Determinization of timed Petri nets behaviors

International audience

Regional Disparities in Sedentary Behaviors and Meal Frequency in Iranian Adolescents: The CASPIAN-III Study

Background: The prevalence of obesity is increasing among Iranian youngsters like other developing countries. Objectives: This study was conducted to assess regional disparities in sedentary behaviors and meal frequency in Iranian adolescents. Patients and Methods: In this national survey, 5682 students aged 10 - 18 years from urban and rural districts of 27 provinces of Iran were selected via stratified multi-stage sampling method. The country was classified into four sub-national regions, based on criteria of the combination of geography and socioeconomic status (SES). Mean of meal frequency and physical activity levels as well as prevalence of omitting meals and sedentary behavior were compared across regions with different SES after stratifying with sex and age group. Results: Meal frequency in lower socio-economic regions was significantly higher than two other regions in 10 - 13 and 10 - 18 years old groups (P trend < 0.001). However, the mean of working hours with computer was linearly increased with increasing the SES in studied regions (P trend < 0.001), whereas the corresponding figure was not significant for the mean of watching TV (P trend > 0.05). Frequency of adolescents omitting their meals was higher in higher SES regions especially in West Iran (P < 0.001) in 10 - 13 years old age group. Having personal computer and working with it more than two hours per day mainly was observed in central Iran which ranked as the highest SES group. Conclusions: Efforts to ensure Iranian youth meet healthy food habits and screen time guidelines include limiting access to screen technologies and encouraging parents to monitor their own screen time is required.

Changes in skin protection behaviors, attitudes, and sunburn: In a population with the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world

This study describes changes in skin protection attitudes and outdoor behaviors of adults in Queensland, Australia, using two cross-sectional telephone surveys conducted in 1988/89 (N = 1699) and 1991/92 (N = 2317). After adjustment for potential confounders, there were significant improvements in some skin protection attitudes, time spent outside, hat wearing, sunscreen use, overall skin protection (p < 0.01) and shade use (p < 0.05) between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM on the previous Sunday. The degree of attitudinal and behavioral change varied with age, gender, region, and reported skin type. However, recent sunburn experience remained unchanged. A similar study in Victoria, Australia, observed changes in skin protection attitudes, behaviors, and recent sunburn. We speculate on possible explanations for the lack of improvement in recent sunburn experience despite the improvement in skin protection attitudes, and behaviors, and suggest that part of the explanation may be environmental differences. This has implications for generalizability of such studies outside the geographical region in which they were conducted. Article in Cancer Detection and Prevention 20(6):566-75 · January 1996

Gender Differences in the Influence of Protective Factors, Risk Factors, and Health Risk Behaviors on HIV Risk Behaviors Among Youth in South Florida

Adolescents engage in a range of risk behaviors during their transition from childhood to adulthood. Identifying and understanding interpersonal and socio-environmental factors that may influence risk-taking is imperative in order to meet the Healthy People 2020 goals of reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections among youth. The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behaviors among South Florida youth. More specifically, this study examined how protective factors, risk factors, and health risk behaviors, derived from a guiding framework using the Theory of Problem Behavior and Theory of Gender and Power, were associated with HIV risk behavior. A secondary analysis of 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data sets from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach school districts tested hypotheses for factors associated with HIV risk behaviors. The sample consisted of 5,869 high school students (mean age 16.1 years), with 69% identifying as Black or Hispanic. Logistic regression analyses revealed gender differences in the predictors of HIV risk behavior. An increase in the health risk behaviors was related to an increase in the odds that a student would engage in HIV risk behavior. An increase in risk factors was also found to significantly predict an increase in the odds of HIV risk behavior, but only in females. Also, the probability of participation in HIV risk behavior increased with grade level. Post-hoc analyses identified recent sexual activity (past 3 months) as the strongest predictor of condom nonuse and having four or more sexual partners for both genders. The strongest predictors of having sex under the influence of drugs/alcohol were alcohol use in both genders, marijuana use in females, and physical fighting in males. Gender differences in the predictors of unprotected sex, multiple sexual partners, and having sex under the influence were also found. Additional studies are warranted to understand the gender differences in predictors of HIV risk behavior among youth in order to better inform prevention programming and policy, as well as meet the national Healthy People 2020 goals.

Learning data-driven models of non-verbal behaviors for building rapport using an intelligent virtual agent

There is a growing societal need to address the increasing prevalence of behavioral health issues, such as obesity, alcohol or drug use, and general lack of treatment adherence for a variety of health problems. The statistics, worldwide and in the USA, are daunting. Excessive alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States (with 79,000 deaths annually), and is responsible for a wide range of health and social problems. On the positive side though, these behavioral health issues (and associated possible diseases) can often be prevented with relatively simple lifestyle changes, such as losing weight with a diet and/or physical exercise, or learning how to reduce alcohol consumption. Medicine has therefore started to move toward finding ways of preventively promoting wellness, rather than solely treating already established illness.^ Evidence-based patient-centered Brief Motivational Interviewing (BMI) interventions have been found particularly effective in helping people find intrinsic motivation to change problem behaviors after short counseling sessions, and to maintain healthy lifestyles over the long-term. Lack of locally available personnel well-trained in BMI, however, often limits access to successful interventions for people in need. To fill this accessibility gap, Computer-Based Interventions (CBIs) have started to emerge. Success of the CBIs, however, critically relies on insuring engagement and retention of CBI users so that they remain motivated to use these systems and come back to use them over the long term as necessary.^ Because of their text-only interfaces, current CBIs can therefore only express limited empathy and rapport, which are the most important factors of health interventions. Fortunately, in the last decade, computer science research has progressed in the design of simulated human characters with anthropomorphic communicative abilities. Virtual characters interact using humans’ innate communication modalities, such as facial expressions, body language, speech, and natural language understanding. By advancing research in Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can improve the ability of artificial agents to help us solve CBI problems.^ To facilitate successful communication and social interaction between artificial agents and human partners, it is essential that aspects of human social behavior, especially empathy and rapport, be considered when designing human-computer interfaces. Hence, the goal of the present dissertation is to provide a computational model of rapport to enhance an artificial agent’s social behavior, and to provide an experimental tool for the psychological theories shaping the model. Parts of this thesis were already published in [LYL+12, AYL12, AL13, ALYR13, LAYR13, YALR13, ALY14].^

Investigation of Escape and Negative Student Behaviors Related to Florida State High Stakes Test Preparation in Miami-Dade County Public High Schools, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between pressure to perform on state mandated, high-stakes tests and the rate of student escape behavior defined as the number of school suspensions and absences. The state assigned grade of a school was used as a surrogate measure of pressure with the assumption that pressure increased as the school grade decreased. Student attendance and suspension data were gathered from all 33 of the regular public high schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The research questions were: Is the number of suspensions highest in the third quarter, when most FCAT preparation takes place for each of the 3 school years 2007-08 through 2009-10? How accurately does the high school’s grade predict the number of suspensions and number of absences during each of the 4 school years 2005-06 through 2008-09? The research questions were answered using repeated measures analysis of variance for research question #1 and non-linear multiple regression for research question #2. No significant difference could be found between the numbers of suspensions in each of the grading periods nor was there a relationship between the number of suspensions and school grade. A statistically significant relationship was found between student attendance and school grade. When plotted, this relationship was found to be quadratic in nature and formed a loose inverted U for each of the four years during which data were collected. This indicated that students in very high and very low performing schools had low levels of absences while those in the midlevel of the distribution of school performance (C schools) had the greatest rates of absence. Identifying a relationship between the pressures associated with high stakes testing and student escape behavior suggests that it might be useful for building administrators to reevaluate test preparation activities and procedures being used in their building and to include anxiety reducing strategies. As a relationship was found, it sets the foundation for future studies to identify whether testing related activities are impacting some students emotionally and are causing unintended consequences of testing mandates.

The use of motivational interviews by nurses to promote health behaviors in adolescents: a scoping review protoco

The objective of this scoping review is to examine and map the use of motivational interviews (MI) by nurses in their clinical practice with adolescents to promote health behaviors.More specifically, the review will focus on the following questions:What is the current nature and extent of use of nurse-led MI in the promotion of health behaviors in adolescents?Which adolescent populations (in terms of health status and adoption or not of health risk behaviors have been included in nurse-led MI with the aim of promoting health behaviors?What are the contexts in which nurses have used MI to promote health behaviors in adolescents?Which specific MI techniques and/or strategies have been used by nurses to promote health behaviors in adolescents?What outcomes on the promotion of health behaviors have been reported from nurse-led MI with adolescents?

The use of motivational interviews by nurses to promote health behaviors in adolescents: developing a search strategy for this review

Introduction: The developmental changes during adolescence may affect subsequent risk for diseases and health-related behaviors. Motivational Interview (MI) may be taken as an essential tool in the provision of nursing care to adolescents, being itself a workspace with possible therapeutic effects. At this context, it is important to examine and map the use of MI by nurses in their clinical practice with adolescents to promote health behaviors. Objectives: A scoping review has been undertaking to find out what is the current extent of the use of nurse-led MI; which adolescents were included; in which contexts nurses use MI; which MI techniques/strategies are used and what outcomes have been reported. The first task was to develop a search strategy to identify relevant studies for this review. It is described here the experience in constructing the search strategy review. Methodology: This scoping review will be informed by JBI methodology. An initial search of MEDLINE and CINAHL was undertaken. An analysis of the text words contained in the title and abstract, and of the index terms used to describe the searched articles were retrieved and these were then used to construct a search strategy for use in Medline and Cinahl. Results: Analysis of the text words and the index terms generated 19 keywords: It was identified 5 synonyms for "Adolescents", 12 for "MI" and 2 for "nurse". A new research formula was designed using the text words identified. Adolescen*[Title/Abstract]) OR Younger*[Title/Abstract]) OR Youth*[Title/Abstract]) OR Teen*[Title/Abstract]) OR Adolescent[MeSH Terms])) AND (((((((((((("Motivational interview"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Motivational intervention"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Motivational interviews"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Motivational interventions"[Title/Abstract]) OR "motivational interviewing"[Title/Abstract]) OR "motivational counseling"[Title/Abstract]) OR "motivational support"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Motivational enhancement"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Brief intervention"[Title/Abstract]) OR "Brief interventions"[Title/Abstract]) OR Motivational Interviewing[MeSH Terms]) OR Directive Counseling[MeSH Terms])) AND ((nurs*[Text Word]) OR Nurses[MeSH Terms]). Limiters - Language: English, Portuguese, Spanish. In MEDLINE this research formula generated 125 results. Other 16 databases referenced at the protocol will be searched to identify additional studies. Articles identified from the final search will be assessed for relevance to the review, based on information provided in the title and abstract. The full article will be retrieved for all studies that meet the inclusion criteria of the review. Conclusions: It was presented here the initial results of this search. Next steps of this study will be to develop and refine the search strategy for use in other databases. It is expected that findings from this Scoping Review provide needed information to nurses related to the use of MI to promote health behaviors in adolescents and inform opportunities for future development in nursing practice.

Portuguese Version of the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised: Validation Data and the Establishment of a Cut-Score for Screening Purposes

The aim of the present study is to provide validation data regarding the Portuguese version of the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire Revised in nonclinical individuals. Two studies were undertaken with two different nonclinical samples in order to demonstrate reliability, concurrent, predictive, and construct validity, and in order to establish an appropriate cut-score for nonclinical individuals. A sample of 810 community adults participated in Study 1. Results from this study provided information regarding scale internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and concurrent validity. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis established a cut-off score to be used for screening purposes with nonclinical individuals. A sample of 440 young adults participated in Study 2, which demonstrated scale score internal consistency and 5-month predictive validity. Further, 5-month test-retest reliability was also evaluated and the correlations of SBQ-R scale scores with two other measures that assess constructs related to suicidality, depression and psychache, were also performed. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken to demonstrate the robustness of the result obtained in Study 1. Overall, findings supported the psychometric appropriateness of the Portuguese Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revise

Cognitive And Behavioral Heterogeneity In Genetic Syndromes.

this study aimed to investigate the cognitive and behavioral profiles, as well as the psychiatric symptoms and disorders in children with three different genetic syndromes with similar sociocultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. thirty-four children aged 6 to 16 years, with Williams-Beuren syndrome (n=10), Prader-Willi syndrome (n=11), and Fragile X syndrome (n=13) from the outpatient clinics of Child Psychiatry and Medical Genetics Department were cognitively assessed through the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III). Afterwards, a full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ), verbal IQ, performance IQ, standard subtest scores, as well as frequency of psychiatric symptoms and disorders were compared among the three syndromes. significant differences were found among the syndromes concerning verbal IQ and verbal and performance subtests. Post-hoc analysis demonstrated that vocabulary and comprehension subtest scores were significantly higher in Williams-Beuren syndrome in comparison with Prader-Willi and Fragile X syndromes, and block design and object assembly scores were significantly higher in Prader-Willi syndrome compared with Williams-Beuren and Fragile X syndromes. Additionally, there were significant differences between the syndromes concerning behavioral features and psychiatric symptoms. The Prader-Willi syndrome group presented a higher frequency of hyperphagia and self-injurious behaviors. The Fragile X syndrome group showed a higher frequency of social interaction deficits; such difference nearly reached statistical significance. the three genetic syndromes exhibited distinctive cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric patterns.

Tuning The Surface Anisotropy In Fe-doped Nio Nanoparticles.

Ni(1-x)FexO nanoparticles have been obtained by the co-precipitation chemical route. X-ray diffraction analyses using Rietveld refinement have shown a slight decrease in the microstrain and mean particle size as a function of the Fe content. The zero-field-cooling (ZFC) and field-cooling (FC) magnetization curves show superparamagnetic behavior at high temperatures and a low temperature peak (at T = 11 K), which is enhanced with increasing Fe concentration. Unusual behavior of the coercive field in the low temperature region and an exchange bias behavior were also observed. A decrease in the Fe concentration induces an increase in the exchange bias field. We argue that these behaviors can be linked with the strengthening of surface anisotropy caused by the incorporation of Fe ions.

[diet Quality And Associated Factors Among The Elderly: A Population-based Study In Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil].

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of diet among the elderly and associations with socio-demographic variables, health-related behaviors, and diseases. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a representative sample of 1,509 elderly participants in a health survey in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil. Food quality was assessed using the Revised Diet Quality Index (DQI-R). Mean index scores were estimated and a multiple regression model was employed for the adjusted analyses. The highest diet quality scores were associated with age 80 years or older, Evangelical religion, diabetes mellitus, and physical activity, while the lowest scores were associated with home environments shared with three or more people, smoking, and consumption of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages. The findings emphasize a general need for diet quality improvements in the elderly, specifically in subgroups with unhealthy behaviors, who should be targeted with comprehensive strategies.

Anxiety-like Effects Of Meta-chlorophenylpiperazine In Paradoxically Sleep-deprived Mice.

Chlorophenylpiperazines (CPP) are psychotropic drugs used in nightclub parties and are frequently used in a state of sleep deprivation, a condition which can potentiate the effects of psychoactive drugs. This study aimed to investigate the effects of sleep deprivation and sleep rebound (RB) on anxiety-like measures in mCPP-treated mice using the open field test. We first optimized our procedure by performing dose-effect curves and examining different pretreatment times in naïve male Swiss mice. Subsequently, a separate cohort of mice underwent paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) for 24 or 48h. In the last experiment, immediately after the 24h-PSD period, mice received an injection of saline or mCPP, but their general activity was quantified in the open field only after the RB period (24 or 48h). The dose of 5mgmL(-1) of mCPP was the most effective at decreasing rearing behavior, with peak effects 15min after injection. PSD decreased locomotion and rearing behaviors, thereby inhibiting a further impairment induced by mCPP. Plasma concentrations of mCPP were significantly higher in PSD 48h animals compared to the non-PSD control group. Twenty-four hours of RB combined with mCPP administration produced a slight reduction in locomotion. Our results show that mCPP was able to significantly change the behavior of naïve, PSD, and RB mice. When combined with sleep deprivation, there was a higher availability of drug in plasma levels. Taken together, our results suggest that sleep loss can enhance the behavioral effects of the potent psychoactive drug, mCPP, even after a period of rebound sleep.

[maternal Perception Regarding Hospitalized Newborns].

Cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in the neonatal unit of a public teaching hospital in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, which aimed to determine the perceptions of mothers about their newborns hospitalized children. The sample consisted of 100 women questioned, through the Neonatal Perception Inventory Broussard, about how much trouble was expected to be presented by babies of the general unit, on behaviors such as crying; feeding; regurgitate or vomit; evacuate; sleep and have a routine. Then, the same questions were repeated about their own babies. Ninety mothers considered their children with fewer difficulties than other babies at the unit. Younger women and mothers of infants with higher weights tended to consider their children with more difficulty. The Inventory is easy to apply and may be useful in the evaluation of mother-child interaction, although its result cannot be considered in isolation.

Indicadores de bem-estar baseados em reações comportamentais de matrizes pesadas

Knowing the importance that the poultry industry represents for the Brazilian economy, this work, searched to understand and to identify new welfare pointers inherent to the animal that contributed for the increase of the productive effectiveness, studying different behavior reactions in broiler breeders, in climatic chamber. The experiment was delineated as a Latin Square 3x3x3, where the variable: temperature of air, birds ration and birds age had been controlled. The birds of different ages had been lodged in distinct boxes. Observations of the behavior of the birds in two schedules of the day had been made, being one in the morning and the other one in the afternoon, during a period of 15 minutes each through video cameras, installed in the ceiling of the climatic chamber, having no interference of human being in the register of the data. It was verified the influence of the controlled variables in diverse observed behaviors where it was concluded that the presence of food resulted in bigger occurrences of aggressiveness reactions.