AATP Interactive

Co-Adaptive Brain-Machine Interface

Brain - computer interfaces that learn from each other? Previous research into using a computer interface to read thoughts and carry out specific movements have centered on one-way communication, i.e. brain to computer. In the June issue of The Journal of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, researchers from the University of Florida have devised a way for computerized devices not only to translate brain signals into movement but also to evolve with the brain as it learns. This is a huge step forward to transhuman and technological singularity goals. The computer and the user co-evolve to learn to work together more effectively.

According to the researchers, "this idea opens up all kinds of possibilities for how we interact with devices. It's not just about giving instructions but about those devices assisting us in a common goal. You know the goal, the computer knows the goal and you work together to solve the task."

Fitted with tiny electrodes in their brains to capture signals for the computer to unravel, three rats were taught to move a robotic arm toward a target with just their thoughts. Each time they succeeded, the rats were rewarded. The computer's goal, on the other hand, was to earn as many points as possible, The closer a rat moved the arm to the target, the more points the computer received, giving it incentive to determine which brain signals lead to the most rewards, making the process more efficient for the rat. The researchers conducted several tests with the rats, requiring them to hit targets that were farther and farther away. Despite this increasing difficulty, the rats completed the tasks more efficiently over time and did so at a significantly higher rate than if they had just aimed correctly by chance.

According to the scientists the 'goal is to make these systems evolve over time and have the devices grow with the user in addition to giving the users opportunities to be able to experience new scenarios and to control the device.'

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Other AATP weblog posts about brain-computer interface.

Brain Control Headset For Games
Brain Meets Computer Again
Using Your Brain To Control Your Computer

Sources:
Medgadget
Press Release University of Florida
IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering

Report Encourages Business Investment in Virtual Worlds

According to a new report by analyst firm Gartner, business leaders should invest in virtual worlds. Many business leaders are skeptical of investing in virtual worlds primarily because of the lack of clarity about possible benefits. Many organizations will find that virtual worlds can enhance casual social interactions inside the distributed enterprise, which can lead to innovation and produce competitive advantage.

The research firm identified 3 steps that can aid in adopting the new interactive media.

Stage 1: Virtual Worlds as Training Environments

Every organization has a training budget, and role-playing and scenario-based training exercises are well-established in many fields. Virtual worlds with strong development tools (such as Second Life) can be used to replicate specific environments (such as a retail location or a street scene) in which trainees can interact with each other, the environment and their trainers via their avatars. On a larger scale, substantial virtual environments are being used in training emergency services and military/law enforcement services to simulate real-world scenarios, especially complex scenarios involving multiple agencies, such as biochemical emergencies or terrorist incidents in urban locations.

The ability to stream media into virtual worlds and embed documents into display objects enables trainees to proceed at their own pace to assimilate material, and then interact with each other and their trainers to explore their understanding and knowledge. The benefits of improved employee knowledge and training can be clearly enumerated, and the savings (or transference of funding) compared with established training methodologies can be reliably calculated to build a credible and substantiated business case.

Stage 2: Project-Based Avatar-Enhanced Collaboration

After establishing a viable presence for virtual-world technology inside the enterprise, building basic virtual-world skills in the employee base, the second phase involves extending virtual-world deployment to support collaboration and employee interaction. Examples of successful projects of this type include worldwide product launches involving training, presentations and project planning that eliminate the need to bring employees from multiple locations to a single site, with substantial savings in travel and associated costs and time.

Apart from project-based success metrics, the ability to show cost savings, for example, reduced use of expensive videoconferencing or telepresence facilities, as well as reduced international travel and "downtime" to support and offset the initial investment forms the basis for a credible and defensible business case.

Stage 3: Nonspecific Social Collaboration

Employee interaction and collaboration are well understood as key drivers in employee satisfaction, productivity and innovation. However, in the modern distributed business environment, with employees working from home offices, on the road or in multiple locations overseas, "casual social conversations" that once took place around the water cooler no longer occur. Employees increasingly work in isolation and broader-based interdepartmental discussions that are often the source or seed of new ideas and innovations no longer take place.

A virtual-world recreation of the social environment, seating areas, white boards, even a virtual water cooler can serve a valuable function in recovering the disassembled social cohesion of the workforce.

The benefits can be significant, but will be hard to enumerate, because they will be predominantly in the "soft benefits" area of employee satisfaction, morale, retention and innovation. Nevertheless, with a proven record and established management acceptance of virtual-world projects, the business case for this final stage should be acceptable.

According to Gartner, "the bottom line is to take a cautious and staged approach toward introducing virtual-world projects into the enterprise; moving too far and too fast will significantly reduce the chances of success, increase costs and make the benefits more difficult to quantify and attribute.By following the three-step sequence, virtual-world investments will have a greater chance of success and will lead the way toward future funding and deployment."

Source: Gartner Press Release June 2008

NEJM Survey Of Barriers To Using An EMR

A special article in the New England Journal of Medicine this week described the results of a national survey of physicians and their attitudes about electronic health records in ambulatory care.

Physicians have been slow to adopt EHRs, so this study assessed physicians' adoption of outpatient electronic health records, their satisfaction with such systems, the perceived effect of the systems on the quality of care, and the perceived barriers to adoption. The researchers surveyed 2758 physicians, which represented a response rate of 62%.

Four percent of physicians reported having an extensive, fully functional electronic-records system, and 13% reported having a basic system. Primary care physicians and those practicing in large groups, in hospitals or medical centers, and in the western region of the United States were more likely to use electronic health records. Physicians reported positive effects of these systems on several dimensions of quality of care and high levels of satisfaction. Financial barriers were viewed as having the greatest effect on decisions about the adoption of electronic health records.

The study concluded that 'physicians who use electronic health records believe such systems improve the quality of care and are generally satisfied with the systems. However, as of early 2008, electronic systems had been adopted by only a small minority of U.S. physicians.'

Major barriers included in the study were:
(in order of importance)

Amount of capital needed
Finding an electronic records system to meet needs
Uncertainty about return on investment
Concern that system will become obsolete
Concern about loss of productivity
Capacity to select, contract, install and implement
Resistance from physicians
Concern about legal record tampering
Concern about inappropriate disclosure of patient information
Concern about physicians legal liability
Concern about the legality of accepting electronic records from a hospital

Abstract of Article
Electronic Health Records in Ambulatory Care — A National Survey of Physicians
Published at www.nejm.org June 18, 2008

The Educational Benefits Of Social Networking Sites

In the first study of its kind, researchers at the University of Minnesota have discovered the educational benefits of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The study found that, of the students observed, 94 percent used the Internet, 82 percent go online at home and 77 percent had a profile on a social networking site. When asked what they learn from using social networking sites, the students listed technology skills as the top lesson, followed by creativity, being open to new or diverse views and communication skills.

Data were collected over six months this year from students, ages 16 to 18, in thirteen urban high schools in the Midwest. Beyond the surveyed students, a follow-up, randomly selected subset were asked questions about their Internet activity as they navigated MySpace, an online forum that provides users with e-mail, web communities and audio and video capabilities.

According to Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies researcher in the university's College of Education and Human Development and principal investigator of the study, 'students using social networking sites are actually practicing the kinds of 21st century skills we want them to develop to be successful today.' It is believed that students are developing a positive attitude towards using technology systems, editing and customizing content and thinking about online design and layout. They're also sharing creative original work like poetry and film and practicing safe and responsible use of information and technology. 'The Web sites offer tremendous educational potential.'

Greenhow said that the study's results, while proving that social networking sites offer more than just social fulfillment or professional networking, also have implications for educators, who now have a vast opportunity to support what students are learning on the Web sites.

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The same study found that low-income students are in many ways just as technologically proficient as their counterparts, going against what results from previous studies have suggested. Unlike previous research from Pew in 2005 that suggests a "digital divide" where low-income students are technologically impoverished. That study found that Internet usage of teenagers from families earning $30,000 or below was limited to 73 percent, which is 21 percentage points below what the U of M research shows. The students participating in the U of M study were from families whose incomes were at or below the county median income (at or below $25,000) and were taking part in an after school program, Admission Possible, aimed at improving college access for low-income youth.

Greenhow suggests that educators can help students realize even more benefits from their social network site use by working to deepen students' still emerging ideas about what it means to be a good digital citizen and leader online.

University of Minnesota Research Site
(Transcript and Video available)

Information Overload Research Group

This July members of a new organization composed of some of the biggest technology firms, including Microsoft, Intel, Google and I.B.M., are gathering to plan how to fight information overload. Last week they formed a nonprofit group to study the problem, publicize it and devise ways to help workers, theirs and others, cope with the digital deluge.

According to an article in the New York Times, 'Intel and other companies are already experimenting with solutions. Small units at some companies are encouraging workers to check e-mail messages less frequently, to send group messages more judiciously and to avoid letting the drumbeat of digital missives constantly shake up and reorder to-do lists.'

A Google software engineer last week introduced E-Mail Addict, an experimental feature for the company’s e-mail service (Gmail) that lets people cut themselves off from their in-boxes for 15 minutes.' The extent of the problem is more serious than many realize. For example, 'a typical information worker who sits at a computer all day turns to his e-mail program more than 50 times and uses instant messaging 77 times, according to one measure the average worker also stops at 40 Web sites over the course of the day.' Michael Davidson, the engineer who created the Gmail feature, said the idea for it came after he was talking to friends about the constant temptation to check e-mail messages.

The cost in lost productivity is estimated at over $650 million a year. Companies are also realizing that there is money to be made in helping people reduce their digital gluttony. Major corporations around the world are searching for ways to keep software tools from becoming distractions.

Intel has instituted some novel programs to help with this. One is called 'quiet time' another is called 'zero e-mail Fridays.' The goal is to encourage employees to favor face-to-face communication.

'We’re trying to address the problem that people get so addicted to e-mail that they will send an e-mail across an aisle, across a partition, and that’s not a good thing,' said one of the Intel managers.

NY Times article

Is The Web Making Us Stupid?

The cover article in the current Atlantic magazine tries to describe what the Internet is doing to our brains. It argues that our increasing reliance on Internet technology seems to be chipping away at our capacity for concentration and contemplation. The author, Nicholas Carr, writes that "my mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles" and the more we use the Web,the harder it is to stay focused on long pieces of writing.

There are studies that have been conducted to evaluate how Internet use affects cognition with a recently published study conducted by scholars from University College London, suggests that are in the midst of a change in the way we read and think. "As part of the five-year research program, the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors to two popular research sites, one operated by the British Library and one by a U.K. educational consortium, that provide access to journal articles, e-books, and other sources of written information. They found that people using the sites exhibited "a form of skimming activity," hopping from one source to another and rarely returning to any source they’d already visited. They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would "bounce" out to another site. Sometimes they would save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it.

The author then cites Maryanne Wolf, a developmental psychologist at Tufts University who states that 'the style of reading promoted by the Net, a style that puts efficiency and immediacy above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading that emerged when an earlier technology, the printing press, made long and complex works of prose commonplace. ' She points out that reading is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand. And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains.

So we can expect that our learning styles and experiences will continue to morph in ways that we have yet to discover and study.

Atlantic Magazine

Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research
(University College London)

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (pdf)

Maryanne Wolf, Tufts University

Telemedicine Comes Home

Advances in telemedicine have less to do with the tele- than with the medicine. In the long term, it may be less about providing long-distance care to people who are unwell, and more about monitoring people using wearable or implanted sensors in an effort to spot diseases at an early stage.

According to The Economist Technology Quarterly, the emphasis will shift from acute to chronic conditions, and from treatment to prevention. Today’s stress on making medical treatment available to people in remote settings is just one way telemedicine can be used—and it is merely the tip of a very large iceberg that is floating closer and closer to home.

The authors point out that is because telemedicine holds great promise within mainstream health care. Countless trials are under way to assess technology that can monitor people who have been diagnosed with heart conditions, or diseases like diabetes, from the comfort of their own homes. Rather than having their devices periodically checked at a clinic, some pacemaker patients can now have their implants inspected via mobile phone. That way, they need only visit the clinic when it is absolutely necessary.

Technology Quarterly

DNA As ART

A British company specializing in wall art based has released a new line of products, offering to print a chunk of your DNA sequence on canvas, brushed aluminum, and Perspex. Its not clear how much of one's blot actually fits in the image, and how the selection and arrangement is made, but the colors are surely interesting.

It adds a new dimension to the phrase "reveal yourself."

DNA Art

Waiting Room Gadgets Can Change Practice

Technology may be able to help in the identification of high-risk behaviors among adolescents. New research in the June issue of Pediatrics finds that kids who use a touch pad device are more likely to share critical info with doctor. A study conducted by researchers at the Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practices in The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, compared the results of 878 primary care patients, ages 11 to 20 years, who participated in a unique, computerized behavioral screening system called Health eTouch.

Study participants took part in the touchpad screening in the waiting rooms of the urban clinics they attended. These clinics were randomly assigned to have pediatricians either receive screening results just prior to face-to-face encounters with patients. When provided with the screening results, pediatricians were able to view a summary of patient responses to screening questions, as well as a list of flagged responses thought to be indicative of high-risk behaviors and an overall positive or negative rating for various behavioral concerns tested during the screening process.

After participating in Health eTouch, 59 percent of respondents screened positive for at least one of the following behavioral concerns: injury risk behaviors, significant depressive symptoms or substance use. Of those youths who screened positive and whose results were provided to pediatricians just prior to their consultation, 68 percent were identified as having a problem by their pediatrician, while only 52 percent of youths whose results were delayed were identified as having a problem by their pediatrician.

Routine behavioral screening, although critical in identifying and addressing high-risk behaviors, often does not occur or is limited due to the time constraints and competing demands facing primary care physicians. This research has shown that recent advances in information technology, such as the Health eTouch system, and the immediate reporting of computerized screening results may help overcome barriers to behavioral screening. Direct data entry by youths in waiting rooms and automated scoring and printing programs minimize staff time necessary for screening, scoring, reporting and filing results. Also, past research has shown adults and adolescents are more willing to disclose sensitive information to a computer than to a clinician.

Pediatrics Abstract

Nationwide Children's Hospital