Academic literature on the topic 'Internal Rating-Based Approach'

Credit Rating Agencies rate firms and countries by internal experts but with a final qualitative judgment by their management acting as decision makers. These ratings on their turn influence the countries credit rating and ipso facto of their enterprises. The work of the CRA is in fact double: credit rating of firms and other organizations at one side and countries on the other. Considering the credit rating of firms, the CRA made significant mistakes during the Recession 2007−2009 and their judgment is too much American oriented, in any way from a European point of view. Consequently, in Europe many efforts were made to come to a new agency, but all efforts failed. It could be different for the rating of countries. Is a more scientific approach, eventually on a quantitative and structural basis, not possible? Therefore, MULTIMOORA, a quantitative method, is suggested. The study was made for all countries of the European Continent. Based on data available in 2013 and on their extrapolation, the results are quite comparable to the results of Standard & Poor’s Credit Rating System of the moment. As the classifications of Moody’s and Fitch are very similar to those of Standard & Poor’s the outcome would be similar for these other Credit Rating Agencies.

Subject. This article deals with the issues related to the region's competitiveness. Objectives. The article aims to develop a situational approach to managing the region's competitiveness. Methods. For the study, we used a qualitative analysis, generalization, and the rating method Results. The article proposes an algorithm for making management decisions based on ratings and a structured scale of the competitiveness targets of the Russian Federation subject's economy. It also offers certain recommendations on the use of the proposed management tools in shaping the Samara Oblast's active competitiveness policy. Conclusions. Situational variables as part of the external and internal environment factors of the region's economy help choose the means of professional management. Management decisions based on ratings can contribute to the development of competitiveness policies of the subjects of the Russian Federation at a higher level of efficiency.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance (CG) implementation rating conducted by the Indonesian Institute for Corporate Governance (IICG) on the financial performance of the selected companies. Design/methodology/approach This paper is a hypothesis testing study to analyze CG implementation of 88 firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange. The samples are companies that participated in the Corporate Governance Perception Index (CGPI) Awards in 2008-2012. A panel data regression analysis is conducted on the data collected from IICG reports and its financial statements. Findings The awareness regarding good corporate governance (GCG) enforcement in Indonesian companies has already increased. The listed companies that participated in CGPI Awards during 2008-2012 always experience an increase in both quantity and quality. CG rating of go-public companies in Indonesia affects their accounting-based financial performance, such as return on assets, return on equity and earnings per share. However, CG implementation rating is not directly responded by the Indonesian stock market and has not yet been able to increase the company’s growth in the short term. Research limitations/implications In this study, CGPI rating in a related year is linked to market performance in the same year. Thus, further research may link CGPI rating to market performance in the next year, as the findings of this study show that GCG implementation is not directly responded by the market. Practical implications GCG implementation is required by stakeholders, as it may give a long-term positive impact. Thus, the government needs to stipulate regulations to increase the commitment of the company in implementing GCG. The company can improve the internal factors of the organization that does not support the establishment of GCG based on the findings during the survey of CGPI. Finally, investors and creditors may consider the CGPI rating for their investment decisions. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, this study uses the comprehensive CG rating in Indonesia. Previous studies on CG rating focused on internal mechanism; in this study, the rating was assessed using four stages of continuous assessment: self-assessment, document evaluation, paper assessment and company visit, which was conducted by an independent team. Second, this study uses the CG index (compliance, conformance and performance) associated with a variety of accounting-based and market-based performance variables: financial performance, market value and growth.

With the coming into force of the standard IFRS 9 – Financial Instruments, in January 2018, financial institutions passed from an incurred loss model to a forward-looking model for the computation of impairment losses. As such, the IFRS 9 models use point-in-time, estimates of Probability of Default and Loss Given Default and provide a more faithful representation of the credit risk at a given as they are based on past experiences as well as the most recent and forecasted economic conditions. However, given the short-term fluctuations in the macroeconomic conditions, the final outcome of the Expected credit loss models is highly volatile due to their sensitivity to the business cycle. With regard to Probability of Default estimation under IFRS 9, the most commonly methods are: Markov Chains, Survival Analysis and single-factor models (Vasicek and Z-Shift). The development of the score-cards is still the same as in the case of the Internal Ratings Based Probability of Default models, encouraging institutions to use the already available credit rating systems and perform adjustment to the calibration. This paper outlines a non-exhaustive list of quantitative validation tests would satisfy the requirements of the IFRS 9 standard.

Credit capital requirement is a key component of Basel implementation to assess a bank’s capital adequacy. Under the Internal Rating-Based approach, some risk parameters, including Asset Correlation, are implicit assumptions that cannot be observed directly. While some heuristic formulae of Asset Correlation for different business segments are provided by Basel, they may not be fully consistent with each bank’s loss experience and thus may cause systematic underestimation of banks’ capital requirement. To address this issue, we derive an equivalent capital formula in such way that the unobservable Asset Correlation is replaced by an observable and well-understood parameter called Default Volatility, which can be calibrated based on banks’ historical loss experience. This new approach simplifies parameter estimation process without requiring additional data, as well as making risk analysis such as stress testing more credible.

Compliance management for procurement internal auditing has been a major challenge for public sectors due to its tedious period of manual audit history and large-scale paper-based repositories. Many practical issues and potential risks arise during the manual audit process, including a low level of efficiency, accuracy, accountability, high expense and its laborious and time consuming nature. To alleviate these problems, this paper proposes a continuous compliance awareness framework (CoCAF). It is defined as an AI-based automated approach to conduct procurement compliance auditing. CoCAF is used to automatically and timely audit an organisation’s purchases by intelligently understanding compliance policies and extracting the required information from purchasing evidence using text extraction technologies, automatic processing methods and a report rating system. Based on the auditing results, the CoCAF can provide a continuously updated report demonstrating the compliance level of the procurement with statistics and diagrams. The CoCAF is evaluated on a real-life procurement data set, and results show that it can process 500 purchasing pieces of evidence within five minutes and provide 95.6% auditing accuracy, demonstrating its high efficiency, quality and assurance level in procurement internal audit.

Introduction. Medical simulators are used for assessing clinical skills and increasingly for testing hypotheses. We developed and tested an approach for assessing performance in anesthesia residents using screen-based simulation that ensures expert raters remain blinded to subject identity and experimental condition.Methods. Twenty anesthesia residents managed emergencies in an operating room simulator by logging actions through a custom graphical user interface. Two expert raters rated performance based on these entries using custom Global Rating Scale (GRS) and Crisis Management Checklist (CMC) instruments. Interrater reliability was measured by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and internal consistency of the instruments was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha. Agreement between GRS and CMC was measured using Spearman rank correlation (SRC).Results. Interrater agreement (GRS: ICC = 0.825, CMC: ICC = 0.878) and internal consistency (GRS: alpha = 0.838, CMC: alpha = 0.886) were good for both instruments. Subscale analysis indicated that several instrument items can be discarded. GRS and CMC scores were highly correlated (SRC = 0.948).Conclusions. In this pilot study, we demonstrated that screen-based simulation can allow blinded assessment of performance. GRS and CMC instruments demonstrated good rater agreement and internal consistency. We plan to further test construct validity of our instruments by measuring performance in our simulator as a function of training level.

Purpose: The validated Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) score is used for evaluating laparoscopic surgical performance. It consists of two subscores, a Global Rating Scale (GRS) and a Specific Technical Skills (STS) scale. The OSATS has accepted construct validity for direct observation ratings by experts to discriminate between trainees' levels of experience. Expert time is scarce. Endoscopic video recordings would facilitate assessment with the OSATS. We aimed to compare video OSATS with direct OSATS. Methods: We included 79 participants with different levels of experience [58 medical students, 15 junior residents (novices), and 6 experts]. Performance of a cadaveric porcine laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) was evaluated with OSATS by blinded expert raters by direct observation and then as an endoscopic video recording. Operative time was recorded. Results: Direct OSATS rating and video OSATS rating correlated significantly (ρ = 0.33, p = 0.005). Significant construct validity was found for direct OSATS in distinguishing between students or novices and experts. Students and novices were not different in direct OSATS or video OSATS. Mean operative times varied for students (73.4 ± 9.0 min), novices (65.2 ± 22.3 min), and experts (46.8 ± 19.9 min). Internal consistency was high between the GRS and STS subscores for both direct and video OSATS with Cronbach's α of 0.76 and 0.86, respectively. Video OSATS and operative time in combination was a better predictor of direct OSATS than each single parameter. Conclusion: Direct OSATS rating was better than endoscopic video rating for differentiating between students or novices and experts for LC and should remain the standard approach for the discrimination of experience levels. However, in the absence of experts for direct rating, video OSATS supplemented with operative time should be used instead of single parameters for predicting direct OSATS scores.

Abstract Introduction Preparing health care professionals for challenging communication tasks such as delivering bad news to patients and families is an area where a need for improved teaching has been identified. Objectives We developed a simulation-based curriculum to enhance the skills of health care professionals, with an emphasis on the communication of difficult or bad news, which we termed relational crises. Methods Our approach was based on a review of existing simulation-based curricula, with the addition of unique features, including a learner-focused needs assessment to shape curriculum development, use of 360-degree evaluations, and provision of written feedback. Development and implementation of our curriculum occurred in 3 phases. Phase I involved a multidisciplinary needs assessment, creation of a clinical scenario based on needs assessment results, and training of standardized patients. In Phase II we implemented the curriculum with 36 pediatric and internal medicine-pediatrics residents, 20 nurses, and 1 chaplain. Phase III consisted of the provision of written feedback for learners, created from the 360-degree evaluations compiled from participants, observers, faculty, and standardized patients. Results Participants felt the scenarios were realistic (average rating of 4.7 on a 5-point Likert scale) and improved their practice and preparedness for these situations (average rating, 4.75/5 and 4.18/5, respectively). Our curriculum produced a statistically significant change in participants' pre- and postcurriculum self-reported perceptions of skill (2.42/5 vs. 3.23/5, respectively, P < .001) and level of preparedness (2.91/5 vs. 3.72/5, respectively, P < .001). Discussion A simulation-based curriculum using standardized patients, learner-identified needs, 360-degree evaluations, and written feedback demonstrated a statistically significant change in participants' self-perceived skills and preparedness for communicating difficult news in pediatrics.

This thesis explores the modelling for Internal Rating Based (IRB) of Credit Risk for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as required for implementation of Basel II Accord. There has been limited previous research for this important sector of the economy. There are two major approaches: Accounting Based and Merton Type, and these are compared. To make the comparison initially a small sample is considered and simulation is used to explore the use of the two approaches. The study indicates some of the limitation of analysis for both Accounting Based and Merton Type approaches, for example the issue of colinearity for the Accounting Based approach and lack of trading of SMEs’ equity affecting the Merton Type approach. A large sample is then investigated using standard Credit Scoring approaches for the Accounting Based modelling. Different definitions of default and distress are considered to overcome the problem of low number of defaults. These approaches are found to be viable. Merton Type model is then compared to benchmark models from the Accounting Based approach. The predictions are compared over differing time horizons. It is found that Merton Type models perform well within a limited period compared to the Accounting Base approach. Overall, credit scoring models demonstrated better performance when the sample group included a considerable number of ‘Bad’ firms or cutoff point was selected so that an acceptance rate was relatively low, otherwise model’s predictive accuracy would decline. Merton model presented better predictive accuracy with higher acceptance rates. Credit scoring models was able to give early signs of default year. In addition, one may take into consideration that if the company is going to decline credit quality or raise default probability this year, Merton type models can be helpful in adjusting credit rating. When considering a loan to a company, a bank wants to know the likelihood default for duration of loan. In this sense Merton models is only useful for a relatively short loan terms.

碩士
國立政治大學
行政管理碩士學程
96
Taiwan’s financial market is known to be over-banking, most banks can do nothing but to lower price to raise market share. At the same time, credit spreads are decreasing for the recent years. For this reason, Taiwan’s financial regulator asks banks to establish loan pricing polices to make sure they take into account the credit risk of their customers carefully in 2006. Also, it becomes an important topic for Taiwan banks to develop suitable models for risk pricing. Basel II has been implemented in Taiwan in 2007, and the IRB of Basel II has provided solid foundations for risk pricing. Under the internal rating system, we want to know if loan pricing could cover risk cost. After studing one of sample bank in Taiwan, we find loan pricing is mostly affected by market competition and then could not cover risk cost. In other words, the risk scale implied by credit rating is just for reference.

This chapter focuses on the standardized approach, which is the bedrock of the Basel system. Although many of the largest banks are internal ratings-based banks, there is probably no bank currently existing which does not use some elements of the standardized approach as part of its overall capital calculation. The discussions cover classification of exposures, credit conversion factors, and credit risk mitigation; ratings and rating agencies; exposures to sovereigns; multilateral development banks; exposures to banks and financial institutions; exposures to corporates; exposures to retail customers; commercial mortgage exposures; overdue undefaulted exposures; high-risk exposures; covered bonds; securitization exposures; short-term claims on financial institutions and corporates; fund exposures: and off-balance sheet items.

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is a comprehensive and holistic approach to risk management, requiring the determination, assessment and management of risks in an integrated and systematic manner. ERM has been considered as a financial, and accounting-based tool used to assess and manage the risks an organisation faces and to meet the compliance requirements of creditors, rating agencies, regulators and stock exchanges. Although ERM is widely examined by internal audit and finance scholars, ERM researches from management and strategy perspectives are limited in the literature. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive overview of ERM including ERM concepts and definition of the risks and categorisation of risks surrounding the organisations. Moreover, the chapter handles how the risk management evolved into ERM. The distinguishing components of ERM (pillars) and the leading factors and motivation for ERM adoption (determinants) are presented.

In this chapter, besides discussing the current strategies for Web content filtering, outlining their advantages and drawbacks, we present an approach, formerly developed in the framework of the EU project EUFORBIA, which, besides addressing the main drawbacks of the existing systems, can be applied for purposes comprising both users’ protection and quality assurance. The main features of such an approach are the support for multiple metadata vocabularies for the rating and filtering of Web resources, and the possibility of specifying policies which allow the system to decide whether a resource is appropriate or not for a given user based on his/her preferences and characteristics.

In the current economic conditions and increased competition, the ability of an entity to attract investments, i.e., its investment attractiveness, becomes important. It largely depends on the stability of the external and internal environment, the efficiency of economic activity, the priority of tasks, etc. The needs of modern society are growing rapidly; therefore, it is necessary to carry out the economic development of the country at the same time. Assessing the development of the investment market is the basis for a comprehensive approach to the analysis of the investment attractiveness of economic entities. The investment market is the area of investment objects in all its forms, taking into account the conditions of investment activity at certain stages of economic development of an enterprise, the economy, the region, and the country as a whole. The article considers the main indicators that characterize the economic development of Ukraine. The subject of the study is the main indicators that characterize the investment attractiveness of the country. The purpose of the study is to analyze the dynamics of the level of investment attractiveness of Ukraine during 2010-2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research is based on scientific methods, among which it is expedient to distinguish: analysis and synthesis, comparison, idealization and abstraction, as well as systematization and generalization – when formulating conclusions as a result of the study. As a result, the dynamics of the gross domestic product, the index of investment attractiveness are analyzed. The change in the number of business entities in Ukraine over the past decade has shown a negative trend. It is found out that the structural sector in Ukraine is wholesale and retail trade. The dynamics of the volume of retail trade turnover of Ukraine during 2010-2020 and the index of the physical volume of retail trade turnover of Ukraine are determined. The method of assessing the level of investment attractiveness of the country is considered. The importance of the ability to create new competitive advantages and keep the existing ones under the influence of various factors has been proved. Ukraine's ranking positions in comparison with other countries of the world in terms of gross domestic product, index of business conditions, index of economic freedom, index of global competitiveness, world competitiveness and world digital competitiveness are also determined. The investment environment during 2020 was negatively assessed by entrepreneurs and investors. It turned out that 78% of surveyed company executives consider the current investment climate unfavorable, only 12% consider Ukraine a profitable market for new investors. At the same time, among the negative factors influencing the investment climate, there was chosen a weak judiciary, high levels of corruption and the shadow economy. As a result of the analysis of the dynamics of these indicators, negative trends were revealed due to the aggravation of economic crises, hostilities in the east, the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, destabilization of social and political life, COVID-19 pandemic. There is a deterioration of rating places on these indicators, which requires the immediate development of new regulations, the choice of a new strategy for attracting investment, as well as the effective use of levers of influence on the country's economy.

A cohort study is one in which the outcome (usually disease status) is ascertained for groups of individuals defined on the basis of their exposure. At the time exposure status is determined, all must be free of the disease. All eligible participants are then followed up over time. Since exposure status is determined before the occurrence of the outcome, a cohort study can clarify the temporal sequence between exposure and outcome, with minimal information bias. The historical and the population cohort study (Box 9.1) are efficient variants of the classical cohort study described above, which nevertheless retain the essential components of the cohort study design. The exposure can be dichotomous [i.e. exposed (to obstetric complications at birth) vs. not exposed], or graded as degrees of exposure (e.g. no recent life events, one to two life events, three or more life events). The use of grades of exposure strengthens the results of a cohort study by supporting or refuting the hypothesis that the incidence of the disease increases with increasing exposure to the risk factor; a so-called dose–response relationship. The essential features of a cohort study are: ♦ participants are defined by their exposure status rather than by outcome (as in case–control design); ♦ it is a longitudinal design: exposure status must be ascertained before outcome is known. The classical cohort study In a classical cohort study participants are selected for study on the basis of a single exposure of interest. This might be exposure to a relatively rare occupational exposure, such as ionizing radiation (through working in the nuclear power industry). Care must be taken in selecting the unexposed cohort; perhaps those working in similar industries, but without any exposure to radiation. The outcome in this case might be leukaemia. All those in the exposed and unexposed cohorts would need to be free of leukaemia (hence ‘at risk’) on recruitment into the study. The two cohorts would then be followed up for (say) 10 years and rates at which they develop leukaemia compared directly. Classical cohort studies are rare in psychiatric epidemiology. This may be in part because this type of study is especially suited to occupational exposures, which have previously been relatively little studied as causes of mental illness. However, this may change as the high prevalence of mental disorders in the workplace and their negative impact upon productivity are increasingly recognized. The UK Gulf War Study could be taken as one rather unusual example of the genre (Unwin et al. 1999). Health outcomes, including mental health status, were compared between those who were deployed in the Persian Gulf War in 1990–91, those who were later deployed in Bosnia, and an ‘era control group’ who were serving at the time of the Gulf war but were not deployed. There are two main variations on this classical cohort study design: they are popular as they can, depending on circumstances, be more efficient than the classical cohort design. The population cohort study In the classical cohort study, participants are selected on the basis of exposure, and the hypothesis relates to the effect of this single exposure on a health outcome. However, a large cohort or panel of subjects are sometimes recruited and followed up, often over many years, to study multiple exposures and outcomes. No separate comparison group is required as the comparison group is generally an unexposed sub-group of the panel. Examples include the British Doctor's Study in which over 30,000 British doctors were followed up for over 20 years to study the effects of smoking and other exposures on health (Doll et al. 1994), and the Framingham Heart Study, in which residents of a town in Massachusetts, USA have been followed up for 50 years to study risk factors for coronary heart disease (Wolf et al. 1988). The Whitehall and Whitehall II studies in the UK (Fuhrer et al. 1999; Stansfeld et al. 2002) were based again on an occupationally defined cohort, and have led to important findings concerning workplace conditions and both physical and psychiatric morbidity. Birth cohort studies, in which everyone born within a certain chronological interval are recruited, are another example of this type of study. In birth cohorts, participants are commonly followed up at intervals of 5–10 years. Many recent panel studies in the UK and elsewhere have been funded on condition that investigators archive the data for public access, in order that the dataset might be more fully exploited by the wider academic community. Population cohort studies can test multiple hypotheses, and are far more common than any other type of cohort study. The scope of the study can readily be extended to include mental health outcomes. Thus, both the British Doctor's Study (Doll et al. 2000) and the Framingham Heart Study (Seshadri et al. 2002) have gone on to report on aetiological factors for dementia and Alzheimer's Disease as the cohorts passed into the age groups most at risk for these disorders. A variant of the population cohort study is one in which those who are prevalent cases of the outcome of interest at baseline are also followed up effectively as a separate cohort in order (a) to study the natural history of the disorder by estimating its maintenance (or recovery) rate, and (b) studying risk factors for maintenance (non-recovery) over the follow-up period (Prince et al. 1998). Historical cohort studies In the classical cohort study outcome is ascertained prospectively. Thus, new cases are ascertained over a follow-up period, after the exposure status has been determined. However, it is possible to ascertain both outcome and exposure retrospectively. This variant is referred to as a historical cohort study (Fig. 9.1). A good example is the work of David Barker in testing his low birth weight hypothesis (Barker et al. 1990; Hales et al. 1991). Barker hypothesized that risk for midlife vascular and endocrine disorders would be determined to some extent by the ‘programming’ of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis through foetal growth in utero. Thus ‘small for dates’ babies would have higher blood pressure levels in adult life, and greater risk for type II diabetes (through insulin resistance). A prospective cohort study would have recruited participants at birth, when exposure (birth weight) would be recorded. They would then be followed up over four or five decades to examine the effect of birth weight on the development of hypertension and type II diabetes. Barker took the more elegant (and feasible) approach of identifying hospitals in the UK where several decades previously birth records were meticulously recorded. He then traced the babies as adults (where they still lived in the same area) and measured directly their status with respect to outcome. The ‘prospective’ element of such studies is that exposure was recorded well before outcome even though both were ascertained retrospectively with respect to the timing of the study. The historical cohort study has also proved useful in psychiatric epidemiology where it has been used in particular to test the neurodevelopmental hypothesis for schizophrenia (Jones et al. 1994; Isohanni et al. 2001). Jones et al. studied associations between adult-onset schizophrenia and childhood sociodemographic, neurodevelopmental, cognitive, and behavioural factors in the UK 1946 birth cohort; 5362 people born in the week 3–9 March 1946, and followed up intermittently since then. Subsequent onsets of schizophrenia were identified in three ways: (a) routine data: cohort members were linked to the register of the Mental Health Enquiry for England in which mental health service contacts between 1974 and 1986 were recorded; (b) cohort data: hospital and GP contacts (and the reasons for these contacts) were routinely reported at the intermittent resurveys of the cohort; (c) all cohort participants identified as possible cases of schizophrenia were given a detailed clinical interview (Present State examination) at age 36. Milestones of motor development were reached later in cases than in non-cases, particularly walking. Cases also had more speech problems than had noncases. Low educational test scores at ages 8,11, and 15 years were a risk factor. A preference for solitary play at ages 4 and 6 years predicted schizophrenia. A health visitor's rating of the mother as having below average mothering skills and understanding of her child at age 4 years was a predictor of schizophrenia in that child. Jones concluded ‘differences between children destined to develop schizophrenia as adults and the general population were found across a range of developmental domains. As with some other adult illnesses, the origins of schizophrenia may be found in early life’. Jones' findings were largely confirmed in a very similar historical cohort study in Finland (Isohanni et al. 2001); a 31 year follow-up of the 1966 North Finland birth cohort (n = 12,058). Onsets of schizophrenia were ascertained from a national hospital discharge register. The ages at learning to stand, walk and become potty-trained were each related to subsequent incidence of schizophrenia and other psychoses. Earlier milestones reduced, and later milestones increased, the risk in a linear manner. These developmental effects were not seen for non-psychotic outcomes. The findings support hypotheses regarding psychosis as having a developmental dimension with precursors apparent in early life. There are many conveniences to this approach for the contemporary investigator. ♦ The exposure data has already been collected for you. ♦ The follow-up period has already elapsed. ♦ The design maintains the essential feature of the cohort study, namely that information bias with respect to the assessment of the exposure should not be a problem. ♦ As with the Barker hypothesis example, historical cohort studies are particularly useful for investigating associations across the life course, when there is a long latency between hypothesized exposure and outcome. Despite these important advantages, such retrospective studies are often limited by reliance on historical data that was collected routinely for other purposes; often these data will be inaccurate or incomplete. Also information about possible confounders, such as smoking or diet, may be inadequate.

From 2006 to 2008 depending on the power ratings, Deutz has to update its complete engine product portfolio of compact engines to meet the emission legislation U.S. EPA Tier 3 and EU COM 3A for applications of mobile nonroad machinery. This challenge covers air cooled, oil cooled and as well water cooled engines up to 500 kW. To provide the best solution for the customer with respect to engine price, fuel consumption, power rating and torque characteristics. Deutz will introduce a technology concept called DEVERT® — Deutz Variable Emissions Reduction Technology. In the wide range of industrial applications of construction machinery, agriculture, material handling, and others DEVERT® provides an optimised solution for every case. The technology approach of DEVERT® consists of injection systems like the mechanical unit pump system and the Deutz Common Rail (DCR®), 2 and 4 valve cylinder-heads, different solutions for internal and external exhaust gas recirculation, and also variable valve actuation. The focus of this paper is on the water-cooled, in-line engine families 2012 and 2013 with a displacement of 4 to 7 l. Based on the application of DEVERT® to these engine families the different technologies are explained by their functionality and their impact on emissions and performance. A short outlook of the emission legislation on future technologies is given. Here exhaust after-treatment will have a significant impact on the engine package with new challenges for the variety of applications.

Knock is a major impediment to achieving higher efficiency in Spark-Ignition (SI) engines. The recent trends of boosting, downsizing and downspeeding have exacerbated this issue by driving engines toward higher power density and higher load duty cycles. Apart from the engine operating conditions, fuel anti-knock quality is a major determinant of the knocking tendency in engines, as quantified by its octane number (ON). The ON of a fuel is based on an octane scale which is defined according to the standard octane rating methods for Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON). These tests are performed in a single cylinder Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. In the present work, a numerical approach was developed based on multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict knocking combustion in a CFR engine. The G-equation model was employed to track the propagation of the turbulent flame front and a multi-zone model based on temperature and equivalence ratio was used to capture auto-ignition in the endgas ahead of the flame front. Furthermore, a novel methodology was developed wherein a lookup table generated from a chemical kinetic mechanism could be employed to provide laminar flame speed as an input to the G-equation model, instead of using empirical correlations. To account for fuel chemistry effects accurately and lower the computational cost, a compact 121-species primary reference fuel (PRF) skeletal mechanism was developed from a more detailed gasoline surrogate mechanism using the directed relation graph assisted sensitivity analysis (DRGASA) reduction technique. Extensive validation of the skeletal mechanism was performed against experimental data available in the literature for both homogeneous ignition delay and laminar flame speed. The skeletal mechanism was used to generate the lookup tables for laminar flame speed as a function of pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio. The engine CFD model incorporating the skeletal mechanism was employed to perform numerical simulations under RON and MON conditions for different PRFs. Parametric tests were conducted at different compression ratios and the predicted values of critical compression ratio (at knock onset), delineating the boundary between “no knock” and “knock”, were found to be in good agreement with the available experimental data. The virtual CFR engine model was, therefore, demonstrated to be capable of adequately capturing the sensitivity of knock propensity to fuel chemistry.

The increasing use of composite repair systems in critical and complex applications has brought greater scrutiny to their design and performance. This has been especially true in high-temperature, immersed environment applications where ambient temperature test results with industry standard de-rating factors are all that is available for design. Since this approach does not always adequately capture environmental effects or the performance of composite systems at elevated temperatures, it is beneficial to perform full-scale testing which accurately replicates the in-situ application. In order to accomplish this, a full-scale testing program was developed that subjected multiple composite repair systems to internal and external loads at temperatures up to 120 °C with and without water immersion. This program involved the reinforcement of 12.75-inch × 0.375-inch pipe samples that had simulated corrosion defects. Full-scale load and pressure testing was conducted to simulate the long-term performance of the composite repair systems in the environmental conditions of the application. A strain based performance threshold of 0.4% strain at 120 °C and 100% SMYS was used to develop a competitive program that ranked the participating systems and reduced the number of acceptable repairs from six down to three. This approach increased the efficiency of the full-scale testing and allowed for more in-depth analysis of the top-performing systems. The results of the full-scale testing of six composite repair systems at elevated temperature allowed for a quantitative measure of their effectiveness under in-situ conditions. Several of the systems were shown to provide inadequate reinforcement under these conditions; however, it was also observed that appropriately designed and installed systems are capable of meeting the intense demands of elevated temperature, harsh-service conditions.

New developments in instrumentation for ocean environmental engineering are allowing unprecedented levels of trace contaminant measurement in the deep ocean. With funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), our engineering design team constructed a new mass spectrometer-based in situ analysis system for work in the deep ocean environment over prolonged deployment periods. Our design goals were a depth capability of up to 4,000 m water depth (400 bars hydrostatic pressure) and autonomous operation for periods of up to six months to a year, depending upon the type of external battery system used or other deployment circumstances, e.g., availability of a power cable or fuel cell power source. We chose a membrane introduction mass spectrometry (MIMS) sampling approach, which allows for dissolved gases and volatile organics introduction into the mass spectrometer vacuum system. The MIMS approach and the hydrophobic, silicon-coated membrane chosen both draw upon our previous experience with this technology in the deep ocean. The membrane has been tested to 400 bars in a series of long-term hydrostatic pressure tests, which extend the 200-bar working depth rating of this membrane by a factor of 2. Long-term deployment capability of the moderately powered, approximately 100 W system, was accomplished by power management of the embedded computer system and custom electronics with Windows-based and custom software now fully-developed and bench tested. The entire system fits within a 6.5-inch outside diameter pressure housing that is approximately five feet long. It consists of a 1 to 200 amu range quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with Faraday and electron multiplier detectors, compact turbo-molecular and backing diaphragm vacuum pumps, internal rechargeable batteries, and internal waste vacuum chamber. Sample routing past the MIMS is accomplished by computer-controlled solenoid valves. We designed the pressure housings of both 6AL4V and type 2 titanium alloys that are rated to working depths of >4,000 m and are essentially corrosion proof over long-term deployments. We designed and integrated a fail-safe valving system for both rapid response to high-pressure MIMS failure and a pressure-switch circuit and high-pressure solenoid valve to detect and protect against slow leaks of the MIMS. To route sample waters to the MIMS-based instrument, we also designed and built a rugged plastic plenum that couples to the face of the sampler head, the latter of which consists of the MIMS inlet and a full-ocean rated thermister temperature probe with an operational range from −5 to 50°C. These instrumentation innovations will be described in the paper.

Detailed studies performed to design works at river crossings provide all the information needed to asses hydro technical hazards. TGN performed such studies for critical rivers as part of its Integrity Management Program. By monitoring performance of remediation works, experience was built throughout 10 years comprising different hydrological years. This was the base for the development of a simpler methodology aimed at assessing risk using information that can be readily available in regions such as Latin America where the existence of gaging stations and historic records at most rivers are not common. The method is based in river geomorphology, summarized with two parameters: area of drainage basin area and river slope at the crossing. They characterized the type of problems that can be expected and they can be estimated from topographic maps or digital terrain models available from the internet. The rating method follows a basic structure consisting in the product of two factors: causes and consequences. Causes include: bank erosion, river bed scour, meanders and river diversion along the right of way. Then, increasing factors are applied accounting for deforestation, land use and the occurrence of debris flows; decreasing factors consider proper remediation works, design and construction aspects implemented during construction. Finally, consequences are focused at loss of human life, impact on the environment, and interruption of fluid transport. This method is aimed to be performed by a pipeline operator that can have a good feeling of problems related to rivers, without having the technical knowledge of a specialized consultant. While rating, subjective judgment still plays an important role. However, this methodology provides a systematic approach that includes all aspects affecting river crossings, allows for prioritizing works based on rates and, as new rivers are included from new watersheds, it can be improved as prediction and characterization tool.

Product development is a process with complicated procedures, which incorporate many aspects of knowledge, experience and teamwork. Specifically, mechanical system design requires an iterative process to determine the desired component design parameters that would satisfy kinematic, performance and manufacturability requirements, which would result in an efficient and reliable operation of speed reduction units. This article describes an approach towards the development of intelligent design support environments for mechanical transmission systems, along with implementation details of a distributed knowledge-based gearing design and manufacturing system that is deployed over the Internet. The system embodies the various tasks of the design process, with modules that address: performance evaluation, process optimization, manufacturability analysis, and provides reasoning and decision-making capabilities for reducing the time between gear tooth creation, detailed design and final production. This methodology is highly desirable in that it is able to simulate real working conditions, evaluate and optimize the design effectively, prevent designers from time-consuming iterations and reduce long and expensive test phases. In an application example relating to process design of a forged gearing system, once a successful power rating is achieved within the design environment through FEA based techniques, the system automatically feeds input parameters into the manufacturing module which carries out all process design and planning stages. Estimation of the number of preforming stages, generation of detail die drawings, and forging load and energy requirements are calculated based on available material design databases, knowledge-based rules and feature-level calculations. Utilization of the World Wide Web, as a medium for the implementation of gear design and its agile manufacturing over the Internet is also being demonstrated. A combination of HTML, JavaScript, VRML, CGI Script and C++ based procedures is used to bring this capability to users distributed anywhere in the world. With the above developments, the problems of experience and expertise for the designers are overcome and unexpected design iterations that cause wastage of engineering time and effort, are avoided. The environment can be easily enhanced with other types of gearing systems.

Many aging liquid pipeline systems face demands to increase viscosity and/or flow capacity requirements. This paper presents a methodology to assure old pipelines’ up-rating serviceability by means of an optimizing integrity evaluation procedure where metal loss defects, reported by smart pig inspection, are assessed based upon maximum pressure profiles. The referred methodology comprises the following steps: 1. simulate the most severe pressure profiles scenarios for both steady and transient states and define maximum construct pressure envelopes; 2. build up representative equations of the maximum pressures observed at each profile point to steady/transient conditions; 3. assess pipe defects population reported by recent smart pig inspection considering the maximum pressure and the appropriate failure model; 4. determine rehabilitation hydrostatic testing pressures required to validate the new operating conditions; 5. re-assess pipe defects population considering the hydrostatic testing pressures. To illustrate the methodology applications, three case studies are presented, all carried out on pipelines older than 30 years. In order to accomplish the increased required capacity, four additional pump facilities were design and erected. Over thirty thousand metal loss defects (from ILI reported population greater than one million) were effective assessed for hydrostatic testing and operating conditions — considering individual pressure calculation. Regarding operating conditions, repair scenarios were constructed considering rehabilitation for a time interval of 5 years (based on estimated corrosion growth). The hydraulic simulations and the metal loss defect assessment where performed using, respectively, Pipeline STONER Simulator 9.3 and PLANPIG 2.0 software’s. This methodology has been successfully applied by PETROBRAS TRANSPORTE S.A. on revamping of corroded pipelines: despite the cases’ corrosion damage severity and the lack of conservatism on hydrostatic testing modeling, no test break was observed at the two tested lines and the required repairs number was dramatically reduced as compared to the traditional “as good as new” rehabilitation approach.

Background: Clear allergen communication in food business operators (FBOs) has been shown to have a positive impact on customers’ perceptions of businesses (Barnett et al., 2013). However, the precise size and nature of this effect is not known: there is a paucity of quantitative evidence in this area, particularly in the form of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The Food Standards Agency (FSA), in collaboration with Kantar’s Behavioural Practice, conducted a feasibility trial to investigate whether a randomised cluster trial – involving the proactive communication of allergen information at the point of sale in FBOs – is feasible in the United Kingdom (UK). Objectives: The trial sought to establish: ease of recruitments of businesses into trials; customer response rates for in-store outcome surveys; fidelity of intervention delivery by FBO staff; sensitivity of outcome survey measures to change; and appropriateness of the chosen analytical approach. Method: Following a recruitment phase – in which one of fourteen multinational FBOs was successfully recruited – the execution of the feasibility trial involved a quasi-randomised matched-pairs clustered experiment. Each of the FBO’s ten participating branches underwent pair-wise matching, with similarity of branches judged according to four criteria: Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) score, average weekly footfall, number of staff and customer satisfaction rating. The allocation ratio for this trial was 1:1: one branch in each pair was assigned to the treatment group by a representative from the FBO, while the other continued to operate in accordance with their standard operating procedure. As a business-based feasibility trial, customers at participating branches throughout the fieldwork period were automatically enrolled in the trial. The trial was single-blind: customers at treatment branches were not aware that they were receiving an intervention. All customers who visited participating branches throughout the fieldwork period were asked to complete a short in-store survey on a tablet affixed in branches. This survey contained four outcome measures which operationalised customers’: perceptions of food safety in the FBO; trust in the FBO; self-reported confidence to ask for allergen information in future visits; and overall satisfaction with their visit. Results: Fieldwork was conducted from the 3 – 20 March 2020, with cessation occurring prematurely due to the closure of outlets following the proliferation of COVID-19. n=177 participants took part in the trial across the ten branches; however, response rates (which ranged between 0.1 - 0.8%) were likely also adversely affected by COVID-19. Intervention fidelity was an issue in this study: while compliance with delivery of the intervention was relatively high in treatment branches (78.9%), erroneous delivery in control branches was also common (46.2%). Survey data were analysed using random-intercept multilevel linear regression models (due to the nesting of customers within branches). Despite the trial’s modest sample size, there was some evidence to suggest that the intervention had a positive effect for those suffering from allergies/intolerances for the ‘trust’ (β = 1.288, p<0.01) and ‘satisfaction’ (β = 0.945, p<0.01) outcome variables. Due to singularity within the fitted linear models, hierarchical Bayes models were used to corroborate the size of these interactions. Conclusions: The results of this trial suggest that a fully powered clustered RCT would likely be feasible in the UK. In this case, the primary challenge in the execution of the trial was the recruitment of FBOs: despite high levels of initial interest from four chains, only one took part. However, it is likely that the proliferation of COVID-19 adversely impacted chain participation – two other FBOs withdrew during branch eligibility assessment and selection, citing COVID-19 as a barrier. COVID-19 also likely lowered the on-site survey response rate: a significant negative Pearson correlation was observed between daily survey completions and COVID-19 cases in the UK, highlighting a likely relationship between the two. Limitations: The trial was quasi-random: selection of branches, pair matching and allocation to treatment/control groups were not systematically conducted. These processes were undertaken by a representative from the FBO’s Safety and Quality Assurance team (with oversight from Kantar representatives on pair matching), as a result of the chain’s internal operational restrictions.