The last two decades have witnessed a rapid development of various forms of Public-Private Partnerships in Europe. Transport belongs to sectors where PPPs have been most visible and transformative. Yet not all countries have embraced the new method in the same manner. As some initial studies indicate, their PPP readiness varies quite significantly. At the same time, PPP as a product of New Public Management appeared to be in ideological conflict with several new competing paradigms in the field of public policy and public administration. So far, however, no single study has shown how these compatibility issues are dealt with in practice and how (un)successful in reality the European countries are at implementing transport PPPs. This is mostly due to difficulties in formulating appropriate and comparable evaluation criteria. At the same time, with many projects it was simply a bit too early to say whether the original expectations had been met. This study uses a negative definition of PPP success and establishes the failure rate for each country from the sample. In doing so, it only takes into account projects that were abandoned or seriously distressed and modified in advance stages of the procurement process. As a result, transport PPP failure rates of selected European countries are compared. At...

Small businesses owned by women cease operations 11% more often than businesses owned by men. Women, who own over 37% of all businesses in the United States, contribute significantly to the 50% small business failure rate. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to explore strategies 5 women who own small businesses use to succeed in business beyond 5 years on Bainbridge Island, Washington. The theory of constraints was the conceptual framework. Data were collected through semistructured face-to-face interviews, websites, company documents, and archival records. Transcript review of interview response data was used to strengthen the credibility of the interview data. Three themes emerged: customer and employee relations, leadership, and strategic management. Customer and employee relations were the most important theme, and strategic management was the second most important. Strategic management was one of the main sources of growth in all the 5 participant's businesses. Participants discussed skills in managerial decisions and strategies to manage the day-to-day business operations that played an active role in entrepreneurship. Female small business owners identified strategies used to eliminate constraints that may have prohibited the business operation to succeed. The findings may inspire entrepreneurs to enhance their leadership skills, increase capacity to expand their small businesses, start new businesses, and explore entrepreneurial options. Social implications include the potential to serve as a guide that encourages female entrepreneurs to enhance their professional practices and to adopt new business strategies to make better strategic decisions.

This thesis deals with the description of the pressure sewerage systems. Primarily focuses on the assessment of operation of the pressure sewerage system of the municipality Štěpánovice, where he was evaluated on the network pressure, flow of waste water, waste water quality and system silure rate.

The doctoral thesis deals with reliability (dependability) analyses of operation and testing data of the Airplanes. Requirements of airworthiness regulations on aircraft hydraulic systems (with a focus on US FAR-23 and European CS-23 regulations) are taken into account. Mentioned regulations include requirements for the structural design, design of systems, etc. They cover wide range of airplanes from small sport airplanes to 19-seats transport aircraft. Also options for predictive reliability analyses (resources) and reliability tests are discussed in the doctoral thesis. Practical application is done on small transport airplane (currently in the development). The failure report is designed. Expected major contribution of the work is selection and practical application of the most suitable procedures for safety assessment on the field of aircraft hydraulic systems, with a focus on the small transport aircraft. Also the comparison to different data source is shown.

Uma nova família de distribuições denominada distribuição beta generalizada semi-normal, que inclui algumas distribuições importantes como casos especiais, tais como as distribuições semi-normal e generalizada semi-normal (Cooray e Ananda, 2008), é proposta neste trabalho. Para essa nova família de distribuições, foi realizado o estudo da função densidade probabilidade, função de distribuição acumulada e da função de taxa de falha (ou risco), que não dependeram de funções matemáticas complicadas. Obteve-se uma expressão formal para os momentos, função geradora de momentos, função densidade da distribuição de estatística de ordem, desvios médios, entropia, contabilidade e para as curvas de Bonferroni e Lorenz. Examinaram-se os estimadores de máxima verossimilhança dos parâmetros e deduziu- se a matriz de informação esperada. Neste trabalho é proposto, também, um modelo de regressão utilizando a distribuição beta generalizada semi-normal. A utilidade dessa nova distribuição é ilustrada através de dois conjuntos de dados, mostrando que ela é mais flexível na análise de dados de tempo de vida do que outras distribuições existentes na literatura. / A new family of distributions so-called beta generalized half-normal distribution, which includes some important distributions as special cases, such as the half-normal and generalized half-normal (Cooray and Ananda, 2008) distributions, is proposed in this work. For this new family of distributions, we studied the probability density function, cumulative distribution function and failure rate function (or hazard function), which did not depend on complicated mathematical functions. We obtained a formal expression for the moments, moment generating function, density function of order statistics distribution, mean deviation, entropy, reliability and Bonferroni and Lorenz curves. We examined maximum likelihood estimation of parameters and provided the information matrix. This work also proposed a regression model using the beta generalized half-normal distribution. The usefulness of the new distribution is illustrated through two data sets by showing that it is quite °exible in analyzing lifetime data instead other distributions in the literature.

Neste trabalho consideramos três tópicos principais. Nos dois primeiros generalizamos alguns dos resultados clássicos da Teoria da Confiabilidade na otimização dos procedimentos de burn-in e de políticas de garantia, respectivamente, sob o modelo de tempo de vida geral, quando um sistema coerente é observado ao nível de seus componentes, e estendemos os conceitos de intensidade de falha na forma de banheira e do modelo de falha geral através da definiçâo de processos progressivamente mensuráveis sob a pré-t-história completa dos componentes do sistema. Uma regra de parada monótona é usada na metodologia de otimizaçâo proposta. No terceiro tópico modelamos os custos de garantia descontados por reparo mínimo de um sistema coerente ao nível de seus componentes, propomos o estimador martingal do custo esperado para um período de garantia fixado e provamos as suas propriedades assintóticas mediante o Teorema do Limite Central para Martingais. / In this work we consider three main topics. In the first two, we generalize some classical results on Reliability Theory related to the optimization in burn-in procedures and warranty policies, using the general lifetime model of a coherent system observed on the component level and extending the definitions of bathtub shaped failure rate and general failure model to progressively measurable processes under the complete pre-t-history. A monotone stopping rule is applied within the proposed methodology. In the third topic, we define the discounted warranty cost process for a coherent system minimally repaired on the component level and we propose a martingale estimator to the expected warranty cost for a fixed period and setting its asymptotic properties by means of Martingale Central Limit Theorem.

Actuellement, la compétition entre les entreprises se traduit par la révision des stratégies industrielles courantes dans le but d’améliorer simultanément les plans de production et de maintenance. En réalité, la non-satisfaction du client dans les délais est due souvent à des critères aléatoires liés essentiellement à la demande et aux défaillances soudaines des systèmes de production. Par conséquent, il est nécessaire de développer des politiques de maintenance intégrées à la production en tenant compte des contraintes liées au stockage, à la demande et au taux de défaillance. Dans ce travail, nous nous intéressons à une problématique industrielle qui s’articule autour du développement de différentes politiques de maintenance intégrées à la production. Le système considéré consiste en une machine fabriquant plusieurs types de produits, dans l’optique de satisfaire des demandes aléatoire avec des niveaux de service donnés. On note que l’originalité de notre étude, par rapport à l’existant en littérature dans le domaine de la maintenance intégrée à la production, consiste à considérer un système à multi-produits. Dans cette étude nous avons développé et optimisé analytiquement des politiques de production pour un système à multi-produits devant satisfaire plusieurs demandes aléatoires caractérisant respectivement différentes clients. Ces politiques consistent à établir des plans périodiques de production pour chaque produit, minimisant les coûts liés à la production et le stockage tout en satisfaisant un taux de service prédéfini pour chaque produit. Par la suite, en tenant compte de l’influence des plans économiques de production obtenus sur l’évolution de la dégradation du système de production, nous avons développé des stratégies optimales de maintenance. Plusieurs scénarios ont été étudiés selon les durées des sous-périodes de production et le coût de setup de chaque produit. En fin, des études de cas ont été traitées afin de confronter les résultats analytiques établis / Currently, the competition between companies is reflected in the revision of the current industry strategies to improve the planning of production and maintenance. In fact, the non- satisfaction of the customer on time is often due to a random demand or a sudden failure of production system. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new maintenance and production strategies. In this memory, we treat some maintenance policies integrated with production for a manufacturing system. This paper deals with the problem of maintenance strategy and production planning for a multiple-product manufacturing system. The manufacturing system under consideration consists of one machine which produces several products in order to satisfy random demands corresponding to every product. The significance of the present study is that the study deals with the case of a system which produces several products. In this study we have developed and optimized analytically production policies for a multiple-product manufacturing system, in order to meet several random requests characterizing respectively different customers. These policies consist of establishing periodic production plans for each product, minimizing the costs of production and storage while meeting predefined service level for each product. Subsequently, we have developed optimal strategies of maintenance, taking into account the influence of economic production plans obtained, on the evolution of the degradation of the production system. Several scenarios have been studied according to the durations of the sub-periods of production and the cost of set-up of each product. In the end, case studies were treated in order to compare the developed analytical results

Neste trabalho consideramos três tópicos principais. Nos dois primeiros generalizamos alguns dos resultados clássicos da Teoria da Confiabilidade na otimização dos procedimentos de burn-in e de políticas de garantia, respectivamente, sob o modelo de tempo de vida geral, quando um sistema coerente é observado ao nível de seus componentes, e estendemos os conceitos de intensidade de falha na forma de banheira e do modelo de falha geral através da definiçâo de processos progressivamente mensuráveis sob a pré-t-história completa dos componentes do sistema. Uma regra de parada monótona é usada na metodologia de otimizaçâo proposta. No terceiro tópico modelamos os custos de garantia descontados por reparo mínimo de um sistema coerente ao nível de seus componentes, propomos o estimador martingal do custo esperado para um período de garantia fixado e provamos as suas propriedades assintóticas mediante o Teorema do Limite Central para Martingais. / In this work we consider three main topics. In the first two, we generalize some classical results on Reliability Theory related to the optimization in burn-in procedures and warranty policies, using the general lifetime model of a coherent system observed on the component level and extending the definitions of bathtub shaped failure rate and general failure model to progressively measurable processes under the complete pre-t-history. A monotone stopping rule is applied within the proposed methodology. In the third topic, we define the discounted warranty cost process for a coherent system minimally repaired on the component level and we propose a martingale estimator to the expected warranty cost for a fixed period and setting its asymptotic properties by means of Martingale Central Limit Theorem.

Uma nova família de distribuições denominada distribuição beta generalizada semi-normal, que inclui algumas distribuições importantes como casos especiais, tais como as distribuições semi-normal e generalizada semi-normal (Cooray e Ananda, 2008), é proposta neste trabalho. Para essa nova família de distribuições, foi realizado o estudo da função densidade probabilidade, função de distribuição acumulada e da função de taxa de falha (ou risco), que não dependeram de funções matemáticas complicadas. Obteve-se uma expressão formal para os momentos, função geradora de momentos, função densidade da distribuição de estatística de ordem, desvios médios, entropia, contabilidade e para as curvas de Bonferroni e Lorenz. Examinaram-se os estimadores de máxima verossimilhança dos parâmetros e deduziu- se a matriz de informação esperada. Neste trabalho é proposto, também, um modelo de regressão utilizando a distribuição beta generalizada semi-normal. A utilidade dessa nova distribuição é ilustrada através de dois conjuntos de dados, mostrando que ela é mais flexível na análise de dados de tempo de vida do que outras distribuições existentes na literatura. / A new family of distributions so-called beta generalized half-normal distribution, which includes some important distributions as special cases, such as the half-normal and generalized half-normal (Cooray and Ananda, 2008) distributions, is proposed in this work. For this new family of distributions, we studied the probability density function, cumulative distribution function and failure rate function (or hazard function), which did not depend on complicated mathematical functions. We obtained a formal expression for the moments, moment generating function, density function of order statistics distribution, mean deviation, entropy, reliability and Bonferroni and Lorenz curves. We examined maximum likelihood estimation of parameters and provided the information matrix. This work also proposed a regression model using the beta generalized half-normal distribution. The usefulness of the new distribution is illustrated through two data sets by showing that it is quite °exible in analyzing lifetime data instead other distributions in the literature.

Avläsning av tillståndet hos en mikrobrytare kräver att den ansluts till ett I/O hos exempelvis PLC, mikrokontroller eller annan lämplig utrustning. Forsmarks Kraft-grupp AB (FKA) och avdelningen för larm och telekommunikation (NEIT) ser ett behov av att på kärnkraftsanläggningen i Forsmark installera mikrobrytare på platser där det saknas anslutningsutrustning och förmedla dess tillstånd till ett övervakande system. I denna rapport presenteras ett förslag till teknisk lösning som uppfyller FKA:s behov genom att spegla ett I/O över TCP/IP-protokoll. Lösningen har tagits fram utifrån specifika önskemål från FKA. Funktionen ska bland annat övervaka två områden med mikrobrytare, larma för fel, ha egenövervakning, ta hänsyn till signalintegritet samt baseras på generell mikrokontrollutrustning. Vi-dare har en utvärdering av tillförlitligheten gjorts samt att funktionen har testats. Resultatet presenteras som en prototyputrustning där två mikrokontrollplattformar från Arduino har använts som bas och designen har skett utifrån ett feltolerant per-spektiv. Trippelmodulär redundans, watchdog-timer, dubbelbalanserad slinga och majoritetsvotering är några av de tekniker som tillämpats. Genom en kombination av programmering och föreslagna metoder har FKA:s önskemål uppnåtts. Tillförlitlighetsutvärderingarna visar att prototyputrustningen har en mean time between failure på ungefär 3,2 år samt att sannolikheten för felfri drift i 20,000 tim-mar är ungefär 50 %. Funktionstesterna visar på goda förutsättningar för långsiktig funktionalitet gällande I/O-spegling och larmhantering. Testerna avslöjar även före-komsten av falska larm vilket har föranlett förslag om debuggning av mjukvaran in-nan driftsättning. Rapporten avslutas med en diskussion kring de uppnådda resulta-ten samt föreslagna kompletteringar och utvecklingar av prototyputrustningen. / Reading the state of a microswitch requires it to be connected to an I/O of, for ex-ample, PLC, microcontroller, or other suitable equipment. Forsmarks Kraftgrupp AB (FKA) and the department of alarms and telecommunications (NEIT) have real-ized a need to install microswitches at Forsmarks nuclear power plant at places where there are no connection equipment and redistribute its state to a monitoring system. This report presents a proposal for a technical solution that meets FKA:s needs by mirroring an I/O over TCP/IP-protocol. The solution has been developed based on specific requirements from FKA. The function should, among other things, monitor two areas with microswitches, alarm for faults, have self-monitoring, consider signal integrity, and be based on general microcontroller equipment. Furthermore, an analysis of the reliability has been made and the function has been tested. The result is presented as a prototype equipment where two microcontroller plat-forms from Arduino have been used as a base and the design has been done from a fault tolerant perspective. Triple modular redundancy, watchdog timer, double-bal-anced loop and majority voting are some of the techniques used. Through a combi-nation of programming and proposed methods, FKA:s wishes have been achieved. The reliability assessments show that the prototype equipment has a mean time be-tween failure of about 3.2 years and that the probability of faultless operation for 20,000 hours is about 50 %. The function tests show good conditions for long-term functionality regarding I/O mirroring and alarm handling. The tests also reveal the presence of false alarms, which has prompted proposals for debugging the software before deployment. The report concludes with a discussion of the results achieved as well as proposed additions and developments of the prototype equipment.