Human and Nature Minding Automation An Overview

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Chapter 1. Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development. 1.1 Introduction . ..... xii. Chapter 7. Implications of Industry, Automation, and Human Activity to ...... The key results of control theory were developed around the period of the Se-.
Human and Nature Minding Automation

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Spyros G. Tzafestas

Human and Nature Minding Automation

An Overview of Concepts, Features, Methods, Tools and Applications

Springer

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Spyros G. Tzafestas School of Electrical and Computer Engineering National Technical University of Athens Zographou, Athens, GR 15773 Greece [email protected]

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To my wife, Niki

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Preface

Man is the best thing in the World. Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not Man the less, but Nature more. John Burroughs The basic purpose of development is to enlarge people’s choices. The objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. Mahbub ul Hag

Founder of the Human Development Report

The aim of this book is to provide a compiled set of concepts, principles, methods and issues used for studying, designing and operating human-minding and natureminding automation and industrial systems. The depth of presentation is sufficient for the reader to understand the problems involved and the solution approaches, and appreciate the need of human-automation cooperative interaction, and the importance of the efforts required for environment and ecosystem protection during any technological and development process in the society. Humans and technology are living and have to live together in a sustainable society and nature. Humans must not be viewed as components of automation and technology in the same way as machines. Automation and technology must incorporate the humans’ needs and preferences, and radiate “beauty” in all ways, namely functionally, technically and humanistically. In overall, automation and technology should create comfort and give pleasure. The achievement of human-minding or human-centered automation was made possible by employing concepts and techniques of the human factors and ergonomics field. This is the easy part of the human-and nature minding-automation and technology story. To achieve truly nature-minding industry and automation, more complex and difficult decisions and tools are required. The partners here are not only the machines and the scientists or engineers, but also the politicians and governors worldwide. Nature – minding design has to determine the way a product is produced on the basis of its impact to the nature and ecosystem, including pollution, waste generation, biodiversity decrease, and consumption of the earth resources. A society can be developed in a truly sustainable way if it adopts as a whole the human, economic, natural and cultural resources, not only in the short term but also in the long term. In our time the problems of human, automation /

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technology, and nature sustainable symbiosis have become more difficult and crucial than ever. This book provides a consolidated tutorial overview of these problems, and their solutions, suitable for scientists and professionals interested in the humanistic and environmental issues of the use of technology and automation in the modern society’s activity and development. It is primarily intended for use as a general information source, but academic teachers of applied sciences, behavioral sciences, and engineering can use the material of the book in relevant introductory human, automation, and/or environment courses.

Athens, June 2009

Spyros G. Tzafestas

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Contents Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein More power, and more choice, and more freedom require more wisdom if they are to add more humanity. Emmanuel G. Mesthene The machine replaced human labor and now human brain-power. But I think technology’s next step will be to work for the spirit, the heart. Sotori Miyagi

Preface ............................................................................................................... vii Outline of the Book ........................................................................................ xvii Chapter 1 Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development

1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................1 1.2 The Field of Automation ....................................................................................2 1.3 Brief History of Control and Automation...........................................................3 1.4 The Principle of Feedback ..................................................................................5 1.5 The Humans in Automation ...............................................................................8 1.6 Automation in the Nature .................................................................................10 1.7 Social Issues of Automation .............................................................................11 1.8 Human Development and Modernization.........................................................14 1.8.1 Human Development Components ......................................................... 14 1.8.2 Modernization ......................................................................................... 16 1.8.3 Human Development Index .................................................................... 17 1.8.4 Life Expectancy, Literary and Standard of Living.................................. 19 1.8.5 Human Development Report .................................................................. 20

Chapter 2 Human Factors in Automation (I): Building Blocks, Scope, and a First Set of Factors 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................21 2.2 The Human Factors Field: Building Blocks and Scope....................................22 2.2.1 Building Blocks ...................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 The Human Features ............................................................................... 23 2.2.3 Human-Automation Relation .................................................................. 23

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2.2.4 Automation ............................................................................................. 23 2.2.5 Goals and Scope of the Human Factors Field ......................................... 24 2.3 Human Factors in Automation System Design and Development .................. 25 2.3.1 General Issues ......................................................................................... 25 2.3.2 Developmental Elements ........................................................................ 26 2.3.3 System Development Concepts .............................................................. 27 2.4 The Workload Factor in Automation ............................................................... 28 2.5 Three Key Human Factors in Automation....................................................... 30 2.5.1 Allocation of Function ............................................................................ 30 2.5.2 Stimulus-Response Compatibility........................................................... 31 2.5.3 Internal Model of the Operator ............................................................... 31 2.6 The Operator Reliance Factor.......................................................................... 32

Chapter 3 Human Factors in Automation (II): Psychological, Physical Strength, and Human Error Factors 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Psychological Factors 34 3.2.1 Job Satisfaction ...................................................................................... 34 3.2.2 Job Stress ............................................................................................... 35 3.2.3 A Psychosocial Stress Model ................................................................. 36 3.3 Physical Strength ............................................................................................. 36 3.4 Human Bias ..................................................................................................... 37 3.5 Human Error .................................................................................................... 38 3.6 Human Values and Human Rights .................................................................. 41

Chapter 4 Human – Machine Interaction in Automation (I): Basic Concepts and Devices 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 45 4.2 Applications of Human – Machine Interactive Systems.................................. 46 4.3 Methodologies for the Design of Human – Machine Interaction Systems ...... 48 4.4 Keys and Keyboards ........................................................................................ 49 4.5 Pointing Devices .............................................................................................. 51 4.6 Screen Design .................................................................................................. 54 4.7 Work Station Design ....................................................................................... 56 4.7.1 Physical Layout Factors .......................................................................... 56 4.7.2 Work Method Factors ............................................................................. 57 4.7.3 Video Display Terminal Factors ............................................................. 57

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Chapter 5 Human – Machine Interaction in Automation (II): Advanced Concepts and Interfaces 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 59 5.2 Graphical User Interfaces ................................................................................ 60 5.2.1 General Issues ......................................................................................... 60 5.2.2 Design Components of Graphical Interfaces .......................................... 61 5.2.3 Windowing Systems ............................................................................... 62 5.2.4 Components of Windowing Systems ...................................................... 63 5.3 Types and Design Features of Visual Displays ............................................... 64 5.3.1 Visual Display Types .............................................................................. 64 5.3.2 Further Design Features of Visual Displays ........................................... 65 5.4 Intelligent Human-Machine Interfaces ............................................................ 67 5.5 Natural Language Human-Machine Interfaces ................................................ 70 5.6 Multi-Modal Human-Machine Interfaces .........................................................71 5.7 Graphical Interfaces for Knowledge-Based Systems .......................................74 5.8 Force Sensing Tactile Based Human-Machine Interfaces ................................75 5.9 Human-Machine Interaction via Virtual Environments ...................................76 5.10 Human-Machine Interfaces in Computer-Aided Design ................................78

Chapter 6 Supervisory and Distributed Control in Automation 6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 81 6.2 Supervisory Control Architectures .................................................................. 83 6.2.1 Evolution of Supervisory Control ........................................................... 83 6.2.2 Rasmussen’s Architecture....................................................................... 84 6.2.3 Sheridan’s Architecture .......................................................................... 87 6.2.4 Meystel’s Nested Architecture ................................................................ 90 6.3 The Task Analysis and Task Allocation Problems in Automation: How much and when to Automate? ......................................................................................... 93 6.4 Distributed Control Architectures ................................................................... 95 6.4.1 Historical Remarks ................................................................................. 95 6.4.2 Hierarchical Distributed Systems ........................................................... 96 6.4.3 Distributed Control and System Segmentation ....................................... 99 6.5 Discrete Event Supervisory Control ...............................................................101 6.6 Behavior-Based Architectures ........................................................................102 6.6.1 Subsumption Architecture .................................................................... 103 6.6.2 Motor Schemas Architecture ................................................................ 104 6.7 Discussion ......................................................................................................105

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Chapter 7 Implications of Industry, Automation, and Human Activity to Nature 7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 107 7.2 The Concepts of Waste and Pollution Control .............................................. 108 7.2. Industrial Contaminants ................................................................................ 109 7.2.1 Organic Compounds ............................................................................. 109 7.2.2 Metals and Inorganic Nonmetals .......................................................... 113 7.3 Impact of Industrial Activity on the Nature ................................................... 115 7.3.1 Air Pollution ......................................................................................... 116 7.3.2 Global Warming, Ozone Hole, Acid Rain and Urban Smog ................ 119 7.3.2.1 Global Warming and Green House Effect .................................... 119 7.3.2.2 Ozone Hole................................................................................... 121 7.3.2.3 Acid Rain ..................................................................................... 122 7.3.2.4 Urban Smog ................................................................................. 123 7.3.3 Solid Waste Disposal ............................................................................ 124 7.3.4 Water Pollution ..................................................................................... 125 7.4 Energy Consumption and Natural Resources Depletion ............................... 126 7.5 Three Major Problems of the Globe Caused by Human Activity (Deforestation, Desertification, Decreasing Biodiversity) ........................ 127 7.6 Environmental Impact: Classification by Human Activity Type................... 129

Chapter 8 Human-Minding Automation 8.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 131 8.2 System-Minding Design Approach ............................................................... 132 8.3 Human-Minding Automation System Design Approach............................... 133 8.4 Human-Minding Interface Design in Automation Systems........................... 135 8.4.1 User-Needs Analysis ............................................................................. 135 8.4.2 Task Analysis ........................................................................................ 136 8.4.3 Situation Analysis and Function Allocation ......................................... 137 8.5 The Human Resource Problem in Automation ............................................. 138 8.5.1 Allocation of System Development Resources ..................................... 139 8.5.2 Investment in Human Resources........................................................... 140 8.5.3 Innovation and Technology Transfer .................................................... 141 8.6 Integrating Decision Aiding and Decision Training in Human-Minding Automation ............................................................................................... 142 8.7 International Safety Standards of Automation Systems ............................... 145 8.8 Overlapping Circles Representation of Human Minding Automation Systems ........................................................................................................................... 148

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Chapter 9 Nature-Minding Industrial Activity and Automation 9.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 149 9.2 Life-Cycle and Environmental Impact Assessments .................................... 150 9.2.1 Life-Cycle Assessment ......................................................................... 150 9.2.2 Environmental Impact Assessment ....................................................... 155 9.3 Nature-Minding Design ................................................................................ 156 9.4 Pollution Control Planning ........................................................................... 158 9.5 Natural Resources-Energy Conservation and Residuals Management ......... 161 9.5.1 Water Conservation .............................................................................. 161 9.5.2 Energy Conservation............................................................................. 161 9.5.3 Residuals Management ......................................................................... 162 9.6 Fugitive Emissions Control and Public Pollution Control Programs ........... 164 9.6.1 Fugitive Emissions Control .................................................................. 164 9.6.2 Public Pollution Control Programs ....................................................... 165 9.7 Environmental Control Regulations ............................................................. 166 9.7.1 General Issues ....................................................................................... 166 9.7.2 Environmental Regulations in the United States .................................. 168 9.7.3 International and European Environmental Control Regulations ......... 169 9.7.3.1 Climate Change ............................................................................ 170 9.7.3.2 Biodiversity .................................................................................. 170 9.7.3.3 Environment and Health............................................................... 171 9.8 The Concept of Sustainability ........................................................................172 9.9 Environmental Sustainability Index ...............................................................178 9.10 A Practical Guide Towards Nature-Minding Business-Automation Operation .......................................................................................................179 9.10.1 The Four Environmental R-Rules ........................................................180 9.10.2 Four More Nature-Minding Rules .......................................................181 9.11 Nature-Minding Economic Considerations ..................................................182 9.12 Nature-Minding Organizations .....................................................................187

Chapter 10 Modern Automation Systems in Practice 10.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 191 10.2 Office Automation Systems ..................................................................... 192 10.3 Automation in Railway Systems .............................................................. 195 10.4 Automation in Aviation Systems.............................................................. 198 10.4.1 Aircraft Automation .......................................................................... 198 10.4.2 Air Traffic Control ............................................................................ 200 10.5 Automation in Automobile and Sea Transportation .................................. 204 10.5.1 Advanced Traveler Information Systems ......................................... 205 10.5.2 Collision Avoidance and Warning Systems...................................... 205

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10.5.3 Automated Highway Systems ............................................................. 206 10.5.4 Vision Enhancement Systems ............................................................. 207 10.5.5 Advanced Traffic Management Systems ............................................ 207 10.5.6 Commercial Vehicle Operations ......................................................... 207 10.5.7 Sea Transportation .............................................................................. 208 10.6 Robotic Automation Systems ...................................................................... 208 10.6.1 Material Handling and Die Casting..................................................... 209 10.6.2 Machine Loading and Unloading ........................................................ 209 10.6.3 Welding and Assembly ....................................................................... 210 10.6.4 Machining and Inspection ................................................................... 211 10.6.5 Drilling, Forging and other Fabrication Applications ......................... 211 10.6.6 Robot Social and Medical Services..................................................... 211 10.6.7 Assistive Robotics ............................................................................... 214 10.7 Automation in Intelligent Buildings ............................................................ 218 10.8 Automation of Intra-and Inter-Organizational Processes in CIM ................ 220 10.8.1 Intra-Organizational Automation ........................................................ 220 10.8.2 Inter-Organizational Automation ........................................................ 221 10.9 Automation in Continuous Process Plants ................................................... 223 10.10 Automation in Environmental Systems ..................................................... 225 10.11 Discussion on Human-and Nature-Minding Automation and Technology Applications......................................................................................................... 226

Chapter 11 Mathematical Tools for Automation Systems I: Modeling and Simulation 11.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 229 11.2 Deterministic Models .................................................................................. 230 11.3 Probabilistic Models .................................................................................... 233 11.3.1 Discrete Probability Model ................................................................. 234 11.3.2 Continuous Probability Model ............................................................ 235 11.3.3 Baye’s Updating Formula ................................................................... 235 11.3.4 Statistics .............................................................................................. 239 11.4 Entropy Model ............................................................................................ 242 11.5 Reliability and Availability Models............................................................ 244 11.5.1 Definitions and Properties................................................................... 244 11.5.2 Markov Reliability Model................................................................... 246 11.6 Stochastic Processes and Dynamic Models ................................................ 249 11.6.1 Stochastic Processes ......................................................................... 249 11.6.2 Stochastic Dynamic Models ............................................................. 252 11.7 Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy Models .................................................................... 253 11.7.1 Fuzzy Sets ......................................................................................... 253 11.7.2 Fuzzy Systems .................................................................................. 257 11.8 System Simulation ....................................................................................... 263

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11.8.1 Simulation of Dynamic Systems ...................................................... 263 11.8.1.1 Euler Simulation Technique ................................................. 263 11.8.1.2 Runge Kutta Simulation Technique...................................... 264 11.8.2 Simulation of Probabilistic Models ...................................................266

Chapter 12 Mathematical Tools for Automation Systems II: Optimization, Estimation, Decision, and Control 12.1 Introduction. ............................................................................................... 271 12.2 System Optimization .................................................................................. 272 12.2.1 Static Optimization ........................................................................... 273 12.2.1.1 Theory .................................................................................. 273 12.2.1.2 Computational Optimization Algorithms ............................. 274 12.2.2 Dynamic Optimization ..................................................................... 279 12.2.2.1 Dynamic Programming......................................................... 280 12.2.2.2 Calculus of Variations .......................................................... 281 12.2.2.3 Minimum Principle ............................................................... 283 12.2.3 Genetic Optimization........................................................................ 284 12.3 Learning and Estimation ............................................................................ 286 12.3.1 Least-Squares Parameter Estimation ................................................ 287 12.3.2 Recursive Least Squares Parameter Estimation................................ 288 12.3.3 Least Squares State Estimation: Kalman Filter ................................ 292 12.3.3.1 Discrete-Time Filter ............................................................. 292 12.3.3.2 State Prediction..................................................................... 294 12.3.3.3 Continuous-Time Filter ........................................................ 295 12.3.4 Neural Network Learning ................................................................. 299 12.3.4.1 The Multilayer Perceptron .................................................... 299 12.3.4.2 The Radial Basis Function Network ..................................... 301 12.4 Decision Analysis ........................................................................................ 302 12.4.1 General Issues................................................................................... 302 12.4.2 Decision Matrix and Average Value Operators ................................ 304 12.4.3 Fuzzy Utility Functions .................................................................... 306 12.5 Control......................................................................................................... 313 12.5.1 Classical Control .............................................................................. 314 12.5.2 Modern Control .................................................................................318 12.5.2.1 Model Matching and Eigenvalue Control..............................318 12.5.2.2 Optimal Control .....................................................................321 12.5.2.3 Stochastic Control .................................................................325 12.5.2.4 Predictive Control ..................................................................326 12.5.2.5 Adaptive Control ...................................................................326 12.5.2.6 Robust Control.......................................................................327 12.5.2.7 Intelligent Control .................................................................329 12.6 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................... 329

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References...................................................................................................... 331 Index .............................................................................................................. 361 About the Author .......................................................................................... 365

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Outline of the Book

Progress imposes not only new possibilities for the future but new restrictions. Norbert Wiener Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple. The apparent complexity of our behavior over time is largely a reflection of the complexity of the environment in which we find ourselves. Herbert Simon Participation is one of the ends as well as one of the means of development. UN System Network on Rural Development and Food Security

The book involves twelve chapters. The first ten chapters, which constitute the main body of the book, present the concepts, principles, technologies and methods without any mathematics. Chapters 11 and 12 provide a brief exposition of the basic underlying mathematical models and tools that are available and used in the analysis and design of automation systems. Chapter 1, “Automation, Humans, Nature and Development”, is a general introductory chapter that provides the definition of automation, the landmarks of the history of control and automation, the role of humans in automation, and the position of automation and technology in the nature, including a short discussion of the social issues of automation and the issues of human development and modernization. Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the human and ergonomic factors in automation. Specifically, Chapter 2 presents the building blocks and the scope of the human factors field. Here, a first set of human factors are examined, namely : work load factor, allocation of function, stimulus response compatibility, internal model of the operator, and the operator reliance factor. Chapter 3 examines a second set of human factors relevant to automation systems. These are psychological factors (job satisfaction, job stress), physical strength, human bias, and human error. The chapter concludes with a discussion of human values and human rights which must be respected by automation systems’ technological, managerial, organization, and production processes. Chapters 4 and 5 are concerned with the human-machine interaction in automation, which is the central prerequisite for achieving human-machine harmonic cooperation. Chapter 4 presents the basic concepts of human interface devices (keyboards, mice, pointing devices) and discusses the screen design and workstation design. Chapter 5 examines the major advanced human-machine interfaces, namely graphical user interfaces, intelligent interfaces, natural language interfaces, and human-machine interaction via virtual environments.

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Chapter 6 discusses the principal supervisory control architectures proposed for human-automation systems. These are : Rasmussen’s S-R-K architecture, Sheridan’s 5-function architecture, and Meystel’s nested architecture. Then the distributed control architectures are considered which are used mainly in the process control industry. Finally, the discrete event supervisory control concept and the behavior-based control architectures are presented. Chapter 7 deals with the implications of industry, automation and general human activity to nature, namely : air pollution, solid wastes and water pollution, and the phenomena of global warming, ozone thinning, acid rain and urban smog, including the depletion of natural resources and energy, and the impact of fishing, transport, trade, tourism, households and biotechnology. Chapter 8, “Human-Minding Automation”, discusses the basic issues and requirements for achieving the desired human centered symbiosis of automation and human. Three basic problems that have to be solved are the user needs determination, the task analysis and design, and the function allocation (to human and automation) problems. These problems are examined in some detail, along with the human resource problem, and the integration of decision-aiding and decisiontraining problem. Finally, a short look at the safety standards of automation components and systems, set internationally, is made. Chapter 9, “Nature-Minding Industrial Activity and Automation”, is concerned with the problems that must be addressed for achieving automation-technologynature symbiosis that leads to sustainable development. The methods discussed include : life-cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment, design for reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, pollution control planning, fugitive emissions control, and municipal pollution control programs. The chapter continues with the environmental control regulations, a discussion of the sustainability concept and the environmental sustainability index initiative, a practical guide for natureminding company operation, and an outline of the key nature-minding economic issues. Finally, a list of world-wide nature-minding organizations is provided. Chapter 10, “Modern Automation Systems in Practice”, gives a representative set of real-life examples where automation, combined with human interaction, has been applied with high success. These examples are office automation, railway, aviation, automobiles, sea transportation, industrial and service/assistive robotics, intelligent buildings, computer-integrated discrete manufacturing, continuous process industry, and environmental systems. These examples show that human factors and human-machine interfaces play a dominant role in all cases, of course with particular differences in the details of the design. A discussion on humanand-nature minding automation and technology applications closes the chapter. Chapters 11 and 12 are intended for the reader who wishes to see what mathematical models and tools are used, and can be used, for the analysis and design of automation systems. Chapter 11 deals with the system modeling and simulation problems. Deterministic and probabilistic or stochastic models are discussed, including continuous-time and discrete-time state-space models, Bayesian and Markovian models, entropy models, reliability models, and fuzzy logic models. The study of simulation is concentrated on the simulation of dynamic systems using

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the Euler and Runge-Kutta techniques, and the simulation of probabilistic models using the Monte Carlo technique. Chapter 12 presents the fundamentals of mathematical system optimization, parameter and state estimation, decision making, and feedback control. The material offered includes static optimization, dynamic optimization, learning, least squares estimators, neural networks, decision analysis, utility theory, and classical and modern control. Several simple examples are included to show how the methods are used and what kind of results are obtained. In overall, the book provides a good picture of the current state-of-art towards the symbiosis of human, automation/technology, and nature. Of course, much remains to be done for achieving new technological, economic and social systems with further human-and nature-friendly features, and for totally accepting and implementing the United Nations and European Union agreements and regulations for the environment and ecosystem protection. Intensive and deep studies in the field (see Section 9.9) have convincely shown that the three pillars of global sustainability and sustainable development are : economic growth, social progress, and nature (environment) protection, as it is pictorially illustrated in the following figure. SD

Economic Growth

Nature Protection

Social Progress

Sustainable Development

The three pillars of the sustainable development building. [Adapted from: http://www.sustainability-ed.org/pages/what3-1.htm].

The next figure shows pictorially the elements of the human-automation-nature symbiosis concept.

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Human-Automation-Nature Symbiosis is a fundamental prerequisite for sustainable development. [Picture design by Entergraphics, Nafpaktos, Greece].

Chapter 1 Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Universal Declaration of Human Rights I hold that while a man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist ameliorating mankind. Abraham Lincoln Man’s ability to participate intelligently in the evolution of his own system is dependent on his ability to perceive the whole. Imannuel Wallerstein

1.1 Introduction Automation systems perform many operations and activities that can be monitored and controlled at several levels of abstraction. A modern automated system has to be able to adapt to fast internal and external changes. To this end, a variety of successful models, and control and supervision techniques have been developed during the last five decades, which are based on the principles of systems engineering, information technology, human factors engineering, and management science1-3. A central position in modern automation is kept by the human who performs several functions, either physical or mental or both. Thus, the attention of the automation systems scientists and engineers was soon turned towards the study of the physical, mental, and psychological features of the human at work. This has produced the field of human factors engineering, and has led to the socalled human-centered automation.4-5 After a brief discussion of “what is automation”, we give some historical landmarks of control and automation, and present in an elementary way the concept of feedback control. Next, we provide an outline of the role of humans in automation and a list of the effects that automation (and technology) has on nature (earth). On the basis of the above we then explain the title of the present book “human-and nature-minding automation”. Then, we present a number of important social issues of automation. Finally, we discuss the human development (HD) and modernization process, including the HD index and the HD report.

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1.2 The Field of Automation Modern systems are large and complex, and so for their analysis and design one needs to study not only the characteristics of their subsystems, but also the interactions of them. The whole (“holon” from the Greek word όλον) is much more than the sum of the parts, and determines the parts. As the German philosopher Hegel (1770-1831) said, “the parts cannot be studied if we isolate them from the whole, because they are interdependent and connected dynamically”. The problem of making the proper decisions and exerting the necessary control actions that assure the achievement of the desired performance (cost, productivity, reliability, resource distribution, life time, environmental impact, etc) is called the “system design problem”.6-8 The technological part of this problem contains only the machines. The overall problem contains also the humans (managers, engineers, programmers, operators, workers, etc.). Thus the system design problem has a dual nature, namely technological and behavioral that dictates the combined way in which it must be treated. The term Automation (Automatic organization) was coined in 1952 by D. S. Harder of Ford Company to involve the methodology which analyzes, organizes and controls the production means such that all material, machine and human resources are used in the best way2-3. The principal goal of automation is the optimal allocation of the human effort (muscular, mental) so as to maximize the productivity, i.e. the ratio of the product obtained over the human effort needed for this. It is clear, that the automation design problem is equivalent to the system design problem. Today, the term automation is used in all cases where the system operation is automated to various degrees. The operation of the system is usually performed in a sequential or parallel multistage manner. Computerized systems with terminals, displays, sensors and other human-computer interfaces are now considered as part of automation (even if they do only processing and not control or supervision). The system of which the operation is to be automated can be any man-made system (physical, chemical, enterprise, or other)4-5,9-12. As we shall explain in more detail later, the automated operation of the system is achieved by using the principle of feedback control (automatic control). The feedback is closed via suitable measurement and sensing devices and the control action is exerted by suitable actuators (motors and other prime movers or executives including the human). One or more computers are used for data storage and data processing and are cooperating with the various elements of the system (machines and humans) via suitable interfaces and displays1,12. An overall picture which shows how the above ideas may be integrated in an automation system is given in Fig. 1.1. Although not explicitly shown in Fig. 1.1, all modern automation systems contain, besides the information processing and control elements, appropriate communication links (channels) – analog and / or digital – through which the various parts of them are communicating (exchanging messages and signals)13.

1.3 Brief History of Control and Automation

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The box “output to nature” stands for the effects of the automation system to the nature (environment and ecosystem) in which the humans live. These effects should also be sufficiently controlled as it will be described later. The box “values, goals and specifications” refers to the human values and goals that must be respected by the automation system, and to the technical specifications of the operation of the system which ensure the desired quality of the product or service delivered to the human customer. Values, goals & specifications

Data Base

• •

HMI

Displays

Computer Decisions Controls Computer control

Sensors System product or service

Man-made automated system

Human

Human

Human control Output to nature (Pollution, etc)

Fig. 1.1. Pictorial representation of automation (HMI = Human-machine interface).

1.3 Brief History of Control and Automation Automatic control (or control engineering) plays a fundamental role in modern life and lies at the heart of automation. The engineering use of control is very much older than the theory, and can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where the Greek engineer Ktesibios (285-222 BC), working for the King Ptolemaeos II, has designed and constructed the so-called automatic “water clock”. After about two centuries Heron of Alexandria (Greek mathematician and engineer ~100 BC) has designed several regulating mechanisms, examples of which is a mechanism for the automatic opening of Temple doors or the automatic distribution of wine4,15. He was actually the first who used the term automatization in his work “Peri Automatopoiitikes” (Περί Αυτοματοποιητικής, On Automatization)15. A big step forward in the development of control engineering was made during he industrial revolution. The machines that were developed have enhanced considerably the potential to turn raw materials into products useful for the public. A major finding at this time was James Watt’s fly – ball governor14-16, a mechanism that was able to regulate the speed of a steam engine by throttling the flow of steam (Fig. 1.2). As the engine shaft rotates faster and faster centrifugal force acting on the flyballs pushes the balls out and closes the throttle valve a little, thereby reducing steam flow to the engine and

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tending to reduce the shaft speed. The opposite effect appears when the engine shaft rotates slower and slower. This way of operation is an example of negative feedback which is now applied for the regulation and stabilizing control of all systems. The key results of control theory were developed around the period of the Second World War by Bode, Nyquist, Nichols and Evans, and are now called “classical control theory”. In the 1960‘s we had the development of the state-space approach to control which allowed multivariable control problems to be treated in a unified way. Particular results developed using this approach include the optimal estimator (Kalman filter), the linear pole placement controller, and the linearquadratic controller (deterministic and stochastic). All these results are now collectively called “modern control theory”. Adaptive, hierarchical and decentralized control theory was then followed, and in the 1980’s the development of the socalled “robust control theory” (H 2 , H ∞ ,  1 , μ theory) was made. In parallel with the above theories, substantial work was done in the analysis and design of nonlinear controls. On the technology side, the evolution of automated computerized control of numerical machines has passed through the following five main stages: • Stage 1: Appearance of simple production. • Stage 2: Fixed automated machines and production lines (beginning of 20th century). • Stage 3: Machine tools with simple automatic control. • Stage 4: Introduction of numerical control (NC) in machine tools (1952). • Stage 5: Appearance of NC of machine tools using computers (1970), the so called computerized numerical control (CNC). Boiler

Measured speed

Steam

Valve Balls

Control system (governor)

Rotating shaft

Fig 1.2. Sketch of the fly-ball governor.

Engine

1.4 The Principle of Feedback

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In 1912 Henry Ford has achieved a production of 1000 cars per day, using the principle of mass production, in a period in which the private car was really a good of luxuryness. In 1924 the English company Morris at Coventry has produced the first automated transportation machine. The industrial robots were developed in parallel with CNC. The first industrial robot was put in operation in 1961, but the robots started playing a dominant role at the end of 1970s. In our days, the automation via robots and computers is applied to both industrial and non industrial tasks (services, medical applications, etc.). Automation of discrete and continuous products was aided by the parallel evolution of computers. The electronic computer was introduced as a principal component of automation in 1960, although the first computer with predefined program was developed in 1940 by Bell Laboratories, and the first commercial sale of electronic computer – UNIVAC – took place in 1951. The transistor was invented in 1948 and from 1950 the computers use printed circuits. The year 1964 is considered as the starting point of the third generation computers with the use of printed circuits and microcircuits based on MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor), FET (Field Effect Transistor) and TFT (Thin Film Transistor). Currently we use computer networks and the “internet” and “world wide web” which was discovered at the beginning of the 1990’s by T. Berners in CERN (Centre Europeaine de Researche Nucleaire, Geneve), in his effort to help the information exchange among scientists in different Universities and Institutions all over the world.

1.4 The Principle of Feedback The principle of feedback control will be presented using the basic diagram of Fig. 1.3, and then will be illustrated by a few simple practical examples17,18. The basic elements of this feedback control system, which is also called closedloop control system, are the following: • The system or process under control. • The sensor or feedback element that measures the actual output of the system (which is a certain characteristic variable or feature of the system’s product). • The error detector which compares the real (actual) output with the desired output and sends the error to the controller. • The controller which processes the error according to the given goals and provides the control signal to the system through the actuator. • The actuator or effector which produces the control action in accordance with the control signal and exerts it upon the system. The goals are set by the owner, the designer or the user of the system. In order for the control to be effective, the decisions and control actions must be exerted without or with a very small time delay.

6 Error! No text of specified style in document.: Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development Goals Desired Output x Error Detector

+

ε

-

Controller (Decision Maker)

u

Actuator

Control signal

Error Feedback Signal z=y

Control action

System (Process under control)

Actual Output y

Sensor Feedback element

Fig 1.3. Operational diagram of a typical feedback control system.

Otherwise special care is needed. The fact that the above system involves negative feedback is indicated by the negative sign in the feedback path, which produces the error signal ε= x − y . If the actual output y is greater than the desired output x , then the error ε is negative, and the controller – actuator pair exerts a negative action to the system, forcing it to decrease the actual output y towards the desired output and reduce the error. If y < x then ε > 0 and the action imposed to the system is positive so as to increase y and again reduce the error. The above type of controller, which produces a control signal proportional to the actual error, is called Proportional Controller (P). Other types of control use either the integral of the error (Integral Controller : I) or the derivative of the error (Derivative Controller : D). In practice, we usually use combinations of the above controllers namely : PI, PD, or PID. A controller which is also used frequently in practice is the two-valued controller. Here, the control signal u takes a value in accordance with the signum of the error, which changes in a desired sequence of time instants, called switching times. If the two values of u are 0 and 1, the controller is called on-off controller, if they are -1 and +1 the controller is called bang-bang controller. Some Examples 1. Position control of a water valve Figure 1.4 shows a system regulating a water valve. The differential potentiometer is of the rotating type. Part 1 of the potentiometer transmits the input voltage x and Part 2 transmits the output y. Thus, the voltage signal ε is the error x-y. The amplifier is used to amplify the error ε such that to be able to drive the motor. Potentiometers Water valve x

x’

y’

+ -

+ e

u

Amplifier

Motor

-

Fig. 1.4. A negative feedback system regulating a water value.

Axis y

1.4 The Principle of Feedback

7

The system can be redrawn as in Fig.1.5 to fit the operational diagram of Fig.1.3. x’ +

Potentiometer 1

e

Amplifier

y

u

Water valve

Motor

y’ -

Load Potentiometer 2

Fig. 1.5. Operational diagram of the water valve regulator.

2. Motor speed control Figure 1.6 shows a system which controls the speed of an electric motor. The input potentiometer is of the rotating type. The motor axis is unloaded. The operational diagram of the system (see Fig. 1.3) has the form shown in Fig. 1.7. + U volts

+ e

Generator

Amplifier

u

Angle of rotation

Motor

+ Tachometer

U’

-

Fig. 1.6. A negative feedback system controlling the speed of a motor.

Input

Potentiometer

U

+

e

Amplifier

Generator

U’

u

Output Speed Motor y

Tachometer

Fig. 1.7. Operational diagram of the motor speed control system.

3. Speed control of the steam engine Returning to the speed control of the steam engine using the fly-ball governor of Watt (see Fig. 1.2) we can draw its operational diagram which is as shown in Fig. 1.8. The speed of rotation is determined by the steam flow and the external load of the engine.

8 Error! No text of specified style in document.: Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development Load Steam flow

Steam valve

Output (Speed)

Steam engine

Watt’s Governor

Fig. 1.8. Operational diagram of the steam engine speed control system.

The governor (feedback element) takes the engine’s speed as input, and gives a negative feedback signal (here the displacement of a lever) to the steam valve. 4. Direction control of a car The operational diagram of the direction (driving) control system of a car has the form shown in Fig. 1.9.

Desired direction

Human Driver

Car

Actual direction

Actual direction

Desired direction

Fig. 1.9. Driving control system of a car.

Here, the error detector and controller is the human driver and the control is manual (not automatic). The driver senses the actual direction of the car and compares it with are the desired direction on the road. If the actual direction is to the left of the desired one he (she) turns a little to the right. In the opposite case the turn is to the left. If the car goes in the correct direction, no action is made by the driver (the driving wheel is kept at this position). Of course it is assumed that the driver is not over – or under – reacting, i.e. that the amplification (gain) of the direction error is the correct one.

1.5 The Humans in Automation Automation and humans have to live together. The principal and permanent element of any automation system is the human under various roles; decision maker, operator, programmer, maintenance specialist, etc. The basic principle here is that

1.5 The Humans in Automation

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humans should never be subservient to machines and automation, but machines and automation should be subservient to humans. Thus, modern automation systems should be designed in a non Tayloristic way19,26 *. Humans and machines have many differences, but they also have many similarities4. The idea that the human and machine have to be used in a cooperative and symbiotic † way is receiving increasing popularity. The cooperation of the human with automation and machines must start from the design phase, and continue in the manufacturing, installation, operation, and maintenance phases20-21. To achieve the desired symbiosis of humans and machines the use of interfaces that are intelligent (smart) is needed. Here, interface intelligence allows the inclusion of explicit representations of humans’ goals and plans which constitute the basis of human machine interaction. These representations make the interfaces capable to understand human’s actions in terms if the intentions underlying the behavior25. Humans are no longer regarded as components of automation systems in the same way as machines and software programs. On the contrary, humans’ responsibilities for system performance goals are the “reason of existence” for the hardware and software components. Thus, all decisions for design and construction of the automation systems are made so as to meet, to the maximum extent, the humans’ intentions and preferences in achieving the goals for which they are responsible. The term which was used in the literature for this type of automation is humancentered automation (or human centered technology)21-25. In other words, automation embodies a part of the human purpose of production, and is not designed to replace the skills and abilities of humans, but rather to assist them and make them more efficient. Automation should give scope for skills to change and develop as technology itself develops. The achievement of human-centered automation systems was made possible by using concepts and techniques from the field of human engineering or human factors engineering or simply human factors 27-30. “Human factors” is the field which applies behavioral and biological sciences to the design of machines and human-machine systems. Biological sciences include the cognitive psychology or the broader experimental psychology which deal with the study of memory, sensation, perception, and reasoning. From the biological sciences the one which is used for human-centered designs is the human physiology which studies the dynamic behavior of the human organs as “whole entities”, i.e. above the cellular level. In many cases use was made of concepts and techniques from sociology, group psychology, and psychometrics. An alternative name for human factors established in the literature is ergonomics ‡ (the laws of work, or work study), but ergonomics is usually restricted to the study of human factors that appear in pure physical human work (body kinematics, muscle dynamics, muscular *

According to F.W. Taylor’s Scientific Management : “the workman is told minutely just what he is to do and how he is to do it; and any improvement which he makes upon the orders given to him is fatal to success”. † From the Greek word Συμβίωση (symbiosis, live together)20. ‡ From the combination of the Greek words ergon (έργον = work) and nomos (νόμος = law).

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fatigue and, in general, human biomechanics). For the personnel selection issues use is currently made of concepts and techniques from the human resources management field31-36. In this book we use the term human – minding automation since it reflects better the desired symbiosis of the humans and the machines involved in automation systems. Modern automation should take care the humans first and then the machines, the productivity and the economic return on investment. To this end, the design and management of automation systems should respect the human values and human rights as codified by the relevant international organizations (United Nations, UNESCO, etc.) (See Section 2.6).

1.6 Automation in the Nature The human – centered design of automation, as it has been described so far, is not adequate for the assurance of high quality of life in the short term, and the human survival in the long term. As shown pictorially in Fig. 1.1, any automation and technological system operating in our nature (the mother earth) affects it in several ways. Here is what the environmental, climatological and ecological scientists call: “environmental pollution”, “climatic change” and “ecological damage” §, three very serious problems of our modern life. Other problems with serious consequences on human life that need proper political solutions are the increasing consumption of earth’s natural resources, the continuing rapid growth of earth’s population, the increasing armament (despite the declarations for the opposite), and the anisotropic (unequal) distribution of human goods (food, education, etc.) in the earth that leads in the cruel and inhuman poverty of the so-called third world populations. As it is argued in justifying and convincing ways by national and international bodies, as well as by well known scientists and thinkers, all these problems contribute towards a continuous degradation of the humans’ quality of life, and eventually may lead to catastrophic and irreversible implications on the habitability of the earth. In this book we will deal with the implications of automation technology upon the nature (in the sense mentioned before) and indicate some of the ways in which automation itself can reduce these implications. A term which was adopted for this in the literature of manufacturing automation is “environmentally conscious manufacturing” 37-38 or green manufacturing, to describe the effort that must be devoted toward reducing the effects of manufacturing upon the environment. Here we use the term “nature – minding automation” and combine it with the “human – minding automation” as “human – and – nature minding automation” to show Ecology comes from the Greek word ‘’οικολογία’’ where ‘’οίκος’’=house and ‘’λόγος’’=speech. Here, ‘’οίκος’’ is the nature and ‘’λόγος’’ has the meaning of study. Actually, ecology is the study (science) of the interactions of living and nonliving entities in the nature.

§

1.7 Social Issues of Automation

11

that both the human and the nature must be taken care by automation (and technology in general). Of course, minding for the human implies that the system should mind for the nature too (the air the human breadths, the water she/he drinks, the food she/he eats, etc.), but the combined term is used to emphasize the strong need to mind for both. It is remarked that the problem of studying and protecting the nature was a primary concern in the ancient Greek society at it is evidenced by the work of the father of Medicine Hippocrates, (~460-377 BC) entitled: “About the winds, the waters, and the places” (“Περί αέρων και υδάτων και τόπων”). A representative, but not exhaustive, list of issues that are under scientific investigation over the years and have been the subject of mass-media around the world, is the following39-41. • • • • • • • • •

Green house effect (global warming)42. Ozone hole (stratosphere ozone thinning)43-44. Acid rain (rain containing nitric and sulphuric acids)45. Urban smog (due to violation of clean – act regulations)46. Solid waste 47. Radioactive releases (from industrial accidents and nuclear weapons trials)48. Land quality degradation (e.g., by soil erosion and salinization)49. Deforestation (clearing of forest land for harvest timber, etc.)50. Ecosystem damage (leading to decrease of biodiversity)51-52. These issues will be studied in chapter 7.

1.7 Social Issues of Automation In the following we will briefly present a number of critical issues of the automation that concern the human and society (other than the implications of automation on the nature discussed in Section 1.6) These are 1, 4, 91, 92: Training and education There is still a shortage of trained or retrained technical experts in the automation field. More well-educated computer and automation experts (scientists, engineers, programmers, operators and technicians) are continuously needed. Automation is still alien to most persons. As a result they don’t trust it at all or they may over trust it. Both are not good, and so education and training is needed. Unemployment Unemployment was the most important issue in discussion about the social effect of automation one or two decades ago, but now is at an acceptable equilibrium level due to increasing generation of new jobs. In any case, automation and related technologies can affect labor in several ways such as:

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• The effects of automation on the relative proportion of machines to humans (the capital-labor ratio) in a given industry. • The need of expert workers with particular job skills and abilities in a certain industry. • The extent of change in production numbers and prices in the countries in which automation and new technology are introduced. To assess the effects of automation to future labor levels, a reference line is needed against which job loss or gain can be measured. This reference line might be a projection of current trends, but must also take into account the virtual unemployment and virtual employment issues. Virtual unemployment represents the jobs which have been lost if a given plant or organization has not responded to market demands by automating. Virtual employment represents the jobs which were not explicitly eliminated, but that would have existed with automation not adopted. Quality of working conditions • Working conditions are improved if automation is used for jobs that are dangerous, boring or unpleasant, and if the new jobs created by automation are better. • Productivity increases may also, in the larger term, result in shorter, and more flexible scheduled work week. • Equipping an employee with a job helper (e.g., a robot extender) not only ceases job stress but also opens job opportunities to people with handicaps or other limitations. Of course, whether the above benefits are realized depends, in part, on the specific ways in which industry and administration uses automation. Many people have expressed concern that automation increases the possibilities for employer surveillance of employees, and that automation could be used by employers to “downgrade” jobs that require working with automated systems. Productivity and capital formation Productivity is a complex concept not uniquely defined and measured. Furthermore, even after some specific definition is chosen, industrial (and office) productivity depends on many interacting factors. Therefore, productivity improvements cannot be attributed to any single methodology or technology. Robotics, for example, is an input to productivity ratio P: P = (Units of output) / (Units of input) which represents both capital and technical knowledge. Human labor is another input to P. “Human – computer” as a united entity is a third input to P. What combinations of inputs to productivity ratio should be adopted is a social issue of great importance.

1.7 Social Issues of Automation

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Capital formation is another issue of automation related to productivity. Economists often attribute the capability to create new investment capital to the growth of productivity. Two social questions about capital formation are the following : • Is the capital available to fund the construction of new systems and the modernization of existing ones that will use automation technologies, sufficient? • Is there sufficient capital to fund research and development by business men who wish to develop new types of automation equipment? The answers to these questions depend on the legal and economic status of each state and on how automation is perceived by investors and managers to be a promising technology in which to invest. Looking particularly at robotics, one of the main components of automation, the following advantages / disadvantages have been documented and recorded in the literature 123-124,93. Advantages • Mechanical power: Humans can lift about 45-50 kg, whereas robots can lift many tons. • Motion velocity: Humans can respond and act at 1 cps, whereas robots can at 1000 cps. • Reliability: Robot work is much more reliable than human work. • Sensitivity: Robots have much less sensitivity to environmental conditions (temperature, pressure, vibration) than humans. • Endurance: Robots can work uniformly until breakdown from wear. Humans have much reduced endurance and monitoring capabilities (about 30 min of monitoring). • Precision of work: Robots have definite precision of work, whereas human precision varies according to physical, psychological and training conditions. Disadvantages • Robots have incompatibility in terms of workspace with humans. • Robots have incompatibility in terms of motion with human (robots move linearly or at acute angles and abruptly stop, but humans do not). • Human safety: Some workers are at risk from injury from robots (maintenance workers, programmers, personnel outside the danger zone, etc.). • Robots are difficult to operate (control panels differ from robot to robot: lack of standardization). • Feeling of isolation among workers surrounded by many robots. • Telepresence and virtual reality in telerobotic and other systems raises again old philosophical questions of being and existence in the field of ontology 125.

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1.8 Human Development and Modernization

In this section we provide a short discussion on the human development and modernization of which automation and industrialization are two of the fundamental components. Human development (HD) is defined as the process of achieving an optimum level of health and well being. Naturally, it involves physical, biological, mental, educational, social, economic, and cultural components542-548. Practically, human development is achieved through the enlargement of people’s choices, the most critical of which have to lead to a long and healthy life, to a proper level of education, and to a decent standard of living. Other important choices include secured human rights and self-respect, and political freedom. The development theory investigates issues that involve the question whether modern societies represent “progress” over traditional societies. To study this question, the development research investigators go back to the earliest foundations of modernization theory, i.e. to the traditional society which is commonly described as “primitive”, “backward” and “having rigid social structures”, with economies limited to “rural and agricultural levels”. After the middle of the 19th century the gap between developed and under-developed countries has been increased and the social scientists are proposing measures and policies that must be followed to reduce as much as possible this gap. Human development recognizes that people are the real wealth of the nations, and puts the human being at the center of the process, i.e., the primary objective of HD is to create an environment that enables people to live long, and healthy, and have creative lives.

1.8.1 Human Development Components HD goes beyond BN (“Basic Needs”)-type goods and services, and considers other issues, such as freedom, democracy, gender, environment, societal culture, and all other issues that may affect human beings’ potential. The human wellbeing goes beyond money incomes, and HD allows the human to choose his/her priorities, i.e., it is concerned with the “broadening of human choices”. Of course, HD accepts that human beings constitute an important resource too and that they are the objective of the development. The three principal components of HD that contribute synergetically to the widening of human choices are the following545. • Socioeconomic development. • Emancipative value change. • Democratization.

1.8 Human Development and Modernization

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Socioeconomic development is the most basic component of HD and refers to a class of closely related changes that involve, among others, technological modernization, automation, productivity improvement, betterment of health and life quality, increases of personal income, rising levels of education, widening access to information, and increasing social complexity543 and social transactions between humans. These changes include social mobilization, urbanization and occupational differentiation, and strengthen horizontal bargaining relations by weakening vertical authority relations. Socioeconomic development increases individual resources, diminishes the most dominant constraints on human choice, and as a result provide to people the objective means of choice. Emancipative value change is the second component that contributes to human choice. Rising emancipative values directs people’s subjective orientation towards human choice. This is compatible with the fact that human choice does not only depend on resources, but is strongly influenced by one’s motivation and mind. Removing or weakening the constraints posed on human autonomy changes and reshapes people’s value orientations in many ways known under several names (e.g., individual modernity values, self-expression values, civic cultural values, post-materialistic values, etc.). Clearly, no matter what terminology is used for the change of values, all these approaches have in common the fact that traditional conformity values that subordinate human autonomy to community rules, tend to be replaced by more emancipative values which are dominated by human choice. Democratization is the most remarkable development of modern society. During the past three or four decades democratization has occurred in two distinct ways : (i) many authoritarian regimes evolved to formal democracies by establishing democratic constitutions, and (ii) most of the existing formal democracies have applied or widened direct democratic institutions leading to rising levels of direct civic participation548. Discussion: A question about the above three processes debated over the years is whether these processes represent irreversible societal linear changes or they follow cyclical patterns with notable setbacks or they are uniformly global or culture-specific within an Inherently Western model. As stated in545, one point (hard to be denied) is that : “If socioeconomic development, emancipative value change and democratization occur, they tend to go together”. It is a fact that poor societies suffering from scarse resources (e.g., Sub-Saharan African societies) tend to be dominated by conformity values that reflect constraints to human autonomy and are usually governed by authoritarian regimes. An integrated theory of social change is not yet available, although many modernization scientists have revealed that there are visible relations between socioeconomic development, emancipative values and democracy levels. The position presented in545 is that socioeconomic development, elevating emancipative values

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and effective democracy work synergetically to promote human choice among societies544. Socioeconomic development diminishes the most existential restrictions on human choice by increasing individual resources which broaden the scope of possible human activities and autonomy. Emancipation strengthens people’s desire to have free choice and control of their lives. Finally, as already mentioned, democracy, the third component of HD, contributes to the widening of choice via the institutionalization of the legal rights that secure people’s freedom to control their private and public activity547. The important thing here is that these rights are not only guaranteed formally, but work effectively in every day life. In this way we get the so-called effective democracy, as contrasted to formal democracy. Effective democracy provides effective rights for human choice. Thus, in this sense effective democratization is any extension and enrichment of people’s effective rights.

1.8.2 Modernization Modernization is defined to be the transformation of social life from a traditional, rural society to an urban, industrial society. The modernization theory looks at all societal and economic factors of a country trying to locate and define all social variables that play a major role in the social evolution. The ultimate goal is to explain how this process of development is taken place and find ways of assuring an optimum sustainable change. In addition, modernization theory is concerned with the study of the response to that change549-551. To modernize a society means first of all to industrialize it, which is now generally recognized that goes far beyond pure economic and technological change and includes all cultural, social and political issues. Modernization is not a oneand-for all time change but a continuous dynamic open-ended process with uncertain, uneven and irregular components. Moreover, the modernization process is not restricted only to the interior of a particular country, but extends globally to its Western foundation to the entire World. Along the lines of this modernization principle the process of “globalization552-553 was emerged which by its proponents is meant as the integration of social, political and economic structures and spread them all over the world. Globalization theory tries to explain and theorize the development of a global economy towards the direction of a unique central society. Some of the means that play a major role towards globalization are world-wide tourism, communications, large-scale transportations, and new technologies. The theorists of globalization consider that it is the response to new technologies that causes change. However, despite its positive consequences, globalization has also many negative consequences that include, among others, the widening over the time of the difference between the rich and the poor, the people being left behind who are exposed to several kinds of criminal activities, and so on.

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Modernization has two principal stages. During the first progressive and upward stage, it enhances the institutions and human values. But beyond some point, the second stage starts which is typically characterized by disatisfaction and discontent of an increasing level. The initial rising expectations are not encountered, and groups of people move towards increasing demands on the state that are really becoming difficult to meet. At this second stage, modern societies are facing a gamma of new problems that are difficult to be solved within the framework and the competence of the conventional nation state. It is remarked here that the processes of industrialization and modernization that emerged about two centuries ago and have been the subject of scientific study much later have not yet arrived at any concrete closure. Two theories of “international development554-555 that historically have strongly questioned the theory of “globalization” and “free market” are the “dependency theory556-559 and the “World – system theory560-565. Dependency theory, which was first formulated in the 1950s, asserts that low-levels of development in underdeveloped countries spring from their dependence on the advanced economies. This is because natural resources flow from underdeveloped and poor countries (called peripheral countries) to a group of developed countries (called core countries) enriching them at the expense of the peripheral countries’ own health. Dependency theory is opposing the ideology of free market which argues that free trade and open markets help poor countries to follow an enriching trajectory towards full economic development and integration to the global economy as equal players. Dependency theory started loosing some of its support and influence after the economic success and growth of India and Thailand. The World – system theory was initiated by Immanuel Wallerstein561-563 and lies somewhere between the theories of Marx and Weber. At the theoretical level it is based on the theory of the Annales school of Fernard Braudel (http://fbc.binghampton.edu/), and in many respects it is an adaptation of dependency theory564-565. For Wallerstein “a system is a unit with a single division of labor and multiple cultural systems”, and in the world-system history there have been three kinds of societies, viz. mini-systems and two types of world systems, namely single-state world-empires, and multi-polity world economies. The systematic flow of surplus from the periphery to the industrialized high-technology core is what Wallerstein calls “unequal exchange” that leads to “capital accumulation” at a global scale. The world-system theory has inspired a large number of research programs, the most well-known of which is the study of “long-term business cycles”. As an interdisciplinary theory, the world-system theory has attracted the attention of sociologists, anthropologists, culture scientists, economists, development investigators, and historians.

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1.8.3 Human Development Index The human development index (HDI) is recognized as the leading measure for ranking human well being in different countries worldwide. HDI combines normalized measures of the following three indicators566-568: • Life expectancy at birth. • Adult literacy rate and mean years of schooling. • Income as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Of course “human development” involves many other components (already described in this section). Therefore, like all one-dimensional indices that attempt to measure complex variables it is subject to inaccuracies. Nevertheless it is really a good comparative measure of the well-being of a population. This index was developed in 1990 and has been used since then by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as the basis for the annual Human Development Report569-570. Life expectancy at birth is an index of the health and longevity of people, adult literacy rate is an index that reflects the knowledge and education of the population, and GDP per capita is a measure of the standard of living (expressed in Purchasing power parity (PPP)) in US dollars. HDI has been questioned right from the beginning of its creation as a redundant index which does not add any significant value to the value of the individual measures that compose it. It has been argued that it is actually an index indicating a relative ranking which is actually useless for inter-temporal comparisons and difficult to interpret since the HDI for a country in a given year depends on the levels of, for example, life expectancy or GDP per capita of other countries in that year. However, the United Nations uses it as a compound indicator of economic development that attempts to go beyond purely monetary measurements by combining GDP per capita with life expectancy and literacy in a weighted average. Mathematically the normalized and unit-free value (index) x index between 0 and 1 of a variable x that can take a minimum value x min and a maximum value x max (in certain units) is given by:568 x index =(x-x min )/(x max -x min ) This permits the addition of several indices to find an overall average index. HDI is actually the average of the following three indices LE index , E index and GDP index , where LE is the life expectancy at birth variable, E is the education variable and GDP is the gross domestic product variable expressed in PPP in US dollars. These three indices are given by : LE index =(LE-25)/(85-25)

1.8 Human Development and Modernization

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E index =(2/3)AL index +(1/3)GE index GDP index =(log(GDP)-log(100))/(log(40000)-log(100)) where the adult literacy (AL) index and the gross enrollment ((GE) index are given by : AL index =(ALR-0)/(100-0), GE index =(CGER-0)/(100-0) with ALR being the adult literacy rate (for ages greater than or equal to 15) and CGER being the combined gross enrollment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools. The basic employment of HDI is to rank the UN countries according to the level of human development and classify them as developed, developing or underdeveloped country. If HDI is high, the rank in the list can easily be used as a means of national “aggrandizement”, and if it is low, it can be used to highlight national insufficiencies.

1.8.4 Life Expectancy, Literacy and Standard of Living In the following we discuss a little more the three constituents of the human development index. Life expectancy (LE) at a given age is defined as the average number of years of life after that age, and depends very much on the sample community or group of people for which it is measured. From the existing world-wide data it follows that life expectancy varies according to the class and the gender. In the U.S.A. the life expectancy has increased in the 20th century considerably (about 30 years) mainly due to the improvements in public health and medical care. Poverty has a significant and dominating negative effect on life expectancy. The climatic conditions (global and national) have also been documented to have an effect on life expectancy. In some countries very high infant mortalities are observed. In these countries, instead of the life expectancy at birth, the life expectancy at age 5 is used to exclude the early childhood mortality component. According to the wikipedia the present world-wide life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 66.12 years. Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability to read and write or the ability to use a language for reading, writing, speaking and listening (wikipedia and www.ncte.org). According to the UNESCO Education Sector “Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts”. A practical literacy standard in several communities is the ability to read a newspaper. But according to OECD (Adult Literacy Survey, 2000), our modern society’s increasing requirements in communication and commercial activities need the ability to use computers and other information technologies. More advanced present-day literacy requirements include the use of multimedia, Internet, and other technologies.

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The standard of living is based on the quantity and quality of goods and services offered to people, and how these goods and services are made available and distributed within a given society. The real income (that takes into account the inflation) and the poverty rate are two basic indices of the standard of living. Other indices include education, health care and income growth. The concept of standard of living is actually different than the “quality of life” concept which, besides the material standards, incorporates all the other issues of life such as social life, entertainment, leisure, health, quality of environment, etc. The conventional measure of the standard of living is the GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, but the use of the PPP (purchasing power parity) is a better measure especially for the comparison of standards of life in different countries. This is because PPP takes into account the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies for equalizing their purchasing power. The fluctuations of the real exchange rates (i.e., the PPP exchange rates) are primarily caused by the motion of the market exchange rates. The typical PPP exchange rate used in most cases is the so-called “international dollar”. Actually, the PPP exchange rate is recognized as the most practical and realistic reference for economic comparison of different countries. Theoretical perspectives on human growth and development can be found in http://www.unm.edu/~jka/courses/achive/theory1.html

1.8.5 Human Development Report The human development report (HDR), first launched in 1990, aims to put people back at the center of the development process in terms of economic debate policy and advocacy569-570. HDR is an independent report commissioned by UNDP and has been produced and suggested by a selected team of scholars, HD practitioners and members of UNDP. The report is published in more than 12 languages and launched in more than 100 countries annually. Besides the HDI three other composite indices for HD are: the Gender – related Development Index (GDI), the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), and the Human Poverty Index (HPI). HDI debates each year on several distinct challenges facing humanity. For example, the HDR 2007/2008 was primarily focused on the climate change and argued that climate change poses several challenges at many levels. Failure to meet these challenges enlarges the repertory of unpredictable backward aspects in HD. The HDR-2009 is primarily concerned with migration, both within the countries and outside them, and investigates the migration process and its consequences in the context of demographic changes and paths in both growth and inequality. HDR-2009 demonstrates how an HD approach is contributing in the restoration of the endogenous social issues that broaden the benefits of mobility and/or force migration. Countries with HDI below 0.5 are characterized as “low development” countries and countries with HDI≥0.8 are called “high development” countries. In the

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HDR-2007/2008 there were 22 countries with low development (located in South Africa). Countries with high development are those of North America, Western Europe, Oceania and Eastern Asia (and some of the developing countries that are near HDI=0.8 and have ascending HDI trend)568-569.