A method for analysing requirements for complex sociotechnical systems is described. The method builds on the I * family of models by explicitly Modelling communication between agents by discourse act types. System (i*) models and use cases are developed which describe the dependencies between human and computer agents in terms of a set of discourse acts that characterise the obligations on agents to respond and act. For humancomputer communication, the discourse acts indicate functional requirements to support operators. For human agents the acts specify their obligation to act and constraints on action. The method provides analytic techniques and heuristics to assess agents ’ workloads in terms of the tasks and communication they have to perform. Scenarios are run against the system model by walking through the chain of operator tasks and communication links to produce time estimates and failure probabilities where the demands of scenarios impose excessive loads on human operators. The method is illustrated with a case study of a naval command and control system. Keywords: requirements analysis, CSCW, communication, discourse acts 1.

: Production scheduling in industrial practice is still primarily a manual task, despite the immense research efforts and the fact that manual scheduling is a very complex task. In this paper, the allocation of tasks between scheduling systems and human schedulers for various types of production units is addressed. The human factor in production scheduling is described using existing models from cognitive psychology. The allocation of scheduling sub-tasks is discussed, based on characteristics of human schedulers and scheduling systems. These sub-tasks are shown to depend on the type of production unit to be scheduled. Four case studies are described to illustrate the theoretical framework. Keywords: production scheduling, decision support, human decision behaviour 2 1. Introduction Production scheduling concerns itself with the detailed planning and control of individual production units. It has been recognised that production scheduling ultimately determines the operational perfo...

This chapter describes a framework for cognitive task design that focuses on social and communication issues. It is intended to complement the more traditional task oriented views. The chapter starts by describing a process model for cognitive task design then introduces cognitive and social pathologies: heuristics for analysing potential causes of failure in sociotechnical systems. This is followed by an introduction to generic tasks as reusable models for specifying human action, to which requirements for computer system task support can be attached, as well as the pathologies to warn the designer about potential failure points. A general model of discourse is described which is also associated with pathologies and generic requirements to guide the designer towards reusable knowledge at appropriate stages in the communication process. The discourse model is supplemented with patterns for specific types of communication such as Command and Control, proposals and liaison, etc. The next section proposes models for analysing power and trust in human-human and interorganisational relationships. Once again models are associated with pathologies and countermeasures. Use of the models is illustrated by analysis of Command and Control tasks in the combat sub-system of a Navy frigate. A scenario-based approach is taken to walk through the models using operation scenarios of a missile attack. The design implications for cognitive task support and communication are assessed, then two alternative designs for intelligent computerised radar and standard radar are compared using the generic models for analysing communication, perceptions of power and trust. The chapter concludes by reviewing the lessons learned for functional allocation, and future work in providing more effective decision support for operators in socio-technical systems.

Simulator : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 87 Appendix E. Examples of Human Performance Process Hierarchical Decomposition 92 Appendix F. Scalable Coherent Interfaces 96 Contents (continued) Chapter Page Appendix G. Synopses of Selected High Performance Parallel Machines 98 Appendix H. Glossary of Acronyms 102 References 105 List of Figures Figure Page 1.1 A Holarchy : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 17 2.1 Possible Paths for Human Performance Process Model Creation : : : : : : : 21 6.1 Numerical Aerodynamics Simulation Results for Embarassingly Parallel Benchmarks : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 40 6.2 CM2: Numerical Aerodynamics Simulation Benchmark Results : : : : : : : 41 6.3 Human Performance Process and Architectures : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 42 8.1 Heterogeneous Computing Environment : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 50 9.1 High Performance Systems Metrics : : :...

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