Five Factor Model Personality Profiles of University of North Dakota Unmanned Aircraft Systems Students

Efforts to quantify personality characteristics in the pilots of manned aircraft extend back for decades. For individuals interested in piloting Unmanned Aircraft, similar analysis of normative personality characteristics remains relatively unexplored. This research examined the Five Factor Model (FFM) personality profiles of individuals pursuing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) studies at the University of North Dakota (UND). Using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) general personality index, the responses of a UAS Student sample (n=65) were compared to a Normative sample (n=248) previously collected by Petros (2013). The sample group, comprised of students with either Pre UAS Operations or UAS Operations declared as a first or second major, scored significantly lower in neuroticism (N) (

Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Training: a Pilot Study in Blended Learning

Since April of 2011, research and development efforts between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the University of North Dakota (UND) have progressed through the “Science and Technology for Warfighter Training and Aiding.” Cooperative Agreement. One product of these cooperative efforts has been a Heads Down Display (HDD) Menu Trainer. Designed to familiarize students with the layout and manipulation of the HDD menus for either the MQ-1 or MQ-9, a parallel pretest/posttest design was designed to examine the efficacy of this HDD menu trainer as training aid in traditional, blended, and distance pedagogies. Results of a mixed ANOVA indicated the trainer significantly improved performance from pretest to posttest scores across all groups (pp

A10 – Human Factors Considerations of UAS Procedures and Control Stations: Tasks PC-1 through PC-3 Pilot and Crew (PC) Subtask, Recommended Requirements and Operational Procedures

The Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) conducted research focused on minimum pilot procedures and operational practices used by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operators today for the purpose of developing recommendations. This research recommends four pilot and 46 operational minimum procedures to operate a civil single-engine, fixed-wing, single-pilot-configured UAS flying in beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) conditions. These recommendations are anticipated to support potential future aircrew procedure requirements for UAS larger than 55 lbs. operating in the National Airspace System (NAS). These procedures were validated using representative Control Stations in simulated environments

Successful Approaches for the Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems by Surface Transportation Agencies

The past decade has seen ever-increasing attention and resources dedicated to the application and operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs). Beginning with issuance of special airworthiness certificates in the experimental category for unmanned aircraft in 2007, up to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 and creation of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §107 and §101, the complexity and breadth of applications for UAS technology have flourished. Recognizing the interest and potential benefits to the surface transportation community the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) commissioned Scan 17-01 to accelerate beneficial innovation by facilitating information sharing and technology exchange among the states and other transportation agencies. Results from a desk scan, amplifying questions, and a peer exchange workshop produced conclusions and recommendations in seven topic areas for transportation agencies to consider when getting started using a UAS

Small UAS Detect and Avoid Requirements Necessary for Limited Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operations

Potential small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operational scenarios/use cases and Detect And Avoid (DAA) approaches were collected through a number of industry wide data calls. Every 333 Exemption holder was solicited for this same information. Summary information from more than 5,000 exemption holders is documented, and the information received had varied level of detail but has given relevant experiential information to generalize use cases. A plan was developed and testing completed to assess Radio Line Of Sight (RLOS), a potential key limiting factors for safe BVLOS ops. Details of the equipment used, flight test area, test payload, and fixtures for testing at different altitudes is presented and the resulting comparison of a simplified mathematical model, an online modeling tool, and flight data are provided. An Operational Framework that defines the environment, conditions, constraints, and limitations under which the recommended requirements will enable sUAS operations BVLOS is presented. The framework includes strategies that can build upon Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and industry actions that should result in an increase in BVLOS flights in the near term. Evaluating approaches to sUAS DAA was accomplished through five subtasks: literature review of pilot and ground observer see and avoid performance, survey of DAA criteria and recommended baseline performance, survey of existing/developing DAA technologies and performance, assessment of risks of selected DAA approaches, and flight testing. Pilot and ground observer see and avoid performance were evaluated through a literature review. Development of DAA criteria—the emphasis here being well clear— was accomplished through working with the Science And Research Panel (SARP) and through simulations of manned and unmanned aircraft interactions. Information regarding sUAS DAA approaches was collected through a literature review, requests for information, and direct interactions. These were analyzed through delineation of system type and definition of metrics and metric values. Risks associated with sUAS DAA systems were assessed by focusing on the Safety Risk Management (SRM) pillar of the SMS (Safety Management System) process. This effort (1) identified hazards related to the operation of sUAS in BVLOS, (2) offered a preliminary risk assessment considering existing controls, and (3) recommended additional controls and mitigations to further reduce risk to the lowest practical level. Finally, flight tests were conducted to collect preliminary data regarding well clear and DAA system hazards

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Data Supplement to \u27Development of a generative voluntary safety reporting culture (GVSRC) model for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil and gas (O & G) sector using attributes of the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP)\u27

An anonymous survey was used to collect the perceptions of personnel in the oil and gas sector on attributes of a generative voluntary safety reporting culture (GVSRC) in the Gulf of Mexico Sector. 1364 responses were initially obtained after which only 1333 responses were usable for the study