Advanced Air Mobility Human factors Considerations for Current eVTOL Pilot Interfaces

Advanced air mobility (AAM) is a novel transportation concept using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people and cargo in urban and rural environments. The emergence of AAM has led to a range of different eVTOL vehicle designs at different stages in development, flight testing, and certification. Although these aircraft will serve similar markets, they will have different operational capabilities and pilot interfaces. These aircraft vary in whether they are (a) multi-rotor and have tilt-rotor capabilities, or (b) winged with tilt-wing capabilities, vectored thrust, fans, or propellers. The pilot interfaces in eVTOL align with the concept of simplified vehicle operations (SVO), which emphasizes the use of automation to simplify the physical control a pilot has on the aircraft, effectively reducing workload. Pilot interfaces range in their level of landing precision information, the number of displays, checklist presentation, and how battery information is presented. A preliminary survey was conducted to determine common trends in eVTOL pilot interfaces. Common trends identified include large displays, integration of flight information such as speed, altitude, heading, climb and descent rate, flight path, battery power information, origin and destination of the flight, weather information, aircraft range and location, tilt information, and rotation per minute (RPM). This presentation will investigate trends in the eVTOL pilot interfaces and the associated human factors issues that may arise due to these interfaces. Additionally, simulation testbeds available to examine the human factors issues associated with these pilot interfaces will be presented

Understanding How to Diversify the Cybersecurity Workforce: A Qualitative Analysis

A robust cybersecurity workforce is critical for protection against a range of malicious attacks. However, it has been noted that there are many vacancies and a shortage of individuals entering the cybersecurity workforce. This workforce shortage has partly been attributed to the lack of diversity in the cybersecurity field, with women, African Americans, and Hispanics remaining underrepresented in educational and professional settings. Using a qualitative approach, this work sought to investigate what led underrepresented minorities currently involved in cybersecurity to the industry, with the goal of determining methods to attract and diversify the workforce. A thematic analysis was conducted using data collected during interviews with 23 participants including underrepresented minority students, underrepresented minority professionals, college instructors, and a high school administrator. The interview questions aimed to address (a) what attracted minorities to the field, (b) how they overcame educational and professional roadblocks, (c) how they built non-technical knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and (d) how they maintained engagement. Findings revealed 17 themes that were related to characteristics of (a) the learner, (b) the instruction, and (c) the environment. Based on these findings, recommendations are presented to illustrate how these themes can be implemented by instructors with the goal of increasing the participation and involvement of underrepresented minorities and fostering diversity in the cybersecurity field

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium report, data summary of 50 countries for 2010-2015: Device-associated module

•We report INICC device-associated module data of 50 countries from 2010-2015.•We collected prospective data from 861,284 patients in 703 ICUs for 3,506,562 days.•DA-HAI rates and bacterial resistance were higher in the INICC ICUs than in CDC-NHSN's.•Device utilization ratio in the INICC ICUs was similar to CDC-NHSN's. Background: We report the results of International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2010-December 2015 in 703 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Europe, Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and Western Pacific. Methods: During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Healthcare Safety Network (CDC-NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 861,284 patients hospitalized in INICC hospital ICUs for an aggregate of 3,506,562 days. Results: Although device use in INICC ICUs was similar to that reported from CDC-NHSN ICUs, DA-HAI rates were higher in the INICC ICUs: in the INICC medical-surgical ICUs, the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection, 4.1 per 1,000 central line-days, was nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.8 per 1,000 central line-days reported from comparable US ICUs, the overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher, 13.1 versus 0.9 per 1,000 ventilator-days, as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection, 5.07 versus 1.7 per 1,000 catheter-days. From blood cultures samples, frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (29.87% vs 10%) and to imipenem (44.3% vs 26.1%), and of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (73.2% vs 28.8%) and to imipenem (43.27% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC ICUs compared with CDC-NHSN ICUs. Conclusions: Although DA-HAIs in INICC ICU patients continue to be higher than the rates reported in CDC-NSHN ICUs representing the developed world, we have observed a significant trend toward the reduction of DA-HAI rates in INICC ICUs as shown in each international report. It is INICC's main goal to continue facilitating education, training, and basic and cost-effective tools and resources, such as standardized forms and an online platform, to tackle this problem effectively and systematically