An overview of decision table literature 1982-1995.

This report gives an overview of the literature on decision tables over the past 15 years. As much as possible, for each reference, an author supplied abstract, a number of keywords and a classification are provided. In some cases own comments are added. The purpose of these comments is to show where, how and why decision tables are used. The literature is classified according to application area, theoretical versus practical character, year of publication, country or origin (not necessarily country of publication) and the language of the document. After a description of the scope of the interview, classification results and the classification by topic are presented. The main body of the paper is the ordered list of publications with abstract, classification and comments.

Optimising cost and availability estimates at the bidding stage of performance-based contracting

Performance-Based Contracting (PBC), e.g. Contracting for Availability (CfA), has been extensively applied in many industry sectors such as defence, aerospace and railway. Under PBC, complex support activities (e.g. maintenance, training, etc.) are outsourced, under mid to long term contracting arrangements, to maintain certain level of systems’ performance (e.g. availability). However, building robust cost and availability estimates is particularly challenging at the bidding stage because therei is lack of methods and limited availability of data for analysis. Driven by this contextual challenge this PhD aims to develop a process to simulate and optimise cost and availability estimates at the bidding stage of CfA. The research methodology follows a human-centred design approach, focusing on the end-user stakeholders. An interaction with seven manufacturing organisations involved in the bidding process of CfA enabled to identify the state-of-practice and the industry needs, and a review of literature in PBC and cost estimation enabled to identify the research gaps. A simulation model for cost and availability trade-off and estimation (CATECAB) has been developed, to support cost engineers during the bidding preparation. Also, a multi-objective genetic algorithm (EMOGA) has been developed to combine with the CATECAB and build a cost and availability estimation and optimisation model (CAEOCAB). Techniques such as Monte-Carlo simulation, bootstrapping resampling, multi-regression analysis and genetic algorithms have been applied. This model is able to estimate the optimal investment in the attributes that impact the availability of the systems, according to total contract cost, availability and duration targets. The validation of the models is performed by means of four case studies with twenty-one CfA scenarios, in the maritime and air domains. The outcomes indicate a representable accuracy for the estimates produced by the models, which has been considered suitable for the early stages of the bidding process

Management: A continuing bibliography with indexes

This biliography lists 919 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in 1981

Quality management maturity: Its application and evaluation in Chinese private equipment manufacturing enterprises

Although China’s private equipment manufacturing enterprises have made significant progress, quality problems still occur because of the weak quality foundation. Therefore, it is necessary to scientifically evaluate the quality management of equipment manufacturing enterprises, identify the deficiencies and defects of quality management, and provide systematic and targeted countermeasures and suggestions. The thesis conducted text analysis on the quality award self-assessment materials of three companies and constructed an evaluation model for private equipment manufacturing enterprises including four sub-systems (management process, support process, customeroriented process and result) through three-level coding. Meanwhile, in order to empirically test the quality management maturity evaluation model of private equipment enterprises and explore the relationships between the sub-systems, the thesis selected 6 private equipment enterprises located in Guizhou province as the pre-survey objects and selected 80 private manufacturing enterprises located in Beijing, Zhejiang province, Guizhou province, Hunan province, and Sichuan province as the formal survey objects to carry out hypothesis test. Moreover, the thesis developed a maturity evaluation scale. Applying the scale to the case GXTF company, the thesis proposed improvement strategies for GXTF company. In theory, the thesis enriched the research on the quality management of private equipment manufacturing enterprises. In practice, the thesis provided reference for maturity evaluation, and provided an updated version for GJB9001C quality management accreditation institutions.Embora as empresas de manufaturação privadas da China têm feito progressos significativos, existem ainda problemas de qualidade uma vez que as fundações para a qualidade são débeis. Por isso mesmo, é relevante avaliar de forma científica a gestão da qualidade das empresas de manufaturação, bem como, identificar os defeitos e as deficiências da gestão da qualidade nessas mesmas e, por fim, apresentar sugestões e medidas de melhoria. Esta tese conduziu um estudo com base em procedimentos de auto-avaliação para concurso de prémios de qualidade fornecidos por três empresas e construiu um modelo de avaliação da maturidade da gestão da qualidade com quatro subsistemas (processo de gestão, processo de suporte, processo de foco no cliente e resultados) e três níveis de desempenho. Com o intuito de o testar empiricamente, foram selecionadas 6 empresas particulares de manufaturação da província de Guizhou para o pré-teste. E ainda, foram selecionadas 80 empresas sediadas em Beijing, nas províncias de Zhejiang, de Guizhou, de Hunan e de Sichuan para formalmente testar as hipóteses do odelo. Por outro lado, concebeu-se um guião para análise de processos de maturidade da gestão de qualidade e foi selecionada a empresa GXTF para este estudo. Contribuímos para a teoria com o enriquecimento da investigação da gestão da qualidade em empresas de manufaturação. E, contribuímos para a prática da gestão, com um novo modelo de avaliação da maturidade da gestão da qualidade e ainda de elementos para a atualização da norma GJB9001Cl da gestão da qualidade

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Human Factors Considerations in System Design

Human factors considerations in systems design was examined. Human factors in automated command and control, in the efficiency of the human computer interface and system effectiveness are outlined. The following topics are discussed: human factors aspects of control room design; design of interactive systems; human computer dialogue, interaction tasks and techniques; guidelines on ergonomic aspects of control rooms and highly automated environments; system engineering for control by humans; conceptual models of information processing; information display and interaction in real time environments

Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography, supplement 120

This bibliography contains abstracts for 297 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1980

Management: A bibliography for NASA managers

This bibliography lists 706 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in 1984. Entries, which include abstracts, are arranged in the following categories: human factors and personnel issues; management theory and techniques; industrial management and manufacturing; robotics and expert systems; computers and information management; research and development; economics, costs, and markets; logistics and operations management; reliability and quality control; and legality, legislation, and policy. Subject, personal author, corporate source, contract number, report number, and accession number indexes are included

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 245)

This bibliography lists 537 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in October, 1989. Subject coverage includes: design, construction and testing of aircraft and aircraft engines; aircraft components, equipment and systems; ground support systems; and theoretical and applied aspects of aerodynamics and general fluid dynamics