What You Find Depends on How You Measure It: Reactivity of Response Scales Measuring Predecisional Information Distortion in Medical Diagnosis

“Predecisional information distortion” occurs when decision makers evaluate new information in a way that is biased towards their leading option. The phenomenon is well established, as is the method typically used to measure it, termed “stepwise evolution of preference” (SEP). An inadequacy of this method has recently come to the fore: it measures distortion as the total advantage afforded a leading option over its competitor, and therefore it cannot differentiate between distortion to strengthen a leading option (“proleader” distortion) and distortion to weaken a trailing option (“antitrailer” distortion). To address this, recent research introduced new response scales to SEP. We explore whether and how these new response scales might influence the very proleader and antitrailer processes that they were designed to capture (“reactivity”). We used the SEP method with concurrent verbal reporting: fifty family physicians verbalized their thoughts as they evaluated patient symptoms and signs (“cues”) in relation to two competing diagnostic hypotheses. Twenty-five physicians evaluated each cue using the response scale traditional to SEP (a single response scale, returning a single measure of distortion); the other twenty-five did so using the response scales introduced in recent studies (two separate response scales, returning two separate measures of distortion: proleader and antitrailer). We measured proleader and antitrailer processes in verbalizations, and compared verbalizations in the single-scale and separate-scales groups. Response scales did not appear to affect proleader processes: the two groups of physicians were equally likely to bolster their leading diagnosis verbally. Response scales did, however, appear to affect antitrailer processes: the two groups denigrated their trailing diagnosis verbally to differing degrees. Our findings suggest that the response scales used to measure information distortion might influence its constituent processes, limiting their generalizability across and beyond experimental studies

Research on stadium entrance stairs under extreme static and dynamic loads

Stadiony, zwłaszcza piłkarskie, są miejscem, gdzie mogą wystąpić znaczne, zarówno statyczne, jak i dynamiczne, obciążenia. Schody prowadzące na stadion są szczególnie narażone na duże zagęszczenia tłumu. Tłum ludzi może generować znaczne obciążenia dynamiczne, zwłaszcza, gdy wykonuje rytmiczne skoki. Podczas budowy dużego stadionu piłkarskiego (ponad 50 tysięcy widzów), wystąpiły wątpliwości dotyczące pracy zewnętrznych schodów prowadzących do wyższych części widowni. Przedstawiono przebieg i wyniki próbnego obciążenia schodów po ich wzmocnieniu. W referacie przedstawion jak ważne jest sprawdzenie wytrzymałości konstrukcji stadionu na obciążenia dynamiczne.Stadiums, especially the football ones are subject to significant loading - both static and dynamic - can appear. Stadium entrance stairs are particularly vulnerable to a big density of crowds. It is recognized that crowds can generate significant dynamic loads, especially when the crowd movement involves rhythmic jumping. During a big football stadium construction (over 50 thousand spectators) some doubts aroused over the performance of the external stairs leading to the higher sections of the stand. This paper presents load tests of stairs after their strengthening. The study presented in this paper shows how important it is to check the endurance of the football stadium structure to dynamic loading

Load testing of road part of the Maria Skłodowska -Curie bridge over the Vistula River in Warsaw

Most Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie w Warszawie składa się z trzech niezależnych od siebie konstrukcji nośnych, dwóch drogowych i jednej tramwajowej. Przedstawiono metody analizy teoretycznej oraz przebieg obciążenia próbnego i zakres pomiarów. Artykuł zilustrowano przykładowymi wynikami analizy obliczeniowej oraz pomiarów pod obciążeniem statycznym i dynamicznym.The new Maria Skłodowska-Curie bridge in Warsaw is composed of three separate and parallel structures: two road decks and one tram deck. Methods of theoretical analysis and load testing as well as the range of measurements were presented in the paper. Some examples of calculation and measurements results under static and dynamic load are given for illustration

Influences of early diagnostic suggestions on clinical reasoning

Previous research has highlighted the importance of physicians’ early hypotheses for their subsequent diagnostic decisions. It has also been shown that diagnostic accuracy improves when physicians are presented with a list of diagnostic suggestions to consider at the start of the clinical encounter. The psychological mechanisms underlying this improvement in accuracy are hypothesised. It is possible that the provision of diagnostic suggestions disrupts physicians’ intuitive thinking and reduces their certainty in their initial diagnostic hypotheses. This may encourage them to seek more information before reaching a diagnostic conclusion, evaluate this information more objectively, and be more open to changing their initial hypotheses. Three online experiments explored the effects of early diagnostic suggestions, provided by a hypothetical decision aid, on different aspects of the diagnostic reasoning process. Family physicians assessed up to two patient scenarios with and without suggestions. We measured effects on certainty about the initial diagnosis, information search and evaluation, and frequency of diagnostic changes. We did not find a clear and consistent effect of suggestions and detected mainly non-significant trends, some in the expected direction. We also detected a potential biasing effect: when the most likely diagnosis was included in the list of suggestions (vs. not included), physicians who gave that diagnosis initially, tended to request less information, evaluate it as more supportive of their diagnosis, become more certain about it, and change it less frequently when encountering new but ambiguous information; in other words, they seemed to validate rather than question their initial hypothesis. We conclude that further research using different methodologies and more realistic experimental situations is required to uncover both the beneficial and biasing effects of early diagnostic suggestions

Analysis of the technical condition of railway engineering objects on chosen railway lines of Opolszczyzna and Lower Silesia

Artykuł jest próbą analizy wyników przeprowadzonych przeglądów z uwzględnieniem typowych problemów związanych z wykonaniem ekspertyz obiektów mostowych budowanych na przełomie XIX i XX w. na terenie dzisiejszych województw opolskiego i dolnośląskiego. Autorzy starają się, po zrealizowaniu znaczącej liczby przeglądów specjalnych (około 30 konstrukcji mostowych), wysnuć wnioski dotyczące stanu konstrukcji przejętych w zarząd Polskich Kolei Państwowych od kolei niemieckich przed sześćdziesięcioma laty. Ze względu na podobną konstrukcję, materiały użyte do budowy oraz zasady prowadzenia prac utrzymaniowych, doświadczenia uzyskane w trakcie wykonywania przeglądów mogą być wprost przeniesione na większość konstrukcji mostowych znajdujących się na terenach byłej Rzeszy Niemieckiej