WorldWideScience

Sample records for support informed decision

  1. System for selecting relevant information for decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalina, Jan; Seidl, Libor; Zvára, Karel; Grünfeldová, Hana; Slovák, Dalibor; Zvárová, Jana

    2013-01-01

    We implemented a prototype of a decision support system called SIR which has a form of a web-based classification service for diagnostic decision support. The system has the ability to select the most relevant variables and to learn a classification rule, which is guaranteed to be suitable also for high-dimensional measurements. The classification system can be useful for clinicians in primary care to support their decision-making tasks with relevant information extracted from any available clinical study. The implemented prototype was tested on a sample of patients in a cardiological study and performs an information extraction from a high-dimensional set containing both clinical and gene expression data.

  2. Supporting Informed Decision Making in Prevention of Prostate Cancer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Constantino MARTINS

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Identifying and making the correct decision on the best health treatment or screening test option can become a difficult task. Therefore is important that the patients get all types of information appropriate to manage their health. Decision aids can be very useful when there is more than one reasonable option about a treatment or uncertain associated with screening tests. The decision aids tools help people to understand their clinical condition, through the description of the different options available. The purpose of this paper is to present the project “Supporting Informed Decision Making In Prevention of Prostate Cancer” (SIDEMP. This project is focused on the creation of a Web-based decision platform specifically directed to screening prostate cancer, that will support the patient in the process of making an informed decision

  3. Decision Making Based On Management Information System and Decision Support System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Şükrü Ada

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Information hasbecome an essentialresource for managing modern organizations. This is so because today’sbusiness environment is volatile, dynamic, turbulent and necessitates the burgeoning demand for accurate, relevant, complete,timely and economical information needed to drive the decision-making process in order to accentuate organizational abilities to manage opportunities and threat. MIS work on online mode with an average processing speed. Generally, it is used by low level management. Decision support system are powerful tool that assist corporate executives, administrators and other senior officials in making decision regarding the problem. Management Information Systems is a useful tool that provided organized and summarized information in a proper time to decision makers and enable making accurate decision for managers in organizations. This paper will discuss the concept, characteristics, types of MIS, the MIS model, and in particular it will highlight the impact and role of MIS on decision making.

  4. An expert panel approach to support risk-informed decision making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pulkkinen, U.; Simola, K.

    2000-01-01

    The report describes the expert panel methodology developed for supporting risk-informed decision making. The aim of an expert panel is to achieve a balanced utilisation of information and expertise from several disciplines in decision-making including probabilistic safety assessment as one decision criterion. We also summarise the application of the methodology in the STUK's RI-ISI (Risk-Informed In-Service Inspection) pilot study, where the expert panel approach was used to combine the deterministic information on degradation mechanisms and probabilistic information on pipe break consequences. The expert panel served both as a critical review of the preliminary results and as a decision support for the final definition of risk categories of piping. (orig.)

  5. Automation of information decision support to improve e-learning resources quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.L. Danchenko

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. In conditions of active development of e-learning the high quality of e-learning resources is very important. Providing the high quality of e-learning resources in situation with mass higher education and rapid obsolescence of information requires the automation of information decision support for improving the quality of e-learning resources by development of decision support system. Methodology. The problem is solved by methods of artificial intelligence. The knowledge base of information structure of decision support system that is based on frame model of knowledge representation and inference production rules are developed. Findings. According to the results of the analysis of life cycle processes and requirements to the e-learning resources quality the information model of the structure of the knowledge base of the decision support system, the inference rules for the automatically generating of recommendations and the software implementation are developed. Practical value. It is established that the basic requirements for quality are performance, validity, reliability and manufacturability. It is shown that the using of a software implementation of decision support system for researched courses gives a growth of the quality according to the complex quality criteria. The information structure of a knowledge base system to support decision-making and rules of inference can be used by methodologists and content developers of learning systems.

  6. Real-time decision support and information gathering system for financial domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Chiu-Che; Gmytrasiewicz, Piotr J.

    2006-05-01

    The challenge of the investment domain is that a large amount of diverse information can be potentially relevant to an investment decision, and that, frequently, the decisions have to be made in a timely manner. This presents the potential for better decision support, but poses the challenge of building a decision support agent that gathers information from different sources and incorporates it for timely decision support. These problems motivate us to investigate ways in which the investors can be equipped with a flexible real-time decision support system to be practical in time-critical situations. The flexible real-time decision support system considers a tradeoff between decision quality and computation cost. For this purpose, we propose a system that uses the object oriented Bayesian knowledge base (OOBKB) design to create a decision model at the most suitable level of detail to guide the information gathering activities, and to produce an investment recommendation within a reasonable length of time. The decision models our system uses are implemented as influence diagrams. We validate our system with experiments in a simplified investment domain. The experiments show that our system produces a quality recommendation under different urgency situations. The contribution of our system is that it provides the flexible decision recommendation for an investor under time constraints in a complex environment.

  7. Designing an Information System for Decision Support Lending

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian LUPASC

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The successful development of financial and banking activities requires a strong information support to ensure the competitive edge over the other competitors on the market. The exponential growth in the volume of lending financial operations made the use of modern information technology in banking has become fundamental to improving lending activity. Thus, the design and use of a computer system adapted to specific requirements of bank lending will provide opportunities to diversify and modernize the procedures for granting, repayment and credit guarantee to correlate products offer credit demands and customer needs. In this regard, the related objectives of this work are oriented to emphasize the positive impact of the adoption of modern information technologies in decision making in the banking field. The proposed objectives are justified by presenting solutions support system of credit decision which aims to automate ongoing operations specific to a banking allowing bank clerks to process a large number of loan applications in a time very short and to the right decisions and substantiated.

  8. Knowledge-Based Information Management in Decision Support for Ecosystem Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keith Reynolds; Micahel Saunders; Richard Olson; Daniel Schmoldt; Michael Foster; Donald Latham; Bruce Miller; John Steffenson; Lawrence Bednar; Patrick Cunningham

    1995-01-01

    The Pacific Northwest Research Station (USDA Forest Service) is developing a knowledge-based information management system to provide decision support for watershed analysis in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. The decision support system includes: (1) a GIS interface that allows users to graphically navigate to specific provinces and watersheds and display a...

  9. Applying the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) to support risk-informed decision making: The Gold Pan Fire, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erin K. Noonan-Wright; Tonja S. Opperman

    2015-01-01

    In response to federal wildfire policy changes, risk-informed decision-making by way of improved decision support, is increasingly becoming a component of managing wildfires. As fire incidents escalate in size and complexity, the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) provides support with different analytical tools as fire conditions change. We demonstrate the...

  10. System for Selection of Relevant Information for Decision Support

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan; Seidl, L.; Zvára, K.; Grünfeldová, H.; Slovák, Dalibor; Zvárová, Jana

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 1, č. 1 (2013), s. 46-46 ISSN 1805-8698. [EFMI 2013 Special Topic Conference. 17.04.2013-19.04.2013, Prague] Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : decision support system * web-service * information extraction * high-dimension * gene expressions Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science

  11. Decision Support System Based on Computational Collective Intelligence in Campus Information Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Yoshihito; Matsuo, Tokuro

    Education institutions such as universities have a lot of information including book information, equipment administrative information, student information, and several others. The institutions also have multiple information in time series. As collective intelligence in campus, integrating and reusing these preserved information regarding career and taking a class, university can effectively support students' decision making of their getting jobs and subjects choice. Our purpose of support is to increase student's motivation. In this paper, we focus on course record and job information included in students' information, and propose the method to analyze correlation between a pattern of taking class and job lined up. Afterwards, we propose a support system regarding getting a job and taking class by using our proposed method. For a student who has his/her favorite job to get, the system supports his/her decision making of lecture choice by recommending a set of appropriate lecture groups. On another hand, for a student who does not have favorite job to get, the system supports his/her decision making of getting job by presenting appropriate job families related with lecture group in which he/she has ever taken. The contribution of this paper is showing a concrete method to reuse the campus collective information, implementing a system, and user perspectives.

  12. Supporting risk-informed decisions during business process execution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Conforti, R.; Leoni, de M.; La Rosa, M.; Aalst, van der W.M.P.; Salinesi, C.; Norrie, M.C.; Pastor, O.

    2013-01-01

    This paper proposes a technique that supports process participants in making risk-informed decisions, with the aim to reduce the process risks. Risk reduction involves decreasing the likelihood and severity of a process fault from occurring. Given a process exposed to risks, e.g. a financial process

  13. SANDS: a service-oriented architecture for clinical decision support in a National Health Information Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Adam; Sittig, Dean F

    2008-12-01

    In this paper, we describe and evaluate a new distributed architecture for clinical decision support called SANDS (Service-oriented Architecture for NHIN Decision Support), which leverages current health information exchange efforts and is based on the principles of a service-oriented architecture. The architecture allows disparate clinical information systems and clinical decision support systems to be seamlessly integrated over a network according to a set of interfaces and protocols described in this paper. The architecture described is fully defined and developed, and six use cases have been developed and tested using a prototype electronic health record which links to one of the existing prototype National Health Information Networks (NHIN): drug interaction checking, syndromic surveillance, diagnostic decision support, inappropriate prescribing in older adults, information at the point of care and a simple personal health record. Some of these use cases utilize existing decision support systems, which are either commercially or freely available at present, and developed outside of the SANDS project, while other use cases are based on decision support systems developed specifically for the project. Open source code for many of these components is available, and an open source reference parser is also available for comparison and testing of other clinical information systems and clinical decision support systems that wish to implement the SANDS architecture. The SANDS architecture for decision support has several significant advantages over other architectures for clinical decision support. The most salient of these are:

  14. SANDS: an architecture for clinical decision support in a National Health Information Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Adam; Sittig, Dean F

    2007-10-11

    A new architecture for clinical decision support called SANDS (Service-oriented Architecture for NHIN Decision Support) is introduced and its performance evaluated. The architecture provides a method for performing clinical decision support across a network, as in a health information exchange. Using the prototype we demonstrated that, first, a number of useful types of decision support can be carried out using our architecture; and, second, that the architecture exhibits desirable reliability and performance characteristics.

  15. Information management to enable personalized medicine: stakeholder roles in building clinical decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Downing, Gregory J; Boyle, Scott N; Brinner, Kristin M; Osheroff, Jerome A

    2009-10-08

    Advances in technology and the scientific understanding of disease processes are presenting new opportunities to improve health through individualized approaches to patient management referred to as personalized medicine. Future health care strategies that deploy genomic technologies and molecular therapies will bring opportunities to prevent, predict, and pre-empt disease processes but will be dependent on knowledge management capabilities for health care providers that are not currently available. A key cornerstone to the potential application of this knowledge will be effective use of electronic health records. In particular, appropriate clinical use of genomic test results and molecularly-targeted therapies present important challenges in patient management that can be effectively addressed using electronic clinical decision support technologies. Approaches to shaping future health information needs for personalized medicine were undertaken by a work group of the American Health Information Community. A needs assessment for clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to support personalized medical practices was conducted to guide health future development activities. Further, a suggested action plan was developed for government, researchers and research institutions, developers of electronic information tools (including clinical guidelines, and quality measures), and standards development organizations to meet the needs for personalized approaches to medical practice. In this article, we focus these activities on stakeholder organizations as an operational framework to help identify and coordinate needs and opportunities for clinical decision support tools to enable personalized medicine. This perspective addresses conceptual approaches that can be undertaken to develop and apply clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to achieve personalized medical care. In addition, to represent meaningful benefits to personalized

  16. Information management to enable personalized medicine: stakeholder roles in building clinical decision support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brinner Kristin M

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Advances in technology and the scientific understanding of disease processes are presenting new opportunities to improve health through individualized approaches to patient management referred to as personalized medicine. Future health care strategies that deploy genomic technologies and molecular therapies will bring opportunities to prevent, predict, and pre-empt disease processes but will be dependent on knowledge management capabilities for health care providers that are not currently available. A key cornerstone to the potential application of this knowledge will be effective use of electronic health records. In particular, appropriate clinical use of genomic test results and molecularly-targeted therapies present important challenges in patient management that can be effectively addressed using electronic clinical decision support technologies. Discussion Approaches to shaping future health information needs for personalized medicine were undertaken by a work group of the American Health Information Community. A needs assessment for clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to support personalized medical practices was conducted to guide health future development activities. Further, a suggested action plan was developed for government, researchers and research institutions, developers of electronic information tools (including clinical guidelines, and quality measures, and standards development organizations to meet the needs for personalized approaches to medical practice. In this article, we focus these activities on stakeholder organizations as an operational framework to help identify and coordinate needs and opportunities for clinical decision support tools to enable personalized medicine. Summary This perspective addresses conceptual approaches that can be undertaken to develop and apply clinical decision support in electronic health record systems to achieve personalized medical care. In

  17. Quality of online information to support patient decision-making in breast cancer surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruce, Jordan G; Tucholka, Jennifer L; Steffens, Nicole M; Neuman, Heather B

    2015-11-01

    Breast cancer patients commonly use the internet as an information resource. Our objective was to evaluate the quality of online information available to support patients facing a decision for breast surgery. Breast cancer surgery-related queries were performed (Google and Bing), and reviewed for content pertinent to breast cancer surgery. The DISCERN instrument was used to evaluate websites' structural components that influence publication reliability and ability of information to support treatment decision-making. Scores of 4/5 were considered "good." 45 unique websites were identified. Websites satisfied a median 5/9 content questions. Commonly omitted topics included: having a choice between breast conservation and mastectomy (67%) and potential for 2nd surgery to obtain negative margins after breast conservation (60%). Websites had a median DISCERN score of 2.9 (range 2.0-4.5). Websites achieved higher scores on structural criteria (median 3.6 [2.1-4.7]), with 24% rated as "good." Scores on supporting decision-making questions were lower (2.6 [1.3-4.4]), with only 7% scoring "good." Although numerous breast cancer-related websites exist, most do a poor job providing women with essential information necessary to actively participate in decision-making for breast cancer surgery. Providing easily- accessible, high-quality online information has the potential to significantly improve patients' experiences with decision-making. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. Using basic geographic information systems functionality to support sustainable forest management decision making and post-decision assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ronald E. McRoberts; R. James Barbour; Krista M. Gebert; Greg C. Liknes; Mark D. Nelson; Dacia M. Meneguzzo; et al.

    2006-01-01

    Sustainable management of natural resources requires informed decision making and post-decision assessments of the results of those decisions. Increasingly, both activities rely on analyses of spatial data in the forms of maps and digital data layers. Fortunately, a variety of supporting maps and data layers rapidly are becoming available. Unfortunately, however, user-...

  19. A platform independent prototype for data and information exchange between decision support systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carle, B.; Baig, S.

    2003-01-01

    Full text: A survey amongst participants in the Decision Support System network (DSSNET) community showed that the organization dealing with the Information exchange between participants and stakeholders in nuclear emergency is too disparate to be defined in one well defined procedure or analysis. Looking at the organization of the national emergency response organizations, and especially when modelling the information flow, diversity is the most striking finding: originators of the information are different, decision making organisation can be different, the approval and publishing of information to press and wider public is dealt with in different ways and the responsibilities for the information flow to other authorities differ as well. Moreover, the place of decision support systems (DSS) in the emergency response organization varies for the different countries. This variation can be found in the way one of the 'big three' (RODOS, ARGOS and RECASS) systems is implemented, and even more in the way other, often country-specific systems, are in use and function more integrated with the particular emergency response organization of the country. Hence we can conclude that there is a need to structure the information exchange system, but this has to be flexible enough to work with the above described variety of existing organizations and procedures. Though it may not be feasible to agree on all specifications of information to be exchanged, we can define at least a minimal set. A prototype for data and information exchange is being developed under the EC project MODEM (Monitoring data and Information exchange among decision support systems). It establishes links between the decision support systems RODOS, ARGOS and RECASS. For setting up this data exchange, the use of xml-based data specifications allows a flexible integration with existing applications. The power to include metadata in a structured way allows the use of automated transformation tools and limits the

  20. Supporting management decisions with ex ante accounting information

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wouters, Marc; Verdaasdonk, Peter

    2002-01-01

    This paper is about the relationship between management decisions and accounting information. Management decisions have consequences in different functional areas, departments, and different companies along the value chain. Accounting information regarding decisions aims to translate as many as

  1. Selecting Relevant Information for Medical Decision Support with Application in Cardiology

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan; Seidl, L.; Grünfeldová, H.; Slovák, Dalibor; Zvárová, Jana

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 9, č. 1 (2013), s. 2-6 ISSN 1801-5603 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06014 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : decision support system * web-service * information extraction * high dimension * gene expressions Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science http://www.ejbi.org/img/ejbi/2013/1/Kalina_en.pdf

  2. Preparing for a decision support system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Callan, K

    2000-08-01

    The increasing pressure to reduce costs and improve outcomes is driving the health care industry to view information as a competitive advantage. Timely information is required to help reduce inefficiencies and improve patient care. Numerous disparate operational or transactional information systems with inconsistent and often conflicting data are no longer adequate to meet the information needs of integrated care delivery systems and networks in competitive managed care environments. This article reviews decision support system characteristics and describes a process to assess the preparedness of an organization to implement and use decision support systems to achieve a more effective, information-based decision process. Decision support tools included in this article range from reports to data mining.

  3. Information Systems to Support a Decision Process at Stanford.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaffee, Ellen Earle

    1982-01-01

    When a rational decision process is desired, information specialists can contribute information and also contribute to the process in which that information is used, thereby promoting rational decision-making. The contribution of Stanford's information specialists to rational decision-making is described. (MLW)

  4. Preference Construction Processes for Renewable Energies: Assessing the Influence of Sustainability Information and Decision Support Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kiyotada Hayashi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Sustainability information and decision support can be two important driving forces for making sustainable transitions in society. However, not enough knowledge is available on the effectiveness of these two factors. Here, we conducted an experimental study to support the hypotheses that acquisition of sustainability information and use of decision support methods consistently construct preferences for renewable power generation technologies that use solar power, wind power, small-scale hydroelectric power, geothermal power, wood biomass, or biogas as energy sources. The sustainability information was prepared using a renewable energy-focused input-output model of Japan and contained life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, electricity generation costs, and job creation. We measured rank-ordered preferences in the following four steps in experimental workshops conducted for municipal officials: provision of (1 energy-source names; (2 sustainability information; (3 additional explanation of public value; and (4 knowledge and techniques about multi-attribute value functions. The degree of changes in preference orders was evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The consistency of rank-ordered preferences among participants was determined by using the maximum eigenvalue for the coefficient matrix. The results show: (1 the individual preferences evolved drastically in response to the sustainability information and the decision support method; and (2 the rank-ordered preferences were more consistent during the preference construction processes. These results indicate that provision of sustainability information, coupled with decision support methods, is effective for decision making regarding renewable energies.

  5. Tactical decision making under stress (TADMUS) decision support system

    OpenAIRE

    Morrison, Jeffrey G.; Kelly, Richard T.; Moore, Ronald A.; Hutchins, Susan G.

    1996-01-01

    A prototype decision support system (DSS) was developed to enhance Navy tactical decision making based on naturalistic decision processes. Displays were developed to support critical decision making tasks through recognition-primed and explanation-based reasoning processes and cognitive analysis of the decision making problems faced by Navy tactical officers in a shipboard Combat Information Center. Baseline testing in high intensity, peace keeping, littoral scenarios indicated...

  6. NOAA Climate Information and Tools for Decision Support Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timofeyeva, M. M.; Higgins, W.; Strager, C.; Horsfall, F. M.

    2013-12-01

    NOAA is an active participant of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) contributing data, information, analytical capabilities, forecasts, and decision support services to the Climate Services Partnership (CSP). These contributions emerge from NOAA's own climate services, which have evolved to respond to the urgent and growing need for reliable, trusted, transparent, and timely climate information across all sectors of the U.S. economy. Climate services not only enhance development opportunities in many regions, but also reduce vulnerability to climate change around the world. The NOAA contribution lies within the NOAA Climate Goal mission, which is focusing its efforts on four key climate priority areas: water, extremes, coastal inundation, and marine ecosystems. In order to make progress in these areas, NOAA is exploiting its fundamental capabilities, including foundational research to advance understanding of the Earth system, observations to preserve and build the climate data record and monitor changes in climate conditions, climate models to predict and project future climate across space and time scales, and the development and delivery of decision support services focused on risk management. NOAA's National Weather Services (NWS) is moving toward provision of Decision Support Services (DSS) as a part of the Roadmap on the way to achieving a Weather Ready National (WRN) strategy. Both short-term and long-term weather, water, and climate information are critical for DSS and emergency services and have been integrated into NWS in the form of pilot projects run by National and Regional Operations Centers (NOC and ROCs respectively) as well as several local offices. Local offices with pilot projects have been focusing their efforts on provision of timely and actionable guidance for specific tasks such as DSS in support of Coastal Environments and Integrated Environmental Studies. Climate information in DSS extends the concept of climate services to

  7. A systematic review of decision support needs of parents making child health decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson, Cath; Cheater, Francine M.; Reid, Innes

    2008-01-01

    Abstract Objective  To identify the decision support needs of parents attempting to make an informed health decision on behalf of a child. Context  The first step towards implementing patient decision support is to assess patients’ information and decision‐making needs. Search strategy  A systematic search of key bibliographic databases for decision support studies was performed in 2005. Reference lists of relevant review articles and key authors were searched. Three relevant journals were hand searched. Inclusion criteria  Non‐intervention studies containing data on decision support needs of parents making child health decisions. Data extraction and synthesis  Data were extracted on study characteristics, decision focus and decision support needs. Studies were quality assessed using a pre‐defined set of criteria. Data synthesis used the UK Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co‐ordinating Centre approach. Main results  One‐hundred and forty nine studies were included across various child health decisions, settings and study designs. Thematic analysis of decision support needs indicated three key issues: (i) information (including suggestions about the content, delivery, source, timing); (ii) talking to others (including concerns about pressure from others); and (iii) feeling a sense of control over the process that could be influenced by emotionally charged decisions, the consultation process, and structural or service barriers. These were consistent across decision type, study design and whether or not the study focused on informed decision making. PMID:18816320

  8. A Planetary Defense Gateway for Smart Discovery of relevant Information for Decision Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bambacus, Myra; Yang, Chaowei Phil; Leung, Ronald Y.; Barbee, Brent; Nuth, Joseph A.; Seery, Bernard; Jiang, Yongyao; Qin, Han; Li, Yun; Yu, Manzhu; hide

    2017-01-01

    A Planetary Defense Gateway for Smart Discovery of relevant Information for Decision Support presentation discussing background, framework architecture, current results, ongoing research, conclusions.

  9. A multiple decision support metrics method for effective risk-informed asset management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liming, J.K.; Salter, J.E.

    2004-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to provide electric utilities with a concept for developing and applying effective decision support metrics via integrated risk-informed asset management (RIAM) programs for power stations and generating companies. RIAM is a process by which analysts review historical performance and develop predictive logic models and data analyses to predict critical decision support figures-of-merit (or metrics) for generating station managers and electric utility company executives. These metrics include, but are not limited to, the following: profitability, net benefit, benefit-to-cost ratio, projected return on investment, projected revenue, projected costs, asset value, safety (catastrophic facility damage frequency and consequences, etc.), power production availability (capacity factor, etc.), efficiency (heat rate), and others. RIAM applies probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) techniques and generates predictions in a probabilistic way so that metrics information can be supplied to managers in terms of probability distributions as well as point estimates. This enables the managers to apply the concept of 'confidence levels' in their critical decision-making processes. (authors)

  10. Prioritization of information using decision support systems for seismic risk in Bucharest city

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armas, Iuliana; Gheorghe, Diana

    2014-05-01

    Nowadays, because of the ever increasing volume of information, policymakers are faced with decision making problems. Achieving an objective and suitable decision making may become a challenge. In such situations decision support systems (DSS) have been developed. DSS can assist in the decision making process, offering support on how a decision should be made, rather than what decision should be made (Simon, 1979). This in turn potentially involves a huge number of stakeholders and criteria. Regarding seismic risk, Bucharest City is highly vulnerable (Mandrescu et al., 2007). The aim of this study is to implement a spatial decision support system in order to secure a suitable shelter in case of an earthquake occurrence in the historical centre of Bucharest City. In case of a seismic risk, a shelter is essential for sheltering people who lost their homes or whose homes are in danger of collapsing while people at risk receive first aid in the post-disaster phase. For the present study, the SMCE Module for ILWIS 3.4 was used. The methodology included structuring the problem by creating a decision tree, standardizing and weighting of the criteria. The results showed that the most suitable buildings are Tania Hotel, Hanul lui Manuc, The National Bank of Romania, The Romanian Commercial Bank and The National History Museum.

  11. Decisions at hand: a decision support system on handhelds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zupan, B; Porenta, A; Vidmar, G; Aoki, N; Bratko, I; Beck, J R

    2001-01-01

    One of the applications of clinical information systems is decision support. Although the advantages of utilizing such aids have never been theoretically disputed, they have been rarely used in practice. The factor that probably often limits the utility of clinical decision support systems is the need for computing power at the very site of decision making--at the place where the patient is interviewed, in discussion rooms, etc. The paper reports on a possible solution to this problem. A decision-support shell LogReg is presented, which runs on a handheld computer. A general schema for handheld-based decision support is also proposed, where decision models are developed on personal computers/workstations, encoded in XML and then transferred to handhelds, where the models are used within a decision support shell. A use case where LogReg has been applied to clinical outcome prediction in crush injury is presented.

  12. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM AND REMOTE SENSING BASED DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT PLATFORM: AYDES

    OpenAIRE

    Keskin, İ.; Akbaba, N.; Tosun, M.; Tüfekçi, M. K.; Bulut, D.; Avcı, F.; Gökçe, O.

    2018-01-01

    The accelerated developments in information technology in recent years, increased the amount of usage of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) in disaster management considerably and the access from mobile and web-based platforms to continuous, accurate and sufficient data needed for decision-making became easier accordingly. The Disaster Management and Decision Support System (AYDES) has been developed with the purpose of managing the disaster and emergency manageme...

  13. Information support for decision making on dispatching control of water distribution in irrigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yurchenko, I. F.

    2018-05-01

    The research has been carried out on developing the technique of supporting decision making for on-line control, operational management of water allocation for the interfarm irrigation projects basing on the analytical patterns of dispatcher control. This technique provides an increase of labour productivity as well as higher management quality due to the improved level of automation, as well as decision making optimization taking into account diagnostics of the issues, solutions classification, information being required to the decision makers.

  14. Practical application of decision support metrics for power plant risk-informed asset management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liming, James K.; Johnson, David H.; Kee, Ernest J.; Sun, Alice Y.; Young, Garry G.

    2003-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to provide electric utilities with a concept for developing and applying effective decision support metrics via integrated risk-informed asset management (RIAM) programs for power stations and generating companies. RIAM is a process by which analysts review historical performance and develop predictive logic models and data analyses to predict critical decision support figures-of-merit (or metrics) for generating station managers and electric utility company executives. These metrics include, but are not limited to, the following; profitability, net benefit, benefit-to-cost ratio, projected return on investment, projected revenue, projected costs, asset value, safety (catastrophic facility damage frequency and consequences, etc.), power production availability (capacity factor, etc.), efficiency (heat rate), and others. RIAM applies probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) techniques and generates predictions probabilistically so that metrics information can be supplied to managers in terms of probability distributions as well as point estimates. This enables the managers to apply the concept of 'confidence levels' in their critical decision-making processes. (author)

  15. Decision support systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, L.N.; Noe, E.; Langvad, A.M.

    2007-01-01

    system Crop Protection Online is widely used by advisors and as a learning tool for students. Although the system has been validated in many field trials over the years and has shown reliable results, the number of end-users among farmers has been relatively low during the last 10 years (approximately...... 1000 farmers). A sociological investigation of farmers' decision-making styles in the area of crop protection has shown that arable farmers can be divided into three major groups: (a) system-orientated farmers, (b) experience-based farmers and (c) advisory-orientated farmers. The information required...... by these three groups to make their decisions varies and therefore different ways of using decision support systems need to be provided. Decision support systems need to be developed in close dialogue and collaboration with user groups....

  16. Evaluation of the quality of patient information to support informed shared decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godolphin, W; Towle, A; McKendry, R

    2001-12-01

    (a) To find out how much patient information material on display in family physicians' offices refers to management choices, and hence may be useful to support informed and shared decision-making (ISDM) by patients and (b) to evaluate the quality of print information materials exchanged during the consultation, i.e. brought in by patients or given out by family physicians. All print information available for patients and exchanged between physicians and patients was collected in a single complete day of the office practices of 21 family physicians. A published and validated instrument (DISCERN) was used to assess quality. Community office practices in the greater Vancouver area, British Columbia, Canada. The physicians were purposefully recruited by their association with the medical school Department of Family Practice, their interest in providing patients with print information and their representation of a range of practice types and location. The source of the pamphlets and these categories: available in the physicians' offices; exchanged between physician and patient; and produced with the explicit or apparent intent to support evidence-based patient choice. The quality of the print information to support ISDM, as measured by DISCERN and the ease of use and reliability of the DISCERN tool. Fewer than 50% of pamphlets available in these offices fulfilled our minimum criteria for ISDM (mentioned more than one management option). Offices varied widely in the proportion of pamphlets on display that supported ISDM and how particular the physician was in selecting materials. The DISCERN tool is quick, valid and reliable for the evaluation of patient information. The quality of patient information materials used in the consultation and available in these offices was below midpoint on the DISCERN score. Major deficiencies were with respect to the mention of choices, risks, effect of no treatment or uncertainty and reliability (source, evidence-base). Good quality

  17. MINDS - Medical Information Network Decision Support System

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Armenian, H. K

    2008-01-01

    .... The increase in and complexity of medical data at various levels of resolution has increased the need for system level advancements in clinical decision support systems that provide computer-aided...

  18. Developing a decision support system to meet nurse managers' information needs for effective resource management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruland, C M

    2001-01-01

    This article describes the development of a decision support system called CLASSICA, which assists nurse managers in financial management, resource allocation, activity planning, and quality control. CLASSICA integrates information about patient flow and activity, staffing, and the cost of nursing care at the nursing-unit level. The system provides assistance in planning activities, balancing the budget, and identifying barriers to unsatisfactory resource management. In addition, CLASSICA contains forecasting and simulation options to analyze the influence of factors that affect nursing costs. This article describes the system's development process steps to tailor it to the needs of nurse managers and their existing work practices. Nurse managers actively participated in defining their tasks and responsibilities; identified barriers and difficulties in managing these tasks; defined information needs, data input, and output and interface requirements; and identified expected benefits. Clear communication of project goals, strong user involvement, and purposeful benefit planning was used to achieve the goals for CLASSICA: (1) to provide essential information and decision support for effective financial management, resource allocation, activity planning, and staffing; (2) to improve nurse managers' competence in financial management and decision making; (3) to improve cost containment; and (4) to provide a helpful and easy to use tool for decision support.

  19. Decision support, analytics, and business intelligence

    CERN Document Server

    Power, Daniel J

    2013-01-01

    Competition is becoming more intense and decision makers are encountering increasing complexity, rapid change, and higher levels of risk. In many situations, the solution is more and better computerized decision support, especially analytics and business intelligence. Today managers need to learn about and understand computerized decision support. If a business is to succeed, managers must know much more about information technology solutions. This second edition of a powerful introductory book is targeted at busy managers and MBA students who need to grasp the basics of computerized decision support, including the following: What are analytics? What is a decision support system? How can managers identify opportunities to create innovative computerized support? Inside, the author addresses these questions and some 60 more fundamental questions that are key to understanding the rapidly changing realm of computerized decision support. In a short period of time, you'll "get up to speed" on decision support, anal...

  20. Intelligent Information System to support decision making.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathrin Rodríguez Llanes

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Making decisions is complicated in a generalized way, the materials and humans resources of the entity we belong to depends on it, such as the fulfillment of its goals. But when the situations are complex, making decisions turns into a very difficult work, due to the great amount of aspects to consider when making the right choice. To make this efficiently the administration must to consult an important volume of information, which generally, is scattered and in any different formats. That’s why appears the need of developing software that crowd together all that information and be capable of, by using powerful search engines and process algorithms improve the good decisions making process. Considering previous explanation, a complete freeware developed product is proposed, this constitutes a generic and multi-platform solution, that using artificial intelligence techniques, specifically the cases based reasoning, gives the possibility to leaders of any institution or organism of making the right choice in any situation.With client-server architecture, this system is consumed from web as a service and it can be perfectly integrated with a management system or the geographic information system to facilitate the business process.

  1. Capturing information needs of care providers to support knowledge sharing and distributed decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, M; Zach, L; An, Y; Dalrymple, P

    2012-01-01

    This paper reports on work carried out to elicit information needs at a trans-disciplinary, nurse-managed health care clinic that serves a medically disadvantaged urban population. The trans-disciplinary model provides a "one-stop shop" for patients who can receive a wide range of services beyond traditional primary care. However, this model of health care presents knowledge sharing challenges because little is known about how data collected from the non-traditional services can be integrated into the traditional electronic medical record (EMR) and shared with other care providers. There is also little known about how health information technology (HIT) can be used to support the workflow in such a practice. The objective of this case study was to identify the information needs of care providers in order to inform the design of HIT to support knowledge sharing and distributed decision making. A participatory design approach is presented as a successful technique to specify requirements for HIT applications that can support a trans-disciplinary model of care. Using this design approach, the researchers identified the information needs of care providers working at the clinic and suggested HIT improvements to integrate non-traditional information into the EMR. These modifications allow knowledge sharing among care providers and support better health decisions. We have identified information needs of care providers as they are relevant to the design of health information systems. As new technology is designed and integrated into various workflows it is clear that understanding information needs is crucial to acceptance of that technology.

  2. Flexible Decision Support in Dynamic Interorganizational Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    J. Collins (John); W. Ketter (Wolfgang); M. Gini (Maria)

    2008-01-01

    textabstractAn effective Decision Support System (DSS) should help its users improve decision-making in complex, information-rich, environments. We present a feature gap analysis that shows that current decision support technologies lack important qualities for a new generation of agile business

  3. THE ONTOLOGY OF VIEWS ON THE DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN THE CONTEXT OF TRANSITION TO THE INFORMATION SOCIETY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olga E. Bashina

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is dedicated to the actual economic problem of decision-making for management. Decision support systems (DSS belong to a class of information systems which are set of toolkits for supporting such processes as creating choices and making (selecting a decision. These systems contain tools for combining management both on strategic and operative levels with advanced analytics. Such information systems based on different tools for supporting all stages of decision making and implementation are of current importance and in demand. In the article there is a result of analyses of current methods and computer tools used for decision support. DSS are of particular importance in the network economy as an integral part of information society development where the speed of decision making is a key success factor.

  4. Decision support for emergency management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, V.

    1989-05-01

    A short introduction will be given to the Nordic project ''NKA/INF: Information Technology for Accident and Emergency Management'', which is now in its final phase. To perform evaluation of the project, special scenarious have been developed, and experiments based on these will be fulfilled and compared with experiments without use of the decision support system. Furthermore, the succeeding European project, ''IT Support for Emergency Management - ISEM'', with the purpose of developing a decision support system for complex and distributed decision making in emergency management in full scale, will be described and the preliminary conceptual model for the system will be presented. (author)

  5. What supports do health system organizations have in place to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making? A qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellen, Moriah E; Léon, Gregory; Bouchard, Gisèle; Lavis, John N; Ouimet, Mathieu; Grimshaw, Jeremy M

    2013-08-06

    Decisions regarding health systems are sometimes made without the input of timely and reliable evidence, leading to less than optimal health outcomes. Healthcare organizations can implement tools and infrastructures to support the use of research evidence to inform decision-making. The purpose of this study was to profile the supports and instruments (i.e., programs, interventions, instruments or tools) that healthcare organizations currently have in place and which ones were perceived to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making. In-depth semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with individuals in three different types of positions (i.e., a senior management team member, a library manager, and a 'knowledge broker') in three types of healthcare organizations (i.e., regional health authorities, hospitals and primary care practices) in two Canadian provinces (i.e., Ontario and Quebec). The interviews were taped, transcribed, and then analyzed thematically using NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software. A total of 57 interviews were conducted in 25 organizations in Ontario and Quebec. The main findings suggest that, for the healthcare organizations that participated in this study, the following supports facilitate evidence-informed decision-making: facilitating roles that actively promote research use within the organization; establishing ties to researchers and opinion leaders outside the organization; a technical infrastructure that provides access to research evidence, such as databases; and provision and participation in training programs to enhance staff's capacity building. This study identified the need for having a receptive climate, which laid the foundation for the implementation of other tangible initiatives and supported the use of research in decision-making. This study adds to the literature on organizational efforts that can increase the use of research evidence in decision-making. Some of the identified supports may increase the use of

  6. Geospatial decision support systems for societal decision making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernknopf, R.L.

    2005-01-01

    While science provides reliable information to describe and understand the earth and its natural processes, it can contribute more. There are many important societal issues in which scientific information can play a critical role. Science can add greatly to policy and management decisions to minimize loss of life and property from natural and man-made disasters, to manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources, and in general, to enhance and protect our quality of life. However, the link between science and decision-making is often complicated and imperfect. Technical language and methods surround scientific research and the dissemination of its results. Scientific investigations often are conducted under different conditions, with different spatial boundaries, and in different timeframes than those needed to support specific policy and societal decisions. Uncertainty is not uniformly reported in scientific investigations. If society does not know that data exist, what the data mean, where to use the data, or how to include uncertainty when a decision has to be made, then science gets left out -or misused- in a decision making process. This paper is about using Geospatial Decision Support Systems (GDSS) for quantitative policy analysis. Integrated natural -social science methods and tools in a Geographic Information System that respond to decision-making needs can be used to close the gap between science and society. The GDSS has been developed so that nonscientists can pose "what if" scenarios to evaluate hypothetical outcomes of policy and management choices. In this approach decision makers can evaluate the financial and geographic distribution of potential policy options and their societal implications. Actions, based on scientific information, can be taken to mitigate hazards, protect our air and water quality, preserve the planet's biodiversity, promote balanced land use planning, and judiciously exploit natural resources. Applications using the

  7. Decision support for customers in electronic environments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    František Dařena

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the rapid spread of computer technologies into day-to-day lives many purchases or purchase-related decisions are made in the electronic environment of the Web. In order to handle information overload that is the result of the availability of many web-based stores, products and services, consumers use decision support aids that help with need recognition, information retrieval, filtering, comparisons and choice making. Decision support systems (DSS discipline spreads about 40 years back and was mostly focused on assisting managers. However, online environments and decision support in such environments bring new opportunities also to the customers. The focus on decision support for consumers is also not investigated to the large extent and not documented in the literature. Providing customers with well designed decision aids can lead to lower cognitive decision effort associated with the purchase decision which results in significant increase of consumer’s confidence, satisfaction, and cost savings. During decision making process the subjects can chose from several methods (optimizing, reasoning, analogizing, and creating, DSS types (data-, model-, communication-, document-driven, and knowledge-based and benefit from different modern technologies. The paper investigates popular customer decision making aids, such as search, filtering, comparison, ­e-negotiations and auctions, recommendation systems, social network systems, product design applications, communication support etc. which are frequently related to e-commerce applications. Results include the overview of such decision supporting tools, specific examples, classification according the way how the decisions are supported, and possibilities of applications of progressive technologies. The paper thus contributes to the process of development of the interface between companies and the customers where customer decisions take place.

  8. Information support of decision-making in the early stages of new product development when approaching marketing management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. A. Tishhenko

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Goal. To create theoretical and practical approaches to information support of the decision making procedure at the initial stages of developing a new product with a marketing management approach that allows to improve the quality of management decisions on the product. Material and methods. The projected software package on the basis of expert assessments and fuzzy sets, allows to automate the decision to implement innovation at an early stage. The work used such scientific methods as generalization of scientific literature in the field of shaping and taking into account the features of innovation, Solutions in the initial stages of development, methods of expert evaluation and elements of fuzzy sets. Results and its discussion. The article presents the rationale and possibilities for informational support of the decision-making procedure for innovative products. The authors also proposed a methodology for making a decision when developing a new product based on expert and predictive assessments of innovation at the initial stages of its creation. A software package has been developed that automates the decision to manufacture a new product at the initial stages of production. Conclusion. Despite a large number of theoretical developments in innovative management, the risk associated with the release of new products remains quite high. The developed methodology of information support for decision-making at the initial stages of the development of a new product will reduce the risk of the lack of demand for innovation.

  9. Nurses' Clinical Decision Making on Adopting a Wound Clinical Decision Support System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khong, Peck Chui Betty; Hoi, Shu Yin; Holroyd, Eleanor; Wang, Wenru

    2015-07-01

    Healthcare information technology systems are considered the ideal tool to inculcate evidence-based nursing practices. The wound clinical decision support system was built locally to support nurses to manage pressure ulcer wounds in their daily practice. However, its adoption rate is not optimal. The study's objective was to discover the concepts that informed the RNs' decisions to adopt the wound clinical decision support system as an evidence-based technology in their nursing practice. This was an exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative design using face-to-face interviews, individual interviews, and active participatory observation. A purposive, theoretical sample of 14 RNs was recruited from one of the largest public tertiary hospitals in Singapore after obtaining ethics approval. After consenting, the nurses were interviewed and observed separately. Recruitment stopped when data saturation was reached. All transcribed interview data underwent a concurrent thematic analysis, whereas observational data were content analyzed independently and subsequently triangulated with the interview data. Eight emerging themes were identified, namely, use of the wound clinical decision support system, beliefs in the wound clinical decision support system, influences of the workplace culture, extent of the benefits, professional control over nursing practices, use of knowledge, gut feelings, and emotions (fear, doubt, and frustration). These themes represented the nurses' mental outlook as they made decisions on adopting the wound clinical decision support system in light of the complexities of their roles and workloads. This research has provided insight on the nurses' thoughts regarding their decision to interact with the computer environment in a Singapore context. It captured the nurses' complex thoughts when deciding whether to adopt or reject information technology as they practice in a clinical setting.

  10. A Mashup Application to Support Complex Decision Making for Retail Consumers

    OpenAIRE

    Steven Walczak; Deborah L. Kellogg; Dawn G. Gregg

    2010-01-01

    Purchase processes often require complex decision making and consumers frequently use Web information sources to support these decisions. However, increasing amounts of information can make finding appropriate information problematic. This information overload, coupled with decision complexity, can increase time required to make a decision and reduce decision quality. This creates a need for tools that support these decision-making processes. Online tools that bring together data and partial ...

  11. Randomised cluster trial to support informed parental decision-making for the MMR vaccine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bekker Hilary

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the UK public concern about the safety of the combined measles, mumps and rubella [MMR] vaccine continues to impact on MMR coverage. Whilst the sharp decline in uptake has begun to level out, first and second dose uptake rates remain short of that required for population immunity. Furthermore, international research consistently shows that some parents lack confidence in making a decision about MMR vaccination for their children. Together, this work suggests that effective interventions are required to support parents to make informed decisions about MMR. This trial assessed the impact of a parent-centred, multi-component intervention (balanced information, group discussion, coaching exercise on informed parental decision-making for MMR. Methods This was a two arm, cluster randomised trial. One hundred and forty two UK parents of children eligible for MMR vaccination were recruited from six primary healthcare centres and six childcare organisations. The intervention arm received an MMR information leaflet and participated in the intervention (parent meeting. The control arm received the leaflet only. The primary outcome was decisional conflict. Secondary outcomes were actual and intended MMR choice, knowledge, attitude, concern and necessity beliefs about MMR and anxiety. Results Decisional conflict decreased for both arms to a level where an 'effective' MMR decision could be made one-week (effect estimate = -0.54, p Conclusions Whilst both the leaflet and the parent meeting reduced parents' decisional conflict, the parent meeting appeared to enable parents to act upon their decision leading to vaccination uptake.

  12. A proposed clinical decision support architecture capable of supporting whole genome sequence information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, Brandon M; Loya, Salvador Rodriguez; Eilbeck, Karen; Kawamoto, Kensaku

    2014-04-04

    Whole genome sequence (WGS) information may soon be widely available to help clinicians personalize the care and treatment of patients. However, considerable barriers exist, which may hinder the effective utilization of WGS information in a routine clinical care setting. Clinical decision support (CDS) offers a potential solution to overcome such barriers and to facilitate the effective use of WGS information in the clinic. However, genomic information is complex and will require significant considerations when developing CDS capabilities. As such, this manuscript lays out a conceptual framework for a CDS architecture designed to deliver WGS-guided CDS within the clinical workflow. To handle the complexity and breadth of WGS information, the proposed CDS framework leverages service-oriented capabilities and orchestrates the interaction of several independently-managed components. These independently-managed components include the genome variant knowledge base, the genome database, the CDS knowledge base, a CDS controller and the electronic health record (EHR). A key design feature is that genome data can be stored separately from the EHR. This paper describes in detail: (1) each component of the architecture; (2) the interaction of the components; and (3) how the architecture attempts to overcome the challenges associated with WGS information. We believe that service-oriented CDS capabilities will be essential to using WGS information for personalized medicine.

  13. Using Visualization in Cockpit Decision Support Systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aragon, Cecilia R.

    2005-07-01

    In order to safely operate their aircraft, pilots must makerapid decisions based on integrating and processing large amounts ofheterogeneous information. Visual displays are often the most efficientmethod of presenting safety-critical data to pilots in real time.However, care must be taken to ensure the pilot is provided with theappropriate amount of information to make effective decisions and notbecome cognitively overloaded. The results of two usability studies of aprototype airflow hazard visualization cockpit decision support systemare summarized. The studies demonstrate that such a system significantlyimproves the performance of helicopter pilots landing under turbulentconditions. Based on these results, design principles and implicationsfor cockpit decision support systems using visualization arepresented.

  14. Informative-syntanalitical support system of managerial decision-making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O.M. Kostenko

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article discusses the theoretical and methodological positions in the formation of info-syntanalitical management providing service. The author determines the directions in the improvement of the info-accounting formalization within the social phenomena and processes due to using there the info-syntanalitical identification. The management process, which is essentially the exchange of information between the management object and the management system, is examined. It is proved the necessity of the information, which should be objective, reliable, understandable, completed and useful for making or amending managerial decisions. The information sources used for decision-making are explored. It is determined that they serve as statistical observation, accounting and various off-classified data that characterize market and climatic conditions, regulatory environment, political stability, investment climate, etc. It is argued that the basis of the service activity is the staff, methods and conditions of service, while the effectiveness of the service depends on the correct management activity, which is provided by informative needs at different levels carried out with the help of information-syntactical service. The necessity of research was emphasized as the triad consisting of information, analytics and service, the task of which is to use existing information, to identify the reasons of process (situation undesirable development and to synthesize the results of the analytical assessment, to determine the reasonable directions of solving problem and in the most appropriate form to convey the possible options of managerial decisions to users, i.e. to create a high-quality service. It is generalized that the essence of the info-syntalitical service is expressed through the improvement of management efficiency by the improving display of in-depth reflection and reasonable prediction of the developing management object, as well as increasing the

  15. THE ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SUPPORT FOR THE FINANCIAL DECISION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CARUNTU GENU ALEXANDRU

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The complexity of economic life, in the conditions of the competition imposed by the market economy, determines the increase of the role of accounting information in the current and prospective decisions and implicitly the obtained results. In basing and substantiating decisions, accounting plays an essential role. Regardless of the level at which the manager is located, the manager manages his area of responsibility, triggering actions that, through consumption of resources, lead to economic gains. The accounting information is intended for the manager, who must respond to the allocation of resources entrusted by investors to achieve the objectives set and how the allocated resources have been used. The notion of users of accounting information can not be limited to the groups analyzed so far. The evolution of a firm and its decisions is of interest to all those who make economic decisions based on their relationship with this entity and their knowledge of it. Thus, the policy makers of local communities are concerned about the contribution of society to the development of the local economy (jobs, training, taxes, etc., environmental and consumer protection efforts are focused on the consequences of the company's activity, competitors want to assess the position of the enterprise on the market , consumers want to know whether there is a monopoly situation and to what extent they may be exploited, and researchers are generally interested in the form, content and quality of annual reports.

  16. Data Mining for Education Decision Support: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suhirman Suhirman

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Management of higher education must continue to evaluate on an ongoing basis in order to improve the quality of institutions. This will be able to do the necessary evaluation of various data, information, and knowledge of both internal and external institutions. They plan to use more efficiently the collected data, develop tools so that to collect and direct management information, in order to support managerial decision making. The collected data could be utilized to evaluate quality, perform analyses and diagnoses, evaluate dependability to the standards and practices of curricula and syllabi, and suggest alternatives in decision processes. Data minings to support decision making are well suited methods to provide decision support in the education environments, by generating and presenting relevant information and knowledge towards quality improvement of education processes. In educational domain, this information is very useful since it can be used as a base for investigating and enhancing the current educational standards and managements. In this paper, a review on data mining for academic decision support in education field is presented. The details of this paper will review on recent data mining in educational field and outlines future researches in educational data mining.

  17. Design and Implementation of Multi Agent-based Information Fusion System for Supporting Decision Making (A Case Study on Military Operation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arwin Datumaya Wahyudi Sumari

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Quick, accurate, and complete information is highly required for supporting strategically impact decision making in a Military Operation (MO in order to reduce the decision cycle and to minimize the loss. For that purpose, we propose, design and implement a hierarchical Multi Agent-based Information Fusion System for Decision Making Support (MAIFS-DMS. The information fusion is implemented by applying Maximum Score of the Total Sum of Joint Probabilities (MSJP fusion method and is done by a collection of Information Fusion Agents (IFA that forms a multiagent system. MAIFS uses a combination of generalization of Dasarathy and Joint Director’s Laboratory (JDL process models for information fusion mechanism. Information fusion products that are displayed in graphical forms provide comprehensive information regarding the MO area dynamics. By observing the graphics resulted from the information fusion, the commandant will have situational awareness and knowledge in order to make the most accurate strategic decision as fast as possible

  18. Using Visualization in Cockpit Decision Support Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aragon, Cecilia R.

    2005-01-01

    In order to safely operate their aircraft, pilots must make rapid decisions based on integrating and processing large amounts of heterogeneous information. Visual displays are often the most efficient method of presenting safety-critical data to pilots in real time. However, care must be taken to ensure the pilot is provided with the appropriate amount of information to make effective decisions and not become cognitively overloaded. The results of two usability studies of a prototype airflow hazard visualization cockpit decision support system are summarized. The studies demonstrate that such a system significantly improves the performance of helicopter pilots landing under turbulent conditions. Based on these results, design principles and implications for cockpit decision support systems using visualization are presented.

  19. Clustering and retrieving information in nuclear science for decision-support techniques

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dulin, S.K.; Kiselev, I.A.

    1996-01-01

    This paper covers the problem of storing and retrieving information from big data bases, where the information does not have an exact structure and different object have very thin (or weak) relations each with other. It is one of the biggest problems in decision-support systems, especially in those environments, where the information is complicated and very changeable. One of the way to solve this problem could be the building a semiotic model of the environment according to our goals. One of the important parts of systems based on semiotic modelling is the active knowledge base supplied with the special concordance mechanism of structural consistency. This paper deals with an active knowledge base condition considered by means of connections structure analysis of knowledge base components. Thereby the dominant attribute of any component is supposed to be the connections structure of knowledge base component (object). A set of objects with connections that have a binary existence estimate is examined. Consonant, dissonant and assonant sets are distinguished, depending on the satisfiability of the consonance criterion. An algorithm is proposed and realised for reducing assonant and dissonant sets to a consonance state with minimum expenditures in the sense of the general number variable estimates of the connections. This way of decision has been applied to arrays of variable information stored on CD-ROM disks

  20. Computer-supported collaborative decision-making

    CERN Document Server

    Filip, Florin Gheorghe; Ciurea, Cristian

    2017-01-01

    This is a book about how management and control decisions are made by persons who collaborate and possibly use the support of an information system. The decision is the result of human conscious activities aiming at choosing a course of action for attaining a certain objective (or a set of objectives). The act of collaboration implies that several entities who work together and share responsibilities to jointly plan, implement and evaluate a program of activities to achieve the common goals. The book is intended to present a balanced view of the domain to include both well-established concepts and a selection of new results in the domains of methods and key technologies. It is meant to answer several questions, such as: a) “How are evolving the business models towards the ever more collaborative schemes?”; b) “What is the role of the decision-maker in the new context?” c) “What are the basic attributes and trends in the domain of decision-supporting information systems?”; d) “Which are the basic...

  1. Computer-based tools for decision support at the Hanford Site

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doctor, P.G.; Mahaffey, J.A.; Cowley, P.J.; Freshley, M.D.; Hassig, N.L.; Brothers, J.W.; Glantz, C.S.; Strachan, D.M.

    1992-11-01

    To help integrate activities in the environmental restoration and waste management mission of the Hanford Site, the Hanford Integrated Planning Project (HIPP) was established and funded by the US Department of Energy. The project is divided into three key program elements, the first focusing on an explicit, defensible and comprehensive method for evaluating technical options. Based on the premise that computer technology can be used to support the decision-making process and facilitate integration among programs and activities, the Decision Support Tools Task was charged with assessing the status of computer technology for those purposes at the Site. The task addressed two types of tools: tools need to provide technical information and management support tools. Technical tools include performance and risk assessment models, information management systems, data and the computer infrastructure to supports models, data, and information management systems. Management decision support tools are used to synthesize information at a high' level to assist with making decisions. The major conclusions resulting from the assessment are that there is much technical information available, but it is not reaching the decision-makers in a form to be used. Many existing tools provide components that are needed to integrate site activities; however, some components are missing and, more importantly, the ''glue'' or connections to tie the components together to answer decision-makers questions is largely absent. Top priority should be given to decision support tools that support activities given in the TPA. Other decision tools are needed to facilitate and support the environmental restoration and waste management mission

  2. Computer-based tools for decision support at the Hanford Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doctor, P.G.; Mahaffey, J.A.; Cowley, P.J.; Freshley, M.D.; Hassig, N.L.; Brothers, J.W.; Glantz, C.S.; Strachan, D.M.

    1992-11-01

    To help integrate activities in the environmental restoration and waste management mission of the Hanford Site, the Hanford Integrated Planning Project (HIPP) was established and funded by the US Department of Energy. The project is divided into three key program elements, the first focusing on an explicit, defensible and comprehensive method for evaluating technical options. Based on the premise that computer technology can be used to support the decision-making process and facilitate integration among programs and activities, the Decision Support Tools Task was charged with assessing the status of computer technology for those purposes at the Site. The task addressed two types of tools: tools need to provide technical information and management support tools. Technical tools include performance and risk assessment models, information management systems, data and the computer infrastructure to supports models, data, and information management systems. Management decision support tools are used to synthesize information at a high' level to assist with making decisions. The major conclusions resulting from the assessment are that there is much technical information available, but it is not reaching the decision-makers in a form to be used. Many existing tools provide components that are needed to integrate site activities; however, some components are missing and, more importantly, the glue'' or connections to tie the components together to answer decision-makers questions is largely absent. Top priority should be given to decision support tools that support activities given in the TPA. Other decision tools are needed to facilitate and support the environmental restoration and waste management mission.

  3. Computer-based tools for decision support at the Hanford Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doctor, P.G.; Mahaffey, J.A.; Cowley, P.J.; Freshley, M.D.; Hassig, N.L.; Brothers, J.W.; Glantz, C.S.; Strachan, D.M.

    1992-11-01

    To help integrate activities in the environmental restoration and waste management mission of the Hanford Site, the Hanford Integrated Planning Project (HIPP) was established and funded by the US Department of Energy. The project is divided into three key program elements, the first focusing on an explicit, defensible and comprehensive method for evaluating technical options. Based on the premise that computer technology can be used to support the decision-making process and facilitate integration among programs and activities, the Decision Support Tools Task was charged with assessing the status of computer technology for those purposes at the Site. The task addressed two types of tools: tools need to provide technical information and management support tools. Technical tools include performance and risk assessment models, information management systems, data and the computer infrastructure to supports models, data, and information management systems. Management decision support tools are used to synthesize information at a high` level to assist with making decisions. The major conclusions resulting from the assessment are that there is much technical information available, but it is not reaching the decision-makers in a form to be used. Many existing tools provide components that are needed to integrate site activities; however, some components are missing and, more importantly, the ``glue`` or connections to tie the components together to answer decision-makers questions is largely absent. Top priority should be given to decision support tools that support activities given in the TPA. Other decision tools are needed to facilitate and support the environmental restoration and waste management mission.

  4. Design and Implementation of Multi Agentbased Information Fusion System for Decision Making Support (A Case Study on Military Operation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arwin Datunaya Wahyudi Sumari

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Quick, accurate, and complete information is highly required for supporting strategically impact decision making in a Military Operation (MO in order to reduce the decision cycle and to minimize the loss. For that purpose, we propose, design and implement a hierarchical Multi Agentbased Information Fusion System for Decision Making Support (MAIFSDMS. The information fusion is implemented by applying Maximum Score of the Total Sum of Joint Probabilities (MSJP fusion method and is done by a collection of Information Fusion Agents (IFA that forms a multiagent system. MAIFS uses a combination of generalization of Dasarathy and Joint Director’s Laboratory (JDL process models for information fusion mechanism. Information fusion products that are displayed in graphical forms provide comprehensive information regarding the MO’s area dynamics. By observing the graphics resulted from the information fusion, the commandant will have situational awareness and knowledge in order to make the most accurate strategic de cision as fast as possible.

  5. Information needs for water resources decision-making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sellers, J.

    1993-01-01

    Water and related resources planning and decision-making have developed to the state of multiple objective and/or multiple criteria analysis using complicated systems analysis. The objective of this paper is to indicate the major components of information needed to facilitate the planning process for resource utilization, and to provide desirable outputs from management schemes. The process could best be described as the proper development of Management Information Systems (MIS) or Decision Support Systems (DDS). Data and information systems are never completed and must be continually updated and modified. The exact composition of any system depends also upon the general type of decision techniques being used. A brief outline of the decision process is given with the remainder of the paper dealing with the types of information needed to support the decision system. (author). 34 refs

  6. A Proposed Clinical Decision Support Architecture Capable of Supporting Whole Genome Sequence Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brandon M. Welch

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Whole genome sequence (WGS information may soon be widely available to help clinicians personalize the care and treatment of patients. However, considerable barriers exist, which may hinder the effective utilization of WGS information in a routine clinical care setting. Clinical decision support (CDS offers a potential solution to overcome such barriers and to facilitate the effective use of WGS information in the clinic. However, genomic information is complex and will require significant considerations when developing CDS capabilities. As such, this manuscript lays out a conceptual framework for a CDS architecture designed to deliver WGS-guided CDS within the clinical workflow. To handle the complexity and breadth of WGS information, the proposed CDS framework leverages service-oriented capabilities and orchestrates the interaction of several independently-managed components. These independently-managed components include the genome variant knowledge base, the genome database, the CDS knowledge base, a CDS controller and the electronic health record (EHR. A key design feature is that genome data can be stored separately from the EHR. This paper describes in detail: (1 each component of the architecture; (2 the interaction of the components; and (3 how the architecture attempts to overcome the challenges associated with WGS information. We believe that service-oriented CDS capabilities will be essential to using WGS information for personalized medicine.

  7. Spill operation system decision support system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, R.

    1992-01-01

    The MSRC Spill Operation System (SOS) is a tool for the support of decision-making at the time of a catastrophic oil spill. SOS provides MSRC decision-makers with access to information about the source of the spill, the spill environment, and the availability of spill response resources. This system is designed to meet the information needs of a Response Supervisor, an Environmental Advisor, Logistics/Maintenance Supervisor, Operations Supervisor, and the MSRC Regional General Manager. The SOS project Objectives are: (1) integrate currently available data, systems, and technologies; (2) develop an application that effectively supports mobilized operations and can be adapted to support normal operations; (3) ensure that the development of computer applications is driven by user needs and not by technology; and (4) coordinate with government and other industry organizations to avoid duplication of effort. Design Objectives for SOS are: (1) centralize management information storage while decentralizing decision making capabilities; (2) boost User confidence by providing a system that is easy to learn, easy to use, and is open-quotes Sailor Proofclose quotes; and (3) use visualization technology in providing spill related information. This approach includes the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for maps and geographically associated resource; and support MSRC's concept of operation which includes - a swift notification of response personnel; fast mobilization of response resources; and accurate tracking of resources during a spill. MSRC is organized into five responsibility regions

  8. The application of reduced-processing decision support systems to facilitate the acquisition of decision-making skills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, Nathan C; Wiggins, Mark W; Childs, Merilyn; Fogarty, Gerard

    2013-06-01

    The study was designed to examine whether the availability of reduced-processing decision support system interfaces could improve the decision making of inexperienced personnel in the context of Although research into reduced-processing decision support systems has demonstrated benefits in minimizing cognitive load, these benefits have not typically translated into direct improvements in decision accuracy because of the tendency for inexperienced personnel to focus on less-critical information. The authors investigated whether reduced-processing interfaces that direct users' attention toward the most critical cues for decision making can produce improvements in decision-making performance. Novice participants made incident command-related decisions in experimental conditions that differed according to the amount of information that was available within the interface, the level of control that they could exert over the presentation of information, and whether they had received decision training. The results revealed that despite receiving training, participants improved in decision accuracy only when they were provided with an interface that restricted information access to the most critical cues. It was concluded that an interface that restricts information access to only the most critical cues in the scenario can facilitate improvements in decision performance. Decision support system interfaces that encourage the processing of the most critical cues have the potential to improve the accuracy and timeliness of decisions made by inexperienced personnel.

  9. Group Decision Process Support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gøtze, John; Hijikata, Masao

    1997-01-01

    Introducing the notion of Group Decision Process Support Systems (GDPSS) to traditional decision-support theorists.......Introducing the notion of Group Decision Process Support Systems (GDPSS) to traditional decision-support theorists....

  10. Decision Performance Using Spatial Decision Support Systems: A Geospatial Reasoning Ability Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erskine, Michael A.

    2013-01-01

    As many consumer and business decision makers are utilizing Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS), a thorough understanding of how such decisions are made is crucial for the information systems domain. This dissertation presents six chapters encompassing a comprehensive analysis of the impact of geospatial reasoning ability on…

  11. Tsunami early warning and decision support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Steinmetz

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available An innovative newly developed modular and standards based Decision Support System (DSS is presented which forms part of the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS. The GITEWS project stems from the effort to implement an effective and efficient Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System for the coast of Indonesia facing the Sunda Arc along the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. The geological setting along an active continental margin which is very close to densely populated areas is a particularly difficult one to cope with, because potential tsunamis' travel times are thus inherently short. National policies require an initial warning to be issued within the first five minutes after an earthquake has occurred. There is an urgent requirement for an end-to-end solution where the decision support takes the entire warning chain into account. The system of choice is based on pre-computed scenario simulations and rule-based decision support which is delivered to the decision maker through a sophisticated graphical user interface (GUI using information fusion and fast information aggregation to create situational awareness in the shortest time possible. The system also contains risk and vulnerability information which was designed with the far end of the warning chain in mind – it enables the decision maker to base his acceptance (or refusal of the supported decision also on regionally differentiated risk and vulnerability information (see Strunz et al., 2010. While the system strives to provide a warning as quickly as possible, it is not in its proper responsibility to send and disseminate the warning to the recipients. The DSS only broadcasts its messages to a dissemination system (and possibly any other dissemination system which is operated under the responsibility of BMKG – the meteorological, climatological and geophysical service of Indonesia – which also hosts the tsunami early warning center. The system is to be seen

  12. IBM’s Health Analytics and Clinical Decision Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, J.; Knoop, S.; Shabo, A.; Carmeli, B.; Sow, D.; Syed-Mahmood, T.; Rapp, W.

    2014-01-01

    Summary Objectives This survey explores the role of big data and health analytics developed by IBM in supporting the transformation of healthcare by augmenting evidence-based decision-making. Methods Some problems in healthcare and strategies for change are described. It is argued that change requires better decisions, which, in turn, require better use of the many kinds of healthcare information. Analytic resources that address each of the information challenges are described. Examples of the role of each of the resources are given. Results There are powerful analytic tools that utilize the various kinds of big data in healthcare to help clinicians make more personalized, evidenced-based decisions. Such resources can extract relevant information and provide insights that clinicians can use to make evidence-supported decisions. There are early suggestions that these resources have clinical value. As with all analytic tools, they are limited by the amount and quality of data. Conclusion Big data is an inevitable part of the future of healthcare. There is a compelling need to manage and use big data to make better decisions to support the transformation of healthcare to the personalized, evidence-supported model of the future. Cognitive computing resources are necessary to manage the challenges in employing big data in healthcare. Such tools have been and are being developed. The analytic resources, themselves, do not drive, but support healthcare transformation. PMID:25123736

  13. Adoption of Web-based Group Decision Support Systems: Conditions for Growth

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hillegersberg, Jos; Koenen, Sebastiaan

    2014-01-01

    While organizations have massively adopted enterprise information systems to support business processes, business meetings in which key decisions are made about products, services and processes are usually held without much support of information systems. This is remarkable as group decision support

  14. A generic accounting model to support operations management decisions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verdaasdonk, P.J.A.; Wouters, M.J.F.

    2001-01-01

    Information systems are generally unable to generate information about the financial consequences of operations management decisions. This is because the procedures for determining the relevant accounting information for decision support are not formalised in ways that can be implemented in

  15. Grand Challenges in Clinical Decision Support v10

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sittig, Dean F.; Wright, Adam; Osheroff, Jerome A.; Middleton, Blackford; Teich, Jonathan M.; Ash, Joan S.; Campbell, Emily; Bates, David W.

    2008-01-01

    There is a pressing need for high-quality, effective means of designing, developing, presenting, implementing, evaluating, and maintaining all types of clinical decision support capabilities for clinicians, patients and consumers. Using an iterative, consensus-building process we identified a rank-ordered list of the top 10 grand challenges in clinical decision support. This list was created to educate and inspire researchers, developers, funders, and policy-makers. The list of challenges in order of importance that they be solved if patients and organizations are to begin realizing the fullest benefits possible of these systems consists of: Improve the human-computer interface; Disseminate best practices in CDS design, development, and implementation; Summarize patient-level information; Prioritize and filter recommendations to the user; Create an architecture for sharing executable CDS modules and services; Combine recommendations for patients with co-morbidities; Prioritize CDS content development and implementation; Create internet-accessible clinical decision support repositories; Use freetext information to drive clinical decision support; Mine large clinical databases to create new CDS. Identification of solutions to these challenges is critical if clinical decision support is to achieve its potential and improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare. PMID:18029232

  16. A Decision Support System for Corporations Cybersecurity Management

    OpenAIRE

    Roldán-Molina, G.; Almache-Cueva, M.; Silva-Rabadão, C.; Yevseyeva, Iryna; Basto-Fernandes, V.

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents ongoing work on a decision aiding software intended to support cyber risks and cyber threats analysis of an information and communications technological infrastructure. The software will help corporations Chief Information Security Officers on cyber security risk analysis, decision-making, prevention measures and risk strategies for the infrastructure and information assets protection.

  17. On developing a prospecting tool for wind industry and policy decision support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McKeown, Charles; Adelaja, Adesoji; Calnin, Benjamin

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents the rudiments of a Wind Prospecting Tool designed to inform private and public decision makers involved in wind industry development in reducing transaction costs associated with identifying areas of mutual focus within a state. The multiple layer decision support framework has proven to be valuable to industry, state government and local decision makers. Information on wind resources, land availability, potential land costs, potential NIMBYism concerns and economic development potential were integrated to develop a framework for decision support. The paper also highlights implications for decision support research and the role of higher education in providing anticipatory science to enhance private and public choices in economic development. - Research Highlights: →In this paper we explore the building and value of a wind industry location decision support tool. →We examine the development process from the industry perspective. →We discuss the creation of a decision support tool that was designed for industry, state policy makers and local decision makers. →We build a model framework for wind prospecting decision support. →Finally we discuss the impact on local and state decision making as a result of being informed by science based decision support.

  18. Improving life cycle assessment methodology for the application of decision support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Herrmann, Ivan Tengbjerg

    for the application of decision support and evaluation of uncertainty in LCA. From a decision maker’s (DM’s) point of view there are at least three main “illness” factors influencing the quality of the information that the DM uses for making decisions. The factors are not independent of each other, but it seems......) refrain from making a decision based on an LCA and thus support a decision on other parameters than the LCA environmental parameters. Conversely, it may in some decision support contexts be acceptable to base a decision on highly uncertain information. This all depends on the specific decision support...... the different steps. A deterioration of the quality in each step is likely to accumulate through the statistical value chain in terms of increased uncertainty and bias. Ultimately this can make final decision support problematic. The "Law of large numbers" (LLN) is the methodological tool/probability theory...

  19. Clinical decision support for whole genome sequence information leveraging a service-oriented architecture: a prototype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welch, Brandon M; Rodriguez-Loya, Salvador; Eilbeck, Karen; Kawamoto, Kensaku

    2014-01-01

    Whole genome sequence (WGS) information could soon be routinely available to clinicians to support the personalized care of their patients. At such time, clinical decision support (CDS) integrated into the clinical workflow will likely be necessary to support genome-guided clinical care. Nevertheless, developing CDS capabilities for WGS information presents many unique challenges that need to be overcome for such approaches to be effective. In this manuscript, we describe the development of a prototype CDS system that is capable of providing genome-guided CDS at the point of care and within the clinical workflow. To demonstrate the functionality of this prototype, we implemented a clinical scenario of a hypothetical patient at high risk for Lynch Syndrome based on his genomic information. We demonstrate that this system can effectively use service-oriented architecture principles and standards-based components to deliver point of care CDS for WGS information in real-time.

  20. Operation and safety decision-making support expert system in NPP

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wei Yanhui; Su Desong; Chen Weihua; Zhang Jianbo

    2014-01-01

    The article first reviewed three operation support systems currently used in NPP: real-time information surveillance system, important equipment surveillance system and plant process control and monitoring system, then presents the structure and function of three expert support sub-systems (intelligent alarm monitoring system, computer-based operating procedure support system, safety information expert decision support system). Finally the article discussed the meaning of a kind of operation decision making support system. (authors)

  1. Practical considerations to guide development of access controls and decision support for genetic information in electronic medical records

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Darcy Diana C

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Genetic testing is increasingly used as a tool throughout the health care system. In 2011 the number of clinically available genetic tests is approaching 2,000, and wide variation exists between these tests in their sensitivity, specificity, and clinical implications, as well as the potential for discrimination based on the results. Discussion As health care systems increasingly implement electronic medical record systems (EMRs they must carefully consider how to use information from this wide spectrum of genetic tests, with whom to share information, and how to provide decision support for clinicians to properly interpret the information. Although some characteristics of genetic tests overlap with other medical test results, there are reasons to make genetic test results widely available to health care providers and counterbalancing reasons to restrict access to these test results to honor patient preferences, and avoid distracting or confusing clinicians with irrelevant but complex information. Electronic medical records can facilitate and provide reasonable restrictions on access to genetic test results and deliver education and decision support tools to guide appropriate interpretation and use. Summary This paper will serve to review some of the key characteristics of genetic tests as they relate to design of access control and decision support of genetic test information in the EMR, emphasizing the clear need for health information technology (HIT to be part of optimal implementation of genetic medicine, and the importance of understanding key characteristics of genetic tests when designing HIT applications.

  2. Practical considerations to guide development of access controls and decision support for genetic information in electronic medical records.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darcy, Diana C; Lewis, Eleanor T; Ormond, Kelly E; Clark, David J; Trafton, Jodie A

    2011-11-02

    Genetic testing is increasingly used as a tool throughout the health care system. In 2011 the number of clinically available genetic tests is approaching 2,000, and wide variation exists between these tests in their sensitivity, specificity, and clinical implications, as well as the potential for discrimination based on the results. As health care systems increasingly implement electronic medical record systems (EMRs) they must carefully consider how to use information from this wide spectrum of genetic tests, with whom to share information, and how to provide decision support for clinicians to properly interpret the information. Although some characteristics of genetic tests overlap with other medical test results, there are reasons to make genetic test results widely available to health care providers and counterbalancing reasons to restrict access to these test results to honor patient preferences, and avoid distracting or confusing clinicians with irrelevant but complex information. Electronic medical records can facilitate and provide reasonable restrictions on access to genetic test results and deliver education and decision support tools to guide appropriate interpretation and use. This paper will serve to review some of the key characteristics of genetic tests as they relate to design of access control and decision support of genetic test information in the EMR, emphasizing the clear need for health information technology (HIT) to be part of optimal implementation of genetic medicine, and the importance of understanding key characteristics of genetic tests when designing HIT applications.

  3. Modem: data exchange among decision support systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baig, S.; Zaehringer, M.

    2003-01-01

    The aim of the European Research and Development project MODEM (Monitoring Data and Information Exchange Among Decision Support Systems) is to achieve practical improvements for data exchange among decision support systems (DSS). Hence, the results of model calculations become comparable. This is a precondition for harmonised decision making. Based on the analysis of existing procedures, it was decided to use the PUSH-PULL concept. Notifications are actively and automatically sent by the DSS (PUSH). The data can then be downloaded form an in-formation server (PULL). The format of the data is defined in XML (extended markup language). Participants of the project are the DSS: RODOS, ARGOS and RECASS. First, the data is comprised of the source term and meteorological information. Results of the prognoses and measurement data are also to be exchanged. Exercises testing and improving the pro-cedures form an integral part of the project. (orig.)

  4. Integration and transformation of rural service delivery: The role of management information and decision support systems

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mashiri, M

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with two main themes: 1) the integration and transformation of rural service delivery; and 2) role of management information and decision support systems in this process. Referring specifically to the types of rural areas, conditions...

  5. Decision Support Systems: Usage And Applications In Logistics Services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eyüp AKÇETİN

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Competitive advantage in logistics operations is possible by analyzing data to create information and turning that information into decision. Supply chain optimization depends on effective management of chain knowledge. Analyzing data from supply chain and making a decision creates complex operations. Therefore, these operations require benefitting from information technology. In today’s global world, businesses use outsourcing for logistics services to focus on their own field, so are seeking to achieve competitive advantage against competitors. Outsourcing requires sharing of various information and data with companies that provide logistical support. Effective strategies are based on well-analyzed the data and information. Best options for right decisions can be created only from good analysis. That’s why companies that supply logistics services achieve competitive advantage using decision support systems (DSS in industrial competition. In short, DSS has become driving force for every business in today’s knowledge-based economy.

  6. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN MILITARY ACTIONS: NECESSITY, POSSIBILITIES AND CONSTRAINTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena ŞUŞNEA

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays, modern organizations cannot resort to the decision-making process without relying on information and communication technology if they want to be successful. Thus, besides information as an important input of this process, the tools and techniques used by decision-makers are equally important in the support and validation of their decisions. All this is also valid for the military organizations and their specific tasks and activities. A fortiori military commanders face some of the most diff cult and high-stake decision issues meaningful not only at the level of the military, but also for the humankind. Under these circumstances and as a result of an increase in the diversity and complexity of conflict situations, in the information and technology means employed by opponents in warfare and in the amount of information needed to be processed in real time, decision support systems become a necessity. Starting from the aforementioned inevitable requirement, the aim of this article is to emphasize the possibilities and constraints in developing an intelligent decision support system that assists commanders in making scientific decisions on time, under the right circumstances, for the right costs.

  7. Clinical Decision Support Tools: The Evolution of a Revolution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mould, D. R.; D'Haens, G.; Upton, R. N.

    2016-01-01

    Dashboard systems for clinical decision support integrate data from multiple sources. These systems, the newest in a long line of dose calculators and other decision support tools, utilize Bayesian approaches to fully individualize dosing using information gathered through therapeutic drug

  8. Decision Support for Mental Health: Towards the Information-based Psychiatry

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan; Zvárová, Jana

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 4, č. 2 (2014), s. 53-65 ISSN 1947-3133 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) ED2.1.00/03.0078 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : big data * classification rule * decision support systems * e-health * mental health care Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science

  9. Developing a Support Tool for Global Product Development Decisions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Søndergaard, Erik Stefan; Ahmed-Kristensen, Saeema

    2016-01-01

    This paper investigates how global product development decisions are made through a multiple-case study in three Danish engineering. The paper identifies which information and methods are applied for making decisions and how decision-making can be supported based on previous experience. The paper...... presents results from 51 decisions made in the three companies, and based on the results of the studies a framework for a decision-support tool is outlined and discussed. The paper rounds off with an identification of future research opportunities in the area of global product development and decision-making....

  10. Development of an appropriate resource information system to support agricultural management at farm enterprise level : a prototype design for a decision support system in Moghan Agro-industrial Complex, Iran

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sharifi, M.A.

    1992-01-01

    This thesis describes development of and experimentation with a prototype of an appropriate resource information system that improves decision making processes in farm management The system includes a geographic information system with a powerful process model that forms a decision support

  11. A Benchmark Usability Study of the Tactical Decision Making Under Stress Decision Support System

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Schmorrow, Dylan

    1998-01-01

    This study evaluates the usability of a U.S. Navy Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS was developed to enhance the performance of tactical decision makers within a Navy Combat Information Center...

  12. Solutions for decision support in university management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrei STANCIU

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The paper proposes an overview of decision support systems in order to define the role of a system to assist decision in university management. The authors present new technologies and the basic concepts of multidimensional data analysis using models of business processes within the universities. Based on information provided by scientific literature and on the authors’ experience, the study aims to define selection criteria in choosing a development environment for designing a support system dedicated to university management. The contributions consist in designing a data warehouse model and models of OLAP analysis to assist decision in university management.

  13. Decision support systems for recovery of endangered species

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Armstrong, C.E.

    1995-01-01

    The listing of a species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act invokes a suite of responses to help improve conditions for the recovery of that species, to include identification of stressors contributing to population loss, decision analysis of the impacts of proposed recovery options, and implementation of optimal recovery measures. The ability of a decision support system to quantify inherent stressor uncertainties and to identify the key stressors that can be controlled or eliminated becomes key to ensuring the recovery of an endangered species. The listing of the Snake River sockeye, spring/summer chinook, and fall chinook salmon species in the Snake River as endangered provides a vivid example of the importance of sophisticated decision support systems. Operational and physical changes under consideration at eight of the hydroelectric dams along the Columbia and Lower Snake River pose significant financial impacts to a variety of stakeholders involved in the salmon population recovery process and carry significant uncertainties of outcome. A decision support system is presented to assist in the identification of optimal recovery actions for this example that includes the following: creation of datamarts of information on environmental, engineering, and ecological values that influence species survival; incorporation of decision analysis tools to determine optimal decision policies; and the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to provide a context for decision analysis and to communicate the impacts of decision policies

  14. Development of a spatial decision support system for flood risk management in Brazil that combines volunteered geographic information with wireless sensor networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horita, Flávio E. A.; Albuquerque, João Porto de; Degrossi, Lívia C.; Mendiondo, Eduardo M.; Ueyama, Jó

    2015-07-01

    Effective flood risk management requires updated information to ensure that the correct decisions can be made. This can be provided by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) which are a low-cost means of collecting updated information about rivers. Another valuable resource is Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) which is a comparatively new means of improving the coverage of monitored areas because it is able to supply supplementary information to the WSN and thus support decision-making in flood risk management. However, there still remains the problem of how to combine WSN data with VGI. In this paper, an attempt is made to investigate AGORA-DS, which is a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) that is able to make flood risk management more effective by combining these data sources, i.e. WSN with VGI. This approach is built over a conceptual model that complies with the interoperable standards laid down by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - e.g. Sensor Observation Service (SOS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) - and seeks to combine and present unified information in a web-based decision support tool. This work was deployed in a real scenario of flood risk management in the town of São Carlos in Brazil. The evidence obtained from this deployment confirmed that interoperable standards can support the integration of data from distinct data sources. In addition, they also show that VGI is able to provide information about areas of the river basin which lack data since there is no appropriate station in the area. Hence it provides a valuable support for the WSN data. It can thus be concluded that AGORA-DS is able to combine information provided by WSN and VGI, and provide useful information for supporting flood risk management.

  15. Evaluation of selected environmental decision support software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sullivan, T.M.; Moskowitz, P.D.; Gitten, M.

    1997-06-01

    Decision Support Software (DSS) continues to be developed to support analysis of decisions pertaining to environmental management. Decision support systems are computer-based systems that facilitate the use of data, models, and structured decision processes in decision making. The optimal DSS should attempt to integrate, analyze, and present environmental information to remediation project managers in order to select cost-effective cleanup strategies. The optimal system should have a balance between the sophistication needed to address the wide range of complicated sites and site conditions present at DOE facilities, and ease of use (e.g., the system should not require data that is typically unknown and should have robust error checking of problem definition through input, etc.). In the first phase of this study, an extensive review of the literature, the Internet, and discussions with sponsors and developers of DSS led to identification of approximately fifty software packages that met the preceding definition

  16. Biometric and intelligent decision making support

    CERN Document Server

    Kaklauskas, Arturas

    2015-01-01

    This book presents different methods for analyzing the body language (movement, position, use of personal space, silences, pauses and tone, the eyes, pupil dilation or constriction, smiles, body temperature and the like) for better understanding people’s needs and actions, including biometric data gathering and reading. Different studies described in this book indicate that sufficiently much data, information and knowledge can be gained by utilizing biometric technologies. This is the first, wide-ranging book that is devoted completely to the area of intelligent decision support systems, biometrics technologies and their integrations. This book is designated for scholars, practitioners and doctoral and master’s degree students in various areas and those who are interested in the latest biometric and intelligent decision making support problems and means for their resolutions, biometric and intelligent decision making support systems and the theory and practice of their integration and the opportunities fo...

  17. The design of patient decision support interventions: addressing the theory-practice gap.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elwyn, Glyn; Stiel, Mareike; Durand, Marie-Anne; Boivin, Jacky

    2011-08-01

    Although an increasing number of decision support interventions for patients (including decision aids) are produced, few make explicit use of theory. We argue the importance of using theory to guide design. The aim of this work was to address this theory-practice gap and to examine how a range of selected decision-making theories could inform the design and evaluation of decision support interventions. We reviewed the decision-making literature and selected relevant theories. We assessed their key principles, theoretical pathways and predictions in order to determine how they could inform the design of two core components of decision support interventions, namely, information and deliberation components and to specify theory-based outcome measures. Eight theories were selected: (1) the expected utility theory; (2) the conflict model of decision making; (3) prospect theory; (4) fuzzy-trace theory; (5) the differentiation and consolidation theory; (6) the ecological rationality theory; (7) the rational-emotional model of decision avoidance; and finally, (8) the Attend, React, Explain, Adapt model of affective forecasting. Some theories have strong relevance to the information design (e.g. prospect theory); some are more relevant to deliberation processes (conflict theory, differentiation theory and ecological validity). None of the theories in isolation was sufficient to inform the design of all the necessary components of decision support interventions. It was also clear that most work in theory-building has focused on explaining or describing how humans think rather than on how tools could be designed to help humans make good decisions. It is not surprising therefore that a large theory-practice gap exists as we consider decision support for patients. There was no relevant theory that integrated all the necessary contributions to the task of making good decisions in collaborative interactions. Initiatives such as the International Patient Decision Aids Standards

  18. UNDERSTANDING THE SUBJECT´S BEHAVIOR IN THE INTERACTION WITH A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM UNDER TIME PRESSURE AND MISSING INFORMATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathiane Benedetti Corso

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available The article seeks to determine how time pressure and missing information in decision-making affect the behavior of decision makers. Data was collected through an experimental task of simulating the purchase of a car, which was structured with the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process multi-criteria method in a Decision Support System. When pressured by time, the experimental subjects focused on the car of their choice; whereas with no time pressure, some of them rationalized more, used the information, and did not agree with the chosen car. Assumptions of the Theory of Image justified some findings, indicating that previously structured images in the mind of the decision maker are a way to cope with time pressure. Given the missing information, the use of background knowledge and individual experience were the most prominent coping strategy.

  19. Supporting multi-stakeholder environmental decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hajkowicz, Stefan A

    2008-09-01

    This paper examines how multiple criteria analysis (MCA) can be used to support multi-stakeholder environmental management decisions. It presents a study through which 48 stakeholders from environmental, primary production and community interest groups used MCA to prioritise 30 environmental management problems in the Mackay-Whitsunday region of Queensland, Australia. The MCA model, with procedures for aggregating multi-stakeholder output, was used to inform a final decision on the priority of the region's environmental management problems. The result was used in the region's environmental management plan as required under Australia's Natural Heritage Trust programme. The study shows how relatively simple MCA methods can help stakeholders make group decisions, even when they hold strongly conflicting preferences.

  20. The role of logistics information system in the business-decision process

    OpenAIRE

    Galicic, Vlado; Pilepic, Ljubica

    2007-01-01

    The development of logistics information systems that support decision-making, together with the use of business intelligence, provides assistance and support to logistics managers in the decision process, thereby impacting on the quality of business and productivity. Being better informed and having greater intelligence for decision-making can help to create new value and gain competitive advantage. Logistics business systems in a tourism destination appreciate the importance of information ...

  1. Clinical Decision Support: Statistical Hopes and Challenges

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan; Zvárová, Jana

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 4, č. 1 (2016), s. 30-34 ISSN 1805-8698 Grant - others:Nadační fond na opdporu vědy(CZ) Neuron Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : decision support * data mining * multivariate statistics * psychiatry * information based medicine Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research

  2. Talking Points: Women's Information Needs for Informed Decision-Making About Noninvasive Prenatal Testing for Down Syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dane, Aimée C; Peterson, Madelyn; Miller, Yvette D

    2018-03-17

    Adequate knowledge is a vital component of informed decision-making; however, we do not know what information women value when making decisions about noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT). The current study aimed to identify women's information needs for decision-making about NIPT as a first-tier, non-contingent test with out-of-pocket expense and, in turn, inform best practice by specifying the information that should be prioritized when providing pre-test counseling to women in a time-limited scenario or space-limited decision support tool. We asked women (N = 242) in Australia to indicate the importance of knowing 24 information items when making a decision about NIPT and to choose two information items they would most value. Our findings suggest that women value having complete information when making decisions about NIPT. Information about the accuracy of NIPT and the pros and cons of NIPT compared to other screening and invasive tests were perceived to be most important. The findings of this study can be used to maximize the usefulness of time-limited discussions or space-limited decision support tools, but should not be routinely relied upon as a replacement for provision of full and tailored information when feasible.

  3. Bidding Strategy to Support Decision-Making Based on Comprehensive Information in Construction Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ru Liang

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper develops a unified method to support contractor for bidding selection in construction projects. A cross-functional contractor with 28 candidate units distributed in the three departments (construction units, design units, and suppliers is used as an example. This problem is first formulated as a 0-1 quadratic programming problem through optimizing individual performance and collaborative performance of the candidate units based on individual information and collaborative information. Then, a multiobjective evolutionary algorithm is designed to solve this problem and a bidding selection problem for a major bridge project is used to demonstrate our proposed method. The results show that the decision-maker (DM obtains a better contractor if he pays more attention to collaborative performance.

  4. Text summarization as a decision support aid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Workman T

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background PubMed data potentially can provide decision support information, but PubMed was not exclusively designed to be a point-of-care tool. Natural language processing applications that summarize PubMed citations hold promise for extracting decision support information. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of a text summarization application called Semantic MEDLINE, enhanced with a novel dynamic summarization method, in identifying decision support data. Methods We downloaded PubMed citations addressing the prevention and drug treatment of four disease topics. We then processed the citations with Semantic MEDLINE, enhanced with the dynamic summarization method. We also processed the citations with a conventional summarization method, as well as with a baseline procedure. We evaluated the results using clinician-vetted reference standards built from recommendations in a commercial decision support product, DynaMed. Results For the drug treatment data, Semantic MEDLINE enhanced with dynamic summarization achieved average recall and precision scores of 0.848 and 0.377, while conventional summarization produced 0.583 average recall and 0.712 average precision, and the baseline method yielded average recall and precision values of 0.252 and 0.277. For the prevention data, Semantic MEDLINE enhanced with dynamic summarization achieved average recall and precision scores of 0.655 and 0.329. The baseline technique resulted in recall and precision scores of 0.269 and 0.247. No conventional Semantic MEDLINE method accommodating summarization for prevention exists. Conclusion Semantic MEDLINE with dynamic summarization outperformed conventional summarization in terms of recall, and outperformed the baseline method in both recall and precision. This new approach to text summarization demonstrates potential in identifying decision support data for multiple needs.

  5. Prioritization of engineering support requests and advanced technology projects using decision support and industrial engineering models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tavana, Madjid

    1995-01-01

    The evaluation and prioritization of Engineering Support Requests (ESR's) is a particularly difficult task at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) -- Shuttle Project Engineering Office. This difficulty is due to the complexities inherent in the evaluation process and the lack of structured information. The evaluation process must consider a multitude of relevant pieces of information concerning Safety, Supportability, O&M Cost Savings, Process Enhancement, Reliability, and Implementation. Various analytical and normative models developed over the past have helped decision makers at KSC utilize large volumes of information in the evaluation of ESR's. The purpose of this project is to build on the existing methodologies and develop a multiple criteria decision support system that captures the decision maker's beliefs through a series of sequential, rational, and analytical processes. The model utilizes the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), subjective probabilities, the entropy concept, and Maximize Agreement Heuristic (MAH) to enhance the decision maker's intuition in evaluating a set of ESR's.

  6. A conceptual evolutionary aseismic decision support framework for hospitals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Yufeng; Dargush, Gary F.; Shao, Xiaoyun

    2012-12-01

    In this paper, aconceptual evolutionary framework for aseismic decision support for hospitalsthat attempts to integrate a range of engineering and sociotechnical models is presented. Genetic algorithms are applied to find the optimal decision sets. A case study is completed to demonstrate how the frameworkmay applytoa specific hospital.The simulations show that the proposed evolutionary decision support framework is able to discover robust policy sets in either uncertain or fixed environments. The framework also qualitatively identifies some of the characteristicbehavior of the critical care organization. Thus, by utilizing the proposedframework, the decision makers are able to make more informed decisions, especially toenhance the seismic safety of the hospitals.

  7. Design and realization of tourism spatial decision support system based on GIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Zhangbao; Qi, Qingwen; Xu, Li

    2008-10-01

    In this paper, the existing problems of current tourism management information system are analyzed. GIS, tourism as well as spatial decision support system are introduced, and the application of geographic information system technology and spatial decision support system to tourism management and the establishment of tourism spatial decision support system based on GIS are proposed. System total structure, system hardware and software environment, database design and structure module design of this system are introduced. Finally, realization methods of this systemic core functions are elaborated.

  8. Decision Support Model for Introduction of Gamification Solution Using AHP

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Gamification means the use of various elements of game design in nongame contexts including workplace collaboration, marketing, education, military, and medical services. Gamification is effective for both improving workplace productivity and motivating employees. However, introduction of gamification is not easy because the planning and implementation processes of gamification are very complicated and it needs interdisciplinary knowledge such as information systems, organization behavior, and human psychology. Providing a systematic decision making method for gamification process is the purpose of this paper. This paper suggests the decision criteria for selection of gamification platform to support a systematic decision making process for managements. The criteria are derived from previous works on gamification, introduction of information systems, and analytic hierarchy process. The weights of decision criteria are calculated through a survey by the professionals on game, information systems, and business administration. The analytic hierarchy process is used to derive the weights. The decision criteria and weights provided in this paper could support the managements to make a systematic decision for selection of gamification platform. PMID:24892075

  9. Decision support model for introduction of gamification solution using AHP.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sangkyun

    2014-01-01

    Gamification means the use of various elements of game design in nongame contexts including workplace collaboration, marketing, education, military, and medical services. Gamification is effective for both improving workplace productivity and motivating employees. However, introduction of gamification is not easy because the planning and implementation processes of gamification are very complicated and it needs interdisciplinary knowledge such as information systems, organization behavior, and human psychology. Providing a systematic decision making method for gamification process is the purpose of this paper. This paper suggests the decision criteria for selection of gamification platform to support a systematic decision making process for managements. The criteria are derived from previous works on gamification, introduction of information systems, and analytic hierarchy process. The weights of decision criteria are calculated through a survey by the professionals on game, information systems, and business administration. The analytic hierarchy process is used to derive the weights. The decision criteria and weights provided in this paper could support the managements to make a systematic decision for selection of gamification platform.

  10. Decision Support Model for Introduction of Gamification Solution Using AHP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sangkyun Kim

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Gamification means the use of various elements of game design in nongame contexts including workplace collaboration, marketing, education, military, and medical services. Gamification is effective for both improving workplace productivity and motivating employees. However, introduction of gamification is not easy because the planning and implementation processes of gamification are very complicated and it needs interdisciplinary knowledge such as information systems, organization behavior, and human psychology. Providing a systematic decision making method for gamification process is the purpose of this paper. This paper suggests the decision criteria for selection of gamification platform to support a systematic decision making process for managements. The criteria are derived from previous works on gamification, introduction of information systems, and analytic hierarchy process. The weights of decision criteria are calculated through a survey by the professionals on game, information systems, and business administration. The analytic hierarchy process is used to derive the weights. The decision criteria and weights provided in this paper could support the managements to make a systematic decision for selection of gamification platform.

  11. An Integrated Web-based Decision Support System in Disaster Risk Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aye, Z. C.; Jaboyedoff, M.; Derron, M. H.

    2012-04-01

    Nowadays, web based decision support systems (DSS) play an essential role in disaster risk management because of their supporting abilities which help the decision makers to improve their performances and make better decisions without needing to solve complex problems while reducing human resources and time. Since the decision making process is one of the main factors which highly influence the damages and losses of society, it is extremely important to make right decisions at right time by combining available risk information with advanced web technology of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Decision Support System (DSS). This paper presents an integrated web-based decision support system (DSS) of how to use risk information in risk management efficiently and effectively while highlighting the importance of a decision support system in the field of risk reduction. Beyond the conventional systems, it provides the users to define their own strategies starting from risk identification to the risk reduction, which leads to an integrated approach in risk management. In addition, it also considers the complexity of changing environment from different perspectives and sectors with diverse stakeholders' involvement in the development process. The aim of this platform is to contribute a part towards the natural hazards and geosciences society by developing an open-source web platform where the users can analyze risk profiles and make decisions by performing cost benefit analysis, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) with the support of others tools and resources provided. There are different access rights to the system depending on the user profiles and their responsibilities. The system is still under development and the current version provides maps viewing, basic GIS functionality, assessment of important infrastructures (e.g. bridge, hospital, etc.) affected by landslides and visualization of the impact

  12. Using Bayesian networks to support decision-focused information retrieval

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lehner, P.; Elsaesser, C.; Seligman, L. [Mitre Corp., McLean, VA (United States)

    1996-12-31

    This paper has described an approach to controlling the process of pulling data/information from distributed data bases in a way that is specific to a persons specific decision making context. Our prototype implementation of this approach uses a knowledge-based planner to generate a plan, an automatically constructed Bayesian network to evaluate the plan, specialized processing of the network to derive key information items that would substantially impact the evaluation of the plan (e.g., determine that replanning is needed), automated construction of Standing Requests for Information (SRIs) which are automated functions that monitor changes and trends in distributed data base that are relevant to the key information items. This emphasis of this paper is on how Bayesian networks are used.

  13. Feasibility Risk Assessment of Transport Infrastructure Projects: The CBA-DK Decision Support Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Salling, Kim Bang; Banister, David

    2010-01-01

    informed decision support towards decision-makers and stakeholders in terms of accumulated descending graphs. The decision support method developed in this paper aims to provide assistance in the analysis and ultimately the choice of action, while accounting for the uncertainties surrounding any transport......This paper presents the final version of the CBA-DK decision support model for assessment of transport projects. The model makes use of conventional cost-benefit analysis resulting in aggregated single point estimates and quantitative risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation resulting in interval...... result, and the determination of suitable probability distributions. Use is made of the reference class forecasting information, such as that developed in Optimism Bias for adjustments to investment decisions that relate to all modes of transport. The CBA-DK decision support model results in more...

  14. E-DECIDER Decision Support Gateway For Earthquake Disaster Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glasscoe, M. T.; Stough, T. M.; Parker, J. W.; Burl, M. C.; Donnellan, A.; Blom, R. G.; Pierce, M. E.; Wang, J.; Ma, Y.; Rundle, J. B.; Yoder, M. R.

    2013-12-01

    Earthquake Data Enhanced Cyber-Infrastructure for Disaster Evaluation and Response (E-DECIDER) is a NASA-funded project developing capabilities for decision-making utilizing remote sensing data and modeling software in order to provide decision support for earthquake disaster management and response. E-DECIDER incorporates earthquake forecasting methodology and geophysical modeling tools developed through NASA's QuakeSim project in order to produce standards-compliant map data products to aid in decision-making following an earthquake. Remote sensing and geodetic data, in conjunction with modeling and forecasting tools, help provide both long-term planning information for disaster management decision makers as well as short-term information following earthquake events (i.e. identifying areas where the greatest deformation and damage has occurred and emergency services may need to be focused). E-DECIDER utilizes a service-based GIS model for its cyber-infrastructure in order to produce standards-compliant products for different user types with multiple service protocols (such as KML, WMS, WFS, and WCS). The goal is to make complex GIS processing and domain-specific analysis tools more accessible to general users through software services as well as provide system sustainability through infrastructure services. The system comprises several components, which include: a GeoServer for thematic mapping and data distribution, a geospatial database for storage and spatial analysis, web service APIs, including simple-to-use REST APIs for complex GIS functionalities, and geoprocessing tools including python scripts to produce standards-compliant data products. These are then served to the E-DECIDER decision support gateway (http://e-decider.org), the E-DECIDER mobile interface, and to the Department of Homeland Security decision support middleware UICDS (Unified Incident Command and Decision Support). The E-DECIDER decision support gateway features a web interface that

  15. Promoting Shared Decision Making in Disorders of Sex Development (DSD): Decision Aids and Support Tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siminoff, L A; Sandberg, D E

    2015-05-01

    Specific complaints and grievances from adult patients with disorders of sex development (DSD), and their advocates center around the lack of information or misinformation they were given about their condition and feeling stigmatized and shamed by the secrecy surrounding their condition and its management. Many also attribute poor sexual function to damaging genital surgery and/or repeated, insensitive genital examinations. These reports suggest the need to reconsider the decision-making process for the treatment of children born with DSD. This paper proposes that shared decision making, an important concept in adult health care, be operationalized for the major decisions commonly encountered in DSD care and facilitated through the utilization of decision aids and support tools. This approach may help patients and their families make informed decisions that are better aligned with their personal values and goals. It may also lead to greater confidence in decision making with greater satisfaction and less regret. A brief review of the past and current approach to DSD decision making is provided, along with a review of shared decision making and decision aids and support tools. A case study explores the need and potential utility of this suggested new approach. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  16. Decision support system for surface irrigation design

    OpenAIRE

    Gonçalves, José M.; Pereira, L.S.

    2009-01-01

    The SADREG decision support system was developed to help decision makers in the process of design and selection of farm surface irrigation systems to respond to requirements of modernization of surface irrigation—furrow, basin, and border irrigation. It includes a database, simulation models, user-friendly interfaces, and multicriteria analysis models. SADREG is comprised of two components: design and selection. The first component applies database information, and through several si...

  17. Big-Data Based Decision-Support Systems to Improve Clinicians' Cognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roosan, Don; Samore, Matthew; Jones, Makoto; Livnat, Yarden; Clutter, Justin

    2016-01-01

    Complex clinical decision-making could be facilitated by using population health data to inform clinicians. In two previous studies, we interviewed 16 infectious disease experts to understand complex clinical reasoning. For this study, we focused on answers from the experts on how clinical reasoning can be supported by population-based Big-Data. We found cognitive strategies such as trajectory tracking, perspective taking, and metacognition has the potential to improve clinicians' cognition to deal with complex problems. These cognitive strategies could be supported by population health data, and all have important implications for the design of Big-Data based decision-support tools that could be embedded in electronic health records. Our findings provide directions for task allocation and design of decision-support applications for health care industry development of Big data based decision-support systems.

  18. A fuzzy approach to a multiple criteria and Geographical Information System for decision support on suitable locations for biogas plants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Franco, Camilo; Bojesen, Mikkel; Hougaard, Jens Leth

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to model the multi-criteria decision problem of identifying the most suitable facility locations for biogas plants under an integrated decision support methodology. Here the Geographical Information System (GIS) is used for measuring the attributes of the alternatives...... according to a given set of criteria. Measurements are taken in interval form, expressing the natural imprecision of common data, and the Fuzzy Weighted Overlap Dominance (FWOD) procedure is applied for aggregating and exploiting this kind of data, obtaining suitability degrees for every alternative...... suitable sites for building biogas plants. We show that the FWOD relevance-ranking procedure can also be successfully applied over the outcomes of different decision makers, in case a unique social solution is required to exist. The proposed methodology can be used under an integrated decision support...

  19. Developing Information Systems for Competitive Intelligence Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hohhof, Bonnie

    1994-01-01

    Discusses issues connected with developing information systems for competitive intelligence support; defines the elements of an effective competitive information system; and summarizes issues affecting system design and implementation. Highlights include intelligence information; information needs; information sources; decision making; and…

  20. Barriers, facilitators and views about next steps to implementing supports for evidence-informed decision-making in health systems: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellen, Moriah E; Léon, Grégory; Bouchard, Gisèle; Ouimet, Mathieu; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; Lavis, John N

    2014-12-05

    Mobilizing research evidence for daily decision-making is challenging for health system decision-makers. In a previous qualitative paper, we showed the current mix of supports that Canadian health-care organizations have in place and the ones that are perceived to be helpful to facilitate the use of research evidence in health system decision-making. Factors influencing the implementation of such supports remain poorly described in the literature. Identifying the barriers to and facilitators of different interventions is essential for implementation of effective, context-specific, supports for evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) in health systems. The purpose of this study was to identify (a) barriers and facilitators to implementing supports for EIDM in Canadian health-care organizations, (b) views about emerging development of supports for EIDM, and (c) views about the priorities to bridge the gaps in the current mix of supports that these organizations have in place. This qualitative study was conducted in three types of health-care organizations (regional health authorities, hospitals, and primary care practices) in two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec). Fifty-seven in-depth semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with senior managers, library managers, and knowledge brokers from health-care organizations that have already undertaken strategic initiatives in knowledge translation. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and then analyzed thematically using NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software. Limited resources (i.e., money or staff), time constraints, and negative attitudes (or resistance) toward change were the most frequently identified barriers to implementing supports for EIDM. Genuine interest from health system decision-makers, notably their willingness to invest money and resources and to create a knowledge translation culture over time in health-care organizations, was the most frequently identified facilitator to

  1. Presentation of information for spatial decision support: a survey on the use of maps by participants in quantitative water management in the IJsselmeer region, the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, R.; Uran, O.

    2003-01-01

    Spatial decision support systems generate a diversity of information presented in tables, graphs, text and maps. Which form is used is dictated partially by the nature of the information but also by those who prepare information to be used in a decision-making process. The users of the information

  2. A review of decision support, risk communication and patient information tools for thrombolytic treatment in acute stroke: lessons for tool developers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flynn, Darren; Ford, Gary A; Stobbart, Lynne; Rodgers, Helen; Murtagh, Madeleine J; Thomson, Richard G

    2013-06-18

    Tools to support clinical or patient decision-making in the treatment/management of a health condition are used in a range of clinical settings for numerous preference-sensitive healthcare decisions. Their impact in clinical practice is largely dependent on their quality across a range of domains. We critically analysed currently available tools to support decision making or patient understanding in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke with intravenous thrombolysis, as an exemplar to provide clinicians/researchers with practical guidance on development, evaluation and implementation of such tools for other preference-sensitive treatment options/decisions in different clinical contexts. Tools were identified from bibliographic databases, Internet searches and a survey of UK and North American stroke networks. Two reviewers critically analysed tools to establish: information on benefits/risks of thrombolysis included in tools, and the methods used to convey probabilistic information (verbal descriptors, numerical and graphical); adherence to guidance on presenting outcome probabilities (IPDASi probabilities items) and information content (Picker Institute Checklist); readability (Fog Index); and the extent that tools had comprehensive development processes. Nine tools of 26 identified included information on a full range of benefits/risks of thrombolysis. Verbal descriptors, frequencies and percentages were used to convey probabilistic information in 20, 19 and 18 tools respectively, whilst nine used graphical methods. Shortcomings in presentation of outcome probabilities (e.g. omitting outcomes without treatment) were identified. Patient information tools had an aggregate median Fog index score of 10. None of the tools had comprehensive development processes. Tools to support decision making or patient understanding in the treatment of acute stroke with thrombolysis have been sub-optimally developed. Development of tools should utilise mixed methods and

  3. Anesthesia information management system-based near real-time decision support to manage intraoperative hypotension and hypertension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nair, Bala G; Horibe, Mayumi; Newman, Shu-Fang; Wu, Wei-Ying; Peterson, Gene N; Schwid, Howard A

    2014-01-01

    Intraoperative hypotension and hypertension are associated with adverse clinical outcomes and morbidity. Clinical decision support mediated through an anesthesia information management system (AIMS) has been shown to improve quality of care. We hypothesized that an AIMS-based clinical decision support system could be used to improve management of intraoperative hypotension and hypertension. A near real-time AIMS-based decision support module, Smart Anesthesia Manager (SAM), was used to detect selected scenarios contributing to hypotension and hypertension. Specifically, hypotension (systolic blood pressure 1.25 minimum alveolar concentration [MAC]) of inhaled drug and hypertension (systolic blood pressure >160 mm Hg) with concurrent phenylephrine infusion were detected, and anesthesia providers were notified via "pop-up" computer screen messages. AIMS data were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the effect of SAM notification messages on hypotensive and hypertensive episodes. For anesthetic cases 12 months before (N = 16913) and after (N = 17132) institution of SAM messages, the median duration of hypotensive episodes with concurrent high MAC decreased with notifications (Mann Whitney rank sum test, P = 0.031). However, the reduction in the median duration of hypertensive episodes with concurrent phenylephrine infusion was not significant (P = 0.47). The frequency of prolonged episodes that lasted >6 minutes (sampling period of SAM), represented in terms of the number of cases with episodes per 100 surgical cases (or percentage occurrence), declined with notifications for both hypotension with >1.25 MAC inhaled drug episodes (δ = -0.26% [confidence interval, -0.38% to -0.11%], P 1.25 MAC inhaled drug episodes. However, since phenylephrine infusion is manually documented in an AIMS, the impact of notification messages was less pronounced in reducing episodes of hypertension with concurrent phenylephrine infusion. Automated data capture and a higher frequency of

  4. Intelligent Decision Support and Big Data for Logistics and Supply Chain Management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Voss, Stefan; Sebastian, Hans-Jürgen; Pahl, Julia

    2017-01-01

    Intelligent Decision Support and Big Data for Logistics and Supply Chain Management” features theoretical developments, real-world applications and information systems related to solving decision problems in logistics and supply chain management. Methods include optimization, heuristics, metaheur......Intelligent Decision Support and Big Data for Logistics and Supply Chain Management” features theoretical developments, real-world applications and information systems related to solving decision problems in logistics and supply chain management. Methods include optimization, heuristics......, metaheuristics and matheuristics, simulation, agent technologies, and descriptive methods. In a sense, we were and are representing the future of logistics over the years....

  5. Big-Data Based Decision-Support Systems to Improve Clinicians’ Cognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roosan, Don; Samore, Matthew; Jones, Makoto; Livnat, Yarden; Clutter, Justin

    2016-01-01

    Complex clinical decision-making could be facilitated by using population health data to inform clinicians. In two previous studies, we interviewed 16 infectious disease experts to understand complex clinical reasoning. For this study, we focused on answers from the experts on how clinical reasoning can be supported by population-based Big-Data. We found cognitive strategies such as trajectory tracking, perspective taking, and metacognition has the potential to improve clinicians’ cognition to deal with complex problems. These cognitive strategies could be supported by population health data, and all have important implications for the design of Big-Data based decision-support tools that could be embedded in electronic health records. Our findings provide directions for task allocation and design of decision-support applications for health care industry development of Big data based decision-support systems. PMID:27990498

  6. Delivering information: a descriptive study of Australian women's information needs for decision-making about birth facility.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Rachel; Wojcieszek, Aleena M

    2012-06-18

    Little information is known about what information women want when choosing a birth facility. The objective of this study was to inform the development of a consumer decision support tool about birth facility by identifying the information needs of maternity care consumers in Queensland, Australia. Participants were 146 women residing in both urban and rural areas of Queensland, Australia who were pregnant and/or had recently given birth. A cross-sectional survey was administered in which participants were asked to rate the importance of 42 information items to their decision-making about birth facility. Participants could also provide up to ten additional information items of interest in an open-ended question. On average, participants rated 30 of the 42 information items as important to decision-making about birth facility. While the majority of information items were valued by most participants, those related to policies about support people, other women's recommendations about the facility, freedom to choose one's preferred position during labour and birth, the aesthetic quality of the facility, and access to on-site neonatal intensive care were particularly widely valued. Additional items of interest frequently focused on postnatal care and support, policies related to medical intervention, and access to water immersion. The women surveyed had significant and diverse information needs for decision-making about birth facility. These findings have immediate applications for the development of decision support tools about birth facility, and highlight the need for tools which provide a large volume of information in an accessible and user-friendly format. These findings may also be used to guide communication and information-sharing by care providers involved in counselling pregnant women and families about their options for birth facility or providing referrals to birth facilities.

  7. Importance of Decision Support Systems About Food Safety in Raw Milk Production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ecem Akan

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In raw milk production decision support systems for control of food safety hazards has not been developed but main points of this system are available. The decision support systems’ elements include data identification at critical points in the milk supply chain, an information management system and data exchange. Decision supports systems has been developed on the basis of these elements. In dairy sector decision support systems are significant for controlling of food safety hazards and preferred by producers. When these systems are implemented in the milk supply chain, it can be prevented unnecessary sampling and analysis. In this article it will be underlined effects of decision support system elements on food safety of raw milk.

  8. The Use of Advanced Warfighting Experiments to Support Acquisition Decisions

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Strayer, Kenneth

    1999-01-01

    .... Specifically, the thesis evaluated the effectiveness of the Army Task Force XXI AWE in providing information to support investment decisions and refinement of requirements for information age technologies...

  9. Assessing the ability of health information systems in hospitals to support evidence-informed decisions in Kenya

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elesban Kihuba

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Hospital management information systems (HMIS is a key component of national health information systems (HIS, and actions required of hospital management to support information generation in Kenya are articulated in specific policy documents. We conducted an evaluation of core functions of data generation and reporting within hospitals in Kenya to facilitate interpretation of national reports and to provide guidance on key areas requiring improvement to support data use in decision making. Design: The survey was a cross-sectional, cluster sample study conducted in 22 hospitals in Kenya. The statistical analysis was descriptive with adjustment for clustering. Results: Most of the HMIS departments complied with formal guidance to develop departmental plans. However, only a few (3/22 had carried out a data quality audit in the 12 months prior to the survey. On average 3% (range 1–8% of the total hospital income was allocated to the HMIS departments. About half of the records officer positions were filled and about half (13/22 of hospitals had implemented some form of electronic health record largely focused on improving patient billing and not linked to the district HIS. Completeness of manual patient registers varied, being 90% (95% CI 80.1–99.3%, 75.8% (95% CI 68.7–82.8%, and 58% (95% CI 50.4–65.1% in maternal child health clinic, maternity, and pediatric wards, respectively. Vital events notification rates were low with 25.7, 42.6, and 71.3% of neonatal deaths, infant deaths, and live births recorded, respectively. Routine hospital reports suggested slight over-reporting of live births and under-reporting of fresh stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Conclusions: Study findings indicate that the HMIS does not deliver quality data. Significant constraints exist in data quality assurance, supervisory support, data infrastructure in respect to information and communications technology application, human resources, financial

  10. Data warehouse based decision support system in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nadinic, B.

    2004-01-01

    Safety is an important element in business decision making processes in nuclear power plants. Information about component reliability, structures and systems, data recorded during the nuclear power plant's operation and outage periods, as well as experiences from other power plants are located in different database systems throughout the power plant. It would be possible to create a decision support system which would collect data, transform it into a standardized form and store it in a single location in a format more suitable for analyses and knowledge discovery. This single location where the data would be stored would be a data warehouse. Such data warehouse based decision support system could help make decision making processes more efficient by providing more information about business processes and predicting possible consequences of different decisions. Two main functionalities in this decision support system would be an OLAP (On Line Analytical Processing) and a data mining system. An OLAP system would enable the users to perform fast, simple and efficient multidimensional analysis of existing data and identify trends. Data mining techniques and algorithms would help discover new, previously unknown information from the data as well as hidden dependencies between various parameters. Data mining would also enable analysts to create relevant prediction models that could predict behaviour of different systems during operation and inspection results during outages. The basic characteristics and theoretical foundations of such decision support system are described and the reasons for choosing a data warehouse as the underlying structure are explained. The article analyzes obvious business benefits of such system as well as potential uses of OLAP and data mining technologies. Possible implementation methodologies and problems that may arise, especially in the field of data integration, are discussed and analyzed.(author)

  11. Probabilistic Flood Maps to support decision-making: Mapping the Value of Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alfonso, L.; Mukolwe, M. M.; Di Baldassarre, G.

    2016-02-01

    Floods are one of the most frequent and disruptive natural hazards that affect man. Annually, significant flood damage is documented worldwide. Flood mapping is a common preimpact flood hazard mitigation measure, for which advanced methods and tools (such as flood inundation models) are used to estimate potential flood extent maps that are used in spatial planning. However, these tools are affected, largely to an unknown degree, by both epistemic and aleatory uncertainty. Over the past few years, advances in uncertainty analysis with respect to flood inundation modeling show that it is appropriate to adopt Probabilistic Flood Maps (PFM) to account for uncertainty. However, the following question arises; how can probabilistic flood hazard information be incorporated into spatial planning? Thus, a consistent framework to incorporate PFMs into the decision-making is required. In this paper, a novel methodology based on Decision-Making under Uncertainty theories, in particular Value of Information (VOI) is proposed. Specifically, the methodology entails the use of a PFM to generate a VOI map, which highlights floodplain locations where additional information is valuable with respect to available floodplain management actions and their potential consequences. The methodology is illustrated with a simplified example and also applied to a real case study in the South of France, where a VOI map is analyzed on the basis of historical land use change decisions over a period of 26 years. Results show that uncertain flood hazard information encapsulated in PFMs can aid decision-making in floodplain planning.

  12. Environmental Decision Making and Information Technology: Issues Assessment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barg, S.; Fletcher, T.; Mechling, J.; Tonn, B.; Turner, R.

    1999-05-01

    This report presents a summary of the Information Technology and Environmental Decision Making Workshop that was held at Harvard University, October 1-3, 1998. Over sixty participants from across the US took part in discussions that focused on the current practice of using information technology to support environmental decision making and on future considerations of information technology development, information policies, and data quality issues in this area. Current practice is focusing on geographic information systems and visualization tools, Internet applications, and data warehousing. In addition, numerous organizations are developing environmental enterprise systems to integrate environmental information resources. Plaguing these efforts are issues of data quality (and public trust), system design, and organizational change. In the future, much effort needs to focus on building community-based environmental decision-making systems and processes, which will be a challenge given that exactly what needs to be developed is largely unknown and that environmental decision making in this arena has been characterized by a high level of conflict. Experimentation and evaluation are needed to contribute to efficient and effective learning about how best to use information technology to improve environmental decision making.

  13. The NIAID Division of AIDS enterprise information system: integrated decision support for global clinical research programs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Nitin; Varghese, Suresh; Virkar, Hemant

    2011-01-01

    The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division of AIDS (DAIDS) Enterprise Information System (DAIDS-ES) is a web-based system that supports NIAID in the scientific, strategic, and tactical management of its global clinical research programs for HIV/AIDS vaccines, prevention, and therapeutics. Different from most commercial clinical trials information systems, which are typically protocol-driven, the DAIDS-ES was built to exchange information with those types of systems and integrate it in ways that help scientific program directors lead the research effort and keep pace with the complex and ever-changing global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Whereas commercially available clinical trials support systems are not usually disease-focused, DAIDS-ES was specifically designed to capture and incorporate unique scientific, demographic, and logistical aspects of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, and vaccine research in order to provide a rich source of information to guide informed decision-making. Sharing data across its internal components and with external systems, using defined vocabularies, open standards and flexible interfaces, the DAIDS-ES enables NIAID, its global collaborators and stakeholders, access to timely, quality information about NIAID-supported clinical trials which is utilized to: (1) analyze the research portfolio, assess capacity, identify opportunities, and avoid redundancies; (2) help support study safety, quality, ethics, and regulatory compliance; (3) conduct evidence-based policy analysis and business process re-engineering for improved efficiency. This report summarizes how the DAIDS-ES was conceptualized, how it differs from typical clinical trial support systems, the rationale for key design choices, and examples of how it is being used to advance the efficiency and effectiveness of NIAID's HIV/AIDS clinical research programs. PMID:21816958

  14. Customer Decision Support Systems: Resources for Student Decision Making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cara Okleshen Peters, Ph.D.

    2005-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper highlights the potential of customer decision support systems (CDSS to assist students in education-related decision making. Faculty can use these resources to more effectively advise students on various elements of college life, while students can employ them to more actively participate in their own learning and improve their academic experience. This conceptual paper summarizes consumer decision support systems (CDSS concepts and presents exemplar websites students could utilize to support their education-related decision making. Finally, the authors discuss the potential benefits and drawbacks such resources engender from a student perspective and conclude with directions for future research.

  15. Web-Based Group Decision Support System: an Economic Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ion ISTUDOR

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Decision Support Systems (DSS form a specific class of computerized information systems that support business and managerial decision-making activities. Making the right decision in business primarily depends on the quality of data. It also depends on the ability to analyze the data with a view to identifying trends that can suggest solutions and strategies. A “cooperative” decision support system means the data are collected, analyzed and then provided to a human agent who can help the system to revise or refine the data. It means that both a human component and computer component work together to come up with the best solution. This paper describes the usage of a software product (Vanguard System to a specific economic application (evaluating the financial risk assuming that the rate of the economic profitability can be under the value of the interest rate.

  16. Fault-Tolerant Onboard Monitoring and Decision Support Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lajic, Zoran

    a crude and simple estimation of the actual sea state (Hs and Tz), information about the longitudinal hull girder loading, seakeeping performance of the ship, and decision support on how to operate the ship within acceptable limits. The system is able to identify critical forthcoming events and to give...... advice regarding speed and course changes to decrease the wave-induced loads. The SeaSense system is based on the combined use of a mathematical model and measurements from a set of sensors. The overall dependability of a shipboard monitoring and decision support system such as the SeaSense system can...

  17. Using a group decision support system to make investment prioritisation decisions

    OpenAIRE

    Read, Martin; Gear, Tony; Minkes, Leonard; Irving, Ann

    2013-01-01

    This paper is concerned with how decision making groups involved in making investment prioritisation decisions involving funding of technology and science projects may be supported by a group decision support system (GDSS). While interested in decision outcomes, the primary focus of this paper is the role of a group support system as an aid to developing shared understanding within a group. The paper develops the conceptual framework of decision-making, communication and group support, and de...

  18. An Introspective Critique of Past, Present, and Future USGS Decision Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neff, B. P.; Pavlick, M.

    2017-12-01

    In response to increasing scrutiny of publicly funded science, the Water Mission Area of USGS is shifting its approach for informing decisions that affect the country. Historically, USGS has focused on providing sound science on cutting edge, societally relevant issues with the expectation that decision makers will take action on this information. In practice, scientists often do not understand or focus on the needs of decision makers and decision makers often cannot or do not utilize information produced by scientists. The Water Mission Area of USGS has recognized that it can better serve the taxpayer by delivering information more relevant to decision making in a form more conducive to its use. To this end, the Water Mission Area of USGS is seeking greater integration with the decision making process to better inform what information it produces. In addition, recognizing that the transfer of scientific knowledge to decision making is fundamentally a social process, USGS is embracing the use of social science to better inform how it delivers scientific information and facilitates its use. This study utilizes qualitative methods to document the evolution of decision support at USGS and provide a rationale for a shift in direction. Challenges to implementation are identified and collaborative opportunities to improve decision making are discussed.

  19. Implications of Decision Making Research for Decision Support and Displays

    OpenAIRE

    Morrison, Jeffrey G.; Kelly, Richard T.; Moore, Ronald A.; Hutchins, Susan G.

    1998-01-01

    To appear in J. A. Cannon-Bowers & E. Salas (Eds.), Decision Making Under Stress: Implications for Training and Simulation. A prototype decision support system (DSS) was developed to enhance Navy tactical decision making based on naturalistic decision processes. Displays were developed to support critical decision making tasks through recognition-primed and explanation-based reasoning processes, and cognitive analysis was conducted of the decision making problems faced by Navy ...

  20. Design document for landfill capping Prototype Decision Support System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stone, J.J.; Paige, G.; Hakonson, T.E.; Lane, L.J.

    1994-01-01

    The overall objective of the Prototype Decision Support System for shallow land burial project is to ''Develop a Decision Support System tool which incorporates simulation modeling and multi-objective decision theory for the purpose of designing and evaluating alternative trench cap designs for mixed waste landfill covers. The goal is to improve the quality of technical information used by the risk manager to select landfill cover designs while taking into account technological, economical, and regulatory factors.'' The complexity of the technical and non-technical information, and how the information varies in importance across sites, points to the need for decision analysis tools that provide a common basis for integrating, synthesizing, and valuing the decision input. Because the cost of remediating thousands of contaminated DOE sites is projected to be in the 10's--100's of billions of dollars, methods will be needed to establish cleanup priorities and to help in the selection and evaluation of cost effective remediation alternatives. Even at this early stage in DOE's cleanup program, it is certain that capping technologies will be heavily relied upon to remediate the 3000+ landfills on DOE property. Capping is favored in remediating most DOE landfills because, based on preliminary baseline risk assessments, human and ecological risks are considered to be low at most of these sites and the regulatory requirements for final closure of old landfills can be met using a well designed cap to isolate the buried waste. This report describes a program plan to design, develop, and test a decision support system (DSS) for assisting the DOE risk manager in evaluating capping alternatives for radioactive and hazardous waste landfills. The DOE DSS will incorporate methods for calculating, integrating and valuing technical, regulatory, and economic criteria

  1. Knowledge representation for decision support systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Methlie, L.B.

    1985-01-01

    This book is organized into three sections in accordance with the structure of the conference program. First section contains four major papers which were commissioned by the Programme Committee to set the tone for the conference and to provide a structured source of relevant material from contributing disciplines. The second section contains specific papers submitted to the conference, and concerned with the following topics of specific interest: epistemological issues for decision support systems (DSS), capturing organizational knowledge for DSS, complementarity between human and formal DSS, and representations for adaption. The third section contains the short papers on any topic of relevance to the theme of the conference. It is hoped that the two working conferences organized by WG 8.3 will contribute to the development of a coherent knowledge and understanding of the class of computerized information systems called Decision Support Systems. (Auth.)

  2. How Decision Support Systems Can Benefit from a Theory of Change Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Will; Cruz, Jennyffer; Warburton, Bruce

    2017-06-01

    Decision support systems are now mostly computer and internet-based information systems designed to support land managers with complex decision-making. However, there is concern that many environmental and agricultural decision support systems remain underutilized and ineffective. Recent efforts to improve decision support systems use have focused on enhancing stakeholder participation in their development, but a mismatch between stakeholders' expectations and the reality of decision support systems outputs continues to limit uptake. Additional challenges remain in problem-framing and evaluation. We propose using an outcomes-based approach called theory of change in conjunction with decision support systems development to support both wider problem-framing and outcomes-based monitoring and evaluation. The theory of change helps framing by placing the decision support systems within a wider context. It highlights how decision support systems use can "contribute" to long-term outcomes, and helps align decision support systems outputs with these larger goals. We illustrate the benefits of linking decision support systems development and application with a theory of change approach using an example of pest rabbit management in Australia. We develop a theory of change that outlines the activities required to achieve the outcomes desired from an effective rabbit management program, and two decision support systems that contribute to specific aspects of decision making in this wider problem context. Using a theory of change in this way should increase acceptance of the role of decision support systems by end-users, clarify their limitations and, importantly, increase effectiveness of rabbit management. The use of a theory of change should benefit those seeking to improve decision support systems design, use and, evaluation.

  3. How Decision Support Systems Can Benefit from a Theory of Change Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Will; Cruz, Jennyffer; Warburton, Bruce

    2017-06-01

    Decision support systems are now mostly computer and internet-based information systems designed to support land managers with complex decision-making. However, there is concern that many environmental and agricultural decision support systems remain underutilized and ineffective. Recent efforts to improve decision support systems use have focused on enhancing stakeholder participation in their development, but a mismatch between stakeholders' expectations and the reality of decision support systems outputs continues to limit uptake. Additional challenges remain in problem-framing and evaluation. We propose using an outcomes-based approach called theory of change in conjunction with decision support systems development to support both wider problem-framing and outcomes-based monitoring and evaluation. The theory of change helps framing by placing the decision support systems within a wider context. It highlights how decision support systems use can "contribute" to long-term outcomes, and helps align decision support systems outputs with these larger goals. We illustrate the benefits of linking decision support systems development and application with a theory of change approach using an example of pest rabbit management in Australia. We develop a theory of change that outlines the activities required to achieve the outcomes desired from an effective rabbit management program, and two decision support systems that contribute to specific aspects of decision making in this wider problem context. Using a theory of change in this way should increase acceptance of the role of decision support systems by end-users, clarify their limitations and, importantly, increase effectiveness of rabbit management. The use of a theory of change should benefit those seeking to improve decision support systems design, use and, evaluation.

  4. Direct and Electronic Health Record Access to the Clinical Decision Support for Immunizations in the Minnesota Immunization Information System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajamani, Sripriya; Bieringer, Aaron; Wallerius, Stephanie; Jensen, Daniel; Winden, Tamara; Muscoplat, Miriam Halstead

    2016-01-01

    Immunization information systems (IIS) are population-based and confidential computerized systems maintained by public health agencies containing individual data on immunizations from participating health care providers. IIS hold comprehensive vaccination histories given across providers and over time. An important aspect to IIS is the clinical decision support for immunizations (CDSi), consisting of vaccine forecasting algorithms to determine needed immunizations. The study objective was to analyze the CDSi presentation by IIS in Minnesota (Minnesota Immunization Information Connection [MIIC]) through direct access by IIS interface and by access through electronic health records (EHRs) to outline similarities and differences. The immunization data presented were similar across the three systems examined, but with varying ability to integrate data across MIIC and EHR, which impacts immunization data reconciliation. Study findings will lead to better understanding of immunization data display, clinical decision support, and user functionalities with the ultimate goal of promoting IIS CDSi to improve vaccination rates.

  5. Supporting informed decision making online in 20 minutes: an observational web-log study of a PSA test decision aid.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Joseph-Williams, N.; Evans, R.; Edwards, A.; Newcombe, R.G.; Wright, P.; Grol, R.P.T.M.; Elwyn, G.

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Web-based decision aids are known to have an effect on knowledge, attitude, and behavior; important components of informed decision making. We know what decision aids achieve in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), but we still know very little about how they are used and how this

  6. Delivering information: A descriptive study of Australian women’s information needs for decision-making about birth facility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thompson Rachel

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Little information is known about what information women want when choosing a birth facility. The objective of this study was to inform the development of a consumer decision support tool about birth facility by identifying the information needs of maternity care consumers in Queensland, Australia. Methods Participants were 146 women residing in both urban and rural areas of Queensland, Australia who were pregnant and/or had recently given birth. A cross-sectional survey was administered in which participants were asked to rate the importance of 42 information items to their decision-making about birth facility. Participants could also provide up to ten additional information items of interest in an open-ended question. Results On average, participants rated 30 of the 42 information items as important to decision-making about birth facility. While the majority of information items were valued by most participants, those related to policies about support people, other women’s recommendations about the facility, freedom to choose one’s preferred position during labour and birth, the aesthetic quality of the facility, and access to on-site neonatal intensive care were particularly widely valued. Additional items of interest frequently focused on postnatal care and support, policies related to medical intervention, and access to water immersion. Conclusions The women surveyed had significant and diverse information needs for decision-making about birth facility. These findings have immediate applications for the development of decision support tools about birth facility, and highlight the need for tools which provide a large volume of information in an accessible and user-friendly format. These findings may also be used to guide communication and information-sharing by care providers involved in counselling pregnant women and families about their options for birth facility or providing referrals to birth facilities.

  7. ADDIS: A decision support system for evidence-based medicine

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    G. van Valkenhoef (Gert); T. Tervonen (Tommi); T. Zwinkels (Tijs); B. de Brock (Bert); H.L. Hillege (Hans)

    2013-01-01

    textabstractClinical trials are the main source of information for the efficacy and safety evaluation of medical treatments. Although they are of pivotal importance in evidence-based medicine, there is a lack of usable information systems providing data-analysis and decision support capabilities for

  8. Integrating climatic and fuels information into National Fire Risk Decision Support Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    W. Cooke; V. Anantharaj; C. Wax; J. Choi; K. Grala; M. Jolly; G.P. Dixon; J. Dyer; D.L. Evans; G.B. Goodrich

    2007-01-01

    The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is a component of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service Decision Support Systems (DSS) that support fire potential modeling. Fire potential models for Mississippi and for Eastern fire environments have been developed as part of a National Aeronautic and Space Agency-funded study aimed at demonstrating the utility...

  9. Toward patient-centered, personalized and personal decision support and knowledge management: a survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, T-Y

    2012-01-01

    This paper summarizes the recent trends and highlights the challenges and opportunities in decision support and knowledge management for patient-centered, personalized, and personal health care. The discussions are based on a broad survey of related references, focusing on the most recent publications. Major advances are examined in the areas of i) shared decision making paradigms, ii) continuity of care infrastructures and architectures, iii) human factors and system design approaches, iv) knowledge management innovations, and v) practical deployment and change considerations. Many important initiatives, projects, and plans with promising results have been identified. The common themes focus on supporting the individual patients who are playing an increasing central role in their own care decision processes. New collaborative decision making paradigms and information infrastructures are required to ensure effective continuity of care. Human factors and usability are crucial for the successful development and deployment of the relevant systems, tools, and aids. Advances in personalized medicine can be achieved through integrating genomic, phenotypic and other biological, individual, and population level information, and gaining useful insights from building and analyzing biological and other models at multiple levels of abstraction. Therefore, new Information and Communication Technologies and evaluation approaches are needed to effectively manage the scale and complexity of biomedical and health information, and adapt to the changing nature of clinical decision support. Recent research in decision support and knowledge management combines heterogeneous information and personal data to provide cost-effective, calibrated, personalized support in shared decision making at the point of care. Current and emerging efforts concentrate on developing or extending conventional paradigms, techniques, systems, and architectures for the new predictive, preemptive, and

  10. Evolution of Decision Support Systems Research Field in Numbers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana-Maria SUDUC

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available The scientific production in a certain field shows, in great extent, the research interests in that field. Decision Support Systems are a particular class of information systems which are gaining more popularity in various domains. In order to identify the evolution in time of the publications number, authors, subjects, publications in the Decision Support Systems (DSS field, and therefore the scientific world interest for this field, in November 2010 there have been organized a series of queries on three major international scientific databases: ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore Digital Library and ACM Digital Library. The results presented in this paper shows that, even the decision support systems research field started in 1960s, the interests for this type of systems grew exponentially with each year in the last decades.

  11. Pattern-based Automatic Translation of Structured Power System Data to Functional Models for Decision Support Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heussen, Kai; Weckesser, Johannes Tilman Gabriel; Kullmann, Daniel

    2013-01-01

    Improved information and insight for decision support in operations and design are central promises of a smart grid. Well-structured information about the composition of power systems is increasingly becoming available in the domain, e.g. due to standard information models (e.g. CIM or IEC61850......) or otherwise structured databases. More measurements and data do not automatically improve decisions, but there is an opportunity to capitalize on this information for decision support. With suitable reasoning strategies data can be contextualized and decision-relevant events can be promoted and identified....... This paper presents an approach to link available structured power system data directly to a functional representation suitable for diagnostic reasoning. The translation method is applied to test cases also illustrating decision support....

  12. Adoption of web-based group decision support systems: Experiences from the field and future developments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hillegersberg, Jos; Koenen, Sebastiaan

    2016-01-01

    While organizations have massively adopted enterprise information systems to support business processes, business meetings in which key decisions are made about products, services and processes, are usually held without much support of information systems. This is remarkable as group decision

  13. On the Use of Time-Limited Information for Maintenance Decision Support: A Predictive Approach under Maintenance Constraints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Khoury

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with a gradually deteriorating system operating under an uncertain environment whose state is only known on a finite rolling horizon. As such, the system is subject to constraints. Maintenance actions can only be planned at imposed times called maintenance opportunities that are available on a limited visibility horizon. This system can, for example, be a commercial vehicle with a monitored critical component that can be maintained only in some specific workshops. Based on the considered system, we aim to use the monitoring data and the time-limited information for maintenance decision support in order to reduce its costs. We propose two predictive maintenance policies based, respectively, on cost and reliability criteria. Classical age-based and condition-based policies are considered as benchmarks. The performance assessment shows the value of the different types of information and the best way to use them in maintenance decision making.

  14. Temporal reasoning for decision support in medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Augusto, Juan Carlos

    2005-01-01

    Handling time-related concepts is essential in medicine. During diagnosis it can make a substantial difference to know the temporal order in which some symptoms occurred or for how long they lasted. During prognosis the potential evolutions of a disease are conceived as a description of events unfolding in time. In therapy planning the different steps of treatment must be applied in a precise order, with a given frequency and for a certain span of time in order to be effective. This article offers a survey on the use of temporal reasoning for decision support-related tasks in medicine. Key publications of the area, mainly circumscribed to the latest two decades, are reviewed and classified according to three important stages of patient treatment requiring decision support: diagnosis, prognosis and therapy planning/management. Other complementary publications, like those on time-centered information storage and retrieval, are also considered as they provide valuable support to the above mentioned three stages. Key areas are highlighted and used to organize the latest contributions. The survey of previous research is followed by an analysis of what can still be improved and what is needed to make the next generation of decision support systems for medicine more effective. It can be observed that although the area has been considerably developed, there are still areas where more research is needed to make time-based systems of widespread use in decision support-related areas of medicine. Several suggestions for further exploration are proposed as a result of the survey.

  15. A free software tool for the development of decision support systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    COLONESE, G

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available This article describes PostGeoOlap, a free software open source tool for decision support that integrates OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing and GIS (Geographical Information Systems. Besides describing the tool, we show how it can be used to achieve effective and low cost decision support that is adequate for small and medium companies and for small public offices.

  16. Decision aids that support decisions about prenatal testing for Down syndrome: an environmental scan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leiva Portocarrero, Maria Esther; Garvelink, Mirjam M; Becerra Perez, Maria Margarita; Giguère, Anik; Robitaille, Hubert; Wilson, Brenda J; Rousseau, François; Légaré, France

    2015-09-24

    Prenatal screening tests for Down syndrome (DS) are routine in many developed countries and new tests are rapidly becoming available. Decisions about prenatal screening are increasingly complex with each successive test, and pregnant women need information about risks and benefits as well as clarity about their values. Decision aids (DAs) can help healthcare providers support women in this decision. Using an environmental scan, we aimed to identify publicly available DAs focusing on prenatal screening/diagnosis for Down syndrome that provide effective support for decision making. Data sources searched were the Decision Aids Library Inventory (DALI) of the Ottawa Patient Decision Aids Research Group at the Ottawa Health Research Institute; Google searches on the internet; professional organizations, academic institutions and other experts in the field; and references in existing systematic reviews on DAs. Eligible DAs targeted pregnant women, focused on prenatal screening and/or diagnosis, applied to tests for fetal abnormalities or aneuploidies, and were in French, English, Spanish or Portuguese. Pairs of reviewers independently identified eligible DAs and extracted characteristics including the presence of practical decision support tools and features to aid comprehension. They then performed quality assessment using the 16 minimum standards established by the International Patient Decision Aids Standards (IPDASi v4.0). Of 543 potentially eligible DAs (512 in DALI, 27 from experts, and four on the internet), 23 were eligible and 20 were available for data extraction. DAs were developed from 1996 to 2013 in six countries (UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Sweden, and France). Five DAs were for prenatal screening, three for prenatal diagnosis and 12 for both). Eight contained values clarification methods (personal worksheets). The 20 DAs scored a median of 10/16 (range 6-15) on the 16 IPDAS minimum standards. None of the 20 included DAs met all 16 IPDAS minimum standards

  17. The Process of Handling an Excess of Complex and Interdisciplinary Information in a Decision Support Research Situation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fredrik Moltu Johnsen

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Researchers are sometimes expected to investigate a complex and interdisciplinary subject-matter in order to provide scientific support for large-scale decisions. This may prove challenging: typically, a lack of cohesion between the pieces of information investigated in the starting phase may cause confusion. This article suggests one possible road from this problem, which may lead to holistic understanding and next to communication and implementation of this understanding. The process is presented as a diagram, and selected aspects of it are analysed. The process involves moving to a higher level of generalisation in order to gain a better overview and potentially invent new concepts, and next moving back to a more detailed level in order to communicate and implement these insights. Potential challenges and roadblocks are identified. The possible conflict between normal science and decision support is briefly investigated; it is pointed out that “post-normal science” may be a more appropriate description of such processes than simply “science”.

  18. Design of decision support interventions for medication prescribing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horsky, Jan; Phansalkar, Shobha; Desai, Amrita; Bell, Douglas; Middleton, Blackford

    2013-06-01

    Describe optimal design attributes of clinical decision support (CDS) interventions for medication prescribing, emphasizing perceptual, cognitive and functional characteristics that improve human-computer interaction (HCI) and patient safety. Findings from published reports on success, failures and lessons learned during implementation of CDS systems were reviewed and interpreted with regard to HCI and software usability principles. We then formulated design recommendations for CDS alerts that would reduce unnecessary workflow interruptions and allow clinicians to make informed decisions quickly, accurately and without extraneous cognitive and interactive effort. Excessive alerting that tends to distract clinicians rather than provide effective CDS can be reduced by designing only high severity alerts as interruptive dialog boxes and less severe warnings without explicit response requirement, by curating system knowledge bases to suppress warnings with low clinical utility and by integrating contextual patient data into the decision logic. Recommended design principles include parsimonious and consistent use of color and language, minimalist approach to the layout of information and controls, the use of font attributes to convey hierarchy and visual prominence of important data over supporting information, the inclusion of relevant patient data in the context of the alert and allowing clinicians to respond with one or two clicks. Although HCI and usability principles are well established and robust, CDS and EHR system interfaces rarely conform to the best known design conventions and are seldom conceived and designed well enough to be truly versatile and dependable tools. These relatively novel interventions still require careful monitoring, research and analysis of its track record to mature. Clarity and specificity of alert content and optimal perceptual and cognitive attributes, for example, are essential for providing effective decision support to clinicians

  19. Modelling and Decision Support of Clinical Pathways

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabriel, Roland; Lux, Thomas

    The German health care market is under a rapid rate of change, forcing especially hospitals to provide high-quality services at low costs. Appropriate measures for more effective and efficient service provision are process orientation and decision support by information technology of clinical pathway of a patient. The essential requirements are adequate modelling of clinical pathways as well as usage of adequate systems, which are capable of assisting the complete path of a patient within a hospital, and preferably also outside of it, in a digital way. To fulfil these specifications the authors present a suitable concept, which meets the challenges of well-structured clinical pathways as well as rather poorly structured diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, by interplay of process-oriented and knowledge-based hospital information systems.

  20. Decision Support System for Hepatitis Disease Diagnosis using Bayesian Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shamshad Lakho

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Medical judgments are tough and challenging as the decisions are often based on the deficient and ambiguous information. Moreover, the result of decision process has direct effects on human lives. The act of human decision declines in emergency situations due to the complication, time limit, and high risks. Therefore, provision of medical diagnosis plays a dynamic role, specifically in the preliminary stage when a physician has limited diagnosis experience and identifies the directions to be taken for the treatment process. Computerized Decision Support Systems have brought a revolution in the medical diagnosis. These automatic systems support the diagnosticians in the course of diagnosis. The major role of Decision Support Systems is to support the medical personnel in decision-making procedures regarding disease diagnosis and treatment recommendation. The proposed system provides easy support in Hepatitis disease recognition. The system is developed using the Bayesian network model. The physician provides the input to the system in the form of symptoms stated by the patient. These signs and symptoms match with the casual relationships present in the knowledge model. The Bayesian network infers conclusion from the knowledge model and calculates the probability of occurrence of Hepatitis B, C and D disorders.

  1. Enhanced health E-decision literacy via interactive multi-criterial support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaltoft, Mette Kjer; Almeida, J.; Moncho Mas, Vicent

    Healthcare lacks a generic language for decisional communication. We aim to enhance health decision literacy via specific e-decision support. Given the multi-criterial, preference-sensitive nature of decision-making, we implement the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) technique online...... in an interactive and visual template (Annalisa), developing decision-specific tools at the clinical/personal and group/policy levels. Our current nationally funded project on bone health caters for home-prepared, informed and preference-based consent and taps into existing e-health infrastructures towards person...

  2. Climate Information Needs for Financial Decision Making

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Higgins, Paul [American Meteorological Society, Washington, DC (United States)

    2013-11-19

    Climate Information Needs for Financial Decision Making (Final Report) This Department of Energy workshop award (grant #DE-SC0008480) provided primary support for the American Meteorological Society’s study on climate information needs for financial decision making. The goal of this study was to help advance societal decision making by examining the implications of climate variability and change on near-term financial investments. We explored four key topics: 1) the conditions and criteria that influence returns on investment of major financial decisions, 2) the climate sensitivity of financial decisions, 3) climate information needs of financial decision makers, and 4) potential new mechanisms to promote collaboration between scientists and financial decision makers. Better understanding of these four topics will help scientists provide the most useful information and enable financial decision makers to use scientific information most effectively. As a result, this study will enable leaders in business and government to make well-informed choices that help maximize long-term economic success and social wellbeing in the United States The outcomes of the study include a workshop, which brought together leaders from the scientific and financial decision making communities, a publication of the study report, and a public briefing of the results to the policy community. In addition, we will present the results to the scientific community at the AMS Annual Meeting in February, 2014. The study results were covered well by the media including Bloomberg News and E&E News. Upon request, we also briefed the Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on the outcomes. We presented the results to the policy community through a public briefing in December on Capitol Hill. The full report is publicly available at www.ametsoc.org/cin. Summary of Key Findings The United States invests roughly $1.5 trillion U.S. dollars (USD) in

  3. Personalised Multi-Criterial Online Decision Support for Siblings Considering Stem Cell Donation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaltoft, Mette Kjer; Salkeld, Glenn; Dowie, Jack

    2016-01-01

    Person-centred decision support combines the best available information on the considerations that matter to the individual, with the importance the person attaches to those considerations. Nurses and other health professionals can benefit from being able to draw on this support within a clinical...... of a decision. By interactive decision support within a clinical conversation, each stakeholder can gain a personalised opinion, as well as increased generic health decision literacy [2]....... conversation. A case study and storyline on four siblings facing a transplant coordinator's call to donate stem cells to their brother [1] is 'translated' and used to demonstrate how an interactive multi-criteria aid can be developed for each within a conversational mode. The personalized dialogue and decision...

  4. Hidden profiles and concealed information: strategic information sharing and use in group decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toma, Claudia; Butera, Fabrizio

    2009-06-01

    Two experiments investigated the differential impact of cooperation and competition on strategic information sharing and use in a three-person group decision-making task. Information was distributed in order to create a hidden profile so that disconfirmation of group members' initial preferences was required to solve the task. Experiment 1 revealed that competition, compared to cooperation, led group members to withhold unshared information, a difference that was not significant for shared information. In competition, compared to cooperation, group members were also more reluctant to disconfirm their initial preferences. Decision quality was lower in competition than in cooperation, this effect being mediated by disconfirmation use and not by information sharing. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and revealed the role of mistrust in predicting strategic information sharing and use in competition. These results support a motivated information processing approach of group decision making.

  5. Development of the decision make supporting system on incident management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasamatsu, Mizuki; Hanada, Satoshi; Noda, Eisuke

    2017-01-01

    Decision Make Supporting System is designed to support appropriate decision made by top management in the nuclear severe conditions. With crisis response in nuclear power plant (NPP), information entanglement between sites and control centers during intense situations interfere with prompt and accurate decision making. This research started with that kind of background. In order to solve the issue of the information entanglement, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Inc. (MHI) carried out the development of the Decision Make Supporting System and the system applies the technology combining the human factors engineering (HFE) and information and communication technology (ICT). During the crisis response, various commands, reactions and communications in a human system need to be managed. Therefore, the combined HFE method including detailed task analysis, user experience (UX), graphic user interface (GUI) and related human-system interface (HSI) design method is applied to the design of the system. These design results systematize the functions that prevent interference with decision-making in the headquarters for incident management. This new solution as a system enhances the safety improvement of the NPP and contributes to develop the skills and abilities of the resources in the NPP. The system has three key features for supporting emergency situations: 'understanding the situation', 'planning the next action', and 'managing resources'. The system helps commanders and responders to grasp the whole situation and allows them to share information in real time to get a whole picture, and the system accumulates the data of the past events in the chronological order to understand correctly how they happened and plan the next action by using a knowledge database that MHI has been developed. If the unexpected event happens which are not in the incident scenario, the system provides support to formulate alternative strategies and measures. With this

  6. Application of a web-based Decision Support System in risk management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aye, Zar Chi; Jaboyedoff, Michel; Derron, Marc-Henri

    2013-04-01

    Increasingly, risk information is widely available with the help of advanced technologies such as earth observation satellites, global positioning technologies, coupled with hazard modeling and analysis, and geographical information systems (GIS). Even though it exists, no effort will be put into action if it is not properly presented to the decision makers. These information need to be communicated clearly and show its usefulness so that people can make better informed decision. Therefore, communicating available risk information has become an important challenge and decision support systems have been one of the significant approaches which can help not only in presenting risk information to the decision makers but also in making efficient decisions while reducing human resources and time needed. In this study, the conceptual framework of an internet-based decision support system is presented to highlight its importance role in risk management framework and how it can be applied in case study areas chosen. The main purpose of the proposed system is to facilitate the available risk information in risk reduction by taking into account of the changes in climate, land use and socio-economic along with the risk scenarios. It allows the users to formulate, compare and select risk reduction scenarios (mainly for floods and landslides) through an enhanced participatory platform with diverse stakeholders' involvement in the decision making process. It is based on the three-tier (client-server) architecture which integrates web-GIS plus DSS functionalities together with cost benefit analysis and other supporting tools. Embedding web-GIS provides its end users to make better planning and informed decisions referenced to a geographical location, which is the one of the essential factors in disaster risk reduction programs. Different risk reduction measures of a specific area (local scale) will be evaluated using this web-GIS tool, available risk scenarios obtained from

  7. Modular Architecture for Integrated Model-Based Decision Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaebel, Jan; Schreiber, Erik; Oeser, Alexander; Oeltze-Jafra, Steffen

    2018-01-01

    Model-based decision support systems promise to be a valuable addition to oncological treatments and the implementation of personalized therapies. For the integration and sharing of decision models, the involved systems must be able to communicate with each other. In this paper, we propose a modularized architecture of dedicated systems for the integration of probabilistic decision models into existing hospital environments. These systems interconnect via web services and provide model sharing and processing capabilities for clinical information systems. Along the lines of IHE integration profiles from other disciplines and the meaningful reuse of routinely recorded patient data, our approach aims for the seamless integration of decision models into hospital infrastructure and the physicians' daily work.

  8. Improvment, extension and integration of operational decision support systems for nuclear emergency management (DSSNET)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ehrhardt, J.

    2005-07-01

    The DSSNET network was established in October 2000 with the overall objective to create an effective and accepted framework for better communication and understanding between the community of institutions involved in operational off-site emergency management and the many and diverse RTD institutes further developing methods and tools in this area, in particular decision support systems (DSS), for making well informed and consistent judgements with respect to practical improvements of emergency response in Europe. 37 institutions from 21 countries of East and West Europe have been members of the network with about half of them responsible for operational emergency management. The objectives of the network have been numerous and the more important ones include: to ensure that future RTD is more responsive to user needs, to inform the user community of new developments and their potential for improving emergency response, to improve operational decision support systems from feedback of operational experience, to identify how information and data exchange between countries can be improved, to promote greater coherence among operational decision support systems and to encourage shared development of new and improved decision support systems features, and to improve the practicability of operational decision support systems. To stimulate the communication and feedback between the operational and the RTD community, problem-oriented emergency exercises were performed, which covered the various time phases of an accident and which extended from the near range to farther distances with frontier crossing transport of radionuclides. The report describes the objectives of the DSSNET, the five emergency exercises performed and the results of their evaluation. They provided valuable insight and lessons for operators and users of decision support systems, in particular the need for much more intensive training and exercising with decision support systems and their interaction with

  9. Radwaste Decision Support System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westrom, G.; Vance, J.N.; Gelhaus, F.E.

    1989-01-01

    The purpose of the Radwaste Decision Support System (RDSS) is to provide expert advice, analysis results and instructional material relative to the treatment, handling, transport and disposal of low-level radioactive waste produced in nuclear power plants. This functional specification addresses the following topics: Functions of the RDSS, Relationships and interfaces between the function, Development of the decisions and logic tree structures embodied in waste management, Elements of the database and the characteristics required to support the decision-making process, Specific User requirements for the RDSS, Development of the user interface, Basic software architecture, and Concepts for the RDSS usage including updating and maintenance

  10. Information support model and its impact on utility, satisfaction and loyalty of users

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sead Šadić

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In today’s modern age, information systems are of vital importance for successful performance of any organization. The most important role of any information system is its information support. This paper develops an information support model and presents the results of the survey examining the effects of such model. The survey was performed among the employees of Brčko District Government and comprised three phases. The first phase assesses the influence of the quality of information support and information on information support when making decisions. The second phase examines the impact of information support when making decisions on the perceived availability and user satisfaction with information support. The third phase examines the effects of perceived usefulness as well as information support satisfaction on user loyalty. The model is presented using six hypotheses, which were tested by means of a multivariate regression analysis. The demonstrated model shows that the quality of information support and information is of vital importance in the decision-making process. The perceived usefulness and customer satisfaction are of vital importance for continuous usage of information support. The model is universal, and if slightly modified, it can be used in any sphere of life where satisfaction is measured for clients and users of some service.

  11. Conceptual framework of knowledge management for ethical decision-making support in neonatal intensive care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frize, Monique; Yang, Lan; Walker, Robin C; O'Connor, Annette M

    2005-06-01

    This research is built on the belief that artificial intelligence estimations need to be integrated into clinical social context to create value for health-care decisions. In sophisticated neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), decisions to continue or discontinue aggressive treatment are an integral part of clinical practice. High-quality evidence supports clinical decision-making, and a decision-aid tool based on specific outcome information for individual NICU patients will provide significant support for parents and caregivers in making difficult "ethical" treatment decisions. In our approach, information on a newborn patient's likely outcomes is integrated with the physician's interpretation and parents' perspectives into codified knowledge. Context-sensitive content adaptation delivers personalized and customized information to a variety of users, from physicians to parents. The system provides structuralized knowledge translation and exchange between all participants in the decision, facilitating collaborative decision-making that involves parents at every stage on whether to initiate, continue, limit, or terminate intensive care for their infant.

  12. Characterizing uncertain sea-level rise projections to support investment decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sriver, Ryan L; Lempert, Robert J; Wikman-Svahn, Per; Keller, Klaus

    2018-01-01

    Many institutions worldwide are considering how to include uncertainty about future changes in sea-levels and storm surges into their investment decisions regarding large capital infrastructures. Here we examine how to characterize deeply uncertain climate change projections to support such decisions using Robust Decision Making analysis. We address questions regarding how to confront the potential for future changes in low probability but large impact flooding events due to changes in sea-levels and storm surges. Such extreme events can affect investments in infrastructure but have proved difficult to consider in such decisions because of the deep uncertainty surrounding them. This study utilizes Robust Decision Making methods to address two questions applied to investment decisions at the Port of Los Angeles: (1) Under what future conditions would a Port of Los Angeles decision to harden its facilities against extreme flood scenarios at the next upgrade pass a cost-benefit test, and (2) Do sea-level rise projections and other information suggest such conditions are sufficiently likely to justify such an investment? We also compare and contrast the Robust Decision Making methods with a full probabilistic analysis. These two analysis frameworks result in similar investment recommendations for different idealized future sea-level projections, but provide different information to decision makers and envision different types of engagement with stakeholders. In particular, the full probabilistic analysis begins by aggregating the best scientific information into a single set of joint probability distributions, while the Robust Decision Making analysis identifies scenarios where a decision to invest in near-term response to extreme sea-level rise passes a cost-benefit test, and then assembles scientific information of differing levels of confidence to help decision makers judge whether or not these scenarios are sufficiently likely to justify making such investments

  13. Risk-based emergency decision support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koerte, Jens

    2003-01-01

    In the present paper we discuss how to assist critical decisions taken under complex, contingent circumstances, with a high degree of uncertainty and short time frames. In such sharp-end decision regimes, standard rule-based decision support systems do not capture the complexity of the situation. At the same time, traditional risk analysis is of little use due to variability in the specific circumstances. How then, can an organisation provide assistance to, e.g. pilots in dealing with such emergencies? A method called 'contingent risk and decision analysis' is presented, to provide decision support for decisions under variable circumstances and short available time scales. The method consists of nine steps of definition, modelling, analysis and criteria definition to be performed 'off-line' by analysts, and procedure generation to transform the analysis result into an operational decision aid. Examples of pilots' decisions in response to sudden vibration in offshore helicopter transport method are used to illustrate the approach

  14. A Decision Support System for Optimum Use of Fertilizers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    R. L. Hoskinson; J. R. Hess; R. K. Fink

    1999-07-01

    The Decision Support System for Agriculture (DSS4Ag) is an expert system being developed by the Site-Specific Technologies for Agriculture (SST4Ag) precision farming research project at the INEEL. DSS4Ag uses state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and computer science technologies to make spatially variable, site-specific, economically optimum decisions on fertilizer use. The DSS4Ag has an open architecture that allows for external input and addition of new requirements and integrates its results with existing agricultural systems' infrastructures. The DSS4Ag reflects a paradigm shift in the information revolution in agriculture that is precision farming. We depict this information revolution in agriculture as an historic trend in the agricultural decision-making process.

  15. A Decision Support System for Optimum Use of Fertilizers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoskinson, Reed Louis; Hess, John Richard; Fink, Raymond Keith

    1999-07-01

    The Decision Support System for Agriculture (DSS4Ag) is an expert system being developed by the Site-Specific Technologies for Agriculture (SST4Ag) precision farming research project at the INEEL. DSS4Ag uses state-of-the-art artificial intelligence and computer science technologies to make spatially variable, site-specific, economically optimum decisions on fertilizer use. The DSS4Ag has an open architecture that allows for external input and addition of new requirements and integrates its results with existing agricultural systems’ infrastructures. The DSS4Ag reflects a paradigm shift in the information revolution in agriculture that is precision farming. We depict this information revolution in agriculture as an historic trend in the agricultural decision-making process.

  16. Information technology support for emergency management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uuspaeae, P.

    1990-01-01

    Information systems for distributed decision support for emergency management are considered. Specific applications include nuclear power plant emergencies. Emergencies in other industries such as chemical industry may also be considered. Research in the ISEM project is briefly summarized

  17. Integrating decision support tools and environmental information systems: a case study on the Province of Milan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bagli, S.; Pistocchi, A.; Mazzoli, P.; Valentini, P.

    2006-01-01

    The paper demonstrates an application of advanced decision support tools within the framework of the environmental information system of the Province of Milan. These tools include environmental simulation models, multi criteria analysis, risk analysis and environmental accounting for marketable emission permits. After describing the general structure of the system, three demonstrational case studies are introduced concerning: groundwater pollution management; atmospheric pollution management; urban environmental quality perception and management. In the conclusion, potential use of tools like the ones implemented by the province of Milan within the framework of Local Agenda 21 processes is recalled [it

  18. Food chain data customization for decision support systems in Austria

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gert, Sdouz; Manfred, Pachole

    2006-01-01

    In the case of a nuclear accident in Europe the integral decision support system R.O.D.O.S. ( real-time on-line decision support system for off-site emergency management) supplies comprehensive information on the present and future radiological situation, and the consequences of measures to protect the population. These data comprise mainly map information such as population distribution, rivers, roads, vegetation areas and production data of various food products. This work concentrates on the customization of the data for the food chain and dose module for terrestrial pathways. During the last fifteen years two different codes have been used in Austria for support during accidents with radioactive releases: O.E.C.O.S.Y.S. and R.O.D.O.S.. Adaptations and improvements have been performed to give better tools, they are detailed in this paper. (N.C.)

  19. Food chain data customization for decision support systems in Austria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gert, Sdouz; Manfred, Pachole [ARC Seibersdorf research, Seibersdorf (Austria)

    2006-07-01

    In the case of a nuclear accident in Europe the integral decision support system R.O.D.O.S. ( real-time on-line decision support system for off-site emergency management) supplies comprehensive information on the present and future radiological situation, and the consequences of measures to protect the population. These data comprise mainly map information such as population distribution, rivers, roads, vegetation areas and production data of various food products. This work concentrates on the customization of the data for the food chain and dose module for terrestrial pathways. During the last fifteen years two different codes have been used in Austria for support during accidents with radioactive releases: O.E.C.O.S.Y.S. and R.O.D.O.S.. Adaptations and improvements have been performed to give better tools, they are detailed in this paper. (N.C.)

  20. GIS to support cost-effective decisions on renewable sources applications for low temperature geothermal energy

    CERN Document Server

    Gemelli, Alberto; Diamantini, Claudia; Longhi, Sauro

    2013-01-01

    Through the results of a developed case study of information system for low temperature geothermal energy, GIS to Support Cost-effective Decisions on Renewable Sources addresses the issue of the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in evaluating cost-effectiveness of renewable resource exploitation regional scale. Focusing on the design of a Decision Support System, a process is presented aimed to transform geographic data into knowledge useful for analysis and decision-making on the economic exploitation of geothermal energy. This detailed description includes a literature review and technical issues related to data collection, data mining, decision analysis for the informative system developed for the case study. A multi-disciplinary approach to GIS design is presented which is also an innovative example of fusion of georeferenced data acquired from multiple sources including remote sensing, networks of sensors and socio-economic censuses. GIS to Support Cost-effective Decisions on Renewable Sources ...

  1. EMDS users guide (version 2.0): knowledge-based decision support for ecological assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keith M. Reynolds

    1999-01-01

    The USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station in Corvallis, Oregon, has developed the ecosystem management decision support (EMDS) system. The system integrates the logical formalism of knowledge-based reasoning into a geographic information system (GIS) environment to provide decision support for ecological landscape assessment and evaluation. The...

  2. Enabling joined-up decision making with geotemporal information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, M. J.; Ahmed, S. E.; Purves, D. W.; Emmott, S.; Joppa, L. N.; Caldararu, S.; Visconti, P.; Newbold, T.; Formica, A. F.

    2015-12-01

    While the use of geospatial data to assist in decision making is becoming increasingly common, the use of geotemporal information: information that can be indexed by geographical space AND time, is much rarer. I will describe our scientific research and software development efforts intended to advance the availability and use of geotemporal information in general. I will show two recent examples of "stacking" geotemporal information to support land use decision making in the Brazilian Amazon and Kenya, involving data-constrained predictive models and empirically derived datasets of road development, deforestation, carbon, agricultural yields, water purification and poverty alleviation services and will show how we use trade-off analyses and constraint reasoning algorithms to explore the costs and benefits of different decisions. For the Brazilian Amazon we explore tradeoffs involved in different deforestation scenarios, while for Kenya we explore the impacts of conserving forest to support international carbon conservation initiatives (REDD+). I will also illustrate the cloud-based software tools we have developed to enable anyone to access geotemporal information, gridded (e.g. climate) or non-gridded (e.g. protected areas), for the past, present or future and incorporate such information into their analyses (e.g. www.fetchclimate.org), including how we train new predictive models to such data using Bayesian techniques: on this latter point I will show how we combine satellite and ground measured data with predictive models to forecast how crops might respond to climate change.

  3. Dashboard visualizations: Supporting real-time throughput decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franklin, Amy; Gantela, Swaroop; Shifarraw, Salsawit; Johnson, Todd R; Robinson, David J; King, Brent R; Mehta, Amit M; Maddow, Charles L; Hoot, Nathan R; Nguyen, Vickie; Rubio, Adriana; Zhang, Jiajie; Okafor, Nnaemeka G

    2017-07-01

    Providing timely and effective care in the emergency department (ED) requires the management of individual patients as well as the flow and demands of the entire department. Strategic changes to work processes, such as adding a flow coordination nurse or a physician in triage, have demonstrated improvements in throughput times. However, such global strategic changes do not address the real-time, often opportunistic workflow decisions of individual clinicians in the ED. We believe that real-time representation of the status of the entire emergency department and each patient within it through information visualizations will better support clinical decision-making in-the-moment and provide for rapid intervention to improve ED flow. This notion is based on previous work where we found that clinicians' workflow decisions were often based on an in-the-moment local perspective, rather than a global perspective. Here, we discuss the challenges of designing and implementing visualizations for ED through a discussion of the development of our prototype Throughput Dashboard and the potential it holds for supporting real-time decision-making. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  4. Decision support system for health care resources allocation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebaa, Abderrazak; Nouicer, Amina; Tari, AbdelKamel; Tarik, Ramtani; Abdellah, Ouhab

    2017-06-01

    A study about healthcare resources can improve decisions regarding the allotment and mobilization of medical resources and to better guide future investment in the health sector. The aim of this work was to design and implement a decision support system to improve medical resources allocation of Bejaia region. To achieve the retrospective cohort study, we integrated existing clinical databases from different Bejaia department health sector institutions (an Algerian department) to collect information about patients from January 2015 through December 2015. Data integration was performed in a data warehouse using the multi-dimensional model and OLAP cube. During implementation, we used Microsoft SQL server 2012 and Microsoft Excel 2010. A medical decision support platform was introduced, and was implemented during the planning stages allowing the management of different medical orientations, it provides better apportionment and allotment of medical resources, and ensures that the allocation of health care resources has optimal effects on improving health. In this study, we designed and implemented a decision support system which would improve health care in Bejaia department to especially assist in the selection of the optimum location of health center and hospital, the specialty of the health center, the medical equipment and the medical staff.

  5. Managers' perception regarding information systems that provide decision making support: a case study in an organizational unit of a petroleum derivatives company

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabiano Raldi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available In a globalization scenario, uncertainty and high competitive edge between the companies, every manager needs to make decisions that bring competitive advantage to his/her organization. These decisions are increasingly complex, which demands more rapid and precise information to allow efficient decision-making. It is in this scenario that Information Systems (IS have gained importance in the decision-making process. Yet, many of these IS may not be adequate to the manager’s needs. This study aims to identify the perception of the managers of an Organizational Unit at an oil and derivatives company about the support given by ISs regarding their decision making. To obtain the expected results, a questionnaire based on the critical factors involved in IS quality and directed to the managers of the Organizational Unit. Results of this study will enable professionals responsible for developing ISs, as well as managers and those working with these systems to identify strengths and weaknesses of existing systems.

  6. Modeling uncertainty in requirements engineering decision support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feather, Martin S.; Maynard-Zhang, Pedrito; Kiper, James D.

    2005-01-01

    One inherent characteristic of requrements engineering is a lack of certainty during this early phase of a project. Nevertheless, decisions about requirements must be made in spite of this uncertainty. Here we describe the context in which we are exploring this, and some initial work to support elicitation of uncertain requirements, and to deal with the combination of such information from multiple stakeholders.

  7. EUPHIDS, a decision-support system for the admission of pesticides

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beinat E; Berg R van den; Vrije Universiteit van; Fraunhofer Institue for Environmental Chemistry; International Centre of Pesticide Safety, Busto; LBG

    1996-01-01

    EUPHIDS (EUropean Pesticide Hazard Information and Decision-support System) is the result of a research project carried out during 1993-1995 with the support of the Environment Research Programme (1990-1994) of the European Union. The system is meant to become an aid in the process of registering a

  8. Real-time information support for managing plant emergency responses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cain, D.G.; Lord, R.J.; Wilkinson, C.D.

    1983-01-01

    The Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident highlighted the need to develop a systematic approach to managing plant emergency responses, to identify a better decision-making process, and to implement real-time information support for decision-making. The overall process management function is described and general information requirements for management of plant emergencies are identified. Basic information systems are being incorporated and future extensions and problem areas are discussed. (U.K.)

  9. Decision support for farmers in Africa: Analysis of the roles and ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Decision support for farmers in Africa: Analysis of the roles and ... producers to access more consumable, accurate and timely information for making informed choices. ... To capitalise on 'big data', the sub-Saharan African grain industry needs ...

  10. SUPPORT Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP) 3: Setting priorities for supporting evidence-informed policymaking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavis, John N; Oxman, Andrew D; Lewin, Simon; Fretheim, Atle

    2009-12-16

    This article is part of a series written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers. Policymakers have limited resources for developing--or supporting the development of--evidence-informed policies and programmes. These required resources include staff time, staff infrastructural needs (such as access to a librarian or journal article purchasing), and ongoing professional development. They may therefore prefer instead to contract out such work to independent units with more suitably skilled staff and appropriate infrastructure. However, policymakers may only have limited financial resources to do so. Regardless of whether the support for evidence-informed policymaking is provided in-house or contracted out, or whether it is centralised or decentralised, resources always need to be used wisely in order to maximise their impact. Examples of undesirable practices in a priority-setting approach include timelines to support evidence-informed policymaking being negotiated on a case-by-case basis (instead of having clear norms about the level of support that can be provided for each timeline), implicit (rather than explicit) criteria for setting priorities, ad hoc (rather than systematic and explicit) priority-setting process, and the absence of both a communications plan and a monitoring and evaluation plan. In this article, we suggest questions that can guide those setting priorities for finding and using research evidence to support evidence-informed policymaking. These are: 1. Does the approach to prioritisation make clear the timelines that have been set for addressing high-priority issues in different ways? 2. Does the approach incorporate explicit criteria for determining priorities? 3. Does the approach incorporate an explicit process for determining priorities? 4. Does the approach incorporate a communications strategy and a monitoring and evaluation plan?

  11. Toward the Modularization of Decision Support Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raskin, R. G.

    2009-12-01

    Decision support systems are typically developed entirely from scratch without the use of modular components. This “stovepiped” approach is inefficient and costly because it prevents a developer from leveraging the data, models, tools, and services of other developers. Even when a decision support component is made available, it is difficult to know what problem it solves, how it relates to other components, or even that the component exists, The Spatial Decision Support (SDS) Consortium was formed in 2008 to organize the body of knowledge in SDS within a common portal. The portal identifies the canonical steps in the decision process and enables decision support components to be registered, categorized, and searched. This presentation describes how a decision support system can be assembled from modular models, data, tools and services, based on the needs of the Earth science application.

  12. Recommendations on future development of decision support systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    MCarthur, Stephen; Chen, Minjiang; Marinelli, Mattia

    Deliverable 8.3 reports on the consolidation of experiences from visualisation, decision support prototypes experiments and recommendations on future developments of decision support systems......Deliverable 8.3 reports on the consolidation of experiences from visualisation, decision support prototypes experiments and recommendations on future developments of decision support systems...

  13. Evidence and Obesity Prevention: Developing Evidence Summaries to Support Decision Making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Rachel; Waters, Elizabeth; Armstrong, Rebecca; Conning, Rebecca; Allender, Steven; Swinburn, Boyd

    2013-01-01

    Public health practitioners make decisions based on research evidence in combination with a variety of other influences. Evidence summaries are one of a range of knowledge translation options used to support evidence-informed decision making. The literature relevant to obesity prevention requires synthesis for it to be accessible and relevant to…

  14. Effects of computerized clinical decision support systems on practitioner performance and patient outcomes: Methods of a decision-maker-researcher partnership systematic review

    OpenAIRE

    Wilczynski Nancy L; Haynes R Brian

    2010-01-01

    Abstract Background Computerized clinical decision support systems are information technology-based systems designed to improve clinical decision-making. As with any healthcare intervention with claims to improve process of care or patient outcomes, decision support systems should be rigorously evaluated before widespread dissemination into clinical practice. Engaging healthcare providers and managers in the review process may facilitate knowledge translation and uptake. The objective of this...

  15. Launching a virtual decision lab: development and field-testing of a web-based patient decision support research platform.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Aubri S; Llewellyn-Thomas, Hilary A; Tosteson, Anna N A; O'Connor, Annette M; Volk, Robert J; Tomek, Ivan M; Andrews, Steven B; Bartels, Stephen J

    2014-12-12

    Over 100 trials show that patient decision aids effectively improve patients' information comprehension and values-based decision making. However, gaps remain in our understanding of several fundamental and applied questions, particularly related to the design of interactive, personalized decision aids. This paper describes an interdisciplinary development process for, and early field testing of, a web-based patient decision support research platform, or virtual decision lab, to address these questions. An interdisciplinary stakeholder panel designed the web-based research platform with three components: a) an introduction to shared decision making, b) a web-based patient decision aid, and c) interactive data collection items. Iterative focus groups provided feedback on paper drafts and online prototypes. A field test assessed a) feasibility for using the research platform, in terms of recruitment, usage, and acceptability; and b) feasibility of using the web-based decision aid component, compared to performance of a videobooklet decision aid in clinical care. This interdisciplinary, theory-based, patient-centered design approach produced a prototype for field-testing in six months. Participants (n = 126) reported that: the decision aid component was easy to use (98%), information was clear (90%), the length was appropriate (100%), it was appropriately detailed (90%), and it held their interest (97%). They spent a mean of 36 minutes using the decision aid and 100% preferred using their home/library computer. Participants scored a mean of 75% correct on the Decision Quality, Knowledge Subscale, and 74 out of 100 on the Preparation for Decision Making Scale. Completing the web-based decision aid reduced mean Decisional Conflict scores from 31.1 to 19.5 (p development of a web-based patient decision support research platform that was feasible for use in research studies in terms of recruitment, acceptability, and usage. Within this platform, the web

  16. Health information technology: use it well, or don't! Findings from the use of a decision support system for breast cancer management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouaud, Jacques; Blaszka-Jaulerry, Brigitte; Zelek, Laurent; Spano, Jean-Philippe; Lefranc, Jean-Pierre; Cojean-Zelek, Isabelle; Durieux, Axel; Tournigand, Christophe; Rousseau, Alexandra; Séroussi, Brigitte

    2014-01-01

    The potential of health information technology is hampered by new types of errors which impact is not totally assessed. OncoDoc2 is a decision support system designed to support treatment decisions of multidisciplinary meetings (MDMs) for breast cancer patients. We evaluated how the way the system was used had an impact on MDM decision compliance with clinical practice guidelines. We distinguished "correct navigations" (N+), "incorrect navigations" (N-), and "missing navigations" (N0), according to the quality of data entry when using OncoDoc2. We collected 557 MDM decisions from three hospitals of Paris area (France) where OncoDoc2 was routinely used. We observed 33.9% N+, 36.8% N-, and 29.3% N0. The compliance rate was significantly different according to the quality of navigations, 94.2%, 80.0%, and 90.2% for N+, N-, and N0 respectively. Surprinsingly, it was better not to use the system (N0) than to use it improperly (N-).

  17. Stakeholder views of management and decision support tools to integrate climate change into Great Lakes Lake Whitefish management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch, Abigail J.; Taylor, William W.; McCright, Aaron M.

    2016-01-01

    Decision support tools can aid decision making by systematically incorporating information, accounting for uncertainties, and facilitating evaluation between alternatives. Without user buy-in, however, decision support tools can fail to influence decision-making processes. We surveyed fishery researchers, managers, and fishers affiliated with the Lake Whitefish Coregonus clupeaformis fishery in the 1836 Treaty Waters of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior to assess opinions of current and future management needs to identify barriers to, and opportunities for, developing a decision support tool based on Lake Whitefish recruitment projections with climate change. Approximately 64% of 39 respondents were satisfied with current management, and nearly 85% agreed that science was well integrated into management programs. Though decision support tools can facilitate science integration into management, respondents suggest that they face significant implementation barriers, including lack of political will to change management and perceived uncertainty in decision support outputs. Recommendations from this survey can inform development of decision support tools for fishery management in the Great Lakes and other regions.

  18. Characterizing uncertain sea-level rise projections to support investment decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lempert, Robert J.; Wikman-Svahn, Per; Keller, Klaus

    2018-01-01

    Many institutions worldwide are considering how to include uncertainty about future changes in sea-levels and storm surges into their investment decisions regarding large capital infrastructures. Here we examine how to characterize deeply uncertain climate change projections to support such decisions using Robust Decision Making analysis. We address questions regarding how to confront the potential for future changes in low probability but large impact flooding events due to changes in sea-levels and storm surges. Such extreme events can affect investments in infrastructure but have proved difficult to consider in such decisions because of the deep uncertainty surrounding them. This study utilizes Robust Decision Making methods to address two questions applied to investment decisions at the Port of Los Angeles: (1) Under what future conditions would a Port of Los Angeles decision to harden its facilities against extreme flood scenarios at the next upgrade pass a cost-benefit test, and (2) Do sea-level rise projections and other information suggest such conditions are sufficiently likely to justify such an investment? We also compare and contrast the Robust Decision Making methods with a full probabilistic analysis. These two analysis frameworks result in similar investment recommendations for different idealized future sea-level projections, but provide different information to decision makers and envision different types of engagement with stakeholders. In particular, the full probabilistic analysis begins by aggregating the best scientific information into a single set of joint probability distributions, while the Robust Decision Making analysis identifies scenarios where a decision to invest in near-term response to extreme sea-level rise passes a cost-benefit test, and then assembles scientific information of differing levels of confidence to help decision makers judge whether or not these scenarios are sufficiently likely to justify making such investments

  19. Characterizing uncertain sea-level rise projections to support investment decisions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryan L Sriver

    Full Text Available Many institutions worldwide are considering how to include uncertainty about future changes in sea-levels and storm surges into their investment decisions regarding large capital infrastructures. Here we examine how to characterize deeply uncertain climate change projections to support such decisions using Robust Decision Making analysis. We address questions regarding how to confront the potential for future changes in low probability but large impact flooding events due to changes in sea-levels and storm surges. Such extreme events can affect investments in infrastructure but have proved difficult to consider in such decisions because of the deep uncertainty surrounding them. This study utilizes Robust Decision Making methods to address two questions applied to investment decisions at the Port of Los Angeles: (1 Under what future conditions would a Port of Los Angeles decision to harden its facilities against extreme flood scenarios at the next upgrade pass a cost-benefit test, and (2 Do sea-level rise projections and other information suggest such conditions are sufficiently likely to justify such an investment? We also compare and contrast the Robust Decision Making methods with a full probabilistic analysis. These two analysis frameworks result in similar investment recommendations for different idealized future sea-level projections, but provide different information to decision makers and envision different types of engagement with stakeholders. In particular, the full probabilistic analysis begins by aggregating the best scientific information into a single set of joint probability distributions, while the Robust Decision Making analysis identifies scenarios where a decision to invest in near-term response to extreme sea-level rise passes a cost-benefit test, and then assembles scientific information of differing levels of confidence to help decision makers judge whether or not these scenarios are sufficiently likely to justify making

  20. A Decision Support Framework for Science-Based, Multi-Stakeholder Deliberation: A Coral Reef Example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rehr, Amanda P.; Small, Mitchell J.; Bradley, Patricia; Fisher, William S.; Vega, Ann; Black, Kelly; Stockton, Tom

    2012-12-01

    We present a decision support framework for science-based assessment and multi-stakeholder deliberation. The framework consists of two parts: a DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-States-Impacts-Responses) analysis to identify the important causal relationships among anthropogenic environmental stressors, processes, and outcomes; and a Decision Landscape analysis to depict the legal, social, and institutional dimensions of environmental decisions. The Decision Landscape incorporates interactions among government agencies, regulated businesses, non-government organizations, and other stakeholders. It also identifies where scientific information regarding environmental processes is collected and transmitted to improve knowledge about elements of the DPSIR and to improve the scientific basis for decisions. Our application of the decision support framework to coral reef protection and restoration in the Florida Keys focusing on anthropogenic stressors, such as wastewater, proved to be successful and offered several insights. Using information from a management plan, it was possible to capture the current state of the science with a DPSIR analysis as well as important decision options, decision makers and applicable laws with a the Decision Landscape analysis. A structured elicitation of values and beliefs conducted at a coral reef management workshop held in Key West, Florida provided a diversity of opinion and also indicated a prioritization of several environmental stressors affecting coral reef health. The integrated DPSIR/Decision landscape framework for the Florida Keys developed based on the elicited opinion and the DPSIR analysis can be used to inform management decisions, to reveal the role that further scientific information and research might play to populate the framework, and to facilitate better-informed agreement among participants.

  1. The application of VR-GIS to decommissioning decision support system (DDSS) of nuclear reactor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu Bo

    2005-01-01

    Advanced management technique and Decision Support System (DSS) are needed to solve the problems of the nuclear reactor decommissioning decision-making. In this study, a kind of new DSS technique for nuclear reactor decommissioning is introduced. It is based on the Virtual Reality (VR) and Geography Information System (GIS), which combine with the scientific management method, operational research, cybernetics and behavior science. The proposed DDSS (Decommissioning Decision Support System) can provide decision-maker the real time 3-D virtual Environment, GIS information and background material of the decommissioning reactor, help to ascertain the decision-making target, modify the decision module and optimize the dismantling plan. The data from three modules (VR Environment Module, VR-DOSE Management Module and Route Layout GIS Module) are used to continuously update and show the statistic at the same time, and the final advice will be given to decision-maker. (authors)

  2. Clinical decision support must be useful, functional is not enough

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kortteisto, Tiina; Komulainen, Jorma; Mäkelä, Marjukka

    2012-01-01

    the use of computer-based clinical decision support (eCDS) in primary care and how different professional groups experience it. Our aim was to describe specific reasons for using or not using eCDS among primary care professionals. METHODS: The setting was a Finnish primary health care organization with 48......ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Health information technology, particularly electronic decision support systems, can reduce the existing gap between evidence-based knowledge and health care practice but professionals have to accept and use this information. Evidence is scant on which features influence...... professionals receiving patient-specific guidance at the point of care. Multiple data (focus groups, questionnaire and spontaneous feedback) were analyzed using deductive content analysis and descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The content of the guidance is a significant feature of the primary care professional...

  3. Real-time decision support in the face of emerging natural hazard events

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Anders, Annett

    and losses. Motivated by these factors, the present thesis aims at developing a framework for the decision support system for real-time decision making in emerging natural hazard events. The thesis also demonstrates the implementation of the developed framework to illustrate its use and advantages...... turbines, agricultural facilities and offshore platforms. Operators of these facilities are often required to make decisions regarding the continued operations of their facilities in extreme storm events. These decisions, which in the present thesis are called real-time decisions, are often made by a small...... number of people in extremely stressful situations, ad-hoc relying on personal experiences of decision makers. On the other hand, recent advancements of information technology potentially make it possible for decision makers to access various types of information in real-time. Remarkable examples...

  4. Computerized Adaptive Test vs. decision trees: Development of a support decision system to identify suicidal behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delgado-Gomez, D; Baca-Garcia, E; Aguado, D; Courtet, P; Lopez-Castroman, J

    2016-12-01

    Several Computerized Adaptive Tests (CATs) have been proposed to facilitate assessments in mental health. These tests are built in a standard way, disregarding useful and usually available information not included in the assessment scales that could increase the precision and utility of CATs, such as the history of suicide attempts. Using the items of a previously developed scale for suicidal risk, we compared the performance of a standard CAT and a decision tree in a support decision system to identify suicidal behavior. We included the history of past suicide attempts as a class for the separation of patients in the decision tree. The decision tree needed an average of four items to achieve a similar accuracy than a standard CAT with nine items. The accuracy of the decision tree, obtained after 25 cross-validations, was 81.4%. A shortened test adapted for the separation of suicidal and non-suicidal patients was developed. CATs can be very useful tools for the assessment of suicidal risk. However, standard CATs do not use all the information that is available. A decision tree can improve the precision of the assessment since they are constructed using a priori information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. The Role of Health Care Provider and Partner Decisional Support in Patients' Cancer Treatment Decision-Making Satisfaction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer-Wackerly, Angela L; Krieger, Janice L; Rhodes, Nancy D

    2017-01-01

    Cancer patients rely on multiple sources of support when making treatment decisions; however, most research studies examine the influence of health care provider support while the influence of family member support is understudied. The current study fills this gap by examining the influence of health care providers and partners on decision-making satisfaction. In a cross-sectional study via an online Qualtrics panel, we surveyed cancer patients who reported that they had a spouse or romantic partner when making cancer treatment decisions (n = 479). Decisional support was measured using 5-point, single-item scales for emotional support, informational support, informational-advice support, and appraisal support. Decision-making satisfaction was measured using Holmes-Rovner and colleagues' (1996) Satisfaction With Decision Scale. We conducted a mediated regression analysis to examine treatment decision-making satisfaction for all participants and a moderated mediation analysis to examine treatment satisfaction among those patients offered a clinical trial. Results indicated that partner support significantly and partially mediated the relationship between health care provider support and patients' decision-making satisfaction but that results did not vary by enrollment in a clinical trial. This study shows how and why decisional support from partners affects communication between health care providers and cancer patients.

  6. Informing the design of clinical decision support services for evaluation of children with minor blunt head trauma in the emergency department: a sociotechnical analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheehan, Barbara; Nigrovic, Lise E; Dayan, Peter S; Kuppermann, Nathan; Ballard, Dustin W; Alessandrini, Evaline; Bajaj, Lalit; Goldberg, Howard; Hoffman, Jeffrey; Offerman, Steven R; Mark, Dustin G; Swietlik, Marguerite; Tham, Eric; Tzimenatos, Leah; Vinson, David R; Jones, Grant S; Bakken, Suzanne

    2013-10-01

    Integration of clinical decision support services (CDSS) into electronic health records (EHRs) may be integral to widespread dissemination and use of clinical prediction rules in the emergency department (ED). However, the best way to design such services to maximize their usefulness in such a complex setting is poorly understood. We conducted a multi-site cross-sectional qualitative study whose aim was to describe the sociotechnical environment in the ED to inform the design of a CDSS intervention to implement the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) clinical prediction rules for children with minor blunt head trauma. Informed by a sociotechnical model consisting of eight dimensions, we conducted focus groups, individual interviews and workflow observations in 11 EDs, of which 5 were located in academic medical centers and 6 were in community hospitals. A total of 126 ED clinicians, information technology specialists, and administrators participated. We clustered data into 19 categories of sociotechnical factors through a process of thematic analysis and subsequently organized the categories into a sociotechnical matrix consisting of three high-level sociotechnical dimensions (workflow and communication, organizational factors, human factors) and three themes (interdisciplinary assessment processes, clinical practices related to prediction rules, EHR as a decision support tool). Design challenges that emerged from the analysis included the need to use structured data fields to support data capture and re-use while maintaining efficient care processes, supporting interdisciplinary communication, and facilitating family-clinician interaction for decision-making. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Development of the Supported Decision Making Inventory System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shogren, Karrie A; Wehmeyer, Michael L; Uyanik, Hatice; Heidrich, Megan

    2017-12-01

    Supported decision making has received increased attention as an alternative to guardianship and a means to enable people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to exercise their right to legal capacity. Assessments are needed that can used by people with disabilities and their systems of supports to identify and plan for needed supports to enable decision making. This article describes the steps taken to develop such an assessment tool, the Supported Decision Making Inventory System (SDMIS), and initial feedback received from self-advocates with intellectual disability. The three sections of the SDMIS (Supported Decision Making Personal Factors Inventory, Supported Decision Making Environmental Demands Inventory, and Decision Making Autonomy Inventory) are described and implications for future research, policy, and practice are discussed.

  8. Computing with Words in Decision support Systems: An overview on Models and Applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Martinez

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Decision making is inherent to mankind, as human beings daily face situations in which they should choose among different alternatives by means of reasoning and mental processes. Many of these decision problems are under uncertain environments with vague and imprecise information. This type of information is usually modelled by linguistic information because of the common use of language by the experts involved in the given decision situations, originating linguistic decision making. The use of linguistic information in decision making demands processes of Computing with Words to solve the related decision problems. Different methodologies and approaches have been proposed to accomplish such processes in an accurate and interpretable way. The good performance of linguistic computing dealing with uncertainty has caused a spread use of it in different types of decision based applications. This paper overviews the more significant and extended linguistic computing models due to its key role in linguistic decision making and a wide range of the most recent applications of linguistic decision support models.

  9. Risk-informed decision making during Bohunice NPP safety upgrading

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lipar, M.; Muzikova, E.; Kubanyi, J.

    2001-01-01

    The paper summarizes some facts of risk-informed regulation developments within UJD regulatory environment. Based on national as well as international operating experience and indications resulted from PSA, Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (UJD) since its constituting in 1993 has devoted an effort to use PSA technology to support the regulatory policy in Slovakia. The PSA is considered a complement, not a substitute, to the deterministic approach. Suchlike integrated approach is used in decision making processes and the final decision on scope and priorities is based on it. The paper outlines risk insights used in the decision making process concerning Bohunice NPP safety upgrading and focuses on the role of PSA results in Gradual Reconstruction of Bohunice VI NPP. Besides, two other examples of the PSA results application to the decision making process are provided: the assessment of proposal of modifications to the main power supply diagram (incorporation of generator switches) and the assessment of licensee request for motor generator AOT (Allowable Outage Time) extension. As an example of improving support of Bohunice V-2 risk-informed operations, concept of AOT calculations and Bohunice V-2 Risk Monitor Project are briefly described. (author)

  10. Coordinating complex decision support activities across distributed applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adler, Richard M.

    1994-01-01

    Knowledge-based technologies have been applied successfully to automate planning and scheduling in many problem domains. Automation of decision support can be increased further by integrating task-specific applications with supporting database systems, and by coordinating interactions between such tools to facilitate collaborative activities. Unfortunately, the technical obstacles that must be overcome to achieve this vision of transparent, cooperative problem-solving are daunting. Intelligent decision support tools are typically developed for standalone use, rely on incompatible, task-specific representational models and application programming interfaces (API's), and run on heterogeneous computing platforms. Getting such applications to interact freely calls for platform independent capabilities for distributed communication, as well as tools for mapping information across disparate representations. Symbiotics is developing a layered set of software tools (called NetWorks! for integrating and coordinating heterogeneous distributed applications. he top layer of tools consists of an extensible set of generic, programmable coordination services. Developers access these services via high-level API's to implement the desired interactions between distributed applications.

  11. Human Decision Processes: Implications for SSA Support Tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Picciano, P.

    2013-09-01

    paper), one opinion shared is that the rational, economic, deliberate listing/evaluation of all options is NOT representative of how many decision are made. A framework gaining interest lately describes two systems predominantly at work: intuition and reasoning (Kahneman, 2003). Intuition is fast, automatic, and parallel contrasted with the more effortful, deliberative, and sequential reasoning. One of the issues of contention is that considerable research is stacked supporting both sides claiming that intuition is: • A hallmark of expertise responsible for rapid, optimal decisions in the face of adversity • A vulnerability where biases serve as decision traps leading to wrong choices Using seminal studies from a range of domains and tasking, potential solutions for SSA decision support will be offered. Important issues such as managing uncertainty, framing inquiries, and information architecture, and contextual cues will be discussed. The purpose is to provide awareness of the human limitations and capabilities in complex decision making so engineers and designers can consider such factors in their development of SSA tools.

  12. Decision support system emergency planning, creating evacuation strategies in the event of flooding

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Windhouwer, C.J.; Klunder, G.A.; Sanders, F.M.

    2005-01-01

    The Decision Support System (DSS) Emergency Planning is designed for use in the event of sea or river flooding. It makes accessible all the information related to the decision whether to evacuate an area. An important factor in this decision is the time required for the evacuation. The model used by

  13. DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR NEW PROJECT DEVELOPMENT IN FAST MOVING CONSUMER GOODS INDUSTRIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    NINKO KOSTOVSKI

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In any contemporary business, decision makers are confronted with increasing amount of information, not necessarily incorporated properly into decision making process. Moreover, decision makers show several cognitive limitations and biases. Managerial decision support systems are intended to assist decision makers in taking advantage of available information. Research proved that that these systems could compensate for the relative weaknesses of the managers as decision makers. They prevent common biases of human decision-making and foster objective and reliable information. With number of variables that must be taken into consideration, internal and external, technological, financial and market related, the new product development and the specifics of that process in fast moving consumer goods industries is perfect for application of computerized decision support system. The results of implementation of such system based on Exsys Corvid in processed food industry are presented with review of overall impressions for the usefulness of the new software, provided by the managers involved in the process. They found that the system consistently offers realistic decisions, that the system is convenient for capturing the institutional knowledge of the process, but also that the system not always follows the standard procedure. They think that the system is user-friendly. However, the implemented system will be useful and consistently outperform expectations only if the company is ready to continuously upgrade the embedded tacit institutional knowledge and experience. However, doing so, the company should never neglect the consumers changing preferences as the most important environmental domain of information critical for new product development.

  14. Informed Decision-Making in the Context of Prenatal Chromosomal Microarray.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, Jessica; Shuman, Cheryl; Chitayat, David; Wasim, Syed; Okun, Nan; Keunen, Johannes; Hofstedter, Renee; Silver, Rachel

    2018-03-07

    The introduction of chromosomal microarray (CMA) into the prenatal setting has involved considerable deliberation due to the wide range of possible outcomes (e.g., copy number variants of uncertain clinical significance). Such issues are typically discussed in pre-test counseling for pregnant women to support informed decision-making regarding prenatal testing options. This research study aimed to assess the level of informed decision-making with respect to prenatal CMA and the factor(s) influencing decision-making to accept CMA for the selected prenatal testing procedure (i.e., chorionic villus sampling or amniocentesis). We employed a questionnaire that was adapted from a three-dimensional measure previously used to assess informed decision-making with respect to prenatal screening for Down syndrome and neural tube defects. This measure classifies an informed decision as one that is knowledgeable, value-consistent, and deliberated. Our questionnaire also included an optional open-ended question, soliciting factors that may have influenced the participants' decision to accept prenatal CMA; these responses were analyzed qualitatively. Data analysis on 106 participants indicated that 49% made an informed decision (i.e., meeting all three criteria of knowledgeable, deliberated, and value-consistent). Analysis of 59 responses to the open-ended question showed that "the more information the better" emerged as the dominant factor influencing both informed and uninformed participants' decisions to accept prenatal CMA. Despite learning about the key issues in pre-test genetic counseling, our study classified a significant portion of women as making uninformed decisions due to insufficient knowledge, lack of deliberation, value-inconsistency, or a combination of these three measures. Future efforts should focus on developing educational approaches and counseling strategies to effectively increase the rate of informed decision-making among women offered prenatal CMA.

  15. The value of precision for image-based decision support in weed management

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Franco de los Ríos, Camilo; Pedersen, Søren Marcus; Papaharalampos, Haris

    2017-01-01

    Decision support methodologies in precision agriculture should integrate the different dimensions composing the added complexity of operational decision problems. Special attention has to be given to the adequate knowledge extraction techniques for making sense of the collected data, processing...... the information for assessing decision makers and farmers in the efficient and sustainable management of the field. Focusing on weed management, the integration of operational aspects for weed spraying is an open challenge for modeling the farmers’ decision problem, identifying satisfactory solutions...... for the implementation of automatic weed recognition procedures. The objective of this paper is to develop a decision support methodology for detecting the undesired weed from aerial images, building an image-based viewpoint consisting in relevant operational knowledge for applying precision spraying. In this way...

  16. Science and Systems in Support of Multi-hazard Early Warnings and Decisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulwarty, R. S.

    2015-12-01

    The demand for improved climate knowledge and information is well documented. As noted in the IPCC (SREX, AR5), the UNISDR Global Assessment Reports and other assessments, this demand has increased pressure for information to support planning under changing rates and emergence of multiple hazards including climate extremes (drought, heat waves, floods). "Decision support" is now a popular term in the climate applications research community. While existing decision support activities can be identified in many disparate settings (e.g. federal, academic, private), the challenge of changing environments (coupled physical and social) is actually one of crafting implementation strategies for improving decision quality (not just meeting "user needs"). This includes overcoming weaknesses in co-production models, moving beyond DSSs as simply "software", coordinating innovation mapping and diffusion, and providing fora and gaming tools to identify common interests and differences in the way risks are perceived and managed among the affected groups. We outline the development and evolution of multi-hazard early warning systems in the United States and elsewhere, focusing on climate-related hazards. In particular, the presentation will focus on the climate science and information needed for (1) improved monitoring and modeling, (2) generating risk profiles, (3) developing information systems and scenarios for critical thresholds, (4) the net benefits of using new information (5) characterizing and bridging the "last mile" in the context of longer-term risk management.

  17. Asset Condition, Information Systems and Decision Models

    CERN Document Server

    Willett, Roger; Brown, Kerry; Mathew, Joseph

    2012-01-01

    Asset Condition, Information Systems and Decision Models, is the second volume of the Engineering Asset Management Review Series. The manuscripts provide examples of implementations of asset information systems as well as some practical applications of condition data for diagnostics and prognostics. The increasing trend is towards prognostics rather than diagnostics, hence the need for assessment and decision models that promote the conversion of condition data into prognostic information to improve life-cycle planning for engineered assets. The research papers included here serve to support the on-going development of Condition Monitoring standards. This volume comprises selected papers from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd World Congresses on Engineering Asset Management, which were convened under the auspices of ISEAM in collaboration with a number of organisations, including CIEAM Australia, Asset Management Council Australia, BINDT UK, and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Chin...

  18. Perspective on safety case to support a possible site recommendation decision

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gil, A.V.; Gamble, R.P.

    2002-01-01

    The mission of the US Department of Energy (DOE) is to provide the basis for a national decision regarding the development of a geological repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. There are a number of steps in the decision process defined by US law that must be completed prior to development of a repository at this site. The DOE's focus is currently on the first two steps in this process: characterization of the site to support a determination by the DOE on whether the site is suitable for a geologic repository and a decision by the Secretary of Energy (the Secretary) on whether to recommend to the President that the site be approved for a repository. To enhance the confidence of multiple audiences in the basis for these actions, and to provide a basis for subsequent action by the President and the US Congress, information supporting the decision process must include the elements of a safety case consistent with the statutory and regulatory framework for these decisions. The idea of a safety case is to broaden the basis for confidence by decision-makers and the public in conclusions about safety. A safety case should cite multiple lines of evidence, or reasoning, beyond the results of a safety assessment to support the demonstration of safety, which includes compliance with applicable safety criteria. The multiple lines of evidence should show the basis for confidence in safety. To be most effective, such evidence requires information not directly used in the safety assessment. (author)

  19. Increasing Personal Value Congruence in Computerized Decision Support Using System Feedback

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bryan Hosack

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The Theory of Universals in Values (TUV, a reliable and validated conceptualization of personal values used in psychology, is used to examine the effect of system feedback delivered by a Decision Support System (DSS on personal values. The results indicate that value-based decision-making behavior can be influenced by DSS feedback to address value congruence in decision-making. User behavior was shown to follow the outcomes expected by operant theory when feedback was supportive and to follow the outcomes of reactance theory when feedback was challenging. This result suggests that practitioners and Information System (IS researchers should consider user values when designing computerized decision feedback to adjust a system’s design such that the potential user backlash is avoided or congruence between organizational and personal values is achieved.

  20. Framework for Modeling High-Impact, Low-Frequency Power Grid Events to Support Risk-Informed Decisions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Veeramany, Arun; Unwin, Stephen D.; Coles, Garill A.; Dagle, Jeffery E.; Millard, W. David; Yao, Juan; Glantz, Clifford S.; Gourisetti, Sri Nikhil Gup

    2015-12-03

    grid modernization activities. The availability of a grid HILF risk model, integrated across multi-hazard domains which, when interrogated, can support transparent, defensible and effective decisions, is an attractive prospect among these communities. In this report, we document an integrated HILF risk framework intended to inform the development of risk models. These models would be based on the systematic and comprehensive (to within scope) characterization of hazards to the level of detail required for modeling risk, identification of the stressors associated with the hazards (i.e., the means of impacting grid and supporting infrastructure), characterization of the vulnerability of assets to these stressors and the probabilities of asset compromise, the grid’s dynamic response to the asset failures, and assessment of subsequent severities of consequence with respect to selected impact metrics, such as power outage duration and geographic reach. Specifically, the current framework is being developed to;1. Provide the conceptual and overarching technical paradigms for the development of risk models; 2. Identify the classes of models required to implement the framework - providing examples of existing models, and also identifying where modeling gaps exist; 3. Identify the types of data required, addressing circumstances under which data are sparse and the formal elicitation of informed judgment might be required; and 4. Identify means by which the resultant risk models might be interrogated to form the necessary basis for risk management.

  1. From buzzword to business strategy: the case for information and decision support systems in e-healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korukonda, Appa Rao; Korukonda, Saritha

    2006-01-01

    Although electronic healthcare can boast of a remarkable origin in modern-day e-commerce in the form of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), its mission-critical nature in information-based strategising is yet to be realised. Restricting the scope of e-healthcare management to product advertisements and website management reflects an unfortunate trend of underutilisation of the scope of electronic decision support systems in pricing and other business strategies. This paper aims to illustrate how this trend can be corrected by transforming e-healthcare into a full-fledged business strategy for strategic positioning and corporate profitability. This argument is illustrated with the aid of a business example related to transfer pricing.

  2. A methodology and decision support tool for informing state-level bioenergy policymaking: New Jersey biofuels as a case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan-Tonetta, Margaret

    This dissertation seeks to provide key information and a decision support tool that states can use to support long-term goals of fossil fuel displacement and greenhouse gas reductions. The research yields three outcomes: (1) A methodology that allows for a comprehensive and consistent inventory and assessment of bioenergy feedstocks in terms of type, quantity, and energy potential. Development of a standardized methodology for consistent inventorying of biomass resources fosters research and business development of promising technologies that are compatible with the state's biomass resource base. (2) A unique interactive decision support tool that allows for systematic bioenergy analysis and evaluation of policy alternatives through the generation of biomass inventory and energy potential data for a wide variety of feedstocks and applicable technologies, using New Jersey as a case study. Development of a database that can assess the major components of a bioenergy system in one tool allows for easy evaluation of technology, feedstock and policy options. The methodology and decision support tool is applicable to other states and regions (with location specific modifications), thus contributing to the achievement of state and federal goals of renewable energy utilization. (3) Development of policy recommendations based on the results of the decision support tool that will help to guide New Jersey into a sustainable renewable energy future. The database developed in this research represents the first ever assessment of bioenergy potential for New Jersey. It can serve as a foundation for future research and modifications that could increase its power as a more robust policy analysis tool. As such, the current database is not able to perform analysis of tradeoffs across broad policy objectives such as economic development vs. CO2 emissions, or energy independence vs. source reduction of solid waste. Instead, it operates one level below that with comparisons of kWh or

  3. Decision support system for Wamakersvallei Winery

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Van Der Merwe, A

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available The goal of the study is to lend decision support to management a a wine cellar in three areas of expertise, with Wamakersvallei Winery serving as a special case study. This decision support system is to be delivered in the form of Excel spreadsheet...

  4. Computerised decision support systems for healthcare professionals: an interpretative review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathrin Cresswell

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Purpose Computerised decision support systems are designed to support clinicians in making decisions and thereby enhance the quality and safety of care. We aimed to undertake an interpretative review of the empirical evidence on computerised decision support systems, their contexts of use, and summarise evidence on the effectiveness of these tools and insights into how these can be successfully implemented and adopted.Methods We systematically searched the empirical literature to identify systematic literature reviews on computerised decision support applications and their impact on the quality and safety of healthcare delivery over a 13-year period (1997–2010. The databases searched included: MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, The Cochrane Methodology Register, The Health Technology Assessment Database, and The National Health Service (NHS Economic Evaluation Database. To be eligible for inclusion, systematic reviews needed to address computerised decision support systems, and at least one of the following: impact on safety; quality; or organisational, implementation or adoption considerations.Results Our searches yielded 121 systematic reviews relating to eHealth, of which we identified 41 as investigating computerised decision support systems. These indicated that, whilst there was a lack of investigating potential risks, such tools can result in improvements in practitioner performance in the promotion of preventive care and guideline adherence, particularly if specific information is available in real time and systems are effectively integrated into clinical workflows. However, the evidence regarding impact on patient outcomes was less clear-cut with reviews finding either no, inconsistent or modest benefits.Conclusions Whilst the potential of clinical decision support systems in improving, in particular

  5. Computerised decision support systems for healthcare professionals: an interpretative review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cresswell, Kathrin; Majeed, Azeem; Bates, David W; Sheikh, Aziz

    2012-01-01

    Computerised decision support systems are designed to support clinicians in making decisions and thereby enhance the quality and safety of care. We aimed to undertake an interpretative review of the empirical evidence on computerised decision support systems, their contexts of use, and summarise evidence on the effectiveness of these tools and insights into how these can be successfully implemented and adopted. We systematically searched the empirical literature to identify systematic literature reviews on computerised decision support applications and their impact on the quality and safety of healthcare delivery over a 13-year period (1997-2010). The databases searched included: MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, The Cochrane Methodology Register, The Health Technology Assessment Database, and The National Health Service (NHS) Economic Evaluation Database. To be eligible for inclusion, systematic reviews needed to address computerised decision support systems, and at least one of the following: impact on safety; quality; or organisational, implementation or adoption considerations. Our searches yielded 121 systematic reviews relating to eHealth, of which we identified 41 as investigating computerised decision support systems. These indicated that, whilst there was a lack of investigating potential risks, such tools can result in improvements in practitioner performance in the promotion of preventive care and guideline adherence, particularly if specific information is available in real time and systems are effectively integrated into clinical workflows. However, the evidence regarding impact on patient outcomes was less clear-cut with reviews finding either no, inconsistent or modest benefits. Whilst the potential of clinical decision support systems in improving, in particular, practitioner performance is considerable, such technology may

  6. Decision-Support Tools and Databases to Inform Regional Stormwater Utility Development in New England

    Science.gov (United States)

    Development of stormwater utilities requires information on existing stormwater infrastructure and impervious cover as well as costs and benefits of stormwater management options. US EPA has developed a suite of databases and tools that can inform decision-making by regional sto...

  7. Informing physicians using a situated decision support system: Disease management for the smart city

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raafat George Saade

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available We are in the midst of a healthcare paradigm shift driven by the wide adoption of ubiquitous computing and various modes of information communications technologies. As a result, cities worldwide are undergoing a major process of urbanization with ever increasing wealth of sensing capabilities – hence the Internet of Things (IoT. These trends impose great pressure on how healthcare is done. This paper describes the design and implementation of a situated clinical decision support (SCDSS system, most appropriate for smart cities. The SCDSS was prototyped and enhanced in a clinic. The SCDSS was then used in a clinic as well as in a university hospital centre. In this article, the system’s architecture, subcomponents and integrated workflow are described. The systems’ design was the result of a knowledge acquisition process involving interviews with five specialists and testing with 50 patients. The reports (specialist consultation report generated by the SCDSS were shown to general practitioners who were not able to distinguish them from human specialist reports. We propose a context-aware CDSS and assess its effectiveness in managing a wide medical range of patients. Five different patient cases were identified for analysis. The SCDSS was used to produce draft electronic specialist consultations, which were then compared to the original specialists’ consultations. It was found that the SCDSS-generated consults were of better quality for a number of reasons discussed herein. SCDSSs have great promise for their use in the clinical environment of smart cities. Valuable insights into the integration and use of situated clinical decision support systems are highlighted and suggestions for future research are given.

  8. Fundamental research of decision support systems. Progress report, March 1983-September 1984

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1984-01-01

    The objective of the research effort is to investigate and formulate methods and tools to improve the decision-making processes of managers in uncertain environments by researching decision support systems (DSS). DSS was coined by researchers in the field to describe a system which integrates extensive decision analysis with a comprehensive management information system (MIS). The results of this research are expected to enhance management decision-making in uncertain environments where traditional management techniques have failed

  9. Application of decision support systems in county urban planning: a proposal for Macaé county

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GALANTE, A. C.

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The Macaé County is one of the greatest economy of the state of Rio de Janeiro. With the use of the information technology is possible to create a powerful tool for supporting the decision making processing for this County, aiding the process of improvement of life quality. For that one, intends to use a Decision Support System able to give different kind of information of County areas, like health and education. For the union of all information the datawarehouse technology will be used. For query implementation the technologies of OLAP and GIS are used together. Therefore, those technologies together make a powerful tool for aiding the decision making process of the Macaé County.

  10. Selecting essential information for biosurveillance--a multi-criteria decision analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Generous

    Full Text Available The National Strategy for Biosurveillance defines biosurveillance as "the process of gathering, integrating, interpreting, and communicating essential information related to all-hazards threats or disease activity affecting human, animal, or plant health to achieve early detection and warning, contribute to overall situational awareness of the health aspects of an incident, and to enable better decision-making at all levels." However, the strategy does not specify how "essential information" is to be identified and integrated into the current biosurveillance enterprise, or what the metrics qualify information as being "essential". The question of data stream identification and selection requires a structured methodology that can systematically evaluate the tradeoffs between the many criteria that need to be taken in account. Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, a type of multi-criteria decision analysis, can provide a well-defined, structured approach that can offer solutions to this problem. While the use of Multi-Attribute Utility Theoryas a practical method to apply formal scientific decision theoretical approaches to complex, multi-criteria problems has been demonstrated in a variety of fields, this method has never been applied to decision support in biosurveillance.We have developed a formalized decision support analytic framework that can facilitate identification of "essential information" for use in biosurveillance systems or processes and we offer this framework to the global BSV community as a tool for optimizing the BSV enterprise. To demonstrate utility, we applied the framework to the problem of evaluating data streams for use in an integrated global infectious disease surveillance system.

  11. Selecting essential information for biosurveillance--a multi-criteria decision analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Generous, Nicholas; Margevicius, Kristen J; Taylor-McCabe, Kirsten J; Brown, Mac; Daniel, W Brent; Castro, Lauren; Hengartner, Andrea; Deshpande, Alina

    2014-01-01

    The National Strategy for Biosurveillance defines biosurveillance as "the process of gathering, integrating, interpreting, and communicating essential information related to all-hazards threats or disease activity affecting human, animal, or plant health to achieve early detection and warning, contribute to overall situational awareness of the health aspects of an incident, and to enable better decision-making at all levels." However, the strategy does not specify how "essential information" is to be identified and integrated into the current biosurveillance enterprise, or what the metrics qualify information as being "essential". The question of data stream identification and selection requires a structured methodology that can systematically evaluate the tradeoffs between the many criteria that need to be taken in account. Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, a type of multi-criteria decision analysis, can provide a well-defined, structured approach that can offer solutions to this problem. While the use of Multi-Attribute Utility Theoryas a practical method to apply formal scientific decision theoretical approaches to complex, multi-criteria problems has been demonstrated in a variety of fields, this method has never been applied to decision support in biosurveillance.We have developed a formalized decision support analytic framework that can facilitate identification of "essential information" for use in biosurveillance systems or processes and we offer this framework to the global BSV community as a tool for optimizing the BSV enterprise. To demonstrate utility, we applied the framework to the problem of evaluating data streams for use in an integrated global infectious disease surveillance system.

  12. Compromise decision support problems for hierarchical design involving uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vadde, S.; Allen, J. K.; Mistree, F.

    1994-08-01

    In this paper an extension to the traditional compromise Decision Support Problem (DSP) formulation is presented. Bayesian statistics is used in the formulation to model uncertainties associated with the information being used. In an earlier paper a compromise DSP that accounts for uncertainty using fuzzy set theory was introduced. The Bayesian Decision Support Problem is described in this paper. The method for hierarchical design is demonstrated by using this formulation to design a portal frame. The results are discussed and comparisons are made with those obtained using the fuzzy DSP. Finally, the efficacy of incorporating Bayesian statistics into the traditional compromise DSP formulation is discussed and some pending research issues are described. Our emphasis in this paper is on the method rather than the results per se.

  13. A Decision Support Information System for Urban Landscape Management Using Thermal Infrared Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quattrochi, Dale A.; Luvall, Jeffrey C.; Rickman, Douglas L.; Estes, Maurice G., Jr.; Laymon, Charles A.; Howell, Burgess F.

    2000-01-01

    In this paper, we describe efforts to use remote sensing data within the purview of an information support system, to assess urban thermal landscape characteristics as a means for developing more robust models of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. We also present a rationale on how we have successfully translated the results from the study of urban thermal heating and cooling regimes as identified from remote sensing data, to decision-makers, planners, government officials, and the public at large in several US cities to facilitate better understanding of how the UHI affects air quality. Additionally, through the assessment of the spatial distribution of urban thermal landscape characteristics using remote sensing data, it is possible to develop strategies to mitigate the UHI that hopefully will in turn, drive down ozone levels and improve overall urban air quality. Four US cities have been the foci for intensive analysis as part of our studies: Atlanta, GA, Baton Rouge, LA, Salt Lake City, UT, and Sacramento, CA. The remote sensing data for each of these cities has been used to generate a number of products for use by "stakeholder" working groups to convey information on what the effects are of the UHI and what measures can be taken to mitigate it. In turn, these data products are used to both educate and inform policy-makers, planners, and the general public about what kinds of UHI mitigation strategies are available.

  14. The approaches for the decision support in case natural hazards

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vyazilov, Evgeny; Chunyaev, Nikita

    2013-04-01

    In spite of using highly automated systems of measurement, collecting, storing, handling, prediction and delivery of information on the marine environment, including natural hazards, the amount of damage from natural phenomena increases. Because information on the marine environment delivered to the industrial facilities not effectively used. To such information pays little attention by individual decision-makers and not always perform preventive measures necessary for reduce and prevent damage. Automation of information support will improve the efficiency management of the marine activities. In Russia develops "The Unified system of the information about World ocean" (ESIMO, http://esimo.ru/), that integrates observation, analysis, prognostic and climate data. Necessary to create tools to automatic selection natural disasters through all integrated data; notification decision-makers about arising natural hazards - software agent; provision of information in a compact form for the decision-makers; assessment of possible damage and costs to the preventive measures; providing information on the impacts of environment on economic facilities and recommendations for decision-making; the use of maps, diagrams, tables for reporting. Tools for automatic selection designed for identification of natural phenomena based on the resources ESIMO and corresponding critical values of the indicators environment. The result of this module will be constantly updated database of critical situations of environment for each object or technological process. To operational notify and provide current information about natural hazards proposes using a software agent that is installed on the computer decision-makers, which is activated in case critical situations and provides a minimum of information. In the event of natural disaster software agent should be able to inform decision-makers about this, providing information on the current situation, and the possibility for more and detailed

  15. DECISIONS, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES RELATED TO DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (DSS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boghean Florin

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Generalised uncertainty, a phenomenon that today’s managers are facing as part of their professional experience, makes it impossible to anticipate the way the business environment will evolve or what will be the consequences of the decisions they plan to implement. Any decision making process within the company entails the simultaneous presence of a number of economic, technical, juridical, human and managerial variables. The development and the approval of a decision is the result of decision making activities developed by the decision maker and sometimes by a decision support team or/and a decision support system (DSS. These aspects related to specific applications of decision support systems in risk management will be approached in this research paper. Decisions in general and management decisions in particular are associated with numerous risks, due to their complexity and increasing contextual orientation. In each business entity, there are concerns with the implementation of risk management in order to improve the likelihood of meeting objectives, the trust of the parties involved, increase the operational safety and security as well as the protection of the environment, minimise losses, improve organisational resilience in order to diminish the negative impact on the organisation and provide a solid foundation for decision making. Since any business entity is considered to be a wealth generator, the analysis of their performance should not be restricted to financial efficiency alone, but will also encompass their economic efficiency as well. The type of research developed in this paper entails different dimensions: conceptual, methodological, as well as empirical testing. Subsequently, the conducted research entails a methodological side, since the conducted activities have resulted in the presentation of a simulation model that is useful in decision making processes on the capital market. The research conducted in the present paper

  16. A collaborative framework for contributing DICOM RT PHI (Protected Health Information) to augment data mining in clinical decision support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deshpande, Ruchi; Thuptimdang, Wanwara; DeMarco, John; Liu, Brent J.

    2014-03-01

    We have built a decision support system that provides recommendations for customizing radiation therapy treatment plans, based on patient models generated from a database of retrospective planning data. This database consists of relevant metadata and information derived from the following DICOM objects - CT images, RT Structure Set, RT Dose and RT Plan. The usefulness and accuracy of such patient models partly depends on the sample size of the learning data set. Our current goal is to increase this sample size by expanding our decision support system into a collaborative framework to include contributions from multiple collaborators. Potential collaborators are often reluctant to upload even anonymized patient files to repositories outside their local organizational network in order to avoid any conflicts with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. We have circumvented this problem by developing a tool that can parse DICOM files on the client's side and extract de-identified numeric and text data from DICOM RT headers for uploading to a centralized system. As a result, the DICOM files containing PHI remain local to the client side. This is a novel workflow that results in adding only relevant yet valuable data from DICOM files to the centralized decision support knowledge base in such a way that the DICOM files never leave the contributor's local workstation in a cloud-based environment. Such a workflow serves to encourage clinicians to contribute data for research endeavors by ensuring protection of electronic patient data.

  17. An Exploratory Study Investigating How and Why Managers Use Tablets to Support Managerial Decision-Making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meng Xiao

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Managers are often mobile and a large proportion of their work is dealing with decisions. Although many managers currently use tablet computers in their work, there is little research on the use of tablets for managerial decision-support. This exploratory study aims to investigate the ways in which managers use tablets to support their decision-making and the reasons why they do so. Using Task-Technology Fit theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 managers, 17 of whom used tablets for their work-related decision-making. The study reveals managers’ tablet usage patterns in terms of location, tablet applications, decision activities and types. This study has also found that a range of tablet characteristics and decision-task characteristics affect managers’ use of tablets to support decision-making at work. This exploratory study contributes to both academia and industry by providing evidence on the tablet decision-support area, and affording organisations, tablet vendors and tablet application developers informative findings for further improvement in the provision of tablet-based decision support.

  18. The potential for meta-analysis to support decision analysis in ecology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mengersen, Kerrie; MacNeil, M Aaron; Caley, M Julian

    2015-06-01

    Meta-analysis and decision analysis are underpinned by well-developed methods that are commonly applied to a variety of problems and disciplines. While these two fields have been closely linked in some disciplines such as medicine, comparatively little attention has been paid to the potential benefits of linking them in ecology, despite reasonable expectations that benefits would be derived from doing so. Meta-analysis combines information from multiple studies to provide more accurate parameter estimates and to reduce the uncertainty surrounding them. Decision analysis involves selecting among alternative choices using statistical information that helps to shed light on the uncertainties involved. By linking meta-analysis to decision analysis, improved decisions can be made, with quantification of the costs and benefits of alternate decisions supported by a greater density of information. Here, we briefly review concepts of both meta-analysis and decision analysis, illustrating the natural linkage between them and the benefits from explicitly linking one to the other. We discuss some examples in which this linkage has been exploited in the medical arena and how improvements in precision and reduction of structural uncertainty inherent in a meta-analysis can provide substantive improvements to decision analysis outcomes by reducing uncertainty in expected loss and maximising information from across studies. We then argue that these significant benefits could be translated to ecology, in particular to the problem of making optimal ecological decisions in the face of uncertainty. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  19. Interface, information, interaction: a narrative review of design and functional requirements for clinical decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Kristen; Mosby, Danielle; Capan, Muge; Kowalski, Rebecca; Ratwani, Raj; Noaiseh, Yaman; Kraft, Rachel; Schwartz, Sanford; Weintraub, William S; Arnold, Ryan

    2018-05-01

    Provider acceptance and associated patient outcomes are widely discussed in the evaluation of clinical decision support systems (CDSSs), but critical design criteria for tools have generally been overlooked. The objective of this work is to inform electronic health record alert optimization and clinical practice workflow by identifying, compiling, and reporting design recommendations for CDSS to support the efficient, effective, and timely delivery of high-quality care. A narrative review was conducted from 2000 to 2016 in PubMed and The Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics Society to identify papers that discussed/recommended design features of CDSSs that are associated with the success of these systems. Fourteen papers were included as meeting the criteria and were found to have a total of 42 unique recommendations; 11 were classified as interface features, 10 as information features, and 21 as interaction features. Features are defined and described, providing actionable guidance that can be applied to CDSS development and policy. To our knowledge, no reviews have been completed that discuss/recommend design features of CDSS at this scale, and thus we found that this was important for the body of literature. The recommendations identified in this narrative review will help to optimize design, organization, management, presentation, and utilization of information through presentation, content, and function. The designation of 3 categories (interface, information, and interaction) should be further evaluated to determine the critical importance of the categories. Future work will determine how to prioritize them with limited resources for designers and developers in order to maximize the clinical utility of CDSS. This review will expand the field of knowledge and provide a novel organization structure to identify key recommendations for CDSS.

  20. Using Best Practices to Extract, Organize, and Reuse Embedded Decision Support Content Knowledge Rules from Mature Clinical Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DesAutels, Spencer J; Fox, Zachary E; Giuse, Dario A; Williams, Annette M; Kou, Qing-Hua; Weitkamp, Asli; Neal R, Patel; Bettinsoli Giuse, Nunzia

    2016-01-01

    Clinical decision support (CDS) knowledge, embedded over time in mature medical systems, presents an interesting and complex opportunity for information organization, maintenance, and reuse. To have a holistic view of all decision support requires an in-depth understanding of each clinical system as well as expert knowledge of the latest evidence. This approach to clinical decision support presents an opportunity to unify and externalize the knowledge within rules-based decision support. Driven by an institutional need to prioritize decision support content for migration to new clinical systems, the Center for Knowledge Management and Health Information Technology teams applied their unique expertise to extract content from individual systems, organize it through a single extensible schema, and present it for discovery and reuse through a newly created Clinical Support Knowledge Acquisition and Archival Tool (CS-KAAT). CS-KAAT can build and maintain the underlying knowledge infrastructure needed by clinical systems.

  1. Using Best Practices to Extract, Organize, and Reuse Embedded Decision Support Content Knowledge Rules from Mature Clinical Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    DesAutels, Spencer J.; Fox, Zachary E.; Giuse, Dario A.; Williams, Annette M.; Kou, Qing-hua; Weitkamp, Asli; Neal R, Patel; Bettinsoli Giuse, Nunzia

    2016-01-01

    Clinical decision support (CDS) knowledge, embedded over time in mature medical systems, presents an interesting and complex opportunity for information organization, maintenance, and reuse. To have a holistic view of all decision support requires an in-depth understanding of each clinical system as well as expert knowledge of the latest evidence. This approach to clinical decision support presents an opportunity to unify and externalize the knowledge within rules-based decision support. Driven by an institutional need to prioritize decision support content for migration to new clinical systems, the Center for Knowledge Management and Health Information Technology teams applied their unique expertise to extract content from individual systems, organize it through a single extensible schema, and present it for discovery and reuse through a newly created Clinical Support Knowledge Acquisition and Archival Tool (CS-KAAT). CS-KAAT can build and maintain the underlying knowledge infrastructure needed by clinical systems. PMID:28269846

  2. Examining Decision-Making Regarding Environmental Information

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marble, Julie Lynne; Medema, Heather Dawne; Hill, Susan Gardiner

    2001-10-01

    Eight participants were asked to view a computer-based multimedia presentation on an environmental phenomenon. Participants were asked to play a role as a senior aide to a national legislator. In this role, they were told that the legislator had asked them to review a multimedia presentation regarding the hypoxic zone phenomenon in the Gulf of Mexico. Their task in assuming the role of a senior aide was to decide how important a problem this issue was to the United States as a whole, and the proportion of the legislator’s research budget that should be devoted to study of the problem. The presentation was divided into 7 segments, each containing some new information not contained in the previous segments. After viewing each segment, participants were asked to indicate how close they were to making a decision and how certain they were that their current opinion would be their final decision. After indicating their current state of decision-making, participants were interviewed regarding the factors affecting their decision-making. Of interest was the process by which participants moved toward a decision. This experiment revealed a number of possible directions for future research. There appeared to be two approaches to decision-making: Some decision-makers moved steadily toward a decision, and occasionally reversed decisions after viewing information, while others abruptly reached a decision after a certain time period spent reviewing the information. Although the difference in estimates of distance to decisions did not differ statistically for these two groups, that difference was reflected in the participants’ estimates of confidence that their current opinion would be their final decision. The interviews revealed that the primary difference between these two groups was in their trade-offs between willingness to spend time in information search and the acquisition of new information. Participants who were less confident about their final decision, tended to be

  3. Mining multi-dimensional data for decision support

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Donato, J.M.; Schryver, J.C.; Hinkel, G.C.; Schmoyer, R.L. Jr. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Grady, N.W.; Leuze, M.R. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)]|[Joint Inst. for Computational Science, Knoxville, TN (United States)

    1998-06-01

    While it is widely recognized that data can be a valuable resource for any organization, extracting information contained within the data is often a difficult problem. Attempts to obtain information from data may be limited by legacy data storage formats, lack of expert knowledge about the data, difficulty in viewing the data, or the volume of data needing to be processed. The rapidly developing field of Data Mining or Knowledge Data Discovery is a blending of Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, and Human-Computer Interaction. Sophisticated data navigation tools to obtain the information needed for decision support do not yet exist. Each data mining task requires a custom solution that depends upon the character and quantity of the data. This paper presents a two-stage approach for handling the prediction of personal bankruptcy using credit card account data, combining decision tree and artificial neural network technologies. Topics to be discussed include the pre-processing of data, including data cleansing, the filtering of data for pertinent records, and the reduction of data for attributes contributing to the prediction of bankruptcy, and the two steps in the mining process itself.

  4. Application of GIS in foreign direct investment decision support system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Jianlan; Sun, Koumei

    2007-06-01

    It is important to make decisions on how to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to China and know how the inequality of FDI introduction by locational different provinces. Following background descriptions on China's FDI economic environments and FDI-related policies, this paper demonstrates the uses of geographical information system (GIS) and multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) framework in solving a spatial multi-objective problem of evaluating and ranking China's provinces for FDI introduction. It implements a foreign direct investment decision support system, which reveals the main determinants of FDI in China and gives some results of regional geographical analysis over spatial data.

  5. Supporting the personnel reliability decision-making process with artificial intelligence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harte, D.C.

    1991-01-01

    Recent legislation concerning personnel security has vastly increased the responsibility and accountability of the security manager. Access authorization, fitness for duty, and personnel security access programs require decisions regarding an individual's trustworthiness and reliability based on the findings of a background investigation. While these guidelines provide significant data and are useful as a tool, limited resources are available to the adjudicator of derogatory information on what is and is not acceptable in terms of granting access to sensitive areas of nuclear plants. The reason why one individual is deemed unacceptable and the next acceptable may be questioned and cause discriminatory accusations. This paper is continuation of discussion on workforce reliability, focusing on the use of artificial intelligence to support the decisions of a security manager. With this support, the benefit of previous decisions helps ensure consistent adjudication of background investigations

  6. Evidence and Options for Informed Decision-Making to Achive Arctic Sustainability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkman, P. A.

    2017-12-01

    This presentation will consider the development of evidence and options for informed decision-making that will need to operate across generations to achieve Arctic sustainability (Figure). Context of these Arctic decisions is global, recognizing that we live in an interconnected civilization on a planetary scale, as revealed unambiguously with evidence from the `world' wars in the first half of the 20thcentury. First, for clarification, data and evidence are not the same. Data is generated from information and observations to answer specific questions, posed with methods from the natural and social sciences as well as indigenous knowledge. These data reveal patterns and trends in our societies and natural world, underscoring the evidence for decisions to address impacts, issues and resources within, across and beyond the boundaries of nations - recognizing that nations still are the principal jurisdictional unit. However, for this decision-support process to be effective, options (without advocacy) - which can be used or ignored explicitly - must be generated from the evidence, taking into consideration stakeholder perspectives and governance records in a manner that will contribute to informed decision-making. The resulting decisions will involve built elements that require capitalization and technology as well as governance mechanisms coming from diverse jurisdictional authorities. The innovation required is to balance economic prosperity, environmental protection and societal well-being. These three pillars of sustainability further involve stability, balancing urgencies of the moment and of future generations, recognizing that children born today will be alive in the 22nd century. Consequently, options for informed decisions must operate across a continuum of urgencies from security time scales to sustainability time scales. This decision-support process is holistic (international, interdisciplinary and inclusive), reflecting the applications of science

  7. The Role of Decision Support in the Implementation of “Sustainable Transport” Plans

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gudmundsson, Henrik; Ericsson, Eva; Tight, Miles

    2012-01-01

    but also the difficulty of unpicking its exact role in each case. Stockholm presented the most successful case, with a mix of academic and experience-based knowledge inputs facilitating understanding and acceptance. The cycle plan example revealed very limited influence of cycling design guidance. The UK......Improved decision support is deemed essential for the planning and implementation of sustainable transport solutions, but limited evidence exists that decision-relevant information is effectively used for these purposes. This paper applies a framework inspired by research in “knowledge utilization......” to examine to what extent various kinds of decision support are used and have become influential in three different planning situations—a local cycle plan in Copenhagen, the Stockholm congestion charging trial and the UK national transport strategy. The results reveal the extensive use of decision support...

  8. A framework for production of systematic review based briefings to support evidence-informed decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chambers, Duncan; Wilson, Paul

    2012-07-09

    We have developed a framework for translating existing sources of synthesized and quality-assessed evidence, primarily systematic reviews, into actionable messages in the form of short accessible briefings. The service aims to address real-life problems in response to requests from decision-makers.Development of the framework was based on a scoping review of existing resources and our initial experience with two briefing topics, including models of service provision for young people with eating disorders. We also drew on previous experience in dissemination research and practice. Where appropriate, we made use of the SUPporting POlicy relevant Reviews and Trials (SUPPORT) tools for evidence-informed policymaking. To produce a product that it is fit for this purpose it has been necessary to go beyond a traditional summary of the available evidence relating to effectiveness. Briefings have, therefore, included consideration of cost effectiveness, local applicability, implications relating to local service delivery, budgets, implementation and equity. Our first evidence briefings produced under this framework cover diagnostic endoscopy by specialist nurses and integrated care pathways in mental healthcare settings. The framework will enable researchers to present and contextualize evidence from systematic reviews and other sources of synthesized and quality-assessed evidence. The approach is designed to address the wide range of questions of interest to decision-makers, especially those commissioning services or managing service delivery and organization in primary or secondary care. Evaluation of the use and usefulness of the evidence briefings we produce is an integral part of the framework and will help to fill a gap in the literature.

  9. Applying voting theory in natural resource management: a case of multiple-criteria group decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laukkanen, Sanna; Kangas, Annika; Kangas, Jyrki

    2002-02-01

    Voting theory has a lot in common with utility theory, and especially with group decision-making. An expected-utility-maximising strategy exists in voting situations, as well as in decision-making situations. Therefore, it is natural to utilise the achievements of voting theory also in group decision-making. Most voting systems are based on a single criterion or holistic preference information on decision alternatives. However, a voting scheme called multicriteria approval is specially developed for decision-making situations with multiple criteria. This study considers the voting theory from the group decision support point of view and compares it with some other methods applied to similar purposes in natural resource management. A case study is presented, where the approval voting approach is introduced to natural resources planning and tested in a forestry group decision-making process. Applying multicriteria approval method was found to be a potential approach for handling some challenges typical for forestry group decision support. These challenges include (i) utilising ordinal information in the evaluation of decision alternatives, (ii) being readily understandable for and treating equally all the stakeholders in possession of different levels of knowledge on the subject considered, (iii) fast and cheap acquisition of preference information from several stakeholders, and (iv) dealing with multiple criteria.

  10. Single-process versus multiple-strategy models of decision making: evidence from an information intrusion paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Söllner, Anke; Bröder, Arndt; Glöckner, Andreas; Betsch, Tilmann

    2014-02-01

    When decision makers are confronted with different problems and situations, do they use a uniform mechanism as assumed by single-process models (SPMs) or do they choose adaptively from a set of available decision strategies as multiple-strategy models (MSMs) imply? Both frameworks of decision making have gathered a lot of support, but only rarely have they been contrasted with each other. Employing an information intrusion paradigm for multi-attribute decisions from givens, SPM and MSM predictions on information search, decision outcomes, attention, and confidence judgments were derived and tested against each other in two experiments. The results consistently support the SPM view: Participants seemingly using a "take-the-best" (TTB) strategy do not ignore TTB-irrelevant information as MSMs would predict, but adapt the amount of information searched, choose alternative choice options, and show varying confidence judgments contingent on the quality of the "irrelevant" information. The uniformity of these findings underlines the adequacy of the novel information intrusion paradigm and comprehensively promotes the notion of a uniform decision making mechanism as assumed by single-process models. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. How older persons structure information in the decision to seek medical care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter J. Veazie

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Typical models of the decision to seek care consider information as a single conceptual object. This paper presents an alternative that allows multiple objects. For older persons seeking care, results support this alternative. Older decision-makers that segregate information into multiple conceptual objects assessed separately are characterized by socio-demographic (younger age, racial category, non-Hispanic, higher education, higher income, and not married, health status (better general health for men and worse general health for women, fewer known illnesses, and neuropsychological (less memory loss for men, trouble concentrating and trouble making decisions for men factors. Results of this study support the conclusion that older persons are more likely to integrate information, and individuals with identifiable characteristics are more likely to do so than others. The theory tested in this study implies a potential explanation for misutilization of care (either over or under-utilization.

  12. Decision support tools in conservation: a workshop to improve user-centred design

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Rose

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available A workshop held at the University of Cambridge in May 2017 brought developers, researchers, knowledge brokers, and users together to discuss user-centred design of decision support tools. Decision support tools are designed to take users through logical decision steps towards an evidence-informed final decision. Although they may exist in different forms, including on paper, decision support tools are generally considered to be computer- (online, software or app-based. Studies have illustrated the potential value of decision support tools for conservation, and there are several papers describing the design of individual tools. Rather less attention, however, has been placed on the desirable characteristics for use, and even less on whether tools are actually being used in practice. This is concerning because if tools are not used by their intended end user, for example a policy-maker or practitioner, then its design will have wasted resources. Based on an analysis of papers on tool use in conservation, there is a lack of social science research on improving design, and relatively few examples where users have been incorporated into the design process. Evidence from other disciplines, particularly human-computer interaction research, illustrates that involving users throughout the design of decision support tools increases the relevance, usability, and impact of systems. User-centred design of tools is, however, seldom mentioned in the conservation literature. The workshop started the necessary process of bringing together developers and users to share knowledge about how to conduct good user-centred design of decision support tools. This will help to ensure that tools are usable and make an impact in conservation policy and practice.

  13. A decision-support system for sustainable urban metabolism in Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gonzalez, Ainhoa, E-mail: ainhoag@yahoo.com [Trinity Centre for Biodiversity Research, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2 (Ireland); Donnelly, Alison, E-mail: donnelac@tcd.ie [Centre for the Environment, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland); Jones, Mike, E-mail: mike.jones@tcd.ie [Discipline of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland); Chrysoulakis, Nektarios, E-mail: zedd2@iacm.forth.gr [Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics (Greece); Lopes, Myriam, E-mail: myr@ua.pt [Departamento de Ambiente e Ordenamento and CESAM, University of Aveiro (Portugal)

    2013-01-15

    Urban metabolism components define the energy and material exchanges within a city and, therefore, can provide valuable information on the environmental quality of urban areas. Assessing the potential impact of urban planning alternatives on urban metabolism components (such as energy, water, carbon and pollutants fluxes) can provide a quantitative estimation of their sustainability performance. Urban metabolism impact assessment can, therefore, contribute to the identification of sustainable urban structures with regards, for example, to building types, materials and layout, as well as to location and capacity of transportation and infrastructural developments. In this way, it enables the formulation of planning and policy recommendations to promote efficient use of resources and enhance environmental quality in urban areas. The European FP7 project BRIDGE (sustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism) has developed a decision-support system (DSS) that systematically integrates urban metabolism components into impact assessment processes with the aim of accurately quantifying the potential effects of proposed planning interventions. The DSS enables integration of multiple spatial and non-spatial datasets (e.g. physical flows of energy and material with variables of social and economic change) in a systematic manner to obtain spatially defined assessment results and to thus inform planners and decision-makers. This multi-criteria approach also enables incorporation of stakeholders' perceptions in order to prioritise decisive assessment criteria. This paper describes the methodological framework used to develop the DSS and critically examines the results of its practical application in five European cities. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Urban metabolism in sustainability assessment of planning alternatives. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer European FP7 project applied to 5 real life case studies across Europe. Black

  14. A decision-support system for sustainable urban metabolism in Europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    González, Ainhoa; Donnelly, Alison; Jones, Mike; Chrysoulakis, Nektarios; Lopes, Myriam

    2013-01-01

    Urban metabolism components define the energy and material exchanges within a city and, therefore, can provide valuable information on the environmental quality of urban areas. Assessing the potential impact of urban planning alternatives on urban metabolism components (such as energy, water, carbon and pollutants fluxes) can provide a quantitative estimation of their sustainability performance. Urban metabolism impact assessment can, therefore, contribute to the identification of sustainable urban structures with regards, for example, to building types, materials and layout, as well as to location and capacity of transportation and infrastructural developments. In this way, it enables the formulation of planning and policy recommendations to promote efficient use of resources and enhance environmental quality in urban areas. The European FP7 project BRIDGE (sustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism) has developed a decision-support system (DSS) that systematically integrates urban metabolism components into impact assessment processes with the aim of accurately quantifying the potential effects of proposed planning interventions. The DSS enables integration of multiple spatial and non-spatial datasets (e.g. physical flows of energy and material with variables of social and economic change) in a systematic manner to obtain spatially defined assessment results and to thus inform planners and decision-makers. This multi-criteria approach also enables incorporation of stakeholders' perceptions in order to prioritise decisive assessment criteria. This paper describes the methodological framework used to develop the DSS and critically examines the results of its practical application in five European cities. - Highlights: ► Urban metabolism in sustainability assessment of planning alternatives. ► European FP7 project applied to 5 real life case studies across Europe. ► Decision support system enables incorporating scientific

  15. Information Engineering and Workflow Design in a Clinical Decision Support System for Colorectal Cancer Screening in Iran.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maserat, Elham; Seied Farajollah, Seiede Sedigheh; Safdari, Reza; Ghazisaeedi, Marjan; Aghdaei, Hamid Asadzadeh; Zali, Mohammad Reza

    2015-01-01

    Colorectal cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Colorectal cancer screening is an optimal way for reducing of morbidity and mortality and a clinical decision support system (CDSS) plays an important role in predicting success of screening processes. DSS is a computer-based information system that improves the delivery of preventive care services. The aim of this article was to detail engineering of information requirements and work flow design of CDSS for a colorectal cancer screening program. In the first stage a screening minimum data set was determined. Developed and developing countries were analyzed for identifying this data set. Then information deficiencies and gaps were determined by check list. The second stage was a qualitative survey with a semi-structured interview as the study tool. A total of 15 users and stakeholders' perspectives about workflow of CDSS were studied. Finally workflow of DSS of control program was designed by standard clinical practice guidelines and perspectives. Screening minimum data set of national colorectal cancer screening program was defined in five sections, including colonoscopy data set, surgery, pathology, genetics and pedigree data set. Deficiencies and information gaps were analyzed. Then we designed a work process standard of screening. Finally workflow of DSS and entry stage were determined. A CDSS facilitates complex decision making for screening and has key roles in designing optimal interactions between colonoscopy, pathology and laboratory departments. Also workflow analysis is useful to identify data reconciliation strategies to address documentation gaps. Following recommendations of CDSS should improve quality of colorectal cancer screening.

  16. Decision-support tools for climate change mitigation planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Puig, Daniel; Aparcana Robles, Sandra Roxana

    . For example, in the case of life-cycle analysis, the evaluation criterion entails that the impacts of interest are examined across the entire life-cycle of the product under study, from extraction of raw materials, to product disposal. Effectively, then, the choice of decision-support tool directs......This document describes three decision-support tools that can aid the process of planning climate change mitigation actions. The phrase ‘decision-support tools’ refers to science-based analytical procedures that facilitate the evaluation of planning options (individually or compared to alternative...... options) against a particular evaluation criterion or set of criteria. Most often decision-support tools are applied with the help of purpose-designed software packages and drawing on specialised databases.The evaluation criteria alluded to above define and characterise each decision-support tool...

  17. Knowledge-based dialogue in Intelligent Decision Support Systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hollnagel, E.

    1987-01-01

    The overall goal for the design of Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSS) is to enhance understanding of the process under all operating conditions. For an IDSS to be effective, it must: select or generate the right information; produce reliable and consistent information; allow flexible and effective operator interaction; relate information presentation to current plant status and problems; and make the presentation at the right time. Several ongoing R and D programs try to design and build IDSSs. A particular example is the ESPRIT project Graphics and Knowledge Based Diaglogue for Dynamic Systems (GRADIENT). This project, the problems it addresses, and its uses, are discussed here

  18. Investing in deliberation: a definition and classification of decision support interventions for people facing difficult health decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elwyn, Glyn; Frosch, Dominick; Volandes, Angelo E; Edwards, Adrian; Montori, Victor M

    2010-01-01

    This article provides an analysis of 'decision aids', interventions to support patients facing tough decisions. Interest has increased since the concept of shared decision making has become widely considered to be a means of achieving desirable clinical outcomes. We consider the aims of these interventions and examine assumptions about their use. We propose three categories, interventions that are used in face-to-face encounters, those designed for use outside clinical encounters and those which are mediated, using telephone or other communication media. We propose the following definition: decision support interventions help people think about choices they face; they describe where and why choice exists; they provide information about options, including, where reasonable, the option of taking no action. These interventions help people to deliberate, independently or in collaboration with others, about options, by considering relevantattributes; they support people to forecast how they might feel about short, intermediate and long-term outcomes which have relevant consequences, in ways which help the process of constructing preferences and eventual decision making, appropriate to their individual situation. Although quality standards have been published for these interventions, we are also cautious about premature closure and consider that the need for short versions for use inside clinical encounters and long versions for external use requires further research. More work is also needed on the use of narrative formats and the translation of theory into practical designs. The interest in decision support interventions for patients heralds a transformation in clinical practice although many important areas remain unresolved.

  19. Performance Evaluation of the Machine Learning Algorithms Used in Inference Mechanism of a Medical Decision Support System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mert Bal

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The importance of the decision support systems is increasingly supporting the decision making process in cases of uncertainty and the lack of information and they are widely used in various fields like engineering, finance, medicine, and so forth, Medical decision support systems help the healthcare personnel to select optimal method during the treatment of the patients. Decision support systems are intelligent software systems that support decision makers on their decisions. The design of decision support systems consists of four main subjects called inference mechanism, knowledge-base, explanation module, and active memory. Inference mechanism constitutes the basis of decision support systems. There are various methods that can be used in these mechanisms approaches. Some of these methods are decision trees, artificial neural networks, statistical methods, rule-based methods, and so forth. In decision support systems, those methods can be used separately or a hybrid system, and also combination of those methods. In this study, synthetic data with 10, 100, 1000, and 2000 records have been produced to reflect the probabilities on the ALARM network. The accuracy of 11 machine learning methods for the inference mechanism of medical decision support system is compared on various data sets.

  20. Performance evaluation of the machine learning algorithms used in inference mechanism of a medical decision support system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bal, Mert; Amasyali, M Fatih; Sever, Hayri; Kose, Guven; Demirhan, Ayse

    2014-01-01

    The importance of the decision support systems is increasingly supporting the decision making process in cases of uncertainty and the lack of information and they are widely used in various fields like engineering, finance, medicine, and so forth, Medical decision support systems help the healthcare personnel to select optimal method during the treatment of the patients. Decision support systems are intelligent software systems that support decision makers on their decisions. The design of decision support systems consists of four main subjects called inference mechanism, knowledge-base, explanation module, and active memory. Inference mechanism constitutes the basis of decision support systems. There are various methods that can be used in these mechanisms approaches. Some of these methods are decision trees, artificial neural networks, statistical methods, rule-based methods, and so forth. In decision support systems, those methods can be used separately or a hybrid system, and also combination of those methods. In this study, synthetic data with 10, 100, 1000, and 2000 records have been produced to reflect the probabilities on the ALARM network. The accuracy of 11 machine learning methods for the inference mechanism of medical decision support system is compared on various data sets.

  1. Development of shared decision-making resources to help inform difficult healthcare decisions: An example focused on dysvascular partial foot and transtibial amputations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quigley, Matthew; Dillon, Michael P; Fatone, Stefania

    2018-02-01

    Shared decision making is a consultative process designed to encourage patient participation in decision making by providing accurate information about the treatment options and supporting deliberation with the clinicians about treatment options. The process can be supported by resources such as decision aids and discussion guides designed to inform and facilitate often difficult conversations. As this process increases in use, there is opportunity to raise awareness of shared decision making and the international standards used to guide the development of quality resources for use in areas of prosthetic/orthotic care. To describe the process used to develop shared decision-making resources, using an illustrative example focused on decisions about the level of dysvascular partial foot amputation or transtibial amputation. Development process: The International Patient Decision Aid Standards were used to guide the development of the decision aid and discussion guide focused on decisions about the level of dysvascular partial foot amputation or transtibial amputation. Examples from these shared decision-making resources help illuminate the stages of development including scoping and design, research synthesis, iterative development of a prototype, and preliminary testing with patients and clinicians not involved in the development process. Lessons learnt through the process, such as using the International Patient Decision Aid Standards checklist and development guidelines, may help inform others wanting to develop similar shared decision-making resources given the applicability of shared decision making to many areas of prosthetic-/orthotic-related practice. Clinical relevance Shared decision making is a process designed to guide conversations that help patients make an informed decision about their healthcare. Raising awareness of shared decision making and the international standards for development of high-quality decision aids and discussion guides is important

  2. Evaluating Ethical Responsibility in Inverse Decision Support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad M. Kabil

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Decision makers have considerable autonomy on how they make decisions and what type of support they receive. This situation places the DSS analyst in a different relationship with the client than his colleagues who support regular MIS applications. This paper addresses an ethical dilemma in “Inverse Decision Support,” when the analyst supports a decision maker who requires justification for a preconceived selection that does not correspond to the best option that resulted from the professional resolution of the problem. An extended application of the AHP model is proposed for evaluating the ethical responsibility in selecting a suboptimal alternative. The extended application is consistent with the Inverse Decision Theory that is used extensively in medical decision making. A survey of decision analysts is used to assess their perspective of using the proposed extended application. The results show that 80% of the respondents felt that the proposed extended application is useful in business practices. 14% of them expanded the usability of the extended application to academic teaching of the ethics theory. The extended application is considered more usable in a country with a higher Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (TICPI than in a country with a lower one.

  3. Advanced decision support for winter road maintenance

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-01-01

    This document provides an overview of the Federal Highway Administration's winter Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS). The MDSS is a decision support tool that has the ability to provide weather predictions focused toward the road surface. The...

  4. Perceptions of risk, risk aversion, and barriers to adoption of decision support systems and integrated pest management: an introduction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gent, David H; De Wolf, Erick; Pethybridge, Sarah J

    2011-06-01

    Rational management of plant diseases, both economically and environmentally, involves assessing risks and the costs associated with both correct and incorrect tactical management decisions to determine when control measures are warranted. Decision support systems can help to inform users of plant disease risk and thus assist in accurately targeting events critical for management. However, in many instances adoption of these systems for use in routine disease management has been perceived as slow. The under-utilization of some decision support systems is likely due to both technical and perception constraints that have not been addressed adequately during development and implementation phases. Growers' perceptions of risk and their aversion to these perceived risks can be reasons for the "slow" uptake of decision support systems and, more broadly, integrated pest management (IPM). Decision theory provides some tools that may assist in quantifying and incorporating subjective and/or measured probabilities of disease occurrence or crop loss into decision support systems. Incorporation of subjective probabilities into IPM recommendations may be one means to reduce grower uncertainty and improve trust of these systems because management recommendations could be explicitly informed by growers' perceptions of risk and economic utility. Ultimately though, we suggest that an appropriate measure of the value and impact of decision support systems is grower education that enables more skillful and informed management decisions independent of consultation of the support tool outputs.

  5. Effects of computerized clinical decision support systems on practitioner performance and patient outcomes: methods of a decision-maker-researcher partnership systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haynes, R Brian; Wilczynski, Nancy L

    2010-02-05

    Computerized clinical decision support systems are information technology-based systems designed to improve clinical decision-making. As with any healthcare intervention with claims to improve process of care or patient outcomes, decision support systems should be rigorously evaluated before widespread dissemination into clinical practice. Engaging healthcare providers and managers in the review process may facilitate knowledge translation and uptake. The objective of this research was to form a partnership of healthcare providers, managers, and researchers to review randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of computerized decision support for six clinical application areas: primary preventive care, therapeutic drug monitoring and dosing, drug prescribing, chronic disease management, diagnostic test ordering and interpretation, and acute care management; and to identify study characteristics that predict benefit. The review was undertaken by the Health Information Research Unit, McMaster University, in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences, the Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand, and Brant Local Health Integration Network, and pertinent healthcare service teams. Following agreement on information needs and interests with decision-makers, our earlier systematic review was updated by searching Medline, EMBASE, EBM Review databases, and Inspec, and reviewing reference lists through 6 January 2010. Data extraction items were expanded according to input from decision-makers. Authors of primary studies were contacted to confirm data and to provide additional information. Eligible trials were organized according to clinical area of application. We included randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effect on practitioner performance or patient outcomes of patient care provided with a computerized clinical decision support system compared with patient care without such a system. Data will be summarized using descriptive summary measures, including proportions

  6. Effects of computerized clinical decision support systems on practitioner performance and patient outcomes: Methods of a decision-maker-researcher partnership systematic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilczynski Nancy L

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Computerized clinical decision support systems are information technology-based systems designed to improve clinical decision-making. As with any healthcare intervention with claims to improve process of care or patient outcomes, decision support systems should be rigorously evaluated before widespread dissemination into clinical practice. Engaging healthcare providers and managers in the review process may facilitate knowledge translation and uptake. The objective of this research was to form a partnership of healthcare providers, managers, and researchers to review randomized controlled trials assessing the effects of computerized decision support for six clinical application areas: primary preventive care, therapeutic drug monitoring and dosing, drug prescribing, chronic disease management, diagnostic test ordering and interpretation, and acute care management; and to identify study characteristics that predict benefit. Methods The review was undertaken by the Health Information Research Unit, McMaster University, in partnership with Hamilton Health Sciences, the Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand, and Brant Local Health Integration Network, and pertinent healthcare service teams. Following agreement on information needs and interests with decision-makers, our earlier systematic review was updated by searching Medline, EMBASE, EBM Review databases, and Inspec, and reviewing reference lists through 6 January 2010. Data extraction items were expanded according to input from decision-makers. Authors of primary studies were contacted to confirm data and to provide additional information. Eligible trials were organized according to clinical area of application. We included randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effect on practitioner performance or patient outcomes of patient care provided with a computerized clinical decision support system compared with patient care without such a system. Results Data will be summarized

  7. In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spratt, Trevor; Devaney, John; Hayes, David

    2015-11-01

    The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporting decisions to remove children from, or return them to, the care of their parents. To further elicit underlying hypotheses that are discernible in interpretation of evidence. A case study, comprising a two-part vignette with a questionnaire, recorded demographic information, child welfare attitudes and risk assessments, using scales derived from standardised instruments, was completed by 202 Social Workers in Northern Ireland. There were two manipulated variables, mother's attitude to removal and child's attitude to reunification 2 years later. In this paper we use data derived from respondents' qualitative comments explaining their reasoning for in and out of home care decisions. Some 60.9% of respondent's chose the parental care option at part one, with 94% choosing to have the child remain in foster care at part two. The manipulated variables were found to have no significant statistical effect. However, three underlying hypotheses were found to underpin decisions; (a) child rescue, (b) kinship defence and (c) a hedged position on calculation of risk subject to further assessment. Reasoning strategies utilised by social workers to support their decision making suggest that they tend to selectively interpret information either positively or negatively to support pre-existing underlying hypotheses. This finding is in keeping with the literature on 'confirmation bias.' The research further draws attention to the need to incorporate open questions in quantitative studies, to help guard against surface reading of data, which often does not 'speak for itself.' Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Coping with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Engaging with Information to Inform Health-Related Decision Making in Daily Life.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Restall, Gayle J; Simms, Alexandria M; Walker, John R; Haviva, Clove; Graff, Lesley A; Sexton, Kathryn A; Miller, Norine; Targownik, Laura E; Bernstein, Charles N

    2017-08-01

    People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) require disease and lifestyle information to make health-related decisions in their daily lives. Derived from a larger qualitative study of the lived experiences of people with IBD, we report on findings that explored how people with IBD engage with health-related information in their daily lives. Participants were recruited primarily from the Manitoba IBD Cohort Study. We used purposive sampling to select people with a breadth of characteristics and experiences. Individual interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using inductive qualitative methods consistent with a phenomenological approach. Forty-five people with IBD participated; 51% were women. Findings highlighted the temporal and contextual influences on engagement with health-related information. Temporal influences were described as the changing need for health-related information over time. Participants identified 6 contextual factors influencing engagement with information to make health decisions: (1) emotional and attitudinal responses, (2) perceived benefits and risks, (3) trust in the source of the information, (4) knowledge and skills to access and use information, (5) availability of evidence to support decisions, and (6) social and economic environments. Findings illustrate the changing needs for health-related information over the course of IBD, and with evolving health and life circumstances. Practitioners can be responsive to information needs of people with IBD by having high-quality information available at the right time in a variety of formats and by supporting the incorporation of information in daily life.

  9. A Framework for a Decision Support System in a Hierarchical Extended Enterprise Decision Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boza, Andrés; Ortiz, Angel; Vicens, Eduardo; Poler, Raul

    Decision Support System (DSS) tools provide useful information to decision makers. In an Extended Enterprise, a new goal, changes in the current objectives or small changes in the extended enterprise configuration produce a necessary adjustment in its decision system. A DSS in this context must be flexible and agile to make suitable an easy and quickly adaptation to this new context. This paper proposes to extend the Hierarchical Production Planning (HPP) structure to an Extended Enterprise decision making context. In this way, a framework for DSS in Extended Enterprise context is defined using components of HPP. Interoperability details have been reviewed to identify the impact in this framework. The proposed framework allows overcoming some interoperability barriers, identifying and organizing components for a DSS in Extended Enterprise context, and working in the definition of an architecture to be used in the design process of a flexible DSS in Extended Enterprise context which can reuse components for futures Extended Enterprise configurations.

  10. A generic approach for the design of organizational decision support systems (ODSS)

    OpenAIRE

    Chalal, Rachid; National Institute of Computer Science; Nader, Fahima; National Institute of Computer Science

    2007-01-01

    The paper proposes a generic approach to design and develop an Organizational Decision Support System (ODSS). This approach is based at the follows definition: the ODSS is considered as the experts' memory and their decision-taking. Therefore, the ODSS is constituted by two elements, a strategic DSS and a specific referential of the decision situation. Our generic approach for ODSS design is based on the MUSIC (Management and Use of Co-operative Information Systems) model. An illustration of ...

  11. Scalable software architectures for decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musen, M A

    1999-12-01

    Interest in decision-support programs for clinical medicine soared in the 1970s. Since that time, workers in medical informatics have been particularly attracted to rule-based systems as a means of providing clinical decision support. Although developers have built many successful applications using production rules, they also have discovered that creation and maintenance of large rule bases is quite problematic. In the 1980s, several groups of investigators began to explore alternative programming abstractions that can be used to build decision-support systems. As a result, the notions of "generic tasks" and of reusable problem-solving methods became extremely influential. By the 1990s, academic centers were experimenting with architectures for intelligent systems based on two classes of reusable components: (1) problem-solving methods--domain-independent algorithms for automating stereotypical tasks--and (2) domain ontologies that captured the essential concepts (and relationships among those concepts) in particular application areas. This paper highlights how developers can construct large, maintainable decision-support systems using these kinds of building blocks. The creation of domain ontologies and problem-solving methods is the fundamental end product of basic research in medical informatics. Consequently, these concepts need more attention by our scientific community.

  12. Harnessing Ecosystem Models and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for the Support of Forest Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfslehner, Bernhard; Seidl, Rupert

    2010-12-01

    The decision-making environment in forest management (FM) has changed drastically during the last decades. Forest management planning is facing increasing complexity due to a widening portfolio of forest goods and services, a societal demand for a rational, transparent decision process and rising uncertainties concerning future environmental conditions (e.g., climate change). Methodological responses to these challenges include an intensified use of ecosystem models to provide an enriched, quantitative information base for FM planning. Furthermore, multi-criteria methods are increasingly used to amalgamate information, preferences, expert judgments and value expressions, in support of the participatory and communicative dimensions of modern forestry. Although the potential of combining these two approaches has been demonstrated in a number of studies, methodological aspects in interfacing forest ecosystem models (FEM) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) are scarcely addressed explicitly. In this contribution we review the state of the art in FEM and MCDA in the context of FM planning and highlight some of the crucial issues when combining ecosystem and preference modeling. We discuss issues and requirements in selecting approaches suitable for supporting FM planning problems from the growing body of FEM and MCDA concepts. We furthermore identify two major challenges in a harmonized application of FEM-MCDA: (i) the design and implementation of an indicator-based analysis framework capturing ecological and social aspects and their interactions relevant for the decision process, and (ii) holistic information management that supports consistent use of different information sources, provides meta-information as well as information on uncertainties throughout the planning process.

  13. The building of strategic information service in nuclear field facing to decision making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yong; Xue Enjie; Yuan Huibin

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To study the structure of strategic information service system in nuclear field for decision making supporting. Methods: Investigating and studying the strategic information systems at different levels-domestic and overseas, regional and national, governmental and industrial as well as information departmental, putting forward the envisioning of strategic information service system in nuclear field. Results: The system is consisted of three parts: data part, data operating part using IT technology and service function part. The system can produce varied information outputs automatically based on rich information resources and IT technology under mathematical models. The information workers can analyze and study special strategic information needed based on this system. Conclusions: The envisioning for the system structure is feasible and it can be realized at present technology level. The service effect will be visible and the supporting to decision making will be weighty. (authors)

  14. The Impact of Electronic Knowledge-Based Nursing Content and Decision-Support on Nursing-Sensitive Patient Outcomes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-01-01

    Behavior Observation Techniques • Clinical Nursing Research • Decision Support Systems, Clinical • Dissemination, Information • Evidence-Based...gap and getting nurses in clinical settings to use evidence to support clinical decision -making (Duffy et al. 2015; Melynk, Fineout-Overholt...patient outcomes. However, it has been shown that nurses ’ knowledge and use of best evidence for clinical decision - making is often hindered by many

  15. Fault Isolation for Shipboard Decision Support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lajic, Zoran; Blanke, Mogens; Nielsen, Ulrik Dam

    2010-01-01

    Fault detection and fault isolation for in-service decision support systems for marine surface vehicles will be presented in this paper. The stochastic wave elevation and the associated ship responses are modeled in the frequency domain. The paper takes as an example fault isolation of a containe......Fault detection and fault isolation for in-service decision support systems for marine surface vehicles will be presented in this paper. The stochastic wave elevation and the associated ship responses are modeled in the frequency domain. The paper takes as an example fault isolation...... to the quality of decisions given to navigators....

  16. Decision Support Systems for Research and Management in Advanced Life Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriquez, Luis F.

    2004-01-01

    Decision support systems have been implemented in many applications including strategic planning for battlefield scenarios, corporate decision making for business planning, production planning and control systems, and recommendation generators like those on Amazon.com(Registered TradeMark). Such tools are reviewed for developing a similar tool for NASA's ALS Program. DSS are considered concurrently with the development of the OPIS system, a database designed for chronicling of research and development in ALS. By utilizing the OPIS database, it is anticipated that decision support can be provided to increase the quality of decisions by ALS managers and researchers.

  17. An object-oriented approach to site characterization decision support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Johnson, R.

    1995-01-01

    Effective decision support for site characterization is key to determining the nature and extent of contamination and the associated human and environmental risks. Site characterization data, however, present particular problems to technical analysts and decision-makers. Such data are four dimensional, incorporating temporal and spatial components. Their sheer volume can be daunting -- sites with hundreds of monitoring wells and thousands of samples sent for laboratory analyses are not uncommon. Data are derived from a variety of sources including laboratory analyses, non-intrusive geophysical surveys, historical information, bore logs, in-field estimates of key physical parameters such as aquifer transmissivity, soil moisture content, depth-to-water table, etc. Ultimately, decisions have to be made based on data that are always incomplete, often confusing, inaccurate, or inappropriate, and occasionally wrong. In response to this challenge, two approaches to environmental decision support have arisen, Data Quality Objectives (DQOS) and the Observational Approach (OA). DQOs establish criteria for data collection by clearly defining the decisions that need to be made, the uncertainty that can be tolerated, and the type and amount of data that needs to be collected to satisfy the uncertainty requirements. In practice, DQOs are typically based on statistical measures. The OA accepts the fact that the process of characterizing and remediating contaminated sites is always uncertain. Decision-making with the OA is based on what is known about a site, with contingencies developed for potential future deviations from the original assumptions about contamination nature, extent, and risks posed

  18. Future of electronic health records: implications for decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rothman, Brian; Leonard, Joan C; Vigoda, Michael M

    2012-01-01

    The potential benefits of the electronic health record over traditional paper are many, including cost containment, reductions in errors, and improved compliance by utilizing real-time data. The highest functional level of the electronic health record (EHR) is clinical decision support (CDS) and process automation, which are expected to enhance patient health and healthcare. The authors provide an overview of the progress in using patient data more efficiently and effectively through clinical decision support to improve health care delivery, how decision support impacts anesthesia practice, and how some are leading the way using these systems to solve need-specific issues. Clinical decision support uses passive or active decision support to modify clinician behavior through recommendations of specific actions. Recommendations may reduce medication errors, which would result in considerable savings by avoiding adverse drug events. In selected studies, clinical decision support has been shown to decrease the time to follow-up actions, and prediction has proved useful in forecasting patient outcomes, avoiding costs, and correctly prompting treatment plan modifications by clinicians before engaging in decision-making. Clinical documentation accuracy and completeness is improved by an electronic health record and greater relevance of care data is delivered. Clinical decision support may increase clinician adherence to clinical guidelines, but educational workshops may be equally effective. Unintentional consequences of clinical decision support, such as alert desensitization, can decrease the effectiveness of a system. Current anesthesia clinical decision support use includes antibiotic administration timing, improved documentation, more timely billing, and postoperative nausea and vomiting prophylaxis. Electronic health record implementation offers data-mining opportunities to improve operational, financial, and clinical processes. Using electronic health record data

  19. Future command and control systems should combine decision support and personalization interface features

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Streefkerk, J.W.; Smets, N.; Varkevisser, M.; Hiemstra-Van Mastrigt, S.

    2014-01-01

    On future battlefields, increasingly more sensor information will become available for military commanders to support mission execution. To improve (shared) situational awareness, decision-making and communication in face of this increased amount of information, the design of command and control

  20. Online decision support system for surface irrigation management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Wenchao; Cui, Yuanlai

    2017-04-01

    Irrigation has played an important role in agricultural production. Irrigation decision support system is developed for irrigation water management, which can raise irrigation efficiency with few added engineering services. An online irrigation decision support system (OIDSS), in consist of in-field sensors and central computer system, is designed for surface irrigation management in large irrigation district. Many functions have acquired in OIDSS, such as data acquisition and detection, real-time irrigation forecast, water allocation decision and irrigation information management. The OIDSS contains four parts: Data acquisition terminals, Web server, Client browser and Communication system. Data acquisition terminals are designed to measure paddy water level, soil water content in dry land, ponds water level, underground water level, and canals water level. A web server is responsible for collecting meteorological data, weather forecast data, the real-time field data, and manager's feedback data. Water allocation decisions are made in the web server. Client browser is responsible for friendly displaying, interacting with managers, and collecting managers' irrigation intention. Communication system includes internet and the GPRS network used by monitoring stations. The OIDSS's model is based on water balance approach for both lowland paddy and upland crops. Considering basic database of different crops water demands in the whole growth stages and irrigation system engineering information, the OIDSS can make efficient decision of water allocation with the help of real-time field water detection and weather forecast. This system uses technical methods to reduce requirements of user's specialized knowledge and can also take user's managerial experience into account. As the system is developed by the Browser/Server model, it is possible to make full use of the internet resources, to facilitate users at any place where internet exists. The OIDSS has been applied in

  1. Decision support for utility environmental risk management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balson, W.E.; Wilson, D.S.

    1991-01-01

    This paper reviews a number of decision support methods developed and applied by Decision Focus Incorporated to help utility personnel manage current environmental problems. This work has been performed for the Environmental Risk Analysis Program of EPRI's Environment Division, and also for a number of electric utilities across the country. These are two distinct types of decision support software tools that have been created: economic risk management and environmental risk analysis. These types differ primarily in the identification of who will make a decision. Economic risk management tools are directed primarily at decisions made by electric utilities. Environmental risk analysis tools are directed primarily at decisions made by legislative or regulatory agencies, about which a utility may wish to comment

  2. Risk-Informed Decision Making: Application to Technology Development Alternative Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dezfuli, Homayoon; Maggio, Gaspare; Everett, Christopher

    2010-01-01

    NASA NPR 8000.4A, Agency Risk Management Procedural Requirements, defines risk management in terms of two complementary processes: Risk-informed Decision Making (RIDM) and Continuous Risk Management (CRM). The RIDM process is used to inform decision making by emphasizing proper use of risk analysis to make decisions that impact all mission execution domains (e.g., safety, technical, cost, and schedule) for program/projects and mission support organizations. The RIDM process supports the selection of an alternative prior to program commitment. The CRM process is used to manage risk associated with the implementation of the selected alternative. The two processes work together to foster proactive risk management at NASA. The Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA Headquarters has developed a technical handbook to provide guidance for implementing the RIDM process in the context of NASA risk management and systems engineering. This paper summarizes the key concepts and procedures of the RIDM process as presented in the handbook, and also illustrates how the RIDM process can be applied to the selection of technology investments as NASA's new technology development programs are initiated.

  3. Information Aggregation and Investment Decisions

    OpenAIRE

    Christian Hellwig; Aleh Tsyvinski; Elias Albagli

    2010-01-01

    This paper studies an environment in which information aggregation interacts with investment decisions. The first contribution of the paper is to develop a tractable model of such interactions. The second contribution is to solve the model in closed form and derive a series of implications that result from the interplay between information aggregation and the value of market information for the firms' decision problem. We show that the model generates an information aggregation wedge between ...

  4. A framework for production of systematic review based briefings to support evidence-informed decision-making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chambers Duncan

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We have developed a framework for translating existing sources of synthesized and quality-assessed evidence, primarily systematic reviews, into actionable messages in the form of short accessible briefings. The service aims to address real-life problems in response to requests from decision-makers. Development of the framework was based on a scoping review of existing resources and our initial experience with two briefing topics, including models of service provision for young people with eating disorders. We also drew on previous experience in dissemination research and practice. Where appropriate, we made use of the SUPporting POlicy relevant Reviews and Trials (SUPPORT tools for evidence-informed policymaking. Findings To produce a product that it is fit for this purpose it has been necessary to go beyond a traditional summary of the available evidence relating to effectiveness. Briefings have, therefore, included consideration of cost effectiveness, local applicability, implications relating to local service delivery, budgets, implementation and equity. Our first evidence briefings produced under this framework cover diagnostic endoscopy by specialist nurses and integrated care pathways in mental healthcare settings. Conclusions The framework will enable researchers to present and contextualize evidence from systematic reviews and other sources of synthesized and quality-assessed evidence. The approach is designed to address the wide range of questions of interest to decision-makers, especially those commissioning services or managing service delivery and organization in primary or secondary care. Evaluation of the use and usefulness of the evidence briefings we produce is an integral part of the framework and will help to fill a gap in the literature.

  5. ComTrustO: Composite Trust-Based Ontology Framework for Information and Decision Fusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-07-06

    11] presents a methodological approach for ontology management allowing development of extensible ontologies and the mapping from ontologies to...ComTrustO: Composite Trust-based Ontology Framework for Information and Decision Fusion Alessandro Oltramari Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh... ontology -based framework for information fusion, as a support system for human decision makers. In particular, we build upon the concept of composite

  6. Interventions for supporting pregnant women's decision-making about mode of birth after a caesarean.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horey, Dell; Kealy, Michelle; Davey, Mary-Ann; Small, Rhonda; Crowther, Caroline A

    2013-07-30

    Pregnant women who have previously had a caesarean birth and who have no contraindication for vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) may need to decide whether to choose between a repeat caesarean birth or to commence labour with the intention of achieving a VBAC. Women need information about their options and interventions designed to support decision-making may be helpful. Decision support interventions can be implemented independently, or shared with health professionals during clinical encounters or used in mediated social encounters with others, such as telephone decision coaching services. Decision support interventions can include decision aids, one-on-one counselling, group information or support sessions and decision protocols or algorithms. This review considers any decision support intervention for pregnant women making birth choices after a previous caesarean birth. To examine the effectiveness of interventions to support decision-making about vaginal birth after a caesarean birth.Secondary objectives are to identify issues related to the acceptability of any interventions to parents and the feasibility of their implementation. We searched the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (30 June 2013), Current Controlled Trials (22 July 2013), the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform Search Portal (ICTRP) (22 July 2013) and reference lists of retrieved articles. We also conducted citation searches of included studies to identify possible concurrent qualitative studies. All published, unpublished, and ongoing randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-randomised trials with reported data of any intervention designed to support pregnant women who have previously had a caesarean birth make decisions about their options for birth. Studies using a cluster-randomised design were eligible for inclusion but none were identified. Studies using a cross-over design were not eligible for inclusion. Studies published in abstract form

  7. Developing and Evaluating Communication Strategies to Support Informed Decisions and Practice Based on Evidence (DECIDE): protocol and preliminary results.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treweek, Shaun; Oxman, Andrew D; Alderson, Philip; Bossuyt, Patrick M; Brandt, Linn; Brożek, Jan; Davoli, Marina; Flottorp, Signe; Harbour, Robin; Hill, Suzanne; Liberati, Alessandro; Liira, Helena; Schünemann, Holger J; Rosenbaum, Sarah; Thornton, Judith; Vandvik, Per Olav; Alonso-Coello, Pablo

    2013-01-09

    Healthcare decision makers face challenges when using guidelines, including understanding the quality of the evidence or the values and preferences upon which recommendations are made, which are often not clear. GRADE is a systematic approach towards assessing the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations in healthcare. GRADE also gives advice on how to go from evidence to decisions. It has been developed to address the weaknesses of other grading systems and is now widely used internationally. The Developing and Evaluating Communication Strategies to Support Informed Decisions and Practice Based on Evidence (DECIDE) consortium (http://www.decide-collaboration.eu/), which includes members of the GRADE Working Group and other partners, will explore methods to ensure effective communication of evidence-based recommendations targeted at key stakeholders: healthcare professionals, policymakers, and managers, as well as patients and the general public. Surveys and interviews with guideline producers and other stakeholders will explore how presentation of the evidence could be improved to better meet their information needs. We will collect further stakeholder input from advisory groups, via consultations and user testing; this will be done across a wide range of healthcare systems in Europe, North America, and other countries. Targeted communication strategies will be developed, evaluated in randomized trials, refined, and assessed during the development of real guidelines. Results of the DECIDE project will improve the communication of evidence-based healthcare recommendations. Building on the work of the GRADE Working Group, DECIDE will develop and evaluate methods that address communication needs of guideline users. The project will produce strategies for communicating recommendations that have been rigorously evaluated in diverse settings, and it will support the transfer of research into practice in healthcare systems globally.

  8. Quantitative Decision Support Requires Quantitative User Guidance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, L. A.

    2009-12-01

    Is it conceivable that models run on 2007 computer hardware could provide robust and credible probabilistic information for decision support and user guidance at the ZIP code level for sub-daily meteorological events in 2060? In 2090? Retrospectively, how informative would output from today’s models have proven in 2003? or the 1930’s? Consultancies in the United Kingdom, including the Met Office, are offering services to “future-proof” their customers from climate change. How is a US or European based user or policy maker to determine the extent to which exciting new Bayesian methods are relevant here? or when a commercial supplier is vastly overselling the insights of today’s climate science? How are policy makers and academic economists to make the closely related decisions facing them? How can we communicate deep uncertainty in the future at small length-scales without undermining the firm foundation established by climate science regarding global trends? Three distinct aspects of the communication of the uses of climate model output targeting users and policy makers, as well as other specialist adaptation scientists, are discussed. First, a brief scientific evaluation of the length and time scales at which climate model output is likely to become uninformative is provided, including a note on the applicability the latest Bayesian methodology to current state-of-the-art general circulation models output. Second, a critical evaluation of the language often employed in communication of climate model output, a language which accurately states that models are “better”, have “improved” and now “include” and “simulate” relevant meteorological processed, without clearly identifying where the current information is thought to be uninformative and misleads, both for the current climate and as a function of the state of the (each) climate simulation. And thirdly, a general approach for evaluating the relevance of quantitative climate model output

  9. Evaluation of decision support systems for nuclear accidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sdouz, G.; Mueck, K.

    1998-05-01

    In order to adopt countermeasures to protect the public after an accident in a nuclear power plant in an appropriate and optimum way, decision support systems offer a valuable assistance in supporting the decision maker in choosing and optimizing protective actions. Such decision support systems may range from simple systems to accumulate relevant parameters for the evaluation of the situation over prediction models for the rapid evaluation of the dose to be expected to systems which permit the evaluation and comparison of possible countermeasures. Since the establishment of a decision support systems obviously is also required in Austria, an evaluation of systems available or in the state of development in other countries or unions was performed. The aim was to determine the availability of decision support systems in various countries and to evaluate them with regard to depth and extent of the system. The evaluation showed that in most industrialized countries the requirement for a decision support system was realized, but in only few countries actual systems are readily available and operable. Most systems are limited to early phase consequences, i.e. dispersion calculations of calculated source terms and the estimation of exposure in the vicinity of the plant. Only few systems offer the possibility to predict long-term exposures by ingestion. Few systems permit also an evaluation of potential countermeasures, in most cases, however, limited to a few short-term countermeasures. Only one system which is presently not operable allows the evaluation of a large number of agricultural countermeasures. In this report the different systems are compared. The requirements with regard to an Austrian decision support system are defined and consequences for a possible utilization of a DSS or parts thereof for the Austrian decision support system are derived. (author)

  10. Preferred information sources for clinical decision making: critical care nurses' perceptions of information accessibility and usefulness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, Andrea P; West, Sandra H; Aitken, Leanne M

    2011-12-01

    Variability in clinical practice may result from the use of diverse information sources to guide clinical decisions. In routine clinical practice, nurses privilege information from colleagues over more formal information sources. It is not clear whether similar information-seeking behaviour is exhibited when critical care nurses make decisions about a specific clinical practice, where extensive practice variability exists alongside a developing research base. This study explored the preferred sources of information intensive care nurses used and their perceptions of the accessibility and usefulness of this information for making decisions in clinically uncertain situations specific to enteral feeding practice. An instrumental case study design, incorporating concurrent verbal protocols, Q methodology and focus groups, was used to determine intensive care nurses' perspectives of information use in the resolution of clinical uncertainty. A preference for information from colleagues to support clinical decisions was observed. People as information sources were considered most useful and most accessible in the clinical setting. Text and electronic information sources were seen as less accessible, mainly because of the time required to access the information within the documents. When faced with clinical uncertainty, obtaining information from colleagues allows information to be quickly accessed and applied within the context of a specific clinical presentation. Seeking information from others also provides opportunities for shared decision-making and potential validation of clinical judgment, although differing views may exacerbate clinical uncertainty. The social exchange of clinical information may meet the needs of nurses working in a complex, time-pressured environment but the extent of the evidence base for information passed through verbal communication is unclear. The perceived usefulness and accessibility of information is premised on the ease of use and access

  11. Adaptation by Stealth: Understanding climate information use across scales and decision spaces in water management in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirchhoff, C.; Vang Rasmussen, L.; Lemos, M. C.

    2016-12-01

    While there has been considerable focus on understanding how factors related to the creation of climate knowledge affect its uptake and use, less attention has been paid to the actors, decisions, and processes through which climate information supports, or fails to support, action. This is particularly the case concerning how different scales of decision-making influence information uptake. In this study, we seek to understand how water and resource managers' decision space influences climate information use in two Great Lakes watersheds. We find that despite the availability of tailored climate information, actual use of information in decision making remains low. Reasons include: a) lack of willingness to place climate on agendas because local managers perceive climate change as politically risky and a difficult and intangible problem; b) lack of formal mandate or authority at the city and county scale to translate climate information into on-the-ground action, c) problems with the information itself, and d) perceived lack of demand for climate information by those managers who have the mandate and authority (e.g. at the state level) to use (or help others use) climate information. Our findings suggest that 1) climate scientists and information brokers should produce information that meets a range of decision needs and reserve intensive tailoring efforts for decision makers who have authority and willingness to employ climate information, 2) without support from higher levels of decision-making (e.g. state) it is unlikely that climate information use for adaptation decisions will accelerate significantly in the next few years, and 3) the trend towards adopting more sustainability and resilience practices over climate-specific actions should be supported as an important component of the climate adaptation repertoire.

  12. A decision support system for identifying abnormal operating procedures in a nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hsieh, Min-Han; Hwang, Sheue-Ling; Liu, Kang-Hong; Liang, Sheau-Farn Max; Chuang, Chang-Fu

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► A decision support system has been constructed and verified. ► The operator's decision-making time was decreased by about 25%. ► The accuracy was increased by about 18%. ► The system prevents overlooking important information. ► Fewer erroneous solutions were implemented, and the mental workload was reduced. - Abstract: In order to prevent safety hazards that can result from inappropriate decisions made by the operators of a nuclear power plant (NPP), this study was undertaken to develop a decision support system to reduce the complexity of the decision-making process by aiding operators’ cognitive activities, integrating unusual symptoms, and identifying the most suitable abnormal operating procedure (AOP) for operators. The study was conducted from the perspective of human factors engineering in order to compare the process that operators originally used to select an AOP with a process that included a support system for AOP identification. The results of the study indicated that the existence of a support system reduces errors by quickly suggesting likely AOPs. With such a support system in place, there were clear improvements in human performance, i.e., decision-making time decreased by about 25%, and the accuracy of the operators’ decisions, judged by the successful resolution of specific problems, increased by about 18%. In addition, there were fewer erroneous solutions implemented, and the mental workload was reduced. Hence, the decision support system is proposed as a training tool in identifying AOPs in the main control room (MCR).

  13. Towards meaningful medication-related clinical decision support: recommendations for an initial implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phansalkar, S; Wright, A; Kuperman, G J; Vaida, A J; Bobb, A M; Jenders, R A; Payne, T H; Halamka, J; Bloomrosen, M; Bates, D W

    2011-01-01

    Clinical decision support (CDS) can improve safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of patient care, especially when implemented in computerized provider order entry (CPOE) applications. Medication-related decision support logic forms a large component of the CDS logic in any CPOE system. However, organizations wishing to implement CDS must either purchase the computable clinical content or develop it themselves. Content provided by vendors does not always meet local expectations. Most organizations lack the resources to customize the clinical content and the expertise to implement it effectively. In this paper, we describe the recommendations of a national expert panel on two basic medication-related CDS areas, specifically, drug-drug interaction (DDI) checking and duplicate therapy checking. The goals of this study were to define a starter set of medication-related alerts that healthcare organizations can implement in their clinical information systems. We also draw on the experiences of diverse institutions to highlight the realities of implementing medication decision support. These findings represent the experiences of institutions with a long history in the domain of medication decision support, and the hope is that this guidance may improve the feasibility and efficiency CDS adoption across healthcare settings.

  14. The role of science in support of operational decision-making during oil spills

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walker, A.H.; Robinson, J.H.

    1991-01-01

    The potential for environmental damage is the principal rationale for responding to oil spills in the United States, and most other countries. Numerous factors influence response decisions regarding containment, cleanup and treatment operations. Important influences which drive how decisions will be made include politics, economics, environmental concerns, public relations, and aesthetics. A common misperceptions that scientific information cannot be generated on a real-time basis, that is, that scientific studies generally require more time to conduct than the spill response time frame permits. This paper discusses how to organize a scientific program in support of operational decision-making during oil spills, using NOAA's Scientific Support Team as an illustrative example. The paper also describes various types of scientific activities, including use of types of off-the-shelf technology and instrumentation, which can be conducted at the time of a spill, such as those implemented during the EXXON VALDEZ. Lastly, the paper provides guidance on how to generate and mange valid scientific information in ways that are relevant to timely response decision-making

  15. A decision support system for a multi stakeholder’s decision process in a Portuguese National Forest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Garcia-Gonzalo

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Aim of study: In this paper, we present a decision support system (DSS to support decision making where different stakeholders have to generate landscape and forest level strategic plans. We further present an interactive approach that may take advantage of a posteriori preference modelling (i.e. Pareto frontier technique to facilitate the specification of the levels of achievement of various objectives.Area of study: The approach was applied to one planning cycle of a real world study case, the Leiria National Forest in Portugal. The Leiria National Forest, a managed area of approximately eleven thousand hectares in which 8,679 hectares are even aged stands of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait aimed at the production of wood.Material and methods: The interactive approach, at first, tries to generate Pareto efficient frontiers for different objectives. Then, multiple decision makers are involved in the process to seek an agreement towards the definition of a consensual strategic plan.Main results: The system developed in this article integrates an information management subsystem, a module to generate alternative management regimes, growth model routines and a decision module that generates and solves mathematical formulations. It also provides a module to display reports and view the resulting solutions (management plans. We also build the Pareto frontier for different criteria. The results show that the proposed DSS can help solve strategic planning problems subject to sustainable management constraints where people organize themselves and participate jointly to manage their natural resources.Research highlights: The interactive approach facilitates the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the decision making process.Keywords: decision support system; participatory planning; linear programming; mixed integer goal programming; sustainable forest management.

  16. Family members' informal roles in end-of-life decision making in adult intensive care units.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, Jill R; Schmitt, Madeline; Baggs, Judith Gedney; Norton, Sally A; Dombeck, Mary T; Sellers, Craig R

    2012-01-01

    To support the process of effective family decision making, it is important to recognize and understand informal roles that various family members may play in the end-of-life decision-making process. To describe some informal roles consistently enacted by family members involved in the process of end-of-life decision making in intensive care units. Ethnographic study. Data were collected via participant observation with field notes and semistructured interviews on 4 intensive care units in an academic health center in the mid-Atlantic United States from 2001 to 2004. The units studied were a medical, a surgical, a burn and trauma, and a cardiovascular intensive care unit. Health care clinicians, patients, and family members. Informal roles for family members consistently observed were primary caregiver, primary decision maker, family spokesperson, out-of-towner, patient's wishes expert, protector, vulnerable member, and health care expert. The identified informal roles were part of families' decision-making processes, and each role was part of a potentially complicated family dynamic for end-of-life decision making within the family system and between the family and health care domains. These informal roles reflect the diverse responses to demands for family decision making in what is usually a novel and stressful situation. Identification and description of these informal roles of family members can help clinicians recognize and understand the functions of these roles in families' decision making at the end of life and guide development of strategies to support and facilitate increased effectiveness of family discussions and decision-making processes.

  17. Knowledge bases, clinical decision support systems, and rapid learning in oncology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Peter Paul

    2015-03-01

    One of the most important benefits of health information technology is to assist the cognitive process of the human mind in the face of vast amounts of health data, limited time for decision making, and the complexity of the patient with cancer. Clinical decision support tools are frequently cited as a technologic solution to this problem, but to date useful clinical decision support systems (CDSS) have been limited in utility and implementation. This article describes three unique sources of health data that underlie fundamentally different types of knowledge bases which feed into CDSS. CDSS themselves comprise a variety of models which are discussed. The relationship of knowledge bases and CDSS to rapid learning health systems design is critical as CDSS are essential drivers of rapid learning in clinical care. Copyright © 2015 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.

  18. GIS-based spatial decision support system for grain logistics management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhen, Tong; Ge, Hongyi; Jiang, Yuying; Che, Yi

    2010-07-01

    Grain logistics is the important component of the social logistics, which can be attributed to frequent circulation and the great quantity. At present time, there is no modern grain logistics distribution management system, and the logistics cost is the high. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been widely used for spatial data manipulation and model operations and provide effective decision support through its spatial database management capabilities and cartographic visualization. In the present paper, a spatial decision support system (SDSS) is proposed to support policy makers and to reduce the cost of grain logistics. The system is composed of two major components: grain logistics goods tracking model and vehicle routing problem optimization model and also allows incorporation of data coming from external sources. The proposed system is an effective tool to manage grain logistics in order to increase the speed of grain logistics and reduce the grain circulation cost.

  19. Informing the Romanian decision makers on nuclear energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chirica, T.; Sandru, P.

    1997-01-01

    The paper describes the 'pro-nuclear' sector of the Romanian civil society activity to better inform the Romanian Decision Makers on nuclear power issues. The 'Romanian Nuclear Energy Association' - AREN and the Romanian Radioprotection Society - SRRp, having the support of the 'Romanian General Association of Engineers' - AGIR, started on December 1996 a strong campaign to form a correct opinion among the new elected bodies and the new Government of the country, related to the future development of the Romanian Nuclear Program as a national priority and to expedite the restart of the Cernavoda NPP-Unit 2 completion. The paper describes the strategy of this lobby campaign, the objectives assumed and the results. The authors have taken advantage of the OECD - Nuclear Energy Agency information exchange about the Decision Makers informing process about nuclear energy and have the intention to share their experience with other sister societies dealing with similar conditions. This could be also a good experience for other areas of activity. (authors)

  20. Providing Global Change Information for Decision-Making: Capturing and Presenting Provenance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, Xiaogang; Fox, Peter; Tilmes, Curt; Jacobs, Katherine; Waple, Anne

    2014-01-01

    Global change information demands access to data sources and well-documented provenance to provide evidence needed to build confidence in scientific conclusions and, in specific applications, to ensure the information's suitability for use in decision-making. A new generation of Web technology, the Semantic Web, provides tools for that purpose. The topic of global change covers changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric composition and or chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life and support human systems. Data and findings associated with global change research are of great public, government, and academic concern and are used in policy and decision-making, which makes the provenance of global change information especially important. In addition, since different types of decisions benefit from different types of information, understanding how to capture and present the provenance of global change information is becoming more of an imperative in adaptive planning.

  1. A study on spatial decision support systems for HIV/AIDS prevention based on COM GIS technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Kun; Luo, Huasong; Peng, Shungyun; Xu, Quanli

    2007-06-01

    Based on the deeply analysis of the current status and the existing problems of GIS technology applications in Epidemiology, this paper has proposed the method and process for establishing the spatial decision support systems of AIDS epidemic prevention by integrating the COM GIS, Spatial Database, GPS, Remote Sensing, and Communication technologies, as well as ASP and ActiveX software development technologies. One of the most important issues for constructing the spatial decision support systems of AIDS epidemic prevention is how to integrate the AIDS spreading models with GIS. The capabilities of GIS applications in the AIDS epidemic prevention have been described here in this paper firstly. Then some mature epidemic spreading models have also been discussed for extracting the computation parameters. Furthermore, a technical schema has been proposed for integrating the AIDS spreading models with GIS and relevant geospatial technologies, in which the GIS and model running platforms share a common spatial database and the computing results can be spatially visualized on Desktop or Web GIS clients. Finally, a complete solution for establishing the decision support systems of AIDS epidemic prevention has been offered in this paper based on the model integrating methods and ESRI COM GIS software packages. The general decision support systems are composed of data acquisition sub-systems, network communication sub-systems, model integrating sub-systems, AIDS epidemic information spatial database sub-systems, AIDS epidemic information querying and statistical analysis sub-systems, AIDS epidemic dynamic surveillance sub-systems, AIDS epidemic information spatial analysis and decision support sub-systems, as well as AIDS epidemic information publishing sub-systems based on Web GIS.

  2. Social support plays a role in the attitude that people have towards taking an active role in medical decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brabers, Anne E M; de Jong, Judith D; Groenewegen, Peter P; van Dijk, Liset

    2016-09-21

    There is a growing emphasis towards including patients in medical decision-making. However, not all patients are actively involved in such decisions. Research has so far focused mainly on the influence of patient characteristics on preferences for active involvement. However, it can be argued that a patient's social context has to be taken into account as well, because social norms and resources affect behaviour. This study aims to examine the role of social resources, in the form of the availability of informational and emotional support, on the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. A questionnaire was sent to members of the Dutch Health Care Consumer Panel (response 70 %; n = 1300) in June 2013. A regression model was then used to estimate the relation between medical and lay informational support and emotional support and the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. Availability of emotional support is positively related to the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making only in people with a low level of education, not in persons with a middle and high level of education. The latter have a more positive attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making, irrespective of the level of emotional support available. People with better access to medical informational support have a more positive attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making; but no significant association was found for lay informational support. This study shows that social resources are associated with the attitude towards taking an active role in medical decision-making. Strategies aimed at increasing patient involvement have to address this.

  3. Devils Lake Climate, Weather, and Water Decision Support System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horsfall, F. M.; Kluck, D. R.; Brewer, M.; Timofeyeva, M. M.; Symonds, J.; Dummer, S.; Frazier, M.; Shulski, M.; Akyuz, A.

    2010-12-01

    North Dakota’s Devils Lake area represents an example of a community struggling with a serious climate-related problem. The Devils Lake water level elevation has been rising since 1993 due to a prolonged wet period, and it is now approaching the spill stage into the Cheyenne River and ultimately into the Red River of the North. The impacts of the rising water have already caused significant disruption to the surrounding communities, and even greater impacts will be seen if the lake reaches the spill elevation. These impacts include flooding, water quality issues, impacts to agriculture and ecosystems, and impacts to local and regional economies. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through the National Weather Service (NWS), the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), provides the U.S. public with climate, water, and weather services, including meteorological, hydrological and climate data, warnings, and forecasts of weather and climate from near- to longer-term timescales. In support of the people of Devils Lake, the surrounding communities, the people of North Dakota, and the other Federal agencies with responsibilities in the area, NOAA launched the first ever climate-sensitive decision support web site (www.devilslake.noaa.gov) in July 2010. The website is providing integrated weather, water, and climate information for the area, and has links to information from other agencies, such as USGS, to help decision makers as they address this ongoing challenge. This paper will describe the website and other ongoing activities by NOAA in support of this community.

  4. Artificial intelligence tools decision support systems in condition monitoring and diagnosis

    CERN Document Server

    Galar Pascual, Diego

    2015-01-01

    Artificial Intelligence Tools: Decision Support Systems in Condition Monitoring and Diagnosis discusses various white- and black-box approaches to fault diagnosis in condition monitoring (CM). This indispensable resource: Addresses nearest-neighbor-based, clustering-based, statistical, and information theory-based techniques Considers the merits of each technique as well as the issues associated with real-life application Covers classification methods, from neural networks to Bayesian and support vector machines Proposes fuzzy logic to explain the uncertainties associated with diagnostic processes Provides data sets, sample signals, and MATLAB® code for algorithm testing Artificial Intelligence Tools: Decision Support Systems in Condition Monitoring and Diagnosis delivers a thorough evaluation of the latest AI tools for CM, describing the most common fault diagnosis techniques used and the data acquired when these techniques are applied.

  5. Exploring the impact of a decision support intervention on vascular access decisions in chronic hemodialysis patients: study protocol

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donnelly Sandra

    2011-02-01

    with content coding and identification of themes will be conducted for the focus group and patient interview data. Discussion Coupling the SURE tool with a decision support system structured so that a positive test result triggers providers to help patients through the decision-making process and/or refer patients to appropriate resources could benefit patients and ensure they have the opportunity to make informed HD access choices.

  6. Treatment decision-making in ductal carcinoma in situ: A mixed methods systematic review of women's experiences and information needs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rutherford, Claudia; Mercieca-Bebber, Rebecca; Butow, Phyllis; Wu, Jenny Liang; King, Madeleine T

    2017-09-01

    Decision-making in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is complex due to the heterogeneity of the disease. This study aimed to understand women's experience of making treatment decisions for DCIS, their information and support needs, and factors that influenced decisions. We searched six electronic databases, conference proceedings, and key authors. Two reviewers independently applied inclusion and quality criteria, and extracted findings. Thematic analysis was used to combine and summarise findings. We identified six themes and 28 subthemes from 18 studies. Women with DCIS have knowledge deficits about DCIS, experience anxiety related to information given at diagnosis and the complexity of decision-making, and have misconceptions regarding risks and outcomes of treatment. Women's decisions are influenced by their understanding of risk, the clinical features of their DCIS, and the benefits and harms of treatment options. Women are dissatisfied with the decisional support available. Informed and shared decision-making in this complex decision setting requires clear communication of information specific to DCIS and individual's, as well as decision support for patients and clinicians. This approach would educate patients and clinicians, and assist clinicians in supporting patients to an evidence-based treatment plan that aligns with individual values and pReferences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Prospect of Future as a Support to Search for Information for Business Decision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson Daishiro Yoshida

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The use of future studies methodologies to provide information for decision making has been studied in this research. The objectives of the research are to identify the association of methods to different information categories, the importance of future studies, the frequency of use, the time horizon and users perceived satisfaction with the results. The research is implemented through a mixed-methods methodology, with a survey and case studies. Combined results have been analyzed in a complementary approach. Results fromthe sample indicate that there is an association of methods with information categories. Evaluation of the importance of future studies is high and depends on the decision type to be strategic or tactical,it also influences the frequency of use. Time horizon is associated to methods. The most used methods are the ones with high personal interaction, on the other hand, objective methods, e.g. mathematical techniques, are not among the most used. In the case studies results, methods based on judgment and opinion with high personal interaction are the most used. There were concerns about the need for more structure to deal with future studies in the company and also about its practice in accordance with methodological recommendations.

  8. Whose decision is it anyway? How clinicians support decision-making participation after acquired brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knox, Lucy; Douglas, Jacinta M; Bigby, Christine

    2013-01-01

    To raise professional awareness of factors that may influence the support offered by clinicians to people with acquired brain injury (ABI), and to consider the potential implications of these factors in terms of post-injury rehabilitation and living. A review of the literature was conducted to identify factors that determine how clinicians provide support and influence opportunities for individuals with ABI to participate in decision making across the rehabilitation continuum. Clinical case studies are used to highlight two specific issues: (1) hidden assumptions on the part of the practitioner, and (2) perceptions of risk operating in clinical practice. There are a range of factors which may influence the decision-making support provided by clinicians and, ultimately, shape lifetime outcomes for individuals with ABI. A multidimensional framework may assist clinicians to identify relevant factors and consider their potential implications including those that influence how clinicians involved in supporting decision making approach this task. Participation in decision making is an undisputed human right and central to the provision of person-centred care. Further research is required to understand how clinical practice can maximise both opportunities and support for increased decision-making participation by individuals with ABI. There is an increasing focus on the rights of all individuals to be supported to participate in decision making about their life. A number of changes associated with ABI mean that individuals with ABI will require support with decision making. Clinicians have a critical role in providing this support over the course of the rehabilitation continuum. Clinicians need to be aware of the range of factors that may influence the decision-making support they provide. A multidimensional framework may be used by clinicians to identify influences on the decision-making support they provide.

  9. Observations to support adaptation: Principles, scales and decision-making

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulwarty, R. S.

    2012-12-01

    As has been long noted, a comprehensive, coordinated observing system is the backbone of any Earth information system. Demands are increasingly placed on earth observation and prediction systems and attendant services to address the needs of economically and environmentally vulnerable sectors and investments, including energy, water, human health, transportation, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, biodiversity, and national security. Climate services include building capacity to interpret information and recognize standards and limitations of data in the promotion of social and economic development in a changing climate. This includes improving the understanding of climate in the context of a variety of temporal and spatial scales (including the influence of decadal scale forcings and land surface feedbacks on seasonal forecast reliability). Climate data and information are central for developing decision options that are sensitive to climate-related uncertainties and the design of flexible adaptation pathways. Ideally monitoring should be action oriented to support climate risk assessment and adaptation including informing robust decision making to multiple risks over the long term. Based on the experience of global observations programs and empirical research we outline- Challenges in developing effective monitoring and climate information systems to support adaptation. The types of observations of critical importance needed for sector planning to enhance food, water and energy security, and to improve early warning for disaster risk reduction Observations needed for ecosystem-based adaptation including the identification of thresholds, maintenance of biological diversity and land degradation The benefits and limits of linking regional model output to local observations including analogs and verification for adaptation planning To support these goals a robust systems of integrated observations are needed to characterize the uncertainty surrounding emergent risks

  10. Industrial energy efficiency: the need for investment decision support from a manager perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandberg, Peter; Soederstroem, Mats

    2003-01-01

    Global competition, commitment to the Kyoto Protocol and a deregulated, integrated European electricity market will in all probability increase the demand for energy efficiency on the part of companies in Sweden. Investment decisions are an important part of meeting the new demands, because they decide the future efficiency of industrial energy systems. The objective of this study is to investigate, from a managerial perspective, the need to improve decision support in some industries, which can help to facilitate and improve investment decisions concerning energy efficiency. This work has been conducted through in-depth interviews with representatives for a number of energy-intensive companies and non-energy-intensive companies from different sectors. One need that was identified was the improvement of working methods in order to support the decision-making process. Here, external players seem to be playing an increasingly important role. Access to correct information, better follow-up activities, and transparent, understandable calculations are also considered to be important. The study will form the foundation for subsequent work on decision support and energy efficiency in industry

  11. Data Mining and Data Fusion for Enhanced Decision Support

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khan, Shiraj [ORNL; Ganguly, Auroop R [ORNL; Gupta, Amar [University of Arizona

    2008-01-01

    The process of Data Mining converts information to knowledge by utilizing tools from the disciplines of computational statistics, database technologies, machine learning, signal processing, nonlinear dynamics, process modeling, simulation, and allied disciplines. Data Mining allows business problems to be analyzed from diverse perspectives, including dimensionality reduction, correlation and co-occurrence, clustering and classification, regression and forecasting, anomaly detection, and change analysis. The predictive insights generated from Data Mining can be further utilized through real-time analysis and decision sciences, as well as through human-driven analysis based on management by exceptions or by objectives, to generate actionable knowledge. The tools that enable the transformation of raw data to actionable predictive insights are collectively referred as Decision Support tools. This chapter presents a new formalization of the decision process, leading to a new Decision Superiority model, partially motivated by the Joint Directors of Laboratories (JDL) Data Fusion Model. In addition, it examines the growing importance of Data Fusion concepts.

  12. A systematic review of online resources to support patient decision-making for full-thickness rectal prolapse surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fowler, G E; Baker, D M; Lee, M J; Brown, S R

    2017-11-01

    The internet is becoming an increasingly popular resource to support patient decision-making outside of the clinical encounter. The quality of online health information is variable and largely unregulated. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of online resources to support patient decision-making for full-thickness rectal prolapse surgery. This systematic review was registered on the PROSPERO database (CRD42017058319). Searches were performed on Google and specialist decision aid repositories using a pre-defined search strategy. Sources were analysed according to three measures: (1) their readability using the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score, (2) DISCERN score and (3) International Patient Decision Aids Standards (IPDAS) minimum standards criteria score (IPDASi, v4.0). Overall, 95 sources were from Google and the specialist decision aid repositories. There were 53 duplicates removed, and 18 sources did not meet the pre-defined eligibility criteria, leaving 24 sources included in the full-text analysis. The mean Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score was higher than recommended for patient education materials (48.8 ± 15.6, range 25.2-85.3). Overall quality of sources supporting patient decision-making for full-thickness rectal prolapse surgery was poor (median DISCERN score 1/5 ± 1.18, range 1-5). No sources met minimum decision-making standards (median IPDASi score 5/12 ± 2.01, range 1-8). Currently, easily accessible online health information to support patient decision-making for rectal surgery is of poor quality, difficult to read and does not support shared decision-making. It is recommended that professional bodies and medical professionals seek to develop decision aids to support decision-making for full-thickness rectal prolapse surgery.

  13. Development of a descriptive model of an integrated information system to support complex, dynamic, distributed decision making for emergency management in large organisations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersen, V.; Andersen, H.B.; Axel, E.; Petersen, T.

    1990-01-01

    A short introduction will be given to the European (ESPRIT II) project, ''IT Support for Emergency Management - ISEM''. The project is aimed at the development of an integrated information system capable of supporting the complex, dynamic, distributed decision making in the management of emergencies. The basic models developed to describe and construct emergency management organisations and their preparedness have been illustrated, and it has been stated that similarities may be found even in emergency situations that originally are of quite different nature. (author)

  14. Theory, Software and Testing Examples for Decision Support Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Lewandowski, A.; Wierzbicki, A.P.

    1987-01-01

    Research in methodology of Decision Support Systems is one of the activities within the System and Decision Sciences Program which was initiated seven years ago and is still in the center of interests of SDS. During these years several methodological approaches and software tools have been developed; among others the DIDAS (Dynamic Interactive Decision Analysis and Support) and SCDAS (Selection Committed Decision Analysis and Support). Both methodologies gained a certain level of popularity a...

  15. The Need for Clinical Decision Support Integrated with the Electronic Health Record for the Clinical Application of Whole Genome Sequencing Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brandon M. Welch

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Whole genome sequencing (WGS is rapidly approaching widespread clinical application. Technology advancements over the past decade, since the first human genome was decoded, have made it feasible to use WGS for clinical care. Future advancements will likely drive down the price to the point wherein WGS is routinely available for care. However, were this to happen today, most of the genetic information available to guide clinical care would go unused due to the complexity of genetics, limited physician proficiency in genetics, and lack of genetics professionals in the clinical workforce. Furthermore, these limitations are unlikely to change in the future. As such, the use of clinical decision support (CDS to guide genome-guided clinical decision-making is imperative. In this manuscript, we describe the barriers to widespread clinical application of WGS information, describe how CDS can be an important tool for overcoming these barriers, and provide clinical examples of how genome-enabled CDS can be used in the clinical setting.

  16. COSIMA - A New Decision Support System for the Assessment of Large Transport Infrastructure Projects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Salling, Kim Bang; Jensen, Anders Vestergaard; Holvad, Torben

    2005-01-01

    This paper presents a new proto-type decision support system named COSIMA-DSS for composite method for assessment - decision support system. This userfriendly system makes it possible for decision makers to assess large infrastructure projects and take special account of various uncertainties...... in a systematic and explicit way. The model applied is based on cost-benefit analysis (CBA) embedded in a wider multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and makes use of scenario analysis (SA) and Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). A particular concern of the model is the handling of varying information across the assessment...... criteria and the application of SA to inform the MCS parameter setting. After the presentation of the modelling principles, some ex-post case calculations for the Øresund Fixed Link connecting Denmark and Sweden are presented. These illuminate different aspects of appraisal uncertainty and demonstrate...

  17. Using the Logistic Regression model in supporting decisions of establishing marketing strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristinel CONSTANTIN

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper is about an instrumental research regarding the using of Logistic Regression model for data analysis in marketing research. The decision makers inside different organisation need relevant information to support their decisions regarding the marketing strategies. The data provided by marketing research could be computed in various ways but the multivariate data analysis models can enhance the utility of the information. Among these models we can find the Logistic Regression model, which is used for dichotomous variables. Our research is based on explanation the utility of this model and interpretation of the resulted information in order to help practitioners and researchers to use it in their future investigations

  18. An exploration study to find important factors influencing on decision support systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naser Azad

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Decision Support Systems (DSSs are computer-based information systems for providing necessary supports for business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs often serve the management, operations, and planning levels of all organizations and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily achieved in advance. This paper presents an empirical investigation to find important factors influencing DSSs. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 36 questions, distributes it among 213 employees who work for different offices in municipality of Tehran, Iran. Cronbach alpha is calculated as 0.872. In addition, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Approx. Chi-Square are 0.782 and 1014.521, respectively. Based on the results of our survey, we have derived three factors including system, analysis and transaction.

  19. Nuclear and radiation emergency evaluation and decision-making support system for ministry of environmental protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yue Huiguo; Lin Quanyi; Zhang Jiangang

    2010-01-01

    This article introduces the design features and main functions of The Nuclear and Radiation Emergency Evaluation and Decision Support System. The Ministry of Environmental Protection will construct a complete set of evaluation and decision-making system at the Nuclear Safety Center of Ministry of Environmental Protection to cope with the sudden event. The system will provide a comprehensive technical support for the consequence evaluation and decision-making of anti-terrorism event according to the responsibility of MEP in the sudden event, with the data provided by the MEP's anti-terrorism information platform. (authors)

  20. Integrated Decision Support for Global Environmental Change Adaptation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, S.; Cantrell, S.; Higgins, G. J.; Marshall, J.; VanWijngaarden, F.

    2011-12-01

    Environmental changes are happening now that has caused concern in many parts of the world; particularly vulnerable are the countries and communities with limited resources and with natural environments that are more susceptible to climate change impacts. Global leaders are concerned about the observed phenomena and events such as Amazon deforestation, shifting monsoon patterns affecting agriculture in the mountain slopes of Peru, floods in Pakistan, water shortages in Middle East, droughts impacting water supplies and wildlife migration in Africa, and sea level rise impacts on low lying coastal communities in Bangladesh. These environmental changes are likely to get exacerbated as the temperatures rise, the weather and climate patterns change, and sea level rise continues. Large populations and billions of dollars of infrastructure could be affected. At Northrop Grumman, we have developed an integrated decision support framework for providing necessary information to stakeholders and planners to adapt to the impacts of climate variability and change at the regional and local levels. This integrated approach takes into account assimilation and exploitation of large and disparate weather and climate data sets, regional downscaling (dynamic and statistical), uncertainty quantification and reduction, and a synthesis of scientific data with demographic and economic data to generate actionable information for the stakeholders and decision makers. Utilizing a flexible service oriented architecture and state-of-the-art visualization techniques, this information can be delivered via tailored GIS portals to meet diverse set of user needs and expectations. This integrated approach can be applied to regional and local risk assessments, predictions and decadal projections, and proactive adaptation planning for vulnerable communities. In this paper we will describe this comprehensive decision support approach with selected applications and case studies to illustrate how this

  1. Age Differences in Information Use While Making Decisions: Resource Limitations or Processing Differences?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs-Lawson, Joy M; Schumacher, Mitzi M; Wackerbarth, Sarah B

    2016-09-20

    Recent research on the decision-making abilities of older adults has shown that they use less information than young adults. One explanation ascribes this age difference to reductions in cognitive abilities with age. The article includes three experimental studies that focused on determining the conditions in which older and young adults would display dissimilar information processing characteristics. Findings from Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that older adults are not necessarily at greater disadvantage than young adults in decision contexts that demand more information processing resources. Findings from Study 3 indicated that older adults when faced with decisions that require greater processing are likely to use a strategy that reduces the amount of information needed, whereas younger adults rely on strategies that utilize more resources. Combined the findings indicate that older adults change their decision-making strategies based on the context and information provided. Furthermore, support is provided for processing difference. © The Author(s) 2016.

  2. Composite decision support by combining cost-benefit and multi-criteria decision

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barfod, Michael Bruhn; Salling, Kim Bang; Leleur, Steen

    2011-01-01

    This paper concerns composite decision support based on combining cost-benefit analysis (CBA) with multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) for the assessment of economic as well as strategic impacts within transport projects. Specifically a composite model for assessment (COSIMA) is presented...

  3. Involved, inputting or informing: "Shared" decision making in adult mental health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradley, Eleanor; Green, Debra

    2018-02-01

    A diagnosis of serious mental illness can impact on the whole family. Families informally provide significant amounts of care but are disproportionately at risk of carer burden when compared to those supporting people with other long-term conditions. Shared decision making (SDM) is an ethical model of health communication associated with positive health outcomes; however, there has been little research to evaluate how routinely family is invited to participate in SDM, or what this looks like in practice. This UK study aimed to better understand how the family caregivers of those diagnosed with SMI are currently involved in decision making, particularly decisions about treatment options including prescribed medication. Objectives were to Explore the extent to which family members wish to be involved in decisions about prescribed medication Determine how and when professionals engage family in these decisions Identify barriers and facilitators associated with the engagement of family in decisions about treatment. Open-ended questions were sent to professionals and family members to elicit written responses. Qualitative responses were analysed thematically. Themes included the definition of involvement and "rules of engagement." Staff members are gatekeepers for family involvement, and the process is not democratic. Family and staff ascribe practical, rather than recovery-oriented roles to family, with pre-occupation around notions of adherence. Staff members need support, training and education to apply SDM. Time to exchange information is vital but practically difficult. Negotiated teams, comprising of staff, service users, family, peers as applicable, with ascribed roles and responsibilities could support SDM. © 2017 The Authors Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Health information, behavior change, and decision support for patients with type 2 diabetes: development of a tailored, preference-sensitive health communication application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weymann N

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Nina Weymann,1 Martin Härter,1 Frank Petrak,2 Jörg Dirmaier11Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, 2Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, GermanyPurpose: Patient involvement in diabetes treatment such as shared decision-making and patient self-management has significant effects on clinical parameters. As a prerequisite for active involvement, patients need to be informed in an adequate and preference-sensitive way. Interactive Health Communication Applications (IHCAs that combine web-based health information for patients with additional support offer the opportunity to reach great numbers of patients at low cost and provide them with high-quality information and support at the time, place, and learning speed they prefer. Still, web-based interventions often suffer from high attrition. Tailoring the intervention to patients’ needs and preferences might reduce attrition and should thereby increase effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to develop a tailored IHCA offering evidence-based, preference-sensitive content and treatment decision support to patients with type 2 diabetes. The content was developed based on a needs assessment and two evidence-based treatment guidelines. The delivery format is a dialogue-based, tunneled design tailoring the content and tone of the dialogue to relevant patient characteristics (health literacy, attitudes toward self-care, and psychological barriers to insulin treatment. Both content and tailoring were revised by an interdisciplinary advisory committee.Conclusion: The World Wide Web holds great potential for patient information and self-management interventions. With the development and evaluation of a tailored IHCA, we complement face-to-face consultations of patients with their health care practitioners and make them more efficient and satisfying for both sides. Effects of the

  5. Development of a Prototype Web-Based Decision Support System for Watershed Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dejian Zhang

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Using distributed hydrological models to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing non-point source pollution by applying best management practices (BMPs is an important support to decision making for watershed management. However, complex interfaces and time-consuming simulations of the models have largely hindered the applications of these models. We designed and developed a prototype web-based decision support system for watershed management (DSS-WMRJ, which is user friendly and supports quasi-real-time decision making. DSS-WMRJ is based on integrating an open-source Web-based Geographical Information Systems (Web GIS tool (Geoserver, a modeling component (SWAT, Soil and Water Assessment Tool, a cloud computing platform (Hadoop and other open source components and libraries. In addition, a private cloud is used in an innovative manner to parallelize model simulations, which are time consuming and computationally costly. Then, the prototype DSS-WMRJ was tested with a case study. Successful implementation and testing of the prototype DSS-WMRJ lay a good foundation to develop DSS-WMRJ into a fully-fledged tool for watershed management. DSS-WMRJ can be easily customized for use in other watersheds and is valuable for constructing other environmental decision support systems, because of its performance, flexibility, scalability and economy.

  6. Supporting Informed Decision Making - Center for Research Strategy

    Science.gov (United States)

    CRS conducts portfolio analyses and collects data on scientific topics, funding mechanisms, and investigator characteristics to help NCI leadership make data-driven decisions about the scientific research enterprise.

  7. North Slope Decision Support for Water Resource Planning and Management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schnabel, William; Brumbelow, Kelly

    2013-03-31

    The objective of this project was to enhance the water resource decision-making process with respect to oil and gas exploration/production activities on Alaska’s North Slope. To this end, a web-based software tool was developed to allow stakeholders to assemble, evaluate, and communicate relevant information between and amongst themselves. The software, termed North Slope Decision Support System (NSDSS), is a visually-referenced database that provides a platform for running complex natural system, planning, and optimization models. The NSDSS design was based upon community input garnered during a series of stakeholder workshops, and the end product software is freely available to all stakeholders via the project website. The tool now resides on servers hosted by the UAF Water and Environmental Research Center, and will remain accessible and free-of-charge for all interested stakeholders. The development of the tool fostered new advances in the area of data evaluation and decision support technologies, and the finished product is envisioned to enhance water resource planning activities on Alaska’s North Slope.

  8. Supporting End of Life Decision Making: Case Studies of Relational Closeness in Supported Decision Making for People with Severe or Profound Intellectual Disability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Joanne; Wilson, Erin; Hagiliassis, Nick

    2017-01-01

    Background: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) promotes the use of supported decision making in lieu of substitute decision making. To date, there has been a lack of focus on supported decision making for people with severe or profound intellectual disability, including for end of life decisions.…

  9. Using the National Information Infrastructure for social science, education, and informed decision making

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tonn, B.E.

    1994-01-07

    The United States has aggressively embarked on the challenging task of building a National Information Infrastructure (NII). This infrastructure will have many levels, extending from the building block capital stock that composes the telecommunications system to the multitude of higher tier applications hardware and software tied to this system. This ``White Paper`` presents a vision for a second and third tier national information infrastructure that focuses exclusively on the needs of social science, education, and decision making (NII-SSEDM). NII-SSEDM will provide the necessary data, information, and automated decision support and educational tools needed to help this nation solve its most pressing social problems. The proposed system has five components: `data collection systems; databases; statistical analysis and modeling tools; policy analysis and decision support tools; and materials and software specially designed for education. This paper contains: a vision statement for each component; comments on progress made on each component as of the early 1990s; and specific recommendations on how to achieve the goals described in the vision statements. The white paper also discusses how the NII-SSEDM could be used to address four major social concerns: ensuring economic prosperity; health care; reducing crime and violence; and K-12 education. Examples of near-term and mid-term goals (e.g., pre-and post Year 2000) are presented for consideration. Although the development of NII-SSEDM will require a concerted effort by government, the private sector, schools, and numerous other organizations, the success of NH-SSEDM is predicated upon the identification of an institutional ``champion`` to acquire and husband key resources and provide strong leadership and guidance.

  10. Athena: Towards Decision-Centric Anticipatory Sensor Information Delivery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jongdeog Lee

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper introduces a new direction in quality-of-service-aware networked sensing that designs communication protocols and scheduling policies for data delivery that are optimized specifically for decision needs. The work complements present decision monitoring and support tools and falls in the larger framework of decision-driven resource management. A hallmark of the new protocols is that they are aware of the inference structure used to arrive at decisions (from logical predicates, as well as the data (and data quality that need to be furnished to successfully evaluate the unknowns on which these decisions are based. Such protocols can therefore anticipate and deliver precisely the right data, at the right level of quality, from the right sources, at the right time, to enable valid and timely decisions at minimum cost to the underlying network. This paper presents the decision model used and the protocol design philosophy, reviews the key recent results and describes a novel system, called Athena, that is the first to embody the aforementioned data delivery paradigm. Evaluation results are presented that compare the performance of decision-centric anticipatory information delivery to several baselines, demonstrating its various advantages in terms of decision timeliness, validity and network resources used. The paper concludes with a discussion of remaining future challenges in this emerging area.

  11. Support for decision making and problem solving in abnormal conditions in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Embrey, D.; Humphreys, P.

    1985-01-01

    Under abnormal plant condition effective decision support has to take into account the operator's or other decision maker's mental model of the plant, derived from operating experience. This will be different from the engineering model incorporated in Disturbance Analysis Systems. Recently developed approaches for gaining access to the structure of this mental model provided the basis for the development of an interactive computer system capable of representing and exploring expert knowledge concerning inferences about causal patterns, starting from the information available to the operator in the control room. This system has potential application as an interactive diagnostic aid in support of decision making and problem solving during abnormal conditions. (Auth.)

  12. Decision support frameworks and tools for conservation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Mark W.; Cook, Carly N.; Pressey, Robert L.; Pullin, Andrew S.; Runge, Michael C.; Salafsky, Nick; Sutherland, William J.; Williamson, Matthew A.

    2018-01-01

    The practice of conservation occurs within complex socioecological systems fraught with challenges that require transparent, defensible, and often socially engaged project planning and management. Planning and decision support frameworks are designed to help conservation practitioners increase planning rigor, project accountability, stakeholder participation, transparency in decisions, and learning. We describe and contrast five common frameworks within the context of six fundamental questions (why, who, what, where, when, how) at each of three planning stages of adaptive management (project scoping, operational planning, learning). We demonstrate that decision support frameworks provide varied and extensive tools for conservation planning and management. However, using any framework in isolation risks diminishing potential benefits since no one framework covers the full spectrum of potential conservation planning and decision challenges. We describe two case studies that have effectively deployed tools from across conservation frameworks to improve conservation actions and outcomes. Attention to the critical questions for conservation project planning should allow practitioners to operate within any framework and adapt tools to suit their specific management context. We call on conservation researchers and practitioners to regularly use decision support tools as standard practice for framing both practice and research.

  13. Observability and Decision Support for Supervision of Distributed Power System Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pertl, Michael

    in NorthernCalifornia. Two possible applications of the model are presented: peak reduction compared to uncontrolled charging, and an energy arbitrage scenario. Overall, it is shown that a combination of classical and innovative approaches can contribute to improved situation awareness of control room...... operational information, relevant to the current grid condition, need to be developed. This dissertation covers three areas where specific challenges for improved observability and decision support in future control rooms are addressed: Classical large power system stability issues, innovative data......-network-based approach for real-time voltage estimation in active distribution grids, and a modeling approach to harness the flexibility of an aggregation of electric vehicles. For improved monitoring and maintaining power system stability, a decision support tool for transient stability preventive control, based...

  14. Decision Strategy Research: Policy Support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardeman, F.

    2000-01-01

    The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategy research are (1) to support and advise the Belgian authorities on specific problems concerning existing and potential hazards from exposure to ionising radiation, both in normal and emergency situations; (2) to perform research on relevant topics that might have an important impact on decision making related to nuclear applications, including social and economic sciences. Main achievements in this area in 1999 are described

  15. Demonstration of decision support for real time operation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Catterson, Victoria; MCarthur, Stephen; Chen, Minjiang

    ELECTRA Deliverable 8.2 reports on the demonstration of decision support within the future control room in light of voltage and frequency control in the 2030+ power system. The decision support must identify key threats and vulnerabilities, and propose and prioritise appropriate interventions....

  16. A decision support system for planning biomass-based energy production

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frombo, Francesco; Robba, Michela [DIST, Department of Communication, Computer and System Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 13, 16145 Genova (Italy); Renewable Energy Laboratory, Modelling and Optimization, Via A. Magliotto 2, 17100 Savona (Italy); Minciardi, Riccardo; Sacile, Roberto [DIST, Department of Communication, Computer and System Sciences, University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 13, 16145 Genova (Italy)

    2009-03-15

    Environmental decision support systems (EDSS) are recognized as valuable tools for environmental planning and management. In this paper, a geographic information system (GIS)-based EDSS for the optimal planning of forest biomass use for energy production is presented. A user-friendly interface allows the creation of Scenarios and the running of the developed decision and environmental models. In particular, the optimization model regards decisions over a long-term period (e.g. years) and includes decision variables related to plant locations, conversion processes (pyrolisis, gasification, combustion), harvested biomass. Moreover, different energy products and different definitions of the harvesting and pre-treatment operations are taken into account. The correct management of the forest is considered through specific constraints, security factors, and procedures for parcel selection. The EDSS features and capabilities are described in detail, with specific reference to a case study. Discussion and further research are reported. (author)

  17. Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Inventory

    Data.gov (United States)

    U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Inventory contains descriptions of past and present CDS projects across the Federal Government. It includes Federal projects,...

  18. A fuzzy approach to a multiple criteria and geographical information system for decision support on suitable locations for biogas plants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Franco de los Rios, Camilo Andres; Bojesen, Mikkel; Hougaard, Jens Leth

    The purpose of this paper is to model the multi-criteria decision problem of identifying the most suitable facility locations for biogas plants under an integrated decision support methodology. Here the Geographical Information System (GIS) is used for measuring the attributes of the alternatives...... according to a given set of criteria. Measurements are taken in interval form, expressing the natural imprecision of common data, and the Fuzzy Weighted Overlap Dominance (FWOD) procedure is applied for aggregating and exploiting this kind of data, obtaining suitability degrees for every alternative....... The estimation of criteria weights, which is necessary for applying the FWOD procedure, is done by means of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), such that a combined AHP-FWOD methodology allows identifying the more suitable sites for building biogas plants. We show that the FWOD relevance-ranking procedure...

  19. PROBLEMS OF INFORMATION AND ANALYTICAL SUPPORT OF CONTEMPORARY STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. A. Rodionov

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The problematic aspects have been considered with regard to the information and analytical support of a strategic decision making in the modern management. The role and place are clarified in relation to a process of elaboration and making a management decision in strategic planning. The existing approaches are analyzed regarding the estimating of regularities in the course and outcome of strategic processes. The strategic forecasting matters have been studied as well as a decision maker`s attitude to the risks.

  20. Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) Applied to Watershed Assessment on California's North Coast

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rich Walker; Chris Keithley; Russ Henly; Scott Downie; Steve Cannata

    2007-01-01

    In 2001, the state of California initiated the North Coast Watershed Assessment Program (2003a) to assemble information on the status of coastal watersheds that have historically supported anadromous fish. The five-agency consortium explored the use of Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) (Reynolds and others 1996) as a means to help assess overall watershed...

  1. Decision support using nonparametric statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Beatty, Warren

    2018-01-01

    This concise volume covers nonparametric statistics topics that most are most likely to be seen and used from a practical decision support perspective. While many degree programs require a course in parametric statistics, these methods are often inadequate for real-world decision making in business environments. Much of the data collected today by business executives (for example, customer satisfaction opinions) requires nonparametric statistics for valid analysis, and this book provides the reader with a set of tools that can be used to validly analyze all data, regardless of type. Through numerous examples and exercises, this book explains why nonparametric statistics will lead to better decisions and how they are used to reach a decision, with a wide array of business applications. Online resources include exercise data, spreadsheets, and solutions.

  2. Internet use in pregnancy informs women's decision making: a web-based survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lagan, Briege M; Sinclair, Marlene; Kernohan, W George

    2010-06-01

    Internet access and usage is almost ubiquitous, providing new opportunities and increasing challenges for health care practitioners and users. With pregnant women reportedly turning to the Internet for information during pregnancy, a better understanding of this behavior is needed. The objective of this study was to ascertain why and how pregnant women use the Internet as a health information source, and the overall effect it had on their decision making. Kuhlthau's (1993) information-seeking model was adapted to provide the underpinning theoretical framework for the study. The design was exploratory and descriptive. Data were collected using a valid and reliable web-based questionnaire. Over a 12-week period, 613 women from 24 countries who had confirmed that they had used the Internet for pregnancy-related information during their pregnancy completed and submitted a questionnaire. Most women (97%) used search engines such as Google to identify online web pages to access a large variety of pregnancy-related information and to use the Internet for pregnancy-related social networking, support, and electronic commerce (i.e., e-commerce). Almost 94 percent of women used the Internet to supplement information already provided by health professionals and 83 percent used it to influence their pregnancy decision making. Nearly half of the respondents reported dissatisfaction with information given by health professionals (48.6%) and lack of time to ask health professionals questions (46.5%) as key factors influencing them to access the Internet. Statistically, women's confidence levels significantly increased with respect to making decisions about their pregnancy after Internet usage (p < 0.05). In this study, the Internet played a significant part in the respondents' health information seeking and decision making in pregnancy. Health professionals need to be ready to support pregnant women in online data retrieval, interpretation, and application.

  3. Industrial Decision Support System with Assistance of 3D Game Engine

    OpenAIRE

    Zou, Ming

    2015-01-01

    Context. Industrial Decision Support System(DSS) traditionally relies on 2D approach to visualize the scenarios. For some abstract information, like chronological sequence of tasks or data trend, it provides a good visualization. For concrete information, such as location and spatial relationships, 2D visualizations are too abstract. Techniques from Game design, 3D modeling, virtual reality(VR) and animation provides many inspiration to develop a DSS tools for industrial applications. Objecti...

  4. Information support for health information management in regional Sri Lanka: health managers' perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranasinghe, Kaduruwane Indika; Chan, Taizan; Yaralagadda, Prasad

    Good management, supported by accurate, timely and reliable health information, is vital for increasing the effectiveness of Health Information Systems (HIS). When it comes to managing the under-resourced health systems of developing countries, information-based decision making is particularly important. This paper reports findings of a self-report survey that investigated perceptions of local health managers (HMs) of their own regional HIS in Sri Lanka. Data were collected through a validated, pre-tested postal questionnaire, and distributed among a selected group of HMs to elicit their perceptions of the current HIS in relation to information generation, acquisition and use, required reforms to the information system and application of information and communication technology (ICT). Results based on descriptive statistics indicated that the regional HIS was poorly organised and in need of reform; that management support for the system was unsatisfactory in terms of relevance, accuracy, timeliness and accessibility; that political pressure and community and donor requests took precedence over vital health information when management decisions were made; and use of ICT was unsatisfactory. HIS strengths included user-friendly paper formats, a centralised planning system and an efficient disease notification system; weaknesses were lack of comprehensiveness, inaccuracy, and lack of a feedback system. Responses of participants indicated that HIS would be improved by adopting an internationally accepted framework and introducing ICT applications. Perceived barriers to such improvements were high initial cost of educating staff to improve computer literacy, introduction of ICTs, and HIS restructure. We concluded that the regional HIS of Central Province, Sri Lanka had failed to provide much-needed information support to HMs. These findings are consistent with similar research in other developing countries and reinforce the need for further research to verify causes of

  5. Decision support to enable sustainability in development projects

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Meyer, IA

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available that are not always explicitly linked to development outcomes. Throughout this process, scope exists to aid decision makers, through a simplistic set of decision models, to make better decisions. The emphasis is on decisions that support long-term value creation...

  6. Computer-Based Support of Decision Making Processes during Biological Incidents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karel Antos

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes contextual analysis of a general system that should provide a computerized support of decision making processes related to response operations in case of a biological incident. This analysis is focused on information systems and information resources perspective and their integration using appropriate tools and technology. In the contextual design the basic modules of BioDSS system are suggested and further elaborated. The modules deal with incident description, scenarios development and recommendation of appropriate countermeasures. Proposals for further research are also included.

  7. The conceptual definition of a crisis management decision support system CMDSS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schenker-Wicki, A G.M.

    1990-01-01

    The Institute for Automation and Operations Research at the University of Fribourg has been charged by the Swiss government to design a concept for a Crisis Management Decision Support System CMDSS to evaluate acceptable countermeasures to reduce ingestion dose after an accidental release of radioactivity and to implement a prototype. The study is divided in two parts. In the first part all the necessary modules and techniques for efficient decision making, based on the most recent developments in decision theory, as well as the necessary structuring of the decision making process are discussed, while in the second part the plausibility of the evaluated system is tested using a case study. For the time being no empirical research has been carried out. The decision making concept presented in this book comprehends decision making on two different levels, a technical and a political one. The division of decision power corresponds to the Swiss legal prescriptions for accidental release of radioactivity. To guarantee decisions of high quality, as many countermeasures as possible have to be presented to the decision makers. Due to the difficulty of evaluating all the possible countermeasures an expert-system is provided for the decision makers to generate the space of alternatives. The use of an expert-system should further help to reduce systematically the huge amount of information which is characteristic in crises situations. To support the comparison and ranking of the different alternatives a multi-criteria approach, the PROMETHEE method, which is based upon outranking relationships, is used. Due to the complexity of the decision making process, its poorly defined mathematical context and the unwillingness of the decision makers to use a method which requires defined substitution rates, decision methods based on utility theory will not be applied in this study. (Abstract Truncated)

  8. 'My kidneys, my choice, decision aid': supporting shared decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortnum, Debbie; Smolonogov, Tatiana; Walker, Rachael; Kairaitis, Luke; Pugh, Debbie

    2015-06-01

    For patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are progressing to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) a decision of whether to undertake dialysis or conservative care is a critical component of the patient journey. Shared decision making for complex decisions such as this could be enhanced by a decision aid, a practice which is well utilised in other disciplines but limited for nephrology. A multidisciplinary team in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) utilised current decision-making theory and best practice to develop the 'My Kidneys, My Choice', a decision aid for the treatment of kidney disease. A patient-centred, five-sectioned tool is now complete and freely available to all ANZ units to support the ESKD education and shared decision-making process. Distribution and education have occurred across ANZ and evaluation of the decision aid in practice is in the first phase. Development of a new tool such as an ESKD decision aid requires vision, multidisciplinary input and ongoing implementation resources. This tool is being integrated into ANZ, ESKD education practice and is promoting the philosophy of shared decision making. © 2014 European Dialysis and Transplant Nurses Association/European Renal Care Association.

  9. Development of a clinical decision support system for diabetes care: A pilot study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Livvi Li Wei Sim

    Full Text Available Management of complex chronic diseases such as diabetes requires the assimilation and interpretation of multiple laboratory test results. Traditional electronic health records tend to display laboratory results in a piecemeal and segregated fashion. This makes the assembly and interpretation of results related to diabetes care challenging. We developed a diabetes-specific clinical decision support system (Diabetes Dashboard interface for displaying glycemic, lipid and renal function results, in an integrated form with decision support capabilities, based on local clinical practice guidelines. The clinical decision support system included a dashboard feature that graphically summarized all relevant laboratory results and displayed them in a color-coded system that allowed quick interpretation of the metabolic control of the patients. An alert module informs the user of tests that are due for repeat testing. An interactive graph module was also developed for better visual appreciation of the trends of the laboratory results of the patient. In a pilot study involving case scenarios administered via an electronic questionnaire, the Diabetes Dashboard, compared to the existing laboratory reporting interface, significantly improved the identification of abnormal laboratory results, of the long-term trend of the laboratory tests and of tests due for repeat testing. However, the Diabetes Dashboard did not significantly improve the identification of patients requiring treatment adjustment or the amount of time spent on each case scenario. In conclusion, we have developed and shown that the use of the Diabetes Dashboard, which incorporates several decision support features, can improve the management of diabetes. It is anticipated that this dashboard will be most helpful when deployed in an outpatient setting, where physicians can quickly make clinical decisions based on summarized information and be alerted to pertinent areas of care that require

  10. Motivated information processing and group decision-making : Effects of process accountability on information processing and decision quality

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Scholten, Lotte; van Knippenberg, Daan; Nijstad, Bernard A.; De Dreu, Carsten K. W.

    Integrating dual-process models [Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y. (Eds.). (1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. NewYork: Guilford Press] with work on information sharing and group decision-making [Stasser, G., & Titus, W. (1985). Pooling of unshared information in group decision making: biased

  11. COSMO: a decision-support system for the central open space, the Netherlands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Harms, W.B.; Knaapen, J.P.; Roos-Klein-Lankhorst sic, J.

    1995-01-01

    To evaluate scenarios for nature restoration, a landscape ecological decision-support system has been developed, a knowledge-based system integrated in a geographical information system. The grid-based application in the Central Open Space of the Netherlands (the COSMO model) is presented here. Four

  12. Intended parents' motivations and information and support needs when seeking extraterritorial compensated surrogacy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hammarberg, Karin; Stafford-Bell, Martyn; Everingham, Sam

    2015-11-01

    Cross-border reproductive care (CBRC) is becoming increasingly common. Little is known about the motivations and information and support needs of people who cross borders to access surrogacy. This study aimed to explore: how those considering or undertaking extraterritorial surrogacy reach their decision; what other avenues they have considered and tried to have children; their sources of information and support; and perceptions of how others view their decision. Members of two Australian parenting support forums completed an anonymous online survey. Of the 249 respondents, 51% were gay men, 43% heterosexual women and 7% heterosexual men. Most heterosexual respondents had tried to conceive spontaneously and with assisted reproductive technology before considering surrogacy. Most respondents felt supported in their decision to try extraterritorial surrogacy by close family and friends. Surrogacy-related information was mostly sourced online and from other parents through surrogacy. Few sought information from a local general practitioner or IVF clinic and those who did reported IVF clinic staff were significantly (P surrogacy. The apparent negative attitudes to cross-border surrogacy among health professionals warrants further research into health professionals' knowledge, beliefs and attitudes relating to surrogacy. Copyright © 2015 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Hanford sitewide grounwater remediation - supporting technical information

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiaramonte, G.R.

    1996-05-01

    The Hanford Sitewide Groundwater Remediation Strategy was issued in 1995 to establish overall goals for groundwater remediation on the Hanford Site. This strategy is being refined to provide more detailed justification for remediation of specific plumes and to provide a decision process for long-range planning of remediation activities. Supporting this work is a comprehensive modeling study to predict movement of the major site plumes over the next 200 years to help plan the remediation efforts. The information resulting from these studies will be documented in a revision to the Strategy and the Hanford Site Groundwater Protection Management Plan. To support the modeling work and other studies being performed to refine the strategy, this supporting technical information report has been produced to compile all of the relevant technical information collected to date on the Hanford Site groundwater contaminant plumes. The primary information in the report relates to conceptualization of the source terms and available history of groundwater transport, and description of the contaminant plumes. The primary information in the report relates to conceptualization of the source terms and available history of groundwater transport, description of the contaminant plumes, rate of movement based on the conceptual model and monitoring data, risk assessment, treatability study information, and current approach for plume remediation

  14. Decision support tools for policy and planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jacyk, P.; Schultz, D.; Spangenberg, L.

    1995-01-01

    A decision support system (DSS) is being developed at the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The DSS will be used to evaluate alternatives for improving LANL's existing central radioactive waste water treatment plant and to evaluate new site-wide liquid waste treatment schemes that are required in order to handle the diverse waste streams produced at LANL. The decision support system consists of interacting modules that perform the following tasks: rigorous process simulation, configuration management, performance analysis, cost analysis, risk analysis, environmental impact assessment, transportation modeling, and local, state, and federal regulation compliance checking. Uncertainty handling techniques are used with these modules and also with a decision synthesis module which combines results from the modules listed above. We believe the DSS being developed can be applied to almost any other industrial water treatment facility with little modification because in most situations the waste streams are less complex, fewer regulations apply, and the political environment is simpler. The techniques being developed are also generally applicable to policy and planning decision support systems in the chemical process industry

  15. Support System Model for Value based Group Decision on Roof System Selection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christiono Utomo

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available A group decision support system is required on a value-based decision because there are different concern caused by differing preferences, experiences, and background. It is to enable each decision-maker to evaluate and rank the solution alternatives before engaging into negotiation with other decision-makers. Stakeholder of multi-criteria decision making problems usually evaluates the alternative solution from different perspective, making it possible to have a dominant solution among the alternatives. Each stakeholder needs to identify the goals that can be optimized and those that can be compromised in order to reach an agreement with other stakeholders. This paper presents group decision model involving three decision-makers on the selection of suitable system for a building’s roof. The objective of the research is to find an agreement options model and coalition algorithms for multi person decision with two main preferences of value which are function and cost. The methodology combines value analysis method using Function Analysis System Technique (FAST; Life Cycle Cost analysis, group decision analysis method based on Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP in a satisfying options, and Game theory-based agent system to develop agreement option and coalition formation for the support system. The support system bridges theoretical gap between automated design in construction domain and automated negotiation in information technology domain by providing a structured methodology which can lead to systematic support system and automated negotiation. It will contribute to value management body of knowledge as an advanced method for creativity and analysis phase, since the practice of this knowledge is teamwork based. In the case of roof system selection, it reveals the start of the first negotiation round. Some of the solutions are not an option because no individual stakeholder or coalition of stakeholders desires to select it. The result indicates

  16. Decision-making on olympic urban development - multi-actor decision support tool

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Heurkens, E.W.T.M.

    Subject of study is the possible organisation of the Olympic Games of 2028 in the Netherlands, as seen from an urban development viewpoint. The project focuses on the decision-making process in the initiative phase. Aim of the project is the development of a decision support tool for the complex,

  17. Aggregate assessments support improved operational decision making

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauer, R.

    2003-01-01

    At Darlington Nuclear aggregate assessment of plant conditions is carried out in support of Operational Decision Making. This paper discusses how aggregate assessments have been applied to Operator Workarounds leading to improved prioritisation and alignment of work programs in different departments. As well, aggregate assessment of plant and human performance factors has been carried out to identify criteria which support conservative decision making in the main control room during unit transients. (author)

  18. Barriers to and facilitators of implementing shared decision making and decision support in a paediatric hospital: A descriptive study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boland, Laura; McIsaac, Daniel I; Lawson, Margaret L

    2016-04-01

    To explore multiple stakeholders' perceived barriers to and facilitators of implementing shared decision making and decision support in a tertiary paediatric hospital. An interpretive descriptive qualitative study was conducted using focus groups and interviews to examine senior hospital administrators', clinicians', parents' and youths' perceived barriers to and facilitators of shared decision making and decision support implementation. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Fifty-seven stakeholders participated. Six barrier and facilitator themes emerged. The main barrier was gaps in stakeholders' knowledge of shared decision making and decision support. Facilitators included compatibility between shared decision making and the hospital's culture and ideal practices, perceptions of positive patient and family outcomes associated with shared decision making, and positive attitudes regarding shared decision making and decision support. However, youth attitudes regarding the necessity and usefulness of a decision support program were a barrier. Two themes were both a barrier and a facilitator. First, stakeholder groups were uncertain which clinical situations are suitable for shared decision making (eg, new diagnoses, chronic illnesses, complex decisions or urgent decisions). Second, the clinical process may be hindered if shared decision making and decision support decrease efficiency and workflow; however, shared decision making may reduce repeat visits and save time over the long term. Specific knowledge translation strategies that improve shared decision making knowledge and match specific barriers identified by each stakeholder group may be required to promote successful shared decision making and decision support implementation in the authors' paediatric hospital.

  19. Becoming a Mother: Supported Decision-Making in Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamieson, Rhiann; Theodore, Kate; Raczka, Roman

    2016-01-01

    Little is known about how women with intellectual disabilities make decisions in relation to pregnancy. Social support is important for mothers with intellectual disabilities in many areas. This study explored how the support network influenced the decision-making of women with intellectual disabilities in relation to pregnancy. The study extended…

  20. Fault Detection for Shipboard Monitoring and Decision Support Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lajic, Zoran; Nielsen, Ulrik Dam

    2009-01-01

    In this paper a basic idea of a fault-tolerant monitoring and decision support system will be explained. Fault detection is an important part of the fault-tolerant design for in-service monitoring and decision support systems for ships. In the paper, a virtual example of fault detection...... will be presented for a containership with a real decision support system onboard. All possible faults can be simulated and detected using residuals and the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) algorithm....

  1. Improving clinical decision support using data mining techniques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burn-Thornton, Kath E.; Thorpe, Simon I.

    1999-02-01

    Physicians, in their ever-demanding jobs, are looking to decision support systems for aid in clinical diagnosis. However, clinical decision support systems need to be of sufficiently high accuracy that they help, rather than hinder, the physician in his/her diagnosis. Decision support systems with accuracies, of patient state determination, of greater than 80 percent, are generally perceived to be sufficiently accurate to fulfill the role of helping the physician. We have previously shown that data mining techniques have the potential to provide the underpinning technology for clinical decision support systems. In this paper, an extension of the work in reverence 2, we describe how changes in data mining methodologies, for the analysis of 12-lead ECG data, improve the accuracy by which data mining algorithms determine which patients are suffering from heart disease. We show that the accuracy of patient state prediction, for all the algorithms, which we investigated, can be increased by up to 6 percent, using the combination of appropriate test training ratios and 5-fold cross-validation. The use of cross-validation greater than 5-fold, appears to reduce the improvement in algorithm classification accuracy gained by the use of this validation method. The accuracy of 84 percent in patient state predictions, obtained using the algorithm OCI, suggests that this algorithm will be capable of providing the required accuracy for clinical decision support systems.

  2. International earth science information network for global change decision making

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Autrey-Hunley, C.; Kuhn, W.R.; Kasischke, E.; Trichel, M.T.; Coppola, R.

    1991-01-01

    Effective environmental decision making depends upon the ability to predict physical changes in the environment, societal responses to these changes, and how both the physical changes and societal responses will be affected by changes in government regulations, public perceptions and the environment. Technological advances in remote sensing have provided a wealth of earth science data necessary to study global change problems; the Earth Observatory System will provide an unprecedented data source in the late 1990's. The Consortium for an International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) will combine earth science data (both satellite and ground-based) with data on the social sciences (e.g., economics, demographics, public health) to support informed policy decisions and to transfer knowledge on global change and its causes to the public.

  3. Formalisation for decision support in anaesthesiology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Renardel de Lavalette, G R; Groenboom, R.; Rotterdam, E; van Harmelen, F; ten Teije, A; de Geus, F.

    1997-01-01

    This paper reports on research for decision support for anaesthesiologists at the University Hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands. Based on CAROLA, an existing automated operation documentation system, we designed a support environment that will assist in real-time diagnosis. The core of the work

  4. Net-centric Information Sharing: Supporting the 21st Century Maritime Strategy

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Green, Daniel M

    2008-01-01

    .... The thesis introduces the concept of Ignorance Management as a risk reduction concept to help focus decision makers, and the IT professionals who support them, on getting the "right information...

  5. Mobile clinical decision support systems and applications: a literature and commercial review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Pérez, Borja; de la Torre-Díez, Isabel; López-Coronado, Miguel; Sainz-de-Abajo, Beatriz; Robles, Montserrat; García-Gómez, Juan Miguel

    2014-01-01

    The latest advances in eHealth and mHealth have propitiated the rapidly creation and expansion of mobile applications for health care. One of these types of applications are the clinical decision support systems, which nowadays are being implemented in mobile apps to facilitate the access to health care professionals in their daily clinical decisions. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to make a review of the current systems available in the literature and in commercial stores. Secondly, to analyze a sample of applications in order to obtain some conclusions and recommendations. Two reviews have been done: a literature review on Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Web of Knowledge and PubMed and a commercial review on Google play and the App Store. Five applications from each review have been selected to develop an in-depth analysis and to obtain more information about the mobile clinical decision support systems. Ninety-two relevant papers and 192 commercial apps were found. Forty-four papers were focused only on mobile clinical decision support systems. One hundred seventy-one apps were available on Google play and 21 on the App Store. The apps are designed for general medicine and 37 different specialties, with some features common in all of them despite of the different medical fields objective. The number of mobile clinical decision support applications and their inclusion in clinical practices has risen in the last years. However, developers must be careful with their interface or the easiness of use, which can impoverish the experience of the users.

  6. Balance Sheets Versus Decision Dashboards to Support Patient Treatment Choices: A Comparative Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolan, James G; Veazie, Peter J

    2015-12-01

    Growing recognition of the importance of involving patients in preference-driven healthcare decisions has highlighted the need to develop practical strategies to implement patient-centered shared decision-making. The use of tabular balance sheets to support clinical decision-making is well established. More recent evidence suggests that graphic, interactive decision dashboards can help people derive deeper a understanding of information within a specific decision context. We therefore conducted a non-randomized trial comparing the effects of adding an interactive dashboard to a static tabular balance sheet on patient decision-making. The study population consisted of members of the ResearchMatch registry who volunteered to participate in a study of medical decision-making. Two separate surveys were conducted: one in the control group and one in the intervention group. All participants were instructed to imagine they were newly diagnosed with a chronic illness and were asked to choose between three hypothetical drug treatments, which varied with regard to effectiveness, side effects, and out-of-pocket cost. Both groups made an initial treatment choice after reviewing a balance sheet. After a brief "washout" period, members of the control group made a second treatment choice after reviewing the balance sheet again, while intervention group members made a second treatment choice after reviewing an interactive decision dashboard containing the same information. After both choices, participants rated their degree of confidence in their choice on a 1 to 10 scale. Members of the dashboard intervention group were more likely to change their choice of preferred drug (10.2 versus 7.5%; p = 0.054) and had a larger increase in decision confidence than the control group (0.67 versus 0.075; p < 0.03). There were no statistically significant between-group differences in decisional conflict or decision aid acceptability. These findings suggest that clinical decision dashboards may

  7. Automated Modular Magnetic Resonance Imaging Clinical Decision Support System (MIROR): An Application in Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zarinabad, Niloufar; Meeus, Emma M; Manias, Karen; Foster, Katharine; Peet, Andrew

    2018-05-02

    Advances in magnetic resonance imaging and the introduction of clinical decision support systems has underlined the need for an analysis tool to extract and analyze relevant information from magnetic resonance imaging data to aid decision making, prevent errors, and enhance health care. The aim of this study was to design and develop a modular medical image region of interest analysis tool and repository (MIROR) for automatic processing, classification, evaluation, and representation of advanced magnetic resonance imaging data. The clinical decision support system was developed and evaluated for diffusion-weighted imaging of body tumors in children (cohort of 48 children, with 37 malignant and 11 benign tumors). Mevislab software and Python have been used for the development of MIROR. Regions of interests were drawn around benign and malignant body tumors on different diffusion parametric maps, and extracted information was used to discriminate the malignant tumors from benign tumors. Using MIROR, the various histogram parameters derived for each tumor case when compared with the information in the repository provided additional information for tumor characterization and facilitated the discrimination between benign and malignant tumors. Clinical decision support system cross-validation showed high sensitivity and specificity in discriminating between these tumor groups using histogram parameters. MIROR, as a diagnostic tool and repository, allowed the interpretation and analysis of magnetic resonance imaging images to be more accessible and comprehensive for clinicians. It aims to increase clinicians' skillset by introducing newer techniques and up-to-date findings to their repertoire and make information from previous cases available to aid decision making. The modular-based format of the tool allows integration of analyses that are not readily available clinically and streamlines the future developments. ©Niloufar Zarinabad, Emma M Meeus, Karen Manias

  8. A Semantic Approach with Decision Support for Safety Service in Smart Home Management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xiaoci; Yi, Jianjun; Zhu, Xiaomin; Chen, Shaoli

    2016-08-03

    Research on smart homes (SHs) has increased significantly in recent years because of the convenience provided by having an assisted living environment. The functions of SHs as mentioned in previous studies, particularly safety services, are seldom discussed or mentioned. Thus, this study proposes a semantic approach with decision support for safety service in SH management. The focus of this contribution is to explore a context awareness and reasoning approach for risk recognition in SH that enables the proper decision support for flexible safety service provision. The framework of SH based on a wireless sensor network is described from the perspective of neighbourhood management. This approach is based on the integration of semantic knowledge in which a reasoner can make decisions about risk recognition and safety service. We present a management ontology for a SH and relevant monitoring contextual information, which considers its suitability in a pervasive computing environment and is service-oriented. We also propose a rule-based reasoning method to provide decision support through reasoning techniques and context-awareness. A system prototype is developed to evaluate the feasibility, time response and extendibility of the approach. The evaluation of our approach shows that it is more effective in daily risk event recognition. The decisions for service provision are shown to be accurate.

  9. A Semantic Approach with Decision Support for Safety Service in Smart Home Management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoci Huang

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Research on smart homes (SHs has increased significantly in recent years because of the convenience provided by having an assisted living environment. The functions of SHs as mentioned in previous studies, particularly safety services, are seldom discussed or mentioned. Thus, this study proposes a semantic approach with decision support for safety service in SH management. The focus of this contribution is to explore a context awareness and reasoning approach for risk recognition in SH that enables the proper decision support for flexible safety service provision. The framework of SH based on a wireless sensor network is described from the perspective of neighbourhood management. This approach is based on the integration of semantic knowledge in which a reasoner can make decisions about risk recognition and safety service. We present a management ontology for a SH and relevant monitoring contextual information, which considers its suitability in a pervasive computing environment and is service-oriented. We also propose a rule-based reasoning method to provide decision support through reasoning techniques and context-awareness. A system prototype is developed to evaluate the feasibility, time response and extendibility of the approach. The evaluation of our approach shows that it is more effective in daily risk event recognition. The decisions for service provision are shown to be accurate.

  10. Identifying the decision to be supported: a review of papers from environmental modelling and software

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sojda, Richard S.; Chen, Serena H.; El Sawah, Sondoss; Guillaume, Joseph H.A.; Jakeman, A.J.; Lautenbach, Sven; McIntosh, Brian S.; Rizzoli, A.E.; Seppelt, Ralf; Struss, Peter; Voinov, Alexey; Volk, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Two of the basic tenets of decision support system efforts are to help identify and structure the decisions to be supported, and to then provide analysis in how those decisions might be best made. One example from wetland management would be that wildlife biologists must decide when to draw down water levels to optimise aquatic invertebrates as food for breeding ducks. Once such a decision is identified, a system or tool to help them make that decision in the face of current and projected climate conditions could be developed. We examined a random sample of 100 papers published from 2001-2011 in Environmental Modelling and Software that used the phrase “decision support system” or “decision support tool”, and which are characteristic of different sectors. In our review, 41% of the systems and tools related to the water resources sector, 34% were related to agriculture, and 22% to the conservation of fish, wildlife, and protected area management. Only 60% of the papers were deemed to be reporting on DSS. This was based on the papers reviewed not having directly identified a specific decision to be supported. We also report on the techniques that were used to identify the decisions, such as formal survey, focus group, expert opinion, or sole judgment of the author(s). The primary underlying modelling system, e.g., expert system, agent based model, Bayesian belief network, geographical information system (GIS), and the like was categorised next. Finally, since decision support typically should target some aspect of unstructured decisions, we subjectively determined to what degree this was the case. In only 23% of the papers reviewed, did the system appear to tackle unstructured decisions. This knowledge should be useful in helping workers in the field develop more effective systems and tools, especially by being exposed to the approaches in different, but related, disciplines. We propose that a standard blueprint for reporting on DSS be developed for

  11. The conceptual foundation of environmental decision support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichert, Peter; Langhans, Simone D; Lienert, Judit; Schuwirth, Nele

    2015-05-01

    Environmental decision support intends to use the best available scientific knowledge to help decision makers find and evaluate management alternatives. The goal of this process is to achieve the best fulfillment of societal objectives. This requires a careful analysis of (i) how scientific knowledge can be represented and quantified, (ii) how societal preferences can be described and elicited, and (iii) how these concepts can best be used to support communication with authorities, politicians, and the public in environmental management. The goal of this paper is to discuss key requirements for a conceptual framework to address these issues and to suggest how these can best be met. We argue that a combination of probability theory and scenario planning with multi-attribute utility theory fulfills these requirements, and discuss adaptations and extensions of these theories to improve their application for supporting environmental decision making. With respect to (i) we suggest the use of intersubjective probabilities, if required extended to imprecise probabilities, to describe the current state of scientific knowledge. To address (ii), we emphasize the importance of value functions, in addition to utilities, to support decisions under risk. We discuss the need for testing "non-standard" value aggregation techniques, the usefulness of flexibility of value functions regarding attribute data availability, the elicitation of value functions for sub-objectives from experts, and the consideration of uncertainty in value and utility elicitation. With respect to (iii), we outline a well-structured procedure for transparent environmental decision support that is based on a clear separation of scientific prediction and societal valuation. We illustrate aspects of the suggested methodology by its application to river management in general and with a small, didactical case study on spatial river rehabilitation prioritization. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by

  12. Framing the role of Decision Support in the case of Stockholm Congestion Charging Trial

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gudmundsson, Henrik; Ericsson, Eva; Hugosson, Muriel Besser

    2009-01-01

    the way for investigating the use and role of ‘Decision Support’ in the Stockholm Congestion Charging experiment. We adopt a definition of Decision Support as the systematic application of externally produced knowledge in transport planning and policy making processes. We then derive an analytical...... framework from the research literature on ‘knowledge utilization’ in policy making. This research has generally found that both ‘technical’, ‘communicative’, and ‘institutional’ aspects of the Decision Support matter for its influence on actual policy making processes and results. In our analysis we find...... in a Swedish context, and the introduction of the Stockholm system has been highly controversial. Considerable efforts have therefore been undertaken to provide information that could serve as ‘Decision Support’ along the way. This has included e.g. modelling and forecasts before the Trial, a comprehensive...

  13. "Do your homework…and then hope for the best": the challenges that medical tourism poses to Canadian family physicians' support of patients' informed decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snyder, Jeremy; Crooks, Valorie A; Johnston, Rory; Dharamsi, Shafik

    2013-09-22

    Medical tourism-the practice where patients travel internationally to privately access medical care-may limit patients' regular physicians' abilities to contribute to the informed decision-making process. We address this issue by examining ways in which Canadian family doctors' typical involvement in patients' informed decision-making is challenged when their patients engage in medical tourism. Focus groups were held with family physicians practicing in British Columbia, Canada. After receiving ethics approval, letters of invitation were faxed to family physicians in six cities. 22 physicians agreed to participate and focus groups ranged from two to six participants. Questions explored participants' perceptions of and experiences with medical tourism. A coding scheme was created using inductive and deductive codes that captured issues central to analytic themes identified by the investigators. Extracts of the coded data that dealt with informed decision-making were shared among the investigators in order to identify themes. Four themes were identified, all of which dealt with the challenges that medical tourism poses to family physicians' abilities to support medical tourists' informed decision-making. Findings relevant to each theme were contrasted against the existing medical tourism literature so as to assist in understanding their significance. Four key challenges were identified: 1) confusion and tensions related to the regular domestic physician's role in decision-making; 2) tendency to shift responsibility related to healthcare outcomes onto the patient because of the regular domestic physician's reduced role in shared decision-making; 3) strains on the patient-physician relationship and corresponding concern around the responsibility of the foreign physician; and 4) regular domestic physicians' concerns that treatments sought abroad may not be based on the best available medical evidence on treatment efficacy. Medical tourism is creating new challenges for

  14. Encounter Decision Aid vs. Clinical Decision Support or Usual Care to Support Patient-Centered Treatment Decisions in Osteoporosis: The Osteoporosis Choice Randomized Trial II.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annie LeBlanc

    Full Text Available Osteoporosis Choice, an encounter decision aid, can engage patients and clinicians in shared decision making about osteoporosis treatment. Its effectiveness compared to the routine provision to clinicians of the patient's estimated risk of fracture using the FRAX calculator is unknown.Patient-level, randomized, three-arm trial enrolling women over 50 with osteopenia or osteoporosis eligible for treatment with bisphosphonates, where the use of Osteoporosis Choice was compared to FRAX only and to usual care to determine impact on patient knowledge, decisional conflict, involvement in the decision-making process, decision to start and adherence to bisphosphonates.We enrolled 79 women in the three arms. Because FRAX estimation alone and usual care produced similar results, we grouped them for analysis. Compared to these, use of Osteoporosis Choice increased patient knowledge (median score 6 vs. 4, p = .01, improved understanding of fracture risk and risk reduction with bisphosphonates (p = .01 and p<.0001, respectively, had no effect on decision conflict, and increased patient engagement in the decision making process (OPTION scores 57% vs. 43%, p = .001. Encounters with the decision aid were 0.8 minutes longer (range: 33 minutes shorter to 3.0 minutes longer. There were twice as many patients receiving and filling prescriptions in the decision aid arm (83% vs. 40%, p = .07; medication adherence at 6 months was no different across arms.Supporting both patients and clinicians during the clinical encounter with the Osteoporosis Choice decision aid efficiently improves treatment decision making when compared to usual care with or without clinical decision support with FRAX results.clinical trials.gov NCT00949611.

  15. Information processing by networks of quantum decision makers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yukalov, V. I.; Yukalova, E. P.; Sornette, D.

    2018-02-01

    We suggest a model of a multi-agent society of decision makers taking decisions being based on two criteria, one is the utility of the prospects and the other is the attractiveness of the considered prospects. The model is the generalization of quantum decision theory, developed earlier for single decision makers realizing one-step decisions, in two principal aspects. First, several decision makers are considered simultaneously, who interact with each other through information exchange. Second, a multistep procedure is treated, when the agents exchange information many times. Several decision makers exchanging information and forming their judgment, using quantum rules, form a kind of a quantum information network, where collective decisions develop in time as a result of information exchange. In addition to characterizing collective decisions that arise in human societies, such networks can describe dynamical processes occurring in artificial quantum intelligence composed of several parts or in a cluster of quantum computers. The practical usage of the theory is illustrated on the dynamic disjunction effect for which three quantitative predictions are made: (i) the probabilistic behavior of decision makers at the initial stage of the process is described; (ii) the decrease of the difference between the initial prospect probabilities and the related utility factors is proved; (iii) the existence of a common consensus after multiple exchange of information is predicted. The predicted numerical values are in very good agreement with empirical data.

  16. Risk informed decision making - a pre-study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simola, K.; Pulkkinen, U.

    2004-04-01

    Examples of risk-informed decisions are establishing maintenance programmes, optimising inspection policies and justifying plant modifications, and revising technical specifications. Applications in daily situations can be such as accepting or rejecting exemptions from technical specifications. The aim of this pre-study was to identify the status of risk-informed decision making at Swedish and Finnish nuclear power plants and nuclear safety authorities. Responses to a questionnaire were obtained either by interviews or by e-mail from two Swedish and two Finnish NPPs, SKI and STUK. The development of a risk-informed decision procedure based on decision analytic ideas is worth recommending. A clear documentation format is a part of such procedure. In order to serve as a basis for final decision, the documentation should include clearly defined decision criteria, qualification of PSA model for the issue under analysis, description of most important uncertainties and assumptions. (au)

  17. The conceptual definition of a crisis management decision support system CMDSS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schenker-Wicki, A.G.M.

    1990-01-01

    The Institute for Automation and Operations Research at the University of Fribourg has been charged by the Swiss government to design a concept for a Crisis Management Decision Support System CMDSS to evaluate acceptable countermeasures to reduce ingestion dose after an accidental release of radioactivity and to implement a prototype. The study is divided in two parts. In the first part all the necessary modules and techniques for efficient decision making, based on the most recent developments in decision theory, as well as the necessary structuring of the decision making process are discussed, while in the second part the plausibility of the evaluated system is tested using a case study. For the time being no empirical research has been carried out. The decision making concept presented in this book comprehends decision making on two different levels, a technical and a political one. The division of decision power corresponds to the Swiss legal prescriptions for accidental release of radioactivity. To guarantee decisions of high quality, as many countermeasures as possible have to be presented to the decision makers. Due to the difficulty of evaluating all the possible countermeasures an expert-system is provided for the decision makers to generate the space of alternatives. The use of an expert-system should further help to reduce systematically the huge amount of information which is characteristic in crises situations. To support the comparison and ranking of the different alternatives a multi-criteria approach, the PROMETHEE method, which is based upon outranking relationships, is used. Due to the complexity of the decision making process, its poorly defined mathematical context and the unwillingness of the decision makers to use a method which requires defined substitution rates, decision methods based on utility theory will not be applied in this study. The outranking approach presented in this book provides its users with more transparent and intelligible

  18. Impact of a goal setting and decision support telephone coaching intervention on diet, psychosocial, and decision outcomes among people with type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swoboda, Christine M; Miller, Carla K; Wills, Celia E

    2017-07-01

    Evaluate a 16-week decision support and goal-setting intervention to compare diet quality, decision, and diabetes-related outcomes to a control group. Adults with type 2 diabetes (n=54) were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Intervention group participants completed one in-person motivational interviewing and decision support session followed by seven biweekly telephone coaching calls. Participants reported previous goal attempts and set diet- and/or physical activity-related goals during coaching calls. Control group participants received information about local health care resources on the same contact schedule. There was a significant difference between groups for diabetes empowerment (p=0.045). A significant increase in diet quality, diabetes self-efficacy, and diabetes empowerment, and a significant decrease in diabetes distress and depressive symptoms (all p≤0.05) occurred in the intervention group. Decision confidence to achieve diet-related goals significantly improved from baseline to week 8 but then declined at study end (both p≤0.05). Setting specific diet-related goals may promote dietary change, and telephone coaching can improve psychosocial outcomes related to diabetes self-management. Informed shared decision making can facilitate progressively challenging yet attainable goals tailored to individuals' lifestyle. Decision coaching may empower patients to improve self-management practices and reduce distress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Making interactive decision support for patients a reality.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Evans, R.W.; Elwyn, G.; Edwards, A.

    2004-01-01

    Interactive decision support applications might help patients to make difficult decisions about their health care. They lie in the context of traditional decision aids, which are known to have effects on a number of patient outcomes, including knowledge and decisional conflict. The problem of

  20. Treatment of human-computer interface in a decision support system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heger, A.S.; Duran, F.A.; Cox, R.G.

    1992-01-01

    One of the most challenging applications facing the computer community is development of effective adaptive human-computer interface. This challenge stems from the complex nature of the human part of this symbiosis. The application of this discipline to the environmental restoration and waste management is further complicated due to the nature of environmental data. The information that is required to manage environmental impacts of human activity is fundamentally complex. This paper will discuss the efforts at Sandia National Laboratories in developing the adaptive conceptual model manager within the constraint of the environmental decision-making. A computer workstation, that hosts the Conceptual Model Manager and the Sandia Environmental Decision Support System will also be discussed

  1. Clinical Decision Support Knowledge Management: Strategies for Success.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khalifa, Mohamed; Alswailem, Osama

    2015-01-01

    Clinical Decision Support Systems have been shown to increase quality of care, patient safety, improve adherence to guidelines for prevention and treatment, and avoid medication errors. Such systems depend mainly on two types of content; the clinical information related to patients and the medical knowledge related to the specialty that informs the system rules and alerts. At King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Saudi Arabia, the Health Information Technology Affairs worked on identifying best strategies and recommendations for successful CDSS knowledge management. A review of literature was conducted to identify main areas of challenges and factors of success. A qualitative survey was used over six months' duration to collect opinions, experiences and suggestions from both IT and healthcare professionals. Recommendations were categorized into ten main topics that should be addressed during the development and implementation of CDSS knowledge management tools in the hospital.

  2. Advancing clinical decision support using lessons from outside of healthcare: an interdisciplinary systematic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Helen W

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Greater use of computerized decision support (DS systems could address continuing safety and quality problems in healthcare, but the healthcare field has struggled to implement DS technology. This study surveys DS experience across multiple non-healthcare disciplines for new insights that are generalizable to healthcare provider decisions. In particular, it sought design principles and lessons learned from the other disciplines that could inform efforts to accelerate the adoption of clinical decision support (CDS. Methods Our systematic review drew broadly from non-healthcare databases in the basic sciences, social sciences, humanities, engineering, business, and defense: PsychINFO, BusinessSource Premier, Social Sciences Abstracts, Web of Science, and Defense Technical Information Center. Because our interest was in DS that could apply to clinical decisions, we selected articles that (1 provided a review, overview, discussion of lessons learned, or an evaluation of design or implementation aspects of DS within a non-healthcare discipline and (2 involved an element of human judgment at the individual level, as opposed to decisions that can be fully automated or that are made at the organizational level. Results Clinical decisions share some similarities with decisions made by military commanders, business managers, and other leaders: they involve assessing new situations and choosing courses of action with major consequences, under time pressure, and with incomplete information. We identified seven high-level DS system design features from the non-healthcare literature that could be applied to CDS: providing broad, system-level perspectives; customizing interfaces to specific users and roles; making the DS reasoning transparent; presenting data effectively; generating multiple scenarios covering disparate outcomes (e.g., effective; effective with side effects; ineffective; allowing for contingent adaptations; and facilitating

  3. Advancing clinical decision support using lessons from outside of healthcare: an interdisciplinary systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Helen W; Davis, Paul K; Bell, Douglas S

    2012-08-17

    Greater use of computerized decision support (DS) systems could address continuing safety and quality problems in healthcare, but the healthcare field has struggled to implement DS technology. This study surveys DS experience across multiple non-healthcare disciplines for new insights that are generalizable to healthcare provider decisions. In particular, it sought design principles and lessons learned from the other disciplines that could inform efforts to accelerate the adoption of clinical decision support (CDS). Our systematic review drew broadly from non-healthcare databases in the basic sciences, social sciences, humanities, engineering, business, and defense: PsychINFO, BusinessSource Premier, Social Sciences Abstracts, Web of Science, and Defense Technical Information Center. Because our interest was in DS that could apply to clinical decisions, we selected articles that (1) provided a review, overview, discussion of lessons learned, or an evaluation of design or implementation aspects of DS within a non-healthcare discipline and (2) involved an element of human judgment at the individual level, as opposed to decisions that can be fully automated or that are made at the organizational level. Clinical decisions share some similarities with decisions made by military commanders, business managers, and other leaders: they involve assessing new situations and choosing courses of action with major consequences, under time pressure, and with incomplete information. We identified seven high-level DS system design features from the non-healthcare literature that could be applied to CDS: providing broad, system-level perspectives; customizing interfaces to specific users and roles; making the DS reasoning transparent; presenting data effectively; generating multiple scenarios covering disparate outcomes (e.g., effective; effective with side effects; ineffective); allowing for contingent adaptations; and facilitating collaboration. The article provides examples of

  4. Decision making support of the management of technogenically contaminated territories basing on risk analysis with use of geographic information technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yatsalo, B.I.; Demin, V.F.

    2002-01-01

    Overall questions of decision making support of the contaminated territories management on a basis of risk assessment were considered. Characteristics and possibilities of the applied geoinformation system of decision making support PRANA developed for the risk control and rehabilitation of contaminated territories are demonstrated. The PRANA system involves estimations of all fundamental characteristics of risk during analysis of results and contaminated territories management [ru

  5. A logic flowgraph-based concept for decision support and management of nuclear plant operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guarro, S.B.

    1988-01-01

    The architecture of an automated decision support system for nuclear plant operators is presented and discussed. The system is based on the use of 'logic flowgraph' process models and is designed in a hierarchical fashion. Its functionality spans from 'function oriented' plant status and alternative success path information displayed to the plant operators at its higher access levels to 'process oriented' diagnostic and recovery information deduced and displayed at its lowest. The design basis for this architecture is the 'defense in depth' plant safety concept. The decision support system goal is to provide plant operators, in the presence of an unforeseen transient, with the best and safest alternative between plant stabilization after shutdown and recovery of normal operation based on early diagnosis. Examples of the system capability to interpret and diagnose abnormal plant conditions and of the information that it can supply to the operators at its three access levels are presented and discussed. (author)

  6. Decision Support Systems in Forest Management: An Integrated ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Decision making process - especially in natural resources management, encounters myriad of challenges to objective decisions, significant decision depends on amount of information and capability of decision makers to handle massive data. In forest management, these challenges such as lack of enough data and cost ...

  7. A Satellite Data-Driven, Client-Server Decision Support Application for Agricultural Water Resources Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Lee F.; Maneta, Marco P.; Kimball, John S.

    2016-01-01

    Water cycle extremes such as droughts and floods present a challenge for water managers and for policy makers responsible for the administration of water supplies in agricultural regions. In addition to the inherent uncertainties associated with forecasting extreme weather events, water planners need to anticipate water demands and water user behavior in a typical circumstances. This requires the use decision support systems capable of simulating agricultural water demand with the latest available data. Unfortunately, managers from local and regional agencies often use different datasets of variable quality, which complicates coordinated action. In previous work we have demonstrated novel methodologies to use satellite-based observational technologies, in conjunction with hydro-economic models and state of the art data assimilation methods, to enable robust regional assessment and prediction of drought impacts on agricultural production, water resources, and land allocation. These methods create an opportunity for new, cost-effective analysis tools to support policy and decision-making over large spatial extents. The methods can be driven with information from existing satellite-derived operational products, such as the Satellite Irrigation Management Support system (SIMS) operational over California, the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), and using a modified light-use efficiency algorithm to retrieve crop yield from the synergistic use of MODIS and Landsat imagery. Here we present an integration of this modeling framework in a client-server architecture based on the Hydra platform. Assimilation and processing of resource intensive remote sensing data, as well as hydrologic and other ancillary information occur on the server side. This information is processed and summarized as attributes in water demand nodes that are part of a vector description of the water distribution network. With this architecture, our decision support system becomes a light weight 'app' that

  8. Decision support using anesthesia information management system records and accreditation council for graduate medical education case logs for resident operating room assignments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wanderer, Jonathan P; Charnin, Jonathan; Driscoll, William D; Bailin, Michael T; Baker, Keith

    2013-08-01

    Our goal in this study was to develop decision support systems for resident operating room (OR) assignments using anesthesia information management system (AIMS) records and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) case logs and evaluate the implementations. We developed 2 Web-based systems: an ACGME case-log visualization tool, and Residents Helping in Navigating OR Scheduling (Rhinos), an interactive system that solicits OR assignment requests from residents and creates resident profiles. Resident profiles are snapshots of the cases and procedures each resident has done and were derived from AIMS records and ACGME case logs. A Rhinos pilot was performed for 6 weeks on 2 clinical services. One hundred sixty-five requests were entered and used in OR assignment decisions by a single attending anesthesiologist. Each request consisted of a rank ordered list of up to 3 ORs. Residents had access to detailed information about these cases including surgeon and patient name, age, procedure type, and admission status. Success rates at matching resident requests were determined by comparing requests with AIMS records. Of the 165 requests, 87 first-choice matches (52.7%), 27 second-choice matches (16.4%), and 8 third-choice matches (4.8%) were made. Forty-three requests were unmatched (26.1%). Thirty-nine first-choice requests overlapped (23.6%). Full implementation followed on 8 clinical services for 8 weeks. Seven hundred fifty-four requests were reviewed by 15 attending anesthesiologists, with 339 first-choice matches (45.0%), 122 second-choice matches (16.2%), 55 third-choice matches (7.3%), and 238 unmatched (31.5%). There were 279 overlapping first-choice requests (37.0%). The overall combined match success rate was 69.4%. Separately, we developed an ACGME case-log visualization tool that allows individual resident experiences to be compared against case minimums as well as resident peer groups. We conclude that it is feasible to use ACGME case

  9. A Hyperknowledge Framework of Decision Support Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Ai-Mei; And Others

    1994-01-01

    Presents a hyperknowledge framework of decision support systems (DSS). This framework formalizes specifics about system functionality, representation of knowledge, navigation of the knowledge system, and user-interface traits as elements of a DSS environment that conforms closely to human cognitive processes in decision making. (Contains 52…

  10. The Logistics Management Decision Support System (LMDSS) : an effective tool to reduce life cycle support costs of aviation systems

    OpenAIRE

    Moore, Ellen E.; Snyder, Carolynn M.

    1998-01-01

    Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited This thesis assesses the capability of the Logistics Management Decision Support System (LMDSS) to meet the information needs of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) logistics managers based on surveys of logistics managers and interviews with LMDSS program representatives. The LMDSS is being introduced as a tool to facilitate action by NAVAIR logistics managers to reduce the life cycle support costs of aviation systems while protecting ...

  11. In the patient's best interest: appraising social network site information for surrogate decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siddiqui, Shahla; Chuan, Voo Teck

    2018-06-28

    This paper will discuss why and how social network sites ought to be used in surrogate decision making (SDM), with focus on a context like Singapore in which substituted judgment is incorporated as part of best interest assessment for SDM, as guided by the Code of Practice for making decisions for those lacking mental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act (2008). Specifically, the paper will argue that the Code of Practice already supports an ethical obligation, as part of a patient-centred care approach, to look for and appraise social network site (SNS) as a source of information for best interest decision making. As an important preliminary, the paper will draw on Berg's arguments to support the use of SNS information as a resource for SDM. It will also supplement her account for how SNS information ought to be weighed against or considered alongside other evidence of patient preference or wishes, such as advance directives and anecdotal accounts by relatives. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

  12. Intelligent decision support system for operators of the supply ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Intelligent decision support system for operators of the supply department of oil and gas extracting industry. ... PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... abnormal situations, pre-crash sensing, industrial drilling, decision-making support systems. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT

  13. A decision support for an integrated multi-scale analysis of irrigation: DSIRR.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazzani, Guido M

    2005-12-01

    The paper presents a decision support designed to conduct an economic-environmental assessment of the agricultural activity focusing on irrigation called 'Decision Support for IRRigated Agriculture' (DSIRR). The program describes the effect at catchment scale of choices taken at micro scale by independent actors, the farmers, by simulating their decision process. The decision support (DS) has been thought of as a support tool for participatory water policies as requested by the Water Framework Directive and it aims at analyzing alternatives in production and technology, according to different market, policy and climate conditions. The tool uses data and models, provides a graphical user interface and can incorporate the decision makers' own insights. Heterogeneity in preferences is admitted since it is assumed that irrigators try to optimize personal multi-attribute utility functions, subject to a set of constraints. Consideration of agronomic and engineering aspects allows an accurate description of irrigation. Mathematical programming techniques are applied to find solutions. The program has been applied in the river Po basin (northern Italy) to analyze the impact of a pricing policy in a context of irrigation technology innovation. Water demand functions and elasticity to water price have been estimated. Results demonstrate how different areas and systems react to the same policy in quite a different way. While in the annual cropping system pricing seems effective to save the resource at the cost of impeding Water Agencies cost recovery, the same policy has an opposite effect in the perennial fruit system which shows an inelastic response to water price. The multidimensional assessment conducted clarified the trades-off among conflicting economic-social-environmental objectives, thus generating valuable information to design a more tailored mix of measures.

  14. Development of Decision-making Support System to Determine the Feasibility of the Job Training Industry Using Simple Additive Weighting Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaisah Riski Zubaeti

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The activities of the job training is an activity that must be implemented at Vocational Secondary School. The lack of utilization of technology on such activities in Vocational Secondary School,  so the data management of the job training become less effective and efficient. Therefore, it is necessary the information system for manage the data on the job training and produces the decision support of the decent industry of the job training as a result of the evaluation of the job training. This research has a goal to produce decision support system to determine the feasibility of the job training industry (SPK-KTP, measure the feasibility of the system, and produce a decision support using a Simple Additive Weighting (SAW method. The information system can help the school to manage the administration on the job training, recap the daily journal, recap the reports in pursuit, and provide decision support the job training of decent industry used in the next period. SPK-KTP uses SAW method to produce decision support the job training of decent industry. SPK-KTP is the web-based information system which it is developed using the programming language PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor. This information system uses The Waterfall Model as its system development method. The steps of The Waterfall Model consists of Analysis, Design, Code, and Test. SPK-KTP has done testing to an expert of the information system with value 90,7%, an expert of the substance of the job training with value  91,6%, supervising teachers with value 83,3%, and learners with value 90,6%. Based on the result, so SPK-KTP is very decent to use.

  15. Supporting Evidence-Informed Teaching in Biomedical and Health Professions Education Through Knowledge Translation: An Interdisciplinary Literature Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tractenberg, Rochelle E; Gordon, Morris

    2017-01-01

    Phenomenon: The purpose of "systematic" reviews/reviewers of medical and health professions educational research is to identify best practices. This qualitative article explores the question of whether systematic reviews can support "evidence informed" teaching and contrasts traditional systematic reviewing with a knowledge translation (KT) approach to this objective. Degrees of freedom analysis (DOFA) is used to examine the alignment of systematic review methods with educational research and the pedagogical strategies and approaches that might be considered with a decision-making framework developed to support valid assessment. This method is also used to explore how KT can be used to inform teaching and learning. The nature of educational research is not compatible with most (11/14) methods for systematic review. The inconsistency of systematic reviewing with the nature of educational research impedes both the identification and implementation of "best-evidence" pedagogy and teaching. This is primarily because research questions that do support the purposes of review do not support educational decision making. By contrast to systematic reviews of the literature, both a DOFA and KT are fully compatible with informing teaching using evidence. A DOFA supports the translation of theory to a specific teaching or learning case, so could be considered a type of KT. The DOFA results in a test of alignment of decision options with relevant educational theory, and KT leads to interventions in teaching or learning that can be evaluated. Examples of how to structure evaluable interventions are derived from a KT approach that are simply not available from a systematic review. Insights: Systematic reviewing of current empirical educational research is not suitable for deriving or supporting best practices in education. However, both "evidence-informed" and scholarly approaches to teaching can be supported as KT projects, which are inherently evaluable and can generate

  16. Supporting informed decision making for prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing on the web: an online randomized controlled trial.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Evans, R.; Joseph-Williams, N.; Edwards, A.; Newcombe, R.G.; Wright, P.; Kinnersley, P.; Griffiths, J.; Jones, M.; Williams, J.; Grol, R.P.T.M.; Elwyn, G.

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Men considering the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer, an increasingly common male cancer, are encouraged to make informed decisions, as the test is limited in its accuracy and the natural history of the condition is poorly understood. The Web-based PSA decision

  17. Interactive and Participatory Decision Support: Linking Cyberinfrastructure, Multi-Touch Interfaces, and Substantive Dialogue for Geothermal Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malin, R.; Pierce, S. A.; Bass, B. J.

    2012-12-01

    Socio-technical approaches to complex, ill-structured decision problems are needed to identify adaptive responses for earth resource management. This research presents a hybrid approach to create decision tools and engender dialogue among stakeholders for geothermal development in Idaho, United States and El Tatio, Chile. Based on the scarcity of data, limited information availability, and tensions across stakeholder interests we designed and constructed a decision support model that allows stakeholders to rapidly collect, input, and visualize geoscientific data to assess geothermal system impacts and possible development strategies. We have integrated this decision support model into multi-touch interfaces that can be easily used by scientists and stakeholders alike. This toolkit is part of a larger cyberinfrastructure project designed to collect and present geoscientific information to support decision making processes. Consultation with stakeholders at the El Tatio geothermal complex of northern Chile—indigenous communities, local and national government agencies, developers, and geoscientists - informed the implementation of a sustained dialogue process. The El Tatio field case juxtaposes basic parameters such as pH, spring temperature, geochemical content, and FLIR imagery with stakeholder perceptions of risks due to mineral extraction and energy exploration efforts. The results of interviews and a participatory workshop are driving the creation of three initiatives within an indigenous community group; 1) microentrepreneurial efforts for science-based tourism, 2) design of a citizen-led environmental monitoring network in the Altiplano, and 3) business planning for an indigenous renewable energy cooperative. This toolkit is also being applied in the Snake River Plain of Idaho has as part of the DOE sponsored National Student Geothermal Competition. The Idaho case extends results from the Chilean case to implement a more streamlined system to analyze

  18. Towards ethical decision support and knowledge management in neonatal intensive care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, L; Frize, M; Eng, P; Walker, R; Catley, C

    2004-01-01

    Recent studies in neonatal medicine, clinical nursing, and cognitive psychology have indicated the need to augment current decision-making practice in neonatal intensive care units with computerized, intelligent decision support systems. Rapid progress in artificial intelligence and knowledge management facilitates the design of collaborative ethical decision-support tools that allow clinicians to provide better support for parents facing inherently difficult choices, such as when to withdraw aggressive treatment. The appropriateness of using computers to support ethical decision-making is critically analyzed through research and literature review. In ethical dilemmas, multiple diverse participants need to communicate and function as a team to select the best treatment plan. In order to do this, physicians require reliable estimations of prognosis, while parents need a highly useable tool to help them assimilate complex medical issues and address their own value system. Our goal is to improve and structuralize the ethical decision-making that has become an inevitable part of modern neonatal care units. The paper contributes to clinical decision support by outlining the needs and basis for ethical decision support and justifying the proposed development efforts.

  19. Simulation-based decision support for evaluating operational plans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johan Schubert

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we describe simulation-based decision support techniques for evaluation of operational plans within effects-based planning. Using a decision support tool, developers of operational plans are able to evaluate thousands of alternative plans against possible courses of events and decide which of these plans are capable of achieving a desired end state. The objective of this study is to examine the potential of a decision support system that helps operational analysts understand the consequences of numerous alternative plans through simulation and evaluation. Operational plans are described in the effects-based approach to operations concept as a set of actions and effects. For each action, we examine several different alternative ways to perform the action. We use a representation where a plan consists of several actions that should be performed. Each action may be performed in one of several different alternative ways. Together these action alternatives make up all possible plan instances, which are represented as a tree of action alternatives that may be searched for the most effective sequence of alternative actions. As a test case, we use an expeditionary operation with a plan of 43 actions and several alternatives for these actions, as well as a scenario of 40 group actors. Decision support for planners is provided by several methods that analyze the impact of a plan on the 40 actors, e.g., by visualizing time series of plan performance. Detailed decision support for finding the most influential actions of a plan is presented by using sensitivity analysis and regression tree analysis. Finally, a decision maker may use the tool to determine the boundaries of an operation that it must not move beyond without risk of drastic failure. The significant contribution of this study is the presentation of an integrated approach for evaluation of operational plans.

  20. Checklist and Decision Support in Nutritional Care for Burned Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-10-01

    able to construct a checklist of a clinical and physiologic model and then a computerised decision support system that will perform two functions: the...the provision of nutritional therapy, and assessment of use by nursing and physician staff KEYWORDS Nutrition, severe burn, decision support... clinical testing. Checklist and Decision Support in Nutritional Care for Burned Patients Proposal Number: 12340011 W81XWH-12-2-0074 PI: Steven E

  1. Marketing Decision Making and Decision Support: Challenges and Perspectives for Successful Marketing Management Support Systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    G.H. van Bruggen (Gerrit); B. Wierenga (Berend)

    2009-01-01

    textabstractMarketing management support systems (MMSS) are computer-enabled devices that help marketers to make better decisions. Marketing processes can be quite complex, involving large numbers of variables and mostly outcomes are the results of the actions of many different stakeholders (e.g.,

  2. Processing Information in Quantum Decision Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Yukalov, V. I.; Sornette, D.

    2008-01-01

    A survey is given summarizing the state of the art of describing information processing in Quantum Decision Theory, which has been recently advanced as a novel variant of decision making, based on the mathematical theory of separable Hilbert spaces. This mathematical structure captures the effect of superposition of composite prospects, including many incorporated intended actions. The theory characterizes entangled decision making, non-commutativity of subsequent decisions, and intention int...

  3. Intelligent Decision Support in Proportional–Stop-Loss Reinsurance Using Multiple Attribute Decision-Making (MADM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shirley Jie Xuan Wang

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available This article addresses the possibility of incorporating intelligent decision support systems into reinsurance decision-making. This involves the insurance company and the reinsurance company, and is negotiated through reinsurance intermediaries. The article proposes a decision flow to model the reinsurance design and selection process. This article focuses on adopting more than one optimality criteria under a more generic combinational design of commonly used reinsurance products, i.e., proportional reinsurance and stop-loss reinsurance. In terms of methodology, the significant contribution of the study the incorporation of the well-established decision analysis tool multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM into the modelling of reinsurance selection. To illustrate the feasibility of incorporating intelligent decision supporting systems in the reinsurance market, the study includes a numerical case study using the simulation software @Risk in modeling insurance claims, as well as programming in MATLAB to realize MADM. A list of managerial implications could be drawn from the case study results. Most importantly, when choosing the most appropriate type of reinsurance, insurance companies should base their decisions on multiple measurements instead of single-criteria decision-making models so that their decisions may be more robust.

  4. Strategic-decision quality in public organizations : an information processing perspective

    OpenAIRE

    George, Bert; Desmidt, Sebastian

    2018-01-01

    textabstractThis study draws on information processing theory to investigate predictors of strategic-decision quality in public organizations. Information processing theory argues that (a) rational planning practices contribute to strategic-decision quality by injecting information into decision making and (b) decision makers contribute to strategic-decision quality by exchanging information during decision making. These assumptions are tested upon 55 Flemish pupil guidance centers. Rational ...

  5. User Information Needs for Environmental Opinion-forming and Decision-making in Link-enriched Video

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A.C. Palumbo; L. Hardman (Lynda)

    2013-01-01

    htmlabstractLink-enriched video can support users in informative processes of environmental opinion-forming and decision-making. To enable this, we need to specify the information that should be captured in an annotation schema for describing the video. We conducted expert interviews to elicit

  6. Integrating complex business processes for knowledge-driven clinical decision support systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamaleswaran, Rishikesan; McGregor, Carolyn

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents in detail the component of the Complex Business Process for Stream Processing framework that is responsible for integrating complex business processes to enable knowledge-driven Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) recommendations. CDSSs aid the clinician in supporting the care of patients by providing accurate data analysis and evidence-based recommendations. However, the incorporation of a dynamic knowledge-management system that supports the definition and enactment of complex business processes and real-time data streams has not been researched. In this paper we discuss the process web service as an innovative method of providing contextual information to a real-time data stream processing CDSS.

  7. Factors of accepting pain management decision support systems by nurse anesthetists

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Pain management is a critical but complex issue for the relief of acute pain, particularly for postoperative pain and severe pain in cancer patients. It also plays important roles in promoting quality of care. The introduction of pain management decision support systems (PM-DSS) is considered a potential solution for addressing the complex problems encountered in pain management. This study aims to investigate factors affecting acceptance of PM-DSS from a nurse anesthetist perspective. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data from nurse anesthetists in a case hospital. A total of 113 questionnaires were distributed, and 101 complete copies were returned, indicating a valid response rate of 89.3%. Collected data were analyzed by structure equation modeling using the partial least square tool. Results The results show that perceived information quality (γ=.451, pDSS. Information quality (γ=.267, pDSS ease of use. Furthermore, both perceived ease of use (β=.436, pDSS acceptance (R2=.640). Thus, the critical role of information quality in the development of clinical decision support system is demonstrated. Conclusions The findings of this study enable hospital managers to understand the important considerations for nurse anesthetists in accepting PM-DSS, particularly for the issues related to the improvement of information quality, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the system. In addition, the results also provide useful suggestions for designers and implementers of PM-DSS in improving system development. PMID:23360305

  8. Fuzzy Based Decision Support System for Condition Assessment and Rating of Bridges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Srinivas, Voggu; Sasmal, Saptarshi; Karusala, Ramanjaneyulu

    2016-09-01

    In this work, a knowledge based decision support system has been developed to efficiently handle the issues such as distress diagnosis, assessment of damages and condition rating of existing bridges towards developing an exclusive and robust Bridge Management System (BMS) for sustainable bridges. The Knowledge Based Expert System (KBES) diagnoses the distresses and finds the cause of distress in the bridge by processing the data which are heuristic and combined with site inspection results, laboratory test results etc. The coupling of symbolic and numeric type of data has been successfully implemented in the expert system to strengthen its decision making process. Finally, the condition rating of the bridge is carried out using the assessment results obtained from the KBES and the information received from the bridge inspector. A systematic procedure has been developed using fuzzy mathematics for condition rating of bridges by combining the fuzzy weighted average and resolution identity technique. The proposed methodologies and the decision support system will facilitate in developing a robust and exclusive BMS for a network of bridges across the country and allow the bridge engineers and decision makers to carry out maintenance of bridges in a rational and systematic way.

  9. Support and Against Historical Cost Accounting: is IT Value Relevance for Decision Making?

    OpenAIRE

    Rahmawati, Evi

    2006-01-01

    This paper reviews the issues on the support and criticism of historical cost accounting (HCA) and the incremental information content on current cost disclosures. Based on literature review this study find that historical cost is still relevant to use in decision making. Empirical studies show evidence both; supporting historical cost accounting and criticisms against the conventional historical cost based financial statements. Issues on historical cost are raised because of economic condit...

  10. A Distributed Architecture for Tsunami Early Warning and Collaborative Decision-support in Crises

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moßgraber, J.; Middleton, S.; Hammitzsch, M.; Poslad, S.

    2012-04-01

    The presentation will describe work on the system architecture that is being developed in the EU FP7 project TRIDEC on "Collaborative, Complex and Critical Decision-Support in Evolving Crises". The challenges for a Tsunami Early Warning System (TEWS) are manifold and the success of a system depends crucially on the system's architecture. A modern warning system following a system-of-systems approach has to integrate various components and sub-systems such as different information sources, services and simulation systems. Furthermore, it has to take into account the distributed and collaborative nature of warning systems. In order to create an architecture that supports the whole spectrum of a modern, distributed and collaborative warning system one must deal with multiple challenges. Obviously, one cannot expect to tackle these challenges adequately with a monolithic system or with a single technology. Therefore, a system architecture providing the blueprints to implement the system-of-systems approach has to combine multiple technologies and architectural styles. At the bottom layer it has to reliably integrate a large set of conventional sensors, such as seismic sensors and sensor networks, buoys and tide gauges, and also innovative and unconventional sensors, such as streams of messages from social media services. At the top layer it has to support collaboration on high-level decision processes and facilitates information sharing between organizations. In between, the system has to process all data and integrate information on a semantic level in a timely manner. This complex communication follows an event-driven mechanism allowing events to be published, detected and consumed by various applications within the architecture. Therefore, at the upper layer the event-driven architecture (EDA) aspects are combined with principles of service-oriented architectures (SOA) using standards for communication and data exchange. The most prominent challenges on this layer

  11. A pilot study of distributed knowledge management and clinical decision support in the cloud.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, Brian E; Simonaitis, Linas; Goldberg, Howard S; Paterno, Marilyn D; Schaeffer, Molly; Hongsermeier, Tonya; Wright, Adam; Middleton, Blackford

    2013-09-01

    Implement and perform pilot testing of web-based clinical decision support services using a novel framework for creating and managing clinical knowledge in a distributed fashion using the cloud. The pilot sought to (1) develop and test connectivity to an external clinical decision support (CDS) service, (2) assess the exchange of data to and knowledge from the external CDS service, and (3) capture lessons to guide expansion to more practice sites and users. The Clinical Decision Support Consortium created a repository of shared CDS knowledge for managing hypertension, diabetes, and coronary artery disease in a community cloud hosted by Partners HealthCare. A limited data set for primary care patients at a separate health system was securely transmitted to a CDS rules engine hosted in the cloud. Preventive care reminders triggered by the limited data set were returned for display to clinician end users for review and display. During a pilot study, we (1) monitored connectivity and system performance, (2) studied the exchange of data and decision support reminders between the two health systems, and (3) captured lessons. During the six month pilot study, there were 1339 patient encounters in which information was successfully exchanged. Preventive care reminders were displayed during 57% of patient visits, most often reminding physicians to monitor blood pressure for hypertensive patients (29%) and order eye exams for patients with diabetes (28%). Lessons learned were grouped into five themes: performance, governance, semantic interoperability, ongoing adjustments, and usability. Remote, asynchronous cloud-based decision support performed reasonably well, although issues concerning governance, semantic interoperability, and usability remain key challenges for successful adoption and use of cloud-based CDS that will require collaboration between biomedical informatics and computer science disciplines. Decision support in the cloud is feasible and may be a reasonable

  12. The Politics of Information: Building a Relational Database To Support Decision-Making at a Public University.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedman, Debra; Hoffman, Phillip

    2001-01-01

    Describes creation of a relational database at the University of Washington supporting ongoing academic planning at several levels and affecting the culture of decision making. Addresses getting started; sharing the database; questions, worries, and issues; improving access to high-demand courses; the advising function; management of instructional…

  13. Computerized Clinical Decision Support: Contributions from 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouaud, J.

    2016-01-01

    Summary Objective To summarize recent research and select the best papers published in 2015 in the field of computerized clinical decision support for the Decision Support section of the IMIA yearbook. Method A literature review was performed by searching two bibliographic databases for papers related to clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) and computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. The aim was to identify a list of candidate best papers from the retrieved papers that were then peer-reviewed by external reviewers. A consensus meeting between the two section editors and the IMIA editorial team was finally conducted to conclude in the best paper selection. Results Among the 974 retrieved papers, the entire review process resulted in the selection of four best papers. One paper reports on a CDSS routinely applied in pediatrics for more than 10 years, relying on adaptations of the Arden Syntax. Another paper assessed the acceptability and feasibility of an important CPOE evaluation tool in hospitals outside the US where it was developed. The third paper is a systematic, qualitative review, concerning usability flaws of medication-related alerting functions, providing an important evidence-based, methodological contribution in the domain of CDSS design and development in general. Lastly, the fourth paper describes a study quantifying the effect of a complex, continuous-care, guideline-based CDSS on the correctness and completeness of clinicians’ decisions. Conclusions While there are notable examples of routinely used decision support systems, this 2015 review on CDSSs and CPOE systems still shows that, despite methodological contributions, theoretical frameworks, and prototype developments, these technologies are not yet widely spread (at least with their full functionalities) in routine clinical practice. Further research, testing, evaluation, and training are still needed for these tools to be adopted in clinical practice and, ultimately, illustrate

  14. Parametric vs. Nonparametric Regression Modelling within Clinical Decision Support

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan; Zvárová, Jana

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 5, č. 1 (2017), s. 21-27 ISSN 1805-8698 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA17-01251S Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : decision support systems * decision rules * statistical analysis * nonparametric regression Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Science OBOR OECD: Statistics and probability

  15. A functional difference in information processing between orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum during decision-making behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stott, Jeffrey J; Redish, A David

    2014-11-05

    Both orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and ventral striatum (vStr) have been identified as key structures that represent information about value in decision-making tasks. However, the dynamics of how this information is processed are not yet understood. We recorded ensembles of cells from OFC and vStr in rats engaged in the spatial adjusting delay-discounting task, a decision-making task that involves a trade-off between delay to and magnitude of reward. Ventral striatal neural activity signalled information about reward before the rat's decision, whereas such reward-related signals were absent in OFC until after the animal had committed to its decision. These data support models in which vStr is directly involved in action selection, but OFC processes decision-related information afterwards that can be used to compare the predicted and actual consequences of behaviour. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  16. “Do your homework…and then hope for the best”: the challenges that medical tourism poses to Canadian family physicians’ support of patients’ informed decision-making

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-01

    Background Medical tourism—the practice where patients travel internationally to privately access medical care—may limit patients’ regular physicians’ abilities to contribute to the informed decision-making process. We address this issue by examining ways in which Canadian family doctors’ typical involvement in patients’ informed decision-making is challenged when their patients engage in medical tourism. Methods Focus groups were held with family physicians practicing in British Columbia, Canada. After receiving ethics approval, letters of invitation were faxed to family physicians in six cities. 22 physicians agreed to participate and focus groups ranged from two to six participants. Questions explored participants’ perceptions of and experiences with medical tourism. A coding scheme was created using inductive and deductive codes that captured issues central to analytic themes identified by the investigators. Extracts of the coded data that dealt with informed decision-making were shared among the investigators in order to identify themes. Four themes were identified, all of which dealt with the challenges that medical tourism poses to family physicians’ abilities to support medical tourists’ informed decision-making. Findings relevant to each theme were contrasted against the existing medical tourism literature so as to assist in understanding their significance. Results Four key challenges were identified: 1) confusion and tensions related to the regular domestic physician’s role in decision-making; 2) tendency to shift responsibility related to healthcare outcomes onto the patient because of the regular domestic physician’s reduced role in shared decision-making; 3) strains on the patient-physician relationship and corresponding concern around the responsibility of the foreign physician; and 4) regular domestic physicians’ concerns that treatments sought abroad may not be based on the best available medical evidence on treatment

  17. Fuzzy Privacy Decision for Context-Aware Access Personal Information

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHANG Qingsheng; QI Yong; ZHAO Jizhong; HOU Di; NIU Yujie

    2007-01-01

    A context-aware privacy protection framework was designed for context-aware services and privacy control methods about access personal information in pervasive environment. In the process of user's privacy decision, it can produce fuzzy privacy decision as the change of personal information sensitivity and personal information receiver trust. The uncertain privacy decision model was proposed about personal information disclosure based on the change of personal information receiver trust and personal information sensitivity. A fuzzy privacy decision information system was designed according to this model. Personal privacy control policies can be extracted from this information system by using rough set theory. It also solves the problem about learning privacy control policies of personal information disclosure.

  18. Tailoring decision support to suit user needs: a diagnostic imaging example.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Griffith, Janessa; Borycki, Elizabeth M; Kushniruk, Andre W

    2013-01-01

    Unnecessary diagnostic imaging (DI) examinations raise concerns for patient safety and place stress on human and financial resources. To reduce unnecessary DI examinations, several Canadian pilot studies have investigated how decision support systems (DSS) could be utilized. Based on interview results from our previous research, in addition to a literature review, themes emerged that influenced the features and design of a DI DSS prototype. Features include having the referring professional indicate how the results of the examination will be utilized (i.e. for diagnosis or patient management), increasing communication between referring physicians/nurse practitioners and radiologists, and displaying previous DI examinations (or orders that are scheduled to take place) to avoid duplicate orders. Presenting a patient's cumulative radiation exposure, and having resources for information support to guide physicians through challenging clinical decisions are two other features included in the DSS prototype. By incorporating physician perspectives and current literature into the design, this DSS aims to promote the appropriate use of DI resources by supporting physicians and nurse practitioners in their DI ordering practices.

  19. Evaluating online diagnostic decision support tools for the clinical setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pryor, Marie; White, David; Potter, Bronwyn; Traill, Roger

    2012-01-01

    Clinical decision support tools available at the point of care are an effective adjunct to support clinicians to make clinical decisions and improve patient outcomes. We developed a methodology and applied it to evaluate commercially available online clinical diagnostic decision support (DDS) tools for use at the point of care. We identified 11 commercially available DDS tools and assessed these against an evaluation instrument that included 6 categories; general information, content, quality control, search, clinical results and other features. We developed diagnostically challenging clinical case scenarios based on real patient experience that were commonly missed by junior medical staff. The evaluation was divided into 2 phases; an initial evaluation of all identified and accessible DDS tools conducted by the Clinical Information Access Portal (CIAP) team and a second phase that further assessed the top 3 tools identified in the initial evaluation phase. An evaluation panel consisting of senior and junior medical clinicians from NSW Health conducted the second phase. Of the eleven tools that were assessed against the evaluation instrument only 4 tools completely met the DDS definition that was adopted for this evaluation and were able to produce a differential diagnosis. From the initial phase of the evaluation 4 DDS tools scored 70% or more (maximum score 96%) for the content category, 8 tools scored 65% or more (maximum 100%) for the quality control category, 5 tools scored 65% or more (maximum 94%) for the search category, and 4 tools score 70% or more (maximum 81%) for the clinical results category. The second phase of the evaluation was focused on assessing diagnostic accuracy for the top 3 tools identified in the initial phase. Best Practice ranked highest overall against the 6 clinical case scenarios used. Overall the differentiating factor between the top 3 DDS tools was determined by diagnostic accuracy ranking, ease of use and the confidence and

  20. Decision support system in an international-voice-services business company

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hadianti, R.; Uttunggadewa, S.; Syamsuddin, M.; Soewono, E.

    2017-01-01

    We consider a problem facing by an international telecommunication services company in maximizing its profit. From voice services by controlling cost and business partnership. The competitiveness in this industry is very high, so that any efficiency from controlling cost and business partnership can help the company to survive in the very high competitiveness situation. The company trades voice traffic with a large number of business partners. There are four trading schemes that can be chosen by this company, namely, flat rate, class tiering, volume commitment, and revenue capped. Each scheme has a specific characteristic on the rate and volume deal, where the last three schemes are regarded as strategic schemes to be offered to business partner to ensure incoming traffic volume for both parties. This company and each business partner need to choose an optimal agreement in a certain period of time that can maximize the company’s profit. In this agreement, both parties agree to use a certain trading scheme, rate and rate/volume/revenue deal. A decision support system is then needed in order to give a comprehensive information to the sales officers to deal with the business partners. This paper discusses the mathematical model of the optimal decision for incoming traffic volume control, which is a part of the analysis needed to build the decision support system. The mathematical model is built by first performing data analysis to see how elastic the incoming traffic volume is. As the level of elasticity is obtained, we then derive a mathematical modelling that can simulate the impact of any decision on trading to the revenue of the company. The optimal decision can be obtained from these simulations results. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method we implement our decision model to the historical data. A software tool incorporating our methodology is currently in construction.

  1. A Decision Support Tool for Transient Stability Preventive Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pertl, Michael; Weckesser, Johannes Tilman Gabriel; Rezkalla, Michel M.N.

    2017-01-01

    The paper presents a decision support tool for transient stability preventive control contributing to increased situation awareness of control room operators by providing additional information about the state of the power system in terms of transient stability. A time-domain approach is used...... a predefined minimum critical clearing time for faults at all buses is proposed, while costs are minimized. The results of the assessment are presented to the control room operator, who decides to accept the suggested dispatch or to repeat the assessment considering additional user-specific constraints...

  2. A decision support framework for characterizing and managing dermal exposures to chemicals during Emergency Management and Operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dotson, G Scott; Hudson, Naomi L; Maier, Andrew

    2015-01-01

    Emergency Management and Operations (EMO) personnel are in need of resources and tools to assist in understanding the health risks associated with dermal exposures during chemical incidents. This article reviews available resources and presents a conceptual framework for a decision support system (DSS) that assists in characterizing and managing risk during chemical emergencies involving dermal exposures. The framework merges principles of three decision-making techniques: 1) scenario planning, 2) risk analysis, and 3) multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA). This DSS facilitates dynamic decision making during each of the distinct life cycle phases of an emergency incident (ie, preparedness, response, or recovery) and identifies EMO needs. A checklist tool provides key questions intended to guide users through the complexities of conducting a dermal risk assessment. The questions define the scope of the framework for resource identification and application to support decision-making needs. The framework consists of three primary modules: 1) resource compilation, 2) prioritization, and 3) decision. The modules systematically identify, organize, and rank relevant information resources relating to the hazards of dermal exposures to chemicals and risk management strategies. Each module is subdivided into critical elements designed to further delineate the resources based on relevant incident phase and type of information. The DSS framework provides a much needed structure based on contemporary decision analysis principles for 1) documenting key questions for EMO problem formulation and 2) a method for systematically organizing, screening, and prioritizing information resources on dermal hazards, exposures, risk characterization, and management.

  3. Information transfer: what do decision makers want and need from researchers?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Law Mary

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to undertake a systematic assessment of the need for research-based information by decision-makers working in community-based organizations. It is part of a more comprehensive knowledge transfer and exchange strategy that seeks to understand both the content required and the format/methods by which such information should be presented. Methods This was a cross-sectional telephone survey. Questions covered current practices, research use, and demographic information, as well as preferences for receiving research information. Three types of organizations participated: Children's Treatment Centres of Ontario (CTCs; Ontario Community Care Access Centres (CCACs; and District Health Councils (DHCs. The analysis used descriptive statistics and analyses of variance (ANOVA to describe and explore variations across organizations. Results The participation rate was 70%. The highest perception of barriers to the use of research information was reported by the CCAC respondents, followed by CTCs and DHCs. The CTCs and DHCs reported greater use of research evidence in planning decisions as compared to the CCACs. Four sources of information transfer were consistently identified. These were websites, health-related research journals, electronic mail, and conferences and workshops. Preferred formats for receiving information were executive summaries, abstracts, and original articles. Conclusion There were a number of similarities across organization type with respect to perceived barriers to research transfer, as well as the types of activities the organizations engaged in to promote research use in decision-making. These findings support the importance of developing interactive, collaborative knowledge transfer strategies, as well as the need to foster relationships with health care decision-makers, practitioners and policymakers.

  4. Support Vector Machines for decision support in electricity markets׳ strategic bidding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pinto, Tiago; Sousa, Tiago M.; Praça, Isabel

    2015-01-01

    . The ALBidS system allows MASCEM market negotiating players to take the best possible advantages from the market context. This paper presents the application of a Support Vector Machines (SVM) based approach to provide decision support to electricity market players. This strategy is tested and validated...... by being included in ALBidS and then compared with the application of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN), originating promising results: an effective electricity market price forecast in a fast execution time. The proposed approach is tested and validated using real electricity markets data from MIBEL......׳ research group has developed a multi-agent system: Multi-Agent System for Competitive Electricity Markets (MASCEM), which simulates the electricity markets environment. MASCEM is integrated with Adaptive Learning Strategic Bidding System (ALBidS) that works as a decision support system for market players...

  5. Coordinating Information and Decisions of Hierarchical Distributed Decision Units in Crises

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Rose, Gerald

    1997-01-01

    A program of research is described. The research addressed decision making by distributed decision makers using either consensus or leader structures and confronted by both routine tasks and different kinds of information system crisis...

  6. Age and self-relevance effects on information search during decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, Thomas M; Queen, Tara L; Ennis, Gilda E

    2013-09-01

    We investigated how information search strategies used to support decision making were influenced by self-related implications of the task to the individual. Consistent with the notion of selective engagement, we hypothesized that increased self-relevance would result in more adaptive search behaviors and that this effect would be stronger in older adults than in younger adults. We examined search behaviors in 79 younger and 81 older adults using a process-tracing procedure with 2 different decision tasks. The impact of motivation (i.e., self-related task implications) was examined by manipulating social accountability and the age-related relevance of the task. Although age differences in search strategies were not great, older adults were more likely than younger adults to use simpler strategies in contexts with minimal self-implications. Contrary to expectations, young and old alike were more likely to use noncompensatory than compensatory strategies, even when engaged in systematic search, with education being the most important determinant of search behavior. The results support the notion that older adults are adaptive decision makers and that factors other than age may be more important determinants of performance in situations where knowledge can be used to support performance.

  7. Development of transportation asset management decision support tools : final report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-08-09

    This study developed a web-based prototype decision support platform to demonstrate the benefits of transportation asset management in monitoring asset performance, supporting asset funding decisions, planning budget tradeoffs, and optimizing resourc...

  8. Selective exposure to information: how different modes of decision making affect subsequent confirmatory information processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Peter; Fischer, Julia; Weisweiler, Silke; Frey, Dieter

    2010-12-01

    We investigated whether different modes of decision making (deliberate, intuitive, distracted) affect subsequent confirmatory processing of decision-consistent and inconsistent information. Participants showed higher levels of confirmatory information processing when they made a deliberate or an intuitive decision versus a decision under distraction (Studies 1 and 2). As soon as participants have a cognitive (i.e., deliberate cognitive analysis) or affective (i.e., intuitive and gut feeling) reason for their decision, the subjective confidence in the validity of their decision increases, which results in increased levels of confirmatory information processing (Study 2). In contrast, when participants are distracted during decision making, they are less certain about the validity of their decision and thus are subsequently more balanced in the processing of decision-relevant information.

  9. Developing Mobile Clinical Decision Support for Nursing Home Staff Assessment of Urinary Tract Infection using Goal-Directed Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Wallace; Drake, Cynthia; Mack, David; Reeder, Blaine; Trautner, Barbara; Wald, Heidi

    2017-06-20

    Unique characteristics of nursing homes (NHs) contribute to high rates of inappropriate antibiotic use for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB), a benign condition. A mobile clinical decision support system (CDSS) may support NH staff in differentiating urinary tract infections (UTI) from ASB and reducing antibiotic days. We used Goal-Directed Design to: 1) Characterize information needs for UTI identification and management in NHs; 2) Develop UTI Decide, a mobile CDSS prototype informed by personas and scenarios of use constructed from Aim 1 findings; 3) Evaluate the UTI Decide prototype with NH staff. Focus groups were conducted with providers and nurses in NHs in Denver, Colorado (n= 24). Qualitative descriptive analysis was applied to focus group transcripts to identify information needs and themes related to mobile clinical decision support for UTI identification and management. Personas representing typical end users were developed; typical clinical context scenarios were constructed using information needs as goals. Usability testing was performed using cognitive walk-throughs and a think-aloud protocol. Four information needs were identified including guidance regarding resident assessment; communication with providers; care planning; and urine culture interpretation. Design of a web-based application incorporating a published decision support algorithm for evidence-based UTI diagnoses proceeded with a focus on nursing information needs during resident assessment and communication with providers. Certified nursing assistant (CNA) and registered nurse (RN) personas were constructed in 4 context scenarios with associated key path scenarios. After field testing, a high fidelity prototype of UTI Decide was completed and evaluated by potential end users. Design recommendations and content recommendations were elicited. Goal-Directed Design informed the development of a mobile CDSS supporting participant-identified information needs for UTI assessment and communication

  10. The Role of Informal Support Networks in Teaching the Nature of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herman, Benjamin C.; Olson, Joanne K.; Clough, Michael P.

    2017-06-01

    This study reports the participation of 13 secondary science teachers in informal support networks and how that participation was associated with their nature of science (NOS) teaching practices 2 to 5 years after having graduated from the same science teacher education program. The nine teachers who participated in informal support networks taught the NOS at high/medium levels, while the four non-participating teachers taught the NOS at low levels. The nine high/medium NOS implementation teachers credited the informal support networks for maintaining/heightening their sense of responsibility for teaching NOS and for helping them navigate institutional constraints that impede effective NOS instruction. Several high/medium NOS instruction implementers initially struggled to autonomously frame and resolve the complexities experienced in schools and thus drew from the support networks to engage in more sophisticated forms of teacher decision-making. In contrast, the NOS pedagogical decisions of the four teachers not participating in support networks were governed primarily by the expectations and constraints experienced in their schools. Implications of this study include the need for reconsidering the structure of teacher mentorship programs to ensure they do not promote archaic science teaching practices that are at odds with reform efforts in science education.

  11. Support and Against Historical Cost Accounting: is IT Value Relevance for Decision Making?

    OpenAIRE

    Rahmawati, Evi

    2006-01-01

    This paper reviews the issues on the support and criticism of historical cost accounting (HCA) and the incremental information content on current cost disclosures. Based on literature review this study find that historical cost is still relevant to use in decision making. Empirical studies show evidence both; supporting historical cost accounting and criticisms against the conventional historical cost based financial statements. Issues on historical cost are raised because of  economic condit...

  12. Decision support for water quality management of contaminants of emerging concern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fischer, Astrid; Ter Laak, Thomas; Bronders, Jan; Desmet, Nele; Christoffels, Ekkehard; van Wezel, Annemarie; van der Hoek, Jan Peter

    2017-05-15

    Water authorities and drinking water companies are challenged with the question if, where and how to abate contaminants of emerging concern in the urban water cycle. The most effective strategy under given conditions is often unclear to these stakeholders as it requires insight into several aspects of the contaminants such as sources, properties, and mitigation options. Furthermore the various parties in the urban water cycle are not always aware of each other's requirements and priorities. Processes to set priorities and come to agreements are lacking, hampering the articulation and implementation of possible solutions. To support decision makers with this task, a decision support system was developed to serve as a point of departure for getting the relevant stakeholders together and finding common ground. The decision support system was iteratively developed in stages. Stakeholders were interviewed and a decision support system prototype developed. Subsequently, this prototype was evaluated by the stakeholders and adjusted accordingly. The iterative process lead to a final system focused on the management of contaminants of emerging concern within the urban water cycle, from wastewater, surface water and groundwater to drinking water, that suggests mitigation methods beyond technical solutions. Possible wastewater and drinking water treatment techniques in combination with decentralised and non-technical methods were taken into account in an integrated way. The system contains background information on contaminants of emerging concern such as physical/chemical characteristics, toxicity and legislative frameworks, water cycle entrance pathways and a database with associated possible mitigation methods. Monitoring data can be uploaded to assess environmental and human health risks in a specific water system. The developed system was received with great interest by potential users, and implemented in an international water cycle network. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier

  13. Multi-criteria decision making to support waste management: A critical review of current practices and methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goulart Coelho, Lineker M; Lange, Liséte C; Coelho, Hosmanny Mg

    2017-01-01

    Solid waste management is a complex domain involving the interaction of several dimensions; thus, its analysis and control impose continuous challenges for decision makers. In this context, multi-criteria decision-making models have become important and convenient supporting tools for solid waste management because they can handle problems involving multiple dimensions and conflicting criteria. However, the selection of the multi-criteria decision-making method is a hard task since there are several multi-criteria decision-making approaches, each one with a large number of variants whose applicability depends on information availability and the aim of the study. Therefore, to support researchers and decision makers, the objectives of this article are to present a literature review of multi-criteria decision-making applications used in solid waste management, offer a critical assessment of the current practices, and provide suggestions for future works. A brief review of fundamental concepts on this topic is first provided, followed by the analysis of 260 articles related to the application of multi-criteria decision making in solid waste management. These studies were investigated in terms of the methodology, including specific steps such as normalisation, weighting, and sensitivity analysis. In addition, information related to waste type, the study objective, and aspects considered was recorded. From the articles analysed it is noted that studies using multi-criteria decision making in solid waste management are predominantly addressed to problems related to municipal solid waste involving facility location or management strategy.

  14. The effect of environmental information on investment allocation decisions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rikhardsson, Pall M.; Holm, Claus

    2008-01-01

    This paper focuses on the use of environmental information in investment decision making. The research approach employed is based on an experiment where three groups of final year finance students were asked to allocate investment funds between two companies based on financial accounts...... information categories affect their decision making. Hence, this has implications for how the potential value of environmental information is to be assessed. Finally, experimental studies as a methodology seem to be better suited to indicate actual effects of different types of information on decision making...... and information material from these companies in which environmental information was included in varying degrees. The overall conclusion is that the qualitative environmental information affects short term allocation decisions, hence indicating a risk reduction potential of environmental information comparable...

  15. Development of a decision support tool for the assessment of biofuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perimenis, Anastasios; Walimwipi, Hartley; Zinoviev, Sergey; Mueller-Langer, Franziska; Miertus, Stanislav

    2011-01-01

    Alternative fuels for the transport sector are gaining growing attention as a means against fossil fuel dependence and towards greener forms of energy. At the same time, however, they are surrounded with doubts concerning sustainability of their production. This work presents the basic framework for a decision support tool to evaluate biofuel production pathways, with the purpose of providing the decision maker with a structured methodology that will lead him to the final decision. The tool integrates the most important aspects along the entire value chain (i.e. from biomass production to biofuel end-use), namely the technical, economic, environmental and social aspect. The tool consists of a computational part, which can be combined with the personal preferences of the user. The analysis provides a score for the respective pathway that can be used to rank different options and select among them the optimal solution. The functionality of the tool has been tested for the case of biodiesel from rapeseed in Germany. - Research highlights: → Structure and framework of a decision support tool for the assessment of biofuels. → Inclusion of economic, environmental and social aspects along the biofuel production chain. → Development of an internal database with relevant information along the chain. → Multi-criteria analysis for the consideration of all relevant criteria. → Incorporation of personal preferences and priorities in the final result.

  16. Computer Decision Support to Improve Autism Screening and Care in Community Pediatric Clinics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Nerissa S.; Sturm, Lynne A.; Carroll, Aaron E.; Downs, Stephen M.

    2013-01-01

    An autism module was added to an existing computer decision support system (CDSS) to facilitate adherence to recommended guidelines for screening for autism spectrum disorders in primary care pediatric clinics. User satisfaction was assessed by survey and informal feedback at monthly meetings between clinical staff and the software team. To assess…

  17. Valuing information for sewer replacement decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Riel, Wouter; Langeveld, Jeroen; Herder, Paulien; Clemens, François

    Decision-making for sewer asset management is partially based on intuition and often lacks explicit argumentation, hampering decision transparency and reproducibility. This is not to be preferred in light of public accountability and cost-effectiveness. It is unknown to what extent each decision criterion is appreciated by decision-makers. Further insight into this relative importance improves understanding of decision-making of sewer system managers. As such, a digital questionnaire (response ratio 43%), containing pairwise comparisons between 10 relevant information sources, was sent to all 407 municipalities in the Netherlands to analyse the relative importance and assess whether a shared frame of reasoning is present. Thurstone's law of comparative judgment was used for analysis, combined with several consistency tests. Results show that camera inspections were valued highest, while pipe age was considered least important. The respondents were pretty consistent per individual and also showed consistency as a group. This indicated a common framework of reasoning among the group. The feedback of the group showed, however, the respondents found it difficult to make general comparisons without having a context. This indicates decision-making in practice is more likely to be steered by other mechanisms than purely combining information sources.

  18. Information source exploitation/exploration and NPD decision-making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jespersen, Kristina Risom

    different Scandinavian companies. Data was analyzed using hierarchical regression models across decision criteria dimensions and NPD stages as well as analyzing the combination of selected information sources. Rather than forwarding one optimal search behavior for the entire NPD process, we find optimal...... information search behavior at either end of the exploitation/exploration continuum. Additionally, we find that overexploitation and overexploration is caused by managerial bias. This creates managerial misbehavior at gate decision-points of the NPD process.......The purpose of this study is to examine how the exploration/exploitation continuum is applied by decision-makers in new product gate decision-making. Specifically, we analyze at gate decision-points how the evaluation of a new product project is affected by the information source exploitation...

  19. Multi-criteria decision analysis using hydrological indicators for decision support - a conceptual framework.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Butchart-Kuhlmann, Daniel; Kralisch, Sven; Meinhardt, Markus; Fleischer, Melanie

    2017-04-01

    Assessing the quantity and quality of water available in water stressed environments under various potential climate and land-use changes is necessary for good water and environmental resources management and governance. Within the region covered by the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) project, such areas are common. One goal of the SASSCAL project is to develop and provide an integrated decision support system (DSS) with which decision makers (DMs) within a given catchment can obtain objective information regarding potential changes in water flow quantity and timing. The SASSCAL DSS builds upon existing data storage and distribution capability, through the SASSCAL Information System (IS), as well as the J2000 hydrological model. Using output from validated J2000 models, the SASSCAL DSS incorporates the calculation of a range of hydrological indicators based upon Indicators of Hydrological Alteration/Environmental Flow Components (IHA/EFC) calculated for a historic time series (pre-impact) and a set of model simulations based upon a selection of possible climate and land-use change scenarios (post-impact). These indicators, obtained using the IHA software package, are then used as input for a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) undertaken using the open source diviz software package. The results of these analyses will provide DMs with an indication as to how various hydrological indicators within a catchment may be altered under different future scenarios, as well providing a ranking of how each scenario is preferred according to different DM preferences. Scenarios are represented through a combination of model input data and parameter settings in J2000, and preferences are represented through criteria weighting in the MCDA. Here, the methodology is presented and applied to the J2000 Luanginga model results using a set of hypothetical decision maker preference values as input for an MCDA based on

  20. Value of Information for Sewer Replacement Decisions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Riel, W.A.P.; Langeveld, J.G.; Herder, P.M.; Clemens, F.H.L.R.

    2014-01-01

    Decision-making for sewer asset management is partially based on intuition and often lacks explicit argumentation, hampering decision transparency and reproducibility. It is unknown to what extent each information source is appreciated by decision makers. Further insight into this relative

  1. Overcoming barriers to development of cooperative medical decision support models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hudson, Donna L; Cohen, Maurice E

    2012-01-01

    Attempts to automate the medical decision making process have been underway for the at least fifty years, beginning with data-based approaches that relied chiefly on statistically-based methods. Approaches expanded to include knowledge-based systems, both linear and non-linear neural networks, agent-based systems, and hybrid methods. While some of these models produced excellent results none have been used extensively in medical practice. In order to move these methods forward into practical use, a number of obstacles must be overcome, including validation of existing systems on large data sets, development of methods for including new knowledge as it becomes available, construction of a broad range of decision models, and development of non-intrusive methods that allow the physician to use these decision aids in conjunction with, not instead of, his or her own medical knowledge. None of these four requirements will come easily. A cooperative effort among researchers, including practicing MDs, is vital, particularly as more information on diseases and their contributing factors continues to expand resulting in more parameters than the human decision maker can process effectively. In this article some of the basic structures that are necessary to facilitate the use of an automated decision support system are discussed, along with potential methods for overcoming existing barriers.

  2. Implementation of workflow engine technology to deliver basic clinical decision support functionality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huser, Vojtech; Rasmussen, Luke V; Oberg, Ryan; Starren, Justin B

    2011-04-10

    Workflow engine technology represents a new class of software with the ability to graphically model step-based knowledge. We present application of this novel technology to the domain of clinical decision support. Successful implementation of decision support within an electronic health record (EHR) remains an unsolved research challenge. Previous research efforts were mostly based on healthcare-specific representation standards and execution engines and did not reach wide adoption. We focus on two challenges in decision support systems: the ability to test decision logic on retrospective data prior prospective deployment and the challenge of user-friendly representation of clinical logic. We present our implementation of a workflow engine technology that addresses the two above-described challenges in delivering clinical decision support. Our system is based on a cross-industry standard of XML (extensible markup language) process definition language (XPDL). The core components of the system are a workflow editor for modeling clinical scenarios and a workflow engine for execution of those scenarios. We demonstrate, with an open-source and publicly available workflow suite, that clinical decision support logic can be executed on retrospective data. The same flowchart-based representation can also function in a prospective mode where the system can be integrated with an EHR system and respond to real-time clinical events. We limit the scope of our implementation to decision support content generation (which can be EHR system vendor independent). We do not focus on supporting complex decision support content delivery mechanisms due to lack of standardization of EHR systems in this area. We present results of our evaluation of the flowchart-based graphical notation as well as architectural evaluation of our implementation using an established evaluation framework for clinical decision support architecture. We describe an implementation of a free workflow technology

  3. Implementation of workflow engine technology to deliver basic clinical decision support functionality

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Workflow engine technology represents a new class of software with the ability to graphically model step-based knowledge. We present application of this novel technology to the domain of clinical decision support. Successful implementation of decision support within an electronic health record (EHR) remains an unsolved research challenge. Previous research efforts were mostly based on healthcare-specific representation standards and execution engines and did not reach wide adoption. We focus on two challenges in decision support systems: the ability to test decision logic on retrospective data prior prospective deployment and the challenge of user-friendly representation of clinical logic. Results We present our implementation of a workflow engine technology that addresses the two above-described challenges in delivering clinical decision support. Our system is based on a cross-industry standard of XML (extensible markup language) process definition language (XPDL). The core components of the system are a workflow editor for modeling clinical scenarios and a workflow engine for execution of those scenarios. We demonstrate, with an open-source and publicly available workflow suite, that clinical decision support logic can be executed on retrospective data. The same flowchart-based representation can also function in a prospective mode where the system can be integrated with an EHR system and respond to real-time clinical events. We limit the scope of our implementation to decision support content generation (which can be EHR system vendor independent). We do not focus on supporting complex decision support content delivery mechanisms due to lack of standardization of EHR systems in this area. We present results of our evaluation of the flowchart-based graphical notation as well as architectural evaluation of our implementation using an established evaluation framework for clinical decision support architecture. Conclusions We describe an implementation of

  4. The Global Drought Information System - A Decision Support Tool with Global Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arndt, D. S.; Brewer, M.; Heim, R. R., Jr.

    2014-12-01

    underway with an emphasis on information and decision making, and how to effectively provide drought early warning. This talk will provide an update on the status of GDIS and its role in international drought monitoring.

  5. Cancer-related information needs and treatment decision-making experiences of people with dementia in England: a multiple perspective qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McWilliams, Lorna; Farrell, Carole; Keady, John; Swarbrick, Caroline; Burgess, Lorraine; Grande, Gunn; Bellhouse, Sarah; Yorke, Janelle

    2018-04-12

    Little is known about the cancer experience and support needs of people with dementia. In particular, no evidence currently exists to demonstrate the likely complex decision-making processes for this patient group and the oncology healthcare professionals (HCP) involved in their care. The aim of this study was to explore the cancer-related information needs and decision-making experiences of patients with cancer and comorbid dementia, their informal caregivers and oncology HCPs. Cross-sectional qualitative study. Semistructured interviews were conducted face to face with participants. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed prior to thematic analysis. Patients with a diagnosis of cancer and dementia, their informal caregivers and oncology HCPs involved in their care, all recruited from a regional treatment cancer centre. Purposeful sample of 10 patients with a diagnosis of cancer-dementia, informal caregivers (n=9) and oncology HCPs (n=12). Four themes were identified: (1) leading to the initial consultation-HCPs require more detailed information on the functional impact of dementia and how it may influence cancer treatment options prior to meeting the patient; (2) communicating clinically relevant information-informal caregivers are relied on to provide patient information, advocate for the patient and support decision-making; (3) adjustments to cancer care-patients with dementia get through treatment with the help of their family and (4) following completion of cancer treatment-there are continuing information needs. Oncology HCPs discussed their need to consult specialists in dementia care to support treatment decision-making. Although patients with cancer-dementia are involved in their treatment decision-making, informal caregivers are generally crucial in supporting this process. Individual patient needs and circumstances related to their cancer must be considered in the context of dementia prognosis highlighting complexities of decision-making in this

  6. Decision support tools to support the operations of traffic management centers (TMC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-31

    The goal of this project is to develop decision support tools to support traffic management operations based on collected intelligent transportation system (ITS) data. The project developments are in accordance with the needs of traffic management ce...

  7. WEB-GIS Decision Support System for CO2 storage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaitanaru, Dragos; Leonard, Anghel; Radu Gogu, Constantin; Le Guen, Yvi; Scradeanu, Daniel; Pagnejer, Mihaela

    2013-04-01

    Environmental decision support systems (DSS) paradigm evolves and changes as more knowledge and technology become available to the environmental community. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to extract, assess and disseminate some types of information, which are otherwise difficult to access by traditional methods. In the same time, with the help of the Internet and accompanying tools, creating and publishing online interactive maps has become easier and rich with options. The Decision Support System (MDSS) developed for the MUSTANG (A MUltiple Space and Time scale Approach for the quaNtification of deep saline formations for CO2 storaGe) project is a user friendly web based application that uses the GIS capabilities. MDSS can be exploited by the experts for CO2 injection and storage in deep saline aquifers. The main objective of the MDSS is to help the experts to take decisions based large structured types of data and information. In order to achieve this objective the MDSS has a geospatial objected-orientated database structure for a wide variety of data and information. The entire application is based on several principles leading to a series of capabilities and specific characteristics: (i) Open-Source - the entire platform (MDSS) is based on open-source technologies - (1) database engine, (2) application server, (3) geospatial server, (4) user interfaces, (5) add-ons, etc. (ii) Multiple database connections - MDSS is capable to connect to different databases that are located on different server machines. (iii)Desktop user experience - MDSS architecture and design follows the structure of a desktop software. (iv)Communication - the server side and the desktop are bound together by series functions that allows the user to upload, use, modify and download data within the application. The architecture of the system involves one database and a modular application composed by: (1) a visualization module, (2) an analysis module, (3) a guidelines module

  8. Decision support for patient care: implementing cybernetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozbolt, Judy; Ozdas, Asli; Waitman, Lemuel R; Smith, Janis B; Brennan, Grace V; Miller, Randolph A

    2004-01-01

    The application of principles and methods of cybernetics permits clinicians and managers to use feedback about care effectiveness and resource expenditure to improve quality and to control costs. Keys to the process are the specification of therapeutic goals and the creation of an organizational culture that supports the use of feedback to improve care. Daily feedback on the achievement of each patient's therapeutic goals provides tactical decision support, enabling clinicians to adjust care as needed. Monthly or quarterly feedback on aggregated goal achievement for all patients on a clinical pathway provides strategic decision support, enabling clinicians and managers to identify problems with supposed "best practices" and to test hypotheses about solutions. Work is underway at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to implement feedback loops in care and management processes and to evaluate the effects.

  9. Technology Infusion Challenges from a Decision Support Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adumitroaie, V.; Weisbin, C. R.

    2009-01-01

    In a restricted science budget environment and increasingly numerous required technology developments, the technology investment decisions within NASA are objectively more and more difficult to make such that the end results are satisfying the technical objectives and all the organizational constraints. Under these conditions it is rationally desirable to build an investment portfolio, which has the highest possible technology infusion rate. Arguably the path to infusion is subject to many influencing factors, but here only the challenges associated with the very initial stages are addressed: defining the needs and the subsequent investment decision-support process. It is conceivable that decision consistency and possibly its quality suffer when the decision-making process has limited or no traceability. This paper presents a structured decision-support framework aiming to provide traceable, auditable, infusion- driven recommendations towards a selection process in which these recommendations are used as reference points in further discussions among stakeholders. In this framework addressing well-defined requirements, different measures of success can be defined based on traceability to specific selection criteria. As a direct result, even by using simplified decision models the likelihood of infusion can be probed and consequently improved.

  10. Towards Measures to Establish the Relevance of Climate Model Output for Decision Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clarke, L.; Smith, L. A.

    2007-12-01

    How exactly can decision-support and policy making benefit from the use of multiple climate model experiments in terms of coping with the uncertainties on climate change projections? Climate modelling faces challenges beyond those of weather forecasting or even seasonal forecasting, as with climate we are now (and will probably always be) required to extrapolate to regimes in which we have no relevant forecast-verification archive. This suggests a very different approach from traditional methods of mixing models and skill based weighting to gain profitable probabilistic information when a large forecast-verification archive is in hand. In the case of climate, it may prove more rational to search for agreement between our models (in distribution), the aim being to determine the space and timescales on which, given our current understanding, the details of the simulation models are unimportant. This suggestion and others from Smith (2002, Proc. National Acad. Sci. USA 4 (99): 2487-2492) are interpreted in the light of recent advances. Climate models are large nonlinear dynamical systems which insightfully but imperfectly reflect the evolving weather patterns of the Earth. Their use in policy making and decision support assumes both that they contain sufficient information regarding reality to inform the decision, and that this information can be effectively communicated to the decision makers. There is nothing unique about climate modeling and these constraints, they apply in all cases where scientific modeling is applied to real-word actions (other than, perhaps, the action of improving our models). Starting with the issue of communication, figures from the 2007 IPCC Summary for Policy Makers will be constructively criticized from the perspective of decision makers, specifically those of the energy sector and the insurance/reinsurance sector. More information on basic questions of reliability and robustness would be of significant value when determining how heavily

  11. QLIKVIEW APPLICATION - SUPPORT IN DECISION MAKING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luminita SERBANESCU

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Control over the company, an objective that any manager wants, can only be exercised on the basis of real and complex business data. For this, a higher level of application is required, with Business Intelligence applications that provide information that no one else can offer faster. Winning time can be used to identify other issues related to available information or activities that add value to the company. After all, management time is a decision, and the decision is valuable only if it occurs at the right time. In this article I presented the benefits of implementing a business intelligence solution in a company, as well as how to design analytical reports using the QlikView application.

  12. What influences parents' decisions to limit or withdraw life support?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharman, Mahesh; Meert, Kathleen L; Sarnaik, Ashok P

    2005-09-01

    Decisions to forgo life support from critically ill children are commonly faced by parents and physicians. Previous research regarding parents' perspectives on the decision-making process has been limited by retrospective methods and the use of closed-ended questionnaires. We prospectively identified and described parents' self-reported influences on decisions to forgo life support from their children. Deeper understanding of parents' views will allow physicians to focus end-of-life discussions on factors important to parents and help resolve conflicts. Prospective, qualitative pilot study. Pediatric intensive care unit of a university-affiliated children's hospital. A total of 14 parents of ten children whose pediatric intensive care unit physician had made a recommendation to limit or withdraw life support. : In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with parents during their decision-making process. Factors influencing the parents in this study in their decision to forgo life support included their previous experience with death and end-of-life decision making for others, their personal observations of their child's suffering, their perceptions of their child's will to survive, their need to protect and advocate for their child, and the family's financial resources and concerns regarding life-long care. Parents in this study expressed the desire to do what is best for their child but struggled with feelings of selfishness, guilt, and the need to avoid agony and sorrow. Physician recommendations, review of options, and joint formulation of a plan helped parents gain a sense of control over their situation. Parents of eight children agreed to forgo life support and parents of two did not. Prospective interviews with open-ended questions identified factors influencing parents' decision making not previously described in the critical care literature such as parents' past experiences with end-of-life decisions and their anticipated emotional adjustments and

  13. Free and open source enabling technologies for patient-centric, guideline-based clinical decision support: a survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leong, T Y; Kaiser, K; Miksch, S

    2007-01-01

    Guideline-based clinical decision support is an emerging paradigm to help reduce error, lower cost, and improve quality in evidence-based medicine. The free and open source (FOS) approach is a promising alternative for delivering cost-effective information technology (IT) solutions in health care. In this paper, we survey the current FOS enabling technologies for patient-centric, guideline-based care, and discuss the current trends and future directions of their role in clinical decision support. We searched PubMed, major biomedical informatics websites, and the web in general for papers and links related to FOS health care IT systems. We also relied on our background and knowledge for specific subtopics. We focused on the functionalities of guideline modeling tools, and briefly examined the supporting technologies for terminology, data exchange and electronic health record (EHR) standards. To effectively support patient-centric, guideline-based care, the computerized guidelines and protocols need to be integrated with existing clinical information systems or EHRs. Technologies that enable such integration should be accessible, interoperable, and scalable. A plethora of FOS tools and techniques for supporting different knowledge management and quality assurance tasks involved are available. Many challenges, however, remain in their implementation. There are active and growing trends of deploying FOS enabling technologies for integrating clinical guidelines, protocols, and pathways into the main care processes. The continuing development and maturation of such technologies are likely to make increasingly significant contributions to patient-centric, guideline-based clinical decision support.

  14. The experiences from implementing decision support technology to address water management plans in an operational environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McArdle, S. [4DM Inc., Toronto, ON (Canada); Tonkin, C. [Ontario Power Generation Inc., Toronto, ON (Canada)

    2005-07-01

    This presentation described Ontario Power Generation's experience in implementing a decision support tool to enable water management plans for its operations through technology solutions. All hydroelectric producers in Ontario are required to make water management plans in order to maintain water levels and flows in their operating regions. This regulation was created in response to environmental concerns as well as to changes in the electricity market and growth of residential and cottage property near water bodies. In order to keep informed and to address compliance issues, operators and managers need situation awareness information to balance operational decisions. The online Adaptive Water Management System (AWMS) decision support tool was recently adopted by Ontario Power Generation to provide information needed to address the requirements of Water Management Plans. The AWMS provides users with information on water levels and flows; the ability to implement, modify, and manage daily instructions at the facilities; track conditions in the watershed; and, provide a status of compliance. The tool was developed by 4DM Inc. in collaboration with Ottawa St. Lawrence Plant Group for the Madawaska River Watershed Management, a model partnership between operator, regulator and Public Advisory Committee to develop a water management plan.

  15. ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF EXISTING DECISION SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Rybak

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the results of an analytical review and comparison of the most common managerial decision support technologies: the analytic hierarchy method, neural networks, fuzzy set theory, genetic algorithms and neural-fuzzy modeling. The advantages and disadvantages of these approaches are shown. Determine the scope of their application. It is shown that the hierarchy analysis method works well with the full initial information, but due to the need for expert comparison of alternatives and the selection of evaluation criteria has a high proportion of subjectivity. For problems in the conditions of risk and uncertainty prediction seems reasonable use of the theory of fuzzy sets and neural networks. It is also considered technology collective decision applied both in the general election, and the group of experts. It reduces the time for conciliation meetings to reach a consensus by the preliminary analysis of all views submitted for the plane in the form of points. At the same time the consistency of opinion is determined by the distance between them.

  16. Probabilistic Decision Making with Spikes: From ISI Distributions to Behaviour via Information Gain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier A Caballero

    Full Text Available Computational theories of decision making in the brain usually assume that sensory 'evidence' is accumulated supporting a number of hypotheses, and that the first accumulator to reach threshold triggers a decision in favour of its associated hypothesis. However, the evidence is often assumed to occur as a continuous process whose origins are somewhat abstract, with no direct link to the neural signals - action potentials or 'spikes' - that must ultimately form the substrate for decision making in the brain. Here we introduce a new variant of the well-known multi-hypothesis sequential probability ratio test (MSPRT for decision making whose evidence observations consist of the basic unit of neural signalling - the inter-spike interval (ISI - and which is based on a new form of the likelihood function. We dub this mechanism s-MSPRT and show its precise form for a range of realistic ISI distributions with positive support. In this way we show that, at the level of spikes, the refractory period may actually facilitate shorter decision times, and that the mechanism is robust against poor choice of the hypothesized data distribution. We show that s-MSPRT performance is related to the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD or information gain between ISI distributions, through which we are able to link neural signalling to psychophysical observation at the behavioural level. Thus, we find the mean information needed for a decision is constant, thereby offering an account of Hick's law (relating decision time to the number of choices. Further, the mean decision time of s-MSPRT shows a power law dependence on the KLD offering an account of Piéron's law (relating reaction time to stimulus intensity. These results show the foundations for a research programme in which spike train analysis can be made the basis for predictions about behavior in multi-alternative choice tasks.

  17. Probabilistic Decision Making with Spikes: From ISI Distributions to Behaviour via Information Gain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caballero, Javier A; Lepora, Nathan F; Gurney, Kevin N

    2015-01-01

    Computational theories of decision making in the brain usually assume that sensory 'evidence' is accumulated supporting a number of hypotheses, and that the first accumulator to reach threshold triggers a decision in favour of its associated hypothesis. However, the evidence is often assumed to occur as a continuous process whose origins are somewhat abstract, with no direct link to the neural signals - action potentials or 'spikes' - that must ultimately form the substrate for decision making in the brain. Here we introduce a new variant of the well-known multi-hypothesis sequential probability ratio test (MSPRT) for decision making whose evidence observations consist of the basic unit of neural signalling - the inter-spike interval (ISI) - and which is based on a new form of the likelihood function. We dub this mechanism s-MSPRT and show its precise form for a range of realistic ISI distributions with positive support. In this way we show that, at the level of spikes, the refractory period may actually facilitate shorter decision times, and that the mechanism is robust against poor choice of the hypothesized data distribution. We show that s-MSPRT performance is related to the Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) or information gain between ISI distributions, through which we are able to link neural signalling to psychophysical observation at the behavioural level. Thus, we find the mean information needed for a decision is constant, thereby offering an account of Hick's law (relating decision time to the number of choices). Further, the mean decision time of s-MSPRT shows a power law dependence on the KLD offering an account of Piéron's law (relating reaction time to stimulus intensity). These results show the foundations for a research programme in which spike train analysis can be made the basis for predictions about behavior in multi-alternative choice tasks.

  18. An organizational intervention to influence evidence-informed decision making in home health nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gifford, Wendy; Lefebre, Nancy; Davies, Barbara

    2014-01-01

    The aims of this study were to field test and evaluate a series of organizational strategies to promote evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) by nurse managers and clinical leaders in home healthcare. EIDM is central to delivering high-quality and effective healthcare. Barriers exist and organizational strategies are needed to support EIDM. Management and clinical leaders from 4 units participated in a 20-week organization-focused intervention. Preintervention (n = 32) and postintervention (n = 17) surveys and semistructured interviews (n = 15) were completed. Statistically significant increases were found on 4 of 31 survey items reflecting an increased organizational capacity for participants to acquire and apply research evidence in decision making. Support from designated facilitators with advanced skills in finding, appraising, and applying research was the highest rated intervention strategy. Results are useful to inform the development of organizational infrastructures to increase EIDM capacity in community-based healthcare organizations.

  19. Decisions reduce sensitivity to subsequent information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bronfman, Zohar Z; Brezis, Noam; Moran, Rani; Tsetsos, Konstantinos; Donner, Tobias; Usher, Marius

    2015-07-07

    Behavioural studies over half a century indicate that making categorical choices alters beliefs about the state of the world. People seem biased to confirm previous choices, and to suppress contradicting information. These choice-dependent biases imply a fundamental bound of human rationality. However, it remains unclear whether these effects extend to lower level decisions, and only little is known about the computational mechanisms underlying them. Building on the framework of sequential-sampling models of decision-making, we developed novel psychophysical protocols that enable us to dissect quantitatively how choices affect the way decision-makers accumulate additional noisy evidence. We find robust choice-induced biases in the accumulation of abstract numerical (experiment 1) and low-level perceptual (experiment 2) evidence. These biases deteriorate estimations of the mean value of the numerical sequence (experiment 1) and reduce the likelihood to revise decisions (experiment 2). Computational modelling reveals that choices trigger a reduction of sensitivity to subsequent evidence via multiplicative gain modulation, rather than shifting the decision variable towards the chosen alternative in an additive fashion. Our results thus show that categorical choices alter the evidence accumulation mechanism itself, rather than just its outcome, rendering the decision-maker less sensitive to new information. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  20. Harnessing the Frontline Employee Sensing of Capabilities for Decision Support

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallin, Carina Antonia; Andersen, Torben Juul; Tveterås, Sigbjørn

    2017-01-01

    The ability to sense developments in operational (steady-state) and dynamic (growth) capabilities provides early signals about how the firm adapts its operations to ongoing changes in the environment. Frontline employees engage in the daily transactions and sense the firm's operating conditions......, this article develops a sensing instrument an employee-sensed operational conduct (ESOC) index for updated information as an essential decision support mechanism. This sensing capacity is firm-specific and difficult to replicate once in place and thus can provide a basis for sustainable competitive advantage....

  1. Group decision support system for customer-driven product design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Zhihang; Chen, Hang; Chen, Kuen; Che, Ada

    2000-10-01

    This paper describes the work on the development of a group decision support system for customer driven product design. The customer driven is to develop products, which meet all customer requirements in whole life cycle of products. A process model of decision during product primary design is proposed to formulate the structured, semi-structured and unstructured decision problems. The framework for the decision support system is presented that integrated both advances in the group decision making and distributed artificial intelligent. The system consists of the product primary design tool kit and the collaborative platform with multi-agent structure. The collaborative platform of the system and the product primary design tool kit, including the VOC (Voice of Customer) tool, QFD (Quality Function Deployment) tool, the Conceptual design tool, Reliability analysis tool and the cost and profit forecasting tool, are indicated.

  2. EHRs Connect Research and Practice: Where Predictive Modeling, Artificial Intelligence, and Clinical Decision Support Intersect

    OpenAIRE

    Bennett, Casey; Doub, Tom; Selove, Rebecca

    2012-01-01

    Objectives: Electronic health records (EHRs) are only a first step in capturing and utilizing health-related data - the challenge is turning that data into useful information. Furthermore, EHRs are increasingly likely to include data relating to patient outcomes, functionality such as clinical decision support, and genetic information as well, and, as such, can be seen as repositories of increasingly valuable information about patients' health conditions and responses to treatment over time. ...

  3. Assessing the quality of decision support technologies using the International Patient Decision Aid Standards instrument (IPDASi.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Glyn Elwyn

    Full Text Available To describe the development, validation and inter-rater reliability of an instrument to measure the quality of patient decision support technologies (decision aids.Scale development study, involving construct, item and scale development, validation and reliability testing.There has been increasing use of decision support technologies--adjuncts to the discussions clinicians have with patients about difficult decisions. A global interest in developing these interventions exists among both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations. It is therefore essential to have internationally accepted standards to assess the quality of their development, process, content, potential bias and method of field testing and evaluation.Scale development study, involving construct, item and scale development, validation and reliability testing.Twenty-five researcher-members of the International Patient Decision Aid Standards Collaboration worked together to develop the instrument (IPDASi. In the fourth Stage (reliability study, eight raters assessed thirty randomly selected decision support technologies.IPDASi measures quality in 10 dimensions, using 47 items, and provides an overall quality score (scaled from 0 to 100 for each intervention. Overall IPDASi scores ranged from 33 to 82 across the decision support technologies sampled (n = 30, enabling discrimination. The inter-rater intraclass correlation for the overall quality score was 0.80. Correlations of dimension scores with the overall score were all positive (0.31 to 0.68. Cronbach's alpha values for the 8 raters ranged from 0.72 to 0.93. Cronbach's alphas based on the dimension means ranged from 0.50 to 0.81, indicating that the dimensions, although well correlated, measure different aspects of decision support technology quality. A short version (19 items was also developed that had very similar mean scores to IPDASi and high correlation between short score and overall score 0.87 (CI 0.79 to 0.92.This work

  4. A web-based decision support system to enhance IPM programs in Washington tree fruit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Vincent P; Brunner, Jay F; Grove, Gary G; Petit, Brad; Tangren, Gerald V; Jones, Wendy E

    2010-06-01

    Integrated pest management (IPM) decision-making has become more information intensive in Washington State tree crops in response to changes in pesticide availability, the development of new control tactics (such as mating disruption) and the development of new information on pest and natural enemy biology. The time-sensitive nature of the information means that growers must have constant access to a single source of verified information to guide management decisions. The authors developed a decision support system for Washington tree fruit growers that integrates environmental data [140 Washington State University (WSU) stations plus weather forecasts from NOAA], model predictions (ten insects, four diseases and a horticultural model), management recommendations triggered by model status and a pesticide database that provides information on non-target impacts on other pests and natural enemies. A user survey in 2008 found that the user base was providing recommendations for most of the orchards and acreage in the state, and that users estimated the value at $ 16 million per year. The design of the system facilitates education on a range of time-sensitive topics and will make it possible easily to incorporate other models, new management recommendations or information from new sensors as they are developed.

  5. Theoretical aspects of cellular decision-making and information-processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Tetsuya J; Kamimura, Atsushi

    2012-01-01

    Microscopic biological processes have extraordinary complexity and variety at the sub-cellular, intra-cellular, and multi-cellular levels. In dealing with such complex phenomena, conceptual and theoretical frameworks are crucial, which enable us to understand seemingly different intra- and inter-cellular phenomena from unified viewpoints. Decision-making is one such concept that has attracted much attention recently. Since a number of cellular behavior can be regarded as processes to make specific actions in response to external stimuli, decision-making can cover and has been used to explain a broad range of different cellular phenomena [Balázsi et al. (Cell 144(6):910, 2011), Zeng et al. (Cell 141(4):682, 2010)]. Decision-making is also closely related to cellular information-processing because appropriate decisions cannot be made without exploiting the information that the external stimuli contain. Efficiency of information transduction and processing by intra-cellular networks determines the amount of information obtained, which in turn limits the efficiency of subsequent decision-making. Furthermore, information-processing itself can serve as another concept that is crucial for understanding of other biological processes than decision-making. In this work, we review recent theoretical developments on cellular decision-making and information-processing by focusing on the relation between these two concepts.

  6. Decision support system for containment and release management

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oosterhuis, B [Twente Univ., Enschede (Netherlands). Computer Science Dept.

    1995-09-01

    The Containment and Release Management project was carried out within the Reinforced Concerted Action Programme for Accident Management Support and partly financed by the European Union. In this report a prototype of an accident management support system is presented. The support system integrates several concepts from accident management research, like safety objective trees, severe accident phenomena, calculation models and an emergency response data system. These concepts are provided by the prototype in such a way that the decision making process of accident management is supported. The prototype application is demonstrated by process data taken from a severe accident scenario for a pressurized water reactor (PWR) that was simulated with the thermohydraulic computer program MAAP. The prototype was derived from a decision support framework based on a decision theory. For established and innovative concepts from accident management research it is pointed out in which way these concepts can support accident management and how these concepts can be integrated. This approach is generic in two ways; it applies to both pressurized and boiling water reactors and it applies to both in vessel management and containment and release management. The prototype application was developed in Multimedia Toolbox 3.0 and requires at least a 386 PC with 4 MB memory, 6 MB free disk space and MS Windows 3.1. (orig.).

  7. Decision support system for containment and release management

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oosterhuis, B.

    1995-09-01

    The Containment and Release Management project was carried out within the Reinforced Concerted Action Programme for Accident Management Support and partly financed by the European Union. In this report a prototype of an accident management support system is presented. The support system integrates several concepts from accident management research, like safety objective trees, severe accident phenomena, calculation models and an emergency response data system. These concepts are provided by the prototype in such a way that the decision making process of accident management is supported. The prototype application is demonstrated by process data taken from a severe accident scenario for a pressurized water reactor (PWR) that was simulated with the thermohydraulic computer program MAAP. The prototype was derived from a decision support framework based on a decision theory. For established and innovative concepts from accident management research it is pointed out in which way these concepts can support accident management and how these concepts can be integrated. This approach is generic in two ways; it applies to both pressurized and boiling water reactors and it applies to both in vessel management and containment and release management. The prototype application was developed in Multimedia Toolbox 3.0 and requires at least a 386 PC with 4 MB memory, 6 MB free disk space and MS Windows 3.1. (orig.)

  8. A review of features in Internet consumer health decision-support tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwitzer, Gary

    2002-01-01

    Over the past decade, health care consumers have begun to benefit from new Web-based communications tools to guide decision making on treatments and tests. Using today's online tools, consumers who have Internet connections can: watch and listen to videos of physicians; watch and hear the stories of other consumers who have faced the same decisions; join an online social support network; receive estimates of their own chances of experiencing various outcomes; and do it all at home. To review currently-available Internet consumer health decision-support tools. Five Web sites offering consumer health decision-support tools are analyzed for their use of 4 key Web-enabled features: the presentation of outcomes probability data tailored to the individual user; the use of videotaped patient interviews in the final product to convey the experiences of people who have faced similar diagnoses in the past; the ability to interact with others in a social support network; and the accessibility of the tool to any health care consumers with an Internet connection. None of the 5 Web sites delivers all 4 target features to all Web users. The reasons for these variations in the use of key Web functionality--features that make the Web distinctive--are not immediately clear. Consumers trying to make health care decisions may benefit from current Web-based decision-support tools. But, variations in Web developers' use of 4 key Web-enabled features leaves the online decision-support experience less than what it could be. Key research questions are identified that could help in the development of new hybrid patient decision-support tools.

  9. Decision Support for Flood Event Prediction and Monitoring

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mioc, Darka; Anton, François; Liang, Gengsheng

    2007-01-01

    In this paper the development of Web GIS based decision support system for flood events is presented. To improve flood prediction we developed the decision support system for flood prediction and monitoring that integrates hydrological modelling and CARIS GIS. We present the methodology for data...... integration, floodplain delineation, and online map interfaces. Our Web-based GIS model can dynamically display observed and predicted flood extents for decision makers and the general public. The users can access Web-based GIS that models current flood events and displays satellite imagery and digital...... elevation model integrated with flood plain area. The system can show how the flooding prediction based on the output from hydrological modeling for the next 48 hours along the lower Saint John River Valley....

  10. Development of a decision analytic model to support decision making and risk communication about thrombolytic treatment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMeekin, Peter; Flynn, Darren; Ford, Gary A; Rodgers, Helen; Gray, Jo; Thomson, Richard G

    2015-11-11

    Individualised prediction of outcomes can support clinical and shared decision making. This paper describes the building of such a model to predict outcomes with and without intravenous thrombolysis treatment following ischaemic stroke. A decision analytic model (DAM) was constructed to establish the likely balance of benefits and risks of treating acute ischaemic stroke with thrombolysis. Probability of independence, (modified Rankin score mRS ≤ 2), dependence (mRS 3 to 5) and death at three months post-stroke was based on a calibrated version of the Stroke-Thrombolytic Predictive Instrument using data from routinely treated stroke patients in the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke (SITS-UK) registry. Predictions in untreated patients were validated using data from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA). The probability of symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage in treated patients was incorporated using a scoring model from Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST) data. The model predicts probabilities of haemorrhage, death, independence and dependence at 3-months, with and without thrombolysis, as a function of 13 patient characteristics. Calibration (and inclusion of additional predictors) of the Stroke-Thrombolytic Predictive Instrument (S-TPI) addressed issues of under and over prediction. Validation with VISTA data confirmed that assumptions about treatment effect were just. The C-statistics for independence and death in treated patients in the DAM were 0.793 and 0.771 respectively, and 0.776 for independence in untreated patients from VISTA. We have produced a DAM that provides an estimation of the likely benefits and risks of thrombolysis for individual patients, which has subsequently been embedded in a computerised decision aid to support better decision-making and informed consent.

  11. The information value of early career productivity in mathematics: a ROC analysis of prediction errors in bibliometricly informed decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindahl, Jonas; Danell, Rickard

    The aim of this study was to provide a framework to evaluate bibliometric indicators as decision support tools from a decision making perspective and to examine the information value of early career publication rate as a predictor of future productivity. We used ROC analysis to evaluate a bibliometric indicator as a tool for binary decision making. The dataset consisted of 451 early career researchers in the mathematical sub-field of number theory. We investigated the effect of three different definitions of top performance groups-top 10, top 25, and top 50 %; the consequences of using different thresholds in the prediction models; and the added prediction value of information on early career research collaboration and publications in prestige journals. We conclude that early career performance productivity has an information value in all tested decision scenarios, but future performance is more predictable if the definition of a high performance group is more exclusive. Estimated optimal decision thresholds using the Youden index indicated that the top 10 % decision scenario should use 7 articles, the top 25 % scenario should use 7 articles, and the top 50 % should use 5 articles to minimize prediction errors. A comparative analysis between the decision thresholds provided by the Youden index which take consequences into consideration and a method commonly used in evaluative bibliometrics which do not take consequences into consideration when determining decision thresholds, indicated that differences are trivial for the top 25 and the 50 % groups. However, a statistically significant difference between the methods was found for the top 10 % group. Information on early career collaboration and publication strategies did not add any prediction value to the bibliometric indicator publication rate in any of the models. The key contributions of this research is the focus on consequences in terms of prediction errors and the notion of transforming uncertainty

  12. Dissociation in decision bias mechanism between probabilistic information and previous decision

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshiyuki eKaneko

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Target detection performance is known to be influenced by events in the previous trials. It has not been clear, however, whether this bias effect is due to the previous sensory stimulus, motor response, or decision. Also it remains open whether or not the previous trial effect emerges via the same mechanism as the effect of knowledge about the target probability. In the present study, we asked normal human subjects to make a decision about the presence or absence of a visual target. We presented a pre-cue indicating the target probability before the stimulus, and also a decision-response mapping cue after the stimulus so as to tease apart the effect of decision from that of motor response. We found that the target detection performance was significantly affected by the probability cue in the current trial and also by the decision in the previous trial. While the information about the target probability modulated the decision criteria, the previous decision modulated the sensitivity to target-relevant sensory signals (d-prime. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we also found that activation in the left intraparietal sulcus was decreased when the probability cue indicated a high probability of the target. By contrast, activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus was increased when the subjects made a target-present decision in the previous trial, but this change was observed specifically when the target was present in the current trial. Activation in these regions was associated with individual-difference in the decision computation parameters. We argue that the previous decision biases the target detection performance by modulating the processing of target-selective information, and this mechanism is distinct from modulation of decision criteria due to expectation of a target.

  13. Dissociation in decision bias mechanism between probabilistic information and previous decision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaneko, Yoshiyuki; Sakai, Katsuyuki

    2015-01-01

    Target detection performance is known to be influenced by events in the previous trials. It has not been clear, however, whether this bias effect is due to the previous sensory stimulus, motor response, or decision. Also it remains open whether or not the previous trial effect emerges via the same mechanism as the effect of knowledge about the target probability. In the present study, we asked normal human subjects to make a decision about the presence or absence of a visual target. We presented a pre-cue indicating the target probability before the stimulus, and also a decision-response mapping cue after the stimulus so as to tease apart the effect of decision from that of motor response. We found that the target detection performance was significantly affected by the probability cue in the current trial and also by the decision in the previous trial. While the information about the target probability modulated the decision criteria, the previous decision modulated the sensitivity to target-relevant sensory signals (d-prime). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we also found that activation in the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) was decreased when the probability cue indicated a high probability of the target. By contrast, activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was increased when the subjects made a target-present decision in the previous trial, but this change was observed specifically when the target was present in the current trial. Activation in these regions was associated with individual-difference in the decision computation parameters. We argue that the previous decision biases the target detection performance by modulating the processing of target-selective information, and this mechanism is distinct from modulation of decision criteria due to expectation of a target. PMID:25999844

  14. Perceptions of risk, risk aversion, and barriers to adoption of decision support systems and integrated pest management: An introduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rational management of plant diseases, both economically and environmentally, involves assessing risks and the costs associated with both correct and incorrect management decisions to determine when control measures are warranted. Decision support systems can help to inform users of plant disease r...

  15. A survey on the perceived need and value of decision-support tools for joint mitigation of air pollution and climate change in cities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika von Schneidemesser

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Decision-support tools are increasingly popular for informing policy decisions linked to environmental issues. For example, a number of decision-support tools on transport planning provide information on expected effects of different measures (actions, policies, or interventions on air quality, often combined with information on noise pollution or mitigation costs. These tools range in complexity and scale of applicability, from city to international, and include one or several polluting sectors. However, evaluation of the need and utility of tools to support decisions on such linked issues is often lacking, especially for tools intended to support local authorities at the city scale. Here we assessed the need for and value of combining air pollution and climate change mitigation measures into one decision-support tool and the existing policy context in which such a tool might be used. We developed a prototype decision-support tool for evaluating measures for coordinated management of air quality and climate change; and administered a survey in which respondents used the prototype to answer questions about demand for such tools and requirements to make them useful. Additionally, the survey asked questions about participants’ awareness of linkages between air pollution and climate change that are crucial for considering synergies and trade-offs among mitigation measures. Participants showed a high understanding of the linkages between air pollution and climate change, especially recognizing that emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants come from the same source. Survey participants were: European, predominantly German; employed across a range of governmental, non-governmental and research organizations; and responsible for a diversity of issues, primarily involving climate change, air pollution or environment. Survey results showed a lack of awareness of decision-support tools and little implementation or regular use. However

  16. Strategic-Decision Quality in Public Organizations: An Information Processing Perspective.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    B.R.J. George (Bert); S. Desmidt (Sebastian)

    2016-01-01

    textabstractThis study draws on information processing theory to investigate predictors of strategic-decision quality in public organizations. Information processing theory argues that (a) rational planning practices contribute to strategic-decision quality by injecting information into decision

  17. A Methodology to Support Decision Making in Flood Plan Mitigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biscarini, C.; di Francesco, S.; Manciola, P.

    2009-04-01

    The focus of the present document is on specific decision-making aspects of flood risk analysis. A flood is the result of runoff from rainfall in quantities too great to be confined in the low-water channels of streams. Little can be done to prevent a major flood, but we may be able to minimize damage within the flood plain of the river. This broad definition encompasses many possible mitigation measures. Floodplain management considers the integrated view of all engineering, nonstructural, and administrative measures for managing (minimizing) losses due to flooding on a comprehensive scale. The structural measures are the flood-control facilities designed according to flood characteristics and they include reservoirs, diversions, levees or dikes, and channel modifications. Flood-control measures that modify the damage susceptibility of floodplains are usually referred to as nonstructural measures and may require minor engineering works. On the other hand, those measures designed to modify the damage potential of permanent facilities are called non-structural and allow reducing potential damage during a flood event. Technical information is required to support the tasks of problem definition, plan formulation, and plan evaluation. The specific information needed and the related level of detail are dependent on the nature of the problem, the potential solutions, and the sensitivity of the findings to the basic information. Actions performed to set up and lay out the study are preliminary to the detailed analysis. They include: defining the study scope and detail, the field data collection, a review of previous studies and reports, and the assembly of needed maps and surveys. Risk analysis can be viewed as having many components: risk assessment, risk communication and risk management. Risk assessment comprises an analysis of the technical aspects of the problem, risk communication deals with conveying the information and risk management involves the decision process

  18. A randomized comparison between league tables and funnel plots to inform health care decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anell, Anders; Hagberg, Oskar; Liedberg, Fredrik; Ryden, Stefan

    2016-12-01

    Comparison of provider performance is commonly used to inform health care decision-making. Little attention has been paid to how data presentations influence decisions. This study analyzes differences in suggested actions by decision-makers informed by league tables or funnel plots. Decision-makers were invited to a survey and randomized to compare hospital performance using either league tables or funnel plots for four different measures within the area of cancer care. For each measure, decision-makers were asked to suggest actions towards 12-16 hospitals (no action, ask for more information, intervene) and provide feedback related to whether the information provided had been useful. Swedish health care. Two hundred and twenty-one decision-makers at administrative and clinical levels. Data presentations in the form of league tables or funnel plots. Number of actions suggested by participants. Proportion of appropriate actions. For all four measures, decision-makers tended to suggest more actions based on the information provided in league tables compared to funnel plots (44% vs. 21%, P decision-makers more often missed to react even when appropriate. The form of data presentation had an influence on decision-making. With league tables, decision-makers tended to suggest more actions compared to funnel plots. A difference in sensitivity and specificity conditioned by the form of presentation could also be identified, with different implications depending on the purpose of comparisons. Explanations and visualization aids are needed to support appropriate actions. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

  19. Development of SOVAT: a numerical-spatial decision support system for community health assessment research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scotch, Matthew; Parmanto, Bambang

    2006-01-01

    The development of numerical-spatial routines is frequently required to solve complex community health problems. Community health assessment (CHA) professionals who use information technology need a complete system that is capable of supporting the development of numerical-spatial routines. Currently, there is no decision support system (DSS) that is effectively able to accomplish this task as the majority of public health geospatial information systems (GIS) are based on traditional (relational) database architecture. On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is a multidimensional data warehouse technique that is commonly used as a decision support system in standard industry. OLAP alone is not sufficient for solving numerical-spatial problems that frequently occur in CHA research. Coupling it with GIS technology offers the potential for a very powerful and useful system. A community health OLAP cube was created by integrating health and population data from various sources. OLAP and GIS technologies were then combined to develop the Spatial OLAP Visualization and Analysis Tool (SOVAT). The synergy of numerical and spatial environments within SOVAT is shown through an elaborate and easy-to-use drag and drop and direct manipulation graphical user interface (GUI). Community health problem-solving examples (routines) using SOVAT are shown through a series of screen shots. The impact of the difference between SOVAT and existing GIS public health applications can be seen by considering the numerical-spatial problem-solving examples. These examples are facilitated using OLAP-GIS functions. These functions can be mimicked in existing GIS public applications, but their performance and system response would be significantly worse since GIS is based on traditional (relational) backend. OLAP-GIS system offer great potential for powerful numerical-spatial decision support in community health analysis. The functionality of an OLAP-GIS system has been shown through a series of

  20. A decision support system for maintenance management of a boiling-water reactor power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen, J.H.; Ray, A.; Levin, S.

    1996-01-01

    This article reports the concept and development of a prototype expert system to serve as a decision support tool for maintenance of boiling-water reactor (BWR) nuclear power plants. The code of the expert system makes use of the database derived from the two BWR units operated by the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company in Berwick, Pennsylvania. The operations and maintenance information from a large number of plant equipment and sub-systems that must be available for emergency conditions and in the event of an accident is stored in the database of the expert system. The ultimate goal of this decision support tool is to identify the relevant Technical Specifications and management rules for shutting down any one of the plant sub-systems or removing a component from service to support maintenance. 6 refs., 7 figs

  1. Multi-criteria clinical decision support: A primer on the use of multiple criteria decision making methods to promote evidence-based, patient-centered healthcare.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolan, James G

    2010-01-01

    Current models of healthcare quality recommend that patient management decisions be evidence-based and patient-centered. Evidence-based decisions require a thorough understanding of current information regarding the natural history of disease and the anticipated outcomes of different management options. Patient-centered decisions incorporate patient preferences, values, and unique personal circumstances into the decision making process and actively involve both patients along with health care providers as much as possible. Fundamentally, therefore, evidence-based, patient-centered decisions are multi-dimensional and typically involve multiple decision makers.Advances in the decision sciences have led to the development of a number of multiple criteria decision making methods. These multi-criteria methods are designed to help people make better choices when faced with complex decisions involving several dimensions. They are especially helpful when there is a need to combine "hard data" with subjective preferences, to make trade-offs between desired outcomes, and to involve multiple decision makers. Evidence-based, patient-centered clinical decision making has all of these characteristics. This close match suggests that clinical decision support systems based on multi-criteria decision making techniques have the potential to enable patients and providers to carry out the tasks required to implement evidence-based, patient-centered care effectively and efficiently in clinical settings.The goal of this paper is to give readers a general introduction to the range of multi-criteria methods available and show how they could be used to support clinical decision-making. Methods discussed include the balance sheet, the even swap method, ordinal ranking methods, direct weighting methods, multi-attribute decision analysis, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP).

  2. Spatial decision support for strategic environmental assessment of land use plans. A case study in southern Italy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Geneletti, Davide; Bagli, Stefano; Napolitano, Paola; Pistocchi, Alberto

    2007-01-01

    This paper presents and discusses the construction of a spatial decision-support tool for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of a land use plan: the spatial coordination plan of the Province of Naples, in southern Italy. The decision-support tool organises the relevant information, spatially resolves the actions of the plan, predicts their environmental impacts, and generates overall performance maps. Its final goal is to provide a suitable technical support to a formal SEA procedure. The expected implications of the plan, such as changes in land use and traffic flows and urban expansion, were modelled and assessed against a set of environmental criteria using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis and mapping. It was found that the SWOT analysis provided a good basis for assessment and strategy formulation. The paper also intends to contribute to the topic of data and scale issues in SEA, by exemplifying the role played by spatial data and spatial analyses to support informative SEA

  3. Integrated environmental decision support tool based on GIS technology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Doctor, P.G.; O'Neil, T.K.; Sackschewsky, M.R.; Becker, J.M.; Rykiel, E.J.; Walters, T.B.; Brandt, C.A.; Hall, J.A.

    1995-01-01

    Environmental restoration and management decisions facing the US Department of Energy require balancing trade-offs between diverse land uses and impacts over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Many types of environmental data have been collected for the Hanford Site and the Columbia River in Washington State over the past fifty years. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is integrating these data into a Geographic Information System (GIS) based computer decision support tool. This tool provides a comprehensive and concise description of the current environmental landscape that can be used to evaluate the ecological and monetary trade-offs between future land use, restoration and remediation options before action is taken. Ecological impacts evaluated include effects to individual species of concern and habitat loss and fragmentation. Monetary impacts include those associated with habitat mitigation. The tool is organized as both a browsing tool for educational purposes, and as a framework that leads a project manager through the steps needed to be in compliance with environmental requirements

  4. Optimization-based decision support systems for planning problems in processing industries

    OpenAIRE

    Claassen, G.D.H.

    2014-01-01

    Summary Optimization-based decision support systems for planning problems in processing industries Nowadays, efficient planning of material flows within and between supply chains is of vital importance and has become one of the most challenging problems for decision support in practice. The tremendous progress in hard- and software of the past decades was an important gateway for developing computerized systems that are able to support decision making on different levels within enterprises. T...

  5. Reviewing model application to support animal health decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singer, Alexander; Salman, Mo; Thulke, Hans-Hermann

    2011-04-01

    Animal health is of societal importance as it affects human welfare, and anthropogenic interests shape decision making to assure animal health. Scientific advice to support decision making is manifold. Modelling, as one piece of the scientific toolbox, is appreciated for its ability to describe and structure data, to give insight in complex processes and to predict future outcome. In this paper we study the application of scientific modelling to support practical animal health decisions. We reviewed the 35 animal health related scientific opinions adopted by the Animal Health and Animal Welfare Panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Thirteen of these documents were based on the application of models. The review took two viewpoints, the decision maker's need and the modeller's approach. In the reviewed material three types of modelling questions were addressed by four specific model types. The correspondence between tasks and models underpinned the importance of the modelling question in triggering the modelling approach. End point quantifications were the dominating request from decision makers, implying that prediction of risk is a major need. However, due to knowledge gaps corresponding modelling studies often shed away from providing exact numbers. Instead, comparative scenario analyses were performed, furthering the understanding of the decision problem and effects of alternative management options. In conclusion, the most adequate scientific support for decision making - including available modelling capacity - might be expected if the required advice is clearly stated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. A Decision Support System for Assessing Trade-Offs between Ecosystem Management Goals: An Application in Portugal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Cork oak (Quercus suber L. and holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia ecosystems are characteristic of Mediterranean forestry in Portugal. Even though cork is the most valuable product, these ecosystems provide multiple products and services. Assessing trade-offs between multiple goals is thus critical for the effectiveness of oak ecosystem management planning. This paper focuses on the development of a decision support system for oak ecosystems’ scenario analysis including multiple criteria. It includes an innovative decision support systems (DSS functionality to assess trade-offs between the criteria that may support negotiation and consensus building between decision-makers and forest stakeholders. Specifically, a module that encapsulates the Feasible Goals Method/Interactive Decision Maps (FGM/IDM technique is developed for interactive visualization of the Pareto frontier. The Pareto frontier illustrates the degree to which improving one particular criterion requires accepting sacrifices in the achievements of others. It thus provides information about trade-offs between competing decision-makers’ preferences. Results are discussed for a large-scale application encompassing over 1 million ha of cork and holm oak forest ecosystems in Southern Portugal. This study demonstrates the potential of the new DSS functionality to enhance multi-objective forest planning, namely by facilitating participation by stakeholders and providing transparency to the decision-making processes.

  7. Decision analysis interviews on protective actions in Finland supported by the RODOS system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haemaelaeinen, R.P.; Lindstedt, M. [Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Otaniemi (Finland). System Analysis Lab.; Sinkko, K.; Ammann, M. [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki (Finland); Salo, A. [Lepolantie 54, Helsinki (Finland)

    2000-03-01

    This work was undertaken in order to study the utilisation of decision analysis interviews and of the RODOS system when planning protective actions in the case of a nuclear accident. Six decision analysis interview meetings were organised. Interviewees were competent national safety authorities and technical level decision-makers, i.e., those who are responsible for drawing up advice or making presentations of matters to decision-makers responsible for the practical implementation of the actions. The theme of the meetings was to study how uncertainties could be included in the decision-making process and whether pre-structured generic attributes and value trees would help this process and save time. The approach was to present a generic value tree, a decision table and a selected information package at the beginning of the interviews. The interviewees then examined the suggested value tree in order to ensure that no important factors have been omitted and they made changes when necessary. Also, the decision table was examined and altered by some participants and some of them asked for further information on some issues. But all in all the selected approach allowed for more time and effort to be allocated to value trade-offs and elicitation of risk attitudes. All information was calculated with the support of the RODOS system. Predefined value trees were found to ensure that all relevant factors are considered. The participants also felt that RODOS could provide the required information but, as in previous RODOS exercises, they found it more problematic to use decision analysis methods when planning countermeasures in the early phase of a nuclear accident. Furthermore, it was again noted that understanding the actual meaning 'soft' attributes, such as socio-psychological impacts, was not a straightforward issue. Consequently, the definition of attributes and training in advance would be beneficial. The incorporation of uncertainties also proved to be

  8. Decision analysis interviews on protective actions in Finland supported by the RODOS system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haemaelaeinen, R.P.; Lindstedt, M.; Salo, A.

    2000-03-01

    This work was undertaken in order to study the utilisation of decision analysis interviews and of the RODOS system when planning protective actions in the case of a nuclear accident. Six decision analysis interview meetings were organised. Interviewees were competent national safety authorities and technical level decision-makers, i.e., those who are responsible for drawing up advice or making presentations of matters to decision-makers responsible for the practical implementation of the actions. The theme of the meetings was to study how uncertainties could be included in the decision-making process and whether pre-structured generic attributes and value trees would help this process and save time. The approach was to present a generic value tree, a decision table and a selected information package at the beginning of the interviews. The interviewees then examined the suggested value tree in order to ensure that no important factors have been omitted and they made changes when necessary. Also, the decision table was examined and altered by some participants and some of them asked for further information on some issues. But all in all the selected approach allowed for more time and effort to be allocated to value trade-offs and elicitation of risk attitudes. All information was calculated with the support of the RODOS system. Predefined value trees were found to ensure that all relevant factors are considered. The participants also felt that RODOS could provide the required information but, as in previous RODOS exercises, they found it more problematic to use decision analysis methods when planning countermeasures in the early phase of a nuclear accident. Furthermore, it was again noted that understanding the actual meaning 'soft' attributes, such as socio-psychological impacts, was not a straightforward issue. Consequently, the definition of attributes and training in advance would be beneficial. The incorporation of uncertainties also proved to be difficult and

  9. Flight Deck Weather Avoidance Decision Support: Implementation and Evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Shu-Chieh; Luna, Rocio; Johnson, Walter W.

    2013-01-01

    Weather related disruptions account for seventy percent of the delays in the National Airspace System (NAS). A key component in the weather plan of the Next Generation of Air Transportation System (NextGen) is to assimilate observed weather information and probabilistic forecasts into the decision process of flight crews and air traffic controllers. In this research we explore supporting flight crew weather decision making through the development of a flight deck predicted weather display system that utilizes weather predictions generated by ground-based radar. This system integrates and presents this weather information, together with in-flight trajectory modification tools, within a cockpit display of traffic information (CDTI) prototype. that the CDTI features 2D and perspective 3D visualization models of weather. The weather forecast products that we implemented were the Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) and the Convective Weather Avoidance Model (CWAM), both developed by MIT Lincoln Lab. We evaluated the use of CIWS and CWAM for flight deck weather avoidance in two part-task experiments. Experiment 1 compared pilots' en route weather avoidance performance in four weather information conditions that differed in the type and amount of predicted forecast (CIWS current weather only, CIWS current and historical weather, CIWS current and forecast weather, CIWS current and forecast weather and CWAM predictions). Experiment 2 compared the use of perspective 3D and 21/2D presentations of weather for flight deck weather avoidance. Results showed that pilots could take advantage of longer range predicted weather forecasts in performing en route weather avoidance but more research will be needed to determine what combinations of information are optimal and how best to present them.

  10. Artificial intelligence based decision support for trumpeter swan management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sojda, Richard S.

    2002-01-01

    The number of trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) breeding in the Tri-State area where Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming come together has declined to just a few hundred pairs. However, these birds are part of the Rocky Mountain Population which additionally has over 3,500 birds breeding in Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Yukon Territory. To a large degree, these birds seem to have abandoned traditional migratory pathways in the flyway. Waterfowl managers have been interested in decision support tools that would help them explore simulated management scenarios in their quest towards reaching population recovery and the reestablishment of traditional migratory pathways. I have developed a decision support system to assist biologists with such management, especially related to wetland ecology. Decision support systems use a combination of models, analytical techniques, and information retrieval to help develop and evaluate appropriate alternatives. Swan management is a domain that is ecologically complex, and this complexity is compounded by spatial and temporal issues. As such, swan management is an inherently distributed problem. Therefore, the ecological context for modeling swan movements in response to management actions was built as a multiagent system of interacting intelligent agents that implements a queuing model representing swan migration. These agents accessed ecological knowledge about swans, their habitats, and flyway management principles from three independent expert systems. The agents were autonomous, had some sensory capability, and could respond to changing conditions. A key problem when developing ecological decision support systems is empirically determining that the recommendations provided are valid. Because Rocky Mountain trumpeter swans have been surveyed for a long period of time, I was able to compare simulated distributions provided by the system with actual field observations across 20 areas for the period 1988

  11. Creating and sharing clinical decision support content with Web 2.0: Issues and examples.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Adam; Bates, David W; Middleton, Blackford; Hongsermeier, Tonya; Kashyap, Vipul; Thomas, Sean M; Sittig, Dean F

    2009-04-01

    Clinical decision support is a powerful tool for improving healthcare quality and patient safety. However, developing a comprehensive package of decision support interventions is costly and difficult. If used well, Web 2.0 methods may make it easier and less costly to develop decision support. Web 2.0 is characterized by online communities, open sharing, interactivity and collaboration. Although most previous attempts at sharing clinical decision support content have worked outside of the Web 2.0 framework, several initiatives are beginning to use Web 2.0 to share and collaborate on decision support content. We present case studies of three efforts: the Clinfowiki, a world-accessible wiki for developing decision support content; Partners Healthcare eRooms, web-based tools for developing decision support within a single organization; and Epic Systems Corporation's Community Library, a repository for sharing decision support content for customers of a single clinical system vendor. We evaluate the potential of Web 2.0 technologies to enable collaborative development and sharing of clinical decision support systems through the lens of three case studies; analyzing technical, legal and organizational issues for developers, consumers and organizers of clinical decision support content in Web 2.0. We believe the case for Web 2.0 as a tool for collaborating on clinical decision support content appears strong, particularly for collaborative content development within an organization.

  12. Decision Support System for Fighter Pilots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Randleff, Lars Rosenberg

    2007-01-01

    During a mission over enemy territory a fighter aircraft may be engaged by ground based threats. The pilot can use different measures to avoid the aircraft from being detected by e.g. enemy radar systems. If the enemy detects the aircraft a missile may be fired to seek and destroy the aircraft...... and countermeasures that can be applied to mitigate threats. This work is concerned with finding proper evasive actions when a fighter aircraft is engaged by ground based threats. To help the pilot in deciding on these actions a decision support system may be implemented. The environment in which such a system must....... When new threats occur the decision support system must be able to provide suggestions within a fraction of a second. Since the time it takes to find an optimal solution to the mathematical model can not comply with this requirement solutions are sought using a metaheuristic....

  13. Updated Decision Support Tool for the Management of Waste and Debris from Radiological Incidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lemieux, P.; Thorneloe, S.; Hayes, C.; Rodgers, M.; Christman, R.

    2009-01-01

    Unique challenges exist for the handling, transport, and disposal of debris resulting from homeland security incidents, disasters or other national emergencies. Access to guidance for facilitating decision making in the safe and timely disposal of debris is critical to helping restore a community or region and prevent further contamination or spread of disease. For a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or other radiological incident, proper characterization of the quantity, properties, and level of contamination of debris and decontamination residue can have a significant impact on cleanup costs and timelines. A suite of decision support tools (DSTs) is being developed by the U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development to assist individuals responsible for making decisions associated with handling, transport, treatment, and disposal of such debris. The DSTs are location-specific to help identify specific facilities and contacts for making final disposal decisions. The DSTs provide quick reference to technical information, regulations, and other information to provide decision makers with assistance in guiding disposal decisions that are important for the protection of public health, first responders, and the environment. This tool is being developed in partnership with other U.S. government agencies, EPA program offices, industry, and state and local emergency response programs. (authors)

  14. Development of a decision support system for assessing farm animal welfare in relation to husbandry systems: Strategy and prototype

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bracke, M.B.M.; Metz, J.H.M.; Spruijt, B.M.; Dijkhuizen, A.A.

    2001-01-01

    Due to increasing empirical information on farm animal welfare since the 1960s, the prospects for sound decisionmaking concerning welfare have improved. This paper describes a strategy to develop a decision-making aid, a decision support system, for assessment of farm-animal welfare based on

  15. Prototype of a web - based participative decision support platform in natural hazards and risk management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aye, Z.C.; Jaboyedoff, M.; Derron, M.H.; van Westen, C.J.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents the current state and development of a prototype web-GIS (Geographic Information System) decision support platform intended for application in natural hazards and risk management, mainly for floods and landslides. This web platform uses open-source geospatial software and

  16. User-centered design to improve clinical decision support in primary care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunner, Julian; Chuang, Emmeline; Goldzweig, Caroline; Cain, Cindy L; Sugar, Catherine; Yano, Elizabeth M

    2017-08-01

    A growing literature has demonstrated the ability of user-centered design to make clinical decision support systems more effective and easier to use. However, studies of user-centered design have rarely examined more than a handful of sites at a time, and have frequently neglected the implementation climate and organizational resources that influence clinical decision support. The inclusion of such factors was identified by a systematic review as "the most important improvement that can be made in health IT evaluations." (1) Identify the prevalence of four user-centered design practices at United States Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care clinics and assess the perceived utility of clinical decision support at those clinics; (2) Evaluate the association between those user-centered design practices and the perceived utility of clinical decision support. We analyzed clinic-level survey data collected in 2006-2007 from 170 VA primary care clinics. We examined four user-centered design practices: 1) pilot testing, 2) provider satisfaction assessment, 3) formal usability assessment, and 4) analysis of impact on performance improvement. We used a regression model to evaluate the association between user-centered design practices and the perceived utility of clinical decision support, while accounting for other important factors at those clinics, including implementation climate, available resources, and structural characteristics. We also examined associations separately at community-based clinics and at hospital-based clinics. User-centered design practices for clinical decision support varied across clinics: 74% conducted pilot testing, 62% conducted provider satisfaction assessment, 36% conducted a formal usability assessment, and 79% conducted an analysis of impact on performance improvement. Overall perceived utility of clinical decision support was high, with a mean rating of 4.17 (±.67) out of 5 on a composite measure. "Analysis of impact on performance

  17. Reactive Software Agent Anesthesia Decision Support System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grant H. Kruger

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Information overload of the anesthesiologist through technological advances have threatened the safety of patients under anesthesia in the operating room (OR. Traditional monitoring and alarm systems provide independent, spatially distributed indices of patient physiological state. This creates the potential to distract caregivers from direct patient care tasks. To address this situation, a novel reactive agent decision support system with graphical human machine interface was developed. The system integrates the disparate data sources available in the operating room, passes the data though a decision matrix comprising a deterministic physiologic rule base established through medical research. Patient care is improved by effecting change to the care environment by displaying risk factors and alerts as an intuitive color coded animation. The system presents a unified, contextually appropriate snapshot of the patient state including current and potential risk factors, and alerts of critical patient events to the operating room team without requiring any user intervention. To validate the efficacy of the system, a retrospective analysis focusing on the hypotension rules were performed. Results show that even with vigilant and highly trained clinicians, deviations from ideal patient care exist and it is here that the proposed system may allow more standardized and improved patient care and potentially outcomes.

  18. Decision Strategy Research and Policy Support

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardeman, F.

    2002-01-01

    The objective of SCK-CEN's R and D programme on decision strategies and policy support is: (1) to investigate the decision making process, with all its relevant dimensions, in the context of radiation protection or other nuclear issues (with particular emphasis on emergency preparedness); (2) to disseminate knowledge on decision making and nuclear emergencies, including the organisation of training courses, the contribution to manuals or guidelines, the participation in working groups or discussion forums; (3) to assist the authorities and the industry on any topic related to radiation protection and to make expertise and infrastructure available; (4) to participate in and contribute to initiatives related to social sciences and their implementation into SCK-CEN; (5) to co-ordinate efforts of SCK-CEN related to medical applications of ionising radiation. Principal achievements in 2001 are described

  19. Intervention decision-making processes and information preferences of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, N; Rodger, S; Hoffmann, T

    2016-01-01

    When a child is diagnosed with autism, parents are faced with the task of choosing from many different intervention options. To find information about the options available, parents turn to a number of different sources. This study explores parents' (n = 23) intervention decision-making processes and information preferences following the diagnosis of ASD for their child. Qualitative thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts from interviews and focus groups involving parents of children with an autism diagnosis was undertaken. Analysis of the results revealed that there are concurrent emotional and pragmatic intervention 'journeys' undertaken by parents post diagnosis, which encompass the primary themes of: (1) information sources used, (2) parents' information preferences and (3) factors influencing intervention decision making. Parents described a journey from the point of diagnosis that involved seeking information on ASD interventions from multiple sources, with the Internet being the primary source. They were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available, and their preferences for information varied according to their stage in the journey post diagnosis. Parents had a 'trial and error' approach to choosing ASD interventions, with confidence increasing as they became more familiar with their child's condition, and had opportunities to explore numerous information sources about their child's diagnosis. While confidence increased over time, consideration of the effectiveness or evidence supporting interventions remained largely absent throughout the journey. This study highlights the need for parents of children with ASD to be supported to make informed intervention decisions, particularly with consideration for research evidence. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Decision support at home (DS@HOME – system architectures and requirements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marschollek Michael

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Demographic change with its consequences of an aging society and an increase in the demand for care in the home environment has triggered intensive research activities in sensor devices and smart home technologies. While many advanced technologies are already available, there is still a lack of decision support systems (DSS for the interpretation of data generated in home environments. The aim of the research for this paper is to present the state-of-the-art in DSS for these data, to define characteristic properties of such systems, and to define the requirements for successful home care DSS implementations. Methods A literature review was performed along with the analysis of cross-references. Characteristic properties are proposed and requirements are derived from the available body of literature. Results 79 papers were identified and analyzed, of which 20 describe implementations of decision components. Most authors mention server-based decision support components, but only few papers provide details about the system architecture or the knowledge base. A list of requirements derived from the analysis is presented. Among the primary drawbacks of current systems are the missing integration of DSS in current health information system architectures including interfaces, the missing agreement among developers with regard to the formalization and customization of medical knowledge and a lack of intelligent algorithms to interpret data from multiple sources including clinical application systems. Conclusions Future research needs to address these issues in order to provide useful information – and not only large amounts of data – for both the patient and the caregiver. Furthermore, there is a need for outcome studies allowing for identifying successful implementation concepts.