Development of alternative dependability terminology

Abstract

Aim. This paper contains a brief historical overview of the evolution of the technology dependability theory. The evolution of the concept of dependability reflects the unsolved problem of presentation of the scope and content of concepts in the dependability theory of technical objects. It is proposed to logically elaborate and deduce the terms based on the pseudophysical propositional logic. The paper presents an approach to solving the problem of introduction of the concept of an object’s intended use and deduction of alternative basic definitions of dependability. The aim of the paper is to examine the feasibility of applying the modern technology dependability theory to subsequent theoretical developments and practical application of the concept of reliability of organizations, social groups and individuals. Methods. The problem of the terminology and years-long search for the definitions of dependability consists in the deficiency of the academic development of the subject matter in philological, philosophical and logical terms. Certainly, such research is to be conducted by experts in the appropriate fields of knowledge. Let us make our own contribution as regards the subject matter of this paper. The author suggests a structural approach to terminological research. Essentially, it consists in the following. If identifying the signs of the concept content is complicated, structuring the concept scope may be an option. The structuring is done using universal observation bases: time, space, groups and their combinations: time-space, time-group, spacegroup. For that purpose, a special terminology is required. The category of “intended use” as an object’s property is introduced. The concept of intended use is large in scope, is more abstract than the concept of dependability. Let us note that quality standards were developed under the assumption that the intended use is the compliance of an object’s characteristic with the requirements. Russian standards prioritized the dependability concept, where the regulatory descriptions, definitions, such as “the ability to perform the required (specified) functions, (an object’s) ability to function”, “to function as and when required”, “functional dependability”, “parametric dependability”, “requirements specified in the documentation” are simply generalized by the category of intended use Such descriptions are none other than an indication of the property of an object’s intended use. For instance, an object’s ability to move in space is a property of the intended use, not dependability. Thus, all the terminological searches in terms of dependability standardization demonstrate an unjustified reduction of the concept of intended use to the concept of dependability. The introduction of the category of intended use solves the problems of terminology in the dependability theory. The author suggests the following definition of intended use. Intended use is the property of an object defined by the natural origin or designed application. Dependability is a set of states as the measure of concordance with the intended use of an object. Conclusion. The evolution of the concept of technology dependability reflects the unsolved terminological problem in the dependability theory of technical objects. The problem of terminology largely consists in the ambiguous use and confusion of ontological terms. Deduction of such terms based on pseudophysical logic and introduction of the category of object’s intended use is the main result of this paper in terms of the introduction of an alternative noncontroversial structure and content of dependability-related terms. The suggested approach is recommended to be used for revision of the existing standards.