Assessing Cognitive Processing and Human Factors Challenges in NextGen Air Traffic Control Tower Team Operations

Previous research of Terminal Radar Control Facilities and Standard Terminal Automation Replacement Systems interactions by the authors examined how combined NextGen digitized technology affects air traffic controller functions. Applying their updated SHELL model, human factors implications on the Tower Team before and after implementing NextGen technology were examined, focusing on cognitive loading and automated functions affecting each team member. A survey examined where cognitive difficulties occur when controllers are responsible for multiple screen views, remote airfields or helipads, and digitized cameras and blind spots. Scanning challenges were identified where local traffic, ground operations, and data converge onto one screen, and when attention is diverted to distant screens. Also studied were automatic aircraft handoffs and potential for missed handoffs, and, assessing changes from voice communication to text messaging for human error. Findings indicated a necessity for controllers to manage balanced tasking, vigilance pacing, and resource management

Introduction: The compositionality and syntactic flexibility of verbal idioms

Introduction to Special Issue of Linguistics on the compositionality and syntactic flexibility of verbal idioms

A Change in the Dark Room: The Effects of Human Factors and Cognitive Loading Issues for NextGen TRACON Air Traffic Controllers

By 2020 all aircraft in United States airspace must use ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) Out. This is a key component of the Next Generation (NextGen) Air Transportation System, which marks the first time all aircraft will be tracked continuously using satellites instead of ground-based radar. Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) in the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) is a primary NextGen upgrade where digitized automation/information surrounds STARS controllers while controlling aircraft. Applying the SHELL model, the authors analyze human factors changes affecting TRACON controllers from pre-STARS technology through NextGen technologies on performance. Results of an informal survey of STARS controllers assessed cognitive processing issues and indicates the greatest concern is with movements to view other displays and added time to re-engage STARS

Supporting the retention of non-traditional students in Higher Education using a resilience framework

Student drop-out in higher education is an increasingly important issue across Europe, but there are substantial disparities between countries and institutions which suggest that variations in policies and practices may influence student retention and success. Numerous schemes have been devised to increase student retention, frequently focusing on non-traditional groups. Retention efforts include scholarships and bursaries, enhanced monitoring and support measures, and specialist teams of staff or peer mentors. Theoretical understanding of the withdrawal of non-traditional students typically draws on social and cultural capital concepts (Bourdieu, 1986), which may have led to a rather deterministic approach to student success. Research with non-traditional students on two distinct but related projects at a UK university led us to consider the concept of resilience in helping to understand student retention and success. This paper discusses the concept of resilience and – drawing on our experiences of using a resilience framework for analysis of risk and protective factors in these two projects – considers how it might be of use in supporting student retention in the wider European context

Zoonotic Transfer of Clostridium difficile Harboring Antimicrobial Resistance between Farm Animals and Humans.

The emergence of Clostridium difficile as a significant human diarrheal pathogen is associated with the production of highly transmissible spores and the acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors. Unlike the hospital-associated C. difficile RT027 lineage, the community-associated C. difficile RT078 lineage is isolated from both humans and farm animals; however, the geographical population structure and transmission networks remain unknown. Here, we applied whole-genome phylogenetic analysis of 248 C. difficile RT078 strains from 22 countries. Our results demonstrate limited geographical clustering for C. difficile RT078 and extensive coclustering of human and animal strains, thereby revealing a highly linked intercontinental transmission network between humans and animals. Comparative whole-genome analysis reveals indistinguishable accessory genomes between human and animal strains and a variety of antimicrobial resistance genes in the pangenome of C. difficile RT078. Thus, bidirectional spread of C. difficile RT078 between farm animals and humans may represent an unappreciated route disseminating antimicrobial resistance genes between humans and animals. These results highlight the importance of the "One Health" concept to monitor infectious disease emergence and the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance genes

The ends of a large RNA molecule are necessarily close

We show on general theoretical grounds that the two ends of single-stranded (ss) RNA molecules (consisting of roughly equal proportions of A, C, G and U) are necessarily close together, largely independent of their length and sequence. This is demonstrated to be a direct consequence of two generic properties of the equilibrium secondary structures, namely that the average proportion of bases in pairs is ∼60% and that the average duplex length is ∼4. Based on mfold and Vienna computations on large numbers of ssRNAs of various lengths (1000–10 000 nt) and sequences (both random and biological), we find that the 5′–3′ distance—defined as the sum of H-bond and covalent (ss) links separating the ends of the RNA chain—is small, averaging 15–20 for each set of viral sequences tested. For random sequences this distance is ∼12, consistent with the theory. We discuss the relevance of these results to evolved sequence complementarity and specific protein binding effects that are known to be important for keeping the two ends of viral and messenger RNAs in close proximity. Finally we speculate on how our conclusions imply indistinguishability in size and shape of equilibrated forms of linear and covalently circularized ssRNA molecules

Construction of a dengue virus type 4 reporter replicon and analysis of temperature-sensitive mutations in non-structural proteins 3 and 5

Replicon systems have been useful to study mechanisms of translation and replication of flavivirus RNAs. In this study, we constructed a dengue virus 4 replicon encoding a Renilla luciferase (Rluc) reporter, and six single-residue substitution mutants were generated: L128F and S158P in the non-structural protein (NS) 3 protease domain gene, and N96I, N390A, K437R and M805I in the NS5 gene. The effects of these substitutions on viral RNA translation and/or replication were examined by measuring Rluc activities in wild-type and mutant replicon RNA-transfected Vero cells incubated at 35, 37 and 39 °C. Our results show that none of the mutations affected translation of replicon RNAs; however, L128F and S158P of NS3 at 39 °C, and N96I of NS5 at 37 and 39 °C, presented temperature-sensitive (ts) phenotypes for replication. Furthermore, using in vitro methyltransferase assays, we identified that the N96I mutation in NS5 exhibited a ts phenotype for N7-methylation, but not for 2′-O-methylation

The fine structure of the comparative

The paper provides evidence for a more articulated structure of the comparative as compared with the one in Bobaljik (2012). We propose to split up Bobaljik's cmpr head into two distinct heads, C1 and C2. Looking at Czech, Old Church Slavonic and English, we show that this proposal explains a range of facts about suppletion and allomorphy. A crucial ingredient of our analysis is the claim that adjectival roots are not a-categorial, but spell out adjectival functional structure. Specifically, we argue that adjectival roots come in various types, differing in the amount of functional structure they spell out. In order to correctly model the competition between roots, we further introduce a Faithfulness Restriction on Cyclic Override, which allows us to dispense with the Elsewhere Principle