Interreality in the Management of Psychological Stress: a Clinical Scenario

The term “psychological stress” describes a situation in which a subject perceives that environmental demands tax or exceed his or her adaptive capacity. According to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the best validated approach covering both stress management and stress treatment is the Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) approach. We aim to design, develop and test an advanced ICT based solution for the assessment and treatment of psychological stress that is able to improve the actual CBT approach. To reach this goal we will use the “interreality” paradigm integrating assessment and treatment within a hybrid environment, that creates a bridge between the physical and virtual worlds. Our claim is that bridging virtual experiences (fully controlled by the therapist, used to learn coping skills and emotional regulation) with real experiences (allowing both the identification of any critical stressors and the assessment of what has been learned) using advanced technologies (virtual worlds, advanced sensors and PDA/mobile phones) is the best way to address the above limitations. To illustrate the proposed concept, a clinical scenario is also presented and discussed: Paola, a 45 years old nurse, with a mother affected by progressive senile dementia

Presence and rehabilitation: toward second-generation virtual reality applications in neuropsychology

Virtual Reality (VR) offers a blend of attractive attributes for rehabilitation. The most exploited is its ability to create a 3D simulation of reality that can be explored by patients under the supervision of a therapist. In fact, VR can be defined as an advanced communication interface based on interactive 3D visualization, able to collect and integrate different inputs and data sets in a single real-like experience. However, "treatment is not just fixing what is broken; it is nurturing what is best" (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi). For rehabilitators, this statement supports the growing interest in the influence of positive psychological state on objective health care outcomes. This paper introduces a bio-cultural theory of presence linking the state of optimal experience defined as "flow" to a virtual reality experience. This suggests the possibility of using VR for a new breed of rehabilitative applications focused on a strategy defined as transformation of flow. In this view, VR can be used to trigger a broad empowerment process within the flow experience induced by a high sense of presence. The link between its experiential and simulative capabilities may transform VR into the ultimate rehabilitative device. Nevertheless, further research is required to explore more in depth the link between cognitive processes, motor activities, presence and flow

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale in Italian adolescent populations: Construct validation and group discrimination in community and clinical eating disorders samples

Anxiety in situations where one’s overall appearance (including body shape) may be negatively evaluated is hypothesized to play a central role in Eating Disorders (EDs) and in their co-occurrence with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). Three studies were conducted among community (N = 1995) and clinical (N = 703) ED samples of 11- to 18-year-old Italian girls and boys to (a) evaluate the psychometric qualities and measurement equivalence/invariance (ME/I) of the Social Appearance Anxiety (SAA) Scale (SAAS) and (b) determine to what extent SAA or other situational domains of social anxiety related to EDs distinguish adolescents with an ED only from those with SAD. Results upheld the one-factor structure and ME/I of the SAAS across samples, gender, age categories, and diagnostic status (i.e., ED participants with and without comorbid SAD). The SAAS demonstrated high internal consistency and 3-week test–retest reliability. The strength of the inter-relationships between SAAS and measures of body image, teasing about appearance, ED symptoms, depression, social anxiety, avoidance, and distress, as well as the ability of SAAS to discriminate community adolescents with high and low levels of ED symptoms and community participants from ED participants provided construct validity evidence. Only SAA strongly differentiated adolescents with any ED from those with comorbid SAD (23.2 %). Latent mean comparisons across all study groups were performed and discussed

Teixeira Duarte Real Estate : an analysis of environmental sustainability

In industrialized economies, issues about the sustainability in the delivery of real estate projects have risen to the fore. The real estate industry has a big impact on the environment. It accounts for over 40% of energy consumption and 36% of the carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union. In this scenario, new regulations have been issued from the European Commission to force companies to disclose the percentage of their business that it can be label as environmentally sustainable. This research is dedicated to understanding where the real estate department of Teixeira Duarte stands from an environmental point of view. An archival analysis is performed to understand which will be the effort that Teixeira Duarte will need to make in to comply with the new European regulations. Furthermore. a competitor benchmark analysis is performed to understand which are the best practices that real estate companies adopt to communicate their policy to the relevant stakeholders through their sustainability reports. Lastly the data from two online surveys are analyzed and presented. One survey is directed to Teixeira Duarte real estate’s employees, while the other is targeted to the Portuguese general population. This research presents a set of recommendations to Teixeira Duarte to help understand which are the best concrete actions that the company should make in order to become more environmentally sustainable.Nas economias industrializadas, as questões sobre a sustentabilidade na entrega de projectos imobiliários têm vindo a ganhar destaque. A indústria imobiliária tem um grande impacto no ambiente. É responsável por mais de 40% do consumo de energia e 36% das emissões de dióxido de carbono na União Europeia. Neste cenário, novos regulamentos foram emitidos pela Comissão Europeia para forçar as empresas a revelar a percentagem do seu negócio que pode ser rotulada como ambientalmente sustentável. Esta investigação é dedicada a compreender onde se situa o departamento imobiliário da Teixeira Duarte de um ponto de vista ambiental. É realizada uma análise de arquivo para compreender qual será o esforço que a Teixeira Duarte terá de fazer a fim de cumprir a nova regulamentação europeia. Além disso, é realizada uma análise de referência concorrente para compreender quais são as melhores práticas que as empresas imobiliárias adoptam para comunicar a sua política aos interessados relevantes através dos seus relatórios de sustentabilidade. Finalmente, são analisados e apresentados os dados de dois inquéritos em linha. Um inquérito é dirigido aos empregados da imobiliária Teixeira Duarte, enquanto que o outro é dirigido à população portuguesa em geral. Esta pesquisa apresenta um conjunto de recomendações à Teixeira Duarte para ajudar a compreender quais acções concretas que a empresa deve empreender para se tornar mais sustentável

La realidad virtual como entorno fortalecedor para el cambio personal: la contribución del laboratorio de tecnología aplicada a la neuropsicología

When we exercise real choice, we gain increased control over our lives and are able to change ourselves. However for many subjects it is not easy to exercise effective choices: patients often don’t have the knowledge, skills, assertiveness, or self esteem needed. In this situation Virtual Reality (VR), an artificial reality that projects the user into a 3D space generated by the computer, may offer a critical advantage to the therapist. The enriched experience and the total level of control on its features, transform VR in an “empowering environment”, where patients can start to explore and act without feeling actually threatened. The attempt of defining, developing and testing VR tools supporting personal empowerment is the main goal of the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Laboratory –ATN-P Lab– at the Istituto Auxologico Italiano. The paper describes the actual work done by the ATN-P Lab. in this area. Specifically, the open source "NeuroVR" system and its potential clinical applications –anxiety disorders, obesity and eating disorders– are presented and discussed.La capacidad de elección nos proporciona control sobre nuestras vidas y nos ofrece posibilidades de cambio. Sin embargo, para muchas personas no es fácil realizar elecciones efectivas; por ejemplo, los pacientes carecen muchas veces del conocimiento, la habilidad, la asertividad o autoestima necesarias. En esas situaciones, la realidad virtual (RV), una realidad artificial que coloca al sujeto en un espacio generado por el ordenador, puede ser para el terapeuta un recurso decisivo. La experiencia enriquecida y el control total sobre todos sus aspectos transforman la RV en un “entorno fortalecedor”, en el que los pacientes pueden comenzar a explorar y actuar sin sentirse amenazados. El principal objetivo del “Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Laboratory” (ATN-P Lab), perteneciente al Instituto Auxologico Italiano, es intentar definir, desarrollar y probar aplicaciones basadas en RV que faciliten el fortalecimiento personal. En este artículo se describe el trabajo que se viene realizando sobre este tema en ese laboratorio. Se presenta y discute, específicamente, el sistema de código abierto denominado “NeuroVR”, así como sus aplicaciones clínicas potenciales sobre los trastornos de ansiedad, la obesidad y los trastornos alimentarios

VR cue-exposure treatment for bulimia nervosa

Several approaches to the treatment of bulimia nervosa have proved effective, including cognitive-behavioral therapy; however, not all patients improve. It is therefore necessary to explore the possibilities of increasing the efficacy of such treatments. One way to attempt this is to incorporate new technologies. This review explores the possibility of developing a new, empirically validated procedure for the treatment of bulimia nervosa patients that involves cue exposure via virtual reality

Editorial for the Special Issue on Multimodality and Sequential Therapy in Locally Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

Multimodal and sequential treatment for locally advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) included induction chemotherapy, chemoradiation organ preservation protocols, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy [...

Being There: Understanding the Feeling of Presence in a Synthetic Environment and its Potential for Clinical Change

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Online Positive Interventions to Promote Well-being and Resilience in the Adolescent Population: A Narrative Review

Numerous studies have shown an alarming prevalence of depression, anxiety, and behavior disorders in youth. Thus, prevention of psychological problems in this population becomes crucial. According to the World Health Organization (1), prevention should also include the promotion and development of the individual’s strengths in order to reduce vulnerability to suffering from mental disorders. In addition, other key elements of prevention are the reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of interventions. The information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, have much to offer in terms of the prevention and promotion of positive mental health in adolescents. This paper reviews these fields of research—prevention, positive psychology, Internet, and adolescents—and discusses the potential of positive interventions delivered over the Internet as effective and sustainable health promotion tools. The paper provides a brief description of the systems developed so far and a summary of selected features of the studies detected in the literature review. The overall conclusions are that there is a need for more controlled studies with long-term follow-ups, the interventions should be designed considering the specific features of the target users and the specific contexts where the interventions will be delivered, and they could be enhanced by the use of other technologies, such as smartphones, sensors, or social networks.This study was funded in part by the Excellence in Research Program PROMETEO II (Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria de Educación, 2013/003) and CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity Nutrition, an initiative of ISCIII (ISC III CB06 03/0052)

Analisi e definizione di strategie di gestione e controllo di sistemi di accumulo elettrico per applicazioni in reti di distribuzione attive automatizzate Report 1 – Analisi dello stato dell’arte

Il presente Report riferisce sui contenuti e sui risultati della prima fase delle attività svolte nell’ambito della ricerca dal titolo: “Analisi e definizione di strategie di gestione e controllo di sistemi di accumulo elettrico per applicazioni in reti di distribuzione attive automatizzate”, oggetto dell’Accordo di Collaborazione tra ENEA e DIEET sottoscritto nel corso del 2011. Nel corso della prima fase delle attività, a partire da un inquadramento generale dei diversi tipi di accumulo di energia elettrica (elettrochimico, meccanico ed elettrico), è stata condotta un’analisi preliminare su metodologie, sistemi d’interfaccia e tecniche di controllo dei sistemi di accumulo, in una visione il più possibile integrata con le esigenze “di sistema”, ovvero in relazione ai principali aspetti che nei prossimi anni caratterizzeranno il funzionamento delle reti di distribuzione e dei loro diversi componenti/sottosistemi, nell’ottica di transizione verso infrastrutture elettriche efficienti, flessibili, dinamiche ed interattive. Tra tali aspetti, in relazione al contesto generale della ricerca, è stato analizzato in particolare il possibile ruolo dei sistemi di accumulo per: - favorire l’integrazione di generazione di energia da fonti rinnovabili contribuendo a risolvere alcune criticità nei servizi di regolazione della tensione e della frequenza della rete; - contribuire ad elevare i livelli di qualità del servizio elettrico; - partecipare ad una gestione ottimale, in termini tecnico-economici, di tutte le risorse di rete: fonti energetiche, unità di accumulo e carichi (implementando idonei programmi di demand-response). Le attività sono state condotte in sinergia con il personale tecnico di ENEA e sono state svolte prevalentemente all’interno dei locali e dei laboratori del DIEET di Palermo