Aviation is a highly inter-connected system. This means that a problem in one area may cause effects in other countries or parts of the Air Transport System (ATS). Examples range from local air ...traffic disruptions to the 2010 volcanic ash crisis. Agility, like resilience, refers to the ability to cope with dynamics and complexity in a flexible manner, by adjusting and adapting performance and the organization of work to fit changing demands. The aim of this work is to help ATS organizations with increasing their agility in the face of crises and challenges. To this end, this article presents the Agile Response Capability (ARC) guidance material. ARC was developed from a literature study and a number of case studies that combined past event analysis, interviews, focus groups, workshops, questionnaires, and exercise observation methodologies. ARC aims to help aviation organizations to set up, run, and evaluate exercises promoting agility to handle disturbances and crises, and to enable structured pro-active and retrospective analysis of scenarios and actual events. The elements and steps of the ARC approach are illustrated and exemplified with data from three case studies. The ARC methodology facilitates more agile and resilient ways of responding to the fundamental and novel surprises that have become almost commonplace in the past decade, and are likely to continue to do so.
The goal of the HIBEAM/NNBAR program is to search for baryon number violation via the conversion or oscillation of neutrons into sterile neutrons and/or antineutrons at the European Spallation ...Source. A key experimental component of the program is the construction of an annihilation detector to directly observe the production of an antineutron following the oscillation. Design studies for the annihilation detector are presented. The predicted response of the detector models are studied using Geant4 simulations made with Monte Carlo simulations of the annihilation signal topology and cosmic ray backgrounds. Particle identification and sensitive discriminating observables, such as invariant mass and sphericity, are shown.
•In this paper, a model of collaborative crisis management capability, encompassing core, supportive, and enabling capabilities was developed.•An application study was conducted in order to explore ...to what extent the capabilities were manifested in experience reports from actual crises.•The model is intended to be applicable in the design of collaborative crisis management exercises, as well as for validating, adapting, and transforming collaborative crisis management.
Crises at the societal level demand responses outside the normal and routine-based. Insufficient ability to handle a crisis risks to negatively affect several societal values, for example human life and health, the functionality of society or democracy. Due to the extent and complexity of these types of crises, they demand adapted collaborative responses based on several actors, which may not commonly act together. Although there is plenty of experience in crisis management, it is still not clear what capabilities enable different actors to jointly act in a coordinated manner when dealing with crises. The objective of this study was to develop a model of capabilities that constitute collaborative crisis management. The study was carried out in three activities: defining capabilities, validating the capabilities, and detailing the descriptions of the capabilities. The result was 14 capabilities categorized as core, supportive, and enabling. This capability model reflects vital capabilities of actual collaborative crisis management. It is applicable to the support of development and maintenance of the collaborative crisis management capability.
The HIBEAM/NNBAR program is a proposed two-stage experiment at the European Spallation Source focusing on searches for baryon number violation via processes in which neutrons convert to antineutrons. ...This paper outlines the computing and detector simulation framework for the HIBEAM/NNBAR program. The simulation is based on predictions of neutron flux and neutronics together with signal and background generation. A range of diverse simulation packages are incorporated, including Monte Carlo transport codes, neutron ray-tracing simulation packages, and detector simulation software. The common simulation package in which these elements are interfaced together is discussed. Data management plans and triggers are also described.
Objective: In a simulated combat vehicle, uni-, bi-, and trimodal cueing of direction to threat were compared with the purpose to investigate whether multisensory redundant information may enhance ...dynamic perception and performance.
Background: Previous research has shown that multimodal display presentation can enhance perception of information and task performance.
Method: Two experiments in a simulated combat vehicle were performed under the instructions to turn the vehicle toward the threat as fast and accurately as possible after threat cue onset. In Experiment 1, direction to threat was presented by four display types: visual head-down display, tactile belt, 3-D audio, and trimodal with the three displays combined. In Experiment 2, direction to threat was presented by three display types: visual head-up display (HUD)–3-D audio, tactile belt–3-D audio, and trimodal with HUD, tactile belt, and 3-D audio combined.
Results: In Experiment 1, the trimodal display provided overall best performance and perception of threat direction. In Experiment 2, both the trimodal and HUD–3-D audio displays led to overall best performance, and the trimodal display provided overall the best perception of threat direction. None of the trimodal displays induced higher mental workload or secondary task interference.
Conclusion: The trimodal displays provided overall enhanced perception and performance in the dynamically framed threat scenario and did not entail higher mental workload or decreased spare capacity.
Application: Trimodal displays with redundant information may contribute to safer and more reliable peak performance in time-critical dynamic tasks and especially in more extreme and stressful situations with high perceptual or mental workload.
New experiments have shown that the texture at the surface of cast zinc is much stronger and also more complex than previously reported. An extremely sharp basal texture, ~1200 x-random, co-exists ...with other randomly oriented crystals. Grains of both families are similar in size. We deduce that neither oriented nucleation nor oriented growth can account for this behaviour. The basal texture grains are invariably found directly adjacent to the free surface and we propose that any initially solidified plate-like dendrites contacting the melt surface are pulled into their final orientation through the action of surface tension.
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Effective responses to severe strains and large-scale disasters demand efficient crisis management, i.e., capabilities that depend on inter-organizational collaborations. Inter-organizational ...exercises are performed to maintain and develop the inter-organizational crisis management (ICM) capability. In a previous review of scientific literature, we identified nine themes (i.e., aspects) of ICM capability (ICMC): interaction, coordination/C2, decision making, relationships, situation awareness (SA), resilience, preparedness, system performance, and information infrastructure. This paper presents empirical testing of the nine ICMC aspects, by observational studies in two ICM exercises. The ICMC aspects were implemented in a structured observation protocol, which allowed observations based on classification of single utterances and actions. All ICMC aspects except system performance were observed. Actions related to SA, interaction, and coordination/C2 were frequently observed, while relations, resilience, and preparedness were observed to a lesser extent. In addition, exercise evaluators rated the relevance of all nine ICMC aspects as high.
Navigating in unknown terrain on foot in darkness is in many aspects challenging. This can be facilitated by support of GNSS positioning, digital maps and night vision devices. To investigate the ...advantages of technical support and its use in darkness, an experimental study was performed. In this study, dismounted soldiers equipped with a night vision device navigated in darkness with either a GPS device (with digital map) or a paper map and compass. The results showed that the distance traversed was shorter and that the soldiers needed significantly less time to navigate when supported by the GPS device compared to using a paper map and compass. The main reason for this difference was that the proportion of time in motion was significantly larger when the GPS device was used. Also, subjective ratings showed significantly higher preference for the GPS device than for the paper map and compass.
During manufacturing of heat exchangers, the core material is cladded with a lower-melting point alloy, rolled into thin strips before being formed and finally brazed at an elevated temperature. ...After a period of natural aging, the final product is operated at two different temperatures depending on the application: about 95 °C for radiators, and peaks up to about 250 °C for charge-air-coolers. For an Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy type core material, this process translates into solution heat treatment, natural aging and aging during operation. High-resolution imaging with aberration corrected high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) revealed the presence of a complex mix of precipitates after 58 days at 95 °C, including a never-before-reported phase which structurally is a mix between Al-Cu and Al-Mg-Si type precipitates. The stability of this phase is investigated with density functional theory (DFT). Q' is the main phase observed after 5 h at 250 °C, with most precipitates incorporating a certain type of stacking fault.
•Heat exchangers experience artificial aging during operation•Lower and higher operation temperatures than conventional aging of AlMgSiCu alloys•Complex mix of phases including a new precipitate type forms at the low temperature•Atomic structure of coherent interface and stacking fault is given for the Q' phase
The design, construction, and commissioning of the ALICE Time-Projection Chamber (TPC) is described. It is the main device for pattern recognition, tracking, and identification of charged particles ...in the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC. The TPC is cylindrical in shape with a volume close to 90m3 and is operated in a 0.5T solenoidal magnetic field parallel to its axis.
In this paper we describe in detail the design considerations for this detector for operation in the extreme multiplicity environment of central Pb–Pb collisions at LHC energy. The implementation of the resulting requirements into hardware (field cage, read-out chambers, electronics), infrastructure (gas and cooling system, laser-calibration system), and software led to many technical innovations which are described along with a presentation of all the major components of the detector, as currently realized. We also report on the performance achieved after completion of the first round of stand-alone calibration runs and demonstrate results close to those specified in the TPC Technical Design Report.
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