The relationship between air traffic control ratings and essential job ability requirements : thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Aviation degree at School of Aviation, Massey University, New Zealand

The main objective of Air Traffic Control (ATC) is to prevent collisions between aircraft flying in the air or moving on the ground. Pilots must obtain ATC clearance from ATC officers (ATCO) in order to navigate their aircraft safely. There are two categories of rated ATC controllers (i.e., the radar controllers and aerodrome controllers) operating in different environments and using different equipment for ATC. They are required to apply different sets of separation criteria and rules for aircraft separation. Previous research has identified a number of abilities needed for successful on-the-job performance in air traffic controllers. These included memorization and retention of new information, spatial orientation/visualization, the ability to work well in stressful environments, the ability to shift between two or more sources of information, and the ability to combine and organize information. In recent years, one research studied the job ability requirements between Area, Approach and Tower control positions. However, there was no study investigating the relationship between Radar and Aerodrome (i.e., non-radar) ratings and their respective key performance attributes specific to a busy hub airport. This research tests whether there was a difference in key performance attributes of radar and aerodrome controllers working at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Nine ATC attributes were perceived by Hong Kong controllers as being essential, with situation awareness ranked as the most important ability. A multivariate test using the dependent variables provided no evidence that these nine essential abilities differed between radar and aerodrome controllers. However, this study indicated that there might be differences in sensory abilities between radar and aerodrome controllers in respect of visual colour discrimination and night vision requirements. Operating conditions that could have led to such differences on ability requirements are also discussed. The study revealed the need to improve ATC operating environment, traffic display tools and the desirability of reviewing recruitment criteria and controller training plans in Hong Kong. Further studies may be able to quantify how the implementation of more appropriate selection policies can reduce the cost of training and more appropriately match the expertise of ATC controllers to the tasks they are required to be engaged in

Labelling Issues of Organic and GM Foods in Australia

Growth in the demand for organic foods has been phenomenal in the past decade both in Australia and overseas because organic production is seen to be beneficial to both human health and the environment. In general, organic products commend a price premium over conventional products. Since organic attributes cannot be verified easily and there is no control over the use of the word 'organic' in the Australian market, the organic label has been subject to abuse. Over ten years, the Australian organic industry has called for a domestic regulation, claiming that any incidence of consumer deception and product misrepresentation can result in the loss of consumer confidence and sales, and more importantly, hinder future industry growth. However, the Government has rejected the calls. On the other hand, despite its recent history, the labelling of GM foods has become mandatory since 2001. This paper examines the arguments for and against the mandatory labelling of organic foods in Australia, compares the political and marketing environments in which organic and GMO foods operate, and assesses the appropriateness of the differing regulatory responses.organic foods, GM foods, food labelling., Agribusiness, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Renormalization group analysis of nuclear current operators

A Wilsonian renormalization group (WRG) equation for nuclear current operators in two-nucleon systems is derived. Nuclear current operators relevant to low-energy Gamow-Teller transitions are analyzed using the WRG equation. We employ the axial two-body current operators from phenomenological models and heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory, which are quite different from one another in describing small scale physics. After reducing the model space of the operators using the WRG equation, we find that there still remains a significant model dependence at \Lambda = 200 MeV, where \Lambda is the sharp cutoff specifying the size of the model space. A model independent effective current operator is found at a rather small cutoff value, \Lambda = 70 MeV. By simulating the effective current operator at \Lambda=70 MeV, we obtain a current operator based on a pionless theory, thereby arguing an equivalence relation between nuclear current operators of phenomenological models and those of effective field theories.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figure

A Cointegration Analysis of Wool Prices

Based on cointegration analysis and monthly data from 1976.8 to 1999.10, a long-run equilibrium relationship was found to exist between prices for wools of 19 to 23 microns, despite the wool Reserve Price Scheme operated until February 1991. Furthermore, the prices for 19, 20 and 21 micron wools were found to be weakly exogenous. The latter result suggested that, although co-integrated, prices for finer wools tended to be less volatile than coarser wools. The implications are that wool producers would enjoy more stable prices by producing finer wools and that cross-hedging is possible given co-movements of prices.cointegration, error correction model, reserve price scheme, wool marketing., Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing,

Effective range corrections from effective field theory with di-baryon fields and perturbative pions

Contributions of perturbative pions around a non-trivial fixed point are studied by utilizing di-baryon fields. We calculate ${}^1S_0$ and ${}^3S_1$ phase shifts for the $np$ scattering at low energies up to one-pion-exchange contributions. We also calculate effective range parameters, $v_2$, $v_3$ and $v_4$ in the higher order of the effective range expansion, and obtain corrections of the effective range to the expressions previously reported by Cohen and Hansen. After the scattering length and the effective range are renormalized, we study the role of renormailzation scale parameter $\mu$ and discuss the range of validity of the theory.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 1 table, to be published in Physical Review