A sociedade está cada vez mais dependente de sistemas embarcados, sendo que na grande maioria das vezes eles operam de maneira invisível aos seus usuários. Essa dependência torna esses usuários vulneráveis a riscos, devido às falhas que podem ocorrer. Essas falhas podem provocar perdas de vidas ou sérios danos materiais e financeiros. Devido a estes fatos, a qualidade destes produtos torna-se um ponto essencial para se ter um sistema estável, livre de erros e com todas as suas funcionalidades sendo executadas. De encontro a isso, a etapa de teste apresenta-se como indispensável e de relevada importância para a obtenção de um produto com uma boa qualidade. Devido ao alto custo de produção e energia gasto com testes, surge a necessidade de novos estudos, sobre diversificados métodos, para se testar um sistema embarcado. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar os estudos iniciais do teste de um Sistema Operacional Embarcado (SOE), através de um estudo de caso focado na rotina de tratamento de exceção do eCos (Embedded Configurable Operating System), pois ela apresenta uma forte interação entre software e hardware, sendo que esta interação é um dos principais desafios encontrados no teste de um software embarcado. Com isso, este trabalho pretende dar o passo inicial para pesquisas relacionadas aos testes de um Sistema Operacional Embarcado. Após a análise dos experimentos, pôde-se notar que a principal característica do Sistema Operacional Embarcado eCos, a configurabilidade, é um ponto de dificuldade extra para a realização dos testes, pois exige um estudo detalhado do código do SOE, o qual é totalmente genérico, antes do planejamento dos testes, podendo ser gasto muito tempo nessa atividade. Outro ponto é que o teste torna-se totalmente dependente do hardware. Entretanto, os resultados experimentais apresentados para o estudo de caso do presente trabalho foram satisfatórios. / Society is increasingly dependent on embedded systems, which in most cases operate in an invisible manner to its users. This dependence makes the user vulnerable to risks due to failures that may occur. These failures can cause loss of lives or serious property and financial damage. Because of these facts, the quality of these products becomes a key point to have a stable system, free of errors and with all the features running. This testing is of essential importance to obtain a product with good quality. Due to the high cost of production and energy spent on tests, there is a need for further studies on different methods, to test an embedded system. In this context, this work aims at presenting the initial studies as the testing of the Embedded Operating System. The case study was focused on the exception handling routine of the eCos (Embedded Configurable Operating System), because it has a strong interaction between software and hardware, and this interaction is one of the main challenges encountered in testing embedded software. Therefore, this work aims at taking the first steps towards research related to testing an Embedded Operating System. After analyzing the experiments, it was noted that the main feature of the Embedded Operating System, eCos, the configurability, is an extra point of difficulty for the tests. It requires a detailed study of the code eCos, which is completely general, before the planning of tests, and could be spent much time in this activity. Another point is that the test becomes totally dependent on hardware. However, the experimental results presented for the case study of this study showed satisfactory.

A sociedade está cada vez mais dependente de sistemas embarcados, sendo que na grande maioria das vezes eles operam de maneira invisível aos seus usuários. Essa dependência torna esses usuários vulneráveis a riscos, devido às falhas que podem ocorrer. Essas falhas podem provocar perdas de vidas ou sérios danos materiais e financeiros. Devido a estes fatos, a qualidade destes produtos torna-se um ponto essencial para se ter um sistema estável, livre de erros e com todas as suas funcionalidades sendo executadas. De encontro a isso, a etapa de teste apresenta-se como indispensável e de relevada importância para a obtenção de um produto com uma boa qualidade. Devido ao alto custo de produção e energia gasto com testes, surge a necessidade de novos estudos, sobre diversificados métodos, para se testar um sistema embarcado. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar os estudos iniciais do teste de um Sistema Operacional Embarcado (SOE), através de um estudo de caso focado na rotina de tratamento de exceção do eCos (Embedded Configurable Operating System), pois ela apresenta uma forte interação entre software e hardware, sendo que esta interação é um dos principais desafios encontrados no teste de um software embarcado. Com isso, este trabalho pretende dar o passo inicial para pesquisas relacionadas aos testes de um Sistema Operacional Embarcado. Após a análise dos experimentos, pôde-se notar que a principal característica do Sistema Operacional Embarcado eCos, a configurabilidade, é um ponto de dificuldade extra para a realização dos testes, pois exige um estudo detalhado do código do SOE, o qual é totalmente genérico, antes do planejamento dos testes, podendo ser gasto muito tempo nessa atividade. Outro ponto é que o teste torna-se totalmente dependente do hardware. Entretanto, os resultados experimentais apresentados para o estudo de caso do presente trabalho foram satisfatórios. / Society is increasingly dependent on embedded systems, which in most cases operate in an invisible manner to its users. This dependence makes the user vulnerable to risks due to failures that may occur. These failures can cause loss of lives or serious property and financial damage. Because of these facts, the quality of these products becomes a key point to have a stable system, free of errors and with all the features running. This testing is of essential importance to obtain a product with good quality. Due to the high cost of production and energy spent on tests, there is a need for further studies on different methods, to test an embedded system. In this context, this work aims at presenting the initial studies as the testing of the Embedded Operating System. The case study was focused on the exception handling routine of the eCos (Embedded Configurable Operating System), because it has a strong interaction between software and hardware, and this interaction is one of the main challenges encountered in testing embedded software. Therefore, this work aims at taking the first steps towards research related to testing an Embedded Operating System. After analyzing the experiments, it was noted that the main feature of the Embedded Operating System, eCos, the configurability, is an extra point of difficulty for the tests. It requires a detailed study of the code eCos, which is completely general, before the planning of tests, and could be spent much time in this activity. Another point is that the test becomes totally dependent on hardware. However, the experimental results presented for the case study of this study showed satisfactory.

This thesis is focused on design of an electric stand-on low lift pallet truck with regards to operators ergonomical needs. The goal of this thesis is to design aestheticaly pleasing machine while regarding the technological requirements.

Summary Aim: The aim with the study was to explore the work conditions of the Ground staff performing unloading and loading from an HTO perspective, and to identify areas for improvement. Research questions: 1. Which factors are important for the work performance? 2. To what degree do the employees follow the work instructions regarding the use of the equipment on the ramp? 3. Which recommendations can be provided to improve work performance at ramp operations and minimize risks for accidents? Background: Ramp operations have, according to Studic et al., (2017), repeatedly been estimated as one of the areas with the highest, still increasing, safety risks. Passenier, Sharpanskykh and de Boer (2015) also confirms how the work within the ramp operations, and performance of unloading and loading, is an area with high risks of injuries and deaths. Methods: The study was conducted with a qualitative research approach and Descriptive Case study design (Baxter & Jacks, 2008). Results: Five categories were found; time pressure, “safety mindset”, education, culture and equipment. The findings also showed that the employees prioritize the safety of the aircraft rather than their own safety. Conclusions: Out of the five factors, time pressure and equipment are the factors in the environment which the respondents have to work in line with to make it function in the environment.

[pt] Tratamento de exceções e o modo mais comum de lidar com erros no desenvolvimento de software robusto. Tratamento de exceções refere-se ao processo de sinalizar exceções quando erros em tempo de execução são detectados e de tomar ações para responder à ocorrência destas exceções. Apesar de objetivarem a melhoria da robustez de software, sistemas de software ainda são implementados sem se basear em uma política explícita para tratamento de exceções. Cada política define as decisões de projeto que governam como tratamento de exceções deve ser implementado num sistema. Tais políticas não são comumente documentadas e são apenas implicitamente definidas no projeto do sistema. Desta forma, desenvolvedores tendem a introduzir no código fonte violações das políticas implícitas e tais violações comumente causam falhas em sistemas de software. Neste contexto, o objetivo desta tese é apoiar desenvolvedores na detecção e reparação de violações de tratamento de exceções. Para atingir este objetivo, duas soluções complementares foram propostas. A primeira solução é baseada numa linguagem específica de domínio que apoia a detecção de violações ao definir explicitamente políticas de tratamento de exceções que devem ser obedecidas no código fonte. A linguagem proposta foi avaliada num estudo centrado no usuário e num estudo de caso. Com as observações e as experiências coletadas no estudo centrado no usuário, nós identificamos algumas características da linguagem que dificultavam o seu uso e que motivaram novos construtos. Além disso, os resultados do estudo de caso mostraram que violações e falhas costumam ter causas comuns. Portanto, violações de tratamento de exceção podem ser usadas para detectar causas de faltas relacionadas à exceções. Para complementar a detecção de violações, este trabalho também propôs uma solução para apoiar o reparo de violações de tratamento de exceções. Reparar estas violações requer raciocinar sobre o impacto global que mudanças em tratamento de exceções pode ter em diferentes partes do sistema. Desta forma, este trabalho propôs uma estratégia heurística de recomendação que leva em conta o contexto global onde violações ocorrem a fim de produzir recomendações. Cada recomendação produzida consiste em uma sequência de modificações que servem como um plano detalhado de como uma violação de tratamento de exceções pode ser removida do código fonte. A estratégia de recomendação proposta também se beneficia de especificações explícitas de políticas, embora sua disponibilidade não seja obrigatória. Os resultados das nossas avaliações empíricas revelaram que a estratégia de recomendação proposta produziu recomendações capazes de reparar violações em aproximadamente 70 por cento dos casos. Quando especificações de políticas estão disponíveis, a estratégia produziu recomendações capazes de reparar violações em 97 por cento dos casos. / [en] Exception handling is the most common way of dealing with exceptions in robust software development. Exception handling refers to the process of signaling exceptions upon the detection of runtime errors and taking actions to respond to their occurrence. Despite being aimed at improving software robustness, software systems are still implemented without relying on explicit exception handling policies. Each policy defines the design decisions governing how exception handling should be implemented in a system. These policies are often not documented and are only implicitly defined in the system design. Thus, developers tend to introduce in the source code violations of implicit policies and these violations commonly cause failures in software systems. In this context, the goal of this thesis is to support developers in detecting and repairing exception handling violations. To achieve this goal, two complementary solutions were proposed. The first solution is based on a domain-specific language supporting the detection of violations by explicitly defining exception handling policies to be enforced in the source code. The proposed language was evaluated with a user-centric study and a case study. With the observations and experiences gathered in the user-centric study, we identified some language characteristics that hindered its use and that motivated new language constructs. In addition, the results of the case study showed that violations and faults in exception handling share common causes. Therefore, violations can be used to detect potential causes of exceptionrelated failures. To complement the detection of exception handling violations, this work also proposed a solution for supporting the repair of exception handling violations. Repairing these violations requires reasoning about the global impact that exception handling changes might have in different parts of the system. Thus, this work proposed a recommender heuristic strategy that takes into account the global context of where violations occur to produce recommendations. Each recommendation produced consists of a sequence of modifications that serves as a detailed blueprint of how an exception handling violation can be removed from the source code. The proposed recommender strategy also takes advantage of explicit policy specifications, although their availability is not mandatory. The results of our empirical assessments revealed that the proposed recommender strategy produced recommendations able to repair violations in approximately 70 per cent of the cases. When policy specifications are available, it produced recommendations able to repair violations in 97 per cent of the cases.

L'architecture modulaire est une caractéristique distinctive des circuits cérébraux. En particulier, il a été observé l'existence de connexions réciproques entre des zones fonctionnellement interconnectées dans le cortex, et qui par ailleurs sont hiérarchiquement organisées. De plus, le développement évolutif est une autre caractéristique distinctive des espèces vivantes ; même les virus sont capables d'adaptation pour mieux répondre à de nouvelles conditions environnementales. En tenant compte de ces deux importants aspects, nous avons construit un nouvel et unique outil de simulation permettant de modéliser et d'étudier l'évolution des circuits multi-modulaires hiérarchiques. Dans ce modèle, chaque module est représenté par des réseaux de neurones impulsionels et caractérisé à la fois par des changements d'activités neurales imbriquées et par la plasticité synaptique. La morte cellulaire, la plasticité synaptique et l'apoptose intégrés dans le modèle créent des liens auto-associatifs au sein des modules. Ces liens peuvent générer une activité zonale qui reflète l'évolution de la connectivité fonctionnelle à l'intérieur comme à l'extérieur des modules, et donc entre les plusieurs modules neuronaux. L'activité bioélectrique de chaque module est enregistrée au moyen des électrodes virtuelles. Les signaux, electrochipogrammes (EChG), sont analysés par les méthodes fréquentiels et les méthodes de potentiels évoqués afin de trouver des généralités dans le comportement émergeant. En plus de ces méthodes conventionnelles, nous proposons une nouvelle approche de régression non-linéaire structurelle afin de fournir des outils plus puissants et mieux adaptés aux données habituellement analysées dans ce domaine. Nous avons donc testé l'effet d'un stimulus externe sur le développement de liens fonctionnels d'un réseau neuronaux. Le circuit est structuré hiérarchiquement avec un unique module sensoriel et d'autres modules constitués de deux voies parallèles organisées aussi de façon hiérarchique. Nos résultats montrent que les circuits modélisés manifestent un comportement similaire que les circuits biologiques réels. En particulier, tous les éléments du circuit peuvent traiter et maintenir des patterns d'activité liés à la disparition du stimulus. Les résultats obtenus dans nos expériences apportent un éclairage sur les processus émergents et coordonnés de l'activité électrique enregistrée par des EEG de circuits inter-corticaux hiérarchiques et évolutifs qui sont artificiels ou réels. Plus généralement, notre approche concernant les signaux EEG pourrait être étendue à la modélisation d'une vaste variété des processus cognitifs et comportementaux. / Modular architecture is a hallmark of many brain circuits. Particularly, in the cerebral cortex it has been observed that reciprocal connections are often present between functionally interconnected areas that are hierarchically organized. Evolutionary development is another distinctive characteristic of living species, even the simplest viruses are capable to adapt to better fit new environmental conditions. Having hierarchical architectures and evolutionary features in mind, we build unique and novel simulation framework, which allows us to model and to study evolving hierarchically organized circuits of modules of spiking neural networks. Each module is characterized by embedded neural development and expression of spike timing dependent plasticity. Cell death, synaptic plasticity and projection pruning, embedded in the neural model, drive the build-up of auto-associative links within each module, which generate an areal activity that reflect the changes in the corresponding functional connectivity within and between neuronal modules. Bio-electric activity of each module is recorded by means of virtual electrodes and these signals, called electrochipograms (EChG), are analyzed by time and frequency domain methods in order to find general patterns of emerging behavior. Beside time and frequency domain analysis methods, a novel robust non-linear structural regression approach is proposed to provide researchers with more powerful tools specially adapted to the data typically used in the domain. We tested the effect of an external stimulus at fixed frequency fed to a sensory module, which pro jecting its activity to two hierarchically organized parallel pathways. We found that modeled circuits manifest behavior similar in certain aspects to that of real brains. We show evidence that all networks of modules are able to maintain long patterns of activity associated with the stimulus offset. These findings bring new insights to the understanding of EEG-like signals, both real and virtual. The findings prove that the approach is successful and could be extended to model cognitive and behavioral processes in the brains.

<p>The purpose of this master thesis has been to develop a baggage handling process at Stockholm Skavsta Airport that is cost-efficient, in order to prepare for the expected expansion of the airport. When developing the new process it was a directive to examine the possibilities of using radio frequency identification, RFID, technology and also that the required investment for the new process should have a payback time of no more than two to three years. The current process contains a completely manual sorting activity, which is both costly in terms of personnel and creates some mishandling of baggage due to the human factor. Our recommendation is a baggage handling process that use automatic sorting through RFID technology that eliminates the mishandling of baggage and reduce the personnel costs and at the same time have a payback period of less than three years. The main cost driver is the RFID tag costs and therefore our process is a so called closed-loop system, where the tags are reused several times and require very little work in between uses. The proposed physical layout consists of a drawing of the physical layout of the baggage sorting hall, a description of the RFID system, and the required information system software.</p>

The purpose of this master thesis has been to develop a baggage handling process at Stockholm Skavsta Airport that is cost-efficient, in order to prepare for the expected expansion of the airport. When developing the new process it was a directive to examine the possibilities of using radio frequency identification, RFID, technology and also that the required investment for the new process should have a payback time of no more than two to three years. The current process contains a completely manual sorting activity, which is both costly in terms of personnel and creates some mishandling of baggage due to the human factor. Our recommendation is a baggage handling process that use automatic sorting through RFID technology that eliminates the mishandling of baggage and reduce the personnel costs and at the same time have a payback period of less than three years. The main cost driver is the RFID tag costs and therefore our process is a so called closed-loop system, where the tags are reused several times and require very little work in between uses. The proposed physical layout consists of a drawing of the physical layout of the baggage sorting hall, a description of the RFID system, and the required information system software.

Syftet med studien är att öka vår förståelse för hur slöserier påverkar ett internt material och produktionsflöde i en producerande verksamhet, för att kunna ge förslag på effektiviseringar av denna process. Studien är utförd på företaget Växjöfabriken Produktions AB som är beläget i Växjö och utför skärande bearbetning på gjutgods. Efter att ha studerat befintliga teorier skapade vi vår teoretiska utgångspunkt med det urval av teorier som vi ansåg vara viktiga för studien. Från dessa genererade vi en analysmodell som sedan låg till grund för det fortsatta arbetet. Analysmodellen gav ett strukturerat arbetssätt för att samla in empirisk fakta från företaget som vi sedan använde för att göra en analyserande jämförelse med vår teoretiska utgångspunkt. Första steget i processen var att utföra en processkartläggning på företaget där vi dokumenterade all data tillhörande produktionsprocessen. Processkartläggningen visualiserades sedan med avseende på de flödesvägar som materialet färdas på vid respektive maskin som var inkluderad i vår undersökning. Kartläggningen innefattar även lagerhantering och en granskning av den nuvarande layouten. Med processkartläggningen som grund utförde vi sedan en nulägesanalys där vi analyserade det interna material- och produktionsflödet. Genom analysen kunde slöserier som är relaterade till Växjöfabrikens materialhantering identifieras. De identifierade slöserierna går, till stor del, att relatera till en bristande strategi för hur layouten är planerad och ett system där man placerar nya fysiska tillgångar där det finns ledigt utrymme. Med dessa slutsatser som utgångspunkt började vi ett arbete med att generera nya layoutalternativ med syftet att reducera de slöserier som idag har en inverkan på processen. Den första layouten är genererad utan hänsyn till de restriktioner som finns på fabriken i form av svårflyttade arbetsceller. Denna layout är framtagen för att påvisa hur ett optimalt materialflöde med maximalt reducerade slöserier skulle kunna se ut om det hade funnits en långsiktig strategi från start. Vid genereringen av nästa layout, där vi har tagit hänsyn till de restriktioner som finns, strävade vi efter att utforma ett flöde som påminner om den tidigare nämnda layouten utan restriktioner så mycket som möjligt. I de avslutande kapitlen diskuterar vi resultatet av layoutförslagen för att komma fram till våra slutsatser och rekommendationer på förbättringar som vi anser är praktiskt genomförbara och gynnsamma för Växjöfabriken Produktions AB. / The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to increase our understanding of the different types of waste that affects the internal material- and production flow in a manufacturing company. The study was conducted in order to provide recommendations to improve the efficiency of the process. The study was performed at the company Växjöfabriken Produktions AB, which is located in Växjö and performs cutting processing on casted details. After studying existing theories we created our theoretical base with a selection of theories that we considered important for the study. From these, we generated an analytical model that formed the basis for the continued work in this study. The analytical model provided a structured approach for collecting empirical data from the company, which we then used to make an analytical comparison with our theoretical base. The first step in the process was to conduct a process mapping at the company where we documented all of the data associated with the process. The mapping was then visualized with respect to the flowpaths that the material travels on each machine that were included in our study. The survey also includes the inventory handling and an inspection of the current factory layout.With the process mapping as a basis, we performed an analysis of the current situation in which we analyzed the material and inventory handling, as well as the production layout. With the analysis, we could then identify the different types of waste that belong to the handling of materials that Växjöfabriken currently undertake. The wastes that were found was, in large part, related to a lack of strategy for how the layout is planned. It was also related to a system that places new equipment where there is free space instead of basing its position on a long-term plan for further expansion. With these findings as a starting point, we began to develop new layout options with the aim of reducing the wastes that we found have impact on the process. The first layout is generated without regard to the restrictions that exist at the factory in the form of robotic workstations that are difficult to move. This layout is designed to demonstrate how an optimal material flow with wastes, reduced to a maximum, would look like if there had been a long-term strategy from the start. The development of the next layout, where we had taken the restrictions into account, we sought a design that would get us as close to the previously mentioned one as possible. In the last chapters we discuss the results of newly developed layouts in order to reach conclusions and recommendations for improvements that we believe is feasible and beneficial for Växjöfabriken Produktions AB.

The movement and handling of material are necessary activities, however, commonly regarded as waste. Moving and handling material more times and over longer distance than necessary is time consuming, costly and unproductive. Therefore, a suitable material handling (MH) system with appropriate facility layout is advocated. The purpose of this thesis is to explore options for material flow improvements and handling of material in production area. This comprises of a study of the material flow from storage to production areas and the handling of material in production section A. If necessary for improvements of material flow, a change in layout design will be recommended. The research approach for this thesis is a case study where data has been collected from documents, observations and interviews. The study shows that 9 % of the production time of one article is spent on manual material handling (MMH). These activities are classified as both waste and necessary, however not adding any value. The same applies for the material flow. Unnecessary distances of movements are caused by the current location of storage, operations and lack of proper structure for handling and moving material. The contribution of this study is a list of suggestions for improving the material flow and handling. Changes for improvements are, namely, availability of appropriate equipment, storing materials closer to the operations and investing in automation and vision systems with cameras of robots. The material flow and the way the material is handled can further beimproved by a change in the layout of the production area. Connecting and rearranging operations can shorter and ease the movement of material with ample space to handle the material.