Evaluating human performance modeling for system assessment: Promise and problems

The development and evaluation of computational human performance models is examined. An intention is to develop models which can be used to interact with system prototypes and simulations to perform system assessment. Currently LR is working on a set of models emulating cognitive, psychomotor, auditory, and visual activity for multiple operator positions of a command and control simulation system. These models, developed in conjunction with BBN Systems and Technologies, function within the simulation environment and allow for both unmanned system assessment and manned (human-in-loop) assessment of system interface and team interactions. These are relatively generic models with built-in flexibility which allows modification of some model parameters. These models have great potential for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of system design, test, and evaluation. However, the extent of the practical utility of these models is unclear. Initial verification efforts comparing model performance within the simulation to actual human operators on a similar, independent simulation have been performed and current efforts are directed at comparing human and model performance within the same simulation environment

Malinowski’s last word on the anthropological approach to language

This article reproduces an archived and previously unpublished paper by Bronislaw Malinowski entitled “The anthropological approach to language” which he delivered to a meeting of the elite Monday Night Group in the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University in November 1941. The social “context of situation” of Malinowski’s seminar presentation is reconstructed together with a brief consideration of his contribution to linguistic theory. A commentary on his paper refers to Malinowski’s relationship with several of his peers, including discussion of the critical reception given to the second volume of his last monograph on the Trobriand Islands, Coral Gardens and their Magic. Finally, the “biographical context of situation” describes Malinowski’s lethally busy schedule six months before his death, referring to his other public presentations during the months of October and November 1941

NN Music: Improvising with a 'Living' Computer

This paper proposes attributes of a living computer music, the product of a live algorithm. It illustrates how these attributes can inform creative design with reference to a real-time system for solo performer-machine collaboration, Neural Network Music, and the PQƒ framework proposed for live algorithms. Improvisation is treated as a classification problem at a high level of musical behaviour which can be measured statistically and train a multilayer perceptron neural network. Network outputs shape a stochastic-based synthesis engine. Mappings are covertly assigned, revisited by both player and machine as a performance develops. As the timing and choice of mapping is unknown, both participants are invited to learn and adapt to a responsive sonic environment which is created afresh on each performance. This offers a novel real-time application of feed-forward neural networks and a challenging, creative technological platform for freely improvised music

OPENING THE APERTURE: HOLISTIC MITIGATION OPTIONS IN RESPONSE TO UAS THREATS

A synchronized collection of intelligence and investigative capacities, such as would be required to holistically mitigate the emerging threat from unmanned aircraft systems, does not currently exist within the United States government. Furthermore, the entities that do possess the authority, knowledge, and experience to respond are working within largely independent environments. This thesis seeks to identify the best method to collectivize individual agency strengths, unifying intelligence and investigative capacities into one juggernaut-level response against UAS threats. To address this, working groups, task forces, and single agency designation were chosen as potential options specifically for their historical precedence and likelihood of success. Each was compared according to their ability to embrace two defining characteristics: collaboration and commitment. The outcome of the analysis determined that the task force model was ultimately the most effective means to address UAS threats holistically. It mitigates the challenges associated with current technology and legal restrictions by utilizing intelligence and investigative operational capabilities to properly address each of the six steps within the UAS kill chain, all within an environment of high collaboration and commitment. The conclusions and accompanying recommendations outlined in this thesis provide a definitive direction as well as a rational plan of implementation.Civilian, Federal Bureau of InvestigationApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Identity and Intimacy in Human-Computer Improvisation

Artificial intelligence invites a new approach to computing in live music performance. Computers and human performers might collaborate on an equal basis. The perceived identities of participants, both human and machine, are enriched but problematic. The conflicting relationships between these identities impact upon both performers’ and listeners’ experience. The film Orlacs Hände is a starting point for a speculative discussion about human-computer improvisation, problems of identity, the self and the Other, social intimacy and the therapeutic process

Creative Computers, Improvisation and Intimacy

Autonomous musical machine partners, live algorithms, are able to collaborate with human improvisers on an equal footing. Adaptability can be a significant factor in human/machine interaction in this context. Intimacy is an additional factor; intimacy might be achieved if human and machine performers can adapt to each other and learn from one another. Previously associated in computer music with ideas of embodiment and HCI, intimacy as more widely understood, refers to the interpersonal process enjoyed between individuals, in which personal self-disclosure finds validation through a partner's response. Real intimacies are learned over time, not designed, and are based upon an evident reciprocity and emergent mutuality. In the context of musical expression, a social rather than a biological/technological discourse can be applied to live algorithms with a capacity for learning. This possibility is explored with reference to the author's various improvisation/composition systems including au(or)a, piano_prosthesis, and oboe_prosthesis

Qualitative Perspectives toward Relational Connection in Pastoral Ministry

We present the results of a phenomenological, qualitative research study in which 13 Southern Baptist (SB) pastors were administered in-depth interviews. The sample was selected from a total of 37 exemplars, identified in the quantitative component of a larger mixed-methods study, regarding the pastors’ perspectives toward relational connection in pastoral ministry. Three themes emerged from the data regarding relational connection in pastoral ministry. First, pastors indicated the need to be intentional about pastoral connection. Second, the pastors stressed the importance of being available to congregants who specifically desire pastoral connection. Finally, the participants related that pastors should give particular attention to connections with lay church leaders

piano_prosthesis: indicative score

This score can be used as a creative starting point, as a open-form score that defines all materials you use, or ignored. The overall aim is to establish clearly differentiated musical materials, characterised by pitch, loudness, density, rhythmic activity, sustained-ness and the degree of internal variation (within a timeframe of 10-20 sec.) Having decided upon materials, either in advance or during the performance, the improvisation should focus on recalling and varying these types. Silence is recognised as a material. As you introduce new materials or recall previous ones, you should hear complementary responses from the computer improviser, which should seem both reactive and pro- active in its behaviour

Here is now and there the sound of the land: ground-breaking

Scientific and Sonic Perceptions of the African Sahel: Societies are often required to react to extreme events that arise through either anthropogenic or natural processes. Such extremity might be measured is in terms of its immediacy and intensity; it demands comprehension against understood norms. For example, our present-day debate on future climatic change is driven by scientific assertion, reinforced by evidence gathered from both instrument and indirect proxy measurements, whilst the varying societal responses are predicated by everyday cultural experiences. In contrast, places considered to offer experiences at the boundaries of or outside the everyday, e.g. hot and cold deserts, provide a different conception of extreme. In this conception, change and the rates of change typically lack context, validation and position within everyday norms. Consequently, it is within such surroundings that the greatest tension occurs between the perception of place and rates of change. While the methodologies of science and art practice are often respectively considered positivistic and non-rational, both are in fact able to investigate the extreme in this context. Whether or not such characterisations are legitimate, the obvious epistemological differences both illuminate and problematise our understanding. In this paper we describe a real-time generative installation commissioned from the authors by the UK Research Councils called Ground-breaking: Extreme Landscapes in Grains and Pixels that attempts to explore and test these differences. Further examples are available at http://www.ground-breaking.net

Soil Micromorphology in a New Context - the Science-Art Project "Ground-breaking: experience past landscapes in grains and pixels"

This paper examines the use of geoarchaeological information gained through soil micromorphology in a new context, that of a science-art project. The project is called “Ground-breaking: Experience Past Landscapes in Grains and Pixels” and was commissioned from the authors by the UK research councils as part of a programme to foster communication of scientific issues to wider audiences. The work focuses upon the Sahel region of Africa and uses micromorphology samples from a field site in North East Nigeria subject to past extremes of environmental change over several millennia. The project itself is in the form of a gallery installation where members of the public are invited to engage with science issues and practice. The installation uses advanced visual image and sonic processing techniques to render in a novel form the information gained through image analysis of soil thin-sections. These image analysis data are used to inform the synthesis of sound, thereby forming a direct linkage between the soil micrograph displayed and sounds heard in the installation. The work invites the audience to reflect on the nature of these past communities and extremes of the environment they face. In this paper, the soil thin-section micromorphology images and other materials used; the construction of the installation and the success of the project are considered