SIX SIGMA METHODOLOGY IN TELECOM SECTOR FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

This paper presents tools of Six Sigma for Telecom Industries; these can achieve powerful operational improvements that produce sustainable business benefits. Six Sigma Qualtec’s dedicated Six Sigma for Telecom practice is specifically designed to help traditional and modern telecommunications providers, become more efficient in their operating procedures. By learning and implementing improvements such as Voice of the Customer (VOC), Six Sigma, Business Process Management Design for Six Sigma and Lean Enterprise principles, those companies will be able to dramatically improve the way they do business thus attracting and keeping customers in this hyper-competitive industry. This paper maps some of the changes in the telecom markets that resulted from competitive entry and gives an insight into the dynamics of competitive markets in relation to quality improvement. Additionally, the presentation seeks to demonstrate that in the quest for the particular competitive outcome via independent and transparent regulation

Detection of Features to Track Objects and Segmentation Using GrabCut for Application in Marker-less Augmented Reality

AbstractAugmented Reality applications have hovered itself over various platforms such as desktop and most recently to handheld devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Augmented Reality (AR) systems have mostly been limited to Head Worn Displays with start-ups such as Magic Leap and Occulus Rift making tremendous advancement in such AR and VR research applications facing a stiff competition with Software giant Microsoft which has recently introduced Holo Lens. AR refers to the augmentation or the conglomeration of virtual objects in the real world scenario which has a distinct but close resemblance to Virtual Reality (VR) systems which are computer simulated environments which render physical presence in imaginary world. Developers and hackers round the globe have directed their research interests in the development of AR and VR based applications especially in the domain of advertisement and gaming. Many open source libraries, SDKs and proprietary software are available worldwide for developers to make such systems. This paper describes an algorithm for an AR prototype which uses a marker less approach to track and segment out real world objects and then overlay the same on another real world scene. The algorithm was tested on Desktop. The results are comparable with other existing algorithms and outperform some of them in terms of robustness, speed, and accuracy, precision and timing analysis

Vascular Response to Sildenafil Citrate in Aging and Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly - share many risks factors as atherosclerosis, which exhibits loss of vascular compliance resulting from aging and oxidative stress. Here, we attempt to explore choroidal and retinal vascular compliance in patients with AMD by evaluating dynamic vascular changes using live ocular imaging following treatment with oral sildenafil citrate, a phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor and potent vasodilator. Enhanced-depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) and OCT angiography (OCT-A) were performed on 46 eyes of 23 subjects, including 15 patients with non-exudative AMD in one eye and exudative AMD in the fellow eye, and 8 age-matched control subjects. Choroidal thickness, choroidal vascularity, and retinal vessel density were measured across the central macula at 1 and 3 hours after a 100 mg oral dose of sildenafil citrate. Baseline choroidal thickness was 172.1 ± 60.0 μm in non-exudative AMD eyes, 196.4 ± 89.8 μm in exudative AMD eyes, and 207.4 ± 77.7 μm in control eyes, with no difference between the 3 groups (P = 0.116). After sildenafil, choroidal thickness increased by 6.0% to 9.0% at 1 and 3 hours in all groups (P = 0.001-0.014). Eyes from older subjects were associated with choroidal thinning at baseline (P = 0.005) and showed less choroidal expansion at 1 hour and 3 hours after sildenafil (P = 0.001) regardless of AMD status (P = 0.666). The choroidal thickening appeared to be primarily attributed to expansion of the stroma rather than luminal component. Retinal vascular density remained unchanged after sildenafil in all 3 groups (P = 0.281-0.587). Together, our studies suggest that vascular response of the choroid to sildenafil decreases with age, but is not affected by the presence of non-exudative or exudative AMD, providing insight into changes in vessel compliance in aging and AMD

Albiglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Harmony Outcomes): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists differ in chemical structure, duration of action, and in their effects on clinical outcomes. The cardiovascular effects of once-weekly albiglutide in type 2 diabetes are unknown. We aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of albiglutide in preventing cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Methods: We did a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 610 sites across 28 countries. We randomly assigned patients aged 40 years and older with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (at a 1:1 ratio) to groups that either received a subcutaneous injection of albiglutide (30–50 mg, based on glycaemic response and tolerability) or of a matched volume of placebo once a week, in addition to their standard care. Investigators used an interactive voice or web response system to obtain treatment assignment, and patients and all study investigators were masked to their treatment allocation. We hypothesised that albiglutide would be non-inferior to placebo for the primary outcome of the first occurrence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, which was assessed in the intention-to-treat population. If non-inferiority was confirmed by an upper limit of the 95% CI for a hazard ratio of less than 1·30, closed testing for superiority was prespecified. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02465515. Findings: Patients were screened between July 1, 2015, and Nov 24, 2016. 10 793 patients were screened and 9463 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to groups: 4731 patients were assigned to receive albiglutide and 4732 patients to receive placebo. On Nov 8, 2017, it was determined that 611 primary endpoints and a median follow-up of at least 1·5 years had accrued, and participants returned for a final visit and discontinuation from study treatment; the last patient visit was on March 12, 2018. These 9463 patients, the intention-to-treat population, were evaluated for a median duration of 1·6 years and were assessed for the primary outcome. The primary composite outcome occurred in 338 (7%) of 4731 patients at an incidence rate of 4·6 events per 100 person-years in the albiglutide group and in 428 (9%) of 4732 patients at an incidence rate of 5·9 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·78, 95% CI 0·68–0·90), which indicated that albiglutide was superior to placebo (p<0·0001 for non-inferiority; p=0·0006 for superiority). The incidence of acute pancreatitis (ten patients in the albiglutide group and seven patients in the placebo group), pancreatic cancer (six patients in the albiglutide group and five patients in the placebo group), medullary thyroid carcinoma (zero patients in both groups), and other serious adverse events did not differ between the two groups. There were three (<1%) deaths in the placebo group that were assessed by investigators, who were masked to study drug assignment, to be treatment-related and two (<1%) deaths in the albiglutide group. Interpretation: In patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, albiglutide was superior to placebo with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events. Evidence-based glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists should therefore be considered as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. Funding: GlaxoSmithKline

Unanticipated cytodiagnosis of filariasis: A Study of 16 cases

Background: Bancroftian Filariasisisatropical and sub tropical disease caused by Wuchereriabancrofti and transmitted by the Culexmosquitoes. The diagnosis of it is conventionally made by demonstrating microfilaria eintheperipheral blood smear. Microfilariae and adult filarial worm have been incidentally detected in fine needle aspirate of swelling at various sites in amicrofilaremic patients. Currently 1.4 billion people worldwide are at risk of being infected. In India 600 million people are at risk of filariasis.Cytology has important role in the diagnosis of occult Filariasis. Objectives: To discuss the role of FNAC in diagnosing occult Filariasis. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective study carried out in the Department of Pathology at SRMS IMS, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. Aspiration was made by 22-23 gauze needle, smears were stained by Papanicolaou and May-GrünwaldGiemsa stain. Result:16 cases of cytological specimensincidentallyshowed microfilaria without any clinical suspicion which included breast lumps (three cases), thyroid swelling (three cases), lymph nodes (two cases), subcutaneous swelling (two cases), ascitic fluid (one case), pleural fluid (one case), lung mass (one case), scrotal swelling (one case), cervical smear (one case) and space occupying lesion in liver (one case). Fragments of adult worm were reported in four cases. Only one patient with scrotal swelling had microfilaremia. Conclusion:FNAC can play an important role in diagnosing occult Filariasis in clinically unsuspected cases

Analysis of cooling effect of water bodies on land surface temperature in nearby region: A case study of Ahmedabad and Chandigarh cities in India

Erratic and unplanned development of the urban area has posed a threat to the environment in a country like India where the development is haphazard mostly. Congested and unsustainable planning, reduction in green covers and increased emissions from industries and vehicles have given birth to many climatic issues. One such issue is land surface temperature (LST) variations giving rise to Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. This study evaluates and provides direct evidence with the help of remote sensing technique about how stream water features affect the temperature variation in urban areas where the land use condition is very distinct. Surface water bodies present in an area are responsible for prospective cooling through evaporation thereby reducing the heating effect. Landsat images of the years 2009, 2010 and 2011of 30-meter resolution has been processed to produce the LST of the study areas. Water bodies, i.e., Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh and Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad are the research points to find the variation in microclimate developed near these water bodies. An appreciable average temperature dip of 7.51 °C and 3.12 °C is observed during summer and winter, respectively for three years near the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh city. An average dip of about 1.57 °C and 1.71 °C is observed during summer and winter, respectively on the right bank of Sabarmati river up to an influence distance of about 200 to 300 m. The average fall of temperature near the left bank is about 0.69 °C and 0.65 °C during summer and winter, respectively. Keywords: Urban heat island, Land surface temperature, Water bodies, Cooling effec

Impacted foreign bodies in the maxillofacial region–A series of three cases

Penetrating injuries to the maxillofacial region are very common. Foreign bodies embedded deep in the maxillofacial region due to these injuries pose a challenge to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. These objects may become a potent source of pain and infection. Early diagnosis of these foreign bodies can be achieved by the use of plain radiographs, ultrasonography, computed tomographic scans, and magnetic resonance imaging. Once diagnosed and located, these foreign bodies should be removed. Here, we report three such cases where early diagnosis of these foreign bodies embedded in the maxillofacial region lead to their early and successful removal without complications

Assessment of quality of life of patients with oral sub mucous fibrosis before and after treatment with topical curcumin

Background and aim: Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) is potentially pre-malignant condition of the oral cavity with a high malignant transformation rate. The condition not only affects the oral function of the patients but has a huge impact on their social and psychological wellbeing affecting the overall quality of life. To evaluate the effectivity of the treatment assessing the quality of the life of these patients before and after treatment is of utmost importance but till now has not been an integral part of the management strategy. This study was carried to assess the change in quality of life before and after treatment with curcumin in patients with OSMF. Methods: Quality of life was assessed before and after 3 months of treatment with topical curcumin in 50 patients with OSMF using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life head and neck Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ35). Results: At the end of 3 months there was significant (p < 0.05) change in the quality of life of patients with OSMF as suggested by assessment of the multi-item and single item scale used in the questionnaire. Conclusion: The study emphasizes the use of assessing Quality of life as an integral part of treatment strategy for OSMF and suggests curcumin as a promising treatment modality for patients with OSMF