• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.89-105
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• 2004

Many researchers and practitioners have acknowledged the need to investigate the relationships amongst various criteria of implementing total quality management (TQM) in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs). There is a need to have practical research methodologies that take cognisance of the peculiarities of SMMEs and impact on their quality management practices in developing countries. This paper presents the theoretical foundation of a proposed Generative Research Methodology and configures the specification of a TQM implementation framework in SMMEs. The methodology combines rigorous research approaches, builds theory based on the dynamics of the environment and the firms' characteristics and incorporates various TQM criteria into the design of the framework. It synchronises inductive and deductive research methods in three phases and uses various means to acquire empirical evidence and examine the dependent and independent variables of TQM implementation. It is anticipated that the methodology could help SMMEs to develop, analyse and evaluate the framework for attaining quality performance goals.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.204-215
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• 2005

This paper explores innovative manufacturing processes, which can be used to manufacture the national musical instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, the Musical Steel Drum or Steel Pan. The main manufacturing process used today is the manual hand-forming technique. In order to achieve more consistent and deeper formed components while maintaining the high quality of the instrument, it is proposed that the Marforming process and the Flow-forming process, an adaptation of the Spinforming process, be used more frequently in the future to replace the traditional Hand-forming method. In the traditional Spinforming technique material is pushed from the outer circumference of the metal disc to the center in progressive passes of the former. This results in a thinning of the outer region of the formed component with thickening of the center, however the opposite is required for the musical steel drum and by adapting the process the required strain distributions were achieved. Evaluation took the form of strain analyses of pre-formed steel drums and visual inspection of the quality of the surface finish. It was found that the Marformed components had the smallest range of strain values while the Spinformed components had the largest range.

• Bulletin of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-68
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• 1982

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.35-45
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• 2007

This paper describes the development of a scale for measuring top management commitment towards continual quality performance improvement in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A set of self-assessment questions of the ISO 9004: 2000 Standard was used to assess the adoption status of quality management practices. This paper investigates the inter-item reliability and the content validity of the Quality Management Principles Scale (QMPS) in an integrated improvement process in SMEs. An empirical study was conducted to acquire senior management views on the use of the QMPS in manufacturing sectors in Trinidad and Tobago. Based on 328 responses from 110 SMEs, statistical software packages were used to analyse the empirical data and determine the reliability and validity of the QMPS. The paper contributes to develop a self-assessment scale that can be used to measure top management commitment. It is anticipated that the findings would provide practical insights for evaluating the levels of maturity on performance improvement in SMEs.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.175-190
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• 2003

This paper discusses the determinants of green practices and incorporates some empirical findings from a recent study in the petrochemical sector in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The study was comprised of a survey and follow-up interviews with senior executives who participated in the survey. Of fourteen companies involved, the findings affirmed that the investigation of accidents, provision of an emergency response, employee training, decreasing the production of wastes, and pre-treating wastes before disposal should be stressed. Government requirement, the economic reasons and public pressures were the driving forces of green practices. The five most important determinants identified include performance evaluation, financial justification, impacts on company, management leadership and operations integration. Implementing environmental management systems as a feasible approach to green practices in the petrochemical sector was explored. The findings provide guidance that helps organisations to accommodate the determinants of green practices into achieving sustainable environmental goals.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.57-76
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• 2009

Although many adherents openly praise the importance of quality management practices (QMP) in organisations, others have identified significant costs and implementation obstacles. Some recent studies showed that QMP have failed due to the ignorance of quality cultures. How to improve the success rate of QMP in organisations has become a critical issue both in the academy and in practice. This paper discusses the common enablers of and cultural impacts on QMP. It explores the dimensions of national versus organisational culture, and identifies the main features of four quality culture models as advocated in the literature in relation to facilitating QMP in organisations. It was found that flat structures, decentralised functions, empowerment, flexibility, innovation, limited rules and regulations and teamwork favor the QMP implementation. For facilitating culture changes for QMP, values associated with low power distance, low uncertainty avoidance and collectivism would have to be nurtured. Further research is needed to incorporate the findings and develop a practical quality culture approach for real applications in industry.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• no.nspc7
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• pp.1-90
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• 2009

Twenty-two new species of poecilostome copepods associated with marine invertebrates are described from the West Indies, Madagascar, and Pacific coast of Panama. They are Anthessius nosybensis n. sp. and Discanthessius solitarius n. gen. n. sp. in the Anthessiidae; Cemihyclops tenuis n. sp., Hemicyclops tripartitus n. sp., H. humesi n. sp., H. magnus n. sp., and Leptinogaster minuta n. sp. in the Clausidiidae; Schedomolgus crenulatus n. sp. and S. parvipediger n. sp. in the Anchimolgidae; Kelleria multiovigera n. sp. in the Kelleridae; Lichomolgus angustus n. sp. and L. fusiformis n. sp. in the Lichomolgidae; Pseudanthessius acutus n. sp., P. asper n. sp., and Tubiporicola pediger n. gen. n. sp. in the Pseudanthessiidae; Acanthomolgus tenuispinatus n. sp. and Notoxynus lokobensis n. sp. in the Rhynchomolgidae; Eupolymniphilus occidentalis n. sp. and E. brevicaudatus n. sp. in the Sabellephilidae; Enalcyonium robustum n. sp. and E. grandisetigerum n. sp. in the Lamippidae; and O. binoviger n. sp. in the Myicolidae. Hemicyclops geminus Stock is synonymized with H. columnaris Humes which is now known as a species of amphi-American distribution. Hemicyclops columnaris Humes, Modiolicola trabalis Humes, and Ostrincola breviseti Ho and Kim are redescribed.

• International Journal of Quality Innovation
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.134-152
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• 2008

Almost every country around the world has been focusing on food safety in intense and multifaceted ways. The use of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) is widely accepted as a food safety management system. This paper investigates the success factors of HACCP practices with reference to the domains of food production, processing and delivery. A literature review of food safety and management articles was conducted. Using the keywords search, the online Emerald Database was used and a total of 102 journal articles were identified between 1994 and 2007. The study examined a list of 20 success factors. Results show that 'food regulations,' 'role of the industry,' 'government policies and interventions,' 'training on food safety and hygiene,' and 'food contamination and/or poisoning' share the spotlight as being the most critical factors for HACCP practices in organisations. Future research could investigate a holistic paradigm that incorporates the success factors and aligns HACCP measures for attaining safety performance goals.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2007

A new genus Goodingius is proposed to incorporate Hemicyclops adhaerens(Williams), H. arenicolae Gooding, H. elongatus Wilson and H. subadhaerens Gooding, all of which bear the six-segmented female urosome, three mandibular elements (or three elements plus one rudimentary setule), five setae on the first antennular segment, and no inner coxal seta of leg 4. The genus Giardella Canu, a sister taxon of Goodingius, is redefined as possessing eight elements on the third exopodal segment of leg 3, only a single inner seta on the second endopodal segment of leg 4, four spines on the third endopodal segment of leg 4. To the genus Giardella, Hemicyclops caissarum Kihara and Rocha and H. carinifer Humes are assigned, in addition to Giardella ricoensis n. sp., Giardella callianassae Canu, and G. thompsoni A. Scott. Keys to the species of both genera are provided.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.2984-3004
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• 2015

Designing a new reversible data hiding technique with a high embedding rate and a low compression rate for vector quantization (VQ) compressed images is encouraged. This paper proposes a novel lossless data hiding scheme for VQ-compressed images based on the joint neighboring coding technique. The proposed method uses the difference values between a current VQ index and its left and upper neighboring VQ indexes to embed n secret bits into one VQ index, where n = 1, 2, 3, or 4. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme achieves the embedding rates of 1, 2, 3, and 4 bits per index (bpi) with the corresponding average compression rates of 0.420, 0.483, 0.545, and 0.608 bit per pixel (bpp) for a 256 sized codebook. These results confirm that our scheme performs better than other selected reversible data hiding schemes.