CyberTherapy & Rehabilitation Magazine (1, 2009)

Issue 1 / 2009

FEATURES:

The Eldergames Project

p 9

Transforming VR into a Reality:The NeuroVR Project

p 12

Internet Environmentto Curb Teen Smoking

p 14

Intelligent Clothing Callsfor the Doctor

p 17

Visualizing Voice

p 21

The SpiderGlove

p 24

PRODUCTCOMPARISON:

Wearables

p 20

COUNTRY FOCUS:

Italy

p 28

COVER STORY:

The Evolution of

Wearables

The Official Voice of I-ACToR

ISSN 2031 - 278

Dear Reader,Welcome to Issue 1 of the 2009 CyberThera-py and Rehabilitation Magazine (C&R), the of-ficial voice of the International Association of CyberPsychology, Training and Rehabilitation(I-ACToR). I-ACToR, formerly known as the In-ternational Association of CyberTherapy andRehabilitation (IACR), is an international asso-ciation dedicated to the promotion of virtualreality and advanced technologies as an ad- junct to more traditional forms of healthcare.It also, in its new form, will deal with issuesconcerning how technology is changing be-havior and society.As you know, 2008 was C&R’s inaugural year.In 2009, C&R will continue to work to bringyou news of cutting-edge technologies, inno-vations and new research in this domain. Iwould like to take this opportunity to thankyou, our readers, for your encouragement andsupport in the founding of C&R. Specialthanks also go to the Editorial Board mem-bers for their dedication in bringing this ideainto reality. I would like to as well thank theManagement Board and Founding Membersof I-ACToR. We are excited to announce thatwe have already formed affiliations with sev-eral other associations, conferences, publica-tions and institutional partners to furtherstrengthen the goals of the association andunite this heretofore-fragmented field. Weplan to build upon the momentum begun in2007 and 2008 through the hard work anddetermination of my colleagues.In the inaugural issue of C&R, we began ourvoyage of discovery by looking at currentlyavailable technologies and their benefits forhealth. We introduced the concept of virtu-al reality in healthcare, and focused on head-mounted displays. In this, the second issueof C&R, we take a closer look at the applica-tions of advanced technologies. Our lead ar-ticle considers the evolution of wearables andtheir uses in the field of healthcare. The wear-ables theme is continued with articles onclothing which calls for the doctor and the“SpiderGlove”. Our product comparison chartallows you to compare existing innovationsin wearable technology – these range fromgarments that monitor health problems to apatch used for transdermal drug delivery.Other articles look at technological solutionsto curb teen smoking and improve the cog-nitive functioning and increase the social par-ticipation of the elderly. A further study alsolooks at how human computer interactioncan improve the social skills of children withAspergers Syndrome. And finally, an open-source platform is discussed for virtual envi-ronments. I would like to thank the authorsof these articles for the time and effort thatthey put into getting these thought-provok-ing articles ready for print.Looking to the future, coming issues of C&Rwill discuss topics such as E-habilitation, videogames for health, implantables and muchmore. There is a wealth of advanced technol-ogy for healthcare, and C&R will continue todedicate itself to bringing you news of excit-ing developments in this field.I hope you enjoy reading our publication andthat it sparks your desire to increase yourknowledge in this exciting new domain. Weare always striving to meet (and surpass!) theneeds and expectations of our readers, and sowe very much welcome your input. Please con-tact me, or the C&R Managing Director, at of-fice@vrphobia.eu, with your comments andsuggestions. We would be delighted to hearfrom you. Indeed, your contributions are vitalto our continued growth.

Create your own reality!

Brenda Wiederhold

1

“We began our voyage of discovery by looking at currently available technologies and their benefits forhealth. Now we take a closer look at the applicationsof advanced technologies…”

Letter from the Publisher

Professor Dr. Brenda K. Wiederhold