Equipment in Space – NSBRI http://nsbri.org National Space Biomedical Research Institute Fri, 24 Jun 2016 16:07:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.9 Metrics and Methods for Real-Time Task Performance Assessment http://nsbri.org/researches/metrics-and-methods-for-real-time-task-performance-assessment/ Tue, 15 Dec 2015 16:58:14 +0000 http://nsbri.org/researches/metrics-and-methods-for-real-time-task-performance-assessment/ Human interaction with any modern spacecraft is enabled through shared control between the operator and the underlying control software or automation that drives the effectors, monitors feedback loops, and provides system stability. However, current approaches to performance evaluation focus on metrics related to the final result of the mission. The quantification of human performance in […]

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]]> Human interaction with any modern spacecraft is enabled through shared control between the operator and the underlying control software or automation that drives the effectors, monitors feedback loops, and provides system stability. However, current approaches to performance evaluation focus on metrics related to the final result of the mission. The quantification of human performance in real-time offers the significant advantage of including these metrics as a feedback parameter for both the human and the control-system software.

Our team is developing and validating robust and objective performance metrics to assess task performance in representative spacecraft control tasks and recommend changes in sufficient time to improve mission outcomes. The identification of critical performance decrements, either in measures of task performance, workload, or situational awareness, may be used to alter the human-automation task allocation or suggest changes to crew resource management. In the field of human spaceflight, the real-time quantification of performance during operationally-relevant tasks and scenarios has the potential for making existing operations more safe and efficient, as well as for improving the design of future vehicles.

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]]> Quantifying and Developing Countermeasures for the Effect of Fatigue-Related Stressors on Automation Use and Trust During Robotic Supervisory Control http://nsbri.org/researches/quantifying-and-developing-countermeasures-for-the-effect-of-fatigue-related-stressors-on-automation-use-and-trust-during-robotic-supervisory-control/ Wed, 27 Jan 2016 04:07:41 +0000 http://nsbri.org/?post_type=research&p=21378 This project will develop and test adaptive automation countermeasures for the effects of stressors such as sleep deprivation (SD) on human performance related to robotic tasks, and investigate the relationship between human trust and appropriate use of these countermeasures. It will produce a diverse set of technologies and techniques for NASA relevant to human exploration […]

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]]> This project will develop and test adaptive automation countermeasures for the effects of stressors such as sleep deprivation (SD) on human performance related to robotic tasks, and investigate the relationship between human trust and appropriate use of these countermeasures. It will produce a diverse set of technologies and techniques for NASA relevant to human exploration missions. It will prototype and evaluate technology adaptations for NASA and other users to prevent or compensate for the cognitive deficits arising from situational stressors like SD that can degrade human task performance. It will define new measures of trust that combine subjective assessment of attitude with objective measurements relating automation reliance and task outcome. It will use these measures to investigate the effects of SD on trust in automation. It will develop a testbed for supervisory control of robots that encapsulates a rich set of human problem solving and decision-making tasks and provides an environment for testing the effects of situational stressors like SD on human performance of these tasks.

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]]> Development of Predictive Degradation Models and Determination of Bioequivalence of Pharmaceutical Preparations Contained in the Medical Kits on Board the International Space Station (First Award Fellowship) http://nsbri.org/researches/development-of-predictive-degradation-models-and-determination-of-bioequivalence-of-pharmaceutical-preparations-contained-in-the-medical-kits-on-board-the-international-space-station/ Wed, 27 Jan 2016 05:14:32 +0000 http://nsbri.org/?post_type=research&p=21398 The environmental factors of space flight may cause accelerated physical-chemical degradation or alterations in the integrity of formulations stored on board space missions for extended periods such as on the International Space Station (ISS) and exploration missions. The degradation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and adjuvants in addition to alterations of the chemical matrix […]

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]]> The environmental factors of space flight may cause accelerated physical-chemical degradation or alterations in the integrity of formulations stored on board space missions for extended periods such as on the International Space Station (ISS) and exploration missions. The degradation of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and adjuvants in addition to alterations of the chemical matrix of the formulation can decrease potency and bioavailability, and increase the risk of toxicity of degraded medications. Therefore, characterizing degradation profiles and developing predictive models of degradation using results from ground-based accelerated stability, bioavailability and toxicity studies is important to ensure safe and effective pharmacotherapeutics for astronauts during long duration space missions.

The overall goal of the proposed research is to develop and validate predictive degradation models for select pharmaceutical preparations contained in the ISS medical kits. A related objective of our research is to examine whether or not integrity and performance of degraded formulations is compromised as indicated by bioequivalence in a ground-based animal model.

The following specific aims will be pursued to accomplish our research goal:

1) Establish a validated HPLC-MS/MS assay method that can be used for the identification and quantifications of API and degradation products of the selected formulations.

2) Characterize degradation profiles of medications received from ISS and compare with existing data from ISS payload and irradiation studies.

3) Conduct ground-based accelerated stability studies with a matching set of medications selected for the above aims to develop predictive degradation models.

4) Estimate bioequivalence between earth-based control and SpaceX returned formulations in a small animal model (rat) to examine integrity and performance of medications stored on board the ISS.

Our proposed study is relevant to the identified “Risk of ineffective and toxic medications due to long term storage” on the Human Research Roadmap and Gap Pharm02: We do not know how long medications may be safe and effective beyond their expiration dates.

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