Autonomous, Context-Sensitive, Task Management Systems and Decision Support Tools II: Contextual Constraints and Information Sources

Recent advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining and 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 second of two companion reports exploring issues associated with autonomous, context-sensitive, task management and decision support tools. In the first report, we explored fundamental issues associated with the development of such a system. In this report, we extend this work to focus on two critical aspects of these systems: 1) the constraints and conditions that drive the dynamic prioritization and presentation of data and information to the pilots, and 2) specific data and information to be accessed, monitored, integrated, and displayed in such a system

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

Cluster K Mycobacteriophages: Insights into the Evolutionary Origins of Mycobacteriophage TM4

Five newly isolated mycobacteriophages –Angelica, CrimD, Adephagia, Anaya, and Pixie – have similar genomic architectures to mycobacteriophage TM4, a previously characterized phage that is widely used in mycobacterial genetics. The nucleotide sequence similarities warrant grouping these into Cluster K, with subdivision into three subclusters: K1, K2, and K3. Although the overall genome architectures of these phages are similar, TM4 appears to have lost at least two segments of its genome, a central region containing the integration apparatus, and a segment at the right end. This suggests that TM4 is a recent derivative of a temperate parent, resolving a long-standing conundrum about its biology, in that it was reportedly recovered from a lysogenic strain of Mycobacterium avium, but it is not capable of forming lysogens in any mycobacterial host. Like TM4, all of the Cluster K phages infect both fast- and slow-growing mycobacteria, and all of them – with the exception of TM4 – form stable lysogens in both Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis; immunity assays show that all five of these phages share the same immune specificity. TM4 infects these lysogens suggesting that it was either derived from a heteroimmune temperate parent or that it has acquired a virulent phenotype. We have also characterized a widely-used conditionally replicating derivative of TM4 and identified mutations conferring the temperature-sensitive phenotype. All of the Cluster K phages contain a series of well conserved 13 bp repeats associated with the translation initiation sites of a subset of the genes; approximately one half of these contain an additional sequence feature composed of imperfectly conserved 17 bp inverted repeats separated by a variable spacer. The K1 phages integrate into the host tmRNA and the Cluster K phages represent potential new tools for the genetics of M. tuberculosis and related species

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Myths of ‘Naturalistic’ Decision Making in Aviation

The increasing availability of sophisticated technological decision aids has altered the character of many ‘naturalistic’ decision-making environments. The aviation domain, once primarily ‘naturalistic,’ has evolved into a complex hybrid ecological system, combining probabilistic cues with highly accurate data and information. Despite these changes, many myths regarding the nature of the aviation environment and appropriate decision processes persist in aviation research, including the notions that expert intuitive judgment processes are sufficient in these environments, that analysis has no place in expert decision-making in dynamic environments, and that “intuitive” displays can eliminate the need for analysis. While completely naturalistic environments are conducive to the intuitive use of probabilistic cues for situation assessment, the new high-technology hybrid ‘naturalistic’ environment requires analytical examination of data and information. Because decision makers in hybrid naturalistic environments are required to use both analytical and intuitive processing, decision-aiding systems should recognize and support this requirement. One of – if not the - most important functions of adaptive decision aids may be to help pilots to monitor the processes by which they make decisions by prompting process as well as providing information in an appropriate manner. In order to be truly adaptive, decision aids must help aviators to navigate within and between decision contexts, especially when they are initiating a new task or changing contexts (e.g., transitioning from a visual to an instrument approach in an automated cockpit, or vice versa), and to respond effectively to the demands of the situation

Searching for coherence in a correspondence world

In this paper, I trace the evolution of the aircraft cockpit as an example of the transformation of a probabilistic environment into an ecological hybrid, that is, an environment characterized by both probabilistic and deterministic features and elements. In the hybrid ecology, the relationships among correspondence and coherence strategies and goals and cognitive tactics on the continuum from intuition to analysis become critically important. Intuitive tactics used to achieve correspondence in the physical world do not work in the electronic world. Rather, I make the case that judgment and decision making in a hybrid ecology requires coherence as the primary strategy to achieve correspondence, and that this process requires a shift in tactics from intuition toward analysis

Searching for coherence in a correspondence world

In this paper, I trace the evolution of the aircraft cockpit as an example of the transformation of a probabilistic environment into an ecological hybrid, that is, an environment characterized by both probabilistic and deterministic features and elements. In the hybrid ecology, the relationships among correspondence and coherence strategies and goals and cognitive tactics on the continuum from intuition to analysis become critically important. Intuitive tactics used to achieve correspondence in the physical world do not work in the electronic world. Rather, I make the case that judgment and decision making in a hybrid ecology requires \textit{coherence} as the primary strategy to achieve \textit{correspondence}, and that this process requires a shift in tactics from intuition toward analysis.coherence, correspondence, decision making, aircraft, cockpit.

Humans and Automated Decision Aids: A Match Made in Heaven?

This chapter particularly focuses on the performance consequences of decision support systems (DSSs) with a particular emphasis on the issue of automation bias as demonstrated in research across many domains. We examine the factors that impact automation bias including operator characteristics such as trust in the system, level of perceived accountability, system characteristics such as reliability, transparency, and understandability, the level and degree of automation involved, and the characteristics of the task-context including time pressure, consequences of errors, workload, or working in redundant work teams. We also discuss the challenge of balancing the pros and cons of using automation as a heuristic in decision making as well as current trends and future advances in automated system

NASA Nextgen Flightdeck Research: A Database of Research Areas and Results

This article contains an introduction to a database created to capture important NASA or NASA-sponsored research related to NextGen flightdeck issues and operations. Documents are products of NASA’s Airspace and Aviation Safety Program efforts to identify and resolve flightdeck human factors issues in NextGen, challenges to efficient operations, key areas in which technological advances are predicted to facilitate NextGen operations, research findings that can be used to develop NextGen procedures, and the potential impacts of off-nominal events