The Texas Department of Transportation has been experiencing budget fluctuations in the recent past. These budget fluctuations can have a pronounced effect in the agency’s highway maintenance operations if key maintenance activities must be delayed due to budget constraints. The methodology proposed in this research project aims at reducing the impact of budget fluctuations on highway maintenance by identifying and ranking maintenance activities based on a set of identified maintenance objectives. With the help of maintenance experts from the highway agency, four maintenance objectives were identified and considered for this research project: include Aesthetics, Safety, System Operations and System Preservation. A similar process was conducted to identify the most relevant maintenance activities from a list of over 120 different maintenance functions used by the Texas Department of Transportation. The original list of maintenance functions was reduced by combining similar sub-categories. Ultimately, 16 maintenance functions were identified and included in this research project, representing an average of over 75 percent of the agencies maintenance expenditures between fiscal years 2008 – 2010. These four maintenance objectives and sixteen maintenance functions were then evaluated by maintenance experts from different geographic locations of the state using the Analytical Hierarchy Process to produce an Overall Relative Weight for each maintenance function. This process allowed each evaluator’s judgments and preferences to influence the final weight values and rankings of the maintenance functions. The Overall Relative Weight corresponds to each maintenance sub-category’s component from each maintenance objective and can be defined as the performance risk of not carrying out the maintenance activity. This information can be used by maintenance engineers and administrators, when faced with budget shortfalls, to suspend or reduce maintenance activities that have a lower performance risk in favor of performing activities that have a higher one. This will dampen the impact of budget fluctuations on highway maintenance operations by performing critical maintenance treatments at the expense of less critical. / text

The system of distribution of the power utility started to face new challenges with the regulations of the Brazilian electric sector through the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL). The agency, through resolutions and normative started to supervise the service offered by power utility to consumers. In face of this supervision of the distribution system has to be monitored and how is the biggest responsible for interruption of supply of energy to consumers, it has become important for investment as well directed searching for a reliable service. Constant interruptions and of great duration has passed to be penalized by ANEEL. Whereas the penalties imposed, utilities need to invest in preventive maintenance of its distribution system, appearing then a problem of difficult solution: the problem of operational planning, which in most cases, aims to minimize the sum of the costs. The programming and implementation of maintenance activities is one of the main issues involved. Where to perform the maintenance investing the limited resources available so as to improve the quality of energy supplied to the customer is the proposal of this work. Will be given a ranking showing which feeders among the studied are most recommended to perform maintenance actions, considering criteria for quantitative nature. It is a problem of aiding decision-making involving multicriterial analysis. For the solution will be used the AHP, Analytic Hierarchy Process, proposed by Thomas l. Saaty. In application of the method you will use the data of four rural distribution feeders, in the Energy Cooperative and Rural Development COPREL LTDA (COPREL); all of the same substation, located in the municipality of Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul. The proposed algorithm allows taking into account several operational characteristics of the system and provides the possibility of using the expert opinion of the company. These experts are the own officials, technicians and engineers responsible and who have sufficient experience to contribute in the process of solving problems. This work explores two ways of obtaining the ranking of feeders. The first exploited is the exact calculation of eigenvalues of matrices and vectors and autos logo the following is the approximate method, allowing a comparison between the two possibilities for calculation. The chosen methodology exposes the feeders ordered by importance according to the criteria set by the company. These feeders listed according to the order of importance are where should primarily occur on maintenance activities. It is noteworthy that the ranking obtained prioritizes the feeders where should be carried out the maintenance activities. / O sistema de distribuição das concessionárias passou a enfrentar novos desafios com a regulamentação do setor elétrico brasileiro através da Agencia Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL). A agência, através de resoluções e normativas passou a fiscalizar o serviço oferecido pelas concessionárias aos consumidores. Diante desta fiscalização o sistema de distribuição passou a ser monitorado e como é o maior responsável pela interrupção do fornecimento de energia aos consumidores, tornou-se importante que fossem feitos investimentos bem direcionados buscando um serviço confiável. Interrupções constantes e de grande duração passou a ser penalizada pela ANEEL. Considerando as penalidades impostas, as concessionárias necessitam investir na manutenção preventiva do seu sistema de distribuição, surgindo então um problema de difícil solução: o problema do planejamento operacional, na maioria dos casos, tem como objetivo minimizar o somatório das despesas. A programação e realização das atividades de manutenção é um dos principais problemas envolvidos. Onde realizar a manutenção investindo os limitados recursos disponíveis de forma a melhorar a qualidade da energia fornecida ao cliente é a proposta deste trabalho. Será indicado um ranking mostrando em quais alimentadores dentre os estudados é mais recomendado realizar ações de manutenção, considerando critérios de natureza quantitativa. Trata-se de um problema de auxílio à tomada de decisão envolvendo análise multicriterial. Para a solução será utilizado o método AHP, Analytic Hierarchy Process, proposto por Thomas L. Saaty. Na aplicação do método serão utilizados os dados de quatro alimentadores de distribuição rural, pertencente à Cooperativa de Energia e Desenvolvimento Rural COPREL LTDA (COPREL), todos de uma mesma subestação, localizada no município de Cruz Alta no Rio Grande do Sul. O algoritmo proposto permite levar em conta várias características operacionais do sistema e fornece a possibilidade de utilizar a opinião dos especialistas da empresa. Estes especialistas são os próprios funcionários, técnicos e engenheiros responsáveis e que têm experiência suficiente para contribuírem no processo de solução dos problemas. Este trabalho explora duas maneiras de obtenção do ranking dos alimentadores. A primeira explorada é o cálculo exato através dos autovalores e autos vetores das matrizes e logo a seguir é apresentado o método aproximado, permitindo uma comparação entre as duas possibilidades de cálculo. A metodologia escolhida apresenta os alimentadores ordenados por importância de acordo com os critérios indicados pela empresa. Estes alimentadores listados de acordo com a ordem de importância são onde deve prioritariamente ocorrer às atividades de manutenção. Destaca-se que o ranking obtido prioriza os alimentadores onde deverão ser realizadas as atividades de manutenção.

This diploma thesis covers with the utilization of information systems for monitoring of small transport aircraft operational parameters focusing on mathematical and economical methods. The thesis contains overview of methods usable in various types of aircraft operation. It also deals with creation of Cessna 208B aircraft`s schedule of work. Network graphs are used for analysis purposes. The diploma thesis also includes methodology of information obtainment and requirements determination of information systems for monitoring of small transport aircraft operational parameters.