Accuracy and Calibration Failures in Science and Engineering

Terminology

Term	Definition
Alarm fatigue	A state in which operators become desensitized to frequent or non-critical alerts, increasing the risk of missing critical warnings.
Analytical blind spot	A hidden area of vulnerability in a system or model where data is not collected, interpreted, or validated leading to incorrect or incomplete conclusions.
Assumption drift	The gradual divergence between the assumptions a system or model was designed on and the evolving real-world conditions it is applied to.
Audit trail	A verifiable record of the steps taken in data collection, analysis, model development, and calibration, enabling traceability and accountability.
Bias (cognitive or model-based)	Systematic deviation in judgment or data interpretation, often rooted in flawed heuristics or model training on incomplete data.
Blameless postmortem	A retrospective investigation of failures or near misses that focuses on systemic improvement rather than individual fault.
Calibration drift	A slow, often undetected change in an instrument’s accuracy or performance over time, which may lead to incorrect measurements if uncorrected.
Calibration lifecycle	The complete process of an instrument’s calibration, from initial configuration through ongoing recalibration, performance checks, and retirement.
Challenge loop	A feedback mechanism built into decision-making and system design that encourages dissent, red-teaming, and model stress testing to uncover hidden flaws.