Using PVS to investigate incidents through the lens of distributed cognition

Authors:
Paolo Masci;Huayi Huang;Paul Curzon;Michael D. Harrison
Affiliations:
Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom;Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom;Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom;Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
Venue:
NFM'12 Proceedings of the 4th international conference on NASA Formal Methods
Year:
2012

Citing 2
Cited 2

PVS: A Prototype Verification System

CADE-11 Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Automated Deduction: Automated Deduction
Using usability heuristics to evaluate patient safety of medical devices

Journal of Biomedical Informatics - Patient safety

Supporting field investigators with PVS: a case study in the healthcare domain

SERENE'12 Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Software Engineering for Resilient Systems
Analysing interactive devices based on information resource constraints

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

A systematic tool-based method is outlined that raises questions about the circumstances surrounding an incident: why it happened and what went wrong. The approach offers a practical and systematic way to apply a distributed cognition perspective to incident investigations, focusing on how available information resources (or the lack of them) may shape user action, rather than just on causal chains. This perspective supports a deeper understanding of the more systemic causes of incidents. The analysis is based on a higher order-logic model describing how information resources may have influenced the actions of those involved in the incident. The PVS theorem proving system is used to identify situations where available resources may afford unsafe user actions. The method is illustrated using a healthcare case study.