CASE STUDY 95-04: Operator Certification: A Case Study in Operator Self-Inspection

Operator certification is the process where production workers are trained, authorized, and given the necessary resources to inspect their own work. This case study evaluated operator certification systems in the manufacturing process at three major aerospace companies during the Spring of 1995. Within the manufacturing area, operator certification was observed in such operations as high volume machining operations, certain processing operations-such as leak testing, balancing, and painting-and production of high volume detail parts. This case study was initiated as a result of the data from the human resources focus group’s survey in 1994. Prof. Jan Klein found that the airframe sector had a significantly lower percentage of plants where production workers perform inspection tasks as compared to the engine and electronics sectors. While operator certification is not a new concept, it appeared to be a best practice within two of the three sectors of the aerospace industry. This case study was performed to investigate these high potential payoffs

The Local Environments of Core-Collapse SNe within Host Galaxies

We present constraints on core-collapse supernova progenitors through observations of their environments within host galaxies. This is achieved through 2 routes. Firstly, we investigate the spatial correlation of supernovae with host galaxy star formation using pixel statistics. We find that the main supernova types form a sequence of increasing association to star formation. The most logical interpretation is that this implies an increasing progenitor mass sequence going from the supernova type Ia arising from the lowest mass, through the type II, type Ib, and the supernova type Ic arising from the highest mass progenitors. We find the surprising result that the supernova type IIn show a lower association to star formation than type IIPs, implying lower mass progenitors. Secondly, we use host HII region spectroscopy to investigate differences in environment metallicity between different core-collapse types. We find that supernovae of types Ibc arise in slightly higher metallicity environments than type II events. However, this difference is not significant, implying that progenitor metallicity does not play a dominant role in deciding supernova type.Comment: to appear in Proceedings of IAU 279 "Death of Massive Stars: Supernovae and Gamma-ray Bursts

Modified Early Warning Scores (MEWS) to support ambulance clinicians’ decisions to transport or treat at home

Introduction Modified Early Warning Scores (MEWS), calculated from patients’ vital signs, are used in hospital to identify patients who may benefit from admission or intensive care: higher MEWS indicates greater clinical risk. We aimed to evaluate MEWS to support paramedics’ decisions to transport patients to hospital or treat and leave them at home. Methods We used an interrupted time series design. We trained 19 volunteer paramedics to use MEWS to support decisions to transport or treat and leave at home. We used linear regression to evaluate differences in weekly transportation rates (percentage of patients attended and transported to hospital) and revisit rates (percentage of patients attended, treated at home and subsequently revisited within 7 days), comparing trends in rates 17 weeks prior (pre-MEWS) and 17 weeks post implementation of MEWS. Auto-calculated scores retrospectively applied to all data provided pre-MEWS and were compared with paramedic calculated scores post-MEWS. Results Of the 4140 patients attended, 2208 were excluded owing to missing values (n=1897), recording errors (n=21) or excluded clinical complaints (n=290). From the remaining data (n=1932) there were no significant differences in transportation rates (pre=55±6%; post=63±11%) by catering for the existing increasing trends where the confidence intervals of the regression slopes overlap (pre=0.15; 95%CI -0.51 to 0.80 vs. post=0.54; -0.58 to 1.65). Similarly, there were no significant difference in revisit rates (pre=4±4%; post=2±4%) catering for the similar trends (pre=-0.13; -0.53 to 0.27 vs. post=0.08; -0.33 to 0.49). Paramedic scores were incorrect 39% of the time (n=622). Conclusion MEWS had a minimal effect on transportation or revisit rates. Scores were frequently not calculated or recorded, or incorrectly calculated. Opportunities for ongoing training, clinical support and feedback were limited. A larger study, ensuring adequate ongoing support, is recommended before implementing MEWS on a wider scale

Neighborhood Poverty Characteristics of Pertussis Cases among Young Children in San Bernadino County, CA, in 2010-2011

Background: The burden of most infectious diseases falls heavily on persons living in neighborhoods of lower socioeconomic status. This study examined the distribution of pertussis among children ages 0-5 years by neighborhood poverty categories and ethnicity in San Bernardino County, California, during an epidemic in 2010-2011. Methods: One hundred twenty-seven cases were identified and their residences were geocoded to determine the poverty rate of the census tract the residence was in. All residences were categorized as belonging to one of four poverty categories: 0-4.9% of residents (low poverty, reference group), 5-9.9% (medium low poverty), 10-19.9% (medium high poverty), and 20-100% (high poverty). Pertussis incidence rates were calculated for the four categories. Results: Pertussis incidence rates did not significantly vary among the poverty categories. Furthermore the ethnic distribution of pertussis cases did not significantly vary among the poverty categories. Conclusions: The usual socioeconomic disparity found for childhood infectious diseases was not found for pertussis incidence. This may be due to the fact that childhood pertussis vaccinations are state-mandated and publicly-funded, therefore more accessible to children of all neighborhoods. To further reduce pertussis incidence, health education efforts might include the elimination of personal belief exemptions from vaccinations, as was done in California

Initial trust formation in a SaaS context

The proliferation of the software as a service (SaaS) model challenges our understanding of trust formation in the external software acquisition. In the SaaS model vital software applications are often sourced over the internet with very limited personal interaction between representatives of user and provider. The present research seeks to explore how the subscribers of software services develop the necessary trust that facilitates their decision to use these external software services. In order to investigate the initial trust formation in a SaaS context the study draws on data from ten UK-based SME’s that have recently subscribed to SaaS services. Findings reveal an interesting confluence of factors that contribute to the trust formation and include aspects of provider size, reputation and functionalities. These findings create a range of theoretical and managerial implications