Technology assessment of future intercity passenger transportation systems. Volume 5: Workshop proceedings

Proceedings of a workshop conducted to identify and debate issues and impacts related to future transporation alternatives are presented. Results of the technology assessment of intercity transportation are reviewed

Decision Support Systems: Issues and Challenges; Proceedings of an International Task Force Meeting, June 23-25, 1980

This book reports on a three-day meeting on Decision Support Systems held at IIASA. IIASA's interest in sponsoring the meeting was spurred by several factors. First, the term DSS clearly is used in a wide range of contexts; we hoped to develop a deeper understanding of the term and the new field to which it refers. Second, we felt that ongoing work in the DSS field would be enhanced by interaction between professionals who had been working on such systems and people from fields that function as "resource disciplines" for DSS. Finally we wished to bring professionals from several nations together, from the east as well as the west, to share experiences and to assess the viability of the DSS concept in different cultures. The broad objectives set for this meeting were realized in a number of ways. Virtually all the participants testified that they had gained a deeper understanding of DSS, the role it can play in asssisting managers in organizations, and the need for further development in key areas

Proceedings of the Distribution Automation and Control Working Group. Volume 2: Proceedings

The meeting provided a forum in which electric utilities could communicate with each other, with DOE, and with DOE's contractors regarding research, development, and demonstration efforts to apply DAC (Distribution Automation and Control) to the electric power system. In the discussions emphasis was to be placed on identifying the priorities and needs for DAC development

A normal accident theory-based complexity assessment methodology for safety-related embedded computer systems

"Computer-related accidents have caused injuries and fatalities in numerous applications. Normal accident theory (NAT) explains that these accidents are inevitable because of system complexity. Complex systems, such as computer-based systems, are highly interconnected, highly interactive, and tightly coupled. We do not have a scientific methodology to identify and quantify these complexities; specifically, NAT has not been operationalized for computer-based systems. Our research addressed this by operationalizing NAT for the system requirements of safety-related computer systems. It was theorized that there are two types of system complexity: external and internal. External complexity was characterized by three variables: system predictability, observability, and usability - the dependent variables. Internal complexity was characterized by modeling system requirements with software cost reduction dependency graphs, then quantifying model attributes using 15 graph-theoretical metrics - the independent variables. Dependent variable data were obtained by having 32 subjects run simulations of our research test vehicle: the light control system (LCS). The LCS simulation tests used a crossover design. Subject perceptions of these simulations were obtained by using a questionnaire. Canonical correlation analysis and structure correlations were used to test hypotheses 1 to 3: the dependent variables predictability, observability, and usability do not correlate with the NAT complexity metrics. Five of fifteen metrics proposed for NAT complexity correlated with the dependent data. These five metrics had structure correlations exceeding 0.25, standard errors <0.10, and a 95% confidence interval. Therefore, the null hypotheses were rejected. A Wilcoxon signed ranks test was used to test hypotheses 4 to 6: increasing NAT complexity increases system predictability, observability, and usability. The results showed that the dependent variables decreased as complexity increased. Therefore, null hypotheses 4 to 6 were rejected. This work is a step forward to operationalize NAT for safety-related computer systems; however, limitations exist. Opportunities addressing these limitations and advancing NAT were identified. Lastly, the major contribution of this work is fundamental to scientific research: to gain knowledge through the discovery of relationship between the variables of interest. Specifically, NAT has been advanced by defining and quantifying complexity measures and showing their inverse relationship to system predictability, observability, and usability." - NIOSHTIC-2NIOSHTIC no. 20024286200

Management: A bibliography for NASA managers

This bibliography lists 653 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in 1987. Items are selected and grouped according to their usefulness to the manager as manager. Citiations are grouped into ten subject categories; human factors and personnel issues; management theory and techniques; industrial management and manufacturing; robotics and expert systems; computers and information management; research and development; economics, costs and markets; logistics and operations management, reliability and quality control; and legality, legislation, and policy

Management: A continuing literature survey with indexes, March 1975

A special bibliography listing 1,064 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System in 1974 is presented

A behavioural analysis of the adoption and use of interactive computer systems by senior managers

The purpose of this research has been to make a contribution to knowledge about those processes and phenomena which influence the use of computer-based decision systems by senior managers for their own decision activities. In the course of the thesis, research questions are addressed which relate to the nature of the role of the directly-accessed computer in the working life of the top manager, and especially to the factors which influence computer adoption and use. A review of relevant literature enabled gaps in existing knowledge about senior managerial computer use to be identified, and indicated the potential value of exploratory research. A programme of interviews was devised and executed which enabled the exploration of the research problem across a sample of senior managers from private and public organizations. It is felt that the methodology of performing intra- and inter-organizational comparisons among computer-exposed managers was fundamental to achieving new insights into managerial behaviours. Following qualitative and qualitative analysis of the research data, a dynamic behavioural model of the computer adoption process in large organizations is proposed together with a description of salient behavioural features at key points in the process. This theoretical model contributes to an understanding of the nature and circumstances of the senior managerial behaviours associated with direct computer use