Optimal service using Matlab - simulink controlled Queuing system at call centers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balaji, N.; Siva, E. P.; Chandrasekaran, A. D.; Tamilazhagan, V.

2018-04-01

This paper presents graphical integrated model based academic research on telephone call centres. This paper introduces an important feature of impatient customers and abandonments in the queue system. However the modern call centre is a complex socio-technical system. Queuing theory has now become a suitable application in the telecom industry to provide better online services. Through this Matlab-simulink multi queuing structured models provide better solutions in complex situations at call centres. Service performance measures analyzed at optimal level through Simulink queuing model.

Making sense of complex electronic records: socio-technical design in social care.

PubMed

Wastell, David; White, Sue

2014-03-01

Dealing with complex electronic documentation is an integral part of much contemporary professional work. In this paper, we address the design of electronic records for social care professionals in the UK. Recent reforms in UK child welfare have followed a top-down, managerial approach emphasizing conformance to standard processes. The vicissitudes of a major national IT project, the Integrated Children's System, show the limitations of this approach, in particular the detrimental effect it has had on professional autonomy. Following in the foot-steps of Ken Eason, we argue that socio-technical design, by focussing on innovative applications of technology to support users (rather than the interests of the bureaucracy) offers a more promising alternative. A user-centred design exercise is presented to illustrate this approach in action. A novel interface was developed for handling the heterogeneous bundle of documents which make up the social care record, helping social workers make better sense of case-files. The prototype draws on the metaphor of the dining-room table as a way of overcoming the limitations of the computer display. We conclude that socio-technical thinking engenders a shift in mind-set, opening up a radically different design space compared to current design orthodoxy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Developing and Validating the Socio-Technical Model in Ontology Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silalahi, Mesnan; Indra Sensuse, Dana; Giri Sucahyo, Yudho; Fadhilah Akmaliah, Izzah; Rahayu, Puji; Cahyaningsih, Elin

2018-03-01

This paper describes results from an attempt to develop a model in ontology engineering methodology and a way to validate the model. The approach to methodology in ontology engineering is from the point view of socio-technical system theory. Qualitative research synthesis is used to build the model using meta-ethnography. In order to ensure the objectivity of the measurement, inter-rater reliability method was applied using a multi-rater Fleiss Kappa. The results show the accordance of the research output with the diamond model in the socio-technical system theory by evidence of the interdependency of the four socio-technical variables namely people, technology, structure and task.

"Organization Development": How It Works, What It's Becoming, Why It Pays Off.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sears, Woody H.

1979-01-01

Distinguishes between organizational development (OD) and therapy. OD is defined as a mechanism for problem solving in complex socio-technical systems. Describes possible drawbacks and advantages of the OD process. Provides examples of how OD has helped managers and non-managers work together. (CSS)

Computational Models of Consumer Confidence from Large-Scale Online Attention Data: Crowd-Sourcing Econometrics

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Economies are instances of complex socio-technical systems that are shaped by the interactions of large numbers of individuals. The individual behavior and decision-making of consumer agents is determined by complex psychological dynamics that include their own assessment of present and future economic conditions as well as those of others, potentially leading to feedback loops that affect the macroscopic state of the economic system. We propose that the large-scale interactions of a nation's citizens with its online resources can reveal the complex dynamics of their collective psychology, including their assessment of future system states. Here we introduce a behavioral index of Chinese Consumer Confidence (C3I) that computationally relates large-scale online search behavior recorded by Google Trends data to the macroscopic variable of consumer confidence. Our results indicate that such computational indices may reveal the components and complex dynamics of consumer psychology as a collective socio-economic phenomenon, potentially leading to improved and more refined economic forecasting. PMID:25826692

Computational models of consumer confidence from large-scale online attention data: crowd-sourcing econometrics.

PubMed

Dong, Xianlei; Bollen, Johan

2015-01-01

Economies are instances of complex socio-technical systems that are shaped by the interactions of large numbers of individuals. The individual behavior and decision-making of consumer agents is determined by complex psychological dynamics that include their own assessment of present and future economic conditions as well as those of others, potentially leading to feedback loops that affect the macroscopic state of the economic system. We propose that the large-scale interactions of a nation's citizens with its online resources can reveal the complex dynamics of their collective psychology, including their assessment of future system states. Here we introduce a behavioral index of Chinese Consumer Confidence (C3I) that computationally relates large-scale online search behavior recorded by Google Trends data to the macroscopic variable of consumer confidence. Our results indicate that such computational indices may reveal the components and complex dynamics of consumer psychology as a collective socio-economic phenomenon, potentially leading to improved and more refined economic forecasting.

Panarchy use in environmental science for risk and resilience planning

USGS Publications Warehouse

Angeler, David G.; Allen, Craig R.; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Gunderson, Lance H.; Linkov, Igor

2016-01-01

Environmental sciences have an important role in informing sustainable management of built environments by providing insights about the drivers and potentially negative impacts of global environmental change. Here, we discuss panarchy theory, a multi-scale hierarchical concept that accounts for the dynamism of complex socio-ecological systems, especially for those systems with strong cross-scale feedbacks. The idea of panarchy underlies much of system resilience, focusing on how systems respond to known and unknown threats. Panarchy theory can provide a framework for qualitative and quantitative research and application in the environmental sciences, which can in turn inform the ongoing efforts in socio-technical resilience thinking and adaptive and transformative approaches to management.

Understanding Teamwork in Trauma Resuscitation through Analysis of Team Errors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sarcevic, Aleksandra

2009-01-01

An analysis of human errors in complex work settings can lead to important insights into the workspace design. This type of analysis is particularly relevant to safety-critical, socio-technical systems that are highly dynamic, stressful and time-constrained, and where failures can result in catastrophic societal, economic or environmental…

Development of a framework for resilience measurement: Suggestion of fuzzy Resilience Grade (RG) and fuzzy Resilience Early Warning Grade (REWG).

PubMed

Omidvar, Mohsen; Mazloumi, Adel; Mohammad Fam, Iraj; Nirumand, Fereshteh

2017-01-01

Resilience engineering (RE) can be an alternative technique to the traditional risk assessment and management techniques, to predict and manage safety conditions of modern socio-technical organizations. While traditional risk management approaches are retrospective and highlight error calculation and computation of malfunction possibilities, resilience engineering seeks ways to improve capacity at all levels of organizations in order to build strong yet flexible processes. Considering the resilience potential measurement as a concern in complex working systems, the aim of this study was to quantify the resilience by the help of fuzzy sets and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques. In this paper, we adopted the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) method to measure resilience in a gas refinery plant. A resilience assessment framework containing six indicators, each with its own sub-indicators, was constructed. Then, the fuzzy weights of the indicators and the sub-indicators were derived from pair-wise comparisons conducted by experts. The fuzzy evaluating vectors of the indicators and the sub-indicators computed according to the initial assessment data. Finally, the Comprehensive Resilience Index (CoRI), Resilience Grade (RG), and Resilience Early Warning Grade (REWG) were established. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method, an illustrative example in a gas refinery complex (an instance of socio-technical systems) was provided. CoRI of the refinery ranked as "III". In addition, for the six main indicators, RG and REWG ranked as "III" and "NEWZ", respectively, except for C3, in which RG ranked as "II", and REWG ranked as "OEWZ". The results revealed the engineering practicability and usefulness of the proposed method in resilience evaluation of socio-technical systems.

Systems scenarios: a tool for facilitating the socio-technical design of work systems.

PubMed

Hughes, Helen P N; Clegg, Chris W; Bolton, Lucy E; Machon, Lauren C

2017-10-01

The socio-technical systems approach to design is well documented. Recognising the benefits of this approach, organisations are increasingly trying to work with systems, rather than their component parts. However, few tools attempt to analyse the complexity inherent in such systems, in ways that generate useful, practical outputs. In this paper, we outline the 'System Scenarios Tool' (SST), which is a novel, applied methodology that can be used by designers, end-users, consultants or researchers to help design or re-design work systems. The paper introduces the SST using examples of its application, and describes the potential benefits of its use, before reflecting on its limitations. Finally, we discuss potential opportunities for the tool, and describe sets of circumstances in which it might be used. Practitioner Summary: The paper presents a novel, applied methodological tool, named the 'Systems Scenarios Tool'. We believe this tool can be used as a point of reference by designers, end-users, consultants or researchers, to help design or re-design work systems. Included in the paper are two worked examples, demonstrating the tool's application.

Composite Socio-Technical Systems: A Method for Social Energy Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Yingchen; He, Fulin; Hao, Jun

In order to model and study the interactions between social on technical systems, a systemic method, namely the composite socio-technical systems (CSTS), is proposed to incorporate social systems, technical systems and the interaction mechanism between them. A case study on University of Denver (DU) campus grid is presented in paper to demonstrate the application of the proposed method. In the case study, the social system, technical system, and the interaction mechanism are defined and modelled within the framework of CSTS. Distributed and centralized control and management schemes are investigated, respectively, and numerical results verifies the feasibility and performance of themore » proposed composite system method.« less

A socio-technical model to explore urban water systems scenarios.

PubMed

de Haan, Fjalar J; Ferguson, Briony C; Deletic, Ana; Brown, Rebekah R

2013-01-01

This article reports on the ongoing work and research involved in the development of a socio-technical model of urban water systems. Socio-technical means the model is not so much concerned with the technical or biophysical aspects of urban water systems, but rather with the social and institutional implications of the urban water infrastructure and vice versa. A socio-technical model, in the view purported in this article, produces scenarios of different urban water servicing solutions gaining or losing influence in meeting water-related societal needs, like potable water, drainage, environmental health and amenity. The urban water system is parameterised with vectors of the relative influence of each servicing solution. The model is a software implementation of the Multi-Pattern Approach, a theory on societal systems, like urban water systems, and how these develop and go through transitions under various internal and external conditions. Acknowledging that social dynamics comes with severe and non-reducible uncertainties, the model is set up to be exploratory, meaning that for any initial condition several possible future scenarios are produced. This article gives a concise overview of the necessary theoretical background, the model architecture and some initial test results using a drainage example.

A socio-technical analytical framework on the EHR-organizational innovation interplay: Insights from a public hospital in Greece.

PubMed

Emmanouilidou, Maria

2015-01-01

The healthcare sector globally is confronted with increasing internal and external pressures that urge for a radical reform of health systems' status quo. The role of technological innovations such as Electronic Health Records (EHR) is recognized as instrumental in this transition process as it is expected to accelerate organizational innovations. This is why the widespread uptake of EHR systems is a top priority in the global healthcare agenda. The successful co-deployment though of EHR systems and organizational innovations within the context of secondary healthcare institutions is a complex and multifaceted issue. Existing research in the field has made little progress thus emphasizing the need for further research contribution that will incorporate a holistic perspective. This paper presents insights about the EHR-organizational innovation interplay from a public hospital in Greece into a socio-technical analytical framework providing a multilevel set of action points for the eHealth roadmap with worldwide relevance.

Reaching a 1.5°C target: socio-technical challenges for a rapid transition to low-carbon electricity systems.

PubMed

Eyre, Nick; Darby, Sarah J; Grünewald, Philipp; McKenna, Eoghan; Ford, Rebecca

2018-05-13

A 1.5°C global average target implies that we should no longer focus on merely incremental emissions reductions from the electricity system, but rather on fundamentally re-envisaging a system that, sooner rather than later, becomes carbon free. Many low-carbon technologies are surpassing mainstream predictions for both uptake and cost reduction. Their deployment is beginning to be disruptive within established systems. 'Smart technologies' are being developed to address emerging challenges of system integration, but their rates of future deployment remain uncertain. We argue that transition towards a system that can fully displace carbon generation sources will require expanding the focus of our efforts beyond technical solutions. Recognizing that change has social and technical dimensions, and that these interact strongly, we set out a socio-technical review that covers electricity infrastructure, citizens, business models and governance. It describes some of the socio-technical challenges that need to be addressed for the successful transition of the existing electricity systems. We conclude that a socio-technical understanding of electricity system transitions offers new and better insights into the potential and challenges for rapid decarbonization.This article is part of the theme issue 'The Paris Agreement: understanding the physical and social challenges for a warming world of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Examining Co-Teaching through a Socio-Technical Systems Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isherwood, Robert S.; Barger-Anderson, Richard; Erickson, Matthew

2012-01-01

Qualitative research was conducted in a large suburban school district implementing co-teaching as a new service delivery model for special education. Researchers examined the changes that resulted from the new service delivery model using a socio-technical systems lens. This framework views schools as open systems that contain a structural, task,…

Norm-Aware Socio-Technical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savarimuthu, Bastin Tony Roy; Ghose, Aditya

The following sections are included: * Introduction * The Need for Norm-Aware Systems * Norms in human societies * Why should software systems be norm-aware? * Case Studies of Norm-Aware Socio-Technical Systems * Human-computer interactions * Virtual environments and multi-player online games * Extracting norms from big data and software repositories * Norms and Sustainability * Sustainability and green ICT * Norm awareness through software systems * Where To, From Here? * Conclusions

Sociotechnical Walkthrough: A Means for Knowledge Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herrmann, Thomas; Loser, Kai-Uwe; Jahnke, Isa

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to show that for the successful development of socio-technical systems it is essential that various stakeholders are able to integrate their different knowledge and perspectives. A method that supports knowledge integration in the course of introduction and development of socio-technical systems is the…

Distance Learning Success--A Perspective from Socio-Technical Systems Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jianfeng; Solan, David; Ghods, Abe

2010-01-01

With widespread adoption of computer-based distance education as a mission-critical component of the institution's educational program, the need for evaluation has emerged. In this research, we aim to expand on the systems approach by offering a model for evaluation based on socio-technical systems theory addressing a stated need in the literature…

A New Socio-technical Model for Studying Health Information Technology in Complex Adaptive Healthcare Systems

PubMed Central

Sittig, Dean F.; Singh, Hardeep

2011-01-01

Conceptual models have been developed to address challenges inherent in studying health information technology (HIT). This manuscript introduces an 8-dimensional model specifically designed to address the socio-technical challenges involved in design, development, implementation, use, and evaluation of HIT within complex adaptive healthcare systems. The 8 dimensions are not independent, sequential, or hierarchical, but rather are interdependent and interrelated concepts similar to compositions of other complex adaptive systems. Hardware and software computing infrastructure refers to equipment and software used to power, support, and operate clinical applications and devices. Clinical content refers to textual or numeric data and images that constitute the “language” of clinical applications. The human computer interface includes all aspects of the computer that users can see, touch, or hear as they interact with it. People refers to everyone who interacts in some way with the system, from developer to end-user, including potential patient-users. Workflow and communication are the processes or steps involved in assuring that patient care tasks are carried out effectively. Two additional dimensions of the model are internal organizational features (e.g., policies, procedures, and culture) and external rules and regulations, both of which may facilitate or constrain many aspects of the preceding dimensions. The final dimension is measurement and monitoring, which refers to the process of measuring and evaluating both intended and unintended consequences of HIT implementation and use. We illustrate how our model has been successfully applied in real-world complex adaptive settings to understand and improve HIT applications at various stages of development and implementation. PMID:20959322

A Socio-Technical Approach to Preventing, Mitigating, and Recovering from Ransomware Attacks.

PubMed

Sittig, Dean F; Singh, Hardeep

2016-01-01

Recently there have been several high-profile ransomware attacks involving hospitals around the world. Ransomware is intended to damage or disable a user's computer unless the user makes a payment. Once the attack has been launched, users have three options: 1) try to restore their data from backup; 2) pay the ransom; or 3) lose their data. In this manuscript, we discuss a socio-technical approach to address ransomware and outline four overarching steps that organizations can undertake to secure an electronic health record (EHR) system and the underlying computing infrastructure. First, health IT professionals need to ensure adequate system protection by correctly installing and configuring computers and networks that connect them. Next, the health care organizations need to ensure more reliable system defense by implementing user-focused strategies, including simulation and training on correct and complete use of computers and network applications. Concomitantly, the organization needs to monitor computer and application use continuously in an effort to detect suspicious activities and identify and address security problems before they cause harm. Finally, organizations need to respond adequately to and recover quickly from ransomware attacks and take actions to prevent them in future. We also elaborate on recommendations from other authoritative sources, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Similar to approaches to address other complex socio-technical health IT challenges, the responsibility of preventing, mitigating, and recovering from these attacks is shared between health IT professionals and end-users.

A Socio-Technical Approach to Preventing, Mitigating, and Recovering from Ransomware Attacks

PubMed Central

Singh, Hardeep

2016-01-01

Summary Recently there have been several high-profile ransomware attacks involving hospitals around the world. Ransomware is intended to damage or disable a user’s computer unless the user makes a payment. Once the attack has been launched, users have three options: 1) try to restore their data from backup; 2) pay the ransom; or 3) lose their data. In this manuscript, we discuss a socio-technical approach to address ransomware and outline four overarching steps that organizations can undertake to secure an electronic health record (EHR) system and the underlying computing infrastructure. First, health IT professionals need to ensure adequate system protection by correctly installing and configuring computers and networks that connect them. Next, the health care organizations need to ensure more reliable system defense by implementing user-focused strategies, including simulation and training on correct and complete use of computers and network applications. Concomitantly, the organization needs to monitor computer and application use continuously in an effort to detect suspicious activities and identify and address security problems before they cause harm. Finally, organizations need to respond adequately to and recover quickly from ransomware attacks and take actions to prevent them in future. We also elaborate on recommendations from other authoritative sources, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Similar to approaches to address other complex socio-technical health IT challenges, the responsibility of preventing, mitigating, and recovering from these attacks is shared between health IT professionals and end-users. PMID:27437066

Understanding critical barriers to implementing a clinical information system in a nursing home through the lens of a socio-technical perspective.

PubMed

Or, Calvin; Dohan, Michael; Tan, Joseph

2014-09-01

This paper addresses key barriers to implementing a clinical information system (CIS) in a Hong Kong nursing home setting, from a healthcare specific socio-technical perspective. Data was collected through field observations (n = 12) and semi-structured individual interviews (n = 18) of CIS stakeholders in a Hong Kong nursing home, and analyzed using the immersion/crystallization approach. Complex interactions relevant to our case were contextualized and interpreted within the perspective of the Sittig-Singh Healthcare Socio-Technical Framework (HSTF). Three broad clusters of implementation barriers from the eight HSTF dimensions were identified: (a) Infrastructure-based barriers, which relate to conflict between government regulations and system functional needs of users; lack of financial support; inconsistency between workflow, work policy, and procedures; and inadequacy of hardware-software infrastructural and technical support; (b) Process-based barriers, which relate to mismatch between the technology, existing work practice and workflow, and communication; low system speed, accessibility, and stability; deficient computer literacy; more experience in health care profession; clinical content inadequacy and unavailability; as well as poor system usefulness and user interface design; and (c) Outcome-based barriers, which relate to the lack of measurement and monitoring of system effectiveness. Two additional dimensions underlining the importance of the ability of a CIS to change are proposed to extend the Sittig-Singh HSTF. First, advocacy would promote the articulation and influence of changes in the system and subsequent outcomes by CIS stakeholders, and second, adaptability would ensure the ability of the system to adjust to emerging needs. The broad set of discovered implementation shortcomings expands prior research on why CIS can fail in nursing home settings. Moreover, our investigation offers a knowledge base and recommendations that can serve as a guide for future implementation strategies and policies in CIS initiatives.

Promoting Teachers' Learning and Knowledge Building in a Socio-Technical System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tammets, Kairit; Pata, Kai; Laanpere, Mart

2013-01-01

The study proposes a way in which the learning and knowledge building (LKB) framework, which is consistent with the knowledge conversion phases proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi, supports teachers' informal and self-directed workplace learning. An LKB framework in a socio-technical system was developed to support professional development in an…

Experiments on Socio-Technical Systems: The Problem of Control.

PubMed

Kroes, Peter

2016-06-01

My aim is to question whether the introduction of new technologies in society may be considered to be genuine experiments. I will argue that they are not, at least not in the sense in which the notion of experiment is being used in the natural and social sciences. If the introduction of a new technology in society is interpreted as an experiment, then we are dealing with a notion of experiment that differs in an important respect from the notion of experiment as used in the natural and social sciences. This difference shows itself most prominently when the functioning of the new technological system is not only dependent on technological hardware but also on social 'software', that is, on social institutions such as appropriate laws, and actions of operators of the new technological system. In those cases we are not dealing with 'simply' the introduction of a new technology, but with the introduction of a new socio-technical system. I will argue that if the introduction of a new socio-technical system is considered to be an experiment, then the relation between the experimenter and the system on which the experiment is performed differs significantly from the relation in traditional experiments in the natural and social sciences. In the latter experiments it is assumed that the experimenter is not part of the experimental system and is able to intervene in and control the experimental system from the outside. With regard to the introduction of new socio-technical systems the idea that there is an experimenter outside the socio-technical system who intervenes in and controls that system becomes problematic. From that perspective we are dealing with a different kind of experiment.

The Natural Hospital Environment: a Socio-Technical-Material perspective.

PubMed

Fernando, Juanita; Dawson, Linda

2014-02-01

This paper introduces two concepts into analyses of information security and hospital-based information systems-- a Socio-Technical-Material theoretical framework and the Natural Hospital Environment. The research is grounded in a review of pertinent literature with previously published Australian (Victoria) case study data to analyse the way clinicians work with privacy and security in their work. The analysis was sorted into thematic categories, providing the basis for the Natural Hospital Environment and Socio-Technical-Material framework theories discussed here. Natural Hospital Environments feature inadequate yet pervasive computer use, aural privacy shortcomings, shared workspace, meagre budgets, complex regulation that hinders training outcomes and out-dated infrastructure and are highly interruptive. Working collaboratively in many cases, participants found ways to avoid or misuse security tools, such as passwords or screensavers for patient care. Workgroup infrastructure was old, architecturally limited, haphazard in some instances, and was less useful than paper handover sheets to ensure the quality of patient care outcomes. Despite valiant efforts by some participants, they were unable to control factors influencing the privacy of patient health information in public hospital settings. Future improvements to hospital-based organisational frameworks for e-health can only be made when there is an improved understanding of the Socio-Technical-Material theoretical framework and Natural Hospital Environment contexts. Aspects within control of clinicians and administrators can be addressed directly although some others are beyond their control. An understanding and acknowledgement of these issues will benefit the management and planning of improved and secure hospital settings. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploratory of society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cederman, L.-E.; Conte, R.; Helbing, D.; Nowak, A.; Schweitzer, F.; Vespignani, A.

2012-11-01

A huge flow of quantitative social, demographic and behavioral data is becoming available that traces the activities and interactions of individuals, social patterns, transportation infrastructures and travel fluxes. This has caused, together with innovative computational techniques and methods for modeling social actions in hybrid (natural and artificial) societies, a qualitative change in the ways we model socio-technical systems. For the first time, society can be studied in a comprehensive fashion that addresses social and behavioral complexity. In other words we are in the position to envision the development of large data and computational cyber infrastructure defining an exploratory of society that provides quantitative anticipatory, explanatory and scenario analysis capabilities ranging from emerging infectious disease to conflict and crime surges. The goal of the exploratory of society is to provide the basic infrastructure embedding the framework of tools and knowledge needed for the design of forecast/anticipatory/crisis management approaches to socio technical systems, supporting future decision making procedures by accelerating the scientific cycle that goes from data generation to predictions.

Handbook of Methods for the Evaluation of Water Conservation for Municipal and Industrial Water Supply.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-10-01

complex process of data collection, selection and application of analysis methodologies, identification and evaluation of technical, socio -econmic and...area and political subdivision data. Two solutions are available: (a) disaggregate demographic and socio -econanic data to the service area (this...century. with this as an example, and data limitations can extend from the limits of knowledge of climate to limits of data on socio -econamic

Higher education provision using systems thinking approach - case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhukaram, Anandhi Vivekanandan; Sgouropoulou, Cleo; Feldman, Gerald; Amini, Ardavan

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the complexities involved in higher education provision and how systems thinking and socio-technical systems (STS) thinking approach can be used to understand the education ecosystem. Systems thinking perspective is provided using two case studies: the development of European Learner Mobility (EuroLM) service and the delivery of Enterprise System Management (ESM) course at the Birmingham City University, UK. The case studies present how systems thinking using STS approaches like applied organisational change and Cognitive Work Analysis can be used to capture a conceptual model of the education system for understanding the interactions and relationships between the people, technology, processes and the organisations. Using systems thinking perspective, EuroLM has developed a set of technical standards addressed to the European systems developers and ESM delivery ensures that students communicate and collaborate.

Multi-Level Modeling of Complex Socio-Technical Systems - Phase 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-06

is to detect anomalous organizational outcomes, diagnose the causes of these anomalies , and decide upon appropriate compensation schemes. All of...monitor process outcomes. The purpose of this monitoring is to detect anomalous process outcomes, diagnose the causes of these anomalies , and decide upon...monitor work outcomes in terms of performance. The purpose of this monitoring is to detect anomalous work outcomes, diagnose the causes of these anomalies

Applying STAMP in Accident Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leveson, Nancy; Daouk, Mirna; Dulac, Nicolas; Marais, Karen

2003-01-01

Accident models play a critical role in accident investigation and analysis. Most traditional models are based on an underlying chain of events. These models, however, have serious limitations when used for complex, socio-technical systems. Previously, Leveson proposed a new accident model (STAMP) based on system theory. In STAMP, the basic concept is not an event but a constraint. This paper shows how STAMP can be applied to accident analysis using three different views or models of the accident process and proposes a notation for describing this process.

Bridging the Gap Between the Social and the Technical: The Enrolment of Socio-Technical Information Architects to Cope with the Two-Level Model of EPR Systems.

PubMed

Pedersen, Rune

2017-01-01

This is a project proposal derived from an urge to re-define the governance of ICT in healthcare towards regional and national standardization of the patient pathways. The focus is on a two-levelled approach for governing EPR systems where the clinicians' model structured variables and patient pathways. The overall goal is a patient centric EPR portfolio. This paper define and enlighten the need for establishing the socio- technical architect role necessary to obtain the capabilities of a modern structured EPR system. Clinicians are not capable to moderate between the technical and the clinical.

Socio-Technical Systems Analysis in Health Care: A Research Agenda

PubMed Central

Bass, Ellen; Bellandi, Tommaso; Gurses, Ayse; Hallbeck, Susan; Mollo, Vanina

2012-01-01

Given the complexity of health care and the ‘people’ nature of healthcare work and delivery, STSA (Sociotechnical Systems Analysis) research is needed to address the numerous quality of care problems observed across the world. This paper describes open STSA research areas, including workload management, physical, cognitive and macroergonomic issues of medical devices and health information technologies, STSA in transitions of care, STSA of patient-centered care, risk management and patient safety management, resilience, and feedback loops between event detection, reporting and analysis and system redesign. PMID:22611480

A socio-technical critique of tiered services: implications for interprofessional care.

PubMed

Hood, Rick

2015-01-01

In the health and social care sector, tiered services have become an increasingly influential way of organising professional expertise to address the needs of vulnerable people. Drawing on its application to UK child welfare services, this paper discusses the merits of the tiered model from a socio-technical perspective - an approach that has emerged from the fields of accident analysis and systems design. The main elements of a socio-technical critique are outlined and used to explore how tiered services provide support to families and prevent harm to children. Attention is drawn to the distribution of expertise and resources in a tiered system, and to the role of referral and gate-keeping procedures in dispersing accountability for outcomes. An argument is made for designing systems "against demand", and the paper concludes by discussing some alternative models of multi-agency provision.

Panarchy use in environmental science for risk and resilience ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Environmental sciences have an important role in informing sustainable management of built environments by providing insights about the drivers and potentially negative impacts of global environmental change. Here, we discuss panarchy theory, a multi-scale hierarchical concept that accounts for the dynamism of complex socio-ecological systems, especially for those systems with strong cross-scale feedbacks. The idea of panarchy underlies much of system resilience, focusing on how systems respond to known and unknown threats. Panarchy theory can provide a framework for qualitative and quantitative research and application in the environmental sciences, which can in turn inform the ongoing efforts in socio-technical resilience thinking and adaptive and transformative approaches to management. The environmental sciences strive for understanding, mitigating and reversing the negative impacts of global environmental change, including chemical pollution, to maintain sustainability options for the future, and therefore play an important role for informing management.

Environmental and natural resource implications of sustainable urban infrastructure systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergesen, Joseph D.; Suh, Sangwon; Baynes, Timothy M.; Kaviti Musango, Josephine

2017-12-01

As cities grow, their environmental and natural resource footprints also tend to grow to keep up with the increasing demand on essential urban services such as passenger transportation, commercial space, and thermal comfort. The urban infrastructure systems, or socio-technical systems providing these services are the major conduits through which natural resources are consumed and environmental impacts are generated. This paper aims to gauge the potential reductions in environmental and resources footprints through urban transformation, including the deployment of resource-efficient socio-technical systems and strategic densification. Using hybrid life cycle assessment approach combined with scenarios, we analyzed the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use, metal consumption and land use of selected socio-technical systems in 84 cities from the present to 2050. The socio-technical systems analyzed are: (1) bus rapid transit with electric buses, (2) green commercial buildings, and (3) district energy. We developed a baseline model for each city considering gross domestic product, population density, and climate conditions. Then, we overlaid three scenarios on top of the baseline model: (1) decarbonization of electricity, (2) aggressive deployment of resource-efficient socio-technical systems, and (3) strategic urban densification scenarios to each city and quantified their potentials in reducing the environmental and resource impacts of cities by 2050. The results show that, under the baseline scenario, the environmental and natural resource footprints of all 84 cities combined would increase 58%-116% by 2050. The resource-efficient scenario along with strategic densification, however, has the potential to curve down GHG emissions to 17% below the 2010 level in 2050. Such transformation can also limit the increase in all resource footprints to less than 23% relative to 2010. This analysis suggests that resource-efficient urban infrastructure and decarbonization of electricity coupled with strategic densification have a potential to mitigate resources and environmental footprints of growing cities.

Improving a health information system for real-time data entries: An action research project using socio-technical systems theory.

PubMed

Adaba, Godfried Bakiyem; Kebebew, Yohannes

2018-03-01

This paper presents the findings of an action research (AR) project to improve a health information system (HIS) at the Operating Theater Department (OTD) of a National Health Service (NHS) hospital in South East England, the UK. Informed by socio-technical systems (STS) theory, AR was used to design an intervention to enhance an existing patient administration system (PAS) to enable data entries in real time while contributing to the literature. The study analyzed qualitative data collected through interviews, participant observations, and document reviews. The study found that the design of the PAS was unsuitable to the work of the three units of the OTD. Based on the diagnoses and STS theory, the project developed and implemented a successful intervention to enhance the legacy system for data entries in real time. The study demonstrates the value of AR from a socio-technical perspective for improving existing systems in healthcare settings. The steps adopted in this study could be applied to improve similar systems. A follow-up study will be essential to assess the sustainability of the improved system.

The Chiasmus of Design: Paradoxical Outcomes in the e-Government Reform of UK Children's Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wastell, David; White, Sue; Broadhurst, Karen

This paper describes a detailed ethnographic study of the design problems of a major national IT system in the UK- The Integrated Children’s System (ICS). The implementation of the ICS has disrupted social work practice and engendered growing professional resistance, prompting a fundamental review of its design. Marshall McLuhan’s concept of chiasmus is a central feature of our analysis of the vicissitudes of ICS. Chiasmus refers to the tendency of any system, when pushed too far, to produce unintended contradictory effects, and is an intrinsic feature of the behaviour of complex, socio-technical systems. The dysfunctions of the ICS provide a pertinent, large-scale example. The ICS constitutes an attempt, via technological means, to re-organize child welfare services in the UK. Whilst aimed at improving child safety, the ICS has had the opposite effect of increasing the potential for error. This chiasmus has been exposed through the multi-site ethnography reported here, which shows how rigidly designed processes, enforced by IT systems, force social work professionals into unsafe investigative and recording practices which increase the risk of errors. The paper ends by proposing an alternative approach to design, based on socio-technical precepts, emphasizing the principles of minimum critical specification, user-centeredness and local autonomy.

A socio-technical systems approach to studying interruptions: understanding the interrupter's perspective.

PubMed

Rivera, A Joy

2014-05-01

The purpose of this study was to understand the cognitive processes underlying nurses' decision to interrupt other nurses. The Institute of Medicine (2000) reported that interruptions are likely contributors to medical errors. Unfortunately, the research to date has been quite homogenous, focusing only on the healthcare provider being interrupted, ignoring the true complexities of interruptions. This study took a socio-technical approach being the first to examine interruptions from the viewpoint of the interrupting nurse. Over 15 h of observations and 10 open-ended interviews with expert nurses in a Neuroscience Surgical Intensive Care Unit were conducted. It was found that nurses conduct a quick cost-benefit assessment to determine the interruptibility of other nurses and whether an interruption is value-added vs. non-value added. To complete the assessment, nurses consider several conditional factors related to the interruptee, the interrupter, and the nature of the interruption content, and different potential consequences of the interruption. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A case study evaluation of a Critical Care Information System adoption using the socio-technical and fit approach.

PubMed

Yusof, Maryati Mohd

2015-07-01

Clinical information systems have long been used in intensive care units but reports on their adoption and benefits are limited. This study evaluated a Critical Care Information System implementation. A case study summative evaluation was conducted, employing observation, interview, and document analysis in operating theatres and 16-bed adult intensive care units in a 400-bed Malaysian tertiary referral centre from the perspectives of users (nurses and physicians), management, and information technology staff. System implementation, factors influencing adoption, fit between these factors, and the impact of the Critical Care Information System were evaluated after eight months of operation. Positive influences on system adoption were associated with technical factors, including system ease of use, usefulness, and information relevancy; human factors, particularly user attitude; and organisational factors, namely clinical process-technology alignment and champions. Organisational factors such as planning, project management, training, technology support, turnover rate, clinical workload, and communication were barriers to system implementation and use. Recommendations to improve the current system problems were discussed. Most nursing staff positively perceived the system's reduction of documentation and data access time, giving them more time with patients. System acceptance varied among doctors. System use also had positive impacts on timesaving, data quality, and clinical workflow. Critical Care Information Systems is crucial and has great potentials in enhancing and delivering critical care. However, the case study findings showed that the system faced complex challenges and was underutilised despite its potential. The role of socio-technical factors and their fit in realizing the potential of Critical Care Information Systems requires continuous, in-depth evaluation and stakeholder understanding and acknowledgement. The comprehensive and specific evaluation measures of the Human-Organisation-Technology Fit framework can flexibly evaluate Critical Care Information Systems. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-technical systems and interaction design - 21st century relevance.

PubMed

Maguire, Martin

2014-03-01

This paper focuses on the relationship between the socio-technical system and the user-technology interface. It looks at specific aspects of the organisational context such as multiple user roles, job change, work processes and workflows, technical infrastructure, and the challenges they present for the interaction designer. The implications of trends such as more mobile and flexible working, the use of social media, and the growth of the virtual organisation, are also considered. The paper also reviews rapidly evolving technologies such as pervasive systems and artificial intelligence, and the skills that workers will need to engage with them. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Risk Interfaces to Support Integrated Systems Analysis and Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mindock, Jennifer; Lumpkins, Sarah; Shelhamer, Mark; Anton, Wilma; Havenhill, Maria

2016-01-01

Objectives for systems analysis capability: Develop integrated understanding of how a complex human physiological-socio-technical mission system behaves in spaceflight. Why? Support development of integrated solutions that prevent unwanted outcomes (Implementable approaches to minimize mission resources(mass, power, crew time, etc.)); Support development of tools for autonomy (need for exploration) (Assess and maintain resilience -individuals, teams, integrated system). Output of this exercise: -Representation of interfaces based on Human System Risk Board (HSRB) Risk Summary information and simple status based on Human Research Roadmap; Consolidated HSRB information applied to support communication; Point-of-Departure for HRP Element planning; Ability to track and communicate status of collaborations. 4

Adapting an Agent-Based Model of Socio-Technical Systems to Analyze Security Failures

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-10-17

total number of non-blackouts differed from the total number in the baseline data to a statistically significant extent with a p- valueɘ.0003...the total number of non-blackouts differed from the total number in the baseline data to a statistically significant extent with a p-valueɘ.0003...I. Nikolic, and Z. Lukszo, Eds., Agent-based modelling of socio-technical systems. Springer Science & Business Media, 2013, vol. 9. [12] A. P. Shaw

A Structured Reasoning Space for Design of Complex, Socio-Technical Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-10-01

gather during midmorning at an identified location. The human intelligence sources indicate that the meeting will commence at 10 a.m. and finish ...refueling station. 21 Typ-s of .uppr-s1on capawility Soppe.oion lob. (.-a .h~po d" Coton ) Olotano.. O otk-lo n k brWg..t.. Tbo AabNity rl.o1 Loft...designer or analyst could use the reasoning space to consider whether current and alternative configurations can result in the plan being finished within

Australian diagnosis related groups: Drivers of complexity adjustment.

PubMed

Jackson, Terri; Dimitropoulos, Vera; Madden, Richard; Gillett, Steve

2015-11-01

In undertaking a major revision to the Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Group (ARDRG) classification, we set out to contrast Australia's approach to using data on additional (not principal) diagnoses with major international approaches in splitting base or Adjacent Diagnosis Related Groups (ADRGs). Comparative policy analysis/narrative review of peer-reviewed and grey literature on international approaches to use of additional (secondary) diagnoses in the development of Australian and international DRG systems. European and US approaches to characterise complexity of inpatient care are well-documented, providing useful points of comparison with Australia's. Australia, with good data sources, has continued to refine its national DRG classification using increasingly sophisticated approaches. Hospital funders in Australia and in other systems are often under pressure from provider groups to expand classifications to reflect clinical complexity. DRG development in most healthcare systems reviewed here reflects four critical factors: these socio-political factors, the quality and depth of the coded data available to characterise the mix of cases in a healthcare system, the size of the underlying population, and the intended scope and use of the classification. Australia's relatively small national population has constrained the size of its DRG classifications, and development has been concentrated on inpatient care in public hospitals. Development of casemix classifications in health care is driven by both technical and socio-political factors. Use of additional diagnoses to adjust for patient complexity and cost needs to respond to these in each casemix application. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Agency, Socio-Cultural Context, and the Role of the Technical Communicator during IT Adoption: A Case Study in Innovation Diffusion across Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coggio, Grace Leinbach

2010-01-01

This dissertation examines the diffusion of an innovative information technology system across multiple cultures between 2000 and 2006. Developed and implemented by technical communicators in the technical communication department of a global medical device company, the Advanced Single-Source Authoring and Publication System (ASAPS) brought…

Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste: A Long-Term Socio-Technical Experiment.

PubMed

Schröder, Jantine

2016-06-01

In this article we investigate whether long-term radioactive waste management by means of geological disposal can be understood as a social experiment. Geological disposal is a rather particular technology in the way it deals with the analytical and ethical complexities implied by the idea of technological innovation as social experimentation, because it is presented as a technology that ultimately functions without human involvement. We argue that, even when the long term function of the 'social' is foreseen to be restricted to safeguarding the functioning of the 'technical', geological disposal is still a social experiment. In order to better understand this argument and explore how it could be addressed, we elaborate the idea of social experimentation with the notion of co-production and the analytical tools of delegation, prescription and network as developed by actor-network theory. In doing so we emphasize that geological disposal inherently involves relations between surface and subsurface, between humans and nonhumans, between the social, material and natural realm, and that these relations require recognition and further elaboration. In other words, we argue that geological disposal concurrently is a social and a technical experiment, or better, a long-term socio-technical experiment. We end with proposing the idea of 'actor-networking' as a sensitizing concept for future research into what geological disposal as a socio-technical experiment could look like.

Identity Management Systems in Healthcare: The Issue of Patient Identifiers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soenens, Els

According to a recent recommendation of the European Commission, now is the time for Europe to enhance interoperability in eHealth. Although interoperability of patient identifiers seems promising for matters of patient mobility, patient empowerment and effective access to care, we see that today there is indeed a considerable lack of interoperability in the field of patient identification. Looking from a socio-technical rather than a merely technical point of view, one can understand the fact that the development and implementation of an identity management system in a specific healthcare context is influenced by particular social practices, affected by socio-economical history and the political climate and regulated by specific data protection legislations. Consequently, the process of making patient identification in Europe more interoperable is a development beyond semantic and syntactic levels. In this paper, we gives some examples of today’s patient identifier systems in Europe, discuss the issue of interoperability of (unique) patient identifiers from a socio-technical point of view and try not to ignore the ‘privacy side’ of the story.

Low-carbon yak cheese: transition to biogas in a Himalayan socio-technical niche

PubMed Central

Campbell, Ben; Sallis, Paul

2013-01-01

This study looks at how potential for resilient low-carbon solutions can be understood and enhanced in the diverse environmental, economic and socio-political contexts in which actual scenarios of energy needs and diverse development pathways take shape. It discusses socio-technical transition approaches to assist implementation of a biogas digester system. This will replace fuelwood use in the high forests of Central Nepal, where yak cheese production provides livelihood income but is under threat from the Langtang National Park, which is concerned to protect biodiversity. Alternatives for digester design are discussed, and the consultative issues for deliberative processes among stakeholders’ varied agendas raised. PMID:24427516

Self-Driving Cars and Engineering Ethics: The Need for a System Level Analysis.

PubMed

Borenstein, Jason; Herkert, Joseph R; Miller, Keith W

2017-11-13

The literature on self-driving cars and ethics continues to grow. Yet much of it focuses on ethical complexities emerging from an individual vehicle. That is an important but insufficient step towards determining how the technology will impact human lives and society more generally. What must complement ongoing discussions is a broader, system level of analysis that engages with the interactions and effects that these cars will have on one another and on the socio-technical systems in which they are embedded. To bring the conversation of self-driving cars to the system level, we make use of two traffic scenarios which highlight some of the complexities that designers, policymakers, and others should consider related to the technology. We then describe three approaches that could be used to address such complexities and their associated shortcomings. We conclude by bringing attention to the "Moral Responsibility for Computing Artifacts: The Rules", a framework that can provide insight into how to approach ethical issues related to self-driving cars.

A Socio-Technical Analysis of Patient Accessible Electronic Health Records.

PubMed

Hägglund, Maria; Scandurra, Isabella

2017-01-01

In Sweden, and internationally, there is a movement towards increased transparency in healthcare including giving patients online access to their electronic health records (EHR). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Swedish patient accessible EHR (PAEHR) service using a socio-technical framework, to increase the understanding of factors that influence the design, implementation, adoption and use of the service. Using the Sitting and Singh socio-technical framework as a basis for analyzing the Swedish PAEHR system and its context indicated that there are many stakeholders engaged in these types of services, with different driving forces and incentives that may influence the adoption and usefulness of PAEHR services. The analysis was useful in highlighting important areas that need to be further explored in evaluations of PAEHR services, and can act as a guide when planning evaluations of any PAEHR service.

The role of socio-technical principles in leveraging meaningful benefits from IT investments.

PubMed

Doherty, Neil F

2014-03-01

In recent years there has been a great deal of academic and practitioner interest in the role of 'benefits realisation management' [BRM] approaches, as a means of proactively leveraging value from IT investments. This growing body of work owes a very considerable, but as yet unacknowledged, debt to the work of Ken Eason, and other early socio-technical theorists. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to demonstrate, using the literature, how many of the principles, practices and techniques of BRM have evolved either directly or indirectly from socio-technical approaches to systems design. In so doing, this article makes a further important contribution to the literature by explicitly identifying the underlying principles and key practices of benefits realisation management. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Extending systems ergonomics thinking to accommodate the socio-technical issues of Systems of Systems.

PubMed

Siemieniuch, C E; Sinclair, M A

2014-01-01

Socio-technical issues for Systems of Systems (SoS) differ in several ways from those for systems, mainly because the individual systems that are components of the SoS are usually owned by different organisations, each responsible for the optimisation and operation of its own system. Consequently, management of the SoS is about negotiation and management of the interfaces. Because of issues of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), commercial confidence, and the like, there is seldom sufficient, timely information in circulation about the SoS. Surprises are endemic to SoS, and resilience is a fundamental requirement. This paper outlines the different characteristics of SoS compared to ordinary systems, discusses many of the socio-technical issues involved, and then outlines a generic approach to these issues, treating the SoS as a 'wicked problem'. Endemic to this is the need for governance, which is discussed briefly. This is followed by a description of the evident gaps in knowledge about the functioning of SoS, and a listing of tool classes, the development of which would enable progress to be made more effectively. Finally, the paper discusses how the SoS approach might be the best way to entrain ICT to address global drivers, thus pointing to the importance of the SoS approach. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Self-organization of network dynamics into local quantized states

DOE PAGES

Nicolaides, Christos; Juanes, Ruben; Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis

2016-02-17

Self-organization and pattern formation in network-organized systems emerges from the collective activation and interaction of many interconnected units. A striking feature of these non-equilibrium structures is that they are often localized and robust: only a small subset of the nodes, or cell assembly, is activated. Understanding the role of cell assemblies as basic functional units in neural networks and socio-technical systems emerges as a fundamental challenge in network theory. A key open question is how these elementary building blocks emerge, and how they operate, linking structure and function in complex networks. Here we show that a network analogue of themore » Swift-Hohenberg continuum model—a minimal-ingredients model of nodal activation and interaction within a complex network—is able to produce a complex suite of localized patterns. Thus, the spontaneous formation of robust operational cell assemblies in complex networks can be explained as the result of self-organization, even in the absence of synaptic reinforcements.« less

Self-organization of network dynamics into local quantized states.

PubMed

Nicolaides, Christos; Juanes, Ruben; Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis

2016-02-17

Self-organization and pattern formation in network-organized systems emerges from the collective activation and interaction of many interconnected units. A striking feature of these non-equilibrium structures is that they are often localized and robust: only a small subset of the nodes, or cell assembly, is activated. Understanding the role of cell assemblies as basic functional units in neural networks and socio-technical systems emerges as a fundamental challenge in network theory. A key open question is how these elementary building blocks emerge, and how they operate, linking structure and function in complex networks. Here we show that a network analogue of the Swift-Hohenberg continuum model-a minimal-ingredients model of nodal activation and interaction within a complex network-is able to produce a complex suite of localized patterns. Hence, the spontaneous formation of robust operational cell assemblies in complex networks can be explained as the result of self-organization, even in the absence of synaptic reinforcements.

Self-organization of network dynamics into local quantized states

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nicolaides, Christos; Juanes, Ruben; Cueto-Felgueroso, Luis

Self-organization and pattern formation in network-organized systems emerges from the collective activation and interaction of many interconnected units. A striking feature of these non-equilibrium structures is that they are often localized and robust: only a small subset of the nodes, or cell assembly, is activated. Understanding the role of cell assemblies as basic functional units in neural networks and socio-technical systems emerges as a fundamental challenge in network theory. A key open question is how these elementary building blocks emerge, and how they operate, linking structure and function in complex networks. Here we show that a network analogue of themore » Swift-Hohenberg continuum model—a minimal-ingredients model of nodal activation and interaction within a complex network—is able to produce a complex suite of localized patterns. Thus, the spontaneous formation of robust operational cell assemblies in complex networks can be explained as the result of self-organization, even in the absence of synaptic reinforcements.« less

Ethical problems of interaction between ground-based personnel and orbital station crewmembers.

PubMed

Grigoriev, A I; Kozerenko, O P; Myasnikov, V I; Egorov, A D

1988-02-01

Manned missions onboard orbital stations Salyut-6 and Salyut-7 have led us to the conclusion that a long-term space mission can be viewed as a complex socio-man-machine system whose effectiveness largely depends on the quality of interaction between its subsystems. When analyzing and assessing the reliability of this system, it is important to consider ethical aspects, because they concern human relations, permeating its very component and in the long run determining its efficiency. Psychological and medical examinations before, during and after manned missions have helped us to identify the major points of interaction of the subsystems which require adequate monitoring and optimization using socio-psychological and organization-technical approaches: arrangement and evaluation of the quality of work, arrangement of proper leisure, psychological comfort in the interpersonality and intergroup relations during prolonged space missions. This paper also discusses adaptive changes in the mental and physical state due to prolonged exposure to space flight factors such as microgravity and confinement.

Contextualizing Secure Information System Design: A Socio-Technical Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charif, Abdul Rahim

2017-01-01

Secure Information Systems (SIS) design paradigms have evolved in generations to adapt to IS security needs. However, modern IS are still vulnerable and are far from secure. The development of an underlying IS cannot be reduced to "technological fixes" neither is the design of SIS. Technical security cannot ensure IS security.…

Transferring Codified Knowledge: Socio-Technical versus Top-Down Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guzman, Gustavo; Trivelato, Luiz F.

2008-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse and evaluate the transfer process of codified knowledge (CK) performed under two different approaches: the "socio-technical" and the "top-down". It is argued that the socio-technical approach supports the transfer of CK better than the top-down approach. Design/methodology/approach: Case study methodology was…

The Use of COCOON in Teaching Silviculture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vacik, Harald; Wolfslehner, Bernhard; Spork, Josef; Kortschak, Ernst

2006-01-01

At the Institute of Silviculture at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, students learn to cross-link ecological, socio-economic and technical knowledge of maintaining, regenerating, tending and utilizing forests in a sustainable way. They learn complex concepts and processes most successfully when they are…

Are Random Trading Strategies More Successful than Technical Ones?

PubMed Central

Biondo, Alessio Emanuele; Pluchino, Alessandro; Rapisarda, Andrea; Helbing, Dirk

2013-01-01

In this paper we explore the specific role of randomness in financial markets, inspired by the beneficial role of noise in many physical systems and in previous applications to complex socio-economic systems. After a short introduction, we study the performance of some of the most used trading strategies in predicting the dynamics of financial markets for different international stock exchange indexes, with the goal of comparing them to the performance of a completely random strategy. In this respect, historical data for FTSE-UK, FTSE-MIB, DAX, and S & P500 indexes are taken into account for a period of about 15–20 years (since their creation until today). PMID:23874594

IT-adoption and the interaction of task, technology and individuals: a fit framework and a case study

PubMed Central

Ammenwerth, Elske; Iller, Carola; Mahler, Cornelia

2006-01-01

Background Factors of IT adoption have largely been discussed in the literature. However, existing frameworks (such as TAM or TTF) are failing to include one important aspect, the interaction between user and task. Method Based on a literature study and a case study, we developed the FITT framework to help analyse the socio-organisational-technical factors that influence IT adoption in a health care setting. Results Our FITT framework ("Fit between Individuals, Task and Technology") is based on the idea that IT adoption in a clinical environment depends on the fit between the attributes of the individual users (e.g. computer anxiety, motivation), attributes of the technology (e.g. usability, functionality, performance), and attributes of the clinical tasks and processes (e.g. organisation, task complexity). We used this framework in the retrospective analysis of a three-year case study, describing the adoption of a nursing documentation system in various departments in a German University Hospital. We will show how the FITT framework helped analyzing the process of IT adoption during an IT implementation: we were able to describe every found IT adoption problem with regard to the three fit dimensions, and any intervention on the fit can be described with regard to the three objects of the FITT framework (individual, task, technology). We also derive facilitators and barriers to IT adoption of clinical information systems. Conclusion This work should support a better understanding of the reasons for IT adoption failures and therefore enable better prepared and more successful IT introduction projects. We will discuss, however, that from a more epistemological point of view, it may be difficult or even impossible to analyse the complex and interacting factors that predict success or failure of IT projects in a socio-technical environment. PMID:16401336

The STIN in the Tale: A Socio-Technical Interaction Perspective on Networked Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Steve; Creanor, Linda

2009-01-01

In this paper, we go beyond what have been described as "mechanistic" accounts of e-learning to explore the complexity of relationships between people and technology as encountered in cases of networked learning. We introduce from the social informatics literature the concept of sociotechnical interaction networks which focus on the…

Socio-Technical Deliberation about Free and Open Source Software: Accounting for the Status of Artifacts in Public Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benoit-Barne, Chantal

2007-01-01

This essay investigates the rhetorical practices of socio-technical deliberation about free and open source (F/OS) software, providing support for the idea that a public sphere is a socio-technical ensemble that is discursive and fluid, yet tangible and organized because it is enacted by both humans and non-humans. In keeping with the empirical…

The Shaping of Managers' Security Objectives through Information Security Awareness Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harris, Mark A.

2010-01-01

Information security research states that corporate security policy and information security training should be socio-technical in nature and that corporations should consider training as a primary method of protecting their information systems. However, information security policies and training are predominately technical in nature. In addition,…

Evaluating Model-Driven Development for large-scale EHRs through the openEHR approach.

PubMed

Christensen, Bente; Ellingsen, Gunnar

2016-05-01

In healthcare, the openEHR standard is a promising Model-Driven Development (MDD) approach for electronic healthcare records. This paper aims to identify key socio-technical challenges when the openEHR approach is put to use in Norwegian hospitals. More specifically, key fundamental assumptions are investigated empirically. These assumptions promise a clear separation of technical and domain concerns, users being in control of the modelling process, and widespread user commitment. Finally, these assumptions promise an easy way to model and map complex organizations. This longitudinal case study is based on an interpretive approach, whereby data were gathered through 440h of participant observation, 22 semi-structured interviews and extensive document studies over 4 years. The separation of clinical and technical concerns seemed to be aspirational, because both designing the technical system and modelling the domain required technical and clinical competence. Hence developers and clinicians found themselves working together in both arenas. User control and user commitment seemed not to apply in large-scale projects, as modelling the domain turned out to be too complicated and hence to appeal only to especially interested users worldwide, not the local end-users. Modelling proved to be a complex standardization process that shaped both the actual modelling and healthcare practice itself. A broad assemblage of contributors seems to be needed for developing an archetype-based system, in which roles, responsibilities and contributions cannot be clearly defined and delimited. The way MDD occurs has implications for medical practice per se in the form of the need to standardize practices to ensure that medical concepts are uniform across practices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Safety Sufficiency for NextGen: Assessment of Selected Existing Safety Methods, Tools, Processes, and Regulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xu, Xidong; Ulrey, Mike L.; Brown, John A.; Mast, James; Lapis, Mary B.

2013-01-01

NextGen is a complex socio-technical system and, in many ways, it is expected to be more complex than the current system. It is vital to assess the safety impact of the NextGen elements (technologies, systems, and procedures) in a rigorous and systematic way and to ensure that they do not compromise safety. In this study, the NextGen elements in the form of Operational Improvements (OIs), Enablers, Research Activities, Development Activities, and Policy Issues were identified. The overall hazard situation in NextGen was outlined; a high-level hazard analysis was conducted with respect to multiple elements in a representative NextGen OI known as OI-0349 (Automation Support for Separation Management); and the hazards resulting from the highly dynamic complexity involved in an OI-0349 scenario were illustrated. A selected but representative set of the existing safety methods, tools, processes, and regulations was then reviewed and analyzed regarding whether they are sufficient to assess safety in the elements of that OI and ensure that safety will not be compromised and whether they might incur intolerably high costs.

The governance of innovation diffusion - a socio-technical analysis of energy policy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nolden, C.

2012-10-01

This paper describes a dynamic price mechanism to coordinate eletric power generation from micro Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) systems in a network of households. It is assumed that the households are prosumers, i.e. both producers and consumers of electricity. The control is done on household level in a completely distributed manner. Avoiding a centralized controller both eases computation complexity and preserves communication structure in the network. Local information is used to decide to turn on or off the micro-CHP, but through price signals between the prosumers the network as a whole operates in a cooperative way.

A multi-stakeholder framework for sustainable energy behavior: A multidisciplinary systems study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khansari, Nasrin

Growth of population and moving towards over-consumption and over-pollution are significant threats to the environment and therefore necessitate moving towards sustainability approaches. CO2 emissions are considered to be the main basis of the incredible increase in the earth's surface temperature in recent years. Most emissions result from human activities. Thus, developing a detailed framework representing the parameters affecting individuals' energy behaviors is required. This dissertation offers an integrated conceptual framework to increase the efficiency of energy systems under complex and uncertainty conditions, facilitate energy consumption problem solving, and support the development of capacities at the individual, social, and technical levels to improve managing energy consumptions in the future. This research presents a conceptual soft systems model to explore the process of individuals' energy behavior change based on socio-structural and techno-structural contexts. In addition, a comprehensive model based on systems dynamics principles is presented to address the issue of CO2 emissions related to the households' energy consumption behavior. The proposed systems dynamics model provides a broad overview of the key agents affecting energy consumption, including government/public sector, households, and power industry. The model is created based on the research in the literature discussing the causal relations between various variables. The proposed systems dynamics model is verified by simulating different scenarios. In this research a survey is designed and conducted to investigate the role of individual, social and technical behaviors in reducing energy consumption, energy costs and carbon footprints based on the energy use profile. In sum, this study investigates the process of energy behavior change based on socio-structural and techno-structural contexts.

Etoile Project : Social Intelligent ICT-System for very large scale education in complex systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourgine, P.; Johnson, J.

2009-04-01

The project will devise new theory and implement new ICT-based methods of delivering high-quality low-cost postgraduate education to many thousands of people in a scalable way, with the cost of each extra student being negligible (< a few Euros). The research will create an in vivo laboratory of one to ten thousand postgraduate students studying courses in complex systems. This community is chosen because it is large and interdisciplinary and there is a known requirement for courses for thousand of students across Europe. The project involves every aspect of course production and delivery. Within this the research focused on the creation of a Socially Intelligent Resource Mining system to gather large volumes of high quality educational resources from the internet; new methods to deconstruct these to produce a semantically tagged Learning Object Database; a Living Course Ecology to support the creation and maintenance of evolving course materials; systems to deliver courses; and a ‘socially intelligent assessment system'. The system will be tested on one to ten thousand postgraduate students in Europe working towards the Complex System Society's title of European PhD in Complex Systems. Étoile will have a very high impact both scientifically and socially by (i) the provision of new scalable ICT-based methods for providing very low cost scientific education, (ii) the creation of new mathematical and statistical theory for the multiscale dynamics of complex systems, (iii) the provision of a working example of adaptation and emergence in complex socio-technical systems, and (iv) making a major educational contribution to European complex systems science and its applications.

Analyzing Information Systems Development: A Comparison and Analysis of Eight IS Development Approaches.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iivari, Juhani; Hirschheim, Rudy

1996-01-01

Analyzes and compares eight information systems (IS) development approaches: Information Modelling, Decision Support Systems, the Socio-Technical approach, the Infological approach, the Interactionist approach, the Speech Act-based approach, Soft Systems Methodology, and the Scandinavian Trade Unionist approach. Discusses the organizational roles…

A socio-technical approach for improving a Brazilian shoe manufacturing system.

PubMed

Renner, J S; de M Guimarães, L B; de Oliveira, P A B

2012-01-01

This article presents a macroergonomic intervention in a footwear company in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to improve both the quality of life of the employees and productivity by optimizing the traditional Taylor/Ford work organization. Multi-functionality and team working were implemented as means of making tasks more flexible and richer and the working hours were changed. The results showed a reduction in human and material resource costs and a consequent improvement in health and workers quality of life. Although middle managerial staff displayed strong resistance to the project and to breaking traditional production paradigms, the socio-technical system has been implemented throughout the plant and is expected to end up becoming the benchmark for other companies in the sector. Macro-ergonomics, footwear industry, organization work.

Challenges to effective crisis management: using information and communication technologies to coordinate emergency medical services and emergency department teams.

PubMed

Reddy, Madhu C; Paul, Sharoda A; Abraham, Joanna; McNeese, Michael; DeFlitch, Christopher; Yen, John

2009-04-01

The purpose of this study is to identify the major challenges to coordination between emergency department (ED) teams and emergency medical services (EMS) teams. We conducted a series of focus groups involving both ED and EMS team members using a crisis scenario as the basis of the focus group discussion. We also collected organizational workflow data. We identified three major challenges to coordination between ED and EMS teams including ineffectiveness of current information and communication technologies, lack of common ground, and breakdowns in information flow. The three challenges highlight the importance of designing systems from socio-technical perspective. In particular, these inter-team coordination systems must support socio-technical issues such as awareness, context, and workflow between the two teams.

Mapping the Socio-Technical Complexity of Australian Science: From Archival Authorities to Networks of Contextual Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, Gavan; Evans, Joanne

2007-01-01

This article examines the evolution of a national register of the archives of science and technology in Australia and the related development of an archival informatics focused initially on people and their relationships to archival materials. The register was created in 1985 as an in-house tool for the Australian Science Archives Project of the…

Social energy: mining energy from the society

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Jun Jason; Gao, David Wenzhong; Zhang, Yingchen

The inherent nature of energy, i.e., physicality, sociality and informatization, implies the inevitable and intensive interaction between energy systems and social systems. From this perspective, we define 'social energy' as a complex sociotechnical system of energy systems, social systems and the derived artificial virtual systems which characterize the intense intersystem and intra-system interactions. The recent advancement in intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, sensing and communication in Internet of Things technologies, and massive high performance computing and extreme-scale data analytics technologies, enables the possibility of substantial advancement in socio-technical system optimization, scheduling, control and management. In thismore » paper, we provide a discussion on the nature of energy, and then propose the concept and intention of social energy systems for electrical power. A general methodology of establishing and investigating social energy is proposed, which is based on the ACP approach, i.e., 'artificial systems' (A), 'computational experiments' (C) and 'parallel execution' (P), and parallel system methodology. A case study on the University of Denver (DU) campus grid is provided and studied to demonstrate the social energy concept. In the concluding remarks, we discuss the technical pathway, in both social and nature sciences, to social energy, and our vision on its future.« less

'We Are at This Campus, There Is Nothing in This Campus …': Socio-Spatial Analysis of a University Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aglargöz, Ozan

2017-01-01

This article provides a socio-spatial analysis of a higher education institution operating within a multi-campus system at a location other than the flagship campus. Based on this case study of a technical school, the meanings attached to the university campus are analyzed through semi-structured interviews and official documents. The study…

Assessing the compatibility of the management of standardized procedures with the complexity of a sociotechnical system: case study of a control room in an oil refinery.

PubMed

Saurin, Tarcisio Abreu; Gonzalez, Santiago Sosa

2013-09-01

Although the need for the management of complex socio-technical systems (STS) to be compatible with the nature of those systems is widely recognized, there are few guidelines on how to determine the actual extent of this compatibility. The purpose of this study is to assess how compatible the management of standardized procedures (SPs) is with the nature of a complex STS. To this end, a case study was made of a control room in an oil refinery, involving the following stages: (a) delimitation of the investigated STS; (b) description of the STS according to a set of characteristics of complex STS; (c) application of two types of questionnaires to thirty workers - one of them to assess their perceptions about the applicability of seven principles of SPs management in complex STS and the other to determine their perceptions about the actual use of these principles; and (d) a feedback meeting with workers to discuss the results of the assessment. The assessment is discussed in terms of its limitations, usefulness and ease of use of the data collection and analysis tools. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Discussion of the enabling environments for decentralised water systems.

PubMed

Moglia, M; Alexander, K S; Sharma, A

2011-01-01

Decentralised water supply systems are becoming increasingly affordable and commonplace in Australia and have the potential to alleviate urban water shortages and reduce pollution into natural receiving marine and freshwater streams. Learning processes are necessary to support the efficient implementation of decentralised systems. These processes reveal the complex socio-technical and institutional factors to be considered when developing an enabling environment supporting decentralised water and wastewater servicing solutions. Critical to the technological transition towards established decentralised systems is the ability to create strategic and adaptive capacity to promote learning and dialogue. Learning processes require institutional mechanisms to ensure the lessons are incorporated into the formulation of policy and regulation, through constructive involvement of key government institutions. Engagement of stakeholders is essential to the enabling environment. Collaborative learning environments using systems analysis with communities (social learning) and adaptive management techniques are useful in refining and applying scientists' and managers' knowledge (knowledge management).

Food systems transition and disruptive low carbon innovation: implications for a food security research agenda.

PubMed

Tyfield, David

2011-07-01

There is a growing consensus that we are facing epochal challenges in global food security. Moreover, these challenges are multiple and complex. Meeting these challenges will involve nothing less than a wholesale socio-technical transition of the agri-food system. Optimizing the efficacy of the contribution of research to such a food security agenda will probably also need new institutional mechanisms and career structures to facilitate new kinds of collaborations and ongoing, longer-term projects. In short, the multiple challenges of food security demand a different political economy of research for effective intervention by science. In making this argument, the paper summarizes the major findings of a recent report regarding the potential impact of so-called 'disruptive' low-carbon innovations in China.

[Socio-economic aspects of epidemiology of helicobateriosis].

PubMed

Fedichkina, T P; Solenova, L G; Zykova, I E; German, S V; Modestova, A V; Kislitsyn, V A; Rakhmanin, Yu A; Bobrovnitsky, I P

There are considered special social and economic aspects of the epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori. These aspects acquired the particular importance for the last time due to the fact that the provision of the people with pure water has been becoming the focus of the attention of geopolitical and socio-economic interests in a number of countries. The availability ofpure drinking water serves a marker of the socio-economic state of the territory and the population living there. In Russia where different climatic conditions are deposited by considerable regional differences in the conditions of communal services caused both by various level of the socio-economic development of the territory, the supplementation with pure drinking water serves as the social determinant of the ecological conditions of the population’s life. This particularly has impact on the unfeasible technical state of the water distribution systems, microorganism ecology of which can substantially affect public health. The performed by authors a specialized screening ofpresented at the official web site of the joint-stock company «Mosvodokanal» current data concerning the quality of drinking water consumed by 2500 Moscovites, tested for the Helicobacter pylori infection revealed no deviations from the sanitary standards in the water received by the consumers. Along with that, the comparison of the map documents of the distribution of the Helicobacter pylori infection in Moscow with the distribution of citizens’ complaints of the decline of the quality of tap water has revealed a territorial fastening of the high values of the population infection rate of n^ylori and the urban sites with the greatest number of complaints. In the microbial ecology of water-distribution systems there are tightly aligned problems of their epidemiological safety, technical state and economic damage caused by corrosion as a result of microbiotic activity. In contrast to acute bacterial and viral infections which are deemed of the greatest importance when assessing the sanitary condition of water sources and water-distribution systems, the consequences of infection with H. pylori may not be manifestedfor a long time but some years later they may be manifested as serious chronic diseases (from gastritis to adenocarcinoma of the stomach and a wide range of extraintestinal pathologies), which causes great social and economic losses. Thus, the socio-economic aspect of the epidemiology of helicobacteriosis includes at least two components: the technic - the maintenance of the feasible technic and sanitary state of the water distribution systems and the medico-social - expenditures for screening and treatment of infected patients. In total they are an inseparable part of the prevention of socially-important diseases in the public health system.

Quantitative and qualitative synthesis of socio-hydrological research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, L.; Gober, P.; Wheater, H. S.; Kajikawa, Y.

2017-12-01

The challenge of climate change adaptation has raised awareness of the feedbacks and interconnections in complex human-natural coupled water systems. This has reinforced the call for a socio-hydrological approach to better understand, and represent in models, the associated system dynamics. Such models can potentially provide the tools to link knowledge about complex water systems to decision-making and policy frameworks. Socio-hydrology, as the subfield of human-natural coupled systems analysis, has been dramatically developed in the past few years. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine work that has been framed under the umbrella of socio-hydrology, to provide insights into the participants and their disciplinary perspectives, and to draw conclusions about where the field is headed. In doing so, we used a combined quantitative and qualitative approach to synthesise current knowledge of socio-hydrology and to propose some promising future directions in this subfield of water sciences. The general statistics of the existing literature showed that socio-hydrological research has become an emerging topic and is drawing more concern and engagement of hydrologists. However, the participation of social scientists is inadequate and greater cross-disciplinary integration is desirable. Current concerns in this subfield of water research centre on two basic challenges: (1) the need to embrace the social dimensions of water-related risks, and (2) the importance of interactions and feedbacks in dynamic socio-hydrological systems. A third challenge identified here relates to the large-scale implications of 1) and 2) above, i.e. virtual water flows as a mechanism to track the human use of water at the global scale. Accordingly, we propose five potential directions with regard to socio-hydrological models, interdisciplinary collaboration and transdisciplinary studies, the science-policy interface, resilience in socio-hydrological systems, and data sharing for human-water system studies.

Knowledge Management System Model for Learning Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amin, Yousif; Monamad, Roshayu

2017-01-01

Based on the literature of knowledge management (KM), this paper reports on the progress of developing a new knowledge management system (KMS) model with components architecture that are distributed over the widely-recognised socio-technical system (STS) aspects to guide developers for selecting the most applicable components to support their KM…

The Human Dimension -- Habitability AustroMars 2006

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haeuplik, S.; Imhof, B.

2007-10-01

Whether a cellular phone, a laptop computer or a spacecraft there are always two sides to an interface: a system side and a human side, and thus two sets of goals must be defined. In spaceflight, these two set of goals are defined for the technical system and the human system within its full scope. The human dimension is vital for a human mission if the mission should be successful. As the technical system is, compared with the human system less complex. The, and the focus up to now has hence been on the technical system; more understanding has been created and more knowledge has been developed. For future long duration human missions to which we are looking ahead when planning for outposts on the Moon and Mars, the human system has to play an equal role. The environment for which space architects are planning demands an extremely economical use of time, material and resources for the astronauts on mission, as well as attempts a maximum integration of environmental conditions and user requirements in design decisions, but also the mutual influence between humans and their environment, between active and passive systems. Human needs are always the same regardless of whether we are on the planet or in outer space. And they are a very architectural topic. Architecture is the three-dimensional creation of a shelter for humans supporting their needs and expanding their culture. Factors such as habitability (which include but are not limited to colour, smell, surface material tactility, food and the human -- machine interface), socio-psychological factors (which include crew selection and training, heterogeneity versus homogeneity of the crew, coping with stress, group dynamics, cognitive strategies, cultural background of the crew and its implications), culture and thus the resulting proportion of inhabitable space and it's functionality are a few topics of the complex theme 'Human Dimension'.

From STEM to STEAM: Toward a Human-Centered Education

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boy, Guy A.

2013-01-01

The 20th century was based on local linear engineering of complicated systems. We made cars, airplanes and chemical plants for example. The 21st century has opened a new basis for holistic non-linear design of complex systems, such as the Internet, air traffic management and nanotechnologies. Complexity, interconnectivity, interaction and communication are major attributes of our evolving society. But, more interestingly, we have started to understand that chaos theories may be more important than reductionism, to better understand and thrive on our planet. Systems need to be investigated and tested as wholes, which requires a cross-disciplinary approach and new conceptual principles and tools. Consequently, schools cannot continue to teach isolated disciplines based on simple reductionism. Science; Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) should be integrated together with the Arts1 to promote creativity together with rationalization, and move to STEAM (with an "A" for Arts). This new concept emphasizes the possibility of longer-term socio-technical futures instead of short-term financial predictions that currently lead to uncontrolled economies. Human-centered design (HCD) can contribute to improving STEAM education technologies, systems and practices. HCD not only provides tools and techniques to build useful and usable things, but also an integrated approach to learning by doing, expressing and critiquing, exploring possible futures, and understanding complex systems.

Energy Levels and Co-evolution of Product Innovation in Supply Chain Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Guojun

In the last decade supply chain clusters phenomenon has emerged as a new approach in product innovation studies. This article makes three contributions to the approach by addressing some open issues. The first contribution is to explicitly incorporate the energy levels in the analysis. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. The second contribution is to suggest an analytical distinction between different evolution method, actors involved in them, and the institutions which guide actor's perceptions and activities. Thirdly, the article opens up the black box of institutions, making them an integral part of supply chain. The article provides a coherent conceptual multi-level perspective, using insights from sociology, institutional theory and innovation studies. The perspective is particularly useful to analyze long-term dynamics supply chain clusters phenomenon, shifts from one energy level to another and the co-evolution of product innovation.

Socio-technical issues and challenges in implementing safe patient handovers: insights from ethnographic case studies.

PubMed

Balka, Ellen; Tolar, Marianne; Coates, Shannon; Whitehouse, Sandra

2013-12-01

Ineffective handovers in patient care, including those where information loss occurs between care providers, have been identified as a risk to patient safety. Computerization of health information is often offered as a solution to improve the quality of care handovers and decrease adverse events related to patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to broaden our understanding of clinical handover as a patient safety issue, and to identify socio-technical issues which may come to bear on the success of computer based handover tools. Three in depth ethnographic case studies were undertaken. Field notes were transcribed and analyzed with the aid of qualitative data analysis software. Within case analysis was performed on each case, and subsequently, cross case analyses were performed. We identified five types of socio-technical issues which must be addressed if electronic handover tools are to succeed. The inter-dependencies of these issues are addressed in relation to arenas in which health care work takes place. We suggest that the contextual nature of information, ethical and medico-legal issues arising in relation to information handover, and issues related to data standards and system interoperability must be addressed if computerized health information systems are to achieve improvements in patient safety related to handovers in care. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Standardizing practices: a socio-history of experimental systems in classical genetic and virological cancer research, ca. 1920-1978.

PubMed

Fujimura, J H

1996-01-01

This paper presents a narrative history of technologies in cancer research circa 1920-1978 and a theoretical perspective on the complex, intertwined relationships between scientific problems, material practices and technologies, concepts and theories, and other historical circumstances. The history presents several active lines of research and technology development in the genetics of cancer in the United States which were constitutive of proto-oncogene work in its current form. I write this history from the perspective of technology development. Scientists participating in cancer research created tools with which to study their problems of interest, but the development of the tools also influenced the questions asked and answered in the form of concepts and theories developed. These tools included genetic ideas of the 1920s, inbred mouse colonies, chemicals and antibiotics developed during World War Two, tissue cultures and their technical procedures, and viruses. I examine these tools as standardized experimental systems that standardized materials as well as practices in laboratories. Inbred animals, tissue culture materials and methods, and tumor viruses as experimental systems gave materiality to "genes' and "cancer'. They are technical-natural objects that stand-in for nature in the laboratory.

Grids: The Top Ten Questions

DOE PAGES

Schopf, Jennifer M.; Nitzberg, Bill

2002-01-01

The design and implementation of a national computing system and data grid has become a reachable goal from both the computer science and computational science point of view. A distributed infrastructure capable of sophisticated computational functions can bring many benefits to scientific work, but poses many challenges, both technical and socio-political. Technical challenges include having basic software tools, higher-level services, functioning and pervasive security, and standards, while socio-political issues include building a user community, adding incentives for sites to be part of a user-centric environment, and educating funding sources about the needs of this community. This paper details the areasmore » relating to Grid research that we feel still need to be addressed to fully leverage the advantages of the Grid.« less

Abstraction of an Affective-Cognitive Decision Making Model Based on Simulated Behaviour and Perception Chains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharpanskykh, Alexei; Treur, Jan

Employing rich internal agent models of actors in large-scale socio-technical systems often results in scalability issues. The problem addressed in this paper is how to improve computational properties of a complex internal agent model, while preserving its behavioral properties. The problem is addressed for the case of an existing affective-cognitive decision making model instantiated for an emergency scenario. For this internal decision model an abstracted behavioral agent model is obtained, which ensures a substantial increase of the computational efficiency at the cost of approximately 1% behavioural error. The abstraction technique used can be applied to a wide range of internal agent models with loops, for example, involving mutual affective-cognitive interactions.

Sustainable Remediation of Legacy Mine Drainage: A Case Study of the Flight 93 National Memorial.

PubMed

Emili, Lisa A; Pizarchik, Joseph; Mahan, Carolyn G

2016-03-01

Pollution from mining activities is a global environmental concern, not limited to areas of current resource extraction, but including a broader geographic area of historic (legacy) and abandoned mines. The pollution of surface waters from acid mine drainage is a persistent problem and requires a holistic and sustainable approach to addressing the spatial and temporal complexity of mining-specific problems. In this paper, we focus on the environmental, socio-economic, and legal challenges associated with the concurrent activities to remediate a coal mine site and to develop a national memorial following a catastrophic event. We provide a conceptual construct of a socio-ecological system defined at several spatial, temporal, and organizational scales and a critical synthesis of the technical and social learning processes necessary to achieving sustainable environmental remediation. Our case study is an example of a multi-disciplinary management approach, whereby collaborative interaction of stakeholders, the emergence of functional linkages for information exchange, and mediation led to scientifically informed decision making, creative management solutions, and ultimately environmental policy change.

Developing Sustainable Digital Libraries: Socio-Technical Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ashraf, Tariq, Ed.; Sharma, Jaideep, Ed.; Gulati, Puja Anand, Ed.

2010-01-01

The increasing prevalence of digital information systems and technologies compels libraries across the globe to update systems and provide users with a digital experience outside the confines of the structural library, providing useful benefits to the user while creating new areas of concern such as digital information preservation.…

Innovative Socio-Technical Environments in Support of Distributed Intelligence and Lifelong Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, G; Konomi, S.

2007-01-01

Individual, unaided human abilities are constrained. Media have helped us to transcend boundaries in thinking, working, learning and collaborating by supporting "distributed intelligence". Wireless and mobile technologies provide new opportunities for creating novel socio-technical environments and thereby empowering humans, but not without…

The Socio-Technical Design of a Library and Information Science Collaboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lassi, Monica; Sonnenwald, Diane H.

2013-01-01

Introduction: We present a prototype collaboratory, a socio-technical platform to support sharing research data collection instruments in library and information science. No previous collaboratory has attempted to facilitate sharing digital research data collection instruments among library and information science researchers. Method: We have…

The Socio-ecological Fit of Human Responses to Environmental Degradation: An Integrated Assessment Methodology.

PubMed

Briassoulis, Helen

2015-12-01

The scientific and policy interest in the human responses to environmental degradation usually focuses on responses sensu stricto and 'best practices' that potentially abate degradation in affected areas. The transfer of individual, discrete instruments and 'best practices' to different contexts is challenging, however, because socio-ecological systems are complex and environmental degradation is contextual and contingent. To sensibly assess the effectiveness of formal and informal interventions to combat environmental degradation, the paper proposes an integrative, non-reductionist analytic, the 'response assemblage', for the study of 'responses-in-context,' i.e., products of human decisions to utilize environmental resources to satisfy human needs in socio-ecological systems. Response assemblages are defined as geographically and historically unique, provisional, open, territorial wholes, complex compositions emerging from processes of assembling biophysical and human components, including responses sensu stricto, from affected focal and other socio-ecological systems, to serve human goals, one of which may be combatting environmental degradation. The degree of match among the components, called the socio-ecological fit of the response assemblage, indicates how effectively their contextual and contingent interactions maintain the socio-ecological resilience, promote sustainable development, and secure the continuous provision of ecosystem services in a focal socio-ecological system. The paper presents a conceptual approach to the analysis of the socio-ecological fit of response assemblages and details an integrated assessment methodology synthesizing the resilience, assemblage, and 'problem of fit' literature. Lastly, it summarizes the novelty, value, and policy relevance of conceptualizing human responses as response assemblages and of the integrated assessment methodology, reconsiders 'best practices' and suggests selected future research directions.

The Socio-ecological Fit of Human Responses to Environmental Degradation: An Integrated Assessment Methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briassoulis, Helen

2015-12-01

The scientific and policy interest in the human responses to environmental degradation usually focuses on responses sensu stricto and `best practices' that potentially abate degradation in affected areas. The transfer of individual, discrete instruments and `best practices' to different contexts is challenging, however, because socio-ecological systems are complex and environmental degradation is contextual and contingent. To sensibly assess the effectiveness of formal and informal interventions to combat environmental degradation, the paper proposes an integrative, non-reductionist analytic, the `response assemblage', for the study of `responses-in-context,' i.e., products of human decisions to utilize environmental resources to satisfy human needs in socio-ecological systems. Response assemblages are defined as geographically and historically unique, provisional, open, territorial wholes, complex compositions emerging from processes of assembling biophysical and human components, including responses sensu stricto, from affected focal and other socio-ecological systems, to serve human goals, one of which may be combatting environmental degradation. The degree of match among the components, called the socio- ecological fit of the response assemblage, indicates how effectively their contextual and contingent interactions maintain the socio-ecological resilience, promote sustainable development, and secure the continuous provision of ecosystem services in a focal socio-ecological system. The paper presents a conceptual approach to the analysis of the socio-ecological fit of response assemblages and details an integrated assessment methodology synthesizing the resilience, assemblage, and `problem of fit' literature. Lastly, it summarizes the novelty, value, and policy relevance of conceptualizing human responses as response assemblages and of the integrated assessment methodology, reconsiders `best practices' and suggests selected future research directions.

Information technology challenges of biodiversity and ecosystems informatics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schnase, J.L.; Cushing, J.; Frame, M.; Frondorf, A.; Landis, E.; Maier, D.; Silberschatz, A.

2003-01-01

Computer scientists, biologists, and natural resource managers recently met to examine the prospects for advancing computer science and information technology research by focusing on the complex and often-unique challenges found in the biodiversity and ecosystem domain. The workshop and its final report reveal that the biodiversity and ecosystem sciences are fundamentally information sciences and often address problems having distinctive attributes of scale and socio-technical complexity. The paper provides an overview of the emerging field of biodiversity and ecosystem informatics and demonstrates how the demands of biodiversity and ecosystem research can advance our understanding and use of information technologies.

A Bit More to It: Scholarly Communication Forums as Socio-Technical Interaction Networks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kling, Rob; McKim, Geoffrey; King, Adam

2003-01-01

Examines the conceptual models that help to understand the development and sustainability of scholarly and professional communication forums on the Internet. An alternative information processing model that considers information technologies as Socio-Technical Interaction Networks (STINs) and a method for modeling electronic forums as STINs are…

A Socio-technical assessment of the success of picture archiving and communication systems: the radiology technologist’s perspective

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background With the increasing prevalence of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) in healthcare institutions, there is a growing need to measure their success. However, there is a lack of published literature emphasizing the technical and social factors underlying a successful PACS. Methods An updated Information Systems Success Model was utilized by radiology technologists (RTs) to evaluate the success of PACS at a large medical center in Taiwan. A survey, consisting of 109 questionnaires, was analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling. Results Socio-technical factors (including system quality, information quality, service quality, perceived usefulness, user satisfaction, and PACS dependence) were proven to be effective measures of PACS success. Although the relationship between service quality and perceived usefulness was not significant, other proposed relationships amongst the six measurement parameters of success were all confirmed. Conclusions Managers have an obligation to improve the attributes of PACS. At the onset of its deployment, RTs will have formed their own subjective opinions with regards to its quality (system quality, information quality, and service quality). As these personal concepts are either refuted or reinforced based on personal experiences, RTs will become either satisfied or dissatisfied with PACS, based on their perception of its usefulness or lack of usefulness. A satisfied RT may play a pivotal role in the implementation of PACS in the future. PMID:24053458

A Socio-hydrological Flood Model for the Elbe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barendrecht, M.; Viglione, A.; Kreibich, H.; Vorogushyn, S.; Merz, B.; Bloeschl, G.

2017-12-01

Long-term feedbacks between humans and floods may lead to complex phenomena such as coping strategies, levee effects, call effects, adaptation effects, and poverty traps. Dynamic coupled human-flood models are a promising tool to represent such phenomena and the feedbacks leading to them. These socio-hydrological models may play an important role in integrated flood risk management when they are applied to real world case studies. They can help develop hypotheses about the phenomena that have been observed in the case study of interest, by describing the interactions between the social and hydrological variables as well as other relevant variables, such as economic, environmental, political or technical, that play a role in the system. We discuss the case of Dresden where the 2002 flood, which was preceded by a period without floods but was less severe, resulted in a higher damage than the 2013 flood, which was preceded by the 2002 flood and a couple of less severe floods. The lower damage in 2013 may be explained by the fact that society has become aware of the flood risk and has adapted to it. Developing and applying a socio-hydrological flood model to the case of Dresden can help discover whether it is possible that the lower damage is caused by an adaptation effect, or if there are other feedbacks that can explain the observed phenomenon.

Construction of a Digital Video Library: A Socio-Technical Pilot Study on College Students' Attitudes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Hsin-Liang; Choi, Gilok

2005-01-01

This study investigates socio-technical aspects of digital video libraries based on college students' learning experiences and perspectives. Forty-one students in biology classes were studied through a survey and individual interviews. Findings are presented by the students' knowledge of computer technology, experiences with AV materials, and…

The Real World and Virtual Worlds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glaser, Stan

1997-01-01

Discusses some of the limitations of virtual reality (VR) with reference to socio-technical systems, i.e., the interaction of people with technology. Points to a significant opportunity for VR technology to be used in strategic partnership marketing and supply chain management. (Author/LRW)

The ethics of socio-ecohydrological catchment management: towards hydrosolidarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falkenmark, M.; Folke, Carl

This paper attempts to clarify key biophysical issues and the problems involved in the ethics of socio-ecohydrological catchment management. The issue in managing complex systems is to live with unavoidable change while securing the capacity of the ecohydrological system of the catchment to sustain vital ecological goods and services, aquatic as well as terrestrial, on which humanity depends ultimately. Catchment management oriented to sustainability has to be based on ethical principles: human rights, international conventions, sustaining crucial ecological goods and services, and protecting ecosystem resilience, all of which have water linkages. Many weaknesses have to be identified, assessed and mitigated to improve the tools by which the ethical issues can be addressed and solved:

• a heritage of constraining tunnel vision in both science and management;
• inadequate shortcuts made in modern scientific system analyses (e.g. science addressing sustainability issues);
• simplistic technical-fix approaches to water and ecosystems in land/water/ecosystem management;
• conventional tools for evaluation of scientific quality with its focus on "doing the thing right" rather than "doing the right thing".

The new ethics have to incorporate principles that, on a catchment basis, allow for proper attention to the hungry and poor, upstream and downstream, to descendants, and to sites and habitats that need to be protected.

Towards a sustainable world through human factors and ergonomics: it is all about values.

PubMed

Lange-Morales, Karen; Thatcher, Andrew; García-Acosta, Gabriel

2014-01-01

In this paper, we analyse two approaches that attempt to address how a human factors and ergonomics (HFE) perspective can contribute to the sustainability of the human race. We outline the principles, purposes and fields of application of ergoecology and green ergonomics, and thereafter deal with their context of emergence, and the overlaps in purpose, and principles. Shared values are deduced and related to socio-technical principles for systems' design. Social responsibility and environmental/ecospheric responsibility are the leading threads of ergoecology and green ergonomics, giving rise to the values of: respect for human rights, respect for the Earth, respect for ethical decision-making, appreciation of complexity, respect for transparency and openness, and respect for diversity. We discuss the consequences of considering these values in HFE theory and practice.

Using cognitive work analysis to explore activity allocation within military domains.

PubMed

Jenkins, D P; Stanton, N A; Salmon, P M; Walker, G H; Young, M S

2008-06-01

Cognitive work analysis (CWA) is frequently advocated as an approach for the analysis of complex socio-technical systems. Much of the current CWA literature within the military domain pays particular attention to its initial phases; work domain analysis and contextual task analysis. Comparably, the analysis of the social and organisational constraints receives much less attention. Through the study of a helicopter mission planning system software tool, this paper describes an approach for investigating the constraints affecting the distribution of work. The paper uses this model to evaluate the potential benefits of the social and organisational analysis phase within a military context. The analysis shows that, through its focus on constraints, the approach provides a unique description of the factors influencing the social organisation within a complex domain. This approach appears to be compatible with existing approaches and serves as a validation of more established social analysis techniques. As part of the ergonomic design of mission planning systems, the social organisation and cooperation analysis phase of CWA provides a constraint-based description informing allocation of function between key actor groups. This approach is useful because it poses questions related to the transfer of information and optimum working practices.

Taking the 21st Century Seriously: Young People, Education and Socio-Technical Futures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Facer, Keri

2012-01-01

Rhetoric about young people's "ownership" of future socio-technical change is a familiar part of much educational and political discourse. This does not, however, translate in practice into a meaningful dialogue with young people about the sorts of futures they might wish to see emerge. This paper argues that a number of social and…

Organizational factors affecting successful adoption of innovative eHealth services: a case study employing the FITT framework.

PubMed

Tsiknakis, Manolis; Kouroubali, Angelina

2009-01-01

The paper presents an application of the "Fit between Individuals, Task and Technology" (FITT) framework to analyze the socio-organizational-technical factors that influence IT adoption in the healthcare domain. The FITT framework was employed as the theoretical instrument for a retrospective analysis of a 15-year effort in implementing IT systems and eHealth services in the context of a Regional Health Information Network in Crete. Quantitative and qualitative research methods, interviews and participant observations were employed to gather data from a case study that involved the entire region of Crete. The detailed analysis of the case study based on the FITT framework, showed common features, but also differences of IT adoption within the various health organizations. The emerging picture is a complex nexus of factors contributing to IT adoption, and multi-level interventional strategies to promote IT use. The work presented in this paper shows the applicability of the FITT framework in explaining the complexity of aspects observed in the implementation of healthcare information systems. The reported experiences reveal that fit management can be viewed as a system with a feedback loop that is never really stable, but ever changing based on external factors or deliberate interventions. Management of fit, therefore, becomes a constant and complex task for the whole life cycle of IT systems.

Flexible manufacturing of aircraft engine parts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassan, Ossama M.; Jenkins, Douglas M.

1992-06-01

GE Aircraft Engines, a major supplier of jet engines for commercial and military aircraft, has developed a fully integrated manufacturing facility to produce aircraft engine components in flexible manufacturing cells. This paper discusses many aspects of the implementation including process technologies, material handling, software control system architecture, socio-technical systems and lessons learned. Emphasis is placed on the appropriate use of automation in a flexible manufacturing system.

The design and implementation of the Technical Facilities Controller (TFC) for the Goldstone deep space communications complex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Killian, D. A.; Menninger, F. J.; Gorman, T.; Glenn, P.

1988-01-01

The Technical Facilities Controller is a microprocessor-based energy management system that is to be implemented in the Deep Space Network facilities. This system is used in conjunction with facilities equipment at each of the complexes in the operation and maintenance of air-conditioning equipment, power generation equipment, power distribution equipment, and other primary facilities equipment. The implementation of the Technical Facilities Controller was completed at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex and is now operational. The installation completed at the Goldstone Complex is described and the utilization of the Technical Facilities Controller is evaluated. The findings will be used in the decision to implement a similar system at the overseas complexes at Canberra, Australia, and Madrid, Spain.

Emergence of scale-free characteristics in socio-ecological systems with bounded rationality.

PubMed

Kasthurirathna, Dharshana; Piraveenan, Mahendra

2015-06-11

Socio-ecological systems are increasingly modelled by games played on complex networks. While the concept of Nash equilibrium assumes perfect rationality, in reality players display heterogeneous bounded rationality. Here we present a topological model of bounded rationality in socio-ecological systems, using the rationality parameter of the Quantal Response Equilibrium. We argue that system rationality could be measured by the average Kullback--Leibler divergence between Nash and Quantal Response Equilibria, and that the convergence towards Nash equilibria on average corresponds to increased system rationality. Using this model, we show that when a randomly connected socio-ecological system is topologically optimised to converge towards Nash equilibria, scale-free and small world features emerge. Therefore, optimising system rationality is an evolutionary reason for the emergence of scale-free and small-world features in socio-ecological systems. Further, we show that in games where multiple equilibria are possible, the correlation between the scale-freeness of the system and the fraction of links with multiple equilibria goes through a rapid transition when the average system rationality increases. Our results explain the influence of the topological structure of socio-ecological systems in shaping their collective cognitive behaviour, and provide an explanation for the prevalence of scale-free and small-world characteristics in such systems.

Interaction of Technology Adoption Constraints and Multi-level Policy Coherence at the Energy-Food Nexus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerst, M.; Cox, M. E.; Laser, M.; Locke, K. A.; Kapuscinski, A. R.

2017-12-01

Policy- and decision-making at the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus entails additional complexities due to the multi-objective nature of FEW socio-technical systems: policies and decisions meant to improve one facet of the nexus might be less beneficial, or even detrimental, to achieving goals for other facets. In addition, implementing policies and decisions may be more difficult due to increasing coordination required among stakeholders across each nexus facet. We highlight these issues in an economic, material/energy flow, and institutional assessment of dairy farms that produce power from anaerobic digestion of cow manure. This socio-technical system is an example of an integrated food-energy system (IFES), which co-produces food and energy. In the case of dairy farms, water is also a significant consideration because cow manure, if improperly managed, can negatively impact water bodies. Our assessment asks the questions (i) of whether or not adopting an IFES improves farm resilience under potential economic and environment futures and (ii) how decisions, policies, and information can best be tailored to the FEW nexus. Our study consists of semi-structured interviews of 60 farms split between the US states of New York and Vermont, both of which have enacted policies to encourage digester adoption. Each interview asks farmers about their material and energy flows, costs, and decision-making process for adopting (or not) an anaerobic digester. In addition, farmers are asked questions about challenges and barriers they might have faced and future drivers of change. Preliminary results highlight important interactions between policy and decision-making. Foremost, an analysis of policy cohesion shows that environmental objectives cross sectors and governance levels, as state-level greenhouse gas mitigation policies interact with federal-level nutrient management policies. This form of potential policy incoherence may introduce additional problems that hinder digester adoption and operation because technology options might be constrained and information needs may be too great for farmer's to consider adopting a digester.

Understanding and Managing Causality of Change in Socio-Technical Systems II

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-25

SUBJECT TERMS Cognition , Human Effectiveness, Information Science 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT Same as Report (SAR) 18...at large taking into account the cognitive interaction between humans and technology. 8 Hussein Abbass Professor Abbass leads the...Network Centric Operations Future Air Traffic Management Systems Cognitive Engineering including Human-Computer Integration In all of the

Using qualitative methods to understand non-technological aspects of domestic energy efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambrose, Aimee Rebecca

The overall aim of the collected published works is to investigate how different policy interventions in the field of energy efficiency (including zero carbon homes, low carbon heat networks, and domestic energy efficiency schemes) are experienced and made sense of by a range of key actors. A further aim is to understand these interventions in the context of existing theories within the field of domestic energy efficiency including socio-technical theory and Actor Network Theory. More specifically, this research advances existing knowledge in the following areas: The nature of the socio-technical challenges encountered in the introduction of more energy efficient buildings, and the importance of achieving a balance between socially acceptable and technically optimal environments. (Papers 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8). The value of qualitative research in gaining a more nuanced understanding of our relationship with the home and the implications of this for domestic energy efficiency interventions and the design of low energy buildings (all papers). The influence of tenure as determinant of access to a more energy efficient home and in particular, the stubborn and complex barriers to achieving higher standards of energy performance within the private rented sector. (Papers 1, 2, 3 and 4). The significance of identity, setting and notions of home in the context of domestic energy efficiency interventions. (Papers 1 and 4). As these themes suggest, this PhD is not just concerned with carbon reduction and energy saving as technical objects, but as a way of life. More specifically, it considers the interactions between the two and contends that technical or policy instruments, no matter how sophisticated, cannot succeed if they are not compatible with our ways of life (and ways of doing businesss) or if our ways of life cannot be reasonably adapted to acoomodate them.

From conventional drainage to sustainable stormwater management: Beyond the technical challenges.

PubMed

Goulden, Shula; Portman, Michelle E; Carmon, Naomi; Alon-Mozes, Tal

2018-08-01

Countries and cities are increasingly recognizing the value of adopting Sustainable Stormwater Management (SSWM) goals and measures. SSWM serves multiple hydrological, ecological, social and economic goals and can replace substantial parts of conventional drainage infrastructure. Following international experience in the socio-technical nature of transitions in stormwater management, this research investigates how socio-institutional factors enable the transition from conventional to sustainable stormwater management over time. The research is based on analysing available relevant documents, semi-structured interviews and focus groups, all in a single country case study (Israel). We found significant changes in professional awareness and discourse, some advances in professional standards of work and changes to the regulative system, supporting infiltration practices in particular. We concluded that the three-pillared socio-institutional framework, composed of cultural-cognitive, normative and regulative changes, was insightful for mapping factors supporting transition from conventional drainage to SSWM. Elements within the three pillars can work simultaneously and synergistically to achieve widespread change. At the same time, while SSWM always strives to achieve multiple goals, the order of priority of the various goals may differ from place to place and may change over time. Thus the transition process across the socio-institutional pillars should be renewed if and when the priority of goals changes. The urban and regional planning system can play a crucial role in enhancing the transition process from conventional to sustainable stormwater management. These conclusions may be relevant to other localities and countries that are struggling with such transitions to sustainability. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Management of complex dynamical systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacKay, R. S.

2018-02-01

Complex dynamical systems are systems with many interdependent components which evolve in time. One might wish to control their trajectories, but a more practical alternative is to control just their statistical behaviour. In many contexts this would be both sufficient and a more realistic goal, e.g. climate and socio-economic systems. I refer to it as ‘management’ of complex dynamical systems. In this paper, some mathematics for management of complex dynamical systems is developed in the weakly dependent regime, and questions are posed for the strongly dependent regime.

Understanding, creating, and managing complex techno-socio-economic systems: Challenges and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helbing, D.; Balietti, S.; Bishop, S.; Lukowicz, P.

2011-05-01

This contribution reflects on the comments of Peter Allen [1], Bikas K. Chakrabarti [2], Péter Érdi [3], Juval Portugali [4], Sorin Solomon [5], and Stefan Thurner [6] on three White Papers (WP) of the EU Support Action Visioneer (www.visioneer.ethz.ch). These White Papers are entitled "From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crises" (WP 1) [7], "From Social Simulation to Integrative System Design" (WP 2) [8], and "How to Create an Innovation Accelerator" (WP 3) [9]. In our reflections, the need and feasibility of a "Knowledge Accelerator" is further substantiated by fundamental considerations and recent events around the globe. newpara The Visioneer White Papers propose research to be carried out that will improve our understanding of complex techno-socio-economic systems and their interaction with the environment. Thereby, they aim to stimulate multi-disciplinary collaborations between ICT, the social sciences, and complexity science. Moreover, they suggest combining the potential of massive real-time data, theoretical models, large-scale computer simulations and participatory online platforms. By doing so, it would become possible to explore various futures and to expand the limits of human imagination when it comes to the assessment of the often counter-intuitive behavior of these complex techno-socio-economic-environmental systems. In this contribution, we also highlight the importance of a pluralistic modeling approach and, in particular, the need for a fruitful interaction between quantitative and qualitative research approaches. newpara In an appendix we briefly summarize the concept of the FuturICT flagship project, which will build on and go beyond the proposals made by the Visioneer White Papers. EU flagships are ambitious multi-disciplinary high-risk projects with a duration of at least 10 years amounting to an envisaged overall budget of 1 billion EUR [10]. The goal of the FuturICT flagship initiative is to understand and manage complex, global, socially interactive systems, with a focus on sustainability and resilience.

Using Activity Theory to Understand Learning Design Requirements of Patient Self-Management Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaffer, Scott P.; Reyes, Lisette; Kim, Hannah; Collins, Bart

2010-01-01

Learning designs aimed at supporting transformational change could significantly benefit from the adoption of socio-historical and socio-cultural analysis approaches. Such systemic perspectives are gaining more importance in education as they facilitate understanding of complex interactions between learning environments and human activity. The…

Eyjafjallajökull and 9/11: The Impact of Large-Scale Disasters on Worldwide Mobility

PubMed Central

Woolley-Meza, Olivia; Grady, Daniel; Thiemann, Christian; Bagrow, James P.; Brockmann, Dirk

2013-01-01

Large-scale disasters that interfere with globalized socio-technical infrastructure, such as mobility and transportation networks, trigger high socio-economic costs. Although the origin of such events is often geographically confined, their impact reverberates through entire networks in ways that are poorly understood, difficult to assess, and even more difficult to predict. We investigate how the eruption of volcano Eyjafjallajökull, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and geographical disruptions in general interfere with worldwide mobility. To do this we track changes in effective distance in the worldwide air transportation network from the perspective of individual airports. We find that universal features exist across these events: airport susceptibilities to regional disruptions follow similar, strongly heterogeneous distributions that lack a scale. On the other hand, airports are more uniformly susceptible to attacks that target the most important hubs in the network, exhibiting a well-defined scale. The statistical behavior of susceptibility can be characterized by a single scaling exponent. Using scaling arguments that capture the interplay between individual airport characteristics and the structural properties of routes we can recover the exponent for all types of disruption. We find that the same mechanisms responsible for efficient passenger flow may also keep the system in a vulnerable state. Our approach can be applied to understand the impact of large, correlated disruptions in financial systems, ecosystems and other systems with a complex interaction structure between heterogeneous components. PMID:23950904

An analysis of electronic document management in oncology care.

PubMed

Poulter, Thomas; Gannon, Brian; Bath, Peter A

2012-06-01

In this research in progress, a reference model for the use of electronic patient record (EPR) systems in oncology is described. The model, termed CICERO, comprises technical and functional components, and emphasises usability, clinical safety and user acceptance. One of the functional components of the model-an electronic document and records management (EDRM) system-is monitored in the course of its deployment at a leading oncology centre in the UK. Specifically, the user requirements and design of the EDRM solution are described.The study is interpretative and forms part a wider research programme to define and validate the CICERO model. Preliminary conclusions confirm the importance of a socio-technical perspective in Onco-EPR system design.

Complex adaptive systems (CAS): an overview of key elements, characteristics and application to management theory.

PubMed

Ellis, Beverley; Herbert, Stuart Ian

2011-01-01

To identify key elements and characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS) relevant to implementing clinical governance, drawing on lessons from quality improvement programmes and the use of informatics in primary care. The research strategy includes a literature review to develop theoretical models of clinical governance of quality improvement in primary care organisations (PCOs) and a survey of PCOs. Complex adaptive system theories are a valuable tool to help make sense of natural phenomena, which include human responses to problem solving within the sampled PCOs. The research commenced with a survey; 76% (n16) of respondents preferred to support the implementation of clinical governance initiatives guided by outputs from general practice electronic health records. There was considerable variation in the way in which consultation data was captured, recorded and organised. Incentivised information sharing led to consensus on coding policies and models of data recording ahead of national contractual requirements. Informatics was acknowledged as a mechanism to link electronic health record outputs, quality improvement and resources. Investment in informatics was identified as a development priority in order to embed clinical governance principles in practice. Complex adaptive system theory usefully describes evolutionary change processes, providing insight into how the origins of quality assurance were predicated on rational reductionism and linearity. New forms of governance do not neutralise previous models, but add further dimensions to them. Clinical governance models have moved from deterministic and 'objective' factors to incorporate cultural aspects with feedback about quality enabled by informatics. The socio-technical lessons highlighted should inform healthcare management.

Integrating research on ecohydrology and land use change with land use management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bass, Brad; Byers, Ralph E.; Lister, Nina-Marie

1998-10-01

One objective of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme is to provide a scientific basis for sustainable development policies. Land use change and ecohydrology are important components of this scientific basis, but predicting change is difficult because of the scale and complexity of the interactions between non-linear ecohydrological and socio-economic processes at different spatial and temporal scales. A systems framework, the Ecosystem Approach, has been developed to conceptualize these interactions for the purpose of providing information for sustainable development policy. The Ecosystem Approach combines the dynamics of the Holling figure-eight model - a conceptual model of dynamics that stresses discontinuous change and destruction as an internal property of the system - and the properties of self-organizing systems with the socio political aspects of decision making.The Ecosystem Approach highlights the problems of managing change in complex systems when that change may involve unpredictable shifts to a different attractor. Although there are methods available to detect the occurrence of such shifts, both detection and modelling are complicated by the presence of semi-stable attractors. When a model or an ecosystem is on a semi-stable attractor, it may appear to remain stable for an extended period prior to changing as a consequence of inherent instabilities. When the shift to a new attractor occurs, it is quite sudden and unpredictable. A technical discussion on prediction under conditions of semi-stability and chaos is included because it enhances our understanding of the role of surprise in ecosystems, as well as the utility of simulation models.The principles of the Ecosystem Approach are derived from the theoretical discussion and an example of a land use policy in the Huron Natural Area in south-western Ontario. These principles provide a clear role for scientific research, and particularly simulation modelling, within the larger context of policy and land use management.

Effective University Leadership as Predictor of Academic Excellence in Southern Nigerian Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ofoegbu, Felicia O.; Alonge, Hezekiah O.

2017-01-01

The University is an educational system where high level manpower is trained for socio-economic and political growth of any nation. The leadership of a University plays invaluable roles in achieving academic excellence in dissemination and acquisition of universal knowledge, values; functional, technical and scientific skills and competencies…

A Socio-Technical Analysis of Knowledgeable Practice in Radiation Therapy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lozano, Reynaldo Garza

2012-01-01

The role of the modern radiation therapist is directed and driven by the organizational system. Changes affecting their role are implemented as a response to changes in the industry. Operations of the modern cancer center, with new and changing treatment technologies bring questions regarding the learning process of radiation therapists at a time…

ResearchGate and Academia.edu as Networked Socio-Technical Systems for Scholarly Communication: A Literature Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manca, Stefania

2018-01-01

ResearchGate and Academia.edu have been increasingly acknowledged as the most popular academic social network sites (ASNS) for scholarly communication. Along with their benefits for supporting communication and knowledge sharing within academic communities, concerns over quality and credibility remain a pertinent issue. In terms of research…

Ethics and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: The Case for Comprehensive Engineering : Commentary on "Using Student Engagement to Relocate Ethics to the Core of the Engineering Curriculum".

PubMed

van den Hoven, Jeroen

2016-12-27

In the twenty-first century, the urgent problems the world is facing (the UN Sustainable Development Goals) are increasingly related to vast and intricate 'systems of systems', which comprise both socio-technical and eco-systems. In order for engineers to adequately and responsibly respond to these problems, they cannot focus on only one technical or any other aspect in isolation, but must adopt a wider and multidisciplinary perspective of these systems, including an ethical and social perspective. Engineering curricula should therefore focus on what we call 'comprehensive engineering'. Comprehensive engineering implies ethical coherence, consilience of scientific disciplines, and cooperation between parties.

Technology-related medication errors in a tertiary hospital: a 5-year analysis of reported medication incidents.

PubMed

Samaranayake, N R; Cheung, S T D; Chui, W C M; Cheung, B M Y

2012-12-01

Healthcare technology is meant to reduce medication errors. The objective of this study was to assess unintended errors related to technologies in the medication use process. Medication incidents reported from 2006 to 2010 in a main tertiary care hospital were analysed by a pharmacist and technology-related errors were identified. Technology-related errors were further classified as socio-technical errors and device errors. This analysis was conducted using data from medication incident reports which may represent only a small proportion of medication errors that actually takes place in a hospital. Hence, interpretation of results must be tentative. 1538 medication incidents were reported. 17.1% of all incidents were technology-related, of which only 1.9% were device errors, whereas most were socio-technical errors (98.1%). Of these, 61.2% were linked to computerised prescription order entry, 23.2% to bar-coded patient identification labels, 7.2% to infusion pumps, 6.8% to computer-aided dispensing label generation and 1.5% to other technologies. The immediate causes for technology-related errors included, poor interface between user and computer (68.1%), improper procedures or rule violations (22.1%), poor interface between user and infusion pump (4.9%), technical defects (1.9%) and others (3.0%). In 11.4% of the technology-related incidents, the error was detected after the drug had been administered. A considerable proportion of all incidents were technology-related. Most errors were due to socio-technical issues. Unintended and unanticipated errors may happen when using technologies. Therefore, when using technologies, system improvement, awareness, training and monitoring are needed to minimise medication errors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban gray vs. urban green vs. soil protection — Development of a systemic solution to soil sealing management on the example of Germany

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Artmann, Martina, E-mail: m.artmann@ioer.de

Managing urban soil sealing is a difficult venture due to its spatial heterogeneity and embedding in a socio-ecological system. A systemic solution is needed to tackle its spatial, ecological and social sub-systems. This study develops a guideline for urban actors to find a systemic solution to soil sealing management based on two case studies in Germany: Munich and Leipzig. Legal-planning, informal-planning, economic-fiscal, co-operative and informational responses were evaluated by indicators to proof which strategy considers the spatial complexity of urban soil sealing (systemic spatial efficiency) and, while considering spatial complexity, to assess what the key management areas for action aremore » to reduce the ecological impacts by urban soil sealing (ecological impact efficiency) and to support an efficient implementation by urban actors (social implementation efficiency). Results suggest framing the systemic solution to soil sealing management through a cross-scale, legal-planning development strategy embedded in higher European policies. Within the socio-ecological system, the key management area for action should focus on the protection of green infrastructure being of high value for actors from the European to local scales. Further efforts are necessary to establish a systemic monitoring concept to optimize socio-ecological benefits and avoid trade-offs such as between urban infill development and urban green protection. This place-based study can be regarded as a stepping stone on how to develop systemic strategies by considering different spatial sub-targets and socio-ecological systems. - Highlights: • Urban soil sealing management is spatially complex. • The legal-planning strategy supports a systemic sealing management. • Urban green infrastructure protection should be in the management focus. • Soil protection requires policies from higher levels of government. • A systemic urban soil sealing monitoring concept is needed.« less

Developing Software to “Track and Catch” Missed Follow-up of Abnormal Test Results in a Complex Sociotechnical Environment

PubMed Central

Smith, M.; Murphy, D.; Laxmisan, A.; Sittig, D.; Reis, B.; Esquivel, A.; Singh, H.

2013-01-01

Summary Background Abnormal test results do not always receive timely follow-up, even when providers are notified through electronic health record (EHR)-based alerts. High workload, alert fatigue, and other demands on attention disrupt a provider’s prospective memory for tasks required to initiate follow-up. Thus, EHR-based tracking and reminding functionalities are needed to improve follow-up. Objectives The purpose of this study was to develop a decision-support software prototype enabling individual and system-wide tracking of abnormal test result alerts lacking follow-up, and to conduct formative evaluations, including usability testing. Methods We developed a working prototype software system, the Alert Watch And Response Engine (AWARE), to detect abnormal test result alerts lacking documented follow-up, and to present context-specific reminders to providers. Development and testing took place within the VA’s EHR and focused on four cancer-related abnormal test results. Design concepts emphasized mitigating the effects of high workload and alert fatigue while being minimally intrusive. We conducted a multifaceted formative evaluation of the software, addressing fit within the larger socio-technical system. Evaluations included usability testing with the prototype and interview questions about organizational and workflow factors. Participants included 23 physicians, 9 clinical information technology specialists, and 8 quality/safety managers. Results Evaluation results indicated that our software prototype fit within the technical environment and clinical workflow, and physicians were able to use it successfully. Quality/safety managers reported that the tool would be useful in future quality assurance activities to detect patients who lack documented follow-up. Additionally, we successfully installed the software on the local facility’s “test” EHR system, thus demonstrating technical compatibility. Conclusion To address the factors involved in missed test results, we developed a software prototype to account for technical, usability, organizational, and workflow needs. Our evaluation has shown the feasibility of the prototype as a means of facilitating better follow-up for cancer-related abnormal test results. PMID:24155789

Developing software to "track and catch" missed follow-up of abnormal test results in a complex sociotechnical environment.

PubMed

Smith, M; Murphy, D; Laxmisan, A; Sittig, D; Reis, B; Esquivel, A; Singh, H

2013-01-01

Abnormal test results do not always receive timely follow-up, even when providers are notified through electronic health record (EHR)-based alerts. High workload, alert fatigue, and other demands on attention disrupt a provider's prospective memory for tasks required to initiate follow-up. Thus, EHR-based tracking and reminding functionalities are needed to improve follow-up. The purpose of this study was to develop a decision-support software prototype enabling individual and system-wide tracking of abnormal test result alerts lacking follow-up, and to conduct formative evaluations, including usability testing. We developed a working prototype software system, the Alert Watch And Response Engine (AWARE), to detect abnormal test result alerts lacking documented follow-up, and to present context-specific reminders to providers. Development and testing took place within the VA's EHR and focused on four cancer-related abnormal test results. Design concepts emphasized mitigating the effects of high workload and alert fatigue while being minimally intrusive. We conducted a multifaceted formative evaluation of the software, addressing fit within the larger socio-technical system. Evaluations included usability testing with the prototype and interview questions about organizational and workflow factors. Participants included 23 physicians, 9 clinical information technology specialists, and 8 quality/safety managers. Evaluation results indicated that our software prototype fit within the technical environment and clinical workflow, and physicians were able to use it successfully. Quality/safety managers reported that the tool would be useful in future quality assurance activities to detect patients who lack documented follow-up. Additionally, we successfully installed the software on the local facility's "test" EHR system, thus demonstrating technical compatibility. To address the factors involved in missed test results, we developed a software prototype to account for technical, usability, organizational, and workflow needs. Our evaluation has shown the feasibility of the prototype as a means of facilitating better follow-up for cancer-related abnormal test results.

A socio-technical approach to improving retail energy efficiency behaviours.

PubMed

Christina, Sian; Waterson, Patrick; Dainty, Andrew; Daniels, Kevin

2015-03-01

In recent years, the UK retail sector has made a significant contribution to societal responses on carbon reduction. We provide a novel and timely examination of environmental sustainability from a systems perspective, exploring how energy-related technologies and strategies are incorporated into organisational life. We use a longitudinal case study approach, looking at behavioural energy efficiency from within one of the UK's leading retailers. Our data covers a two-year period, with qualitative data from a total of 131 participants gathered using phased interviews and focus groups. We introduce an adapted socio-technical framework approach in order to describe an existing organisational behavioural strategy to support retail energy efficiency. Our findings point to crucial socio-technical and goal-setting factors which both impede and/or enable energy efficient behaviours, these include: tensions linked to store level perception of energy management goals; an emphasis on the importance of technology for underpinning change processes; and, the need for feedback and incentives to support the completion of energy-related tasks. We also describe the evolution of a practical operational intervention designed to address issues raised in our findings. Our study provides fresh insights into how sustainable workplace behaviours can be achieved and sustained over time. Secondly, we discuss in detail a set of issues arising from goal conflict in the workplace; these include the development of a practical energy management strategy to facilitate secondary organisational goals through job redesign. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Safety I-II, resilience and antifragility engineering: a debate explained through an accident occurring on a mobile elevating work platform.

PubMed

Martinetti, Alberto; Chatzimichailidou, Maria Mikela; Maida, Luisa; van Dongen, Leo

2018-04-24

Occupational health and safety (OHS) represents an important field of exploration for the research community: in spite of the growth of technological innovations, the increasing complexity of systems involves critical issues in terms of degradation of the safety levels. In such a situation, new safety management approaches are now mandatory in order to face the safety implications of the current technological evolutions. Along these lines, performing risk-based analysis alone seems not to be enough anymore. The evaluation of robustness, antifragility and resilience of a socio-technical system is now indispensable in order to face unforeseen events. This article will briefly introduce the topics of Safety I and Safety II, resilience engineering and antifragility engineering, explaining correlations, overlapping aspects and synergies. Secondly, the article will discuss the applications of those paradigms to a real accident, highlighting how they can challenge, stimulate and inspire research for improving OHS conditions.

A review of interdependence of sustainable building

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ju, Chuanjing; Ning, Yan, E-mail: cqningyan@gmail.com; Pan, Wei

2016-01-15

ABSTRACT: Despite the worldwide promotion of the sustainable building (SB) approach, its associated interdependence has seldom been explored. This knowledge gap is significant given the paradigm shift of regarding SBs as complex socio-technical systems embedded with multifaceted interdependence. The aim of this paper is to examine the interdependence of SB through a literature review. The literature review was guided by a framework comprising three dimensions of SB systems, i.e., building performance, methodology and stakeholders, on their theoretical grounds ranged from reductionism to holism. In order to articulate the integration of the three dimensions, this paper examined zero carbon building asmore » a specific case of SB. The findings contribute an innovative approach to examining the interdependence of SB, and should guide the development of strategies for managing the trade-offs in delivering SBs. - Highlights: • Performance scope of sustainable building triggers interdependence. • Material flow from cradle to cradle causes interdependence. • Interdependence occurs between the building and their context. • Interdependence exists in stakeholders' participation.« less

In regulation we trust.

PubMed

Wiig, Siri; Tharaldsen, Jorunn Elise

2012-01-01

The role of trust has been argued to play an increasingly important role in modern, complex, and ambivalent risk societies. Trust within organizational research is anticipated to have a general strategic impact on aspects such as organizational performance, communication and knowledge exchange, and learning from accidents. Trust is also an important aspect related to regulation of risk. Diverse regulatory regimes, their contexts and risks influence regulators use of trust and distrust in regulatory practice. The aim of this paper is to discuss the relationship between risk regulation and trust across diverse risk regulation regimes. By drawing from studies of risk regulation, risk perception, and trust the purpose is to discuss how regulation and trust are linked and used in practice to control risk across system levels in socio-technical systems in high risk industries. This paper provides new knowledge on 1) how functional and dysfunctional trust and distrust are grounded in the empirical realities of high risk industries, 2) how different perspectives on trust and distrust act together and bring new knowledge on how society control risk.

DEVELOPMENT OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS FOR ADVANCED SMRs: THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacques Hugo; David Gertman

Advanced small modular reactors (AdvSMRs) will use advanced digital instrumentation and control systems, and make greater use of automation. These advances not only pose technical and operational challenges, but will inevitably have an effect on the operating and maintenance (O&M) cost of new plants. However, there is much uncertainty about the impact of AdvSMR designs on operational and human factors considerations, such as workload, situation awareness, human reliability, staffing levels, and the appropriate allocation of functions between the crew and various automated plant systems. Existing human factors and systems engineering design standards and methodologies are not current in terms ofmore » human interaction requirements for dynamic automated systems and are no longer suitable for the analysis of evolving operational concepts. New models and guidance for operational concepts for complex socio-technical systems need to adopt a state-of-the-art approach such as Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) that gives due consideration to the role of personnel. This approach we report on helps to identify and evaluate human challenges related to non-traditional concepts of operations. A framework - defining operational strategies was developed based on the operational analysis of Argonne National Laboratory’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II), a small (20MWe) sodium-cooled reactor that was successfully operated for thirty years. Insights from the application of the systematic application of the methodology and its utility are reviewed and arguments for the formal adoption of CSE as a value-added part of the Systems Engineering process are presented.« less

Exploring Socio-Technical Insights for Safe Nursing Handover.

PubMed

Wong, Ming Chao; Yee, Kwang Chien; Turner, Paul

2017-01-01

Current efforts to improve nursing handover frequently use prescriptive approaches based on research evidence of handover issues within a single nursing ward or nursing specialty. Despite reported handover improvement, few studies adequately consider the transferability of results to other nursing handover environments or acknowledge the unique attributes that supported sustained improvement. With the increasing diffusion of electronic tools it has become even more critical to ensure that socio-technical issues that may impact on the quality and safety of nursing handovers are identified. This paper describes a qualitative research project that examined nursing handover in three different wards - General Medicine, General Surgery and Department of Emergency Medicine in a tertiary teaching hospital. Through conduct of a detailed analysis of nursing handover processes, this paper highlights the similarities and differences in the handover among the three different wards and presents five key socio-technical insights to support safe nursing handover.

On modeling complex interplay in small-scale self-organized socio-hydrological systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muneepeerakul, Rachata

2017-04-01

Successful and sustainable socio-hydrological systems, as in any coupled natural human-systems, require effective governance, which depends on the existence of proper infrastructure (both hard and soft). Recent work has addressed systems in which resource users and the organization responsible for maintaining the infrastructure are separate entities. However, many socio-hydrological systems, especially in developing countries, are small and without such formal division of labor; rather, such division of labor typically arises from self-organization within the population. In this work, we modify and mathematically operationalize a conceptual framework by developing a system of differential equations that capture the strategic behavior within such a self-organized population, its interplay with infrastructure characteristics and hydrological dynamics, and feedbacks between these elements. The model yields a number of insightful conditions related to long-term sustainability and collapse of the socio-hydrological system in the form of relationships between biophysical and social factors. These relationships encapsulate nonlinear interactions of these factors. The modeling framework is grounded in a solid conceptual foundation upon which additional modifications and realism can be built for potential reconciliation between socio-hydrology with other related fields and further applications.

An operationalized post-normal science framework for assisting in the development of complex science policy solutions: the case of nanotechnology governance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, Michael J.; Foley, Rider W.; Bennett, Ira

2014-07-01

Scientists, engineers, and policy analysts commonly suggest governance regimes for technology to maximize societal benefits and minimize negative societal and environmental impacts of innovation processes. Yet innovation is a complex socio-technical process that does not respond predictably to modification. Our human propensity to exclude complexity when attempting to manage systems often results in insufficient, one-dimensional solutions. The tendency to exclude complexity (1) reinforces itself by diminishing experience and capacity in the design of simple solutions to complex problems, and (2) leads to solutions that do not address the identified problem. To address the question of how to avoid a complexity- exclusion trap, this article operationalizes a post-normal science framework to assist in the enhancement or design of science policy proposals. A literature review of technological fixes, policy panaceas, and knowledge-to-action gaps is conducted to survey examples of post-normal science frameworks. Next, an operational framework is used to assess the case of a proposed international nanotechnology advisory board. The framework reveals that the board addresses a slice of the broader, more complex problem of nanotechnology governance. We argue that while the formation of an international advisory board is not problematic in-and-of-itself, it is symptomatic of and plays into a complexity- exclusion trap. We offer researchers, policy analysts, and decision-makers three recommendations that incorporate a more appropriate level of complexity into governance proposals.

Managing uncertainty: a review of food system scenario analysis and modelling

PubMed Central

Reilly, Michael; Willenbockel, Dirk

2010-01-01

Complex socio-ecological systems like the food system are unpredictable, especially to long-term horizons such as 2050. In order to manage this uncertainty, scenario analysis has been used in conjunction with food system models to explore plausible future outcomes. Food system scenarios use a diversity of scenario types and modelling approaches determined by the purpose of the exercise and by technical, methodological and epistemological constraints. Our case studies do not suggest Malthusian futures for a projected global population of 9 billion in 2050; but international trade will be a crucial determinant of outcomes; and the concept of sustainability across the dimensions of the food system has been inadequately explored so far. The impact of scenario analysis at a global scale could be strengthened with participatory processes involving key actors at other geographical scales. Food system models are valuable in managing existing knowledge on system behaviour and ensuring the credibility of qualitative stories but they are limited by current datasets for global crop production and trade, land use and hydrology. Climate change is likely to challenge the adaptive capacity of agricultural production and there are important knowledge gaps for modelling research to address. PMID:20713402

Transition through co-optation: Harnessing carbon democracy for clean energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Kathryn-Louise

This dissertation explores barriers to a clean energy transition in the United States. Clean energy is demonstrably viable, yet the pace of clean energy adoption in the U.S. is slow, particularly given the immediate threat of global climate change. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the factors inhibiting a domestic energy transition and to propose pragmatic approaches to catalyzing a transition. The first article examines the current political-economic and socio-technical energy landscape in the U.S. Fossil fuels are central to the functioning of the American economy. Given this centrality, constellations of power have been constructed around the reliable and affordable access of fossil fuels. The fossil fuel energy regime is comprised of: political-economic networks with vested interests in continued fossil fuel reliance, and fixed infrastructure that is minimally compatible with distributed generation. A transition to clean energy threatens the profitability of fossil fuel regime actors. Harnessing structural critiques from political ecology and process and function-oriented socio-technical systems frameworks, I present a multi-level approach to identifying pragmatic means to catalyzing an energy transition. High-level solutions confront the existing structure, mid-level solutions harness synergy with the existing structure, and low-level solutions lie outside of the energy system or foster the TIS. This is exemplified using a case study of solar development in Massachusetts. Article two presents a case study of the clean energy technological innovation system (TIS) in Massachusetts. I examine the actors and institutions that support cleantech development. Further, I scrutinize the actors and institutions that help sustain the TIS support system. The concept of a catalyst is presented; a catalyst is an actor that serves to propel TIS functions. Catalysts are critical to facilitating anchoring. Strategic corporate partners are identified as powerful catalysts that can help infuse capital into the TIS, propel TIS functions, and facilitate anchoring to the socio-technical regime and landscape. In the final article I argue that the environmental narrative that traditionally frames the need for clean energy is ineffective. Environmental narratives are antagonistic towards powerful actors and institutions discussed in the first article. Such antagonism can impede the development of clean energy incentives, decelerating a transition to clean energy. The need for clean energy can be reframed according to a security discourse. I demonstrate the compatibility between clean energy development and national security imperatives and argue that security imperatives are more likely to receive legislative and financial support than environmental imperatives. Ultimately I argue that geographers can find utility in the very structures, institutions, and actors that they critique. Capitalist imperatives of profit and growth can be harnessed so as to appeal to strategic corporate partners. The military, its budget, industrial complex, and research and development resources can in fact be beneficial to developing clean energy domestically.

A conceptual socio-hydrological model of the co-evolution of humans and water: case study of the Tarim River basin, western China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, D.; Tian, F.; Lin, M.; Sivapalan, M.

2015-02-01

The complex interactions and feedbacks between humans and water are critically important issues but remain poorly understood in the newly proposed discipline of socio-hydrology (Sivapalan et al., 2012). An exploratory model with the appropriate level of simplification can be valuable for improving our understanding of the co-evolution and self-organization of socio-hydrological systems driven by interactions and feedbacks operating at different scales. In this study, a simplified conceptual socio-hydrological model based on logistic growth curves is developed for the Tarim River basin in western China and is used to illustrate the explanatory power of such a co-evolutionary model. The study area is the main stream of the Tarim River, which is divided into two modeling units. The socio-hydrological system is composed of four sub-systems, i.e., the hydrological, ecological, economic, and social sub-systems. In each modeling unit, the hydrological equation focusing on water balance is coupled to the other three evolutionary equations to represent the dynamics of the social sub-system (denoted by population), the economic sub-system (denoted by irrigated crop area ratio), and the ecological sub-system (denoted by natural vegetation cover), each of which is expressed in terms of a logistic growth curve. Four feedback loops are identified to represent the complex interactions among different sub-systems and different spatial units, of which two are inner loops occurring within each separate unit and the other two are outer loops linking the two modeling units. The feedback mechanisms are incorporated into the constitutive relations for model parameters, i.e., the colonization and mortality rates in the logistic growth curves that are jointly determined by the state variables of all sub-systems. The co-evolution of the Tarim socio-hydrological system is then analyzed with this conceptual model to gain insights into the overall system dynamics and its sensitivity to the external drivers and internal system variables. The results show a costly pendulum swing between a balanced distribution of socio-economic and natural ecologic resources among the upper and lower reaches and a highly skewed distribution towards the upper reach. This evolution is principally driven by the attitudinal changes occurring within water resources management policies that reflect the evolving community awareness of society to concerns regarding the ecology and environment.

Multiple dimensions of transitions in complex socio-ecological systems - A case from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wei; Yang, Wu; Vina, Andres; Schröter, Dagmar; Liu, Jianguo

2013-04-01

Transitions in complex socio-ecological systems are intermediate phases between two successive and more stable periods or states and involve various societal, ecological, and biophysical changes that are often non-linear and inter-related. Understanding transitions is challenging but important for managing socio-ecological systems for achieving environmental sustainability and improving human well-being. Long-term and intensive research is warranted to disclose common patterns and mechanisms of socio-ecological transitions and to develop ideas and methods for studying and planning sustainable transitions. Based on a long-term research on human-nature relationships in Wolong Nature Reserve in China, we studied multiple concurrent social, economic, and ecological transitions during the last 15 years. As a UNESCO biosphere reserve, Wolong lies within a global biodiversity hotspot and a World Heritage site. It contains the largest populations of the world-famous endangered giant pandas and several thousand other animal and plant species. Like most nature reserves in China and many other developing countries, Wolong is also home to many local residents who undertake a variety of activities that involve interaction with ecosystem. For the majority of the 20th century, local people in Wolong lived under poverty line in a closed subsistence-based agricultural economy. Their demands on for wood (as fuel and raw materials) from the natural forests were high and resulted in severe deforestation, habitat degradation, and landslides. Since late 1990s, a series of major economic (e.g., tourism development) and environmental (e.g., payment for ecosystem services programs) policies have been implemented in the reserve as adaptive strategies to cope with poverty and ecological degradation. Within a decade, we have observed major transitions in land use (i.e., from extractive use to non-consumptive use), economic structure (i.e., from a subsistence-based agricultural economy to an open economy relying on tourism and cash crop), and energy consumption (i.e., decline in biomass fuel by three quarters and tripling in electricity use). We further analyzed their impacts on local people's well-being and discuss the possible explanatory framework for the observed socio-ecological transition as a whole. This study not only has direct implications for sustainability transition in developing countries but also increases our understanding of the complexity of human-nature interactions and their effects on the resilience of complex socio-ecological systems.

Business Model Design from an ANT Perspective: Contributions and Insights of an Open and Living Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Costa, Cristina Chuva; da Cunha, Paulo Rupino

The way the Internet has connected millions of users at negligible costs has changed playing field for companies. Several stakeholders can now come together in virtual networks to create innovative business models that would be unfeasible in the physical world. However, the more radical the departure from the established models of value creation, the bigger the complexity in ensuring the sustained interest of the involved parties and the stability of the bonds. To address this problem, we sought inspiration in the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which is capable of providing insights into socio-technical settings where human and non-human agents interact. We describe how several of its principles, ideas, and concepts were adapted and embedded in our approach for complex business model design or analysis. A simple illustration is provided. Our iterative approach helps systematically scrutinize and tune the contributions and returns of the various actors, ensuring that all end up with an attractive value proposal, thus promoting the robustness of the network. Guidelines for the services that an underlying information system must provide are also derived from the results.

Intertextuality for Handling Complex Environmental Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byhring, Anne Kristine; Knain, Erik

2016-01-01

Nowhere is the need for handling complexity more pertinent than in addressing environmental issues. Our study explores students' situated constructs of complexity in unfolding discourses on socio-scientific issues. Students' dialogues in two group-work episodes are analysed in detail, with tools from Systemic Functional Linguistics. We identify…

Uncovering and Managing the Impact of Methodological Choices for the Computational Construction of Socio-Technical Networks from Texts

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

networks has become fast , cheap, and easy (Shapiro, 1971; Trigg & Weiser, 1986). Modern information and communication technologies, such as the internet...However, once the model is learned, inference time is not subject to this constraint. Therefore, applying the model in end-user applications is fast ...products that facilitate the fast collection and assessment of these networks. For the purpose of analyzing socio-technical networks of geopolitical

A Cross Cultural Validation of Perceptions and Use of Social Network Service: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guo, Chengqi

2009-01-01

The rapid developments Social Network Service (SNS) have offered opportunities to re-visit many seminal theoretical assumptions of technology usage within socio-technical environment. Online social network is a rapidly growing field that imposes new questions to the existing IS research paradigm. It is argued that information systems research must…

Echoes That Never Were: American Mobile Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, 1956-1983

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-11

research, develop, operate, maintain, and sustain complex technological systems , ICBMs were--and remain--a system blending technical matters, scientific ...maintain, and sustain complex technological systems , ICBMs were--and remain--a system blending technical matters, scientific laws, economic...technological system that blended scientific laws, economic realities, political forces, and social concerns that included environmentalism and

Sustainable Biofuels A Transitions Approach to Understanding the Global Expansion of Ethanol and Biodiesel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cottes, Jeffrey Jacob

Between 1998 and 2008, the promise of biofuels to increase rural development, enhance energy security, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions stimulated their diffusion across international markets. This rapid expansion of ethanol and biodiesel encouraged many jurisdictions to implement biofuels expansion policies and programs. Global biofuels, characterised by mass production and international trade of ethanol and biodiesel, occurred despite their long history as marginal technologies on the fringe of the petroleum-based transportation energy regime. The first purpose of this dissertation is to examine the global expansion of ethanol and biodiesel to understand how these recurrent socio-technological failures co-evolved with petroleum transportation fuels. Drawing from the field of socio-technical transitions, this dissertation also assesses the global expansion of ethanol and biodiesel to determine whether or not these first generation biofuels are sustainable. Numerous studies have assessed the technical effects of ethanol and biodiesel, but effects-based technical assessments of transport biofuels are unable to explain the interaction of wider system elements. The configuration of multi-level factors (i.e., niche development, the technological regime, and the socio-technical landscape) informs the present and emerging social functions of biofuels, which become relevant when determining how biofuels might become a sustainable energy option. The biofuels regimes that evolved in Brazil, the United States, and the European Union provide case studies show how ethanol and biodiesel expanded from fringe fuels to global commodities. The production infrastructures within these dominant biofuels regimes contribute to a persistence of unsustainable first generation biofuels that can inhibit the technical development and sustainability of biofuels. However, new and emerging ethanol and biodiesel markets are relatively small in comparison to the dominant regimes, and can readily adapt to technical and regulatory change. This dissertation argues that dominant biofuels regimes have not produced a sustainable energy option. It explores the Canadian case to evaluate the opportunities for niche development, and suggests that small markets can develop niche innovations by regulating the insertion of sustainability criteria in order to de-align the dominant trajectory of global biofuels production regimes and encourage their re-alignment in a more sustainable configuration.

State of science: human factors and ergonomics in healthcare.

PubMed

Hignett, Sue; Carayon, Pascale; Buckle, Peter; Catchpole, Ken

2013-01-01

The past decade has seen an increase in the application of human factors and ergonomics (HFE) techniques to healthcare delivery in a broad range of contexts (domains, locations and environments). This paper provides a state of science commentary using four examples of HFE in healthcare to review and discuss analytical and implementation challenges and to identify future issues for HFE. The examples include two domain areas (occupational ergonomics and surgical safety) to illustrate a traditional application of HFE and the area that has probably received the most research attention. The other two examples show how systems and design have been addressed in healthcare with theoretical approaches for organisational and socio-technical systems and design for patient safety. Future opportunities are identified to develop and embed HFE systems thinking in healthcare including new theoretical models and long-term collaborative partnerships. HFE can contribute to systems and design initiatives for both patients and clinicians to improve everyday performance and safety, and help to reduce and control spiralling healthcare costs. There has been an increase in the application of HFE techniques to healthcare delivery in the past 10 years. This paper provides a state of science commentary using four illustrative examples (occupational ergonomics, design for patient safety, surgical safety and organisational and socio-technical systems) to review and discuss analytical and implementation challenges and identify future issues for HFE.

NASA's EOSDIS Cumulus: Ingesting, Archiving, Managing, and Distributing from Commercial Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baynes, K.; Ramachandran, R.; Pilone, D.; Quinn, P.; Schuler, I.; Gilman, J.; Jazayeri, A.

2017-12-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been working towards a vision of a cloud-based, highly-flexible, ingest, archive, management, and distribution system for its ever-growing and evolving data holdings. This system, Cumulus, is emerging from its prototyping stages and is poised to make a huge impact on how NASA manages and disseminates its Earth science data. This talk will outline the motivation for this work, present the achievements and hurdles of the past 18 months and will chart a course for the future expansion of the Cumulus expansion. We will explore on not just the technical, but also the socio-technical challenges that we face in evolving a system of this magnitude into the cloud and how we are rising to meet those challenges through open collaboration and intentional stakeholder engagement.

Automated Discovery and Modeling of Sequential Patterns Preceding Events of Interest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rohloff, Kurt

2010-01-01

The integration of emerging data manipulation technologies has enabled a paradigm shift in practitioners' abilities to understand and anticipate events of interest in complex systems. Example events of interest include outbreaks of socio-political violence in nation-states. Rather than relying on human-centric modeling efforts that are limited by the availability of SMEs, automated data processing technologies has enabled the development of innovative automated complex system modeling and predictive analysis technologies. We introduce one such emerging modeling technology - the sequential pattern methodology. We have applied the sequential pattern methodology to automatically identify patterns of observed behavior that precede outbreaks of socio-political violence such as riots, rebellions and coups in nation-states. The sequential pattern methodology is a groundbreaking approach to automated complex system model discovery because it generates easily interpretable patterns based on direct observations of sampled factor data for a deeper understanding of societal behaviors that is tolerant of observation noise and missing data. The discovered patterns are simple to interpret and mimic human's identifications of observed trends in temporal data. Discovered patterns also provide an automated forecasting ability: we discuss an example of using discovered patterns coupled with a rich data environment to forecast various types of socio-political violence in nation-states.

A methodology for eliciting, representing, and analysing stakeholder knowledge for decision making on complex socio-ecological systems: from cognitive maps to agent-based models.

PubMed

Elsawah, Sondoss; Guillaume, Joseph H A; Filatova, Tatiana; Rook, Josefine; Jakeman, Anthony J

2015-03-15

This paper aims to contribute to developing better ways for incorporating essential human elements in decision making processes for modelling of complex socio-ecological systems. It presents a step-wise methodology for integrating perceptions of stakeholders (qualitative) into formal simulation models (quantitative) with the ultimate goal of improving understanding and communication about decision making in complex socio-ecological systems. The methodology integrates cognitive mapping and agent based modelling. It cascades through a sequence of qualitative/soft and numerical methods comprising: (1) Interviews to elicit mental models; (2) Cognitive maps to represent and analyse individual and group mental models; (3) Time-sequence diagrams to chronologically structure the decision making process; (4) All-encompassing conceptual model of decision making, and (5) computational (in this case agent-based) Model. We apply the proposed methodology (labelled ICTAM) in a case study of viticulture irrigation in South Australia. Finally, we use strengths-weakness-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis to reflect on the methodology. Results show that the methodology leverages the use of cognitive mapping to capture the richness of decision making and mental models, and provides a combination of divergent and convergent analysis methods leading to the construction of an Agent Based Model. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adapting an Agent-Based Model of Socio-Technical Systems to Analyze System and Security Failures

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-09

statistically significant amount, which it did with a p-valueɘ.0003 on a simulation of 3125 iterations; the data is shown in the Delegation 1 column of...Blackout metric to a statistically significant amount, with a p-valueɘ.0003 on a simulation of 3125 iterations; the data is shown in the Delegation 2...Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems: volume 1-Volume 1, pp. 1007- 1014 . International Foundation

Towards an evaluation framework for Laboratory Information Systems.

PubMed

Yusof, Maryati M; Arifin, Azila

Laboratory testing and reporting are error-prone and redundant due to repeated, unnecessary requests and delayed or missed reactions to laboratory reports. Occurring errors may negatively affect the patient treatment process and clinical decision making. Evaluation on laboratory testing and Laboratory Information System (LIS) may explain the root cause to improve the testing process and enhance LIS in supporting the process. This paper discusses a new evaluation framework for LIS that encompasses the laboratory testing cycle and the socio-technical part of LIS. Literature review on discourses, dimensions and evaluation methods of laboratory testing and LIS. A critical appraisal of the Total Testing Process (TTP) and the human, organization, technology-fit factors (HOT-fit) evaluation frameworks was undertaken in order to identify error incident, its contributing factors and preventive action pertinent to laboratory testing process and LIS. A new evaluation framework for LIS using a comprehensive and socio-technical approach is outlined. Positive relationship between laboratory and clinical staff resulted in a smooth laboratory testing process, reduced errors and increased process efficiency whilst effective use of LIS streamlined the testing processes. The TTP-LIS framework could serve as an assessment as well as a problem-solving tool for the laboratory testing process and system. Copyright © 2016 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of organisational support in teleworker wellbeing: a socio-technical systems approach.

PubMed

Bentley, T A; Teo, S T T; McLeod, L; Tan, F; Bosua, R; Gloet, M

2016-01-01

The prevalence of telework and other forms of mobile working enabled by digital technology is increasing markedly. Following a socio-technical systems approach, this study aims to examine the role of organisational social support and specific support for teleworkers in influencing teleworker wellbeing, the mediating role of social isolation, potentially resulting from a person-environment mismatch in these relationships, and possible differences in these relationships between low-intensity and hybrid teleworkers. Teleworkers' (n = 804) perceptions of support and telework outcomes (psychological strain, job satisfaction, and social isolation) were collected using an on-line survey of teleworking employees distributed within 28 New Zealand organisations where knowledge work was undertaken. Organisational social support and teleworker support was associated with increased job satisfaction and reduced psychological strain. Social isolation mediated the relationship between organisational social support and the two outcome variables, and some differences were observed in the structural relationships for hybrid and low-intensity teleworker sub-samples. These findings suggest that providing the necessary organisational and teleworker support is important for enhancing the teleworker-environment fit and thereby ensuring desirable telework outcomes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Distributed mixed-integer fuzzy hierarchical programming for municipal solid waste management. Part I: System identification and methodology development.

PubMed

Cheng, Guanhui; Huang, Guohe; Dong, Cong; Xu, Ye; Chen, Xiujuan; Chen, Jiapei

2017-03-01

Due to the existence of complexities of heterogeneities, hierarchy, discreteness, and interactions in municipal solid waste management (MSWM) systems such as Beijing, China, a series of socio-economic and eco-environmental problems may emerge or worsen and result in irredeemable damages in the following decades. Meanwhile, existing studies, especially ones focusing on MSWM in Beijing, could hardly reflect these complexities in system simulations and provide reliable decision support for management practices. Thus, a framework of distributed mixed-integer fuzzy hierarchical programming (DMIFHP) is developed in this study for MSWM under these complexities. Beijing is selected as a representative case. The Beijing MSWM system is comprehensively analyzed in many aspects such as socio-economic conditions, natural conditions, spatial heterogeneities, treatment facilities, and system complexities, building a solid foundation for system simulation and optimization. Correspondingly, the MSWM system in Beijing is discretized as 235 grids to reflect spatial heterogeneity. A DMIFHP model which is a nonlinear programming problem is constructed to parameterize the Beijing MSWM system. To enable scientific solving of it, a solution algorithm is proposed based on coupling of fuzzy programming and mixed-integer linear programming. Innovations and advantages of the DMIFHP framework are discussed. The optimal MSWM schemes and mechanism revelations will be discussed in another companion paper due to length limitation.

Automated dredging and disposal alternatives management system (ADDAMS). Environmental effects of dredging. Technical note

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

This technical note describes the current capabilities and availability of the Automated Dredging and Disposal Alternatives Management System (ADDAMS). The technical note replaces the earlier Technical Note EEDP-06-12, which should be discarded. Planning, design, and management of dredging and dredged material disposal projects often require complex or tedious calculations or involve complex decision-making criteria. In addition, the evaluations often must be done for several disposal alternatives or disposal sites. ADDAMS is a personal computer (PC)-based system developed to assist in making such evaluations in a timely manner. ADDAMS contains a collection of computer programs (applications) designed to assist in managingmore » dredging projects. This technical note describes the system, currently available applications, mechanisms for acquiring and running the system, and provisions for revision and expansion.« less

Managing the Process of Protection Level Assessment of the Complex Organization and Technical Industrial Enterprises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorlov, A. P.; Averchenkov, V. I.; Rytov, M. Yu; Eryomenko, V. T.

2017-01-01

The article is concerned with mathematical simulation of protection level assessment of complex organizational and technical systems of industrial enterprises by creating automated system, which main functions are: information security (IS) audit, forming of the enterprise threats model, recommendations concerning creation of the information protection system, a set of organizational-administrative documentation.

A framework for modelling the complexities of food and water security under globalisation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dermody, Brian J.; Sivapalan, Murugesu; Stehfest, Elke; van Vuuren, Detlef P.; Wassen, Martin J.; Bierkens, Marc F. P.; Dekker, Stefan C.

2018-01-01

We present a new framework for modelling the complexities of food and water security under globalisation. The framework sets out a method to capture regional and sectoral interdependencies and cross-scale feedbacks within the global food system that contribute to emergent water use patterns. The framework integrates aspects of existing models and approaches in the fields of hydrology and integrated assessment modelling. The core of the framework is a multi-agent network of city agents connected by infrastructural trade networks. Agents receive socio-economic and environmental constraint information from integrated assessment models and hydrological models respectively and simulate complex, socio-environmental dynamics that operate within those constraints. The emergent changes in food and water resources are aggregated and fed back to the original models with minimal modification of the structure of those models. It is our conviction that the framework presented can form the basis for a new wave of decision tools that capture complex socio-environmental change within our globalised world. In doing so they will contribute to illuminating pathways towards a sustainable future for humans, ecosystems and the water they share.

Simulation of long-term influence from technical systems on permafrost with various short-scale and hourly operation modes in Arctic region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaganova, N. A.

2017-12-01

Technogenic and climatic influences have a significant impact on the degradation of permafrost. Long-term forecasts of such changes during long-time periods have to be taken into account in the oil and gas and construction industries in view to development the Arctic and Subarctic regions. There are considered constantly operating technical systems (for example, oil and gas wells) that affect changes in permafrost, as well as the technical systems that have a short-term impact on permafrost (for example, flare systems for emergency flaring of associated gas). The second type of technical systems is rather complex for simulation, since it is required to reserve both short and long-scales in computations with variable time steps describing the complex technological processes. The main attention is paid to the simulation of long-term influence on the permafrost from the second type of the technical systems.

Archetypical C2 Organization Design for Ever Increasing Technological Autonomy: An Unmanned Aircraft System Illustration

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that...notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does...important, open, research question of how socio-technical C2 systems should be (re)designed to (re)balance such rapid technological advance and broad

Multiagent model and mean field theory of complex auction dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Qinghua; Huang, Zi-Gang; Wang, Yougui; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2015-09-01

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in analyzing a variety of socio-economic phenomena using methods from statistical and nonlinear physics. We study a class of complex systems arising from economics, the lowest unique bid auction (LUBA) systems, which is a recently emerged class of online auction game systems. Through analyzing large, empirical data sets of LUBA, we identify a general feature of the bid price distribution: an inverted J-shaped function with exponential decay in the large bid price region. To account for the distribution, we propose a multi-agent model in which each agent bids stochastically in the field of winner’s attractiveness, and develop a theoretical framework to obtain analytic solutions of the model based on mean field analysis. The theory produces bid-price distributions that are in excellent agreement with those from the real data. Our model and theory capture the essential features of human behaviors in the competitive environment as exemplified by LUBA, and may provide significant quantitative insights into complex socio-economic phenomena.

A user's guide to coping with estuarine management bureaucracy: An Estuarine Planning Support System (EPSS) tool.

PubMed

Lonsdale, Jemma; Nicholson, Rose; Weston, Keith; Elliott, Michael; Birchenough, Andrew; Sühring, Roxana

2018-02-01

Estuaries are amongst the most socio-economically and ecologically important environments however, due to competing and conflicting demands, management is often challenging with a complex legislative framework managed by multiple agencies. To facilitate the understanding of this legislative framework, we have developed a GISbased Estuarine Planning Support System tool. The tool integrates the requirements of the relevant legislation and provides a basis for assessing the current environmental state of an estuary as well as informing and assessing new plans to ensure a healthy estuarine state. The tool ensures that the information is easily accessible for regulators, managers, developers and the public. The tool is intended to be adaptable, but is assessed using the Humber Estuary, United Kingdom as a case study area. The successful application of the tool for complex socio-economic and environmental systems demonstrates that the tool can efficiently guide users through the complex requirements needed to support sustainable development. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HESS Opinions: A conceptual framework for assessing socio-hydrological resilience under change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, Feng; Clark, Julian; Karpouzoglou, Timothy; Dewulf, Art; Buytaert, Wouter; Hannah, David

2017-07-01

Despite growing interest in resilience, there is still significant scope for increasing its conceptual clarity and practical relevance in socio-hydrological contexts: specifically, questions of how socio-hydrological systems respond to and cope with perturbations and how these connect to resilience remain unanswered. In this opinion paper, we propose a novel conceptual framework for understanding and assessing resilience in coupled socio-hydrological contexts, and encourage debate on the inter-connections between socio-hydrology and resilience. Taking a systems perspective, we argue that resilience is a set of systematic properties with three dimensions: absorptive, adaptive, and transformative, and contend that socio-hydrological systems can be viewed as various forms of human-water couplings, reflecting different aspects of these interactions. We propose a framework consisting of two parts. The first part addresses the identity of socio-hydrological resilience, answering questions such as resilience of what in relation to what. We identify three existing framings of resilience for different types of human-water systems and subsystems, which have been used in different fields: (1) the water subsystem, highlighting hydrological resilience to anthropogenic hazards; (2) the human subsystem, foregrounding social resilience to hydrological hazards; and (3) the coupled human-water system, exhibiting socio-hydrological resilience. We argue that these three system types and resiliences afford new insights into the clarification and evaluation of different water management challenges. The first two types address hydrological and social states, while the third type emphasises the feedbacks and interactions between human and water components within complex systems subject to internal or external disturbances. In the second part, we focus on resilience management and develop the notion of the resilience canvas, a novel heuristic device to identify possible pathways and to facilitate the design of bespoke strategies for enhancing resilience in the socio-hydrological context. The resilience canvas is constructed by combining absorptive and adaptive capacities as two axes. At the corners of the resulting two-dimensional space are four quadrants which we conceptualise as representing resilient, vulnerable, susceptible, and resistant system states. To address projected change-induced uncertainties, we recommend that efforts now be focused on shifting socio-hydrological systems from resistant towards resilient status. In sum, the novel framework proposed here clarifies the ambiguity inherent in socio-hydrological resilience, and provides a viable basis for further theoretical and practical development.

Perfect match? Generation Y as change agents for information communication technology implementation in healthcare.

PubMed

Yee, Kwang Chien; Miils, Erin; Airey, Caroline

2008-01-01

The current healthcare delivery model will not meet future healthcare demands. The only sustainable healthcare future is one that best leverages advances in technology to improve productivity and efficiency. Information communication technology (ICT) has, therefore, been touted as the panacea of future healthcare challenges. Many ICT projects in healthcare, however, fail to deliver on their promises to transform the healthcare system. From a technologist's perspective, this is often due to the lack of socio-technical consideration. From a socio-cultural perspective, however, there is often strong inertia to change. While the utilisation of user-centred design principles will generate a new wave of enthusiasm among technologists, this has to be matched with socio-cultural changes within the healthcare system. Generation Y healthcare workers might be the socio-cultural factor required, in combination with new technology, to transform the healthcare system. Generation Y has generated significant technology-driven changes in many other industries. The socio-cultural understanding of generation Y healthcare workers is essential to guide the design and implementation of ICT solutions for a sustainable healthcare future. This paper presents the initial analysis of our qualitative study which aims to generate in-depth conceptual insights of generation Y healthcare workers and their view of ICT in healthcare. Our results show that generation Y healthcare workers might assist future ICT implementation in healthcare. This paper, however, argues that significant changes to the current healthcare organisation will be required in order to unleash the full potential of generation Y workers and ICT implementation. Finally, this paper presents some strategies to empower generation Y workers as change agents for a sustainable future healthcare system.

An Informatics Blueprint for Healthcare Quality Information Systems

PubMed Central

Niland, Joyce C.; Rouse, Layla; Stahl, Douglas C.

2006-01-01

There is a critical gap in our nation's ability to accurately measure and manage the quality of medical care. A robust healthcare quality information system (HQIS) has the potential to address this deficiency through the capture, codification, and analysis of information about patient treatments and related outcomes. Because non-technical issues often present the greatest challenges, this paper provides an overview of these socio-technical issues in building a successful HQIS, including the human, organizational, and knowledge management (KM) perspectives. Through an extensive literature review and direct experience in building a practical HQIS (the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Outcomes Research Database system), we have formulated an “informatics blueprint” to guide the development of such systems. While the blueprint was developed to facilitate healthcare quality information collection, management, analysis, and reporting, the concepts and advice provided may be extensible to the development of other types of clinical research information systems. PMID:16622161

NASA's EOSDIS Cumulus: Ingesting, Archiving, Managing, and Distributing Earth Science Data from the Commercial Cloud

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baynes, Katie; Ramachandran, Rahul; Pilone, Dan; Quinn, Patrick; Gilman, Jason; Schuler, Ian; Jazayeri, Alireza

2017-01-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) has been working towards a vision of a cloud-based, highly-flexible, ingest, archive, management, and distribution system for its ever-growing and evolving data holdings. This system, Cumulus, is emerging from its prototyping stages and is poised to make a huge impact on how NASA manages and disseminates its Earth science data. This talk will outline the motivation for this work, present the achievements and hurdles of the past 18 months and will chart a course for the future expansion of the Cumulus expansion. We will explore on not just the technical, but also the socio-technical challenges that we face in evolving a system of this magnitude into the cloud and how we are rising to meet those challenges through open collaboration and intentional stakeholder engagement.

Emergence of scale-free characteristics in socio-ecological systems with bounded rationality

PubMed Central

Kasthurirathna, Dharshana; Piraveenan, Mahendra

2015-01-01

Socio–ecological systems are increasingly modelled by games played on complex networks. While the concept of Nash equilibrium assumes perfect rationality, in reality players display heterogeneous bounded rationality. Here we present a topological model of bounded rationality in socio-ecological systems, using the rationality parameter of the Quantal Response Equilibrium. We argue that system rationality could be measured by the average Kullback–-Leibler divergence between Nash and Quantal Response Equilibria, and that the convergence towards Nash equilibria on average corresponds to increased system rationality. Using this model, we show that when a randomly connected socio-ecological system is topologically optimised to converge towards Nash equilibria, scale-free and small world features emerge. Therefore, optimising system rationality is an evolutionary reason for the emergence of scale-free and small-world features in socio-ecological systems. Further, we show that in games where multiple equilibria are possible, the correlation between the scale-freeness of the system and the fraction of links with multiple equilibria goes through a rapid transition when the average system rationality increases. Our results explain the influence of the topological structure of socio–ecological systems in shaping their collective cognitive behaviour, and provide an explanation for the prevalence of scale-free and small-world characteristics in such systems. PMID:26065713

Information and material flows in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helbing, Dirk; Armbruster, Dieter; Mikhailov, Alexander S.; Lefeber, Erjen

2006-04-01

In this special issue, an overview of the Thematic Institute (TI) on Information and Material Flows in Complex Systems is given. The TI was carried out within EXYSTENCE, the first EU Network of Excellence in the area of complex systems. Its motivation, research approach and subjects are presented here. Among the various methods used are many-particle and statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, as well as complex systems, network and control theory. The contributions are relevant for complex systems as diverse as vehicle and data traffic in networks, logistics, production, and material flows in biological systems. The key disciplines involved are socio-, econo-, traffic- and bio-physics, and a new research area that could be called “biologistics”.

Socio-technical transition as a co-evolutionary process: Innovation and the role of niche markets in the transition to motor vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birky, Alicia K.

2008-10-01

Significant reductions in greenhouse emissions from personal transportation will require a transition to an alternative technology regime based on renewable energy sources. Two bodies of research, the quasi-evolutionary (QE) model and the multi-level perspective (MLP) assert that processes within niches play a fundamental role in such transitions. This research asks whether the description of transitions based on this niche hypothesis and its underlying assumptions is consistent with the historical U.S. transition to motor vehicles at the beginning of the 20th century. Unique to this dissertation is the combination of the perspective of the entrepreneur with co-evolutionary approaches to socio-technical transitions. This approach is augmented with concepts from the industry life-cycle model and with a taxonomy of mechanisms of learning. Using this analytic framework, I examine specifically the role of entrepreneurial behavior and processes within and among firms in the co-evolution of technologies and institutions during the transition to motor vehicles. I find that niche markets played an important role in the development of the technology, institutions, and the industry. However, I also find that the diffusion of the automobile is not consistent with the niche hypothesis in the following ways: (1) product improvements and cost reductions were not realized in niche markets, but were achieved simultaneously with diffusion into mass markets; (2) in addition to learning-by-doing and learning-by-interacting with users, knowledge spillovers and interacting with suppliers were critical in this process; (3) cost reductions were not automatic results of expanding markets, but rather arose from the strategies of entrepreneurs based on personal perspectives and values. This finding supports the use of a behavioral approach with a micro-focus in the analysis of socio-technical change. I also find that the emergence and diffusion of the motor vehicle can only be understood by considering the combination of developments and processes in multiple regimes, within niches, and within the wider technical, institutional, and ecological complex (TIEC). For the automobile, the process of regime development was more consistent with a fit-stretch pattern of gradual unfolding and adaptation than one of niche proliferation and rapid regime renewal described in the literature.

Socio-cultural impacts of contemporary tourism.

PubMed

Jovicić, Dobrica

2011-06-01

The topic of the paper is devoted to analysis of socio-cultural impacts of tourism, as effects on the people of host communities resulting from their direct and indirect associations with tourists. The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behavior, family structure and relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, traditional ceremonies and community organizations. Special attention is devoted to considering complexity of tourists/host interrelationships and discussing the techniques for appraisal of quality and quantity of socio-cultural changes which tourism provokes in local communities.

A short history of powered wheelchairs.

PubMed

Woods, Brian; Watson, Nick

2003-01-01

This article recounts some early findings on a history of powered wheelchairs in the 20th century from an analysis of archival materials, oral accounts, and secondary sources. The primary goal of this article is not to provide the definitive history of powered wheelchairs, but rather to further our understanding of wheelchair innovation through a historical analysis. The paper sheds light on some of the richness and complexities involved in powered wheelchair innovation, highlights the nonlinearity of that process, and explores the roles of and the relationships between social and technological change. Although it is evident that powered mobility has revolutionized the life experiences of many disabled people, enabling independence, social interaction, and even the facilitation of socio-psychological development, few have charted the social and technological topography that brought this revolutionary change about. In partially mapping the history of powered wheelchairs, this paper draws attention to the idea that wheelchairs are not simply technical devices, but also social and political machines entwined with socio-political conditions and expectations.

When complexity science meets implementation science: a theoretical and empirical analysis of systems change.

PubMed

Braithwaite, Jeffrey; Churruca, Kate; Long, Janet C; Ellis, Louise A; Herkes, Jessica

2018-04-30

Implementation science has a core aim - to get evidence into practice. Early in the evidence-based medicine movement, this task was construed in linear terms, wherein the knowledge pipeline moved from evidence created in the laboratory through to clinical trials and, finally, via new tests, drugs, equipment, or procedures, into clinical practice. We now know that this straight-line thinking was naïve at best, and little more than an idealization, with multiple fractures appearing in the pipeline. The knowledge pipeline derives from a mechanistic and linear approach to science, which, while delivering huge advances in medicine over the last two centuries, is limited in its application to complex social systems such as healthcare. Instead, complexity science, a theoretical approach to understanding interconnections among agents and how they give rise to emergent, dynamic, systems-level behaviors, represents an increasingly useful conceptual framework for change. Herein, we discuss what implementation science can learn from complexity science, and tease out some of the properties of healthcare systems that enable or constrain the goals we have for better, more effective, more evidence-based care. Two Australian examples, one largely top-down, predicated on applying new standards across the country, and the other largely bottom-up, adopting medical emergency teams in over 200 hospitals, provide empirical support for a complexity-informed approach to implementation. The key lessons are that change can be stimulated in many ways, but a triggering mechanism is needed, such as legislation or widespread stakeholder agreement; that feedback loops are crucial to continue change momentum; that extended sweeps of time are involved, typically much longer than believed at the outset; and that taking a systems-informed, complexity approach, having regard for existing networks and socio-technical characteristics, is beneficial. Construing healthcare as a complex adaptive system implies that getting evidence into routine practice through a step-by-step model is not feasible. Complexity science forces us to consider the dynamic properties of systems and the varying characteristics that are deeply enmeshed in social practices, whilst indicating that multiple forces, variables, and influences must be factored into any change process, and that unpredictability and uncertainty are normal properties of multi-part, intricate systems.

Training in Socio-Emotional Skills through On-Site Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talavera, Elvira Repetto; Perez-Gonzalez, Juan Carlos

2007-01-01

Socio-emotional skills are highly prized on the labour market these days; many writers say that competencies of this type help to increase individuals' employability, but educational institutions consistently forget their responsibility for providing training in them. Most jobs call not only for knowledge and specific technical competencies, but…

Hydrologic Predictions in the Anthropocene: A Research Framework Based on a Co-evolutionary Socio-hydrologic Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivapalan, M.; Bloeschl, G.

2012-12-01

The world is facing a water management crisis, in the context of fast rising demand for water due to growth of human populations and changing lifestyles, and depletion of freshwater resources. In many parts of the world, poor distribution of freshwater in relation to demand is already the cause of serious water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change. Cumulatively, these result in increased human appropriation of water resources, significant modification of landscapes, and a strong human imprint on water cycle dynamics from local to global scales. Hydrologic predictions in such a fast changing environment face significant challenges. Traditional models for predictions treat the hydrologic system as a simple input-output system, and propagate variability of external inputs or disturbances through the various hydrologic subsystems, but assuming stationarity. However, in a fast changing world, none of the subsystems can be assumed to be stationary, but as co-evolving parts of a complex system. The role of humans takes on an important role, which can no longer be assumed to independent of the natural system. We need new socio-hydrologic frameworks to observe, monitor, understand and predict the co-evolution of coupled human-natural systems. In this talk, using examples from one or more real-world settings (from Australia and Europe) involving human interactions with hydrologic systems, we will present new theoretical frameworks that should be adopted to advance the emergent new sub-discipline of socio-hydrology. The proposed research agenda is organized under (i) process socio-hydrology, (ii) comparative socio-hydrology, and (iii) historical socio-hydrology.

Socio-Technical Systems Analysis and Manufacturing Technology: Addressing "Big Brother" and Computers in Blue-Collar Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, James C.

For more than 80 years, jobs in the United States have been designed by people for others. For most of these years, the experts in job design have placed the production technology above the job holder in importance. Since the 1950s, many jobs have been redesigned around new, computer-based technology. Often, the net effect has been to make those…

Understanding and Managing Causality of Change in Socio-Technical Systems 3

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-06

influence, and (4) management and control. The questions are listed below. Dynamics and Context  What can be learned from patterns of causal...has proven to be an insufficient method to determine existence of behavioral and performance patterns . Cognitive work analysis, on the other hand...to provide a point of comparison, including Victorian bushfires, Queensland and Victorian floods, and the mine collapse in Chile. Privacy, Threats

A Complex Systems Approach to Energy Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa: Nigeria as a Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chidebell Emordi, Chukwunonso

Energy poverty is pervasive in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria, located in sub-Saharan West Africa, is the world's seventh largest oil exporting country and is a resource-rich nation. It however experiences the same levels of energy poverty as most of its neighboring countries. Attributing this paradox only to corruption or the "Dutch Disease", where one sector booms at the expense of other sectors of the economy, is simplistic and enervates attempts at reform. In addition, data on energy consumption is aggregated at the national level via estimates, disaggregated data is virtually non-existent. Finally, the wave of decentralization of vertically integrated national utilities sweeping the developing world has caught on in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little is known of the economic and social implications of these transitions within the unique socio-technical system of the region's electricity sector, especially as it applies to energy poverty. This dissertation proposes a complex systems approach to measuring and mitigating energy poverty in Nigeria due to its multi-dimensional nature. This is done via a three-fold approach: the first section of the study delves into causation by examining the governance institutions that create and perpetuate energy poverty; the next section proposes a context-specific minimum energy poverty line based on field data collected on energy consumption; and the paper concludes with an indicator-based transition management framework encompassing institutional, economic, social, and environmental themes of sustainable transition within the electricity sector. This work contributes to intellectual discourse on systems-based mitigation strategies for energy poverty that are widely applicable within the sub-Saharan region, as well as adds to the knowledge-base of decision-support tools for addressing energy poverty in its complexity.

Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System - System Architecture Definition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doule, Ondrej; Miranda, David; Hochstadt, Jake

2017-01-01

The Integrated Display and Environmental Awareness System (IDEAS) is an interdisciplinary team project focusing on the development of a wearable computer and Head Mounted Display (HMD) based on Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components for the specific application and needs of NASA technicians, engineers and astronauts. Wearable computers are on the verge of utilization trials in daily life as well as industrial environments. The first civil and COTS wearable head mounted display systems were introduced just a few years ago and they probed not only technology readiness in terms of performance, endurance, miniaturization, operability and usefulness but also maturity of practice in perspective of a socio-technical context. Although the main technical hurdles such as mass and power were addressed as improvements on the technical side, the usefulness, practicality and social acceptance were often noted on the side of a broad variety of humans' operations. In other words, although the technology made a giant leap, its use and efficiency still looks for the sweet spot. The first IDEAS project started in January 2015 and was concluded in January 2017. The project identified current COTS systems' capability at minimum cost and maximum applicability and brought about important strategic concepts that will serve further IDEAS-like system development.

Planning practice in support of economically and environmentally sustainable roads in floodplains: the case of the Mekong delta floodplains.

PubMed

Douven, Wim; Buurman, Joost

2013-10-15

Road development in relatively undisturbed floodplain systems, such as the floodplains of the Mekong River, will impact hydraulics and interrupt the natural flow of water. This affects the ecology and environment, and the livelihoods of people who depend on fishing and agriculture. On the other hand, floods can severely damage road infrastructure in years with large floods and can cause high annual maintenance costs. Improving road development practices in floodplains is a complex, multidimensional task involving hydraulic and geotechnical analysis, ecosystem analysis, socio-economic analysis, policy analysis, etc. This paper analyses the planning practice of road development and rehabilitation and how this practice can be improved in support of economically and environmentally sustainable roads in floodplains. It is concluded that although ample technical, planning and environmental assessment guidelines exist, guidelines need updating to address cumulative impacts at floodplain level and factors hampering the implementation in guidelines should be addressed in the guideline design (process). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Architectural Framework for Addressing Legacy Waste from the Cold War - 13611

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Love, Gregory A.; Glazner, Christopher G.; Steckley, Sam

We present an architectural framework for the use of a hybrid simulation model of enterprise-wide operations used to develop system-level insight into the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) environmental cleanup of legacy nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site. We use this framework for quickly exploring policy and architectural options, analyzing plans, addressing management challenges and developing mitigation strategies for DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM). The socio-technical complexity of EM's mission compels the use of a qualitative approach to complement a more a quantitative discrete event modeling effort. We use this model-based analysis to pinpoint pressure and leverage pointsmore » and develop a shared conceptual understanding of the problem space and platform for communication among stakeholders across the enterprise in a timely manner. This approach affords the opportunity to discuss problems using a unified conceptual perspective and is also general enough that it applies to a broad range of capital investment/production operations problems. (authors)« less

From embodied mind to embodied robotics: humanities and system theoretical aspects.

PubMed

Mainzer, Klaus

2009-01-01

After an introduction (1) the article analyzes the evolution of the embodied mind (2), the innovation of embodied robotics (3), and finally discusses conclusions of embodied robotics for human responsibility (4). Considering the evolution of the embodied mind (2), we start with an introduction of complex systems and nonlinear dynamics (2.1), apply this approach to neural self-organization (2.2), distinguish degrees of complexity of the brain (2.3), explain the emergence of cognitive states by complex systems dynamics (2.4), and discuss criteria for modeling the brain as complex nonlinear system (2.5). The innovation of embodied robotics (3) is a challenge of future technology. We start with the distinction of symbolic and embodied AI (3.1) and explain embodied robots as dynamical systems (3.2). Self-organization needs self-control of technical systems (3.3). Cellular neural networks (CNN) are an example of self-organizing technical systems offering new avenues for neurobionics (3.4). In general, technical neural networks support different kinds of learning robots (3.5). Finally, embodied robotics aim at the development of cognitive and conscious robots (3.6).

System-wide lean implementation in health care: A multiple case study.

PubMed

Centauri, Federica; Mazzocato, Pamela; Villa, Stefano; Marsilio, Marta

2018-05-01

Background Lean practices have been widely used by health care organizations to meet efficiency, performance and quality improvement needs. The lean health care literature shows that the effective implementation of lean requires a holistic system-wide approach. However, there is still limited evidence on what drives effective system-wide lean implementation in health care. The existing literature suggests that a deeper understanding of how lean interventions interact with the organizational context is necessary to identify the critical variables to successfully sustain system-wide lean strategies. Purpose and methodology: A multiple case study of three Italian hospitals is conducted with the aim to explore the organizational conditions that are relevant for an effective system-wide lean implementation. A conceptual framework, built on socio-technical system schemas, is used to guide data collection and analysis. The analysis points out the importance to support lean implementation with an integrated and coordinated strategy involving the social, technical, and external components of the overall hospital system.

Airport Managers' Perspectives on Security and Safety Management Systems in Aviation Operations: A Multiple Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Willie L., Jr.

Global terrorism continues to persist despite the great efforts of various countries to protect and safely secure their citizens. As airports form the entry and exit ports of a country, they are one of the most vulnerable locations to terror attacks. Managers of international airports constantly face similar challenges in developing and implementing airport security protocols. Consequently, the technological advances of today have brought both positive and negative impacts on security and terrorism of airports, which are mostly managed by the airport managers. The roles of the managers have greatly increased over the years due to technological advances. The developments in technology have had different roles in security, both in countering terrorism and, at the same time, increasing the communication methods of the terrorists. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to investigate the perspectives of airport managers with regard to societal security and social interactions in the socio-technical systems of the National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS). Through the data gained regarding managers' perception and experiences, the researcher hoped to enable the development of security measures and policies that are appropriate for airports as socio-technical systems. The researcher conducted interviews with airport managers to gather relevant data to fulfill the rationale of the study. Ten to twelve airport managers based in three commercial aviation airports in Maryland, United States participated in the study. The researcher used a qualitative thematic analysis procedure to analyze the data responses of participants in the interview sessions.

A new holistic approach to vulnerability assessment to natural hazards of socio-economic systems by means of Graph Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arosio, Marcello; Martina, Mario L. V.

2017-04-01

In the last years, the relations and interactions between multi-hazards, vulnerability, exposure and resilience spheres are assuming more and more attention and the scientific community recognized that they are very dynamic, complex and interconnected. The traditional approaches define risk as the potential economic, social and environmental consequences due to a hazardous phenomenon in a specific period. Although there have been major improvements in recent years, there are still some limitation in term of a holistic approach that is able to include the emergent value hidden in the relation and interaction between the different spheres. Furthermore, the emergent behaviour of a society makes the collective risk greater than the sum of the parts and this requires a holistic, systematic and integrated approach. For this reason, it is important to consider the connections between elements to assess properly the vulnerability of systems. In a system (e.g. road, hospital and ecological network, etc.), or in a System of System (e.g. socio-technical urban service), there are critical elements that, beyond the intrinsic vulnerability, can be characterize by greater or lower vulnerability because of their physical, geographical, cyber or logical connections. To understand the system response to a perturbation, and therefore its resilience, is necessary not only to represent but also to quantify the relative importance of the elements and their interconnections. To this aim, we propose an innovative approach in the field of natural risk assessment based on the properties of graph G=(N,L). A graph consists of two sets N (nodes) and L (links): the nodes represent the single exposed elements (physical, social, environmental, etc.) to a hazard, while the links (or connections) represent the interaction between the elements. This approach encourages the risk assessment to a new prospective: from reductionist to holistic. The final goal is to provide insight in understanding how to quantify integrated collective vulnerability, resilience and risk.

MITT writer and MITT writer advanced development: Developing authoring and training systems for complex technical domains

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiederholt, Bradley J.; Browning, Elica J.; Norton, Jeffrey E.; Johnson, William B.

1991-01-01

MITT Writer is a software system for developing computer based training for complex technical domains. A training system produced by MITT Writer allows a student to learn and practice troubleshooting and diagnostic skills. The MITT (Microcomputer Intelligence for Technical Training) architecture is a reasonable approach to simulation based diagnostic training. MITT delivers training on available computing equipment, delivers challenging training and simulation scenarios, and has economical development and maintenance costs. A 15 month effort was undertaken in which the MITT Writer system was developed. A workshop was also conducted to train instructors in how to use MITT Writer. Earlier versions were used to develop an Intelligent Tutoring System for troubleshooting the Minuteman Missile Message Processing System.

Thermodynamics and the evolution of a city: a tale of how Chicago came to be, from biophysical and socio-economic perspectives

EPA Science Inventory

Cities are complex organized systems, similar to biological and ecological systems in the way that they are structured and function. These systems are subject to the laws of thermodynamics and the principles of Energy Systems Theory (EST). Like other systems, cities experience l...

Patterns of technical error among surgical malpractice claims: an analysis of strategies to prevent injury to surgical patients.

PubMed

Regenbogen, Scott E; Greenberg, Caprice C; Studdert, David M; Lipsitz, Stuart R; Zinner, Michael J; Gawande, Atul A

2007-11-01

To identify the most prevalent patterns of technical errors in surgery, and evaluate commonly recommended interventions in light of these patterns. The majority of surgical adverse events involve technical errors, but little is known about the nature and causes of these events. We examined characteristics of technical errors and common contributing factors among closed surgical malpractice claims. Surgeon reviewers analyzed 444 randomly sampled surgical malpractice claims from four liability insurers. Among 258 claims in which injuries due to error were detected, 52% (n = 133) involved technical errors. These technical errors were further analyzed with a structured review instrument designed by qualitative content analysis. Forty-nine percent of the technical errors caused permanent disability; an additional 16% resulted in death. Two-thirds (65%) of the technical errors were linked to manual error, 9% to errors in judgment, and 26% to both manual and judgment error. A minority of technical errors involved advanced procedures requiring special training ("index operations"; 16%), surgeons inexperienced with the task (14%), or poorly supervised residents (9%). The majority involved experienced surgeons (73%), and occurred in routine, rather than index, operations (84%). Patient-related complexities-including emergencies, difficult or unexpected anatomy, and previous surgery-contributed to 61% of technical errors, and technology or systems failures contributed to 21%. Most technical errors occur in routine operations with experienced surgeons, under conditions of increased patient complexity or systems failure. Commonly recommended interventions, including restricting high-complexity operations to experienced surgeons, additional training for inexperienced surgeons, and stricter supervision of trainees, are likely to address only a minority of technical errors. Surgical safety research should instead focus on improving decision-making and performance in routine operations for complex patients and circumstances.

Socio-technical Issues for Ubiquitous Information Society in 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Funabashi, Motohisa; Homma, Koichi; Sasaki, Toshiro; Sato, Yoshinori; Kido, Kunihiko; Fukumoto, Takashi; Yano, Koujin

Impact of the ubiquitous information technology on our society is so significant that directing technological development and preparing institutional apparatus are quite important and urgent. The present paper elaborates, with the efforts by both humanity and engineering disciplines, to find out the socio-technical issues of ubiquitous information society in 2010 by inspecting social implications of emerging technology as well as social expectations. In order to deliberate the issues, scenarios are developed that describes possible life in ubiquitous information society. The derived issues cover integrating information technology and human body, producing smart sharable environment, protecting individual rights, fostering new service business, and forming community.

The Effect of Functional Flow Diagrams on Apprentice Aircraft Mechanics' Technical System Understanding.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Scott D.; Satchwell, Richard E.

1993-01-01

Describes an experimental study that tested the impact of a conceptual illustration on college students' understanding of the structure, function, and behavior of complex technical systems. The use of functional flow diagrams in aircraft mechanics' training is explained, a concept map analysis is discussed, and implications for technical training…

Interorganizational Systems Adoption: A Socio-Technical Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bunker, Deborah; Kautz, Karlheinz; Pyne, Clayton

This paper discusses a case study of an electronic data interchange (EDI) interorganizational system (IOS) adoption project between two organizations (ProvideCo and BuildCo) highlighting that IOS adoption is not only technological in nature and orientation but that organizational factors also play their part. As a result of the case analysis and key findings, an interorganizational collaboration model (Barratt 2004) is amended to explain and highlight the effect of organizational factors on IOS adoption. The amended model includes the relationship of technology (IOS) adoption to cross-functional collaborative activities and risk, power, opportunism, and trust.

Scientific and technical complex for modeling, researching and testing of rocket-space vehicles’ electric power installations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezruchko, Konstantin; Davidov, Albert

2009-01-01

In the given article scientific and technical complex for modeling, researching and testing of rocket-space vehicles' power installations which was created in Power Source Laboratory of National Aerospace University "KhAI" is described. This scientific and technical complex gives the opportunity to replace the full-sized tests on model tests and to reduce financial and temporary inputs at modeling, researching and testing of rocket-space vehicles' power installations. Using the given complex it is possible to solve the problems of designing and researching of rocket-space vehicles' power installations efficiently, and also to provide experimental researches of physical processes and tests of solar and chemical batteries of rocket-space complexes and space vehicles. Scientific and technical complex also allows providing accelerated tests, diagnostics, life-time control and restoring of chemical accumulators for rocket-space vehicles' power supply systems.

Modelling socio-environmental sensitivities: how public responses to low carbon energy technologies could shape the UK energy system.

PubMed

Moran Jay, Brighid; Howard, David; Hughes, Nick; Whitaker, Jeanette; Anandarajah, Gabrial

2014-01-01

Low carbon energy technologies are not deployed in a social vacuum; there are a variety of complex ways in which people understand and engage with these technologies and the changing energy system overall. However, the role of the public's socio-environmental sensitivities to low carbon energy technologies and their responses to energy deployments does not receive much serious attention in planning decarbonisation pathways to 2050. Resistance to certain resources and technologies based on particular socio-environmental sensitivities would alter the portfolio of options available which could shape how the energy system achieves decarbonisation (the decarbonisation pathway) as well as affecting the cost and achievability of decarbonisation. Thus, this paper presents a series of three modelled scenarios which illustrate the way that a variety of socio-environmental sensitivities could impact the development of the energy system and the decarbonisation pathway. The scenarios represent risk aversion (DREAD) which avoids deployment of potentially unsafe large-scale technology, local protectionism (NIMBY) that constrains systems to their existing spatial footprint, and environmental awareness (ECO) where protection of natural resources is paramount. Very different solutions for all three sets of constraints are identified; some seem slightly implausible (DREAD) and all show increased cost (especially in ECO).

Modelling Socio-Environmental Sensitivities: How Public Responses to Low Carbon Energy Technologies Could Shape the UK Energy System

PubMed Central

Moran Jay, Brighid

2014-01-01

Low carbon energy technologies are not deployed in a social vacuum; there are a variety of complex ways in which people understand and engage with these technologies and the changing energy system overall. However, the role of the public's socio-environmental sensitivities to low carbon energy technologies and their responses to energy deployments does not receive much serious attention in planning decarbonisation pathways to 2050. Resistance to certain resources and technologies based on particular socio-environmental sensitivities would alter the portfolio of options available which could shape how the energy system achieves decarbonisation (the decarbonisation pathway) as well as affecting the cost and achievability of decarbonisation. Thus, this paper presents a series of three modelled scenarios which illustrate the way that a variety of socio-environmental sensitivities could impact the development of the energy system and the decarbonisation pathway. The scenarios represent risk aversion (DREAD) which avoids deployment of potentially unsafe large-scale technology, local protectionism (NIMBY) that constrains systems to their existing spatial footprint, and environmental awareness (ECO) where protection of natural resources is paramount. Very different solutions for all three sets of constraints are identified; some seem slightly implausible (DREAD) and all show increased cost (especially in ECO). PMID:24587735

EarthCube as an information resource marketplace; the GEAR Project conceptual design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richard, S. M.; Zaslavsky, I.; Gupta, A.; Valentine, D.

2015-12-01

Geoscience Architecture for Research (GEAR) is approaching EarthCube design as a complex and evolving socio-technical federation of systems. EarthCube is intended to support the science research enterprise, for which there is no centralized command and control, requirements are a moving target, the function and behavior of the system must evolve and adapt as new scientific paradigms emerge, and system participants are conducting research that inherently implies seeking new ways of doing things. EarthCube must address evolving user requirements and enable domain and project systems developed under different management and for different purposes to work together. The EC architecture must focus on creating a technical environment that enables new capabilities by combining existing and newly developed resources in various ways, and encourages development of new resource designs intended for re-use and interoperability. In a sense, instead of a single architecture design, GEAR provides a way to accommodate multiple designs tuned to different tasks. This agile, adaptive, evolutionary software development style is based on a continuously updated portfolio of compatible components that enable new sub-system architecture. System users make decisions about which components to use in this marketplace based on performance, satisfaction, and impact metrics collected continuously to evaluate components, determine priorities, and guide resource allocation decisions by the system governance agency. EC is designed as a federation of independent systems, and although the coordinator of the EC system may be named an enterprise architect, the focus of the role needs to be organizing resources, assessing their readiness for interoperability with the existing EC component inventory, managing dependencies between transient subsystems, mechanisms of stakeholder engagement and inclusion, and negotiation of standard interfaces, rather than actual specification of components. Composition of components will be developed by projects that involve both domain scientists and CI experts for specific research problems. We believe an agile, marketplace type approach is an essential architectural strategy for EarthCube.

Diagnosing Disaster Resilience of Communities as Multi-scale Complex Socio-ecological Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Wei; Mochizuki, Junko; Keating, Adriana; Mechler, Reinhard; Williges, Keith; Hochrainer, Stefan

2014-05-01

Global environmental change, growing anthropogenic influence, and increasing globalisation of society have made it clear that disaster vulnerability and resilience of communities cannot be understood without knowledge on the broader social-ecological system in which they are embedded. We propose a framework for diagnosing community resilience to disasters, as a form of disturbance to social-ecological systems, with feedbacks from the local to the global scale. Inspired by iterative multi-scale analysis employed by Resilience Alliance, the related socio-ecological systems framework of Ostrom, and the sustainable livelihood framework, we developed a multi-tier framework for thinking of communities as multi-scale social-ecological systems and analyzing communities' disaster resilience and also general resilience. We highlight the cross-scale influences and feedbacks on communities that exist from lower (e.g., household) to higher (e.g., regional, national) scales. The conceptual framework is then applied to a real-world resilience assessment situation, to illustrate how key components of socio-ecological systems, including natural hazards, natural and man-made environment, and community capacities can be delineated and analyzed.

Analysis of the methods for assessing socio-economic development level of urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popova, Olga; Bogacheva, Elena

2017-01-01

The present paper provides a targeted analysis of current approaches (ratings) in the assessment of socio-economic development of urban areas. The survey focuses on identifying standardized methodologies to area assessment techniques formation that will result in developing the system of intelligent monitoring, dispatching, building management, scheduling and effective management of an administrative-territorial unit. This system is characterized by complex hierarchical structure, including tangible and intangible properties (parameters, attributes). Investigating the abovementioned methods should increase the administrative-territorial unit's attractiveness for investors and residence. The research aims at studying methods for evaluating socio-economic development level of the Russian Federation territories. Experimental and theoretical territory estimating methods were revealed. Complex analysis of the characteristics of the areas was carried out and evaluation parameters were determined. Integral indicators (resulting rating criteria values) as well as the overall rankings (parameters, characteristics) were analyzed. The inventory of the most widely used partial indicators (parameters, characteristics) of urban areas was revealed. The resulting criteria of rating values homogeneity were verified and confirmed by determining the root mean square deviation, i.e. divergence of indices. The principal shortcomings of assessment methodologies were revealed. The assessment methods with enhanced effectiveness and homogeneity were proposed.

Web services for ecosystem services management and poverty alleviation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buytaert, W.; Baez, S.; Veliz Rosas, C.

2011-12-01

Over the last decades, near real-time environmental observation, technical advances in computer power and cyber-infrastructure, and the development of environmental software algorithms have increased dramatically. The integration of these evolutions is one of the major challenges of the next decade for environmental sciences. Worldwide, many coordinated activities are ongoing to make this integration a reality. However, far less attention is paid to the question of how these developments can benefit environmental services management in a poverty alleviation context. Such projects are typically faced with issues of large predictive uncertainties, limited resources, limited local scientific capacity. At the same time, the complexity of the socio-economic contexts requires a very strong bottom-up oriented and interdisciplinary approach to environmental data collection and processing. Here, we present the results of two projects on integrated environmental monitoring and scenario analysis aimed at poverty alleviation in the Peruvian Andes and Amazon. In the upper Andean highlands, farmers are monitoring the water cycle of headwater catchments to analyse the impact of land-use changes on stream flow and potential consequences for downstream irrigation. In the Amazon, local communities are monitoring the dynamics of turtle populations and their relations with river levels. In both cases, the use of online databases and web processing services enable real-time analysis of the data and scenario analysis. The system provides both physical and social indicators to assess the impact of land-use management options on local socio-economic development.

[System of technical facilities for equipping the anesthesiologist's work place in the operating room].

PubMed

Burlakov, R I; Iurevich, V M

1981-01-01

The authors proved the advisability of complex technical provision for certain functional cycles, or parts of medical technological process. The example given is a modification of working place for anesthesiologist at the operating theatre. Principle and additional devices included in the complex are specified.

a System Dynamics Approach for Looking at the Human and Environmental Interactions of Community-Based Irrigation Systems in New Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ochoa, C. G.; Tidwell, V. C.

2012-12-01

In the arid southwestern United States community water management systems have adapted to cope with climate variability and with socio-cultural and economic changes that have occurred since the establishment of these systems more than 300 years ago. In New Mexico, the community-based irrigation systems were established by Spanish settlers and have endured climate variability in the form of low levels of precipitation and have prevailed over important socio-political changes including the transfer of territory between Spain and Mexico, and between Mexico and the United States. Because of their inherent nature of integrating land and water use with society involvement these community-based systems have multiple and complex economic, ecological, and cultural interactions. Current urban population growth and more variable climate conditions are adding pressure to the survival of these systems. We are conducting a multi-disciplinary research project that focuses on characterizing these intrinsically complex human and natural interactions in three community-based irrigation systems in northern New Mexico. We are using a system dynamics approach to integrate different hydrological, ecological, socio-cultural and economic aspects of these three irrigation systems. Coupled with intensive field data collection, we are building a system dynamics model that will enable us to simulate important linkages and interactions between environmental and human elements occurring in each of these water management systems. We will test different climate variability and population growth scenarios and the expectation is that we will be able to identify critical tipping points of these systems. Results from this model can be used to inform policy recommendations relevant to the environment and to urban and agricultural land use planning in the arid southwestern United States.

Affording Sustainability: Adopting a Theory of Affordances as a Guiding Heuristic for Environmental Policy.

PubMed

Kaaronen, Roope O

2017-01-01

Human behavior is an underlying cause for many of the ecological crises faced in the 21st century, and there is no escaping from the fact that widespread behavior change is necessary for socio-ecological systems to take a sustainable turn. Whilst making people and communities behave sustainably is a fundamental objective for environmental policy, behavior change interventions and policies are often implemented from a very limited non-systemic perspective. Environmental policy-makers and psychologists alike often reduce cognition 'to the brain,' focusing only to a minor extent on how everyday environments systemically afford pro-environmental behavior. Symptomatic of this are the widely prevalent attitude-action, value-action or knowledge-action gaps, understood in this paper as the gulfs lying between sustainable thinking and behavior due to lack of affordances. I suggest that by adopting a theory of affordances as a guiding heuristic, environmental policy-makers are better equipped to promote policies that translate sustainable thinking into sustainable behavior, often self-reinforcingly, and have better conceptual tools to nudge our socio-ecological system toward a sustainable turn. Affordance theory, which studies the relations between abilities to perceive and act and environmental features, is shown to provide a systemic framework for analyzing environmental policies and the ecology of human behavior. This facilitates the location and activation of leverage points for systemic policy interventions, which can help socio-ecological systems to learn to adapt to more sustainable habits. Affordance theory is presented to be applicable and pertinent to technically all nested levels of socio-ecological systems from the studies of sustainable objects and households to sustainable urban environments, making it an immensely versatile conceptual policy tool. Finally, affordance theory is also discussed from a participatory perspective. Increasing the fit between local thinking and external behavior possibilities entails a deep understanding of tacit and explicit attitudes, values, knowledge as well as physical and social environments, best gained via inclusive and polycentric policy approaches.

Programming of Urban Revitalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biliński, Tadeusz

2016-12-01

The planning stage of the investment-construction process is of a crucial importance. Its overall impact on the costs, construction time and the quality of design solutions is huge. However, in practice, little attention is given to this pre-design stage, except for public buildings or other buildings of particular importance. In consequence, the results of investment and construction activities are unsatisfactory. Therefore, the issue has been given careful consideration in this paper. The paper discusses the issue of programming urban revitalization, emphasizing its socio-economic importance. To illustrate the complexity of revitalization projects planning, the author draws attention to social, economic, technical and organisational factors, such as public participation, reorganization and revaluation of land use planning, rationalization of energy use, organization and management of revitalization processes, as well as technical progress. Summarising the paper, the author concludes that in order to improve the quality of life of town residents and to protect material national heritage, it is indispensable to continuously revitalize subsequent town areas.

Inquiries into Malaysia's socio-technical disasters: recommendations and lessons learnt.

PubMed

Said, Aini Mat; Ahmadun, Fakhru'l-Razi; Abdul Kadir, Razali; Daud, Mohamed

2009-04-01

Most democratic countries hold inquiries into disasters. One of their key functions is to establish the cause of an event and to learn lessons in order to prevent a recurrence. In addition, they offer an opportunity for communal catharsis, permitting the public to vent anger, distress and frustration and to exert pressure for policy changes. Malaysia has experienced six landmark socio-technical disasters since 1968, which resulted in the proposal or amendment of various safety/emergency acts and regulations. The authors used a grounded theory approach utilising a constant comparative method to analyse the recommendations made by the inquiries into these events. Data indicate that social and technical recommendations comprise 85 and 15 per cent, respectively, of the total recommendations made by the inquiry committees. This paper offers suggestions for improving the management of inquiry tribunals, as they will remain a valuable source of information for society and corporations to learn from past incidents.

Creating a foundation for implementing an electronic health records (EHR)-integrated Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system on medication reconciliation.

PubMed

Rangachari, P; Dellsperger, K C; Fallaw, D; Davis, I; Sumner, M; Ray, W; Fiedler, S; Nguyen, T; Rethemeyer, R

2018-04-01

In fall 2016, Augusta University received a two-year grant from AHRQ, to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system, AU-Health, to progress from "limited use" of EHR Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) Technology, to "meaningful use." Phase 1 sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec encountered by practitioners at AU-Health. These efforts helped develop a Reporting Tool , which, along with a Discussion Tool , was incorporated into the AU-Health EHR, at the end of Phase 1. Phase 2 (currently underway), comprises a 52-week pilot of the EHR-integrated SKN system in outpatient and inpatient medicine units. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and results of Phase 1. Phase 1 utilized an exploratory mixed-method approach, involving two rounds of data collection. This included 15 individual interviews followed by a survey of 200 practitioners, i.e., physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, based in the outpatient and inpatient medicine service at AU Health. Thematic analysis of interviews identified 55 issue-items related to EHR MedRec under 9 issue-categories. The survey sought practitioners' importance-rating of all issue-items identified from interviews. A total of 127 (63%) survey responses were received. Factor analysis served to validate the following 6 of the 9 issue-categories, all of which, were rated "Important" or higher (on average), by over 70% of all respondents: 1) Care-Coordination (CCI); 2) Patient-Education (PEI); 3) Ownership-and-Accountability (OAI); 4) Processes-of-Care (PCI); 5) IT-Related (ITRI); and 6) Workforce-Training (WTI). Significance-testing of importance-rating by professional affiliation revealed no statistically significant differences for CCI and PEI; and some statistically significant differences for OAI, PCI, ITRI, and WTI. There were two key gleanings from the issues related to EHR MedRec unearthed by this study: 1) there was an absence of shared understanding among practitioners, of the value of EHR MedRec in promoting patient safety, which contributed to workarounds, and suboptimal use of the EHR MedRec system; and 2) there was a socio-technical dimension to many of the issues, creating an added layer of complexity. These gleanings in turn, provide insights into best practices for managing both clinical transitions-of-care in the EHR MedRec process; and socio-technical challenges encountered in EHR MedRec implementation.

Creating a foundation for implementing an electronic health records (EHR)-integrated Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system on medication reconciliation

PubMed Central

Rangachari, P.; Dellsperger, K.C; Fallaw, D.; Davis, I.; Sumner, M.; Ray, W.; Fiedler, S.; Nguyen, T.; Rethemeyer, R.

2018-01-01

Background In fall 2016, Augusta University received a two-year grant from AHRQ, to implement a Social Knowledge Networking (SKN) system for enabling its health system, AU-Health, to progress from “limited use” of EHR Medication Reconciliation (MedRec) Technology, to “meaningful use.” Phase 1 sought to identify a comprehensive set of issues related to EHR MedRec encountered by practitioners at AU-Health. These efforts helped develop a Reporting Tool, which, along with a Discussion Tool, was incorporated into the AU-Health EHR, at the end of Phase 1. Phase 2 (currently underway), comprises a 52-week pilot of the EHR-integrated SKN system in outpatient and inpatient medicine units. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods and results of Phase 1. Methods Phase 1 utilized an exploratory mixed-method approach, involving two rounds of data collection. This included 15 individual interviews followed by a survey of 200 practitioners, i.e., physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, based in the outpatient and inpatient medicine service at AU Health. Results Thematic analysis of interviews identified 55 issue-items related to EHR MedRec under 9 issue-categories. The survey sought practitioners’ importance-rating of all issue-items identified from interviews. A total of 127 (63%) survey responses were received. Factor analysis served to validate the following 6 of the 9 issue-categories, all of which, were rated “Important” or higher (on average), by over 70% of all respondents: 1) Care-Coordination (CCI); 2) Patient-Education (PEI); 3) Ownership-and-Accountability (OAI); 4) Processes-of-Care (PCI); 5) IT-Related (ITRI); and 6) Workforce-Training (WTI). Significance-testing of importance-rating by professional affiliation revealed no statistically significant differences for CCI and PEI; and some statistically significant differences for OAI, PCI, ITRI, and WTI. Conclusion There were two key gleanings from the issues related to EHR MedRec unearthed by this study: 1) there was an absence of shared understanding among practitioners, of the value of EHR MedRec in promoting patient safety, which contributed to workarounds, and suboptimal use of the EHR MedRec system; and 2) there was a socio-technical dimension to many of the issues, creating an added layer of complexity. These gleanings in turn, provide insights into best practices for managing both clinical transitions-of-care in the EHR MedRec process; and socio-technical challenges encountered in EHR MedRec implementation. PMID:29682132

Microcomputer Intelligence for Technical Training (MITT): The evolution of an intelligent tutoring system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norton, Jeffrey E.; Wiederholt, Bradley J.; Johnson, William B.

1990-01-01

Microcomputer Intelligence for Technical Training (MITT) uses Intelligent Tutoring System (OTS) technology to deliver diagnostic training in a variety of complex technical domains. Over the past six years, MITT technology has been used to develop training systems for nuclear power plant diesel generator diagnosis, Space Shuttle fuel cell diagnosis, and message processing diagnosis for the Minuteman missile. Presented here is an overview of the MITT system, describing the evolution of the MITT software and the benefits of using the MITT system.

The Dynamics of Coalition Formation on Complex Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Auer, S.; Heitzig, J.; Kornek, U.; Schöll, E.; Kurths, J.

2015-08-01

Complex networks describe the structure of many socio-economic systems. However, in studies of decision-making processes the evolution of the underlying social relations are disregarded. In this report, we aim to understand the formation of self-organizing domains of cooperation (“coalitions”) on an acquaintance network. We include both the network’s influence on the formation of coalitions and vice versa how the network adapts to the current coalition structure, thus forming a social feedback loop. We increase complexity from simple opinion adaptation processes studied in earlier research to more complex decision-making determined by costs and benefits, and from bilateral to multilateral cooperation. We show how phase transitions emerge from such coevolutionary dynamics, which can be interpreted as processes of great transformations. If the network adaptation rate is high, the social dynamics prevent the formation of a grand coalition and therefore full cooperation. We find some empirical support for our main results: Our model develops a bimodal coalition size distribution over time similar to those found in social structures. Our detection and distinguishing of phase transitions may be exemplary for other models of socio-economic systems with low agent numbers and therefore strong finite-size effects.

Spatialization of Brazilian pig production: relationship between productive, physical, environmental, and socio-economic variables.

PubMed

da Silva, Isabel C M; Bremm, Bárbara; Teixeira, Jennifer L; Costa, Nathalia S; Barcellos, Júlio O J; Braccini, José; Cesconeto, Robson J; McManus, Concepta

2017-06-01

Brazilian pig production spans over a large territory encompassing regions of different climatic and socio-economic realities. Production, physical, socio-economic, and environmental data were used to characterize pig production in the country. Multivariate analysis evaluated indices including number productivity, production levels, and income from pigs, together with the average area of pig farm and socio-economic variables such as municipal human development index, technical guidance received from agricultural cooperatives and industrial companies, number of family farms, and offtake; and finally, environmental variables: latitude, longitude, annual temperature range, solar radiation index, as well as temperature and humidity index. The Southern region has the largest herd, number of pigs sold/sow, and offtake rate (p < 0.05), followed by the Midwest and Southeast. No significant correlations were seen between production rates and productivity with the socio-economic and environmental variables in the regions of Brazil. Production indexes, productivity, and offtake rate discriminated Northeast and Midwest and Northeast and Southeast regions. The Northern region, with a large area, has few and far-between farms that rear pigs for subsistence. The Northeast region has large herds, but low productivity. Number of slaughtered pigs has been variable over the past three decades, with few states responsible for maintaining high production in Brazil. However, the activity can be effective in any region of the country with technology and technical assistance adapted to regional characteristics.

Modeling socio-cultural processes in network-centric environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Eunice E.; Santos, Eugene, Jr.; Korah, John; George, Riya; Gu, Qi; Kim, Keumjoo; Li, Deqing; Russell, Jacob; Subramanian, Suresh

2012-05-01

The major focus in the field of modeling & simulation for network centric environments has been on the physical layer while making simplifications for the human-in-the-loop. However, the human element has a big impact on the capabilities of network centric systems. Taking into account the socio-behavioral aspects of processes such as team building, group decision-making, etc. are critical to realistically modeling and analyzing system performance. Modeling socio-cultural processes is a challenge because of the complexity of the networks, dynamism in the physical and social layers, feedback loops and uncertainty in the modeling data. We propose an overarching framework to represent, model and analyze various socio-cultural processes within network centric environments. The key innovation in our methodology is to simultaneously model the dynamism in both the physical and social layers while providing functional mappings between them. We represent socio-cultural information such as friendships, professional relationships and temperament by leveraging the Culturally Infused Social Network (CISN) framework. The notion of intent is used to relate the underlying socio-cultural factors to observed behavior. We will model intent using Bayesian Knowledge Bases (BKBs), a probabilistic reasoning network, which can represent incomplete and uncertain socio-cultural information. We will leverage previous work on a network performance modeling framework called Network-Centric Operations Performance and Prediction (N-COPP) to incorporate dynamism in various aspects of the physical layer such as node mobility, transmission parameters, etc. We validate our framework by simulating a suitable scenario, incorporating relevant factors and providing analyses of the results.

The socio-technical organisation of community pharmacies as a factor in the Electronic Prescription Service Release Two implementation: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The introduction of a new method of transmitting prescriptions from general practices to community pharmacies in England (Electronic Prescription Service Release 2 (EPS2)) has generated debate on how it will change work practice. As EPS2 will be a key technical element in dispensing, we reviewed the literature to find that there were no studies on how social and technical elements come together to form work practice in community pharmacies. This means the debate has little point of reference. Our aim therefore was to study the ways social and technical elements of a community pharmacy are used to achieve dispensing through the development of a conceptual model on pharmacy work practice, and to consider how a core technical element such the EPS2 could change work practice. Method We used ethnographic methods inclusive of case-study observations and interviews to collect qualitative data from 15 community pharmacies that were in the process of adopting or were soon to adopt EPS2. We analysed the case studies thematically and used rigorous multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary interpretive validation techniques to cross analyse findings. Results In practice, dispensing procedures were not designed to take into account variations in human and technical integration, and assumed that repetitive and collective use of socio-technical elements were at a constant. Variables such as availability of social and technical resources, and technical know-how of staff were not taken into account in formalised procedures. Yet community pharmacies were found to adapt their dispensing in relation to the balance of social and technical elements available, and how much of the social and technical elements they were willing to integrate into dispensing. While some integrated as few technical elements as possible, some depended entirely on technical artefacts. This pattern also applied to the social elements of dispensing. Through the conceptual model development process, we identified three approaches community pharmacies used to appropriate procedures in practice. These were ‘technically oriented’, ‘improvising’ or ‘socially oriented’. Conclusion We offer a model of different work approaches community pharmacies use to dispense, which suggests that when adopting a core technical element such as the EPS2 system of dispensing there could be variations in its successful adoption. Technically oriented pharmacies might find it easiest to integrate a similar artefact into work practice although needs EPS2 to synchronise effectively with existing technologies. Pharmacies adopting an improvising-approach have the potential to improve how they organise dispensing through EPS2 although they will need to improve how they apply their operating procedures. Socially oriented pharmacies will need to dramatically adapt their approach to dispensing since they usually rely on few technical tools. PMID:23256484

The socio-technical organisation of community pharmacies as a factor in the Electronic Prescription Service Release Two implementation: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Harvey, Jasmine; Avery, Anthony J; Waring, Justin; Barber, Nick

2012-12-20

The introduction of a new method of transmitting prescriptions from general practices to community pharmacies in England (Electronic Prescription Service Release 2 (EPS2)) has generated debate on how it will change work practice. As EPS2 will be a key technical element in dispensing, we reviewed the literature to find that there were no studies on how social and technical elements come together to form work practice in community pharmacies. This means the debate has little point of reference. Our aim therefore was to study the ways social and technical elements of a community pharmacy are used to achieve dispensing through the development of a conceptual model on pharmacy work practice, and to consider how a core technical element such the EPS2 could change work practice. We used ethnographic methods inclusive of case-study observations and interviews to collect qualitative data from 15 community pharmacies that were in the process of adopting or were soon to adopt EPS2. We analysed the case studies thematically and used rigorous multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary interpretive validation techniques to cross analyse findings. In practice, dispensing procedures were not designed to take into account variations in human and technical integration, and assumed that repetitive and collective use of socio-technical elements were at a constant. Variables such as availability of social and technical resources, and technical know-how of staff were not taken into account in formalised procedures. Yet community pharmacies were found to adapt their dispensing in relation to the balance of social and technical elements available, and how much of the social and technical elements they were willing to integrate into dispensing. While some integrated as few technical elements as possible, some depended entirely on technical artefacts. This pattern also applied to the social elements of dispensing. Through the conceptual model development process, we identified three approaches community pharmacies used to appropriate procedures in practice. These were 'technically oriented', 'improvising' or 'socially oriented'. We offer a model of different work approaches community pharmacies use to dispense, which suggests that when adopting a core technical element such as the EPS2 system of dispensing there could be variations in its successful adoption. Technically oriented pharmacies might find it easiest to integrate a similar artefact into work practice although needs EPS2 to synchronise effectively with existing technologies. Pharmacies adopting an improvising-approach have the potential to improve how they organise dispensing through EPS2 although they will need to improve how they apply their operating procedures. Socially oriented pharmacies will need to dramatically adapt their approach to dispensing since they usually rely on few technical tools.

Land use, water and Mediterranean landscapes: modelling long-term dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems.

PubMed

Barton, C Michael; Ullah, Isaac I; Bergin, Sean

2010-11-28

The evolution of Mediterranean landscapes during the Holocene has been increasingly governed by the complex interactions of water and human land use. Different land-use practices change the amount of water flowing across the surface and infiltrating the soil, and change water's ability to move surface sediments. Conversely, water amplifies the impacts of human land use and extends the ecological footprint of human activities far beyond the borders of towns and fields. Advances in computational modelling offer new tools to study the complex feedbacks between land use, land cover, topography and surface water. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics project (MedLand) is building a modelling laboratory where experiments can be carried out on the long-term impacts of agropastoral land use, and whose results can be tested against the archaeological record. These computational experiments are providing new insights into the socio-ecological consequences of human decisions at varying temporal and spatial scales.

Strategies and Rubrics for Teaching Chaos and Complex Systems Theories as Elaborating, Self-Organizing, and Fractionating Evolutionary Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fichter, Lynn S.; Pyle, E. J.; Whitmeyer, S. J.

2010-01-01

To say Earth systems are complex, is not the same as saying they are a complex system. A complex system, in the technical sense, is a group of -agents (individual interacting units, like birds in a flock, sand grains in a ripple, or individual units of friction along a fault zone), existing far from equilibrium, interacting through positive and…

Shaping the role of 'fast' and 'slow' drivers of change in forest-shrubland socio-ecological systems.

PubMed

Ferrara, Agostino; Kelly, Claire; Wilson, Geoff A; Nolè, Angelo; Mancino, Giuseppe; Bajocco, Sofia; Salvati, Luca

2016-03-15

The temporal speeds and spatial scales at which ecosystem processes operate are often at odds with the scale and speed at which natural resources such as soil, water and vegetation are managed those. Scale mismatches often occur as a result of the time-lag between policy development, implementation and observable changes in natural capital in particular. In this study, we analyse some of the transformations that can occur in complex forest-shrubland socio-ecological systems undergoing biophysical and socioeconomic change. We use a Multiway Factor Analysis (MFA) applied to a representative set of variables to assess changes in components of natural, economic and social capitals over time. Our results indicate similarities among variables and spatial units (i.e. municipalities) which allows us to rank the variables used to describe the SES according to their rapidity of change. The novelty of the proposed framework lies in the fact that the assessment of rapidity-to-change, based on the MFA, takes into account the multivariate relationships among the system's variables, identifying the net rate of change for the whole system, and the relative impact that individual variables exert on the system itself. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of fast and slow variables on the evolution of socio-economic systems based on simplified multivariate procedures applicable to vastly different socio-economic contexts and conditions. This study also contributes to quantitative analysis methods for long-established socio-ecological systems, which may help in designing more effective, and sustainable land management strategies in environmentally sensitive areas. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving the Effectiveness of Electronic Health Record-Based Referral Processes

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Electronic health records are increasingly being used to facilitate referral communication in the outpatient setting. However, despite support by technology, referral communication between primary care providers and specialists is often unsatisfactory and is unable to eliminate care delays. This may be in part due to lack of attention to how information and communication technology fits within the social environment of health care. Making electronic referral communication effective requires a multifaceted “socio-technical” approach. Using an 8-dimensional socio-technical model for health information technology as a framework, we describe ten recommendations that represent good clinical practices to design, develop, implement, improve, and monitor electronic referral communication in the outpatient setting. These recommendations were developed on the basis of our previous work, current literature, sound clinical practice, and a systems-based approach to understanding and implementing health information technology solutions. Recommendations are relevant to system designers, practicing clinicians, and other stakeholders considering use of electronic health records to support referral communication. PMID:22973874

Capability for Integrated Systems Risk-Reduction Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mindock, J.; Lumpkins, S.; Shelhamer, M.

2016-01-01

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is working to increase the likelihoods of human health and performance success during long-duration missions, and subsequent crew long-term health. To achieve these goals, there is a need to develop an integrated understanding of how the complex human physiological-socio-technical mission system behaves in spaceflight. This understanding will allow HRP to provide cross-disciplinary spaceflight countermeasures while minimizing resources such as mass, power, and volume. This understanding will also allow development of tools to assess the state of and enhance the resilience of individual crewmembers, teams, and the integrated mission system. We will discuss a set of risk-reduction questions that has been identified to guide the systems approach necessary to meet these needs. In addition, a framework of factors influencing human health and performance in space, called the Contributing Factor Map (CFM), is being applied as the backbone for incorporating information addressing these questions from sources throughout HRP. Using the common language of the CFM, information from sources such as the Human System Risk Board summaries, Integrated Research Plan, and HRP-funded publications has been combined and visualized in ways that allow insight into cross-disciplinary interconnections in a systematic, standardized fashion. We will show examples of these visualizations. We will also discuss applications of the resulting analysis capability that can inform science portfolio decisions, such as areas in which cross-disciplinary solicitations or countermeasure development will potentially be fruitful.

Shortage and surplus of water in the socio-hydrological context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumann, A.; Nijssen, d.

2014-09-01

Balancing the temporal variability of hydrological conditions in the long- and short-term is often essential for steady socio-economic conditions. However, this equilibrium is very fragile in many cases. Hydrological changes or socio-economic changes may destroy it in a short time. If we extend the bearing capacity of socio-hydrological systems we increase, in many cases, the harmful consequences of failures. Here, two case studies are discussed to illustrate these problems. The limited success at adapting water resources to increasing human requirements without consideration of the natural capacities will be discussed with the example of water use for irrigation in northeastern China. The demand for a new planning approach, which is based on a combination of monitoring, model-based impact assessments and spatial distributed planning, is demonstrated. The problems of water surplus, which becomes evident during floods, are discussed in a second case study. It is shown that flood protection depends strongly on expectations of flood characteristics. The gap between the social requirement for complete flood prevention and the remaining risk of flood damage becomes obvious. An increase of risk-awareness would be more sustainable than promises of flood protection, which are the basis for technical measures to affect floods and (or) to prevent flood damages.

Total energy food plant 21 million gallon ethanol facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1981-10-01

The Phase I Engineering study includes the following: process description, waste water treatment plant, material summary, energy chart, capital cost estimate, equipment list, personnel requirements, drawings list, specifications list, and project schedule. The economic and financial feasibility of the technical process, and environmental, health, safety, and socio-economic assessments for the project are reported. The costs for extending the following utilities to the property line of the selected site are presented: potable water, sewer system, electricity, roads for truck traffic, and rail service.

The Functional Resonance Analysis Method for a systemic risk based environmental auditing in a sinter plant: A semi-quantitative approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patriarca, Riccardo, E-mail: riccardo.patriarca@uniroma1.it; Di Gravio, Giulio; Costantino, Francesco

Environmental auditing is a main issue for any production plant and assessing environmental performance is crucial to identify risks factors. The complexity of current plants arises from interactions among technological, human and organizational system components, which are often transient and not easily detectable. The auditing thus requires a systemic perspective, rather than focusing on individual behaviors, as emerged in recent research in the safety domain for socio-technical systems. We explore the significance of modeling the interactions of system components in everyday work, by the application of a recent systemic method, i.e. the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM), in order tomore » define dynamically the system structure. We present also an innovative evolution of traditional FRAM following a semi-quantitative approach based on Monte Carlo simulation. This paper represents the first contribution related to the application of FRAM in the environmental context, moreover considering a consistent evolution based on Monte Carlo simulation. The case study of an environmental risk auditing in a sinter plant validates the research, showing the benefits in terms of identifying potential critical activities, related mitigating actions and comprehensive environmental monitoring indicators. - Highlights: • We discuss the relevance of a systemic risk based environmental audit. • We present FRAM to represent functional interactions of the system. • We develop a semi-quantitative FRAM framework to assess environmental risks. • We apply the semi-quantitative FRAM framework to build a model for a sinter plant.« less

Distinctions between intelligent manufactured and constructed systems and a new discipline for intelligent infrastructure hypersystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aktan, A. Emin

2003-08-01

Although the interconnected systems nature of the infrastructures, and the complexity of interactions between their engineered, socio-technical and natural constituents have been recognized for some time, the principles of effectively operating, protecting and preserving such systems by taking full advantage of "modeling, simulations, optimization, control and decision making" tools developed by the systems engineering and operations research community have not been adequately studied or discussed by many engineers including the writer. Differential and linear equation systems, numerical and finite element modeling techniques, statistical and probabilistic representations are universal, however, different disciplines have developed their distinct approaches to conceptualizing, idealizing and modeling the systems they commonly deal with. The challenge is in adapting and integrating deterministic and stochastic, geometric and numerical, physics-based and "soft (data-or-knowledge based)", macroscopic or microscopic models developed by various disciplines for simulating infrastructure systems. There is a lot to be learned by studying how different disciplines have studied, improved and optimized the systems relating to various processes and products in their domains. Operations research has become a fifty-year old discipline addressing complex systems problems. Its mathematical tools range from linear programming to decision processes and game theory. These tools are used extensively in management and finance, as well as by industrial engineers for optimizing and quality control. Progressive civil engineering academic programs have adopted "systems engineering" as a focal area. However, most of the civil engineering systems programs remain focused on constructing and analyzing highly idealized, often generic models relating to the planning or operation of transportation, water or waste systems, maintenance management, waste management or general infrastructure hazards risk management. We further note that in the last decade there have been efforts for "agent-based" modeling of synthetic infrastructure systems by taking advantage of supercomputers at various DOE Laboratories. However, whether there is any similitude between such synthetic and actual systems needs investigating further.

Sensemaking in a Value Based Context for Large Scale Complex Engineered Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sikkandar Basha, Nazareen

The design and the development of Large-Scale Complex Engineered Systems (LSCES) requires the involvement of multiple teams and numerous levels of the organization and interactions with large numbers of people and interdisciplinary departments. Traditionally, requirements-driven Systems Engineering (SE) is used in the design and development of these LSCES. The requirements are used to capture the preferences of the stakeholder for the LSCES. Due to the complexity of the system, multiple levels of interactions are required to elicit the requirements of the system within the organization. Since LSCES involves people and interactions between the teams and interdisciplinary departments, it should be socio-technical in nature. The elicitation of the requirements of most large-scale system projects are subjected to creep in time and cost due to the uncertainty and ambiguity of requirements during the design and development. In an organization structure, the cost and time overrun can occur at any level and iterate back and forth thus increasing the cost and time. To avoid such creep past researches have shown that rigorous approaches such as value based designing can be used to control it. But before the rigorous approaches can be used, the decision maker should have a proper understanding of requirements creep and the state of the system when the creep occurs. Sensemaking is used to understand the state of system when the creep occurs and provide a guidance to decision maker. This research proposes the use of the Cynefin framework, sensemaking framework which can be used in the design and development of LSCES. It can aide in understanding the system and decision making to minimize the value gap due to requirements creep by eliminating ambiguity which occurs during design and development. A sample hierarchical organization is used to demonstrate the state of the system at the occurrence of requirements creep in terms of cost and time using the Cynefin framework. These trials are continued for different requirements and at different sub-system level. The results obtained show that the Cynefin framework can be used to improve the value of the system and can be used for predictive analysis. The decision makers can use these findings and use rigorous approaches and improve the design of Large Scale Complex Engineered Systems.

Guide to radioactive waste management literature

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Houser, B.L.; Holoway, C.F.; Madewell, D.G.

Increased public concern about radioactive waste management has called attention to this aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle. Socio-economic planning and technical development are being undertaken to assure that such wastes will be managed safely. This Guide to Radioactive Waste Management Literature has been compiled to serve scientists, engineers, administrators, legislators, and private citizens by directing them to sources of information on various aspects of the subject. References were selected from about 6000 documents on waste management in the computerized information centers in Oak Ridge. The documents were selected, examined, indexed, and abstracted between 1966-1976 by several knowledgeable indexers, principallymore » at the Nuclear Safety Information Center. The selected references were further indexed and classified into 12 categories. Each category is discussed in enough detail to give some understandng of present technology in various phases of waste management and some appreciation of the attendant issues and problems. The bibliographic part of this guide exists in computerized form in the Health Physics Information System and is available through the Oak Ridge Information Center Complex for searching from remote terminals.« less

Intergroup communication between hospital doctors: implications for quality of patient care.

PubMed

Hewett, David G; Watson, Bernadette M; Gallois, Cindy; Ward, Michael; Leggett, Barbara A

2009-12-01

Hospitals involve a complex socio-technical health system, where communication failures influence the quality of patient care. Research indicates the importance of social identity and intergroup relationships articulated through power, control, status and competition. This study focused on interspecialty communication among doctors for patients requiring the involvement of multiple specialist departments. The paper reports on an interview study in Australia, framed by social identity and communication accommodation theories of doctors' experiences of managing such patients, to explore the impact of communication. Interviews were undertaken with 45 doctors working in a large metropolitan hospital, and were analysed using Leximancer (text mining software) and interpretation of major themes. Findings indicated that intergroup conflict is a central influence on communication. Contested responsibilities emerged from a model of care driven by single-specialty ownership of the patient, with doctors allowed to evade responsibility for patients over whom they had no sense of ownership. Counter-accommodative communication, particularly involving interpersonal control, appeared as important for reinforcing social identity and winning conflicts. Strategies to resolve intergroup conflict must address structural issues generating an intergroup climate and evoke interpersonal salience to moderate their effect.

Influence of Psychological Factors on Product Development. Lessons from Aerospace and other Industries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamata, E. S.

2002-10-01

Product development is a major determinant of quality and cost as companies throughout the world struggle to optimize product development processes. Engineering tasks are usually implicitly assumed to be a primarily technical activity, but in reality they feature numerous nontechnical factors as well. This book focuses on the interrelationships of social, technical, and organizational aspects of the product development process. Cases observed in industry and research laboratories are presented and interpreted based on the socio-technical system approach (Emery / Trist) of examining the reciprocal relationship between the technical and the social subsystems. This book is primarily intended for engineering and quality professionals who want to know the limitations of current methods used in product development, to examine the so-called soft factors by means of grounded studies of their effect on R&D performance, not only to acknowledge the influence of soft factors but to actively consider their potential to improve the work environment. Academic researchers of the topic will also find many references and material for advanced courses on project and quality management. In addition to numerous cases from the aerospace industry, its general solution concepts are generalizable to other industries in which the high degree of product complexity necessitates effective interaction among different disciplines. The historical evaluation is neither intended for introductory purposes nor to propose a return to the past, but as a survey of the relevant factors to be applied in present and future projects. The author holds a degree in Electronics Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronautica, Brazil, as well as a PhD in Administration Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He draws on profound academic research as well as a wealth of practical experience in avionics, telecommunications, systems control, and the space industry. His professional biography includes activities in development, quality of development, reliability, testability and university lecturing. He also holds a commercial pilot license. Link: http://www.wkap.nl/prod/b/1-4020-0807-4

Socio-Hydrology of Channel Flows in Complex River Basins: Rivers, Canals, and Distributaries in Punjab, Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wescoat, James L.; Siddiqi, Afreen; Muhammad, Abubakr

2018-01-01

This paper presents a socio-hydrologic analysis of channel flows in Punjab province of the Indus River basin in Pakistan. The Indus has undergone profound transformations, from large-scale canal irrigation in the mid-nineteenth century to partition and development of the international river basin in the mid-twentieth century, systems modeling in the late-twentieth century, and new technologies for discharge measurement and data analytics in the early twenty-first century. We address these processes through a socio-hydrologic framework that couples historical geographic and analytical methods at three levels of flow in the Punjab. The first level assesses Indus River inflows analysis from its origins in 1922 to the present. The second level shows how river inflows translate into 10-daily canal command deliveries that vary widely in their conformity with canal entitlements. The third level of analysis shows how new flow measurement technologies raise questions about the performance of established methods of water scheduling (warabandi) on local distributaries. We show how near real-time measurement sheds light on the efficiency and transparency of surface water management. These local socio-hydrologic changes have implications in turn for the larger scales of canal and river inflow management in complex river basins.

Environmental and socio-economic methodologies and solutions towards integrated water resources management.

PubMed

Friesen, Jan; Rodriguez Sinobas, Leonor; Foglia, Laura; Ludwig, Ralf

2017-03-01

Semi-arid regions are facing the challenge of managing water resources under conditions of increasing scarcity and drought. These are recently pressured by the impact of climate change favoring the shifting from using surface water to groundwater without taking sustainability issues into account. Likewise, water scarcity raises the competition for water among users, increasing the risk of social conflicts, as the availability of fresh water in sufficient quality and quantity is already one of the major factors limiting socio-economic development. In terms of hydrology, semi-arid regions are characterized by very complex hydro- and hydrogeological systems. The complexity of the water cycle contrasts strongly with the poor data availability, (1) which limits the number of analysis techniques and methods available to researchers, (2) limits the accuracy of models and predictions, and (3) consequently challenges the capabilities to develop appropriate management measures to mitigate or adapt the environment to scarcity and drought conditions. Integrated water resources management is a holistic approach to focus on both environmental as well as on socio-economic factors influencing water availability and supply. The management approaches and solutions adopted, e.g. in form of decision support for specific water resources systems, are often highly specific for individual case studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Major Events Coordinated Security Solutions Technical Report Closeout (MECSS): The Application of Science and Technology to Reduce Risk for V2010 and G8/G20 Summits

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

CBRNE), aux infrastructures essentielles, à la surveillance, à la sécurité physique, à la cybernétique et à la socio- psychologie . Le présent rapport...la socio- psychologie . Dans le cadre du projet SCSGE, on a produit plus de 195 rapports scientifiques, fruit des efforts, du dévouement et du...aux infrastructures essentielles, à la surveillance, à la sécurité physique, à la cybernétique et à la socio- psychologie . Le présent rapport

System engineering of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhatia, Ravinder; Marti, Javier; Sugimoto, Masahiro; Sramek, Richard; Miccolis, Maurizio; Morita, Koh-Ichiro; Arancibia, Demián.; Araya, Andrea; Asayama, Shin'ichiro; Barkats, Denis; Brito, Rodrigo; Brundage, William; Grammer, Wes; Haupt, Christoph; Kurlandczyk, Herve; Mizuno, Norikazu; Napier, Peter; Pizarro, Eduardo; Saini, Kamaljeet; Stahlman, Gretchen; Verzichelli, Gianluca; Whyborn, Nick; Yagoubov, Pavel

2012-09-01

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will be composed of 66 high precision antennae located at 5000 meters altitude in northern Chile. This paper will present the methodology, tools and processes adopted to system engineer a project of high technical complexity, by system engineering teams that are remotely located and from different cultures, and in accordance with a demanding schedule and within tight financial constraints. The technical and organizational complexity of ALMA requires a disciplined approach to the definition, implementation and verification of the ALMA requirements. During the development phase, System Engineering chairs all technical reviews and facilitates the resolution of technical conflicts. We have developed analysis tools to analyze the system performance, incorporating key parameters that contribute to the ultimate performance, and are modeled using best estimates and/or measured values obtained during test campaigns. Strict tracking and control of the technical budgets ensures that the different parts of the system can operate together as a whole within ALMA boundary conditions. System Engineering is responsible for acceptances of the thousands of hardware items delivered to Chile, and also supports the software acceptance process. In addition, System Engineering leads the troubleshooting efforts during testing phases of the construction project. Finally, the team is conducting System level verification and diagnostics activities to assess the overall performance of the observatory. This paper will also share lessons learned from these system engineering and verification approaches.

Socioscape: Real-Time Analysis of Dynamic Heterogeneous Networks In Complex Socio-Cultural Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-22

Cluster Mixed-Membership Blockmodel for Time-Evolving Networks, Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Artifical Intelligence and...Learning With Simultaneous Orthogonal Matching Pursuit, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Artifical Intelligence and Statistics

Using GeoRePORT to report socio-economic potential for geothermal development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Young, Katherine R.; Levine, Aaron

The Geothermal Resource Portfolio Optimization and Reporting Tool (GeoRePORT, http://en.openei.org/wiki/GeoRePORT) was developed for reporting resource grades and project readiness levels, providing the U.S. Department of Energy a consistent and comprehensible means of evaluating projects. The tool helps funding organizations (1) quantitatively identify barriers, (2) develop measureable goals, (3) objectively evaluate proposals, including contribution to goals, (4) monitor progress, and (5) report portfolio performance. GeoRePORT assesses three categories: geological, technical, and socio-economic. Here, we describe GeoRePORT, then focus on the socio-economic assessment and its applications for assessing deployment potential in the U.S. Socio-economic attributes include land access, permitting, transmission, and market.

Agricultural land management options after the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents: The articulation of science, technology, and society.

PubMed

Vandenhove, Hildegarde; Turcanu, Catrinel

2016-10-01

The options adopted for recovery of agricultural land after the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents are compared by examining their technical and socio-economic aspects. The analysis highlights commonalities such as the implementation of tillage and other types of countermeasures and differences in approach, such as preferences for topsoil removal in Fukushima and the application of K fertilizers in Chernobyl. This analysis shows that the recovery approach needs to be context-specific to best suit the physical, social, and political environment. The complex nature of the decision problem calls for a formal process for engaging stakeholders and the development of adequate decision support tools. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016;12:662-666. © 2016 SETAC. © 2016 SETAC.

Interplay among Technical, Socio-Emotional and Personal Factors in Written Feedback Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chong, Ivan

2018-01-01

The centrality of written feedback is clearly seen from the proliferation of research in the context of higher education. As an increasingly expanding field in research, the majority of written feedback studies have been interested in investigating the technical aspect of how feedback should be given in order to promote student learning. More…

Complexity in Nature and Society: Complexity Management in the Age of Globalization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mainzer, Klaus

The theory of nonlinear complex systems has become a proven problem-solving approach in the natural sciences from cosmic and quantum systems to cellular organisms and the brain. Even in modern engineering science self-organizing systems are developed to manage complex networks and processes. It is now recognized that many of our ecological, social, economic, and political problems are also of a global, complex, and nonlinear nature. What are the laws of sociodynamics? Is there a socio-engineering of nonlinear problem solving? What can we learn from nonlinear dynamics for complexity management in social, economic, financial and political systems? Is self-organization an acceptable strategy to handle the challenges of complexity in firms, institutions and other organizations? It is a main thesis of the talk that nature and society are basically governed by nonlinear and complex information dynamics. How computational is sociodynamics? What can we hope for social, economic and political problem solving in the age of globalization?.

77 FR 41132 - Air Quality Implementation Plans; Alabama; Attainment Plan for the Alabama Portion of the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-12

... modeling demonstration should include supporting technical analyses and descriptions of all relevant....5 and NO X . The attainment demonstration includes: Technical analyses that locate, identify, and... modeling analysis is a complex technical evaluation that began with selection of the modeling system. The...

Choose and Book: a sociological analysis of 'resistance' to an expert system.

PubMed

Greenhalgh, Trisha; Stones, Rob; Swinglehurst, Deborah

2014-03-01

In 2004, the English Department of Health introduced a technology (Choose and Book) designed to help general practitioners and patients book hospital outpatient appointments. It was anticipated that remote booking would become standard practice once technical challenges were overcome. But despite political pressure and financial incentives, Choose and Book remained unpopular and was generally used reluctantly if at all. Policymakers framed this as a problem of 'clinician resistance'. We considered Choose and Book from a sociological perspective. Our dataset, drawn from a qualitative study of computer use in general practice, comprised background documents, field notes, interviews, clinical consultations (directly observed and videotaped) and naturally occurring talk relating to referral to hospital in four general practices. We used strong structuration theory, Giddens' conceptualisation of expert systems, and sensitivity to other sociological perspectives on technology, institutions and professional values to examine the relationship between the external environment, the evolving technology and actions of human agents (GPs, administrators, managers and patients). Choose and Book had the characteristics of an expert system. It served to 'empty out' the content of the consultation as the abstract knowledge it contained was assumed to have universal validity and to over-ride the clinician's application of local knowledge and practical wisdom. Sick patients were incorrectly assumed to behave as rational choosers, able and willing to decide between potential options using abstracted codified information. Our analysis revealed four foci of resistance: to the policy of choice that Choose and Book symbolised and purported to deliver; to accommodating the technology's socio-material constraints; to interference with doctors' contextual judgements; and to adjusting to the altered social relations consequent on its use. We conclude that 'resistance' is a complex phenomenon with socio-material and normative components; it is unlikely to be overcome using the behaviourist techniques recommended in some health informatics and policy literature. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? The Dynamic Interplay between Educational Practice, Policy and Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Geert, Paul; Steenbeek, Henderien

2014-01-01

The notion of complexity--as in "education is a complex system"--has two different meanings. On the one hand, there is the epistemic connotation, with "Complex" meaning "difficult to understand, hard to control". On the other hand, complex has a technical meaning, referring to systems composed of many interacting…

Necessity of creating digital tools to ensure efficiency of technical means

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rakov, V. I.; Zakharova, O. V.

2018-05-01

The authors estimated the problems of functioning of technical objects. The article notes that the increasing complexity of automation systems may lead to an increase of the redundant resource in proportion to the number of components and relationships in the system, and to the need of the redundant resource constant change that can make implementation of traditional structures with redundancy unnecessarily costly (Standby System, Fault Tolerance, High Availability). It proposes the idea of creating digital tools to ensure efficiency of technical facilities.

The Spatial Effect of Socio-Economic Demographics on Transit Ridership: a Case Study in New York

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-03-01

Demand for vehicle and public transportation systems continues to increase in and around major urban centers. This increase is especially pronounced during the morning and evening commutes and is further complicated by the complex spatial interaction...

Beyond bureaucracy: emerging trends in social care informatics.

PubMed

Wastell, David; White, Sue

2014-09-01

Existing information technology systems in much of UK social care have been designed to serve the interests of the bureaucracy rather than supporting professional practice or improving services to the public. The ill-starred Integrated Children's System in statutory children's services is typical. The Integrated Children's System is a system for form-filling, micro-managing professional practice through an enforced regime of standard processes and time scales. In this article, we argue against this dominant design. We provide several examples where technology has enabled alternative modes of support for professional work, based on socio-technical principles. One such system is Patchwork, which describes itself as a 'Facebook for Social Work'; its aim is to support multi-professional teams working with vulnerable families. © The Author(s) 2013.

Implementation and adoption of nationwide electronic health records in secondary care in England: qualitative analysis of interim results from a prospective national evaluation

PubMed Central

Robertson, Ann; Cresswell, Kathrin; Takian, Amirhossein; Petrakaki, Dimitra; Crowe, Sarah; Cornford, Tony; Barber, Nicholas; Avery, Anthony; Fernando, Bernard; Jacklin, Ann; Prescott, Robin; Klecun, Ela; Paton, James; Lichtner, Valentina; Quinn, Casey; Ali, Maryam; Morrison, Zoe; Jani, Yogini; Waring, Justin; Marsden, Kate

2010-01-01

Objectives To describe and evaluate the implementation and adoption of detailed electronic health records in secondary care in England and thereby provide early feedback for the ongoing local and national rollout of the NHS Care Records Service. Design A mixed methods, longitudinal, multisite, socio-technical case study. Setting Five NHS acute hospital and mental health trusts that have been the focus of early implementation efforts and at which interim data collection and analysis are complete. Data sources and analysis Dataset for the evaluation consists of semi-structured interviews, documents and field notes, observations, and quantitative data. Qualitative data were analysed thematically with a socio-technical coding matrix, combined with additional themes that emerged from the data. Main results Hospital electronic health record applications are being developed and implemented far more slowly than was originally envisioned; the top-down, standardised approach has needed to evolve to admit more variation and greater local choice, which hospital trusts want in order to support local activity. Despite considerable delays and frustrations, support for electronic health records remains strong, including from NHS clinicians. Political and financial factors are now perceived to threaten nationwide implementation of electronic health records. Interviewees identified a range of consequences of long term, centrally negotiated contracts to deliver the NHS Care Records Service in secondary care, particularly as NHS trusts themselves are not party to these contracts. These include convoluted communication channels between different stakeholders, unrealistic deployment timelines, delays, and applications that could not quickly respond to changing national and local NHS priorities. Our data suggest support for a “middle-out” approach to implementing hospital electronic health records, combining government direction with increased local autonomy, and for restricting detailed electronic health record sharing to local health communities. Conclusions Experiences from the early implementation sites, which have received considerable attention, financial investment and support, indicate that delivering improved healthcare through nationwide electronic health records will be a long, complex, and iterative process requiring flexibility and local adaptability both with respect to the systems and the implementation strategy. The more tailored, responsive approach that is emerging is becoming better aligned with NHS organisations’ perceived needs and is, if pursued, likely to deliver clinically useful electronic health record systems. PMID:20813822

Exploring sustainability transitions in households: insights from real-life experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baedeker, Carolin; Buhl, Johannes; Greiff, Kathrin; Hasselkuß, Marco; Liedtke, Christa; Lukas, Melanie

2016-04-01

Societal transformation towards sustainable consumption and production, especially in urban areas, is a key challenge. The design and implementation of sustainable product service systems (PSS) might be the initial point, in which private households play a major role. The Sustainable LivingLab research infrastructure was developed as an experimental setting for investigating consumption and production patterns in private households, especially to explore socio-technical innovations which are helpful to guide sustainability transitions. The suggested presentation describes results of several real-life experiments conducted in German households, e.g. the project SusLabNRW (North-Rhine Westphalia as part of the European SusLabNWE-Project), the EnerTransRuhr project as well as the PATHWAYS project that explore patterns of action, time use, social practices and the related resource use in private households. The presentation gives an overview of the employed methods and analysed data (qualitative interviews, social network analysis, survey on household activities and inventories and a sustainability assessment (resource profiles - MIPS household analysis). Households' resource consumption was calculated in all fields of activity to analyse social practices' impact. The presentation illustrates how aggregated data can inform scenario analysis and concludes with an outlook onto transition pathways at household level and socio-technical innovations in the fields of housing, nutrition and mobility.

Concepts and models of coupled systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ertsen, Maurits

2017-04-01

In this paper, I will especially focus on the question of the position of human agency, social networks and complex co-evolutionary interactions in socio-hydrological models. The long term perspective of complex systems' modeling typically focuses on regional or global spatial scales and century/millennium time scales. It is still a challenge to relate correlations in outcomes defined at those longer and larger scales to the causalities at the shorter and smaller scales. How do we move today to the next 1000 years in the same way that our ancestors did move from their today to our present, in the small steps that produce reality? Please note, I am not arguing long term work is not interesting or the like. I just pose the question how to deal with the problem that we employ relations with hindsight that matter to us, but not necessarily to the agents that produced the relations we think we have observed. I would like to push the socio-hydrological community a little into rethinking how to deal with complexity, with the aim to bring together the timescales of humans and complexity. I will provide one or two examples of how larger-scale and longer-term observations on water flows and environmental loads can be broken down into smaller-scale and shorter-term production processes of these same loads.

Data-Driven Synthesis for Investigating Food Systems Resilience to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magliocca, N. R.; Hart, D.; Hondula, K. L.; Munoz, I.; Shelley, M.; Smorul, M.

2014-12-01

The production, supply, and distribution of our food involves a complex set of interactions between farmers, rural communities, governments, and global commodity markets that link important issues such as environmental quality, agricultural science and technology, health and nutrition, rural livelihoods, and social institutions and equality - all of which will be affected by climate change. The production of actionable science is thus urgently needed to inform and prepare the public for the consequences of climate change for local and global food systems. Access to data that spans multiple sectors/domains and spatial and temporal scales is key to beginning to tackle such complex issues. As part of the White House's Climate Data Initiative, the USDA and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) are launching a new collaboration to catalyze data-driven research to enhance food systems resilience to climate change. To support this collaboration, SESYNC is developing a new "Data to Motivate Synthesis" program designed to engage early career scholars in a highly interactive and dynamic process of real-time data discovery, analysis, and visualization to catalyze new research questions and analyses that would not have otherwise been possible and/or apparent. This program will be supported by an integrated, spatially-enabled cyberinfrastructure that enables the management, intersection, and analysis of large heterogeneous datasets relevant to food systems resilience to climate change. Our approach is to create a series of geospatial abstraction data structures and visualization services that can be used to accelerate analysis and visualization across various socio-economic and environmental datasets (e.g., reconcile census data with remote sensing raster datasets). We describe the application of this approach with a pilot workshop of socio-environmental scholars that will lay the groundwork for the larger SESYNC-USDA collaboration. We discuss the particular challenges of supporting an integrated, repeatable workflow for socio-environmental data synthesis, and the advantages and limitations to using data as a launching point for interdisciplinary research projects.

Choices Matter, but How Do We Model Them?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brelsford, C.; Dumas, M.

2017-12-01

Quantifying interactions between social systems and the physical environment we live within has long been a major scientific challenge. Humans have had such a large influence on our environment that it is no longer reasonable to consider the behavior of an ecological or hydrological system from a purely `physical' perspective: imagining a system that excludes the influence of human choices and behavior. Understanding the role that human social choices play in the energy water nexus is crucial for developing accurate models in that space. The relatively new field of socio-hydrology is making progress towards understanding the role humans play in hydrological systems. While this fact is now widely recognized across the many academic fields that study water systems, we have yet to develop a coherent set of theories for how to model the behavior of these complex and highly interdependent socio-hydrological systems. How should we conceptualize hydrological systems as socio-ecological systems (i.e. system with variables, states, parameters, actors who can control certain variables and a sense of the desirability of states) within which the rigorous study of feedbacks becomes possible? This talk reviews the state of knowledge of how social decisions around water consumption, allocation, and transport influence and are influenced by the physical hydrology that water also moves within. We cover recent papers in socio-hydrology, engineering, water law, and institutional analysis. There have been several calls within socio-hydrology to model human social behavior endogenously along with the hydrology. These improvements are needed across a range of spatial and temporal scales. We suggest two potential strategies for coupled models that allow endogenous water consumption behavior: a social first model which looks for empirical relationships between water consumption and allocation choices and the hydrological state, and a hydrology first model in which we look for regularities in how water regimes influence behavior, regional economies, or allocation institutions.

Towards integrated water resources management in Colombia: challenges and opportunities for spatial environmental planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salazar, Sergio; Hernández, Sebastián

2015-04-01

Only until 2010 was enacted the first national policy related to the integrated management of water resources in Colombia. In 2011 was established the Directorate for Integrated Water Resources Management within the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development. Between 2010 to 2013 were adopted the regulatory instruments to be developed within the hierarchical structure for spatial environmental planning around the water resources, considering both a transdisciplinary framework and a multi-ethnic and multi-participatory approach. In this context, there is a breakthrough in the development of strategic and tactic actions summarized as follows: i) technical guidelines or projects were developed for the spatial environmental planning at the macroscale river basins (i.e. Magdalena-Cauca river basin with 2.3 million hectares), meso-scale (river basins from 50.000 to 2 million hectares and aquifers) and local scale (catchments areas less than 50.000 hectares); ii) there is an advance in the knowledge of key hydrological processes in the basins of the country as well as actions to restore and preserve ecosystems essential for the regulation of water supply and ecosystem services; iii) demand characterization introducing regional talks with socio-economic stakeholders and promoting water efficiency actions; iv) water use regulation as a way for decontamination and achieving quality standards for prospective uses; v) introduction of risks analysis associated with water resources in the spatial environmental planning and establishment of mitigation and adaptation measures; vi) strengthening the monitoring network of water quality and hydrometeorological variables; vii) strengthening interactions with national and international research as well as the implementation of a national information system of water resources; viii) steps towards water governance with the introduction of socio-economic stakeholder in the spatial environmental planning and implementation of actions to a water culture and water use conflict management. With the premise that "access to information and research are crucial for the integrated water resources management", different planning tools have been implemented in several case studies, considering several hydro-climatic, bio-geographic and socio-cultural contexts. It was supported with a transdisciplinary approach (integrated visions from disciplines such as hydrology, biology, ecology, pedology, geomorphology, geology, economy and social sciences among others) with a key protagonist: the technical and scientific capacity available in the country. From this practical experiences at different spatial scales, we have identified a battery of key challenges: i) extend the spatial and temporal coverage of hydrometeorological and water quality monitoring networks at regional scale; ii) expand the knowledge base of aquatic and transition ecosystem as well as the environmental baseline from regional to local scales; iii) researches about the state of subterranean water resources and their interactions with lotic and lentic systems; iv) move towards the establishment of decision support systems that integrate policy objectives at different scales; v) strengthening technical and scientific capacity of the country expanding academic and research public offer; vi) unifying technical criteria and standards environment management policy; vii) institutional architecture redesign. If there is a political and socio-economical consensus about the urgency to move towards the key aspect summarized here, Colombian people will be giving the definitive step towards integrated water resources management as a cornerstone of spatial environmental planning and water governance. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development or any agency of the Colombian government.

Understanding the state of health information in Ireland: A qualitative study using a socio-technical approach.

PubMed

Craig, Sarah; Kodate, Naonori

2018-06-01

The objective of this paper is to add to the broader literature on socio-technical theory and its value and/or relevance to health information in Ireland. The paper focuses on three factors that can impact on health information; those of policy, infrastructure and people (PIP) and examines how Ireland compares with other countries in relation to these factors. Qualitative methods (documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews) were used. Key policy and strategy documents, and original research articles from Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK and the US were analysed from a comparative perspective. The dimensions of policy, infrastructure and people were then explored through semi-structured interviews with health information experts in Ireland. Their perceptions were compared with and contrasted against the findings from the documentary analysis, and examined thematically. The views of health information experts support the findings of the review of Ireland's development in this area compared with other countries and that Ireland lags behind others in policy and practice terms. The paper concludes that the three dimensions of policy, infrastructure and people do indeed help to frame the understanding of health information in Ireland and that a socio-technical perspective, combined with a comparative approach, can also help both policy makers and practitioners in identifying the scope for improvement in health information. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrologic Predictions in the Anthropocene: Exploration with Co-evolutionary Socio-hydrologic Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivapalan, Murugesu; Tian, Fuqiang; Liu, Dengfeng

2013-04-01

Socio-hydrology studies the co-evolution and self-organization of humans in the hydrologic landscape, which requires a thorough understanding of the complex interactions between humans and water. On the one hand, the nature of water availability greatly impacts the development of society. On the other hand, humans can significantly alter the spatio-temporal distribution of water and in this way provide feedback to the society itself. The human-water system functions underlying such complex human-water interactions are not well understood. Exploratory models with the appropriate level of simplification in any given area can be valuable to understand these functions and the self-organization associated with socio-hydrology. In this study, a simple coupled modeling framework for socio-hydrology co-evolution is developed, and is used to illustrate the explanatory power of such models. In the Tarim River, humans depend heavily on agricultural production (other industries can be ignored for a start), and the social processes can be described principally by two variables, i.e., irrigated-area and human population. The eco-hydrological processes are expressed in terms of area under natural vegetation and stream discharge. The study area is the middle and the lower reaches of the Tarim River, which is divided into two modeling units, i.e. middle reach and lower reach. In each modeling unit, four ordinary differential equations are used to simulate the dynamics of the hydrological system represented by stream discharge, ecological system represented by area under natural vegetation, the economic system represented by irrigated area under agriculture and social system represented by human population. The four dominant variables are coupled together by several internal variables. For example, the stream discharge is coupled to irrigated area by the colonization rate and mortality rate of the irrigated area in the middle reach and the irrigated area is coupled to stream discharge by water used for irrigation. In a similar way, the stream discharge and natural vegetation are coupled together. The irrigated area is coupled to population by the colonization rate and mortality rate of the population. The discharge of the lower reach is determined by the discharge from the middle reach. The natural vegetation area in the lower reach is coupled to the discharge in the middle reach by water resources management policy. The co-evolution of the Tarim socio-hydrological system is then analyzed within this modeling framework to gain insights into the overall system dynamics and sensitivity to the external drivers and internal system variables.

Towards Quality Technical Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) Programmes in Nigeria: Challenges and Improvement Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayonmike, Chinyere Shirley; Okwelle, P. Chijioke; Okeke, Benjamin Chukwumaijem

2015-01-01

Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is widely recognized as a vital driving force for the socio-economic growth and technological development of nations. In achieving the goals and objectives of TVET in Nigeria, the quality of the programme needs to be improved and sustained. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the challenges…

Distintas Modalidades de Aproximar la Educacion al Mundo Productivo: Efectos sobre Variables Psico-Sociales en los Alumnos (Distinct Modalities in Approaching Education for the Productive World: Effects of Socio-psychological Variables on Students).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hidalgo, Abelardo Castro; Carrasco, Decler Martinez; Alegria, Jorge Alegria; Elevancini, Cecilia Maldonado

2000-01-01

States that since the 1990s, professional technical education has produced profound transformations in the relationship between education and work in Chile. Examines in a study how modalities of bringing students to the world of work have affected students' socio-psychological characteristics in comparison to training received from traditional…

Communication: The Study of Human Interaction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mortensen, C. David

Designed to provide a comprehensive and broadly based introduction to the study of human communication, this book presents the concept of communication as interrelated constituent processes that operate at varying levels of complexity and acquire significance only in the context of larger intrapersonal, interpersonal, or socio-cultural systems of…

Adaptive capacity indicators to assess sustainability of urban water systems - Current application.

PubMed

Spiller, Marc

2016-11-01

Sustainability is commonly assessed along environmental, societal, economic and technological dimensions. A crucial aspect of sustainability is that inter-generational equality must be ensured. This requires that sustainability is attained in the here and now as well as into the future. Therefore, what is perceived as 'sustainable' changes as a function of societal opinion and technological and scientific progress. A concept that describes the ability of systems to change is adaptive capacity. Literature suggests that the ability of systems to adapt is an integral part of sustainable development. This paper demonstrates that indicators measuring adaptive capacity are underrepresented in current urban water sustainability studies. Furthermore, it is discussed under which sustainability dimensions adaptive capacity indicators are lacking and why. Of the >90 indicators analysed, only nine are adaptive capacity indicators, of which six are socio-cultural, two technological, one economical and none environmental. This infrequent use of adaptive capacity indicators in sustainability assessments led to the conclusion that the challenge of dynamic and uncertain urban water systems is, with the exception of the socio-cultural dimension, not yet sufficiently reflected in the application of urban water sustainability indicators. This raises concerns about the progress towards urban water systems that can transform as a response variation and change. Therefore, research should focus on developing methods and indicators that can define, evaluate and quantify adaptive capacity under the economic, environmental and technical dimension of sustainability. Furthermore, it should be evaluated whether sustainability frameworks that focus on the control processes of urban water systems are more suitable for measuring adaptive capacity, than the assessments along environmental, economic, socio-cultural and technological dimensions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Coupled Modeling Framework of the Co-evolution of Humans and Water: Case Study of Tarim River Basin, Western China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, D.; Tian, F.; Lin, M.; Sivapalan, M.

2014-12-01

The complex interactions and feedbacks between humans and water are very essential issues but are poorly understood in the newly proposed discipline of socio-hydrology (Sivapalan et al., 2012). An exploratory model with the appropriate level of simplification can be valuable to improve our understanding of the co-evolution and self-organization of socio-hydrological systems driven by interactions and feedbacks operating at different scales. In this study, a simple coupled modeling framework for socio-hydrology co-evolution is developed for the Tarim River Basin in Western China, and is used to illustrate the explanatory power of such a model. The study area is the mainstream of the Tarim River, which is divided into two modeling units. The socio-hydrological system is composed of four parts, i.e., social sub-system, economic sub-system, ecological sub-system, and hydrological sub-system. In each modeling unit, four coupled ordinary differential equations are used to simulate the dynamics of the social sub-system represented by human population, the economic sub-system represented by irrigated crop area, the ecological sub-system represented by natural vegetation cover and the hydrological sub-system represented by stream discharge. The coupling and feedback processes of the four dominant sub-systems (and correspondingly four state variables) are integrated into several internal system characteristics interactively and jointly determined by themselves and by other coupled systems. For example, the stream discharge is coupled to the irrigated crop area by the colonization rate and mortality rate of the irrigated crop area in the upper reach and the irrigated area is coupled to stream discharge through irrigation water consumption. The co-evolution of the Tarim socio-hydrological system is then analyzed within this modeling framework to gain insights into the overall system dynamics and its sensitivity to the external drivers and internal system variables. In the modeling framework, the state of each subsystem is holistically described by one state variable and the framework is flexible enough to comprise more processes and constitutive relationships if they are needed to illustrate the interaction and feedback mechanisms of the human-water system.

Foundation stones for a real socio-environmental integration in projects' impact assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andres Dominguez-Gomez, J.

2015-04-01

In the last twenty years, both the increase in academic production and the expansion of professional involvement in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA), have evidenced growing scientific and business interest in risk and impact analysis. However, this growth has not brought with it a parallel progress in addressing their main shortcomings: insufficient integration of environmental and social features into development project analyses and, in cases where the social aspects are considered, technical-methodological failings in their diagnosis and assessment. It is clear that these weaknesses carry with them substantial threats to the sustainability (social, environmental and economic) of schemes which impact on the environment, and in consequence, to the local contexts where they are carried out and to the delicate balance of the global ecosystem. This paper argue that, in a sociological context of growing complexity, four foundation-stones are required to underpin research methodologies (for both diagnosis and assessment) in the socio-environmental risks of development projects: a theoretical foundation in actor-network theory; an ethical grounding in values which are internationally recognized though not always carried through into practice; a (new) epistemological-scientific base; and a methodological foundation in social participation.

Synthesis of Systemic Functional Theory & Dynamical Systems Theory for Socio-Cultural Modeling

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-26

is, language and other resources (e.g. images and sound resources) are conceptualised as inter-locking systems of meaning which realise four...hierarchical ranks and strata (e.g. sounds, word groups, clauses, and complex discourse structures in language, and elements, figures and episodes in images ...integrating platform for describing how language and other resources (e.g. images and sound) work together to fulfil particular objectives. While

Systems Engineering Awareness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lucero, John

2016-01-01

The presentation will provide an overview of the fundamentals and principles of Systems Engineering (SE). This includes understanding the processes that are used to assist the engineer in a successful design, build and implementation of solutions. The context of this presentation will be to describe the involvement of SE throughout the life-cycle of a project from cradle to grave. Due to the ever growing number of complex technical problems facing our world, a Systems Engineering approach is desirable for many reasons. The interdisciplinary technical structure of current systems, technical processes representing System Design, Technical Management and Product Realization are instrumental in the development and integration of new technologies into mainstream applications. This tutorial will demonstrate the application of SE tools to these types of problems..

State and business co-operation in settling socio-economic issues: forward to sustainable development of ecologically unfavorable regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bashkirova, N. N.; Lessovaia, S. N.

2018-01-01

The complexity of socio-economic issues of mono-cities located in the ecologically unfavorable regions of Eurasia was disclosed. The economically strategic role of city-forming mining enterprises and their impact on ecological situation was revealed. The general conception of settling the socio-economic problems of mono-cities located in ecologically unfavorable regions was worked out. Various approached to the concentration of financial resources for economic and ecological sustainable development of the regions located on the north of Eurasia holding nature protection actions were submitted. Based on performed critical analysis of the positive international experience of ecological taxation some approaches to reforming current Russian system of ecological taxation were suggested. It was revealed that increasing the social responsibilities of business in the field of waste recycling, environmental protection and monitoring of ecological conditions of territories and state and business co-operation are the most efficient opportunities in settling socio-economic issues of ecologically unfavorable regions.

Hot air ablowin! 'Media-speak', social conflict, and the Australian 'decoupled' wind farm controversy.

PubMed

Hindmarsh, Richard

2014-04-01

In work in science, technology, and society social conflict around wind farms has a growing profile, not least because it draws our attention to two key interrelated themes: 'science, technology and governance' and 'socio-technological systems'. In this article on Australian wind farm development and siting, these themes are highlighted in contexts of sustainability, legitimacy, and competency for policy effectiveness. There is enduring social conflict around wind farms at the local community level, but little government understanding of this conflict or willingness to respond adequately to resolve it. This article examines the conflict through the lens of print media analysis. A key finding of the five identified is that people seeing wind farms as spoiling a sense of place is a primary cause of enduring social conflict at the local community level around wind farms, alongside significant environmental issues and inadequate community engagement; this finding also indicates a central reason for the highly problematic state of Australian wind energy transitions. In turn, by identifying this problematic situation as one of a significantly 'decoupled' and 'dysfunctional' condition of the Australian socio-technological wind farm development and siting system, I suggest remedies including those of a deliberative nature that also respond to the Habermas-Mouffe debate. These inform a socio-technical siting approach or pathway to better respect and navigate contested landscapes for enhanced renewable energy transitions at the local level.

Inter-organisational communication networks in healthcare: centralised versus decentralised approaches

PubMed Central

Pirnejad, Habibollah; Bal, Roland; Stoop, Arjen P.; Berg, Marc

2007-01-01

Background To afford efficient and high quality care, healthcare providers increasingly need to exchange patient data. The existence of a communication network amongst care providers will help them to exchange patient data more efficiently. Information and communication technology (ICT) has much potential to facilitate the development of such a communication network. Moreover, in order to offer integrated care interoperability of healthcare organizations based upon the exchanged data is of crucial importance. However, complications around such a development are beyond technical impediments. Objectives To determine the challenges and complexities involved in building an Inter-organisational Communication network (IOCN) in healthcare and the appropriations in the strategies. Case study Interviews, literature review, and document analysis were conducted to analyse the developments that have taken place toward building a countrywide electronic patient record and its challenges in The Netherlands. Due to the interrelated nature of technical and non-technical problems, a socio-technical approach was used to analyse the data and define the challenges. Results Organisational and cultural changes are necessary before technical solutions can be applied. There are organisational, financial, political, and ethicolegal challenges that have to be addressed appropriately. Two different approaches, one “centralised” and the other “decentralised” have been used by Dutch healthcare providers to adopt the necessary changes and cope with these challenges. Conclusion The best solutions in building an IOCN have to be drawn from both the centralised and the decentralised approaches. Local communication initiatives have to be supervised and supported centrally and incentives at the organisations' interest level have to be created to encourage the stakeholder organisations to adopt the necessary changes. PMID:17627296

Inter-organisational communication networks in healthcare: centralised versus decentralised approaches.

PubMed

Pirnejad, Habibollah; Bal, Roland; Stoop, Arjen P; Berg, Marc

2007-05-16

To afford efficient and high quality care, healthcare providers increasingly need to exchange patient data. The existence of a communication network amongst care providers will help them to exchange patient data more efficiently. Information and communication technology (ICT) has much potential to facilitate the development of such a communication network. Moreover, in order to offer integrated care interoperability of healthcare organizations based upon the exchanged data is of crucial importance. However, complications around such a development are beyond technical impediments. To determine the challenges and complexities involved in building an Inter-organisational Communication network (IOCN) in healthcare and the appropriations in the strategies. Interviews, literature review, and document analysis were conducted to analyse the developments that have taken place toward building a countrywide electronic patient record and its challenges in The Netherlands. Due to the interrelated nature of technical and non-technical problems, a socio-technical approach was used to analyse the data and define the challenges. Organisational and cultural changes are necessary before technical solutions can be applied. There are organisational, financial, political, and ethicolegal challenges that have to be addressed appropriately. Two different approaches, one "centralised" and the other "decentralised" have been used by Dutch healthcare providers to adopt the necessary changes and cope with these challenges. The best solutions in building an IOCN have to be drawn from both the centralised and the decentralised approaches. Local communication initiatives have to be supervised and supported centrally and incentives at the organisations' interest level have to be created to encourage the stakeholder organisations to adopt the necessary changes.

Promoting community socio-ecological sustainability through technology: A case study from Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguayo, Claudio; Eames, Chris

2017-12-01

The importance of community learning in effecting social change towards ecological sustainability has been recognised for some time. More recently, the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to promote socio-ecological sustainability has been shown to have potential in community education for sustainable development (ESD). The effective design and use of technology for community learning implies an understanding of a range of cross-dimensional factors including: socio-cultural characteristics and needs of the target audience; considerations of available and culturally responsive types of technology; and non-formal pedagogical ESD strategies for community empowerment. In addition, both technology itself and social communities are dynamically evolving and complex entities. This article presents a case study which evaluated the potential of ICT for promoting ecological literacy and action competence amongst community members in southern Chile. The case study addressed the ecological deterioration of a lake, which is having deep social, economic, recreational and cultural implications locally. The authors' research involved developing a theoretical framework for the design, implementation and use of ICT for community learning for sustainability. The framework was based on key ideas from ESD, ICT and community education, and was underpinned by a systems thinking approach to account for the dynamism and complexity of such settings. Activity theory provided a frame to address overarching socio-cultural elements when using technology as a mediating tool for community learning. The authors' findings suggest that the use of an ICT tool, such as a website, can enhance ecological literacy in relation to a local socio-ecological issue.

Harmonizing human-hydrological system under climate change: A scenario-based approach for the case of the headwaters of the Tagus River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lobanova, Anastasia; Liersch, Stefan; Tàbara, J. David; Koch, Hagen; Hattermann, Fred F.; Krysanova, Valentina

2017-05-01

Conventional water management strategies, that serve solely socio-economic demands and neglect changing natural conditions of the river basins, face significant challenges in governing complex human-hydrological systems, especially in the areas with constrained water availability. In this study we assess the possibility to harmonize the inter-sectoral water allocation scheme within a highly altered human-hydrological system under reduction in water availability, triggered by projected climate change applying scenario-based approach. The Tagus River Basin headwaters, with significant disproportion in the water resources allocation between the environmental and socio-economic targets were taken as a perfect example of such system out of balance. We propose three different water allocation strategies for this region, including two conventional schemes and one imposing shift to sustainable water management and environmental restoration of the river. We combine in one integrated modelling framework the eco-hydrological process-based Soil and Water Integrated Model (SWIM), coupled with the conceptual reservoir and water allocation modules driven by the latest bias-corrected climate projections for the region and investigate possible water allocation scenarios in the region under constrained water availability in the future. Our results show that the socio-economic demands have to be re-considered and lowered under any water allocation strategy, as the climate impacts may significantly reduce water availability in the future. Further, we show that a shift to sustainable water management strategy and river restoration is possible even under reduced water availability. Finally, our results suggest that the adaptation of complex human-hydrological systems to climate change and a shift to a more sustainable water management are likely to be parts of one joint strategy to cope with climate change impacts.

To the systematization of failure analysis for perturbed systems (in German)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haller, U.

1974-01-01

The paper investigates the reliable functioning of complex technical systems. Of main importance is the question of how the functioning of technical systems which may fail or whose design still has some faults can be determined in the very earliest planning stages. The present paper is to develop a functioning schedule and to look for possible methods of systematic failure analysis of systems with stochastic failures. (RW/AK)

A Socio-Ecological Approach for Identifying and Contextualising Spatial Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Priorities at the Sub-National Level

PubMed Central

Bourne, Amanda; Holness, Stephen; Holden, Petra; Scorgie, Sarshen; Donatti, Camila I.; Midgley, Guy

2016-01-01

Climate change adds an additional layer of complexity to existing sustainable development and biodiversity conservation challenges. The impacts of global climate change are felt locally, and thus local governance structures will increasingly be responsible for preparedness and local responses. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) options are gaining prominence as relevant climate change solutions. Local government officials seldom have an appropriate understanding of the role of ecosystem functioning in sustainable development goals, or access to relevant climate information. Thus the use of ecosystems in helping people adapt to climate change is limited partially by the lack of information on where ecosystems have the highest potential to do so. To begin overcoming this barrier, Conservation South Africa in partnership with local government developed a socio-ecological approach for identifying spatial EbA priorities at the sub-national level. Using GIS-based multi-criteria analysis and vegetation distribution models, the authors have spatially integrated relevant ecological and social information at a scale appropriate to inform local level political, administrative, and operational decision makers. This is the first systematic approach of which we are aware that highlights spatial priority areas for EbA implementation. Nodes of socio-ecological vulnerability are identified, and the inclusion of areas that provide ecosystem services and ecological resilience to future climate change is innovative. The purpose of this paper is to present and demonstrate a methodology for combining complex information into user-friendly spatial products for local level decision making on EbA. The authors focus on illustrating the kinds of products that can be generated from combining information in the suggested ways, and do not discuss the nuance of climate models nor present specific technical details of the model outputs here. Two representative case studies from rural South Africa demonstrate the replicability of this approach in rural and peri-urban areas of other developing and least developed countries around the world. PMID:27227671

A Socio-Ecological Approach for Identifying and Contextualising Spatial Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Priorities at the Sub-National Level.

PubMed

Bourne, Amanda; Holness, Stephen; Holden, Petra; Scorgie, Sarshen; Donatti, Camila I; Midgley, Guy

2016-01-01

Climate change adds an additional layer of complexity to existing sustainable development and biodiversity conservation challenges. The impacts of global climate change are felt locally, and thus local governance structures will increasingly be responsible for preparedness and local responses. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) options are gaining prominence as relevant climate change solutions. Local government officials seldom have an appropriate understanding of the role of ecosystem functioning in sustainable development goals, or access to relevant climate information. Thus the use of ecosystems in helping people adapt to climate change is limited partially by the lack of information on where ecosystems have the highest potential to do so. To begin overcoming this barrier, Conservation South Africa in partnership with local government developed a socio-ecological approach for identifying spatial EbA priorities at the sub-national level. Using GIS-based multi-criteria analysis and vegetation distribution models, the authors have spatially integrated relevant ecological and social information at a scale appropriate to inform local level political, administrative, and operational decision makers. This is the first systematic approach of which we are aware that highlights spatial priority areas for EbA implementation. Nodes of socio-ecological vulnerability are identified, and the inclusion of areas that provide ecosystem services and ecological resilience to future climate change is innovative. The purpose of this paper is to present and demonstrate a methodology for combining complex information into user-friendly spatial products for local level decision making on EbA. The authors focus on illustrating the kinds of products that can be generated from combining information in the suggested ways, and do not discuss the nuance of climate models nor present specific technical details of the model outputs here. Two representative case studies from rural South Africa demonstrate the replicability of this approach in rural and peri-urban areas of other developing and least developed countries around the world.

Discourse coalitions in Swiss waste management: gridlock or winds of change?

PubMed

Duygan, Mert; Stauffacher, Michael; Meylan, Grégoire

2018-02-01

As a complex socio-technical system, waste management is crucially important for the sustainable management of material and energy flows. Transition to better performing waste management systems requires not only determining what needs to be changed but also finding out how this change can be realized. Without understanding the political context, insights from decision support tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) are likely to be lost in translation to decision and policy making. This study strives to provide a first insight into the political context and address the opportunities and barriers pertinent to initiating a change in Swiss waste management. For this purpose, the discourses around a major policy process are analysed to uncover the policy beliefs and preferences of actors. Discourse coalitions are delineated by referring to the Advocacy Coalition Framework (Sabatier, 1998) and using the Discourse Network Analysis (Leifeld and Haunss, 2012) method. The results display an incoherent regime (Fuenfschilling and Truffer, 2014) with divergent belief clusters on core issues in waste management. Yet, some actors holding different beliefs appear to have overlapping interests on secondary issues such as the treatment of biogenic waste or plastics. Although the current political context hinders a system-wide disruptive change, transitions can be initiated at local or regional scale by utilizing the shared interest across different discourse coalitions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Systems Modelling of the Socio-Technical Aspects of Residential Electricity Use and Network Peak Demand.

PubMed

Lewis, Jim; Mengersen, Kerrie; Buys, Laurie; Vine, Desley; Bell, John; Morris, Peter; Ledwich, Gerard

2015-01-01

Provision of network infrastructure to meet rising network peak demand is increasing the cost of electricity. Addressing this demand is a major imperative for Australian electricity agencies. The network peak demand model reported in this paper provides a quantified decision support tool and a means of understanding the key influences and impacts on network peak demand. An investigation of the system factors impacting residential consumers' peak demand for electricity was undertaken in Queensland, Australia. Technical factors, such as the customers' location, housing construction and appliances, were combined with social factors, such as household demographics, culture, trust and knowledge, and Change Management Options (CMOs) such as tariffs, price, managed supply, etc., in a conceptual 'map' of the system. A Bayesian network was used to quantify the model and provide insights into the major influential factors and their interactions. The model was also used to examine the reduction in network peak demand with different market-based and government interventions in various customer locations of interest and investigate the relative importance of instituting programs that build trust and knowledge through well designed customer-industry engagement activities. The Bayesian network was implemented via a spreadsheet with a tickbox interface. The model combined available data from industry-specific and public sources with relevant expert opinion. The results revealed that the most effective intervention strategies involve combining particular CMOs with associated education and engagement activities. The model demonstrated the importance of designing interventions that take into account the interactions of the various elements of the socio-technical system. The options that provided the greatest impact on peak demand were Off-Peak Tariffs and Managed Supply and increases in the price of electricity. The impact in peak demand reduction differed for each of the locations and highlighted that household numbers, demographics as well as the different climates were significant factors. It presented possible network peak demand reductions which would delay any upgrade of networks, resulting in savings for Queensland utilities and ultimately for households. The use of this systems approach using Bayesian networks to assist the management of peak demand in different modelled locations in Queensland provided insights about the most important elements in the system and the intervention strategies that could be tailored to the targeted customer segments.

Systems Modelling of the Socio-Technical Aspects of Residential Electricity Use and Network Peak Demand

PubMed Central

Lewis, Jim; Mengersen, Kerrie; Buys, Laurie; Vine, Desley; Bell, John; Morris, Peter; Ledwich, Gerard

2015-01-01

Provision of network infrastructure to meet rising network peak demand is increasing the cost of electricity. Addressing this demand is a major imperative for Australian electricity agencies. The network peak demand model reported in this paper provides a quantified decision support tool and a means of understanding the key influences and impacts on network peak demand. An investigation of the system factors impacting residential consumers’ peak demand for electricity was undertaken in Queensland, Australia. Technical factors, such as the customers’ location, housing construction and appliances, were combined with social factors, such as household demographics, culture, trust and knowledge, and Change Management Options (CMOs) such as tariffs, price, managed supply, etc., in a conceptual ‘map’ of the system. A Bayesian network was used to quantify the model and provide insights into the major influential factors and their interactions. The model was also used to examine the reduction in network peak demand with different market-based and government interventions in various customer locations of interest and investigate the relative importance of instituting programs that build trust and knowledge through well designed customer-industry engagement activities. The Bayesian network was implemented via a spreadsheet with a tickbox interface. The model combined available data from industry-specific and public sources with relevant expert opinion. The results revealed that the most effective intervention strategies involve combining particular CMOs with associated education and engagement activities. The model demonstrated the importance of designing interventions that take into account the interactions of the various elements of the socio-technical system. The options that provided the greatest impact on peak demand were Off-Peak Tariffs and Managed Supply and increases in the price of electricity. The impact in peak demand reduction differed for each of the locations and highlighted that household numbers, demographics as well as the different climates were significant factors. It presented possible network peak demand reductions which would delay any upgrade of networks, resulting in savings for Queensland utilities and ultimately for households. The use of this systems approach using Bayesian networks to assist the management of peak demand in different modelled locations in Queensland provided insights about the most important elements in the system and the intervention strategies that could be tailored to the targeted customer segments. PMID:26226511

Socio-scientific reasoning influenced by identities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simonneaux, Laurence; Simonneaux, Jean

2009-09-01

Based on the comments by Lopez-Facal and Jiménez-Aleixandre, we consider that the cultural identities within Europe interfere with the question of the re-introduction of the Slovenian bear, generating a kind of "discrimination." When the SAQs under debate run against the students' systems of value, it seems that the closer the connection between the SAQs (socially acute questions) and the territorial and cultural identity, the more deeply the associated systems of values are affected; and the more the evidence is denied, the weaker the socio-scientific reasoning becomes. This result shows the importance of attempting to get the students to clarify the values underlying their socio-scientific reasoning. As Sadler observed, there was no transfer of socio-scientific reasoning on the three questions considered; each SAQ, as they are deeply related to social representations and identity, generated a specific line of reasoning balancing more or less each operation. Among various methods of teaching SAQs—problematizing, genetic, doctrinal and praxeological methods--socio-scientific reasoning may be a complex activity of problematization fostering the development of critical thinking. Confronted with the refusal to analyse the evidence in the case of the bear, and because of the nature of SAQs, we explore the notion of tangible proof. We think it relevant to study, together with the students, the processes of investigation used by the actors to establish or disestablish tangible proof on SAQs by analysing the intermediary states of the systems of proof, and possibly the "weak signals" which result in calling for the implementation of the precautionary principle.

Community-based livestock breeding programmes: essentials and examples.

PubMed

Mueller, J P; Rischkowsky, B; Haile, A; Philipsson, J; Mwai, O; Besbes, B; Valle Zárate, A; Tibbo, M; Mirkena, T; Duguma, G; Sölkner, J; Wurzinger, M

2015-04-01

Breeding programmes described as community-based (CBBP) typically relate to low-input systems with farmers having a common interest to improve and share their genetic resources. CBBPs are more frequent with keepers of small ruminants, in particular smallholders of local breeds, than with cattle, pigs or chickens with which farmers may have easier access to alternative programmes. Constraints that limit the adoption of conventional breeding technologies in low-input systems cover a range of organizational and technical aspects. The analysis of 8 CBBPs located in countries of Latin-America, Africa and Asia highlights the importance of bottom-up approaches and involvement of local institutions in the planning and implementation stages. The analysis also reveals a high dependence of these programmes on organizational, technical and financial support. Completely self-sustained CBBPs seem to be difficult to realize. There is a need to implement and document formal socio-economic evaluations of CBBPs to provide governments and other development agencies with the information necessary for creating sustainable CBBPs at larger scales. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Research on the EDM Technology for Micro-holes at Complex Spatial Locations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Y Liu, J.; Guo, J. M.; Sun, D. J.; Cai, Y. H.; Ding, L. T.; Jiang, H.

2017-12-01

For the demands on machining micro-holes at complex spatial location, several key technical problems are conquered such as micro-Electron Discharge Machining (micro-EDM) power supply system’s development, the host structure’s design and machining process technical. Through developing low-voltage power supply circuit, high-voltage circuit, micro and precision machining circuit and clearance detection system, the narrow pulse and high frequency six-axis EDM machining power supply system is developed to meet the demands on micro-hole discharging machining. With the method of combining the CAD structure design, CAE simulation analysis, modal test, ODS (Operational Deflection Shapes) test and theoretical analysis, the host construction and key axes of the machine tool are optimized to meet the position demands of the micro-holes. Through developing the special deionized water filtration system to make sure that the machining process is stable enough. To verify the machining equipment and processing technical developed in this paper through developing the micro-hole’s processing flow and test on the real machine tool. As shown in the final test results: the efficient micro-EDM machining pulse power supply system, machine tool host system, deionized filtration system and processing method developed in this paper meet the demands on machining micro-holes at complex spatial locations.

Moving alcohol prevention research forward-Part I: introducing a complex systems paradigm.

PubMed

Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Lemke, Michael K; Barry, Adam E; Lich, Kristen Hassmiller

2018-02-01

The drinking environment is a complex system consisting of a number of heterogeneous, evolving and interacting components, which exhibit circular causality and emergent properties. These characteristics reduce the efficacy of commonly used research approaches, which typically do not account for the underlying dynamic complexity of alcohol consumption and the interdependent nature of diverse factors influencing misuse over time. We use alcohol misuse among college students in the United States as an example for framing our argument for a complex systems paradigm. A complex systems paradigm, grounded in socio-ecological and complex systems theories and computational modeling and simulation, is introduced. Theoretical, conceptual, methodological and analytical underpinnings of this paradigm are described in the context of college drinking prevention research. The proposed complex systems paradigm can transcend limitations of traditional approaches, thereby fostering new directions in alcohol prevention research. By conceptualizing student alcohol misuse as a complex adaptive system, computational modeling and simulation methodologies and analytical techniques can be used. Moreover, use of participatory model-building approaches to generate simulation models can further increase stakeholder buy-in, understanding and policymaking. A complex systems paradigm for research into alcohol misuse can provide a holistic understanding of the underlying drinking environment and its long-term trajectory, which can elucidate high-leverage preventive interventions. © 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.

How NASA is Building a Petabyte Scale Geospatial Archive in the Cloud

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pilone, Dan; Quinn, Patrick; Jazayeri, Alireza; Baynes, Kathleen; Murphy, Kevin J.

2018-01-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is working towards a vision of a cloud-based, highly-flexible, ingest, archive, management, and distribution system for its ever-growing and evolving data holdings. This free and open source system, Cumulus, is emerging from its prototyping stages and is poised to make a huge impact on how NASA manages and disseminates its Earth science data. This talk outlines the motivation for this work, present the achievements and hurdles of the past 18 months and charts a course for the future expansion of Cumulus. We explore not just the technical, but also the socio-technical challenges that we face in evolving a system of this magnitude into the cloud. The NASA EOSDIS archive is currently at nearly 30 PBs and will grow to over 300PBs in the coming years. We've presented progress on this effort at AWS re:Invent and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in 2017 and hope to have the opportunity to share with FOSS4G attendees information on the availability of the open sourced software and how NASA intends on making its Earth Observing Geospatial data available for free to the public in the cloud.

Two Paths from the Same Place: Task Driven and Human Centered Evolution of a Group Information Surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, Daniel M.; Trimble, Jay; Wales, Roxana; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2003-01-01

This is the tale of two different implementations of a collaborative information tool, that started from the same design source. The Blueboard, developed at IBM Research, is a tool for groups to use in exchanging information in a lightweight, informal collaborative way. It began as a large display surface for walk-by use in a corporate setting and has evolved in response to task demands and user needs. At NASA, the MERBoard is being designed to support surface operations for the upcoming Mars Exploration Rover Missions. The MERBoard is a tool that was inspired by the Blueboard design, extending this design to support the collaboration requirements for viewing, annotating, linking and distributing information for the science and engineering teams that will operate two rovers on the surface of Mars. The ways in which each group transformed the system reflects not only technical requirements, but also the needs of users in each setting and embedding of the system within the larger socio-technical environment. Lessons about how task requirements, information flow requirements and work practice drive the evolution of a system are illustrated.

Storying energy consumption: Collective video storytelling in energy efficiency social marketing.

PubMed

Gordon, Ross; Waitt, Gordon; Cooper, Paul; Butler, Katherine

2018-05-01

Despite calls for more socio-technical research on energy, there is little practical advice to how narratives collected through qualitative research may be melded with technical knowledge from the physical sciences such as engineering and then applied in energy efficiency social action strategies. This is despite established knowledge in the environmental management literature about domestic energy use regarding the utility of social practice theory and narrative framings that socialise everyday consumption. Storytelling is positioned in this paper both as a focus for socio-technical energy research, and as one potential practical tool that can arguably enhance energy efficiency interventions. We draw upon the literature on everyday social practices, and storytelling, to present our framework called 'collective video storytelling' that combines scientific and lay knowledge about domestic energy use to offer a practical tool for energy efficiency management. Collective video storytelling is discussed in the context of Energy+Illawarra, a 3-year cross-disciplinary collaboration between social marketers, human geographers, and engineers to target energy behavioural change within older low-income households in regional NSW, Australia. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-hydrologic modeling to understand and mediate the competition for water between agriculture development and environmental health: Murrumbidgee River Basin, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Emmerik, T. H. M.; Li, Z.; Sivapalan, M.; Pande, S.; Kandasamy, J.; Savenije, H. H. G.; Chanan, A.; Vigneswaran, S.

2014-03-01

Competition for water between humans and ecosystems is set to become a flash point in the coming decades in many parts of the world. An entirely new and comprehensive quantitative framework is needed to establish a holistic understanding of that competition, thereby enabling the development of effective mediation strategies. This paper presents a modeling study centered on the Murrumbidgee River Basin (MRB). The MRB has witnessed a unique system dynamics over the last 100 years as a result of interactions between patterns of water management and climate driven hydrological variability. Data analysis has revealed a pendulum swing between agricultural development and restoration of environmental health and ecosystem services over different stages of basin scale water resource development. A parsimonious, stylized, quasi-distributed coupled socio-hydrologic system model that simulates the two-way coupling between human and hydrological systems of the MRB is used to mimic dominant features of the pendulum swing. The model consists of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations that describe the interaction between five state variables that govern the co-evolution: reservoir storage, irrigated area, human population, ecosystem health, and a measure of environmental awareness. The model simulations track the propagation of the external climatic and socio-economic drivers through this coupled, complex system to the emergence of the pendulum swing. The model results point to a competition between human "productive" and environmental "restorative" forces that underpin the pendulum swing. Both the forces are endogenous, i.e., generated by the system dynamics in response to external drivers and mediated by humans through technology change and environmental awareness, respectively. We propose this as a generalizable modeling framework for coupled human hydrological systems that is potentially transferable to systems in different climatic and socio-economic settings.

Enhancing a Socio-technical Data Ecosystem for Societally Relevant, Sustained Arctic Observing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pulsifer, P. L.

2017-12-01

In recent years, much has been learned about the state of data and related systems for the Arctic region, however work remains to be done to achieve an envisioned integrated and well-defined pan-Arctic observing and data network. The envisioned comprehensive network will enables access to high quality data, expertise and information in support of scientific understanding, stakeholder needs, and agency operations. In this paper we argue that priorities for establishing such a network are in the areas of better understanding the current system, machine-enhanced data discovery and mediation, and the human aspects of community building. The author has engaged extensively in international, Canadian and U.S.-based data coordination and system design efforts. This includes a series of meetings, workshops, systems design activities, and publications. The results of these efforts have been analyzed and a synthesis of these analyses are presented here. Analysis reveals that there are a large number of polar data resources interacting in a complex network that functions as a data ecosystem. Understanding this ecosystem is critical and required to guide design. Given the size and complexity of the network, achieving broad data discovery and access and meaningful data integration will require advanced techniques including machine learning, semantic mediation, and the use of highly connected virtual research environments. To achieve the aforementioned goal will require a community of engaged researchers, technologists, and stakeholders to establish requirements and the social and organizational context needed for effective approaches. The results imply that: i) an effective governance mechanism must be established that includes "bottom up" and "top down" control; ii) the established governance mechanism must include effective networking of actors in the system; iii) funders must adopt a long-term, sustainable infrastructure approach to systems development; iv) best practices will include service and application "chaining" to provide solutions for the diverse Arctic community. Establishing cyberinfrastructure for a sustained Arctic observing network that benefits society will require an innovative combination of emerging technologies and community-building across stakeholders.

AgMIP's Transdisciplinary Agricultural Systems Approach to Regional Integrated Assessment of Climate Impacts, Vulnerability, and Adaptation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Antle, John M.; Valdivia, Roberto O.; Boote, Kenneth J.; Janssen, Sander; Jones, James W.; Porter, Cheryl H.; Rosenzweig, Cynthia; Ruane, Alexander C.; Thorburn, Peter J.

2015-01-01

This chapter describes methods developed by the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) to implement a transdisciplinary, systems-based approach for regional-scale (local to national) integrated assessment of agricultural systems under future climate, biophysical, and socio-economic conditions. These methods were used by the AgMIP regional research teams in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to implement the analyses reported in their respective chapters of this book. Additional technical details are provided in Appendix 1.The principal goal that motivates AgMIP's regional integrated assessment (RIA) methodology is to provide scientifically rigorous information needed to support improved decision-making by various stakeholders, ranging from local to national and international non-governmental and governmental organizations.

Socio-Pedagogical Complex as a Pedagogical Support Technology of Students' Social Adaptation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadovaya, Victoriya V.; Simonova, Galina I.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the problem stated in the article is determined by the need of developing technological approaches to pedagogical support of students' social adaptation. The purpose of this paper is to position the technological sequence of pedagogical support of students' social adaptation in the activities of the socio-pedagogical complex. The…

Dynamic modeling of the Ganga river system: impacts of future climate and socio-economic change on flows and nitrogen fluxes in India and Bangladesh.

PubMed

Whitehead, P G; Sarkar, S; Jin, L; Futter, M N; Caesar, J; Barbour, E; Butterfield, D; Sinha, R; Nicholls, R; Hutton, C; Leckie, H D

2015-06-01

This study investigates the potential impacts of future climate and socio-economic change on the flow and nitrogen fluxes of the Ganga river system. This is the first basin scale water quality study for the Ganga considering climate change at 25 km resolution together with socio-economic scenarios. The revised dynamic, process-based INCA model was used to simulate hydrology and water quality within the complex multi-branched river basins. All climate realizations utilized in the study predict increases in temperature and rainfall by the 2050s with significant increase by the 2090s. These changes generate associated increases in monsoon flows and increased availability of water for groundwater recharge and irrigation, but also more frequent flooding. Decreased concentrations of nitrate and ammonia are expected due to increased dilution. Different future socio-economic scenarios were found to have a significant impact on water quality at the downstream end of the Ganga. A less sustainable future resulted in a deterioration of water quality due to the pressures from higher population growth, land use change, increased sewage treatment discharges, enhanced atmospheric nitrogen deposition, and water abstraction. However, water quality was found to improve under a more sustainable strategy as envisaged in the Ganga clean-up plan.

Predictable and Adaptable Complex Real-Time Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-09-30

Predictable and Adaptable Complex Real - Time Systems Grant or Contract Number: N00014-92-J-1048 Reporting Period: 1 Oct 91 - 30 Sep 93 1... Real - Time Systems Grant or Contract Number: N00014-92-J-1048 Reporting Period: 1 Oct 91 - 30 Sep 93 2. Summary of Technical Progress Our...cs.umass.edu Grant or Contract Title: Predictable and Adaptable Complex Real - Time Systems Grant or Contract Number: N00014-92-J-1048 Reporting Period: 1 Oct 91

Dynamic modelling of future land use change under urbanization and climate change pressures: application to a case study in central Belgium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacquemin, I.; Fontaine, C. M.; Dendoncker, N.; François, L.; De Vreese, R.; Marek, A.; Mortelmans, D.; Van Herzele, A.; Devillet, G.

2012-04-01

Projecting the future of the evolution of socio-ecological systems to analyse their sustainability under climate or other environmental changes is not straightforward. Current projections usually use process-oriented models describing the complex interactions within the physical/biological systems (ecosystems), while the socio-economic constraints are represented with the help of scenarios. However, the actual evolution can be expected to be much more complex, because of the mutual interactions between ecological and socio-economic systems. To represent these interactions, models must integrate the complex process of human decision at individual or society levels. Moreover, models must be spatially explicit, defining elementary spatial units on which can act both the physical factors and the human decision process. These spatial units (e.g., farm fields) must be described not only in terms of energy, water, carbon and nutrient flows, but also in terms of the flow of ecosystem goods and services (EGS) they provide to the society together with the management costs required to sustain them. The provision of EGS may be altered in the future in response to changes in the climate system and the environment, but also through various human pressures on the landscape such as urbanization, as well as through the reaction of human societies to these changes in EGS provision. In the VOTES ("Valuation Of Terrestrial Ecosystem Services in a multifunctional peri-urban space") project, we attempt to model this coupled socio-ecological system by combining a dynamic vegetation model (DVM) with an agent-based model (ABM). The DVM (CARAIB; Dury et al., iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, 4:82-99, 2011) model describes the evolution of physical and biological processes in the ecosystems, i.e. the impact of climate change and land management on the energy, water and carbon budgets, as well as the productivity of each simulated plant species present on each land unit. The original version of the model developed for natural vegetation has been upgraded to include crop systems and pastures. The ABM (Murray-Rust, Journal of Land Use Science, 6(2-3):83-99, 2011) describes the management choices (e.g., crop rotation, intensive agriculture or organic farming, etc) for each land plot, as well as the possible change in their affectation (e.g., conversion of farm fields to residential areas in response to urbanization), under different socio-economic contexts described in the storyline of three scenarios depicting general societal orientations (business-as-usual; market oriented; sustainability oriented). As a result, the ABM produces a dynamic evolution of land use and management options to be passed on to the DVM for further analysis. The outputs from the DVM allow evaluating quantitatively the provision of EGS by each land plot. This DVM-ABM modelling tool is thus able to describe the future evolution of land use and land cover, as well as of EGS production, in the context of socio-economic scenarios. The model is applied to a case study area covering four municipalities located in central Belgium close to Brussels and Leuven. The area is mostly composed of agricultural fields (crops and meadows), residential areas and a large protected forest (Meerdaalbos) and is subject to intense urbanization pressure due to the proximity to Brussels.

Some Issues of Micro and Small Enterprises in Wolaita Soddo Town of SNNPR, Ethiopia and Implication for Technical and Vocational Education and Skills Training: Leather Sector in Extra Emphasis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ginja, Tamirat Gibon

2016-01-01

Technical and Vocational Education & skills Training (TVET) and Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs) are so significant sectors in socio-economic development journey of a country. This Article was aimed at investigating empirically the challenges that Micro and Small Enterprises facing and the extent of business development services provided…

Strategic management of livestock to improve biodiversity conservation in African savannahs: A conceptual basis for wildlife-livestock coexistence

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

African savannas are complex socio-ecological systems with diverse wild and domestic herbivore assemblages, which utilize functional heterogeneity of habitats to adapt to intra- and inter-annual variation in forage quantity and quality, predation and disease risks. As African savannas become increas...

Peer Assisted Learning in the Clinical Setting: An Activity Systems Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Deirdre; O'Flynn, Siun; Kelly, Martina

2015-01-01

Peer assisted learning (PAL) is a common feature of medical education. Understanding of PAL has been based on processes and outcomes in controlled settings, such as clinical skills labs. PAL in the clinical setting, a complex learning environment, requires fresh evaluation. Socio-cultural theory is proposed as a means to understand educational…

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development.

PubMed

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Chan, Gabriel; Harley, Alicia G; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L; Clark, William C

2016-08-30

This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset.

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development

PubMed Central

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Harley, Alicia G.; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L.

2016-01-01

This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset. PMID:27519800

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

This document comprises Pacific Northwest National Laboratory`s report for Fiscal Year 1996 on research and development programs. The document contains 161 project summaries in 16 areas of research and development. The 16 areas of research and development reported on are: atmospheric sciences, biotechnology, chemical instrumentation and analysis, computer and information science, ecological science, electronics and sensors, health protection and dosimetry, hydrological and geologic sciences, marine sciences, materials science and engineering, molecular science, process science and engineering, risk and safety analysis, socio-technical systems analysis, statistics and applied mathematics, and thermal and energy systems. In addition, this report provides an overview ofmore » the research and development program, program management, program funding, and Fiscal Year 1997 projects.« less

Engaging Youth Through Spatial Socio-Technical Storytelling, Participatory GIS, Agent-Based Modeling, Online Geogames and Action Projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poplin, A.; Shenk, L.; Krejci, C.; Passe, U.

2017-09-01

The main goal of this paper is to present the conceptual framework for engaging youth in urban planning activities that simultaneously create locally meaningful positive change. The framework for engaging youth interlinks the use of IT tools such as geographic information systems (GIS), agent-based modelling (ABM), online serious games, and mobile participatory geographic information systems with map-based storytelling and action projects. We summarize the elements of our framework and the first results gained in the program Community Growers established in a neighbourhood community of Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, USA. We conclude the paper with a discussion and future research directions.

The roles of users in shaping transitions to new energy systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schot, Johan; Kanger, Laur; Verbong, Geert

2016-05-01

Current government information policies and market-based instruments aimed at influencing the energy choices of consumers often ignore the fact that consumer behaviour is not fully reducible to individuals making rational conscious decisions all the time. The decisions of consumers are largely configured by shared routines embedded in socio-technical systems. To achieve a transition towards a decarbonized and energy-efficient system, an approach that goes beyond individual consumer choice and puts shared routines and system change at its centre is needed. Here, adopting a transitions perspective, we argue that consumers should be reconceptualized as users who are important stakeholders in the innovation process shaping new routines and enacting system change. We review the role of users in shifts to new decarbonized and energy-efficient systems and provide a typology of user roles.

Playing a 3-Stringed Violin: Innovation via the Joint Evolution of People, Process, and Knowledge Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cooper, Lynne P.

2010-01-01

Users continuously evaluate the value and performance of their Knowledge Management Systems (KMS). As suggested by a punctuated socio-technical system process model, today's success can quickly become tomorrow's failure should the KMS fail to meet evolving needs and expectations. The more deeply a tool is embedded in the actual work process, the more vulnerable it is to emergent changes and perturbations. This paper uses the metaphor of a "3-stringed violin" to explore how differing levels of user knowledge about tools and processes can lead to system perturbations and how the active involvement of other actors can dampen the impact of perturbations, i.e., help the system survive the operational equivalent of a broken string. Recommendations suggest ways to increase system resiliency and contribute to incremental innovation.

Technical review of the da Vinci surgical telemanipulator.

PubMed

Freschi, C; Ferrari, V; Melfi, F; Ferrari, M; Mosca, F; Cuschieri, A

2013-12-01

The da Vinci robotic surgical telemanipulator has been utilized in several surgical specialties for varied procedures, and the users' experiences have been widely published. To date, no detailed system technical analyses have been performed. A detailed review was performed of all publications and patents about the technical aspects of the da Vinci robotic system. Published technical literature on the da Vinci system highlight strengths and weaknesses of the robot design. While the system facilitates complex surgical operations and has a low malfunction rate, the lack of haptic (especially tactile) feedback and collisions between the robotic arms remain the major limitations of the system. Accurate, preplanned positioning of access ports is essential. Knowledge of the technical aspects of the da Vinci robot is important for optimal use. We confirmed the excellent system functionality and ease of use for surgeons without an engineering background. Research and development of the surgical robot has been predominant in the literature. Future trends address robot miniaturization and intelligent control design. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Neo-Liberalisation Policy Agenda and Its Consequences for Education in England: A Focus on Resistance Now and Possibilities for the Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maisuria, Alpesh

2014-01-01

In this article, the author explores the way that neo-liberalism is becoming more entrenched in the fabric of the education system in England. The article begins by setting out a very brief historical trajectory of neo-liberalism to provide a working definition of a complex and disarticulated socio-political and economic system. In part two, this…

Towards socio-hydroinformatics: optimal design and integration of citizen-based information in water-system models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solomatine, Dimitri; Mazzoleni, Maurizio; Alfonso, Leonardo; Chacon Hurtado, Juan Carlos

2017-04-01

Traditionally, static physical sensors are used to calibrate, validate or update water-system models by water authorities to reduce predictive uncertainty. However, the main problem is scarcity of data in both spatial and temporal domains due to costly maintenance and personnel. On the other hand, the use of low-cost sensor to measure hydrological variables in a more distributed and crowdsourced way is currently expanding and creating a fertile ground to the spread of citizen observatories activities and citizen science projects. Among different citizen sciences projects, the EU-funded projects WeSenseIt (www.wesenseit.eu) and GroundTruth (www.gt20.eu) aim at developing technologies and tools supporting creation of citizen observatories. A drawback of using crowdsourced observations is related to their intrinsic uncertainty and variable life span. Current flood forecasting applications limit the use of crowdsourced observations. Although some efforts to validate model results against these observations have been made, these are mainly done in a post-event analysis. Socio-hydroinformatics aims to integrate hydroinformatics tools and citizen observatories to achieve a dynamic and bidirectional feedbacks between coupled human-water systems. On the one hand, the main technical motivation of socio-hydroinformatics is to fill the gap in hydrological applications regarding the optimal use of crowdsourced observations not only in post-event analyses but in also in real time by their optimal assimilation. On the other hand, the social motivation is to bring citizens closer to decision-making processes and to understand how their participation in the model development process could improve models. In this study, different methods were developed and implemented to optimally design networks of dynamic sensors and assimilate crowdsourced observations, with varying spatial and temporal coverage, into hydrological and hydraulic models. This very first study of socio-hydroinformatics can be a potential application demonstrates that citizens not only play an active role in information capturing, evaluation and communication, but also help to improve models and thus increase flood resilience.

A socio-ecological adaptive approach to contaminated mega-site management: from 'control and correct' to 'coping with change'.

PubMed

Schirmer, Mario; Lyon, Ken; Armstrong, James E; Farrell, Katharine N

2012-01-01

Mega-sites have a notable impact on surrounding ecological systems. At such sites there are substantial risks associated with complex socio-ecological interactions that are hard to characterize, let alone model and predict. While the urge to control and clean-up mega-sites (control and correct) is understandable, rather than setting a goal of cleaning up such sites, we suggest a more realistic response strategy is to address these massive and persistent sources of contamination by acknowledging their position as new features of the socio-ecological landscapes within which they are located. As it seems nearly impossible to clean up such sites, we argue for consideration of a 'coping with change' rather than a 'control and correct' approach. This strategy recognizes that the current management option for a mega-site, in light of its physical complexities and due to changing societal preferences, geochemical transformations, hydrogeology knowledge and remedial technology options may not remain optimal in future, and therefore needs to be continuously adapted, as community, ecology, technology and understanding change over time. This approach creates an opportunity to consider the relationship between a mega-site and its human and ecological environments in a different and more dynamic way. Our proposed approach relies on iterative adaptive management to incorporate mega-site management into the overall socio-ecological systems of the site's context. This approach effectively embeds mega-site management planning in a triple bottom line and environmental sustainability structure, rather than simply using single measures of success, such as contaminant-based guidelines. Recognizing that there is probably no best solution for managing a mega-site, we present a starting point for engaging constructively with this seemingly intractable issue. Therefore, we aim to initiate discussion about a new approach to mega-site management, in which the complexity of the problems posed by mega-sites is reflected upon in its entirety. These complexities are associated with uncertainties and unknowns that have to be addressed, as they have an impact on the strategies being developed and applied. We contend that the best that can be hoped for in mega-site management is an acceptable solution for the current state of affairs, with good flexibility to modify strategies as new site conditions, remediation possibilities, community preferences and management objectives develop over time. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Politics, class actors, and health sector reform in Brazil and Venezuela.

PubMed

Mahmood, Qamar; Muntaner, Carles

2013-03-01

Universal access to healthcare has assumed renewed importance in global health discourse, along with a focus on strengthening health systems. These developments are taking place in the backdrop of concerted efforts to advocate moving away from vertical, disease-based approaches to tackling health problems. While this approach to addressing public health problems is a step in the right direction, there is still insufficient emphasis on understanding the socio-political context of health systems. Reforms to strengthen health systems and achieve universal access to healthcare should be cognizant of the importance of the socio-political context, especially state-society relations. That context determines the nature and trajectory of reforms promoting universality or any pro-equity change. Brazil and Venezuela in recent years have made progress in developing healthcare systems that aim to achieve universal access. These achievements are noteworthy given that, historically, both countries had a long tradition of healthcare systems which were highly privatized and geared towards access to healthcare for a small segment of the population while the majority was excluded. These achievements are also remarkable since they took place in an era of neoliberalism when many states, even those with universally-based healthcare systems, were moving in the opposite direction. We analyze the socio-political context in each of these countries and look specifically at how the changing state-society relations resulted in health being constitutionally recognized as a social right. We describe the challenges that each faced in developing and implementing healthcare systems embracing universality. Our contention is that achieving the principle of universality in healthcare systems is less of a technical matter and more a political project. It involves opposition from the socially conservative elements in the society. Navigation to achieve this goal requires a political strategy that involves various actors within the state, the political society and civil society.

The transport forecast - an important stage of transport management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dragu, Vasile; Dinu, Oana; Oprea, Cristina; Alina Roman, Eugenia

2017-10-01

The transport system is a powerful system with varying loads in operation coming from changes in freight and passenger traffic in different time periods. The variations are due to the specific conditions of organization and development of socio-economic activities. The causes of varying loads can be included in three groups: economic, technical and organizational. The assessing of transport demand variability leads to proper forecast and development of the transport system, knowing that the market price is determined on equilibrium between supply and demand. The reduction of transport demand variability through different technical solutions, organizational, administrative, legislative leads to an increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of transport. The paper presents a new way of assessing the future needs of transport through dynamic series. Both researchers and practitioners in transport planning can benefit from the research results. This paper aims to analyze in an original approach how a good transport forecast can lead to a better management in transport, with significant effects on transport demand full meeting in quality terms. The case study shows how dynamic series of statistics can be used to identify the size of future demand addressed to the transport system.

A Framework for Teachers' Assessment of Socio-Scientific Argumentation: An Example Using the GMO Issue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christenson, Nina; Chang Rundgren, Shu-Nu

2015-01-01

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) have proven to be suitable contexts for students to actively reflect on and argue about complex social issues related to science. Research has indicated that explicitly teaching SSI argumentation is a good way to help students develop their argumentation skills and make them aware of the complexity of SSI. However,…

The Neural Correlates of Emotional Prosody Comprehension: Disentangling Simple from Complex Emotion

PubMed Central

Alba-Ferrara, Lucy; Hausmann, Markus; Mitchell, Rachel L.; Weis, Susanne

2011-01-01

Background Emotional prosody comprehension (EPC), the ability to interpret another person's feelings by listening to their tone of voice, is crucial for effective social communication. Previous studies assessing the neural correlates of EPC have found inconsistent results, particularly regarding the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). It remained unclear whether the involvement of the mPFC is linked to an increased demand in socio-cognitive components of EPC such as mental state attribution and if basic perceptual processing of EPC can be performed without the contribution of this region. Methods fMRI was used to delineate neural activity during the perception of prosodic stimuli conveying simple and complex emotion. Emotional trials in general, as compared to neutral ones, activated a network comprising temporal and lateral frontal brain regions, while complex emotion trials specifically showed an additional involvement of the mPFC, premotor cortex, frontal operculum and left insula. Conclusion These results indicate that the mPFC and premotor areas might be associated, but are not crucial to EPC. However, the mPFC supports socio-cognitive skills necessary to interpret complex emotion such as inferring mental states. Additionally, the premotor cortex involvement may reflect the participation of the mirror neuron system for prosody processing particularly of complex emotion. PMID:22174872

Jakarta socio-cultural ecology: a sustainable architecture concept in urban neighbourhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijaksono, Sigit; Sasmoko; Indrianti, Y.; Widhoyoko, SA

2017-12-01

As a metropolitan city with densely populated and fast residential development Jakarta should be able to implement a concept that is Jakarta socio-cultural ecology Architecture as the basis of settlement development. The concept of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology architecture is characterized by residential development capabilities that reflect and express the indigenous culture, the settlements built by linking the social and economic activities of the people of Jakarta and the settlements built by maintaining the building with the value of existing heritage. The objectives of this research are 1) to find a relevant construct to housing condition in Jakarta which then called Jakarta socio-cultural ecology, and 2) to see the tendency of complex condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology settlement. This research uses Neuroresearch method, which is one of mix-method research method as a mixture research method between qualitative research (exploration) and quantitative research method (explanatory and confirmatory). The population of research as well as unit analysis are all settlements in Jakarta. Sampling technique using probability sampling that is with multistage sampling. The results show that nowadays the Jakarta residential complex tends to lead to socio-cultural ecology and rather reflects and expresses the indigenous culture, the residential complex in Jakarta tends to form the building has been linked fully with the social and economic activities of Jakarta society but tends to occasionally maintain buildings with existing heritage values. This study also found that indigenous culture is a significant determinant of the formation of the condition of Jakarta socio-cultural ecology.

Standardization--the iron cage of nurses' work?

PubMed

Meum, Torbjørg; Wangensteen, Gro; Igesund, Harald; Ellingsen, Gunnar; Monteiro, Eric

2010-01-01

This paper explores how nursing classification has been adopted and used in a local clinical practice. The study is inspired by the socio-technical approach to information system and illustrates some of the enabling and constraining properties of standardization. Findings from the study show how international standards have been embedded into local practice. At the same time, the use of locally developed standards has increased and many of these are similar to the international classification. This indicates that we need to move beyond the dichotomous perspective on nurses' use of classification and strive for more flexible solutions.

A Robust Scalable Transportation System Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hahn, Andrew; DeLaurentis, Daniel

2006-01-01

This report documents the 2005 Revolutionary System Concept for Aeronautics (RSCA) study entitled "A Robust, Scalable Transportation System Concept". The objective of the study was to generate, at a high-level of abstraction, characteristics of a new concept for the National Airspace System, or the new NAS, under which transportation goals such as increased throughput, delay reduction, and improved robustness could be realized. Since such an objective can be overwhelmingly complex if pursued at the lowest levels of detail, instead a System-of-Systems (SoS) approach was adopted to model alternative air transportation architectures at a high level. The SoS approach allows the consideration of not only the technical aspects of the NAS", but also incorporates policy, socio-economic, and alternative transportation system considerations into one architecture. While the representations of the individual systems are basic, the higher level approach allows for ways to optimize the SoS at the network level, determining the best topology (i.e. configuration of nodes and links). The final product (concept) is a set of rules of behavior and network structure that not only satisfies national transportation goals, but represents the high impact rules that accomplish those goals by getting the agents to "do the right thing" naturally. The novel combination of Agent Based Modeling and Network Theory provides the core analysis methodology in the System-of-Systems approach. Our method of approach is non-deterministic which means, fundamentally, it asks and answers different questions than deterministic models. The nondeterministic method is necessary primarily due to our marriage of human systems with technological ones in a partially unknown set of future worlds. Our goal is to understand and simulate how the SoS, human and technological components combined, evolve.

'Multimorbidity' as the manifestation of network disturbances.

PubMed

Sturmberg, Joachim P; Bennett, Jeanette M; Martin, Carmel M; Picard, Martin

2017-02-01

We argue that 'multimorbidity' is the manifestation of interconnected physiological network processes within an individual in his or her socio-cultural environment. Networks include genomic, metabolomic, proteomic, neuroendocrine, immune and mitochondrial bioenergetic elements, as well as social, environmental and health care networks. Stress systems and other physiological mechanisms create feedback loops that integrate and regulate internal networks within the individual. Minor (e.g. daily hassles) and major (e.g. trauma) stressful life experiences perturb internal and social networks resulting in physiological instability with changes ranging from improved resilience to unhealthy adaptation and 'clinical disease'. Understanding 'multimorbidity' as a complex adaptive systems response to biobehavioural and socio-environmental networks is essential. Thus, designing integrative care delivery approaches that more adequately address the underlying disease processes as the manifestation of a state of physiological dysregulation is essential. This framework can shape care delivery approaches to meet the individual's care needs in the context of his or her underlying illness experience. It recognizes 'multimorbidity' and its symptoms as the end product of complex physiological processes, namely, stress activation and mitochondrial energetics, and suggests new opportunities for treatment and prevention. The future of 'multimorbidity' management might become much more discerning by combining the balancing of physiological dysregulation with targeted personalized biotechnology interventions such as small molecule therapeutics targeting specific cellular components of the stress response, with community-embedded interventions that involve addressing psycho-socio-cultural impediments that would aim to strengthen personal/social resilience and enhance social capital. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[Change management: An analysis of actors; perceptions about technical assistance in the Democratic Republic of Congo].

PubMed

Ribesse, Nathalie; Iyeti, Alain; Macq, Jean

2015-01-01

Technical assistance (TA) is a common component of health system strengthening interventions. This type of intervention is too often designed and evaluated according to a logic that fails to take into account social complexity. Actors' perceptions are one element of this complexity. This article presents a study conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo designed to identify perceptions concerning two types of technical support providers for health system strengthening: long-term technical assistants (agents of development agencies) and provincial technical advisors (agents of the Ministry of Health). Interviews were conducted with an innovative tool inspired by the principles of systems thinking. Interviewees were actors involved in a TA intervention in the province of Bandundu. Their expectations regarding TA providers were identified in terms of personal characteristics (knowledge, know-how and interpersonal skills), roles, and styles of interaction for capacity building ("interventionist/ prescriptive axes"). Interviewees emphasized the importance of mutual learning and the quality of interactions, which depends on TA provider's interpersonal skills and mutual willingness. Perceptions of TA provider's characteristics tend to be similar, but several differences were observed concerning the expectations about the roles of TAs, and the style that should be adopted for capacity building. Ignoring these differences in expectations may be a threat to the effectiveness of TA.

The multi-level perspective analysis: Indonesia geothermal energy transition study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wisaksono, A.; Murphy, J.; Sharp, J. H.; Younger, P. L.

2018-01-01

The study adopts a multi-level perspective in technology transition to analyse how the transition process in the development of geothermal energy in Indonesia is able to compete against the incumbent fossil-fuelled energy sources. Three levels of multi-level perspective are socio-technical landscape (ST-landscape), socio-technical regime (ST-regime) and niche innovations in Indonesia geothermal development. The identification, mapping and analysis of the dynamic relationship between each level are the important pillars of the multi-level perspective framework. The analysis considers the set of rules, actors and controversies that may arise in the technological transition process. The identified geothermal resource risks are the basis of the emerging geothermal technological innovations in Indonesian geothermal. The analysis of this study reveals the transition pathway, which yields a forecast for the Indonesian geothermal technology transition in the form of scenarios and probable impacts.

Characterization of biosurfactant produced by petrofilic bacteria isolated from hydrocarbon impacted soil and its potential application in bioremediation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arsyah, D. M.; Kardena, E.; Helmy, Q.

2018-01-01

The study adopts a multi-level perspective in technology transition to analyse how the transition process in the development of geothermal energy in Indonesia is able to compete against the incumbent fossil-fuelled energy sources. Three levels of multi-level perspective are socio-technical landscape (ST-landscape), socio-technical regime (ST-regime) and niche innovations in Indonesia geothermal development. The identification, mapping and analysis of the dynamic relationship between each level are the important pillars of the multi-level perspective framework. The analysis considers the set of rules, actors and controversies that may arise in the technological transition process. The identified geothermal resource risks are the basis of the emerging geothermal technological innovations in Indonesian geothermal. The analysis of this study reveals the transition pathway, which yields a forecast for the Indonesian geothermal technology transition in the form of scenarios and probable impacts.

Adding the Human Element to Ship Manoeuvring Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aarsæther, Karl Gunnar; Moan, Torgeir

Time-domain simulation of ship manoeuvring has been utilized in risk analysis to assess the effect of changes to the ship-lane, development in traffic volume and the associated risk. The process of ship manoeuvring in a wider socio-technical context consists of the technical systems, operational procedures, the human operators and support functions. Automated manoeuvring simulations without human operators in the simulation loop have often been preferred in simulation studies due to the low time required for simulations. Automatic control has represented the human element with little effort devoted to explain the relationship between the guidance and control algorithms and the human operator which they replace. This paper describes the development and application of a model for the human element for autonomous time-domain manoeuvring simulations. The method is applicable in the time-domain, modular and found to be capable of reproducing observed manoeuvre patterns, but limited to represent the intended behaviour.

Research Notes - An Introduction to Openness and Evolvability Assessment

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-08-01

importance of different business and technical characteristics that combine to achieve an open solution. The complexity of most large-scale systems of...process characteristic)  Granularity of the architecture (size of functional blocks)  Modularity (cohesion and coupling)  Support for multiple...Description)  OV-3 (Operational Information Exchange Matrix)  SV-1 (Systems Interface Description)  TV-1 ( Technical Standards Profile). Note that there

[Water, sanitation and diarrheal risk in Nouakchott Urban Community, Mauritania].

PubMed

Sy, Ibrahima; Traoré, Doulo; Niang Diène, Aminata; Koné, Brama; Lô, Baidy; Faye, Ousmane; Utzinger, Jürg; Cissé, Guéladio; Tanner, Marcel

2017-12-05

Drinking water and sanitation are two factors of inter-linked inextricably public health especially in the city of Nouakchott where the low availability of these services leads to a multitude of use and hygiene practices involving a complex socio-ecological system with an increased risk of waterborne diseases transmission (diarrhea, cholera, etc.). Thus, this contribution analyzes the impact of socio-ecological system on the development of diarrheal diseases by using socio-environmental and epidemiological data from various sources (national surveys and registries consultation). Overall, the results show that only 25.6% of households have access to drinking water sources while 69.8% of the populations dispose improved latrines. Hence, the weakness in environmental sanitation conditions explains the level of diarrheal morbidity averring 12.8% at the urban level, with an unequal spatial distribution showing less affected communes such as Tevragh Zeina (9.1%) and municipalities more affected like Sebkha (19.1%). The distribution according to the age categories shows that children under 5 years are the most affected with 51.7% followed by people aged over 14 with 34.2%. The correlation analysis between socio-economic, environmental and epidemiological variables reveals a number of significant associations: untreated water consumption and diarrhea (R = 0.429); collection of wastewater and occurrence of diarrhea ; existence of improved latrine and reduction of diarrheal risk (R = 0.402). Therefore, exposure to diarrheal diseases through the prism of water and sanitation is a real public health problem that requires a systemic and integrated approach to improving environmental health.

Living with an autonomous spatiotemporal home heating system: Exploration of the user experiences (UX) through a longitudinal technology intervention-based mixed-methods approach.

PubMed

Kruusimagi, Martin; Sharples, Sarah; Robinson, Darren

2017-11-01

Rising energy demands place pressure on domestic energy consumption, but savings can be delivered through home automation and engaging users with their heating and energy behaviours. The aim of this paper is to explore user experiences (UX) of living with an automated heating system regarding experiences of control, understanding of the system, emerging thermal behaviours, and interactions with the system as this area is not sufficiently researched in the existing homes setting through extended deployment. We present a longitudinal deployment of a quasi-autonomous spatiotemporal home heating system in three homes. Users were provided with a smartphone control application linked to a self-learning heating algorithm. Rich qualitative and quantitative data presented here enabled a holistic exploration of UX. The paper's contribution focuses on highlighting key aspects of UX living with an automated heating systems including (i) adoption of the control interface into the social context, (ii) how users' vigilance in maintaining preferred conditions prevailed as a better indicator of system over-ride than gross deviation from thermal comfort, (iii) limited but motivated proactivity in system-initiated communications as best strategy for soliciting user feedback when inference fails, and (iv) two main motivations for interacting with the interface - managing irregularities when absent from the house and maintaining immediate comfort, latter compromising of a checking behaviour that can transit to a system state alteration behaviour depending on mismatches. We conclude by highlighting the complex socio-technical context in which thermal decisions are made in a situated action manner, and by calling for a more holistic, UX-focused approach in the design of automated home systems involving user experiences. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Governance of urban transitions: towards sustainable resource efficient urban infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swilling, Mark; Hajer, Maarten

2017-12-01

The transition to sustainable resource efficient cities calls for new governance arrangements. The awareness that the doubling of the global urban population will result in unsustainable levels of demand for natural resources requires changes in the existing socio-technical systems. Domestic material consumption could go up from 40 billion tons in 2010, to 89 billion tons by 2050. While there are a number of socio-technical alternatives that could result in significant improvements in the resource efficiency of urban systems in developed and developing countries (specifically bus-rapid transit, district energy systems and green buildings), we need to rethink the urban governance arrangements to get to this alternative pathway. We note modes of urban governance have changed over the past century as economic and urban development paradigms have shifted at the national and global levels. This time round we identify cities as leading actors in the transition to more sustainable modes of production and consumption as articulated in the Sustainable Development Goals. This has resulted in a surge of urban experimentation across all world regions, both North and South. Building on this empirically observable trend we suggest this can also be seen as a building block of a new urban governance paradigm. An ‘entrepreneurial urban governance’ is proposed that envisages an active and goal-setting role for the state, but in ways that allows broader coalitions of urban ‘agents of change’ to emerge. This entrepreneurial urban governance fosters and promotes experimentation rather than suppressing the myriad of such initiatives across the globe, and connects to global city networks for systemic learning between cities. Experimentation needs to result in a contextually appropriate balance between economic, social, technological and sustainable development. A full and detailed elaboration of the arguments and sources for this article can be found in chapter 6 of Swilling M et al 2017 Resource Requirements of Future Urbanization (Paris: International Resource Panel).

Architecture Analysis of Evolving Complex Systems of Systems: Technical Presentation [and Executive Status Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindvall, Mikael; Godfrey, Sally; Ackermann, Chris; Ray, Arnab; Yonkwa, Lyly; Ganesan, Dharma; Stratton, William C.; Sibol, Deane E.

2008-01-01

Analyze, Visualize, and Evaluate structure and behavior using static and dynamic information, individual systems as well as systems of systems. Next steps: Refine software tool support; Apply to other systems; and Apply earlier in system life cycle.

Phase Transitions: In the Brain, Socio-­Dramatic Play and Meaningful Early Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fromberg, Doris Pronin

2017-01-01

There are similar, non-linear complex dynamical systems that underlie the epigenetic development of young children. This paper discusses the confluence of research on brain functions; a body or research that informs the characteristics of young children's play and imagination; and the ways in which young children acquire fresh perceptions and…

The Problems of Contemporary Education Socio-Cultural Dimension of Military Education in Modern Russia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abramov, Alexsandr P.; Chuikov, Oleg E.; Gavrikov, Fedor A.; Ludwig, Sergey D.

2017-01-01

The article reveals the essence of the sociocultural approach as a universal tool which allows considering the process of modernization of cadet education in modern Russia in the complex determining its conditions and factors. The basic mechanisms of functioning of cadet education system are the processes that form the equilibrium diad…

Different social drivers, including perceptions of urban wildlife, explain the ecological resources in residential landscapes

Treesearch

J. Amy Belaire; Lynne M. Westphal; Emily S. Minor

2016-01-01

The conservation value of residential landscapes is becoming increasingly apparent in our urbanizing world. The ecological characteristics of residential areas are largely determined by the decisions of many individual "managers." In these complex socio-ecological systems, it is important to understand the factors that motivate human decision-making. Our...

Operationalising a social-ecological system perspective on the Arctic Ocean.

PubMed

Crépin, Anne-Sophie; Gren, Åsa; Engström, Gustav; Ospina, Daniel

2017-12-01

We propose a framework to support management that builds on a social-ecological system perspective on the Arctic Ocean. We illustrate the framework's application for two policy-relevant scenarios of climate-driven change, picturing a shift in zooplankton composition and alternatively a crab invasion. We analyse archetypical system dynamics between the socio-economic, the natural, and the governance systems in these scenarios. Our holistic approach can help managers identify looming problems arising from complex system interactions and prioritise among problems and solutions, even when available data are limited.

Fishing Farmers or Farming Fishers? Fishing Typology of Inland Small-Scale Fishing Households and Fisheries Management in Singkarak Lake, West Sumatra, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuerlita; Perret, Sylvain Roger; Shivakoti, Ganesh P.

2013-07-01

Technical and socio-economic characteristics are known to determine different types of fishers and their livelihood strategies. Faced with declining fish and water resources, small-scale fisheries engage into transformations in livelihood and fishing practices. The paper is an attempt to understand these changes and their socio-economic patterns, in the case of Singkarak Lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Based upon the hypothesis that riparian communities have diverse, complex yet structured and dynamic livelihood systems, the paper's main objective is to study, document and model the actual diversity in livelihood, practices and performance of inland small-scale fisheries along the Singkarak Lake, to picture how households are adapted to the situation, and propose an updated, workable model (typology) of those for policy. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to develop a typology of fishing households. The results show that small-scale fishers can be classified into different types characterized by distinct livelihood strategies. Three household types are identified, namely "farming fishers" households (type I, 30 %), "fishing farmers" households (type II, 30 %), and "mainly fishers" households (type III, 40 %). There are significant differences among these groups in the number of boats owned, annual fishing income, agriculture income and farming experience. Type I consists of farming fishers, well equipped, with high fishing costs and income, yet with the lowest return on fishing assets. They are also landowners with farming income, showing the lowest return on land capital. Type II includes poor fishing farmers, landowners with higher farming income; they show the highest return on land asset. They have less fishing equipment, costs and income. Type III (mainly fishers) consists of poorer, younger fishers, with highest return on fishing assets and on fishing costs. They have little land, low farming income, and diversified livelihood sources. The nature of their livelihood strategies is discussed for each identified group. This helps to understand the complexity and diversity of small-scale fishers, particularly in the study area which is still poorly known. This paper concludes with policy implication and possible management initiatives for environmentally prudent policy aiming at improvement of fishers' livelihood.

Fishing farmers or farming fishers? Fishing typology of inland small-scale fishing households and fisheries management in singkarak lake, west sumatra, indonesia.

PubMed

Yuerlita; Perret, Sylvain Roger; Shivakoti, Ganesh P

2013-07-01

Technical and socio-economic characteristics are known to determine different types of fishers and their livelihood strategies. Faced with declining fish and water resources, small-scale fisheries engage into transformations in livelihood and fishing practices. The paper is an attempt to understand these changes and their socio-economic patterns, in the case of Singkarak Lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Based upon the hypothesis that riparian communities have diverse, complex yet structured and dynamic livelihood systems, the paper's main objective is to study, document and model the actual diversity in livelihood, practices and performance of inland small-scale fisheries along the Singkarak Lake, to picture how households are adapted to the situation, and propose an updated, workable model (typology) of those for policy. Principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to develop a typology of fishing households. The results show that small-scale fishers can be classified into different types characterized by distinct livelihood strategies. Three household types are identified, namely "farming fishers" households (type I, 30 %), "fishing farmers" households (type II, 30 %), and "mainly fishers" households (type III, 40 %). There are significant differences among these groups in the number of boats owned, annual fishing income, agriculture income and farming experience. Type I consists of farming fishers, well equipped, with high fishing costs and income, yet with the lowest return on fishing assets. They are also landowners with farming income, showing the lowest return on land capital. Type II includes poor fishing farmers, landowners with higher farming income; they show the highest return on land asset. They have less fishing equipment, costs and income. Type III (mainly fishers) consists of poorer, younger fishers, with highest return on fishing assets and on fishing costs. They have little land, low farming income, and diversified livelihood sources. The nature of their livelihood strategies is discussed for each identified group. This helps to understand the complexity and diversity of small-scale fishers, particularly in the study area which is still poorly known. This paper concludes with policy implication and possible management initiatives for environmentally prudent policy aiming at improvement of fishers' livelihood.

Socio-hydrologic modeling to understand and mediate the competition for water between agriculture development and environmental health: Murrumbidgee River basin, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Emmerik, T. H. M.; Li, Z.; Sivapalan, M.; Pande, S.; Kandasamy, J.; Savenije, H. H. G.; Chanan, A.; Vigneswaran, S.

2014-10-01

Competition for water between humans and ecosystems is set to become a flash point in the coming decades in many parts of the world. An entirely new and comprehensive quantitative framework is needed to establish a holistic understanding of that competition, thereby enabling the development of effective mediation strategies. This paper presents a modeling study centered on the Murrumbidgee River basin (MRB). The MRB has witnessed a unique system dynamics over the last 100 years as a result of interactions between patterns of water management and climate driven hydrological variability. Data analysis has revealed a pendulum swing between agricultural development and restoration of environmental health and ecosystem services over different stages of basin-scale water resource development. A parsimonious, stylized, quasi-distributed coupled socio-hydrologic system model that simulates the two-way coupling between human and hydrological systems of the MRB is used to mimic and explain dominant features of the pendulum swing. The model consists of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations that describe the interaction between five state variables that govern the co-evolution: reservoir storage, irrigated area, human population, ecosystem health, and environmental awareness. The model simulations track the propagation of the external climatic and socio-economic drivers through this coupled, complex system to the emergence of the pendulum swing. The model results point to a competition between human "productive" and environmental "restorative" forces that underpin the pendulum swing. Both the forces are endogenous, i.e., generated by the system dynamics in response to external drivers and mediated by humans through technology change and environmental awareness, respectively. Sensitivity analysis carried out with the model further reveals that socio-hydrologic modeling can be used as a tool to explain or gain insight into observed co-evolutionary dynamics of diverse human-water coupled systems. This paper therefore contributes to the ultimate development of a generic modeling framework that can be applied to human-water coupled systems in different climatic and socio-economic settings.

Reflections On The Feasibility and Implications of The Eu Water Framework Directive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauwens, W.; Goethals, P. L. M.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) raises a lot of challenges: the complexity of the text and the diversity of possible solutions to the problems, the timetable for implementation, the incomplete technical and scientific basis, the limitation of human and financial resources,... The paper addresses a number of the key challenges from a technical-scientific, socio-economic and ethical point of view. From a technical-scientific point of view, the major problems are related to the def- inition of the reference conditions and to the simulation tools that will be needed to predict the impact of the River Basin Management Plans. The proper definition of the system of objectives (the reference conditions and the al- lowed deviation from those conditions) throughout the EU has to be considered as one of the key issues of the WFD and remains to be done. Extensive research is actually carried out, both with respect to the conceptual considerations as with respect to the definition of the ecological status. The emphasis that the 5th Research Framework Programme put on the development of integrated simulation models illustrates the need for a further development of such tools. While many models exist for dealing with sub-components of the system (flows, point pollution sources, diffuse pollution, ecosystem models,...) the integration and the adequate model structure and process representation remain major scientific issues. Especially the link between the physico-chemistry and the ecosystem modelling can still be considered to be in its infancy. More research is also needed on the issues of the calibration and the uncertainty of such complex integrated models. It should also be mentioned that the actual - and future - quality monitoring programs in most countries are by far insufficient for the calibration of complex, dynamic quality models. The objective of the WFD is to obtain, in all water bodies in the EU, an ecological quality that is close to the reference or pristine conditions. The rationale behind this definition of the objective is that it allows a harmonisation of the regulation in the EU, hereby accounting for the large diversity of climatologic and geo-physical conditions in the different regions. A fundamental issue that has been neglected when opting for this definition, however, relates to the role of men in the environment. As a conse- 1 quence, regions with an inhabitant density of 500 inhabitants per square km (ISQ) have to reach the same objectives as regions with a density of 50 ISQ. The full cost of the implementation of the WFD is yet unknown, but it will be high to very high, depending on the final definition of the objectives. With respect to the latter, it would be good to keep in mind the economic principle of the lesser return. While the WFD recognises that the water problems should be dealt with in an in- tegrated and holistic way, one may wonder if the integrated approach should not be applied to the environment as a whole. From this point of view, and accounting for the limited resources available, the setting of the objectives with regard to the water environment to an extremely high level may be questioned. The question that hereby arises relates to the definition of the priorities with regard to the allocation of the lim- ited resources for the different environmental problems in and outside the EU. Finally, one should be attentive to the consequences of the WFD on the socio- economic situation and priorities in the EU, in the candidate countries and in the developing world. Especially with regard to developing countries, one can indeed ob- serve that the environmental policy of the EU is used more and more as an economic weapon. Imposing the WFD on these countries would pose severe ethical questions. 2

Diagnostics of Technical Condition of Gear Units of Belt Conveyors for the Aggregate of Methods of Nondestructive Testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuzin, Evgeny G.; Gerike, Boris L.; Drozdenko, Yuriy V.; Lupiy, Michael G.; Grigoryeva, Natalya V.

2017-10-01

The article reviews the issues of complex use of methods of technical diagnostics of gearboxes for belt conveyors, with the aim of creating an effective system of maintenance. The article is showing the results of the evaluation of the technical condition of the drives of belt conveyors based on vibration monitoring and thermal parameters, and analysis of lubricating oil.

The Role of Communications, Socio-Psychological, and Personality Factors in the Maintenance of Crew Coordination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foushee, H. Clayton

1982-01-01

There is increasing evidence that many air transport incidents and accidents are the result of the improper or inadequate utilization of the resources accessible to flight dock crew members. These resources obviously include the hardware and technical information necessary for the safe and efficient conduct of the flight, but they also Include the human resources which must be coordinated effectively. The focus of this paper is upon the human resources, and how communication styles, socio-psychological factors, and personality characteristics can affect crew coordination.

Quantitative Risk - Phase 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-03

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11 . SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION... 11 Connecting technical risk and types of complexity...24 Figure 11 . Complexity evolution throughout the systems acquisition lifecycle ......................................... 25

Quantitative Risk - Phases 1 & 2

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-12

MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR’S ACRONYM(S) 11 . SPONSOR/MONITOR’S REPORT NUMBER(S) 12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY... 11 Connecting technical risk and types of complexity...24 Figure 11 . Complexity evolution throughout the systems acquisition lifecycle

The architecture of a modern military health information system.

PubMed

Mukherji, Raj J; Egyhazy, Csaba J

2004-06-01

This article describes a melding of a government-sponsored architecture for complex systems with open systems engineering architecture developed by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Our experience in using these two architectures in building a complex healthcare system is described in this paper. The work described shows that it is possible to combine these two architectural frameworks in describing the systems, operational, and technical views of a complex automation system. The advantage in combining the two architectural frameworks lies in the simplicity of implementation and ease of understanding of automation system architectural elements by medical professionals.

Human Mars Mission Design - The Ultimate Systems Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Connolly, John F.; Joosten, B. Kent; Drake, Bret; Hoffman, Steve; Polsgrove, Tara; Rucker, Michelle; Andrews, Alida; Williams, Nehemiah

2017-01-01

A human mission to Mars will occur at some time in the coming decades. When it does, it will be the end result of a complex network of interconnected design choices, systems analyses, technical optimizations, and non-technical compromises. This mission will extend the technologies, engineering design, and systems analyses to new limits, and may very well be the most complex undertaking in human history. It can be illustrated as a large menu, or as a large decision tree. Whatever the visualization tool, there are numerous design decisions required to assemble a human Mars mission, and many of these interconnect with one another. This paper examines these many decisions and further details a number of choices that are highly interwoven throughout the mission design. The large quantity of variables and their interconnectedness results in a highly complex systems challenge, and the paper illustrates how a change in one variable results in ripples (sometimes unintended) throughout many other facets of the design. The paper concludes with a discussion of some mission design variables that can be addressed first, and those that have already been addressed as a result of ongoing National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) developments, or as a result of decisions outside the technical arena. It advocates the need for a 'reference design' that can be used as a point of comparison, and to illustrate the system-wide impacts as design variables change.

Multicriteria decision-aid method to evaluate the performance of stormwater infiltration systems over the time.

PubMed

Moura, P; Barraud, S; Baptista, M B; Malard, F

2011-01-01

Nowadays, stormwater infiltration systems are frequently used because of their ability to reduce flows and volumes in downstream sewers, decrease overflows in surface waters and make it possible to recharge groundwater. Moreover, they come in various forms with different uses. Despite these advantages the long term sustainability of these systems is questionable and their real performances have to be assessed taking into account various and sometimes conflicting aspects. To address this problem a decision support system is proposed. It is based on a multicriteria method built to help managers to evaluate the performance of an existing infiltration system at different stages of its lifespan and identify whether it performs correctly or not, according to environmental, socio-economic, technical and sanitary aspects. The paper presents successively: the performance indicators and the way they were built, the multicriteria method to identify if the system works properly and a case study.

Decontamination Systems Information and Research Program. Quarterly technical progress report, January 1--March 31, 1994

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1994-05-01

West Virginia University (WVU) and the US DOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC) entered into a Cooperative Agreement on August 29, 1992 entitled ``Decontamination Systems Information and Research Programs.`` Stipulated within the Agreement is the requirement that WVU submit to METC a series of Technical Progress Reports on a quarterly basis. This report comprises the first Quarterly Technical Progress Report for Year 2 of the Agreement. This report reflects the progress and/or efforts performed on the sixteen (16) technical projects encompassed by the Year 2 Agreement for the period of January 1 through March 31, 1994. In situ bioremediation ofmore » chlorinated organic solvents; Microbial enrichment for enhancing in-situ biodegradation of hazardous organic wastes; Treatment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using biofilters; Drain-enhanced soil flushing (DESF) for organic contaminants removal; Chemical destruction of chlorinated organic compounds; Remediation of hazardous sites with steam reforming; Soil decontamination with a packed flotation column; Use of granular activated carbon columns for the simultaneous removal of organics, heavy metals, and radionuclides; Monolayer and multilayer self-assembled polyion films for gas-phase chemical sensors; Compact mercuric iodide detector technology development; Evaluation of IR and mass spectrometric techniques for on-site monitoring of volatile organic compounds; A systematic database of the state of hazardous waste clean-up technologies; Dust control methods for insitu nuclear and hazardous waste handling; Winfield Lock and Dam remediation; and Socio-economic assessment of alternative environmental restoration technologies.« less

Understanding safety-critical interactions with a home medical device through Distributed Cognition.

PubMed

Rajkomar, Atish; Mayer, Astrid; Blandford, Ann

2015-08-01

As healthcare shifts from the hospital to the home, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how patients interact with home medical devices, to inform the safe and patient-friendly design of these devices. Distributed Cognition (DCog) has been a useful theoretical framework for understanding situated interactions in the healthcare domain. However, it has not previously been applied to study interactions with home medical devices. In this study, DCog was applied to understand renal patients' interactions with Home Hemodialysis Technology (HHT), as an example of a home medical device. Data was gathered through ethnographic observations and interviews with 19 renal patients and interviews with seven professionals. Data was analyzed through the principles summarized in the Distributed Cognition for Teamwork methodology. In this paper we focus on the analysis of system activities, information flows, social structures, physical layouts, and artefacts. By explicitly considering different ways in which cognitive processes are distributed, the DCog approach helped to understand patients' interaction strategies, and pointed to design opportunities that could improve patients' experiences of using HHT. The findings highlight the need to design HHT taking into consideration likely scenarios of use in the home and of the broader home context. A setting such as home hemodialysis has the characteristics of a complex and safety-critical socio-technical system, and a DCog approach effectively helps to understand how safety is achieved or compromised in such a system. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Human Factors Throughout the Life Cycle: Lessons Learned from the Shuttle Program. [Human Factors in Ground Processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kanki, Barbara G.

2011-01-01

With the ending of the Space Shuttle Program, it is critical that we not forget the Human Factors lessons we have learned over the years. At every phase of the life cycle, from manufacturing, processing and integrating vehicle and payload, to launch, flight operations, mission control and landing, hundreds of teams have worked together to achieve mission success in one of the most complex, high-risk socio-technical enterprises ever designed. Just as there was great diversity in the types of operations performed at every stage, there was a myriad of human factors that could further complicate these human systems. A single mishap or close call could point to issues at the individual level (perceptual or workload limitations, training, fatigue, human error susceptibilities), the task level (design of tools, procedures and aspects of the workplace), as well as the organizational level (appropriate resources, safety policies, information access and communication channels). While we have often had to learn through human mistakes and technological failures, we have also begun to understand how to design human systems in which individuals can excel, where tasks and procedures are not only safe but efficient, and how organizations can foster a proactive approach to managing risk and supporting human enterprises. Panelists will talk about their experiences as they relate human factors to a particular phase of the shuttle life cycle. They will conclude with a framework for tying together human factors lessons-learned into system-level risk management strategies.

Integrating the social sciences to understand human-water dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, G.; Kuil, L., Jr.

2017-12-01

Many interesting and exciting socio-hydrological models have been developed in recent years. Such models often aim to capture the dynamic interplay between people and water for a variety of hydrological settings. As such, peoples' behaviours and decisions are brought into the models as drivers of and/or respondents to the hydrological system. To develop and run such models over a sufficiently long time duration to observe how the water-human system evolves the human component is often simplified according to one or two key behaviours, characteristics or decisions (e.g. a decision to move away from a drought or flood area; a decision to pump groundwater, or a decision to plant a less water demanding crop). To simplify the social component, socio-hydrological modellers often pull knowledge and understanding from existing social science theories. This requires them to negotiate complex territory, where social theories may be underdeveloped, contested, dynamically evolving, or case specific and difficult to generalise or upscale. A key question is therefore, how can this process be supported so that the resulting socio-hydrological models adequately describe the system and lead to meaningful understanding of how and why it behaves as it does? Collaborative interdisciplinary research teams that bring together social and natural scientists are likely to be critical. Joint development of the model framework requires specific attention to clarification to expose all underlying assumptions, constructive discussion and negotiation to reach agreement on the modelled system and its boundaries. Mutual benefits to social scientists can be highlighted, i.e. socio-hydrological work can provide insights for further exploring and testing social theories. Collaborative work will also help ensure underlying social theory is made explicit, and may identify ways to include and compare multiple theories. As socio-hydrology progresses towards supporting policy development, approaches that brings in stakeholders and non-scientist participants to develop the conceptual modelling framework will become essential. They are also critical for fully understanding human-water dynamics.

Coupling of a distributed stakeholder-built system dynamics socio-economic model with SAHYSMOD for sustainable soil salinity management - Part 1: Model development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inam, Azhar; Adamowski, Jan; Prasher, Shiv; Halbe, Johannes; Malard, Julien; Albano, Raffaele

2017-08-01

Effective policies, leading to sustainable management solutions for land and water resources, require a full understanding of interactions between socio-economic and physical processes. However, the complex nature of these interactions, combined with limited stakeholder engagement, hinders the incorporation of socio-economic components into physical models. The present study addresses this challenge by integrating the physical Spatial Agro Hydro Salinity Model (SAHYSMOD) with a participatory group-built system dynamics model (GBSDM) that includes socio-economic factors. A stepwise process to quantify the GBSDM is presented, along with governing equations and model assumptions. Sub-modules of the GBSDM, describing agricultural, economic, water and farm management factors, are linked together with feedbacks and finally coupled with the physically based SAHYSMOD model through commonly used tools (i.e., MS Excel and a Python script). The overall integrated model (GBSDM-SAHYSMOD) can be used to help facilitate the role of stakeholders with limited expertise and resources in model and policy development and implementation. Following the development of the integrated model, a testing methodology was used to validate the structure and behavior of the integrated model. Model robustness under different operating conditions was also assessed. The model structure was able to produce anticipated real behaviours under the tested scenarios, from which it can be concluded that the formulated structures generate the right behaviour for the right reasons.

Optimizing structure of complex technical system by heterogeneous vector criterion in interval form

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lysenko, A. V.; Kochegarov, I. I.; Yurkov, N. K.; Grishko, A. K.

2018-05-01

The article examines the methods of development and multi-criteria choice of the preferred structural variant of the complex technical system at the early stages of its life cycle in the absence of sufficient knowledge of parameters and variables for optimizing this structure. The suggested methods takes into consideration the various fuzzy input data connected with the heterogeneous quality criteria of the designed system and the parameters set by their variation range. The suggested approach is based on the complex use of methods of interval analysis, fuzzy sets theory, and the decision-making theory. As a result, the method for normalizing heterogeneous quality criteria has been developed on the basis of establishing preference relations in the interval form. The method of building preferential relations in the interval form on the basis of the vector of heterogeneous quality criteria suggest the use of membership functions instead of the coefficients considering the criteria value. The former show the degree of proximity of the realization of the designed system to the efficient or Pareto optimal variants. The study analyzes the example of choosing the optimal variant for the complex system using heterogeneous quality criteria.

Technical Feasibility Aspects of the Geothermal Resource Reporting Methodology (GRRM)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Badgett, Alex; Young, Katherine R; Dobson, Patrick F.

This paper reviews the technical assessment of the Geothermal Research Reporting Methodology (GRRM, http://en.openei.org/wiki/GRRM) being developed for reporting geothermal resources and project progress. The goal of the methodology is to provide the U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) with a consistent and comprehensible means of evaluating the impacts of its funding programs. The GRRM is designed to provide uniform assessment criteria for geothermal resource grades and developmental phases of geothermal resource exploration and development. This resource grade system provides information on twelve attributes of geothermal resource locations (e.g., temperature, permeability, land access) to indicate potential for geothermal development.more » The GTO plans to use these Protocols to help quantitatively identify the greatest barriers to geothermal development, develop measureable program goals that will have the greatest impact to geothermal deployment, objectively evaluate proposals based (in part) on a project's ability to contribute to program goals, monitor project progress, and report on GTO portfolio performance. The GRRM assesses three areas of geothermal potential: geological, socio-economic, and technical. Previous work and publications have discussed the work done on the geological aspects of this methodology (Young et al. 2015c); this paper details the development of the technical assessment of the GRRM. Technical development attributes considered include: reservoir management, drilling, logistics, and power conversion.« less

Criticising with Foucault: Towards a Guiding Framework for Socio-Political Studies in Mathematics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kollosche, David

2016-01-01

Socio-political studies in mathematics education often touch complex fields of interaction between education, mathematics and the political. In this paper I present a Foucault-based framework for socio-political studies in mathematics education which may guide research in that area. In order to show the potential of such a framework, I discuss the…

Urban Data Book : Volume 2. Urban Data - Milwaukee-Washington, Notes and Technical Appendixes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-11-01

A quick reference compilation of certain population, socio-economic, employment, and modal split characteristics of the 35 largest Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA) in the United States is presented. The three basic groups of urban data ...

Managing change: an overview.

PubMed

Lorenzi, N M; Riley, R T

2000-01-01

As increasingly powerful informatics systems are designed, developed, and implemented, they inevitably affect larger, more heterogeneous groups of people and more organizational areas. In turn, the major challenges to system success are often more behavioral than technical. Successfully introducing such systems into complex health care organizations requires an effective blend of good technical and good organizational skills. People who have low psychological ownership in a system and who vigorously resist its implementation can bring a "technically best" system to its knees. However, effective leadership can sharply reduce the behavioral resistance to change-including to new technologies-to achieve a more rapid and productive introduction of informatics technology. This paper looks at four major areas-why information system failures occur, the core theories supporting change management, the practical applications of change management, and the change management efforts in informatics.

Scepticism and Trust: Two Counterpoint Essentials in Science Education for Complex Socio-Scientific Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fensham, Peter J.

2014-01-01

In this response to Tom G. K. Bryce and Stephen P. Day's ("Cult Stud Sci Educ." doi:10.1007/s11422-013-9500-0, 2013) original article, I share with them their interest in the teaching of climate change in school science, but I widen it to include other contemporary complex socio-scientific issues that also need to be discussed. I…

Mechanisation and Automation of Information Library Procedures in the USSR.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batenko, A. I.

Scientific and technical libraries represent a fundamental link in a complex information storage and retrieval system. The handling of a large volume of scientific and technical data and provision of information library services requires the utilization of computing facilities and automation equipment, and was started in the Soviet Union on a…

A conservation ontology and knowledge base to support delivery of technical assistance to agricultural producers in the united states

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Information systems supporting the delivery of conservation technical assistance by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to agricultural producers on working lands have become increasingly complex over the past 25 years. They are constrained by inconsistent coordination of domain knowl...

"Faith of Our Fathers" -- Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Teachers' Attitudes towards the Teaching of Religion in Irish Denominational Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fahie, Declan

2017-01-01

Owing to a variety of complex historical and socio-cultural factors, the Irish education system remains heavily influenced by denominational mores and values [Ferriter, D. 2012. "Occasions of Sin: Sex & Society in Modern Ireland." London: Profile Books], particularly those of the Roman Catholic Church [O'Toole, B. 2015.…

Socio-Semiotic Patterns in Digital Meaning-Making: Semiotic Choice as Indicator of Communicative Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sofkova Hashemi, Sylvana

2017-01-01

Access to digital technology in the classroom enables the composition and organization of ideas on screen with a variety of semiotic systems of different modes and media. This study explores patterns of communication and preference of design in digital meaning-making of twelve 7-8 years old students. Meanings were shaped in complex uses and…

Progressing Knowledge in Alternative and Local Food Networks: Critical Reflections and a Research Agenda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tregear, Angela

2011-01-01

In the now extensive literature on alternative food networks (AFNs) (e.g. farmers' markets, community supported agriculture, box schemes), a body of work has pointed to socio-economic problems with such systems, which run counter to headline claims in the literature. This paper argues that rather than being a reflection of inherent complexities in…

Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety – developing the conceptual framework

PubMed Central

Carayon, Pascale; Hancock, Peter; Leveson, Nancy; Noy, Ian; Sznelwar, Laerte; van Hootegem, Geert

2015-01-01

Traditional efforts to deal with the enormous problem of workplace safety have proved insufficient, as they have tended to neglect the broader sociotechnical environment that surrounds workers. Here, we advocate a sociotechnical systems approach that describes the complex multi-level system factors that contribute to workplace safety. From the literature on sociotechnical systems, complex systems and safety, we develop a sociotechnical model of workplace safety with concentric layers of the work system, socio-organisational context and the external environment. The future challenges that are identified through the model are highlighted. Practitioner Summary: Understanding the environmental, organisational and work system factors that contribute to workplace safety will help to develop more effective and integrated solutions to deal with persistent workplace safety problems. Solutions to improve workplace safety need to recognise the broad sociotechnical system and the respective interactions between the system elements and levels. PMID:25831959

Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety--developing the conceptual framework.

PubMed

Carayon, Pascale; Hancock, Peter; Leveson, Nancy; Noy, Ian; Sznelwar, Laerte; van Hootegem, Geert

2015-01-01

Traditional efforts to deal with the enormous problem of workplace safety have proved insufficient, as they have tended to neglect the broader sociotechnical environment that surrounds workers. Here, we advocate a sociotechnical systems approach that describes the complex multi-level system factors that contribute to workplace safety. From the literature on sociotechnical systems, complex systems and safety, we develop a sociotechnical model of workplace safety with concentric layers of the work system, socio-organisational context and the external environment. The future challenges that are identified through the model are highlighted. Understanding the environmental, organisational and work system factors that contribute to workplace safety will help to develop more effective and integrated solutions to deal with persistent workplace safety problems. Solutions to improve workplace safety need to recognise the broad sociotechnical system and the respective interactions between the system elements and levels.

FuturICT: Participatory computing to understand and manage our complex world in a more sustainable and resilient way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helbing, D.; Bishop, S.; Conte, R.; Lukowicz, P.; McCarthy, J. B.

2012-11-01

We have built particle accelerators to understand the forces that make up our physical world. Yet, we do not understand the principles underlying our strongly connected, techno-socio-economic systems. We have enabled ubiquitous Internet connectivity and instant, global information access. Yet we do not understand how it impacts our behavior and the evolution of society. To fill the knowledge gaps and keep up with the fast pace at which our world is changing, a Knowledge Accelerator must urgently be created. The financial crisis, international wars, global terror, the spreading of diseases and cyber-crime as well as demographic, technological and environmental change demonstrate that humanity is facing serious challenges. These problems cannot be solved within the traditional paradigms. Moving our attention from a component-oriented view of the world to an interaction-oriented view will allow us to understand the complex systems we have created and the emergent collective phenomena characterising them. This paradigm shift will enable new solutions to long-standing problems, very much as the shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric worldview has facilitated modern physics and the ability to launch satellites. The FuturICT flagship project will develop new science and technology to manage our future in a complex, strongly connected world. For this, it will combine the power of information and communication technology (ICT) with knowledge from the social and complexity sciences. ICT will provide the data to boost the social sciences into a new era. Complexity science will shed new light on the emergent phenomena in socially interactive systems, and the social sciences will provide a better understanding of the opportunities and risks of strongly networked systems, in particular future ICT systems. Hence, the envisaged FuturICT flagship will create new methods and instruments to tackle the challenges of the 21st century. FuturICT could indeed become one of the most important scientific endeavours ever, by revealing the principles that make socially interactive systems work well, by inspiring the creation of new platforms to explore our possible futures, and by initiating an era of social and socio-inspired innovations.

The clinical educator and complexity: a review.

PubMed

Schoo, Adrian; Kumar, Koshila

2018-02-08

Complexity science perspectives have helped in examining fundamental assumptions about learning and teaching in the health professions. The implications of complexity thinking for how we understand the role and development of the clinical educator is less well articulated. This review article outlines: the key principles of complexity science; a conceptual model that situates the clinical educator in a complex system; and the implications for the individual, organisation and the system. Our conceptual model situates the clinical educator at the centre of a complex and dynamic system spanning four domains and multiple levels. The four domains are: personal (encompassing personal/professional needs and expectations); health services (health agencies and their consumers); educational (educational institutions and their health students); and societal (local community/region and government). The system also comprises: micro or individual, meso or organisational, and macro or socio-political levels. Our model highlights that clinical educators are situated within a complex system comprising different agents and connections. It emphasises that individuals, teams and organisations need to recognise and be responsive to the unpredictability, interconnectedness and evolving nature of this system. Importantly, our article also calls for an epistemological shift from faculty development to capacity building in health professions education, aimed at developing individual, team, organisational and system capabilities to work with(in) complexity. Clinical educators are situated within a complex system comprising different agents and connections. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

PRACA Enhancement Pilot Study Report: Engineering for Complex Systems Program (formerly Design for Safety), DFS-IC-0006

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Korsmeyer, David; Schreiner, John

2002-01-01

This technology evaluation report documents the findings and recommendations of the Engineering for Complex Systems Program (formerly Design for Safety) PRACA Enhancement Pilot Study of the Space Shuttle Program's (SSP's) Problem Reporting and Corrective Action (PRACA) System. A team at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) performed this Study. This Study was initiated as a follow-on to the NASA chartered Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT) review (performed in the Fall of 1999) which identified deficiencies in the current PRACA implementation. The Pilot Study was launched with an initial qualitative assessment and technical review performed during January 2000 with the quantitative formal Study (the subject of this report) started in March 2000. The goal of the PRACA Enhancement Pilot Study is to evaluate and quantify the technical aspects of the SSP PRACA systems and recommend enhancements to address deficiencies and in preparation for future system upgrades.

Contribution of Engineers to Environmental Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hirst, Eric

1972-01-01

Describes a junior level course taught at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, Technology and Society," to show how engineers/technologists can contribute to environmental education. To improve understanding of the interactions between technology and society, interdisciplinary courses are needed which examine current socio-technical problems. (BL)

Climate Change and Everyday Life: Repertoires Children Use to Negotiate a Socio-Scientific Issue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrne, Jenny; Ideland, Malin; Malmberg, Claes; Grace, Marcus

2014-01-01

There are only a few studies about how primary school students engage in socio-scientific discussions. This study aims to add to this field of research by focusing on how 9-10-year-olds in Sweden and England handle climate change as a complex environmental socio-scientific issue (SSI), within the context of their own lives and in relation to…

Understanding socio-economic impacts of geohazards aided by cyber-enabled systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klose, C. D.; Webersik, C.

2008-12-01

Due to an increase in the volume of geohazards worldwide, not only are impoverished regions in less developed countries such as Haiti, vulnerable to risk but also low income regions in industrialized countries, e.g. USA, as well. This has been exemplified once again by Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike and the impact on the Caribbean countries during the summer of 2008. To date, extensive research has been conducted to improve the monitoring of human-nature coupled systems. However, there is little emphasis on improving and developing methodologies to a) interpret multi-dimensional and complex data and b) validate prediction and modeling results. This presentation tries to motivate more research initiatives to address the aforementioned issues, bringing together two academic disciplines, earth and social sciences, to research the relationship between natural and socio-economic processes. Results are presented where cyber-enabled methods based on artificial intelligence are applied to different geohazards and regions in the world. They include 1) modeling of public health risks associated with volcanic gas hazards, 2) prediction and validation of potential areas of mining-triggered earthquakes, and 3) modeling of socio-economic risks associated with tropical storms in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

[Retrospective analysis of primary disability among employees of enterprises for the production of technical ceramics].

PubMed

Serebryakov, P V; Khoshtariya, N V; Mustafina, I Z

On the example of588 disability cases registered in employees of the plant for the production of technical ceramics during the 1975-2014 the analysis of the dynamics of illness, gender and age structure of disability indices on the main Origlnarartlcie and auxiliary units of the enterprise was executed for the interval of 10 years periods. There were followed trends in the alteration of the structure of the disability caused by the socio-economic, hygienic and demographic factors.

Socio-affective touch expression database

PubMed Central

Op de Beeck, Hans

2018-01-01

Socio-affective touch communication conveys a vast amount of information about emotions and intentions in social contexts. In spite of the complexity of the socio-affective touch expressions we use daily, previous studies addressed only a few aspects of social touch mainly focusing on hedonics, such as stroking, leaving a wide range of social touch behaviour unexplored. To overcome this limit, we present the Socio-Affective Touch Expression Database (SATED), which includes a large range of dynamic interpersonal socio-affective touch events varying in valence and arousal. The original database contained 26 different social touch expressions each performed by three actor pairs. To validate each touch expression, we conducted two behavioural experiments investigating perceived naturalness and affective values. Based on the rated naturalness and valence, 13 socio-affective touch expressions along with 12 corresponding non-social touch events were selected as a complete set, achieving 75 video clips in total. Moreover, we quantified motion energy for each touch expression to investigate its intrinsic correlations with perceived affective values and its similarity among actor- and action-pairs. As a result, the touch expression database is not only systematically defined and well-controlled, but also spontaneous and natural, while eliciting clear affective responses. This database will allow a fine-grained investigation of complex interpersonal socio-affective touch in the realm of social psychology and neuroscience along with potential application areas in affective computing and neighbouring fields. PMID:29364988

Interregional flows of ecosystem services: Concepts, typology and four cases

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schröter, Matthias; Koellner, Thomas; Alkemade, Rob; Arnhold, Sebastian; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Frank, Karin; Erb, Karl-Heinz; Kastner, Thomas; Kissinger, Meidad; Liu, Jianguo; López-Hoffman, Laura; Maes, Joachim; Marques, Alexandra; Martín-López, Berta; Meyer, Carsten; Schulp, Catharina J. E.; Thober, Jule; Wolff, Sarah; Bonn, Aletta

2018-01-01

Conserving and managing global natural capital requires an understanding of the complexity of flows of ecosystem services across geographic boundaries. Failing to understand and to incorporate these flows into national and international ecosystem assessments leads to incomplete and potentially skewed conclusions, impairing society’s ability to identify sustainable management and policy choices. In this paper, we synthesise existing knowledge and develop a conceptual framework for analysing interregional ecosystem service flows. We synthesise the types of such flows, the characteristics of sending and receiving socio-ecological systems, and the impacts of ecosystem service flows on interregional sustainability. Using four cases (trade of certified coffee, migration of northern pintails, flood protection in the Danube watershed, and information on giant pandas), we test the conceptual framework and show how an enhanced understanding of interregional telecouplings in socio-ecological systems can inform ecosystem service-based decision making and governance with respect to sustainability goals.

Methodological approach and tools for systems thinking in health systems research: technical assistants' support of health administration reform in the Democratic Republic of Congo as an application.

PubMed

Ribesse, Nathalie; Bossyns, Paul; Marchal, Bruno; Karemere, Hermes; Burman, Christopher J; Macq, Jean

2017-03-01

In the field of development cooperation, interest in systems thinking and complex systems theories as a methodological approach is increasingly recognised. And so it is in health systems research, which informs health development aid interventions. However, practical applications remain scarce to date. The objective of this article is to contribute to the body of knowledge by presenting the tools inspired by systems thinking and complexity theories and methodological lessons learned from their application. These tools were used in a case study. Detailed results of this study are in process for publication in additional articles. Applying a complexity 'lens', the subject of the case study is the role of long-term international technical assistance in supporting health administration reform at the provincial level in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Methods section presents the guiding principles of systems thinking and complex systems, their relevance and implication for the subject under study, and the existing tools associated with those theories which inspired us in the design of the data collection and analysis process. The tools and their application processes are presented in the results section, and followed in the discussion section by the critical analysis of their innovative potential and emergent challenges. The overall methodology provides a coherent whole, each tool bringing a different and complementary perspective on the system.

Addressing the social dimensions of citizen observatories: The Ground Truth 2.0 socio-technical approach for sustainable implementation of citizen observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wehn, Uta; Joshi, Somya; Pfeiffer, Ellen; Anema, Kim; Gharesifard, Mohammad; Momani, Abeer

2017-04-01

Owing to ICT-enabled citizen observatories, citizens can take on new roles in environmental monitoring, decision making and co-operative planning, and environmental stewardship. And yet implementing advanced citizen observatories for data collection, knowledge exchange and interactions to support policy objectives is neither always easy nor successful, given the required commitment, trust, and data reliability concerns. Many efforts are facing problems with the uptake and sustained engagement by citizens, limited scalability, unclear long-term sustainability and limited actual impact on governance processes. Similarly, to sustain the engagement of decision makers in citizen observatories, mechanisms are required from the start of the initiative in order to have them invest in and, hence, commit to and own the entire process. In order to implement sustainable citizen observatories, these social dimensions therefore need to be soundly managed. We provide empirical evidence of how the social dimensions of citizen observatories are being addressed in the Ground Truth 2.0 project, drawing on a range of relevant social science approaches. This project combines the social dimensions of citizen observatories with enabling technologies - via a socio-technical approach - so that their customisation and deployment is tailored to the envisaged societal and economic impacts of the observatories. The projects consists of the demonstration and validation of six scaled up citizen observatories in real operational conditions both in the EU and in Africa, with a specific focus on flora and fauna as well as water availability and water quality for land and natural resources management. The demonstration cases (4 EU and 2 African) cover the full 'spectrum' of citizen-sensed data usage and citizen engagement, and therefore allow testing and validation of the socio-technical concept for citizen observatories under a range of conditions.

Simulating Water Resource Disputes of Transboundary River: A Case Study of the Zhanghe River Basin, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Liang; He, Weijun; Liao, Zaiyi; Mulugeta Degefu, Dagmawi; An, Min; Zhang, Zhaofang

2018-01-01

Water resource disputes within transboundary river basin has been hindering the sustainable use of water resources and efficient management of environment. The problem is characterized by a complex information feedback loop that involves socio-economic and environmental systems. This paper presents a system dynamics based model that can simulate the dynamics of water demand, water supply, water adequacy and water allocation instability within a river basin. It was used for a case study in the Zhanghe River basin of China. The base scenario has been investigated for the time period between 2000 and 2050. The result shows that the Chinese national government should change the water allocation scheme of downstream Zhanghe River established in 1989, more water need to be allocated to the downstream cities and the actual allocation should be adjusted to reflect the need associated with the socio-economic and environmental changes within the region, and system dynamics improves the understanding of concepts and system interactions by offering a comprehensive and integrated view of the physical, social, economic, environmental, and political systems.

Application of system dynamics and participatory spatial group model building in animal health: A case study of East Coast Fever interventions in Lundazi and Monze districts of Zambia

PubMed Central

Skjerve, Eystein; Rich, Magda; Rich, Karl M.

2017-01-01

East Coast Fever (ECF) is the most economically important production disease among traditional beef cattle farmers in Zambia. Despite the disease control efforts by the government, donors, and farmers, ECF cases are increasing. Why does ECF oscillate over time? Can alternative approaches such as systems thinking contribute solutions to the complex ECF problem, avoid unintended consequences, and achieve sustainable results? To answer these research questions and inform the design and implementation of ECF interventions, we qualitatively investigated the influence of dynamic socio-economic, cultural, and ecological factors. We used system dynamics modelling to specify these dynamics qualitatively, and an innovative participatory framework called spatial group model building (SGMB). SGMB uses participatory geographical information system (GIS) concepts and techniques to capture the role of spatial phenomenon in the context of complex systems, allowing stakeholders to identify spatial phenomenon directly on physical maps and integrate such information in model development. Our SGMB process convened focus groups of beef value chain stakeholders in two distinct production systems. The focus groups helped to jointly construct a series of interrelated system dynamics models that described ECF in a broader systems context. Thus, a complementary objective of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of system dynamics modelling and SGMB in animal health. The SGMB process revealed policy leverage points in the beef cattle value chain that could be targeted to improve ECF control. For example, policies that develop sustainable and stable cattle markets and improve household income availability may have positive feedback effects on investment in animal health. The results obtained from a SGMB process also demonstrated that a “one-size-fits-all” approach may not be equally effective in policing ECF in different agro-ecological zones due to the complex interactions of socio-ecological context with important, and often ignored, spatial patterns. PMID:29244862

Application of system dynamics and participatory spatial group model building in animal health: A case study of East Coast Fever interventions in Lundazi and Monze districts of Zambia.

PubMed

Mumba, Chisoni; Skjerve, Eystein; Rich, Magda; Rich, Karl M

2017-01-01

East Coast Fever (ECF) is the most economically important production disease among traditional beef cattle farmers in Zambia. Despite the disease control efforts by the government, donors, and farmers, ECF cases are increasing. Why does ECF oscillate over time? Can alternative approaches such as systems thinking contribute solutions to the complex ECF problem, avoid unintended consequences, and achieve sustainable results? To answer these research questions and inform the design and implementation of ECF interventions, we qualitatively investigated the influence of dynamic socio-economic, cultural, and ecological factors. We used system dynamics modelling to specify these dynamics qualitatively, and an innovative participatory framework called spatial group model building (SGMB). SGMB uses participatory geographical information system (GIS) concepts and techniques to capture the role of spatial phenomenon in the context of complex systems, allowing stakeholders to identify spatial phenomenon directly on physical maps and integrate such information in model development. Our SGMB process convened focus groups of beef value chain stakeholders in two distinct production systems. The focus groups helped to jointly construct a series of interrelated system dynamics models that described ECF in a broader systems context. Thus, a complementary objective of this study was to demonstrate the applicability of system dynamics modelling and SGMB in animal health. The SGMB process revealed policy leverage points in the beef cattle value chain that could be targeted to improve ECF control. For example, policies that develop sustainable and stable cattle markets and improve household income availability may have positive feedback effects on investment in animal health. The results obtained from a SGMB process also demonstrated that a "one-size-fits-all" approach may not be equally effective in policing ECF in different agro-ecological zones due to the complex interactions of socio-ecological context with important, and often ignored, spatial patterns.

A Telecommunications Industry Primer: A Systems Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obermier, Timothy R.; Tuttle, Ronald H.

2003-01-01

Describes the Telecommunications Systems Model to help technical educators and students understand the increasingly complex telecommunications infrastructure. Specifically looks at ownership and regulatory status, service providers, transport medium, network protocols, and end-user services. (JOW)

Challenges for Planning and Maintaining of Urban Rain Harvesting Systems- the case of Hammarby Sjöstad and Årstafältet in Stockholm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suleiman, Lina

2017-04-01

Planners and policymakers' concern escalates over conventional systems dealing with rains in cities based on domination and control of nature rather than harmony and design with nature. A new spatial planning paradigm is needed to put in place systems which mimic natural water systems and promise multiple values instead of systems consider rain as a source of problem. However, such approach embodies significant planning challenges. Urban rain harvesting systems (URHs) are inherently viewed as 'sociotechnical' systems. As such, planning processes should consider the interdependence of 'social' and 'technical' aspects as essential elements if a transition towards sustainable urban water systems is to be realised. Drawing on a common understanding for what urban rain harvesting systems should deliver in terms of 'functions' and 'added values', a generic planning framework is developed to inform practitioners on how the 'socio' and 'technical' elements should be assimilated in a long-term and integrated planning processes of URHs. Using the developed framework, the paper examines the planning and maintenance processes of urban rain harvesting systems in Årstafältet and Hammarby Sjöstad respectively. Results show that planners lack a common operational understanding on how these systems should be designed holistically in a long term and integrated planning processes creating working gabs or positional conflicts. In practice, urban planners and water engineers look at these systems as either urban design component or water drainage system to deal with technical functions hindering a smooth transition path towards urban rain harvesting systems. The paper concludes on the urgency for reordering roles and relations within a new set-up organisation to incubate these systems in long-term planning and maintenance processes. Key words: 'Sociotechnical' system, Water, Planning, Urban Rain Harvesting systems (URHs), Hammarby Sjostad and Årstafältet

A methodological approach to comparing pros and cons of delocalizing villages: socio-economic and technical issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guadagno, Eleonora; Iovine, Giulio G. R.; Petrucci, Olga; Forciniti, Pinuccia R.

2014-05-01

On 7th March 2005, prolonged rainfalls combined with snowfalls activated a wide complex rock slide-earth flow that partly destroyed the village of Cavallerizzo at Cerzeto (Calabria, Southern Italy). Superposed tectonic units made of Palaeozoic metamorphic rocks, overlain by Miocene-Quaternary clastic terrains, crop out in the study area. The main scarp of the landslide developed by a recent normal fault, striking N-S along the western margin of the Crati graben and extended ca. 25 km. In its lower part, the phenomenon evolved in two main earth-flow bodies that extended along minor drainages and then merged along the S. Nicola torrent. The sector affected by the instability actually belongs to a large-scale slope movement: the 2005 activation was in fact only a paroxysmal episode of a long history of slope deformations, noticed in the area since the XVIII century. Warning signs had been recorded for weeks before the collapse, and the threatened area had been put under monitoring by CNR-IRPI. When the movement accelerated, people had already been alerted and evacuated (329 out of 581 inhabitants of Cerzeto were sheltered in nearby villages), thus neither victims nor injured were recorded. As a whole, 124 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed, the main road was interrupted. Immediately after the 7th March 2005 event, the national Department for Civil Protection decided to evaluate the feasibility of delocalizing Cavallerizzo to another site. At this purpose, CNR-IRPI was asked to analysing the "geological suitability" of 3 different sites (Pianette, Amatine, and Colombra), pre-selected by the same Municipality of Cerzeto in accordance to the Civil Protection; the results of the study were completed in early Summer 2005. Between October 2007 and December 2011, a new settlement was realized by the Italian Government, and the houses were delivered to people once living at Cavallerizzo. In the last years, the socio-economic effects of the delocalization of Cavallerizzo have been analysed within the frame of a PhD thesis by one of the authors. The present study focuses on the Cavallerizzo case study to discuss a methodological approach useful to comparing pros and cons of delocalizing villages, aiming at properly considering socio-economic effects in addition to technical issues.

Technical Reference Suite Addressing Challenges of Providing Assurance for Fault Management Architectural Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fitz, Rhonda; Whitman, Gerek

2016-01-01

Research into complexities of software systems Fault Management (FM) and how architectural design decisions affect safety, preservation of assets, and maintenance of desired system functionality has coalesced into a technical reference (TR) suite that advances the provision of safety and mission assurance. The NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IVV) Program, with Software Assurance Research Program support, extracted FM architectures across the IVV portfolio to evaluate robustness, assess visibility for validation and test, and define software assurance methods applied to the architectures and designs. This investigation spanned IVV projects with seven different primary developers, a wide range of sizes and complexities, and encompassed Deep Space Robotic, Human Spaceflight, and Earth Orbiter mission FM architectures. The initiative continues with an expansion of the TR suite to include Launch Vehicles, adding the benefit of investigating differences intrinsic to model-based FM architectures and insight into complexities of FM within an Agile software development environment, in order to improve awareness of how nontraditional processes affect FM architectural design and system health management.

Technical Efficiency and Organ Transplant Performance: A Mixed-Method Approach

PubMed Central

de-Pablos-Heredero, Carmen; Fernández-Renedo, Carlos; Medina-Merodio, Jose-Amelio

2015-01-01

Mixed methods research is interesting to understand complex processes. Organ transplants are complex processes in need of improved final performance in times of budgetary restrictions. As the main objective a mixed method approach is used in this article to quantify the technical efficiency and the excellence achieved in organ transplant systems and to prove the influence of organizational structures and internal processes in the observed technical efficiency. The results show that it is possible to implement mechanisms for the measurement of the different components by making use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The analysis show a positive relationship between the levels related to the Baldrige indicators and the observed technical efficiency in the donation and transplant units of the 11 analyzed hospitals. Therefore it is possible to conclude that high levels in the Baldrige indexes are a necessary condition to reach an increased level of the service offered. PMID:25950653

Defining and Building an Enriched Learning and Information Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodrum, David A.; And Others

1993-01-01

Discusses the development of an Enriched Learning and Information Environment (ELIE). Highlights include technology-based and theory-based frameworks for defining ELIEs; a socio-technical definition; a conceptual prototype; a participatory design process, including iterative design through rapid prototyping; and design issues for technology…

The impact of IT over five decades - towards the Ambient organization.

PubMed

Bjørn-Andersen, Niels; Raymond, Benoit

2014-03-01

This contribution to the Ken D. Eason special issue is an illustration of the value of socio-technical analysis applied at an organizational level. We provide a brief historical overview of socio-technical IS research and review studies investigating the impact of IT on organizational structures in the last five decades, identifying a dominating (new) research theme in each decade. A key overall impact of IT in all decades has been a dramatic decrease in transaction costs making it increasingly easier for organizations to source from external providers. A five level taxonomy of sourcing arrangement is developed together with a framework of organizational activities, and a number of significant cases are offered of how organizations are sourcing practically all types of business processes, including innovation. We argue that future IT will further accelerate the movement towards more sourcing, eventually leading to a new type of organization that we call the Ambient organization. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of aviation-based safety team training in a hospital in The Netherlands.

PubMed

De Korne, Dirk F; Van Wijngaarden, Jeroen D H; Van Dyck, Cathy; Hiddema, U Francis; Klazinga, Niek S

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of a broad-scale team resource management (TRM) program on safety culture in a Dutch eye hospital, detailing the program's content and procedures. Aviation-based TRM training is recognized as a useful approach to increase patient safety, but little is known about how it affects safety culture. Pre- and post-assessments of the hospitals' safety culture was based on interviews with ophthalmologists, anesthesiologists, residents, nurses, and support staff. Interim observations were made at training sessions and in daily hospital practice. The program consisted of safety audits of processes and (team) activities, interactive classroom training sessions by aviation experts, a flight simulator session, and video recording of team activities with subsequent feedback. Medical professionals considered aviation experts inspiring role models and respected their non-hierarchical external perspective and focus on medical-technical issues. The post-assessment showed that ophthalmologists and other hospital staff had become increasingly aware of safety issues. The multidisciplinary approach promoted social (team) orientation that replaced the former functionally-oriented culture. The number of reported near-incidents greatly increased; the number of wrong-side surgeries stabilized to a minimum after an initial substantial reduction. The study was observational and the hospital's variety of efforts to improve safety culture prevented us from establishing a causal relation between improvement and any one specific intervention. Aviation-based TRM training can be a useful to stimulate safety culture in hospitals. Safety and quality improvements are not single treatment interventions but complex socio-technical interventions. A multidisciplinary system approach and focus on "team" instead of "profession" seems both necessary and difficult in hospital care.

Systems Engineering Technical Leadership Development Program

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

leading others in creative problem solving, complexity, and why projects fail . These topics were additionally supported by case studies designed to...Your Core Values Dominick Wed 12:30-1:30 Lunch Wed 1:30-2:45 Case Study: Why Projects Fail Pennotti Wed 2:45-3:00 Break Wed 3:00-4:30 Project...Case Study: When Good Wasn’t Good Enough 11. Technical Value-5: Group Project: AR2D2 RFP 12. Customer Expectation-1: Lecture: Why Systems Fail

Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems (DACS): elucidating inter-relationships between determinants of acute lower respiratory infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Rehfuess, Eva A; Best, Nicky; Briggs, David J; Joffe, Mike

2013-12-06

Effective interventions require evidence on how individual causal pathways jointly determine disease. Based on the concept of systems epidemiology, this paper develops Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems (DACS) as an approach to analyze complex systems, and applies it by examining the contributions of proximal and distal determinants of childhood acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in sub-Saharan Africa. Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems combines the use of causal diagrams with multiple routinely available data sources, using a variety of statistical techniques. In a step-by-step process, the causal diagram evolves from conceptual based on a priori knowledge and assumptions, through operational informed by data availability which then undergoes empirical testing, to integrated which synthesizes information from multiple datasets. In our application, we apply different regression techniques to Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets for Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya and Namibia and a pooled World Health Survey (WHS) dataset for sixteen African countries. Explicit strategies are employed to make decisions transparent about the inclusion/omission of arrows, the sign and strength of the relationships and homogeneity/heterogeneity across settings.Findings about the current state of evidence on the complex web of socio-economic, environmental, behavioral and healthcare factors influencing childhood ALRI, based on DHS and WHS data, are summarized in an integrated causal diagram. Notably, solid fuel use is structured by socio-economic factors and increases the risk of childhood ALRI mortality. Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems is a means of organizing the current state of knowledge about a specific area of research, and a framework for integrating statistical analyses across a whole system. This partly a priori approach is explicit about causal assumptions guiding the analysis and about researcher judgment, and wrong assumptions can be reversed following empirical testing. This approach is well-suited to dealing with complex systems, in particular where data are scarce.

Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems (DACS): elucidating inter-relationships between determinants of acute lower respiratory infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Effective interventions require evidence on how individual causal pathways jointly determine disease. Based on the concept of systems epidemiology, this paper develops Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems (DACS) as an approach to analyze complex systems, and applies it by examining the contributions of proximal and distal determinants of childhood acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI) in sub-Saharan Africa. Results Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems combines the use of causal diagrams with multiple routinely available data sources, using a variety of statistical techniques. In a step-by-step process, the causal diagram evolves from conceptual based on a priori knowledge and assumptions, through operational informed by data availability which then undergoes empirical testing, to integrated which synthesizes information from multiple datasets. In our application, we apply different regression techniques to Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets for Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya and Namibia and a pooled World Health Survey (WHS) dataset for sixteen African countries. Explicit strategies are employed to make decisions transparent about the inclusion/omission of arrows, the sign and strength of the relationships and homogeneity/heterogeneity across settings. Findings about the current state of evidence on the complex web of socio-economic, environmental, behavioral and healthcare factors influencing childhood ALRI, based on DHS and WHS data, are summarized in an integrated causal diagram. Notably, solid fuel use is structured by socio-economic factors and increases the risk of childhood ALRI mortality. Conclusions Diagram-based Analysis of Causal Systems is a means of organizing the current state of knowledge about a specific area of research, and a framework for integrating statistical analyses across a whole system. This partly a priori approach is explicit about causal assumptions guiding the analysis and about researcher judgment, and wrong assumptions can be reversed following empirical testing. This approach is well-suited to dealing with complex systems, in particular where data are scarce. PMID:24314302

A user-centered, object-oriented methodology for developing Health Information Systems: a Clinical Information System (CIS) example.

PubMed

Konstantinidis, Georgios; Anastassopoulos, George C; Karakos, Alexandros S; Anagnostou, Emmanouil; Danielides, Vasileios

2012-04-01

The aim of this study is to present our perspectives on healthcare analysis and design and the lessons learned from our experience with the development of a distributed, object-oriented Clinical Information System (CIS). In order to overcome known issues regarding development, implementation and finally acceptance of a CIS by the physicians we decided to develop a novel object-oriented methodology by integrating usability principles and techniques in a simplified version of a well established software engineering process (SEP), the Unified Process (UP). A multilayer architecture has been defined and implemented with the use of a vendor application framework. Our first experiences from a pilot implementation of our CIS are positive. This approach allowed us to gain a socio-technical understanding of the domain and enabled us to identify all the important factors that define both the structure and the behavior of a Health Information System.

Auditing the socio-environmental determinants of motivation towards physical activity or sedentariness in work-aged adults: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Keegan, Richard; Middleton, Geoff; Henderson, Hannah; Girling, Mica

2016-05-26

There is a lack of understanding of work aged adults' (30-60 years old) perspectives on the motivation of physical activity versus sedentariness. This study aims to: (1) identify which socio-environmental factors motivate physical activity and/or sedentary behavior, in adults aged 30-60 years; and (2) explore how these motivators interact and combine. Fifteen work-aged adults who, were able to engage in physical activity (Mean age = 43.9 years; SD 9.6, range 31-59), participated in semi-structured interviews. Inductive content analysis was used to generate an inventory of socio-environmental factors and their specific influences on motivation towards physical activity or sedentariness. Key socio-environmental agents found to influence motivation included: Spouse/partner, parents, children, siblings, whole family, grandchildren, friends, work-mates, neighbors, strangers, team-mates and class-mates, instructors, health care professionals, employers, gyms and health companies, governments, media and social media, cultural norms, and the physical environment. Mechanisms fell into five broad themes of socio-environmental motivation for both physical activity and sedentariness: (1) competence and progress; (2) informational influences, (3) emotional influences, (4) pragmatics and logistics, and (5) relationships. Similar socio-environmental factors were frequently reported as able to motivate both activity and sedentariness. Likewise, individual categories of influence could also motivate both behaviors, depending on context. The findings of this paper 'unpack' theoretical concepts into specific and targeted behavioral recommendations. The data suggested no simple solutions for promoting physical activity or reducing sedentariness, but rather complex and interacting systems surrounding work-aged adults. Findings also suggest that health professionals should be encouraged to support adults' health by examining the socio-environmental motivational influences, or 'motivational atmosphere'.

Test and Evaluation for Enhanced Security: A Quantitative Method to Incorporate Expert Knowledge into Test Planning Decisions.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rizzo, Davinia; Blackburn, Mark

Complex systems are comprised of technical, social, political and environmental factors as well as the programmatic factors of cost, schedule and risk. Testing these systems for enhanced security requires expert knowledge in many different fields. It is important to test these systems to ensure effectiveness, but testing is limited to due cost, schedule, safety, feasibility and a myriad of other reasons. Without an effective decision framework for Test and Evaluation (T&E) planning that can take into consideration technical as well as programmatic factors and leverage expert knowledge, security in complex systems may not be assessed effectively. Therefore, this paper coversmore » the identification of the current T&E planning problem and an approach to include the full variety of factors and leverage expert knowledge in T&E planning through the use of Bayesian Networks (BN).« less

Technology Area Roadmap for In Space Propulsion Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Les; Meyer, Mike; Coote, David; Goebel, Dan; Palaszewski, Bryan; White, Sonny

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the technology area (TA) roadmap to develop propulsion technologies that will be used to enable further exploration of the solar system, and beyond. It is hoped that development of the technologies within this TA will result in technical solutions that will improve thrust levels, specific impulse, power, specific mass, volume, system mass, system complexity, operational complexity, commonality with other spacecraft systems, manufacturability and durability. Some of the propulsion technologies that are reviewed include: chemical and non-chemical propulsion, and advanced propulsion (i.e., those with a Technology Readiness level of less than 3). Examples of these advanced technologies include: Beamed Energy, Electric Sail, Fusion, High Energy Density Materials, Antimatter, Advanced Fission and Breakthrough propulsion technologies. Timeframes for development of some of these propulsion technologies are reviewed, and top technical challenges are reviewed. This roadmap describes a portfolio of in-space propulsion technologies that can meet future space science and exploration needs.

Supporting the extensive dairy sheep smallholders of the semi-arid region of Crete through technical intervention.

PubMed

Volanis, M; Stefanakis, A; Hadjigeorgiou, I; Zoiopoulos, P

2007-06-01

The objective of this field study was to depict the extensive system of dairy sheep farming in the semi-arid environment of the island of Crete and to assess the potential margins of improvement through technical intervention. Forty-three family-run farms keeping a total of 13,870 sheep were surveyed in seven representative areas of the island. Several parameters were dealt with, concerning socio-economy, flock management and productivity. Study areas differed widely regarding feeds supplied per sheep, land cultivated for feeds, grazing land utilized and housing space. A range of parameters were recorded on flock size and their production characteristics such as births, fertility and number of lambs weaned. Milk yield and parameters associated with milk quality, such as somatic cell counts and total microbial flora, were also recorded. Technical intervention was directed towards removal of non-productive animals, programming of matings, balancing of diets, management of grazing lands and health care. Ewe fertility and numbers of lambs weaned per ewe, as well as harvested milk and milk quality (based on somatic cell counts and microbial load of milk) were also significantly improved. Information derived from this study stresses the important role of extension services to small farm sustainability and contributes to our knowledge of the dairy sheep farming systems in countries around the Mediterranean and elsewhere.

The health sector reforms and the efficiency of public hospitals in Turkey: provincial markets.

PubMed

Sulku, Seher Nur

2012-10-01

Turkey initiated the 'Health Transformation Programme' (HTP) in 2003 to align its health care system with the European Union and OECD countries. This study investigates the impact of these reforms on the efficiency of public hospitals. Our study would contribute to the existing literature with a comprehensive analysis of the health system in a developing country. We employ the data envelopment approach and the Malmquist index to comparatively examine before and after the reform years. Our analyses compare the performances of public hospitals served in provincial markets. Inputs of number of beds, number of primary care physician, and number of specialists, and how they are used to produce outputs of inpatient discharges, outpatient visits and surgical operations are investigated. Indeed, as the performance indicators dead rate, hospital bed occupation rate and average length of stay are considered. The HTP was generally successful in boosting productivity due to advancements in technology and technical efficiency but in the socio-economically disadvantaged provinces productivity gains have not been achieved. The average technical efficiency gains took place because of the significantly improved scale efficiencies, as the average pure technical efficiency slightly improved. Lastly, the hospital performance indicators have not improved in the short run. It appears that the expected benefits from the health reforms in Turkey have been partially achieved in the short run.

On the design of computer-based models for integrated environmental science.

PubMed

McIntosh, Brian S; Jeffrey, Paul; Lemon, Mark; Winder, Nick

2005-06-01

The current research agenda in environmental science is dominated by calls to integrate science and policy to better understand and manage links between social (human) and natural (nonhuman) processes. Freshwater resource management is one area where such calls can be heard. Designing computer-based models for integrated environmental science poses special challenges to the research community. At present it is not clear whether such tools, or their outputs, receive much practical policy or planning application. It is argued that this is a result of (1) a lack of appreciation within the research modeling community of the characteristics of different decision-making processes including policy, planning, and (2) participation, (3) a lack of appreciation of the characteristics of different decision-making contexts, (4) the technical difficulties in implementing the necessary support tool functionality, and (5) the socio-technical demands of designing tools to be of practical use. This article presents a critical synthesis of ideas from each of these areas and interprets them in terms of design requirements for computer-based models being developed to provide scientific information support for policy and planning. Illustrative examples are given from the field of freshwater resources management. Although computer-based diagramming and modeling tools can facilitate processes of dialogue, they lack adequate simulation capabilities. Component-based models and modeling frameworks provide such functionality and may be suited to supporting problematic or messy decision contexts. However, significant technical (implementation) and socio-technical (use) challenges need to be addressed before such ambition can be realized.

Steady-state visual evoked potentials as a research tool in social affective neuroscience

PubMed Central

Wieser, Matthias J.; Miskovic, Vladimir; Keil, Andreas

2017-01-01

Like many other primates, humans place a high premium on social information transmission and processing. One important aspect of this information concerns the emotional state of other individuals, conveyed by distinct visual cues such as facial expressions, overt actions, or by cues extracted from the situational context. A rich body of theoretical and empirical work has demonstrated that these socio-emotional cues are processed by the human visual system in a prioritized fashion, in the service of optimizing social behavior. Furthermore, socio-emotional perception is highly dependent on situational contexts and previous experience. Here, we review current issues in this area of research and discuss the utility of the steady-state visual evoked potential (ssVEP) technique for addressing key empirical questions. Methodological advantages and caveats are discussed with particular regard to quantifying time-varying competition among multiple perceptual objects, trial-by-trial analysis of visual cortical activation, functional connectivity, and the control of low-level stimulus features. Studies on facial expression and emotional scene processing are summarized, with an emphasis on viewing faces and other social cues in emotional contexts, or when competing with each other. Further, because the ssVEP technique can be readily accommodated to studying the viewing of complex scenes with multiple elements, it enables researchers to advance theoretical models of socio-emotional perception, based on complex, quasi-naturalistic viewing situations. PMID:27699794

Autism spectrum disorders in relation to parental occupation in technical fields.

PubMed

Windham, Gayle C; Fessel, Karen; Grether, Judith K

2009-08-01

A previous study reported that fathers of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were more likely to work as engineers, requiring "systemizing skills," and suggesting a distinct phenotype, but alternatively this may have been related to selection biases. We conducted a population-based study to explore whether fathers, or mothers, of children with ASD are over-represented in fields requiring highly technical skills. Subjects included 284 children with ASD and 659 gender-matched controls, born in 1994 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Parental occupation and industry were abstracted verbatim from birth certificates. Engineering, computer programming, and science were examined as highly technical occupations. To limit bias by parental socio-economic status, we selected a referent group of occupations that seemed professionally similar but of a less technical nature. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by logistic regression, adjusting for parental age, education, and child race. Mothers of cases were somewhat more likely to work in hi-tech occupations (6.7%) than mothers of controls (4.0%, P=0.07), but little difference was observed among fathers, nor for engineering separately. Compared to parents in other "white collar" occupations, the adjusted OR for highly technical occupations among mothers was 2.5 (95% CI: 1.2-5.3) and among fathers was 1.3 (95% CI: 0.79-2.1), with no evidence of a joint effect observed. Our results regarding maternal occupation in technical fields being associated with ASD in offspring suggest further study to distinguish parental occupation as a phenotypic marker of genetic loading vs. other social or exposure factors.

Remote navigation systems in electrophysiology.

PubMed

Schmidt, Boris; Chun, Kyoung Ryul Julian; Tilz, Roland R; Koektuerk, Buelent; Ouyang, Feifan; Kuck, Karl-Heinz

2008-11-01

Today, atrial fibrillation (AF) is the dominant indication for catheter ablation in big electrophysiologists (EP) centres. AF ablation strategies are complex and technically challenging. Therefore, it would be desirable that technical innovations pursue the goal to improve catheter stability to increase the procedural success and most importantly to increase safety by helping to avoid serious complications. The most promising technical innovation aiming at the aforementioned goals is remote catheter navigation and ablation. To date, two different systems, the NIOBE magnetic navigation system (MNS, Stereotaxis, USA) and the Sensei robotic navigation system (RNS, Hansen Medical, USA), are commercially available. The following review will introduce the basic principles of the systems, will give an insight into the merits and demerits of remote navigation, and will further focus on the initial clinical experience at our centre with focus on pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) procedures.

Innovation-Centric Teaching and Learning Processes in Technical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vikas, Om

2012-01-01

Globalization has put countries in competitive and collaborative mode. Underdeveloped nations are in catch-up phase, developing nations are in competitive phase and the advanced nations are in commanding phase with respect to certain technologies. Innovation--Technological, Business and Education--is imperative for sustainable socio-economic…

Fourth technical contractors' conference on peat

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1981-01-01

This conference reported the status of the US Department of Energy Peat Program. The papers presented dealt with peat dewatering, international peat programs, environmental and socio-economic factors, peat gasification, peat harvesting, and the state peat surveys for 14 states. Separate abstracts were prepared for the individual papers. (CKK)

A Socio-Environmental Case for Skill in Outdoor Adventure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mullins, Philip M.

2014-01-01

In response to the crisis of sustainability, this paper revisits understandings of human--environment relations established through skill-based outdoor activities that are used commonly among adventure recreation, education, and tourism. Reconsidering a predominant focus on risk and a persistent tension between technical and environmental…

Globalizing Flexible Work in Universities: Socio-Technical Dilemmas in Internationalizing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singh, Michael; Han, Jinghe

2005-01-01

Contemporary transitions in political and economic globalization are being used to press universities into becoming "transnational businesses," seemingly driven by a primary concern for marketing educational commodities. The neo-liberal politics driving these currents in universities are increasing the multiple online and offline…

An Architecture for Learning in Projects?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sense, Andrew J.

2004-01-01

This paper reports upon a two-year, qualitative, case study action research investigation into "learning within a project team". This project team undertook a significant socio-technical redesign project within a major Australian heavy engineering/manufacturing operation. The paper identifies and elaborates upon a number of elements that…

ICT in health care: sociotechnical approaches.

PubMed

Berg, M; Aarts, J; van der Lei, J

2003-01-01

The importance of the social sciences for medical informatics is increasingly recognized. As ICT requires inter-action with people and thereby inevitably affects them, understanding ICT requires a focus on the interrelation between technology and its social environment. Sociotechnical approaches increase our understanding of how ICT applications are developed, introduced and become a part of social practices. Socio-technical approaches share several starting points: 1) they see health care work as a social, 'real life' phenomenon, which may seem 'messy' at first, but which is guided by a practical rationality that can only be overlooked at a high price (i.e. failed systems). 2) They see technological innovation as a social process, in which organizations are deeply affected. 3) Through in-depth, formative evaluation, they can help improve system design and implementation.

Organisational Pattern Driven Recovery Mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giacomo, Valentina Di; Presenza, Domenico; Riccucci, Carlo

The process of reaction to system failures and security attacks is strongly influenced by its infrastructural, procedural and organisational settings. Analysis of reaction procedures and practices from different domains (Air Traffic Management, Response to Computer Security Incident, Response to emergencies, recovery in Chemical Process Industry) highlight three key requirements for this activity: smooth collaboration and coordination among responders, accurate monitoring and management of resources and ability to adapt pre-established reaction plans to the actual context. The SERENITY Reaction Mechanisms (SRM) is the subsystem of the SERENITY Run-time Framework aimed to provide SERENITY aware AmI settings (i.e. socio-technical systems with highly distributed dynamic services) with functionalities to implement applications specific reaction strategies. The SRM uses SERENITY Organisational S&D Patterns as run-time models to drive these three key functionalities.

Development of structural model of adaptive training complex in ergatic systems for professional use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obukhov, A. D.; Dedov, D. L.; Arkhipov, A. E.

2018-03-01

The article considers the structural model of the adaptive training complex (ATC), which reflects the interrelations between the hardware, software and mathematical model of ATC and describes the processes in this subject area. The description of the main components of software and hardware complex, their interaction and functioning within the common system are given. Also the article scrutinizers a brief description of mathematical models of personnel activity, a technical system and influences, the interactions of which formalize the regularities of ATC functioning. The studies of main objects of training complexes and connections between them will make it possible to realize practical implementation of ATC in ergatic systems for professional use.

A Non-technical User-Oriented Display Notation for XACML Conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stepien, Bernard; Felty, Amy; Matwin, Stan

Ideally, access control to resources in complex IT systems ought to be handled by business decision makers who own a given resource (e.g., the pay and benefits section of an organization should decide and manage the access rules to the payroll system). To make this happen, the security and database communities need to develop vendor-independent access management tools, useable by decision makers, rather than technical personnel detached from a given business function. We have developed and implemented such tool, based on XACML. The XACML is an important emerging tool for managing complex access control applications. As a formal notation, based on an XML schema representing the grammar of a given application, XACML is precise and non-ambiguous. But this very property puts it out of reach of non-technical users. We propose a new notation for displaying and editing XACML rules that is independent of XML, and we develop an editor for it. Our notation combines a tree representation of logical expressions with an accessible natural language layer. Our early experience indicates that such rules can be grasped by non-technical users wishing to develop and control rules for accessing their own resources.

Enhancing metaproteomics-The value of models and defined environmental microbial systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herbst, Florian-Alexander; Lünsmann, Vanessa; Kjeldal, Henrik

2016-01-21

Metaproteomics - the large-scale characterization of the entire protein complement of environmental microbiota at a given point in time - added unique features and possibilities to study environmental microbial communities and to unravel these “black boxes”. New technical challenges arose which were not an issue for classical proteome analytics before and choosing the appropriate model system applicable to the research question can be difficult. Here, we reviewed different model systems for metaproteome analysis. Following a short introduction to microbial communities and systems, we discussed the most used systems ranging from technical systems over rhizospheric models to systems for the medicalmore » field. This includes acid mine drainage, anaerobic digesters, activated sludge, planted fixed bed reactors, gastrointestinal simulators and in vivo models. Model systems are useful to evaluate the challenges encountered within (but not limited to) metaproteomics, including species complexity and coverage, biomass availability or reliable protein extraction. The implementation of model systems can be considered as a step forward to better understand microbial responses and ecological distribution of member organisms. In the future, novel improvements are necessary to fully engage complex environmental systems.« less

Architecting the Human Space Flight Program with Systems Modeling Language (SysML)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jackson, Maddalena M.; Fernandez, Michela Munoz; McVittie, Thomas I.; Sindiy, Oleg V.

2012-01-01

The next generation of missions in NASA's Human Space Flight program focuses on the development and deployment of highly complex systems (e.g., Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, Space Launch System, 21st Century Ground System) that will enable astronauts to venture beyond low Earth orbit and explore the moon, near-Earth asteroids, and beyond. Architecting these highly complex system-of-systems requires formal systems engineering techniques for managing the evolution of the technical features in the information exchange domain (e.g., data exchanges, communication networks, ground software) and also, formal correlation of the technical architecture to stakeholders' programmatic concerns (e.g., budget, schedule, risk) and design development (e.g., assumptions, constraints, trades, tracking of unknowns). This paper will describe how the authors have applied System Modeling Language (SysML) to implement model-based systems engineering for managing the description of the End-to-End Information System (EEIS) architecture and associated development activities and ultimately enables stakeholders to understand, reason, and answer questions about the EEIS under design for proposed lunar Exploration Missions 1 and 2 (EM-1 and EM-2).

The Liberating Teaching Methods of the Brazilian Paulo Freire and Hypertext.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez-Martinez, Jose Luis

2003-01-01

Exemplifies, through the pedagogical theories put forth by Paulo Freire in his book "Pedagogia del oprimado" (teaching the oppressed) and along with the potentials of hypertext, the intimate relationship between socio-cultural forces and the technical responses emerging from the dialectic process between them. (AS)

Digital Literacy and Informal Learning Environments: An Introduction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyers, Eric M.; Erickson, Ingrid; Small, Ruth V.

2013-01-01

New technologies and developments in media are transforming the way that individuals, groups and societies communicate, learn, work and govern. This new socio-technical reality requires participants to possess not only skills and abilities related to the use of technological tools, but also knowledge regarding the norms and practices of…

The Infusion of Socio-Humanistic Concepts into Engineering Courses via Horizontal Integration of Subject Matter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huckaba, Charles E.; Griffin, Ann

1983-01-01

Describes development of an interdisciplinary engineering course called "Social Aspects of the Technical Decision Process." Course content includes such interdisciplinary topics as alternative energy, ecology, and urban planning, which represent traditional engineering concepts. However, social and historical dimensions are built into topics.…

Critical Success Factors in a High School Healthcare Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thessin, Rebecca A.; Scully-Russ, Ellen; Lieberman, Daina S.

2017-01-01

Research has demonstrated career and technical education (CTE) programs have a strong positive influence on secondary students' behavior, attendance, academic achievement, and college persistence. Critical success factors common to career academies, small schools, and CTE programs include socio-emotional support and community, along with a culture…

Issues in Engineering Self-Aware and Self-Expressive Ensembles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hölzl, Matthias; Wirsing, Martin

The following sections are included: * Introduction * Classifying Awareness and Self-Expression * Elements of the awareness mechanism * A white-box definition of awareness * Self-expression * A black-box definition of awareness * Awareness Engineering * Socio-Technical Issues * Privacy, ownership and control of data * Discrimination and responsibility * Failuremodes * Summary and Conclusions

Discretionary Death: Conditions, Dilemmas, and Normative Regulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machado, Nora

2005-01-01

The author examines a major shift in the conceptualization and practices relating to death and dying in Western and other societies with advanced medicine. This shift is the result of socio-technical and cultural developments characterized by but not limited to the routine widespread application of life support technologies in the hospital…

An empirically grounded agent based model for modeling directs, conflict detection and resolution operations in air traffic management.

PubMed

Bongiorno, Christian; Miccichè, Salvatore; Mantegna, Rosario N

2017-01-01

We present an agent based model of the Air Traffic Management socio-technical complex system aiming at modeling the interactions between aircraft and air traffic controllers at a tactical level. The core of the model is given by the conflict detection and resolution module and by the directs module. Directs are flight shortcuts that are given by air controllers to speed up the passage of an aircraft within a certain airspace and therefore to facilitate airline operations. Conflicts between flight trajectories can occur for two main reasons: either the planning of the flight trajectory was not sufficiently detailed to rule out all potential conflicts or unforeseen events during the flight require modifications of the flight plan that can conflict with other flight trajectories. Our model performs a local conflict detection and resolution procedure. Once a flight trajectory has been made conflict-free, the model searches for possible improvements of the system efficiency by issuing directs. We give an example of model calibration based on real data. We then provide an illustration of the capability of our model in generating scenario simulations able to give insights about the air traffic management system. We show that the calibrated model is able to reproduce the existence of a geographical localization of air traffic controllers' operations. Finally, we use the model to investigate the relationship between directs and conflict resolutions (i) in the presence of perfect forecast ability of controllers, and (ii) in the presence of some degree of uncertainty in flight trajectory forecast.

An empirically grounded agent based model for modeling directs, conflict detection and resolution operations in air traffic management

PubMed Central

Bongiorno, Christian; Mantegna, Rosario N.

2017-01-01

We present an agent based model of the Air Traffic Management socio-technical complex system aiming at modeling the interactions between aircraft and air traffic controllers at a tactical level. The core of the model is given by the conflict detection and resolution module and by the directs module. Directs are flight shortcuts that are given by air controllers to speed up the passage of an aircraft within a certain airspace and therefore to facilitate airline operations. Conflicts between flight trajectories can occur for two main reasons: either the planning of the flight trajectory was not sufficiently detailed to rule out all potential conflicts or unforeseen events during the flight require modifications of the flight plan that can conflict with other flight trajectories. Our model performs a local conflict detection and resolution procedure. Once a flight trajectory has been made conflict-free, the model searches for possible improvements of the system efficiency by issuing directs. We give an example of model calibration based on real data. We then provide an illustration of the capability of our model in generating scenario simulations able to give insights about the air traffic management system. We show that the calibrated model is able to reproduce the existence of a geographical localization of air traffic controllers’ operations. Finally, we use the model to investigate the relationship between directs and conflict resolutions (i) in the presence of perfect forecast ability of controllers, and (ii) in the presence of some degree of uncertainty in flight trajectory forecast. PMID:28419160

Optimization of controlled processes in combined-cycle plant (new developments and researches)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tverskoy, Yu S.; Muravev, I. K.

2017-11-01

All modern complex technical systems, including power units of TPP and nuclear power plants, work in the system-forming structure of multifunctional APCS. The development of the modern APCS mathematical support allows bringing the automation degree to the solution of complex optimization problems of equipment heat-mass-exchange processes in real time. The difficulty of efficient management of a binary power unit is related to the need to solve jointly at least three problems. The first problem is related to the physical issues of combined-cycle technologies. The second problem is determined by the criticality of the CCGT operation to changes in the regime and climatic factors. The third problem is related to a precise description of a vector of controlled coordinates of a complex technological object. To obtain a joint solution of this complex of interconnected problems, the methodology of generalized thermodynamic analysis, methods of the theory of automatic control and mathematical modeling are used. In the present report, results of new developments and studies are shown. These results allow improving the principles of process control and the automatic control systems structural synthesis of power units with combined-cycle plants that provide attainable technical and economic efficiency and operational reliability of equipment.

Investigating performance variability of processing, exploitation, and dissemination using a socio-technical systems analysis approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danczyk, Jennifer; Wollocko, Arthur; Farry, Michael; Voshell, Martin

2016-05-01

Data collection processes supporting Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions have recently undergone a technological transition accomplished by investment in sensor platforms. Various agencies have made these investments to increase the resolution, duration, and quality of data collection, to provide more relevant and recent data to warfighters. However, while sensor improvements have increased the volume of high-resolution data, they often fail to improve situational awareness and actionable intelligence for the warfighter because it lacks efficient Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination and filtering methods for mission-relevant information needs. The volume of collected ISR data often overwhelms manual and automated processes in modern analysis enterprises, resulting in underexploited data, insufficient, or lack of answers to information requests. The outcome is a significant breakdown in the analytical workflow. To cope with this data overload, many intelligence organizations have sought to re-organize their general staffing requirements and workflows to enhance team communication and coordination, with hopes of exploiting as much high-value data as possible and understanding the value of actionable intelligence well before its relevance has passed. Through this effort we have taken a scholarly approach to this problem by studying the evolution of Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination, with a specific focus on the Army's most recent evolutions using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method. This method investigates socio-technical processes by analyzing their intended functions and aspects to determine performance variabilities. Gaps are identified and recommendations about force structure and future R and D priorities to increase the throughput of the intelligence enterprise are discussed.

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices: a complex environment and multifaceted problem

PubMed Central

Williams, Patricia AH; Woodward, Andrew J

2015-01-01

The increased connectivity to existing computer networks has exposed medical devices to cybersecurity vulnerabilities from which they were previously shielded. For the prevention of cybersecurity incidents, it is important to recognize the complexity of the operational environment as well as to catalog the technical vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity protection is not just a technical issue; it is a richer and more intricate problem to solve. A review of the factors that contribute to such a potentially insecure environment, together with the identification of the vulnerabilities, is important for understanding why these vulnerabilities persist and what the solution space should look like. This multifaceted problem must be viewed from a systemic perspective if adequate protection is to be put in place and patient safety concerns addressed. This requires technical controls, governance, resilience measures, consolidated reporting, context expertise, regulation, and standards. It is evident that a coordinated, proactive approach to address this complex challenge is essential. In the interim, patient safety is under threat. PMID:26229513

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices: a complex environment and multifaceted problem.

PubMed

Williams, Patricia Ah; Woodward, Andrew J

2015-01-01

The increased connectivity to existing computer networks has exposed medical devices to cybersecurity vulnerabilities from which they were previously shielded. For the prevention of cybersecurity incidents, it is important to recognize the complexity of the operational environment as well as to catalog the technical vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity protection is not just a technical issue; it is a richer and more intricate problem to solve. A review of the factors that contribute to such a potentially insecure environment, together with the identification of the vulnerabilities, is important for understanding why these vulnerabilities persist and what the solution space should look like. This multifaceted problem must be viewed from a systemic perspective if adequate protection is to be put in place and patient safety concerns addressed. This requires technical controls, governance, resilience measures, consolidated reporting, context expertise, regulation, and standards. It is evident that a coordinated, proactive approach to address this complex challenge is essential. In the interim, patient safety is under threat.

A coupled modeling framework of the co-evolution of humans and water: case study of Tarim River Basin, western China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, D.; Tian, F.; Lin, M.; Sivapalan, M.

2014-04-01

The complex interactions and feedbacks between humans and water are very essential issues but are poorly understood in the newly proposed discipline of socio-hydrology (Sivapalan et al., 2012). An exploratory model with the appropriate level of simplification can be valuable to improve our understanding of the co-evolution and self-organization of socio-hydrological systems driven by interactions and feedbacks operating at different scales. In this study, a simple coupled modeling framework for socio-hydrology co-evolution is developed for the Tarim River Basin in Western China, and is used to illustrate the explanatory power of such a model. The study area is the mainstream of the Tarim River, which is divided into two modeling units. The socio-hydrological system is composed of four parts, i.e. social sub-system, economic sub-system, ecological sub-system, and hydrological sub-system. In each modeling unit, four coupled ordinary differential equations are used to simulate the dynamics of the social sub-system represented by human population, the economic sub-system represented by irrigated crop area, the ecological sub-system represented by natural vegetation cover and the hydrological sub-system represented by stream discharge. The coupling and feedback processes of the four dominant sub-systems (and correspondingly four state variables) are integrated into several internal system characteristics interactively and jointly determined by themselves and by other coupled systems. For example, the stream discharge is coupled to the irrigated crop area by the colonization rate and mortality rate of the irrigated crop area in the upper reach and the irrigated area is coupled to stream discharge through irrigation water consumption. In a similar way, the stream discharge and natural vegetation cover are coupled together. The irrigated crop area is coupled to human population by the colonization rate and mortality rate of the population. The inflow of the lower reach is determined by the outflow from the upper reach. The natural vegetation cover in the lower reach is coupled to the outflow from the upper reach and governed by regional water resources management policy. The co-evolution of the Tarim socio-hydrological system is then analyzed within this modeling framework to gain insights into the overall system dynamics and its sensitivity to the external drivers and internal system variables. In the modeling framework, the state of each subsystem is holistically described by one state variable and the framework is flexible enough to comprise more processes and constitutive relationships if they are needed to illustrate the interaction and feedback mechanisms of the human-water system.

Socio-ethical education in nanotechnology engineering programmes: a case study in Malaysia.

PubMed

Balakrishnan, Balamuralithara; Er, Pek Hoon; Visvanathan, Punita

2013-09-01

The unique properties of nanotechnology have made nanotechnology education and its related subjects increasingly important not only for students but for mankind at large. This particular technology brings educators to work together to prepare and produce competent engineers and scientists for this field. One of the key challenges in nanotechnology engineering is to produce graduate students who are not only competent in technical knowledge but possess the necessary attitude and awareness toward the social and ethical issues related to nanotechnology. In this paper, a research model has been developed to assess Malaysian nanotechnology engineering students' attitudes and whether their perspectives have attained the necessary objectives of ethical education throughout their programme of study. The findings from this investigation show that socio ethical education has a strong influence on the students' knowledge, skills and attitudes pertaining to socio ethical issues related to nanotechnology.

A Fresnel collector process heat experiment at Capitol Concrete Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hauger, J. S.

1981-01-01

An experiment is planned, conducted and evaluated to determine the feasibility of using a Power Kinetics' Fresnel concentrator to provide process heat in an industrial environment. The plant provides process steam at 50 to 60 psig to two autoclaves for curing masonry blocks. When steam is not required, the plant preheats hot water for later use. A second system is installed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory parabolic dish test site for hardware validation and experiment control. Experiment design allows for the extrapolation of results to varying demands for steam and hot water, and includes a consideration of some socio-technical factors such as the impact on production scheduling of diurnal variations in energy availability.

Applying Early Systems Engineering: Injecting Knowledge into the Capability Development Process

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

involves early use of systems engi- neering and technical analyses to supplement the existing operational analysis techniques currently used in...complexity, and costs of systems now being developed require tight coupling between operational requirements stated in the CDD, system requirements...Fleischer » Keywords: Capability Development, Competitive Prototyping, Knowledge Points, Early Systems Engineering Applying Early Systems

The characteristics of railway service disruption: implications for disruption management.

PubMed

Golightly, D; Dadashi, N

2017-03-01

Rail disruption management is central to operational continuity and customer satisfaction. Disruption is not a unitary phenomenon - it varies by time, cause, location and complexity of coordination. Effective, user-centred technology for rail disruption must reflect this variety. A repertory grid study was conducted to elicit disruption characteristics. Construct elicitation with a group of experts (n = 7) captured 26 characteristics relevant to rail disruption. A larger group of operational staff (n = 28) rated 10 types of rail incident against the 26 characteristics. The results revealed distinctions such as business impact and public perception, and the importance of management of the disruption over initial detection. There were clear differences between those events that stop the traffic, as opposed to those that only slow the traffic. The results also demonstrate the utility of repertory grid for capturing the characteristics of complex work domains. Practitioner Summary: The aim of the paper is to understand how variety in rail disruption influences socio-technical design. It uses repertory grid to identify and prioritise 26 constructs, and group 10 disruption types, identifying critical factors such as whether an incident stops or merely slows the service, and business reputation.

Obesity trend in the United States and economic intervention options to change it: A simulation study linking ecological epidemiology and system dynamics modeling.

PubMed

Chen, H-J; Xue, H; Liu, S; Huang, T T K; Wang, Y C; Wang, Y

2018-05-29

To study the country-level dynamics and influences between population weight status and socio-economic distribution (employment status and family income) in the US and to project the potential impacts of socio-economic-based intervention options on obesity prevalence. Ecological study and simulation. Using the longitudinal data from the 2001-2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (N = 88,453 adults), we built and calibrated a system dynamics model (SDM) capturing the feedback loops between body weight status and socio-economic status distribution and simulated the effects of employment- and income-based intervention options. The SDM-based simulation projected rising overweight/obesity prevalence in the US in the future. Improving people's income from lower to middle-income group would help control the rising prevalence, while only creating jobs for the unemployed did not show such effect. Improving people from low- to middle-income levels may be effective, instead of solely improving reemployment rate, in curbing the rising obesity trend in the US adult population. This study indicates the value of the SDM as a virtual laboratory to evaluate complex distributive phenomena of the interplay between population health and economy. Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Building Technological Capability within Satellite Programs in Developing Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Danielle Renee

Global participation in space activity is growing as satellite technology matures and spreads. Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are creating or reinvigorating national satellite programs. These countries are building local capability in space through technological learning. They sometimes pursue this via collaborative satellite development projects with foreign firms that provide training. This phenomenon of collaborative satellite development projects is poorly understood by researchers of technological learning and technology transfer. The approach has potential to facilitate learning, but there are also challenges due to misaligned incentives and the tacit nature of the technology. Perspectives from literature on Technological Learning, Technology Transfer, Complex Product Systems and Product Delivery provide useful but incomplete insight for decision makers in such projects. This work seeks a deeper understanding of capability building through collaborative technology projects by conceiving of the projects as complex, socio-technical systems with architectures. The architecture of a system is the assignment of form to execute a function along a series of dimensions. The research questions explore the architecture of collaborative satellite projects, the nature of capability building during such projects, and the relationship between architecture and capability building. The research design uses inductive, exploratory case studies to investigate six collaborative satellite development projects. Data collection harnesses international field work driven by interviews, observation, and documents. The data analysis develops structured narratives, architectural comparison and capability building assessment. The architectural comparison reveals substantial variation in project implementation, especially in the areas of project initiation, technical specifications of the satellite, training approaches and the supplier selection process. The individual capability building assessment shows that most trainee engineers gradually progressed from no experience with satellites through theoretical training to supervised experience; a minority achieved independent experience. At the organizational level, the emerging space organizations achieved high levels of autonomy in project definition and satellite operation, but they were dependent on foreign firms for satellite design, manufacture, test and launch. The case studies can be summarized by three archetypal projects defined as "Politically Pushed," "Structured," and "Risk Taking." Countries in the case studies tended to start in a Politically Pushed mode, and then moved into either Structured or Risk Taking mode. Decision makers in emerging satellite programs can use the results of this dissertation to consider the broad set of architectural options for capability building. Future work will continue to probe how specific architectural decisions impact capability building outcomes in satellite projects and other technologies. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, libraries.mit.edu/docs - docs@mit.edu)

A socio-ecological analysis of Ethiopian immigrants' interactions with the Israeli healthcare system and its policy and service implications.

PubMed

Shtarkshall, Ronny A; Baynesan, Fassil; Feldman, Becca S

2009-10-01

Despite receiving full medical care and many social services, many Ethiopian immigrants in Israel feel frustrated, and even alienated, by the care they receive. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the obstacles Ethiopian immigrants face regarding effective health seeking behavior and optimal interactions with healthcare providers in Israel. We gained a three-cornered perspective by conducting semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers, immigrants, and interpreters who mediate between the two. An ecological system or socio-ecological model guided the data analysis. It allowed organizing the varied and complex relationship between the factors that influence healthcare delivery and receipt among this population. The advanced analysis of our results delineated four themes which we grouped into two domains: the cultural divide and the interpreters. Within each of these themes, we explored influences on health or healthcare at each level of the socio-ecological model. We demonstrated that the problems surrounding health seeking behaviors and receiving treatment stem mainly from a cultural divide. This cultural incongruity and its effects are apparent at multiple levels of the ecological model and must be recognized and addressed programmatically at these levels. Necessary program and service modifications include that cultural mediation become an integral part of health personnel's training for healthcare delivery and a necessary criterion for good practices. We recommend that professionals from within the health system be trained to act as interpreters. Lastly, the integration of traditional healers into the allopathic health system should be considered. These modifications require a system-wide change in policy, structure of services, and practices.

Socio-Demographic Determinants of Economic Growth: Age-Structure, Preindustrial Heritage and Sociolinguistic Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crenshaw, Edward; Robison, Kristopher

2010-01-01

This study establishes a socio-demographic theory of international development derived from selected classical and contemporary sociological theories. Four hypotheses are tested: (1. population growth's effect on development depends on age-structure; (2. historic population density (used here as an indicator of preindustrial social complexity)…

Assessment of national biomass in complex forests and technical capacity scenarios

Treesearch

Matieu Henry; Javier G. P. Gamarra; Gael Sola; Luca Birigazzi; Emily Donegan; Julian Murillo; Tommaso Chiti; Nicolas Picard; Miguel Cifuentes-Jara; S Sandeep; Laurent Saint-André

2015-01-01

Understanding forest ecosystems is paramount for their sustainable management and for the livelihoods and ecosystem services which depend on them. However, the complexity and diversity of these systems poses a challenge to interpreting data patterns. The availability and accessibility of data and tools often determine the method selected for forest assessment. Capacity...

AN AUDITING FRAMEWORK TO SUBSTANTIATE ELECTRONIC RECORDKEEPING PRACTICES

EPA Science Inventory

Quality assurance audits of computer systems help to ensure that the end data meet the needs of the user. Increasingly complex systems require the stepwise procedures outlined below.

The areas reviewed in this paper include both technical and evidentiary criteria. I...

Social and ethical dimension of the natural sciences, complex problems of the age, interdisciplinarity, and the contribution of education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Develaki, Maria

2008-09-01

In view of the complex problems of this age, the question of the socio-ethical dimension of science acquires particular importance. We approach this matter from a philosophical and sociological standpoint, looking at such focal concerns as the motivation, purposes and methods of scientific activity, the ambivalence of scientific research and the concomitant risks, and the conflict between research freedom and external socio-political intervention. We then point out the impediments to the effectiveness of cross-disciplinary or broader meetings for addressing these complex problems and managing the associated risks, given the difficulty in communication between experts in different fields and non-experts, difficulties that education is challenged to help resolve. We find that the social necessity of informed decision-making on the basis of cross-disciplinary collaboration is reflected in the newer curricula, such as that of Greece, in aims like the acquisition of cross-subject knowledge and skills, and the ability to make decisions on controversial issues involving value conflicts. The interest and the reflections of the science education community in these matters increase its—traditionally limited—contribution to the theoretical debate on education and, by extension, the value of science education in the education system.

Political epidemiology: strengthening socio-political analysis for mass immunisation - lessons from the smallpox and polio programmes.

PubMed

Taylor, S

2009-01-01

Control and reduction of infectious diseases is a key to attaining the Millennium Development Goals. An important element of this work is the successful immunisation, especially in resource-poor countries. Mass immunisation, most intensively in the case of eradication, depends on a combination of reliable demand (e.g. public willingness to comply with the vaccine protocol) and effective supply (e.g. robust, generally state-led, vaccine delivery). This balance of compliance and enforceability is, quintessentially, socio-political in nature - conditioned by popular perceptions of disease and risk, wider conditions of economic development and poverty, technical aspects of vaccine delivery, and the prevailing international norms regarding power relations between states and peoples. In the past 100 years, three out of six disease eradication programmes have failed. The explanations for failure have focused on biotechnical and managerial or financial issues. Less attention is paid to socio-political aspects. Yet socio-political explanations are key. Eradication is neither inherently prone to failure, nor necessarily doomed in the case of polio. However, eradication, and similar mass immunisation initiatives, which fail to address social and political realities of intervention may be. A comparison of the smallpox and polio eradication programmes illustrates the importance of disease-specific socio-political analysis in programme conceptualisation, design, and management.

Folgen des Globalen Wandels für das Grundwasser in Süddeutschland - Teil 2: Sozioökonomische Aspekte

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barthel, Roland; Krimly, Tatjana; Elbers, Michael; Soboll, Anja; Wackerbauer, Johann; Hennicker, Rolf; Janisch, Stephan; Reichenau, Tim G.; Dabbert, Stephan; Schmude, Jürgen; Ernst, Andreas; Mauser, Wolfram

2011-12-01

In order to account for complex interactions between humans climate and the water cycle, the research consortium GLOWA-Danube (www.glowa-danube.de) has developed the simulation system DANUBIA which consists of 17 coupled models. DANUBIA was applied to investigate various impacts of global-change between 2011 and 2060 in the Upper Danube Catchment. This article describes part 2 of an article series with investigations of socio-economic aspects, while part 1 (Barthel et al. in Grundwasser 16(4), doi:10.1007/s007-011-01794, 2011) deals with natural-spatial aspects. The principles of socio-economic actor-modeling and interactions between socio-economic and natural science model components are described here. We present selected simulations that show impacts on groundwater from changes in agriculture, tourism, economy, domestic water users and water supply. Despite decreases in water consumption, the scenario simulations show significant decreases in groundwater quantity. On the other hand, groundwater quality will likely be influenced more severely by land use changes compared to direct climatic causes. However, overall changes will not be dramatic.

Exacerbated vulnerability of coupled socio-economic risk in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xin; Feng, Ling; Berman, Yonatan; Hu, Ning; Stanley, H. Eugene

2016-10-01

The study of risk contagion in economic networks has most often focused on the financial liquidities of institutions and assets. In practice the agents in a network affect each other through social contagion, i.e., through herd behavior and the tendency to follow leaders. We study the coupled risk between social and economic contagion and find it significantly more severe than when economic risk is considered alone. Using the empirical network from the China venture capital market we find that the system exhibits an extreme risk of abrupt phase transition and large-scale damage, which is in clear contrast to the smooth phase transition traditionally observed in economic contagion alone. We also find that network structure impacts market resilience and that the randomization of the social network of the market participants can reduce system fragility when there is herd behavior. Our work indicates that under coupled contagion mechanisms network resilience can exhibit a fundamentally different behavior, i.e., an abrupt transition. It also reveals the extreme risk when a system has coupled socio-economic risks, and this could be of interest to both policy makers and market practitioners.

Participatory design of a collaborative clinical trial protocol writing system.

PubMed

Weng, Chunhua; McDonald, David W; Sparks, Dana; McCoy, Jason; Gennari, John H

2007-06-01

To explore concrete approaches to socio-technical design of collaborative healthcare information systems and to design a groupware technology for collaborative clinical trial protocol writing. We conducted "quick and dirty ethnography" through semi-structured interviews, observational studies, and work artifacts analysis to understand the group work for protocol development. We used participatory design through evolutionary prototyping to explore the feature space of a collaborative writing system. Our design strategies include role-based user advocacy, formative evaluation, and change management. Quick and dirty ethnography helped us efficiently understand relevant work practice, and participatory design helped us engage users into design and bring out their tacit work knowledge. Our approach that intertwined both techniques helped achieve a "work-informed and user-oriented" design. This research leads to a collaborative writing system that supports in situ communication, group awareness, and effective work progress tracking. The usability evaluation results have been satisfactory. The system design is being transferred to an organizational tool for daily use.

Effects of a case-based interactive e-learning course on knowledge and attitudes about patient safety: a quasi-experimental study with third-year medical students.

PubMed

Gaupp, Rainer; Körner, Mirjam; Fabry, Götz

2016-07-11

Patient safety (PS) is influenced by a set of factors on various levels of the healthcare system. Therefore, a systems-level approach and systems thinking is required to understand and improve PS. The use of e-learning may help to develop a systems thinking approach in medical students, as case studies featuring audiovisual media can be used to visualize systemic relationships in organizations. The goal of this quasi-experimental study was to determine if an e-learning can be utilized to improve systems thinking, knowledge, and attitudes towards PS. A quasi-experimental, longitudinal within- subjects design was employed. Participants were 321 third-year medical students who received online surveys before and after they participated in an e-learning course on PS. Primary outcome measures where levels of systems thinking and attitudes towards PS. Secondary outcome measures were the improvement of PS specific knowledge through the e-learning course. Levels of systems thinking showed significant improvement (58.72 vs. 61.27; p < .001) after the e-learning. Student's attitudes towards patient safety improved in several dimensions: After the course, students rated the influence of fatigue on safety higher (6.23 vs. 6.42, p < .01), considered patient empowerment more important (5.16 vs. 5.93, p < .001) and realized more often that human error is inevitable (5.75 vs. 5.97, p < .05). Knowledge on PS improved from 36.27 % correct answers before to 76.45 % after the e-learning (p < .001). Our results suggest that e-learning can be used to teach PS. Attitudes towards PS improved on several dimensions. Furthermore, we were able to demonstrate that a specifically designed e-learning program can foster the development of conceptual frameworks such as systems thinking, which facilitates the understanding of complex socio-technical systems within healthcare organisations.

A Socio-technical Approach for Transient SME Alliances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezgui, Yacine

The paper discusses technical requirements to promote the adoption of alliance modes of operation by SMEs in the construction sector. These requirements have provided a basis for specifying a set of functionality to support the collaboration and cooperation needs of SMEs. While service-oriented architectures and semantic web services provide the middleware technology to implement the identified functionality, a number of key technical limitations have been identified, including lack of support for the dynamic and non-functional characteristics of SME alliances distributed business processes, lack of execution monitoring functionality to manage running business processes, and lack of support for semantic reasoning to enable SME business process service composition. The paper examines these issues and provides key directions for supporting SME alliances effectively.

Bridging the engineering gap: integrated systems thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weintré, J. R.; Delfi, M.

2017-09-01

On visits to rural Indonesia it is apparent that the advances made possible by technical engineered solutions, are rarely at the same pace as the human captivation of technical development. This uneven pace has limited the application of labour-saving equipment and efficiency. It is suggested to be of primary importance to advance technical application skills among communities as part of the continuous advancement cycle in our human environment. A creative approach to inclusive technology and internal transfer of equipment knowledge in society, reduces barriers and could diminish structural or societal undesired situations. Earlier theoretical concepts provide us a lens for describing the practices of habitus, conceptualization of social capital and integrated systems thinking. The interrelationship and complexities in technical and social systems requires to be investigated. This paper aims to describe those, combined with technological applications in an empirical ethnographic approach. The study analyses the negotiations of community members with the available technology. It intends to foster a better understanding of the various cultural-economic values by exploring the systems thinking theory, with a focus on rice cultivation in Indonesia, Japan and Australia. This research suggests that cultural, economic and technical advances vary considerably and human expectations are strongly influenced by local culture.

The system of technical diagnostics of the industrial safety information network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Repp, P. V.

2017-01-01

This research is devoted to problems of safety of the industrial information network. Basic sub-networks, ensuring reliable operation of the elements of the industrial Automatic Process Control System, were identified. The core tasks of technical diagnostics of industrial information safety were presented. The structure of the technical diagnostics system of the information safety was proposed. It includes two parts: a generator of cyber-attacks and the virtual model of the enterprise information network. The virtual model was obtained by scanning a real enterprise network. A new classification of cyber-attacks was proposed. This classification enables one to design an efficient generator of cyber-attacks sets for testing the virtual modes of the industrial information network. The numerical method of the Monte Carlo (with LPτ - sequences of Sobol), and Markov chain was considered as the design method for the cyber-attacks generation algorithm. The proposed system also includes a diagnostic analyzer, performing expert functions. As an integrative quantitative indicator of the network reliability the stability factor (Kstab) was selected. This factor is determined by the weight of sets of cyber-attacks, identifying the vulnerability of the network. The weight depends on the frequency and complexity of cyber-attacks, the degree of damage, complexity of remediation. The proposed Kstab is an effective integral quantitative measure of the information network reliability.

Evaluating Learning and Teaching: Institutional Needs and Individual Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bamber, Veronica; Anderson, Sally

2012-01-01

Rather than a rational, technical activity, evaluation reflects the socio-political dynamics of the evaluative context. This presents a challenge for universities and the individuals within them, who may assume that plans or policies for evaluation will result in straightforward outcomes. This small-scale study in one institution looks at the…

Schools in the Making: Mapping Digital Spaces of Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Decuypere, Mathias; Ceulemans, Carlijne; Simons, Maarten

2014-01-01

In this article, the focus is on educational governing in the making. Drawing on conceptual underpinnings of socio-technical approaches, this implies an interest both on the way in which a sound knowledge base for policy measures is created, as on the distribution of that knowledge through publically available instruments. Governing by evidence…

An Empirical Investigation of Smart Board Innovations in Teaching in UAE University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Qirim, Nabeel

2016-01-01

This research investigates Teaching Faculty's (TF) adoption and usage of the Interactive or Smart White Board Technology (SB) in UAE University (UAEU). The developed theoretical framework is based on the technological innovation theories and is made of different socio-technical factors. Using survey research targeting UAEU's TF, the research…

A Historical Reflection on Research Evaluation Studies, Their Recurrent Themes and Challenges. Technical Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marjanovic, Sonja; Hanney, Stephen; Wooding, Steven

2009-01-01

This report critically examines studies of how scientific research drives innovation which is then translated into socio-economic benefits. It focuses on research evaluation insights that are relevant not only to the academic community, but also to policymakers and evaluation practitioners--and particularly to biomedical and health research…

Affectibility in Educational Technologies: A Socio-Technical Perspective for Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayashi, Elaine C. S.; Baranauskas, M. Cecilia C.

2013-01-01

Digital artifacts have the potential for augmenting the interest of students and the quality of learning environments. However, it is still common to find technology being inserted in learning settings without a closer connection to the learners' contemporary world. In this paper we report on results of a qualitative research conducted to address…

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Remtulla, Karim A.

2010-01-01

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and…

Transforming Support for Students with Disabilities in UK Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Mark; Turnbull, Yvonne; Bleasdale, Jo; Francis, Hulya; Forsyth, Henry

2016-01-01

Intended UK government changes to the Disabled Students' Allowance will have a significant impact on the support that UK universities provide for students with disabilities. In this article we examine the types of transformation that may be needed to support for university students with disabilities, from a socio-technical perspective. The…

Utilising Six Sigma for Improving Pass Percentage of Students: A Technical Institute Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaushik, Prabhakar; Khanduja, Dinesh

2010-01-01

Service sector accounts for a substantial share in Indian economy and among the service industries, education sector is emerging as a major commercial activity in the nation. Globalization, growing competition among institutions, emergence of new technologies, changing socio-economic profiles of nations and knowledge driven economies have created…

[Socio-hydrology: A review].

PubMed

Ding, Jing-yi; Zhao, Wen-wu; Fang, Xue-ning

2015-04-01

Socio-hydrology is an interdiscipline of hydrology, nature, society and humanity. It mainly explores the two-way feedbacks of coupled human-water system and its dynamic mechanism of co-evolution, and makes efforts to solve the issues that human faces today such as sustainable utilization of water resources. Starting from the background, formation process, and fundamental concept of socio-hydrology, this paper summarized the features of socio-hydrology. The main research content of socio-hydrology was reduced to three aspects: The tradeoff in coupled human-water system, interests in water resources management and virtual water research in coupled human-water system. And its differences as well as relations with traditional hydrology, eco-hydrology and hydro-sociology were dwelled on. Finally, with hope to promote the development of socio-hydrology researches in China, the paper made prospects for the development of the subject from following aspects: Completing academic content and deepening quantitative research, focusing on scale studies of socio-hydrology, fusing socio-hydrology and eco-hydrology.

Multi-objective, multiple participant decision support for water management in the Andarax catchment, Almeria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Cauwenbergh, N.; Pinte, D.; Tilmant, A.; Frances, I.; Pulido-Bosch, A.; Vanclooster, M.

2008-04-01

Water management in the Andarax river basin (Almeria, Spain) is a multi-objective, multi-participant, long-term decision-making problem that faces several challenges. Adequate water allocation needs informed decisions to meet increasing socio-economic demands while respecting the environmental integrity of this basin. Key players in the Andarax water sector include the municipality of Almeria, the irrigators involved in the intensive greenhouse agricultural sector, and booming second residences. A decision support system (DSS) is developed to rank different sustainable planning and management alternatives according to their socio-economic and environmental performance. The DSS is intimately linked to sustainability indicators and is designed through a public participation process. Indicators are linked to criteria reflecting stakeholders concerns in the 2005 field survey, such as fulfilling water demand, water price, technical and economical efficiency, social and environmental impacts. Indicators can be partly quantified after simulating the operation of the groundwater reservoir over a 20-year planning period and partly through a parallel expert evaluation process. To predict the impact of future water demand in the catchment, several development scenarios are designed to be evaluated in the DSS. The successive multi-criteria analysis of the performance indicators permits the ranking of the different management alternatives according to the multiple objectives formulated by the different sectors/participants. This allows more informed and transparent decision-making processes for the Andarax river basin, recognizing both the socio-economic and environmental dimensions of water resources management.

Time Factor in the Theory of Anthropogenic Risk Prediction in Complex Dynamic Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostreikovsky, V. A.; Shevchenko, Ye N.; Yurkov, N. K.; Kochegarov, I. I.; Grishko, A. K.

2018-01-01

The article overviews the anthropogenic risk models that take into consideration the development of different factors in time that influence the complex system. Three classes of mathematical models have been analyzed for the use in assessing the anthropogenic risk of complex dynamic systems. These models take into consideration time factor in determining the prospect of safety change of critical systems. The originality of the study is in the analysis of five time postulates in the theory of anthropogenic risk and the safety of highly important objects. It has to be stressed that the given postulates are still rarely used in practical assessment of equipment service life of critically important systems. That is why, the results of study presented in the article can be used in safety engineering and analysis of critically important complex technical systems.

Communications for intelligent transportation systems, successful practices : a cross-cutting study : reaching cost-effective solutions through better decision-making techniques

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-11-01

In many intelligent transportation systems (ITS) implementations, the telecommunications solution was arrived at without the kind of rigorous examination that would have accompanied similarly significant and complex technical/business choices. The pu...

Interoperable Acquisition for Systems of Systems: The Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

Interoperable Acquisition for Systems of Systems: The Challenges James D. Smith II D. Mike Phillips September 2006 TECHNICAL NOTE...Failure of Program-Centric Risk Management 10 3.3.2 Absence of System-of-Systems Engineering 12 3.3.3 Disconnect Between System-of-Systems...SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE | vii viii | CMU/SEI-2006-TN-034 Abstract Large, complex systems development has always been challenging , even when the

The Nigerian State and Global Economic Crises: Socio-Political Implications and Policy Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olaopa, O. R.; Ogundari, I. O.; Akindele, S. T.; Hassan, O. M.

2012-01-01

This article discusses how economic reforms, as a reaction to the effects of the global financial crises, have intensified popular unrests and redefined the composition, interests, and socio-economic and political attitudes of Nigeria's increasingly complex social strata. We relied basically on secondary data to analyze some of the fundamental…

"Accepting Emotional Complexity": A Socio-Constructivist Perspective on the Role of Emotions in the Mathematics Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eynde, Peter Op't; De Corte, Erik; Verschaffel, Lieven

2006-01-01

A socio-constructivist account of learning and emotions stresses the situatedness of every learning activity and points to the close interactions between cognitive, conative and affective factors in students' learning and problem solving. Emotions are perceived as being constituted by the dynamic interplay of cognitive, physiological, and…

Systems Engineering Technical Authority: A Path to Mission Success

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Andary, James F.; So, Maria M.; Breindel, Barry

2008-01-01

The systems engineering of space missions to study planet Earth has been an important focus of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) since its inception. But all space missions are becoming increasingly complex and this fact, reinforced by some major mishaps, has caused NASA to reevaluate their approach to achieving safety and mission success. A new approach ensures that there are adequate checks and balances in place to maximize the probability of safety and mission success. To this end the agency created the concept of Technical Authority which identifies a key individual accountable and responsible for the technical integrity of a flight mission as well as a project-independent reporting path. At the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) this responsibility ultimately begins with the Mission Systems Engineer (MSE) for each satellite mission. This paper discusses the Technical Authority process and then describes some unique steps that are being taken at the GSFC to support these MSEs in meeting their responsibilities.

Migrating Legacy Systems in the Global Merger & Acquisition Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katerattanakul, Pairin; Kam, Hwee-Joo; Lee, James J.; Hong, Soongoo

2009-01-01

The MetaFrame system migration project at WorldPharma, while driven by merger and acquisition, had faced complexities caused by both technical challenges and organizational issues in the climate of uncertainties. However, WorldPharma still insisted on instigating this post-merger system migration project. This project served to (1) consolidate the…

Care networking: a study of technical mediations in a home telecare service.

PubMed

Correa, Gonzalo; Domènech, Miquel

2013-07-22

This article examines the processes of technical mediation within familial care networks based on a study of home telecare targeted at older people. Supported by contributions from the actor-network theory as part of the social psychology of science and technology, these processes of technical mediation are analyzed using a qualitative approach. The data were gathered through six focus groups and four in-depth interviews; the participants in the study included users, relatives and formal carers. Thematic analysis techniques encompassing the information were used, revealing the effects on the patterns of caring relationships. The results show the interplay between presence-absence made possible by the devices; the two-way direction of care between the older people and the artifacts; and the process of sustaining care using the technology. We conclude that care should be seen as a socio-technical network where technology plays an active role in sustaining family relationships.

Care Networking: A Study of Technical Mediations in a Home Telecare Service

PubMed Central

Correa, Gonzalo; Domènech, Miquel

2013-01-01

This article examines the processes of technical mediation within familial care networks based on a study of home telecare targeted at older people. Supported by contributions from the actor—network theory as part of the social psychology of science and technology, these processes of technical mediation are analyzed using a qualitative approach. The data were gathered through six focus groups and four in-depth interviews; the participants in the study included users, relatives and formal carers. Thematic analysis techniques encompassing the information were used, revealing the effects on the patterns of caring relationships. The results show the interplay between presence-absence made possible by the devices; the two-way direction of care between the older people and the artifacts; and the process of sustaining care using the technology. We conclude that care should be seen as a socio-technical network where technology plays an active role in sustaining family relationships. PMID:23880730

DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND MAINTENANCE OF COVER SYSTEMS FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE: AN ENGINEERING GUIDANCE DOCUMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Engineering for cover over solid hazardous waste addresses complex interactions among many technical, environmental, and economical factors. The document emphasizes the special characteristics of solid waste management as they bear on the cover system while at the same time stres...

Library of the Future: Croydon's New Central Library Complex.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batt, Chris

1993-01-01

A new library and cultural center in Croyden (England) is described. Function-based areas include library, administration, technical services, museum and galleries, museum offices and store, cinema, tourist information center, and local government offices. Information technology systems include the library management system, office automation, and…

WE-G-BRA-06: Application of Systems and Control Theory-Based Hazard Analysis to Radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pawlicki, T; Samost, A; Leveson, N

Purpose: The process of delivering radiation occurs in a complex socio-technical system heavily reliant on human operators. Furthermore, both humans and software are notoriously challenging to account for in traditional hazard analysis models. High reliability industries such as aviation have approached this problem through using hazard analysis techniques grounded in systems and control theory. The purpose of this work is to apply the Systems Theoretic Accident Model Processes (STAMP) hazard model to radiotherapy. In particular, the System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) approach is used to perform a hazard analysis of a proposed on-line adaptive cranial radiosurgery procedure that omits the CTmore » Simulation step and uses only CBCT for planning, localization, and treatment. Methods: The STPA procedure first requires the definition of high-level accidents and hazards leading to those accidents. From there, hierarchical control structures were created followed by the identification and description of control actions for each control structure. Utilizing these control structures, unsafe states of each control action were created. Scenarios contributing to unsafe control action states were then identified and translated into system requirements to constrain process behavior within safe boundaries. Results: Ten control structures were created for this new CBCT-only process which covered the areas of hospital and department management, treatment design and delivery, and vendor service. Twenty three control actions were identified that contributed to over 80 unsafe states of those control actions resulting in over 220 failure scenarios. Conclusion: The interaction of people, hardware, and software are highlighted through the STPA approach. STPA provides a hierarchical model for understanding the role of management decisions in impacting system safety so that a process design requirement can be traced back to the hazard and accident that it is intended to mitigate. Varian Medical Systems, Inc.« less

Complex Mobile Independent Power Station for Urban Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tunik, A. A.; Tolstoy, M. Y.

2017-11-01

A new type of a complex mobile independent power station developed in the Department of Engineering Communications and Life-Support Systems of Irkutsk National Research Technical University, is presented in this article. This station contains only solar panel, wind turbine, accumulator, diesel generator and microbial fuel cell for to produce electric energy, heat pump and solar collector to generate heat energy and also wastewater treatment plant and new complex control system. The complex mobile independent power station is intended for full power supply of a different kind of consumers located even in remote areas thus reducing their dependence from centralized energy supply systems, decrease the fossil fuel consumption, improve the environment of urban areas and solve the problems of the purification of industrial and municipal wastewater.

Actor-network theory: a tool to support ethical analysis of commercial genetic testing.

PubMed

Williams-Jones, Bryn; Graham, Janice E

2003-12-01

Social, ethical and policy analysis of the issues arising from gene patenting and commercial genetic testing is enhanced by the application of science and technology studies, and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) in particular. We suggest the potential for transferring ANT's flexible nature to an applied heuristic methodology for gathering empirical information and for analysing the complex networks involved in the development of genetic technologies. Three concepts are explored in this paper--actor-networks, translation, and drift--and applied to the case of Myriad Genetics and their commercial BRACAnalysis genetic susceptibility test for hereditary breast cancer. Treating this test as an active participant in socio-technical networks clarifies the extent to which it interacts with, shapes and is shaped by people, other technologies, and institutions. Such an understanding enables more sophisticated and nuanced technology assessment, academic analysis, as well as public debate about the social, ethical and policy implications of the commercialization of new genetic technologies.

Disaster risk reduction and 'built-in' resilience: towards overarching principles for construction practice.

PubMed

Bosher, Lee; Dainty, Andrew

2011-01-01

The emerging emphasis on disaster risk reduction has broadened the range of experts whose knowledge must be garnered to resolve complex socio-technical challenges. This paper examines the role and position of the construction sector for addressing these concerns. Specifically, it examines the recursive nature of practices within the built environment, which can be seen as deeply ingraining fragmented approaches to the development process. These, in turn, render the industry a difficult arena within which to enact structural and cultural change. Based on a wide body of literature on resiliency a set of overarching principles are proffered to help inform efforts to overcome some of the barriers to creating a more resilient built environment. It is argued that these principles offer a point of departure for embedding resilience considerations at both project and institutional levels, although real change would demand challenging some of the conventions that currently underpin construction development. © 2011 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2011.

Adaptive capacity and community-based natural resource management.

PubMed

Armitage, Derek

2005-06-01

Why do some community-based natural resource management strategies perform better than others? Commons theorists have approached this question by developing institutional design principles to address collective choice situations, while other analysts have critiqued the underlying assumptions of community-based resource management. However, efforts to enhance community-based natural resource management performance also require an analysis of exogenous and endogenous variables that influence how social actors not only act collectively but do so in ways that respond to changing circumstances, foster learning, and build capacity for management adaptation. Drawing on examples from northern Canada and Southeast Asia, this article examines the relationship among adaptive capacity, community-based resource management performance, and the socio-institutional determinants of collective action, such as technical, financial, and legal constraints, and complex issues of politics, scale, knowledge, community and culture. An emphasis on adaptive capacity responds to a conceptual weakness in community-based natural resource management and highlights an emerging research and policy discourse that builds upon static design principles and the contested concepts in current management practice.

Technical and economic aspects of the Intelsat system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jefferis, A. K.

1992-03-01

The paper gives some background on the Intelsat system and explains the financial principles of the organization, which operates as a cost sharing cooperative. The members contribute both capital and operating costs in accordance with their use. The determination of the measure of 'use' in such a complex system requires a careful analysis of the factors which cause the cost. Most of these are technical, based on the use of satellite power, bandwidth and similar factors. Others reflect service related features such as priority, long-term commitment and market elasticity. This last element is only taken into account after ensuring that every service fully contributes the marginal cost of providing it.

Sustainability development platform for nuclear–renewable energy integration: Environmental impacts, economics, and socio-political implications

DOE PAGES

Bolden, Lauren; Sabharwall, Piyush; Bragg-Sitton, Shannon; ...

2015-01-01

Global energy needs are primarily being met with fossil fuel plants in both developed and developing nations. Although it is unlikely to entirely replace fossil fuel systems, the incorporation of alternative energy systems that produce fewer emissions and utilize fewer resources may prove useful in furthering sustainable energy practices. Nuclear and Renewable Energy Integration (NREI) represents one potential, alternative system and is comprised of both nuclear and renewable technologies coupled with energy storage and industrial process heat applications. This article reviews the fundamentals of sustainability and its drivers, defines the necessary scope for analyzing energy systems, details widely used sustainabilitymore » metrics, and assesses sustainability through the sustainability efficiency factor (SEF) based on the core pillars of economy, environment, and society—all of which aim to promote future sustainable development. The assessment is performed for an NREI system comprised of a small modular reactor (SMR), where a portion of the heat generated is utilized for hydrogen production through high-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE). The global warming potential for NREI is compared to the typical emissions observed for hydrogen production via steam methane reforming and are estimated to yield 92.6% fewer grams of CO 2-equivalent per kilogram of hydrogen produced. Furthermore, the calculated SEF for NREI is 22.2% higher than steam methane reforming. Because SMR designs are at varying design, developmental, and deployment stages, a method of estimating economics is presented to demonstrate the differences observed between first-of-a-kind (FOAK) and nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) units, as well as the resulting total capital investment cost. Lastly, a comprehensive list of considerations necessary for future energy system development was enumerated based on four core assessment areas: technical feasibility, environmental impact, economic feasibility and impact, and socio-political impacts.« less

Sustainability development platform for nuclear–renewable energy integration: Environmental impacts, economics, and socio-political implications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bolden, Lauren; Sabharwall, Piyush; Bragg-Sitton, Shannon

Global energy needs are primarily being met with fossil fuel plants in both developed and developing nations. Although it is unlikely to entirely replace fossil fuel systems, the incorporation of alternative energy systems that produce fewer emissions and utilize fewer resources may prove useful in furthering sustainable energy practices. Nuclear and Renewable Energy Integration (NREI) represents one potential, alternative system and is comprised of both nuclear and renewable technologies coupled with energy storage and industrial process heat applications. This article reviews the fundamentals of sustainability and its drivers, defines the necessary scope for analyzing energy systems, details widely used sustainabilitymore » metrics, and assesses sustainability through the sustainability efficiency factor (SEF) based on the core pillars of economy, environment, and society—all of which aim to promote future sustainable development. The assessment is performed for an NREI system comprised of a small modular reactor (SMR), where a portion of the heat generated is utilized for hydrogen production through high-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE). The global warming potential for NREI is compared to the typical emissions observed for hydrogen production via steam methane reforming and are estimated to yield 92.6% fewer grams of CO 2-equivalent per kilogram of hydrogen produced. Furthermore, the calculated SEF for NREI is 22.2% higher than steam methane reforming. Because SMR designs are at varying design, developmental, and deployment stages, a method of estimating economics is presented to demonstrate the differences observed between first-of-a-kind (FOAK) and nth-of-a-kind (NOAK) units, as well as the resulting total capital investment cost. Lastly, a comprehensive list of considerations necessary for future energy system development was enumerated based on four core assessment areas: technical feasibility, environmental impact, economic feasibility and impact, and socio-political impacts.« less

Listening and learning from women about mifepristone: implications for counseling and health education.

PubMed

Castle, M A; Harvey, S M; Beckman, L; Coeytaux, F; Garrity, J M

1995-01-01

The careful, reflective, and honest way in which the women in the study analyzed, questioned, and explored the benefits and disadvantages of a mifepristone abortion compared with vacuum aspiration yielded an extensive list of information needed by women to make informed choices as well as an understanding of the diverse social contexts in which choices are made. Needed information identified by this study included technical information about the drugs themselves and their mechanisms of action, roles and responsibilities of health personnel, and descriptions of other women's experiences with mifepristone. A multiplicity of factors entered the decision-making process, demonstrating at the same time a complexity and flexibility of thought. In their hypothetical evaluation of mifepristone, women weighed such factors as experience with childbirth, spontaneous abortion and vacuum aspiration, specific issues for teenagers, lack of a support system, experience with herbal emenagogues and nonprescription drugs intended as abortifacients, and the relative dependence on health care providers. Social, personal, and cultural factors entered into women's interpretation of the different options. These socio-cultural contexts can profoundly influence decisions and potentially affect clinical outcomes. If health care professionals are not proactive, do not fully provide answers to questions (even if unasked), and fail to probe for specific life circumstances, then poor choices and poor outcomes may follow with long term negative consequences for clients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Clinical Computer Systems Survey (CLICS): learning about health information technology (HIT) in its context of use.

PubMed

Lichtner, Valentina; Cornford, Tony; Klecun, Ela

2013-01-01

Successful health information technology (HIT) implementations need to be informed on the context of use and on users' attitudes. To this end, we developed the CLinical Computer Systems Survey (CLICS) instrument. CLICS reflects a socio-technical view of HIT adoption, and is designed to encompass all members of the clinical team. We used the survey in a large English hospital as part of its internal evaluation of the implementation of an electronic patient record system (EPR). The survey revealed extent and type of use of the EPR; how it related to and integrated with other existing systems; and people's views on its use, usability and emergent safety issues. Significantly, participants really appreciated 'being asked'. They also reminded us of the wider range of administrative roles engaged with EPR. This observation reveals pertinent questions as to our understanding of the boundaries between administrative tasks and clinical medicine - what we propose as the field of 'administrative medicine'.

Socio-ecological dynamics and challenges to the governance of Neglected Tropical Disease control.

PubMed

Michael, Edwin; Madon, Shirin

2017-02-06

The current global attempts to control the so-called "Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)" have the potential to significantly reduce the morbidity suffered by some of the world's poorest communities. However, the governance of these control programmes is driven by a managerial rationality that assumes predictability of proposed interventions, and which thus primarily seeks to improve the cost-effectiveness of implementation by measuring performance in terms of pre-determined outputs. Here, we argue that this approach has reinforced the narrow normal-science model for controlling parasitic diseases, and in doing so fails to address the complex dynamics, uncertainty and socio-ecological context-specificity that invariably underlie parasite transmission. We suggest that a new governance approach is required that draws on a combination of non-equilibrium thinking about the operation of complex, adaptive, systems from the natural sciences and constructivist social science perspectives that view the accumulation of scientific knowledge as contingent on historical interests and norms, if more effective control approaches sufficiently sensitive to local disease contexts are to be devised, applied and managed. At the core of this approach is an emphasis on the need for a process that assists with the inclusion of diverse perspectives, social learning and deliberation, and a reflexive approach to addressing system complexity and incertitude, while balancing this flexibility with stability-focused structures. We derive and discuss a possible governance framework and outline an organizational structure that could be used to effectively deal with the complexity of accomplishing global NTD control. We also point to examples of complexity-based management structures that have been used in parasite control previously, which could serve as practical templates for developing similar governance structures to better manage global NTD control. Our results hold important wider implications for global health policy aiming to effectively control and eradicate parasitic diseases across the world.

Contraceptive security, information flow, and local adaptations: family planning Morocco.

PubMed

Chandani, Y; Breton, G

2001-12-01

Many developing countries increasingly recognize and acknowledge family planning as a critical part of socio-economic development. However, with few health dollars to go around, countries tend to provide essential drugs for curative care, rather than for family planning products. Donors have historically provided free contraceptives for family planning services. Whether products are donated or purchased by the country, a successful family planning program depends on an uninterrupted supply of products, beginning with the manufacturer and ending with the customer. Any break in the supply chain may cause a family planning program to fail. A well-functioning logistics system can manage the supply chain and ensure that the customers have the products they need, when they need them. Morocco was selected for the case study. The researchers had ready access to key informants and information about the Logistics Management Information System. Because the study had time and resource constraints, research included desktop reviews and interview, rather than data collection in the field. The case study showed that even in a challenging environment an LMIS can be successfully deployed and fully supported by the users. It is critical to customize the system to a country-specific situation to ensure buy-in for the implementation. Significant external support funding and technical expertise are critical components to ensure the initial success of the system. Nonetheless, evidence from the case study shows that, after a system has been implemented, the benefits may not ensure its institutionalization. Other support, including local funding and technical expertise, is required.

Understanding System of Systems Development Using an Agent-Based Wave Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

Procedia Computer Science Procedia Computer Science 00 (2012) 000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/ procedia Complex Adaptive Systems...integration of technical systems as well as cognitive and social processes, which alter system behavior [6]. As mentioned before * Corresponding...Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Acheson/ Procedia Computer Science 00 (2012) 000–000 most system architects assume that SoS participants exhibit

Suggested criteria for evaluating systems engineering methodologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gates, Audrey; Paul, Arthur S.; Gill, Tepper L.

1989-01-01

Systems engineering is the application of mathematical and scientific principles to practical ends in the life-cycle of a system. A methodology for systems engineering is a carefully developed, relatively complex procedure or process for applying these mathematical and scientific principles. There are many systems engineering methodologies (or possibly many versions of a few methodologies) currently in use in government and industry. These methodologies are usually designed to meet the needs of a particular organization. It has been observed, however, that many technical and non-technical problems arise when inadequate systems engineering methodologies are applied by organizations to their systems development projects. Various criteria for evaluating systems engineering methodologies are discussed. Such criteria are developed to assist methodology-users in identifying and selecting methodologies that best fit the needs of the organization.

Training on women and renewable sources of energy.

PubMed

Duenas Loza, M

1997-01-01

The training package developed by the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women in 1989 focuses on women and energy. The Institute conducts training activities using collected, analyzed and disseminated information and documentation, as well as identification of critical research and training activities and promotion of integrated issues on women and energy policies, programs and projects. Previous training experiences identified the inefficient quality of training offered to community members, technical staff and technical agencies, with more emphasis on the technical skills instead on the managerial, socio-organizational and environmental aspects. The creation of a multimedia modular training material provides an association between the issues of women, New and Renewable Sources of Energy (NRSE) and environmental aspects necessary for the strengthening of national institutions, promotion of socioeconomical and technically feasible renewable technologies, and awareness building, information and communication enhancement. The package covers 1) overview of the UN activities on NRSE; 2) Women's Position in the Energy Sector; 3) NRSE Project and Program design and implementation; 4) relevant NRSE characteristics and technology systems; 5) education and training activities in NRSE projects. This training package is designed to contribute a new approach in the organization and management of NRSE through integration of women's needs and increase awareness and capabilities of planners, officials and experts. In addition, several training seminars were conducted during 1989-91, which focused on the relationship between women and renewable energy sources through the application of participatory and self-reliant techniques.

Socio-Technical Dimensions of an Outdoor Mobile Learning Environment: A Three-Phase Design-Based Research Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Land, Susan M.; Zimmerman, Heather Toomey

2015-01-01

This design-based research project examines three iterations of Tree Investigators, a learning environment designed to support science learning outdoors at an arboretum and nature center using mobile devices (iPads). Researchers coded videorecords and artifacts created by children and parents (n = 53) to understand how both social and…

Technical Evaluation Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

of biological , behavioral & socio-cultural knowledge for the purposes of understanding those capabilities and limitations of relevance to the...However, HPM and HPO manipulations are not immune to bioethical dilemmas. With the burgeoning use of nutraceuticals, 1 control of soldiers’ diet...on the symposium recommendation and will be convening an exploratory team to discuss performance-related bioethical issues. The team will be

The Next 25 Years?: Future Scenarios and Future Directions for Education and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Facer, K.; Sandford, R.

2010-01-01

The educational technology research field has been at the heart of debates about the future of education for the last quarter century. This paper explores the socio-technical developments that the next 25 years might bring and the implications of such developments for educators and for educational technology research. The paper begins by outlining…

ICT and Knowledge Construction: Towards New Features for the Socio-Technical Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cartelli, Antonio

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis and review of the sociotechnical approach as a result of analysis of experiences with the introduction of ICT in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The experiences of the author with the creation of special web sites in palaeography are analysed paying special attention to…

Social Interactions and Instructional Artifacts: Emergent Socio-Technical Affordances and Constraints for Children's Geometric Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Michael A.; Wilkins, Jesse L. M.

2011-01-01

The reported exploratory study consisted primarily of classroom visits, videotaped sessions, and post-treatment interviews whereby second graders (n = 12) worked on problems in planar geometry, individually and in triads, using physical and virtual manipulatives. The goal of the study was to: 1) characterize the nature of geometric thinking found…

The Relationships among Achievement, Low Income, and Ethnicity in Washington State--A Second Look. Technical Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbott, Martin; Hart, Christopher; Lybrand, Jasmine; Nouri, Leila

2009-01-01

The purpose of this report is to discuss the continuing difficulties school leaders and students face as they grapple with the "achievement gap" among students of different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Several years ago, researchers at the Washington School Research Center sought to evaluate the "unique contribution of low…

Human and Machine Entanglement in the Digital Archive: Academic Libraries and Socio-Technical Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manoff, Marlene

2015-01-01

This essay urges a broadening of the discourse of library and information science (LIS) to address the convergence of forces shaping the information environment. It proposes adopting a model from the field of science studies that acknowledges the interdependence and coevolution of social, cultural, and material phenomena. Digital archives and…

Facilitating Social Collaboration in Mobile Cloud-Based Learning: A Teamwork as A Service (TaaS) Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Geng; Shen, Jun

2014-01-01

Mobile learning is an emerging trend that brings many advantages to distributed learners, enabling them to achieve collaborative learning, in which the virtual teams are usually built to engage multiple learners working together towards the same pedagogical goals in online courses. However, the socio-technical mechanisms to enhance teamwork…

Mapping an Emergent Field of "Computational Education Policy": Policy Rationalities, Prediction and Data in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gulson, Kalervo N.; Webb, P. Taylor

2017-01-01

Contemporary education policy involves the integration of novel forms of data and the creation of new data platforms, in addition to the infusion of business principles into school governance networks, and intensification of socio-technical relations. In this paper, we examine how "computational rationality" may be understood as…

Sociological Perspectives on Energy and Rural Development: A Review of Major Frameworks for Research on Developing Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koppel, Bruce; Schlegel, Charles

The principal sociological frameworks used in energy research on developing countries can be appraised in terms of the view of the energy-rural development problem that each framework implies. "Socio-Technical Analysis," which is used most in industrial and organizational sociology and in ecological anthropology, is oriented to the decomposition…

Grassroots Heritage: A Multi-Method Investigation of How Social Media Sustain the Living Heritage of Historic Crises

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Sophia B.

2011-01-01

Unprecedented uses of information and communication technology (ICT) and particularly social media (e.g., Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter) are occurring in times of crisis. This dissertation investigates the socio-technical practices emerging from the use of social media and how these practices help to "sustain the living heritage" of…

Influence of Social-economic Activities on Air Pollutants in Beijing, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiaolu; Zheng, Wenfeng; Yin, Lirong; Yin, Zhengtong; Song, Lihong; Tian, Xia

2017-08-01

With the rapid economic development, the serious air pollution in Beijing attracts increasing attention in the last decade. Seen as one whole complex and grey system, the causal relationship between the social development and the air pollution in Beijing has been quantitatively analyzed in this paper. By using the grey relational model, the aim of this study is to explore how the socio-economic and human activities affect on the air pollution in the city of Beijing, China. Four air pollutants, as the particulate matter with size 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5), particulate matter with size 10 micrometers or less (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NOx), are selected as the indicators of air pollution. Additionally, fifteen socio-economic indicators are selected to account for the regional socio-economic characteristics (economy variables, energy consumption variables, pollution emissions variables, environment and construction activity variables). The results highlight that all variables are associated with the concentrations of the four selected air pollutants, but with notable differences between the air pollutants. Most of the socio-economic indicators, such as industrial output, total energy consumption are highly correlated with PM2.5, while PM10, SO2, and NOx present in general moderate correlations with most of the socio-economic variables. Contrary to other studies and reports this study reveals that vehicles and life energy do not have the strongest effect on air pollution in Beijing. This study provides useful information to reduce air pollution and support decision-making for sustainable development.

Towards a framework of human factors certification of complex human-machine systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bukasa, Birgit

1994-01-01

As far as total automation is not realized, the combination of technical and social components in man-machine systems demands not only contributions from engineers but at least to an equal extent from behavioral scientists. This has been neglected far too long. The psychological, social and cultural aspects of technological innovations were almost totally overlooked. Yet, along with expected safety improvements the institutionalization of human factors is on the way. The introduction of human factors certification of complex man-machine systems will be a milestone in this process.

La complexite de l'implantation de l'approche socio-constructiviste et de l'integration des TIC (The Complexity of Implementing the Socio-constructivist Approach and Integrating ICT).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Viens, Jacques; Renaud, Luc

2001-01-01

The education programs of Quebec have a social constructivist focus characterized by project teaching, learner autonomy, cooperation, and metacognition. However, important technological and pedagogical hurdles must be overcome before these new practices can be implemented. (Author/SV)

Socio-Demographic and Practice-Oriented Factors Related to Proficiency in Problem Solving: A Lifelong Learning Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desjardins, Richard; Ederer, Peer

2015-01-01

This article explores the relative importance of different socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors that are related to proficiency in problem solving in technology-rich environments (PSTREs) and by extension may be related to complex problem solving (CPS). The empirical analysis focuses on the proficiency measurements of PSTRE made…

Building effective international, multicultural alliances for restoration of ejido forests in the Sierra Madre Occidental

Treesearch

Randall Gingrich

2005-01-01

Effective NGO-government-community alliances are the key to overcoming the complex socio-political obstacles to conservation in the Sierra Madre Occidental. Over 80 percent of the territory in the Sierra Madre Occidental is communally owned. Agrarian and other socio-economic conditions present both opportunities and obstacles to conservation. Conservation,...

Designing the Regional College Management Information System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kin Maung Kywe; And Others

Beginning in 1976, Regional Colleges were formed in Burma to implement career and technical education at the post-secondary level. This paper describes the Regional Colleges and explores the possible use of a systemic management information process that could assist in the complex planning required to develop second-year vocational and technical…

Using the DPSIR Framework to Develop a Conceptual Model: Technical Support Document

EPA Science Inventory

Modern problems (e.g., pollution, urban sprawl, environmental equity) are complex and often transcend spatial and temporal scales. Systems thinking is an approach to problem solving that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system are best understood in the contex...

Language Planning, Naming and Character Use in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Shouhui; Baldauf, Richard B., Jr.

2007-01-01

As Chinese characters ("hanzi") have three aspects--as a technical writing system, an aesthetic visual art (Chinese calligraphy), and a highly-charged cultural symbolic system--changing them is a complex process. In the 1950s when language planning campaigns were launched to modernise Chinese through "hanzi" standardisation,…

Participatory Approach to Long-Term Socio-Economic Scenarios as Building Block of a Local Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Tool - The Case Study Lienz (East-Tyrol)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Ina; Eder, Brigitte; Hama, Michiko; Leitner, Markus

2016-04-01

Risks associated with climate change are mostly still understood and analyzed in a sector- or hazard-specific and rarely in a systemic, dynamic and scenario-based manner. In addition, socio-economic trends are often neglected in local vulnerability and risk assessments although they represent potential key determinants of risk and vulnerability. The project ARISE (Adaptation and Decision Support via Risk Management Through Local Burning Embers) aims at filling this gap by applying a participatory approach to socio-economic scenario building as building block of a local vulnerability assessment and risk management tool. Overall, ARISE aims at developing a decision support system for climate-sensitive iterative risk management as a key adaptation tool for the local level using Lienz in the East-Tyrol as a test-site City. One central building block is participatory socio-economic scenario building that - together with regionalized climate change scenarios - form a centrepiece in the process-oriented assessment of climate change risks and vulnerability. Major vulnerabilities and risks may stem from the economic performance, the socio-economic or socio-demographic developments or changes in asset exposition and not from climate change impacts themselves. The IPCC 5th assessment report underlines this and states that for most economic sectors, the impact of climate change may be small relative to the impacts of other driving forces such as changes in population growth, age, income, technology, relative prices, lifestyle, regulation, governance and many other factors in the socio-economy (Arent et al., 2014). The paper presents the methodology, process and results with respect to the building of long-term local socio-economic scenarios for the City of Lienz and the surrounding countryside. Scenarios were developed in a participatory approach using a scenario workshop that involved major stakeholders from the region. Participatory approaches are increasingly recognized as an important element in management and decision-making as problems in today's world are complex and require knowledge from many different domains and disciplines. Participation is also said to be a process of collective learning that changes the way people think and act which is a relevant point in forming appropriate region-specific climate adaptation strategies. The scenarios are based on an analysis of data on recent states and trends in major local sector developments concerning absolute and relative employment and value creation as well as on distinct socio-demographic developments in the region. Categories discussed in the scenario workshop cover inter alia institutions and governance, demographics, production and demand, markets, value-chains and trade, scientific and technological innovations, education and health. The derived stakeholder-based socio-economic scenarios were, in a second step, matched with the Shared Socio-economic reference Pathways (SSPs) in order to frame the locally produced scenarios with global narratives. Both strains were, in a third step, combined and backed-up by scientific literature in order to build the local socio-economic scenarios that served as background information in the analysis of risks, vulnerability and appropriate adaptation measures in the case-study region.

Work-Facilitating Information Visualization Techniques for Complex Wastewater Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ebert, Achim; Einsfeld, Katja

The design and the operation of urban drainage systems and wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have become increasingly complex. This complexity is due to increased requirements concerning process technology, technical, environmental, economical, and occupational safety aspects. The plant operator has access not only to some timeworn filers and measured parameters but also to numerous on-line and off-line parameters that characterize the current state of the plant in detail. Moreover, expert databases and specific support pages of plant manufactures are accessible through the World Wide Web. Thus, the operator is overwhelmed with predominantly unstructured data.

The Challenges of a Complex and Innovative Telehealth Project: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Eastern Quebec Telepathology Network.

PubMed

Alami, Hassane; Fortin, Jean-Paul; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Pollender, Hugo; Têtu, Bernard; Tanguay, France

2017-09-13

The Eastern Quebec Telepathology Network (EQTN) has been implemented in the province of Quebec (Canada) to support pathology and surgery practices in hospitals that are lack of pathologists, especially in rural and remote areas. This network includes 22 hospitals and serves a population of 1.7 million inhabitants spread over a vast territory. An evaluation of this network was conducted in order to identify and analyze the factors and issues associated with its implementation and deployment, as well as those related to its sustainability and expansion. Qualitative evaluative research based on a case study using: (1) historical analysis of the project documentation (newsletters, minutes of meetings, articles, ministerial documents, etc); (2) participation in meetings of the committee in charge of telehealth programs and the project; and (3) interviews, focus groups, and discussions with different stakeholders, including decision-makers, clinical and administrative project managers, clinicians (pathologists and surgeons), and technologists. Data from all these sources were cross-checked and synthesized through an integrative and interpretative process. The evaluation revealed numerous socio-political, regulatory, organizational, governance, clinical, professional, economic, legal and technological challenges related to the emergence and implementation of the project. In addition to technical considerations, the development of this network was associated with major changes and transformations of production procedures, delivery and organization of services, clinical practices, working methods, and clinicaladministrative processes and cultures (professional/organizational). The EQTN reflects the complex, structuring, and innovative projects that organizations and health systems are required to implement today. Future works should be more sensitive to the complexity associated with the emergence of telehealth networks and no longer reduce them to technological considerations. © 2018 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

DCS: A global satellite environmental data collection system study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Cost analysis and technical feasibility data are presented on five medium orbiting and six geosynchronous satellite data collection systems with varying degrees of spacecraft and local user terminal complexity. Data are also provided on system approaches, user requirements, and user classes. Systems considered include orbiting ERTS and EOS type satellites and geosynchronous SmS and SEOS type data collectors.

Contingency Software in Autonomous Systems: Technical Level Briefing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lutz, Robyn R.; Patterson-Hines, Ann

2006-01-01

Contingency management is essential to the robust operation of complex systems such as spacecraft and Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Automatic contingency handling allows a faster response to unsafe scenarios with reduced human intervention on low-cost and extended missions. Results, applied to the Autonomous Rotorcraft Project and Mars Science Lab, pave the way to more resilient autonomous systems.

Lung function in children in relation to ethnicity, physique and socio-economic factors

PubMed Central

Lum, Sooky; Bountziouka, Vassiliki; Sonnappa, Samatha; Wade, Angie; Cole, Tim J; Harding, Seeromanie; Wells, Jonathan CK; Griffiths, Chris; Treleaven, Philip; Bonner, Rachel; Kirkby, Jane; Lee, Simon; Raywood, Emma; Legg, Sarah; Sears, Dave; Cottam, Philippa; Feyeraband, Colin; Stocks, Janet

2015-01-01

Question Can ethnic differences in spirometry be attributed to differences in physique and socio-economic factors? Methods Assessments were undertaken in 2171 London primary school-children on two occasions a year apart whenever possible, as part of the Size and Lung function In Children study. Measurements included spirometry, detailed anthropometry, 3-D photonic scanning for regional body shape, body composition, information on ethnic ancestry, birth and respiratory history, socio-economic circumstances and tobacco smoke exposure. Results Technically acceptable spirometry was obtained from 1901 children (mean age: 8.3yrs (range: 5.2-11.8yrs), 46% boys, 35% White; 29% Black-African origin; 24% South-Asian; 12% Other/mixed) on 2767 test occasions. After adjusting for sex, age and height, FEV1 was 1.32, 0.89 and 0.51 z-score units lower in Black, South-Asian and Other ethnicity children respectively, when compared with White children, with similar decrements for FVC (p<0.001 for all). Although further adjustment for sitting height and chest width reduced differences attributable to ethnicity by up to 16%, significant differences persisted after adjusting for all potential determinants including socio-economic circumstances. Answer Ethnic differences in spirometric lung function persist despite adjusting for a wide range of potential determinants, including body physique and socio-economic circumstances, emphasising the need to use ethnic-specific equations when interpreting results. PMID:26493801