PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Researchers share useful lessons learned in evaluating emerging technologies

Researchers share useful lessons learned in evaluating emerging technologies
2011-06-28
(Press-News.org) Most industry executives, military planners, research managers or venture capitalists charged with assessing the potential of an R&D project probably are familiar with the wry twist on Arthur C. Clarke's third law*: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo."

After serving for five years as independent evaluators of emerging military technologies nurtured by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shares critical "lessons learned" that can help businesses and others negotiate the promises and pitfalls encountered when pushing the technology envelope to enable new capabilities.

Writing in the International Journal of Intelligent Control and Systems,** the NIST researchers also describe the evaluative framework they devised for judging the performance of a system and its components as well as the utility of the technology for the intended user. Called SCORE (System, Component, and Operationally Relevant Evaluations), the framework is a unified set of criteria and software tools for evaluating emerging technologies from different perspectives and levels of detail and at various stages of development.

SCORE was developed for evaluating so-called intelligent systems—a fast growing category of technologies ranging from robots and unmanned vehicles to sensor networks, natural language processing devices and "smart" appliances. By definition, explains Craig Schlenoff, acting head of NIST's Systems Integration Group, "Intelligent systems can respond to conditions in an uncertain environment—be it a battlefield, a factory floor, or an urban highway system—in ways that help the technology accomplish its intended purpose."

Schlenoff and his colleagues used their SCORE approach to evaluate technologies as they progressed under two DARPA programs: ASSIST and TRANSTAC. In ASSIST, DARPA is funding efforts to instrument soldiers with wearable sensors—video cameras, microphones, global positioning devices and more—to continuously record activities while they are on a mission. TRANSTAC is driving the development of two-way speech-translation systems that enable speakers of different languages to communicate with each other in real-world situations, without an interpreter. By providing constructive feedback on system capabilities, the SCORE evaluative framework helps to drive innovation and performance improvements.

Several lessons learned recounted by the NIST team are aimed at maximizing the contributions of test subjects and the developers of technologies without biasing test results. "There is often a balancing act," they write, "between creating the evaluation environment in a way that shows the system in the best possible light vs. having an environment that is as realistic as possible."

They also discuss unavoidable trade-offs due to costs, logistics, or other factors. While evaluators and technology developers should never lose sight of their ultimate objective, the NIST researchers also advise the need for flexibility over time. As more is learned about the system and about user requirements, features may change and project goals may be modified, necessitating adjustments to the evaluation approach.

"The main lesson," Schlenoff explains, "is that the extra effort devoted to evaluation planning can have a huge effect on how successful the evaluation will be. Bad decisions made during the design can be difficult and costly to fix later on."



INFORMATION:

* "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

**C. Schlenoff, B. Weiss and M. Steves. A detailed discussion of lessons learned in evaluating emerging and advanced military technologies. International Journal of Intelligent Control and Systems. Forthcoming. To learn more about SCORE, go to: http://www.nist.gov/el/isd/ks/score.cfm.


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Researchers share useful lessons learned in evaluating emerging technologies

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

DIG Coaching Practice presents ADHD and College Placement with Keith Kosierowski on Attention Talk Radio

2011-06-28
DIG Coaching Practice presents Attention Talk Radio on the topic of ADHD and college placement. Host Jeff Copper interviews ADHD coach Keith Kosierowski, founder and CEO of Kosierowski Education Group (KEG), who discusses college placement for the teenager with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Kosierowski is a certified school counselor with eleven years of experience in both local public and foreign-based schools and has worked at both the American Nicaraguan School and the American International School of Rotterdam as a middle and high school counselor ...

New study suggests potent antiplatelet drug effective with low-dose aspirin

2011-06-28
When taken with higher doses of aspirin (more than 300 milligrams), the experimental antiplatelet drug ticagrelor was associated with worse outcomes than the standard drug, clopidogrel, but the opposite was true with lower doses of aspirin. The study is a secondary analysis of a clinical trial that compared the two drugs and found ticagrelor to be less effective in North America than in other countries. Researchers suggest the aspirin dose in combination with anti-clotting medicine may alter ticagrelor's effectiveness. The experimental antiplatelet drug ticagrelor ...

ExecProd Kenny Ortega Presents the New Thomas Guzman-Sanchez Dance-Oriented Feature Film OGFUNK Now Launching an International Talent Search in Assoc with GS Media

2011-06-28
A Clockman Vision Productions is currently packaging O.G. FUNK: TRAINING CAMP. Exec. Producer Kenny Ortega will be presenting the dance-oriented feature drama based on a story by Thomas Guzman Sanchez (urban street dancer/choreographer and film maker). An International search for cast members is now being launched. Using computer technology, anyone can audition in the comfort of their own home for this worldwide search for actors, dancers and skateboarders. Robert Kubilos will handle directing duties on the screenplay scribed by Guzman Sanchez along with Kubilos. "Kenny ...

First patients receive lab-grown blood vessels from donor cells

2011-06-28
For the first time, blood vessels created in the lab from donor skin cells were successfully implanted in patients. Functioning blood vessels that aren't rejected by the immune system could be used to make durable shunts for kidney dialysis, and potentially to improve treatment for children with heart defects and adults needing coronary or other bypass graft surgery. For the first time, human blood vessels grown in a laboratory from donor skin cells have been successfully implanted into patients, according to new research presented in the American Heart Association's ...

False negative tests in breast cancer may lead to wrong drug choice

2011-06-28
A team of Yale Cancer Center researchers has confirmed that between 10-20% of breast cancers classified as Estrogen Receptor (ER) negative are really positive. Understanding when and why breast cancers may be misclassified has important implications for treatment and outcomes for women diagnosed with breast cancer. Its findings are published online in the June 28 Journal of Clinical Oncology. A woman diagnosed with breast cancer can be tested by immunohistochemistry (IHC), a process that detects the presence of specific proteins in cancer tissue. Those who test positive ...

Death rate from heart attack higher in US territories than on mainland

2011-06-28
There is a 17% greater risk of dying after a heart attack if you are treated in a hospital located in a U.S. territory—i.e. the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands—rather than in a hospital in the mainland United States, according to new findings published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study by Yale School of Medicine researchers shows that many U.S. citizens who call the U.S. territories home, are at a major healthcare disadvantage. Led by Marcella Nunez-Smith, M.D., assistant professor at Yale School ...

Turan Sahinkaya Joins Board of Directors of ReputationDesigner.com

2011-06-28
TURAN SAHINKAYA has joined the board of directors of ReputationDesigner.com, bringing more than twenty years of experience in the technology industry. Turan Sahinkaya has experience in business technology, telecom, internet and marketing and comes with the opinion that people have the right to control and protect their reputation and privacy. Turan Sahinkaya has worked for some of the world's most recognized industry leaders, as well as several Fortune 100 companies. Turan Sahinkaya is a graduate of University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor's Degree in ...

Clinical study of epilepsy drug may have been purely promotional

2011-06-28
Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that a clinical trial of the epilepsy drug gabapentin may have been a "seeding trial" used by a pharmaceutical company to promote the drug and increase prescriptions, according to a report in the June issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. As described in the study by Yale assistant professor of medicine Joseph Ross, M.D., and his colleagues, a seeding trial is a clinical trial conducted primarily for marketing purposes and intended to promote the drug and increase prescribing by exposing ...

Nearly half of women with advanced breast cancer in the US not receiving life-saving treatment

2011-06-28
HOUSTON – Forty-five percent of women with advanced breast cancer in the U.S. did not receive postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) despite the publication of evidence-based guidelines outlining PMRT as a potentially lifesaving treatment, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The study, published in the July issue of Cancer, found that PMRT use rates for women with advanced breast cancer have remained static since 1999. According to the research, of the nearly 5,000 women diagnosed with high-risk breast cancer between 1999 ...

Tutors International reassures high profile clients that recent private tutor story regarding Gwyneth Paltrow is untrue as confidentiality is always rigidly upheld

2011-06-28
Tutors International announces that the recent story in the international press claiming that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have hired a private tutor from Tutors International to tutor their children is false. The story, reported initially in one of the UK tabloids was quickly spread through the national press and then featured on news networks around the world, naming Tutors International as the chosen private tutoring company, without any of the reporters in question confirming its truth with the company. For more information, visit http://www.tutors-international.com ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] Researchers share useful lessons learned in evaluating emerging technologies