Safety culture in defence explosive ordnance: developing a safety climate measure

It is increasingly recognised within high-consequence industries that a positive safety culture is strongly linked to various safety outcomes and performance indicators. Explosive ordnance (EO) is an area that demands a high level of safety culture, indeed it is a reputational and operational necessity. This paper introduces a measure of safety climate tailored to the EO domain. The paper describes the background to the study, the development of items, and the subsequent factorial validation of scales on the basis of a sample of 272 EO personnel. The factor structure that emerged was very similar to the postulated structure of 14 climate dimensions. These 14 dimensions were shown to represent three meta-themes in the data: Safety Awareness and Responsibility (8 subscales), Safety Resources issues (3 subscales), and Safety System issues (3 subscales). The authors are confident that the EO Safety Survey is a valid, reliable and powerful tool that will support the goal of holistic reform of the EO domain. The EO Safety Survey will inform and enable tailored safety intervention efforts, improved compliance monitoring, and benchmarking studies that, collectively, will enhance the management of the human factors issues that impact on EO work

A TEST OF ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESES FOR CHARACTER DIVERGENCE BETWEEN COEXISTING SPECIES

Why do closely related, coexisting species typically differ in phenotypic features associated with resource use? One answer to this question is that such differences might generally evolve in allopatry, as different species adapt to divergent environmental conditions, and any differences that thereby accumulate might subsequently enable coexistence in sympatry. Alternatively, coexisting species might generally diverge in sympatry, because of selection to reduce competition for food (character displacement). Here we evaluated these two causes of character divergence by asking which hypothesis better explains differences in feeding morphology between tadpoles of two species of spadefoot toads, Spea bombifrons and S. multiplicata. We found that, in natural ponds containing both species, S. multiplicata almost always developed into a smaller, round-bodied tadpole with normal sized jaw muscles used for feeding on detritus at the pond bottom (the omnivore morph), whereas S. bombifrons almost always developed into a larger, flat-headed tadpole with greatly enlarged jaw muscles used for feeding on crustaceans in open water (the carnivore morph). By contrast, in all but one of 18 similar ponds containing a single species, both species expressed both phenotypes. Divergence between species in morph production appears to have evolved in sympatry: when we compared population means for each of four key trophic characters, we found that no allopatric population of S. bombifrons was as carnivore-like as the sympatric S. bombifrons, and, for three of four characters, no allopatric population of S. multiplicata was as omnivore-like as the sympatric S. multiplicata. In contrast to significant differences in trophic characters, we found no divergence between allopatric and sympatric populations in a character not directly involved in feeding on detritus or crustaceans (overall body size). These data, together with our earlier experimental work, reveal that coexisting S. bombifrons and S. multiplicata have diverged from one another in resource use and in phenotypic features associated with resource use because of selection to reduce competition for food (i.e., character displacement). Spea tadpoles, therefore, are one of few systems for which both experimental and observational evidence link phenotypic divergence to resource competition, thereby providing a model for understanding why coexisting species often differ phenotypically

Leverage analysis: A method for locating points of influence in systemic design decisions

Many systemic design processes include the development and analysis of systems models that represent the issue(s) at hand. In causal loop diagram models, phenomena are graphed as nodes, with connections between them indicating a control relationship. Such models provide mechanisms for stakeholder collaboration, problem finding and generative insight and are powerful . These functions are valued in design thinking, but the potential of these models may yet be unfulfilled. We introduce the notion of “leverage measures” to systemic design, adapting techniques from social network analysis and systems dynamics to uncover key structures, relationships and latent leverage positions of modelled phenomena. We demonstrate their utility in a pilot study. By rethinking the logics of leverage, we make better arguments for change and find the place from which to move the world

Diffuse Interstellar Bands in z < 0.6 CaII Absorbers

The diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) probably arise from complex organic molecules whose strength in local galaxies correlates with neutral hydrogen column density, N(HI), and dust reddening, E(B-V). Since CaII absorbers in quasar (QSO) spectra are posited to have high N(HI) and significant E(B-V), they represent promising sites for the detection of DIBs at cosmological distances. Here we present the results from the first search for DIBs in 9 CaII-selected absorbers at 0.07 < z_abs < 0.55. We detect the 5780Ang DIB in one line of sight at z_abs = 0.1556; this is only the second QSO absorber in which a DIB has been detected. Unlike the majority of local DIB sight-lines, both QSO absorbers with detected DIBs show weak 6284Ang absorption compared with the 5780Ang band. This may be indicative of different physical conditions in intermediate redshift QSO absorbers compared with local galaxies. Assuming that local relations between the 5780Ang DIB strength and N(HI) and E(B-V) apply in QSO absorbers, DIB detections and limits can be used to derive N(HI) and E(B-V). For the one absorber in this study with a detected DIB, we derive E(B-V) = 0.23mag and log[N(HI)] >= 20.9, consistent with previous conclusions that CaII systems have high HI column densities and significant reddening. For the remaining 8 CaII-selected absorbers with 5780Ang DIB non-detections, we derive E(B-V) upper limits of 0.1-0.3mag.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted to MNRAS Letter

Review of Engaging Education: Developing Emotional Literacy, Equity and Co-education. Brian Matthews. (Book Review)

The book is only about a fraction of its title Engaging Education. His section on ‘engaging the emotions’ sums this up: whereas the book is largely about engaging the emotions positively, the definition of ‘Engaging’ is more far reaching: “that pupils should be involved in their learning; be active and absorbed and not just passive recipients of a set curriculum. Additionally, they should feel engaged in the processes of education and have some input into creating their own agendas for learning” (p.2). Exploring the full impact of this statement across the curriculum really needs a different book

Towards identifying factors underlying readiness for online learning: an exploratory study

To test the potential value of McVay\u27s (2000) Readiness for Online Learning questionnaire for research and practice, the instrument was administered to 107 undergraduate university students drawn from a range of courses in the United States and Australia. The questionnaire was subjected to a reliability analysis and a factor analysis. The instrument fared well in the reliability analysis, and yielded a two-factor structure that was readily interpretable in a framework of existing theory and research. Factors identified were &quot;Comfort with e-learning&quot; and &quot;Self-management of learning.&quot; It is suggested that the instrument is useful for both research and practice, but would be enhanced through further work on 5 of the 13 items. Additionally, further work is required to establish predictive validity.<br /

Fire Spread in an Artificial Fuel

Paper published as Bulletin 32 in the UM Bulletin Forestry Series.https://scholarworks.umt.edu/umforestrybulletin/1016/thumbnail.jp