Academic literature on the topic 'Système expert (Informatique)'

Au ministère des Communications du gouvernement du Québec, on a développé une solution originale pour assister les chargés de projets dans l’analyse et le repérage d’une information abondante et de nature essentiellement textuelle. Le système d’aide à la gestion des évaluations environnementales (SAGÉE) s’appuie sur une combinaison d’approches et de technologies (micro-informatique, système expert, hypertexte, bases de données textuelles et bases de données documentaires, entre autres). Ces solutions répondent à la multiplicité des besoins exprimés et aux caractéristiques des données à gérer. Les systèmes développés sont présentés dans un tableau synoptique qui indique également les investissements techniques et humains consentis ainsi que les bénéfices retirés. Des explications sont fournies sur le Système d’information sur les dossiers de la Direction des évaluations environnementales (SIDDÉE), sur la bibliothèque électronique des documents produits par la Direction, sur la base de données EVALEN destinée à faciliter l’accès aux documents techniques et scientifiques, sur le système d’analyse de textes par ordinateur SATO et finalement sur le système d’aide à l’élaboration de la directive. De nombreux tableaux illustrent le propos.

Le droit est une matière qui se prête très bien au traitement informatique. En effet nous pouvons dans cette discipline identifier deux aspects différents et complémentaires de la même réalité, à savoir l'aspect éthique et l'aspect logique. Dans cette étude, l'auteur se penche sur l'aspect logique du droit. Pour ce faire, il utilise la logique formelle afin de réduire sous forme de règles la matière portant sur le remboursement des améliorations faites sur l'immeuble d'autrui. Le résultat final en est un d'intelligence artificielle avec la réalisation d'un système expert portant le nom de LEX-A. Celui-ci a été réalisé sur ordinateur Macintosh et utilise le langage de programmation PROLOG.

Le Motion Picture Experts Group est un organisme chargé de développer des normes internationales sur les fichiers informatiques multimédias. Les normes MPEG-1 et MPEG-2 édictent des modes de compression de fichiers visuels et sonores permettant le transfert rapide en réseau et facilitant le stockage sur disque. MPEG-4 concerne également la compression, mais s’applique à la diffusion en temps réel (« streaming »). MPEG-7 propose un système de description des documents basé sur des métadonnées permettant des recherches très sophistiquées. Finalement, MPEG-21 offrira un cadre d’application pour une gestion intégrée des ressources multimédias (création, distribution, gestion des droits d’auteur, mode de paiement, etc.).

The purpose of this study was to investigate how experts in motor skills requiring a fine postural control perceive their body orientation with few gravity based sensory cues. In Experiment 1, expert gymnasts and controls had to detect their body tilt when pitching at a velocity of 0.05 deg . s − 1 , in two conditions of body restriction (strapped and body cast altering the somatosensory cues). Contrary to the experts, the controls exhibited a larger body tilt when totally restrained in the body cast. In Experiment 2, subjects had to estimate their Subjective Postural Vertical (SPV) starting from different angles of pitch tilt. The controls exhibited significant errors of SPV judgement whereas the experts were very precise. These results suggest that 1) somatosensory cues are more informative than otolithic cues for the perception of body orientation, and 2) the efficiency of otolithic and/or interoceptive inputs can be improved through a specific training to compensate for the lack of somatosensory cues.

AbstractIdentification of species for the study of biodiversity in the phylum Nemata is defined as being able to identify any of the 12 000 described species of nematodes, and being able to recognise when the specimen under study belongs to a species unknown to science. Moreover, this large-scale identification must be done by biologists who are not expert taxonomists. It is argued that printed identification aids are too rigid and unreliable, and molecular identification aid is too limited, to be used in this context. Only computer identification tools are flexible, reliable, and general enough to give a non-taxonomist the possibility to identify any species. However, a review of existing tools and approaches shows that they fall short of reaching this objective. The functionality of a general identification system that could overcome the problems and difficulties encountered in the use of computerised tools is then described. This system (which has been described by the authors in several articles under the name of Genisys) would include a general database with all the characters from all the published descriptions of nematodes species and a set of integrated identification tools. Some of these tools would export the data into formats usable by existing identification and systematics tools. Other tools would have to be developed to support new approaches. A guidance tool would help the non-expert user by suggesting the successive computerised tools to be used during an identification session or by directing the user to other approaches, such as molecular identification in the case of heteroderids or some Meloidogyne species. L’identification des espèces pour l’étude de la biodiversité dans le phylum Nemata est définie comme la possibilité d’identifier n’importe laquelle des 12 000 espèces décrites du groupe et d’être capable de reconnaître que le spécimen étudié appartient à une espèce non encore décrite. En outre, ce type d’identification à grande échelle doit pouvoir être pratiqué par des biologistes qui ne sont pas des taxinomistes. Il est montré que les aides imprimées à l’identification sont trop rigides et trop peu fiables et que l’identification moléculaire est encore de portée trop limitée pour être utilisables dans ce contexte. Seuls les outils d’identification assistée par ordinateur sont suffisamment flexibles, fiables et généraux pour permettre à un non taxinomiste d’accomplir les identifications définies plus haut. Pourtant, une revue des outils existants et des approches utilisées montre qu’ils sont incapables d’atteindre l’objectif fixé. La fonctionnalité d’un système d’identification général capable de résoudre les problèmes soulevés par l’utilisation d’outils informatisés est ensuite décrite. Ce système (décrit par les auteurs du présent article sous le nom de Genisys) doit comprendre une base de données avec tous les caractères inclus dans les descriptions publiées des espèces connues et un ensemble d’outils d’identification intégrés. L’un de ces outils devrait permettre d’exporter les données sous des formats utilisables par les outils existants d’identification et de systématique. D’autres outils devraient être développés pour mettre en œuvre de nouvelles approches. Un outil de guidage aiderait le non-spécialiste en lui suggérant les outils informatiques à utiliser successivement dans le cadre d’une session d’identification ou en le dirigeant vers d’autres approches telles que l’identification moléculaire dans le cas de certains Hétérodérides et d’espèces de Meloidogyne.

Purpose Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a useful system in today’s organizations that can lead to numerous benefits for them. The employees and managers are the most important stakeholders of this system that can both affect it and be affected by it. This paper aims to study the empowerment benefits resulted from ERP implementation in industrial companies. Design/methodology/approach This paper investigated the ERP benefits through survey by defining 31 empowering benefits for this enterprise system based on reviewing the literature and classifying them into four groups of empowering benefits including informative, communicative, growth and learning and strategic benefits. Statistical population of the study is the core specialist and managers of these corporations. Findings The results indicated that the communicative, strategic and informative empowering benefits are as important common advantages. Furthermore, the results of computing the regression coefficient represent that the empowering benefits of strategic, informative, communicative and growth and learning had the maximum impact on the firms’ empowering benefits from ERP implementation. Originality/value The findings of this study provide a general overview of what to expect from ERP with respect to empowerment and based on it, features, modules and innovations that should be present for realizing these expectations can be determined.

How does the pattern of eye fixation vary as an informative part of a word is encountered? If the processing of information lags behind the movement of the eyes, then we should expect no variation in the pattern; but if processing is immediate, then the movements of the reader's eyes should correspond to the distribution of information being inspected. An experiment is reported which examined the ways that the text ahead of the point of current fixation can be used to guide the eyes to future fixations, by monitoring fixations during a sentence comprehension task. The patterns of eye fixations upon words with uneven distributions of information (where, for example, words predictable from the sight of their first few letters but not from their last few letters are defined as containing informative beginnings) were observed, and it was found that more and longer fixations were produced when subjects looked at the informative parts of words, particularly at the informative endings of words. The results support the suggestion that eye movements are under the moment-to-moment control of cognitive mechanisms.

The summarization system takes a Database (DB) table as input and produces a reduced version of this table through both a rewriting and a generalization process. The resulting table provides records with less precision than the original but it is very informative of the actual DB content. This reduced form can be used as input for advanced Data Mining processes. Several approaches of DB summarization have been proposed in the literature. The most recent is the SaintEtiQ summarization model, proposed initially by Raschia.1 Based on a hierarchical conceptual clustering algorithm, SaintEtiQ builds a summary hierarchy from DB records. In this paper, we propose to extend this DB summarization model by introducing some optimization processes including: (i) minimization of the expert risks domain, (iii) building of the summary hierarchy from DB records, and (iv) cooperation with the user by giving him summaries in different hierarchy levels.

A patent is an important document issued by the government to protect inventions or product design. Inventions consist of mechanical structures, production processes, quality improvements of products, and so on. Generally, goods or appliances in everyday life are a result of an invention or product design that has been published in patent documents. A new invention contributes to the standard of living, improves productivity and quality, reduces production costs for industry, or delivers products with higher added value. Patent documents are considered to be excellent sources of knowledge in a particular field of technology, leading to inventions. Technology trend forecasting from patent documents depends on the subjective experience of experts. However, accumulated patent documents consist of a huge amount of text data, making it more difficult for those experts to gain knowledge precisely and promptly. Therefore, technology trend forecasting using objective methods is more feasible. There are many statistical methods applied to patent analysis, for example, technology overview, investment volume, and the technology life cycle. There are also data mining methods by which patent documents can be classified, such as by technical characteristics, to support business decision-making. The main contribution of this study is to apply data mining methods and social network analysis to gain knowledge in emerging technologies and find informative technology trends from patent data. We experimented with our techniques on data retrieved from the European Patent Office (EPO) website. The technique includes K-means clustering, text mining, and association rule mining methods. The patent data analyzed include the International Patent Classification (IPC) code and patent titles. Association rule mining was applied to find associative relationships among patent data, then combined with social network analysis (SNA) to further analyze technology trends. SNA provided metric measurements to explore the most influential technology as well as visualize data in various network layouts. The results showed emerging technology clusters, their meaningful patterns, and a network structure, and suggested information for the development of technologies and inventions.

L'application des techniques de systèmes experts au domaine de la gastronomie, par la modélisation des règles Prolog et la réalisation d'un module d'acquisition des connaissances, permettant à un expert de générer des règles Prolog
Application of the technics of expert systems to the domain of gastronomy, by the modelisation of Prolog rules and the realization of a modulus of knowledge's acquisition allowing an expert to generate Prolog rules

Lorsque les systèmes experts abordent des domaines d'application très complexes, l'organisation d'un système expert sous forme d'une base de connaissances, d'une mémoire de travail et un mécanisme d'inférence, aussi puissant soient-ils, devient insuffisante. De telles applications font souvent intervenir une expertise hétérogène provenant de plusieurs experts dans différents domaines. Les techniques d'Intelligence Artificielle Distribuée comme celles des systèmes multi-experts, sont nées de la nécessité de développer ces applications. Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons un outil basé sur le générateur de systèmes experts SUPER, qui permet de développer une architecture multi-expert pour répondre à la demande de telles applications complexes. Notre démarche a consisté à distribuer le travail en plusieurs systèmes experts, chaque système expert possédant sa propre base de connaissances, sa propre base de faits et son propre moteur d'inférence. Une structuration en réseau de bases de connaissances est proposée pour assurer la cohérence globale du système et une stratégie de résolution efficace. Les systèmes experts peuvent communiquer entre eux par envoi de messages, et s'assister par l'échange des informations. Différentes stratégies de contrôle du système qui permettent le suivi de processus dynamique sont décrites dans ce mémoire. Un élément considéré comme important dans ce travail, est le temps de réponse du système. Nous présentons également dans ce mémoire une application de l'outil développé pour réaliser un système de diagnostic automobile. Cette application est réalisée dans le cadre du projet Euréka-Prometheus.

Réalisation d'un interface utilisateur système expert de consultation d'un système expert d'aide a la décision d'accord entre les vins et les mets
Realization of an interface end user knowledge based system to proceed to the appropriateness between wines and dishes

Un prototype d'un système dédié à l'analyse a été réalisé. Ce logiciel est écrit en C pour les modules de calculs statistiques et en QUINTUS PROLOG pour les règles de connaissance. Il couvre une large palette de types d'analyses statistiques. Les règles codées en PROLOG ont pour objectifs principaux d'apporter à un logiciel statistique: une meilleure sécurité d'utilisation (vérification des hypothèses, transformation des données, etc. . . ), un apprentissage plus rapide, la possibilité d'usage par les utilisateurs non-statisticiens (analyses automatisées, aide au choix des méthodes, dialogue avec l'utilisateur sur les données et le problème, etc. . . ), avec un aspect pédagogique étendu (mise en lumière du processus de l'analyse statistique et des stratégies d'analyse des données). L'architecture générale proposée se compose notamment des éléments suivants: procédures de calcul statistiques (boites noires), bases de règles relatives à chaque procédure (mise au format des données, hypothèses à vérifier, transformations requises, validité des résultats, etc. . . ), sous systèmes experts locaux relatifs au choix et à la mise en œuvre automatique d'un type d'analyses (régression, ANOVA, classification, examen des données, etc. . . ), système expert global assurant le codage des stratégies statistiques, noyau de contrôle, moteur d'inférences, interface en langage naturel restreint

Le pilotage des centres informatiques est une tache délicate qui ne peut être confiée qu'à un ingénieur système. Sa compétence est basée sur trois qualités : une bonne connaissance technique, une longue expérience et une capacité à trouver rapidement des solutions efficaces aux problèmes qui lui sont posés. Il est ce qu'on appelle un expert. Au vu de ces caractéristiques, nous avons décidé de développer sur micro-ordinateur un système expert d'assistance au pilotage des centres informatiques, dont le but est de surveiller le fonctionnement d'un grand ordinateur. La caractéristique originale de ce système expert est de fonctionner en temps réel. Ceci pose des problèmes de variables à affectations multiples qui peuvent être à l'origine d'inconsistances dans la base de faits. De plus, la quantité d'informations gérées aurait été incompatible avec la contrainte du temps réel si nous n'avions pas eu recours à une méthode particulière de gestion des inconsistances et d'optimisation de l'inférence. Cette méthode, telle qu'elle a été implémentée dans le logiciel, fait l'objet d'une étude théorique détaillée dans le mémoire. Le fruit de ce travail est un progiciel commercialisé : « SEAT », dont l'utilisation a déjà fourni de bons résultats.

Il existe un intérêt grandissant à l'heure actuelle pour les systèmes experts (SEs) dits « temps réel ». A cela, on peut voir deux raisons. Tout d'abord un SE est capable, dans des cas où il n'existe pas de solution algorithmique satisfaisante, de résoudre un problème en un temps réaliste (polynomial), notamment à l'aide d'heuristiques appropriées. Ensuite, les applications temps réel peuvent bénéficier de certaines caractéristiques des SEs, particulièrement intéressantes vis-à-vis des contraintes de temps, comme la possibilité de faire progresser le travail déjà effectué sans le remettre en cause dans sa globalité ou la capacité à estimer le sous-espace de recherche le plus prometteur en fonction de l'état du système. Cependant, l'intégration d'un SE dans une application temps réel soulève bon nombre de difficultés. Globalement, le SE doit satisfaire trois exigences principales : 1) l'intégration dans l'environnement extérieur, c'est-à-dire avec les autres composants logiciels de l'application temps réel; 2) le fonctionnement en temps réel, qui recouvre des concepts comme le fonctionnement en continu, la prise en compte de données asynchrones, la focalisation d'attention, l'activation, etc. ; 3) la prise en compte du temps dans le raisonnement, afin que le SE puisse déterminer la position relative d'événements dans le temps. Tous ces aspects ont été développés à partir d'un générateur de SEs existant, le système SUPER. La démarche suivie est de faire du SE une des pièces d'un système temps réel conventionnel. Les points forts concernant par conséquent les problèmes d'interruption en cours de raisonnement, de communication et d'interaction entre modules et enfin de temps de réponse. Une application d'un tel système a été réalisée dans le cadre du projet européen PROMETHEUS avec la mise au point d'un système de diagnostic embarqué sur véhicule.

Les documents de spécification de protocoles de communication sont principalement écrits en langage naturel (norme OSI ou RFC internet). L'élaboration de langages formels intermédiaires (techniques formelles de description) a permis de structurer le cycle de développement de logiciel associé : à partir d'une spécification du protocole ayant été réécrite dans un tel langage, il est possible de générer automatiquement du code. Cependant, on connait peu de choses sur le processus (manuel) de reformulation du document initial vers une telle spécification formelle, et par voie de conséquence, il est difficile d'avoir la conviction de l'équivalence entre les deux niveaux de description. L'objectif de la thèse est de définir un langage formel intégrant différents types de représentations, et qui soit plus proche du langage naturel employé par le spécificateur, de sorte que l'on puisse qualifier de traduction le passage entre les deux niveaux de description

Le processus d'identification consiste à reconnaître une bactérie inconnue en définissant son appartenance à une espèce. Il repose sur le choix d'un ensemble de tests biochimiques réalisé par un logiciel spécifique. Cet ensemble constitue un kit d'identification. En fonction du profil de réponses observé, on calcule une probabilité d'appartenance à chaque espèce. On retient l'espèce la plus probable. La réalisation d'un système expert en identification bactérienne est motivée par la prise en compte de l'évolution des connaissances. La découverte de nouvelles espèces peut amener à reconsidérer certaines identifications. Il importe donc de conserver les résultats dans une base de données, de les rendre facilement accessibles et de tenir compte de ces évolutions pour interpréter et documenter le résultat à l'aide d'un ensemble de règles. Les composants principaux de ce système écrit en prolog sont : 1) un mécanisme réalisant le calcul des probabilités d'appartenance aux espèces ou permettant de l'obtenir à partir d'une base de données, 2) un moteur d'inférence en chaînage avant réalisant l'interprétation des résultats d'identification à l'aide de la base de connaissances, 3) un moteur en chaînage arrière pour la trace du raisonnement, 4) une interface chargée de la gestion de la base de connaissances et du dialogue avec l'utilisateur. La consultation et l'utilisation dans le cadre du système expert des résultats d'identification est obtenu par une interface entre en sgbd relationnel : informix et prolog. Son organisation repose sur 3 niveaux de fonctionnalité croissante. Le niveau le plus évolue permet une interrogation aussi dégagée que possible des aspects relatifs à l'implantation et à l'organisation de la base

Much of North America, and indeed much of the global landscape, is comprised of either locally or regionally steep slopes, river valleys, and weak or unstable geology. Landslides and ground movements continue to impact pipelines that traverse these regions. Pipeline integrity management programs (IMP’s) are increasingly expecting quantitative estimates of ground movement or pipe failure as part of pipeline risk management systems. Quantitative analysis usually relies on one or more of statistics, physical models, and expert judgment. Statistics incorporate ground and pipe behavior (for hazard and vulnerability respectively) over a broad area to infer local probabilities. They carry the weight of big data, but the local application is almost certainly incorrect (variability even for regions exceeds 2 orders of magnitude). Detailed geotechnical (hazard) and soil-pipe interaction and stress (vulnerability) models provide rigorous results, but require substantial effort and/or expert judgment to parameterize the inputs and boundary conditions. We present herein a structured tool to calculate probability of failure (PoF) using expert judgment supported by known, instrumented or observable conditions and statistics (where available). We provide a series of tables used as a basis for nodal calculations along a branch path of a decision tree, and discuss the challenges and results from actual application to over 100 sites in the Interior Plains. The method is intended to be a practical informative approach based on, and limited by, data inputs. It is a flexible fit for purpose assessment that takes advantage of the best available data, however, the method relies on the user to articulate a level of confidence in, or the basis of the results.

Wear debris particle analysis is an equipment health monitoring technique used to identify possible failure modes in various engine components. One of the first stages in the analysis involves the examination under a microscope of particles collected from the component’s lubrication system on magnetic drain plugs and filters. However, the subjectivity of technicians’ judgements means that diagnosis may not be consistent between technicians. A software tool capable of automatically classifying the images of wear debris particles has been developed and tested using an 800-image database. It is shown that using automatic image analysis for the classification of wear debris particle images is more consistent, accurate and informative when compared to the classifications assigned by wear debris experts.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.