Shield to Pin Coupling of Lightning-Like Transients on Payload Umbilical Cables on a Launch Pad

In this paper we describe in-situ testing of a long payload umbilical, on a launch site, injected with lightning- like transients and describe resulting pin-to-pin voltages. Injections and voltage measurements near the ground support equipment room, as well as at a location near the payload junction box, are made. The umbilical cables tested include an outer over-braid and the inner conductor coupling is examined for open circuit, short-circuit and various loads representative of spacecraft input impedances. This testing is important because the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where the lightning occurrence is the highest in the United States, is the primary launch site for Launch Services Program spacecraft customers. Lightning planning is essential but developing a lightning plan is often overlooked or not adequately analyzed leaving the spacecraft vulnerable to time delays or even damage when lightning occurs. At other popular launch sites like Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) where lightning occurs less often, although at the same or greater intensity when it does occur, lightning planning is often completely ignored by the spacecraft. The two major questions to be addressed in the lightning plan are what retesting should be done to establish a goodness level and what is the trigger criteria for this testing? The spacecraft will typically use a standard spacecraft check-out procedure to address the necessary retesting, but determining the trigger criteria is often an issue. For instance, a spacecraft needs to understand what their immunity is to a certain lightning magnitude and location. Determining the amount of current that can be coupled onto a spacecraft umbilical can be calculated by using worst case assumptions or measured with current probes and current measurement devices. Spacecraft can also determine what pin-to-pin voltages they are sensitive to, however pin-to-pin voltage measurements are not typically taken during the strike due to the invasive nature of this measurement. In this paper, we present detailed data on the shield to pin voltage transfer functions to provide insight to the spacecraft developers for lightning retest criteria planning. The results from this unique testing opportunity provide essential details on specific coupling mechanisms affecting spacecraft hardware that interfaces with the ground support equipment. This missing link between cable shield currents and payload susceptibility voltages has been methodically tested and representative data presented

Devising a consensus definition and framework for non-technical skills in healthcare to support educational design: A modified Delphi study

Background Non-technical skills are a subset of human factors that focus on the individual and promote safety through teamwork and awareness. There is no widely adopted competency or outcome based framework for non-technical skills training in healthcare outside the surgical environment. The authors set out to devise such a framework and reach a consensus on a definition using a modified Delphi approach. Methods An exhaustive list of published and team suggested items was presented to the expert panel for ranking and to propose a definition. In the second round, a focused list was presented, as well as the proposed definition elements. The finalised framework was sent to the panel for review. Summary of results 16 experts participated (58% response rate). A total of 36 items of 105 ranked highly enough to present in round two. The final framework consists of 16 competencies for all and 8 specific competencies for team leaders. The consensus definition describes non-technical skills as ‘a set of social (communication and team work) and cognitive (analytical and personal behaviour) skills that support high quality, safe, effective and efficient inter-professional care within the complex healthcare system’. Conclusions The authors have produced a new competency framework, through the works of an international expert panel, which is not discipline specific. This consensus competency framework can be used by curriculum developers, educational innovators and clinical teachers to support developments in the field

Attributes of effective interprofessional placement facilitation

Background: The quality of facilitation is an important influence on the efficacy of interprofessional education (IPE) delivery. The research objective was to increase understanding of the attributes of effective facilitation of students during external IPE placements in primary care situations. Methods and Findings: A thematic analysis of the experiences of academics, students, and placement-site staff at three placement sites was employed to explore participants’ perceptions of the attributes of effective IPE facilitators. These attributes included experience in an interprofessional context, together with an understanding of the specific clinical and assessment requirements of different disciplines. Facilitators also needed empathy with respect to the requirements of the external IPE placement sites and the ability to liaise between student and site needs. Conclusions: Models of IPE placement facilitation were most effective when, while following general principles, facilitators tailored them specifically for the individual situations of the placement sites and the learning requirements of particular groups of students. The most rewarding IPE learning experiences occurred when IPE facilitators provided sufficient clinical opportunities for students to work collaboratively with individual clients, provided the students perceived that their participation was relevant to their own discipline.Australian office of Learning and Teachin

Engaging Leaders: The challenge of inspiring collective commitment in universities

Addressing the question of how leadership can work most successfully in universities, Engaging Leaders strengthens the sense of shared professional knowledge and capability amongst leaders in higher education. Presenting a narrative of change which not only spells out why universities need to work differently, this book also takes the reader through clear practical steps which any practising leader can take in order to build a collaborative professional culture which supports and challenges all members of an academic community.Leadership Foundation for Higher Educatio

Applying digital sensor technology: A problem-solving approach

There is currently an explosion in the number and range of new devices coming onto the technology market that use digital sensor technology to track aspects of human behaviour. In this article, we present and exemplify a three-stage model for the application of digital sensor technology in applied linguistics that we have developed, namely, Technology–Problem–Iterative Development and Research. We present three projects that have used this model. In the first and second, a language learning environment was facilitated and tracked by digital sensor technology, while in the second and third projects, the technology enabled multimodal data collection and analysis. All projects investigated how a digital learning environment might be designed, implemented, and evaluated. The research focus has been on how to record and analyse the process of language learning through spoken interaction using digital sensor technology. This model is amenable to a variety of methodological approaches, as we see conversation analysis used in the first two projects and multimodal corpus linguistics in the third

Assessment in senior secondary physical education. Questions of judgement

The ways in which various aspects of senior physical education courses should be assessed and whether some can, or indeed should be incorporated in external examinations, are matters of longstanding professional debate across Australia and internationally. Differences in current practice across Australasia reflect an ongoing lack of consensus about how assessment requirements and arrangements and particularly, examinations in senior physical education, can best address concerns to ensure validity, reliability, equity and feasibility. An issue never far from such debates is that of ‘professional judgement’ and more specifically, whether and how professional judgement does and/or should ‘come into play’ in assessment. This paper reports on research that has explored new approaches to examination assessment and marking in senior physical education, using digital technologies. It focuses specifically on the ways in which ‘professional judgement’ can be deemed to be inherent to two contrasting methods of assessment used in the project: ‘analytical standardsbased’ assessment and ‘comparative pairs’ assessment. Details of each method of assessment are presented. Data arising directly from assessors’ comments and from analysis which explored intermarker reliability for each method of assessment and compared results generated by internal teacher assessment, standards-based and comparative pairs assessment, is reported. Discussion explores whether the data arising can be seen as lending weight to arguments for (i) more faith to be placed in professional judgement and (ii) for the comparative pairs methods to be more widely employed in examination assessment in senior physical education