The manufacturing industry must align business values with sustainability to preserve a healthy socio-ecological environment, that ensures access for future generations to necessary resources. To better understand the interactions between business strategies and facility operations, this research aims to adopt a more holistic perspective of sustainable facility planning processes, applying the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development. By using relevant environmental and social principles, methods, knowledge, and industrial practices, a strategic decision support was developed as a foundation for the manufacturing industry to improve their sustainable performance. This research (1) collected and analysed existing concepts and processes for sustainability in the industry; (2) developed a practical decision support tool; (3) reviewed the design by experts in the field; and (4) redesigned the tool by implementing expert recommendations. Based on the findings, it is crucial for decision makers to embed a strategic and holistic approach when considering facility design options. Therefore, the strategic decision support tool (CRAFTS) enables opportunities for a broader scope of possible improvements within the confines of the manufacturing facility by guiding experts in the field to decide between retrofitting and new construction. CRAFTS supports the industry to refine and align their business strategies and facility operations with sustainability.

This thesis presents the development and evaluation of a computerized physician-parent decision support tool for a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), known as Physician and Parent Decision Support (PPADS). The NICU is a specialized hospital unit that treats very-ill neonates. Many difficult care decisions are made daily for this vulnerable population. The PPADS tool aims to augment current NICU decision-making by helping parents and physicians make more informed decisions, improving physician-parent communication, increasing parent decision-making satisfaction, decreasing conflict, and increasing decision efficiency. The development of the PPADS tool followed a five-step methodology: assessing the clinical environment, establishing the design criteria, developing the system design, implementing the system, and performing usability testing. Usability testing of the PPADS tool was performed on neonatologists and on parents of neonates who have graduated (survived) from a tertiary level NICU. The usability testing demonstrated the usefulness and ease of use of the tool.

Introduction : La prise de décision concernant la préservation de la fertilité dans un contexte de prise en charge urgente de cancer du sein est complexe. Les objectifs de ce travail étaient de définir les attentes et les besoins des patientes en matière d’information, de concevoir un outil d’aide à la décision en ligne et d’évaluer sa validité apparente et son influence sur le choix éclairé des patientes.Méthodologie : Trois méthodes de recherche ont été menées pour répondre aux hypothèses : un focus group de cinq patientes pour l’étude qualitative, l’élaboration d’un outil d’aide à la décision selon la méthode d’Ottawa et une étude randomisée monocentrique. Cette dernière a été menée auprès de patientes âgées de 18 à 40 ans, adressées pour préservation de la fertilité dans un contexte de cancer du sein, randomisées au sein du groupe IRIS (information standard) ou du groupe DECISIF (avec outil d’aide à la décision en ligne). La mesure du choix éclairé était évaluée selon trois critères, à l’aide d’un questionnaire : les connaissances, l’attitude, et la mise en place ou non de techniques de préservation de la fertilité.Résultats : L’étude qualitative a permis de mettre en évidence que l’information transmise aux femmes et l’annonce de l’infertilité potentielle était à parfaire. L’outil d’aide à la décision en ligne a été élaboré suivant les recommandations des patientes et des professionnels de santé impliqués qui ont confirmé sa validité apparente. En ce qui concerne l’étude quantitative, au total 125 patientes ont été inclues et randomisées dans le groupe IRIS (n=65) ou DECISIF (n=60). Il a été mis en évidence une amélioration des connaissances dans le groupe DECISIF (8.6/10 (±1.34)) par rapport au groupe IRIS (6.49/10 (±1.89)). Dans les deux groupes, les patientes ont une attitude favorable envers la préservation de la fertilité (96 %). La décision finale n’est pas influencée par l’appartenance à un groupe ou un autre. Ainsi, à l’issue de la consultation de préservation de la fertilité, 73.6 % (92/125), soit 69.2 % (45/65) des patientes du groupe IRIS et 78.3 % (47/60) des patientes du groupe DECISIF vont choisir de conserver leurs ovocytes, embryons et/ou tissu ovarien. La proportion de choix éclairé était statistiquement plus élevée dans le groupe DECISIF que dans le groupe IRIS (respectivement 75 % versus 38.5 %, p<0.001). Par ailleurs, le niveau de conflit décisionnel chez les patientes du groupe DECISIF était moins élevé que chez celles du groupe IRIS (respectivement 14.4 (±2.94) versus 15.1 (±2.18), p=0.13).Conclusion : Nous avons conçu un outil d’aide à la décision en ligne pour accompagner les femmes atteintes d’un cancer du sein dans leur prise de décision concernant la préservation de la fertilité. Notre travail de recherche a permis de valider scientifiquement cet outil qui améliore les connaissances des patientes et leur autonomie de décision sans influencer leur attitude envers la préservation de la fertilité. / Introduction: Decision-making regarding fertility preservation in the context of urgent breast cancer management is complex. The objectives of this study were to define patients' expectations and information needs, develop an online decision support tool, and assess its apparent validity and influence on patients' informed choice.Methodology: Three research methods were used to address the hypotheses: a focus group of five patients for the qualitative study, the development of a decision support tool using the Ottawa method and a randomized, single-centre study. The latter was conducted with patients aged 18 to 40 years referred for fertility preservation in the context of breast cancer, randomized to the IRIS group (standard information) or the DECISIF group (with online decision support tool). The measurement of informed choice was evaluated according to three criteria using a questionnaire: knowledge, attitude, and whether fertility preservation techniques were available.Results: The qualitative study revealed that the information provided to women and the announcement of potential infertility needed to be improved. The online decision support tool was developed based on recommendations from the patients and health professionals involved, who confirmed its apparent validity. For the quantitative study, a total of 125 patients were included and randomized to the IRIS (n=65) or DECISIF (n=60) group. Better knowledge was found in the DECISIF group (8.6/10 (±1.34)) compared to the IRIS group (6.49/10 (±1.89)). In both groups, patients had a positive attitude towards fertility preservation (96%). The final decision was not influenced by membership in one group or another. Thus, at the end of the fertility preservation consultation, 73.6% (92/125), i.e. 69.2% (45/65) of patients in the IRIS group and 78.3% (47/60) of patients in the DECISIF group, chose to keep their oocytes, embryos and/or ovarian tissue. The proportion of informed choice was statistically higher in the DECISIF group than in the IRIS group (respectively 75% versus 38.5%, p<0.001). In addition, the level of decision-making conflict among patients in the DECISIF group was lower than in the IRIS group (respectively 14.4 (±2.94) versus 15.1 (±2.18), p=0.13).Conclusion: We have developed an online decision support tool to assist women with breast cancer in making decisions about fertility preservation. We have now validated this tool, which improves patients' knowledge and decision-making autonomy without influencing their attitude towards fertility preservation.

As satellite and climate modelling technology continues to improve and as climatological disasters and issues continue to impact the global community, climate data will increase in size and relevance. With this new influx of information, it is becoming more and more important for scientists to simply and concisely communicate their findings to both decision makers in governments and disaster preparedness organizations and also to the general public. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a powerful modelling tool that allows scientists to simulate essentially all of the physical processes involved in the water cycle. The data that SWAT produces can be valuable information as people strive to better plan for and understand various hydrologic events. The work presented in this thesis represents an effort to overcome some of the limitations of the previously developed SWAT visualization software by creating a set of modular web applications that can be duplicated, customized, and run by any organization or individual interested in visualizing and sharing data from SWAT. By eliminating the technical knowledge barriers that are inherent in running and using SWAT models, this work has the potential to increase SWAT’s impact on non-technically trained stakeholders and decision makers in areas where water and climate management is important.

When a malfunction in the collection system occurs and a pipe overflows, the wastewater may be discharged in the natural environment. To avoid such pollution, nuisances to inhabitants living nearby and extra cost for the operator, there is an issue of detecting early enough the buildup of obstructions in sewerage pipes in order to react before the damage is done. The aim of this thesis was thus to develop a decision support tool to detect obstructions and to optimize cleaning operations. Some additional specifications were the file size for sending by email, the simplicity of setup and use, the visual attractiveness and a quick visualization of results. The tool consists of two Excel files coupled with a database which permits to send a daily email to the operator with the functioning state of each measurement point. However, the tool does not do everything, human analysis is necessary to have a critical eye on the results and to decide when to trigger a cleaning operation. The main perspective at the end of this thesis is the replacement of the preventive cleaning operations that were previously performed with a fixed frequency per year by conditional cleaning operations triggered by the tool and to observe the decrease of cleaning operations. Other perspectives are to spread the tool to other sites and to use the received feedbacks to adjust the different parameters and eventually to determine an automatic trigger condition of cleaning operations.

No description available.

ClinicalAccess is a clinical decision support tool released in early 2014. It incorporates some familiar aspects of other clinical decision support tools while adding new elements to its interface, such as the ability for users to submit their own questions. Answers provided by ClinicalAccess are supported by evidence and references from McMaster Plus, other McGraw-Hill products, and links to articles in PubMed, amongst other resources.

Chatbots are increasing in popularity and interacting with humans via written language. Previous research has looked at chatbots within several domains, but not towards women’s general sexual and reproductive health. This offers a need to extend the small body of current research.  This report aimed to do so by describing women’s experiences of a sexual and reproductive health chatbot used as a decision support tool. The chatbot was designed based on a user-centered approach, allowing women to express desired personality traits in a person when discussing the topic. This resulted in the design creation of two chatbots with two different personalities. Exploratory Wizard of Oz studies were conducted with 6 users by simulating interaction with both chatbots operated by a human. Users were followed up with a survey and interview creating insights to their experiences with each chatbot. Findings resulted in contributing to research with proposed guidelines for how to design a sexual and reproductive health chatbot. / Chatbots blir allt mer populära och interagerar med människor genom skriftligt språk. Tidigare forskning har utforskat olika användningsområden för chatbots, men kvinnors sexuella och reproduktiva hälsa har inte varit en av dessa områden. Detta skapar ett behov att expandera den nuvarande smala forskningen. Denna studie syftar till att göra det genom att beskriva kvinnors erfarenheter av en chatbot för sexuell och reproduktiv hälsa som används som ett beslutsstödsverktyg. Chatboten utformades utifrån ett användarcentrerat tillvägagångssätt, vilket tillät kvinnor att uttrycka önskade personlighetsdrag hos en person som man diskuterar ämnet med. Detta resulterade i ett design skapade av två chatbots med två olika personligheter. Wizard of Oz studier genomfördes med 6 användare genom att simulera interaktionen med båda chatbots drivna av en människa. Deltagarna följdes upp med en enkät, följt av en intervju för bättre insikt till deras erfarenhet med varje chatbot. Resultaten resulterade i att bidra till forskning med förslag på riktlinjer för hur man utformar en chatbot för sexuell och reproduktiv hälsa.

Water heating in the United States has the largest energy consumption of any residential related use. It uses more energy than all other home appliances combined. They have also been implicated as the source of waterborne disease outbreaks. With such high stakes, it is recommended that a Decision Support Tool (DST) be used prior to selection of a water heater for new construction or replacement. Although there are numerous tools available, it is challenging to find a tool that takes into account all factors critical to the selection of water heaters, addresses gaps and barriers, provides adequate information to all stakeholders and finally, assists in rational decision making towards more sustainable choices. The purpose of this research is threefold: (a) to inventory, organize and characterize web-based existing water heater Decision Support Tools (eDSTs) to highlight gaps and/or shortcomings; (b) to develop a Decision Support Tool Skeleton (DSTS) containing a comprehensive list of sustainability capital, criteria and indicators based on Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) approach; (c) to create a stakeholder map comprising supply chain, stakeholder system, decision making process during water heater selections as well as other market factors, using metasynthesis of collected documents. The findings of this research indicate that considerable gaps and shortcomings exist in the current pool of water heater DSTs. To address these barriers, information was captured from various documents in a process of qualitative data analysis called coding. The coding process generated attributes which were used to generate a comprehensive set of capital, criteria, subcriteria and indicators using MADM approach. This organizing structure developed on lines of sustainability assessment will serve as a starting point towards achieving global sustainability in real life. Importantly, information asymmetry between various stakeholders is evidence of the fact that the existing tools are not addressed in an equitable manner. This study will help determine the stakeholder system and the decision making process for selection of water heaters in the residential sector, so as to effectively implement new tools being created. / Master of Science

The Complimentary Energy Decision Support Tool (CEDST) was conceived to be a renewable energy calculator designed specifically for rural sites and agricultural operations in Ontario, though could easily assess urban sites as well, and equipped with the ability to compare the feasibility of different technologies. The Wind Energy Calculator (WEC) component of the CEDST project was the focus of this thesis and was developed since research revealed no current wind prediction tools that met CEDST needs. Verification of WEC predictions found prediction accuracy to have bounds of +/- 60% on actual turbine energy production and was equivalent to the actual generation for 21% of cases. The discrepancy could have resulted from unusual annual wind speeds, which had no significant impact on project economics when analysed. Many cases revealed that 10 kW turbines are not feasible projects under the Feed-in Tariff program and that turbines begin to become economical around 35 kW. / University of Guelph, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Poultry Industry Council (PIC), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), and Egg Farmers of Ontario