Behavioral Systems Analysis in Health and Human Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGee, Heather M.; Diener, Lori H.

2010-01-01

This article provides a behavioral systems approach to improve operational performance in health and human service organizations. This article provides six performance truths that are relevant to any organization and a case study from a community mental health network of agencies. A comprehensive analysis, as described here, will help health and…

Electrical signature analysis to quantify human and animal performance on fitness and therapy equipment such as a treadmill

DOEpatents

Cox, Daryl F.; Hochanadel, Charles D.; Haynes, Howard D.

2010-05-18

The invention is a human and animal performance data acquisition, analysis, and diagnostic system for fitness and therapy devices having an interface box removably disposed on incoming power wiring to a fitness and therapy device, at least one current transducer removably disposed on said interface box for sensing current signals to said fitness and therapy device, and a means for analyzing, displaying, and reporting said current signals to determine human and animal performance on said device using measurable parameters.

IDHEAS – A NEW APPROACH FOR HUMAN RELIABILITY ANALYSIS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

G. W. Parry; J.A Forester; V.N. Dang

2013-09-01

This paper describes a method, IDHEAS (Integrated Decision-Tree Human Event Analysis System) that has been developed jointly by the US NRC and EPRI as an improved approach to Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) that is based on an understanding of the cognitive mechanisms and performance influencing factors (PIFs) that affect operator responses. The paper describes the various elements of the method, namely the performance of a detailed cognitive task analysis that is documented in a crew response tree (CRT), and the development of the associated time-line to identify the critical tasks, i.e. those whose failure results in a human failure eventmore » (HFE), and an approach to quantification that is based on explanations of why the HFE might occur.« less

SMALL COLOUR VISION VARIATIONS AND THEIR EFFECT IN VISUAL COLORIMETRY,

DTIC Science & Technology

COLOR VISION, PERFORMANCE(HUMAN), TEST EQUIPMENT, PERFORMANCE(HUMAN), CORRELATION TECHNIQUES, STATISTICAL PROCESSES, COLORS, ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE, AGING(MATERIALS), COLORIMETRY , BRIGHTNESS, ANOMALIES, PLASTICS, UNITED KINGDOM.

Culture Representation in Human Reliability Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David Gertman; Julie Marble; Steven Novack

Understanding human-system response is critical to being able to plan and predict mission success in the modern battlespace. Commonly, human reliability analysis has been used to predict failures of human performance in complex, critical systems. However, most human reliability methods fail to take culture into account. This paper takes an easily understood state of the art human reliability analysis method and extends that method to account for the influence of culture, including acceptance of new technology, upon performance. The cultural parameters used to modify the human reliability analysis were determined from two standard industry approaches to cultural assessment: Hofstede’s (1991)more » cultural factors and Davis’ (1989) technology acceptance model (TAM). The result is called the Culture Adjustment Method (CAM). An example is presented that (1) reviews human reliability assessment with and without cultural attributes for a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system attack, (2) demonstrates how country specific information can be used to increase the realism of HRA modeling, and (3) discusses the differences in human error probability estimates arising from cultural differences.« less

Human Schedule Performance, Protocol Analysis, and the "Silent Dog" Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cabello, Francisco; Luciano, Carmen; Gomez, Inmaculada; Barnes-Holmes, Dermot

2004-01-01

The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate the role of private verbal behavior on the operant performances of human adults, using a protocol analysis procedure with additional methodological controls (the "silent dog" method). Twelve subjects were exposed to fixed ratio 8 and differential reinforcement of low rate 3-s schedules. For…

Demonstrating the Financial Benefit of Human Resource Development: Status and Update on the Theory and Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanson, Richard A.

1998-01-01

A research review identified findings about the financial analysis method, forecasting of the financial benefits of human resource development (HRD), and recent financial analysis research: (1) HRD embedded in a performance improvement framework yielded high return on investment; and (2) HRD interventions focused on performance variables forecast…

Safety and Performance Analysis of the Non-Radar Oceanic/Remote Airspace In-Trail Procedure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carreno, Victor A.; Munoz, Cesar A.

2007-01-01

This document presents a safety and performance analysis of the nominal case for the In-Trail Procedure (ITP) in a non-radar oceanic/remote airspace. The analysis estimates the risk of collision between the aircraft performing the ITP and a reference aircraft. The risk of collision is only estimated for the ITP maneuver and it is based on nominal operating conditions. The analysis does not consider human error, communication error conditions, or the normal risk of flight present in current operations. The hazards associated with human error and communication errors are evaluated in an Operational Hazards Analysis presented elsewhere.

Integrating Human Factors into Space Vehicle Processing for Risk Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woodbury, Sarah; Richards, Kimberly J.

2008-01-01

This presentation will discuss the multiple projects performed in United Space Alliance's Human Engineering Modeling and Performance (HEMAP) Lab, improvements that resulted from analysis, and the future applications of the HEMAP Lab for risk assessment by evaluating human/machine interaction and ergonomic designs.

Launch Deployment Assembly Human Engineering Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loughead, T.

1996-01-01

This report documents the human engineering analysis performed by the Systems Branch in support of the 6A cargo element design. The human engineering analysis is limited to the extra vehicular activities (EVA) which are involved in removal of various cargo items from the LDA and specific activities concerning deployment of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS).

Does Human Capital Matter? A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Human Capital and Firm Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crook, T. Russell; Todd, Samuel Y.; Combs, James G.; Woehr, David J.; Ketchen, David J., Jr.

2011-01-01

Theory at both the micro and macro level predicts that investments in superior human capital generate better firm-level performance. However, human capital takes time and money to develop or acquire, which potentially offsets its positive benefits. Indeed, extant tests appear equivocal regarding its impact. To clarify what is known, we…

Quantitative assessment of human motion using video motion analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Probe, John D.

1990-01-01

In the study of the dynamics and kinematics of the human body, a wide variety of technologies was developed. Photogrammetric techniques are well documented and are known to provide reliable positional data from recorded images. Often these techniques are used in conjunction with cinematography and videography for analysis of planar motion, and to a lesser degree three-dimensional motion. Cinematography has been the most widely used medium for movement analysis. Excessive operating costs and the lag time required for film development coupled with recent advances in video technology have allowed video based motion analysis systems to emerge as a cost effective method of collecting and analyzing human movement. The Anthropometric and Biomechanics Lab at Johnson Space Center utilizes the video based Ariel Performance Analysis System to develop data on shirt-sleeved and space-suited human performance in order to plan efficient on orbit intravehicular and extravehicular activities. The system is described.

Electrical signal analysis to assess the physical condition of a human or animal

DOEpatents

Cox, Daryl F.; Hochanadel, Charles D.; Haynes, Howard D.

2010-06-15

The invention is a human and animal performance data acquisition, analysis, and diagnostic system for fitness and therapy devices having an interface box removably disposed on incoming power wiring to a fitness and therapy device, at least one current transducer removably disposed on said interface box for sensing current signals to said fitness and therapy device, and a means for analyzing, displaying, and reporting said current signals to determine human and animal performance on said device using measurable parameters.

NASA Lighting Research, Test, & Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Toni

2015-01-01

The Habitability and Human Factors Branch, at Johnson Space Center, in Houston, TX, provides technical guidance for the development of spaceflight lighting requirements, verification of light system performance, analysis of integrated environmental lighting systems, and research of lighting-related human performance issues. The Habitability & Human Factors Lighting Team maintains two physical facilities that are integrated to provide support. The Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) provides a controlled darkroom environment for physical verification of lighting systems with photometric and spetrographic measurement systems. The Graphics Research & Analysis Facility (GRAF) maintains the capability for computer-based analysis of operational lighting environments. The combined capabilities of the Lighting Team at Johnson Space Center have been used for a wide range of lighting-related issues.

Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses of Glycogen in Human Milk.

PubMed

Matsui-Yatsuhashi, Hiroko; Furuyashiki, Takashi; Takata, Hiroki; Ishida, Miyuki; Takumi, Hiroko; Kakutani, Ryo; Kamasaka, Hiroshi; Nagao, Saeko; Hirose, Junko; Kuriki, Takashi

2017-02-22

Identification as well as a detailed analysis of glycogen in human milk has not been shown yet. The present study confirmed that glycogen is contained in human milk by qualitative and quantitative analyses. High-performance anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC) and high-performance size exclusion chromatography with a multiangle laser light scattering detector (HPSEC-MALLS) were used for qualitative analysis of glycogen in human milk. Quantitative analysis was carried out by using samples obtained from the individual milks. The result revealed that the concentration of human milk glycogen varied depending on the mother's condition-such as the period postpartum and inflammation. The amounts of glycogen in human milk collected at 0 and 1-2 months postpartum were higher than in milk collected at 3-14 months postpartum. In the milk from mothers with severe mastitis, the concentration of glycogen was about 40 times higher than that in normal milk.

T-tubule disease: Relationship between t-tubule organization and regional contractile performance in human dilated cardiomyopathy.

PubMed

Crossman, David J; Young, Alistair A; Ruygrok, Peter N; Nason, Guy P; Baddelely, David; Soeller, Christian; Cannell, Mark B

2015-07-01

Evidence from animal models suggest that t-tubule changes may play an important role in the contractile deficit associated with heart failure. However samples are usually taken at random with no regard as to regional variability present in failing hearts which leads to uncertainty in the relationship between contractile performance and possible t-tubule derangement. Regional contraction in human hearts was measured by tagged cine MRI and model fitting. At transplant, failing hearts were biopsy sampled in identified regions and immunocytochemistry was used to label t-tubules and sarcomeric z-lines. Computer image analysis was used to assess 5 different unbiased measures of t-tubule structure/organization. In regions of failing hearts that showed good contractile performance, t-tubule organization was similar to that seen in normal hearts, with worsening structure correlating with the loss of regional contractile performance. Statistical analysis showed that t-tubule direction was most highly correlated with local contractile performance, followed by the amplitude of the sarcomeric peak in the Fourier transform of the t-tubule image. Other area based measures were less well correlated. We conclude that regional contractile performance in failing human hearts is strongly correlated with the local t-tubule organization. Cluster tree analysis with a functional definition of failing contraction strength allowed a pathological definition of 't-tubule disease'. The regional variability in contractile performance and cellular structure is a confounding issue for analysis of samples taken from failing human hearts, although this may be overcome with regional analysis by using tagged cMRI and biopsy mapping. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does human capital matter? A meta-analysis of the relationship between human capital and firm performance.

PubMed

Crook, T Russell; Todd, Samuel Y; Combs, James G; Woehr, David J; Ketchen, David J

2011-05-01

Theory at both the micro and macro level predicts that investments in superior human capital generate better firm-level performance. However, human capital takes time and money to develop or acquire, which potentially offsets its positive benefits. Indeed, extant tests appear equivocal regarding its impact. To clarify what is known, we meta-analyzed effects drawn from 66 studies of the human capital-firm performance relationship and investigated 3 moderators suggested by resource-based theory. We found that human capital relates strongly to performance, especially when the human capital in question is not readily tradable in labor markets and when researchers use operational performance measures that are not subject to profit appropriation. Our results suggest that managers should invest in programs that increase and retain firm-specific human capital.

Fifty Years of THERP and Human Reliability Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronald L. Boring

2012-06-01

In 1962 at a Human Factors Society symposium, Alan Swain presented a paper introducing a Technique for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP). This was followed in 1963 by a Sandia Laboratories monograph outlining basic human error quantification using THERP and, in 1964, by a special journal edition of Human Factors on quantification of human performance. Throughout the 1960s, Swain and his colleagues focused on collecting human performance data for the Sandia Human Error Rate Bank (SHERB), primarily in connection with supporting the reliability of nuclear weapons assembly in the US. In 1969, Swain met with Jens Rasmussen of Risø Nationalmore » Laboratory and discussed the applicability of THERP to nuclear power applications. By 1975, in WASH-1400, Swain had articulated the use of THERP for nuclear power applications, and the approach was finalized in the watershed publication of the NUREG/CR-1278 in 1983. THERP is now 50 years old, and remains the most well known and most widely used HRA method. In this paper, the author discusses the history of THERP, based on published reports and personal communication and interviews with Swain. The author also outlines the significance of THERP. The foundations of human reliability analysis are found in THERP: human failure events, task analysis, performance shaping factors, human error probabilities, dependence, event trees, recovery, and pre- and post-initiating events were all introduced in THERP. While THERP is not without its detractors, and it is showing signs of its age in the face of newer technological applications, the longevity of THERP is a testament of its tremendous significance. THERP started the field of human reliability analysis. This paper concludes with a discussion of THERP in the context of newer methods, which can be seen as extensions of or departures from Swain’s pioneering work.« less

An Ethnostatistical Analysis of Performance Measurement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winiecki, Donald J.

2008-01-01

Within the fields of human performance technology (HPT), human resources management (HRM), and management in general, performance measurement is not only foundational but considered necessary at all phases in the process of HPT. In HPT in particular, there is substantial advice literature on what measurement is, why it is essential, and (at a…

Analyzing thresholds and efficiency with hierarchical Bayesian logistic regression.

PubMed

Houpt, Joseph W; Bittner, Jennifer L

2018-07-01

Ideal observer analysis is a fundamental tool used widely in vision science for analyzing the efficiency with which a cognitive or perceptual system uses available information. The performance of an ideal observer provides a formal measure of the amount of information in a given experiment. The ratio of human to ideal performance is then used to compute efficiency, a construct that can be directly compared across experimental conditions while controlling for the differences due to the stimuli and/or task specific demands. In previous research using ideal observer analysis, the effects of varying experimental conditions on efficiency have been tested using ANOVAs and pairwise comparisons. In this work, we present a model that combines Bayesian estimates of psychometric functions with hierarchical logistic regression for inference about both unadjusted human performance metrics and efficiencies. Our approach improves upon the existing methods by constraining the statistical analysis using a standard model connecting stimulus intensity to human observer accuracy and by accounting for variability in the estimates of human and ideal observer performance scores. This allows for both individual and group level inferences. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Human Factors Virtual Analysis Techniques for NASA's Space Launch System Ground Support using MSFC's Virtual Environments Lab (VEL)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Searcy, Brittani

2017-01-01

Using virtual environments to assess complex large scale human tasks provides timely and cost effective results to evaluate designs and to reduce operational risks during assembly and integration of the Space Launch System (SLS). NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) uses a suite of tools to conduct integrated virtual analysis during the design phase of the SLS Program. Siemens Jack is a simulation tool that allows engineers to analyze human interaction with CAD designs by placing a digital human model into the environment to test different scenarios and assess the design's compliance to human factors requirements. Engineers at MSFC are using Jack in conjunction with motion capture and virtual reality systems in MSFC's Virtual Environments Lab (VEL). The VEL provides additional capability beyond standalone Jack to record and analyze a person performing a planned task to assemble the SLS at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The VEL integrates Vicon Blade motion capture system, Siemens Jack, Oculus Rift, and other virtual tools to perform human factors assessments. By using motion capture and virtual reality, a more accurate breakdown and understanding of how an operator will perform a task can be gained. By virtual analysis, engineers are able to determine if a specific task is capable of being safely performed by both a 5% (approx. 5ft) female and a 95% (approx. 6'1) male. In addition, the analysis will help identify any tools or other accommodations that may to help complete the task. These assessments are critical for the safety of ground support engineers and keeping launch operations on schedule. Motion capture allows engineers to save and examine human movements on a frame by frame basis, while virtual reality gives the actor (person performing a task in the VEL) an immersive view of the task environment. This presentation will discuss the need of human factors for SLS and the benefits of analyzing tasks in NASA MSFC's VEL.

Analysis of Human Communication during Assembly Tasks.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-06-01

AD-A7l 43 ANALYSIS OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION DURING ASSEMBLY TASKS in1(U) CRNEGIE-MELLO UNIY PITTSBURGH PA ROBOTICS INST UNCLSSIIEDK S BARBER ET AL...ao I Dur~~~~IngAbcbyTs; 7c .S:in i lSAo .0. Analysis of Human Communication During Assembly Tasks K. Suzanne Barber and Gerald J. Agin CMU-RI-TR-86-1...TYPE or REPORT & PE-Rioo CevCZaz Analysis of Human Communication During Assembly Inlterim Tasks I . PERFORMING 00RG. REPORT NUMBER 1. £UT~oOR~e) IL

Space Suit Performance: Methods for Changing the Quality of Quantitative Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cowley, Matthew; Benson, Elizabeth; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2014-01-01

NASA is currently designing a new space suit capable of working in deep space and on Mars. Designing a suit is very difficult and often requires trade-offs between performance, cost, mass, and system complexity. To verify that new suits will enable astronauts to perform to their maximum capacity, prototype suits must be built and tested with human subjects. However, engineers and flight surgeons often have difficulty understanding and applying traditional representations of human data without training. To overcome these challenges, NASA is developing modern simulation and analysis techniques that focus on 3D visualization. Early understanding of actual performance early on in the design cycle is extremely advantageous to increase performance capabilities, reduce the risk of injury, and reduce costs. The primary objective of this project was to test modern simulation and analysis techniques for evaluating the performance of a human operating in extra-vehicular space suits.

MANAGEMENT AND DISSEMINATION OF HUMAN EXPOSURE DATABASES AND OTHER DATABASES NEEDED FOR HUMAN EXPOSURE MODELING AND ANALYSIS

EPA Science Inventory

Researchers in the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) have performed a number of large human exposure measurement studies during the past decade. It is the goal of the NERL to make the data available to other researchers for analysis in order to further the scientific ...

Analysis of trust in autonomy for convoy operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gremillion, Gregory M.; Metcalfe, Jason S.; Marathe, Amar R.; Paul, Victor J.; Christensen, James; Drnec, Kim; Haynes, Benjamin; Atwater, Corey

2016-05-01

With growing use of automation in civilian and military contexts that engage cooperatively with humans, the operator's level of trust in the automated system is a major factor in determining the efficacy of the human-autonomy teams. Suboptimal levels of human trust in autonomy (TiA) can be detrimental to joint team performance. This mis-calibrated trust can manifest in several ways, such as distrust and complete disuse of the autonomy or complacency, which results in an unsupervised autonomous system. This work investigates human behaviors that may reflect TiA in the context of an automated driving task, with the goal of improving team performance. Subjects performed a simulated leaderfollower driving task with an automated driving assistant. The subjects had could choose to engage an automated lane keeping and active cruise control system of varying performance levels. Analysis of the experimental data was performed to identify contextual features of the simulation environment that correlated to instances of automation engagement and disengagement. Furthermore, behaviors that potentially indicate inappropriate TiA levels were identified in the subject trials using estimates of momentary risk and agent performance, as functions of these contextual features. Inter-subject and intra-subject trends in automation usage and performance were also identified. This analysis indicated that for poorer performing automation, TiA decreases with time, while higher performing automation induces less drift toward diminishing usage, and in some cases increases in TiA. Subject use of automation was also found to be largely influenced by course features.

What Do HPT Consultants Do for Performance Analysis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kang, Sung

2017-01-01

This study was conducted to contribute to the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) through the validation of the performance analysis process of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) HPT model, the most representative and frequently utilized process model in the HPT field. The study was conducted using content…

Cross-industry Performance Modeling: Toward Cooperative Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reece, Wendy Jane; Blackman, Harold Stabler

One of the current unsolved problems in human factors is the difficulty in acquiring information from lessons learned and data collected among human performance analysts in different domains. There are several common concerns and generally accepted issues of importance for human factors, psychology and industry analysts of performance and safety. Among these are the need to incorporate lessons learned in design, to carefully consider implementation of new designs and automation, and the need to reduce human performance-based contributions to risk. In spite of shared concerns, there are several roadblocks to widespread sharing of data and lessons learned from operating experiencemore » and simulation, including the fact that very few publicly accessible data bases exist (Gertman & Blackman, 1994, and Kirwan, 1997). There is a need to draw together analysts and analytic methodologies to comprise a centralized source of data with sufficient detail to be meaningful while ensuring source anonymity. We propose that a generic source of performance data and a multi-domain data store may provide the first steps toward cooperative performance modeling and analysis across industries.« less

Cross-Industry Performance Modeling: Toward Cooperative Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

H. S. Blackman; W. J. Reece

One of the current unsolved problems in human factors is the difficulty in acquiring information from lessons learned and data collected among human performance analysts in different domains. There are several common concerns and generally accepted issues of importance for human factors, psychology and industry analysts of performance and safety. Among these are the need to incorporate lessons learned in design, to carefully consider implementation of new designs and automation, and the need to reduce human performance-based contributions to risk. In spite of shared concerns, there are several road blocks to widespread sharing of data and lessons learned from operatingmore » experience and simulation, including the fact that very few publicly accessible data bases exist(Gertman & Blackman, 1994, and Kirwan, 1997). There is a need to draw together analysts and analytic methodologies to comprise a centralized source of data with sufficient detail to be meaningful while ensuring source anonymity. We propose that a generic source of performance data and a multi-domain data store may provide the first steps toward cooperative performance modeling and analysis across industries.« less

Astronaut Biography Project for Countermeasures of Human Behavior and Performance Risks in Long Duration Space Flights

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Banks, Akeem

2012-01-01

This final report will summarize research that relates to human behavioral health and performance of astronauts and flight controllers. Literature reviews, data archival analyses, and ground-based analog studies that center around the risk of human space flight are being used to help mitigate human behavior and performance risks from long duration space flights. A qualitative analysis of an astronaut autobiography was completed. An analysis was also conducted on exercise countermeasure publications to show the positive affects of exercise on the risks targeted in this study. The three main risks targeted in this study are risks of behavioral and psychiatric disorders, risks of performance errors due to poor team performance, cohesion, and composition, and risks of performance errors due to sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm. These three risks focus on psychological and physiological aspects of astronauts who venture out into space on long duration space missions. The purpose of this research is to target these risks in order to help quantify, identify, and mature countermeasures and technologies required in preventing or mitigating adverse outcomes from exposure to the spaceflight environment

Comprehensive and quantitative profiling of lipid species in human milk, cow milk and a phospholipid-enriched milk formula by GC and MS/MSALL.

PubMed

Sokol, Elena; Ulven, Trond; Færgeman, Nils J; Ejsing, Christer S

2015-06-01

Here we present a workflow for in-depth analysis of milk lipids that combines gas chromatography (GC) for fatty acid (FA) profiling and a shotgun lipidomics routine termed MS/MS ALL for structural characterization of molecular lipid species. To evaluate the performance of the workflow we performed a comparative lipid analysis of human milk, cow milk, and Lacprodan® PL-20, a phospholipid-enriched milk protein concentrate for infant formula. The GC analysis showed that human milk and Lacprodan have a similar FA profile with higher levels of unsaturated FAs as compared to cow milk. In-depth lipidomic analysis by MS/MS ALL revealed that each type of milk sample comprised distinct composition of molecular lipid species. Lipid class composition showed that the human and cow milk contain a higher proportion of triacylglycerols (TAGs) as compared to Lacprodan. Notably, the MS/MS ALL analysis demonstrated that the similar FA profile of human milk and Lacprodan determined by GC analysis is attributed to the composition of individual TAG species in human milk and glycerophospholipid species in Lacprodan. Moreover, the analysis of TAG molecules in Lacprodan and cow milk showed a high proportion of short-chain FAs that could not be monitored by GC analysis. The results presented here show that complementary GC and MS/MS ALL analysis is a powerful approach for characterization of molecular lipid species in milk and milk products. : Milk lipid analysis is routinely performed using gas chromatography. This method reports the total fatty acid composition of all milk lipids, but provides no structural or quantitative information about individual lipid molecules in milk or milk products. Here we present a workflow that integrates gas chromatography for fatty acid profiling and a shotgun lipidomics routine termed MS/MS ALL for structural analysis and quantification of molecular lipid species. We demonstrate the efficacy of this complementary workflow by a comparative analysis of molecular lipid species in human milk, cow milk, and a milk-based supplement used for infant formula.

Comprehensive and quantitative profiling of lipid species in human milk, cow milk and a phospholipid-enriched milk formula by GC and MS/MSALL

PubMed Central

Sokol, Elena; Ulven, Trond; Færgeman, Nils J; Ejsing, Christer S

2015-01-01

Here we present a workflow for in-depth analysis of milk lipids that combines gas chromatography (GC) for fatty acid (FA) profiling and a shotgun lipidomics routine termed MS/MSALL for structural characterization of molecular lipid species. To evaluate the performance of the workflow we performed a comparative lipid analysis of human milk, cow milk, and Lacprodan® PL-20, a phospholipid-enriched milk protein concentrate for infant formula. The GC analysis showed that human milk and Lacprodan have a similar FA profile with higher levels of unsaturated FAs as compared to cow milk. In-depth lipidomic analysis by MS/MSALL revealed that each type of milk sample comprised distinct composition of molecular lipid species. Lipid class composition showed that the human and cow milk contain a higher proportion of triacylglycerols (TAGs) as compared to Lacprodan. Notably, the MS/MSALL analysis demonstrated that the similar FA profile of human milk and Lacprodan determined by GC analysis is attributed to the composition of individual TAG species in human milk and glycerophospholipid species in Lacprodan. Moreover, the analysis of TAG molecules in Lacprodan and cow milk showed a high proportion of short-chain FAs that could not be monitored by GC analysis. The results presented here show that complementary GC and MS/MSALL analysis is a powerful approach for characterization of molecular lipid species in milk and milk products. Practical applications : Milk lipid analysis is routinely performed using gas chromatography. This method reports the total fatty acid composition of all milk lipids, but provides no structural or quantitative information about individual lipid molecules in milk or milk products. Here we present a workflow that integrates gas chromatography for fatty acid profiling and a shotgun lipidomics routine termed MS/MSALL for structural analysis and quantification of molecular lipid species. We demonstrate the efficacy of this complementary workflow by a comparative analysis of molecular lipid species in human milk, cow milk, and a milk-based supplement used for infant formula. PMID:26089741

Combining task analysis and fault tree analysis for accident and incident analysis: a case study from Bulgaria.

PubMed

Doytchev, Doytchin E; Szwillus, Gerd

2009-11-01

Understanding the reasons for incident and accident occurrence is important for an organization's safety. Different methods have been developed to achieve this goal. To better understand the human behaviour in incident occurrence we propose an analysis concept that combines Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Task Analysis (TA). The former method identifies the root causes of an accident/incident, while the latter analyses the way people perform the tasks in their work environment and how they interact with machines or colleagues. These methods were complemented with the use of the Human Error Identification in System Tools (HEIST) methodology and the concept of Performance Shaping Factors (PSF) to deepen the insight into the error modes of an operator's behaviour. HEIST shows the external error modes that caused the human error and the factors that prompted the human to err. To show the validity of the approach, a case study at a Bulgarian Hydro power plant was carried out. An incident - the flooding of the plant's basement - was analysed by combining the afore-mentioned methods. The case study shows that Task Analysis in combination with other methods can be applied successfully to human error analysis, revealing details about erroneous actions in a realistic situation.

Bridging Human Reliability Analysis and Psychology, Part 2: A Cognitive Framework to Support HRA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

April M. Whaley; Stacey M. L. Hendrickson; Ronald L. Boring

This is the second of two papers that discuss the literature review conducted as part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) effort to develop a hybrid human reliability analysis (HRA) method in response to Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) SRM-M061020. This review was conducted with the goal of strengthening the technical basis within psychology, cognitive science and human factors for the hybrid HRA method being proposed. An overview of the literature review approach and high-level structure is provided in the first paper, whereas this paper presents the results of the review. The psychological literature review encompassed research spanning the entiretymore » of human cognition and performance, and consequently produced an extensive list of psychological processes, mechanisms, and factors that contribute to human performance. To make sense of this large amount of information, the results of the literature review were organized into a cognitive framework that identifies causes of failure of macrocognition in humans, and connects those proximate causes to psychological mechanisms and performance influencing factors (PIFs) that can lead to the failure. This cognitive framework can serve as a tool to inform HRA. Beyond this, however, the cognitive framework has the potential to also support addressing human performance issues identified in Human Factors applications.« less

HuMOVE: a low-invasive wearable monitoring platform in sexual medicine.

PubMed

Ciuti, Gastone; Nardi, Matteo; Valdastri, Pietro; Menciassi, Arianna; Basile Fasolo, Ciro; Dario, Paolo

2014-10-01

To investigate an accelerometer-based wearable system, named Human Movement (HuMOVE) platform, designed to enable quantitative and continuous measurement of sexual performance with minimal invasiveness and inconvenience for users. Design, implementation, and development of HuMOVE, a wearable platform equipped with an accelerometer sensor for monitoring inertial parameters for sexual performance assessment and diagnosis, were performed. The system enables quantitative measurement of movement parameters during sexual intercourse, meeting the requirements of wearability, data storage, sampling rate, and interfacing methods, which are fundamental for human sexual intercourse performance analysis. HuMOVE was validated through characterization using a controlled experimental test bench and evaluated in a human model during simulated sexual intercourse conditions. HuMOVE demonstrated to be a robust and quantitative monitoring platform and a reliable candidate for sexual performance evaluation and diagnosis. Characterization analysis on the controlled experimental test bench demonstrated an accurate correlation between the HuMOVE system and data from a reference displacement sensor. Experimental tests in the human model during simulated intercourse conditions confirmed the accuracy of the sexual performance evaluation platform and the effectiveness of the selected and derived parameters. The obtained outcomes also established the project expectations in terms of usability and comfort, evidenced by the questionnaires that highlighted the low invasiveness and acceptance of the device. To the best of our knowledge, HuMOVE platform is the first device for human sexual performance analysis compatible with sexual intercourse; the system has the potential to be a helpful tool for physicians to accurately classify sexual disorders, such as premature or delayed ejaculation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Pressure Capacitive Sensors for Application in Grasping and Manipulation Analysis.

PubMed

Pessia, Paola; Cordella, Francesca; Schena, Emiliano; Davalli, Angelo; Sacchetti, Rinaldo; Zollo, Loredana

2017-12-08

The analysis of the human grasping and manipulation capabilities is paramount for investigating human sensory-motor control and developing prosthetic and robotic hands resembling the human ones. A viable solution to perform this analysis is to develop instrumented objects measuring the interaction forces with the hand. In this context, the performance of the sensors embedded in the objects is crucial. This paper focuses on the experimental characterization of a class of capacitive pressure sensors suitable for biomechanical analysis. The analysis was performed in three loading conditions (Distributed load, 9 Tips load, and Wave-shaped load, thanks to three different inter-elements) via a traction/compression testing machine. Sensor assessment was also carried out under human- like grasping condition by placing a silicon material with the same properties of prosthetic cosmetic gloves in between the sensor and the inter-element in order to simulate the human skin. Data show that the input-output relationship of the analyzed, sensor is strongly influenced by both the loading condition (i.e., type of inter-element) and the grasping condition (with or without the silicon material). This needs to be taken into account to avoid significant measurement error. To go over this hurdle, the sensors have to be calibrated under each specific condition in order to apply suitable corrections to the sensor output and significantly improve the measurement accuracy.

Evaluation of Pressure Capacitive Sensors for Application in Grasping and Manipulation Analysis

PubMed Central

Pessia, Paola; Cordella, Francesca; Davalli, Angelo; Sacchetti, Rinaldo; Zollo, Loredana

2017-01-01

The analysis of the human grasping and manipulation capabilities is paramount for investigating human sensory-motor control and developing prosthetic and robotic hands resembling the human ones. A viable solution to perform this analysis is to develop instrumented objects measuring the interaction forces with the hand. In this context, the performance of the sensors embedded in the objects is crucial. This paper focuses on the experimental characterization of a class of capacitive pressure sensors suitable for biomechanical analysis. The analysis was performed in three loading conditions (Distributed load, 9 Tips load, and Wave-shaped load, thanks to three different inter-elements) via a traction/compression testing machine. Sensor assessment was also carried out under human- like grasping condition by placing a silicon material with the same properties of prosthetic cosmetic gloves in between the sensor and the inter-element in order to simulate the human skin. Data show that the input–output relationship of the analyzed, sensor is strongly influenced by both the loading condition (i.e., type of inter-element) and the grasping condition (with or without the silicon material). This needs to be taken into account to avoid significant measurement error. To go over this hurdle, the sensors have to be calibrated under each specific condition in order to apply suitable corrections to the sensor output and significantly improve the measurement accuracy. PMID:29292717

Development of task network models of human performance in microgravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diaz, Manuel F.; Adam, Susan

1992-01-01

This paper discusses the utility of task-network modeling for quantifying human performance variability in microgravity. The data are gathered for: (1) improving current methodologies for assessing human performance and workload in the operational space environment; (2) developing tools for assessing alternative system designs; and (3) developing an integrated set of methodologies for the evaluation of performance degradation during extended duration spaceflight. The evaluation entailed an analysis of the Remote Manipulator System payload-grapple task performed on many shuttle missions. Task-network modeling can be used as a tool for assessing and enhancing human performance in man-machine systems, particularly for modeling long-duration manned spaceflight. Task-network modeling can be directed toward improving system efficiency by increasing the understanding of basic capabilities of the human component in the system and the factors that influence these capabilities.

Advancing Usability Evaluation through Human Reliability Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronald L. Boring; David I. Gertman

2005-07-01

This paper introduces a novel augmentation to the current heuristic usability evaluation methodology. The SPAR-H human reliability analysis method was developed for categorizing human performance in nuclear power plants. Despite the specialized use of SPAR-H for safety critical scenarios, the method also holds promise for use in commercial off-the-shelf software usability evaluations. The SPAR-H method shares task analysis underpinnings with human-computer interaction, and it can be easily adapted to incorporate usability heuristics as performance shaping factors. By assigning probabilistic modifiers to heuristics, it is possible to arrive at the usability error probability (UEP). This UEP is not a literal probabilitymore » of error but nonetheless provides a quantitative basis to heuristic evaluation. When combined with a consequence matrix for usability errors, this method affords ready prioritization of usability issues.« less

Strategic Frameworks for Human Performance and Human Systems Integration: Spotlight on General Systems Performance Theory and Nonlinear Causal Resource Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-14

Robotics Research Institute Auditorium Riverbend Campus, Fort Worth, TX Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden...for HP and HSI. Format Participants were presented with information on frameworks and the benefits they can have in support of the various roles... benefit from understanding human performance. She concluded with the objectives of the workshop: 1. Evaluate strategic frameworks for representing

Air Defense: A Computer Game for Research in Human Performance.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-01

warfare (ANW) threat analysis. M’ajor elements of the threat analysis problem \\\\,erc eoibedded in an interactive air detoense game controlled by a...The game requires sustained attention to a complex and interactive "hostile" environment, provides proper experimental control of relevant variables...AD-A102 725 NAVY PERSONNEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER SAN DETC F/6 5/10 AIR DEFENSE: A COMPUTER GAME FOR RESEARCH IN HUMAN PERFORMANCE.(U) JUL

Heat, Human Performance, and Occupational Health: A Key Issue for the Assessment of Global Climate Change Impacts.

PubMed

Kjellstrom, Tord; Briggs, David; Freyberg, Chris; Lemke, Bruno; Otto, Matthias; Hyatt, Olivia

2016-01-01

Ambient heat exposure is a well-known health hazard, which reduces human performance and work capacity at heat levels already common in tropical and subtropical areas. Various health problems have been reported. Increasing heat exposure during the hottest seasons of each year is a key feature of global climate change. Heat exhaustion and reduced human performance are often overlooked in climate change health impact analysis. Later this century, many among the four billion people who live in hot areas worldwide will experience significantly reduced work capacity owing to climate change. In some areas, 30-40% of annual daylight hours will become too hot for work to be carried out. The social and economic impacts will be considerable, with global gross domestic product (GDP) losses greater than 20% by 2100. The analysis to date is piecemeal. More analysis of climate change-related occupational health impact assessments is greatly needed.

Twenty-fifth water reactor safety information meeting: Proceedings. Volume 2: Human reliability analysis and human performance evaluation; Technical issues related to rulemakings; Risk-informed, performance-based initiatives; High burn-up fuel research

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Monteleone, S.

1998-03-01

This three-volume report contains papers presented at the conference. The papers are printed in the order of their presentation in each session and describe progress and results of programs in nuclear safety research conducted in this country and abroad. Foreign participation in the meeting included papers presented by researchers from France, Japan, Norway, and Russia. The titles of the papers and the names of the authors have been updated and may differ from those that appeared in the final program of the meeting. This volume contains the following: (1) human reliability analysis and human performance evaluation; (2) technical issues relatedmore » to rulemakings; (3) risk-informed, performance-based initiatives; and (4) high burn-up fuel research. Selected papers have been indexed separately for inclusion in the Energy Science and Technology Database.« less

Blood identification and discrimination between human and nonhuman blood using portable Raman spectroscopy.

PubMed

Fujihara, J; Fujita, Y; Yamamoto, T; Nishimoto, N; Kimura-Kataoka, K; Kurata, S; Takinami, Y; Yasuda, T; Takeshita, H

2017-03-01

Raman spectroscopy is commonly used in chemistry to identify molecular structure. This technique is a nondestructive analysis and needs no sample preparation. Recently, Raman spectroscopy has been shown to be effective as a multipurpose analytical method for forensic applications. In the present study, blood identification and discrimination between human and nonhuman blood were performed by a portable Raman spectrometer, which can be used at a crime scene. To identify the blood and to discriminate between human and nonhuman blood, Raman spectra of bloodstains from 11 species (human, rat, mouse, cow, horse, sheep, pig, rabbit, cat, dog, and chicken) were taken using a portable Raman spectrometer. Raman peaks for blood (742, 1001, 1123, 1247, 1341, 1368, 1446, 1576, and 1619 cm -1 ) could be observed by the portable Raman spectrometer in all 11 species, and the human bloodstain could be distinguished from the nonhuman ones by using a principal component analysis. This analysis can be performed on a bloodstain sample of at least 3 months old. The portable Raman spectrometer can be used at a crime scene, and this analysis is useful for forensic examination.

A Framework for Human Performance Criteria for Advanced Reactor Operational Concepts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacques V Hugo; David I Gertman; Jeffrey C Joe

2014-08-01

This report supports the determination of new Operational Concept models needed in support of the operational design of new reactors. The objective of this research is to establish the technical bases for human performance and human performance criteria frameworks, models, and guidance for operational concepts for advanced reactor designs. The report includes a discussion of operating principles for advanced reactors, the human performance issues and requirements for human performance based upon work domain analysis and current regulatory requirements, and a description of general human performance criteria. The major findings and key observations to date are that there is some operatingmore » experience that informs operational concepts for baseline designs for SFR and HGTRs, with the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) as a best-case predecessor design. This report summarizes the theoretical and operational foundations for the development of a framework and model for human performance criteria that will influence the development of future Operational Concepts. The report also highlights issues associated with advanced reactor design and clarifies and codifies the identified aspects of technology and operating scenarios.« less

Space Mission Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyer, Roger

2014-01-01

The purpose of the Space Mission Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) Project is to extend current ground-based HRA risk prediction techniques to a long-duration, space-based tool. Ground-based HRA methodology has been shown to be a reasonable tool for short-duration space missions, such as Space Shuttle and lunar fly-bys. However, longer-duration deep-space missions, such as asteroid and Mars missions, will require the crew to be in space for as long as 400 to 900 day missions with periods of extended autonomy and self-sufficiency. Current indications show higher risk due to fatigue, physiological effects due to extended low gravity environments, and others, may impact HRA predictions. For this project, Safety & Mission Assurance (S&MA) will work with Human Health & Performance (HH&P) to establish what is currently used to assess human reliabiilty for human space programs, identify human performance factors that may be sensitive to long duration space flight, collect available historical data, and update current tools to account for performance shaping factors believed to be important to such missions. This effort will also contribute data to the Human Performance Data Repository and influence the Space Human Factors Engineering research risks and gaps (part of the HRP Program). An accurate risk predictor mitigates Loss of Crew (LOC) and Loss of Mission (LOM).The end result will be an updated HRA model that can effectively predict risk on long-duration missions.

Improving Student Naval Aviator Aircraft Carrier Landing Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheppard, Thomas H.; Foster, T. Chris

2008-01-01

This article discusses the use of human performance technology (HPT) to improve qualification rates for learning to land onboard aircraft carriers. This project started as a request for a business case analysis and evolved into a full-fledged performance improvement project, from mission analysis through evaluation. The result was a significant…

Comparability of Conflict Opportunities in Human-to-Human and Human-to-Agent Online Collaborative Problem Solving

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Yigal

2014-01-01

Students' performance in human-to-human and human-to-agent collaborative problem solving assessment task is investigated in this paper. A secondary data analysis of the research reported by Rosen and Tager (2013) was conducted in order to investigate the comparability of the opportunities for conflict situations in human-to-human and…

Time-frequency analysis of human motion during rhythmic exercises.

PubMed

Omkar, S N; Vyas, Khushi; Vikranth, H N

2011-01-01

Biomechanical signals due to human movements during exercise are represented in time-frequency domain using Wigner Distribution Function (WDF). Analysis based on WDF reveals instantaneous spectral and power changes during a rhythmic exercise. Investigations were carried out on 11 healthy subjects who performed 5 cycles of sun salutation, with a body-mounted Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) as a motion sensor. Variance of Instantaneous Frequency (I.F) and Instantaneous Power (I.P) for performance analysis of the subject is estimated using one-way ANOVA model. Results reveal that joint Time-Frequency analysis of biomechanical signals during motion facilitates a better understanding of grace and consistency during rhythmic exercise.

Impact of Spatial Scales on the Intercomparison of Climate Scenarios

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Luo, Wei; Steptoe, Michael; Chang, Zheng

2017-01-01

Scenario analysis has been widely applied in climate science to understand the impact of climate change on the future human environment, but intercomparison and similarity analysis of different climate scenarios based on multiple simulation runs remain challenging. Although spatial heterogeneity plays a key role in modeling climate and human systems, little research has been performed to understand the impact of spatial variations and scales on similarity analysis of climate scenarios. To address this issue, the authors developed a geovisual analytics framework that lets users perform similarity analysis of climate scenarios from the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) using a hierarchicalmore » clustering approach.« less

Selecting Tasks for Evaluating Human Performance as a Function of Gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norcross, Jason R.; Gernhardt, Michael L.

2011-01-01

A challenge in understanding human performance as a function of gravity is determining which tasks to research. Initial studies began with treadmill walking, which was easy to quantify and control. However, with the development of pressurized rovers, it is less important to optimize human performance for ambulation as pressurized rovers will likely perform gross translation for them. Future crews are likely to spend much of their extravehicular activity (EVA) performing geology, construction,a nd maintenance type tasks. With these types of tasks, people have different performance strategies, and it is often difficult to quantify the task and measure steady-state metabolic rates or perform biomechanical analysis. For many of these types of tasks, subjective feedback may be the only data that can be collected. However, subjective data may not fully support a rigorous scientific comparison of human performance across different gravity levels and suit factors. NASA would benefit from having a wide variety of quantifiable tasks that allow human performance comparison across different conditions. In order to determine which tasks will effectively support scientific studies, many different tasks and data analysis techniques will need to be employed. Many of these tasks and techniques will not be effective, but some will produce quantifiable results that are sensitive enough to show performance differences. One of the primary concerns related to EVA performance is metabolic rate. The higher the metabolic rate, the faster the astronaut will exhaust consumables. The focus of this poster will be on how different tasks affect metabolic rate across different gravity levels.

Collaborative real-time motion video analysis by human observer and image exploitation algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hild, Jutta; Krüger, Wolfgang; Brüstle, Stefan; Trantelle, Patrick; Unmüßig, Gabriel; Heinze, Norbert; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth; Beyerer, Jürgen

2015-05-01

Motion video analysis is a challenging task, especially in real-time applications. In most safety and security critical applications, a human observer is an obligatory part of the overall analysis system. Over the last years, substantial progress has been made in the development of automated image exploitation algorithms. Hence, we investigate how the benefits of automated video analysis can be integrated suitably into the current video exploitation systems. In this paper, a system design is introduced which strives to combine both the qualities of the human observer's perception and the automated algorithms, thus aiming to improve the overall performance of a real-time video analysis system. The system design builds on prior work where we showed the benefits for the human observer by means of a user interface which utilizes the human visual focus of attention revealed by the eye gaze direction for interaction with the image exploitation system; eye tracker-based interaction allows much faster, more convenient, and equally precise moving target acquisition in video images than traditional computer mouse selection. The system design also builds on prior work we did on automated target detection, segmentation, and tracking algorithms. Beside the system design, a first pilot study is presented, where we investigated how the participants (all non-experts in video analysis) performed in initializing an object tracking subsystem by selecting a target for tracking. Preliminary results show that the gaze + key press technique is an effective, efficient, and easy to use interaction technique when performing selection operations on moving targets in videos in order to initialize an object tracking function.

2015 Summer Series - Lee Stone - Brain Function Through the Eyes of the Beholder

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-06-09

The Visuomotor Control Laboratory (VCL) at NASA Ames conducts neuroscience research on the link between eye movements and brain function to provide an efficient and quantitative means of monitoring human perceptual performance. The VCL aims to make dramatic improvements in mission success through analysis, experimentation, and modeling of human performance and human-automation interaction. Dr. Lee Stone elaborates on how this research is conducted and how it contributes to NASA's mission and advances human-centered design and operations of complex aerospace systems.

Building human resources capability in health care: a global analysis of best practice--Part II.

PubMed

Zairi, M

1998-01-01

This paper is the second from a series of three, addressing human resource practices using best practice examples. The analysis covered is based on the experiences of organisations that have won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) in the USA. The subcriteria covered in this benchmarking comparative analysis covers the following areas: human resource planning and management; employee involvement; employee education and training; employee performance and recognition; employee wellbeing and satisfaction. The paper concludes by reflecting on the likely implications for health-care professionals working in the human resource field.

A Novel Analysis of Performance Classification and Workload Prediction Using Electroencephalography (EEG) Frequency Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-26

Engineering and Management Air Force Institute of Technology Air University Air Education and Training Command In Partial Fulfillment of the...Human Universal Measurement and Assessment Network (HUMAN) Lab human performance experiment trials were used to train , validate and test the...calming music to ease the individual before the start of the study [8]. EEG data contains noise ranging from muscle twitches, blinking and other functions

ISS Mini AERCam Radio Frequency (RF) Coverage Analysis Using iCAT Development Tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolen, Steve; Vazquez, Luis; Sham, Catherine; Fredrickson, Steven; Fink, Patrick; Cox, Jan; Phan, Chau; Panneton, Robert

2003-01-01

The long-term goals of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) enterprise may require the development of autonomous free-flier (FF) robotic devices to operate within the vicinity of low-Earth orbiting spacecraft to supplement human extravehicular activities (EVAs) in space. Future missions could require external visual inspection of the spacecraft that would be difficult, or dangerous, for humans to perform. Under some circumstance, it may be necessary to employ an un-tethered communications link between the FF and the users. The interactive coverage analysis tool (ICAT) is a software tool that has been developed to perform critical analysis of the communications link performance for a FF operating in the vicinity of the International Space Station (ISS) external environment. The tool allows users to interactively change multiple parameters of the communications link parameters to efficiently perform systems engineering trades on network performance. These trades can be directly translated into design and requirements specifications. This tool significantly reduces the development time in determining a communications network topology by allowing multiple parameters to be changed, and the results of link coverage to be statistically characterized and plotted interactively.

Predicting Team Performance through Human Behavioral Sensing and Quantitative Workflow Instrumentation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-27

make risk-informed decisions during serious games . Statistical models of intra- game performance were developed to determine whether behaviors in...specific facets of the gameplay workflow were predictive of analytical performance and games outcomes. A study of over seventy instrumented teams revealed...more accurate game decisions. 2 Keywords: Humatics · Serious Games · Human-System Interaction · Instrumentation · Teamwork · Communication Analysis

The value of job analysis, job description and performance.

PubMed

Wolfe, M N; Coggins, S

1997-01-01

All companies, regardless of size, are faced with the same employment concerns. Efficient personnel management requires the use of three human resource techniques--job analysis, job description and performance appraisal. These techniques and tools are not for large practices only. Small groups can obtain the same benefits by employing these performance control measures. Job analysis allows for the development of a compensation system. Job descriptions summarize the most important duties. Performance appraisals help reward outstanding work.

3D imaging of cleared human skin biopsies using light-sheet microscopy: A new way to visualize in-depth skin structure.

PubMed

Abadie, S; Jardet, C; Colombelli, J; Chaput, B; David, A; Grolleau, J-L; Bedos, P; Lobjois, V; Descargues, P; Rouquette, J

2018-05-01

Human skin is composed of the superimposition of tissue layers of various thicknesses and components. Histological staining of skin sections is the benchmark approach to analyse the organization and integrity of human skin biopsies; however, this approach does not allow 3D tissue visualization. Alternatively, confocal or two-photon microscopy is an effective approach to perform fluorescent-based 3D imaging. However, owing to light scattering, these methods display limited light penetration in depth. The objectives of this study were therefore to combine optical clearing and light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) to perform in-depth optical sectioning of 5 mm-thick human skin biopsies and generate 3D images of entire human skin biopsies. A benzyl alcohol and benzyl benzoate solution was used to successfully optically clear entire formalin fixed human skin biopsies, making them transparent. In-depth optical sectioning was performed with LSFM on the basis of tissue-autofluorescence observations. 3D image analysis of optical sections generated with LSFM was performed by using the Amira ® software. This new approach allowed us to observe in situ the different layers and compartments of human skin, such as the stratum corneum, the dermis and epidermal appendages. With this approach, we easily performed 3D reconstruction to visualise an entire human skin biopsy. Finally, we demonstrated that this method is useful to visualise and quantify histological anomalies, such as epidermal hyperplasia. The combination of optical clearing and LSFM has new applications in dermatology and dermatological research by allowing 3D visualization and analysis of whole human skin biopsies. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Bridging Human Reliability Analysis and Psychology, Part 1: The Psychological Literature Review for the IDHEAS Method

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

April M. Whaley; Stacey M. L. Hendrickson; Ronald L. Boring

In response to Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) SRM-M061020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is sponsoring work to update the technical basis underlying human reliability analysis (HRA) in an effort to improve the robustness of HRA. The ultimate goal of this work is to develop a hybrid of existing methods addressing limitations of current HRA models and in particular issues related to intra- and inter-method variabilities and results. This hybrid method is now known as the Integrated Decision-tree Human Event Analysis System (IDHEAS). Existing HRA methods have looked at elements of the psychological literature, but there has not previously beenmore » a systematic attempt to translate the complete span of cognition from perception to action into mechanisms that can inform HRA. Therefore, a first step of this effort was to perform a literature search of psychology, cognition, behavioral science, teamwork, and operating performance to incorporate current understanding of human performance in operating environments, thus affording an improved technical foundation for HRA. However, this literature review went one step further by mining the literature findings to establish causal relationships and explicit links between the different types of human failures, performance drivers and associated performance measures ultimately used for quantification. This is the first of two papers that detail the literature review (paper 1) and its product (paper 2). This paper describes the literature review and the high-level architecture used to organize the literature review, and the second paper (Whaley, Hendrickson, Boring, & Xing, these proceedings) describes the resultant cognitive framework.« less

A human factors evaluation of the operational demonstration flight inspection aircraft.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-05-01

These reports describe the data collection and analysis efforts performed by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute's Human Factors Research Laboratory to assist the Office of Aviation System Standards (AVN) in the human factors evaluation of the Oper...

A perspective on the Human-Rating process of US spacecraft: Both past and present

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zupp, George

1995-04-01

The purpose of this report is to characterize the process of Human-Rating as employed by NASA for human spaceflight. An Agency-wide committee was formed in November 1992 to develop a Human-Rating Requirements Definition for Launch Vehicles based on conventional (historical) methods. The committee members were from NASA Headquarters, Marshall Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center, Stennis Space Center, and Johnson Space Center. After considerable discussion and analysis, committee members concluded that Human-Rating is the process of satisfying the mutual constraints of cost, schedule, mission performance, and risk while addressing the requirements for human safety, human performance, and human health management and care.

A perspective on the Human-Rating process of US spacecraft: Both past and present

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zupp, George (Editor)

1995-01-01

The purpose of this report is to characterize the process of Human-Rating as employed by NASA for human spaceflight. An Agency-wide committee was formed in November 1992 to develop a Human-Rating Requirements Definition for Launch Vehicles based on conventional (historical) methods. The committee members were from NASA Headquarters, Marshall Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center, Stennis Space Center, and Johnson Space Center. After considerable discussion and analysis, committee members concluded that Human-Rating is the process of satisfying the mutual constraints of cost, schedule, mission performance, and risk while addressing the requirements for human safety, human performance, and human health management and care.

Defining Human Failure Events for Petroleum Risk Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronald L. Boring; Knut Øien

2014-06-01

In this paper, an identification and description of barriers and human failure events (HFEs) for human reliability analysis (HRA) is performed. The barriers, called target systems, are identified from risk significant accident scenarios represented as defined situations of hazard and accident (DSHAs). This report serves as the foundation for further work to develop petroleum HFEs compatible with the SPAR-H method and intended for reuse in future HRAs.

Analysis of short-chain fatty acids in human feces: A scoping review.

PubMed

Primec, Maša; Mičetić-Turk, Dušanka; Langerholc, Tomaž

2017-06-01

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) play a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis in humans, therefore the importance of a good and reliable SCFAs analytical detection has raised a lot in the past few years. The aim of this scoping review is to show the trends in the development of different methods of SCFAs analysis in feces, based on the literature published in the last eleven years in all major indexing databases. The search criteria included analytical quantification techniques of SCFAs in different human clinical and in vivo studies. SCFAs analysis is still predominantly performed using gas chromatography (GC), followed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and capillary electrophoresis (CE). Performances, drawbacks and advantages of these methods are discussed, especially in the light of choosing a proper pretreatment, as feces is a complex biological material. Further optimization to develop a simple, cost effective and robust method for routine use is needed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance assessment of human resource by integration of HSE and ergonomics and EFQM management system.

PubMed

Sadegh Amalnick, Mohsen; Zarrin, Mansour

2017-03-13

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated framework for performance evaluation and analysis of human resource (HR) with respect to the factors of health, safety, environment and ergonomics (HSEE) management system, and also the criteria of European federation for quality management (EFQM) as one of the well-known business excellence models. Design/methodology/approach In this study, an intelligent algorithm based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) along with fuzzy data envelopment analysis (FDEA) are developed and employed to assess the performance of the company. Furthermore, the impact of the factors on the company's performance as well as their strengths and weaknesses are identified by conducting a sensitivity analysis on the results. Similarly, a design of experiment is performed to prioritize the factors in the order of importance. Findings The results show that EFQM model has a far greater impact upon the company's performance than HSEE management system. According to the obtained results, it can be argued that integration of HSEE and EFQM leads to the performance improvement in the company. Practical implications In current study, the required data for executing the proposed framework are collected via valid questionnaires which are filled in by the staff of an aviation industry located in Tehran, Iran. Originality/value Managing HR performance results in improving usability, maintainability and reliability and finally in a significant reduction in the commercial aviation accident rate. Also, study of factors affecting HR performance authorities participate in developing systems in order to help operators better manage human error. This paper for the first time presents an intelligent framework based on ANFIS, FDEA and statistical tests for HR performance assessment and analysis with the ability of handling uncertainty and vagueness existing in real world environment.

Hybrid Human-Computing Distributed Sense-Making: Extending the SOA Paradigm for Dynamic Adjudication and Optimization of Human and Computer Roles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rimland, Jeffrey C.

2013-01-01

In many evolving systems, inputs can be derived from both human observations and physical sensors. Additionally, many computation and analysis tasks can be performed by either human beings or artificial intelligence (AI) applications. For example, weather prediction, emergency event response, assistive technology for various human sensory and…

On the stiffness analysis of a cable driven leg exoskeleton.

PubMed

Sanjeevi, N S S; Vashista, Vineet

2017-07-01

Robotic systems are being used for gait rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorder. These devices are externally powered to apply external forces on human limbs to assist the leg motion. Patients while walking with these devices adapt their walking pattern in response to the applied forces. The efficacy of a rehabilitation paradigm thus depends on the human-robot interaction. A cable driven leg exoskeleton (CDLE) use actuated cables to apply external joint torques on human leg. Cables are lightweight and flexible but can only be pulled, thus a CDLE requires redundant cables. Redundancy in CDLE can be utilized to appropriately tune a robot's performance. In this work, we present the stiffness analysis of CDLE. Different stiffness performance indices are established to study the role of system parameters in improving the human-robot interaction.

Probabilistic risk assessment for a loss of coolant accident in McMaster Nuclear Reactor and application of reliability physics model for modeling human reliability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ha, Taesung

A probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) was conducted for a loss of coolant accident, (LOCA) in the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR). A level 1 PRA was completed including event sequence modeling, system modeling, and quantification. To support the quantification of the accident sequence identified, data analysis using the Bayesian method and human reliability analysis (HRA) using the accident sequence evaluation procedure (ASEP) approach were performed. Since human performance in research reactors is significantly different from that in power reactors, a time-oriented HRA model (reliability physics model) was applied for the human error probability (HEP) estimation of the core relocation. This model is based on two competing random variables: phenomenological time and performance time. The response surface and direct Monte Carlo simulation with Latin Hypercube sampling were applied for estimating the phenomenological time, whereas the performance time was obtained from interviews with operators. An appropriate probability distribution for the phenomenological time was assigned by statistical goodness-of-fit tests. The human error probability (HEP) for the core relocation was estimated from these two competing quantities: phenomenological time and operators' performance time. The sensitivity of each probability distribution in human reliability estimation was investigated. In order to quantify the uncertainty in the predicted HEPs, a Bayesian approach was selected due to its capability of incorporating uncertainties in model itself and the parameters in that model. The HEP from the current time-oriented model was compared with that from the ASEP approach. Both results were used to evaluate the sensitivity of alternative huinan reliability modeling for the manual core relocation in the LOCA risk model. This exercise demonstrated the applicability of a reliability physics model supplemented with a. Bayesian approach for modeling human reliability and its potential usefulness of quantifying model uncertainty as sensitivity analysis in the PRA model.

Classifying Facial Actions

PubMed Central

Donato, Gianluca; Bartlett, Marian Stewart; Hager, Joseph C.; Ekman, Paul; Sejnowski, Terrence J.

2010-01-01

The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) [23] is an objective method for quantifying facial movement in terms of component actions. This system is widely used in behavioral investigations of emotion, cognitive processes, and social interaction. The coding is presently performed by highly trained human experts. This paper explores and compares techniques for automatically recognizing facial actions in sequences of images. These techniques include analysis of facial motion through estimation of optical flow; holistic spatial analysis, such as principal component analysis, independent component analysis, local feature analysis, and linear discriminant analysis; and methods based on the outputs of local filters, such as Gabor wavelet representations and local principal components. Performance of these systems is compared to naive and expert human subjects. Best performances were obtained using the Gabor wavelet representation and the independent component representation, both of which achieved 96 percent accuracy for classifying 12 facial actions of the upper and lower face. The results provide converging evidence for the importance of using local filters, high spatial frequencies, and statistical independence for classifying facial actions. PMID:21188284

Methodological Issues in the Study of Air Force Organizational Structures,

DTIC Science & Technology

MOTIVATION, MORALE, PERFORMANCE(HUMAN), LEADERSHIP , SKILLS, MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND CONTROL, MODEL THEORY , SYMPOSIA...RESOURCE MANAGEMENT , *HUMAN RESOURCES, *MANPOWER UTILIZATION, *JOB ANALYSIS, *ORGANIZATIONS, STRUCTURES, PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT , DECISION MAKING

Techniques for the Analysis of Human Movement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grieve, D. W.; And Others

This book presents the major analytical techniques that may be used in the appraisal of human movement. Chapter 1 is devoted to the photopgraphic analysis of movement with particular emphasis on cine filming. Cine film may be taken with little or no restriction on the performer's range of movement; information on the film is permanent and…

Hyperspectral functional imaging of the human brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toronov, Vladislav; Schelkanova, Irina

2013-03-01

We performed the independent component analysis of the hyperspectral functional near-infrared data acquired on humans during exercise and rest. We found that the hyperspectral functional data acquired on the human brain requires only two physiologically meaningful components to cover more than 50% o the temporal variance in hundreds of wavelengths. The analysis of the spectra of independent components showed that these components could be interpreted as results of changes in the cerebral blood volume and blood flow. Also, we found significant contributions of water and cytochrome c oxydase into changes associated with the independent components. Another remarkable effect of ICA was its good performance in terms of the filtering of the data noise.

NASA: Model development for human factors interfacing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, L. L.

1984-01-01

The results of an intensive literature review in the general topics of human error analysis, stress and job performance, and accident and safety analysis revealed no usable techniques or approaches for analyzing human error in ground or space operations tasks. A task review model is described and proposed to be developed in order to reduce the degree of labor intensiveness in ground and space operations tasks. An extensive number of annotated references are provided.

Relationship between human resource ability and market access capacity on business performance. (case study of wood craft micro- and small-scale industries in Gianyar Regency, Bali)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukartini, N. W.; Sudarmini, N. M.; Lasmini, N. K.

2018-01-01

The aims of this research are to: (1) analyze the influence of Human Resource Ability on market access capacity in Wood Craft Micro and Small Industry; (2) to analyze the effect of market access capacity on business performance; (3) analyze the influence of Human Resources ability on business performance. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, observations, and literature studies. The resulting data were analyzed using Struture Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of the analysis show that (1) there is a positive and significant influence of the ability of Human Resources on market access capacity in Wood Craft Micro-and Small-Scale Industries in Gianyar; (2) there is a positive and significant influence of market access capacity on business performance; and (3) there is a positive and significant influence of Human Resource ability on business performance. To improve the ability to access the market and business performance, it is recommended that human resource ability need to be improved through training; government and higher education institutions are expected to play a role in improving the ability of human resources (craftsmen) through provision of training programs

A TIERED APPROACH TO PERFORMING UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS IN CONDUCTING EXPOSURE ANALYSIS FOR CHEMICALS

EPA Science Inventory

The WHO/IPCS draft Guidance Document on Characterizing and Communicating Uncertainty in Exposure Assessment provides guidance on recommended strategies for conducting uncertainty analysis as part of human exposure analysis. Specifically, a tiered approach to uncertainty analysis ...

The human operator transfer function: Identification of the limb mechanics subsystem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Lynette A.; Hunter, Ian W.

1991-01-01

The objective of our research is to decompose the performance of the human operator in terms of the subsystems that determine the operator's responses in order to establish how the dynamics of these component subsystems influence the operator's performance. In the present experiment, the dynamic stiffness of the human elbow joint was measured at rest and under different levels of biceps muscle activation; this work forms part of the analysis of the limb mechanics subsystem.

Analysis of the human operator subsystems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Lynette A.; Hunter, Ian W.

1991-01-01

Except in low-bandwidth systems, knowledge of the human operator transfer function is essential for high-performance telerobotic systems. This information has usually been derived from detailed analyses of tracking performance, in which the human operator is considered as a complete system rather than as a summation of a number of subsystems, each of which influences the operator's output. Studies of one of these subsystems, the limb mechanics system, demonstrate that large parameter variations can occur that can have a profound effect on the stability of force-reflecting telerobot systems. An objective of this research was to decompose the performance of the human operator system in order to establish how the dynamics of each of the elements influence the operator's responses.

Integration of MSFC Usability Lab with Usability Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cheng, Yiwei; Richardson, Sally

2010-01-01

As part of the Stage Analysis Branch, human factors engineering plays an important role in relating humans to the systems of hardware and structure designs of the new launch vehicle. While many branches are involved in the technical aspects of creating a launch vehicle, human factors connects humans to the scientific systems with the goal of improving operational performance and safety while reducing operational error and damage to the hardware. Human factors engineers use physical and computerized models to visualize possible areas for improvements to ensure human accessibility to components requiring maintenance and that the necessary maintenance activities can be accomplished with minimal risks to human and hardware. Many methods of testing are used to fulfill this goal, such as physical mockups, computerized visualization, and usability testing. In this analysis, a usability test is conducted to test how usable a website is to users who are and are not familiar with it. The testing is performed using participants and Morae software to record and analyze the results. This analysis will be a preliminary test of the usability lab in preparation for use in new spacecraft programs, NASA Enterprise, or other NASA websites. The usability lab project is divided into two parts: integration of the usability lab and a preliminary test of the usability lab.

Parameters Estimation For A Patellofemoral Joint Of A Human Knee Using A Vector Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciszkiewicz, A.; Knapczyk, J.

2015-08-01

Position and displacement analysis of a spherical model of a human knee joint using the vector method was presented. Sensitivity analysis and parameter estimation were performed using the evolutionary algorithm method. Computer simulations for the mechanism with estimated parameters proved the effectiveness of the prepared software. The method itself can be useful when solving problems concerning the displacement and loads analysis in the knee joint.

Crew Office Evaluation of a Precision Lunar Landing System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Major, Laura M.; Duda, Kevin R.; Hirsh, Robert L.

2011-01-01

A representative Human System Interface for a precision lunar landing system, ALHAT, has been developed as a platform for prototype visualization and interaction concepts. This facilitates analysis of crew interaction with advanced sensors and AGNC systems. Human-in-the-loop evaluations with representatives from the Crew Office (i.e. astronauts) and Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) were performed to refine the crew role and information requirements during the final phases of landing. The results include a number of lessons learned from Shuttle that are applicable to the design of a human supervisory landing system and cockpit. Overall, the results provide a first order analysis of the tasks the crew will perform during lunar landing, an architecture for the Human System Interface based on these tasks, as well as details on the information needs to land safely.

A Framework to Guide the Assessment of Human-Machine Systems.

PubMed

Stowers, Kimberly; Oglesby, James; Sonesh, Shirley; Leyva, Kevin; Iwig, Chelsea; Salas, Eduardo

2017-03-01

We have developed a framework for guiding measurement in human-machine systems. The assessment of safety and performance in human-machine systems often relies on direct measurement, such as tracking reaction time and accidents. However, safety and performance emerge from the combination of several variables. The assessment of precursors to safety and performance are thus an important part of predicting and improving outcomes in human-machine systems. As part of an in-depth literature analysis involving peer-reviewed, empirical articles, we located and classified variables important to human-machine systems, giving a snapshot of the state of science on human-machine system safety and performance. Using this information, we created a framework of safety and performance in human-machine systems. This framework details several inputs and processes that collectively influence safety and performance. Inputs are divided according to human, machine, and environmental inputs. Processes are divided into attitudes, behaviors, and cognitive variables. Each class of inputs influences the processes and, subsequently, outcomes that emerge in human-machine systems. This framework offers a useful starting point for understanding the current state of the science and measuring many of the complex variables relating to safety and performance in human-machine systems. This framework can be applied to the design, development, and implementation of automated machines in spaceflight, military, and health care settings. We present a hypothetical example in our write-up of how it can be used to aid in project success.

Word Fluency: A Task Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laine, Matti

It is suggested that models of human problem solving are useful in the analysis of word fluency (WF) test performance. In problem-solving terms, WF tasks would require the subject to define and clarify the conditions of the task (task acquisition), select and employ appropriate strategies, and monitor one's performance. In modern neuropsychology,…

FRamework Assessing Notorious Contributing Influences for Error (FRANCIE): Perspective on Taxonomy Development to Support Error Reporting and Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lon N. Haney; David I. Gertman

2003-04-01

Beginning in the 1980s a primary focus of human reliability analysis was estimation of human error probabilities. However, detailed qualitative modeling with comprehensive representation of contextual variables often was lacking. This was likely due to the lack of comprehensive error and performance shaping factor taxonomies, and the limited data available on observed error rates and their relationship to specific contextual variables. In the mid 90s Boeing, America West Airlines, NASA Ames Research Center and INEEL partnered in a NASA sponsored Advanced Concepts grant to: assess the state of the art in human error analysis, identify future needs for human errormore » analysis, and develop an approach addressing these needs. Identified needs included the need for a method to identify and prioritize task and contextual characteristics affecting human reliability. Other needs identified included developing comprehensive taxonomies to support detailed qualitative modeling and to structure meaningful data collection efforts across domains. A result was the development of the FRamework Assessing Notorious Contributing Influences for Error (FRANCIE) with a taxonomy for airline maintenance tasks. The assignment of performance shaping factors to generic errors by experts proved to be valuable to qualitative modeling. Performance shaping factors and error types from such detailed approaches can be used to structure error reporting schemes. In a recent NASA Advanced Human Support Technology grant FRANCIE was refined, and two new taxonomies for use on space missions were developed. The development, sharing, and use of error taxonomies, and the refinement of approaches for increased fidelity of qualitative modeling is offered as a means to help direct useful data collection strategies.« less

[Performance and safety at work].

PubMed

Bentivegna, M

2010-01-01

The evaluative approach of occupational therapy, centred on the person, on an analysis of performance and an assessment of the work environment, can provide important information for planning interventions to increase safety at work. The reliability of work performance is influenced by many factors, some of which are not directly dependent on humans, such as those related to the environment, to materials, to spaces, to places and to the organization of work; others, however, are closely related to human behaviours. For this reason, for the purpose of ensuring prevention of all harmful events, the process of risk evaluation must also include an analysis of the role of human behaviour and functional capacity. In our daily clinical practice, we Occupational Therapists use work to promote the wellbeing and health of people by involving them in activities, with the knowledge that every occupation is perceived by an individual as something particularly personal and significant.

An ideal observer analysis of visual working memory.

PubMed

Sims, Chris R; Jacobs, Robert A; Knill, David C

2012-10-01

Limits in visual working memory (VWM) strongly constrain human performance across many tasks. However, the nature of these limits is not well understood. In this article we develop an ideal observer analysis of human VWM by deriving the expected behavior of an optimally performing but limited-capacity memory system. This analysis is framed around rate-distortion theory, a branch of information theory that provides optimal bounds on the accuracy of information transmission subject to a fixed information capacity. The result of the ideal observer analysis is a theoretical framework that provides a task-independent and quantitative definition of visual memory capacity and yields novel predictions regarding human performance. These predictions are subsequently evaluated and confirmed in 2 empirical studies. Further, the framework is general enough to allow the specification and testing of alternative models of visual memory (e.g., how capacity is distributed across multiple items). We demonstrate that a simple model developed on the basis of the ideal observer analysis-one that allows variability in the number of stored memory representations but does not assume the presence of a fixed item limit-provides an excellent account of the empirical data and further offers a principled reinterpretation of existing models of VWM. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Three-dimensional anthropometric techniques applied to the fabrication of burn masks and the quantification of wound healing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitestone, Jennifer J.; Geisen, Glen R.; McQuiston, Barbara K.

1997-03-01

Anthropometric surveys conducted by the military provide comprehensive human body measurement data that are human interface requirements for successful mission performance of weapon systems, including cockpits, protective equipment, and clothing. The application of human body dimensions to model humans and human-machine performance begins with engineering anthropometry. There are two critical elements to engineering anthropometry: data acquisition and data analysis. First, the human body is captured dimensionally with either traditional anthropometric tools, such as calipers and tape measures, or with advanced image acquisition systems, such as a laser scanner. Next, numerous statistical analysis tools, such as multivariate modeling and feature envelopes, are used to effectively transition these data for design and evaluation of equipment and work environments. Recently, Air Force technology transfer allowed researchers at the Computerized Anthropometric Research and Design (CARD) Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to work with the Dayton, Ohio area medical community in assessing the rate of wound healing and improving the fit of total contract burn masks. This paper describes the successful application of CARD Lab engineering anthropometry to two medically oriented human interface problems.

EVA Performance Prediction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peacock, Brian; Maida, James; Rajulu, Sudhakar

2004-01-01

Astronaut physical performance capabilities in micro gravity EV A or on planetary surfaces when encumbered by a life support suit and debilitated by a long exposure to micro gravity will be less than unencumbered pre flight capabilities. The big question addressed by human factors engineers is: what can the astronaut be expected to do on EVA or when we arrive at a planetary surface? A second question is: what aids to performance will be needed to enhance the human physical capability? These questions are important for a number of reasons. First it is necessary to carry out accurate planning of human physical demands to ensure that time and energy critical tasks can be carried out with confidence. Second it is important that the crew members (and their ground or planetary base monitors) have a realistic picture of their own capabilities, as excessive fatigue can lead to catastrophic failure. Third it is important to design appropriate equipment to enhance human sensory capabilities, locomotion, materials handling and manipulation. The evidence from physiological research points to musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and neurovestibular degradation during long duration exposure to micro gravity . The evidence from the biomechanics laboratory (and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory) points to a reduction in range of motion, strength and stamina when encumbered by a pressurized suit. The evidence from a long history of EVAs is that crewmembers are indeed restricted in their physical capabilities. There is a wealth of evidence in the literature on the causes and effects of degraded human performance in the laboratory, in sports and athletics, in industry and in other physically demanding jobs. One approach to this challenge is through biomechanical and performance modeling. Such models must be based on thorough task analysis, reliable human performance data from controlled studies, and functional extrapolations validated in analog contexts. The task analyses currently carried out for EVA activities are based more on extensive domain experience than any formal analytic structure. Conversely, physical task analysis for industrial and structured evidence from training and EV A contexts. Again on earth there is considerable evidence of human performance degradation due to encumbrance and fatigue. These industrial models generally take the form of a discounting equation. The development of performance estimates for space operations, such as timeline predictions for EVA is generally based on specific input from training activity, for example in the NBL or KC135. uniformed services tasks on earth are much more formalized. Human performance data in the space context has two sources: first there is the micro analysis of performance in structured tasks by the space physiology community and second there is the less structured evidence from training and EV A contexts.

Analysis of the Variable Pressure Growth Chamber using the CASE/A simulation package

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcfadden, Carl D.; Edeen, Marybeth A.

1992-01-01

A computer simulation of the Variable Pressure Growth Chamber (VPGC), located at the NASA Johnson Space Center, has been developed using the Computer Aided Systems Engineering and Analysis (CASE/A) package. The model has been used to perform several analyses of the VPGC. The analyses consisted of a study of the effects of a human metabolic load on the VPGC and a study of two new configurations for the temperature and humidity control (THC) subsystem in the VPGC. The objective of the human load analysis was to study the effects of a human metabolic load on the air revitalization and THC subsystems. This included the effects on the quantity of carbon dioxide injected and oxygen removed from the chamber and the effects of the additional sensible and latent heat loads. The objective of the configuration analysis was to compare the two new THC configurations against the current THC configuration to determine which had the best performance.

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass-spectrometry (uplc-ms/ms) for the rapid, simultaneous analysis of thiamin, riboflavin, flavin adenine dinucleotide, nicotinamide and pyridoxal in human milk

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A novel, rapid and sensitive Ultra Performance Liquid-Chromatography tandem Mass-Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of several B-vitamins in human milk was developed. Resolution by retention time or multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) for thiamin, riboflavin, flavin a...

Individual Differences in Human Reliability Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jeffrey C. Joe; Ronald L. Boring

2014-06-01

While human reliability analysis (HRA) methods include uncertainty in quantification, the nominal model of human error in HRA typically assumes that operator performance does not vary significantly when they are given the same initiating event, indicators, procedures, and training, and that any differences in operator performance are simply aleatory (i.e., random). While this assumption generally holds true when performing routine actions, variability in operator response has been observed in multiple studies, especially in complex situations that go beyond training and procedures. As such, complexity can lead to differences in operator performance (e.g., operator understanding and decision-making). Furthermore, psychological research hasmore » shown that there are a number of known antecedents (i.e., attributable causes) that consistently contribute to observable and systematically measurable (i.e., not random) differences in behavior. This paper reviews examples of individual differences taken from operational experience and the psychological literature. The impact of these differences in human behavior and their implications for HRA are then discussed. We propose that individual differences should not be treated as aleatory, but rather as epistemic. Ultimately, by understanding the sources of individual differences, it is possible to remove some epistemic uncertainty from analyses.« less

In silico analysis of protein toxin and bacteriocins from Lactobacillus paracasei SD1 genome and available online databases

PubMed Central

Surachat, Komwit; Sangket, Unitsa; Deachamag, Panchalika; Chotigeat, Wilaiwan

2017-01-01

Lactobacillus paracasei SD1 is a potential probiotic strain due to its ability to survive several conditions in human dental cavities. To ascertain its safety for human use, we therefore performed a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis and characterization of the bacterial protein toxins produced by this strain. We report the complete genome of Lactobacillus paracasei SD1 and its comparison to other Lactobacillus genomes. Additionally, we identify and analyze its protein toxins and antimicrobial proteins using reliable online database resources and establish its phylogenetic relationship with other bacterial genomes. Our investigation suggests that this strain is safe for human use and contains several bacteriocins that confer health benefits to the host. An in silico analysis of protein-protein interactions between the target bacteriocins and the microbial proteins gtfB and luxS of Streptococcus mutans was performed and is discussed here. PMID:28837656

Human factors in airport surface incidents : an analysis of pilot reports submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS)

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine human factors involved in airport surface incidents as reported by pilots. Reports submitted to the : Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) are a good source of information regarding the human performance is...

Interaction-Dominant Dynamics in Human Cognition: Beyond 1/f[superscript [alpha

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ihlen, Espen A. F.; Vereijken, Beatrix

2010-01-01

It has been suggested that human behavior in general and cognitive performance in particular emerge from coordination between multiple temporal scales. In this article, we provide quantitative support for such a theory of interaction-dominant dynamics in human cognition by using wavelet-based multifractal analysis and accompanying multiplicative…

An Evidential Reasoning-Based CREAM to Human Reliability Analysis in Maritime Accident Process.

PubMed

Wu, Bing; Yan, Xinping; Wang, Yang; Soares, C Guedes

2017-10-01

This article proposes a modified cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM) for estimating the human error probability in the maritime accident process on the basis of an evidential reasoning approach. This modified CREAM is developed to precisely quantify the linguistic variables of the common performance conditions and to overcome the problem of ignoring the uncertainty caused by incomplete information in the existing CREAM models. Moreover, this article views maritime accident development from the sequential perspective, where a scenario- and barrier-based framework is proposed to describe the maritime accident process. This evidential reasoning-based CREAM approach together with the proposed accident development framework are applied to human reliability analysis of a ship capsizing accident. It will facilitate subjective human reliability analysis in different engineering systems where uncertainty exists in practice. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

Human performance consequences of stages and levels of automation: an integrated meta-analysis.

PubMed

Onnasch, Linda; Wickens, Christopher D; Li, Huiyang; Manzey, Dietrich

2014-05-01

We investigated how automation-induced human performance consequences depended on the degree of automation (DOA). Function allocation between human and automation can be represented in terms of the stages and levels taxonomy proposed by Parasuraman, Sheridan, and Wickens. Higher DOAs are achieved both by later stages and higher levels within stages. A meta-analysis based on data of 18 experiments examines the mediating effects of DOA on routine system performance, performance when the automation fails, workload, and situation awareness (SA). The effects of DOA on these measures are summarized by level of statistical significance. We found (a) a clear automation benefit for routine system performance with increasing DOA, (b) a similar but weaker pattern for workload when automation functioned properly, and (c) a negative impact of higher DOA on failure system performance and SA. Most interesting was the finding that negative consequences of automation seem to be most likely when DOA moved across a critical boundary, which was identified between automation supporting information analysis and automation supporting action selection. Results support the proposed cost-benefit trade-off with regard to DOA. It seems that routine performance and workload on one hand, and the potential loss of SA and manual skills on the other hand, directly trade off and that appropriate function allocation can serve only one of the two aspects. Findings contribute to the body of research on adequate function allocation by providing an overall picture through quantitatively combining data from a variety of studies across varying domains.

Test bed experiments for various telerobotic system characteristics and configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duffie, Neil A.; Wiker, Steven F.; Zik, John J.

1990-01-01

Dexterous manipulation and grasping in telerobotic systems depends on the integration of high-performance sensors, displays, actuators and controls into systems in which careful consideration has been given to human perception and tolerance. Research underway at the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) has the objective of enhancing the performance of these systems and their components, and quantifying the effects of the many electrical, mechanical, control, and human factors that affect their performance. This will lead to a fundamental understanding of performance issues which will in turn allow designers to evaluate sensor, actuator, display, and control technologies with respect to generic measures of dexterous performance. As part of this effort, an experimental test bed was developed which has telerobotic components with exceptionally high fidelity in master/slave operation. A Telerobotic Performance Analysis System has also been developed which allows performance to be determined for various system configurations and electro-mechanical characteristics. Both this performance analysis system and test bed experiments are described.

Human Activity Recognition from Body Sensor Data using Deep Learning.

PubMed

Hassan, Mohammad Mehedi; Huda, Shamsul; Uddin, Md Zia; Almogren, Ahmad; Alrubaian, Majed

2018-04-16

In recent years, human activity recognition from body sensor data or wearable sensor data has become a considerable research attention from academia and health industry. This research can be useful for various e-health applications such as monitoring elderly and physical impaired people at Smart home to improve their rehabilitation processes. However, it is not easy to accurately and automatically recognize physical human activity through wearable sensors due to the complexity and variety of body activities. In this paper, we address the human activity recognition problem as a classification problem using wearable body sensor data. In particular, we propose to utilize a Deep Belief Network (DBN) model for successful human activity recognition. First, we extract the important initial features from the raw body sensor data. Then, a kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) are performed to further process the features and make them more robust to be useful for fast activity recognition. Finally, the DBN is trained by these features. Various experiments were performed on a real-world wearable sensor dataset to verify the effectiveness of the deep learning algorithm. The results show that the proposed DBN outperformed other algorithms and achieves satisfactory activity recognition performance.

A model of human event detection in multiple process monitoring situations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenstein, J. S.; Rouse, W. B.

1978-01-01

It is proposed that human decision making in many multi-task situations might be modeled in terms of the manner in which the human detects events related to his tasks and the manner in which he allocates his attention among his tasks once he feels events have occurred. A model of human event detection performance in such a situation is presented. An assumption of the model is that, in attempting to detect events, the human generates the probability that events have occurred. Discriminant analysis is used to model the human's generation of these probabilities. An experimental study of human event detection performance in a multiple process monitoring situation is described and the application of the event detection model to this situation is addressed. The experimental study employed a situation in which subjects simulataneously monitored several dynamic processes for the occurrence of events and made yes/no decisions on the presence of events in each process. Input to the event detection model of the information displayed to the experimental subjects allows comparison of the model's performance with the performance of the subjects.

Short-term application of dexamethasone on stem cells derived from human gingiva reduces the expression of RUNX2 and β-catenin.

PubMed

Kim, Bo-Bae; Kim, Minji; Park, Yun-Hee; Ko, Youngkyung; Park, Jun-Beom

2017-06-01

Objective Next-generation sequencing was performed to evaluate the effects of short-term application of dexamethasone on human gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Methods Human gingiva-derived stem cells were treated with a final concentration of 10 -7  M dexamethasone and the same concentration of vehicle control. This was followed by mRNA sequencing and data analysis, gene ontology and pathway analysis, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction of mRNA, and western blot analysis of RUNX2 and β-catenin. Results In total, 26,364 mRNAs were differentially expressed. Comparison of the results of dexamethasone versus control at 2 hours revealed that 7 mRNAs were upregulated and 25 mRNAs were downregulated. The application of dexamethasone reduced the expression of RUNX2 and β-catenin in human gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Conclusion The effects of dexamethasone on stem cells were evaluated with mRNA sequencing, and validation of the expression was performed with qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. The results of this study can provide new insights into the role of mRNA sequencing in maxillofacial areas.

Genome-Wide Prediction and Analysis of 3D-Domain Swapped Proteins in the Human Genome from Sequence Information.

PubMed

Upadhyay, Atul Kumar; Sowdhamini, Ramanathan

2016-01-01

3D-domain swapping is one of the mechanisms of protein oligomerization and the proteins exhibiting this phenomenon have many biological functions. These proteins, which undergo domain swapping, have acquired much attention owing to their involvement in human diseases, such as conformational diseases, amyloidosis, serpinopathies, proteionopathies etc. Early realisation of proteins in the whole human genome that retain tendency to domain swap will enable many aspects of disease control management. Predictive models were developed by using machine learning approaches with an average accuracy of 78% (85.6% of sensitivity, 87.5% of specificity and an MCC value of 0.72) to predict putative domain swapping in protein sequences. These models were applied to many complete genomes with special emphasis on the human genome. Nearly 44% of the protein sequences in the human genome were predicted positive for domain swapping. Enrichment analysis was performed on the positively predicted sequences from human genome for their domain distribution, disease association and functional importance based on Gene Ontology (GO). Enrichment analysis was also performed to infer a better understanding of the functional importance of these sequences. Finally, we developed hinge region prediction, in the given putative domain swapped sequence, by using important physicochemical properties of amino acids.

Criteria and procedures for validating biomathematical models of human performance and fatigue : procedures for analysis of work schedules.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-01-01

Each railroad covered by 49 CFR 228.407 must perform an analysis of the work schedules of its train employees who are engaged in commuter or intercity rail passenger transportation and identify those schedules that, if worked by such a train employee...

Accelerating epistasis analysis in human genetics with consumer graphics hardware.

PubMed

Sinnott-Armstrong, Nicholas A; Greene, Casey S; Cancare, Fabio; Moore, Jason H

2009-07-24

Human geneticists are now capable of measuring more than one million DNA sequence variations from across the human genome. The new challenge is to develop computationally feasible methods capable of analyzing these data for associations with common human disease, particularly in the context of epistasis. Epistasis describes the situation where multiple genes interact in a complex non-linear manner to determine an individual's disease risk and is thought to be ubiquitous for common diseases. Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) is an algorithm capable of detecting epistasis. An exhaustive analysis with MDR is often computationally expensive, particularly for high order interactions. This challenge has previously been met with parallel computation and expensive hardware. The option we examine here exploits commodity hardware designed for computer graphics. In modern computers Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have more memory bandwidth and computational capability than Central Processing Units (CPUs) and are well suited to this problem. Advances in the video game industry have led to an economy of scale creating a situation where these powerful components are readily available at very low cost. Here we implement and evaluate the performance of the MDR algorithm on GPUs. Of primary interest are the time required for an epistasis analysis and the price to performance ratio of available solutions. We found that using MDR on GPUs consistently increased performance per machine over both a feature rich Java software package and a C++ cluster implementation. The performance of a GPU workstation running a GPU implementation reduces computation time by a factor of 160 compared to an 8-core workstation running the Java implementation on CPUs. This GPU workstation performs similarly to 150 cores running an optimized C++ implementation on a Beowulf cluster. Furthermore this GPU system provides extremely cost effective performance while leaving the CPU available for other tasks. The GPU workstation containing three GPUs costs $2000 while obtaining similar performance on a Beowulf cluster requires 150 CPU cores which, including the added infrastructure and support cost of the cluster system, cost approximately $82,500. Graphics hardware based computing provides a cost effective means to perform genetic analysis of epistasis using MDR on large datasets without the infrastructure of a computing cluster.

Review of Significant Incidents and Close Calls in Human Spaceflight from a Human Factors Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silva-Martinez, Jackelynne; Ellenberger, Richard; Dory, Jonathan

2017-01-01

This project aims to identify poor human factors design decisions that led to error-prone systems, or did not facilitate the flight crew making the right choices; and to verify that NASA is effectively preventing similar incidents from occurring again. This analysis was performed by reviewing significant incidents and close calls in human spaceflight identified by the NASA Johnson Space Center Safety and Mission Assurance Flight Safety Office. The review of incidents shows whether the identified human errors were due to the operational phase (flight crew and ground control) or if they initiated at the design phase (includes manufacturing and test). This classification was performed with the aid of the NASA Human Systems Integration domains. This in-depth analysis resulted in a tool that helps with the human factors classification of significant incidents and close calls in human spaceflight, which can be used to identify human errors at the operational level, and how they were or should be minimized. Current governing documents on human systems integration for both government and commercial crew were reviewed to see if current requirements, processes, training, and standard operating procedures protect the crew and ground control against these issues occurring in the future. Based on the findings, recommendations to target those areas are provided.

New Integrated Modeling Capabilities: MIDAS' Recent Behavioral Enhancements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gore, Brian F.; Jarvis, Peter A.

2005-01-01

The Man-machine Integration Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) is an integrated human performance modeling software tool that is based on mechanisms that underlie and cause human behavior. A PC-Windows version of MIDAS has been created that integrates the anthropometric character "Jack (TM)" with MIDAS' validated perceptual and attention mechanisms. MIDAS now models multiple simulated humans engaging in goal-related behaviors. New capabilities include the ability to predict situations in which errors and/or performance decrements are likely due to a variety of factors including concurrent workload and performance influencing factors (PIFs). This paper describes a new model that predicts the effects of microgravity on a mission specialist's performance, and its first application to simulating the task of conducting a Life Sciences experiment in space according to a sequential or parallel schedule of performance.

The SACADA database for human reliability and human performance

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Y. James Chang; Dennis Bley; Lawrence Criscione

2014-05-01

Lack of appropriate and sufficient human performance data has been identified as a key factor affecting human reliability analysis (HRA) quality especially in the estimation of human error probability (HEP). The Scenario Authoring, Characterization, and Debriefing Application (SACADA) database was developed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to address this data need. An agreement between NRC and the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) was established to support the SACADA development with aims to make the SACADA tool suitable for implementation in the nuclear power plants' operator training program to collect operator performance information. The collected data wouldmore » support the STPNOC's operator training program and be shared with the NRC for improving HRA quality. This paper discusses the SACADA data taxonomy, the theoretical foundation, the prospective data to be generated from the SACADA raw data to inform human reliability and human performance, and the considerations on the use of simulator data for HRA. Each SACADA data point consists of two information segments: context and performance results. Context is a characterization of the performance challenges to task success. The performance results are the results of performing the task. The data taxonomy uses a macrocognitive functions model for the framework. At a high level, information is classified according to the macrocognitive functions of detecting the plant abnormality, understanding the abnormality, deciding the response plan, executing the response plan, and team related aspects (i.e., communication, teamwork, and supervision). The data are expected to be useful for analyzing the relations between context, error modes and error causes in human performance.« less

The Changes of Gene Expression on Human Hair during Long-Spaceflight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terada, Masahiro; Mukai, Chiaki; Ishioka, Noriaki; Majima, Hideyuki J.; Yamada, Shin; Seki, Masaya; Takahashi, Rika; Higashibata, Akira; Ohshima, Hiroshi; Sudoh, Masamichi; Minamisawa, Susumu

Hair has many advantages as the experimental sample. In a hair follicle, hair matrix cells actively divide and these active changes sensitively reflect physical condition on human body. The hair shaft records the metabolic conditions of mineral elements in our body. From human hairs, we can detect physiological informations about the human health. Therefore, we focused on using hair root analysis to understand the effects of spaceflight on astronauts. In 2009, we started a research program focusing on the analysis of astronauts’ hairs to examine the effects of long-term spaceflight on the gene expression in the human body. We want to get basic information to invent the effectivly diagnostic methods to detect the health situations of astronauts during space flight by analyzing human hair. We extracted RNA form the collected samples. Then, these extracted RNA was amplified. Amplified RNA was processed and hybridized to the Whole Human Genome (4×44K) Oligo Microarray (Agilent Technologies) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Slide scanning was performed using the Agilent DNA Microarray Scanner. Scanning data were normalized with Agilent’s Feature Extraction software. Data preprocessing and analysis were performed using GeneSpring software 11.0.1. Next, Synthesis of cDNA (1 mg) was carried out using the PrimeScript RT reagent Kit (TaKaRa Bio) following the manufacturer’s instructions. The qRT-PCR experiment was performed with SYBR Premix Ex Taq (TaKaRa Bio) using the 7500 Real-Time PCR system (Applied Biosystems). We detected the changes of some gene expressions during spaceflight from both microarray and qRT-PCR data. These genes seems to be related with the hair proliferation. We believe that these results will lead to the discovery of the important factor effected during space flight on the hair.

A Novel Human Body Area Network for Brain Diseases Analysis.

PubMed

Lin, Kai; Xu, Tianlang

2016-10-01

Development of wireless sensor and mobile communication technology provide an unprecedented opportunity for realizing smart and interactive healthcare systems. Designing such systems aims to remotely monitor the health and diagnose the diseases for users. In this paper, we design a novel human body area network for brain diseases analysis, which is named BABDA. Considering the brain is one of the most complex organs in the human body, the BABDA system provides four function modules to ensure the high quality of the analysis result, which includes initial data collection, data correction, data transmission and comprehensive data analysis. The performance evaluation conducted in a realistic environment with several criteria shows the availability and practicability of the BABDA system.

A meta-analysis of factors affecting trust in human-robot interaction.

PubMed

Hancock, Peter A; Billings, Deborah R; Schaefer, Kristin E; Chen, Jessie Y C; de Visser, Ewart J; Parasuraman, Raja

2011-10-01

We evaluate and quantify the effects of human, robot, and environmental factors on perceived trust in human-robot interaction (HRI). To date, reviews of trust in HRI have been qualitative or descriptive. Our quantitative review provides a fundamental empirical foundation to advance both theory and practice. Meta-analytic methods were applied to the available literature on trust and HRI. A total of 29 empirical studies were collected, of which 10 met the selection criteria for correlational analysis and 11 for experimental analysis. These studies provided 69 correlational and 47 experimental effect sizes. The overall correlational effect size for trust was r = +0.26,with an experimental effect size of d = +0.71. The effects of human, robot, and environmental characteristics were examined with an especial evaluation of the robot dimensions of performance and attribute-based factors. The robot performance and attributes were the largest contributors to the development of trust in HRI. Environmental factors played only a moderate role. Factors related to the robot itself, specifically, its performance, had the greatest current association with trust, and environmental factors were moderately associated. There was little evidence for effects of human-related factors. The findings provide quantitative estimates of human, robot, and environmental factors influencing HRI trust. Specifically, the current summary provides effect size estimates that are useful in establishing design and training guidelines with reference to robot-related factors of HRI trust. Furthermore, results indicate that improper trust calibration may be mitigated by the manipulation of robot design. However, many future research needs are identified.

Position requirements for space station personnel and linkages to portable microcomputer performance assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jeanneret, P. R.

1988-01-01

The development and use of a menu of performance tests that can be self-administered on a portable microcomputer are investigated. In order to identify, develop, or otherwise select the relevant human capabilities/attributes to measure and hence include in the performance battery, it is essential that an analysis be conducted of the jobs or functions that will be performed throughout a space shuttle mission. The primary job analysis instrument, the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), is discussed in detail so the reader will have sufficient background for understanding the application of the instrument to the various work activities included within the scope of the study, and the derivation of the human requirements (abilities/attributes) from the PAQ analyses. The research methodology is described and includes the procedures used for gathering the PAQ data. The results are presented in detail with specific emphasis on identifying critical requirements that can be measured with a portable computerized assessment battery. A discussion of the results is given with implications for future research.

Pilot study on real-time motion detection in UAS video data by human observer and image exploitation algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hild, Jutta; Krüger, Wolfgang; Brüstle, Stefan; Trantelle, Patrick; Unmüßig, Gabriel; Voit, Michael; Heinze, Norbert; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth; Beyerer, Jürgen

2017-05-01

Real-time motion video analysis is a challenging and exhausting task for the human observer, particularly in safety and security critical domains. Hence, customized video analysis systems providing functions for the analysis of subtasks like motion detection or target tracking are welcome. While such automated algorithms relieve the human operators from performing basic subtasks, they impose additional interaction duties on them. Prior work shows that, e.g., for interaction with target tracking algorithms, a gaze-enhanced user interface is beneficial. In this contribution, we present an investigation on interaction with an independent motion detection (IDM) algorithm. Besides identifying an appropriate interaction technique for the user interface - again, we compare gaze-based and traditional mouse-based interaction - we focus on the benefit an IDM algorithm might provide for an UAS video analyst. In a pilot study, we exposed ten subjects to the task of moving target detection in UAS video data twice, once performing with automatic support, once performing without it. We compare the two conditions considering performance in terms of effectiveness (correct target selections). Additionally, we report perceived workload (measured using the NASA-TLX questionnaire) and user satisfaction (measured using the ISO 9241-411 questionnaire). The results show that a combination of gaze input and automated IDM algorithm provides valuable support for the human observer, increasing the number of correct target selections up to 62% and reducing workload at the same time.

Sleep-deprivation effect on human performance: a meta-analysis approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Candice D. Griffith; Candice D. Griffith; Sankaran Mahadevan

Human fatigue is hard to define since there is no direct measure of fatigue, much like stress. Instead fatigue must be inferred from measures that are affected by fatigue. One such measurable output affected by fatigue is reaction time. In this study the relationship of reaction time to sleep deprivation is studied. These variables were selected because reaction time and hours of sleep deprivation are straightforward characteristics of fatigue to begin the investigation of fatigue effects on performance. Meta-analysis, a widely used procedure in medical and psychological studies, is applied to the variety of fatigue literature collected from various fieldsmore » in this study. Meta-analysis establishes a procedure for coding and analyzing information from various studies to compute an effect size. In this research the effect size reported is the difference between standardized means, and is found to be -0.6341, implying a strong relationship between sleep deprivation and performance degradation.« less

Convergence and stress analysis of the homogeneous structure of human femur bone during standing up condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izzawati, B.; Daud, R.; Afendi, M.; Majid, M. S. Abdul; Zain, N. A. M.

2017-09-01

Finite element models have been widely used to quantify the stress analysis and to predict the bone fractures of the human body. The present study highlights on the stress analysis of the homogeneous structure of human femur bone during standing up condition. The main objective of this study is to evaluate and understand the biomechanics for human femur bone and to prepare orthotropic homogeneous material models used for FE analysis of the global proximal femur. Thus, it is necessary to investigate critical stress on the human femur bone for future study on implantation of internal fixator and external fixator. The implication possibility to create a valid FE model by simply comparing the FE results with the actual biomechanics structures. Thus, a convergence test was performed by FE model of the femur and the stress analysis based on the actual biomechanics of the human femur bone. An increment of critical stress shows in the femur shaft as the increasing of load on the femoral head and decreasing the pulling force at greater trochanter.

Human factors process failure modes and effects analysis (HF PFMEA) software tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandler, Faith T. (Inventor); Relvini, Kristine M. (Inventor); Shedd, Nathaneal P. (Inventor); Valentino, William D. (Inventor); Philippart, Monica F. (Inventor); Bessette, Colette I. (Inventor)

2011-01-01

Methods, computer-readable media, and systems for automatically performing Human Factors Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis for a process are provided. At least one task involved in a process is identified, where the task includes at least one human activity. The human activity is described using at least one verb. A human error potentially resulting from the human activity is automatically identified, the human error is related to the verb used in describing the task. A likelihood of occurrence, detection, and correction of the human error is identified. The severity of the effect of the human error is identified. The likelihood of occurrence, and the severity of the risk of potential harm is identified. The risk of potential harm is compared with a risk threshold to identify the appropriateness of corrective measures.

An integrated environmental and health performance quantification model for pre-occupancy phase of buildings in China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Xiaodong, E-mail: eastdawn@tsinghua.edu.cn; Su, Shu, E-mail: sushuqh@163.com; Zhang, Zhihui, E-mail: zhzhg@tsinghua.edu.cn

To comprehensively pre-evaluate the damages to both the environment and human health due to construction activities in China, this paper presents an integrated building environmental and health performance (EHP) assessment model based on the Building Environmental Performance Analysis System (BEPAS) and the Building Health Impact Analysis System (BHIAS) models and offers a new inventory data estimation method. The new model follows the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework and the inventory analysis step involves bill of quantity (BOQ) data collection, consumption data formation, and environmental profile transformation. The consumption data are derived from engineering drawings and quotas to conduct the assessmentmore » before construction for pre-evaluation. The new model classifies building impacts into three safeguard areas: ecosystems, natural resources and human health. Thus, this model considers environmental impacts as well as damage to human wellbeing. The monetization approach, distance-to-target method and panel method are considered as optional weighting approaches. Finally, nine residential buildings of different structural types are taken as case studies to test the operability of the integrated model through application. The results indicate that the new model can effectively pre-evaluate building EHP and the structure type significantly affects the performance of residential buildings.« less

Fusing face-verification algorithms and humans.

PubMed

O'Toole, Alice J; Abdi, Hervé; Jiang, Fang; Phillips, P Jonathon

2007-10-01

It has been demonstrated recently that state-of-the-art face-recognition algorithms can surpass human accuracy at matching faces over changes in illumination. The ranking of algorithms and humans by accuracy, however, does not provide information about whether algorithms and humans perform the task comparably or whether algorithms and humans can be fused to improve performance. In this paper, we fused humans and algorithms using partial least square regression (PLSR). In the first experiment, we applied PLSR to face-pair similarity scores generated by seven algorithms participating in the Face Recognition Grand Challenge. The PLSR produced an optimal weighting of the similarity scores, which we tested for generality with a jackknife procedure. Fusing the algorithms' similarity scores using the optimal weights produced a twofold reduction of error rate over the most accurate algorithm. Next, human-subject-generated similarity scores were added to the PLSR analysis. Fusing humans and algorithms increased the performance to near-perfect classification accuracy. These results are discussed in terms of maximizing face-verification accuracy with hybrid systems consisting of multiple algorithms and humans.

Sexual Dimorphism Analysis and Gender Classification in 3D Human Face

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Yuan; Lu, Li; Yan, Jingqi; Liu, Zhi; Shi, Pengfei

In this paper, we present the sexual dimorphism analysis in 3D human face and perform gender classification based on the result of sexual dimorphism analysis. Four types of features are extracted from a 3D human-face image. By using statistical methods, the existence of sexual dimorphism is demonstrated in 3D human face based on these features. The contributions of each feature to sexual dimorphism are quantified according to a novel criterion. The best gender classification rate is 94% by using SVMs and Matcher Weighting fusion method.This research adds to the knowledge of 3D faces in sexual dimorphism and affords a foundation that could be used to distinguish between male and female in 3D faces.

Statically vs dynamically balanced gait: Analysis of a robotic exoskeleton compared with a human.

PubMed

Barbareschi, Giulia; Richards, Rosie; Thornton, Matt; Carlson, Tom; Holloway, Catherine

2015-01-01

In recent years exoskeletons able to replicate human gait have begun to attract growing popularity for both assistive and rehabilitative purposes. Although wearable robots often need the use of external support in order to maintain stability, the REX exoskeleton by REX Bionics is able to self-balance through the whole cycle. However this statically balanced gait presents important differences with the dynamically balanced gait of human subjects. This paper will examine kinematic and kinetic differences between the gait analysis performed on a subject wearing the REX exoskeleton and human gait analysis data as presented in literature. We will also provide an insight on the impact that these differences can have for both rehabilitative and assistive applications.

Medical imaging informatics based solutions for human performance analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verma, Sneha; McNitt-Gray, Jill; Liu, Brent J.

2018-03-01

For human performance analysis, extensive experimental trials are often conducted to identify the underlying cause or long-term consequences of certain pathologies and to improve motor functions by examining the movement patterns of affected individuals. Data collected for human performance analysis includes high-speed video, surveys, spreadsheets, force data recordings from instrumented surfaces etc. These datasets are recorded from various standalone sources and therefore captured in different folder structures as well as in varying formats depending on the hardware configurations. Therefore, data integration and synchronization present a huge challenge while handling these multimedia datasets specifically for large datasets. Another challenge faced by researchers is querying large quantity of unstructured data and to design feedbacks/reporting tools for users who need to use datasets at various levels. In the past, database server storage solutions have been introduced to securely store these datasets. However, to automate the process of uploading raw files, various file manipulation steps are required. In the current workflow, this file manipulation and structuring is done manually and is not feasible for large amounts of data. However, by attaching metadata files and data dictionaries with these raw datasets, they can provide information and structure needed for automated server upload. We introduce one such system for metadata creation for unstructured multimedia data based on the DICOM data model design. We will discuss design and implementation of this system and evaluate this system with data set collected for movement analysis study. The broader aim of this paper is to present a solutions space achievable based on medical imaging informatics design and methods for improvement in workflow for human performance analysis in a biomechanics research lab.

Web-ware bioinformatical analysis and structure modelling of N-terminus of human multisynthetase complex auxiliary component protein p43.

PubMed

Deineko, Viktor

2006-01-01

Human multisynthetase complex auxiliary component, protein p43 is an endothelial monocyte-activating polypeptide II precursor. In this study, comprehensive sequence analysis of N-terminus has been performed to identify structural domains, motifs, sites of post-translation modification and other functionally important parameters. The spatial structure model of full-chain protein p43 is obtained.

Space Life-Support Engineering Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seagrave, Richard C. (Principal Investigator)

1995-01-01

This report covers the seventeen months of work performed under an extended one year NASA University Grant awarded to Iowa State University to perform research on topics relating to the development of closed-loop long-term life support systems with the initial principal focus on space water management. In the first phase of the program, investigators from chemistry and chemical engineering with demonstrated expertise in systems analysis, thermodynamics, analytical chemistry and instrumentation, performed research and development in two major related areas; the development of low-cost, accurate, and durable sensors for trace chemical and biological species, and the development of unsteady-state simulation packages for use in the development and optimization of control systems for life support systems. In the second year of the program, emphasis was redirected towards concentrating on the development of dynamic simulation techniques and software and on performing a thermodynamic systems analysis, centered on availability or energy analysis, in an effort to begin optimizing the systems needed for water purification. The third year of the program, the subject of this report, was devoted to the analysis of the water balance for the interaction between humans and the life support system during space flight and exercise, to analysis of the cardiopulmonary systems of humans during space flight, and to analysis of entropy production during operation of the air recovery system during space flight.

An Ideal Observer Analysis of Visual Working Memory

PubMed Central

Sims, Chris R.; Jacobs, Robert A.; Knill, David C.

2013-01-01

Limits in visual working memory (VWM) strongly constrain human performance across many tasks. However, the nature of these limits is not well understood. In this paper we develop an ideal observer analysis of human visual working memory, by deriving the expected behavior of an optimally performing, but limited-capacity memory system. This analysis is framed around rate–distortion theory, a branch of information theory that provides optimal bounds on the accuracy of information transmission subject to a fixed information capacity. The result of the ideal observer analysis is a theoretical framework that provides a task-independent and quantitative definition of visual memory capacity and yields novel predictions regarding human performance. These predictions are subsequently evaluated and confirmed in two empirical studies. Further, the framework is general enough to allow the specification and testing of alternative models of visual memory (for example, how capacity is distributed across multiple items). We demonstrate that a simple model developed on the basis of the ideal observer analysis—one which allows variability in the number of stored memory representations, but does not assume the presence of a fixed item limit—provides an excellent account of the empirical data, and further offers a principled re-interpretation of existing models of visual working memory. PMID:22946744

Application of Microchip Electrophoresis for Clinical Tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yatsushiro, Shouki; Kataoka, Masatoshi

Microchip electrophoresis has recently attracted much attention in the field of nuclear acid analysis due to its high efficiency, ease of operation, low consumption of samples and reagents, and relatively low costs. In addition, the analysis has expanded to an analytical field like not only the analysis of DNA but also the analysis of RNA, the protein, the sugar chain, and the cellular function, etc. In this report, we showed that high-performance monitoring systems for human blood glucose levels and α-amylase activity in human plasma using microchip electrophoresis.

Human performance modeling for system of systems analytics :soldier fatigue.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lawton, Craig R.; Campbell, James E.; Miller, Dwight Peter

2005-10-01

The military has identified Human Performance Modeling (HPM) as a significant requirement and challenge of future systems modeling and analysis initiatives as can be seen in the Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Modeling and Simulation Office's (DMSO) Master Plan (DoD 5000.59-P 1995). To this goal, the military is currently spending millions of dollars on programs devoted to HPM in various military contexts. Examples include the Human Performance Modeling Integration (HPMI) program within the Air Force Research Laboratory, which focuses on integrating HPMs with constructive models of systems (e.g. cockpit simulations) and the Navy's Human Performance Center (HPC) established in Septembermore » 2003. Nearly all of these initiatives focus on the interface between humans and a single system. This is insufficient in the era of highly complex network centric SoS. This report presents research and development in the area of HPM in a system-of-systems (SoS). Specifically, this report addresses modeling soldier fatigue and the potential impacts soldier fatigue can have on SoS performance.« less

Automated Sensitivity Analysis of Interplanetary Trajectories

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knittel, Jeremy; Hughes, Kyle; Englander, Jacob; Sarli, Bruno

2017-01-01

This work describes a suite of Python tools known as the Python EMTG Automated Trade Study Application (PEATSA). PEATSA was written to automate the operation of trajectory optimization software, simplify the process of performing sensitivity analysis, and was ultimately found to out-perform a human trajectory designer in unexpected ways. These benefits will be discussed and demonstrated on sample mission designs.

Pilot Task Profiles, Human Factors, And Image Realism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCormick, Dennis

1982-06-01

Computer Image Generation (CIG) visual systems provide real time scenes for state-of-the-art flight training simulators. The visual system reauires a greater understanding of training tasks, human factors, and the concept of image realism to produce an effective and efficient training scene than is required by other types of visual systems. Image realism must be defined in terms of pilot visual information reauirements. Human factors analysis of training and perception is necessary to determine the pilot's information requirements. System analysis then determines how the CIG and display device can best provide essential information to the pilot. This analysis procedure ensures optimum training effectiveness and system performance.

Exploring Techniques for Vision Based Human Activity Recognition: Methods, Systems, and Evaluation

PubMed Central

Xu, Xin; Tang, Jinshan; Zhang, Xiaolong; Liu, Xiaoming; Zhang, Hong; Qiu, Yimin

2013-01-01

With the wide applications of vision based intelligent systems, image and video analysis technologies have attracted the attention of researchers in the computer vision field. In image and video analysis, human activity recognition is an important research direction. By interpreting and understanding human activities, we can recognize and predict the occurrence of crimes and help the police or other agencies react immediately. In the past, a large number of papers have been published on human activity recognition in video and image sequences. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey of the recent development of the techniques, including methods, systems, and quantitative evaluation of the performance of human activity recognition. PMID:23353144

Mechanisms of Temporal Pattern Discrimination by Human Observers

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-02-15

Research Center Department of Psychology University of Florida Gainesville, Florida 32611 15 February 1994 Final Technical Report for Period 1 October 1990...Center tfpdCbE Department of Psychology ________ AFOSR/NL Gr. &OORESS (City. Stteco and ZIP Code) 7b. ADDRESS (City’. State and ZIP Code) University of...contrasting novice and experienced performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology : Human Perception and Performance, 18, 50-71. Berg, B. G. (1989). Analysis

Vessel traffic service watchstander performance in routine operations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-10-01

Human factors specialists observed and measured the performance of watchstanders at four Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) centers: Houston-Galveston, Puget Sound, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Analysis of the data yielded results amenable to mathematic...

Humans make efficient use of natural image statistics when performing spatial interpolation.

PubMed

D'Antona, Anthony D; Perry, Jeffrey S; Geisler, Wilson S

2013-12-16

Visual systems learn through evolution and experience over the lifespan to exploit the statistical structure of natural images when performing visual tasks. Understanding which aspects of this statistical structure are incorporated into the human nervous system is a fundamental goal in vision science. To address this goal, we measured human ability to estimate the intensity of missing image pixels in natural images. Human estimation accuracy is compared with various simple heuristics (e.g., local mean) and with optimal observers that have nearly complete knowledge of the local statistical structure of natural images. Human estimates are more accurate than those of simple heuristics, and they match the performance of an optimal observer that knows the local statistical structure of relative intensities (contrasts). This optimal observer predicts the detailed pattern of human estimation errors and hence the results place strong constraints on the underlying neural mechanisms. However, humans do not reach the performance of an optimal observer that knows the local statistical structure of the absolute intensities, which reflect both local relative intensities and local mean intensity. As predicted from a statistical analysis of natural images, human estimation accuracy is negligibly improved by expanding the context from a local patch to the whole image. Our results demonstrate that the human visual system exploits efficiently the statistical structure of natural images.

An automated image processing method for classification of diabetic retinopathy stages from conjunctival microvasculature images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khansari, Maziyar M.; O'Neill, William; Penn, Richard; Blair, Norman P.; Chau, Felix; Shahidi, Mahnaz

2017-03-01

The conjunctiva is a densely vascularized tissue of the eye that provides an opportunity for imaging of human microcirculation. In the current study, automated fine structure analysis of conjunctival microvasculature images was performed to discriminate stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The study population consisted of one group of nondiabetic control subjects (NC) and 3 groups of diabetic subjects, with no clinical DR (NDR), non-proliferative DR (NPDR), or proliferative DR (PDR). Ordinary least square regression and Fisher linear discriminant analyses were performed to automatically discriminate images between group pairs of subjects. Human observers who were masked to the grouping of subjects performed image discrimination between group pairs. Over 80% and 70% of images of subjects with clinical and non-clinical DR were correctly discriminated by the automated method, respectively. The discrimination rates of the automated method were higher than human observers. The fine structure analysis of conjunctival microvasculature images provided discrimination of DR stages and can be potentially useful for DR screening and monitoring.

SOLID PHASE EXTRACTION AND HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH PHOTODIODE ARRAY DETECTION OF CHEMICAL INDICATORS OF HUMAN FECAL CONTAMINATION IN WATER

EPA Science Inventory

Faster and more sensitive analysis of water that is contaminated by human fecal matter is very important for health. The current microbiological methods to assess water quality do not meet this need. Alternate non-microbial human fecal indicators have been proposed by various r...

Managing Human Resource Capabilities for Sustainable Competitive Advantage: An Empirical Analysis from Indian Global Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khandekar, Aradhana; Sharma, Anuradha

2005-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the role of human resource capability (HRC) in organisational performance and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in Indian global organisations. Design/Methodology/Approach: To carry out the present study, an empirical research on a random sample of 300 line or human resource managers from…

Predicting the Consequences of Workload Management Strategies with Human Performance Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitchell, Diane Kuhl; Samma, Charneta

2011-01-01

Human performance modelers at the US Army Research Laboratory have developed an approach for establishing Soldier high workload that can be used for analyses of proposed system designs. Their technique includes three key components. To implement the approach in an experiment, the researcher would create two experimental conditions: a baseline and a design alternative. Next they would identify a scenario in which the test participants perform all their representative concurrent interactions with the system. This scenario should include any events that would trigger a different set of goals for the human operators. They would collect workload values during both the control and alternative design condition to see if the alternative increased workload and decreased performance. They have successfully implemented this approach for military vehicle. designs using the human performance modeling tool, IMPRINT. Although ARL researches use IMPRINT to implement their approach, it can be applied to any workload analysis. Researchers using other modeling and simulations tools or conducting experiments or field tests can use the same approach.

Man/Machine Interaction Dynamics And Performance (MMIDAP) capability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frisch, Harold P.

1991-01-01

The creation of an ability to study interaction dynamics between a machine and its human operator can be approached from a myriad of directions. The Man/Machine Interaction Dynamics and Performance (MMIDAP) project seeks to create an ability to study the consequences of machine design alternatives relative to the performance of both machine and operator. The class of machines to which this study is directed includes those that require the intelligent physical exertions of a human operator. While Goddard's Flight Telerobotic's program was expected to be a major user, basic engineering design and biomedical applications reach far beyond telerobotics. Ongoing efforts are outlined of the GSFC and its University and small business collaborators to integrate both human performance and musculoskeletal data bases with analysis capabilities necessary to enable the study of dynamic actions, reactions, and performance of coupled machine/operator systems.

Soldier Dimension in Battle. Volume I.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

actions that could be undertaken to improve soldier performance. r.r TAB j.9 I 1, Lt tAnrC&il O ML ~ -- . J TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 1 - Final Report 1... Analysis 1-49 Criteria Develomnt for the Soldier Dimension 1-59 Soldier Performance in Continuous Operations 1-60 Leadershin Role 1-60 ART? Data Develonment...have also emphasized the importance of cognitive-behaviorism, situational analysis , and systems theory because of our focus on human performance

Molecular Phylogenetics of Trichostrongylus Species (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae) from Humans of Mazandaran Province, Iran.

PubMed

Sharifdini, Meysam; Heidari, Zahra; Hesari, Zahra; Vatandoost, Sajad; Kia, Eshrat Beigom

2017-06-01

The present study was performed to analyze molecularly the phylogenetic positions of human-infecting Trichostrongylus species in Mazandaran Province, Iran, which is an endemic area for trichostrongyliasis. DNA from 7 Trichostrongylus infected stool samples were extracted by using in-house (IH) method. PCR amplification of ITS2-rDNA region was performed, and products were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of the nucleotide sequence data was performed using MEGA 5.0 software. Six out of 7 isolates had high similarity with Trichostrongylus colubriformis , while the other one showed high homology with Trichostrongylus axei registered in GenBank reference sequences. Intra-specific variations within isolates of T. colubriformis and T. axei amounted to 0-1.8% and 0-0.6%, respectively. Trichostrongylus species obtained in the present study were in a cluster with the relevant reference sequences from previous studies. BLAST analysis indicated that there was 100% homology among all 6 ITS2 sequences of T. colubriformis in the present study and most previously registered sequences of T. colubriformis from human, sheep, and goat isolates from Iran and also human isolates from Laos, Thailand, and France. The ITS2 sequence of T. axei exhibited 99.4% homology with the human isolate of T. axei from Thailand, sheep isolates from New Zealand and Iran, and cattle isolate from USA.

Micro-Logistics Analysis for Human Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cirillo, William; Stromgren, Chel; Galan, Ricardo

2008-01-01

Traditionally, logistics analysis for space missions has focused on the delivery of elements and goods to a destination. This type of logistics analysis can be referred to as "macro-logistics". While the delivery of goods is a critical component of mission analysis, it captures only a portion of the constraints that logistics planning may impose on a mission scenario. The other component of logistics analysis concerns the local handling of goods at the destination, including storage, usage, and disposal. This type of logistics analysis, referred to as "micro-logistics", may also be a primary driver in the viability of a human lunar exploration scenario. With the rigorous constraints that will be placed upon a human lunar outpost, it is necessary to accurately evaluate micro-logistics operations in order to develop exploration scenarios that will result in an acceptable level of system performance.

The Effect of Online Systems Analysis Training on Aerospace Industry Business Performance: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burk, Erlan

2012-01-01

Aerospace companies needed additional research on technology-based training to verify expectations when enhancing human capital through online systems analysis training. The research for online systems analysis training provided aerospace companies a means to verify expectations for systems analysis technology-based training on business…

Sensitive analysis of blonanserin, a novel antipsychotic agent, in human plasma by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Ogawa, Tadashi; Hattori, Hideki; Kaneko, Rina; Ito, Kenjiro; Iwai, Masayo; Mizutani, Yoko; Arinobu, Tetsuya; Ishii, Akira; Suzuki, Osamu; Seno, Hiroshi

2010-01-01

A rapid and sensitive method for analysis of blonanserin in human plasma by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry is presented. After pretreatment of a plasma sample by solid-phase extraction, blonanserin was analyzed by the system with a C(18) column. This method gave satisfactory recovery rates, reproducibility, and good linearity of calibration curve in the range of 0.01-10.0 ng/mL for quality control samples spiked with blonanserin. The detection limit was as low as 1 pg/mL. This method seems very useful in forensic and clinical toxicology and pharmacokinetic studies.

Meta-analysis of the effects of microclimate cooling systems on human performance under thermal stressful environments: potential applications to occupational workers.

PubMed

Chan, Albert P C; Song, Wenfang; Yang, Yang

2015-01-01

This study aims to determine the appropriate microclimate cooling systems (MCSs) to reduce heat stress and improve human performance of occupational workers and their practicality in the occupational field. Meta-analysis was employed to summarize, analyze, and compare the effects of various MCSs on human performance with corresponding physiological and psychological responses, thereby providing solid suggestions for selecting suitable MCSs for occupational workers. Wearing MCSs significantly attenuated the increases in core temperature (-0.34 °C/h) and sweating rate (-0.30 L/h), and significantly improved human performance (+29.9%, effect size [EFS] = 1.1) compared with no cooling condition (CON). Cold air-cooled garments (ACG-Cs; +106.2%, EFS = 2.32) exhibited greater effects on improving human performance among various microclimate cooling garments (MCGs), followed by liquid cooling garments (LCGs; +68.1%, EFS = 1.86) and hybrid cooling garment combining air and liquid cooling (HBCG-AL; +59.1%, EFS=3.38), natural air-cooled garments (ACG-Ns; +39.9%, EFS = 1.12), and phase change material cooling garments (PCMCGs; +19.5%, EFS = 1.2). Performance improvement was observed to be positively and linearly correlated to the differences of core temperature increase rate (r = 0.65, p < 0.01) and sweating rate (r = 0.80, p < 0.001) between MCSs and CON. Considering their application in industrial settings, ACG-Cs, LCGs, and HBCG-AL are practical for work, in which workers do not move frequently, whereas ACG-Ns and PCMCGs are more applicable for the majority of occupational workers. Further enhancement of the cooling efficiency of these two cooling strategies should be initiated. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methodology issues concerning the accuracy of kinematic data collection and analysis using the ariel performance analysis system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilmington, R. P.; Klute, Glenn K. (Editor); Carroll, Amy E. (Editor); Stuart, Mark A. (Editor); Poliner, Jeff (Editor); Rajulu, Sudhakar (Editor); Stanush, Julie (Editor)

1992-01-01

Kinematics, the study of motion exclusive of the influences of mass and force, is one of the primary methods used for the analysis of human biomechanical systems as well as other types of mechanical systems. The Anthropometry and Biomechanics Laboratory (ABL) in the Crew Interface Analysis section of the Man-Systems Division performs both human body kinematics as well as mechanical system kinematics using the Ariel Performance Analysis System (APAS). The APAS supports both analysis of analog signals (e.g. force plate data collection) as well as digitization and analysis of video data. The current evaluations address several methodology issues concerning the accuracy of the kinematic data collection and analysis used in the ABL. This document describes a series of evaluations performed to gain quantitative data pertaining to position and constant angular velocity movements under several operating conditions. Two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional data collection and analyses were completed in a controlled laboratory environment using typical hardware setups. In addition, an evaluation was performed to evaluate the accuracy impact due to a single axis camera offset. Segment length and positional data exhibited errors within 3 percent when using three-dimensional analysis and yielded errors within 8 percent through two-dimensional analysis (Direct Linear Software). Peak angular velocities displayed errors within 6 percent through three-dimensional analyses and exhibited errors of 12 percent when using two-dimensional analysis (Direct Linear Software). The specific results from this series of evaluations and their impacts on the methodology issues of kinematic data collection and analyses are presented in detail. The accuracy levels observed in these evaluations are also presented.

A model of human decision making in multiple process monitoring situations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenstein, J. S.; Rouse, W. B.

1982-01-01

Human decision making in multiple process monitoring situations is considered. It is proposed that human decision making in many multiple process monitoring situations can be modeled in terms of the human's detection of process related events and his allocation of attention among processes once he feels event have occurred. A mathematical model of human event detection and attention allocation performance in multiple process monitoring situations is developed. An assumption made in developing the model is that, in attempting to detect events, the human generates estimates of the probabilities that events have occurred. An elementary pattern recognition technique, discriminant analysis, is used to model the human's generation of these probability estimates. The performance of the model is compared to that of four subjects in a multiple process monitoring situation requiring allocation of attention among processes.

A novel non-contact radar sensor for affective and interactive analysis.

PubMed

Lin, Hong-Dun; Lee, Yen-Shien; Shih, Hsiang-Lan; Chuang, Bor-Nian

2013-01-01

Currently, many physiological signal sensing techniques have been applied for affective analysis in Human-Computer Interaction applications. Most known maturely developed sensing methods (EEG/ECG/EMG/Temperature/BP etc. al.) replied on contact way to obtain desired physiological information for further data analysis. However, those methods might cause some inconvenient and uncomfortable problems, and not easy to be used for affective analysis in interactive performing. To improve this issue, a novel technology based on low power radar technology (Nanosecond Pulse Near-field Sensing, NPNS) with 300 MHz radio-frequency was proposed to detect humans' pulse signal by the non-contact way for heartbeat signal extraction. In this paper, a modified nonlinear HRV calculated algorithm was also developed and applied on analyzing affective status using extracted Peak-to-Peak Interval (PPI) information from detected pulse signal. The proposed new affective analysis method is designed to continuously collect the humans' physiological signal, and validated in a preliminary experiment with sound, light and motion interactive performance. As a result, the mean bias between PPI (from NPNS) and RRI (from ECG) shows less than 1ms, and the correlation is over than 0.88, respectively.

Preclinical Mouse Models of Neurofibromatosis

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-11-01

and NF2-deficient human cells and in cells from Nf1 and Nf2 mutant mice. Genetic analysis of human and murine tumors has provided compelling...lethal myeloproliferative disorder (MPD) characterized by over-production of infiltrative myeloid cells (13). JMML has been modeled in mice by...tumor development for 18 months after exposure. Pathologic analysis was performed on 91% of the Shannon, K.M. 11 study cohort, including 95 of 104

Survey of Human Systems Integration (HSI) Tools for USCG Acquisitions

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

an IMPRINT HPM. IMPRINT uses task network modeling to represent human performance. As the name implies, task networks use a flowchart type format...tools; and built-in tutoring support for beginners . A perceptual/motor layer extending ACT-R’s theory of cognition to perception and action is also...chisystems.com B.8 Information and Functional Flow Analysis Description In information flow analysis, a flowchart of the information and decisions

Evaluation of a human bio-engineered skin equivalent for drug permeation studies.

PubMed

Asbill, C; Kim, N; El-Kattan, A; Creek, K; Wertz, P; Michniak, B

2000-09-01

To test the barrier function of a bio-engineered human skin (BHS) using three model drugs (caffeine, hydrocortisone, and tamoxifen) in vitro. To investigate the lipid composition and microscopic structure of the BHS. The human skin substitute was composed of both epidermal and dermal layers, the latter having a bovine collagen matrix. The permeability of the BHS to three model drugs was compared to that obtained in other percutaneous testing models (human cadaver skin, hairless mouse skin, and EpiDerm). Lipid analysis of the BHS was performed by high performance thin layered chromatography. Histological evaluation of the BHS was performed using routine H&E staining. The BHS mimicked human skin in terms of lipid composition, gross ultrastructure, and the formation of a stratum corneum. However, the permeability of the BHS to caffeine, hydrocortisone, and tamoxifen was 3-4 fold higher than that of human cadaver skin. In summary, the results indicate that the BHS may be an acceptable in vitro model for drug permeability testing.

Conceptual framework on the application of biomechanical measurement methods in driving behavior study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanjaya, Kadek Heri; Sya'bana, Yukhi Mustaqim Kusuma

2017-01-01

Research on eco-friendly vehicle development in Indonesia has largely neglected ergonomic study, despite the fact that traffic accidents have resulted in greater economic cost than fuel subsidy. We have performed a biomechanical experiment on human locomotion earlier. In this article, we describe the importance of implementing the biomechanical measurement methods in transportation ergonomic study. The instruments such as electromyogram (EMG), load cell, pressure sensor, and motion analysis methods as well as cross-correlation function analysis were explained, then the possibility of their application in driving behavior study is described. We describe the potentials and challenges of the biomechanical methods concerning the future vehicle development. The methods provide greater advantages in objective and accurate measurement not only in human task performance but also its correlation with vehicle performance.

Handbook of Human Performance Measures and Crew Requirements for Flight Deck Research

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-12-01

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Technical Center envisions that their : studies will require standard measure of pilot/crew performance. Therefore, : the FAA commissioned the Crew System Ergonomics Information Analysis Center : (CSERIAC) to...

Issues in benchmarking human reliability analysis methods : a literature review.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lois, Erasmia; Forester, John Alan; Tran, Tuan Q.

There is a diversity of human reliability analysis (HRA) methods available for use in assessing human performance within probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). Due to the significant differences in the methods, including the scope, approach, and underlying models, there is a need for an empirical comparison investigating the validity and reliability of the methods. To accomplish this empirical comparison, a benchmarking study is currently underway that compares HRA methods with each other and against operator performance in simulator studies. In order to account for as many effects as possible in the construction of this benchmarking study, a literature review was conducted,more » reviewing past benchmarking studies in the areas of psychology and risk assessment. A number of lessons learned through these studies are presented in order to aid in the design of future HRA benchmarking endeavors.« less

Issues in Benchmarking Human Reliability Analysis Methods: A Literature Review

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronald L. Boring; Stacey M. L. Hendrickson; John A. Forester

There is a diversity of human reliability analysis (HRA) methods available for use in assessing human performance within probabilistic risk assessments (PRA). Due to the significant differences in the methods, including the scope, approach, and underlying models, there is a need for an empirical comparison investigating the validity and reliability of the methods. To accomplish this empirical comparison, a benchmarking study comparing and evaluating HRA methods in assessing operator performance in simulator experiments is currently underway. In order to account for as many effects as possible in the construction of this benchmarking study, a literature review was conducted, reviewing pastmore » benchmarking studies in the areas of psychology and risk assessment. A number of lessons learned through these studies are presented in order to aid in the design of future HRA benchmarking endeavors.« less

CBR-D Tactical Decision Aid (DECAID) Identification and Analysis of Predictive Human Performance Models and Data Bases for Use in a Commander’s CBR-D Decision Aid (DECAID)

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-10-15

the activities required before, during and after chemical/conventional combat situations. m The objective of this study is to assist in the development...Ainsworth, 1., July 1971. Effects of a 48 hour period of sustained activity on tank crew performance. Human Resources Research Organization, Alexandria, Va...This report gives the results of a 48 hour field experiment conducted to determine the effects of sustained activity on the performance of a tank

Automated Sensitivity Analysis of Interplanetary Trajectories for Optimal Mission Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knittel, Jeremy; Hughes, Kyle; Englander, Jacob; Sarli, Bruno

2017-01-01

This work describes a suite of Python tools known as the Python EMTG Automated Trade Study Application (PEATSA). PEATSA was written to automate the operation of trajectory optimization software, simplify the process of performing sensitivity analysis, and was ultimately found to out-perform a human trajectory designer in unexpected ways. These benefits will be discussed and demonstrated on sample mission designs.

Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy and Photoacoustic Spectroscopy for Human Breath Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wojtas, J.; Tittel, F. K.; Stacewicz, T.; Bielecki, Z.; Lewicki, R.; Mikolajczyk, J.; Nowakowski, M.; Szabra, D.; Stefanski, P.; Tarka, J.

2014-12-01

This paper describes two different optoelectronic detection techniques: cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy. These techniques are designed to perform a sensitive analysis of trace gas species in exhaled human breath for medical applications. With such systems, the detection of pathogenic changes at the molecular level can be achieved. The presence of certain gases (biomarkers), at increased concentration levels, indicates numerous human diseases. Diagnosis of a disease in its early stage would significantly increase chances for effective therapy. Non-invasive, real-time measurements, and high sensitivity and selectivity, capable of minimum discomfort for patients, are the main advantages of human breath analysis. At present, monitoring of volatile biomarkers in breath is commonly useful for diagnostic screening, treatment for specific conditions, therapy monitoring, control of exogenous gases (such as bacterial and poisonous emissions), as well as for analysis of metabolic gases.

Fuzzy logic application for modeling man-in-the-loop space shuttle proximity operations. M.S. Thesis - MIT

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Robert B.

1994-01-01

A software pilot model for Space Shuttle proximity operations is developed, utilizing fuzzy logic. The model is designed to emulate a human pilot during the terminal phase of a Space Shuttle approach to the Space Station. The model uses the same sensory information available to a human pilot and is based upon existing piloting rules and techniques determined from analysis of human pilot performance. Such a model is needed to generate numerous rendezvous simulations to various Space Station assembly stages for analysis of current NASA procedures and plume impingement loads on the Space Station. The advantages of a fuzzy logic pilot model are demonstrated by comparing its performance with NASA's man-in-the-loop simulations and with a similar model based upon traditional Boolean logic. The fuzzy model is shown to respond well from a number of initial conditions, with results typical of an average human. In addition, the ability to model different individual piloting techniques and new piloting rules is demonstrated.

Comparing statistical and machine learning classifiers: alternatives for predictive modeling in human factors research.

PubMed

Carnahan, Brian; Meyer, Gérard; Kuntz, Lois-Ann

2003-01-01

Multivariate classification models play an increasingly important role in human factors research. In the past, these models have been based primarily on discriminant analysis and logistic regression. Models developed from machine learning research offer the human factors professional a viable alternative to these traditional statistical classification methods. To illustrate this point, two machine learning approaches--genetic programming and decision tree induction--were used to construct classification models designed to predict whether or not a student truck driver would pass his or her commercial driver license (CDL) examination. The models were developed and validated using the curriculum scores and CDL exam performances of 37 student truck drivers who had completed a 320-hr driver training course. Results indicated that the machine learning classification models were superior to discriminant analysis and logistic regression in terms of predictive accuracy. Actual or potential applications of this research include the creation of models that more accurately predict human performance outcomes.

Human factors evaluation of remote afterloading brachytherapy. Volume 2, Function and task analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Callan, J.R.; Gwynne, J.W. III; Kelly, T.T.

1995-05-01

A human factors project on the use of nuclear by-product material to treat cancer using remotely operated afterloaders was undertaken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The purpose of the project was to identify factors that contribute to human error in the system for remote afterloading brachytherapy (RAB). This report documents the findings from the first phase of the project, which involved an extensive function and task analysis of RAB. This analysis identified the functions and tasks in RAB, made preliminary estimates of the likelihood of human error in each task, and determined the skills needed to perform each RAB task.more » The findings of the function and task analysis served as the foundation for the remainder of the project, which evaluated four major aspects of the RAB system linked to human error: human-system interfaces; procedures and practices; training and qualifications of RAB staff; and organizational practices and policies. At its completion, the project identified and prioritized areas for recommended NRC and industry attention based on all of the evaluations and analyses.« less

Novel approaches for bioinformatic analysis of salivary RNA sequencing data for development.

PubMed

Kaczor-Urbanowicz, Karolina Elzbieta; Kim, Yong; Li, Feng; Galeev, Timur; Kitchen, Rob R; Gerstein, Mark; Koyano, Kikuye; Jeong, Sung-Hee; Wang, Xiaoyan; Elashoff, David; Kang, So Young; Kim, Su Mi; Kim, Kyoung; Kim, Sung; Chia, David; Xiao, Xinshu; Rozowsky, Joel; Wong, David T W

2018-01-01

Analysis of RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data in human saliva is challenging. Lack of standardization and unification of the bioinformatic procedures undermines saliva's diagnostic potential. Thus, it motivated us to perform this study. We applied principal pipelines for bioinformatic analysis of small RNA-Seq data of saliva of 98 healthy Korean volunteers including either direct or indirect mapping of the reads to the human genome using Bowtie1. Analysis of alignments to exogenous genomes by another pipeline revealed that almost all of the reads map to bacterial genomes. Thus, salivary exRNA has fundamental properties that warrant the design of unique additional steps while performing the bioinformatic analysis. Our pipelines can serve as potential guidelines for processing of RNA-Seq data of human saliva. Processing and analysis results of the experimental data generated by the exceRpt (v4.6.3) small RNA-seq pipeline (github.gersteinlab.org/exceRpt) are available from exRNA atlas (exrna-atlas.org). Alignment to exogenous genomes and their quantification results were used in this paper for the analyses of small RNAs of exogenous origin. dtww@ucla.edu. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

[Biomedical foundation for human safety in aviation].

PubMed

Ushakov, I B

2004-01-01

According to the author, preventive medical issues of providing human safety in aviation are related to the fundamental biomedical and socio-psychological problems of human beings in the present-day world. Factual material for analysis was compiled in the study performed at the State Research and Test Institute of Military Medicine. Outlined are main vectors of the future attack on the problem.

Human movement analysis with image processing in real time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauvet, Eric; Paindavoine, Michel; Cannard, F.

1991-04-01

In the field of the human sciences, a lot of applications needs to know the kinematic characteristics of the human movements Psycology is associating the characteristics with the control mechanism, sport and biomechariics are associating them with the performance of the sportman or of the patient. So the trainers or the doctors can correct the gesture of the subject to obtain a better performance if he knows the motion properties. Roherton's studies show the children motion evolution2 . Several investigations methods are able to measure the human movement But now most of the studies are based on image processing. Often the systems are working at the T.V. standard (50 frame per secund ). they permit only to study very slow gesture. A human operator analyses the digitizing sequence of the film manually giving a very expensive, especially long and unprecise operation. On these different grounds many human movement analysis systems were implemented. They consist of: - markers which are fixed to the anatomical interesting points on the subject in motion, - Image compression which is the art to coding picture data. Generally the compression Is limited to the centroid coordinates calculation tor each marker. These systems differ from one other in image acquisition and markers detection.

Freezing and thawing effects on fat, protein, and lactose levels of human natural milk administered by gavage and continuous infusion.

PubMed

Abranches, Andrea D; Soares, Fernanda V M; Junior, Saint-Clair G; Moreira, Maria Elisabeth L

2014-01-01

to analyze the changes in human milk macronutrients: fat, protein, and lactose in natural human milk (raw), frozen and thawed, after administration simulation by gavage and continuous infusion. an experimental study was performed with 34 human milk samples. The infrared spectrophotometry using the infrared analysis equipment MilkoScan Minor® (Foss, Denmark) equipment was used to analyze the macronutrients in human milk during the study phases. The analyses were performed in natural (raw) samples and after freezing and fast thawing following two steps: gavage and continuous infusion. The non-parametric Wilcoxon test for paired samples was used for the statistical analysis. the fat content was significantly reduced after administration by continuous infusion (p<0.001) during administration of both raw and thawed samples. No changes in protein and lactose content were observed between the two forms of infusion. However, the thawing process significantly increased the levels of lactose and milk protein. the route of administration by continuous infusion showed the greatest influence on fat loss among all the processes required for human milk administration. Copyright © 2014 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Streamlining Administrative Procedures at the Defense Language Institute: The Strategic Impact Model in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oded, Yaniv; Su, Bude

2010-01-01

Performance at the Defense Language Institute was examined through the prism of human performance technology and the strategic impact model. This examination revealed performance deficiencies in the administrative realm that required mainly a noninstructional intervention. A systematic analysis showed that digitizing administrative procedures…

Leadership Strategies of Performance Measures Impacts in Public Sector Management: A National Content Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kubala, James Joseph

A quantitative and qualitative study examined three leadership strategies found in performance-based management (human resource, scientific management and political strategies used in public sector management); a framework by which performance measurement (PM) supports leadership strategies; and how the strategies impact PM. It examined leadership…

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the SEPTIN12 gene may be a genetic risk factor for Japanese patients with Sertoli cell-only syndrome.

PubMed

Miyakawa, Hiroe; Miyamoto, Toshinobu; Koh, Eitetsu; Tsujimura, Akira; Miyagawa, Yasushi; Saijo, Yasuaki; Namiki, Mikio; Sengoku, Kazuo

2012-01-01

Genetic mechanisms have been implicated as a cause of some cases of male infertility. Recently, 10 novel genes involved in human spermatogenesis, including human SEPTIN12, were identified by expression microarray analysis of human testicular tissue. Septin12 is a member of the septin family of conserved cytoskeletal GTPases that form heteropolymeric filamentous structures in interphase cells. It is expressed specifically in the testis. Therefore, we hypothesized that mutation or polymorphisms of SEPTIN12 participate in male infertility, especially Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS). To investigate whether SEPTIN12 gene defects are associated with azoospermia caused by SCOS, mutational analysis was performed in 100 Japanese patients by direct sequencing of coding regions. Statistical analysis was performed in patients with SCOS and in 140 healthy control men. No mutations were found in SEPTIN12 ; however, 8 coding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP1-SNP8) could be detected in the patients with SCOS. The genotype and allele frequencies in SNP3, SNP4, and SNP6 were notably higher in the SCOS group than in the control group (P < .001). These results suggest that SEPTIN12 might play a critical role in human spermatogenesis.

A Mid-Layer Model for Human Reliability Analysis: Understanding the Cognitive Causes of Human Failure Events

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stacey M. L. Hendrickson; April M. Whaley; Ronald L. Boring

The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) is sponsoring work in response to a Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) directing an effort to establish a single human reliability analysis (HRA) method for the agency or guidance for the use of multiple methods. As part of this effort an attempt to develop a comprehensive HRA qualitative approach is being pursued. This paper presents a draft of the method’s middle layer, a part of the qualitative analysis phase that links failure mechanisms to performance shaping factors. Starting with a Crew Response Tree (CRT) that has identified human failure events, analysts identify potential failuremore » mechanisms using the mid-layer model. The mid-layer model presented in this paper traces the identification of the failure mechanisms using the Information-Diagnosis/Decision-Action (IDA) model and cognitive models from the psychological literature. Each failure mechanism is grouped according to a phase of IDA. Under each phase of IDA, the cognitive models help identify the relevant performance shaping factors for the failure mechanism. The use of IDA and cognitive models can be traced through fault trees, which provide a detailed complement to the CRT.« less

A mid-layer model for human reliability analysis : understanding the cognitive causes of human failure events.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shen, Song-Hua; Chang, James Y. H.; Boring,Ronald L.

2010-03-01

The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) is sponsoring work in response to a Staff Requirements Memorandum (SRM) directing an effort to establish a single human reliability analysis (HRA) method for the agency or guidance for the use of multiple methods. As part of this effort an attempt to develop a comprehensive HRA qualitative approach is being pursued. This paper presents a draft of the method's middle layer, a part of the qualitative analysis phase that links failure mechanisms to performance shaping factors. Starting with a Crew Response Tree (CRT) that has identifiedmore » human failure events, analysts identify potential failure mechanisms using the mid-layer model. The mid-layer model presented in this paper traces the identification of the failure mechanisms using the Information-Diagnosis/Decision-Action (IDA) model and cognitive models from the psychological literature. Each failure mechanism is grouped according to a phase of IDA. Under each phase of IDA, the cognitive models help identify the relevant performance shaping factors for the failure mechanism. The use of IDA and cognitive models can be traced through fault trees, which provide a detailed complement to the CRT.« less

Human Factors Analysis to Improve the Processing of Ares-1 Launch Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dippolito, Gregory M.; Stambolian, Damon B.

2011-01-01

The Constellation Program (CxP) is composed of an array of vehicles used to go to the Moon and Mars. The Ares vehicle one of the components of CxP, goes through several stages of processing before it is launched at the Kennedy Space Center. In order to have efficient and effective ground processing inside and outside the vehicle, all of the ground processing activities should be analyzed. The analysis for this program was performed, by engineers, technicians, and human factors experts with spacecraft processing experience. The procedure used to gather data was accomplished by observing human activities within physical mockups. The paper will focus on the procedures, analysis and results from these observations.

NASA Johnson Space Center Biomedical Research Resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paloski, W. H.

1999-01-01

Johnson Space Center (JSC) medical sciences laboratories constitute a national resource for support of medical operations and life sciences research enabling a human presence in space. They play a critical role in evaluating, defining, and mitigation the untoward effect of human adaption to space flight. Over the years they have developed the unique facilities and expertise required to perform: biomedical sample analysis and physiological performance tests supporting medical evaluations of space flight crew members and scientific investigations of the operationally relevant medical, physiological, cellular, and biochemical issues associated with human space flight. A general overview of these laboratories is presented in viewgraph form.

Identification and functional analysis of long non-coding RNAs in human and mouse early embryos based on single-cell transcriptome data

PubMed Central

Qiu, Jia-jun; Ren, Zhao-rui; Yan, Jing-bin

2016-01-01

Epigenetics regulations have an important role in fertilization and proper embryonic development, and several human diseases are associated with epigenetic modification disorders, such as Rett syndrome, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and Angelman syndrome. However, the dynamics and functions of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), one type of epigenetic regulators, in human pre-implantation development have not yet been demonstrated. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of human and mouse early-stage embryonic lncRNAs was performed based on public single-cell RNA sequencing data. Expression profile analysis revealed that lncRNAs are expressed in a developmental stage–specific manner during human early-stage embryonic development, whereas a more temporal-specific expression pattern was identified in mouse embryos. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis suggested that lncRNAs involved in human early-stage embryonic development are associated with several important functions and processes, such as oocyte maturation, zygotic genome activation and mitochondrial functions. We also found that the network of lncRNAs involved in zygotic genome activation was highly preservative between human and mouse embryos, whereas in other stages no strong correlation between human and mouse embryo was observed. This study provides insight into the molecular mechanism underlying lncRNA involvement in human pre-implantation embryonic development. PMID:27542205

Human performance on the temporal bisection task.

PubMed

Kopec, Charles D; Brody, Carlos D

2010-12-01

The perception and processing of temporal information are tasks the brain must continuously perform. These include measuring the duration of stimuli, storing duration information in memory, recalling such memories, and comparing two durations. How the brain accomplishes these tasks, however, is still open for debate. The temporal bisection task, which requires subjects to compare temporal stimuli to durations held in memory, is perfectly suited to address these questions. Here we perform a meta-analysis of human performance on the temporal bisection task collected from 148 experiments spread across 18 independent studies. With this expanded data set we are able to show that human performance on this task contains a number of significant peculiarities, which in total no single model yet proposed has been able to explain. Here we present a simple 2-step decision model that is capable of explaining all the idiosyncrasies seen in the data. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Large-scale network integration in the human brain tracks temporal fluctuations in memory encoding performance.

PubMed

Keerativittayayut, Ruedeerat; Aoki, Ryuta; Sarabi, Mitra Taghizadeh; Jimura, Koji; Nakahara, Kiyoshi

2018-06-18

Although activation/deactivation of specific brain regions have been shown to be predictive of successful memory encoding, the relationship between time-varying large-scale brain networks and fluctuations of memory encoding performance remains unclear. Here we investigated time-varying functional connectivity patterns across the human brain in periods of 30-40 s, which have recently been implicated in various cognitive functions. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants performed a memory encoding task, and their performance was assessed with a subsequent surprise memory test. A graph analysis of functional connectivity patterns revealed that increased integration of the subcortical, default-mode, salience, and visual subnetworks with other subnetworks is a hallmark of successful memory encoding. Moreover, multivariate analysis using the graph metrics of integration reliably classified the brain network states into the period of high (vs. low) memory encoding performance. Our findings suggest that a diverse set of brain systems dynamically interact to support successful memory encoding. © 2018, Keerativittayayut et al.

Enhancing Interdisciplinary Human System Risk Research Through Modeling and Network Approaches

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mindock, Jennifer; Lumpkins, Sarah; Shelhamer, Mark

2015-01-01

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) supports research to reduce human health and performance risks inherent in future human space exploration missions. Understanding risk outcomes and contributing factors in an integrated manner allows HRP research to support development of efficient and effective mitigations from cross-disciplinary perspectives, and to enable resilient human and engineered systems for spaceflight. The purpose of this work is to support scientific collaborations and research portfolio management by utilizing modeling for analysis and visualization of current and potential future interdisciplinary efforts.

Future of Mechatronics and Human

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harashima, Fumio; Suzuki, Satoshi

This paper mentions circumstance of mechatronics that sustain our human society, and introduces HAM(Human Adaptive Mechatronics)-project as one of research projects to create new human-machine system. The key point of HAM is skill, and analysis of skill and establishment of assist method to enhance total performance of human-machine system are main research concerns. As study of skill is an elucidation of human itself, analyses of human higher function are significant. In this paper, after surveying researches of human brain functions, an experimental analysis of human characteristic in machine operation is shown as one example of our research activities. We used hovercraft simulator as verification system including observation, voluntary motion control and machine operation that are needed to general machine operation. Process and factors to become skilled were investigated by identification of human control characteristics with measurement of the operator's line-of sight. It was confirmed that early switching of sub-controllers / reference signals in human and enhancement of space perception are significant.

A Comparison of Probabilistic and Deterministic Campaign Analysis for Human Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merrill, R. Gabe; Andraschko, Mark; Stromgren, Chel; Cirillo, Bill; Earle, Kevin; Goodliff, Kandyce

2008-01-01

Human space exploration is by its very nature an uncertain endeavor. Vehicle reliability, technology development risk, budgetary uncertainty, and launch uncertainty all contribute to stochasticity in an exploration scenario. However, traditional strategic analysis has been done in a deterministic manner, analyzing and optimizing the performance of a series of planned missions. History has shown that exploration scenarios rarely follow such a planned schedule. This paper describes a methodology to integrate deterministic and probabilistic analysis of scenarios in support of human space exploration. Probabilistic strategic analysis is used to simulate "possible" scenario outcomes, based upon the likelihood of occurrence of certain events and a set of pre-determined contingency rules. The results of the probabilistic analysis are compared to the nominal results from the deterministic analysis to evaluate the robustness of the scenario to adverse events and to test and optimize contingency planning.

Cognitive performance modeling based on general systems performance theory.

PubMed

Kondraske, George V

2010-01-01

General Systems Performance Theory (GSPT) was initially motivated by problems associated with quantifying different aspects of human performance. It has proved to be invaluable for measurement development and understanding quantitative relationships between human subsystem capacities and performance in complex tasks. It is now desired to bring focus to the application of GSPT to modeling of cognitive system performance. Previous studies involving two complex tasks (i.e., driving and performing laparoscopic surgery) and incorporating measures that are clearly related to cognitive performance (information processing speed and short-term memory capacity) were revisited. A GSPT-derived method of task analysis and performance prediction termed Nonlinear Causal Resource Analysis (NCRA) was employed to determine the demand on basic cognitive performance resources required to support different levels of complex task performance. This approach is presented as a means to determine a cognitive workload profile and the subsequent computation of a single number measure of cognitive workload (CW). Computation of CW may be a viable alternative to measuring it. Various possible "more basic" performance resources that contribute to cognitive system performance are discussed. It is concluded from this preliminary exploration that a GSPT-based approach can contribute to defining cognitive performance models that are useful for both individual subjects and specific groups (e.g., military pilots).

Determination of human body burden baseline date of platinum through autopsy tissue analysis.

PubMed Central

Vandiver, F; Duffield, F V; Yoakum, A; Bumgarner, J; Moran, J

1976-01-01

Results of analysis for platinum in 97 autopsy sets are presented. Analysis was performed by a specially developed emission spectrochemical method. Almost half of the individuals studied were found to have detectable platinum in one or more tissue samples. Platinum was found to be deposited in 13 of 21 tissue types investigated. Surprisingly high values were observed in subcutaneous fat, previously not considered to be a target site for platinum deposition. These data will serve as a human tissue platinum burden baseline in EPA's Catalyst Research Program. PMID:1001291

Association between shift work history and performance on the trail making test in middle-aged and elderly humans: the EpiHealth study.

PubMed

Titova, Olga E; Lindberg, Eva; Elmståhl, Sölve; Lind, Lars; Schiöth, Helgi B; Benedict, Christian

2016-09-01

Shift work has been proposed to promote cognitive disturbances in humans; however, conflicting evidence is also present. By using data from 7143 middle-aged and elderly humans (45-75 years) who participated in the Swedish EpiHealth cohort study, the present analysis sought to investigate whether self-reported shift work history would be associated with performance on the trail making test (TMT). The TMT has been proposed to be a useful neuropsychological tool to evaluate humans' executive cognitive function, which is known to decrease with age. After adjustment for potential confounders (e.g., age, education, and sleep duration), it was observed that current and recent former shift workers (worked shifts during the past 5 years) performed worse on the TMT than nonshift workers. In contrast, performance on the TMT did not differ between past shift workers (off from shift work for more than 5 years) and nonshift workers. Collectively, our results indicate that shift work history is linked to poorer performance on the TMT in a cohort of middle-aged and elderly humans. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Statistical modelling of networked human-automation performance using working memory capacity.

PubMed

Ahmed, Nisar; de Visser, Ewart; Shaw, Tyler; Mohamed-Ameen, Amira; Campbell, Mark; Parasuraman, Raja

2014-01-01

This study examines the challenging problem of modelling the interaction between individual attentional limitations and decision-making performance in networked human-automation system tasks. Analysis of real experimental data from a task involving networked supervision of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles by human participants shows that both task load and network message quality affect performance, but that these effects are modulated by individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity. These insights were used to assess three statistical approaches for modelling and making predictions with real experimental networked supervisory performance data: classical linear regression, non-parametric Gaussian processes and probabilistic Bayesian networks. It is shown that each of these approaches can help designers of networked human-automated systems cope with various uncertainties in order to accommodate future users by linking expected operating conditions and performance from real experimental data to observable cognitive traits like WM capacity. Practitioner Summary: Working memory (WM) capacity helps account for inter-individual variability in operator performance in networked unmanned aerial vehicle supervisory tasks. This is useful for reliable performance prediction near experimental conditions via linear models; robust statistical prediction beyond experimental conditions via Gaussian process models and probabilistic inference about unknown task conditions/WM capacities via Bayesian network models.

An Investigation of Large Aircraft Handling Qualities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joyce, Richard D.

An analytical technique for investigating transport aircraft handling qualities is exercised in a study using models of two such vehicles, a Boeing 747 and Lockheed C-5A. Two flight conditions are employed for climb and directional tasks, and a third included for a flare task. The analysis technique is based upon a "structural model" of the human pilot developed by Hess. The associated analysis procedure has been discussed previously in the literature, but centered almost exclusively on the characteristics of high-performance fighter aircraft. The handling qualities rating level (HQRL) and pilot induced oscillation tendencies rating level (PIORL) are predicted for nominal configurations of the aircraft and for "damaged" configurations where actuator rate limits are introduced as nonlinearites. It is demonstrated that the analysis can accommodate nonlinear pilot/vehicle behavior and do so in the context of specific flight tasks, yielding estimates of handling qualities, pilot-induced oscillation tendencies and upper limits of task performance. A brief human-in-the-loop tracking study was performed to provide a limited validation of the pilot model employed.

Simple Benchmark Specifications for Space Radiation Protection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singleterry, Robert C. Jr.; Aghara, Sukesh K.

2013-01-01

This report defines space radiation benchmark specifications. This specification starts with simple, monoenergetic, mono-directional particles on slabs and progresses to human models in spacecraft. This report specifies the models and sources needed to what the team performing the benchmark needs to produce in a report. Also included are brief descriptions of how OLTARIS, the NASA Langley website for space radiation analysis, performs its analysis.

NAA For Human Serum Analysis: Comparison With Conventional Analyses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oliveira, Laura C.; Zamboni, Cibele B.; Medeiros, Jose A. G.

2010-08-04

Instrumental and Comparator methods of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) were applied to determine elements of clinical relevancy in serum samples of adult population (Sao Paulo city, Brazil). A comparison with the conventional analyses, Colorimetric for calcium, Titrymetric for chlorine and Ion Specific Electrode for sodium and potassium determination were also performed permitting a discussion about the performance of NAA methods for clinical chemistry research.

NexGen Production – Sequencing and Analysis

ScienceCinema

Muzny, Donna

2018-01-16

Donna Muzny of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center discusses next generation sequencing platforms and evaluating pipeline performance on June 2, 2010 at the "Sequencing, Finishing, Analysis in the Future" meeting in Santa Fe, NM.

The Use of Empirical Data Sources in HRA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bruce Hallbert; David Gertman; Julie Marble

This paper presents a review of available information related to human performance to support Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) performed for nuclear power plants (NPPs). A number of data sources are identified as potentially useful. These include NPP licensee event reports (LERs), augmented inspection team (AIT) reports, operator requalification data, results from the literature in experimental psychology, and the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRSs). The paper discusses how utilizing such information improves our capability to model and quantify human performance. In particular the paper discusses how information related to performance shaping factors (PSFs) can be extracted from empirical data to determinemore » their size effect, their relative effects, as well as their interactions. The paper concludes that appropriate use of existing sources can help addressing some of the important issues we are currently facing in HRA.« less

Localization of the human tripeptidyl peptidase II gene (TPP2) to 13q32-q33 by nonradioactive in situ hybridization and somatic cell hybrids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martinsson, T.; Vujic, M.; Tomkinson, B.

1993-08-01

The authors have assigned the human tripeptidyl peptidase II (TPP2) gene to chromosome region 13q32-q33 using two different methods. First, a full-length TPP2 cDNA was used as a probe on Southern blots of DNA from a panel of human/rodent somatic cell hybrids. The TPP2 sequences were found to segregate with the human chromosome 13. Second, fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis was performed with the same probe. This analysis supported the chromosome 13 localization and further refined it to region 13q32-q33. 20 refs., 2 figs.

Applications of neural networks to landmark detection in 3-D surface data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arndt, Craig M.

1992-09-01

The problem of identifying key landmarks in 3-dimensional surface data is of considerable interest in solving a number of difficult real-world tasks, including object recognition and image processing. The specific problem that we address in this research is to identify the specific landmarks (anatomical) in human surface data. This is a complex task, currently performed visually by an expert human operator. In order to replace these human operators and increase reliability of the data acquisition, we need to develop a computer algorithm which will utilize the interrelations between the 3-dimensional data to identify the landmarks of interest. The current presentation describes a method for designing, implementing, training, and testing a custom architecture neural network which will perform the landmark identification task. We discuss the performance of the net in relationship to human performance on the same task and how this net has been integrated with other AI and traditional programming methods to produce a powerful analysis tool for computer anthropometry.

Lunar base surface mission operations. Lunar Base Systems Study (LBSS) task 4.1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The purpose was to perform an analysis of the surface operations associated with a human-tended lunar base. Specifically, the study defined surface elements and developed mission manifests for a selected base scenario, determined the nature of surface operations associated with this scenario, generated a preliminary crew extravehicular and intravehicular activity (EVA/IVA) time resource schedule for conducting the missions, and proposed concepts for utilizing remotely operated equipment to perform repetitious or hazardous surface tasks. The operations analysis was performed on a 6 year period of human-tended lunar base operation prior to permanent occupancy. The baseline scenario was derived from a modified version of the civil needs database (CNDB) scenario. This scenario emphasizes achievement of a limited set of science and exploration objectives while emplacing the minimum habitability elements required for a permanent base.

Regional agriculture surveys using ERTS-1 data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Draeger, W. C.; Nichols, J. D.; Benson, A. S.; Larrabee, D. G.; Jenkus, W. M.; Hay, C. M.

1974-01-01

The Center for Remote Sensing Research has conducted studies designed to evaluate the potential application of ERTS data in performing agricultural inventories, and to develop efficient methods of data handling and analysis useful in the operational context for performing large area surveys. This work has resulted in the development of an integrated system utilizing both human and computer analysis of ground, aerial, and space imagery, which has been shown to be very efficient for regional crop acreage inventories. The technique involves: (1) the delineation of ERTS images into relatively homogeneous strata by human interpreters, (2) the point-by-point classification of the area within each strata on the basis of crop type using a human/machine interactive digital image processing system; and (3) a multistage sampling procedure for the collection of supporting aerial and ground data used in the adjustment and verification of the classification results.

Effects of field-of-view restrictions on speed and accuracy of manoeuvring.

PubMed

Toet, Alexander; Jansen, Sander E M; Delleman, Nico J

2007-12-01

Effects of field-of-view restrictions on the speed and accuracy of participants performing a real-world manoeuvring task through an obstacled environment were investigated. Although field-of-view restrictions are known to affect human behaviour and to degrade performance for a range of different tasks, the relationship between human manoeuvring performance and field-of-view size is not known. This knowledge is essential to evaluate a trade-off between human performance, cost, and ergonomic aspects of field-of-view limiting devises like head-mounted displays and night vision goggles which are frequently deployed for tasks involving human motion through environments with obstacles. In this study the speed and accuracy of movement were measured in 15 participants (8 men, 7 women, 22.9 +/- 2.8 yr. of age) traversing a course formed by three wall segments for different field-of-view restrictions. Analysis showed speed decreased linearly with decreasing field-of-view extent, while accuracy was consistently reduced for all restricted field-of-view conditions. Present results may be used to evaluate cost and performance trade-offs for field-of-view restricting devices deployed to perform time-limited human-locomotion tasks in complex structured environments, such as night-vision goggles and head-mounted displays.

U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine Laboratory Sampling and Analysis Guide

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-15

valuable information during the environmental health risk assessment.  EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). IRIS is a human health assessment...information for more than 550 chemical substances containing information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various substances in the...Crystalyn E. Brown November 2016 Air Force Research Laboratory 711th Human Performance Wing School of Aerospace Medicine

Ancient DNA in human bone remains from Pompeii archaeological site.

PubMed

Cipollaro, M; Di Bernardo, G; Galano, G; Galderisi, U; Guarino, F; Angelini, F; Cascino, A

1998-06-29

aDNA extraction and amplification procedures have been optimized for Pompeian human bone remains whose diagenesis has been determined by histological analysis. Single copy genes amplification (X and Y amelogenin loci and Y specific alphoid repeat sequences) have been performed and compared with anthropometric data on sexing.

A system performance throughput model applicable to advanced manned telescience systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haines, Richard F.

1990-01-01

As automated space systems become more complex, autonomous, and opaque to the flight crew, it becomes increasingly difficult to determine whether the total system is performing as it should. Some of the complex and interrelated human performance measurement issues are addressed that are related to total system validation. An evaluative throughput model is presented which can be used to generate a human operator-related benchmark or figure of merit for a given system which involves humans at the input and output ends as well as other automated intelligent agents. The concept of sustained and accurate command/control data information transfer is introduced. The first two input parameters of the model involve nominal and off-nominal predicted events. The first of these calls for a detailed task analysis while the second is for a contingency event assessment. The last two required input parameters involving actual (measured) events, namely human performance and continuous semi-automated system performance. An expression combining these four parameters was found using digital simulations and identical, representative, random data to yield the smallest variance.

Mathematical Modeling and Evaluation of Human Motions in Physical Therapy Using Mixture Density Neural Networks

PubMed Central

Vakanski, A; Ferguson, JM; Lee, S

2016-01-01

Objective The objective of the proposed research is to develop a methodology for modeling and evaluation of human motions, which will potentially benefit patients undertaking a physical rehabilitation therapy (e.g., following a stroke or due to other medical conditions). The ultimate aim is to allow patients to perform home-based rehabilitation exercises using a sensory system for capturing the motions, where an algorithm will retrieve the trajectories of a patient’s exercises, will perform data analysis by comparing the performed motions to a reference model of prescribed motions, and will send the analysis results to the patient’s physician with recommendations for improvement. Methods The modeling approach employs an artificial neural network, consisting of layers of recurrent neuron units and layers of neuron units for estimating a mixture density function over the spatio-temporal dependencies within the human motion sequences. Input data are sequences of motions related to a prescribed exercise by a physiotherapist to a patient, and recorded with a motion capture system. An autoencoder subnet is employed for reducing the dimensionality of captured sequences of human motions, complemented with a mixture density subnet for probabilistic modeling of the motion data using a mixture of Gaussian distributions. Results The proposed neural network architecture produced a model for sets of human motions represented with a mixture of Gaussian density functions. The mean log-likelihood of observed sequences was employed as a performance metric in evaluating the consistency of a subject’s performance relative to the reference dataset of motions. A publically available dataset of human motions captured with Microsoft Kinect was used for validation of the proposed method. Conclusion The article presents a novel approach for modeling and evaluation of human motions with a potential application in home-based physical therapy and rehabilitation. The described approach employs the recent progress in the field of machine learning and neural networks in developing a parametric model of human motions, by exploiting the representational power of these algorithms to encode nonlinear input-output dependencies over long temporal horizons. PMID:28111643

Mathematical Modeling and Evaluation of Human Motions in Physical Therapy Using Mixture Density Neural Networks.

PubMed

Vakanski, A; Ferguson, J M; Lee, S

2016-12-01

The objective of the proposed research is to develop a methodology for modeling and evaluation of human motions, which will potentially benefit patients undertaking a physical rehabilitation therapy (e.g., following a stroke or due to other medical conditions). The ultimate aim is to allow patients to perform home-based rehabilitation exercises using a sensory system for capturing the motions, where an algorithm will retrieve the trajectories of a patient's exercises, will perform data analysis by comparing the performed motions to a reference model of prescribed motions, and will send the analysis results to the patient's physician with recommendations for improvement. The modeling approach employs an artificial neural network, consisting of layers of recurrent neuron units and layers of neuron units for estimating a mixture density function over the spatio-temporal dependencies within the human motion sequences. Input data are sequences of motions related to a prescribed exercise by a physiotherapist to a patient, and recorded with a motion capture system. An autoencoder subnet is employed for reducing the dimensionality of captured sequences of human motions, complemented with a mixture density subnet for probabilistic modeling of the motion data using a mixture of Gaussian distributions. The proposed neural network architecture produced a model for sets of human motions represented with a mixture of Gaussian density functions. The mean log-likelihood of observed sequences was employed as a performance metric in evaluating the consistency of a subject's performance relative to the reference dataset of motions. A publically available dataset of human motions captured with Microsoft Kinect was used for validation of the proposed method. The article presents a novel approach for modeling and evaluation of human motions with a potential application in home-based physical therapy and rehabilitation. The described approach employs the recent progress in the field of machine learning and neural networks in developing a parametric model of human motions, by exploiting the representational power of these algorithms to encode nonlinear input-output dependencies over long temporal horizons.

Visibility into the Work: TQM Work Process Analysis with HPT and ISD.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beagles, Charles A.; Griffin, Steven L.

2003-01-01

Discusses the use of total quality management (TQM), work process flow diagrams, and ISD (instructional systems development) tools with HPT (human performance technology) to address performance gaps in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Describes performance goals, which were to improve accuracy and reduce backlog of claim files. (LRW)

Performance Feedback Utility in a Small Organization: Effects on Organizational Outcomes and Managerial Decision Processes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florin-Thuma, Beth C.; Boudreau, John W.

1987-01-01

Investigated the frequent but previously untested assertion that utility analysis can improve communication and decision making about human resource management programs by examining a performance feedback intervention in a small fast-food store. Results suggest substantial payoffs from performance feedback, though the store's owner-managers had…

Space Human Factors Engineering Gap Analysis Project Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hudy, Cynthia; Woolford, Barbara

2006-01-01

Humans perform critical functions throughout each phase of every space mission, beginning with the mission concept and continuing to post-mission analysis (Life Sciences Division, 1996). Space missions present humans with many challenges - the microgravity environment, relative isolation, and inherent dangers of the mission all present unique issues. As mission duration and distance from Earth increases, in-flight crew autonomy will increase along with increased complexity. As efforts for exploring the moon and Mars advance, there is a need for space human factors research and technology development to play a significant role in both on-orbit human-system interaction, as well as the development of mission requirements and needs before and after the mission. As part of the Space Human Factors Engineering (SHFE) Project within the Human Research Program (HRP), a six-month Gap Analysis Project (GAP) was funded to identify any human factors research gaps or knowledge needs. The overall aim of the project was to review the current state of human factors topic areas and requirements to determine what data, processes, or tools are needed to aid in the planning and development of future exploration missions, and also to prioritize proposals for future research and technology development.

The N2-P3 complex of the evoked potential and human performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Odonnell, Brian F.; Cohen, Ronald A.

1988-01-01

The N2-P3 complex and other endogenous components of human evoked potential provide a set of tools for the investigation of human perceptual and cognitive processes. These multidimensional measures of central nervous system bioelectrical activity respond to a variety of environmental and internal factors which have been experimentally characterized. Their application to the analysis of human performance in naturalistic task environments is just beginning. Converging evidence suggests that the N2-P3 complex reflects processes of stimulus evaluation, perceptual resource allocation, and decision making that proceed in parallel, rather than in series, with response generation. Utilization of these EP components may provide insights into the central nervous system mechanisms modulating task performance unavailable from behavioral measures alone. The sensitivity of the N2-P3 complex to neuropathology, psychopathology, and pharmacological manipulation suggests that these components might provide sensitive markers for the effects of environmental stressors on the human central nervous system.

Spatial Analysis in Determining Physical Factors of Pedestrian Space Livability, Case Study: Pedestrian Space on Jalan Kemasan, Yogyakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauzi, A. F.; Aditianata, A.

2018-02-01

The existence of street as a place to perform various human activities becomes an important issue nowadays. In the last few decades, cars and motorcycles dominate streets in various cities in the world. On the other hand, human activity on the street is the determinant of the city livability. Previous research has pointed out that if there is lots of human activity in the street, then the city will be interesting. Otherwise, if the street has no activity, then the city will be boring. Learning from that statement, now various cities in the world are developing the concept of livable streets. Livable streets shown by diversity of human activities conducted in the streets’ pedestrian space. In Yogyakarta, one of the streets shown diversity of human activities is Jalan Kemasan. This study attempts to determine the physical factors of pedestrian space affecting the livability in Jalan Kemasan Yogyakarta through spatial analysis. Spatial analysis was performed by overlay technique between liveable point (activity diversity) distribution map and variable distribution map. Those physical pedestrian space research variable included element of shading, street vendors, building setback, seat location, divider between street and pedestrian way, and mixed use building function. More diverse the activity of one variable, then those variable are more affected then others. Overlay result then strengthened by field observation to qualitatively ensure the deduction. In the end, this research will provide valuable input for street and pedestrian space planning that is comfortable for human activities.

Raman microspectroscopy of nucleus and cytoplasm for human colon cancer diagnosis.

PubMed

Liu, Wenjing; Wang, Hongbo; Du, Jingjing; Jing, Chuanyong

2017-11-15

Subcellular Raman analysis is a promising clinic tool for cancer diagnosis, but constrained by the difficulty of deciphering subcellular spectra in actual human tissues. We report a label-free subcellular Raman analysis for use in cancer diagnosis that integrates subcellular signature spectra by subtracting cytoplasm from nucleus spectra (Nuc.-Cyt.) with a partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model. Raman mapping with the classical least-squares (CLS) model allowed direct visualization of the distribution of the cytoplasm and nucleus. The PLS-DA model was employed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of five types of spectral datasets, including non-selective, nucleus, cytoplasm, ratio of nucleus to cytoplasm (Nuc./Cyt.), and nucleus minus cytoplasm (Nuc.-Cyt.), resulting in diagnostic sensitivity of 88.3%, 84.0%, 98.4%, 84.5%, and 98.9%, respectively. Discriminating between normal and cancerous cells of actual human tissues through subcellular Raman markers is feasible, especially when using the nucleus-cytoplasm difference spectra. The subcellular Raman approach had good stability, and had excellent diagnostic performance for rectal as well as colon tissues. The insights gained from this study shed new light on the general applicability of subcellular Raman analysis in clinical trials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the LRWD1 gene may be a genetic risk factor for Japanese patients with Sertoli cell-only syndrome.

PubMed

Miyamoto, T; Koh, E; Tsujimura, A; Miyagawa, Y; Saijo, Y; Namiki, M; Sengoku, K

2014-04-01

Genetic mechanisms have been implicated as a cause of some cases of male infertility. Recently, ten novel genes involved in human spermatogenesis, including human LRWD1, have been identified by expression microarray analysis of human testictissue. The human LRWD1 protein mediates the origin recognition complex in chromatin, which is critical for the initiation of pre-replication complex assembly in G1 and chromatin organization in post-G1 cells. The Lrwd1 gene expression is specific to the testis in mice. Therefore, we hypothesized that mutation or polymorphisms of LRWD1 participate in male infertility, especially azoospermia. To investigate whether LRWD1 gene defects are associated with azoospermia caused by SCOS and meiotic arrest (MA), mutational analysis was performed in 100 and 30 Japanese patients by direct sequencing of the coding regions, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed for patients with SCOS and MA and in 100 healthy control men. No mutations were found in LRWD1; however, three coding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP1-SNP3) could be detected in the patients. The genotype and allele frequencies in SNP1 and SNP2 were notably higher in the SCOS group than in the control group (P < 0.05). These results suggest the critical role of LRWD1 in human spermatogenesis. © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Intrinsic Resting-State Functional Connectivity in the Human Spinal Cord at 3.0 T.

PubMed

San Emeterio Nateras, Oscar; Yu, Fang; Muir, Eric R; Bazan, Carlos; Franklin, Crystal G; Li, Wei; Li, Jinqi; Lancaster, Jack L; Duong, Timothy Q

2016-04-01

To apply resting-state functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to map functional connectivity of the human spinal cord. Studies were performed in nine self-declared healthy volunteers with informed consent and institutional review board approval. Resting-state functional MR imaging was performed to map functional connectivity of the human cervical spinal cord from C1 to C4 at 1 × 1 × 3-mm resolution with a 3.0-T clinical MR imaging unit. Independent component analysis (ICA) was performed to derive resting-state functional MR imaging z-score maps rendered on two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. Seed-based analysis was performed for cross validation with ICA networks by using Pearson correlation. Reproducibility analysis of resting-state functional MR imaging maps from four repeated trials in a single participant yielded a mean z score of 6 ± 1 (P < .0001). The centroid coordinates across the four trials deviated by 2 in-plane voxels ± 2 mm (standard deviation) and up to one adjacent image section ± 3 mm. ICA of group resting-state functional MR imaging data revealed prominent functional connectivity patterns within the spinal cord gray matter. There were statistically significant (z score > 3, P < .001) bilateral, unilateral, and intersegmental correlations in the ventral horns, dorsal horns, and central spinal cord gray matter. Three-dimensional surface rendering provided visualization of these components along the length of the spinal cord. Seed-based analysis showed that many ICA components exhibited strong and significant (P < .05) correlations, corroborating the ICA results. Resting-state functional MR imaging connectivity networks are qualitatively consistent with known neuroanatomic and functional structures in the spinal cord. Resting-state functional MR imaging of the human cervical spinal cord with a 3.0-T clinical MR imaging unit and standard MR imaging protocols and hardware reveals prominent functional connectivity patterns within the spinal cord gray matter, consistent with known functional and anatomic layouts of the spinal cord.

Exploration of computational methods for classification of movement intention during human voluntary movement from single trial EEG.

PubMed

Bai, Ou; Lin, Peter; Vorbach, Sherry; Li, Jiang; Furlani, Steve; Hallett, Mark

2007-12-01

To explore effective combinations of computational methods for the prediction of movement intention preceding the production of self-paced right and left hand movements from single trial scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). Twelve naïve subjects performed self-paced movements consisting of three key strokes with either hand. EEG was recorded from 128 channels. The exploration was performed offline on single trial EEG data. We proposed that a successful computational procedure for classification would consist of spatial filtering, temporal filtering, feature selection, and pattern classification. A systematic investigation was performed with combinations of spatial filtering using principal component analysis (PCA), independent component analysis (ICA), common spatial patterns analysis (CSP), and surface Laplacian derivation (SLD); temporal filtering using power spectral density estimation (PSD) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT); pattern classification using linear Mahalanobis distance classifier (LMD), quadratic Mahalanobis distance classifier (QMD), Bayesian classifier (BSC), multi-layer perceptron neural network (MLP), probabilistic neural network (PNN), and support vector machine (SVM). A robust multivariate feature selection strategy using a genetic algorithm was employed. The combinations of spatial filtering using ICA and SLD, temporal filtering using PSD and DWT, and classification methods using LMD, QMD, BSC and SVM provided higher performance than those of other combinations. Utilizing one of the better combinations of ICA, PSD and SVM, the discrimination accuracy was as high as 75%. Further feature analysis showed that beta band EEG activity of the channels over right sensorimotor cortex was most appropriate for discrimination of right and left hand movement intention. Effective combinations of computational methods provide possible classification of human movement intention from single trial EEG. Such a method could be the basis for a potential brain-computer interface based on human natural movement, which might reduce the requirement of long-term training. Effective combinations of computational methods can classify human movement intention from single trial EEG with reasonable accuracy.

Following rules in the intermontane west: 19th-century mormon settlement

PubMed Central

Norton, William

2001-01-01

The academic discipline of human geography is concerned with human activities, especially as these relate to physical landscapes and contribute to the modification of those landscapes. Although little attention has been paid to objectivist philosophies to inform human geography, behavior analysis might offer a useful explanatory model. As an example, a behavior analysis of selected aspects of 19th-century Mormon movement and settlement in the intermontane West is conducted. Mormons are a society of believers who practice cooperative effort and support for other members, and the Mormon church is governed by priesthood authority with members being called to perform tasks. This analysis employs the concepts of metacontingency, rule-governed behavior, and delayed reinforcement to analyze how Mormons settled the intermontane West. PMID:22478355

The Use Of Computational Human Performance Modeling As Task Analysis Tool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacuqes Hugo; David Gertman

2012-07-01

During a review of the Advanced Test Reactor safety basis at the Idaho National Laboratory, human factors engineers identified ergonomic and human reliability risks involving the inadvertent exposure of a fuel element to the air during manual fuel movement and inspection in the canal. There were clear indications that these risks increased the probability of human error and possible severe physical outcomes to the operator. In response to this concern, a detailed study was conducted to determine the probability of the inadvertent exposure of a fuel element. Due to practical and safety constraints, the task network analysis technique was employedmore » to study the work procedures at the canal. Discrete-event simulation software was used to model the entire procedure as well as the salient physical attributes of the task environment, such as distances walked, the effect of dropped tools, the effect of hazardous body postures, and physical exertion due to strenuous tool handling. The model also allowed analysis of the effect of cognitive processes such as visual perception demands, auditory information and verbal communication. The model made it possible to obtain reliable predictions of operator performance and workload estimates. It was also found that operator workload as well as the probability of human error in the fuel inspection and transfer task were influenced by the concurrent nature of certain phases of the task and the associated demand on cognitive and physical resources. More importantly, it was possible to determine with reasonable accuracy the stages as well as physical locations in the fuel handling task where operators would be most at risk of losing their balance and falling into the canal. The model also provided sufficient information for a human reliability analysis that indicated that the postulated fuel exposure accident was less than credible.« less

Competency-based training model for human resource management and development in public sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prabawati, I.; Meirinawati; AOktariyanda, T.

2018-01-01

Human Resources (HR) is a very important factor in an organization so that human resources are required to have the ability, skill or competence in order to be able to carry out the vision and mission of the organization. Competence includes a number of attributes attached to the individual which is a combination of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that can be used as a mean to improve performance. Concerned to the demands of human resources that should have the knowledge, skills or abilities, it is necessary to the development of human resources in public organizations. One form of human resource development is Competency-Based Training (CBT). CBT focuses on three issues, namely skills, competencies, and competency standard. There are 5 (five) strategies in the implementation of CBT, namely: organizational scanning, strategic planning, competency profiling, competency gap analysis, and competency development. Finally, through CBT the employees within the organization can reduce or eliminate the differences between existing performance with a potential performance that can improve the knowledge, expertise, and skills that are very supportive in achieving the vision and mission of the organization.

Immunohistochemical analysis of S6K1 and S6K2 localization in human breast tumors.

PubMed

Filonenko, Valeriy V; Tytarenko, Ruslana; Azatjan, Sergey K; Savinska, Lilya O; Gaydar, Yuriy A; Gout, Ivan T; Usenko, Vasiliy S; Lyzogubov, Valeriy V

2004-12-01

To perform an immunohistochemical analysis of human breast adenomas and adenocarcinomas as well as normal breast tissues in respect of S6 ribosomal protein kinase (S6K) expression and localization in normal and transformed cells. The expression level and localization of S6K have been detected in formalin fixed, paraffin embedded sections of normal human breast tissues, adenomas and adenocarcinomas with different grade of differentiation. Immunohistochemical detection of S6K1 and S6K2 in normal human breast tissues and breast tumors were performed using specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against S6K1 and S6K2 with following semiquantitative analysis. The increase of S6K content in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells in benign and malignant tumors has been detected. Nuclear accumulation of S6K1 and to a greater extend S6K2 have been found in breast adenocarcinomas. About 80% of breast adenocarcinomas cases revealed S6K2 nuclear staining comparing to normal tissues. In 31% of cases more then 50% of cancer cells had strong nuclear staining. Accumulation of S6K1 in the nucleus of neoplastic cells has been demonstrated in 25% of cases. Nuclear localization of S6K in the epithelial cells in normal breast tissues has not been detected. Immunohistochemical analysis of S6K1 and S6K2 expression in normal human breast tissues, benign and malignant breast tumors clearly indicates that both kinases are overexpressed in breast tumors. Semiquantitative analysis of peculiarities of S6K localization in normal tissues and tumors revealed that nucleoplasmic accumulation of S6K (especially S6K2) is a distinguishing feature of cancer cells.

Human Factors Process Task Analysis Liquid Oxygen Pump Acceptance Test Procedure for the Advanced Technology Development Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diorio, Kimberly A.

2002-01-01

A process task analysis effort was undertaken by Dynacs Inc. commencing in June 2002 under contract from NASA YA-D6. Funding was provided through NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), Code M/HQ, and Industrial Engineering and Safety (IES). The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Engineering Development Contract (EDC) Task Order was 5SMA768. The scope of the effort was to conduct a Human Factors Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (HF PFMEA) of a hazardous activity and provide recommendations to eliminate or reduce the effects of errors caused by human factors. The Liquid Oxygen (LOX) Pump Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) was selected for this analysis. The HF PFMEA table (see appendix A) provides an analysis of six major categories evaluated for this study. These categories include Personnel Certification, Test Procedure Format, Test Procedure Safety Controls, Test Article Data, Instrumentation, and Voice Communication. For each specific requirement listed in appendix A, the following topics were addressed: Requirement, Potential Human Error, Performance-Shaping Factors, Potential Effects of the Error, Barriers and Controls, Risk Priority Numbers, and Recommended Actions. This report summarizes findings and gives recommendations as determined by the data contained in appendix A. It also includes a discussion of technology barriers and challenges to performing task analyses, as well as lessons learned. The HF PFMEA table in appendix A recommends the use of accepted and required safety criteria in order to reduce the risk of human error. The items with the highest risk priority numbers should receive the greatest amount of consideration. Implementation of the recommendations will result in a safer operation for all personnel.

Development of analyses by high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry of bilberry (Vaccinium myrtilus) anthocyanins in human plasma and urine.

PubMed

Cooke, Darren N; Thomasset, Sarah; Boocock, David J; Schwarz, Michael; Winterhalter, Peter; Steward, William P; Gescher, Andreas J; Marczylo, Timothy H

2006-09-20

Anthocyanins are potent antioxidants that may possess chronic disease preventive properties. Here, rapid, reliable, and reproducible solid-phase extraction, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and mass spectrometry techniques are described for the isolation, separation, and identification of anthocyanins in human plasma and urine. Recoveries of cyanidin-3-glucoside (C3G) were 91% from water, 71% from plasma, and 81% from urine. Intra- and interday variations for C3G extraction were 9 and 9.1% in plasma and 7.1 and 9.1% in urine and were less than 15% for all anthocyanins from a standardized bilberry extract (mirtoselect). Analysis of mirtoselect by HPLC with UV detection produced spectra with 15 peaks compatible with anthocyanin components found in mirtoselect within a total run time of 15 min. Chromatographic analysis of human urine obtained after an oral dose of mirtoselect yielded 19 anthocyanin peaks. Mass spectrometric analysis employing multiple reaction monitoring suggests the presence of unchanged anthocyanins and anthocyanidin glucuronide metabolites.

Understanding human management of automation errors

PubMed Central

McBride, Sara E.; Rogers, Wendy A.; Fisk, Arthur D.

2013-01-01

Automation has the potential to aid humans with a diverse set of tasks and support overall system performance. Automated systems are not always reliable, and when automation errs, humans must engage in error management, which is the process of detecting, understanding, and correcting errors. However, this process of error management in the context of human-automation interaction is not well understood. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the variables that contribute to error management. We examined relevant research in human-automation interaction and human error to identify critical automation, person, task, and emergent variables. We propose a framework for management of automation errors to incorporate and build upon previous models. Further, our analysis highlights variables that may be addressed through design and training to positively influence error management. Additional efforts to understand the error management process will contribute to automation designed and implemented to support safe and effective system performance. PMID:25383042

Understanding human management of automation errors.

PubMed

McBride, Sara E; Rogers, Wendy A; Fisk, Arthur D

2014-01-01

Automation has the potential to aid humans with a diverse set of tasks and support overall system performance. Automated systems are not always reliable, and when automation errs, humans must engage in error management, which is the process of detecting, understanding, and correcting errors. However, this process of error management in the context of human-automation interaction is not well understood. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of the variables that contribute to error management. We examined relevant research in human-automation interaction and human error to identify critical automation, person, task, and emergent variables. We propose a framework for management of automation errors to incorporate and build upon previous models. Further, our analysis highlights variables that may be addressed through design and training to positively influence error management. Additional efforts to understand the error management process will contribute to automation designed and implemented to support safe and effective system performance.

Analysis of Neural Stem Cells from Human Cortical Brain Structures In Vitro.

PubMed

Aleksandrova, M A; Poltavtseva, R A; Marei, M V; Sukhikh, G T

2016-05-01

Comparative immunohistochemical analysis of the neocortex from human fetuses showed that neural stem and progenitor cells are present in the brain throughout the gestation period, at least from week 8 through 26. At the same time, neural stem cells from the first and second trimester fetuses differed by the distribution, morphology, growth, and quantity. Immunocytochemical analysis of neural stem cells derived from fetuses at different gestation terms and cultured under different conditions showed their differentiation capacity. Detailed analysis of neural stem cell populations derived from fetuses on gestation weeks 8-9, 18-20, and 26 expressing Lex/SSEA1 was performed.

Mining Host-Pathogen Protein Interactions to Characterize Burkholderia mallei Infectivity Mechanisms

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-04

were shown to attenuate disease progression in an aerosol infection animal model using the virulent Burkholderia mallei ATCC 23344 strain. Here, we...performed an extended analysis of primarily nine B. mallei virulence factors and their interactions with human proteins to map out how the bacteria can...virulent Burkholderia mallei ATCC 23344 strain. Here, we performed an extended analysis of primarily nine B. mallei virulence factors and their

Dynamic Task Performance, Cohesion, and Communications in Human Groups.

PubMed

Giraldo, Luis Felipe; Passino, Kevin M

2016-10-01

In the study of the behavior of human groups, it has been observed that there is a strong interaction between the cohesiveness of the group, its performance when the group has to solve a task, and the patterns of communication between the members of the group. Developing mathematical and computational tools for the analysis and design of task-solving groups that are not only cohesive but also perform well is of importance in social sciences, organizational management, and engineering. In this paper, we model a human group as a dynamical system whose behavior is driven by a task optimization process and the interaction between subsystems that represent the members of the group interconnected according to a given communication network. These interactions are described as attractions and repulsions among members. We show that the dynamics characterized by the proposed mathematical model are qualitatively consistent with those observed in real-human groups, where the key aspect is that the attraction patterns in the group and the commitment to solve the task are not static but change over time. Through a theoretical analysis of the system we provide conditions on the parameters that allow the group to have cohesive behaviors, and Monte Carlo simulations are used to study group dynamics for different sets of parameters, communication topologies, and tasks to solve.

Analyzing human errors in flight mission operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bruno, Kristin J.; Welz, Linda L.; Barnes, G. Michael; Sherif, Josef

1993-01-01

A long-term program is in progress at JPL to reduce cost and risk of flight mission operations through a defect prevention/error management program. The main thrust of this program is to create an environment in which the performance of the total system, both the human operator and the computer system, is optimized. To this end, 1580 Incident Surprise Anomaly reports (ISA's) from 1977-1991 were analyzed from the Voyager and Magellan projects. A Pareto analysis revealed that 38 percent of the errors were classified as human errors. A preliminary cluster analysis based on the Magellan human errors (204 ISA's) is presented here. The resulting clusters described the underlying relationships among the ISA's. Initial models of human error in flight mission operations are presented. Next, the Voyager ISA's will be scored and included in the analysis. Eventually, these relationships will be used to derive a theoretically motivated and empirically validated model of human error in flight mission operations. Ultimately, this analysis will be used to make continuous process improvements continuous process improvements to end-user applications and training requirements. This Total Quality Management approach will enable the management and prevention of errors in the future.

Reflections of the social environment in chimpanzee memory: applying rational analysis beyond humans.

PubMed

Stevens, Jeffrey R; Marewski, Julian N; Schooler, Lael J; Gilby, Ian C

2016-08-01

In cognitive science, the rational analysis framework allows modelling of how physical and social environments impose information-processing demands onto cognitive systems. In humans, for example, past social contact among individuals predicts their future contact with linear and power functions. These features of the human environment constrain the optimal way to remember information and probably shape how memory records are retained and retrieved. We offer a primer on how biologists can apply rational analysis to study animal behaviour. Using chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) as a case study, we modelled 19 years of observational data on their social contact patterns. Much like humans, the frequency of past encounters in chimpanzees linearly predicted future encounters, and the recency of past encounters predicted future encounters with a power function. Consistent with the rational analyses carried out for human memory, these findings suggest that chimpanzee memory performance should reflect those environmental regularities. In re-analysing existing chimpanzee memory data, we found that chimpanzee memory patterns mirrored their social contact patterns. Our findings hint that human and chimpanzee memory systems may have evolved to solve similar information-processing problems. Overall, rational analysis offers novel theoretical and methodological avenues for the comparative study of cognition.

Reflections of the social environment in chimpanzee memory: applying rational analysis beyond humans

PubMed Central

Marewski, Julian N.; Schooler, Lael J.; Gilby, Ian C.

2016-01-01

In cognitive science, the rational analysis framework allows modelling of how physical and social environments impose information-processing demands onto cognitive systems. In humans, for example, past social contact among individuals predicts their future contact with linear and power functions. These features of the human environment constrain the optimal way to remember information and probably shape how memory records are retained and retrieved. We offer a primer on how biologists can apply rational analysis to study animal behaviour. Using chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) as a case study, we modelled 19 years of observational data on their social contact patterns. Much like humans, the frequency of past encounters in chimpanzees linearly predicted future encounters, and the recency of past encounters predicted future encounters with a power function. Consistent with the rational analyses carried out for human memory, these findings suggest that chimpanzee memory performance should reflect those environmental regularities. In re-analysing existing chimpanzee memory data, we found that chimpanzee memory patterns mirrored their social contact patterns. Our findings hint that human and chimpanzee memory systems may have evolved to solve similar information-processing problems. Overall, rational analysis offers novel theoretical and methodological avenues for the comparative study of cognition. PMID:27853606

Meta-analysis of human gene expression in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection reveals potential therapeutic targets.

PubMed

Wang, Zhang; Arat, Seda; Magid-Slav, Michal; Brown, James R

2018-01-10

With the global emergence of multi-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, new strategies to treat tuberculosis are urgently needed such as therapeutics targeting potential human host factors. Here we performed a statistical meta-analysis of human gene expression in response to both latent and active pulmonary tuberculosis infections from nine published datasets. We found 1655 genes that were significantly differentially expressed during active tuberculosis infection. In contrast, no gene was significant for latent tuberculosis. Pathway enrichment analysis identified 90 significant canonical human pathways, including several pathways more commonly related to non-infectious diseases such as the LRRK2 pathway in Parkinson's disease, and PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathway important for new immuno-oncology therapies. The analysis of human genome-wide association studies datasets revealed tuberculosis-associated genetic variants proximal to several genes in major histocompatibility complex for antigen presentation. We propose several new targets and drug-repurposing opportunities including intravenous immunoglobulin, ion-channel blockers and cancer immuno-therapeutics for development as combination therapeutics with anti-mycobacterial agents. Our meta-analysis provides novel insights into host genes and pathways important for tuberculosis and brings forth potential drug repurposing opportunities for host-directed therapies.

Kennard-Stone combined with least square support vector machine method for noncontact discriminating human blood species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Linna; Li, Gang; Sun, Meixiu; Li, Hongxiao; Wang, Zhennan; Li, Yingxin; Lin, Ling

2017-11-01

Identifying whole bloods to be either human or nonhuman is an important responsibility for import-export ports and inspection and quarantine departments. Analytical methods and DNA testing methods are usually destructive. Previous studies demonstrated that visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy method can realize noncontact human and nonhuman blood discrimination. An appropriate method for calibration set selection was very important for a robust quantitative model. In this paper, Random Selection (RS) method and Kennard-Stone (KS) method was applied in selecting samples for calibration set. Moreover, proper stoichiometry method can be greatly beneficial for improving the performance of classification model or quantification model. Partial Least Square Discrimination Analysis (PLSDA) method was commonly used in identification of blood species with spectroscopy methods. Least Square Support Vector Machine (LSSVM) was proved to be perfect for discrimination analysis. In this research, PLSDA method and LSSVM method was used for human blood discrimination. Compared with the results of PLSDA method, this method could enhance the performance of identified models. The overall results convinced that LSSVM method was more feasible for identifying human and animal blood species, and sufficiently demonstrated LSSVM method was a reliable and robust method for human blood identification, and can be more effective and accurate.

Building human resources capability in health care: a global analysis of best practice--Part III.

PubMed

Zairi, M

1998-01-01

This is the last part of a series of three papers which discussed very comprehensively best practice applications in human resource management by drawing special inferences to the healthcare context. It emerged from parts I and II that high performing organisations plan and intend to build sustainable capability through a systematic consideration of the human element as the key asset and through a continuous process of training, developing, empowering and engaging people in all aspects of organisational excellence. Part III brings this debate to a close by demonstrating what brings about organisational excellence and proposes a road map for effective human resource development and management, based on world class standards. Healthcare human resource professionals can now rise to the challenge and plan ahead for building organisational capability and sustainable performance.

The Development of Dynamic Human Reliability Analysis Simulations for Inclusion in Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization Frameworks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jeffrey C. Joe; Diego Mandelli; Ronald L. Boring

2015-07-01

The United States Department of Energy is sponsoring the Light Water Reactor Sustainability program, which has the overall objective of supporting the near-term and the extended operation of commercial nuclear power plants. One key research and development (R&D) area in this program is the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization pathway, which combines probabilistic risk simulation with thermohydraulic simulation codes to define and manage safety margins. The R&D efforts to date, however, have not included robust simulations of human operators, and how the reliability of human performance or lack thereof (i.e., human errors) can affect risk-margins and plant performance. This paper describesmore » current and planned research efforts to address the absence of robust human reliability simulations and thereby increase the fidelity of simulated accident scenarios.« less

NASA Johnson Space Center Usability Testing and Analysis facility (UTAF) Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, Mihriban; Holden, Kritina L.

2005-01-01

The Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (UTAF) is part of the Space Human Factors Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The facility performs research for NASA's HumanSystems Integration Program, under the HumanSystems Research and Technology Division. Specifically, the UTAF provides human factors support for space vehicles, including the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and the forthcoming Crew Exploration Vehicle. In addition, there are ongoing collaborative research efforts with external corporations and universities. The UTAF provides human factors analysis, evaluation, and usability testing of crew interfaces for space applications. This includes computer displays and controls, workstation systems, and work environments. The UTAF has a unique mix of capabilities, with a staff experienced in both cognitive human factors and ergonomics. The current areas of focus are: human factors applications in emergency medical care and informatics; control and display technologies for electronic procedures and instructions; voice recognition in noisy environments; crew restraint design for unique microgravity workstations; and refinement of human factors processes and requirements. This presentation will provide an overview of ongoing activities, and will address how the UTAF projects will evolve to meet new space initiatives.

Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Dynamic Human Information Interaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Minsoo

2013-01-01

Introduction: This study aims to understand the interactions of perception, effort, emotion, time and performance during the performance of multiple information tasks using Web information technologies. Method: Twenty volunteers from a university participated in this study. Questionnaires were used to obtain general background information and…

Paleoparasitological results from XVIII century human remains from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PubMed

Jaeger, Lauren Hubert; Taglioretti, Veronica; Fugassa, Martín Horacio; Dias, Ondemar; Neto, Jandira; Iñiguez, Alena Mayo

2013-03-01

Paleoparasitological studies of the Brazilian colonial period are scarce. A paleoparasitological analysis was performed on human remains from the archeological site Praça XV Cemetery in Rio de Janeiro, dating from the early 18th to 19th Centuries. The samples were obtained from the Institute of the Brazilian Archaeology collection, and showed evidence of washing and brushing. Sediments were extracted from sacral foramina by scraping. Sediments from skulls were used as negative paleoparasitological controls. Spontaneous sedimentation method was performed prior to microscopic analysis. The results revealed that 8 of 10 individuals were infected with intestinal helminths and/or protozoa. Eggs of the nematodes Trichuris sp. and Ascaris sp. as well as a single taeniid egg were found. Protozoa cysts suggestive of Entamoeba sp. were also observed. Trichuris sp. was the most frequent and abundant parasite, found in 70% of individuals (26 eggs). The study showed the importance of analysis of sediment from human remains preserved in museum or scientific collections, even those subjected to a curating procedure. The levels of infection revealed here should be considered underestimations. This is the first paleoparasitological study from Rio de Janeiro city for the Brazilian colonial period and the first report of human Taenia sp. in the New World. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (UTAF)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wong, Douglas T.

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the work of the Usability Testing and Analysis Facility (UTAF) at NASA Johnson Space Center. It is one of the Space Human Factors Laboratories in the Habitability and Human Factors Branch (SF3) at NASA Johnson Space Center The primary focus pf the UTAF is to perform Human factors evaluation and usability testing of crew / vehicle interfaces. The presentation reviews the UTAF expertise and capabilities, the processes and methodologies, and the equipment available. It also reviews the programs that it has supported detailing the human engineering activities in support of the design of the Orion space craft, testing of the EVA integrated spacesuit, and work done for the design of the lunar projects of the Constellation Program: Altair, Lunar Electric Rover, and Outposts

The Reproduction of Biological "Race" through Physical Education Textbooks and Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Brent

2013-01-01

This paper examines the usage of "race" in high school physical education textbooks in Australia. In particular, it examines the concept of biological "race" in connection with human performance in sport. DNA studies do not indicate that separate classifiable subspecies (races) exist within modern humans. A content analysis of…

Identifying developmental toxicity pathways for a subset of ToxCast chemicals using human embryonic stem cells and metabolomics

EPA Science Inventory

Metabolomics analysis was performed on the supernatant of human embryonic stem (hES) cell cultures exposed to a blinded subset of 11 chemicals selected from the chemical library of EPA's ToxCast™ chemical screening and prioritization research project. Metabolites from hES cultur...

Teaching Human Genetics with Mustard: Rapid Cycling Brassica rapa (Fast Plants Type) as a Model for Human Genetics in the Classroom Laboratory

PubMed Central

Pickard, Dawn

2007-01-01

We have developed experiments and materials to model human genetics using rapid cycling Brassica rapa, also known as Fast Plants. Because of their self-incompatibility for pollination and the genetic diversity within strains, B. rapa can serve as a relevant model for human genetics in teaching laboratory experiments. The experiment presented here is a paternity exclusion project in which a child is born with a known mother but two possible alleged fathers. Students use DNA markers (microsatellites) to perform paternity exclusion on these subjects. Realistic DNA marker analysis can be challenging to implement within the limitations of an instructional lab, but we have optimized the experimental methods to work in a teaching lab environment and to maximize the “hands-on” experience for the students. The genetic individuality of each B. rapa plant, revealed by analysis of polymorphic microsatellite markers, means that each time students perform this project, they obtain unique results that foster independent thinking in the process of data interpretation. PMID:17548880

Fractal analysis on human dynamics of library loans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Chao; Guo, Jin-Li; Zha, Yi-Long

2012-12-01

In this paper, the fractal characteristic of human behaviors is investigated from the perspective of time series constructed with the amount of library loans. The values of the Hurst exponent and length of non-periodic cycle calculated through rescaled range analysis indicate that the time series of human behaviors and their sub-series are fractal with self-similarity and long-range dependence. Then the time series are converted into complex networks by the visibility algorithm. The topological properties of the networks such as scale-free property and small-world effect imply that there is a close relationship among the numbers of repetitious behaviors performed by people during certain periods of time. Our work implies that there is intrinsic regularity in the human collective repetitious behaviors. The conclusions may be helpful to develop some new approaches to investigate the fractal feature and mechanism of human dynamics, and provide some references for the management and forecast of human collective behaviors.

Quantification of human motion: gait analysis-benefits and limitations to its application to clinical problems.

PubMed

Simon, Sheldon R

2004-12-01

The technology supporting the analysis of human motion has advanced dramatically. Past decades of locomotion research have provided us with significant knowledge about the accuracy of tests performed, the understanding of the process of human locomotion, and how clinical testing can be used to evaluate medical disorders and affect their treatment. Gait analysis is now recognized as clinically useful and financially reimbursable for some medical conditions. Yet, the routine clinical use of gait analysis has seen very limited growth. The issue of its clinical value is related to many factors, including the applicability of existing technology to addressing clinical problems; the limited use of such tests to address a wide variety of medical disorders; the manner in which gait laboratories are organized, tests are performed, and reports generated; and the clinical understanding and expectations of laboratory results. Clinical use is most hampered by the length of time and costs required for performing a study and interpreting it. A "gait" report is lengthy, its data are not well understood, and it includes a clinical interpretation, all of which do not occur with other clinical tests. Current biotechnology research is seeking to address these problems by creating techniques to capture data rapidly, accurately, and efficiently, and to interpret such data by an assortment of modeling, statistical, wave interpretation, and artificial intelligence methodologies. The success of such efforts rests on both our technical abilities and communication between engineers and clinicians.

Sensitivity Analysis of Hybrid Propulsion Transportation System for Human Mars Expeditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chai, Patrick R.; Joyce, Ryan T.; Kessler, Paul D.; Merrill, Raymond G.; Qu, Min

2017-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration continues to develop and refine various transportation options to successfully field a human Mars campaign. One of these transportation options is the Hybrid Transportation System which utilizes both solar electric propulsion and chemical propulsion. The Hybrid propulsion system utilizes chemical propulsion to perform high thrust maneuvers, where the delta-V is most optimal when ap- plied to save time and to leverage the Oberth effect. It then utilizes solar electric propulsion to augment the chemical burns throughout the interplanetary trajectory. This eliminates the need for the development of two separate vehicles for crew and cargo missions. Previous studies considered single point designs of the architecture, with fixed payload mass and propulsion system performance parameters. As the architecture matures, it is inevitable that the payload mass and the performance of the propulsion system will change. It is desirable to understand how these changes will impact the in-space transportation system's mass and power requirements. This study presents an in-depth sensitivity analysis of the Hybrid crew transportation system to payload mass growth and solar electric propulsion performance. This analysis is used to identify the breakpoints of the current architecture and to inform future architecture and campaign design decisions.

Visualizing weighted networks: a performance comparison of adjacency matrices versus node-link diagrams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McIntire, John P.; Osesina, O. Isaac; Bartley, Cecilia; Tudoreanu, M. Eduard; Havig, Paul R.; Geiselman, Eric E.

2012-06-01

Ensuring the proper and effective ways to visualize network data is important for many areas of academia, applied sciences, the military, and the public. Fields such as social network analysis, genetics, biochemistry, intelligence, cybersecurity, neural network modeling, transit systems, communications, etc. often deal with large, complex network datasets that can be difficult to interact with, study, and use. There have been surprisingly few human factors performance studies on the relative effectiveness of different graph drawings or network diagram techniques to convey information to a viewer. This is particularly true for weighted networks which include the strength of connections between nodes, not just information about which nodes are linked to other nodes. We describe a human factors study in which participants performed four separate network analysis tasks (finding a direct link between given nodes, finding an interconnected node between given nodes, estimating link strengths, and estimating the most densely interconnected nodes) on two different network visualizations: an adjacency matrix with a heat-map versus a node-link diagram. The results should help shed light on effective methods of visualizing network data for some representative analysis tasks, with the ultimate goal of improving usability and performance for viewers of network data displays.

Development of biomechanical models for human factors evaluations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woolford, Barbara; Pandya, Abhilash; Maida, James

1993-01-01

Computer aided design (CAD) techniques are now well established and have become the norm in many aspects of aerospace engineering. They enable analytical studies, such as finite element analysis, to be performed to measure performance characteristics of the aircraft or spacecraft long before a physical model is built. However, because of the complexity of human performance, CAD systems for human factors are not in widespread use. The purpose of such a program would be to analyze the performance capability of a crew member given a particular environment and task. This requires the design capabilities to describe the environment's geometry and to describe the task's requirements, which may involve motion and strength. This in turn requires extensive data on human physical performance which can be generalized to many different physical configurations. PLAID is developing into such a program. Begun at Johnson Space Center in 1977, it was started to model only the geometry of the environment. The physical appearance of a human body was generated, and the tool took on a new meaning as fit, access, and reach could be checked. Specification of fields-of-view soon followed. This allowed PLAID to be used to predict what the Space Shuttle cameras or crew could see from a given point.

Absences of Navy Enlisted Personnel: A Search for Gender Differences

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-03-01

absenteeism behavior has changed over the past decade. Approach Two separate investigations were conducted to (1) perform a comprehensive comparison of women’s... absenteeism : A multivariate analysis with replication. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance , 26, 349-372. Hoiberg, A. (1980). Sex and occupational...Thomas, Marie D. Thomas. Paul Robertson 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Navy Personnel Research and

Objective Fidelity Evaluation in Multisensory Virtual Environments: Auditory Cue Fidelity in Flight Simulation

PubMed Central

Meyer, Georg F.; Wong, Li Ting; Timson, Emma; Perfect, Philip; White, Mark D.

2012-01-01

We argue that objective fidelity evaluation of virtual environments, such as flight simulation, should be human-performance-centred and task-specific rather than measure the match between simulation and physical reality. We show how principled experimental paradigms and behavioural models to quantify human performance in simulated environments that have emerged from research in multisensory perception provide a framework for the objective evaluation of the contribution of individual cues to human performance measures of fidelity. We present three examples in a flight simulation environment as a case study: Experiment 1: Detection and categorisation of auditory and kinematic motion cues; Experiment 2: Performance evaluation in a target-tracking task; Experiment 3: Transferrable learning of auditory motion cues. We show how the contribution of individual cues to human performance can be robustly evaluated for each task and that the contribution is highly task dependent. The same auditory cues that can be discriminated and are optimally integrated in experiment 1, do not contribute to target-tracking performance in an in-flight refuelling simulation without training, experiment 2. In experiment 3, however, we demonstrate that the auditory cue leads to significant, transferrable, performance improvements with training. We conclude that objective fidelity evaluation requires a task-specific analysis of the contribution of individual cues. PMID:22957068

Study of human body: Kinematics and kinetics of a martial arts (Silat) performers using 3D-motion capture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soh, Ahmad Afiq Sabqi Awang; Jafri, Mohd Zubir Mat; Azraai, Nur Zaidi

2015-04-01

The Interest in this studies of human kinematics goes back very far in human history drove by curiosity or need for the understanding the complexity of human body motion. To find new and accurate information about the human movement as the advance computing technology became available for human movement that can perform. Martial arts (silat) were chose and multiple type of movement was studied. This project has done by using cutting-edge technology which is 3D motion capture to characterize and to measure the motion done by the performers of martial arts (silat). The camera will detect the markers (infrared reflection by the marker) around the performer body (total of 24 markers) and will show as dot in the computer software. The markers detected were analyzing using kinematic kinetic approach and time as reference. A graph of velocity, acceleration and position at time,t (seconds) of each marker was plot. Then from the information obtain, more parameters were determined such as work done, momentum, center of mass of a body using mathematical approach. This data can be used for development of the effectiveness movement in martial arts which is contributed to the people in arts. More future works can be implemented from this project such as analysis of a martial arts competition.

Single cell array impedance analysis in a microfluidic device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Altinagac, Emre; Taskin, Selen; Kizil, Huseyin

2016-10-01

Impedance analysis of single cells is presented in this paper. Following the separation of a target cell type by dielectrophoresis in our previous work, this paper focuses on capturing the cells as a single array and performing impedance analysis to point out the signature difference between each cell type. Lab-on-a-chip devices having a titanium interdigitated electrode layer on a glass substrate and a PDMS microchannel are fabricated to capture each cell in a single form and perform impedance analysis. HCT116 (homosapiens colon colorectal carcin) and HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) cells are used in our experiments.

The `TTIME' Package: Performance Evaluation in a Cluster Computing Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howe, Marico; Berleant, Daniel; Everett, Albert

2011-06-01

The objective of translating developmental event time across mammalian species is to gain an understanding of the timing of human developmental events based on known time of those events in animals. The potential benefits include improvements to diagnostic and intervention capabilities. The CRAN `ttime' package provides the functionality to infer unknown event timings and investigate phylogenetic proximity utilizing hierarchical clustering of both known and predicted event timings. The original generic mammalian model included nine eutherian mammals: Felis domestica (cat), Mustela putorius furo (ferret), Mesocricetus auratus (hamster), Macaca mulatta (monkey), Homo sapiens (humans), Mus musculus (mouse), Oryctolagus cuniculus (rabbit), Rattus norvegicus (rat), and Acomys cahirinus (spiny mouse). However, the data for this model is expected to grow as more data about developmental events is identified and incorporated into the analysis. Performance evaluation of the `ttime' package across a cluster computing environment versus a comparative analysis in a serial computing environment provides an important computational performance assessment. A theoretical analysis is the first stage of a process in which the second stage, if justified by the theoretical analysis, is to investigate an actual implementation of the `ttime' package in a cluster computing environment and to understand the parallelization process that underlies implementation.

"SINCE I MUST PLEASE THOSE BELOW": HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS RESEARCH AND THE LAW.

PubMed

Holland, Thomas D

2015-01-01

The ethics of non-invasive scientific research on human skeletal remains are poorly articulated and lack a single, definitive analogue in western law. Laws governing invasive research on human fleshed remains, as well as bio-ethical principles established for research on living subjects, provide effective models for the establishment of ethical guidelines for non-invasive research on human skeletal remains. Specifically, non-invasive analysis of human remains is permissible provided that the analysis and collection of resulting data (1) are accomplished with respect for the dignity of the individual, (2) do not violate the last-known desire of the deceased, (3) do not adversely impact the right of the next of kin to perform a ceremonious and decent disposal of the remains, and (4) do not unduly or maliciously violate the privacy interests of the next of kin.

Making a Difference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Panza, Carol M.

2001-01-01

Suggests that human performance technologists need to have an analysis approach to support the development of an appropriate set of improvement recommendations for clients and then move to an action plan to help them see results. Presents a performance improvement model and a systematic approach that considers organizational context, ownership,…

Human Error Analysis in a Permit to Work System: A Case Study in a Chemical Plant

PubMed Central

Jahangiri, Mehdi; Hoboubi, Naser; Rostamabadi, Akbar; Keshavarzi, Sareh; Hosseini, Ali Akbar

2015-01-01

Background A permit to work (PTW) is a formal written system to control certain types of work which are identified as potentially hazardous. However, human error in PTW processes can lead to an accident. Methods This cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted to estimate the probability of human errors in PTW processes in a chemical plant in Iran. In the first stage, through interviewing the personnel and studying the procedure in the plant, the PTW process was analyzed using the hierarchical task analysis technique. In doing so, PTW was considered as a goal and detailed tasks to achieve the goal were analyzed. In the next step, the standardized plant analysis risk-human (SPAR-H) reliability analysis method was applied for estimation of human error probability. Results The mean probability of human error in the PTW system was estimated to be 0.11. The highest probability of human error in the PTW process was related to flammable gas testing (50.7%). Conclusion The SPAR-H method applied in this study could analyze and quantify the potential human errors and extract the required measures for reducing the error probabilities in PTW system. Some suggestions to reduce the likelihood of errors, especially in the field of modifying the performance shaping factors and dependencies among tasks are provided. PMID:27014485

Easy, Fast, and Reproducible Quantification of Cholesterol and Other Lipids in Human Plasma by Combined High Resolution MSX and FTMS Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallego, Sandra F.; Højlund, Kurt; Ejsing, Christer S.

2018-01-01

Reliable, cost-effective, and gold-standard absolute quantification of non-esterified cholesterol in human plasma is of paramount importance in clinical lipidomics and for the monitoring of metabolic health. Here, we compared the performance of three mass spectrometric approaches available for direct detection and quantification of cholesterol in extracts of human plasma. These approaches are high resolution full scan Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) analysis, parallel reaction monitoring (PRM), and novel multiplexed MS/MS (MSX) technology, where fragments from selected precursor ions are detected simultaneously. Evaluating the performance of these approaches in terms of dynamic quantification range, linearity, and analytical precision showed that the MSX-based approach is superior to that of the FTMS and PRM-based approaches. To further show the efficacy of this approach, we devised a simple routine for extensive plasma lipidome characterization using only 8 μL of plasma, using a new commercially available ready-to-spike-in mixture with 14 synthetic lipid standards, and executing a single 6 min sample injection with combined MSX analysis for cholesterol quantification and FTMS analysis for quantification of sterol esters, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, and sphingolipids. Using this simple routine afforded reproducible and absolute quantification of 200 lipid species encompassing 13 lipid classes in human plasma samples. Notably, the analysis time of this procedure can be shortened for high throughput-oriented clinical lipidomics studies or extended with more advanced MSALL technology (Almeida R. et al., J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 26, 133-148 [1]) to support in-depth structural elucidation of lipid molecules. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Easy, Fast, and Reproducible Quantification of Cholesterol and Other Lipids in Human Plasma by Combined High Resolution MSX and FTMS Analysis.

PubMed

Gallego, Sandra F; Højlund, Kurt; Ejsing, Christer S

2018-01-01

Reliable, cost-effective, and gold-standard absolute quantification of non-esterified cholesterol in human plasma is of paramount importance in clinical lipidomics and for the monitoring of metabolic health. Here, we compared the performance of three mass spectrometric approaches available for direct detection and quantification of cholesterol in extracts of human plasma. These approaches are high resolution full scan Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) analysis, parallel reaction monitoring (PRM), and novel multiplexed MS/MS (MSX) technology, where fragments from selected precursor ions are detected simultaneously. Evaluating the performance of these approaches in terms of dynamic quantification range, linearity, and analytical precision showed that the MSX-based approach is superior to that of the FTMS and PRM-based approaches. To further show the efficacy of this approach, we devised a simple routine for extensive plasma lipidome characterization using only 8 μL of plasma, using a new commercially available ready-to-spike-in mixture with 14 synthetic lipid standards, and executing a single 6 min sample injection with combined MSX analysis for cholesterol quantification and FTMS analysis for quantification of sterol esters, glycerolipids, glycerophospholipids, and sphingolipids. Using this simple routine afforded reproducible and absolute quantification of 200 lipid species encompassing 13 lipid classes in human plasma samples. Notably, the analysis time of this procedure can be shortened for high throughput-oriented clinical lipidomics studies or extended with more advanced MS ALL technology (Almeida R. et al., J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 26, 133-148 [1]) to support in-depth structural elucidation of lipid molecules. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

Histomorphological analysis of the variability of the human skeleton: forensic implications.

PubMed

Cummaudo, Marco; Cappella, Annalisa; Biraghi, Miranda; Raffone, Caterina; Màrquez-Grant, Nicholas; Cattaneo, Cristina

2018-01-20

One of the fundamental questions in forensic medicine and anthropology is whether or not a bone or bone fragment is human. Surprisingly at times for the extreme degradation of the bone (charred, old), DNA cannot be successfully performed and one must turn to other methods. Histological analysis at times can be proposed. However, the variability of a single human skeleton has never been tested. Forty-nine thin sections of long, flat, irregular and short bones were obtained from a well-preserved medieval adult human skeleton. A qualitative histomorphological analysis was performed in order to assess the presence of primary and secondary bone and the presence, absence and orientation of vascular canals. No histological sections exhibited woven or fibro-lamellar bone. Long bones showed a higher variability with an alternation within the same section of areas characterized by tightly packed secondary osteons and areas with scattered secondary osteons immersed in a lamellar matrix. Flat and irregular bones appeared to be characterized by a greater uniformity with scattered osteons in abundant interstitial lamellae. Some cases of "osteon banding" and "drifting osteons" were observed. Although Haversian bone represent the most frequent pattern, a histomorphological variability between different bones of the same individual, in different portions of the same bone, and in different parts of the same section has been observed. Therefore, the present study has highlighted the importance of extending research to whole skeletons without focusing only on single bones, in order to have a better understanding of the histological variability of both human and non-human bone.

Sensitivity analysis in a Lassa fever deterministic mathematical model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullahi, Mohammed Baba; Doko, Umar Chado; Mamuda, Mamman

2015-05-01

Lassa virus that causes the Lassa fever is on the list of potential bio-weapons agents. It was recently imported into Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States as a consequence of the rapid growth of international traffic. A model with five mutually exclusive compartments related to Lassa fever is presented and the basic reproduction number analyzed. A sensitivity analysis of the deterministic model is performed. This is done in order to determine the relative importance of the model parameters to the disease transmission. The result of the sensitivity analysis shows that the most sensitive parameter is the human immigration, followed by human recovery rate, then person to person contact. This suggests that control strategies should target human immigration, effective drugs for treatment and education to reduced person to person contact.

Effectiveness of human anatomy education for pharmacy students via the Internet.

PubMed

Limpach, Aimee L; Bazrafshan, Parham; Turner, Paul D; Monaghan, Michael S

2008-12-15

To evaluate the overall effectiveness of a human anatomy course taught to distance-based and campus-based pharmacy students. A retrospective analysis of students' grades and course evaluations from 2003 through 2006 was conducted. No significant differences in student performance by pathway were found for the 2003-2005 academic years (p > 0.05). However, distance-based students' percentage and letter grades were significantly higher in 2006 (p = 0.013 and p = 0.004 respectively). Comparison of course and instructor evaluations showed that students in the distance course held similar or more positive perceptions of the course than their campus peers. Similar performance by campus and distance students enrolled in a human anatomy suggests that a distance-based course can be used successfully to teach human anatomy to pharmacy students.

Work Domain Analysis of a Predecessor Sodium-cooled Reactor as Baseline for AdvSMR Operational Concepts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronald Farris; David Gertman; Jacques Hugo

This report presents the results of the Work Domain Analysis for the Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II). This is part of the phase of the research designed to incorporate Cognitive Work Analysis in the development of a framework for the formalization of an Operational Concept (OpsCon) for Advanced Small Modular Reactors (AdvSMRs). For a new AdvSMR design, information obtained through Cognitive Work Analysis, combined with human performance criteria, can and should be used in during the operational phase of a plant to assess the crew performance aspects associated with identified AdvSMR operational concepts. The main objective of this phase was tomore » develop an analytical and descriptive framework that will help systems and human factors engineers to understand the design and operational requirements of the emerging generation of small, advanced, multi-modular reactors. Using EBR-II as a predecessor to emerging sodium-cooled reactor designs required the application of a method suitable to the structured and systematic analysis of the plant to assist in identifying key features of the work associated with it and to clarify the operational and other constraints. The analysis included the identification and description of operating scenarios that were considered characteristic of this type of nuclear power plant. This is an invaluable aspect of Operational Concept development since it typically reveals aspects of future plant configurations that will have an impact on operations. These include, for example, the effect of core design, different coolants, reactor-to-power conversion unit ratios, modular plant layout, modular versus central control rooms, plant siting, and many more. Multi-modular plants in particular are expected to have a significant impact on overall OpsCon in general, and human performance in particular. To support unconventional modes of operation, the modern control room of a multi-module plant would typically require advanced HSIs that would provide sophisticated operational information visualization, coupled with adaptive automation schemes and operator support systems to reduce complexity. These all have to be mapped at some point to human performance requirements. The EBR-II results will be used as a baseline that will be extrapolated in the extended Cognitive Work Analysis phase to the analysis of a selected advanced sodium-cooled SMR design as a way to establish non-conventional operational concepts. The Work Domain Analysis results achieved during this phase have not only established an organizing and analytical framework for describing existing sociotechnical systems, but have also indicated that the method is particularly suited to the analysis of prospective and immature designs. The results of the EBR-II Work Domain Analysis have indicated that the methodology is scientifically sound and generalizable to any operating environment.« less

A novel framework for intelligent surveillance system based on abnormal human activity detection in academic environments.

PubMed

Al-Nawashi, Malek; Al-Hazaimeh, Obaida M; Saraee, Mohamad

2017-01-01

Abnormal activity detection plays a crucial role in surveillance applications, and a surveillance system that can perform robustly in an academic environment has become an urgent need. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for an automatic real-time video-based surveillance system which can simultaneously perform the tracking, semantic scene learning, and abnormality detection in an academic environment. To develop our system, we have divided the work into three phases: preprocessing phase, abnormal human activity detection phase, and content-based image retrieval phase. For motion object detection, we used the temporal-differencing algorithm and then located the motions region using the Gaussian function. Furthermore, the shape model based on OMEGA equation was used as a filter for the detected objects (i.e., human and non-human). For object activities analysis, we evaluated and analyzed the human activities of the detected objects. We classified the human activities into two groups: normal activities and abnormal activities based on the support vector machine. The machine then provides an automatic warning in case of abnormal human activities. It also embeds a method to retrieve the detected object from the database for object recognition and identification using content-based image retrieval. Finally, a software-based simulation using MATLAB was performed and the results of the conducted experiments showed an excellent surveillance system that can simultaneously perform the tracking, semantic scene learning, and abnormality detection in an academic environment with no human intervention.

Measurement of Air Pollutants in the Troposphere

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clemitshaw, Kevin C.

2011-01-01

This article describes the principles, applications and performances of methods to measure gas-phase air pollutants that either utilise passive or active sampling with subsequent laboratory analysis or involve automated "in situ" sampling and analysis. It focuses on air pollutants that have adverse impacts on human health (nitrogen…

Regulatory Impact Analysis of the Final Revisions to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ground-Level Ozone

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The EPA performed an illustrative analysis of the potential costs, human health benefits, and welfare benefits of nationally attaining a revised primary ozone standard of 70 ppb and a primary alternative ozone standard level of 65 ppb.

Does Training Influence Organisational Performance?: Analysis of the Spanish Hotel Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ubeda-Garcia, Mercedes; Marco-Lajara, Bartolome; Sabater-Sempere, Vicente; Garcia-Lillo, Francisco

2013-01-01

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to identify which variables of training policy have a significant and positive impact on organisational performance. Design/methodology/approach: A targeted literature review was conducted to identify and collate a comprehensive range of human resource management and training conceptualisations/investigations. This…

Three Reflections on Assessing Safety Training Needs: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sleezer, Catherine M.; Kelsey, Kathleen D.; Wood, Thomas E.

2008-01-01

Needs assessment plays an important role in training and human performance improvement efforts, but the literature contains little research on this topic. This study extended previous research on the Performance Analysis for Training (PAT) model of needs assessment by examining its implementation to determine environmental and occupational health…

Flow analysis of human chromosome sets by means of mixing-stirring device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zenin, Valeri V.; Aksenov, Nicolay D.; Shatrova, Alla N.; Klopov, Nicolay V.; Cram, L. Scott; Poletaev, Andrey I.

1997-05-01

A new mixing and stirring device (MSD) was used to perform flow karyotype analysis of single human mitotic chromosomes analyzed so as to maintain the identity of chromosomes derived from the same cell. An improved method for cell preparation and intracellular staining of chromosomes was developed. The method includes enzyme treatment, incubation with saponin and separation of prestained cells from debris on a sucrose gradient. Mitotic cells are injected one by one in the MSD which is located inside the flow chamber where cells are ruptured, thereby releasing chromosomes. The set of chromosomes proceeds to flow in single file fashion to the point of analysis. The device works in a stepwise manner. The concentration of cells in the sample must be kept low to ensure that only one cell at a time enters the breaking chamber. Time-gated accumulation of data in listmode files makes it possible to separate chromosome sets comprising of single cells. The software that was developed classifies chromosome sets according to different criteria: total number of chromosomes, overall DNA content in the set, and the number of chromosomes of certain types. This approach combines the high performance of flow cytometry with the advantages of image analysis. Examples obtained with different human cell lines are presented.

An Overview of the NASA Aviation Safety Program (AVSP) Systemwide Accident Prevention (SWAP) Human Performance Modeling (HPM) Element

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Foyle, David C.; Goodman, Allen; Hooley, Becky L.

2003-01-01

An overview is provided of the Human Performance Modeling (HPM) element within the NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP). Two separate model development tracks for performance modeling of real-world aviation environments are described: the first focuses on the advancement of cognitive modeling tools for system design, while the second centers on a prescriptive engineering model of activity tracking for error detection and analysis. A progressive implementation strategy for both tracks is discussed in which increasingly more complex, safety-relevant applications are undertaken to extend the state-of-the-art, as well as to reveal potential human-system vulnerabilities in the aviation domain. Of particular interest is the ability to predict the precursors to error and to assess potential mitigation strategies associated with the operational use of future flight deck technologies.

User Centered System Design: Papers for the CHI '83 Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California Univ., San Diego. Center for Human Information Processing.

Four papers from the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Project on Human-Computer Interfaces are presented in this report. "Evaluation and Analysis of User's Activity Organization," by Liam Bannon, Allen Cypher, Steven Greenspan, and Melissa Monty, analyzes the activities performed by users of computer systems, develops a…

Conceptual Analysis and Implications of Students' Individual Differences to Curriculum Implementation in Technical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akpan, Godwin A.; Essien, Emmanuel O.; Okure, Okure S.

2013-01-01

Individual differences refer to the unique ways each human being differs from another human being as expressed in behaviour or perceived in the physical appearance. Three factors of individual differences identified to be closely related to learning/acquisition of skills and performance of tasks. These are personality dimensions, self-efficacy and…

20180312 - Profiling the ToxCast library with a pluripotent human (H9) embryonic stem cell assay (SOT)

EPA Science Inventory

The Stemina devTOX quickPredict platform (STM) is a human pluripotent H9 stem cell-based assay that predicts developmental toxicants. Using the STM model, we screened 1065 ToxCast chemicals and entered the data into the ToxCast data analysis pipeline. Model performance was 83.3% ...

Decision tree analysis as a supplementary tool to enhance histomorphological differentiation when distinguishing human from non-human cranial bone in both burnt and unburnt states: A feasibility study.

PubMed

Simmons, T; Goodburn, B; Singhrao, S K

2016-01-01

This feasibility study was undertaken to describe and record the histological characteristics of burnt and unburnt cranial bone fragments from human and non-human bones. Reference series of fully mineralized, transverse sections of cranial bone, from all variables and specimen states, were prepared by manual cutting and semi-automated grinding and polishing methods. A photomicrograph catalogue reflecting differences in burnt and unburnt bone from human and non-humans was recorded and qualitative analysis was performed using an established classification system based on primary bone characteristics. The histomorphology associated with human and non-human samples was, for the main part, preserved following burning at high temperature. Clearly, fibro-lamellar complex tissue subtypes, such as plexiform or laminar primary bone, were only present in non-human bones. A decision tree analysis based on histological features provided a definitive identification key for distinguishing human from non-human bone, with an accuracy of 100%. The decision tree for samples where burning was unknown was 96% accurate, and multi-step classification to taxon was possible with 100% accuracy. The results of this feasibility study strongly suggest that histology remains a viable alternative technique if fragments of cranial bone require forensic examination in both burnt and unburnt states. The decision tree analysis may provide an additional but vital tool to enhance data interpretation. Further studies are needed to assess variation in histomorphology taking into account other cranial bones, ontogeny, species and burning conditions. © The Author(s) 2015.

Networks for image acquisition, processing and display

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahumada, Albert J., Jr.

1990-01-01

The human visual system comprises layers of networks which sample, process, and code images. Understanding these networks is a valuable means of understanding human vision and of designing autonomous vision systems based on network processing. Ames Research Center has an ongoing program to develop computational models of such networks. The models predict human performance in detection of targets and in discrimination of displayed information. In addition, the models are artificial vision systems sharing properties with biological vision that has been tuned by evolution for high performance. Properties include variable density sampling, noise immunity, multi-resolution coding, and fault-tolerance. The research stresses analysis of noise in visual networks, including sampling, photon, and processing unit noises. Specific accomplishments include: models of sampling array growth with variable density and irregularity comparable to that of the retinal cone mosaic; noise models of networks with signal-dependent and independent noise; models of network connection development for preserving spatial registration and interpolation; multi-resolution encoding models based on hexagonal arrays (HOP transform); and mathematical procedures for simplifying analysis of large networks.

Structural texture similarity metrics for image analysis and retrieval.

PubMed

Zujovic, Jana; Pappas, Thrasyvoulos N; Neuhoff, David L

2013-07-01

We develop new metrics for texture similarity that accounts for human visual perception and the stochastic nature of textures. The metrics rely entirely on local image statistics and allow substantial point-by-point deviations between textures that according to human judgment are essentially identical. The proposed metrics extend the ideas of structural similarity and are guided by research in texture analysis-synthesis. They are implemented using a steerable filter decomposition and incorporate a concise set of subband statistics, computed globally or in sliding windows. We conduct systematic tests to investigate metric performance in the context of "known-item search," the retrieval of textures that are "identical" to the query texture. This eliminates the need for cumbersome subjective tests, thus enabling comparisons with human performance on a large database. Our experimental results indicate that the proposed metrics outperform peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity metric (SSIM) and its variations, as well as state-of-the-art texture classification metrics, using standard statistical measures.

A Computational Observer For Performing Contrast-Detail Analysis Of Ultrasound Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lopez, H.; Loew, M. H.

1988-06-01

Contrast-Detail (C/D) analysis allows the quantitative determination of an imaging system's ability to display a range of varying-size targets as a function of contrast. Using this technique, a contrast-detail plot is obtained which can, in theory, be used to compare image quality from one imaging system to another. The C/D plot, however, is usually obtained by using data from human observer readings. We have shown earlier(7) that the performance of human observers in the task of threshold detection of simulated lesions embedded in random ultrasound noise is highly inaccurate and non-reproducible for untrained observers. We present an objective, computational method for the determination of the C/D curve for ultrasound images. This method utilizes digital images of the C/D phantom developed at CDRH, and lesion-detection algorithms that simulate the Bayesian approach using the likelihood function for an ideal observer. We present the results of this method, and discuss the relationship to the human observer and to the comparability of image quality between systems.

Human oocyte calcium analysis predicts the response to assisted oocyte activation in patients experiencing fertilization failure after ICSI.

PubMed

Ferrer-Buitrago, M; Dhaenens, L; Lu, Y; Bonte, D; Vanden Meerschaut, F; De Sutter, P; Leybaert, L; Heindryckx, B

2018-01-10

Can human oocyte calcium analysis predict fertilization success after assisted oocyte activation (AOA) in patients experiencing fertilization failure after ICSI? ICSI-AOA restores the fertilization rate only in patients displaying abnormal Ca2+ oscillations during human oocyte activation. Patients capable of activating mouse oocytes and who showed abnormal Ca2+ profiles after mouse oocyte Ca2+ analysis (M-OCA), have variable responses to ICSI-AOA. It remains unsettled whether human oocyte Ca2+ analysis (H-OCA) would yield an improved accuracy to predict fertilization success after ICSI-AOA. Sperm activation potential was first evaluated by MOAT. Subsequently, Ca2+ oscillatory patterns were determined with sperm from patients showing moderate to normal activation potential based on the capacity of human sperm to generate Ca2+ responses upon microinjection in mouse and human oocytes. Altogether, this study includes a total of 255 mouse and 122 human oocytes. M-OCA was performed with 16 different sperm samples before undergoing ICSI-AOA treatment. H-OCA was performed for 11 patients who finally underwent ICSI-AOA treatment. The diagnostic accuracy to predict fertilization success was calculated based on the response to ICSI-AOA. Patients experiencing low or total failed fertilization after conventional ICSI were included in the study. All participants showed moderate to high rates of activation after MOAT. Metaphase II (MII) oocytes from B6D2F1 mice were used for M-OCA. Control fertile sperm samples were used to obtain a reference Ca2+ oscillation profile elicited in human oocytes. Donated human oocytes, non-suitable for IVF treatments, were collected and vitrified at MII stage for further analysis by H-OCA. M-OCA and H-OCA predicted the response to ICSI-AOA in 8 out of 11 (73%) patients. Compared to M-OCA, H-OCA detected the presence of sperm activation deficiencies with greater sensitivity (75 vs 100%, respectively). ICSI-AOA never showed benefit to overcome fertilization failure in patients showing normal capacity to generate Ca2+ oscillations in H-OCA and was likely to be beneficial in cases displaying abnormal H-OCA Ca2+ oscillations patterns. The scarce availability of human oocytes donated for research purposes is a limiting factor to perform H-OCA. Ca2+ imaging requires specific equipment to monitor fluorescence changes over time. H-OCA is a sensitive test to diagnose gamete-linked fertilization failure. H-OCA allows treatment counseling for couples experiencing ICSI failures to either undergo ICSI-AOA or to participate in gamete donation programs. The present data provide an important template of the Ca2+ signature observed during human fertilization in cases with normal, low and failed fertilization after conventional ICSI. This work was supported by the Flemish fund for scientific research (FWO-Vlaanderen, G060615N). The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Analysis of new psychoactive substances in human urine by ultra-high performance supercritical fluid and liquid chromatography: Validation and comparison.

PubMed

Borovcová, Lucie; Pauk, Volodymyr; Lemr, Karel

2018-05-01

New psychoactive substances represent serious social and health problem as tens of new compounds are detected in Europe annually. They often show structural proximity or even isomerism, which complicates their analysis. Two methods based on ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography and ultra high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection were validated and compared. A simple dilute-filter-and-shoot protocol utilizing propan-2-ol or methanol for supercritical fluid or liquid chromatography, respectively, was proposed to detect and quantify 15 cathinones and phenethylamines in human urine. Both methods offered fast separation (<3 min) and short total analysis time. Precision was well <15% with a few exceptions in liquid chromatography. Limits of detection in urine ranged from 0.01 to 2.3 ng/mL, except for cathinone (5 ng/mL) in supercritical fluid chromatography. Nevertheless, this technique distinguished all analytes including four pairs of isomers, while liquid chromatography was unable to resolve fluoromethcathinone regioisomers. Concerning matrix effects and recoveries, supercritical fluid chromatography produced more uniform results for different compounds and at different concentration levels. This work demonstrates the performance and reliability of supercritical fluid chromatography and corroborates its applicability as an alternative tool for analysis of new psychoactive substances in biological matrixes. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Forensics Investigator

MedlinePlus

... specialize in areas such as DNA analysis or firearm examination, performing tests on weapons and substances like ... often are exposed to human body fluids and firearms. However, these working conditions pose little risk, if ...

Discrimination between smiling faces: Human observers vs. automated face analysis.

PubMed

Del Líbano, Mario; Calvo, Manuel G; Fernández-Martín, Andrés; Recio, Guillermo

2018-05-11

This study investigated (a) how prototypical happy faces (with happy eyes and a smile) can be discriminated from blended expressions with a smile but non-happy eyes, depending on type and intensity of the eye expression; and (b) how smile discrimination differs for human perceivers versus automated face analysis, depending on affective valence and morphological facial features. Human observers categorized faces as happy or non-happy, or rated their valence. Automated analysis (FACET software) computed seven expressions (including joy/happiness) and 20 facial action units (AUs). Physical properties (low-level image statistics and visual saliency) of the face stimuli were controlled. Results revealed, first, that some blended expressions (especially, with angry eyes) had lower discrimination thresholds (i.e., they were identified as "non-happy" at lower non-happy eye intensities) than others (especially, with neutral eyes). Second, discrimination sensitivity was better for human perceivers than for automated FACET analysis. As an additional finding, affective valence predicted human discrimination performance, whereas morphological AUs predicted FACET discrimination. FACET can be a valid tool for categorizing prototypical expressions, but is currently more limited than human observers for discrimination of blended expressions. Configural processing facilitates detection of in/congruence(s) across regions, and thus detection of non-genuine smiling faces (due to non-happy eyes). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of methods for profiling O-glycosylation: Human Proteome Organisation Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative multi-institutional study of IgA1.

PubMed

Wada, Yoshinao; Dell, Anne; Haslam, Stuart M; Tissot, Bérangère; Canis, Kévin; Azadi, Parastoo; Bäckström, Malin; Costello, Catherine E; Hansson, Gunnar C; Hiki, Yoshiyuki; Ishihara, Mayumi; Ito, Hiromi; Kakehi, Kazuaki; Karlsson, Niclas; Hayes, Catherine E; Kato, Koichi; Kawasaki, Nana; Khoo, Kay-Hooi; Kobayashi, Kunihiko; Kolarich, Daniel; Kondo, Akihiro; Lebrilla, Carlito; Nakano, Miyako; Narimatsu, Hisashi; Novak, Jan; Novotny, Milos V; Ohno, Erina; Packer, Nicolle H; Palaima, Elizabeth; Renfrow, Matthew B; Tajiri, Michiko; Thomsson, Kristina A; Yagi, Hirokazu; Yu, Shin-Yi; Taniguchi, Naoyuki

2010-04-01

The Human Proteome Organisation Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative recently coordinated a multi-institutional study that evaluated methodologies that are widely used for defining the N-glycan content in glycoproteins. The study convincingly endorsed mass spectrometry as the technique of choice for glycomic profiling in the discovery phase of diagnostic research. The present study reports the extension of the Human Disease Glycomics/Proteome Initiative's activities to an assessment of the methodologies currently used for O-glycan analysis. Three samples of IgA1 isolated from the serum of patients with multiple myeloma were distributed to 15 laboratories worldwide for O-glycomics analysis. A variety of mass spectrometric and chromatographic procedures representative of current methodologies were used. Similar to the previous N-glycan study, the results convincingly confirmed the pre-eminent performance of MS for O-glycan profiling. Two general strategies were found to give the most reliable data, namely direct MS analysis of mixtures of permethylated reduced glycans in the positive ion mode and analysis of native reduced glycans in the negative ion mode using LC-MS approaches. In addition, mass spectrometric methodologies to analyze O-glycopeptides were also successful.

Analysis of multiple vitamin D metabolites by ultra-performance supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPSFC-MS/MS).

PubMed

Jenkinson, Carl; Taylor, Angela; Storbeck, Karl-Heinz; Hewison, Martin

2018-06-15

In recent years, increased interest in the human health benefits of vitamin D has led to demand for improved analysis of patient vitamin D 'status'. Studies to date have focused primarily on a single vitamin D metabolite, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, despite the existence of a broad range of vitamin D metabolites, referred to as the vitamin D metabolome. This study reports on the development of a rapid UPSFC-MS/MS method for the analysis of nine vitamin D metabolites in human serum. Optimum separation was obtained with a Lux-Cellulose chiral column. We observed an orthogonal elution order when compared with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). The order of elution was reversed based on hydroxyl- group number, however elution order did not differ between isomeric changes in hydroxyl- group position or epimers. Although UPSFC yielded superior resolution and selectivity over previously developed UHPLC-MS/MS methods, improvements in sensitivity could not be achieved owing to the lower injection volume required for UPSFC relative to UHPLC. Method validation was performed on the developed UPSFC-MS/MS method and found to be within acceptable limits. Applying the method to the analysis of human serum samples showed a significant correlation with serum concentrations of metabolites measured by UHPLC-MS/MS (25OHD3 r = 0.997, P=<0.001, and 3-epi-25OHD3 r = 0.996, P ≤0.001). These data indicate that UPSFC provides an efficient analytical platform for rapid analysis of multiple vitamin D metabolites from serum. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computational Models of Human Performance: Validation of Memory and Procedural Representation in Advanced Air/Ground Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corker, Kevin M.; Labacqz, J. Victor (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

The Man-Machine Interaction Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) under joint U.S. Army and NASA cooperative is intended to assist designers of complex human/automation systems in successfully incorporating human performance capabilities and limitations into decision and action support systems. MIDAS is a computational representation of multiple human operators, selected perceptual, cognitive, and physical functions of those operators, and the physical/functional representation of the equipment with which they operate. MIDAS has been used as an integrated predictive framework for the investigation of human/machine systems, particularly in situations with high demands on the operators. We have extended the human performance models to include representation of both human operators and intelligent aiding systems in flight management, and air traffic service. The focus of this development is to predict human performance in response to aiding system developed to identify aircraft conflict and to assist in the shared authority for resolution. The demands of this application requires representation of many intelligent agents sharing world-models, coordinating action/intention, and cooperative scheduling of goals and action in an somewhat unpredictable world of operations. In recent applications to airborne systems development, MIDAS has demonstrated an ability to predict flight crew decision-making and procedural behavior when interacting with automated flight management systems and Air Traffic Control. In this paper, we describe two enhancements to MIDAS. The first involves the addition of working memory in the form of an articulatory buffer for verbal communication protocols and a visuo-spatial buffer for communications via digital datalink. The second enhancement is a representation of multiple operators working as a team. This enhanced model was used to predict the performance of human flight crews and their level of compliance with commercial aviation communication procedures. We show how the data produced by MIDAS compares with flight crew performance data from full mission simulations. Finally, we discuss the use of these features to study communication issues connected with aircraft-based separation assurance.

An automated system for chromosome analysis. Volume 1: Goals, system design, and performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castleman, K. R.; Melnyk, J. H.

1975-01-01

The design, construction, and testing of a complete system to produce karyotypes and chromosome measurement data from human blood samples, and a basis for statistical analysis of quantitative chromosome measurement data is described. The prototype was assembled, tested, and evaluated on clinical material and thoroughly documented.

An Interdisciplinary Meta-Analysis of the Potential Antecedents, Correlates, and Consequences of Protege Perceptions of Mentoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eby, Lillian Turner de Tormes; Allen, Tammy D.; Hoffman, Brian J.; Baranik, Lisa E.; Sauer, Julia B.; Baldwin, Sean; Morrison, M. Ashley; Kinkade, Katie M.; Maher, Charleen P.; Curtis, Sara; Evans, Sarah C.

2013-01-01

This meta-analysis summarized youth, academic, and workplace research on the potential antecedents (demographics, human capital, and relationship attributes), correlates (interaction frequency, relationship length, performance, motivation, and social capital), and consequences (attitudinal, behavioral, career-related, and health-related outcomes)…

Analysis of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals in wastewater and surface water using selective solid phase extraction and UPLC/MS/MS

EPA Science Inventory

A rapid and sensitive method has been developed for the analysis of 48 human prescription active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and 6 metabolites of interest, utilizing selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) and ultra performance liquid chromatography in combination with tripl...

An intelligent crowdsourcing system for forensic analysis of surveillance video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tahboub, Khalid; Gadgil, Neeraj; Ribera, Javier; Delgado, Blanca; Delp, Edward J.

2015-03-01

Video surveillance systems are of a great value for public safety. With an exponential increase in the number of cameras, videos obtained from surveillance systems are often archived for forensic purposes. Many automatic methods have been proposed to do video analytics such as anomaly detection and human activity recognition. However, such methods face significant challenges due to object occlusions, shadows and scene illumination changes. In recent years, crowdsourcing has become an effective tool that utilizes human intelligence to perform tasks that are challenging for machines. In this paper, we present an intelligent crowdsourcing system for forensic analysis of surveillance video that includes the video recorded as a part of search and rescue missions and large-scale investigation tasks. We describe a method to enhance crowdsourcing by incorporating human detection, re-identification and tracking. At the core of our system, we use a hierarchal pyramid model to distinguish the crowd members based on their ability, experience and performance record. Our proposed system operates in an autonomous fashion and produces a final output of the crowdsourcing analysis consisting of a set of video segments detailing the events of interest as one storyline.

Human lactoferrin induces asthmatic symptoms in NC/Nga mice.

PubMed

Nagaoka, Kenjiro; Ito, Tatsuo; Ogino, Keiki; Eguchi, Eri; Fujikura, Yoshihisa

2017-08-01

Lactoferrin in commercial supplements is known to exert anti-viral and anti-allergic effects. However, this is the first study to evaluate the induction of allergic airway inflammation in NC/Nga mice. Human lactoferrin was administered intraperitoneally with aluminum oxide for sensitization. Five days later, lactoferrin was inoculated intranasally for 5 days, and then on the 12th day, the single inoculation of lactoferrin intranasally was performed as a challenge. On the 13th day, airway hypersensitivity was assessed (AHR), a bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) cell analysis was conducted, serum IgE and serum lactoferrin-specific IgG and IgE levels as well as the mRNA expression levels of cytokines and chemokines in the lung were measured, and a histopathological analysis of the lung was performed. Human lactoferrin increased AHR, the number of eosinophils in BALF, serum lactoferrin-specific IgG levels, and the mRNA levels of IL-13, eotaxin 1, and eotaxin 2. Moreover, the accumulation of inflammatory cells around the bronchus and the immunohistochemical localization of arginase I and human lactoferrin were detected. Collectively, these results indicate that human lactoferrin induced allergic airway inflammation in mice. Therefore, the commercial use of human lactoferrin in supplements warrants more intensive study. © 2017 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.

Monitoring of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in Czechoslovak human sera by immunoassay

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fukal, L.; Reisnerova, H.

1990-03-01

Since a level of food contamination with aflatoxins and ochratoxin A has been found low in Czechoslovakia, human exposure to these mycotoxins may not be negligible. However, analysis of food samples provides only indirect evidence of mycotoxin ingestion and no evidence about mycotoxin absorption. Direct evidence can only be obtained by analysis of human body fluids. Therefore, the authors decided to carry out a monitoring of aflatoxin and ochratoxin A level in human sera. In general, TLC and HPLC are most commonly used to analyze mycotoxins and its metabolites. The recent development of immunochemical techniques opens the possibility of determiningmore » individual exposure in a relatively large human population. These assays have the advantage of high specificity and sensitivity. Sample through-put is high, and the methods are technically simple and can be performed at low cost.« less

Estimation of human emotions using thermal facial information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Hung; Kotani, Kazunori; Chen, Fan; Le, Bac

2014-01-01

In recent years, research on human emotion estimation using thermal infrared (IR) imagery has appealed to many researchers due to its invariance to visible illumination changes. Although infrared imagery is superior to visible imagery in its invariance to illumination changes and appearance differences, it has difficulties in handling transparent glasses in the thermal infrared spectrum. As a result, when using infrared imagery for the analysis of human facial information, the regions of eyeglasses are dark and eyes' thermal information is not given. We propose a temperature space method to correct eyeglasses' effect using the thermal facial information in the neighboring facial regions, and then use Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Eigen-space Method based on class-features (EMC), and PCA-EMC method to classify human emotions from the corrected thermal images. We collected the Kotani Thermal Facial Emotion (KTFE) database and performed the experiments, which show the improved accuracy rate in estimating human emotions.

The genomics of selection in dogs and the parallel evolution between dogs and humans.

PubMed

Wang, Guo-dong; Zhai, Weiwei; Yang, He-chuan; Fan, Ruo-xi; Cao, Xue; Zhong, Li; Wang, Lu; Liu, Fei; Wu, Hong; Cheng, Lu-guang; Poyarkov, Andrei D; Poyarkov, Nikolai A; Tang, Shu-sheng; Zhao, Wen-ming; Gao, Yun; Lv, Xue-mei; Irwin, David M; Savolainen, Peter; Wu, Chung-I; Zhang, Ya-ping

2013-01-01

The genetic bases of demographic changes and artificial selection underlying domestication are of great interest in evolutionary biology. Here we perform whole-genome sequencing of multiple grey wolves, Chinese indigenous dogs and dogs of diverse breeds. Demographic analysis show that the split between wolves and Chinese indigenous dogs occurred 32,000 years ago and that the subsequent bottlenecks were mild. Therefore, dogs may have been under human selection over a much longer time than previously concluded, based on molecular data, perhaps by initially scavenging with humans. Population genetic analysis identifies a list of genes under positive selection during domestication, which overlaps extensively with the corresponding list of positively selected genes in humans. Parallel evolution is most apparent in genes for digestion and metabolism, neurological process and cancer. Our study, for the first time, draws together humans and dogs in their recent genomic evolution.

Determination of element levels in human serum: Total reflection X-ray fluorescence applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majewska, U.; Łyżwa, P.; Łyżwa, K.; Banaś, D.; Kubala-Kukuś, A.; Wudarczyk-Moćko, J.; Stabrawa, I.; Braziewicz, J.; Pajek, M.; Antczak, G.; Borkowska, B.; Góźdź, S.

2016-08-01

Deficiency or excess of elements could disrupt proper functioning of the human body and could lead to several disorders. Determination of their concentrations in different biological human fluids and tissues should become a routine practice in medical treatment. Therefore the knowledge about appropriate element concentrations in human organism is required. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of several elements (P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Br, Rb, Pb) in human serum and to define the reference values of element concentration. Samples of serum were obtained from 105 normal presumably healthy volunteers (66 women aged between 15 and 78 years old; 39 men aged between 15 and 77 years old). Analysis has been done for the whole studied population and for subgroups by sex and age. It is probably first so a wide study of elemental composition of serum performed in the case of Świętokrzyskie region. Total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) method was used to perform the elemental analysis. Spectrometer S2 Picofox (Bruker AXS Microanalysis GmbH) was used to identify and measure elemental composition of serum samples. Finally, 1st and 3rd quartiles were accepted as minimum and maximum values of concentration reference range.

Analysis of drugs in human tissues by supercritical fluid extraction/immunoassay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furton, Kenneth G.; Sabucedo, Alberta; Rein, Joseph; Hearn, W. L.

1997-02-01

A rapid, readily automated method has been developed for the quantitative analysis of phenobarbital from human liver tissues based on supercritical carbon dioxide extraction followed by fluorescence enzyme immunoassay. The method developed significantly reduces sample handling and utilizes the entire liver homogenate. The current method yields comparable recoveries and precision and does not require the use of an internal standard, although traditional GC/MS confirmation can still be performed on sample extracts. Additionally, the proposed method uses non-toxic, inexpensive carbon dioxide, thus eliminating the use of halogenated organic solvents.

The Importance of HRA in Human Space Flight: Understanding the Risks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamlin, Teri

2010-01-01

Human performance is critical to crew safety during space missions. Humans interact with hardware and software during ground processing, normal flight, and in response to events. Human interactions with hardware and software can cause Loss of Crew and/or Vehicle (LOCV) through improper actions, or may prevent LOCV through recovery and control actions. Humans have the ability to deal with complex situations and system interactions beyond the capability of machines. Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is a method used to qualitatively and quantitatively assess the occurrence of human failures that affect availability and reliability of complex systems. Modeling human actions with their corresponding failure probabilities in a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) provides a more complete picture of system risks and risk contributions. A high-quality HRA can provide valuable information on potential areas for improvement, including training, procedures, human interfaces design, and the need for automation. Modeling human error has always been a challenge in part because performance data is not always readily available. For spaceflight, the challenge is amplified not only because of the small number of participants and limited amount of performance data available, but also due to the lack of definition of the unique factors influencing human performance in space. These factors, called performance shaping factors in HRA terminology, are used in HRA techniques to modify basic human error probabilities in order to capture the context of an analyzed task. Many of the human error modeling techniques were developed within the context of nuclear power plants and therefore the methodologies do not address spaceflight factors such as the effects of microgravity and longer duration missions. This presentation will describe the types of human error risks which have shown up as risk drivers in the Shuttle PRA which may be applicable to commercial space flight. As with other large PRAs of complex machines, human error in the Shuttle PRA proved to be an important contributor (12 percent) to LOCV. An existing HRA technique was adapted for use in the Shuttle PRA, but additional guidance and improvements are needed to make the HRA task in space-related PRAs easier and more accurate. Therefore, this presentation will also outline plans for expanding current HRA methodology to more explicitly cover spaceflight performance shaping factors.

A Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Risk and Problem Behaviors: The Case of Adolescent Sexual Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guilamo-Ramos; Vincent; Jaccard, James; Dittus, Patricia; Gonzalez, Bernardo; Bouris, Alida

2008-01-01

A framework for the analysis of adolescent problem behaviors was explicated that draws on five major theories of human behavior. The framework emphasizes intentions to perform behaviors and factors that influence intentions as well as moderate the impact of intentions on behavior. The framework was applied to the analysis of adolescent sexual risk…

Four Vantage Points to the Language Performance and Capacity of Human Beings: Response to Saloviita and Sariola.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niemi, Jussi; Karna-Lin, Eija

2003-01-01

This response to EC 633 617, an analysis of a purported case of facilitated communication, stresses the role of linguistic and grammatical analysis of texts attributed to a Finnish man diagnosed with mental retardation and cerebral palsy. It identifies weaknesses in the analysis, urges use of multi-theoretical approaches, and notes the benefits…

Mars Hybrid Propulsion System Trajectory Analysis. Part I; Crew Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chai, Patrick R.; Merrill, Raymond G.; Qu, Min

2015-01-01

NASAs Human spaceflight Architecture team is developing a reusable hybrid transportation architecture in which both chemical and electric propulsion systems are used to send crew and cargo to Mars destinations such as Phobos, Deimos, the surface of Mars, and other orbits around Mars. By combining chemical and electrical propulsion into a single space- ship and applying each where it is more effective, the hybrid architecture enables a series of Mars trajectories that are more fuel-efficient than an all chemical architecture without significant increases in flight times. This paper provides the analysis of the interplanetary segments of the three Evolvable Mars Campaign crew missions to Mars using the hybrid transportation architecture. The trajectory analysis provides departure and arrival dates and propellant needs for the three crew missions that are used by the campaign analysis team for campaign build-up and logistics aggregation analysis. Sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate the impact of mass growth, departure window, and propulsion system performance on the hybrid transportation architecture. The results and system analysis from this paper contribute to analyses of the other human spaceflight architecture team tasks and feed into the definition of the Evolvable Mars Campaign.

Working Up a Good Sweat – The Challenges of Standardising Sweat Collection for Metabolomics Analysis

PubMed Central

Hussain, Joy N; Mantri, Nitin; Cohen, Marc M

2017-01-01

Introduction Human sweat is a complex biofluid of interest to diverse scientific fields. Metabolomics analysis of sweat promises to improve screening, diagnosis and self-monitoring of numerous conditions through new applications and greater personalisation of medical interventions. Before these applications can be fully developed, existing methods for the collection, handling, processing and storage of human sweat need to be revised. This review presents a cross-disciplinary overview of the origins, composition, physical characteristics and functional roles of human sweat, and explores the factors involved in standardising sweat collection for metabolomics analysis. Methods A literature review of human sweat analysis over the past 10 years (2006–2016) was performed to identify studies with metabolomics or similarly applicable ‘omics’ analysis. These studies were reviewed with attention to sweat induction and sampling techniques, timing of sweat collection, sweat storage conditions, laboratory derivation, processing and analytical platforms. Results Comparative analysis of 20 studies revealed numerous factors that can significantly impact the validity, reliability and reproducibility of sweat analysis including: anatomical site of sweat sampling, skin integrity and preparation; temperature and humidity at the sweat collection sites; timing and nature of sweat collection; metabolic quenching; transport and storage; qualitative and quantitative measurements of the skin microbiota at sweat collection sites; and individual variables such as diet, emotional state, metabolic conditions, pharmaceutical, recreational drug and supplement use. Conclusion Further development of standard operating protocols for human sweat collection can open the way for sweat metabolomics to significantly add to our understanding of human physiology in health and disease. PMID:28798503

Defining the molecular signatures of human right heart failure.

PubMed

Williams, Jordan L; Cavus, Omer; Loccoh, Emefah C; Adelman, Sara; Daugherty, John C; Smith, Sakima A; Canan, Benjamin; Janssen, Paul M L; Koenig, Sara; Kline, Crystal F; Mohler, Peter J; Bradley, Elisa A

2018-03-01

Right ventricular failure (RVF) varies significantly from the more common left ventricular failure (LVF). This study was undertaken to determine potential molecular pathways that are important in human right ventricular (RV) function and may mediate RVF. We analyzed mRNA of human non-failing LV and RV samples and RVF samples from patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and post-LVAD implantation. We then performed transcript analysis to determine differential expression of genes in the human heart samples. Immunoblot quantification was performed followed by analysis of non-failing and failing phenotypes. Inflammatory pathways were more commonly dysregulated in RV tissue (both non-failing and failing phenotypes). In non-failing human RV tissue we found important differences in expression of FIGF, TRAPPAC, and CTGF suggesting that regulation of normal RV and LV function are not the same. In failing RV tissue, FBN2, CTGF, SMOC2, and TRAPP6AC were differentially expressed, and are potential targets for further study. This work provides some of the first analyses of the molecular heterogeneity between human RV and LV tissue, as well as key differences in human disease (RVF secondary to pulmonary hypertension and LVAD mediated RVF). Our transcriptional data indicated that inflammatory pathways may be more important in RV tissue, and changes in FIGF and CTGF supported this hypothesis. In PAH RV failure samples, upregulation of FBN2 and CTGF further reinforced the potential significance that altered remodeling and inflammation play in normal RV function and failure. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Systems Engineering Process for Human Support Technology Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Harry

2005-01-01

Systems engineering is designing and optimizing systems. This paper reviews the systems engineering process and indicates how it can be applied in the development of advanced human support systems. Systems engineering develops the performance requirements, subsystem specifications, and detailed designs needed to construct a desired system. Systems design is difficult, requiring both art and science and balancing human and technical considerations. The essential systems engineering activity is trading off and compromising between competing objectives such as performance and cost, schedule and risk. Systems engineering is not a complete independent process. It usually supports a system development project. This review emphasizes the NASA project management process as described in NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) 7120.5B. The process is a top down phased approach that includes the most fundamental activities of systems engineering - requirements definition, systems analysis, and design. NPR 7120.5B also requires projects to perform the engineering analyses needed to ensure that the system will operate correctly with regard to reliability, safety, risk, cost, and human factors. We review the system development project process, the standard systems engineering design methodology, and some of the specialized systems analysis techniques. We will discuss how they could apply to advanced human support systems development. The purpose of advanced systems development is not directly to supply human space flight hardware, but rather to provide superior candidate systems that will be selected for implementation by future missions. The most direct application of systems engineering is in guiding the development of prototype and flight experiment hardware. However, anticipatory systems engineering of possible future flight systems would be useful in identifying the most promising development projects.

Characterization of the cell growth analysis for detection of immortal cellular impurities in human mesenchymal stem cells.

PubMed

Kono, Ken; Takada, Nozomi; Yasuda, Satoshi; Sawada, Rumi; Niimi, Shingo; Matsuyama, Akifumi; Sato, Yoji

2015-03-01

The analysis of in vitro cell senescence/growth after serial passaging can be one of ways to show the absence of immortalized cells, which are frequently tumorigenic, in human cell-processed therapeutic products (hCTPs). However, the performance of the cell growth analysis for detection of the immortalized cellular impurities has never been evaluated. In the present study, we examined the growth rates of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs, passage 5 (P = 5)) contaminated with various doses of HeLa cells, and compared with that of hMSCs alone. The growth rates of the contaminated hMSCs were comparable to that of hMSCs alone at P = 5, but significantly increased at P = 6 (0.1% and 0.01% HeLa) or P = 7 (0.001% HeLa) within 30 days. These findings suggest that the cell growth analysis is a simple and sensitive method to detect immortalized cellular impurities in hCTPs derived from human somatic cells. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Posture recognition based on fuzzy logic for home monitoring of the elderly.

PubMed

Brulin, Damien; Benezeth, Yannick; Courtial, Estelle

2012-09-01

We propose in this paper a computer vision-based posture recognition method for home monitoring of the elderly. The proposed system performs human detection prior to the posture analysis; posture recognition is performed only on a human silhouette. The human detection approach has been designed to be robust to different environmental stimuli. Thus, posture is analyzed with simple and efficient features that are not designed to manage constraints related to the environment but only designed to describe human silhouettes. The posture recognition method, based on fuzzy logic, identifies four static postures and is robust to variation in the distance between the camera and the person, and to the person's morphology. With an accuracy of 74.29% of satisfactory posture recognition, this approach can detect emergency situations such as a fall within a health smart home.

Human factors aspects of air traffic control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Older, H. J.; Cameron, B. J.

1972-01-01

An overview of human factors problems associated with the operation of present and future air traffic control systems is presented. A description is included of those activities and tasks performed by air traffic controllers at each operational position within the present system. Judgemental data obtained from controllers concerning psychological dimensions related to these tasks and activities are also presented. The analysis includes consideration of psychophysiological dimensions of human performance. The role of the human controller in present air traffic control systems and his predicted role in future systems is described, particularly as that role changes as the result of the system's evolution towards a more automated configuration. Special attention is directed towards problems of staffing, training, and system operation. A series of ten specific research and development projects are recommended and suggested work plans for their implementation are included.

The evolutionary basis of human social learning

PubMed Central

Morgan, T. J. H.; Rendell, L. E.; Ehn, M.; Hoppitt, W.; Laland, K. N.

2012-01-01

Humans are characterized by an extreme dependence on culturally transmitted information. Such dependence requires the complex integration of social and asocial information to generate effective learning and decision making. Recent formal theory predicts that natural selection should favour adaptive learning strategies, but relevant empirical work is scarce and rarely examines multiple strategies or tasks. We tested nine hypotheses derived from theoretical models, running a series of experiments investigating factors affecting when and how humans use social information, and whether such behaviour is adaptive, across several computer-based tasks. The number of demonstrators, consensus among demonstrators, confidence of subjects, task difficulty, number of sessions, cost of asocial learning, subject performance and demonstrator performance all influenced subjects' use of social information, and did so adaptively. Our analysis provides strong support for the hypothesis that human social learning is regulated by adaptive learning rules. PMID:21795267

The evolutionary basis of human social learning.

PubMed

Morgan, T J H; Rendell, L E; Ehn, M; Hoppitt, W; Laland, K N

2012-02-22

Humans are characterized by an extreme dependence on culturally transmitted information. Such dependence requires the complex integration of social and asocial information to generate effective learning and decision making. Recent formal theory predicts that natural selection should favour adaptive learning strategies, but relevant empirical work is scarce and rarely examines multiple strategies or tasks. We tested nine hypotheses derived from theoretical models, running a series of experiments investigating factors affecting when and how humans use social information, and whether such behaviour is adaptive, across several computer-based tasks. The number of demonstrators, consensus among demonstrators, confidence of subjects, task difficulty, number of sessions, cost of asocial learning, subject performance and demonstrator performance all influenced subjects' use of social information, and did so adaptively. Our analysis provides strong support for the hypothesis that human social learning is regulated by adaptive learning rules.

Quality of clinical brain tumor MR spectra judged by humans and machine learning tools.

PubMed

Kyathanahally, Sreenath P; Mocioiu, Victor; Pedrosa de Barros, Nuno; Slotboom, Johannes; Wright, Alan J; Julià-Sapé, Margarida; Arús, Carles; Kreis, Roland

2018-05-01

To investigate and compare human judgment and machine learning tools for quality assessment of clinical MR spectra of brain tumors. A very large set of 2574 single voxel spectra with short and long echo time from the eTUMOUR and INTERPRET databases were used for this analysis. Original human quality ratings from these studies as well as new human guidelines were used to train different machine learning algorithms for automatic quality control (AQC) based on various feature extraction methods and classification tools. The performance was compared with variance in human judgment. AQC built using the RUSBoost classifier that combats imbalanced training data performed best. When furnished with a large range of spectral and derived features where the most crucial ones had been selected by the TreeBagger algorithm it showed better specificity (98%) in judging spectra from an independent test-set than previously published methods. Optimal performance was reached with a virtual three-class ranking system. Our results suggest that feature space should be relatively large for the case of MR tumor spectra and that three-class labels may be beneficial for AQC. The best AQC algorithm showed a performance in rejecting spectra that was comparable to that of a panel of human expert spectroscopists. Magn Reson Med 79:2500-2510, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Object-based and egocentric mental rotation performance in older adults: the importance of gender differences and motor ability.

PubMed

Jansen, Petra; Kaltner, Sandra

2014-01-01

In this study, mental rotation performance was assessed in both an object-based task, human figures and letters as stimuli, and in an egocentric-based task, a human figure as a stimulus, in 60 older persons between 60 and 71 years old (30 women, 30 men). Additionally all participants completed three motor tests measuring balance and mobility. The results show that the reaction time was slower for letters than for both human figure tasks and the mental rotation speed was faster over all for egocentric mental rotation tasks. Gender differences were found in the accuracy measurement, favoring males, and were independent of stimulus type, kind of transformation, and angular disparity. Furthermore, a regression analysis showed that the accuracy rate for object-based transformations with body stimuli could be predicted by gender and balance ability. This study showed that the mental rotation performance in older adults depends on stimulus type, kind of transformation, and gender and that performance partially relates to motor ability.

MUC1 Functions as a Oncogene by Targeting the Nucleus of Human Breast Cancer Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays were performed on the p53 proximal promoter (PP; -118 to +14) with an anti-MUC1-C antibody (Fig. 3A). MUC1...assays were performed using anti-MUC1-C and anti-KLF4 antibodies . Analysis of MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 cells showed that anti-KLF4 precipitates the PE21 region...performed using anti-MUC1-C, anti-HDAC1 and HDAC3 antibodies . Analysis of MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 cells showed that anti-HDAC1 precipitates the PE21 region after

Effects of high intensity exercise on isoelectric profiles and SDS-PAGE mobility of erythropoietin.

PubMed

Voss, S; Lüdke, A; Romberg, S; Schänzer, E; Flenker, U; deMarees, M; Achtzehn, S; Mester, J; Schänzer, W

2010-06-01

Exercise induced proteinuria is a common phenomenon in high performance sports. Based on the appearance of so called "effort urines" in routine doping analysis the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of exercise induced proteinuria on IEF profiles and SDS-PAGE relative mobility values (rMVs) of endogenous human erythropoietin (EPO). Twenty healthy subjects performed cycle-ergometer exercise until exhaustion. VO (2)max, blood lactate, urinary proteins and urinary creatinine were analysed to evaluate the exercise performance and proteinuria. IEF and SDS-PAGE analyses were performed to test for differences in electrophoretic behaviour of the endogenous EPO before and after exercise. All subjects showed increased levels of protein/creatinine ratio after performance (8.8+/-5.2-26.1+/-14.4). IEF analysis demonstrated an elevation of the relative amount of basic band areas (13.9+/-11.3-36.4+/-12.6). Using SDS-PAGE analysis we observed a decrease in rMVs after exercise and no shift in direction of the recombinant human EPO (rhEPO) region (0.543+/-0.013-0.535+/-0.012). Following identification criteria of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) all samples were negative. The implementation of the SDS-PAGE method represents a good solution to distinguish between results influenced by so called effort urines and results of rhEPO abuse. Thus this method can be used to confirm adverse analytical findings.

Automatic Human Movement Assessment With Switching Linear Dynamic System: Motion Segmentation and Motor Performance.

PubMed

de Souza Baptista, Roberto; Bo, Antonio P L; Hayashibe, Mitsuhiro

2017-06-01

Performance assessment of human movement is critical in diagnosis and motor-control rehabilitation. Recent developments in portable sensor technology enable clinicians to measure spatiotemporal aspects to aid in the neurological assessment. However, the extraction of quantitative information from such measurements is usually done manually through visual inspection. This paper presents a novel framework for automatic human movement assessment that executes segmentation and motor performance parameter extraction in time-series of measurements from a sequence of human movements. We use the elements of a Switching Linear Dynamic System model as building blocks to translate formal definitions and procedures from human movement analysis. Our approach provides a method for users with no expertise in signal processing to create models for movements using labeled dataset and later use it for automatic assessment. We validated our framework on preliminary tests involving six healthy adult subjects that executed common movements in functional tests and rehabilitation exercise sessions, such as sit-to-stand and lateral elevation of the arms and five elderly subjects, two of which with limited mobility, that executed the sit-to-stand movement. The proposed method worked on random motion sequences for the dual purpose of movement segmentation (accuracy of 72%-100%) and motor performance assessment (mean error of 0%-12%).

Complex Visual Data Analysis, Uncertainty, and Representation

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

McNeill, D. (1992). Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago, IL, USA: University of Chicago Press. Neisser , U . (1976). Cognition and...and Uncertainty 5 representations than on other external representations, and cognitive science talks about this interaction as affordances ( Neisser ...the human body fit into the structure of the external environment to explain human cognition and performance (Gibson, 1979; Neisser

Cost Analysis and Performance Assessment of Partner Services for Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, New York State, 2014.

PubMed

Johnson, Britney L; Tesoriero, James; Feng, Wenhui; Qian, Feng; Martin, Erika G

2017-12-01

To estimate the programmatic costs of partner services for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydial infection. New York State and local health departments conducting partner services activities in 2014. A cost analysis estimated, from the state perspective, total program costs and cost per case assignment, patient interview, partner notification, and disease-specific key performance indicator. Data came from contracts, a time study of staff effort, and statewide surveillance systems. Disease-specific costs per case assignment (mean: $580; range: $502-$1,111), patient interview ($703; $608-$1,609), partner notification ($1,169; $950-$1,936), and key performance indicator ($2,697; $1,666-$20,255) varied across diseases. Most costs (79 percent) were devoted to gonorrhea and chlamydial infection investigations. Cost analysis complements cost-effectiveness analysis in evaluating program performance and guiding improvements. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

Parvocellular Pathway Impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Visual Evoked Potentials

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fujita, Takako; Yamasaki, Takao; Kamio, Yoko; Hirose, Shinichi; Tobimatsu, Shozo

2011-01-01

In humans, visual information is processed via parallel channels: the parvocellular (P) pathway analyzes color and form information, whereas the magnocellular (M) stream plays an important role in motion analysis. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often show superior performance in processing fine detail, but impaired performance in…

Relative Performance of Academic Departments Using DEA with Sensitivity Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyagi, Preeti; Yadav, Shiv Prasad; Singh, S. P.

2009-01-01

The process of liberalization and globalization of Indian economy has brought new opportunities and challenges in all areas of human endeavor including education. Educational institutions have to adopt new strategies to make best use of the opportunities and counter the challenges. One of these challenges is how to assess the performance of…

75 FR 47592 - Final Test Guideline; Product Performance of Skin-applied Insect Repellents of Insect and Other...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-06

... considerations affecting the design and conduct of repellent studies when human subjects are involved. Any... recommendations for the design and execution of studies to evaluate the performance of pesticide products intended... recommends appropriate study designs and methods for selecting subjects, statistical analysis, and reporting...

Performance characteristics of a visual-search human-model observer with sparse PET image data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gifford, Howard C.

2012-02-01

As predictors of human performance in detection-localization tasks, statistical model observers can have problems with tasks that are primarily limited by target contrast or structural noise. Model observers with a visual-search (VS) framework may provide a more reliable alternative. This framework provides for an initial holistic search that identifies suspicious locations for analysis by a statistical observer. A basic VS observer for emission tomography focuses on hot "blobs" in an image and uses a channelized nonprewhitening (CNPW) observer for analysis. In [1], we investigated this model for a contrast-limited task with SPECT images; herein, a statisticalnoise limited task involving PET images is considered. An LROC study used 2D image slices with liver, lung and soft-tissue tumors. Human and model observers read the images in coronal, sagittal and transverse display formats. The study thus measured the detectability of tumors in a given organ as a function of display format. The model observers were applied under several task variants that tested their response to structural noise both at the organ boundaries alone and over the organs as a whole. As measured by correlation with the human data, the VS observer outperformed the CNPW scanning observer.

Multiplex network analysis of employee performance and employee social relationships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Meng; Wang, Wei; Cui, Ying; Stanley, H. Eugene

2018-01-01

In human resource management, employee performance is strongly affected by both formal and informal employee networks. Most previous research on employee performance has focused on monolayer networks that can represent only single categories of employee social relationships. We study employee performance by taking into account the entire multiplex structure of underlying employee social networks. We collect three datasets consisting of five different employee relationship categories in three firms, and predict employee performance using degree centrality and eigenvector centrality in a superimposed multiplex network (SMN) and an unfolded multiplex network (UMN). We use a quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) analysis and a regression analysis to demonstrate that the different categories of relationship are mutually embedded and that the strength of their impact on employee performance differs. We also use weighted/unweighted SMN/UMN to measure the predictive accuracy of this approach and find that employees with high centrality in a weighted UMN are more likely to perform well. Our results shed new light on how social structures affect employee performance.

HPLC-MS/MS method optimisation for matrix metalloproteinase 3 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 determination in human blood serum using target analysis.

PubMed

Kotnik, Petra; Krajnc, Metka Koren; Pahor, Artur; Finšgar, Matjaž; Knez, Željko

2018-02-20

A quantitative analysis of zinc endopeptidases matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) from human blood serum are presented. Both matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are present in human blood serum and can be used as biomarkers for different diseases. The analysis was performed using LC-MS/MS with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, based on two specific peptides of each MMP in comparison with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). While the conditions for the LC-MS/MS analysis of MMP9 peptides were previously reported for bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, the analysis of MMP3 peptides was newly quantified for human blood serum herein for the first time. For MMP3, the linear behaviour was determined in the concentration range from 1.0-200.0ng/mL (R 2 =0.997) with an LLOD of 0.5ng/mL. For MMP9, linearity was determined in the concentration range from 6.5-65.0ng/mL (R 2 =0.995) with an LLOD of 2.0ng/mL. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Discomfort Evaluation of Truck Ingress/Egress Motions Based on Biomechanical Analysis

PubMed Central

Choi, Nam-Chul; Lee, Sang Hun

2015-01-01

This paper presents a quantitative discomfort evaluation method based on biomechanical analysis results for human body movement, as well as its application to an assessment of the discomfort for truck ingress and egress. In this study, the motions of a human subject entering and exiting truck cabins with different types, numbers, and heights of footsteps were first measured using an optical motion capture system and load sensors. Next, the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) ratios of the muscles were calculated through a biomechanical analysis of the musculoskeletal human model for the captured motion. Finally, the objective discomfort was evaluated using the proposed discomfort model based on the MVC ratios. To validate this new discomfort assessment method, human subject experiments were performed to investigate the subjective discomfort levels through a questionnaire for comparison with the objective discomfort levels. The validation results showed that the correlation between the objective and subjective discomforts was significant and could be described by a linear regression model. PMID:26067194

Using Transom Jack in the Human Engineering Analysis of the Materials Science Research Rack-1 and Quench Module Insert

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunn, Mariea C.; Alves, Jeffrey R.; Hutchinson, Sonya L.

1999-01-01

This paper describes the human engineering analysis performed on the Materials Science Research Rack-1 and Quench Module Insert (MSRR-1/QMI) using Transom Jack (Jack) software. The Jack software was used to model a virtual environment consisting of the MSRR-1/QMI hardware configuration and human figures representing the 95th percentile male and 5th percentile female. The purpose of the simulation was to assess the human interfaces in the design for their ability to meet the requirements of the Pressurized Payloads Interface Requirements Document - International Space Program, Revision C (SSP 57000). Jack was used in the evaluation because of its ability to correctly model anthropometric body measurements and the physical behavior of astronauts working in microgravity, which is referred to as the neutral body posture. The Jack model allows evaluation of crewmember interaction with hardware through task simulation including but not limited to collision avoidance behaviors, hand/eye coordination, reach path planning, and automatic grasping to part contours. Specifically, this virtual simulation depicts the human figures performing the QMI installation and check-out, sample cartridge insertion and removal, and gas bottle drawer removal. These tasks were evaluated in terms of adequate clearance in reach envelopes, adequate accessibility in work envelopes, appropriate line of sight in visual envelopes, and accommodation of full size range for male and female stature maneuverability. The results of the human engineering analysis virtual simulation indicate that most of the associated requirements of SSP 57000 were met. However, some hardware design considerations and crew procedures modifications are recommended to improve accessibility, provide an adequate work envelope, reduce awkward body posture, and eliminate permanent protrusions.

Effect of human rhinovirus infection on airway epithelium tight junction protein disassembly and transepithelial permeability.

PubMed

Looi, Kevin; Troy, Niamh M; Garratt, Luke W; Iosifidis, Thomas; Bosco, Anthony; Buckley, Alysia G; Ling, Kak-Ming; Martinovich, Kelly M; Kicic-Starcevich, Elizabeth; Shaw, Nicole C; Sutanto, Erika N; Zosky, Graeme R; Rigby, Paul J; Larcombe, Alexander N; Knight, Darryl A; Kicic, Anthony; Stick, Stephen M

2016-10-11

No studies have assessed the effects of human rhinovirus (HRV) infection on epithelial tight junctions (TJs) and resultant barrier function. To correlate viral infection with TJ disassembly, epithelial barrier integrity, and function. Human airway epithelial cells were infected with HRV minor serotype 1B (HRV-1B) at various 50% tissue culture infectivity doses (TCID 50 ) over 72 hours. HRV replication was assessed by quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) while cell viability and apoptosis were assessed by proliferation and apoptotic assays, respectively. Protein expression of claudin-1, occludin, and zonula occludens protein-1 (ZO-1) was assessed using In-Cell™ Western assays. Transepithelial permeability assays were performed to assess effects on barrier functionality. RT 2 Profiler focused qPCR arrays and pathway analysis evaluating associations between human TJ and antiviral response were performed to identify potential interactions and pathways between genes of interests. HRV-1B infection affected viability that was both time and TCID 50 dependent. Significant increases in apoptosis and viral replication post-infection correlated with viral titer. Viral infection significantly decreased claudin-1 protein expression at the lower TCID 50 , while a significant decrease in all three TJ protein expressions occurred at higher TCID 50 . Decrease in protein expression was concomitant with significant increases in epithelial permeability of fluorescein isothiocynate labeled-dextran 4 and 20 kDa. Analysis of focused qPCR arrays demonstrated a significant decrease in ZO-1 gene expression. Furthermore, network analysis between human TJ and antiviral response genes revealed possible interactions and regulation of TJ genes via interleukin (IL)-15 in response to HRV-1B infection. HRV-1B infection directly alters human airway epithelial TJ expression leading to increased epithelial permeability potentially via an antiviral response of IL-15.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of the beta2-selective adrenergic agonist fenoterol in human plasma after fluorescence derivatization.

PubMed

Kramer, S; Blaschke, G

2001-02-10

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of the beta2-selective adrenergic agonist fenoterol in human plasma. To improve the sensitivity of the method, fenoterol was derivatized with N-(chloroformyl)-carbazole prior to HPLC analysis yielding highly fluorescent derivatives. The assay involves protein precipitation with acetonitrile, liquid-liquid-extraction of fenoterol from plasma with isobutanol under alkaline conditions followed by derivatization with N-(chloroformyl)-carbazole. Reversed-phase liquid chromatographic determination of the fenoterol derivative was performed using a column-switching system consisting of a LiChrospher 100 RP 18 and a LiChrospher RP-Select B column with acetonitrile, methanol and water as mobile phase. The limit of quantitation in human plasma was 376 pg fenoterol/ml. The method was successfully applied for the assay of fenoterol in patient plasma.

Investigation of automated task learning, decomposition and scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Livingston, David L.; Serpen, Gursel; Masti, Chandrashekar L.

1990-01-01

The details and results of research conducted in the application of neural networks to task planning and decomposition are presented. Task planning and decomposition are operations that humans perform in a reasonably efficient manner. Without the use of good heuristics and usually much human interaction, automatic planners and decomposers generally do not perform well due to the intractable nature of the problems under consideration. The human-like performance of neural networks has shown promise for generating acceptable solutions to intractable problems such as planning and decomposition. This was the primary reasoning behind attempting the study. The basis for the work is the use of state machines to model tasks. State machine models provide a useful means for examining the structure of tasks since many formal techniques have been developed for their analysis and synthesis. It is the approach to integrate the strong algebraic foundations of state machines with the heretofore trial-and-error approach to neural network synthesis.

Cognition and procedure representational requirements for predictive human performance models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corker, K.

1992-01-01

Models and modeling environments for human performance are becoming significant contributors to early system design and analysis procedures. Issues of levels of automation, physical environment, informational environment, and manning requirements are being addressed by such man/machine analysis systems. The research reported here investigates the close interaction between models of human cognition and models that described procedural performance. We describe a methodology for the decomposition of aircrew procedures that supports interaction with models of cognition on the basis of procedures observed; that serves to identify cockpit/avionics information sources and crew information requirements; and that provides the structure to support methods for function allocation among crew and aiding systems. Our approach is to develop an object-oriented, modular, executable software representation of the aircrew, the aircraft, and the procedures necessary to satisfy flight-phase goals. We then encode in a time-based language, taxonomies of the conceptual, relational, and procedural constraints among the cockpit avionics and control system and the aircrew. We have designed and implemented a goals/procedures hierarchic representation sufficient to describe procedural flow in the cockpit. We then execute the procedural representation in simulation software and calculate the values of the flight instruments, aircraft state variables and crew resources using the constraints available from the relationship taxonomies. The system provides a flexible, extensible, manipulative and executable representation of aircrew and procedures that is generally applicable to crew/procedure task-analysis. The representation supports developed methods of intent inference, and is extensible to include issues of information requirements and functional allocation. We are attempting to link the procedural representation to models of cognitive functions to establish several intent inference methods including procedural backtracking with concurrent search, temporal reasoning, and constraint checking for partial ordering of procedures. Finally, the representation is being linked to models of human decision making processes that include heuristic, propositional and prescriptive judgement models that are sensitive to the procedural content in which the valuative functions are being performed.

Basic gait analysis based on continuous wave radar.

PubMed

Zhang, Jun

2012-09-01

A gait analysis method based on continuous wave (CW) radar is proposed in this paper. Time-frequency analysis is used to analyze the radar micro-Doppler echo from walking humans, and the relationships between the time-frequency spectrogram and human biological gait are discussed. The methods for extracting the gait parameters from the spectrogram are studied in depth and experiments on more than twenty subjects have been performed to acquire the radar gait data. The gait parameters are calculated and compared. The gait difference between men and women are presented based on the experimental data and extracted features. Gait analysis based on CW radar will provide a new method for clinical diagnosis and therapy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environment and human exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in India: a systematic review of recent and historical data.

PubMed

Sharma, Brij Mohan; Bharat, Girija K; Tayal, Shresth; Nizzetto, Luca; Cupr, Pavel; Larssen, Thorjørn

2014-05-01

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been used in a wide range of agricultural and industrial commodities, resulting in vigorous deterioration of environment and human health. A number of studies on the occurrence of POPs confirm their presence in various environmental compartments and human body. In order to deal with this global concern, India has recently prepared the National Implementation Plan (NIP) of the Stockholm Convention. Common beliefs point at India as a hot spot of POP contamination and human exposure; however no systematic analysis was ever performed so far considering all available past data on POP occurrence. This review aims to examine the distribution pattern of POPs in multicompartment environment and human samples, meta-analysis of time trends in exposure levels to environment and humans, and cross country comparison of POP contamination with China. Based on this review, it can be concluded that the Indian environment and human population are highly contaminated by DDTs and HCHs; however scarcity of data on other POPs makes it challenging to assess their nationwide human and environmental exposure. No evidence of a general decline in DDT and HCH residues in the environment and human body come out from the meta-analysis of time trend. While comparing contamination levels between India and China, tendency towards decline in POP contamination is visible in China, unlike India. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Excimer laser calibration system.

PubMed

Gottsch, J D; Rencs, E V; Cambier, J L; Hall, D; Azar, D T; Stark, W J

1996-01-01

Excimer laser photoablation for refractive and therapeutic keratectomies has been demonstrated to be feasible and practicable. However, corneal laser ablations are not without problems, including the delivery and maintenance of a homogeneous beam. We have developed an excimer laser calibration system capable of characterizing a laser ablation profile. Beam homogeneity is determined by the analysis of a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-based thin-film using video capture and image processing. The ablation profile is presented as a color-coded map. Interpolation of excimer calibration system analysis provides a three-dimensional representation of elevation profiles that correlates with two-dimensional scanning profilometry. Excimer calibration analysis was performed before treating a monkey undergoing phototherapeutic keratectomy and two human subjects undergoing myopic spherocylindrical photorefractive keratectomy. Excimer calibration analysis was performed before and after laser refurbishing. Laser ablation profiles in PMMA are resolved by the excimer calibration system to .006 microns/pulse. Correlations with ablative patterns in a monkey cornea were demonstrated with preoperative and postoperative keratometry using corneal topography, and two human subjects using video-keratography. Excimer calibration analysis predicted a central-steep-island ablative pattern with the VISX Twenty/Twenty laser, which was confirmed by corneal topography immediately postoperatively and at 1 week after reepithelialization in the monkey. Predicted central steep islands in the two human subjects were confirmed by video-keratography at 1 week and at 1 month. Subsequent technical refurbishing of the laser resulted in a beam with an overall increased ablation rate measured as microns/pulse with a donut ablation profile. A patient treated after repair of the laser electrodes demonstrated no central island. This excimer laser calibration system can precisely detect laser-beam ablation profiles. The calibration system correctly predicted central islands after excimer photoablation in a treated monkey cornea and in two treated human subjects. Detection of excimer-laser-beam ablation profiles may be useful for precise calibration of excimer lasers before human photorefractive and therapeutic surgery.

The human embryonic stem cell proteome revealed by multidimensional fractionation followed by tandem mass spectrometry

PubMed Central

Zhao, Peng; Schulz, Thomas C.; Sherrer, Eric S.; Weatherly, D. Brent; Robins, Allan J.; Wells, Lance

2015-01-01

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have received considerable attention due to their therapeutic potential and usefulness in understanding early development and cell fate commitment. In order to appreciate the unique properties of these pluripotent, self-renewing cells, we have performed an in-depth multidimensional fractionation followed by LC-MS/MS analysis of the hESCs harvested from defined media to elucidate expressed, phosphorylated, O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modified, and secreted proteins. From the triplicate analysis, we were able to assign more than 3000 proteins with less than 1% false-discovery rate. This analysis also allowed us to identify nearly 500 phosphorylation sites and 68 sites of O-GlcNAc modification with the same high confidence. Investigation of the phosphorylation sites allowed us to deduce the set of kinases that are likely active in these cells. We also identified more than 100 secreted proteins of hESCs that likely play a role in extracellular matrix formation and remodeling, as well as autocrine signaling for self-renewal and maintenance of the undifferentiated state. Finally, by performing in-depth analysis in triplicate, spectral counts were obtained for these proteins and posttranslationally modified peptides, which will allow us to perform relative quantitative analysis between these cells and any derived cell type in the future. PMID:25367160

Goal-oriented evaluation of binarization algorithms for historical document images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obafemi-Ajayi, Tayo; Agam, Gady

2013-01-01

Binarization is of significant importance in document analysis systems. It is an essential first step, prior to further stages such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), document segmentation, or enhancement of readability of the document after some restoration stages. Hence, proper evaluation of binarization methods to verify their effectiveness is of great value to the document analysis community. In this work, we perform a detailed goal-oriented evaluation of image quality assessment of the 18 binarization methods that participated in the DIBCO 2011 competition using the 16 historical document test images used in the contest. We are interested in the image quality assessment of the outputs generated by the different binarization algorithms as well as the OCR performance, where possible. We compare our evaluation of the algorithms based on human perception of quality to the DIBCO evaluation metrics. The results obtained provide an insight into the effectiveness of these methods with respect to human perception of image quality as well as OCR performance.

Biochemical, endocrine, and hematological factors in human oxygen tolerance extension: Predictive studies 6

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lambertsen, C. J.; Clark, J. M.

1992-01-01

The Predictive Studies VI (Biochemical, endocrine, and hematological factors in human oxygen tolerance extension) Program consisted of two related areas of research activity, integrated in design and performance, that were each based on an ongoing analysis of human organ oxygen tolerance data obtained for the continuous oxygen exposures of the prior Predictive Studies V Program. The two research areas effectively blended broad investigation of systematically varied intermittent exposure patterns in animals with very selective evaluation of specific exposure patterns in man.

Incorporating twitter-based human activity information in spatial analysis of crashes in urban areas.

PubMed

Bao, Jie; Liu, Pan; Yu, Hao; Xu, Chengcheng

2017-09-01

The primary objective of this study was to investigate how to incorporate human activity information in spatial analysis of crashes in urban areas using Twitter check-in data. This study used the data collected from the City of Los Angeles in the United States to illustrate the procedure. The following five types of data were collected: crash data, human activity data, traditional traffic exposure variables, road network attributes and social-demographic data. A web crawler by Python was developed to collect the venue type information from the Twitter check-in data automatically. The human activities were classified into seven categories by the obtained venue types. The collected data were aggregated into 896 Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZ). Geographically weighted regression (GWR) models were developed to establish a relationship between the crash counts reported in a TAZ and various contributing factors. Comparative analyses were conducted to compare the performance of GWR models which considered traditional traffic exposure variables only, Twitter-based human activity variables only, and both traditional traffic exposure and Twitter-based human activity variables. The model specification results suggested that human activity variables significantly affected the crash counts in a TAZ. The results of comparative analyses suggested that the models which considered both traditional traffic exposure and human activity variables had the best goodness-of-fit in terms of the highest R 2 and lowest AICc values. The finding seems to confirm the benefits of incorporating human activity information in spatial analysis of crashes using Twitter check-in data. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiple view image analysis of freefalling U.S. wheat grains for damage assessment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Currently, inspection of wheat in the United States for grade and class is performed by human visual analysis. This is a time consuming operation typically taking several minutes for each sample. Digital imaging research has addressed this issue over the past two decades, with success in recognition...

Alleviating Search Uncertainty through Concept Associations: Automatic Indexing, Co-Occurrence Analysis, and Parallel Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Hsinchun; Martinez, Joanne; Kirchhoff, Amy; Ng, Tobun D.; Schatz, Bruce R.

1998-01-01

Grounded on object filtering, automatic indexing, and co-occurrence analysis, an experiment was performed using a parallel supercomputer to analyze over 400,000 abstracts in an INSPEC computer engineering collection. A user evaluation revealed that system-generated thesauri were better than the human-generated INSPEC subject thesaurus in concept…

Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of human plasma-derived microvesicles to find protein signatures of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

PubMed

Martinez-Pinna, Roxana; Gonzalez de Peredo, Anne; Monsarrat, Bernard; Burlet-Schiltz, Odile; Martin-Ventura, Jose Luis

2014-08-01

To find potential biomarkers of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), we performed a differential proteomic study based on human plasma-derived microvesicles. Exosomes and microparticles isolated from plasma of AAA patients and control subjects (n = 10 each group) were analyzed by a label-free quantitative MS-based strategy. Homemade and publicly available software packages have been used for MS data analysis. The application of two kinds of bioinformatic tools allowed us to find differential protein profiles from AAA patients. Some of these proteins found by the two analysis methods belong to main pathological mechanisms of AAA such as oxidative stress, immune-inflammation, and thrombosis. Data analysis from label-free MS-based experiments requires the use of sophisticated bioinformatic approaches to perform quantitative studies from complex protein mixtures. The application of two of these bioinformatic tools provided us a preliminary list of differential proteins found in plasma-derived microvesicles not previously associated to AAA, which could help us to understand the pathological mechanisms related to this disease. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Molecular docking and 3D-QSAR studies on inhibitors of DNA damage signaling enzyme human PARP-1.

PubMed

Fatima, Sabiha; Bathini, Raju; Sivan, Sree Kanth; Manga, Vijjulatha

2012-08-01

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) operates in a DNA damage signaling network. Molecular docking and three dimensional-quantitative structure activity relationship (3D-QSAR) studies were performed on human PARP-1 inhibitors. Docked conformation obtained for each molecule was used as such for 3D-QSAR analysis. Molecules were divided into a training set and a test set randomly in four different ways, partial least square analysis was performed to obtain QSAR models using the comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA). Derived models showed good statistical reliability that is evident from their r², q²(loo) and r²(pred) values. To obtain a consensus for predictive ability from all the models, average regression coefficient r²(avg) was calculated. CoMFA and CoMSIA models showed a value of 0.930 and 0.936, respectively. Information obtained from the best 3D-QSAR model was applied for optimization of lead molecule and design of novel potential inhibitors.

Resting State Network Topology of the Ferret Brain

PubMed Central

Zhou, Zhe Charles; Salzwedel, Andrew P.; Radtke-Schuller, Susanne; Li, Yuhui; Sellers, Kristin K.; Gilmore, John H.; Shih, Yen-Yu Ian; Fröhlich, Flavio; Gao, Wei

2016-01-01

Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) has emerged as a versatile tool for non-invasive measurement of functional connectivity patterns in the brain. RsfMRI brain dynamics in rodents, non-human primates, and humans share similar properties; however, little is known about the resting state functional connectivity patterns in the ferret, an animal model with high potential for developmental and cognitive translational study. To address this knowledge-gap, we performed rsfMRI on anesthetized ferrets using a 9.4 tesla MRI scanner, and subsequently performed group-level independent component analysis (gICA) to identify functionally connected brain networks. Group-level ICA analysis revealed distributed sensory, motor, and higher-order networks in the ferret brain. Subsequent connectivity analysis showed interconnected higher-order networks that constituted a putative default mode network (DMN), a network that exhibits altered connectivity in neuropsychiatric disorders. Finally, we assessed ferret brain topological efficiency using graph theory analysis and found that the ferret brain exhibits small-world properties. Overall, these results provide additional evidence for pan-species resting-state networks, further supporting ferret-based studies of sensory and cognitive function. PMID:27596024

A Multi-Methods Approach to HRA and Human Performance Modeling: A Field Assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacques Hugo; David I Gertman

2012-06-01

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory is primarily designed and used to test materials to be used in other, larger-scale and prototype reactors. The reactor offers various specialized systems and allows certain experiments to be run at their own temperature and pressure. The ATR Canal temporarily stores completed experiments and used fuel. It also has facilities to conduct underwater operations such as experiment examination or removal. In reviewing the ATR safety basis, a number of concerns were identified involving the ATR canal. A brief study identified ergonomic issues involving the manual handlingmore » of fuel elements in the canal that may increase the probability of human error and possible unwanted acute physical outcomes to the operator. In response to this concern, that refined the previous HRA scoping analysis by determining the probability of the inadvertent exposure of a fuel element to the air during fuel movement and inspection was conducted. The HRA analysis employed the SPAR-H method and was supplemented by information gained from a detailed analysis of the fuel inspection and transfer tasks. This latter analysis included ergonomics, work cycles, task duration, and workload imposed by tool and workplace characteristics, personal protective clothing, and operational practices that have the potential to increase physical and mental workload. Part of this analysis consisted of NASA-TLX analyses, combined with operational sequence analysis, computational human performance analysis (CHPA), and 3D graphical modeling to determine task failures and precursors to such failures that have safety implications. Experience in applying multiple analysis techniques in support of HRA methods is discussed.« less

Semi-micro high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of tiropramide in human plasma using column-switching.

PubMed

Baek, Soo Kyoung; Lee, Seung Seok; Park, Eun Jeon; Sohn, Dong Hwan; Lee, Hye Suk

2003-02-05

A rapid and sensitive column-switching semi-micro high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for the direct analysis of tiropramide in human plasma. The plasma sample (100 microl) was directly injected onto Capcell Pak MF Ph-1 precolumn where deproteinization and analyte fractionation occurred. Tiropramide was then eluted into an enrichment column (Capcell Pak UG C(18)) using acetonitrile-potassium phosphate (pH 7.0, 50 mM) (12:88, v/v) and was analyzed on a semi-micro C(18) analytical column using acetonitrile-potassium phosphate (pH 7.0, 10 mM) (50:50, v/v). The method showed excellent sensitivity (limit of quantification 5 ng/ml), and good precision (C.V.

Scientific information repository assisting reflectance spectrometry in legal medicine.

PubMed

Belenki, Liudmila; Sterzik, Vera; Bohnert, Michael; Zimmermann, Klaus; Liehr, Andreas W

2012-06-01

Reflectance spectrometry is a fast and reliable method for the characterization of human skin if the spectra are analyzed with respect to a physical model describing the optical properties of human skin. For a field study performed at the Institute of Legal Medicine and the Freiburg Materials Research Center of the University of Freiburg, a scientific information repository has been developed, which is a variant of an electronic laboratory notebook and assists in the acquisition, management, and high-throughput analysis of reflectance spectra in heterogeneous research environments. At the core of the repository is a database management system hosting the master data. It is filled with primary data via a graphical user interface (GUI) programmed in Java, which also enables the user to browse the database and access the results of data analysis. The latter is carried out via Matlab, Python, and C programs, which retrieve the primary data from the scientific information repository, perform the analysis, and store the results in the database for further usage.

Occupant Motion Sensors

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-03-01

An analysis was made of methods for measuring vehicle occupant motion during crash or impact conditions. The purpose of the measurements is to evaluate restraint performance using human, anthropometric dummy, or animal occupants. A detailed Fourier f...

Ultra-Sensitive Elemental Analysis Using Plasmas 5.Speciation of Arsenic Compounds in Biological Samples by High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaise, Toshikazu

Arsenic originating from the lithosphere is widely distributed in the environment. Many arsenicals in the environment are in organic and methylated species. These arsenic compounds in drinking water or food products of marine origin are absorbed in human digestive tracts, metabolized in the human body, and excreted viatheurine. Because arsenic shows varying biological a spects depending on its chemical species, the biological characteristics of arsenic must be determined. It is thought that some metabolic pathways for arsenic and some arsenic circulation exist in aqueous ecosystems. In this paper, the current status of the speciation analysis of arsenic by HPLC/ICP-MS (High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass spectrometry) in environmental and biological samples is summarized using recent data.

DETERMINATION OF VENLAFAXINE, VILAZODONE AND THEIR MAIN ACTIVE METABOLITES IN HUMAN SERUM BY HPLC-DAD AND HPLC-MS.

PubMed

Petruczynik, Anna; Wroblewski, Karol; Szultka-Mlynska, Malgorzata; Buszewsk, Boguslaw; Karakula-Juchnowicz, Hanna; Gajewski, Jacek; Morylowska-Topolska, Justyna; Waksmundzka-Hajnosi, Monika

2017-05-01

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for simultaneous analysis of venlafaxine and its major metabolite 0-desmethylvenlafaxine and vilazodone and its methabolite M10 have been devel- oped and validated. Chromatography was performed on the Phenyl-Hexyl column with mobile phase containing methanol, acetate buffer at pH 3.5 and diethylamine. The application of stationary phase with 7r-7c moieties and mobile phase containing diethylamine as silanol blocker lets to obtain double protection against silanols and thus very high theoretical plate numbers were obtained. The good separation selectivity, good peaks' symmetry and very high systems efficiency for all investigated compounds were obtained in applied chromatographic system. The method is very efficient and suitable for the analysis of investigated drugs and their metabolites in human serum for patients' pharmacotherapy control.

Relative performance of academic departments using DEA with sensitivity analysis.

PubMed

Tyagi, Preeti; Yadav, Shiv Prasad; Singh, S P

2009-05-01

The process of liberalization and globalization of Indian economy has brought new opportunities and challenges in all areas of human endeavor including education. Educational institutions have to adopt new strategies to make best use of the opportunities and counter the challenges. One of these challenges is how to assess the performance of academic programs based on multiple criteria. Keeping this in view, this paper attempts to evaluate the performance efficiencies of 19 academic departments of IIT Roorkee (India) through data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique. The technique has been used to assess the performance of academic institutions in a number of countries like USA, UK, Australia, etc. But we are using it first time in Indian context to the best of our knowledge. Applying DEA models, we calculate technical, pure technical and scale efficiencies and identify the reference sets for inefficient departments. Input and output projections are also suggested for inefficient departments to reach the frontier. Overall performance, research performance and teaching performance are assessed separately using sensitivity analysis.

Analysis of non-esterified fatty acids in human samples by solid-phase-extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Kopf, Thomas; Schmitz, Gerd

2013-11-01

The determination of the fatty acid (FA) profile of lipid classes is essential for lipidomic analysis. We recently developed a GC/MS-method for the analysis of the FA profile of total FAs, i.e. the totality of bound and unbound FAs, in any given biological sample (TOFAs). Here, we present a method for the analysis of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) in biological samples, i.e. the fraction that is present as extractable free fatty acids. Lipid extraction is performed according to Dole using 80/20 2-propanol/n-hexane (v/v), with 0.1% H2SO4. The fatty acid-species composition of this NEFA-fraction is determined as FAME after derivatization with our GC/MS-method on a BPX column (Shimadzu). Validation of the NEFA-method presented was performed in human plasma samples. The validated method has been used with human plasma, cells and tissues, as well as mammalian body fluids and tissue samples. The newly developed solid-phase-extraction (SPE)-GC-MS method allows the rapid separation of the NEFA-fraction from a neutral lipid extract of plasma samples. As a major advantage compared to G-FID-methods, GC-MS allows the use of stable isotope labeled fatty acid precursors to monitor fatty acid metabolism. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrated Multivariate Analysis with Nondetects for the Development of Human Sewage Source-Tracking Tools Using Bacteriophages of Enterococcus faecalis.

PubMed

Wangkahad, Bencharong; Mongkolsuk, Skorn; Sirikanchana, Kwanrawee

2017-02-21

We developed sewage-specific microbial source tracking (MST) tools using enterococci bacteriophages and evaluated their performance with univariate and multivariate analyses involving data below detection limits. Newly isolated Enterococci faecalis bacterial strains AIM06 (DSM100702) and SR14 (DSM100701) demonstrated 100% specificity and 90% sensitivity to human sewage without detecting 68 animal manure pooled samples of cats, chickens, cows, dogs, ducks, pigs, and pigeons. AIM06 and SR14 bacteriophages were present in human sewage at 2-4 orders of magnitude. A principal component analysis confirmed the importance of both phages as main water quality parameters. The phages presented only in the polluted water, as classified by a cluster analysis, and at median concentrations of 1.71 × 10 2 and 4.27 × 10 2 PFU/100 mL, respectively, higher than nonhost specific RYC2056 phages and sewage-specific KS148 phages (p < 0.05). Interestingly, AIM06 and SR14 phages exhibited significant correlations with each other and with total coliforms, E. coli, enterococci, and biochemical oxygen demand (Kendall's tau = 0.348 to 0.605, p < 0.05), a result supporting their roles as water quality indicators. This research demonstrates the multiregional applicability of enterococci hosts in MST application and highlights the significance of multivariate analysis with nondetects in evaluating the performance of new MST host strains.

Human Factors Research in Anesthesia Patient Safety

PubMed Central

Weinger, Matthew B.; Slagle, Jason

2002-01-01

Patient safety has become a major public concern. Human factors research in other high-risk fields has demonstrated how rigorous study of factors that affect job performance can lead to improved outcome and reduced errors after evidence-based redesign of tasks or systems. These techniques have increasingly been applied to the anesthesia work environment. This paper describes data obtained recently using task analysis and workload assessment during actual patient care and the use of cognitive task analysis to study clinical decision making. A novel concept of “non-routine events” is introduced and pilot data are presented. The results support the assertion that human factors research can make important contributions to patient safety. Information technologies play a key role in these efforts.

Human factors research in anesthesia patient safety.

PubMed Central

Weinger, M. B.; Slagle, J.

2001-01-01

Patient safety has become a major public concern. Human factors research in other high-risk fields has demonstrated how rigorous study of factors that affect job performance can lead to improved outcome and reduced errors after evidence-based redesign of tasks or systems. These techniques have increasingly been applied to the anesthesia work environment. This paper describes data obtained recently using task analysis and workload assessment during actual patient care and the use of cognitive task analysis to study clinical decision making. A novel concept of "non-routine events" is introduced and pilot data are presented. The results support the assertion that human factors research can make important contributions to patient safety. Information technologies play a key role in these efforts. PMID:11825287

Comparison of human and algorithmic target detection in passive infrared imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weber, Bruce A.; Hutchinson, Meredith

2003-09-01

We have designed an experiment that compares the performance of human observers and a scale-insensitive target detection algorithm that uses pixel level information for the detection of ground targets in passive infrared imagery. The test database contains targets near clutter whose detectability ranged from easy to very difficult. Results indicate that human observers detect more "easy-to-detect" targets, and with far fewer false alarms, than the algorithm. For "difficult-to-detect" targets, human and algorithm detection rates are considerably degraded, and algorithm false alarms excessive. Analysis of detections as a function of observer confidence shows that algorithm confidence attribution does not correspond to human attribution, and does not adequately correlate with correct detections. The best target detection score for any human observer was 84%, as compared to 55% for the algorithm for the same false alarm rate. At 81%, the maximum detection score for the algorithm, the same human observer had 6 false alarms per frame as compared to 29 for the algorithm. Detector ROC curves and observer-confidence analysis benchmarks the algorithm and provides insights into algorithm deficiencies and possible paths to improvement.

Use of Video Analysis System for Working Posture Evaluations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McKay, Timothy D.; Whitmore, Mihriban

1994-01-01

In a work environment, it is important to identify and quantify the relationship among work activities, working posture, and workplace design. Working posture may impact the physical comfort and well-being of individuals, as well as performance. The Posture Video Analysis Tool (PVAT) is an interactive menu and button driven software prototype written in Supercard (trademark). Human Factors analysts are provided with a predefined set of options typically associated with postural assessments and human performance issues. Once options have been selected, the program is used to evaluate working posture and dynamic tasks from video footage. PVAT has been used to evaluate postures from Orbiter missions, as well as from experimental testing of prototype glove box designs. PVAT can be used for video analysis in a number of industries, with little or no modification. It can contribute to various aspects of workplace design such as training, task allocations, procedural analyses, and hardware usability evaluations. The major advantage of the video analysis approach is the ability to gather data, non-intrusively, in restricted-access environments, such as emergency and operation rooms, contaminated areas, and control rooms. Video analysis also provides the opportunity to conduct preliminary evaluations of existing work areas.

Genetic analysis of Trichuris suis and Trichuris trichiura recovered from humans and pigs in a sympatric setting in Uganda.

PubMed

Nissen, Sofie; Al-Jubury, Azmi; Hansen, Tina V A; Olsen, Annette; Christensen, Henrik; Thamsborg, Stig M; Nejsum, Peter

2012-08-13

The whipworms Trichuris trichiura and Trichuris suis in humans and pigs, respectively, are believed to be two different species yet closely related. Morphologically, adult worms, eggs and larvae of the two species are indistinguishable. The aim of this study was to examine the genetic variation of Trichuris sp. mainly recovered from natural infected pigs and humans. Worm material isolated from humans and pigs living in the same geographical region in Uganda were analyzed by PCR, cloning and sequencing. Measurements of morphometric characters were also performed. The analysis of the ITS-2 (internal transcribed spacer) region showed a high genetic variation in the human-derived worms with two sequence types, designated type 1 and type 2, differing with up to 45%, the type 2 being identical to the sequence found in pig-derived worms. A single human-derived worm showed exclusively the type 2-genotype (T. suis-type) and three cases of 'heterozygote' worms in humans were identified. However, the analysis showed that sympatric Trichuris primarily assorted with host origin. Sequence analysis of a part of the genetically conserved β-tubulin gene confirmed two separate populations/species but also showed that the 'heterozygote' worms had a T. suis-like β-tubulin gene. A PCR-RFLP on the ITS-2 region was developed, that could distinguish between worms of the pig, human and 'heterozygote' type. The data suggest that Trichuris in pigs and humans belong to two different populations (i.e. are two different species). However, the data presented also suggest that cross-infections of humans with T. suis takes place. Further studies on sympatric Trichuris populations are highly warranted in order to explore transmission dynamics and unravel the zoonotic potential of T. suis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computational Framework for Analysis of Prey–Prey Associations in Interaction Proteomics Identifies Novel Human Protein–Protein Interactions and Networks

PubMed Central

Saha, Sudipto; Dazard, Jean-Eudes; Xu, Hua; Ewing, Rob M.

2013-01-01

Large-scale protein–protein interaction data sets have been generated for several species including yeast and human and have enabled the identification, quantification, and prediction of cellular molecular networks. Affinity purification-mass spectrometry (AP-MS) is the preeminent methodology for large-scale analysis of protein complexes, performed by immunopurifying a specific “bait” protein and its associated “prey” proteins. The analysis and interpretation of AP-MS data sets is, however, not straightforward. In addition, although yeast AP-MS data sets are relatively comprehensive, current human AP-MS data sets only sparsely cover the human interactome. Here we develop a framework for analysis of AP-MS data sets that addresses the issues of noise, missing data, and sparsity of coverage in the context of a current, real world human AP-MS data set. Our goal is to extend and increase the density of the known human interactome by integrating bait–prey and cocomplexed preys (prey–prey associations) into networks. Our framework incorporates a score for each identified protein, as well as elements of signal processing to improve the confidence of identified protein–protein interactions. We identify many protein networks enriched in known biological processes and functions. In addition, we show that integrated bait–prey and prey–prey interactions can be used to refine network topology and extend known protein networks. PMID:22845868

Interacting with target tracking algorithms in a gaze-enhanced motion video analysis system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hild, Jutta; Krüger, Wolfgang; Heinze, Norbert; Peinsipp-Byma, Elisabeth; Beyerer, Jürgen

2016-05-01

Motion video analysis is a challenging task, particularly if real-time analysis is required. It is therefore an important issue how to provide suitable assistance for the human operator. Given that the use of customized video analysis systems is more and more established, one supporting measure is to provide system functions which perform subtasks of the analysis. Recent progress in the development of automated image exploitation algorithms allow, e.g., real-time moving target tracking. Another supporting measure is to provide a user interface which strives to reduce the perceptual, cognitive and motor load of the human operator for example by incorporating the operator's visual focus of attention. A gaze-enhanced user interface is able to help here. This work extends prior work on automated target recognition, segmentation, and tracking algorithms as well as about the benefits of a gaze-enhanced user interface for interaction with moving targets. We also propose a prototypical system design aiming to combine both the qualities of the human observer's perception and the automated algorithms in order to improve the overall performance of a real-time video analysis system. In this contribution, we address two novel issues analyzing gaze-based interaction with target tracking algorithms. The first issue extends the gaze-based triggering of a target tracking process, e.g., investigating how to best relaunch in the case of track loss. The second issue addresses the initialization of tracking algorithms without motion segmentation where the operator has to provide the system with the object's image region in order to start the tracking algorithm.

Prediction of human errors by maladaptive changes in event-related brain networks.

PubMed

Eichele, Tom; Debener, Stefan; Calhoun, Vince D; Specht, Karsten; Engel, Andreas K; Hugdahl, Kenneth; von Cramon, D Yves; Ullsperger, Markus

2008-04-22

Humans engaged in monotonous tasks are susceptible to occasional errors that may lead to serious consequences, but little is known about brain activity patterns preceding errors. Using functional MRI and applying independent component analysis followed by deconvolution of hemodynamic responses, we studied error preceding brain activity on a trial-by-trial basis. We found a set of brain regions in which the temporal evolution of activation predicted performance errors. These maladaptive brain activity changes started to evolve approximately 30 sec before the error. In particular, a coincident decrease of deactivation in default mode regions of the brain, together with a decline of activation in regions associated with maintaining task effort, raised the probability of future errors. Our findings provide insights into the brain network dynamics preceding human performance errors and suggest that monitoring of the identified precursor states may help in avoiding human errors in critical real-world situations.

Prediction of human errors by maladaptive changes in event-related brain networks

PubMed Central

Eichele, Tom; Debener, Stefan; Calhoun, Vince D.; Specht, Karsten; Engel, Andreas K.; Hugdahl, Kenneth; von Cramon, D. Yves; Ullsperger, Markus

2008-01-01

Humans engaged in monotonous tasks are susceptible to occasional errors that may lead to serious consequences, but little is known about brain activity patterns preceding errors. Using functional MRI and applying independent component analysis followed by deconvolution of hemodynamic responses, we studied error preceding brain activity on a trial-by-trial basis. We found a set of brain regions in which the temporal evolution of activation predicted performance errors. These maladaptive brain activity changes started to evolve ≈30 sec before the error. In particular, a coincident decrease of deactivation in default mode regions of the brain, together with a decline of activation in regions associated with maintaining task effort, raised the probability of future errors. Our findings provide insights into the brain network dynamics preceding human performance errors and suggest that monitoring of the identified precursor states may help in avoiding human errors in critical real-world situations. PMID:18427123

Human error mitigation initiative (HEMI) : summary report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stevens, Susan M.; Ramos, M. Victoria; Wenner, Caren A.

2004-11-01

Despite continuing efforts to apply existing hazard analysis methods and comply with requirements, human errors persist across the nuclear weapons complex. Due to a number of factors, current retroactive and proactive methods to understand and minimize human error are highly subjective, inconsistent in numerous dimensions, and are cumbersome to characterize as thorough. An alternative and proposed method begins with leveraging historical data to understand what the systemic issues are and where resources need to be brought to bear proactively to minimize the risk of future occurrences. An illustrative analysis was performed using existing incident databases specific to Pantex weapons operationsmore » indicating systemic issues associated with operating procedures that undergo notably less development rigor relative to other task elements such as tooling and process flow. Future recommended steps to improve the objectivity, consistency, and thoroughness of hazard analysis and mitigation were delineated.« less

Multi-platform ’Omics Analysis of Human Ebola Virus Disease Pathogenesis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eisfeld, Amie J.; Halfmann, Peter J.; Wendler, Jason P.

The pathogenesis of human Ebola virus disease (EVD) is complex. EVD is characterized by high levels of virus replication and dissemination, dysregulated immune responses, extensive virus- and host-mediated tissue damage, and disordered coagulation. To clarify how host responses contribute to EVD pathophysiology, we performed multi-platform ’omics analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma from EVD patients. Our results indicate that EVD molecular signatures overlap with those of sepsis, imply that pancreatic enzymes contribute to tissue damage in fatal EVD, and suggest that Ebola virus infection may induce aberrant neutrophils whose activity could explain hallmarks of fatal EVD. Moreover, integratedmore » biomarker prediction identified putative biomarkers from different data platforms that differentiated survivors and fatalities early after infection. This work reveals insight into EVD pathogenesis, suggests an effective approach for biomarker identification, and provides an important community resource for further analysis of human EVD severity.« less

Advances in Analysis of Human Milk Oligosaccharides123

PubMed Central

Ruhaak, L. Renee; Lebrilla, Carlito B.

2012-01-01

Oligosaccharides in human milk strongly influence the composition of the gut microflora of neonates. Because it is now clear that the microflora play important roles in the development of the infant immune system, human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) are studied frequently. Milk samples contain complex mixtures of HMO, usually comprising several isomeric structures that can be either linear or branched. Traditionally, HMO profiling was performed using HPLC with fluorescence or UV detection. By using porous graphitic carbon liquid chromatography MS, it is now possible to separate and identify most of the isomers, facilitating linkage-specific analysis. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight analysis allows fast profiling, but does not allow isomer separation. Novel MS fragmentation techniques have facilitated structural characterization of HMO that are present at lower concentrations. These techniques now facilitate more accurate studies of HMO consumption as well as Lewis blood group determinations. PMID:22585919

Multi-platform 'Omics Analysis of Human Ebola Virus Disease Pathogenesis.

PubMed

Eisfeld, Amie J; Halfmann, Peter J; Wendler, Jason P; Kyle, Jennifer E; Burnum-Johnson, Kristin E; Peralta, Zuleyma; Maemura, Tadashi; Walters, Kevin B; Watanabe, Tokiko; Fukuyama, Satoshi; Yamashita, Makoto; Jacobs, Jon M; Kim, Young-Mo; Casey, Cameron P; Stratton, Kelly G; Webb-Robertson, Bobbie-Jo M; Gritsenko, Marina A; Monroe, Matthew E; Weitz, Karl K; Shukla, Anil K; Tian, Mingyuan; Neumann, Gabriele; Reed, Jennifer L; van Bakel, Harm; Metz, Thomas O; Smith, Richard D; Waters, Katrina M; N'jai, Alhaji; Sahr, Foday; Kawaoka, Yoshihiro

2017-12-13

The pathogenesis of human Ebola virus disease (EVD) is complex. EVD is characterized by high levels of virus replication and dissemination, dysregulated immune responses, extensive virus- and host-mediated tissue damage, and disordered coagulation. To clarify how host responses contribute to EVD pathophysiology, we performed multi-platform 'omics analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma from EVD patients. Our results indicate that EVD molecular signatures overlap with those of sepsis, imply that pancreatic enzymes contribute to tissue damage in fatal EVD, and suggest that Ebola virus infection may induce aberrant neutrophils whose activity could explain hallmarks of fatal EVD. Moreover, integrated biomarker prediction identified putative biomarkers from different data platforms that differentiated survivors and fatalities early after infection. This work reveals insight into EVD pathogenesis, suggests an effective approach for biomarker identification, and provides an important community resource for further analysis of human EVD severity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrative analysis of RNA, translation, and protein levels reveals distinct regulatory variation across humans

PubMed Central

Cenik, Can; Cenik, Elif Sarinay; Byeon, Gun W.; Grubert, Fabian; Candille, Sophie I.; Spacek, Damek; Alsallakh, Bilal; Tilgner, Hagen; Araya, Carlos L.; Tang, Hua; Ricci, Emiliano; Snyder, Michael P.

2015-01-01

Elucidating the consequences of genetic differences between humans is essential for understanding phenotypic diversity and personalized medicine. Although variation in RNA levels, transcription factor binding, and chromatin have been explored, little is known about global variation in translation and its genetic determinants. We used ribosome profiling, RNA sequencing, and mass spectrometry to perform an integrated analysis in lymphoblastoid cell lines from a diverse group of individuals. We find significant differences in RNA, translation, and protein levels suggesting diverse mechanisms of personalized gene expression control. Combined analysis of RNA expression and ribosome occupancy improves the identification of individual protein level differences. Finally, we identify genetic differences that specifically modulate ribosome occupancy—many of these differences lie close to start codons and upstream ORFs. Our results reveal a new level of gene expression variation among humans and indicate that genetic variants can cause changes in protein levels through effects on translation. PMID:26297486

The Relationship of Academic Self-Efficacy to Class Participation and Exam Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galyon, Charles E.; Blondin, Carolyn A.; Yaw, Jared S.; Nalls, Meagan L.; Williams, Robert L.

2012-01-01

This study examined the relationship of academic self-efficacy to engagement in class discussion and performance on major course exams among students (N = 165) in an undergraduate human development course. Cluster analysis was used to identify three levels of academic self-efficacy: high (n = 34), medium (n = 91), and low (n = 40). Results…

Gender-Based Behavioral Analysis for End-User Development and the "RULES" Attributes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tzafilkou, Katerina; Protogeros, Nicolaos; Karagiannidis, Charalampos; Koumpis, Adamantios

2017-01-01

This paper addresses the role of gender in End-User Development (EUD) environments and examines whether there are gender differences in performance and in correlations between performance and a set of behavioral attributes. Based on a review of the most prominent EUD-related behavioral Human Computer Interaction (HCI) theories, and the influence…

Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Positive Psychological Capital on Employee Attitudes, Behaviors, and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avey, James B.; Reichard, Rebecca J.; Luthans, Fred; Mhatre, Ketan H.

2011-01-01

The positive core construct of psychological capital (or simply PsyCap), consisting of the psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism, has recently been demonstrated to be open to human resource development (HRD) and performance management. The research stream on PsyCap has now grown to the point that a quantitative…

3D pose estimation and motion analysis of the articulated human hand-forearm limb in an industrial production environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahn, Markus; Barrois, Björn; Krüger, Lars; Wöhler, Christian; Sagerer, Gerhard; Kummert, Franz

2010-09-01

This study introduces an approach to model-based 3D pose estimation and instantaneous motion analysis of the human hand-forearm limb in the application context of safe human-robot interaction. 3D pose estimation is performed using two approaches: The Multiocular Contracting Curve Density (MOCCD) algorithm is a top-down technique based on pixel statistics around a contour model projected into the images from several cameras. The Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is a bottom-up approach which uses a motion-attributed 3D point cloud to estimate the object pose. Due to their orthogonal properties, a fusion of these algorithms is shown to be favorable. The fusion is performed by a weighted combination of the extracted pose parameters in an iterative manner. The analysis of object motion is based on the pose estimation result and the motion-attributed 3D points belonging to the hand-forearm limb using an extended constraint-line approach which does not rely on any temporal filtering. A further refinement is obtained using the Shape Flow algorithm, a temporal extension of the MOCCD approach, which estimates the temporal pose derivative based on the current and the two preceding images, corresponding to temporal filtering with a short response time of two or at most three frames. Combining the results of the two motion estimation stages provides information about the instantaneous motion properties of the object. Experimental investigations are performed on real-world image sequences displaying several test persons performing different working actions typically occurring in an industrial production scenario. In all example scenes, the background is cluttered, and the test persons wear various kinds of clothes. For evaluation, independently obtained ground truth data are used. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Dimethylaminoethanol affects the viability of human cultured fibroblasts.

PubMed

Gragnani, Alfredo; Giannoccaro, Fabiana Bocci; Sobral, Christiane S; Moraes, A A F; França, Jeronimo P; Ferreira, A T; Ferreira, Lydia Masako

2007-01-01

In clinical practice, dimethylaminoethanol (DMAE) has been used in the fight against wrinkles and flaccidity in the cervicofacial region. The firming action of DMAE is explained by the fact that its molecule, considered to be a precursor of acetylcholine, alters muscle contraction. However, no experimental studies have confirmed this theory. Because the actual mechanism of DMAE action was not defined and there were no references in the literature regarding its direct action on fibroblasts, this study was performed to evaluate the direct action of DMAE on cultured human fibroblasts. Human fibroblasts obtained from discarded fragments of total skin from patients undergoing plastic or reconstructive surgical procedures performed within the Plastic Surgery Division at the Federal University of São Paulo were used for this study. The explant technique was used. The culture medium was supplemented with different concentrations of DMAE on the fourth cell passage, and the cell proliferation rate, cytosolic calcium levels, and cell cycle were evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by a Newman-Keuls test for multiple comparisons. A decrease in fibroblast proliferation was associated with an increase in DMAE concentration. A longer treatment time with trypsin was required for the groups treated with DMAE in a dose-dependent manner. In the presence of DMAE, cytosolic calcium increased in a dose-dependent manner. Apoptosis also increased in groups treated with DMAE. Dimethylaminoethanol reduced the proliferation of fibroblasts, increased cytosolic calcium, and changed the cell cycle, causing an increase in apoptosis in cultured human fibroblasts.

Designing human centered GeoVisualization application--the SanaViz--for telehealth users: a case study.

PubMed

Joshi, Ashish; de Araujo Novaes, Magdala; Machiavelli, Josiane; Iyengar, Sriram; Vogler, Robert; Johnson, Craig; Zhang, Jiajie; Hsu, Chiehwen E

2012-01-01

Public health data is typically organized by geospatial unit. GeoVisualization (GeoVis) allows users to see information visually on a map. Examine telehealth users' perceptions towards existing public health GeoVis applications and obtains users' feedback about features important for the design and development of Human Centered GeoVis application "the SanaViz". We employed a cross sectional study design using mixed methods approach for this pilot study. Twenty users involved with the NUTES telehealth center at Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, Brazil were enrolled. Open and closed ended questionnaires were used to gather data. We performed audio recording for the interviews. Information gathered included socio-demographics, prior spatial skills and perception towards use of GeoVis to evaluate telehealth services. Card sorting and sketching methods were employed. Univariate analysis was performed for the continuous and categorical variables. Qualitative analysis was performed for open ended questions. Existing Public Health GeoVis applications were difficult to use. Results found interaction features zooming, linking and brushing and representation features Google maps, tables and bar chart as most preferred GeoVis features. Early involvement of users is essential to identify features necessary to be part of the human centered GeoVis application "the SanaViz".

Molecularly imprinted polymer cartridges coupled on-line with high performance liquid chromatography for simple and rapid analysis of dextromethorphan in human plasma samples.

PubMed

Moein, Mohammad Mahdi; Javanbakht, Mehran; Akbari-Adergani, Behrouz

2011-04-01

In this paper, a novel method is described for automated determination of dextromethorphan in biological fluids using molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) as a sample clean-up technique combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared using methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, chloroform as porogen and dextromethorphan as template molecule. These imprinted polymers were used as solid-phase extraction sorbent for the extraction of dextromethorphan from human plasma samples. Various parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the MIP cartridges were evaluated. The high selectivity of the sorbent coupled to the high performance liquid chromatographic system permitted a simple and rapid analysis of this drug in plasma samples with limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) of 0.12 ng/mL and 0.35 ng/mL, respectively. The MIP selectivity was evaluated by analyzing of the dextromethorphan in presence of several substances with similar molecular structures and properties. Results from the HPLC analyses showed that the recoveries of dextromethorphan using MIP cartridges from human plasma samples in the range of 1-50 ng/mL were higher than 87%. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Direct metal laser sintering titanium dental implants: a review of the current literature.

PubMed

Mangano, F; Chambrone, L; van Noort, R; Miller, C; Hatton, P; Mangano, C

2014-01-01

Statement of Problem. Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is a technology that allows fabrication of complex-shaped objects from powder-based materials, according to a three-dimensional (3D) computer model. With DMLS, it is possible to fabricate titanium dental implants with an inherently porous surface, a key property required of implantation devices. Objective. The aim of this review was to evaluate the evidence for the reliability of DMLS titanium dental implants and their clinical and histologic/histomorphometric outcomes, as well as their mechanical properties. Materials and Methods. Electronic database searches were performed. Inclusion criteria were clinical and radiographic studies, histologic/histomorphometric studies in humans and animals, mechanical evaluations, and in vitro cell culture studies on DMLS titanium implants. Meta-analysis could be performed only for randomized controlled trials (RCTs); to evaluate the methodological quality of observational human studies, the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) was used. Results. Twenty-seven studies were included in this review. No RCTs were found, and meta-analysis could not be performed. The outcomes of observational human studies were assessed using the NOS: these studies showed medium methodological quality. Conclusions. Several studies have demonstrated the potential for the use of DMLS titanium implants. However, further studies that demonstrate the benefits of DMLS implants over conventional implants are needed.

Direct Metal Laser Sintering Titanium Dental Implants: A Review of the Current Literature

PubMed Central

Mangano, F.; Chambrone, L.; van Noort, R.; Miller, C.; Hatton, P.; Mangano, C.

2014-01-01

Statement of Problem. Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is a technology that allows fabrication of complex-shaped objects from powder-based materials, according to a three-dimensional (3D) computer model. With DMLS, it is possible to fabricate titanium dental implants with an inherently porous surface, a key property required of implantation devices. Objective. The aim of this review was to evaluate the evidence for the reliability of DMLS titanium dental implants and their clinical and histologic/histomorphometric outcomes, as well as their mechanical properties. Materials and Methods. Electronic database searches were performed. Inclusion criteria were clinical and radiographic studies, histologic/histomorphometric studies in humans and animals, mechanical evaluations, and in vitro cell culture studies on DMLS titanium implants. Meta-analysis could be performed only for randomized controlled trials (RCTs); to evaluate the methodological quality of observational human studies, the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) was used. Results. Twenty-seven studies were included in this review. No RCTs were found, and meta-analysis could not be performed. The outcomes of observational human studies were assessed using the NOS: these studies showed medium methodological quality. Conclusions. Several studies have demonstrated the potential for the use of DMLS titanium implants. However, further studies that demonstrate the benefits of DMLS implants over conventional implants are needed. PMID:25525434

Parallel Analysis of 124 Universal SNPs for Human Identification by Targeted Semiconductor Sequencing

PubMed Central

Zhang, Suhua; Bian, Yingnan; Zhang, Zheren; Zheng, Hancheng; Wang, Zheng; Zha, Lagabaiyila; Cai, Jifeng; Gao, Yuzhen; Ji, Chaoneng; Hou, Yiping; Li, Chengtao

2015-01-01

SNPs, abundant in human genome with lower mutation rate, are attractive to genetic application like forensic, anthropological and evolutionary studies. Universal SNPs showing little allelic frequency variation among populations while remaining highly informative for human identification were obtained from previous studies. However, genotyping tools target only dozens of markers simultaneously, limiting their applications. Here, 124 SNPs were simultaneous tested using Ampliseq technology with Ion Torrent PGM platform. Concordance study was performed with 2 reference samples of 9947A and 9948 between NGS and Sanger sequencing. Full concordance were obtained except genotype of rs576261 with 9947A. Parameter of FMAR (%) was introduced for NGS data analysis for the first time, evaluating allelic performance, sensitivity testing and mixture testing. FMAR values for accurate heterozygotes should be range from 50% to 60%, for homozygotes or Y-SNP should be above 90%. SNPs of rs7520386, rs4530059, rs214955, rs1523537, rs2342747, rs576261 and rs12997453 were recognized as poorly performing loci, either with allelic imbalance or with lower coverage. Sensitivity testing demonstrated that with DNA range from 10 ng-0.5 ng, all correct genotypes were obtained. For mixture testing, a clear linear correlation (R2 = 0.9429) between the excepted FMAR and observed FMAR values of mixtures was observed. PMID:26691610

Selecting Tasks for Evaluating Human Performance as a Function of Gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norcross, J. R.; Gernhardt, M. L.

2010-01-01

A challenge in understanding human performance as a function of gravity is determining which tasks to research. Initial studies began with treadmill walking, which was easy to quantify and control. However, with the development of pressurized rovers, it is less important to optimize human performance for ambulation as rovers will likely perform gross translation for them. Future crews are likely to spend much of their extravehicular activity (EVA) performing geology, construction and maintenance type tasks, for which it is difficult to measure steady-state-workloads. To evaluate human performance in reduced gravity, we have collected metabolic, biomechanical and subjective data for different tasks at varied gravity levels. Methods: Ten subjects completed 5 different tasks including weight transfer, shoveling, treadmill walking, treadmill running and treadmill incline walking. All tasks were performed shirt-sleeved at 1-g, 3/8-g and 1/6-g. Off-loaded conditions were achieved via the Active Response Gravity Offload System. Treadmill tasks were performed for 3 minutes with reported oxygen consumption (VO2) averaged over the last 2 minutes. Shoveling was performed for 3 minutes with metabolic cost reported as ml O2 consumed per kg material shoveled. Weight transfer reports metabolic cost as liters O2 consumed to complete the task. Statistical analysis was performed via repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Statistically significant metabolic differences were noted between all 3 gravity levels for treadmill running and incline walking. For the other 3 tasks, there were significant differences between 1-g and each reduced gravity, but not between 1/6-g and 3/8-g. For weight transfer, significant differences were seen between gravities in both trial-average VO2 and time-to-completion with noted differences in strategy for task completion. Conclusion: To determine if gravity has a metabolic effect on human performance, this research may indicate that tasks should be selected that require the subject to work vertically against the force of gravity.

Human performance modeling for system of systems analytics: combat performance-shaping factors.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lawton, Craig R.; Miller, Dwight Peter

The US military has identified Human Performance Modeling (HPM) as a significant requirement and challenge of future systems modeling and analysis initiatives. To support this goal, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has undertaken a program of HPM as an integral augmentation to its system-of-system (SoS) analytics capabilities. The previous effort, reported in SAND2005-6569, evaluated the effects of soldier cognitive fatigue on SoS performance. The current effort began with a very broad survey of any performance-shaping factors (PSFs) that also might affect soldiers performance in combat situations. The work included consideration of three different approaches to cognition modeling and how appropriate theymore » would be for application to SoS analytics. This bulk of this report categorizes 47 PSFs into three groups (internal, external, and task-related) and provides brief descriptions of how each affects combat performance, according to the literature. The PSFs were then assembled into a matrix with 22 representative military tasks and assigned one of four levels of estimated negative impact on task performance, based on the literature. Blank versions of the matrix were then sent to two ex-military subject-matter experts to be filled out based on their personal experiences. Data analysis was performed to identify the consensus most influential PSFs. Results indicate that combat-related injury, cognitive fatigue, inadequate training, physical fatigue, thirst, stress, poor perceptual processing, and presence of chemical agents are among the PSFs with the most negative impact on combat performance.« less

Characterization of glycol chitosan grafted with low molecular weight polyethylenimine as a gene carrier for human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells.

PubMed

Bae, Yoonhee; Lee, Young Hwa; Lee, Sunray; Han, Jin; Ko, Kyung Soo; Choi, Joon Sig

2016-11-20

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a great capacity for self-renewal while still maintaining their multipotency, and can differentiate into a variety of cell types. The delivery of genes to a site of injury is a current and interesting field of gene therapy. In the present study, we describe a nonviral gene delivery carrier, glycol chitosan-methyl acrylate-polyethylenimine (GMP) polymer targeted towards human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AD-MSCs). Transfection efficiency, using luciferase (Luc) and a pDNA encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), along with cytotoxicity assays, were performed in human AD-MSCs. The results show that the transfection efficiency of the GMP polymer was similar to that of PEI25kD, and the cytotoxicity was lower. Moreover, human AD-MSCs were treated with the GMP polymer/pDNA polyplex and its cellular uptake and distribution were analyzed by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Furthermore, we performed endosomal escape analysis using LysoTracker Red, and found that the conjugated GMP polymer could escape from the endosome to the cytosol. Human AD-MSCs treated with the GMP polymer maintained their potential for osteogenic differentiation and phenotypic expression of human AD-MSCs based on flow cytometry analysis. The present study demonstrates that the GMP polymer can be used as a potential targeted-delivery carrier for effective gene delivery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Man-Machine Integration Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) v5: Augmentations, Motivations, and Directions for Aeronautics Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gore, Brian F.

2011-01-01

As automation and advanced technologies are introduced into transport systems ranging from the Next Generation Air Transportation System termed NextGen, to the advanced surface transportation systems as exemplified by the Intelligent Transportations Systems, to future systems designed for space exploration, there is an increased need to validly predict how the future systems will be vulnerable to error given the demands imposed by the assistive technologies. One formalized approach to study the impact of assistive technologies on the human operator in a safe and non-obtrusive manner is through the use of human performance models (HPMs). HPMs play an integral role when complex human-system designs are proposed, developed, and tested. One HPM tool termed the Man-machine Integration Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) is a NASA Ames Research Center HPM software tool that has been applied to predict human-system performance in various domains since 1986. MIDAS is a dynamic, integrated HPM and simulation environment that facilitates the design, visualization, and computational evaluation of complex man-machine system concepts in simulated operational environments. The paper will discuss a range of aviation specific applications including an approach used to model human error for NASA s Aviation Safety Program, and what-if analyses to evaluate flight deck technologies for NextGen operations. This chapter will culminate by raising two challenges for the field of predictive HPMs for complex human-system designs that evaluate assistive technologies: that of (1) model transparency and (2) model validation.

Can we do better? Economic analysis of human resource investment to improve home care service for the elderly in Serbia.

PubMed

Mihic, Marko M; Todorovic, Marija Lj; Obradovic, Vladimir Lj; Mitrovic, Zorica M

2016-01-01

Social services aimed at the elderly are facing great challenges caused by progressive aging of the global population but also by the constant pressure to spend funds in a rational manner. This paper focuses on analyzing the investments into human resources aimed at enhancing home care for the elderly since many countries have recorded progress in the area over the past years. The goal of this paper is to stress the significance of performing an economic analysis of the investment. This paper combines statistical analysis methods such as correlation and regression analysis, methods of economic analysis, and scenario method. The economic analysis of investing in human resources for home care service in Serbia showed that the both scenarios of investing in either additional home care hours or more beneficiaries are cost-efficient. However, the optimal solution with the positive (and the highest) value of economic net present value criterion is to invest in human resources to boost the number of home care hours from 6 to 8 hours per week and increase the number of the beneficiaries to 33%. This paper shows how the statistical and economic analysis results can be used to evaluate different scenarios and enable quality decision-making based on exact data in order to improve health and quality of life of the elderly and spend funds in a rational manner.

Atomic force microscopy analysis of human cornea surface after UV (λ=266 nm) laser irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spyratou, E.; Makropoulou, M.; Moutsouris, K.; Bacharis, C.; Serafetinides, A. A.

2009-07-01

Efficient cornea reshaping by laser irradiation for correcting refractive errors is still a major issue of interest and study. Although the excimer laser wavelength of 193 nm is generally recognized as successful in ablating corneal tissue for myopia correction, complications in excimer refractive surgery leads to alternative laser sources and methods for efficient cornea treatment. In this work, ablation experiments of human donor cornea flaps were conducted with the 4th harmonic of an Nd:YAG laser, with different laser pulses. AFM analysis was performed for examination of the ablated cornea flap morphology and surface roughness.

Reconstruction of living bilayer human skin equivalent utilizing human fibrin as a scaffold.

PubMed

Mazlyzam, A L; Aminuddin, B S; Fuzina, N H; Norhayati, M M; Fauziah, O; Isa, M R; Saim, L; Ruszymah, B H I

2007-05-01

Our aim of this study was to develop a new methodology for constructing a bilayer human skin equivalent to create a more clinical compliance skin graft composite for the treatment of various skin defects. We utilized human plasma derived fibrin as the scaffold for the development of a living bilayer human skin equivalent: fibrin-fibroblast and fibrin-keratinocyte (B-FF/FK SE). Skin cells from six consented patients were culture-expanded to passage 1. For B-FF/FK SE formation, human fibroblasts were embedded in human fibrin matrix and subsequently another layer of human keratinocytes in human fibrin matrix was stacked on top. The B-FF/FK SE was then transplanted to athymic mice model for 4 weeks to evaluate its regeneration and clinical performance. The in vivo B-FF/FK SE has similar properties as native human skin by histological analysis and expression of basal Keratin 14 gene in the epidermal layer and Collagen type I gene in the dermal layer. Electron microscopy analysis of in vivo B-FF/FK SE showed well-formed and continuous epidermal-dermal junction. We have successfully developed a technique to engineer living bilayer human skin equivalent using human fibrin matrix. The utilization of culture-expanded human skin cells and fibrin matrix from human blood will allow a fully autologous human skin equivalent construction.

Six degree-of-freedom analysis of hip, knee, ankle and foot provides updated understanding of biomechanical work during human walking.

PubMed

Zelik, Karl E; Takahashi, Kota Z; Sawicki, Gregory S

2015-03-01

Measuring biomechanical work performed by humans and other animals is critical for understanding muscle-tendon function, joint-specific contributions and energy-saving mechanisms during locomotion. Inverse dynamics is often employed to estimate joint-level contributions, and deformable body estimates can be used to study work performed by the foot. We recently discovered that these commonly used experimental estimates fail to explain whole-body energy changes observed during human walking. By re-analyzing previously published data, we found that about 25% (8 J) of total positive energy changes of/about the body's center-of-mass and >30% of the energy changes during the Push-off phase of walking were not explained by conventional joint- and segment-level work estimates, exposing a gap in our fundamental understanding of work production during gait. Here, we present a novel Energy-Accounting analysis that integrates various empirical measures of work and energy to elucidate the source of unexplained biomechanical work. We discovered that by extending conventional 3 degree-of-freedom (DOF) inverse dynamics (estimating rotational work about joints) to 6DOF (rotational and translational) analysis of the hip, knee, ankle and foot, we could fully explain the missing positive work. This revealed that Push-off work performed about the hip may be >50% greater than conventionally estimated (9.3 versus 6.0 J, P=0.0002, at 1.4 m s(-1)). Our findings demonstrate that 6DOF analysis (of hip-knee-ankle-foot) better captures energy changes of the body than more conventional 3DOF estimates. These findings refine our fundamental understanding of how work is distributed within the body, which has implications for assistive technology, biomechanical simulations and potentially clinical treatment. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

77 FR 70875 - Department of State Performance Review Board Members

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-27

...-Greenfield, Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources, Department of State. [FR..., Department of State; Kevin P. O'Keefe, Director, Office of Plans, Policy, and Analysis, Bureau of Political...

Cost-effectiveness analysis: adding value to assessment of animal health welfare and production.

PubMed

Babo Martins, S; Rushton, J

2014-12-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) has been extensively used in economic assessments in fields related to animal health, namely in human health where it provides a decision-making framework for choices about the allocation of healthcare resources. Conversely, in animal health, cost-benefit analysis has been the preferred tool for economic analysis. In this paper, the use of CEA in related areas and the role of this technique in assessments of animal health, welfare and production are reviewed. Cost-effectiveness analysis can add further value to these assessments, particularly in programmes targeting animal welfare or animal diseases with an impact on human health, where outcomes are best valued in natural effects rather than in monetary units. Importantly, CEA can be performed during programme implementation stages to assess alternative courses of action in real time.

Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Tocopherols and Retinol in Human Plasma

PubMed Central

Bell, Edward C.; John, Mathew; Hughes, Rodney J.; Pham, Thu

2014-01-01

A rapid, selective and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography method has been developed for the detection and quantification of tocopherols and retinol in human plasma. Alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol and retinol are assayed using fluorescence detection. Excitation/emission wavelengths are 295/330 nm and 325/470 nm for the analysis of both tocopherols and retinol, respectively. Retinol acetate is employed as the internal standard. The reversed-phase method incorporates gradient elution with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and acetonitrile. Separation of vitamin compounds is achieved using a bridged ethyl hybrid C18 column. The retention times for retinol, retinol acetate, gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol are 1.6, 1.8, 3.9 and 4.3 min, respectively. The limits of quantification for retinol, gamma-tocopherol and alpha-tocopherol were 0.02, 0.02 and 0.1 µg/mL, respectively. The assay method is suitable for the analysis of tocopherols and retinol in human plasma. The method may be applied following the ingestion of foods fortified with these fat-soluble vitamins. PMID:24170122

Rapid and Sensitive Quantification of Ursolic Acid and Oleanolic Acid in Human Plasma Using Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

PubMed

Stebounova, Larissa; Ebert, Scott M; Murry, Logan T; Adams, Christopher M; Murry, Daryl J

2018-04-26

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) interfaced with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass-spectrometry was used to separate and quantify ursolic acid (UA) and oleanolic acid (OA) in human plasma. UA and OA were extracted from 0.5 mL human plasma using supported liquid extraction and separated utilizing an Acquity UPLC HSS column. The method has been validated for both UA and OA quantitation with a limit of detection of 0.5 ng/mL. The UPLC separations are carried out with isocratic elution with methanol and 5 mM ammonium acetate in water (85:15) as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The assay was linear from 1 ng/mL to 100 ng/mL for both analytes. The total analysis time was 7 min with the retention times of 3.25 (internal standard), 3.65 (UA) and 3.85 min (OA). Recovery of drug from plasma ranged from 70% to 115%. Analysis of quality control samples at 3, 30 and 80 ng/mL (n = 14) had an intra-day coefficient of variation of 9.9%, 4.3% and 5.5%, respectively. A proof-of-concept study in human patients who consumed apple peels indicates that this analytical method could be applied to clinical studies of UA and/or OA in human subjects.

Capability for Integrated Systems Risk-Reduction Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mindock, J.; Lumpkins, S.; Shelhamer, M.

2016-01-01

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is working to increase the likelihoods of human health and performance success during long-duration missions, and subsequent crew long-term health. To achieve these goals, there is a need to develop an integrated understanding of how the complex human physiological-socio-technical mission system behaves in spaceflight. This understanding will allow HRP to provide cross-disciplinary spaceflight countermeasures while minimizing resources such as mass, power, and volume. This understanding will also allow development of tools to assess the state of and enhance the resilience of individual crewmembers, teams, and the integrated mission system. We will discuss a set of risk-reduction questions that has been identified to guide the systems approach necessary to meet these needs. In addition, a framework of factors influencing human health and performance in space, called the Contributing Factor Map (CFM), is being applied as the backbone for incorporating information addressing these questions from sources throughout HRP. Using the common language of the CFM, information from sources such as the Human System Risk Board summaries, Integrated Research Plan, and HRP-funded publications has been combined and visualized in ways that allow insight into cross-disciplinary interconnections in a systematic, standardized fashion. We will show examples of these visualizations. We will also discuss applications of the resulting analysis capability that can inform science portfolio decisions, such as areas in which cross-disciplinary solicitations or countermeasure development will potentially be fruitful.

Automation literature: A brief review and analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, D.; Dieterly, D. L.

1980-01-01

Current thought and research positions which may allow for an improved capability to understand the impact of introducing automation to an existing system are established. The orientation was toward the type of studies which may provide some general insight into automation; specifically, the impact of automation in human performance and the resulting system performance. While an extensive number of articles were reviewed, only those that addressed the issue of automation and human performance were selected to be discussed. The literature is organized along two dimensions: time, Pre-1970, Post-1970; and type of approach, Engineering or Behavioral Science. The conclusions reached are not definitive, but do provide the initial stepping stones in an attempt to begin to bridge the concept of automation in a systematic progression.

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Mars Mission Systems Analysis and Requirements Definition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulqueen, Jack; Chiroux, Robert C.; Thomas, Dan; Crane, Tracie

2007-01-01

This paper describes the Mars transportation vehicle design concepts developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Advanced Concepts Office. These vehicle design concepts provide an indication of the most demanding and least demanding potential requirements for nuclear thermal propulsion systems for human Mars exploration missions from years 2025 to 2035. Vehicle concept options vary from large "all-up" vehicle configurations that would transport all of the elements for a Mars mission on one vehicle. to "split" mission vehicle configurations that would consist of separate smaller vehicles that would transport cargo elements and human crew elements to Mars separately. Parametric trades and sensitivity studies show NTP stage and engine design options that provide the best balanced set of metrics based on safety, reliability, performance, cost and mission objectives. Trade studies include the sensitivity of vehicle performance to nuclear engine characteristics such as thrust, specific impulse and nuclear reactor type. Tbe associated system requirements are aligned with the NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) Reference Mars mission as described in the Explorations Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) report. The focused trade studies include a detailed analysis of nuclear engine radiation shield requirements for human missions and analysis of nuclear thermal engine design options for the ESAS reference mission.

Recognizing different tissues in human fetal femur cartilage by label-free Raman microspectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunstar, Aliz; Leijten, Jeroen; van Leuveren, Stefan; Hilderink, Janneke; Otto, Cees; van Blitterswijk, Clemens A.; Karperien, Marcel; van Apeldoorn, Aart A.

2012-11-01

Traditionally, the composition of bone and cartilage is determined by standard histological methods. We used Raman microscopy, which provides a molecular "fingerprint" of the investigated sample, to detect differences between the zones in human fetal femur cartilage without the need for additional staining or labeling. Raman area scans were made from the (pre)articular cartilage, resting, proliferative, and hypertrophic zones of growth plate and endochondral bone within human fetal femora. Multivariate data analysis was performed on Raman spectral datasets to construct cluster images with corresponding cluster averages. Cluster analysis resulted in detection of individual chondrocyte spectra that could be separated from cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM) spectra and was verified by comparing cluster images with intensity-based Raman images for the deoxyribonucleic acid/ribonucleic acid (DNA/RNA) band. Specific dendrograms were created using Ward's clustering method, and principal component analysis (PCA) was performed with the separated and averaged Raman spectra of cells and ECM of all measured zones. Overall (dis)similarities between measured zones were effectively visualized on the dendrograms and main spectral differences were revealed by PCA allowing for label-free detection of individual cartilaginous zones and for label-free evaluation of proper cartilaginous matrix formation for future tissue engineering and clinical purposes.

Meta-analysis of gene-level associations for rare variants based on single-variant statistics.

PubMed

Hu, Yi-Juan; Berndt, Sonja I; Gustafsson, Stefan; Ganna, Andrea; Hirschhorn, Joel; North, Kari E; Ingelsson, Erik; Lin, Dan-Yu

2013-08-08

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) has led to the discoveries of many common variants associated with complex human diseases. There is a growing recognition that identifying "causal" rare variants also requires large-scale meta-analysis. The fact that association tests with rare variants are performed at the gene level rather than at the variant level poses unprecedented challenges in the meta-analysis. First, different studies may adopt different gene-level tests, so the results are not compatible. Second, gene-level tests require multivariate statistics (i.e., components of the test statistic and their covariance matrix), which are difficult to obtain. To overcome these challenges, we propose to perform gene-level tests for rare variants by combining the results of single-variant analysis (i.e., p values of association tests and effect estimates) from participating studies. This simple strategy is possible because of an insight that multivariate statistics can be recovered from single-variant statistics, together with the correlation matrix of the single-variant test statistics, which can be estimated from one of the participating studies or from a publicly available database. We show both theoretically and numerically that the proposed meta-analysis approach provides accurate control of the type I error and is as powerful as joint analysis of individual participant data. This approach accommodates any disease phenotype and any study design and produces all commonly used gene-level tests. An application to the GWAS summary results of the Genetic Investigation of ANthropometric Traits (GIANT) consortium reveals rare and low-frequency variants associated with human height. The relevant software is freely available. Copyright © 2013 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Techniques of EMG signal analysis: detection, processing, classification and applications

PubMed Central

Hussain, M.S.; Mohd-Yasin, F.

2006-01-01

Electromyography (EMG) signals can be used for clinical/biomedical applications, Evolvable Hardware Chip (EHW) development, and modern human computer interaction. EMG signals acquired from muscles require advanced methods for detection, decomposition, processing, and classification. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the various methodologies and algorithms for EMG signal analysis to provide efficient and effective ways of understanding the signal and its nature. We further point up some of the hardware implementations using EMG focusing on applications related to prosthetic hand control, grasp recognition, and human computer interaction. A comparison study is also given to show performance of various EMG signal analysis methods. This paper provides researchers a good understanding of EMG signal and its analysis procedures. This knowledge will help them develop more powerful, flexible, and efficient applications. PMID:16799694

Feature Extraction of Event-Related Potentials Using Wavelets: An Application to Human Performance Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trejo, Leonard J.; Shensa, Mark J.; Remington, Roger W. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

This report describes the development and evaluation of mathematical models for predicting human performance from discrete wavelet transforms (DWT) of event-related potentials (ERP) elicited by task-relevant stimuli. The DWT was compared to principal components analysis (PCA) for representation of ERPs in linear regression and neural network models developed to predict a composite measure of human signal detection performance. Linear regression models based on coefficients of the decimated DWT predicted signal detection performance with half as many f ree parameters as comparable models based on PCA scores. In addition, the DWT-based models were more resistant to model degradation due to over-fitting than PCA-based models. Feed-forward neural networks were trained using the backpropagation,-, algorithm to predict signal detection performance based on raw ERPs, PCA scores, or high-power coefficients of the DWT. Neural networks based on high-power DWT coefficients trained with fewer iterations, generalized to new data better, and were more resistant to overfitting than networks based on raw ERPs. Networks based on PCA scores did not generalize to new data as well as either the DWT network or the raw ERP network. The results show that wavelet expansions represent the ERP efficiently and extract behaviorally important features for use in linear regression or neural network models of human performance. The efficiency of the DWT is discussed in terms of its decorrelation and energy compaction properties. In addition, the DWT models provided evidence that a pattern of low-frequency activity (1 to 3.5 Hz) occurring at specific times and scalp locations is a reliable correlate of human signal detection performance.

Feature extraction of event-related potentials using wavelets: an application to human performance monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trejo, L. J.; Shensa, M. J.

1999-01-01

This report describes the development and evaluation of mathematical models for predicting human performance from discrete wavelet transforms (DWT) of event-related potentials (ERP) elicited by task-relevant stimuli. The DWT was compared to principal components analysis (PCA) for representation of ERPs in linear regression and neural network models developed to predict a composite measure of human signal detection performance. Linear regression models based on coefficients of the decimated DWT predicted signal detection performance with half as many free parameters as comparable models based on PCA scores. In addition, the DWT-based models were more resistant to model degradation due to over-fitting than PCA-based models. Feed-forward neural networks were trained using the backpropagation algorithm to predict signal detection performance based on raw ERPs, PCA scores, or high-power coefficients of the DWT. Neural networks based on high-power DWT coefficients trained with fewer iterations, generalized to new data better, and were more resistant to overfitting than networks based on raw ERPs. Networks based on PCA scores did not generalize to new data as well as either the DWT network or the raw ERP network. The results show that wavelet expansions represent the ERP efficiently and extract behaviorally important features for use in linear regression or neural network models of human performance. The efficiency of the DWT is discussed in terms of its decorrelation and energy compaction properties. In addition, the DWT models provided evidence that a pattern of low-frequency activity (1 to 3.5 Hz) occurring at specific times and scalp locations is a reliable correlate of human signal detection performance. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Invited Reaction: Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Psychological Capital on Employee Attitudes, Behaviors, and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ardichvili, Alexandre

2011-01-01

The meta-analysis authored by Avey, Reichard, Luthans, and Mhatre addresses a particular construct, psychological capital (PsyCap), that is unlikely to be known among most Human Resource Development (HRD) scholars. Nevertheless, upon closer scrutiny, it is possible that their work provides HRD scholars with numerous ideas for future research and…

Content Analysis of the 20 Most Influential Articles in "PIQ"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Yonjoo; Park, Sunyoung

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine key research themes in human performance technology (HPT) through content analysis of the 20 most influential articles identified in Cho, Jo, Park, Kang, and Chen (2011). Three questions guiding this inquiry are: (1) What are the key themes of the 20 most influential articles in "PIQ", (2) What information…

Tools to Support Human Factors and Systems Engineering Interactions During Early Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thronesbery, Carroll; Malin, Jane T.; Holden, Kritina; Smith, Danielle Paige

2005-01-01

We describe an approach and existing software tool support for effective interactions between human factors engineers and systems engineers in early analysis activities during system acquisition. We examine the tasks performed during this stage, emphasizing those tasks where system engineers and human engineers interact. The Concept of Operations (ConOps) document is an important product during this phase, and particular attention is paid to its influences on subsequent acquisition activities. Understanding this influence helps ConOps authors describe a complete system concept that guides subsequent acquisition activities. We identify commonly used system engineering and human engineering tools and examine how they can support the specific tasks associated with system definition. We identify possible gaps in the support of these tasks, the largest of which appears to be creating the ConOps document itself. Finally, we outline the goals of our future empirical investigations of tools to support system concept definition.

Tools to Support Human Factors and Systems Engineering Interactions During Early Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thronesbery, Carroll; Malin, Jane T.; Holden, Kritina; Smith, Danielle Paige

2006-01-01

We describe an approach and existing software tool support for effective interactions between human factors engineers and systems engineers in early analysis activities during system acquisition. We examine the tasks performed during this stage, emphasizing those tasks where system engineers and human engineers interact. The Concept of Operations (ConOps) document is an important product during this phase, and particular attention is paid to its influences on subsequent acquisition activities. Understanding this influence helps ConOps authors describe a complete system concept that guides subsequent acquisition activities. We identify commonly used system engineering and human engineering tools and examine how they can support the specific tasks associated with system definition. We identify possible gaps in the support of these tasks, the largest of which appears to be creating the ConOps document itself. Finally, we outline the goals of our future empirical investigations of tools to support system concept definition.

Development and human factors analysis of neuronavigation vs. augmented reality.

PubMed

Pandya, Abhilash; Siadat, Mohammad-Reza; Auner, Greg; Kalash, Mohammad; Ellis, R Darin

2004-01-01

This paper is focused on the human factors analysis comparing a standard neuronavigation system with an augmented reality system. We use a passive articulated arm (Microscribe, Immersion technology) to track a calibrated end-effector mounted video camera. In real time, we superimpose the live video view with the synchronized graphical view of CT-derived segmented object(s) of interest within a phantom skull. Using the same robotic arm, we have developed a neuronavigation system able to show the end-effector of the arm on orthogonal CT scans. Both the AR and the neuronavigation systems have been shown to be within 3mm of accuracy. A human factors study was conducted in which subjects were asked to draw craniotomies and answer questions to gage their understanding of the phantom objects. The human factors study included 21 subjects and indicated that the subjects performed faster, with more accuracy and less errors using the Augmented Reality interface.

Developing human rights based indicators to support country monitoring of rehabilitation services and programmes for people with disabilities: a study protocol.

PubMed

Skempes, Dimitrios; Bickenbach, Jerome

2015-09-24

Rehabilitation care is fundamental to health and human dignity and a human right enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The provision of rehabilitation is important for reducing the need for formal support and enabling persons with disabilities to lead an independent life. Increasingly scholars and advocacy groups voice concerns over the significant barriers facing people with disabilities in accessing appropriate and quality rehabilitation. A growing body of research highlights a "respond-need" gap in the provision of rehabilitation and assistive technologies and underscore the lack of indicators for assessing performance of rehabilitation systems and monitoring States compliance with human rights standards in rehabilitation service planning and programming. While research on human rights and health monitoring has increased exponentially over the last decade far too little attention has been paid to rehabilitation services. The proposed research aims to reduce this knowledge gap by developing a human rights based monitoring framework with indicators to support human rights accountability and performance assessment in rehabilitation. Concept mapping, a stakeholder-driven approach will be used as the core method to identify rights based indicators and develop the rehabilitation services monitoring framework. Concept mapping requires participants from various stakeholders groups to generate a list of the potential indicators through on line brainstorming, sort the indicators for conceptual similarity into clusters and rate them against predefined criteria. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster data analysis will be performed to develop the monitoring framework while bridging analysis will provide useful insights about patterns of agreement or disagreement among participants views on indicators. This study has the potential to influence future practices on data collection and measurement of compliance with human rights standards in rehabilitation service delivery and organization. The development of a valid and universally applicable set of indicators will have a profound impact on the design and implementation of evidence informed disability policies and programs as it can support countries in strengthening performance measurement through documentation of comparative information on rehabilitation care systems. Most importantly, the resulting indicators can be used by disabled people's organizations as well as national and international institutions to define a minimal standard for monitoring and reporting progress on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the area of rehabilitation.

MetaMap: An atlas of metatranscriptomic reads in human disease-related RNA-seq data.

PubMed

Simon, L M; Karg, S; Westermann, A J; Engel, M; Elbehery, A H A; Hense, B; Heinig, M; Deng, L; Theis, F J

2018-06-12

With the advent of the age of big data in bioinformatics, large volumes of data and high performance computing power enable researchers to perform re-analyses of publicly available datasets at an unprecedented scale. Ever more studies imply the microbiome in both normal human physiology and a wide range of diseases. RNA sequencing technology (RNA-seq) is commonly used to infer global eukaryotic gene expression patterns under defined conditions, including human disease-related contexts, but its generic nature also enables the detection of microbial and viral transcripts. We developed a bioinformatic pipeline to screen existing human RNA-seq datasets for the presence of microbial and viral reads by re-inspecting the non-human-mapping read fraction. We validated this approach by recapitulating outcomes from 6 independent controlled infection experiments of cell line models and comparison with an alternative metatranscriptomic mapping strategy. We then applied the pipeline to close to 150 terabytes of publicly available raw RNA-seq data from >17,000 samples from >400 studies relevant to human disease using state-of-the-art high performance computing systems. The resulting data of this large-scale re-analysis are made available in the presented MetaMap resource. Our results demonstrate that common human RNA-seq data, including those archived in public repositories, might contain valuable information to correlate microbial and viral detection patterns with diverse diseases. The presented MetaMap database thus provides a rich resource for hypothesis generation towards the role of the microbiome in human disease. Additionally, codes to process new datasets and perform statistical analyses are made available at https://github.com/theislab/MetaMap.

High performance work systems: the gap between policy and practice in health care reform.

PubMed

Leggat, Sandra G; Bartram, Timothy; Stanton, Pauline

2011-01-01

Studies of high-performing organisations have consistently reported a positive relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) and performance outcomes. Although many of these studies have been conducted in manufacturing, similar findings of a positive correlation between aspects of HPWS and improved care delivery and patient outcomes have been reported in international health care studies. The purpose of this paper is to bring together the results from a series of studies conducted within Australian health care organisations. First, the authors seek to demonstrate the link found between high performance work systems and organisational performance, including the perceived quality of patient care. Second, the paper aims to show that the hospitals studied do not have the necessary aspects of HPWS in place and that there has been little consideration of HPWS in health system reform. The paper draws on a series of correlation studies using survey data from hospitals in Australia, supplemented by qualitative data collection and analysis. To demonstrate the link between HPWS and perceived quality of care delivery the authors conducted regression analysis with tests of mediation and moderation to analyse survey responses of 201 nurses in a large regional Australian health service and explored HRM and HPWS in detail in three casestudy organisations. To achieve the second aim, the authors surveyed human resource and other senior managers in all Victorian health sector organisations and reviewed policy documents related to health system reform planned for Australia. The findings suggest that there is a relationship between HPWS and the perceived quality of care that is mediated by human resource management (HRM) outcomes, such as psychological empowerment. It is also found that health care organisations in Australia generally do not have the necessary aspects of HPWS in place, creating a policy and practice gap. Although the chief executive officers of health service organisations reported high levels of strategic HRM, the human resource and other managers reported a distinct lack of HPWS from their perspectives. The authors discuss why health care organisations may have difficulty in achieving HPWS. Leaders in health care organisations should focus on ensuring human resource management systems, structures and processes that support HPWS. Policy makers need to consider HPWS as a necessary component of health system reform. There is a strong need to reorient organisational human resource management policies and procedures in public health care organisations towards high performing work systems.

Visualizing Parallel Computer System Performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malony, Allen D.; Reed, Daniel A.

1988-01-01

Parallel computer systems are among the most complex of man's creations, making satisfactory performance characterization difficult. Despite this complexity, there are strong, indeed, almost irresistible, incentives to quantify parallel system performance using a single metric. The fallacy lies in succumbing to such temptations. A complete performance characterization requires not only an analysis of the system's constituent levels, it also requires both static and dynamic characterizations. Static or average behavior analysis may mask transients that dramatically alter system performance. Although the human visual system is remarkedly adept at interpreting and identifying anomalies in false color data, the importance of dynamic, visual scientific data presentation has only recently been recognized Large, complex parallel system pose equally vexing performance interpretation problems. Data from hardware and software performance monitors must be presented in ways that emphasize important events while eluding irrelevant details. Design approaches and tools for performance visualization are the subject of this paper.

Study of Helicobacter pylori genotype status in cows, sheep, goats and human beings

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Helicobacter pylori is one of the most controversial bacteria in the world causing diverse gastrointestinal diseases. The transmission way of this bacterium still remains unknown. The possibility of zoonotic transmission of H. pylori has been suggested, but is not proven in nonprimate reservoirs. In the current survey, we investigate the presence of H. pylori in cow, sheep and goat stomach, determine the bacterium virulence factors and finally compare the human H. pylori virulence factors and animals in order to examine whether H. pylori might be transmitted from these animals to human beings. Methods This cross- sectional study was performed on 800 gastric biopsy specimens of cows, sheep, goats and human beings. The PCR assays was performed to detection of H. pylori, vacA and cagA genes. The PCR products of Ruminant’s samples with positive H. pylori were subjected to DNA sequencing analysis. Statistical tests were applied for data analysis. Results Overall 6 (3%) cows, 32 (16%) sheep and 164 (82%) human beings specimens were confirmed to be H. pylori positive; however we were not able to detect this bacterium in all 200 goat samples. The vacA s1a/m1a was the predominant H. pylori genotype in all three kinds of studied population. There was 3.4–8.4% variability and 92.9-98.5% homology between sheep and human samples. Conclusions Considering the high sequence homology among DNA of H. pylori isolated from sheep and human, our data suggest that sheep may act as a reservoir for H. pylori and in the some extent share the ancestral host for the bacteria with human. PMID:24708464

Experimental evaluation of a miniature MR device for a wide range of human perceivable haptic sensations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Tae-Heon; Koo, Jeong-Hoi

2017-12-01

Humans can experience a realistic and vivid haptic sensations by the sense of touch. In order to have a fully immersive haptic experience, both kinaesthetic and vibrotactile information must be presented to human users. Currently, little haptic research has been performed on small haptic actuators that can covey both vibrotactile feedback based on the frequency of vibrations up to the human-perceivable limit and multiple levels of kinaesthetic feedback rapidly. Therefore, this study intends to design a miniature haptic device based on MR fluid and experimentally evaluate its ability to convey vibrotactile feedback up to 300 Hz along with kinaesthetic feedback. After constructing a prototype device, a series of testing was performed to evaluate its performance of the prototype using an experimental setup, consisting of a precision dynamic mechanical analyzer and an accelerometer. The kinaesthetic testing results show that the prototype device can provide the force rate up to 89% at 5 V (360 mA), which can be discretized into multiple levels of ‘just noticeable difference’ force rate, indicating that the device can convey a wide range of kinaesthetic sensations. To evaluate the high frequency vibrotactile feedback performance of the device, its acceleration responses were measured and processed using the FFT analysis. The results indicate that the device can convey high frequency vibrotactile sensations up to 300 Hz with the sufficiently large intensity of accelerations that human can feel.

Performance of human fecal anaerobe-associated PCR-based assays in a multi-laboratory method evaluation study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Layton, Blythe A.; Cao, Yiping; Ebentier, Darcy L.; Hanley, Kaitlyn; Ballesté, Elisenda; Brandão, João; Byappanahalli, Muruleedhara N.; Converse, Reagan; Farnleitner, Andreas H.; Gentry-Shields, Jennifer; Gourmelon, Michèle; Lee, Chang Soo; Lee, Jiyoung; Lozach, Solen; Madi, Tania; Meijer, Wim G.; Noble, Rachel; Peed, Lindsay; Reischer, Georg H.; Rodrigues, Raquel; Rose, Joan B.; Schriewer, Alexander; Sinigalliano, Chris; Srinivasan, Sangeetha; Stewart, Jill; ,; Laurie, C.; Wang, Dan; Whitman, Richard; Wuertz, Stefan; Jay, Jenny; Holden, Patricia A.; Boehm, Alexandria B.; Shanks, Orin; Griffith, John F.

2013-01-01

A number of PCR-based methods for detecting human fecal material in environmental waters have been developed over the past decade, but these methods have rarely received independent comparative testing in large multi-laboratory studies. Here, we evaluated ten of these methods (BacH, BacHum-UCD, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (BtH), BsteriF1, gyrB, HF183 endpoint, HF183 SYBR, HF183 Taqman®, HumM2, and Methanobrevibacter smithii nifH (Mnif)) using 64 blind samples prepared in one laboratory. The blind samples contained either one or two fecal sources from human, wastewater or non-human sources. The assay results were assessed for presence/absence of the human markers and also quantitatively while varying the following: 1) classification of samples that were detected but not quantifiable (DNQ) as positive or negative; 2) reference fecal sample concentration unit of measure (such as culturable indicator bacteria, wet mass, total DNA, etc); and 3) human fecal source type (stool, sewage or septage). Assay performance using presence/absence metrics was found to depend on the classification of DNQ samples. The assays that performed best quantitatively varied based on the fecal concentration unit of measure and laboratory protocol. All methods were consistently more sensitive to human stools compared to sewage or septage in both the presence/absence and quantitative analysis. Overall, HF183 Taqman® was found to be the most effective marker of human fecal contamination in this California-based study.

Guidelines for improving the reproducibility of quantitative multiparameter immunofluorescence measurements by laser scanning cytometry on fixed cell suspensions from human solid tumors.

PubMed

Shackney, Stanley; Emlet, David R; Pollice, Agnese; Smith, Charles; Brown, Kathryn; Kociban, Deborah

2006-01-01

Laser scanning Cytometry (LSC) is a versatile technology that makes it possible to perform multiple measurements on individual cells and correlate them cell by cell with other cellular features. It would be highly desirable to be able to perform reproducible, quantitative, correlated cell-based immunofluorescence studies on individual cells from human solid tumors. However, such studies can be challenging because of the presence of large numbers of cell aggregates and other confounding factors. Techniques have been developed to deal with cell aggregates in data sets collected by LSC. Experience has also been gained in addressing other key technical and methodological issues that can affect the reproducibility of such cell-based immunofluorescence measurements. We describe practical aspects of cell sample collection, cell fixation and staining, protocols for performing multiparameter immunofluorescence measurements by LSC, use of controls and reference samples, and approaches to data analysis that we have found useful in improving the accuracy and reproducibility of LSC data obtained in human tumor samples. We provide examples of the potential advantages of LSC in examining quantitative aspects of cell-based analysis. Improvements in the quality of cell-based multiparameter immunofluorescence measurements make it possible to extract useful information from relatively small numbers of cells. This, in turn, permits the performance of multiple multicolor panels on each tumor sample. With links among the different panels that are provided by overlapping measurements, it is possible to develop increasingly more extensive profiles of intracellular expression of multiple proteins in clinical samples of human solid tumors. Examples of such linked panels of measurements are provided. Advances in methodology can improve cell-based multiparameter immunofluorescence measurements on cell suspensions from human solid tumors by LSC for use in prognostic and predictive clinical applications. Copyright (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Optimization of data analysis for the in vivo neutron activation analysis of aluminum in bone.

PubMed

Mohseni, H K; Matysiak, W; Chettle, D R; Byun, S H; Priest, N; Atanackovic, J; Prestwich, W V

2016-10-01

An existing system at McMaster University has been used for the in vivo measurement of aluminum in human bone. Precise and detailed analysis approaches are necessary to determine the aluminum concentration because of the low levels of aluminum found in the bone and the challenges associated with its detection. Phantoms resembling the composition of the human hand with varying concentrations of aluminum were made for testing the system prior to the application to human studies. A spectral decomposition model and a photopeak fitting model involving the inverse-variance weighted mean and a time-dependent analysis were explored to analyze the results and determine the model with the best performance and lowest minimum detection limit. The results showed that the spectral decomposition and the photopeak fitting model with the inverse-variance weighted mean both provided better results compared to the other methods tested. The spectral decomposition method resulted in a marginally lower detection limit (5μg Al/g Ca) compared to the inverse-variance weighted mean (5.2μg Al/g Ca), rendering both equally applicable to human measurements. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Controlled human infection models for vaccine development: Zika virus debate.

PubMed

Gopichandran, Vijayaprasad

2018-01-01

An ethics panel, convened by the National Institute of Health and other research bodies in the USA, disallowed researchers from the Johns Hopkins University and University of Vermont from performing controlled human infection of healthy volunteers to develop a vaccine against Zika virus infection. The members published their ethical analysis and recommendations in February 2017. They have elaborated on the risks posed by human challenge with Zika virus to the volunteers and other uninvolved third parties and have systematically analysed the social value of such a human challenge experiment. They have also posited some mandatory ethical requirements which should be met before allowing the infection of healthy volunteers with the Zika virus. This commentary elaborates on the debate on the ethics of the human challenge model for the development of a Zika virus vaccine and the role of systematic ethical analysis in protecting the interests of research participants. It further analyses the importance of this debate to the development of a Zika vaccine in India.

Influence of the model's degree of freedom on human body dynamics identification.

PubMed

Maita, Daichi; Venture, Gentiane

2013-01-01

In fields of sports and rehabilitation, opportunities of using motion analysis of the human body have dramatically increased. To analyze the motion dynamics, a number of subject specific parameters and measurements are required. For example the contact forces measurement and the inertial parameters of each segment of the human body are necessary to compute the joint torques. In this study, in order to perform accurate dynamic analysis we propose to identify the inertial parameters of the human body and to evaluate the influence of the model's number of degrees of freedom (DoF) on the results. We use a method to estimate the inertial parameters without torque sensor, using generalized coordinates of the base link, joint angles and external forces information. We consider a 34DoF model, a 58DoF model, as well as the case when the human is manipulating a tool (here a tennis racket). We compare the obtained in results in terms of contact force estimation.

Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System Incident Data Associated with the Technical Challenges of the System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Withrow, Colleen A.; Reveley, Mary S.

2015-01-01

The Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies (SSAT) Project asked the AvSP Systems and Portfolio Analysis Team to identify SSAT-related trends. SSAT had four technical challenges: advance safety assurance to enable deployment of NextGen systems; automated discovery of precursors to aviation safety incidents; increasing safety of human-automation interaction by incorporating human performance, and prognostic algorithm design for safety assurance. This report reviews incident data from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) for system-component-failure- or-malfunction- (SCFM-) related and human-factor-related incidents for commercial or cargo air carriers (Part 121), commuter airlines (Part 135), and general aviation (Part 91). The data was analyzed by Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) part, phase of flight, SCFM category, human factor category, and a variety of anomalies and results. There were 38 894 SCFM-related incidents and 83 478 human-factorrelated incidents analyzed between January 1993 and April 2011.

Single-Cell RNA-Seq Analysis Maps Development of Human Germline Cells and Gonadal Niche Interactions.

PubMed

Li, Li; Dong, Ji; Yan, Liying; Yong, Jun; Liu, Xixi; Hu, Yuqiong; Fan, Xiaoying; Wu, Xinglong; Guo, Hongshan; Wang, Xiaoye; Zhu, Xiaohui; Li, Rong; Yan, Jie; Wei, Yuan; Zhao, Yangyu; Wang, Wei; Ren, Yixin; Yuan, Peng; Yan, Zhiqiang; Hu, Boqiang; Guo, Fan; Wen, Lu; Tang, Fuchou; Qiao, Jie

2017-06-01

Human fetal germ cells (FGCs) are precursors to sperm and eggs and are crucial for maintenance of the species. However, the developmental trajectories and heterogeneity of human FGCs remain largely unknown. Here we performed single-cell RNA-seq analysis of over 2,000 FGCs and their gonadal niche cells in female and male human embryos spanning several developmental stages. We found that female FGCs undergo four distinct sequential phases characterized by mitosis, retinoic acid signaling, meiotic prophase, and oogenesis. Male FGCs develop through stages of migration, mitosis, and cell-cycle arrest. Individual embryos of both sexes simultaneously contain several subpopulations, highlighting the asynchronous and heterogeneous nature of FGC development. Moreover, we observed reciprocal signaling interactions between FGCs and their gonadal niche cells, including activation of the bone morphogenic protein (BMP) and Notch signaling pathways. Our work provides key insights into the crucial features of human FGCs during their highly ordered mitotic, meiotic, and gametogenetic processes in vivo. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Proteomic profiling of human pleural effusion using two-dimensional nano liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Tyan, Yu-Chang; Wu, Hsin-Yi; Lai, Wu-Wei; Su, Wu-Chou; Liao, Pao-Chi

2005-01-01

Pleural effusion, an accumulation of pleural fluid, contains proteins originated from plasma filtrate and, especially when tissues are damaged, parenchyma interstitial spaces of lungs and/or other organs. This study details protein profiles in human pleural effusion from 43 lung adenocarcinoma patients by a two-dimensional nano-high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (2D nano-HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) system. The experimental results revealed the identification of 1415 unique proteins from human pleural effusion. Among these 124 proteins identified with higher confidence levels, some proteins have not been reported in plasma and may represent proteins specifically present in pleural effusion. These proteins are valuable for mass identification of differentially expressed proteins involved in proteomics database and screening biomarker to further study in human lung adenocarcinoma. The significance of the use of proteomics analysis of human pleural fluid for the search of new lung cancer marker proteins, and for their simultaneous display and analysis in patients suffering from lung disorders has been examined.

Spatial transcriptomic survey of human embryonic cerebral cortex by single-cell RNA-seq analysis.

PubMed

Fan, Xiaoying; Dong, Ji; Zhong, Suijuan; Wei, Yuan; Wu, Qian; Yan, Liying; Yong, Jun; Sun, Le; Wang, Xiaoye; Zhao, Yangyu; Wang, Wei; Yan, Jie; Wang, Xiaoqun; Qiao, Jie; Tang, Fuchou

2018-06-04

The cellular complexity of human brain development has been intensively investigated, although a regional characterization of the entire human cerebral cortex based on single-cell transcriptome analysis has not been reported. Here, we performed RNA-seq on over 4,000 individual cells from 22 brain regions of human mid-gestation embryos. We identified 29 cell sub-clusters, which showed different proportions in each region and the pons showed especially high percentage of astrocytes. Embryonic neurons were not as diverse as adult neurons, although they possessed important features of their destinies in adults. Neuron development was unsynchronized in the cerebral cortex, as dorsal regions appeared to be more mature than ventral regions at this stage. Region-specific genes were comprehensively identified in each neuronal sub-cluster, and a large proportion of these genes were neural disease related. Our results present a systematic landscape of the regionalized gene expression and neuron maturation of the human cerebral cortex.

A comparison of student performance in human development classes using three different modes of delivery: Online, face-to-face, and combined

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalsow, Susan Christensen

1999-11-01

The problem. The dual purposes of this research were to determine if there is a difference in student performance in three Human Development classes when the modes of delivery are different and to analyze student perceptions of using Web-based learning as all or part of their course experience. Procedures. Data for this study were collected from three Human Development courses taught at Drake University. Grades from five essays, projects, and overall grades were used in the three classes and analyzed using a single factor analysis of variance to determine if there was a significant difference. Content analysis was used on the evaluation comments of the participants in the online and combined classes to determine their perceptions of Web-based learning. Findings. The single factor analysis of variance measuring student performance showed no significant difference among the online, face-to-face, and combined scores at the .05 level of significance, however, the difference was significant at the .06. The content analysis of the online and combined course showed the three major strengths of learning totally or partly online to be increased comfort in using the computer, the quality of the overall experience, and convenience in terms of increased access to educational opportunities. The barriers included lack of human interaction and access to the professor. Conclusions. The study indicates that Web-based learning is a viable option for postsecondary educational delivery in terms of student performance and learning. On the average, performance is at least as good as performance in traditional face-to-face classrooms. Improved performance, however, is contingent on adequate access to equipment, faculty skill in teaching using a new mode of delivery, and the personality of the student. The convenient access to educational opportunities and becoming more comfortable with technology are benefits that were important to these two groups. Web-based learning is not for everyone, but Web-assisted learning may be. It has the potential to reach a population of students who otherwise would not have access to postsecondary education. Recommendations. Technology in the twenty-first century will continue to explode and impact our lives. Universities and colleges have the potential to reach a more diverse population, but face-to-face learning will always have value. Consideration must be given to how technology and the use of Web-based learning can be used in varying degrees to meet the needs of students. Classes in the future should have some expected component of navigation and productive use of online learning. Web classes vary from totally online to mostly face-to-face, but all students in the twenty-first century should be expected to know and use this powerful educational resource.

Vibration Analysis of Beam and Block Precast Slab System due to Human Vibrations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chik, T. N. T.; Kamil, M. R. H.; Yusoff, N. A.

2018-04-01

Beam and block precast slabs system are very efficient which generally give maximum structural performance where their voids based on the design of the unit soffit block allow a significant reduction of the whole slab self-weight. Initially for some combinations of components or the joint connection of the structural slab, this structural system may be susceptible to excessive vibrations that could effects the performance and also serviceability. Dynamic forces are excited from people walking and jumping which produced vibrations to the slab system in the buildings. Few studies concluded that human induced vibration on precast slabs system may be harmful to structural performance and mitigate the human comfort level. This study will investigate the vibration analysis of beam and block precast slab by using finite element method at the school building. Human activities which are excited from jumping and walking will induce the vibrations signal to the building. Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) was used to measure the dynamic responses of slab towards the vibration sources. Five different points were assigned specifically where each of location will determine the behaviour of the entire slabs. The finite element analyses were developed in ABAQUS software and the data was further processed in MATLAB ModalV to assess the vibration criteria. The results indicated that the beam and block precast systems adequate enough to the vibration serviceability and human comfort criteria. The overall vibration level obtained was fell under VC-E curve which it is generally under the maximum permissible level of vibrations. The vibration level on the slab is acceptable within the limit that have been used by Gordon.

The quantitative assessment of epicardial fat distribution on human hearts: Implications for epicardial electrophysiology.

PubMed

Mattson, Alexander R; Soto, Mario J; Iaizzo, Paul A

2018-07-01

Epicardial electrophysiological procedures rely on dependable interfacing with the myocardial tissue. For example, epicardial pacing systems must generate sustainable chronic pacing capture, while epicardial ablations must effectively deliver energy to the target hyper-excitable myocytes. The human heart has a significant adipose layer which may impede epicardial procedures. The objective of this study was to quantitatively assess the relative location of epicardial adipose on the human heart, to define locations where epicardial therapies might be performed successfully. We studied perfusion-fixed human hearts (n = 105) in multiple isolated planes including: left ventricular margin, diaphragmatic surface, and anterior right ventricle. Relative adipose distribution was quantitatively assessed via planar images, using a custom-generated image analysis algorithm. In these specimens, 76.7 ± 13.8% of the left ventricular margin, 72.7 ± 11.3% of the diaphragmatic surface, and 92.1 ± 8.7% of the anterior right margin were covered with superficial epicardial adipose layers. Percent adipose coverage significantly increased with age (P < 0.001) and history of coronary artery disease (P < 0.05). No significant relationships were identified between relative percent adipose coverage and gender, body weight or height, BMI, history of hypertension, and/or history of congestive heart failure. Additionally, we describe two-dimensional probability distributions of epicardial adipose coverage for each of the three analysis planes. In this study, we detail the quantitative assessment and probabilistic mapping of the distribution of superficial epicardial adipose on the adult human heart. These findings have implications relative to performing epicardial procedures and/or designing procedures or tools to successfully perform such treatments. Clin. Anat. 31:661-666, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Does carbonate originate from carbonate-calcium crystal component of the human urinary calculus?].

PubMed

Yuzawa, Masayuki; Nakano, Kazuhiko; Kumamaru, Takatoshi; Nukui, Akinori; Ikeda, Hitoshi; Suzuki, Kazumi; Kobayashi, Minoru; Sugaya, Yasuhiro; Morita, Tatsuo

2008-09-01

It gives important information in selecting the appropriate treatment for urolithiasis to confirm the component of urinary calculus. Presently component analysis of the urinary calculus is generally performed by infrared spectroscopy which is employed by companies providing laboratory testing services in Japan. The infrared spectroscopy determines the molecular components from the absorption spectra in consequence of atomic vibrations. It has the drawback that an accurate crystal structure cannot be analyzed compared with the X-ray diffraction method which analyzes the crystal constituent based on the diffraction of X-rays on crystal lattice. The components of the urinary calculus including carbonate are carbonate apatite and calcium carbonate such as calcite. Although the latter is reported to be very rare component in human urinary calculus, the results by infrared spectroscopy often show that calcium carbonate is included in calculus. The infrared spectroscopy can confirm the existence of carbonate but cannot determine whether carbonate is originated from carbonate apatite or calcium carbonate. Thus, it is not clear whether calcium carbonate is included in human urinary calculus component in Japan. In this study, we examined human urinary calculus including carbonate by use of X-ray structural analysis in order to elucidate the origin of carbonate in human urinary calculus. We examined 17 human calculi which were reported to contain calcium carbonate by infrared spectroscopy performed in the clinical laboratory. Fifteen calculi were obtained from urinary tract, and two were from gall bladder. The stones were analyzed by X-ray powder method after crushed finely. The reports from the clinical laboratory showed that all urinary culculi consisted of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate, while the gallstones consisted of calcium carbonate. But the components of all urinary calculi were revealed to be carbonate apatite by X-ray diffraction. The components of gallstones were shown to be calcium carbonate (one calcite and the other aragonite) not only by infrared spectroscopy but by X-ray diffraction. It was shown that component analysis of the calculus could be more accurately performed by adding X-ray diffraction method to infrared spectroscopy. It was shown that calcium carbonate existed in a gallstone. As for the carbonate in human urinary calculi, present study showed that it was not calcium carbonate origin but carbonate apatite origin.

Routes to failure: analysis of 41 civil aviation accidents from the Republic of China using the human factors analysis and classification system.

PubMed

Li, Wen-Chin; Harris, Don; Yu, Chung-San

2008-03-01

The human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) is based upon Reason's organizational model of human error. HFACS was developed as an analytical framework for the investigation of the role of human error in aviation accidents, however, there is little empirical work formally describing the relationship between the components in the model. This research analyses 41 civil aviation accidents occurring to aircraft registered in the Republic of China (ROC) between 1999 and 2006 using the HFACS framework. The results show statistically significant relationships between errors at the operational level and organizational inadequacies at both the immediately adjacent level (preconditions for unsafe acts) and higher levels in the organization (unsafe supervision and organizational influences). The pattern of the 'routes to failure' observed in the data from this analysis of civil aircraft accidents show great similarities to that observed in the analysis of military accidents. This research lends further support to Reason's model that suggests that active failures are promoted by latent conditions in the organization. Statistical relationships linking fallible decisions in upper management levels were found to directly affect supervisory practices, thereby creating the psychological preconditions for unsafe acts and hence indirectly impairing the performance of pilots, ultimately leading to accidents.

Transcriptomic Analysis and Meta-Analysis of Human Granulosa and Cumulus Cells

PubMed Central

Burnik Papler, Tanja; Vrtacnik Bokal, Eda; Maver, Ales; Kopitar, Andreja Natasa; Lovrečić, Luca

2015-01-01

Specific gene expression in oocytes and its surrounding cumulus (CC) and granulosa (GC) cells is needed for successful folliculogenesis and oocyte maturation. The aim of the present study was to compare genome-wide gene expression and biological functions of human GC and CC. Individual GC and CC were derived from 37 women undergoing IVF procedures. Gene expression analysis was performed using microarrays, followed by a meta-analysis. Results were validated using quantitative real-time PCR. There were 6029 differentially expressed genes (q < 10−4); of which 650 genes had a log2 FC ≥ 2. After the meta-analysis there were 3156 genes differentially expressed. Among these there were genes that have previously not been reported in human somatic follicular cells, like prokineticin 2 (PROK2), higher expressed in GC, and pregnancy up-regulated nonubiquitous CaM kinase (PNCK), higher expressed in CC. Pathways like inflammatory response and angiogenesis were enriched in GC, whereas in CC, cell differentiation and multicellular organismal development were among enriched pathways. In conclusion, transcriptomes of GC and CC as well as biological functions, are distinctive for each cell subpopulation. By describing novel genes like PROK2 and PNCK, expressed in GC and CC, we upgraded the existing data on human follicular biology. PMID:26313571

Habitat Utilization Assessment - Building in Behaviors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitmore, Mihriban; Blume, Jennifer

2004-01-01

Habitability, and the associated architectural and design attributes of an environment, is a powerful performance shaping factor. By identifying how inhabitants use an area, we can draw conclusions about what design or architectural attributes cause what behaviors and systematically design in desired human performance. We are analyzing how a crew uses a long duration habitat and work environment during a four-day underwater mission and identifying certain architectural and design attributes that are related to, and potential enablers of, certain crew behaviors. By identifying how inhabitants use the habitat, we can draw conclusions about what habitability attributes cause what behaviors and systematically design in desired human performance (applicable to NASA's Bioastronautics Human Behavior and Performance Critical Path Roadmap question 6.12). This assessment replicates a methodology reported in a chapter titled "Sociokinetic Analysis as a Tool for Optimization of Environmental Design" by C. Adams.' That study collected video imagery of certain areas of a closed habitat during a 91 day test and from that data calculated time spent in different volumes during the mission, and characterized the behaviors occurring in certain habitat volumes thus concluding various rules for design of such habitats. This study assesses the utilization of the Aquarius Habitat, an underwater station, which will support six Aquanauts for a fourteen-day mission during which the crew will perform specific scientific and engineering studies. Video is recorded for long uninterrupted periods of time during the mission and from that data the time spent in each area is calculated. In addition, qualitative and descriptive analysis of the types of behaviors in each area is performed with the purpose of identifying any behaviors that are not typical of a certain area. If a participant uses an area in a way different from expected, a subsequent analysis of the features of that area may result in conclusions of performance shaping factors. With the addition of this study, we can make comparisons between the two different habitats and begin drawing correlation judgments about design features and behavior. Ideally, this methodology should be repeated in additional Aquarius missions and other analog environments because the real information will come from comparisons between habitats.

A Meta-Analysis of Factors Influencing the Development of Trust in Automation: Implications for Understanding Autonomy in Future Systems.

PubMed

Schaefer, Kristin E; Chen, Jessie Y C; Szalma, James L; Hancock, P A

2016-05-01

We used meta-analysis to assess research concerning human trust in automation to understand the foundation upon which future autonomous systems can be built. Trust is increasingly important in the growing need for synergistic human-machine teaming. Thus, we expand on our previous meta-analytic foundation in the field of human-robot interaction to include all of automation interaction. We used meta-analysis to assess trust in automation. Thirty studies provided 164 pairwise effect sizes, and 16 studies provided 63 correlational effect sizes. The overall effect size of all factors on trust development was ḡ = +0.48, and the correlational effect was [Formula: see text]  = +0.34, each of which represented medium effects. Moderator effects were observed for the human-related (ḡ  = +0.49; [Formula: see text] = +0.16) and automation-related (ḡ = +0.53; [Formula: see text] = +0.41) factors. Moderator effects specific to environmental factors proved insufficient in number to calculate at this time. Findings provide a quantitative representation of factors influencing the development of trust in automation as well as identify additional areas of needed empirical research. This work has important implications to the enhancement of current and future human-automation interaction, especially in high-risk or extreme performance environments. © 2016, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

A novel framework for virtual prototyping of rehabilitation exoskeletons.

PubMed

Agarwal, Priyanshu; Kuo, Pei-Hsin; Neptune, Richard R; Deshpande, Ashish D

2013-06-01

Human-worn rehabilitation exoskeletons have the potential to make therapeutic exercises increasingly accessible to disabled individuals while reducing the cost and labor involved in rehabilitation therapy. In this work, we propose a novel human-model-in-the-loop framework for virtual prototyping (design, control and experimentation) of rehabilitation exoskeletons by merging computational musculoskeletal analysis with simulation-based design techniques. The framework allows to iteratively optimize design and control algorithm of an exoskeleton using simulation. We introduce biomechanical, morphological, and controller measures to quantify the performance of the device for optimization study. Furthermore, the framework allows one to carry out virtual experiments for testing specific "what-if" scenarios to quantify device performance and recovery progress. To illustrate the application of the framework, we present a case study wherein the design and analysis of an index-finger exoskeleton is carried out using the proposed framework.

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of loxoprofen and its diastereomeric alcohol metabolites in biological fluids by fluorescence labelling with 4-bromomethyl-6,7-methylenedioxycoumarin.

PubMed

Naganuma, H; Kawahara, Y

1990-09-14

A simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure to determine loxoprofen and its diastereomeric alcohol metabolites in biological specimens is described. The analysis involves liquid-liquid extraction with benzene, pre-column derivatization with a highly fluorogenic reagent, 4-bromomethyl-6,7-methylenedioxycoumarin (BrMDC) and subsequent separation on a reversed-phase column. Loxoprofen, its pharmacologically active metabolite, trans-alcohol, and less active cis-alcohol were completely separated within 20 min with a mobile phase of 55% of aqueous acetonitrile containing acetic acid. Any endogenous substances do not interfere in the analysis of either plasma or urine samples. The quantitation limit was 0.01 micrograms/ml for human plasma and 0.05 micrograms/ml for urine. The method was applied to a pharmacokinetic study in healthy human subjects who had received 60 mg of loxoprofen sodium.

An Analytic Approximation to Very High Specific Impulse and Specific Power Interplanetary Space Mission Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Craig Hamilton

1995-01-01

A simple, analytic approximation is derived to calculate trip time and performance for propulsion systems of very high specific impulse (50,000 to 200,000 seconds) and very high specific power (10 to 1000 kW/kg) for human interplanetary space missions. The approach assumed field-free space, constant thrust/constant specific power, and near straight line (radial) trajectories between the planets. Closed form, one dimensional equations of motion for two-burn rendezvous and four-burn round trip missions are derived as a function of specific impulse, specific power, and propellant mass ratio. The equations are coupled to an optimizing parameter that maximizes performance and minimizes trip time. Data generated for hypothetical one-way and round trip human missions to Jupiter were found to be within 1% and 6% accuracy of integrated solutions respectively, verifying that for these systems, credible analysis does not require computationally intensive numerical techniques.

Complexity and dynamics of switched human balance control during quiet standing.

PubMed

Nema, Salam; Kowalczyk, Piotr; Loram, Ian

2015-10-01

In this paper, we use a combination of numerical simulations, time series analysis, and complexity measures to investigate the dynamics of switched systems with noise, which are often used as models of human balance control during quiet standing. We link the results with complexity measures found in experimental data of human sway motion during quiet standing. The control model ensuring balance, which we use, is based on an act-and-wait control concept, that is, a human controller is switched on when a certain sway angle is reached. Otherwise, there is no active control present. Given a time series data, we determine how does it look a typical pattern of control strategy in our model system. We detect the switched nonlinearity in the system using a frequency analysis method in the absence of noise. We also analyse the effect of time delay on the existence of limit cycles in the system in the absence of noise. We perform the entropy and detrended fluctuation analyses in view of linking the switchings (and the dead zone) with the occurrences of complexity in the model system in the presence of noise. Finally, we perform the entropy and detrended fluctuation analyses on experimental data and link the results with numerical findings in our model example.

Design and experimental analysis of a new malleovestibulopexy prosthesis using a finite element model of the human middle ear.

PubMed

Vallejo Valdezate, Luis A; Hidalgo Otamendi, Antonio; Hernández, Alberto; Lobo, Fernando; Gil-Carcedo Sañudo, Elisa; Gil-Carcedo García, Luis M

2015-01-01

Many designs of prostheses are available for middle ear surgery. In this study we propose a design for a new prosthesis, which optimises mechanical performance in the human middle ear and improves some deficiencies in the prostheses currently available. Our objective was to design and assess the theoretical acoustic-mechanical behaviour of this new total ossicular replacement prosthesis. The design of this new prosthesis was based on an animal model (an iguana). For the modelling and mechanical analysis of the new prosthesis, we used a dynamic 3D computer model of the human middle ear, based on the finite elements method (FEM). The new malleovestibulopexy prosthesis design demonstrates an acoustical-mechanical performance similar to that of the healthy human middle ear. This new design also has additional advantages, such as ease of implantation and stability in the middle ear. This study shows that computer simulation can be used to design and optimise the vibroacoustic characteristics of middle ear implants and demonstrates the effectiveness of a new malleovestibulopexy prosthesis in reconstructing the ossicular chain. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Patología Cérvico-Facial. All rights reserved.

Gut-Bioreactor and Human Health in Future.

PubMed

Purohit, Hemant J

2018-03-01

Gut-microbiome provides the complementary metabolic potential to the human system. To understand the active participation and the performance of the microbial community in human health, the concept of gut as a plug-flow reactor with the fed-batch mode of operation can provide better insight. The concept suggests the virtual compartmentalized gut with sequential stratification of the microbial community in response to a typical host genotype. It also provides the analysis plan for gut microbiome; and its relevance in developing health management options under the identified clinical conditions.

1-D blood flow modelling in a running human body.

PubMed

Szabó, Viktor; Halász, Gábor

2017-07-01

In this paper an attempt was made to simulate blood flow in a mobile human arterial network, specifically, in a running human subject. In order to simulate the effect of motion, a previously published immobile 1-D model was modified by including an inertial force term into the momentum equation. To calculate inertial force, gait analysis was performed at different levels of speed. Our results show that motion has a significant effect on the amplitudes of the blood pressure and flow rate but the average values are not effected significantly.

Retrotransposon expression and incorporation of cloned human and mouse retroelements in human spermatozoa.

PubMed

Lazaros, Leandros; Kitsou, Chrysoula; Kostoulas, Charilaos; Bellou, Sofia; Hatzi, Elissavet; Ladias, Paris; Stefos, Theodoros; Markoula, Sofia; Galani, Vasiliki; Vartholomatos, Georgios; Tzavaras, Theodore; Georgiou, Ioannis

2017-03-01

To investigate the expression of long interspersed element (LINE) 1, human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) K10, and short interspersed element-VNTR-Alu element (SVA) retrotransposons in ejaculated human spermatozoa by means of reverse-transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis as well as the potential incorporation of cloned human and mouse active retroelements in human sperm cell genome. Laboratory study. University research laboratories and academic hospital. Normozoospermic and oligozoospermic white men. RT-PCR analysis was performed to confirm the retrotransposon expression in human spermatozoa. Exogenous retroelements were tagged with a plasmid containing a green fluorescence (EGFP) retrotransposition cassette, and the de novo retrotransposition events were tested with the use of PCR, fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis, and confocal microscopy. Retroelement expression in human spermatozoa, incorporation of cloned human and mouse active retroelements in human sperm genome, and de novo retrotransposition events in human spermatozoa. RT-PCR products of expressed human LINE-1, HERV-K10, and SVA retrotransposons were observed in ejaculated human sperm samples. The incubation of human spermatozoa with either retrotransposition-active human LINE-1 and HERV-K10 or mouse reverse transcriptase-deficient VL30 retrotransposons tagged with an EGFP-based retrotransposition cassette led to EGFP-positive spermatozo; 16.67% of the samples were positive for retrotransposition. The respective retrotransposition frequencies for the LINE-1, HERV-K10, and VL30 retrotransposons in the positive samples were 0.34 ± 0.13%, 0.37 ± 0.17%, and 0.30 ± 0.14% per sample of 10,000 spermatozoa. Our results show that: 1) LINE-1, HERV-K10, and SVA retrotransposons are transcriptionally expressed in human spermatozoa; 2) cloned active retroelements of human and mammalian origin can be incorporated in human sperm genome; 3) active reverse transcriptases exist in human spermatozoa; and 4) de novo retrotransposition events occur in human spermatozoa. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Uncovering the requirements of cognitive work.

PubMed

Roth, Emilie M

2008-06-01

In this article, the author provides an overview of cognitive analysis methods and how they can be used to inform system analysis and design. Human factors has seen a shift toward modeling and support of cognitively intensive work (e.g., military command and control, medical planning and decision making, supervisory control of automated systems). Cognitive task analysis and cognitive work analysis methods extend traditional task analysis techniques to uncover the knowledge and thought processes that underlie performance in cognitively complex settings. The author reviews the multidisciplinary roots of cognitive analysis and the variety of cognitive task analysis and cognitive work analysis methods that have emerged. Cognitive analysis methods have been used successfully to guide system design, as well as development of function allocation, team structure, and training, so as to enhance performance and reduce the potential for error. A comprehensive characterization of cognitive work requires two mutually informing analyses: (a) examination of domain characteristics and constraints that define cognitive requirements and challenges and (b) examination of practitioner knowledge and strategies that underlie both expert and error-vulnerable performance. A variety of specific methods can be adapted to achieve these aims within the pragmatic constraints of particular projects. Cognitive analysis methods can be used effectively to anticipate cognitive performance problems and specify ways to improve individual and team cognitive performance (be it through new forms of training, user interfaces, or decision aids).

Comparison of Salmonella enteritidis phage types isolated from layers and humans in Belgium in 2005.

PubMed

Welby, Sarah; Imberechts, Hein; Riocreux, Flavien; Bertrand, Sophie; Dierick, Katelijne; Wildemauwe, Christa; Hooyberghs, Jozef; Van der Stede, Yves

2011-08-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the available results for Belgium of the European Union coordinated monitoring program (2004/665 EC) on Salmonella in layers in 2005, as well as the results of the monthly outbreak reports of Salmonella Enteritidis in humans in 2005 to identify a possible statistical significant trend in both populations. Separate descriptive statistics and univariate analysis were carried out and the parametric and/or non-parametric hypothesis tests were conducted. A time cluster analysis was performed for all Salmonella Enteritidis phage types (PTs) isolated. The proportions of each Salmonella Enteritidis PT in layers and in humans were compared and the monthly distribution of the most common PT, isolated in both populations, was evaluated. The time cluster analysis revealed significant clusters during the months May and June for layers and May, July, August, and September for humans. PT21, the most frequently isolated PT in both populations in 2005, seemed to be responsible of these significant clusters. PT4 was the second most frequently isolated PT. No significant difference was found for the monthly trend evolution of both PT in both populations based on parametric and non-parametric methods. A similar monthly trend of PT distribution in humans and layers during the year 2005 was observed. The time cluster analysis and the statistical significance testing confirmed these results. Moreover, the time cluster analysis showed significant clusters during the summer time and slightly delayed in time (humans after layers). These results suggest a common link between the prevalence of Salmonella Enteritidis in layers and the occurrence of the pathogen in humans. Phage typing was confirmed to be a useful tool for identifying temporal trends.

Toward Capturing Momentary Changes of Heart Rate Variability by a Dynamic Analysis Method

PubMed Central

Zhang, Haoshi; Zhu, Mingxing; Zheng, Yue; Li, Guanglin

2015-01-01

The analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) has been performed on long-term electrocardiography (ECG) recordings (12~24 hours) and short-term recordings (2~5 minutes), which may not capture momentary change of HRV. In this study, we present a new method to analyze the momentary HRV (mHRV). The ECG recordings were segmented into a series of overlapped HRV analysis windows with a window length of 5 minutes and different time increments. The performance of the proposed method in delineating the dynamics of momentary HRV measurement was evaluated with four commonly used time courses of HRV measures on both synthetic time series and real ECG recordings from human subjects and dogs. Our results showed that a smaller time increment could capture more dynamical information on transient changes. Considering a too short increment such as 10 s would cause the indented time courses of the four measures, a 1-min time increment (4-min overlapping) was suggested in the analysis of mHRV in the study. ECG recordings from human subjects and dogs were used to further assess the effectiveness of the proposed method. The pilot study demonstrated that the proposed analysis of mHRV could provide more accurate assessment of the dynamical changes in cardiac activity than the conventional measures of HRV (without time overlapping). The proposed method may provide an efficient means in delineating the dynamics of momentary HRV and it would be worthy performing more investigations. PMID:26172953

Why humans do not make good vampires. Testing the ability of humans to detect true blood.

PubMed

De Smet, Delphine; Van Speybroeck, Linda; Verplaetse, Jan

2012-01-01

Research indicating the effects of real blood or of its iconic representation on human behaviour has thus far concentrated on phobia and aggressiveness. Little is known about other responses or, more fundamentally, about the biological basis of all such responses. In this study it is examined whether or not humans are able to detect real blood. Human subjects (n = 89) were asked to distinguish different kinds of blood from red control fluids under varying visual and choice conditions. Relevant differences between subjects were tested for through written questionnaires, including standardized scales for disgust sensitivity (DS-R) and blood phobia (MBPI) and performance on two clinical olfactory tests. Analysis of variance shows that humans are excellent detectors of animal blood (in casu pig blood), whereas the ability of detecting human blood is much less developed. Surprisingly, differences in olfactory capacities and personal experience with blood have no effect on blood detection, while blood fear lowers and disgust sensitivity ameliorates this performance. This study allows further mapping of the exact role of disgust sensitivity in human behaviour, as well as a deliberate choice of materials in blood-related experiments. It is imperative for further research on the behavioural and psychological impact 'blood' resorts on humans.

Automated Identification of Abnormal Adult EEGs

PubMed Central

López, S.; Suarez, G.; Jungreis, D.; Obeid, I.; Picone, J.

2016-01-01

The interpretation of electroencephalograms (EEGs) is a process that is still dependent on the subjective analysis of the examiners. Though interrater agreement on critical events such as seizures is high, it is much lower on subtler events (e.g., when there are benign variants). The process used by an expert to interpret an EEG is quite subjective and hard to replicate by machine. The performance of machine learning technology is far from human performance. We have been developing an interpretation system, AutoEEG, with a goal of exceeding human performance on this task. In this work, we are focusing on one of the early decisions made in this process – whether an EEG is normal or abnormal. We explore two baseline classification algorithms: k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) and Random Forest Ensemble Learning (RF). A subset of the TUH EEG Corpus was used to evaluate performance. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensionality of the data. kNN achieved a 41.8% detection error rate while RF achieved an error rate of 31.7%. These error rates are significantly lower than those obtained by random guessing based on priors (49.5%). The majority of the errors were related to misclassification of normal EEGs. PMID:27195311

Rethinking research in the medical humanities: a scoping review and narrative synthesis of quantitative outcome studies.

PubMed

Dennhardt, Silke; Apramian, Tavis; Lingard, Lorelei; Torabi, Nazi; Arntfield, Shannon

2016-03-01

The rise of medical humanities teaching in medical education has introduced pressure to prove efficacy and utility. Review articles on the available evidence have been criticised for poor methodology and unwarranted conclusions. To support a more nuanced discussion of how the medical humanities work, we conducted a scoping review of quantitative studies of medical humanities teaching. Using a search strategy involving MEDLINE, EMBASE and ERIC, and hand searching, our scoping review located 11 045 articles that referred to the use of medical humanities teaching in medical education. Of these, 62 studies using quantitative evaluation methods were selected for review. Three iterations of analysis were performed: descriptive, conceptual, and discursive. Descriptive analysis revealed that the medical humanities as a whole cannot be easily systematised based on simple descriptive categories. Conceptual analysis supported the development of a conceptual framework in which the foci of the arts and humanities in medical education can be mapped alongside their related epistemic functions for teaching and learning. Within the framework, art functioned as expertise, as dialogue or as a means of expression and transformation. In the discursive analysis, we found three main ways in which the relationship between the arts and humanities and medicine was constructed as, respectively, intrinsic, additive and curative. This review offers a nuanced framework of how different types of medical humanities work. The epistemological assumptions and discursive positioning of medical humanities teaching frame the forms of outcomes research that are considered relevant to curriculum decision making, and shed light on why dominant review methodologies make some functions of medical humanities teaching visible and render others invisible. We recommend the use of this framework to improve the rigor and relevance of future explorations of the efficacy and utility of medical humanities teaching. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Evaluating the Effect of Virtual Reality Temporal Bone Simulation on Mastoidectomy Performance: A Meta-analysis.

PubMed

Lui, Justin T; Hoy, Monica Y

2017-06-01

Background The increasing prevalence of virtual reality simulation in temporal bone surgery warrants an investigation to assess training effectiveness. Objectives To determine if temporal bone simulator use improves mastoidectomy performance. Data Sources Ovid Medline, Embase, and PubMed databases were systematically searched per the PRISMA guidelines. Review Methods Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed publications that utilized quantitative data of mastoidectomy performance following the use of a temporal bone simulator. The search was restricted to human studies published in English. Studies were excluded if they were in non-peer-reviewed format, were descriptive in nature, or failed to provide surgical performance outcomes. Meta-analysis calculations were then performed. Results A meta-analysis based on the random-effects model revealed an improvement in overall mastoidectomy performance following training on the temporal bone simulator. A standardized mean difference of 0.87 (95% CI, 0.38-1.35) was generated in the setting of a heterogeneous study population ( I 2 = 64.3%, P < .006). Conclusion In the context of a diverse population of virtual reality simulation temporal bone surgery studies, meta-analysis calculations demonstrate an improvement in trainee mastoidectomy performance with virtual simulation training.

Characterization of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium Isolated from Fresh Produces and Human Fecal Samples.

PubMed

Kim, Min-Chan; Cha, Min-Hyeok; Ryu, Jae-Gee; Woo, Gun-Jo

2017-04-01

Increased enterococcal infections in hospitals and multidrug-resistant and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) isolated from humans, animals, and food sources raised public health concern on the presence of VRE in multiple sources. We performed a comparative analysis of the antimicrobial resistance and genetics of VRE isolates derived from fresh produce and human fecal samples. Of 389 Enterococcus isolates, 8 fecal and 3 produce isolates were resistant to vancomycin and teicoplanin; all harbored vanA gene. The VRE isolates showed multidrug-resistant properties. The isolates from fresh produce in this study showed to have the common shared characteristics with the isolates from humans by the results of antimicrobial resistance, multilocus sequence typing, and Tn 1546 transposon analysis. Therefore, VRE isolates from fresh produce are likely related to VRE derived from humans. The results suggested that VRE may contaminate vegetables through the environment, and the contaminated vegetables could then act as a vehicle for human infections. Ongoing nationwide surveillance of antibiotic resistance and the promotion of the proper use of antibiotics are necessary.

Distribution of cholecystokinin mRNA and peptides in the human brain.

PubMed

Lindefors, N; Brené, S; Kopp, J; Lindén, A; Brodin, E; Sedvall, G; Persson, H

1991-01-01

Expression of preprocholecystokinin mRNA was studied in regions of post mortem human brain using RNA blot analysis (Northern blot) and in situ hybridization. Northern blot analysis using a cDNA probe showed high levels of an approximately 0.8 kb preprocholecystokinin mRNA in all regions of neocortex examined. Lower levels of preprocholecystokinin mRNA were detected in amygdaloid body and thalamus. In situ hybridization analysis using the same cDNA probe revealed numerous weakly labelled neurons in different areas of human neocortex and less numerous neurons in hippocampus and amygdaloid body. High-performance liquid-chromatography and gel-chromatography combined with radioimmunoassay of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity from human cerebral cortex and caudate nucleus revealed two major forms, one coeluting with sulphated cholecystokinin-8 and the other coeluting with sulphated cholecystokinin-58. Two minor components coeluting with cholecystokinin-4 and cholecystokinin-5 were also detected. The finding of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity corresponding to cholecystokinin-8 and cholecystokinin-58 in caudate nucleus where no preprocholecystokinin mRNA was found, indicates the presence of these peptides in afferent nerve terminals.

Less is sometimes more: a comparison of distance-control and navigated-control concepts of image-guided navigation support for surgeons.

PubMed

Luz, Maria; Manzey, Dietrich; Modemann, Susanne; Strauss, Gero

2015-01-01

Image-guided navigation (IGN) systems provide automation support of intra-operative information analysis and decision-making for surgeons. Previous research showed that navigated-control (NC) systems which represent high levels of decision-support and directly intervene in surgeons' workflow provide benefits with respect to patient safety and surgeons' physiological stress but also involve several cost effects (e.g. prolonged surgery duration, reduced secondary-task performance). It was hypothesised that less automated distance-control (DC) systems would provide a better solution in terms of human performance consequences. N = 18 surgeons performed a simulated mastoidectomy with NC, DC and without IGN assistance. Effects on surgical performance, physiological effort, workload and situation awareness (SA) were compared. As expected, DC technology had the same benefits as the NC system but also led to less unwanted side effects on surgery duration, subjective workload and SA. This suggests that IGN systems just providing information analysis support are overall more beneficial than higher automated decision-support. This study investigates human performance consequences of different concepts of IGN support for surgeons. Less automated DC systems turned out to provide advantages for patient safety and surgeons' stress similar to higher automated NC systems with, at the same time, reduced negative consequences on surgery time and subjective workload.

Fast liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry for the analysis of metabolites and proteins in human body fluids.

PubMed

Kortz, Linda; Helmschrodt, Christin; Ceglarek, Uta

2011-03-01

In the last decade various analytical strategies have been established to enhance separation speed and efficiency in high performance liquid chromatography applications. Chromatographic supports based on monolithic material, small porous particles, and porous layer beads have been developed and commercialized to improve throughput and separation efficiency. This paper provides an overview of current developments in fast chromatography combined with mass spectrometry for the analysis of metabolites and proteins in clinical applications. Advances and limitations of fast chromatography for the combination with mass spectrometry are discussed. Practical aspects of, recent developments in, and the present status of high-throughput analysis of human body fluids for therapeutic drug monitoring, toxicology, clinical metabolomics, and proteomics are presented.

Coarse-to-fine markerless gait analysis based on PCA and Gauss-Laguerre decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goffredo, Michela; Schmid, Maurizio; Conforto, Silvia; Carli, Marco; Neri, Alessandro; D'Alessio, Tommaso

2005-04-01

Human movement analysis is generally performed through the utilization of marker-based systems, which allow reconstructing, with high levels of accuracy, the trajectories of markers allocated on specific points of the human body. Marker based systems, however, show some drawbacks that can be overcome by the use of video systems applying markerless techniques. In this paper, a specifically designed computer vision technique for the detection and tracking of relevant body points is presented. It is based on the Gauss-Laguerre Decomposition, and a Principal Component Analysis Technique (PCA) is used to circumscribe the region of interest. Results obtained on both synthetic and experimental tests provide significant reduction of the computational costs, with no significant reduction of the tracking accuracy.

Analysis of hemodynamics in human skin using photothermal radiometry and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verdel, Nina; Marin, Ana; Vidovič, Luka; Milanič, Matija; Majaron, Boris

2017-07-01

We present a novel methodology for quantitative analysis of hemodynamics in human skin in vivo. Our approach combines pulsed photothermal radiometry (i.e., time-resolved measurements of midinfrared emission from sample surface after exposure to a short light pulse) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in visible part of the spectrum. Experimental data are fitted with predictions of a numerical model of light transport in a four-layer skin model (i.e., inverse Monte Carlo), which allows assessment of the layer thicknesses, chromophore contents (e.g., melanin, oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin), as well as scattering properties. The performance is tested in comparison analysis of healthy skin before and during application of a blood pressure cuff (at 200 mm Hg) for 5 minutes.

Comparative investigation of body composition in male dogs using CT and body fat analysis software.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Toyokazu; Koie, Hiroshi; Kusumi, Akiko; Kitagawa, Masato; Kanayama, Kiichi; Otsuji, Kazuya

2014-03-01

In small animal veterinary practices, body condition score (BCS) is generally used to diagnose obesity. However, BCS does not constitute objective data. In this study, we investigated the value of using human body fat analysis software for male dogs. We also compared changes in body fat after neutering. Changes in body fat at the time of neutering (age 1 year) and 1 year later were compared by performing CT scanning and using human body fat analysis software. We found that body fat increased in all the individuals tested. In terms of the site of fat accumulation, subcutaneous fat was more pronounced than visceral fat with a marked increase on the dorsal side of the abdomen rather than the thorax.

Acquisition and production of skilled behavior in dynamic decision-making tasks: Modeling strategic behavior in human-automation interaction: Why and aid can (and should) go unused

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kirlik, Alex

1991-01-01

Advances in computer and control technology offer the opportunity for task-offload aiding in human-machine systems. A task-offload aid (e.g., an autopilot, an intelligent assistant) can be selectively engaged by the human operator to dynamically delegate tasks to an automated system. Successful design and performance prediction in such systems requires knowledge of the factors influencing the strategy the operator develops and uses for managing interaction with the task-offload aid. A model is presented that shows how such strategies can be predicted as a function of three task context properties (frequency and duration of secondary tasks and costs of delaying secondary tasks) and three aid design properties (aid engagement and disengagement times, aid performance relative to human performance). Sensitivity analysis indicates how each of these contextual and design factors affect the optimal aid aid usage strategy and attainable system performance. The model is applied to understanding human-automation interaction in laboratory experiments on human supervisory control behavior. The laboratory task allowed subjects freedom to determine strategies for using an autopilot in a dynamic, multi-task environment. Modeling results suggested that many subjects may indeed have been acting appropriately by not using the autopilot in the way its designers intended. Although autopilot function was technically sound, this aid was not designed with due regard to the overall task context in which it was placed. These results demonstrate the need for additional research on how people may strategically manage their own resources, as well as those provided by automation, in an effort to keep workload and performance at acceptable levels.

Critical determinants of combined sprint and endurance performance: an integrative analysis from muscle fiber to the human body.

PubMed

van der Zwaard, Stephan; van der Laarse, Willem J; Weide, Guido; Bloemers, Frank W; Hofmijster, Mathijs J; Levels, Koen; Noordhof, Dionne A; de Koning, Jos J; de Ruiter, Cornelis J; Jaspers, Richard T

2018-04-01

Optimizing physical performance is a major goal in current physiology. However, basic understanding of combining high sprint and endurance performance is currently lacking. This study identifies critical determinants of combined sprint and endurance performance using multiple regression analyses of physiologic determinants at different biologic levels. Cyclists, including 6 international sprint, 8 team pursuit, and 14 road cyclists, completed a Wingate test and 15-km time trial to obtain sprint and endurance performance results, respectively. Performance was normalized to lean body mass 2/3 to eliminate the influence of body size. Performance determinants were obtained from whole-body oxygen consumption, blood sampling, knee-extensor maximal force, muscle oxygenation, whole-muscle morphology, and muscle fiber histochemistry of musculus vastus lateralis. Normalized sprint performance was explained by percentage of fast-type fibers and muscle volume ( R 2 = 0.65; P < 0.001) and normalized endurance performance by performance oxygen consumption ( V̇o 2 ), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and muscle oxygenation ( R 2 = 0.92; P < 0.001). Combined sprint and endurance performance was explained by gross efficiency, performance V̇o 2 , and likely by muscle volume and fascicle length ( P = 0.056; P = 0.059). High performance V̇o 2 related to a high oxidative capacity, high capillarization × myoglobin, and small physiologic cross-sectional area ( R 2 = 0.67; P < 0.001). Results suggest that fascicle length and capillarization are important targets for training to optimize sprint and endurance performance simultaneously.-Van der Zwaard, S., van der Laarse, W. J., Weide, G., Bloemers, F. W., Hofmijster, M. J., Levels, K., Noordhof, D. A., de Koning, J. J., de Ruiter, C. J., Jaspers, R. T. Critical determinants of combined sprint and endurance performance: an integrative analysis from muscle fiber to the human body.

Predicting variations of perceptual performance across individuals from neural activity using pattern classifiers.

PubMed

Das, Koel; Giesbrecht, Barry; Eckstein, Miguel P

2010-07-15

Within the past decade computational approaches adopted from the field of machine learning have provided neuroscientists with powerful new tools for analyzing neural data. For instance, previous studies have applied pattern classification algorithms to electroencephalography data to predict the category of presented visual stimuli, human observer decision choices and task difficulty. Here, we quantitatively compare the ability of pattern classifiers and three ERP metrics (peak amplitude, mean amplitude, and onset latency of the face-selective N170) to predict variations across individuals' behavioral performance in a difficult perceptual task identifying images of faces and cars embedded in noise. We investigate three different pattern classifiers (Classwise Principal Component Analysis, CPCA; Linear Discriminant Analysis, LDA; and Support Vector Machine, SVM), five training methods differing in the selection of training data sets and three analyses procedures for the ERP measures. We show that all three pattern classifier algorithms surpass traditional ERP measurements in their ability to predict individual differences in performance. Although the differences across pattern classifiers were not large, the CPCA method with training data sets restricted to EEG activity for trials in which observers expressed high confidence about their decisions performed the highest at predicting perceptual performance of observers. We also show that the neural activity predicting the performance across individuals was distributed through time starting at 120ms, and unlike the face-selective ERP response, sustained for more than 400ms after stimulus presentation, indicating that both early and late components contain information correlated with observers' behavioral performance. Together, our results further demonstrate the potential of pattern classifiers compared to more traditional ERP techniques as an analysis tool for modeling spatiotemporal dynamics of the human brain and relating neural activity to behavior. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A mathematical model of Chagas disease transmission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hidayat, Dayat; Nugraha, Edwin Setiawan; Nuraini, Nuning

2018-03-01

Chagas disease is a parasitic infection caused by protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi which is transmitted to human by insects of the subfamily Triatominae, including Rhodnius prolixus. This disease is a major problem in several countries of Latin America. A mathematical model of Chagas disease with separate vector reservoir and a neighboring human resident is constructed. The basic reproductive ratio is obtained and stability analysis of the equilibria is shown. We also performed sensitivity populations dynamics of infected humans and infected insects based on migration rate, carrying capacity, and infection rate parameters. Our findings showed that the dynamics of the infected human and insect is mostly affected by carrying capacity insect in the settlement.

Diagnosis of human malignancies using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in combination with chemometric methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xue; Li, Xiaohui; Yu, Xin; Chen, Deying; Liu, Aichun

2018-01-01

Diagnosis of malignancies is a challenging clinical issue. In this work, we present quick and robust diagnosis and discrimination of lymphoma and multiple myeloma (MM) using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) conducted on human serum samples, in combination with chemometric methods. The serum samples collected from lymphoma and MM cancer patients and healthy controls were deposited on filter papers and ablated with a pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser. 24 atomic lines of Ca, Na, K, H, O, and N were selected for malignancy diagnosis. Principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA), and k nearest neighbors (kNN) classification were applied to build the malignancy diagnosis and discrimination models. The performances of the models were evaluated using 10-fold cross validation. The discrimination accuracy, confusion matrix and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were obtained. The values of area under the ROC curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity at the cut-points were determined. The kNN model exhibits the best performances with overall discrimination accuracy of 96.0%. Distinct discrimination between malignancies and healthy controls has been achieved with AUC, sensitivity and specificity for healthy controls all approaching 1. For lymphoma, the best discrimination performance values are AUC = 0.990, sensitivity = 0.970 and specificity = 0.956. For MM, the corresponding values are AUC = 0.986, sensitivity = 0.892 and specificity = 0.994. The results show that the serum-LIBS technique can serve as a quick, less invasive and robust method for diagnosis and discrimination of human malignancies.

A HUMAN RELIABILITY-CENTERED APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF JOB AIDS FOR REVIEWERS OF MEDICAL DEVICES THAT USE RADIOLOGICAL BYPRODUCT MATERIALS.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

COOPER, S.E.; BROWN, W.S.; WREATHALL, J.

2005-02-02

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is engaged in an initiative to risk-inform the regulation of byproduct materials. Operating experience indicates that human actions play a dominant role in most of the activities involving byproduct materials, which are radioactive materials other than those used in nuclear power plants or in weapons production, primarily for medical or industrial purposes. The overall risk of these activities is strongly influenced by human performance. Hence, an improved understanding of human error, its causes and contexts, and human reliability analysis (HRA) is important in risk-informing the regulation of these activities. The development of the humanmore » performance job aids was undertaken by stages, with frequent interaction with the prospective users. First, potentially risk significant human actions were identified based on reviews of available risk studies for byproduct material applications and of descriptions of events for byproduct materials applications that involved potentially significant human actions. Applications from the medical and the industrial domains were sampled. Next, the specific needs of the expected users of the human performance-related capabilities were determined. To do this, NRC headquarters and region staff were interviewed to identify the types of activities (e.g., license reviews, inspections, event assessments) that need HRA support and the form in which such support might best be offered. Because the range of byproduct uses regulated by NRC is so broad, it was decided that initial development of knowledge and tools would be undertaken in the context of a specific use of byproduct material, which was selected in consultation with NRC staff. Based on needs of NRC staff and the human performance related characteristics of the context chosen, knowledge resources were then compiled to support consideration of human performance issues related to the regulation of byproduct materials. Finally, with information sources and an application context identified, a set of strawman job aids was developed, which was then presented to prospective users for critique and comment. Work is currently under way to develop training materials and refine the job aids in preparation for a pilot evaluation.« less

Bi-temporal analysis of landscape changes in the easternmost mediterranean deltas using binary and classified change information.

PubMed

Alphan, Hakan

2013-03-01

The aim of this study is (1) to quantify landscape changes in the easternmost Mediterranean deltas using bi-temporal binary change detection approach and (2) to analyze relationships between conservation/management designations and various categories of change that indicate type, degree and severity of human impact. For this purpose, image differencing and ratioing were applied to Landsat TM images of 1984 and 2006. A total of 136 candidate change images including normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and principal component analysis (PCA) difference images were tested to understand performance of bi-temporal pre-classification analysis procedures in the Mediterranean delta ecosystems. Results showed that visible image algebra provided high accuracies than did NDVI and PCA differencing. On the other hand, Band 5 differencing had one of the lowest change detection performances. Seven superclasses of change were identified using from/to change categories between the earlier and later dates. These classes were used to understand spatial character of anthropogenic impacts in the study area and derive qualitative and quantitative change information within and outside of the conservation/management areas. Change analysis indicated that natural site and wildlife reserve designations fell short of protecting sand dunes from agricultural expansion in the west. East of the study area, however, was exposed to least human impact owing to the fact that nature conservation status kept human interference at a minimum. Implications of these changes were discussed and solutions were proposed to deal with management problems leading to environmental change.

Playbook Data Analysis Tool: Collecting Interaction Data from Extremely Remote Users

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kanefsky, Bob; Zheng, Jimin; Deliz, Ivonne; Marquez, Jessica J.; Hillenius, Steven

2017-01-01

Typically, user tests for software tools are conducted in person. At NASA, the users may be located at the bottom of the ocean in a pressurized habitat, above the atmosphere in the International Space Station, or in an isolated capsule on a simulated asteroid mission. The Playbook Data Analysis Tool (P-DAT) is a human-computer interaction (HCI) evaluation tool that the NASA Ames HCI Group has developed to record user interactions with Playbook, the group's existing planning-and-execution software application. Once the remotely collected user interaction data makes its way back to Earth, researchers can use P-DAT for in-depth analysis. Since a critical component of the Playbook project is to understand how to develop more intuitive software tools for astronauts to plan in space, P-DAT helps guide us in the development of additional easy-to-use features for Playbook, informing the design of future crew autonomy tools.P-DAT has demonstrated the capability of discreetly capturing usability data in amanner that is transparent to Playbook’s end-users. In our experience, P-DAT data hasalready shown its utility, revealing potential usability patterns, helping diagnose softwarebugs, and identifying metrics and events that are pertinent to Playbook usage aswell as spaceflight operations. As we continue to develop this analysis tool, P-DATmay yet provide a method for long-duration, unobtrusive human performance collectionand evaluation for mission controllers back on Earth and researchers investigatingthe effects and mitigations related to future human spaceflight performance.

San Francisco vessel traffic service watchstander analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-11-01

A team of human factors specialists analyzed the performance of watchstanders in the U.S. Coast Guard's San Francisco Vessel Traffic Center at Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco, California. Data collected included copies of the center's forms and log...

Probabilistic image modeling with an extended chain graph for human activity recognition and image segmentation.

PubMed

Zhang, Lei; Zeng, Zhi; Ji, Qiang

2011-09-01

Chain graph (CG) is a hybrid probabilistic graphical model (PGM) capable of modeling heterogeneous relationships among random variables. So far, however, its application in image and video analysis is very limited due to lack of principled learning and inference methods for a CG of general topology. To overcome this limitation, we introduce methods to extend the conventional chain-like CG model to CG model with more general topology and the associated methods for learning and inference in such a general CG model. Specifically, we propose techniques to systematically construct a generally structured CG, to parameterize this model, to derive its joint probability distribution, to perform joint parameter learning, and to perform probabilistic inference in this model. To demonstrate the utility of such an extended CG, we apply it to two challenging image and video analysis problems: human activity recognition and image segmentation. The experimental results show improved performance of the extended CG model over the conventional directed or undirected PGMs. This study demonstrates the promise of the extended CG for effective modeling and inference of complex real-world problems.

The hypoxia model in human psychopharmacology: neurophysiological and psychometric studies with aniracetam i.v.

PubMed

Saletu, B; Grünberger, J

1984-01-01

Changes in human brain function and mental performance under hypoxic hypoxidosis as well as after intravenous injection of aniracetam - a new potentially nootropic 2-pyrrolidinone derivative - were investigated in a double-blind placebo-controlled study utilizing computer-assisted spectral analysis of the EEG and psychometric tests. Hypoxic hypoxidosis was induced by a fixed gas combination of 11.2% O2 and 88.8% N2, which was inhaled under normobaric conditions by 10 male healthy volunteers. The following substances were injected intravenously at weekly intervals according to a latin square design: placebo, 10 mg and 100 mg aniracetam and the solvent under hypoxic conditions as well as placebo under normoxic conditions. Spectral analysis of the EEG recorded under hypoxia demonstrated neurophysiological alterations indicative of a deterioration in vigilance, which was also reflected by a deterioration in psychomotor activity and mnestic performance in the psychometric tests. Aniracetam i.v. attenuated the hypoxia-induced deterioration of brain function and mental performance, thus exhibiting protective properties against hypoxia in man. The usefulness of the hypoxia model in the screening of antihypoxidotic compounds is discussed.

Historical Analysis of C-130E Resources

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-07-01

DOCUMENTATION SEARCH AND COLLECTION FLOW 24 DIAGRAM 6. DATA ANALYSIS FLOW DIAGRAM TASK IV 29 7. C-130 INVENTORY BY CONFIGURATION 40 8. C-130 MISSION...RESORCE RESOURCES....EOUCE .’." * ESURE :;. 400 ................... - ., -...... ’.. ... ".......... ... ’... ’" SYSTEM DESIGN PERFORMANCE 4 , OPERATIO ...Force inventory , the control of the human and material resources crosses several functions and commands. Seldom are the initial estimates verified

The Contribution of Human Factors in Military System Development: Methodological Considerations

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-07-01

Risk/Uncertainty Analysis - Project Scoring - Utility Scales - Relevance Tree Techniques (Reverse Factor Analysis) 2. Computer Simulation Simulation...effectiveness of mathematical models for R&D project selection. Management Science, April 1973, 18. 6-43 .1~ *.-. Souder, W.E. h scoring methodology for...per some interval PROFICIENCY test scores (written) RADIATION radiation effects aircrew performance on radiation environments REACTION TIME 1) (time

Speed Accuracy Tradeoffs in Human Speech Production

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-05-01

for considering Fitts’ law in the domain of speech production is elucidated. Methodological challenges in applying Fitts-style analysis are addressed...order to assess whether articulatory kinematics conform to Fitts’ law. A second, associated goal is to address the methodological challenges inherent in...performing Fitts-style analysis on rtMRI data of speech production. Methodological challenges include segmenting continuous speech into specific motor

Association of Bartonella Species with Wild and Synanthropic Rodents in Different Brazilian Biomes

PubMed Central

Gonçalves, Luiz Ricardo; Favacho, Alexsandra Rodrigues de Mendonça; Roque, André Luiz Rodrigues; Mendes, Natalia Serra; Fidelis Junior, Otávio Luiz; Benevenute, Jyan Lucas; Herrera, Heitor Miraglia; D'Andrea, Paulo Sérgio; de Lemos, Elba Regina Sampaio; Machado, Rosangela Zacarias

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Bartonella spp. comprise an ecologically successful group of microorganisms that infect erythrocytes and have adapted to different hosts, which include a wide range of mammals, besides humans. Rodents are reservoirs of about two-thirds of Bartonella spp. described to date; and some of them have been implicated as causative agents of human diseases. In our study, we performed molecular and phylogenetic analyses of Bartonella spp. infecting wild rodents from five different Brazilian biomes. In order to characterize the genetic diversity of Bartonella spp., we performed a robust analysis based on three target genes, followed by sequencing, Bayesian inference, and maximum likelihood analysis. Bartonella spp. were detected in 25.6% (117/457) of rodent spleen samples analyzed, and this occurrence varied among different biomes. The diversity analysis of gltA sequences showed the presence of 15 different haplotypes. Analysis of the phylogenetic relationship of gltA sequences performed by Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood showed that the Bartonella species detected in rodents from Brazil was closely related to the phylogenetic group A detected in other cricetid rodents from North America, probably constituting only one species. Last, the Bartonella species genogroup identified in the present study formed a monophyletic group that included Bartonella samples from seven different rodent species distributed in three distinct biomes. In conclusion, our study showed that the occurrence of Bartonella bacteria in rodents is much more frequent and widespread than previously recognized. IMPORTANCE In the present study, we reported the occurrence of Bartonella spp. in some sites in Brazil. The identification and understanding of the distribution of this important group of bacteria may allow the Brazilian authorities to recognize potential regions with the risk of transmission of these pathogens among wild and domestic animals and humans. In addition, our study accessed important gaps in the biology of this group of bacteria in Brazil, such as its low host specificity, high genetic diversity, and relationship with other Bartonella spp. detected in rodents trapped in America. Considering the diversity of newly discovered Bartonella species and the great ecological plasticity of these bacteria, new studies with the aim of revealing the biological aspects unknown until now are needed and must be performed around the world. In this context, the impact of Bartonella spp. associated with rodents in human health should be assessed in future studies. PMID:27736785

Radiocarbon dating and compositional analysis of pre-Columbian human bones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrade, E.; Solís, C.; Canto, C. E.; de Lucio, O. G.; Chavez, E.; Rocha, M. F.; Villanueva, O.; Torreblanca, C. A.

2014-08-01

Analysis of ancient human bones found in "El Cóporo", an archaeological site in Guanajuato, Mexico; were performed using a multi techniques scheme: 14C radiocarbon dating, IBA (Ion Beam Analysis), SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscope Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy). We measured the elemental composition of the bones, especially some with a superficial black pigmentation. Soil samples collected from the burial place were also analyzed. The 14C dating was performed with a new High Voltage Europe 1 MV Tandentron Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) recently installed in the IFUNAM (Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). The radiocarbon dating allowed us to determine the date of death of the individual in a period between the year 890 and 975 AD, which is consistent with the late period of the Cóporo civilization. The element sample analysis of bones with the surface black pigmentation show higher levels of Fe, Mn and Ba compared when bone's black surface was mechanically removed. These three elements were found in soil samples from the skeleton burial place. These results indicate more likely that the bone black coloration is due to a postmortem alteration occurring in the burial environment.

Performance of a gaseous detector based energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence imaging system: Analysis of human teeth treated with dental amalgam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, A. L. M.; Figueroa, R.; Jaramillo, A.; Carvalho, M. L.; Veloso, J. F. C. A.

2013-08-01

Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) imaging systems are of great interest in many applications of different areas, once they allow us to get images of the spatial elemental distribution in the samples. The detector system used in this study is based on a micro patterned gas detector, named Micro-Hole and Strip Plate. The full field of view system, with an active area of 28 × 28 mm2 presents some important features for EDXRF imaging applications, such as a position resolution below 125 μm, an intrinsic energy resolution of about 14% full width at half maximum for 5.9 keV X-rays, and a counting rate capability of 0.5 MHz. In this work, analysis of human teeth treated by dental amalgam was performed by using the EDXRF imaging system mentioned above. The goal of the analysis is to evaluate the system capabilities in the biomedical field by measuring the drift of the major constituents of a dental amalgam, Zn and Hg, throughout the tooth structures. The elemental distribution pattern of these elements obtained during the analysis suggests diffusion of these elements from the amalgam to teeth tissues.

Resting state network topology of the ferret brain.

PubMed

Zhou, Zhe Charles; Salzwedel, Andrew P; Radtke-Schuller, Susanne; Li, Yuhui; Sellers, Kristin K; Gilmore, John H; Shih, Yen-Yu Ian; Fröhlich, Flavio; Gao, Wei

2016-12-01

Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) has emerged as a versatile tool for non-invasive measurement of functional connectivity patterns in the brain. RsfMRI brain dynamics in rodents, non-human primates, and humans share similar properties; however, little is known about the resting state functional connectivity patterns in the ferret, an animal model with high potential for developmental and cognitive translational study. To address this knowledge-gap, we performed rsfMRI on anesthetized ferrets using a 9.4T MRI scanner, and subsequently performed group-level independent component analysis (gICA) to identify functionally connected brain networks. Group-level ICA analysis revealed distributed sensory, motor, and higher-order networks in the ferret brain. Subsequent connectivity analysis showed interconnected higher-order networks that constituted a putative default mode network (DMN), a network that exhibits altered connectivity in neuropsychiatric disorders. Finally, we assessed ferret brain topological efficiency using graph theory analysis and found that the ferret brain exhibits small-world properties. Overall, these results provide additional evidence for pan-species resting-state networks, further supporting ferret-based studies of sensory and cognitive function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Determination of N-glycans by high performance liquid chromatography using 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate as the glycosylamine labeling reagent.

PubMed

Wu, Yike; Sha, Qiuyue; Du, Juan; Wang, Chang; Zhang, Liang; Liu, Bi-Feng; Lin, Yawei; Liu, Xin

2018-02-02

Robust, efficient identification and accurate quantification of N-glycans are of great significance in N-glycomics analysis. Here, a simple and rapid derivatization method, based on the combination of microwave-assisted deglycosylation and 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) labeling, was developed for the analysis of N-glycan by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). After optimizing various parameters affecting deglycosylation and derivatization by RNase B, the time for N-glycan labeling was shortened to 50 min with ∼10-fold enhancement in detection sensitivity comparing to conventional 2-aminobenzoic acid (2-AA) labeling method. Additionally, the method showed good linearity (correlation coefficients > 0.991) and reproducibility (RSD < 8.7%). These advantages of the proposed method were further validated by the analysis of complex samples, including fetuin and human serum. Investigation of serum N-glycome for preliminary diagnosis of human lung cancer was conducted, where significant changes of several N-glycans corresponding to core-fucosylated, mono- and disialylated glycans have been evidenced by a series of statistical analysis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A stochastic dynamic model for human error analysis in nuclear power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delgado-Loperena, Dharma

Nuclear disasters like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl indicate that human performance is a critical safety issue, sending a clear message about the need to include environmental press and competence aspects in research. This investigation was undertaken to serve as a roadmap for studying human behavior through the formulation of a general solution equation. The theoretical model integrates models from two heretofore-disassociated disciplines (behavior specialists and technical specialists), that historically have independently studied the nature of error and human behavior; including concepts derived from fractal and chaos theory; and suggests re-evaluation of base theory regarding human error. The results of this research were based on comprehensive analysis of patterns of error, with the omnipresent underlying structure of chaotic systems. The study of patterns lead to a dynamic formulation, serving for any other formula used to study human error consequences. The search for literature regarding error yielded insight for the need to include concepts rooted in chaos theory and strange attractors---heretofore unconsidered by mainstream researchers who investigated human error in nuclear power plants or those who employed the ecological model in their work. The study of patterns obtained from the rupture of a steam generator tube (SGTR) event simulation, provided a direct application to aspects of control room operations in nuclear power plant operations. In doing so, the conceptual foundation based in the understanding of the patterns of human error analysis can be gleaned, resulting in reduced and prevent undesirable events.

miR-34a inhibits the in vitro cell proliferation and migration in human esophageal cancer.

PubMed

Shi, Hui; Zhou, Shengluan; Liu, Junhua; Zhu, Jun; Xue, Jianhua; Gu, Luo; Chen, Yijiang

2016-05-01

Increasing studies demonstrate that reduced expression of miR-34a is involved in the initiation and progression of cancers, and it has been characterized as a tumor suppressor in various types of cancers. In present study, we investigated the expression and role of miR-34a in esophageal cancer. qRT-PCR assays were performed to analyze the expression of miR-34a in human esophageal cancer tissues and adjacent esophageal tissues. CCK8 assay, flow cytometry analysis and in vitro migration assays were performed to analyze the role of miR-34a in human esophageal cancer cell. MSP assay was performed to analyze the DNA methylation of the miR-34a promoter. The expression of miR-34a was down-regulated in human esophageal cancer tissues. miR-34a ectopic expression affected esophageal cancer cells survival, proliferation and capabilities of migration in vitro. p53 status was not correlated with miR-34a. Subsequently, aberrant DNA methylation of the miR-34a promoter was found in human esophageal cancer, and 5-AZA-dC inhibited DNA methylation of the miR-34a promoter. our data showed that miR-34a acted as a tumor suppressor in human esophageal cancer. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

An urban energy performance evaluation system and its computer implementation.

PubMed

Wang, Lei; Yuan, Guan; Long, Ruyin; Chen, Hong

2017-12-15

To improve the urban environment and effectively reflect and promote urban energy performance, an urban energy performance evaluation system was constructed, thereby strengthening urban environmental management capabilities. From the perspectives of internalization and externalization, a framework of evaluation indicators and key factors that determine urban energy performance and explore the reasons for differences in performance was proposed according to established theory and previous studies. Using the improved stochastic frontier analysis method, an urban energy performance evaluation and factor analysis model was built that brings performance evaluation and factor analysis into the same stage for study. According to data obtained for the Chinese provincial capitals from 2004 to 2013, the coefficients of the evaluation indicators and key factors were calculated by the urban energy performance evaluation and factor analysis model. These coefficients were then used to compile the program file. The urban energy performance evaluation system developed in this study was designed in three parts: a database, a distributed component server, and a human-machine interface. Its functions were designed as login, addition, edit, input, calculation, analysis, comparison, inquiry, and export. On the basis of these contents, an urban energy performance evaluation system was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2015. The system can effectively reflect the status of and any changes in urban energy performance. Beijing was considered as an example to conduct an empirical study, which further verified the applicability and convenience of this evaluation system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Investigation of Lost Time and Utilization in a Sample of First-Term Male and Female Soldiers

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-01

Fitzgibbons, D., & Moch, M. Employee absenteeism : A multivariate analysis with replication. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance , 1980, 26, 349...TIME AND UTILIZATION Technical Report IN A SAMPLE OF FIRST-TERM MALE AND FEMALE April 1981-October 1982 SODER . PERFORMING ORO. REPORT NUMBER . t 7...AIJTHOR(s) S. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER(s) a Joel M. Savell, Carlos K. Rigby, and - Andrew A. Zbikowski 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10

Characterization of the human lineage-specific pericentric inversion that distinguishes human chromosome 1 from the homologous chromosomes of the great apes.

PubMed

Szamalek, Justyna M; Goidts, Violaine; Cooper, David N; Hameister, Horst; Kehrer-Sawatzki, Hildegard

2006-08-01

The human and chimpanzee genomes are distinguishable in terms of ten gross karyotypic differences including nine pericentric inversions and a chromosomal fusion. Seven of these large pericentric inversions are chimpanzee-specific whereas two of them, involving human chromosomes 1 and 18, were fixed in the human lineage after the divergence of humans and chimpanzees. We have performed detailed molecular and computational characterization of the breakpoint regions of the human-specific inversion of chromosome 1. FISH analysis and sequence comparisons together revealed that the pericentromeric region of HSA 1 contains numerous segmental duplications that display a high degree of sequence similarity between both chromosomal arms. Detailed analysis of these regions has allowed us to refine the p-arm breakpoint region to a 154.2 kb interval at 1p11.2 and the q-arm breakpoint region to a 562.6 kb interval at 1q21.1. Both breakpoint regions contain human-specific segmental duplications arranged in inverted orientation. We therefore propose that the pericentric inversion of HSA 1 was mediated by intra-chromosomal non-homologous recombination between these highly homologous segmental duplications that had themselves arisen only recently in the human lineage by duplicative transposition.

Situational Analysis of Essential Surgical Care Management in Iran Using the WHO Tool

PubMed Central

Kalhor, Rohollah; Keshavarz Mohamadi, Nastaran; Khalesi, Nader; Jafari, Mehdi

2016-01-01

Background: Surgery is an essential component of health care, yet it has usually been overlooked in public health across the world. Objectives: This study aimed to perform a situational analysis of essential surgical care management at district hospitals in Iran. Materials and Methods: This research was a descriptive and cross-sectional study performed at 42 first-referral district hospitals of Iran in 2013. The World Health Organization (WHO) Tool for the situational analysis of emergency and essential care was used for data collection in four domains of facilities and equipment, human resources, surgical interventions, and infrastructure. Data analysis was conducted using simple descriptive statistical methods. Results: In this study, 100% of the studied hospitals had oxygen cylinders, running water, electricity, anesthesia machines, emergency departments, archives of medical records, and X-ray machines. In 100% of the surveyed hospitals, specialists in surgery, anesthesia, and obstetrics and gynecology were available as full-time staff. Life-saving procedures were performed in the majority of the hospitals. Among urgent procedures, neonatal surgeries were conducted in 14.3% of the hospitals. Regarding non-urgent procedures, acute burn management was conducted in 38.1% of the hospitals. Also, a few other procedures such as cricothyrotomy and foreign body removal were performed in 85.7% of the hospitals. Conclusions: The results indicated that suitable facilities and equipment, human resources, and infrastructure were available in the district hospitals in Iran. These findings showed that there is potential for the district hospitals to provide care in a wider spectrum. PMID:27437121

Human vs. Computer Diagnosis of Students' Natural Selection Knowledge: Testing the Efficacy of Text Analytic Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nehm, Ross H.; Haertig, Hendrik

2012-02-01

Our study examines the efficacy of Computer Assisted Scoring (CAS) of open-response text relative to expert human scoring within the complex domain of evolutionary biology. Specifically, we explored whether CAS can diagnose the explanatory elements (or Key Concepts) that comprise undergraduate students' explanatory models of natural selection with equal fidelity as expert human scorers in a sample of >1,000 essays. We used SPSS Text Analysis 3.0 to perform our CAS and measure Kappa values (inter-rater reliability) of KC detection (i.e., computer-human rating correspondence). Our first analysis indicated that the text analysis functions (or extraction rules) developed and deployed in SPSSTA to extract individual Key Concepts (KCs) from three different items differing in several surface features (e.g., taxon, trait, type of evolutionary change) produced "substantial" (Kappa 0.61-0.80) or "almost perfect" (0.81-1.00) agreement. The second analysis explored the measurement of human-computer correspondence for KC diversity (the number of different accurate knowledge elements) in the combined sample of all 827 essays. Here we found outstanding correspondence; extraction rules generated using one prompt type are broadly applicable to other evolutionary scenarios (e.g., bacterial resistance, cheetah running speed, etc.). This result is encouraging, as it suggests that the development of new item sets may not necessitate the development of new text analysis rules. Overall, our findings suggest that CAS tools such as SPSS Text Analysis may compensate for some of the intrinsic limitations of currently used multiple-choice Concept Inventories designed to measure student knowledge of natural selection.

Can we do better? Economic analysis of human resource investment to improve home care service for the elderly in Serbia

PubMed Central

Mihic, Marko M; Todorovic, Marija Lj; Obradovic, Vladimir Lj; Mitrovic, Zorica M

2016-01-01

Background Social services aimed at the elderly are facing great challenges caused by progressive aging of the global population but also by the constant pressure to spend funds in a rational manner. Purpose This paper focuses on analyzing the investments into human resources aimed at enhancing home care for the elderly since many countries have recorded progress in the area over the past years. The goal of this paper is to stress the significance of performing an economic analysis of the investment. Methods This paper combines statistical analysis methods such as correlation and regression analysis, methods of economic analysis, and scenario method. Results The economic analysis of investing in human resources for home care service in Serbia showed that the both scenarios of investing in either additional home care hours or more beneficiaries are cost-efficient. However, the optimal solution with the positive (and the highest) value of economic net present value criterion is to invest in human resources to boost the number of home care hours from 6 to 8 hours per week and increase the number of the beneficiaries to 33%. Conclusion This paper shows how the statistical and economic analysis results can be used to evaluate different scenarios and enable quality decision-making based on exact data in order to improve health and quality of life of the elderly and spend funds in a rational manner. PMID:26869778

The assessment of human health impact caused by industrial and civil activities in the Pace Valley of Messina.

PubMed

Morra, P; Lisi, R; Spadoni, G; Maschio, G

2009-06-01

The impact of industrial and civil activities on an agricultural and residential area is presented in a detailed and global analysis. The examined area is the Pace river valley situated in the northern zone of Messina (Italy). The sources of pollution present in the area are: a Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator operating since 1979, a disused urban solid waste landfill which was used for 30 years, an urban solid waste treatment facility with heavy vehicles traffic, and two open pits for the production of bitumen. Large quantities of toxic, carcinogenic substances and criteria pollutants are released into the environment and represent potential hazards to human health. The analysis is performed using the EHHRA-GIS tool which employs an integrated, multimedia, multi-exposure pathways and multi-receptor risk assessment model that is able to manage all the steps which constitute the human health risk analysis in a georeferenced structure. The transport of pollutants in different environmental media is assessed applying models (AERMOD, GMS, CALINE) that take into account the particular three-dimensional morphology of the terrain. The results obtained, combined with a probabilistic risk assessment and a sensitivity analysis of calculation parameters, are a comprehensive assessment of the total human health risk in the area. Finally human health risks caused by toxic and carcinogenic substances are compared with acceptable legal limits in order to support environmental managers' decisions.

Quantifying light-dependent circadian disruption in humans and animal models.

PubMed

Rea, Mark S; Figueiro, Mariana G

2014-12-01

Although circadian disruption is an accepted term, little has been done to develop methods to quantify the degree of disruption or entrainment individual organisms actually exhibit in the field. A variety of behavioral, physiological and hormonal responses vary in amplitude over a 24-h period and the degree to which these circadian rhythms are synchronized to the daily light-dark cycle can be quantified with a technique known as phasor analysis. Several studies have been carried out using phasor analysis in an attempt to measure circadian disruption exhibited by animals and by humans. To perform these studies, species-specific light measurement and light delivery technologies had to be developed based upon a fundamental understanding of circadian phototransduction mechanisms in the different species. When both nocturnal rodents and diurnal humans, experienced different species-specific light-dark shift schedules, they showed, based upon phasor analysis of the light-dark and activity-rest patterns, similar levels of light-dependent circadian disruption. Indeed, both rodents and humans show monotonically increasing and quantitatively similar levels of light-dependent circadian disruption with increasing shift-nights per week. Thus, phasor analysis provides a method for quantifying circadian disruption in the field and in the laboratory as well as a bridge between ecological measurements of circadian entrainment in humans and parametric studies of circadian disruption in animal models, including nocturnal rodents.

A detailed analysis of the erythropoietic control system in the human, squirrel, monkey, rat and mouse

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nordheim, A. W.

1985-01-01

The erythropoiesis modeling performed in support of the Body Fluid and Blood Volume Regulation tasks is described. The mathematical formulation of the species independent model, the solutions to the steady state and dynamic versions of the model, and the individual species specific models for the human, squirrel monkey, rat and mouse are outlined. A detailed sensitivity analysis of the species independent model response to parameter changes and how those responses change from species to species is presented. The species to species response to a series of simulated stresses directly related to blood volume regulation during space flight is analyzed.

Adaptation of avian influenza A (H6N1) virus from avian to human receptor-binding preference

PubMed Central

Wang, Fei; Qi, Jianxun; Bi, Yuhai; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Min; Zhang, Baorong; Wang, Ming; Liu, Jinhua; Yan, Jinghua; Shi, Yi; Gao, George F

2015-01-01

The receptor-binding specificity of influenza A viruses is a major determinant for the host tropism of the virus, which enables interspecies transmission. In 2013, the first human case of infection with avian influenza A (H6N1) virus was reported in Taiwan. To gather evidence concerning the epidemic potential of H6 subtype viruses, we performed comprehensive analysis of receptor-binding properties of Taiwan-isolated H6 HAs from 1972 to 2013. We propose that the receptor-binding properties of Taiwan-isolated H6 HAs have undergone three major stages: initially avian receptor-binding preference, secondarily obtaining human receptor-binding capacity, and recently human receptor-binding preference, which has been confirmed by receptor-binding assessment of three representative virus isolates. Mutagenesis work revealed that E190V and G228S substitutions are important to acquire the human receptor-binding capacity, and the P186L substitution could reduce the binding to avian receptor. Further structural analysis revealed how the P186L substitution in the receptor-binding site of HA determines the receptor-binding preference change. We conclude that the human-infecting H6N1 evolved into a human receptor preference. PMID:25940072

Analysis of human factors effects on the safety of transporting radioactive waste materials: Technical report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Abkowitz, M.D.; Abkowitz, S.B.; Lepofsky, M.

1989-04-01

This report examines the extent of human factors effects on the safety of transporting radioactive waste materials. It is seen principally as a scoping effort, to establish whether there is a need for DOE to undertake a more formal approach to studying human factors in radioactive waste transport, and if so, logical directions for that program to follow. Human factors effects are evaluated on driving and loading/transfer operations only. Particular emphasis is placed on the driving function, examining the relationship between human error and safety as it relates to the impairment of driver performance. Although multi-modal in focus, the widespreadmore » availability of data and previous literature on truck operations resulted in a primary study focus on the trucking mode from the standpoint of policy development. In addition to the analysis of human factors accident statistics, the report provides relevant background material on several policies that have been instituted or are under consideration, directed at improving human reliability in the transport sector. On the basis of reported findings, preliminary policy areas are identified. 71 refs., 26 figs., 5 tabs.« less

Tactile orientation perception: an ideal observer analysis of human psychophysical performance in relation to macaque area 3b receptive fields

PubMed Central

Peters, Ryan M.; Staibano, Phillip

2015-01-01

The ability to resolve the orientation of edges is crucial to daily tactile and sensorimotor function, yet the means by which edge perception occurs is not well understood. Primate cortical area 3b neurons have diverse receptive field (RF) spatial structures that may participate in edge orientation perception. We evaluated five candidate RF models for macaque area 3b neurons, previously recorded while an oriented bar contacted the monkey's fingertip. We used a Bayesian classifier to assign each neuron a best-fit RF structure. We generated predictions for human performance by implementing an ideal observer that optimally decoded stimulus-evoked spike counts in the model neurons. The ideal observer predicted a saturating reduction in bar orientation discrimination threshold with increasing bar length. We tested 24 humans on an automated, precision-controlled bar orientation discrimination task and observed performance consistent with that predicted. We next queried the ideal observer to discover the RF structure and number of cortical neurons that best matched each participant's performance. Human perception was matched with a median of 24 model neurons firing throughout a 1-s period. The 10 lowest-performing participants were fit with RFs lacking inhibitory sidebands, whereas 12 of the 14 higher-performing participants were fit with RFs containing inhibitory sidebands. Participants whose discrimination improved as bar length increased to 10 mm were fit with longer RFs; those who performed well on the 2-mm bar, with narrower RFs. These results suggest plausible RF features and computational strategies underlying tactile spatial perception and may have implications for perceptual learning. PMID:26354318

Revolutionary Design for Astronaut Exploration — Beyond the Bio-Suit System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, Dava J.; Canina, Marita; Trotti, Guillermo L.

2007-01-01

The Bio-Suit System is designed to revolutionize human space exploration by providing enhanced astronaut extravehicular activity (EVA) locomotion and performance based on the concepts of a `second skin' capability. The novel Bio-Suit concept provides an overall exploration system realized through symbiotic relationships between a suite of advanced technologies, creative design, human modeling and analysis, and new mission operations techniques. By working at the intersection of engineering, design, life sciences and operations, new emergent capabilities and interrelationships result for applications to space missions, medical rehabilitation, and extreme sports activities. In many respects, the Bio-Suit System mimics Nature (biomimetics). For example, the second skin is capable of augmenting our biological skin by providing mechanical counter-pressure. We have designed and tested prototypes that prove mechanical counter-pressure feasibility. The `epidermis' of our second skin suit is patterned from 3D laser scans that incorporate human skin strain field maps for maximum mobility and natural movements, while requiring minimum energy expenditure for exploration tasks. We provide a technology roadmap for future design, pressure production and technology investments for the Bio-Suit System. Woven into the second skin are active materials to enhance human performance as well as to provide necessary performance metrics (i.e., energy expenditure). Wearable technologies will be embedded throughout the Bio-Suit System to place the explorer in an information-rich environment enabling real-time mission planning, prediction, and visualization. The Bio-Suit System concept augments human capabilities by coupling human and robotic abilities into a hybrid of the two, to the point where the explorer is hardly aware of the boundary between innate human performance and robotic activities.

Computerized summary scoring: crowdsourcing-based latent semantic analysis.

PubMed

Li, Haiying; Cai, Zhiqiang; Graesser, Arthur C

2017-11-03

In this study we developed and evaluated a crowdsourcing-based latent semantic analysis (LSA) approach to computerized summary scoring (CSS). LSA is a frequently used mathematical component in CSS, where LSA similarity represents the extent to which the to-be-graded target summary is similar to a model summary or a set of exemplar summaries. Researchers have proposed different formulations of the model summary in previous studies, such as pregraded summaries, expert-generated summaries, or source texts. The former two methods, however, require substantial human time, effort, and costs in order to either grade or generate summaries. Using source texts does not require human effort, but it also does not predict human summary scores well. With human summary scores as the gold standard, in this study we evaluated the crowdsourcing LSA method by comparing it with seven other LSA methods that used sets of summaries from different sources (either experts or crowdsourced) of differing quality, along with source texts. Results showed that crowdsourcing LSA predicted human summary scores as well as expert-good and crowdsourcing-good summaries, and better than the other methods. A series of analyses with different numbers of crowdsourcing summaries demonstrated that the number (from 10 to 100) did not significantly affect performance. These findings imply that crowdsourcing LSA is a promising approach to CSS, because it saves human effort in generating the model summary while still yielding comparable performance. This approach to small-scale CSS provides a practical solution for instructors in courses, and also advances research on automated assessments in which student responses are expected to semantically converge on subject matter content.

Neuron-Enriched Gene Expression Patterns are Regionally Anti-Correlated with Oligodendrocyte-Enriched Patterns in the Adult Mouse and Human Brain

PubMed Central

Tan, Powell Patrick Cheng; French, Leon; Pavlidis, Paul

2013-01-01

An important goal in neuroscience is to understand gene expression patterns in the brain. The recent availability of comprehensive and detailed expression atlases for mouse and human creates opportunities to discover global patterns and perform cross-species comparisons. Recently we reported that the major source of variation in gene transcript expression in the adult normal mouse brain can be parsimoniously explained as reflecting regional variation in glia to neuron ratios, and is correlated with degree of connectivity and location in the brain along the anterior-posterior axis. Here we extend this investigation to two gene expression assays of adult normal human brains that consisted of over 300 brain region samples, and perform comparative analyses of brain-wide expression patterns to the mouse. We performed principal components analysis (PCA) on the regional gene expression of the adult human brain to identify the expression pattern that has the largest variance. As in the mouse, we observed that the first principal component is composed of two anti-correlated patterns enriched in oligodendrocyte and neuron markers respectively. However, we also observed interesting discordant patterns between the two species. For example, a few mouse neuron markers show expression patterns that are more correlated with the human oligodendrocyte-enriched pattern and vice-versa. In conclusion, our work provides insights into human brain function and evolution by probing global relationships between regional cell type marker expression patterns in the human and mouse brain. PMID:23440889

Neuron-Enriched Gene Expression Patterns are Regionally Anti-Correlated with Oligodendrocyte-Enriched Patterns in the Adult Mouse and Human Brain.

PubMed

Tan, Powell Patrick Cheng; French, Leon; Pavlidis, Paul

2013-01-01

An important goal in neuroscience is to understand gene expression patterns in the brain. The recent availability of comprehensive and detailed expression atlases for mouse and human creates opportunities to discover global patterns and perform cross-species comparisons. Recently we reported that the major source of variation in gene transcript expression in the adult normal mouse brain can be parsimoniously explained as reflecting regional variation in glia to neuron ratios, and is correlated with degree of connectivity and location in the brain along the anterior-posterior axis. Here we extend this investigation to two gene expression assays of adult normal human brains that consisted of over 300 brain region samples, and perform comparative analyses of brain-wide expression patterns to the mouse. We performed principal components analysis (PCA) on the regional gene expression of the adult human brain to identify the expression pattern that has the largest variance. As in the mouse, we observed that the first principal component is composed of two anti-correlated patterns enriched in oligodendrocyte and neuron markers respectively. However, we also observed interesting discordant patterns between the two species. For example, a few mouse neuron markers show expression patterns that are more correlated with the human oligodendrocyte-enriched pattern and vice-versa. In conclusion, our work provides insights into human brain function and evolution by probing global relationships between regional cell type marker expression patterns in the human and mouse brain.

A Human Factors Evaluation of a Methodology for Pressurized Crew Module Acceptability for Zero-Gravity Ingress of Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanchez, Merri J.

2000-01-01

This project aimed to develop a methodology for evaluating performance and acceptability characteristics of the pressurized crew module volume suitability for zero-gravity (g) ingress of a spacecraft and to evaluate the operational acceptability of the NASA crew return vehicle (CRV) for zero-g ingress of astronaut crew, volume for crew tasks, and general crew module and seat layout. No standard or methodology has been established for evaluating volume acceptability in human spaceflight vehicles. Volume affects astronauts'ability to ingress and egress the vehicle, and to maneuver in and perform critical operational tasks inside the vehicle. Much research has been conducted on aircraft ingress, egress, and rescue in order to establish military and civil aircraft standards. However, due to the extremely limited number of human-rated spacecraft, this topic has been un-addressed. The NASA CRV was used for this study. The prototype vehicle can return a 7-member crew from the International Space Station in an emergency. The vehicle's internal arrangement must be designed to facilitate rapid zero-g ingress, zero-g maneuverability, ease of one-g egress and rescue, and ease of operational tasks in multiple acceleration environments. A full-scale crew module mockup was built and outfitted with representative adjustable seats, crew equipment, and a volumetrically equivalent hatch. Human factors testing was conducted in three acceleration environments using ground-based facilities and the KC-135 aircraft. Performance and acceptability measurements were collected. Data analysis was conducted using analysis of variance and nonparametric techniques.

Gene expression and pathway analysis of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells treated with cadmium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cartularo, Laura; Laulicht, Freda; Sun, Hong

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic and carcinogenic metal naturally occurring in the Earth's crust. A common route of human exposure is via diet and cadmium accumulates in the liver. The effects of Cd exposure on gene expression in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells were examined in this study. HepG2 cells were acutely-treated with 0.1, 0.5, or 1.0 μM Cd for 24 h; or chronically-treated with 0.01, 0.05, or 0.1 μM Cd for three weeks and gene expression analysis was performed using Affymetrix GeneChip® Human Gene 1.0 ST Arrays. Acute and chronic exposures significantly altered the expression of 333 and 181more » genes, respectively. The genes most upregulated by acute exposure included several metallothioneins. Downregulated genes included the monooxygenase CYP3A7, involved in drug and lipid metabolism. In contrast, CYP3A7 was upregulated by chronic Cd exposure, as was DNAJB9, an anti-apoptotic J protein. Genes downregulated following chronic exposure included the transcriptional regulator early growth response protein 1. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis revealed that the top networks altered by acute exposure were lipid metabolism, small molecule biosynthesis, cell morphology, organization, and development; while top networks altered by chronic exposure were organ morphology, cell cycle, cell signaling, and renal and urological diseases/cancer. Many of the dysregulated genes play important roles in cellular growth, proliferation, and apoptosis, and may be involved in carcinogenesis. In addition to gene expression changes, HepG2 cells treated with cadmium for 24 h indicated a reduction in global levels of histone methylation and acetylation that persisted 72 h post-treatment. - Highlights: • A common route of human exposure to the carcinogenic metal cadmium is via diet. • HepG2 cells were treated acutely or chronically with varying doses of cadmium. • Gene expression analysis was performed using Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 Arrays. • Acute and chronic exposures altered the expression of 333 and 181 genes, respectively. • Acute cadmium exposure altered global levels of histone methylation and acetylation.« less

Pep19 drives epitope spreading in periodontitis and periodontitis-associated autoimmune diseases.

PubMed

Kwon, E-Y; Cha, G S; Jeong, E; Lee, J-Y; Kim, S-J; Surh, C D; Choi, J

2016-06-01

Epitope spreading is one of valid mechanisms operating in immunopathological processes of infection-induced autoimmune diseases. We hypothesized that the peptide 19 from Porphyromonas gingivalis heat shock protein (HSP) 60 (Pep19) may be the dominant epitope from which epitope-specific immune response to subdominant epitopes may diversify sequentially into autoimmune responses directed at human neoepitopes in P. gingivalis-induced periodontitis and autoimmune diseases. However, the exact feature and mechanism on how Pep19 may drive epitope spreading into human autoantigens in chronic periodontitis or P. gingivalis-induced experimental periodontitis has not been clarified. The present study was performed with the following specific aims: (i) to delineate retrospectively the features of epitope spreading by human cross-sectional analysis; (ii) to demonstrate prospectively the epitope spreading into new antigenic determinants in an ordered, predictable and sequential manner in experimental periodontitis; and (iii) to clarify the mechanism on how immunization with Pep19 may mobilize helper T cells or elicit B-cell responses to human autoantigens and neoantigen. The study was devised for two independent investigations - a cross-sectional analysis on clinical subjects and a prospective analysis on experimental periodontitis - each being subdivided further into two additional independent observations. Cross-sectional dot immunoblot pattern against a panel of peptides of P. gingivalis HSP60 and human HSP60 was performed among age-dependent healthy subjects and between healthy subjects, patients with chronic periodontitis and patients with autoimmune disease, to identify epitope spreading. A peptide-specific T-cell line was established for phenotype analysis and for proliferation assay to an array of identical peptides. An identical prospective analysis was performed in P. gingivalis-induced experimental periodontitis or in Pep19-immunized mice. Cross-reactivity of anti-Pep19 monoclonal antibody was also investigated. A dominant immune response exclusively to Pep19 prevailed in healthy human subjects (before the age of 40) and mice that persisted in chronic periodontitis and autoimmune diseases without being replaced further by subsequent subdominant epitopes. A sequential epitope spreading provoked by Pep19 to subdominant autoantigen peptide 19 from human HSP60 (Hu19) in most healthy human subjects and mice, and to autoantigen peptide 9 from human HSP60 (Hu9) and neoantigen oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) in P. gingivalis-induced chronic periodontitis and autoimmune diseases could be demonstrated in a reproducible and predictable manner. T-cell proliferative activity to multiple autoantigens Hu19, Hu9 and ox-LDL, and cross-reactivity of anti-Pep19 monoclonal antibody to these epitopes may be proposed as cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for the phenomenon. Moreover, the predictive value of Pep19 for Hu9 increased remarkably in the disease group when compared with that of the healthy group. Taken together, epitope spreading to Hu19, Hu9 and ox-LDL provoked by Pep19 could be proposed as a solid phenomenon observed in P. gingivalis-induced chronic periodontitis and infection-induced autoimmune diseases in a reproducible and predictable manner. T-cell proliferative activity to these peptides and cross-reactivity of anti-Pep19 antibodies to multiple human autoantigens could be proposed as cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Investigation of Fe and Ca in non-stimulated human saliva using NAA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Medeiros, J. A. G.; Zamboni, C. B.; Kovacs, L.; Lewgoy, H. R.

2015-07-01

In this study we investigated non-stimulated human whole saliva of healthy subjects and patients with periodontal disease using Neutron Activation Analysis technique (NAA). The measurements were performed in the IEA-R1 nuclear reactor at IPEN-CNEN/SP. We found considerable metabolic changes mainly in Fe and Ca concentration in whole saliva of periodontal patients. These data are useful for identifying or preventing this oral disease in the Brazilian population.

Enhancement of Radiation Therapy in Prostate Cancer by DNA-PKcs Inhibitor

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

hepatocellular carcinoma. Journal of Hepatology 2007; 46(4): 655-63. 23. Yano M, et al . Aberrant promoter methylation of human DAB2 interactive protein...hDAB2IPA in hepatocellular carcinoma. Journal of Hepatology 2007; 46(4): 655-63. 23. Yano M, et al . Aberrant promoter methylation of human DAB2...prostate remains normal (Tumati et al ). Therefore, we performed immuno histochemical analysis specifically looking at the DNA damage response after

Discrimination Between Child and Adult Forms Using Radar Frequency Signature Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-14

Distances. This sensor poses no risk to human subjects or persons operating the equipment. The 88 th Medical Group Bio -Environmental Safety...method of remotely characterizing human activity. Unlike optical sensors , radar systems need not rely upon line-of-sight or good weather to perform well...and in monitoring vital signs through chemical or bio - logical protection suits. These military applications have seen research as early as the mid

An evaluation of tyramide signal amplification and archived fixed and frozen tissue in microarray gene expression analysis

PubMed Central

Karsten, Stanislav L.; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M. D.; Sabatti, Chiara; Gill, Lisa H.; Geschwind, Daniel H.

2002-01-01

Archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and ethanol-fixed tissues represent a potentially invaluable resource for gene expression analysis, as they are the most widely available material for studies of human disease. Little data are available evaluating whether RNA obtained from fixed (archival) tissues could produce reliable and reproducible microarray expression data. Here we compare the use of RNA isolated from human archival tissues fixed in ethanol and formalin to frozen tissue in cDNA microarray experiments. Since an additional factor that can limit the utility of archival tissue is the often small quantities available, we also evaluate the use of the tyramide signal amplification method (TSA), which allows the use of small amounts of RNA. Detailed analysis indicates that TSA provides a consistent and reproducible signal amplification method for cDNA microarray analysis, across both arrays and the genes tested. Analysis of this method also highlights the importance of performing non-linear channel normalization and dye switching. Furthermore, archived, fixed specimens can perform well, but not surprisingly, produce more variable results than frozen tissues. Consistent results are more easily obtainable using ethanol-fixed tissues, whereas formalin-fixed tissue does not typically provide a useful substrate for cDNA synthesis and labeling. PMID:11788730

Reducing Recon 2 for steady-state flux analysis of HEK cell culture.

PubMed

Quek, Lake-Ee; Dietmair, Stefanie; Hanscho, Michael; Martínez, Verónica S; Borth, Nicole; Nielsen, Lars K

2014-08-20

A representative stoichiometric model is essential to perform metabolic flux analysis (MFA) using experimentally measured consumption (or production) rates as constraints. For Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK) cell culture, there is the opportunity to use an extremely well-curated and annotated human genome-scale model Recon 2 for MFA. Performing MFA using Recon 2 without any modification would have implied that cells have access to all functionality encoded by the genome, which is not realistic. The majority of intracellular fluxes are poorly determined as only extracellular exchange rates are measured. This is compounded by the fact that there is no suitable metabolic objective function to suppress non-specific fluxes. We devised a heuristic to systematically reduce Recon 2 to emphasize flux through core metabolic reactions. This implies that cells would engage these dominant metabolic pathways to grow, and any significant changes in gross metabolic phenotypes would have invoked changes in these pathways. The reduced metabolic model becomes a functionalized version of Recon 2 used for identifying significant metabolic changes in cells by flux analysis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The visual analysis of emotional actions.

PubMed

Chouchourelou, Arieta; Matsuka, Toshihiko; Harber, Kent; Shiffrar, Maggie

2006-01-01

Is the visual analysis of human actions modulated by the emotional content of those actions? This question is motivated by a consideration of the neuroanatomical connections between visual and emotional areas. Specifically, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), known to play a critical role in the visual detection of action, is extensively interconnected with the amygdala, a center for emotion processing. To the extent that amygdala activity influences STS activity, one would expect to find systematic differences in the visual detection of emotional actions. A series of psychophysical studies tested this prediction. Experiment 1 identified point-light walker movies that convincingly depicted five different emotional states: happiness, sadness, neutral, anger, and fear. In Experiment 2, participants performed a walker detection task with these movies. Detection performance was systematically modulated by the emotional content of the gaits. Participants demonstrated the greatest visual sensitivity to angry walkers. The results of Experiment 3 suggest that local velocity cues to anger may account for high false alarm rates to the presence of angry gaits. These results support the hypothesis that the visual analysis of human action depends upon emotion processes.

Human Performance Modeling and Simulation for Launch Team Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peaden, Cary J.; Payne, Stephen J.; Hoblitzell, Richard M., Jr.; Chandler, Faith T.; LaVine, Nils D.; Bagnall, Timothy M.

2006-01-01

This paper describes ongoing research into modeling and simulation of humans for launch team analysis, training, and evaluation. The initial research is sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA)'s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) and NASA's Exploration Program and is focused on current and future launch team operations at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The paper begins with a description of existing KSC launch team environments and procedures. It then describes the goals of new Simulation and Analysis of Launch Teams (SALT) research. The majority of this paper describes products from the SALT team's initial proof-of-concept effort. These products include a nominal case task analysis and a discrete event model and simulation of launch team performance during the final phase of a shuttle countdown; and a first proof-of-concept training demonstration of launch team communications in which the computer plays most roles, and the trainee plays a role of the trainee's choice. This paper then describes possible next steps for the research team and provides conclusions. This research is expected to have significant value to NASA's Exploration Program.

Recognizing stationary and locomotion activities using combinational of spectral analysis with statistical descriptors features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zainudin, M. N. Shah; Sulaiman, Md Nasir; Mustapha, Norwati; Perumal, Thinagaran

2017-10-01

Prior knowledge in pervasive computing recently garnered a lot of attention due to its high demand in various application domains. Human activity recognition (HAR) considered as the applications that are widely explored by the expertise that provides valuable information to the human. Accelerometer sensor-based approach is utilized as devices to undergo the research in HAR since their small in size and this sensor already build-in in the various type of smartphones. However, the existence of high inter-class similarities among the class tends to degrade the recognition performance. Hence, this work presents the method for activity recognition using our proposed features from combinational of spectral analysis with statistical descriptors that able to tackle the issue of differentiating stationary and locomotion activities. The noise signal is filtered using Fourier Transform before it will be extracted using two different groups of features, spectral frequency analysis, and statistical descriptors. Extracted signal later will be classified using random forest ensemble classifier models. The recognition results show the good accuracy performance for stationary and locomotion activities based on USC HAD datasets.

Building America Case Study: Performance and Costs of Ductless Heat Pumps in Marine Climate High-Performance Homes: Habitat for Humanity -- The Woods, Tacoma, Washington

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The Woods is a Habitat for Humanity (HFH) community of ENERGY STAR Homes (c) Northwest (ESHNW)-certified homes located in the marine climate of Tacoma/Pierce County, Washington. This research report builds on an earlier preliminary draft 2014 BA report, and includes significant billing analysis and cost effectiveness research from a collaborative, ongoing Ductless Heat Pump (DHP) research effort for Tacoma Public Utilities (TPU) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). This report focuses on the results of field testing, modeling, and monitoring of ductless mini-split heat pump hybrid heating systems in seven homes built and first occupied at various times between September 2013more » and October 2014. The report also provides WSU documentation of high-performance home observations, lessons learned, and stakeholder recommendations for builders of affordable high-performance housing such as HFH.« less

Objective measures of situation awareness in a simulated medical environment

PubMed Central

Wright, M; Taekman, J; Endsley, M

2004-01-01

One major limitation in the use of human patient simulators is a lack of objective, validated measures of human performance. Objective measures are necessary if simulators are to be used to evaluate the skills and training of medical practitioners and teams or to evaluate the impact of new processes or equipment design on overall system performance. Situation awareness (SA) refers to a person's perception and understanding of their dynamic environment. This awareness and comprehension is critical in making correct decisions that ultimately lead to correct actions in medical care settings. An objective measure of SA may be more sensitive and diagnostic than traditional performance measures. This paper reviews a theory of SA and discusses the methods required for developing an objective measure of SA within the context of a simulated medical environment. Analysis and interpretation of SA data for both individual and team performance in health care are also presented. PMID:15465958

Optimization and performance improvement of an electromagnetic-type energy harvester with consideration of human walking vibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Jongho; Kim, Jin-Su; Jeong, Un-Chang; Kim, Yong-Dae; Kim, Young-Cheol; Lee, Hanmin; Oh, Jae-Eung

2016-02-01

In this study, we derived an equation of motion for an electromechanical system in view of the components and working mechanism of an electromagnetic-type energy harvester (ETEH). An electromechanical transduction factor (ETF) was calculated using a finite-element analysis (FEA) based on Maxwell's theory. The experimental ETF of the ETEH measured by means of sine wave excitation was compared with and FEA data. Design parameters for the stationary part of the energy harvester were optimized in terms of the power performance by using a response surface method (RSM). With optimized design parameters, the ETEH showed an improvement in performance. We experimented with the optimized ETEH (OETEH) with respect to changes in the external excitation frequency and the load resistance by taking human body vibration in to account. The OETEH achieved a performance improvement of about 30% compared to the initial model.

A computational language approach to modeling prose recall in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Rosenstein, Mark; Diaz-Asper, Catherine; Foltz, Peter W.; Elvevåg, Brita

2014-01-01

Many cortical disorders are associated with memory problems. In schizophrenia, verbal memory deficits are a hallmark feature. However, the exact nature of this deficit remains elusive. Modeling aspects of language features used in memory recall have the potential to provide means for measuring these verbal processes. We employ computational language approaches to assess time-varying semantic and sequential properties of prose recall at various retrieval intervals (immediate, 30 min and 24 h later) in patients with schizophrenia, unaffected siblings and healthy unrelated control participants. First, we model the recall data to quantify the degradation of performance with increasing retrieval interval and the effect of diagnosis (i.e., group membership) on performance. Next we model the human scoring of recall performance using an n-gram language sequence technique, and then with a semantic feature based on Latent Semantic Analysis. These models show that automated analyses of the recalls can produce scores that accurately mimic human scoring. The final analysis addresses the validity of this approach by ascertaining the ability to predict group membership from models built on the two classes of language features. Taken individually, the semantic feature is most predictive, while a model combining the features improves accuracy of group membership prediction slightly above the semantic feature alone as well as over the human rating approach. We discuss the implications for cognitive neuroscience of such a computational approach in exploring the mechanisms of prose recall. PMID:24709122

Single-cell gene expression analysis reveals diversity among human spermatogonia.

PubMed

Neuhaus, N; Yoon, J; Terwort, N; Kliesch, S; Seggewiss, J; Huge, A; Voss, R; Schlatt, S; Grindberg, R V; Schöler, H R

2017-02-10

Is the molecular profile of human spermatogonia homogeneous or heterogeneous when analysed at the single-cell level? Heterogeneous expression profiles may be a key characteristic of human spermatogonia, supporting the existence of a heterogeneous stem cell population. Despite the fact that many studies have sought to identify specific markers for human spermatogonia, the molecular fingerprint of these cells remains hitherto unknown. Testicular tissues from patients with spermatogonial arrest (arrest, n = 1) and with qualitatively normal spermatogenesis (normal, n = 7) were selected from a pool of 179 consecutively obtained biopsies. Gene expression analyses of cell populations and single-cells (n = 105) were performed. Two OCT4-positive individual cells were selected for global transcriptional capture using shallow RNA-seq. Finally, expression of four candidate markers was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Histological analysis and blood hormone measurements for LH, FSH and testosterone were performed prior to testicular sample selection. Following enzymatic digestion of testicular tissues, differential plating and subsequent micromanipulation of individual cells was employed to enrich and isolate human spermatogonia, respectively. Endpoint analyses were qPCR analysis of cell populations and individual cells, shallow RNA-seq and immunohistochemical analyses. Unexpectedly, single-cell expression data from the arrest patient (20 cells) showed heterogeneous expression profiles. Also, from patients with normal spermatogenesis, heterogeneous expression patterns of undifferentiated (OCT4, UTF1 and MAGE A4) and differentiated marker genes (BOLL and PRM2) were obtained within each spermatogonia cluster (13 clusters with 85 cells). Shallow RNA-seq analysis of individual human spermatogonia was validated, and a spermatogonia-specific heterogeneous protein expression of selected candidate markers (DDX5, TSPY1, EEF1A1 and NGN3) was demonstrated. The heterogeneity of human spermatogonia at the RNA and protein levels is a snapshot. To further assess the functional meaning of this heterogeneity and the dynamics of stem cell populations, approaches need to be developed to facilitate the repeated analysis of individual cells. Our data suggest that heterogeneous expression profiles may be a key characteristic of human spermatogonia, supporting the model of a heterogeneous stem cell population. Future studies will assess the dynamics of spermatogonial populations in fertile and infertile patients. RNA-seq data is published in the GEO database: GSE91063. This work was supported by the Max Planck Society and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG-Research Unit FOR 1041 Germ Cell Potential (grant numbers SCHO 340/7-1, SCHL394/11-2). The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Breed differences in dogs sensitivity to human points: a meta-analysis.

PubMed

Dorey, Nicole R; Udell, Monique A R; Wynne, Clive D L

2009-07-01

The last decade has seen a substantial increase in research on the behavioral and cognitive abilities of pet dogs, Canis familiaris. The most commonly used experimental paradigm is the object-choice task in which a dog is given a choice of two containers and guided to the reinforced object by human pointing gestures. We review here studies of this type and attempt a meta-analysis of the available data. In the meta-analysis breeds of dogs were grouped into the eight categories of the American Kennel Club, and into four clusters identified by Parker and Ostrander [Parker, H.G., Ostrander, E.A., 2005. Canine genomics and genetics: running with the pack. PLoS Genet. 1, 507-513] on the basis of a genetic analysis. No differences in performance between breeds categorized in either fashion were identified. Rather, all dog breeds appear to be similarly and highly successful in following human points to locate desired food. We suggest this result could be due to the paucity of data available in published studies, and the restricted range of breeds tested.

Learning dictionaries of sparse codes of 3D movements of body joints for real-time human activity understanding.

PubMed

Qi, Jin; Yang, Zhiyong

2014-01-01

Real-time human activity recognition is essential for human-robot interactions for assisted healthy independent living. Most previous work in this area is performed on traditional two-dimensional (2D) videos and both global and local methods have been used. Since 2D videos are sensitive to changes of lighting condition, view angle, and scale, researchers begun to explore applications of 3D information in human activity understanding in recently years. Unfortunately, features that work well on 2D videos usually don't perform well on 3D videos and there is no consensus on what 3D features should be used. Here we propose a model of human activity recognition based on 3D movements of body joints. Our method has three steps, learning dictionaries of sparse codes of 3D movements of joints, sparse coding, and classification. In the first step, space-time volumes of 3D movements of body joints are obtained via dense sampling and independent component analysis is then performed to construct a dictionary of sparse codes for each activity. In the second step, the space-time volumes are projected to the dictionaries and a set of sparse histograms of the projection coefficients are constructed as feature representations of the activities. Finally, the sparse histograms are used as inputs to a support vector machine to recognize human activities. We tested this model on three databases of human activities and found that it outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms. Thus, this model can be used for real-time human activity recognition in many applications.

Rapid and sensitive analysis of phthalate metabolites, bisphenol A, and endogenous steroid hormones in human urine by mixed-mode solid-phase extraction, dansylation, and ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Wang, He-xing; Wang, Bin; Zhou, Ying; Jiang, Qing-wu

2013-05-01

Steroid hormone levels in human urine are convenient and sensitive indicators for the impact of phthalates and/or bisphenol A (BPA) exposure on the human steroid hormone endocrine system. In this study, a rapid and sensitive method for determination of 14 phthalate metabolites, BPA, and ten endogenous steroid hormones in urine was developed and validated on the basis of ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. The optimized mixed-mode solid phase-extraction separated the weakly acidic or neutral BPA and steroid hormones from acidic phthalate metabolites in urine: the former were determined in positive ion mode with a methanol/water mobile phase containing 10 mM ammonium formate; the latter were determined in negative ion mode with a acetonitrile/water mobile phase containing 0.1 % acetic acid, which significantly alleviated matrix effects for the analysis of BPA and steroid hormones. Dansylation of estrogens and BPA realized simultaneous and sensitive analysis of the endogenous steroid hormones and BPA in a single chromatographic run. The limits of detection were less than 0.84 ng/mL for phthalate metabolites and less than 0.22 ng/mL for endogenous steroid hormones and BPA. This proposed method had satisfactory precision and accuracy, and was successfully applied to the analyses of human urine samples. This method could be valuable when investigating the associations among endocrine-disrupting chemicals, endogenous steroid hormones, and relevant adverse outcomes in epidemiological studies.

Human System Simulation in Support of Human Performance Technical Basis at NPPs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David Gertman; Katya Le Blanc; alan mecham

2010-06-01

This paper focuses on strategies and progress toward establishing the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) Human Systems Simulator Laboratory at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES), a consortium of Idaho State Universities. The INL is one of the National Laboratories of the US Department of Energy. One of the first planned applications for the Human Systems Simulator Laboratory is implementation of a dynamic nuclear power plant simulation (NPP) where studies of operator workload, situation awareness, performance and preference will be carried out in simulated control rooms including nuclear power plant control rooms. Simulation offers a means by which to reviewmore » operational concepts, improve design practices and provide a technical basis for licensing decisions. In preparation for the next generation power plant and current government and industry efforts in support of light water reactor sustainability, human operators will be attached to a suite of physiological measurement instruments and, in combination with traditional Human Factors Measurement techniques, carry out control room tasks in simulated advanced digital and hybrid analog/digital control rooms. The current focus of the Human Systems Simulator Laboratory is building core competence in quantitative and qualitative measurements of situation awareness and workload. Of particular interest is whether introduction of digital systems including automated procedures has the potential to reduce workload and enhance safety while improving situation awareness or whether workload is merely shifted and situation awareness is modified in yet to be determined ways. Data analysis is carried out by engineers and scientists and includes measures of the physical and neurological correlates of human performance. The current approach supports a user-centered design philosophy (see ISO 13407 “Human Centered Design Process for Interactive Systems, 1999) wherein the context for task performance along with the requirements of the end-user are taken into account during the design process and the validity of design is determined through testing of real end users« less

New Orleans Vessel Traffic Service Watchstander Analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-05-01

A team of human factors specialists analyzed the performance of watchstanders in the U.S. Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Center at New Orleans, LA. Data collected included copies of the center's forms and logs, records of watchstander activities for a to...