Engineering Commons^™

Investigation Of Mirror Image Bias: Evidence For The Use Of Psychophysiological Measures As Indicators Of Cognitive Heuristics, Caroline R. Salchak

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The Mirror Imaging Bias (MIB) is gaining attention as a prominent quality factor in analysts' performance. MIB is an irrationality in which analysts perceive and process information through the filter of personal experience. As evidenced by notable historical events, the consequences of this bias can be dramatic. A way to understand MIB in humans is sought. How analysts analyze data, are trained, and interact with biases is explored. An experiment testing for the appearance of MIB was designed and completed. Measures from an eye tracker as well as physiological measures were collected. Results show a significant correlation between pupil diameter …

Investigation Of Capabilities Of Observers In A Watch Window Study, Ositadimma Nnanna Eziolisa

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Due to an abundance of data and dynamic nature of tasks, challenges with information retrieval in surveillance and target identification tasks have risen in today's Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) community. In this study, two variables, Area of Coverage and Amount of Activity (AOC/ACT), are manipulated to study their effects on the number of Watch Windows an observer can monitor. This research describes the analyst's task model, and explains how the level of AOC/ACT and number of Watch Windows affects the analyst's cognitive load. Results showed a significant difference in performance and physiological indicators of workload between high AOC/ACT conditions …

Development And Application Of An Analyst Process Model For A Search Task Scenario, Hendrickson K. Karl

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A key intelligence analyst role in open source search is the transformation of data into understanding. Better comprehension is needed of how new tools impact the analyst search process. The use of function analysis, heuristic analysis, and a usability study combine to provide the basis for developing an analyst process model, which affords the researcher with a structure to measure the impact of tools and expertise in performing a search task. The experiment utilized representative analyst scenario tasks in comparing baseline tools with the Geospatial Open Search Toolkit (GOST). The results show error rates increase when using a new toolset …

Evaluation Of Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Fnirs) For Assessment Of The Visual And Motor Cortices In Adults, Brenna Giacherio

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Introduction: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a relatively young technique in the field of medical imaging. As such, it has yet to be widely implemented for clinical use, despite its promising advantages. However, unlike fMRI-its much bulkier and costly counterpart-fNIRS has yet to be proven as a standalone imaging tool within a clinical setting, particularly that of ophthalmology or physical therapy.

Methods: Ten healthy young adults (23.8 ± 4.8 years) participated in the study. Activation of the visual cortex was achieved utilizing various reversing checkerboard stimuli across three data collection sessions for each participant. Further, activation of the motor cortex …

Day-Of-Discharge Planning At Acute Care Hospitals, Kylie M. Bertsch

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Hospitals provide a complex array of services to patient populations with highly variable conditions, needs, and preferences. These services are delivered with limited resources, and therefore, the synchronization of patient flow between various units in the hospital is essential for minimizing patient delay and congestion. Unfortunately, patient flow optimization is a topic in its research infancy, and, in current practice, hospitals struggle with the numerous ramifications of delays in care provision and increased costs. Emergency Department (ED) crowding and boarding have become a topic of increased interest as the ED becomes an increasingly popular entry point to acute care hospitals. …

Segmentation And Analysis Of Mris Of Infants With Dysphagia, Irfaan A. Dar

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Neonates are at a rapid stage of development from birth throughout childhood. Impairments to certain cortical areas can result in long lasting neuro-cognitive dysfunctions. Disorders to the swallowing neural pathways can have detrimental effects throughout life course since methods to provide nutrition can be comprised. Dysphagia, or the inability to swallow, can be caused by a multitude of reasons, chiefly neurological, but the underlying disruptions to the neural pathways are not defined. In this study we investigated the growth of multiple cortical areas involved in the swallowing pathway and categorized feeding outcomes with neural growth. Results showed that infants that …

Finite Element Simulation Of Skull Fracture Evoked By Fall Injuries, Anthony Vicini

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This study presents novel predictive equations for von Mises stresses and deflection of bones in the frontal and lateral regions of the skull. The equations were developed based on results of a finite element model developed here. The model was validated for frontal and lateral loading conditions with input values mimetic to fall scenarios. Using neural network processing of the information derived from the model achieved R2 values of 0.9990 for both the stress and deflection. Based on the outcome of the fall victims, a threshold von Mises stress of 40.9 to 46.6 MPa was found to indicate skull fracture …

Use Of Vibrotactile Feedback And Stochastic Resonance For Improving Laparoscopic Surgery Performance, Robert Douglas Hoskins

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Vibrotactile feedback, used as sensory substitution for loss of haptic feedback, has been utilized to improve performance in manual control, teleoperation and during minimally invasive surgical tasks. Stochastic resonance (SR), introduced into the human control system as white noise at a sub-threshold level, has shown promise to improve the sensitivity of tactile receptors resulting in enhancement of performance for a variety of manual tracking and sensorimotor tasks. The purpose of this study was to determine if SR could improve performance (accuracy, speed) in a simulated laparoscopic palpation task and to compare it to vibrotactile feedback (VIB). It was hypothesized that …

Improving Motion Imagery Analysis: Investigating Detection Failures, Remembering To Perform Deferred Intentions, Michael R. Nickels

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Advances in automation have led to an increased prevalence of human multitasking in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. Despite advancements in computer-vision research, almost all video data collected must be processed by human analysts. Traditionally, analysts are plagued with the presence and possible overabundance of interruptions that fundamentally leads to multitasking while processing video data. It is currently unknown what factors influence decision making in completing primary tasks or handling interruptions. In this study, we investigated the performance effects and the resulting design implications of varying the number of concurrent prospective memory tasks and encoding of one large group of …

A Theoretical Adaptive Autonomy Model: Real-Time Physiological Assessment Of Cognitive Workload, Dakota C. Evans

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Increases in modern-day system complexity, has led for a need to improve human performance and the interaction between the two. Three objectives: (1) to investigate physiological measures as indicators of cognitive workload, (2) to assess cognitive workload during human interaction with different autonomy levels, and (3) to develop a theoretical model for an adaptive autonomous system that changes with real-time cognitive workload measures were addressed. This effort seeks to improve human computer interaction by providing the human with the acceptable level of computer automation based on real-time cognitive state. Two experiments involved collection of measures of subject physiology, subjective survey …