Sistemas redundantes sujeitos à inspeção periódica são amplamente utilizados nas indústrias, especialmente naqueles processos que envolvem alto risco operacional. Inspeções periódicas são realizadas a fim de identificar e recuperar eventuais falhas de componentes antes da falha do sistema. Inspeções frequentes melhoram a confiabilidade e disponibilidade do sistema, mas envolvem maiores custos de manutenção preventiva. Por outro lado, períodos longos entre inspeções diminuem os custos com inspeções, mas aumentam os riscos de falha do sistema. Desta forma, o principal objetivo deste trabalho é a análise de confiabilidade e a otimização do intervalo entre inspeções de sistemas redundantes sujeitos a inspeções periódicas, a fim de garantir a confiabilidade desejada, juntamente com o menor custo possível. Para analisar a confiabilidade de sistemas redundantes aplicados na prática, inicialmente é realizada uma pesquisa para a identificação dos tipos e características de sistemas redundantes utilizados pelas empresas e dos métodos empregados para a manutenção desses sistemas. Identificadas suas deficiências, um modelo inicial de fácil aplicação que melhore a confiabilidade dos sistemas redundantes estudados é determinado. Na sequência, são desenvolvidos modelos mais sofisticados para a otimização do intervalo entre inspeções, através da minimização dos custos totais envolvidos na manutenção, a fim de garantir a competitividade do processo sem sacrificar a sua confiabilidade. Visto que o reparo imediato é uma suposição que não reflete totalmente a realidade, a próxima etapa envolve a consideração do tempo de reparo para a incrementação do modelo. Por fim, o aprimoramento do modelo envolve a introdução de degradação nos componentes do sistema, que passam a envelhecer com o tempo, aumentando sua taxa de falha. Como resultados têm-se: a elaboração de um quadro comparativo de tipos de redundâncias e métodos de análise de confiabilidade e gestão da manutenção utilizados e recomendados, o desenvolvimento de tabelas e gráficos de simples utilização que permitem a determinação do intervalo entre inspeções mais adequado e o desenvolvimento de um método para otimização do intervalo entre inspeções de sistemas com e sem tempo de reparo e que sofrem ou não degradação, através da minimização dos custos totais de manutenção. / Redundant systems subject to periodic inspections are utilized to decrease high levels of operational risk across different industries. Periodic inspections are utilized to identify and rectify component failures before complete system failure. Frequent inspections improve the system reliability and availability, but require higher preventive maintenance costs. On the other hand, long periods between inspections decrease inspection costs while also increasing the risk of system failure. The main objective of this thesis is to optimize the time intervals between periodic inspections of redundant systems to ensure the required reliability at the lowest cost possible. To analyze the reliability of redundant systems used in real situations, interviews were conducted with maintenance managers from industry leading companies. These interviews identified the types, characteristics, and maintenance methods of the redundant systems that are actually used at these firms. Once their deficiencies were identified, an initial model to improve the redundant system’s reliability was created. Next, more sophisticated models were developed to optimize the time interval between inspections which minimized maintenance costs. Given that instantaneous repair cannot be assumed in many situations, the next step integrated time to repair into the model as a random variable. Finally, the model was further improved by taking into consideration systems comprised of components that degrade over time, thus increasing their failure rate. Redundant systems subject to periodic inspections are utilized to decrease high levels of operational risk across different industries. Periodic inspections are utilized to identify and rectify component failures before complete system failure. Frequent inspections improve the system reliability and availability, but require higher preventive maintenance costs. On the other hand, long periods between inspections decrease inspection costs while also increasing the risk of system failure. The main objective of this thesis is to optimize the time intervals between periodic inspections of redundant systems to ensure the required reliability at the lowest cost possible. To analyze the reliability of redundant systems used in real situations, interviews were conducted with maintenance managers from industry leading companies. These interviews identified the types, characteristics, and maintenance methods of the redundant systems that are actually used at these firms. Once their deficiencies were identified, an initial model to improve the redundant system’s reliability was created. Next, more sophisticated models were developed to optimize the time interval between inspections which minimized maintenance costs. Given that instantaneous repair cannot be assumed in many situations, the next step integrated time to repair into the model as a random variable. Finally, the model was further improved by taking into consideration systems comprised of components that degrade over time, thus increasing their failure rate

The transportation infrastructure in the United States is a complex system that is vital to the everyday operations of the country. Bridges are a significant asset of this network, with many of them approaching the end of their service life. Corrosion is a common cause of deterioration which ultimately results to structural deficiency for the aging bridges. The deterioration rate is a multi-aspect factor that makes bridge inspections crucial. However, the current bridge inspections are very costly and potentially unsafe for the involved personnel. To lower costs and increase safety, many state DOT’s and universities have decided to perform research on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones. This thesis explores the implementation of drone technology in bridge inspections and investigates their limits for corrosion detection and estimation. The first part of this thesis summarizes the responses obtained from a questionnaire sent to the personnel from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The second and third parts of this thesis summarizes how states have utilized UAVs for bridge inspections, including the selected drones and the attached equipment. The last part presents technologies that can be used to detect and measure corrosion, and how they can be used in conjunction with drones to quantify section loss of steel beams.

Software development is prone to software faults due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders especially during the fuzzy phases (requirements and design). Software inspections are commonly used in industry to detect and fix problems in requirements and design artifacts, thereby mitigating the fault propagation to later phases where the same faults are harder to find and fix. The output of an inspection process is list of faults that are present in software requirements specification document (SRS). The artifact author must manually read through the reviews and differentiate between true-faults and false-positives before fixing the faults. The first goal of this research is to automate the detection of useful vs. non-useful reviews. Next, post-inspection, requirements author has to manually extract key problematic topics from useful reviews that can be mapped to individual requirements in an SRS to identify fault-prone requirements. The second goal of this research is to automate this mapping by employing Key phrase extraction (KPE) algorithms and semantic analysis (SA) approaches to identify fault-prone requirements. During fault-fixations, the author has to manually verify the requirements that could have been impacted by a fix. The third goal of my research is to assist the authors post-inspection to handle change impact analysis (CIA) during fault fixation using NL processing with semantic analysis and mining solutions from graph theory. The selection of quality inspectors during inspections is pertinent to be able to carry out post-inspection tasks accurately. The fourth goal of this research is to identify skilled inspectors using various classification and feature selection approaches. The dissertation has led to the development of automated solution that can identify useful reviews, help identify skilled inspectors, extract most prominent topics/keyphrases from fault logs; and help RE author during the fault-fixation post inspection.

The purpose of this study was to identify materials and products in preschools that may contain harmful chemicals and to suggest possible areas of improvement. Another purpose was to examine if a supervisory project focused on chemicals leads to reduced incidence of harmful chemicals and improved routines in preschools. Inspection reports from 46 preschools in Lidingö were examined to see what routines, materials and products that currently existed. The results were compared with inventories of preschools in two other municipalities and a national inventory project. Follow-up questionnaires were sent to 41 of the preschools in Lidingö to examine if the preschools continued to work for a non-toxic environment after the supervision period ended. Preschools at Lidingö showed similar results as the rest of the country, except that the prevalence of old electronics was much lower. Vinyl gloves, soft plastic toys and other plastic objects appeared in more than half of the preschools, and the presence of inappropriate material showed that there is a need for initiatives that promote a non-toxic preschool. The follow-up survey showed that inspections focused on chemicals generally leads to improvements in many areas and can therefore be a good method. The respondents in this study consider the inspectors to be an important support in the process of eliminating harmful substances. Proper cleaning and good purchasing procedures are important to avoid exposure to harmful substances and the removal of phthalates and plastic kitchenware should be a priority for future inspections.

<p>The Swedish Aviation Safety Authority has decided to standardise a classification system for reporting deviations found in inspections. The purpose of a classification system is that similar deviations always should be reported in the same way since this will enable better decisions regarding different risk areas. The inspectors are therefore constrained to use a standardised classification system and are not free to use their own words when reporting deviations. A hierarchal classification system with predefined phrases is in aviation referred to as taxonomy. Taxonomy is already in use when reporting accidents and incidents but not when reporting deviations found in inspections. If the taxonomy also could be implemented when reporting deviations found in inspections it would make it possible to find out what kind of accident or incident the deviation has been involved in. To make this connection possible and to enable further analyses the information has to be stored, preferably in a database. </p><p>We have examined the already existing taxonomy and its usability in inspection reporting. Were the old taxonomy has been found insufficient we have examined how to build up a new suitable taxonomy. We have also begun the extension of the taxonomy in certain domains in aviation. To be able to test the extended taxonomy we have developed a system support that consists of a database and help functions consisting of checklists and linked regulation text. The system support also contains risk assessment matrixes. </p><p>We have through this work seen that a great extension of the existing taxonomy is necessary. As the taxonomy is formed it is hard to make direct connections between accidents/incidents and deviations found in inspections without a mapping tool. However we think that a database management system should be implemented in inspections. A database management system would be a useful help for the inspectors and enable easier access to data for analyses.</p>

This thesis investigates what work ought to be like. The answer it presents consists of an outline of a liberaltheory of justice in the employment contract based on theory developed in the area of political philosophy. Thethesis also examines issues of efficiency—How should measures to improve working conditions be evaluated?—and the ethical implications of the economic theory of employment contracts and the neoclassical theory of themarket. Paper I: A theoretical framework is introduced for the evaluation of workplace inspections with respect totheir effects on working conditions. The choice of a concept of efficiency is discussed, and its relation to criteriafor a good working environment is clarified. It is concluded that in order to obtain reliable information onthe effects of different inspection methods, it is necessary to perform controlled comparative studies in whichdifferent methods are used on different workplaces. Paper II: This article outlines the structure of a Rawlsian theory of justice in the employment relationship.The theory answers three questions about justice and the workplace. What is the relationship between socialjustice and justice at work? How should we conceive of the problem of justice within the economic sphere?And, what is justice in the workplace? Reasons for a specific construction of a local original position are givenand arguments are presented in support of a principle of local justice in the form of a choice egalitarian localdifference principle. Paper III: The political philosophy of John Rawls is applied to the moral dilemma of whistleblowing, andit is shown that that the requirement of loyalty, in the sense that is needed to create this dilemma, is inconsistentwith that theory. In a discussion and rejection of Richard De George’s criteria on permissible whistleblowing,it is pointed out that the mere rejection of loyalty will not lead to an extreme position; harms can still be takeninto account. Paper IV: The case is made that if contemporary economics of the employment contract is correct, thenin order to explain the existence of employment contracts, we must make the assumption that the contractingparties are attempting to deal with decisiontheoreticignorance. It follows that the course of action that theemployer chooses to take when acting from authority cannot be justified by consent, since the informednesscriterion of consent cannot be satisfied under ignorance. It is then suggested that in order to achieve justificationof acts of authority, there must be in place a real possibility to contest employers’ decisions. Paper V: According to Ronald Dworkin’s theory of equality of resources, mimicking the ideal market fromequal starting points is fair. According to Dworkin, the ideal market should be understood as described in GérardDebreu’s influential work, which implies that we should conceive of trade as taking place under certainty. Thereare no choices under risk in such a market. Therefore, there is no such thing as option luck in the ideal market.Consequently, when mimicking this market, we cannot hold people responsible for option luck. Mimicking thismarket also implies that we ought to set up a social safety net, since rational individuals with perfect foresightwould see to it that they always have sufficient resources at each point in life. Furthermore, the idea of insuranceis incompatible with the ideal market. / QC 20100728

The Swedish Aviation Safety Authority has decided to standardise a classification system for reporting deviations found in inspections. The purpose of a classification system is that similar deviations always should be reported in the same way since this will enable better decisions regarding different risk areas. The inspectors are therefore constrained to use a standardised classification system and are not free to use their own words when reporting deviations. A hierarchal classification system with predefined phrases is in aviation referred to as taxonomy. Taxonomy is already in use when reporting accidents and incidents but not when reporting deviations found in inspections. If the taxonomy also could be implemented when reporting deviations found in inspections it would make it possible to find out what kind of accident or incident the deviation has been involved in. To make this connection possible and to enable further analyses the information has to be stored, preferably in a database. We have examined the already existing taxonomy and its usability in inspection reporting. Were the old taxonomy has been found insufficient we have examined how to build up a new suitable taxonomy. We have also begun the extension of the taxonomy in certain domains in aviation. To be able to test the extended taxonomy we have developed a system support that consists of a database and help functions consisting of checklists and linked regulation text. The system support also contains risk assessment matrixes. We have through this work seen that a great extension of the existing taxonomy is necessary. As the taxonomy is formed it is hard to make direct connections between accidents/incidents and deviations found in inspections without a mapping tool. However we think that a database management system should be implemented in inspections. A database management system would be a useful help for the inspectors and enable easier access to data for analyses.

In recent years, bridge foundations have been in the spotlight throughout the nation. Bridges built over running water are susceptible to erosion or scour around their foundations. The reduction in load capacity to piers and abutments pose a safety risk to highway motorists. It has become necessary for engineers to examine and monitor these "scour critical" bridges. The difficulty arises with subsurface foundations of which very little is known about their construction. Hence, the methods applied to analyzing "Unknown Foundations" have become a necessary topic of research. This thesis explores a method to determine foundation lengths. Similar to Sonic Echo / Impulse Response, this procedure measures reflected shock waves sent through concrete pilings. The technique is non-destructive in nature and is performed near the surface of the foundation. The test is performed on the side of the exposed piling. Current methods are limited by the fact that the tops of most pilings are inaccessible due to pilecaps or beams. Often times, pilings are embedded in stiff soils, which have a dampening effect on the stress waves. This thesis employs a method of analysis that will overcome such limitations and provide engineers with another tool to determine subsurface foundation lengths.

La compétitivité d'une entreprise est conditionnée par l'aptitude de son organisation de trouver des solutions pour améliorer l'efficacité de son processus de fabrication en maîtrisant sa variabilité tout en garantissant des coûts bas, des délais réduits et, parfois, une certaine capacité de produire à des grands volumes. La maîtrise du processus de fabrication est un ensemble d'activités réalisées par un processus opérationnel de contrôle en suivant un plan de surveillance préétabli avec des objectifs précis en termes de maîtrise des risques. La mise en application du plan de surveillance est souvent mise à mal par : les aléas liées aux flux physiques et informationnels, l'interaction du processus de contrôle avec d'autres processus opérationnels de l'entreprise et les limitations en ressources de maîtrise. L'objectif de cette thèse était de répondre à cette problématique en proposant des approches nouvelles pour la conception des plans de surveillance. Pour cela, nous proposons une approche assurantielle permettant de définir un plan de surveillance qui limite l'exposition aux risques et optimise l'utilisation des ressources de maîtrise. Une formalisation simplifiée a permit d'expliquer cette approche à travers des exemples. Les résultats des expérimentations sur un cas industriel, montrent l'intérêt de l'approche pour la maîtrise des risques opérationnels dans un processus de fabrication. Par la suite, une formalisation généralisée de l'approche a été proposé concevoir le plan de surveillance généralisé d'un processus disposant d'un ensemble des moyens de contrôle interposé sur plusieurs couches le long du processus qui est assujetti à multiples risques. Mots clés : Plan de surveillance, Maîtrise des risques, Allocation des inspections, Capabilité, Capacité, Performances.

Healthy hygiene surveillance is carried out at all stages of the production process, from raw materials to the sale of animal products. The aim of this diploma thesis was to evaluate the results of inspections of the food processing industry which are carried out by the State Veterinary Administration of the Czech Republic (SVA CR). The specific focus was on the monitoring for foreign substances and the results of hygienic inspections done in food processing industry, mainly in dairy sector. Regular monitoring was the likely cause for the steadily decreasing number of positive findings in the samples which were tested for foreign substances. In the evaluation of the veterinary and hygiene audits carried out by the SVA CR, it was found that the dairy sector attained superior results as compared to other animal product sectors.