Autonomous, Context-Sensitive, Task Management Systems and Decision Support Tools I: Human-Autonomy Teaming Fundamentals and State of the Art

Recent advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining and extraction, and especially in sensor technology have resulted in the availability of a vast amount of digital data and information and the development of advanced automated reasoners. This creates the opportunity for the development of a robust dynamic task manager and decision support tool that is context sensitive and integrates information from a wide array of on-board and off aircraft sourcesa tool that monitors systems and the overall flight situation, anticipates information needs, prioritizes tasks appropriately, keeps pilots well informed, and is nimble and able to adapt to changing circumstances. This is the first of two companion reports exploring issues associated with autonomous, context-sensitive, task management and decision support tools. In the first report, we explore fundamental issues associated with the development of an integrated, dynamic, flight information and automation management system. We discuss human factors issues pertaining to information automation and review the current state of the art of pilot information management and decision support tools. We also explore how effective human-human team behavior and expectations could be extended to teams involving humans and automation or autonomous systems

The Autism Toolbox : An Autism Resource for Scottish Schools

The Autism Toolbox will draw upon a range of practice experience, literature and research to offer guidance for authorities and schools providing for children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Team Communication and a Model of Team Training

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by Deepa Oommen on April 12,2006

Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

A voyage to Mars: A challenge to collaboration between man and machines

A speech addressing the design of man machine systems for exploration of space beyond Earth orbit from the human factors perspective is presented. Concerns relative to the design of automated and intelligent systems for the NASA Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) missions are largely based on experiences with integrating humans and comparable systems in aviation. The history, present status, and future prospect, of human factors in machine design are discussed in relation to a manned voyage to Mars. Three different cases for design philosophy are presented. The use of simulation is discussed. Recommendations for required research are given

Correlates of the joint attention disturbance in autism

Deficits in joint attention, imitation, and pretense are believed to contribute to subsequent difficulty in the development of a theory of mind in children with autism (Baron-Cohen, 1991; Mundy, 1995). Joint attention and other early social skills of children with autism (34 male, 4 female; ages 4 to 18 years) were correlated with measures of nonverbal cognitive ability (Leiter International Performance Scale), receptive and expressive language skills (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised), and the severity of autism (Childhood Autism Rating Scale) to gain a better understanding of these developmental relationships. Joint attention and other early social skills were measured with the Social Interest Inventory (SII), a questionnaire developed for this study and completed by Parents and Teachers, Subjects with autism at all levels of cognitive and language ability were found to have deficits in joint attention, imitation, and pretense. Joint attention deficits were not correlated to the acquisition of language or to the cognitive ability of the Subjects. This is a deviance from the typical course of development. However, deficits in joint attention imitation, and pretense showed significant correlations with the overall severity of autism, Students with autism reportedly engage in significantly higher levels of instrumental than social communication and parents tend to rate their children somewhat higher than teachers on several SII measures, Joint attention deficits may have a more profound effect on how language and cognitive skills are used by children with autism than on how they are acquired. Interventions which focus primarily on the cognitive and language abilities of children with autism may overlook more basic social skills such as joint attention which may warrant more direct intervention

NASA space station automation: AI-based technology review

Research and Development projects in automation for the Space Station are discussed. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based automation technologies are planned to enhance crew safety through reduced need for EVA, increase crew productivity through the reduction of routine operations, increase space station autonomy, and augment space station capability through the use of teleoperation and robotics. AI technology will also be developed for the servicing of satellites at the Space Station, system monitoring and diagnosis, space manufacturing, and the assembly of large space structures

The performance of pain: the consequences for the performing body and its portrayal of mental health

In 2001 the performance artist Kira O’Reilly wrote an article for A-N magazine1 that reflected on the institutional anxieties provoked by ‘Wet Cup’ a performance that includes the cutting and suctioning of her flesh through ‘cupping’ to draw blood. The art institution, despite inviting O’Reilly to perform the work, demonstrated their fears at showing ‘risky’ work through a process which aimed to sanction the ‘health’ of the artwork and subsequently its reflections on the artist herself. They asked O’Reilly to respond to various health and safety demands to account for her mental state and bodily health to prove that she was ‘safe’ to perform2. In asking her to conform to their demands they were making both internal and public assurances that the work was art and not the product of catharsis or breakdown. The institutional unease that O’Reilly could be acting out a psychiatric or psychological disorder through ‘Wet Cup’ demonstrated the sense of mistrust the performing body can instill. Kira O’Reilly’s experience follows a tradition within performance art that inflicts physical pain or suffering. In situating the physical or psychological transgressive within easy and ‘live’ grasp this type of practice presents the performing body as a confrontation to be negotiated. Indeed, when an artist chooses to cut or open their body or remove it from social interaction, their motives are scrutinized for deviance, distress and sanity. Are they mad, eccentric or just responding to questions that ask what it is to be observed and physical creative objects? This paper will analyse the consequences of making performance from physical acts of pain and how this can be understood as sane regarding institutional and public risk. It will reflect on the trauma, stigma and perceptive danger involved with making performance work that includes cutting, or isolating the body from more regular, everyday activity. The paper will reflect on the consequences for the artist, and perceptions of their health both in, and beyond the gallery. The year long works by Tehching Hsieh and the exploration of physical and mental limits through performance by Marina Abramović with be examined along with O’Reilly