RECOVERING FROM TRUST BREAKDOWNS IN LARGE SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATIONS

On the basis of experiences from the Faroese large-scale implementation of integrated healthcare information systems and insights into dynamic aspects of trust, we offer the following lessons learned for the successful management and recovery of trust (breakdowns) in large system implementations: restore relations by turning towards face-to-face events and procedures, assure a well-functioning and available support organization, demonstrate trust in actors to enhance their own self-confidence and celebrate successes, even the smallest or ones injected by yourself. The propositions are based on a 6-year longitudinal qualitative case study and analyzed using critical incidents and content analysis. The propositions were discussed in a seminar with project participants. Finally the findings are challenged and sharpened and suggestions for further research are given

Haptic-Multimodal Flight Control System Update

The rapidly advancing capabilities of autonomous aircraft suggest a future where many of the responsibilities of today s pilot transition to the vehicle, transforming the pilot s job into something akin to driving a car or simply being a passenger. Notionally, this transition will reduce the specialized skills, training, and attention required of the human user while improving safety and performance. However, our experience with highly automated aircraft highlights many challenges to this transition including: lack of automation resilience; adverse human-automation interaction under stress; and the difficulty of developing certification standards and methods of compliance for complex systems performing critical functions traditionally performed by the pilot (e.g., sense and avoid vs. see and avoid). Recognizing these opportunities and realities, researchers at NASA Langley are developing a haptic-multimodal flight control (HFC) system concept that can serve as a bridge between today s state of the art aircraft that are highly automated but have little autonomy and can only be operated safely by highly trained experts (i.e., pilots) to a future in which non-experts (e.g., drivers) can safely and reliably use autonomous aircraft to perform a variety of missions. This paper reviews the motivation and theoretical basis of the HFC system, describes its current state of development, and presents results from two pilot-in-the-loop simulation studies. These preliminary studies suggest the HFC reshapes human-automation interaction in a way well-suited to revolutionary ease-of-use

Solutions and Tools for Secure Communication in Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure communication is considered a vital requirement in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications. Such a requirement embraces different aspects, including confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of exchanged information, proper management of security material, and effective prevention and reaction against security threats and attacks. However, WSNs are mainly composed of resource-constrained devices. That is, network nodes feature reduced capabilities, especially in terms of memory storage, computing power, transmission rate, and energy availability. As a consequence, assuring secure communication in WSNs results to be more difficult than in other kinds of network. In fact, trading effectiveness of adopted solutions with their efficiency becomes far more important. In addition, specific device classes or technologies may require to design ad hoc security solutions. Also, it is necessary to efficiently manage security material, and dynamically cope with changes of security requirements. Finally, security threats and countermeasures have to be carefully considered since from the network design phase. This Ph.D. dissertion considers secure communication in WSNs, and provides the following contributions. First, we provide a performance evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4 security services. Then, we focus on the ZigBee technology and its security services, and propose possible solutions to some deficiencies and inefficiencies. Second, we present HISS, a highly scalable and efficient key management scheme, able to contrast collusion attacks while displaying a graceful degradation of performance. Third, we present STaR, a software component for WSNs that secures multiple traffic flows at the same time. It is transparent to the application, and provides runtime reconfigurability, thus coping with dynamic changes of security requirements. Finally, we describe ASF, our attack simulation framework for WSNs. Such a tool helps network designers to quantitatively evaluate effects of security attacks, produce an attack ranking based on their severity, and thus select the most appropriate countermeasures

Groupware requirements evolution patterns

Requirements evolution is a generally known problem in software development. Requirements are known to change all throughout a system's lifecycle. Nevertheless, requirements evolution is a poorly understood phenomenon. Most studies on requirements evolution focus on changes to written specifications and on software architecture and design. Usually, the focus is when the software is under development. Little is known about how requirements evolve when software is put into use.\ud Groupware is an example of an application domain in which the requirements continue to evolve after the system is deployed to the organization. Groupware is any ICT (software + hardware) application that supports the cooperative processes of individuals working as a group. Increasingly, groupware functionality is becoming more present in today's business applications and large information systems. The cooperative processes supported by a groupware application have no structure. Rather, its structure evolves in a way that cannot be specified in advance and arises spontaneously. Therefore, how a groupware system will be used in its operating enviroment cannot be anticipated in advance. There is also the added complication that groupware requirements are difficult to elicit due to the elusive nature of cooperative work. As software for supporting the cooperative processes of people working together, groupware technology has the potential to bring about profound organizational changes. Various studies of groupware implementation point to emergent organizational properties. The interaction between users and software leads to improvements in performance, new forms of communication, changes to group structure and functioning, all of which indicate that requirements have changed.\ud This study is an empirical investigation of requirements evolution for groupware systems in use by means of case studies. Its goal is to contribute to the development of a theory of requirements evolution. A conceptual framework offering an integrated view of requirements as a collection of domains was developed to guide and structure the investigation. The view takes the broad dimensions of business, software, problems, and solutions as requirements thus giving rise to four domains of requirements: business problem, business solution, software product concept, and software solution specification. Requirements evolution is initially formulated as the change in requirements over the course of time.\ud The application domain of groupware was chosen as the empirical setting in which to observe requirements evolution during system use. Four case studies of groupware implementations were conducted. Two failed implementation and two successful implementations were investigated. The conceptual framework is used to analyze the cases and is updated and improved based on an evaluation of how useful has it been in providing insights about requirements evolution. A final version of the framework is developed and this is used to analyze the last two case studies.\ud The results include the discovery of impact relations: commonly recurring mechanisms by which changed and new requirements lead to other requirements in different areas. Ultimately, requirements evolution is the resolution of a breakdown or an initiative resulting in an impact relation. The most important contribution of this research is a set of requirements evolution patterns: aggregations of impact relation sequences that explain the mechanisms underlying awkwardly familiar patterns of behavior in system implementation

Healthcare Management Primer

This primer was written by students enrolled in HMP 721.01, Management of Health Care Organizations, in the Health Management & Policy Program, College of Health and Human Services, University of New Hampshire. This course was taught by Professor Mark Bonica in Fall 2017

The Frontiers of Technology in Warhead Verification

How might new technical verification capabilities enhance the prospects of success in future nuclear arms control negotiations? Both theory and evidence suggest that verification technologies can influence the dynamics of arms control negotiations by shaping and constraining the arguments and strategies that are available to the involved stakeholders. In the future, new technologies may help transcend the specific verification challenge of high-security warhead authentication, which is a verification capability needed in future disarmament scenarios that address fewer warheads, limit new categories of warheads, and involve nuclear weapons states other than the United States and Russia. Under these circumstances, the core challenge is maintaining the confidentiality of the classified information related to the warheads under inspection, while providing transparency in the verification process. This analysis focuses on a set of emerging warhead authentication approaches that rely on the cryptographic concept of zero-knowledge proofs and intend to solve the paradox between secrecy and transparency, making deeper reductions in warhead arsenals possible and thus facilitating future nuclear arms control negotiations

Guided self-organisation in open distributed systems

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Lean manufacturing as a high-performance work system: The case of Cochlear

© 2014 Taylor and Francis. This paper addresses the Special Issue call for Australian examples of innovative management systems that enable the production of successful products by drawing on a single case study: medical device manufacturer Cochlear. Through qualitative case study methodology, we examine the human resource management practices that complemented the implementation of lean manufacturing principles. We argue that in their implementation, Cochlears management team enriched the traditional understanding of lean and its focus on waste reduction, low cost and quality assurance by adopting people management practices as an integrated component of the overall management capability which allowed their people to grow and develop. The combination of lean and HR practices transformed Cochlear to a high-performance work system and positively impacted production processes and output. By examining a medical device manufacturer, an under-researched sector, our paper expands existing literature on lean manufacturing and provides implications for practitioners