A sustainable life-cycle method

The need for innovative and cost effective approaches for infrastructure maintenance has never been more crucial. In fact, this has been a popular topic in technical reports like the McGraw Hill Construction, the Dutch Cobouw construction magazine and the new multidisciplinary journal “Infrastructure Asset Management” by the Institution of Civil Engineers. The financial status of Industrial Parks (IP) and Business Parks (BP) in the Netherlands, as well as in the rest of the world, has been greatly influenced by the 2007-2008 financial crisis. As a consequence, several IPs and BPs have suffered from infrastructural deterioration that needs to be revitalized.Therefore, one of the priorities facing municipalities nowadays is stimulating companies to invest and redefine such areas with the goal of improving its economic output and optimize the expenditure on its maintenance costs. The different stakeholders involved in the life-cycle management of these parks make strategic decisions based on data that has been gathered over time by its users, either private or public. However, gathering data is becoming more and more complex with time. Infrastructures in these parks are increasingly demanding custom supply of services by the private industry to cope with their technical operations.As a consequence, the level of detail of the assets information is very high. Hence, the digital collaboration and interoperability has become almost mandatory for enabling proper management in construction areas. Interoperability can be described as the ability of making systems and organization work together

A sustainable life-cycle method

The need for innovative and cost effective approaches for infrastructure maintenance has never been more crucial. In fact, this has been a popular topic in technical reports like the McGraw Hill Construction, the Dutch Cobouw construction magazine and the new multidisciplinary journal “Infrastructure Asset Management” by the Institution of Civil Engineers. The financial status of Industrial Parks (IP) and Business Parks (BP) in the Netherlands, as well as in the rest of the world, has been greatly influenced by the 2007-2008 financial crisis. As a consequence, several IPs and BPs have suffered from infrastructural deterioration that needs to be revitalized.Therefore, one of the priorities facing municipalities nowadays is stimulating companies to invest and redefine such areas with the goal of improving its economic output and optimize the expenditure on its maintenance costs. The different stakeholders involved in the life-cycle management of these parks make strategic decisions based on data that has been gathered over time by its users, either private or public. However, gathering data is becoming more and more complex with time. Infrastructures in these parks are increasingly demanding custom supply of services by the private industry to cope with their technical operations.As a consequence, the level of detail of the assets information is very high. Hence, the digital collaboration and interoperability has become almost mandatory for enabling proper management in construction areas. Interoperability can be described as the ability of making systems and organization work together

How sexuality affects the choices of voters across Europe

Drawing on a new study, Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte demonstrates that sexuality has a significant impact on political behaviour across western Europe, with lesbian, gay and bisexual voters far more likely to back parties on the left

The UK’s sexuality gap: LGB voters remain significantly more supportive of the Labour party

Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte provides the first case study analysis of a sexuality gap between heterosexuals and self-identified lesbian, gay and bisexuals (LGB) in Britain. He finds that LGB voters are almost 10 percentage points more likely to vote for Labour and 14 percentage points more likely to vote for any socially liberal party via-à-vis their heterosexual peers

Selfies, policies or votes?: How politicians can campaign effectively on Instagram

Twitter and Facebook have become crucial arenas for political competition, but what about Instagram? In new research, Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte assesses how parties in Spain have used the image-based social media platform and finds that political newcomers like Podemos and Ciudadanos are most effective at engaging voters, particularly when they focus on political leaders and mobilising supporters, but that policy communication is less effective

Do snap elections increase voters’ political trust? Evidence from Theresa May’s 2017 natural experiment suggests they do

Snap elections are an increasingly common occurrence in parliamentary democracies, but do these disruptions to the electoral calendar have consequences for voters’ trust in politics? Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte presents novel evidence from the 2017 snap election to show that voters are, on average, more trusting of government when provided with early summons to the polls

Systems thinking and simulation to help IT/Software professionals to visualize knowledge assets evolution according to digital solutions implementation

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorThis doctoral thesis presents the SIPAC-framework, a methodological proposal created to systemically guide and help software engineers and information technology professionals in the process of proposing a customized technological solution, specifically oriented to propose software or IT solutions that provides business value supported on the status of intangible knowledge assets of organizations, and from this, drive the achievement of the strategic goals that define the organizational operation. To achieve this, the SIPAC-framework comprises three layers clearly differentiated but intimately interrelated and co-dependent on each other: a methodological layer, a mechanisms layer and a technological layer inclusive of the technological artifacts to be used. 1. The methodological layer comprises the SIPAC methodology itself, inspired by Peter Checkland's soft systems approach, but adapted to, from an engineering point of view, addressing the situation given by the underlying knowledge of an organization, which it is usually unstructured and disordered, and whose understanding fits to be addressed as a complex problem. The SIPAC-framework guides the professional in the process of identifying such knowledge, structuring it in knowledge assets, organizing such assets according to the identity of the organization, characterizing them according to their quality and the impact they have in achieving the strategic objectives, exploiting them to propose an appropriate technological solution and envisaging possible future scenarios based on what can happen to them as a consequence of the decision making about the technological solution to be implemented. 2. The mechanisms layer comprises the constructs necessary to be able to carry out the subjacent activities of the methodological layer, mainly a model of identification and valuation of intangible knowledge assets, a model of characterization of the assets according to their quality and impact, a Markovian model of prediction of the re-characterization of intangible knowledge assets, and an instance-based learning model implementation of decisions on the implementation of technological solutions. 3. The technological layer constitutes the artifacts to be used during the deployment of the methodology to support its methodological processes. In detail, this layer presents an instrument for collecting information on the knowledge of a company and its structuring into knowledge assets, a web application for the management of such information through a database, an agent-based model that implements both the automatic characterization of the knowledge assets from the information stored in the database, as well as the simulation and prediction of the behavior of said assets as a product of the decisions made regarding technological implementations. The SIPAC framework has been used in a total of 11 small and medium enterprises, by means of teams of 2-4 software engineers each, who have been in charge of doing the deployment in two different time stages: an initial audit carried out in the pre-project phase and prior to the decision of technological implementation; and an audit carried out after the implementation of the technological solution. The interaction of said professionals with the interested parties by the companies (stakeholders) has been discontinuous, limited to specific audits, interviews and validations on the information and models built. This work has derived in the methodological proposal that constitutes the SIPAC-framework, with its mechanisms and technological artefacts, and whose impact can be evidenced in several aspects: • The effective elicitation and characterization of organizational knowledge of the participating companies. • The success of the goals-aligned digital solution implementation proposals, which is evidenced by the improvement in organizational knowledge assets’ state. • The effective predictive power of the SIPAC-framework’s simulation module. • The satisfaction of software engineers and IT professionals by both the process of d • The improvement of the profession of software engineers and professionals of information and communication technologies, by providing them with an innovative approach that leads them to demonstrate to their clients the knowledge they have, in what state they are, how they can improve and what can happen if they decide to improve it. • The emergence of organizational information that is traditionally hidden and incomprehensible, usually reserved for its management by expensive consultants and the experience of a few; all at a minimum cost, maximizing the visualization of the information and minimizing the complexity of its interpretation. • This thesis is a starting point for the development of the body of knowledge on the valuation of knowledge assets in technological environments as a tool to achieve the strategic goal of an organization. In addition, this work leaves open the way for the future development of decision-making models based on value, as well as the evolution of the presented model, ideally in a single patentable technological device.eploying the methodology and the results obtained.Esta tesis doctoral presenta SIPAC-framework, una propuesta metodológica creada para sistémicamente guiar y ayudar a los ingenieros de software y profesionales de las tecnologías de la información en el proceso de proponer una solución tecnológica customizada, orientada a proporcionar valor a las organizaciones y soportada en los activos intangibles de conocimiento de las organizaciones, de manera que se pueda, a partir de esto, impulsar la consecución de los objetivos estratégicos que dirigen su funcionamiento. Para conseguir esto, el SIPAC-framework comprende tres capas claramente diferenciadas, pero íntimamente interrelacionadas y codependientes entre sí: una capa metodológica, una capa de mecanismos y una capa tecnológica o de artefactos tecnológicos de soporte a ser usados. 1. La capa metodológica comprende la metodología SIPAC en sí misma, inspirada en el enfoque de sistemas blandos de Peter Checkland, pero adaptada a, desde un punto de vista ingenieril, abordar la situación dada por el conocimiento subyacente en una organización, el cual usualmente está desestructurado y desordenado, y cuya comprensión debe ser abordada como un problema complejo. SIPAC-framework guía al profesional en el proceso de identificar tal conocimiento, estructurarlo en activos de conocimiento, organizarlos en función de la identidad de la organización, caracterizarlos en función de su calidad y el impacto que estos tienen en la consecución de los objetivos estratégicos, explotarlos para proponer una adecuada solución tecnológica y visualizar posibles escenarios futuros en función de lo que puede pasar con ellos como consecuencia de la toma de decisiones sobre la solución tecnológica a implementar. 2. La capa de mecanismos comprende los constructos conceptuales necesarios para poder llevar a cabo las actividades de la capa metodológica, principalmente un modelo de identificación y valoración de activos intangibles de conocimiento, un modelo de caracterización de los activos en función de su calidad e impacto, un modelo markoviano de predicción de la re-caracterización de activos intangibles de conocimiento, y una implementación del modelo basado en instancias (IBL-model) sobre las decisiones estratégicas con respecto a la implementación de soluciones tecnológicas. 3. La capa tecnológica se constituye por los artefactos utilizados durante el despliegue de la metodología para soportar sus procesos. En detalle, esta capa presenta un instrumento de recolección de información sobre el conocimiento de una empresa y su estructuración en activos de conocimiento, un aplicativo web para la gestión de dicha información por medio de una base de datos, un modelo basado en agentes que implementa tanto la caracterización automática de los activos de conocimiento a partir de la información almacenada en la base de datos, como la simulación y predicción del comportamiento de dichos activos como producto de las decisiones de implementación tecnológica tomadas. El SIPAC-framework se ha usado en un total de 11 pequeñas y medianas empresas, por medio de equipos de entre 2 y 4 profesionales de la ingeniería del software cada uno, que han estado a cargo de hacer el despliegue metodológico en dos estadios de tiempo diferentes: una auditoría inicial llevada a cabo en la fase de pre-proyecto y con anterioridad a la decisión de implementación tecnológica; y una auditoría llevada a cabo con posterioridad a la implementación de la solución tecnológica. La interacción de dichos profesionales con los interesados por parte de las empresas ha sido discontinua, limitándose a auditorías concretas, entrevistas y validaciones sobre la información y modelos construidos. Este trabajo ha derivado en la propuesta metodológica que constituye el SIPAC-framework, con sus mecanismos y artefactos tecnológicos, y cuyo impacto se puede ver en varios aspectos: • La elicitación y caracterización efectiva del conocimiento organizativo de las empresas participantes. • El éxito que han tenido las propuestas de implementación de solución tecnológica alineadas con los objetivos, lo que se evidencia por la mejora en el estado de los activos organizativos de conocimiento. • El efectivo poder predictivo del módulo de simulación del SIPAC-framework. • La satisfacción de los ingenieros de software y los profesionales de TI, tanto por el proceso de implementación de la metodología como por los resultados obtenidos. • La mejora de la profesión de los ingenieros de software y profesionales de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación, al dotarles de un enfoque innovador que les conduce a evidenciar ante sus clientes el conocimiento que tienen, en qué estado se encuentra, cómo lo pueden mejorar y lo que puede ocurrir si deciden mejorarlo. • La emergencia de información organizativa que tradicionalmente está oculta e incomprensible, usualmente reservada a costosas consultoras y a la experiencia de unos pocos; todo a un coste mínimo, maximizando la visualización de la información y minimizando la complejidad de su interpretación. Esta tesis es un punto de partida para el desarrollo de la base de conocimiento sobre la valoración de activos de conocimiento en entornos tecnológicos como herramienta para conseguir los objetivos estratégicos de una organización. Además, este trabajo deja abierto el camino para el futuro desarrollo de modelos de toma de decisiones basados en el valor, así como la evolución del modelo presentado, idealmente en un solo artefacto tecnológico patentable.Programa de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Raúl Álvaro Espejo Ballivian.- Secretario: José María Álvarez Rodríguez.- Vocal: Stefano Armeni

Madrid’s regional election: how we got here, what happened, and why it matters

On 4 May, the Popular Party, led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, doubled their share of seats in a snap regional election in Madrid. Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte and José Rama react to the result, which also prompted the resignation of Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Podemos

Lessons from Junqueras: how ECJ decisions can increase opposition to the EU

Decisions taken by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) can generate substantial political debate, but do they help foster Euroscepticism? Stuart J. Turnbull-Dugarte and Dan Devine present evidence from a study of attitudes in Spain following an ECJ ruling on the case of the Catalan politician Oriol Junqueras in 2019. They find that those exposed to the ruling were 6% more likely to be Eurosceptic and 13% more likely to be dissatisfied with the way democracy works