Positive Technology Journal

Vicon Revue is a wearable digital camera that allows to take photographs automatically, while it is being worn. In this way, the user can keep a photo log of his/her day to day life. The camera is the commercial evolution of SenseCam, a project developed by Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK. Vicon Revue is sold to researchers for about $700, but the consumer version (expected for next year) could be significantly cheaper.

The camera is equipped with a wide-angle lens that provides a fish-eye view and contains several sensors, such as a temperature sensor, a light color and intensity sensor, an infra-red motion detector, a multi-axis accelerometer, and a 3-axis magnetometer (compass). The size of the camera is reasonably small (6.5cm w x 7cm h x 1.7cm d; 94g weight) and it includes 2GB memory.

To get an idea of the quality of the output you can take a look at this time lapse video showing images taken over the course of 24 hours with Vicon Revue.

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate.

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 16;

Authors: Tang YY, Lu Q, Geng X, Stein EA, Yang Y, Posner MI

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is part of a network implicated in the development of self-regulation and whose connectivity changes dramatically in development. In previous studies we showed that 3 h of mental training, based on traditional Chinese medicine (integrative body-mind training, IBMT), increases ACC activity and improves self-regulation. However, it is not known whether changes in white matter connectivity can result from small amounts of mental training. We here report that 11 h of IBMT increases fractional anisotropy (FA), an index indicating the integrity and efficiency of white matter in the corona radiata, an important white-matter tract connecting the ACC to other structures. Thus IBMT could provide a means for improving self-regulation and perhaps reducing or preventing various mental disorders.

The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, promises to revolutionize our knowledge of the universe and advance our understanding of the most fundamental laws of nature.

But if you are not very good at quantum physics, do not worry: you can still get an explanation in RAP format of what the LHC is all about.

A 'sound' explanation, indeed!

Using mirror visual feedback and virtual reality to treat fibromyalgia.

Med Hypotheses. 2010 Aug 5;

Authors: Ramachandran VS, Seckel EL

Fibromyalgia is a condition characterized by long term body-wide pain and tender points in joints, muscles and soft tissues. Other symptoms include chronic fatigue, morning stiffness, and depression. It is well known that these symptoms are exacerbated under periods of high stress. When pain becomes severe enough, the mind can enter what is known as a dissociative state, characterized by depersonalization - the feeling of detachment from one's physical body and the illusion of watching one's physical body from outside. In evolutionary terms, dissociative states are thought to be an adaptive mechanism to mentally distance oneself from pain, often during trauma. Similar dissociative experiences are reported by subjects who have used psychoactive drugs such as ketamine. We have previously used non-invasive mirror visual feedback to treat subjects with chronic pain from phantom limbs and suggested its use for complex regional pain syndrome: once considered intractable pain. We wondered whether such methods would work to alleviate the chronic pain of fibromyalgia. We tested mirror visual feedback on one fibromyalgia patient. On 15 trials, the patient's lower limb pain rating (on a scale from 1 to 10) decreased significantly. These preliminary results suggest that non-invasive dissociative anesthetics such as VR goggles, ketamine, and mirror visual feedback could be used to alleviate chronic pain from fibromyalgia. This would furnish us with a better understanding of the mechanism by which external visual feedback interacts with the internal physical manifestation of pain.

A randomized, controlled trial of immersive virtual reality analgesia, during physical therapy for pediatric burns.

Burns. 2010 Aug 6;

Authors: Schmitt YS, Hoffman HG, Blough DK, Patterson DR, Jensen MP, Soltani M, Carrougher GJ, Nakamura D, Sharar SR

This randomized, controlled, within-subjects (crossover design) study examined the effects of immersive virtual reality as an adjunctive analgesic technique for hospitalized pediatric burn inpatients undergoing painful physical therapy. Fifty-four subjects (6-19 years old) performed range-of-motion exercises under a therapist's direction for 1-5 days. During each session, subjects spent equivalent time in both the virtual reality and the control conditions (treatment order randomized and counterbalanced). Graphic rating scale scores assessing the sensory, affective, and cognitive components of pain were obtained for each treatment condition. Secondary outcomes assessed subjects' perception of the virtual reality experience and maximum range-of-motion. Results showed that on study day one, subjects reported significant decreases (27-44%) in pain ratings during virtual reality. They also reported improved affect ("fun") during virtual reality. The analgesia and affect improvements were maintained with repeated virtual reality use over multiple therapy sessions. Maximum range-of-motion was not different between treatment conditions, but was significantly greater after the second treatment condition (regardless of treatment order). These results suggest that immersive virtual reality is an effective nonpharmacologic, adjunctive pain reduction technique in the pediatric burn population undergoing painful rehabilitation therapy. The magnitude of the analgesic effect is clinically meaningful and is maintained with repeated use.

There is nothing more regenerating than a long sea vacation. But what we do as we are back to the office and find an overwhelming pile of email? A good recovery strategy from post-vacation stress is essential, and advanced technologies may help.

For example, My Relax 3D is a mobile application that helps you relax while watching at stunning 3D landscapes of an exotic island. When you enter the application, you can choose between highly realistic 3d environments, depicting various island scenarios (i.e. a tropical forest, a sunset)

During the experience, a voiceover provides instructions to relieve from stress and develop positive emotions.

The application is highly configurable: it can be experienced with or without 3D glasses (but I strongly recommend this option to enhance your feeling of "presence"). It is also possible to choose between different pleasant music themes.

Of course, it's not like a first class holiday in a luxury resort... but it's definitely the best you can do with five bucks!

Disabled persons, quadriplegics and others suffering from paralysis may be able to regain movement with a sniff-activated sensor, according to a study by Israeli researchers.

The technology works by translating changes in nasal air pressure into electrical signals that are passed to a computer. Patients can sniff in certain patterns to select letters or numbers to compose text, or on the computer, to control the mouse. For getting around, sniffing controls the direction of the wheelchair, Bloomberg reports.

Quadriplegic patients were able to use the device to navigate wheelchairs as well as healthy people. Two participants who were completely paralyzed but with intact mental function used the technology to communicate by choosing letters on a computer screen to write. The study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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First person experience of body transfer in virtual reality.

PLoS One. 2010;5(5):e10564

Authors: Slater M, Spanlang B, Sanchez-Vives MV, Blanke O

BACKGROUND: Altering the normal association between touch and its visual correlate can result in the illusory perception of a fake limb as part of our own body. Thus, when touch is seen to be applied to a rubber hand while felt synchronously on the corresponding hidden real hand, an illusion of ownership of the rubber hand usually occurs. The illusion has also been demonstrated using visuomotor correlation between the movements of the hidden real hand and the seen fake hand. This type of paradigm has been used with respect to the whole body generating out-of-the-body and body substitution illusions. However, such studies have only ever manipulated a single factor and although they used a form of virtual reality have not exploited the power of immersive virtual reality (IVR) to produce radical transformations in body ownership. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we show that a first person perspective of a life-sized virtual human female body that appears to substitute the male subjects' own bodies was sufficient to generate a body transfer illusion. This was demonstrated subjectively by questionnaire and physiologically through heart-rate deceleration in response to a threat to the virtual body. This finding is in contrast to earlier experimental studies that assume visuotactile synchrony to be the critical contributory factor in ownership illusions. Our finding was possible because IVR allowed us to use a novel experimental design for this type of problem with three independent binary factors: (i) perspective position (first or third), (ii) synchronous or asynchronous mirror reflections and (iii) synchrony or asynchrony between felt and seen touch. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the notion that bottom-up perceptual mechanisms can temporarily override top down knowledge resulting in a radical illusion of transfer of body ownership. The research also illustrates immersive virtual reality as a powerful tool in the study of body representation and experience, since it supports experimental manipulations that would otherwise be infeasible, with the technology being mature enough to represent human bodies and their motion.

Virtual reality hypnosis for pain associated with recovery from physical trauma.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 2010 Jul;58(3):288-300

Authors: Patterson DR, Jensen MP, Wiechman SA, Sharar SR

Pain following traumatic injuries is common, can impair injury recovery and is often inadequately treated. In particular, the role of adjunctive nonpharmacologic analgesic techniques is unclear. The authors report a randomized, controlled study of 21 hospitalized trauma patients to assess the analgesic efficacy of virtual reality hypnosis (VRH)-hypnotic induction and analgesic suggestion delivered by customized virtual reality (VR) hardware/software. Subjective pain ratings were obtained immediately and 8 hours after VRH (used as an adjunct to standard analgesic care) and compared to both adjunctive VR without hypnosis and standard care alone. VRH patients reported less pain intensity and less pain unpleasantness compared to control groups. These preliminary findings suggest that VRH analgesia is a novel technology worthy of further study, both to improve pain management and to increase availability of hypnotic analgesia to populations without access to therapist-provided hypnosis and suggestion.

Therapists' Perception of Benefits and Costs of Using Virtual Reality Treatments.

Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2010 Jun 14;

Authors: Segal R, Bhatia M, Drapeau M

Abstract Research indicates that virtual reality is effective in the treatment of many psychological difficulties and is being used more frequently. However, little is known about therapists' perception of the benefits and costs related to the use of virtual therapy in treatment delivery. In the present study, 271 therapists completed an online questionnaire that assessed their perceptions about the potential benefits and costs of using virtual reality in psychotherapy. Results indicated that therapists perceived the potential benefits as outweighing the potential costs. Therapists' self-reported knowledge of virtual reality, theoretical orientation, and interest in using virtual reality were found to be associated with perceptual measures. These findings contribute to the current knowledge of the perception of virtual reality amongst psychotherapists.

Researchers at MIT have developed a new gesture-based system that combines a standard webcam, colored lycra gloves, and a software that includes a dataset of pictures. This simple and cheap system allows to translate hands gestures into a computer-generated 3d-model of the hand in realtime. Once the webcam has captured an image of the glove, the software matches it with the corresponding hand position stored in the visual dataset and triggers the answer. This approach reduces computation time as there is no need to calculate the relative positions of the fingers, palm, and back of the hand on the fly.

The inexpensive gesture-based recognition system developed at MIT could have applications in games, industry and education. I also envisage a potential application in the field of motor rehabilitation.

Credit: Jason Dorfman/CSAIL

Harvest (2009) is a new art piece for the new instrument terrafon, traditional ensemble and cropland - by Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübcke.

In the first performance Alunda Church Choir, conducted by Cantor Jan Hällgren, played the soil of northern Uppland (in Sweden) on terrafon. Terrafon is a large agricultural version of the horn gramophone, amplifying the sounds in the track it ploughs.

Watch the performance here:
http://vimeo.com/5075042

Read more here:
http://corneerlubcke.com/

Download some other pics here:
http://ollecorneer.com/art/harvest/

From the conference's press release

The Games for Health Project announced the sixth annual Games for Health Conference, to be held at the Hyatt Harborside Hotel from May 25 to 27.

Held in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Pioneer Portfolio, the conference focuses on supporting ideas that may lead to breakthroughs in the future of health and health care. The Pioneer Portfolio has funded the Games for Health Project and this conference since 2004, to serve as a catalyst connecting diverse professional groups and creating opportunities to develop innovative solutions that help people live healthier lives and get the care they need.

“The Games for Health Conference joins leaders in health care and game development to initiate compelling new ideas and solutions,” said Ben Sawyer, founder of the Games for Health Project. “Attendees can expect an interactive and dynamic conference platform with valuable content, networking opportunities and community-led tracks.”

“This annual conference has become the premier event attracting the top minds in game development and health care,” said Paul Tarini, M.A., RWJF senior program officer and team director for the Pioneer Portfolio. “Games can effectively motivate people to adopt healthier behaviors, empower patients to better manage their health, and raise medical training and skill development to new levels.”

Conference Overview

The three-day conference will offer over 55 sessions featuring 100 speakers covering a wide range of topics such as exergaming, cognitive and emotional health, simulation and learning, virtual worlds and more. Sessions include a discussion about dreams and video game play with Jayne Gackenbach of Grand MacEwan University; a panel about the effect games can have on global health such as flu epidemics; and a presentation by Yale School of Medicine’s Dr. Lynn Sullivan on a National Institute of Health-funded project for HIV Prevention in At-Risk Adolescents.

The conference will also feature a game demo room as well as an outdoor game pavilion.

For more information visit the conference's website

Via: Kokoro, AFP

Researchers from the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University have teamed up with robot maker Kokoro Co., Ltd. to create a realistic-looking remote-control female android that mimics the facial expressions and speech of a human operator.

Modeled after a woman in her twenties, the android has long black hair, soft silicone skin, and a set of lifelike teeth that allow her to produce a natural smile.

According to the developers, the robot friendly and approachable appearance makes her suitable for receptionist work at sites such as museums. The researchers also plan to test her ability to put hospital patients at ease.

The research is being led by Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, who is known for creating teleoperated robot twins such as the celebrated Geminoid HI-1, which was modeled after himself.

The new Geminoid F can produce facial expressions more naturally than its predecessors and it does so with a much more efficient design. While the previous Geminoid HI-1 model was equipped with 46 pneumatic actuators, the Geminoid F uses only 12.

In addition, the entire air servo control system is housed within the robot body and is powered by a small external compressor that runs on standard household electricity.

The Geminoid F easy-to-use teleoperation system, which was developed by ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories, consists of a smart camera that tracks the operator's facial movements. The corresponding data is relayed to the robot control system, which coordinates the movement of the pneumatic actuators to reproduce the expressions on the android face.

The efficient design makes the robot much cheaper to produce than previous models. Kokoro plans to begin selling copies of the Geminoid F next month for about 10 million yen ($110,000) each.

Via New Scientist via Stefano Besana

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft’s Redmond research lab have developed a working prototype of a system called Skinput that effectively turns your body surface into both screen and input device.

Skinput makes use of a microchip-sized pico projector embedded in an armband to beam an image onto a user’s forearm or hand. When the user taps a menu item or other control icon on the skin, an acoustic detector also in the armband analyzes the ultralow-frequency sound to determine which region of the display has been activated.

The technology behind Skinput is described in this paper the group will present in April at the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Atlanta.

Check out the video:

Via: Lorenzo Romeo

LevelHead, an augmented-reality spatial-memory game by Julian Oliver.

Via Sketchin

ThinkAnApp’s augmented reality tattoo transforms into a wing-flapping dragon when viewed via webcam.

Via Augmented Times

In this concept demo, the user takes a picture of an historical building and sees the image merged with an historical image.

Curious Displays from Julia Tsao on Vimeo.