aim: it seems that positive outcomes resulting from the autonomy in the job, is dependent on a number of factors. autonomy means the interdependence and freedom of staff in planning and organizing work and it has different levels. the aim of current research is to investigate the role of task reflection in relation of autonomy and skill utilization. method: the research sample consisted of 324 ...

We describe a framework for building abstraction hierarchies whereby an agent alternates skill- and representation-construction phases to construct a sequence of increasingly abstract Markov decision processes. Our formulation builds on recent results showing that the appropriate abstract representation of a problem is specified by the agent's skills. We describe how such a hierarchy can be use...

Community-driven, collaborative approaches to health promotion have the potential to enhance skills among community members and, in turn, increase community capacity. This study uses data from an evaluation of the California Healthy Cities and Communities (CHCC) Program to examine whether, and how, community problem-solving and collaboration skills are improved among coalition members and local...

It is the same situation regarding other new tecnologies (NT) such as assistive technologies, telerehabilitation, virtual reality and brain stimulation techniques. There is a great need of more specific studies concerning the effective interaction between RT and humans. The aim is to better define both interaction with humans facing impairment and consequences on the activity of professionals, ...

In order to reduce the long commuting times for office workers, Fuji Xerox began experimenting with satellite offices. In this paper I will report on changes in the work styles of office workers working in satellite offices. The changes relate to job planning, independence, computer literacy, information sharing, job task concentration, communication, productivity, skill specialization, and tim...

Multi-robot manipulation tasks are challenging for robots to complete in an entirely autonomous way due to the perceptual and cognitive requirements of grasp planning, necessitating the development of specialized user interfaces. Yet even for humans, the task is sufficiently complex that a high level of performance variability exists between a novice and an expert’s ability to teleoperate the r...

John D. Shank is Instructional Design Librarian and Nancy H. Dewald is Reference Librarian at Penn State Berks; e-mail: [email protected] and [email protected], respectively. The authors wish to thank Dr. Mary Lou D’Allegro, formerly Senior Director of Planning, Research, and Assessment at Penn State Berks, for her assistance in the survey analysis. © John D. Shank and Nancy H. Dewald This study seeks t...

Today, robots are already able to solve specific tasks in laboratory environments. Since everyday environments are more complex, the robot skills required to solve everyday tasks cannot be known in advance and thus not be programmed beforehand. Rather, the robot must be able to learn those tasks being instructed by users without any technical background. Hence, Learning from Demonstration (LfD)...

Several topics in projects for mechatronics studies, which are ʹHuman Adaptive Mechatronics (HAM)ʹ and ʹHuman‐System Modelling (HSM)ʹ, are presented in this paper. The main research theme of the HAM project is a design strategy for a new intelligent mechatronics system, which enhances operatorsʹ skills during machine operation. Skill analyses and control system design have ...

Echocardiography is an essential tool in managing patients with mitral regurgitation. It allows identification and precise summation of anatomic lesions that lead to valve dysfunction. In this article, we highlight important aspects of mitral valve anatomy and pathophysiology as they pertain to surgical repair and discuss the critical role of echocardiography in surgical planning and assessment...