ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Job: Research Scientist position in virtual surgery at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Research Scientist position in virtual surgery at RPI

The Center for Modeling, Simulation and Imaging in Medicine (CeMSIM) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA invites applications for the position of Research Scientist to work on projects funded by the NIH on developing virtual surgery technology.  The ideal candidate will develop the next generation surgical simulation technology based on advanced physics-based computational methods and robotic systems in collaboration with surgeons at Harvard Medical School. There is an added opportunity to identify and develop new research agenda, technical challenges and funding opportunities as well as supervise and mentor assigned graduate students and research staff at the Center.… read more. “Job: Research Scientist position in virtual surgery at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute”

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Prysm eyes telepresence as next application for video walls

[From XConomy, where the story includes an image slideshow; for an evaluation of the video walls for conferencing, see a post on Inrich Consulting’s web site]

A Prysm video wall

Prysm Eyes Telepresence as Next Application for Video Walls

Wade Roush 8/6/13

One sign that your company has arrived is that you can afford telepresence suites from Cisco or Polycom—you know, those rooms equipped with a trio of 1080p flat-panel displays and special cameras, microphones, and lighting so that chief executives in New York can see tiny droplets of sweat on the faces of vice presidents in Los Angeles.

The cost of building and running these rooms can easily run into the millions of dollars. They may take the place of private jets, but they’re not much cheaper.

Now Prysm, a San Jose, CA- and Concord, MA-based display company I’ve been following since 2010, is offering an alternative that could put big-screen, two-way video collaboration within the reach of many more organizations.… read more. “Prysm eyes telepresence as next application for video walls”

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Presence Picture #4: ‘Coffee Kiss’ sculpture by Johnson TSANG Cheung Shing

Coffee Kiss sculpture

Yuanyang II (also known as ‘Coffee Kiss”)

by Hong Kong artist Johnson TSANG Cheung Shing

Stoneware, porcelain, hollowing, modelling, slabbing and throwing
L 118cm W 45cm H 24cm
2002

More information about and images of this sculpture and others by the artist is available here.

If you have information or comments about this or future Presence Pictures, please share them with our community by using the appropriate ‘comments’ link (note: WordPress spam filters are said to be overly aggressive, so if you don’t receive confirmation of receipt after you post, please notify us at ispr@ispr.info).

–Matthew Lombard… read more. “Presence Picture #4: ‘Coffee Kiss’ sculpture by Johnson TSANG Cheung Shing”

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Incendiary Reflection: Tech changes facial expression in your mirror, changes your emotions and preferences

[From Fast Co.Exist; more information is available from Shigeo Yoshida’s web site]

Woman looks into Incendiary Reflection 'mirror'

A Portrait Of Your Face As A Happier Person

This camera-powered mirror projects an image back to you where you’re happier than you are in real life. Can it actually make you happier?

Sydney Brownstone
August 6, 2013

Interacting with incessantly optimistic people can be one of the most depressing experiences on Earth, if you’re wired that way. Being told to “visualize success” can be good advice if it weren’t rendered meaningless by overuse (or cynicism).

But with a new tool out from a team of graduate students at the University of Tokyo’s School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, you don’t have to. Researchers have created a mirror of sorts that can alter your facial expressions for you. The result, they believe, can result in a positive or negative shift in your own emotions or behavior.… read more. “Incendiary Reflection: Tech changes facial expression in your mirror, changes your emotions and preferences”

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Call: Computer Entertainment in Cars and Transportation (ACE 2013 Workshop)

Call for participation

Computer Entertainment in Cars and Transportation
Workshop at ACE 2013, Enschede, the Netherlands November 12th
http://workshops.icts.sbg.ac.at/ace2013

Entertainment technology has the potential to not only entertain travelers but also to reduce frustration, aggression, and foster positive behavior in all traveling situations. Games or Gamification can also help shaping the traveller’s behavior for the better by, for example, keeping them of from driving during rush hour or using less fossil energy getting from A to B.

This workshop is a forum to discuss how to enrich technology in transportation through aspects of entertainment and gaming. Example topics include

  • Future vision of new games and game interfaces for transportation
  • Game and entertainment application concepts, prototypes, and systems for being on the move
  • Studies on informing transportation entertainment system design
  • Social aspects of gaming in the transportation domain, including passengers as well as personnel
  • Interaction modalities for transportation entertainment
read more. “Call: Computer Entertainment in Cars and Transportation (ACE 2013 Workshop)”
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AR paradigm reversal: Augmenting virtual reality with actual reality

[From Road to VR]

Hands via Kinect visible in virtual reality

VR Researcher Flips the Script, Augments Virtual Reality with Actual Reality

August 6, 2013 | Posted by Ben Lang

In what seems like a total reversal of the usual paradigm, a VR researcher is showing the benefits of augmenting the virtual world with the real world.

In ‘traditional’ augmented reality, we take a scene from real life and overlay it with useful digital information that in some way enhances the experience.

Oliver Kreylos, a VR researcher from UC Davis, has turned the tables by bringing the real world into the virtual world for the same purpose.… read more. “AR paradigm reversal: Augmenting virtual reality with actual reality”

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Call: IEEE Workshop on the Social Implications of Pervasive Computing for Sustainable Living (SIPC ’14)

Call for Papers

The Third IEEE International Workshop on the Social Implications of Pervasive Computing for Sustainable Living (SIPC ’14)

in conjunction with the Twelfth IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications – PerCom 2014 (http://www.percom.org)

Budapest, Hungary
March 24-28

Sponsored by IEEE

http://www.sipc2014.blogspot.com

Background

The mobile, sensory and embedded technologies associated with pervasive computing are progressively approaching levels of sufficient accuracy, dependability and suitable cost for real world deployment and entry into everyday life. The potential as well as the implications of such technology are significant, with applications in almost all public, personal and commercial aspects of our daily routines. Among these application areas, a topic that has recently gained significant/growing interest among researchers of pervasive systems is sustainability, or to be precise, the challenges brought by achieving sustainable living through pervasive technologies. Sustainability is so pervasive already in our everyday lives from healthcare and well being, to energy and architecture, that it lends itself particularly well to benefit from advancements in pervasive technologies.… read more. “Call: IEEE Workshop on the Social Implications of Pervasive Computing for Sustainable Living (SIPC ’14)”

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NASA JPL takes a VR tour of Mars with Oculus Rift and Virtuix Omni

[From Engadget, where the story includes a 1:10 minute video]

Taking a VR tour of Mars

NASA JPL takes a VR tour of Mars with Oculus Rift and Virtuix Omni (video)

By Nicole Lee posted Aug 5th, 2013

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory likes to dip its feet in cutting edge consumer hardware from time to time, as evidenced by its trial use of the Leap Motion to remotely control a Mars rover. Well, you can’t get much more cutting edge than virtual reality, which is why the team was so intrigued by the Oculus Rift when they first saw it at PAX last year. They signed up for a dev kit as soon as they could, cobbled the Rift together with a stereoscopic 360-degree panorama of Mars obtained from Curiosity, strapped on the VR goggles and found themselves magically transported to the Red planet.… read more. “NASA JPL takes a VR tour of Mars with Oculus Rift and Virtuix Omni”

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Call: 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education – CSEDU 2014

CALL FOR PAPERS

6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education – CSEDU 2014
Website: http://www.csedu.org/
April 2 – 4, 2014
Barcelona, Spain

Regular Paper Submission: October 1, 2013
Regular Paper Authors Notification: January 15, 2014
Regular Paper Camera Ready and Registration: January 29, 2014

Sponsored by:
INSTICC-Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication

INSTICC is Member of:
WfMC – Workflow Management Coaliton
OMG – Object Management Group
SEFI – European Society for Engineering Education
European Association of EATEL – European Association of Technology Enhanced Learning
IGIP – International Society for Engineering Education

Logistics Partner:
SCITEVENTS – Science and Technology Events

SCOPE

CSEDU 2014, the International Conference on Computer Supported Education, aims at becoming a yearly meeting place for presenting and discussing new educational environments, best practices and case studies on innovative technology-based learning strategies, institutional policies on computer supported education including open and distance education, using computers.… read more. “Call: 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education – CSEDU 2014”

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Center for Disease Control uses VR to train disaster first-responders

[From the Washington Post’s The Switch blog; for more on this topic see “State of Virtual Reality Based Disaster Preparedness and Response Training” in PLOS Currents]

CDC disaster training

[Image: CDC staff undergo a pilot phase of virtual reality training in 2009. The agency is increasingly turning to virtual reality to help train emergency responders.]

The CDC just spent $626,000 on virtual reality. Here’s why.

By Brian Fung, Published: August 2, 2013

You push past the flap of the command hut and instinctively shield your eyes from the brightness of the sun outside. As they adjust to the light, your eyes start to see what your ears and nose are already telling you — this is no ordinary town. The stench of human waste and diesel fumes drifts across a landscape studded with hastily assembled tents. Somewhere out of sight there’s the rattle and hum of a generator.… read more. “Center for Disease Control uses VR to train disaster first-responders”

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