Elicitation

Oxidimetbiin acts as a defoHant by eliciting the formation of an abscission layer at the middle lameUa, and examination with cotton explants indicates that ceUulase activity is increased at the abscission zone. 

Once they have elicited the appropriate action in their target tissue, hormones... 

The term endocrine disrupter (ED) has tended to be used for those chemicals which act specifically at the level of the hormone receptor present in the target cells of various organs. Such chemicals may either mimic the action of the natural hormone (agonistic activity) or are sufficiently similar in molecular shape to the naturally produced hormone to interfere with the interaction between the hormone and receptor, thus blocking or impeding the activation of the receptor (antagonsitic activity). Such effects may occur at very low concentrations (as with the endogenous hormone), compared with the concentrations normally required to elicit the more traditional toxic effects attributed to chemicals. Recently,... 

A chemical must have certain physicochemical properties to elicit an endocrine disrupting effect. For example, the ability to enter the body and to cross the cell membrane into the cellular medium requires a degree of lipophilicity. Fipophilic potentials may be compared by reference to the chemical s octanol-water coefficient (usually expressed as log K ). This property, together with molecular size and chemical structure, has an important influence on the bioacciimiilation... 

The definition of a drug differs between dictionaries and among the various professional specialisms. A search of the internet elicited various definitions and a paraphrase of the most memorable is a compound can be defined as a drug if, when injected into a rodent, it yields a scientific publication . Although this is a memorable definition, for the purposes of this review, however, a drug is defined broadly as a compound that has properties that influence the health of an animal when ingested or administered to that animal. A brief look at current literature will quickly convince the reader that this is a definition which covers man-made and natural compounds that can be extracted from plant material and microbes and iised. ... 

HAZOP is a formal technique for eliciting insights about system behavior from a multidisciplinary team that collectively has thorough knowledge of the plant and the physical phenomena involved in the plant (Figure 3.3.4-1). 

Wheeler, T. A. et al., Analysis of Core Damage Frequency from Internal Events Expert Judgment Elicitation, Vol. 2. 1989... 

Kaplan, S., 1989, Expert Information vs Expert Opinion Another Approach to the Problem of Eliciting/Combining/Using Expert Opinion in PRA, PSA-89, p. 593. 

There are some basic differences between toxic and allergic reactions. The most important differences are (1) an allergic reaction always requires a prior exposure to the compound, and this reaction only occurs in sensitized individuals and (2) a dose-response relationship is characteristic to a toxic reaction, whereas such a relationship is much less clear for an allergic reaction. Even minute doses can elicit an allergic reaction in a sensitized individual (see Fig. 5.42). ... 

Of the other Strychnos alkaloids vomicine has been investigated by Ruickoldt, who finds that in mice and rabbits it causes clonic convulsions, due to stimulation above the level of the anterior corpore quad-ragemina. Convulsions can be elicited after intravenous, but not after subcutaneous, injections. The toxicity is low twelve times the convulsive dose does not cause death. No special action is exerted on blood... 

The key to effective interviewing is to spend more time listening than talking. Approach each interview with an open mind, with as few preconceived ideas as possible about the facility, process, or individual you re reviewing. Remember that your goal in interviewing is not to fill out a form but to elicit essential information that will help guide your PSM system development. 

Following is a questionnaire format developed by a divisional PSM Task Force to elicit feedback from a plant s employees about the PSM pilot test. The Task Force designed it to be adaptable to a range of activities and plans to use it at the conclusion of each one. At the request of the plant manager, responses are sent directly to the Task Force rather than directed to him. 

The withheld information technique is used to explore the manner in which operators select and use information in process abnormalities. A particular abnormal process event is represented in a control panel "mock-up" or a "low-fidelity" simulator, and information is withheld from the worker until it is requested. This technique has been developed by Marshall et al. (1981) and has been used to elicit the diagnostic plans used by experienced workers during various process transients in a crude distillation imit. There are three main applications of this technique ... 

To elicit the knowledge of experienced workers that cannot be verbalized easily... 

Signal-flow graphs are useful in another sense they provide an objective representation of "how the system works" which can be used to evaluate the worker s subjective mental representation of the system. The influence modeling and assessment (IMAS) technique, which is described in subsequent sections, can also be used to elicit the worker s representation of the system. Both techniques, IMAS and SFG, can therefore be used for training personnel. 

FIGURE 4.13. Example of a Mental Model Elicited by IMAS (Embrey, 1985). 

It is important to note that the mental model representation elicited by this technique is not a process engineering model, but instead represents the process workers understanding of the various causes and consequences of the disturbance. This may or may not be in accordance with the actual chemistry or dynamics of the physical process. 

The mental model representation elicited by LINKCC can be used for a variety of purposes ... 

Since the mental model elicited by IMAS explicitly identifies the information needed to identify the causes of disturbances (and to distinguish among alternative causes), it can be used to specify the critical variables that need to be readily available to the process controller at the interface. This information can be used as an input to the design and upgrading of interfaces, particularly when new technology is being installed. 

The IMAS technique described above is useful, in that it addresses aspects of operational skills, that is, diagnostic and problem solving abilities, that are not covered by other techniques. To that extent it can be regarded as a method of cognitive task analysis. It is not essential to use a computer program to obtain useful results. The mental models produced by IMAS can be elicited by pencil and paper methods. Nevertheless interpretation and application of the results require some expertise. 

In some organizations, designated individuals have specific responsibility for eliciting detailed information from operational staff on the immediate and underlying causes of incidents. An example is the Human Performance Evaluation System (HPES) developed for the nuclear industry, which is described in Bishop and Larhette (1988). These coordinators provide a certain level of guaranteed irrununity from sanctions which allows individuals to be frank about the contributory causes that they may not be willing to discuss in an open forum. As discussed earlier, the need for this approach is a consequence of the fact that in many organizations a blame culture exists which is likely to inhibit a free flow of information about the causes of accidents. 

The capability to modify the sequence of questions interactively means that the information elicitation process can home-in on particularly useful areas for establishing causes. 

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