A framework for model integration and holistic modelling of socio-technical systems

This paper presents a layered framework for the purposes of integrating different Socio-Technical Systems (STS) models and perspectives into a whole-of-systems model. Holistic modelling plays a critical role in the engineering of STS due to the interplay between social and technical elements within these systems and resulting emergent behaviour. The framework decomposes STS models into components, where each component is either a static object, dynamic object or behavioural object. Based on existing literature, a classification of the different elements that make up STS, whether it be a social, technical or a natural environment element, is developed; each object can in turn be classified according to the STS elements it represents. Using the proposed framework, it is possible to systematically decompose models to an extent such that points of interface can be identified and the contextual factors required in transforming the component of one model to interface into another is obtained. Using an airport inbound passenger facilitation process as a case study socio-technical system, three different models are analysed: a Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) model, Hybrid Queue-based Bayesian Network (HQBN) model and an Agent Based Model (ABM). It is found that the framework enables the modeller to identify non-trivial interface points such as between the spatial interactions of an ABM and the causal reasoning of a HQBN, and between the process activity representation of a BPMN and simulated behavioural performance in a HQBN. Such a framework is a necessary enabler in order to integrate different modelling approaches in understanding and managing STS.

Activation of membrane-bound proteins and receptor systems: A link between tissue kallikrein and the KLK-related peptidases

The 15 members of the kallikrein-related serine peptidase (KLK) family have diverse tissue-specific expression profiles and roles in a range of cellular processes, including proliferation, migration, invasion, differentiation, inflammation and angiogenesis that are required in both normal physiology as well as pathological conditions. These roles require cleavage of a range of substrates, including extracellular matrix proteins, growth factors, cytokines as well as other proteinases. In addition, it has been clear since the earliest days of KLK research that cleavage of cell surface substrates is also essential in a range of KLK-mediated cellular processes where these peptidases are essentially acting as agonists and antagonists. In this review we focus on these KLK-regulated cell surface receptor systems including bradykinin receptors, proteinase-activated receptors, as well as the plasminogen activator, ephrins and their receptors, and hepatocyte growth factor/Met receptor systems and other plasma membrane proteins. From this analysis it is clear that in many physiological and pathological settings KLKs have the potential to regulate multiple receptor systems simultaneously; an important issue when these peptidases and substrates are targeted in disease.

Offending behaviour and mental illness : characteristics of a mental health court liaison service

This paper begins with a brief review of recent literature about relationships between offending behaviour and mental illness, classifying studies by the settings within which they occurred. The establishment and role of a mental health court liaison (MHCL) service is then described, together with findings from a 3-year service audit, including an examination of relationships between clients’ characteristics and offence profiles, and comparisons with regional offence data. During the audit period, 971 clients (767 males, 204 females) were referred to the service, comprising 1139 service episodes, 35.5% of which involved a comorbid substance use diagnosis. The pattern of offences for MHCL clients was reasonably similar to the regional offence data, except that among MHCL clients there were proportionately more offences against justice procedures (e.g., breaches of apprehended violence orders [AVOs]) and fewer driving offences and “other offences”. Additionally, male MHCL clients had proportionately more malicious damage and robbery offences and lower rates of offensive behaviour and drug offences. A range of service and research issues is also discussed. Overall, the new service appears to have forged more effective links between the mental health and criminal justice systems.

Investigating death among vulnerable and marginalised populations

As criminologists we are already very aware of the ways in which prejudice and moral panics can influence how criminal justice personnel engage certain populations in the criminal justice system (Hudson 2008). What may be less well-known is how similar ways of thinking and acting also occur in non-suspicious coronial death investigations. This is because these systems have a lot in common. Similar populations are over-represented in both and this tends to mean that the same populations come to the attention of police, magistrates and pathologists as offenders in the criminal justice system and when their families are victims in the coronial system (Carpenter and Tait 2009; Cuneen 2006). It is also the case that a criminal lens can pervade non-criminal death investigations especially when the experience and training of many coronial professionals is in the criminal justice system (Carpenter, Tait and Quadrelli 2013). This can mean that similar strategies are relied upon by personnel when dealing with families when they are both victims and offenders.

Doubly Fed Induction Generators : Overview and Intelligent Control Strategies for Wind Energy Conversion Systems

Adjustable speed induction generators, especially the Doubly-Fed Induction Generators (DFIG) are becoming increasingly popular due to its various advantages over fixed speed generator systems. A DFIG in a wind turbine has ability to generate maximum power with varying rotational speed, ability to control active and reactive by integration of electronic power converters such as the back-to-back converter, low rotor power rating resulting in low cost converter components, etc, DFIG have become very popular in large wind power conversion systems. This chapter presents an extensive literature survey over the past 25 years on the different aspects of DFIG. Application of H8 Controller for enhanced DFIG-WT performance in terms of robust stability and reference tracking to reduce mechanical stress and vibrations is also demonstrated in the chapter.

Electronic medical record systems in Saudi Arabia: Knowledge and preferences of healthcare professionals

Background The use of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems is increasing internationally, though developing countries, such as Saudi Arabia, have tended to lag behind in the adoption and implementation of EMR systems due to several barriers. The literature shows that the main barriers to EMR in Saudi Arabia are lack of knowledge or experience using EMR systems and staff resistance to using the implemented EMR system. Methods A quantitative methodology was used to examine health personnel knowledge and acceptance of and preference for EMR systems in seven Saudi public hospitals in Jeddah, Makkah and Taif cities. Results Both English literacy and education levels were significantly correlated with computer literacy and EMR literacy. Participants whose first language was not Arabic were more likely to prefer using an EMR system compared to those whose first language was Arabic. Conclusion This study suggests that as computer literacy levels increase, so too do staff preferences for using EMR systems. Thus, it would be beneficial for hospitals to assess English language proficiency and computer literacy levels of staff prior to implementing an EMR system. It is recommended that hospitals need to offer training and targeted educational programs to the potential users of the EMR system. This would help to increase English language proficiency and computer literacy levels of staff as well as staff acceptance of the system.

A review on prognostic techniques for non-stationary and non-linear rotating systems

The field of prognostics has attracted significant interest from the research community in recent times. Prognostics enables the prediction of failures in machines resulting in benefits to plant operators such as shorter downtimes, higher operation reliability, reduced operations and maintenance cost, and more effective maintenance and logistics planning. Prognostic systems have been successfully deployed for the monitoring of relatively simple rotating machines. However, machines and associated systems today are increasingly complex. As such, there is an urgent need to develop prognostic techniques for such complex systems operating in the real world. This review paper focuses on prognostic techniques that can be applied to rotating machinery operating under non-linear and non-stationary conditions. The general concept of these techniques, the pros and cons of applying these methods, as well as their applications in the research field are discussed. Finally, the opportunities and challenges in implementing prognostic systems and developing effective techniques for monitoring machines operating under non-stationary and non-linear conditions are also discussed.

Substation Automation Systems – Future possibilities for commissioning

Substation Automation Systems have undergone many transformational changes triggered by improvements in technologies. Prior to the digital era, it made sense to confirm that the physical wiring matched the schematic design by meticulous and laborious point to point testing. In this way, human errors in either the design or the construction could be identified and fixed prior to entry into service. However, even though modern secondary systems today are largely computerised, we are still undertaking commissioning testing using the same philosophy as if each signal were hard wired. This is slow and tedious and doesn’t do justice to modern computer systems and software automation. One of the major architectural advantages of the IEC 61850 standard is that it “abstracts” the definition of data and services independently of any protocol allowing the mapping of them to any protocol that can meet the modelling and performance requirements. On this basis, any substation element can be defined using these common building blocks and are made available at the design, configuration and operational stages of the system. The primary advantage of accessing data using this methodology rather than the traditional position method (such as DNP 3.0) is that generic tools can be created to manipulate data. Self-describing data contains the information that these tools need to manipulate different data types correctly. More importantly, self-describing data makes the interface between programs robust and flexible. This paper proposes that the improved data definitions and methods for dealing with this data within a tightly bound and compliant IEC 61850 Substation Automation System could completely revolutionise the need to test systems when compared to traditional point to point methods. Using the outcomes of an undergraduate thesis project, we can demonstrate with some certainty that it is possible to automatically test the configuration of a protection relay by comparing the IEC 61850 configuration extracted from the relay against its SCL file for multiple relay vendors. The software tool provides a quick and automatic check that the data sets on a particular relay are correct according to its CID file, thus ensuring that no unexpected modifications are made at any stage of the commissioning process. This tool has been implemented in a Java programming environment using an open source IEC 61850 library to facilitate the server-client association with the relay.

Cultural factors: Understanding culture to design organisation structures and systems to optimise safety

Safety culture is a term with numerous definitions in the literature. Many authors advocate a prescriptive approach to safety culture in which if an organisation has certain levels of externally prescribed systems and structures in place it has a “good safety culture”. Conversely, other researchers suggest an anthropological approach of exploring deep meanings and understandings present within an organisation’s workforce. In a recent published review, the authors presented an alternative view to safety culture, in which the anthropological aspects of safety culture interact with the structures and systems in place within an organisation to result in behavioural patterns. This can be viewed as a human factors approach to safety culture in which, through understanding the specific interactions between the culture of a workforce and external organisational elements, organisational structures and systems can be optimised in order to shape worker behaviour and improve safety. This paper presents findings from a recent investigation of safety culture in the Australian heavy vehicle (transport) industry. Selected results are discussed to explore how understanding culture can provide direction to the optimisation of organisational structures and systems to match worker culture and thus improve safety. Specifically the value placed on personal experience and stories, as well as on both time and money are discussed, and interventions that are suited to these aspects of the culture are discussed. These findings demonstrate the importance of shifting beyond mere prescriptive and interpretive approaches to safety culture and instead to focus on the interaction between cultural and contextual elements to optimise organisational structures and systems.

The design and implementation of an Information Accountability Framework for eHealth systems

This tutorial primarily focuses on the implementation of Information Accountability (IA) protocols defined in an Information Accountability Framework (IAF) in eHealth systems. Concerns over the security and privacy of patient information are one of the biggest hindrances to sharing health information and the wide adoption of eHealth systems. At present, there are competing requirements between healthcare consumers' (i.e. patients) requirements and healthcare professionals' (HCP) requirements. While consumers want control over their information, healthcare professionals want access to as much information as required in order to make well-informed decisions and provide quality care. This conflict is evident in the review of Australia's PCEHR system and in recent studies of patient control of access to their eHealth information. In order to balance these requirements, the use of an Information Accountability Framework devised for eHealth systems has been proposed. Through the use of IA protocols, so-called Accountable-eHealth systems (AeH) create an eHealth environment where health information is available to the right person at the right time without rigid barriers whilst empowering the consumers with information control and transparency. In this half-day tutorial, we will discuss and describe the technical challenges surrounding the implementation of the IAF protocols into existing eHealth systems and demonstrate their use. The functionality of the protocols and AeH systems will be demonstrated, and an example of the implementation of the IAF protocols into an existing eHealth system will be presented and discussed.

Street-level perceptions of procedural rights for young unemployed people - a comparative study between Sweden and Australia

Two types of welfare states are compared in this article. Differences in procedural rights for young unemployed at the level of service delivery are analyzed. In Australia, rights are regulated through a rigid procedural justice system. The young unemployed within the social assistance system in Sweden encounter staff with high discretionary powers, which makes the legal status weak for the unemployed but, on the other hand, the system is more flexible. Despite the differences, there is striking convergence in how the young unemployed describe how discretionary power among street-level staff affects their procedural rights. This result can be understood as a result of similar professional norms, work customs and occupational cultures of street-level staff, and that there is a basic logic of conditionality in all developed welfare states where procedural rights are tightly coupled with responsibilities.

Organisational driving safety systems analysis: Fleet safety situational issues and system gaps

The identification of safety hazards and risks and their associated control measures provides the foundation for any safety program and essentially determines the scope, content and complexity of an effective occupational health and safety management system. In the case of work-related road safety (WRRS), there is a gap within current knowledge, research and practice regarding the holistic assessment of WRRS safety systems and practice. In order to mitigate this gap, a multi-level process tool for assessing WRRS safety systems was developed from extensive consultation, practice and informed by theoretical models and frameworks. Data collection for the Organisational Driving Safety Systems Analysis (ODSSA) tool utilised a case study methodology and included multiple information sources: such as documents, archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observations, and physical artefacts. Previous trials and application of the ODSSA has indicated that the tool is applicable to a wide range of organisational fleet environments and settings. This paper reports on the research results and effectiveness of the ODSSA tool to assess WRRS systems across a large organisation that recently underwent considerable organisational change, including amalgamation of multiple organisations. The outcomes of this project identified considerable differences in the degree by which the organisation addressed WRRS across their vehicle fleet operations and provided guidelines for improving organisations’ WRRS systems. The ODSSA tool was pivotal in determining WRRS system deficiencies and provided a platform to inform mitigation and improvement strategies.

On Systems Thinking, Systems Biology, and the in Silico Plant

The recent summary report of a Department of Energy Workshop on Plant Systems Biology (P.V. Minorsky [2003] Plant Physiol 132: 404-409) offered a welcomed advocacy for systems analysis as essential in understanding plant development, growth, and production. The goal of the Workshop was to consider methods for relating the results of molecular research to real-world challenges in plant production for increased food supplies, alternative energy sources, and environmental improvement. The rather surprising feature of this report, however, was that the Workshop largely overlooked the rich history of plant systems analysis extending over nearly 40 years (Sinclair and Seligman, 1996) that has considered exactly those challenges targeted by the Workshop. Past systems research has explored and incorporated biochemical and physiological knowledge into plant simulation models from a number of perspectives. The research has resulted in considerable understanding and insight about how to simulate plant systems and the relative contribution of various factors in influencing plant production. These past activities have contributed directly to research focused on solving the problems of increasing biomass production and crop yields. These modeling approaches are also now providing an avenue to enhance integration of molecular genetic technologies in plant improvement (Hammer et al., 2002).

Transparency and ‘uncomfortable knowledge’ in child protection

Australia's child protection systems and the provision of out-of-home care, in particular, have been subject to sustained criticism for decades from dozens of official inquiries and reviews. It is now well established that many children in state care are treated significantly less well than required by relevant legal frameworks and community standards. Much attention and significant resources have been directed toward trying to ameliorate this ‘wicked problem’ and yet it continues. This article focuses on one reason the problems persists, namely the secrecy and closed cultures that characterize relevant organizations which reinforce strategies of denial that avoid acknowledging or dealing with ‘uncomfortable knowledge’. It is a situation many people in child protection systems confront. It is, for example, when we know abuse is taking place, or when they see or are ourselves party to corrupt or negligent practices. It is knowing that important ethical principles are being abrogated. We draw on recent official reports and inquiries noting the repeated calls for greater transparency and independent oversight. An argument is made for a default position of total transparency subject to caveats that protect privacy and any investigation underway. An account of what this can look like is offered.

DAQ00129 Improving the Integration of Legumes in Grain and Sugarcane Farming Systems in Southern Queensland

The farming systems and agribusinesses of the inland Burnett and southern coastal cropping regions of Queensland are becoming increasingly interlinked as grain legume crops, a key component of dryland cropping systems, become more firmly entrenched in the coastal sugarcane cropping areas. Soybeans, peanuts and possibly winter cereals like barley have a real and demonstrated role in sugarcane rotations, and assistance with the integration of those crops into viable and sustainable cropping systems with sugarcane will be critical to the futuer development of these industries.