Human Systems Integration (HSI) at NASA

No abstract availabl

“I Don’t Think It’s on Anyone’s Radar”: The Workforce and System Barriers to Healthcare for Indigenous Women Following a Traumatic Brain Injury Acquired through Violence in Remote Australia

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experience high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of violence. While healthcare access is critical for women who have experienced a TBI as it can support pre-screening, comprehensive diagnostic assessment, and referral pathways, little is known about the barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in remote areas to access healthcare. To address this gap, this study focuses on the workforce barriers in one remote region in Australia. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 38 professionals from various sectors including health, crisis accommodation and support, disability, family violence, and legal services. Interviews and focus groups were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim and were analysed using thematic analysis. The results highlighted various workforce barriers that affected pre-screening and diagnostic assessment including limited access to specialist neuropsychology services and stable remote primary healthcare professionals with remote expertise. There were also low levels of TBI training and knowledge among community-based professionals. The addition of pre-screening questions together with professional training on TBI may improve how remote service systems respond to women with potential TBI. Further research to understand the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women living with TBI is needed

NASA Space Flight Human System Standard, Volume 2, and HIDH (Human Integration Design Handbook)

This viewgraph presentation reports on the review and re-issuance of the NASA Space Flight Human System Standard, Volume 2, and the Human Integration Design Handbook. These standards were last updated in 1995. The target date for the release is September 2009

Using research feedback loops to implement a disability case study with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and service providers in regional and remote Australia

While there is a well-developed body of literature in the health field that describes processes to implement research, there is a dearth of similar literature in the disability field of research involving complex conditions. Moreover, the development of meaningful and sustainable knowledge translation is now a standard component of the research process. Knowledge users, including community members, service providers, and policy makers now call for evidence-led meaningful activities to occur rapidly. In response, this article presents a case study that explores the needs and priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Australia who have experienced a traumatic brain injury due to family violence. Drawing on the work of Indigenous disability scholars such as Gilroy, Avery and others, this article describes the practical and conceptual methods used to transform research to respond to the realities of community concerns and priorities, cultural considerations and complex safety factors. This article offers a unique perspective on how to increase research relevance to knowledge users and enhance the quality of data collection while also overcoming prolonged delays of knowledge translation that can result from the research-production process

Climate Change and Student Behavior: Recommendations for the University of Richmond

We, the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Class of 2008, choose to recognize climate change as an imminent threat. After rigorous examination of the scientific, social, and political aspects of climate change, we initially wanted to help construct the carbon emissions inventory required in the PCC. However, citing their ability to build the inventory through existing University institutions, our administration steered us towards the Scope 3 emissions inventory, a component which focuses on student behavior. While we found Scope 3 too limiting, we decided our goal as a class was to impact student climate change awareness on campus. Therefore, we separated into three “working groups” and developed three distinct projects to meet our goal: 1) develop a database of projects and initiatives other universities have implemented to address climate change; 2) execute a comprehensive survey of the student body’s understanding of global climate change and energy consumption patterns and; 3) present the University of Richmond with options and recommendations for addressing climate change on campus. Our goal is to inspire individual responses to climate change. Raising awareness does not indicate everyone will or should agree with our beliefs and convictions, but it will enable individuals to come to their own conclusions. We wholeheartedly believe climate change is an issue we cannot disregard and we stand by the belief that the risk of doing nothing is the biggest danger of them all. Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar Faculty Advisor: Dr. David Salisbur

Religious diversity, empathy, and God images : perspectives from the psychology of religion shaping a study among adolescents in the UK

Major religious traditions agree in advocating and promoting love of neighbour as well as love of God. Love of neighbour is reflected in altruistic behaviour and empathy stands as a key motivational factor underpinning altruism. This study employs the empathy scale from the Junior Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire to assess the association between empathy and God images among a sample of 5993 religiously diverse adolescents (13–15 years old) attending state maintained schools in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and London. The key psychological theory being tested by these data concerns the linkage between God images and individual differences in empathy. The data demonstrate that religious identity (e.g. Christian, Muslim) and religious attendance are less important than the God images which young people hold. The image of God as a God of mercy is associated with higher empathy scores, while the image of God as a God of justice is associated with lower empathy scores

Force-velocity-power and Force-pCa Relationships of Human Soleus Fibers After 17 Days of Bed Rest

Soleus muscle fibers from the rat display a reduction in peak power and Ca2+ sensitivity after hindlimb suspension. To examine human responses to non-weight bearing, we obtained soleus biopsies from eight adult men before and immediately after 17 days of bed rest (BR). Single chemically skinned fibers were mounted between a force transducer and a servo-controlled position motor and activated with maximal (isotonic properties) and/or submaximal (Ca2+ sensitivity) levels of free Ca2+. Gel electrophoresis indicated that all pre- and post-BR fibers expressed type I myosin heavy chain. Post-BR fibers obtained from one subject displayed increases in peak power and Ca2+ sensitivity. In contrast, post-BR fibers obtained from the seven remaining subjects showed an average 11% reduction in peak power (P \u3c 0.05), with each individual displaying a 7–27% reduction in this variable. Post-BR fibers from these subjects were smaller in diameter and produced 21% less force at the shortening velocity associated with peak power. However, the shortening velocity at peak power output was elevated 13% in the post-BR fibers, which partially compensated for their lower force. Post-BR fibers from these same seven subjects also displayed a reduced sensitivity to free Ca2+(P \u3c 0.05). These results indicate that the reduced functional capacity of human lower limb extensor muscles after BR may be in part caused by alterations in the cross-bridge mechanisms of contraction

Assessing the Sustainability of Rural Water Supply Programs: A Case Study of Pawaga, Tanzania

Today, over 1 billion people lack access to a clean, safe, and reliable drinking water supply. As a result, millions die each year from waterborne illness. The UN has established a target within the Millennium Development Goals to halve the number of people without access to clean water by 2015. Unfortunately, much of sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to meet this target. To address this crisis, there has recently been increased interest from NGOs and foreign aid agencies in developing community-based rural water supply and sanitation programs. However, these programs often fail after a few years, making sustainability an essential and timely topic. This master’s project draws upon existing literature and expert opinions to create a comprehensive framework for assessing program sustainability. Aspects of civil society, institutional capacity, operation and maintenance, financial considerations and monitoring and evaluation constitute the framework. Based on household surveys and strategic stakeholder interviews gathered in the field, this framework is applied to the Pawaga Sustainable Development Programme in Tanzania’s Iringa Rural District. In all, 46 household surveys—to elicit qualitative, program-specific data—were conducted in three of the eight villages involved in Phase I of the Pawaga program. Project engineers, community leaders, local government officials, donor agency staff, and NGO staff were all consulted to obtain additional information and perspectives. To complement this information, observational study of community meetings and sanitation training sessions was gathered and analyzed. At the request of Tearfund UK, the project client, recommendations are provided to improve the sustainability of both phases of the Pawaga program. This framework is intended to be a tool utilized by both our client, as well as other stakeholders in the water supply and sanitation sector to ensure the sustainability of future water supply programs, particularly those in the developing world

Tools for Cultural Intelligence Development: A Cognitive Engineering Approach Tools for Cultural Intelligence Development: A Cognitive Engineering Approach

ABSTRACT Military Operations Other Than War, from humanitarian assistance to counterinsurgency support, require actionable cultural intelligence -information that provides understanding of the behavior of a general population and its friendly, neutral, and hostile sub-groups, plus ways to recognize and predict changes in that behavior over time. Cultural intelligence is made actionable through integration with tactical data via the Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace (IPB) process. Cultural intelligence development and application are poorly supported by existing intelligence systems. This paper explains how a cognitive engineering methodology was used to understand this problem from the analyst's perspective and to develop human-centered technology solutions. Domain and semantic analyses were used to identify the concepts and relationships central to creating and applying cultural intelligence. Cognitive work analysis was then applied to the processes and workflows used in cultural intelligence and its integration into IPB at the infantry battalion (and below), where the problem is most acute. User-centered design methods were employed to create and refine user interface, automation, and novel workflow solutions. The paper also describes how the analysis demonstrated requirements for: • flexible tools and interfaces allowing ad hoc creation and communication of intermediate products for rapid, collaborative evolution • multiple combinable visualizations that support temporal, geo-spatial, and social network-based analysis Lastly, the paper delineates how the requirements translated into the goal of creating shareable, user-constructed products termed "mashups," which enable users to tailor and annotate visualizations for customized, missionoriented intelligence products. Request for Information (RFI) workflows allow saved mashups and underlying data sets to be restored for live processing, ongoing analyses, and exploration of multiple hypotheses. Automated analyses of data-intensive social media sources were created to meet needs for instantaneous assessment of "area atmospherics." These features are integrated into the CultureMap system, which was built upon CHI Systems' 4D-Viz framework for creating Command and Control (C2) applications, and has proceeded through establishment of face and construct validity with domain experts. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Dr. Michael Woodman is a Senior Scientist for CHI Systems. Dr. Woodman has over thirty years of experience in training and simulation and has been the Principal Investigator for the CultureMap effort and was the Modeling and Simulation Officer for Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Training Simulations Division at the USMC Training and Education Command. Dr. William Fitts is a Software Engineer and Analyst for CHI Systems. He has been combining his background in the four sub-fields of anthropology (archaeology, physical anthropology, socio-cultural anthropology, and linguistics) with computer applications for the past eighteen years. Thomas Santarelli is Director of Training at CHI Systems, Inc. Mr. Santarelli has more than twenty years' experience in research into cognitive modeling and has applied cognitive engineering techniques to intelligence analysis domains by developing automated decision-support capabilities to provide key accelerators of the decisionto-action cycle at the center of intelligence analysis. Andrew Rosoff is CEO and Principal Software Engineer at CHI Systems, Inc. Mr. Rosoff has a background in the design and implementation of AI-based systems and engineering applications of cognitive science, with nearly 15 years of relevant experience in these areas. Jennifer Engimann is a Software Developer at CHI Systems, Inc. Ms. Engimann has a background in the design and implementation of GPS/GIS systems and Big Data applications. She has applied her expertise in artificial intelligence and computational linguistics, including sentiment analysis and natural language processing, MODSIM World 201