Teaming humans and automated systems in safely engineered environments

Human factors research has historically been concerned with interactions among humans, machines, and the environments in which they operate. The introduction of intelligent, automated systems to support human performance and safety in a variety of challenging environments, including undersea systems, high-performance aircraft, and orbiting space stations, has introduced a new dynamic to these relationships. Many missions cannot be accomplished without the active participation of both intelligent human and intelligent machine members. This is particularly true in environments where individuals operate in isolation and without easy access to support crews. However, the teaming of these two systems that function in such different ways can lead to new types of error, with the human frequently unable to determine what the machine is doing and why. The challenge, then is to develop automated systems that support, rather than confound, the human user. Aerospace human factors research has been a leader in attempting to understand human-automation interactions and in establishing guidelines for the design and use of automated systems. This article discusses some of the human-automation interaction problems that have been observed operationally, what the existing research reveals, and several approaches that are being pursued to avoid "disconnects" between humans and automation. Once these disconnects are overcome, intelligent humans and intelligent machines will be able to work together more productively, thus leading to our furthered presence in a variety of challenging environments.

Mental health services for children in out-of-home care

This article documents the risk factors and high incidence of psychopathology among children in out-of-home placements. A framework and guiding principles for mental health service delivery are described that are consistent with the clinical needs of children in care and the child welfare goal of permanency.

The politics of marginalization: the appropriation of AIDS prevention messages among injection drug users

This essay addresses the space between a cultural critique and a class analysis of HIV transmission. It explores how injection drug users, as a disempowered group, resist hegemony through dissent. Distrust of the medical establishment and severe social and legal constraints force injection drug users to reconstruct the AIDS message. Economic and political survival inflates the need for trust and reciprocity within their social network. This makes the meaning of AIDS a continually ambiguous one for drug users. The ways in which dissent to domination is enacted and the effect this has on HIV prevention is explored.

Crew systems: integrating human and technical subsystems for the exploration of space

Space exploration missions will require combining human and technical subsystems into overall "crew systems" capable of performing under the rigorous conditions of outer space. This report describes substantive and conceptual relationships among humans, intelligent machines, and communication systems, and explores how these components may be combined to complement and strengthen one another. We identify key research issues in the combination of humans and technology and examine the role of individual differences, group processes, and environmental conditions. We conclude that a crew system is, in effect, a social cyborg, a living system consisting of multiple individuals whose capabilities are extended by advanced technology.

Risk perception, risk taking and risk management among intravenous drug users: implications for AIDS prevention

The risks associated with AIDS transmission among intravenous drug users overlap with a constellation of other risk events common in the use of IV drugs. This paper explores the subcultural definition, meaning and use of risk from the experience of the active user. In assessing the extent and nature of risk among IV drug users, street-based ethnographic research was conducted over a sixteen month period and a survey was administered to sixty-six individuals in two drug treatment facilities. Risk-taking, risk perception and strategies for minimizing risks associated with maintaining a drug habit are analyzed in the context of how IV drug users are responding to the risks associated with HIV transmission. The research indicates that risk needs to be viewed within the context of the subculture to effect strategies to reduce HIV-related risk behavior.

Drug treatment staff attitudes toward AIDS and workplace transmission of HIV: a survey and follow-up--Spectrum House, Inc

A growing number of cases of HIV infection and AIDS in the U.S. have been reported among intravenous drug users and their sexual partners. This increase in cases has begun to have a significant impact on substance abuse treatment programs; in addition to the complexities of HIV education and counseling, the staff of such programs must deal with their own fears regarding HIV infection, since many experientially trained staff are, themselves, former IV drug users. Other staff members may experience irrational anxiety about working HIV-infected clients, due to the fear of workplace exposure to the virus. In order to assess the extent and nature of such anxieties among its staff, Spectrum House, Inc., a comprehensive substance abuse treatment program, administered a Staff AIDS Survey in 1986 and again in 1987. Responses reflected a marked decrease in staff anxieties relating to workplace transmission of HIV during the 14-month period between surveys, seemingly related to both the implementation of AIDS education and an increase in contact with HIV positive clients. Those staff members whose contact with HIV positive clients remained infrequent between surveys, however, continued to show higher levels of fear about casual contact and workplace exposure to HIV. These results indicate that increased staff-client interaction may be an effective addition to other forms of staff AIDS education in substance abuse treatment programs.

Human factors in spacecraft design

This paper describes some of the salient implications of evolving mission parameters for spacecraft design. Among the requirements for future spacecraft are new, higher standards of living, increased support of human productivity, and greater accommodation of physical and cultural variability. Design issues include volumetric allowances, architecture and layouts, closed life support systems, health maintenance systems, recreational facilities, automation, privacy, and decor. An understanding of behavioral responses to design elements is a precondition for critical design decisions. Human factors research results must be taken into account early in the course of the design process.

A stochastic elective admissions scheduling algorithm

An admissions scheduling algorithm that can function with various scheduling criteria is described. It employs probabilistic and deterministic constraints constructed from the hospital's current status and the individual requirements and characteristics of the proposed admittee. The constraints identify feasible combinations of admission date and accommodations; choice among these feasible combinations is based on minimizing the value of a composite function of patient inconvenience and hospital inefficiency.

The effect of breathing 100 percent oxygen on foveal thresholds

This study examined the effects of breathing 100% oxygen at sea level on the luminance thresholds necessary for perception of red (642 nm), green (521 nm), blue (468 nm), and yellow (584 nm), and the chromatic and absolute thresholds associated with these dominant wavelengths. Using two highly trained observers, thresholds were measured for one target size and exposure duration by the method of constant stimuli. For the foveal thresholds investigated, no differences were found between the condition of breathing 100% oxygen and breathing normal room air at sea level. There is at least some physiological basis for thinking that vision may improve in a high oxygen environment. At the other extreme, breathing high concentrations of oxygen under pressure is known to degrade vision. Evidence relating to the visual effects of high oxygen concentrations is evaluated and conclusions are drawn with reference to the findings of this and other studies.