The commonly used terms, "unmanned" or "uninhabited," are misleading in the context of remotely operated vehicles. In the case of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), there are many people involved on the ground ranging from those operating the vehicle from a ground control station, to the people coordinating multiple UAVs in an air operations or air traffic control center.
The complexity of remote vehicle operations is also often underestimated and seen as a simple navigation task, neglecting the more complex functions associated with remote camera operations, data gathering, and even weapons activity. In addition, trends in the military and civilian sectors involving reduced staffing, increased number of vehicles to control, and integration with other operations are associated with critical human factors issues. For example, the integration of UAVs with manned aircraft in the national airspace poses numerous human factors challenges.
In summary, though these vehicles may be unmanned they are not unoperated, unsupervised, or uncontrolled. The role of the human in these systems is critical and raises a number of human factors research and design issues ranging from multiple vehicle control and adaptive automation to spatial disorientation and synthetic vision.
The purpose of this book is to highlight the pressing human factors issues associated with remotely operated vehicles and to showcase some of the state of the art human-oriented research and design that speaks to these issues. In this book the human components of the "unmanned" system take center stage compared to the vehicle technology that often captures immediate attention.

Almost unimaginably immense, North America stretches from a few degrees short of the North Pole to a few degrees shy of the equator. Archaeologists are now racing to unravel the mysterious past of the forgotten peoples who once inhabited this sprawling land. In Search of Ancient North America explores many of these scientists' most fascinating findings as Heather Pringle chronicles her journeys among the ancient sites of Canada and the United States. Her enthralling voyage of discovery uncovers the richness of now-vanished cultures and illuminates the intriguing world of archaeology itself.

Journeying from the mosquito-infested forests of the far north to the bleak deserts of the American Southwest, Pringle accompanies leading archaeologists and their crews into the field. At the Bluefish Caves in the northern Yukon, Jacques Cinq-Mars chases down clues to an Ice Age mystery; at the "immense geometric riddle" that is Hopeton Earthworks, Mark Lynott scours the countryside for vestiges of ancient village life; in the thorny wilderness of the Lower Pecos, Solveig Turpin deciphers the enigmatic rock art painted more than 3,000 years ago.

What emerges from Pringle's accounts are surprising portraits of long-lost cultures—the rapacious mariners of southern California who nearly wiped out one of the world's most productive ecosystems; the wealthy nobles of British Columbia who wore salmon-skin shoes and counted their wealth in bottles of salmon oil; the powerful lords of the Mississippi River who won the adoration of their followers with a mysterious medicinal tonic. Equally intriguing are the controversial new theories that the author presents on a host of subjects, from the origins of art and hallucinogenic drugs to the rise of private property, the identities of the earliest New World migrants, and the astonishing extent of trade in prehistoric North America.

Complemented by superb color and black-and-white photographs, In Search of Ancient North America blends incisive science journalism with evocative travel writing to bring the latest archaeological findings and interpretations to light. Delving into the previously unmined saga of this vast continent's lost and extinct cultures, this captivating book is a thrilling invitation to endless discovery.

"Drawing on some of the latest archaeological research, Pringle's book is vivid, witty, and responsible in a field too often filled by cranks and bores. All who are curious about life in North America before the European invasion will find the book a stimulating introduction." — Ronald Wright author of Stolen Continents

"In Search of Ancient North America brings the distant past much closer and its inhabitants almost become neighbors to us once again. A first-rate examination of the mystery and fascination of modern archaeological research in North America." — Farley Mowat author of The People of the Deer

"Captures the essence of what archaeologists are learning about North American prehistory. The book is a pleasure to read and will inspire a new awareness of the importance of the history of North America prior to European contact." — Bruce Trigger author of The Children of Aataentsic

Now in paperback, the groundbreaking history of the Nazi research institute whose work helped lead to the extermination of millions
For those who thought the zealous Nazi archaeologists in Raiders of the Lost Ark were a screenwriter's fabrication, journalist Heather Pringle has the chilling, real story. In 1935, Heinrich Himmler--chief of the SS and architect of the death camps--founded the Ahnenerbe, a research institute that manufactured archaeological evidence to support the notion of Aryan superiority. His team of adventurers, mystics, and reputable scholars was charged with traveling the globe to compile "proof" that a race of blondhaired, blue-eyed conquerors had dominated the world in prehistoric times. The identification of their descendants and the eradication of all others became the cornerstone of the Nazi agenda.
Drawing on Pringle's extensive original research, including interviews with surviving members of the Ahnenerbe, The Master Plan is a page-turning story of delusion and excess, of scientific and political abuse on a global scale.