Effect of Pain and Task Load on Flying Performance

An operationally-significant number of Griffon aircrew in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) develop chronic neck pain; however, it is unclear how this chronic pain affects their ability to accomplish their missions. Extant literature on pain and human performance has found that pain can negatively affect tasks constrained by short-term memory and attention switching. We sought to test whether pain has similar effects on personnel piloting helicopters in simulation. Twenty-three RCAF personnel flew a simulated Griffon helicopter through waypoints along a target path. We were particularly interested in the effects of three variables: a) the presence or absence of induced thermal pain, b) the presence or absence of a secondary engine monitoring task requiring sustained attention, and c) the experience level of the pilots. The results suggest that pain can interfere with flight performance, particularly for less experienced pilots engaged in multiple tasks over more extended time durations

Effect of Pain and Task Load on Flying Performance

An operationally-significant number of Griffon aircrew in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) develop chronic neck pain; however, it is unclear how this chronic pain affects their ability to accomplish their missions. Extant literature on pain and human performance has found that pain can negatively affect tasks constrained by short-term memory and attention switching. We sought to test whether pain has similar effects on personnel piloting helicopters in simulation. Twenty-three RCAF personnel flew a simulated Griffon helicopter through waypoints along a target path. We were particularly interested in the effects of three variables: a) the presence or absence of induced thermal pain, b) the presence or absence of a secondary engine monitoring task requiring sustained attention, and c) the experience level of the pilots. The results suggest that pain can interfere with flight performance, particularly for less experienced pilots engaged in multiple tasks over more extended time durations

Towards an explanation of age-related difficulties in crossing a two-way street

Crossing a two-way street is a complex task that involves visual, cognitive and motor abilities, all of which are known to decline with ageing. In particular, older pedestrians may experience difficulties when crossing two-way streets because of incorrect gap acceptance choices and impossible or unperceived evasive actions. To understand the overrepresentation of older pedestrians in crash statistics, several experimental studies have sought to identify traffic-related factors as well as those related to the abilities of the individuals themselves. However, none of these studies has required participants to actually walk across an experimental two-way street with curbs, which is a particularly challenging situation for older pedestrians. To fill this research gap, a quasi- experiment was conducted in a simulator including a total of 58 healthy aged participants (25 younger-old [age 60 - 72] and 33 older-old [age 72 - 92]) and 25 young adults (aged 18 - 25 years). Participants carried out a street-crossing task in a simulated two-way traffic environment; curbs were present on both sides of the experimental street. Participants also undertook a battery of tests to assess their visual and cognitive abilities. In addition, during the experiment, the participants' gait parameters were recorded. In line with earlier findings, the older-old group of participants made a higher number of decisions that led to collisions with approaching cars compared with the other groups. The two groups of older participants experienced specific difficulties when vehicles were in the far lane or when they approached rapidly. A regression analysis identified visual acuity, speed of processing (assessed using the UFOV® test), and step length as significant predictors of collisions. Our results have implications for understanding the difficulties experienced by older pedestrians and allow to draw up several recommendations for improving their safety

LORIS (Longitudinal Online Research and Imaging System)

<h2>What's Changed</h2> <ul> <li>[media] React Warning on Upload Tab by @skarya22 in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8721</li> <li>[issue_tracker] Do not display inactive users in issue form by @charlottesce in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8841</li> <li>[LINST] skip metadatafields for surveys by @zaliqarosli in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8961</li> <li>[dictionary] Fixes for correct displaying "Data Type" column for the enumeration type in the "Data Dictionary (Beta)" table by @yagurdmitriy in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8976</li> <li>[tools] Fix efficiency of fix_candidate_age script by @CamilleBeau in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8992</li> <li>[media] fixes issue when media module try to instantiate a non existing instrument. by @racostas in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8903</li> <li>[instrument_list] Fix deprecation warning by @driusan in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8867</li> <li>[LINST] fix survey and date issues by @ridz1208 in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8858</li> <li>[JSX] Modal Width Prop by @skarya22 in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8893</li> <li>[libraries] Get examiner sites by UserID by @CamilleBeau in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8994</li> <li>[genomic_browser] Download button not showing up in the Files tab by @ridz1208 in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8480</li> <li>[issue_tracker - raisinbread/tools] Fix issue tracker history wrong module ID by @zaliqarosli in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8677</li> <li>[Issue Tracker] Issue Change Notifications by @skarya22 in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8885</li> <li>[behavioural_qc] fixes visitLevel feedback not showing up. by @racostas in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8900</li> <li>[battery_manager] Update Test Plan by @skarya22 in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8782</li> </ul> <h2>New Contributors</h2> <ul> <li>@yagurdmitriy made their first contribution in https://github.com/aces/Loris/pull/8976</li> </ul> <p><strong>Full Changelog</strong>: https://github.com/aces/Loris/compare/v25.0.1...v25.0.2</p>If you use this software, please cite it using these metadata