Making plans to travel to Mexico this year? Is a Mexico family vacation in your future, or are you looking to take a little time for rest and relaxation on the sandy white beaches of Cancun or Puerto Vallarta? Well, your timing is right. It promises to be another fantastic year south of the border for all of the major Mexico resort hot spots! In fact, 16 million Americans will probably visit Mexico this year.

Be sure you are prepared before you travel, as there have been some new requirements issued by the U.S. State Department. Although it’s a minor change from prior travel requirements, it affects all U.S. citizens entering the United States from countries within the Western Hemisphere who do not currently possess valid passports. Essentially, all that is required is a passport, which most frequent travelers have anyway. The goal? To make it safer for you and to strengthen United States border security.

Here are some important facts you should know:

•The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires that by January 1, 2008, travelers to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Panama, Mexico and Canada have a passport or other secure, accepted document to enter or re-enter the United States.

•In the proposed implementation plan, which is subject to a period of initial public comment, the Initiative will be rolled out in phases, providing as much advance notice as possible to the affected public to enable them to meet the terms of the new guidelines.

•The proposed timeline will be as follows:

December 31, 2006 – Requirement applied to all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda.

December 31, 2007 – Requirement extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel.

The Easy Way to get a Passport

First, when applying for a passport, make sure you allow enough time! It typically takes 6 weeks to process a passport application. Where can you apply for a passport? The State Department provides a handy search tool to help you find the Passport Acceptance Facility nearest you. What’s the busiest time for passport processing? Usually between January and July. Of course, if you have an emergency and need to travel to Mexico right away, the State Dept does offer some options. Go to their website at http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html, or call the U.S. National Passport Information Center: 1-877-4USA-PPT

Additional Tips for Travel to Mexico

•Be sure to leave your travel itinerary and passport information with a friend or relative in case the originals are lost. It can also be helpful to carry a copy of your travel documents with you in a separate location from the originals.
•Avoid traveling with large amounts of cash. Credit cards are widely accepted and most areas visited by tourist will have an ATM machine. These are great options because they are safe, convenient and you get a favorable exchange rate. Another option is to use traveler’s checks.
•Using a fanny pack or travelers wallet for your cash and passport is a great idea.
•While they are making great strides in improving the water quality throughout Mexico, it is advisable to drink bottled water. In addition, avoid drinking beverages over ice as the ice may have been made from tap water.
•Wash vegetables and fruits in a purifying solution of some type.
•Before leaving, check with your health insurance provider so that you are aware of your coverage.
•If you are planning to drive over the border be sure to obtain a temporary import permit and all the necessary insurance.

So now that you’ve been informed, what are you waiting for? Mexico is a land of incredible beauty and natural wonder! Whether you’re going to sunny Cancun, festive Acapulco, or even Puerto Vallarta, your perfect Mexican vacation getaway is just a flight away!

This article was written by Jon Wuebben, of Custom Copywriting. Jon writes select pieces about travel in Mexico for the CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort.

The data gathering exercise results in quantitative data in abundance. How you want to analyze it depends broadly on your plan to arrive at the solution. Nevertheless, it depends on three fundamental questions. But as a precursor to these questions, one must keep in mind that the larger purpose of using wide ranging interacting data is to understand the processes, problems and the best possible solutions as applied to Six Sigma implementation.

Six Sigma: Statistical Thinking

Statistical thinking involves the tendency to want to study the complete contextual situation when a wide ranging statistical inputs and control factors of several natures may be interacting simultaneously to produce a particular output.

To understand the principle better, one can begin with the one factor at a time (OFAT) theory, which refers to the natural tendency of the investigator to change only one factor at a time and ‘record’ the results until all other factors are tested this way. The results need to be put in place in the natural logical manner that would have occurred had the study been conducted in the opposite of OFAT.

The Fundamental Question

As we discussed earlier, there are three fundamental questions that need to be addressed in the order that the data is analyzed.

1. Whether the level of the measurement of the variables is known? If yes;

a. Nominal or Crude Ordinal

b. Good Ordinal or Interval or Ratio

2. Size of the sample is another consideration. What kinds and how many of them are being considered?

a. One sample only

b. Two samples; Specify either dependent or independent

c. Multiple samples; Specify either dependent or
independent

3. What are my anticipations about the statements on data that I will be able to make?

a. Define the sample data but without generalizing to the larger batch size

i. Discuss each factor such as distribution, central tendency and variation in the context of a single variable.

ii. Discuss the relationship between two or more variables if that is the case.

b. Now, moving away a bit, generalize the samples to the batch size from which they were drawn. The process of statistical inference or hypothesis testing, as this is called, relies on the probability theory to determine the risk of an inaccurate generalization.

i. For a single variable, discuss the various factors in
the same way as in the above case.

ii. For two or more samples discuss the differences between them concerning whether they are independent or dependent?

iii. Relationship between two variables and again the relationship shared between more variables.

In continuance with the discussion, the choice for adopting the appropriate statistical technique and going ahead with the task on hand rests with the answers to the above questions. Nevertheless, the philosophy of effective statistical thinking and action on a further course is better based on the following guiding principles:

1. In a system all reactions occur in interconnected processes

2. Variation is part and parcel of all processes

3. The key to success lies in understanding and reducing variations

Statistical thinking succeeds in paving the way for a holistic approach to the deployment of Six Sigma. It can’t be thought of in isolation.