Designing for sustainability is a complex process that requires to reduce the perceived risk of designing out of the traditional method, to prioritize the end-users' needs and preferences in the design, while considering the product-service dual-nature of infrastructure systems. To address such complexities, this research looks into prototyping from design thinking. Prototyping is a feedback mechanism that enriches the design process by emphasizing user experience and removing designers' fear of failure. This critical step is often absent during the design of physical infrastructure (e.g., transportation systems, water systems), in part, because of the size and complexity of these socio-technical systems. This research aims to understand how civil engineers can adopt prototyping design for large-scale and complex urban infrastructure systems and how prototyping influence design cognition among infrastructure stakeholder groups. To measure the effect of physical prototypes on users and designers, the researchers conducted nineteen interviews with community members, engineers, planners, and city officials in two prototyped projects: a road network in Macon, Georgia and a re-designed city block in Akron, Ohio. The researchers coded the interviews for evidence of how prototyping enhanced citizen engagement and how the design team was willing to adopt unconventional designs after prototyping. Improved understanding of prototyping as a design methodology for infrastructure can lead to more user-centered and innovative solutions. This research provides tools to manage design decisions in engineering and urban planning better, and new approaches for urban infrastructure problem-solving. Future research can compare how this process may inform design if immersive virtual experiences are used to prototype. / Doctor of Philosophy / Designing sustainable infrastructure is a complex process that requires designers and engineers to ‘think out of the box’ and to increase the considerations of the users’ needs and preferences in the design. The inclusion of users’ needs and preferences in the design is challenging because designers restrict themselves to come up with non-traditional ideas due to the high risks that are in play when developing infrastructure. This research looks into adapting the prototyping process of design thinking into the planning, design, and construction of infrastructure systems because of its user-centered and innovate design characteristics. Particularly, this research studied the cases of an urban transit design in Macon, Georgia and an urban revitalization design in North Hill, Akron, Ohio. Overall, the researchers conducted nineteen interviews among the design team members, project promoters, city officials, and users such as neighborhood residents, property and business owners, and community advocating groups. The interviews questioned how prototyping enhanced citizen engagement and how designers were willing to adopt unconventional designs after prototyping. This study aims to contribute to the development of more user-centered and innovative solutions in the design of infrastructure. Engineering and urban planning problem-solving practices can use the decision-making tools this study provides. Future studies can use the fast-growing technology of virtual and augmented reality to enrich the prototyping process to deliver more sustainable infrastructure systems.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Entrepreneurship)-Dept. of Entrepreneurial Studies, Durban Institute of Technology, 2003 ix, 90 leaves / The South African economy is unable to support the employment needs of the growing number of graduates. In an attempt to address these needs, the proposed study focuses on the development of an incubator system to nurture young entrepreneurs (graduates), until they are able to survive independently – usually in two to three years.

Cette thèse aborde la problématique de la création d’intelligences artificielles (IA) contrôlant la prise de décision haut-niveau dans les jeux de stratégie. Ce type de jeux propose des environnements complexes nécessitant de manipuler de nombreuses ressources en faisant des choix d’actions dépendant d’objectifs à long terme. La conception de ces IA n’est pas simple car il s’agit de fournir une expérience pour le joueur qui soit divertissante et intéressante à jouer. Ainsi, le but n’est pas d’obtenir des comportements d’IA imbattables, mais plutôt de refléter différents traits de personnalités permettant au joueur d’être confronté à des adversaires diversifiés. Leur conception fait intervenir des game designers qui vont définir les différentes stratégies en fonction de l’expérience qu’ils souhaitent créer pour le joueur, et des développeurs qui programment et intègrent ces stratégies au jeu. La collaboration entre eux nécessite de nombreux échanges et itérations de développement pour obtenir un résultat qui correspond aux attentes des designers. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une solution de modélisation de stratégies accessible aux game designers en vue d’améliorer et de simplifier la création de comportements stratégiques. Notre proposition prend la forme d’un moteur stratégique choisissant des objectifs à long terme et vient se placer au dessus d’un module tactique qui gère l’application concrète de ces objectifs. La solution proposée n’impose pas de méthode pour résoudre ces objectifs et laisse libre le fonctionnement du module tactique. Le moteur est couplé à un modèle de stratégie permettant à l’utilisateur d’exprimer des règles permettant au moteur de choisir les objectifs et de leur allouer des ressources. Ces règles permettent d’exprimer le choix d’objectifs en fonction du contexte, mais également d’en choisir plusieurs en parallèle et de leur donner des importances relatives afin d’influencer la répartition des ressources. Pour améliorer l’intelligibilité nous utilisons un modèle graphique inspiré des machines à états finis et des behavior trees. Les stratégies créées à l’aide de notre modèle sont ensuite exécutées par le moteur de stratégie pour produire des directives qui sont données au module tactique. Ces directives se présentent sous la forme d’objectifs stratégiques et de ressources qui leur sont allouées en fonction de leurs besoins et de l’importance relative qui leur a été donnée. Le module stratégique permet donc de rendre accessible la conception du niveau stratégique d’une IA contrôlant un adversaire dans un jeu de stratégie. / This PhD thesis addresses the topic of creating artificial intelligence (AI) to control high-level decision-making in strategy games. This kind of game offers complex environments that require the manipulation of a large number of resources by choosing actions depending on long-term goals. This AI design is not simple because it is about providing to the player a playful and interesting experience. Hence, the aim is not to create unbeatable behaviors, but rather to display several personality traits allowing the player to face diverse opponents. Its creation involves game designers who are responsible of defining several strategies according to the experience they want to provide to the player, and game developers who implement those strategies to put them into the game. The collaboration between them requires many exchanges and development iterations to obtain a result corresponding to game designers’ expectations. The objective of this PhD thesis is to improve and simplify the creation of strategical behaviors by proposing a strategy model intelligible to game designers and that can be interfaced easily with developers’ work. For game designers, a strategy model has been created to allow them to express rules guiding the choice of goals and their allocated resources. These rules make it possible for game designers to express which goal to choose according to the context but also to choose several of them and give them relative importance in order to influence the resource distribution. To improve intelligibility we use a graphical model inspired from finite state machines and behavior trees. Our proposition also includes a strategy engine which executes the strategies created with the model. This execution produces directives that are represented by a list of selected strategical goals and the resources that have been allocated according to the importance and needs of each goal. These directives are intended for a tactical module in charge of their application. The developers are then responsible for the implementation of this tactical module. Our solution enables game designers to directly design the strategical level of an AI and therefore facilitates their cooperation with game developers and simplifies the entire creation process of the AI.

Com o propósito de apresentar uma visão do mercado de paisagismo, no Estado de São Paulo, auxiliar no processo de formação dos agrônomos, para atuação nesta área, bem como contribuir para sua avaliação educacional, o presente trabalho analisou três diferentes focos de estudo: prestadoras de serviço de paisagismo, estudantes em fase de conclusão do curso de engenharia agronômica e docentes responsáveis pelo ensino de paisagismo, em instituições de ensino superior, no Estado de São Paulo. Para coleta de dados, realizou-se contato direto com os envolvidos nesta pesquisa, visando entrevistá-los, com questionário semi-estruturado, pelo método de amostragem nos dois primeiros focos, e como censo para o último. Capítulos específicos foram elaborados para apresentação de cada um dos pontos analisados, obtendo, em sua primeira discussão, a visão de que os serviços de paisagismo, no Estado, apresentam-se diretamente relacionados a jardins e utilização de plantas ornamentais, oferecidos por profissionais de diferentes formações, para atuação, neste setor. Assim, constatou-se a participação de arquitetos (25%), oriundos de cursos livres de paisagismo (25%), engenheiros agrônomos (23,33%), técnicos agrícolas (8,33%), concluintes do ensino médio (6,66%), técnicos em edificações (5%), biólogos (3,33%), matemáticos (1,66%), bem como outros (1,66%), sem qualquer formação ou instrução escolar; os analisados demonstraram otimismo quanto à prosperidade deste setor no Estado (96%). Quanto aos estudantes, observou-se que 55,4% consideraram-se satisfeitos com o embasamento da disciplina obrigatória que aborda o paisagismo; indicando que os recursos educacionais mais importantes são o contato com profissionais da área (87,75%), situações reais para desenvolvimento de projetos (79,9%) e software para desenvolvimento de projetos (73,04%); entretanto elencaram como recursos mais utilizados, durante a formação, materiais de desenho (71,08%), mesas próprias para desenho (62,25%) e situações reais para desenvolvimento de projetos (54,41%). Apresentaram, ainda, insegurança, quanto à sua capacitação, para atuação no mercado (58,33%); embora 22,55% dos estudantes pretendessem trabalhar com paisagismo, e 27,45% consideraram possível tal atuação. Quanto à pesquisa junto aos docentes, puderam ser identificadas três áreas em sua formação, sendo engenharia agronômica (85%), engenharia florestal (10%) e ciências biológicas (5%), além de apresentarem pós-graduação, em várias áreas do conhecimento. Esses docentes listaram 37 diferentes disciplinas obrigatórias da agronomia, pelas quais eram responsáveis e afirmaram que as empresas atuantes neste mercado não oferecem seus serviços da maneira como esta atividade requer (70%). 95% dos docentes mostraram-se favoráveis à atuação de equipes multiprofissionais, quando do oferecimento desses serviços, com preferência para atuação de engenheiros agrônomos e arquitetos. / Aiming to present a market overview of landscaping in the State of São Paulo, assist in the process of training agronomists to act in this field and contribute to the educational evaluation, in this context, this study examined three different foci of study: service providers of landscaping; students nearing completion of the agronomy course; and teachers responsible for teaching landscaping for the future agronomists in the state of São Paulo. For data collection, a direct contact was used with those involved in this research, with the purpose of interviewing them with a semi-structured survey, which was applied as sampling in the first two cases and as a census in the last one. Specific chapters were prepared to present each of the points analyzed, resulting, in the first discussion, in the view that landscaping services, in the State, present themselves as being directly related to the use of gardens and ornamental plants, offered by professionals who have a diversity in academic formation for working in this sector. The following included the participation of: architects (25%), people derived from open landscaping courses (25%), agronomists (23.33%), agricultural technicians (8.33%) high school graduates (6.66%), building technicians (5%), biologists (3.33%), mathematicians (1.66%), and those without any formal training or schooling (1.66%); which altogether showed optimism about the prosperity of this sector in the State (96%). In the second discussion developed, it was observed that 55.4% of students considered themselves satisfied with the basement of the compulsory subject that encompasses landscaping; they also indicated that the most important educational resources are: \"contact with professionals in the field\" (87.75%), \"real-life situations to develop projects\" (79.9%) and \"software to develop projects\" (73.04%), however the features most used during the training were: \"design materials\" ( 71.08%), \"design appropriate tables\" (62.25%), \"reallife situations to develop projects\" (54.41%); they demonstrated insecurity, in their formation, regarding their performance in the market (58.33%), despite this, 22.55% of students intended to work with landscaping, and 27.45% considered this activity a possibility. In the third debate, we identified three distinct fields of academic formation, regarding the teachers undergraduate schools, which capacitate agronomists in the activities of landscaping, which include: agronomy (85%), forest engineering (10%) and biological sciences (5%) which represented distinct formation fields in graduate school, and found themselves responsible for 37 different mandatory courses in agronomy. They argued that companies operating in this market do not offer their services in the way this activity needs to be done (70%), and 95% of the teachers favored the performance of multidisciplinary teams in providing these services, giving priority to the activities of agronomists and architects.

Esta pesquisa estuda a evolução histórica, estética e tecnológica ocorrida na produção de revestimentos de pisos e paredes, tendo o ladrilho hidráulico como referência principal, com o objetivo de apresentar aos artistas e artesãos as novas tecnologias de produção de CAD (concretos de alto desempenho) e endurecedores químicos de superfície para a produção de murais e pisos adequados a estética contemporânea Para a utilização coerente deste material na produção artística contemporânea é necessário compreender que a sua técnica produtiva e estética peculiar são resultados de conflitos históricos e de múltiplas experiências e circunstâncias que ocorreram em diversos campos do conhecimento. Estas influências são difíceis de serem abarcadas em sua totalidade, no entanto é preciso desvendar parte destes processos sob o risco de produzirem-se obras anacrônicas tanto em termos tecnológicos como estéticos. A atual produção artesanal de revestimentos hidráulicos ocorre, em grande parte, com conhecimentos empíricos de artesãos e artistas que ainda utilizam técnicas e estéticas do séc. XIX. Esta simples reprodução nos dias atuais, obedecendo a suas antigas formulações, sem a atualização com as novas tecnologias de produção de concreto, e sem a participação nas discussões sobre a \"estética contemporânea\" reduzem as possibilidades do material, tornando-o apenas uma espécie de relicário saudosista e revivalista. A pesquisa demonstra que o Ladrilho Hidráulico se situa no limiar entre as ciências humanas e exatas e que é um significante que precisa ser claramente conceituado para compreender-se com mais clareza seus significados. Em sintonia com a área das ciências humanas, a pesquisa buscou a formação de conceitos, tendo como base o desvendamento das influências históricas sofridas pelo material, com estudos sobre arte, estética, tecnologia, geometria, filosofia, neurologia, padrões e antigas técnicas correlatas de produção artística de revestimento mural; como o afresco, o mosaico, o esgraffito, o azulejo e a tapeçaria que são processos artísticos que guardam semelhanças técnicas e estéticas com o ladrilho hidráulico e permitem traçar paralelos esclarecedores sobre suas origens e possível atualização enquanto material artesanal artístico e decorativo na contemporaneidade. Em sintonia com a área das ciências exatas, a pesquisa buscou atualizar e simplificar a tecnologia de produção do revestimento hidráulico utilizando novos concretos de alto desempenho (CAD), concretos auto adensáveis (CAA), endurecedores químicos de superfície visando melhorar as qualidades mecânicas e estéticas do material, dispensando do uso prensas, testando combinações de pigmentos e texturas e fazendo uma análise laboratorial comparativa entre o material tradicional e o produzido com novas tecnologias. / This research studies the historical evolution, aesthetic and technological occurred in the production of floor and wall coverings, and the hydraulic tile as the main reference, with the aim of presenting artists and artisans new CAD production technologies (high performance concrete) and chemical surface hardeners suitable for the production of artistic aesthetics wall contemporary For the consistent use of this material in contemporary artistic production it is necessary to understand that their production technique and peculiar aesthetics are the result of historical conflicts and multiple experiences and circumstances that occurred in various fields of knowledge. These influences are difficult to be embraced in its entirety, however you need to unravel part of these processes at the risk of producing-works anachronistic both in technological and aesthetic terms. The current artisanal production of hydraulic coatings occurs largely with empirical knowledge of craftsmen and artists who still use techniques and aesthetics of sec. XIX. This simple reproduction today, obeying its old formulations without upgrading to the new concrete production technologies, and without the participation in discussions of \"aesthetic contemporânea\" reduce the possibilities of the material, making it the only one kind of nostalgic shrine and revivalist. Research shows that the tiles Hydraulic stands on the threshold between the humanities and sciences and it is significant that needs to be clearly conceptualized to be understood more clearly their meanings. In line with the area of the humanities, the survey sought the formation of concepts, based on the unveiling of the historical influences suffered by the material, studies on art, aesthetics, technology, geometry, philosophy, neurology, patterns and old related techniques artistic production of wall coverings; as the fresco, mosaic, the esgraffito, tile and upholstery that are artistic processes that keep technical and aesthetic similarities with the hydraulic tile and allow to draw enlightening parallels about their origins and possible update as artistic and decorative handmade stuff nowadays. In line with the area of the exact sciences, the research sought to update and simplify the production technology of hydraulic coating using new high-performance concrete (CAD), concrete self compacting (CAA), chemical surface hardening to improve the mechanical and aesthetic qualities material, eliminating the use presses, testing combinations of pigments and textures and making a comparative analysis between traditional laboratory material and produced with new technologies.

Com o propósito de apresentar uma visão do mercado de paisagismo, no Estado de São Paulo, auxiliar no processo de formação dos agrônomos, para atuação nesta área, bem como contribuir para sua avaliação educacional, o presente trabalho analisou três diferentes focos de estudo: prestadoras de serviço de paisagismo, estudantes em fase de conclusão do curso de engenharia agronômica e docentes responsáveis pelo ensino de paisagismo, em instituições de ensino superior, no Estado de São Paulo. Para coleta de dados, realizou-se contato direto com os envolvidos nesta pesquisa, visando entrevistá-los, com questionário semi-estruturado, pelo método de amostragem nos dois primeiros focos, e como censo para o último. Capítulos específicos foram elaborados para apresentação de cada um dos pontos analisados, obtendo, em sua primeira discussão, a visão de que os serviços de paisagismo, no Estado, apresentam-se diretamente relacionados a jardins e utilização de plantas ornamentais, oferecidos por profissionais de diferentes formações, para atuação, neste setor. Assim, constatou-se a participação de arquitetos (25%), oriundos de cursos livres de paisagismo (25%), engenheiros agrônomos (23,33%), técnicos agrícolas (8,33%), concluintes do ensino médio (6,66%), técnicos em edificações (5%), biólogos (3,33%), matemáticos (1,66%), bem como outros (1,66%), sem qualquer formação ou instrução escolar; os analisados demonstraram otimismo quanto à prosperidade deste setor no Estado (96%). Quanto aos estudantes, observou-se que 55,4% consideraram-se satisfeitos com o embasamento da disciplina obrigatória que aborda o paisagismo; indicando que os recursos educacionais mais importantes são o contato com profissionais da área (87,75%), situações reais para desenvolvimento de projetos (79,9%) e software para desenvolvimento de projetos (73,04%); entretanto elencaram como recursos mais utilizados, durante a formação, materiais de desenho (71,08%), mesas próprias para desenho (62,25%) e situações reais para desenvolvimento de projetos (54,41%). Apresentaram, ainda, insegurança, quanto à sua capacitação, para atuação no mercado (58,33%); embora 22,55% dos estudantes pretendessem trabalhar com paisagismo, e 27,45% consideraram possível tal atuação. Quanto à pesquisa junto aos docentes, puderam ser identificadas três áreas em sua formação, sendo engenharia agronômica (85%), engenharia florestal (10%) e ciências biológicas (5%), além de apresentarem pós-graduação, em várias áreas do conhecimento. Esses docentes listaram 37 diferentes disciplinas obrigatórias da agronomia, pelas quais eram responsáveis e afirmaram que as empresas atuantes neste mercado não oferecem seus serviços da maneira como esta atividade requer (70%). 95% dos docentes mostraram-se favoráveis à atuação de equipes multiprofissionais, quando do oferecimento desses serviços, com preferência para atuação de engenheiros agrônomos e arquitetos. / Aiming to present a market overview of landscaping in the State of São Paulo, assist in the process of training agronomists to act in this field and contribute to the educational evaluation, in this context, this study examined three different foci of study: service providers of landscaping; students nearing completion of the agronomy course; and teachers responsible for teaching landscaping for the future agronomists in the state of São Paulo. For data collection, a direct contact was used with those involved in this research, with the purpose of interviewing them with a semi-structured survey, which was applied as sampling in the first two cases and as a census in the last one. Specific chapters were prepared to present each of the points analyzed, resulting, in the first discussion, in the view that landscaping services, in the State, present themselves as being directly related to the use of gardens and ornamental plants, offered by professionals who have a diversity in academic formation for working in this sector. The following included the participation of: architects (25%), people derived from open landscaping courses (25%), agronomists (23.33%), agricultural technicians (8.33%) high school graduates (6.66%), building technicians (5%), biologists (3.33%), mathematicians (1.66%), and those without any formal training or schooling (1.66%); which altogether showed optimism about the prosperity of this sector in the State (96%). In the second discussion developed, it was observed that 55.4% of students considered themselves satisfied with the basement of the compulsory subject that encompasses landscaping; they also indicated that the most important educational resources are: \"contact with professionals in the field\" (87.75%), \"real-life situations to develop projects\" (79.9%) and \"software to develop projects\" (73.04%), however the features most used during the training were: \"design materials\" ( 71.08%), \"design appropriate tables\" (62.25%), \"reallife situations to develop projects\" (54.41%); they demonstrated insecurity, in their formation, regarding their performance in the market (58.33%), despite this, 22.55% of students intended to work with landscaping, and 27.45% considered this activity a possibility. In the third debate, we identified three distinct fields of academic formation, regarding the teachers undergraduate schools, which capacitate agronomists in the activities of landscaping, which include: agronomy (85%), forest engineering (10%) and biological sciences (5%) which represented distinct formation fields in graduate school, and found themselves responsible for 37 different mandatory courses in agronomy. They argued that companies operating in this market do not offer their services in the way this activity needs to be done (70%), and 95% of the teachers favored the performance of multidisciplinary teams in providing these services, giving priority to the activities of agronomists and architects.

Products are designed to satisfy user needs. Thus, industrial designers are expected to have a thorough understanding of user needs and to incorporate those understandings into the design of products; however, it is not a straightforward task for designers to translate their conditional understanding into a product. The gap between product and user can be even wider when latent user needs, such as cultural ones, are calculated into the problem. Therefore the meanings and functions imbued in products by the designer may not be recognized and acknowledged by users, due to the differences in cultural preferences of designers and users from separate cultures. In spite of the fact that user satisfaction has been extensively supported in the design literature, it seems that such an approach allows only a passive role for designers, who actually act as cultural intermediaries; that is, the designers' role is merely presumed to catalyze the process and match user requirements to the end product. Thus, the impact of designers' cultural preferences is considered as incidental, or at least overlooked. A content analysis method was triangulated to collect and analyze diverse visual and textual data relating to the concept generation stage of the product development process. To collect data, professional industrial designers in the two culturally diverse countries of Australia and Iran were recruited to participate in half-hour design exercise sessions to sketch to a design brief, followed by responding to an interview questionnaire. The analysis of data revealed that: (1) designers' cultural preferences do influence their approaches toward tackling the design problem; (2) there are nexuses between the design aspects of the concepts generated and the cultural dimensions of the values of the societies in which the designers were born and has lived, and; (3)potential users can unconsciously comprehend the meaning invested in the product by the designer. This thesis breaks new ground for further advancing the study of the Designer-Precedent Approach (DPA) in other cultural and social contexts, while it challenges the conventional approaches of user-centered design (UCD) broadlyperceived as the ultimate method of incorporating users' wants into products.

I varje projekt finns det brister i kommunikation som kan leda till att kostnad, tid och kvalitét påverkas. Varje projekt är en tillfällig organisation med olika företag och olika personer med varierande erfarenheter inom projektering. Detta medför att varje projekt är i sig unikt och hur alla ska kommunicera med varandra kan vara stora frågetecken under projekteringens förlopp. Denna rapport tittar närmare på vilka brister och svårigheter som kan uppkomma i projekteringskedet.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Entrepreneurship)-Dept. of Entrepreneurial Studies, Durban Institute of Technology, 2003 ix, 90 leaves / The South African economy is unable to support the employment needs of the growing number of graduates. In an attempt to address these needs, the proposed study focuses on the development of an incubator system to nurture young entrepreneurs (graduates), until they are able to survive independently – usually in two to three years.

Products are designed to satisfy user needs. Thus, industrial designers are expected to have a thorough understanding of user needs and to incorporate those understandings into the design of products; however, it is not a straightforward task for designers to translate their conditional understanding into a product. The gap between product and user can be even wider when latent user needs, such as cultural ones, are calculated into the problem. Therefore the meanings and functions imbued in products by the designer may not be recognized and acknowledged by users, due to the differences in cultural preferences of designers and users from separate cultures. In spite of the fact that user satisfaction has been extensively supported in the design literature, it seems that such an approach allows only a passive role for designers, who actually act as cultural intermediaries; that is, the designers' role is merely presumed to catalyze the process and match user requirements to the end product. Thus, the impact of designers' cultural preferences is considered as incidental, or at least overlooked. A content analysis method was triangulated to collect and analyze diverse visual and textual data relating to the concept generation stage of the product development process. To collect data, professional industrial designers in the two culturally diverse countries of Australia and Iran were recruited to participate in half-hour design exercise sessions to sketch to a design brief, followed by responding to an interview questionnaire. The analysis of data revealed that: (1) designers' cultural preferences do influence their approaches toward tackling the design problem; (2) there are nexuses between the design aspects of the concepts generated and the cultural dimensions of the values of the societies in which the designers were born and has lived, and; (3)potential users can unconsciously comprehend the meaning invested in the product by the designer. This thesis breaks new ground for further advancing the study of the Designer-Precedent Approach (DPA) in other cultural and social contexts, while it challenges the conventional approaches of user-centered design (UCD) broadlyperceived as the ultimate method of incorporating users' wants into products.