abstract: Every year, more than 11 million maritime containers and 11 million commercial trucks arrive to the United States, carrying all types of imported goods. As it would be costly to inspect every container, only a fraction of them are inspected before being allowed to proceed into the United States. This dissertation proposes a decision support system that aims to allocate the scarce inspection resources at a land POE (L-POE), to minimize the different costs associated with the inspection process, including those associated with delaying the entry of legitimate imports. Given the ubiquity of sensors in all aspects of the supply chain, it is necessary to have automated decision systems that incorporate the information provided by these sensors and other possible channels into the inspection planning process. The inspection planning system proposed in this dissertation decomposes the inspection effort allocation process into two phases: Primary and detailed inspection planning. The former helps decide what to inspect, and the latter how to conduct the inspections. A multi-objective optimization (MOO) model is developed for primary inspection planning. This model tries to balance the costs of conducting inspections, direct and expected, and the waiting time of the trucks. The resulting model is exploited in two different ways: One is to construct a complete or a partial efficient frontier for the MOO model with diversity of Pareto-optimal solutions maximized; the other is to evaluate a given inspection plan and provide possible suggestions for improvement. The methodologies are described in detail and case studies provided. The case studies show that this MOO based primary planning model can effectively pick out the non-conforming trucks to inspect, while balancing the costs and waiting time. / Dissertation/Thesis / code developed in this dissertation / Ph.D. Industrial Engineering 2012

Group Support Systems (GSS) are systems, normally involving the use of Information Technology, that have been designed to support groups of people meeting to undertake some task. By providing an additional channel of communication, GSS attempt to reduce group process losses, such as domination of the group by one or more members, and to enhance positive aspects of the group process, for example a group member thinking of a new and useful idea as a result of awareness of the contribution of other group members. A number of different types of GSS have been developed involving different levels of IT support. However, the majority of research has been targeted at GSS involving networked personal computers, where each member of the group uses an individual personal computer to enter opinions and values. Another type of GSS involves a single personal computer, a large screen that can be viewed by all members of a group, and a number of personal handsets that can be used to send numeric information to the personal computer. Relative to networked personal computer based GSS, there has been far less research on the effectiveness of handset based GSS in supporting a group of people meeting on some task. Additionally, there is conflicting evidence between studies of GSS that have been undertaken in the laboratory, and studies that have been undertaken in the field. Laboratory studies have found little evidence to suggest that the group process is improved through the use of a GSS, whilst field studies have identified benefits. The evaluation of the validity of a GSS is a complex issue, and can be considered from a number of perspectives and approaches. This portfolio of projects concerns the development and evaluation of a type of k-GSS in organisational settings. The portfolio includes an account of the background to the development of the GSS and an initial evaluation of the usefulness of the system through a number of field studies. Two field applications of the GSS are the subject of an in-depth evaluation, and include evaluation of both process variables and output variables. The evaluation of the GSS in these applications suggests that an important factor in improving the group process through using a GSS is the extent to which dialogue is encouraged in the group. Additionally, a GSS Design Framework and GSS Design Guidelines are identified which should be reviewed when an application using this type of technology in an organisational context is being considered.

Ces travaux concernent la mise en place d'un système d'aide à la décision, s'appuyant sur le raisonnement à partir de cas, pour la modélisation et la résolution des problèmes d'ordonnancement en génie des procédés. Une analyse de co-citation a été exécutée afin d'extraire de la littérature la connaissance nécessaire à la construction de la stratégie d'aide à la décision et d'obtenir une image de la situation, de l'évolution et de l'intensité de la recherche du domaine des problèmes d'ordonnancement. Un système de classification a été proposée, et la nomenclature proposée par Blazewicz et al. (2007) a été étendue de manière à pouvoir caractériser de manière complète les problèmes d'ordonnancement et leur mode de résolution. Les difficultés d'adaptation du modèle ont été discutées, et l'efficacité des quatre modèles de littérature a été comparée sur trois exemples de flow-shop. Une stratégie de résolution est proposée en fonction des caractéristiques du problème mathématique. / The purpose of this study is to work out the foundations of a decision-support system in order to advise efficient resolution strategies for scheduling problems in process engineering. This decision-support system is based on Case-Based Reasoning. A bibliographic study based on co-citation analysis has been performed in order to extract knowledge from the literature and obtain a landscape about scheduling research, its intensity and evolution. An open classification scheme has been proposed to scheduling problems, mathematical models and solving methods. A notation scheme corresponding to the classification has been elaborated based on the nomenclature proposed by Blazewicz et al. (2007). The difficulties arising during the adaptation of a mathematical model to different problems is discussed, and the performances of four literature mathematical models have been compared on three flow-shop examples. A resolution strategy is proposed based on the characteristics of the scheduling problem.

A utilização de biomassa vegetal para produção de etanol como forma de substituição dos combustíveis fósseis, é uma alternativa explorada por diversos países. O Brasil, segundo produtor mundial de etanol, utiliza como principal matéria-prima a cana-de-açúcar. Entretanto, com a possibilidade da extração de etanol de outras matérias-primas já realizados em outros países, como EUA, China, União Européia, surge, no estado do Mato Grosso, Brasil, o interesse em processar mandioca, milho e sorgo sacarino para produção do etanol. Utilizando-se do aporte teórico da Teoria da Localização, este trabalho tem por objetivo, avaliar a viabilidade da produção de etanol a partir de uma planta multi-produto na região Oeste do estado do Mato Grosso. Com a utilização de modelagem matemática, avaliou-se o local ideal para construção de uma planta industrial, bem como os custos de produção para as matérias-primas provindas de cada município. Os resultados apontam para viabilidade econômica do processamento da mandioca e do sorgo sacarino para produção de etanol em alguns municípios da região. O processamento dessas duas culturas para produção de etanol pode vir a modificar o sistema produtivo atual, aumentando as áreas destinadas ao cultivo de mandioca e sorgo sacarino, diminuindo a dependência dos programas de subsídios para o escoamento da produção do milho. A cultura do sorgo sacarino se inviabiliza conforme o aumento da necessidade de transporte. A cultura do milho, mesmo com a venda do subproduto protéico, mostrou-se inviável do ponto de vista econômico para produção de etanol. / The use of biomass for ethanol production as a way to replace fossil fuels, an alternative explored by several countries. In Brazil, the second largest producer in the world, the main raw material used for ethanol production is sugarcane. However, with the possibility of extracting ethanol from other feedstocks as already made in other countries such as USA, China, Hong Kong, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, there is a growing interest in processing cassava, maize and sweet sorghum for production of ethanol. Using the Theory of Location, this article is aimed at the evaluation of the feasibility of producing ethanol in a multi-product plant in the Western state of Mato Grosso. Using mathematical modeling, we evaluated the ideal location for building an industrial plant and calculated the production costs for raw materials coming from each neighbor municipality. The results point to the economic viability of the processing of cassava and sweet sorghum for ethanol production in some city areas. The processing of these two crops to produce ethanol is likely to modify the current production system, increasing the areas for the cultivation of cassava and sweet sorghum, and reducing the dependence on subsidy programs for marketing of corn production. The cultivation of sweet sorghum is unfeasible with increasing need for transportation. The corn crop, even with the sale of DDGS, proved to be unfeasible economically for ethanol production.

O aumento da competição e a aceleração dos avanços tecnológicos têm contribuído para o desenvolvimento de novos conceitos e estratégias de produção, direcionando as empresas à busca contínua de novas oportunidades de negócios e melhorias dos processos produtivos. A indústria de madeira serrada no Brasil, na sua grande maioria, apresenta estrutura produtiva precária, com baixa produtividade, e sua sobrevivência depende da busca por melhorias de eficiência técnica e econômica dos processos de transformação. Nesta busca de melhorias de processos, a simulação de sistemas pode ser utilizada como ferramenta de apoio à decisão no planejamento da produção de serrarias, contribuindo para a competitividade das empresas. Esta dissertação objetiva desenvolver um modelo de simulação da produção de madeira serrada para auxiliar no planejamento da produção de uma serraria. O trabalho verificou a real potencialidade do uso da simulação no processo produtivo da serraria, se mostrando uma alternativa para o planejamento da produção da mesma. Com o uso da ferramenta estudada, o sistema produtivo foi modelado e validado utilizando o pacote de simulação Arena. Dentre os resultados desta dissertação, podem ser destacados: o modelo de pesquisa, a identificação das variáveis do sistema, o desenvolvimento e a validação do modelo. / The growing competition and the acceleration of technological advances have been contributing for the development of new production concepts and strategies, guiding companies into the search for continuous new business opportunities and productive processes improvements. Most of sawn wood industry in Brazil presents poor productive structure with low productivity, and its survival depends on the search for improvements on technical and economic efficiency of transformation processes. On this search, system simulation can be used as a supporting tool when deciding about the saw production planning, which contributes in favor of company competition. This paper work aims the development of a sawn wood production simulation model in order to help in the planning of a sawmill production. This work verifies the real potentiality when using the simulation during the sawmill productive process, which demonstrates it can be an alternative for the planning of the sawmill production. After using the above studied tool, the productive system was modeled and validated based on Arena simulation package. Among all the results of this study, some deserve to be highlighted: the research model, the identification of the system variables, and the model development and validation.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-22T20:49:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-02-22 / Introdução: o diagnóstico da doença celíaca é um processo complexo devido à multiplicidade dos sintomas, sinais, grupos de risco, formas de apresentação e intersecção dos sintomas com outras doenças. Para a confirmação da suspeita diagnóstica, é imprescindível a realização da biopsia do intestino delgado, o padrão-ouro. Objetivo: desenvolver um sistema de apoio à decisão, em ambiente web, integrado a um classificador automático para reconhecimento dos casos de doença celíaca. Métodos: um sistema web foi construído para suportar um protocolo eletrônico esquematizado para atendimento e registro dos dados clínicos dos pacientes. Uma avaliação preliminar de usabilidade foi realizada. Uma base de dados de retrospectiva com 178 casos clínicos para treinamento foi construída. Foram testados 270 classificadores automáticos disponíveis no software Weka 3.6.1, utilizando cinco técnicas de inteligência artificial, a saber, árvores de decisão, classificador bayesiano, k-vizinhos próximos, máquinas de vetor de suporte e redes neurais artificiais. As métricas analisadas foram área sob a curva ROC, sensibilidade, especificidade e taxa de acerto, utilizadas nessa sequência como critério para seleção do algoritmo a ser implantado no sistema web. O algoritmo com maior AUC foi selecionado e acoplado ao sistema web, gerando o software intitulado SADCEL. Uma base de dados de teste foi construída, com 38 casos clínicos, para a avaliação do SADCEL em relação à utilidade diagnóstica. A hipótese diagnóstica apontada pelo SADCEL foi comparada às indicadas pelos especialistas durante a realização da consulta por meio de estatística kappa. Resultados: o sistema web foi avaliado pelos usuários com nível excelente de usabilidade, com SUS-score de 83,5 ± 10,0. Na fase de treinamento, as melhores métricas foram apresentadas pelo algoritmo AODE F-1, do tipo classificador bayesiano, com taxa de acerto 80,0%, sensibilidade 0,78, especificidade 0,80 e AUC 0,84. Comparado ao padrão ouro, o SADCEL alcançou uma precisão de 84,2% com um nível de concordância diagnóstica de k = 0,68 (p <0,0001), o que indicou um bom nível de concordância. A mesma taxa de acerto foi obtida na comparação entre as indicações do diagnóstico dos especialistas e o padrão-ouro, com k = 0,64 (p-value <0,0001). Entre a indicação do especialista e do SADC, obteve-se k = 0,46 (p-value = 0,0008), o que indica concordância moderada. Conclusão: o nível de precisão alcançado pelo algoritmo de classificação automática integrado ao sistema web evidencia a utilidade potencial da SADCEL no auxílio ao diagnóstico de doença celíaca / Introduction: the diagnosing of celiac disease involves some complexity due to its multiple symptoms, signs, risk groups, presentation and the wide possibility of differential diagnosis. In order to confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease, it is required to perform the biopsy or the small intestine, the gold standard. Objective: to develop a decision making support system, in web environment, including an automated classifier to recognize cases of celiac disease, to be previously selected among experimental models drawing upon techniques of artificial intelligence. Methods: a web system was implemented to support an electronic protocol designed to help with celiac disease investigation and collect clinical data. A preliminary assessment of this system usability was performed through the analysis of a questionnaire based on the System Usability Scale (SUS) completed by 10 direct users of the web system implemented. A retrospective database with 178 cases was build for training the automated classifier. A total of 270 automated classifiers available in the software Weka 3.6.1 were tested using 5 artificial intelligence techniques – decision tree, K-nearest-neighbor, Bayesian classifier, support vector machine and artificial neural networks. The parameters area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity and correctness rate were used, in the order above, as criteria to select the classification algorithm to be implemented in the web system. The algorithm with the largest AUC was included in the web system whose software was named SADCEL. A database with 38 clinical cases was built to assess the diagnostic power this software. The diagnostic hypothesis obtained from SADCEL was compared with those reached by the specialists participating in the study using Kappa Statistic. Results: the preliminary usability score attained by the web system was 83.5 ± 10.0 (excellent). The Bayesian classifying algorithm AODE F1 had the best performance scoring 80.0% for correctness, 0.78 for sensitivity, 0.84 for specificity and 0.84 for AUC. Compared with the study gold standard, SADCEL achieved an accuracy of 84.2% with a level of agreement with the diagnostic gold standard rated as k = 0.68 (p-value < 0.0001), indicative of good level of agreement. The level of agreement between the specialist diagnostic hypothesis and the diagnostic gold standard was rated as k = 0.64 (p-value < 0.0001). The agreement between the specialist and SADCEL diagnostic hypotheses was rated as k = 0.46 (p-value) indicative of moderate level of agreement. Conclusion: the level of accuracy attained by the classifying algorithm incorporated in this study´s web system evidences the potential usefulness of SADCEL in helping with diagnosing celiac disease in clinical set. This study is, thus, expected to be a contribution towards the establishing of a computational means of diagnosing the celiac disease. / TEDE

Orientador: José Paulo Alves Fusco / Co-orientador: José de Souza Rodrigues / Banca: José Remo Ferreira Brega / Banca: Renato de Campos / Resumo: A integração dos sistemas corporativos é importante e necessária para a realização técnica dos processos de negócios. As dificuldades (técnicas e de custo) para tornar os sistemas de gestão integrados (os ERPs) aderentes aos processos e à dinâmica organizacional levam as organizações a conviverem com sistemas de diversos fabricantes com baixa ou nenhuma integração entre eles. Essa dificuldade pode se tornar ainda maior no caso de organizações públicas. Uma alternativa para este desfaio pode ser oferecida plo conceito de Gestão de Processos de Negócio (BPM), que objetiva fornecer base conceitual para alinhar os processos de negócio com os objetivos organizacionais. Este trabalho surge da necessidade de conhecer "as implicações o conceito subjacente aos Sistemas de Implementação e Gestão de Processos com base no BPM, como o AtosBPM, têm para a integração de processos nas organizações". Para tanto foi feito um estudo exploratório usando um processo específico em uma instituição pública de ensino superior do Estado de São Paulo. A escolha da instituição foi motivada pela facilidade de acesso a seus dados e processos e a por mesma não dispor de um sistema de gestão integrado. Utilizou-se a filosofia de melhoria contínua de processos de negócio e uma ferramenta computacional para desenhar o processo analisado com base no conceito BPM. Foi gerado uma proposta de otimização do processo analisado, com a qual pode-se concluir que a modelagem e otimização de processos com base no BPM podem servir para integrar os processos organizacionais de uma forma diferente da convencional. Estas possibilidades podem tanto levar os gestores a fazer pequenas adaptações em seus sistemas "criando pontes" de ligação entre sistemas não integrados ao invés de fazerem modificações mais abrangentes, como contornar limitações de recursos orçamentários, por exemplo, para melhorar a integração de seus processos... / Abstract: The integration of enterprise systems is important and necessary for the technical realizatino of business processes. Difficulties (technical and cost) to make integrated management systems (ERPs) adhering to processes and organizational dynamics lead organizations to live with systems from various manufacturers with little or no integration between them. This difficulty can become even worse in the case of public organizations. One option for the challenge can be provided by the concept of Business Process Management (BPM), which aims to provide conceptual basis for aligning business processes with organizational goals. This work from the need to know "the implications that the concept behind the Implementation and Process management Systems based on BPM, as AtosBPM, have for the integration processes in organizations." To this end it was made an exploratory study using a specific process in a public institution of higher education in the state of São Paulo. The choice of the institution wa motivated by the ease access to your data and it does not have an integrated management system. It was used the philosophy of continuous improvement of business processes and a computational tool to design the process analyzed based on the BPM concept. It has generated an optimization proposal of the reporting process, with which it can be concluded that process modeling and optimization based on the BPM can be used to integrate business processes in a different way from conventional. These possibilities can either lead managers to make small adjustmentes in their systems "building bridges" linking nonintegrated systems rather than making broader change, like to get around limitations of budgetary resources, for example, to improve the integration of its processes. Therefore, the efficiency and effectiveness of these improvements depend on the approaches used to justify them / Mestre

Os sistemas de triagem têm sido utilizados nos serviços de emergência (SE) para determinar a prioridade clínica dos pacientes de acordo com o risco potencial, o nível de gravidade ou o sofrimento do paciente. Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar o sistema de triagem desenvolvido no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA). Este foi um estudo retrospectivo com base de dados originada dos prontuários dos pacientes. A confiabilidade do sistema foi analisada através do acordo interobservadores e a validade usando o nível de triagem como uma variável independente para os seguintes desfechos clínicos: hospitalização, hospitalização de pacientes triados como não urgentes, os óbitos ocorridos dentro de 60 dias, tempo de permanência no SE e retorno não programado ao SE no prazo de 7 dias. O sistema de triagem do HCPA apresentou validade com confiabilidade variando de moderada a forte e correlação significativa entre o nível da triagem e os desfechos clínicos analisados. / The triage systems have been used in emergency departments (SE) to determine the clinical priority of patients according the potential risk, the level of severity or the patient's suffering. This study aimed to evaluate the triage system developed at Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA). This was a retrospective study with database originated of the clinical records of patients. The reliability of the system was analyzed through the interrater agreement and the validity of system using the level of triage as an independent variable for the following clinical outcomes: hospitalization, hospitalization of patients triaged as non-urgent, deaths within 60 days, length of stay in the SE and the unscheduled return to the SE within 7 days. The sorting system of HCPA presented validity with reliability ranging from to moderate to strong and significant correlation between the level of triage and to clinical outcomes analyzed.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-13T13:26:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-07-02. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2016-01-13T13:32:19Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000854374.pdf: 2545918 bytes, checksum: 5df37d79f6f8c0e09592a176842d3ffe (MD5) / A integração dos sistemas corporativos é importante e necessária para a realização técnica dos processos de negócios. As dificuldades (técnicas e de custo) para tornar os sistemas de gestão integrados (os ERPs) aderentes aos processos e à dinâmica organizacional levam as organizações a conviverem com sistemas de diversos fabricantes com baixa ou nenhuma integração entre eles. Essa dificuldade pode se tornar ainda maior no caso de organizações públicas. Uma alternativa para este desfaio pode ser oferecida plo conceito de Gestão de Processos de Negócio (BPM), que objetiva fornecer base conceitual para alinhar os processos de negócio com os objetivos organizacionais. Este trabalho surge da necessidade de conhecer as implicações o conceito subjacente aos Sistemas de Implementação e Gestão de Processos com base no BPM, como o AtosBPM, têm para a integração de processos nas organizações. Para tanto foi feito um estudo exploratório usando um processo específico em uma instituição pública de ensino superior do Estado de São Paulo. A escolha da instituição foi motivada pela facilidade de acesso a seus dados e processos e a por mesma não dispor de um sistema de gestão integrado. Utilizou-se a filosofia de melhoria contínua de processos de negócio e uma ferramenta computacional para desenhar o processo analisado com base no conceito BPM. Foi gerado uma proposta de otimização do processo analisado, com a qual pode-se concluir que a modelagem e otimização de processos com base no BPM podem servir para integrar os processos organizacionais de uma forma diferente da convencional. Estas possibilidades podem tanto levar os gestores a fazer pequenas adaptações em seus sistemas criando pontes de ligação entre sistemas não integrados ao invés de fazerem modificações mais abrangentes, como contornar limitações de recursos orçamentários, por exemplo, para melhorar a integração de seus processos... / The integration of enterprise systems is important and necessary for the technical realizatino of business processes. Difficulties (technical and cost) to make integrated management systems (ERPs) adhering to processes and organizational dynamics lead organizations to live with systems from various manufacturers with little or no integration between them. This difficulty can become even worse in the case of public organizations. One option for the challenge can be provided by the concept of Business Process Management (BPM), which aims to provide conceptual basis for aligning business processes with organizational goals. This work from the need to know the implications that the concept behind the Implementation and Process management Systems based on BPM, as AtosBPM, have for the integration processes in organizations. To this end it was made an exploratory study using a specific process in a public institution of higher education in the state of São Paulo. The choice of the institution wa motivated by the ease access to your data and it does not have an integrated management system. It was used the philosophy of continuous improvement of business processes and a computational tool to design the process analyzed based on the BPM concept. It has generated an optimization proposal of the reporting process, with which it can be concluded that process modeling and optimization based on the BPM can be used to integrate business processes in a different way from conventional. These possibilities can either lead managers to make small adjustmentes in their systems building bridges linking nonintegrated systems rather than making broader change, like to get around limitations of budgetary resources, for example, to improve the integration of its processes. Therefore, the efficiency and effectiveness of these improvements depend on the approaches used to justify them

The real time monitoring of environment context aware activities, based on distributed detection, is becoming a standard in public safety and service delivery in a wide range of domains (child and elderly care and supervision, logistics, circulation, and other). The safety of people, goods and premises depends on the prompt immediate reaction to potential hazards identified in real time, at an early stage to engage appropriate control actions. Effective emergency response can be supported only by available and acquired expertise or elaborate collaborative knowledge in the domain of distributed detection that include indoor sensing, tracking and localizing. This research proposes a hybrid conceptual multi-agent framework for the acquisition of collaborative knowledge in dynamic complex context aware environments for distributed detection. This framework has been applied for the design and development of a hybrid intelligent multi-agent decision system (HIDSS) that supports a decentralized active sensing, tracking and localizing strategy, and the deployment and configuration of smart detection devices associated to active sensor nodes wirelessly connected in a network topology to configure, deploy and control ad hoc wireless sensor networks (WSNs). This system, which is based on the interactive use of data, models and knowledge base, has been implemented to support fire detection and control access fusion functions aimed at elaborating: An integrated data model, grouping the building information data and WSN-RFID database, composed of the network configuration and captured data, A virtual layout configuration of the controlled premises, based on using a building information model, A knowledge-based support for the design of generic detection devices, A multi-criteria decision making model for generic detection devices distribution, ad hoc WSNs configuration, clustering and deployment, and Predictive data models for evacuation planning, and fire and evacuation simulation. An evaluation of the system prototype has been carried out to enrich information and knowledge fusion requirements and show the scope of the concepts used in data and process modelling. It has shown the practicability of hybrid solutions grouping generic homogeneous smart detection devices enhanced by heterogeneous support devices in their deployment, forming ad hoc networks that integrate WSNs and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The novelty in this work is the web-based support system architecture proposed in this framework that is based on the use of intelligent agent modelling and multi-agent systems, and the decoupling of the processes supporting the multi-sensor data fusion from those supporting different context applications. Although this decoupling is essential to appropriately distribute the different fusion functions, the integration of several dimensions of policy settings for the modelling of knowledge processes, and intelligent and pro-active decision making activities, requires the organisation of interactive fusion functions deployed upstream to a safety and emergency response.