Many 21st century operations are characterised by teams of workers dealing with significant risks and complex technology, in competitive, commercially-driven environments. Informed managers in such sectors have realised the necessity of understanding the human dimension to their operations if they hope to improve production and safety performance. While organisational safety culture is a key determinant of workplace safety, it is also essential to focus on the non-technical skills of the system operators based at the 'sharp end' of the organisation. These skills are the cognitive and social skills required for efficient and safe operations, often termed Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills. In industries such as civil aviation, it has long been appreciated that the majority of accidents could have been prevented if better non-technical skills had been demonstrated by personnel operating and maintaining the system. As a result, the aviation industry has pioneered the development of CRM training. Many other organisations are now introducing non-technical skills training, most notably within the healthcare sector. Safety at the Sharp End is a general guide to the theory and practice of non-technical skills for safety. It covers the identification, training and evaluation of non-technical skills and has been written for use by individuals who are studying or training these skills on CRM and other safety or human factors courses. The material is also suitable for undergraduate and post-experience students studying human factors or industrial safety programmes.

Comprehensive and accessible guide to the three main approaches to robust control design and its applications

Optimal control is a mathematical field that is concerned with control policies that can be deduced using optimization algorithms. The optimal control approach to robust control design differs from conventional direct approaches to robust control that are more commonly discussed by firstly translating the robust control problem into its optimal control counterpart, and then solving the optimal control problem.

Robust Control Design: An Optimal Control Approach offers a complete presentation of this approach to robust control design, presenting modern control theory in an concise manner. The other two major approaches to robust control design, the H_infinite approach and the Kharitonov approach, are also covered and described in the simplest terms possible, in order to provide a complete overview of the area. It includes up-to-date research, and offers both theoretical and practical applications that include flexible structures, robotics, and automotive and aircraft control.

Robust Control Design: An Optimal Control Approach will be of interest to those needing an introductory textbook on robust control theory, design and applications as well as graduate and postgraduate students involved in systems and control research. Practitioners will also find the applications presented useful when solving practical problems in the engineering field.

Incident Command: Tales From the Hot Seat presents a unique examination of the skills of the on-scene or incident commander who is in charge of an emergency or major incident. Experienced commanders from the police and fire services, the armed forces, civil aviation and the prison service give personal accounts of their command experiences, discuss their dilemmas and the pressures they faced, and reveal the demands of leading under extreme conditions. They share intimate details of cases where their command skills were tested, ranging from industrial fires, riots, hostage taking, warfare, peacekeeping, to in-flight emergencies. Each case ends with lessons learnt and tips for the developing commander. Additional chapters present expert accounts of the art of incident command, incident command systems, competencies for command, as well as reviews of the latest psychological research into decision making and team work under pressure. The book is an essential compelling text that captures the essence of incident command by analyzing command experiences across a range of professions.

Operating theatres are very private workplaces. There have been few research investigations into how highly trained doctors and nurses work together to achieve safe and efficient anaesthesia and surgery. While there have been major advances in surgical and anaesthetic procedures, there are still significant risks for patients during operations and adverse events are not unknown. Due to rising concern about patient safety, surgeons and anaesthetists have looked for ways of minimising adverse events. Behavioural scientists have been encouraged by clinicians to bring research techniques used in other industries into the operating theatre in order to study the behaviour of surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists. Safer Surgery presents one of the first collections of studies designed to understand the factors influencing safe and efficient surgical, anaesthetic and nursing practice. The book is written by psychologists, surgeons and anaesthetists, whose contributions combine to offer readers the latest research techniques and findings from some of the leading investigators in this field. It is designed for practitioners and researchers interested in understanding the behaviour of operating theatre team members, with a view to enhancing both training and practice. The material is also suitable for those studying behaviour in other areas of healthcare or in high-risk work settings. The aims of the book are to: a) present the latest research on the behaviour of operating theatre teams b) describe the techniques being used by psychologists and clinicians to study surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre nurses' task performance c) outline the safety implications of the research to date.

Enhancing Surgical Performance: A Primer in Non-Technical Skills explains why non-technical skills are vital for safe and effective performance in the operating theatre. The book provides a full account, with supporting empirical evidence, of the Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS) system and behavioural rating framework, which helps identify the key elements involved in successful operative surgery. The editors spent the last twelve years as part of the team developing and testing the NOTSS system and delivering presentations and workshops across the world. Readers will benefit by having, in one accessible handbook, a description of the NOTSS system and how it can be used for training, assessment, self-reflection and event analysis. The book also examines human error, performance limitations, and global safety initiatives in surgery. Because it encourages surgeons to reflect on their own performance and behaviour, it is suitable for surgeons in all specialties and at all levels.

Operating theatres are very private workplaces. There have been few research investigations into how highly trained doctors and nurses work together to achieve safe and efficient anaesthesia and surgery. While there have been major advances in surgical and anaesthetic procedures, there are still significant risks for patients during operations and adverse events are not unknown. Due to rising concern about patient safety, surgeons and anaesthetists have looked for ways of minimising adverse events. Behavioural scientists have been encouraged by clinicians to bring research techniques used in other industries into the operating theatre in order to study the behaviour of surgeons, nurses and anaesthetists. Safer Surgery presents one of the first collections of studies designed to understand the factors influencing safe and efficient surgical, anaesthetic and nursing practice. The book is written by psychologists, surgeons and anaesthetists, whose contributions combine to offer readers the latest research techniques and findings from some of the leading investigators in this field. It is designed for practitioners and researchers interested in understanding the behaviour of operating theatre team members, with a view to enhancing both training and practice. The material is also suitable for those studying behaviour in other areas of healthcare or in high-risk work settings. The aims of the book are to: a) present the latest research on the behaviour of operating theatre teams b) describe the techniques being used by psychologists and clinicians to study surgeons, anaesthetists and theatre nurses' task performance c) outline the safety implications of the research to date.

Many 21st century operations are characterised by teams of workers dealing with significant risks and complex technology, in competitive, commercially-driven environments. Informed managers in such sectors have realised the necessity of understanding the human dimension to their operations if they hope to improve production and safety performance. While organisational safety culture is a key determinant of workplace safety, it is also essential to focus on the non-technical skills of the system operators based at the 'sharp end' of the organisation. These skills are the cognitive and social skills required for efficient and safe operations, often termed Crew Resource Management (CRM) skills. In industries such as civil aviation, it has long been appreciated that the majority of accidents could have been prevented if better non-technical skills had been demonstrated by personnel operating and maintaining the system. As a result, the aviation industry has pioneered the development of CRM training. Many other organisations are now introducing non-technical skills training, most notably within the healthcare sector. Safety at the Sharp End is a general guide to the theory and practice of non-technical skills for safety. It covers the identification, training and evaluation of non-technical skills and has been written for use by individuals who are studying or training these skills on CRM and other safety or human factors courses. The material is also suitable for undergraduate and post-experience students studying human factors or industrial safety programmes.

Incident Command: Tales From the Hot Seat presents a unique examination of the skills of the on-scene or incident commander who is in charge of an emergency or major incident. Experienced commanders from the police and fire services, the armed forces, civil aviation and the prison service give personal accounts of their command experiences, discuss their dilemmas and the pressures they faced, and reveal the demands of leading under extreme conditions. They share intimate details of cases where their command skills were tested, ranging from industrial fires, riots, hostage taking, warfare, peacekeeping, to in-flight emergencies. Each case ends with lessons learnt and tips for the developing commander. Additional chapters present expert accounts of the art of incident command, incident command systems, competencies for command, as well as reviews of the latest psychological research into decision making and team work under pressure. The book is an essential compelling text that captures the essence of incident command by analyzing command experiences across a range of professions.

Large-scale structures in the universe are becoming ever more important in modern astrophysics. This volume is dedicated to the memory of the late astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky and presents 34 lectures dealing with observational and theoretical aspects of the morphology of the universe. Reports on the distribution, properties and evolution of groups, clusters and superclusters of galaxies, as well as theoretical attempts to explain these findings using such ideas as biased galaxy formation and cold dark matter, are presented here for researchers and students of astronomy and astrophysics.

Improve your hearing, enhance your life With new advice on just-released over-the-counter hearing aids Hearing loss can be frustrating, but in fact it's common and treatable. Hearing Loss For Dummies, written by top experts in the field in collaboration with AARP, walks you through how to get the help you need to clearly hear the sounds of life--whether you're at home, at work, or out and about. And hearing health is critical: Hearing loss can increase your risk of falls and injuries, isolation and depression, and even cognitive decline and dementia. Authors Frank Lin and Nicholas Reed at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine lay out the steps to hearing health: Understanding how hearing works--and how it changes as we age Finding specialists you can trust Determining whether you need testing and, if so, where to turn Learning practical solutions for hearing better at home, at work, on the phone, and in restaurants and theaters Choosing the right hearing aid, including just-approved over-the-counter hearing aids, and getting them adjusted to work for you Exploring the pros and cons of cochlear implants and other surgical options Covering the costs of hearing health care If you're concerned about your own or a friend or relative's hearing, this is the one book you'll need. For what can seem like a complicated, stressful and lengthy process, Hearing Loss For Dummies tackles the topic head-on and provides you with expert guidance to put your mind at ease on the path to better hearing.

This is an account of the civil and criminal rules affecting children in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland reviewing them in the light of the findings of psychologists and social scientists and makes proposals for reform.
There have been many important developments which include hearsay evidence which has become freely available in civil proceedings involving children in both England and Scotland; videotapes of earlier interviews which have become admissible in criminal proceedings in England; in Scotland the law has been changed to allow the whole of a child's evidence in a criminal case to be taken ahead of trial on commission; there has been a wave of popular concern about "ritual abuse" and among psychologists there is increasing concern about both "repressed" and "implanted" memories.

If there are two phrases we have come to know very well, they are 'environmental awareness' and 'credit crunch'. The world is looking for ways to decrease the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, without incurring major costs in doing so. By increasing efficiencies up to about 90 per cent using well-established and mature technologies, cogeneration represents the best option for short-term reductions in CO2 emission levels. The ability to maximise revenue streams by taking advantage of price fluctuations in the cost of energy supply, and ensuring the ability to supply power regardless of what is happening on the grid, are powerful incentives to use cogeneration. The collapses of the grid networks in North America and Italy in 2003 were a stark reminder of what can happen if there is over-reliance on the grid network. Cogeneration makes sense economically, environmentally and operationally.

In our high technology society, there is a growing demand for a better understanding of decision making in high risk situations in order to improve selection, training and operational performance. Decision Making Under Stress presents a state-of-the-art review of psychological theory, in research and practice, on decision making in high pressure and emergency situations. It focuses on the experienced decision makers who deal with such risks, principally on flight decks, at civil emergencies, in industrial settings and military environments. The 29 chapters cover a wide range of perspectives and applications from aviation, military, industry and the emergency services. The authors, all international invited experts in their field, are based in research centers and universities from Europe, North America and Australia. Their common interest is in the theories and methods of a new research domain called NDM (naturalistic decision making). This volume comprises the edited contributions to the Third International NDM conference, sponsored by the US Army Research Institute and the US Naval Air Warfare Center, which was held in Aberdeen, Scotland in September 1996. The NDM researchers are interested in decision making in situations characterised by high risk, time pressure, uncertain goals, ambiguous information and teamwork. The extent to which the NDM approach can explain and predict human performance in such settings is a central theme, discussed with many practical examples and applications. This book is essential reading for applied psychologists, pilots, emergency commanders, military officers, high hazard managers, safety and emergency response professionals.