Enhancing Knowledge Management and Decision-Making Capability of China’s Emergency Operations Center Using Big Data

Emerging communication and computing technologies such as social media, Internet of Things and big data provide great opportunities to improve information management systems for emergency operations. This paper studies the issues of information management at China’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and proposes a data-driven knowledge management system (KMS) to support decisionmaking, coordination, and collaboration within EOCs and with the public. In the proposed KMS, big data analytics is employed to gather and analyze information from different knowledge domains and track how a crisis evolves in physical world and in cyber space. The proposed system aims at improving situation awareness of public opinions and regulating human behaviors in regards to an emergency. A case study is presented to explain how the proposed system is applied to improve decision-making during emergency.     

Anthropocentrism and computers

Abstract

This paper introduces the multi-dimensional concept of anthropocentrism with respect to computers, the tendency to believe that (1) computers do not possess human physical and psychological capabilities; and (2) it is not acceptable for computers to fill routinized (e.g., auto mechanic), interpretive (e.g., newspaper reporter), and persona) (e.g., baby sitter) roles traditionally held only by people. A mail survey (n = 133) of individuals in Northern California focuses on individual differences rather than differences between technologies. As suggested by the literature on ethnocentrism, experience with other cultures and education are strong predictors of the dimensions of anthropocentrism; surprisingly, experience with computers fails as a predictor.     

Does a Creative Designer Necessarily Translate into the Creative Design of a Product? Exploring Factors Facilitating the Creativity of a New Product

Product creativity is a rarely studied topic in the area of new product development; nevertheless, its importance has been recognized by many researchers in a variety of fields. In this research, two studies were conducted: the first was quantitative and the second was qualitative. These studies examined the relationships among five variables: analogical thinking ability, creative self‐efficacy, length of experience, team climate for creativity and product creativity. The results of a multiple regression indicated that analogical thinking ability is an antecedent of design creativity, and that creative self‐efficacy is a mediator between them. The results also showed that length of experience and team climate for creativity have significant moderating effects. These findings indicate that both person‐based (i.e., ability, self‐efficacy and length of experience) and situation‐based (team climate) variables are key factors in developing the creative design of a new product.     

Decision making by on-scene incident commanders in nuclear emergencies

A study is reported into the cognitive structures that support incident command decision making by the on-scene incident commander in a nuclear emergency response organisation. These cognitive structures assist incident commanders to assess the situation and make decisions. A card-sorting task was conducted with nuclear on-scene incident commanders (OICs) (n=14) and identified that decision making was influenced by four main factors: availability of procedures; uncertainty; typicality of the decision; and advice from others. The results are discussed in relation to findings from other domains, e.g., emergency services and aviation, and emphasise the importance of considering the specific characteristics of the environment in which the emergency occurs. The findings can be used to determine objectives for directed decision making training for OICs on nuclear installations.     

Analysis of the resilience of team performance during a nuclear emergency response exercise

The current work presents results from a cognitive task analysis (CTA) of a nuclear disaster simulation. Audio-visual records were collected from an emergency room team composed of individuals from 26 different agencies as they responded to multiple scenarios in a simulated nuclear disaster. This simulation was part of a national emergency response training activity for a nuclear power plant located in a developing country. The objectives of this paper are to describe sources of resilience and brittleness in these activities, identify cues of potential improvements for future emergency simulations, and leveraging the resilience of the emergency response system in case of a real disaster. Multiple CTA techniques were used to gain a better understanding of the cognitive dimensions of the activity and to identify team coordination and crisis management patterns that emerged from the simulation exercises.     

On the utility of experiential cross-training for team decision making under time stress

This study investigated the effectiveness of experiential cross-training in a team context for team decision-making under time stress in a simulated naval surveillance task. It was hypothesized that teams whose members explicitly experience all team positions will perform better under time pressure due to a better shared Team Interaction Model (Cannon-Bowers et al. 1993). In addition, it was posited that experiential cross-training would reduce the negative effect of member reconfiguration that can occur in certain military situations. Three groups of teams participated in this study (cross-trained, reconfigured and control). The experiment involved three team training sessions, followed by three time-stressed exercise sessions. During training, one group of teams was cross-trained (CT) by asking each member to perform an entire session at each of the three team positions. Member reconfiguration (where each member was shifted to another's position) was unexpectedly introduced at the first of the exercise sessions for the CT group and for another group (reconfigured) that had not been cross-trained. A third (control) group was neither cross-trained nor reconfigured. During training, the performance of non-CT teams improved more quickly than that of CT teams. During the exercise, the CT group did not achieve the level of performance of the control teams. The immediate effect of team member reconfiguration was to degrade performance significantly for the non-CT teams, but not for the CT teams. The findings are discussed in terms of the multiple mental models' view of team performance (Cannon-Bowers et al. 1993) and the authors discuss the relative utility of crosstraining when overall training time is fixed.     

Decision‐making in multi‐agency groups at simulated major incident emergencies: In situ analysis of adherence to UK doctrine

When major incident emergencies occur in the UK (e.g., a terrorist attack), senior representatives convene from local emergency services, civil resource organizations, health agencies, and government. These groups make decisions that minimize the societal and economic impacts of major incidents. Their adherence to UK doctrine was assessed using video footage of 18 groups responding to a major incident in a simulation suite, and six groups responding to a large‐scale exercise. There were marked between‐group differences in the sequencing of decision‐making activities, and limited consideration of alternative courses of action. These results provide an impetus for future policy, guidance, and training to address (a) between‐group inconsistency in decision processes and (b) the lack of consideration of alternative courses of action.     

Anthropocentrism and computers

This paper introduces the multi-dimensional concept of anthropocentrism with respect to computers, the tendency to believe that (1) computers do not possess human physical and psychological capabilities; and (2) it is not acceptable for computers to fill routinized (e.g., auto mechanic), interpretive (e.g., newspaper reporter), and persona) (e.g., baby sitter) roles traditionally held only by people. A mail survey (n = 133) of individuals in Northern California focuses on individual differences rather than differences between technologies. As suggested by the literature on ethnocentrism, experience with other cultures and education are strong predictors of the dimensions of anthropocentrism; surprisingly, experience with computers fails as a predictor.     

Adaptable visual presentation of 2D and 3D learning materials in web-based cyberworlds

Educational cyberworlds allow one to circumvent physical, safety, and cost constraints that often affect real-world training and learning scenarios, allowing students to study the learning content flexibly and individually. However, this does not eliminate the need for presenting the educational materials in an effective way, using visualization, interaction and presentation techniques that are better suited to the learner’s preferences, abilities, and the available devices. The system that we present in this paper is capable, starting from a set of available educational resources (e.g., text, pictures, movies and 3D models) and lesson structures (e.g., suitable ordering of topics), to automatically build a set of alternative web-based educational cyberworlds characterized by different visualization (2D and 3D), interaction and presentation techniques, including virtual humans as instructors. The learner (or her instructor) can then choose the cyberworld that best fits her preferences and needs.     

Designing Paper Disasters: An Authoring Environment for Developing Training Exercises in Integrated Emergency Management

Discussion-based exercises are a prevalent form of training in emergency management, aimed at improving coordinative decision making between the various agencies involved in disaster response. In each exercise, small multi-agency groups of decision makers discuss potential courses of action within a fictitious disaster scenario presented as a textual narrative supported by visual materials. We present a cognitive engineering analysis of the problem of designing disaster scenarios for effective discussion-based exercises. The analysis was carried out through the development of a pilot authoring environment to establish and address the requirements of a training organisation in the UK. The pilot authoring environment embodies a simple theoretical model of the exercise process in which facts of a disaster scenario afford discussion of pertinent issues which are elicited by considerations fed to trainees. This representational scheme allows the authoring environment to complement and extend authors’ mental models of exercises, and thereby enhance five aspects of authoring: rationalisation; continuity of rationale; evolution; adaptability; and the integration of evaluation feedback.     

Dancing between theory and practice: Enhancing work engagement through work stress intervention

This quasi‐experimental and longitudinal study assesses the effectiveness of a work stress intervention (i.e., Team Redesign) to increase job and personal resources and to consequently reduce job strain and increase employee psychosocial well‐being in an enamel manufacturing company following the Resources‐Experiences‐Demands Model (RED Model) and within the Action‐Research approach. The sample consisted of 108 employees at Time 1 and 72 employees at Time 2. Repeated‐measures multivariable analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed that the Time × Intervention interaction had reliable, positive, and incremental effects on job resources (i.e., innovation climate), personal resources (i.e., professional self‐efficacy and perceived competence), and motivational outcomes (i.e., work engagement, vigor, and dedication) on the intervention group (laboratory team, n = 9) when compared with the control group (n = 63 employees from different departments). Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications based on the RED Model, including the feedback from Intervention (Action) to Theory (Research). © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Is Web-based instruction popular in psychology? A national survey

To date, there has been sparse research on the extent of use of online (Web-based) instructional approaches in academic Psychology. This survey reports the findings of a national survey (N = 207) of Chairs of Psychology departments on the didactic use of online instruction. Although the respondents expressed positive views regarding Web-based pedagogy, the actual implementation by psychology faculty of online instruction was reported by Chairs as being somewhat negligible. Previous studies have found that that the major drawback to the use of online teaching is the lack of formal training in computer technology on the part of psychology instructors (e.g., Vodanovich, S. J., & Piotrowski, C. (2001). Journal of Instructional Psychology, 28, 253–255). The implications of embracing Web-based didactic approaches for the field are discussed.     

“国培计划”县级教师培训团队置换脱产研修项目学员返岗问卷调查报告

根据保山学院实施的“国培计划”县级教师培训团队置换脱产研修项目,采用问卷的形式对学员返岗后跟踪调查,总结项目实施经验的同时,分析项目实施存在问题,探讨了对策,更有力的推进“国培计划”。     

An empirical study of emergency updates for top android mobile apps

The mobile app market continues to grow at a tremendous rate. The market provides a convenient and efficient distribution mechanism for updating apps. App developers continuously leverage such mechanism to update their apps at a rapid pace. The mechanism is ideal for publishing emergency updates (i.e., updates that are published soon after the previous update). In this paper, we study such emergency updates in the Google Play Store. Examining more than 44,000 updates of over 10,000 mobile apps in the Google Play Store, we identify 1,000 emergency updates. By studying the characteristics of such emergency updates, we find that the emergency updates often have a long lifetime (i.e., they are rarely followed by another emergency update). Updates preceding emergency updates often receive a higher ratio of negative reviews than the emergency updates. However, the release notes of emergency updates rarely indicate the rationale for such updates. Hence, we manually investigate the binary changes of several of these emergency updates. We find eight patterns of emergency updates. We categorize these eight patterns along two categories “Updates due to deployment issues” and “Updates due to source code changes”. We find that these identified patterns of emergency updates are often associated with simple mistakes, such as using a wrong resource folder (e.g., images or sounds) for an app. We manually examine each pattern and document its causes and impact on the user experience. App developers should carefully avoid these patterns in order to improve the user experience.     

Little effect of transfer technique instruction and physical fitness training in reducing low back pain among nurses: a cluster randomised intervention study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a transfer technique education programme (TT) alone or in combination with physical fitness training (TTPT) compared with a control group, who followed their usual routine. Eleven clinical hospital wards were cluster randomised to either intervention (six wards) or to control (five wards). The intervention cluster was individually randomised to TT (55 nurses) and TTPT (50 nurses), control (76 nurses). The transfer technique programme was a 4-d course of train-the-trainers to teach transfer technique to their colleagues. The physical training consisted of supervised physical fitness training 1 h twice per week for 8 weeks. Implementing transfer technique alone or in combination with physical fitness training among a hospital nursing staff did not, when compared to a control group, show any statistical differences according to self-reported low back pain (LBP), pain level, disability and sick leave at a 12-month follow-up. However, the individual randomised intervention subgroup (transfer technique/physical training) significantly improved the LBP-disability (p = 0.001). Although weakened by a high withdrawal rate, teaching transfer technique to nurses in a hospital setting needs to be thoroughly considered. Other priorities such as physical training may be taken into consideration. The current study supports the findings of other studies that introducing transfer technique alone has no effect in targeting LBP. However, physical training seems to have an influence in minimising the LBP consequences and may be important in the discussion of how to prevent LBP or the recurrence of LBP among nursing personnel.     

Organizing for the Big One: A Review of Case Studies and a Research Agenda for Multi‐Agency Disaster Response

Disaster response operations require the cooperation of agencies that seldom interact in their daily operations. The result is a complex coordination problem, which has been in the focus of many case studies. In an effort to facilitate cross‐case learning, this study presents a review of empirical studies on the multi‐agency coordination of disaster response operations. The review covers 80 empirical studies and highlights the importance of training, expertise, planning and plan enactment, leadership and personal acquaintance between the actors in emergent multi‐agency response networks. The analysis results also show that while some areas have received extensive coverage in scholarly publications (e.g., training, skills), a number of important topics have yet to be studied in sufficient depth (e.g., leadership and role taking, plan enactment). Based on these insights, a research agenda is proposed and a number of recommendations for practical disaster response management are made.     

Components of human experience in virtual environments

Framework is presented for measuring human experience in virtual environment (VE). Human experience is defined as the content of direct observation or participation in an event. Both psychological and emotional properties are integrated into this ongoing person–environment interaction to give an experience meaning and value and to enhance its quality and intensity. The sense of presence, i.e., being in the VE is in the center of psychological study of a human experience in VEs. The ‘Big three’ structure of physical presence consists of perceptual, attentional and cognitive components. However, it is considered to ignore, e.g., emotional and ecological aspects in developing a holistic human experience. In this study, components of physical presence are integrated with three different measures of interaction and a set of motivational and cognitive-affective components. These components are integral in the theory of optimal experience, i.e., flow, which has been studied in various human activities. The results show, how these different experiential components relate each other in VE. It is also shown how common patterns can be found from various experiences and profiled to better understand human–computer interaction.     

Online Higher-Order Error Correction of Nonlinear Diffusion Generalized Perturbation Theory Using Neural Networks

An online scheme has been developed for the reduction of errors associated with a second order generalized perturbation theory (GPT) approximation of the neutron diffusion fundamental-mode eigenvalue (1/k _eff.). The primary application of this work is nuclear fuel loading optimization, where the noted calculation estimates the eigenvalue response as a function of fuel material perturbations (i.e., fuel assembly shuffles) relative to a reference (unperturbed) core loading pattern. The implementation of GPT for approximating k _eff can reduce the computational time requirements by a factor of 10 or greater, however, the nature of GPT is such that the errors in the second order approximation grow as the perturbations get larger. Therefore, the main emphasis of this study is to achieve improved approximations of the End-of-cycle (EOC) k _eff with minimal increase in the computational time. Specifically, this study shows that an online neural network-based scheme can be applied to reduce the average errors while still maintaining a computational edge over direct eigenvalue calculations.