An fMRI investigation of the effects of attempted naming on word retrieval in aphasia

In healthy controls, picture naming performance can be facilitated by a single prior exposure to the same picture ("priming"). This priming phenomenon is utilized in the treatment of aphasia, which often includes repeated picture naming as part of a therapeutic task. The current study sought to determine whether single and/or multiple exposures facilitate subsequent naming in aphasia and whether such facilitatory effects act through normal priming mechanisms. A functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm was employed to explore the beneficial effects of attempted naming in two individuals with aphasia and a control group. The timing and number of prior exposures was manipulated, with investigation of both short-term effects (single prior exposure over a period of minutes) and long-term effects (multiple presentations over a period of days). Following attempted naming, both short-term and long-term facilitated items showed improvement for controls, while only the long-term condition showed benefits at a behavioral level for the participants with aphasia. At a neural level, effects of long-term facilitation were noted in the left precuneus for one participant with aphasia, a result also identified for the equivalent contrast in controls. It appears that multiple attempts are required to improve naming performance in the presence of anomia and that for some individuals with aphasia the source of facilitation may be similar to unimpaired mechanisms engaged outside the language network

Communication changes following non-glottic head and neck cancer management: The perspectives of survivors and carers

Purpose. Head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors may experience functional changes to their voice, speech and hearing following curative chemoradiotherapy. However, few studies have explored the impact of living with such changes from the perspective of the HNC survivor and their carer. The current study employed a person-centred approach to explore the lived experience of communication changes following chemoradiotherapy treatment for HNC from the perspective of survivors and carers. Method. Participants included 14 survivors with non-glottic HNC and nine carers. All participants took part in in-depth interviews where they were encouraged to describe their experiences of living with and adjusting to communication changes following treatment. Interviews were analysed as a single data set. Result. Four themes emerged including: (1) impairments in communication sub-systems; (2) the challenges of communicating in everyday life; (3) broad ranging effects of communication changes; and (4) adaptations as a result of communication changes. Conclusion. These data confirm that communication changes following chemoradiotherapy have potentially negative psychosocial impacts on both the HNC survivor and their carer. Clinicians should consider the impact of communication changes on the life of the HNC survivor and their carer and provide adequate and timely education and management to address the needs of this population

Gene network effects on brain microstructure and intellectual performance identified in 472 twins

A major challenge in neuroscience is finding which genes affect brain integrity, connectivity, and intellectual function. Discovering influential genes holds vast promise for neuroscience, but typical genome-wide searches assess approximately one million genetic variants one-by-one, leading to intractable false positive rates, even with vast samples of subjects. Even more intractable is the question of which genes interact and how they work together to affect brain connectivity. Here, we report a novel approach that discovers which genes contribute to brain wiring and fiber integrity at all pairs of points in a brain scan. We studied genetic correlations between thousands of points in human brain images from 472 twins and their nontwin siblings (mean age: 23.7 ± 2.1 SD years; 193 male/279 female). We combined clustering with genome-wide scanning to find brain systems with common genetic determination. We then filtered the image in a new way to boost power to find causal genes. Using network analysis, we found a network of genes that affect brain wiring in healthy young adults. Our new strategy makes it computationally more tractable to discover genes that affect brain integrity. The gene network showed small-world and scale-free topologies, suggesting efficiency in genetic interactions and resilience to network disruption. Genetic variants at hubs of the network influence intellectual performance by modulating associations between performance intelligence quotient and the integrity of major white matter tracts, such as the callosal genu and splenium, cingulum, optic radiations, and the superior longitudinal fasciculus

Differential livelihood adaptation to social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

Social-ecological changes, brought about by the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and the increased occurrence of climatic stressors, have significantly affected the livelihoods of coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas. This paper explores the livelihood adaptation responses of households of different wealth classes, the heterogeneous adaptation opportunities, barriers and limits (OBLs) faced by these households and the dynamic ways in which these factors interact to enhance or impede adaptive capacities. A mixed methods approach was used to collect empirical evidence from two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Findings reveal that households’ adaptive capacities largely depend on their wealth status, which not only determine their availability of productive resources, but also empower them to navigate social-ecological change in desirable ways. Households operate within a shared response space, which is shaped by the broader socio-economic and political landscape, as well as their previous decisions that can lock them in to particular pathways. While an adaptive response may be effective for one social group, it may cause negative externalities that can undermine the adaptation options and outcomes of another group. Adaptation OBLs interact in complex ways; the extent to which these OBLs affect different households depend on the specific livelihood activities being considered and the differential values and interests they hold. To ensure more equitable and environmentally sustainable livelihoods in future, policies and programs should aim to expand households’ adaptation space by accounting for the heterogeneous needs and complex interdependencies between response processes of different groups

Priming Picture Naming with a Semantic Task: An fMRI Investigation

Prior semantic processing can enhance subsequent picture naming performance, yet the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this effect and its longevity are unknown. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined whether different neurological mechanisms underlie short-term (within minutes) and long-term (within days) facilitation effects from a semantic task in healthy older adults. Both short- and long-term facilitated items were named significantly faster than unfacilitated items, with short-term items significantly faster than long-term items. Region of interest results identified decreased activity for long-term facilitated items compared to unfacilitated and short-term facilitated items in the mid-portion of the middle temporal gyrus, indicating lexical-semantic priming. Additionally, in the whole brain results, increased activity for short-term facilitated items was identified in regions previously linked to episodic memory and object recognition, including the right lingual gyrus (extending to the precuneus region) and the left inferior occipital gyrus (extending to the left fusiform region). These findings suggest that distinct neurocognitive mechanisms underlie short- and long-term facilitation of picture naming by a semantic task, with long-term effects driven by lexical-semantic priming and short-term effects by episodic memory and visual object recognition mechanisms

The neural correlates of picture naming facilitated by auditory repetition

Background: Overt repetition of auditorily presented words can facilitate picture naming performance in both unimpaired speakers and individuals with word retrieval difficulties, but the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms and longevity of such effects remain unclear. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine whether different neurological mechanisms underlie short-term (within minutes) and long-term (within days) facilitation effects from an auditory repetition task in healthy older adults

A simple cobalt-based catalyst system for the controlled dehydropolymerisation of H3B·NMeH2 on the gram-scale

A simple Co(ii)-based amine-borane dehydropolymerisation catalyst system is reported that operates at low loadings, to selectively give (H2BNMeH)n polymer on scale, with catalyst control over Mn, narrow dispersities and low residual metal content

Neuroimaging the short- and long-term effects of repeated picture naming in healthy older adults

Repeated attempts to name pictures can improve subsequent naming for aphasic individuals with anomia, however, the neurocognitive mechanisms responsible for such improvements are unknown. This study investigated repeated picture naming in healthy older adults over a period of minutes (short-term) after one repetition and a period of days (long-term) after multiple repetitions. Compared to unprimed pictures, both repeated conditions showed faster naming latencies with the fastest latencies evident for the short-term condition. Neuroimaging results identified repetition suppression effects across three left inferior frontal gyrus regions of interest: for both the short- and long-term conditions in the pars orbitalis, and for long-term items in the pars triangularis and pars opercularis regions. The whole brain analysis also showed a repetition suppression effect in bilateral pars triangularis regions for the long-term condition. These findings within the inferior frontal gyrus suggest that effects of repeated naming may be driven by a mapping mechanism across multiple levels of representation, possibly reflecting different levels of learning, and lend support to the idea that processing may be hierarchically organised in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The whole brain analysis also revealed repetition suppression for the long-term condition within the posterior portion of bilateral inferior temporal gyri, which may reflect attenuation of integration processes within this region following the learning of task-relevant information

Facilitation of naming in aphasia with auditory repetition: an investigation of neurocognitive mechanisms

Prior phonological processing can enhance subsequent picture naming performance in individuals with aphasia, yet the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying this effect and its longevity are unknown. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the short-term (within minutes) and long-term (within days) facilitation effects from a phonological task in both participants with aphasia and age-matched controls. Results for control participants suggested that long-term facilitation of subsequent picture naming may be driven by a strengthening of semantic-phonological connections, while semantic and object recognition mechanisms underlie more short-term effects. All participants with aphasia significantly improved in naming accuracy following both short- and long-term facilitation. A descriptive comparison of the neuroimaging results identified different patterns of activation for each individual with aphasia. The exclusive engagement of a left hemisphere phonological network underlying facilitation was not revealed. The findings suggest that improved naming in aphasia with phonological tasks may be supported by changes in right hemisphere activity in some individuals and reveal the potential contribution of the cerebellum to improved naming following phonological facilitation. Conclusions must be interpreted with caution, however, due to the comparison of corrected group control results to that of individual participants with aphasia, which were not corrected for multiple comparisons. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

[[alternative]]The research of learning effectiveness based on mobile learning supported with collaborative learning

碩士[[abstract]]隨著智慧型手機和行動網路的技術蓬勃發展，工作已不再拘限於使用電腦，亦可以藉由手機來完成。因此手機衍生出來的應用程式種類變得十分多樣，教育性質的應用程式亦包括在內，其中與英文學習相關的應用程式更是不勝枚舉；然而這些應用程式絕多數是著重於個人學習，大多沒有加入與他人互動的機制。因此，本研究希望能夠利用智慧型手機為載具，行動網路為溝通管道，以達到學習英文的目的。 在本研究中會利用行動學習分析框架為主體，加入合作學習與競爭學習作為溝通的橋樑，在網路連結的環境中讓學習者進行英文學習的活動，希望可以藉此增加英文學習的效果。 首先，在實驗前會先進行分組，並對受測者進行前測以了解測試者對於實驗所準備的教材熟悉度；在經過不同學習方式進行實驗後，以同樣的教材進行後測。實驗結束後，本研究前後測成績進行分析探討，並比對利用不同的學習方法和經過不同時間後學習效果之差異。實驗結果在利用行動學習與其它學習的效果有顯著差異，利用合作式行動學習其學習效果與其它兩者並無顯著差異，而時間的長短並不會影響其學習效果。[[abstract]]Because the technologies of mobile network and mobile devices have been largely improved, works can be done not only on the computers but also on the mobile devices .A large amount of applications have been developed , including many educational applications. many about English learning. However, most of them focus on personal learning not interacting with others. Therefore, this research is to find out the effectiveness of mobile applications to learn English vocabularies through the mobile network on mobile device. In this research, we adopt the Mobile Learning Framework to be the main frame, along with cooperative and competitive learning to be the bridge of communication. Users can therefore perform English-learning activities on the internet using mobile devices for increasing the efficiency of learning English vocabularies. The volunteers are divided into groups, and tested first for the familiarity of teaching materials. After using different learning experiments , they are tested again using the same teaching material. We analyze the results before and after, and compare the performance of different learning methodology.[[tableofcontents]]目錄 目錄 iii 表目錄 v 圖目錄 vi 第 一 章 緒論 1 1.1 研究背景與動機 1 1.2 研究目的 3 1.3 研究範圍 3 第 二 章 文獻探討 4 2.1 行動學習 4 2.1.1 行動學習定義與發展 4 2.1.2 MCSCL 6 2.2 Smartphone 7 2.3 行動學習分析框架 8 2.3.1 活動理論 8 2.3.2 基於活動理論之行動學習分析框架 9 2.4 合作學習 10 2.4.1 合作學習教學法 11 2.5 競爭學習 12 第 三 章 研究方法 14 3.1 研究架構 14 3.2 研究對象及學習情境 15 3.3 研究假設 16 3.4 研究步驟 16 3.5 實驗設計 17 3.6 實驗流程 18 第 四 章 系統設計 20 4.1 行動學習環境 20 4.2 英語學習活動 21 4.3 合作學習群組結構 22 4.4 系統畫面 24 第 五 章 實驗設計與結果 31 5.1 實驗背景 31 5.2 實驗過程 31 5.3 實驗結果 32 5.3.1 在短時間的學習環境下，利用一般字卡、行動學習、合作式行動學習方式具有明顯差異。 32 5.3.2 在長時間的學習環境下，利用一般字卡、行動學習、合作式行動學習方式具有明顯差異。 34 5.3.3 在利用一般字卡、行動學習、合作式行動學習方式時，使用時間的長短會影響學習效果。 36 第 六 章 結論與未來展望 40 6.1 結論 40 6.1.1 在長、短時間的學習環境下，利用一般字卡、行動學習、合作式行動學習方式具有明顯差異 40 6.1.2 在使用不同的學習方式的環境下，使用時間的長短是否會影響學習效果 41 6.2 未來研究建議 42 參考文獻 43 附錄 46 附錄一、使用者實驗成績 46 附錄二、使用者使用結果 47 表目錄 表 1、短時間行動學習與一般字卡學習之差異 32 表 2、短時間合作式行動學習與一般字卡學習之差異 33 表 3、短時間利用合作式行動學習與行動學習之差異 34 表 4、長時間利用行動學習與一般字卡學習之差異 35 表 5、長時間利用合作式行動學習與一般字卡學習之差異 35 表 6、長時間利用合作式行動學習與行動學習之差異 36 表 7、單字字卡進行學習，時間的長短影響 37 表 8、使用行動學習進行學習，時間的長短影響 38 表 9、使用合作式行動學習進行學習，時間的長短影響 39 表 10、比較在長、短時間的學習環境下不同學習效果之差異 41 表 11、不同學習效果受時間長短影響之差異 41 圖目錄 圖 一、活動理論 9 圖 二、行動學習分析框架 10 圖 三、系統架構 15 圖 四、研究步驟 17 圖 五、實驗流程 19 圖 六、Personal Challenge流程圖 22 圖 七、Team Cooperation 23 圖 八、單字閃卡 24 圖 九、測驗選單 25 圖 十、選擇測驗 25 圖 十一、填充測驗 25 圖 十二、重點單字 26 圖 十三、弱點單字 27 圖 十四、今日單字 27 圖 十五、組員成績 28 圖 十六、組員討論 29 圖 十七、單字推文 30 圖 十八、接受推文 30 圖 十九、推文歷程 30 圖 二十、組間成績 30[[note]]學號: 601630485, 學年度: 10