Evaluation of the Helicopter Emergency Breathing Apparatus on Egress Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (12) ◽  
pp. 962-965
Author(s):  
Michael King ◽  
Elizabeth Sanli ◽  
Kaitlin Mugford ◽  
Stefanie Martina ◽  
Robert Brown ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Emergency helicopter landing at sea is dangerous. Specialized training, known as helicopter underwater escape training (HUET), prepares occupants to quickly exit the helicopter, which often inverts and sinks. In most jurisdictions, helicopter occupants are equipped with a helicopter underwater egress breathing apparatus (HUEBA) to provide sufficient air for escape. HUET trainees report that the HUEBA is easy to use, but it is well known that learners are often overconfident in their judgement of learning. To better understand how the HUEBA affects HUET sequence performance, we investigated whether using the HUEBA influences the sequence movement time and number of errors.METHODS: Twelve participants (7 men and 5 women, mean age 25.33 9.57 SD) with no prior experience with HUET performed consecutive trials of the HUET sequence, 5 with the HUEBA and 5 without the HUEBA. Video of each trial recorded the total movement time and enabled movement time analyses of each component of the sequence: crossing arms, tucking the head, pushing the window, inserting the regulator, and releasing the seatbelt. These recordings were also used to score performance errors according to a checklist.RESULTS: Analyses revealed that using a HUEBA increased the total movement time and time to release the seatbelt by 0.36 and 0.39 s, respectively, in comparison to without the HUEBA.DISCUSSION: Our study illustrates that using the HUEBA during the HUET sequence increases total movement time and time to release the seatbelt. However, this difference is marginal and unlikely to have practical significance during underwater escape.King M, Sanli E, Mugford K, Martina S, Brown R, Carnahan H. Evaluation of the helicopter emergency breathing apparatus on egress performance. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(12):962965.

Author(s):  
Robert Pastel

Positioning an object within specified bounds is a common daily computer task, for example making selections using a touch screen or positioning icons relative to each other. This experiment measured times for participants ( n = 145) to position rectangular cursors with various widths, p, within rectangular targets with various tolerances, t, in one dimension. The analysis divides the total movement time into three parts, the time for the cursor to touch the target, the time to enter the target after touching, and the centering time, the remaining time for participants to indicate that the cursor is completely within the target by clicking on the mouse button. The time to touch the target was modeled well by the initial cursor-target separation, r2/sup> = 0.95. The entering time was modeled well by log2( p/t + 1), r2/sup> = 0.99, and the centering time was modeled well by r2/sup> = 0.94


1984 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 787-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. Carter ◽  
D. C. Shapiro

The neuromotor processes underlying the control of rapid sequential limb movements were investigated. Subjects learned to pronate and supinate their forearms rapidly to four target locations in a specific spatio-temporal pattern under two movement-time conditions. The response sequence was first performed in a total movement time of 600 ms. Subjects were then told to produce the movement as quickly as possible while ignoring any timing pattern that they had previously learned. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from the biceps brachii and pronator teres muscles. Kinematic and EMG analyses were performed to investigate the temporal characteristics underlying the two movement-time conditions. When subjects produced the response as quickly as possible, average movement time to perform each reversal movement decreased while average peak velocity increased. Average total movement time was reduced by approximately 100 ms. Although movement time decreased, the proportion of total time to perform each movement of the sequence remained essentially invariant between movement-time conditions. Similar results were obtained for velocity. The time at which peak velocity was achieved occurred earlier in absolute time, although when normalized to the proportion of total movement time, the time to reach peak velocity was also invariant. Thus subjects proportionally compressed the entire movement sequence in time. The EMG analysis demonstrated that total EMG time decreased 89 ms on the average when subjects sped up the movement sequence. Thus average burst durations for both the biceps and pronator teres muscles decreased when movement speed increased. When burst durations were normalized to a proportion of total EMG time, the average proportion of time each muscle was active remained invariant. Therefore, the temporal pattern of activity for the biceps and pronator teres muscles were also proportionally compressed. The present experiment provided additional evidence for the structure of generalized motor programs consisting of invariant and variant features. Movement speed was considered a variant feature, which is specified each time the program is executed. Relative timing, the proportion of total time to produce each segment of the response, was considered to be an invariant feature and inherent in the structure of the motor program. Support for the invariance of relative timing was observed at both the kinematic and neuromuscular levels of analyses. Alternative models (9-11, 24) were found inadequate to account for the invariance of relative timing with the variation in movement time observed in the present experiment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 60
Author(s):  
Angelica Godinez ◽  
Alyson Kishi ◽  
Mariela Hernandez ◽  
Preeti Verghese ◽  
Dennis Levi

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 803-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. McMahon ◽  
Shannon Murphy ◽  
Sophie J.E. Rej ◽  
Paul Comfort

Purpose:Gross measures of countermovement-jump (CMJ) performance are commonly used to track maturational changes in neuromuscular function in rugby league (RL). The purpose of this study was to conduct both a gross and a more detailed temporal-phase analysis of the CMJ performances of senior and academy RL players, to provide greater insight into how neuromuscular function differs between these groups.Methods:Twenty senior and 14 academy (under-19) male RL players performed 3 maximal-effort CMJs on a force platform, with forward dynamics subsequently employed to allow gross performance measures and entire kinetic– and kinematic–time curves to be compared between groups.Results:Jump height (JH), reactive strength index modified, concentric displacement, and relative concentric impulse (C-IMP) were the only gross measures that were greater for senior players (d = 0.58–0.91) than for academy players. The relative force- and displacement–time curves were similar between groups, but the relative power– and velocity–time curves were greater (d = 0.59–0.97) for the senior players at 94–96% and 89–100% of the total movement time, respectively.Conclusions:The CMJ distinguished between senior and academy RL players, with seniors demonstrating greater JH through applying a larger C-IMP and thus achieving greater velocity throughout the majority of the concentric phase and at takeoff. Therefore, academy RL players should train to improve triple (ie, ankle, knee, and hip) extension velocity during the CMJ to bring their JH scores in line with those attained by senior players.


1975 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
John I. Todor

To study effects of practice on the ability of 6-, 11-, and 18-yr.-old Ss to integrate the components of the Rho task 3 groups of 50 boys performed 30 consecutive trials. (a) With practice all age groups improved in total movement time; (b) 11-yr.-old Ss attained the 18-yr.-olds' level of performance in both components, initial differences existing only in the linear component; (c) relative to the 18-yr.-old Ss, the 6-yr.-olds achieved proportionally less improvement in the linear component; (d) unlike 11- and 18-yr.-old Ss, the 6-yr.-olds evidenced increasing specificity of task components across trials. Unlike the two older age groups, the 6-yr.-old Ss were unable to achieve a high degree of integration of task components. The findings were discussed in light of Pascual-Leone's neo-Piagetian model of learning and development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Ricci ◽  
Ramtin Mehraram ◽  
Elisa Tatti ◽  
Aaron B. Nelson ◽  
Martina Bossini-Baroggi ◽  
...  

During movement, modulation of beta power occurs over the sensorimotor areas, with a decrease just before its start (event-related desynchronization, ERD) and a rebound after its end (event-related synchronization, ERS). We have recently found that the depth of ERD-to-ERS modulation increases during practice in a reaching task and the following day decreases to baseline levels. Importantly, the magnitude of the beta modulation increase during practice is highly correlated with the retention of motor skill tested the following day. Together with other evidence, this suggests that the increase of practice-related modulation depth may be the expression of sensorimotor cortex’s plasticity. Here, we determine whether the practice-related increase of beta modulation depth is equally present in a group of younger and a group of older subjects during the performance of a 30-minute block of reaching movements. We focused our analyses on two regions of interest (ROIs): the left sensorimotor and the frontal region. Performance indices were significantly different in the two groups, with the movements of older subjects being slower and less accurate. Importantly, both groups presented a similar increase of the practice-related beta modulation depth in both ROIs in the course of the task. Peak latency analysis revealed a progressive delay of the ERS peak that correlated with the total movement time. Altogether, these findings support the notion that the depth of beta modulation in a reaching movement task does not depend on age and confirm previous findings that only ERS peak latency but not ERS magnitude is related to performance indices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 433-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Danion ◽  
Jonathan S. Diamond ◽  
J. Randall Flanagan

Humans can learn to manipulate objects with complex dynamics, including nonrigid objects with internal degrees of freedom. The first aim of this study was to assess the contribution of haptic feedback when learning to manipulate a nonrigid object. The second aim was to evaluate how learning without haptic feedback influences subsequent learning with haptic feedback and vice versa. The task involved moving a simulated mass—attached to a grasped handle via a simulated, damped spring—to a target as quickly as possible. In the haptic plus vision (HV) condition, appropriate forces were applied to the handle, which was attached to a robot. In the vision only (V) condition, these forces were turned off. Participants completed 80 trials in each condition, with one-half starting with the HV condition. Both groups exhibited significant learning, as measured by movement time, in both conditions. For the condition performed first, initial performance, learning rate, and final performance were better with haptic feedback. Prior experience in the HV condition led to faster learning and better final performance in the V condition. However, prior experience in the V condition led to slower learning and worse final performance in the HV condition. In the V condition, all participants tended to keep the mass close to the hand. In the HV condition, participants who started with the HV condition allowed the mass to move away from the hand, whereas participants who started with the V condition continued to keep the mass close to the hand. We conclude that haptic feedback as well as prior experience with haptic feedback enhance the ability to control nonrigid objects and that training without haptic feedback can lead to persisting detrimental effects when subsequently dealing with haptic feedback.


Author(s):  
J.D. Shelburne ◽  
G.M. Roomans

Proper preparative procedures are a prerequisite for the validity of the results of x-ray microanalysis of biological tissue. Clinical applications of x-ray microanalysis are often concerned with diagnostic problems and the results may have profound practical significance for the patient. From this point of view it is especially important that specimen preparation for clinical applications is carried out correctly.Some clinical problems require very little tissue preparation. Hair, nails, and kidney and gallbladder stones may be examined and analyzed after carbon coating. High levels of zinc or copper in hair may be indicative of dermatological or systemic diseases. Nail clippings may be analyzed (as an alternative to the more conventional sweat test) to confirm a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. X-ray microanalysis in combination with scanning electron microscopy has been shown to be the most reliable method for the identification of the components of kidney or gallbladder stones.A quantitatively very important clinical application of x-ray microanalysis is the identification and quantification of asbestos and other exogenous particles in lung.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Borgogni ◽  
Silvia Dello Russo ◽  
Laura Petitta ◽  
Gary P. Latham

Employees (N = 170) of a City Hall in Italy were administered a questionnaire measuring collective efficacy (CE), perceptions of context (PoC), and organizational commitment (OC). Two facets of collective efficacy were identified, namely group and organizational. Structural equation models revealed that perceptions of top management display a stronger relationship with organizational collective efficacy, whereas employees’ perceptions of their colleagues and their direct superior are related to collective efficacy at the group level. Group collective efficacy had a stronger relationship with affective organizational commitment than did organizational collective efficacy. The theoretical significance of this study is in showing that CE is two-dimensional rather than unidimensional. The practical significance of this finding is that the PoC model provides a framework that public sector managers can use to increase the efficacy of the organization as a whole as well as the individual groups that compose it.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document