Representing target motion: The role of the right hemisphere in the forward displacement bias.

Patients with left spatial neglect, patients with right hemisphere damage but no neglect, and a control group were asked to judge the final position of a series of moving targets. Both patient groups showed attentional deficits. All 3 groups demonstrated a forward displacement bias, overestimating the final target position along the object trajectory. However, in both patient groups the size of this forward displacement bias decreased as the distance the target traveled before vanishing increased. For horizontally moving targets, at the maximum distance only the control group showed significant forward displacement. For all 3 groups, the direction in which the target traveled had no influence, but the size of the forward displacement increased as target speed increased. Several attentional explanations of these results are considered, including the differential allocation of spatial attention between central and peripheral locations, differences between exogenous and endogenous attention, and deficits in sustained attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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.     

Characterising the effect of interoperability on healthcare work: a novel framework

Successful design and implementation of interoperable health IT requires an understanding of specific technological capabilities of systems, as well as how these systems impact clinical workflow. Several existing frameworks classify interoperability levels, but none focus on the impact on clinical work, particularly at the task level. A synthesis of existing interoperability frameworks from select interoperability frameworks in the literature about both medical and non-medical systems is presented and a new, 7-level framework in order to characterise the effect of varying levels of interoperability on the users’ work based upon qualitative data collected in a field study of the use of health information exchange in 12 ambulatory practices is proposed. The lowest level describes paper-based tasks completed with no access to electronic information from other institutions; the highest level describes interoperable systems in which data elements from other institutions are integrated into the patient's record seamlessly and in a computable format.     

Repair of floating offshore units using bonded fibre composite materials

On ships, tankers and similar vessels structural defects such as cracks and corrosion damage are typically repaired by welding. However, welding is unwanted hotwork on floating offshore units (FOUs) such as floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) and floating, storage and offloading (FSO) vessels because it requires shutdown of parts of the vessel thus resulting in expensive production delays. Bonded fibre composite material patch repairs can be used as an alternative to overcome the hazards of hotwork associated with welding. The patches are bonded over the defect and the integrity of the original structure is hence restored. The patch repair technology can also be utilised to provide upgrades, such as life extensions and higher design requirements.A recommended practice (RP) has been developed that describes requirements for patch repairs used in FOUs. To provide flexibility and to fit different repair needs, the RP defines a range of Repair Classes that can be used depending on the urgency of the repair and the need for optimisation. The qualification effort increases with the degree of optimisation. The requirements are based on an extensive test program carried out in the laboratory (reported elsewhere) as well as experience from full-scale repair demonstrators.Two full-scale repair demonstrators were carried out on actual FOUs to demonstrate the feasibility of the RP for bonded composite patch repair. In addition the demonstrators also showed the viability of using bonded composite repairs under harsh conditions encountered in oil and gas exploration and production environments. The first repair was carried out to arrest a fatigue crack that had developed from the corner of a door, while the second repair was carried out to restore material loss on a heavily pitted deck floor. Both repair cases are used as examples to demonstrate the proposed qualification procedures whilst at the same time discussing the challenges and potential applications of this patch repair technology for FOUs in the oil and gas industry.     

Laddering

Abstract: There is still a need for new knowledge elicitation techniques and tools. Laddering is a technique which has a long history in a wide range of disciplines and which has proved extremely useful in knowledge elicitation. There have, however, been few attempts to describe and survey the technique per se.
This paper describes the technique, its background, its use, analysis, and automation, with particular reference to knowledge elicitation. The advantages and disadvantages of the technique are described. It is concluded that laddering is a valuable technique which could be used in a wide range of settings.     

Effects of Filter Type on the Organic Composition and Mutagenicity of Inhalable Particulate Matter

Paired daily samples of inhalable (D ₅₀ = 15 μm) particulate matter collected on fiberglass filters and on Teflon-coated fiberglass filters were sequentially extracted with cyclohexane, dichloromethane, and finally acetone. The two filter types were compared with respect to the apparent concentrations of the three organic-soluble fractions, organic and inorganic species in the fractions, and the mutagenic activity of the fractions in the Aines assay. Only minor compositional differences were observed between the nonpolar (cyclohexane-soluble) fractions collected on the two filter types. However, significant differences between the two filter types were observed for the more polar organic fractions. The apparent concentrations of the dichloromethane- (DCM) and acetone-soluble (ACE) fractions were higher for samples collected on the Teflon-coated filters; alkylating and acylating agents in the ACE fraction were also higher for this filter medium. Mutagenic activity was generally higher for DCM extracts of samples collected on the Teflon-coated fiberglass filter. With the polar ACE fractions, mutagenic activity (± S-9) was 40%-375% greater for the fiberglass filter with bacterial strains TA-98 and TA-1537 while the reverse pattern was observed with strain TA-100. Compositional differences in the ACE extracts from the two filter types were observed but their relationship to the differences in the mutagenic activity is not clear.