Evaluation of a Dutch version of the AIMS2 for patients with rheumatoid arthritis

DUTCH-AIMS2, a Dutch version of AIMS2 and successor to DUTCH-AIMS, is an instrument to assess health status among patients with rheumatic diseases. It provides measurements of 12 areas of health status on scales for health status proper, satisfaction, attribution and arthritis impact. We assessed the reliability of its scales in terms of internal consistency and their validity according to both internal standards and external standards. Correctly completed questionnaires were returned by 231 RA patients and 131 controls. Internal consistency coefficients for the health status scales ranged from 0.66 and 0.89, but most exceeded 0.80. Within-scale factor analyses produced single factors in all composite health status scales for both patients and controls, with only two exceptions. Factor analysis also identified a physical, social and psychological dimension among 11 areas of health. External validity was established by strong correlations between DUTCH-AIMS2 health status scales and functional class, laboratory parameters, and self-assessments of fatigue, loneliness, pain, functional disability and social support. DUTCH-AIMS2 is acceptably reliable and valid for use in a variety of settings

Visualization of Pairwise Conflict Resolution for Air Traffic Control

Air traffic capacity is mainly bound by Air Traffic Controller (ATCo) workload, which leads to problems in the view of the steadily increasing demand for air transport. Additional automation tools to support the ATCo in his current working practices are necessary. Visualization of control possibilities for aircraft by means of the “Solution Space” approach provides a first step in this direction. However, these visualizations focus on the control possibilities for a single aircraft, and a known problem is relating the indicated conflict back to the involved aircraft. This paper discusses the design of a visualization that shows the maneuvering options for a pair of aircraft in a conflict. As for the previous solution-space based display, the Ecological Interface Design framework is used to develop the design. The interface allows the ATCo to decide which aircraft should maneuver to most efficiently solve a conflict, or assists in selecting a joint maneuver, in which both aircraft make smaller maneuvers to solve the conflict. The manner in which the interface answers the requirements discovered with the work domain analysis and task analysis is discussed