13,883 research outputs found

    On the metaphysics of management

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    The question about the metaphysics of management is considered especially from the point of view of the subject, acts and object of management. Management is understood holistically, in connection to production, rather than as an independent domain in itself. In terms of metaphysics, the time-honoured question about the superiority of thing (substance, matter) ontology or process ontology is addressed. The determination of metaphysical commitments is discussed. Empirical evidence on the appropriateness of alternative metaphysical assumptions inmanagement is forwarded. It is concluded that Western management thinking has been dominated by thing metaphysics. This has led to deficient conceptualizations and counterproductive methods, present in the 20th century. There have been process metaphysics based correctives, which include Japanese-originated methods and out-of-the box methods developed by Western parties. These correctives have often outperformed their substance based counterparts, but their adoption in the West has been slow. It is concluded that the Western metaphysical assumptions, especially when implicit, hinder learning, understanding and implementation of the process based correctives in the realm of management. However, even if the dominant Western metaphysics constrains our thinking, it might be possible to break out of it, through appropriate ontology training

    Technical Workshop: Advanced Helicopter Cockpit Design

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    Information processing demands on both civilian and military aircrews have increased enormously as rotorcraft have come to be used for adverse weather, day/night, and remote area missions. Applied psychology, engineering, or operational research for future helicopter cockpit design criteria were identified. Three areas were addressed: (1) operational requirements, (2) advanced avionics, and (3) man-system integration

    Peacekeeping effectiveness and Blue Helmets’ distance from locals

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    United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions are complex social organizations, with soldiers coming from several countries. In this environment, effective communication and interactions with local populations are often difficult, and establishing essential local support can be jeopardized when soldiers are culturally distant from local communities. At the same time, however, when local populations perceive peacekeepers as sufficiently distant or unbiased, the promotion of cooperation is enhanced. We explore whether cultural distance—in terms of geography, language, and religion—and social distance—in terms of economy and institutions—between the peacekeepers and the local population improve the operational capabilities of a mission. We use monthly information on UN peacekeeping missions’ composition from 1990 to 2015. We find that higher geographic and cultural distances correspond to higher levels of violence against civilians and higher battle deaths, whereas institutional and economic differences have the opposite effects, although these are less robust

    Artificial Intelligence in the Context of Human Consciousness

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    Artificial intelligence (AI) can be defined as the ability of a machine to learn and make decisions based on acquired information. AI’s development has incited rampant public speculation regarding the singularity theory: a futuristic phase in which intelligent machines are capable of creating increasingly intelligent systems. Its implications, combined with the close relationship between humanity and their machines, make achieving understanding both natural and artificial intelligence imperative. Researchers are continuing to discover natural processes responsible for essential human skills like decision-making, understanding language, and performing multiple processes simultaneously. Artificial intelligence attempts to simulate these functions through techniques like artificial neural networks, Markov Decision Processes, Human Language Technology, and Multi-Agent Systems, which rely upon a combination of mathematical models and hardware

    Perceptions of Intellectual Property:A Review

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    In “The right to good ideas: patents and the poor”, The Economist depicts two driving forces in the contemporary discourse on IP and globalization. The one is interested in advancing the knowledge economy, an approach based on the belief that knowledge is the driving factor behind economic growth. The other resides on a belief that IP is a major means to advance the process of globalization. While the former is strongly motivated by new economic growth theory, as for example advanced by Stanford professor Paul Romer, the latter is based on typical anti-globalization arguments, such as for example the position that the IP system helps multinational companies to build up monopolies to the detriment of the poor, drives small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local business in developing countries out of business and increases prices for consumer products, be they pharmaceuticals or software. The purpose of this review is to help understand the current discourse on intellectual property, to grasp underlying themes, assumptions and connotations associated with the term “IP”, so as to identify paths leading to a more comprehensive understanding of IP and the opportunities and pitfalls it may provide

    The Infusion of Higher Education in the U.S. Army: A Sociolinguistic Study of an Organizational Information Dissemination Process

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    The present research was dedicated to uncovering sociolinguistic coupling mechanisms, specifically the metaphor, and their role in the infusion of higher education in the U S .Army It was argued that levels of ambiguity connected to inter-sociolect lexicons embedded within sociolect-specific metaphors may impede effective communication between officers and senior enlisted personnel regarding the role of higher education in the overall U. S. Army mission Information gained from this research is dedicated to the development of how the U.S military can better infuse higher education into its ongoing professional development programs. A qualitative interview method was used to conduct the research Eleven Respondents, six enlisted, five officers, were asked to speak freely about how they would describe the Army Continuing Education Systems (ACES) and other continuing educational programs in general. Respondents were also asked to speak freely about how they perceived how a higher education may (or may not) impact lower ranking enlisted personnel These questions were posed to the respondents from the perspective that they were communicating their point of view to either superior or subordinate ranking personnel. The proposed study was designed to answer the following overarching question: Within a U. S Army installation, what are the possible semantic misinterpretations that may surround various metaphors used between officer and senior enlisted cadre during the infusion process associated with encouraging lower-enlisted personnel to engage in the Army\u27s ACES professional development program? The proposed study addressed the following sub-questions: What metaphors do military officers use to describe the ACES program when they communicate with the senior enlisted cadre? What metaphors do military officer cadre use when communicating with senior enlisted cadre to describe how higher education serves lower ranking enlisted personnel in their role in the overall Army mission relative to developing critical thinking skills within the increasingly technologically sophisticated combat environment? What metaphors do military officers use to describe the ACES program when they communicate with senior enlisted cadre? What metaphors do senior enlisted military cadre use when communicating with officers to describe how higher education serves lower ranking enlisted personnel in their role in the overall Army mission relative to developing critical thinking skills within increasingly technologically sophisticated combat environment? What, if any, lexical argots exist within officer and senior enlisted sociolects that may create semantic misinterpretation of metaphors applied to the ACES program and its role within the U S Army? That is. how do officers and senior enlisted personnel interpret their respective metaphors? The present study was predicated on research indicating that socio-economic differences tend to undermine communication within social subcultures, the results obtained in the present study did not support this assertion Unexpectedly, however, both officer and enlisted samples either alluded to, or stated forthrightly, that level of formal education has in their view an intrinsic status component that often paralleled (if not superseded) the traditional military ranking system. Most respondents supported the idea that present rank-attainment protocols are linked to level of formal education. Further, it was noted that formal education was connected to a greater ability to engage in critical thinking under stress, and thus was seen as an important leadership component. None of the interviewees reported having difficulty understanding the metaphors and/or lexical sets used by either officer or enlisted personnel. The proposition that some level of ambiguity between officer and enlisted sociolects exists in the U S Army was not supported in the present research. The present research did not indicate that enlisted personnel were in any way more negative toward higher education than officers. Of note, however, was that both officer and enlisted interviewees provided metaphors supportive of the notion that higher education is superseding high school as America\u27s educational standard. It also noted that the present informal organizational status structure within the military might be transitioning, privileging level education over military rank

    Extending Cognitive Assistance with AI Courses of Action

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    NPS NRP Technical ReportThe objectives of this study is to research and assess the initial stages of the evolution of Human-Machine Teaming (HMT) mission workflows which is focused on transitioning of automation tasks from humans to machines using a technique to digitize mission workflows. Also, study the advanced stage(s) of the evolution of HMT to include Courses-of-Action (COA) in Wargaming and how decision-making (DM) AI functions play what role natural language processing (NLP) plays. In addition, this study will explore the viability of NLP in HMT peer-to-peer COAs generation. Finally, this study will leverage complex Joint Naval Force EABO scenario (UNCLASS) designed by MCWL to explore NLP and distributed agents managing the decision making of operators using various modes of HMT interface of AI run-time execution agents thereby enriching digital workflows. The research questions that will be address will include: 1) What is the best approach for a cognitive assistant to learn mission workflows so that recommendations can be made to a human operator?, 2) How can cognitive assistants switch between modes of automatic, advisory, or monitoring?, 3) What are the key parameters for switching?, 4) How does the CA learn to switch to make appropriate recommendations?, 4) What is the cognitive intersection between domain specific environment awareness and situation awareness?, and 5) What happens when a target switches context? The methodology will use quantitative research methods. The methodology for this study will be based on SME input to gain an understanding of mission workflows and tasks, MCWL-developed Joint Force EABO scenario leveraged for a case study and collaboration with the Wargaming Center in Quantico, VA. Based on a scenario, the independent variables will be the inputs into the cognitive assistant. The dependent variable(s) are the output of the system such as if the system recommends the role of automatic, advisory, or monitoring. The plan for this study is to leverage a complex joint Naval Force EABO scenario in studying a role of enrichment digitization of the workflows including utilization of scenario-driven HMT modes and sub-modes; review digital workflows from Master Thesis: "Fire Support Coordination Cognitive Assistant", USMC Capt. Benjamin Herbold, NPS, Graduation Year: June 2020; gain understanding of wargaming COA Digital Mission Command Joint Forces hypergame; develop expertise on modes of Human-Machine Teaming control and their sub-modes of automatic, advisory, and monitoring; study evolution from a single "interactive" mode of HMT proposed for the Fire Support Coordination Digital Workflows to the planning phase in Fire Support Coordination; study NLP and associated theories as a framework to situate the research; and coordinate with other entities such as MIT LL, DARPA, BAE, USMC AI COI, MCWL, and ONR.HQMC Plans, Policies & Operations (PP&O)This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098). https://nps.edu/nrpChief of Naval Operations (CNO)Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

    Escaping from American intelligence : culture, ethnocentrism and the Anglosphere

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    The United States and its closest allies now spend over $100 billion a year on intelligence. Ten years after 9/11, the intelligence machine is certainly bigger - but not necessarily better. American intelligence continues to privilege old-fashioned strategic analysis for policy-makers and exhibits a technocratic approach to asymmetric security threats, epitomized by the accelerated use of drone strikes and data-mining. Distinguished commentators have focused on the panacea of top-down reform, while politicians and practitioners have created entire new agencies. However these prescriptions for change remain conceptually limited because of underlying Anglo-Saxon presumptions about what intelligence is. Although intelligence is a global business, when we talk about intelligence we tend to use a vocabulary that is narrowly derived from the experiences of America and its English-speaking nebula. This article deploys the notion of strategic culture to explain this why this is. It then explores the cases of China and South Africa to suggest how we might begin to rethink our intelligence communities and their tasks. It argues that the road to success is about individuals, attitudes and cultures rather than organizations. Future improvement will depend on our ability to recognize the changing nature of the security environment and to practice the art of ‘intelligence among the people’. While the United States remains the world’s most significant military power, its strategic culture is unsuited to this new terrain and arguably other countries do these things rather better

    Military Contingencies in Megacities and Sub-Megacities

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    Urbanization is one of the most important mega-trends of the 21st century. Consequently, the possibility of U.S. military involvement in a megacity or sub-megacity is an eventuality that cannot be ignored. After elucidating the nature of urbanization and developing a typology in terms of smart, fragile, and feral cities, we give consideration to the kinds of contingencies that the U.S. military, especially the Army, needs to think about and prepare for. Understanding the city as a complex system or organism is critical and provides the basis for changes in intelligence, recruitment, training, equipment, operations, and tactics. One of the key takeaways is the need to understand the urban environment and the need to work with (instead of against) the flows and rhythms of a city. Without such an approach, the results of military involvement in such a formidable environment would likely be disastrous; with it, the prospects for success would at least be enhanced.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1416/thumbnail.jp

    Coordination Of Hierarchical Command And Control Services

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    The purpose of this program is to show emerging information technologies can significantly improve key areas of tactical operations, resulting in the conversion of software developed under the ATO to existing battlefield systems. One such key area is Information Dissemination and Management (ID&M). The key software that will be developed under the ID&M portion requires a collection of agent-based software services that will collaborate during tactical mission planning and execution
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