Operational testing of railroad trainmen on federal government safety rules is a daily occurrence on every railroad in the United States. This constant testing and resulting discipline distracts trainmen from the task at hand, causing a loss of focus which could lead to injury or accidents. Using the social construction framework, this research sought to gain an understanding of trainmen's perception on how operational testing impacts their workplace safety, as well as how they perceive the U.S. federal government influences regulation and discipline. This phenomenological study investigated a segment of railroad employees, the trainmen, because they are operationally tested more than other employees. A representative sample of trainmen (n = 20), managers (n = 7), retirees (n = 4), and U.S. federal government officials (n = 4) who oversee railroad safety, were interviewed using a semistructured interview protocol. The transcribed interviews were analyzed for patterns and trends of safety and testing outcomes. The software analysis provided frequencies of qualitative features in the participants' responses such as stressor words and fear of discipline. Government reports regarding incident rates across U.S. railroads demonstrated that private rail companies are about equal in their incident rates. Considering incidents occur equally, the interviewees indicated that some companies test more frequently than others. This study concluded that excessive operational testing does not positively impact safety nor reduce incidents, but creates a potential for distraction among trainmen. By taking the opinion of employees into consideration, railway managers can create a safer work environment, as well as a more coherent and less stressful workplace for their employees.

In order to meet increasing water demands and more stringent regulations drinking water treatment plant managers must continually look to new treatment strategies and optimization techniques. One such strategy is to eliminate chlorine residual before filtration, allowing indigenous bacteria already present in the source water to grow on the filter media. These microorganisms help improve effluent water quality by increasing organic and inorganic contaminant removal. The process is known as biological filtration, or biofiltration. The implications of converting a conventional filtration plant (not specifically designed for biofiltration) to a biofiltration plant are still not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate water quality and operational trends of a side-by-side full-scale biofiltration conversion at the Quail Creek Water Treatment Plant (QCWTP), located in Hurricane, Utah, and to determine the impact of pre-chlorination elimination on filter performance. Four of twelve filters at the QCWTP were used to test the plant’s ability to operate in biological mode. One acted as a control and ran similar to the other eight filters in the treatment plant. The other three were converted to biofilters by quenching the influent chlorine residual with thiosulfate. The experiment lasted one year, so filter performance could be evaluated in each season. The results from the study indicated that the influent water was low in organic carbon (i.e. food for microorganisms), which resulted in small differences in biological activity between filters. Disinfection by-products (DBPs) (i.e. cancer causing agents created from the combination of chlorine and organic matter) were lower in the biofilters relative to the control. Biological conversion resulted in slightly higher and more variable final effluent turbidity values (though still within EPA drinking water standards and operational goals) compared to the non-biological filters; however, filter run times were unaffected.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Risk Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

From June to November 2007, a microscopic analysis was conducted on the activated sludge from eleven selected wastewater treatment plants (WWTP's) belonging to the City of Cape Town. The primary objective was the identification of the dominant and secondary filamentous organisms. Other important criteria included were the floe character, diversity, filament index (Fl) and identification of the protozoan and metazoan communities. The operational data determined from routine analyses of the sludge, influent and effluent were used to assess the relationship of the filamentous population to wastewater characteristics and to compare this with previous findings. Fl values of >3 and dissolved sludge volume indices (DSVI's) of >150 were chosen as representing the possibility of bulking conditions being present. The five most prevalent dominant filaments were Type 0092, Type 1851, actinomycetes, Microthrix parvicella and Type 021N, being present in 74%, 31%, 22%, 17% and 14% of samples respectively. Type 0092 did not appear to be associated with bulking in any of the WWTP's, although it was often incidentally present as a co-dominant species when bulking conditions existed. All three WWTP's with the Modified Ludzack-Ettinger configuration harboured Type 1851 as the major dominant species, irrespective of whether the plants treated domestic or industrial effluent. Conditions suggestive of bulking were present in two of these WWTP's. Contrary to expectations, Type 1851 was often found as a dominant species where domestic waste was the primary influent. Type 021N and actinomycetes were strongly implicated when bulking occurred. The overgrowth of these filaments appeared to be related to factors such as nutrient deficiency (Type 021N) or the presence of large amounts of low molecular weight substances in the influent. Microthrix parvicella did not cause major bulking problems. There was a strong association between low levels of nitrates/nitrites in the clarifier supernatant and good phosphorous removal, irrespective of the configuration of the WWTP. The converse was also true. / Thesis ((M. Environmental Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-217).

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 53-54).

One of the most critical blocks in a wide-band continuous time sigma delta (CTSD) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is the loop filter. For most loop filter topologies, the performance of the filter depends largely on the performance of the operational amplifiers (op-amps) used in the filter. The op-amps need to have high linearity, low noise and large gain over a wide bandwidth. In this work, the impact of op-amp parameters like noise and linearity on system level performance of the CTSD ADC is studied, and the design specifications are derived for the op-amps. A new class-AB bias scheme, which is more robust to process variations and has an improved high frequency response over the conventional Monticelli bias scheme, is proposed. A biquadratic filter which forms the input stage of a 5th order low pass CTSD ADC is used as a test bench to characterize the op-amp performance. The proposed class-AB output stage is compared with the class-AB output stage with Monticelli bias scheme and a class-A output stage with bias current reuse. The filter using the new op-amp architecture has lower power consumption than the other two architectures. The proposed class AB bias scheme has better process variation and mismatch tolerance compared to the op-amp that uses conventional bias scheme.

This dissertation presents an integrated approach to planning and scheduling surgeries in operating-rooms (ORs) at strategic, tactical and operational levels. We deal with uncertainties of surgery demand and durations to reflect a reality in OR management. The strategic part of the dissertation studies capacity decisions that allocate surgical specialties to OR days with the objective of minimizing total expected costs due to penalties for any patients who are not accommodated and for under- (i.e., idleness) and over- (i.e., overtime) usage of OR capacity. It presents a prototypical non-linear, stochastic programming model to structure the problem and four adaptations, along with associated solution approaches, with the goal of facilitating solution by overcoming the computational disadvantages of the prototype. Each of these models offers advantages but is also attended by disadvantages. Computational tests compare the four models and solution approaches with respect to solution quality and run time. The tactical part of the dissertation prescribes an approach to optimize a master surgical schedule (MSS), which adheres to the block scheduling policy, using a new type of newsvendor-based model. Our newsvendor approach prescribes the optimal duration of each block and the best permutation, obtained by solving the sequential newsvendor problem, determines the optimal block sequence. We obtain closed-form solutions for the case in which surgery durations follow the normal distribution. Furthermore, we give a closed-form solution for optimal block duration with no-shows. We conduct numerical tests for surgery durations that follow normal, lognormal and gamma distributions. Results show that the closed-form solutions associated with the normal distribution gives close approximations to solutions associated with log-normal and gamma distributions. The operational part of the dissertation prescribes an optimal rule to sequence two or three surgeries in a block. The smallest-variance-first-rule (SV) is generally accepted as the optimal policy for sequencing two surgeries, although it has been proven formally only for several restricted cases. We extend prior work, studying three distributions as models of surgery duration (the lognormal, gamma, and normal) and including overtime in a total-cost objective function comprising surgeon-and-patient- waiting-, operating-room-idle-, and staff over-times. We specify expected waiting- and idle- time as functions of the parameters of surgery duration to identify the best rule to sequence two surgeries. We compare the relative values of expected waiting- and idle- times numerically with that of expected overtime. Results recommend that the SV rule be used to minimize total expected cost of waiting-, idle- and over-time. We find that gamma and normal distributions with the same mean and variance as the lognormal give nearly the same expected waiting- and idle- times, observing that the lognormal in combination with either the gamma or normal gives a similar result. Lastly, the dissertation investigates an appointment system with deterministic arrival times (D) and non-identical exponential service times (M). For two customers, we show that both the smallest-mean-first-rule and the SV minimize the sum of expected waiting- and idle-times. We prove that neither is optimal for three customers, but verifies that the first customer in the sequence should be the one with the smallest variance (mean).

Operationell risk inom banksektorn är ett område under utveckling. Utredningen har behandlat ett ramverk för hantering av operationell risk kallat A Systemic Approach Framework for Operational Risk (SAFOR). Syftet har varit att konkretisera detta ramverk och inom detta utvärdera en metod kallad Damage Evaluation and Effective Prevention (DEEP-metoden) i kombination med ett datoriserat beslutsverktyg benämnt DecideIT. SAFOR hanterar operationell risk som är nära kopplat till företagets processer, personer och system. Dess utformning grundar sig i general system theory, en holistisk verksamhetssyn som minskar risken för överlappning mellan olika riskhanteringsområden. Ramverket är uppde-lat i fyra moduler som hanterar identifiering av risker och riskhanter-ingsstruktur, värdering av olika handlingsalternativ, hantering av riskmått och intervalluppskattningar. DEEP-metoden hanterar identifie-ring av risksituationen och rangordning av olika framtidscenarier. Beslutsverktyget DecideIT är en implementering av DELTA metoden som hanterar intervallskattningar av sannolikheter och värden tillsammans med känslighetsanalyser. Utredningen har genomförts genom litteratur-studie och eget test. Resultatet visar en ökning av ramverkets tillämp-barhet genom införandet av ett processperspektiv där en kartläggning av arbetsflödet visar att DEEP-metoden berör flera moduler inom ramverket. Vid närmare beaktan av ramverkets osäkerhetsmodul klargörs dess syfte till rangordning av alternativ för beslutstagande. Metod och beslutsverktyg inom osäkerhetsmodulen bör hantera osäker-heter, framtidscenarier och vara lättanvänt. Detta visar sig stämma för DEEP-metoden och DecideIT när tillämpbarhetstest utförs. SAFOR anses fungera som grund för helhetsförståelse. Ramverket kan sedan implementeras genom för verksamheten passande metod vilket ökar flexibiliteten mot olika typer av organisationer. Målen för studien anses vara uppfyllda. Fortsatt arbete finns i utformning av tydligare avgräns-ning mellan ramverkets moduler och testning av metoder inom dessa. / The investigation deals with a framework named A Systemic Approach Framework for Operational Risk (SAFOR). The aim is to concretize SAFOR and Evaluate the proposed method of Damage Evaluation and Effective Prevention (DEEP) in combination with the decision tool DecideIT. SAFOR deals with operational risk which is linked to the company's processes, people and systems. The framework is based on a holistic approach, which reduces overlap in risk management and consists of four modules which deal with; identification of risk and risk manage-ment structure, risk-reducing alternatives, risk measurement and interval estimates. The DEEP-method handles Identification of risk and Evalua-tion of future scenarios. DecideIT implements the DELTA-method which handles interval assessments for probabilities and values together with Sensitivity Analysis. The investigation was by Literature Studies and a test. A process perspective is proposed to increase the applicability of SAFOR. It discovered that the DEEP-method intersects the framework´s modules. Investigation of the framework´s uncertainty module reveals its aim to sort decision alternatives and that the method and decision tool applied in it should deal with uncertainties, future scenarios and be easy to use. This proved to be true for the DEEP-method and DecideIT by a test. SAFOR is suited to be a source for understanding the whole-ness and various methods can be implemented inside the framework to increase flexibility. The objective of the study is achieved but there is a need for further effort with interfaces and Testing methods within the framework.

När omvärlden och krigen förändras, kan då den ”traditionella” operationskonsten behållas? I denna uppsats appliceras operativa principer definierade ur den israeliska operationskonsten från tidigare krig på det Andra Libanonkriget 12 juli till den 14 aug 2006. Syftet är att beskriva och diskutera operationskonstens dynamik och förutsättningar. I teorin influeras operationskonsten av både strategi, taktik och teori men även av en mängd andra subjektiva och objektiva faktorer. Undersökningen lyfter fram att de traditionella israeliska operativa principerna användes i en varierande omfattning men först i avslutningen av kriget kan ett ”traditionellt” operativt koncept identifieras. Resultatet visar att grundförutsättningarna för operativa principer måste vara uppfyllda för att konceptet skall kunna användas och att det måste finnas en samstämmighet mellan de strategiska förutsättningarna och de ramar och villkor som de subjektiva och objektiva faktorerna sätter. Undersökningen visar också att också att förändringar av koncept kräver impulser från resultat, strategi och övriga faktorer. Den strategiska insikten och förståelsen för dess påverkan är helt avgörande för om de militära åtgärderna är eller blir relevanta. Operationskonstens värde ligger i förmågan att under de taktiska förutsättningarna kunna omsätta det strategiska målet till en operativ idé. Denna idé skall bygga på ett operativt koncept med principer som är unikt anpassat för den aktuella operationen. Det centrala blir, att under gällande förutsättningar och med tillgängliga medel, dynamiskt balansera och hantera de påverkande faktorerna i aktuell tid och plats för att nå de strategiska målen med operationen. / When world and wars changes, can then the "traditional" operational art sustain? In this paper, operational principles defined from the Israeli operational art from past wars are applied to the Second Lebanon War, July 12 to Aug 14 2006. The aim is to describe and discuss the dynamics and conditions for the operational art. In theory, operational art is influenced by strategy, tactics and theory but also by a host of other subjective and objective factors. The survey highlights that the traditional Israeli operational principles were used in a various extent but only at the end of the war a "traditional" operational concept is identified. The results show that the basic conditions of operational principles must be fulfilled for the concept to be used and that there must be consistency between the strategic requirements and the limits and conditions that the subjective and objective factors sets. The survey also shows that changes in concepts require inputs from results, strategy and other factors. The strategic insight and understanding of its impact is crucial to whether military action is or becomes relevant. The value of Operational Art lies in its ability, in a tactical environment, to translate the strategic objective to an operational idea. This idea shall be based on an operational concept with principles that are uniquely suited for the current operation. The key is, under current conditions and with available resources, to dynamically balance and manage the affecting factors in current time and place to achieve the strategic objectives of the operation.