European governance challenges in bio-engineering : making perfect life : bio-engineering (in) the 21st century : final report

In the STOA project Making Perfect Life four fields were studied of 21st century bio-engineering: engineering of living artefacts, engineering of the body, engineering of the brain, and engineering of intelligent artefacts. This report describes the main results of the project. It shows how developments in the four fields of bio-engineering are shaped by two megatrends: "biology becoming technology" and "technology becoming biology". These developments result in a broadening of the bio-engineering debate in our society. The report addresses the long term views that are inspiring this debate and discusses a multitude of ethical, legal and social issues that arise from bio-engineering developments in the fields described. Against this background four specific developments are studied in more detail: the rise of human genome sequencing, the market introduction of neurodevices, the capturing by information technology of the psychological and physiological states of users, and the pursuit of standardisation in synthetic biology. These developments are taken in this report as a starting point for an analysis of some of the main European governance challenges in 21st century bio-engineering

European governance challenges in bio-engineering : making perfect life : bio-engineering (in) the 21st century : final report

In the STOA project Making Perfect Life four fields were studied of 21st century bio-engineering: engineering of living artefacts, engineering of the body, engineering of the brain, and engineering of intelligent artefacts. This report describes the main results of the project. It shows how developments in the four fields of bio-engineering are shaped by two megatrends: "biology becoming technology" and "technology becoming biology". These developments result in a broadening of the bio-engineering debate in our society. The report addresses the long term views that are inspiring this debate and discusses a multitude of ethical, legal and social issues that arise from bio-engineering developments in the fields described. Against this background four specific developments are studied in more detail: the rise of human genome sequencing, the market introduction of neurodevices, the capturing by information technology of the psychological and physiological states of users, and the pursuit of standardisation in synthetic biology. These developments are taken in this report as a starting point for an analysis of some of the main European governance challenges in 21st century bio-engineering

Monitoring Attentional State with Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a technique for quantifying hemodynamic activity in the brain. Its portability allows application in real world operational contexts. The ability to distinguish levels of task engagement in safety-critical situations is important for detecting and preventing attentional performance decrement. We therefore investigated whether fNIRS can be used to distinguish between high and low levels of task engagement during the performance of a selective attention task, and validated these results using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as a gold standard. Participants performed the multi-source interference task (MSIT) while we recorded brain activity with fNIRS from two brain regions. One was a key region of the “task-positive” network, which is associated with relatively high levels of task engagement. The second was a key region of the “task-negative” network, which is associated with relatively low levels of task engagement (e.g., resting and not performing a task). Using activity in these regions as inputs to a multivariate pattern classifier, we were able to predict above chance levels whether participants were engaged in performing the MSIT or resting. Classifier input features were selected from an array of probe channels at each of the two locations based on the fit to a model of expected task activity, or on training data. Standard linear regression was implemented with both static and adaptive general linear models to remove concurrently measured physiological noise. Two types of models were used to process the fNIRS signals. One employed knowledge of the task being performed to determine the system’s best capability. The other did not, for a realistic characterization. We were also able to replicate prior findings from fMRI indicating that activity in “task-positive” and “task-negative” regions is negatively correlated during task performance. Finally, data from both companion and simultaneous fMRI experimental trials verified our assumptions about the sources of brain activity in the fNIRS experiment, established a upper bound on classification accuracy expectations for response to the MSIT, and served to validate our fNIRS classification results. Together, our findings suggest that fNIRS could prove quite useful for monitoring cognitive state in real-world settings.PHDBiomedical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108861/1/angelarh_1.pd

On the Recognition of Emotion from Physiological Data

This work encompasses several objectives, but is primarily concerned with an experiment where 33 participants were shown 32 slides in order to create ‗weakly induced emotions‘. Recordings of the participants‘ physiological state were taken as well as a self report of their emotional state. We then used an assortment of classifiers to predict emotional state from the recorded physiological signals, a process known as Physiological Pattern Recognition (PPR). We investigated techniques for recording, processing and extracting features from six different physiological signals: Electrocardiogram (ECG), Blood Volume Pulse (BVP), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), Electromyography (EMG), for the corrugator muscle, skin temperature for the finger and respiratory rate. Improvements to the state of PPR emotion detection were made by allowing for 9 different weakly induced emotional states to be detected at nearly 65% accuracy. This is an improvement in the number of states readily detectable. The work presents many investigations into numerical feature extraction from physiological signals and has a chapter dedicated to collating and trialing facial electromyography techniques. There is also a hardware device we created to collect participant self reported emotional states which showed several improvements to experimental procedure

Anger Induction and Ambient Interventions: Effects on Cardiovascular Activity and Frontal EEG Asymmetry

Background and aims: The experience of anger could affect cardiovascular (CV) and electro-encephalographic (EEG) parameters but such parameters could vary within the motivational context. Although models of motivational contexts were proposed by CV literature as challenge/threat (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996) and by frontal EEG asymmetry literature as approach/avoidance (Harmon-Jones, 2004a) little is known whether a negative emotion such as anger could be indexed by CV and EEG responses within motivational contexts. Anger in a threat context may be particularly detrimental for health due to low control compared to anger in a challenge context, where control is high. Hence, the aim of the research was twofold: 1. to investigate how a motivational context (challenge vs. threat) influences the cardiovascular system and frontal EEG asymmetry during anger induction protocols and 2. to analyse the efficacy of ambient interventions (music, light) to reduce the impact of anger on cardiovascular responses. Affective computing through the use of ambient intelligence technology could be used to promote positive emotion or to ameliorate negative moods. Method: There were two anger induction protocols within the thesis. Firstly, anger was manipulated using an experimenter effect (i.e., rude vs. polite experimenter). Participants were exposed to a computer-based problem-solving task under conditions of control and no control which represented the motivational contexts of challenge/threat. Secondly, anger was induced by exposing participants to a time constrained driving schedule on a simulated route with financial penalties for any delays to arrive to the destination. Motivation was manipulated by exposing participants to traffic delays at an early (challenge) and later point (threat) on a simulated driving route. STAXI-2 (Spielberg, 1999) was used to measure anger states and motivation was measured by Confidence and Perceived Control Scale from Dundee Stress State Questionnaire (Matthews & Desmond, 1998). Psychophysiological variables included: blood pressure (BP), cardiovascular impedance (ICG), frontal EEG asymmetry, and facial electromyography (fEMG). Results: The cardiovascular and EEG results of the present thesis pointed to a circumplex model of anger with quadruplet facets along cardiovascular responses to challenge/threat contexts in conjunction with approach/avoidance tendencies where a threat motivation with avoidance was indexed by increased blood pressure and cardiac output and by greater right frontal activation. The difference in the approach-threat responses was the activation of the left hemisphere. The challenge-avoidance state was defined by increased total peripheral resistance (TPR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and greater right frontal hemisphere activation. No frontal asymmetric activity was identified in the challenge-approach, but increased TPR, SBP, HR and MAP were observed. The ambient intervention results suggested that cardiovascular responses (e.g., SBP) could be reduced by low activation music or blue ambient light. Discussion and conclusions: Anger in the context of challenge can be distinguished from anger in the context of threat via a specific pattern of CV (systolic BP) and EEG measures (frontal peripheral brain site). Ambient interventions (low activation music or blue light) could be factors in modulating physiological reactions while driving; discrepancies between self-report measures and physiological responses, low sensitivity of impendence data to manipulations and low impact of various colour ambient lights on cardiovascular responses were addressed within a theoretical and methodological

Aerospace Medicine and Biology - A continuing bibliography with indexes

Annotated bibliography and indexes on Aerospace Medicine and Biology - Dec. 196

Eye Tracking: A Promising Means of Tracing, Explaining, and Preventing the Effects of Display Clutter in Real Time.

Display clutter is a widely-acknowledged but ill-defined problem that affects operators in complex, data-rich domains, such as medicine and aviation. Largely regarded a function of data density and display organization, clutter has been shown to degrade performance on a range of tasks, most notably visual search and noticing. Clutter effects may be exacerbated by stress, a major performance-shaping factor in the above domains. The goal of this dissertation was to develop an eye tracking-based approach for tracing and preventing the effects of clutter and stress on attention allocation and information acquisition. The research involved three stages: 1) identify the most diagnostic eye tracking metrics for capturing and explaining the effects of clutter and stress on performance, 2) determine which eye tracking metrics can detect the effects of clutter early on, in real time, and form the basis for models of clutter effects, and 3) evaluate the effectiveness of real-time display adjustments for preventing performance decrements. This research was carried out in several contexts, including emergency department (ED) electronic medical records (EMRs). First, three experiments were conducted in different application domains, including the ED, to establish the relationship between clutter, stress, attention, and performance during visual search and noticing tasks. Clutter resulted in performance decrements on both tasks. The underlying changes in attention allocation were captured by several eye tracking metrics, some of which were able to differentiate between the effects of data density and organization. A fourth experiment calculated the most promising eye tracking metrics in real time and used them as input to logistic regression models of response time. Long response time due to poor organization could be modeled most accurately. Finally, a fifth experiment presented ED physicians with real-time adaptations (highlighting and shortcut panel) to their EMR while they reviewed patient records to perform diagnoses. Both adjustments led to better performance and were viewed favorably by physicians. Overall, this research adds to the knowledge base on clutter and visual attention, supports the further development of eye tracking as a basis for real-time processing, and contributes to improved safety in various domains by supporting timely and accurate information acquisition.PhDIndustrial and Operations EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113627/1/nadmarie_1.pd

Understanding, measuring, and, invoking mindfulness and mindlessness during human-computer interactions

This thesis questions how Mindfulness and Mindlessness might be understood, measured and invoked in relation to Human-Computer Interactions. Current designs of user interfaces often follow a design trend, drawing upon familiar layout and icons across a broad range of applications. Designers often try to make the interface easier to understand, familiar, and more intuitive. While the use of technologies that are familiar holds qualities such as low cognitive demand and ease of use; they hold within them an intrinsic problem. The familiarity and repetition in design qualities produces habitual response and reduces the facilities of reflection and contemplation upon the interaction. Subsequently this inhibits the discovery of novel solutions to challenges and / or formation of novel goals for the user of a technology. The primary goal of this thesis is to provide (and justify) a definition of Mindfulness and Mindlessness that is suitable to be applied in the field of human- computer interaction; and clearly describe these experiential and behavioural phenomena of the user of interactive technology. These definitions draw upon related fields to better inform understanding through the application of their methods of evaluation and advancements in understanding. Resultantly an additional goal of this thesis is to pave way for future work in this area in providing insight to, and example of, methods for the measuring of Mindfulness and Mindlessness that are suited to the field of human-computer interaction and supported in the informing related work. Lastly, this thesis holds the goal of situating the work in related literature of how the states of Mindfulness and Mindlessness might be invoked and their effect upon human-computer interaction. More broadly, this thesis seeks to provide the framing of human-computer interaction and interface design through a lens of Mindfulness and Mindlessness as a means of better understanding and designing for the distinct qualities each holds. These goals are achieved through three stages; first this body of work provides a pragmatic definition of Mindfulness and Mindlessness that can be applied to interactions with technologies. In doing so it overcomes the problematic qualities of directly applying previous definitions and facilitates further study of the phenomenon through empirical modalities founded in cognitive science. Second, this research provides the reporting of an exploratory study conducted, and findings for future works to build upon, in the analysis of Mindful and Mindless experiences during interactions with digital technologies. This is achieved through a neuro- phenomenological methodology, combining first person reporting alongside physiological measurement highlighting Mindful and Mindless interactions. Finally, this thesis provides insight to how the design of technologies can invoke Mindful and Mindless interactions and the consequences of these, followed by design considerations in the final conclusion. Through this the thesis addresses the Understanding, Measuring, and, Invoking of Mindfulness and Mindlessness During Human-Computer Interactions