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Abstract: This paper hypothesizes that a System‐of‐Systems (SoS) that is not fit‐for‐purpose is so because it cannot implement the correct, timely and complete transfers of Material, Energy and/or Information (MEI) between its constituents and with its external environment that are necessary to achieve a particular result. This research addresses the problem of maintaining a SoS fit‐for‐purpose after unpredictable changes in operation, composition or external factors by creating a method, implemented as an engineering process and supported by an analysis technique to enhance the affordance {“Features that provide the potential for interaction by “Affording the ability to do something” [1]} of SoS constituents for MEI transfer and reveal potential undesirable transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed mainly at Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) practitioners. It addresses the sustainability of communities, since without them there is no real human future. It also fits current concerns about climate change and general sustainability. However, our understanding of the characteristics of sustainable communities is still insufficient, as is evidenced by the different perspectives extant in the HFE literature. This paper provides a further perspective based on systems ergonomics, intended both to extend our socio-technical understanding and to assist HFE practitioners in contributing to a broad approach by which to contribute to the never-ending renewal process for these communities. Without such an approach many communities will become unsustainable, with collapse as their end, as Tainter originally, icily, explained (Tainter 1988). The paper begins with a definition of a 'sustainable community', including its legal basis. Its sustainability goals are outlined, based mainly on principles of social justice, since without people there is no community. Then there is a discussion of the characteristics of sustainable communities, the classes of resources available to maintain sustainability, and some of the complexities and hindrances to this maintenance. The last sections link this conceptual landscape to HFE practice by outlining approaches and processes that move from the conceptual landscape in this paper to current practice., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper briefly explores the expected impact of the 'Global Drivers' (such as population demographics, food security; energy security; community security and safety), and the role of sustainability engineering in mitigating the potential effects of these Global Drivers. The message of the paper is that sustainability requires a significant input from Ergonomics/Human Factors, but the profession needs some expansion in its thinking in order to make this contribution. Creating a future sustainable world in which people experience an acceptable way of life will not happen without a large input from manufacturing industry into all the Global Drivers, both in delivering products that meet sustainability criteria (such as durability, reliability, minimised material requirement and low energy consumption), and in developing sustainable processes to deliver products for sustainability (such as minimum waste, minimum emissions and low energy consumption). Appropriate changes are already being implemented in manufacturing industry, including new business models, new jobs and new skills. Considerable high-level planning around the world is in progress and is bringing about these changes; for example, there is the US 'Advanced Manufacturing National Program' (AMNP)', the German 'Industrie 4.0' plan, the French plan 'la nouvelle France industrielle' and the UK Foresight publications on the 'Future of Manufacturing'. All of these activities recognise the central part that humans will continue to play in the new manufacturing paradigms; however, they do not discuss many of the issues that systems ergonomics professionals acknowledge. This paper discusses a number of these issues, highlighting the need for some new thinking and knowledge capture by systems ergonomics professionals. Among these are ethical issues, job content and skills issues. Towards the end, there is a summary of knowledge extensions considered necessary in order that systems ergonomists can be fully effective in this new environment, together with suggestions for the means to acquire and disseminate the knowledge extensions., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.)

The paper describes the development of a tool to predict quantitatively the success of a team when executing a process. The tool was developed for the UK defence industry, though it may be useful in other domains. It is expected to be used by systems engineers in initial stages of systems design, when concepts are still fluid, including the structure of the team(s) which are expected to be operators within the system. It enables answers to be calculated for questions such as "What happens if I reduce team size?" and "Can I reduce the qualifications necessary to execute this process and still achieve the required level of success?". The tool has undergone verification and validation; it predicts fairly well and shows promise. An unexpected finding is that the tool creates a good a priori argument for significant attention to Human Factors Integration in systems projects. The simulations show that if a systems project takes full account of human factors integration (selection, training, process design, interaction design, culture, etc.) then the likelihood of team success will be in excess of 0.95. As the project derogates from this state, the likelihood of team success will drop as low as 0.05. If the team has good internal communications and good individuals in key roles, the likelihood of success rises towards 0.25. Even with a team comprising the best individuals, p(success) will not be greater than 0.35. It is hoped that these results will be useful for human factors professionals involved in systems design., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.)