The Close

And so SWIIS 2012 comes to a close. Thanks to everyone who presented and attended! Please feel free to add our Twitter feed (@insyteresearch) so you can stay up to date on all the latest from SWIIS, IFAC, and of course the INSYTE group! We will also hopefully have videos of all our presentations on the liveblog soon as well, so keep an eye on this feed for all updates.

Please feel free to send us any questions, updates, thoughts, comments, queries, and we’ll hopefully talk soon – hopefully we’ll see you next year at SWIIS 2013!

Panel Session: Towards a New Agenda for Systems Engineering and International Stability

Session chaired by Nicolae Bulz and Larry Stapleton.

Professor Bulz developed the idea of a deliberately multi-discipline session to see what would come out of it. Unbeknownst to him, IFAC also suggested a similar such project, which led ultimately to today’s panel. It will involve a number of short presentations, the first of which is from a submission to the conference by Dr Stella Durand…

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Contributions from

Philosophy: Stella Durand (Ireland)

In spite of huge technological advances, there seems to be a limit on the moral development of mankind. The first of her two thinkers of choice is John Scottus Eriugena, the second is Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Both would have approved of the possibilities of a mixture of discipline ideas. Both wrote about teleology, an examination of aims and directionality. Both thinkers attempted to answer the question ‘where is man going?’

There are three things which should be addressed in this…

Eriugena sees all life as moving towards a goal, the endpoint being rest in God and eventual perfection, theosis (as opposed to the misconception of its translation, deification.) Being a scientist as well as a philosopher, he talks of life, pre-evolution, of the unfolding of life as a flux, an unfolding, a seminal force. He also called it an advance uphill, with his interpretation of man being ‘people with an upwards glance’, a microcosm of nature in ascending motion towards perfection (an ascent held by all creatures, not just man).

To ask if men have made progress, Dr Durand offered the question to a paleontologist.

De Chardin made the comparison of man to a flower newly in bloom, still too young to be judged as a failure. In regards to evolution, he also discussed the concepts of corpusculation and cephalisation, orthogenesis, amorisation, and co-reflexion in nature. He also looked at the concept of convergence, with the apex of evolution as a draw to man which also aligns with spirituality. The future holds something which is at once new and indeterminable, an absolute or a supersoul. Progress is an all or nothing thing that we can choose or decline. Humankind heads towards a final completion, with our progresses towards Ascension coming from our progress in science. Our increased sensitivity to moral and ethical issues also points to our increased complexity in apotheosis. While there is theoretically more violence in the 20th century, it is only because there is no way to gauge the violence committed before it. Meanwhile, our capacity to communicate and learn grows.

Ultimately, convergence grows and escalates, requiring acceptance and concern and tolerance for all beliefs and religions. There is a growing recognition of the need to collaborate, and predisposes people to work towards world peace. This stands in contrast to fundamentalism and fear. Convergence starts small, but works big, and enables greatness to come in time.

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Critical Studies: Christine O’Dowd Smyth (Ireland)

As Ms O’Dowd Smyth was unable to make it, Dr Stapleton will present her submission on her behalf.

Reframing the Arab Spring.

The English speaking media, as well as London-based print media, all highlighted Tahier Square as the central point of  the Arab Spring movement, even though it actually emerged in Tunisia. The key difference depends on where the coverage emerges from, reflecting a colonial view of political interests.

There is an officialist tendency to whitewash over social media footage in favour of ‘official’ work,  leading to bias emerging.

Ms O’Dowd Smyth’s research project currently examining and comparing the events from the Arab Spring from both a Francophonic and Anglophonic perspectives in order to work towards a transnationalistic concept of coverage that is removed from provincialism and post-colonialism.

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Futurist Studies: Markku Wilenius (Finland)

As Mr Wilenius was unable to attend, Dr Bulz presented a short review of his work, an axis of beliefs (theory) vs reality (data), and also a challenge to the attendees.

Dr Bulz also continued by looking at a paper by Dr Fred Kile as a tribute to his memory, with particular focus on ethics as humanity goes forward, which touched on the tragedy of the commons: that the relative equality of consumption is necessary for a stable commons (supply chain).What happens when total population demand on the common rises? Imbalance will arise, with ethical dilemma in tow.

Dr Bulz discussed the development of the first Cybernetic Physics, involving genomic signals, cyberphysical theory, and more.

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Cybernetics: N. Bulz and A. Ginestet (Romania)

Dr Bulz looked at the development and new trend of human behaviour through a central pattern of Generosity – Creativity – Solidarity, a cycle similar to cybernetic flow.

The framing of this proposed scheme by application to aspects of life such as liberty and administration for implementation, via the inputs of information, knowledge and experience.

Human and Machine Intelligence

Session chaired by Liam Doyle

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Adopting a Musical Intelligence and eLearning Approach to Improve the English Language Pronunciation of Chinese Students, by Luqi Wu (China) & Michael McMahon (Ireland).

Study was started because English language learning issues were found among students. There was invalid learning skills arising from the students learning the English language. Issues found included different accents among various lecturers.

The difference between English and Chinese languages include different tones and pitches. The e learning approach was used as an alternative approach using musical intelligence. Slide show includes objectives. Multiple intelligence include Interpersonal and Intrapersonal intelligences. Music and language include phenomes.

Elearning is a virtual learning environment which increases flexibility and saves time and costs. Saving up to 50% time and 80% costs of face to face learning.

Research Methods:

Both quantitative and qualitative data were used for collecting data. The case study used two groups both musical and traditional groups. The musical groups practiced with musical notes and native speaker pronunciation. The traditional groups only used native speaker translation.

Key Findings include:

1. All students achieve some degree of improvement

2. Musical intelligence students have greater improvement than non-musical intelligence in the same group

Limitations included:

• Researchers knowledge limitations
• No formal aptitude test for musical intelligence students.
• Case studies members’ regions limited
• The means of contacting Chinese English language teachers in China was limited

Future Research includes:

• Developing a structured online eLearning system for langugae is useful
• The application of social media to language learning
• The approach in relation to other language learning.

Conclusions:

Musical intelligence is a valid approach for Chinese students learning English and musical eLearning approach improves the pronunciation and accents of Chinese students.

Discussion:

The possible use of mobile phone apps for young children and other users

Each aspect can be further developed and it has tremendous potential

I-tunes company releases phrases etc with music. There are good options out there and it may be possible to continue this on further and is very helpful. Feedback system would be excellent.

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A Limited Engagement: A Case Study in Using Contextualised Online Learning Environments to Engage with Marginalised Communities, by Brian Caffrey & Peter Carew (Ireland).

To be added later – as Brian is our live blogger, this may be a little bit later than normal. It was however totally the best presentation in the entire seminar, possibly. Bias what now?

Amy is taking over so it may be less biased !

Rationale

Online learning environments can be a fundamental equaliser. For example, can overcome shyness issues. IIt can create an opportunity to fully actualise otherwise non-accessible learning opportunities.

SLD Population: They are increasingly stigmatized. Specific Learning Difficulty will be used for this study, for example, to ensure less stigmatizing and more empowering for students. SLD population are presented with socio- emotional barriers because of the ‘cognitive’ issues. The feeling of stigmatization does develop.

Registered students at third level educational institutes were selected as the cohort as there is easy access and also they are usually seen as ‘lost causes’ at this point in the education system.

The Online Support System, ‘Student Jam’ was gated and monitored to ensure data protection and for security precaution. This support system could be used in any manner they saw fit- socially or economically. The primary researcher monitored and facilitated the site, for example if bullying issues or if had a question regarding referencing etc. The tutor would answer any question except that involving the subject content exactly. Flat hierarchy devised to ensure that the tutor was on the same wavelength as them.

Intended goal was that participants became active stakeholders in their resource.

Initial findings:

• Very low participation levels- potential issues from this include: lack of cohort awareness, learned helplessness, passivity, technological issue- late reporting of this( when sorted out there was a 75% increase within 24 hours), the effect of re-activity, activation vs negative affecting

Changes then made to site based on feedback.

• Five themes emerged: Passivity, isolation, holism (integrate preexisting systems e.g. facebook)), potential( positively and negatively), stigma (data protection- particularly long term implications)

Passivity and Motivation Key explorations will include:

• The sense of mental difference: feel exclusion
• The nature and structure of the education system itself: lack of continuity in the learning
• the impact of hidden social geographies
• engaging with passivity: For example: needed to have a more active approach. E.G had to check the system three times a day at least.

Conclusion:

Future research must do much more to look at ways to address the population’s emotional concerns and well-being

A more longitudinal approach to research timeline would be recommended- three year minimum

Institutional support is necessary.

Discussion:

The task and involvement was not burdensome

The task could be improved by a person who has learning difficulties themselves.

Incentive questions: how one goes about this to a privilege to be involved.

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The Role of Causal Beliefs in Technology-Supported Policy Making, by Enrico Blanzieri (Italy).

Policy making. It is relevant for international stability, underlying European unification and it is gaining complexity in the European context.

Policy Making Process has several steps:

Agenda setting, policy formation*, decision making, implementation and evaluation.

*Focusing on policy formation.

Causal beliefs play an important role in policy making. The policy formed over false causal beliefs have the real possibility to fail. Causal beliefs have to be shared within the policy networks.

Models of public policy making processes do not involve specifically the role of supporting technology. There are three relevant aspects for policy making which were identified for technology:

1. Evidence-based policy making. The policy maker should use evidence to form the policy. Technology plays a role to support the process with databases and resources collecting and organizing the evidence.
2. Model-based policy making. There is usually a complex model which can be used that can be made available to policy makers. Van Delden et al (2011) have proposed a possible model. There needs to bridge the gap between science and policy. The model itself is not enough.
3. Participatory policy making. This involves different actors. They do not usually share the goals or opinions of policy makers but the concerned with the forseen consequences of the policy. For example the role of technology could include social media.

Relevance of causal beliefs:

Causal beliefs can be true or false. On the other hand, those derived by hard data can be more reliable. The two ends of causal beliefs are: Causality and causality discovery. These are important topics in philosophy.

Belief literature is extremely wide with growing opinions of what beliefs are. E.G. between phsychology, philosophy, AI.

The main feature of beliefs is their subjectivity. You can believe something without knowing it.

From beliefs to causal beliefs: The characteristics are private or in other terms subjective. Causals beliefs are in principle falsifiable. Causal beliefs are very relevant in a lot of pshcological phenomenom.

The causal beliefs are important in two ways. They are relevant to policy making:

1. Affect both the policy makers and the population at large. Important to note this belief has a cultural nature.

2. A number of questions which require answers from social sciences. Software engineers have different questions.

Causal beliefs can represent AI, machine learning and statistical causal reference.

Support for the future. We think that causal beliefs are promising in the prospective of building technology aimed to support policy making.

Conclusions include:

Causal beliefs can play an important role in systems for supporting policy making.

It is a highly speculative claim but substantiated by literature.

Relevance of causal beliefs in relation to first paper on Sex trafficking and Supply Chain Systems.

Discussion:

Also include beliefs of other entities for example society.

Feedback, multiple connections and causal knowledge issues highlighted. As well as beliefs there is also knowledge. Response: Agree however, a lot of things we think are knowledge are actually beliefs. False beliefs also based on inaccurate data.

Wonderful presentation in the context of IFAC.

‘I believe that the sun is good for me, okay I will go out in the sun’ but will I follow that with the behavior? Or in relation to behavior. The link between intention and the actual behavior is important also. The group norm comes in and this leads to the intention, then do I follow the intention? The intention may never be followed up- gap there. Response: Causal beliefs don’t explain everything but they can be incorporated.

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If yould like to ask any questions, please feel free! Be sure to mention who you would like to direct them to.

Service Engineering

Session chaired by Peter Carew

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The definition of Message Representation Creation problem in Online Knowledge Sharing, by Mihály Héder (Hungary).

The topics of the presentation were twofold: What software architecture is the best for supporting knowledge sharing? How intelligently acting machines can replicate humans and challenge the view of intelligence in the process.

Traditionally in knowledge sharing the sender party is separated by the receveiver party by time and space which is bridged by an intermediate system (like a book or a website). However, unidirectional communication like this makes the task more difficult as there is no feedback or means of clarification or correction. Bi-directional communication enables these things, but adds complexity and expense. How can bi-directional communication be effectively facilitated on an online system with multiple bi-directional interfaces? Currently, we have constructs like Wikipedia which enables this, but what else? At present, natural language documents are parsed into machine representation for indexing, then back for reading. How can this be improved?

What might be done is the creation of a dialogue between user and machine, with the machine asking questions to best assess the needs for knowledge representation (avoiding the classic semantic approach). Wikipedia’s plain text editing is a classic example of something that we should move away from, in part to allow semantic meaning to follow through more effectively by utilising expertise. An example of this is the developed Wikipedia assistant developed, which categorises text based on feedback gathered by the system from the author, while also enabling citation. The Complaint Project is another potential avenue that can enable such systems.

The bottom line is to never let the user just go away – extract as much as you can on the system.

Next, we moved onto the issue of perception. A problem emerges when consistent perception is a representative who appears like a human and acts like a human. An inconsistent perception is a computer system that looks like a system but acts like a human. A possible resolution is to humanise the machine, machinise the human, or to explicate the inconsistency and maintain the different perception. An example of this is Deep Blue, where the computer overcame the issue of not being able to win at chess against a grandmaster as cited by Hubert Dreyfus. More recently, we had Watson, the computer which went on to win on the game show Jeopardy. The common cited issue with them is the lack of basic cognitive function resultant from their programming.

What is the root of this issue? Three considerations were positioned:

• First, that we want to be different and unique, that we contain inherent value that is more than in other things.
• Second, that intelligence defines us as humans.
• Third, that embodiment does not matter in the view of intelligence (a misinterpretation of Turing)

The result is that the territory of intelligence is monotonously shrinking. This leads to the proposal to remember embodiment’s role in intelligence.

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Intelligent Modular Service Mobile Robot Controllable via Internet, by Nayden Chivarov, Yasen Paunski, Vladimir Vladimirov, Vania Ivanova, Georgi Angelov and Daniel Rade (Bulgaria).

Unfortunately, the group were not able to attend, but their poster was made available in the lobby and we we would definitely recommend reading up on their sterling work!

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Applicability of Lean-Sigma in IT Service Delivery Systems, by Awkash Modi (India) and Liam Doyle (Ireland).

Lean Sigma is the unified version of Lean and the Six Sigma concepts of quality management in the manufacturing industries: Lean identifies waste, while Six Sigma focuses on quality, leading to high quality production at high speed.

Lean in service delivery allows optimal utilisation of resources by reducing the waste elements – anything which does not add value – and standardising the processes to gain efficiency, increasing value for the company. This can include too many materials, too many parts, too much space or time… anything which is not vital to the production. There are typically seven forms of waste: Overproduction, defects, unnecessary inventory, over-processing, excessive transportation, waiting, and unnecessary motion.

The Six Sigma enables a measure of quality that strives for near-perfection. The principle philosophy for this is to reduce variability, remaining within tolerances and on customer/data-focused approach. For this, statistical analysis and process improvement methodology are used to support continuous improvements. The Six Sigma product improvement approach is defined through DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control. This prevents variability creeping back into the process or production. Six Sigma tools include statistical process control, value stream map, key performance indicators, root cause analysis, the Five Whys method, Fishbone diagrams, and Paraeto Analysis.

The result of the combination of Lean and Six Sigma leads to a more responsive process and implementation in industry.

Can this then be used in Service Delivery? Six Sigma can define the nature of defects, the reason for their occurrence, the frequency of the defects, their measure, and what strategies can be implemented to prevent the (re)occurrence, One issue often lacking in these studies is the employee’s perceptions of the implementation? There is a significant impact on stakeholders. Typical performance measures are of operational and financial success, but the employee perspective is typically not incorporated. Can this be of benefit and utility?

The study utilised questionaires sent by the internet to highly experienced personal who had played important roles in the implementation of the Lean Sigma process. The preliminary analysis found non-value adding activities and waste prevailed in IT service delivery, with significant rework being required. Standardised IT service delivery helps in gaining efficiency, cutting down on problems of overproduction and overprocessing. Critical tasks were also being assigned to junior staff and simple tasks assigned to senior staff causing wastage, in addition to excessive documentation. Separate task channels can help overcome these programs. The reduction of variability stabilises the process, as can the assignment of activities to employees with the appropriate skillsets. Combining and training members of muliple teams on multiple clients IT environments can promise a higher availability of skilled employees and reduce errors.

However, dividing employees on the basis of skill sets, you can also risk demotivating staff (in part due to the monotony introduced by reduction in variability) and disappointing employees. Major changes are often not welcomed by staff, but training and certification can help overcome this, especially for junior staff. Employee belief and commitment is necessary for the success of a changed process, as can the division of responsibility, reducing monotony and improving commitment.

Limitations of the study were found in being limited to real-time IT service delivery, and that it was conducted primarily within one organisation.

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If yould like to ask any questions, please feel free! Be sure to mention who you would like to direct them to.

Systems Complexity and Risk

Session chaired by Dietrich Brandt

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Stability and Continuity of Operations for Small and Medium Sized Information Communication and Technology Firms, by Paul Howe & Amanda Freeman (Ireland).

Originally part of a taught MSc study, this paper was heavily informed by ICT and supply chain integration studies. It’s inspiration was found in anecdotal evidence offered by ICT start-ups in the region for their choice of exit strategy, value chain position, and value chain partner dominance, with added influences presented by recent economic changes. The purpose then is to identify the issues and obstacles faced by emerging ICT firms.

It followed on then to look at the structure of the business model (creating, delivering, and capturing value) as opposed to business plans and strategies (with which the model is often confused.) The model is distinct in that it forms a part of the plan which describes how the plan can be implemented. The model links strategy, planning, organisation, tactics, processes, and innovations, and this understanding/expression underpins all the study going forward.

Utilising the target region of the south-east of Ireland, it comprised a population of 470,000 people, with an unemployment level of 19.7 following the large loss of foreign direct investment employers (including Waterford Crystal, Diageo, and Talk Talk). This in turn had a significant impact on SMEs. A noted issue is the propensity of SMEs in the area to not grow, with below average exports (in contrast to the overall need for exports in order for the Irish economy to recover). SMEs constitute 99% of all EU enterprises, with Ireland following a similar trend (and 1.8 million jobs in the country in this model).

Challenges include a lack of customer demand, limited access to finance, infrastructural issues, and lack of qualified staff. The sector is formed out of both ICT services and ICT manufacturing, and holds 23% of Irish turnover. Emerging issues include utility computing, cloud computing, ubiquity, trust and security, technology convergence, augmented reality and AI, Web 3.0 and the Intelligent Web.

The research used a quantitative survey approach, with an initial difficulty being the identification of firms, anonymity of respondents, inaccurate data on agency and business databases, and interviewer bias, all of which required additional time to be built into the analysis. Self-profiled business data was received, in addition to discussion of business models and business realities, areas of competitive advantage and improvement. Understanding of business models, their benefits and limitations, were found to be well understood, and the findings support the view that such models are worthy of investment in time, money, and effort. There is a fear or risk and lack of investment by stakeholders which may slow progress.

Further research is suggested in areas such as technology management, leveraging technological innovation, technology adoption and adaptation lifecycle, organisation, and technological alignment.

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Control of Evolution under Limits of Global Growth, by Vladimir Tsyganov (Russia).

Unfortunately, Mr Tsyganov was delayed and unable to present his paper. It is however a very worthwhile read which we would recommend you review as soon as possible!

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Information Systems Risk Through a Socio-technical Lens: Future Directions in Systems Risk Research, by John Organ & Larry Stapleton (Ireland).

Systemic risk presents a real threat to global and local socioeconomic stability, as evidenced by recent trends and news. The current instability is in part at least due to systemic failures in systems designed to monitor for such risky issues in banking and financial systems. IT and IS infrastructural changes are necessary to move away from this instability.

IS Risk is no longer contained within the IS department of an organisation, and instead an organisation-wide approach is necessary in future. Risk is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional issue, yet IS Risk often ignores dimensionality, the human element, and contextual realities, where methodologies are implemented into the organisation rather than being allowed to emerge. It also has focused on technological failure rather than human behaviours and interaction. Social and technical aspects of IS Risk need to be viewed as independant of each other in order to move forward.

The first stage of the study is to find out about the problem situation and then decide what has actually been explored; next, it’s necessary to formulate relevant purposeful activity models. A key factor to bear in mind is that this is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but something more situationally adaptive. A broad root definition was applied (“A system to manage IS risk by implementing an IS risk methodology which should reduce the likelihood of an IS risk occurring.“) and CAT WOE, a soft systems engineering methodology (SSM), was used to examine the model.

• C (customers – beneficiaries and victims)
• A (Actors – people with an actual role within the risk methodology/risk/system)
• T (Transformation)
• W (Weltanschauung/Worldview)
• O (Ownership)
• E (Environment)

The next stage looks at debating the situation and discussion, while the fourth stage looks at what actions need to be taken.

While SSM gives rich information, it tends to focus by nature on past risk and not future. Moving forward, it’s important to consider context, system engineering, and design (particularly in dealing with ambiguity). New thinking is necessary to effectively govern IT assets and their social impact.

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Science, Technology and Values: Promoting Ethics and Social Responsibility, by Marion Hersh (Scotland).

Postponed from yesterday, Ms Hersh opened with her view of the importance of engineering ethics. In current society is at the root of everything, so it is important worldwide to consider the way it is introduced and implemented. The engineers of this tech then have both the privilege and the responsibility to look at the positive and negative ethical implications, which often focuses on ‘how something should be done’, rather than its nature and  ‘should it be done ?’

This leads into the concept of engineering and power – power relationships are often ignored in discussion of science, technology, and society. This is especially relevant in regards to the many external pressures which impact and give cause to less ethical behaviour and decision making. As a brief example model, we were presented with the beginnings of a project line of sorts, starting with vested interests leading to power dynamics, the relationship between science, technology and society, which in turn also feed back into the power dynamic as much as moving forward towards progress itself.

Cultural factors and aspects will also have impact and add complexity to the issue, to say nothing of unethical behaviours being both legal and profitable. Organisational cultures themselves often do not prioritise ethics, feeding into the issue of unethical activities not being recognised. While there is regulation of how activities are carried out, there is not regulation of which activities. There is an endemic fear of consequences and protest as a result.

It’s made more difficult due to the lack of consensus as to what is or is not ethical. Engineers as a result need to be aware of their own values, their cultural and social identity. Human-centric ethics are better in this regard than technology- or organisation-centric models, but often disregard other species in the process. Marginalisation also needs to be addressed and considered, along with multiple perspectives. These changing perspectives can however enhance and add to learning and widen the concept of what is and is not ethical. The ‘other’ must be considered. This need can slow down the process and discussion, but can encourage listening. It remains however important to maintain personal ethical values and integrity in the face of challenges.

Changing values involves the concept of multiloop action learning, which Ms Hersh encouraged the group to read further on. There is also a dynamic relationship between individual and collective responsibility, important particularly as collective action is often the most effective, particularly in the current economic climate. Support is necessary, but it is also critical to not be submerged within other people’s values (‘this is what everyone thinks, so it’s what I think…’ as the offered issue) – critical assessment, individual identity, the confidence to stand up to the group, and the humility to accept when you may be wrong are all key considerations.

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If yould like to ask any questions, please feel free! Be sure to mention who you would like to direct them to.

eHealth Control and Automation Systems: Design and Implementation

Session chaired by Mike Fitzgibbon

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Care Architecture for Wellness Management based on Wearable Technology: Issues for System Development, by Adam Martin & David Smith (England).

First humourously acknowledging that Mr Martin does all the work, Mr Smith went on to address the topics of the presentation: the current development of smart clothes and wearable technology, the implications of recent work in the field of ambient healthcare, and interaction architectures.

To begin, Mr Smith discussed the translation of functionality into designs people would like to wear. He initially discussed how clothing is itself already technology before moving on to look at the evolution of the form and concepts, including conductive/capacitive woven textiles. He also addressed the idea of bypassing the clothes in favour of sub-dermal chipping, as well as pharmaceutical and ingestible chip devices which can release pharmacoactive quantities over time or operate to compliance requirements.

Why do this however? One conceit is moving towards a point of personal well-being management (such as in the management of diabetes). These can also be unified with other systems and services, such as the medical and GPS systems.

Where an issue arises is in what happens next? How is the information put to use? What decision making process is put into use? Who is told what? How is environmental information incorporated into the situation or context? Add to this diagnostic complexity, and the systems architecture becomes difficult (although not impossible) to navigate and process. It also leads to the concept of self-hacking: self-awareness and pattern recognition, taking control of one’s own data. Is this a framework for self-obsessed geeks, or something more novel and practical through the likes of social networking and ambient bio-data?

This leads to the need for Care Architecture to be formed. While technical systems architecture is solid, the care system architecture is not being addressed. As a result, value systems are important, including the lens of axiology, the role of personal value systems, and human-centered perspectives.

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Privacy Issues in a Psychiatric Context: Applying the Information Systems Development Privacy Framework to a Psychiatric Behaviour Monitoring System, by Rusyaizila Ramli, Nasriah Zakaria, Nur Akmar Hamid Sultan, Norlia Mustaffa & Putra Sumari (Malaysia).

What are patient privacy concerns when a behavioural monitoring system is placed in a hospital ward setting? In this instance, Ms Ramli applied three definitions of privacy looking at the collection, retention, control and use of private data.

CCTVs are typically placed around the ward, with all video visible from the front desk, but access and the ability to gain copies of the data is relatively simple, threatening patient privacy as a result. SImilarly, the government has the right to collect data and use it as it sees fit.

In addressing this, an ISD framework was adopted to define the relations and contexts of privacy. For the perspective of this study, privacy take 4 main elements in the psychiatric context:

1. Physical (environmental / territoriality / sensory / violator)
2. Social (internal and external intimacy / anonymity / autonomy / formality / territoriality (status) / solitude / interaction & communication)
3. Psychological (self-identity / personal growth / autonomy / contemplation / emotional release / creativity / self-protection / confiding (or disclosure) / rejuvenation)
4. Informational (territoriality / reserve / release of personal information / distribution of personal information / use of personal information)

Privacy sensitive architecture for psychiatric monitoring systems were also outlined. Moving forward, the patient’s own perspective should also be taken into account.

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Telemedicine Systems Development in Post-Conflict Contexts: A Case Study of the Role of Symbols of Conflict in Systems Engineering, by Anita Kealy & Larry Stapleton (Ireland).

Looking at a tele-medicine centre based in Kosovo, the adoption of ICT plays an important role in supporting and stabilising developing countries, with a further dimension being incorporated with the region is post-conflict, a factor which often does not receive much attention.

There are theories of technology acceptance and adoption, often with high failure rates, either due to rejection or falling out of use. This can be for reasons such as perceived of use and usefulness.  Institutional theory focuses on the social systems, community and adopters interactions, but do not take conflict scenarios into account. Symbols can be critical in both interpreting and addressing such scenarios, and information systems development is itself a deeply symbolic process.

In terms of conflict, the focus is often based around incompatible interests and political dominance, which go on to have consequences long afterwards. Ethnic identity also continues to continue the importance of symbols and symbolism in systems, and also feeds into the concept of the Chosen Trauma.

The regional conflict model is based on multiple factors: multiethnicity, politcal regime type, socio-economic levels, identity, frurstration, and upheaval.

Kosovo is also historically an epicenter of conflict for 600 years, but with at least some feeling of autonomy. This changed in the 1980s with an increase in Serbian nationalist feeling, alter leading into the Serbian/Kosovan armed conflicts. New systems of life and education developed following this, as Serbia and Kosovo in effect went in differing directions, with relative peace eventually being declared, and independence declared in 2008.

The telemedicine center was borne out of this, with no infrastructure, education, or medical institutes in place. Basic and immediate training was necessary and facilitated by the telemedicine center which was based primarily in the emergency theater (incorporating a lecture theater with tele-conferencing, e-library, and telemedicine room). The majority of funding was from abroad rather than locally.

Grounded theory formed the backbone of study, with data gathered through interview, questionnaires, surveys, observation, and documentation, with the researcher visiting the site regularly until fresh data has been entirely exhausted. A total of 92 concepts emerged, separated into 7 categories: Conflict, Telemedical Centre, External Influences, Local Politics, Motivation for Telemed Workers, Motivation for Doctors, and Leadership.

Symbols also emerged in terms of conflict, including Gazimestan and the ongoing Army presence (such as in Gjakova and Pristina). Language symbols of conflict also emerged, mentioning the outdated books, lack of knowledge and resources and even a building, no internet or computer facilities… The presence of the telemed centre was then described as a medical revolution, continuing the military impact, to say nothing of the need for military support of the location.

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If yould like to ask any questions, please feel free! Be sure to mention who you would like to direct them to.

Systems Engineering in Human Contexts

Session chaired by Alan Cottey

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Invited Paper: Human Machine Symbiotics: Control and Automation in Human Contexts, by Karamjit Gill (India and England).

What is the human in the era of ubiquitous technology? Professor Gill opened with an ode summarising the relationship humanity has had with the development with AI and Symbiotics via its major theorists viewpoints, both positive and negative, progressive and regressive (or at least cautious).

What are Symbiotics? In effect they represent mutuality, diversity, plurality, and valorisation (merging the concepts of symbiosis, biology and mutuality), in this case applied to the relationship with humans and machines and AI. Everything then following through from this is contextual in defining the relationship: productivity, dehumanisation, mechanisation, Taylorism, instrumentality, risk, embodiment, and so on, with human-centered systems functioning as an alternative to Taylorism.

The key of the relationship as initially devised is human tacit knowledge and judgement working with the machine’s capacity for objectivity and calculation, symbiosis emerging from this. Professor Gill then went on to look at contrasting theories by Lu Shai Hills and Rosenbrock in the 1970s, particularly in relation to anticipated potential outcomes (automation and control, reduction of technology, emancipatory technology, or indeed no change). The 1980s led to a more depressed state – human-centeredness is abandoned in favour of instrumental rationality and the opportunity to increase productivity and expertise contrasted with automation and the warnings of Brodner (“Beware, sleep walking!”). The productivity illusion ran into difficulty however: the cognition trap (what can be counted can be computed), intellectual failure, productivity traps, as well as economic and societal failures (by not encompassing wider social and economic well-being).

These issues and failures led to the development of AI and Society and a number of books in order to both rectify the errors of thinking and understanding, and also to educate the population as to the concepts more effectively, generating public discussion and reconciling the variance of thinking with holistic theory.

 

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Rethinking e-Agriculture Innovation Using a Human-Centred Systems Lens, by Sinead Somers & Larry Stapleton (Ireland).

A working paper,  it looks at the importance of e-agriculture as the backbone or rural communities. It also gives rise to other related industries. In order to make it a viable sector, the uptake of ICT is essential, especially by the primary producer. The best model approah to this would be an international one.

Agriculture is synonymous with innovation, whether biological or chemical. These innovations offer the opportunity to increase yield and income as a result. ICT enables producers to remain progressive, but there are barriers, such as being a poor fit for the established working day per feedback from European farmers.

Davis’s Technology Adoption Model (1989) forms an important aspect  of the theory, however it is limited by being technology centred as opposed to human-centred. Roger’s Diffucsion of Innovation Model (1962)also has some bearing, but a more holistic approach is necessary. Social contexts and systems can aid in the diffusion and the adoption however.

The proposed holistic model involves the following three elements:

1. Tacit knowledge in the socio-technical work environment

2. Institutionalism

3. Culture and Values

The proposed methodology is an international approach for the possibility of a richer data set yield and the likelihood of removing barriers in the process. Empirical findings from comparitive case studies can be contrasted with the localised study.

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A Human-Centred Analysis of Systems Development Goals, Rationality and Focus Using Principal Components Analysis and Hierarchical Clustering, by Peter Carew (Ireland).

Systems development can follow many paradigms – objective vs realist, control vs freedom… Some are more functionalist while others are more social or human centred. The former has been dominant – functional control for utilitarian use. More recent critical studies have questioned, if not challenged this rationality in favour of the human-centered systems design (which can harness human creativity in an ethically sensitive way). The core question of the study then takes shape: Are contemporary systems development goals rationality and focus human-centred?

Data was taken from a multi-method critical interpretive study of privacy in information systems development. A Three-Way analysis is used to look for evidence of ‘Human-centredness’: Descriptive statistics, Principle Component Analysis, and Hierarchical Clustering over three factors: goals (P1), rationality (P2), and focus (P3) of system development.

A clear difference and distinction was found between human-centered and functional design goals , but so too was competitive advantage. Hierarchical cluster was used to further address the data analysis to confirm the separation of goals – while distinct, competitive advantage clustered with the functional goals, rejecting the first proposal of the paper.

In addressing rationality, human centred factors were considered least rational. Principle Component Analysis and Hierarchical clustering processed the information, demonstrating once more a difference between human-centered rationality and functional rationality, confirming distinction and separate integral factors, rejecting proposal 2.

For focus, a similar assessment was made using three issues, technical, organisational, and individual. While organisational and technical factors clustered, human factors remained distinct, rejecting proposal 3.

In order to deliver systems developed as sensitive to human needs and cultural factors, human-centered development will need to be promoted, if only to retain or enhance optionality in the future.

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If yould like to ask any questions, please feel free! Be sure to mention who you would like to direct them to.

SWIIS 2012 Special Session: IFAC TC 9.5 Working Group on Engineering Ethics

The roles and responsibilities of Scientists and Engineers in achieving a just and sustainable world.

Session chaired by Marion Hersh (Scotland) and Peter Carew (Ireland)

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Invited Paper: Roboethics, by Peter Kopacek (Austria).

Why do we need Roboethics?

Robots represent the first ‘alien’ we will be able to communicate with. Opening with a summary of Asimov’s rules of robotics, including Law Zero, the presentation moved on to consider if robotics is a new science or a branch/field of application of engineering, as it ties into a number of engineering disciplines. It is important however to consider the philosophical, moral, biological, and ethical considerations as well as the technical.

Roboethics are important as by defining them they are given reality, particularly as more attention is given to a concept linked to ‘the inherent idea of the material’. Roboethics can can also potentially unify science and the humanitites, and enable greater discussion in the public sphere of what a robot actually is. The form does, after all, take significant differences, defined initially under two categories, industrial robots (which would be fixed or movable) and mobile robots (capable of greater motion and movement), the final iteration of the latter being the humanoid robot. The development of robots is growing, with the mobile robot increasing significantly in number over the last few years.

What then is the future of robotics? In the first generation, the industrial robot was dominant; in the second, the personal (mobile) robot; while in the third generation the ubiquitous robot will be dominant. Industrial robots as defined at present by ISO are automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multi-purpose manipulators. Outdoor robotics is also being actively pursued for industrial purposes, such as mining, offshore, UAV, and space exploration. Ethically, there is significant benefits for this as they remove humans from dangerous situations while also increasing precision and successful operation.

While they have limited industrial application, humanoid robots and intelligent machines (per IEEE Spectrum, 2010) can potentially benefit human operations in difficult tasks in everyday life. They would be problematic due to unpredictability of behaviour leading to safety issues – systems for control need to be put in place to control robot autonomy. Degrees of freedom also need to be considered for motion – humans currently utilise 234, while the most a robot currently has is 88.

Development trends in robotics currently focus on ubiquitous robots, nano (or femto) robots, bio-inspired robots (robots based on real animals/creatures and natural motion, such as the robo-lobster or replicated bird swarms. This also leads into the field of bionics (biological analogues for study and design in engineering studies)), and cloud robots. A more important implication in adaptive robotics includes the health and life quality aspects such as biomechatronic human prostheses, and functional process performance such as surgeries.

Ethics is currently a major topic within engineering. As robots increase in importance for human interactivity and behaviour, the development of roboethics then becomes a critical piece of forethought and ongoing consideration for development.

A point asked in regards to the application of ethics queried as to why we have a higher level of ethics for robots than we hold ourselves to, particularly as technological development is often driven by military needs. While in their early stages of development, it is considered that starting with as formal a code as it possible is preferable, particularly given that ethical aspects may be added, removed, or changed as time goes on. It was also noted that robots do not have any inherent values, so our values and ethics are in turn placed on them. It followed that we need to look at how responsibility is applied, to the robots, to the owner, and to the developers, particularly in regards to ethical methodology and practices. The source of funding is also an ongoing issue of contention, since development for military purposes means that application of ethics will always be secondary to the designated function of the development process, in this case warfare. The application of ethics to non-intelligent robots and factors or sustainable development were also raised as issues for further debate.

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Don’t worry Cynthia, no one’s in charge, by Alan Cottey (England).

This paper is a meditation on the duality of Control and Autonomy and the need for freedom. The internationalism of science has been historically useful to break through issues/barriers of mistrust and conflict to engage in this conversation.

Following the Cold War, relief was palpable but short-lived as concerns of stability remained. Economics were a key factor in this concern, particularly in recent times as per the bank bailouts which began in 2008. The global economy does not however take notice of nation states, instead focusing on trade exchanges over societal benefit. While self-evident, this does acknowledge reasons for the ongoing turmoil faced today, and for why the cycle pervades.

Possessive Market Society is that property and contract are inviolable, almost sacred, to the point of taking precedence over human needs, with price dictated by a free market which enables a stronger party to take advantage of the weaker. Society is used rather than Economy in this concept to indicate the basis nature of the concept as it touches on more aspects of living than a standard economy.

With the belief that the current economic model is unreformable, so instability is inevitable and constant. The need for strategic optimism is vital. The role then of scientists and engineers is in utilising their effective neutrality to develop is advantageous for looking at and generating stability.

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Science, Technology and Values: Promoting Ethics and Social Responsibility, by Marion Hersh (Scotland).

Due to time constraints and in her position as chairperson for the session, Ms Hersh graciously postponed her presentation. Please feel free to send questions or comments in the meantime, however.

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Some Social Impacts of ICT in Automation: A Case Study of Poland, by Jozef Bohdan Lewoc (Poland).

Coming forward to discuss findings can often be difficult and intimidating. Citing a personal example, Mr Lewoc discussed a personal experience where he spoke out against a corporation which made unethical, potentially illegal actions (an act more daring by the fact that they were a sponsor of the event who were not aware of the statements made). This forthrightness is part of what would drive Mr Lewoc’s projects towards success.

Regional Power System Control Centres (SAPI ODM) was an important project as it overhauled the less efficient Polish power network/systems that had been in place prior to that, leading to benefits totaling in excess of $40 million. Similar benefits were found in the Power Distribution Network Training Simulator in the early 1980s, which had the added benefit of not failing to operate in a fashion similar to prior international development projects. Experienced trainers had input to develop the system. The MSK Communication network was also developed as the first successful Polish communication system developed, operating around the movement of the users in contrast to the dictates of the hardware providers.

Mr Lewoc’s final message was one of thanks to the members of SWIIS who helped him to fulfill his purposes and missions.

 

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If yould like to ask any questions, please feel free! Be sure to mention who you would like to direct them to.

Preparing Systems Engineers for Future Challenges: Education and Innovation in Science and Engineering

Session chaired by Tibor Vamos.

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ICT Entrepreneurship Model: A New Approach for Information Technology Bachelor Education, by Pasi Juvonen & Paivi Ovaska (Finland)

While there is an increased need for ICT soft skills (eg business, communications, transferable skills, team-working, competencies, etc), this is not necessarily represented in education. This has led to the need to renew the IT Bachelor education.

In prior realisations of such education, technical skills were emphasised, with little focus on the soft skills. This form also lacked a systematic model of cooperation with companies, organisations, and international partners.

The essential theoretical framework then requires Organisational Learning, per Argyris and Schon (including defensive reasoning of human beings and planned interventions); The five diciplines of learning Organisation per Senge et al.; Knowledge Theory by Nonaka and Takeuchi (such as SECI process); studies of organisational culture and leadership by Schein, and Kouzes and Posner (such as change process); and studies on experimental and or communal learning and group dynamics, per Johnson & Johnson, and also Kolb.

This would lead to a conventional first year to establish a basis of learning, followed by a more dynamic later learning process choosing from one of three options: international/team learning, project learning, or ICT Entrepreneurship, the last of which forms the basis of this discussion.

This Entrepreneurship involves theoretical projects and practical, which requires that the students develop their own company under the auspices of the university. This is done through 4 modules: Team Learning Tools, Teampreneurship tools, Coaching Tools, and Development Discussions. Students build their network, their brand, their knowledge, and their experience through this process. The 360 review function within the model allows for peer evaluation, customer evaluation, and coach evaluation, enabled the application of grades / credits and benchmarking as is necessary. On the back of this, the student is placed in a position to anticipate where they may want to go or what they wish to specialise in later on.

The action research forms a framework for the PhD study (PDCA). Data collection and analysis was by a mixed method approach: data collection via theme based interviews, direct and participative observation, field notes, and the information repository used by teampreneurs; data analysis through grounded theory and case study, utilising critical incident technology, and a comparison of notes between researchers (to enable triangulation).

Key themes included learning methods (eg how to unlearn traditional structures.school learning?) coaches roles and responsibilities (eg to intervene or not? how to operate within the framework…), Learner’s roles and responsibilities (trust and knowledge sharing providing issues), and overcoming fear (such as in dealing with potential customers).

Currently, the model is being looked at now by a number of institutions and countries.

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Trust and Team Development to Fight Chaos: Three Student Reports, by Annette Juras, Janine Brockmeier, Vera Niedergesaess & Dietrich Brandt (Germany)

Based on the merger of three student reports from the ESTIEM Summer Academy, the purpose initially was to address and provide solutions for current problems and issues. Part of the process involved clear lines for listening and communicating in order to promote trust and working together successfully, with topics including ‘Living with today’s hypocrisy,’ What is human?’, ‘the perfect world’ and more.

Team-building was developed through trust games (the falling backwards exercise, crossing the wall), group games (board game of their own invention, sports), and other group activities (food preparation, singing and dancing, theater play, campfire discussion). This had a significant impact on the learning process.

As a team, the group had to trust and respect one another, receive and give feedback, and share thoughts and ideas; as an individual, it enabled open-mindedness and listening; and for learning, it enabled the group to deal with chaos, help each other to improve, and develop ideas together.

In forming an atmosphere of trust, the group was enabled for the creation of ideas (brainstorming, questions, solitude, discussions, silence), leading to opinion polls (priority analysis with 1 to 3 votes). This was followed by working on the issues raised (discussions, stories, examples, mind-maps and pictures), and in turn reporting on the outcomes (visuals, keywords, pictures, timelines), leading to two reflections: on the process or on the outcome. To facilitate this, rules and guidelines were developed to further focus and refine the process.

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Using Modern Management Concepts and Tools for Developing Advanced Quality Management Systems in new Higher Education Institutions, by Edmond Hadjrizi (Kosovo)

At the outset of the research, and with an effective lack of administration, the engineering program in Pristina was a kernel for later development to be built upon in Kosovo. The remit of the university grew as requirements dictated.

Quality management was introduced in order to enable accreditationm internationalisation and conformity with wider-adopted standards. This also enabled the organisation of international events, leading to events hosting such as SWIIS in 2006 and 2010, with another iteration to occur next year. This would also potentially incorporate other countries such as Albania and Serbia. Furthermore, this allowed specific and planned expansion of the programs currently offered by the institute.

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As ever, be sure to let us know if a question you have is for a specific presenter so that we can direct it appropriately.

Systems Engineering and Policy 2: African Perspectives

Session chaired by David Smith.

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International Development: Exploring the gap between organisations’ development policy and practice – a Southern Perspective, by Dennis Dennehy & Mike Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

This presentation takes the perspective of development as a change in human systems at an individual, familial, community, and wider-social levels. It focused on the link between learning and knowledge as key components of improving the outcomes for international development work.

International development is a multi-billion dollar industry – while from some perspectives it may be succeeding, if there is failure in aspects then it should be looked at pre-dominantly from that perspective in order to address the problems rather than glossing them over. It is also stated that figures typically do not represent aid contributed by the likes of China, India, Islamic and indigenous African charities, or philanthropic organisations. This significantly reduces the idea that we are getting value for money from the contributions, which are higher than is obvious.

Much of the research has also focused on the projects rather than the beneficiaries, creating a cost in representation, which is instead impersonal and imperfect. There is an increased marginalisation in effect, enforcing further constraints upon support in the process. Development needs to shift from being acts of charity to a moral framework of rights and of justice: where now is accountability? Who benefits?

There is a stated gap between the values and the actual behaviours of development organisations. In order to assist organisations in addressing these gaps, the aforementioned incongruence leads to the following research questions:

1. What are the gaps between policy and practice in the South?

2. What are the significance of these gaps?

3. How can the principles of Knowledge Management address these gaps?

The primary view of the North in this presentation is by necessity critical: NGOs are found weak in their limited capacity to learn, adapt, and improve, with tools to plan and monitor and evaluate often being inappropriate. Furthermore, NGOs are at risk of being viewed as cultural imperialists who disseminate Northern tastes, views, and power across countries like Kenya. The emphasis of upward accountability over downward has also led to infrastructural issues, while the trickle-down model creates a further imbalance. Success for NGOs is in this view dismal, as they do not fit the priorities of the populations they are trying to help. ‘Doing your best’ is not acceptable in these scenarios.

Knowledge management can be adopted to support these efforts using a holistic approach that is cultural (organisational and national), historical, contextual, and dynamic.

This research used 32 semi-structured anonymous interviews from a cross-section of Kenyan civil society which categorised participants as Practitioner, Board Member, or Kenyan Citizen, leading to over 20 hours of interviews, with 317 key phrases and sentences, coded under 9 themes. Difficulties were present, in part due to the distrust of outsiders and in particular white Europeans, who are seen as emblematic of the on-site issues and cultural hegemony. Themes included Hidden Voices, Disempowerment, Incongruence, Lack of Community Engagement, and Corruption.

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Determinants of User Adoption of Mobile Electronic Payment Systems for Microfinance Institutions in Developing Countries: Case Study of the Cameroon, by Arnauld Mesingwa (Cameroon) & Larry Stapleton (Ireland)

This project looks at innovative forms of ICT services, such as the delivery of microfinance institutions (MFI) for all segments of the population. Mobile ICT is the key to this, enabling the automation for and access to this form of transaction. Mobile ICT offers the opportunity to drive economic growth in developing countries compared to other e-payment systems.

The overall objective then is to establish whether socio-technical and institutional factors influence the effective uptake of mobile e-payments in Cameroon (as an example of an L Developing Country (or LDC)) An institutional theory approach was adopted to explore the factor of knowledge diffusion in these situations, which in turn led to the development of the following research questions:

RQ1: Do socio-technical factors influence users adoption of mobile electronic payment systems and services linked to the MFI in the Cameroon?

RQ2: Do institutional factors influence users adoption intention of mobile electronic payment systems and services linked to the MFI in the Cameroon?

Mr Mesingwa went on to describe the issues and factors faced in addressing this study in the Cameroon in terms of usage, uptake, resistance, and variables both expected and unexpected. Micro-finance invites much in the way of financial aid, while also presenting peculiar problems for financial services targeted at micro-entrepreneurs and low income populations with the LDC. ICT can however help MFI to attain market penetration for the type of financial supports and services they provide.

A country-wide case study, there was numerous benefits of micro-finance found for the Cameroon: cost, reliability, safety, flexibility, immediacy… While there is much evidence to suggest that consumers prefer payment transactions via mobile phone, it remains a complex issue. While mobile technology has progressed very quickly, adding apps for transactions can prove difficult. Cultural, language, and security barriers can also impact upon their use, to say nothing of issues in usability, government regulations and institutional factors.

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Exploring the role of Citizen Journalism in Slum Improvement, by Tedla Desta (Kenya), Mike Fitzgibbon and Noreen Byrne (Ireland)

The use of mobile technology as a form of knowledge transfer is very much about capturing the voice of people in these issues, both metaphorically and literally, in dealing with the increasing intensity of slum problems, particularly in Kibera, the focus of the study. The oppression of the slums is very much put in contrast with the effective social invisbility of the slums themselves – support verges on non-existent for people within the slums. Mobile technology allows these people to have

Slums are seen as having particular functions: cheap housing, a location to place people who ‘do not contribute’ to the economic or social life of a city, anonymity, foster group associations, and to educate rural people in the ways of city life. The slum improvement approaches are generally to ignore them, slum clearance, top-down slum improvement, and participatory slum improvement. It is the latter that is most important, since it involves engaging the residents while putting the government into the secondary role.

Citizen journalism has gained momentum in projects such as this where it enables a positive impact in terms of immediate effect, empowering citizens and their livelihood. They are themselves shifted from receivers of new to providers/makers, who themselves dictate the key information in a unique media platform outside the regulated norms of traditional media.

The research seeks to address the role of citizen journalism, the nature of improvements, and the view of it in doing so.

120 questionnaires were distributed in the Kibera region, 52 of which were completed and returned. Additionally, 5 structured interviews with key informants within the community were undertaken, along with content analysis of over 200 news items for a comprehensive overview.

News was found to be primary in the reports, with adverts and advertorials were secondary. Around 97% of the news reports were not balanced (only one source) while at least 87% were at least verified. Proximity and timeliness were among the key findings. 82% of the respondents made use of social media and technologies. WHIle historically Kibera was either not mentioned or misrepresented in mainstream media, Voice of Kibera is now used as the primary source of information.

Issues of sustainability were raised in particular regards towards quality of output. Financial stability is also an issue as it is currently run on a volunteer basis, There is also a greater degree of cooperation from the community itself, as while they had access to the system, they didn’t necessarily understand the concept of citizen journalism. Training will be important in all aspects of this going forward, in addition to promotion and self-sufficiency.

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As ever, be sure to let us know if a question you have is for a specific presenter so that we can direct it appropriately!