Tolerance of ambiguity

A decreased tolerance of ambiguity takes place and the operator triggers a response as soon as he or she has a minimum of information to get out of the unpleasant situation. Decisions and actions may thus take place based on a premature understanding of the situation and the dangerous situation may escalate rather than being put under control. 

Table 1 is condensed from Handbook 44. It Hsts the number of divisions allowed for each class, eg, a Class III scale must have between 100 and 1,200 divisions. Also, for each class it Hsts the acceptance tolerances appHcable to test load ranges expressed in divisions (d) for example, for test loads from 0 to 5,000 d, a Class II scale has an acceptance tolerance of 0.5 d. The least ambiguous way to specify the accuracy for an industrial or retail scale is to specify an accuracy class and the number of divisions, eg. Class III, 5,000 divisions. It must be noted that this is not the same as 1 part in 5,000, which is another method commonly used to specify accuracy eg, a Class III 5,000 d scale is allowed a tolerance which varies from 0.5 d at zero to 2.5 d at 5,000 divisions. CaHbration curves are typically plotted as in Figure 12, which shows a typical 5,000-division Class III scale. The error tunnel (stepped lines, top and bottom) is defined by the acceptance tolerances Hsted in Table 1. The three caHbration curves belong to the same scale tested at three different temperatures. Performance must remain within the error tunnel under the combined effect of nonlinearity, hysteresis, and temperature effect on span. Other specifications, including those for temperature effect on zero, nonrepeatabiHty, shift error, and creep may be found in Handbook 44 (5). The acceptance tolerances in Table 1 apply to new or reconditioned equipment tested within 30 days of being put into service. After that, maintenance tolerances apply they ate twice the values Hsted in Table 1.

The representation of the solution must have a unique interpretation, computers having less tolerance for ambiguity than humans, so when executing the steps with the same input data, the same outputs are obtained. 

Norton, R. W. (1975). Measurement of ambiguity tolerances. Journal of Personality Assessment, 39, 607-619. 

They are capable of handling somewhat ambiguous situations (there is a limit to the level of ambiguity that is tolerable). 

Such tolerance of contradictions and ambiguity may be something which can be sought and practised in the pursuit of the something else of inclusion. 

Detection limits in ICPMS depend on several factors. Dilution of the sample has a lai e effect. The amount of sample that may be in solution is governed by suppression effects and tolerable levels of dissolved solids. The response curve of the mass spectrometer has a large effect. A typical response curve for an ICPMS instrument shows much greater sensitivity for elements in the middle of the mass range (around 120 amu). Isotopic distribution is an important factor. Elements with more abundant isotopes at useful masses for analysis show lower detection limits. Other factors that affect detection limits include interference (i.e., ambiguity in identification that arises because an elemental isotope has the same mass as a compound molecules that may be present in the system) and ionization potentials. Elements that are not efficiently ionized, such as arsenic, suffer from poorer detection limits. 

There is an ambiguity in the way sulfur is reported in the literature that has caused confusion in the amount that can be tolerated. Reports often fail to distinguish whether the sulfur is measured by weight, as it would be before vaporization of a liquid fuel, or by volume, as it would be in a gas fuel or fuel gas reformate. An approximate mle of thumb is that the amount (by volume) of sulfur in a vaporized fuel is one-tenth the amount of sulfur measured by weight in the liquid fuel. 300 ppm sulfur (by weight) in the liquid fuel equates to 30 ppm sulfur (by volume) when the fuel is converted to a gaseous reformate. 

Function performance criteria must not be simply stated as discrete values that do not provide any degree of tolerance or that do not express the consequence of performance loss or interruption. Performance criteria stated as Maintain room temperature at 18°C are loose and ambiguous, and should be more accurately specified as ... 

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