Detecting fatigue in car drivers and aircraft pilots by using non-invasive measures: The value of differentiation of sleepiness and mental fatigue.

Introduction: Fatigue is one of the most crucial factors that contribute to a decrease of the operating performance of aircraft pilots and car drivers and, as such, plays a dangerous role in transport safety. To reduce fatigue-related tragedies and to increase the quality of a healthy life, many studies have focused on exploring effective methods and psychophysiological indicators for detecting and monitoring fatigue. However, those fatigue indicators rose many discrepancies among simulator and field studies, due to the vague conceptualism of fatigue, per se, which hinders the development of fatigue monitoring devices.

Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Compliance in a Military Aviation Training Community.

Introduction: Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccination compliance as reported by the CDC in 2011 falls short of a national goal to have 80% of adolescents vaccine-complete by 2020. The Naval Aviation Schools Command, Pensacola, Florida offers a single point of contact for military aviation trainees offering near-complete capture of an HPV vaccine target population. The purpose of this study is to identify baseline HPV vaccination rates among military aviation trainees and whether or not the provision of educational materials at the start of aviation training would increase future HPV vaccination compliance.

Aviation-Modeled Investigation of Significant Obstetric Events.

Introduction: In this research, the authors attempted to ascertain whether or not the Root Cause Analysis Event Support and Engagement Team (RESET) investigates the use of U.S. Army aviation-based techniques by staff members or organizations in which serious obstetrical events have occurred.

Synergistic effects of edible plants with light environment on the emotion and sleep of humans in long-duration isolated environment.

The emotion and sleep-related problems of humans who are on mission of deep-space and deep-sea exploration are topics of special interest because of the isolated environment. Effective regulatory approaches should be developed to manage the positive emotions and sleep quality in a long-duration isolated environment. The results reported that emotion and sleep were closely linked to each other because plants could significantly regulate humans' emotion and sleep through their own color and fragrance.

Psychophysiological and cognitive effects of strawberry plants on people in isolated environments.

In manned deep-space exploration, extremely isolated environments may adversely affect the mood and cognition of astronauts. Horticultural plants and activities have been proven to be effective in improving their physical, psychological, and cognitive states. To assess the effects of applying horticultural plants and activities in isolated environments, this study investigated the influence of viewing strawberry plants on the mood of people in a laboratory experiment as indicated by heart rate, salivary cortisol, and psychological scales.

SmoPSI: Analysis and Prediction of Small Molecule Binding Sites Based on Protein Sequence Information.

The analysis and prediction of small molecule binding sites is very important for drug discovery and drug design. The traditional experimental methods for detecting small molecule binding sites are usually expensive and time consuming, and the tools for single species small molecule research are equally inefficient. In recent years, some algorithms for predicting binding sites of protein-small molecules have been developed based on the geometric and sequence characteristics of proteins.

Impact of Smoking and Smoking Cessation Medications in Aviators.

Purpose Of Review: To (1) compare the effects of cigarette smoking, nicotine withdrawal, and smoking cessation medications in US civilian and military aviators and (2) review the regulations in place regarding the use of smoking cessation medications for US aviators.

Recent Findings: Cigarette smoking and associated cessation attempts are associated with multiple hazards in flight to aviators including effects from nicotine intoxication, nicotine withdrawal, carbon monoxide intoxication, and side effects related to smoking cessation medications. Current civilian and military regulations place significant restrictions on the use of smoking cessation medications to aviators; however, recent research suggests that the hazards associated with these medications might be lower than the risk-associated unassisted nicotine withdrawal.

Adapting systems thinking and safety reporting in high-consequence industries to healthcare.

This chapter uses a systems approach to represent the healthcare sector and positions safety reporting programs as feedback mechanisms to reactively, proactively, and predictively improve the overall reliability and safety of care practices. Drawing from the aviation sector, benefits and limitations of different safety reporting systems are explored and challenges to adapting such systems into healthcare are presented. Examples of successful adaptation and implementation in healthcare demonstrate that while adaptation is possible and could yield impressive outcomes, such programs remain susceptible to the natural tendency of the healthcare system to remain siloed and internally competitive, rather than holistic and team-oriented.

Communicating safety information: Investigating how distractors affect the recall of key safety information in pre-flight safety briefings.

Distractors have been shown to adversely impact individuals' ability to acquire target information. However, not all distractors are the same. Distractors that compete/interfere for the same cognitive resources as the target, are thought to be more detrimental to performance than those that do not compete for the same resources.

Observations of Methane Emissions from Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants.

Current research efforts on the atmospheric impacts of natural gas (NG) have focused heavily on the production, storage/transmission, and processing sectors, with less attention paid to the distribution and end use sectors. This work discusses 23 flights at 14 natural gas-fired power plants (NGPPs) using an aircraft-based mass balance technique and methane/carbon dioxide enhancement ratios (ΔCH/ΔCO) measured from stack plumes to quantify the unburned fuel. By comparing the ΔCH/ΔCO ratio measured in stack plumes to that measured downwind, we determined that, within uncertainty of the measurement, all observed CH emissions were stack-based, that is, uncombusted NG from the stack rather than fugitive sources.

Moving towards a Network of Autonomous UAS Atmospheric Profiling Stations for Observations in the Earth's Lower Atmosphere: The 3D Mesonet Concept.

The deployment of small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to collect routine in situ vertical profiles of the thermodynamic and kinematic state of the atmosphere in conjunction with other weather observations could significantly improve weather forecasting skill and resolution. High-resolution vertical measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction are critical to the understanding of atmospheric boundary layer processes integral to air-surface (land, ocean and sea ice) exchanges of energy, momentum, and moisture; how these are affected by climate variability; and how they impact weather forecasts and air quality simulations. We explore the potential value of collecting coordinated atmospheric profiles at fixed surface observing sites at designated times using instrumented UAS.

The Effect of Teenage Passengers on Simulated Risky Driving Among Teenagers: A Randomized Trial.

Teenage passengers might influence risky driving, particularly in certain mental states. Notably, social exclusion could increase social conformity. Two studies examined simulated intersection management among young drivers after a social exclusion activity (Cyberball).

The musculoskeletal and cognitive effects of under-desk cycling compared to sitting for office workers.

Alternate work positions are being considered as a way to address sedentary behaviour for office workers. This study evaluated the effect of two hours of just-sitting versus sitting while under-desk cycling on musculoskeletal discomfort and cognitive function (sustained attention and creative problem solving). To consider mechanisms, muscle fatigue, kinematics and mental state were also measured.

Three more steps toward better science.

Science has striven to do better since its inception and has given us good philosophies, methodologies and statistical tools that, in their own way, do reasonably well for purpose. Unfortunately, progress has also been marred by historical clashes among perspectives, typically between frequentists and Bayesians, leading to troubles such as the current reproducibility crises. Here I wish to propose that science could do better with more resilient structures, more useful methodological tutorials, and clearer signaling regarding how much we can trust what it produces.

Facile synthesis of aminated indole-based porous organic polymer for highly selective capture of CO by the coefficient effect of π-π-stacking and hydrogen bonding.

A new aromatic aminated indole-based porous organic polymer, PIN-NH, has been successfully constructed, and it was demonstrated that the coefficient effect endows this porous material with outstanding CO absorption capacity (27.7 wt%, 1.0 bar, 273 K) and high CO/N (137 at 273 K and 1 bar) and CO/CH (34 at 273 K and 1 bar) selectivity.

How much space do drivers provide when passing cyclists? Understanding the impact of motor vehicle and infrastructure characteristics on passing distance.

Background: Understanding factors that influence the distance that drivers provide when passing cyclists is critical to reducing subjective risk and improving cycling participation. This study aimed to quantify passing distance and assess the impact of motor vehicle and road infrastructure characteristics on passing distance.

Methods: An on-road observational study was conducted in Victoria, Australia.

Modelling the volatility of international visitor arrivals to New Zealand.

International visitor arrivals are considered to be a major source of foreign exchange, tourism-related employment and other tourism-related activities. This study used SARIMAX/(E)GARCH volatility models to forecast visitor arrivals by air transport to New Zealand from its eight key tourist source markets (Australia, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US)) and control macroeconomic factors together with global and regional structural changes. The empirical models reveal that the macroeconomic factors contributed at various levels to different markets, and the models we provided made accurate and reliable forecasts for visitor arrivals by air transport from all studied markets.

Review of Airline-within-Airline strategy: Case studies of the Singapore Airlines Group and Qantas Group.

The growth of the aviation industry has seen a rapid increase in low-cost carriers (LCCs) commencing operations, threatening the sustainability of a number of legacy airlines. The response to this challenge and threat has been for legacy airlines to create an airline-within-airline (AWA). This study reviews prior literature regarding the hotel industry and multi-brand strategy, and also uses case studies to examine the evolution of the AWA strategy at the Singapore Airlines Group and the Qantas Group between 2000 and 2016 in order to identify why these airlines operate AWAs successfully.

An Evidence-Based Approach to Precepting New Nurses.

While developing a standardized approach to orient new staff in the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research Burn Center at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, nurse leaders identified the need to also standardize preceptor selection and instruction.

Crash characteristics of on-road single-bicycle crashes: an under-recognised problem.

Compared with crashes with motor vehicles, single-bicycle crashes are an under-recognised contributor to cycling injury and the aetiology is poorly understood. Using an in-depth crash investigation technique, this study describes the crash characteristics and patient outcomes of a sample of cyclists admitted to hospital following on-road bicycle crashes. Enrolled cyclists completed a structured interview, and injury details and patient outcomes were extracted from trauma registries.

The impact of bicycle helmet legislation on cycling fatalities in Australia.

Background: Australian bicycle helmet laws were first introduced in Victoria in July 1990 and the remaining Australian states, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory by July 1992. Previous research on helmet legislation has focused on changes in helmet wearing and bicycle-related head injury. Although it is generally accepted that bicycle helmets can reduce the risk of fatality due to head injury, there has been little research assessing the impact of helmet legislation on cycling fatalities.

Reconstruction of an informative railway wheel defect signal from wheel-rail contact signals measured by multiple wayside sensors.

Wheel impact load detectors are widespread railway systems used for measuring the wheel-rail contact force. They usually measure the rail strain and convert it to force in order to detect high impact forces and corresponding detrimental wheels. The measured strain signal can also be used to identify the defect type and its severity.

Manual Handling in Aged Care: Impact of Environment-related Interventions on Mobility.

The manual handling of people (MHP) is known to be associated with high incidence of musculoskeletal disorders for aged care staff. Environment-related MHP interventions, such as appropriate seated heights to aid sit-to-stand transfers, can reduce staff injury while improving the patient's mobility. Promoting patient mobility within the manual handling interaction is an endorsed MHP risk control intervention strategy.

Field study of neutrality cabin temperature for Chinese passenger in economy class of civil aircraft.

Cabin thermal comfort is an important factor for the competitiveness of civil aviation. It has become a hot topic in recent years. However, there are still no clear standards for the thermal comfort in the aircraft cabin.