In CAVE-like environments human locomotion is significantly restricted due to physical space and configural constraints. Interaction techniques based upon stepping in place have been suggested as a way to simulate long range locomotion. We describe a new method for step detection and estimation of forward walking speed and direction in an immersive virtual environment. To calibrate our system a...

This study assessed the relative contributions of visual and proprioceptive/motor information during self-motion in a virtual environment using a speed discrimination task. Subjects wore a head-mounted display and rode a stationary bicycle along a straight path in an empty, seemingly infinite hallway with random surface texture. For each trial, subjects were required to pedal the bicycle along ...

We present a neural network that learns to control approach and avoidance behaviors in a mobile robot based on three forms of animal learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and habituation. Mechanisms of classical conditioning are used to learn to predict the proximity of obstacles and sources of light. At the same time the robot learns through operant conditioning to generate t...

Short men can wear long ties and tap dancers can be serious schol­ ars, Professor James McKenna said in his “Last Lecture” Wednesday. McKenna, Notre Dame’s Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. chair in anthropolo­ gy, shared the most important les­ sons he has learned through his years as a student, husband, father and friend in the first of a series of lectures planned by student gov­ ernment. M cK enna spo...

Explanation-based neural network learning (EBNN) has recently been proposed as a method for reducing the amount of training data required for reliable generalization, by relying instead on approximate, previously learned knowledge. We present first experiments applying EBNN to the problem of learning object recognition for a mobile robot. In these experiments, a mobile robot traveling down a ha...

I'm worried about my paper. " I had a 25-page seminar paper due in less than two weeks. I'd turned in an eight-page proposal, with an outline and an annotated bibliography, and it had been severely and accurately critiqued by the class the day before. It's spring semester, my first year in graduate school at Indiana University. I'd considered myself a poet—I was getting a Masters in Fine Arts—b...

VR lends itself to the study of intersensory calibration in self-motion perception. However, proper calibration of visual and locomotor self-motion in VR is made complicated by the compression of perceived distance and by unfamiliar modes of locomotion. Although adaptation is fairly rapid with exposure to novel sensorimotor correlations, here it is shown that good initial calibration is found w...

We report the case of a 32-year-old male recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes treated at an urban university emergency department (ED) crowded to 250% over capacity. His initial symptoms of shortness of breath and feeling ill for several days were evaluated with chest radiograph, electrocardiogram (EKG), and laboratory studies, which suggested mild diabetic ketoacidosis. His medical care in ...

Fifty-five patients received total cardiopulmonary support with the disposable Lande-Edwards membrane oxygenator during aortocoronary artery-vein graft operations and other complex open heart operations. Two three meter2 membrane oxygenators were linked in parallel to a standard r o b pump apparatus. (Three 3 meter2 membranes for patients weighing 80 to 103 kg.) Excellent oxygen and carbon diox...

The properly placed endotracheal tube provides the definitive protected airway and is crucial to ensuring adequate ventilation in the event of cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, or significant trauma. Although unrecognized esophageal placement is rapidly fatal, it is not harmful if it is recognized quickly. Nevertheless, many malpractice claims have been prosecuted successfully because practi...