Prediction of effort and eye movement measures from driving scene components

For transitions of control in automated vehicles, driver monitoring systems (DMS) may need to discern task difficulty and driver preparedness. Such DMS require models that relate driving scene components, driver effort, and eye measurements. Across two sessions, 15 participants enacted receiving control within 60 randomly ordered dashcam videos (3-second duration) with variations in visible scene components: road curve angle, road surface area, road users, symbols, infrastructure, and vegetation/trees while their eyes were measured for pupil diameter, fixation duration, and saccade amplitude. The subjective measure of effort and the objective measure of saccade amplitude evidenced the highest correlations (r = 0.34 and r = 0.42, respectively) with the scene component of road curve angle. In person-specific regression analyses combining all visual scene components as predictors, average predictive correlations ranged between 0.49 and 0.58 for subjective effort and between 0.36 and 0.49 for saccade amplitude, depending on cross-validation techniques of generalization and repetition. In conclusion, the present regression equations establish quantifiable relations between visible driving scene components with both subjective effort and objective eye movement measures. In future DMS, such knowledge can help inform road-facing and driver-facing cameras to jointly establish the readiness of would-be drivers ahead of receiving control.     

Associations between self-rated health and the assessments of anchoring vignettes in cardiovascular patients

Background/ObjectiveAssessments of health can be biased by response shift effects. One method for detecting such effects is the use of anchoring vignettes. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between participants’ self-assessed health state and their assessments of these vignettes.MethodA total of 342 cardiovascular patients assessed their own state of health on a 0-100 visual analogue scale. The patients additionally assessed two vignettes featuring fictional persons suffering from specific complaints. A sample of the general population (N = 1,236) served as controls.ResultsThe participants rated the health state of the vignette character featuring physical problems as being significantly better than the general population did (effect size: d = 0.53). The group difference in the assessment of the vignette featuring primarily mental health problems was lower (d = -0.17). Participants’ assessments of the vignettes were positively correlated with their assessments of their own health state (r = .26 and r = .10) and with several quality of life variables.ConclusionsAnchoring vignettes are a useful tool for detecting response shift effects.     

TEILHARD DE CHARDIN'S EVOLUTIONARY NATURAL THEOLOGY

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin develops, as is well known, a model of evolution as a convergent progression from primordial multiplicity through increasing degrees of complexity toward a final Omega point of spiritual consummation. I explore how Teilhard fuses Darwinian and Lamarckian theories of evolution in developing his own, and in particular his defense of the view that Lamarckism is fundamental to a proper understanding of evolution's human phase. Teilhard's scientific interpretation of evolution is inspired by Christian cosmological insights derived from patristic theology and contemporary Pauline scholarship and cannot be separated from them. His integration of science and theology provides the basis for a renewed evolutionary natural theology that supplants the traditional static models developed by William Paley and others. Teilhard's natural theology also provides a framework for theological ethical reflection on how humanity should act in its capacity as created co‐creator with God. In later work, he considers the implications of his evolutionary theology for the wider universe. Teilhard thus presents an invigorated natural theology grounded in evolution that confirms and completes a dynamic and teleological view of the cosmos.     

Comparing score tests and other local dependence diagnostics for the graded response model

Score tests for identifying locally dependent item pairs have been proposed for binary item response models. In this article, both the bifactor and the threshold shift score tests are generalized to the graded response model. For the bifactor test, the generalization is straightforward; it adds one secondary dimension associated only with one pair of items. For the threshold shift test, however, multiple generalizations are possible: in particular, conditional, uniform, and linear shift tests are discussed in this article. Simulation studies show that all of the score tests have accurate Type I error rates given large enough samples, although their small‐sample behaviour is not as good as that of Pearson's Χ² and M₂ as proposed in other studies for the purpose of local dependence (LD) detection. All score tests have the highest power to detect the LD which is consistent with their parametric form, and in this case they are uniformly more powerful than Χ² and M₂; even wrongly specified score tests are more powerful than Χ² and M₂ in most conditions. An example using empirical data is provided for illustration.     

Supportive supervisors improve employees' daily lives: The role supervisors play in the impact of daily workload on life satisfaction via work–family conflict

This article presents a multilevel approach that uncovers how day-to-day variations in workload influence life satisfaction by creating work–family conflict, as well as the role supportive supervisors play in influencing these daily relationships. In this experience-sampling study, 135 employees responded to 2 daily surveys (one at work and one at home) for 5 days and a one-time post-study survey. With a total of 810 surveys, hierarchical linear modeling revealed that employees' daily perceived workload positively predicted daily work–family conflict, which in turn negatively predicted daily life satisfaction. Importantly, we found support for a cross-level interaction where supervisor work–family specific support (measured once in the post-study survey) negatively moderated the relationship between daily workload and work–family conflict, attesting the importance of supervisory support in reducing daily interference between work and family.     

ENCOUNTERS WITH PSYCHOSIS

This essay offers a personal account of one physician's attempt to engage with psychotic patients in an inner‐city hospital. It considers some of the obstacles to psychoanalytic work with psychotic patients, including anxiety in the psychotherapist, anxiety in the patient, institutional resistances, and paradigmatic errors. A discussion of paradigmatic errors in Western mental health care is expanded upon. Rorty's ( 1979 ) critique of objectivity and Kuhn's ( 1962 ) work on scientific paradigm shifts are discussed in an attempt to demonstrate how we might better understand psychosis as an illness and connect with patients across the entire diagnostic spectrum.     

Effects of muscle fatigue on the usability of a myoelectric human-computer interface

Electromyography-based human-computer interface development is an active field of research. However, knowledge on the effects of muscle fatigue for specific devices is limited. We have developed a novel myoelectric human-computer interface in which subjects continuously navigate a cursor to targets by manipulating a single surface electromyography (sEMG) signal. Two-dimensional control is achieved through simultaneous adjustments of power in two frequency bands through a series of dynamic low-level muscle contractions. Here, we investigate the potential effects of muscle fatigue during the use of our interface. In the first session, eight subjects completed 300 cursor-to-target trials without breaks; four using a wrist muscle and four using a head muscle. The wrist subjects returned for a second session in which a static fatiguing exercise took place at regular intervals in-between cursor-to-target trials. In the first session we observed no declines in performance as a function of use, even after the long period of use. In the second session, we observed clear changes in cursor trajectories, paired with a target-specific decrease in hit rates.     

The Importance of Fostering Ownership During Medical Training

There is a need to consider the impact of the new resident-hours regulations on the variety of aspects of medical education and patient care. Most existing literature about this subject has focused on the role of fatigue in resident performance, education, and health care delivery. However, there are other possible consequences of these new regulations, including a negative impact on decision ownership. Our main assumption of is that increased shift work in medicine can decrease ownership of treatment decisions and impact negatively on quality of care. We review some potential components of decision ownership in treatment context and suggest possible ways in which the absence of decision ownership may decrease the quality of medical decision making. The article opens with the definition of decision ownership and the overview of some contextual factors that may contribute to the development of ownership in medical residency. The following section discusses decision ownership in medical care from the perspective of “diffusion of responsibility.” We question the quality of choices made within narrow decisional frames. We also compare isolated and interrelated choices, assuming that residents make more isolated decisions during their shifts. Lastly, we discuss the consequences of decreased decision ownership impacting the delivery of health care.     

The power and sensitivity of four core driver workload measures for benchmarking the distraction potential of new driver vehicle interfaces

This study evaluated the power and sensitivity of several core driver workload measures in order to better understand their use as a component of future driver distraction potential evaluation procedures of the in-vehicle human machine interface (HMI). Driving is a task that requires visual, manual and cognitive resources to perform. Secondary tasks, such as mobile phone use and interaction with in-built navigation, which load onto any of these three processing resources increase driver workload and can lead to impaired driving. Because workload and distraction potential are interrelated, a comprehensive method to assess driver workload that produces valid and predictive results is needed to advance the science of distraction potential evaluation. It is also needed to incorporate into New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) testing regimes. Workload measures of cognitive (DRT [Detection Response Task] Reaction Time), visual (DRT Miss Rate), subjective (NASA-TLX [driver workload questionnaire]), and temporal demand (Task Interaction Time) were collected as participants drove one of 40 vehicles while completing a variety of secondary tasks with varying interaction requirements. Of the evaluated measures, variance and power analyses demonstrated that Task Interaction Time is the most sensitive in detecting differences in driver workload between different in-vehicle HMIs, followed by DRT Miss Rate, NASA-TLX and finally DRT Reaction Time. There were relatively weak correlations between each of the four measures. These results suggest that Task Interaction Time, coupled with a reliable visual demand metric such as DRT Miss Rate, eye glance coding, or visual occlusion, more efficiently detect differences in driver workload between different HMIs compared to DRT Reaction Time and the NASA-TLX questionnaire. These results can be used to improve the understanding of the utility of each of these core driver workload measures in assessing driver distraction potential.     

不同情境转换对重复学习条件下类别-例词回忆的影响

为了考察重复学习条件下内部心境转换和外部情境转换对类别-例词回忆的影响,本研究参考提取练习范式,进行了两个实验。实验1选取96名被试,在初始学习与重复学习阶段之间通过指导语操纵被试维持初始学习时的心境,或转换为合作心境,或转换为竞争心境;实验2选取64名被试,被试在不同外部情境中进行初始学习和重复学习,测试时或处于初始学习的情境,或处于重复学习的情境。回忆测验的结果显示:与未经历重复学习的基线词相比,同类别重学的例词回忆率高于基线词,表现出促进现象;当发生内部心境转换,或发生外部情境转换且在重复学习的情境测试时,同类别中未重学例词的回忆率低于基线词,表现出削弱现象;当发生外部情境转换但在初始学习情境测试时,同类别未重学例词的回忆却高于基线词。可采用联结凸显-曝光-线索扩展性的三维度观点解释这一结果。