Factors underlying human errors in air traffic control

A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA by coursework and research report in the field of Industrial/Organisational Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 14th February 2014The main objective of Air Traffic Control is to ensure the safe and orderly movement of aircraft through airspace. The primary aim of this study was to explore and identify the factors underlying human error in Air Traffic Control, based on safety event reports from the years 2010 to 2012. A total of 84 incident reports were analysed from airports spanning South Africa. Core factors that were explored included human factors, demographic factors, external factors, shift variables, risk factors and stated causal factors. This was done through the use of content analysis, cluster analyses and logistic regressions. The main results showed that errors in information processing factors, physical workplace designs, poor co-ordination standards and lack of memory cues are predictors of safety events. It was also established that lapses are predictors of poor information processing in controllers whilst poor workplace designs are a predictor of lapses. Finally, a lapse in itself is a predictor of safety events. These finding may direct future research into the possibility of lapses as a mediating variable between poor workplace designs and information processing errors

Motor evoked potentials in patients with chronic whiplash-associated disorder grade II

Background and purpose It is common belief that psychological problems influence the persistence of complains in patients with so-called mild whiplash-associated disorders (WADs). The usefulness of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) is investigated in patients with grade II WAD and remaining complains for more than 6 months. Patients and methods Twenty consecutive patients, aged between 24 and 58 years, with persistent neck pain for months after a car accident were included. All patients had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the cervical spine and cord. Central (CMCT) and peripheral motor conduction times (PMCT) were evaluated by registration in the biceps brachii muscle (C5–C6) and in the abductor digiti minimi muscle (C7–C8–Th1). Results Thirteen patients had prolonged CMCT or/and PMCT compared to 7 with normal values. On MRI discus bulging C5–C6, without abnormal signal changes in the cervical spinal cord was observed in 6 of the patients with disturbed MEPs compared to 3 without. Out of 7 patients, who had repeated MEPs after 6 months, 3 of them had an improvement of their conduction time. The patients with prolonged MEP conduction times were older than those with normal values (p=0.007). Conclusions MEP examination has to be performed in all patients with persistent complains even in the absence of objective neurological signs and non-significant changes on imaging

An exploratory study of the relationship between fathering and self-esteem of young adult women

The present study investigated the relationship between variables of father’s behaviour and their daughter’s levels of self-esteem - both were explored based on the perceptions of the daughter. Self-esteem was viewed as the measure of worthiness that one attributed to oneself, whilst the variables of father’s behaviour included support, punishment, control, rejection, indulgence, autonomy and protectiveness. The same elements of mother’s behaviour were also considered to see how they related to their daughter’s self-esteem; the primary motive for doing this was to provide a contrast to the outcome of the fathering information. The participation of seventy-seven young adult women between the ages of 21 and 34, and from different race groups and cultural backgrounds was requested through a number of associates who then passed the relevant questionnaires on to their associates. Respondents were asked to return the questionnaires fully completed, and data on father variables and self-esteem were then used from these questionnaires. Statistical analysis involved non-parametric analyses in the form of Spearman’s Correlation Rank and demonstrated a significant, negative correlation between protectiveness and self-esteem (r =-.368, p<0.001, 13.54% of variance) only for the father behaviours, while for the mother behaviours significant correlations existed between praise and self esteem, rejection and self-esteem, punishment self-esteem and protectiveness and the young adult women’s self-esteem. Theoretically and practically the implications of the findings suggest that parents and the roles they play may have an impact on their daughter’s self-esteem, at least for this sample, and thus future research into the meanings of the above findings and their impact on children - or more specifically - female children is a worthwhile undertaking, as is consideration of the stereotypical gender roles that society upholds.Brenda Radeb

The referendum in South Africa: A triumph of the spirit?

I can sing a hymn to the glory of my land, from the ashes something stirs, new voices are being heard. I can look with love at the harsh landscape pockmarked by ghettoes, in the dust and the dirt new voices sing new songs. (Achmat Dangor

A team decision framework for quality decision outcomes

This paper outlines the Team Decision Framework which follows on from our previous work on optimising the quality of decision-making in groups. The TDF is proposed as a model of the skills and abilities which we have termed ?intelligences? that should ideally be present in order for groups making decisions to achieve their full potential. The paper describes the intelligences and outlines the development of the measuring instrument, using Structural Equation Modelling and exploratory factor analysis. The TDF is designed to profile groups? decision-making capabilities. It is anticipated that such profiling might be used for diagnostic, training and comparative research purposes

The relationship between psychological capital and flourishing in the workplace

Sales employees are often the most important channel a company uses to execute their strategies and generate income. Psychological capital emerged from the field of positive organisational scholarship, which believes that individuals and organisations will benefit from unlocking hidden potentials of employees by focusing on their strengths and positive qualities, leading to overall subjective well-being, referred to as flourishing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Psychological Capital and the Flourishing of retail sales employees. The current research study employed a descriptive, exploratory, quantitative and cross-sectional research design. Results were gathered through formal measurements using, The Psychological capital Questionnaire and the PERMA-Profiler and were analysed through the use of statistical measures. The Psychological Capital questionnaires were used to measure the construct of Psychological Capital (hope, resilience, optimism and self-efficacy). The PERMA-Profiler were utilised to measure the level of flourishing of the sample. Participants was selected by means of non-probability convenience sampling, while a sample of 350 retail sales employees employed at the three leading retail centres in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, completed the questionnaires. Quantitative data obtained from the survey questionnaires, were analysed through the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to determine the strength of the relationships between the variables and the level of significance was set at a 95% confidence interval level (p ≤ 0,05). Owing to the data being non-normal, the Kruskal Wallis test was used to compare the distribution of different populations and nonparametric post hoc, Mann-Whitney U test. Based on the findings, there was a significant relationship found between psychological capital and flourishing amongst the sample employees in the retail industry. It is therefore possible that those relationships may hold true for future studies, in different industries as well as different occupations. Further exploration of these constructs is required in the South African context to see if the result in the present study can be supported or not

Empathy and redemption in theatre for young people: Towards an epistemic theory of empathetic imagination

This paper comprises two inter-related parts. In the first section I discuss the development of the empathetic imagination in young people through the medium of drama. Referring to a selection of plays I have written, directed and published as e-books for theatre in education projects, I will examine how the narrative situation of such theatre-work, both facilitates and invokes the meaning structures through which a young person’s empathetic imagination can be epistemically and ethically schooled. Pre-given identity formations and socially endorsed ‘ways of seeing’ dictate the untutored imaginations of young people. This paper will argue for the value of generating an epistemically informed, empathetic imagination, as an ideal towards which theatre for young people should strive especially when its form is shaped into contemporary adaptations of the Shakespearean text or popular entertainment, which attract significant numbers of young viewers. The second section of the paper interrogates the design and representation decisions taken for an adaptation of Macbeth which imported Asian performance and visual arts traditions in an attempt to offer both student performers and audiences a thought-provoking perspective on traditional western interpretations of the play. Central to such an undertaking, I contend, is the ethical reconstruction through dramatic presentations of regimes of value reception. Cognitive respect for the young mind, together with a commitment to supporting the emerging autonomous judgement of the young viewer or performer requires the framing of the dramatic treatment in such a way as to present stage characters whose vulnerabilities resist marginalization through uninformed manoeuvres of exclusion. By questioning unreflexive, encultured identity formations, theatre for young people, I suggest, can enlarge the empathetic reach of the ‘youthful imagination’ and provide a justifiable ‘way of knowing’. Ideologically undistorted dramatized encounters - joyous and sad by turns – invite young actors and audiences to embrace differences with enlightened generosity

Stroke in patients with migraine

Background and purpose: Migraine with aura (MA) is considered as a risk factor for ischaemic stroke. The present observational retrospective study compares migraine patients admitted for a documented stroke with those presenting focal neurological symptoms and headache without a demonstrable lesion and in which the final diagnosis was a migraine attack with aura. Material and methods: The study included 14 migraine patients with a stroke and 37 without a stroke. The clinical characteristics, the vascular risk factors and the results of the technical examinations were compared. Results: Stroke occurred in migraine patients with aura as well as without aura. Classical vascular risk factors were rather rare. Patent foramen ovale (PFO) with or without atrial septum aneurysm appeared to be the main risk factor for stroke in patients with a history of migraine. Infarcts were mainly located in the supratentorial territory of the posterior cerebral circulation. Also some lobar haematomas were observed, but their aetiology remained uncertain. The strokes were generally mildly severe with good outcome. Hyperintense signals in the cerebral white matter and cerebellum, on T-2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, were more frequent in the migraine patients with stroke. Conclusions: The presence of PFO, rather than of MA, appeared to be the main risk factor for stroke patients with migraine. No direct relation between migraine and stroke could be demonstrated

'The mirror shattered into tiny pieces': Reading gender and culture in the Japan Foundation Asia Centre's LEAR

The Japan Foundation Asia Centre's inter-cultural production of LEAR had its Australian premiere (and only performance in Australia) at the Festival of Perth in February, 1999..

Hooligans or Heroes? Imagining the subjects of empire during the Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902

Book review: Steve Attridge. Nationalism, Imperialism, and Identity in Late Victorian Culture: Civil and Military Worlds. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. ix + 229 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-333-80251-9