A number of substellar companions to evolved cool stars have now been reported. Cool giants are distinct from their progenitor main-sequence low-mass stars in a number of ways. First, the mass loss rates of cool giant stars are orders of magnitude greater than for the late-type main-sequence stars. Secondly, on the cool side of the Linsky–Haisch ‘dividing line’, K and M giant stars are not X-ray sources, although they do show evidence for chromospheres. As a result, cool star winds are largely neutral for those spectral types, suggesting that planetary or brown dwarf magnetospheres will not be effective in standing off the stellar wind. In this case, one expects the formation of a bow shock morphology at the companion, deep inside its magnetosphere. We explore radio emissions from substellar companions to giant stars using (a) the radiometric Bode's law and (b) a model for a bow shock morphology. Stars that are X-ray emitters likely have fully ionized winds, and the radio emission can be at the milli-Jansky level in favourable conditions. Non-coronal giant stars produce only micro-Jansky level emissions when adjusted for low-level ionizations. If the largely neutral flow penetrates the magnetosphere, a bow shock results that can be strong enough to ionize hydrogen. The incoherent cyclotron emission is sub-micro-Jansky. However, the long wavelength radio emission of Solar system objects is dominated by the cyclotron maser instability (CMI) mechanism. Our study leads to the following two observational prospects. First, for coronal giant stars that have ionized winds, application of the radiometic Bode's law indicates that long wavelength emission from substellar companions to giant stars may be detectable or nearly detectable with existing facilities. Secondly, for the non-coronal giant stars that have neutral winds, the resultant bow shock may act as a ‘feeder’ of electrons that is well embedded in the companion's magnetosphere. Incoherent cyclotron emissions are far too faint to be detectable, even with next generation facilities; however, much brighter flux densities may be achievable when CMI is considered.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T13:46:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 O acompanhante na instituicao hospitalar.pdf: 407299 bytes, checksum: ea742b060280a8d8d4f8e04daf13fe09 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-11-24 / The present study had as objective to know, from the family companion perception, their experience in accompanying the hospitalized adult patient. It is an exploratory and descriptive study, based on the qualitative approach and case study example, which was carried out in the medical clinic department of a hospital-school. It was used the sample by saturation, being interviewed 12 family companions. It was also opted to obtain data from 8 professionals from the hospital, in order to better understand the study object. As a methodology of data collection, semi-structured interviews were realized and the data were treated by the content analysis technique (BARDIN, 1977). The results showed that affectivity and obligation were the main reasons that led the companions to stay with the hospitalized relatives. During the stay in the hospital, the companions realized more self-care activities that had as objective to supply the patient s basic needs of nutrition, hydration, elimination, hygiene, rest-activity and comfort. The most perceived difficulties by them were related to personal questions and the infra-structure of the hospital, that imply the necessity to offer a better comfort for their permanence with the interned patient. The difficulties related to interaction with the staff, as well as the activities that they realized were less noticed. During the accompanying period, physical alterations were identified, with weariness predominance, and emotional alterations, in which preoccupation permeated all the process, also being manifested other feelings like sadness, nervousness, fear, insecurity, fragility and loneliness. In relation to the alterations occurred in the daily life, the most cited by the family companions were to abandon the house, interrupt the household chores, as well as not to give attention to children. Faith was recognized by them as the main confrontation strategy for the overcoming of the difficulties found in the hospital context. The experience narrated by the companions reveals their objective demands as well as the subjective, and shows the necessity to create a service policy to this specific group, bringing implication to the hospital institution and the staff. / O presente estudo teve por objetivo conhecer, a partir da percepção do acompanhante familiar, sua experiência em acompanhar o paciente adulto hospitalizado. Trata-se de um estudo exploratório e descritivo, baseado na abordagem qualitativa e do tipo estudo de caso, que foi desenvolvido no setor de clínica médica de um hospital-escola. Foi utilizada a amostra por saturação, sendo entrevistado 12 acompanhantes familiares. Optou-se, também, por obter dados de 8 profissionais do hospital, a fim de compreender melhor o objeto de estudo. Como metodologia de coleta de dados, foram realizadas entrevistas semi-estruturadas, e os dados foram tratados pela técnica de análise de conteúdo (BARDIN,1977). Os resultados mostraram que a afetividade e a obrigação foram os principais motivos que levaram os acompanhantes a ficarem com os familiares hospitalizados. Durante a permanência no hospital, os acompanhantes realizaram mais atividades de autocuidado, que tinha por objetivo suprir as necessidades básicas do paciente por nutrição, hidratação, eliminação, higiene, atividade-repouso, e de conforto. As dificuldades mais percebidas por eles foram relativas às questões pessoais e à infra-estrutura da instituição hospitalar, que implicam na necessidade de oferecer um melhor conforto para a sua permanência junto ao paciente internado. As dificuldades relacionadas à interação com a equipe profissional, bem como as relacionadas às atividades que realizavam foram menos percebidas. Durante o período de acompanhamento, apresentaram alterações físicas, com predominância de cansaço, e alterações emocionais, em que a preocupação permeou todo o processo, sendo manifestados também outros sentimentos como, tristeza, nervosismo, medo, insegurança, fragilidade e solidão. Quanto às alterações ocorridas na vida diária, as mais citadas pelos acompanhantes familiares foram ter que abandonar a casa, interromper as atividades domésticas, como também deixar de dar atenção aos filhos. A fé foi reconhecida por eles como a principal estratégia de enfrentamento para a superação das dificuldades encontradas no contexto hospitalar. A experiência relatada pelos acompanhantes revela suas demandas tanto objetivas, quanto subjetivas, e aponta a necessidade de criar uma política de atendimento a esse grupo específico, trazendo implicações para a instituição hospitalar e para a equipe profissional.

In einer zunehmend digitalen und sich rasant verändernden Arbeitswelt, wird lebenslanges Lernen immer wichtiger für den beruflichen Erfolg (OECD, 2021). Technologische Entwicklungen und der Trend zum digitalen Lernen und Arbeiten, schaffen neue Möglichkeiten für die berufsbegleitende Weiterbildung.... Learning Companions (LCs), also digitale, natürlich-sprachige Agenten (Chatbots oder sprachbasierte Assistenten), die eine freundschaftsähnliche Beziehung zu ihrem menschlichen Nutzer aufbauen, stellen einen innovativen Lösungsansatz dar, um Menschen vielfältig, individualisiert sowie zeit- und ortsunabhängig beim Lernen zu unterstützen (Khosrawi-Rad et al., 2022). Da eine hohe Motivation einen positiven Effekt auf den Lernerfolg und dessen Nachhaltigkeit hat (Hawlitschek & Merkt, 2018), jedoch gleichzeitig, insbesondere im digitalen Raum ein großes Problemfeld darstellt (Limarutti et al., 2021), forcieren wir den Einsatz eines LCs in seiner Rolle als Motivator. [Aus Einleitung]

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:30:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5952.pdf: 1430380 bytes, checksum: c8ba5e629cc06643244438cb9ada84d7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-21 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The creation of imaginary companions is a phenomenon that has been timidly explored in the international literature in Psychology and Psychiatry. More specifically, there are still important questions regarding who are the children that create imaginary companions and the role that fantasy plays in emotional and cognitive development. In recent years, several studies investigating symbolic play have been conducted in Brazil, however, according to three different data bases (SciELO-Brasil, Index Psi, PePSIC), there are only two national studies on the topic of imaginary companions, suggesting a yet limited understanding of the manifestation of this phenomenon in Brazilian children. Considering this gap in the literature, as well as the potential contributions of studies on this type of fantasy, the present research aimed, therefore, to investigate this form of pretend play in a sample of Brazilian children, and to be the first study in Brazil to investigate the relationship between the creation of imaginary companions and sociocognitive development. Our hypothesis was that children with imaginary companions would have significantly higher scores than the comparison group in measures of language, social cognition and engagement in fantasy. Forty children between 6 and 7 years of age (M age = 7;1, SD = 5.29), 21 girls and 19 boys, participated in the study and were recruited from an elementary public school in a city located in the state of São Paulo. Eighteen participants were included in the group of children who reported an imaginary companion and 22 in the group of children who did not. To test for possible differences between the two groups, three measures of theory-of-mind, emotional comprehension and language were used, as well as an interview about fantasy orientation and the characteristics of their imaginary companions. In addition, a questionnaire assessing socioeconomic status and an interview about the family and the child s fantasy world were administered to 11 participating caretakers. As predicted, children s reports of imaginary companions were rich and seemed to serve similar functions to the ones found in previous international studies (e.g., company, fun, emotional support). Children with imaginary companions had higher vocabulary scores than children who did not report them, but no significant differences were found between the two groups with regard to theory of mind and emotional comprehension. Such line of research can help to demystify this form of pretend play, to which little attention is given in the media and in the scientific community, as well as to collaborate with the instruction of parents and educators on the creation of imaginary companions, and finally, to contribute to international research by providing data from a specific culture. Moreover, the present study provides evidence that the creation of imaginary companions is not associated with any developmental deficits; on the contrary, it can be a predictor of more sophisticated abilities such as higher vocabulary. / A criação de amigos imaginários é um fenômeno que tem sido explorado de forma tímida na literatura psicológica e psiquiátrica internacional. Mais especificamente, ainda há questões importantes sobre quem são as crianças que criam amigos imaginários e sobre o papel da fantasia no desenvolvimento emocional e cognitivo infantil. Nos últimos anos, diversos estudos brasileiros têm investigado a brincadeira simbólica, no entanto, segundo três diferentes bases de dados (SciELO-Brasil, Index Psi, PePSIC), há apenas dois estudos nacionais voltados especificamente para a criação de amigos imaginários, o que sugere uma compreensão ainda limitada da manifestação desse fenômeno em crianças brasileiras. Diante dessa lacuna na literatura nacional e as potenciais contribuições do estudo sobre esse tipo de fantasia, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo principal explorar esta forma de faz de conta em uma amostra de crianças brasileiras, sendo a primeira no país a investigar a sua relação com o desenvolvimento sociocognitivo. A hipótese defendida foi a de que as crianças com amigos imaginários apresentariam desempenhos significativamente melhores em medidas de linguagem, cognição social e engajamento em fantasia, em relação ao grupo de comparação. Quarenta crianças, entre 6 e 7 anos (M idade = 7;1, DP = 5,29) participaram do estudo, sendo 21 meninas e 19 meninos, todos recrutados em uma escola de ensino fundamental da rede estadual de uma cidade do interior de São Paulo. Dentre os participantes, 18 foram classificadas no grupo de crianças que possuem um amigo imaginário e 22 no grupo de crianças que não relatam ter amigos imaginários. A fim de testar possíveis diferenças entre os dois grupos de crianças, foram utilizadas três tarefas de teoria da mente, um teste de compreensão emocional e uma medida de vocabulário, bem como uma entrevista sobre engajamento em fantasia e outra sobre amigos imaginários, para explorar as características de tais criações. Um roteiro de entrevista sobre a família e o universo de fantasia da criança foi aplicado com 11 responsáveis de participantes do estudo. Conforme esperado, os relatos de companhias imaginárias recolhidos mostraram-se ricos e apresentaram funções parecidas com aquelas de estudos internacionais (e.g, companhia, diversão, conforto emocional). As crianças com amigos imaginários apresentaram escores mais elevados do que as crianças sem esse tipo de criação na medida de vocabulário receptivo, mas não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os dois grupos no que diz respeito à teoria da mente e à compreensão emocional. Pesquisas como esta podem ajudar a desmistificar essa forma de faz de conta, sobre a qual pouco se fala na mídia e na comunidade científica, bem como colaborar com a instrução de pais e educadores sobre a criação de amigos imaginários, e finalmente, contribuir para a pesquisa internacional, ao fornecer dados provenientes de uma cultura específica. Além disso, o presente trabalho oferece evidências de que a criação de amigos imaginários não se associa a déficits em desenvolvimento, e pode inclusive ser um preditor de habilidades mais sofisticadas, como por exemplo, um vocabulário mais desenvolvido.

Specific machines furnish the contemporary socio-technical imaginary: ‘Robot companions’ that supposedly herald the age of robots, an age that is signified by the realization of robot technologies that are taking over labor from humans in every sphere of ‘everyday human lives’. How do we want these robot companions to work and look and how do we want to live with these machines?  This thesis explores the engineering of relating humans and machines in the specific context of contemporary robotics from a queer feminist technoscience perspective. The ways in which such engineering processes implement ‘human-likeness’ in realizing the figure of the robot companion are of special concern. At the heart of this study is one robot model: Armar, developed at the Institute for Anthropomatics and Robotics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Participating in the local everyday practices of establishing the efficient robot-human interface in the kitchen laboratory, this study investigates the ways in which Armar is made domestic as a prospective care service provider and companion in the kitchen. This study applies a posthumanist frame of research to investigate the practices of making anthropomatic kitchen robots. It employs an understanding of this making in terms of ‘performing the kitchen’. This further entails querying the ways in which norms of ‘humanness’ are translated into the human-like robot as well as the idea of pre-figured embodied entities with individual properties that meet in the laboratory. Thus, this thesis maps the labors and reciprocities of learning to see and experience this specific robot model as a future human-like companion for humans by analyzing the apparatuses of bodily co-production between human and machine that are at work in the kitchen laboratory. / Avhandlingen undersöker sociotekniska processer inom samtida robotik som både upprätthåller och skapar människa – maskin relationer ur ett feministiskt teknovetenskapligt perspektiv. Speciellt undersöks hur ingenjörer skapar robot-människa gränssnitt för hushållsrobotik och implementerar människolikhet i skapandet av framtidens robotsällskap. En specifik robotmodell, Armar, och dess utveckling följs vid Institutet för Antropomatik och Robotik, Tekniska Högskola i Karlsruhe i södra Tyskland. Armar ”bor” och verkar där i ett kökslaboratorium, en simulerad vardagsyta utvecklad för forskning och offentliga demonstrationer. Men hushållsrobotar har också en speciell plats i vår kulturella föreställningsvärld. I denna studie undersöks det sociotekniska och kulturella processen att domesticera robotar och ge dem status som prospektiva hjälpredor och sällskap i köket. Som en sådan kartläggning av ömsesidigt människa-maskin skapande teoretiserar studien den kroppsproducerande apparaten (Haraway 1991) som sätts i spel i detta kökslabb och i robot-människa gränssnittet. I studien utforskas ickemänsklig agens och posthumanistisk performativitet (Barad 2003) samt gränsdragningsarbetet mellan Jaget och Andra, människa och maskin, subject och objekt. Avhandlingen gör ett bidrag till förståelsen av kroppsliga normer och socio-materiella ömsesidigheter i skapandet av förmänskligat robotsällskap. / Ob in Medienberichten oder Kinofilmen – aktuell prägen Maschinen das sozio-technische Imaginäre, die nach menschlichem Vorbild entwickelt werden, um in das ‘alltäglich-menschliche’ Leben einzutreten und dieses nachhaltig zu verändern. In ihrer Allgegenwärtigkeit künden sie das Zeitalter der Roboter an, das verspricht, den Lebensstandard, den sich der globale Norden zuschreibt, zu verbessern. Im Fokus dieser Studie steht ein spezifisches Robotermodell, Armar, das am Institut für Anthropomatik und Robotik des Instituts für Technologie in Karlsruhe (Deutschland) entwickelt wird. In der Analyse von Interviews, teilnehmender Beobachtung sowie Fotomaterial untersucht diese Studie die alltäglichen Praktiken im Robotik-Küchenlabor, durch die Armar zur Begleiter_in und Care-Arbeiter_in in der Küche wird. Die posthumanistische, queer-feministische Rahmung der Analyse erlaubt es, die Herstellung des anthropomatischen Küchenroboters als ein Performing the Kitchen zu verstehen. Die Arbeit fokussiert damit auf die Bedingungen und die Akteur_innen – sowohl menschliche als auch nichtmenschliche – und fragt nach den Normen des Menschlichen, die bei dem Arbeiten an einer ,menschenähnlichen‘ Maschine produziert, aber auch verändert werden. Dabei zeichnet sie nach, dass Entitäten mit verkörperten Eigenschaften nicht präexistieren, sondern aus komplexen Mensch-Maschine-Verhältnissen der Ko-Produktion hervorgehen.

Robot assisted therapy is becoming increasingly popular. Research has proven it can be of benefit to persons dealing with a variety of disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and it can also provide a source of emotional support e.g. to persons living in seniors’ residences. The advancement in technology and a decrease in cost of products related to consumer electronics, computing and communication has enabled the development of more advanced social robots at a lower cost. This brings us closer to developing such tools at a price that makes them affordable to lower income individuals and families. Currently, in several cases, intensive treatment for patients with certain disorders (to the level of becoming effective) is practically not possible through the public health system due to resource limitations and a large existing backlog. Pursuing treatment through the private sector is expensive and unattainable for those with a lower income, placing them at a disadvantage. Design and effective integration of technology, such as using social robots in treatment, reduces the cost considerably, potentially making it financially accessible to lower income individuals and families in need. The Objective of the research reported in this manuscript is to design and implement a social robot that meets the low-cost criteria, while also containing the required functions to support children with ASD. The design considered contains knowledge acquired in the past through research involving the use of various types of technology for the treatment of mental and/or emotional disabilities.