the news in brief

(MCT) CHICAGO – Ever since she was a little girl, Linda Davis has hated cigarette smoke -… (MCT) CHICAGO – Ever since she was a little girl, Linda Davis has hated cigarette smoke – hated it. The soft-spoken Swissotel housekeeper, who wears a four-star-crisp white apron and immaculate matching sneakers and socks, winces at the memory of her mom filling her childhood home with billows of tobacco exhaust.

Now, when Davis walks into a Swissotel room and catches that telltale scent – and she can always catch it, thanks to her hair-trigger headaches – she sets about freshening the premises, changing the linens.

Then she turns the guest in, for which she gets a $10 reward – while the offender gets slapped with a $250 fine.

Swissotel isn’t the first Chicago hotel to ban smoking and levy stiff penalties against rule breakers. But with a top-to-bottom renovation of 632 rooms under way, Swissotel is getting extra tough, paying housekeepers such as Davis for turning in no-smoking scofflaws. This makes Swissotel the only hotel in the country that rewards staff for collaring smokers in its rooms, according to the American Hotel ‘ Lodging Association, a trade group in Washington.

As for why Swissotel went to such lengths to extinguish smoking, “It was quite simple, really,” says hotel manager Jack Breisacher. “The housekeepers spend between 30 and 45 minutes in the guest room, and they were being impacted healthwise; they taste the smoke and breathe the smoke. So even without the meager $10 we give them, they’re quite on board.”

That goes for his guests, too: “We started a blog a few weeks ago, and the response was unbelievably in favor. Of the 50 or so people who wrote in only two said, `We can’t believe you’re turning the maids into vigilantes.’ But some people are saying, `We can’t believe you didn’t do this sooner.'” -By Louis R. Carlozo, Chicago Tribune

(MCT) ST. LOUIS – First, horses were replaced with cars. Then carrier pigeons were put out of work by radios. Now it’s dogs that may need to look over their shoulders.

They have reason to worry, according to a St. Louis University study that pitted a robotic canine against the real thing in a contest to see which was better at relieving the loneliness of nursing home residents.

In a final analysis likely to shock dog lovers – lovers of real dogs, that is – the two creatures finished in a virtual tie.

Among the shocked dog lovers is the study’s author, Dr. William Banks, a professor of geriatric medicine at St. Louis University.

“I kind of assumed the live dog would do better,” Banks said.

It doesn’t make it any easier knowing it was his own dog, Sparky, a 35-pound, sandy-red, floppy-eared pooch, who failed to outdo the robotic Aibo, which was made by Sony until 2006.

And it’s not like Sparky was a novice in this arena. The 9-year-old animal is a trained therapy dog. He’s been taught to make people feel good.

“He’s a pro,” Banks said. “He’s got this incredible personality.”

But it wasn’t enough to overcome a hairless robot programmed to mimic the behavior of real dogs. It barks, wags its plastic tail and learns basic commands. It can even chase a ball.

“It’s really frightening,” Banks said. “Whoever engineered the behavioral software – they must have some insight into the human psyche.”

The study, published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, was done on a tight budget, with Banks and his wife, co-researcher Marian Banks, supplying the labor and both dogs.

Testing took place during six weeks of visits to a trio of local nursing homes. Banks would not reveal the names, citing privacy concerns.

The 38 residents were divided into three groups. One group received regular visits from Sparky, while another spent time with Aibo. The third received no visits from either Sparky or Aibo.

The residents receiving visits were asked questions about how lonely they felt and how attached they were to Sparky or Aibo.

In the end, both groups were less lonely and more attached.

But what does this mean – beyond the notion that nursing homes would be happier places if robot dogs roamed the halls. After all, you can’t even buy a new Aibo anymore, though you can snag a used one on eBay or another online auction site.

Banks sees a day when robots could be used to help older people remain independent longer. The machine could be programmed to follow you around, monitoring vital signs, reminding you when to take medicine, or even calling for help if needed.

“It could be,” he said, “your own little personal R2-D2.” -By Tim Barker, St. Louis Post-Dispatch