Objective automatic assessment of rehabilitative speech treatment in Parkinson's disease

Vocal performance degradation is a common symptom for the vast majority of Parkinson's disease (PD) subjects, who typically follow personalized one-to-one periodic rehabilitation meetings with speech experts over a long-term period. Recently, a novel computer program called Lee Silverman voice treatment (LSVT) Companion was developed to allow PD subjects to independently progress through a rehabilitative treatment session. This study is part of the assessment of the LSVT Companion, aiming to investigate the potential of using sustained vowel phonations towards objectively and automatically replicating the speech experts' assessments of PD subjects' voices as “acceptable” (a clinician would allow persisting during in-person rehabilitation treatment) or “unacceptable” (a clinician would not allow persisting during in-person rehabilitation treatment). We characterize each of the 156 sustained vowel /a/ phonations with 309 dysphonia measures, select a parsimonious subset using a robust feature selection algorithm, and automatically distinguish the two cohorts (acceptable versus unacceptable) with about 90% overall accuracy. Moreover, we illustrate the potential of the proposed methodology as a probabilistic decision support tool to speech experts to assess a phonation as “acceptable” or “unacceptable.” We envisage the findings of this study being a first step towards improving the effectiveness of an automated rehabilitative speech assessment tool

Harnessing AI for Speech Reconstruction using Multi-view Silent Video Feed

Speechreading or lipreading is the technique of understanding and getting phonetic features from a speaker's visual features such as movement of lips, face, teeth and tongue. It has a wide range of multimedia applications such as in surveillance, Internet telephony, and as an aid to a person with hearing impairments. However, most of the work in speechreading has been limited to text generation from silent videos. Recently, research has started venturing into generating (audio) speech from silent video sequences but there have been no developments thus far in dealing with divergent views and poses of a speaker. Thus although, we have multiple camera feeds for the speech of a user, but we have failed in using these multiple video feeds for dealing with the different poses. To this end, this paper presents the world's first ever multi-view speech reading and reconstruction system. This work encompasses the boundaries of multimedia research by putting forth a model which leverages silent video feeds from multiple cameras recording the same subject to generate intelligent speech for a speaker. Initial results confirm the usefulness of exploiting multiple camera views in building an efficient speech reading and reconstruction system. It further shows the optimal placement of cameras which would lead to the maximum intelligibility of speech. Next, it lays out various innovative applications for the proposed system focusing on its potential prodigious impact in not just security arena but in many other multimedia analytics problems.Comment: 2018 ACM Multimedia Conference (MM '18), October 22--26, 2018, Seoul, Republic of Kore

Open the Jail Cell Doors, HAL: A Guarded Embrace of Pretrial Risk Assessment Instruments

In recent years, criminal justice reformers have focused their attention on pretrial detention as a uniquely solvable contributor to the horrors of modern mass incarceration. While reform of bail practices can take many forms, one of the most pioneering and controversial techniques is the adoption of actuarial models to inform pretrial decision-making. These models are designed to supplement or replace the unpredictable and discriminatory status quo of judicial discretion at arraignment. This Note argues that policymakers should experiment with risk assessment instruments as a component of their bail reform efforts, but only if appropriate safeguards are in place. Concerns for protecting individual constitutional rights, mitigating racial disparities, and avoiding the drawbacks of machine learning are the key challenges facing reformers and jurisdictions adopting pretrial risk assessment instruments. Absent proper precautions, risk assessment instruments can reinforce, rather than alleviate, modern criminal justice disparities. Drawing from a case study of New Jersey’s recent bail reform program, this Note examines the efficacy, impact, and pitfalls of risk assessment instrument adoption. Finally, this Note offers a broad framework for policymakers seeking to thoughtfully experiment with risk assessment instruments in their own jurisdictions

Correctional Officer Punitiveness, Self-Control, and Rehabilitative Training

abstract: Correctional officers are increasingly being trained in evidence-based practices and the willingness of officers to implement what they have learned is crucial for organizational reform. Most of the literature in this area has examined officer attitudes about rehabilitation and punitiveness. Left out are additional characteristics, such as self-control, that may affect an officer’s receptivity to learn and implement new techniques. The present study examines officer receptiveness to motivational interviewing using 280 surveys administered to correctional officers tasked with both delivering and supervising program delivery to inmates within the Arizona Department of Corrections. Three broad questions are asked: 1) Are officer attitudes about punishment associated with receptivity toward implementing rehabilitative techniques? 2) Are officer levels of self-control associated with receptivity toward implementing rehabilitative techniques? and 3) Is the association between officer attitudes toward punishment and receptivity toward implementing rehabilitation techniques moderated by officer self-control? The results suggest that punitiveness and self-control both have statistically significant direct effects on correctional officer receptivity to training and that self-control does not moderate the relationship between punitiveness and receptivity to training. However, these findings could be due to limitations in the present study’s sampling and statistical methods. Policy implications and future research are discussed.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 201

“Patience, Persistence, and Proportionality” Probation Officer’s Perspectives of Desistance in Practice

Desistance from crime is a priority for criminal justice policy and practice yet the term carries varying definitions across research literature. Contemporary discourses promote a refocusing from desistance’s representation as an individual’s personal journey, to understanding desistance more akin to a social movement. Research has predominantly focused on the lived experience of those striving to achieve desistance, with practitioner perspectives remaining under researched. This study, conducted post COVID-19, aimed to explore how probation officers operationalise desistance in practice. Results indicate that whilst practitioners acknowledge the diverse conceptualisations of desistance, it remains a priority in practice, even where the focus is predominantly risk management. Key practice features emerging as essential to promoting desistance include identifying and cultivating a motivation to change, approaches to forming the supervisory relationship, and how practitioner’s respond when risks increase. A supporting organisational ethos is critical but challenged in the complex post COVID-19 context

The Biopsychosocial Model: Application to Occupational Therapy Practice

Despite the call for the profession to embrace a more integrated and holistic approach to practice, therapists may be faced with practical challenges, including issues relating to client caseloads, productivity demands, scheduling, entrenched practices, limitations on service imposed by payer sources, and staffing and budgetary restraints, to name but a few. Due to these limitations, current occupational therapy practice may be predisposed to adopt a more reductive approach to the evaluation and treatment of symptoms, underlying biological pathologies, and resulting impairments and disabilities. Therefore, psychological and social factors may be neglected, resulting in an unbalanced, fragmented, and incomplete approach to patient care. This paper examines a more holistic and integrated biopsychosocial approach in current occupational therapy practice. Furthermore, an exploration of the Biopsychosocial Model, its relevance to the profession of occupational therapy, and the proposed methods of application toward a more holistic, evidence-based, and client-centered approach to clinical practice is addressed