Navy Personnel Research Research Articles

Knowledge acquisition: an approach for Navy career counselling

In this paper, we describe the career counselling domain of the US Navy. Through this understanding, we develop two sets of generic knowledge acquisition methodologies: a hybrid approach of CommonKADS and multiple classification Ripple Down Rules, and a concept mapping approach to form the career counselling knowledge-base for the Sailor assignment problem. The acquired knowledge will then be incorporated into the Navy career counsellor agent in the Web-based marketplace multi-agent system, being developed at the Navy Personnel Research Studies and Technology (NPRST) agency.

Computational efficiencies for multi-agents: a look at a multi-agent system for sailor assignment

The leadership of the US Navy has undertaken a sweeping modernisation of the Navy's human resources system. A concentrated effort is aimed specifically at transforming the enlisted personnel assignment process. This process is enormously complicated and uses very complex business rules. To facilitate the transformation of the personnel assignment process, a web-based multi-agent system is being developed at NPRST (Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology) to perform sailor assignment. Two of the many challenges facing this project lie in determining both the scalability and the computational efficiency of the proposed system. After conducting a literature review, several possible system architectures were identified and proposed as alternatives for implementation. This paper examines the competing approaches from among those found in the literature and evaluates them using the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The recommendations resulting from this analysis are to be tested in the future.

Equal opportunity in the U.S. Navy: perceptions of active-duty African American women

In 1989, the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center (NPRDC) developed a service-wide survey to assess the equal opportunity climate of the Navy. This survey, known as the Navy Equal Opportunity/Sexual Harassment Survey (NEOSH), is administered to a random sample of Navy women and men every two years. Each year the survey has been administered, results have indicated that African American women are the least satisfied with the equal opportunity climate of the Navy than any of the other aggregated groups. In an effort to explain and expand upon the findings of the NEOSH, NPRDC organized a group of facilitators in 1995 to conduct focus groups of African American Navy women. The present study is based on data from these focus groups.

Sexual harassment experiences and equal opportunity perceptions of Navy women

In 1989, the Navy began tracking the sexual harassment rates among its officer and enlisted personnel by administering the Navy Equal Opportunity Sexual Harassment (NEOSH) Survey on a biennial basis. While previous reports on the results of the NEOSH Survey have discussed the occurrence, frequency, and effects of sexual harassment in the Navy [A. L. Culbertson, P. Rosenfeld, and C. E. Newell (1993) Sexual Harassment in the Active-Duty Navy: Findings from the Navy-Wide Survey (TR-94-2), San Diego, CA: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center], this study examines whether victims of sexual harassment differ in their perceptions of equal opportunity (EO) climate from those who have not been harassed. Data from the 1991 NEOSH Survey were reanalyzed. Sixty-seven percent of the women officers were White, 25% African-American, and 18% Hispanic. Of the women enlisted, 52% were White, 31% African-American, and 18% Hispanic. The results indicated that women who were sexually harassed perceived that there was less EO in the Navy than women who had not been harassed. This was true for both officer and enlisted personnel. In addition, specific organizational consequences of sexual harassment were identified.

Diversity research in the United States Navy: An update

Researchers at the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center (NPRDC) have investigated issues related to gender, racial, and ethnic diversity for over two decades. Rosenfeld, M.D. Thomas, Edwards, P.J. Thomas, and E.D. Thomas (1991) provided a comprehensive review of NPRDC diversity research conducted between 1970 and 1990. This article examines NPRDC diversity research conducted during the past 5 years and identifies future research issues. The present review is divided into four major topic areas and a final section of conclusions and future directions. The first section describes the Navywide and unit-specific programs to assess equal opportunity climate and sexual harassment. The second section summarizes research pertaining to issues raised by women's changing roles and their increased participation in the Navy. In the third section, the findings of Navy discipline studies shed light on the issue of higher disciplinary rates among minority personnel. Research on Hispanics is reviewed in the fourth section. Finally, in the Discussion and Conclusions section, potential future research emphases are identified.

Expert and Novice Differences in Recognizing Similar Situations Pat-Anthony Federico: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center

To test hypotheses regarding expert and novice differences in recognizing similar scenarios, 28 senior naval officers and 52 junior naval officers (1) classified tactical situations each of which appeared on a note card, (2) labeled every created cluster to convey a category description, and (3) signified their criteria for sorting scenarios. Principal-components and discriminant analyses, and associated statistics, established that when categorizing situations (1) experts are more context-dependent than novices, (2) experts and novices do not differ significantly in the number of schemas and scenarios per schema formed as well as in the access avenues ascribed for these schemas, (3) experts do not process scenarios at significantly deeper levels of analysis than novices, and (4) experts do not assign significantly more importance to conceptual aspects or deep structures than novices, and less importance to perceptual properties or surface features than novices.

Effect of data compression of ERP sign preprocessed by FWT algorithm upon a neural network classifier

Earlier research at the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center revealed that measures of the brain response to sensory stimuli, known as Event Related Potentials (ERP) may be used to assess unique process-related variance that is dependent upon human performance. For example, it was found that the sensitivity of individual subjects to dynamic color contrast in computer displays can be assessed by visual ERP's. It has also been observed that RMS measures of the P1-N1-P2 complex and the P300 component of the ERP are related to signal detection and classification measures of performance. The present effort is to classify the ERP response to stimuli followed by a motor action of the subject, using neural networks. The stimuli consist of flashing a light which could be either one of two distinct colors. The following motor-action corresponds to pushing one of the two available buttons representing the two colors. The features will be selected from the Fast Walsh Transformation (FWT) of ERP observations and will be applied to appropriate Neural Networks to obtain a prediction of a possible response. Since a small number of features is derived from a large section of available processed data and since the ERP data is diluted with noise and artifacts, there is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of this data compression towards efficient prediction of the future action of the subject. The present paper deals with this study.

Individual Differences: An Underdeveloped Opportunity for Military Psychology

Journal of Applied Social PsychologyVolume 16, Issue 6 p. 565-575 Individual Differences: An Underdeveloped Opportunity for Military Psychology Bernard Rimland, Bernard Rimland Navy Personnel Research and Development Center 2 San Diego, California Bernard Rimland was Director of Special Programs at the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center. He is a fellow of the Division of Measurement and Evaluation of the American Psychological Association.Search for more papers by this authorGerald E. Larson, Gerald E. Larson Navy Personnel Research and Development Center 2 San Diego, CaliforniaSearch for more papers by this author Bernard Rimland, Bernard Rimland Navy Personnel Research and Development Center 2 San Diego, California Bernard Rimland was Director of Special Programs at the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center. He is a fellow of the Division of Measurement and Evaluation of the American Psychological Association.Search for more papers by this authorGerald E. Larson, Gerald E. Larson Navy Personnel Research and Development Center 2 San Diego, CaliforniaSearch for more papers by this author First published: September 1986 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1986.tb01159.xCitations: 4 Gerald E. Larson is a research psychologist at the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center. Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. Bernard Rimland, Institute for Child Behavior Research, 4182 Adams Ave., San Diego, CA 92116. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect Navy policy. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume16, Issue6September 1986Pages 565-575 RelatedInformation

A Selective Review of Navy Human Engineering Research and Development Programs

While the technology of naval warfare continues to grow at an impressive rate, personnel limitations and resources are becoming a major impediment to maintaining fleet readiness. Technolgy and complexity of naval systems may outstrip human capabilities to operate and maintain them. This, in concert with dwindling manpower availability and increasing competition for manpower, becomes a major issue in achieving and maintaining a high level of naval readiness, now and in the future. Current human factors engineering technology is often inadequate to remedy this growing divergence of technology and human capabilities. New human factors engineering technologies must be developed and applied to allow mutual man-system monitoring, decision making, and control. This paper summarizes a number of efforts underway within the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center to apply existing HFE technology and to provide some of the fundamental research required to develop new human engineering methods, techniques, and data.

Defense Training Technology Applications

The Joint Service Research and Development program promotes the application of technology to solve manpower, personnel, and training (MPT) problems common to the military Services. The program originated in the 1978 House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hearings on military MPT issues, and subsequent HASC requests for tri-service coordination and funding of Defense-wide efforts. It is administered through a Joint Service Research and Development Steering Committee, which has representatives of each Service. Since funding for the program is in the engineering development category, it is essential that products be demonstrated and evaluated within a short time, usually three years. The products represent a culmination of successful laboratory research and development. The panel describes five of the products. TRAID consists of a library of computer-based instructional programs which is sufficiently flexible to support development, delivery, and management to meet most Service instructional requirements. Each of the Service training laboratories participate, to synthesize work related to computer-based instruction across are those which have been successfully demonstrated within the developing Service. Language Skills Computer Assisted Instruction, developed by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center (NPRDC), automates literacy instruction It applies a diagnostic-prescriptive approach to remedial reading, using material from Navy manuals. The Computerized Hand-held Instructional Prototype, CHIP, is a revision of the Army Research Institute's (ARI) tutor device CHIP combines the miniaturization advances in semiconductor technology with the advantages of computer-based instruction, providing adaptive training, controlled feedback, self-pacing, and effective drill and practice in non-traditional settings. The Personal Electronic Aid for Maintenance (PEAM) is a joint venture of the Naval Training Equipment Center and ARI. PEAM improves the productivity of the organizational level maintenance technician by enhancing the quality, management, and delivery of technical information through an automated maintenance information system. Interactive Videodisc Instruction for Basic Skills Training, supported by 14 video-discs, is an ARI program. The training covers spatial orientation and navigational skills, study and test-taking skills, problem solving, and other learning strategies. Instruction is presented in the context of the Army Skill Qualification Test, Expert Infantryman's Badge, and tactical exercises. Additional land navigation materials are under development for the commander of the MI Abrams tank. Demonstrations of the technologies, following the presentations, allow the audience to sample these Joint Service program products.

System Complexity versus Human Capabilities: A Data Base to Close the Widening Gap

A relatively large data base was developed to address the following issue: Problems in the operation and maintenance of increasingly sophisticated weapon systems have mandated a new design philosophy—manpower must become a design tradeoff variable, just like performance, cost, reliability, size, weight, etc. However, to make manpower a genuine design tradeoff variable, data are needed concerning the impact of various design alternatives on manpower parameters, like skill level requirements, maintenance manhours, etc. These data were collected and are presented in Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements, which covers several Navy weapon systems. Three types of data are presented in the design guide: The first is the estimated impact of 66 design alternatives on operator proficiency, maintainer proficiency, maintenance manhours, system initial acquisition cost, and system life cycle cost. These estimates were provided for four types of electronics-intensive systems by highly experienced, senior designers. Experienced senior technicians provided estimates for the same parameters, except costs. The second type of data covers the descriptive characteristics of technicians that operate and maintain the electronic systems. These profiles are to educate bench-level designers in industry, who often have little understanding of the capabilities of system users. The third type of data is a set of “lessons learned” from existing systems. Based on surveys of senior technicians, these data include: (1) profiles of the percentages of technicians at each of three paygrades who can perform selected operation and maintenance tasks without supervision; (2) the attribution of specific problem tasks to faulty design, inadequate manuals, or inadequate training; and (3) statements of specific design problems and recommended changes for problems caused by faulty design. The design guide currently comprises six volumes. Volume 1 presents an overview of the entire series, a procedure for using data from the other volumes to perform design tradeoff analyses, and a collection of comments by designers (which is a necessary reference for interpreting the data correctly). Volumes 2-5 present data for specific types of electronic weapon systems. Volume 6 is a technical report that documents the procedures used in acquiring and analyzing the data. Full titles and DTIC ordering numbers are as follows: • Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements: Volume 1. Overview for Surface Ship Electronic Systems. (AD-B073 358L) • Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements: Volume 2. Surface Ship Sonar. (AD-B073 359L) • Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements: Volume 3. Surface Ship Search and Navigation Radar. (AD-B073 360L) • Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements: Volume 4. Gun and Surface Missile Fire Control Systems. (AD-BO73 361L) • Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements: Volume 5. Gun Mount and Launcher Control Systems. (AD-B073 362L) • Design Guide to Operator and Technician Requirements: Volume 6. Research Leading to Guide Development. (AD-B073 363L) This work was sponsored by the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, San Diego, California, Code 17.

ERIC reports on ID

Philosophical Foundations and Instructional Design (Curriculum Theory). Research and Theory Division Symposium: Open Forum on the Foundational Issues of the Field of Instructional Technology. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Dallas, January 1984. 11pp. Concerned with curriculum theory and development and the place of curriculum theory within the area of instructional technology, this paper first identifies the central questions of curriculum (e.g., what should we teach?) and discusses the implications of the resulting issues: (1) Why should we teach this rather than that? (2) Who should have access to what knowledge7 (3) What affects would accrue from the study, particularly the prolonged study, of a given domain of knowledge? and (4) How should the various parts of the curriculum be interrelated in order to create a coherent whole? The question of curriculum is examined and implications for the field of technology that might enhance the utilization of media within the instructional process are viewed. Conclusions indicate that linking the notions of curriculum and media together will suggest new ways of looking at the learning process and provide a different language and conceptual framework for looking at the issues, problems, and concerns in the field. Ten references are listed. -Microfiche 97 cents, paper copy $2.15 plus shipping, as document ED 243 427. The Status of Authoring Aids for Instructional Systems Development: An Analysis of Needs and Availability. Final Report,Sandra K. Wetzel and others. San Diego, Calif.: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, 1982. 25pp. Surveys and follow-up interviews were conducted in 1978 and 1980 respectively at the Navy's Instructional Program Development Centers to determine the need for the development or modification of authoring aids (manuals containing detailed procedural guidelines) to support designers/developers in producing high quality, usable, instructional materials. In addition, tri-service availability and utilization of authoring aids were assessed. Results indicated that instructional strategy selection, terminal/enabler objective writing, and test construction needed support. The tri-service assessment showed that existing aids and those under development would require major modifications to meet Navy requirements. It was recommended that: (a) designers/developers be encouraged to take courses/workshops in instructional technology; (b) coordination be maintained with appropriate tri-service agencies for interservice exchange; and (c) existing authoring aids, such as the Instructional Quality Inventory (IQI) and the Author Training Course, be modified if necessary and placed online as computer-based aids. A 24-item bibliography, a flow chart outlining Instructional Systems Development (ISD) design and development tasks, and a report distribution list are provided. -Microfiche 97 cents, paper copy $2.15 plus shipping, as document ED 243 476.

Improved labeling of L.P. Bases in networks : Glover F and Klingman D (1974) This research was partly supported by the Navy Personnel Research and Development laboratory contract N00126-74-C-2275 with the Center for Cybernetic Studies, the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

Abstract : New labeling techniques are provided for accelerating the basis exchange step of specialized linear programming methods for network problems. These techniques substantially reduce the amount of computation involved in updating operations.

On More Reliably Employing the Concept of "Reliability"

Confusion has resulted from using the term reliability to mean both measurement-error variance and sampling-error variance. This article discusses the conceptual similarities and differences between the various types of variance subsumed under reliability in order to distinguish among them. The author is Research Psychologist at the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, San Diego, Califbrnia.