There is much dialogue in the global aviation industry about Safety Management Systems (SMS) and how it should be integrated across all domains of the industry including aircraft design, production, flight operations, overhaul and maintenance, suppliers, service providers, airports, and so forth (Johnson, 2012). Regulators have made significant progress in recent years to implement ICAO’s SMS into airlines, albeit as a required or recommended practice. More recently the regulators are seeking to implement SMS into the aircraft manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. This research reviewed regulatory publications from multiple countries to assess the technical makeup of SMS, and understand what regulators are requiring, or recommending, and when. It was found that global regulators accept the ICAO published definition of SMS, but different regulators have varying approaches regarding implementation. However, they are consistent in initially targeting airlines for SMS implementation. SMS comments range from “The best thing since sliced bread” to “Worst thing since the creation of the FAA; I don’t need anyone telling me what’s safe when I already know it; waste of time and money”. This investigation experimented with field tests to connect the engineering, production and airline domains into one ICAO SMS model. Results indicate that because the different domains are risk-specific, the application of one safety risk management model to all domains is not viable. The SMS model applies to airlines because airlines’ primary risk is about operational safety. Aircraft production and maintenance is about production risk – therefore the risk model must be centric to process risk. Field test 3 tailored the ICAO SMS risk architecture to assess and mitigate process risk as applicable to the aircraft manufacturing and maintenance. Although the SMS architecture was usable, the content and focus was significantly adjusted to be production process-risk centric, to the point where the term “SMS’ was deemed out of place. The resulting model was therefore named Production Risk Management System (PRMS). Following the emergence of PRMS from field tests, this investigation reviewed industry, research and regulatory arguments for and against SMS in the airline industry, and correlated those arguments with the benefits and non-benefits of PRMS for the manufacturing and aircraft maintenance domains. The researcher advocates PRMS as a viable model that meets ICAO SMS-like architecture for aircraft production and maintenance. Methods were identified for developing and implementing PRMS, and for evaluating its ROI. If and when “SMS” is truly mandated in these domains, the researcher proposes PRMS as a viable model that should be considered. Furthermore, the researcher proposes that PRMS can be an effective production risk management system that can enhance the organization’s existing QMS, regardless of “SMS” regulations.

<p> Although interest in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) from researchers and consumers continues to increase, many BCIs lack the complexity and imaginative properties thought to guide users towards successful brain activity modulation. In this research, an experimental story brain-computer interface (ES-BCI) was developed, with which users could interact using cognitive strategies; specifically, thinking about the story and engaging with the main character of the story through their thought processes. In this system, the user’s frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) measured with electroencephalography (EEG) was linearly mapped to the color saturation of the main character in the story. Therefore, the color saturation of the main character increased as FAA recorded from the participant’s brain activity increased above the FAA threshold required to receive visual feedback. A user-friendly experimental design was implemented using a comfortable EEG device and short neurofeedback (NF) training protocol. Eight distinct story scenes, each with a View and Engage NF component were created, and are referred to as blocks. In this system, seven out of 19 participants successfully increased FAA during the course of the study, for a total of ten successful blocks out of 152. Results concerning left (Lact) and right (Ract) prefrontal cortical activity contributions to FAA in both successful and unsuccessful blocks were examined to understand FAA measurements in greater detail. Additionally, electrodermal activity data (EDA) and self-reported questionnaire data were investigated to understand the user experience with this ES-BCI. Results suggest the potential of ES-BCI environments for engaging users and allowing for FAA modulation. New research directions for artistic BCIs investigating affect are discussed. </p>

No description available.

No description available.

The rapid increase and popularity of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in civil usage around the world is due to their versatility. With advancement in technology across the globe, there are UAS of different sizes and capabilities in the market. It is imperative to note that the use and operation of UAS have numerous merits and equally, potentially poses serious risks to aviation safety, unlawful interference with States’ security as well as invasion of the privacy of persons. This reality poses a challenge to integration of UAS into the civil airspaces of different States. Accordingly, the international community developed the Chicago Convention that provides the principal framework to address the threefold concerns. At the international level, however, there is lack of a unified system of regulation of UAS. Consequently, the Chicago Convention requires States to develop national institutions and legal frameworks to not only effectively address these concerns, but also create a delicate balance between national security and right to privacy. This thesis evaluates how the legal, institutional and policy frameworks for UAS in the US, South Africa and Kenya have addressed the current needs and challenges in operation and integrating them into regulatory frameworks for civil aviation. It follows that the three States have developed constitutional frameworks, legislation, regulations, policies and strategic plans as they seek to address the challenges that emanate from integrating UAS into the civil aviation airspace. This encompasses ineffective enforcement mechanism of regulations. The thesis maps out experiences of integration in the three countries, emanating from research goals including investigating the extent to which existing international regulatory frameworks address the threefold concerns. The study establishes that the common thread running through UAS regulation is each country’s unique issues and paths to integration. Additionally, that the approach for integration of UAS into civil aviation needs be gradual and pragmatic. For this reason, this thesis recommends the development of institutional capacity, coordination and funding, and increase in regional efforts to revamp UAS integration efforts into civil aviation. / Public, Constitutional, and International Law / LL. D. (Public, Constitutional and International Law)