Search Results (34)

The aim of this study was to propose the use of metaverse technology as an effective educational method for fall prevention in older adults. A theoretical review was conducted by analyzing publications from PubMed/MEDLINE, EBSCO, SciELO, and Google Scholar using the search terms “metaverse,” “falls,” “older adults,” “virtual reality,” and “exercise.” From 133 identified articles published between 2000 and July 2025, and one seminal pre-2000 study included due to its foundational relevance, 52 were examined in depth. Traditional face-to-face or one-way online education often fails to meet the diverse needs and physical limitations of older adults. Metaverse-based platforms, which employ virtual avatars and immersive environments, may enhance accessibility, motivation, and social connectedness. Potential applications include personalized fall prevention training, virtual community centers, and gamified group exercise environments. Augmented and mixed reality technologies may further improve realism and usability compared with traditional virtual reality. However, challenges remain, including digital literacy gaps, device costs, and infrastructure requirements. Metaverse technology therefore offers a promising platform to bridge the gap between face-to-face and remote interventions. This review is novel in that it systematically synthesizes fragmented evidence on metaverse-based fall prevention, conceptualizes its educational potential for older adults, and provides a foundation for future clinical and policy applications. Full article

Visual impairment or even loss seriously affects quality of life. Benefited by the rapid development of sound/laser detection, Global Positioning System (GPS)/Beidou positioning, machine vision and other technologies, the quality of life of blind people is expected to be improved through visual substitution technology. The existing visual substitution devices still have limitations in terms of safety, robustness, and ease of operation. The remote companion system developed here fully utilizes multimodal navigation and remote communication technologies, and the positioning and interaction functions of commercial mobile phones. Together with the accumulated judgment of backend personnel, it can provide real-time, safe, and reliable navigation services for blind people, helping them complete daily activities such as independent travel, circulation, and shopping. The practical results show that the system not only has strong operability and is easy to use, but also can provide users with a strong sense of security and companionship, making it suitable for promotion. In the future, this system can also be promoted for other vulnerable groups such as the elderly. Full article

Natural and human-made disasters can severely impact communities and can result in high numbers of human injuries and deaths. Animals, both companion and livestock, are often injured as a result of these disasters and require veterinary care. Veterinarians are not only involved in providing care for these animals but also play important roles in planning and preparedness functions that occur before a disaster strikes. There are several examples of the use of multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) to provide human health care workers with valuable training centered on disaster response and disaster medicine. This communication provides a thorough review of a clinical rotation, as part of a professional veterinary curriculum, that uses a combination of classroom and experiential learning via an MUVE, Second Life^®. This rotation has provided more than 1800 senior veterinary students at a veterinary school in the United States with experiential learning opportunities focused on veterinary disaster preparedness, planning, and response training. The authors have prepared this communication to provide other institutions and educators with information on the practical implementation of Second Life^® in teaching and to offer recommendations based on our institutional experience. Full article

(1) Background: Veterinary virtual care holds the potential to alleviate some barriers to accessing care, yet concerns within the profession exist. Understanding veterinarians’ perspectives and identifying the potential opportunities and challenges that virtual care poses for access to veterinary care are thus needed. (2) Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually with 22 companion-animal veterinarians practicing across Canada and the United States. Interviews were accompanied by an electronic survey, with which a Net Promoter Score (NPS) was calculated for each participant. Using their NPS, participants were categorized as a “promoter” or “detractor”, with respect to their perspective on veterinary virtual care. A thematic analysis was conducted on verbatim transcripts of the interviews. (3) Results: A total of 11 detractors and 11 promoters were interviewed. Four subthemes were identified, including the following: (1) there are limitations to virtual care, (2) virtual care plays a role in access to care, (3) “virtual care is better than no care” and (4) virtual care offers specific value in supplementing in-person care. (4) Conclusion: When no other option for care delivery exists, virtual care was viewed as a way to increase access to veterinary care. Full article

The unravelling of the human genome created new perceptions of the origin and evolution of diseases, and for cancer in particular, it established the notion that neoplasia has been a companion of life since its appearance on Earth. It is not surprising that neoplasms, in various forms, develop in numerous species of animals and even in plants. Unmistakable accounts of cancer with clinical features as are understood today begin in the 5th c. B.C. The principles and practice of the Hippocratic and Galenic tradition dominated cancer care virtually into the 20th century. Advanced sequencing technologies at the dawn of the 21st century generated new therapeutic opportunities with immunotherapy, oncolytic virotherapy, and gene transfer, with the latter especially being used in cases of hereditary cancer. Full article

In today’s world, services are essential in daily life, and identifying each person’s unique needs is key to creating a human-centered society. Traditional research has used machine learning to recommend services based on user behavior logs without directly detecting individual needs. This study introduces a system called Needs Companion, which automatically detects individual service needs, laying the groundwork for accurate needs sensing. The system defines a needs data model based on the 6W1H framework, uses virtual agents for needs elicitation, and applies large language models (LLMs) to analyze and automatically extract needs. Experiments showed that the system could detect needs accurately and quickly. This research provides interpretable data for personalized services and contributes to fields like machine learning, human-centered design, and requirements engineering. Full article

Background/Objectives: Feelings of loneliness are common in people living with dementia (PLWD) in long-term care (LTC). The goals of this study were to describe the development of a novel virtual companion for PLWD living in LTC and assess its feasibility and acceptability. Methods: The computer-generated virtual companion, presented using a head-mounted virtual reality display, was developed in two stages. In Stage 1, the virtual companion asked questions designed to encourage conversation and reminiscence. In Stage 2, more powerful artificial intelligence tools allowed the virtual companion to engage users in nuanced discussions on any topic. PLWD in LTC tested the application at each stage to assess feasibility and acceptability. Results: Ten PLWD living in LTC participated in Stage 1 (4 men and 6 women; average 82 years old) and Stage 2 (2 men and 8 women; average 87 years old). Session lengths ranged from 0:00 to 5:30 min in Stage 1 and 0:00 to 53:50 min in Stage 2. Speech recognition issues and a limited repertoire of questions limited acceptance in Stage 1. Enhanced conversational ability in Stage 2 led to intimate and meaningful conversations with many participants. Many users found the head-mounted display heavy. There were no complaints of simulator sickness. The virtual companion was best suited to PLWD who could engage in reciprocal conversation. After Stage 2, response latency was identified as an opportunity for improvement in future versions. Conclusions: Virtual reality and artificial intelligence can be used to create a virtual companion that is acceptable and enjoyable to some PLWD living in LTC. Ongoing innovations in hardware and software will allow future iterations to provide more natural conversational interaction and an enhanced social experience. Full article

Social media platforms and online gaming sites play a pervasive role in facilitating peer interaction and social development for adolescents, but they also pose potential threats to health and safety. It is crucial to tackle cyberbullying issues within these platforms to ensure the healthy social development of adolescents. Cyberbullying has been linked to adverse mental health outcomes among adolescents, including anxiety, depression, academic underperformance, and an increased risk of suicide. While cyberbullying is a concern for all adolescents, those with disabilities are particularly susceptible and face a higher risk of being targets of cyberbullying. Our research addresses these challenges by introducing a personalized online virtual companion guided by artificial intelligence (AI). The web-based virtual companion’s interactions aim to assist adolescents in detecting cyberbullying. More specifically, an adolescent with ASD watches a cyberbullying scenario in a virtual environment, and the AI virtual companion then asks the adolescent if he/she detected cyberbullying. To inform the virtual companion in real time to know if the adolescent has learned about detecting cyberbullying, we have implemented fast and lightweight cyberbullying detection models employing the T5-small and MobileBERT networks. Our experimental results show that we obtain comparable results to the state-of-the-art methods despite having a compact architecture. Full article

This paper explores the contribution of custom-trained Large Language Models (LLMs) to developing Open Education Resources (OERs) in higher education. Our empirical analysis is based on the case of a custom LLM specialized for teaching business management in higher education. This custom LLM has been conceptualized as a virtual teaching companion, aimed to serve as an OER, and trained using the authors’ licensed educational materials. It has been designed without coding or specialized machine learning tools using the commercially available ChatGPT Plus tool and a third-party Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot delivery service. This new breed of AI tools has the potential for wide implementation, as they can be designed by faculty using only conventional LLM prompting techniques in plain English. This paper focuses on the opportunities for custom-trained LLMs to create Open Educational Resources (OERs) and democratize academic teaching and learning. Our approach to AI chatbot evaluation is based on a mixed-mode approach, combining a qualitative analysis of expert opinions with a subsequent (quantitative) student survey. We have collected and analyzed responses from four subject experts and 204 business students at the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism Split (Croatia) and Faculty of Economics Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). We used thematic analysis in the qualitative segment of our research. In the quantitative segment of empirical research, we used statistical methods and the SPSS 25 software package to analyze student responses to the modified BUS-15 questionnaire. Research results show that students positively evaluate the business management learning chatbot and consider it useful and responsive. However, interviewed experts raised concerns about the adequacy of chatbot answers to complex queries. They suggested that the custom-trained LLM lags behind the generic LLMs (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and others). These findings suggest that custom LLMs might be useful tools for developing OERs in higher education. However, their training data, conversational capabilities, technical execution, and response speed must be monitored and improved. Since this research presents a novelty in the extant literature on AI in education, it requires further research on custom GPTs in education, including their use in multiple academic disciplines and contexts. Full article

The Metaverse and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies have combined to fundamentally change the nature of digital sociability. Our understanding of social interaction needs to be reevaluated as the Metaverse’s influence spreads into more areas of daily life, such as AI-driven gaming, interactive training companions, museum exhibits, personalized fitness coaching, virtual mental health assistance, language translation services, virtual tour guiding, and virtual conferencing. This study analyzes how NLP is changing social relationships in these Metaverse applications. We examine how NLP algorithms influence societal norms, individual behaviors, interpersonal connections, and improve the user experience using a multi-method approach incorporating user surveys and sentiment analysis. Our study’s findings show how NLP can enhance interactive experiences while also pointing out related issues like potential bias and moral problems. Our study provides a foundational analysis, shedding light on the challenges of negotiating a social environment in the Metaverse that is molded by cutting-edge NLP. It offers stakeholders in academia and public policy essential assistance that helps them understand and manage the complex ramifications of this changing socio-technological paradigm. Full article

People in situations where physical activity is difficult face limitations in participating in exercise to maintain health. Participation in exercise is especially difficult when social non-face-to-face situations such as infectious diseases occur. This causes various social problems. Background: The study developed a 3D virtual reality (VR) Motionless Imagery Exercise through Avatar (MIEA), provided customized content such as companion avatars, and aimed to verify its effects. Methods: This study was conducted using a randomized block design experiment. The participants were 40 healthy adults (20 experiment and 20 control group) aged between 19 and 49 years. Both groups engaged in interventions three times per week for 20 min over six weeks. Data obtained from measurements of emotional well-being, cognition, and physiological responses before and after the experiment were analyzed. Results: The experimental group showed significant improvements in emotional well-being compared to the control group, particularly in trait anxiety, resilience, stress, and positive affect. The similar physiological responses observed in the experimental group resembled exercise-induced responses. Verbal memory and working memory in the experimental group improved more in the experimental group than the control group. Conclusions: The results showed the effectiveness of a 3D VR MIEA, indicating its positive impact on exercise outcomes. Furthermore, the provision of customized content including companion avatars was validated to enhance emotional well-being. This suggests that incorporating content-driven companion avatars in developing virtual reality exercise programs can evoke emotional effects. Full article

As the impact of global warming on climate change becomes noticeable, the importance of energy efficiency for reducing greenhouse gas emissions grows immense. To this end, a platform, solution, and mobile apps are developed as part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program to support energy optimization in residences. However, to ensure long-term energy optimization, it is crucial to keep users engaged with the apps. Since augmented reality (AR) and a virtual animal companion positively influenced user engagement, we designed an AR companion that represented the user’s residence states; thereby making the user aware of indoor information. We conducted user evaluations to determine the effect of the AR companion on user engagement and perceived usability in the context of energy management. We identified that the user interface (UI) with AR (ARUI) barely affected user engagement and perceived usability compared to the traditional UI without AR (TUI); however, we found that the ARUI positively affected one of the user engagement aspects. Our results show AR companion integration’s potential benefits and effects on energy management mobile apps. Furthermore, our findings provide insights into UI design elements for developers considering multiple interaction modalities with AR. Full article

A living lab is a valuable method for designing tangible and intangible service elements, ensuring a comprehensive user experience. Developing a digital companion service, which users may be unfamiliar with, requires observing user behavior in real-world environments and analyzing living and behavioral patterns. A living lab starts with understanding user characteristics and behaviors. Living lab methods have an impact on the accuracy and precision of service design. The number of seniors in South Korea is rapidly increasing, leading to a rise in social issues like solitary deaths and suicide. Addressing these problems has led to a growing demand for companion robots. To design effective companion services, understanding seniors’ living environments and their cognitive and behavioral traits is essential. This opinion piece, based on a national R&D project, presents the development of a digital companion for seniors. It offers insights, providing a comprehensive overview of living lab-based service interaction design and proposing methodologies about living lab environment construction and experimentation and considerations when designing robot interaction functions and appearance. The living lab environment includes real living spaces, laboratories, virtual reality settings, and senior welfare centers. Using the research findings, we created service scenarios, analyzed senior language characteristics, and developed the concept and facial expressions of the digital companion. To successfully introduce a novel service, it is crucial to analyze users’ real-life behavior and adjust the service accordingly. Full article

Cyber-physical or virtual systems or devices that are capable of autonomously interacting with human or non-human agents in real environments are referred to as social robots. The primary areas of application for biomedical technology are nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes for the purpose of providing assistance to the elderly, people with disabilities, children, and medical personnel. This review examines the current state-of-the-art of social robots used in healthcare applications, with a particular emphasis on the technical characteristics and requirements of these different types of systems. Humanoids robots, companion robots, and telepresence robots are the three primary categories of devices that are identified and discussed in this article. The research looks at commercial applications, as well as scientific literature (according to the Scopus Elsevier database), patent analysis (using the Espacenet search engine), and more (searched with Google search engine). A variety of devices are enumerated and categorized, and then our discussion and organization of their respective specifications takes place. Full article

Cats are popular companion animals globally. While the general academic definition of responsible cat ownership is agreed upon, committing to responsible cat ownership is multifaceted, often reflecting regional priorities and values. Utilising a virtual private network (VPN), an English-language online search for ‘responsible cat ownership’ was applied from major cities in 10 different nations, accounting for five different geographic regions and nine different geographic sub-regions. Data were extracted from the first 20 webpages of each search and included author affiliation, country of webpage origin, and all recommendations towards responsible cat ownership. Searches identified 58 different webpages, 142 duplicate results, and 16 different recommendations. Both before (60.5%) and after (58.6%) duplicate exclusion, irrespective of region, most webpages originated from Australia, so recommendations may lack local nuance in other countries. Similarly, local government webpages were the most common author affiliation both before (35.5%) and after (37.9%) duplicate exclusion—moreover, most Australian webpages were authored by local government (55.9%). More than half of all webpages recommended registration and microchipping (65.5%), desexing (65.5%), and containment (60.3%), probably due to the predominance of local government and Australian webpages online—reflecting Australia’s strong legislative stance. Both Australia and New Zealand showed majority recommendations for containment but not for environmental and behavioural enrichment in households. This may be partially explained by the significantly higher agreement in Australia and New Zealand that cats threaten valued wildlife in cities, towns, and rural areas. Unlike the Oceanian nations, other countries clearly recommended improved understanding and provision for cat needs, but with little evidence of support for containment. Thus, divergent welfare considerations inform major webpages associated with attitudes towards cat ownership internationally. Encouraging containment, a responsible cat ownership practice with benefits for cats and wildlife, may be more likely to succeed outside Oceania if cat welfare is emphasised instead of wildlife protection. Within Oceania, more attention could be given to enhancing the well-being of contained cats. Full article