Task Breakdown Research Articles

Agentic AI: The building blocks of sophisticated AI business applications

Language models (LMs) like GPT-4’s ability to predict word sequences have made tasks such as summarisation and translation significantly easier. They often struggle, however, with complex reasoning tasks that require deliberate, multi-step processes. To address these limitations, the concept of agentic artificial intelligence (agentic AI) is introduced, where LMs are organised into workflows that mimic human-like iterative reasoning. This paper explores the four pillars of agentic AI frameworks: tool use, reflection, planning and multi-agent collaboration (MAC). Tool use allows LMs to access external resources such as search engines to enhance accuracy; reflection enables self-correction and iterative feedback; planning ensures the structured breakdown of tasks; and MAC involves multiple LMs collaborating on specific subtasks. The paper then compares and contrasts various MAC frameworks based on the inclusion of tool use, reflection and planning abilities, as well as the flow and control of information between different agents. Finally, potential use cases for MAC frameworks are discussed.

Measuring Operational Efficiency: A Functional Analysis of Core and Non-Core Activities in a Leading Romanian Oil and Gas Retail Company

Abstract This paper employs a qualitative approach to conduct functional analysis within one of the main players in the Romanian market in the retail oil and gas industry, utilizing the company's internal intranet platform to gather data. The study unfolds in distinct stages, beginning with department selection, followed by task breakdown, activity categorization, data collection, analysis, and insight sharing. The analysis reveals a comprehensive view of the company's operational landscape, guiding strategic decisions and resource optimization. Key conclusions highlight the significance of core activities for revenue and growth, the value of diverse employee typologies, and opportunities for efficiency enhancement. The study's insights offer practical directions for managing core competencies, fostering informed collaboration, and adapting to industry changes. Future recommendations include leveraging this analysis for future strategy, investment, and innovation.

Theoretical Approach to Enhance Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning Through Montessori Methodology

Abstract This work is a theoretical proposal to apply the strongest points from the Montessori methodology to improve information literacy through lifelong learning. Since lifelong learning includes cognition and skills, information literacy permits the solving of problems as well as effectively communicating and interacting with the environment. This means having abilities and skills that through adequate training permit the acquisition of new knowledge or improving knowledge on any topic, within a formal or informal environment. It also could permit seeking, managing, and comparing information. However, there are some questions that arise with older individuals. Since lifelong learning usually takes place in informal environments, getting resources to learn may be a difficult task. Learning difficulties also involve information abstraction, text comprehension, and technological barriers. Consequently, lifelong learning and information literacy are likely to be affected. The question comes up as to which pedagogical methodology may fit better for lifelong learning and the acquisition of better information literacy skills. Task breakdown, guided repetition, and ordering activities from simple to complex are essential keys in the Montessori methodology, which help not only older people but also children to enhance information literacy as well as assist with lifelong learning.

Theoretical Approach to Enhance Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning Through Montessori Methodology

Abstract This work is a theoretical proposal to apply the strongest points from the Montessori methodology to improve information literacy through lifelong learning. Since lifelong learning includes cognition and skills, information literacy permits the solving of problems as well as effectively communicating and interacting with the environment. This means having abilities and skills that through adequate training permit the acquisition of new knowledge or improving knowledge on any topic, within a formal or informal environment. It also could permit seeking, managing, and comparing information. However, there are some questions that arise with older individuals. Since lifelong learning usually takes place in informal environments, getting resources to learn may be a difficult task. Learning difficulties also involve information abstraction, text comprehension, and technological barriers. Consequently, lifelong learning and information literacy are likely to be affected. The question comes up as to which pedagogical methodology may fit better for lifelong learning and the acquisition of better information literacy skills. Task breakdown, guided repetition, and ordering activities from simple to complex are essential keys in the Montessori methodology, which help not only older people but also children to enhance information literacy as well as assist with lifelong learning.

Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work - an analytical attempt of job and duties

Whereas information technology and systems (IT/IS) are anticipated to render rewards for the accounting and auditing profession, there are increasing fears that IT/IS may be able to automate most or even all of the duties. Little was discussed in literature in this regard although overwhelming questions are continually being raised in various forums without enough answers and clarifications: which of the duties/tasks can be automated, and accordingly whether it is majority since this may force the discipline to reshape itself. An open-ended questionnaire to members of association of accountants in Jordan was administered. The study arrives at a number of observations and concluding remarks; the chance of intrusion of IT/IS into accounting practice is nearly two thirds of the set of various tasks and duties that can be assigned to accountants/auditors. This result is reached through effort of breakdown of tasks and duties of accounting/auditing. Future research thereafter is discussed.

Ranking the prevalence of construction cost overrun risk factors in completion of public-private partnership projects

The purpose of the study was to identify and rank the prevalence and severity of risk factors construction cost overrun in Public-Private Partnership projects using a case study of Sondu-Miriu Hydroelectric Power Project in Kisumu County, Kenya. This study adopted a descriptive design and collected quantitative data analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics. In total, 85 persons were identified to have taken part in the management and implementation of the study from whom a sample size of 71 participants was obtained. Questionnaires were emailed to the participants providing details of the study and requesting their participation. The study ranked the risk factors based on prevalence and severity from most prevalently severe to least prevalently severe as design changes, emerging tasks affecting delivery, construction task breakdown structure, design variations and failure of contractors to complete different tasks. Thus, stakeholders should participate fully in the project from design to avoid design changes leading to cost overrun. During implementation, the contractor and construction manager should device mechanisms to anticipate changes in the political environment as such changes determines government policies and decisions affecting the project funding, design and scope.

A Low-Cost Platform for Laparoscopic Simulation Training.

With the new requirement for Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery certification among graduating obstetrics and gynecology residents, there has been an increased interest in simulation training. The Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery curriculum uses a commercial laparoscopic box trainer to practice and assess laparoscopic skills. We created a low-cost, space-efficient, portable and versatile training platform that allows for the breakdown of complex tasks, and we studied its user acceptability. A rectangular piece of pine wood purchased at a hardware store was used as a base; metal eye hooks were used as ports, and a blueprint was created to simulate placement of Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery inserts. In addition to the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery skills, this platform can be used for any laparoscopic task (such as hysterectomy or cuff closure). Additionally, this platform can be used with or without a camera to allow for task breakdown into simpler components for faster learning. A usability and acceptability survey was administered to a convenient sample of faculty and trainees. Trainees and faculty responded favorably to the model. Residents, fellows, and attendings felt that the laparoscopic platform closely simulated the feel of performing live laparoscopy surgery. This is a novel low-cost laparoscopic platform to add to the gynecologic surgical education simulation toolkit.

A cognitive decomposition to empirically study human performance in control room environments

Abstract Monitoring tasks in control room environments require operators to perform various mental and physical sub-tasks in series and simultaneously over long periods of time with minimal error. These tasks vary in cognitive complexity, ranging from low-level sensory processing to high-level decision making. Cognitive load, a measure of the effort required by the working memory, can serve as an indicator of tasks that may have higher risk of error. Task decomposition models for cognitive complexity can be combined with objective and subjective measures of workload to measure human performance in response to control room stimuli. In this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of a cognitive task analysis approach to structure the design of experiments for the purpose of evaluating human performance in control room simulated use activities. Participants completed monitoring tasks in a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control room that required the completion of tasks ranging in cognitive complexity. Performance measures taken during the study were used to validate the breakdown of tasks complexity, and to identify potential sources of human error in workstation monitoring tasks. These findings can be linked to design specifications for workstation optimization. Results indicated that the task breakdown appropriately represented the use-case scenario, and the classification model adequately captured differences in cognitive workload experienced by participants. This research has broad implications on complex system design validation, providing a structure to achieve cognitive depth for the evaluation of human performance and subsequent design risk mitigation.

Teaching bias in history lessons: An example using Maltese history

Historians collect and verify evidence and then interpret it in an acceptable way. A general consensus is that history does not present us with an absolute truth – the most we can hope for is historians' reliable, evidentially based interpretations of the historical topic. History not viewed as interpretation has long raised alarm bells in history pedagogy circles. History educators are acutely aware that history taught as an uncontested body of positivistic knowledge with a canon of given factual information can promote prejudice, bias and bigotry – it can ultimately fuel civil and international conflict and violence. Alternatively, history teaching as a constructivist process with multiple interpretations can be used to promote positive values – history pedagogy can be a tool to support peace, reconciliation and conflict resolution. This places a major responsibility on a key objective of history teaching: addressing the concept of historical bias with effective methods of teaching on how to detect and analyse bias in historical sources for both primary and secondary schools. This paper reports an attempt at teaching secondary school students (aged 13 to 14 years) how to detect bias in primary written history sources while learning about a controversial topic in Maltese history – church– state relations in Malta in the 1960s. The method employed is qualitative research – specifically pedagogical research – which is research into the processes and practices of learning and teaching. In this case, the researcher tries new teaching methods with a small group of students, and their feedback regarding the exercise is examined. The students' ultimate answers after trying out the new scaffolding activities were quite encouraging, and show that breakdown of tasks is the key to helping understanding in history learning. The pedagogy employed is discussed in comparison to other approaches to teaching about bias. The paper also analyses student feedback on their learning about bias. Crucially, the paper addresses the impact of a specific intervention strategy to improve student understanding of, and ability to detect, bias in historical sources.

The impact of inclusion on the spanish education system.

This project aims to show a broader vision of educational inclusion nowadays. Through different authors and perspectives, the historic evolution of inclusive education is known, from integration to inclusion. In addition, a bibliographic review has been carried out to publicize the different inclusion strategies that can be implemented in the educational field, by the educational community of schools. These strategies can be of different types: strategies of organization and effective management of the classroom (reduction of the ratio, promotion of positive personal relationship, establishment of routines, etc.), teaching strategies and learning assessment (formative os continuous evaluation, motivational strategies, etc.), grouing strategies (according to different sises and criterions) and adaptation of activities and materials’ strategies (adaptation of materials, analysis and breakdown of tasks in simpler sequences, etc.).

Optimization of Software Development Process by Plugin Integration with Jira – A Project Management Tool in Devops

Software Development models (Waterfall, Spiral, Agile, Scaled Agile Framework-SAFe etc.) has been evolved over period of time to reduce the bottleneck in software delivery. Each of these models come up with some set of principles to follow in different phases. Irrespective of those principles a lot of tools has now come up in market to ease out the various aspects of delivery like requirement tracking, task breakdown, task assignment, workload balancing, release tracking, management of tasks interdependencies etc. Multiplicity of industries are being using different tools to reduce complexity of project/programme management. Agilecraft, Trello, Leankit, JIRA are few of the market leader project management tools in this space. This research paper talks explicitly about the optimization of software development process by enhancing the core features of Jira with the inclusion of different Plug-ins. This integration will help the software development and operations team to work under the same platform that in turn lead up to speedy delivery of software.

Extent of artificial intelligence into accounting and auditing work - an analytical attempt of job and duties

Whereas information technology and systems (IT/IS) are anticipated to render rewards for the accounting and auditing profession, there are increasing fears that IT/IS may be able to automate most or even all of the duties. Little was discussed in literature in this regard although overwhelming questions are continually being raised in various forums without enough answers and clarifications: which of the duties/tasks can be automated, and accordingly whether it is majority since this may force the discipline to reshape itself. An open-ended questionnaire to members of association of accountants in Jordan was administered. The study arrives at a number of observations and concluding remarks; the chance of intrusion of IT/IS into accounting practice is nearly two thirds of the set of various tasks and duties that can be assigned to accountants/auditors. This result is reached through effort of breakdown of tasks and duties of accounting/auditing. Future research thereafter is discussed.

1216 Novel Laparoscopic Simulation Platform

Video Objective With the requirement for the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery certification amongst graduating OBGYN residents there has been increased interest in utilization of simulation to practice and improve laparoscopic skills. Currently FLS box trainers for practice and testing of FLS manual skills tasks are being sold. We aimed to create a low-cost, easy-to-make, and versatile laparoscopic training platform and studied its usability at our institution. Setting Academic Hospital, OBGYN Residency program Interventions A rectangular piece of sheet wood was used as a platform and a blueprint based on the official FLS box trainer dimensions was created with corresponding placement of ports and the camera on the board. A drill is used to create holes for the metal pegs with eyehooks that function as ports. Velcro is applied to the board to provide stability for FLS inserts. This model can be used for any laparoscopic set up including models for hysterectomy or colpotomy. Open design of the model allows for complex task breakdown to allow learners to master skills. Total cost of one model was $15-25 per platform and took 30 minutes to build. Conclusion A usability and acceptability survey was administered to a convenient sample of faculty and trainees. Trainees and faculty responded favorably to the model. 70% (7/10) residents and 86% (6/7) of attendings agreed the platform was easy to use. 100% (10/10) of residents and attendings (6/6) agreed the laparoscopic platform is useful for improving and practicing laparoscopic skills. 100% of attendings felt that the laparoscopic platform is useful for assessing the learners ability to perform laparoscopic skills prior to live surgery. 88% (8/9) of residents/fellows and 86% (6/7) of attendings felt that it closely simulated the feel of performing laparoscopy in live surgery. Novel laparoscopic platform model is an innovative low-cost teaching tool to add to the gynecologic surgical education armamentarium.

From Motor Learning Theory to Practice: A Scoping Review of Conceptual Frameworks for Applying Knowledge in Motor Learning to Physical Therapist Practice.

The importance of motor learning knowledge for physical therapist practice is well known; however, its application is lacking. Conceptual frameworks that place motor learning knowledge within a clinical context are a potential mediator to overcome this gap. This study aimed to conduct a scoping review of the literature to identify and describe the content of such conceptual frameworks in physical therapy/rehabilitation, including the approaches taken in their development and the "elements" or building blocks of motor learning-based interventions within each conceptual framework. The data sources used were PubMed, CINAHL, and PsychInfo databases. Articles that were selected had a primary focus on motor learning and its application in physical therapy/rehabilitation and were published between 2000 and 2017. Twelve of 62 relevant articles met the inclusion criteria. Papers attempted to translate theoretical knowledge into a coherent, clinically accessible conceptual framework via 3 main approaches: synthesizing selected motor learning elements into original new conceptual frameworks, mapping motor learning elements in current clinical practices, and assembling selected motor learning elements. The elements of motor learning that were common across papers included theoretical concepts (such as "meaningful goal setting" and "active involvement"); practice variables (including the type, frequency, and timing of feedback; the focus of instructions; task breakdown; and the amount, variability, and order of practice); and intervention strategies (task specific and mental practice). Psychological aspects related to self-efficacy and motivation were also considered integral. Papers published before the year 2000 were excluded. The scoping review revealed that the presentation of motor learning elements in a coherent framework encompassed very diverse approaches and used different categorization systems. In addition, to fully grasp the complexity of clinical practice, motor learning should be coupled with other fields of knowledge.

Application of Wireless Sensor Network Technology in Security Control of Intelligent Buildings

When a wireless sensor network is used to perform real-time security monitoring inside a building, there are drawbacks like multi-path signal fading and difficulty in spectrum sensing. In light of these problems, this paper proposes an improved signal spectrum sensing algorithm based on support vector machine (SVM), which inhibits the impacts brought by the low signal-noise-ratio (SNR) environment in the transmission process of wireless sensor signals through the embedded cyclostationary characteristic parameters. Based on this, considering the low efficiency and poor fault tolerance of multi-task monitoring and scheduling inside the building, this paper also proposes a multi-task coordination and scheduling algorithm based on physical information integration, which achieves multi-task scheduling and execution through intelligent breakdown and prioritization of general tasks. The simulation test shows that, compared with the artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm and the maximum-minimum eigenvalue (MME) algorithm, the proposed algorithm has much better spectrum sensing effect under low SNR, takes less computation time, and achieves higher accuracy in large-scale multi-task coordination and scheduling. The research conclusions can provide new ideas for the application of wireless sensor network in intelligent building security monitoring.

Cost-effectiveness evaluation of pre-counseling telephone interviews before face-to-face genetic counseling in cancer genetics.

One of the main challenges in cancer genetics is responding to the exponential demand for genetic counseling, especially in patients with breast and/or ovarian cancer. To address this demand, we have set up a new procedure, based on pre-genetic counseling telephone interviews (PTI) followed by routing of patients: D1, a PTI is scheduled within 14days; D7-D14, genetic counselors perform a 20min PTI in order to establish a pre-genetic counseling file, by collecting personal and family medical history via a structured questionnaire and; D10-17, routing: pre-genetic counseling appointment files are analyzed by a cancer geneticist with 3 possible conclusions: (a) priority face-to-face genetic counseling (FTFGC) appointment with a cancer geneticist, if the genetic test results have an immediate therapeutic impact; (b) non-priority FTFGC with a genetic counselor, or (c) no FTFGC required or substitution by a more appropriate index case. In the context of breast and/or ovarian cancer, 1012 patients received PTIs, 39.1% of which did not lead to FTFGC. The mean delay for non-priority FTFGC was maintained at 18weeks and priority FTFGC appointments were guaranteed within 8weeks. The required resources for 1012 patients was estimated at 0.12 FTE secretaries, 0.62 FTE genetic counselors and 0.08 FTE cancer geneticists and the procedure was shown to be cost-effective. This new procedure allows the suppression of up to 1/3 of appointments, guarantees priority for appointments with therapeutic impact and optimizes the interaction and breakdown of tasks between genetic counselors and cancer geneticists.

Improving task breakdown comprehensiveness in agile projects with an Interaction Room

ContextThe planning, estimation and controlling mechanisms of agile process models rely significantly on a fixed set of tasks being established for each sprint. These tasks are created as refinements of product backlog items at the beginning of each sprint. However, a project team's understanding of the backlog items’ business implications and dependencies may often not be deep enough to identify all necessary tasks this early, so in addition to the tasks defined in the beginning of the sprint, more necessary tasks might be discovered as the sprint progresses, making any attempt at progress estimation or risk management difficult. ObjectiveWe strive to enable software teams to achieve a deeper understanding of product backlog items, which should help them to identify a sprint's tasks more reliably and comprehensively, and avoid discovering the need for extra tasks during sprint execution. MethodWe introduced a project team in a medium-sized software development company to the Interaction Room method, which encourages interdisciplinary communication about key system design aspects among all stakeholders. We observed the team's conduct in the sprint planning meetings, and tracked early- vs. late-identified tasks across several sprints. ResultsBefore the introduction of our method, the team used to discover on average 26% of a sprint's tasks not at the beginning of the sprint, but later during the course of the sprint. Using the Interaction Room in two separate projects, this ratio dropped to an average of 5% late-discovered tasks. ConclusionOur observations from these projects suggest that increased communication among all stakeholders of a project leads to a more reliable identification of the tasks to be performed in a sprint, and that an Interaction Room can provide appropriate guidance to conduct this team communication in a focused and pragmatic way.

Effective task training strategies for human and robot instructors

From teaching in labs to training for assembly, a role that robots are expected to play is to instruct their users in completing physical tasks. While instruction requires a range of capabilities, such as use of verbal and nonverbal language, a fundamental requirement for an instructional robot is to provide its students with instructions in a way that maximizes their task performance. In this paper, we present an autonomous instructional robot and investigate how different instructional strategies affect user performance and experience. Our analysis of human instructor---trainee interactions identified two key instructional strategies: (1) grouping instructions together and (2) summarizing the outcome of subsequent instructions. We implemented these strategies into a humanlike robot that autonomously instructed its users in a pipe-assembly task. To achieve autonomous instruction, we also developed a repair mechanism that enabled the robot to correct mistakes and misunderstandings. An evaluation of the instructional strategies in a human---robot interaction study showed that employing the grouping strategy resulted in faster task completion and increased rapport with the robot, although it also increased the number of task breakdowns. A comparison of our results with the human instructor---trainee interactions revealed many similarities, areas where our model for robot instructors could be improved, and the nuanced ways in which human instructors use training strategies such as summarization. Our findings offer strong implications for the design of instructional robots and directions of future research.

A Systematic Approach Of Construction Management Based On Last Planner System And Its Implementation In The Construction Industry

The Last PlannerSystem (LPS) has been implemented on construction projects to increase work flow reliability, a precondition for project performance againstproductivity and progress targets. The LPS encompasses four tiers of planning processes:master scheduling, phase scheduling, lookahead planning, and commitment / weeklywork planning. This research highlights deficiencies in the current implementation of LPS including poor lookahead planning which results in poor linkage between weeklywork plans and the master schedule. This poor linkage undetermines the ability of theweekly work planning process to select for execution tasks that are critical to projectsuccess. As a result, percent plan complete (PPC) becomes a weak indicator of project progress. The purpose of this research is to improve lookahead planning (the bridgebetween weekly work planning and master scheduling), improve PPC, and improve theselection of tasks that are critical to project success by increasing the link betweenShould, Can, Will, and Did (components of the LPS), thereby rendering PPC a betterindicator of project progress. The research employs the case study research method to describe deficiencies inthe current implementation of the LPS and suggest guidelines for a better application ofLPS in general and lookahead planning in particular. It then introduces an analyticalsimulation model to analyze the lookahead planning process. This is done by examining the impact on PPC of increasing two lookahead planning performance metrics: tasksanticipated (TA) and tasks made ready (TMR). Finally, the research investigates theimportance of the lookahead planning functions: identification and removal ofconstraints, task breakdown, and operations design.The research findings confirm the positive impact of improving lookaheadplanning (i.e., TA and TMR) on PPC. It also recognizes the need to perform lookaheadplanning differently for three types of work involving different levels of uncertainty:stable work, medium uncertainty work, and highly emergent work.The research confirms the LPS rules for practice and specifically the need to planin greater detail as time gets closer to performing the work. It highlights the role of LPSas a production system that incorporates deliberate planning (predetermined andoptimized) and situated planning (flexible and adaptive). Finally, the research presents recommendations for production planningimprovements in three areas: process related, (suggesting guidelines for practice),technical, (highlighting issues with current software programs and advocating theinclusion of collaborative planning capability), and organizational improvements(suggesting transitional steps when applying the LPS).

A Preservation Framework for Development of Digital Repositories

This paper specifies a preservation framework in which the semantics and parameters of digital preservation are discussed. Using this framework, the paper then proposes a methodology and a high-level breakdown of tasks for the development of digital repositories that aim to address digital preservation as part of their features and functionalities. The task breakdown enables analysis of feasibility of development of each task and the suitability of various development methodologies for each task. The preservation framework also facilitates decision making regarding automation and general-purpose nature of software that is developed for digital preservation of various digital content types and formats.