Consistency Evaluation of Landscape Design by a Decision Support System

Decision support systems under multiple objectives (MODSS) has been classified as a specific type of system within the broad family of DSS and has been one of the most active areas of research. However, despite its theoretical development large scale real-world applications of multiobjective decision-making (MODM) methods had been seriously lacking due to the technical knowledge and expertise needed to select and apply the most appropriate method. This paper explores the possibility of embedding intelligent guidance within MODSS, and outlines a specific guidance framework for the design of knowledge-based guidance for the selection of a suitable MODM method. This framework has been implemented as an intelligent and graphical user interface based multiple objective decision support system prototype. The prototype, with its database, methodology base of MODM and knowledge based system, will help any decision-maker in selecting the most appropriate method in solving various MODM problems.

This research follows in the Broadbent tradition of constructing a general theory to solve applied problems. The paper reports part of wider research intended to construct a framework for modelling the planning and control of multiple task work. The function of the framework is to support the solution of design problems associated with the performance of interactive planning and control worksystems. The study reported here used an initial version of the framework, based on a study of secretarial office administration, to construct a model of medical reception work. An observational study collected protocol data concerning a medical reception worksystem, comprising two receptionists and various office devices; its domain of application, comprising doctors, patients, their appointments, medical records etc.; and its performance, comprising the quality of medical reception work and the costs to the receptionists of performing that work. The data were then used in conjunction with the planning and control framework to construct the model of medical reception. The model includes physical and abstract structures and behaviours of the medical reception worksystem, as well as physical and abstract objects of its domain of application. Of particular interest for the solution of design problems is the model's differentiation of plan types into task plans, procedure plans, and activity plans. These plan types were used to extend the framework for the planning and control of multiple task work. The paper concludes with a brief illustration of how the model of medical reception might be used to support the solution of interactive worksystem design problems as they relate to performance. Future work to develop further the framework of planning and control of multiple task work and its application are discussed.

Decision support systems have always had a goal of supporting decision-makers. Over time, DSS have taken many forms, or many forms of computer-based support have been considered in the context of DSS, depending on one’s particular perspective. Regardless, there have been decision support systems (DSS), expert systems, executive information systems, group DSS (GDSS), group support systems (GSS), collaborative systems (or computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) environments), knowledge-based systems, and inquiring systems, all of which are described elsewhere in this encyclopedia. The progression of decision support system types that have emerged follows to some degree the increasing complexity of the problems being addressed. Some of the early DSS involved single decision-makers utilizing spreadsheet models to solve problems. Such an approach would be inadequate in addressing complex problems because one aspect of problem complexity is that multiple stakeholders typically exist. Baldwin (1993) examined the need for supporting multiple views and provides the only attempt found in the information systems literature to operationalize the concept of a perspective. In his work, a view is defined as a set of beliefs that partially describe a general subject of discourse. He identified three major components of a view: the belief or notion to convey, a language to represent the notion, and a subject of discourse. He further described notions as comprising aspects and a vantage point. Aspects are the characteristics or attributes of a subject or situation that a particular notion emphasizes. A vantage point is described by the level of detail (i.e., overview or detailed analysis). Assuming the subject of discourse can be identified with the notion, Baldwin described how differences in views may occur via differences in the notion, the language, or both.

A method of designing roads, based on Arctic territories is described. Results of GPS-shooting are used for consideration of effect of sun blinding (SBE) of drivers and determination of dangerous because of sun sectors of road. Design of the road is held in special original software. When the road plan is designed, they consider SGE as a choice of such an azimuth of a road, within which the period of SBE would be minimal. Derivation of a road plan takes into consideration azimuth and meridian of specific road sectors in the Arctic. Geodesic position of main points of a road is specified on the basis of GPS-shooting. Azimuths of straight sectors of a road are calculated upon the points mentioned above. Apart from direction of the road azimuth, longitudinal slope, latitude and longitude of road track effect SGE. Introduction of given variables values is taken into account by the software to adjust the date and time of SGE on the surveyed section of the road. The values of all azimuthal coordinates are set in degrees and minutes in specially designated text fields under each graph. The aim of the method is to increase road safety, taking into consideration reduction of the negative impact of solar glare on the driver’s visual organs, which reduces visibility distance and attention-shifting; narrows eyeshot, etc. Under SBE conditions, the driver focuses on a small field of vision located in the course of movement and ignores outlying information. The method takes into account all the factors affecting driving of a vehicle in the conditions of SBE. Application of the method of astronomical design allows to develop operational measures to reduce the accident rate in sun-hazardous areas.

Intentional Bias: An Empirical Study of Interpellative User Experiences on University Donor Websites

The road landscape plays an important role in planning and construction of urban and rural tourist areas. The direct feeling of people about the tourist areas comes from the planning and design of roads in the landscape areas. Thus, design of the road landscapes in the tourist areas has a great influence on sightseeing in the tourist areas. The research and discussion are made from these aspects including design of tourist routes, design of the road landscape and future development direction etc. of the tourist areas based on the urban and rural culture of Jinan and the existing problems in design of road landscapes in tourist areas of Jinan in this paper. On the basis of paying attention to the functionality, this paper stresses the rationality and beauty of the road landscape design in the tourist areas; this paper proposes to optimize and perfect various functions of the tourist areas, promote the grade of the road landscapes in the tourist areas by artistic design of the road landscape spaces to make regional characteristics of urban and rural tourist areas of Jinan demonstrated fully and thereby promoting the sound development of the road landscapes design of Shandong urban and rural tourist areas and propelling the sound development of the urban and rural tourism industry in Shandong Province.

Computer-Aided Knowledge-Based Monitoring and Diagnostic System for Emulsion Polymerization

A coupled knowledge-based expert system for design of liquid-retaining structures

A systematic review of structural design methods and nondestructive tests for airport pavements

Parents' and nonparents' perceptions of cries

This report chronicles the work undertaken by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign to identify policies and design guidelines to plan for connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in mid-sized regions in Illinois. The report starts with the goals of this work followed by a review of existing literature. The review addresses CAV technologies and scenario planning, including academic research articles, policies and guidance documents from federal and state agencies, and recent long-range transportation plans. The review findings are organized into three categories—drivers, levers, and impacts—to facilitate scenario-based planning and included key factors and trends in technology development and adoption (drivers), mechanisms that planners and policymakers may employ to intervene in or prepare for CAV futures (levers), and community-level outcomes of different plausible CAV futures (impacts). Primary research was undertaken first by interviewing practitioners in six mid-sized regions of Illinois to collect inputs about their needs and obstacles to planning for CAVs, as well as to understand their sense of their community’s preparedness for CAVs. The research team then conducted a detailed survey of over 700 residents from the Greater Peoria region to understand their would-be travel behavior and residential location decisions in a CAV future and general attitude toward self-driving cars. These inputs helped identify the key drivers, levers, and impacts to be employed in creating scenarios, a list of selected policies and design, and a framework to select appropriate responses based on the needs and desires of a community. The detailed scenarios are as follows: (1) continuation of the status quo, (2) private multimodal future, and (3) shared multimodal future. The policies and design guidelines are identified for each scenario and are categorized into six sets of action items: general, data and digitization, mobility and traffic, street design, infrastructure, and planning. Specific details of each action item are organized in a format that allows the user to consider each item carefully and to assess its feasibility in a specific region or city. The appendices include background documents related to primary research and, importantly, a handbook for practitioners.

In the present paper it is developed mathematical model for description of heat and mass transfer processes and predicting velocity, temperature and pollution concentrations near roadway. To describe convective transfer controlled by the wind and gravity, we use Reynolds equations for turbulent flow. The boundary value problem was solved numerically. A discrete analog for equations was obtained by means of the control volume method. Methods of predicting concentrations of automobile exhaust gases near roadways are needed for the planning and design of roads and nearby structures.

Design Recipes for FPGAs

An architecture is described that allows multiple, heterogeneous knowledge-base systems to cooperate in a partially structured social network. The design is conceived from social epistemological theory which studies the social influence; on beliefs and evaluates social practices based on a truth-linked criterion. A planning theory of intention is reviewed as a mechanism for coordinating actions between agents. A design technique is proposed whereby information technology is applied to augment actual human processes that are deficient relative to the normative theory. A distributed knowledge-base management system architecture is described that models the practices and group methods of a social community. The individual knowledge-base systems model the processes and methods used by individual agents. Research issues are outlined for extending this architecture. >

The automation and intelligence highlighted in Industry 4.0 put forward higher requirements for reasonable trade-offs between humans and machines for decision-making governance. However, in the context of Industry 4.0, the vision of decision support for design engineering is still unclear. Additionally, the corresponding methods and system architectures are lacking to support the realization of value-chain-centric complex engineered systems design lifecycles. Hence, we identify decision support demands for complex engineered systems designs in the Industry 4.0 era, representing the integrated design problems at various stages of the product value chain. As a response, in this paper, the architecture of a Knowledge-Based Design Guidance System (KBDGS) for cloud-based decision support (CBDS) is presented that highlights the integrated management of complexity, uncertainty, and knowledge in designing decision workflows, as well as systematic design guidance to find satisfying solutions with the iterative process “formulation-refinement-exploration-improvement” (FREI). The KBDGS facilitates diverse multi-stakeholder collaborative decisions in end-to-end cloud services. Finally, two design case studies are conducted to illustrate the proposed work and the efficacy of the developed KBDGS. The contribution of this paper is to provide design guidance to facilitate knowledge discovery, capturing, and reuse in the context of decision-centric digital design, thus improving the efficiency and effectiveness of decision-making, as well as the evolution of decision support in the field of design engineering for the age of Industry 4.0 innovation paradigm.