Space Transportation Materials and Structures Technology Workshop

The Space Transportation Materials and Structures Technology Workshop was held on September 23-26, 1991, in Newport News, Virginia. The workshop, sponsored by the NASA Office of Space Flight and the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology, was held to provide a forum for communication within the space materials and structures technology developer and user communities. Workshop participants were organized into a Vehicle Technology Requirements session and three working panels: Materials and Structures Technologies for Vehicle Systems, Propulsion Systems, and Entry Systems

Oil company annual report disclosure responses to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill

This paper analyses the annual report disclosures of the other six largest oil companies in reaction to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It focusses on changes in disclosures that can be ascribed to the oil spill. The companies all increased their environmental disclosures, with positive disclosures increasing most. It shows the use of an image enhancement disclosure strategy and a (partial) disclaiming of responsibility disclosure strategy, but do not find evidence consistent with a deflection of attention disclosure strategy, probably due to the high profile of the incident. It is found that BP’s strategy of repeating disclosures about remedial activities several times in different parts of the annual report ensures: an emphasis on the positive, that all stakeholders regardless of their area of focus are likely to notice this disclosure, an increase in the volume of environmental disclosure, and that less detail can be disclosed, reducing litigation-related risks

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Implementation: The Future of Commercial Trucking Across the Mexican Border

[Excerpt] NAFTA set forth a schedule for implementing its trucking provisions that would have opened the border states to cross-border trucking competition in 1995 and all of North America in 2000, but full implementation has been stalled because of concern with the safety of Mexican trucks. Congress first addressed these concerns in the FY2002 Department of Transportation Appropriations Act (P.L. 107-87) which set 22 safety-related preconditions for opening the border to long-haul Mexican trucks. In November 2002, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that all the preconditions had been met and began processing Mexican applications for U.S. long-haul authority. However, a suit over environmental compliance delayed implementation further. After the suit was resolved, in February 2007, the U.S. and Mexican Secretaries of Transportation announced a demonstration project to implement the NAFTA trucking provisions. The purpose of the project was to demonstrate the ability of Mexico-based motor carriers to operate safely in the United States beyond the border commercial zones. Up to 100 Mexico-domiciled carriers would be allowed to operate throughout the United States for one year and Mexico would allow the same for up to 100 U.S.-based carriers. With passage of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veteran’s Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (P.L. 110-28), Congress mandated additional requirements before the project could begin. After failing to defund the demonstration project in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 110-161), Congress succeeded in terminating the demonstration project through a provision in the FY2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-8). Subsequently, Mexico announced it would retaliate by increasing import duties on 90 U.S. products. The Obama Administration has indicated it intends to propose a revamped program that will address the concerns of Congress. The FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-117) passed in December 2009 did not preclude funds from being spent on a long-haul Mexican truck pilot program, provided the terms and conditions stipulated in section 350 of P.L. 107-87 and section 6901 of P.L. 110-28 were satisfied. One truck safety statistic, “out-of-service” rates, indicates that Mexican trucks operating in the United States are now safer than they were a decade ago. The data indicate that Mexican trucks and drivers have a comparable safety record to U.S. truckers. Another study indicates that the truck driver is usually the more critical factor in causing accidents than a safety defect with the truck itself. Service characteristics of long-haul trucking suggest that substandard carriers would likely not succeed in this market. As shipment distance increases, the relative cost of trucking compared to rail increases, and thus shippers utilizing long-haul trucking are willing to pay more because they require premium service, such as precise delivery windows or cargo refrigeration. These exacting service requirements would seem to disqualify truckers with unreliable equipment or incompetent drivers. In contrast, the short-haul “drayage” carriers that Mexican long-haul carriers would displace, typically use older equipment because of the many hours spent idling awaiting customs processing at the border. If Mexican carriers do eventually receive long-haul authority, the short term impact is expected to be gradual as Mexican firms deal with a number of stumbling blocks, including lack of prearranged back hauls and higher insurance and capital costs, in addition to the customs processing delays. In the long run, use of drayage companies is likely to decline as they lose part of their market share to Mexican long-haul carriers. The most common trips for these carriers will probably be from the Mexican interior to warehouse facilities on the U.S. side of the border or to nearby cities in the border states

An exploration of how domains of quality of care relate to overall care experience

Purpose: To determine the relative influence of the different domains of healthcare quality from the Care Experience Feedback Improvement Tool and identify key predictors of healthcare quality from the patients’ perspective. Measurement is necessary to determine whether quality of healthcare is improving. The Care Experience Feedback Improvement Tool was developed as a brief measure of patient experience. It is important to determine the relative influence of the different domains of healthcare quality to further clarify how the Care Experience Feedback Improvement Tool can be used and identify key predictors of healthcare quality from the patients’ perspective. Methods: 802 people with a healthcare experience during the previous 12 months were telephoned to complete the Care Experience Feedback Improvement Tool questions and an additional eleven-point global rating of patient experience. To estimate the influence of different domains of healthcare quality on patient overall ratings of quality of healthcare experience, we regressed the overall rating of patient experience with each component of quality (safety, effectiveness, timely, caring, enables system navigation and person-centred). Findings: We found that all of the domains of the Care Experience Feedback Improvement Tool, influenced patient experience ratings of healthcare quality. Specifically, results show the degree of influence, the impact of demographics and how high scores for overall rating of patient experience can be predicted. Originality: Our findings suggest that all of the Care Experience Feedback Improvement Tool domains are important in terms of capturing the wholeness of the patient experience of healthcare quality to direct local quality improvement

Knowledge transfer processes in PFI: identification of barriers and enablers

Increasingly, the UK’s Private Finance Initiative has created a demand for construction companies to transfer knowledge from one organization or project to another. Knowledge transfer processes in such contexts face many challenges, due to the many resulting discontinuities in the involvement of organisations, personnel and information flow. This paper empirically identifies the barriers and enablers that hinder or enhance the transfer of knowledge in PFI contexts, drawing upon a questionnaire survey of construction firms. The main findings show that knowledge transfer processes in PFIs are hindered by time constraints, lack of trust, and policies, procedures, rules and regulations attached to the projects. Nevertheless, the processes of knowledge transfer are enhanced by emphasising the value and importance of a supportive leadership, participation/commitment from the relevant parties, and good communication between the relevant parties. The findings have considerable relevance to understanding the mechanism of knowledge transfer between organizations, projects and individuals within the PFI contexts in overcoming the barriers and enhancing the enablers. Furthermore, practitioners and managers can use the findings to efficiently design knowledge transfer frameworks that can be used to overcome the barriers encountered while enhancing the enablers to improve knowledge transfer processes

The development and deployment of a maintenance operations safety survey

Objective: Based on the line operations safety audit (LOSA), two studies were conducted to develop and deploy an equivalent tool for aircraft maintenance: the maintenance operations safety survey (MOSS). Background: Safety in aircraft maintenance is currently measured reactively, based on the number of audit findings, reportable events, incidents, or accidents. Proactive safety tools designed for monitoring routine operations, such as flight data monitoring and LOSA, have been developed predominantly for flight operations. Method: In Study 1, development of MOSS, 12 test peer-to-peer observations were collected to investigate the practicalities of this approach. In Study 2, deployment of MOSS, seven expert observers collected 56 peer-to-peer observations of line maintenance checks at four stations. Narrative data were coded and analyzed according to the threat and error management (TEM) framework. Results: In Study 1, a line check was identified as a suitable unit of observation. Communication and third-party data management were the key factors in gaining maintainer trust. Study 2 identified that on average, maintainers experienced 7.8 threats (operational complexities) and committed 2.5 errors per observation. The majority of threats and errors were inconsequential. Links between specific threats and errors leading to 36 undesired states were established. Conclusion: This research demonstrates that observations of routine maintenance operations are feasible. TEM-based results highlight successful management strategies that maintainers employ on a day-to-day basis. Application: MOSS is a novel approach for safety data collection and analysis. It helps practitioners understand the nature of maintenance errors, promote an informed culture, and support safety management systems in the maintenance domain

Are Britain’s railways costing too much? Perspectives based on TFP comparisons with British Rail: 1963-2002.

Following the Hatfield accident in October 2000, the cost of running Britain’s railways has increased very sharply, leading to considerable debate about whether current cost levels are reasonable. This paper seeks to inform this debate by assessing post-Hatfield cost and TFP levels (2000/01 to 2001/02) against the historical precedents set by British Rail and the early experience of the newly-privatised industry (1963 to 1999/00). The results show that industry cash costs rose by 47% between 1999/00, the last financial year before Hatfield, and 2001/02 - but, surprisingly, with train operating costs (TOCs and freight operators) accounting for 42% of this growth. The results also show that the post-Hatfield cost spike is unprecedented when compared against historical benchmarks, indicating that recent cost rises cannot simply be explained by the investment cycle or so-called “bow-wave” effects. Furthermore, according to the preferred models, post-Hatfield productivity levels are lower than at any time over the last four decades. Analysis of long-term data on quality and safety measures indicates that an excessive focus on rail safety may offer part of the explanation for the recent cost growth, with the emphasis on safety also resulting in less attention to punctuality and reliability

Race and the Race for the White House: On Social Research in the Age of Trump

As it became clear that Donald Trump had a real base of political support, even as analysts consistently underestimated his electoral prospects, they grew increasingly fascinated with the question of who was supporting him (and why). However, researchers also tend to hold strong negative opinions about Trump. Consequently, they have approached this research with uncharitable priors about the kind of person who would support him and what they would be motivated by. Research design and data analysis often seem to be oriented towards reinforcing those assumptions. This essay highlights the epistemological consequences of these tendencies through a series of case studies featuring prominent and influential works that purport to explain the role of race and racism in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It demonstrates that quality control systems, which should catch major errors, seem to be failing in systematic ways as a result of shared priors and commitments between authors, reviewers and editors – which are also held in common with the journalists and scholars citing and amplifying this work – leading to misinformation cascades. Of course, motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, prejudicial study design, and failure to address confounds are not limited to questions about Trump – however they seem to be particularly pronounced in this case due to the relative homogeneity and intensity of scholars’ views about this topic as compared to other social phenomena. “Trump studies,” therefore, provides fertile ground for exploring how social research can go awry – and the consequences of these failures -- particularly with respect to work on contentious and politically-charged topics

Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence

Success in the quest for artificial intelligence has the potential to bring unprecedented benefits to humanity, and it is therefore worthwhile to investigate how to maximize these benefits while avoiding potential pitfalls. This article gives numerous examples (which should by no means be construed as an exhaustive list) of such worthwhile research aimed at ensuring that AI remains robust and beneficial.Comment: This article gives examples of the type of research advocated by the open letter for robust & beneficial AI at http://futureoflife.org/ai-open-lette