planning and control

This study explores the necessity of institutionalizing Internal Audit Services (IAS) within the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) to strengthen internal controls, enhance governance, and ensure compliance with existing laws and regulations. Despite legal mandates requiring the establishment of an internal audit unit in government agencies, PCUP has historically lacked such a division, leading to inefficiencies in financial oversight and operational accountability.

Through qualitative research methods, including key informant interviews and document analysis, the study examines the existing internal control mechanisms at PCUP, the challenges posed by the absence of an IAS, and the conflicting interests between administrative and field operations divisions. Findings indicate that weak internal controls, inconsistent policy enforcement, and delays in financial processes hinder the agency’s effectiveness. The study also highlights the perspectives of PCUP employees and management, who recognize the need for an internal audit unit to improve compliance, streamline processes, and foster transparency.

The study proposes a phased approach to institutionalizing IAS, beginning with an ad-hoc internal audit unit, followed by the formal creation of plantilla positions, and culminating in a fully established internal audit division. These recommendations align with best practices in public administration and aim to enhance PCUP’s ability to fulfill its mandate while maintaining accountability and efficiency in governance.

This study examines the Human Resource Development (HRD) climate within the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), assessing its effectiveness in fostering employee growth and organizational efficiency. Using the ADDIE model as a framework, the research evaluates the agency’s HRD initiatives, including training and development, career planning, and organizational improvement. Surveys and interviews conducted with PCUP employees and HR personnel reveal significant gaps in HRD implementation, including limited personnel, inadequate funding, and lack of strategic career development programs.

Findings indicate that while employees demonstrate resilience and self-initiative in professional growth, the agency’s HRD efforts remain fragmented and underprioritized. The absence of an integrated HR information system, outdated policies, and insufficient training opportunities hinder personnel development. Furthermore, PCUP’s compliance with HRD best practices is rated at an evolving level, signifying the need for structural reforms.

To enhance HRD, the study recommends institutionalizing merit-based HR policies, increasing HRD funding, implementing systematic career tracking, strengthening inter-agency collaborations, and upgrading PCUP’s HR unit to a division-level entity. These measures aim to future-proof the agency and ensure a more effective and motivated workforce capable of addressing urban poverty challenges.

The discussion relative to Human Resource Development (HRD) as a discipline and profession is an extensive dialogue that needs another paper just to be discussed. With that, the researcher would like to focus on the simplest definition of Human Resource Development to distinguish it from the other topics.

HRD is defined as “the integrated use of training and development, organization development, and career development to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness” (McLagan, January 1989). This definition is excerpted from the Human Resource Wheel of McLagan differentiates the scope of HRD from Human Resource Management. In that way, those activities from the three primary areas should be the focus and pre-requisite to know that HRD is within an organization.

In this paper, the researcher will utilize the above definition to assess the person who is supposedly responsible for the HRD of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP). The paper will be guided by the following topics: functions of the focal personnel, appropriateness of those functions as HRD, and effectiveness in performing those functions.

Then the researcher conducted a voluntary online survey of the employees of the PCUP, who are the clients of the HR, to assess the HRD of the organization on the already mentioned three primary areas by McLagan. This will also serve as a counter-validation of the output of the interview conducted with the supposed person responsible for the HRD.

This paper examines the institutionalization of a control and planning system within the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), a Philippine government agency tasked with advocating for and coordinating programs that address urban poverty. Tracing its historical evolution from its establishment in 1986 under Executive Order No. 82 to its current structure, the paper highlights the challenges faced by the PCUP in fulfilling its mandate. These include insufficient manpower, lack of systematic monitoring, reliance on paper-based processes, and the absence of a cohesive long-term development plan.

Applying Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management Theory, the study evaluates PCUP’s existing planning and control mechanisms, identifying inefficiencies in its responsibility centers, monitoring frameworks, and financial allocation processes. The paper also outlines a series of strategic reforms, including the creation of a PCUP Development Plan (2025-2028), the establishment of new divisions such as an Information Technology Division and an Internal Audit Services Unit, and the adoption of digital governance solutions to streamline operations.

Ultimately, the study advocates for structural and procedural improvements to enhance PCUP’s effectiveness, ensuring it remains a robust, future-proof institution capable of addressing the growing challenges of urban poverty. These recommendations aim to optimize management efficiency, improve service delivery, and strengthen the agency’s role as a key stakeholder in urban development planning.

The current trends and recent changes in logistics lead to new, complex and partially conflicting requirements on logistic planning and control systems. Currently available strategies and methodologies do not address these new requirements sufficiently. The concept of autonomous logistic processes intends to overcome these drawbacks together with latest information and communication technologies. Their analysis and design is subject to simulation studies. Two simulation systems for the analysis of autonomy in logistics with an agent-based and a discrete event approach are presented. Both systems are designed and suitable for different aspects of autonomous logistic processes.

It has been perceived wisdom that where an organisation is undertaking a portfolio of projects, they should use a common approach to the management of all projects in the programme. Presumed benefits include comparable progress reporting, and consistent calculation of resource requirements enabling sharing of resources. People can also move freely between projects without having to learn a new management approach. Download full-size image John H Payne holds a Master of Science degree in Project Management, awarded by Brunel University, in conjunction with Henley Management College. His current research interest is multi-project management. He has been involved in terrestrial and aviation communications projects in the UK and internationally for thirty years. During this time his work has taken him to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, and both North and South America. He is currently Contracts Director of Line Management Group Ltd, specialists in voice and data network infrastructure. He is also deeply involved in training and is a member of the UK national steering group for the T elecommunications Modern Apprenticeship Scheme, T EMAS.

This paper explores the concept of strategic performance measurement in SMEs. To provide some depth and breadth for the investigation the research was structured into two phases. The fIrst phase of the research focused on identifying whether SMEs develop and use strategic performance measures. A survey of eight SMEs, in the south west of England, was undertaken using semi-structured interviews. The second phase involved a more in-depth study and was based on observing the introduction of a strategic performance measurement system in a small company. The results gained to date indicate that SMEs have a good understanding of fmancial measurement, and are moving towards customer focused measures. However, these measures typically lack strategic alignment and many may be questioned in regard of their value for business improvement. The observations made during phase two of the research, the development of a new strategic performance measurement system in an SME, indicated the potential planning and control benefIts from the design process that was utilised. However, particular diffIculties were evident in the development and implementation of the K. Mertins et al. (eds.

Today's highly dynamic market with its rapid changing demand requires highly dynamic order processing in very flexible production systems. Most conventional production planning and control methods do not support such fast-moving activities. A dynamical approach is introduced for modelling and control of production systems. It was developed from concepts of the Nonlinear Dynamics Theory. Manufacturing processes as well as planning and control mechanisms are seen as one unit toward the establishment of a dynamical system. The dynamical approach includes an analysis of the dynamic behaviour of the production system as well as the control of the manufacturing process by a continuous adjustment because of changes or disturbances in the environment or in the production system itself.

Due to the dynamic and structural complexity of today's logistics systems and networks, central planning and control of logistic processes becomes increasingly difficult. Thus, decentralised and autonomous control of logistic processes is required. Based on recent IC technologies such as RFID and wireless communication networks, intelligent items, which can communicate and coordinate each other, are possible. These technological developments require novel concepts and strategies to implement autonomy in logistic processes. This paper sketches the vision of autonomy in logistics, describes the new demands on autonomous logistic processes and introduces a new German Collaborative Research Centre, which investigates autonomy as a new control paradigm for logistic processes.

Real time machine tool control and the planning activities which precede manufacture are usually interfaced through a low level language which allows little more than position, feed, and speed information to be passed between the two systems. The higher level systems used to describe geometry and tool paths also lack an adequate capability to describe manufacturing processes. The authors discuss the provision of a much richer interface between the planning and control activities which both facilitates the identification and scheduling of suitable monitoring tasks and allows the updating of process plan data from real time measurements. The result of such integration is an improvement in the efficiency of real time optimisation, and perhaps most importantly the possibility of quasi real time process planning. A system that is able to perform both initial process planning and plan refinement based upon low level feedback must also encompass the path generation activity, such a system is referred to by the authors as a dynamic process planning system. The paper describes the fundamentals of the process models, identification algorithms, control strategies, and low level process plan generation used within such an integrated system.

A new approach to the motion planning problems of mobile robots in uncertain dynamic environments based on the behavior dynamics is proposed. The fundamental behavior of a mobile robot in motion planning, which is regarded as a dynamic process of the interaction between the robot and its local environment, is modeled and controlled for the motion planning purpose. The behavior dynamics is the law in a dynamic process that the involved objects must obey, and it is controlled by the robot's dynamics. Based on the control of the behavior dynamics, the dynamic motion-planning problem of the mobile robots is transformed into a control problem of the integrated planning-and-control system. No restrictions are assumed on the shape and trajectories of obstacles. Collision avoidance between multiple mobile robots can also be realized. The stability of the integrated planning-and-control system can be easily guaranteed. Simulations illustrate our results. [Nature and Science. 2004;2(4):57-64].

Robotics is rapidly expanding into the human environment and vigorously staying engaged in its emerging challenges. From a largely dominant industrial focus, robotics has undergone, by the turn of the new millennium, a major transformation in scope and dimensions. This expansion has been brought about by the maturity of the field and the advances in its related technologies to address the pressing needs for human-centered robotic applications. Interacting, exploring, and working with humans, the new generation of robots will increasingly touch people and their lives, in homes, workplaces, and communities, providing support in services, entertainment, education, manufacturing, personal health care, and assistance. The successful introduction of robots in human environments will rely on the development of competent and practical systems that are dependable, safe, and easy to use. This presentation focuses on the efforts to develop human-friendly robotic systems that combine the essential characteristics of safety, human-compatibility, and performance with emphasis on (i) new design concepts and novel sensing modalities; (ii) efficient planning and whole-body robot control strategies; and (iii) robotic-based synthesis of human motion and skills.

Background: Geographical and temporal diffusion patterns of a human pandemic due to Swine Origin Influenza Virus (S-OIV) remain uncertain. The extent to which national and international pandemic preparedness plans and control strategies can slow or stop the process is not known. However, despite preparedness efforts, it appears that, particularly in the USA, Mexico, Canada and the UK, local chains of virus transmission can sustain autonomous dynamics which may lead to the next pandemic. Forecasts of influenza experts usually rely on information related to new circulating strains. Methods: We attempted to quantify the possible spread of the pandemic across a network of 52 major cities and to predict the effect of vaccination against the pandemic strain, if available. Predictions are based on simulations from a stochastic SEIR model. Parameters used in the simulations are set to values consistent with recent estimations from the outbreak in Mexico. Results: We show that a two-wave pandemic dynamic may be observed in Southern hemisphere because of seasonal constraints for a maximum value of the basic reproductive number (R 0, max) within a city equal to 1.5 and a mean generation interval (GI) of 2 days. In this case and in the absence of vaccination, attack rates may reach 46% when considering a completely susceptible population. More severe scenarios characterized by higher values of R 0, max (2.2) and GI (3.1) yield an attack rate of 77%. By extrapolation, we find that mass vaccination in all countries (i.e. up to 50% of the population) implemented 6 months after the start of the pandemic may reduce the cumulative number of cases by 91% in the case of the low transmissible strain (R 0, max = 1.5). This relative reduction is only 44% for R 0, max = 2.2 since most of the cases occur in the first 6 months and so before the vaccination campaign. Conclusion: Although uncertainties remain about the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the new influenza strain, this study provides the first analysis of the potential spread of the pandemic and first assessment of the impact of different immunization strategies. Background Within 15 days of the WHO's raising the pandemic threat level to 6, more countries are affected by the new Swine Origin Influenza Virus (S-OIV) further raising concerns that S-OIV may be the next pandemic influenza strain. Active autonomous chains of transmission have been reported in several countries, such as Mexico, the USA, Canada, Spain and the UK. Most information about the

In this paper, we show that the planning and decision-support capabilities of the MPC (Manufacturing Planning and Control) system, which forms the core of any ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) package, may be substantively enhanced by including a Decision Support Module (DSM) as an add-on at the midterm planning level. This DSM, called Advanced Resource Planning (ARP), serves as parameter setting process as well as tool for improving the structure of the ERP system itself. The ultimate goal of the DSM is to yield realistic information both for scheduling, sales and marketing, strategic and operational decision making and suppliers and customers.

Considering the fundamental economic changes that are taking place in our nation, in which we find ourselves in transition from resource "fat" to resource "lean" conditions, it is not surprising that there should be a rekindled interest in planning and control techniques that will enable us to preclude suboptimization, or dissipation of our resources.

Based on the remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) analysis of the Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) and thematic mapper (TM) satellite images of 1983, 1993, and 2005, the present research examined the effectiveness of the urban construction boundaries (UCBs) in containing urban growth within the 6th Ring Road of Beijing Municipality. Three indicators on boundary control were proposed, through which the effectiveness of boundary containment, land inventory sufficiency and illegal adjacent development to the UCBs were explored. The results suggested that, first, the UCBs were limited in effectiveness in containing urban growth; second, the area encompassed by the UCBs might not be designed large enough to accommodate new development. The frustration of the urban growth control through the UCBs mainly resulted from the lack of a transparent system for urban land use planning and control to provide sufficient information, the limitation of the traditional land use prediction method to consider contingencies, and the absence of a mechanism to monitor and adjust the UCBs to respond just in time to urban change.

Modelling of machining operations is a key issue in today's manufacturing. Reliable and effective models are needed in order to plan and control machining processes. The paper gives a short overview of modelling approaches frequently used in manufacturing with emphasis on the workpiece quality. Classical, e.g. differential equation-based techniques focus on the special aspects of machining (e.g. cutting forces, temperature,

We provide a comprehensive overview of the typical decisions to be made in resource capacity planning and control in health care, and a structured review of relevant articles from the field of Operations Research and Management Sciences (OR/MS) for each planning decision. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, to position the planning decisions, a taxonomy is presented. This taxonomy provides health care managers and OR/MS researchers with a method to identify, break down and classify planning and control decisions. Second, following the taxonomy, for six health care services, we provide an exhaustive specification of planning and control decisions in resource capacity planning and control. For each planning and control decision, we structurally review the key OR/MS articles and the OR/MS methods and techniques that are applied in the literature to support decision making.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM) represent important information technology investment options for operation or IT managers, and have been acclaimed in the practitioner and academic literature for their potential to improve business performance. The purpose of this article is to provide further insights into the adoption of ERP systems and the impacts on firm competence in SCM. We propose a model featuring ERP benefits to firm competences in supply chain management. We also hypothesize that three constructs of ERP benefits positively impact firm competences in SCM. To clarify the relationships among these constructs, structural equation model (SEM) is conducted to examine the model fit and nine hypotheses. The SEM results clearly demonstrate that there exist close interrelations among the benefits of implementing ERP systems and firm competences in SCM. The data from Taiwanese IT firms was collected through interviewing of experts and surveys. The results provide empirical evidence that the beneficial impacts of ERP on the supply chain do lead to better overall SCM competence. That evidence confirms that operational benefits, business process and management benefits, and strategic IT planning benefits of ERP in turn enhance firm competences of SCM in operational process integration, customer and relationship integration, and planning and control process integration.

Background: Research on multisensory integration during natural tasks such as reach-to-grasp is still in its infancy. Crossmodal links between vision, proprioception and audition have been identified, but how olfaction contributes to plan and control reach-to-grasp movements has not been decisively shown. We used kinematics to explicitly test the influence of olfactory stimuli on reach-to-grasp movements. Methodology/Principal Findings: Subjects were requested to reach towards and grasp a small or a large visual target (i.e., precision grip, involving the opposition of index finger and thumb for a small size target and a power grip, involving the flexion of all digits around the object for a large target) in the absence or in the presence of an odour evoking either a small or a large object that if grasped would require a precision grip and a whole hand grasp, respectively. When the type of grasp evoked by the odour did not coincide with that for the visual target, interference effects were evident on the kinematics of hand shaping and the level of synergies amongst fingers decreased. When the visual target and the object evoked by the odour required the same type of grasp, facilitation emerged and the intrinsic relations amongst individual fingers were maintained. Conclusions/Significance: This study demonstrates that olfactory information contains highly detailed information able to elicit the planning for a reach-to-grasp movement suited to interact with the evoked object. The findings offer a substantial contribution to the current debate about the multisensory nature of the sensorimotor transformations underlying grasping.

With the increase in globalization, integration of world markets, and rise in the concept of transnational corporations, the importance of project management has increased many folds. An efficient project management helps new enterprises to achieve competitiveness, speed of response, and closeness to customer demands by improving their flexibility and agility, while maintaining their productivity and quality. But for project management to be successful in the new competitive and dynamic environment management, systems should incorporate new characteristics. In these circumstances, the current challenge is to develop information and control systems for project management that exhibit intelligence, robustness and adaptation to the environment changes and disturbances. The introduction of multi-agent systems paradigms addresses these requirements, bringing the advantages of distribution, autonomy, scalability and re-usability. This paper proposes a distributed information and control system for project portfolio management that integrates strategic issues, planning and control into a community of software agents.

Humanoid robots are expected to share human environments in the future and it is important to ensure safety of their operation. A serious threat to safety is the fall of a humanoid robot, which can seriously damage both the robot and objects in its surrounding. This paper proposes a strategy for planning and control of fall. The controller's objective is to prevent the robot from hitting surrounding objects during a fall by modifying its default fall direction. We have earlier presented such a direction-changing fall controller in [1]. However, the controller was applicable only when the robot's surrounding contained a single object. In this paper we introduce a generalized approach to humanoid falldirection control among multiple objects. This new framework algorithmically establishes a desired fall direction through assigned scores, considers a number of control options, and selects and executes the best strategy. The fall planner is also able to select "No Action" as the best strategy, if appropriate. The controller is interactive and is applicable for fall occurring during upright standing or walking. The fall performance is continuously tracked and can be improved in real-time. The planning and control algorithms are demonstrated in simulation on an ASIMO-like humanoid robot.

Humanoid robots are expected to share human environments in the future and it is important to ensure safety of their operation. A serious threat to safety is the fall of a humanoid robot, which can seriously damage both the robot and objects in its surrounding. This paper proposes a strategy for planning and control of fall. The controller's objective is to prevent the robot from hitting surrounding objects during a fall by modifying its default fall direction. We have earlier presented such a direction-changing fall controller in [1]. However, the controller was applicable only when the robot's surrounding contained a single object. In this paper we introduce a generalized approach to humanoid falldirection control among multiple objects. This new framework algorithmically establishes a desired fall direction through assigned scores, considers a number of control options, and selects and executes the best strategy. The fall planner is also able to select "No Action" as the best strategy, if appropriate. The controller is interactive and is applicable for fall occurring during upright standing or walking. The fall performance is continuously tracked and can be improved in real-time. The planning and control algorithms are demonstrated in simulation on an ASIMO-like humanoid robot.

Since its beginning, simulation has been used to study complex systems in order to infer on their future behavior, in this field several applications have been made using it as off-line tool for strategic level choices. In modern application, especially in the field of industrial automation, on-line simulation has been extensively used for supporting operative decision trough a classical schedulesimulate loop. The paper presents an application of on-line simulation to the distribution logistics sector: a department store is here controlled by on-line simulators able to help decision maker to decide how many counters to kept opened or how many people to use for shelves replenishment. Since this exercise could seriously affect the performances of a real life department store, the methodology is, in fact, very sensible to parameter settings, a nested simulator has been implemented and used for algorithm fine tuning and critical parameter choice.

Objectives To assess the feasibility and accuracy of frameless stereotactic two-dimensional Xuoroscopy-assisted guide pin (GP) placement in posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) reconstruction in human cadavers. Materials and methods A total of 13 pins were placed in 7 cadaver specimens, using a Xuoroscopic-based navigation technique. The knees were Wxed noninvasively on a carbon baseplate. Interventions were planned on intraoperatively acquired perpendicular Xuoroscopic images. A stereotactic aiming device was mounted to the carbon baseplate and adjusted according to the planned trajectories. GPs were advanced through the aiming device to the precalculated depth. GP positions were veriWed by image fusion of the Xuoroscopic planning and control data, respectively. Measurements were scored on three occasions by one independent observer. In order to assess interobserver reliability, measurements were scored by two further independent observers on one occasion. Results The femoral cohort included seven GP placements in seven cadavers. Mean GP placement accuracy according to plan was 1.3 mm (SD 0.9 mm, range 0.3-3.8 mm) at the target point. The recorded femoral angular misalignment of GPs was 1.1° (SD 0.9°, range 0.2°-3.3°). The tibial cohort included six GP placements in six cadav-ers. Mean GP placement accuracy according to the plan was 1.8 mm (SD 2.1 mm, range 0.3-9.5 mm). The recorded tibial angular misalignment of GPs was 1.4° (SD 1.1°, range 0.1°-5°). Navigated GP implantation, as planned, was optimal in six out of seven cases in the femoral cohort and in four out of six cases in the tibial cohort. Conclusion Our preliminary cadaver study suggests that the use of Xuoroscopic-based navigation combined with a stereotactic targeting device may be a helpful tool to improve PCL reconstruction. In addition, this method may also be used for other minimal invasive skeletal interventions.

An active kinesthetic-to-visual matching task was performed by 15 children aged 5-10 years and Wve young adults. The task required the participants to locate the target visually while performing center-out drawing movements to the located visual targets in the absence of visual feedback of hand/pen motion. Movement time (MT), terminal end-point position error (EPE), and initial directional error (IDE) were measured. The general Wnding is that the end-point error variability, representing the joint localization probability distributions for proprioceptive localization of the hand and visual localization of the target, was largest for the youngest children, but did not diVer from one another for the older age groups. The localization distributions, as characterized by principal component analysis, showed that both errors in extent and direction were signiWcantly larger in the youngest children. These error distributions could not be accounted for by initial localization errors prior to movement onset in the children. It is likely that at least some portion of the increased movement variability seen during sensorimotor development in young children can be attributed not only to immature control mechanisms per se, but also to partial, not yet stable, forward representations for hand localization which are used for movement perception, planning, and control.

Over the last decade, there has been an interest in the impact of visual illusions on the control of action. Much of this work has been motivated by Milner and Goodale's two visual system model of visual processing. This model is based on a hypothesized dissociation between cognitive judgments and the visual control of action. It holds that action is immune to the visual context that provides the basis for the illusion-induced bias associated with cognitive judgments. Recently, Glover has challenged this position and has suggested that movement planning, but not movement execution is susceptible to visual illusions. Research from our lab is inconsistent with both models of visual-motor processing. With respect to the planning and control model, kinematic evidence shows that the impact of an illusion on manual aiming increases as the limb approaches the target. For the Ebbinghaus illusion, this involved a decrease in the time after peak velocity to accommodate the 'perceived' size of the target. For the Müller-Lyer illusion, the inXuence of the Wgure's tails increased from peak velocity to the end of the movement. Although our Wndings contradict a strong version of the two visual systems hypothesis, we did Wnd dissociations between perception and action in another experiment. In this Müller-Lyer study, perceptual decisions were inXuenced by misjudgment of extent, while action was inXuenced by misjudgment of target position. Overall, our Wndings are consistent with the idea that it is often necessary to use visual context to make adjustments to ongoing movements.

Due to increased competition, semiconductor manufacturing has received considerable research attention over the last few decades. As a result, several optimisation and heuristic solution procedures are available to solve a variety of operational planning and control problems arising in semiconductor wafer manufacturing. This paper provides a glimpse into the evolution of the operational planning and control problems in semiconductor wafer production and possible approaches for their solution. It briefly introduces the current operational planning and control problems being solved and the approaches being taken to solve them (optimally or approximately). The paper concludes with some fruitful directions for future research.

We examined whether deficits in planning and control during a manual collision avoidance task in children with hemiparesis are associated with damage to the left or right hemisphere (LHD and RHD). Children pushed a doll across a scale-size road between two approaching toy cars. Movement onset and velocity served as indicators of planning and control. In Experiment 1, children with hemiparesis collided more frequently, and controlled velocity less appropriately compared to typically-developing children. Children with LHD initiated their movement later than children with RHD. Experiment 2 compared the preferred and non-preferred hand of children with LHD and RHD. Children with RHD crossed less with their non-preferred hand, while children with LHD initiated later than children with RHD. Moreover, the groups showed differences in velocity control. It is argued that planning deficits may be related to LHD. The hypothesized association between control deficits and RHD, however, was not c...

This paper is an attempt to audit the existing maintenance situation in government and private hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The results, based on a sample of hospitals from Jeddah and Taif cities, give some insights into the overall working of hospitals and the comparative working between government and private hospitals. On the basis of all hospitals combined it is found that generally maintenance staff have formal vocational qualifications and are provided training facilities. The system of working includes both preventive and breakdown maintenance and is fairly well developed. Maintenance facilities are of standard nature and various maintenance reports are prepared. Most of the hospitals have maintenance planning and control offices. The more serious problems faced are nonavailability of spares, shortage of technical manpower and lack of funds. On a comparative basis, government hospitals employ more maintenance staff, have better training facilities, do more preventive maintenance, have a more organized system of working and prepare more maintenance reports.

This paper describes the system design developed for Team Gator Nation's submission to the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. A hybrid Toyota Highlander has been automated and instrumented with pose estimation (GPS and inertial) and object detection (vision and ladar) sensors. The control architecture consists of four primary elements, i.e. Planning Element, Perception Element, Intelligence Element, and Control Element. The Intelligence Element implements the Adaptive Planning Framework developed by researchers at the University of Florida. This framework provides a means for situation assessment, behavior mode evaluation, and behavior selection and execution. The architecture is implemented on a system distributed over ten dual-core computers that intercommunicate via the Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) version 3.2 protocol. This work's primary contribution addresses the technical challenges of (a) the reconciliation of differences in estimated global pose, a priori data, and sensed information, (b) the determination of the appropriate behavior mode, and (c) the smooth transition of vehicle control between behavior modes. The processes that perform these tasks as well as the other necessary processes that perform perception, data integration, planning, and control are described in detail together with their design rationale. Finally, testing results accomplished to date are presented. Nomenclature

Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) can be used to model complex control problems that include both action outcome uncertainty and imperfect observability. A control problem within the POMDP framework is expressed as a dynamic optimization problem with a value function that combines costs or rewards from multiple steps. Although the POMDP framework is more expressive than other simpler frameworks, like Markov decision processes (MDP), its associated optimization methods are more demanding computationally and only very small problems can be solved exactly in practice. Our work focuses on two possible approaches that can be used to solve larger problems: approximation methods and exploitation of additional problem structure. First, a number of new e cient approximation methods and improvements of existing algorithms are proposed. These include (1) the fast informed bound method based on approximate dynamic programming updates that lead to piecewise linear and convex value functions with a constant n umber of linear vectors, (2) a grid-based point i n terpolation method that supports variable grids, (3) an incremental version of the linear vector method that updates value function derivatives, as we l l a s (4) v arious heuristics for selecting grid-points. The new and existing methods are experimentally tested and compared on a set of three in nite discounted horizon problems of di erent complexity. The experimental results show that methods that preserve the shape of the value function over updates, such as the newly designed incremental linear vector and fast informed bound methods, tend to outperform other methods on the control performance test. Second, we present a n umber of techniques for exploiting additional structure in the model of complex control problems. These are studied as applied to a medical therapy planning problem|the management of patients with chronic ischemic heart disease. The new extensions proposed include factored and hierarchically structured models that combine the advantages of the POMDP and MDP frameworks and cut down the size and complexity of the information state space.

Land development in the United States is following two routes: expansion of urban areas and large-lot development (greater than 1 acre per house) in rural areas. Urban expansion claimed more than 1 million acres per year between 1960 and 1990, yet is not seen as a threat to most farming, although it may reduce production of some high-value or specialty crops. The consequences of continued large-lot development may be less sanguine, since it consumes much more land per unit of housing than the typical suburb. Controlling growth and planning for it are the domains of State and local governments. The Federal Government may be able to help them in such areas as building capacity to plan and control growth, providing financial incentives for channeling growth in desirable directions, or coordinating local, regional, and State efforts.

El estudio muestra la caracterización mineralógica y física de los productos obtenidos durante el proceso de Reducción Carbotérmica (RC) de la molibdenita (MoS2). Los resultados mineralógicos del concentrado de molibdenita indican también la presencia de bornita, calcopirita y calcosita. El grado de liberación de la molibdenita resulta ser tan solo de 87.3%, mientras que el restante (12.7%) se encuentra entrelazado. Se encontró que a 900ºC se produce mejor reacción con la relación molar MoS2: C: CaO formándose otras fases cristalinas como CaMoO4, CaSO4, Ca(CO)3 y CaO aparte de la fase CaS, que se esperaba. Además, se observó que el incremento de la temperatura y disminución del tamaño de la partícula mejoran la cinética de reducción carbotérmica de la molibdenita

This paper proposes a novel robust attitude estimation algorithm for a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the absence of GPS measurements. A synthetic sideslip angle (SSA) measurement formulated for use under the zero-angle assumption is newly proposed for a UAV without angle-of-attack (AOA)/SSA sensors to enhance the state estimation performance during a GPS outage. In addition, the nongravitational acceleration is estimated using the proposed Kalman filter and is then subtracted from the raw acceleration to yield a reliable gravity estimate. Then, a fuzzy-logic-aided adaptive measurement covariance matching algorithm is devised to adaptively reduce the weight given to disturbed acceleration and magnetic field measurements in the attitude estimation, yielding the fuzzy adaptive error-state Kalman filter (FAESKF) algorithm. Experimental flight results demonstrate that the proposed FAESKF algorithm achieves a remarkable improvement in attitude estimation compared to the conventional algorithm.

This paper discusses a decision support system based on fuzzy set techniques and tree search for movement planning in freight rail networks. The aim is to provide a decision making toot to help train dispatchers to plan and control rail traffic in real time. The system uses fuzzy rule-based decision procedures to drive train circulation as closed as possible to reference trajectories. A tree search algorithm is used to improve solution quality. A major characteristic of the system concerns its ability to provide feasible movement plans in real time. Incorporation of practical knowledge and real time response are essential requirements in real world freight railroads traffic management and control.

The objective of the DEMOS project (Democratic Planning and Control in Working Life) is the development of knowledge about planning, control and computer use. It is based upon the interests of workers and their trade unions and consists of two parts. The first is the study and analysis of corporate planning, control and computer use in cooperation with investigative groups in selected local unions, simultaneously testing trade union procedures in investigations. The second part relates to the development of alternative theories and research methods which differ from the current, dominating perspective. The project is expected to be of significance to continued interdisciplinary research on working life with a trade union connection. The results can be of use in trade union negotiations and judgements, both centrally and locally, and constitute a basis for educational materials both for unions and for state schools.

Elderly people have particular needs in performing bathing activities, since these tasks require body flexibility. Our aim is to build an assistive robotic bath system, in order to increase the independence and safety of this procedure. Towards this end, the expertise of professional carers for bathing sequences and appropriate motions has to be adopted, in order to achieve natural, physical human-robot interaction. In this paper, a real-time end-effector motion planning method for an assistive bath robot, using on-line Point-Cloud information, is proposed. The visual feedback obtained from Kinect depth sensor is employed to adapt suitable washing paths to the user's body part motion and deformable surface. We make use of a navigation function-based controller, with guarantied globally uniformly asymptotic stability, and bijective transformations for the adaptation of the paths. Experiments were conducted with a rigid rectangular object for validation purposes, while a female subject took part to the experiment in order to evaluate and demonstrate the basic concepts of the proposed methodology.

Flexible production is able to respond to a changing production system. To efficiently optimize a changed production layout and configuration, a modelling and optimization method based on discrete event simulation (DES) was proposed. A mathematical optimization model of the workshop layout was formulated and solved using a genetic algorithm (GA). In addition, a general modelling method for workshop logistics processes using DES was proposed to efficiently develop a simulation model of the complex production processes. Moreover, the simulation model of the entire production process was constructed using the Plant Simulation software package, and more production factors were considered and optimized. After the optimization process, the logistics volume decreased by 63.5 %, and the throughput increased by 42.0 %. Additionally, the production process was optimized, and the optimal equipment allocation, worker allocation, buffer allocation, and logistics vehicle allocation were determined. Our work can provide decision guidance and simulation validation for workshop planning.

Competence management is used today for different purposes: company and project staffing, competence detection and competence development for single persons, whole companies or virtual organisations. We have developed a university competence management system enabling students to plan and control their further study based on their current competence profile. The final profile can be used for job applications. In this paper we describe experience made in a special university course on software project management capturing and developing students' competencies relevant in this area. This approach would be applicable also in commercial software projects. We present the first approach, its implementation and evaluation before we propose an extended version.

Pushing is one of many object manipulation strategies that requires interaction with the environment. Many force control approaches have been proposed for such manipulation. In a force controller implementation for a humanoid robot, however, there is no fixed base. If the required reaction force is greater than the humanoid robot can support, the robot will lose its balance. This paper presents a method to expand these force limits by changing a humanoid robot's posture. Based on Double Inverted Pendulum (DIP) model, the force limitation that the humanoid robot can support is calculated. With a feet-apart strategy and whole-body posture, a method is proposed to maximize the force limitation under the condition that the height of the target object is constant. Finally, comparison of simulation and experimental data validates the approach.

This paper introduces the statistical error modeling approach for a computercontrolled large-scale manipulator (LSM). The LSM is sufficiently representative of several types of construction equipment to be able to serve as a general test bed. In the analysis, three factors which are measurable in real time: distance, hydraulic pressure, and payload, were varied to determine their influence on position errors in the LSM. It was shown that with an integrated multi-variable regression model, about 30% of the mean positioning error of the LSM can be reduced without the mid of fixed external reference systems.

Construction equipment is rapidly being retrofitted with robotic capabilities for improved control and safety. To operate this equipment effectively, an operator must constantly relocate the equipment and position objects within the work environment. Current commercially available equipment technology does not provide real-time information to the operator and requires costly and computationally intensive computer hardware and software. A man-machine balanced rapid local area modeling technique is developed in this research and implemented on a large scale hydraulic manipulator. Through experimentation, this study showed that the man-machine balanced technique can significantly reduce modeling time and accuracy and therefore improve the control and operation of automated equipment.

The authors calculate the steady-state availability and the cost-benefit analysis for three different systems with mixed standby (cold standby, warm standby) and imperfect coverage. The coverage factor is the same for an operative-unit failure as that for a warm standby-unit failure. The failure times of the operative unit and the warm standby unit are exponentially distributed while the repair time is arbitrarily distributed. The supplementary variable technique is applied to derive the steady-state availability for three different configurations. For each system, the steady-state availability is calculated according to two different cases for repair time distributions, such as exponential, and k-stage Erlang, where k = 2, 3. The configurations are compared as based on availability and cost/benefit at a special numerical value given to the distribution parameters.

Over recent years there has been an increase in global competition , particularly within manufacturing. Many firms faced with increased competition from foreign firms have sought to enhance their competitiveness by employing total quality management (TQM). An important concern in the implementation of TQM is the extent to which TQM should be developed together with managerial performance evaluation systems employing measures of the manufacturing processes. It is argued in this paper that the potential for TQM to enhance the profitability of companies is enhanced when managers are evaluated by using direct measures of manufacturing. The results of a survey of 39 organizational units provided support for the proposition that enhanced performance will be associated with the interaction between well developed TQM programmes and a reliance on manufacturing performance measures. Specifically , higher performance was associated with the combination of TQM and a reliance on manufacturing performance measures compared to TQM without such measures .

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate management accounting research in developing countries and formulate suggestions for its progression.Design/methodology/approachThis is a desk based study of existing literature analysed through a framework of management control transformation in developing countries derived from the authors' research.FindingsResearch is growing, especially on accounting in state‐owned and privatised enterprises but more is needed on small and micro enterprises, agriculture, non‐governmental organisations, and transnational institutions.Originality/valueThis is the first review of this area and thus should help intending and existing scholars.