A decision-making framework for assessing the safety culture of maritime organizations with commercial cargo-carrying vessels

Maritime safety culture is currently one of the most important aspects of shipping. It enables maritime administrators to assess and manage safety-related issues proactively. However, most maritime organisations have not been able to effectively assess and manage safety-related issues proactively because of the challenges associated with the availability of safety performance data and the suitability of correlational statistical techniques used in safety culture assessments. Hence, researchers and professionals constantly debate which correlational statistical technique would be most suitable for assessing safety culture. This thesis aims to contribute to safety culture assessment from a methodological perspective of developing a decision-making framework for assessing maritime safety culture. Therefore, this PhD study offers an original contribution to knowledge regarding the application of decision-making techniques in a way that researchers have not previously done in assessing the safety culture of maritime organisations with commercial cargo-carrying vessels. Consequently, the integrated decision-making methodology adopted for this study entailed: the application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in establishing weightage and priority setting of safety factors used in further assessments; the application of Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) in establishing the weighted safety climate performance of both shoreside staff and shipboard staff; the application of Pareto analysis in justifying the findings of the weighted safety climate and gaining insights into issues concerning occupational health and safety, ship safety, and shore-to-ship safety; and the application of Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) in scheduling vessels for safety culture improvement programs. The established weightage and priority setting of safety factors are: COMMUNICATION (COM) 0.15, EMPOWERMENT (EMP) 0.13, FEEDBACK (FDB) 0.11, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) 0.11, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) 0.13, PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) 0.12, RESPONSIVENESS (RSP) 0.11, and SAFETY AWARENESS (SAW) 0.14. Subsequently, the weighted safety climate performance of shoreside staff were: (COM) 0.651, EMPOWERMENT (EMP) 0.528, FEEDBACK (FDB) 0.418, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) 0.365, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) 0.543, PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) 0.451, RESPONSIVENESS (RSP) 0.448, and SAFETY AWARENESS (SAW) 0.515; while those of shipboard staff were: COMMUNICATION (COM) 0.570, EMPOWERMENT (EMP) 0.523, FEEDBACK (FDB) 0.432, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) 0.419, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) 0.517, PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) 0.458, RESPONSIVENESS (RSP) 0.441, and SAFETY AWARENESS (SAW) 0.601. Furthermore, Pareto analysis revealed that amongst all the feedback statements reviewed, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) represents 30% of the safety factors attributed to feedback statements that are responsible for 70% of the least performing safety factors found in the weighted safety climate of shipboard staff, while PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) and PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) represent 30% of the safety factors attributed to feedback statements that are responsible for 70% of the least performing safety factors found in the weighted safety climate of shipboard staff. Finally, the TOPSIS methodology was applied to provide maritime administrators with a vessel's ranking, from the least performing to the most performing, for safety culture improvement programs as follows: MT DIDI (0.0908), MT SEA ADVENTURER (0.1124), MT SEAS GRACE (0.1726), MT UMBALWA (0.1815), MT SEA PROGRESS (0.2307), MT SEA VOYAGER (0.3816), MT ASHABI (0.4693), MT MOSUNMOLA (0.5365), MT AMIF (0.9243), and MT KINGIS (1.0000). Conclusively, this thesis adequately demonstrates how decision-making techniques can be simply and successfully applied in assessing the safety culture of maritime organisations without encountering the challenges associated with the availability of safety performance data and the suitability of correlational statistical techniques. It also demonstrated how safety culture could be assessed and managed like other areas of the organisation and business: thereby making safety culture more assessable to continuous improvement programs of maritime organisations with commercial cargo-carrying vessels.Maritime safety culture is currently one of the most important aspects of shipping. It enables maritime administrators to assess and manage safety-related issues proactively. However, most maritime organisations have not been able to effectively assess and manage safety-related issues proactively because of the challenges associated with the availability of safety performance data and the suitability of correlational statistical techniques used in safety culture assessments. Hence, researchers and professionals constantly debate which correlational statistical technique would be most suitable for assessing safety culture. This thesis aims to contribute to safety culture assessment from a methodological perspective of developing a decision-making framework for assessing maritime safety culture. Therefore, this PhD study offers an original contribution to knowledge regarding the application of decision-making techniques in a way that researchers have not previously done in assessing the safety culture of maritime organisations with commercial cargo-carrying vessels. Consequently, the integrated decision-making methodology adopted for this study entailed: the application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in establishing weightage and priority setting of safety factors used in further assessments; the application of Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) in establishing the weighted safety climate performance of both shoreside staff and shipboard staff; the application of Pareto analysis in justifying the findings of the weighted safety climate and gaining insights into issues concerning occupational health and safety, ship safety, and shore-to-ship safety; and the application of Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) in scheduling vessels for safety culture improvement programs. The established weightage and priority setting of safety factors are: COMMUNICATION (COM) 0.15, EMPOWERMENT (EMP) 0.13, FEEDBACK (FDB) 0.11, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) 0.11, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) 0.13, PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) 0.12, RESPONSIVENESS (RSP) 0.11, and SAFETY AWARENESS (SAW) 0.14. Subsequently, the weighted safety climate performance of shoreside staff were: (COM) 0.651, EMPOWERMENT (EMP) 0.528, FEEDBACK (FDB) 0.418, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) 0.365, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) 0.543, PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) 0.451, RESPONSIVENESS (RSP) 0.448, and SAFETY AWARENESS (SAW) 0.515; while those of shipboard staff were: COMMUNICATION (COM) 0.570, EMPOWERMENT (EMP) 0.523, FEEDBACK (FDB) 0.432, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) 0.419, PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) 0.517, PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) 0.458, RESPONSIVENESS (RSP) 0.441, and SAFETY AWARENESS (SAW) 0.601. Furthermore, Pareto analysis revealed that amongst all the feedback statements reviewed, MUTUAL TRUST (MTR) represents 30% of the safety factors attributed to feedback statements that are responsible for 70% of the least performing safety factors found in the weighted safety climate of shipboard staff, while PROMOTION OF SAFETY (POS) and PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION (PID) represent 30% of the safety factors attributed to feedback statements that are responsible for 70% of the least performing safety factors found in the weighted safety climate of shipboard staff. Finally, the TOPSIS methodology was applied to provide maritime administrators with a vessel's ranking, from the least performing to the most performing, for safety culture improvement programs as follows: MT DIDI (0.0908), MT SEA ADVENTURER (0.1124), MT SEAS GRACE (0.1726), MT UMBALWA (0.1815), MT SEA PROGRESS (0.2307), MT SEA VOYAGER (0.3816), MT ASHABI (0.4693), MT MOSUNMOLA (0.5365), MT AMIF (0.9243), and MT KINGIS (1.0000). Conclusively, this thesis adequately demonstrates how decision-making techniques can be simply and successfully applied in assessing the safety culture of maritime organisations without encountering the challenges associated with the availability of safety performance data and the suitability of correlational statistical techniques. It also demonstrated how safety culture could be assessed and managed like other areas of the organisation and business: thereby making safety culture more assessable to continuous improvement programs of maritime organisations with commercial cargo-carrying vessels

Food safety risk analysis from the producers' perspective: prioritisation of production process stages by HACCP and TOPSIS

[EN] From the manufacturers perspective, the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system nowadays represents the mainly way to implement the food safety risk management in food industries. Nevertheless, the identification and prioritization of hazards as the outcome of the first principle of HACCP is not sufficient to identify production process stages that more significantly and critically contribute to the consumer¿s risks. With this recognition, the present paper proposes a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) approach based on HACCP and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to individuate production process phases on which implementing corrective actions to improve the consumers¿ safety. The designed methodological approach is implemented on the smoked salmon manufacturing process of a real Sicilian industry.Certa, A.; Enea, M.; Galante, G.; Izquierdo Sebastián, J.; La Fata, CM. (2018). Food safety risk analysis from the producers' perspective: prioritisation of production process stages by HACCP and TOPSIS. International Journal of Management and Decision Making. 17(4):396-414. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJMDM.2018.095720S39641417

Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches for Evaluation of Safety Risks in Coal Mines

The safety in underground coal mines continues to be a major problem in the Indian mining industry. Despite significant measures taken by the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) to reduce the number of mining accidents in underground coal mines, the number remains high. To improve the safety conditions, it has become a prerequisite to performing risk assessment for various operations in Indian mines. It is noted that many research studies conducted in the past are limited to either statistical analysis of accidents or study of single equipment or operation using qualitative and quantitative techniques. Limited work has been done to identify, analyse, and evaluate the safety risks of a complete underground coal mine in India. The present study attempts to determine the appropriate qualitative and quantitative risk assessment approaches for the evaluation of safety risks in Indian underground coal mines. This thesis addresses several important objectives as (i) to identify the type of safety risk analysis techniques suitable for evaluating various mining scenarios (ii) to identify and analyse the hazard factors and hazardous events that affects the safety in underground coal using the qualitative and quantitative approaches (iii) to evaluate the risk level (RL) of the hazardous factors/groups, hazardous events, and the overall mine using the proposed methodology. In this research work, the qualitative techniques, i.e. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Workplace Risk Assessment and Control (WRAC), and the quantitative techniques, i.e. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Event Tree Analysis (ETA) were applied in an underground coal mine to identify and analyse the hazard factors and hazard events. The analysis of FMEA and WRAC results concluded that the qualitative risk assessment is easy to execute and practical as they are not dependent on the historical data; rather they need experience and close examination. On the other hand, they may yield subjective results due to instinctive human assessment. The analysis of the FTA and ETA results concluded that the quantitative risk assessment could not be performed in Indian underground coal mines due to lack of probability, exposure, and consequence data. To overcome the mentioned problems in qualitative and quantitative techniques, a methodology was proposed for evaluation of the safety risks of hazard events, hazard groups, and overall mine. The proposed methodology is the unification of fuzzy logic, VIKOR (In Serbia: VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje, that means: Multi-criteria Optimization and Compromise Solution), and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) techniques. Because of the imprecise nature of the information available in the mining industry, fuzzy logic was employed to evaluate the risk of each hazardous event in terms of consequence, exposure, and probability. VIKOR as was used to rank the evaluated risk of hazardous events. AHP technique helps to determine the relative importance of the risk factors. Therefore, AHP technique was integrated into the risk model so that the risk evaluation can progress from hazardous event level to hazard factor level and finally to overall mine level. To reduce the calculation time significantly and to increase the speed of the proposed risk assessment process, a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (TRAM) was developed using the C# language through Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 and .Net libraries. The proposed methodology developed in this thesis was applied to six underground coal mines. The results presented the risk level of hazard events, hazards groups and overall mine of six mines. The mine-5 has the highest risk level among the evaluated mines. The ranking order of the mines observed based on the overall risk level is mine-5> mine-1 > mine-2 > mine-3 > mine-6 > mine-4. The results of the proposed methodology were compared with DGMS proposed rapid ranking method. This is observed that the proposed methodology presents better evaluation than other approaches. This study could help the mine management to prepare safety measures based on the risk rankings obtained. It may also aid to evaluate accurate risk levels with identified hazards while preparing risk management plans

Studies on Risk and Occupational Health Hazards in Industrial Context: Some Case Research

This work articulates few case empirical studies on some aspects of risk management and occupational health hazards in the context of Indian Industries. Empirical research is research using empirical evidence. It is a way of gaining knowledge by means of direct and indirect observation or experience. The study focuses on five important domains investigating (i) the interrelationships among critical risk factors associated with software engineering project, (ii) risk management for IT outsourcing, (iii) risk management in metropolitan construction project, (iv) health hazard risk management, and (v) appropriate safety measure system selection for improving workers’ safety in an underground coal mining industry. In this research, an ISM approach has been applied to understand the significant interrelationships among the twenty three identified risk factors associated with the software engineering projects. In relation to IT outsourcing project, a hierarchical risk-breakdown structure has been proposed comprising sixty eight risk influencing factors under eleven risk dimensions. A case study has been conducted in a famous IT sector located at the eastern part of India. An improved fuzzy based decision making approach has been proposed for assessing overall IT outsourcing project risks. The degree of risk of identified risk factors have been shown in crisp values rather than the fuzzy numbers. A logical risk categorization framework has been proposed to categorize the risk factors into different risk levels. A unique action requirement plan has been suggested for effectively controlling the risks towards IT outsourcing project success. In the later part, total twenty one occupational health hazards have been identified and assessed their risk extent based on the exposure assessment procedure. Consequently, a constructive control measure plan has been suggested for different health hazards in view of their risk extent level. A novel risk-based decision making framework has been proposed for selecting the appropriate safety measure system in an underground coal mining industry. In addition to this, a case study has been conducted using twenty potential risk factors associated with five risk dimensions for assessing metropolitan construction project risks. Decision-makers’ risk bearing attitude has also been considered in this study. This study also explores the concept of risk matrix for categorizing the risk factors in different risk levels which would provide guidelines towards controlling risks for enhancing the overall project performance. Risk analysis models delignated herein have been case studied in relation to Indian industries. However, the model or hierarchy of various risk dimensions, risk sources; and classification of health hazards can be applicable to appropriate industries all over the globe. Some alteration may incur depending on the geographic situation of coal mining industry in analyzing occupational health hazards and associated risks. The framework for analyzing risks and occupational health hazards based on fuzzy based decision making approach can be applied in industrial context of different countries. Apart from the case studies mentioned above, the work also proposes a risk based decision support framework for selection of safety measure system for underground coal mines. In this case, occupational risks and alternative safety measure systems have been identified through literature survey. This part is a purely a theoretical formulation followed by analysis of assumed data which has not been case studied in reality. The novelty of the proposed framework is to analyze various risk dimensions in software engineering projects, IT Outsourcing, construction projects; also occupational health hazards in underground coal mining industry in a fuzzy based decision making framework. Instead of exploring historical data, survey report of the company; an experienced decision making group has been appointed to provide subjective judgement in regards of likelihood of occurrence and impact of various risks; consequence of exposure, period of exposure, and probability of exposure of various health hazards. Subjective decision making data have been transformed into appropriate fuzzy number sets to quantify overall risks extent. Thus, the proposed framework provides a platform to quantify extent of risk in industrial context

Hesitant fuzzy network topsis methods with the incorporation of z-numbers and social network analysis for small and large scale group decision making

It is critical to arrive at an acceptable level of consensus in a group for an agreeable and implementable decision. The evaluation of alternatives in conventional TOPSIS decision making does not take into account the inherent vagueness of information as it requires a systematic decision-making process in which relies on numerous conditions and unpredictable situations. It is common in deciding the best choice with the highest satisfaction degree that are evaluated based on attributes. However, two or more alternatives with the same or nearest satisfaction degree would lead to hesitancy in the decision. Thus, fuzzy network TOPSIS is incorporated with the hesitant fuzzy set is developed namely hesitant fuzzy network TOPSIS. Nevertheless, the reliability of decisions by experts and the complexity in large scale are less highlighted in hesitant fuzzy network TOPSIS. Therefore, this study aims in formulating hesitant fuzzy network TOPSIS with the incorporation of Z-numbers. The formulation also implies social network analysis for large-scale group decision making. In this study, four new fuzzy network TOPSIS are developed in small scale and large-scale group decision making. The proposed methods enhance the transparency and reliability by incorporating fuzzy network and Z numbers respectively. In addition, social network analysis is suitable for dealing with the complexity involved in large scale group decision making. For the practicality and the effectiveness of the proposed methods in a realistic scenario, a case study of stock selection and the analysis of results comparing proposed methods to the established methods has been considered. The ranking of the proposed methods are validated comparatively using performance indicators namely Spearman rho correlation, Root Means Squared Error, and Absolute Distance by assuming ranking based on Return on Investment as a benchmarking. Based on the case study, the proposed methods outperform the established methods in terms of average rank position. In conclusion, the proposed methods contribute significantly toward the implementation of small scale and large scale group decision making using hesitant fuzzy set, fuzzy network and Z numbers

Development of a risk assessment methodology and safety management model for the building construction industry: case studies from Thailand

The building construction industry is growing all over the world and considered as a labour-intensive industry. It is associated with significant safety risks and losses resulting from major accidents. These critical safety risks are largely due to lack of awareness, which causes poor performance. Furthermore, in construction management projects, risk assessment tools are still widely employed by adopting two traditional parameters, severity of consequence (SC) and probability of occurrence (PO), to analyse the safety risk level. It is not clear, however, whether this analysis can evaluate the safety risk magnitude appropriately, which necessitates the introduction of another parameter, probability of consequence (PC), to improve the risk evaluation. The fuzzy reasoning technique (FRT) is useful for quantifying and dealing effectively with the lack of certainty related to the domain of building construction projects. PC was incorporated into the model which allows safety risks to be assessed correctly. Furthermore, the modified fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (MFAHP) and fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) methods are integrated into a new construction safety risks model for the evaluation of important safety risks. Four specific case studies are employed to illustrate the applicability and performance of the proposed model

Multi-criteria decision methods to support the maintenance management of complex systems

[ES] Esta tesis doctoral propone el uso de métodos de toma de decisiones multi-criterio (MCDM, por sus iniciales en inglés) como herramienta estratégica para apoyar la gestión del mantenimiento de sistemas complejos. El desarrollo de esta tesis doctoral se enmarca dentro de un acuerdo de cotutela entre la Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) y la Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), dentro de sus respectivos programas de doctorado en 'Ingeniería de Innovación Tecnológica' y 'Matemáticas'. Estos programas están estrechamente vinculados a través del tópico MCDM, ya que proporciona herramientas cruciales para gestionar el mantenimiento de sistemas complejos reales utilizando análisis matemáticos serios. El propósito de esta sinergia es tener en cuenta de forma sólida la incertidumbre al atribuir evaluaciones subjetivas, recopilar y sintetizar juicios atribuidos por varios responsables de la toma de decisiones, y tratar con conjuntos grandes de esos elementos. El tema principal del presente trabajo de doctorado es el gestionamiento de las actividades de mantenimiento para aumentar los niveles de innovación tecnológica y el rendimiento de los sistemas complejos. Cualquier sistema puede ser considerado objeto de estudio, incluidos los sistemas de producción y los de prestación de servicios, entre otros, mediante la evaluación de sus contextos reales. Esta tesis doctoral propone afrontar la gestión del mantenimiento a través del desarrollo de tres líneas principales de investigación estrechamente vinculadas. ¿ La primera es el núcleo, e ilustra la mayoría de los aspectos metodológicos de la tesis. Se refiere al uso de métodos MCDM para apoyar decisiones estratégicas de mantenimiento, y para hacer frente a la incertidumbre que afecta a los datos/evaluaciones, incluso cuando están involucrados varios responsables (expertos en mantenimiento) en la toma de decisiones. ¿ La segunda línea desarrolla análisis de fiabilidad para sistemas complejos reales (también en términos de fiabilidad humana) sobre cuya base se debe implementar cualquier actividad de mantenimiento. Estos análisis consideran la configuración de fiabilidad de los componentes del sistema en estudio y las características específicas del entorno operativo. ¿ La tercera línea de investigación aborda aspectos metodológicos importantes de la gestión de mantenimiento y enfatiza la necesidad de monitorizar el funcionamiento de las actividades de mantenimiento y de evaluar su efectividad utilizando indicadores adecuados. Se ha elaborado una amplia gama de casos de estudio del mundo real para evaluar la eficacia de los métodos MCDM en el mantenimiento y así probar la utilidad del enfoque propuesto.[CA] Aquesta tesi doctoral proposa l'ús de mètodes de presa de decisions multi-criteri (MCDM, per les seves inicials en anglès) com a eina estratègica per donar suport a la gestió del manteniment de sistemes complexos. El desenvolupament d'aquesta tesi doctoral s'emmarca dins d'un acord de cotutela entre la Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) i la Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), dins dels seus respectius programes de doctorat en 'Enginyeria d'Innovació Tecnològica' i ' Matemàtiques '. Aquests programes estan estretament vinculats a través del tòpic MCDM, ja que proporciona eines crucials per gestionar el manteniment de sistemes complexos reals utilitzant anàlisis matemàtics profunds. El propòsit d'aquesta sinergia és tenir en compte de forma sòlida la incertesa en atribuir avaluacions subjectius, recopilar i sintetitzar judicis atribuïts per diversos responsables de la presa de decisions, i tractar amb conjunts grans d'aquests elements en els problemes plantejats. El tema principal del present treball de doctorat es la gestió de les activitats de manteniment per augmentar els nivells d'innovació tecnològica i el rendiment dels sistemes complexos. Qualsevol sistema pot ser considerat objecte d'estudi, inclosos els sistemes de producció i els de prestació de serveis, entre d'altres, mitjançant l'avaluació dels seus contextos reals. Aquesta tesi doctoral proposa afrontar la gestió del manteniment mitjançant el desenvolupament de tres línies principals d'investigació estretament vinculades. ¿ La primera és el nucli, i il·lustra la majoria dels aspectes metodològics de la tesi. Es refereix a l'ús de mètodes MCDM per donar suport a decisions estratègiques de manteniment, i per fer front a la incertesa que afecta les dades/avaluacions, fins i tot quan estan involucrats diversos responsables (experts en manteniment) en la presa de decisions. ¿ La segona línia desenvolupa anàlisis de fiabilitat per a sistemes complexos reals (també en termes de fiabilitat humana) sobre la qual base s'ha d'implementar qualsevol activitat de manteniment. Aquestes anàlisis consideren la configuració de fiabilitat dels components del sistema en estudi i les característiques específiques de l'entorn operatiu. ¿ La tercera línia d'investigació aborda aspectes metodològics importants de la gestió de manteniment i emfatitza la necessitat de monitoritzar el funcionament de les activitats de manteniment i d'avaluar la seva efectivitat utilitzant indicadors adequats. S'ha elaborat una àmplia gamma de casos d'estudi del món real per avaluar l'eficàcia dels mètodes MCDM en el manteniment i així provar la utilitat de l'enfocament proposat.[EN] This doctoral thesis proposes using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods as a strategic tool to support maintenance management of complex systems. The development of this doctoral thesis is framed within a cotutelle (co-tutoring) agreement between the Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), within their respective programmes of doctorates in 'Technological Innovation Engineering' and 'Mathematics'. Regarding this thesis, these programmes are closely linked through the topic of MCDM, providing crucial tools to manage maintenance of real complex systems by applying in-depth mathematical analyses. The purpose of this connection is to robustly take into account uncertainty in attributing subjective evaluations, collecting and synthetizing judgments attributed by various decision makers, and dealing with large sets of elements characterising the faced issue. The main topic of the present doctoral work is the management of maintenance activities to increase the levels of technological innovation and performance of the analysed complex systems. All kinds of systems can be considered as objects of study, including production systems and service delivery systems, among others, by evaluating their real contexts. Thus, this doctoral thesis proposes facing maintenance management through the development of three tightly linked main research lines. ¿ The first is the core and illustrates most of the methodological aspects of the thesis. It refers to the use of MCDM methods for supporting strategic maintenance decisions, and dealing with uncertainty affecting data/evaluations even when several decision makers are involved (experts in maintenance). ¿ The second line develops reliability analyses for real complex systems (also in terms of human reliability analysis) on the basis of which any maintenance activity must be implemented. These analyses are approached by considering the reliability configuration of both the components belonging to the system under study and the specific features of the operational environment. ¿ The third research line focuses on important methodological aspects to support maintenance management, and emphasises the need to monitor the performance of maintenance activities and evaluate their effectiveness using suitable indicators. A wide range of real real-world case studies has been faced to evaluate the effectiveness of MCDM methods in maintenance and then prove the usefulness of the proposed approach.Carpitella, S. (2019). Multi-criteria decision methods to support the maintenance management of complex systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/11911

Knowledge Capturing in Design Briefing Process for Requirement Elicitation and Validation

Knowledge capturing and reusing are major processes of knowledge management that deal with the elicitation of valuable knowledge via some techniques and methods for use in actual and further studies, projects, services, or products. The construction industry, as well, adopts and uses some of these concepts to improve various construction processes and stages. From pre-design to building delivery knowledge management principles and briefing frameworks have been implemented across project stakeholders: client, design teams, construction teams, consultants, and facility management teams. At pre-design and design stages, understanding the client’s needs and users’ knowledge are crucial for identifying and articulating the expected requirements and objectives. Due to underperforming results and missed goals and objectives, many projects finish with highly dissatisfied clients and loss of contracts for some organizations. Knowledge capturing has beneficial effects via its principles and methods on requirement elicitation and validation at the briefing stage between user, client and designer. This paper presents the importance and usage of knowledge capturing and reusing in briefing process at pre-design and design stages especially the involvement of client and user, and explores the techniques and technologies that are usable in briefing process for requirement elicitation

An Investigation on Benefit-Cost Analysis of Greenhouse Structures in Antalya

Significant population increase across the world, loss of cultivable land and increasing demand for food put pressure on agriculture. To meet the demand, greenhouses are built, which are, light structures with transparent cladding material in order to provide controlled microclimatic environment proper for plant production. Conceptually, greenhouses are similar with manufacturing buildings where a controlled environment for manufacturing and production have been provided and proper spaces for standardized production processes have been enabled. Parallel with the trends in the world, particularly in southern regions, greenhouse structures have been increasingly constructed and operated in Turkey. A significant number of greenhouses are located at Antalya. The satellite images demonstrated that for over last three decades, there has been a continuous invasion of greenhouses on all cultivable land. There are various researches and attempts for the improvement of greenhouse design and for increasing food production by decreasing required energy consumption. However, the majority of greenhouses in Turkey are very rudimentary structures where capital required for investment is low, but maintenance requirements are high when compared with new generation greenhouse structures. In this research paper, life-long capital requirements for construction and operation of greenhouse buildings in Antalya has been investigated by using benefit-cost analysis study

Comprehensive review on risk assessment methodologies for HAZMAT transportation between 1995-2015

Issue related to safety, health and environmental has become major priority to be concerned of in the transportation of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) worldwide. Due to the high risk that entailed in the operation of HAZMAT transportation, many accidents in this industry have been reported which include chemicals spillage, fire and explosion. In order to quantify the degree of hazards and risks of these accidents, various assessment methods have been introduced either by the academia, the industry as well as the authority. The methods present various approaches for the assessment, ranging from a simple to highly complicated ones depending on the purpose of the assessment and the available resources and constraints. To date there is yet any study conducted to review those available methods. This paper intends to present a comprehensive review of the existing methods for hazards and risks assessment of HAZMAT transportation between years 1995-2015 which considers road, marine, railway, air and pipeline system. Based on careful screening of the abundance of methods available, 151 of them were selected – that is those specifically meant for hazards and risks assessment of HAZMAT transportation only. The methods are reviewed in terms of the types of assessment; either qualitative, quantitative or hybrid techniques, as well as their specific application in different mode of transportation. Also, statistical analysis was performed to determine the trend of past publications regarding on the type of journal, year of publication and also financial support received in the context of hazard and risk assessment of HAZMAT transportation