The research described in this dissertation centres on the application of a discipline of formal methods in railway signalling system design. A generic abstract model of railway track networks and signals has been developed in Higher-Order Logic(HOL). It consists of several theories arranged in a hierarchy. Railway track networks are modelled by a class of constraint labelled directed graphs. HOL theories of graphs and paths have been developed for representing track networks. HOL theories modelling individual track components and signals have also been developed. These theories are then combined to create a theory of track network. Three applications of this model are described. The first is a network verifier which verifies a formal specification of track layout against its abstract model by proving theorems automatically. The second application is to extract information from the specifications and to create control tables automatically. Lastly, a method of modelling the interlocking processor using finite state machines is described. Although this research has centred on railway signalling, it can be viewed as a case study of how to apply formal methods in the analysis and design of safety- critical systems. The approach and methods used can be generalized in order to be useful in other industries.

The Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) is a critical sub-system of the 25kV AC overhead railway electrification system, which is the main method of railway electrification on the British railway network. OLE failures can result in significant delays and pose risks to passenger safety, therefore, inspection and maintenance is undertaken to improve component reliability and uphold the availability of the system. OLE asset management strategies can be evaluated using a life cycle cost analysis that considers degradation processes and maintenance activities of the OLE components. The investment required to deliver the level of performance desired by railway customers and regulators can be based on evidence from the analysis’ results. This thesis presents a methodology for modelling the asset management and calculating the whole life cost of the OLE to allow such analysis to take place. This research has developed a High Level Petri net model to simulate the degradation, failure, inspection and maintenance of the main OLE components in a stochastic manner. The model simulates all the main OLE components concurrently in the same model and fixed time interval inspections and condition-based maintenance regimes are considered. The various dependencies between the different components and processes considered, such as opportunistic inspection and maintenance, are also taken into account. The use of High Level Petri nets allows the processes considered to be modelled in a more accurate and efficient manner in comparison to standard Petri nets. The model is used to calculate various statistics associated with the cost, maintenance requirements and reliability of the individual OLE components and the OLE system over its life cycle. This is demonstrated using an example analysis for a 2-mile section of electrified line, which also describes how the outputs obtained can be used by decision makers to study the performance of the components and the implications of the maintenance strategy evaluated by the model. Finally, a Genetic Algorithm is used in conjunction with the Petri net developed to find the optimum maintenance strategies that result in the lowest total cost of the system. The optimum strategy chosen results in a 15% lower expected total cost and 10% fewer expected failures in comparison to the maintenance strategy currently implemented for the OLE on the British railway network, whilst requiring a similar number of maintenance visits. The methodology presented considers the OLE components and the processes described above in more detail than previous literature associated with asset management and life cycle cost analysis of the OLE. Additionally, the suitability and ways in which Petri nets can be used for modelling the asset management of other large engineering systems, comprised of numerous components with various dependencies, is confirmed. Furthermore, the practical use of the model, as an asset management tool, capable of calculating a comprehensive range of outputs calculated, is demonstrated.

Esta dissertação aborda a ética da memória em sua relação com a pesquisa e a cidade, onde afirma uma estética do trágico. São Salvador e Salvador do Sul apresentam-se como retratos espaço-temporais de uma paisagem incessantemente estremecida e redesenhada, a partir dos efeitos produzidos pela ferrovia com a sua chegada e após a sua retirada. A intervenção, que durante o trabalho de conclusão de curso da pesquisadora reuniu os antigos moradores desta comunidade, oferece pistas a serem cartografadas, no sentido do transbordamento das linhas na graduação arregimentadas e com a dissertação implodidas e multiplicadas. Opera-se uma dobra nos processos anteriormente vivenciados, seja ao escutar o trem em suas intensidades pelos senhores(as) atualizadas, seja ao narrar o improrrogável desfazimento das cenas da pesquisa outrora testemunhadas. A ficção permite a um só tempo afastar-se, deslocar-se e reinventar-se diante do passado transcorrido e não mais reiterado, exceto como resto e como traço inacabado. A escrita prossegue e o faz agenciando desvios e modos de existência até então insuspeitos: a matéria-prima sobre a qual se debruça é tão efêmera quanto ela mesma. A ética aqui em questão pauta-se pela inevitável provisoriedade dos contornos da cidade, para em seguida discutir a fugacidade do texto e da própria existência que vem a lhe dar passagem. / This dissertation is about the ethics of memory in its relation to research and city, where it affirms the aesthetics of tragedy. São Salvador and Salvador do Sul present themselves as space-time portraits of a landscape that has been shaken and redesigned incessantly, from the effects produced by the arrival and departure of the railroad. The intervention, which gathered together the old inhabitants of this community during the course conclusion paper of the researcher, offers clues to be mapped in the sense of overflow of the lines assembled during under-graduation and that were imploded and multiplied with this dissertation. A fold happens in the processes previously lived, whether when hearing the train in its updated intensities by local elderly people, whether when narrating the undelayable undoing of scenes of the research once witnessed. Fiction allows, all at once, distancing, moving and reinventing oneself before the elapsed past and not repeated anymore, except as remnant and unfinished trace. Writing proceeds and does that by managing diversions and ways of living unsuspected until then: the raw material on which it leans out is as ephemeral as itself. The ethics in question here is conducted by the inevitable temporariness of the outline of the city, to subsequently discuss the fugacity of the text and existence itself that comes to give way.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-01T17:54:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-01-30. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2016-04-01T18:00:27Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000547286.pdf: 1899260 bytes, checksum: 8dbe422e22fb77520866d76618b378db (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O transporte ferroviário no Brasil vem obtendo um crescimento constante em termos de sua produção nos últimos anos, principalmente após o início das concessões das malhas para a iniciativa privada. No entanto, ao se comparar a participação do modal ferroviário brasileiro, perante outros países, dentro da matriz de transporte, o Brasil ainda possui uma baixa participação neste tipo de modal. O aumento desta participação, por meio da continuidade do crescimento, será relevante para o desenvolvimento do país, devido à necessidade de uma maior competitividade externa dos nossos produtos, que pode ser alcançada pela redução de seus custos logísticos globais. Com isso, os operadores de transporte ferroviário poderão necessitar efetuar mudanças nas formas de gerir o desempenho de suas operações, buscando-se atingir os objetivos estratégicos de médio e longo prazo e também promover a melhoria contínua de seus resultados, tendo em vista outras perspectivas, além da financeira, tradicional medida de desempenho no ambiente organizacional. Diante deste cenário, este trabalho tem por objetivo propor um modelo de sistema de medição de desempenho para aplicação nos operadores de transporte ferroviário, o qual foi construído por meio de um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa deste setor, visando estabelecer uma estrutura típica de análise, e também, pelo alinhamento de seus objetivos estratégicos comuns. Assim, buscou-se o Balanced Scorecard - BSC como uma opção de modelo de sistema de medição de desempenho a ser utilizado por essas organizações, devido a sua função estratégica e de instrumento de melhoria, possuindo quatro perspectivas de medição do desempenho (financeira, clientes, processos internos e aprendizado e crescimento), além de possuir uma relação de causa-e-efeito entre elas, conforme a orientação de um mapa estratégico. / The Brazilian railroad transport has been achieving a continuous growth, in terms of its production in the last years, mainly after the beginning of the network concessions to private initiative. However, when comparing the participation of the Brazilian railroad modal, towards other countries, in the transports matrix, Brazil still has a low level of participation in this kind of modal. The increase this participation, through of the continued growth will be relevant for the development of the country, due to the necessity of a bigger external competitiveness of our products, which can be achieved by the reduction of its overall logistics costs. Thus, the railroad transport operators may need to make changes in the ways of managing the performance of its operations, searching up achieving the strategical objectives of medium and long term and also to promote the continuous improvement of its outcomes in view other perspectives, beyond financial, traditional measure of performance in the organizational environment. From this scenery, this work has for objective to propose a model of the system of performance measurement for application in the railroad transport operators, which was built through of a case study made in a company of this sector, seeking to establish a typical structure of analysis, and also, by alignment of its common strategical objectives. Thus, searched up the Balanced Scorecard - BSC like option of performance measurement system to be used by these organizations, due to its strategical function and also of improvement instrument, having four perspectives of performance measurement (financial, customer, internal processes and learning and growth), besides having a relation of cause and effect between them, as the guidance of a strategical map.

No final do século XIX a cidade de Porto Alegre construiu uma ferrovia, para atender demandas de saneamento. Em seguida começou também a transportar passageiros para a zona sul da cidade, na orla do lago Guaíba. Este trabalho estuda o impacto que a ferrovia causou nessa região da cidade, e como foi sua urbanização a partir de então. É analisado como foi esse comportamento sob as questões teóricas do urbanismo. Permite ter um quadro da situação atual, dos diferenciais da zona sul, e quais as tendências para o futuro. / At the end of the 19th century the city of Porto Alegre built a railroad, designed to answer the new sanitation demands of the city. Later on, it began to also transport passengers to the southern side of the town, along the edges of the Guaiba lake.This work studies the impact the railroad has caused in this region of the town, and its urbanization since then. We analyse this behavior under urbanism theoretical questions. It allows a picture of the current situation, the differentials of the southern boroughs, and its tendencies for the future.

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The safe transportation of new and spent nuclear fuel is an essential part of the nuclear fuel cycle. The aim of this thesis was to obtain a more thorough understanding of the mechanical loading acting on heavy nuclear packages during rail transportation. There were two motivating factors for this study. Firstly, the design of equipment used to tie down a package to its conveyance has become more challenging with the recent trend of increasing package mass; often exceeding 100 tonnes. This difficulty is due to the advisory acceleration factors recommended for design. Despite widespread acceptance that the factors ensure safety, it is also recognised that for heavier packages they can be prohibitive and result in over engineered tie down systems. Secondly, transportation imparts complex dynamic mechanical loading on packages and the fuel assemblies within them. There have been no reported instances in the UK of problems caused by fuel vibrations. However international studies have prompted this investigation. A rail wagon and tie down system for a 100 tonne package were instrumented with accelerometers and strain gauges. The measurements were taken during a routine rail journey from Barrow-in-Furness to Sellafield. Continuous data was digitally recorded with a sampling rate sufficient to capture shock and vibrations up to 100 Hz. Accelerometers were selected to measure very low frequencies to capture quasi-static loading. Investigation of the frequency content of the accelerations indicated that digital filtering of the data is necessary to determine the magnitudes of the structural loading on tie downs. A method for designing a suitable filter has been developed. A sensitivity analysis of different filters indicated there is a possibility for over estimating loads based on measured data due to poor filter design. Industrial design of tie downs using FEA requires pragmatic run times. This motivated a comparison of the measured strain time histories with the results of a linear static FEA model. The correlation between measured and predicted strains, was strong at frequencies < 3.5 Hz. A residuals analysis indicated that the model predicted the underlying strain process accurately. The methods described are generic and adaptable. They will aid any future experimental work, to characterise shock, vibration and quasi-static loads acting on nuclear packages and their ancillary equipment.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The women for a long time were seen as "beings" accessory, secondary and inferior in the Brazilian labor middle and in the society as a completely. This dissertation intends to demonstrate that in the rail labor middle of Rio Grande do Sul they obtained a space and a significant visibility in the social spectrum. This that has for study object to search the possible political and religious influences on the families in the middle labor railway man of Rio Grande do Sul work, as in a private way they were the Positivism, Trabalhism and the Catholic theology, with respect to the focused women's in a special way social existences in their daily of work and education. For the attainment of the dissertation, we propose that the methodology includes contributions of the oral history, because until very little time the women's history was ignored by the historians and social analysts, partly because her life, linked to the home or the disorganized work or temporary, very frequently it elapsed without being documented. Therefore, the use of interviews with the collaborators, that is, wives and railway man daughters are indispensable so that she can point roads of the present researches. Of the same form, the use of distinguished bibliographies and significant empiric documents for the treatment of the object, being considered the authors' references that studied the history of the railroad and, other, the women's history. Their lives and participation in the society are marked by progresses and retreats. In spite of the education also provided to act as a type of maintenance of the order in the domestic space, through her it was possible the exit for the world of the work. A lot of transformations were made possible by the impact of the education. In spite of the silence or of the invisibility always to weigh more strongly on the women, in reason of the inequality of the sexes, she is not able to say that they didn't act. Being, then, important that research can contribute to the women's history in the rail world. Finally, the history continues the if to do and the women continue the if release/emancipate. / As mulheres por muito tempo foram vistas como seres acessórios, secundários e inferiores no meio operário brasileiro e na sociedade como um todo. Esta dissertação se propõe a demonstrar que no meio operário ferroviário do Rio Grande do Sul elas obtiveram um espaço e uma visibilidade significativos no espectro social. Trabalho este que tem por objeto de estudo perscrutar as possíveis influências políticas e religiosas sobre as famílias no meio operário ferroviário do Rio Grande do Sul, como de modo particular foram o Positivismo, o Trabalhismo e a teologia Católica, no que tange às vivências sociais das mulheres enfocadas de modo especial nos seus cotidianos de trabalho e educação. Para a consecução da dissertação, propomos que a metodologia englobe contribuições da história oral, pois até bem pouco tempo a história das mulheres foi ignorada pelos historiadores e analistas sociais, em parte porque a vida delas, ligada ao lar ou ao trabalho desorganizado ou temporário, muito frequentemente transcorreu sem ser documentada. Por isso, a utilização de entrevistas com as colaboradoras, isto é, esposas e filhas de ferroviários são imprescindíveis para que se possam apontar os caminhos da presente pesquisa. Da mesma forma, o uso de bibliografias abalizadas e documentos empíricos significativos para o trato do objeto, considerando-se as referências de autores que estudaram a história da ferrovia e, outros, a história das mulheres. Suas vidas e participação na sociedade são marcadas por avanços e retrocessos. Apesar da educação proporcionada também atuar como uma espécie de manutenção da ordem no espaço doméstico, através dela foi possível a saída para o mundo do trabalho. Muitas transformações foram possibilitadas pelo impacto da escolaridade. Apesar do silêncio ou da invisibilidade sempre pesar mais fortemente sobre as mulheres, em razão da desigualdade dos sexos, não se pode dizer que elas não atuavam. Sendo, então, importante que essa pesquisa possa contribuir para a história das mulheres no mundo ferroviário. Enfim, a história continua a se fazer e as mulheres continuam a se libertar/emancipar.

Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Magister Technologiae: Public Relations Management in the Faculty of Informatics and Design at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / Introduction This research explores effective communication within tourism to answer the research question “What are the communication needs of the same day rail visitor in Cape Town?” The research sub-questions are namely: Who is the same day rail visitor in Cape Town? What are the same day rail visitors’ communication needs? What are the same day rail visitors’ information search preferences? How does the same day rail visitor perceive rail tourism communication? What are the same day rail visitors’ product attributes? Literature review Using a theoretical framework anchored by Lumsdon and Page’s (2004) tourist-transport interface, Fodness’s (1994) tourism motivation theory, as well as information search (Fodness & Murray, 1997), this quantitative research considers how the same day rail visitor obtains tourist destination information and the influence of that information on their transport decisions to reach the tourist destination. Destination image (Beerli & Martin, 2004a) plays a key role in influencing the purchase behaviour of tourists as those destinations with a strong positive image, have a better chance of being selected by tourists in their travel decision process. Furthermore the literature explores effective communication and its ability to link the tourist with the destination (Hall, 1999), and the role of public relations in establishing rail tourism in Cape Town (Stacks, 1992; Grunig & Hunt, 1984: Van Ruler, 2004). Design and methodology A quantitative empirical, research design was selected for this limited scope thesis. The study used a single, structured, self-administered and pre-tested questionnaire. This questionnaire was distributed to convenience samples of same day rail visitors on board the tourism train to either Simon’s Town or Stellenbosch. While the non-probabilistic sample cannot be generalised into a broad overview of the same day rail visitor; it can offer insights into the communication needs of the rail tourist. Key findings The key findings to this research were: The same day rail visitor in Cape Town is mainly local South African, travelling in a family or friend group and using rail for the first time. • Understanding ‘information search’ behaviour is the key to meeting the communication needs of the same day rail visitor as while both men and women seek information, but they seek information differently and use different information sources, with the message and channel being important. • The same day rail visitor uses a variety of communication channels to find information. • The same day rail visitor was disappointed in some of the promotional communication as it over promised on the destination image (trip). • Cape Town rail service is doing an ‘average’ but not a good job in communicating rail tourism information. • Effective communication channels for trip experience and feedback were email and social media (Facebook and Twitter). • The same day rail visitor uses a variety of communication channels to communicate with, and to receive communication from, Cape Town rail service. • The same day rail visitor requires relevant information that enables them to make a purchase decision. • The majority of same day rail visitors obtained knowledge about the tourist service via promotions on Groupon and thereafter from family, friends and the internet. • Personal safety and security are very important product attributes (88 %). • Cross-transport inter-connections, preferably at railway station, were essential to 90% of the respondents. • The same day rail visitors’ product needs are matched by their experiences. Recommendations Future study is recommended to consider whether improved communication on the trains and stations to the ‘to work’ commuters and ‘anything but work’ commuters, would extend their patronage to include same day rail visitor. It is recommended that further studies explore whether a causal relationship exists between the prices of the Groupon same day rail visitor package and purchase decisions of rail tourists in Cape Town.

No final do século XIX a cidade de Porto Alegre construiu uma ferrovia, para atender demandas de saneamento. Em seguida começou também a transportar passageiros para a zona sul da cidade, na orla do lago Guaíba. Este trabalho estuda o impacto que a ferrovia causou nessa região da cidade, e como foi sua urbanização a partir de então. É analisado como foi esse comportamento sob as questões teóricas do urbanismo. Permite ter um quadro da situação atual, dos diferenciais da zona sul, e quais as tendências para o futuro. / At the end of the 19th century the city of Porto Alegre built a railroad, designed to answer the new sanitation demands of the city. Later on, it began to also transport passengers to the southern side of the town, along the edges of the Guaiba lake.This work studies the impact the railroad has caused in this region of the town, and its urbanization since then. We analyse this behavior under urbanism theoretical questions. It allows a picture of the current situation, the differentials of the southern boroughs, and its tendencies for the future.