JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA499592&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER
Strong Risk Management
Essential as Program
Enters Most Challenging
Phase


Testimony
Before the Subcommittee on Air and Land
Forces, Committee on Armed Services,
House of Representatives

Pictorial Display Design to Enhance Spatial Awareness

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA467707&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf


AUTHOR(S) Thomas Zirkelbach

In aviation, spatial awareness and spatial orientation are essential for performing the task of recovering from an unusual attitude. Degraded spatial awareness, particularly in extreme flight situations, may lead to lower operational effectiveness and to loss of equipment and, in manned aviation, loss of life. Therefore, improvements in spatial awareness are important in complex 3D
environments, including both manned and unmanned aviation. The main goal of this thesis was to determine whether a new prototype display design, called WEBER-Box, is a useful alternative or supplement to traditional flight instruments for unmanned aviation. In addition we combined the traditional flight instrument as well as the WEBER-Box with a colored-coded indication when the aircraft entered an unusual attitude. In this experiment, the participants executed typical tasks of a UAV-operator. We investigated the influence of the WEBER-Box on UAV operator’s orientation performance. The important results can be summarized as follows:
1. significant improvement in correctly solving the orientation tasks
2. significant reduction in time to solve orientation tasks
3. color coded indication of unusual attitude significantly decreased the response time and reduced the error
4. the proposed display design was accepted, interpreted, and used to solve 3D-orientation tasks efficiently

Physician Retention in the Army Medical Department

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA499087&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Army physicians are voting with their feet and leaving the Army in staggering numbers upon completion of their active duty service obligations. Chief among the reasons given for leaving are deployments, the current electronic medical record known as AHLTA, and inadequate pay. The Army's answer over the last year has been to increase special pays for physicians as an incentive for staying. However, the ultimate answer must be multi-faceted and comprehensively balanced. Although the corporate AMEDD can make a difference via various incentives, physician leaders at all levels must place retention in their top priorities.

Review of National Work Programme on the long term effects of Sustained high G on the Cervical Spine

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA499773&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf




Empirical evidence, as well as long term studies with radiographic techniques, suggests that flying high performance aircraft has an adverse effect on the cervical spine of aviators. The load an aviator’s neck supports is also exacerbated by the increasing use of head supported devices. As such, the effects of acceleration, vibration and repeated jolt also increase the risk of cervical injury to the cervical spines of helicopter pilots and crew. Thus, the RTO-group HFM-083 was created to determine the extent of the effects due to long term exposures to sustained G levels and to develop mitigation recommendations. As causes, consequences and counteracting measures are multidimensional and complex, different nations have focused on diverse aspects of the problem. The contributions from seven national programmes are reported. These comprise Aircrew questionnaires, countermeasures, treatment, characterisation of the
spinal pain beyond questionnaires, muscular activity (EMG), imaging (MRI), and modelling.
Recommendations for future work are provided. One of these is the creation of a common database of biomechanical analyses, methodologies, and human responses to apply to common areas of concern across the member nations. The database should comprise standardized data capture and management and linked to information about intrinsic factors and medical issues, ergonomic and equipment issues (helmets and seating), and modelling. Such a system could be used within NATO to facilitate evidence-based decisions (e.g., procurement, policy, training, interventions for injury) and help to identify future research requirements.

Enhancing Interoperability Among Medical Personnel in the U.S. Military: A Case Study of Military Surgical Technologists

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG774.pdf


How feasible is it to consolidate medical training for all of the military services? Currently, the Air Force, Army, and Navy each runs its own school and trains its enlisted medical personnel differently. Following the recommendation of the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, a joint medical education and training campus is now being established at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The aim is to collocate the services’ three schools and training programs for almost all enlisted medical specialties with a view to consolidating the programs, where feasible. Consolidation will offer both short- and long-term benefits: By reducing the overall costs of training, efficiency will increase; by training medical specialists to a common standard, the interoperability of the services will be enhanced over time.
The RAND Corporation was asked (1) to develop a methodology for defining a joint standard of practice that can be applied to any medical specialty and (2) to consider options for either training individuals to that common standard or obtaining individuals already trained to that standard. The standard of practice is a set of tasks that individuals with a certain level of proficiency must be able to perform, along with an inventory of the knowledge and skills required for competence. The RAND team illustrated the methodology by applying it to the surgical technologist specialty.