This thesis analyses the use of value models as boundary objects to support decision making during conceptual design of Product-Service Systems. Compared to requirements-based models, value models are claimed to enhance understanding of the design problems and customer needs, as well as to help the design team in creating more value adding solutions. The work of this thesis was to prepare, conduct and analyse a series of design experiments, which are are based on the continuous observations of designers’ verbalized design considerations. Protocol analysis was conducted to investigate how value models perform as boundary objects in design, in comparison with requirements-based models. The time spent on each different activity in the protocol has been used as main proxy in the experiment. Data triangulation was ensured by the use of a questionnaire that was answered by all participants. Both methods revealed that in the preliminary phase, value models are more effective than requirements-based models in conveying intuitive value-related information, assessing intangibles value aspects, and encouraging discussions on value concerns.

La maîtrise de la qualité est aujourd’hui indispensable pour satisfaire les exigences des clients. Bien qu’il existe différentes méthodes et outils spécialement développés pour manager la qualité des systèmes ou des processus au sein des entreprises, il est difficile d’établir le lien entre la maîtrise des nombreux processus d’une entreprise et la qualité produit pour un système en service. Dans ce contexte, une thèse CIFRE a été menée au sein de MBDA, entreprise qui conçoit, développe et produit des systèmes d’armes. La problématique de cette thèse est de développer une méthodologie permettant de produire une définition de la qualité produit d’un système complexe qui soit valable tout au long de son cycle de vie, et permettant la construction de modèles de prévision de la qualité produit en utilisation lors du développement et de la production. Notre contribution consiste en une méthodologie en deux phases. La première phase permet d’établir une définition de la qualité produit des systèmes complexes du point de vue du client adaptée au contexte industriel en définissant plusieurs facteurs qualité produit qui soit valable pour toutes les phases du cycle de vie des systèmes. La deuxième phase permet de construire des modèles de prévision de la qualité produit qui permettent d’obtenir une évaluation de la qualité tout au long du cycle de vie des systèmes et d’établir une prévision de ce que sera la qualité en utilisation. Les deux phases de la méthodologie reposent sur l’exploitation d’avis d’experts afin de permettre son utilisation sans disposer d’une quantité importante de données. Les modèles construits ont été testés pour des systèmes développés par MBDA. / Today, quality control is essential to satisfy customer requirements. Although there are different methods and tools specially developed to manage the quality of systems or processes within companies, it is difficult to establish the link between management of a company's many processes and product quality for a system in service. In this context, a CIFRE thesis was conducted within MBDA, a company that designs, develops and produces weapons systems. The problem of this thesis is to develop a methodology allowing to produce a definition of the product quality of a complex system which is valid throughout its life cycle, and allowing the construction of models to predict the product quality in use during development and production. Our contribution consists of a two-phase methodology. The first phase makes it possible to establish a definition of the product quality of complex systems from the customer's point of view adapted to the industrial context by defining several product quality factors that are relevant for all phases of the systems life cycle. The second phase builds product quality prediction models that provide a life-cycle quality assessment of the systems and a forecast of what the quality will be in use. Both phases of the methodology rely on the use of experts' judgement to enable its use without a significant amount of data. The models built have been tested for systems developed by MBDA.

The demand for forensic social work as a specialist field is increasing rapidly, due to the increasing moral decline of the community and consequent higher demands set to generic social workers. Amendments to existing acts as well as the development of new legislation, lead to more opportunity for the prosecution of the perpetrator, and therefore a higher utilization of the forensic social worker. A need was experienced to do research regarding the gaps experienced by social workers or any other workers who are currently executing forensic assessments with the sexually traumatised child. The aim of the investigation was to determine which gaps social workers experience in the field when assessing a child forensically. A recording procedure was used to obtain qualitative as well as quantitative data. A purposive sampling was used were interviews were held with five participants to obtain the data. A selfdeveloped questionnaire was used as measuring instrument. It is clear from the findings that there are definite gaps within the field of forensic social work and the need of further research within the field of forensic social work in South Africa is highlighted. / Thesis (MIng (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The demand for forensic social work as a specialist field is increasing rapidly, due to the increasing moral decline of the community and consequent higher demands set to generic social workers. Amendments to existing acts as well as the development of new legislation, lead to more opportunity for the prosecution of the perpetrator, and therefore a higher utilization of the forensic social worker. A need was experienced to do research regarding the gaps experienced by social workers or any other workers who are currently executing forensic assessments with the sexually traumatised child. The aim of the investigation was to determine which gaps social workers experience in the field when assessing a child forensically. A recording procedure was used to obtain qualitative as well as quantitative data. A purposive sampling was used were interviews were held with five participants to obtain the data. A selfdeveloped questionnaire was used as measuring instrument. It is clear from the findings that there are definite gaps within the field of forensic social work and the need of further research within the field of forensic social work in South Africa is highlighted. / Thesis (MIng (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Abstract Intelligent field technology is being developed for the management of industrial processes, but its development and diffusion have met with problems. This research looks at the problem area from the perspective of industrial decision-makers and end users. The lowest level of process management consists of various electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic devices, using analog and digital signals. In this research the term 'field technology' refers to instrumentation and electrical devices, the communication between them, alarm and registration devices, programs, functions and process management methods. Important concepts in this connection are distribution, availability performance, usability, feasibility and degree of automation. Decision-making and hermeneutical methodologies have been used as research strategies. The leading idea is to provide support to industrial decision-makers and end users involved in the design and planning of processes, field technology and management systems. The research strategy is applied in all parts of the research: methods, historical review, decision-making support model and criteria, and when studying the diffusion of innovations. The objective is to experimentally verify the decision-making models. This was accomplished by means of multiple-choice questionnaires, example and case process surveys, and by collecting information on intelligent field technology. The target group of the research consisted of 50 decision-makers and end users from 20 factories, and the response percentage varied from 28% to 47%. The study of the example and case processes contains contributions from 13 key persons from the factories. Field technology knowledge has been obtained from a number of experts and sources. The results have been employed to verify the current multivariable decision-making model and its technological and economic subcriteria and decision-making criteria (1), as well as the expanded multivariable decision-making model based on the features of intelligent field technology (2). The most significant parameters of the example processes are described (3). The typical characteristics, operations, input and output materials of the case processes and their parameters are examined and assessed (4). A proposal for intelligent field technology solutions will also be made (5). The decision-making support model is an excellent tool in situations involving technological changes. The current set of decision-making criteria will have to change and expand due to the concepts, operations and changes introduced by new, intelligent field technology. Changes will occur in the communication protocol interfaces, in the data processing of field devices, in diagnostic operations and operation management. Suitable decision-making tools include development and decision databases, lifelong learning, human and electronic information networks, the decision-making support model, and benchmarking. In the future, investments will focus on the acquisition and maintenance of field technology. Intelligent field technology is more expensive, and thus automation design requires more economic and human resources during the diffusion phase; its economic benefits will become more apparent when it gains more ground and the users' skills and expertise increase. Industrial enterprises must actively seek to promote the diffusion of innovations. The current research has also brought up numerous topics that would merit further research.

The thesis deals with a decision making support in CRM systems. The goal of this thesis was to design a module for decision making support in the CRM system using Pentaho analysis tools. The theoretical part contains a description of the data warehousing and data mining with a focus on analytic operations and decision making support. It also contains brief description of CRM systems and possible application of decision making support in these systems. The practical part deals with the description of architecture of CRM system CRMminer and describes the decision making support module in this system.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第23542号 / 情博第772号 / 新制||情||132(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科知能情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 鹿島 久嗣, 教授 山本 章博, 教授 下平 英寿 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

Infrastructure systems are critical to sustaining and improving economical growth. Poor condition of infrastructure systems results in lost productivity and reduces the quality of life. Today's global economy forces governments to sustain and renew infrastructure systems already in place in order to remain competitive and productive (GAO, 2008). Therefore, civil engineers and policymakers have been quite interested in the overall quality of the highways and bridges throughout the US (Miller, 2007). Transportation networks are essential parts of the Nation's infrastructure systems. Deterioration due to age and use is the main threat to the level of service observed in surface transportation networks. Thus, highway agencies throughout the United States strive to maintain, repair and renew transportation systems already in place (Miller, 2007). A recent disaster, the collapse of the Minneapolis I-35 W Bridge, once again revealed the importance of infrastructure preservation programs and resulted in debates as to how state departments of transportation (DOTs) should and can preserve the existing infrastructure systems. Therefore, it is essential to establish effective maintenance programs to preserve aging infrastructure systems. The major challenge facing the state highway maintenance managers today is to preserve the road networks at an acceptable level of serviceability subject to the stringent yearly maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) budgets. Maintenance managers must allocate such limited budgets among competing alternatives, which makes the situation even more challenging. Insufficient use of available smart decision-making tools impedes eliciting effective and efficient maintenance programs. Hence, this thesis presents the development and implementation of a network-level pavement maintenance optimization model which can be used by maintenance managers as a decision-making tool to address the maintenance budget allocation issue. The network-level optimization model is established with the application of the Linear Programming algorithm and is subject to budget constraints and the agencies' pavement performance goals in terms of total lane-miles in each pavement condition state. This tool is developed with Microsoft Office Excel. The tool can compute the optimal amount of investment for each pavement treatment type in a given funding period. Thus, the model enables maintenance managers in highway agencies to develop alternative network-level pavement maintenance strategies through an automated and optimized process rather than using what-if analysis. / Master of Science

Organisational and individual Health and Safety (H&S) competence is an essential element to the successful completion of a construction project in a safe way and without hazards to the health of all workforce. Under the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2007, the client should take reasonable steps to ensure that the appointed duty-holders and engaged people are H&S competent to design, build or co-ordinate the project. Although the CDM Regulations 2007 and its Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) have established ‘Core Criteria’ to guide the client to assess duty-holders’ H&S competence in the outset of a project, it is still difficult for most inexperienced clients to discharge the duty of making the key decisions in H&S competence assessment. In order to help the client implement H&S competence assessment, it is important to develop a tool that can effectively and efficiently support the client to make reasonable decisions in the selection of H&S competent duty-holders. According to the findings of the case study of existing formal H&S competence assessment schemes undertaken as part of this work, H&S competence assessment was characterised as a subjective, qualitative and non-linear regulation-compliance checking process. In addition, the case study helped identify the latent shortcomings in the ‘Core Critiera’ and the operational drawbacks in current practice of implementing H&S competence assessment. Based on a review of Information Technology (I.T.) and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) applications in construction, Knowledge-Based System (KBS) is identified as being a suitable tool to support decision-making in H&S competence assessment, mainly due to its appropriateness to solve regulation-compliance checking problems and support subjective and qualitative decision-making process. Following a decision-making framework for H&S competence assessment, a KBS decision-support model was developed, applying three mechanisms to support the reasonable decision-making for H&S competence assessment. In order to develop an appropriate and practical KBS for H&S competence assessment, a textual knowledge base was developed, specifying the minimum satisfaction standards and a rating indicator system for ‘Core Criteria’. As a result, an online KBS was developed using Java Server Pages (JSP) technology and MySQL. The online KBS applied the textual knowledge base to support the screen, rating, ranking and reporting decision-supporting mechanisms. Simultaneously, the case inquiry and expert inquiry facilities were also included in the KBS for effective decision-making. Finally, construction experts and practitioners in H&S management evaluated the validity and usability of the KBS through a questionnaire survey. The prototype KBS was borne out to be an effective and efficient decision-support tool for H&S competence assessment and have the potential to be applied in practice.

O setor pesqueiro brasileiro é representativo e pode contribuir ainda mais com a expansão da riqueza, porém enfrenta muitos desafios. Na revisão da literatura foram encontradas poucas pesquisas relacionadas à gestão econômica de empresas que manufaturam o pescado. As pesquisas encontradas se limitaram a explorar e descrever os problemas da atividade pesqueira no Brasil. Assim, este estudo buscou responder ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: como projetar a lucratividade da operação da manufatura do pescado de origem extrativista, diante das incertezas no fornecimento de matéria-prima e das oscilações dos preços na venda do pescado? Quanto ao objetivo geral buscou-se propor uma programação econômica para o sistema de operação das empresas de manufatura do pescado de origem extrativista. O método que caracterizou essa pesquisa foi o estudo de caso, combinado com elementos do método da pesquisaação. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio da técnica de triangulação, compondo-se de entrevistas exploratórias, análise documental/bibliográfica e pela observação livre. As variáveis delineadas pela pesquisa e que sustentam o modelo econômico proposto são: a incerteza no preço, quantidade e na qualidade da oferta de matéria-prima; as oscilações no preço de venda; a desarticulação da cadeia produtiva; os reduzidos incentivos à pesquisa e a dificuldade na obtenção de crédito. Foi realizado o teste do modelo econômico descritivo de Brunstein (2005) que utiliza o sistema de custeio direto e o método de margem de contribuição. O teste do modelo foi realizado em uma empresa de manufatura de pescado de origem extrativista, que contempla as variáveis delineadas pela pesquisa e que utiliza processamentos diferenciados na manufatura do pescado. O modelo econômico proposto pode ser útil ao proporcionar critérios de escolha para alternativas de ação ao apoiar o processo decisório dos gestores, ampliando a competitividade das empresas no setor. Ressalta-se que o modelo econômico de Brunstein (2005) pode contribuir com empresas do setor pesqueiro, pois possibilita a flexibilização das variáveis necessárias para análise e tomada de decisão na manufatura do pescado. / The Brazilian fishing sector is significant and could contribute even more to the expansion of wealth. However, it faces challenges. In the literature review, few studies were found relating to the economic management of fish processing companies. Those that were found were restricted to exploring and describing the problems of fishing activity in Brazil. This study therefore seeks to answer the following research problem: how to forecast profitability in the operation of processing the fish catch of extractivist origin, faced with the uncertainties in the supply of raw material, and the variations in sale prices of fish? In terms of general objective, it sought to provide an economic programming for the operating system of companies which process fish of extractivist origin. The method that characterized this research was a case study, combined with elements of the research-action method. The data collection was carried out using the triangulation technique, comprised of exploratory interviews, documentary/bibliographic analysis and free observation. The variables outlined by the research, and which support the proposed economic model, are: price uncertainties, quantity and quality of the offer of raw material; variations in sales price; lack of communication between the various sectors of the production chain; the lack of research incentives, and the difficulty obtaining credit. The descriptive economic model of Brunstein (2005) was tested, which uses the direct costing system and the method of contribution margin. The model was tested in a plant which processes fish of extractivist origin, and considers the variables outlined by the research, using differentiated forms of processing in its production. The proposed economic model can be useful for providing criteria of choice for alternative actions, to support the decision-making process of managers, thereby increasing the competitiveness of companies in the sector. It emphasizes that the economic model of Brunstein (2005) can contribute to companies in the fishing sector, as it enables the increased flexibility of the variables necessary for decision-making in the fish processing industry.