Continuous product and process improvement as keys to success: A case study

Dynamic customer expectations and increased competitive pressures require manufacturing organizations to continually improve both their products and processes. To gain a better understanding of this improvement process so that other firms might benefit from the lessons learned, an in-depth study of a relatively small electronics manufacturing firm was conducted. A review of the organization's product and process improvements over an extended period of time highlighted the importance of the following four “areas”: the firm's sensitivity to its external environment in motivating and guiding product and process improvements, the firm's sensitivity to its product and process strengths as well as the potential advantage these might provide in the marketplace, the firm's management stability and style in motivating and guiding product and process improvements, and the synergistic relationship between the firm's competitive strategy and its product and process improvements.     

Failure of use of cemental annulations in teeth to determine the age of humans

The reliability of cemental annulation counts in teeth was examined to determine its value as an age indicator for humans. One hundred extracted human teeth were embedded in polyester casting resin and sectioned using a diamond wafering saw. Thin sections were photomicrographed, projected, and counted in a double blind random method of presentation. The age of the specimen was determined by adding the number of cemental annulations counted by the observers and the eruption age of the specific tooth that was used. The data analyzed by simple regression indicated that determining chronologic age in humans from cemental annulations is not possible.     

Judicial oversight of release of patients committed after being found not competent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity in violent crimes

In 1981, North Carolina joined a growing number of states in passing legislation requiring judicial concurrence with discharge decisions for civilly committed patients who had been found either not competent to proceed to trial or not guilty by reason of insanity. The authors studied all such patients at one of North Carolina's four state mental hospitals during the first year of the new law's operation, and found that there were only 16 of them. These patients were compared to a control sample of civilly committed patients without criminal charges; it was found that the forensic patients spent longer in the hospital than the controls, but still significantly less time than reported in studies from other states. The authors discuss possible reasons for these differences and comment on the effectiveness of such legislation.     

The experience of stress for correction officers: A double-bind theory of correctional stress

This study investigated the experience of stress for 143 mostly male New Jersey correction officers, including officers from both state and county, of all ranks, and with varying lengths of service. Each filled in a questionnaire eliciting information regarding perceptions of stress in themselves and others, situational and temporal experience of correctional stress, consequences in terms of physical health, emotional and interpersonal relations, and job performance, perceptions of sources of correctional stress, and coping techniques utilized. While objective indicators such as physical illnesses and high divorce rates suggested that the job was indeed a stressful one, the correction officers presented a tough, “macho” image, denying their stress and its consequences, although they were more willing to report stress-related problems in their fellow workers. While they identified officer-inmate interaction as their major situation of stress, they attributed their problems in this area to administrative malfunctions which place them in a classic double-bind predicament in relation to rule enforcement. Their powerlessness in this situation is rendered especially stressful by the macho working personality which the job requires of them.