Assessment of noise metrics for application to rotorcraft

It is anticipated that the use of rotorcraft passenger vehicles for shorter journeys will increase because their use can reduce the time between boarding and take-off. The characteristics of rotorcraft noise are very different to that of fixed wing aircraft. There can be strong tonal components, fluctuations that can also make the noise sound impulsive, and future rotorcraft may produce proportionally more low frequency noise content. Most metrics that are used today to predict noise impact on communities around airports (e.g., Ldn) are just functions of A-weighted sound pressure level. To build a better noise annoyance model that can be applied to assess impact of future and current rotorcraft, it is important to understand the perceived sound attributes and how they influence annoyance. A series of psychoacoustic tests were designed and performed to further our understanding of how rotorcraft sound characteristics affect annoyance as well as evaluate the applicability of existing noise metrics as predictors of annoyance due to rotorcraft noise. The effect of the method used to reproduce sounds in the psychoacoustics tests was also investigated, and so tests were conducted in the NASA Langley Exterior Effects Room using loudspeaker arrays to simulate flyovers and in a double walled sound booth using earphones for playback. A semantic differential test was performed, and analysis of subject responses showed the presence of several independent perceptual factors relating to: loudness, sharpness, roughness, tonality, and impulsiveness. A simulation method was developed to alter tonal components in existing rotorcraft flyover recordings to change the impulsiveness and tonality of the sounds. Flyover recordings and simulations with varied attributes were used as stimuli in an annoyance test. Results showed that EPNL and SELA performed well as predictors of annoyance, but outliers to generate trends have tonal related characteristics that could be contributing to annoyance. General trends in results were similar for both test environments, though differences were greater for the annoyance tests than the semantic differential tests

CONSISTENT COACHING AND ALIGNMENT: A NEW WAY OF WORK FOR COLLEGE READINESS SYSTEM STAFF

As an answer to a missing system of interaction and accountability between College Readiness System (CRS) Staff and school systems across the country, a coaching framework was created. This framework provides a repeatable, consistent model for CRS staff members to use with each school implementing CRS across the nation. This paper outlines the new coaching framework, the need for having a framework and the process for getting all stakeholders to support the new system. This process would be applicable for implementing any type of change within a large non-profit organization. This change leadership project includes ways to get organizations to embrace a new way of work, opportunities for getting internal stakeholders to buy into change, and chances to calibrate systems organization-wide

Disabled Former Employees Under the ADA: Unprincipled Decisions and Unpalatable Results

A number of disabled former employees have turned to the Americans with Disabilities Act ( ADA ) to redress alleged discrimination in their termination or in the benefit plans of their former employers.\u27 Several courts, however, have held that these plaintiffs are not qualified individual[s] with a disability, and, therefore, may not recover under the ADA. Other courts of appeals have recently found the ADA\u27s proscription of discrimination in the terms, conditions, and privileges of employment to contradict the definition of qualified individuals. These courts resolved the ambiguity by allowing disabled former employees a federal right to sue their former employers for denying certain disability benefits. This difference of opinion presents a significant problem for employers, employees, and insurers. Support payments to the disabled amount to billions of dollars annually, and a large percentage of current workers will ultimately suffer a disability. Given these economic and demographic realities, if the approach of the Second and Third Circuits gains momentum, litigation on the issue will force a great number of employers and insurers to defend the structure of their benefit plans. While this litigation will not likely force employers and insurers to change their plans to end discrimination among disabilities--discrimination that the ADA does not prohibit-the cost of this litigation will naturally pass first to employers,o and then to consumers. This Note argues that those courts of appeals that granted a right to sue under the ADA to former employees alleging discrimination in post-employment benefits found ambiguity where none existed. In so doing, these courts rendered useless the essential functions requirement of the ADA. Besides reaching a result contrary to the express language of the Act, these courts leave unresolved the question of eligibility to sue in termination discrimination cases, where ADA protection is impossible by the terms of the statute. This serves only to complicate matters for employers, who must, under the holdings of these courts, address the possibility of discrimination in their benefits plans and who, given the implications of these decisions, may be forced to retain disabled employees unable to perform the essential functions of their jobs

A Brief Summary of Decisions from the Arkansas Supreme Court Affecting Gays and Lesbians

Half of Arkansans believe that sex-sex relationships should not be afforded legal recognition, including recognition in the form of a civil union or domestic partnership. Further, Arkansas is one of thirty states to constitutionally define marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman. Nonetheless, the gay and lesbian civil rights movement has been afforded protection in the courts through Arkansas Supreme Court decisions protecting same sex couples\u27 rights. Starting in 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court has provided at least some protection to same sex couples and their families through decisions where the Court could have declined to do so. Specifically, in 2002 the Court struck down a criminal statute which outlawed same sex sodomy, holding that the Arkansas constitution protected private, consensual, non-commercial acts of sexual intimacy. One year later, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed a custody order based on the alleged negative perception resulting from the child\u27s mother cohabiting with a lesbian. Seven years after Arkansas voters approved a marriage amendment, in 2011, the Arkansas Supreme Court allowed a former same sex partner of a mother to have visitation with her former partner\u27s biological child, whom the same sex couple had planned to raise together before their separation. Also in 2011, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a voter-initiated law aimed at preventing unmarried, cohabiting couples from adopting or fostering children because of its transparent targeting of gays and lesbians. This article examines each of the aforementioned cases, and considers the protections provided to same sex couples as a result of each decision. Despite public hostility against same sex couples and a constitutional amendment forbidding recognition of same sex marriage, the author concludes that same sex couples in Arkansas can take solace that the Arkansas Supreme Court has continued to recognize their rights in the area of domestic relations, even when the legislature and public at large refuse to do so

WICOR WALKTHROUGHS AND TEACHER PRACTICE

Watching experts execute their craft allows for learning. In four schools, this type of learning, teachers watching one another teach, was made available and the feedback from those interviewed showed positive results. This paper explains the process each school used for allowing teachers to watch others teach and the results that they got in the process. This program evaluation was designed to provide guidance to principals on some specific ways to ensure that they can avoid pitfalls if they were to employ a similar strategy with their staff. Teachers using high yield strategies with confidence in their classrooms has the potential to improve student achievement and open opportunities beyond high school as well. This paper outlines that process

ONGOING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

As an answer to a lack of policy around follow up training between CRS Center Staff and school systems across the country, a policy needs to be created around providing follow up training opportunities nationally. This policy provides a repeatable, consistent model for CRS Center staff members to use with each school implementing CRS across the nation. This paper outlines the policy for allowing teachers to see other teachers implementing CRS strategies in their schools, therefore increasing the use of these strategies in classrooms nationally. This process will be applicable for school districts that works with CRS nationally. This policy includes ways to get school systems to embrace learning from one another throughout the school year, improving teaching and learning

Understanding the Development of Global Leadership Competencies

As businesses seek to gain a competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving global marketplace and in the midst of a global talent shortage, the demand is increasing for guidance surrounding the development of global leaders. Although competency model frameworks have existed since the 1970s, the process of how an organization develops Global Leadership Competencies (GLCs) has not been well documented, particularly in new and evolving industries such as the biosciences. Furthermore, despite the time, effort, and money spent on learning and development or training programs, there are no studies that investigate employer-learner perceptions regarding the alignment of these learning programs with the GLC models designed to develop employees as transdisciplinary global leaders. This case study takes a modest step in filling that void by exploring a unique problem in the bioscience industry where scientists and business people are being cross-trained to bridge the gaps in their respective areas of disciplinary expertise. Among other factors, employee-learner perceptions regarding the impact of a learning program on their GLC development were studied to gain a better understanding of how employees make sense of their own development and apply GLCs in their work. The participant sample consisted of 714 responses included in the learning program evaluation data, as well as 14 purposefully selected individuals for in-depth interviews. A review of documents included: course syllabi, learning objectives, field observation notes, competency framework materials, and course-level evaluation data. The document review informed this study\u27s analysis of aggregate learning program evaluation data and the in-depth interviews. The findings of this study connected complementary streams of literature related to GLCs. Theoretical frameworks associated with leadership, learning, and transdisciplinarity were explored to gain a better understanding of how organizations and individuals develop GLCs. The significance of this study is applicable across a diversity of sectors, especially when considering whether to build or buy the talent needed for organizations to be successful. Not only does this study contribute to the nascent field of global leadership and the emergent biosciences industry, it extends theory and applied research with a scalable methodology for other comparative work