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This thesis presents novel battery pack designs and control methods to be used with battery packs enhanced with power electronics. There are two areas of focus: 1) intelligent battery packs that are constructed out of many hot swappable modules and 2) smart cells that form the foundation of a completely decentralised battery management system (BMS). In both areas, the concept of active loading/charging is introduced. Active loading/charging balances the cells in a battery pack by loading each cell in proportion to its capacity. In this way, the state of charge of all cells in a series string remain synchronized at all times and all of the energy storage potential from every cell is utilized, despite any differences in capacity there may be. Experimental results from the intelligent battery show how the capacity of a pack of variably degraded cells can be increased by 46% from 97 Wh to 142 Wh using active loading/charging. Engineering design challenges of building a practical intelligent battery pack are addressed. Start up and shut down procedures, and their respective circuits, were carefully designed to ensure zero current draw from the battery cells in the off state, yet also provide a simple mechanism for turning on. Intra-pack communication was designed to provide adequate information flow and precise control. Thus, two intra-pack networks were designed: a real time communication network, and a data communication network. The decentralised control algorithms of the smart cell use a small filtering inductor as a multi-purpose sensor. By analysing the voltage across this filtering inductor, the switching actions of a string of smart cells can be optimised. Experimental results show that the optimised switching actions reduce the output voltage ripple by 83% and they synchronize the terminal voltages of the smart cells, and by extension, their states of charge. This forms the basis of a decentralised BMS that does not require any communication between cells or with a centralised controller, but can still achieve cell balancing through active loading/charging.

The failure of many System of Systems (SoS) enterprises can be attributed to the inappropriate application of traditional Systems Engineering (SE) processes within the SoS domain, because of the mistaken belief that a SoS can be regarded as a single large, or complex, system. SoS Engineering (SoSE) is a sub-discipline of SE; Risk Management and Modelling and Simulation (M&S) are key areas within SoSE, both of which also lie within the traditional SE domain. Risk Management of SoS requires a different approach to that currently taken for individual systems; if risk is managed for each component system then it cannot be assumed that the aggregated affect will be to mitigate risk at the SoS level. A literature review was undertaken examining three themes: (1) SoS Engineering (SoSE), (2) M&S and (3) Risk. Theme 1 of the literature provided insight into the activities comprising SoSE and its difference from traditional SE with risk management identified as a key activity. The second theme discussed the application of M&S to SoS, providing an output, which supported the identification of appropriate techniques and concluding that, the inherent complexity of a SoS required the use of M&S in order to support SoSE activities. Current risk management approaches were reviewed in theme 3 as well as the management of SoS risk. Although some specific examples of the management of SoS risk were found, no mature, general approach was identified, indicating a gap in current knowledge. However, it was noted most of these examples were underpinned by M&S approaches. It was therefore concluded a general approach SoS risk management utilising M&S methods would be of benefit. In order to fill the gap identified in current knowledge, this research proposed a new model based approach to Risk Management where risk identification was supported by a framework, which combined SoS system of interest dimensions with holistic risk types, where the resulting risks and contributing factors are captured in a causal network. Analysis of the causal network using a model technique selection tool, developed as part of this research, allowed the causal network to be simplified through the replacement of groups of elements within the network by appropriate supporting models. The Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) was identified as a suitable method to represent SoS risk. Supporting models run in Monte Carlo Simulations allowed data to be generated from which the risk BBNs could learn, thereby providing a more quantitative approach to SoS risk management. A method was developed which provided context to the BBN risk output through comparison with worst and best-case risk probabilities. The model based approach to Risk Management was applied to two very different case studies: Close Air Support mission planning and the Wheat Supply Chain, UK National Food Security risks, demonstrating its effectiveness and adaptability. The research established that the SoS SoI is essential for effective SoS risk identification and analysis of risk transfer, effective SoS modelling requires a range of techniques where suitability is determined by the problem context, the responsibility for SoS Risk Management is related to the overall SoS classification and the model based approach to SoS risk management was effective for both application case studies.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Internal Auditing in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of risk management systems within municipalities in the Overberg district of South Africa. The value of effective risk management systems in any organisation cannot be underestimated as it is responsible for appropriately identifying, assessing, and treating risks that may adversely influence the achievement of organisational objectives. The Overberg district municipalities were used as case studies to identify and evaluate the factors that could affect implementation of risk management systems at a local government level in a specific geographical area. The primary research question was what factors affect the effective implementation of risk management systems at the Overberg district municipalities. To answer this research question, sub-questions and research objectives were formulated to determine the relevant factors. The research employed descriptive statistics, as well as inferential analysis to analyse the data. Lack of sufficient funding for risk mitigation seemed to be the main factor that affects the implementation of risk management systems within the municipalities. In addition, the research highlighted the current gaps in the implementation of risk management processes. This made municipalities aware of the risks within their organisation and identified the benefits of implementing sound risk management initiatives. The contribution of the research will empower the Overberg district municipalities to manage their key organisational risks proactively. This will lead to sustainable local governments that will be able to continue to perform their primary functions effectively. From the results, it was evident that although the Overberg district municipalities had risk management systems in place, insufficient funding posed a challenge to effective risk mitigation. Municipal management should therefore allocate sufficient funding to ensure effective implementation of risk management systems.

The relatively new concept of talent management has been recognized to have a strategic role in disruptive business environments by both researchers and practitioners. A resourced-based view proposes that organizations should focus on internal resources and foster their own unique resources, for instance human resources. These unique and valuable resources are managed to become a core competence for facilitating organizations to seclude imitators and achieve competitive advantages. The proposition that initiate the research question of this thesis aims at delving into the relationships between talent management systems (TMS) and environmental volatility. The concept of talent management and other related theoretical concepts have formerly been theoretically ambiguous and remains empirically unexplored. This thesis aims to find out how TMS are managed in times of technology advancements. In order to achieve that goal, the authors integrated theoretical knowledge from the field of talent management and further developed a resource-based integrated TMS framework accordingly. Based upon a qualitative and abductive research approach, a single case study of a Nordic company operating in financial services was conducted to answer the research question and to test the framework. By following the order and structure of the framework, the semi-structured interviews were designed and analyzed respectively. The empirical findings reveal that strategic talent management proved to be of great importance in times of technology advancements. A lightweight structured talent management system addressing on flexibility and agility is managed to adapt to environmental uncertainty. Accordingly, the resource-based integrated TMS framework is reviewed and modified for future researchers and practitioners to use and further elaborate upon.

[pt] Logs são, atualmente, riquíssima fonte de informação para administradores de sistemas e analistas de negócio. Em ambientes com grande volume de acesso e infra-estrutura de centenas de servidores, processar toda a informação gerada e correlacioná-la com o objetivo de identificar situações de interesse técnico e de negócio em tempo real, é considerado um grande desafio. Nesse sentido, são explicados tanto os conceitos relacionados aos arquivos de log e aos sistemas que se propõem a gerenciá-los, quanto os métodos e ferramentas de correlação de eventos em tempo real, para que, então, seja proposta uma arquitetura de sistema capaz de lidar com o desafio citado. Por fim, um protótipo é desenvolvido e uma prova de conceito baseada em um caso real de uso é realizada. / [en] Logs are, nowadays, a rich source of information for system administrators and business analysts. In environments with a high access volume and hundreds of servers, to process every generated information and correlate it, in order to identify interesting technical and business situations in real time, is considered a challenge. Considering that, concepts related to log files and systems that aim to manage it, besides methods and tools for real time event correlation are presented, in order to propose a system architecture capable of overcoming the stated challenge. At last, a prototype is developed and a concept prove based on a real case is done.

The researchers want the results to support the management systems theory and the growingneed to apply strong standards. Upper level energy managers in the U.S need to be concernedbecause there are constant infrastructure risk disasters that are produced when internal softwareis compromised. The researchers want our empirical results to display the importance of thisproblem and see if the management systems theory is being used.

Os sistemas de Gestão do Ciclo de Vida do Produto (Product Lifeclycle Management – PLM), apesar de serem de suma importância no Processo de Desenvolvimento de Produtos (PDP) para que as empresas enfrentem as novas condições de sobrevivência no mercado atual, ainda não são plenamente conhecidos. Além disso, existem poucos trabalhos científicos relacionados à implantação deste tipo de sistemas durante o Processo de Desenvolvimento de um novo produto na empresa. Neste trabalho, realizou-se a análise da implantação de um sistema PLM no PDP de uma empresa de tecnologia através de: (i) levantamento do estado da arte sobre sistemas PLM, segundo a literatura, incluindo a apresentação dos modelos de referência e a integração das informações neste tipo de sistemas; (ii) comparativo entre as funções e tecnologias de sistemas de gestão do ciclo de vida do produto encontrados na bibliografia com os de um caso de implantação real e (iii) levantamento de quais funcionalidades e tecnologias presentes na implantação real de um sistema PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) suprem os requisitos de gestão do ciclo de vida do produto na empresa, para caracterizar um projeto de implantação real de um sistema PLM no PDP de uma empresa de tecnologia. / The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Systems, although being a imperative request to allow companies to develop new products, facing the new survival conditions in the current market, are not very well-known. Besides that, there are few scientific works related to the implementation of this kind of system and its usage in a Product Development environment. The objectives of this work are: (i) to rise, according with the bibliography, the state of the art of PLM systems, (ii) to rise, according to the bibliography, the functionalities and technologies requirements of a PLM system in a Product Development Process (PDP) environment and to compare those requirements with a real implementation case and (iii) to rise which funcionalities and technologies of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems supply the founded needs to characterize a project of a real PLM system implementation in a Product Development Process environment.

Tendo em vista a crescente disseminação de sistemas de gestão da segurança e saúde no trabalho (SGSST), torna-se cada vez mais relevante a necessidade de instrumentos de avaliação da sua eficiência e eficácia. Nesse contexto, esta tese apresenta a proposta de um método de avaliação de sistemas de gestão de segurança e saúde no trabalho (MASST), o qual apresenta duas características inovadoras: a) a conciliação das abordagens estrutural (sistema prescrito), operacional (o que está acontecendo na prática) e por desempenho (resultados de indicadores); b) a adoção do enfoque da engenharia de resiliência (ER) sobre a segurança e saúde. O MASST foi desenvolvido a partir das contribuições da literatura, na qual foram identificados quatro princípios da ER (comprometimento da alta direção, flexibilidade, aprendizagem e consciência), bem como de um estudo de caso exploratório realizado em uma empresa de implementos agrícolas. Com base nisso, foram propostos vinte e sete itens distribuídos ao longo de sete critérios. Cada item possui um conjunto de requisitos que são avaliados com base em três fontes de evidências básicas: entrevistas, análise de documentos e observação direta. O MASST foi validado em um estudo de caso em uma empresa da cadeia automotiva. Os principais resultados revelaram que, no estudo de caso, em uma escala de pontuação de 0% a 100%, nove dentre quatorze itens relacionados à ER obtiveram pontuação entre 0% e 10%. Além disso, o MASST possibilitou a identificação dos pontos positivos do SGSST, a identificação das causas sistêmicas da falta de segurança e a identificação das prioridades de ação em termos de SST. Dentre as limitações do MASST percebidas durante o estudo de caso, salienta-se a necessidade de experiência do auditor acerca de conceitos e princípios da ER, os quais ainda não são amplamente aplicados de modo sistemático no meio industrial. / Due to the increasing dissemination of health and safety management systems (HSMS), both academics and practitioners have paid more attention to the assessment of their effectiveness and efficacy. This thesis introduces a method for assessing health and safety management systems (MASST) that has two innovative characteristics: a) it takes into account simultaneously the structural approach (prescribed system), the operational approach (what is really happening on the shop floor) and the performance approach (results of performance indicators); b) it adopts the resilience engineering (RE) perspective on health and safety. The MASST was developed based on both the literature review and an exploratory case study in a heavy machinery manufacturer. The literature review pointed out four major resilience engineering (RE) principles: top management commitment, flexibility, learning and awareness. Then, twenty-seven items grouped into seven major criteria were proposed. Each item encompasses a set of requirements that should be assessed based on three major sources of evidence: interviews, analysis of documents and direct observation. The MASST was tested in a case study that was carried out in a supplier of the automotive industry. The results pointed out that, considering a scale from 0% to 100%, nine out of the fourteen items related to the RE obtained a very low degree, ranging from 0% to 10%. Moreover, the MASST pointed out the positive aspects of the HSMS, identified systemic causes of the lack of safety and identified priorities in terms of health and safety management. The case study results also indicated that one of the main limitations of the MASST concerns the necessity of experienced auditors in terms of RE principles and concepts. This drawback is relevant since the RE perspective on health and safety has not yet been adopted by a large extent in the industry.

Os modelos de previsão de desempenho são ferramentas fundamentais em um Sistema de Gerência de Pavimentos. Embora de grande importância, especificamente no Brasil, tem-se dado pouca atenção para a calibração e validação desses modelos. Acaba-se adotando modelos genéricos, obtidos em condições totalmente diferentes das existentes na malha administrada. Para uma gerência correta dos pavimentos de uma rodovia, torna-se fundamental a definição de modelos representativos das condições estruturais e funcionais dos pavimentos administrados. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo avaliar o desempenho de uma estrutura de pavimento flexível da rodovia BR-290/RS, desenvolvendo, a partir dessa avaliação, modelos que representem a tendência do comportamento do pavimento. A rodovia BR-290/RS está, no trecho entre as cidades de Osório e Porto Alegre, sob concessão da Concessionária da Rodovia Osório - Porto Alegre S/A - Concepa, desde o ano de 1997. Uma das principais ações a serem realizadas pela concessionária no período em que este trecho da rodovia está sob sua administração é a execução do alargamento das pistas da mesma, com a construção de uma nova estrutura de pavimento junto à plataforma existente, sendo essa a estrutura de pavimento analisada nesta pesquisa. A estrutura contempla 8cm de revestimento asfáltico, 15cm de base, 30cm de sub-base e 60cm de camada de reforço. Os pavimentos inseridos na análise foram construídos entre os anos 2000 e 2007. Para atingir o objetivo da pesquisa, foram reunidas informações obtidas em levantamentos de deflexões, irregularidade longitudinal e afundamento de trilha de roda realizados nos últimos anos. As deflexões foram determinadas em levantamento com o equipamento FWD ocorrido em 2007. A irregularidade longitudinal e o afundamento de trilha de roda foram obtidos simultaneamente em levantamentos com o perfilômetro a laser nos anos 2005, 2006 e 2007. De posse dessas informações, analisou-se o comportamento de tais parâmetros com a ação do tráfego, desenvolvendo tendências de desempenho para a estrutura. Na análise considerou-se a influência das intervenções ocorridas nos pavimentos após a sua construção, bem como diferentes procedimentos adotados nos levantamentos realizados. Em relação às intervenções, verificou-se que, para a estrutura e dados do estudo, elas foram influentes apenas na evolução da irregularidade longitudinal. Análises estatísticas foram efetuadas, de modo a definir o melhor ajuste para cada parâmetro. Após o desenvolvimento de tais tendências de comportamento do pavimento, as mesmas foram comparadas aos modelos de previsão de desempenho desenvolvidos em outras pesquisas. Para a irregularidade e o afundamento de trilha de roda, as tendências apresentadas neste estudo comportaram-se significativamente semelhantes as de outros modelos encontrados na bibliografia técnica. Por outro lado, para a tendência referente às deflexões, nenhum dos modelos desenvolvidos em estudos anteriores apresentou comportamento similar ao encontrado na pesquisa, evidenciando a importância do desenvolvimento de modelos particulares para cada rodovia e estrutura. / Pavement performance prediction models are important tools for pavement management systems. Despite its high importance, specifically in Brazil, little attention has been given to calibration and validation of such models. Generic models are eventually used, even international ones, obtained for rather different conditions of those valid for the managed network. Hence, it is vital for an appropriate road pavement management that representative models of the structural and functional conditions of the associated pavements are defined. This research aims to evaluate the behaviour of the performance of a flexible pavement section of the road BR-290/RS, developing from this assessment, models that are representative of the pavement behaviour tendency. The road BR-290/RS is located between the cities of Osório and Porto Alegre, under concession of Concessionária da Rodovia Osório - Porto Alegre S/A - Concepa, since the year of 1997. One of the main actions to be accomplished by the road concessionary within the period under its administration is the carriageway widening of this road with the construction of a new pavement structure alongside, being this structure the objective of study in this research. The structure consists of an asphaltic layer of 8cm, 15cm of base course, 30cm of sub-base and 60cm of a capping layer. The pavement segments included in the analysis were built between 2000 and 2007. To deliver the objectives of this research, data obtained in deflectometric test campaigns, longitudinal roughness and rutting testing campaigns were gathered. Deflections were assessed in the FWD test campaign of 2007. Longitudinal roughness and rutting were simultaneously obtained with a laser profilometer in tests carried out in the years of 2005, 2006 and 2007. With this data, the behaviour of these parameters were evaluated with the traffic evolution, allowing the development of behaviour tendencies of this structure performance to be derived. In the analysis, the influence of the interventions carried out in the pavement sections after its construction were taken into account, as well as different procedures adopted in the testing campaigns carried out. In regard to the interventions, it was observed that, for the data and structure object of this study, they only had effect in the longitudinal roughness evolution. Statistical analyses were carried out in order to define the best adjustment to each parameter. After the development of such tendencies on the pavement behaviour, they were compared to pavement performance prediction models developed in other researches. For both roughness and rutting, the tendencies presented in the study behaved significantly as the other models found in the technical literature. As to the tendencies regarding deflections, none of the models developed in previous studies evidenced similar behaviour to the one observed in this research, testifying the importance for the development of particular models for each road and structure.