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

Surface finish control by electrochemical polishing in stainless steel 316 pipes

Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a non-conventional machining process which is based on the localised anodic dissolution of any conductive material. One of the main applications of ECM is the polishing of materials with enhanced characteristics, such as high strength, heat-resistance or corrosion-resistance, i.e. electrochemical polishing. The present work presents an evaluation of the parameters involved in the ECM of Stainless Steel 316 (SS316) with the objective of predicting the resulting surface finish on the sample. The interest of studying ECM on SS316 resides on the fact that a repeatable surface finish is not easily achieved. ECM experimental tests on SS316 pipes of 1.5" (0.0381 m) diameter were conducted by varying machining parameters such as voltage, interelectrode gap, electrolyte inlet temperature, and electrolyte flow rate. The surface finish of the samples was then evaluated in order to find the significance of each of these parameters on the surface quality of the end product. Results showed that overvoltage, which is dependent on the interelectrode gap and the electrolyte temperature, is one of the main parameters affecting the surface finish; additionally there is a strong relationship between the resulting surface finish and the electrolyte flow. The interelectrode gap and inlet electrolyte temperature also affect the resulting surface finish but their influence was not so evident in this work. Finally, the variation of the electrolyte temperature during the process was found to have a great impact on the uniformity of the surface finish along the sample. We believe that this contribution enables the tailoring of the surface finish to specific applications while reducing manufacturing costs and duration of the ECM process

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review

Search for supersymmetry in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum and one isolated lepton in sqrt{s} = 7 TeV pp collisions using 1 fb-1 of ATLAS data

We present an update of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum, and one isolated electron or muon, using 1.04 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in the first half of 2011. The analysis is carried out in four distinct signal regions with either three or four jets and variations on the (missing) transverse momentum cuts, resulting in optimized limits for various supersymmetry models. No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Limits are set on the visible cross-section of new physics within the kinematic requirements of the search. The results are interpreted as limits on the parameters of the minimal supergravity framework, limits on cross-sections of simplified models with specific squark and gluino decay modes, and limits on parameters of a model with bilinear R-parity violation.Comment: 18 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 9 figures, 4 tables, final version to appear in Physical Review

Reducing heterotic M-theory to five dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary

This paper constructs the reduction of heterotic $M$-theory in eleven dimensions to a supergravity model on a manifold with boundary in five dimensions using a Calabi-Yau three-fold. New results are presented for the boundary terms in the action and for the boundary conditions on the bulk fields. Some general features of dualisation on a manifold with boundary are used to explain the origin of some topological terms in the action. The effect of gaugino condensation on the fermion boundary conditions leads to a `twist' in the chirality of the gravitino which can provide an uplifting mechanism in the vacuum energy to cancel the cosmological constant after moduli stabilisation.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe

Measurement of tau polarization in W->taunu decays with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

In this paper, a measurement of tau polarization in W->taunu decays is presented. It is measured from the energies of the decay products in hadronic tau decays with a single final state charged particle. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 24 pb^-1, were collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in 2010. The measured value of the tau polarization is Ptau = -1.06 +/- 0.04 (stat) + 0.05 (syst) - 0.07 (syst), in agreement with the Standard Model prediction, and is consistent with a physically allowed 95% CL interval [-1,-0.91]. Measurements of tau polarization have not previously been made at hadron colliders.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (25 pages total), 4 figures, 4 tables, revised author list, matches published EPJC versio

Evaluation of high-concentrate diets that vary in physically effective neutral detergent fibre for finishing lambs

The objective of this research was to evaluate lamb diets with a high proportion of concentrate and various levels of physically effective neutral detergent fibre (NDF) using tropical ingredients. Four diets were formulated: D1 with 16.5% physically effective NDF (peNDF), D2 with 21.4% peNDF, D3 with 23.3% peNDF, and D4 with 24.6% peNDF. Twenty male Santa Inês lambs at four months old with an average liveweight (LW) of 18.6 ± 3.4 kg were fed for 49 days. There were no differences (P &gt;0.05) among the diets in dry matter (DM) intake. Crude protein (CP) intake, relative to either LW or metabolic live weight (LW0.75) or LW, was greater (P ≤0.05) for D2 and D3 than for D1 or D4. Lower (P ≤0.05) NDF intake, relative to LW0.75 or LW, was lower for D1 than for the other diets. Selection indexes (SIs) were similar (P &gt;0.05) among diets. Animals that consumed D1 had less (P ≤0.05) rumination time per bolus. Meaningful variations were not observed in performance and efficiency of finishing lambs that were related to differences in peNDF among the diets. Santa Inês lambs were able to adapt to diets with low levels of peNDF by increasing rumination time as a consequence of increased fibre consumption and greater particle size selection

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk

Readiness of the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter for LHC collisions

The ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter has been operating continuously since August 2006. At this time, only part of the calorimeter was readout, but since the beginning of 2008, all calorimeter cells have been connected to the ATLAS readout system in preparation for LHC collisions. This paper gives an overview of the liquid argon calorimeter performance measured in situ with random triggers, calibration data, cosmic muons, and LHC beam splash events. Results on the detector operation, timing performance, electronics noise, and gain stability are presented. High energy deposits from radiative cosmic muons and beam splash events allow to check the intrinsic constant term of the energy resolution. The uniformity of the electromagnetic barrel calorimeter response along eta (averaged over phi) is measured at the percent level using minimum ionizing cosmic muons. Finally, studies of electromagnetic showers from radiative muons have been used to cross-check the Monte Carlo simulation. The performance results obtained using the ATLAS readout, data acquisition, and reconstruction software indicate that the liquid argon calorimeter is well-prepared for collisions at the dawn of the LHC era.ATLAS Collaboration, for complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-010-1354-y</p