The Problem with Postsecondary Aviation Safety Training, as Voiced by Aviation Industry Professionals

This research study explored the observations of aviation industry safety professionals, as they relate to the availability of a hiring pool of trained and prepared safety professionals from which to choose. When considering the issues in preparing graduates as career ready, and coupled with the ever changing nature of the aviation industry, this study was designed to examine postsecondary academic program graduates’ readiness in meeting the needs and requirements of safety program management within the aviation industry. Fifty-five participants were purposefully selected for interviews from safety professionals currently working in the aviation industry, to help examine the needs and requirements of the aviation industry safety programs, and voice their opinions on the readiness of graduates from postsecondary safety programs to help meet those requirements. The teaching of primarily theoretical high level information, instead of a student-centered constructivist approach, by postsecondary academic safety programs may result in a lack of preparedness of postsecondary graduates to be ready to serve in the aviation industry. Today’s top aviation universities teach curricula associated with flight training as well as academic courses in the area of aviation safety. The overarching intent of these programs need to meet the industry’s needs and requirements as they pertain to the safe movement of aircraft, ground equipment, and people

An Investigation of Classical Panel Stiffener Buckling Methods for Modern Airframe Applications

Classical methods for buckling assessment of aircraft panels reinforced by bulb-stiffened flanges differ regarding symmetric versus asymmetric cross-sections. The present research addresses a number of classical derivations of methods with a focus on the work of Dwight Windenburg as published in The Elastic Stability of Tee Stiffeners and the expansion of his work to asymmetric sections by E. F Bruhn in Analysis and Design of Aerospace Vehicle Structures. Vagueness in the relevance of geometric symmetry of the bulb exists between Windenburg\u27s plate theory approach, and the accepted industry standard applications defined in the methods of Bruhn. The results presented trace the bibliographic history of sizing bulb-stiffeners to achieve the highest critical stress obtainable by the web, and verify the two sizing procedures theoretically and using Finite Element Analysis software. The results suggest that the theoretical approach presented by Windenburg is correct as stated; however the FEA results suggest that the claim made by Bruhn\u27s and Windenburg\u27s sizing process is inadequate

Post-Secondary Academic Safety Programs, and the Need for a Practicum in Training.

A lack of consistency among academic safety programs has prevented aviation organizations from having a dependable pool of reliably trained and prepared safety professionals to select from. Given the challenges in preparing graduates as career ready, along with the dynamic nature of the aviation and aerospace industry, a practicum for training in postsecondary academic programs is very much needed to help meet the needs and requirements of safety program management within the aviation and aerospace industry. Interviews with safety professionals currently working within the industry were utilized to help examine the needs and requirements of the aviation and aerospace industry safety programs. This qualitative research utilized predetermined typologies and reviewed possible relationships with academic programs, career readiness, and industry requirements. Additionally, as patterns through individual observations emerged, considerations through inductive analysis were used to find any possible connections of the relevant information being reviewed

Patterns and hierarchies of rural settlement in Nottinghamshire before 1700

This study analyses the spatial and aspatial aspects of the settlement pattern of Nottinghamshire before 1700. Two crucial problems are encountered: firstly, much of the descriptive evidence must be taken from taxation documents which do not directly refer to settlements, and secondly the foundations of the medieval settlement pattern lay in the Anglo-Scandinavian period, for which remarkably little evidence survives in Nottinghamshire. The first of these difficulties is alleviated by treating townships as functional settlements, each based on a defined territory with a system of communal agriculture. The second, however, is more intransigent. Part I begins by reconstructing the territorial structure of the county within which the settlements existed. It then analyses the Anglo-Scandinavian and Norman settlement patterns in the light of Jones' model of the multiple estate and Taylor's exemplar of the polyfocal village. Chapter Four, which is critical to the argument, reveals that throughout the period 1100-1 TOO the overall rank-size distribution remained convex-upwards. Nevertheless, individual places did change in relative importance, and there is also evidence for the appearance of an urban hierarcy. In spatial terms, the early dominance of the south-east of the county was replaced by a more even distribution of rural settlements and wealth. Part II seeks explanations for these changes by studying individual settlements and by examining certain specific factors. It reveals that it is extremely difficult to produce generalised models concerning settlement development, but that the role of individual landlords appears to have been of fundamental importance. The presence of a large monastic house and the growth of rural marketing were also significant factors stimulating settlement growth. In conclusion, there is a vital need to re-evaluate our theoretical and abstract views concerning the nature of medieval settlement, both by undertaking detailed field research and also by drawing comparisons with contemporary processes

Building a Collaborating Culture; A Need for Partnerships among K-12 and Postsecondary Institutions

This presentation focused on the need for better communication and collaboration between K-12 and post-secondary institutions. As the Affiliate Director for Project Lead the Way, the author noticed a need for higher level ownership and empowerment at all levels so that students would be better served, and prepared for the next level of education. This translates to trade schools, colleges, and universities

Writing Lawa: Stimulating indigenous ownership of vernacular literacy through action research

The Eastern Lawa people of Northern Thailand have not had a practical or standardised method of writing their own language. This research began in response to an informal request that help be given to the teachers at Bo Luang school to write Lawa language using Thai script. The exploratory and informal nature of the project led me to use action research’s cyclical concept of action, followed by feedback, followed by planning for further action. This allowed for adjustments to both research goals and methods in response to the Eastern Lawa community. I was also able to document practical language development issues in the context of an ancient but rapidly changing indigenous Mon-Khmer community in Northern Thailand. I began with the traditional linguistic assumption that building a foundation for vernacular literacy would consist of three consecutive phases. A draft orthography would be prepared with the community. Community acceptance of this would allow a working orthography to be used by the teachers of Bo Luang school. The third phase would then be official regional or national recognition of a formal orthography. I also believed that community ownership was the key to all three phases. In reality I encountered a constant tension between trying to force the pathway of language development that I had envisaged and coming to terms with the linguistic and social situation which I discovered within the Bo Luang Lawa community. My plans for action research came to be grounded in a critical, reflexive ethnography. Community ownership became the major goal and the raison d’etre for my research instead of just an outcome of good language development practice. My initial emphasis on linguistic development has transformed into a desire to base both research goals and orthographic objectives on the history, identity and aspirations of the indigenous people. It is my intention that this thesis will be part of the growing body of work that recognises the limitations of Western empirical research models and the necessity for and practicality of alternative approaches. If you don’t know the words, ask your mother; if you don’t know the path, ask your father. (Traditional Lawa saying

Material culture: an inquiry into the meanings of artefacts

The main purpose of the following inquiry is to emphasise the importance of a phenomenon long neglected by the majority of the human sciences, the artefact; each one of us, no matter what age, sex or culture, is in contact with artefacts every moment of our lives yet despite this they have received scant attention. The study begins by outlining a definition of the artefact, highlighting those characteristics which, in combination, ensure its centrality to social life before, through a discussion of Popper's ideas, proceeding to see how material culture can be conceptualised as meaningful. In order to understand how meaning becomes attached to the artefact the notion of objectification will be analysed and, consequently, so shall the importance of both the type of activity and the physical nature of the materials involved in the artefact's production. Picking up on the theme of materiality this aspect of material culture will be shown to pose major problems to any interpretation of the artefact along semiological lines; language and material culture are evinced to possess fundamentally distinct characteristics which make comparisons between them far from straightforward. These differences will be analysed further, concentrating specifically on the role of context in the establishment of meaning. This leads on to the proposal that our understanding of artefacts can occur on three levels; three forms of knowledge are thus described of which a linguistically formulated type constitutes just one kind. The penultimate chapter tackles the ways in which artefacts affect us, how they are active elements in our relationships with them; therefore, a dialectical position is postulated in which both artefacts and agents take part. Finally, the study concludes by stressing some of its wider implications and suggests a few of the practical situations to which it can be applied

Propellant Mass Fraction Calculation Methodology for Launch Vehicles and Application to Ares Vehicles

Propellant Mass Fraction (pmf) calculation methods vary throughout the aerospace industry. While typically used as a means of comparison between candidate launch vehicle designs, the actual pmf calculation method varies slightly from one entity to another. It is the purpose of this paper to present various methods used to calculate the pmf of launch vehicles. This includes fundamental methods of pmf calculation that consider only the total propellant mass and the dry mass of the vehicle; more involved methods that consider the residuals, reserves and any other unusable propellant remaining in the vehicle; and calculations excluding large mass quantities such as the installed engine mass. Finally, a historical comparison is made between launch vehicles on the basis of the differing calculation methodologies, while the unique mission and design requirements of the Ares V Earth Departure Stage (EDS) are examined in terms of impact to pmf

Rapid, Precise, and High-Sensitivity Acquisition of Paleomagnetic and Rock-Magnetic Data: Development of a Low-Noise Automatic Sample Changing System for Superconducting Rock Magnetometers

Among Earth sciences, paleomagnetism is particularly linked to the statistics of large sample sets as a matter of historical development and logistical necessity. Because the geomagnetic field varies over timescales relevant to sedimentary deposition and igneous intrusion, while the fidelity of recorded magnetization is modulated by original properties of rock units and by alteration histories, "ideal" paleomagnetic results measure remanent magnetizations of hundreds of samples at dozens of progressive demagnetization levels, accompanied by tests of magnetic composition on representative sister specimens. We present an inexpensive, open source system for automating paleomagnetic and rock magnetic measurements. Using vacuum pick-and-place technology and a quartz-glass sample holder, the system can in one hour measure remanent magnetizations, as weak as a few pAm2, of ~30 specimens in two vertical orientations with measurement errors comparable to those of the best manual systems. The system reduces the number of manual manipulations required per specimen ~8 fold

General Aviation Hypoxia and Reporting Statistics

“All too often, pilots tell me they don\u27t need physiological training because they don\u27t fly that high. The statement points out the general feelings of a large majority of the aviation population. I suppose then the burning question is ‘why do we still have aircraft accidents?’” (Boshers, 2015). To this day there are no statistics on how often general aviation pilots experience hypoxia during everyday operations. General aviation pilots (i.e. non-commercial operations) were chosen for this study because: Little regulation regarding flight physiology training General attitude of invulnerability towards hypoxia No requirement to report hypoxia or similar event