Integrating Situation Awareness Assessment Into Test and Evaluation

To guarantee the success if network- centric operations, warfighters need the ability to extract and share critical task-relevant information to develop and maintain the situation awareness that is so critical far effective team performance. As such, the design of emerging technologies and systems must adopt a user-centric approach, with consideration for human information processing capabilities and limitations. In turn, to ensure that these technologies and systems are meeting their design objectives, test and evaluation must similarly be expanded to include metrics that assess how well system features and functions are supporting critical human cognitive processes such as situation awareness and decision-making. In this article, we address this issue, focusing specifically on situation awareness. We discuss how situation awareness assessment, at both the individual and team level, can be integrated into test and evaluation. We also cite examples from our own research to demonstrate the diagnosticity afforded by situation awareness assessment

A Task Analysis of Static Binary Reverse Engineering for Security

Software is ubiquitous in society, but understanding it, especially without access to source code, is both non-trivial and critical to security. A specialized group of cyber defenders conducts reverse engineering (RE) to analyze software. The expertise-driven process of software RE is not well understood, especially from the perspective of workflows and automated tools. We conducted a task analysis to explore the cognitive processes that analysts follow when using static techniques on binary code. Experienced analysts were asked to statically find a vulnerability in a small binary that could allow for unverified access to root privileges. Results show a highly iterative process with commonly used cognitive states across participants of varying expertise, but little standardization in process order and structure. A goal-centered analysis offers a different perspective about dominant RE states. We discuss implications about the nature of RE expertise and opportunities for new automation to assist analysts using static techniques

Benefits and Challenges of Multidisciplinary Project Teams: Lessons Learned for Researchers and Practitioners

Adopting a multidisciplinary research approach would enable test and evaluation professionals to more effective!y investigate the complex human performance problems faced in today\u27s technologically advanced operational domains. To illustrate the utility of this approach, we present lessons learned based on our experiences as a multi-agency, multidisciplinary team collaborating on an Army research project involving a dynamic military command and control simulation. Our goal with these lessons learned is to provide guidance to researchers and practitioners alike concerning the benefits and challenges of such collaboration. Our project team\u27s diverse members, drawn from both industry and government organizations, offer their multiple p perspectives on these issues. The final sections then summarize the challenges and benefits of multidisciplinary research

A Genome-Wide Screen for Promoter Methylation in Lung Cancer Identifies Novel Methylation Markers for Multiple Malignancies

BACKGROUND: Promoter hypermethylation coupled with loss of heterozygosity at the same locus results in loss of gene function in many tumor cells. The “rules” governing which genes are methylated during the pathogenesis of individual cancers, how specific methylation profiles are initially established, or what determines tumor type-specific methylation are unknown. However, DNA methylation markers that are highly specific and sensitive for common tumors would be useful for the early detection of cancer, and those required for the malignant phenotype would identify pathways important as therapeutic targets. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In an effort to identify new cancer-specific methylation markers, we employed a high-throughput global expression profiling approach in lung cancer cells. We identified 132 genes that have 5′ CpG islands, are induced from undetectable levels by 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine in multiple non-small cell lung cancer cell lines, and are expressed in immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells. As expected, these genes were also expressed in normal lung, but often not in companion primary lung cancers. Methylation analysis of a subset (45/132) of these promoter regions in primary lung cancer (n = 20) and adjacent nonmalignant tissue (n = 20) showed that 31 genes had acquired methylation in the tumors, but did not show methylation in normal lung or peripheral blood cells. We studied the eight most frequently and specifically methylated genes from our lung cancer dataset in breast cancer (n = 37), colon cancer (n = 24), and prostate cancer (n = 24) along with counterpart nonmalignant tissues. We found that seven loci were frequently methylated in both breast and lung cancers, with four showing extensive methylation in all four epithelial tumors. CONCLUSIONS: By using a systematic biological screen we identified multiple genes that are methylated with high penetrance in primary lung, breast, colon, and prostate cancers. The cross-tumor methylation pattern we observed for these novel markers suggests that we have identified a partial promoter hypermethylation signature for these common malignancies. These data suggest that while tumors in different tissues vary substantially with respect to gene expression, there may be commonalities in their promoter methylation profiles that represent targets for early detection screening or therapeutic intervention

Influence of Team Leaders\u27 Situation Awareness on their Team\u27s Situation Awareness and Performance

In complex operational environments, such as found in the military, it is necessary to consider not only the situation awareness (SA) of individual team members, but also the SA of the team as a whole. Given their important role in military combat operations, we hypothesized that the SA of team leaders (e.g., unit commanders) may have a significant influence on the SA and subsequent performance of those under their command. Accordingly, the overall objective of this research was to evaluate how much of the variance in a team\u27s SA can be accounted for by the individual SA of the team\u27s leader. To test our hypothesis, we performed an analysis of data collected at three experiments involving complex military operations. Results highlight the significant role of leaders\u27 SA on their team\u27s SA

Improving Situation Awareness through Cross-Training

This study investigated how cross-training, particularly in a leadership role, may assist individuals in better understanding the task requirements of their fellow team members, and, thereby, increase their shared situation awareness. Data was collected from a training exercise at the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency. Participants were assigned to one of 4 teams (Navy, Army, Special Ops, or Joint Service) and completed a simulated exercise designed to mimic real life events in a recovery center. Each player was rotated though the various positions and teams such that everyone had a chance to be a team director (lead person) and a team member in each of the 4 teams. Situation awareness was measured during the exercise using the SAGAT technique. Overall, results suggest that cross-training may lead to improved situation awareness. Participants, on average, exhibited greater situation awareness following experience in the director role than prior to director experience

Team Coordination and Shared Situation Awareness in Combat Identification

This chapter begins with a brief overview of the situation awareness (SA) construct, including defining three levels of SA as well as distinguishing between team and shared SA. It demonstrates, with examples from relevant research, how consideration of the factors can enhance the design of technologies to effectively promote team coordination and shared SA during combat identification. The chapter describes the research that highlights the value of training programs aimed at developing the skills that support SA processes in combat identification. It also describes how a model of team SA can be applied to meet the team coordination and shared SA challenges associated with successful combat identification in today\u27s complex military battlefield. The chapter offers a promising theoretically-based, empirically-validated approach for addressing the critical requirement. SA Requirements are utilized by team members to identify which information needs to be shared, including their higher level assessments and projections and information on team members\u27 task status and current capabilities

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Disaster Management Systems

Disaster management systems are designed to enhance the coordination and collaboration among public safety organizations that provide support for victims of natural disasters and other catastrophic events such as disease outbreaks

Predicting Cognitive Readiness of Deploying Military Medical Teams

Cognitive readiness can be defined as “possessing the psychological (mental) and sociological (social) knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) that individuals and team members need to sustain competent professional performance and mental wellbeing in the dynamic, complex, and unpredictable environments of military operations.” Determining if medical personnel are cognitively ready to perform their job poses a considerable challenge to the research community both in terms of understanding what is meant by being cognitively ready and in terms of developing methods to actually assess it. Accordingly, as part of a government-sponsored research program, we set out to gain a better understanding of what is meant by being “cognitively ready” for military medical teams as well as develop a tool for predicting cognitive readiness. In this paper, we describe the design, development, and initial user testing of our Medical Cognitive REadiness Survey Tool (M-CREST)