Reducing quality control errors by guiding behavior

It is estimated that human error in the quality control checking of product labels on consumer packaging costs the UK retail industry £50m per annum. Our research program aimed to understand the behavior of individuals when performing label checks on fresh produce in order to inform the development of a software application designed to support quality control. On a simulated label checking task, eye-tracking data showed that individuals used different checking methods. A more systematic method led to higher accuracy. Two computer-assisted approaches, varying in the level of computer support provided, were then designed to push checkers towards systematic checking. Greater improvements in accuracy were found under the computer-assisted approaches than under a control condition. A three-month onsite trial of a software application designed on the basis of these research findings led to a 100% decrease in quality control errors

Label-checking strategies to adapt behaviour to design

Despite robust quality control procedures, labelling errors on fresh produce are estimated to cost the UK supermarket industry approximately £50million pounds per year in product recalls and wastage. Changing the format of the labels themselves is not a viable option. Instead, the challenge is to change or guide human operatives’ behaviour so that label printing errors do not go undetected during quality control procedures. To this end, a simulated label checking task was presented to naïve participants to compare more systematic and strategic methods of label checking. Two conditions in which behaviour was computer-led were compared with a control condition in which checkers adopted their own idiosyncratic checking method. The data indicate that the two computer-led approaches resulted in improved levels of accuracy. Pushing label checkers towards a more systematic approach would appear to be effective in reducing undetected label errors, and could lead potentially to significant financial savings and reduce

Cognitive predictors of accuracy in quality control checking

Labelling errors on fresh produce are estimated to cost the UK supermarket industry £50m per year in product recalls and wastage. Such errors occur despite robust quality control procedures. Given the financial and environmental impact of these errors, it is important to understand whether label-checking performance can be predicted by individual differences in cognitive abilities. To this end, participants carried out a simulated label-checking task together with a number of measures of information processing speed, attention, short-term/working memory, and mind-wandering. Accuracy of label checking was found to be significantly predicted by three of the measures, with better short-term verbal memory being most strongly associated with performance. Cognitive tests such as these provide a means of identifying how well employees are likely to perform when undertaking such tasks and, if necessary, how they should be supported in that role, possibly forming a screening battery when recruiting new quality control staff. The findings highlight the importance of determining the component processes of cognition which contribute to performance in real-world work environments

An elementary stringy estimate of transport coefficients of large temperature QCD

Modeling QCD at large temperature with a simple holographic five dimensional theory encoding minimal breaking of conformality, allows for the calculation of all the transport coefficients, up to second order, in terms of a single parameter. In particular, the shear and bulk relaxation times are provided. The result follows by deforming the AdS background with a scalar dual to a marginally relevant operator, at leading order in the deformation parameter.Comment: 11 pages; v2: comments and references adde

Galaxy Harassment and the Evolution of Clusters of Galaxies

Disturbed spiral galaxies with high rates of star formation pervaded clusters of galaxies just a few billion years ago, but nearby clusters exclude spirals in favor of ellipticals. ``Galaxy harassment" (frequent high speed galaxy encounters) drives the morphological transformation of galaxies in clusters, provides fuel for quasars in subluminous hosts and leaves detectable debris arcs. Simulated images of harassed galaxies are strikingly similar to the distorted spirals in clusters at $z \sim 0.4$ observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.Comment: Submitted to Nature. Latex file, 7 pages, 10 photographs in gif and jpeg format included. 10 compressed postscript figures and text available using anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/pub/hpcc/moore/ (mget *) Also available at http://www-hpcc.astro.washington.edu/papers

Asthma self-assessment in a Medicaid population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Self-assessment of symptoms by patients with chronic conditions is an important element of disease management. A recent study in a commercially-insured population found that patients who received automated telephone calls for asthma self-assessment felt they benefitted from the calls. Few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of disease self-assessment in Medicaid populations. The goals of this study were to: (1) assess the feasibility of asthma self-assessment in a population predominantly insured by Medicaid, (2) study whether adding a gift card incentive increased completion of the self-assessment survey, and (3) evaluate how the self-assessment affected processes and outcomes of care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied adults and children aged 4 years and older who were insured by a Medicaid-focused managed care organization (MCO) in a pre- and post-intervention study. During the pre-incentive period, patients with computerized utilization data that met specific criteria for problematic asthma control were mailed the Asthma Control Test (ACT), a self-assessment survey, and asked to return it to the MCO. During the intervention period, patients were offered a $20 gift card for returning the completed ACT to the MCO. To evaluate clinical outcomes, we used computerized claims data to assess the number of hospitalization visits and emergency department visits experienced in the 3 months after receiving the ACT. To evaluate whether the self-management intervention improved processes of care, we conducted telephone interviews with patients who returned or did not return the ACT by mail.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During the pre-incentive period, 1183 patients were identified as having problems with asthma control; 25 (2.0%) of these returned the ACT to the MCO. In contrast, during the incentive period, 1612 patients were identified as having problems with asthma control and 87 (5.4%) of these returned the ACT to the MCO (p < 0.0001). Of all 95 ACTs that were returned, 87% had a score of 19 or less, which suggested poor asthma control.</p> <p>During the 3 months after they received the ACT, patients who completed it had similar numbers of outpatient visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations for asthma as patients who did not complete the ACT. We completed interviews with 95 patients, including 28 who had completed the ACT and 67 who had not. Based on an ACT administered at the time of the interview, patients who had previously returned the ACT to the MCO had asthma control similar to those who had not (mean scores of 14.2 vs. 14.6, p = 0.70). Patients had similar rates of contacting their providers within the past 2 months whether they had completed the mailed ACT or not (71% vs. 76%, p = 0.57).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Mailing asthma self-assessment surveys to patients with poorly controlled asthma was not associated with better asthma-associated outcomes or processes of care in the Medicaid population studied. Adding a gift card incentive did not meaningfully increase response rates. Asthma disease management programs for Medicaid populations will most likely need to involve alternative strategies for engaging patients and their providers in managing their conditions.</p

The hr1 and Fusion Peptide Regions of the Subgroup B Avian Sarcoma and Leukosis Virus Envelope Glycoprotein Influence Low pH-Dependent Membrane Fusion

The avian sarcoma and leukosis virus (ASLV) envelope glycoprotein (Env) is activated to trigger fusion by a two-step mechanism involving receptor-priming and low pH fusion activation. In order to identify regions of ASLV Env that can regulate this process, a genetic selection method was used to identify subgroup B (ASLV-B) virus-infected cells resistant to low pH-triggered fusion when incubated with cells expressing the cognate TVB receptor. The subgroup B viral Env (envB) genes were then isolated from these cells and characterized by DNA sequencing. This led to identification of two frequent EnvB alterations which allowed TVB receptor-binding but altered the pH-threshold of membrane fusion activation: a 13 amino acid deletion in the host range 1 (hr1) region of the surface (SU) EnvB subunit, and the A32V amino acid change within the fusion peptide of the transmembrane (TM) EnvB subunit. These data indicate that these two regions of EnvB can influence the pH threshold of fusion activation

Post epidemic giardiasis and gastrointestinal symptoms among preschool children in Bergen, Norway. A cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A surprisingly low number of children became ill with giardiasis during the large waterborne outbreak of <it>Giardia lamblia </it>in Bergen, Norway during autumn 2004. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of giardiasis among exposed children one year after an outbreak and compare faecal carriage of <it>Giardia </it>and abdominal symptoms among exposed versus unexposed children one year after the epidemic.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Children between 1 and 6 years old were recruited from the local health care centres in Bergen municipality in the period between June 2005 and January 2006. One faecal sample per child was collected and examined for presence of <it>Giardia </it>with a rapid immunoassay antigen test, and parents were asked to answer a questionnaire. A total of 513 children participated, 378 in the group exposed to contaminated water, and 135 in the in the group not exposed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the exposed group eleven children had been treated for giardiasis during the epidemic and none in the unexposed group. <it>Giardia </it>positive faecal tests were found in six children, all in the exposed group, but the difference between the groups did not reach statistical significance. All six <it>Giardia </it>positive children were asymptomatic. No differences were found between the groups regarding demographic data, nausea, vomiting, different odour from stools and eructation. However, the reported scores of abdominal symptoms (diarrhoea, bloating and stomach ache) during the last year were higher in the exposed group than in the unexposed group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A low prevalence of asymptomatic <it>Giardia </it>infection (1.7%) was found among exposed children around one year after the epidemic (1.2% overall prevalence in the study). In the present setting, pre-school children were therefore unlikely to be an important reservoir for continued transmission in the general population.</p

Performance of Interleukin-6 and Interleukin-8 serum levels in pediatric oncology patients with neutropenia and fever for the assessment of low-risk

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with chemotherapy-related neutropenia and fever are usually hospitalized and treated on empirical intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotic regimens. Early diagnosis of sepsis in children with febrile neutropenia remains difficult due to non-specific clinical and laboratory signs of infection. We aimed to analyze whether IL-6 and IL-8 could define a group of patients at low risk of septicemia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A prospective study was performed to assess the potential value of IL-6, IL-8 and C-reactive protein serum levels to predict severe bacterial infection or bacteremia in febrile neutropenic children with cancer during chemotherapy. Statistical test used: Friedman test, Wilcoxon-Test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, Mann-Whitney U-Test and Receiver Operating Characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The analysis of cytokine levels measured at the onset of fever indicated that IL-6 and IL-8 are useful to define a possible group of patients with low risk of sepsis. In predicting bacteremia or severe bacterial infection, IL-6 was the best predictor with the optimum IL-6 cut-off level of 42 pg/ml showing a high sensitivity (90%) and specificity (85%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings may have clinical implications for risk-based antimicrobial treatment strategies.</p