VOLUME 130: SUMMER 2015
VIRTUAL IMMERSION RESEARCH GROUP DEVELOPS VIRTUAL REALITY PROGRAMS µ PAGE 8 µ
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TECHNOSTAFF
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editor-in-chief
Megan Jones Managing editor for reporting
Declan Harty Managing editor for online
Miranda Holloway Creative director
Torey Butner Technograph editor
Abrar Al-Heeti Designers
Bryan Lorenz Ana Rodas Juliany Nakazato Copy Editors
Maggie Pluskota Susan Szuch Writers
Becky Nguyen Caroline Vakil Publisher
Lilyan Levant Web
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LEAFY TRANQUILITY
INTO THE FUTURE
A HEAVY COST
Study shows correlation between foliage and lower stress levels
Research group develops virtual reality programs for on, off campus
Study reveals higher health care costs for obese, smokers
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TECHNOSTAFF
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editor-in-chief
Megan Jones Managing editor for reporting
Declan Harty Managing editor for online
Miranda Holloway Creative director
Torey Butner Technograph editor
Abrar Al-Heeti Designers
Bryan Lorenz Ana Rodas Juliany Nakazato Copy Editors
Maggie Pluskota Susan Szuch Writers
Becky Nguyen Caroline Vakil Publisher
Lilyan Levant Web
readtechnograph.com Email
technograph@dailyillini.com Mail
Technograph 512 E. Green St., 3rd floor Champaign, IL 61820 Phone
(217) 337-8350 AN ILLINI MEDIA PUBLICATION COPYRIGHT 2015
LEAFY TRANQUILITY
INTO THE FUTURE
A HEAVY COST
Study shows correlation between foliage and lower stress levels
Research group develops virtual reality programs for on, off campus
Study reveals higher health care costs for obese, smokers
PAGE 4
PAGE 8
PAGE 12
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Finding serenity among trees Researchers discover exposure to trees’ greenery linked to lower stress BY CAROLINE VAKIL | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER
Trees have healing powers. At least, that is the conclusion of landscape architecture researcher Bin Jiang. He, along with fellow researchers — Chun-Yen Chang, researcher at the Laboratory of Healthy Landscape Healthy People of the National Taiwan University, and William Sullivan, professor of landscape architecture —
compared the effects of tree canopies with human cortisol levels, which are indicative of stress levels. To begin the study, Jiang and researchers focused on finding healthy participants for their study, specifically people who were from the Champaign-Urbana area and had lived in the U.S. for at least 18 years.
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Once participants were recruited, the researchers measured reactions to stress by placing their 158 participants in stressful situations, including having them do computational math problems without paper or calculators, and giving improvised speeches on the spot — known as the Trier Social Stress Test . Participants were next split into 10 groups and watched six-minute videos of tree canopies with anywhere from two to 52 percent of foliage. The researchers measured the reactions of participants’ stress to the video by measuring skin conductance, salivary response, perspiration and people’s vocal responses to the videos. They found that men and women differed greatly when it came to how each gender reacted to the foliage they saw in the video. For women, there was “no relationship between tree cover density and stress reduction,” according to Jiang and the researchers’ paper “A dose of nature: Tree cover, stress reduction, and gender differences.” In other words, women were not at all affected by the videos. In contrast, the men reacted strongly to the tree foliage they saw. According to their paper, “For men, the doseresponse curve was an inverted-U shape ... As the percent tree cover increases from barren to greener scenes, there is a rapid increase in stress reduction until the density of the tree cover reaches 35 percent.” However, once the percentage of tree foliage increased from 35 to 52 percent, the efficacy of the videos declined, with “a decrease in stress reduction.” Thus, the results were found most successful in the male participants who actually displayed a reduction in their stress, specifically those who watched videos of trees containing two to 35 percent foliage. Sullivan and researchers are curious about the findings, and specifically why women did not experience a change in stress reduction. “We’re not exactly sure why it is,” Sullivan said. However, he notes that these findings do not tell the entire picture of how each gender responds to stressful experiences. In a similar study, the researchers followed similar procedures, but in addition to measuring participants’ biological reactions to the video, they asked the female participants in a self-report before and after watching how stressed they were. The self-report consisted of ten questions and
“(This study) does have important implications because we live in stressful times. People are under a lot of pressure these days ... If you live in a neighborhood or work in an office building or go to a school that’s green, you’re going to be able to recover faster than you would otherwise in a more barren place.” WILLIAM SULLIVAN professor of landscape architecture for each answer, the female participants marked their stress levels on a 10-centimeter line, with the zero line being very little and the far right end being a lot . The researchers then measured the number of centimeters over from the zero line for each question and found a linear relationship between watching the videos and the stress level reduction the female participants felt . “In both measures you see that low levels of vegetation are associated with less stress recovery and medium levels of vegetation are associated with better stress recovery,” Sullivan said. “I give a lot of credence to their self-report in spite of the fact that you’ve got these objective measures, too. I think you got to take it as a whole.” The results of this study raise major implications for how this could benefit neighborhoods and
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communities in general. For Jiang, this implies putting more emphasis on the greener aspect of cities. “We should spend more money in improving every street (through) improving nature, not hotels,” Jiang said. “Trees have magnificent effects on healing.” For Sullivan, it’s a matter of living a healthy life. “It does have important implications because we live in stressful times,” he said. “People are under a lot of pressure these days ... If you live in a neighborhood or work in an office building or go to a school that’s green, you’re going to be able to recover faster than you would otherwise in a more barren place.” In addition, Jiang and Sullivan said that they hope that this study will help architects think more seriously about how they might shape classrooms and offices. Things people can do to help recover from stressful experiences can be as simple as putting up pictures of trees and green landscaping or placing plants in offices and classrooms, Sullivan said.
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Visualizing the future University research group creates immersive experiences through virtual reality BY ABRAR AL-HEETI
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SUPPLEMENTS EDITOR
aul McCartney stands on stage. His band is in the background warming up for another song. There is the sound of a drum and cymbals starting up a rhythm. Bright lights shine from overhead and from below the stage to reveal the waving arms and excited movements of the eager, cheering crowd. It’s after turning around in a full circle that attendees become immersed in the experience. Until the visors come off, users don’t
realize they are standing in the virtual reality lab at the University’s Talbot Laboratory. The concert experience has been replaced by a classroom with desks, chairs, computers and various virtual reality equipment. Th is is where a research group lead by nuclear, plasma and radiological engineering, NPRE, professor Rizwan Uddin experiments with virtual reality devices and programs. Experiences like the Paul McCartney concert are created through a free app that Cory Scribner, a member of the virtual reality research team and senior in NPRE,
1010 downloaded on his Android phone. He can then place his phone into $15 cardboard pieces that resemble binoculars, called Google Cardboard Visors. By looking into them, the images on the phone become three-dimensional, and the viewer feels immersed. The Google Cardboard Visor isn’t the only virtual reality equipment the group uses. There is also the Oculus Rift, a headset that simulates visual contexts present in the real world. It differs from Google Cardboard in that participants can actually interact with objects within the setting. Each Oculus Rift headset is priced at around $350. “It’s not perfect, but it’s closer than anybody has ever been in history,” Scribner said. “There has been tons and tons of research going into virtual reality, and so far the Oculus Rift headset is currently the best.” Oculus Rift is a private company that was recently bought by Facebook. The research group at the University, which consists of Scriber and Justin Joseph, sophomore in NPRE, uses the device for their virtual simulations and experiments.
Uddin said the research group’s focus is to develop and improve upon virtual reality programs that can be used for academic and job training purposes. Currently, there are virtually reconstructed models of a few of the University’s labs on the Oculus, one of which is a chemistry lab in Noyes Laboratory. In this model, participants go through safety training by locating fire alarms, fire extinguishers and emergency exit doors. Th is basic safety training must be completed before students go on to do experiments. In regard to workplace training, Uddin said if a company needs to train its personnel but the environment is hazardous because of things such as radiation or the presence of toxic materials, it may be difficult to conduct this training in the actual environment. Instead, a model of that environment can be made, and personnel can be trained through virtual reality. “There is interest on the part of places which find it very expensive to develop actual physical labs,” Uddin said. “So they would
like to have these virtual labs where their students can go conduct experiments and collect data in a video-game-like environment.” Uddin’s team has also used virtual reality to solve the issue of insufficient space in laboratories. “About 10 years ago, there were about 15 undergraduate students in any class in the department,” Uddin said. “So the lab stations that we had were sufficient. But then our numbers went up to 50, so then the lab stations were not sufficient. So we said, ‘OK, half of you will do the lab here in the physical lab, and then the other half will do the virtual lab.’ They can do that from home or from the computer lab.” Because the Oculus Rift is still under development, there are a few shortcomings the researchers are working to resolve. One of those issues is figuring out how participants can interact with items around them when they are wearing virtual reality devices. “It is one thing to be able to just walk around (in virtual reality),” Uddin said. “But
11 if you want to do an experiment – you want to pick up something and put it somewhere else, you want to pour some water – how do you do those things when you are wearing these goggles?” Joseph said some people are also prone to becoming nauseated while using the Oculus because of incongruences with movement between virtual reality and real life. “Another thing is that the Oculus has too many wires,” Joseph said. “While the Oculus is running, there is a ton of data that is being transmitted between the Oculus and the computer. As a result, a lot of wires are needed. It would be much better if the Oculus were wireless. As of now, the wires prevent people from moving, so they have to use an XBOX controller to move around.” There are also problems with leap motion, a sensor that detects one’s hands, fi ngers and arms in a simulation, which are then used to gesture signs to the computer. These researchers use leap motion to enable subjects to interact with the simulated environment using their hands.
“Leap motion has limitations on how it can detect your hands,” Scribner said. “Currently, interacting with buttons in the simulation is very difficult because getting the hands to be in the right position and getting them to consistently push a button is troublesome.” Outside of an educational or work setting, Oculus Rift could also transform gaming experiences through its immersive nature. “If you look at, for example, people who play shooting games,” Uddin said. “(Typically) all you see is what is in front of you. With this three-dimensional immersive environment, once you put it on, you can look to the right, you can look to the left, you can look behind you, you can look up. So if you are in a forest, then you can look up and you will see the stars or you will see the trees; you can look behind you and there may be a mountain there. And it will look like you are completely surrounded in that environment – actually, you can forget where you are because it’s so realistic.” As devices like the Oculus continue to undergo development to become civilian-
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standard models, everyday consumers can meanwhile access some virtual reality programs for free on their phones. The Paul McCartney concert app on Scribner’s phone is no longer available for new downloads, but there are several other virtual reality smartphone apps that can be downloaded from Google Play or iTunes, such as a roller coaster app called “Crazy Swing VR” for Android phones and “Roller Coaster VR” for the iPhone 6, as any iPhone older than that is too small for the virtual reality to effectively work in the Google Cardboard Visors. When placed in the Cardboard Visors, this app simulates the feeling of actually being on a roller coaster – dips, swerves and all. The simulation can seem so close to reality that Scribner said he sometimes feels the real-life effects that come along with riding a roller coaster. “I would advise if you wanted to see that one,” Scribner said, “I tend to fare better with an empty stomach.” aalheet2@dailyillini.com
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Poor health BY BECKY NGUYEN | TECHNOGRAPH WRITER
A new University study revealed that health care costs among the obese and smokers are substantially higher than for their non-obese and non-smoking counterparts. In addition, it suggests health care expenses associated with obesity and smoking were considerably larger among women, non-Hispanic whites and older patients. The -year-long study tracked annual per-capita health care expenses made by .. adults who either had a greater than or equal to , or smoked more than cigarettes in their lifetime. “We tested the hypothesis that people with higher body weight and people who are smokers tend to have more, additional health care costs compared to their peers
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who are similar to them in terms of individual characteristics,” said Ruopeng An, head of the study and professor of kinesiology and community health . Nationally represented data sets from the National Health Interview Survey from to and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from to were analyzed in this study. From that data, An was able to see how much the obese and smokers spent on prescription medicines, emergency room services, office-based medical provider services, hospital inpatient care, hospital outpatient care and out-of-pocket expenses. As expected, the added costs were higher than those of their peers. Many similar studies have proven this, but they tended to only
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could cost you look at the costs of obesity or smoking separately. This particular study utilizes a cross section of data that analyzes the effects of obesity and smoking together. Flavia Andrade, assistant professor in kinesiology and community health , said that the two national data sets An used to estimate trends in the costs associated with obesity and smoking in the .. “demonstrate the increasing medical costs associated with these conditions.” A finding of the study An stressed is that obesity could potentially tax our health care system more than smoking in the long run. “For most categories of health care costs, the cost of obesity is even larger than the cost of smoking, which is striking,” An said.
“For most categories of health care costs, the cost of obesity is even larger than the cost of smoking, which is striking ... People with obesity are not necessarily dying sooner.” RUOPENG AN University professor, head of study
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An said smokers tend to die earlier compared to non-smokers due to lung disease and cancer. “But obesity is a disabling disease, so people with obesity are not necessarily dying sooner compared to people who are not obese,” An said. “People who are older and disabled because of type diabetes and other associated chronic diseases tend to spend the most on health care costs. So if you consider from the life perspective, people with obesity are costing the health system even more compared to people who are smokers.” The prevalence of smoking has continuously decreased since the s, as the rise in obesity has dramatically soared since the s. Obesity rates seem to be leveling off,
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1414 but they remain prevalent . About one-third of Americans are considered obese. Twothirds, or a majority of the .. adult population, are either obese or overweight, An said. “To this day, there really is no concrete evidence for why obesity rate increased so dramatically, but people guess that there might be some gene-environment interaction in this situation,” An said. “Nevertheless, people can’t modify their genes, but they can modify their behavior through eating healthily according to the American Dietary Guidelines and also doing at least minutes of moderate to rigorous physical activity on a weekly basis.” An said this would help them avoid weight gain and manage their weight properly so that in the long run they will really benefit from this healthy behavior.” The other finding that can be pulled from this study is the driving force behind high health care costs for the obese and smokers: prescription drugs. People who are obese and smokers spend a majority of their health care costs on medicine. It is the category with the most dramatic spike in spending
“To this day, there really is no concrete evidence for why obesity rate increased so dramatically, but people guess that there might be some gene-environment interaction in this situation. Nevertheless, people can’t modify their genes, but they can modify their behavior.” RUOPENG AN University professor, head of study
from to . “One possible reason might be there are many more available treatments that are effective to patients, so they can reduce their symptoms and increase their quality of life, but at a huge cost expenditure on this new innovative treatment in drugs,” An said. “So in the long run, I think the key mes-
sage is we need to think about ... how to prevent people from smoking and prevent people from being obese, rather than waiting until they are already obese or already are longtime smokers,” An said. “Treatment is very expensive compared to prevention.” bnguye@dailyillini.com
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