The effects of hospital clowning on physical and emotional states of pediatric patients during chemotherapy treatment

Background: Pediatric cancer treatments interfere with the patient’s life on physical, psychological, and social levels. Hospital Clowns (HCs) use nonpharmacological techniques to reduce the distress that hospital treatments can cause and increase children’s wellbeing, but few studies have analyzed their effects. Objective: This study examined the HC effects on the physical and emotional responses of pediatric patients during ambulatory chemotherapy. Given the variability in patients’ adjustments to cancer treatment, the role of a child’s age and temperament, and caregiver anxiety was considered in explaining the responses over and beyond the HC effects on patient outcomes. Method: Following a quasi-experimental design, 82 pediatric patients were assigned to one of two conditions: HC intervention versus control group (CG) in two separate trials. Pediatric patients self-reported of physical symptoms (pain, nausea, and fatigue) and emotional states (distress, happiness, and calm) were measured at baseline and post-chemotherapy in both trials. Caregivers provided information on children’s temperament and reported their own anxiety. Marginal Multilevel Modeling was used to examine the effects of the HC interventions on the outcomes by controlling caregiver anxiety, and child age and emotionality. Results: Compared to the CG, patients receiving the HC visit during chemotherapy reported higher levels of calm and happiness, and less fatigue, pain, and distress. HCs did not affect nausea. Conclusions: This study showed the importance of HCs as agents of supportive pediatric care, whose short-term effects during ambulatory chemotherapy seem to contribute to increasing the well-being of pediatric patients.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Anticorrelation between Ion Acceleration and Nonlinear Coherent Structures from Laser-Underdense Plasma Interaction

In laser-plasma experiments, we observed that ion acceleration from the Coulomb explosion of the plasma channel bored by the laser, is prevented when multiple plasma instabilities such as filamentation and hosing, and nonlinear coherent structures (vortices/post-solitons) appear in the wake of an ultrashort laser pulse. The tailoring of the longitudinal plasma density ramp allows us to control the onset of these insabilities. We deduced that the laser pulse is depleted into these structures in our conditions, when a plasma at about 10% of the critical density exhibits a gradient on the order of 250 {\mu}m (gaussian fit), thus hindering the acceleration. A promising experimental setup with a long pulse is demonstrated enabling the excitation of an isolated coherent structure for polarimetric measurements and, in further perspectives, parametric studies of ion plasma acceleration efficiency.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Electronic States in Diffused Quantum Wells

In the present study we calculate the energy values and the spatial distributions of the bound electronic states in some diffused quantum wells. The calculations are performed within the virtual crystal approximation, $sp^3 s^*$ spin dependent empirical tight-binding model and the surface Green function matching method. A good agreement is found between our results and experimental data obtained for AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells with thermally induced changes in the profile at the interfaces. Our calculations show that for diffusion lengths $L_{D}=20\div100$ {\AA} the transition (C3-HH3) is not sensitive to the diffusion length, but the transitions (C1-HH1), (C1-LH1), (C2-HH2) and (C2-LH2) display large "blue shifts" as L_{D} increases. For diffusion lengths $L_{D}=0\div20$ {\AA} the transitions (C1-HH1) and (C1-LH1) are less sensitive to the L_{D} changes than the (C3-HH3) transition. The observed dependence is explained in terms of the bound states spatial distributions.Comment: ReVTeX file, 7pp., no macros, 4 figures available on the reques

Preliminary validation of the European Portuguese version of the Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS)

Background: People’s perception of social robots is essential in determining their responses and acceptance of this type of agent. Currently, there are few instruments validated for the European Portuguese population that measures the perception of social robots. Method: Our goal was to translate, validate, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS) to European Portuguese. To achieve this goal, we conducted a validation study using a sample of 185 participants. We measured the temporal validity of the scale (over a two-week interval) and its divergent and convergent validity using the Portuguese Negative Attitudes towards Robots Scale (PNARS) and the Godspeed scales. Results: Our data analysis resulted in a shortened version of the Portuguese RoSAS with 11 items while retaining the original three-factor structure. The scale presented poor to acceptable levels of temporal reliability. We found a positive correlation between the warmth and competence dimensions. Further validation studies are needed to investigate the psychometric properties of this scale.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fear or humour in anti-smoking campaigns? Impact on perceived effectiveness and support for tobacco control policies

Several anti-smoking campaigns have been used for decades to reduce smoking consumption. However, so far, there is no consensus regarding the effectiveness of inducing distinct emotions in reducing smoke consumption. This study tested the effects of two types of anti-smoking ads, inducing fear or humor, on emotions, perceived effectiveness, support for tobacco control policies, urges to smoke, and susceptibility to smoke. Participants (N = 108; 54 smokers) of both genders were randomly assigned to one of the two following emotion ads condition: fear (N = 52) or humor (N = 56). During exposure, the continuous flow of their emotions by self-report and physiologically was collected. Measures of ads impact on emotions, perceived effectiveness, urges and susceptibility to smoking, and support for tobacco policies were applied after exposure. The results have shown that fear ads were perceived as more effective and reduced the urges to smoke in smokers. Non-smokers were more supportive of tobacco control policies. In conclusion, this study showed that fear campaigns can reduce the urge to smoke among smokers and are perceived to be more effective. This perceived effectiveness can be partially explained by feelings of fear, regardless the other emotions it also triggers, and of the smoking status.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quadratic momentum dependence in the nucleon-nucleon interaction

We investigate different choices for the quadratic momentum dependence required in nucleon-nucleon potentials to fit phase shifts in high partial-waves. In the Argonne v18 potential L**2 and (L.S)**2 operators are used to represent this dependence. The v18 potential is simple to use in many-body calculations since it has no quadratic momentum-dependent terms in S-waves. However, p**2 rather than L**2 dependence occurs naturally in meson-exchange models of nuclear forces. We construct an alternate version of the Argonne potential, designated Argonne v18pq, in which the L**2 and (L.S)**2 operators are replaced by p**2 and Qij operators, respectively. The quadratic momentum-dependent terms are smaller in the v18pq than in the v18 interaction. Results for the ground state binding energies of 3H, 3He, and 4He, obtained with the variational Monte Carlo method, are presented for both the models with and without three-nucleon interactions. We find that the nuclear wave functions obtained with the v18pq are slightly larger than those with v18 at interparticle distances < 1 fm. The two models provide essentially the same binding in the light nuclei, although the v18pq gains less attraction when a fixed three-nucleon potential is added.Comment: v.2 important corrections in tables and minor revisions in text; reference for web-posted subroutine adde

Agent Based Model of the Cytosine Radiation Induced Reaction

The stability of cytosine in aqueous solution was studied in the laboratory, simulating prebiotic conditions and using gamma radiation as an energy source, to describe cytosine behavior under radiation. For a better understanding of the radiation-induced processes, we proposed a mathematical model that considers chemical reactions as nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The radiolysis can be computationally simulated by an agent-based model, wherein each chemical species involved is considered to be an agent that can interact with other species with known reaction rates. The radiation is contemplated as a factor that promotes product formation/destruction, and the temperature determines the diffusion speed of the agents. With this model, we reproduce the changes in cytosine concentration obtained in the laboratory under different irradiation conditions

Software architecture for YOLO, a creativity-stimulating robot

YOLO is a social robot designed and developed to stimulate creativity in children through storytelling activities. Children use it as a character in their stories. This article details the artificial intelligence software developed for YOLO. The implemented software schedules through several Creativity Behaviors to find the ones that stimulate creativity more effectively. YOLO can choose between convergent and divergent thinking techniques, two important processes of creative thought. These techniques were developed based on the psychological theories of creativity development and on research from creativity experts who work with children. Besides promoting creativity, this software allows the creation of Social Behaviors that enable the robot to behave as a believable character. We built 3 main social behavior parameters: Exuberant, Aloof, and Harmonious. These behaviors are meant to ease immersive play and the process of character creation. The 3 social behaviors were based on psychological theories of personality and developed using children's input during co-design studies. Overall, this work presents the design, development, and usage of social robots that might nurture intrinsic human abilities, such as the ability to be creative.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio