Cheap Eye Tracking System

Okay, so movement-based video games are cool. That's why the Nintendo Wii is the number one video game console in the country. But how about video games based on eye movement? Sounds a little over the top, but it's a revolution for people who can't move their arms for any number of reasons.

Eye motion capture has existed for years, but usually at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. And it hasn't exactly been applied to video games. A team of students at Imperial College London developed not only a cheap motion-capture system but also applied it to a simple video game similar to Pong.

Using about £25 of materials, five students working in Dr. Aldo Faisal's research lab developed a special pair of glasses containing a webcam and an infrared light to track the movement of one pupil.

What's cool about that is that anyone can potentially make their own eye tracking device because all the materials are easily available and inexpensive. The team hopes to share the technology for both the tracker and the calibration system that allows it to function within a simple game online. In making it an open source technology, the researchers would allow outsiders to make their own applications for the system, and the possibilities are endless.

In addition to more complex video games, someone with limited bodily motion could use their eyes to move a cursor, blink to click or turn a page in an ebook, or any number of things that disability had made nearly impossible before.

But my favorite part of this story is that students made the tracker. For an assignment. And then went above and beyond and linked it to a video game. It says a lot about the potential for bright people to make things more accessible.

Egg Donation: More Guidelines Than Rules

Apparently, there are very few laws governing the donation of human eggs. Then again, the process of in vitro fertilization is relatively new. The problem is, this relatively new industry is self-regulated, meaning that there are guidelines, but it is up to each fertility clinic to see that those guidelines are followed. The Hastings Center, a bioethics research center, has recently taken a survey of ads for egg donors and has found gross violations of the standards set by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.

Those two bodies set guidelines that limit the amount of compensation for donors to $5000 and in special circumstances $10,000. According to the Science Daily, the report found many advertisements offering donors over $10,000 and as much as $50,000. In addition to those violations, the report also found that ads specified desired ethnic characteristics and appearance, which is strictly against the ASRM guidelines.

Aside from violations, the report noted an interested trend. At universities and colleges where the average SAT score is higher, advertised compensation for donors is also higher. In fact, if one college's average SAT score was 100 points higher than another college's, the "smarter" college attracted donor ads offering $2350 more in compensation.

So what's the problem? The Science Daily article offers an interesting quote from John A. Robertson of the University of Texas: "After all, we allow individuals to choose their mates and sperm donors on the basis of such characteristics. Why not choose egg donors similarly?" And I would have to agree. So what if smarter kids are more desirable? So what if straight hair and blue eyes are more valuable? After all, they are paying for the service, so shouldn't recipients of eggs get the same options as sperm recipients? I can't think of a justifiable reason for those such guidelines.

As for compensation, however, I am undecided. How did the ASRM decide on $5000? It seems rather arbitrary. While I can see larger amounts pressuring people to "donate", I don't see larger amounts as a threat to quality reproductive material. What do you think? Should egg donors be compensated? Should there be a limit on that compensation? Should recipients be allowed to discriminate against lesser physical and mental characteristics?

RFID Tags for Groceries?

A recent Rice University press release starts like this: "Long lines at store checkouts could be history if a new technology created in part at Rice University comes to pass." The author is referring to the university's new RFID printing technology. The technology was first revealed in the March issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' journal. The article suggests that one could simply pass a cart full of groceries through a transmitter and every one would automatically be scanned and accounted for. But is this new ink really that revolutionary?

After all, radio frequency identification (RFID) has been around for decades. It's in bus passes, library books, and even house keys. What led the researchers to zero in on using it for groceries? Will the university's new ink change everything?

Team leader Gyou-jin Cho thinks it will. His team's new ink and printing process could print RFID transistors directly on paper or plastic packaging whereas now RFIDs are mostly expensive and cumbersome silicone. According to the press release, Cho thinks that because the new printing process will bring down the cost to about a penny per RFID transistor, RFIDs could eventually replace bar codes.

There are still other obstacles though. For one, Cho doesn't think the technology will "mature" until five years from now. So it's not ready to be implemented for at least several years. Also, the transistor pictured above is way too large to be practical for most grocery store products. It will take some serious shrinkage for the transistors to fit on fruit or spices. There are also questions about its range. Right now, any reliable communication between transistor and transmitter takes place within a meter. It could take several years to perfect that range let alone expand it to cover the grandiose notion of taking inventory in a large warehouse instantaneously.

Lastly, there are ethical questions. What would happen to grocery store and retail employees if RFIDs became the new bar code? I expect at least 10 times the uproar that installing self-scanning machines caused. And there are a lot of things that employees do that customers can't such as weighing fruit or approving driver's licenses for alcohol.

While I think the technology is really cool, and I hope it can be adapted for the shipping and storing industries, I just don't know how gracefully cheap RFIDs could adapt to grocery stores. And personally, I like scanning things because it's fun!

The Psychology of Solitary Confinement

Last Friday my boyfriend and I visited the world's first penitentiary in Philadelphia. Eastern State Penitentiary (right) was built in 1829 on the principal that solitary confinement would save prisoners from each other's evil influences and lead them to remorse and penitence (hence penitentiary) through reflection. Each prisoner's cell had its own exercise yard and a small hole in the door through which food would pass. Thus human contact was limited.

This system of isolation became known as the Pennsylvania System. Slowly, however, the logistics of isolation fell victim to overcrowding, and solitary confinement became a punishment rather than a systematic way to reform prisoners.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law highlights the psychological damage isolation can have on prisoners. It finds that solitary confinement in the US has increased anxiety, depression, anger, paranoia, and psychosis among prisoners. Even isolation as occasional punishment can be dangerous to a prisoner's psyche. The study also says isolation or segregation compounds these effects for mentally ill prisoners.

Segregation units are common in maximum security prisons for dangerous or disturbed prisoners, and mental health professionals are limited to providing psychotropic medication to combat the effects of isolation. Still, many of these prisoners spend years in 23 or 24 hour confinement. According to a recent survey, 15% of US prisoners are mentally ill, and this study suggests that mentally ill prisoners cannot be rehabilitated if kept in isolation.

Whether major US prisons intend to repeat the methods of Eastern State Penitentiary is uncertain. Psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and the authors of this study would have it banned. And although Benjamin Rush, "Father of American Psychiatry", was a major proponent of Eastern State Penitentiary, the psychological effects of its system of isolation continue to be discredited by modern studies. And studies of modern US prisons will continue to decry isolation as punishment.

Résumé Tape

Summit Debate

Anchor tag: You could see the fight over The Summit bar's liquor license play out in city council, or you can see the controversy play out on the streets of downtown Iowa City.

Real Estate Incentives

Anchor lead:

You may have thought tax credits were just for first time homebuyers, but if you already own a home and you're looking to upgrade, a new tax credit is on its way. Channel 10 reporter Megan Christie has the story.

Anchor tag:

If you are looking to buy, close the deal before July 1st of next year to take advantage of the new tax credit.