Exponential Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) Chart Under The Assumption of Moderateness And Its 3∆ Control Limits

Moderate distribution is a very good alternative of normal distribution proposed by Naik V.D and Desai J.M. [4], which has mean deviation as scale parameter rather than the standard deviation. Mean deviation (δ) is a very good alternative of standard deviation (σ) as mean deviation is considered to be the most intuitively and rationally defined measure of dispersion. This fact can be very useful in the field of quality control to construct the control limits of the control charts. On the basis of this fact Naik V.D. and Tailor K.S. [5] have proposed 3δ control limits. In 3δ control limits, the upper and lower control limits are set at 3δ distance from the central line where δ is the mean deviation of sampling distribution of the statistic being used for constructing the control chart. In this paper it has been assumed that the underlying distribution of the variable of interest follows moderate distribution proposed by Naik V.D and Desai J.M. [4] and 3δ control limits of exponential weighted moving average chart are derived. Also an empirical study is carried out to illustrate the use these charts

The Effects of Expressive Writing on Stress, Mood, and Perception of Self-Efficacy and of Instructor

The purpose of this study was to determine if emotional disclosure through expressive writing would have an effect on stress, mood, self-efficacy, and perception of instructor in a population of undergraduate human services students. This study used a randomized control-group pretest-posttest design with three experimental conditions. There were 32 participants with (N = 10) emotional disclosure group, (N = 11) factual disclosure group, and (N = 11) the control group. The study was conducted over three consecutive days following a variation of Pennebaker\u27s (1986) expressive writing protocol. Study measures and writing samples were collected via a web-based interface. The data were analyzed using paired t-tests and a series of one-way Analysis of Variance for within group pretest differences on the study measures and Analysis of Covariance for the between group differences on the posttest measures with the pretest scores as the covariate. Within group, comparisons were conducted to evaluate if there was a significant difference between the pre-test and posttest scores on the dependent variables stress, mood, self-efficacy, and perception of instructor within each experimental group. The results of the paired t-test indicate there was no significant difference among the three groups on the pretest and posttest measures on the dependent variables. Between group comparisons were conducted to determine if there was a difference among the experimental groups on the mean scores of the pretest. No significant difference was found on the pretest measures of stress, mood, and perception of instructor. However, there was a significant difference on the pretest measure of self-efficacy. The post hoc analyses indicate that the significant difference was between the factual disclosure group and the control group. Finally, a series of ANCOVAS were conducted to explore the effect of expressive writing on the posttest scores of the dependent variables stress, mood, self-efficacy, and perception of instructor, while controlling for the pretest scores. The pretest scores were used as covariates in the analysis. The results of the ANCOVAS indicate there was no significant difference among the three groups on the posttest scores on the dependent variables stress, mood, self-efficacy, and perception of instructor

Performance of Moving Average (MA) Chart Under Three Delta Control Limits and Six Delta Initiatives

An SQC chart is a graphical tool for representation of the data for knowing the extent of variations from the expected standard. This technique was first suggested by W.A. Shewhart of Bell Telephone Company based on 3σ limits. M. Harry, the engineer of Motorola has introduced the concept of six sigma in 1980. In 6σ limits, it is presumed to attain 3.4 or less number of defects per million of opportunities. Naik V.D and Desai J.M proposed an alternative of normal distribution, which is named as moderate distribution. The parameters of this distribution are mean and mean deviation. Naik V.D and Tailor K.S. have suggested the concept of 3-delta control limits and developed various control charts based on this distribution. Using these concepts, control limits based on 6-delta is suggested in this paper. Also the moving average chart is studied by using 6-delta methodology. A ready available table for mean deviation is prepared for the quality control experts for taking fast actions.&nbsp

Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) Chart Based on Six Delta Initiatives

A control chart is a graphical device for representation of the data for knowing the extent of variations from the expected standard. The technique of control chart was suggested by W.A. Shewhart of Bell Telephone Company based on three sigma limits. M. Harry, the engineer of Motorola has introduced the concept of six sigma in 1980. In six sigma initiatives, it is expected to produce 3.4 or less number of defects per million of opportunities. Moderate distribution proposed by Naik and Desai is a sound alternative of normal distribution, which has mean and mean deviation as pivotal parameters and which has properties similar to normal distribution. Naik and Tailor have developed various control charts based on this distribution. In this paper an attempt is made to construct a control chart based on six delta initiatives for exponentially weighted moving average chart. Suitable Table for mean deviation is also constructed and presented for the engineers for making quick decisions

Bellrock: Anonymous Proximity Beacons from Personal Devices

Proximity beacons provide simple, low-cost location data. However, beacon deployments remain rare. In this paper we introduce Bellrock, a framework that repurposes static personal devices (phones, laptops, etc.) as proximity beacons without revealing the location of the device owners, and provides conventional beacons with access control. This is done by using mutable pseudo-anonymous identifiers that can be unmasked by a cloud service. We develop Bellrock as a general framework, describing the repurposing scheme and the anonymisation techniques, before applying it to Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. We implement and demonstrate the scalability of the de-anonymisation server, which uses a series of heuristics. We implement a Bellrock client on Android and demonstrate negligible impact on battery lifetime. We evaluate Bellrock using extensive real-world office worker movements. We find that Bellrock was able to provide proximity locations for 8,542 of the 21,796 failed locations that would have occurred without it. We further find that office workers were in range of one or more of their co-workers over 90\% of the time, indicating Bellrock can provide relative proximity information even in the absence of a conventional beacon deployment. Overall, we find that Bellrock is both feasible and practical, providing a beacon deployment where there was none, or supplementing existing deployments

The Use of Growth Factors and Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Orthopaedics

Stem cell therapy is an exciting and upcoming branch of tissue engineering with application in the field of orthopaedics. The most commonly used type of stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), can be easily isolated from bone marrow or synovium and cultured in vitro. Newer techniques using tissue engineering to regenerate musculoskeletal tissue by using biomimetic materials are now being studied. These osteoconductive three dimensional constructs seeded with MSCs are highly porous, biodegradable and biomechanically stable scaffolds which do not evoke an immunogenic host cell response. Research has shown the importance of growth factors in guiding and modulating the differentiation of MSCs in order to obtain the required cell type. Gene-based delivery systems have aided the delivery of sustained quantities of these growth factors. The evidence from growth factor enhanced tissue engineering studies for tissue healing looks very positive. This is a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates molecular, biochemical and clinical techniques with developmental and engineering processes. Initial studies indicate an immense potential for cell based strategies to enhance current orthopaedic approaches in skeletal tissue reconstruction. Ultimately, there is a need for randomised controlled trials on human populations to apply these findings to a clinical setting. Nevertheless, stem cell based tissue engineering in orthopaedics shows a promising future

Low-Frequency Carrier Kinetics in Triple Cation Perovskite Solar Cells Probed by Impedance and Modulus Spectroscopy

Organometallic halide perovskites-based solar cells have emerged as next-generation photovoltaic technology. However, many of its intriguing optoelectronic properties at low frequency are highly debated. Here, we investigate the low-frequency carrier kinetics of the state-of-the-art triple cation perovskite Cs0.06FA0.79MA0.15Pb(I0.85Br0.15)3 solar cells using bias-dependent impedance and modulus spectroscopy under dark and illumination conditions. We observe a strong dependence of dielectric permittivity on frequency in 1 Hz to 1 MHz region with a dielectric relaxation, which is observed to follow the Maxwell-Wagner type interfacial polarization possibly originating from the grain boundary/ionic defects. Furthermore, correlating the impedance and modulus spectra reveals the localized charge carrier relaxation in this triple cation device from which we obtain a phenomenological picture of the hopping process and developing an understanding of the charge carrier kinetics in these high-efficiency perovskite photovoltaics

Advances and Developments in the Use of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells – A Few Considerations

One less visited area in musculoskeletal stem cell research is the effects of donor age on quality of stem cells. The prevalence of degenerative orthopaedic conditions is large, and the older population is likely to receive great benefit from stem cell therapies. There are many known growth factors involved in controlling and influencing stem cell growth which are also related to cell senescence. Of which, expressions are found to be altered in mesenchymal stem cells from older donors. Considerations must also be taken of these mechanisms which also have a role in cell cycle and tumour suppression

Advances and Developments in the Use of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells – A Few Considerations

One less visited area in musculoskeletal stem cell research is the effects of donor age on quality of stem cells. The prevalence of degenerative orthopaedic conditions is large, and the older population is likely to receive great benefit from stem cell therapies. There are many known growth factors involved in controlling and influencing stem cell growth which are also related to cell senescence. Of which, expressions are found to be altered in mesenchymal stem cells from older donors. Considerations must also be taken of these mechanisms which also have a role in cell cycle and tumour suppression