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This program evaluation examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of an individualized coaching program to help older Veterans use VA mental health mobile apps to address mental health and well-being goals.The program delivers individual technical and clinical support to facilitate the use of mobile devices and VA apps. Participants completed assessments of mobile device proficiency, app use frequency, app comfort, quality of life, and mental health symptoms (completed by a subset,Of 24 enrollees, 17 completed the program and received an average of 7.58 (SD = 2.87) sessions including the initial assessment. Mobile device proficiency (Findings suggest the program is feasible, highly acceptable, and increases mobile device proficiency and use of apps.Coaching programs can equip older adults with the skills to use mental health apps.

This essay argues that, in the face of a number of paradigmatically important shifts in applied linguistics over the past twenty or so years, the term ‘second language acquisition’ (SLA) is no longer fit for purpose, insomuch as it misrepresents or excludes the object of research of many academics in the field today. This essay first offers evidence of the paradigm changes in question before charting the history of the term ‘second language acquisition’ and documenting a number of calls for change that have to date gone largely unheeded. It then presents the emerging alternative terms that constitute the core of many contemporary definitions of SLA: ‘additional language learning’, and ‘additional language development’, briefly discussing the relative merits of both as well as other less likely, but descriptively accurate, alternatives. It concludes by pointing out, firstly, that the changes proposed may be inevitable – we have essentially already redefined the field, we just need to acknowledge it – and secondly, that it is descriptively and ethically appropriate to do so.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the utility of autonomous transport across two independent airframe maintenance operations at a single location.Design/methodology/approachThis study leveraged discrete event simulation that encompassed real-world conditions on a United States Air Force flight line. Though the Theory of Constraints (TOC) lens, a high-demand, human-controlled delivery asset is analyzed and the impact of introducing an autonomous rover delivery vehicle is assessed. The authors’ simulations explored varying numbers and networks of rovers as alternative sources of delivery and evaluated these resources’ impact against current flight line operations.FindingsThis research indicates that the addition of five autonomous rovers can significantly reduce daily expediter delivery tasks, which results in additional expertise necessary to manage and execute flight line operations. The authors assert that this relief would translate into enhancements in aircraft mission capable rates, which could increase overall transport capacity and cascade into faster cargo delivery times, systemwide. By extension, the authors suggest overall inventory management could be improved through reduction in transportation shipping time variance, which enhances the Department of Defense’s overall supply chain resilience posture.Originality/valueWhen compared against existing practices, this novel research provides insight into actual flight line movement and the potential benefits of an alternative autonomous delivery system. Additionally, the research measures the potential savings in the workforce and vehicle use that exceeds the cost of the rovers and their employment.

This paper presents a framework for improving older pedestrian safety in regard to serious (fatal and incapacitating) crashes, using Oregon as a case study. On review of state and federal practices pertaining to older pedestrian safety, 4 years of crash data identified 112 older (≥65 years) pedestrian serious injury crashes. These data were explored for factors that might be addressed systemically using two methods. First, raw frequencies in the crash data were assessed to determine trends and crash-related factors that are overrepresented. Second, a random forest analysis was conducted to determine important variables for predicting older pedestrian serious injury crashes. Using these crash-related factors, a workshop was held with 18 local stakeholders and experts. As part of the workshop, key crash trends, potential causations, and potential countermeasures by priority of implementation were determined based on perspectives from workshop participants. Three key systemic solutions were identified to improve older pedestrian safety, including improving pedestrian visibility and illumination, implementing treatments for left turns, and shortening pedestrian crossing distances across the state. The framework presented in the current study could be adopted by other agencies to systemically address a wide variety of safety concerns.

PurposePilot upgrade training is critical to aircraft and passenger safety. This study aims to identify variances in the US Air Force C-130J pilot upgrade training based on geographic location and provide a model to enhance policy that will impact future pilot training efforts that lower cost and increase operator quality and proficiency.Design/methodology/approachThis research employed a mixed-method approach. First, the authors collected data and analyzed 90 C-130J pilots' aviation records and then contextualized this analysis with interviews of experts. Finally, the authors present a modified version of Six Sigma's define–measure–analyze–improve–control (DMAIC) that identifies and reduces the variances in C-130J pilot training, translating into higher quality outcomes.FindingsThe results indicate significant statistical variances across geographically separated C-130J pilot training organizations. This leads some organizations to have higher proficiency levels in specific tasks and others with comparative deficiencies. Additionally, the data analysis in this study enabled a recommended number of flight hours in several distinct categories that should be obtained before upgrading a pilot to aircraft commander to enhance standards.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was limited to C-130J pilot upgrades, but these results can be implemented within any field that utilizes hours as a measure of experience. Implications from this research can be employed to scope policy that will influence pilot training requirements across all airframes in civilian and military aviation.Originality/valueThis research proposes a process improvement methodology that could be immediately implemented within the C-130J community and, more importantly, in any upgrade training where humans advance into higher echelons of a profession.

Reformed Experimental Activities (REActivities) is an innovative approach to the delivery of the traditional material in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. To better understand the fidelity of implementing this pedagogy and what effects the framework of REActivities has on student-instructor interactions, an observational protocol study was employed. This paper also describes the Evaluation of Lab Instructor Time and Engagement (ELITE) observational instrument developed to evaluate instructional behaviors in a lab setting. The instrument was used in first semester undergraduate organic chemistry laboratories across seven universities to measure the robustness of the guided-inquiry materials when implemented and the nature of the instructor's interactions. The ELITE data was analyzed for laboratories delivered using REActivities and compared with expert delivery as well as with traditional expository methods. The data revealed that instructor behaviors when using REActivities were consistent and comparable and could be distinguished from traditional lab deliveries. The nature of the instructor's behaviors also showed a remarkably consistent trend for coded conceptual-based discussion when REActivities was employed, in contrast to the near absence of similar interactions when expository methods were employed for comparable laboratories.

There are many expert teachers working in the global South and we can learn a great deal from them. Neither of these claims should be surprising, yet to date there has been almost no research conducted on expert teachers working in Southern contexts. Instead, the huge sums of money invested in attempting to improve teacher quality in the South have frequently been directed towards introducing exogenous practices or interventions that may be culturally inappropriate, practically infeasible and ultimately unsustainable – often failing as a result. In this pioneering book, Jason Anderson provides an authoritative overview of the practices, cognition and professionalism of expert teachers working in low-income contexts. By drawing upon both systematic reviews of teacher expertise and effectiveness research, and his own fieldwork in India, he argues that without an understanding of expert teachers working in all contexts worldwide, we cannot truly understand expertise itself.

Morphological data sets are misleading in salamander (Caudata) phylogeny due to the relative homoplasy of the dermal skull observed in paedomorphic forms, leading to the trend of excluding morphology when exploring questions of salamander phylogeny. Investigations in caecilians (Gymnophiona) have demonstrated that the inclusion of braincase morphology can rescue morphological phylogenetic analyses and produce topologies congruent with molecular data sets. We scanned 28 species (25 genera) of salamander, representing all 10 families, with high-resolution micro-computed tomography to investigate braincase variation. We describe the morphology of the braincase for all 10 families and distinguish between paedomorphic and metamorphic morphologies. Our results demonstrate a general uniformity amongst metamorphic species with variation largely restricted to the occipito-otic region. A greater range of variation is observed within paedomorphic forms than would be expected when considering the homoplasy of the dermal skull. Obligate paedomorphic forms demonstrate considerably more variation in the anterior braincase than do facultative paedomorphs, which we suggest is evidence of a greater complexity in the evolution and development of these forms than neoteny alone would produce. This raises the question of character independence within morphological data sets and warrants further investigation into the correlation of other characters before morphological data are omitted.

Recently, scholars identify the significance of accurately capturing what it means to be resilient and its implications for firms and supply chains. This research advances the understanding of resi...

It has been widely shown that pedestrians’ level of frustration grows with the increase of pedestrian delay, and may cause pedestrians to violate the signals. However, for agencies seeking to use m...

Intersections present a significant safety concern, as such in an effort to reduce the more serious injuries occurring at or near intersections, many jurisdictions have turned to implementing roundabouts. Despite the advantages that roundabouts provide, crashes still occur, and less severe crashes are on the rise. The study presented in this paper investigates a crash-based analysis to better understand the factors that may influence less severe crashes to those of more severe crashes given various roundabout configurations and crash types. Using Oregon’s crash database from 2011 to 2015 a series of log likelihood ratio tests were conducted to validate that four separate random parameters binary probit models by configuration type were warranted. The outcome of each tested configuration (full, three & four leg, four leg, and three leg models) shows a major difference in both the combination and variables included in each model and the magnitude of impact of those variables. These differences illustrate that various roundabout configurations (full, three & four leg, four leg, and three leg models) do in fact have different factors highlighting the need to examined crashes at roundabouts by configuration type. Variables related to driver error, weather, alcohol use, barrier conditions, vehicle movement, location of crash, and restraint use were found as key differences between the various tested configurations.

Purpose This paper aims to explore effective supply chain principles, through the theory of transaction cost economics, as measures to improve current contingency pharmaceutical item shortfalls in the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) Contingency Pharmaceutical Programme. Design/methodology/approach In this research, AFMS contingency pharmaceutical data was collected from various databases, including the Joint Medical Asset Repository, Medical Contingency Requirements Workflow and the Medical Requirements List. Through the methodology of cost-benefit analysis, alternative sourcing and fulfilment practices are evaluated. Findings The findings of this research indicate that the application of centralized purchasing principles, in an effort to leverage prime vendor contract fill rates for shortage items, can lead to 12%–17% increases in pharmaceutical material availability across the programme. Originality/value This research clearly shows that consolidating demand for shortage items across Active Duty War Reserve Material assemblages, though applications of centralized purchasing principles that leverage prime vendor contract fill rates, can lead to substantial increases in material availability at costs that justify the calculated benefits.

An introduction to Chameleon's edge/IoT capabilities.

This study analyzed the impacts on motor vehicle observed speeds following a residential speed limit reduction from 40.23 km/hr (25 mi/hr) to 32.19 km/hr (20 mi/hr) in Portland, OR that was accompanied by a public awareness and signage campaign. The study used before and after observations of vehicle speeds collected by pneumatic tube traffic counters. Overall, the analysis suggests that the reduction of posted speed limits to 32.19 km/h (20 mi/h) has resulted in lower observed vehicle speeds and fewer vehicles traveling at higher speeds. The reduction in the percentage of vehicles traveling above 48.28 km/h (30 mi/h) (-1.7%) and 56.33 km/h (35 mi/h) (-0.5%) are larger in magnitude than other speed metrics.

This study applied a heterogeneity-based survival analysis to determine significant contributing factors to a bridge deck’s time-in-condition rating (TICR) by condition rating (CR) group: h...

Herein we delineate a complete Satellite-Based Augmentation System (“SBAS”) authentication scheme, including over-the-air re-keying (“OTAR”), that uses Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (“ECDSA”) and Timed Efficient Stream Loss Tolerant Authentication (“TESLA”) without using the Quadrature (“Q”) channel. This scheme appends two new message types (”MT”) to the SBAS scheduler without overburdening the SBAS message schedule. We take special care to make our scheme (1) meet appropriate security requirements to prevent and deter spoofing; (2) compatible with existing cryptographic standards; (3) flexible, expandable, and future proof to different cryptographic and implementation schemes; and (4) backward compatible with legacy receivers. The scheme accommodates a diverse set of features, including authenticating core-constellation ephemerides. The scheme requires loose time synchronization between the receiver and the provider, and we assert reasonable mitigation strategies to prevent attacks to that assumption. This work also discusses the SBAS provider and receiver machine state and startup, including aircraft that traverse differing SBAS coverage areas. We test our scheme with existing SBAS simulation and analysis tools to show negligible effects on SBAS availability and continuity requirements.

The first version of the SBAS Dual Frequency Multi-Constellation (DFMC) standard has been recently finalized. It is foreseen that its extension includes message authentication, to protect avionics from SBAS data spoofing attacks. This paper focuses on the main candidate scheme at the moment, based on the TESLA protocol in the L5-I channel. This paper analyzes which data needs to be used before authentication in order to maintain time to alert. It describes two options, named Authenticate-then-Use and Use-then Authenticate, and analyzes its prospective performance for EGNOS and WAAS.

The international community is considering the addition of authentication signatures to the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS). Authentication would protect the user against the possibility of undesired integrity data being mistaken for genuine State provided signals. Several authentication schemes have been proposed over the past years, but recently a preference has been expressed for inline signatures (i.e., signatures that are interleaved with the correction and integrity messages, all in the same data stream). An important concern is whether there is sufficient bandwidth to add these new messages and will their addition negatively affect performance. We have proposed a method that achieves this goal and evaluate its performance. Further, our method ensures rigorous protection for the user by ensuring that unauthenticated data is discarded and cannot cause harm to the user, while maintaining the required Time-To-Alert of the SBAS integrity messages.

I thank Rod Ellis (2020) for taking time to read and respond to my critique of his original work (Ellis 2019). However, while he grasps some of the aspects of the TATE framework that I propose as an alternative (Anderson 2020), there is evidence in his response that he misconstrues it, and assigns my nuanced discussion of explicit and implicit processes within what I called a ‘TSLT-mainly framework’ (p. 183) to the category of ‘structural approach’, which he then argues is not as effective as his proposal, drawing on familiar arguments used against structural approaches. First, I consider his responses to my two criticisms of his model, and then I sound a word of caution regarding the dangers of a narrowly focused SLA canon that frequently interprets ‘learning’ as acquisition of morphosyntax, and ‘use’ as spoken production to the detriment of other aspects of language. Firstly, Ellis acknowledges that I ‘correctly’ point out his neglect of lexis in his framework, and also acknowledges that lexis is clearly amenable to synthetic, sequenceable instruction. He notes that ‘the early stages of acquisition are lexical rather than grammatical’ (p. 191), even though his model, paradoxically, rejects any attempt at planned, sequenced instruction at such stages. His response to this acknowledged weakness is to state that ‘lexis can be acquired naturally through performing tasks’, or ‘through out-of-class activities’ (p. 191), apparently leaving to the vagaries of chance what has been argued to be the central element of language learning and use (Lewis 1993), what Crystal (2009: 7) has called ‘the Everest of language’.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the repurchase intention of a customer and his/her perception of various aspects of an e-tailer’s product return process, such as leniency, fairness and quality of the return process.Design/methodology/approachThis research focuses on these aspects through the expectation disconfirmation theoretical lens, looking at the relationship between expectations shaped by the product return policy and the repurchase intention. This research collects data using a survey approach and analyzes it using structural equation modeling.FindingsIt was found that perceived return policy leniency, perceived fairness of the return experience and perceived quality of the return experience are important and supporting factors that influence a customer’s intention to be a return customer to e-tailers. Perceived leniency was found to not only be the most influential factor for return purchase intention but it also significantly impacted the perceived fairness and the quality of the return process. As a result, perceived leniency of the return policy had a “halo” effect on the other factors.Practical implicationsThis suggests that the majority of an e-tailer’s effort should be expended determining a return policy and experience that is widely perceived as lenient as this will overall improve customer perception of the return process and increase repurchase intention.Originality/valueThis research extends research on lenient policy within the growing e-tailer sector by examining the return experience of the customer and subsequent repurchase intention based on multiple factors.

Using survey data from 3004 respondents aged 21 and older in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Tidewater area, this paper identifies factors associated with respondents’ travel choices in alcohol-related situations: (1) the last time the respondent consumed alcohol, (2) when avoiding driving after drinking, and (3) when avoiding riding with a driver who had been drinking. Travel options included using various transportation modes and no travel (spending the night). Multinomial logit models (with and without random parameters) were developed to identify factors associated with each of the three alcohol-related cases. Heterogeneous effects were present in the first two models but not the third. For (1), significant factors included age, income, level of education, occupation, household characteristics, gender, comfort with credit cards tied to applications, location where alcohol was last consumed outside the home (e.g., bar, house of friend, restaurant), and place of residence. For (2), significant factors included age, gender, income, full time employment, living alone, taking multiple modes of transportation in a single trip during a typical week, region of residence, consumption of alcohol at a bar/tavern/club, consumption of alcohol at the home of friends/acquaintances, comfort with credit cards tied to applications, and use of an app for hotel reservations and/or air transportation arrangements. Significant factors for (3) were similar to those for (2). Based on the data (rather than a model), for the subset of those last consuming alcohol in a bar, more people reported using TNCs than driving. It is possible that TNCs draw from other sober driver alternatives by offering greater independence for the traveler and less burden on designated drivers or friends/family.

Distracted driving continues to pose threats to transportation safety as it impairs driver performance and increases crash risk. In recent years, cell phone use while driving has become the primary research interest regarding distracted driving. However, the majority of this research has focused on the prevalence and risks of such behavior in passenger car drivers and few have investigated its effect on the performance of drivers of large trucks. Due to the inherent job responsibilities, truck drivers are more susceptible to use a cell phone, or other communication devices (e.g., CB radio), while driving to coordinate delivery logistics. The purpose of this study is to further understand distracted driving in the context of large trucks by identifying the factors that contribute to large truck drivers’ decision to report using a cell phone while operating a commercial motor vehicle. Through survey data collected in 2017 from drivers of large trucks who either pick-up or deliver goods in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia), a random parameters binary logit model is used to identify these factors. Of the 515 respondents, 234 (45%) indicated that they use a cell phone while driving. Through the random parameters binary logit model, unobserved heterogeneity is captured, and specific driver behaviors, demographic, work, temporal, and management characteristics are found to affect the likelihood of truck drivers reporting to use their cell phone while driving. Of particular interest, are carrier management characteristics and safety training. Carriers who manage fatigue by imposing schedules to make it easier to take breaks result in a decrease in probability of drivers reporting cell phone use, while carriers who restrict the number of hours worked decreased the probability of reporting cell phone use for the majority of drivers. In addition, having participated in road safety driving resulted in a decrease in probability of reporting cell phone use for the majority of drivers. Such findings have the potential to aid government agencies and commercial motor vehicle carriers in understanding the factors influencing cell phone use while driving among truck drivers. Understanding these motives can aid in the development of programs and policy initiatives that are intended to mitigate distracted driving among truck drivers.

National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters across the west coast of the United States often deal with cool season hail showers that produce hazardous driving conditions. These small hail events, with diameters averaging 5.8 mm, occur with cold upper troughs that support weak instability favorable for low-topped convection and reflectivity values averaging 48 dBZ. The public generally assumes that heavy snow is common across west coast mountains, while heavy rain prevails near sea level. However, motorists can be caught offguard when wet, relatively warm low elevation roadways suddenly transition to icy hail-covered conditions. Thus, west coast small hail events represent an opportunity for the NWS to provide tailored messaging that can modify public perceptions and optimize outcomes. This research examines environments supportive of accumulating small hail over the western United States during the period 2008–2018, and supplements the environmental analysis with a summary of enhanced impact-based decision support techniques used to alert NWS partners and the general public.

The Chameleon project developed a unique experimental testbed by adapting a mainstream cloud implementation to the needs of systems research community and thereby demonstrated that clouds can be configured to serve as a platform for this type research. More recently, the CloudBank project embarked on a mission of providing a conduit to commercial clouds for the systems research community that eliminates much of the complexity and some of the cost of using them for research. This creates an opportunity to explore running systems experiments in a combined setting, spanning both research and commercial clouds. In this paper, we present an extension to Chameleon for constructing controlled experiments across its resources and commercial clouds accessible via CloudBank, present a case study of an experiment running across such combined resources, and discuss the impact of using a combined research platform.

This paper presents an overview of SBAS L5 message authentication protocols proposed in the last years. We analyze 13 protocols from four sources: Stanford University, the EAST and SPARC projects, and a protocol proposed for the Australian SBAS. The protocols use L5Q, L5I, digital signatures and delayed disclosure based on TESLA. We also analyze figures of merit and weight their importance for the SBAS authentication protocol comparison, including protocol-specific figures AER (Authentication Error Rate), TBA (Time Between Authentications) and latency, and SBAS service figures (accuracy, integrity, continuity, availability). A plan for the definition, assessment and standardization of SBAS message authentication to be carried out by U.S.-EU Working Group C, in cooperation with EUROCAE WG62/RTCA-SC-159, is also outlined, with the goal of a potential addition of SBAS message authentication in the next version of the DFMC standard.

This study employs a random parameters binary logistic regression (LR) to characterize the impact of environmental and structural parameters on concrete highway bridge deck deterioration na...

This paper reports on an exploratory survey investigating both translingual practices in English language classrooms in India and attitudes towards translanguaging and L1 use among teachers...

This study reports on the impact of an ‘initial’ certification course (ICC) for English language teachers (the Cambridge CELTA) on the self-reported classroom practices and related beliefs of exper...

Reformed experimental activities (REActivities) are an innovative approach to the delivery of the traditional material in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. A description of the design and implementation of REActivities at both a four- and two-year institution is discussed. The results obtained using a reformed teaching observational protocol are described and correlated to the transferability of REActivities between different instructors and their transportability between different institutions.

Previous heavy-vehicle (a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds) injury severity studies have disaggregated data by factors such as urban/rural and time-of-day, yet a focus on contributing factors by roadway classification is lacking. Taking this into consideration, the current study aims to extend traditional heavy-vehicle driver injury severity analyses, through the application of a mixed logit modeling framework, by determining statistically significant injury severity contributing factors by roadway classification. In the course of identifying statistically significant injury severity factors, a parameter transferability test is conducted to determine if roadway classifications need to be considered separately for safety analyses. Empirical results show that roadway classifications need be modeled separately with a high level of confidence, as the estimated parameters are statistically different by classification based on corresponding chi-square statistics and degrees of freedom. The majority of significant contributing factors are exclusive to a specific road classification, however, two factors were found to impact injury severity regardless of classification while some factors were significant for two classifications. Findings from this study can prompt future work to focus on injury severity, as well as other safety measures, by roadway classification and/or other subpopulations within crash datasets.