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When confronted with a problem, have you ever stopped and asked “why” five times? The Five Whys technique is a simple but powerful way to troubleshoot problems by exploring cause-and-effect relationships.
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... This process cultivates an informed culture in which management and operators are knowledgeable about factors that influence safety and reliability of systems [278]. A built-in meeting scheduler is used to promote group decision-making processes (see [252]) with templates such as the five-whys root-cause analysis (see [281]) sourced from the KB. ...
Vertical farming (VF) is the practice of growing crops or animals using the vertical
dimension via multi-tier racks or vertically inclined surfaces. In this thesis, I focus on
the emerging industry of plant-specific VF. Vertical plant farming (VPF) is a promising and relatively novel practice that can be conducted in buildings with environmental control and artificial lighting. However, the nascent sector has experienced challenges in economic viability, standardisation, and environmental sustainability. Practitioners and academics call for a comprehensive financial analysis of VPF, but efforts are stifled by a lack of valid and available data.
A review of economic estimation and horticultural software identifies a need for a decision support system (DSS) that facilitates risk-empowered business planning for vertical farmers. This thesis proposes an open-source DSS framework to evaluate business sustainability through financial risk and environmental impact assessments. Data from the literature, alongside lessons learned from industry practitioners, would be centralised in the proposed DSS using imprecise data techniques. These techniques have been applied in engineering but are seldom used in financial forecasting. This could benefit complex sectors which only have scarce data to predict business viability.
To begin the execution of the DSS framework, VPF practitioners were interviewed using a mixed-methods approach. Learnings from over 19 shuttered and operational VPF projects provide insights into the barriers inhibiting scalability and identifying risks to form a risk taxonomy. Labour was the most commonly reported top challenge. Therefore, research was conducted to explore lean principles to improve productivity.
A probabilistic model representing a spectrum of variables and their associated uncertainty was built according to the DSS framework to evaluate the financial risk for VF projects. This enabled flexible computation without precise production or financial data to improve economic estimation accuracy. The model assessed two VPF cases (one in the UK and another in Japan), demonstrating the first risk and uncertainty quantification of VPF business models in the literature. The results highlighted measures to improve economic viability and the viability of the UK and Japan case.
The environmental impact assessment model was developed, allowing VPF operators to evaluate their carbon footprint compared to traditional agriculture using life-cycle assessment. I explore strategies for net-zero carbon production through sensitivity analysis. Renewable energies, especially solar, geothermal, and tidal power, show promise for reducing the carbon emissions of indoor VPF. Results show that renewably-powered VPF can reduce carbon emissions compared to field-based agriculture when considering the land-use change.
The drivers for DSS adoption have been researched, showing a pathway of compliance and design thinking to overcome the ‘problem of implementation’ and enable commercialisation. Further work is suggested to standardise VF equipment, collect benchmarking data, and characterise risks. This work will reduce risk and uncertainty and accelerate the sector’s emergence.
... Flip charts and flash cards were used to keep the discussion interactive and focused. Before FDG sessions, an initial qualitative desk review was done by employing the content analysis technique through which CCD scope and response measures were identified and shared with experts for their detailed review and feedback based on well-established technique of situation or problem tree analysis for different climate scenarios for effective decision-making (Wellman, 1983;Hovland, 2005;Borgatti et al., 2009;Dey, 2012;Norris et al., 2012;Serrat, 2017;Iqbal et al., 2022). These are practiced widely for good planning and management cycles through cause and effect analysis which can be easily produced through FGDs (Hovland, 2005). ...
The United Nations SDGs Report 2020 revealed that climatic variability victimized masses across the globe in 2018 and the global average temperature would rise to 3.2°C during this century. The GHG emission reduction targets for 2030 were prioritized under the Paris Climate Agreement (PCA) of 2015 to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5°C. Here, parallel action for climate adaptation is on top of it. However, targets for both adaptation and mitigation are lagging. Climatic variations will continue more likely with similar trends thus influencing the development needs vis-à-vis environmental security and sustainability of resources. It entails climate compatibility, particularly for the water security agenda for SDG-13 and Paris Climate Agreement (PCA), which requires an inclusive governance regime and ownership for national and sub-national scenarios. In this context, this paper aimed to assess existing water sector governance for climate compatible development (CCD) by taking the case of Pakistan which is among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change. Considering the limitations of available methodologies due to the involvement of various aspects and concepts of governance, an integrated multivariate mix-method model was formulated by combining rules and rights-oriented approaches. This MCDA-based model integrates six novel climate governance principles against six basic components of the basic institutional governance framework; Simple Multi-attribute Rating Technique (SMART) with a set of sectoral indicators of 09 criteria of climate compatible development (CCD). It proved well for this water sector case study with cross-sectional data from 340 key informant interviews (KIIs) and 17 focus group discussions (FGDs) in Pakistan, validated statistically. It can be used for periodic sectoral governance assessments for CCD.
... This technique helps the teacher begin to elicit reflection from learners. Questions must be accurate and answers must be complete for this process to be effective in determining the root of any problem (Serrat 2017). ...
The Bachelor's degree in agricultural and biological engineering is a good example of a new approach to teaching undergraduate students at the Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL). In this study programme, RMUTL cooperates closely with companies to offer its students a combination of work-based learning (by employing students as trainees in the company) and online teaching (provided by the University). All of the students in this programme work on-site at three partner companies with regular working hours. Additionally, they study a series of assigned lectures online. The subject area in this programme is the agricultural information system. The main objective is to link students' experience of work (practical knowledge) with academic learning topics (theoretical knowledge). Moreover, the concept makes it possible to teach students regardless of the location of the company site. Online courses also support self-reliant learning. Evaluations based on student observations and reflections in class suggest that there are some challenges, but generally reveal positive aspects regarding learning outcomes. Students have given particularly positive feedback on sharing work experiences and different points of view. This group engaged in dialogue and discussion with people at other sites. At the same time, the teacher's role is changing to that of a facilitator who supports the learning process, linking the online course to work processes in the companies.
... 5M azaz "öt miért" (5-Whys) módszer alkalmazása Egy téma kifejtésének elmélyítésére, elakadt beszélgetés tovább gördítéséhez, egy adott probléma mélyebb okainak, ok-okozati viszonyainak feltárására szolgál. (Serrat, 2017) A probléma gyökereinek megismerése, az összefüggéslánc segít megtalálni a lehetséges beavatkozási pontokat egy nehézség leküzdésében, akadály elhárításában, probléma megoldásában. ...
A kézikönyv a Szent Angéla Ferences Általános Iskolában és Gimnáziumban kidolgozott tanuló támogatási program első, kísérleti évének tapasztalataira épül és abban segíti a pedagógusokat, hogy miként támogassák diákjaikat saját céljaik kitűzésében és elérésében ún. kísérő beszélgetéseken keresztül. Bemutatja a pedagógus kísérői tevékenységének jellemzőit, kereteit, ötleteket és módszereket ad az 1-12. évfolyamos diákokkal folytatott beszélgetésekhez.
... The instructor introduced Toyota's Five Whys approach to the student groups. With this approach, design thinkers find the root cause of the problem and protect the process from recurring mistakes and failures Anderson et al. (2011), Card (2016, Serrat (2017). Using this 5 Whys approach, students reasoned that the seasonal availability of sea cucumber and its limited breeding capacity have led to food scarcity. ...
The objective of this research is to show how to design, implement, and establish how and why the Design thinking-based innovative teaching method is more effective. Following an action research method, a design thinking-based innovative pedagogy was introduced among the first-year postgraduate media students to teach a few modules of the course 'Television and Video Production'. An ill-defined story idea for an animated sci-fi television series was presented to student groups, and they were asked to develop upon the idea as well as provide some creative solutions to the problems. The entire activity was carried out in five different stages, such as Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. At the end of the activity, the effectiveness of design thinking as an innovative method was analyzed. The findings suggest that design thinking was effective in imparting 21st-century skills, such as empathy, critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.
... Subsequently, the bot asks "Why?" five times, always prompting a new text input from the user. This 5 Why's technique (Serrat, 2017) forms one branch of the chatbot assistant. Selecting "I can not think of anything else" at any given (Serrat, 2017) Superman method (Van Gundy, 1988) Osborn's checklist: Inversion (Osborn, 1975) Osborn's checklist: Combination of Ideas (Osborn, 1975) Stimulus-Word-Analysis (Geschka et al., 1976) Walt-Disney-Method (Dilts., 1994) The (Geschka et al., 1976), the Superman method (Van Gundy, 2005), inversion or combination of ideas from Osborn's checklist (Osborn, 1953), or the Walt-Disney-Method (Dilts, 1994) are chosen at random. ...
... This 5 Why's technique (Serrat, 2017) forms one branch of the chatbot assistant. Selecting "I can not think of anything else" at any given (Serrat, 2017) Superman method (Van Gundy, 1988) Osborn's checklist: Inversion (Osborn, 1975) Osborn's checklist: Combination of Ideas (Osborn, 1975) Stimulus-Word-Analysis (Geschka et al., 1976) Walt-Disney-Method (Dilts., 1994) The (Geschka et al., 1976), the Superman method (Van Gundy, 2005), inversion or combination of ideas from Osborn's checklist (Osborn, 1953), or the Walt-Disney-Method (Dilts, 1994) are chosen at random. For the full state diagram, see figure 4.4. ...
Our world is changing rapidly, and work follows suit. Considering the traditional division of work in physical and mental labor, it is primarily physical labor that has been systematically analyzed and optimized over the last century. This made it possible to break down many manual tasks into small entities that could eventually be automated. Advances in cognitive computing and artificial intelligence suggest that mental work might be next in line. In fact, some basic cognitive tasks have already been automated. A final frontier on the road towards ubiquitous automation, however, seems to be the generation of creative ideas. This suggests that the human capability to create will become increasingly important, especially in the workforce. The overarching theme of this thesis is creativity and its role in the modern workplace. The thesis identifies and contributes to two major research areas, namely creativity measurement and creativity amplification. In the area of creativity measurement, this thesis builds upon the current literature to develop and evaluate a new and innovative tool for objective creativity measurement, the Creativity Assessment via Novelty and Usefulness (CANU). The results of several experimental studies suggest that while the CANU does not eradicate all problems connected to creativity measurement, it does prove an easy-to-use, scalable, and comparable tool. In this way, this thesis highlights the shortcomings of current creativity measurement systems, especially for fundamental research. In the area of creativity amplification, the gaining momentum in the human computer interaction community, and the identification of creativity as paradigm have prompted the user centered development of three creativity support systems. The results of experimental exploration and evaluation in this project indicate that people who are inherently creative do not need (or want) support, whereas those who traditionally struggle with creative problem solving can benefit from inspirational stimuli. Overall, this thesis highlights the need for standardization in creativity measurement. It emphasizes the opportunity that creativity support can offer in terms of ergonomic optimization of system performance, and recognizes human factors/ergonomics as particularly suited discipline to tackle creativity measurement and amplification in a human-centered way.
... The Five Whys technique is a powerful and straightforward method used to resolve problems by inspecting cause-and-effect relationships (Serrat, 2017). This technique is built on a shell process with the following key elements: ...
... Even it takes time to master it, but it is easy to apply. Following are the five main steps of this technique (Serrat, 2017). ...
Decision-making systems are computer-based systems that interpret processed information to make the best choice. They choose an action or value from possible activities, each conducting to different outcomes. Some outcomes are favored over others based on the criteria of the decision-maker. This chapter presents the existing technology used in decision-making systems. The authors focus then on explaining how to make the optimal decision based on the available information and criteria. The authors conclude that decision techniques are chosen based on the type of application and the quality of available data. Some techniques are simple but not accurate such as the fishbone and five whys techniques. Other methods, such as decision trees, are more complex to build, but unlike a fishbone diagram, it assists humans in evaluating upcoming choices. It forces the examination of all available outcomes of a decision and traces a possible path to the best alternative.
... The research was conducted using a five why analysis to dig deeper into the real root of the problem. The root cause of the problem can be identified by asking "why" five times repeatedly to a point where the answer to the question has shown a root problem (Serrat, 2017). ...
This study focuses on measuring the productivity of PT.X, especially the welding and painting unit, based on the total realization of production, several employees, working hours, overtime hours, and lost hours of employees. The purpose of this study is to propose a strategy for improving the productivity ratio of the welding and painting unit, which is still below the standard by setting performance criteria standards. The method used is the objective matrix (OMAX) and root cause analysis (RCA) which is carried out using six ratios of productivity measurement and looking for the root cause of the ratio at a level below the standard. The results show that three ratios are still below the standard of the six productivity measurement ratios, such as ratios 2, 3, and 5. These ratios need to be improved by increasing the realization of production results, reducing the number of absent workers, and reducing the total working hours of employees every month. Based on the study results, improvements in the three ratios were able to increase the productivity index of PT.X's welding and painting units.
... This technique also teaches users to identify the various additional factors that may cause a problem along the way. Figure 1 showcases a visual template for following the Five Whys Technique (Serrat 2017). ...
... However, there are limitations to both the recommendations and the methodologies used in this paper, highlighting a need for future research. Serrat (2017) provides some broad critiques inherent in the Five Whys methodology, including the "low repeat rate of results" (p. 310) that can lead to vastly different conclusions for the same problem. ...
Objective: This study explores the root causes that undermine successful collaborations between scientists and their library liaisons to improve outreach to this population.
Methods: This paper uses the Five Whys Technique to explore the reasons why many scientists are unaware of the breadth of services offered by liaison librarians. Existing outreach strategies that address these obstacles are interpreted through the lens of implementation science theories and process models, including Normalization Process Theory.
Results: A total of four recommendations—two for liaison librarians and two for libraries as institutions—are provided to enhance the perceived value of liaison services. The recommendations for individuals include aiming to understand scientists’ needs more comprehensively and actively increasing the visibility of services that respond to those needs. Those for libraries focus on cross-functional teams and new forms of assessment.
Conclusions: These recommendations emphasize the benefits of collaboration to liaisons, to library programs at large, and to the faculty that liaisons serve. Implementation science can help librarians to understand why certain outreach strategies bring success, and how new services can be implemented more effectively.
... The informational need of users is diverse. Following the idea of Five Whys [67], XAutoML should provide information in a hierarchical fashion to prevent overloading users with unnecessary and undesired information. At the highest level, only very basic information should be available and users should have the option to dig deeper into certain analytics aspects to get more information. ...
In the last ten years, various automated machine learning (AutoML) systems have been proposed to build end-to-end machine learning (ML) pipelines with minimal human interaction. Even though such automatically synthesized ML pipelines are able to achieve a competitive performance, recent studies have shown that users do not trust models constructed by AutoML due to missing transparency of AutoML systems and missing explanations for the constructed ML pipelines. In a requirements analysis study with 26 domain experts, data scientists, and AutoML researchers from different professions with vastly different expertise in ML, we collect detailed informational needs to establish trust in AutoML. We propose XAutoML, an interactive visual analytics tool for explaining arbitrary AutoML optimization procedures and ML pipelines constructed by AutoML. XAutoML combines interactive visualizations with established techniques from explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to make the complete AutoML procedure transparent and explainable. By integrating XAutoML with JupyterLab, experienced users can extend the visual analytics with ad-hoc visualizations based on information extracted from XAutoML. We validate our approach in a user study with the same diverse user group from the requirements analysis. All participants were able to extract useful information from XAutoML, leading to a significantly increased trust in ML pipelines produced by AutoML and the AutoML optimization itself.
