Physical Therapy for a Female with Acute Stroke: A Case Report

Background and Purpose: Strokes are the 5th leading cause of death and adult disability in the US. Strokes affect each individual differently, some individuals more severely than others. The goal of physical therapists is to come up with the best treatment plan for each individual in order to restore as much function as possible. Case Description: The patient was a Caucasian female in her 80s who suffered a stroke while in the hospital. She was living in assisted living prior to her hospital stay and was functional in the home only. The passive range of motion in her left extremities was within normal limits, with tone flaccid. We were unable to assess the strength of her left extremities. She required 2-person, maximal assistance for transfers and minimal assistance for static sitting during our early visits. Intervention: Patient education, therapeutic exercise, bed mobility, balance and transfer training, and wheelchair mobility training were some of this patient\u27s interventions. Outcomes: The patient had 18 physical therapy sessions. She was able to increase her static standing time from 15 to 20 seconds to 30 to 40 seconds. Her sitting trunk control increased and her bed mobility went from a 2 person maximal assistance to a 1 person maximal assistance by her discharge. Discussion: Research on acute stroke patients is limited. Most research focuses on subacute and chronic stroke patients. Our patient had minimal improvements after 16 days in the hospital and was discharged to a nursing home with both physical and occupational therapy recommended

The Primacy of Free Exercise in Public-Employee Religious Speech

This Note addresses the question left open by the Court and highlighted by Justice Thomas: under what standard of review should courts review public-employee religious expression protected by both the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses? This Note begins by introducing the doctrine of government-employee speech. Then, this Note surveys proposals within existing scholarship that address how courts ought to treat public-employee religious expression. In doing so, this Note evaluates the following proposals: (1) applying Pickering balancing as is; (2) applying a modified version of Pickering balancing; (3) replacing Pickering balancing with intermediate scrutiny; (4) the Holmesian approach: deeming public-employee religious expression wholly unprotected; and (5) free exercise primacy: applying the existing free exercise scrutiny regime to public-employee religious expression. This Note argues in favor of the last approach—free exercise primacy. Courts should apply the existing free exercise scrutiny regime to public-employee religious expression. Each alternative is seriously flawed. Pickering balancing should not be extended to free exercise claims for reasons both general to Pickering balancing and particular to religious exercise. As a general matter, Pickering balancing is overly malleable, as it asks judges to balance incommensurate goods against one another. Additionally, by essentially constitutionalizing the heckler’s veto, the doctrine runs counter to fundamental First Amendment values. Furthermore, aspects of Pickering balancing are particularly ill-suited for free exercise claims. Pickering’s public-concern inquiry is built to capture audience-centric free speech justifications—not individual-centric religious liberty justifications. Modified versions of Pickering balancing and intermediate scrutiny fail to improve upon the doctrine’s malleability. Deeming public-employee religious speech wholly unprotected—the Holmesian approach—unjustifiably singles out religious expression as particularly unworthy of protection. Applying the existing free exercise scrutiny regime is not a perfect solution, but it is better than any viable alternative

The Effects of Teaching Nonfiction Text Structure Reading Strategies and Thinking Maps on Writing Quality in Sixth-Grade ELA and Science Students

The purpose of this action research study is to examine the use of nonfiction text structures (i.e. mentor texts, signal words, and thinking maps) in both English language arts (ELA) and science classes to evaluate the comprehension of topics and concepts through student writing samples. The researchers used multiple data sources to better understand how the instruction of nonfiction text structures affects the ability of sixth-grade students to express their comprehension through writing. Confidential preand post-feedback forms were used to gauge student perceptions of writing improvement and comprehension. Each teacher also conducted confidential student conferences twice during the study and used a common rubric to assess writing samples. The researchers triangulated data to investigate the effects on students’ writing skills, their perception of those skills, and the instruction of writing for/in various classes. Following the analysis of data for meaningful trends, the researchers found that interdisciplinary writing instruction was best supported when teachers collaboratively create and implement common strategies and assessments

Impact of Groundwater Flow on Permafrost Degradation and Transportation Infrastructure Stability

INE/AUTC 13.0

Entropy production fluctuations encode collective behavior in active matter

We derive a general lower bound on distributions of entropy production in interacting active matter systems. The bound is tight in the limit that interparticle correlations are small and short-ranged, which we explore in four canonical active matter models. In all models studied, the bound is weak where collective fluctuations result in long-ranged correlations, which subsequently links the locations of phase transitions to enhanced entropy production fluctuations. We develop a theory for the onset of enhanced fluctuations and relate it to specific phase transitions in active Brownian particles. We also derive optimal control forces that realize the dynamics necessary to tune dissipation and manipulate the system between phases. In so doing, we uncover a general relationship between entropy production and pattern formation in active matter, as well as ways of controlling it