Online English Conversation Course for PhD Students
Dear Students,
The Edux platform has been improved and I would like us to work there. I have posted there just one article to read and comment on. Please comment on it on the Edux platform. I would like to see if it works properly and there are not technical issues. You should see it in the forum section.
Many thanks:))
Week 3 [23.11-29.11.2020] Pilot’s time of reaction
I would
like to present the scientific article about prediction of pilot’s time of reaction
based on EEG signals. Here is the link to the article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fninf.2020.00006/full
I am a fan
of flying so the topic seems to be very interesting. The authors write that the
time of delay in reaction to an unexpected event can be predicted from brain
activity before the event using EEG equipment. Authors conducted the experiment
by means of simulation of aircraft flight and 19 participants took part in such
experiment. They applied regression model to predict the reaction time. The
obtained results are promising and the authors want to conduct the next
experiment using more detailed equipment and higher number of participants and to
take into consideration the artifacts related to eye-movement, or heart rate.
They think about applying the Artificial Subspace Reconstruction algorithm (ASR)
which allows to correct artifacts online. The constant monitoring of predicted
reaction time might enable to monitor how pilot's capabilities change over the
course of a flight. This solution might be applied as a trigger to alarm when
the decrease in predicted reaction speed is expected and might enable to overview
the level of fatigue. In the presented work authors created regression model
for each participant separately, I hope that it might be possible to create
subject – independent model in the future. The job of pilot is one of the most
dangerous jobs and not everybody could be a pilot.
I often fly by plane and fortunately
I did not observe the pilot lost the consciousness or pilot had a heart attack when
I was a passenger in the plane. In my opinion the topic touched in the
scientific paper is very important and I hope it could be possible to create
such system not only for the pilots but also for ordinary people, so it could
be predicted if something wrong can be appear …
Questions
1. Find and
write a short description about real situation where pilot caused the crash of
the airplane for example pilot had a heart attack, lose consciousness or was
drunk etc.
2. In which
jobs could such system, predicting what appears within several second/minutes,
be applied?
3. Have you
ever heard about situation where thanks to a pilot an airplane took off despite
of a technical problem of the airplane? Please write what happened
4. How do you
think, is it possible in the future that everybody will have own system which will
predict and will warn if you want to do bad thing?
Read the article at https://gathercontent.com/blog/when-and-where-do-you-start-with-digital-transformation-in-higher-education and present your opinions on the digital transformation of Polish Higher Education Institutions. Do you believe we will come back to the traditional way of learning/teaching when the pandemic ends? What does it depend on?
Sensory Processing Disorder or SPD (originally called Sensory
Integration Dysfunction) is a neurological disorder in which the sensory
information that the individual perceives results in abnormal responses.
Sensory processing refers to the way the nervous system receives
messages from the senses and turns them into responses. For those with Sensory
Processing Disorder, sensory information goes into the brain but does not get
organized into appropriate responses. Those with SPD perceive and/or respond to
sensory information differently than most other people. Unlike people who have
impaired sight or hearing, those with Sensory Processing Disorder do detect the
sensory information; however, the sensory information gets “mixed up” in their
brain and therefore the responses are inappropriate in the context in which
they find themselves. Some people
are so mildly affected that the disorder is barely noticeable, while others are
so impaired they have trouble with daily functioning. In addition, there
are many general behaviors and traits that are associated with SPD, eg.
agitation, frustration, aggression, low self-esteem, difficulty unwinding or
sleeping and appearing out-of-sync with self or others and the environment.
As a help to people with SPD there are new ways of treatment, the one I would like us to discuss this week is done through A Virtual Reality Based Game. Pleas read an article:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326151682_Imaginator_A_virtual_reality_based_game_for_the_treatment_of_sensory_processing_disorders and answer questions below:
2) What do you think about therapy through a virtual reality based game ? Is it a future of brain and mental disorders therapy?
3) Do you know any other innovative way of treatment that is using not medical devices ?
Read the article at https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201002-the-algorithm-tackling-the-office-space-crunch and discuss its ideas.
Watch the video at https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-54736307
and discuss what they say about digital voting. Present your experiences and knowledge and well.
