Why Are People's Decisions Sometimes Worse with Computer Support?

In many applications of computerised decision support, a recognised source of undesired outcomes is operators' apparent over-reliance on automation. For instance, an operator may fail to react to a potentially dangerous situation because a computer fails to generate an alarm. However, the very use of terms like "over-reliance" betrays possible misunderstandings of these phenomena and their causes, which may lead to ineffective corrective action (e.g. training or procedures that do not counteract all the causes of the apparently "over-reliant" behaviour). We review relevant literature in the area of "automation bias" and describe the diverse mechanisms that may be involved in human errors when using computer support. We discuss these mechanisms, with reference to errors of omission when using "alerting systems", with the help of examples of novel counterintuitive findings we obtained from a case study in a health care application, as well as other examples from the literature

What is New in the New Statutory Interpretation? Introduction to The Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues Symposium

Detta examensarbete är utfört på WSP i Skellefteå på uppdrag av Rönnskärverket i Skelleftehamn. Rönnskärverkets började byggas av Boliden AB 1928 och var färdigt för produktion år 1930. Man producerar koppar, bly, zinkklinker, guld och silver. År 2010 producerade Rönnskär 190 000 ton koppar och år 2013 producerades 206 000 ton. Här jobbar 866 medarbetare i dagsläget. Elförbrukningen för verksamheterna inom NEW Bolidens uppgår till ca 1,2 TWh/år. Rönnskärs industriområdes elförsörjning är mycket högprioriterad och transformatorhaverier leder till långa stilleståndstider och dyra reparationer. Krafttransformatorerna måste ha hög drifttillgänglighet och transformatorerna som inhandlas till produktionsanläggningarna måste vara robusta. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att göra en jämförande studie mellan torrisolerade och oljeisolerade transformatorer som resulterar i en rekommendation med tanke på framtida inköp. Arbetet ska belysa parametrar för drifttillgänglighet och driftsäkerhet, göra beräkningar för korslutningsströmmar och förluster på transformatorer utifrån transformatortillverkarens uppgifter. Examensarbetets mål är att jämföra olika parametrar på torr- och oljeisolerade transformatorer från olika tillverkare som resulterar i en jämförelsetabell beroende på skenbar effekt och spänning, visar skillnaden mellan olika typer av transformatorer. I arbetet finns en litteraturstudie främst inom transformatorteori som underlag parallellt med en löpande dialog med uppdragsgivaren och transformatortillverkaren. Rekommendationerna ska ses som en förstudie. En djupare analys och ytterligare utredning krävs vid inköp av transformatorer, beroende på omständigheterna och driftsvillkoren. En ekonomisk analys har inte utförts på grund av den begränsade informationen. Nyckelord för examensarbetet är TD: Tillgänglighet, Driftsäkerhet.This thesis is performed at WSP in Skellefteå, specializing in Rönnskär Education in Skelleftehamn. Rönnskär’s construction began by Boliden AB in 1928 and it was ready for production in 1930. It produces copper, lead, zinc clinker, gold and silver. In 2010 Rönnskär produced 190000 tons of copper and in 2013 it produced 206 000 tons. Current number of employees is 866. The electricity supply of the industrial area of Rönnskär is in very high priority and transformer failures leading to lengthy downtime and expensive repairs. Power transformers must have high operational availability transformers which purchases for production must be robust. This is a comparative study between dry type and oil insulated transformers which summarized in form of recommendation for the future purchases. The work will highlight the parameters of operational availability and operational safety make calculations for rated short time currents and losses in transformers based on manufacturers data. The aim of this thesis is to compare various parameters of dry and oil immersed transformers from different manufacturers summarized in a comparison table according to the apparent power and voltage which shows the difference between various types of transformers. This work is primarily based on the theory of transformers and at the same time on continuous dialogue with the client and the transformer manufacturer. The recommendations should be viewed as a preliminary study, a deeper analysis and further investigation is required when purchasing transformers, depending on the circumstances and the conditions. An economic analysis has not been performed because of the limited information. Keyword for this study is AOS: Availability and Operational Safet

The PROCESS study: a protocol to evaluate the implementation, mechanisms of effect and context of an intervention to enhance public health centres in Tororo, Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Despite significant investments into health improvement programmes in Uganda, health indicators and access to healthcare remain poor across the country. The PRIME trial aims to evaluate the impact of a complex intervention delivered in public health centres on health outcomes of children and management of malaria in rural Uganda. The intervention consists of four components: Health Centre Management; Fever Case Management; Patient- Centered Services; and support for supplies of malaria diagnostics and antimalarial drugs. METHODS: The PROCESS study will use mixed methods to evaluate the processes, mechanisms of change, and context of the PRIME intervention by addressing five objectives. First, to develop a comprehensive logic model of the intervention, articulating the project's hypothesised pathways to trial outcomes. Second, to evaluate the implementation of the intervention, including health worker training, health centre management tools, and the supply of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria. Third, to understand mechanisms of change of the intervention components, including testing hypotheses and interpreting realities of the intervention, including resistance, in context. Fourth, to develop a contextual record over time of factors that may have affected implementation of the intervention, mechanisms of change, and trial outcomes, including factors at population, health centre and district levels. Fifth, to capture broader expected and unexpected impacts of the intervention and trial activities among community members, health centre workers, and private providers. Methods will include intervention logic mapping, questionnaires, recorded consultations, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and contextual data documentation. DISCUSSION: The findings of this PROCESS study will be interpreted alongside the PRIME trial results. This will enable a greater ability to generalise the findings of the main trial. The investigators will attempt to assess which methods are most informative in such evaluations of complex interventions in low-resource settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01024426

An architecture for rule based system explanation

A system architecture is presented which incorporate both graphics and text into explanations provided by rule based expert systems. This architecture facilitates explanation of the knowledge base content, the control strategies employed by the system, and the conclusions made by the system. The suggested approach combines hypermedia and inference engine capabilities. Advantages include: closer integration of user interface, explanation system, and knowledge base; the ability to embed links to deeper knowledge underlying the compiled knowledge used in the knowledge base; and allowing for more direct control of explanation depth and duration by the user. User models are suggested to control the type, amount, and order of information presented