Guest editorial

[Excerpt] For the first time the International Conference on Quality Engineering and Management (ICQEM) was organized, taking place at the School of Engineering of the University of Minho, in the historic city of Guimarães, Portugal, in 2014. This event combines two areas that are not usually brought together: quality engineering and quality management. The Organizing Committee hopes that the results of this effort will translate into a successful venture, to be repeated on a periodic basis, making gradually of this conference an important scientific event in the field of quality. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Management systems: a global perspective

According to the last available ISO survey, in December 2009 there were 1.065.785 issued ISO 9001 certificates, thus reflecting the importance of ISO 9001 certification worldwide, and approximately 223.149 ISO 14001 issued certificates. In the line of my previous publications, this paper presents a further set of statistical analyses conducted over ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 available data, providing some key results, which try to answer important questions regarding quality and environmental management systems certification in several countries. Such results provide an additional important contribution to the study of management systems diffusion/evolution, aimed at providing fact-based insights into, among other, the following issues: • Which are the countries leading quality and environmental management system certification? • Which are the countries that present highest growth rates between 2008 and 2009? • What has been the evolution of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certification in the different countries in the past few years? • What are market future perspectives regarding certification

ISO 9001 economic impact in the companies' performance

Despite all the studies carried out in order to analyze the impact of quality management systems implementation and certification over companies’ financial performance, conclusions reached so far have yet a contradictory nature. Some authors conclude that there is a positive relationship between ISO 9001 certification and companies’ financial improvement, while others do not find evidence to support such a relationship. Overall, no consistent evidence could therefore be found in the literature concerning the real ISO 9001 impact over companies’ business financial performance. Therefore, there seems to be room for conducting additional work in order to analyze: (1) what is the real ISO 9001 certification impact over business financial performance, if any; (2) if “quality organizations” are indeed more profitable and competitive than the others; (3) if companies that become certified base on internal motivations have different results, also from a financial perspective, as compared to the ones that become certified based mostly on external motivations. This paper describes the results obtained from studying the economic impact of quality management systems based on the case study methodology

Machine learning algorithms for color image segmentation

This report presents a complete framework to segment color pictures into regions, classify these regions as "interesting" or "not interesting" and extract color information from the interesting regions. It proposes the segmentation using k-means and the classification using kNN and SVM (Support Vector Machines). It also details the color space transformation and why they need to be done. There is a detailed example of the framework being used in a real dataset with the respective results commented and explained

a tale of endless mysteries

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Dynamics of yeast populations recovered from decaying leaves in a nonpolluted stream: a 2-year study on the effects of leaf litter type and decomposition time

Here we report on the results of a survey of the yeast populations occurring on submerged leaves (alder, eucalyptus and oak) in a natural mountain stream, during different phases of their decomposition and through two consecutive years. Leaf litter mass loss, total yeast counts, Shannon-Weiner index (H'), yeast community structure and physiologic abilities were analyzed to evaluate the dynamics of yeast communities during decay. Seventy-two yeast taxa were recorded, and in all litter types, species of basidiomycetous affinity predominated over ascomycetous ones. Discriminant analysis of presence/absence data (yeast species) showed significant differences both among substrate types (P<0.0026) and with decomposition time (P<0.0001). Carbon and nitrogen source utilization by yeast strains also varied with the substrate (P<0.0001) and decomposition time (P<0.0001). Further conclusions were that: (1) all litter types have in common ubiquitous yeast species, such as Cryptococcus albidus, Debaryomyces hansenii and Rhodotorula glutinis, among the common 20 yeast species; (2) only a few species were dominant, and most species were rare, being recorded once or twice throughout decomposition; and (3) the order of yeast appearance, and their substrate assimilation patterns, strongly suggest a succession phenomenon. Finally, explanations for the distribution patterns and variations in yeast communities are discussed

Sistemas de gestão integrados qualidade, ambiente e segurança – implementação e a avaliação de eficiência

As organizações têm necessidades diferentes, mas todas elas, para subsistirem, têm de ser rentáveis. Nesse sentido têm vindo a surgir diversos referenciais normativos que visam dar resposta a esta necessidade. A evolução previsível dos diversos sistemas de gestão numa organização aponta para a sua integração, tendo sido reconhecido um balanço positivo entre vantagens/desvantagens do processo. No entanto, passada mais de uma década a desenvolver práticas de integração de sistemas, continuam a existir, nas organizações, diferentes níveis de integração. Perante esta realidade revelou-se pertinente o desenvolvimento deste projecto de investigação, com o qual se pretendeu criar conhecimento na área da integração de sistemas gestão e avaliação da eficiência, averiguando até que ponto os indicadores chave de desempenho são úteis e usados para avaliar a eficiência dos sistemas de gestão das organizações certificadas - qualidade, ambiente e segurança. As principais conclusões deste trabalho apontam para a necessidade da criação de metodologias e boas práticas capazes de apoiar as organizações na implementação e avaliação dos resultados da integração dos seus sistemas de gestão.Organizations have different needs, but they all, to remain, they must be profitable. This effect has been emerging regulatory miscellaneous that is being addressed this need. The foreseeable development of the various systems in an organization points to their integration, having been granted a positive balance between advantages disadvantages of process. However, past more than a decade to develop systems integration practice, continue to exist, in organizations, different levels of integration Faced with this reality proved appropriate the development of this research project, which intended to create knowledge in the area of systems integration and management efficiency assessment, investigate the extent to which key performance indicators are useful and used to assess the effectiveness of the management systems of organizations certified-quality, environment and safety. The main conclusions of this work pointed out the necessity of creation of methodologies and good practices to support organisations in the implementation and evaluation of the results of the integration of management system

A new ISO 9001 diffusion index

Purpose – ISO 9001 certification is nowadays considered to be one of the most effective tools that can be adopted for guiding the management of Quality Systems. The stunning growth observed by these standards all over the world confirms a strong polarization of enterprises’ interest in this practice. Owing to the wide incidence of this phenomenon, a deep investigation of ISO 9001 diffusion over time is of mandatory importance. In the line of our previous publications, this paper derives from a research project that we are conducting in Portugal in order to develop the “ISO 9001 European Scoreboard”, aimed at studying and ranking European Union countries based on quality management systems diffusion. Methodology/Approach – In order to achieve such a goal, the authors have performed a set of statistical analyses over public data sets. Findings – Based on the model developed and in the analyses performed we were able to find out clusters of countries with different ISO 9001 evolution stages, derived from the ISO 9001 per 1000 inhabitants’ scores and countries growth indexes. Originality – With this scoreboard we are able to categorize and rank countries based on the quality management systems evolution (growth rates) over the past few years. In the end, such an “ISO 9001 European Scoreboard” will be an instrument to provide a comparative assessment of quality management practices over the European Union states, leading to the dynamic evaluation of their “macroquality” levels achieved, according to such a standard. We believe that such results provide an additional important contribution to the study of management systems diffusion/evolution, aimed at providing more fact-based insights and understandings

ISO 9001 or ISO 17025 : what is more important for the metrology laboratory

In the last decade, the number of Portuguese companies with quality certiÞ cation has increased, as is the case in most countries. According to the ISO 9001 standard all the certiÞ ed companies should calibrate their measuring equipment. By doing so, companies can guarantee, with rigor and quality, its measurement and use reliable data for monitoring the quality of its products and its improvement. However, a metrology laboratory is not required to hold an ISO 9001 certiÞ cation or ISO 17025 accreditation. In this moment, there are companies that have metrology laboratories to conduct an internal check of their measuring equipment. These companies have their quality management systems (QMS) certiÞ ed according to the ISO 9001 standard and so all its departments and sub-departments must also comply with the requirements of this standard. On the other hand there are companies with ISO 17025 accredited laboratories. Usually these companies are independent and his metrology laboratory is essentially to perform the calibration service to national companies who use their services to make the calibration of its measuring devices. These labs can be inserted into a company which does not have their QMS certiÞ ed by any national or international standard. Finally, there are companies that have their QMS certiÞ ed to ISO 9001 and also its metrology laboratory accredited by ISO 17025. In this case the metrology lab must comply with the requirements of both standards. Thus, the aim of the research project is to analyze, in Portugal, the importance level of ISO 9001 and ISO 17025 standards for a metrology laboratory to reach the quality