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Container supply chains are vulnerable to many risks. Vulnerability can be defined as an exposure to serious disturbances arising from the risks within the supply chain as well as the risks external to the supply chain. Vulnerability can also be defined as exposure to serious disturbances arising from a hazard or a threat. Containers are one of the major sources of security concerns and have been used, for example, to smuggle illegal immigrants, weapons, and drugs. The consequences of the use of a weapon of mass destruction or discovery of such a device in a container are serious. Estimates suggest that a weapon of mass destruction explosion and the resulting port closure could cost billions of dollars. The annual cost of container losses as consequences of serious disturbances arising from hazards is estimated as $500 million per year. The literature review, historical failure data, and statistical analysis in the context of containerships' accidents from a safety point of view clearly indicate that the container cargo damage, machinery failure, collision, grounding, fire/explosion, and contact are the most significant accident categories with high percentages of occurrences. Another important finding from the literature review is that the most significant basic event contributing to the supply chains' vulnerability is human error. Therefore, firstly, this research makes full use of the Evidential Reasoning (ER) advantages and further develops and extends the Fuzzy Evidential Reasoning (FER) by exploiting a conceptual and sound methodology for the assessment of a seafarer's reliability. Accordingly, control options to enhance seafarers' reliability are suggested. The proposed methodology enables and facilitates the decision makers to measure the reliability of a seafarer before his/her designation to any activities and during his/her seafaring period. Secondly, this research makes full use of the Bayesian Networks (BNs) advantages and further develops and extends the Fuzzy Bayesian Networks (FBNs) and a "symmetric method" by exploiting a conceptual and sound methodology for the assessment of human reliability. Furthermore a FBN model (i. e. dependency network), which is capable of illustrating the dependency among the variables, is constructed. By exploiting the proposed FBN model, a general equation for the reduction of human reliability attributable to a person's continuous hours of wakefulness, acute sleep loss and cumulative sleep debt is formulated and tested. A container supply chain includes dozens of stakeholders who can physically come into contact with containers and their contents and are potentially related with the container trade and transportation. Security-based disruptions can occur at various points along the supply chain. Experience has shown that a limited percentage of inspection, coupled with a targeted approach based on risk analysis, can provide an acceptable security level. Thus, in order not to hamper the logistics process in an intolerable manner, the number of physical checks should be chosen cautiously. Thirdly, a conceptual and sound methodology (i. e. FBN model) for evaluating a container's security score, based on the importer security filling, shipping documents, ocean or sea carriers' reliability, and the security scores of various commercial operators and premises, is developed. Accordingly, control options to avoid unnecessary delays and security scanning are suggested. Finally, a decision making model for assessing the security level of a port associated with ship/port interface and based on the security score of the ship's cargo containers, is developed. It is further suggested that regardless of scanning all import cargo containers, one realistic way to secure the supply chain, due to lack of information and number of variables, is to enhance the ocean or sea carriers' reliability through enhancing their ship staff's reliability. Accordingly a decision making model to analyse the cost and benefit (i.e. CBA) is developed.

This research aims to propose a Risk Management (RM) framework and develop a generic risk-based model for dealing with potential hazards and risk factors associated with offshore terminals' and marine ports' operations and management. Hazard identification was conducted through an appropriate literature review of major risk factors of these logistic infrastructures. As a result in the first phase of this research a Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchal Process (FAHP) method was used for determining the relative weights of the risk factors identified via the literature review. This has led to the development of a generic risk -based model which can help related industrial professionals and risk managers assess the risk factors and develop appropriate strategies to take preventive/corrective actions for mitigation purposes, with a view of maintaining efficient offshore terminals' and marine ports' operations and management. In the second phase of the research the developed risk-based model incorporating Fuzzy Set Theory (FST), an Evidential Reasoning (ER) approach and the IDS software were used to evaluate the risk levels of different ports in real situations using a case study. The IDS software based on an ER approach was used to aggregate the previously determined relative weights of the risk factors with the new evaluation results of risk levels for the real ports. The third phase of the research made use of the Cause and Consequence Analysis (CCA) including the Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Event Tree Analysis (ETA) under a fuzzy environment, to analyse in detail the most significant risk factors determined from the first phase of the research, using appropriate case-studies. In the fourth phase of the research an individual RM strategy was tailored and implemented on the most significant risk factor identified previously. In the last phase of the research and in order to complete the RM cycle, the best mitigation strategies were introduced and evaluated in the form of ideal solutions for mitigating the identified risk factors. All methods used in this research have quantitative and qualitative nature. Expert judgements carried out for gathering the required information accounted for the majority of data collected. The proposed RM framework can be a useful method for managers and auditors when conducting their RM programmes in the offshore and marine industries. The novelty of this research can help the Quality, Health, Safety, Environment and Security (QHSES) managers, insurers and risk managers in the offshore and marine industries investigate the potential hazards more appropriately if there is uncertainty of data sources. In this research with considering strategic management approaches to RM development the proposed RM framework and risk based model contribute to knowledge by developing and evaluating an effective methodology for future use of the RM professionals.

For more than a decade, universities around the world have been placed with great responsibility to develop their students’ employability for political, economic and social reasons. Though many policies, research and practices have tried to address the issues and challenges employability development in HE faces, to date it remains a ‘wicked’ problem for higher education. Through a close up research framework, this study explored and examined the experiences, understandings and perceptions of lecturers, and students from two English Post 92 degree programmes, in an educational discipline, regarding employability and employability development. In order to illuminate some of the critical issues, in an attempt to understand ‘why employability development is so problematic to higher education’, this study took a reflexive phenomenological approach to look at how lecturers and students make sense of employability and employability development, through their own experiences. As well as looking at the two groups separately, it also compared their perceptions and understandings to highlight any dissonances they have, which are crucial to the complex and ‘wicked’ problem of employability development in their programmes. As lecturers and students hold diverse perspectives on employability in HE that is often in conflict, it was expected that there would be no “one size fits all” solution. In addition, this study found that employability has certainly added complexities to higher education. Certainly, it has led the students and lecturers to have complex issues within their roles and identities, in relation to employability development in their programmes and in HE in general. As such, this study reflexively examined those issues, and concludes that although employability development in HE will remain complex and ‘wicked’, through reflexive research and practices, vital issues relating to lecturers’ and students’ roles and responsibilities can be illuminated and solved.

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The objective of this research was to assess the feasibility of establishing Egyptian RDCs in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in order to enhance Egyptian export flows to that economic bloc. The research hypothesis was that the volume of Egyptian exports within the COMESA market would be enhanced through the establishment of a network of RDCs. Intensive analysis of COMESA imports was conducted in order to understand the nature of the demand in the COMESA market and explore the export potential for Egyptian products. To increase the competitiveness of Egyptian exports to the COMESA market the research proposes the establishment of an RDC network in COMESA. Two models were used to select the locations for the Egyptian RDCs network within COMESA countries. The first model was used to set the criteria for the location decision within COMESA countries from a logistics perspective. The second model was used to assess the selected locations through criteria pertaining to several external factors such as economic and political stability, local infrastructure and geographical locations. Kenya, Djibouti and Tanzania are the three countries which proved to be the optimal locations to establish a generic network of Egyptian RDCs for the COMESA market. The factors which are adversely affecting the competitiveness of Egyptian exports to the COMESA countries were assessed based on three stages of export flows from the manufacturers' facilities in Egypt until reaching each country in COMESA via the RDCs. The first stage is from the Egyptian manufacturers' locations to the Egyptian seaports, the second from the Egyptian seaports to the seaport of the receiving country in which the RDC is located, and finally the third stage from the location of the RDC to the COMESA market for redistribution to the end users. In order to test the results from these models, two questionnaires were conducted to target Egyptian exporters and COMESA importers to investigate their views regarding the establishment of the Egyptian RDC network to serve the COMESA market. The findings of the questionnaires revealed that the COMESA market is a good gateway for Egyptian exports, however, a number of problems render the benefits from such a market to be a challenge to achieve. Therefore, the research has focused on recommended actions to be considered in potential implementation strategies through a schematic model to enhance the flows of Egyptian exports to the COMESA market and to overcome the hindrances in achieving a competitive position within this market.

This thesis attempts to identify factors that are important for shipping companies in tapping the capital markets for finance, either to raise equity or to issue debt in the high yield bond market. The analysis is carried out through the presentation of three research papers. The first paper presents evidence for the first time on the aftermarket perfomance of 27 initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stock in the shipping industry worldwide, for the period 1987-1995. The portfolio of shipping IPOs in the sample underperforms the local stock market indices by as much as 36.79% by the end of their second anniversary of trading, but there is no evidence of underperformance in relation to the Morgan Stanley Capital International Shipping Index. Moreover, univariate regression analysis shows that two year holding period returns are positively related to the initial level of gearing and negatively related to the fleet age of the companies at the time of the offering. The second paper examines for the first time the relationships between a prespecified set of global macroeconomic risk variables and shipping stock returns internationally. The sample consists of 36 companies that are listed in 10 stock exchanges around the world and the analysis concentrates in the period December 1989 - March 1998. The macroeconomic factors included in the analysis are the returns on the world equity market portfolio, and innovations in a prespecified set of global macro variables, namely, industrial production, inflation, oil prices, US dollar exchange rates, and laid up tonnage. Oil prices and laid up tonnage are found to have a negative effect on shipping stocks, whereas the exchange rate variable has a positive effect. In addition, it is found that, in general, the effects of macroeconomic factors exhibit a consistent pattern in the way in which they affect the shipping industry, across countries. The third paper examines for the first time the primary pricing of shipping high yield bonds. This is performed by testing for the relationships between the following factors and the new issue spread of 30 high yield bond offerings issued by shipping companies in the US market, during the period 1993-1998: rating, callability, term, float, default rate, security status, 144A status, gearing, laid up tonnage and fleet age. Findings of the paper are that shipping high yield bonds carry wider spreads, the lower the rating of their issue, the higher their gearing levels, and the higher the laid up tonnage for the two months preceding the issue. Moreover, here is a statistically significant increase in explanatory power arising from the inclusion of gearing and laid up tonnage in the estimation, suggesting that rating agencies have not fully incorporated the potential effects of these variables, as credit risk factors.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior / Os aÃos maraging sÃo ligas de ultra-alta resistÃncia com vasta aplicaÃÃo na engenharia, desde vasos de alta pressÃo de operaÃÃo em processos crÃticos, componentes aeronÃuticos, aplicaÃÃes militares atà equipamentos esportivos. O presente trabalho buscou avaliar os efeitos da fragilizaÃÃo por hidrogÃnio no aÃo maraging 18% Ni da classe 300, nas condiÃÃes solubilizada e envelhecida. As amostras foram solubilizadas a 1093 Â10K por 3,6 ks, seguido de um resfriamento ao ar e envelhecidas a 753 e 843 Â10K por 10,8 ks, respectivamente e resfriadas ao ar. Foi realizada uma caracterizaÃÃo microestrutural por difraÃÃo de raios-X, correntes parasitas, medidas de dureza Rockwell e microscopia eletrÃnica e Ãptica. Para avaliar os efeitos do ingresso de hidrogÃnio nas propriedades mecÃnicas do aÃo maraging 18% Ni da classe 300 foram realizados ensaios de traÃÃo com baixa taxa de deformaÃÃo (BTD). A taxa de deformaÃÃo aplicada foi 1,0 x 10-6 s-1. Os ensaios foram realizados ao ar (meio inerte) e em soluÃÃo de 3,5% NaCl sob o potencial catÃdico de -1,2 VECS. Foi observada uma reduÃÃo de 11,06 para 3,89% no alongamento e de 61,28 para 10% na reduÃÃo de Ãrea para as amostras solubilizadas. As amostras envelhecidas a 753 Â10K por 10.8 ks apresentaram maior reduÃÃo nessas propriedades. Nesta condiÃÃo a reduÃÃo observada foi de 1929,26 MPa para amostras ensaiadas ao ar para 447,64 MPa para amostras ensaiadas em soluÃÃo de 3,5% NaCl sob potencial catÃdico no limite de resistÃncia e de 7,30 para 1,62 % no alongamento. As amostras envelhecidas a 843 Â10K, as quais apresentaram de cerca de 10% de austenita sofreram fragilizaÃÃo similar as amostras envelhecidas a 753 Â10K. Trincas secundÃrias perpendiculares a carga aplicada foram observadas nas amostras solubilizadas e ensaiadas em soluÃÃo de 3,5% NaCl sob potencial catÃdico. Os resultados indicam que a presenÃa de precipitados e de austenita revertida impedem a propagaÃÃo de trincas secundÃrias na seÃÃo longitudinal nas condiÃÃes envelhecidas. A anÃlise da superfÃcie de fratura revelou caracterÃstica de uma fratura dÃctil nas amostras ensaiadas ao ar com dimples de diferentes tamanhos e profundidades, enquanto que nas amostras ensaiadas em soluÃÃo de 3,5% NaCl sob potencial catÃdico foram observadas trincas induzidas pelo hidrogÃnio e microcavidades e regiÃes de quase-clivagem para todas as condiÃÃes estudadas. / Maraging steels are ultra high strength alloys widely used in engineering applications from high pressure vessels operating in critical processes, aircraft components, military applications to sports equipment. This work assessed the effects of hydrogen embrittlement in 18% Ni maraging grade 300 steel in the solution annealed and aged conditions. Samples were solution annealed at 1093 Â10K for 3.6 ks, followed by air cooling and aging at 753 and 843 Â10K for 10.8 ks, respectively, and cooled by air. The microstructure was characterized by X-ray diffraction, eddy current, hardness measurement and optical and electron microscopy. To assess the effects of hydrogen ingress on the mechanical properties of 18% Ni maraging grade 300 steel, slow strain rate tests (SSRT) were performed. A strain rate of 1.0x10-6 s-1 was applied. The tests were carried out in air (middle inert) and the samples immersed in the electrolyte at a simultaneous potential of -1.2 VSEC. The results showed the reduction elongation from 11.06 to 3.89% and from 61,28 to 10% in reduction of area for samples in the solution annealed condition. The greatest reductions were observed in the samples aged at 753 Â10K for 10.8 ks. In this condition the reduction from 1929.26 MPa in air tests to 447.64 MPa in ultimate tensile strength and from 7.30 to 1.62% in elongation under cathodic polarization in the 3,5% NaCl solution was observed. The samples aged at 843 Â10K for 10.8 ks, where about 10% of reverted austenite was identified, showed evidence of hydrogen embrittlement as seen in the samples treated at different conditions. Secondary cracks, perpendicular to the loading direction at the longitudinal surface of the solution annealed fractured samples immersed in 3,5% NaCl solution under cathodic potential were seen. The results evidence that the precipitates and reverted austenite difficult secondary crack propagation in longitudinal section on aged samples. Scanning electron examination showed a change in fractografic features from ductile dimples to quasi-cleavage and microvoid modes when comparing samples without (air tested) and with hydrogen ingress.