General Aviation Pilots\u27 Strategies to Mitigate Bird Strikes

To date, a few operational efforts have been launched by the FAA to mitigate wildlife strikes away from the airport jurisdiction, and those do not include actions by general aviation (GA) pilots. This presentation explores the safety training of GA pilots using aeronautical decision-making concepts as a strategy to mitigate the risk of mishaps due to birds. Previous research, the FAA Serial Report #22, and final reports of GA aircraft accidents due to birds will be covered

Revisiting the Female Germline and Its Expanding Toolbox

The Arabidopsis thaliana ovule arises as a female reproductive organ composed solely of somatic diploid cells. Among them, one cell will acquire a unique identity and initiate female germline development. In this review we explore the complex network that facilitates differentiation of this single cell, and consider how it becomes committed to a distinct developmental program. We highlight recent progress towards understanding the role of intercellular communication, cell competency, and cell-cycle regulation in the ovule primordium, and we discuss the possibility that distinct pathways restrict germline development at different stages. Importantly, these recent findings suggest a renaissance in plant ovule research, restoring the female germline as an attractive model to study cell communication and cell fate establishment in multicellular organs

Fatigue Identification and Management in Flight Training: An Investigation of Collegiate Aviation Pilots

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate collegiate aviation students’ self-awareness of their fatigue issues; to investigate possible causes of fatigue afflicting collegiate aviation students; and to investigate the collegiate aviation students’ lifestyle and perceptions of personal solutions to fatigue. Background: Pilot fatigue is a significant safety hazard in aviation operations. Several factors can contribute to fatigue, including inadequate sleep, long work hours, and inadequate nutritional habits. Some factors, such as social and academic activities, could be unique for Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 141 collegiate aviation pilots. Previous studies have addressed fatigue in commercial and military aviation. However, few studies have targeted collegiate aviation students. Method: An online survey questionnaire was utilized to investigate collegiate aviation students’ self-awareness of their fatigue issues; the possible causes of fatigue afflicting those students; their lifestyle as well as their perceptions of personal solutions to fatigue. The population for this study consisted of a subset of the GA community, flight instructors and students from an accredited 14 CFR Part 141 four-year degree-awarding university in the Midwestern region of the United States. Additionally, participants were recruited from a local fixed based operator. Results: Findings indicated that fatigue has played a role during flight training. Pilots had, for example overlooked mistakes because of fatigue. Responses also suggested decrements in alertness and cognitive functions as a result of fatigue. Conclusion: Fatigue is a safety hazard in a collegiate environment that needs addressing. Systematic fatigue education and training, better lifestyle practices, effective workload management, and even a prescriptive approach could significantly enhance aviation safety and the well-being of student pilots

Collegiate Aviation Pilots: Analyses of Fatigue Related Decision-Making Scenarios

According to Dawson and McCulloch (2005), indicating factors for pilot fatigue may be difficult to ascertain. However, fatigue is a probable cause in 15%-20% of all aircraft accidents (Akerstedt, 2000). It may be assumed fatigue has been important latent condition for many of the general aviation incidents and or accidents but not necessarily identified as a probable cause. Events that barely missed a detrimental situation due to fatigue, often go unnoticed and or unreported. Furthermore, fatigue can influence the quality of flight instruction and flight operations overall. The purpose of the current paper was to examine fatigue related decision-making responses from collegiate aviation pilots. These scenarios were designed to understand mitigation strategies, external pressures, and reasons for go-no-go decisions. Results of the qualitative analysis indicated some pilots were susceptible to organizational pressures, hazardous attitudes, and expressed over reliance on another pilot i.e. a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). On the contrary, several responses indicated Positive Threat Assessment while Seeking Alternative Solutions. Researchers provided recommended practices, suggested future research, and provided a model to simplify the decision-making process

Fatigue In Collegiate Aviation

Flight training has received little attention in fatigue research. Only transfers of knowledge gained in commercial and military aviation have been applied to general aviation without bridging the gap to the training environment. The purpose of this study was to assess collegiate aviation students’ perceptions of lifestyle and mitigation strategies related to fatigue. Participants were recruited from a Midwestern university’s accredited Part 141 flight school and a partner fixed base operator (FBO). The researchers of this study used a survey questionnaire to gather quantitative and qualitative responses. The majority of participants (68%) had logged less than 250 flight hours and were under 25 years of age (93%). Many respondents (66%) reported fatigued stemming from sleep quantity or quality deficits. The primary fatigue contributing factors included an insufficient resting time and an inadequate work-free time balance. Daily free time activities conducive to healthy sleep patterns were frequently neglected. Furthermore, several other factors that affected participants’ lifestyles resulted from demands imposed by the college environment. A finding of concern was that half of the sample did not consider themselves to engage in fully adequate bodily exercise, nutritional habits, and workload or stress management. These areas, however, are prime considerations when working towards healthy sleep patterns. Lastly, the researchers presented recommendations for future research. Findings from this study can assist the general aviation community in gaining a greater understanding of how collegiate aviation students perceive, process, and manage the risk of fatigue in aviation

Delays in access to care for abortion-related complications: the experience of women in Northeast Brazil.

Around 18 million unsafe abortions occur in low and middle-income countries and are associated with numerous adverse consequences to women's health. The time taken by women with complications to reach facilities where they can receive appropriate post-abortion care can influence the risk of death and the extent of further complications. All women aged 18+ admitted for abortion complications to public-sector hospitals in three capital cities in the Northeastern Brazil between August-December 2010 were interviewed; medical records were extracted (N = 2,804). Nearly all women (94%) went straight to a health facility, mainly to a hospital (76.6%); the rest had various care-seeking paths, with a quarter visiting 3+ hospitals. Women waited 10 hours on average before deciding to seek care. 29% reported difficulties in starting to seek care, including facing challenges in organizing childcare, a companion or transport (17%) and fear/stigma (11%); a few did not initially recognize they needed care (0.4%). The median time taken to arrive at the ultimate facility was 36 hours. Over a quarter of women reported experiencing difficulties being admitted to a hospital, including long waits (15%), only being attended after pregnant women (8.9%) and waiting for a bed (7.4%). Almost all women (90%) arrived in good condition, but those with longer delays were more likely to have (mild or severe) complications. In Brazil, where access to induced abortion is restricted, women face numerous difficulties receiving post-abortion care, which contribute to delay and influence the severity of post-abortion complications

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Therapeutic hypothermia translates from ancient history in to practice

Acute postasphyxial encephalopathy around the time of birth remains a major cause of death and disability. The possibility that hypothermia may be able to prevent or lessen asphyxial brain injury is a “dream revisited”. In this review, a historical perspective is provided from the first reported use of therapeutic hypothermia for brain injuries in antiquity, to the present day. The first uncontrolled trials of cooling for resuscitation were reported more than 50 y ago. The seminal insight that led to the modern revival of studies of neuroprotection was that after profound asphyxia, many brain cells show initial recovery from the insult during a short “latent” phase, typically lasting ~6 h, only to die hours to days later during a “secondary” deterioration phase characterized by seizures, cytotoxic edema, and progressive failure of cerebral oxidative metabolism. Studies designed around this conceptual framework showed that mild hypothermia initiated as early as possible before the onset of secondary deterioration, and continued for a sufficient duration to allow the secondary deterioration to resolve, is associated with potent, long-lasting neuroprotection. There is now compelling evidence from randomized controlled trials that mild induced hypothermia significantly improves intact survival and neurodevelopmental outcomes to midchildhood