Semantic Complexity In Treatment Of Naming Deficits In Aphasia: Evidence From Well-Defined Categories

Purpose: Our previous work on manipulating typicality of category exemplars during treatment of naming deficits has shown that training atypical examples generalizes to untrained typical examples but not vice versa. In contrast to natural categories that consist of fuzzy boundaries, well-defined categories (e.g., shapes) have rigid category boundaries. Whether these categories illustrate typicality effects similar to natural categories is under debate. The present study addressed this question in the context of treatment for naming deficits in aphasia. Methods: Using a single-subject experiment design, 3 participants with aphasia received a, semantic feature treatment to improve naming of either typical or atypical items of shapes, while generalization was tested to untrained items of the category. Results: For 2 of the 3 participants, training naming of atypical examples of shapes resulted in improved naming of untrained typical examples. Training typical examples in 1 participant did not improve naming of atypical examples. All 3 participants, however, showed weak acquisition trends. Conclusions: Results of the present study show equivocal support for manipulating typicality as a treatment variable within well-defined categories. Instead, these results indicate that acquisition and generalization effects within well-defined categories such as shapes are overshadowed by their inherent abstractness.Communication Sciences and Disorder

The Impact of Visual Impairments on Mobility Performance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Background and Purpose: Falls are a major concern for elderly adults and can have a significant impact on overall health and well-being. Declines in vision with aging may be related to the development of fear of falling (FOF) and impaired mobility. It is possible that impaired vision due to common eye diseases can increase the FOF avoidance behavior and affect mobility function in this population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation among visual impairment, mobility performance, and FOF avoidance behavior in older adults. Methods: Inclusion criteria for eligible participants were: 50 years of age and older, able to walk 50 m without assistance, and able to understand simple instructions related to the assessments. A total of 455 participants from local community adult activity centers (males=152, females=303; age=73.1±7.7 years, range=51-97 years) participated. Physical mobility was assessed using an instrumented Timed Up-and-Go test. Visual acuity (VA) was tested using a standard Snellen chart. Avoidance behavior was assessed using the Fear of Falling Avoidance Behavior Questionnaire (FFABQ). Participants’ general health and presence of eye diseases (age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma) was assessed using a survey of medical history. A two-way ANOVA was used to investigate effect of VA and avoidance behavior on TUG performance. An additional two-way ANOVA test was used to investigate the effect of self-reported eye disease and avoidance behavior on TUG performance. Results and Discussion: There was a statistically significant difference between avoiders and non avoiders’ TUG score (avoiders=12.45±5.85 sec, non-avoiders 8.29±3.48, p\u3c0.001). The VA has no significant effect on TUG time (no impairment= 8.69 ± 3.49 sec, mild impairment= 9.42 ± 5.05 sec, moderate impairment= 8.11 ± 2.08 sec, severe impairment= 9.45 ± 2.68 sec, p=0.791). There is no significant VA group by avoider group interaction (p=0.66). There was also a statistically significant difference in TUG scores between participants with and without eye disease (eye disease=9.37±5.08, no eye disease=8.29±2.80, p=0.004). There is no significant eye disease by avoider group interaction (p=0.144). iv Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the presence of one or more self-reported eye diseases and higher FOF avoidance behavior were both associated with decreased mobility. Contrary to the initial hypothesis of the present study, there was no relation between VA and mobility, nor VA and FOF avoidance behavior. It is important for clinicians to inquire about the presence of eye diseases and administer the FFABQ to older adults in order to identify risk factors related to decline in physical mobility. Presently, the continued use of the Snellen chart to assess for VA as a part of fall risk assessment may be inadequate. Future studies should focus on developing a more comprehensive clinical assessment of vision that expands beyond visual acuity for the geriatric population

Tolerating Ethical Ambiguity and Social Work Education

Undergraduate Theoretica

Evaluation of MOVE Early Mobility Screening Protocol in Non-Surgical Mechanically Ventilated Patients in the Intensive Care Unit

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a previously implemented, nurse driven early mobility screening protocol, called “MOVE”, during its first 6 months of use. Methods: A retrospective electronic medical record review was conducted (n=100) at Norton Audubon Hospital in Louisville, KY. Eligible electronic medical records were randomly selected and audited for the following variables: age, sex, ethnicity, admission diagnosis, comorbidities, ventilator days, invasive catheters, utilization of vasoactive or inotropic medications, restraint use, continuous sedation medications, Richmond Agitation Sedation Score (RASS), Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU), nurse adherence to charting of MOVE enrollment eligibility, physical therapy (PT) intervention, occupational therapy (OT) intervention, range of motion (ROM), sitting on the side of the bed, standing on the side of the bed, ambulation, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, initial consult and discharge Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care (AM-PAC) mobility scores, and discharge disposition. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: No statistically significant relationships between the MOVE program mobility practices and characteristics specific to the patient population were found. Crosstabulation of data revealed: 7% of the sample (n=100) met criteria for the MOVE program and received early mobility via PT/OT intervention; 64% did not meet criteria; and 29% were never screened for eligibility. Of the 7 patients who met criteria and received early mobility, 100% (n=7) received active/passive ROM, 57.1% (n=4) sat edge of bed, 28.6% (n=2) stood edge of bed, and 14.3% (n=1) ambulated while on the ventilator. Conclusion: This study resulted in recommendation for evaluation of nurse knowledge of MOVE early mobility screening protocol importance and procedure. Evaluation of perceived barriers to adherence of screening protocol should also be investigated to increase stakeholder buy in and ensure future program success

Chemical analysis of an herbal opioid

Different chromatography techniques were used to analyze the concentration of an active component, mitragynine, in kratom samples. The analysis also compared three different extraction methods, one using ultrasonification, the other two using a commercial at home espresso maker. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry, and high performance liquid chromatography, comparisons between key compounds in the substances were determined and concentrations of mitragynine within the samples were calculated

Knowing Our Soils and Ourselves: An Analysis of Whiteness and Settler Perspectives in Alternative Agricultural Discourse

For as long as conventional, predominant forms of agriculture have existed in the United States, people have engaged with and theorized alternative forms of agriculture that ameliorate the perceived ills of the conventional system. Given the current state of conventional agriculture in the United States - a system characterized by factory farming, monoculture, soil depletion, and reliance on fertilizer and pesticide inputs - national conversation has developed about how agriculture can operate more sustainably in the future. This conversation includes, and is informed in many ways by, books, documentaries, and other cultural products created by thought leaders in the alternative agriculture movement. Agriculture is inextricably connected to settler colonialism and to the historical repression and exclusion of marginalized groups in the United States. As such, many of these cultural products normalize aspects of settler colonialism and whiteness in the alternative agriculture space. In this thesis, I analyze two recent cultural products that theorize a future of alternative agriculture: The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food, a book written by farm-to-table chef Dan Barber, and The Biggest Little Farm, a documentary directed by farmer John Chester. I will locate the ways in which these sources normalize settler colonial and white perspectives toward agriculture, food systems, and history, a normalization which threatens to create a settler and white-dominated future of agriculture given these sources’ goal of providing audiences with a blueprint for creating the future of agriculture. Through this thesis, I seek to provide examples of common modes of normalization to enable the reader to more easily identify whiteness and settler perspectives in other cultural products and discourse in this space, with the overall goal of enabling a future of alternative agriculture that sufficiently empowers non-white and non-settler voices.Anthropolog

A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO INTERORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION VIA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR TWITTER ACCOUNTS

Using an adaptation of O’Connor and Shumate’s (2018) theoretical propositions, this research examines interorganizational communication through the lens of multidimensional networks. Twitter data was crawled from a selection of emergency management organization accounts to measure affinity, representational, flow, and semantic networks. These data included the organizations’ followed accounts, retweets, replies, and mentions. A thematic analysis of the organizations’ mission statements was also conducted in order to inform the examination of the semantic networks. The results show a significant relationship between the number of accounts an organization follows and the likelihood of having its message shared. This research provides a further theoretical application of a network analysis method of studying interorganizational communication as well as a practical application for organizations seeking to increase their engagement on Twitter

Growing and Learning as a Student, Teacher, and Artist

Notes on the process of creating the unique cover designs for the special issue of Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education, \u27Writing Teacher Education in Extraordinary Times\u2

LEADER EFFICACY PERCEPTIONS AND ENGAGEMENT IN SELF-DIRECTED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Rapidly changing environments force organizations to adapt quickly to remain relevant. However, a given organization’s ability to adapt depends largely on its leaders’ ability to guide and direct their subordinates in the use of the organization’s resources. Research has identified self-directed professional development (SDPD) as a critical component of leaders’ ability to meet the challenges of adaptation, but notably absent from the literature are explorations of how leaders’ self-perception relates to the degree to which they engage in SDPD. The purpose of this quantitative study was to deepen current understandings of the interplay between self-perception and individual behavior in the organizational setting, specifically through administration of the Leader Efficacy Questionnaire and assessment of SDPD participation and attitudes of 120 organizational leaders with a view to exploring the relationship between leader self-efficacy and engagement in SDPD as well as any variables that could moderate such a relationship. Multiple regression analysis of participants’ responses produced the statistically significant finding that leader self-efficacy had no bearing on participation in SDPD activities, but that positive attitudes toward SDPD could predict high levels of leader self-efficacy. Highly efficacious leaders are thus more likely to believe in the value of lifelong learning, but self-reported participation in SDPD may fall outside the scope of individual behaviors that can predict perceptions of self-efficacy. Accordingly, the study’s findings call for further exploration of how leaders’ self-perceptions can be channeled for the benefit of their organization

Reflections from Abroad

The Journeyer\u27s Journal consists of short narratives describing international experiences by Pepperdine University undergraduate students. Here, Lauren Johnson describes Jerusalem, Israel, and Florence, Italy