On the rationale of resilience in the domain of safety: A literature review

Resilience is becoming a prevalent agenda in safety research and organisational practice. In this study we examine how the peer-reviewed safety science literature (a) formulates the rationale behind the study of resilience; (b) constructs resilience as a scientific object; and (c) constructs and locates the resilient subject. The results suggest that resilience engineering scholars typically motivate the need for their studies by referring to the inherent complexities of modern socio-technical systems; complexities that make these systems inherently risky. The object of resilience then becomes the capacity to adapt to such emerging risks in order to guarantee the success of the inherently risky system. In the material reviewed, the subject of resilience is typically the individual, either at the sharp end or at higher managerial levels. The individual is called-upon to adapt in the face of risk to secure the continuous performance of the system. Based on the results from how resilience has been introduced in safety sciences we raise three ethical questions for the field to address: (1) should resilience be seen as people thriving despite of, or because of, risk?; (2) should resilience theory form a basis for moral judgement?; and finally (3) how much should resilience be approached as a trait of the individual

Aerosol Jet Printing of Graphene and Carbon Nanotube Patterns on Realistically Rugged Substrates

Direct-write additive manufacturing of graphene and carbon nanotube (CNT) patterns by aerosol jet printing (AJP) is promising for the creation of thermal and electrical interconnects in (opto)electronics. In realistic application scenarios, this however often requires deposition of graphene and CNT patterns on rugged substrates such as, for example, roughly machined and surface oxidized metal block heat sinks. Most AJP of graphene/CNT patterns has thus far however concentrated on flat wafer-or foil type substrates. Here, we demonstrate AJP of graphene and single walled CNT (SWCNT) patterns on realistically rugged plasma electrolytic-oxidized (PEO) Al blocks, which are promising heat sink materials. We show that AJP on the rugged substrates offers line resolution of down to similar to 40 mu m width for single AJP passes, however, at the cost of noncomplete substrate coverage including noncovered mu m-sized pores in the PEO Al blocks. With multiple AJP passes, full coverage including coverage of the pores is, however, readily achieved. Comparing archetypical aqueous and organic graphene and SWCNT inks, we show that the choice of the ink system drastically influences the nanocarbon AJP parameter window, deposit microstructure including crystalline quality, compactness of deposit, and inter/intrapass layer adhesion for multiple passes. Simple electrical characterization indicates aqueous graphene inks as the most promising choice for AJP-deposited electrical interconnect applications. Our parameter space screening thereby forms a framework for rational process development for graphene and SWCNT AJP on application-relevant, rugged substrates

Early detection and counselling intervention of asthma symptoms in preschool children: study design of a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background. Prevention of childhood asthma is an important public health objective. This study evaluates the effectiveness of early detection of preschool children with asthma symptoms, followed by a counselling intervention at preventive child health centres. Early detection and counselling is expected to reduce the prevalence of asthma symptoms and improve health-related quality of life at age 6 years. Methods/design. This cluster randomised controlled trial was embedded within the Rotterdam population-based prospective cohort study Generation R in which 7893 children (born between April 2002 and January 2006) participated in the postnatal phase. Sixteen child health centres are involved, randomised into 8 intervention and 8 control centres. Since June 2005, an early detection tool has been applied at age 14, 24, 36 and 45 months at the intervention centres. Children who met the intervention criteria received counselling intervention (personal advice to parents to prevent smoke exposure of the child, and/or referral to the general practitioner or asthma nurse). The primary outcome was asthma diagnosis at age 6 years. Secondary outcomes included frequency and severity of asthma symptoms, health-related quality of life, fractional exhaled nitric oxide and airway resistance at age 6 years. Analysis was according to the intention-to-treat principle. Data collection will be completed end 2011. Discussion. This study among preschool children provides insight into the effectiveness of early detection of asthma symptoms followed by a counselling intervention at preventive child health centres. Trial registration. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN15790308

How to assess team performance in terms of control: A protocol based on cognitive systems engineering

This article presents a protocol for assessing team performance in terms of control based on cognitive systems engineering theory. The protocol changes the focus of team performance assessment from good and bad behaviours towards team activity. By using Hollnagel’s contextual control model (COCOM), a protocol is developed so that team activity can be described as four control modes. Data is collected through observation and questionnaires and is analysed in time intervals. Each time interval is then given a control mode. Based on how the control mode changes over time, the performance of the team can be assessed. The protocol was tested in a pilot study where commanding staff exercises were analysed. The results show that the protocol can be used to identify differences in team performance. The study also gives empirical validity to COCOM in that the loss of control in emergencies corresponds to an opportunistic or a scrambled control mode

Some Thoughts on How to Align the Theoretical Understanding of Team Performance with Resilience Engineering Theory

Recent contributions to the field of Resilience Engineering (RE) have added to the continuous development of new concepts and methodologies to improve resilience at different organisational levels. Part of these contributions has focused on training for adaptive capacity of individuals and teams to cope with changes and disturbances of work, since literature recognise that working tasks (at least in complex settings) are not as stable as procedures, manuals and regulations might depict. It is becoming accepted that more is needed than training for recognition of pre-defined situations and application of corresponding procedures, that is, individuals and teams should be prepared by their training to also cope with unexpected situations. In previous volumes of RE contributions we have introduced new methods in order to address these unexpected situations (Bergström, Dahlström and Petersen, 2011; Dekker, Dahlström, van Winsen and Nyce, 2008). In this volume we will rather discuss the theoretical foundation of team training and the potential to align such a foundation with RE theory. Guided by two of the four cornerstones of RE(Hollnagel, 2011) our argument is that traditional approaches to sharp-end training should be reviewed, revised and readapted to concepts more aligned with RE thinking

From Crew Resource Management To Operational Resilience

This paper questions the correspondence between resilience engineering theory and the theoretical fundamentals of traditional CRM training, with its related behavior assessments. Reviewing the theoretical roots of CRM it is concluded that such concepts are rather founded in the information processing paradigm hiding the complexities of adaption to rapidly changing situations. An alternative approach to team training and team performance assessment, called Operational Resilience, is introduced. Operational Resilience is rooted in complexity theory and in theorizing cognition as a distributed phenomenon. The most important principles of Operational Resilience are the focus on processes of coordination and control rather than behaviors, analysis of emergent interactions in multi-professional settings, focus on local production of meaning instead of normative accounts of situation awareness (or similar constructions), and finally analysing how to bridge the gaps caused by the inherent system complexity instead of counting and categorizing errors

From Crew Resource Management to Operational Resilience

This paper questions the correspondance between resilience engineering theory and the theoretical fundaments of traditional CRM training, with its related behavior assessments. Reviewing the theoretical roots of CRM it is concluded that such concepts are rather founded in the information processing paradigm hiding the complexities of adaption to rapidly changing situations. An alternative approach to team training and team performance assessment, called Operational Resilience, is introduced. Operational Resilience is rooted in complexity theory and in theorizing cognition as a distributed phenomenon. The most important principles of Operational Resilinece are the focus on processes of coordination and control rather than behaviors, analysis of emergent interactions in multi-professional settings, focus on local production of meaning instead of normative accounts of situation awareness (or similar constructions), and finally analysing how to bridge the gaps caused by the inherent system complexity instead of counting and categorizing errors

Team Coordination in Escalating Situations: An Empirical Study Using Mid-Fidelity Simulation

The performance of teams, with different levels of domain and crisis management experience, managing unexpected and escalating situations was observed using a mid-fidelity ship-bridge simulation and analysed by applying the central concepts of joint activity coordination as well as Woods’s theory building on data overload. The coordination strategies used by the teams were evaluated by applying coordination process indicators and the concept of control. The paper discusses how different aspects of team coordination in unexpected and escalating situations, e.g. that teams that maintain a high level of control in escalating situations, avoid or minimize the effects of data overload by using explicit and agreed-upon goals rather than sharing as much incoming information as possible. The results presented in this paper show the benefits of applying a broad set of theoretical concepts to shed light on the actual demands that escalating situations pose on people’s data processing capacities and processes. It also provides guidance on the successful performance of teams in such situations and thus support for the development of successful strategies for their management