THE RE-DESIGN OF A MARINE ENGINE ROOM SIMULATOR IN CONSIDERATION TO ERGONOMICS DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Simulators can be used as sophisticated, flexible and realistic training tools which are capable of meeting many of the designated functions and tasks. An engine room simulator consists of simulation of various machinery systems in the engine room of a ship. This type of simulator is very significant and compulsory for marine engineering education. Istanbul Technical University Maritime Faculty (ITUMF) obtained a set of full-mission simulator and workstation simulators in 2001. However, it was realized that the ergonomic principles were not applied properly. Therefore it was not possible to generate the real engine room conditions with this simulator due to lack of some operations and displays on the mimic panel. Some of the mimics and displays were not similar to ones on board ship. This situation was negatively affecting the performance of engine room simulator training. And the mimic panel was re-designed and installed in 2006. In this study, the ergonomics principles for designing a mimic panel are determined and the application of ergonomic principles to a mimic panel is explained. The ergonomic gains of applied ergonomics principles are mentioned. Even more the effects on the marine engineering education are stated.

REVIEW OF LEGISLATION ON NOISE AND VIBRATION REGULATIONS IN MERCHANT SHIPS

This paper aims to describe the evolution of noise regulations for merchant ships over the last four decades, analysing the most important aspects with respect to crew, passengers and exposed populations in cities, in line with the requirements of the European Union to reduce the environmental impact of transport. The paper also analyses the changes in regulations aimed at not only regulating noise and vibration inside the ship, but also noise emitted to the port and underwater radiated noise. We shall also include Classification Societies, given the importance of their standards in ensuring increasing levels of comfort on board ship.

On-Board Ship Detection for Medium Resolution Optical Sensors

In recent years there has been an increased interest in ocean surveillance. The activity includes control and monitoring of illegal fisheries, manmade ocean pollution and illegal sea traffic surveillance, etc. The key problem is how to identify ships and ship-like objects accurately and in a timely manner. In this context, currently, many solutions have been proposed based on high resolution optical and radar remote sensing systems. Most often, these systems suffer from two major limitations viz., limited swath, thereby requiring multiple satellites to cover the region of interest and huge volumes of data being transmitted to ground, even though effective per-pixel information content is minimal. Another limitation is that the existing systems are either simulated on ground or built using the non-space qualified/Commercial Of-The-Shelf (COTS) components. This paper proposes an efficient on-board ship detection system/package connected with medium resolution wide swath optical camera. The methodology adopted has three major components, viz., onboard data processing for improving the radiometric fidelity, followed by a ship detection using modified Constant False Alarm Rate algorithm (CFAR) and a false alarm suppression module to mask false identifications. Finally, the package outputs only the locations of the ships, which is transmitted to the ground. The proposed system reduces the effective volume of data to be transmitted and processed on ground and also significantly cuts down the turnaround time for achieving the end objective. The system is built on radiation hardened Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) devices to meet the various engineering constraints such as real-time performance, limited onboard power, radiation hardness, handling of multiple custom interfaces etc. The system is tested with one of the medium resolution Multispectral Visual and Near Infra-Red (MX-VNIR) sensor having a spatial resolution of around 50 m and swath of around 500 Kms, which would be flown with one of the upcoming satellites. The systems performance is also verified on ground with Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Satellite’s Resourcesat’s Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data and the results are found to be quite encouraging as well as meeting the mission objectives.

Analysis of the Effect of Interpersonal Communication on the Performance of Woman Seafarers

Communication is an absolute necessity in an organization including on board ship because communication can strengthen, unite, or separate the community in its environment. If communication goes well and fun, then employees will be able to work well too, so that organizational performance will be better. Conversely, if communication is not good, it will cause bad social relations, authoritarian attitudes, indifference, and even prolonged conflict. Communication has a very important influence on employee performance. One type of communication that is very important is interpersonal communication, or direct interpersonal communication, both verbal and nonverbal. Communication maintains motivation by explaining to employees what to do, how well they are doing it and what can be done to improve performance if it is below standard.When carrying out the sea-training on board ship, the researcher found communication problems between crew members including a woman seafarerand a foreign Second Officer (WNA), causing disruption of their interpersonal communication. Currently, woman seafarers represent only 2% of the total 1.2 million seafarers in the world and from this 2%, 94% of women seafarers work in the shipping industry. In this man-dominated industry, IMO has made concerted efforts to help the industry move forward and support women to achieve representation that matches the expectations of the 21st century. IMO has taken a strategic approach to increasing the contribution of women as key maritime stakeholders. IMO continues to support the participation of women in positions based on land and at sea.This research was conducted to determine and analyze how good and effective interpersonal communication skills and skills are able to create a conducive work environment and improve the performance of woman seafarers who work on boats.

Sea, sickness and cautionary tales: a multi-isotope study from a post-mediaeval hospital at the city-port of Gibraltar (AD 1462–1704)

During the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, Spanish ships sailed around the globe connecting Spain to its colonies. While documentary records offer rich details concerning life on board ship, archaeological information is essential to generating a full picture of the past. The cemetery at Old St Bernard’s Hospital, Gibraltar, provides an opportunity to study the skeletal remains of sailors. Following previous osteological research, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and strontium isotope analyses were undertaken on thirty-three of these individuals. The results show that the, largely male, individuals had various different diets during life and came from several different places. Diets were largely based on C3 food chains; some individuals consumed C3 foods with low δ13C values; others consumed some marine foods, and a few individuals had a high trophic level diet, through the consumption of either freshwater resources or a high proportion of animal protein. The individuals spent their childhoods in several different places, although these homelands do not correlate simply with dietary variation. This variety in diets and homelands is consistent with our expectations for this hospital site given its location in a post-mediaeval entrepôt. The interpretation of these results are greatly helped by the available historical information and this has broader implications for the interpretation of isotope data elsewhere where the historical context of the site and the mobility patterns of the individuals are less well known.

Incidence and Mechanisms of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Deployed Navy Active Duty Service Members Aboard Two U.S. Navy Air Craft Carriers

Introduction This brief report describes the number and nature of cases of musculoskeletal pain and injury among sailors and marines presenting to the ship’s physical therapist during recent, respective deployments of two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. Materials and Methods The case definition for this study was cases of work-limiting medical complaints involving the musculoskeletal system presenting, or referred, to the ship’s physical therapy services for evaluation and treatment. The population for this study was drawn from ship’s company from two Nimitz class carriers on their respective deployments. Potential subjects were recruited at their index visit for their complaint. Participants completed a survey of their symptoms while at the ship’s medical department. Data for analysis consist of counts of cases, body part affected, self-reported mechanism of injury, age, and gender of the subject. Data were analyzed by generating descriptive tables. Results One hundred ninety-seven cases were captured across the two carriers. Injury to the low back was the most frequent (34%), followed by shoulder (25%) and knee (15%). Twenty one cases (11%) were reported to be exacerbation of previous injuries and the rest new injuries. Of the 176 new injury cases, 93 (53%) were of an insidious onset and the remainder had a specific, identifiable onset. Of the 82 cases with a specific identifiable onset, 38 cases (46%) occurred during participation in sport and exercise activity on board ship, and the remainder of the cases occurred during the performance of duty-related work. None of the cases required evacuation off of the ship. Conclusion Care should be used interpreting the results since participants were volunteers and a small proportion of eligible subjects chose not to participate in the study. Nevertheless, our data are generally consistent with other studies of musculoskeletal injury on board U.S. Navy ships and are useful for health care planning purposes and for planning for future studies that may take place on board U.S. Navy vessels. The novel and important finding of this study suggests that sports and exercise activity on board ship may warrant a new area of attention for safety.