This thesis presents a comprehensive work on computerised analysis of fetal heart rate (FHR) features, including feature extraction, feature selection, analysis of influencing factors and setting up/validation of a computerised decision support system. Firstly, a novel feature – pattern readjustment – was extracted and tested. Clinical data were used to train a Support Vector Machine (SVM) to detect pattern readjustment. Then, the association of pattern readjustment and adverse labour outcome was investigated. The validation results with clinical experts show that the pattern readjustment can be accurately detected, while the study on labour outcome shows that the feature is related to fetal acidemia at birth. Secondly, Genetic Algorithms were employed as a feature selection method to select a best subset of FHR features and to use them to predict fetal acidemia with linear and nonlinear SVM. The diagnostic power of the classifier output using selected features was tested on the total set of 7,568 cases. As the classifier output increases, there is a consistent increase of the risk of fetal acidemia. Thirdly, an important influencing factor on FHR features - signal loss – was investigated. A bivariate model was built to estimate error based on signal loss. Validation results show that the bivariate model can accurately predict the error generated by signal loss. The influence of signal loss on labour outcome classification was also investigated. Finally, a computerised decision support system to estimate the risk of fetal acidemia was set up based on the above studies. The system was validated using new retrospective data. Validation results show that the system is capable of predicting adverse labour outcome and providing timely decision support. It is the first time an intrapartum computerised FHR decision support system has been built and validated on this size of dataset. With further improvements, such a system could be implemented clinically in the long term.

L'aide à la décision se fonde sur l'observation d'un environnement évolutif dont on scrute les évènements. Ces évènements peuvent être de différentes natures, dont les connexions qui peuvent se créer au sein d'un réseau d'acteurs. L'observation des bases documentaires ne semble plus suffisante pour nourrir l'aide à la décision. En effet, les nouveaux outils de communication et de collaboration, dont l'usage se répand rapidement au sein des organisations, sont sources de nouvelles formes d'informations peu ou mal utilisées par les systèmes actuels d'aide à la décision des organisations. L'objectif de la thèse est de concevoir une plate-forme (modélisation et développement) pour les organisations permettant à leurs membres de bénéficier de médias sociaux et à leurs décideurs de bénéficier d'outils d'aide à la décision prenant en compte tous les types de ressources circulant sur cette plate-forme. / Decision support is partly based on the observation of a dynamic and mutating environment (Situation Awareness). The events of such environments can be of different types, including new relations created within a network of actors. We think classical documentary databases are no longer sufficient to serve situation awarness. The quick spread and adoption of new communication and collaboration tools in organizations, bring new kind of information, like the social network of the organization, which are currently not or badly taken in account by organizational decision support systems. The aim of this thesis is to design a platform, which provides to organizations both the social media to help their members to collaborate and the decision tools, which take into account all types of information exchanged in the platform.

A dissertação argumenta que, contrariamente ao afirmado por alguns autores, o Balanced Scorecard não é simples repetição de conhecimentos já estabelecidos. Apoiado em critérios extraídos de textos escritos pelos Profs. Fernando Henrique Cardoso e Sérgio de Iudícibus, afirma que o Balanced Scorecard é uma contribuição original à literatura de contabilidade gerencial, não porque trata de temas nunca antes tratados mas porque repensa temas antigos, chamando a atenção para pontos que estavam esquecidos ou mal compreendidos, mostrando a vinculação entre pontos vitais que não estavam claramente articulados. O Balanced Scorecard mostra como esses conhecimentos estabelecidos podem ser aplicados aos tempos modernos, para atender às exigências impostas pelo ambiente mais competitivo para as empresas. O Balanced Scorecard, consequentemente, aumenta a compreensão do tema "vinculação entre estratégia e operação". A decodificação de temas complexos num particular arranjo, facilitando a integração entre firmas de software e firmas de consultoria, num ambiente ansioso por novas ferramentas gerencias, associadas a subestimação das dificuldades para implantação, para se estabelecer um padrão adequado de medidas e para a vinculação com o sistema de recompensas, levaram a que o Balanced Scorecard tenha virado um modismo. Os problemas com o ensino de contabilidade, apontados por Wickhan Skinner e por David Allen e a falta de uma teoria geral, apontada por por John Kay, ajudam a a entender a vinculação entre a contribuição de Kaplan & Norton e sua vulgarização. / This dissertation argues that the Balanced Scorecard is not a simple reproduction of established knowledge, although some authors have assured the opposite. Rested on criteria extracted from texts written by Profs. Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Sérgio de Iudícibus, this dissertation supports that the Balanced Scorecard is an original contribution to the management accounting literature, not in function of dealing with new issues, but in function of rethinking old knowledge, stressing points that were forgotten or misunderstood, and making explicit the linkages among vital points that were not clear articulated in literature. The Balanced Scorecard indicates how this established knowledge can be applied in nowadays to support/fill the requirements of a more competitive environment faced by companies. The Balanced Scorecard, in consequence, increases the understanding of the theme "linking strategy to action". The translation of complex themes in a particular arrangement, which facilitated the integration of software and consulting firms, in an environment anxious for new managerial tools, added to the fact that the difficulties to define an adequate standard of measurements, to implement the Balanced Scorecard and to link it to the reward system were underestimated, lead it to become a fad. Problems in teaching accounting pointed out by Wickhan Skinner and by David Allen and the lack of a general theory, pointed out by John Kay, are insights that can help to understand the linkage between the Kaplan & Norton contribution and its vulgarization.

O presente trabalho trata do planejamento da movimentação de contêineres vazios ao longo de um conjunto de portos, buscando o balanceamento entre as demandas e ofertas dos mesmos em todos os portos ao menor custo, e considerando as restrições de capacidade de transporte dos modais envolvidos. Para isso será adotado um modelo de fluxo em rede multi-produto para representar o sistema de movimentação de contêineres vazios e que servirá de base para o desenvolvimento de uma formulação matemática, a qual, implementada através de uma ferramenta computacional de otimização, determina os fluxos de vazios no sistema. A verificação do modelo proposto deu-se através de testes em problemas reduzidos de movimentação de vazios, assim como em um problema cujos resultados foram publicados na literatura. Os resultados sugeriram a adequabilidade e confiabilidade do modelo proposto que pode, então, ser aplicado a um problema real da empresa de navegação Hamburg Süd, tendo seus resultados comparados aos resultados fornecidos pela mesma. / This dissertation deals with the empty containers movement planning throughout a set of ports, aiming the balancing between the demands and supplies in all the ports at minimal cost, and considering the capacity constraints of the transport modes considered. A multi-commodity network flow model will be adopted to represent the empty containers movement system. This model supports the development of a mathematical formulation which, through a computational optimization tool, determines the flows of empty containers throughout the system. The verification of the proposed model was given through tests in reduced problems, as well as in a problem which results had already been published in literature. The results had suggested the adequateness and trustworthiness of the proposed model, which could, then, be applied to a real problem of the navigation company Hamburg Süd, and the results could be compared with the ones given by the company.

Atualmente as empresas estão testando continuamente sua capacidade de criação e investimentos que estão se tornando cada vez mais altos, como forma de se ajustarem às novas situações do mercado. Isto leva às organizações a necessidade de disporem seus recursos em novas tecnologias sempre voltadas às inovações, pois a competição entre as empresas está cada dia mais acirrada. Para uma organização alcançar seu espaço no mercado, um dos principais recursos que esta necessita, é a criação e uso de um bom planejamento estratégico organizacional. Com um plano estratégico, a empresa tem condições de criar um ambiente de mudanças quando necessário, obtendo de forma simples, uma visão mais segura de seu futuro e auxiliando o processo de tomada de decisão, onde normalmente estas decisões são tomadas baseando-se em comparações e tendências, sendo importante à realização de análises em diversas dimensões do negócio a fim de realizar planejamentos com base nos dados disponíveis pelos sistemas da organização. Neste caso, é possível relacionar que o planejamento estratégico empresarial estando consistente com os sistemas de informação da empresa, pode contribuir para o processo de tomada de decisão organizacional, auxiliado pelos sistemas de apoio à decisão, que são os responsáveis por oferecer as informações estratégicas da empresa, pré-definidas em um bom plano estratégico e apresentá-lo de maneira eficiente e fácil compreensão à alta administração permitindo a escolha da melhor alternativa para o sucesso de sua empresa. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo mostrar o relacionamento entre o planejamento estratégico e os sistemas de apoio à decisão, de modo a apresentar o que é necessário para que todo esse processo gere os melhores resultados a tomada de decisão organizacional. / Now the companies are testing its creation capacity and investments that are becoming more and more high continually, as form of if they adjust to the new situations of the market. This takes to the organizations the need of its dispose resources in new technologies, always returned to the innovations, because the competition among the companies is every more intransigent day. For an organization to reach its space in the market, one of the main resources that this needs, it is the creation and use of a good organizational Strategic Planning. With a strategic plan, the company has conditions of creating an atmosphere of changes when necessary, obtaining in a simpIe way, a safer vision of its future and aiding the process of taking of decision, where these decisions are usually taken basing on comparisons and tendencies, being important the accomplishment of anaIyses in severaI dimensions of the business of the company. For that, it becomes necessary the construction of a business model in order to accomplish planning with base in the available data for the systems of the organization. In this case, it is possible to relate that the managerial Strategic Planning being consistent with the information systems of the company, it can contribute to the process of taking of decision organizational, aided by the Decision Support Systems, that they are the responsible for to offer the strategic information of the cornpany defined in a good strategic plan and to present them of efficient way and easy understanding to the high administration allowing the choice of the best alternative for the success of its company. The present work has as objective to show the relationship between the Strategic Planning and the Decision Support Systems, in way to present what is necessary so that this whole process generates the best results the taking of decision organizational.

As organizações sofreram mudanças significativas nas últimas décadas devido a adoção de novos meios administrativos para se manterem competitivas em um mercado que se encontra em constante mudanças. Nesta pesquisa estes meios são identificados como sendo os colaboradores capacitados, Sistemas de Informação, Sistema de Apoio à Decisão e outras tecnotogias correlacionadas como Data Warehouse, Data Mining e OLAP. Com estas tecnologias inseridas dentro do ambiente organizacional torna-se necessário capacitar os colaboradores de modo que estes possam processar as informações a fim de mapear, perceber e interpretar seus ambientes para guiar suas decisões e ações. Diante deste problema, o objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar um estudo teórico da importância de se criar competências nos colaboradores, bem como um referencial teórico sobre Sistemas de Informação e Sistemas de Apoio à Decisão. Estas mudanças acarretaram alterações na forma de lidar com os recursos humanos dentro do ambiente organizacional, pois na atual conjuntura o conhecimento e a capacidade de lidar com a informação superou o capital, de modo que este só será bem aplicado e administrado por colaboradores devidamente capacitados para alavancar os resultados dentro da organização. / The organizations have suffered significant changes in the last decades due to adoption of new administrative means in order to stay competitive in a constant changing market. In this research the means are identified as being the qualified collaborators, the Systems of Information, System of Support to the Decision and other technologies correlated as Data Warehouse, Dates Mining and OLAP. Since, these technologies are inserted in the organizational environment becomes necessary to train collaborators. So, they can to process, to map, to notice and interpret the environment information in order to direct its decisions and actions. Before this problem, the main of this work is to present a theoretical study about the importance to create competencies in the collaborators, as well a theoretical referential about the information and decision support systems. These new administrative means end up changing the way that the human resources are managed in the organizacional atmosphere since the knowledgement and the capacity to work with the information have overcame the capital. Therefore, the last will be applied and administered properly by qualified collaborators which will be able to improve the results obtained by the organization.

A metodologia apresentada neste trabalho contempla os aspectos relevantes para o desenvolvimento de modelos de otimização e de simulação combinados visando a análise de sistemas de reservatórios, e de regras operativas. Foram propostas quatro regras operativas para o Sistema Cantareira (SC), baseadas em uma série de afluências críticas (2003 - 2017). O trabalho foi desenvolvido em três etapas. Na primeira etapa foi utilizado um modelo de programação dinâmica (PD) para otimizar o comportamento do SC com relação ao atendimento das principais demandas. Na segunda etapa duas redes neurais artificiais (RNA) foram utilizadas para se obter as regras operativas para o SC, a partir dos resultados da primeira etapa. O modelo de PD foi calculado com o software CSUDP, e a RNA foi formulada e calculada com o solver padrão do Microsoft Excel. As regras obtidas foram baseadas em estados, ou faixas, de armazenamento do reservatório. Na terceira etapa, as regras operativas foram simuladas para a série histórica do SC, de 1930 a 2017, com auxílio do modelo de rede de fluxo AcquaNet. O trabalho fornece subsídios para aplicações de modelos de otimização e para obtenção de políticas de operação em sistemas de reservatórios. A comparação das regras operativas fornece informações relevantes a respeito dos impactos dos estados de armazenamento considerados e dos valores requeridos para as demandas, na operação do reservatório ao longo da série. A Regra operativa 1 destaca-se por seu desempenho, fornecendo vazões de 33 m³/s com 80% de garantia para a região metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP), e com menores falhas no atendimento às demandas durante para a série histórica. / The present work provides guidelines for application of optimization and simulation models combined, in reservoir system and reservoir operation analysis. Four operation rules based on a series of critical inflows (2003 - 2017), are proposed for the Cantareira System (CS). The study was developed in three stages. In the first stage, a dynamic programming model (DP) was used to optimize the reservoir releases to the main demands. In the second stage, two artificial neural networks (ANR) were used to obtain the operation rules for SC, based on the results of the first stage. The DP model was solved using CSUDP software, and the ANR model was built and solved using Microsoft Excel. The operation rules were based on the reservoir\'s storage states or ranges. In the third stage, the operation rules were simulated for the system\'s historical inflow series, from 1930 to 2017, using the simulation net-flux model AcquaNet. In the last stage, reservoir operation rules were tested for the Cantareira system\'s historical inflow series, from 1930 to 2017, using the simulation net-flux model AcquaNet. The methodology provides relevant information for the analysis of optimization models and for operation rules in reservoir systems. The comparison of the proposed operation rules provides relevant information on the impacts of volume ranges, and of demand requirement values on long-term reservoir operation. The operation policy 1 shows best performance, providing supply of 33 m³/s to Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP) during 80% of the period, and with less failures during the historical series.

Os Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG) são sistemas que possuem uma grande variedade de aplicações e podem ser utilizados para tomada de decisões. O presente trabalho apresenta um SIG para localização de pontos de abastecimento de água dentro de um município. Através deste SIG o corpo de bombeiros tem melhores condições de determinar quais os locais ideais para abastecimento de uma viatura durante o atendimento a uma ocorrência de incêndio. Uma pesquisa-ação foi realizada para acompanhar a implantação deste SIG dentro de um posto do corpo de bombeiros. A partir do uso desta ferramenta os bombeiros podem tomar decisões mais rápidas e precisas, melhorando o desempenho da organização / The Geographic Information System (GIS) are systems that possess a great variety of applications and can be used for taking of decisions. The present work inside presents a GIS for localization of points of water supplying of a city. Through this GIS the body of firemen it has better conditions to determine which the ideal places for supplying of a vehicle during the attendance to a fire incident. An action research was realized to follow the implantation of this GIS in the fire department. From the use of this tool the firemen can take faster and necessary decisions, improving the performance of the organization

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A velocidade de concepÃÃo e de execuÃÃo das infraestruturas tem aumentado devido à utilizaÃÃo de softwares e equipamentos eficientes, o que tem exigido um melhor desempenho de cada etapa. No entanto, apesar dos custos envolvidos com equipamentos serem os itens de maior peso na construÃÃo rodoviÃria, poucos sÃo os sistemas existentes de apoio à decisÃo para a seleÃÃo das frotas. Propostas de seleÃÃo de frotas tÃm sido elaboradas por pesquisadores no Brasil e no mundo, porÃm a maioria consideram apenas caminhÃes e escavadeiras/carregadeiras ou scrapers. Este trabalho tem como objetivo desenvolver um sistema de apoio à decisÃo na seleÃÃo de motoniveladoras para a execuÃÃo de obras de terraplenagem e de pavimentaÃÃo, denominado SADPATROL. Inicialmente, foi feita uma anÃlise da evoluÃÃo tecnolÃgica do equipamento motoniveladora visando verificar a influÃncia destas melhorias sobre o aumento da produtividade. Foram analisadas as equaÃÃes existentes na literatura para o cÃlculo de produtividade e apÃs verificada a representatividade da equaÃÃo utilizada no paÃs esta foi escolhida para compor o SADPATROL, com as devidas alteraÃÃes em suas variÃveis. AtravÃs da anÃlise de cada variÃvel da equaÃÃo foi possÃvel identificar o quanto as mesmas influenciavam no resultado da produÃÃo desta forma, foram implementadas melhorias, como a inserÃÃo de valores padrÃes para as variÃveis do sistema, permitindo a obtenÃÃo de resultados mais precisos, caso o usuÃrio nÃo possua dados medidos em campo. O SADPATROL possui cadastrado em seu banco de dados 46 tipos de motoniveladoras, dos mais variados modelos e tamanhos, de 12 fabricantes distintos. à possibilitado ao usuÃrio calcular a frota com equipamentos prÃprios e verificar se esta atende ao prazo da obra. Caso o prazo nÃo seja atendido pela frota prÃpria ou o usuÃrio nÃo possua equipamentos, o sistema executa as informaÃÃes da obra para todos os equipamentos do banco de dados e fornece a soluÃÃo com as 46 opÃÃes organizadas em frotas, em ordem crescente de quantidade de equipamento. à possibilitado ainda selecionar os equipamentos nos quais se possui informaÃÃo de custo horÃrio, para assim obter a frota de menor custo. Toda a multiplicidade de informaÃÃes necessÃrias à seleÃÃo de motoniveladoras, e suas inter-relaÃÃes e dependÃncias, foram organizadas de forma sistÃmica no software SADPATROL, diminuindo assim o empirismo e a dependÃncia da experiÃncia humana na seleÃÃo de frotas. A presente pesquisa pode ainda contribuir para auxiliar a elaboraÃÃo de normas tÃcnicas e para a disseminaÃÃo do conhecimento sobre o referido equipamento. / The demands on speed and efficiency of infrastructure design and construction has increased due to the use of software and more productive equipment, which has required better performance of equipment planners at each step. However, even considering that the costs associated with equipment are one of the items with the greatest weight in road construction, there are few computerized systems for fleet selection decision support. Fleet selection systems have been developed by researchers in Brazil and worldwide, but most of them consider only trucks and excavators/loaders or scrapers. This research aims at developing a decision support system for the selection of motor graders for construction activities involving earthmoving and paving works named SADPATROL. Initially, an analysis of the motor grader technological evolution was performed in order to evaluate the influence of the improvements on productivity gains. The equations presented in the literature were studied for productivity calculation and, after verifying the suitability of the equation, the equation was incorporated in the SADPATROL system with the necessary changes in its variables. Through the analysis of the variables in the equation, it was possible to identify how they influenced the productivity. Through this analysis, improvements were implemented. These improvements consisted of the inclusion of standard values for the system variables, allowing the achievement of more accurate results if the user has no data for productivity measured in the field. The SADPATROL system has 46 types of motor graders included in its database, from many different models and sizes and from 12 different manufacturers. The user is able to plan the fleet with its own equipment and verify if it satisfies the construction project deadline. If the deadline cannot be satisfied using the available fleet or the user has no equipment, the system performs the construction planning using all database equipment and provides the optimal solution with 46 options organized into fleets in increasing order according to the amount of equipment needed. It is also possible for the user to select the equipment using time cost information and, thus, achieve the lowest cost fleet. The significant amount of information necessary for motor graders selection and its inter-relationships and dependencies were organized in a systematic way in the SADPATROL system, reducing, the empiricism and the dependence on human expertise in selecting fleets. This research may also help in assisting in the development of technical standards and expanding the dissemination of knowledge about such equipment.

The increasing intensity and frequency of precipitation in recent decades, combined with the human interventions in watersheds, has drastically altered the natural regimes of water and sediment transport in watersheds over the whole contiguous United States. Sediment-transport related concerns include the sustainability of aquatic biology, the stability of the river morphology, and the security and vulnerability of various riverine structures. For the present context, the concerns are related to the acceleration of upland erosion (sediment production) and in-stream sediment-transport processes that eventually lead to sediment accumulation at culverts (structures that pass streams under roadways). This nuisance has become widespread in many transportation agencies in the United States, as it has a direct bearing on maintaining normal culvert operations during extreme flows when these waterway crossings are essential for the communities they serve. Despite the prevalence of culvert sedimentation, current specifications for culvert design do not typically consider aspects of sediment transport and deposition. The overall study objective is to systematically identify the likelihood of culvert sedimentation as a function of stream and culvert geometry, along with landscape characteristics (process drivers of culvert sedimentation) in the culvert drainage area. The ideal approach for predicting sedimentation is to track sediment sources dislocated from the watershed, their overland movement, and their delivery into the streams using physical-based modeling. However, there are considerable knowledge gaps in addressing the sedimentation at culverts as an end-to-end process, especially in connecting the upland with in-stream processes and simulating the sediment deposition at culverts in non-uniform, unsteady flows, while also taking into account the vegetation growth in culverts’ vicinity. It is, therefore, no surprise that existing research, textbooks, and guidelines do not typically provide adequate information on sediment control at culverts. This dissertation presents a generalizable data-driven framework that integrates various machine-learning and visual analytics techniques with GIS in a web-based geospatial platform to explore the complex environmental processes of culvert sedimentation. The framework offers systematic procedures for (1) classifying the culvert sedimentation degree using a time-series of aerial images; (2) identifying key process-drivers from a variety of environmental and culvert structural characteristics through feature selections and interactive visual interfaces; (3) supporting human interactions to perceive empirical relationships between drivers and the culvert sedimentation degree through multivariate Geovisualization and Self-Organizing Map (SOM); and (4) forecasting culvert sedimentation potential across Iowa using machine learning algorithms. Developed using modular design and atop national datasets, the framework is generalizable and extendable, and therefore can be applied to address similar river management issues, such as habitat deterioration and water pollution, at the Contiguous US scale. The platform developed through this Ph.D. study offers a web-based problem-solving environment for a) managing inventory and retrieving culvert structural information; b) integrating diverse culvert-related datasets (e.g., culvert inventory, hydrological and land use data, and observations on the degree of sedimentation in the vicinity of culverts) in a digital repository; c) supporting culvert field inspections and real-time data collection through mobile devices; and d) hosting the data-driven framework for exploring culvert sedimentation drivers and forecasting culvert sedimentation potential across Iowa. Insights provided through the data-driven framework can be applied to support decisions for culvert management and sedimentation mitigation, as well as to provide suggestions on parameter selections for the design of these structures.