O setor de assistência à saúde atualmente, carece de técnicas de gerenciamento que visem a melhoria dos processos, permitindo a redução de custos ao otimizar os recursos existentes. O sistema de saúde, classificado como um sistema complexo devido a diversidade de interações não-lineares que apresenta, vem sendo estudado sob a ótica da engenharia de resiliência que enfatiza a necessidade de regular o seu funcionamento diante de uma situação adversa. Por sua vez, a resiliência é facilitada por meio do uso de folgas, que fornecem recursos reservas para lidar com as variabilidades. Ao passo que as folgas são importantes para manter a resiliência, também podem ser recursos ociosos que tendem a mascarar as variabilidades, quando em excesso. Portanto, um equilíbrio deve ser considerado entre o mínimo necessário para manter a resiliência do sistema e o máximo que não venha a se enquadrar como desperdício de recursos. Para isso, esse trabalho desenvolve e aplica uma framework que visa analisar qualitativa e quantitativamente as folgas a fim de reprojetar o sistema sócio-técnico complexo. O estudo foi realizado numa maternidade, referência no atendimento privado. Os processos de atravessamento do fluxo de valor da paciente foram mapeados, permitindo a identificação de 17 fontes de variabilidade e 20 recursos de folga. O reprojeto do sistema de trabalho envolveu a classificação das folgas entre os requisitos levantados, de maneira a priorizar as variabilidades menos cobertas pelas folgas. A framework se mostrou eficaz ao elencar as prioridades no redesenho das folgas e variabilidades, a fim de tornar o sistema estudado mais resiliente. / The healthcare sector currently lacks management techniques that aim to improve processes, allowing cost reduction by optimizing existing resources. The health system, classified as a complex system due to the diversity of nonlinear interactions that it presents, has been studied from the point of view of resilience engineering that emphasizes the need to regulate its functioning in the face of an adverse situation. In turn, resilience is facilitated through the use of slack, which provide reserve resources to deal with variability. While slack are important to maintaining resilience, it can also be idle resources that tend to mask variability when in excess. Therefore, a balance must be considered between the minimum necessary to maintain the resilience of the system and the maximum that doesn’t fit as a waste of resources. For this, this work develops and applies a framework that aims to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the slack in order to redesign the complex socio-technical system. The study was performed in a maternity hospital, that is a reference in private care. The processes of flow of the patient's value were mapped, allowing the identification of 17 sources of variability and 20 resources of slack. The redesign of the work system involved the classification of slack between the requisites raised, in order to prioritize the variabilities less covered by the slack. The framework proved to be effective in highlighting the priorities in the redesign of the slack and variabilities, in order to make the studied system more resilient.

Serviços de saúde são reconhecidamente sistemas socio-técnicos complexos (SSTC) tendo em vista sua dinamicidade, diversidade, incerteza e interações entre os diversos elementos que os compõe. Outra característica importante dos SSTC é a resiliência, fundamental para manter os sistemas em funcionamento. Estudar a resiliência em SSTC é objetivo da Engenharia de Resiliência (ER), novo paradigma para gestão de segurança, com enfoque na análise do trabalho real. Esta tese explora o papel complementar de duas práticas com influência na resiliência em SSTC: o desenvolvimento de habilidades de resiliência (HR) e os procedimentos operacionais padronizados (POPs). Há um entendimento que, mesmo com procedimentos operacionais padronizados, existe uma variabilidade inerente ao SSTC, tornando impossível que o procedimento atenda a todas as situações. Este estudo tem como principal questão de pesquisa: como integrar a gestão de procedimentos operacionais padronizados ao desenvolvimento de HR em serviços de emergência hospitalar? E como objetivo principal: propor um modelo para integração entre gestão de POP e desenvolvimento de HR, enfatizando serviço de emergência hospitalar Os objetivos específicos são: (a) identificar, analisar e traçar um panorama sobre estudos na área da saúde com a ótica da ER; (b) identificar a origem das HR. A abordagem norteadora da tese é o Design Science Research que, com sua natureza prescritiva, busca desenvolver o conhecimento por meio da construção de artefatos. A tese está estruturada em três fases, que resultam em três artigos: (i) ―Contribuições da Engenharia de Resiliência para a Saúde: uma Revisão Sistemática‖, tem como principal objetivo identificar e entender como os conceitos de ER vem sendo utilizados na área da saúde; (ii) ―Habilidades de resiliência como fenômeno emergente: um estudo em departamentos de emergência no Brasil e nos Estados Unidos‖, tem como objetivo responder ao questionamento ―de onde emergem as habilidades de resiliência‖; (iii) ―Procedimentos e capacitação: recursos para ação trabalhando em conjunto para apoiar a resiliência de sistemas sócio-técnicos complexos‖, que responde a pergunta ―como integrar melhoria de POP e desenvolvimento de HR?‖. Assim, o último artigo atende o principal objetivo da tese ao propor modelo de integração entre POP e capacitações em HR. / Health services are admittedly complex socio-technical systems (CSS) considering their dynamism, diversity, uncertainty and interactions between the various elements that compose them. Another important feature of the CSS is resilience. It is critical to keep systems running. The goal of Resilience Engineering is to study resilience, the new paradigm for safety management, focusing on the analysis of current work. This thesis approaches the complementary role of two practices that influence the resilience CSS: the development of resilience skills (RS) and standard operational procedures (SOPs). There is an understanding that even with the use of SOPs, there is variability in the CSS, making it impossible for the procedure to meet all situations. This study's main research question is: how to integrate the SOP management and RS development in hospital emergency room services? The main objective of the study is: to suggest a model to integrate SOP management and RS development, with emphasis in hospital emergency room. The specific objectives are: (a) identify, analyze and give an overview of studies in health care according to Resilience Engineering; (b) identify the origens of the RS The guiding approach of this thesis is the Design Science Research which, due to its prescriptive nature, seeks to develop knowledge by building artifacts. The thesis is structured in three phases, resulting in three items: (i) ―A Systematic Review on Resilience Engineering contributions for Health Care‖ aims to identify and understand how concepts of Resilience Engineering have been used in health services (ii) "Resilience skills as emergent phenomena: a study of emergency departments in Brazil and the United States" aims to answer the question "where do resilience skills come from"; (iii) ―Procedures and training: resources for action working together to support the resilience in CSS‖, which answers the question "how to integrate SOP improvement and resilience skills development?". Thus, the last article serves the main objective of the thesis that is to suggest an integration model between SOP and RS training.

O setor de assistência à saúde atualmente, carece de técnicas de gerenciamento que visem a melhoria dos processos, permitindo a redução de custos ao otimizar os recursos existentes. O sistema de saúde, classificado como um sistema complexo devido a diversidade de interações não-lineares que apresenta, vem sendo estudado sob a ótica da engenharia de resiliência que enfatiza a necessidade de regular o seu funcionamento diante de uma situação adversa. Por sua vez, a resiliência é facilitada por meio do uso de folgas, que fornecem recursos reservas para lidar com as variabilidades. Ao passo que as folgas são importantes para manter a resiliência, também podem ser recursos ociosos que tendem a mascarar as variabilidades, quando em excesso. Portanto, um equilíbrio deve ser considerado entre o mínimo necessário para manter a resiliência do sistema e o máximo que não venha a se enquadrar como desperdício de recursos. Para isso, esse trabalho desenvolve e aplica uma framework que visa analisar qualitativa e quantitativamente as folgas a fim de reprojetar o sistema sócio-técnico complexo. O estudo foi realizado numa maternidade, referência no atendimento privado. Os processos de atravessamento do fluxo de valor da paciente foram mapeados, permitindo a identificação de 17 fontes de variabilidade e 20 recursos de folga. O reprojeto do sistema de trabalho envolveu a classificação das folgas entre os requisitos levantados, de maneira a priorizar as variabilidades menos cobertas pelas folgas. A framework se mostrou eficaz ao elencar as prioridades no redesenho das folgas e variabilidades, a fim de tornar o sistema estudado mais resiliente. / The healthcare sector currently lacks management techniques that aim to improve processes, allowing cost reduction by optimizing existing resources. The health system, classified as a complex system due to the diversity of nonlinear interactions that it presents, has been studied from the point of view of resilience engineering that emphasizes the need to regulate its functioning in the face of an adverse situation. In turn, resilience is facilitated through the use of slack, which provide reserve resources to deal with variability. While slack are important to maintaining resilience, it can also be idle resources that tend to mask variability when in excess. Therefore, a balance must be considered between the minimum necessary to maintain the resilience of the system and the maximum that doesn’t fit as a waste of resources. For this, this work develops and applies a framework that aims to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the slack in order to redesign the complex socio-technical system. The study was performed in a maternity hospital, that is a reference in private care. The processes of flow of the patient's value were mapped, allowing the identification of 17 sources of variability and 20 resources of slack. The redesign of the work system involved the classification of slack between the requisites raised, in order to prioritize the variabilities less covered by the slack. The framework proved to be effective in highlighting the priorities in the redesign of the slack and variabilities, in order to make the studied system more resilient.

This research aims to achieve a better understanding of interventions in the trajectories of practices. It is based on a case study of transport cycling in Santiago de Chile. The research uses a practice approach combined with concepts from Science and Technology Studies in order to explore the practice of transport cycling and examine interventions aimed at increasing the modal share of cycling in Santiago. The research is based on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, participant observation, photography and document analysis. While transport cycling is a recognisable practice in Santiago, it is also the site of several conflicts. The stigmatisation of cycling in its recent history as mode of transport for the most marginalised part of the urban population is challenged by new images of cycling as environmentally-friendly, healthy mode of transport for young professionals. As cycling becomes more popular, conflicts over the location of cycling emerge with motorists as well as pedestrians. Finally, different performances and understandings of cycling have generated conflicts among the urban transport cyclists. By focusing on relations between practices, the research thereby brings to the forefront the contested nature of practices which has so far been underemphasised in practice research. The research then focuses on interventions in the trajectory of urban transport cycling in Santiago, how they are developed and how they take effect. The research identifies two categories of interventions: building practice and growing practice. Building practice is the government-led provision of material infrastructure for cycling, while growing practice is led by civil society and includes a variety of small-scale interventions in the everyday engagement in the practice. The research argues that building practice produces infrastructure which is developed within the dominant system of automobility and is shaped by and reflects the inherent conflicts of the practice. Growing practice interventions are shaped by the core of the community of practice. They do not only provide targeted support for individuals, but more importantly contribute to the creation of a community of practice. This research aims to contribute to practice research by proposing a relational perspective for the analysis of practices, which emphasises five relational dimensions of practice: the individual situated experience of the performance in which meaning is created, the socio-technical system in which the practice is embedded, the relations between co-existing practices which bring to the forefront the contested nature of practices, the material infrastructure which emerges from the socio-technical system and shapes the performance of the practice, and finally the community of practice which constitutes practice and may be able to grow practice.

Due to unsustainable production and consumption patterns that cause climate changes, current socio-technical systems, such as the agro-food system, must rapidly undergo sustainability transitions. To transition socio-technical systems is however complex and it usually takes decades, and it is therefore crucial to study how socio-technical systems can transition faster.  Aim – This study aims to investigate under what circumstances a sustainability transition through an increased cultivation of grain-legumes in Sweden can take place and be accelerated. In order to guide the study and thus fulfil the purpose, two research questions have been formulated: 1)  “What are the current main factors that hinder a sustainability transition in terms of an increased cultivation of grain-legumes in the current agricultural value chain of crop production in Sweden?” 2)  “What prerequisites are required to accelerate sustainability transitions in the agricultural value chain of crop production in terms of an increased cultivation of grain-legumes in Sweden?” Method – The methodology used is a qualitative case study of the Swedish agricultural value chain of crop production. The data was collected through interviews, literature review and webinars. The data collected through interviewing was analyzed by using a thematic analysis.  Findings – One main hindering factor refer to the absence of certain value chain processes, both when it comes to actors that can provide Swedish plant-based food producers with extracted proteins from grain-legumes and when it comes to actors that can receive, sort, peel and pack grain-legumes for human consumption at an industrial level. Other main hindering factors regards the lack of financial incentives at several levels as well as a structured and stabilized agricultural socio-technical regime characterized by path dependencies and lock-ins. The found prerequisites required in order to accelerate sustainability transitions include for instance having certain value chain processes to come into place, steer large investments and educated people in the right direction to drive innovation and development as well as an increased sustainability transitioning pressure from the civil society in Sweden.   Implications – The findings of this thesis can increase the knowledge of actors engaged in the agricultural value chain of crop production, but also provide valuable insights for the whole Swedish agro-food sector. This study also provides insights regarding how a sustainability transition can be accelerated based on the findings from the studied case. Another implication is that a larger focus, when researching sustainability transitions, should be put on the role of civil society to understand and facilitate faster sustainability transitions in socio-technical systems. Limitations – The political perspective is not considered, the internal strategies of actors have not been investigated and the focus has only been at the environmental dimension of sustainability, not on the social or economic dimensions.

Brazil is one of the largest biomass producers in the world, thus it has a huge potential for biogas production across all its territory. Nowadays, biogas production remains largely unexplored, representing just a small fraction of its potential. The adoption of biogas technologies has grown over the past years, but it is unevenly distributed across Brazilian states. This master thesis investigates the conditions under which the widespread diffusion of biogas technologies can be enabled in the Brazilian context by looking at the factors that influence the adoption of biogas technologies and why it differs across the Brazilian territory. Technological innovation systems (TIS), societal embedding, and diffusion of innovation theory are combined in the theoretical framework to create a broad understanding of the diffusion process of biogas technologies in Brazil. While TIS focusses on what are the functions been performed within the system, Societal embedding contributes to the understanding of why technological diffusion may not happen in the same way in different regions and how technologies are rooted in society. Diffusion of innovation theory adds to the importance of individual choices and strategies in the adoption of technologies. A comparative case study was design between the states São Paulo and Paraná. 16 semi-structured interviews served as the main research instrument with the support of document studies. When looking at the factors that could impact the adoption of biogas technologies the presence of specialized actors that can offer technical support to the implementation of projects locally proved to be positive considering that biogas technologies are still novel in Brazil. The unreliability of the energy grid in rural regions also favours the adoption of biogas technologies for electricity generation in agriculture properties that can combined waste treatment with energy security. Access to financial and human resources is still the largest barrier for the diffusion of biogas technologies. Financial institutions are at large unprepared to offer good conditions for the implementation of biogas projects, mainly because they do not understand the singularities of these projects. The adoption of biogas technologies in the case studies was mainly dictated by the economic activities in place, which shaped the view on biogas technologies. The complexities of the regulatory environment in Brazil could explain why electricity generation is still the main application of biogas technologies as the electricity market is regulated at national level while gas markets are the responsibility of individual states. When biogas technologies are portraited as a tool for sustainable development, other advantages of these technologies are highlighted – environmental and social benefits such as waste treatment and job creation – creating a better claim for biogas technologies which could boost adoption.

Construction worker safety is normally a construction activity in the United States, even though there is an emerging body of literature discussing the positive effects of considering safety earlier in the construction lifecycle.  This literature has discussed the fragmentation in terms of safety attitudes between owners and designers and those carrying out the construction of a project.  Quantitatively identifying the specific areas that the differences exist in terms of safety attitudes between common roles on a construction project could be a step toward reducing the fragmentation that currently exists in the work system and promoting safety to be more of a consideration earlier in the project lifecycle.  One common technique for measuring safety attitudes is the use of safety climate survey instruments, but in the construction industry these have historically focused on just construction personnel.  This research will discuss the development of a survey instrument to measure differences in safety attitudes between typical members of the entire construction project work system in order to identify specific areas that gaps exist.  Phase I of the research include the development of an instrument using Mohammed\'s (2002) survey as a base, validation of the measurement model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and using applied nonparametric statistics to analyze the data and identify significant differences.  These results will be used in Phase II to develop a training tool to educate relevant project personnel on differences that were identified in Phase I, and to determine the best mediums for conveying this type of information. / Ph. D.

There are many contributing factors that influence the development, deployment, and use of lean manufacturing techniques. This study will focus on an automotive factory production system but will gather data across many areas. The concepts presented in the available research will then be related to lean manufacturing techniques at a union-based automotive factory. Several factors to focus on during this study are the Industry 4.0 movement, production systems, deployment and implementation strategies, lean manufacturing, persuasive technology, and manufacturing culture. These factors play a significant role in developing and implementing core techniques, which would lead to best in class metrics. The study will also experiment with different technologies and apply these finding to an assembly line. Two contributions that this research will add to the body of knowledge: 1. An action research deployment of instant feedback stations at operators’ workstations with results and analysis of quality outputs. 2. An action research deployment of instant feedback production check sheets from operators to management with results and analysis of quality outputs.

The need for a more sustainable approach to water consumption has increasingly gained attention in the last decade. The domestic sector accounts for over half of abstracted water in the UK and, as such, has become a major target for water efficiency interventions. Current research and water efficiency interventions are dominated by a positivist approach, focusing on a limited range of factors that can be quantitatively measured. This thesis questions the dominant approach and argues that a more holistic overview of water efficiency can be achieved through the consideration of socio-technical and behavioural theories. Taking a more constructivist approach, this research draws on four theories from socio-technical and behavioural fields and combines them to create a framework for the analysis of water efficiency interventions. The framework is applied to two case studies, exploring water users¿ perceptions of water, water supply, personal water use, and their responses to the water efficiency interventions. The case studies were selected to provide examples of current mainstream approaches to water demand management. Research methods used included semi-structured interviews and observation. The research findings support the argument that the current dominant approach to domestic water efficiency interventions is limited and, in some cases, ineffectual. Issues of trust, knowledge, motivation and the relationships between water users and water companies were raised. The thesis concludes that the use of a constructivist perspective could help to provide a more effective approach to understanding and improving water demand management.

Socially coupled systems are comprised of inter-dependent social, organizational, economic, infrastructure and physical networks. Today's urban regions serve as an excellent example of such systems. People and institutions confront the implications of the increasing scale of information becoming available due to a combination of advances in pervasive computing, data acquisition systems as well as high performance computing. Integrated modeling and decision making environments are necessary to support planning, analysis and counter factual experiments to study these complex systems. Here, we describe SIMFRASTRUCTURE -- a computational infrastructure that supports high performance computing oriented decision and analytics environments to study socially coupled systems. Simfrastructure provides a middleware with multiplexing mechanism by which modeling environments with simple and intuitive user-interfaces can be plugged in as front-end systems, and high-end computing resources -- such as clusters, grids and clouds -- can be plugged in as back-end systems for execution. This makes several key aspects of simulation systems such as the computational complexity, data management and resource management and allocation completely transparent to the users. The decoupling of user interfaces, data repository and computational resources from simulation execution allows users to run simulations and access the results asynchronously and enables them to add new datasets and simulation models dynamically.  Simfrastructure enables implementation of a simple yet powerful modeling environment with built-in analytics-as-aservice platform, which provides seamless access to high end computational resources, through an intuitive interface for studying socially coupled systems. We illustrate the applicability of Simfrastructure in the context of an integrated modeling environment to study public health epidemiology and network science. / Master of Science