One of the major challenges for organisations operating in today's global business environment is to improve productivity, reduce costs and enhance customer service. Six Sigma methodology has become a popular approach in a number of organisations as a business improvement tool. This research presented Six Sigma as a business transformation methodology within Lonmin operations. The purpose of this research was to identify the primary factors in the Six Sigma framework, and to evaluate the relationship between these factors in the framework and their contribution towards transformation in terms of business improvement. This research critically evaluated the application of Six Sigma within Lonmin in the South African context. Quantitative data was obtained from questionnaires distributed to the different Six Sigma role players within Lonmin. A probability sample was used; sixty five (65) Six Sigma candidates were drawn from Lonmin with a Six Sigma population size of one hundred and twenty (120) employees listed in the Six Sigma database. Data was collected using an e-mail based questionnaire developed by the researcher. The main contributions of this study showed that communication and organisational culture were the most important factors to transform business performance when Six Sigma was integrated with business principles. The study revealed that project selection was a vital element in the process that determined the value towards business improvement. Six Sigma must be supplemented by other programmes (Theory of Constraints, Design For Six Sigma) in order to be more effective in attaining business performance. This research will benefit management to evaluate and structure an aligned methodology for transformation. Employees will be motivated to attain greater knowledge and skill. Research will prove beneficial to organisations that need to transform their organisation. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

Abstract available in attached PDF document. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

"We fail more often not because we fail to solve the problem we face but because we fail to face the right problem." (Russell L. Ackoff) Although centralisation of support functions causes initial cost savings, benefits may not improve unless there is continuous enhancement of product offerings and service quality. Commonly tension arises between the shared services centre and the business units, and this is exacerbated when business units do not understand the level of service they receive, or the service centres do not understand the level of quality they offer. This ultimately leads to confusion, lowered morale and loss of workers. Six Sigma is a business strategy and a systematic methodology, use of which leads to breakthrough in profitability through quantum gains in product / service quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. The concept of implementing Six Sigma was pioneered at Motorola in the 1980's and the objective was to reduce the number of defects to as few as 3.4 parts per million opportunities. For effective implementation of Six Sigma projects in organisations, one must understand the critical success factors that will make the application successful. This dissertation attempts to understand the underlying principles of Six Sigma and its applicability to the Gauteng Shared Services Centre, in order to achieve quantum gains in service quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

The accounting higher education sector is becoming increasing competitive, with institutions jostling for position in the eyes of prospective students. Without adequate attention to the quality of education provided, little headway will be possible, and the institution will have to settle for second, or even third, place in the student's mind. Institutions cannot rely on past successes to attract top students, and a new approach is needed. This research presents a possible answer to the quality problem faced at the University of Kwazulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg campus) in the School of Accounting. It involves the use of SERVQUAL to measure students' satisfaction levels with the quality of service and education received. The approach involves gathering students' perceptions, analyzing them, and making suggestions about the correct path to follow in a bid to enhance the institution's standing in the accounting community. / Thesis (M.B.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Semi-solid manufacturing is a near net shape forming process that takes advantage of an alloy's thixotropic behaviour. However, in order to obtain the desired thixotropic properties from an alloy in the semi -solid state, the microstructure of the as-cast feedstock metal needs to display a fine grained, equiaxed primary phase prior to reheating for the forming operation. Various methods are currently in use to obtain the required microstructure of which the MagnetoHydroDynamic (MHD) process is predominant. Two fundamental factors, namely shear rate and cooling rate, influence the formation of the fine grained, equiaxed primary phase during the MHD process. The aim of this research was to produce semi solid billets and in so doing, determine how the influence of the combination of the two fundamental factors contribute towards the final formation of the primary phase and to determine an optimal level ofthese factors' settings to deliver the desired microstructure. An MHD apparatus was constructed and the Taguchi method was used to design an experiment to investigate the influence ofthe fundamental factors involved in casting semi solid feedstock of aluminium A356.2. The issues ofthe formation of a fine eutectic phase and solidification shrinkage were also investigated. An experimental method was designed to investigate the significance ofthe fundamental factors' influence towards the appearance of the primary phase; the latter was evaluated using an image analysis system. The shear rate was controlled by varying the line frequency and the base frequency supplied to the electromagnetic stirrer and the cooling rate was controlled by initiation of a fixed, fast cooling rate at a certain melt temperature (TJ Results showed that a fine grained, equiaxed primary phase, with an average grain size of 55 /lm, was achieved after casting, prior to reheating for forming. The contribution of the base frequency and the line frequency were 8 % and 3.5 % respectively and the contribution ofTi was 86.5 % towards the outcome ofthe result. The cooling rate changed from approximately 0.3 QC/sec to 4.5 QC/sec at Ti. A fine textured eutectic phase was achieved with the fast cooling rate. The solidification shrinkage was accounted for by incorporating a riser on the mould. The feedstock produced in this research was compared, on a microstructural basis, to commercially available Semi Solid Metal (SSM) feedstock from Pechiney and SAG. The research feedstock had a larger, average primary grain size, however, it was more discrete and round grained than the commercial alloys which were finer and more rosette grained. Upon reheating to the semi solid state, ready for forming, the final, evolved grain sizes and shapes were almost identical between the research and commercial feedstock, despite the initial differences in grain sizes and shapes. However, the commercial alloys showed primary grains with trapped eutectic whereas in the research alloy, the primary grains were largely free of trapped eutectic. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2000.

No description available.

In order to reduce the unnecessary radiation exposure for the clinical personnel, the optimization of procedures in the quality control test of gamma camera was investigated. A significant component of the radiation dose in performing the quality control testing is handling phantoms of radioactivity, especially the mixing to get a uniform activity concentration. Improving the phantom mixing techniques appeared to be a means of reducing radiation dose to personnel. However, this is difficult to perform without a continuous dynamic tomographic acquisition system to study mixing the phantom. In the first part of this study a computational fluid dynamics model was investigated to simulate the mixing procedure. Mixing techniques of shaking and spinning were simulated using the computational fluid dynamics tool FLUENT. In the second part of this study a Siemens E.Cam gamma camera was simulated using the Monte Carlo software SIMIND. A series of validation experiments demonstrated the reliability of the Monte Carlo simulation. In the third part of this study the simulated the mixing data from FLUENT was used as the source distribution in SIMIND to simulate a tomographic acquisition of the phantom. The planar data from the simulation was reconstructed using filtered back projection to produce a tomographic data set for the activity distribution in the phantom. This completed the simulation routine for phantom mixing and verified the Proof-in-Concept that the phantom mixing problem can be studied using a combination of computational fluid dynamics and nuclear medicine radiation transport simulations.

It has been reported for over the last decade that the quality of nursing care provided towards patients has decreased tremendously. The literature shows the impact of poor quality nursing to patients and assumes the influence of nurses’ perceptions of quality nursing care on its delivery. However, studies about such perceptions are still few in Rwanda. Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of quality nursing care among nurses working in two district hospitals in Rwanda. Methodology: A non-experimental exploratory descriptive design which was quantitative in nature was used. A self-report questionnaire comprised items related to socio-demographic characteristics of participants, perceptions of quality nursing care, nurses’ role in continuous quality improvement and factors affecting the delivery of quality nursing care. The sample was obtained through a purposive non-probability sampling of the nurses (n=150) who were available during data collection from 16 to 28 October 2011, with a return rate of 110 (73%) of completed questionnaires. Results: The findings from demographic data indicated that many of nurses were young, with 48.2% falling into the 20 to 30 year old bracket and the majority of the participants (83.3%) were enrolled nurses. Many of the participants were new to the nursing profession, with 47.2% falling into the 6 months-5 years working experience bracket. This study suggests that nurses had an appropriate perception of quality nursing care, as evidenced by the mean score of 4.183 (SD: .5741), related to nurses’ understanding of quality nursing care with mean score of 4.137 (SD: .5763) for the perceptions of the delivery of quality nursing care. The role played by nurses in continuous quality improvement was evident, but it was constrained by the factors related their nursing practice environment, including: shortage of nurses, lack of time, heavier workloads, and few opportunities for advancement. Conclusion: In summary, this study provided insights into nurses’ perceptions of quality nursing care, and their current ongoing endeavours to provide quality improvement in spite of challenges in their workforce environment. This study has described the challenges which interfere with the delivery of quality nursing care that need to be addressed so that patients may benefit from evidence-based care. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

The Design Metrics Research Team at Ball State University has developed a quality design metric D(G), which consists of an internal design metric Di, and an external design metric De. This thesis discusses applying design metrics to the ROCC-Radar On-line Command Control project received from Harris Corporation. Thus, the main objective of this thesis is to analyze the behavior of D(G), and the primitive components of this metric.Error and change history reports are vital inputs to the validation of design metrics' performance. Since correct identification of types of changes/errors is critical for our evaluation, several different types of analyses were performed in an attempt to qualify the metric performance in each case.This thesis covers the analysis of 666 FORTRAN modules with approximately 142,296 lines of code. / Department of Computer Science

Testing statistics state that testing consumes more than half of a programmer's professional life, although few programmers like testing, fewer like test design and only 5% of their education will be devoted to testing. The main goal of this research is to test the efficiency of two software testing tools. Two experiments were conducted in the Computer Science Department at Ball State University. The first experiment compares two conditions - testing software using no tool and testing software using a command-line based testing tool - to the length of time and number of test cases needed to achieve an 80% statement coverage for 22 graduate students in the Computer Science Department. The second experiment compares three conditions - testing software using no tool, testing software using a command-line based testing tool, and testing software using a GUI interactive tool with added functionality - to the length of time and number of test cases needed to achieve 95% statement coverage for 39 graduate and undergraduate students in the same department. / Department of Computer Science