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Drawing from two strands of ecological psychology, we suggest that even if social robots are interactive depictions, people need not mentally represent them as such. Rather, people can engage with the opportunities for action or affordances that social robots offer to them. These affordances are constrained by the larger sociocultural settings within which human–robot interactions occur.

The rapid global rise of immersive digital experience at exhibitions and museums sheds light on the intense need for deep engagement with art and the emotions that it projects and the stories it tells. With social isolation imposed by COVID, during more than two years and counting, human digital identity is evolving as digital experience moves to the heart of daily life, at home and at work, being often interchangeable. This digital paradigm shift in human activity leaving a lacuna in face-to-face engagement is increasingly being filled by digital art which we see can deliver immersive and emotional digital experiences. With the metaverse on the horizon and fast gaining ground in developing its platform to support virtual life in 3D as part of Internet 3.0, especially VR, AR, MR, AI, and NFTs, we wonder how this emerging phenomenon will change life as we know it, as the metaverse seems positioned at the epicentre of a definitive shift to digital experience during COVID and far beyond. Already, investors are buying up the metaverse landscape and creating the tools humans will need to freely participate. This portends an exciting future with new opportunities for digital artists, technology innovators, and entrepreneurs to create virtual multidimensional and multimedia spaces for people to engage their digital identity in digital experiences. Time to create your avatar - let the games begin.

When Covid-19 rushed into our lives, it sent shockwaves across the globe – suddenly we faced “lockdown” – we said goodbye to the way it was but did not understand what this brave new world of isolation and separation would mean and how it would the impact life as we knew it – our identity, relationships and freedoms we enjoyed, and wondered what daily routine post-Covid-19 would look like, while the experiences defining life itself were up for grabs. With social distancing, masks and work from home mandates, the arts and performing arts from theatres, museums, galleries and the public square were shuttered – their very existence challenged and spiralling out of control as staff were laid-off, exhibitions cancelled while concurrently creating an urgency to go online to dwell in cyberspace, the new daily destination.

Este artículo se encuentra disponible en la siguiente URL: https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/vetr.138 Este es el pre-print del siguiente artículo: Argüelles, J., Echaniz, M., Bowen, J. & Fatjó, J. (2021). The impact of a stress-reducing protocol on the quality of pre-anaesthesia in cats. The Veterinary Record, vol. 188, i. 12 (19 jun.), art. e138, que se ha publicado de forma definitiva en https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.138. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Argüelles, J., Echaniz, M., Bowen, J. & Fatjó, J. (2021). The impact of a stress-reducing protocol on the quality of pre-anaesthesia in cats. The Veterinary Record, vol. 188, i. 12 (19 jun.), art. e138, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.138. Introduction: Transport to the clinic is a major source of stress for cats. The process involves being put into a carrier, driven in a car and handled. Cats are therefore removed from the safe-haven of their territory and experience many stressful stimuli and interactions. Methods: In the present study, 31 cats were transported to the clinic following a low-stress transport protocol and compared with a control group of 36 cats whose owners did not follow the protocol. This protocol involved preparing a cat carrier basket with F3 pheromone and keeping it covered and stable during the car journey from the home to the clinic. Pre-anaesthesia information was recorded for cardiac rate, respiratory rate, tolerance to handling, time for sedation to be achieved and dose of propofol required for induction and endotracheal intubation. Results: The group exposed to the low-stress transport protocol took less time to reach sedation and needed a lower dose of propofol for induction than the control group. Conclusion: These results suggest that, in cats, pre-anaesthetic and induction requirements are influenced by lower-stress transport and handling. Preprint

This chapter looks at stress from a range of different perspectives, including the animal’s behavior, health, temperament, social and physical environment, and ability to function in the working AAI role. We discuss stress prevention through the breeding, rearing, and selection of animals that are suited to AAI work, and the need for monitoring during work, to detect signs of stress, poor coping, and health problems. Due to ill health, negative experiences of simple aging, most animals will have periods of suspension from their AAI work. We discuss how this, and the ultimate retirement of animals, could be approached.

Background The Akin osteotomy is widely used to correct the hallux valgus and different fixation techniques have been proposed. Currently most of these procedures coexist, with disagreement on which offers the best results. The aim of this study is to compare the radiological outcome of the original Akin’s technique with one in which a staple was used to stabilize the osteotomy. We also assessed whether other factors unrelated to the osteosynthesis could influence the radiological outcome. Methods We retrospectively reviewed data from 118 patients who underwent a scarf and Akin osteotomy. In 60 patients the Akin osteotomy was fixed with a staple and in 58 cases no staple was used. Hallux valgus angle (HVA), distal articular set angle (DASA), interphalangeal angle (IPA) and tibial sesamoid position were measured. The presence of lateral cortex disruption of the phalanx was also included in the analysis. Results Six variables significantly influenced the radiological results of the Akin osteotomy: preoperative HVA, IPA and tibial sesamoid position, laterality, postoperative cortical disruption and use of a staple. Conclusion Ours results suggest that the original Akin’s technique seems to offer equal or better results than a variation in which a staple is added to stabilize the osteotomy. Level of evidence This is a level III retrospective case-control study.

In recent years, public engagement in museums is increasingly being influenced by the paradigm of “citizen science”, that is, active participation in research teams by members of the general public with no formal training in the field of research concerned. This paper provides an overview of citizen science approaches which museums can deploy using online platforms, digital tools and apps. It also aims to highlight challenges and innovations, as well as possible opportunities for cultural organisations to include public participation in research and knowledge creation.

Virtual reality (VR) can provide students ancillary ways to develop social work practice skills. It is incumbent for schools of social work to critically examine the lessons learned in producing previous VR simulations by carefully integrating principles of pedagogy and by utilizing research methods to chart the path forward for effective teaching and learning. This work-in-progress paper aims to briefly describe the steps taken to create one VR tool for a school of social work that was developed by heeding lessons from the past, while being responsive to developing students’ skills for a productive future in clinical engagement.

El presente texto tiene como objetivo discutir los resultados de un estudio previo llevado a cabo sobre los efectos del estado de alarma por la COVID-19 en España sobre las personas, sus perros y sus gatos. Ayuda a comprender el apoyo que la gente obtiene de sus animales, sobre todo en momentos difíciles, y cómo el vínculo con los animales puede sustituir algunos aspectos de las relaciones humanas que podrían verse comprometidos durante una pandemia, como la compañía y el contacto físico. También se valora el efecto del confinamiento en los centros de acogida de animales de compañía. Estos resultados pueden ayudar a desarrollar intervenciones sanitarias que aprovechen el valor como capital social de la convivencia con animales de compañía. This paper aims to discuss the results of a previous study that looked at the effects of the COVID-19 confinement on people and their dogs and cats. It helps us to understand the support that people get from their animals, particularly at difficult times, and how the human-animal bond can compensate for certain aspects of human relationships that become compromised during a pandemic, such as companionship and physical contact. It also evaluates the effect of confinement on Spanish Animal Shelters. Our findings suggest ways in which public health interventions can take advantage of pets as a valuable source of social capital.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Spanish confinement for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic on the behavior of pet cats and dogs, and the support that pets provided to their owners. We found that the quality of life owners was strongly influenced by the lifestyle and emotional effects of the confinement, and that pets provided them with substantial support to mitigate those effects. However, pets showed signs of behavioral change that were consistent with stress, with dogs that had pre-existing behavioral problems being the most affected., Highlights • During COVID-19 confinement in Spain 61.8% of respondents said that their quality of life had deteriorated. • Poorer self-reported personal quality of life was associated with the lifestyle and emotional impacts of the confinement on the household. • People whose quality of life had been more severely affected reported that their pet provided proportionately more help for them during confinement. • The emotional bond between people and their pets strengthened during the confinement. • Thirty-seven percent of dogs showed signs of difficulty coping with the confinement, but cats were less affected. • Dogs with pre-existing behavior problems were more likely to have difficulty coping with the confinement.

Simple Summary Understanding the psychological correlates of attitudes toward pet relinquishment and actual pet relinquishment is essential to inform interventions, and assess their impact. In this study, we developed new scales to measure attitudes toward pet relinquishment, motives for pet relinquishment, and general trust in pets. With these scales, we showed that attitudes of lack of obligation toward pet relinquishment were more likely in older people, those who perceived their pet as a burden, and those with lower general trust in pets. In addition, we found that attitudes of pragmatism toward pet relinquishment were more likely in men, those who were the main pet caretaker, those who perceived their pet as a burden, those with higher motives for pet relinquishment, and those with lower general trust in pets. Moreover, we found that past pet relinquishment behavior was more likely among people with attitudes of pragmatism toward pet relinquishment. Broadly, these findings advance our knowledge of pet relinquishment, and are likely to inform intervention campaigns to prevent it. Abstract Understanding pet relinquishment is essential to inform interventions and assess their impact. In a cross-sectional study, we explored how attitudes of lack of obligation and pragmatism toward pet relinquishment correlated with, and differed according to, sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, education, political orientation, religion, income, and household), previous animal experience, and owner perceptions of animals (perceiving pet as a burden, motives for pet relinquishment, regret having a pet, and general trust in pets). We adapted and developed three scales to measure attitudes toward pet relinquishment (ATPR), motives for pet relinquishment (MPR), and general trust in pets (GTP), revealing good psychometric qualities. Hierarchical linear regressions showed that attitudes of lack of obligation toward pet relinquishment were stronger in older people, those perceiving their pet as a burden, and those with lower general trust in pets. Attitudes of pragmatism toward pet relinquishment were stronger in men, those who were main pet caretakers, those perceiving their pet as a burden, those with higher motives for pet relinquishment, and those with lower general trust in pets. Furthermore, results showed that past pet relinquishment behavior was predicted by attitudes of pragmatism, but not attitudes of lack of obligation.

Acquired isolated factor VII deficiency is a rare bleeding disorder and has been reported in 31 cases. This is in contrast to congenital factor VII deficiency, which while also infrequent is the most common rare congenital bleeding disorder. Acquired isolated factor VII deficiency has been described primarily in patients with solid malignancies, sepsis, and in the presence of anti-factor VII autoantibodies. We report a case of acute myelogenous leukemia with an associated trisomy 8 cytogenetic abnormality presenting with factor VII deficiency. The factor VII deficiency cleared after induction chemotherapy and with the disappearance of the cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities. We discuss a possible link between trisomy 8 and vitamin K metabolism, which might result in acquired factor VII deficiency in acute myelogenous leukemia.

Leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, leptomeningeal meningitis, or, as referred here, leptomeningeal metastasis (LM), is a rare but frequently fatal complication seen in advanced stage of cancer either locally advanced or after a metastasis of a known primary cancer. We present a rare and uncommon case of leptomeningeal metastases from carcinoma of unknown primary. A 32-year-old female was diagnosed with LM; however, no known primary carcinoma was identified after 2 separate biopsies. The first biopsy of the right pre-tracheal lymph node showed poorly differentiated pan-keratin (AE1 and AE3) and placental alkaline phosphatase with the possibility of germ cell origin. Second cytology of cervical lymphadenopathy was remarkable for cytokeratin 7 and 20, placental alkaline phosphatase, and CDX2 suggestive of germ line tumor with both mucinous ovarian and gastrointestinal carcinomas. Unfortunately, the LM progressed rapidly despite multiple cycles of germ cell origin directed systemic and intrathecal chemotherapy, and the patient opted for hospice care without getting a chance to identify the primary source.

Dog bites are one of the main public health problems. They produce important consequences for those who suffer them (physical and psychological injuries, secondary infections, sequelae, risk of transmission of zoonoses and surgeries, among others). The objective of this study was to characterize epidemiologically the incidents of bites in Chile and the patterns of human-dog relationship involved. The records analyzed in this article were obtained from bitten patients who attended the main public health facilities in Chile during the period 17 September 2017 and 17 September 2018: In the period studied, 17,299 animal bites were recorded, however, only 7220 (41.74%) cases were analyzed in which the offending species could be identified. Of the bites analyzed, 6533 were caused by dogs (90.48%). Of these, 41.05% were caused by medium-sized dogs. Most bites were caused by dogs of mixed breeds (55.99%), followed by dogs of the German Shepherd breed (8.50%). Most of the dogs that bit were known to the victim (99.95%) and most of the attacks occurred indoors (57.48%). Although dog bite records have improved in Chile, it would be useful to also include background information on the context in which the incident occurred, which would be very useful for developing effective bite prevention programs.

To assess the welfare of cats at the veterinary clinic and how caregivers and veterinarians affect it, a survey of Italian cat guardians (n = 1,111) was conducted using a 28-item multichoice questionnaire. Most cats showed impaired welfare during all stages of a clinic visit: before entering, in the waiting room, moving to the examination room, on the examination table, and after returning home. A relationship was found between welfare states in each stage. Stress worsened with further experience and had negative effects on traveling and handling in other situations. Restraint, pain, and anxiety led to aggression toward vets and guardians. Guardians showed a positive attitude toward their cats' health and welfare, and the veterinarians' behavior toward the cats was a reason for changing the veterinarian. One in 10 veterinarians examined the cat immediately, without stroking, talking, or offering food. However, the use of food was effective only if cats were not already stressed. Educating guardians and veterinarians to minimize stress during every stage of a clinic visit is the best approach to improving welfare for cats visiting the clinic.

A few months after Alan Turing’s tragically early death, in 1954, his colleague Geoffrey Jefferson (professor of neurosurgery at Manchester University) wrote what might serve as Turing’s epitaph: Alan in whom the lamp of genius burned so bright—too hot a flame perhaps it was for his endurance. He was so unversed in worldly ways, so childlike it sometimes seemed to me, so unconventional, so non-conform[ing] to the general pattern. His genius flared because he had never quite grown up, he was I suppose a sort of scientific Shelley. After his short but brilliant career Alan Mathison Turing’s life ended 15 days short of his fortysecond birthday.2 His ideas lived on, however, and at the turn of the millennium Time magazine listed him among the twentieth-century’s one hundred greatest minds, alongside the Wright brothers, Albert Einstein, DNA busters Crick and Watson, and Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin.3 Turing’s achievements during his short lifetime were legion. Best known as the mathematician who broke some of Nazi Germany’s most secret codes, Turing was also one of the ringleaders of the computer revolution. Today, all who click, tap, or touch to open are familiar with the impact of his ideas. We take for granted that we use the same slab of hardware to shop, manage our finances, type our memoirs, play our favourite music and videos, and send instant messages across the street or around the world. In an era when ‘computer’ was the term for a human clerk who did the sums in the back office of an insurance company or science lab, Turing envisaged a ‘universal computing machine’, able to do anything that a programmer could pin down in the form of a series of instructions. He could not have foreseen this at the time, but his universal computing machine changed the way we live: it eventually caught on like wildfire, with sales of personal computers now hovering around the million a day mark. Turing’s universal machine transported us into a world where many young people have never known life without the Internet.

Alan Turing has long proved a subject of fascination, but following the centenary of his birth in 2012, the code-breaker, computer pioneer, mathematician (and much more) has become even more celebrated with much media coverage, and several meetings, conferences and books raising public awareness of Turing's life and work. This volume will bring together contributions from some of the leading experts on Alan Turing to create a comprehensive guide to Turing that will serve as a useful resource for researchers in the area as well as the increasingly interested general reader. The book will cover aspects of Turing's life and the wide range of his intellectual activities, including mathematics, code-breaking, computer science, logic, artificial intelligence and mathematical biology, as well as his subsequent influence.

In terms of public appreciation Turing has risen quickly from zero to hero. The decades of obscurity (Who did you say? Turning?) came to an end with the much-publicized Royal Pardon of 2013 and, before that, the widespread international celebrations in 2012 during the centenary of his birth—celebrations that formed a spontaneous collective decentralized yell, by academics, artists, broadcasters, politicians, athletes, and others: ACCLAIM HIM! Suddenly Turing went viral. This final chapter surveys his burgeoning legacy: cultural, political, scientific, and linguistic. It is a work in progress. Turing’s renown is growing too fast for any final assessment. Turing invented the universal machine, representing the stored-program computer in its most general and abstract form; and with hindsight his seminal 1936 paper ‘On computable numbers’ foretold the capabilities of the modern computer. During the Second World War he recognized that computing machines could carry out important tasks fast and reliably, even tasks requiring intelligence when done by human beings. Unlike some theorists, Turing had a strong practical bent and was as happy to wield a soldering iron as to wrestle with an abstract mathematical problem. The story of his post-war contributions to the design and development of electronic computers was told in Chapters 20–22. Yet placing Turing is always difficult. He was not the inventor of the computer, but one among a diffuse group of mathematicians and engineers who brought the new machines into existence (see Chapter 6). For the same reason he was not the founder of computer science; and in any case the title ‘founder of computer science’ is anachronistic: Turing had been dead for 6 years before George Forsythe coined the term ‘computer science’ and the first university departments of computer science began to emerge. Nevertheless, the new discipline of computer science was certainly grounded in the fundamental ideas of Turing and his contemporaries, including John von Neumann, Maurice Wilkes, and Tom Kilburn.

Today Bletchley Park is a thriving monument to Turing and his fellow codebreakers. This did not happen easily. After the Second World War, the Bletchley Park site went into gradual decline, with its many temporary wartime buildings left unmaintained. The intense secrecy still surrounding the codebreakers’ wartime work meant there was no public awareness of what they had achieved, nor even that they had existed. It was only when the information embargo finally began to lift, decades later, that Bletchley Park’s importance became more widely known—but by that time the site was in danger of being razed to the ground to make way for housing estates. This chapter tells how Bletchley Park was rescued from property developers and from financial failure to become a national monument. The true heroes of this story are too numerous to mention by name—the hundreds of committed hard-working people, many of them volunteers, whose collective efforts over time saved Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park, also known as Station X, is arguably the most important single site associated with the Second World War. One of the best kept of all wartime secrets, it was acquired by the Foreign Office not long before the start of the fighting and at that time comprised some 55 acres of land, together with a large and architecturally odd mansion (see Fig. 9.1) and various associated outbuildings of the type common in large estates of the period. The mansion was built in Victorian and Edwardian times and its grounds were laid out as formal gardens, with a lake and many specimen trees. Curiously, these trees subsequently played a role in saving the site. During the war there was an almost continuous programme of construction. Numerous typical Ministry-of-Defence-style brick buildings were erected, as well as an assortment of timber huts. The huts included Hut 8, where Turing worked on Naval Enigma (Fig. 19.1). His introduction of the bombe, in 1940, was the start of Bletchley Park’s conversion into a codebreaking factory (see Chapter 12) and by the end of the war there were more than seventy buildings on the site, including the original mansion and its outbuildings. These structures supplied the capacity to house more than 3000 people per shift, as well as the large quantities of machinery and other equipment involved in the codebreaking work.

The welfare assessment of owned pet cats has been neglected in research. The aim of this study was to assess owners' perception and recognition of impaired welfare in their own cats. One hundred ninety-four cat owners were interviewed face-to-face by a veterinary behaviorist, completing a 42-item questionnaire. Most owners (71.1%/N = 138) correctly included both physical and psychological features within their definition of stress, but 9.8% (19) thought that stress had no consequences for the cat. When asked to rate the overall stress level of their own cats in a nonnumerical scale based on frequency, 56.7% (N = 110) chose low, 38.1% (N = 74) chose medium, and 5.2% (N = 10) chose high. Owners whose cats played little or not at all were more likely to rate the level of stress of their cats as high (90.0%) than to rate it as low or medium (33.2%/64; χ2 = 13.290; P < 0.001). Similarly, owners whose cats showed overgrooming were more likely to rate the level of stress of their cats as high (30.0%/58 vs. 7.6%/15; χ2 = 4.948; P = 0.015). The display of aggression or house soiling was not associated with the owner's rating of stress level. The number of signs recognized by respondents as potential indicators of stress in cats and the rating of the level of stress in their own cats were weakly correlated (ρ = 0.217; P = 0.002). This may be due to possible biases in the interviews as well as to an overall good welfare in the cat sample associated to a moderately good understanding of feline signs of stress in owners. A principal components analysis applied to the listed signs of stress identified 4 components which were termed: body posture, social avoidance, house soiling, and self-directed behavior. However, some of the signs that behaviorists regard as crucial in their anamnesis, such as scratching the furniture, freezing, mydriasis, and recurrent cystitis, were the least recognized signs of stress by cat owners. Only very prominent, common, or potentially disturbing behaviors such as excessive vocalization, posture with the ears back, and urinating out of the litter tray were regarded as potential signs of stress by more than two-thirds of owners. These findings suggest that owners tend to overlook certain signs and that owners' perception of stress partially depends on their false preconceptions about cat normal ethology (e.g., playfulness, social relationships, aggression, etc.). This ill-informed perception is likely to prevent owners from correctly indentifying, and intervening in, situations of poor welfare.

Characteristics of the human-animal bond can be influenced by both owner-related and pet-related factors, which likely differ between species. Three studies adapted the Monash Dog-Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) to permit assessment of human-cat interactions as perceived by the cat's owner. In Study 1293 female cat owners completed a modified version of the MDORS, where 'dog' was replaced with 'cat' for all items. Responses were compared with a matched sample of female dog owners. A partial least squares discriminant analysis revealed systematic differences between cat and dog owners in the Dog (Cat)-Owner Interaction subscale (MDORS subscale 1), but not for Perceived Emotional Closeness or Perceived Costs (Subscales 2 and 3). Study 2 involved analysis of free-text descriptions of cat-owner interactions provided by 61 female cat owners. Text mining identified key words which were used to create additional questions for a new Cat-Owner Interaction subscale. In Study 3, the resulting cat-owner relationship scale (CORS) was tested in a group of 570 cat owners. The main psychometric properties of the scale, including internal consistency and factor structure, were evaluated. We propose that this scale can be used to accurately assess owner perceptions of their relationship with their cat. A modified scale, combining items from the CORS and MDORS (a C/DORS), is also provided for when researchers would find it desirable to compare human-cat and human-dog interactions.

The characteristics of the human-animal bond may be influenced by both owner-related and dog-related factors. A study was designed to explore the existence of different dog ownership patterns and their related factors. We created an on line questionnaire that included demographic questions about the dog and the owner, a Spanish version of the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) and a validated measure of satisfaction with life (Cantril’s ladder). We collected 1140 valid responses from adult dog owners, who were recruited using the client databases of Spanish veterinary practices. We explored the presence of groups within the population using Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of the MDORS variables combined with Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). Two groups were found; Group I having a higher level of emotional involvement with their dogs compared with Group II. Binary logistic regression was used to explore demographic factors that influenced group membership. Four variables were significantly associated with membership of Group I (p

Simple Summary In this paper we wanted to estimate the incidence of abandonment, as well as the general profile of dogs and cats entering animal shelters in our country. Also, we wanted to test the impact of identification on the recovery of dogs that had entered animal shelters. More than 100,000 dogs and more than 30,000 cats enter animal shelters annually in Spain. We observed a seasonal effect in the number of admissions in cats. A considerable percentage remained at the shelter or was euthanized. We found that identification of dogs with a microchip increased by 3-fold the likelihood of them being returned to the owner. Abstract Millions of pets are abandoned worldwide every year, which is an important animal welfare and financial problem. This paper was divided into three studies. Our first two studies were designed as a national survey of animal shelters to profile the population of stray dogs and cats, as well as to gather information on both relinquishment and adoption. The aim of our third study was to test the impact of identification on the recovery of dogs entering animal shelters. Studies one and two indicate that more than 100,000 dogs and more than 30,000 cats enter animal shelters annually in Spain. We observed a seasonal effect in the number of admissions in cats. Two-thirds of dogs and cats entering shelters were found as strays, while the rest were relinquished directly to the shelter. Most pets admitted to animal shelters were adult, non-purebred, and without a microchip, with the majority of dogs being medium sized. Adult dogs spent significantly more time in shelters than puppies. While most animals were either adopted or recovered by their owner, a considerable percentage remained at the shelter or was euthanized. The identification of dogs with a microchip increased by 3-fold the likelihood of them being returned to the owner.