SARSCEST (human factors)

People interact with the processes and products of contemporary technology. Individuals are affected by these in various ways and individuals shape them. Such interactions come under the label 'human factors'. To expand the understanding of those to whom the term is relatively unfamiliar, its domain includes both an applied science and applications of knowledge. It means both research and development, with implications of research both for basic science and for development. It encompasses not only design and testing but also training and personnel requirements, even though some unwisely try to split these apart both by name and institutionally. The territory includes more than performance at work, though concentration on that aspect, epitomized in the derivation of the term ergonomics, has overshadowed human factors interest in interactions between technology and the home, health, safety, consumers, children and later life, the handicapped, sports and recreation education, and travel. Two aspects of technology considered most significant for work performance, systems and automation, and several approaches to these, are discussed

Systematic Differences due to High Energy Hadronic Interaction Models in Air Shower Simulations in the 100 GeV-100 TeV Range

The predictions of hadronic interaction models for cosmic-ray induced air showers contain inherent uncertainties due to limitations of available accelerator data and theoretical understanding in the required energy and rapidity regime. Differences between models are typically evaluated in the range appropriate for cosmic-ray air shower arrays ($10^{15}$-$10^{20}$ eV). However, accurate modelling of charged cosmic-ray measurements with ground based gamma-ray observatories is becoming more and more important. We assess the model predictions on the gross behaviour of measurable air shower parameters in the energy (0.1-100 TeV) and altitude ranges most appropriate for detection by ground-based gamma-ray observatories. We go on to investigate the particle distributions just after the first interaction point, to examine how differences in the micro-physics of the models may compound into differences in the gross air shower behaviour. Differences between the models above 1 TeV are typically less than 10%. However, we find the largest variation in particle densities at ground at the lowest energy tested (100 GeV), resulting from striking differences in the early stages of shower development.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Published by Phys Rev

Risk management technique for liquefied natural gas facilities

Checklists have been compiled for planning, design, construction, startup and debugging, and operation of liquefied natural gas facilities. Lists include references to pertinent safety regulations. Methods described are applicable to handling of other hazardous materials

Infrared Dark Cloud Cores in the SCUBA Legacy Catalogue

We present an investigation of candidate Infrared Dark Cloud cores as identified by Simon et al. (2006) located within the SCUBA Legacy Catalogue. After applying a uniform noise cut to the Catalogue data we identify 154 Infrared Dark Cloud cores that were detected at 850um and 51 cores that were not. We derive column densities for each core from their 8um extinction and find that the IRDCs detected at 850um have higher column densities (a mean of 1.7x10^22 cm-2) compared to those cores not detected at 850um (a mean of 1.0x10^22 cm-2). Combined with sensitivity estimates, we suggest that the cores not detected at 850um are low mass, low column density and low temperature cores that are below the sensitivity limit of SCUBA at 850um. For a subsample of the cores detected at 850um those contained within the MIPSGAL area) we find that two thirds are associated with 24um sources. Cores not associated with 24um emission are either ``starless'' IRDC cores that perhaps have yet to form stars, or contain low mass YSOs below the MIPSGAL detection limit. We see that those ``starless'' IRDC cores and the IRDC cores associated with 24um emission are drawn from the same column density population and are of similar mass. If we then assume the cores without 24um embedded sources are at an earlier evolutionary stage to cores with embedded objects we derive a statistical lifetime for the quiescent phase of a few 10^3-10^4 years. Finally, we make conservative predictions for the number of observed IRDCs that will be observed by the Apex Telescope Galactic Plane Survey (ATLASGAL), the Herschel Infrared Galactic Plane Survey (Hi-GAL), the JCMT Galactic Plane Survey (JPS) and the SCUBA-2 ``All Sky'' Survey (SASSy).Comment: 18 pages, 3 tables, 10 figure

Seasonal Occurrence of the White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, in Waters off the Florida West Coast, with Notes on its Life History

The white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is considered rare in the Gulf of Mexico; however, recent longline captures coupled with historical landings information suggest that the species occurs seasonally (winter-spring) within this region. We examined a total of seven adult and juvenile white sharks (185-472 em total length) captured in waters off the west coast of Florida. Commercial longline fisheries were monitored for white sharks during all months (1981-94), but this species was captured only from January to April. All white sharks were captured in continental shelf waters from 37 to 222 km off the west coast of Florida when sea surface temperatures ranged from 18.7° to 21.6°C. Depths at capture locations ranged from 20 to 164 m. Fishing gear typically used in Gulf of Mexico offshore fisheries may not be effective at capturing this species, and the apparent rarity of white sharks in this area may be, in part, a function of gear bias

Potential for measuring the longitudinal and lateral profile of muons in TeV air showers with IACTs

Muons are copiously produced within hadronic extensive air showers (EAS) occurring in the Earth's atmosphere, and are used by particle air shower detectors as a means of identifying the primary cosmic ray which initiated the EAS. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), designed for the detection of gamma-ray initiated EAS for the purposes of Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy, are subject to a considerable background signal due to hadronic EAS. Although hadronic EAS are typically rejected for gamma-ray analysis purposes, single muons produced within such showers generate clearly identifiable signals in IACTs and muon images are routinely retained and used for calibration purposes. For IACT arrays operating with a stereoscopic trigger, when a muon triggers one telescope, other telescopes in IACT arrays usually detect the associated hadronic EAS. We demonstrate for the first time the potential of IACT arrays for competitive measurements of the muon content of air showers, their lateral distribution and longitudinal profile of production slant heights in the TeV energy range. Such information can provide useful input to hadronic interaction models.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Measuring the recreational use value of migratory shorebirds on the Delaware Bay

In this article we estimate the recreational use value of household trips to view shorebirds during the annual horseshoe crab/shorebird migration on the Delaware Bay. We use contingent valuation to estimate the value of day and overnight trips separately and use a discrete choice question followed by a payment-card question to generate our valuation data. Our best estimates for the value of a day trip are about $66–$90/household and for an overnight trip about $200–$425/household (2008$). Our data are from the 2008 season, and our average household size is 1.66. For some context, estimates from four other studies report values that vary from$63/trip/person to $442/trip/person. These studies vary in method and specific birding populations studied and mix day and overnight trips.Contingent valuation, discrete choice, bird watching, use value