Positive Technology Journal

Via Networked Performance

Electrohype 2008 will present works by 5 - 8 artists or artist groups. To give the exhibition a broad perspective we are looking for Nordic as well as international artists. Electrohype has since the start in 1999 focused on what we choose to call computer based art. Art that runs of computers and utilizes the capacity of the computer to mix various media, allow interaction with the audience, or machines interacting with each others etc. in other words art that can not be transferred to “traditional” linear media. This might seem as a narrow approach but we have discovered that it gives us a better focus on a genre that in no way is narrow.

We are not looking for “straight” video art (even if it is edited on a computer) or still images rendered on computers and other material that refers to more “traditional” media forms. Forms were the traditional tools have been replaced with computers and software.

Curators for the biennial are Anna Kindvall and Lars Gustav Midbxe.

Practical: You can submit with our online form or download the application form as PDF-file. You have to use one of these two forms to submit to our call. This can be found on this address. NOTE: Please do NOT send documentation material as attachments via e-mail. Put your material online and send us the download URL or ftp address, or send us a CD or similar in the mail. Do NOT send 8 pages CVs and only complement with enclosures if it is necessary. Please read the form and follow the guidelines. We receive a large amount of proposals and all of them are reviewed closely. To be able to do this we ask you to follow the structure in the application form and the topics mentioned above.

Financial: Due to a limited budget we will encourage everyone submitting material to look for possibilities for local funding to help cover costs for transport, travel and rent of technical equipment. This is not a requirement but a request; external funding can help us during the financial planning. The quality of the artwork will always be the determining element.

Electrohype covers all expenses, within reasonable limits, and also pays an artist honorarium to participating artists. Electrohype does not support development and production of unfinished artworks.

In previous exhibitions we have managed to keep a high level both in artistic content and exhibition design, even on a modest budget. It is therefore very important for us to avoid unpleasant surprises, so please keep this in mind when filling out the various posts in the form, especially when it comes to technical requirements, transport weight etc.

Improving quality of life using compound mind-body therapies: evaluation of a course intervention with body movement and breath therapy, guided imagery, chakra experiencing and mindfulness meditation.

Qual Life Res. 2008 Mar 7;

Authors: Fernros L, Furhoff AK, Wändell PE

Objective Assess changes in quality of life and in sense of coherence (SOC), after an intervention involving a self-development course using mind-body medicine (MBM) activities. Design A questionnaire study using a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) instrument, the SWEDQUAL, with 13 subscales and scores ranging from 0 to 100, combined with the SOC-13 scale, healthcare utilisation, medication and sick listing data. Setting A training centre for MBM. Eligible course attendants (study group, SG, n = 83) assessed their HRQOL before and 6 months after a 1-week course. A control group (CG) of individuals who had previously attended the course (n = 69), matched for age, sex and length of course time to the SG, also made assessments. Main outcome Changes in HRQOL and SOC in SG and CG. Results Of the 13 HRQOL subscales, eight showed clinically significant improvement in the SG (>9%, p < 0.01), namely, General health perceptions (9%), Emotional well-being [negative (45%) and positive (26%)], Cognitive functioning (24%), Sleep (15%), Pain (10%), Role limitation due to emotional health (22%) and Family functioning (16%). Sexual, marital and physical function and role in the SG as well as all CG scores were similar to average population values. The assessed SOC also improved in the SG after intervention (p < 0.01), challenging previous statements of 'the stableness of SOC'. Use of psychotropic medication was slightly reduced in the younger aged SG participants after intervention. Conclusions This group of men and women (SG), starting from a clinically significant low health assessment, had improved their HRQOL and SOC after the course intervention.

Blood Pressure Response to Transcendental Meditation: A Meta-analysis.

Am J Hypertens. 2008 Mar;21(3):310-6

Authors: Anderson JW, Liu C, Kryscio RJ

BackgroundPrior clinical trials suggest that the Transcendental Meditation technique may decrease blood pressure of normotensive and hypertensive individuals but study-quality issues have been raised. This study was designed to assess effects of Transcendental Meditation on blood pressure using objective quality assessments and meta-analyses.MethodsPubMed and Cochrane databases through December 2006 and collected publications on Transcendental Meditation were searched. Randomized, controlled trials comparing blood pressure responses to the Transcendental Meditation technique with a control group were evaluated. Primary outcome measures were changes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure after practicing Transcendental Meditation or following control procedures. A specific rating system (0-20 points) was used to evaluate studies and random-effects models were used for meta-analyses.ResultsNine randomized, controlled trials met eligibility criteria. Study-quality scores ranged from low (score, 7) to high (16) with three studies of high quality (15 or 16) and three of acceptable quality (11 or 12). The random-effects meta-analysis model for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respectively, indicated that Transcendental Meditation, compared to control, was associated with the following changes: -4.7 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI), -7.4 to -1.9 mm Hg) and -3.2 mm Hg (95% CI, -5.4 to -1.3 mm Hg). Subgroup analyses of hypertensive groups and high-quality studies showed similar reductions.ConclusionsThe regular practice of Transcendental Meditation may have the potential to reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure by approximately 4.7 and 3.2 mm Hg, respectively. These are clinically meaningful changes.American Journal of Hypertension (2008) doi:10.1038/ajh.2007.65American Journal of Hypertension (2008) doi:10.1038/ajh.2007.65.

Kinesthetic Imagery and Tool-Specific Modulation of Corticospinal Representations in Expert Tennis Players.

Cereb Cortex. 2008 Feb 21;

Authors: Fourkas AD, Bonavolontà V, Avenanti A, Aglioti SM

Specific physical or mental practice may induce short- and long-term neuroplastic changes in the motor system and cause tools to become part of one's own body representation. Athletes who use tools as part of their practice may be an excellent model for assessing the neural correlates of possible bodily representation changes that are specific to extensive practice. We used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation to measure corticospinal excitability in forearm and hand muscles of expert tennis players and novices although they mentally practiced a tennis forehand, table tennis forehand, and a golf drive. The muscles of expert tennis players showed increased corticospinal facilitation during motor imagery of tennis but not golf or table tennis. Novices, although athletes, were not modulated across sports. Subjective reports indicated that only in the tennis imagery condition did experts differ from novices in the ability to form proprioceptive images and to consider the tool as an extension of the hand. Neurophysiological and subjective data converge to suggest a key role of long-term experience in modulating sensorimotor body representations during mental simulation of sports.

Clinical Assessment of Motor Imagery After Stroke.

Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2008 Mar 6;

Authors: Malouin F, Richards C, Durand A, Doyon J

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate: (1) the effects of a stroke on motor imagery vividness as measured by the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ-20); (2) the influence of the lesion side; and (3) the symmetry of motor imagery. METHODS: Thirty-two persons who had sustained a stroke, in the right (n = 19) or left (n = 13) cerebral hemisphere, and 32 age-matched healthy persons participated. The KVIQ-20 assesses on a 5-point ordinal scale the clarity of the image (visual scale) and the intensity of the sensations (kinesthetic scale) that the subjects are able to imagine from the first-person perspective. RESULTS: In both groups, the visual scores were higher (P = .0001) than the kinesthetic scores and there was no group difference. Likewise, visual scores remained higher than kinesthetic scores irrespective of the lesion side. The visual scores poststroke were higher (P = .001) when imagining upper limb movements on the unaffected side than those on the affected side. When focusing on the lower limb only, however, the kinesthetic scores were higher (P = .001) when imagining movements of the unaffected compared to those on the affected side. CONCLUSIONS: The vividness of motor imagery poststroke remains similar to that of age-matched healthy persons and is not affected by the side of the lesion. However, after stroke motor imagery is not symmetrical and motor imagery vividness is better when imagining movements on the unaffected than on the affected side, indicating an overestimation possibly related to a hemispheric imbalance or a recalibration of motor imagery perception.

Via SentientDevelopment

IEEE Spectrum Online has a special report on the current state of prosthethic arm development, including the latest on Dean Kamen's "Luke Arm" which is being funded by DARPA. There's also an amazing video showing the arm in action.

Via TheAppGap 

Kluster is a platform for crowdsourcing and then organizing and putting to use skills, energy and availability on projects and initiatives.  From the ReadWriteWeb review:

Kluster Launches at TED: A New Product in 72 Hours

Crowdsourcing firm Kluster officially launched yesterday at the TED conference, which is underway this week in Monterey, California. Founder Ben Kaufman, who bankrolled the company in part with money from the sale of his last company Mophie, has organized a gimmick over the course of the TED conference he hopes will prove Kluster’s worth. Kaufman intends to let TED attendees — and users from around the world — design a completely new product over the course of 72 hours.

The idea behind Kluster is that a group of passionate people working together can come up with better solutions for any decision-making problem than a single person. Whether that is planning an event, designing a new logo, or creating a new product, Kluster believes their system can.

[ Snip … ]

The Kluster system works by breaking down products into manageable chunks. For each chunk (or "phase"), people submit what are called "sparks." Sparks are proposed solutions for that phase. For each spark, other participants can submit "amps" — which are improvements to that idea. Users also assign "watts" to sparks and amps they like. Watts work kind of like investments. You accrue points based on participation and other factors, and can invest those points (watts) in ideas you like.

Then an algorithm that takes into account "each user’s successes, failures, reputation, areas of expertise, and overall history" goes to work to determine which sparks are the best. Companies interested in using the Kluster system, put up cash prizes that are doled out along the way (at the completion of each phase).

From Pink Tentacle

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created a smart video goggle system that should records everything the wearer looks at, recognizes and assigns names to objects that appear in the video, and creates an easily searchable database of the recorded footage.  

read more 

From Networked Performance

International Journal of Arts and Technology (IJART) - Call For Papers : Special Issue on Immersive Virtual, Mixed, or Augmented Reality Art : Guest Editors: Maria Roussou and Maurice Benayoun: Deadline: September 1, 2008.

For the past fifteen years, virtual reality (VR) and, more recently, mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR) environments that immerse their participants in imaginary space, have emerged to define an area that blurs the lines between the seemingly different worlds of research, creativity, and technological practice, while exploring the interdependencies between the virtual and the physical. From the immersive, yet more esoteric, CAVE®-based projects of the mid-nineties to the contemporary open experiences spread out in virtual as well as physical space, creative VR / MR / AR applications are challenging the ways we perceive both digital art and the science and engineering behind them.

Early enthusiasm with the use of projection-based display structures and the development of authoring solutions for application-building has brought a level of maturity, characterized by the emergence of new technical and conceptual forms. It is this particular moment in the evolution of immersive VR / MR / AR art practice that this special issue seeks to capture. Hence, in this special issue, we aim to bring forth the topic of immersive art in its current maturity, present the newest developments and explore its evolving forms, aspiring to shape a framework that will help us to develop the next generation of environments.

Therefore, this special issue will not include contributions that deal solely with describing a narrow and specific piece of art or research without reference to a conceptual framework or a critical analysis; rather we encourage contributions that take a broad and integrative view of relevant topics, encompassing both theoretical and empirical perspectives of digitally-generated creative spaces.

Submissions are invited that touch on but are not limited to the following themes:

- Theoretical discourse on immersive virtual, mixed or augmented reality art environments.
- Novel design concepts, applications, implementations and experiences from the actual deployment of immersive VR / MR / AR art applications
- Research or empirical work addressing some of the open questions in the design of immersive art environments. For example:
- Issues concerning creativity and aesthetics, visual depiction, storytelling and narrative, triggering other senses, embodiment, etc.
- The fine line between designing for entertainment or for artistic pleasure
- Issues in the design of interactivity, interfaces, and interaction methodologies, such as navigation by and tracking of multiple users, meaningful group interaction, the integration of multi-modal interfaces (e.g. tactile and haptic displays, sensing technologies), etc.
- Issues concerning the design and development process of immersive artwork, such as the conceptualisation and collaboration challenges presented by multitalented interdisciplinary teams working together, the unavailability of resources and work environments, etc.
- Issues in the deployment of different display configurations, sizes, and installations, as well as challenges in the practical use with diverse audiences (e.g., the need to guide people in experiencing the artwork)
Contributions are encouraged from different disciplinary perspectives, including fine arts, computer science, performance art, theatre, design, architecture, communications and social sciences, philosophy, cognitive psychology, and enabling technologies.

Contributions should take a broad and integrative view of relevant topics, rather than merely describing a narrow and specific piece of art or research.

Important Dates

Submission intent (title and 300-word abstract): 1 September, 2008
Deadline for full paper submission: 31 October, 2008
Review results returned to authors: February 29, 2009
Deadline for camera-ready papers: June 30, 2009

The efficacy of an augmented virtual reality system to alleviate pain in children undergoing burns dressing changes: A randomised controlled trial.

Burns. 2008 Mar 4;

Authors: Mott J, Bucolo S, Cuttle L, Mill J, Hilder M, Miller K, Kimble RM

Via Medgadget

The storage will be free to scientists and access to the data will be free for all. The project, known as Palimpsest and first previewed to the scientific community at the Science Foo camp at the Googleplex last August, missed its original launch date this week, but will debut soon.

Building on the company's acquisition of the data visualization technology, Trendalyzer, from the oft-lauded, TED presenting Gapminder team, Google will also be offering algorithms for the examination and probing of the information. The new site will have YouTube-style annotating and commenting features.

The storage would fill a major need for scientists who want to openly share their data, and would allow citizen scientists access to an unprecedented amount of data to explore. For example, two planned datasets are all 120 terabytes of Hubble Space Telescope data and the images from the Archimedes Palimpsest, the 10th century manuscript that inspired the Google dataset storage project.

Re-blogged from Medgadget

Researchers at Breakthrough Learning have developed the world's most stressful board game to help foster systems thinking, collaboration, and innovation in the health care setting.

Played out over a simulated 24-hour day at a hospital, "Friday Night at the ER" graphically shows the downside of short-term thinking, faulty assumptions and an every-manager-for-himself philosophy.

Four-player teams try to juggle a limited number of hospital beds, a relentless influx of patients and a gradual attrition of nurses to care for them, all while racing against a clock that forced faster and faster decisions. Every so often, game cards announce another mini-crisis to ramp up the pressure.

The patient count in the ER waiting room soars as the day goes on, especially if the players running the operating room, critical care unit and medical-surgical floor don't cooperate to free up bed space, share nursing staff and think ahead to the next challenge.

"It's about collaboration and teamwork, about seeing your department as one piece of an enormous mosaic," game leader William Ward [Johns Hopkins University professor of health finance and management -ed] told the players. "Whether it's lab, registration, records, we tend to manage just in our own little departments. I swear at the bottom of the Atlantic there's still a hospital department manager in dry room on the Titanic who went down thinking 'It's OK. My department is dry.'"

Brain-computer interfaces in the continuum of consciousness.

Curr Opin Neurol. 2007 Dec;20(6):643-9

Authors: Kübler A, Kotchoubey B

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To summarize recent developments and look at important future aspects of brain-computer interfaces. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent brain-computer interface studies are largely targeted at helping severely or even completely paralysed patients. The former are only able to communicate yes or no via a single muscle twitch, and the latter are totally nonresponsive. Such patients can control brain-computer interfaces and use them to select letters, words or items on a computer screen, for neuroprosthesis control or for surfing the Internet. This condition of motor paralysis, in which cognition and consciousness appear to be unaffected, is traditionally opposed to nonresponsiveness due to disorders of consciousness. Although these groups of patients may appear to be very alike, numerous transition states between them are demonstrated by recent studies. SUMMARY: All nonresponsive patients can be regarded on a continuum of consciousness which may vary even within short time periods. As overt behaviour is lacking, cognitive functions in such patients can only be investigated using neurophysiological methods. We suggest that brain-computer interfaces may provide a new tool to investigate cognition in disorders of consciousness, and propose a hierarchical procedure entailing passive stimulation, active instructions, volitional paradigms, and brain-computer interface operation.

Integrating a Portable Biofeedback Device into Clinical Practice for Patients with Anxiety Disorders: Results of a Pilot Study.

Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2008 Feb 20;

Authors: Reiner R

This study examined the effectiveness of a portable Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) biofeedback device as an adjunct to CBT in persons with anxiety disorders and other disorders associated with autonomic dysfunction attending outpatient treatment. Participants were 24 individuals attending outpatient cognitive behavioral treatment for a range of anxiety disorders. Participants were assessed over a 3 week period. Outcomes included measures of anxiety (STAI-Y), sleep disturbances (PSQI), anger (STAEI), and subjective questions about the effectiveness of the device as a treatment adjunct. Significant reductions were found for anxiety and anger and for certain sleep variables (e.g. sleep latency). There was a significant dos-effect in that those who were more compliant had significantly greater reductions in most domains including sleep, anger and trait anxiety. Overall, participants found the device more helpful than other relaxation techniques such as mediation, yoga and unassisted breathing techniques but less helpful than exercise. The most frequently endorsed side effects were dizziness (15%) and sleepiness (55%). These preliminary results suggest that portable RSA biofeedback appears to be a promising treatment adjunct for disorders of autonomic arousal and is easily integrated into treatment. Results support the need for further investigation with more rigorous experimental designs.

Virtual reality and paranoid ideations in people with an 'at-risk mental state' for psychosis.

Br J Psychiatry Suppl. 2007 Dec;51:s63-8

Authors: Valmaggia LR, Freeman D, Green C, Garety P, Swapp D, Antley A, Prescott C, Fowler D, Kuipers E, Bebbington P, Slater M, Broome M, McGuire PK

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality provides a means of studying paranoid thinking in controlled laboratory conditions. However, this method has not been used with a clinical group. AIMS: To establish the feasibility and safety of using virtual reality methodology in people with an at-risk mental state and to investigate the applicability of a cognitive model of paranoia to this group. METHOD: Twenty-one participants with an at-risk mental state were assessed before and after entering a virtual reality environment depicting the inside of an underground train. RESULTS: Virtual reality did not raise levels of distress at the time of testing or cause adverse experiences over the subsequent week. Individuals attributed mental states to virtual reality characters including hostile intent. Persecutory ideation in virtual reality was predicted by higher levels of trait paranoia, anxiety, stress, immersion in virtual reality, perseveration and interpersonal sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual reality is an acceptable experimental technique for use with individuals with at-risk mental states. Paranoia in virtual reality was understandable in terms of the cognitive model of persecutory delusions.

Processing of peripersonal and extrapersonal space using tools: Evidence from visual line bisection in real and virtual environments.

Neuropsychologia. 2007 Dec 27;

Authors: Gamberini L, Seraglia B, Priftis K

The dissociation between peripersonal space (within reaching) and extrapersonal space (beyond reaching) has been reported in studies using the line bisection task in left neglect patients and in healthy participants. Furthermore, this dissociation can be modulated by tool use. We conducted two experiments to compare line bisection in peripersonal (i.e., 30, 60cm) and extrapersonal space (i.e., 90, 120cm). Healthy participants bisected visual lines using sticks and a laser pointer, according to the experimental paradigm of Longo and Lourenco [On the nature of near space: Effects of tool use and the transition to far space. Neuropsychologia, 44, 977-981, 2006]. In Experiment 1 participants performed line bisection in a real environment, whereas in Experiment 2 participants performed line bisection in a virtual environment. Results from both experiments revealed an abrupt midpoint shift from the peripersonal to the extrapersonal space but only when a laser pointer was used. In addition, we confirmed that peripersonal space can be extended to extrapersonal space when participants used a stick. Notably, virtual reality can be a useful technique for studying the dissociation between peripersonal and extrapersonal space and their interaction by means of tool use.

Location and longing: The nicotine craving experience in virtual reality.

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2008 Feb 1;

Authors: Carter BL, Bordnick P, Traylor A, Day SX, Paris M

Considerable research suggests that cigarette craving is complex, with psychological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects that are inadequately captured by typical craving assessments that focus on level of severity. That is, the experience of craving, for cigarette smokers, remains poorly understood. This study immersed smokers in different virtual reality (VR) scenarios (with and without cigarette cues present), collected detailed craving assessments, and analyzed the data using a multidimensional analytic approach. Non-treatment-seeking, nicotine dependent smokers (N=22) experienced two different virtual reality scenarios, one with cigarette cues and one without, and rated 24 descriptors related to craving. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) models demonstrate that smokers' experience of craving is qualitatively, structurally different under VR smoking cue conditions versus neutral conditions. This finding sheds new light on the complexity of craving as well as implications for its measurement.

Allocentric memory impaired and egocentric memory intact as assessed by virtual reality in recent-onset schizophrenia.

Schizophr Res. 2008 Feb 12;

Authors: Weniger G, Irle E

Present evidence suggests that schizophrenia is associated with explicit memory deficits, whereas implicit memory seems to be largely preserved. Virtual reality studies on declarative allocentric memory in schizophrenia are rare, and studies on implicit egocentric memory in schizophrenia are lacking. However, virtual realities have a major advantage for the assessment of spatial navigation and memory formation, as computer-simulated first-person environments can simulate navigation in a large-scale space. Twenty-five subjects with recent-onset schizophrenia were compared with 25 healthy matched control subjects on two virtual reality tasks affording the navigation and learning of a virtual park (allocentric memory) and a virtual maze (egocentric memory). Compared with control subjects, schizophrenia subjects were significantly impaired in learning the virtual park. However, schizophrenia subjects were as able as control subjects to learn the virtual maze. Stronger disorganized symptoms of schizophrenia subjects were significantly related to more errors on the virtual maze. It is concluded that egocentric spatial learning adds to the many other implicit cognitive skills being largely preserved in schizophrenia. Possibly, the more global neural network supporting egocentric spatial learning is less affected than the declarative hippocampal memory system in early stages of schizophrenia and may offer opportunities for compensation in the presence of focal deficits.