The contemplation of the reorganisations of the Australian Defence Group of departments over the past 34 years led to a notion that for organisations operating in turbulent environments there may exist a hypothetical re1ationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and organised complexity. This hypothetica1 relationship is described as 'coping' and is based on an assumption that in an organisational setting, individuals make some form of response to changes in their environment and this response is manifest in organisational change. The notion of this hypothetical relationship also led to the development of two 'ideal type' models - the Coping Model and the Overload Model. The application of contingency theory through the Overload Model showed that the State of an Organisation could be defined acccrdicg to its mode of existence in relation to some optimal level of information processing and some optimal level of organised complexity. A typology of ths States of Organisations has been derived from the Overload Model and design strategies which are appropriate to each state have been ranked according to an ordinal preference scale. The 'ideal type' models have allowed subjectively weighted judgements to be made about the present state of the Defence organisation and the ranking of design strategies to avoid the perceived undesirable state of overload. The Department of Defence is now imputed to be in a state of 'disorganisation'. The Overload Model suggests that there has been an over-investment in vertical information systems at the expense of lateral relations. The policy-making implication of this suggestion is that the state of 'overload' can be avoided through a reduction in organised complexity and the creation of lateral relations. This can be achieved if the Central Office is restructured to reduce the number of committees and if appropriate co-ordinating representatives are placed in the Service Offices.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

I det moderna informationssamhället vi lever i, har tillgången till informations- och kommunikationsteknologin ökat och det har aldrig varit så enkelt att förmedla och ta emot information som det är idag. Detta har till stor del underlättat inom arbetslivet då det globala avståndet minskar och vi har möjlighet att arbeta från ett flertal olika platser. Däremot kan den andra sidan av myntet innebära att vi tar emot mer information än vad vi har förmåga till att hantera och detta kan medföra att vi blir överbelastade. När informationen transformeras till någonting negativt och påfrestande brukar man säga att individen har drabbats av fenomenet Information overload. Ett närbesläktat fenomen till detta är det så kallade Interaction overload där man, till skillnad från Information overload, uppmärksammar interaktionen som individen utsätts för. Arbetsmailen är ett vanligt kommunikationsverktyg inom företag och genom denna finns en risk att drabbas av både Information overload och Interaction overload. Genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer har vi undersökt om fem arbetsdeltagare som tar emot arbetsmail på sin fritid drabbas av dessa fenomen. Syftet med studien är således att med hjälp av vår teoretiska referensram skapa en ökad förståelse för hur anställda förhåller sig till arbetsrelaterad e-post under fritiden. Detta har bidragit till nya kunskaper om hur Information overload i samspel med Interaction overload kan förstås i ett nytt sammanhang. Resultatet visade att respondenterna som hade en tydlig gräns mellan vad som är förtroendetid respektive fritid inte drabbades av Information overload. Respondenterna som öppnade arbetsmailen återkommande under fritiden och ansåg att gränsdragningen var mer flytande drabbades dock av Information overload när de upplevde stress. Däremot var det ingen av respondenterna som utsattes för Interaction overload.

In this master thesis, work done in the TURBO POWER project High temperature fatigue crack propagation in nickel-based superalloys during spring 2012 will be presented. The overall objective of this project is to develop and evaluate tools for designing against fatigue in gas turbine applications, with special focus on the crack propagation in the nickel-based superalloy Inconel 718. Experiments have been performed to study the effect of initial overloads, and it has been shown that even for small initial overloads a significant reduction of the crack growth rate is received. Furthermore, FE simulations have been carried out in order to describe the local stress state in front of the crack tip since it is believed to control, at least partly the diffusion of oxygen into the crack tip and thus also the hold time crack growth behaviour of the material. Finally, an evaluation method for the stresses is presented, where the results are averaged over an identifiable process/damaged zone in front of the crack tip.

Patent information can provide up-to-date technological data that accelerate the development of new products and the improvement of technology. They also can provide a most useful survey of known solution possibilities, which avoid duplication and the resources wasting. Therefore, this study focuses on the patent searching and analysis of the mechanical overload protection devices. Patent information are fed into computer databases and stored for design around activities. The connections between biology and technology be called as bionics or biomimetics can lead to very useful and novel technical solution. This study introduced special underwater creatures ¡§snapping shrimp¡¨ which have a large claw can generate the snapping action. This action inspires us to find a new technical solution that using the liquid cohesion to store and release the energy. In the end, using the patent information and the new solution to achieve the new design of mechanical overload protection devices, include ¡§Force-Type¡¨ and ¡§Torque-Type¡¨.

No description available.

Many studies report information overload (IO) as one of the main problems students encounter in computer-mediated communication (CMC). To date, researchers have paid little attention to the problem of IO—more specifically, to its impact on students’ quality interaction—in educational CMC. In an attempt to fill that gap, the purposes of this study were as follows: (a) to understand the difficulties students encounter that contribute to their perceptions of IO in CMC, (b) to observe the impact of those difficulties on students’ learning in online discussions, and (c) to identify students’ strategies for avoiding or managing those difficulties in order to engage in quality learning. Interviews with students and computer conferencing transcripts were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Interviews with 10 graduate students near the beginning of the semester revealed that although students were exposed to the same amount of information in the same learning environments, different individuals experienced different degrees of IO. Varied learner characteristics caused some students to be more susceptible to IO than others. The difficulties students encountered that contributed to their perceptions of IO included connection problems, navigation difficulties, discomfort with online communication, numerous ongoing discussion messages and endless resources, difficulty in organizing learning, and problems understanding the assigned readings. Those difficulties tended not to affect students’ deep processing as observed in their discussion messages, but might influence students’ online interaction with others. Students engaging in quality learning in online discussions were interviewed near the end of the semester to investigate their learning strategies. The results indicated that students used a variety of strategies to deal with those difficulties. Those strategies were related to online class preparation, identifying relevant information, processing online information and printed materials, keeping learning on track, organizing learning, and avoiding internal and external distractions. The results of this study have implications for course design.

<p>The emerging need for dynamically scheduled real-time systems requires methods for handling transient overloads. Current methods have in common that they deal with transient overloads as they occur, which gives the real-time system limited time to react to the overload. In this work we enable new approaches to overload management. Our work shows that artificial neural networks (ANNs) can predict future transient overloads. This way the real-time system can prepare for a transient overload before it actually occurs. Even though the artificial neural network is not yet integrated into any system, the results show that ANNs are able to satisfactory distinguish different workload scenarios into those that cause future overloads from those that do not. Two ANN architectures have been evaluated, one standard feed-forward ANN and one recurrent ANN. These ANNs were trained and tested on sporadic workloads with different average arrival rates. At best the ANNs are able to predict up to 85% of the transient overloads in the test workload, while causing around 10% false alarms.</p>

<p>Att uppnå situationsmedvetenhet kan helt avgöra ifall en person klarar av att lösa en specifik uppgift eller inte. Dagens ledningssystem har ofta som uppgift att stödja användaren att upp nå situationsmedvetenhet och därmed klara av att lösa sina uppgifter. Detta examensarbete syftar till att undersöka vilka potentiella brister det kan tänkas finnas inom de militära och civila ledningssystemen. Att lista dessa problem är av intresse då det är av stor vikt att kunna se hur dessa system skulle kunna tänkas förbättras. Både utvecklare och användare har intervjuats i syfte att samla in viktiga åsikter. Resultatet blev en lista där de största problemen redovisades samt vilken inverkan de kan tänkas ha på användaren och dennes arbetsuppgifter.</p>

<p>Information overload förekommer på alla arbetsplatser där informationsbearbetning är viktigt för arbetsprocesserna. I vissa fall kan information overload medföra allvarliga konsekvenser både för den enskilda medarbetaren och för verksamheten i stort. På akutmottagningen på Centrallasarettet i Växjö har sjuksköterskorna en viktig roll som samordnare av den information som används i patientarbetet. Syftet med denna undersökning är att undersöka vilka faktorer som främst orsakar information overload hos sjuksköterskorna på akutmottagningen CLV, samt att undersöka hur fenomenet IO påverkar vårdkvaliteten.</p><p>Under mars och april 2007 genomfördes intervjuer med sju sjuksköterskor på den aktuella akutmottagningen utifrån en frågemall som utformats med hjälp av aktuell forskning på information overload. Resultatanalysen skedde utifrån en specifik orsakstabell som tagits från en litteratursammanställning av Eppler och Mengis (2004). Orsakstabellen utgår ifrån fem specifika områden - personliga faktorer, informationens karaktär, arbetsuppgifter och processparametrar, organisatorisk design samt informationsteknologi. Studien har genomförts utifrån en kvalitativ ansats.</p><p>Undersökningen visar att sjuksköterskorna på akutmottagningen ofta drabbas av information overload, och att riskfaktorer finns i samtliga fem ovanstående kategorier. Flera av deltagarna upplever regelbundet information overload-relaterade symtom och detta riskerar att hota patientsäkerheten på mottagningen. Dessutom leder det till minskad arbetstillfredsställelse hos sjuksköterskorna. Slutligen konstateras att en ordentlig informationsplan behöver upprättas för att rätta till de missförhållanden som orsakar information overload. Det är framför allt viktigt att informationen är relevant och hanterbar för att höja patientsäkerheten och vårdkvaliteten.</p> / <p>Information overload exists in all organisations where information processing is important for the work process. In some cases information overload is a serious threat to both the individual who suffers from it and to the organisation at large. At the emergency department at the Central Hospital in Växjö the nurses have an important function as coordinators of the information used in the patient treatments. The purpose of this study is to find out which factors primarily cause information overload in the emergency department and what implication this has on the quality of care given there.</p><p>In March and April of 2007 seven nurses were interviewed on the subject of information overload. Through a literary review relevant questions were formed for the interviews. The analysis of the answers were conducted from a table by Eppler and Mengis (2004) illustrating the causes of information overload. The table has five sub categories, personal factors, information characteristics, task and process parameters, organizational design and information technology. The study has a qualitative approach.</p><p>The result shows that the nurses at the ED are often affected by information overload, and that risk factors exist in all five sub categories mentioned above. Several nurses regularly experience symptoms caused by information overload, and this is a threat to patient safety at the ED. It also causes dissatisfaction in the daily work. Finally we conclude that a proper information plan is needed in order to find solutions to the problem. The information needs to be relevant and manageable to increase patient safety and the quality of care.</p>