NASA Mission Operation Control Center at Johnson Space Center

Long-duration exploration missions (LDEMs) in space rely on the coordinated efforts of a large, dynamic, and global multi-team system (MTS) that crosses organizational, geographic, cultural, and temporal boundaries. A key role in the spaceflight MTS is the leader who connects or spans the boundaries between distinct teams and supports the development of team cognition. The purpose of the present paper is to provide recommendations on how to train “boundary spanner” leaders and the tools they use to coordinate and communicate with teams in the context of a LDEM MTS. To this end, we address four specific questions focused on 1) how the MTS will change for future missions, 2) identifying the primary boundary spanners, 3) identifying the key attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions (ABCs) for effective boundary spanners, and 4) communication technologies to support the development of team cognition in the MTS. Results indicate six critical boundary spanner roles in the NASA Mission Control Center and 12 ABCs that should be trained. We conclude with concrete recommendations for NASA and its partners to empirically test different training approaches and commercial task management tools the MTS can use to improve communication efficiency and accuracy.

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Assessing the Impacts of Autonomous Bus-on-Demand Based on Agent-Based Simulation: A Case Study of Fuyang, Zhejiang, China

Journal of Advanced Transportation ◽

10.1155/2020/7981791 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Zhikang Zhai ◽

Ying Yang ◽

Yu Shen ◽

Yuxiong Ji ◽

Yuchuan Du

Keyword(s):

Travel Demand ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Control Center ◽

Agent Based ◽

On Demand ◽

World Demand ◽

Operation Control ◽

Simulation Results ◽

Bus Services

This paper envisions and assesses the performance of an autonomous bus-on-demand (ABoD) system. We take Fuyang, Zhejiang, China, as the study area to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of bus travel demand during workdays, and we propose replacing inefficient bus routes with the ABoD system. Agent-based models with various bus dispatching and operation control strategies are constructed to evaluate the performance of the ABoD system. The behaviors and interactions of the agents, passengers, autonomous buses, and a control center are designed. After the verification of the simulated bus travel demand with real-world demand, a series of scenarios with various ABoD operation strategies are simulated. The simulation results show that, in comparison with both current fixed-schedule bus services and the optimized bus dispatching strategies, the ABoD system occupies fewer road resources and utilizes bus vehicles more efficiently. Besides, the system is adaptive to the sudden surge in bus travel demand and is economically sustainable.

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Rice Fortified with Iron Given Weekly Increases Hemoglobin Levels and Reduces Anemia in Infants: a Community Intervention Trial

International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research ◽

10.1024/0300-9831/a000145 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

pp. 59-66 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Francisco Plácido Nogueira Arcanjo ◽

Paulo Roberto Santos ◽

Álvaro Jorge Madeiro Leite ◽

Francisco Sulivan Bastos Mota ◽

Sérgio Duarte Segall

Keyword(s):

Community Intervention ◽

Capillary Blood ◽

Number Needed To Treat ◽

Intervention Trial ◽

Day Care Centers ◽

Control Center ◽

Ferric Pyrophosphate ◽

Child Day Care ◽

Child Day Care Centers ◽

The Impact

More than two billion people suffer from anemia worldwide, and it is estimated that more than 50 % of cases are caused by iron deficiency. In this community intervention trial, we evaluated infants aged 10 to 23 months of age (n = 171) from two public child day-care centers. Intervention lasted 18 weeks. The 50-g individual portion (uncooked) of fortified rice provided 56.4 mg of elemental iron as ferric pyrophosphate. Capillary blood samples to test for anemia were taken at baseline and at endpoint. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of rice fortified with iron (Ultrarice®) on hemoglobin and anemia prevalence compared with standard household rice. For the fortified rice center, baseline mean hemoglobin was 113.7 ± 9.2 g/L, and at endpoint 119.5 ± 7.7 g/L, p < 0.0001; for the standard rice center, baseline mean hemoglobin value was 113.5 ± 40.7 g/L, and at endpoint 113.6 ± 21.0, p = 0.99. Anemia prevalence for the fortified rice center was 27.8 % (20/72) at baseline, and 11.1 % (8/72) at endpoint, p = 0.012; for the control center, 47.1 % (33/70) were anemic at baseline, and 37.1 % (26/70) at the end of the study, p = 0.23. The Number Needed to Treat (NNT) was 4. In this intervention, rice fortified with iron given weekly was effective in increasing hemoglobin levels and reducing anemia in infants.

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