VR-based training of craniotomy for intracranial aneurysm surgery

Purpose Intracranial aneurysms can be treated micro-surgically. This procedure involves an appropriate head position of the patient and a proper craniotomy. These steps enable a proper access, facilitating the subsequent steps. To train the access planning process, we propose a VR-based training system. Method We designed and implemented an immersive VR access simulation, where the user is surrounded by a virtual operating room, including medical equipment and virtual staff. The patient’s head can be positioned via hand rotation and an arbitrary craniotomy contour can be drawn. The chosen access can be evaluated by exposing the aneurysm using a microscopic view. Results The evaluation of the simulation took place in three stages: testing the simulation using the think-aloud method, conducting a survey and examining the precision of drawing the contour. Although there are differences between the virtual interactions and their counterparts in reality, the participants liked the immersion and felt present in the operating room. The calculated surface dice similarity coefficient, Hausdorff distance and feedback of the participants show that the difficulty of drawing the craniotomy is appropriate. Conclusion The presented training simulation for head positioning and access planning benefits from the immersive environment. Thus, it is an appropriate training for novice neurosurgeons and medical students with the goal to improve anatomical understanding and to become aware of the importance of the right craniotomy hole.

Nanoscience in the k-12 classroom: More Needed than Ever

The topic of nanoscience and nanotechnology has gained popularity in the last decade with the widespread of its various applications to daily used products and services. This has led to an increased interest by the public to learn more about this unique and small world. However, there is still a significant lack in comprehensively defining the field of nanoscience and understanding its fundamental laws that govern the behavior of particles at the very small nanoscale. It has been noticed from several in-person as well as virtual interactions with educators in the sciences that there is an increased interest in inquiring more about the field and how it is impacting our lives with its ongoing advancements to various aspects of our lives. This was more prominent during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic season as nanoscience and nanotechnology have taken a central role in understanding the disease progression, providing early detection tools as well their significant involvement in vaccine development. I have taken a role in multiple initiatives to illuminate on the involvement of nanotechnology in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and have concluded that there is greater need than ever to integrate the subject matter to the k-12 classroom and educate our future generations on this incredible unique Nano world. Here we will review the need to introduce the fundamental knowledge of nanotechnology into the education curriculum, while emphasizing on its usefulness in fighting infectious diseases such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The impact of social support on substance use recovery and exploring potential protective and risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 and stay-at-home orders have caused disruptions in social interactions. Vulnerable populations, such as those in early substance use recovery, that rely on social support and social engagement have faced many challenges. The purpose of this study was to explore potential associations between perceived social support and recovery related outcomes, correlates of recovery related outcomes among face-to-face and virtual engagement, and identify characteristics that are predictive of perceived social support. Results revealed that social support was positively associated with quality of life and abstinence self-efficacy, and negatively associated with psychological distress. Additionally, recovery related outcomes differed among face-to-face and virtual interactions. Lastly, characteristics such as gratitude, mindfulness, and coping were positively associated with perceived social support.

Digitally shaped ethnographic relationships during a global pandemic and beyond

Social distancing and public safety measures enacted in response to COVID-19 created a surge in methodological “advice” for researchers facing disruption to fieldwork. Resources and publications frequently encouraged changes vis-a-vis digitally enhanced methods or employment of digital ethnography. For ethnographers, the establishment and maintenance of ethnographic relationships in pandemic contexts restricted to virtual interactions has not been thoroughly explored, leaving those trained in recruitment, rapport-building, and field engagement with fewer resources to navigate this integral topic. Here, we provide insights into how ethnographic relationships may be developed when there is limited access to the field and traditional relationship building is not possible. We argue that as ethnographic methods change and adapt, so too must perspectives on ethnographic relationship development. By closely examining ethnographic relationships confined to digital spaces in the context of the Tennessee tornado recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this project sheds light on how to overcome this challenge.

Impacts of the Virtual Landscape During the COVID-19 Pandemic on the 2020 Application Cycle

Introduction/Objective In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 application cycle adapted to a mostly virtual setting. This project focused on the impact of these changes on the 2020 application cycle with the elimination of in- person away rotations and interviews, as well as the implementation of new virtual opportunities for learning and interacting with residents and programs. Methods/Case Report This study was conducted through an anonymous survey sent out to programs that engaged in social media usage in the 2020 application cycle. The survey was made available to program directors, faculty, residents and the matched applicants and focused on their usage and opinion of impact of virtual opportunities, virtual interviews and social media encounters. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) A total of 17 program directors/faculty, 17 residents and 19 matched applicants completed the survey across 91 programs surveyed. Virtual opportunities that were offered across these programs include: open houses, sub-internships, didactic lectures, grand rounds, Q&A sessions, and virtual facility tours. Responses showed that 4 programs (16%) moved applicants up on their rank list based on pre-interview virtual interactions. From the applicant perspective, 13 (76.5%) said virtual opportunities impacted the way they evaluated programs with 13 (68.4%) ranking programs higher and 3 (15.7%) ranking programs they otherwise would not have ranked. On the other hand, 21 faculty/residents (80.7%) felt that applicants missed out on fully experiencing the program due to lack of in person interviews and away rotations. However, 14 programs (56%) interviewed more candidates and offered more interview days during the 2020 application cycle. Applicants also applied to a greater number of programs with 42% of surveyed applicants applying to more than 50 programs, however none attended more than 30 interviews. Conclusion In conclusion, adaptations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have provided an unexpected opportunity to explore the impact of the virtual landscape on residency recruitment.

Alternative analysis for construction progress data spatial visualization

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) construction projects have multiple stakeholders that collaborate with project delivery team members during the execution of these projects. Many of these stakeholders are located across the U.S., which makes virtual interactions a common communication method for these teams. These interactions often lack spatial visualization, which can add complications to the progress reports provided and how the information is received/interpreted. The visualization of project progress and documents would be invaluable to the stakeholders on critical projects constructed by the USACE. This research was conducted to determine alternatives for migrating Resident Management System (RMS) data into a portal web viewer. This report provides proposed solutions to creating these links in efforts to better harmonize data management and improve project presentation.

The Emotional Lockdown: How Social Distancing and Mask Wearing influence Mood and Emotion Recognition

During the COVID-19 pandemic, government-mandated protection measures such as contact restrictions and mask wearing significantly affected social interactions. In the current preregistered study we hypothesized that such measures could influence self-reported mood and the ability to recognize emotional expressions from the eye region of faces. We found that mood was positively related to face-to-face but not to virtual interactions. This suggests that contact restrictions leading to a decrease in face-to-face compared to virtual interactions may be related to negative mood. We also found slight improvements in emotion recognition from the eyes in a student sample tested during the pandemic relative to a comparable sample tested prior to the pandemic although these differences were restricted to female participants.

EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL DISTANCE AND SOCIAL CLOSENESS IN VR AND TEXT ON SPATIAL DISTANCE ESTIMATION

How do mediated social interactions affect your perceptions of the world around you? We extend previous research that examines how mediated interactions affect spatial distance perception by comparing two explanatory theories: motivated perception and construal theory. In two studies, we contrast the effects of talking to a remote versus a co-located partner on perceptions of physical distance, comparing virtual reality (VR) and texting conditions. We demonstrate an interaction across media: participants who report feeling socially close to a conversational partner located in a distant city estimate that city to be closer. However, participants who report feeling more socially close to a co-located conversational partner estimate a larger distance to the city their partner is describing. We discuss the implications for media use in a period of increased virtual interactions.

Having more virtual interaction partners during COVID-19 physical distancing measures may benefit mental health

Social interactions play an extremely important role in maintaining health and well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated physical distancing measures, however, restricted the number of people one could physically interact with on a regular basis. A large percentage of social interactions moved online, resulting in reports of “Zoom fatigue,” or exhaustion from virtual interactions. These reports focused on how online communication differs from in-person communication, but it is possible that when in-person interactions are restricted, virtual interactions may benefit mental health overall. In a survey conducted near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (N2020 = 230), we found that having a greater number of virtual interaction partners was associated with better mental health. This relationship was statistically mediated by decreased loneliness and increased perceptions of social support. We replicated these findings during the pandemic 1 year later (N2021 = 256) and found that these effects held even after controlling for the amount of time people spent interacting online. Convergent with previous literature on social interactions, these findings suggest that virtual interactions may benefit overall mental health, particularly during physical distancing and other circumstances where opportunities to interact in-person with different people are limited.Open Science Framework repository: https://osf.io/6jsr2/.