ANALYSIS ON A TYPE OF SERVICING MACHINES MODEL WITH REPAIRABLE SERVICE STATION

This paper deals with a type of servicing machines model, which service station has a life time of the kth Er-langian distribution and can be repaired just like a new one. The cyclic time and the inefficiency quantities of this system in equilibrium are obtained.

Ship Maintenance and Repair Services in the Tema Drydock and Shipbuilding Yard in Ghana: Some Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects

This article explored existing policies (if any) and current management structure which govern operations within the yard, examine some major challenges facing the ship maintenance and repair services in Tema Drydock and Shipbuilding Yard, Ghana, identified few drivers that impact positively on the ship repair market with particular reference to the Tema Shipyard. It concludes by proposing sustainable management and maintenance strategies for improved repair services of the yard as well as analyzing the findings obtained in the data presentation and discussion sections during the research project. The main finding is that the PSC Tema Shipyard’s ship maintenance and repair services are really overwhelmed with major challenges, representing 55% after summing up four (4) out of the seven (7) captured in the study and are threatening its sustainability, if not properly researched and addressed once and for all. As already stated, carefully analysed conclusions were drawn to effectively address these challenges, followed by suggestions for future research to forestall its cascading effects on the Ghanaian economy as a whole.

Subsea Maintenance Service Delivery:Mapping Factors Influencing Scheduled Service Duration

The oil and gas （O＆G） industry on the Norwegian continental shelf （NCS） leads the world in terms of the number of subsea O＆G installations. Ensuring the dependability of these assets is critical. Non-intrusive inspection, maintenance and repair （IMR） services are therefore needed to reduce risks. These services are planned and executed using a mono-hull offshore vessel complete with remotely operated vehicles （ROVs）, a module handling system and an active heave compensated crane. Vessel time is shared between competing jobs, using a prioritized forward-looking schedule. Extension in planned job duration may have an impact on O＆G production, service costs and health, safety, and environmental （HSE） risks. This paper maps factors influencing the job schedule efficiency. The influence factors are identified through reviews of literature as well as interviews with experts in one of the large IMR subsea service providers active on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The findings show that the most obvious factors are weather disruption and water depth. Other factors include job complexity, job uncertainty, IMR equipment availability, as well as the mix of job complexity.

Exploring awareness of obstetric fistula in Eastern and Northern Nigeria:perceived causes,symptoms,and availability of treatment services

Background:Evidence suggests that there are approximately two female genital fistula cases per 1000 women of reproductive age in sub-Saharan Africa.It is estimated that more than 200,000 women are affected by fistula in Nigeria,primarily due to obstetric causes.Awareness has been indicated as a risk factor for the development of obstetric fistula.This study explored the awareness of obstetric fistula such as causes,symptoms,and availability of and access to treatment services in southeastern and northwestern Nigeria.Methods:An exploratory qualitative study design was used to conduct this research in Kano and Ebonyi states in northern and eastern Nigeria,respectively.A total of six(6)focus group discussions were conducted with three categories of participants:women who were successfully repaired and discharged(n=2),community-married men(n=2),and women(n=2).Forty-four(44)In-depth interviews were conducted three categories of participants:18 with women with fistula who were either awaiting repair or had been repaired;6 family member caregivers accompanying fistula patients,and 20 health service providers at fistula repair centers.We developed a data analysis plan based on the emerging themes.The transcripts and field notes were imported into QSR Nvivo version 11 and coded accordingly.Content and thematic analysis was run by inductively drawing themes based on the elicited information from participants.Results:There was lack of knowledge of obstetric fistula and its causes among married men and women in the community,caregivers,and some patients were unaware of what caused their fistula for years.In this study,none of the community men and women nor caregivers correctly identified the causes and symptoms of a fistula or knew where to seek treatment.Knowledge about fistula was more common among women who had undergone repairs.Some repaired women attributed the cause of fistula to the providers who attended to them during delivery.Conclusions:Findings reveal a widespread lack of awareness of obstetric fistula onset and awareness of the availability of repair services at the community level.There is an urgent need to explore multi-pronged strategies for increasing awareness of obstetric fistula and available treatment services among women and other community members.

Revisiting the Model of Servicing Machines with Repairable Service Facility-A New Analyzing Idea and Some New Results

In this paper the model of servicing machines with repairable facility is further studied.By standard conditioning decomposition argument,two reliability indices-the probability that the service facility fails at time t and the expected number of failure occurring during（0,t] are discussed.Some important relations of them are given.Furthermore,some new reliability problems are presented and discussed as follows：1） The numbers of the service facility failures during the generalized service time and the generalized busy period;2） The asymptotic expansion of the expected failure number of the service facility during（0,t].A series of new reliability results of the service facility are obtained.