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Manufacturing sector is instrumental in driving economic growth of a country. With a vision for India to be a global manufacturing hub, boost the economic development and create ample employment opportunities, the Government of India has taken several steps in the past few years to strengthen the manufacturing capabilities in the country. Besides strengthening the logistic and supply chain infrastructure there is a need to build on the global quality standards and innovation culture for right positioning of Indian produce in the global supply chains. With the support of the Government initiatives, several manufacturing organizations are encouraged to focus on improving the quality of their products and processes. However, MSME organisations had to face several challenges such as limited skills, resources, awareness and lower acceptance of quality management initiatives that limit their scope of quality focus. This study discusses the implementation of a Six Sigma quality improvement project in an Indian MSME organization involved in the production of portable amplifier systems with an aim to reduce the repairs and rejections. The study provides a systematic roadmap for implementation of quality improvement projects in small scale manufacturing processes. We also illustrate an effective multi-criteria defect prioritization analysis based of Fuzzy-AHP methodology to identify the key defects to prioritize the improvement efforts. Compared to the frequency based prioritization as discussed in the literature, the proposed method prioritizes the key defect considering attributes critical to customers as well as to the manufacturer. The study also illustrates application of several quality management techniques such as cause and effect analysis, current reality tree, SIPOC analysis, and quality control charts in the DMAIC stages.

Tuberculosis is a leading cause of mortality in children worldwide. One of the greatest challenges in its management is the difficulty of diagnosis as the manifestations are non-specific and often mimic other illnesses. Neurological infection occurs in approximately 1% of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis, and usually takes the form of tuberculous meningitis or tuberculoma. An 11-year-old girl who was diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare immunological manifestation of tuberculosis, is presented. She recovered completely after a course of high-dose systemic corticosteroids in addition to anti-tuberculosis treatment. Considering the immense burden of this infectious disease, recognition and understanding of the uncommon manifestations are important to enable appropriate and timely treatment. Abbreviations: ADEM: acute disseminated encephalomyelitis; ATT: anti-tuberculosis therapy; CBNAAT: cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test; CNS: central nervous system; CSF: cerebrospinal fluid; CT: computed tomography; FLAIR: fluid attenuated inversion recovery; IFN: interferon; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; MTB: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; TB: tuberculosis; TNF: tumour necrosis factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abernethy malformation also known as congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt(CEPS) are rare (1 in 50,000 people) vascular anomalies of the splanchnic venous system and results from persistence of embryonic vessels. We present a rare case of abernethy malformation in a 4 year old girl. First case was reported by John Abernethy in 1793 and till now 83 cases have been reported till now. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cavitation erosion (CE) poses a significant challenge in the operation and maintenance of hydropower turbines, leading to substantial economic and operational losses. This study addresses this issue by investigating the effectiveness of plasma-sprayed coatings in mitigating CE on SS316 steel. Si3N4+TiC + VC and Cr-Ni based coatings were applied using a plasma spraying process. The research encompasses a comprehensive analysis of the coatings' characteristics, including microhardness, surface roughness, porosity percentage, and coating thickness. Furthermore, CE tests were conducted under various conditions, considering factors such as impingement angle, stand-off distance, and jet velocity. The eroded surfaces were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to gain insights into the failure modes. The findings demonstrate that the Si3N4+TiC + VC and Cr-Ni based coatings significantly enhance the resistance of SS316 steel to CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the importance of ergonomics in the medical workplace, specifically in the field of bronchoscopy. It highlights previous studies that have identified the need for improved ergonomics in bronchoscopy and the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among pulmonologists. The article presents the results of a survey conducted among interventional pulmonary (IP) fellows and program directors to assess the need for ergonomics education in bronchoscopy training. The survey findings reveal the demographics, procedure volume, and training techniques of the fellows, emphasizing the importance of incorporating ergonomics training in their education. The survey also found that 75% of fellows reported experiencing pain related to performing bronchoscopy, with the most common sites of pain being the left thumb and lower back. The majority of fellows reported adjusting the bed height and/or monitor location and using the rotational head during flexible bronchoscopy. The article suggests that proper ergonomic technique should be instilled early in bronchoscopy training to prevent procedure-related musculoskeletal pain. [Extracted from the article]

Highly reflective mirror technologies are majorly required in bio-sensing applications to eliminate complex multiple diffraction orders. In this paper, various grating parameters, i.e. width, thickness, and period are analyzed to get optimized values and high reflectivity for high-contrast subwavelength grating (HCSG) structure. Besides these parameters, polarization modes, angle of incidences, and refractive index have been diversely analyzed to monitor their effects on HCSG structure with respect to reflectivity. The simulation results manifest that the optimized parameters help to achieve the best reflectivity that can be further utilized in bio-sensing applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: One of the important factors contributing to the success of nonsurgical endodontic retreatment is the efficient removal of the obturating material from the root canal space. However, the fracture resistance of the tooth is likely to be affected by this procedure. Therefore, the study envisages assessing residual filling material in the root canals and the tooth's resistance to fracture postretreatment using different retreatment files. Materials and Methods: Ninety extracted mandibular premolars with one root and a single canal were decoronated, followed by chemo-mechanical preparation, and thereafter, using the lateral compaction method, root canals were obturated. The samples were divided into three groups (n = 30) in accordance with retreatment file systems, namely Hyflex Remover, Mtwo, and ProTaper. All three groups were subjected to the cone-beam computed tomography evaluation to assess remnants of obturating material inside the canals postretreatment, and the same samples were further assessed for fracture resistance, respectively. The collected data were evaluated using the statistical analysis using the Kruskal–Wallis and post hoc Bonferroni tests. Results: There were significant differences in the volume of residual filling among the tested groups in the cervical thirds (P < 0.05). The HyFlex remover file showed the highest fracture resistance (427.30 ± 33.53 N), followed by the Mtwo R (396.90 ± 27.17 N) and ProTaper R (378.50 ± 36.82 N). Conclusion: All the tested nickel-titanium retreatment files performed satisfactorily. Hyflex remover left the least amount of filling material in the cervical third and displayed the highest fracture resistance among the respective groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]