Este documento se organiza de la siguiente manera: • En el capitulo 1 se describe la problemática en la que se inserta el tema propuesto, se realiza una breve descripción del contexto de la investigación, objetivos y motivaciones. • Los capítulos 2, 3 y 4 profundizan los conceptos de IR, calidad de software, norma ISO 9001:2008 e ISO 90003:2004, respectivamente. • El capítulo 5 presenta el relevamiento, evaluación y selección de un modelo de evaluación de proceso de IR. • El capítulo 6 detalla la metodología seguida para el trabajo en cuestión. • El capítulo 7 contiene los resultados de la caracterización de las empresas y los proyectos seleccionados para evaluar. • El capítulo 8 comprende los resultados de la evaluación de madurez del proceso de IR en los proyectos evaluados. • El capítulo 9 describe la vinculación entre las acciones mejoradas con los requisitos de la norma ISO 9001:2008. • El capítulo 10 presenta las conclusiones obtenidas y los trabajos propuestos a futuro en relación al tema. • Finalmente, se detalla la bibliografía utilizada y se presenta el Anexo I, que contiene los instrumentos de recolección de datos y una explicación de cómo acceder a los documentos adicionales que surgieron con la realización de este trabajo.

The management of technology portfolios is an important element of aerospace system design. New technologies are often applied to new product designs to ensure their competitiveness at the time they are introduced to market. The future performance of yet-to-be designed components is inherently uncertain, necessitating subject matter expert knowledge, statistical methods and financial forecasting. Estimates of the appropriate parameter settings often come from disciplinary experts, who may disagree with each other because of varying experience and background. Due to inherent uncertain nature of expert elicitation in technology valuation process, appropriate uncertainty quantification and propagation is very critical. The uncertainty in defining the impact of an input on performance parameters of a system, make it difficult to use traditional probability theory. Often the available information is not enough to assign the appropriate probability distributions to uncertain inputs. Another problem faced during technology elicitation pertains to technology interactions in a portfolio. When multiple technologies are applied simultaneously on a system, often their cumulative impact is non-linear. Current methods assume that technologies are either incompatible or linearly independent. It is observed that in case of lack of knowledge about the problem, epistemic uncertainty is most suitable representation of the process. It reduces the number of assumptions during the elicitation process, when experts are forced to assign probability distributions to their opinions without sufficient knowledge. Epistemic uncertainty can be quantified by many techniques. In present research it is proposed that interval analysis and Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence are better suited for quantification of epistemic uncertainty in technology valuation process. Proposed technique seeks to offset some of the problems faced by using deterministic or traditional probabilistic approaches for uncertainty propagation. Non-linear behavior in technology interactions is captured through expert elicitation based technology synergy matrices (TSM). Proposed TSMs increase the fidelity of current technology forecasting methods by including higher order technology interactions. A test case for quantification of epistemic uncertainty on a large scale problem of combined cycle power generation system was selected. A detailed multidisciplinary modeling and simulation environment was adopted for this problem. Results have shown that evidence theory based technique provides more insight on the uncertainties arising from incomplete information or lack of knowledge as compared to deterministic or probability theory methods. Margin analysis was also carried out for both the techniques. A detailed description of TSMs and their usage in conjunction with technology impact matrices and technology compatibility matrices is discussed. Various combination methods are also proposed for higher order interactions, which can be applied according to the expert opinion or historical data. The introduction of technology synergy matrix enabled capturing the higher order technology interactions, and improvement in predicted system performance.

In this thesis, we introduce a methodology to design and implement a Homeplug1.0 channel decoder that is completely conforming to Homeplug 1.0 specifications definedin HomePlug Power-line Alliance Standard (HPA) including Reed-solomon decoding,Viterbi decoding, punctured ,and de-interleaving technologies. Further, by using MATLAB/Simullink software, Xilinx System Generator, Xilinx Alliance tools, XilinxISE and Modelsim SE software, we build up a transceiver platform to simulate and analyze the performance of the power-line channel decoder based on FPGA hardware implementation. The hardware can be used directly in practical Homeplug 1.0 systems.

Self-consolidating concrete (SCC) is a new, innovative construction material that can be placed into forms without the need for mechanical vibration. The mixture proportions are critical for producing quality SCC and require an optimized combination of coarse and fine aggregates, cement, water, and chemical and mineral admixtures. The required mixture constituents and proportions may affect the mechanical properties, bond characteristics, and long-term behavior, and SCC may not provide the same inservice performance as conventional concrete (CC). Different SCC mixture constituents and proportions were evaluated for mechanical properties, shear characteristics, bond characteristics, creep, and durability. Variables evaluated included mixture type (CC or SCC), coarse aggregate type (river gravel or limestone), and coarse aggregate volume. To correlate these results with full-scale samples and investigate structural behavior related to strand bond properties, four girder-deck systems, 40 ft (12 m) long, with CC and SCC pretensioned girders were fabricated and tested. Results from the research indicate that the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials Load and Resistance Factor Design (AASHTO LRFD) Specifications can be used to estimate the mechanical properties of SCC for a concrete compressive strength range of 5 to 10 ksi (34 to 70 MPa). In addition, the research team developed prediction equations for concrete compressive strength ranges from 5 to 16 ksi (34 to 110 MPa). With respect to shear characteristics, a more appropriate expression is proposed to estimate the concrete shear strength for CC and SCC girders with a compressive strength greater than 10 ksi (70 MPa). The author found that girder-deck systems with Type A SCC girders exhibit similar flexural performance as deck-systems with CC girders. The AASHTO LRFD (2006) equations for computing the cracking moment, nominal moment, transfer length, development length, and prestress losses may be used for SCC girder-deck systems similar to those tested in this study. For environments exhibiting freeze-thaw cycles, a minimum 16-hour release strength of 7 ksi (48 MPa) is recommended for SCC mixtures.

This research investigates the application of the AISC Direct Analysis Method for stability bracing design of columns, beams, beam-columns and frames. Emphasis is placed on out-of-plane flange bracing design in metal building frame systems. Potential improvements and extensions to the 2005 AISC Appendix 6 stability bracing provisions are studied and evaluated. The structural attributes considered include various general conditions encountered in practical metal building design: unequal brace spacing, unequal brace stiffness, nonprismatic member geometry, variable axial load or bending moment along the member length, cross-section double or single symmetry, combined bending and axial load, combined torsional and lateral bracing from girts/purlins with or without diagonal braces from these components to the inside flanges, load height, cross-section distortion, and non-rigid end boundary conditions. The research addresses both the simplification to basic bracing design rules as well as direct computation for more complex cases. The primary goal is improved assessment of the demands on flange bracing systems in metal building frames.

Current Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) procedures for evaluating coarse aggregate for portland cement concrete (PCC) have been in place for over 39 years. Item 421 in the TxDOT "Standard Specifications for Construction and Maintenance of Highways, Streets, and Bridges" describes the tests and test limits that must be met by aggregates before they can be approved for use in portland cement concrete applications. The intention of Item 421 is to ensure that only strong, durable aggregates are used in concrete so that the life of concrete is not cut short by common distress mechanisms which ultimately lead to costly repairs and replacements. The two main tests currently used by TxDOT to evaluate aggregates are the magnesium sulfate soundness test and the Los Angeles abrasion and impact test. These tests are meant to characterize the overall soundness and resistance to abrasion and impact of an aggregate respectively. Unfortunately, past research has shown that the magnesium sulfate soundness and test and the Los Angeles abrasion and impact test are not able to successfully predict the field performance of an aggregate in concrete. The requirements of item 421 have thus far done a reasonably good job of ensuring long-lasting concrete; however the current tests and test limits may be unnecessarily precluding the use of some local materials. As high quality aggregate sources are depleted and transportation costs increase, it will become more necessary to distinguish good performers from marginal and poor performers in the future. If aggregate tests can be found that demonstrate better correlations with field performance, it may be possible to use more local aggregate sources and still provide the desired level of reliability for pavements, bridges, and other TxDOT concrete applications. Researchers are in the processing of collecting coarse and fine aggregates commonly used in Texas and testing these aggregates on a variety of alternative tests. Researchers will attempt to relate this test data to concrete behavior and ultimately recommend tests for improved TxDOT aggregate specifications. / text

In this dissertation I introduce SpecDB, a database created to represent and host software specifications in a machine-readable format. The specifications represented in SpecDB are for the purpose of unit testing database operations. A structured representation aids in the processes of both automated software testing and software code generation, based on the actual software specifications. I describe the design of SpecDB, the underlying database that can hold the specifications required for unit testing database operations.Specifications can be fed directly into SpecDB, or, if available, the formal specifications can be translated to the SpecDB representation. An algorithm that translates formal specifications to the SpecDB representation is described. The Z formal specification language has been chosen as an example for the translation algorithm. The outcome of the translation algorithm is a set of machine-readable formal specifications.To demonstrate the use of Sp ecDB, two automated tools are presented. The first automatically generates database constraints from represented business rules in SpecDB. This constraint generator gives the advantage of enforcing some business rules at the database level for better data quality. The second automated application of SpecDB is a reverse engineering tool that logs the actual execution of the program from the code. By Automatically comparing the output of this tool to the specifications in SpecDB, errors of commission are highlighted that might otherwise not be identified. Some errors of commission including coding unspecified behavior together with correct coding of the specifications cannot be discovered through black box testing techniques, since these techniques cannot observe what other modifications or outputs have happened in the background. For example, black box, functional testing techniques cannot identify an error if the software being tested produced the correct specified output but mor e over, sent classified data to insecure locations. Accordingly, the decision of whether a software application passed a test depends on whether it coded all the specifications and only the specifications for that unit. Automated tools, using the reverse engineering application introduced in this dissertation, can thus automatically make the decision whether the software passed a test or not based on the provided specifications.

M. Tech. Business Administration / The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between job satisfaction and productivity at the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), given the fact that the organisation has been characterised by various people issues since inception, and suffered three employee strikes during a period of five year. Many challenges, ranging from disruptions emanating from labour disputes, and financial challenges which adversely affected the organisation's overall performance, were experienced. Given the critical role that job satisfaction and productivity play in determining the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of organisations, it was paramount to understand what motivates them and to what extent they are satisfied by the organisations and other contextual variables.

PLA method can be used to formally specify systems. Systems specifications are written as text, what is exhaustive and understandable, but unfortunately are not visual, and user can’t quickly acquaintance with the formalized system. This article presents a way to represent aggregates specifications visually, which eases an acquaintance with specification. This article also presents a software tool to visually design formal specifications.

PLA (Atkarpomis tiesinių agregatų) formalizavimo metodas gali būti naudojamas sistemų formalių specifikacijų sudarinėjimui. Sistemų formalios specifikacijos gali būti užrašomos tekstiniu pavidalu, tačiau tai yra labai varginantis procesas, ko pasėkoje gautas rezultatas yra vaizdiniai neinformatyvus ir vartotojai negali lengvai perprasti sistemos specifikacijos. Šiame dokumente pateikiamas būdas vizualiai ir pakankamai lengvai užrašyti sistemų formalias specifikacijas naudojant PLA formalizavimo metodą. Šiame dokumente taip pat pristatomas grafinis redaktorius – sudėtingų formalių specifikacijų integruotos analizės automatizavimo sistemos posistemė, skirta agregatinių specifikacij�� kūrimui ir redagavimui. / PLA method can be used to formally specify systems. Systems specifications are written as text, what is exhaustive and understandable, but unfortunately are not visual, and user can’t quickly acquaintance with the formalized system. This article presents a way to visually and quite easily write systems specifications using PLA formalization method. This article also presents a software tool to accomplish this task. That’s graphical editor – a subsystem of a formal complex systems integrated analysis automatization system (FSA).