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. / The competitiveness of a company depends on its organization ability to improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process by controlling its variability while maintaining low costs, reduced delays and, sometimes, a certain capacity to produce at high volumes. Process monitoring is a set of activities performed by an operational process of control according to the control plan which is predetermined with specific goals in terms of risk control. The implementation of the control plan is often undermined by: the uncertainties associated with physical and informational flows, the interaction of the control process with other operational processes and the limitations of control resources. The objective of this thesis was to address this problem by proposing new approaches to the design of control plans. For this, we propose an approach for defining an insurance-based control plan that limits exposure to risk and optimizes control resources utilization. A simplified formalization has allowed explaining this approach through examples. The results of experiments, done on an industrial case study, demonstrate the value of the approach for operational risk management in a manufacturing process. Subsequently, a generalized formalization of the approach has been proposed to design the control plan of a generalized process with a set of control resources interposed in several layers along the process which is subject to multiple risks. Keywords : Control plan, Risks monitoring, Inspection allocation, Capability, Capacity, Performances.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:03:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Priscilla Euqueres - pre textual.pdf: 132659 bytes, checksum: b6f2adfbed9691f924350c313a19a065 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-25 / The objective this work is to develop and implement a methodology for special inspection on Concrete Bridges trough the quantitative analysis of the degree of deterioration of the structures so that it can serve as a basis for making decisions related to the rehabilitation of these structures. In order to develop and apply the methodology on concrete bridges, the existing methods of inspection of concrete structures were studied and adapted to the adapting to the concrete bridges. The methodology was based on GDE/UnB model in their latest formulation (Fonseca,2007) and adapted to the tables with the elements to be analyzed, together with the pathological manifestations that can occur in each element, timing and interventions classification of the level of deterioration and the relevant factors to each family of concrete bridges. A pilot study was proposed to validate the methodology. Results showed that there was a need for further adaptation, to consider the caculations of the degree of deterioration of both the family or the. With the changes proposed in the pilot study were made over 11 (eleven) inspections in order to validate the proposed methodology. With the results obtained it was concluded that the methodology for inspection of bridges is valid and of great importance to public organisms and surveyors to make decisions about the best time and the best item to be rehabilitated, being a single element, as a family elements, or the structure as a whole. One downside is that the methodoly for bridges with lenght greater than 70 meters most be used with caution, because the median openings are difficult to visual assessment. However the methodology can be used in order to obtain basic understanding of the visible elements, and after the intervention, we can make another more detailed analysis using not only the elements of routine inspection as binoculars, measuring tape, camera, among others, but also nautical elements, which provide the best viewing responsible for the inspection of the median elements / O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver e aplicar uma metodologia para inspeção especial das estruturas de pontes de concreto armado por meio da análise quantitativa do grau de deterioração das estruturas para que esta possa servir de embasamento para tomada de decisões relacionadas à reabilitação. Para desenvolver e aplicar a metodologia em estruturas de pontes de concreto armado foram realizados estudos de metodologias de inspeção em estruturas já existentes, adequando-as à estrutura de pontes. Tomou-se como base e modelo a metodologia GDE/UnB em sua última formulação (Fonseca, 2007) e adaptaram-se as tabelas com os elementos a serem analisados, juntamente com as manifestações patológicas que podem ocorrer em cada elemento, prazos para intervenções e intervalos para classificação quanto ao nível de deterioração e os fatores de relevância para cada família de elementos das estruturas de pontes. Para validar a metodologia proposta fez-se um Estudo Piloto, onde foi verificada a necessidade de uma adaptação, envolvendo os cálculos dos graus de deterioração tanto da família quanto da estrutura como um todo. Com as modificações propostas no Estudo Piloto foram feitos outras 11 (onze) inspeções a fim de validar a metodologia proposta. Com os resultados obtidos concluiu-se que a metodologia desenvolvida para inspeções de pontes é válida e de grande importância para que órgãos públicos e vistoriadores tomem decisões quanto ao melhor prazo e melhor elemento estrutural a ser reabilitado, podendo ser ele um elemento isolado, uma ou mais família de elementos ou a estrutura como um todo. Um ponto negativo da metodologia é que, para pontes com extensão maior que 70m, sua utilização fica comprometida, pois os vãos medianos são difíceis de avaliação visual. Entretanto a metodologia pode ser utilizada para que se obtenha uma avaliação preliminar dos elementos visíveis e, após intervenção, pode-se fazer outra análise mais minuciosa utilizando não só os elementos de inspeção rotineira como: binóculos, trena, câmera fotográfica com zoom, entre outros, mas também elementos náuticos, os quais proporcionam ao responsável pela inspeção melhor visualização dos elementos medianos.

In software engineering the requirements validation has very core importance. The requirements validation very helpful to judge that software requirements specification (SRS) is complete and free of bugs. The requirements validation is a assurance that the software requirements document is free of unwanted requirements and completely consistent. In order to remove inconsistency, detect defects and make the software requirements document fully functional the requirements validation is key factor. All possible requirements validation techniques available in academia such requirements reviews , requirements prototyping, requirements testing and viewpoint-oriented requirements validation are explained properly in this thesis report. In a very readable and understandable way the thesis presents all pros and cons of these requirements validation techniques practiced in different software companies in Sweden and available in academia. This report explains all possible advantages and issues related with these RVTs. In order to judge the best performance of these RVTs and to make their comparison I used a proper channel. I have designed a very effective survey questionnaire with the help of my colleges and literature review. To make creative comparison I conduct interviews and send survey questionnaire to different people working in requirements engineering departments in different software industries in Sweden. Finally the satisfaction levels of different software industries with these requirements validation techniques presents in this thesis report. These variables such as defect detection, time and cost are used to measure the satisfaction levels. / I Software Engineering kraven validering har en mycket central betydelse. Den kravvalidering very helpful att bedöma att Kravspecifikation (SRS) är klar och felfria. Kraven validering är en garanti för att programvaran kravdokument är fri från oönskade krav och helt konsekvent. För att undanröja inkonsekvens, upptäcka brister och göra programvaran kravdokument fullt funktionella kraven validering är viktig faktor. Alla möjliga kravvalidering tekniker inom den akademiska sådana krav recensioner, krav prototyper, provning och synpunkt-orienterade kravvalidering förklaras ordentligt i denna avhandling rapport. I ett mycket lättläst och begripligt sätt avhandling presenterar alla fördelar och nackdelar med dessa krav validera metoder praktiseras i olika mjukvaruföretag i Sverige och finns i den akademiska världen. Denna rapport förklarar alla möjliga fördelar och frågor kring dessa RVTs. För att bedöma de bästa resultaten i dessa RVTs och göra en jämförelse av dem använde jag en riktig kanal. Jag har skapat en mycket effektiv frågeformulär med hjälp av min högskolor och litteraturgenomgång. Skapa kreativa jämförelse jag intervjua och skicka frågeformuläret till olika personer som arbetar inom tekniska kraven för dessa avdelningar i olika programvaruföretag i Sverige. Slutligen tillfredsställande nivåer av olika programvaruföretag med dessa krav validering teknik presenteras i denna avhandling rapport. Dessa variabler såsom Upptäcka, tid och kostnader används för att mäta tillfredsställande nivåer. / Author: Latif Hussain Sulehri E-mail: latifsulehry@hotmail.com Phone: +46 704 917 140

<div>This dissertation broadly focuses on autonomous condition assessment of civil infrastructures using vision-based methods, which present a plausible alternative to existing manual techniques. A region-based convolutional neural network (Faster R-CNN) is exploited for the detection of various earthquake-induced damages in reinforced concrete buildings. Four different damage categories are considered such as surface crack, spalling, spalling with exposed rebars, and severely buckled rebars. The performance of the model is evaluated on image data collected from buildings damaged under several past earthquakes taking place in different parts of the world. The proposed algorithm can be integrated with inspection drones or mobile robotic platforms for quick assessment of damaged buildings leading to expeditious planning of retrofit operations, minimization of damage cost, and timely restoration of essential services. </div><div><br></div><div> </div><div> Besides, a computer vision-based approach is presented to track the evolution of a damage over time by analysing historical visual inspection data. Once a defect is detected in a recent inspection data set, its spatial correspondences in the data collected during previous rounds of inspection are identified leveraging popular computer vision-based techniques. A single reconstructed view is then generated for each inspection round by synthesizing the candidate corresponding images. The chronology of damage thus established facilitates time-based quantification and lucid visual interpretation. This study is likely to enhance the efficiency structural inspection by introducing the time dimension into the autonomous condition assessment pipeline.</div><div><br></div><div> </div><div> Additionally, this dissertation incorporates depth fusion into a CNN-based semantic segmentation model. A 3D animation and visual effect software is exploited to generate a synthetic database of spatially aligned RGB and depth image pairs representing various damage categories which are commonly observed in reinforced concrete buildings. A number of encoding techniques are explored for representing the depth data. Besides, various schemes for fusion of RGB and depth data are investigated to identify the best fusion strategy. It was observed that depth fusion enhances the performance of deep learning-based damage segmentation algorithms significantly. Furthermore, strategies are proposed to manufacture depth information from corresponding RGB frame, which eliminates the need of depth sensing at the time of deployment without compromising on segmentation performance. Overall, the scientific research presented in this dissertation will be a stepping stone towards realizing a fully autonomous structural condition assessment pipeline.</div>

A concerning public health issue in America is about food deserts urban and rural communities that lack grocery retailers that offer affordable, nutritious, and diverse foods. Empirical evidence has shown significant associations between neighborhood disadvantage/disorder risk factors of high poverty and high percentages of ethnic minority residents with presence/ absence of healthy food retailers in food deserts. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study, framed by the disparities in food safety conceptual model, was to examine if county-level poverty, number of African American residents, number of elderly (i.e., age 65 or older) residents, vehicle ownership, and crime rates were significantly associated with presence/absence of healthy food retail environments in a stratified random sample of 160 Mississippi Delta Region counties. Variables were measured using SPSS 25.0 data set from federal sources. Data were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Findings indicated that the percentage of households below poverty level was significantly associated with absence of healthy food retailers, (Wald X2 = 7.62, p = .006). Logistic regression findings further showed that the county percentage of households with at least one vehicle was significantly associated with the presence of healthy food retailers, (Wald X2= 8.75, p = .003). As a result of this study, residents of the Mississippi Delta Region (MDR) may begin to petition their local, county, and state governments to enhance access to healthy foods, and in turn, such government institutions may develop programs and initiatives that help to make healthy foods affordable.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur användbart Augmented Reality (AR) är för fastighetsförvaltning. Målet är att ta fram en kravspecifikation av en AR-baserad mobilapplikation för fastighetsförvaltning som ska vara generell och kunna användas av många olika förvaltningsföretag. Kravspecifikationen är framtagen baserat på den empiri som har samlats in och sedan har blivit analyserad av författarna. Metod: Studien innefattar en fallstudie med litteraturstudie, observationer och intervjuer. Litteraturstudien valdes för att skapa en större förståelse och fördjupning av ämnet och för att bygga upp studiens teoretiska ramverk. Observationsstudie för att få ett bredare perspektiv på hur samarbetsföretaget Vätterhem jobbar idag i förvaltningen. Semistrukturerade intervjuer valdes även för att få ett mer ingående perspektiv på hur fastighetsförvaltningsföretag jobbar idag samt deras syn på AR-tekniken. Resultat: AR-teknik kan användas av fastighetsskötarna i fastighetsförvaltningsföretag för att ge möjlighet till tidseffektivisering. Tekniken kan även fungera som stöd för kvalitetssäkring. AR har visat sig vara lämpligt för att presentera instruerande- och objektrelaterad information för fastighetsskötarna. Detta bedöms vara lämpligt vid upplärning av nya fastighetsskötare eller då en fastighetsskötare ska utföra arbete i ett område som ej är fastighetsskötarens ordinarie område. Konsekvenser: Undersökningen visar att AR-teknik kan tidseffektivisera den utvändiga tillsynen och underhållet i fastighetsförvaltning. Vidare studier kan göras genom att utveckla en mobilapplikation med hjälp av den framtagna kravspecifikationen i denna studie, och använda den i ett experiment. Kostnader för implementering av AR-tekniken bedöms också vara ett lämpligt nästa steg. Begränsningar: Arbetet är avgränsat till att omfatta ronderingar av lekplatser, vilket är en del av fastighetsförvaltning. Ett bredare undersökningsområde skulle möjliggöra chans till att finna fler användningsområden för AR-teknik. / Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the usability of Augmented Reality (AR) for facility management tasks. The aim is to develop a specification of a mobile based AR application for facility management. The specification should be general, and it should be possible for many different facility management companies to use it. The specification is created based on the empirical evidence collected during the study. Method: The study includes a case study with literature study, observations and interviews. The literature study was conducted to create a broader and deeper understanding of the subject and to develop the study’s theoretical framework. Observations were conducted to gain a better understanding of the way the collaboration company Vätterhem is working today in their facility management department. Semi-structured interviews were chosen to gain a more in-depth understanding of how facility management companies work today, and their opinion of Augmented Reality. Findings: AR-technology can be used by the facility caretakers in facility management companies to increase time efficiency. The technology can also be used to support quality assurance. AR has proven to be useful for presenting instructions and object related information for the facility managers. This is believed to be useful when teaching new facility managers or when a facility manager will conduct work in a new area. Implications: The study shows that AR-technology can make outdoor inspections and maintenance tasks more time efficient. Further studies can be conducted by developing a mobile based application with the help of the specification presented in this report and use it for an experiment. The next step is also to estimate the costs related to implementing AR-technology. Limitations: The study is limited to playground inspections, which is a part of facility management. A broader investigation, covering other tasks included in the facility caretakers work, would make further findings possible.

Fair Value Accounting is becoming increasingly more prominent, and auditing such measurements is at times difficult as a great deal of estimates and judgments are involved. This makes auditors jobs more challenging. Research has found that there is a need for understanding how auditing standards affect the audit process. Furthermore, some studies have shown that there is a gap between auditors and inspectors view of what constitutes sufficient and appropriate audit evidence regarding fair value measurements, the “FVM gap”. The aim of this study is to provide new insight on how auditing standards and inspectors affect the judgment of auditors in regards to fair value measurements. This study contributes to audit standard setters by illuminating how current auditing standards affect auditor judgment when auditing fair value measurements. It also contributes knowledge on how inspections affect judgment in the auditing process. Finally, it provides insight to practitioners on how box-checking and similar tools affect auditor judgment. We performed semi-structured interviews with respondents who have considerable experience of fair value measurements. The empirical data was thematically analysed and related to theories on judgment and decision-making as well as structure versus judgment research. A number of interesting findings were made; auditing standards seem to be well adjusted to auditors’ needs, documentation is one of the major issues when dealing with fair value measurements and the toughness of inspections between countries seem to differ. Some potential topics for future research were identified: whether or not a gap of interpretations exists between auditors and the lawyers of inspecting entities, and what effects such a gap could have; if the documentation of both audit clients and auditors needs to be improved upon. More potential areas for future research can be found in the Conclusion.

The society today is heading towards a digital development and many companies are adopting a more digital way of working. The working procedures used in the industry of real estate inspections are in a need of modernization to keep up with the society’s rate of development. Thus, to be able to satisfy the requirements from both the customers and the new generation of surveyors, new tools to perform more efficient inspections need to be developed. The purpose of this study is to examine if real estate inspections, primarily pre-purchase inspections, can be performed more efficient with the use of a digital tool. The study covers the work from the ocular inspection to the post-processing work with the documentation. At first, the study mapped out all the available solutions for digital documentation. A digital tool was chosen to be tested during two pre-purchase inspections. Thereafter, the surveyor’s way of working was compared with a digital way of working. The comparison included differences in the working process, efficiency, and the post processing work. The digital tool could then be evaluated, and improvements were suggested. The study was concluded by a qualitative interview study where people working in the industry of real estate inspections answered nine questions about digital development to increase the comprehension for their personal thoughts and experiences of the subject. The results showed the largest difference between a digital way of working compared to working with paper and pen, was during the post-processing work with the documentation. A digital tool removes unnecessary steps, such as transferring handwritten notes to digital form, which in turn alleviates the workload. Furthermore, it is important that a digital tool is user friendly and flexible, to ensure that the facts about the house are easily collected. Many of the respondents from the interviews were positive to and understood the digital development in their line of business. Most of the responders had also a motivation to develop their skill in digitalization. In conclusion, this study shows that there exists an interest to develop the inspections of real estate and an aim towards a more modern work procedure. Alas, there is more work to be done to make the digital tools competitive to the traditional tools. The area of business is small which unfortunately leads to a limited development. By cooperation between companies and by listening to the professionals in the line of business, the digital development can achieve greater progress. / Dagens samhälle går en digital utveckling till mötes och många verksamheter ansluter sig till ett mer digitalt arbetssätt för att följa med i utvecklingen. Arbetsmetoderna som fastighetsbesiktningsbranschen idag använder sig av kan behöva moderniseras för att kunna hänga med i samhällets utvecklingstakt. För att möta både kunders och den nya generationen besiktningsmäns behov behöver nya verktyg utvecklas för att kunna utföra effektivare besiktningar. Den här studien syftar till att undersöka om fastighetsbesiktningar, främst överlåtelsebesiktningar, kan göras effektivare genom användandet av ett digitalt hjälpmedel. Undersökningen sträcker sig från arbetet med den okulära besiktningen till efterarbetet med dokumentationen. Verkställandet av studien gjordes genom en kartläggning av befintliga lösningar för digital dokumentation. Genom noggrann överläggning valdes ett av de digitala hjälpmedlen ut för att testas vid två överlåtelsebesiktningar. Fortsättningsvis gjordes en jämförelse mellan besiktningsmannens arbetssätt och ett digitalt arbetssätt med det valda hjälpmedlet på arbetsgång, effektivitet samt skillnad i efterarbete med dokumentationen. Det digitala hjälpmedlet kunde sedan utvärderas och förslag till förbättringar och önskvärda egenskaper kunde tas fram. Studien avslutades med en kvalitativ intervjustudie där yrkesverksamma inom branschen fick svara på nio frågor om digital arbetsutveckling för att öka förståelsen för deras personliga tankar och upplevelser kring ämnet. Resultatet visade att den största skillnaden mellan ett digitalt arbetssätt och ett arbetssätt med papper och penna upplevdes under rapportskrivandet. Ett digitalt hjälpmedel tar bort onödiga moment, som exempelvis dubbelarbete genom överföring av redan skrivna anteckningar till dator, som stjäl dyrbar tid. Vidare är det tydligt att det digitala hjälpmedlet ska vara användarvänligt och flexibelt för att utan svårigheter kunna samla fakta om huset som ska besiktigas. Resultatet av intervjustudien visade att majoriteten av de tillfrågade var positiva till och förstod behovet av digital arbetsutveckling. De flesta hade dessutom en vilja att öka sina kunskaper inom digitalisering. Konklusionen är att studien visar att det finns en vilja att utveckla praktiken gällande besiktningar och gå mot ett modernare digitalt arbetssätt, men att det är en bit kvar att gå för att göra dagens digitala hjälpmedel attraktiva för branschens besiktningsmän. Utvecklingen är begränsad av att verksamhetsområdet är litet. Med samarbete företag sinsemellan och genom att lyssna på dem som är yrkeskunniga i branschen kan den digitala utvecklingen åstadkomma större framsteg.

自2005年開始PCAOB對外國之註冊會計師事務所進行國際檢查，至今已逾十年，然而制度實施之初面臨許多質疑。而今，已有文獻指出不論是美國或是其他國家，PCAOB的檢查皆具有一定效益，且具有外溢效果。惟各國間的國家特性因素於目前文獻中尚有發展空間，因此本研究欲了解國家特性是否會影響PCAOB國際檢查的外溢效果。 　　本研究以2004年至2013年間35國的資料計算裁決性應計數，以此代理審計品質，觀察各國審計品質於檢查前後的變化，並以法規執行力以及四大會計師事務所市占率代理國家特性，進一步了解不同特性的國家，其審計品質改變幅度的差異。 　　根據實證結果發現，當一國的法規執行力較高或是四大會計師事務所市占率較高時，審計品質較佳，因此於PCAOB國際檢查後審計品質提升幅度較小。各國的準則制定機構可透過本研究的國家分類，量身訂定更符合國家的準則，以改善審計品質。 / Since 2005, PCAOB has inspected foreign registered audit firms for a period over ten years. The benefits of inspection in both the United States and other countries are documented by extant literature, but the research of country characteristics on the spillover benefits is still lacking. In this study, we document how country characteristics influence the spillover effect of PCAOB international inspection on audit quality. This study uses discretionary accruals as the proxy of audit quality. Our data of non-US-listed companies from 35 countries during 2004-2013 are taken from Datastream. In addition, we use legal enforcement and Big 4 dominance to investigate how country characteristics affect the magnitude of audit quality changes. According to empirical results, we find that countries with higher legal enforcement or Big 4 dominance provide better audit quality. Therefore, PCAOB international inspections in these countries generate smaller magnitude of audit quality improvement than in countries with lower legal enforcement and Big 4 dominance . Our results suggest that regulators of different countries should develop more tailored regulation in order to improve audit quality of their respective countries.

Crítica del libro Cómo Afrontar una Fiscalización Laboral de Ludmin Jiménez Coronado, Clotilde Atahuaman Sumarán, Ana Hilario Melgarejo, Graciela Hurtado Cruz.