Creation of Two Valid Scales: Willingness to Fly in an Aircraft and Willingness to Pilot an Aircraft

The purpose of the current study was to develop two scales that could be used concurrently or independently to measure passenger willingness to fly (WTF), and aviator willingness to pilot (WTP), respectively. This is especially useful to determine challenges involving acceptance of new aviation technology for both pilots and passengers. There were five stages in developing the WTF scale for passengers, following Hinkin’s scale development process. Cronbach’s Alpha and Guttmann’s Split Half tests were used to confirm high internal consistency and reliability, while factor analysis was used to confirm construct validity. The scale was tested in order to confirm sensitivity to differences in actual participant willingness to fly. After developing the WTF scale for passengers, researchers made minor lexical adjustments and created the WTP scale, calculating Cronbach’s Alpha, Guttmann’s Split Half test, and factor analysis; thus, ensuring high internal consistency, reliability and validity. These two scales may help provide researchers with a better applied understanding of applications within the aviation and consumer perceptions literature and also assist with pilot training and acceptance of new aviation technology

Creation of Two Valid Scales: Willingness to Fly in an Aircraft and Willingness to Pilot an Aircraft

The purpose of the current study was to develop two scales that could be used concurrently or independently to measure passenger willingness to fly (WTF), and aviator willingness to pilot (WTP), respectively. This is especially useful to determine challenges involving acceptance of new aviation technology for both pilots and passengers. There were five stages in developing the WTF scale for passengers, following Hinkin’s scale development process. Cronbach’s Alpha and Guttmann’s Split Half tests were used to confirm high internal consistency and reliability, while factor analysis was used to confirm construct validity. The scale was tested in order to confirm sensitivity to differences in actual participant willingness to fly. After developing the WTF scale for passengers, researchers made minor lexical adjustments and created the WTP scale, calculating Cronbach’s Alpha, Guttmann’s Split Half test, and factor analysis; thus, ensuring high internal consistency, reliability and validity. These two scales may help provide researchers with a better applied understanding of applications within the aviation and consumer perceptions literature and also assist with pilot training and acceptance of new aviation technology

Creation of Two Valid Scales: Willingness to Fly in an Aircraft and Willingness to Pilot an Aircraft

The purpose of the current study was to develop two scales that could be used concurrently or independently to measure passenger willingness to fly (WTF), and aviator willingness to pilot (WTP), respectively. This is especially useful to determine challenges involving acceptance of new aviation technology for both pilots and passengers. There were five stages in developing the WTF scale for passengers, following Hinkin’s scale development process. Cronbach’s Alpha and Guttmann’s Split Half tests were used to confirm high internal consistency and reliability, while factor analysis was used to confirm construct validity. The scale was tested in order to confirm sensitivity to differences in actual participant willingness to fly. After developing the WTF scale for passengers, researchers made minor lexical adjustments and created the WTP scale, calculating Cronbach’s Alpha, Guttmann’s Split Half test, and factor analysis; thus, ensuring high internal consistency, reliability and validity. These two scales may help provide researchers with a better applied understanding of applications within the aviation and consumer perceptions literature and also assist with pilot training and acceptance of new aviation technology

Design and development of the 2002 michigan tech FutureTruck, a parallel hybrid electric vehicle

In this paper, the conversion of a production sport utility vehicle (SUV) to a hybrid electric vehicle utilizing a through-the-road parallel hybrid configuration is presented. The uniqueness of this design comes from its ability to decouple the front and rear drivetrain to simplify the packaging of underbody components. The Hybrid Theory utilizes a 2.0L, 4-cylinder engine that supplies 101kW (135hp) to the front wheels and a DC motor that supplies an additional 53kW (70hp) to the rear wheels to achieve the competition goals of a 25% improvement in fuel economy, a reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, as well as maintaining stock performance. The effects on drivability, manufacturing, fuel economy, emissions, and performance are presented along with the design, selection, and implementation of all of the vehicle conversion components. The result is a simple, low-cost option that increases the environmental friendliness that customers expect without compromising the performance they demand

Deletion of CTLA-4 on regulatory T cells during adulthood leads to resistance to autoimmunity

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an essential negative regulator of T cell responses. Germline Ctla4 deficiency is lethal, making investigation of the function of CTLA-4 on mature T cells challenging. To elucidate the function of CTLA-4 on mature T cells, we have conditionally ablated Ctla4 in adult mice. We show that, in contrast to germline knockout mice, deletion of Ctla4 during adulthood does not precipitate systemic autoimmunity, but surprisingly confers protection from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and does not lead to increased resistance to MC38 tumors. Deletion of Ctla4 during adulthood was accompanied by activation and expansion of both conventional CD4+Foxp3− (T conv) and regulatory Foxp3+ (T reg cells) T cell subsets; however, deletion of CTLA-4 on T reg cells was necessary and sufficient for protection from EAE. CTLA-4 deleted T reg cells remained functionally suppressive. Deletion of Ctla4 on T reg cells alone or on all adult T cells led to major changes in the Ctla4 sufficient T conv cell compartment, including up-regulation of immunoinhibitory molecules IL-10, LAG-3 and PD-1, thereby providing a compensatory immunosuppressive mechanism. Collectively, our findings point to a profound role for CTLA-4 on T reg cells in limiting their peripheral expansion and activation, thereby regulating the phenotype and function of T conv cells

Obesity Shapes Metabolism in the Tumor Microenvironment to Suppress Anti-Tumor Immunity

Obesity is a major cancer risk factor, but how differences in systemic metabolism change the tumor microenvironment (TME) and impact anti-tumor immunity is not understood. Here, we demonstrate that high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity impairs CD8(+) T cell function in the murine TME, accelerating tumor growth. We generate a single-cell resolution atlas of cellular metabolism in the TME, detailing how it changes with diet-induced obesity. We find that tumor and CD8(+) T cells display distinct metabolic adaptations to obesity. Tumor cells increase fat uptake with HFD, whereas tumor-infiltrating CD8(+) T cells do not. These differential adaptations lead to altered fatty acid partitioning in HFD tumors, impairing CD8(+) T cell infiltration and function. Blocking metabolic reprogramming by tumor cells in obese mice improves anti-tumor immunity. Analysis of human cancers reveals similar transcriptional changes in CD8(+) T cell markers, suggesting interventions that exploit metabolism to improve cancer immunotherapy