Everyday Life Tasks Research Articles

Machines of loving grace: the quest for common ground between humans and robots

As robots are increasingly integrated into modern societyon the battlefield and the road, in business, education, and healthPulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times science writer John Markoff searches for an answer to one of the most important questions of our age: will these machines help us, or will they replace us?In the past decade alone, Google introduced us to driverless cars, Apple debuted a personal assistant that we keep in our pockets, and an Internet of Things connected the smaller tasks of everyday life to the farthest reaches of the internet. There is little doubt that robots are now an integral part of society, and cheap sensors and powerful computers will ensure that, in the coming years, these robots will soon act on their own. This new era offers the promise of immense computing power, but it also reframes a question first raised more than half a century ago, at the birth of the intelligent machine: Will we control these systems, or will they control us?In Machines of Loving Grace, New York Times reporter John Markoff, the first reporter to cover the World Wide Web, offers a sweeping history of the complicated and evolving relationship between humans and computers. Over the recent years, the pace of technological change has accelerated dramatically, reintroducing this difficult ethical quandary with newer and far weightier consequences. As Markoff chronicles the history of automation, from the birth of the artificial intelligence and intelligence augmentation communities in the 1950s, to the modern day brain trusts at Google and Apple in Silicon Valley, and on to the expanding tech corridor between Boston and New York, he traces the different ways developers have addressed this fundamental problem and urges them to carefully consider the consequences of their work.We are on the verge of a technological revolution, Markoff argues, and robots will profoundly transform the way our lives are organized. Developers must now draw a bright line between what is human and what is machine, or risk upsetting the delicate balance between them.

ФОРМИРОВАНИЕ ПРАКТИЧЕСКОГО КОМПОНЕНТА ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ КУЛЬТУРЫ У ПОДРОСКОВ

In the present context of education modernization, the activity on psychologization of the school education and bringing-up process and the improvement of the psychological culture of its actors is the important aspect of work of educational institutions and psychological services. School should create the conditions for the personality development of a child who can solve successfully various task of everyday life. However, the content of modern secondary education is developed not enough according to the needs of the society and a person in the sphere of psychological culture. Psychological culture being a multivariate, system, integral personal formation is represented by three interrelated components (intellectual, axiological and practical) that together allow reflecting the peculiarities of interaction and relations of a person with himself, other people and the environment in the whole. High level of its development allows solving more properly the tasks of self-identification, self-development, self-regulation, and social adaptation. It is required to approach its formation in an integrated manner. The paper presents various approaches to the definition of the psychological culture of a person, its structure, and reveals the content of its components. The authors prove the necessity of formation of the practical component of the psychological culture of the adolescents on the example of their communicative competence, present and analyze the results of experimental work. The material of the paper extends the existing in psychological and pedagogical sciences understandings about the psychological culture of adolescents and the possibilities of its formation. The suggested materials can be used while following-up the adolescent person development within the educational process and the psychology training in the school.

Geriatric health: assessment of nutritional status and functional ability of elderly living in rural area of Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Background: In India, geriatric age group (aged 60 years and above) constitutes 8.6% of the total population as per 2011 census. Under nutrition among elderly is leading to frailty, functional dependence and premature death. The functional status of the elderly is reflected by their ability to perform daily activities which refers to the basic tasks of everyday life. Present study looks into their nutritional status and functional ability. The objectives were to assess the nutritional status of the elderly using mini nutritional assessment (MNA) scale, to describe the functional ability of geriatric people using Katz scale and to assess the vision, hearing and mobility of the elderly. Methods: The study was a community based cross sectional study carried out in KakaRamanahalli, rural field practice area of RajaRajeswari Medical College Hospital, Bangalore for a period of 3 months. By the end of the study, we were able to reach a sample of 91 elderly. Results: Majority of the elderly were either at risk of malnutrition or malnourished. There was significant association between age of the elderly and their nutritional status. About 25% of the elderly were having decreased ability in performing activities of daily living. More than 30% were having hearing impairment. Mobility and vision was affected in about 25% of the elderly. Conclusions: From our study, we conclude that majority of the elderly were either at risk or were malnourished. There was a statistically significant association between age of the study subjects and their nutritional status.

Physical factors underlying the Timed “Up and Go” test in older adults

The purpose of this study was to investigate a range of selected physical measures for their relative contributions and extent to which they may explain the performance of the Timed “Up and Go” test (TUG) in a sample of healthy older adults. The participants where 194 adults aged 65 and older with no cognitive impairment and independent in their daily activities from local senior centres and a geriatric nursing home in Valencia, Spain. Age, body mass index (BMI), TUG, Berg balance scale (BBS), One-leg stand test (OLS), grip strength, chair stand test (STS-5), knee extension strength and rectus femoris cross-sectional area (CSA) where measured. Moderate to high significant associations were found between the TUG performance and BBS and knee extension strength (r = −.561 and −.397). A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the BBS was a significant and independent predictor (AdjR2 = .373) for the TUG performance. The TUG is highly correlated with the BBS score and knee extension strength, measures that represent common performance tasks in everyday life. The BBS was demonstrated to be the most significant factor explaining the TUG performance. The TUG is demonstrated to be a useful tool for predicting changes in functional balance measured with the BBS. The mobility decline may be better explained as the sum of deficits across multiple domains rather than as a single entity. Clinicians would benefit of those findings by a better understanding of the physical measures, in addition to designing more accurate interventions focusing on the enhancement of mobility.

The Surface EMG Characteristics between Erector Spinae and Vastus Lateralis during Bending Forward and Squatting Down Tasks

Bending forward and squatting down are two common physical tasks in everyday life and at work. This study determined the sEMG characteristics between erector spinae and vastus lateralis during bending forward and squatting down tasks by analyzing the regularity of variation in sEMG frequency domain index-median frequency (MNF) in healthy subjects. The results indicate that sEMG activities in erector spinae are significantly higher than those in the right vastus lateralis during bending forward task. Instead, in squatting down task, sEMG activities in the right vastus lateralis are significantly greater than those in erector spinae. It also shows that the fatigue degree of low back caused by trunk bending is much deeper than that by squatting down. The ratio scope of one-order fitting values of MNF between erector spinae and vastus lateralis ranges from 0.87 to 1.72 among 80% of subjects during bending forward task and ranges from 0.31 to 1.11 during squatting down task. This study provides certain theoretical basis for using the strength of low back in a proper way to avoid getting it hurt in daily physical activities.

Lessons learnt? The importance of metacognition and its implications for Cognitive Remediation in schizophrenia.

The cognitive problems experienced by people with schizophrenia not only impede recovery but also interfere with treatments designed to improve overall functioning. Hence there has been a proliferation of new therapies to treat cognitive problems with the hope that improvements will benefit future intervention and recovery outcomes. Cognitive remediation therapy (CR) that relies on intensive task practice can support basic cognitive functioning but there is little evidence on how these therapies lead to transfer to real life skills. However, there is increasing evidence that CR including elements of transfer training (e.g., strategy use and problem solving schemas) produce higher functional outcomes. It is hypothesized that these therapies achieve higher transfer by improving metacognition. People with schizophrenia have metacognitive problems; these include poor self-awareness and difficulties in planning for complex tasks. This paper reviews this evidence as well as research on why metacognition needs to be explicitly taught as part of cognitive treatments. The evidence is based on research on learning spanning from neuroscience to the field of education. Learning programmes, and CRT, may be able to achieve better outcomes if they explicitly teach metacognition including metacognitive knowledge (i.e., awareness of the cognitive requirements and approaches to tasks) and metacognitive regulation (i.e., cognitive control over the different task relevant cognitive requirements). These types of metacognition are essential for successful task performance, in particular, for controlling effort, accuracy and efficient strategy use. We consider metacognition vital for the transfer of therapeutic gains to everyday life tasks making it a therapy target that may yield greater gains compared to cognition alone for recovery interventions.

Naturalistic Assessment of Everyday Memory Performance Among Older Adults

Background/Study Context: Memory performance in everyday life (EDL) and its change through aging is still unclear because laboratory results are often not transferable to real-life situations. Therefore, a naturalistic memory task was designed to investigate memory performance in older adults in a representative task design.Methods: The memory performance of 23 older (70.28 ± 4.65 years) and 20 younger adults (24.89 ± 3.16 years) was assessed by using four established tasks of short-term and working memory (Digit Simple Span, Digit Complex Span, Grid Simple Span, and Grid Complex Span) that differed in difficulty and domain (verbal vs. visual-spatial). To simulate an EDL context, a “Supermarket” was constructed within the laboratory.Results: The results showed that memory performance presents alterations in older adults. This was especially true for the “Supermarket” task, in which the younger adults showed benefits in the common environment as opposed to older adults. A factor analysis showed that the four memory laboratory tasks measured different memory processes as compared with the EDL task.Conclusion: These findings suggest that memory performance in EDL is a different construct than when it is measured in the laboratory and that memory alterations in older adults are especially pronounced in EDL tasks. Following these findings, the authors recommend an EDL approach to measure memory performance further to the well-established laboratory approaches.

The match between everyday technology in public space and the ability of working-age people with acquired brain injury to use it

Introduction In today's society, the access to and use of everyday technology, such as cell phones and internet-based services, can be claimed as a condition for participation in many tasks in everyday life. This study aims to determine and compare levels of perceived access to and difficulties in the use of common everyday technologies in public space, among people with acquired brain injury compared with controls. Methods The perceived access to and difficulty in the use of 14 everyday technologies were investigated in a sample with acquired brain injury ( n = 59; returned to work, n = 28; not returned to work, n = 31) and matched controls ( n = 52) using the everyday technology use questionnaire. Findings Perceived access to the everyday technologies was generally high. The potential to use each of the everyday technologies independently or with minor difficulties significantly differed between controls and persons with acquired brain injury in eight of the 14 everyday technologies. In particular, difficulties were found among those persons with acquired brain injury who had not returned to work. Conclusion People with acquired brain injury perceive that they have access to everyday technologies commonly used in public space, but the everyday technology difficulty is not always satisfactorily matched to their ability to use it. To enable participation in society, it is important to consider both the accessibility and usability of everyday technology.

Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS) and performance of everyday life tasks: Actual Reality

Background: Recently, a brief cognitive assessment (Brief International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis: BICAMS) has been recommended for use with patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) to screen for cognitive impairments. However, the relationship between the BICAMS and everyday life activity has not been examined. The aim of this study was to examine whether the BICAMS can predict performance of activities of daily living using Actual RealityTM (AR) in persons with MS. Method: A between-subjects design was utilized to compare 41 individuals with MS and 32 healthy controls (HC) performing BICAMS and an AR task. Participants were asked to access the internet to purchase a flight ticket or cookies, and were administered the BICAMS and questionnaires to assess quality of life (QOL), affect symptomatology, and prior internet experience. Results: Participants with MS performed significantly worse than HC on the BICAMS and the AR. Additionally, better BICAMS performance was associated with more independent AR performance. Self-reports of QOL were not correlated with AR or BICAMS performance. Conclusions: Individuals with MS have greater problems with actual everyday life tasks as compared to HC. The BICAMS is a promising cognitive screening tool to predict actual functional performance in participants with MS.

Automatic guidance of attention during real-world visual search.

Looking for objects in cluttered natural environments is a frequent task in everyday life. This process can be difficult, because the features, locations, and times of appearance of relevant objects often are not known in advance. Thus, a mechanism by which attention is automatically biased toward information that is potentially relevant may be helpful. We tested for such a mechanism across five experiments by engaging participants in real-world visual search and then assessing attentional capture for information that was related to the search set but was otherwise irrelevant. Isolated objects captured attention while preparing to search for objects from the same category embedded in a scene, as revealed by lower detection performance (Experiment 1A). This capture effect was driven by a central processing bottleneck rather than the withdrawal of spatial attention (Experiment 1B), occurred automatically even in a secondary task (Experiment 2A), and reflected enhancement of matching information rather than suppression of nonmatching information (Experiment 2B). Finally, attentional capture extended to objects that were semantically associated with the target category (Experiment 3). We conclude that attention is efficiently drawn towards a wide range of information that may be relevant for an upcoming real-world visual search. This mechanism may be adaptive, allowing us to find information useful for our behavioral goals in the face of uncertainty.

The Connection of Soul (COS) scale: An assessment tool for afterlife perspectives in different worldviews.

Despite the evidence that belief in afterlife has positive implications for psychosocial functioning, there is a paucity of empirical research and measures reflecting diverse worldviews regarding literal immortality. We reported findings on a newly developed Connection of Soul (COS) scale reflecting 3 dominant worldviews conceptualizing a soul’s life after death, involving 2 perspectives of literal immortality and 1 secular perspective. Study 1 supported the scale’s tri-partite structure consisting of secular, Godcentered, and cosmic-spiritual dimensions, using factor analysis. Study 2 assessed the scale’s construct validity with measures of death perspectives and religious orientation and tested the differential effects of mortality salience on the COS subscales. Study 3 replicated the structure and properties of the COS scale and extended previous studies involving measures of personality functioning, everyday life tasks, New Age beliefs, and self-transcendence. The implications of the findings for the conceptualization of beliefs in an afterlife are discussed.

Assessment of functional capacity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: implications for recommending exercise

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic symmetric polyarthritis of large and small joints and by morning stiffness that may lead to musculoskeletal impairment, with functional impotence. The concept of functionality relates to the ability of an individual to perform effectively and independently daily activities and tasks of everyday life. The aim of this review is to familiarize the rheumatologist with the concept of functional capacity evaluation and with the tests that can be applied in this population, as these are important steps for a proper exercise prescription. From functional tests already used in the elderly population, the Physical Fitness and Rheumatology Laboratory – LAR – Brasilia, which is accompanying patients from Brasilia Cohort of Early Rheumatoid Arthritis, describes in this article a protocol of tests to assess functional capacity for application in patients with RA, including the description of tests: 1) Sit and Reach; 2) Agility/Dynamic Balance; 3) Manual Dynamometry; 4) Sit Back and Lift; 5) Biceps Curl and 6) Six-minute Walk Test.

Prospective memory in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: exploring effects of implementation intentions and retrospective memory load.

This study examined, for the first time, the impact of implementation intentions on prospective memory (PM) performance in adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and further explored the role of retrospective memory for PM in ASD. PM was assessed with Virtual Week, a computerized game simulating upcoming everyday-life tasks. Twenty-seven adults with ASD and 27 age- and ability-matched controls were included. Half of the participants were instructed to form implementation intentions (i.e., encoding PM tasks in form of if-then statements), while the rest received simple PM instructions. Results provide first tentative evidence for beneficial effects of implementation intentions and PM tasks with low demands on retrospective memory for adults with ASD's PM. Overall, results point to the importance of planning and retrospective memory for successful prospective remembering in ASD.

Modern institutions between trust and fear: elements for an interpretation of legitimation through expertise

The article deals with the ambiguous relation between fear and expertise, and examines how it affects institutions’ legitimation. In contemporary societies the so-called expert systems can be considered as powerful trust creators. However their power can also cause fear, as their control over the majority of everyday life tasks can have a “disabling” effect on lay people. This double-edged role deeply influences the relation between citizens and institutions, the latter considerably relying on expertise in order to be perceived as rational actors. Fear, therefore, can be considered as a central element in determining the legitimacy of institutions in modern societies.

Computational Analysis of TRAPPC9: Candidate Gene for Autosomal Recessive Non-Syndromic Mental Retardation

Mental retardation (MR)/ intellectual disability (ID) is a neuro-developmental disorder characterized by a low intellectual quotient (IQ) and deficits in adaptive behavior related to everyday life tasks such as delayed language acquisition, social skills or self-help skills with onset before age 18. To date, a few genes (PRSS12, CRBN, CC2D1A, GRIK2, TUSC3, TRAPPC9, TECR, ST3GAL3, MED23, MAN1B1, NSUN1) for autosomal-recessive forms of non syndromic MR (NS-ARMR) have been identified and established in various families with ID. The recently reported candidate gene TRAPPC9 was selected for computational analysis to explore its potentially important role in pathology as it is the only gene for ID reported in more than five different familial cases worldwide. YASARA (12.4.1) was utilized to generate three dimensional structures of the candidate gene TRAPPC9. Hybrid structure prediction was employed. Crystal Structure of a Conserved Metalloprotein From Bacillus Cereus (3D19-C) was selected as best suitable template using position-specific iteration-BLAST. Template (3D19-C) parameters were based on E-value, Z-score and resolution and quality score of 0.32, -1.152, 2.30°A and 0.684 respectively. Model reliability showed 93.1% residues placed in the most favored region with 96.684 quality factor, and overall 0.20 G-factor (dihedrals 0.06 and covalent 0.39 respectively). Protein-Protein docking analysis demonstrated that TRAPPC9 showed strong interactions of the amino acid residues S(253), S(251), Y(256), G(243), D(131) with R(105), Q(425), W(226), N(255), S(233), its functional partner 1KBKB. Protein-protein interacting residues could facilitate the exploration of structural and functional outcomes of wild type and mutated TRAPCC9 protein. Actively involved residues can be used to elucidate the binding properties of the protein, and to develop drug therapy for NS-ARMR patients.

Avaliação da capacidade funcional em pacientes com artrite reumatoide: implicações para a recomendação de exercícios físicos

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic symmetric polyarthritis of large and small joints and by morning stiffness that may lead to musculoskeletal impairment, with functional impotence. The concept of functionality relates to the ability of an individual to perform effectively and independently daily activities and tasks of everyday life. The aim of this review is to familiarize the rheumatologist with the concept of functional capacity evaluation and with the tests that can be applied in this population, as these are important steps for a proper exercise prescription. From functional tests already used in the elderly population, the Physical Fitness and Rheumatology Laboratory – LAR – Brasilia, which is accompanying patients from Brasilia Cohort of Early Rheumatoid Arthritis, describes in this article a protocol of tests to assess functional capacity for application in patients with RA, including the description of tests: 1) Sit and Reach; 2) Agility/Dynamic Balance; 3) Manual Dynamometry; 4) Sit Back and Lift; 5) Biceps Curl and 6) Six‐minute Walk Test.

Sobrecarga de familiares cuidadores em relação ao diagnóstico de pacientes psiquiátricos

Objetivo Comparar os graus das sobrecargas objetiva e subjetiva sentidas por familiares cuidadores de pacientes com esquizofrenia e por familiares cuidadores de pacientes com depressão maior, bem como os fatores associados e as dimensões mais afetadas em cada grupo. Métodos Participaram desta pesquisa 50 cuidadores de pacientes com esquizofrenia e 50 cuidadores de pacientes com depressão maior. Esses familiares participaram de uma entrevista estruturada, na qual foram aplicados dois instrumentos: a escala de sobrecarga FBIS-BR e um questionário. Resultados Os resultados indicaram que os dois grupos apresentavam diferenças significativas quanto ao grau de sobrecarga, na análise detalhada dos itens da escala. Os familiares cuidadores de pacientes com esquizofrenia apresentaram sobrecarga objetiva significativamente mais elevada ao assistir o paciente na tomada de medicamentos e na administração do dinheiro e apresentaram maior sentimento de peso financeiro resultante do papel de cuidador. Os cuidadores de pacientes com depressão maior apresentaram maior frequência de supervisão de comportamentos autoagressivos, mais preocupação com a vida social dos pacientes e maior sentimento de incômodo nas tarefas de assistência na vida cotidiana. Não foram encontrados dados significativos referentes aos escores globais da escala de sobrecarga. Conclusão As diferenças encontradas nesta pesquisa apontam para a necessidade de os serviços de saúde mental planejarem intervenções específicas para cada grupo de cuidadores.

New views of hypnotizability.

New views of hypnotizability.

On the Control of Human-Robot Bi-Manual Manipulation

As robots begin to permeate the everyday human workspace to collaborate in innumerable and varied tasks, the robotic structure must adhere and replicate human-like gestures for effective interaction. Whether rehabilitation or augmentation, upper arm human-robot interaction is some of the most prevalent and investigated forms of collaboration. However, currently robotic control schemes fail to capture the true intricacies of anthropomorphic motion and intent during simple bi-manual manipulation tasks. This paper focuses on the introduction of bio-inspired control schemes for robot manipulators that coordinate with humans during dual arm object manipulation. Using experimental data captured from human subjects performing a variety of every-day bi-manual life tasks, we propose a bio-inspired controller for a robot arm, that is able to learn human inter- and intra-arm coordination during those tasks. Using dimensionality reduction techniques to make comprehensible the linear correlations of both arms in joint space we fit and utilize potential fields that attract the robot to human-like configurations. This method is then tested using real experimental data across multiple bi-manual tasks with a comparison made between the bio-inspired and traditional inverse kinematic controllers. Using a robotic kinematic chain identical to the human arm, models are evaluated for anthropomorphic configurations.

(109) Assessment of self-reported pain and disability and performance on functional tests among osteoarthritis patients: are performance-based measures in the clinic necessary?

Osteoarthritis (OA) is related to increased pain and decreased physical function. Assessment of patient well-being, however, typically relies on patient self-report. Exclusive focus on self-report of subjects’ impressions of what they can do may not be consistent with their actual capacities to perform tasks in everyday life. This study examined relationships among self-reported pain and disability, pre- to post functional test changes in pain and actual performance of functional tests. Subjects with OA pain of the knee (n=38) completed the Pain Disability Index (PDI) and a visual analog scale (VAS) assessing overall pain intensity prior to starting any procedures.