The viability of IS enhanced knowledge sharing in mission-critical command and control centers

Engineering processes such as the maintenance of mission-critical infrastructures are highly unpredictable processes that are vital for everyday life, as well as for national security goals. These processes are categorized as Emergent Knowledge Processes (EKP), organizational processes that are characterized by a changing set of actors, distributed knowledge bases, and emergent knowledge sharing activities where the process itself has no predetermined structure. The research described here utilizes the telecommunications network fault diagnosis process as a specific example of an EKP. The field site chosen for this research is a global undersea telecommunication network where nodes are staffed by trained personnel responsible for maintaining local equipment using Network Management Systems. The overall network coordination responsibilities are handled by a centralized command and control center, or Network Management Center. A formal case study is performed in this global telecommunications network to evaluate the design of an Alarm Correlation Tool (ACT). This work defines a design methodology for an Information System (IS) that can support complex engineering diagnosis processes. As such, a Decision Support System design model is used to iterate through a number of design theories that guide design decisions. Utilizing the model iterations, it is found that IS design theories such as Decision Support Systems (DSS), Expert Systems (ES) and Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) design theories, do not produce systems appropriate for supporting complex engineering processes. A design theory for systems that support EKPs is substituted as the project\u27s driving theory during the final iterations of the DSS Design Model. This design theory poses the use of naive users to support the design process as one of its key principles. The EKP design theory principles are evaluated and addressed to provide feedback to this recently introduced Information System Design Theory. The research effort shows that use of the EKP design theory is also insufficient in designing complex engineering systems. As a result, the main contribution of this work is to augment design theory with a methodology that revolves around the analysis of the knowledge management and control environment as a driving force behind IS design. Finally, the research results show that a model-based knowledge captunng algorithm provides an appropriate vehicle to capture and manipulate experiential engineering knowledge. In addition, it is found that the proposed DSS Design Model assists in the refinement of highly complex system designs. The results also show that the EKP design theory is not sufficient to address all the challenges posed by systems that must support mission-critical infrastructures

Designing Malleable Cyberinfastructure to Breach the Golden Barrier

Design research perspectives may have a great deal of insights to offer emergency response researchers. We consider man-made and natural disasters as events that often require rapid change to existing institutionalized technical, social, and cultural support structure—a fundamental problem for static systems. Built infrastructure such as electric power and telecommunications or emergency response systems such as fire, police, and National Guard all have static information systems that are tailored to their specific needs. These specialized systems are typical of those developed as a result of applying traditional information systems design theory. They are designed to control domain specific variables and mitigate a specific class of constraints derived from a wellarticulated environment with firm application boundaries. Therefore, typical mission-critical Information and Communication Infrastructure (ICTI) technologies empower knowledge workers with the ability to change current environmental events to ensure safety and security. Disasters create situations that are challenging for typical designs because a disaster erodes control and raises unexpected constraints during an emerging set of circumstances. The unpredictable circumstances of disasters demonstrate that current emergency response ICTI systems are ill equipped to rapidly evolve in concert to address the full scale and scope of such complex problems. A phenomenon found in the treatment of trauma victims, the Golden Trauma Time Interval, is generalized in this paper to all emergencies in order to inform designers of the next generation ICTI. This future ICTI or “Cyberinfrastructure” can provide the essential foundation necessary to dynamically adapt conventional ICTI into a configuration suitable for use during disasters. However, Cyberinfrastructure will suffice only if it can be sufficiently evolved as an Integrated Information Infrastructure (I3 ) that addresses the common sociotechnical factors in these domains. This paper describes fundamental design concepts derived from interdisciplinary theoretical constructs used to inform the creation of a framework to model “complex adaptive systems” (CAS) of which emergency response infrastructural systems and I3 are instances. In previous work, CAS was synthesized with software architecture concepts to arrive at a design approach for the electric power grid’s I3. We will present some of the foundational concepts of CAS that are useful for the future design and development of a Cyberinfrastructure. The ICTI may exist today in a raw form to accomplish the task, but further ICTI design research is required to pinpoint critical inhibitors to its evolution. Also, social, organizational, and institutional issues pertaining to this research will be highlighted as emergency response system design factors needing further consideration. For example, this discussion infers a resolution to the basic tradeoff between personal privacy rights and public safety

HELPING NETWORK MANAGERS MEET SERVICE DEMANDS USING DSS

Keeping mission-critical telecommunication networks operating is a vital aspect of most modern markets. A key part of this goal is to reduce the length of service outages. Telecommunication network managers and knowledge workers use DSS to diagnose network failures from a heterogeneous set of network alarm and fault data sources. The DSS tool described in this paper utilizes a network model and expert rules to perform a root cause analysis on the network failures in order to propose a set of corrective actions to the user. Under scenarios with uncertainty, the tool “learns ” the appropriate corrective remedy from knowledge workers and applies these lessons to address higher-level future fault analysis at the Network Management Center. Unique to this tool design is the sharing of learned scenarios across nodes of the network spanning both internal and external organizational boundarie

Percutaneous profundaplasty in the treatment of lower extremity ischemia: results of longterm surveillance

PURPOSE: To study factors that might contribute to intraoperative proximal type I endoleak and to evaluate the placement of giant Palmaz stents as a therapeutic option. METHODS: Thirty-three patients (30 men; median age 72 years, range 50-85) with abdominal aortic aneurysms underwent implantation of fully supported Gianturco Z-stent-based endografts (12 custom-made aortomonoiliac and 21 bifurcated Zenith devices). Ten (30%) patients were treated for intraoperative proximal endoleaks. Stent-graft oversizing and neck angulation, length, and shape were compared between patients with and without leaks. RESULTS: In 9 cases, the endoleaks were successfully treated with intraoperative placement of Palmaz stents without complications. In 1 patient, a leak that was resolved intraoperatively with balloon dilation reappeared 1 month later; a Palmaz stent was deployed successfully. Stent-graft oversizing did not differ significantly between patients who developed proximal endoleaks and those who did not (median 4.0 mm in both groups, p = 0.47). Median neck length was 21.0 mm in patients with endoleak and 28.0 mm in those without (p > 0.99). Median neck angulation was 30 degrees in both groups (p = 0.33), and the presence of a conical aneurysm neck was not significantly different (2/10 versus 6/23, p > 0.99). All aneurysms remained excluded at a median follow-up of 13 months (range 6-24). CONCLUSIONS: Stent-graft oversizing and neck morphology (length, angulation, and conical shape) do not seem to correlate with the incidence of proximal type I endoleaks. Palmaz stent placement appears to be a feasible and safe treatment option for this complication