Re-engineering construction communication in distance management framework

In an exploding and fluctuating construction market, managers are facing a challenge, which is how to manage business on a wider scale and to utilize modern developments in information technology to promote productivity. The extraordinary development of telecommunications and computer technology makes it possible for people to plan, lead, control, organize and manage projects from a distance without the need to be on site on a daily basis. A modern management known as distance management (DM) or remote management is emerging. Physical distance no longer determines the boundary of management since managers can now operate projects through virtual teams that organize manpower, material and production without face-to-face communication. What organization prototype could overcome psychological and physical barriers to reengineer a successful project through information technology? What criteria distinguishes the adapted way of communication of individual activities in a teamwork and assist the integration of an efficient and effective communication between face-to-face and a physical distance? The entire methodology has been explained through a case application on refuse incineration plant projects in Taiwan.

Plataforma remota de gestão de um parque de GateBoxes

A monitorização de redes é um aspeto de elevada importância, principalmente em redes de média ou grande dimensão. A necessidade de utilização de uma ferramenta para realização dessa gestão facilita o trabalho e proporciona de uma forma mais rápida e eficaz a identificação de problemas na rede e nos seus sistemas. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de uma solução para a monitorização de GateBoxes, um dos produtos desenvolvidos e comercializados pela empresa NextToYou. A necessidade de monitorização das GateBoxes, por parte da NextToYou, é essencial para que possa detetar falhas no seu funcionamento ou realizar notificações aquando da deteção de problemas para uma rápida resolução. Neste contexto a empresa decidiu implementar uma ferramenta para a referida monitorização e propôs, no âmbito da tese, o desenvolvimento de uma aplicação que satisfizesse esses propósitos. Disponibilizou então, para o desenvolvimento uma plataforma, a WebForge, e definiu alguns requisitos funcionais dessa ferramenta, tais como, a monitorização remota de informação, gestão de alarmes, geração de avisos e notificações. Para a elaboração deste trabalho foram realizados estudos teóricos sobre o tema da gestão e monitorização remotas, realizando-se posteriormente o desenvolvimento de uma aplicação para a monitorização de GateBoxes. Após a implementação efetuou-se a validação do trabalho realizado através da execução de testes e demonstrações, de forma a poder validar e verificar o desempenho do sistema.

Eficiência energética na iluminação pública

O presente trabalho aborda a temática da eficiência energética em sistemas de iluminação pública. A principal motivação prende-se com o peso significativo que a parcela energética destes sistemas ocupa na economia mundial. O uso eficiente de energia é uma crescente preocupação devido à diminuição de recursos, às consequências climáticas cada vez mais marcadas e ao elevado custo da energia, representando ainda um papel fundamental ao nível económico e de competitividade. A Iluminação Pública (IP) representa um peso importante nas despesas correntes dos municípios. É assim importante encontrar uma solução que permita manter níveis de segurança e conforto necessários às populações e que proporcione uma redução substancial do peso da IP nas despesas municipais. Neste sentido, este trabalho propõe-se estudar esta problemática, apresentando uma sistematização de soluções eficientes, quer a nível de lâmpadas e luminárias como também ao nível de tecnologias que auxiliem e complementem a eficiência de uma instalação de iluminação pública. A dissertação está dividida em duas partes. A primeira parte sistematiza os consumos verificados em Portugal, a vários níveis (consumo de energia elétrica, evolução do consumo energético de iluminação pública, etc.) abordando as políticas de eficiência energética, e são descritos alguns procedimentos que possibilitam a poupança energética na iluminação pública, aliada a instalações eficientes. A segunda parte da dissertação contempla o estudo de um caso prático cujo objetivo é propor soluções técnicas que permitam melhorar a eficiência energética na iluminação pública de Esposende, face à situação atual do concelho. Serão propostas várias soluções, tais como luminárias LED, balastros electrónicos reguláveis, lâmpadas de menor consumo e até mesmo o uso da telegestão.

¿Turnos o demanda? En el proyecto de redes de distribución de riego a presión

Actualmente vuelve a ser viable la organización mediante turnos de redes de distribución de riego a presión gracias al desarrollo de sistemas de automáticos de telegestión. La organización por turnos supone una disminución de los caudales en la red y el consiguiente ahorro económico. En la comunicación se presentan diversas expresiones sencillas para calcular la disminución relativa de caudales conseguida mediante la organización por turnos respecto a la demanda. Dicha disminución depende del número de hidrantes abastecidos por un tramo y de la probabilidad de que los hidrantes estén abiertos. Se ha contrastado los resultados de las expresiones propuestas con datos de proyecto y se consiguen buenos ajustes. El ahorro económico obtenido con la organización por turnos respecto a la demanda se puede estimar entre un 26 y un 49 % el ahorro medio de caudales.

Etäjohtaminen ja operatiivisten riskien hallinta finanssialalla

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on tarkastella etäjohtamista finanssitoimialan johtamismallina ja sen vaikutuksia toimialan operatiivisten riskien hallintaan. Tutkimuksessa toteutetaan kvalitatiivinen tutkimus finanssialalla toimivalle Case yritys X:lle ja tutkimusmenetelmänä käytetään teemahaastatteluja. Tutkimuksella pyritään selvittämään miten etäjohtaminen vaikuttaa yrityksen operatiivisten riskien hallintaan ja mitä muutoksia etäjohtamismalliin tulisi tehdä operatiivisten riskien hallinnan tehostamiseksi. Teoriaosuudessa käydään läpi etäjohtamisen ja finanssialan riskienhallintaa aikaisempien tutkimusten ja kirjallisuuden pohjalta. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään yrityksen yleisimmät operatiiviset riskit, niiden hallintakeinot ja pyritään teoriaan nojaten kehittämään etäjohtamismalliin menetelmiä tehokkaampaan operatiivisten riskien hallintaan. Tuloksissa vedetään yhteen yrityksen tämänhetkinen tilanne operatiivisessa riskienhallinnassa ja teemahaastattelujen sekä teorian pohjalta pyritään löytämään kehitysehdotuksia etäjohtamismalliin, mitä voitaisiin tehdä toisin. Teoria painottaa mm. HR:n sisällyttämistä osaksi operatiivista riskienhallintaa, vastuuhenkilöiden ja mittareiden asettamista ja kehittämistä sekä leader-johtajuutta ja Basel-säännöksiin perustuvaa operatiivisten riskienhallinnan viitekehystä. Empiirisessä osiossa haastatteluista kerätyt vastaukset ohjaavat teorian kanssa samansuuntaisiin kehitysehdotuksiin. Avainasemassa yrityksen operatiivisessa riskienhallinnassa ovat reagoiminen, osaava etäjohtaminen sekä johdonmukainen perehdytyssuunnitelma. Yritys X on tehnyt huomattavia toimenpiteitä etäjohtamismalliin ja jatkuva kehittäminen kohti parempaa operatiivista riskienhallintaa on liiketoimintastrategian keskiössä.

Shades of CORDS in the Kush : the false hope of "unity of effort" in American counterinsurgency /

"Counterinsurgency (COIN) requires an integrated military, political, and economic program best developed by teams that field both civilians and soldiers. These units should operate with some independence but under a coherent command. In Vietnam, after several false starts, the United States developed an effective unified organization, Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS), to guide the counterinsurgency. CORDS had three components absent from our efforts in Afghanistan today: sufficient personnel (particularly civilian), numerous teams, and a single chain of command that united the separate COIN programs of the disparate American departments at the district, provincial, regional, and national levels. This paper focuses on the third issue and describes the benefits that unity of command at every level would bring to the American war in Afghanistan. The work begins with a brief introduction to counterinsurgency theory, using a population-centric model, and examines how this warfare challenges the United States. It traces the evolution of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) and the country team, describing problems at both levels. Similar efforts in Vietnam are compared, where persistent executive attention finally integrated the government's counterinsurgency campaign under the unified command of the CORDS program. The next section attributes the American tendency towards a segregated response to cultural differences between the primary departments, executive neglect, and societal concepts of war. The paper argues that, in its approach to COIN, the United States has forsaken the military concept of unity of command in favor of 'unity of effort' expressed in multiagency literature. The final sections describe how unified authority would improve our efforts in Afghanistan and propose a model for the future."--P. iii.

"Action at a distance":accounting inscriptions and the reporting of episodes of clinical care

This paper reports on an aspect of the implementation of a sophisticated system of Casemix Budgeting within a large public hospital in New Zealand. The paper examines the role of accounting inscription in supporting a system of “remote” management control effected through the Finance function at the hospital. The paper provides detailed description and analysis of part of the casemix technology in use at the research site. The implementation of clinical budgeting through the Transition casemix system will be examined by describing an aspect of the casemix system in detail. The design and use of management reporting is described. Reporting to different levels of management and for differing parts of the organisation are discussed with particular emphasis on the adoption of traditional analysis of costs using standard costing and variance analysis techniques.

Manageable Workflows for Processing Parallel Sequencing Data

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): D.2.11, D.1.3, D.3.1, J.3, C.2.4.

Development of a life cycle management system for remote products.

The research described in this thesis has been developed as a part of the Reliability and Field Data Management for Multi-Component Products (REFIDAM) Project. This project was funded under the Applied Research Grants Scheme administered by Enterprise Ireland. The project was a partnership between Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and an industrial company, Thermo King Europe. The project aimed to develop a system to manage the information required for maintenance costing, cost of ownership, reliability assessment and improvement of multi-component products, by establishing information flows between the customer network and across the Thermo King organisation.

Remote Sensing (LIDAR) for Management of Highway Assets for Safety, 2003

The main objective of this study was to utilize light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology to obtain highway safety-related information. The safety needs of older drivers in terms of prolonged reaction times were taken into consideration. The tasks undertaken in this study were (1) identification of crashes that older drivers are more likely to be involved in, (2) identification of highway geometric features that are important in such crashes, (3) utilization of LIDAR data for obtaining information on the identified highway geometric features, and (4) assessment of the feasibility of using LIDAR data for such applications. A review of previous research indicated that older drivers have difficulty negotiating intersections, and it was recognized that intersection sight triangles were critical to safe intersection negotiation. LIDAR data were utilized to obtain information on potential sight distance obstructions at six selected intersections located on the Iowa Highway 1 corridor by conducting in-office line-of-sight analysis. Crash frequency, older driver involvement, and data availability were considerations in the selection of the six intersections. Results of the in-office analysis were then validated by visiting the intersections in the field. Sixty-six potential sight distance obstructions were identified by the line-of-sight analysis, out of which 62 (89.8%) were confirmed while four (5.8%) were not confirmed by the video. At least three (4.4%) potential sight distance obstructions were discovered in the video that were not detected by the line-of-sight analysis. The intersection with the highest crash frequency involving older drivers was correctly found to have obstructions located within the intersection sight triangles. Based on research results, it is concluded that LIDAR data can be utilized for identifying potential sight distance obstructions at intersections. The safety of older drivers can be enhanced by locating and rectifying intersections with obstructions in sight triangles.

Multispectral remote sensing for site-specific nitrogen fertilizer management

The objective of this work was to evaluate the use of multispectral remote sensing for site-specific nitrogen fertilizer management. Satellite imagery from the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (Aster) was acquired in a 23 ha corn-planted area in Iran. For the collection of field samples, a total of 53 pixels were selected by systematic randomized sampling. The total nitrogen content in corn leaf tissues in these pixels was evaluated. To predict corn canopy nitrogen content, different vegetation indices, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (Savi), optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index (Osavi), modified chlorophyll absorption ratio index 2 (MCARI2), and modified triangle vegetation index 2 (MTVI2), were investigated. The supervised classification technique using the spectral angle mapper classifier (SAM) was performed to generate a nitrogen fertilization map. The MTVI2 presented the highest correlation (R²=0.87) and is a good predictor of corn canopy nitrogen content in the V13 stage, at 60 days after cultivating. Aster imagery can be used to predict nitrogen status in corn canopy. Classification results indicate three levels of required nitrogen per pixel: low (0-2.5 kg), medium (2.5-3 kg), and high (3-3.3 kg).