Specifying Space Defense Operator Interfaces through the Application of Cognitive Systems Engineering and Prototyping

The Department of Defense needs better tools to support its operators as they strive to defend its space assets. The growing sophistication of anti-satellite weapons increasingly challenges the nation’s orbital communications and surveillance infrastructure. Operators face difficulties gathering useful information and dealing with the complexity of potential enemy actions. This research applied cognitive systems engineering and ecological interface design (EID) methodologies to create a prototype space mission management tool that enhances operator situation awareness and decision-making ability. Applied cognitive task analysis interviews were used to document space operator decision-making in their domain. Model-based systems engineering was applied to integrate work domain concepts into system models. EID methods were applied to inform user interface designs that support high-level decision making in addition to low-level tasks. User interface concepts were developed using rapid prototyping software, Axure 9.0, to satisfy the system requirements. The software prototypes were shown to space operators and assessed for validity. This process demonstrated how cognitive systems engineering can be used to derive system requirements and create system designs, the elements of which can be captured in a systems model and traced to operator goals, resulting in systems that are more capable of supporting operator needs in challenging environments

Modelling business processes with links to ISO 9001

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/795 on 14.02.2017 by CS (TIS)This work in the domain of quality management and business process design looks at how the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard for quality management systems are designed and implemented in business. It is the aim of the research reported in this thesis to support manufacturing companies when modelling a Fulfil Order Process by identifying the links to the ISO 9001 quality standard and highlighting potential impact from any changes in the process or the standard during a redesign project. It does so by presenting a modelling technique, named IDEF9000, which will enable companies to take a systemic perspective of a Fulfil Order Process identifying all relevant links to ISO 9001. A research strategy based around the experiences of companies when designing business processes with links to ISO 9001 was adopted. In-depth case studies carried out by the author showed that simply documenting what an organisation does to satisfy the various elements of ISO 9001 is still one of the most common approaches adopted. This results in a process-oriented character only at the documentation stage. It is the result of limited guidance on how to integrate the requirements of ISO 900 I in business processes. The work proceeded by exploring the domains of business processes, the use of systems thinking to explain business processes and the relevance of ISO 9001 requirements from a process-based viewpoint. A set of criteria was developed to identify activities, information and other flows controlled by ISO 9001 to design a Fulfil Order Process in a manufacturing company. This provided the context for the development of the modelling technique IDEF9000, which is an enhanced version of IDEFo, and its validation by review and by use in two manufacturing companies. The originality of this work lies in the identification and emphasis by the author of the need to take a systemic view of business processes when designing or redesigning a process-based ISO 9001 quality management system. Also, criteria for a technique to address the modelling of a Fulfil Order Process were identified. Furthermore this contribution to knowledge includes the identification of links between ISO 9001 requirements and a holistic Fulfil Order Process. This led to the development of further criteria for modelling such a business process showing the links to ISO 9001. IDEF9000 represents an improved modelling approach that fulfils the identified criteria and permits the systemic design or redesign of a Fulfil Order Process while establishing the links controlled by the ISO 9001 quality standard

Myth or magic: the impact of financial technology on financial inclusion in Africa

With the worldwide focus on financial inclusion to decrease poverty levels by banking the unbanked, understanding how to facilitate the banking of the previously unbanked in developing countries has become a globally topical issue. To contribute to this discussion from the perspective of Africa, the following paper endeavours to compute financial inclusion indices (FII) for 36 African countries. The paper leverages a model developed by Cámara and Tuesta (2014), using a two-stage Principal Component Analysis with definitions for financial inclusion variables from Sarma (2008). Upon computing the indices, we then endeavour to study the relationship between financial technology (fintech) and financial inclusion by running a regression analysis between fintech variables and the financial inclusion indices. As expected, we find that the highest financial inclusion levels are in the Southern and East African regions, with the lowest in Central Africa. The introduction of mobile money has had a significant impact on financial inclusion levels, particularly in East Africa. Our analysis also finds that the usage variable is critical in understanding the depth of financial inclusion. While this is so, there is still a great need for improvements across financial access, usage and availability in Africa. The regression analysis confirms this assessment, showing that overall, the use of mobile accounts has a positive and significant relationship with financial inclusion. At the same time, the use of digital payments for existing accounts also improves financial inclusion but to a lesser extent. The distinction between the impact of mobile banking and digital payments is an important one given that ownership of mobile banking increases the number of people with access to financial services while using digital payments merely deepens and enhances the usage of existing account holders. Macroeconomic factors of economic growth and banking sector development also are significant for financial inclusion, though to a lesser degree. This paper recommends the study of what impacts the sub-indices both positively and negatively, and how countries can maximise each sub-index, as it is an important focus area for policymakers who are looking to improve financial inclusion levels for their respective countries. We further recommend the development of a unified taxonomy on financial inclusion and its measurements. The role of policymakers would be to propel forward the formulation of this taxonomy, working with all the relevant stakeholders

Boise State University Undergraduate Catalog: 1995-1996

https://scholarship.shu.edu/undergraduate_catalogues/1046/thumbnail.jp

Effective Knowledge Transfer: A Terminological Perspective - Dismantling The Jargon Barrier To Knowledge About Computer Security

The research is concerned with the terminological problems that computer users experience when they try to formulate their knowledge needs and attempt to access information contained in computer manuals or online help systems while building up their knowledge. This is the recognized but unresolved problem of communication between the specialist and the layman. The initial hypothesis was that computer users, through their knowledge of language, have some prior knowledge of the subdomain of computing they are trying to come to terms with, and that language can be a facilitating mechanism, or an obstacle, in the development of that knowledge. Related to this is the supposition that users have a conceptual apparatus based on both theoretical knowledge and experience of the world, and of several domains of special reference related to the environment in which they operate. The theoretical argument was developed by exploring the relationship between knowledge and language, and considering the efficacy of terms as agents of special subject knowledge representation. Having charted in a systematic way the territory of knowledge sources and types, we were able to establish that there are many aspects of knowledge which cannot be represented by terms. This submission is important, as it leads to the realization that significant elements of knowledge are being disregarded in retrieval systems because they are normally expressed by language elements which do not enjoy the status of terms. Furthermore, we introduced the notion of `linguistic ease of retrieval' as a challenge to more conventional thinking which focuses on retrieval results