304 research outputs found
Rapid Response Command and Control (R2C2): a systems engineering analysis of scaleable communications for Regional Combatant Commanders
Includes supplementary materialDisaster relief operations, such as the 2005 Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, and wartime operations, such as
Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, have identified the need for a standardized command and control
system interoperable among Joint, Coalition, and Interagency entities. The Systems Engineering Analysis Cohort 9 (SEA-9)
Rapid Response Command and Control (R2C2) integrated project team completed a systems engineering (SE) process to
address the militaryâs command and control capability gap. During the process, the R2C2 team conducted mission analysis,
generated requirements, developed and modeled architectures, and analyzed and compared current operational systems versus
the teamâs R2C2 system. The R2C2 system provided a reachback capability to the Regional Combatant Commanderâs (RCC)
headquarters, a local communications network for situational assessments, and Internet access for civilian counterparts
participating in Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief operations. Because the team designed the R2C2 system to be
modular, analysis concluded that the R2C2 system was the preferred method to provide the RCC with the required flexibility
and scalability to deliver a rapidly deployable command and control capability to perform the range of military operations
Contrast and Assimilation in Consumer Software Selection Decisions â An Experimental Study
Software selection research has so far mainly focused on corporations and often assumed a rational evaluation of selection criteria. Research on consumersâ software selection is still scarce. However, findings from outside IS indicate that consumersâ software selection decisions might be biased by the choice alternatives among which software is selected. In an experiment, this study investigates if consumersâ selection decisions for software package variants are subject to contrast or assimilation and how this affects purchase decisions. In conjoint-type tasks, subjects evaluate software packages alongside other package-variants with reduced functionality and price. Consumers are found to be susceptible to contrast effects when selecting software. They have a higher likelihood to purchase a software package, when they choose from a set of alternatives that also includes package-variants with reduced functionality. This positive effect disappears when the price of the less functional packages is reduced sufficiently. Implications for research and practice are derived
Integrated helicopter survivability
A high level of survivability is important to protect military personnel and equipment and is
central to UK defence policy. Integrated Survivability is the systems engineering
methodology to achieve optimum survivability at an affordable cost, enabling a mission to
be completed successfully in the face of a hostile environment. âIntegrated Helicopter
Survivabilityâ is an emerging discipline that is applying this systems engineering approach
within the helicopter domain. Philosophically the overall survivability objective is âzero
attritionâ, even though this is unobtainable in practice.
The research question was: âHow can helicopter survivability be assessed in an integrated
way so that the best possible level of survivability can be achieved within the constraints and
how will the associated methods support the acquisition process?â
The research found that principles from safety management could be applied to the
survivability problem, in particular reducing survivability risk to as low as reasonably
practicable (ALARP). A survivability assessment process was developed to support this
approach and was linked into the military helicopter life cycle. This process positioned the
survivability assessment methods and associated input data derivation activities.
The system influence diagram method was effective at defining the problem and capturing
the wider survivability interactions, including those with the defence lines of development
(DLOD). Influence diagrams and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methods were
effective visual tools to elicit stakeholder requirements and improve communication across
organisational and domain boundaries.
The semi-quantitative nature of the QFD method leads to numbers that are not real. These
results are suitable for helping to prioritise requirements early in the helicopter life cycle, but
they cannot provide the quantifiable estimate of risk needed to demonstrate ALARP. The probabilistic approach implemented within the Integrated Survivability Assessment
Model (ISAM) was developed to provide a quantitative estimate of âriskâ to support the
approach of reducing survivability risks to ALARP. Limitations in available input data for
the rate of encountering threats leads to a probability of survival that is not a real number that
can be used to assess actual loss rates. However, the method does support an assessment
across platform options, provided that the âtest environmentâ remains consistent throughout
the assessment. The survivability assessment process and ISAM have been applied to an
acquisition programme, where they have been tested to support the survivability decision
making and design process.
The survivability âtest environmentâ is an essential element of the survivability assessment
process and is required by integrated survivability tools such as ISAM. This test
environment, comprising of threatening situations that span the complete spectrum of
helicopter operations requires further development. The âtest environmentâ would be used
throughout the helicopter life cycle from selection of design concepts through to test and
evaluation of delivered solutions. It would be updated as part of the through life capability
management (TLCM) process.
A framework of survivability analysis tools requires development that can provide
probabilistic input data into ISAM and allow derivation of confidence limits. This systems
level framework would be capable of informing more detailed survivability design work
later in the life cycle and could be enabled through a MATLABÂź based approach.
Survivability is an emerging system property that influences the whole system capability.
There is a need for holistic capability level analysis tools that quantify survivability along
with other influencing capabilities such as: mobility (payload / range), lethality, situational
awareness, sustainability and other mission capabilities.
It is recommended that an investigation of capability level analysis methods across defence
should be undertaken to ensure a coherent and compliant approach to systems engineering
that adopts best practice from across the domains. Systems dynamics techniques should be
considered for further use by Dstl and the wider MOD, particularly within the survivability
and operational analysis domains. This would improve understanding of the problem space,
promote a more holistic approach and enable a better balance of capability, within which
survivability is one essential element.
There would be value in considering accidental losses within a more comprehensive
âsurvivabilityâ analysis. This approach would enable a better balance to be struck between
safety and survivability risk mitigations and would lead to an improved, more integrated
overall design
Prioritizing Offshore Vendor Selection Criteria for the North American Geospatial Industry
The U.S. market for geospatial services totaled US $2.2 billion in 2010, representing 50% of the global market. Data-processing firms subcontract labor-intensive portions of data services to offshore providers in South and East Asia and Eastern Europe. In general, half of all offshore contracts fail within the first 5 years because one or more parties consider the relationship unsuccessful. Despite the high failure rates, no study has examined the offshore vendor selection process in the geospatial industry. The purpose of this study was to determine the list of key offshore vendor selection criteria and the efficacy of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for ranking the criteria that North American geospatial companies consider in the offshore vendor selection process. After the selection of the initial list of factors from the literature and their validation in a pilot study, a final survey instrument was developed and administered to 15 subject matter experts (SMEs) in North America. The SMEs expressed their preferences for one criterion over another by pairwise comparisons, which served as input to the AHP procedure. The results showed that the quality of deliverables was the top ranked (out of 26) factors, instead of the price, which ranked third. Similarly, SMEs considered social and environmental consciousness on the vendor side as irrelevant. More importantly, the findings indicated that the structured AHP process provides a useful and effective methodology whose application may considerably improve the quality of the overall vendor selection process. Last, improved and stabilized business relationships leading to predictable budgets might catalyze social change, supporting stable employment. Consumers could benefit from derivative improvements in product quality and pricing
Science Tools to Implement Ecosystem Based Management in Massachusetts (DRAFT)
In this report we provide a framework for implementing ecosystem based management (EBM) and suggest a range of science information tools and their appropriate application to the decision making process. These tools can be broadly classified as modeling tools, decision analysis tools, and indicators. Modeling tools allow the user to organize data, communicate scientific findings to management and stakeholder audiences, and test alternative management scenarios. When used unwisely, however, models can preclude options, present unusable scenarios, generate results in scales that differ from management needs, and impose huge time, data, and technical requirements (Manno et al., 2008). Decision analysis tools can inform management decisions but should not be relied upon solely; they are valuable aids in the process and provide opportunities for all-stakeholder input, visualization, and scenario analysis. Indicators are scientific measurements of ecological or socio-economic phenomena that provide data for monitoring and evaluating the systems being managed. While indicators are by and large widely accepted, their selection is based on expert opinion and involves a level of subjectivity. Inappropriately selected indicators can misinform management decisions. By helping to identify and mitigate lack of information, these science tools can be of great value in the shift to ecosystem based management
Framework to Facilitate Urban Regeneration in the Middle Suburbs of Car-dependent Cities
Car-dependent cities with large urban footprints suffer from a lack of planning mechanisms to regenerate their middle-suburbs. Among the principle methods, subdivisions have been found to be sub-optimal solutions while the impacts of transport infrastructure in regenerating middle-suburbs are yet to be explored. Using multi-criteria-evaluation tools, this research examines the socio-technical parameters of middle-suburbs to assess redevelopment potentials of any proposed transit corridor. Perth, Western Australia, is investigated in this study as a typical case
A decision-making framework for purchasing product-service systems
As technologies become more complex and competition becomes tougher than ever before, manufacturers in the developed world acknowledge the significance of a competitive strategy in increasing sales to their customers. These strategies not only include offering the products, but also offering service contracts and integrated bundles of products and services, where the supplier is responsible for the required engineering services, typically for a relatively long period of time. This is also known as Product-Service Systems (PSS).
For many commercial and governmental organisations, purchasing PSS remains challenging. Despite the considerable work that has been conducted to investigate and improve the methodological applications of the concept of PSS from PSS providersâ perspective, purchasing PSS positions the PSS customers halfway between PSS providersâ strategies and the PSS customer traditional strategies. Little effort in the literature describing how to assist PSS customers in the selection and evaluation of the PSS offerings has been observed. Consequently, this research attempts to satisfy the gap in the body of knowledge by proposing a decision-making framework to enable PSS customer to evaluate and select from the various PSS offers.
The research began by reviewing the state-of-art of PSS, followed by the identification of the most likely characteristics exhibited by PSS customers. Then, the research investigates the existing PSS frameworks and analyses it to identify its appropriateness for use by PSS customers. The basis of the PSS framework is initially structured on the findings from the literature review, then modified by the result obtained from the field study in Saudi Arabia. The PSS framework is refined through expert feedback. Then, a computerised software tool was developed for the purpose of validation. Finally, the proposed PSS framework is validated by conducting five case studies.
The proposed framework can guide purchasing practitioners through a step by step process, from evaluation to selection the most suitable PSS offers, by considering the degree of fitness between the PSS offerings and customerâs characteristics. This research has satisfied the industrial need and filled the gap in the literature, and has made a significant contribution to the knowledge on PSS customers to overcome the challenge of purchasing PSS
The Development of a Web-based Decision Support System for the Sustainable Management of Contaminated Land
Land is a finite natural resource that is increasingly getting exhausted as a result of land contamination. Land is made up of soil and groundwater, both of which have many functions for which we depend on, including provision of food and water, supporting shelter, natural flood defence, carbon sequestration, etc. Contaminants in land also pose a number of threats to public health and the environment; other natural resources; and have detrimental effects on property such as buildings, crops and livestock. The most effective method of dealing with these contaminants is to cleanup and return the sites to beneficial use. The cleanup process involves making a choice from amongst competing remediation technologies, where the wrong choice may have disastrous economic, environmental and/or social impacts. Contaminated land management is therefore much broader than the selection and implementation of remedial solutions, and requires extensive data collection and analysis at huge costs and effort.
The need for decision support in contaminated land management decision-making has long been widely recognised, and in recent years a large number of Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been developed. This thesis presents the development of a Web-based knowledge-based DSS as an integrated management framework for the risk assessment of human health from, and sustainable management of, contaminated land. The developed DSS is based on the current UK contaminated land regime, published guidelines and technical reports from the UK Environment Agency (EA) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and other Government agencies and departments. The decision-making process of the developed DSS comprises of key stages in the risk assessment and management of contaminated land: (i) preliminary qualitative risk assessment; (ii) generic quantitative risk assessment; and (iii) options appraisal of remediation technologies and remediation design. The developed DSS requires site specific details and measured contaminant concentrations from site samples as input and produces a site specific report as output. The DSS output is intended to be used as information to support with contaminated land management decision-making.Great Western Researc
Proceedings of the 11th Toulon-Verona International Conference on Quality in Services
The Toulon-Verona Conference was founded in 1998 by prof. Claudio Baccarani of the University of Verona, Italy, and prof. Michel Weill of the University of Toulon, France. It has been organized each year in a different place in Europe in cooperation with a host university (Toulon 1998, Verona 1999, Derby 2000, Mons 2001, Lisbon 2002, Oviedo 2003, Toulon 2004, Palermo 2005, Paisley 2006, Thessaloniki 2007, Florence, 2008). Originally focusing on higher education institutions, the research themes have over the years been extended to the health sector, local government, tourism, logistics, banking services. Around a hundred delegates from about twenty different countries participate each year and nearly one thousand research papers have been published over the last ten years, making of the conference one of the major events in the field of quality in services
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