Winning customer loyalty in an automotive company through Six Sigma: a case study

Six Sigma is a disciplined approach to improving product, process and service quality. Since its inception at Motorola in the mid 1980s Six Sigma has evolved significantly and continues to expand to improve process performance, enhance business profitability and increase customer satisfaction. This paper presents an extensive literature review based on the experiences of both academics and practitioners on Six Sigma, followed by the application of the Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC) problem-solving methodology to identify the parameters causing casting defects and to control these parameters. The results of the study are based on the application of tools and techniques in the DMAIC methodology, i.e. Pareto Analysis, Measurement System Analysis, Regression Analysis and Design of Experiment. The results of the study show that the application of the Six Sigma methodology reduced casting defects and increased the process capability of the process from 0.49 to 1.28. The application of DMAIC has resulted in a significant financial impact (over U.S. $110 000 per annum) on the bottom-line of the company

Rowan Williams and Mikhail Bakhtin: The Appeal of Polyphony

This thesis explores the relationship between Rowan Williams and Mikhail Bakhtin, especially Bakhtin’s notion of polyphony. This thesis traces the presence of the polyphonic approach in Williams’ work to three main issues: the debate around the nature and future of the Anglican Communion, the debate around the place of Christianity in the increasingly secular modern West and the debate around the nature of faith presented in the works of Dostoevsky. Adopting Bakhtin’s polyphonic approach, Williams sees the need for an on-going conversation, one that argues for the equality of voices within a conversation, one that resists the impulse toward closure and one that resists the impulse toward uttering a final word in a debate. This thesis also touches on the polyphonic quality of the works of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Vern S. Poythress and John Gray

Pemarkah Kohesi Gramatikal Pada Kumpulan Cerpen Bintang Kecil DiLangit Kelam Karya Jamal T. Suryanata

This article write to (1) describe the types of grammatical cohesion, (2) describe the grammatical cohesion markers are predominantly used (3) describe the effect of the use of grammatical cohesion markers. The data of this study are sentences containing grammatical cohesion markers. Sources of research data is a collection of short stories works Bintang Kecil di Langit yang Kelam Jamal T. Suryanata. Data were collected by way of reading and marking sentences containing grammatical cohesion markers and advanced engineering techniques as noted. The findings of the study are (1) the type of cohesion markers contained is this reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjuction, (2) types of grammatical cohesion markers are dominant markers used this reference 85%, (3) the effect of using grammatical cohesion contained the discourse coherence of meaning is to make it cohesive and coherent stories

P Wave Meson Spectrum in a Relativistic Model with Instanton Induced Interaction

On the basis of the phenomenological relativistic harmonic models for quarks we have obtained the masses of P wave mesons. The full Hamiltonian used in the investigation has Lorentz scalar + vector confinement potential, along with one gluon exchange potential (OGEP) and the instanton-induced quark-antiquark interaction (III). A good agreement is obtained with the experimental masses. The respective role of III and OGEP for the determination of the meson masses is discussed.Comment: Corrected typo

Reproductive and Lifestyle Characteristics of Kenyan Women Presenting With Precancerous Cervical Lesions: A Hospital-Based Case–Control Study

Background: Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer in women, accounting for 68% of cancer-related deaths among women in developing countries. Several reproductive, lifestyle and demographic risk factors are associated with increased risk for cervical cancer. This study examined the association of risk factors with precancerous cervical lesion grade in women attending Nakuru County Referral Hospital.   Methods: This hospital-based, case-control study was conducted among women aged 20 to 70 years from January to December, 2017. A total of 142 women were recruited into the study and stratified based on precancerous cervical lesion grades based on the Bethesda System as: atypical glandular cells or adenocarcinoma in situ (AGC/AIS, n=8), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL, n=59), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL, n=35), and controls (n=40). Structured questionnaires were used to collect information on demographic, reproductive health, and lifestyle characteristics; anthropometric assessments were conducted. Endocervical swabs and scrapings were obtained from the study participants and used for human papillomavirus (HPV)-16/18, and Pap smear screening.   Results: Age differed significantly among the study groups, with age rising with higher grade of precancerous lesion. Higher rates of HPV 16/18 infection was associated with presenting with AGC/AIS (n=8, 100.0%), HSIL (n=47, 79.7%), and (n= 29, 82.9%), compared to controls (n=4, 10.0%; P<.001). History of concomitant lower abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding and discharge was associated with higher risk of precancerous lesion in the HSIL group (odds ratio [OR] 8.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6 to 30.6) and the LSIL group (OR 5.8; 95% CI, 1.8 to 18.8). Bust circumference <99 cm was associated with higher risk of having AGC/AIS (OR 17.4; 95% CI, 1.1 to 276.0), HSIL (OR 5.9; 95% CI, 2.0 to 17.1), and LSIL (OR 2.7; 95% CI, 0.9 to 7.8). Waist circumference <86 cm was associated with higher risk of HSIL (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 1.9 to 15.4) and LSIL (OR 2.9; 95% CI, 0.9 to 8.2). Having a healthy diet was associated with higher odds of LSIL (OR, 4.2; 95% CI, 1.4 to 12.9), but was not associated with HSIL or AGC/AIS.   Conclusion: This study suggests that high-risk HPV 16/18 infection, chronic lower abdominal pain with vaginal bleeding, and decreased upper and lower trunk body mass, are associated with higher risk of precancerous cervical lesions. Integrating targeted cervical cancer screening in routine reproductive health-care services may reduce the risk of developing cervical cancer

Onset of Darcy-Brinkman convection with a uniform internal heat source and vertical throughflow

The problem of thermal convection in a horizontal fluid saturated porous layer is examined, where the flow is governed by the Brinkman extension of Darcy's law. A uniform internal heat source and vertical throughflow are also considered. The linear and nonlinear stability analyses are performed in order to determine the stability characteristics of the system. The linear and nonlinear thresholds give good agreement in the absence of vertical throughflow. However, it is shown that there are potential regions of sub-critical instabilities for increasing values of internal heat source parameter Q, Peclet number Pe and Darcy number Da