Browsing by Author "Ferris, Timothy L. J."
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Item Open Access Applying System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)-based methodology supported by Systems Engineering models to a UK rail project(Elsevier, 2023-08-07) Oginni, Dapo; Camelia, Fanny; Chatzimichailidou, Mikela; Ferris, Timothy L. J.Systems safety in railways focuses on providing the necessary assurance that the railway system is operationally safe and meets all relevant regulatory requirements. Safety risks associated with changes in the UK railway are controlled through the Common Safety Method for Risk Evaluation and Assessment (CSM-RA). As part of the CSM-RA framework, various safety analysis methods such as Failure Modes and Effects Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Event Tree Analysis (ETA) and other traditional analysis methods conducted via expert brainstorming such as Hazard Identification (HAZID) workshops have been relied upon for many years in the UK rail industry; aiming to evaluate and mitigate all reasonably foreseeable hazards. This paper reports a comparison case study of the application of a novel System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA)-based methodology against the traditional approach for hazard analysis in UK rail projects. The proposed methodology uses Systems Engineering (SE) models in each of its steps. The application of the novel methodology demonstrates that it is suitable for hazard identification and analysis in complex rail systems. It shows that the approach goes beyond the capabilities of traditional methods, provides insights into the interaction among system components and captures hazards within the context of the whole. The SE models used in this study prove to be valuable not only for illustrating the System of Interest (SOI) visually, but also providing a high-level understanding of the system and a more detailed understanding of component interactions. They also improved the focus, in scope, effectiveness, and efficiency of the analysis.Item Open Access Assessing self-responsibility in employability competencies development among Australian engineering students: introductory report(Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society, 2016-03) Lazarus, D.; Ferris, Timothy L. J.Self-responsibility study initially outlined the importance of ‘self-directed Adult learning’ either as the method or the outcome of education. Attention was given to the different interest of individual’s in accepting responsibility for their professional development. In this regard, several sources reveal the need for learners to take their own responsibility for developing employability competencies development. However, the concern must be expressed at the incompleteness of research into the personal responsibility for competency development.Item Open Access Chapter 14: The challenge of performing research which will contribute helpful engineering knowledge concerning emergence(CRC Press, 2018-09-05) Ferris, Timothy L. J.This chapter discusses the nature of research which is required to provide knowledge of emergence that is useful to engineers in the conduct of engineering work. The discussion begins with three elements which form the foundation of the argument: the contrast of the purposes of engineering and science and the different perspectives of knowledge associated with those purposes; the diversity of views on “emergence” and an argument for working with one definition; and an outline of a framework for classifying the objectives of research activities associated with the kind of knowledge that is needed. These foundations are used to evaluate a number of approaches to research in engineering to assess the contribution that the research approaches make to discovery of matters associated with emergence. The research approaches considered are case studies, forensic investigations, post hoc and experimental studies, fundamental theoretical studies and contributions to the engineering task. These approaches instantiate different research purposes and therefore, naturally will be associated with different methods. The previous analysis is discussed in the context of the nature of research published in response to the imperatives presented to faculty by the career measures of success to explain the current emphasis on what is investigated and the limitations for engineering in that focus. In the final section an approach for addressing the issue of emergence in engineering is presented which leads to a brief statement of a desirable outcome of research into emergence conducted with a view to assisting the practice of engineering.Item Open Access Development and initial validation of an instrument to measure students' learning about systems thinking: the affective domain(IEEE, 2015-10-28) Camelia, Fanny; Ferris, Timothy L. J.; Cropley, David H.The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new, theoretically-based scale that would assess students' learning about systems thinking in relation to the affective domain in systems engineering education. Students' learning of systems thinking in the affective domain deal with emotions, feelings and valuing the related cognitive systems thinking aspects. It is characterized by belief in the power of systems thinking to enable them to develop superior engineered products and systems. This paper describes the psychometric properties of the scale as the basis for future use with a target population of engineering students. It provides the results of an instrument test analysis of data collected from a representative set of the target audience of the instrument. The participants in this study were 180 undergraduate engineering students who enrolled in a systems engineering course. Exploratory factor analysis of the scale for the sample yielded factors largely consistent with conceptualization and construction of the subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scale also supports the initial factor structure. The results suggest that this instrument may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in measuring systems thinking in engineering students, particularly in the affective domain.Item Open Access The effectiveness of a systems engineering course in developing systems thinking(IEEE, 2019-07-12) Camelia, Fanny; Ferris, Timothy L. J.; Behrend, Monica B.performance and affective engagement with ST assessment is proposed as an approach to assess students' ST in both domains. The results can support course change decisions and guide learning experience development. Background: SE education aims to produce graduates with strong knowledge and skills in SE and a strong appreciation of the practical value of ST, which addresses the cognitive and affective domains in education. Consequently, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of SE courses in developing students' ST in these domains, an area that studies do not consider. Intended Outcomes: An understanding of the ST ability of undergraduate students in an SE course in a domain specific engineering program in both the cognitive and affective domains. Application Design: A study evaluated the effectiveness of two SE classes in developing students' ST capacity using a combined cognitive and affective assessment tool developed and validated in previous studies. ST assessment is determined by combining ST performance and affective engagement. To observe the transformation of students' ST capacity, a longitudinal design collected data at two times in each of two offerings of an SE course offered by the same university in two locations--Australia and Singapore. Findings: The course developed students in most dimensions of cognitive ST, but did not appear to improve students' affective engagement with ST.Item Open Access Emergence as a subject of research, research methods, and engineering knowledge and practice(IEEE, 2017-07-31) Ferris, Timothy L. J.The paper discusses several views on the definition of the term “emergence” in relation to systems. The paper then discusses several approaches to research which have different purposes in order to identify the relationship of the research approach and the issue of emergence. Through this discussion it is possible to identify the relationship between research methodologies, engineering development and the issue of emergence. In particular, it is shown that the problem of emergence contains the core of a pathway to the engineering of systems.Item Open Access Measurement of resilience and the time value of resilience(IEEE, 2020-06-19) Ferris, Timothy L. J.In prior work, a measure of resilience for use in systems design and management was presented. The measure has the form of a time integral of the system performance level. This form generates the research question: Is the time value of resilience a meaningful concept, like the time value of money in engineering economics. This article presents four scenarios to explore the relationship between time and the value of resilience of a product or system. The scenarios are: perishable commodity packaging, the value of resilience rapidly diminishes after the contents’ expiry; a consumer durable product for use in an evolving environment and interface requirement, where the value of resilience is related to the expiry of platform resilience capability; a national infrastructure asset, where usage increases during the system life; and a factory, where the value of resilience depends on the obsolescence of the product. In the first two and last cases, the value of resilience is high for a finite interval and then low or zero. In the third, the value of resilience increases as the asset agesItem Open Access A method to establish a trade-space of system requirements and life cycle cost(IEEE, 2019-06-28) Abdul Rahim, Nadirah Binti; Ferris, Timothy L. J.Systems engineering traditionally approaches design of systems through determination of requirements for and implementation of a system. The system is conceived as something to enable achievement of an effect with the tacit assumption that the system to be designed must achieve technical performance, including availability characteristics, which enable delivery of the whole of the intended effect. This approach determines the technical requirements of the system to ensure achievement of the system purpose under assumptions about how the system, or fleet, would be deployed to provide the intended service. Commonly cost is addressed after requirements, either to find the cheapest method to achieve the requirements or as one dimension of a trade-space analysis. We explore a different philosophy for finding the system requirements; starting with the required system level service provision, but agnostic about the technical quality needed. We investigate a trade-space including the life cycle cost (LCC) of service provision as a contribution to determining subsystem requirements. We model the life cycle, for many variations of technical composition, using a Monte Carlo method, and show that a trade-space of LCC and requirements is likely to produce a cheaper solution than starting with sub-system requirements.Item Open Access Overcoming challenges on an international project to advance systems engineering(2019-11-12) Davidz, Heidi; Ferris, Timothy L. J.; Henry, Devanandham; Hilburn, Thomas B.; Hutchison, Nicole A. C.; Olwell, David H.; Prun, Daniel; Pyster, Art; Roussel, Jean‐Claude; Sillitto, Hillary; Snoderly, John; Squires, Alice F.; Zemrowski, KenThe Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE) project's dual product development cycle spanned a three‐year period from the September 2009 to December, 2012. During this timeframe, BKCASE authors met quarterly at various locations, primarily in various regions of the United States, but also in Stockholm, Sweden; Toulouse, France; London, England; and Rome, Italy (BKCASE, 2009–2019). The team successfully worked through challenges and differences to produce The Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) wiki and a Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE) publication. This article is a collection of personal stories from the team members that focus on overcoming obstacles to successfully produce the final published products.Item Open Access Red-teaming as a research validation method for systems engineering thesis students(INCOSE/Wiley, 2022-09-26) Ferris, Timothy L. J.; Camelia, Fanny; Mattsson, Tuomas; Machado, Rogério C.All research projects need a forward path method for performing the investigation, making findings and reaching conclusions. In addition, project methodology must include methods that test the truth of the knowledge claimed to have been developed through the project. We address the specific issue of validation in thesis projects in systems engineering (SE) programs where the intended outcome is either an application of SE method or an investigation of a topic in SE. We present red-teaming (RTing) as a validation method for results of SE research. We discuss two case studies of thesis projects which used a RTing method to evaluate a proposed method for doing something. From this we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the RTing method in thesis projects and provide guidelines for use of RTing as a project outcomes evaluation method. We conclude RTing is a useful method to evaluate a thesis project which generates a design or a method because it uses a method not directly influenced by the student’s assumptions in the design of the project. The RTing method is constrained by the challenges of finding willing red-team (RT) members, project schedule, and the RT member’s knowledge of the subject.Item Open Access A resilience measure to guide system design and management(IEEE, 2019-03-18) Ferris, Timothy L. J.This paper presents a measure of resilience which can guide system design and management. Systems design must incorporate resilience to provide stakeholders with the most appropriate solution for their life-cycle needs. Design of resilient systems demands a measure of the resilience afforded by a system proposal which can be used to compare design proposals. The measurement method should balance the interest in resilience with all other proposal evaluation criteria, and incorporate the effect of the sequence of unknown future events affecting the system. Ideally, the resilience measure should also be useful to guide management decisions re maintenance or upgrade during the system life. This paper presents a method to measure system resilience which can be applied to engineered systems in general, not just a specific class of systems, is threat type agnostic, and does not presuppose any ‘desirable’ outcome allowing a system specific determination of ‘desirable’ outcomes.Item Open Access Scenario selection method for system scenario analysis(INCOSE, 2016-11) Ferris, Timothy L. J.; Barker, Stephen G.; Adcock, R. D.Scenario analysis is a frequently-used method to explore what a proposed system is required to do in the early phases of system development leading towards finding system requirements. A system which is intended to perform a variety of roles under a range of conditions is likely to result in the need for a quantity of scenarios that becomes intractably pluriform. The consequence of too many scenarios is that either the number of scenarios to be analysed must be reduced to a manageable number or the analysis is likely to be perfunctory, diminishing the value of the analysis. We present a method for reducing the number of scenarios to be analysed through study of the organization of the factors which distinguish scenarios from each other, and for selecting which scenarios need analysis through identifying their points of commonality and identifying where differences may impact system capability. Our method organises the types and potential values of factors related to a particular system development in order to reduce the number of scenarios to be investigatedItem Open Access System scenario selection method for faster analysis(INCOSE, 2017-08-30) Ferris, Timothy L. J.; Barker, Stephen G.Scenario analysis is a frequently-used method to explore what a proposed system is required to do in the early phases of system development leading towards finding system requirements. A system which is intended to perform a variety of roles under a range of conditions is likely to result in the need for a quantity of scenarios that becomes intractably pluriform. The consequence of too many scenarios is that either the number of scenarios to be analyzed must be reduced to a manageable number or the analysis is likely to be perfunctory, diminishing the value of the analysis, or the total effort required for the analyses may become unjustifiably great given the value of the project and the risks associated with it. We present a method for reducing the number of scenarios to be analyzed through study of the organization of the factors which distinguish scenarios from each other, and for selecting which scenarios need analysis through identifying their points of commonality and identifying where differences may impact system capability. Our method organizes the types and potential values of factors related to a particular system development in order to reduce the number of scenarios to be investigated. We illustrate our approach with a simple case developed for the purpose of this paper.Item Open Access Systems thinking in systems engineering(Wiley, 2016-09-13) Camelia, Fanny; Ferris, Timothy L. J.Systems thinking (ST) offers a holistic approach rather than a reductionist approach, through appreciating all the interrelated dimensions of complex problems. It is important for understanding and interacting with all kinds of systems, in order to manage complex problems. However, the broad range of the ST‐related literature found in various disciplines, generates a great deal of disagreement about definitions and understanding of systems thinking. Despite the current ambiguities of ST definitions, its underlying philosophy has a long history. This paper aims to clarify what ST is in the modern day and why it is defined in so many different ways. It identifies a number of interpretations of systems thinking with the purpose of clarifying what it is and why it is variously understood. The main aims of this paper is to propose a new ST construct, and to define its role in the practice of Systems Engineering (SE). This paper then draws implications of the new ST construct for SE education.Item Open Access Undergraduate students' engagement with systems thinking: results of a survey study(2016-05-23) Camelia, Fanny; Ferris, Timothy L. J.This paper describes the results obtained for the affective engagement of students with systems thinking. In prior work the authors have developed and validated a questionnaire instrument for measuring affective engagement of undergraduate engineering students with systems thinking. This paper presents results obtained when the questionnaire was used with undergraduate students. Two surveys with different versions of the questionnaire, one using positive grammar questions only and the other using a mix of positive and negative constructs, were used to measure the students’ engagement with systems thinking and its relationship with gender, age and work experience. Each questionnaire version was applied to a different sample, the first, 186 participants, completed the positive grammar version, and, the second group of 163 completed the mixed version. The results show that participants in both studies valued systems thinking in each of the three dimensions of the systems thinking construct. Statistical tests confirmed no significant gender differences in either study. Student engagement with the practical dimension of systems thinking was shown to vary, with statistical significance, with groups of age, years of work experience and country of the university.Item Open Access Validation studies of a questionnaire developed to measure students' engagement with systems thinking(IEEE, 2016-09-30) Camelia, Fanny; Ferris, Timothy L. J.The purpose of this paper was to develop and validate a new theoretically based scale to measure students' learning of systems thinking in relation to the affective domain in the context of systems engineering education. Two variant questionnaires are reported here, one using only questions constructed using positive grammar and the other using a mix of positive and negative constructs, each applied to a different sample. The first group of 186 participants completed the positive version of the questionnaire, and, the second group of 163 completed the mixed version. Construct validity was examined through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). EFA was conducted to find the factors underlying each questionnaire. CFA was conducted to confirm the better questionnaire version and to confirm the factors which underlie both versions. The results indicate that a three factor, 16 item, scale with a mix of positive and negative wording is the better instrument with which to measure students' engagement with systems thinking. The results also indicate that the three factor, 16 item construct is a better representative of both versions of the questionnaire, whether the questionnaire has only positive questions or a mix of positive and negative questions.