Minimum sanitary requirements for the design and operation of swimming pools and bathing beaches : prescribed under the Swimming Pool and Bathing Beach Act, Chapter 111 1/2, Paragraphs 1201-1227 inclusive.

Mode of access: Internet.

Minimum sanitary requirements for the design and operation of swimming pools and bathing beaches, 1984.

Cover title.

Rules and regulations to govern the administration and operation of special education.

[Contains] rules and regulations ... prescribed by the Division of Special Education."

Handbook for the care and operation of naval machinery,

Mode of access: Internet.

Aspects of the design and operation of production control systems in manufacturing industry

Computerised production control developments have concentrated on Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II) systems. The literature suggests however, that despite the massive investment in hardware, software and management education, successful implementation of such systems in manufacturing industries has proved difficult. This thesis reviews the development of production planning and control systems, in particular, investigates the causes of failures in implementing MRP/MRP II systems in industrial environments and argues that the centralised and top-down planning structure, as well as the routine operational methodology of such systems, is inherently prone to failure. The thesis reviews the control benefits of cellular manufacturing systems but concludes that in more dynamic manufacturing environments, techniques such as Kanban are inappropriate. The basic shortcomings of MRP II systems are highlighted and a new enhanced operational methodology based on distributed planning and control principles is introduced. Distributed Manufacturing Resources Planning (DMRP), was developed as a capacity sensitive production planning and control solution for cellular manufacturing environments. The system utilises cell based, independently operated MRP II systems, integrated into a plant-wide control system through a Local Area Network. The potential benefits of adopting the system in industrial environments is discussed and the results of computer simulation experiments to compare the performance of the DMRP system against the conventional MRP II systems presented. DMRP methodology is shown to offer significant potential advantages which include ease of implementation, cost effectiveness, capacity sensitivity, shorter manufacturing lead times, lower working in progress levels and improved customer service.

The development and operation of the effective interpersonal relationship skills relevant to career development problems from staff assessment at an industrial research laboratory

This study concerns the application of a model of effective interpersonal relationships to problems arising from staff assessment at I.C.I. Ltd. Corporate Laboratory between 1972 and 1974. In collaboration with academic and industrial supervision, the study commenced with a survey of management and supervisor opinions about the effectiveness of current staff (work) relationships, with particular reference to the problem of recognising and developing creative potential. This survey emphasised a need to improve the relationships between staff in the staff assessment context. A survey of research into creativity emphasised the importance of the interpersonal environment for obtaining creative behaviour in an organisation context. A further survey of theories of how inter­personal behaviour related to personal creativity (therapeutic psychology) provided a model of effective interpersonal behaviour (Carkhuff, 1969) that could be applied to the organisation context of staff assessment. The objective of the project was redefined as a need to improve the conditions of interpersonal behaviour in relation to certain (career development) problems arising from staff assessment practices. In order to demonstrate the application of the model of effective interpersonal behaviour, the research student recorded interviews between himself and members of staff designed to develop and operate the dimensions of the model. Different samples of staff were used to develop the 'facilitative' and the 'action oriented' dimensions of bahaviour, and then for the operation of a helping programme (based on vocational guidance tests). These interactions have been analysed, according to the scales of measurement in the model ana the results are presented in case study form in this thesis. At each stage of the project, results and conclusions were presented to the sponsoring organisation (e.g. industrial supervisor) in order to assess their (subjective) opinion of relevance to the organ­ isation. Finally, recommendations on further actions towards general improvement of the work relationships in the laboratory were presented in a brief report to the sponsor.

Using architecture models to support the generation and operation of component-based adaptive systems

Modelling architectural information is particularly important because of the acknowledged crucial role of software architecture in raising the level of abstraction during development. In the MDE area, the level of abstraction of models has frequently been related to low-level design concepts. However, model-driven techniques can be further exploited to model software artefacts that take into account the architecture of the system and its changes according to variations of the environment. In this paper, we propose model-driven techniques and dynamic variability as concepts useful for modelling the dynamic fluctuation of the environment and its impact on the architecture. Using the mappings from the models to implementation, generative techniques allow the (semi) automatic generation of artefacts making the process more efficient and promoting software reuse. The automatic generation of configurations and reconfigurations from models provides the basis for safer execution. The architectural perspective offered by the models shift focus away from implementation details to the whole view of the system and its runtime change promoting high-level analysis. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Delphi study for the design and validation of a questionnaire about digital competences in higher education

The study of digital competence remains an issue of interest for both the scientific community and the supranational political agenda. This study uses the Delphi method to validate the design of a questionnaire to determine the perceived importance of digital competence in higher education. The questionnaire was constructed from different framework documents in digital competence standards (NETS, ACLR, UNESCO). The triangulation of non-parametric techniques made it possible to consolidate the results obtained through the Delphi panel, the suitability of which was highlighted through the expert competence index (K). The resulting questionnaire emerges as a good tool for undertaking future national and international studies on digital competence in higher education.

Report on the Development and Validation of the Best Practice Decision Matrix

The Co-operative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRC-CI) is funding a project known as Value Alignment Process for Project Delivery. The project consists of a study of best practice project delivery and the development of a suite of products, resources and services to guide project teams towards the best procurement approach for a specific project or group of projects. These resources will be focused on promoting the principles that underlie best practice project delivery rather than simply identifying an off-the-shelf procurement system. This project builds on earlier work by Sidwell, Kennedy and Chan (2002), on re-engineering the construction delivery process, which developed a procurement framework in the form of a Decision Matrix

Report a review of the concepts and definitions of the various forms of relational contracting

Partnering has been defined in many ways. It can be considered as an individual project mechanism or can be considered as a long term strategy. Alliancing is normally assumed to be a long term business strategy linking together client, contractor and supply chain. Relational contracting goes further than this and brings in the whole philosophy of the value chain and the linking of the interdependent parts within the construction project as a key business objective. This document aims to review existing definitions of these three concepts and present and overview of the current state of-the-art in terms of their use and implementation. The document should be useful for all of those project team members looking to sharpen their understanding of the various concepts and will also provide a platform for debating the current state of the definitions and implementations being used in Main Roads and Public Works Departments.

Design and Operation of A 5.5 MWe Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Demonstration Plant

The design and operation of a 5.5 MWe biomass integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) demonstration plant, which is located in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province of China, are introduced. It is the largest complete biomass gasification power plant that uses rice husk and other agricultural wastes as fuel in Asia. It mainly consists of a 20 MWt atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed gasifier, a gas-purifying system, 10 sets of 450 kW(e) gas engines, a waste heat boiler, a 1.5 MWe steam turbine, a wastewater treatment system, etc. The demonstration plant has been operating since the end of 2005, and its overall efficiency reaches 26-28%. Its capital cost is less than 1200 USD/kW, and its running cost is about 0.079 USD/kWh based on the biomass price of 35.7 USD/ton. There is a 20% increment on capital cost and 35% decrease on the fuel consumption compared to that of a 1 MW system without a combined cycle. Because only part of the project has been performed, many of the tests still remain and, accordingly, must be reported at a later opportunity.

Mathematical modelling and optimisation of the formulation and manufacture of aggregate food products

In this PhD study, mathematical modelling and optimisation of granola production has been carried out. Granola is an aggregated food product used in breakfast cereals and cereal bars. It is a baked crispy food product typically incorporating oats, other cereals and nuts bound together with a binder, such as honey, water and oil, to form a structured unit aggregate. In this work, the design and operation of two parallel processes to produce aggregate granola products were incorporated: i) a high shear mixing granulation stage (in a designated granulator) followed by drying/toasting in an oven. ii) a continuous fluidised bed followed by drying/toasting in an oven. In addition, the particle breakage of granola during pneumatic conveying produced by both a high shear granulator (HSG) and fluidised bed granulator (FBG) process were examined. Products were pneumatically conveyed in a purpose built conveying rig designed to mimic product conveying and packaging. Three different conveying rig configurations were employed; a straight pipe, a rig consisting two 45° bends and one with 90° bend. It was observed that the least amount of breakage occurred in the straight pipe while the most breakage occurred at 90° bend pipe. Moreover, lower levels of breakage were observed in two 45° bend pipe than the 90° bend vi pipe configuration. In general, increasing the impact angle increases the degree of breakage. Additionally for the granules produced in the HSG, those produced at 300 rpm have the lowest breakage rates while the granules produced at 150 rpm have the highest breakage rates. This effect clearly the importance of shear history (during granule production) on breakage rates during subsequent processing. In terms of the FBG there was no single operating parameter that was deemed to have a significant effect on breakage during subsequent conveying. A population balance model was developed to analyse the particle breakage occurring during pneumatic conveying. The population balance equations that govern this breakage process are solved using discretization. The Markov chain method was used for the solution of PBEs for this process. This study found that increasing the air velocity (by increasing the air pressure to the rig), results in increased breakage among granola aggregates. Furthermore, the analysis carried out in this work provides that a greater degree of breakage of granola aggregates occur in line with an increase in bend angle.

Risk allocation in a public–private partnership: a case study of construction and operation of kindergartens in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, a transitional nation in Central Asia, the development of public–private partnerships (PPPs) is at its early stage and increasingly of strategic importance. This case study investigates risk allocation in an ongoing project: the construction and operation of 11 kindergartens in the city of Karaganda in the concession form for 14 years. Drawing on a conceptual framework of effective risk allocation, the study identifies principal PPP risks, provides a critical assessment of how and in what way each partner bears a certain risk, highlights the reasons underpinning risk allocation decisions and delineates the lessons learned. The findings show that the government has effectively transferred most risks to the private sector partner, whilst both partners share the demand risk of childcare services and the project default risk. The strong elements of risk allocation include clear assignment of parties’ responsibilities, streamlined financing schemes and incentives to complete the main project phases on time. However, risk allocation has missed an opportunity to create incentives for service quality improvements and take advantage of economies of scale. The most controversial element of risk allocation, as the study finds, is a revenue stream that an operator is supposed to receive from the provision of services unrelated to childcare, as neither partner is able to mitigate this revenue risk. The article concludes that in the kindergartens’ PPP, the government has achieved almost complete transfer of risks to the private sector partner. However, the costs of transfer are extensive government financial outlays that seriously compromise the PPP value for money.