NASA Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports

significant results were found with regard to time, scenario, oral temperature, and math total points.
DTIC
Decision Making; Human Performance; Simulation; Sleep Deprivation; Teams
54
MAN/SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY AND LIFE SUPPORT
Includes human factors engineering, bionics, man-machine systems, life support, space suits and protective clothing. For related
information see also 16 Space Transportation and Safety and 52 Aerospace Medicine.
20040068168 Research and Technology Organization, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Test Methodologies for Personal Protective Equipment Against Anti-Personnel Mine Blast
March 2004; 214 pp.; In English
Report No.(s): RTO-TR-HFM-089; AC/323(HFM-089)TP/51; Copyright; Avail: CASI; A10, Hardcopy
The protection of dismounted soldiers against anti-personnel (AP) land mines has been a focus of Military Forces for
many years. Since World War II, a significant amount of resources has been invested in developing personal protective
equipment (PPE) against this threat. However, the past ten years has seen an intensified effort to solve the problem, which has
led to the emergence of new PPE. It was soon recognized that common international procedures to evaluate and assess the
performance of this equipment was needed. In 2000, the NATO RTO decided to pool the knowledge and experience of its
members to develop a common understanding of the physics at play during a mine explosion and the resulting human injuries.
This database would then be used to define common methods to test PPE against AP mines. This was the mandate of Task
Group HFM-089/TG-024. This report presents the results of TG-024. It provides background information about mine
explosions and the injuries they inflict on their victims. This sets a reference against which the reader can assess the discussion
on test methodologies. This discussion is broken down in three sections. The first describes the basic elements that a test
methodology must have. The second addresses methods designed to test PPE that protects the lower extremities. The third is
focussed on PPE that protects the upper body. Following this discussion, the report presents the TG recommendations with
respect to test methods for the assessment of PPE performance against AP blast and fragmentation mines. Finally, conclusions
are presented along with a brief recommendation for future work. The report is supplemented with several annexes that contain
information relating to mines, past experience of the participating nations, mine injuries, etc., which were too detailed for
inclusion in the main text.
Author
Explosions; Protection; Protectors; Military Personnel; Protective Clothing; Mines (Ordnance); Performance Tests
20040068298 Newcastle-upon-Tyne Univ., Newcastle
Human Compensation for Undependable Systems
Besnard, D.; Baxter, G.; Nov. 2003; 16 pp.; In English
Report No.(s): PB2004-105455; CS-TR-819; Copyright; Avail: National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
Randell’s (2000) dependability fault-error-failure model was originally designed with the objective of describing the
propagation of faults in technical systems. Conversely, Reason’s (1990) swiss cheese model was intended to describe the
organisational facet of systems’ failures. However useful these two views have been, there has not been a lot of effort devoted
to highlighting their common features. Moreover, these two models say little about the positive human contribution to the
delivery of an acceptable service with undependable systems. The investigation of these two aspects forms the main focus of
this paper. Our first objective will therefore be to integrate the two models. In doing so, we will also provide an answer to the
problem of scale in the description of events in complex settings: organisational factors and pure technical causes could be
integrated in the same descriptive picture. Our second objective will be to show that the dependability of the service of
socio-technical systems is often a matter of human compensations for poorly designed systems. This claim will be supported
by three concrete examples where human compensations have permitted a partly-automated system to deliver an acceptable
service.
NTIS
Error Analysis; Flat Surfaces; Human Factors Engineering
178