Intelligent flight control systems

The capabilities of flight control systems can be enhanced by designing them to emulate functions of natural intelligence. Intelligent control functions fall in three categories. Declarative actions involve decision-making, providing models for system monitoring, goal planning, and system/scenario identification. Procedural actions concern skilled behavior and have parallels in guidance, navigation, and adaptation. Reflexive actions are spontaneous, inner-loop responses for control and estimation. Intelligent flight control systems learn knowledge of the aircraft and its mission and adapt to changes in the flight environment. Cognitive models form an efficient basis for integrating 'outer-loop/inner-loop' control functions and for developing robust parallel-processing algorithms

The 1995 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Information Technologies

This publication comprises the papers presented at the 1995 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Information Technologies held at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, on May 9-11, 1995. The purpose of this annual conference is to provide a forum in which current research and development directed at space applications of artificial intelligence can be presented and discussed

The 1990 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence

The papers presented at the 1990 Goddard Conference on Space Applications of Artificial Intelligence are given. The purpose of this annual conference is to provide a forum in which current research and development directed at space applications of artificial intelligence can be presented and discussed. The proceedings fall into the following areas: Planning and Scheduling, Fault Monitoring/Diagnosis, Image Processing and Machine Vision, Robotics/Intelligent Control, Development Methodologies, Information Management, and Knowledge Acquisition

Visual attention and swarm cognition for off-road robots

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Engenharia Informática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2011Esta tese aborda o problema da modelação de atenção visual no contexto de robôs autónomos todo-o-terreno. O objectivo de utilizar mecanismos de atenção visual é o de focar a percepção nos aspectos do ambiente mais relevantes à tarefa do robô. Esta tese mostra que, na detecção de obstáculos e de trilhos, esta capacidade promove robustez e parcimónia computacional. Estas são características chave para a rapidez e eficiência dos robôs todo-o-terreno. Um dos maiores desafios na modelação de atenção visual advém da necessidade de gerir o compromisso velocidade-precisão na presença de variações de contexto ou de tarefa. Esta tese mostra que este compromisso é resolvido se o processo de atenção visual for modelado como um processo auto-organizado, cuja operação é modulada pelo módulo de selecção de acção, responsável pelo controlo do robô. Ao fechar a malha entre o processo de selecção de acção e o de percepção, o último é capaz de operar apenas onde é necessário, antecipando as acções do robô. Para fornecer atenção visual com propriedades auto-organizadas, este trabalho obtém inspiração da Natureza. Concretamente, os mecanismos responsáveis pela capacidade que as formigas guerreiras têm de procurar alimento de forma auto-organizada, são usados como metáfora na resolução da tarefa de procurar, também de forma auto-organizada, obstáculos e trilhos no campo visual do robô. A solução proposta nesta tese é a de colocar vários focos de atenção encoberta a operar como um enxame, através de interacções baseadas em feromona. Este trabalho representa a primeira realização corporizada de cognição de enxame. Este é um novo campo de investigação que procura descobrir os princípios básicos da cognição, inspeccionando as propriedades auto-organizadas da inteligência colectiva exibida pelos insectos sociais. Logo, esta tese contribui para a robótica como disciplina de engenharia e para a robótica como disciplina de modelação, capaz de suportar o estudo do comportamento adaptável.Esta tese aborda o problema da modelação de atenção visual no contexto de robôs autónomos todo-o-terreno. O objectivo de utilizar mecanismos de atenção visual é o de focar a percepção nos aspectos do ambiente mais relevantes à tarefa do robô. Esta tese mostra que, na detecção de obstáculos e de trilhos, esta capacidade promove robustez e parcimónia computacional. Estas são características chave para a rapidez e eficiência dos robôs todo-o-terreno. Um dos maiores desafios na modelação de atenção visual advém da necessidade de gerir o compromisso velocidade-precisão na presença de variações de contexto ou de tarefa. Esta tese mostra que este compromisso é resolvido se o processo de atenção visual for modelado como um processo auto-organizado, cuja operação é modulada pelo módulo de selecção de acção, responsável pelo controlo do robô. Ao fechar a malha entre o processo de selecção de acção e o de percepção, o último é capaz de operar apenas onde é necessário, antecipando as acções do robô. Para fornecer atenção visual com propriedades auto-organizadas, este trabalho obtém inspi- ração da Natureza. Concretamente, os mecanismos responsáveis pela capacidade que as formi- gas guerreiras têm de procurar alimento de forma auto-organizada, são usados como metáfora na resolução da tarefa de procurar, também de forma auto-organizada, obstáculos e trilhos no campo visual do robô. A solução proposta nesta tese é a de colocar vários focos de atenção encoberta a operar como um enxame, através de interacções baseadas em feromona. Este trabalho representa a primeira realização corporizada de cognição de enxame. Este é um novo campo de investigação que procura descobrir os princípios básicos da cognição, ins- peccionando as propriedades auto-organizadas da inteligência colectiva exibida pelos insectos sociais. Logo, esta tese contribui para a robótica como disciplina de engenharia e para a robótica como disciplina de modelação, capaz de suportar o estudo do comportamento adaptável.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT,SFRH/BD/27305/2006); Laboratory of Agent Modelling (LabMag

Why laterality matters in trauma: sinister aspects of memory and emotion

This thesis presents an eclectic mix of studies which consider laterality in the context of previous findings of increased prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in male combat veterans with non-consistent right hand preference. Two studies extend these findings not just to civilian populations and women, but to left handers and find that left, rather than mixed, handedness is associated with increased prevalence of PTSD in both general population and clinical samples, and to severity of symptoms in the former. To examine issues relevant to the fear response in healthy populations, a movie excerpt is shown to be theoretically likely to target the emotion of fear and to generate subjective and physiological (skin conductance) responses of fear. The film is used as a laboratory analogue of fear to examine possible differences in left and right handers in memory (for events of the film) and in an emotional Stroop paradigm known to produce a robust and large effect specifically in PTSD. According to predictions based on lateralisation of functions in the brain relevant to the fear response, left handers show a pattern of enhanced memory for visual items and poorer memory for verbal material compared to right handers. Immediately after viewing the film, left handers show an interference effect on the Stroop paradigm to general threat and film words and increased response latency compared to right handers, approaching performance of previously reported clinical samples with PTSD. A novel non-word Stroop task fails to show these effects, consistent both with accounts of interference as language processing effects and compromised verbal processing in PTSD. Unexpected inferior performance of females in memory for the film, contrary to previous literature, may also be amenable to explanations invoking compromised left hemisphere language functions in fear situations. In testing one theory of left handedness as due to increased levels of in utero testosterone, the 2D:4D (second to fourth digit ratio) provides mixed evidence in two samples. A possible association of more female-like digit ratios in males with PTSD is a tentative finding possibly relevant to sex differences in prevalence of PTSD. A critique of existing and inadequate theoretical accounts of handedness concludes the thesis and proposes a modification of the birth stress hypothesis to one specifically considering peri-natal trauma to account for the above findings. This hypothesis remains to be empirically tested

Computational Modeling of Updating Operations in the Performance of Basic Verbal Working-Memory Tasks.

Verbal working memory is a mental system for the temporary maintenance and manipulation of information supporting ongoing performance. The ability to update knowledge representations in working memory is critical to this system's support for flexible and goal-driven behavior. While maintenance has been extensively studied, theorized and modeled, the understanding of working-memory updating has not progressed apace. At an abstract level, updating has been conceived as a control process handled by a central executive acting on information maintained in an articulatory loop (Baddeley, 1986). I revise and elaborate this theory by developing a set of explicit computational models that account for performance in four verbal working-memory updating tasks. Performing these tasks requires the operations of adding and deleting words from the beginning and end of serially ordered verbal sequences. Across four experiments, I compare updating operations and develop a series of computational models that account for important aspects of performance. This work reveals that updating is not implemented by unique processes of executive control, but rather by the same perceptual, motoric, and control processes that mediate maintenance and rehearsal. I also found that deletion of words is performed by passively omitting them from rehearsal, not by an active process of inhibition; and that when multiple updating operations are required they are performed each in turn through cycles of articulation. Through careful experimentation and detailed computational modeling, I have decomposed the abstract executive process of updating into an explicit theory of performance.Ph.D.PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55690/2/akrawitz_1.pd

Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?

Attention restraint appears to mediate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering (Kane et al., 2016). Prior work has identifed two dimensions of mind wandering—emotional valence and intentionality. However, less is known about how WMC and attention restraint correlate with these dimensions. Te current study examined the relationship between WMC, attention restraint, and mind wandering by emotional valence and intentionality. A confrmatory factor analysis demonstrated that WMC and attention restraint were strongly correlated, but only attention restraint was related to overall mind wandering, consistent with prior fndings. However, when examining the emotional valence of mind wandering, attention restraint and WMC were related to negatively and positively valenced, but not neutral, mind wandering. Attention restraint was also related to intentional but not unintentional mind wandering. Tese results suggest that WMC and attention restraint predict some, but not all, types of mind wandering

Exploring the Growth of Text-Reading Fluency in Upper-Elementary English Language Learners during Instruction based on Repeated Reading

For the large population of school-age English language learners in California and the United States, the challenge of learning a second language while learning academic content is formidable. Learning to read English skillfully is key to their success. Reading instruction focused on development of oral text-reading fluency has shown strong potential for accelerating the general reading achievement of native-English-speaking children, but there is a lack of concomitant research on English language learners. This dissertation describes a formative experiment with the goal to improve, in 9 weeks, the general reading achievement of 17 English language learners in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. These students were are at the Intermediate level of English development and lagged behind their native-English-speaking peers in reading. A formative experiment is basically descriptive in nature and utilizes both quantitative and qualitative study methods. The instructional intervention for this study was based on theories of language acquisition, reading development, and automatic processes of reading that underlie fluent reading. The intervention combined two types of repeated reading instruction: (a) silent repeated reading of controlled-vocabulary texts, with comprehension checks, and (b) repeated oral reading for performance, with explicit instruction about oral text-reading fluency. Instruction was altered as necessary, based on formative data, to meet the pedagogical goal. The students\u27 pre- and postintervention performances on reading-fluency indicators, including standardized measures, are compared and a detailed narrative of the experiment reported. The pedagogical goal, improved reading fluency with comprehension, was realized for most of the students on at least one instrument. On the standardized reading-fluency measures, increases in reading accuracy offset decreases in reading rate for many students, an unexpected finding, while comprehension of unfamiliar passages improved. Most students improved on at least two of four measures of prosodic reading, with the exception of third graders

Exploring the Growth of Text-Reading Fluency in Upper-Elementary English Language Learners during Instruction based on Repeated Reading

For the large population of school-age English language learners in California and the United States, the challenge of learning a second language while learning academic content is formidable. Learning to read English skillfully is key to their success. Reading instruction focused on development of oral text-reading fluency has shown strong potential for accelerating the general reading achievement of native-English-speaking children, but there is a lack of concomitant research on English language learners. This dissertation describes a formative experiment with the goal to improve, in 9 weeks, the general reading achievement of 17 English language learners in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. These students were are at the Intermediate level of English development and lagged behind their native-English-speaking peers in reading. A formative experiment is basically descriptive in nature and utilizes both quantitative and qualitative study methods. The instructional intervention for this study was based on theories of language acquisition, reading development, and automatic processes of reading that underlie fluent reading. The intervention combined two types of repeated reading instruction: (a) silent repeated reading of controlled-vocabulary texts, with comprehension checks, and (b) repeated oral reading for performance, with explicit instruction about oral text-reading fluency. Instruction was altered as necessary, based on formative data, to meet the pedagogical goal. The students\u27 pre- and postintervention performances on reading-fluency indicators, including standardized measures, are compared and a detailed narrative of the experiment reported. The pedagogical goal, improved reading fluency with comprehension, was realized for most of the students on at least one instrument. On the standardized reading-fluency measures, increases in reading accuracy offset decreases in reading rate for many students, an unexpected finding, while comprehension of unfamiliar passages improved. Most students improved on at least two of four measures of prosodic reading, with the exception of third graders

Evidence-based clinical decision-making : Conceptual and empirical foundations for an integrative psychological and neurobiological transtheoretical metamodel

The dialogue between psychotherapy and neuroscience is ongoing. Previous meta-analytic research suggests that 35% of psychotherapy outcome variance is not fully explained, whereas 30% is attributed to patient variables, 15% to therapeutic relationship, 10% to specific therapeutic techniques, 7% to therapist variables and 3% to other factors (Norcross & Wampold, 2019). Several authors emphasize the need for integrative, metatheoretical or transtheoretical approaches to enhance conceptual understanding of clinical phenomena, augmenting psychotherapy responsiveness to patients’ significant variables, such as maladaptive patterns, states of mind, relational styles, emotional difficulties, neurocognitive deficits, and psychological needs. The present doctoral proposal aims to respond to these claims through the establishment of preliminary conceptual and empirical foundations for an Integrative Psychological and Neurobiological Transtheoretical Metamodel. First, an extensive literature review of the relationships between psychotherapy and neuroscience was performed to establish theoretical and conceptual integration of different components of the presently proposed model. Second, several methodological aspects were described to systematize the complex data acquisition process. Third, seven studies were conducted, and implications of the results were discussed. Fourth, an integrative discussion was elaborated, emphasizing the major and general implications of the results for clinical practice and future research. The first empirical study aimed to develop and/or adapt self-report assessment measures to evaluate several psychological variables (e.g., metacognition, states of mind), which resulted in five scientific articles. Thus, the Metacognitive Self-assessment Scale (Pedone et al., 2017) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems – 32 (IIP-32, Barkham et al., 1998) were validated and adapted to European Portuguese. The State of Mind Questionnaire (SMQ, Faustino et al., 2021b, Emotional Processing Difficulties Scale – R (EPDS-R, Faustino et al., in press) and the Clinical Decision-Making Inventory (Faustino & Vasco, in press) were developed. All instruments showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Nevertheless, the SMQ showed low reliability in the composite scales in smaller subsamples. For the second empirical study, the main aims were to explore the complex relationships between early disorder determinants, maladaptive schemas and states of mind, defensive maneuvers and critical consequences, mental skills and processes, and adaptive self-domains. This was performed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results showed significant sequential and mediational models between maladaptive schemas, defensive maneuvers and dysfunctional consequences, mental abilities and processes, and adaptive self-domains with psychological needs. Maladaptive schemas and states of mind were both predictors and mediators in several models. However, the relationship between maladaptive schematic functioning and symptomatology had less significant mediations with the same variables. For the third study, the main aims were to explore the relationships of early disorder determinants, maladaptive schematic functioning and states of mind, defensive maneuvers and dysfunctional consequences, mental abilities and processes, and adaptive self-domains, with several neurocognitive variables. Executive functions were negatively correlated with maladaptive schematic functioning and with defensive maneuvers and dysfunctional consequences. Memory only correlated with psychological needs, self-confidence and with dysfunctional interpersonal cycles. These results emphasize previous assumptions that there is a difference between self-report questionnaires and neuropsychological assessment measures which may difficult the integrated study of psychological and neurocognitive processes. The fourth study aimed to explore the associations of affective subliminal processing with dispositional states and contextual states, defined in the present work as early disorder determinants, schematic functioning, and defensive maneuvers and dysfunctional consequences, mental abilities and processes, and adaptive self-domains. Results showed strong correlations between maladaptive schematic functioning, coping responses, emotional processing difficulties, and expressive suppression with behavioral responses. Dispositional traits and contextual states seem to be associated with affective processing, especially when it comes to the neutral valence of the subliminal stimuli. ERPs waveforms showed an amplitude modulation with a temporal progression: in the first 100 msec the waveform amplitude was highest to the negative condition; Later on, in the time windows after 350 msec, the neutral condition was the one that elicited the ERPs’ heist amplitude. These indexes a cascade of reactions, first a priority to nonconscious negative stimulation; and after that, a later processing phase of affective-cognitive interpretation (350msc) in which neutral stimuli acquire a meaning according to schemas. The fifth study explored the diagnostic and or transdiagnostic potential of early disorder determinants, maladaptive schematic functioning and states of mind, defensive maneuvers and dysfunctional consequences, mental abilities and processes, and adaptive self-domains. Results showed that only early complex trauma and expressive suppression were not statistically different in two subsamples. Individuals in the low-symptoms sub-sample reported lower levels of maladaptive schematic functioning, defensive maneuvers, and psychological inflexibility than individuals in the higher-symptoms subsample. The sixth study was focused on the exploration of the temporal stability of maladaptive schematic functioning and states of mind, defensive maneuvers and dysfunctional consequences, mental abilities, and adaptive self-domains. Results showed significant differences between moment one and two, with a descending pattern in the mean scores of dysfunctional variables. An inverse pattern was found regarding the adaptive variables. However, mean scores of some variables, such as early maladaptive schemas, emotional schemas, psychological needs, and cognitive reappraisal were not statistically significant. The seventh study aimed to explore associations of early disorder determinants, maladaptive schemas and states of mind, defensive maneuvers and critical consequences, mental skills and processes and adaptive self-domains, with an empirical based clinical profile (e.g., psychotherapy and motivational stage, coping styles). Results showed significant negative correlations between maladaptive schematic functioning and stage process, motivational stage, therapeutic relationship, attachment style, reactance, and coping style. An inverse pattern was found regarding the adaptive variables. These preliminary results seem to support a theoretically- and empirically-based integrative and transtheoretical metamodel focused on unifying psychotherapy and neuroscience into a coherent framework. Further research is required to augment and enhance the presently proposed model