Practical run-time norm enforcement with bounded lookahead

Norms have been widely proposed as a means of coordinating and controlling the behaviour of agents in a multi-agent system. A key challenge in normative MAS is norm enforcement: how and when to restrict the agents’ behaviour in order to obtain a desirable outcome? Even if a norm can be enforced theoretically, it may not be enforceable in a grounded, practical setting. In this paper we study the problem of practical norm enforcement. The key notion is that of a guard. Guards are functions which restrict the possible actions after a history of events. We propose a formal, computational model of norms, guards and norm enforcement, based on linear-time temporal logic with past operators. We show that not all norms can be enforced by such guard functions, even in the presence of unlimited computational power to reason about future events. We analyse which norms can be enforced by guards if only a fixed lookahead is available. We investigate decision problems for this question with respect to specific classes of norms, related to safety and liveness properties

Healthcare Organization Change Management Strategies to Guide Information Technology With for Information Technology Change Initiatives

As technology and organizations continue to increase in complexity, a willingness to implement change management strategies for Internet technology (IT) change initiatives is necessary in a healthcare setting. This multiple case study explored change management strategies that 3 hospital administrators at 3 different hospitals in the southeast region of the United States used to guide organizational IT change activities to avoid waste and increase profits. The conceptual framework for this study was Lewin\u27s organizational change model and Kanter\u27s theory of structural empowerment. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and a review of hospital documentation from the 3 hospitals. The data analysis process was completed by transcribing the interview recordings and coding the data using a codebook and data-management software. Themes that emerged from data analysis included strategies to increase digitization in all areas, improve communication with IT personnel, provide ongoing training, and encourage the gradual adoption of technology. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to provide hospital managers with successful strategies related to the use of IT in hospitals to facilitate improved patient care and community well-being

BARCH: a business analytics problem formulation and solving framework

The BARCH framework is a business framework that is specifically formulated to help analysts and management who want to identify and formulate a scenario to which Analytics can be applied and the outcome will have a direct impact on the business. This is the overarching public work that I have used extensively in various projects and research. This framework has been developed initially in the banking sector and has evolved progressively with successive projects. The framework’s name represents five aspects for the formulation and identification of an area that one can use Analytics to answer. The five aspects are Business, Analytics, Revenue, Cost and Human. The five aspects represent the entire system and approach to the identification, formulation, understanding and modelling of Analytic problems. The five aspects are not necessarily sequential but are interrelated in some ways where certain aspects are dependent on the other aspects. For example, revenue and cost are related to business and depend on the business from which they are derived. However, in most practices involving Analytics, Analytics are conducted independent of business and the techniques in Analytics are not derived from business directly. This lack of harmony between business and Analytics creates an unfortunate combination of factors that has led to the failure of Analytics projects for many businesses. In intensely practising Analytics and critically reflecting on every piece of work I have done, I have learned the importance of combining knowledge with skills and experience to come up with new knowledge and a form of practical wisdom. I also realize now the importance of understanding fields that are not directly related to my field of specialization. Through this context statement I have been able to increase the articulation of my thinking and the complexities of practice through approaches to knowledge such as transdisciplinarity which further supports the translation of what I can do and what needs to be done in a way that business clients can understand. Having the opportunity to explore concepts new to me from other academic fields and seeking their relevance and application in my own area of expertise has helped me considerably in the ongoing development of the BARCH framework and successful implementation of Analytics projects. I have selected the results of three projects published in papers that are listed in Appendices A-C to demonstrate how the model can be applied to solve problems successfully compared to other frameworks. The evolution of the model involves a continual feedback loop of learning from each successive project which contributes to the BARCH model being able to not only continuously demonstrate its applicability to various problems but to consistently produce better and more refined results. The majority of analytical models applied to the many problems in the business environment address the problems only superficially (Bose, 2009; Krioukov et. al., 2011), that is without understanding the impact on the business as a whole. Many Analytics projects have not delivered the promised impact because the models applied are overly complicated (Stubbs, 2013) to solve the root causes of the business problem. This situation is compounded by an increasing number of analysts applying Analytics to business problems without a proper understanding of the context, technique and environment (Stubbs, 2013). While many experts in the field interpret the problem as a multidisciplinary problem, the problem is in my opinion transdisciplinary in nature

Television Playout Development Towards Flexible IT-based Solutions

The purpose of this study was to update television playout system. An Estonian television and radio network operator Levira playout centre needed expansion in infrastructure to be able to accommodate larger channel count. Renewals of media asset management and automation systems were also required to handle requirements of the larger channel count and to automate processes. Television playout systems and solutions are going through big changes. These changes reflect partially new developments in the whole broadcasting industry and the way people use video, as well as changes and development in other areas of technology, especially in IT. These changes do not come without challenges with new workflows and ways of operating. These projects were to be done not only for current needs but also to be ready for the coming years. This was taken into consideration on system design and planning as well as on choosing the partners for the projects. As a result of this study, an up to date playout centre was designed with flexible IT based solutions that are easy to update and customize for varying needs of different television channels. Playout centre has room to grow and it is ready for requirements of future without need for major changes in the system.Työn tavoitteena oli television lähetyskeskuksen järjestelmän päivittäminen. Virolaisen television ja radion lähetysverkkotoimija Leviran lähetyskeskus tarvitsi laajennuksen olemassa olevaan järjestelmään, jotta se pystyisi lähettämään suuremman määrän kanavia. Myös lähetyskeskuksen medianhallinta- ja automaatiojärjestelmät täytyi päivittää tämän suuremman kanavamäärän tukemiseksi ja työnkulun tehostamiseksi. Television lähetysjärjestelmät ja ratkaisut käyvät läpi isoja muutoksia. Nämä muutokset heijastuvat osin koko televisiotoiminnan muutoksesta ja siitä, miten katsojat ylipäätään käyttävät videota ja osin informaatioteknologian (IT) kehityksestä. Se on selvää, että muutokset tuovat uusia haasteita, edellyttävät täysin uudenlaisten työnkulkujen ja ajatusmallien omaksumista. Molemmat projektit toteutettiin ottaen huomioon tämän hetken tarpeet tiedostopohjaisen työnkulun ja kasvavan kanavamäärän tuoman kapasiteettivaatimusten suhteen sekä ennen kaikkea lähivuosien mahdolliset vaatimukset muuttuvien jakelukanavien osalta. Systeemin suunnittelu ja yhteistyökumppaneiden valinta painotettiin sen mukaisesti. Toteutettuna lopputuloksena on television lähetyskeskusjärjestelmä, joka pohjautuu helposti päivitettäviin ja eri televisiokanavien vaihteleviin tarpeisiin mukautuviin IT-laitteistoihin. Järjestelmällä on tilaa kasvaa sekä kehittyä tulevaisuuteen ilman välitöntä tarvetta merkittäviin systeemitason muutoksiin

Optimized Tip Cooling Using AM Process

This Final Design Review (FDR) reports on the senior design project undertaken by our team of mechanical engineering seniors at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. This project seeks to use the additive manufacturing process to improve the existing design of a Taurus 60 gas turbine injector tip. The current injector tip is owned by Solar Turbines, a designer and manufacturer of gas turbines for electric generation, propulsion, as well as natural resource transportation. The challenge at hand is to design a new injector tip that will be reliable for at least 60,000 hours and provide ease of replacement, whilst employing a cost-effective additive manufacturing process. Our Final Design Review (FDR) report will be divided into seven categories: compiled research findings, our understanding of the challenge, a design strategy outline, concept designs and design direction, current design iterations, manufacturing plan, design verification, and project management strategy. Furthermore, the Final Design Review will document the progress of design validation through a series of computational analyses. Current analytical results show that there is potential for our designs to meet specifications of the 1350 °F threshold and additive manufacturing compliance. Some details have been omitted for sponsor privacy

Security architecture methodology for large net-centric systems

This thesis describes an over-arching security architecture methodology for large network enabled systems that can be scaled down for smaller network centric operations such as present at the University of Missouri-Rolla. By leveraging the five elements of security policy & standards, security risk management, security auditing, security federation and security management, of the proposed security architecture and addressing the specific needs of UMR, the methodology was used to determine places of improvement for UMR --Abstract, page iii

Support Through Strengthening Relational Ties : An Examination On The Impact Of Community-Based Partnerships In Closing Opportunity Gaps For Students

Oftentimes I have witnessed a disconnect between addressing student need and the services a community partnership provides. I conducted a qualitative study to examine the impact a faith-based community partnership had on its participating students. I interviewed directors, staff, and parents, as well as completed numerous onsite observations to gather evidence. I discovered that the level of effectiveness is contingent upon the commitment that takes place between the school and partnered organization. Partnerships are essential to efforts to expand when, where, how, and what students learn (Little, 2011). If expectations are jointly created with all parties engaged in ongoing communication and continual progress monitoring, it highly influences a more beneficial outcome of success for students

Multi-Agent Systems

This Special Issue ""Multi-Agent Systems"" gathers original research articles reporting results on the steadily growing area of agent-oriented computing and multi-agent systems technologies. After more than 20 years of academic research on multi-agent systems (MASs), in fact, agent-oriented models and technologies have been promoted as the most suitable candidates for the design and development of distributed and intelligent applications in complex and dynamic environments. With respect to both their quality and range, the papers in this Special Issue already represent a meaningful sample of the most recent advancements in the field of agent-oriented models and technologies. In particular, the 17 contributions cover agent-based modeling and simulation, situated multi-agent systems, socio-technical multi-agent systems, and semantic technologies applied to multi-agent systems. In fact, it is surprising to witness how such a limited portion of MAS research already highlights the most relevant usage of agent-based models and technologies, as well as their most appreciated characteristics. We are thus confident that the readers of Applied Sciences will be able to appreciate the growing role that MASs will play in the design and development of the next generation of complex intelligent systems. This Special Issue has been converted into a yearly series, for which a new call for papers is already available at the Applied Sciences journal’s website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/special_issues/Multi-Agent_Systems_2019

BYOD: Risk considerations in a South African organisation

In recent times, while numerous organisations have difficulty keeping abreast with the frequent year-on-year technology changes, their employees on the other hand, continue to bring their personal devices to work to more readily access organisational data. This concept is known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Studies have demonstrated that the introduction of BYOD commonly has a positive effect on both organisation and employees: increased optimism, job satisfaction and productivity are some of the perceived positive effects. Furthermore, BYOD can improve employees’ opportunities for mobile working and assist with the work flexibility they seek. This phenomenon, however, is still not well understood. In the South African context, this refers particularly to an inadequate understanding of risks associated with the introduction of BYOD into organisations. Some of the risks associated with this phenomenon are, for instance, related to information security, legislation and privacy issues. Hence, the intention of this research was to investigate, determine and assess BYOD risk considerations in a South African organisation. Using the available literature on this subject and an interpretative exploratory case study approach, this research explored various facets of BYOD-related risks (e.g. implementational, technological, legislation, regulation and privacy risks, human aspects and organisational concerns) as well as the impact these risks may have on both employees and an organisation. The organisation under investigation – from this point onward referred to as “Organisation A” – is a South African based information technology (IT) security consulting and service management organisation, which has seen increased expansion in its business and thus an increase in the number of its employees utilising their personal devices at the workplace. Even so, Organisation A was uncertain regarding possible risks that might hinder benefits of BYOD. Hence, this researcher defined the main research question as “What are the risks of introducing the BYOD in the South African organisation and what is an effective approach to address identified risks?”. The main objective was to identify and describe BYOD-related risks and to propose an appropriate model for addressing these risks. To answer the main research question, this researcher reviewed the applicable literature on the BYOD, including the limited South African literature pertaining to the subject. The review elicited the most common BYOD-related risks but also some models, frameworks and standards that may be applied for addressing these risks. Based on these revelations, an applicable BYOD risk management model was created and proposed. The literature review findings were subsequently tested in the empirical setting (in Organisation A) by conducting comprehensive interviews with research participants. This research adopted a qualitative approach in general and a case study methodology in particular. The collected data were analysed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), which aided in providing a comprehensive understanding of the interviewees’ responses regarding the BYOD risks. The interviewees were selected based on a purposeful (pre-defined) sampling. The results of this interpretative research suggest that the interviewees’ responses are closely aligned with the information on BYOD risks collected from the pertinent literature. The results show that successful introduction and usage of BYOD in the studied organisation requires the implementation of mixed risk management measures: technological (e.g. mobile device management and its additional components), non-technological (e.g. IT or BYOD security policies), the usage of general risk management frameworks (e.g. ISO 27001), the development of an organisational security culture and skilling of the human factor (e.g. employee awareness, training and education, for example). Additionally, it was found that participation of employees in the development of BYOD policies is an essential and effective tactic for transforming a fragile BYOD risk link (i.e. employees) into a strong risk prevention mechanism. Furthermore, this research also revealed that in the South African context, it is important that an organisation’s BYOD security policies are sound, preferably meeting the POPI Act requirements and thereby avoiding legislation risks. The contribution of this research is twofold: first academic, and second, practical. The academic contribution is realised by adding to the body of knowledge on the BYOD risks – most particularly in terms of understanding potential risks when introducing BYOD in the South African context. The practical contribution manifests through the provision of detailed risk considerations and mitigation guidelines for organisations wishing to introduce BYOD practices or considering ways to improve their current BYOD risk management strategy. It is acknowledged that this research has some limitations, particularly in regard to the limited generalisation of the findings due to the limited sample provided by only one organisation. Although the results are not necessarily applicable to other South African organisations, these limitations did not impact the relevance and validity of this research