. Fault diagnostics is the identification and ranking of quality characteristics responsible for multivariate process poor performance. Quality practitioners desire to identify and rank quality characteristics, responsible for poor performance, in order to prioritise resources for process quality improvement tasks thereby speeding up the process and minimising quality costs. To date, none of the existing commonly used source identification approaches can classify whether the process behaviour is caused by the shift in mean or change in variance. The author has proposed a source identification algorithm based on mean and variance impact factors to address this shortcoming. Furthermore, the author developed a novel fault diagnostic hybrid based on the proposed optimal set selection algorithm, principal component analysis, machine learning, and the proposed impact-factor. The novelty of this hybrid is that it can carry out a full multivariate process capability analysis and provides a robust tool to precisely identify and rank quality characteristics responsible for the shifts in mean, variance and yield. The fault diagnostic hybrid can guide the practitioners to identify and prioritise quality characteristics responsible for the poor process performance, thereby reducing the quality cost by effectively speeding up the multivariate process improvement tasks. Simulated scenarios have been generated to increase/decrease some components of the mean vector (µ2/µ4) and in increase/reduce the variability of some components (σ1 reduced to close to zero/σ6 multiplied by 100%). The hybrid ranked X2 and X6 as the most contributing variables to the process poor performance and X1 and X4 as the major contributors to process yield. There is a great challenge in carrying out process capability analysis and fault diagnostics on a high dimensional multivariate non-normal process, with multiple correlated quality characteristics, in a timely manner. The author has developed a multivariate non-normal fault diagnostic hybrid capable of assessing performance and perform fault diagnostics on multivariate non-normal processes. The proposed hybrid first utilizes the Geometric Distance (GD) approach, to reduce dimensionality of the correlated data into fewer number of independent GD variables which can be assessed using univariate process capability indices. This is followed by fitting Burr XII distribution to independent GD variables. The independent fitted distributions are used to estimate both yield and multivariate process capability in a time efficient way. Finally, machine learning approach, is deployed to carry out the task of fault diagnostic by identifying and ranking the correlated quality characteristics responsible for the poor performance of the least performing GD variable. The results show that the proposed hybrid is robust in estimating both yield and multivariate process capability, carrying out fault diagnostics beyond GD variables, and identifying the original characteristic responsible for poor performance. The novelty of the proposed non-normal fault diagnostic hybrid is that it considers quality characteristics related to the least performing GD variable, instead of investigating all the quality characteristics of the multivariate non-normal process. The efficacy of the proposed hybrid is assessed through a real manufacturing examples and simulated scenarios. Variables X1,, X2 and X3 shifted away from the target by 25%, 15% and 35%, respectively, and the hybrid was able to select variables X3 to be contributing the most to the corresponding geometric distance variable's poor performance

Application of formal safety assessment for ship hull vibration modelling

This research has evaluated the rules, guidelines and regulations related to ship vibrations. A historical failure data analysis is carried out to identify associated components, equipment and the areas of defects related to ship vibration problems. Ship Hull Vibration (SHV) is recognised as a major problem onboard ships and the propulsion system is identified as the major contributor to SHV. The current status of ship vibrations is reviewed and possible sources which create SHV are recognised. The major problems identified in this research are associated with risk modelling under circumstances where high levels of uncertainty exist. Following the identification of research needs, this PhD thesis has developed several analytical models for the application of Formal Safety Assessment (FSA). Such mode quently demonstrated by their corresponding case sti vith regard to application of FSA for SHV modelling. Firstly, in this research a generic SHV model is constructed for the purpose of risk estimation based on the identified hazards. The hazards include the SHV effects induced by ship design criteria, failure of components, and different patterns associated with the ship propulsion system (propeller system and machinery) as the major contributors to SHV. Then risk estimation bn is carried out utilising Evidential Reasoning (ER) and a fuzzy rule base.Secondly, ship selection (decision making) is investigated to to select the best ship design based on the risk estimation results of SHV. The risk estimation is carried out using ER, a fuzzy rule base and continuous fuzzy sets. The best ship design is selected by taking into account an ER-based utility ranking approach. Thirdly, combining discrete fuzzy sets and an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) risk estimation is conducted in terms of four risk parameters to select the major causes of component failure and then SHV

Reproducibility and physiological factors pertinent to the study of the acute effects of exercise on traditional and alternative measures of vascular and autonomic function in young and older adults

Measuring age-related endothelial dysfunction may provide a prognostic marker of cardiovascular diseases beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Flow-mediated slowing (FMS) may address flow-mediated dilation (FMD) major caveats including larger measurement and biological variability, still, applanation tonometry FMS reproducibility is unknown. The acute model permits investigating the mechanisms underlying aerobic exercise anti-atherogenic and sympatholytic effects which preserve neurovascular homeostasis through aging. Thus, this dissertation aimed to investigate the reproducibility and physiological factors relevant to the study of exercise acute effects on traditional and alternative measures of vascular and autonomic function in young and older adults. Reproducibility assessments of applanation tonometry FMS and FMD were conducted on twenty-four males (aged 23-75 years) healthy and active male adults. Participants also performed walking or running randomized acute bouts of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), moderate-intensity continuous training, or a non-exercise condition. FMS was not a reproducible method with poorer reproducibility (CV: 141%) than FMD (CV: 23%). We found no age-associated response patterns on FMD, and heart-rate variability indexes to exercise in active young and older adults. FMD remained unchanged following exercise, whilst only HIIT reduced cardiovagal modulation, likely representing the initial trigger for vagal adaptations, returning to baseline 60-min into recovery.A disfunção endotelial inerente ao envelhecimento pode ser preditiva de doenças cardiovasculares independentemente dos factores de risco tradicionais, assim a sua avaliação é crucial. A desaceleração fluxo-mediada (DFM) pretende colmatar as lacunas da vasodilatação fluxo-mediada (VFM): a elevada variabilidade biológica e de medição. Contudo, a reprodutibilidade da DFM medida por tonometria de aplanação é desconhecida. O modelo agudo possibilita investigar os mecanismos subjacentes aos efeitos ateroscleróticos e simpatolíticos do exercício aeróbio preservando a homeostasia neurovascular durante o envelhecimento. O objetivo desta dissertação consistiu em examinar a reprodutibilidade e os factores relevantes para o estudo dos efeitos agudos do exercício em medidas tradicionais e alternativas de função endotelial e autonómica em homens jovens e idosos. A reprodutibilidade da DFM e da VFM foi avaliada em 24 homens (23-75 anos), saudáveis e fisicamente ativos. Adicionalmente, duas sessões de treino aeróbio (contínuo vs intervalado) e uma de controlo foram ainda realizadas aleatoriamente. A DFM apresentou uma reprodutibilidade inferior (CV: 141%) à da VDM (CV: 23%). As respostas ao exercício da VFM e da variabilidade da frequência cardíaca não diferiram entre jovens e idosos. A VFM permaneceu inalterada no pós-exercício, já a modulação cardiovagal diminui apenas no pós-treino intervalado de alta intensidade retornando a níveis basais após 60-min de recuperação

Disturbances of multisensory processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a behavioural and neurophysiological account

Self-disorders have long been considered as a central nucleus of the schizophrenic experience. It has been suggested that such self-disturbances might be associated with abnormal multisensory integration and abnormal bodily self-awareness. The primary goal of this thesis was to explore the behavioural and neurophysiological markers of self-disturbances in schizophrenia and in high schizotypy (i.e. a sub-clinical trait linked to schizophrenia). Specifically, we aimed at (i) investigating the temporal acuity in individuals with low and high schizotypy (ii) measuring aspects of the neural responses to multisensory integration in low and high schizotypes (iii) exploring how body representation abnormalities in both schizophrenic patients and high schizotypes affect basic processes of self-perception. In line with previous research showing a reduced multisensory acuity in schizophrenia, results from Chapter Three revealed a significant relationship between the temporal window within which two stimuli are integrated (i.e. TWI), and schizotypal personality traits; namely, higher schizotypal traits are associated with wider TWIs. In Chapter Four, we provided evidence of a selective relationship between the TWI for visuo-tactile stimuli and the individual beta frequency (IBF), i.e, slower IBFs accounts for larger TWIs, and between the TWI and schizotypy, i.e. wider TWIs are linked to higher schizotypal traits. In Chapter Five, we have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia possess more malleable body representations and that these abnormalities are linked to early markers of vulnerability to the disorder (i.e. basic symptoms). Finally, findings from Chapter Six revealed that the abnormalities in bodily self-awareness observed in schizophrenia might extend to schizotypy, suggesting that such abnormalities could represent a trait marker for schizophrenia proneness. All in all, our results suggest that the abnormalities in multisensory integration and bodily awareness observed in schizophrenia spectrum disorders might produce a distortion in the structure of self-experience and contribute to the emergence of the disorder

IoT Applications Computing

The evolution of emerging and innovative technologies based on Industry 4.0 concepts are transforming society and industry into a fully digitized and networked globe. Sensing, communications, and computing embedded with ambient intelligence are at the heart of the Internet of Things (IoT), the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Industry 4.0 technologies with expanding applications in manufacturing, transportation, health, building automation, agriculture, and the environment. It is expected that the emerging technology clusters of ambient intelligence computing will not only transform modern industry but also advance societal health and wellness, as well as and make the environment more sustainable. This book uses an interdisciplinary approach to explain the complex issue of scientific and technological innovations largely based on intelligent computing

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Supplier Relationship Management Berdasarkan Indeks Proses Kapabiitas Untuk Multiple Characteristic

Kebutuhan utama untuk melakukan proses produksi dalam perusahaan manufaktur adalah bahan baku yang berkualitas, sehingga sebagian besar perusahaan manufaktur tergantung pada supplier. Manajemen hubungan dengan supplier yang dikelola dengan baik menghasilkan kepuasan pelanggan, reduksi biaya, kualitas dan pelayanan yang lebih baik dari supplier. Pengelolaan supplier dapat membahas tentang pemilihan, pengelompokan, dan pengembangan supplier. Dari beberapa kriteria pemilihan supplier, kualitas merupakan salah satu kriteria yang penting dan digunakan dalam penilaian supplier yang akan mempunyai dampak positif terhadap perusahaan manufaktur. Telah banyak penelitian tentang pemilihan supplier akan tetapi hanya berakhir pada pemilihan supplier saja, tidak ada tindak lanjut terhadap pengelolaan supplier yang dipilih atau tidak dipilih. Pada penelitian ini supplier dibagi menjadi dua kelompok berdasarkan indeks proses kapabilitas multiple characteristic. Tujuannya untuk memberikan usulan pengembangan masing-masing kelompok supplier. Jumlah supplier pada penelitian ini adalah sembilan, dengan hasil pembagiannya yaitu kelompok pertama terdiri dari supplier A, D, I, B, dan C. Sedangkan untuk kelompok kedua terdiri dari supplier E, F, H, dan G. Karakteristik kualitas pada kelompok satu lebih baik daripada kelompok dua secara keseluruhan baik pada bursting, tear strength, tensile strength, dan elongation. Selanjutnya dilakukan penyusunan program pengembangan supplier berdasarkan kelompoknya. Program yang diusulkan adalah framework pengembangan untuk kelompok supplier 1, kelompok supplier 2, dan pengelolaan supplier di masa depan. ======================================================================================================= The main requirement of manufacturing company is quality of their raw materials. Hence, mostof them depend on their suppliers. A well managed supplier relationship management results an increased customer satisfaction, reduced costs, better quality and better service from suppliers. Among supplier management includes supplier selection, supplier clustering and supplier development. Quality has been used as an important criteria in supplier selection, which provide a positive impact to manufacturer. There are lots of research in supplier selection with no further analysis for supplier development. Inthis research supplier has been grouping in two groups based in process capability index for multiple characteristic. Among nine suppliers, five suppliers are in group 1 and another four are in group 2. The quality characteristic of group 1 over group 2 for all characteristic i.e. bursting, tear strength, tensile strength and elongation. Furthermore, the development program was formulated for each group. The proposed development framework was extend for group 1, group 2 and future supplier management

Reform of the public healthcare system in Ukraine: problems and perspectives

1. The development of a public health system in Ukraine is possible only through the implementation and adoption of the relevant Law, as well as the introduction of the basic approach Health in All Policies. 2. It is necessary to prepare a comparable to Health in All Policies National Plan for the Development of Staffing System of the Public Health Care Sector for interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral purposes and for determining the real and possible needs of specialists of different qualifications and educational levels. 3. It is compulsory to learn from valuable European and international experience; then develop and approve educational programs and standards in the sector of public health in order to provide three education levels bachelor's (first cycle), master's (second cycle) and doctoral (third cycle) and continuous professional development. 4. It is essential to introduce Amendments to the National Classifier of Ukraine DK 003: 2010 Occupational Classification in the Public Health sector