Reading Habits in Different Communities

Reading is foundational to learning and the information acquisition upon which people make decisions. For centuries, the capacity to read has been a benchmark of literacy and involvement in community life. In the 21st Century, across all types of U.S. communities, reading is a common activity that is pursued in myriad ways. As technology and the digital world expand and offer new types of reading opportunities, residents of urban, suburban, and rural communities at times experience reading and e-reading differently. In the most meaningful ways, these differences are associated with the demographic composition of differentkinds of communities -- the age of the population, their overall level of educational attainment, and the general level of household income.Several surveys by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project reveal interesting variations among communities in the way their residents read and use reading-related technology and institutions

Dehydration in Nursing Home Residents: A meta-analysis of causes of dehydration, implications, and those most at risk.

Dehydration in nursing home and long term care facility residents is frequently dismissed and not treated as a primary concern. However, research has shown that prolonged dehydration in the elderly can result in serious health and cognitive issues. Due to deteriorating physiological conditions and preexisting diseases, dehydration will further complicate a patient’s health condition and exacerbate certain symptoms, lowering overall quality of life. There are a number of underlying factors which contribute to a patient’s hydration status. Research has identified physical, mental and behavioral factors all play a significant role in the willingness and capability of patients to be properly hydrated. In addition, it has been shown that caretakers are critical when it comes to ensuring patient hydration. If effective hydration screening is implemented and caretakers encourage patients to increase their fluid intake, fewer dehydration episodes will occur and the overall quality of life will be improved

Audiences, Brains, Sustainable Planets, and Communication Technologies: Four Horizons for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology

This response to papers by Leah Ceccarelli, Randy Harris, and Carl Herndl and Lauren Cutlip in the “Horizons of Possibility” panel at the 2012 ARST Vicentennial conference raises questions about each of the visions as they relate, respectively, to ARST audiences, brain science, and sustainable planets and programs. It also suggests renewed attention to communication technologies by scholars studying the rhetoric of science and technology, maintaining that rhetoricians need to come to terms with emerging twenty-first century communicative forms