Task Redesign Research Articles

The NOPTILUS project overview: A fully-autonomous navigation system of teams of AUVs for static/dynamic underwater map construction

Within the project NOPTILUS, a fully functional system/methodology had been developed that allows the cooperative, fully-autonomous navigation of teams of AUVs when deployed in Static or Dynamic Underwater Map Construction (SDUMC) or Dynamic Underwater Phenomena Tracking (DUPT) missions. The key ingredient of this fully functional system/methodology (called the NOPTILUS Planning, Assignment and Navigation Module - NOPTILUS PAN) is an optimal control algorithm - called Parametrized Cognitive Adaptive Optmization - (PCAO) - developed by one of the NOPTILUS partners (CERTH). PCAO is firstly tailored and modified so as to be applicable to the problem of autonomous navigation of teams of AUVs when deployed in SDUMC or DUPT missions. For this purpose, a nonlinear model is developed so as to capture the dynamics of the AUVs, their sensors and the underwater environment. More precisely, the original PCAO-based approach is revised so as to be able to efficiently handle information coming from the localization module, the underwater acoustic communication module, the situation understanding module as well as instructions from the operator. The information coming from these modules is handled by the NOPTILUS PAN module without the need to enter in tedious re-design tasks. Two real-life experiments (involving teams of AUVs deployed in static mapping or simultaneous static mapping and dynamic target taking) demonstrate the efficiency and practicability of the NOPTILUS PAN module.

Video-assisted surgery: suggestions for failure prevention in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Surgery differs from other medical specialties in its execution. It is often complex and includes considerable individual variations. Observing problems in operating theatres (OT) allows for the identification of system failures, which should be defined for learning purposes to increase patient safety and enhance general safety culture within hospital organizations. This study evaluates a common video-assisted surgical procedure, laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) through failure analysis. The profile of the LC procedure and failure sources is presented. Data consisted of video observations and interviews concerning twelve LC operations performed at a day surgery unit. All operations were teaching sessions. Qualitative analysis was undertaken. Through task analysis, specialist interviews and failure identification, a failure profile of LC was produced. Twenty failure types were identified, and failures were, for example, remote attention towards ergonomics, novice's skill failures, inadequate supervision and unnecessary risk-taking caused by tight operating schedules. The results showed that the importance of working principles should be emphasized. The failure profile of LC revealed three phases featuring multiple failures: dissecting the peritoneal covering; identifying, sealing and cutting the cystic duct and cystic artery; and detaching the gallbladder from the hepatic bed and inspecting the hepatic bed. This study offers information for hospital organizations about the current state of surgical work and surgical skills learning. This information could be exploited in the development of system defences: error prevention mechanisms through investing in the redesign of work tasks and working methods; as well as reinforcing education and training for enhancing patient safety in OT.

127. Improving Patient Foot Health Care Through Audit and Service Evaluation: One-Year Outcomes of Regional Service Development Programme

Background: A series of publications relating to foot healthcare recommendations for patients with RA have been produced in recent years. Simultaneously the NHS has been subject to a number of changes in service funding, staffing and management. As such, it was unclear to what extent current NHS podiatry service provision within a regional hospital department met the recommended standards of care for this patient group. Therefore the main aim of this programme was to determine regional adherence to nationally recommended standards of podiatric care for patients with RA at baseline and following a prospective 12-month programme service development. Methods: A series of co-ordinated, inter-linking audits and service evaluations were completed in the podiatric rheumatology department during 2013. Specifically, a baseline and 12 month follow-up audit of adherence to 30 best practice recommendations was completed based upon the red/amber/green rating scale for each item, as set out in a nationally available audit tool. Items were coded as red, amber or green if no, partial or full evidence of the criteria being met was available respectively. Following the baseline audit, a programme of service development work was identified, specifically: 4 x service re-design tasks, 3 x audits and 1 x service evaluation. Results: At baseline, 61.2% (24) of items were coded as red, 19.4% (6) as amber and 3.2% (1) as green. At follow-up, 9.6% (3) of items were coded as red, 29% (9) as amber and 61.4% (19) as green. Service re-design resulted in a reduction in patient waiting times from >20 weeks to 1 week, the capacity to see patients within 6 weeks of diagnosis if required, and dedicated multi-disciplinary input or access at all clinical sessions. All areas of patient assessment were fully compliant following staff training and introduction of a dedicated proforma. Evaluation of service user experience demonstrated a 100% (n = 12 patients) reporting that the service would be recommended to their family and friends. Staff within the clinic have both received and provided specialist training to secondary and primary care colleagues, have hosted undergraduate and post-graduate student clinical placements and supported 2 clinical academic internships. Enabling annual foot health review and direct referral for imaging remain limitations of this service and form the basis for future development. Conclusion: The audit tool provided a robust framework for the evaluation of adherence to best practice recommendations. A structured programme of audit and service evaluation has helped to drive service development and resulted in improved clinical care provision at 12 month re-evaluation.

Social moderation, assessment and assuring standards for accounting graduates

Evidencing student achievement of standards is a growing imperative worldwide. Key stakeholders (including current and prospective students, government, regulators and employers) want confidence that threshold learning standards in an accounting degree have been assured. Australia’s new higher education regulatory environment requires that student achievements are benchmarked against intended programme learning outcomes, guided by published disciplinary standards and a national qualifications framework, and against other higher education providers. Here, we report on a process involving academics from 10 universities, aided by professional practitioners, to establish and equip assessors to reliably assure threshold learning standards in accounting that are nationally comparable. Importantly, we are learning more about how standards are interpreted. Based on the premise that meaning is constructed from tacit experiences, social interactions and intentional reflection on explicit information, we report outcomes of three multi-part calibration interventions, situated around judgements of the quality of the written communication skills exhibited in student work and their related assessment tasks. Qualitative data from 30 participants in the calibration process suggest that they perceive that the process both assists them both in developing a shared understanding of the accounting threshold learning standards and in the redesign of assessment tasks to more validly assess the threshold learning standards.

Muscle- and task-dependent responses to concurrent physical and mental workload during intermittent static work

Many workers experience combined physical and mental demands in their jobs, yet the contribution of these demands to the development of musculoskeletal disorders is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate muscle- and task-dependent responses to concurrent demands during intermittent static work. Twenty-four participants performed shoulder, wrist, and torso exertions at three levels of physical workload (PWL) in the absence (control) and presence (concurrent) of a mental arithmetic task. Compared to the control, concurrent demand conditions resulted in decreased muscle activity (4–9% decrease), increased cardiovascular load (2–4% increase), and impaired motor co-ordination (9–24% increase in force fluctuation). Furthermore, these outcomes were more prominent at higher PWL levels and within postural (shoulder and torso) muscles. Mental task performance exhibited greater interference with the physical task at low and high PWL levels. Thus, it may be important to consider these muscle- and task-specific interactions of concurrent demands during job design to address worker health and performance issues. Practitioner Summary: Occupational tasks place both physical and mental demands on workers. These demands can adversely affect physiological responses and performance, and are muscle- and task-dependent. Findings from this research may facilitate the development of ergonomics interventions, such as task redesign and tool/workstation design, that may help reduce risk of workplace injuries.

Effects of common working postures on balance control during the stabilisation phase of transitioning to standing

Standing after maintaining working postures may result in imbalance and could elicit a fall. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of this imbalance. Forty-five male participants completed three replications of conditions created by four static postures and three durations within posture. Participants transitioned to quiet standing at a self-selected pace. Body segment location and displacement of the centre of pressure (COP) were recorded using a motion capture system and two forceplates, respectively. Balance control measures were calculated during the stabilisation phase. All balance control measures were significantly affected by static posture but not duration within posture. Bending over at waist generally caused the smallest changes in balance control measures, whereas the reclined kneeling posture resulted in the largest. Findings may lead to recommendations for redesign of tasks to reduce the use of certain working postures, particularly in high-risk environments such as construction. Statement of Relevance: Task performance on the jobsite often requires individuals to maintain non-erect postures. This study suggests that the working posture chosen affects stabilisation during a transition to a standing position. Bending at the waist or squatting seems to have less of an affect on balance control measures, whereas both types of kneeling postures evaluated resulted in greater imbalance.

Research Commentary—Cooperation, Coordination, and Governance in Multisourcing: An Agenda for Analytical and Empirical Research

Multisourcing, the practice of stitching together best-of-breed IT services from multiple, geographically dispersed service providers, represents the leading edge of modern organizational forms. While major strides have been achieved in the last decade in the information systems (IS) and strategic management literature in improving our understanding of outsourcing, the focus has been on a dyadic relationship between a client and a vendor. We demonstrate that a straightforward extrapolation of such a dyadic relationship falls short of addressing the nuanced incentive-effort-output linkages that arise when multiple vendors, who are competitors, have to cooperate and coordinate to achieve the client's business objectives. We suggest that when multiple vendors have to work together to deliver end-to-end services to a client, the choice of formal incentives and relational governance mechanisms depends on the degree of interdependence between the various tasks as well as the observability and verifiability of output. With respect to cooperation, we find that a vendor must not only put effort in a “primary” task it is responsible for but also cooperate through “helping” effort in enabling other vendors perform their primary tasks. In the context of coordination, we find that task redesign for modularity, OLAs, and governance structures such as the guardian vendor model represent important avenues for further research. Based on the analysis of actual multisourcing contract details over the last decade, interviews with leading practitioners, and a review of the single-sourcing literature, we lay a foundation for normative theories of multisourcing and present a research agenda in this domain.

Do managed clinical networks improve quality of diabetes care? Evidence from a retrospective mixed methods evaluation

Problem:System-wide improvement of chronic disease care is challenging because it requires collaboration and communication across organisational and professional boundaries. Managed clinical networks are one potential solution, but there is little...

Perceptions of Stability upon Standing from Working Postures Used in the Construction Industry

Falls on the same level or from heights are a significant cause of injuries and fatalities among the American workforce, particularly within the construction industry. Instability upon standing may be a contributing factor for many fall-related injuries and fatalities. This study explored self-reports of postural stability upon standing after maintaining static postures for varying durations. Thirty-three male participants completed three replications of the conditions created by four postures and three durations within posture for a total of 36 conditions. The results indicated that the working posture used to complete a task significantly affected postural stability upon standing (ANOVA, α=0.05), although individuals were not able to distinguish these changes. Postural stability ratings were affected more by the duration within posture (p=0.001). Small correlation values between the subjective ratings and the objective COP-based measures substantiated the finding that individuals were not sensitive to the changes in postural sway measures caused by the differing postures and may not be fully aware of the risk to balance encountered during transitions. Findings may lead to recommendations for redesign of tasks or tools to reduce the use of certain working postures (e.g. kneeling), particularly in high-risk environments such as construction.

Perceptions of postural stability after transitioning to standing among construction workers

Falls are a leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in the construction trades. This study explored construction workers’ self-reports of postural stability upon standing after working in different postures. One hundred and eighty-nine workers in 10 construction trades provided stability ratings by completing a written questionnaire. Additional data collected included age, gender, years of experience, and rating of overall balance. Construction workers rated their overall balance as high, furthermore, no difference was found between trades or age groups. Significant differences in stability ratings were provided for the various postures. The most commonly used non-erect postures (bent over at waist, squatting, and forward kneeling) resulted in the largest self-reports of instability. Sitting on elevated surface and sitting on level surface resulted in the highest levels of self-reported stability and are recommended when maintaining balance is a concern. Differences associated with construction trade and age were also found, but were thought to be attributed to differences in tasks performed since no differences were found when each posture was analyzed separately. The results suggest that the working posture used to complete a task affects the postural stability upon standing regardless of construction trade and age of worker. Findings may lead to recommendations for redesign of tasks or tools to reduce the use of certain working postures, particularly in high-risk environments such as construction.

Telemedicine in interdisciplinary work practices: On an IT system that met the criteria for success set out by its sponsors, yet failed to become part of every-day clinical routines

BackgroundInformation systems can play a key role in care innovations including task redesign and shared care. Many demonstration projects have presented evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness and high levels of patient satisfaction. Yet these same projects often fail to become part of everyday clinical routines. The aim of the paper is to gain insight into a common paradox that a technology can meet the criteria for success set out at the start of the project yet fail to become part of everyday clinical routines.MethodsWe evaluated a telecare service set up to reduce the workload of ophthalmologists. In this project, optometrists in 10 optical shops made digital images to detect patients with glaucoma which were further assessed by trained technicians in the hospital. Over a period of three years, we conducted interviews with the project team and the users about the workability of the system and its integration in practice. Beside the interviews, we analyzed record data to measure the quality of the images. We compared the qualitative accounts with these measurements.ResultsAccording to our measurements, the quality of the images was at least satisfactory in 90% of the cases, i.e. the images could be used to screen the patients – reducing the workload of the ophthalmologist considerably. However, both the ophthalmologist and the optometrists became increasingly dissatisfied respectively with the perceived quality of the pictures and the perceived workload.Through a detailed analysis of how the professionals discussed the quality of the pictures, we re-constructed how the notion of quality of the images and being a good professional were constructed and linked. The IT system transformed into a quality system and, at the same time, transformed the notions of being a good professional. While a continuous dialogue about the quality of the pictures became an emblem for the quality of care, this dialogue was hindered by the system and the way the care process was structured.ConclusionTo conceptualize what telemedicine does in interdisciplinary work practices, a fine-tuned analysis is needed to assess how IT systems re-shape the social relations between professional groups. Such transformations should not be exclusively attributed to the technology itself or to the professionals working with it. Instead we need to assess these technologies through an empirically grounded study of the sociotechnical functioning of telemedicine.

Continuous assessment as a selfinitiated teacher development strategy in Swaziland: practice and challenges for effective implementation

The paper reports on a study that clarifies the challenges that a teacher in Swaziland faced in using continuous assessment (CA) as a self-initiated professional development tool. Drawing mainly on post-Fordist ideals we analyse the assessment tasks she gave to learners to establish the degree of agency, reflectivity and creativity she invested in the choice, adaptation and re-design of assessment tasks that were suggested to the teachers by education authorities. Items within these tasks and how they were employed to serve the lesson objectives are drawn on to illustrate how she took advantage of the professional autonomy the CA programme afforded her to judge the appropriateness of what was officially suggested. The curriculum expertise that informed her choice of items to reinforce or remedy learning is understood in terms of how she conceptualised CA as a tool to track learners’ cognitive competence and as a resource for a self-directed professional development strategy. In conclusion, an attempt is made to provide cues for the conditions under which the self-empowering elements of CA can function to improve learning and teaching.

Does wearing a non-expanding weight lifting belt change psychophysically determined maximum acceptable weights and forces

The most frequent and expensive cause category of compensable loss is the manual material handling (MMH). Ergonomic redesign of high-risk MMH tasks is the most effective way to minimize these loses. As an alternative to task redesign, back belts have been promoted by management and used by employees to help alleviate the physical demands of, otherwise, unacceptable tasks, despite a lack of the conclusive evidence that back belts will protect against low-back pain or low-back disability. Also, there is a concern that back belts may give the worker a false sense of confidence and encourage them to explore higher work levels. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effects of a back belt with maximum resistance to the circumferential expansion on psychophysically determined maximum acceptable weights (MAWs) and forces (MAFs) for a variety of lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, and carrying tasks. Ten female and eight male industrial workers performed nine MMH tasks with and without a back belt within a larger study of 56 different tasks, which required 17 four-hour days to complete. A psychophysical methodology was used whereby the subjects were asked to select a workload they could sustain for eight hours without “straining themselves or without becoming unusually tired, weakened, overheated or out of breath.” The results revealed that the MAWs and MAFs of all tasks performed by women and all but one MAF of one task performed by men were not significantly affected by the back belt use. Based on these results, the use of a back belt did not change the perception of the subject's physical demands of the task since they chose similar psychophysically acceptable loads. Back belts are still commonly used in the industry despite lack of evidence that they will provide a decrease in low-back disability. This study illustrated that a worker's perception of the task was not altered by the back belt use, thus a worker's preference for the back belt use when job redesign has been limited or ignored should not be discouraged.

Association of Physical Job Demands, Smoking and Alcohol Abuse with Subsequent Premature Mortality: A 9‐year Follow‐up Population‐based Study

This study assessed the relationships of physical job demands (PJD), smoking, and alcohol abuse, with premature mortality before age 70 (PM-70) among the working or inactive population. The sample included 4,268 subjects aged 15 or more randomly selected in north-eastern France. They completed a mailed questionnaire (birth date, sex, weight, height, job, PJD, smoking habit, alcohol abuse (Deta questionnaire)) in 1996 and were followed for mortality until 2004 (9 yr). PJD score was defined by the cumulative number of the following high job demands at work: hammer, vibrating platform, pneumatic tools, other vibrating hand tools, screwdriver, handling objects, awkward posture, tasks at heights, machine tools, pace, working on a production line, standing about and walking. The data were analyzed using the Poisson regression model. Those with PM-70 were 126 (3.81 per 1,000 person-years). The leading causes of death were cancers (46.4% in men, 57.1% in women), cardiovascular diseases (20.2% and 11.9%), suicide (9.5% and 7.1%), respiratory diseases (6.0% and 4.8%), and digestive diseases (2.4% and 4.8%). PJD3, smoker, and alcohol abuse had adjusted risk ratios of 1.71 (95% CI 1.02-2.88), 1.76 (1.08-2.88), and 2.07 (1.31-3.26) respectively for all-cause mortality. Manual workers had a risk ratio of 1.84 (1.00-3.37) compared to the higher socio-economic classes. The men had a two-fold higher mortality rate than the women; this difference became non-significant when controlling for job, PJD, smoker and alcohol abuse. For cancer mortality the factors PJD3, smoker, and alcohol abuse had adjusted risk ratios of 2.00 (1.00-3.99), 2.34 (1.19-4.63), and 2.22 (1.17-4.20), respectively. Health promotion efforts should be directed at structural measures of task redesign and they should also concern lifestyle.

Task Structure and Postcompletion Error in the Execution of a Routine Procedure

To replicate a successful laboratory slip-class error paradigm and, more importantly, to further understand the underlying causes of errors made in that paradigm. Routine procedural errors are facts of everyday life but have received limited controlled empirical study, despite the sometimes severe consequences associated with such errors. This research concerns one such error, postcompletion error (M. D. Byrne & S. Bovair, 1997), which is a lapse that occurs after the main goal of a task has been satisfied. In the two experiments conducted, participants were trained to criterion on a routine procedural task and were then brought back to the lab for a later session or sessions in which performance on task execution was measured. In the second experiment, a variety of motivational manipulations, retraining, and task redesign were compared. Experiment 1 demonstrated a substantial reduction of error rate generated by a simple design change (alteration of when feedback about goal completion occurred). Furthermore, the reduction in error rate came with no penalty in terms of overall speed of performance. Experiment 2 showed that this more appropriate design is superior to motivationally oriented interventions, retraining, and even midtask redesign. As in Experiment 1, Experiment 2 revealed no speed-accuracy tradeoff. These experiments provide evidence that controlled laboratory studies of slip-class errors can be meaningful and highlight the centrality of cognitive factors (particularly goal structure) in such errors. Potential applications include design of interfaces and their related procedures as well as error-mitigation techniques.

Work-related stress and health—risks, mechanisms and countermeasures

Work-related stress and health—risks, mechanisms and countermeasures

Integration of fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms and neural networks in collaborative parametric design

The solution to a design problem is extracted through the exploitation of the design knowledge in the context of a space of solution alternatives. The design process incorporates a series of decision making and knowledge management issues, which should be often addressed through collaboration among diverse stakeholders. The alternative solutions must usually be shaped under different formalisms and evaluated against commonly accepted objective criteria. The current paper presents an approach that integrates soft-computing techniques in order to facilitate the computer-aided collaboration among designers. CopDeSC (Collaborative parametric Design with Soft-Computing) is the name of the system developed in order to implement this approach whose key features are: (a) the collaborative structuring of design parameter hierarchies, (b) the modeling of the design objectives through fuzzy preferences stated by the designers on certain design parameters, (c) the deployment of genetic algorithms for locating the optimum solution and (d) the utilization of records of elite solutions that are submitted in a neuro-fuzzy approximation in order to produce a simplified problem formulation, suitable for addressing redesign tasks in significantly less computational time. The efficiency of CopDeSC is evaluated in an example case of the parametric design of oscillating conveyor that has been conducted by a group of designers.

Management of Sports Facilities: Stress and Terrorism Since 9/11

Since 9/11, the world has been on alert and it is just a matter of time before a sports facility is targeted. No empirical studies have examined the stress levels of employees in sports facilities. Tangential studies will show, stress symptoms, changes in behavior and life style continued long after 9/11 to the point that it became a habit and no longer an isolated event. However, there is still the question of a secure work environment for the employees of these sports facilities. The current level of security being implemented in sport facilities is no longer sufficient to ensure the safety of employees, participants and spectators. Recommendations have been chosen carefully and are budget dependent. The implementation of biometrics will potentially reduce the stress levels of the targeted work environments by making it a safer place. The increased level of stress in the work environment has been partially reduced by several stress management techniques that include: task redesign, flexible work schedul...

Verbal and visual representations in task redesign: how different viewpoints enter into information systems design discussions

Abstract. We explore an important phase of information systems design (ISD), namely task redesign, and especially how different viewpoints enter into the discussions. We study how one particular visual representation, a process diagram, is interpreted and how alternative, even competing, representations are produced verbally. To tie the visual and verbal representations and the representational practices to wider social practices, we develop and use the Extended Three‐dimensional Model of discourse. Visual representations emerged as focal in bringing in the different viewpoints and as reference points for discussions. Our model provided a focused and powerful means to unveil for the outside researchers how the planned changes in tasks and authority relationships instigated a social struggle. The IS designer was an outsider to the client organization and therefore considered only the information system, not the social system in which it was intended to operate. Other participants did not recognize this, therefore, seeing the designer as furthering managerial interests. Seeing task redesign in the social context of a client organization can help IS designers and researchers to understand what the users see naturally, that is, the ISD as a dynamic, enabling but socially constrained process where different viewpoints are represented.

Harmful Postures and Musculoskeletal Symptoms Among Fish Trimmers of a Fish Processing Factory in Ghana: A Preliminary Investigation

This study investigated musculoskeletal symptoms among fish trimmers (skinners and polishers) in a fish processing factory in Ghana. The methods used included administration of questionnaire, walk through observation, interview, task analysis and future workshop. All 50 female participants answered and submitted their questionnaires. Of the 11 operations performed by skinners only 1 was rated as low risk. Also of the 12 operations performed by polishers only 2 were rated as low risk. Neck side bending, neck flexion, prolonged standing, shoulder elevation, abducted arms, repetitious reaching forward and wrist deviation were observed in most operations. This corresponds with questionnaire results in which musculoskeletal symptoms were mostly prevalent in the neck, the shoulder, the low back, the wrist/hand and the knee regions. There was no significant correlation (p < .05) between musculoskeletal symptoms and age, working hours and length of service. Task redesign, workplace changes and worker training were suggested to improve the work.