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Bureaucratic power – the power derived from the formal authority of the bureaucratic organization – has become a central organizing mechanism in modern societies. In this study, we develop theoretical arguments to identify institutional sources as well as limitations of bureaucratic power. We argue that the very institutional sources of bureaucratic power also cultivate the countervailing forces that set limit to the exercise of bureaucratic power in formal organizations. These arguments and considerations are illustrated in two case studies of the “inspection and appraisal” processes in the Chinese bureaucracy. Our study raises issues about organizational isomorphism and calls for a closer look at the behavioral patterns in organizational processes.

In China, external supervision on construction safety mainly comes from the government and supervision engineers (SEs). However, the construction safety supervisory mechanism (CSSM) contains some dilemmas affecting the improvement of safety performance, such as the declining impact of SEs, the increasing rent-seeking behaviors of contractor and excessive government interference. This study aims to depict and analyze the CSSM in China from an evolutionary game view. The objectives are to understand the supervision strategy and evolutionary behaviors of different stakeholders, propose suggestions for improving safety performance and help the key safety supervision stakeholders, especially the government, formulate a suitable safety supervision strategy.

This research uses tripartite dynamic evolutionary game theory to study the CSSM in China and solve the stable equilibrium solution using system dynamics.

This study has revealed the game relationship of construction safety supervision mechanisms in China and solved the stable equilibrium solution. The results prove that a supervision engineer (SE) plays a crucial role in the CSSM, and “supervision engineer useless” is an unreasonable assertion. For government supervision agency (GSA), excessive inspection and free-market regulation are neither wise strategies. GSA can reduce the inspection frequency when general contractors (GCs) input high safety investments and SEs implement responsible supervision. But keeping proper government supervision to avoid GC's unlawful behaviors and SE's rent-seeking is indispensable. In addition, excessive governmental supervision will weaken SE's role, so the government should transfer some supervision powers to SE.

This study focuses on the dynamic evolution process between GSA, GC and SE. This method is different from most research that neglected the dynamic characteristic of system and game solution stability. The research methods not only contribute to construction safety supervision policy-making in China but also help to improve supervision efficiency in other countries and other fields.

The purpose of this paper is to determine a nearly optimal inspection sequence for a series system consisting of two components subject to gradual deterioration and whose failures are not self-announcing and can be detected only through inspection.

The problem is tackled in the context of condition-based maintenance (CBM) with a maintenance model in the class of the control-limit policies for which the maintenance decision is made following inspection by comparison of the deterioration level to critical thresholds. A mathematical model is developed to express the total expected cost per time unit as a function of the inspection instants.

For any given series system composed of two components with known critical deterioration threshold levels, and for any given set of costs related to inspection, inactivity due to failure, and preventive and corrective replacements of each component, a nearly optimal inspection sequence of the system is derived such as the total expected cost is reduced.

Due to the complexity of the cost model with the inspection instants (×1, ×2, ×3, …) being the decision variables, it has not been possible to derive the optimal solution. A quasi-optimal sequence of inspection times is derived along with the corresponding total average cost per time unit.

In many practical situations in which CBM is implemented, a tradeoff between inspection costs and inactivity and replacement costs has to be balanced when determining the intervals between successive inspections at which the degradation level of the components should be assessed and compared to predetermined critical threshold levels. Inspecting too often would increase inspection costs but in the same time it would also increase the probability to avoid a failure and end up with a preventive replacement, whereas not inspecting often enough would increase the probability to end up with a failure increasing replacement and inactivity costs.

While the inspection problem has been largely treated for single component systems, inspection policies become much more complex when considering multi-component systems. A two-component series system is considered in this paper.

Maintenance management is expected to plan for all maintenance activities for the life of the equipment. It must be able to forecast and plan the future maintenance requirements of spares, man‐hours and total costs. As equipment ages and enters the wear‐out stage, with increasing failure rates, this forecasting becomes difficult. Maintenance management is faced with the dilemma of either resorting to high inventories, over‐planning and inflated budgets or of suffering stockouts, lengthy delays in repair and budget blowouts. A model for an optimal inspection frequency can help correct this. For an inspection frequency to be optimal, it must exactly match the failure rate of the equipment. Hence, with the use of a cost rate factor, the optimal inspection frequency can also be used as a tool for planning and forecasting maintenance costs. This paper develops an optimal model, ensuring that the inspection frequency is capable of matching the varying failure rates throughout the life of the equipment. It also demonstrates how this optimal inspection frequency can then be used to plan and forecast maintenance costs.

This research aims to study the stencil printing process of the quad flat package (QFP) component with a pin pitch of 0.4 mm. After the optimization of the printing process, the desired inspection specification is determined to reduce the expected total process loss.

Static Taguchi parametric design is applied while considering the noise factors possibly affecting the printing quality in the production environment. The Taguchi quality loss function model is then proposed to evaluate the two types of inspection strategies.

The optimal parameter-level treatment for the solder paste printing process includes a squeegee pressure of 11 kg, a stencil snap-off of 0.14 mm, a cleaning frequency of the stencil once per printing and using an air gun after stencil wiping. The optimal upper and lower specification limits are 119.8 µm and 110.3 µm, respectively.

Noise factors in the production environment are considered to determine the optimal printing process. For specific components, the specification is established as a basis for subsequent processes or reworks.

Concurrent design and manufacturing is widely accepted as essential for obtaining an economically conceivable design solution for industrial production. Nevertheless the development of a viable computer‐aided inspection planning (CAIP) using CAD as input for effective NC‐measuring data preparation has not yet been successful. This paper introduces an approach to direct integration between CAD and CAIP by developing a feature‐based computer aided design/inspection planning (FB‐CAIP) system. The FB‐CAIP system contains a computer‐internal model of a product that contains sufficient information to guide the direct generation of NC code of the inspection activity. The developed small prototype system integrates knowledge‐based inspection planning with feature‐based CAD system for an automatic CNC measuring program generation of prismatic parts.

The purpose of this paper is to apply an on‐line automatic inspection and measurement of surface defect of thin‐film transistor liquid‐crystal display (TFT‐LCD) panels in the polyimide coating process with a modified template matching method and back propagation neural network classification method.

By using the technique of searching, analyzing, and recognizing image processing methods, the target pattern image of TFT‐LCD cell defects can be obtained.

With template match and neural network classification in the database of the system, the program judges the kinds of the target defects characteristics, finds out the central position of cell defect, and analyzes cell defects.

The recognition speed becomes faster and the system becomes more flexible in comparison to the previous system. The proposed method and strategy, using unsophisticated and economical equipment, is also verified. The proposed method provides highly accurate results with a low‐error rate.

In terms of sample training, the principles of artificial neural network were used to train the sample detection rate. In sample analysis, character weight was implemented to filter the noise so as to enhance discrimination and reduce detection.

The paper describes how pre‐inspection image processing was utilized in collaboration with the system to excel the inspection efficiency of present machines as well as for reducing system misjudgment. In addition, the measure for improving cell defect inspection can be applied to production line with multi‐defects to inspect and improve six defects simultaneously, which improves the system stability greatly.

Despite increased resources devoted to food‐poisoning prevention, reported incidence of food poisoning continues to rise. Improvements in prevention strategies might therefore be necessary and there may also be opportunities for reducing the burden of regulatory control. Suggests that, of the two components of prevention, surveillance and control, control activities are returned to the private sector, allowing public sector agencies to concentrate on surveillance, the precursor to effective control. The Offices, Shops and Railways Premises Act, Hoists and Lifts Regulations model is offered as a means of devolving regulatory control.

The purpose of this paper is to present issues and challenges of scheduled maintenance task development within the maintenance review board (MRB) process, and to find potential areas of improvement in the application of the MSG‐3 methodology for aircraft systems.

The issues and challenges as well as potential areas of improvement have been identified through a constructive review that consists of two parts. The first part is a benchmarking between the Maintenance Steering Group (MSG‐3) methodology and other established and documented versions of reliability‐centred maintenance (RCM). This benchmarking focuses on the MSG‐3 methodology and compares it with some RCM standards to identify differences and thereby find ways to facilitate the application of MSG‐3. The second part includes a discussion about methodologies and tools that can support different steps of the MSG‐3 methodology within the framework of the MRB process.

The MSG‐3 methodology is closely related to the RCM methodology, in which the anticipated consequences of failure are considered for risk evaluation. However, MSG‐3 considers neither environmental effects of failures nor operational consequences of hidden failures. Furthermore, in MSG‐3, the operational check (failure‐finding inspection) is given priority before all other tasks, whereas in RCM it is considered as a default action, where there is no other applicable and effective option. While RCM allows cost‐effectiveness analysis for all failures that have no safety consequences, MSG‐3 just allows it for failures with economic consequences. A maintenance program that is established through the MRB process fulfils the requirements of continuous airworthiness, but there is no foundation to claim that it is the optimal or the most effective program from an operator's point‐of‐view. The major challenge when striving to achieve a more effective maintenance program within the MRB process is to acquire supporting methodologies and tools for adequate risk analysis, for optimal interval assignments, and for selection of the most effective maintenance task.

The paper presents a critical review of existing aircraft scheduled maintenance program development methodologies, and demonstrates the differences between MSG‐3 and other RCM methodologies.

Railway transport maintenance plays an important role in delivering safe, reliable and competitive transport services. An appropriate maintenance strategy not only reduces the assets’ lifecycle cost, but also will ensure high standards of safety and comfort for rail passengers and workers. In recent years, the majority of studies have been focused on the application of risk-based tools and techniques to maintenance decision making of railway infrastructure assets (such as tracks, bridges, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to present a risk-based modeling approach for the inspection and maintenance optimization of railway rolling stock components.

All the “potential failure modes and root causes” related to rolling stock systems are identified from an extensive literature review followed by an expert’s panel assessment. The failure causes are categorized into six groups of electrical faults, structural damages, functional failures, degradation, human errors and natural (external) hazards. Stochastic models are then proposed to estimate the likelihood (probability) of occurrence of a failure in the rolling stock system. The consequences of failures are also modeled by an “inflated cost function” that involves safety-related costs, corrective maintenance and renewal (M&R) costs, the penalty charges due to train delays or service interruptions as well as the costs associated with loss of reputation (or loss of fares) in the case of trip cancellation. Lastly, a time-varying risk-cost function is formulated to determine the optimal frequency of preventive inspection and maintenance actions for rolling stock components.

For the purpose of clearly illustrating the proposed risk-based inspection and maintenance modeling methodology, a case study of the Class 380 train’s pantograph system from a Scottish train operating company is provided. The results indicate that the proposed model has a substantial potential to reduce the M&R costs while ensuring a higher level of safety and service quality compared to the currently used inspection methodologies.

The railway rolling stocks should be regularly inspected and maintained so as to ensure network availability and reliability, passenger safety and comfort, and operations efficiency. Despite the best efforts of the maintenance staff, it is reported that a considerable amount of maintenance resources (e.g. budget, time, manpower) is wasted due to insufficiency or inefficiency of current periodic M&R interventions. The model presented in this paper helps the maintenance engineers to assess the current maintenance practices and propose or initiate improvement actions when needed.

There are few studies investigating the application of risk-based tools and techniques to inspection and maintenance decision making of railway rolling stock components. This paper presents a modeling approach aimed at planning the preventive repair and maintenance interventions for rolling stock components based on risk measures. The author’s model is also capable of incorporating real measurement information gathered at each inspection epoch to update future inspection plans.