SUMMARY

Applicant: “Association of Innovation Projects Support”,
 legal address is Apt. 39, 19, Svan Franko Street, Izmail, Odessa Region, 68600 – Ukraine.
http://www.aips-izm.narod.ru, E-mail: aips-izm@narod.ru

Project basic purpose: to reduce risk of erroneous human actions in critical situations.

Main objectives:
-          development of software product, allowing to take into account natural peculiarities of individuals to optimize training in professional skills;
-          implementation of methodics of potential personal abilities objective evaluation for random period of daytime into practical professional training.

Methods of project implementation:
    Computer software shall be developed on the basis of “Principal Model of Human Memory Conception” to determine biopsychological rhythms for particular individual. The program automatically builds individual charts of human activity and reflects their numerical values upon randomly selected period of the customer’s life. These values are accompanied with correspondent recommendations for six main types of human biopsychological activities. The software product will be placed for free distribution in “Internet” worldwide communications network. Primary successful outcome of the project will be evaluated according the results of web-resource attending statistics, relevant to this topic. Final evaluation will be based on the basis of two-years statistics of emergencies caused by merchant marine officers fault who will undergo certification using this technology.

Project value: -                    Funds available: -                  Funds deficiency: -                    

INTRODUCTION

A group of adherents keen about the destiny of growing generations and regional environmental state attempts to implement a project dealing with a problem of emergency situations arising from human fault. The group comprises physicians, teachers, computer programmers and technicians, experts in communications, marine training and marine transport. The authors of this project are:

Constantine A. Likhoglyad, Izmail Regional Branch Director, State Inspection for Training and Certification of Seafarers (hereinafter referred to as SITCS);
Andrey L. Gerashchenko, Deputy Director of the Emergency Situations and Technogenous and Environmental Safety Department OJSC “Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company“ (hereinafter referred to as OJSC “UDP”), ;

Main aim of the project applied for is to overcome a problem of objective evaluation of personal capabilities in emergency situations. Final aim is to develop skills in forecasting expected events progress and emergency prevention due to human fault among the customers. The achievement of these aims is based on solving the problem of broad implementation of principally new system of perception and reproduction of professional knowledge obtained during professional training and certification. This system opens the possibility of maximal application of principles on which human memory is organized. Its principal model allows to define natural predispositions of any individual. Contrary to psychological testing systems this system is characterized with deeper biologically oriented analysis of capabilities and conditions of organism for a particular individual. 

General Objective of the project implementation lies in forming the simple and freely accessible system of an estimation of human biopsychological activities. Its realization will be achieved by means of automatic charts building for all particular individual’s memory types, kinds and genders. The charts are accompanied by dynamical output of organism activity level as a percentage of potentially possible maximum. Depending on these values general notations explaining favourable and unfavourable periods for various kinds of activities are formed. Simultaneously, dynamic function for altering recommendations in applying individual personality features is implemented depending on selected periods of forecasting.

Software production issued during the project implementation may be used both by teachers, tutors, menageries, instructors and trainees without any limitation either for age, or by professional orientation. Primary local customers will be instructors of maritime training centers and Merchant Marine shipboard personnel undergoing regular certification with further expansion to encompass students of higher and secondary education establishments in Izmail. It is this contingent on which the experimental appraisal of the system efficiency is supposed to be performed.  

5-years experience of Izmail Maritime Training Center (hereinafter referred to as IMTC Ltd.) work discovered substantial deficiencies in self-training of the seafarers under certification. Excellent computer training and testing software for officers, to utmost regret, do not allow to take into account psychological peculiarities of the certified individual. Half of them with the rich multi-year experience of  smooth reliable practical work many times fail in elementary theoretical tests. As a consequence, some of them develop in themselves a sense of under-estimation their professional skills, which leads to dangerous hesitancy in critical situations, and others, which were lucky in testing, as a contrast,  over-estimate their moderate intellectual capabilities. The results are not long to be expected – in emergency situation actions of these specialists lead to irrecoverable accidents and unjustified losses

In year 2001 the authors of this project were directly involved in an attempt to release the applicants from these psychological difficulties associated with periodical certification. For 10 months Internet project “Remote Certification of Seafarers” was practically implemented. At present Russian language Course “Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Sea” is already deployed and works successfully.  From March 1, 2002 till October 31, 2003 968 applicants underwent training in net version of IMTC, Ltd. Computer classes; 28 made it through external Internet facilities from September 1 till October 31, 2003. There are 45 positive references in the reference book about the convenience of the newly introduced system. For further details, please, refer to  IMTC Web-site.

The proposed project represents a new strategy in the area of training and education. Some of its principles were mentioned in a report delivered by Mr. Vladimir V. Baltin at 2001 Yalta Conference “Advanced Information Technologies” organized by Messrs. “Enran Telecom” and in an article by Mr. Constantine A. Likhoglyad in “Sudohodstvo” magazine  ? 12, 2001 issue. Approval of the basic conception of the applied model of memory was obtained by Mr. Andrey L. Gerashchenko in 1985 from Mr. Oleg S. Adrianov, USSR AMS Academician, Director of “Institute of Brain” in Moscow. For further details, please, refer to PRINCIPICS  Web-site

The project is supported by the majority of heads of educational establishments in Izmail, but so far this support does not extend beyond a pure moral and theoretical approval. The supporting letters are attached and originate from: 

1. OJSC “Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company”;

2.      Izmail Maritime Training Centre, Ltd.

3.      State Inspection for Training and Certification of Seafarers Branch

4.      Regional Clinic Hospital for Marine Transport Employees

5.      Izmail City Mayorate

6.      Izmail State Humanitarian University

7.      Odessa State Maritime Academy Branch

8.      Inter-Regional Personnel Management Academy Branch

The list of organizations, which show their interest, allows to draw to a conclusion about the live issue category of the existing problem and the necessity to overcome this problem within close terms.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Analysis of the situation arisen in the area of higher education and  world standards in marine training and certification allows to draw to a conclusion about the serious nature of a problem with technogenous accidents and environmental disasters occurring due to human fault. In most cases the reason of their occurrence is the unpredictable behaviour of concrete people in crisis situations. Present training shows tendencies to narrow specialization. It often divides people under professional criteria. People often lose from view that in any activity a complex of different specialties is involved. Due to this reason situation it often occurs that an individual who achieved certain levels in his (or her) career with narrow professional orientations begin to feel himself capable and competent to solve problems usually handled by experts in another area of activities. This self-confidence is usually based upon the ability of a person to summarize his professional knowledge giving them a shape of universal principles. Such a feature, however, is inherent to a small amount of people. Under-estimation of the balance between individual possibilities and desires, lack of skills in actual summarization often leads not only to personal injury, but also provokes accidents and disasters. 

Work of IMTC, Ltd. with personnel employed in the area of marine transport for the last 5 years showed the existing demand for new technologies in the objective evaluation of complicated situations. Finding a solution to a problem of psychological factors affecting to individual capabilities mobilization during training for professional activities allows to reduce risk  of emergencies arising due to human fault. Main stumbling block in training process is over-estimation or under-estimation of individual abilities to master skills of safe working practice. Both adventurous childish maximalism and non-seldom complexes accumulated from youth in older ages often become the cause of  fatal errors in professional activities.    

The problem of objective self-evaluation is essential for both production and service spheres of human activities dealing hazardous working conditions. Its solving is better to start at the beginning stage of training specialists. Training process is one of the most sophisticated stage of bringing up professionals. There always is a fact of misbalance between the quantity of information and the time allowed for its entire perception. According to information from Novorossiysk Higher Marine Engineering School (now this is Novorossiysk   State Maritime Academy) in 1985 only 10 % of the material taught for 5 years course were of practical use for those who graduated from it. International requirements for periodical re-assessment of the merchant marine officers staff every 5 years and compulsory certification prior promotion make people face a necessity to upgrade continuously levels of their professional knowledge. Usually there is not so much time to do it. Therefore, those undergoing assessment in the form of tests always face the problem of mastering large volume of material within very tight terms. Even more difficulties are met by them in rationalized expression of the gained knowledge. These problems are surmountable by means of establishing a temporal link between the training processes and the most productive periods of multi-typed human activity. To implement successfully the existing requirement, it will be reasonable to clearly determine the time periods favourable for efficient usage individual abilities to percept and accumulate knowledge, i.e. to improve the efficiency factor of working over the material being studied. Seeming quite simple – learn until master everything. But the receptivity to new reduces with age, especially when dealing with large volumes of information previously unknown or unnecessary. In addition to this trouble, people often undertake attempts to learn something during those period when this process requires maximum energy expenditures. But there are periods during which knowledge is gained relatively easy without extra tension. Therefore knowing optimum intervals for specific actions to be undertaken by a particular individual will be very useful.    

During critical situation most losses of life take place not due to the situation itself, but due to lack of knowledge about what to do under such circumstances. Physicians, computer programmers and seamen are involved into such processes when the errors made by them may result into large human and material losses. Therefore these are the preferable areas for experimental appraisal of the proposed technology.