Bikes sharing systems have known a growing success all over the world. Several attempts have been made since the 1960s. The latest developments in ICT have enabled the system to become efficient. People can obtain real-time information about the position of the vehicles. More than 200 cities have already introduced the system and this trend keeps on with the launching of the NYC system in spring 2013. A new avatar of these means of transportation has arrived with the introduction of Autolib in Paris end of 2011.The objective of this thesis is to propose algorithms that may help to improve this system efficiency. Indeed, operating these systems induces several issues, one of which is the regulation problem. Regulation should ensures users that a right number of vehicles are present at any station anytime in order to fulfill the demand for both vehicles and parking racks. This regulation is often executed thanks to trucks that are travelling the city. This regulation issue is crucial since empty and full stations increase users' dissatisfaction. Finding the optimal strategy for regulating a network appears to be a difficult question. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first one deals with the "static" case. In this part, users' impact on the network is neglected. This is the case at night or when the system is closed. The operator faces a given repartition of the vehicles. He wants the repartition to match a target one that is known a priori. The one-truck and multiple-truck balancing problems are addressed in this thesis. For each one, an algorithm is proposed and tested on several instances. To deal with the "dynamic" case in which users interact with the system, a simulator has been developed. It is used to compare several strategies and to monitor redistribution by using trucks. Strategies not using trucks, but incentive policies are also tested: regularly updated prices are attached to stations to deter users from parking their vehicle at specified stations. At last, the question to find the best initial inventory is also addressed. It corresponds to the case when no truck are used within the day. Two local searches are presented and both aim at minimizing the total time lost by users in the system. The results obtained can be used as inputs for the target repartitions used in the first part. During my thesis, I participated to two EURO-ROADEF challenges, the 2010 edition proposed by EDF and the 2012 one by Google. In both case, my team reached the final phase. In 2010, our method was ranked fourth over all the participants and led to the publication of an article. In 2012, we ranked eighteenth over all the participants. Both works are added in the appendix

Due to the inherent hazardous characteristics associated with dolomite and development on dolomite, quantification of the stability attributes related to dolomite is essential. In large parts of South Africa, development on dolomite is inevitable due to the location thereof. The purpose of this study is to define an implementation framework for decision-making with regards to development on dolomite. The decision-making process is based on a dolomite stability investigation conducted by AGES North West (AGES, 2012) within Sarafina, Ikageng. The results from this study are interpreted by means of a decision support system that is based on the geo-environmental setting of the study area and the geotechnical properties related to the subsurface profile. This includes but is not limited to: Geo-environmental site conditions: • Drainage • Topography • Geophysical conditions • Regional geological conditions • Local geological conditions • Regional groundwater conditions • Local groundwater conditions Geotechnical stability of the dolomite based on the hazard characterisation and evaluation procedures: • Percussion drilling data • Receptacle development • Mobilisation agencies • Potential surface manifestation development space • Nature and mobilisation potential of the blanketing layer • The bedrock morphology These parameters are all inter-related and affect each other in various ways. During the study the importance of site specific observations and interpretations are emphasized. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Due to the inherent hazardous characteristics associated with dolomite and development on dolomite, quantification of the stability attributes related to dolomite is essential. In large parts of South Africa, development on dolomite is inevitable due to the location thereof. The purpose of this study is to define an implementation framework for decision-making with regards to development on dolomite. The decision-making process is based on a dolomite stability investigation conducted by AGES North West (AGES, 2012) within Sarafina, Ikageng. The results from this study are interpreted by means of a decision support system that is based on the geo-environmental setting of the study area and the geotechnical properties related to the subsurface profile. This includes but is not limited to: Geo-environmental site conditions: • Drainage • Topography • Geophysical conditions • Regional geological conditions • Local geological conditions • Regional groundwater conditions • Local groundwater conditions Geotechnical stability of the dolomite based on the hazard characterisation and evaluation procedures: • Percussion drilling data • Receptacle development • Mobilisation agencies • Potential surface manifestation development space • Nature and mobilisation potential of the blanketing layer • The bedrock morphology These parameters are all inter-related and affect each other in various ways. During the study the importance of site specific observations and interpretations are emphasized. / Thesis (MSc (Environmental Sciences))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The world we live in today demands systems that make our lives easier and help us make the right choices on time. There exists a growing need for quality products that help us in our day to day activities. Easy-to-use computer-based decision support systems apply all available and applicable data with the correct model, knowledge and skill of decision makers to support the user to choose the best solution. It is therefore important to develop decision support systems correctly to be of value to the user. Looking at other information system developments, the author tries to suggest ways to develop decision support systems. System development methodologies are investigated to determine if they are able to address the development of the very important decision support system components. Five methodologies were discussed and researched for their theoretical suitability to address the development of decision support systems. The author performed qualitative research using case studies and semi-structured interviews to assess the use or non-use of system development methodologies in the development of decision support systems in a South African context. Content and cross-case analyses were used to achieve results that are discussed to broaden the knowledge on the development of decision support systems. The author provides some explanations to why system development methodologies were not used in the development of the case studies. This research not only contributes to the academic body of knowledge about using system development methodologies in the development of decision support systems, but could also be useful to developers embarking on a new decision support system development. / Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This research addresses the design and development of a decision support tool to provide healthcare policy makers with insights and feedback when evaluating proposed patient flow and infection mitigation and control strategies in the emergency department (ED). An agent-based modeling (ABM) approach was used to simulate EDs, designed to be tuneable to specific parameters related to specification of topography, agent characteristics and behaviours, and the application in question. In this way, it allows for the user to simulate various ‘what-if’ scenarios related to infection spread and patient flow, where such policy questions may otherwise be left “best intent open loop” in practice. Infection spread modeling and patient flow modeling have been addressed by mathematical and queueing models in the past; however, the application of an ABM approach at the level of an institution is novel. A conjecture of this thesis is that such a tool should be augmented with Machine Learning (ML) technology to assist in performing optimization or search in which patient flow and infection spread are signals or variables of interest. Therefore this work seeks to design and demonstrate a decision support tool with ML capability for optimizing ED processes. The primary contribution of this thesis is the development of a novel, flexible, and tuneable framework for spatial, human-scale ABM in the context of a decision support tool for healthcare policy relating to infection spread and patient flow within EDs . The secondary contribution is the demonstration of the utility of ML for automatic policy generation with respect to the ABM tool. The application of ML to automatically generate healthcare policy in concert with an ABM is believed to be novel and of emerging practical importance. The tertiary contribution is the development and testing of a novel heuristic specific to the ML paradigm used: Genetic Programming (GP). This heuristic aids learning tasks performed in conjunction with ABMs for healthcare policy. The primary contribution is clearly demonstrated within this thesis. The others are of a more difficult nature; the groundwork has been laid for further work in these areas that are likely to remain open for the foreseeable future.

The world we live in today demands systems that make our lives easier and help us make the right choices on time. There exists a growing need for quality products that help us in our day to day activities. Easy-to-use computer-based decision support systems apply all available and applicable data with the correct model, knowledge and skill of decision makers to support the user to choose the best solution. It is therefore important to develop decision support systems correctly to be of value to the user. Looking at other information system developments, the author tries to suggest ways to develop decision support systems. System development methodologies are investigated to determine if they are able to address the development of the very important decision support system components. Five methodologies were discussed and researched for their theoretical suitability to address the development of decision support systems. The author performed qualitative research using case studies and semi-structured interviews to assess the use or non-use of system development methodologies in the development of decision support systems in a South African context. Content and cross-case analyses were used to achieve results that are discussed to broaden the knowledge on the development of decision support systems. The author provides some explanations to why system development methodologies were not used in the development of the case studies. This research not only contributes to the academic body of knowledge about using system development methodologies in the development of decision support systems, but could also be useful to developers embarking on a new decision support system development. / Thesis (MSc (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) water treatment are forms of decentralized water treatment that are becoming increasingly sought alternatives for ensuring the safety of drinking water. Although the acceptance of POU and POE systems is still the subject of some debate, it is generally acknowledged that they have a role to play in drinking water treatment. However, some of the main drivers for the increase in the use of POU and POE alternatives include: (1) the emergence of new technologies with high removal efficiencies of target contaminants; (2) the enhanced certification system of POU and POE treatment devices and components which ensures that devices have been well engineered to achieve defined contaminant removal targets and do not add contaminants from materials of construction; (3) the inclusion of POU and POE systems as acceptable means to comply with drinking water standards; and (4) the concerns voiced by consumers in several surveys regarding the safety of centrally treated drinking water; which, regardless of whether or not these concerns are justified, have led to an increase in the use of POU and POE treatment systems. With the commercialization of these devices the task of selecting a suitable device for treatment has become cumbersome. When the inherent complexity of a particular drinking water treatment task is added to the mix, a complex decision making situation is created. Thus the need for designing a decision support tool to compare and select POU and POE treatment systems was evident. Currently the best decision aid for selecting POU and POE systems is NSF International’s listing of the devices and their contaminant reduction claims. A significant contribution of this research is the depiction of an appropriate conceptual framework for developing usable and valid decision support systems (DSSs) to select or design water or wastewater treatment systems. A thorough investigation of the methods used to develop DSSs benchmarked a systematic approach to developing DSSs, which includes the analysis of the treatment problem(s), knowledge acquisition and representation, and the identification and evaluation of criteria controlling the selection of optimal treatment systems. Finally, it was concluded that there is a need to develop integrated DSSs that are generic, user-friendly and employ a systems analysis approach. Another significant contribution of this research is applying a systems analysis approach to outline aspects of implementation, management, and governance of POU and POE water treatment systems. The analysis also included a timeline of the progress of POU and POE treatment from regulatory, industry and certification, and research perspectives. Results of the analysis were considered the first step of a conceptual framework for the sustainability assessment of POU and POE treatment systems which acts as the basis for developing a decision support system that will help select sustainable POU or POE treatment systems. In the context of POU and POE treatment, sustainability encompasses providing: (a) safe drinking water to help maintain good human health and hygiene; (b) minimum negative impact on the environment; (c) better use of human, natural, and financial resources; (d) a high degree of functional robustness and flexibility; and (e) cultural acceptance thus encouraging responsible behavior by the users. The most significant contribution of this research is developing, for the first time, a set of sustainability criteria, objectives, and quantifiable indicators to properly assess the sustainability of the various POU and POE alternatives. Twenty five quantitative and qualitative indicators covering technical, economic, environmental, and socio-cultural aspects of implementing a POU or a POE system were defined. Results of a survey of experts’ judgment on the effectiveness of the developed list of indicators generated 52 comments from 11 experts, which helped in refining and enhancing the list. The conceptual framework for assessing the sustainability of POU and POE systems represented a blueprint for building the decision support system. Decision logic and cognitive thinking was used to formulate the calculation of the 20 refined indicators. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a recognized Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool, was employed to construct the structural hierarchy of sustainability indicators. Pairwise comparison was used to help in the analysis of indicators' relative importance and develop the indicators’ weights. A survey was designed to develop the relative weights of the indicators based on the average response of 19 stakeholders to a series of pairwise comparison questions pertaining to the relative importance of the indicators. Finally, the practical contribution of this research is the development of, for the first time, a new Decision Support System for Selecting Sustainable POU and POE Treatment Systems (D4SPOUTS) suitable for a particular water treatment case. The MCDA technique explained above is combined with designed screening rules, constraints, and case characteristics to be applied to a knowledgebase of POU and POE treatment systems incorporated in the DSS. The components of the DSS were built using Microsoft® Excel® and Visual Basic® for Applications. The quality of the DSS and aspects of its usability, applicability, and sensitivity analysis are demonstrated through a hypothetical case study for lead removal from drinking water. This research is expected to assist water purveyors, consultants, and other stakeholders in selecting sustainable and cost effective POU and POE treatment systems.

Semantic web based decision support systems represent domain knowledge using ontologies that capture the domain concepts, their relationships and instances. Typically, decision support systems use a single knowledge model—i.e. a single ontology—which at times restricts the knowledge coverage to only select aspects of the domain knowledge. The integration of multiple knowledge models—i.e. multiple ontologies—provides a holistic knowledge model that encompasses multiple perspectives, orientations and instances. The challenge is the execution-time merging of multiple ontologies whilst maintaining knowledge consistency and procedural validity. Knowledge morphing aims at the intelligent merging of multiple computerized knowledge artifacts—represented as distinct ontological models—in order to create a holistic and networked knowledge model. In our research, we have investigated and developed a knowledge morphing framework—termed as OntoMorph—that supports ontology merging through: (1) Ontology Reconciliation whereby we harmonize multiple ontologies in terms of their vocabularies, knowledge coverage, and description granularities; (2) Ontology Merging where multiple reconciled ontologies are merged into a single merged ontology. To achieve ontology merging, we have formalized a set of semantically-defined merging criteria that determine ontology merge points, and describe the associated process-specific and knowledge consistency constraints that need to be satisfied to ensure consistent ontology merging; and (3) Ontology Execution whereby we have developed logic-based execution engines for both execution-time ontology merging and the execution of the merged ontology to infer knowledge-based recommendations. We have utilized OWL reasoning services, for efficient and decidable reasoning, to execute an OWL ontology. We have applied the OntoMorph framework for clinical decision support, more specifically to achieve the dynamic merging of multiple clinical practice guidelines in order to handle comorbid situations where a patient may have multiple diseases and hence multiple clinical guidelines are to be simultaneously operationalized. We have demonstrated the execution time merging of ontologically-modelled clinical guidelines, such that the decision support recommendations are derived from multiple, yet merged, clinical guidelines such that the inferred recommendations are clinically consistent. The thesis contributes new methods for ontology reconciliation, merging and execution, and presents a solution for execution-time merging of multiple clinical guidelines.

Subsequent to preparation of a valid base estimate for a construction project tender, it is required to add a bid markup on top of the base estimate. While an exaggerated bid markup weakens the competitiveness of the contractor, an underestimated one makes the contractor susceptible to financial losses. Therefore, an effective and reliable bid markup estimation method is indispensable to the success of a contractor both at the tender and the performance stages. The prevalent practice among contractors is to identify a certain percentage to add on the base estimate relying on their judgment without substantial ex! plicit support. In this thesis, a case based decision support system, which will count on the experience of the top experts of Turkish international contractors, will be constructed. Meanwhile, factors which are essential to bid markup estimation are to be identified.

Truck transportation is considered as a favourable mode by shippers to carry freight at most ranges of distance as it has more flexibility in fleet size, capacity, scheduling, routing, and access. Although truck is considered as the popular mode for freight transportation, road-rail intermodal freight transportation becomes an attractive alternative to road only mode since the latter has no longer assured a reliable service due to traffic congestion problem. It also raises public concern in environmental and road safety impacts. Intermodal freight transportation is defined as a system that carries freight from origin to destination using two or more transportation modes where transfers between modes occur at an intermodal freight terminal. Success of the terminal depends on four major factors, namely: location, efficiency, financial sustainability, and rail level of service. Among these, the location is one of the most crucial success factors and needs to be considered carefully as it has direct and indirect impacts on a number of stakeholders including terminal users, terminal operators, transport network infrastructure providers, and community. Limitations of previous terminal location evaluation models in representing individual preference and behaviour as well as accommodating negotiation and communication between the players bring in an opportunity to develop a new model which is more flexible and capable of providing a solution that is not necessary to be optimal, but acceptable for every player without requiring explicit trade-offs. This thesis is aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of applying an agent-based approach to the evaluation of intermodal freight terminal location and investigating terminal effectiveness against stakeholder equity and some important aspects arising from the different stakeholders’ viewpoints. Agent technologies were introduced to model the stakeholders as individual agents. The agent concept was adopted to develop a decentralised location evaluation system that is able to balance the terminal effectiveness with the stakeholder equity. The proposed agent-based location evaluation model was modelled as a hierarchical control system that comprises three decision levels: local level, stakeholder level and policy level. Policy level is the highest decision level, which is represented by a policy maker. Apart from the policy level, the rest can be viewed as operational decision levels. Local level is the lowest control level. At this level, each stakeholder was classified into stakeholder groups based on their characteristics and interest. The terminal scenarios were then evaluated based on benefit maximisation criteria. Stakeholder control is the higher control level than the local level. It represents the control level where negotiations and decisions between groups of people (stakeholders) with different point of views are made. At this level, negotiation process was used to determine terminal location based on preference and equity of stakeholders. The determined terminal site was then used in the evaluation against constraints to ensure that all agents are satisfied. The terminal location decision for South East Queensland (SEQ) was applied as a case study of this thesis. The SEQ strategic freight transport model was developed, calibrated, and validated to assist in providing inputs for the evaluation of terminal location. The results indicated that for the developed agent-based location evaluation model, Yatala was selected as the most appropriate terminal location that results in the highest effectiveness and equity (as measured by level of satisfaction and Gini coefficient, respectively). Other location evaluation models were also used in comparison with the developed agent-based location evaluation model. Those include P-Median, P-Centre, and maximum covering models. It was found that the agent-based location evaluation model outperformed the other location evaluation models. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted in order to evaluate the consistency of model outputs against the uncertainties in the input parameters. In most cases, the terminal location decisions obtained from the developed agent-based location evaluation model was not sensitive to the changes in those parameters. However, the results suggested that when a unit cost of truck travel delay increased, the impact on the final terminal location decisions was observed. This thesis demonstrated the feasibility of applying a decentralised approach to terminal location decision problem using a multi-agent concept and evaluating it against other well-known location problems. A new framework and methodology for the planning of intermodal terminal location evaluation was also formulated. Finally, the problems of terminal location evaluation and optimisation of intermodal freight terminal operation were integrated into a single evaluation model.