Using cognitive work analysis to explore activity allocation within military domains

Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) is frequently advocated as an approach for the analysis of complex sociotechnical systems. Much of the current CWA literature within the military domain pays particular attention to its initial phases; Work Domain Analysis and Contextual Task Analysis. Comparably, the analysis of the social and organisational constraints receives much less attention. Through the study of a helicopter Mission Planning System (MPS) software tool, this paper describes an approach for investigating the constraints affecting the distribution of work. The paper uses this model to evaluate the potential benefits of the social and organisational analysis phase within a military context. The analysis shows that, through its focus on constraints the approach provides a unique description of the factors influencing the social organisation within a complex domain. This approach appears to be compatible with existing approaches and serves as a validation of more established social analysis techniques

Seed management by small-scale farmers in Zambia. A study of cowpea, groundnut and sorghum seed in the Southern and Western Provinces (NRI Bulletin 76)

Field surveys of on-farm cowpea, groundnut and sorghum management in two regions of Zambia are described. The survey included seed saved on-farm and seed sources off-farm. Samples of seeds were collected just prior to planting and assessed for germination potential. Conclusions are given on the general status and potential for improving seed quality and on farmer seed management

Kansas Speaks Fall 2022 Statewide Public Opinion Survey

The 2022 Kansas Speaks fall survey was conducted from September 19 to October 2, 2022. A panel of 520 adult residents of Kansas age 18 and older were surveyed online to assess their attitudes and opinions regarding various issues of interest to Kansas citizens

Interactive three-dimensional boundary element stress analysis of components in aircraft structures

Computer aided design of mechanical components is an iterative process that often involves multiple stress analysis runs; this can be time consuming and expensive. Significant efficiency improvements can be made by increasing interactivity at the conceptual design stage. One approach is through real-time re-analysis of models with continuously updating geometry. Thus each run can benefit from an existing mesh and governing boundary element matrix that are similar to the updated geometry. For small problems, amenable to real-time analysis, re-integration accounts for the majority of the re-analysis time. This paper assesses how efficiency can be achieved during re-integration through both algorithmic and hardware based methods. For models with fewer than 10,000 degrees of freedom, the proposed algorithm performs up to five times faster than a standard integration scheme. An additional six times speed is achieved on eight cores over the serial implementation. By combining this work with previously addressed meshing and solution schemes, real-time re-analysis becomes a reality for small three-dimensional problems. Significant acceleration of larger systems is also achieved. This work demonstrates the viability of application in the aerospace industry where rapid validation of a range of similar models is an essential tool for optimising aircraft designs

Development and Assessment of a Patient-Centered Care Curriculum

The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the development and implementation of a pilot offering of the patient-centered care (PCC) curriculum sponsored by a partnership of schools of allied health and nursing and a local health care system. The objective of this interdisciplinary track is to increase the competency of allied health and nursing graduates to function in health care teams in both PCC and non-PCC hospital environments, thus improving the effectiveness of patient care. The elective track consists of two courses; a third course is under consideration. Students and faculty participating in the elective track were surveyed to assess their attitudes toward change and patient-centered care. Generally, participants believed that they could work well together but were not convinced of the viability of the PCC. Although the curriculum is still in its implementation stage and the nursing participation became minimal, this study aids in understanding opinions of nursing and allied health faculty and students regarding a new PCC curriculum

Schlieren Studies of Compressibility Effects on Dynamic Stall of Airfoils in Transient Pitching Motion

Compressibility effects on the flowfield of an airfoil executing rapid transient pitching motion from 0 - 60 degrees over a wide range of Mach numbers and pitching rates were studied using a stroboscopic schlieren flow visualization technique. The studies have led to the first direct experiments] documentation of multiple shocks on the airfoil upper surface flow for certain conditions. Also, at low Mach numbers, additional coherent vortical structures were found to be present along with the dynamic stall vortex, whereas at higher Mach numbers, the flow was dominated by a single vortex. The delineating Mach number for significant compressibility effects was 0.3 and the dynamic stall process was accelerated by increasing the Mach number above that value. Increasing the pitch rate monotonically delayed stall to angles of attack as large as 27 degrees.AFOSR-MIPR-87-0029 and 88-0010NAVAIRAR

New Upper Limits on the Tau Neutrino Mass from Primordial Helium Considerations

In this paper we reconsider recently derived bounds on $MeV$ tau neutrinos, taking into account previously unaccounted for effects. We find that, assuming that the neutrino life-time is longer than $O(100~sec)$, the constraint $N_{eff}<3.6$ rules out $\nu_{\tau}$ masses in the range $0.5~(MeV)<m_{\nu_\tau}<35~(MeV)$ for Majorana neutrinos and $0.74~(MeV)<m_{\nu_\tau}<35~(MeV)$ for Dirac neutrinos. Given that the present laboratory bound is 35 MeV, our results lower the present bound to $0.5$ and $0.74$ for Majorana and Dirac neutrinos respectively.Comment: 9 pages (2 figures available upon request), UM-AC-93-0

Survey of nucleon electromagnetic form factors

A dressed-quark core contribution to nucleon electromagnetic form factors is calculated. It is defined by the solution of a Poincare' covariant Faddeev equation in which dressed-quarks provide the elementary degree of freedom and correlations between them are expressed via diquarks. The nucleon-photon vertex involves a single parameter; i.e., a diquark charge radius. It is argued to be commensurate with the pion's charge radius. A comprehensive analysis and explanation of the form factors is built upon this foundation. A particular feature of the study is a separation of form factor contributions into those from different diagram types and correlation sectors, and subsequently a flavour separation for each of these. Amongst the extensive body of results that one could highlight are: r_1^{n,u}>r_1^{n,d}, owing to the presence of axial-vector quark-quark correlations; and for both the neutron and proton the ratio of Sachs electric and magnetic form factors possesses a zero.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures, 12 tables, 5 appendice