Maintenance Contracts Research Articles

Problems with Railway Track Drainage in Finland

Several studies have shown that water plays a significant role in phenomena that weaken track geometry. For instance, water may cause frost heave, thaw softening, attrition of ballast, and weakening of the load bearing capacity of a track. Functioning drainage can prevent water damage, but no researched data on the magnitude of the impacts exist.Most of the Finnish rail network has been built in times when earthworks were kept to a minimum. Drainage generally functions well along new and renovated rail sections, but the situation is quite different with old tracks. If unevenness problems can be dealt with adequately by improving drainage, it is considerably more advantageous compared to massive renovation. The aim is to find out whether systematic improvement of drainage can produce significant savings in rail network maintenance.The study examines the unevenness problems discovered along the Finnish rail network where the functioning of drainage is thought to be a major factor, while seeking solutions to the problems. This article presents the technical and administrative problems related to drainage in the Finnish rail network. Based on observations made so far, even basic drainage solutions are beset with problems since e.g. ditches are not cleaned with sufficient regularity.The on-going study aimed to determine the impact of drainage on track unevenness at monitored sites. However, the method did not work as expected since no suitable sites, where other significant measures had not been carried out in connection with drainage renovation, could be found along the rail network. Moreover, it was difficult to get information about earlier renovation measures.It can be said already at this phase of the study that drainage maintenance should be improved. There are also problems with drainage assessment methods which consist mainly of visual inspection instead of more sophisticated methods. Subjective assessment methods and maintenance contracts that call for maintenance ‘as required’ easily lead to postponement of maintenance measures.

Describing Changes in Road Condition by Numerically Described Multi-dimensional Probability Distributions

With regard to a systematic pavement maintenance, it is necessary to hold information about the current state of roads and to forecast its changes precisely. Therefore, a Pavement Management System (PMS) for highways was developed in the past few decades, which is shared meanwhile by mostly all road agencies in Germany. Most PMS consist of deterministic performance predicition models, which were developed based on historical empirical data. These deterministic prognoses are roundly approved and accepted, due to their simple practicability and comprehensibleness even though they contain any information concerning the quality of prediction. This lack of information includes the necessity to improve probabilistic prediction models to handle different kinds of maintenance strategies. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to verify, if describing changes in road condition by numerically described multi-dimensional probability distributions is feasible and beneficial to improve the systematic management of maintenance. First, the following possible explanatory variables like age, traffic loads, design and width of lane were analyzed concerning their power of influence on rut depth and cracks. The results of these analyses of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the age of roads is the most effective variable to predict the prospective condition of roads. Furthermore, the wide distributions of road condition represent that its development over time is influenced by a large number of predictors. As a consequence, a probabilistic forecast model was drafted in dependence of road age. Based on pavement condition survey data of more than 500km of Bavarian roads, a set of age-related transition probability matrices was developed for the use of recurrent Markov Chains. The practicability of this section based forecast model was tested with an example of use to forecast the prospective condition of an exemplary road section and pointed out its importance and profit in PMS. In this research a probabilistic age-related forecast model was developed which is able to indicate the variance of predicted road conditions. The developed forecast model gives a fundament to discuss several alternatives for maintenance strategies, which can be implemented in modern PMS. Furthermore, the consideration of variance of service life gives an expansive potential to be integrated in construction and maintenance contracts.

Assessment of newborn care corners in selected public health facilities in Bihar.

A functional newborn care corner (NBCC) is critical to provide immediate care to newborns including resuscitation, warmth, and initial care to sick newborns. NBCC provides an acceptable environment for all infants at birth, and it is mandatory for all delivery points at all levels in the health system including operation theaters. The objective of this study was to find the status of availability of NBCCs and service provision in selected public health facilities of Bihar. A total of 57 NBCCs, having high delivery load (>100 deliveries/month), across 25 high-priority districts in Bihar, were selected purposively in consultation with the State Health Society, Bihar, for the assessment. These facilities were assessed for the availability and/or functioning of infrastructure, equipment maintenance, human resource, supply of drugs and consumables, adherence to protocols, and record keeping. Only 22.8% of the NBCCs were found to be fully functional, majority (68.4%) were partially functional, and 9% were nonfunctional. Thirty-seven (64.9%) NBCCs were located inside the labor room premises. Approximately, one-third of the neonates delivered were kept in NBCCs. Equipment though available lacked the provision of annual maintenance contract. Essential drugs such as adrenaline (24.6%) and Vitamin K injection (42.1%) were not available in many facilities. Only 6.2% of the newborns had low birth weight, indicating underreporting. Majority of the health-care staff available were trained but possessed poor skills. Data recording and reporting was also suboptimal. The network of NBCCs needs to be strengthened across the state and linked with higher facilities to achieve the desired reduction in neonatal morbidity and mortality.

A Contingency Cost Estimation System for Road Maintenance Contracts

Generally, a contingency cost is provided in a project to cover the change orders (CO) that may be generated in a project during the construction phase due to various reasons, such as unforeseen conditions, design errors, and scope changes. If the contingency cost could be accurately estimated during the contract's procurement phase, the CO cost could be properly managed during the construction phase. Traditionally, contingency costs are allocated around 10% to 15% of the project cost without considering any of the historical CO costs. In this study, a tool was developed to estimate the contingency cost of a road maintenance contract by using a mathematical model. The tool forecasts the contingency costs for each of the road maintenance activities included in the contract by using an artificial neural network model based on the historical CO data. The tool was validated using the CO cost data available from road maintenance contracts.

Pravno lice kao davalac izdržavanja kod ugovora o doživotnom izdržavanju

The diminished ability of elderly and sickly persons to care for themselves and to manage routine and irremissibly affairs in their homes as well as more frequent lack of the needed maintenance by the legally-determined persons has created the need for more frequent conclusion of lifelong maintenance contracts. The lack of competence and qualifications of the natural persons to, considering the legal nature of this contract intuitu personae, personally carry out all of the agreed obligations, without the mediation of other persons, as well as the fact that the activities of the legal persons can correspond to the needs of the maintenance creditor, are more frequent circumstances which help the maintenance creditor opt for the lifelong maintenance contract. For these reasons, the author in this paper directs the research towards the possibility of engaging a legal person as maintenance debtor and as well as to the need for fulfilment of certain prerequisites which will be the efficient protection against possible abuse. Can legal persons comply with the needs of the elderly in terms of organization, space and personnel, must their activities correspond with the needs of the elderly? Those are just some of the issues which will be the subject of this research. Separate definition of legal prerequisites which a legal person must fulfil as well as the verification of guardianship organ would contribute to the fulfilment of the main purpose of the contract, the satisfaction of the needs of the maintenance creditor, but also it would largely affect the protection against the possible abuse.

California Fair Trade: Antitrust and the Politics of “Fairness” in U.S. Competition Policy

In the decades before World War II, U.S. antitrust law was anything but settled. Considerable pressure for antitrust revision came from the states. A perhaps unlikely leader, Edna Gleason, organized California's retail pharmacists and coordinated trade networks to monitor and enforce Resale Price Maintenance (RPM) contracts, a system of price-fixing, then known as “fair trade.” Progressive jurists, including Louis Brandeis and institutional economist E. R. A. Seligman, supported RPM as a protection to independent proprietors. The breakdown of legal and economic consensus regarding what constituted “unfair competition” allowed businesspeople to act as intermediaries between heterodox economic thought and contested antitrust law, ultimately tailoring federal policy to accommodate state regulations.

Enhanced stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte differentiation in suspension culture by delivery of nitric oxide using S-nitrosocysteine.

The development of cell-based treatments for heart disease relies on the creation of functionally mature stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes employing in vitro culture suspension systems, a process which remains a formidable and expensive endeavor. The use of nitric oxide as a signaling molecule during differentiation has demonstrated the potential for creating increased numbers of spontaneously contracting embryoid bodies in culture; however, the effects of nitric oxide signaling on the function and maturation of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes is not well understood. In this study, the effects of nitric oxide on mouse embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte contractile activity, protein, and gene expression, and calcium handling were quantified. Embryoid bodies (EBs) formed using the hanging drop method, were treated with the soluble nitric oxide donor S-nitrosocysteine (CysNO) over a period of 18 days in suspension culture and spontaneous contractile activity was assessed. On day 8, selected EBs were dissociated to form monolayers for electrophysiological characterization using calcium transient mapping. Nitric oxide treatment led to increased numbers of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (SC-CMs) relative to non-treated EBs after 8 days in suspension culture. Increased incidence of spontaneous contraction and frequency of contraction were observed from days 8-14 in EBs receiving nitric oxide treatment in comparison to control. Expression of cardiac markers and functional proteins was visualized using immunocytochemistry and gene expression was assessed using qPCR. Cardiac-specific proteins were present in both CysNO-treated and control SC-CMs; however, CysNO treatment during differentiation significantly increased βMHC gene expression in SC-CMs relative to control SC-CMs. Furthermore, increased calcium transient velocity and decreased calcium transient duration was observed for CysNO-treated SC-CMs in comparison to control SC-CMs. Soluble nitric oxide donors, including S-nitrosocysteine, have advantages over other bioactive molecules for use in scalable culture systems in driving cardiac differentiation, since they are inexpensive and the diffusivity of nitric oxide is relatively high. By enabling maintenance of spontaneous contraction in suspension culture and progressing electrophysiological function of resulting SC-CMs toward a more mature phenotype, long-term application of S-nitrosocysteine was shown to be beneficial during cardiac differentiation. Taken together, these results demonstrate the efficiency of nitric oxide as a signaling compound, with implications in the improvement of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte maturation in large-scale culture systems.

Tales of IT Consultants: Understanding Psychological Contract Maintenance and Employment Termination

This research investigates the question why dedicated Information Technology (IT) consultants quit their jobs and voluntarily terminate their employment contracts. A research approach inspired by grounded theory is used and as a theoretical contribution a novel, cyclic process model for the maintenance or neglect of the psychological contract between employees and employers is derived from the empirical data. The model is subsequently substantiated through the integration of various concepts and theories identified in the literature, combining the concept of psychological contract with social influence theory and a theory of the relation between intrinsic motivation and management practices. The research is based on a revelatory case study which provides tales from four IT consultants in an IT consulting firm. The model helps to explain IT consultants’ behaviour of voluntarily terminating their employment contracts. Additionally, it should assist managers in IT consulting firms to avoid practices which might lead to their employees’ loss of intrinsic motivation and result in the loss of valuable employees for the organization.

Early contractor involvement in Australia: Learnings from Transfield Services projects

Early contractor involvement (ECI) commonly refers to the engagement between parties (project owner, designer and solution proponent) during the early stages of a project and involves scoping work, outcomes and stages. Originating in the areas of engineering, construction and project management, the application of ECI has recently been adopted by governments and public companies around the globe in an attempt to achieve better relationships and successful delivery. This article reviews the key themes evident in the literature examining ECI and then adds an insider's view to provide key insights about the successful application of ECI as experienced by a large Australian operations and maintenance contractor, Transfield Services. This matching of theory with application reveals the potential benefits and challenges that local industry has in applying ECI as a formal, structured approach and suggests ECI has much potential as a viable and interesting concept in the Australian market.

MODEL-MODEL PENYELENGGARAAN UNIT PRODUSKI DI SEKOLAH MENENGAH KEJURUAN (SMK) DAERAH ISTIMEWA YOGYAKARTA

Abstract The purpose of this study is to portray the implementation and models of production units as partial characteristics of vocational high school in Yogyakarta Special Territory. The study is descriptive in nature, using documentation, questionnaire and interviews supplemented by casual observations involving five vocational high schools specializing in industrial and technological programs. The data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study concludes that the concept of production units is not widely understood, needs more intensive socialization and more rigorous planning. The program has many constrains to overcome, especially in human resources factor. Prominent types of business found in school production units include manufacturing and maintenance service, applying both regular and contract system. Keywords: vocational schools, production units, educational relevance

The impact of maintenance contract arrangements on the yield of offshore wind power plants

In the optimisation of maintenance and vessel strategies for the operation of offshore wind plant, it is normally assumed that the off-taker of the power produced may directly control the dispatch of maintenance resources. However, in practice, services such as maintenance technicians and vessels are usually contracted from companies with larger arenas of operation, and so the organisational interfaces between these parties, and the different objective functions involved, need to be considered. This article looks at different current and future models for contracted maintenance, identifies interfaces and conflicts of interest, and constructs a quantified model demonstrating the potential impact on headline energy yields for a set of wind farms with a common contracted maintenance resource. The modelling illustrates that the performance of a site with contracted maintenance operations is not only dependent on the contracts held by that site but also on the effective competition in place with other sites for a centralised resource, and the performance of a site may be highly sensitive to the alignment of contractual incentives, relative travel distances, and the relative size of the site in terms of energy yield.

Letter to the Editor: “High-Fidelity Meets Athletic Training Education: An Innovative Collaborative Teaching Project”

Letter to the Editor: “High-Fidelity Meets Athletic Training Education: An Innovative Collaborative Teaching Project”

FDA's draft guidance on laboratory-developed tests increases clinical and economic risk to adoption of pharmacogenetic testing.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified Congress July 31, 2014,1 of its intent to regulate laboratory developed tests. These encompass thousands of clinical assays currently used in medical practice including most pharmacogenetic tests. This guidance has the potential to impact the innovation and sustainability of pharmacogenetic research and its clinical implementation.

Service information blueprint: A scheme for defining service information requirements

Access to high quality information is essential for effective design, development and delivery of service. In product-service systems (PSS), this includes both information to support the lifecycles of physical products and associated services and information to support the management of services. Service blueprinting is a widely used technique for visualisation and mapping of service activities. This paper introduces the concept of Service Information Blueprint, which builds on and extends the existing concept of service blueprint by including definition of service information needs and capture of service information in PSS environment. Three types of information associated with a service activity is captured in the Service Information Blueprint-input, process and output information. Applicability of the Service Information Blueprint to define technical support services is demonstrated using a case study on machine maintenance and repair service contract scenario. In addition, the impact of changes in service contract type on service definition and information requirements is demonstrated.

PTH-027 Review of faults and usage of two upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopes suppliers in nhs lothian over a 40 month period: Abstract PTH-027 Table 1

Introduction Endoscopes are used for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in Gastroenterology (GI). The nature of these procedures, can subject endoscopes to hard use and stringent cleaning and decontamination procedures, leading to numerous faults developing over their lifespan. The aim was to review the service history of two upper and lower GI endoscopes suppliers within NHS Lothian, and usage, over a 40 month period. Method The service history of each GI endoscope owned by NHS Lothian was requested from each supplier’s service department, between January 2011 and April 2014. Usage data for each endoscope with a repair was extracted from the Endoscopy Reporting System (Unisoft). Each repair was reviewed and classified as either an angulation, damage, leak, blockage, image, electrical, or other fault. The fault and corresponding usage was split by type and supplier to calculate average number of repairs, usage and give a measure of reliability (average repairs per annum/average procedure per annum). A chi square was performed to see if there were significant differences between fault categories from each supplier. A p Results The results obtained from the analysis of the faults from supplier A and supplier B were: Angulation 2 and 4.4% (p = 0.10), Damage 9.3 and 6% (p = 0.15), Blockages 17.7 and 20% (p = 0.49), Image faults 21and 29.6% (p = 0.02), Leaks 40.7 and 22.4% (p Conclusion A comprehensive registry of endoscopes with individual repair profiles can give extremely valuable information regarding endoscope reliability and durability. This ensures that hardware quality is maintained. It can facilitate the replacement process as well as help in the negotiation of maintenance contracts. Modern endoscopes in general are of similar high quality and have similar repair profiles. There are individual company differences in terms of vulnerable parts for different scopes but in general choice of endoscopes should be based on existing facilities, unit case mix and cost rather than on individual brand names. Disclosure of interest S. Inglis: None Declared, N. Kennedy: None Declared, J. Plevris Grant/ Research Support from: JN Plevris has received funding from Fujifilm in the past for endoscopic research.

Maintenance Contractor Selection for Small Hydropower Project: a Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Optimization Technique Approach

Small hydropower projects (SHP) are emerging as solution for sustainable, eco-friendly, long term and cost-effective water or renewable energy resource for future. Selecting the appropriate small hydropower project and its parameters in which to invest is a critical task involving different factors as they are very unique and site specific. Hence such decision-making can be viewed as a multi-criteria optimization problem with correlating criteria and alternatives. This task should take into consideration several conflicting aspects because of the increasing complexity of the socio-political, technological, environmental and economic factors. Traditional single criteria decision-making approaches cannot handle the complexity of such systems. Multi-criteria optimization or MCDA or MCDM methods may provide a better and flexible tool. This paper aims to evaluate applicability of multi-criteria optimization to decision makers during the small hydropower project maintenance contractor selection. To the best of the author’s knowledge this novel approach for application of multi-criteria optimization in renewable energy project or small hydropower project are absent in renewable energy or water resource or fluid mechanics literature due to its assessment complexity.

Potential for long-term sustainability

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework of bidding model for maintenance contractors. Sustainability is closely linked with the maintenance of facilities or infrastructure. From maintenance contractor’s perspective, one of their key business processes is to bid projects under fierce competition. Their competitiveness is critically affected by their bidding behaviours and bid makeup selections. Design/methodology/approach – This paper aims at identifying critical and important objectives of bidding and items affecting bidding strategies and developing a bidding model for maintenance contractors. Findings – With the questionnaire surveys of 50 maintenance contractors, two critical objectives of bidding have been identified. Likewise, a total of eight critical and 12 important items affecting bidding strategy have also been identified. A bidding model for maintenance contractors is presented. Research limitations/implications – This model formulates the maintenance contractors’ bidding behaviors in a rational manner, and acts as a guideline to new and less experienced maintenance contractors to have a brief understanding about the bidding process and to assist them for establishing their own bidding strategies. With this knowledge, clients or maintenance contractors themselves would become easier to achieve their sustainability goals. Originality/value – Many academic researches on contractor’s bidding strategy emphasized on the general building works, and less attention has been given to maintenance works. Because of the fact that the community is awash with sustainability, and sustainability development is closely related to maintenance work, the business operation of maintenance contractors should be understood. This shall contribute to the achievement of sustainability goals for the society.

Aircraft and engine economic evaluation for fleet renewal decision-making and maintenance contract valuation

The fleet acquisition process represents a major gamble for airlines and aircraft leasing companies due to the fixed assumptions made when business plans are laid out and the abundance of uncertainties both at the technical and market levels. Indeed, the evaluation of aircraft and engine acquisitions is riddled with uncertainties regarding the product development (development schedule), the economic performance of the assets once in operations (operating cost), and the demand for air transportation. The trend in recent years has been for original equipment manufacturers to offer contracts and guarantees during sales campaigns that limit the exposure of airlines to technical uncertainty and that shift some of the operating risks from the airlines to the manufacturers. Airlines have embraced these “power-by-the-hour” maintenance contracts because they offer a way to mitigate operating risks and to anticipate cash outflows. Estimating the fair value of these contracts is paramount due to the significant risks faced by companies underwriting them. At the same time, valuing them is a daunting task due to the uncertainty regarding maintenance costs and their sensitivity to both the operations and the operating environment. Traditional evaluation methods are not always well adapted to perform these evaluations as they do not capture the problem in its entirety and they tend to oversimplify by using generic routes and surrogate models. This paper simultaneously proposes a customer-centric methodology to properly evaluate long-term aircraft and engine investments and a real-options inspired methodology to value long-term maintenance contracts and manufacturer guarantees.

Integrated project delivery methods for energy renovation of social housing

Integrated project delivery methods for energy renovation of social housing

Integrated project delivery methods for energy renovation of social housing

Integrated project delivery methods for energy renovation of social housing