The strategic function of quality in the management of innovation

Quality management can be used to support strategically the management of innovation. Tools in strategic quality management can be useful in: creating the organizational conditions in which innovations can be developed; supervising and initiating innovation processes; producing innovation content; and implementing innovations in the primary processes of the organization. This conclusion is based on the results of a research project in the Dutch construction industry. In a large-scale house-building project the supportive use of quality tools in the management of innovation was studied. The study indicates that quality tools are used implicitly and sometimes explicitly to manage innovation processes

Prospecting in late-type dwarfs: A calibration of infrared and visible spectroscopic metallicities of late K and M dwarfs spanning 1.5 dex

Knowledge of late K and M dwarf metallicities can be used to guide planet searches and constrain planet formation models. However, the determination of metallicities of late-type stars is difficult because visible wavelength spectra of their cool atmospheres contain many overlapping absorption lines, preventing the measurement of equivalent widths. We present new methods, and improved calibrations of existing methods, to determine metallicities of late K and M dwarfs from moderate resolution (1300 -0.5, but are less useful for more metal-poor stars

Identifying Promising Themes for Adolescent Vaping Warnings: A National Experiment

Introduction: Adolescent vaping remains a problem in the United States, yet little is known about what health warning themes most discourage vaping among adolescents. We sought to identify the most compelling themes for vaping warnings for US adolescents. Methods: Participants were a national probability sample of 623 US adolescents aged 13-17 years, recruited in the summer of 2020. Adolescents were randomized to one of the five warning message themes about the potential health effects of vaping: 1. chemical harms, 2. lung harms, 3. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) harms, 4. nicotine addiction, or 5. control (messages about vape litter). The primary outcome was perceived message effectiveness (PME; 3-item scale). Secondary outcomes were negative affect (fear), attention, anticipated social interactions, and message novelty. Results: Adolescents rated the chemical, lung, and COVID-19 harms warning messages higher on PME than nicotine addiction and control (all p <. 05), while nicotine addiction was rated higher than control (p <. 05). The chemical, lung, and COVID-19 harms warning themes also elicited greater negative affect than nicotine addiction and control (all p <. 05). For all other secondary outcomes, the COVID-19 harms warning message theme was rated higher than nicotine addiction and control (all p <. 05). Conclusion: Adolescents perceived warning message themes about lung, chemical and COVID-19 health effects of vaping as more effective than nicotine addiction. To discourage vaping, the FDA and others should communicate to youth about the health effects of vaping beyond nicotine addiction. Implications: Adolescents rated warning message themes about the lung, chemical, and COVID-19 health effects of vaping as more effective than nicotine addiction, while nicotine addiction was rated as more effective than control themes about vaping litter. To discourage vaping among adolescents, health messaging should expand message themes to communicate about a broader set of health effects of vaping beyond nicotine addiction

Correlations Between Charge Ordering and Local Magnetic Fields in Overdoped YBa2_2Cu3_3O6+x_{6+x}

Zero-field muon spin relaxation (ZF-$\mu$SR) measurements were undertaken on under- and overdoped samples of superconducting YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ to determine the origin of the weak static magnetism recently reported in this system. The temperature dependence of the muon spin relaxation rate in overdoped crystals displays an unusual behavior in the superconducting state. A comparison to the results of NQR and lattice structure experiments on highly doped samples provides compelling evidence for strong coupling of charge, spin and structural inhomogeneities.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, new data, new figures and modified tex

Development of the UNC Perceived Message Effectiveness Scale for Youth

PURPOSE: Tobacco prevention media campaigns are an important tool to address youth tobacco use. We developed a theory-based perceived message effectiveness (PME) Scale to use when vetting messages for campaigns. METHODS: Participants were a national sample of N=623 US adolescents (ages 13-17 years) recruited from a national probability-based panel. In an online experiment, we randomised adolescents to view tobacco prevention ads. All participants viewed an ad on smoking or vaping from the US Food and Drug Administration's The Real Cost campaign and a control video, in a random order. After ad exposure, we assessed PME using nine candidate items and constructs for convergent and criterion validity analyses. We used confirmatory factor analysis and examined information curves to select the scale items. RESULTS: A brief PME scale with three items (α=0.95) worked equally well for demographically diverse adolescents with different patterns of tobacco use. The Real Cost ads generated higher PME scores than the control videos for both vaping and smoking (convergent validity; p<0.05). Higher PME scores were associated with greater attention, fear, cognitive elaboration and anticipated social interactions (convergent validity; r=0.31-0.66), as well as more negative attitudes toward and lower susceptibility to vaping and smoking (criterion validity; r=-0.14 to -0.37). A single-item PME measure performed similarly to the three-item version. CONCLUSIONS: The University of North Carolina PME Scale for Youth is a reliable and valid measure of the potential effectiveness of vaping and smoking prevention ads. Employing PME scales during message development and selection may help youth tobacco prevention campaigns deploy more effective ads

Adolescents' Understanding of Smoking and Vaping Risk Language: Cognitive Interviews to Inform Scale Development

Introduction: Perceived message effectiveness (PME) is a common metric to understand receptivity to tobacco prevention messages, yet most measures have been developed with adults. We examined adolescents' interpretation of language within candidate items for a new youth-targeted PME measure using cognitive interviewing. We sought to understand the meaning adolescents assigned to our candidate PME items to improve item wording. Aims and Methods: Participants were 20 adolescents, ages 13-17 years from the United States. Cognitive interviews used a structured guide to elicit feedback on comprehension, answer retrieval, and language regarding a set of Reasoned Action Approach-based survey items that assessed the PME of smoking and vaping prevention ads. We employed thematic analysis to synthesize findings from the interviews. Results: Interviews identified three main issues related to survey items: ambiguity of language, word choice (risk and other terminology), and survey item phrasing. Adolescents preferred direct, definitive language over more ambiguous phrasing which they saw as less serious (eg, "will"instead of "could"). For risk terminology, they preferred terms such as "harmful"and "dangerous"over "risky,"which was viewed as easy to discount. The term "negative effects"was interpreted as encompassing a broader set of tobacco harms than "health effects."Adolescents said that the term "vape"was preferable to "e-cigarette,"and identified ways to simplify item wording for greater clarity. Conclusions: Tobacco risk terms that appear similar differ in meaning to adolescents, and more direct and unambiguous language is preferred. Our findings informed changes to the PME scale items to improve clarity and reduce measurement error. Implications: This study adds to the literature on how adolescents interpret tobacco prevention language. Adolescents may interpret terminology differently than adults, which could lead to ambiguity in meaning and thus measurement error. Through cognitive interviewing, we identified and improved the language in a youth-focused PME measure for tobacco and vaping prevention

Reducing overuse of cervical cancer screening: A systematic review

Overuse of clinical preventive services increases healthcare costs and may deprive underserved patients of necessary care. Up to 45% of cervical cancer screening is overuse. We conducted a systematic review of correlates of overuse of cervical cancer screening and interventions to reduce overuse. The search identified 25 studies (20 observational; 5 intervention). Correlates varied by the type of overuse measured (i.e., too frequent, before/after recommended age to start or stop screening, after hysterectomy), the most common correlates of overuse related to patient age (n = 7), OBGYN practice or provider (n = 5), location (n = 4), and marital status (n = 4). Six observational studies reported a decrease in overuse over time. Screening overuse decreased in all intervention studies, which used before-after designs with no control or comparison groups. Observational studies suggest potential targets for de-escalating overuse. Randomized clinical trials are needed to establish best practices for reducing overuse

Bose-Einstein condensation in multilayers

The critical BEC temperature $T_{c}$ of a non interacting boson gas in a layered structure like those of cuprate superconductors is shown to have a minimum $T_{c,m}$, at a characteristic separation between planes $a_{m}$. It is shown that for $a<a_{m}$, $T_{c}$ increases monotonically back up to the ideal Bose gas $T_{0}$ suggesting that a reduction in the separation between planes, as happens when one increases the pressure in a cuprate, leads to an increase in the critical temperature. For finite plane separation and penetrability the specific heat as a function of temperature shows two novel crests connected by a ridge in addition to the well-known BEC peak at $T_{c}$ associated with the 3D behavior of the gas. For completely impenetrable planes the model reduces to many disconnected infinite slabs for which just one hump survives becoming a peak only when the slab widths are infinite.Comment: Four pages, four figure

Magnetic properties of exactly solvable doubly decorated Ising-Heisenberg planar models

Applying the decoration-iteration procedure, we introduce a class of exactly solvable doubly decorated planar models consisting both of the Ising- and Heisenberg-type atoms. Exact solutions for the ground state, phase diagrams and basic physical quantities are derived and discussed. The detailed analysis of the relevant quantities suggests the existence of an interesting quantum antiferromagnetic phase in the system.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Physical Review