Virtual training environments to improve train driver's crisis decision making

This paper reports on a current research project in which virtual reality simulators are being investigated as a means of simulating hazardous Rail work conditions in order to allow train drivers to practice decision-making under stress. When working under high stress conditions train drivers need to move beyond procedural responses into a response activated through their own problem-solving and decision-making skills. This study focuses on the use of stress inoculation training which aims to build driver���s confidence in the use of new decision-making skills by being repeatedly required to respond to hazardous driving conditions. In particular, the study makes use of a train cab driving simulator to reproduce potentially stress inducing real-world scenarios. Initial pilot research has been undertaken in which drivers have experienced the training simulation and subsequently completed surveys on the level of immersion experienced. Concurrently drivers have also participated in a velocity perception experiment designed to objectively measure the fidelity of the virtual training environment. Baseline data, against which decision-making skills post training will be measured, is being gathered via cognitive task analysis designed to identify primary decision requirements for specific rail events. While considerable efforts have been invested in improving Virtual Reality technology, little is known about how to best use this technology for training personnel to respond to workplace conditions in the Rail Industry. To enable the best use of simulators for training in the Rail context the project aims to identify those factors within virtual reality that support required learning outcomes and use this information to design training simulations that reliably and safely train staff in required workplace accident response skills.

Integrating runtime assertions with dynamic types: Structuring a derivation from an incomputable specification

An inherent incomputability in the specification of a functional language extension that combines assertions with dynamic type checking is isolated in an explicit derivation from mathematical specifications. The combination of types and assertions (into "dynamic assertion-types" - DATs) is a significant issue since, because the two are congruent means for program correctness, benefit arises from their better integration in contrast to the harm resulting from their unnecessary separation. However, projecting the "set membership" view of assertion-checking into dynamic types results in some incomputable combinations. Refinement of the specification of DAT checking into an implementation by rigorous application of mathematical identities becomes feasible through the addition of a "best-approximate" pseudo-equality that isolates the incomputable component of the specification. This formal treatment leads to an improved, more maintainable outcome with further development potential.

QUALIDADE DE VIDA E ESTRAT��GIAS DE ENFRENTAMENTO DE MULHERES COM E SEM LINFEDEMA AP��S C��NCER DE MAMA

O linfedema no membro superior �� uma complica����o inerente ao tratamento de c��ncer de mama. Caracterizado pelo aumento do volume do membro, leva ��s limita����es f��sicas e funcionais, e impacto negativo no ��mbito psicol��gico e social. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar a qualidade de vida e seus dom��nios, as estrat��gias de enfrentamento frente ao c��ncer de mama, e a correla����o entre essas vari��veis. Este estudo foi realizado em um centro de sa��de dedicado ��s mulheres, por quatro meses. Os instrumentos de avalia����o foram: question��rio de caracteriza����o geral e espec��fico do c��ncer de mama, perimetria dos membros superiores; question��rios de qualidade de vida da Organiza����o Europ��ia de Pesquisa e Tratamento do C��ncer, EORTC QLQ-30 e BR-23; e Invent��rio de Estrat��gias de Coping. Foram entrevistadas 82 mulheres, idade m��dia de 57,4 anos (DV12,3), submetidas a tratamento cir��rgico de mama unilateral e esvaziamento axilar, sem met��stase. O linfedema apresentou-se em 39,03% (32) e parece n��o interferir muito na qualidade de vida das mulheres p��s-c��ncer de mama, sendo a fun����o social a mais prejudicada. Sintomas relacionados �� quimioterapia e a mama incomodam as mulheres de ambos grupos, por��m os sintomas relacionados aos bra��os foram estatisticamente maiores nas portadoras de linfedema. As estrat��gias mais utilizadas pelas entrevistadas para enfrentar o c��ncer foram a reavalia����o, resolu����o de problemas, fuga, suporte social e autocontrole, somente o autocontrole foi estatisticamente maior nas mulheres com linfedema. As estrat��gias de resolu����o de problemas, autocontrole e baixo suporte social podem ter colaborado para o desencadeamento do linfedema. Conclui-se que o uso de estrat��gias ativas e positivas para enfrentar o c��ncer de mama parece resultar na boa adapta����o psicossocial

A INFLU��NCIA DAS PR��TICAS PEDAG��GICAS DOCENTES E DAS BARREIRAS DISCENTES SOBRE O DESENVOLVIMENTO DA CRIATIVIDADE DO FUTURO ADMINISTRADOR

As empresas que almejam garantir e melhorar sua posi����o dentro de em um mercado cada vez mais competitivo precisam estar sempre atualizadas e em constante evolu����o. Na busca cont��nua por essa evolu����o, investem em projetos de Pesquisa & Desenvolvimento (P&D) e em seu capital humano para promover a criatividade e a inova����o organizacional. As pessoas t��m papel fundamental no desenvolvimento da inova����o, mas para que isso possa florescer de forma constante �� preciso comprometimento e criatividade para a gera����o de ideias. Criatividade �� pensar o novo; inova����o �� fazer acontecer. Por��m, encontrar pessoas com essas qualidades nem sempre �� tarefa f��cil e muitas vezes �� preciso estimular essas habilidades e caracter��sticas para que se tornem efetivamente criativas. Os cursos de gradua����o podem ser uma importante ferramenta para trabalhar esses aspectos, caracter��sticas e habilidades, usando m��todos e pr��ticas de ensino que auxiliem no desenvolvimento da criatividade, pois o ambiente ensino-aprendizagem pesa significativamente na forma����o das pessoas. O objetivo deste estudo �� de identificar quais fatores t��m maior influ��ncia sobre o desenvolvimento da criatividade em um curso de gradua����o em administra����o, analisando a influ��ncia das pr��ticas pedag��gicas dos docentes e as barreiras internas dos discentes. O referencial te��rico se baseia principalmente nos trabalhos de Alencar, Fleith, Torrance e Wechsler. A pesquisa transversal de abordagem quantitativa teve como p��blico-alvo os alunos do curso de Administra����o de uma universidade confessional da Grande S��o Paulo, que responderam 465 question��rios compostos de tr��s escalas. Para as pr��ticas docentes foi adaptada a escala de Pr��ticas Docentes em rela����o �� Criatividade. Para as barreiras internas foi adaptada a escala de Barreiras da Criatividade Pessoal. Para a an��lise da percep����o do desenvolvimento da criatividade foi constru��da e validada uma escala baseada no referencial de caracter��sticas de uma pessoa criativa. As an��lises estat��sticas descritivas e fatoriais explorat��rias foram realizadas no software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), enquanto as an��lises fatoriais confirmat��rias e a mensura����o da influ��ncia das pr��ticas pedag��gicas e das barreiras internas sobre a percep����o do desenvolvimento da criatividade foram realizadas por modelagem de equa����o estrutural utilizando o algoritmo Partial Least Squares (PLS), no software Smart PLS 2.0. Os resultados apontaram que as pr��ticas pedag��gicas e as barreiras internas dos discentes explicam 40% da percep����o de desenvolvimento da criatividade, sendo as pr��ticas pedag��gicas que exercem maior influencia. A pesquisa tamb��m apontou que o tipo de tem��tica e o per��odo em que o aluno est�� cursando n��o t��m influ��ncia sobre nenhum dos tr��s construtos, somente o professor influencia as pr��ticas pedag��gicas.

ANALISANDO A RELA����O DOS VOLUMES DE EXPORTA����O E DE IMPORTA����O, PIB, TAXAS DE C��MBIO E INFLA����O NO PER��ODO DE 2004 A 2014. S��O BERNARDO DO CAMPO 2015

As empresas que almejam garantir e melhorar sua posi����o dentro de em um mercado cada vez mais competitivo precisam estar sempre atualizadas e em constante evolu����o. Na busca cont��nua por essa evolu����o, investem em projetos de Pesquisa & Desenvolvimento (P&D) e em seu capital humano para promover a criatividade e a inova����o organizacional. As pessoas t��m papel fundamental no desenvolvimento da inova����o, mas para que isso possa florescer de forma constante �� preciso comprometimento e criatividade para a gera����o de ideias. Criatividade �� pensar o novo; inova����o �� fazer acontecer. Por��m, encontrar pessoas com essas qualidades nem sempre �� tarefa f��cil e muitas vezes �� preciso estimular essas habilidades e caracter��sticas para que se tornem efetivamente criativas. Os cursos de gradua����o podem ser uma importante ferramenta para trabalhar esses aspectos, caracter��sticas e habilidades, usando m��todos e pr��ticas de ensino que auxiliem no desenvolvimento da criatividade, pois o ambiente ensino-aprendizagem pesa significativamente na forma����o das pessoas. O objetivo deste estudo �� de identificar quais fatores t��m maior influ��ncia sobre o desenvolvimento da criatividade em um curso de gradua����o em administra����o, analisando a influ��ncia das pr��ticas pedag��gicas dos docentes e as barreiras internas dos discentes. O referencial te��rico se baseia principalmente nos trabalhos de Alencar, Fleith, Torrance e Wechsler. A pesquisa transversal de abordagem quantitativa teve como p��blico-alvo os alunos do curso de Administra����o de uma universidade confessional da Grande S��o Paulo, que responderam 465 question��rios compostos de tr��s escalas. Para as pr��ticas docentes foi adaptada a escala de Pr��ticas Docentes em rela����o �� Criatividade. Para as barreiras internas foi adaptada a escala de Barreiras da Criatividade Pessoal. Para a an��lise da percep����o do desenvolvimento da criatividade foi constru��da e validada uma escala baseada no referencial de caracter��sticas de uma pessoa criativa. As an��lises estat��sticas descritivas e fatoriais explorat��rias foram realizadas no software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), enquanto as an��lises fatoriais confirmat��rias e a mensura����o da influ��ncia das pr��ticas pedag��gicas e das barreiras internas sobre a percep����o do desenvolvimento da criatividade foram realizadas por modelagem de equa����o estrutural utilizando o algoritmo Partial Least Squares (PLS), no software Smart PLS 2.0. Os resultados apontaram que as pr��ticas pedag��gicas e as barreiras internas dos discentes explicam 40% da percep����o de desenvolvimento da criatividade, sendo as pr��ticas pedag��gicas que exercem maior influencia. A pesquisa tamb��m apontou que o tipo de tem��tica e o per��odo em que o aluno est�� cursando n��o t��m influ��ncia sobre nenhum dos tr��s construtos, somente o professor influencia as pr��ticas pedag��gicas.

Transnational environmental policy:reconstructing ozone

Transnational Environmental Policy analyses a surprising success story in the field of international environmental policy making: the threat to the ozone layer posed by industrial chemicals, and how it has been averted. The book also raises the more general question about the problem-solving capacities of industrialised countries and the world society as a whole. Reiner Grundmann investigates the regulations which have been put in place at an international level, and how the process evolved over twenty years in the US and Germany.

Approaching questions in forensic authorship analysis

This chapter demonstrates diversity in the activity of authorship and the corresponding diversity of forensic authorship analysis questions and techniques. Authorship is discussed in terms of Love���s (2002) multifunctional description of precursory, executive, declarative and revisionary authorship activities and the implications of this distinction for forensic problem solving. Four different authorship questions are considered. These are ���How was the text produced?���, ���How many people wrote the text?���, ���What kind of person wrote the text?��� and ���What is the relationship of a queried text with comparison texts?��� Different approaches to forensic authorship analysis are discussed in terms of their appropriateness to answering different authorship questions. The conclusion drawn is that no one technique will ever be appropriate to all problems.

Expert systems for fault analysis

The initial aim of this research was to investigate the application of expert Systems, or Knowledge Base Systems technology to the automated synthesis of Hazard and Operability Studies. Due to the generic nature of Fault Analysis problems and the way in which Knowledge Base Systems work, this goal has evolved into a consideration of automated support for Fault Analysis in general, covering HAZOP, Fault Tree Analysis, FMEA and Fault Diagnosis in the Process Industries. This thesis described a proposed architecture for such an Expert System. The purpose of the System is to produce a descriptive model of faults and fault propagation from a description of the physical structure of the plant. From these descriptive models, the desired Fault Analysis may be produced. The way in which this is done reflects the complexity of the problem which, in principle, encompasses the whole of the discipline of Process Engineering. An attempt is made to incorporate the perceived method that an expert uses to solve the problem; keywords, heuristics and guidelines from techniques such as HAZOP and Fault Tree Synthesis are used. In a truly Expert System, the performance of the system is strongly dependent on the high quality of the knowledge that is incorporated. This expert knowledge takes the form of heuristics or rules of thumb which are used in problem solving. This research has shown that, for the application of fault analysis heuristics, it is necessary to have a representation of the details of fault propagation within a process. This helps to ensure the robustness of the system - a gradual rather than abrupt degradation at the boundaries of the domain knowledge.

Testing incremental politics : the case of North Sea oil

In the quest to secure the much vaunted benefits of North Sea oil, highly non-incremental technologies have been adopted. Nowhere is this more the case than with the early fields of the central and northern North Sea. By focusing on the inflexible nature of North Sea hardware, in such fields, this thesis examines the problems that this sort of technology might pose for policy making. More particularly, the following issues are raised. First, the implications of non-incremental technical change for the successful conduct of oil policy is raised. Here, the focus is on the micro-economic performance of the first generation of North Sea oil fields and the manner in which this relates to government policy. Secondly, the question is posed as to whether there were more flexible, perhaps more incremental policy alternatives open to the decision makers. Conclusions drawn relate to the degree to which non-incremental shifts in policy permit decision makers to achieve their objectives at relatively low cost. To discover cases where non-incremental policy making has led to success in this way, would be to falsify the thesis that decision makers are best served by employing incremental politics as an approach to complex problem solving.

A cybernetic methodology to study and design human activities

This thesis offers a methodology to study and design effective communication mechanisms in human activities. The methodology is focused in the management of complexity. It is argued that complexity is not something objective that can be worked out analytically, but something subjective that depends on the viewpoint. Also it is argued that while certain social contexts may inhibit, others may enhance the viewpoint's capabilities to deal with complexity. Certain organisation structures are more likely than others to allow individuals to release their potentials. Thus, the relevance of studying and designing effective organisations. The first part of the thesis offers a `cybernetic methodology' for problem solving in human activities, the second offers a `method' to study and design organisations. The cybernetics methodology discussed in this work is rooted in second order cybernetics, or the cybernetics of the observing systems (Von Foester 1979, Maturana and Varela 1980). Its main tenet is that the known properties of the real world reside in the individual and not in the world itself. This view, which puts emphasis in a, by nature, one sided and unilateral appreciation of reality, triggers the need for dialogue and conversations to construct it. The `method' to study and design organisations, it based on Beer's Viable System Model (Beer 1979, 1981, 1985). This model permits us to assess how successful is an organisation in coping with its environmental complexity, and, moreover, permits us to establish how to make more effective the responses to this complexity. These features of the model are of great significance in a world where complexity is perceived to be growing at an unthinkable pace. But, `seeing' these features of the model assumes an effective appreciation of organisational complexity; hence the need for the methodological discussions offered by the first part of the thesis.

Disciplinary talk:a systemic functional exploration of university seminar discussions

Despite the growth of spoken academic corpora in recent years, relatively little is known about the language of seminar discussions in higher education. This thesis compares seminar discussions across three disciplinary areas. The aim of this thesis is to uncover the functions and patterns of talk used in different disciplinary discussions and to highlight language on a macro and micro level that would be useful for materials design and teaching purposes. A framework for identifying and analysing genres in spoken language based on Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is used. Stretches of talk sharing a similar purpose and predictable functional staging, termed Discussion Macro Genres (DMGs) are identified. Language is compared across DMGs and across disciplines through use of corpus techniques in conjunction with SFL genre theory. Data for the study comprises just over 180,000 tokens and is drawn from the British Academic Spoken English corpus (BASE), recorded at two universities in the UK. The discipline areas investigated are Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Physical Sciences. Findings from this study make theoretical, empirical and methodological contributions to the field of spoken EAP. The empirical findings are firstly, that the majority of the seminar discussion can be assigned to one of the three main DMG in the corpus: Responding, Debating and Problem Solving. Secondly, it characterises each discipline area according to two DMGs. Thirdly, the majority of the discussion is non-oppositional in nature, suggesting that ���debate��� is not the only form of discussion that students need to be prepared for. Finally, while some characteristics of the discussion are tied to the DMG and common across disciplines, others are discipline specific. On a theoretical level, this study shows that an SFL genre model for investigating spoken discourse can be successfully extended to investigate longer stretches of discourse than have previously been identified. The methodological contribution is to demonstrate how corpus techniques can be combined with SFL genre theory to investigate extended stretches of spoken discussion. The thesis will be of value to those working in the field of teaching spoken EAP/ ESAP as well as to materials developers.

A method for systematic artifact selection decision making

Artifact selection decisions typically involve the selection of one from a number of possible/candidate options (decision alternatives). In order to support such decisions, it is important to identify and recognize relevant key issues of problem solving and decision making (Albers, 1996; Harris, 1998a, 1998b; Jacobs & Holten, 1995; Loch & Conger, 1996; Rumble, 1991; Sauter, 1999; Simon, 1986). Sauter classifies four problem solving/decision making styles: (1) left-brain style, (2) right-brain style, (3) accommodating, and (4) integrated (Sauter, 1999). The left-brain style employs analytical and quantitative techniques and relies on rational and logical reasoning. In an effort to achieve predictability and minimize uncertainty, problems are explicitly defined, solution methods are determined, orderly information searches are conducted, and analysis is increasingly refined. Left-brain style decision making works best when it is possible to predict/control, measure, and quantify all relevant variables, and when information is complete. In direct contrast, right-brain style decision making is based on intuitive techniques���it places more emphasis on feelings than facts. Accommodating decision makers use their non-dominant style when they realize that it will work best in a given situation. Lastly, integrated style decision makers are able to combine the left- and right-brain styles���they use analytical processes to filter information and intuition to contend with uncertainty and complexity.

Filling knowledge gaps:knowledge sharing across inter-firm boundaries and occupational communities

This paper explores the micro-level processes of interaction across organisational boundaries and occupational communities. Based on a retrospective processual analysis, this study shows that in filling knowledge gaps, organisations put in place a series of knowledge mechanisms, which lead them to socially interact with their alliance partners. Both the deployment of existing knowledge and the creation of new knowledge are based on processes of interaction, which derive from the interplay between alliance actors. It is suggested that through both social interaction and the use of boundary objects, individuals are able to communicate, engage in problem-solving activities and share their ideas to fill knowledge gaps.

Exploring supply chain related graduate programmes in the UK:a view on their structure, content and approaches

Research in skill requirements needed by supply chain/logistics (SCL) managers has been published since the early nineties, however, research on what is really taught (e.g. curriculum, learning philosophies) by universities is scant. This paper's aim is to fill in this gap by analysing SCL graduate teaching in the UK. Data from 50 SCL MSc programmes were collected from 43 universities. Findings indicate that there seems to be a gap emerging between industry's needs and the content of the programmes being offered. This gap concerns employability, problem based learning, international business and the acquisition of softer interpersonal and problem solving skills.

New measures of job control, cognitive demand and production responsibility

Recent research has highlighted several job characteristics salient to employee well-being and behavior for which there are no adequate generally applicable measures. These include timing and method control, monitoring and problem-solving demand, and production responsibility. In this article, an attempt to develop measures of these constructs provided encouraging results. Confirmatory factor analyses applied to data from 2 samples of shop-floor employees showed a consistent fit to a common 5-factor measurement model. Scales corresponding to each of the dimensions showed satisfactory internal and test���retest reliabilities. As expected, the scales also discriminated between employees in different jobs and employees working with contrasting technologies.