Workload Management in Teleoperation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles: Effects of a Delay Compensation Aid on Human Operators’ Workload and Teleoperation Performance

ABSTRACT

Workload management is of critical concern in the teleoperation of unmanned vehicles because teleoperation is often employed in high-risk industries wherein high workload can lead to sub-optimal task performance and can harm human operators’ long-term well-being. This study aimed to assess the detrimental effects of time delays in teleoperation on operators’ workload and performance, and how a delay compensation aid mitigated such effects. We conducted a human-in-the-loop experiment with 36 participants using a dual-task teleoperation platform, where participants drove a simulated High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) and performed a one-back memory task under three conditions: the delay condition, the delay with compensation aid condition, and the ideal no delay condition. A model-free predictor was used as the compensation aid. Results indicate that with a time delay of 0.8-s participants’ workload increased and performance degraded significantly. Moreover, the model-free predictor mitigated the detrimental effects of time delay on workload and task performance. Our findings suggest that participants are more sensitive in their perceived workload compared to the objective and physiological measures of workload. In addition, without any delay compensation algorithms, continuous teleoperation may not be ideal for operations with long time delays.     

Can We Talk? Methods for Evaluation and Training of Spoken Dialogue Systems

There is a strong relationship between evaluation and methods for automatically training language processing systems, where generally the same resource and metrics are used both to train system components and to evaluate them. To date, in dialogue systems research, this general methodology is not typically applied to the dialogue manager and spoken language generator. However, any metric for evaluating system performance can be used as a feedback function for automatically training the system. This approach is motivated with examples of the application of reinforcement learning to dialogue manager optimization, and the use of boosting to train the spoken language generator.     

Can Digital Intelligence and Cyber-Physical-Social Systems Achieve Global Food Security and Sustainability?

Plants sequester carbon through photosynthesis and provide primary productivity for the ecosystem. However, they also simultaneously consume water through transpiration, leading to a carbon-water balance relationship. Agricultural production can be regarded as a form of carbon sequestration behavior.From the perspective of the natural-social-economic complex ecosystem, excessive water usage in food production will aggravate regional water pressure for both domestic and industrial purposes. Hence...     

Can Efficiency of Returns Be Considered as a Pricing Factor?

We add to the investments literature by employing new techniques to estimate asset performance. We estimate a data envelopment analysis based efficiency score that allows for direct comparison between ex-post efficiency rankings and test the ex-ante relevance of such scores by including them into asset pricing models. We find that knowing the fund efficiency score can help explain time-series returns. When efficiency is included in an asset pricing model, the absolute value of the average mispricing error is decreased, which we take as evidence of the explanatory power of efficiency scores. But more importantly, we show that efficacy scores can be used as next period predictors of stock returns. In addition, we further use the efficiency scores to differentiate between the performance of constrained and unconstrained investment assets, as in the case of socially responsible investments. Our findings give robustness to the literature on constrained investments showing significant underperformance of socially and responsible investments.     

Effects of Adoption and Assimilation of Enterprise Systems on Business Performance: A Senior Executive’s Perspective

Drawing from the institutional theory and resource-based view, we investigated the effects of a firm’s activities and levels of enterprise systems adoption and the effectiveness of the enterprise systems in supporting the firm (enterprise systems assimilation) on business performance. Empirical results suggest that institutional forces and IS resources significantly influence the enterprise systems adoption, which indirectly impacts the enterprise systems assimilation. Further, the enterprise systems adoption significantly influences business performance, and the enterprise systems assimilation mediates the effect of the enterprise systems adoption on business performance.     

Improving the Performance and Energy E?ciency of Phase Change Memory Systems

Phase change memory (PCM) is a promising technology for future memory thanks to its better scalability and lower leakage power than DRAM (dynamic random-access memory). However, adopting PCM as main me...     

Can spiral of silence and civility predict click speech on Facebook?

Opinion expressions on Facebook are characterized by “click speech” in which people express their opinions and support (or disagreement) of posts through the “like,” “comment,” and “share” buttons. This study uses a 2 (low vs. high opinion congruency) x 2 (message civility vs. incivility) between-subject factorial experiment to examine the spiral of silence on participants' likelihood to interact with social media. We randomly assigned 502 participants to one of four experimental conditions. Results indicate that the fear of isolation increased the likelihood of commenting on Facebook posts and a civil climate increased the likelihood of liking comments on Facebook posts. Findings suggest that “click-speech” could be considered a form of opinion expression.     

Can internet users protect themselves? Challenges and techniques of automated protection of HTTP communication

HTTPS enables secure access to web content and web-based services. Although supported by many content and service providers, HTTPS is oftentimes not enabled by default, as pointed out in an open letter sent to Google by security experts. In this article, we discuss if and how web users can protect themselves by using HTTPS instead of HTTP. We show that many websites allow for accessing content by HTTPS instead of HTTP. However, HTTPS access must be manually configured or requested by the user, or is impossible at all, e.g., for embedded objects. For this reason, we explore how to protect users transparently by automatically using HTTPS whenever possible. In order to enable this approach, one needs to determine whether using HTTPS yields the same content as using HTTP, even in the presence of dynamic websites incorporating advertisements and news. We show that this decision is possible for entire websites like amazon.com in short time by combining a fast content comparison algorithm, result caching, and observations on the structure of the website. Besides the concrete HTTP use case considered in this article, our results are of independent interest for any setting in which content can be accessed by various means. Finally, we present and discuss different approaches for implementing automated protection of HTTP connections.     

Can more interactivity improve learning achievement in an online course? Effects of college students' perception and actual use of a course-management system on their learning achievement

This study aims to investigate how interactivity influence learners' use of interactive functions in the course-management system (CMS) and their online learning performance. A two-tier mediation framework is proposed to examine the mediating effects of different actual-use records concerning the CMS's interactive functions. Data are collected from 381 undergraduate students who enrolled in a general-education asynchronous online course from three universities in Taiwan. The results indicate that the relationships among students' self-reported use of interactive functions, students' perceptions of the usefulness of interactive functions, and students' actual-use logs have some direct influences on students' online learning performance (online-discussion scores, exam scores, and group-project scores). In addition, students' actual-use logs (the number of times of log-ins to the online course, the number of times students read learning materials, and the number of postings on the discussion board) have a mediated effect on students' self-reported frequency of logging into the CMS, students' self-reported frequency of using the learner–instructor/learner–learner interactive functions, and online learning performance. The findings and implications could constitute a useful guide for educational practitioners and designers concerned with the effective integration of interactivity into future online courses.     

Can ICT enhance workplace inclusion? ICT-enabled workplace inclusion practices and a new agenda for inclusion research in Information Systems

Workplace inclusion is a strategic concern for organizations, yet challenging to achieve. We investigate how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) use can enhance workplace inclusion. Based on qualitative data collected from a leading UK organization, we conceptualize four ICT-enabled workplace inclusion practices – Expanding, Orienting, Enculturating, and Reflecting. Each practice entails the use of multiple ICT applications to enhance workplace inclusion through a distinct set of organizational activities. We also highlight the Reflecting practice as key in enhancing other practices. Drawing from our findings, we develop a framework for ICT-enabled workplace inclusion that constitutes inter-related ICT-enabled practices focused on multiple organizational activities. We contribute to the literature on the strategic role of ICT for organizational/social good, a current area of research priority for the information systems discipline.     

Can avatar and self-referencing really increase the effects of online 2-D and 3-D advertising?

Previous studies have sought insights into how websites can effectively draw sustained attention from internet users. Do different types of information presentations on webpages have different influences on users’ perceptions of the information? More precisely, can combinations of an ever greater number of advertising elements on individual websites increase consumers’ purchase intentions? The aim of this study is to explore changes in web advertising’s verbal and visual stimulation of surfers’ cognitive process, and to provide valuable information for the successful matching of advertising elements to one another. We examine optimal website design according to the personality-trait theory and resource-matching theory. Study 1 addresses the effects that combinations of various types of online advertising can have on web design factor, and to this end, we use a 2 (visual complexity: 3D advertising with an avatar, 2D advertising) × 2 (verbal complexity: with or without self-referencing that is an advertising practice to express product claims in words) factorial design. Study 2 treats personality traits (i.e., need-for-cognition and sensation seeking) as moderating variables to build the optimal portfolio regarding the “online-advertising effects” hypothesis. Our results suggest that subjects prefer medium-complex advertising comprising “3D advertising elements with an avatar” or “2D advertising elements with self-referencing”: high-sensation seekers and low-need-for-cognition viewers prefer the former, whereas low-sensation seekers and high-need-for-cognition viewers prefer the latter.     

An Implementation of Haar Wavelet Based Method for Numerical Treatment of Time-fractional Schrodinger and Coupled Schr?dinger Systems

The objective of this paper is to solve the timefractional Schr?dinger and coupled Schr?dinger differential equations (TFSE) with appropriate initial conditions by using the Haar wavelet approximation. For the most part, this endeavor is made to enlarge the pertinence of the Haar wavelet method to solve a coupled system of time-fractional partial differential equations. As a general rule, piecewise constant approximation of a function at different resolutions is presentational characteristic of Haar wavelet method through which it converts the differential equation into the Sylvester equation that can be further simplified easily. Study of the TFSE is theoretical and experimental research and it also helps in the development of automation science, physics, and engineering as well. Illustratively, several test problems are discussed to draw an effective conclusion, supported by the graphical and tabulated results of included examples, to reveal the proficiency and adaptability of the method.      

Can self-estimates of body weight and height be used in place of measurements for college students?

A study was conducted to determine how accurately college students can estimate their height and body weight. Four hundred and sixty-nine students (136 females and 333 males) completed a short questionnaire eliciting self-estimates of height and weight, frequency and recency of measuring them, age, and gender. Immediately afterwards, their height and weight were measured. Three hundred and forty-nine subjects were told that they would be measured later; the others were not told that they would be measured. Analysis of the data revealed relatively small absolute errors of estimation (1.00—3.54%); both males and females overestimated height and underestimated weight; females estimated weight less accurately and height more accurately than males; and knowing that one's estimation would be checked by measurement produced slightly more accurate estimations. Simple self-estimates of height and weight are accurate enough to be used in place of measurements.     

Can openness to ICT and scientific research predict the ICT skills and ICT use of bachelor's students?

In this article, we focus on the question of why some bachelor's students have more proficiency in ICT skills and use computers and the Internet more frequently than other students do. To answer this question, we rely on the core variables of the TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), on the orientation of students toward scientific research, and on contextual factors. TAM has been applied successfully in research before, but in this article, the model is expanded with variables regarding the orientation of students toward scientific research, and is geared towards the relationship to basic ICT skills and the sustained use of these skills. In order to attain a more reliable instrument to measure proficiency in ICT skills and the frequency of ICT use, several new instruments are constructed. The results show that this model, a combination of four basic TAM variables, together with the identity commitment of students focused on the appreciation of scientific research and some context variables, can explain a substantial proportion of the variance in different ICT skills, but considerably less of the frequency of ICT use.     

Dangerous minds? Effects of uncivil online comments on aggressive cognitions,emotions, and behavior

Despite the potential of online commenting spaces for public deliberation, they are often full of destructive or uncivil and aggressive comments. Based on research on social learning and social influence, we conducted an online experiment to investigate the effects of uncivil comments on readers' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral reactions. The experiment was built on a one-factorial between-subjects design including four experimental conditions and a control group: Participants were exposed to a news article and six user comments of which zero, one, three, or six were uncivil. Results suggest that exposure to uncivil comments can lead to an increase in readers' hostile cognitions. The effect, however, does not rise with exposure to a higher proportion of incivility. No significant effects were found on hostile emotions or the use of incivility in readers' own comments.     

Reinforcement or Displacement? The Reciprocity of FtF,IM, and SNS Communication and Their Effects on Loneliness and Life Satisfaction

Does communication on social network sites (SNSs) or instant messengers (IMs) reinforce or displace face‐to‐face (FtF) communication, and how do the 3 channels affect loneliness and life satisfaction? Using cross‐lagged structural equation modeling in a longitudinal and representative sample from Germany, we found that SNS communication increased both FtF and IM communication 6 months later. Likewise, IM communication at T1 increased SNS communication at T2. FtF, SNS, and IM communication did not affect loneliness, and FtF and IM communication did not change life satisfaction. However, communication on SNSs slightly increased life satisfaction. Thus, the data indicated that conversing via SNSs and IM has a mainly reinforcing effect and that communicating via SNSs can enhance life satisfaction several months later.     

Where Am I? How Can I Get There? Impact of Navigability and Narrative Transportation on Spatial Presence

From video games to virtual worlds on the World Wide Web, modern media are becoming increasingly spatial, with users traversing artificial spaces and experiencing a kind of immersion known as “spatial presence.” But how do these media induce spatial presence? Are the affordances for movement provided by these technologies responsible for this illusion? Or do narratives that accompany them persuade us to suspend disbelief and transport ourselves into a virtual space? We explore these theoretical questions by pitting the navigability affordances of a video game against narrative transportation and examining their relative contributions to the formation of spatial presence in a virtual reality context. Results from a large experiment (N = 240) reveal that the narrative actually detracts from spatial presence while traversibility (in the form of greater degrees of steering motion) enhances it even without invoking a mental model of the portrayed environment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Performance of Planning Support Systems: What is it,and how do we report on it?

Planning Support Systems (PSSs) are a family of computer based instruments specifically designed to support actors in their complex tasks in the field of planning. There is a gap between the high expectations that PSS developers have about the usefulness of their instruments and the instruments’ application in daily planning practice. PSS academics have proposed several ways to close this so-called implementation gap through a range of software, hardware and orgware approaches. Several of these approaches have been applied in practical planning settings. There is however a lack of consistent and structured reporting on the effectiveness of these approaches in improving PSS performance. Therefore, it is hard to distinguish between successful and less successful strategies, and it is difficult to draw overall lessons. This paper (1) proposes a comprehensive multidimensional framework that operationalizes PSS performance, and (2) analyses how recent PSS implementation studies have reported on this performance. The developed framework, based on literature from Group Model Building and group psychology, is sensitive to a wide variety of performance dimensions and therefore forms a useful guideline for assessing PSS implementation strategies. Studying these in a common framework supports the potential transfer of lessons to other PSS implementations. Most of the analyzed studies only posed hypotheses about which dimensions are improved through a specific strategy, but did not report on measuring impacts. By structurally measuring the effectiveness of a range of strategies to improve PSS implementation, lessons can be exchanged and a consistent body of knowledge can be built.