Execution Quality Research Articles

Assessing the Quality Control Implementation in Iraqi Construction Projects and the Use of BIM to Control the Quality of Construction

The construction business regards as one of the most important industries in Iraq, contributing significantly to the Iraqi economy. The purpose of this research to assessing the quality of execution in engineering projects (in the public and private sectors) that based on the level of quality of execution control assessment. Construction project management is responsible for quality control in Iraqi construction projects, as well as how far the use of modern Technologies such as building information modeling (BIM) to regulate the quality of implementation. This study was carried out accreditation, and the descriptive-analytical technique was applied by distributing questionnaires via a field survey. In addition, the SPSS program was used in order to process the collected data 60 questionnaires were distributed to contractors and engineering offices. 50 useful questionnaires were received from respondents with an 83% response rate. The study found that the construction projects in Iraq still suffer from weaknesses in the quality control of construction projects as well as poor Construction Project Management Responsibilities of quality control and that BIM is still not utilized to implement quality in Iraqi construction projects.

Introduction of a monitoring system for Bingham fluids in additive manufacturing with concrete

Additive manufacturing of concrete structures is a novel and emerging technology. Without a doubt, a great advantage is the free contouring which enables completely new designs in civil engineering. In future, lower construction costs are expected due to an increased construction speed and a reduction of required material and workers. Nevertheless, architects and civil engineers rely on a certain quality of execution to fulfil construction standards and codes. Although several techniques and approaches demonstrate the advantages, quality control during the printing process is considered extremely rarely. At the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), a new test rig for additive manufacturing using concrete extrusion is established. This test rig allows to manufacture structures with a maximum dimension of 1 m x 1 m x 2 m. The main purpose is the design of new cement and mortar mixtures and the measurement of their properties during the printing process. Although mortar properties vary only locally, the entire integrity of the structure may be compromised. Therefore, a real-time process monitoring is required which records and documents the entire printing process. At the end, additional destructive tests are possible to determine the mechanical properties of the printed elements. In a first approach, the water-cement ratio, the viscosity, the density, the temperature, and the volume flow are monitored. The test rig and the used measurement techniques will be described in detail. Measurement data will be shown and parameters to control the printing process are discussed. This novel process monitoring is a unique approach for a holistic quality control of additive manufactured concrete structures.

Underwater Sensor Multi-Parameter Scheduling for Heterogenous Computing Nodes

Sensor-aware distributed workflow applications are becoming increasingly popular underwater. The apps are marine operations that generate data and process it based on its characteristics. Mobile-fog-cloud paradigms, as well as computing such as sensor nodes, have emerged. As previously stated, the nodes can be combined into a single system to achieve several goals. Many factors are considered, including network contents, workload fluctuation, variable execution durations, deadlines, and bandwidth. As a result, scheduling mobile workflow systems with multiple parameters might be challenging. The study suggests a novel content-efficient decision-aware task scheduling (CATSA) method for defining and adapting to complicated environmental changes. The CATSA consists of several components that work together to perform various benchmarks in the system, including a decision planner, sequencing, and scheduling. As evidenced by test findings during evaluation, the suggested architecture outperforms current studies regarding workflow execution quality of services and improved the makespan 30% and deadline meeting 40% in the study.

Study of the risk assessment quality dependence on the ships accidents analysis

Safety is undoubtedly a qualitative basis for the efficient functioning of maritime transport. Particularly important is safety of shipping, freight and passenger transportation. The impetuous growth of ship quantity, increase of their movement along the sea ways as well as the factors of external environment influence underline the necessity to consider the problem of shipping safety as the most priority and actual one in the focus of consideration of the current state and tendencies of the shipping development. As the statistics shows, the main reason of marine accidents are breakdown, damages or failure of engines and equipment. They account for over a third of all recorded cases over the past ten years. The same reason has led in recent years to the most expensive insurance payments, amounting to impressive sums. This explains why risk assessment as a structured process of analysing the consequences and probabilities of dangerous situations is an effective tool for achieving safety goals. The aim of this research is to study the peculiarities of risk assessment process and compare the quality of execution of this process with the accident rate of the world trading fleet. The causes of accident consequences have been systematized, pointing to the fact that seafarers could have prevented most accidents if they had paid proper attention to conducting a risk assessment of the operation, especially the impact of certain elements of the human factor.

Implementation evaluation of a leadership development intervention for improved family experience in a private paediatric care hospital, Pakistan

BackgroundA study from a tertiary care center in Pakistan demonstrated that a leadership development intervention led to improved family experience of care outcomes. The objective of the current paper is to assess the implementation of this intervention and identify barriers and facilitators to inform sustainability and scalability.MethodsA working group designed the intervention using a theory-of-change model to strengthen leadership development to achieve greater employee engagement. The interventions included: i) purpose and vision through purpose-driven leadership skills trainings; ii) engaging managers via on-the-job mentorship programme for managers, iii) employee voice i.e., facilitation of upward communication to hear the employees using Facebook group and subsequently inviting them to lead quality improvement (QI) projects; and iv) demonstrating integrity by streamlining actions taken based on routine patient experience data. Implementation outcomes included acceptability, adoption, fidelity across degree & quality of execution and facilitators & barriers to the implementation. Data analyzed included project documentation records and posts on the Facebook group.Analysis indicated acceptability and adoption of the intervention by the employees as178 applications for different QI projects were received. Leadership sessions were delivered to 455 (75%) of the employees and social media communication was effective to engage employees. However, mentorship package was not rolled out nor the streamlined processes for action on patient experience data achieved the desired fidelity. Only 6 QI projects were sustained for at least a year out of the 18 approved by the working group. Facilitators included leadership involvement, real-time recognition and feedback and value-creation through participation by national and international celebrities. Challenges identified were the short length of the intervention and incentives not being institutionalized.The authors conclude that leadership development through short training sessions and on-going communications facilitated by social media were the key processes that helped achieve the outcomes. However, a long-term strategy is needed for individual managerial behaviours to sustain.

Quali-Mat

While sports activity recognition is a well studied subject in mobile, wearable and ubiquitous computing, work to date mostly focuses on recognition and counting of specific exercise types. Quality assessment is a much more difficult problem with significantly less published results. In this work, we present Quali-Mat: a method for evaluating the quality of execution (QoE) in exercises using a smart sports mat that can measure the dynamic pressure profiles during full-body, body-weight exercises. As an example, our system not only recognizes that the user is doing push-ups, but also distinguishes 5 subtly different types of push-ups, each of which (according to sports science literature and professional trainers) has a different effect on different muscle groups. We have investigated various machine learning algorithms targeting the specific type of spatio-temporal data produced by the pressure mat system. We demonstrate that computationally efficient, yet effective Conv3D model outperforms more complex state-of-the-art options such as transfer learning from the image domain. The approach is validated through an experiment designed to cover 47 quantifiable variants of 9 basic exercises with 12 participants. Overall, the model can categorize 9 exercises with 98.6% accuracy / 98.6% F1 score, and 47 QoE variants with 67.3% accuracy / 68.1% F1 score. Through extensive discussions with both the experiment results and practical sports considerations, our approach can be used for not only precisely recognizing the type of exercises, but also quantifying the workout quality of execution on a fine time granularity. We also make the Quali-Mat data set available to the community to encourage further research in the area.

Technology Focus: Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs (July 2022)

Unconventional resource exploitation has three key technology and application focus areas—increasing implementation of fracture diagnostics, enhancing production and recovery from new well completions as well as existing wells through improved stimulation and restimulation design and execution quality, and developing enhanced oil recovery methods. With respect to diagnostics, the objective is a greater understanding of the reservoir and fracture geometry to determine optimal well spacing and completion design. The application of drawdown/buildup and rate-transient-analysis methods, previously confined to conventional reservoir evaluations, is now finding increased use in unconventional plays. Regarding improved stimulation design and execution quality, unique laboratory evaluation methods are providing value by helping to determine optimal fluid chemistries to impart favorable fracture and contacted formation wettability and to optimize proppant transport. This becomes especially important with the increasing use or reuse of produced brines. New proppant compositions, size distributions, and delivery methods and design all call for focusing on effective quality control. Optimization of new and existing well productivity can take unconventional resource exploitation only so far. Beyond that, the development of enhanced oil recovery methods, in conjunction with reducing CO2 emissions, for example, is a primary focus area for an increasing number of operators. CO2 huff ’n’ puff applications are most common, but other creative injection methods are being studied and trialed globally in tight formations, with potentially exciting prospects ahead. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 208948 Deconvolution Overcomes the Limitations of Rate Normalization and Material-Balance Time in Rate-Transient Analysis of Unconventional Reservoirs by Leopoldo M. Ruiz Maraggi, The University of Texas at Austin, et al. URTEC 208337 Innovative Stimulation Process for Sustainable Unconventional Resource Development by Roman Bilak, Terralog Teknologi Indonesia, et al. SPE 201707 Laboratory Visualization of Enhanced Gas Recovery in Shale by Youssef Elkady, Stanford University, et al.

Order Choices: An Intraday Analysis of the Taiwan Stock Exchange

This paper employs order-, trade-, and quote-level data to examine the determinants of order choices and the impacts of order choices on execution quality by various investor types in the Taiwan Stock Exchange. We find marketable-quote orders have a higher degree of price aggressiveness, larger order size, higher trade value, shorter duration, and higher fill rate than behind-the-quote orders. There exists a transient order serial correlation. Different types of investors have their own preferences in order choices, while market microstructure factors, such as transitory volatility, spread, market depth, and trading interval, significantly influence stock traders’ order choices. Findings show that marketable-quote orders tend to perform better in terms of order duration. Moreover, institutional investors spend less time on completing their trades than do individuals, particularly for foreign investors after controlling all other factors.

Hybrid parallelization of the black hole algorithm for systems on chip

Black Hole (BH) is a bioinspired metaheuristic algorithm based on the theory of relativity in which a sufficiently compact mass can deform the space-time to form a black hole, where no particles or electromagnetic radiation can escape from it. Thus, such an approach is based on the concept of a population of individuals (stars) representing solutions for a given computational problem to be optimized. In the literature, such an approach has been used to solve clustering problems, among others, since it is parameter-free and simple to implement. In this article, due to such characteristics, a hybrid solution, in software/hardware, of parallelization of the BH algorithm is proposed, aiming at accelerating its processing in hardware through a methodology that allows any user, even non-expert, implement hardware accelerators, for optimization problems, among others, through a high level tool. A System on Chip (SoC) platform was used for this implementation, containing a Zynq chip from Xilinx, which has two ARM cores and an FPGA. The BH Algorithm was implemented in software first and then in hardware for runtime comparison purposes to validate this approach. Also, in this paper, simpler and more popular optimization algorithms, such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Gravitational Search (GSA), and Big Bang – Big Crunch (BB-BC), along with simpler datasets, were used for comparison purposes, due to its ease of implementation and to keep a fairer comparison with BH as realized in other works in the literature. Therefore, the results obtained were satisfactory in terms of execution time and quality, with an average speedup of 25 times compared to the same implementation in software. In the future, it is intended to use this procedure to implement more recent clustering and optimization algorithms with larger datasets as well.

Research on Improving the Executive Ability of University Administrators Based on Deep Learning.

Over the years, experts have focused their research on ways to increase the executive capacity of university administrators. This is because only by improving the quality of execution of college and university administrative personnel can they actively execute various policies and measures, fully exploit their subjective initiative, and ensure the educational reform of colleges and universities. Increasing the executive capacity of administrative staff can help colleges and universities manage more effectively. Therefore, in the development process of higher education institutions, it is necessary to strengthen the execution of administrative staff, especially the need to adhere to the problem as the basic orientation. Take scientific and practical steps to strengthen administrative personnel's executive ability in light of current issues with administrative management personnel's executive power, and establish the groundwork for ensuring the quality of management work. Combining deep learning, this paper proposes a path to improve the executive power of college administrators based on deep learning. To begin, familiarize yourself with the deep noise reduction autoencoder model and support vector regression (SVR) theory and build the DDAE-SVR deep neural network (DNN) model. Then, input a small-scale feature index sample data set and a large-scale short-term traffic flow data set for experiments; then, assess the model's parameters to achieve the optimal model. Finally, use performance indicators such as MSE and MAPE to compare with other shallow models to verify the effectiveness and advantages of the DDAE-SVR DNN model in the execution improvement path output of university administrators and large-scale data sets.

Factors Affecting Audit Independence: A Case Study Based on the Failure of Typical Financial Fraud Audits

Audit independence constrains the work of auditors and provides certain guarantees for the quality of audit execution. Audit independence is affected by various factors, such as the development of non-audit services, the completeness of audit procedures, and the auditors' competence. This paper takes the typical audit failure cases such as the Enron incident, the Zhenlong audit failure, and the financial fraud audit of Kangmei Pharmaceutical as examples, and conducts a case analysis on the influence of different factors on audit independence in these audit failure cases. The conclusion shows that strengthening audit independence should be done by improving the service quality of firms, the professional competence of certified public accountants, the engagement mechanism and external supervision.

Higher Perceived Stress as an Independent Predictor for Lower Use of Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies in Hypertensive Individuals.

IntroductionIndividuals with high scores of perceived stress (PS) are more likely to develop arterial hypertension (AH) than those with low levels of stress. In addition to this, AH and stress are both independent risk factors for executive function (EF) impairment and worse quality of life (QoL). Therefore, strategies to control and cope with emotional stress are of paramount importance. However, less is known about the association of PS with EF, QoL, and coping in individuals with hypertension. This study aimed to evaluate the association of PS with EF performance, coping strategies use, and QoL in a sample of hypertensive patients.MethodsWe assessed a group of 45 hypertensive individuals (mean age = 58.42 ± 8.9 years, 71.11% female). The EF evaluation was: Frontal Assessment Battery; Controlled Oral Word Association Test—FAS; Letter-Number Sequencing subtest from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Third Edition (WAIS-III); Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The type and frequency of coping strategies used were measured by the Brief Coping with Experienced Problems Scale (Brief-COPE). The World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire Bref (WHOQOL-bref) was applied to measure QoL. The associations of the PS with EF performance, coping strategies, and QoL were investigated using univariate and multiple linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, systolic pressure, and depression symptoms.ResultsIn the multivariate analyses, higher PS was an independent predictor for a lower frequency of emotion-focused strategy use (β = −0.23; p = 0.03). However, PS was not significantly related to EF and Qol in this sample. The lower the PS, the greater the use of emotion-focused coping.ConclusionHypertensive individuals with high PS use less frequently positive emotion-focused coping strategies.

Influence of various types of information displays on the work capacity of aviation specialists in ergatic systems

Over the past decade more than 70% of all the aviation events have occurred due to the impact of a human factor, meanwhile the reduction of all emergencies should be ensured maintaining the neuro-mental health of aviation personnel. One of the possible functional disorders in the state of the human body is fatigue, which is studied in detail by the International Civil Aviation Organization specialists and described in the publications of the supervision manual over the use of fatigue control mechanisms. Fatigue can result from the long-term work of aviation specialists, whose activities, as a rule, are associated with the use of digital information displays. Within the framework of professional competence, these displays, being a valuable resource, allow aviation staff to perform their duties competently. Nevertheless, displays, distinguishing in various characteristics such as a type of matrix, resolution and the screen diagonal, exert varied influence on the aviation specialist’s working capacity and fatigue formation. Empirical data in the form of average values of the test execution quality, depending on the type of display and its appropriate characteristics, were obtained by means of the software application developed by our team in the C# language in the Unity3D environment and the methodology to assess the reaction rates after a series of experiments. This allowed us to draw up a conclusion that the use of LCD screens with an IPS matrix and a larger screen diagonal is preferable. However, it is worth paying attention to the cutting-edge LED displays, which are characterized by brighter and more saturated colors of the image, in comparison with the mentioned LCD screens, which can be applicable for the specific tasks of aviation personnel.

Proposed outsourcing model for pick-up and delivery processes

In the last few years, we have been active participants in globalization and the rapid growth of online commerce. This trend directly impacts logistics, postal, and courier companies. Challenges are visible in the growth and development of these companies, as well as quality of task execution and the ability to adapt to market conditions. With the impact of the SARS-COV-19 virus on the market, and due to locks during the pandemic, shoppers were forced to buy products online. This effect accelerated the trend of purchases via e-commerce, which increased the number of parcels in the technological phases of pick-up and delivery. These companies are the bearers of the first and last technological phase of shipment transport. Due to the increase in the number of shipments, postal and logistics companies are under great pressure. This is because of certain restrictions introduced during the pandemic, but also because of costs, especially fixed costs in the first and last phase of transport. This paper proposes an outsourcing model for the pick-up and delivery to convert fixed costs into variable ones.

55: COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR MINIMALLY INVASIVE ESOPHAGECTOMY: DEVELOPMENT AND PRELIMINARY CONSTRUCT VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY RESULTS

Abstract Background and aim Performance of the surgical team is essential for patient outcome. Minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) is a complex and technically demanding procedure and implementation is associated with a substantial learning curve. A validated, procedure specific and scientifically robust competency assessment tool (CAT) could provide structured feedback and can be a tool to improve patient outcome. The aim is to develop a MIE-CAT and assess construct validity, intra-observer reliability and inter-observer reliability. Methods Based on defined key steps from a Delphi study and refinement with a core group of MIE experts to establish content validity and obtain user agreement, the MIE-CAT was developed. Eighteen independent and blinded international MIE experts (> 120 MIEs performed) followed an online workshop to train in using the MIE-CAT and assessed Ivor Lewis MIE videos that were performed from 2010–2020 by four MIE surgeons from the Esophageal Center East Netherlands. To analyze construct validity, 32 videos were divided into four groups (novice, intermediate, advanced and expert) based on the surgical team’s experience. For intra-rater and inter-rater reliability, the same video was scored twice by the same and different experts. Results The MIE-CAT consists of eight procedural phases, starting with the mobilization of the greater curvature and ending with creation of the intrathoracic anastomosis. Each phase contains four domains (exposure, execution, adverse events and end-product quality) and are scored with a 1–4 Likert scale. A total of 72 video assessments were used for analysis. Substantial performance variation between the MIE-CAT scores was seen (median 98 [IQR, 84–113.4]; range = 47–126). Median MIE-CAT scores were 79.5 [IQR 74–96.3], 91 [87.5–107], 101 [84.8–108] and 101 [95.5–108.3] for respectively the novice, intermediate, advanced and expert group (Figure 1). Significant differences between the average MIE-CAT scores of the experience groups were found with a Kruskal Wallis (P = 0.002). Good intra-rater reliability was observed (ICC, 0.71, 95% CI [0.35, 0.89) and moderate inter-rater reliability was observed (ICC, 0.54, 95% CI [0.10, 0.87). Conclusion A specific competency assessment tool to score the MIE performance, the MIE-CAT, was developed. It has the potential to be used for surgical training, safe implementation, performance improvement and research purposes.

Reliable Laboratory Tests: A Prerequisite for the Design of High-Quality Slurry Surfacing Mixtures

Surface treatment with slurry surfacing is a quick and cost-effective technique to restore the condition and performance of a road surface, compared with the replacement of the wearing course. It is therefore not surprising that cities and municipalities, faced with increasingly tight budgets, choose slurry surfacing to maintain their roads. A slurry surfacing with good performance and a long service life requires, above all, a well formulated mixture and a good control of the execution quality. Slurry surfacing could then even be considered for ultrathin wearing courses on new pavements. From 2016 to 2020, the Belgian Road Research Centre (BRRC) was engaged in a 4-year research project called BeP2S (Better Performing Slurry Surfacing) financially supported by the Belgian Bureau for Standardization (NBN). The project focussed on laboratory testing, gathering data and field experience, assessing the link between laboratory and field performance, and the mix design process. This paper is dedicated to the European test methods of the EN 12274 series (“Slurry surfacing–Test methods”), as well as some alternative test methods, which were evaluated (complexity, relevance for the mix design process, …) and improved in terms of test conditions, precision, and discriminating power. Five performance-related tests proved to have sufficient ability to discriminate between mixtures with variations in mix design. Recommendations were made for the ranges within which the laboratory test results should fall in order for the slurry surfacing to perform well.

Transaction fees: Impact on institutional order types, commissions, and execution quality

Market participants and regulators are debating maker–taker pricing and whether fees split between limit and market orders impact routing and execution quality. Contrary to existing theory, my model predicts this split impacts gains from trade. When rebates increase, liquidity suppliers post more aggressive quotes. Given limit order fill rates, gains from trade fall as commissions increase with fees. Should institutional investors choose market orders with greater probability, fill rates increase and adverse selection decreases. As rebates are realized more frequently, commissions fall, increasing gains from trade in size and frequency. Empirical patterns in SEC Rule 605 confirm my testable predictions.

PERENCANAAN ANGGARAN, KUALITAS SUMBER DAYA MANUSIA, PELAKSANAAN ANGGARAN DAN KOMITMEN ORGANISASI PADA PENYERAPAN ANGGARAN

The low level of budget absorption is oftten a problem for Regional Apparatus Organizations (OPD). The research is conducted to describe the effect of budget planning, the quality of human resources, budget execution and organizational commitment to the absorption of regional revenue and expenditure budgets in the Regional Apparatus Organizations of Pelalawan Regency. The population in this study were all OPD in Pelalawan Regency. Sample selection using purposive sampling method. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires to 84 respondents, and only 78 questionnaires could be used in this study. The data analysis method used is Multiple Linear Regression using SPSS version 22. The results showed that budget planning, quality of human resources, budget execution and organizational commitment had an effect on the level of budget absorption in the OPD Pelalawan Distrik. The results of this study have a contribution to the OPD increasing the absorption of regional revenue and expenditure budget.

MROS: runtime adaptation for robot control architectures

Known attempts to build autonomous robots rely on complex control architectures, usually implemented with the Robot Operating System (ROS). Runtime adaptation is needed in these systems, to cope with component failures and with contingencies arising from dynamic environments – otherwise these affect the reliability and quality of the mission execution. Existing proposals on how to build self-adaptive systems in robotics usually require a major re-design of the control architecture and rely on complex tools unfamiliar to the robotics community. Moreover, they are hard to reuse across applications. This paper presents MROS: a model-based framework for runtime adaptation of robot control architectures based on ROS. MROS uses a combination of domain-specific languages to model architectural variants and capture mission quality concerns, and an ontology-based implementation of the MAPE-K and meta-control visions for runtime adaptation. The experiment results obtained applying MROS in two realistic ROS-based robotic demonstrators show the benefits of our approach in terms of the quality of the mission execution, and MROS's extensibility and reusability across robotic applications.

Road Quality in Indonesia: Is it Linked to Special Allocation Funds and Political Competition?

This study aims to determine the relationship between decentralization,viewed from a fiscal and political perspective, and the quality ofroad infrastructure in Indonesian regions. This study uses paneldata of 32 provinces in Indonesia in the 2011–2018 and appliedpooled ordinary least square (OLS) estimation with individual fixedeffectsto capture time-variable estimation. Findings/Originality: Theresults show that special allocation funds (DAK) did not significantlyimprove the quality of damaged roads, although the correlation wasnegative. The apparent improvement in the damaged-road ratio ispresumed to be because the government is currently more focusedon the physical construction of roads than on maintenance, so thelevel/quality of road maintenance is still not optimal. The politicalcompetition was found to be negatively related to the improvementof the damaged-road ratio, indicating that political competitionimproved the quality of budget execution in road infrastructureprovision.How to Cite:Saragih, P. N., & Khoirunurrofik , K. (2022). Road Quality in Indonesia: Is It Linked to Special Allocation Funds and Political Competition? Signifikan: Jurnal Ilmu Ekonomi, 11(1), 57-72. https://doi.org/10.15408/sjie.v11i1.21090.