Technological and strategic developments have changed the role of human operators in the manufacturing environment. The highly specialized work force of the low-tech manufacturing system has evolved into the multi-functional work force of the high-tech manufacturing system. Among the multiple tasks that an operator is expected to conduct in advanced manufacturing systems (AMS) are job scheduling, inventory planning, machine set-up, problem solving, and quality inspection. The quality inspection task in AMS consists of a search component, frequently conducted by a machine, and a decision making component conducted by the operator. This quality inspection system is often referred to as a hybrid inspection system (HIS). It has been demonstrated that in general the performance of HIS is better than that of pure human or pure automated inspection systems. This research investigated the effects of different types of defects (presented at the same time in the inspected parts), multitasking (concurrently conducting independent tasks), and their interaction on the operator's performance in the quality inspection task (with a memorized quality criteria) in an AMS. The results indicate that the performance of the operator in the quality inspection task while multitasking in an AMS will be determined not only by the variety of defects that can be present in the inspected parts, but also by the mental processing resources required to meet the demand imposed by the multiple independent tasks and the memorized quality criteria. The best performance will be obtained when the additional tasks' load minimizes the monotony of the quality inspection task without interfering with the processing resources needed for the memorized quality criteria. / Ph. D.

This thesis is concerned with the problem of colour shade grading for Industrial Inspection and attempts to find accurate and robust solutions to this problem. The application we are interested in, is the automation of the ceramic tiles manufacturing process so as to replace the human inspectors responsible for the quality control of the product. Therefore our aim is to perform the colour grading in a way which is consistent with what the human experts and subsequently the clients would perceive. First an overview of colour vision, colour measurement and colour constancy is given. Then a method that tackles the problem of colour grading of uniform and patterned surfaces is proposed. This method is the first step towards colour grading since it involves various corrections of the data, so as to provide the necessary precision for any further attempt. The problem of colour grading of random textures is then addressed. A method based on the comparison between colour histograms is proposed, and various statistical aspects involved in the comparison of distributions such as the colour histograms are discussed. Since the real-time implementation of any industrial inspection method should be taken into account, we use a space-effective method of storing colour histograms. Having solved the problem of colour grading for the majority of uniform and textured surfaces, we then try to optimise the performance of the proposed techniques, for cases where it fails. We attribute that to the fact that every electronic sensor captures colour and patterns in a way which only approximates what the human vision system would perceive. First we propose a method of perceptual colour grading of uniform surfaces, which transforms the camera data to data as they would have been recorded by the human eye. This method makes use of metameric data, to determine the relation between the human and the electronic sensors. We use various methods of generating metamers, and we show how the need of a spectrophotometer can be overcome. In a similar way, we propose a method of perceptual colour grading of random textures, which involves the restoration of the electronically acquired data and then their transformation to a colour space which expresses the way we perceive colour texture. We test both methods with real data, and we compare them with the non-perceptual ones. All the methods proposed in this thesis have been tested with real data, from the ceramic tiles manufacturing industry, previously colour graded by human inspectors. The consistency of the methods has been tested by using various sets of all sorts of tiles, and by repeating the acquisition and grading processes many times for every set of tiles. Further, these experiments have been carried out using different apparatuses, thus allowing us to draw conclusions about their quality and to make our methods as hardware independent as possible.

The purpose of this project was to test and implement recent research of polarization and scatter properties that suggest using a cross polarization imaging system to reduce glare artifacts. In particular, the use of this research is to improve the machine vision of apple quality detection in the food industry. The automated measurement system was implemented by acquiring pictures at different angles and different polarization states of apples. The opto-mechanics, system integration, synchronization and data collection are controlled with LabVIEW.

The overall purpose of this project is to devise improved quality acceptance procedures to examine quality characteristics of utility poles at the factory of the supplier (FAT) and on-site upon receipt by the customer (SAT). To that end, the thesis draws upon available standards, literature, and industry practices regarding wood, fiberglass and steel poles. As far as the design of the research, a single case study of a major power company was chosen. Then, a data collection plan was developed in order to build upon the existing knowledge found in the literature, and upon the data that can be collected from three of the Company’s suppliers, in addition to the Technical Research Institute of Sweden (SP). Documents’ analysis, interviews, observations, and a survey were the tools of that plan. It was found that criteria, inspection and test methods of wood poles are all sufficiently covered in the standards and the literature; for wood is the most commonly used material for utility poles. Next, in coverage of research, are the steel poles; while there is currently no standard that covers fiberglass utility poles. Indeed, quality characteristics, criteria, and acceptance procedures can altogether form parts of a sustainable solution, as long as the quality is managed as a process whether at the Company’s end or at the fabrication sites; that is especially true if there is some form of backward partnership between the Company and its suppliers.

PM10 and ozone are the dominant air pollutants in the Urban Kaohsiung. Ozone is a secondary pollutant generated in the troposphere from the precursors nitrogen dioxide and non-methane hydrocarbons. The trends of ozone concentrations first statistically are summarized utilizing the monitoring data during the period 1998¡Ð2007. All data are collected from four fixed-site air quality monitoring stations in Kaohsiung City. The results show that ozone concentration in Kaohsiung has one perennial peak concentration, occurring in October and March. The highest values occur in October and the secondary high value in March. The lowest values occur in the summer. The monitor data possess timeliness of data and the non-linear dynamic tendency. Artificial Neural Network ¡]ANN¡^, a system recognition, self-study function and ability of the solution to non-linearity dynamic system problem, was used as a tool to analyze these monitor data. This work utilizing neural networks develops a model to predict the trend of ozone situations in the Urban Kaohsiung. The network was trained using meteorological factor and air quality data when the ozone concentrations are the highest. The optimum set value of five parameters including date partition, hidden layer neurons, training function, leraning rate , and momentum coefficient were obtained based on trial and error methods. The simulated results of ozone concentration have a correlation coefficient within the range 0.865¡Ð0.899 and IOA within the range 0.927¡Ð0.934. The trend results of ozone concentration reflect strong relationships in all stations. The results of this study indicate that the artificial neural network (ANN) is a promising method for air pollution modeling.

Audit, inspection and quality assurance are aspects of a broader but rapidly evolving "performance measurement"; which is part of the performance management (PM) in public administration. The effectiveness of PM and its public reporting are not established in all contexts and applications. In some contexts, PM public reporting is used along with other measures such as inter-organisational networks to reform public service provision. In such contexts, how PM reporting help stakeholders in a network? There have been different conceptual frameworks and models explored in the literature that aim to explain how networked governance works. None of the available models, however, addresses the impact of an outside performance measurement tools. The review of literature, on the perspective of inter-organisational network, shows a need to explore more deeply what is going on within the network, and how the network interacts with its boundaries and outside context. Therefore, the overall objective for this research is to propose a conceptual model that can explain the impact of externally reported PM, an example of which is independent mandatory quality assurance (QA), on inter-organisational networks dynamics and outcomes. The research starts by building an ‘initial theoretical conceptual’ model based on theoretically derived influences of PM on the dynamics and outcomes of a network. The research uses qualitative case study strategy, using data from four cases, all linked with national education and training reform initiatives in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Participants representing the four cases were interviewed using semi-structured interview protocol. Data collected were analysed through two-order thematic analyses, and the results were used to revise the initial model and develop a novel conceptual model for this purpose. The results of the analyses contribute to existing theories by proposing four themes, covered by four propositions, in which QA public reporting impacts the network dynamics – namely on accountability, engagement and trust, power and control; and collaborations and cooperation. The impact on the network dynamics may lead to the achievement of some collaborative advantages, after going through the resistance of some collaborative inertias that may exist in the system and context in which network operates. In summary, QA reporting, in the case of this research, is an external variable to the network setting which activates members and offers a medium of change around members, within a network as well as outside it. The researcher introduces the term ‘network catalyst’ to describe the role of QA reporting in this context.

Ships and vessel conditions demand regular assessment to maintain their safety. In the traditional environment, their assessment was conducted using surveys and complex and time-consuming operations. But now, with the emergence of Industry 4.0 where intelligence and smart devices serve the imagery, drone-based, and many other alternative methods for inspection, the subject is obtaining considerable interest. The concept is highly effective with low cost and less disruption delivering a safer inspection approach. This study has examined Industry 4.0 technology as a quality inspection technique of a ship/vessel, examined drone-based ship inspection techniques for quality inspection of the ship/vessel without human involvement, to analyse robotic underwater surveillance methods for quality inspection of the ship/vessel, and to identify vision-based corrosion detection techniques for quality inspection of the ship/vessel. In the finding, it was revealed ship inspection through Industry 4.0 technology and other techniques can help the marine industries rely more on automated systems to gather the information that is required to be capable of authenticating process and product conformance also they can reduce human error, risks and uncover useful insights from the gathered vessel/ship data.

With the advances of industry 4.0, augmented reality (AR) devices are being deployed across the manufacturing sector to enhance worker perception and efficiency. AR is often used to deliver spatially relevant work instructions on mobile devices for maintenance procedures on the factory floor. In these situations, workers use their mobile devices to view instructions in the form of 3D animations and annotations that directly overlay the equipment being maintained. Workers then follow the AR instructions and must ultimately rely on their own judgement and knowledge of the procedure as they progress from step to step. An AR assistant that could validate each stage of the procedure in real time and provide the worker with feedback on any observed errors would ensure that each maintenance procedure is completed successfully. This work presents a mobile, quality inspection system for AR maintenance procedures that is capable of assessing the maintenance task in real time. The system is designed for deployment on handheld mobile devices and can thus manage the challenges inherent to performing quality inspection with a non-fixed vision system. This work enumerates four essential qualities of mobile quality inspection tools and outlines some of the challenges encountered during the development of such a system. In the end, testing established that the system could provide adequate assistance for capturing inspection images, accurately process the captured images using machine vision, and generate detailed feedback from the quality inspection in a timely manner.

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Submitted by PPG Ci?ncia da Computa??o (ppgcc@pucrs.br) on 2018-05-08T18:28:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIEL_PIMENTEL_AFFONSO_DE_OLIVEIRA_DIS.pdf: 1728021 bytes, checksum: ccf1b372e65c1d0cf709157eeb0723ca (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Caroline Xavier (caroline.xavier@pucrs.br) on 2018-05-15T18:27:29Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIEL_PIMENTEL_AFFONSO_DE_OLIVEIRA_DIS.pdf: 1728021 bytes, checksum: ccf1b372e65c1d0cf709157eeb0723ca (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-15T18:37:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GABRIEL_PIMENTEL_AFFONSO_DE_OLIVEIRA_DIS.pdf: 1728021 bytes, checksum: ccf1b372e65c1d0cf709157eeb0723ca (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-14 / Tradicionalmente, a engenharia de requisitos se baseia na execu??o sequencial de atividades. Por outro lado, a engenharia de requisitos em metodologias ?geis ? informal. Projetos ?geis s?o bem sucedidos ?sem requisitos? gra?as ao fato de que casos de teste s?o comumentemente vistos como requisitos e de que requisitos s?o detalhados como casos de teste que servem tambem para validar e aceitar cada funcionalidade. Um dos formato destes testes de aceita??o s?o cen?rios criados a partir da t?cnica de desenvolvimento orientado a comportamento (do ingl?s, behavior-driven development, BDD). Estes cen?rios ajudam a evitar problemas de comunica??o entre especialistas de dom?nio e programadores, j? que estes cen?rios s?o escritos numa linguagem comum a esses dois grupos, permitindo um caminho menos amb?guo dos requisitos de neg?cio para a especifica??o do comportamento do um software. Entretanto, aqueles que formalizam cen?rios BDD n?o possuem um conjunto padr?o de regras para se familiarizarem com o conceito de um ?bom? cen?rio, o que pode permitir que cen?rios BDD sofram de problemas conhecidos pela engenharia de requisitos, tais como requisitos incompletos, mal especificados ou inconsistentes. Portanto, para preencher essa lacuna, nessa pesquisa foram coletados dados de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com praticantes de BDD para propormos uma lista de verifica??o baseada em quest?es com 12 perguntas associadas a 8 atributos de qualidade. Esse instrumento deve prover aos praticantes de BDD orienta??es padronizadas para o refinamento de seus cen?rios. / Traditional requirements engineering approaches are based on a sequential execution of activities. In the other hand, requirements engineering in agile development is informal. Agile projects succeed ?without requirements? due to the fact that test cases are commonly viewed as requirements and detailed requirements are documented as test cases that also validate and accept each feature. One format of those acceptance test cases is Behavior-Driven Development scenarios. Those scenarios help to avoid communication problems between the domain experts and programmers on the team, as they are defined using a common language that allows for an easy, less ambiguous path from end-user business requirements to the specification of how the software should behave. However, those who formalize BDD scenarios do not have a standard set of rules to educate themselves on what a ?good? BDD scenario is, which can allow BDD scenarios to suffer from other known problems in requirement engineering such as incomplete, underspecified and inconsistent requirements. Therefore, to fill that gap, this research gathered data from semi-structures interviews performed with BDD practitioners to propose a question-based checklist based on 8 newly defined quality attributes. This question-based checklist provides practitioners with an standard guideline for BDD scenarios? refinement