Assessment of the performance of nonfouling polymer hydrogels utilizing citizen scientists

To facilitate longer duration space travel, flight crew sickness and disease transmission amongst the crew must be eliminated. High contact surfaces within space vehicles provide an opportunity for bacterial adhesion, which can lead to biofilm formation or disease transmission. This study evaluates the performance of several nonfouling polymers using citizen science, to identify the best performing chemistry for future applications as bacteria resistant coatings. The specific polymer chemistries tested were zwitterionic sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), and polyampholytes composed of [2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethylammonium chloride and 2-carboxyethyl acrylate (TMA/CAA), or TMA and 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate (TMA/SA). Each polymer chemistry is known to exhibit bacteria resistance, and this study provides a direct side-by-side comparison between the chemistries using a citizen science approach. Nearly 100 citizen scientists returned results comparing the performance of these polymers over repeat exposure to bacteria and 30 total days of growth. The results demonstrate that TMA/CAA polyampholyte hydrogels show the best long-term resistance to bacteria adhesion.

Job Satisfaction and Quality of Work Life As a Commercial Flight Crew – A Review

The rapid growth of aviation industry resulted in a growing pilot demand globally from year to year. The increasing rate of pilot employed triggers all airliners to meet the needs of the organization that affect job satisfaction. Now, much attention has been given to the issue regarding quality of work life as flight crew by the management in the aviation sector as it is pertains to employee behaviour. Job satisfaction of flight crew describe on how well the job provides fulfilment and it serves as a source or means of enjoyment to every flight crew. Job satisfaction is important as it represent the degree to which flight crew feel positively or negatively about their job. There are many studies conducted to show the level of working satisfaction. However, not many studies have clearly demonstrated and discussed the quality of work life as a flight crew working in aviation industry. Therefore, this study aims to highlight the quality of work life as a flight crew working in aviation industry. All data from books, journal and articles were analysed. The result revealed that the job meaningfulness factor has the greatest impact on job satisfaction among flight crew working with commercial airlines in aviation industry. On the other hand, the lowest satisfied aspect among flight crew is related to reward and fairness aspect.

Characteristics of the psychoemotional status of different categories of flight persons

Annotation. An important component of psychophysiological support of professional activity of flight crew is the diagnosis of their psychoemotional status. That is why the aim of the work was to identify the features of the psycho-emotional state of military and civilian pilots by comparative analysis of the results of assessing their personal qualities. For this purpose, psychological methods of research of semantic basic attitudes, responsibility and honesty are used. The survey covered 200 civilian and 100 military pilots. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using methods of descriptive statistics, implemented using the statistical package MS Exel. It is established that in terms of verbal and emotional dependence, dependence on achievements, demanding and responsible for themselves, all pilots have an adequate level of development. However, in terms of demanding others, only military pilots have adequate personality development. According to the characteristics of responsibility, its level is expressed inherent in civilian pilots, while the military have a situational manifestation. Assessing the processes of planning, organizing and performing professional duties (integrity) revealed that military pilots have a low self-esteem of their abilities, they are quite lazy, insecure. They are driven by spontaneity in making important decisions. Civilian pilots have a much higher level of self-esteem, confidence, concentration and ability to solve life’s problems. They are more careful and prudent when making responsible decisions. They clearly show a sense of moral and professional duty. Thus, it can be concluded that the identified features of the distribution of military and civilian pilots according to the level of development of personal qualities are primarily related to certain features of the nature of work and due to the peculiarities of military service. This situation requires the introduction of psychological methods for assessing the psycho-emotional state of flight crew during the implementation of psychophysiological support.

Relationship between psychovegetative status dysfunction and markers of the early formation of the atherosclerotic process in flight personnel in the Far North

The aim of this work is studying the influence of the severity of dysfunctions on the part of the central and autonomic nervous systems on the atherosclerotic process in hypertension in flight crews with concomitant traditional factors of cardiovascular risk (abdominal obesity) serving in the Far North by the authors.Materials and methods. A clinical examination was carried out on 54 patients (men) aged from 33 to 42 years, from among the military personnel of the aviation personnel of the Northern Fleet naval aviation, the average age of the examined was 37.4±4.6 years. The following groups of patients were formed: 1st (n=26) — flight crew specialists serving in the Far North, with first degree abdominal obesity, first stage hypertension and moderate astheno-neurotic disorders (main group); 2nd (n=14) — flight crew specialists serving in the Far North, with first degree abdominal obesity, first stage hypertension in comorbidity with mild astheno-neurotic disorders; Group 3 (n=10) was represented by flight crew patients with the first stage of hypertension with initial manifestations of psychovegetative dysfunctions (control). We assessed the qualitative and quantitative paired correlations between the state of the psychological status, regulation of the neuropsychic adaptation system, markers of early formation of atherosclerosis, and indicators of the average daily blood pressure level.Results and their discussion. It was found that the severity of disorders of the asthenovegetative spectrum in the examined groups has a negative direct pathological effect on quantitative and qualitative paired correlations between indicators characterizing the state of psychophysiological status, markers of early formation of the atherosclerotic process, and values of average daily blood pressure monitoring. The results obtained make it possible to summarize that the more pronounced the disturbances in the functioning of the central and autonomic nervous systems in hypertension in persons from the flight crew, the more significant the shifts towards atherogenicity of indicators reflecting the activity of the atherosclerotic process and the more unfavorable outcome in the course of cardiovascular pathology in such patients.

Examining the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction of flight crew

Fatigue as an emerging flight safety issue in the aviation industry requires an elaborate understanding and critical approach for proactive aviation management practices. The level of flight crew stress and fatigue must be critically managed to prevent flight accidents. Additionally, stress and fatigue have a negative influence on job satisfaction levels. This paper aims to examine the critical fatigue risk factors that affect the performance and safety of airline pilots and crew in the aviation industry. This paper also analyses the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction sub-dimensions. A factor analysis with a target population of 254 international flight crew has been conducted using the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Survey and Maslach Burnout questionnaire. The main findings of the study demonstrate that (i) cockpit and cabin crews’ job satisfaction and performance have been affected by stress and fatigue, (ii) psychological depression, anxiety and personal problems of the flight crew are the main causes of emotional fatigue, (iii) extensive flight hours and dealing with problematic passengers increase flight crew fatigue, (iv) personal achievements concerns and depersonalization increase flight crew fatigue.

Flyers Tooth Squeeze - Current Concepts and Future Needs - A Review

BACKGROUND The flyers tooth or the tooth squeeze is the toothache during air travel, termed as Barodontalgia / Aerodontalgia by researchers. It was first identified as an in-flight physiologic and pathologic phenomenon at the start of the 20th century. With the introduction of the scuba in the 1940s, many in-flight manifestations caused by barometric variations were discovered to be synonymous with diving as well. Scuba diving is a type of underwater diving where the diver breathes underwater using equipment independent of the surface supply. It can be performed for fun or a living in various settings, including the scientific, army, and public security responsibilities. However, most commercial diving employs surface-supplied diving equipment wherever possible. Battle divers and assault swimmers are all terms for scuba divers who participate in clandestine military operations. Most cases of barodontalgia occur during ascent. The origin of the discomfort is also affected by the underlying pathology. In general, pain on the rise is associated with essential pulp disease, i.e., pulpitis and pain on descent with pulp necrosis. The pain subsides typically as the patient returns to the onset stage or the ground ambient level, although it can last longer if exacerbated by periapical infection. The Fédération dentaire internationale FDI advises that pilots, divers, and other professionals undergo yearly exams, as well as appropriate dental hygiene education from dentists, after a dental procedure that necessitates an anaesthetic or seven days after a dental procedure until travelling, teeth with pre-existing substantial restorations should have a cold-test examination or periapical radiographs taken to rule out occult pulp necrosis. It is appropriate to arrange outpatient dental appointments for a suitable period until the next scheduled flight. The possible treatment modalities vary from immediate relief to the control of infection and further subsequent treatment procedures. In recent years, the airline industry and scuba diving have grown in popularity, but little is known about the oral issues linked with high altitude. It is entirely the obligation of dental health experts to give the finest dental care to aviators as well as raise knowledge of the risks of dental treatments at higher altitudes. Dentists and flight crew members should both have appropriate awareness of barodontalgia and its role in its prevention. Particular attention should be given by the otolaryngologist and must be aware of the issues and hazards associated with scuba diving. KEY WORDS Aerodontalgia, Barodontalgia, Flyer's Tooth, Pulpitis; Scuba, Tooth Squeeze

Dynamic Model of Contingency Flight Crew Planning Extending to Crew Formation

The creation of a flight schedule and the associated crew planning are clearly among the most complicated tasks in terms of traffic preparation. Even with a relatively small number of pilots and aircraft, numerous specific constraints arising from real operations must be included in the calculation, thus increasing the complexity of the planning process. However, even in a precision-planned operation, non-standard situations often occur, which must be addressed flexibly. It is at this point that an operational solution must be applied, the aims of which are to stabilize the flight schedule as soon as possible and minimize the financial impacts resulting from the non-standard situation. These problems are resolved by the airline’s Operational Control Center, which also uses various software approaches to solve the problem. The problem is approached differently by large air carriers, which use software products to address it, and small and medium-sized air carriers, which resolve the issue of operational rescheduling intuitively, based on the experience of dispatchers. However, this intuitive approach can lead to inaccuracies that can lead to unnecessary financial losses. In this paper, we present an optimization model that can serve as a tool to support the decision-making of employees of the operations centers of smaller and medium-sized air carriers.

Simulasi Pendistribusian Spare Part Oxygen Crew Pesawat Airbus Milik Maskapai X Di Bandara Pattimura Ambon

Berdasarkan observasi lapangan, ditemukan adanya indikasi kebocoran oxygen crew pada saat pesawat terbang dari Bandara Soekarno Hatta menuju Bandara Pattimura Ambon. Sesuai dengan FCOM (Flight Crew Operating Manual) untuk pesawat airbus jika ada 2 crew dalam cockpit maka minimum tekanan oksigen darurat untuk flight crew adalah 540 PSI. Sehubungan dengan itu, maka diperlukan analisis pengaruh distribusi spare part oxygen crew pesawat airbus milik maskapai X di Bandara Patimura, dengan tujuan untuk mengetahui pendistribusian komponen pada setiap station yang saling berhubungan, mengetahui pengaruh ketersediaan spare part oxygen crew bagi pesawat yang akan beroperasi, dan mengetahui lokasi penyimpanan dan kebutuhan spare part. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode riset operasi yang terdiri dari metode VAM (Vogel Approximation Methode), metode inspeksi (Least Cost) dan metode NWC (North West Corner). Setelah dilakukan perhitungan menggunakan 3 metode tersebut, diperoleh metode yang tepat untuk proses pendistribusian spare part oxygen crew adalah metode VAM (Vogel Approximation Methode) dengan biaya US$ 141 untuk memenuhi seluruh kebutuhan station.

Investigation on Hospitalization of Cervical Spondylosis among Military Pilots, 2010 - 2019

ObjectiveTo investigate and analyze the situation of hospitalization and medical appraisal of cervical spondylosis in military pilots. MethodsA single-center retrospective study was conducted on the active military pilots hospitalized for cervical spondylosis in our center from January 2010 to December 2019.After inclusion and exclusion criteria, descriptive statistics and analysis were made on age, sex, flight type, flight time, disease type, diagnosis and treatment and medical identification results of the included subjects.ResultsDuring January 2010 to December 2019, 166 military pilots with cervical spondylosis were admitted to our center, accounting for 17.61% of the total orthopaedic diseases, ranking the second place.The hospitalization rate of military pilots with cervical spondylosis in orthopedics department decreased from 2015 to 2019, but the hospitalization rate (193 person-times) was in an increasing trend compared with that in 2010-2014 (148 person-times) (P < 0.05).The average age of the pilots with cervical spondylosis was 37.37±7.37 years old, and there was no significant difference in the age of the pilots of different aircraft types. Compared with the age of other active servicemen in the same period (39.72±8.98 years), the incidence of the pilots tended to be younger (P < 0.05).The average incidence of cervical spondylosis in flight crew was 2597.09±1954.50h, and fighter pilots were more likely to have cervical spondylosis in early flight than those who flew helicopter, transport aircraft and trainer aircraft (P < 0.05).4 cases (2.41%) received surgical treatment, which was significantly lower than that of non-aircrew members (12.09%) (P < 0.05).Among the 166 cases, 87 cases (52.41%) were qualified and returned to work,53 cases of military pilots temporary unqualified flight, 26 cases of military pilots unqualified flight, unable to continue to fly.ConclusionCervical spondylosis of pilots account for the forefront of orthopedic disease spectrum, and the onset age is younger, the treatment is relatively simple, and the qualified rate of flight after treatment is low.