<p>North American suburbs are facing decline and obsolescence. They cannot meet the needs of North America’s ageing society, future climate change, or higher energy prices. Compounded with their negative environmental impact, non-resilient is an appropriate label for North American suburbs.</p> <p>Resilient suburban communities can be realized through retrofitting to meet current and future needs. Community scale retrofitting is in the early stages of development. House-level retrofitting tools exist but must be synthesized into a useable form for homeowners.</p> <p>Homeowners arguably have the largest stake in the future of the suburbs for both financial and social reasons. Empowering them with tools to make their suburban home and community more resilient is considered to be desirable.</p> <p>This thesis empowers homeowners by developing a prototype decision support system (DSS) that will help them (or their contractors) make choices about adapting and retrofitting their home for resilience. This Microsoft Excel-based DSS addresses the following suburban needs: new housing types, reducing the environmental impacts of the home, and decreasing reliance on fossil fuels. The DSS does this through three constituent ‘modules’.</p> <p>The first module, <em>Dividing Suburban Homes</em>, demonstrates the feasibility of dividing large suburban homes into multifamily dwellings. The second module, <em>Sustainable Additions</em>, selects resilient building materials for housing additions. The last module, <em>Reducing the Home’s Environmental Impact</em>, helps homeowners choose methods for reducing the environmental impact and fossil fuel usage of their home.</p> <p>Through these three modules, this DSS addresses a considerable number of the current and anticipated issues facing the suburbs.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Beneath North America's roads lie 1.6 million miles of pipeline that provides users with potable water and carry away wastewater. These buried infrastructure systems have been functioning for duration longer than their intended design life, often with little or no repair. Asset management of pipeline systems pose a major challenge for most municipalities due to budgetary constraints, demand for quality service, and need to preserve existing pipeline infrastructure. The first step in developing and implementing a comprehensive asset management plan is to perform a condition assessment. There is a gamut of inspection and monitoring technologies available to enable the condition assessment of pipelines. All of these have advantages and limitations, which determine the performance quality and effectiveness of an individual technology for particular utility assets. Unfortunately, utilities choose technologies not suitable for their specific assets and collect data that is not useful for understanding the condition of their system. The objective of this thesis is to develop a framework for the effective selection of condition assessment technologies for water and wastewater utilities. A Microsoft-Excel based framework is developed to help the utility managers in selecting condition assessment technologies for their water and wastewater pipeline assets. The recommended tool selection approach uses a multi-step exclusion protocol in which the tools are excluded on the basis of their applicability relating to technical feasibility and technical suitability for a particular situation. Usable tools are then compared against a performance and cost database to determine performance and cost in a given project/ utility condition. This thesis provides a brief description and review of 24 non-destructive commercialized condition assessment technologies, including the principal and implementation considerations. A framework for decision system tool was developed to facilitate utilities in selecting appropriate condition assessment technologies. This framework could facilitate the selection of usable technologies by excluding the options which are not technically feasible and suitable. The user can then further explore the usable tools and determine the most suitable technologies for their assets. The data considered in the research is provided by technology providers, thus it may lack complete understanding of the capabilities and limitations of technology. This thesis also presents a case study which highlights the existing gap between the understanding of capabilities and limitations of various technologies. A program is developed as a part of this thesis, Condition Assessment Selection Tool (CAST), which consists of performance and economic database, a graphical user interface to facilitate user input, and the results of the comparison of each usable technology in the database to the project information provided by the user for their assets. The results are presented as performance indices and economic indices indicating the performance and technology cost of usable technologies. A data reliability index was also developed to provide a scale for comparing the reliability of the existing data in the database. / Master of Science

Providing products that are customized to meet a specific customer's unique needs is challenging for companies. Product configuration systems are tools that enables parts of these activities to be performed automatically. However, there is a lack of systems designed to ensure that the configured products are based on customer needs. Decision support systems based on Multi-criteria decision making methods have the potential to solve this problem. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge regarding various multi-criteria decision making methods. Moreover, there is a need to reduce the complexity of the methods by incorporating them into user-friendly software’s. This research therefore investigates how the architecture of a decision support system based on multi-criteria decision making methods could be structured to include customer needs and suggest product configurations based on them. Through a literature review various methods are analyzed. In collaboration with an aircraft towing tractor manufacturer as a representative of customizable products the architecture of the system is developed. The study shows that a system based on a combination of Analytical Hierarchy Process, Quality Function Deployment and Expert system can solve the problem. This is to the authors knowledge the first study to use this combination. It provides an approach of how to ensure that product configurations can be aligned with customer needs and that the consistency of these needs is assured.

Tesis por compendio / [EN] Since its birth in the fifties, the maritime container has revolutionised freight international transport providing support to a global production system, marked by the industry offshoring looking for competitive advantages and the configuration of increasingly complex and global supply chains. Within this context, the container has gained a great importance becoming a basic logistic element in supply chains where it plays the role of a transport, production and distribution unit. The success of container is evident if we analyse the evolution of container port traffic, which has been growing at a pace of over 10 % surpassing 600 million TEU of traffic since 2012. The container is, therefore, a key element in global supply chains and container logistics is a field of work and study of enormous interest due to its impact in the efficiency of these supply chains, due to the cost incurred for the operating account of shipping companies and operators (cost which is transferred to the final user and has an impact in the price of the goods being transported), and due to the social and environmental cost associated to the externalities of transport derived from the management of the container fleet. Container logistics has to do with the efficient management of the container fleet, minimising the transport, warehousing and maintenance costs, and maximising the use of the equipment. In container logistics it is possible to categorise, generally, two different categories or levels depending on the geographical scope and the transport modes involved: The international level and the local or regional level. This thesis addresses container logistics at a local or regional level, insofar as in relation to the management of stock, transport and internal movements, trying to react and identify solutions to some of the problems currently facing the port-logistics sector. The research result allows, firstly, knowing in an integral and structured manner the complexity of maritime container logistics. Secondly, specific real problems are identified and addressed for its modelling and analysis that allows for contributing to the improvement of the current logistics system. The following specific problems are addressed: -Modal choice problems for the configuration of internal logistics corridors or chains for maritime container transport. -Problems locating networks of nodal infrastructures facilitating the logistics needs of maritime containers. -Problems related to the movements and management of empty maritime containers. The interest and the academic contribution of this thesis lies as much in the definition and modelling of the specific problems with a significant theoretical discussion, as the empirical application to a real environment and real situations. This has been possible due to the direct contact of the author with the port-logistics sector and the participation in many consultancy and research projects in the cluster of the port of Valencia and also at European and international level. The thesis is outlined as a collection of six scientific articles. The articles have been presented in the thesis in such a way as to follow a logical sequence and not in relation with the chronological order of their publication. / [ES] Desde su aparición en los años 50, el contenedor marítimo ha revoluciona-do el transporte internacional de mercancías dando soporte a un sistema global de producción, marcado por la multilocalización de las industrias en busca de ventajas competitivas y la configuración de cadenas de suministro cada vez más complejas y globales. En este contexto, el contenedor ha adquirido un gran protagonismo convirtiéndose en un elemento logístico básico en las cadenas de suministro en las que actúa como unidad de transporte, producción y distribución. El éxito del contenedor queda puesto de manifiesto al analizar la evolución del tráfico portuario de contenedores, que ha estado creciendo a ritmos superiores al 10 %, superando los 600 millones TEU desde 2012. El contenedor es, por tanto, un elemento clave de las cadenas de suministro globales y la logística del contenedor es un área de estudio y trabajo de enorme interés por el impacto que tiene en la eficiencia de dichas cadenas, por el coste que supone a navieras y operadores en sus cuentas de explotación (coste que se traslada al usuario final y repercute en el precio de las mercancías transportadas) y por el coste social y ambiental asociado a las externalidades del transporte derivadas de esta gestión de la flota de contenedores. La logística del contenedor tiene que ver con la gestión eficiente del parque de contenedores, minimizando los costes de transporte, almacenamiento y mantenimiento, y maximizando la utilización del equipo. En la logística del contenedor se pueden identificar, por lo general, dos categorías o niveles diferenciados en función del ámbito geográfico y de los modos de transporte implicados: El nivel internacional y el nivel local o regional. Este trabajo aborda la logística del contenedor a nivel regional o local, es decir, en lo relativo a la gestión del stock, transporte y movimientos interiores, tratando de dar respuesta y plantear soluciones a algunos de los problemas con los que se encuentra el sector logístico-portuario en la actualidad. El resultado de la investigación permite, en primer lugar, conocer de una forma integral y estructurada la complejidad de la logística del contenedor marítimo. En segundo lugar, se identifican y abordan problemas específicos reales para su modelización y análisis, que permiten contribuir a la mejora del sistema logístico actual. En concreto se abordan los siguientes problemas: -Problemas de elección modal en la configuración de las cadenas o corredores logísticos interiores en el transporte de contenedores marítimos. -Problemas de localización o vertebración de una red de infraestructuras nodales para atender las necesidades logísticas de los contenedores marítimos. -Problemas asociados a los movimientos en vacío y gestión de contenedores marítimos. El interés y contribución académica de este trabajo reside tanto en la definición y modelización de los problemas específicos con una profunda discusión teórica, como en la aplicación empírica a situaciones y entornos reales, cosa que ha sido posible gracias al contacto directo del autor con el sector logístico-portuario y su participación en numerosos proyectos de consulto-ría e investigación tanto en el clúster del Puerto de Valencia como a nivel europeo e internacional. El trabajo se plantea como una colección de seis artículos científicos. El orden en que están situados los artículos en la tesis permite mantener una secuencia lógica construida a posteriori y no según el orden cronológico en el que fueron publicados. / [CA] Des del seu naixement als anys 50, el contenidor marítim ha revolucionat el transport internacional de mercaderies donant suport a un sistema global de producció, marcat per la multilocalització de les indústries en busca d'avantatges competitives i la configuració de cadenes de subministrament cada vegada més complexes i globals. En aquest context, el contenidor ha adquirit un gran protagonisme convertintse en un element logístic bàsic en les cadenes de subministrament en les quals actua com a unitat de transport, producció i distribució. L'èxit del contenidor s'evidencia en analitzar l'evolució del tràfic portuari de contenidors, que ha estat creixent a ritmes superiors al 10 % superant els 600 milions TEU des de 2012. El contenidor és, per tant, un element clau de les cadenes subministrament globals i la logística del contenidor és un àrea d'estudi i treball d'enorme interès per l'impacte que té en l'eficiència d'aquestes cadenes, pel cost que suposa a navilieres i operadors en els seus comptes d'explotació (cost que es trasllada a l'usuari final i repercuteix en el preu de les mercaderies transportades) i pel cost social i ambiental associat a les externalitats del transport derivades d'aquesta gestió de la flota de contenidors. La logística del contenidor té a veure amb la gestió eficient del parc de contenidors, minimitzant els costos de transport, emmagatzematge i manteniment, i maximitzant la utilització de l'equip. En la logística del contenidor es poden identificar, en general, dues categories o nivells diferenciats en funció de l'àmbit geogràfic i de les modalitats de transport implicats: el nivell internacional i el nivell local o regional. Aquest treball aborda la logística del contenidor a nivell regional o local, és a dir, quant a la gestió de l'estoc, transport i moviments interiors, tractant de donar resposta i plantejar solucions a alguns dels problemes amb els quals es troba el sector logístic-portuari en l'actualitat. El resultat de la recerca permet, en primer lloc, conèixer d'una forma integral i estructurada la complexitat de la logística del contenidor marítim. En segon lloc, s'identifiquen i aborden problemes específics reals per a la seua modelització i anàlisi, que permeten contribuir a la millora del sistema logístic actual. En concret s'aborden els següents problemes: -Problemes d'elecció modal en la configuració de les cadenes o corredors logístics interiors en el transport de contenidors marítims. -Problemes de localització o vertebració d'una xarxa d'infraestructures nodals per a atendre les necessitats logístiques dels contenidors marítims. -Problemes associats als moviments en buit i gestió de contenidors marítims. L'interès i contribució acadèmica d'aquest treball resideix tant en la definició i modelització dels problemes específics amb una profunda discussió teòrica, com en l'aplicació empírica a situacions i entorns reals, cosa que ha sigut possible gràcies al contacte directe de l'autor amb el sector logístic-portuari i la seua participació en nombrosos projectes de consultoria i recerca tant en el clúster del Port de València com a nivell europeu i internacional. El treball es planteja com una col·lecció de sis articles científics. L'ordre en què estan situats els articles en la tesi permet mantenir una seqüència lògica construïda a posteriori i no segons l'ordre cronològic en el qual van ser publicats. / Furió Pruñonosa, S. (2016). Modelos y métodos avanzados para la logística del contenedor. Aplicación al Puerto de Valencia [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/63248 / Compendio

Decline in both visual acuity and visual performance is a fact of life for older people and their increasing share of the population requires that buildings be designed with their visual needs in mind. As their field of vision decreases, people find it harder to identify an objects location, distance, and orientation. Elderly people with vision impairments usually find it harder to perform daily activities such as navigation through indoor spaces. Functional vision can be improved by modifying the design of spaces, for example, with better lighting. However, architects typically do not know how to take the needs of the visually impaired into account in their design process, or simply do not think of doing so. The researcher designed and feasibility-tested a prototype person-centered tool to help architects judge how appropriate a designed space will be for visually impaired people. The study was conducted as a qualitative mixed-methodology research analysis. The researcher used knowledge from literature interpretation to rationalize the development of a person-centered prototype. The researcher immersed design PhD students and vision science experts to inform the prototyping process. Along with an expert group of design and vision science professionals, the researcher beta-tested the prototype during a mock design-process scenario. The researcher also selected a small group of industry experts to participate in open-ended interviews on post-use demonstrations to qualitatively triangulate the findings on the prototypes usability. The study summarizes the feasibility including the challenges of using the prototype for professional purposes and suggests improvement. / Ph. D.

No / his book explores a new framework of Adaptive Water Management (AWM) for evaluating existing approaches in urban water management. It highlights the need to adopt multidisciplinary strategies in water management while providing an in-depth understanding of institutional interactions amongst different water related sectors. The key characteristics of AWM i.e. polycentric governance, organisational flexibility and public participation are investigated and described through a critical review of the relevant literature. The book presents an empirical case study undertaken in a selected developing-country city to investigate the potential gaps between the current water management approaches and possible implementation of AWM. Feasibility of AWM operations is examined in an environment surrounded by established water management structure with centralised governance and an institutional process based on technical flexibility. The key elements of AWM performance are (re)structured and transformed into decision support systems. Multi criteria decision models are developed to facilitate quantification and visualization of the elements derived from the case study, which is involved with water companies and water consumers. The book describes how the concept of AWM, along with structuring suitable decision support systems, can be developed and applied to developing-country cities. The book highlights the barriers for applying the AWM strategies that include established centralised decision making, bureaucratic interactions with external organisations, lack of organisational flexibility within the institutions, and lack of recognition of public role in water management. The findings outline that despite the lack of adaptability in the current water management in the case study, as an example of developing countries, there are positive attitudes among water professionals and the public towards adaptability through public-institutional participation.

Background: About 2% of the German population are affected by psoriasis. A growing number of cost-intensive systemic treatments are available. Surveys have shown high proportions of patients with moderate to severe psoriasis are not adequately treated despite a high disease burden. Digital therapy recommendation systems (TRS) may help implement guideline-based treatment. However, little is known about the acceptance of such clinical decision support systems (CDSSs). Therefore, the aim of the study was to access the acceptance of a prototypical TRS demonstrator. - Methods: Three scenarios (potential test patients with psoriasis but different sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, previous treatments, desire to have children, and multiple comorbidities) were designed in the demonstrator. The TRS demonstrator and test patients were presented to a random sample of 76 dermatologists attending a national dermatology conference in a cross-sectional face-to-face survey with case vignettes. The dermatologist were asked to rate the demonstrator by system usability scale (SUS), whether they would use it for certain patients populations and barriers of usage. Reasons for potential usage of the TRS demonstrator were tested via a Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Results: Acceptance of the TRS was highest for patients eligible for systemic therapy (82%). 50% of participants accepted the system for patients with additional comorbidities and 43% for patients with special subtypes of psoriasis. Dermatologists in the outpatient sector or with many patients per week were less willing to use the TRS for patients with special psoriasis-subtypes. Dermatologists rated the demonstrator as acceptable with an mean SUS of 76.8. Participants whose SUS was 10 points above average were 27% more likely to use TRS for special psoriasissubtypes. The main barrier in using the TRS was time demand (47.4%). Participants who perceived time as an obstacle were 22.3% less willing to use TRS with systemic therapy patients. 27.6% of physicians stated that they did not understand exactly how the recommendation was generated by the TRS, with no effect on the preparedness to use the system. - Conclusion: The considerably high acceptance and the preparedness to use the psoriasis CDSS suggests that a TRS appears to be implementable in routine healthcare and may improve clinical care. Main barrier is the additional time demand posed on dermatologists in a busy clinical setting. Therefore, it will be a major challenge to identify a limited set of variables that still allows a valid recommendation with precise prediction of the patient-individual benefits and harms.

The implementation of the developed system of increasing the level of motivation of employees will lead to an increase in the loyalty of employees, an increase in the profit of the enterprise, a reduction in the costs associated with employee turnover, an increase in labour productivity, the creation of a favourable environment for the development and preservation of human capital. The methodology of hierarchy analysis was approved within the framework of the company's personnel management. The obtained results have practical significance for the improvement of business processes in production enterprises. / Внедрение разработанной системы повышения уровня мотивации персонала повлечет за собой рост лояльности персонала, увеличение прибыли предприятия, снижение затрат по текучести кадров, повышение производительности труда, формирование благоприятной среды для развития и сохранения человеческого капитала. Апробирование методики анализа иерархий проведено в рамках персонал-менеджмента предприятия. Полученные результаты имеют практическую значимость для совершенствования бизнес-процессов на производственных предприятиях.

This work is devoted to the development of a diagnostic system based on EEG data using machine learning. The purpose of the work is to create a system for assessing cognitive functions based on EEG analysis using machine learning methods in the field of diagnosing psychofunctional diseases. An analysis of existing research provided insight into the state of the art in the fields of electroencephalography, multimodal data acquisition, machine learning, and learning approaches. A group of studies was also analyzed where all previously mentioned scientific fields are applied together. As a result of searching and structuring information about the theoretical foundations in the field of electroencephalography, tools and approaches for processing EEG recordings were studied. Based on the results of this work, we collected our own anonymous dataset, processed the data to remove noise and artifacts, created a version of the machine learning model, and also proposed a version of the diagnostic system for the VR environment, applicable in clinical tasks. / Данная работа посвящена разработке диагностической системы на основе данных ЭЭГ с использованием машинного обучения. Цель работы заключается в создании системы оценки когнитивных функций на основе анализа ЭЭГ с применением методов машинного обучения в сфере диагностирования психофункциональных заболеваний. По результатам анализа существующих исследований было получено представление о состоянии сфер электроэнцефалографии, мультимодального сбора данных, машинного обучения, а также подходов к обучению. Также была проанализирована группа исследований, где все ранее упомянутые научные сферы применяются в совокупности. В результате поиска и структурирования информации о теоретических основах в сфере электроэнцефалографии были изучены инструменты и подходы обработки записей ЭЭГ. По итогам данной работы собран собственный анонимный датасет, проведена обработка данных по очистке от шумов и артефактов, создан вариант модели машинного обучения, а также предложен вариант диагностической системы для среды VR, применимый в клинических задачах.

Bridges, critical components of a nation’s infrastructure network, are vulnerable to deterioration from aging, fatigue, and external events like earthquakes or impacts. These challenges, coupled with limited maintenance resources, create the need for efficient and expeditious predictive maintenance strategies. The present thesis focuses on the development and application of Decision Support Systems (DSS) for the optimization of bridge stocks management and upkeep. The developed DSS introduces a streamlined bridge risk assessment methodology that leverages structural reliability and advanced probabilistic models to perform risk projections, accounting for the degradation in both the short and long-term. The methodology is based on the general definition of risk as the combination of Hazard, Vulnerability – jointly computed by means of structural reliability – and Exposure. Within the structural reliability evaluation, two key components are integrated into the proposed procedure: a Markov Chain-based degradation model that forecasts the progression of existing damage, and a Bayesian model that predicts the appearance of new structural defects over time. Hence, the DSS provides a projection of structural reliability over different timeframes. Within the context of future bridge maintenance interventions, such projected reliability, combined with the potential consequences of the collapse (Exposure) and intervention costs, computes a Priority Index for each possible intervention scenario. The result is a cost-efficient ranking system that enables data-driven decisions, optimizing both maintenance priorities and resource allocation. The efficiency of the DSS is demonstrated through practical examples on real life bridges, simulating the daily tasks of an infrastructure manager. In addition, contextually to the inclusion of railway bridges in the DSS, the thesis addresses the need for streamlined procedures for their swift risk assessment. A quantitative method is proposed to calculate in an expeditious and low-input manner the structural risk of railway bridges by integrating once again structural reliability and exposure. Specifically, for the evaluation of the former for aging masonry arch railway bridges, which constitute a significant portion of the Italian railway infrastructure stock, a simplified approach is introduced to estimate their load-carrying capacity based on minimal structural data: span, rise-to-span ratio and design code. This method applies the Static Theorem to determine the most conservative geometry compatible with the original design code, estimating the load rating factor with respect to modern freight loads. A parametric analysis is conducted for various spans, rise-to-span ratios, and design codes, with results presented in easy-to-use charts and practical guidelines to help railway operators rank their bridges based on capacity deficits. This research advances the field of bridge management by offering sophisticated yet practical tools that enhance decision-making, ensuring safer and more efficient management of aging infrastructure.