The Spad Driver


Book Description

The Spad Driver is a work of fiction portraying the world of a young American sailor who finds himself at war not only with a determined North Vietnamese enemy, but also with a complex assortment of characters involved with a drug ring. The story centers on Dan Roberts, a pilot who enters the Vietnam War with little idea of the actual realities of battle. As Roberts grows to understand the true nature of death and conflict, he finds himself questioning the war itself and the loyalties of his fellow sailors when he is assigned the investigation of the disappearance of a young man named Franklin. During the investigation he uncovers a series of duplicitous characters involved in drug dealings. He soon finds his life threatened by unknown forces, while he tries to overcome the dangers of war. The author contrasts Roberts' investigations with the battles he encounters as he simultaneously faces the overwhelming threat of air combat, the insidious plot of the drug ring and his own personal problems. While focusing on the interactions of the sailors with one another, the author introduces several diverse characterizations. Timothy Bryan and Bobby Thomas are two men close to Roberts but suspected of questionable motives and Peter O'Leary, a sympathetic friend, who is revealed to be responsible for Franklin's death. Ultimately, Roberts must overcome multiple betrayals. The core of The Spad Driver is the description of the complex world that the characters inhabit. The story focuses on the meaning of the Vietnam War through Roberts and the character of Major Nguyen Binh, a disillusioned North Vietnamese intelligence officer, and concludes with the President of the United States reacting to the harsh realities of war.




Fitness for Work


Book Description

The 'bible' of occupational health, Fitness for Work is the most in-depth and comprehensive resource available on the relationship between ill health and employment. The specialist advice given covers health hazards in the work place, fitness for work, and rehabilitation after illness or injury. A truly current source, it discusses the social aspects of work, and problems associated with our ageing workforce and changing population. Communicating occupational health advice to patients, employees, and doctors, Fitness for Work improves relationships in the workplace. It details the impact of a patient's health on work, and how they can be supported to gain or remain in employment. This invaluable source argues that in a suitable role, an employee can derive immense benefits to their health and well-being from work. Importantly, this comprehensive title also presents tactics on how to reduce inappropriate barriers to work for those who have overcome an injury or disease, and those who live with chronic conditions. Fully revised and updated, the sixth edition of Fitness for Work is based on the latest research evidence and clinical advances. The first half of the book focuses on the general principles of fitness to work and occupational health practice, such as legal aspects, ethical principles, health promotion, health surveillance and general principles of rehabilitation. In addition, it advises on sickness absence, ill health retirement, medication, transport, vibration and travel. In the second half of the book, chapters are arranged by clinical speciality or topic, and are co-authored by a topic specialist and a specialist occupational physician providing a comprehensive view of the subject. For effortless reference, each specialty chapter outlines the conditions covered, their prevalence and impact, and discusses the clinical aspects and treatment that affects work capacity. All recommendations are evidence-based and make use of the NICE guidelines. The definitive text on the relationship between health and work, Fitness for Work delivers a wealth of valuable consensus guidance, codes of practice, and locally evolved standards. This highly-regarded resource is essential for all occupational health practitioners.




Evaluation of Rail Technology


Book Description

Rapid advancements in train control and in-cab technologies provide significant opportunities for rail operators to improve efficiency and enhance their operations. New technologies often provide elegant solutions to existing problems or new capabilities for the operator. However, new technologies may also represent a significant form of risk. Thus, it is important to balance the potential for significant improvement with justifiable concern about how the technology may unpredictably change the nature of the work. If a technology is designed and implemented without considering the substantive human factors concerns, that technology may lead to unintended consequences that can introduce safety issues and disrupt network performance. It is important to note that even a well-designed and beneficial technology may be rejected by the users who see it as a threat to their jobs, status or working conditions. This book discusses the issues surrounding rail technology and introduces a ’toolkit’ of human factors evaluation methods. The toolkit provides a practical and operationally focused set of methods that can be used by managers considering investing in technology, staff charged with implementing a technology, and consultants engaged to assist with the design and evaluation process. This toolkit can help to ensure that new rail technologies are thoughtfully designed, effectively implemented, and well received by users so that the significant investment associated with developing rail technologies is not wasted.




Rail Human Factors around the World


Book Description

The rail human factors/ergonomics community has grown quickly and extensively, and there is much increased recognition of the vital importance of ergonomics/human factors by rail infrastructure owners, rail operating companies, system developers, regulators and national and trans-national government. This book, the third on rail human factors, is drawn from papers presented at the Lille 3rd International Conference on Rail Human Factors. The contributions cover the range of human and organisational issues on the railway, from driving to signalling and control to maintenance and engineering work, to passengers and security issues such as trespass, and address improvements in safety, reliability, use of capacity, efficiency and quality. The book represents the best of recent work in rail human factors, and starts to define the framework for the next few years. As well as the human factors areas listed above, the conference and thus the book are notable for sessions on simulation in rail human factors and on human factors in metro design and operation. The book also reflects the increased attention being paid to, and developments in, understanding all aspects of rail stakeholders’ behaviour, and also the contribution of ergonomics/human factors to innovative network control systems which will enhance reliability, safety and use of capacity. The book will be of interest to a number of groups: those working in the rail sector from a human factors point of view; the larger rail industry and related bodies generally; and in terms of transferrable knowledge to ergonomists and human factors specialists working in other industries.




Rail Human Factors


Book Description

In recent years, for reasons connected to the organization of the industry, technical developments, and major safety concerns, rail human factors has grown in importance at an international level. Despite its importance, however, supporting literature has been largely restricted to specialist journal publications and technical reports. Rail Human Factors addresses this imbalance by providing the first fully comprehensive overview of the area. The volume includes contributions from leading ergonomists, psychologists, sociologists, management scientists and engineers whose common theme is to investigate, understand and design for people on the railways, including staff, passengers and the general public. Every area of ergonomics/human factors is covered: physical design of work and equipment in maintenance; cognitive ergonomics in driving, signalling and control; organizational and social ergonomics in the way teams are formed, plans are made and organizations are structured and run. Topics covered include: Systems views of rail human factors Driver models and performance Train and cab design Network and train control systems, including ERTMS Signals and signal SPADS Signalling and control center design Signaller performance Control center interfaces Workload, situation awareness, team working Human error and reliability Timetabling and planning Maintenance planning and work Safety climate and safety culture Passenger comfort and behaviour Station design Public information systems Level crossings Trespass and vandalism Ergonomics standards and guidelines Human Factors integration The book is the definitive guide for all those concerned with making railways safer, more




Artificial And Natural Perception: Proceedings Of The 2nd Italian Conference On Sensors And Microsystems


Book Description

This book contains a number of articles concerning the artificial perception of reality, as can be perceived by a sensor, and its interaction with natural human perception through the senses. For the first time, a link between the sensor's field and the more general perception theory is attempted. Besides, the book offers a unique insight provided by the research on sensors and microsystems currently being carried out in Italy. It covers the typical area of sensors and microsystems: chemical and biological sensors, physical sensors and micromechanics.




Naval Aviation News


Book Description




New Paradigms in Ergonomics


Book Description

The systems in which we work continue to evolve, creating emergent problems and often strengthening intractable issues. In order to remain relevant and impactful, the discipline of ergonomics needs its paradigms to evolve too. The aim of this book is to provide researchers and practitioners with new paradigms in the form of ideas, concepts, theories, methods, practices and values. The chapters take the reader on a journey through underlying theories, new ways to apply those theories and emerging domains in which ergonomics is expected to play a greater role. Readers of this book will be inspired by these new paradigms in ergonomics and seek to push the boundaries even further. The lifeblood of the science depends on continual evolvement and developments to take on the challenges we face in complex sociotechnical systems design and evaluation. Perhaps the most significant take-home message from this book is the demonstration of how theory maps onto practice. As such, the only remaining paradigm shift is for these ideas, concepts, methods and practices to be taken up more widely and the discipline advanced, until the next paradigm shift occurs. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in the journal Ergonomics.




Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018)


Book Description

This book presents the proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018), held on August 26-30, 2018, in Florence, Italy. By highlighting the latest theories and models, as well as cutting-edge technologies and applications, and by combining findings from a range of disciplines including engineering, design, robotics, healthcare, management, computer science, human biology and behavioral science, it provides researchers and practitioners alike with a comprehensive, timely guide on human factors and ergonomics. It also offers an excellent source of innovative ideas to stimulate future discussions and developments aimed at applying knowledge and techniques to optimize system performance, while at the same time promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of individuals. The proceedings include papers from researchers and practitioners, scientists and physicians, institutional leaders, managers and policy makers that contribute to constructing the Human Factors and Ergonomics approach across a variety of methodologies, domains and productive sectors. This volume includes papers addressing the following topics: Transport Ergonomics and Human Factors (TEHF), and Aerospace Human Factors and Ergonomics.




Contemporary Ergonomics 1996


Book Description

This is a composition of papers presented at the Annual Conference of the Ergonomics Society. Featured is a broad spectrum of research from many of the leading specialists in fields including consumer ergonomics and organization ergonomics.