Usage Trends and Biomechanical Evaluation of Tethered Tools

Struck-by injuries and death caused by dropped objects continue to be a prevalent problem in industries where work is conducted at height. Securing objects from height with tethers, especially hand tools used to conduct work, and an increase in regulatory oversight would reduce these incidences. To date, no research has been conducted to investigate tethered tool usage patterns in industry to include user preference, task performance and the biomechanical impact of using tethered tools in lieu of their untethered counterparts. Due to the lack of information on tethered tool usage, it was necessary to develop and distribute a survey to gather data on tethered tool usage patterns, tool carrying methods, drop history and perceived risks while working at height. This thesis is a two-part study aimed at 1) identifying tethered tool usage trends in industries that conduct work at height and 2) identifying the biomechanical impact of using a tether on a tool to conduct in comparison to using the tool without a tether. Study 1 found that when employers provided tethered tools and means of carrying tethered tool, their usage was significantly increased. Study 2 found that tethered tool usage resulted in no statistically significant biomechanical impact to the user when conducting a task

Factors affecting the Affordable Care Act Marketplace stand-alone pediatric dental plan premiums

BACKGROUND: Children from lower income families have inadequate dental insurance coverage and poorer dental health in the United States. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) created Health Insurance Exchange Marketplaces to increase competition among health insurers and to provide low-income families with less costly health plans. The study examined Marketplace pediatric stand-alone dental plans (SADPs) and factors that affect their premiums. METHODS: The data used were 2016 Federal-Facilitated and State-Partnership Marketplace pediatric SADP data. Ordinary least squares regressions were applied to estimate contributing factors' effects on SADP premiums. RESULTS: Great premium variation was found among low and high coverage level SADPs, respectively. Premiums of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) SADPs were significantly less expensive than Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) SADPs. SADPs charged significantly higher premiums for more types of services covered. SADPs also charged higher premiums in states where there are larger proportions of low-income people who report poor dental health, more dentists per capita, or higher dentists' wages. The number of insurance companies offering pediatric SADPs in a Marketplace was negatively associated with premiums. CONCLUSION: The current Marketplace pediatric SADPs may have limited effects on increasing economically disadvantaged children's access to quality dental care. Marketplaces can promote competition among its pediatric dental insurers on providing lower-cost pediatric SADPs

Examination of the Impact of Various Training Approaches on Different UAS Operator Populations

In recent years, the UAS industry has extended beyond military and recreational use and is now positioned to become a major portion of the aviation industry. As we move toward UAS integration into the national airspace system, UAS operators need effective training to ensure safe operation. Training UAS operators in an engaging way is important to ensure the best performance and transfer of training. Training methods that elicit high levels of learner engagement have been shown to improve knowledge gains, performance, and therefore such training techniques provide an opportunity for improving UAS training effectiveness and transfer. The growth of the UAS industry across various domains such as first responders and industrial inspectors has resulted in a broad demographic of end users. Given this, training may need to be tailored based on the population to ensure an engaging experience. To examine this topic, a study was conducted in which UAS pilots from the student population and first responder population participated in UAS training to test the effect of different training approaches on learner engagement of different end user populations. Participants engaged in instructional videos, simulation challenges, and live obstacle courses and were measured on their engagement levels and performance. This presentation will describe the methods and findings associated with the study along with implications for the aviation industry

Advanced Air Mobility Human factors Considerations for Current eVTOL Pilot Interfaces

Advanced air mobility (AAM) is a novel transportation concept using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to move people and cargo in urban and rural environments. The emergence of AAM has led to a range of different eVTOL vehicle designs at different stages in development, flight testing, and certification. Although these aircraft will serve similar markets, they will have different operational capabilities and pilot interfaces. These aircraft vary in whether they are (a) multi-rotor and have tilt-rotor capabilities, or (b) winged with tilt-wing capabilities, vectored thrust, fans, or propellers. The pilot interfaces in eVTOL align with the concept of simplified vehicle operations (SVO), which emphasizes the use of automation to simplify the physical control a pilot has on the aircraft, effectively reducing workload. Pilot interfaces range in their level of landing precision information, the number of displays, checklist presentation, and how battery information is presented. A preliminary survey was conducted to determine common trends in eVTOL pilot interfaces. Common trends identified include large displays, integration of flight information such as speed, altitude, heading, climb and descent rate, flight path, battery power information, origin and destination of the flight, weather information, aircraft range and location, tilt information, and rotation per minute (RPM). This presentation will investigate trends in the eVTOL pilot interfaces and the associated human factors issues that may arise due to these interfaces. Additionally, simulation testbeds available to examine the human factors issues associated with these pilot interfaces will be presented

Parties’ perceptions of apologies in the State Administrative Tribunal and Equal Opportunity Commission of Western Australia

Complainants\u27 and respondents\u27 experiences of the settlement of equal opportunity complaints of discrimination or harassment were investigated. The aim was to gather information on the nature and value of apologies in the settlement process. One specific aim was to learn about parties\u27 perceptions about the value of ordered apologies..

Implementation of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as Evidenced by a Community Action Program in Baltimore, Maryland

This research is directed to a rough and beginning evaluation of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 as evidenced through one Community Action Program, the Neighborhood Development Program, in Baltimore, Maryland during the late fall of 1966. In this study the implementation of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 is evaluated according to the perceptions of the Neighborhood Development Assistants who are the indigenous workers in the program. The purposes of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and each Community Action Program were taken directly from the Act itself, and then various phrases were operationally defined. The data was collected through interviews using a fairly open­ ended schedule. The sample of twenty assistants was selected randomly from the second level of assistants of a program in which there are four levels and level I requires the least education and experience. A pilot study to test the interview schedule was conducted before the collection of any data. Due to the newness of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and the resulting anti poverty program there is a wealth of recent literature concerning poverty and what the program should do and, as yet, apparently no evaluative studies. The data collected here is analysed primarily with respect to theories and other pertinent research, and thus much of the discussion in the analysis refers back to the literature reviewed. The main conclusions are: (l) a question concerning how representative of the poor the assistants are, (2) inadequate publication of and communication about presently existing community resources, (3) the assistants\u27 personal satisfaction with their jobs though dissatisfaction with the relationship between themselves and their supervisors and confusion concerning the value of their role, and (4) a strong need by the poor to have their physical needs met (which could be largely accomplished through more and better paying jobs) before attempting to meet more intangible goals (such as increasing political and social power). Although some of the assistants\u27 work is consistent with the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 aims (such as referrals to jobs and community resources, and encouraging group efforts, voting, and complaining by the poor themselves), it seems that overall this program is not implementing the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 primarily because there is insufficient money, resources, and wide community cooperation to meet their physical needs, and until this goal is reached, efforts in other areas are and will be relatively unsuccessful. The generality and nonspecificity of the conclusions was to be expected and not undesirable considering the purpose and limited scope of this research. The seven recommendations are directed toward opportunities for increased employment and enabling individuals (particularly men) to return to school or enter a training program, increasing the representativeness of the poor, increasing the assistants\u27 work with and on agencies on behalf of the poor, improving the communication and cooperation between the assistants and the rest of the staff, and pointing out areas for more research. With respect to relevant research there needs to be focus on the existence of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and if it, as it is operating with its present limited budget, is really doing anything about poverty or is it just raising the hopes of the poor only to smash and frustrate them once more

Extending the Lee Carter Model: a Three-way Decomposition

In this paper, we focus on a Multidimensional Data Analysis approach to the Lee-Carter (LC) model of mortality trends . In particular, we extend the bilinear LC model and specify a new model based on a three-way structure, which incorporates a further component in the decomposition of the log-mortality rates. A multi-way component analysis is performed using the Tucker 3 model. The suggested methodology allows us to obtain combined estimates for the three modes: i) time, ii) agegroups and iii) different populations. From the results obtained by the Tucker 3 decomposition, we can jointly compare, in both a numerical and graphical way, the relationships among all three modes and obtain a time series component as a leading indicator of the mortality trend for a group of populations. Further, we carry out a correlation analysis of the estimated trends in order to assess the reliability of the results of the three-way decomposition. The model’s goodness of fit is assessed using an analysis of the residuals. Finally, we discuss how the synthesised mortality index can be used to build concise projected life tables for a group of populations. An application which compares ten European countries is used to illustrate the approach and provide a deeper insight into the model and its implementation