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- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Cooke, Nancy J.
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
This research evaluates a cyber test-bed, DEXTAR (Defense Exercises for Team Awareness Research), and examines the relationship between good and bad team performance in increasingly difficult scenarios. Twenty-one computer science graduate students (seven three-person teams), with experience in cybersecurity, participated in a team-based cyber defense exercise in the context of DEXTAR, a high fidelity cybersecurity testbed. Performance measures were analyzed in addition to team process, team behavior, and workload to examine the relationship between good and bad teams. Lessons learned are reported that will inform the next generation of DEXTAR.
ContributorsBradbury, Aaron (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Intelligence analysts’ work has become progressively complex due to increasing security threats and data availability. In order to study “big” data exploration within the intelligence domain the intelligence analyst task was abstracted and replicated in a laboratory (controlled environment). Participants used a computer interface and movie database to determine the opening weekend gross movie earnings of three pre-selected movies. Data consisted of Twitter tweets and predictive models. These data were displayed in various formats such as graphs, charts, and text. Participants used these data to make their predictions. It was expected that teams (a team is a group with members who have different specialties and who work interdependently) would outperform individuals and groups. That is, teams would be significantly better at predicting “Opening Weekend Gross” than individuals or groups. Results indicated that teams outperformed individuals and groups in the first prediction, under performed in the second prediction, and performed better than individuals in the third prediction (but not better than groups). Insights and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsBuchanan, Verica (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Maciejewski, Ross (Committee member) / Craig, Scotty D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Civilian and military use of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) has significantly increased in recent years. Specifically, the United States Air Force (USAF) has an insatiable demand for RPA operations, that are responsible for fulfilling critical demands in every theater 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (United States Air Force, 2015). Around the clock operations have led to a manning shortage of RPA pilots in the USAF. The USAF MQ-9 “Reaper” Weapons School trains tactical experts and leaders of Airmen skilled in the art of integrated battle-space dominance (United States Air Force, 2015). Weapons Officers for the MQ-9 platform are also critically under-manned, with only 17% of allocated slots filled (B. Callahan, personal communication, January 28, 2016). Furthermore, the leading cause of training attrition has been attributed to lack of critical thinking and problem solving skills (B. Callahan, personal communication, January 28, 2016); skills not directly screened for prior to entering the RPA pilot career field. The proposed study seeks to discover patterns of student behaviors in the brief and debrief process in Weapons School, with the goal of identifying the competencies that distinguish the top students in Weapons School.
ContributorsDriggs, Jade B (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Niemczyk, Mary (Committee member) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The goal of this experiment is to observe the relation between synchrony and performance in 3-person teams in a simulated Army medic training environment (i.e., Monitoring Extracting and Decoding Indicators of Cognitive workload: MEDIC). The cardiac measure Interbeat-Interval (IBI) was monitored during a physically oriented, and a cognitively oriented task. IBI was measured using NIRS (Near-Infrared Spectrology), and performance was measured using a team task score during a balance board and puzzle task. Synchrony has not previously been monitored across completely different tasks in the same experiment. I hypothesize that teams with high synchrony will show high performance on both tasks. Although no significant results were discovered by the correlational analysis, a trend was revealed that suggests there is a positive relationship between synchrony and performance. This study has contributed to the literature by monitoring physiological measures in a simulated team training environment, making suggestions for future research.
ContributorsFedele, Michael A (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Gray, Rob (Committee member) / Roscoe, Rod (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
As the desire for innovation increases, individuals and companies seek reliable ways to encourage their creative side. There are many office superstitions about how creativity works, but few are based on psychological science and even fewer have been tested empirically. One of the most prevalent superstitions is the use of objects to inspire creativity or even make a creative room. It is important to test this kind of notion so workplaces can find reliable ways to be innovative, but also because psychology lacks a breadth of literature on how environmental cues interact with people to shape their mental state. This experiment seeks to examine those gaps and fill in the next steps needed for examining at how multiple objects prime creativity. Participants completed two creativity tasks: one for idea generation and one that relies on insight problem solving, the Remote Association Task. There were four priming conditions that relied on objects: a zero object condition, a four neutral (office) objects condition, a single artistic object condition, and finally a four artistic objects condition. There were no differences found between groups for either type of task or in mood or artistic experience. The number of years a participant spent in the United States, however, did correlate with mood, idea generation scores, and insight problem scores. This potentially demonstrates that performance on idea generation and insight tasks rely on the tasks created and culture.
ContributorsJariwala, Shree (Author) / Branaghan, Russell (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Song, Hyunjin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Minimally invasive surgery is a surgical technique that is known for its reduced
patient recovery time. It is a surgical procedure done by using long reached tools and an
endoscopic camera to operate on the body though small incisions made near the point of
operation while viewing the live camera feed on a nearby display screen. Multiple camera
views are used in various industries such as surveillance and professional gaming to
allow users a spatial awareness advantage as to what is happening in the 3D space that is
presented to them on 2D displays. The concept has not effectively broken into the
medical industry yet. This thesis tests a multi-view camera system in which three cameras
are inserted into a laparoscopic surgical training box along with two surgical instruments,
to determine the system impact on spatial cognition, perceived cognitive workload, and
the overall time needed to complete the task, compared to one camera viewing the
traditional set up. The task is a non-medical task and is one of five typically used to train
surgeons’ motor skills when initially learning minimally invasive surgical procedures.
The task is a peg transfer and will be conducted by 30 people who are randomly assigned
to one of two conditions; one display and three displays. The results indicated that when
three displays were present the overall time initially using them to complete a task was
slower; the task was perceived to be completed more easily and with less strain; and
participants had a slightly higher performance rate.
patient recovery time. It is a surgical procedure done by using long reached tools and an
endoscopic camera to operate on the body though small incisions made near the point of
operation while viewing the live camera feed on a nearby display screen. Multiple camera
views are used in various industries such as surveillance and professional gaming to
allow users a spatial awareness advantage as to what is happening in the 3D space that is
presented to them on 2D displays. The concept has not effectively broken into the
medical industry yet. This thesis tests a multi-view camera system in which three cameras
are inserted into a laparoscopic surgical training box along with two surgical instruments,
to determine the system impact on spatial cognition, perceived cognitive workload, and
the overall time needed to complete the task, compared to one camera viewing the
traditional set up. The task is a non-medical task and is one of five typically used to train
surgeons’ motor skills when initially learning minimally invasive surgical procedures.
The task is a peg transfer and will be conducted by 30 people who are randomly assigned
to one of two conditions; one display and three displays. The results indicated that when
three displays were present the overall time initially using them to complete a task was
slower; the task was perceived to be completed more easily and with less strain; and
participants had a slightly higher performance rate.
ContributorsSchroll, Katelyn (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Chiou, Erin (Committee member) / Craig, Scotty (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Background. Despite extensive research in the literature aimed at understanding the role of hypertension as a major risk factor for numerous leading causes of death in the United
States, rates of this disease continue to rise. Recent findings suggest that antiseptic mouthwash use may increase blood pressure through elimination of oral bacteria that facilitate the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway.
Objective. The purpose of this randomized, controlled, crossover trial was to examine the effects of antiseptic mouthwash use and sodium intake on blood pressure and salivary nitrate levels in prehypertensive adults.
Methods. Healthy adults (n=10; 47.3±12.5) with mildly elevated blood pressure (average baseline blood pressure of 114.9/75.2 mmHg) were recruited and were randomly assigned to a control condition, antiseptic mouthwash use, or antiseptic mouthwash use + consumption of three pickles per day (~6000 mg/day of sodium) for a total of 7 days. Given the crossover design of this study, participants adhered to a 1-week washout period between each condition and all participants received all three treatments. Findings were considered significant at a p-value of <0.05 and a repeated measures ANOVA test was used to compare change data of each condition.
Results. Changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were not statistically significant (p=0.469 and p=0.859, respectively). Changes in salivary nitrite levels were not statistically significant (p=0.493). Although there appeared to be fluctuations in sodium intake between interventions, differences in sodium intake were not statistically significant when pickles were not accounted for (p=0.057).
Conclusion. Antiseptic mouthwash use did not appear to induce significant changes in systolic or diastolic blood pressure in this population.
States, rates of this disease continue to rise. Recent findings suggest that antiseptic mouthwash use may increase blood pressure through elimination of oral bacteria that facilitate the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway.
Objective. The purpose of this randomized, controlled, crossover trial was to examine the effects of antiseptic mouthwash use and sodium intake on blood pressure and salivary nitrate levels in prehypertensive adults.
Methods. Healthy adults (n=10; 47.3±12.5) with mildly elevated blood pressure (average baseline blood pressure of 114.9/75.2 mmHg) were recruited and were randomly assigned to a control condition, antiseptic mouthwash use, or antiseptic mouthwash use + consumption of three pickles per day (~6000 mg/day of sodium) for a total of 7 days. Given the crossover design of this study, participants adhered to a 1-week washout period between each condition and all participants received all three treatments. Findings were considered significant at a p-value of <0.05 and a repeated measures ANOVA test was used to compare change data of each condition.
Results. Changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure were not statistically significant (p=0.469 and p=0.859, respectively). Changes in salivary nitrite levels were not statistically significant (p=0.493). Although there appeared to be fluctuations in sodium intake between interventions, differences in sodium intake were not statistically significant when pickles were not accounted for (p=0.057).
Conclusion. Antiseptic mouthwash use did not appear to induce significant changes in systolic or diastolic blood pressure in this population.
ContributorsShaw, Karrol (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Alexon, Christy (Committee member) / Sweazea, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
As deception in cyberspace becomes more dynamic, research in this area should also take a dynamic approach to battling deception and false information. Research has previously shown that people are no better than chance at detecting deception. Deceptive information in cyberspace, specifically on social media, is not exempt from this pitfall. Current practices in social media rely on the users to detect false information and use appropriate discretion when deciding to share information online. This is ineffective and will predicatively end with users being unable to discern true from false information at all, as deceptive information becomes more difficult to distinguish from true information. To proactively combat inaccurate and deceptive information on social media, research must be conducted to understand not only the interaction effects of false content and user characteristics, but user behavior that stems from this interaction as well. This study investigated the effects of confirmation bias and susceptibility to deception on an individual’s choice to share information, specifically to understand how these factors relate to the sharing of false controversial information.
ContributorsChinzi, Ashley (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Chiou, Erin (Committee member) / Becker, David V (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Interface design has a large impact on the usability of a system, and the addition of multitasking only makes these systems more difficult to use. Information processing, mental workload, and interface design are determining factors that impact the performance of usability, and therefore interface design needs to be more adapted to users undergoing a high mental workload. This study examines how a primary task, visual tracking, is affected by a secondary task, memory. Findings show that a high mental workload effects reaction time and memory performance on layouts with a high index of difficulty. Further research should analyze the effects of manipulating target size and distance apart independently from manipulating the index of difficulty on performance.
ContributorsSrikantha, Sainjeev (Author) / Gray, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Committee member) / Branaghan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
With the growth of autonomous vehicles’ prevalence, it is important to understand the relationship between autonomous vehicles and the other drivers around them. More specifically, how does one’s knowledge about autonomous vehicles (AV) affect positive and negative affect towards driving in their presence? Furthermore, how does trust of autonomous vehicles correlate with those emotions? These questions were addressed by conducting a survey to measure participant’s positive affect, negative affect, and trust when driving in the presence of autonomous vehicles. Participants’ were issued a pretest measuring existing knowledge of autonomous vehicles, followed by measures of affect and trust. After completing this pre-test portion of the study, participants were given information about how autonomous vehicles work, and were then presented with a posttest identical to the pretest. The educational intervention had no effect on positive or negative affect, though there was a positive relationship between positive affect and trust and a negative relationship between negative affect and trust. These findings will be used to inform future research endeavors researching trust and autonomous vehicles using a test bed developed at Arizona State University. This test bed allows for researchers to examine the behavior of multiple participants at the same time and include autonomous vehicles in studies.
ContributorsMartin, Sterling (Author) / Cooke, Nancy J. (Thesis advisor) / Chiou, Erin (Committee member) / Gray, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019