Developing a High-Fidelity Simulation Lab: Challenges and Lessons Learned

With a decade of experience, the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) NASA FOCUS (Flight Operations Center- Unified Simulation) lab is a vital part of the educational experience for senior aerospace students. The NASA FOCUS Lab is a high fidelity simulation of a flight dispatch center in a collegiate setting. Students are trained in specific positions in the lab and must operate within a complex team environment to run the virtual airline within their shift. The purpose of the lab is to provide a learning platform for students to practice the requisite teamwork skills necessary to effectively work in airline operations. Designing effective simulation experiences and providing adequate performance feedback is complex. This paper discusses some of the challenges we encountered and lessons learned through a ten-year span of operation and refinement. By presenting this information, it may help future researchers in the design and development of high-fidelity simulation labs

Decontextualization effect in simulation training for transverse professional practices

Whereas full scale simulators operated for contextualized simulated training sessions are widely used for occupational training, studies undertaken regarding virtual applications have shown that decontextualized simulated situations could be used as a relevant lever to help trainees improving professional skills. This was here quantified and analyzed through three different experimental conditions (two included virtual training, contextualized and decontextualized) summoning N=33 experienced workers. A pre-analysis for experiment design helped us to define necessary features for decontextualized design with the objective of successful occupational training. Analysis of the benefits induced by each experimental condition was undertaken through comparative assessment of trainees’ performance after training. Results showed that, when respecting aforementioned specified features for experienced workers, decontextualized simulation training could significantly increase performance compared to contextualized training. This phenomenon was discussed both from the psychological and neurophysiologic standpoints

An Assessment of the Degree of Implementation of the Lean Aerospace Initiative Principles and Practices within the US Aerospace and Defense Industry

This report is a formal documentation of the results of an assessment of the degree to which Lean Principles and Practices have been implemented in the US Aerospace and Defense Industry. An Industry Association team prepared it for the DCMA-DCAAIndustry Association “Crosstalk” Coalition in response to a “Crosstalk” meeting action request to the industry associations. The motivation of this request was provided by the many potential benefits to system product quality, affordability and industry responsiveness, which a high degree of industry Lean implementation can produce

Workshop on Grid Generation and Related Areas

A collection of papers given at the Workshop on Grid Generation and Related Areas is presented. The purpose of this workshop was to assemble engineers and scientists who are currently working on grid generation for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), surface modeling, and related areas. The objectives were to provide an informal forum on grid generation and related topics, to assess user experience, to identify needs, and to help promote synergy among engineers and scientists working in this area. The workshop consisted of four sessions representative of grid generation and surface modeling research and application within NASA LeRC. Each session contained presentations and an open discussion period

Risk of Performance and Behavioral Health Decrements Due to Inadequate Cooperation, Coordination, Communication, and Psychosocial Adaptation within a Team

A team is defined as: "two or more individuals who interact socially and adaptively, have shared or common goals, and hold meaningful task interdependences; it is hierarchically structured and has a limited life span; in it expertise and roles are distributed; and it is embedded within an organization/environmental context that influences and is influenced by ongoing processes and performance outcomes" (Salas, Stagl, Burke, & Goodwin, 2007, p. 189). From the NASA perspective, a team is commonly understood to be a collection of individuals that is assigned to support and achieve a particular mission. Thus, depending on context, this definition can encompass both the spaceflight crew and the individuals and teams in the larger multi-team system who are assigned to support that crew during a mission. The Team Risk outcomes of interest are predominantly performance related, with a secondary emphasis on long-term health; this is somewhat unique in the NASA HRP in that most Risk areas are medically related and primarily focused on long-term health consequences. In many operational environments (e.g., aviation), performance is assessed as the avoidance of errors. However, the research on performance errors is ambiguous. It implies that actions may be dichotomized into "correct" or "incorrect" responses, where incorrect responses or errors are always undesirable. Researchers have argued that this dichotomy is a harmful oversimplification, and it would be more productive to focus on the variability of human performance and how organizations can manage that variability (Hollnagel, Woods, & Leveson, 2006) (Category III1). Two problems occur when focusing on performance errors: 1) the errors are infrequent and, therefore, difficult to observe and record; and 2) the errors do not directly correspond to failure. Research reveals that humans are fairly adept at correcting or compensating for performance errors before such errors result in recognizable or recordable failures. Astronauts are notably adept high performers. Most failures are recorded only when multiple, small errors occur and humans are unable to recognize and correct or compensate for these errors in time to prevent a failure (Dismukes, Berman, Loukopoulos, 2007) (Category III). More commonly, observers record variability in levels of performance. Some teams commit no observable errors but fail to achieve performance objectives or perform only adequately, while other teams commit some errors but perform spectacularly. Successful performance, therefore, cannot be viewed as simply the absence of errors or the avoidance of failure Johnson Space Center (JSC) Joint Leadership Team, 2008). While failure is commonly attributed to making a major error, focusing solely on the elimination of error(s) does not significantly reduce the risk of failure. Failure may also occur when performance is simply insufficient or an effort is incapable of adjusting sufficiently to a contextual change (e.g., changing levels of autonomy)

Digitalization and Development

This book examines the diffusion of digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies in Malaysia by focusing on the ecosystem critical for its expansion. The chapters examine the digital proliferation in major sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, e-commerce and services, as well as the intermediary organizations essential for the orderly performance of socioeconomic agents. The book incisively reviews policy instruments critical for the effective and orderly development of the embedding organizations, and the regulatory framework needed to quicken the appropriation of socioeconomic synergies from digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies. It highlights the importance of collaboration between government, academic and industry partners, as well as makes key recommendations on how to encourage adoption of IR4.0 technologies in the short- and long-term. This book bridges the concepts and applications of digitalization and Industry 4.0 and will be a must-read for policy makers seeking to quicken the adoption of its technologies

Time out : organizational training for improvisation in lifesaving critial teams

textExemplified by fire crews, SWAT teams, and emergency surgical units, critical teams are a subset of action teams whose work is marked by finality, pressure, and potentially fatal outcomes (Ishak & Ballard, 2012). Using communicative and temporal lenses, this study investigates how organizations prime and prepare their embedded critical teams to deal with improvisation. This study explicates how organizations both encourage and discourage improvisation for their embedded critical teams. Throughout the training process, organizations implement a structured yet flexible “roadmap”-type approach to critical team work, an approach that is encapsulated through three training goals. The first goal is to make events routine to members. The second goal is to help members deal with non-routine events. The third goal is to help members understand how to differentiate between what is routine and non-routine. The grounded theory analysis in this study also surfaced three tools that are used within the parameters of the roadmap approach: experience, communicative decision making, and sensemaking. Using Dewey’s (1939, 1958) theory of experience, I introduce a middle-range adapted theory of critical team experience. In this theory, experience and sensemaking are synthesized through communicative decision making to produce decisions, actions, and outcomes in time-limited, specialized, stressful environments. Critical teams have unique temporal patterns that must be considered in any study of their work. Partially based on the nested phase model (Ishak & Ballard, 2012), I also identify three phases of critical team process as critical-interactive, meaning that they are specific to action/critical teams, and they are engaged in by critical teams for the expressed purpose of interaction. These phases are simulation, adaptation, and debriefing. These tools and phases are then placed in the Critical-Action-Response Training Outcomes Grid (CARTOG) to create nine interactions that are useful in implementing a structured yet flexible approach to improvisation in the work of critical teams. Data collection consisted of field observations, semi-structured interviews, and impromptu interviews at work sites. In total, I engaged in 55 hours of field observations at 10 sites. I conducted 31 semi-structured interviews with members of wildland and urban fire crews; emergency medical teams; and tactical teams, including SWAT teams and a bomb squad. I also offer practical implications and future directions for research on the temporal and communicative aspects of critical teams, their parent organizations, and considerations of improvisation in their work.Communication Studie

Continual improvement: A bibliography with indexes, 1992-1993

This bibliography lists 606 references to reports and journal articles entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database during 1992 to 1993. Topics cover the philosophy and history of Continual Improvement (CI), basic approaches and strategies for implementation, and lessons learned from public and private sector models. Entries are arranged according to the following categories: Leadership for Quality, Information and Analysis, Strategic Planning for CI, Human Resources Utilization, Management of Process Quality, Supplier Quality, Assessing Results, Customer Focus and Satisfaction, TQM Tools and Philosophies, and Applications. Indexes include subject, personal author, corporate source, contract number, report number, and accession number

Digitalization and Development

This book examines the diffusion of digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies in Malaysia by focusing on the ecosystem critical for its expansion. The chapters examine the digital proliferation in major sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, e-commerce and services, as well as the intermediary organizations essential for the orderly performance of socioeconomic agents. The book incisively reviews policy instruments critical for the effective and orderly development of the embedding organizations, and the regulatory framework needed to quicken the appropriation of socioeconomic synergies from digitalization and Industry 4.0 technologies. It highlights the importance of collaboration between government, academic and industry partners, as well as makes key recommendations on how to encourage adoption of IR4.0 technologies in the short- and long-term. This book bridges the concepts and applications of digitalization and Industry 4.0 and will be a must-read for policy makers seeking to quicken the adoption of its technologies