Optimization of the level of components' functionality of developing software systems

The article discusses the design issues of complex multi-component software systems that function throughout the entire life cycle, taking into account the optimal level of functionality of their components. The authors provide a review of existing design techniques and life cycle models of such systems. The authors conclude that it is necessary to optimize the level of functionality of components with resource constraints for development and maintaining their compliance with functional requirements throughout the entire life of software systems. The concept of the function of matching the functionality of a component with current system requirements is introduced.Moreover, the modification of a system component at certain points in time requires corresponding costs for the modernization and completion of the system component. This is especially true for the class of developing software systems (DSS), which are constantly being upgraded over time.

Change management approach for enterprise transformation and improvement

Thesis (S.M. in Engineering and Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, February 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "September 2012."Includes bibliographical references (pages 80-82).Enterprises, companies and organizations around the world strive to achieve competitive advantage by designing and implementing more advanced business and organizational architectures, streamlined and robust processes and structures, and effective and scalable management systems and practices. Industry, academia and management consulting companies have developed a variety of organizational models, change frameworks and transformation roadmaps to facilitate and to support business improvement activities and initiatives. The overall change management landscape, however, remains rather vague, overlapping and fragmented at the same time. To reduce this ambiguity and to be able to make a better-educated choice of models and frameworks to use, a close examination, classification, mapping and analysis of leading models and frameworks is conducted here. Common themes and distinct features are identified. An alternative high level organizational model is proposed. The coupled nature and duality of organizational models and change frameworks are identified and explored. Macro and meso levels of change management are considered and bridged via the classification of change management actions and interventions and the decomposition of change management planning and transformation design phases. To complement high level change management frameworks with applied tools, a change management projects scoring approach called "BLUE-over-RED" is proposed. In addition, an attempt to formulate a formal problem of organization transition trajectory optimization using the apparatus of operations research and graph theory is made.by Dmitry Uspenskiy.S.M.in Engineering and Managemen

Automatically Detecting the Resonance of Terrorist Movement Frames on the Web

The ever-increasing use of the internet by terrorist groups as a platform for the dissemination of radical, violent ideologies is well documented. The internet has, in this way, become a breeding ground for potential lone-wolf terrorists; that is, individuals who commit acts of terror inspired by the ideological rhetoric emitted by terrorist organizations. These individuals are characterized by their lack of formal affiliation with terror organizations, making them difficult to intercept with traditional intelligence techniques. The radicalization of individuals on the internet poses a considerable threat to law enforcement and national security officials. This new medium of radicalization, however, also presents new opportunities for the interdiction of lone wolf terrorism. This dissertation is an account of the development and evaluation of an information technology (IT) framework for detecting potentially radicalized individuals on social media sites and Web fora. Unifying Collective Action Framing Theory (CAFT) and a radicalization model of lone wolf terrorism, this dissertation analyzes a corpus of propaganda documents produced by several, radically different, terror organizations. This analysis provides the building blocks to define a knowledge model of terrorist ideological framing that is implemented as a Semantic Web Ontology. Using several techniques for ontology guided information extraction, the resultant ontology can be accurately processed from textual data sources. This dissertation subsequently defines several techniques that leverage the populated ontological representation for automatically identifying individuals who are potentially radicalized to one or more terrorist ideologies based on their postings on social media and other Web fora. The dissertation also discusses how the ontology can be queried using intuitive structured query languages to infer triggering events in the news. The prototype system is evaluated in the context of classification and is shown to provide state of the art results. The main outputs of this research are (1) an ontological model of terrorist ideologies (2) an information extraction framework capable of identifying and extracting terrorist ideologies from text, (3) a classification methodology for classifying Web content as resonating the ideology of one or more terrorist groups and (4) a methodology for rapidly identifying news content of relevance to one or more terrorist groups

Playful mapping in the digital age:The Playful Mapping Collective

From Mah-Jong, to the introduction of Prussian war-games, through to the emergence of location-based play: maps and play share a long and diverse history. This monograph shows how mapping and playing unfold in the digital age, when the relations between these apparently separate tropes are increasingly woven together. Fluid networks of interaction have encouraged a proliferation of hybrid forms of mapping and playing and a rich plethora of contemporary case-studies, ranging from fieldwork, golf, activism and automotive navigation, to pervasive and desktop-based games evidences this trend. Examining these cases shows how mapping and playing can form productive synergies, but also encourages new ways of being, knowing and shaping our everyday lives. The chapters in this book explore how play can be more than just an object or practice, and instead focus on its potential as a method for understanding maps and spatiality. They show how playing and mapping can be liberating, dangerous, subversive and performative

Sociolinguistically Driven Approaches for Just Natural Language Processing

Natural language processing (NLP) systems are now ubiquitous. Yet the benefits of these language technologies do not accrue evenly to all users, and indeed they can be harmful; NLP systems reproduce stereotypes, prevent speakers of non-standard language varieties from participating fully in public discourse, and re-inscribe historical patterns of linguistic stigmatization and discrimination. How harms arise in NLP systems, and who is harmed by them, can only be understood at the intersection of work on NLP, fairness and justice in machine learning, and the relationships between language and social justice. In this thesis, we propose to address two questions at this intersection: i) How can we conceptualize harms arising from NLP systems?, and ii) How can we quantify such harms? We propose the following contributions. First, we contribute a model in order to collect the first large dataset of African American Language (AAL)-like social media text. We use the dataset to quantify the performance of two types of NLP systems, identifying disparities in model performance between Mainstream U.S. English (MUSE)- and AAL-like text. Turning to the landscape of bias in NLP more broadly, we then provide a critical survey of the emerging literature on bias in NLP and identify its limitations. Drawing on work across sociology, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, social psychology, and education, we provide an account of the relationships between language and injustice, propose a taxonomy of harms arising from NLP systems grounded in those relationships, and propose a set of guiding research questions for work on bias in NLP. Finally, we adapt the measurement modeling framework from the quantitative social sciences to effectively evaluate approaches for quantifying bias in NLP systems. We conclude with a discussion of recent work on bias through the lens of style in NLP, raising a set of normative questions for future work

Tracing Passenger Safety Perception for Cruise Ship Design

This study explores how passengers perceive safety on board a cruise ship during normal operating conditions. The research aims to deepen understanding of how the different environmental characteristics of a cruise ship impact safety perceptions and determine whether it is possible to enhance perceived safety by means of design and how the interaction of different environmental characteristics can be visualized to support the ship design process. Passengers can only feel comfortable in conditions that they perceive as safe. Safety and comfort constitute key criteria for cruise operators when they order new cruise ships. Comprehension of passengers’ safety perception can guide the design process towards improved safety and a more enjoyable cruise experience. Understanding of passengers’ safety perception provides valuable information for ship societies developing cruise ship comfort classifications. The study followed the user-centred research approach. User data were collected through 19 situated interviews and 38 days of observation in an authentic cruise ship environment during five cruises. Passenger insights were analysed by visualizing the interconnectivity of the identified human (openness, sounds) andnon-human (handrails, uniforms) environmental characteristics. This revealed how individual environmental characteristics are interrelated in terms of passengers’ perceived safety. The findings were verified with a survey, which applied conjoint analysis. The research highlights the importance of passengers’ perceptions for designing a safe and comfortable ship. It argues that safety perception in a cruise ship environment is responsive to passenger perceptions of certain connected human and nonhuman environmental characteristics that are typical of this environment. These same environmental characteristics appear in ship safety regulations and in passengers’ perceptions, but their perspectives differ. Designers are able to influence passenger safety perceptions through the openness and transparency of the space, thereby enhancing visibility and navigation as well as providing egress options. Design can also communicate trust in the ship’s emergency handling capacity through the visibility and appearance of the lifesaving appliances, competent crew and well-maintained equipment. Furthermore, situational awareness should be supported through the design of the environmental characteristics, such as sounds, signageand architectural elements. Mastering positive translations from interconnected human and non-human environmental characteristics to safety perceptions helps to enhance passengers’ comfort and avoid misperceptions that lead to discomfort and even incorrect behaviour in accident situations.Tracing Passenger Safety Perception for Cruise Ship Design tutkii, kuinka matkustajat kokevat turvallisuuden risteilylaivoilla normaalin toiminnan aikana. Tutkimuksessa pyritään ymmärtämään, kuinka risteilylaivaympäristön ominaisuudet vaikuttavat turvallisuuden kokemiseen, onko turvallisuuden kokemusta mahdollista parantaa muotoilun keinoin ja miten erilaisten ympäristön ominaisuuksien vuorovaikutus voidaanvisualisoida tukemaan laivan muotoiluprosessia. Matkustajat voivat tuntea olonsa mukavaksi vain tilanteessa, jonka he kokevat myös turvalliseksi. Koettu turvallisuus ja mukavuus ovat tärkeitä kriteereitä, kun risteilyvarustamot tilaavat uutta risteilylaivaa. Turvallisuuden kokemisen ymmärtämisellä voidaan ohjata muotoiluprosessia suuntaan, joka entisestäänparantaa matkustajien turvallisuutta ja risteilyelämystä. Tämä tieto on myös arvokasta laivojen luokituslaitoksille risteilylaivojen mukavuusluokituksia kehitettäessä. Käyttäjälähtöisen tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin viidellä eri risteilyllä autenttisessa risteilylaivaympäristössä. Aineisto muodostuu 19 tilannesidonnaisesta haastattelusta ja 38 risteilypäivänhavainnoinnista. Aineistosta esiin nousseiden inhimillisten (avoimuus, äänet) ja ei-inhimillisten (kaide, univormu) ympäristön ominaisuuksien yhteys toisiinsa analysointiin visualisoimalla. Tästä selvisi, kuinka yksittäiset ympäristön ominaisuudet ovat kytköksissä matkustajan turvallisuuden kokemiseen. Löydöksettodennettiin kyselytutkimuksella ja conjoint-analyysilla. Tutkimus korostaa matkustajien turvallisuuden kokemisen merkitystä laivojen turvallisuuden ja mukavuuden suunnittelussa. Tutkimuksessa väitetään, että turvallisuuden kokeminen risteilylaivaympäristössä on yhteydessä matkustajien tulkintoihin tietyistä risteilylaivaympäristölle tyypillisistä inhimillisten jaei-inhimillisten ominaisuuksien yhdistelmistä. Näitä samoja ominaisuuksia esiintyy laivojen turvallisuuden suunnittelua koskevissa määräyksissä mutta eri näkökulmasta. Muotoilija pystyy vaikuttamaan turvallisuuden kokemiseen muokkaamalla tilan avoimuutta ja läpinäkyvyyttä, joka parantaa näkyvyyttä, tilassa suunnistamista sekä luo pelastautumisreittejä. Lisäksi muotoilun keinoin voidaan parantaa luottamusta laivan kykyyn turvata matkustajien turvallisuus hätätilanteessa ja keskeisimpiä tekijöitä ovat hyväkuntoisten turvavarusteiden näkyvyys sekä miehistön pätevä ulkoasu ja olemus. Matkustajien tilannetietoisuutta voidaan tukea myös ympäristön ominaisuuksien kautta, kuten äänin, viitoin ja tilasuunnittelulla. Hyödyntämällä tutkimuksen tuloksena saatua ymmärrystä voidaan välttää suunnitellun ympäristön väärinkäsittäminen ja jopa virheellinen käyttäytyminen onnettomuustilanteessa sekä kehittää matkustajien mukavuutta

3D-in-2D Displays for ATC.

This paper reports on the efforts and accomplishments of the 3D-in-2D Displays for ATC project at the end of Year 1. We describe the invention of 10 novel 3D/2D visualisations that were mostly implemented in the Augmented Reality ARToolkit. These prototype implementations of visualisation and interaction elements can be viewed on the accompanying video. We have identified six candidate design concepts which we will further research and develop. These designs correspond with the early feasibility studies stage of maturity as defined by the NASA Technology Readiness Level framework. We developed the Combination Display Framework from a review of the literature, and used it for analysing display designs in terms of display technique used and how they are combined. The insights we gained from this framework then guided our inventions and the human-centered innovation process we use to iteratively invent. Our designs are based on an understanding of user work practices. We also developed a simple ATC simulator that we used for rapid experimentation and evaluation of design ideas. We expect that if this project continues, the effort in Year 2 and 3 will be focus on maturing the concepts and employment in a operational laboratory settings

Work Practice Simulation of Complex Human-Automation Systems in Safety Critical Situations: The Brahms Generalized berlingen Model

The transition from the current air traffic system to the next generation air traffic system will require the introduction of new automated systems, including transferring some functions from air traffic controllers to on-board automation. This report describes a new design verification and validation (V&V) methodology for assessing aviation safety. The approach involves a detailed computer simulation of work practices that includes people interacting with flight-critical systems. The research is part of an effort to develop new modeling and verification methodologies that can assess the safety of flight-critical systems, system configurations, and operational concepts. The 2002 Ueberlingen mid-air collision was chosen for analysis and modeling because one of the main causes of the accident was one crew's response to a conflict between the instructions of the air traffic controller and the instructions of TCAS, an automated Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System on-board warning system. It thus furnishes an example of the problem of authority versus autonomy. It provides a starting point for exploring authority/autonomy conflict in the larger system of organization, tools, and practices in which the participants' moment-by-moment actions take place. We have developed a general air traffic system model (not a specific simulation of berlingen events), called the Brahms Generalized Ueberlingen Model (Brahms-GUeM). Brahms is a multi-agent simulation system that models people, tools, facilities/vehicles, and geography to simulate the current air transportation system as a collection of distributed, interactive subsystems (e.g., airports, air-traffic control towers and personnel, aircraft, automated flight systems and air-traffic tools, instruments, crew). Brahms-GUeM can be configured in different ways, called scenarios, such that anomalous events that contributed to the berlingen accident can be modeled as functioning according to requirements or in an anomalous condition, as occurred during the accident. Brahms-GUeM thus implicitly defines a class of scenarios, which include as an instance what occurred at berlingen. Brahms-GUeM is a modeling framework enabling "what if" analysis of alternative work system configurations and thus facilitating design of alternative operations concepts. It enables subsequent adaption (reusing simulation components) for modeling and simulating NextGen scenarios. This project demonstrates that BRAHMS provides the capacity to model the complexity of air transportation systems, going beyond idealized and simple flights to include for example the interaction of pilots and ATCOs. The research shows clearly that verification and validation must include the entire work system, on the one hand to check that mechanisms exist to handle failures of communication and alerting subsystems and/or failures of people to notice, comprehend, or communicate problematic (unsafe) situations; but also to understand how people must use their own judgment in relating fallible systems like TCAS to other sources of information and thus to evaluate how the unreliability of automation affects system safety. The simulation shows in particular that distributed agents (people and automated systems) acting without knowledge of each others' actions can create a complex, dynamic system whose interactive behavior is unexpected and is changing too quickly to comprehend and control