Collaboration in highly distributed organizations of people, robots, and autonomous systems is and must be revolutionized by engineering augmentation. The aim is to augment humans’ abilities at work and, through this augmentation, improve organizations’ abilities to accomplish their missions. This book establishes the theoretical foundations and design principles of collaborative e-Work, e-Business and e-Service, their models and applications, design and implementation techniques. The fundamental premise is that without effective e-Work and e-Services, the potential of emerging activities, such as e-Commerce, virtual manufacturing, tele-robotic medicine, automated construction, smart energy grid, cyber-supported agriculture, and intelligent transportation cannot be fully materialized. Typically, workers and managers of such value networks are frustrated with complex information systems, originally designed and built to simplify and improve performance. Even if the human-computer interface for such systems is well designed, the information and task overloads can be overwhelming. Effective delivery of expected outcomes may not occur. Challenges and emerging solutions in the context of the recently developed CCT, Collaborative Control Theory, are described, with emphasis on issues of computer-supported and communication-enabled integration, coordination and augmented collaboration. Research results and analyses of engineering design methods and complex systems management techniques are explained and illustrated.

This book is a groundbreaking exploration of the historical and contemporary challenges in systems collaboration and integration. This exceptional book delves into engineering design, planning, control, and management, offering invaluable insights into the evolving nature of systems and networks. In an era defined by the ongoing cyber and digital transformation, coupled with artificial intelligence and machine learning, this book offers insights into the future of systems collaboration and integration. Over the past three decades, the PRISM Center and its affiliated PRISM Global Research Network (PGRN) have spearheaded pioneering theories, technologies, and applications in the realm of systems collaboration and integration. Their research, driven by the motto “Knowledge through information; Wisdom through collaboration,” has yielded remarkable advancements. Those achievements and papers presented and updated by the PGRN scholars in the 26th ICPR are included in this book.

Business approaches in today’s society have become technologically-driven and highly-applicable within various professional fields. These business practices have transcended traditional boundaries with the implementation of internet technology, making it challenging for professionals outside of the business world to understand these advancements. Interdisciplinary research on business technology is required to better comprehend its innovations. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Digital Transformation and Innovation provides emerging research exploring the complex interconnections of technological business practices within society. This book will explore the practical and theoretical aspects of e-business technology within the fields of engineering, health, and social sciences. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as data monetization, mobile commerce, and digital marketing, this book is ideally designed for researchers, managers, students, engineers, computer scientists, economists, technology designers, information specialists, and administrators seeking current research on the application of e-business technologies within multiple fields.

This is a book about how management and control decisions are made by persons who collaborate and possibly use the support of an information system. The decision is the result of human conscious activities aiming at choosing a course of action for attaining a certain objective (or a set of objectives). The act of collaboration implies that several entities who work together and share responsibilities to jointly plan, implement and evaluate a program of activities to achieve the common goals. The book is intended to present a balanced view of the domain to include both well-established concepts and a selection of new results in the domains of methods and key technologies. It is meant to answer several questions, such as: a) “How are evolving the business models towards the ever more collaborative schemes?”; b) “What is the role of the decision-maker in the new context?” c) “What are the basic attributes and trends in the domain of decision-supporting information systems?”; d) “Which are the basic methods to aggregate the individual preferences?” e)“What is the impact of modern information and communication technologies on the design and usage of decision support systems for groups of people?”.

This book focuses on the systematic modeling of complex situations characterized by escalating disruptions, and on cycles of dynamic collaboration for the best handling of disruptions. What can we do about disruptive events and their cascading effects? Thanks to the evolution of intelligent technologies for interaction, communication, sharing, and collaboration, cyberspace is a rapidly expanding world. Our systems of machines, software services, and human organizations have become increasingly interdependent, in other words – networked. As a result, disruptions that initially affect only a small part of any network tend to escalate. At the same time, cyber solutions can support first responders and emergency handlers, enhancing their responsiveness and ability to collaborate with one another in controlling disruptions and preventing their escalation. In this book, we are chiefly interested in how effectively these collaborations can be supported and how we can further optimize such support. Solution guidelines for optimizing collaborations are illustrated with examples in various application domains: agricultural robotics, civil cyber-physical infrastructure, visual analytics, manufacturing automation, and supply chains. Open-source simulation tools are also provided to supplement the main content.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Digital Human Modelling: Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management, DHM 2016, held as part of the 18th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2016, held in Toronto, ON, Canada, in July 2016 and received a total of 4354 submissions, of which 1287 papers were accepted for publication after a careful reviewing process. These papers address the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the entire field of human-computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas. This volume contains papers addressing the following major topics: anthropometry, ergonomics, design and comfort; physiology and anatomy models; motion prediction and recognition; quality and safety in healthcare; design for health; work design and support; modeling human behavior and cognition.

Mismatch or best match? This book demonstrates that best matching of individual entities to each other is essential to ensure smooth conduct and successful competitiveness in any distributed system, natural and artificial. Interactions must be optimized through best matching in planning and scheduling, enterprise network design, transportation and construction planning, recruitment, problem solving, selective assembly, team formation, sensor network design, and more. Fundamentals of best matching in distributed and collaborative systems are explained by providing: § Methodical analysis of various multidimensional best matching processes § Comprehensive taxonomy, comparing different best matching problems and processes § Systematic identification of systems’ hierarchy, nature of interactions, and distribution of decision-making and control functions § Practical formulation of solutions based on a library of best matching algorithms and protocols, ready for direct applications and apps development. Designed for both academics and practitioners, oriented to systems engineers and applied operations researchers, diverse types of best matching processes are explained in production, manufacturing, business and service, based on a new reference model developed at Purdue University PRISM Center: “The PRISM Taxonomy of Best Matching”. The book concludes with major challenges and guidelines for future basic and applied research in the area of best matching.

This book proposes a wealth-additive scheme of managing and maximizing (win–win and sharing) the marginal value (eco-entropy) of artifacts by humanizing the artifacts’ enterprise and their economics with nature. This type of clockwork would be achieved on a base of the science of nature versus artifacts and the body of science in my Springer books since 2008. My books are advancing factory science, economics, and the science of artifacts and play their role in the sandwich theory and its pair-map microcosm of the 3D-type, toward the development of body science. Then, the wealth-additive goal of the “body” is not only similar to the marginal profit, GDP, and value in economics, but also means the marginal diversity (eco-entropy) and its wealth of economics versus reliability (sustainability) in the body of the world. The modern world, for example, is faced with deadlocked negotiations over the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) bodies at the United Nations. Thus, the forthcoming world of SDGs would be much better and more constructive at transforming traditional bodies of the 3M&I class (human, material, money, and information) as some nano (gene/therblig)-transformation toward eco-entropy(marginal value/diversity) on earth. This semi-visible world is traditionally limited to a molecular size and is too rough at the practical rig-level. Thus, any unsolved and invisible contradictions left behind on earth are subject to SDGs in the practical world. This approach proposes a visible method that could find and solve these contradictions (angles) by transforming the artifact's body, consisting of the 3M&I gene. The pair-map microcosm and its Matsui's M-equation have been designed mainly based on nature and science books on artifacts (in 2016 and 2019). Following these visible methods, our well-being subject might be able to make a breakthrough or make such unsolved contradictions or stalemates subside as any SDGs society of individuals in the near future. Finally, the book will explore and construct a new academic discipline involving 3M&I body science versus cybernetics. And, the study introduces validation cases of convenience stores, self-driving cars, and robotization (individualization) of artificial objects as the realization of the supply–demand system and the ideal form of artificial and natural bodies. Based on this perspective, the dialogue is conducted according to a creative structure of six parts, twelve chapters, and two appendices.

This book presents recent advances in mechatronic and integrated monitoring and management systems with applications to architectural, archaeology survey, construction management and civil engineering. It consists of 16 chapters authored by recognized experts in a variety of fields including dynamics, signal processing, inverse modeling, robotics and automation, in particular, here applied to design and construction of civil structures and architectural survey, monitoring and maintenance of cultural heritage assets, structures and infrastructure. The book is organized in three main sections: “Robotics and Automation”, “Digital Technologies for Cultural Heritage” and “Civil Structural Health Monitoring”. Topics include image processing for automated visual inspection, fiber optical sensor technology, wireless sensor monitoring, bridge inspection and monitoring of tunnel infrastructures, design tools for construction engineering, smart cities. Direct and inverse modeling of multibody systems and robots contributes to the development of applications for civil engineering and smart cities. Digital technology and mechatronic systems changes the way of looking at restoration of historical and archeological sites, analysis, inspection, visualization, management systems and sensor network for Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI). Combined use of geographical information system (GIS), laser scanner, remote sensing, digital thermography and drones as integrated systems permits to highlight new frontier for building and infrastructure knowledge. The book offers a valuable reference work for scientists, architects, engineers, researchers and practitioners in engineering and architecture since the integrated development of new technologies for the design and management of existing and new infrastructure may produce a new market of services and products for safe and economically optimized infrastructure management. Through the dissemination of advanced research developments in mechatronics and integrated management systems, the book promotes exchanges and collaborations among researchers of different disciplines. The book contributes to further advancements in the rapidly growing field of integration of robotic, automation and information technologies in the area of facilities and infrastructure management and construction processes.