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.

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.

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.

In recent years, there has been a strong interest in developing Creativity Support Tools for many exciting areas of research such as art and music. Yet few such tools have been developed to support creativity in advertising. This is unusual since advertising, like art and music, is a highly creative endeavour of the human mind. The goal of advertising is to transform a communicational objective of a product or a service into a creative idea. A tool that would enhance the development of creative ideas in advertising would be highly beneficial for the advertising industry and possibly shed light on the mystery behind creativity. In this thesis, I developed Creative Pad, a new Creativity Support Tool to assist advertising creative in generating creative ideas for advertising. In developing Creative Pad, I studied advertising creativity and human creative thinking. I developed a framework for analysing the advertising process, in which the process is viewed as having three distinct phases: a message, an idea, and an execution. A significant implication of this view is that the process for developing ideas for new advertisements and the process of executing those ideas and turning them into creative products are independent. Each step is the result of a significant creative process. Creative Pad is developed to assist in the development of creative ideas for new advertisements. To assist this creativity, relevant triggers are needed. Research has shown that individuals with high associative skills produce more creative advertising. Creative Pad supports the associative skills of the advertising creative and exploits the use of the Internet as a dynamic database. It finds words and sentences related to the original communicational objective, providing relevant triggers for the associative creative process in the minds of the advertising creative. Several experiments using Creative Pad were conducted with advertising creative and students with no advertising background. The results show that Creative Pad supports the generation of new ideas in two ways. First, and most important, all the subjects were able to develop interesting new ideas. In particular, the advertising creative were able to design a sketch of the advertisement from ideas generated using Creative Pad. Second, I was able to find a connection between the triggers, the words and sentences selected by the user during the creative process, and the ideas generated. Although the connection might be considered a weak one, it nonetheless demonstrates that a connection exists between the ideas developed by the advertising creative and those suggested by Creative Pad.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic and debilitating disease contributing to the rise in healthcare associated costs in the United States (ADA, 2013a; USDHHS, 2013). T2DM management is complex and requires an ongoing multi-system approach (Goderis et al., 2010). In this quality improvement project, the DNP student led a team in a family care practice setting through a systematic quality improvement process, the PDSA cycle, for the improvement of performance rates of quality indicators including A1C testing, LDL testing, and performance of comprehensive foot examinations. The QI team developed a multi-component intervention to include utilization of an electronic type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) decision support tool. The expected outcome was to increase current performance rates of A1C testing, LDL testing, and comprehensive foot examinations at a family care practice by at least 10% within four weeks of implementing the intervention. A1C testing improved from a pre-intervention median of 70.97% to a post-intervention median of 91.38%, an increase of 20.41%. LDL testing improved from a pre-intervention median of 74.19% to a post-intervention median of 91.38%, an increase of 17.19%. Comprehensive foot examinations improved from a pre-intervention median of 58.06% to a post-intervention median of 84.48%, an increase of 26.42%. While results demonstrate a trend of improvement, the duration of the intervention was insufficient for statistical significance. The QI project served as a first systematic change process for the family care practice and a model for future change processes at the clinic. This project highlights the DNP's role in utilizing evidence-based research and applying a systematic change model for quality improvement in the primacy care practice setting.

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.