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"Systems engineering History."
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Wicked problems : how to engineer a better world
Our world is filled with pernicious problems. How, for example, did novice pilots learn to fly without taking to the air and risking their lives? How should cities process our waste without polluting the environment? Challenges that tangle personal, public, and planetary aspects - often occurring in health, infrastructure, business, and policy - are known as wicked problems. In 'Wicked Problems,' engineer Guru Madhavan examines historic tragedies and lesser-known tales, from the efficient design of battleships to a volcano eruption that curtailed global commerce. Braided throughout is the uplifting tale of Edwin Link, who revolutionized aviation with his flight trainer. In Link's story, Madhavan uncovers a model mindset to engage with wickedness. An homage to society's innovators and maintainers, 'Wicked Problems' offers a refreshing vision for readers of all backgrounds to build a better future.
Book
Stimulus for Human and Societal Dynamics in the Prevention of Catastrophes
Disasters, both natural and man-made, not only present a major threat to national security, they can also significantly impede the stable development of national economies. Dealing with them safely and efficiently is dependent on a well structured policy in emergency preparedness, something which can also go some way towards mitigating the inevitable burden they represent in financial terms. In the Caucasian region alone, natural and man-made disasters are estimated to have cost hundreds of millions of US dollars in the period 2003 to 2010. This book presents 34 papers, arising from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) held in Yerevan, Armenia, in October 2010. The aim of this ARW was to further supplement the common efforts of scientists from NATO and partner countries to transfer technology and knowledge with the objective of decreasing the vulnerability of the population from both natural and man-made disasters. The ARW's aim was achieved, not least, by evaluating accumulated European theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the relevant fields so that recommendations could be developed for the prevention and mitigation of disasters. The book is divided into four main sections covering the themes of: public risk perception and communication, seismic risk assessment and consequent reduction, hazard monitoring and management, and assessment and management of industrial risks, and will be of interest to all those involved in the prevention and management of disasters, both natural and man-made.
eBook
Mission control : inventing the groundwork of spaceflight
\"Brave astronauts, flaring rockets, and majestic launches are only one side of the story of spaceflight. Any mission to space depends on years--if not decades--of work by thousands of dedicated individuals on the ground. These are the people whose voices offer a friendly link to Earth in the void of space, whose hands maneuver rovers across the face of planets, and whose skills guide astronauts home. This book is a long-overdue history of three major centers that have managed important missions since the dawn of the space age. In Mission Control, Michael Johnson explores the famous Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany--each a strategically designed micro-environment responsible for the operation of spacecraft and the safety of passengers. He explains the motivations behind the location of each center and their intricate design. He shows how the robotic spaceflight missions overseen in Pasadena and Darmstadt set these centers apart from Houston, and compares the tracking networks used for different types of spacecraft. Johnson argues that the type of spacecraft and the missions they controlled--not the nations they represented--defined how the centers developed, yet these centers ended up playing vital national roles as space technology became a battleground for international power struggles in the Cold War years and even after. The most visible part of a conflict that was just as real as the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan and caused great global anxiety, mission control centers have served as symbols of national security in the public eye and pivotal links in the history of modern technology. Michael Peter Johnson is former director of the Skylab Oral History Project.\" --Publisher's website.
BOOK
Informatica
Informatica -the updated
edition of Alex Wright's previously published Glut-continues the
journey through the history of the information age to show how
information systems emerge . Today's \"information
explosion\" may seem like a modern phenomenon, but we are not the
first generation-or even the first species-to wrestle with the
problem of information overload. Long before the advent of
computers, human beings were collecting, storing, and organizing
information: from Ice Age taxonomies to Sumerian archives, Greek
libraries to Christian monasteries.
Wright weaves a narrative that connects such seemingly far-flung
topics as insect colonies, Stone Age jewelry, medieval monasteries,
Renaissance encyclopedias, early computer networks, and the World
Wide Web. He suggests that the future of the information age may
lie deep in our cultural past.
We stand at a precipice struggling to cope with a tsunami of
data. Wright provides some much-needed historical perspective. We
can understand the predicament of information overload not just as
the result of technological change but as the latest chapter in an
ancient story that we are only beginning to understand.
eBook
You are here : from the compass to GPS, the history and future of how we find ourselves
\"The story of the rise of modern navigation technology, from radio location to GPS-and the consequent decline of privacy What does it mean to never get lost? You Are Here examines the rise of our technologically aided era of navigational omniscience-or how we came to know exactly where we are at all times. In a sweeping history of the development of location technology in the past century, Bray shows how radio signals created to carry telegraph messages were transformed into invisible beacons to guide ships and how a set of rapidly-spinning wheels steered submarines beneath the polar ice cap. But while most of these technologies were developed for and by the military, they are now ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Our phones are now smart enough to pinpoint our presence to within a few feet-and nosy enough to share that information with governments and corporations. Filled with tales of scientists and astronauts, inventors and entrepreneurs, You Are Here tells the story of how humankind ingeniously solved one of its oldest and toughest problems-only to herald a new era in which it's impossible to hide\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Pragmatism and Care in Engineering Ethics
Engineering is a practice that must function in an environment of incomplete and uncertain knowledge. This environment has become even more difficult in an increasingly complex world. Engineering ethics has to be framed and taught in a way that addresses these realities. This paper proposes a combination of the philosophy of pragmatism and the ethic of care as a possible framework for the practice of engineering ethics that can provide flexibility and openness to address engineering ethics problems more realistically within the ethos and culture of engineering. Embedding values into practice, pragmatism and care provide a broad, reflective, and corrective framework for engineering ethics that can accommodate the realities in which engineering operates. It is shown that these two approaches are more consonant with design methodologies and have a natural fit with design thinking, so they mesh well with what engineers do and with the complexities of their work today. As humans more and more try to alter the socio-techno-natural world, e.g., the earth’s climate, the combination of pragmatism and care will allow enhanced ethical behavior. Alterations to complex adaptive systems will produce highly uncertain results that require engineers to have a mindset that allows them to act with humility in the face of significant uncertainty and potential catastrophic failures.
Journal Article
Never lost again : the Google mapping revolution that sparked new industries and augmented our reality
\"The behind-the-scenes narrative of the creation of Google Maps and the rag-tag team that built it and changed how the world navigates\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Drift into Failure
This book explores complexity theory and systems thinking to better understand how complex systems drift into failure. It studies sensitive dependence on initial conditions, unruly technology, tipping points, diversity - and finds that failure emerges opportunistically, non-randomly, from the very webs of relationships that breed success and that are supposed to protect organizations from disaster. It develops a vocabulary that allows us to harness complexity and find new ways of managing drift.
eBook
Sovereignty and command in Canada-US continental air defence, 1940-57
\"The 1940 Ogdensburg Agreement entrenched a formal defence relationship between Canada and the United States--but was Canadian sovereignty protected in this seemingly unequal partnership? Sovereignty and Command in Canada US Continental Air Defence, 1940 57 documents the close and sometimes fractious air defence relationship between the two countries. Drawing on untapped archival material, Richard Goette challenges prevailing perceptions of eroded Canadian sovereignty. He argues instead that a functional military transition from an air defence system based on cooperation to one based on integrated and centralized command and control under NORAD allowed Canada to retain command of its forces and thus protect its sovereignty. Compromises between Canadian, American, and British military cultures, operational and doctrinal factors, Canadian sensitivities, and cordial professional working relationships all had roles to play this transition. Goette combines historical narrative with a conceptual analysis of sovereignty, command and control systems, military professionalism, and civil-military relations. In the process, he provides essential insights into the Royal Canadian Air Force's paradigm shift away from its Royal Air Force roots toward closer ties with the United States Air Force and the role of the nation's armed forces in safeguarding its sovereignty.\"--Back cover.
Book
A brief history of synthetic biology
In this Timeline article, Collins and colleagues chart the history of synthetic biology since its inception just over a decade ago, with a focus on both the cultural and scientific progress that has been made as well as on key breakthroughs and areas for future development.
The ability to rationally engineer microorganisms has been a long-envisioned goal dating back more than a half-century. With the genomics revolution and rise of systems biology in the 1990s came the development of a rigorous engineering discipline to create, control and programme cellular behaviour. The resulting field, known as synthetic biology, has undergone dramatic growth throughout the past decade and is poised to transform biotechnology and medicine. This Timeline article charts the technological and cultural lifetime of synthetic biology, with an emphasis on key breakthroughs and future challenges.
Journal Article