Evaluation of the Trajectory Operations Applications Software Task (TOAST). Volume 2: Interview transcripts

The Trajectory Operations Applications Software Task (TOAST) is a software development project whose purpose is to provide trajectory operation pre-mission and real-time support for the Space Shuttle. The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate TOAST as an Application Manager - to assess current and planned capabilities, compare capabilities to commercially-available off the shelf (COTS) software, and analyze requirements of MCC and Flight Analysis Design System (FADS) for TOAST implementation. As a major part of the data gathering for the evaluation, interviews were conducted with NASA and contractor personnel. Real-time and flight design users, orbit navigation users, the TOAST developers, and management were interviewed. Code reviews and demonstrations were also held. Each of these interviews was videotaped and transcribed as appropriate. Transcripts were edited and are presented chronologically

Warning System for Outdoor Construction Workers Using Haptic Communication

A construction site is a risky workplace with constant movement of heavy vehicles on ground and cranes overhead, and simultaneous construction work at multiple levels along with significantly high noise levels. Over the past few decades, several efforts have been made to utilize technological advances in order to make the worksite a safer place and yielded positive results. However, the fatal and nonfatal count still remains very high for the construction industry. This study attempted to test haptic communication as an additional layer of safety for construction workers by developing a prototype to provide haptic feedback for predetermined Geofence zones. A phenomenological research study was conducted with the help of construction professionals to gather industry opinion on the haptic feedback prototypes and to determine the optimal location for the placement of the haptic feedback device. The study found that haptic communication has significant potential to reduce the fatal and non-fatal injuries on construction sites. In addition, the study determined the factors affecting the placement of wearable haptic warning system for outdoor construction workers

Warning System for Outdoor Construction Workers Using Haptic Communication

A construction site is a risky workplace with constant movement of heavy vehicles on ground and cranes overhead, and simultaneous construction work at multiple levels along with significantly high noise levels. Over the past few decades, several efforts have been made to utilize technological advances in order to make the worksite a safer place and yielded positive results. However, the fatal and nonfatal count still remains very high for the construction industry. This study attempted to test haptic communication as an additional layer of safety for construction workers by developing a prototype to provide haptic feedback for predetermined Geofence zones. A phenomenological research study was conducted with the help of construction professionals to gather industry opinion on the haptic feedback prototypes and to determine the optimal location for the placement of the haptic feedback device. The study found that haptic communication has significant potential to reduce the fatal and non-fatal injuries on construction sites. In addition, the study determined the factors affecting the placement of wearable haptic warning system for outdoor construction workers

Take Me Out to the Metaphor

[Excerpt] “In the fall of 2003, Judge Smith of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island wrote that “[c]ases examining the issue of workplace sexual harassment by women against women are about as common as a baseball post-season that includes the Cubs and the Red Sox . . . . Judge Smith’s observation was, of course, rooted in the perception among baseball fans, and in the popular culture, that nothing says “futility” quite like a reference to the Chicago Cubs or the Boston Red Sox. Conversely, there can be little doubt that for one in search of a baseball metaphor for success, all roads lead to the Bronx, home of the New York Yankees. This article examines judicial references to the Cubs, Red Sox, and Yankees that are based on the ongoing ninety-eight-year wait for a World Series championship on the North Side of Chicago, the recently ended eighty-six-year drought between titles in Beantown, and the twenty-six World Series trophies won so far by the men in pinstripes.

Celebrity chefs: class mobility, media, masculinity

There is an unprecedented construction of contemporary celebrity unique to the figure of the chef. This thesis considers the position of chefs in celebrity culture, and the construction of a particular kind of authoritative celebrity identity, with an emphasis on empirical research. I examine the effects of celebrity culture on the work of chefs and in terms of gender, taste, and class. I argue that the commercial kitchen is a space that institutionalises masculinity, and that popular media and celebrity culture augment the process of institutionalisation. This thesis also considers the production of economies of cultural capital across different platforms and in different forms. I position social media as a key site that produces global economies of cultural capital, and that facilitates diverse modes of consumption and production of cultural capital. Celebrity culture has altered the way chefs are perceived by consumers and the media. In response to celebrity culture, chefs’ work has moved outside the kitchen and is becoming increasingly abstract. Intellectual labours enable class and social mobility and articulate taste, positioning celebrity chefs as middle class rather than working class. Celebrity chef culture has created what I call the ‘chef economy’, within which restaurants trade on the brand and celebrity status of their chefs. This thesis provides a close examination of celebrity chef culture, drawing on principles of ethnographic research and one-on-one interviews with chefs who have extensive experience working with popular media and have negotiated celebrity culture in their work. My ethnographic approach and empirical research responds to suggestions for more empirical data in celebrity studies (Ferris 2010; Turner 2010b, 2013). Through developing a multimedia, multi-sited ethnography, in addition to in-depth interviews with chefs, I offer a discussion on the changing nature of celebrity culture and the changing labours of the chef