A Preliminary Comparison of Pilots\u27 Weather Minimums and Actual Decision-Making

Adverse weather conditions remain a leading contributing factor in general aviation accidents. In compromising situations, such as severe weather, pilots continue to make decisions, which endanger themselves, passengers, and the aircraft. Although technology and training have lowered the risks associated with poor decision making by aviators, they are often still faced with scenarios requiring split second judgments. A countermeasure to these risks is the use of personal weather minimums by pilots. The purpose of this study was to examine pilot’s decision-making and performance, while flying an instrument approach, under extreme conditions of low visibility and ceiling as based on their stated personal minimums. A sample of 35 flight students with instrument ratings was recruited from a large university flight program located in the southeastern part of the United States. Participants were asked a series of pre-test questions, including their personal weather minimums, and then flew an ILS instrument approach on an Elite-1000 flight simulator at the subject university. The findings indicate approximately eighty percent of participants, on average, descended nearly two-hundred feet below their stated personal minimums before aborting the approach. Furthermore, forty percent of them also flew twenty-five feet below the federal requirement (200 feet above ground level) before aborting the approach. These results are pertinent to advance our understanding of the many different variables affecting pilot’s decision making. Understanding these outcomes will progress our initiatives to ensure safer air travel, while improving pilot’s competence and their passenger’s confidence

Logistics service provider selection for disaster preparation: a socio-technical systems perspective

Since 1990s, the world has seen a lot of advances in providing humanitarian aid through sophisticated logistics operations. The current consensus seems to be that humanitarian relief organizations (HROs) can improve their relief operations by collaborating with logistics service providers (CLSPs) in the commercial sector. The question remains: how can HROs select the most appropriate CLSP for disaster preparation? Despite its practical significance, no explicit effort has been done to identify the criteria/factors in prioritising and selecting a CLSP for disaster relief. The present study aims to address this gap by consolidating the list of criteria from a socio-technical systems (STS) perspective. Then, to handle the interdependence among the criteria derived from the STS, we develop a hybrid multi-criteria decision making model for CLSP selection in the disaster preparedness stage. The proposed model is then evaluated by a real-life case study, providing insights into the decision-makers in both HROs and CLSPs

Association between perceived built environmental attributes and physical activity among adults in South Africa

Background: To investigate the association between perceived environmental attributes and leisure-time and transport-related physical activity. Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey involving 671 South Africans aged ?35 years from urban and rural settings. International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Neighbourhood Walkability Scale were used to collect data. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to investigate the associations. Results: Significant urban vs. rural differences were apparent in the distribution of most attributes of neighborhood environment. After adjusting for gender, age, setting and relevant interaction terms, proximity to local stores was significantly associated with leisure-time physical activity (OR: 4.26; 95% CI, 1.00-18.08); while proximity to transit stops (2.44; 1.48-4.02), pleasant scenery (1.93; 1.07-3.46), sidewalks (2.36; 1.25-4.44), shade from trees (2.14; 1.19-3.85), traffic (2.17; 91.21-3.91) and well-lit streets (2.01; 1.04-3.89) were significantly associated with walking for leisure. Four-way intersections (4.54; 1.54-13.43), pleasant scenery (3.84; 1.35-10.99), traffic (0.28; 0.09-0.89), sidewalks (3.75; 1.06-13.27) and crosswalks were associated with transport related physical activity. Proximity to transit stops (2.12; 1.17-3.84) and well maintained sidewalks (2.69; 2.20-10.02) were significantly associated with total physical activity. Significant interactions by setting were apparent in some of the associations. Conclusion: Some, but not all attributes of a neighborhood environment were significantly associated in expected directions with the three physical activity domains in this mixed urban and rural population. This study highlights the need for policy strategies aimed at improving or maintaining these perceived environmental attributes to promote physical activity.IS

O trabalho e as organizações na perspectiva sócio-técnica

A conveniência e a viabilidade da implementação do enfoque sócio-técnico nas empresas

Methodological approaches for studying the microbial ecology of drinking water distribution systems

The study of the microbial ecology of drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) has traditionally been based on culturing organisms from bulk water samples. The development and application of molecular methods has supplied new tools for examining the microbial diversity and activity of environmental samples, yielding new insights into the microbial community and its diversity within these engineered ecosystems. In this review, the currently available methods and emerging approaches for characterising microbial communities, including both planktonic and biofilm ways of life, are critically evaluated. The study of biofilms is considered particularly important as it plays a critical role in the processes and interactions occurring at the pipe wall and bulk water interface. The advantages, limitations and usefulness of methods that can be used to detect and assess microbial abundance, community composition and function are discussed in a DWDS context. This review will assist hydraulic engineers and microbial ecologists in choosing the most appropriate tools to assess drinking water microbiology and related aspects

Tendencias de la cultura y cambio organizacional: estudio de caso

La imagen corporativa en relación con el medio se evidencia en el informe de Deloitte (2018) sobre tendencias del capital humano, en donde se reportan alrededor de 11.000 cuestionarios aplicados a gerentes de 140 países y 150 líderes de empresas colombianas, el planteamiento realizado sugiere que el capital social cobra tanto importancia como el físico y el financiero. Estos aspectos están relacionados con la identidad corporativa y cómo se relaciona a su vez con la cultura y la gestión del en la organización. La cultura y la gestión del cambio han cobrado mucho interés para las personas que guían las organizaciones, los estudios realizados por Deloitte en 2017 se focalizaron en la relación de la cultura y el compromiso como elementos importantes del empleado; los resultados del estudio dejan en evidencia cómo la habilidad de las organizaciones para afrontar inconvenientes de compromiso y cultura tenían una reducción del 14% con respecto al año anterior, estos datos permiten entender la complejidad del ambiente en el ámbito laboral y dan cuenta de la importancia de desarrollar conocimiento válido que oriente a académicos y empresarios para que puedan abordar de una manera adecuada estos aspectos.1a edició