Increasingly, companies are taking part in process improvement programmes, which brings about a growing need for employees to interpret and act on data representations. We have carried out case studies in a range of companies to identify the existence and need of what we call Techno-mathematical Literacies (TmL): functional mathematical knowledge mediated by tools and grounded in the context of...

Application of Deming regression analysis to interpret method comparison data presupposes specification of the squared analytical error ratio (lambda), but in cases involving only single measurements by each method, this ratio may be unknown and is often assigned a default value of one. On the basis of simulations, this practice was evaluated in situations with real error ratios deviating from ...

with “BD SST 1 double centrifugation” (P ,0.0001, paired t-test). Deming regression analysis yielded the following: slope 5 1.16 [95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.03–1.29]; intercept 5 0.04 mg/L (95% CI, 0.02– 0.06 mg/L). Table 1 shows the assay values of the six apparently falsepositive results. These results prompted a second phase, during which the BD Thrombin sample was also centrifuged ...

This study evaluated the agreement of fiducial marker localization between two modalities--an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)--using a low-dose, half-rotation scanning protocol. Twenty-five prostate cancer patients with implanted fiducial markers were enrolled. Before each daily treatment, EPID and half-rotation CBCT images were acquired. Transla...

www.stsc.hill.af.mil 23 S can be considered a product whose production is fundamentally similar to other products. Improving the quality of software can be approached using the same basic principles espoused by quality pioneers such as W. Edwards Deming, Philip B. Crosby, and Harold F. Dodge. These principles can form a practical framework for ensuring that appropriate requirements are set for ...

JOHN DIAMANT HewlettPackard Broadly speaking, the IT industry hasn’t remembered the quality improvement revolution or applied it to IT security quality. This isn’t surprising, because specialized disciplines tend to advance primarily on their own, and the cross-disciplinary application of lessons learned is less common. To make the connection clear, I start with an abbreviated history of qualit...

The measurement of multiple antigens in a single sample poses clinical and methodological challenges. Here we describe the validation of a multiplexed sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) array (microELISA) of nine antigens. The antigens tested simultaneously were: alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), prostate specific antigen (PSA), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 125 (CA 125)...

Agile practitioners pride themselves on highly productive, responsive, low ceremony, lightweight, tacit knowledge processes with little waste, adaptive planning and frequent iterative delivery of value. It is often assumed that CMMI compliant processes need to be heavyweight, bureaucratic, slow moving, high ceremony and plan driven. Agile developers often skeptically perceive formal process imp...