The Efficacy of Tele-practice on Expressive Language Outcomes for Adults with Aphasia

Access to skilled speech and language intervention can be difficult for individuals residing in rural areas as well as for individuals with complex health and mobility issues. Telehealth (including therapy and rehabilitation) can provide effective services in the context of one’s home, allowing clinicians to reach a wider population of individuals. Purpose: To determine whether tele-practice service delivery produces positive expressive language outcomes that are comparable to direct service delivery for adults with aphasia. Method: A variety of databases were searched utilizing systematic inclusionary and exclusionary criteria. Research focused on adults over the age of 18 with a formal diagnosis of aphasia who engaged in telehealth intervention. Various research designs were identified and analyzed. Identified articles included a total of 235 participants. Results: The identified studies supported the implementation of tele-practice as a means of providing individuals with aphasia access to services that produce positive expressive language outcomes. Several studies indicated that tele-practice produces similar outcomes when compared to traditional direct therapy. Several studies also included qualitative data regarding patient satisfaction and quality of life, much of which produced positive outcomes. Conclusion: The chosen studies were found to largely support the inclusion of tele-practice as an effective option for producing positive expressive language outcomes for individuals with aphasia. Potential limitations include variability in treatment times and programs, assessment tools used, clinical training of individuals providing treatment, small sample sizes, and variable patient characteristics. Future research should focus on implementing research designs using larger numbers of individuals to increase generalizability.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/csdms/1003/thumbnail.jp

Advocate

From an early age, I was exposed to the detrimental effects cancer can have on individuals as well as their families. One after another, I experienced the passing of family and friends. The heartbreak that I endured during these times inspired me to push for more advocacy and change in the cancer world. Through my design work, I am exploring the human connection, how humans interact with each other, and how art and design can influence the way we see challenging situations. This connection is explored in my senior BFA show, driven by my passion for fundraising and advocacy in the nonprofit industry that I\u27ve continuously pursued. The Advocate project is an awareness campaign that combines my graphic design education and skills with my passion for advocacy and awareness for cancer research. Through design, I educate viewers about Advocate - a campaign that focuses on the discrepancies in stage 4 breast cancer treatment and funding. Breast Cancer has the highest percentage of received funding over all other cancer types, yet only 2-5% of this funding is allotted to stage 4 research. Stage 4, or metastatic breast cancer, is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body and is incurable and deadly. Advocate reaches multiple constituents. The patient, caregiver, and fundraiser all have a role in making up what Advocate promotes. These three channels work together through awareness, support, and assistance. Advocate is made up of elements of branding and poster design, advertising, digital marketing and research. It combines shades of blue and green; representing knowledge and growth. The focal point of my show is four posters, which give a glance of the reality of metastatic breast cancer. In these posters, statistics of the disease are spread across the majority of the page, which are highlighted around the broad range of patients it affects. The posters aren\u27t meant to give the viewer the full answer, but to want to learn more about the subject - as advanced cancers can be complex and easily overlooked. Much of the inspiration of my work stems from both Corita Kent and Massimo Vignelli. Through both Kent and Vignelli’s use of active designs with color, lettering, leading lines, and more - I was inspired to create digital and moving graphics for Advocate. Each highlight the work Advocate brings to the table, and the people that help support them. The Advocate project aims to educate the viewer about the complexities surrounding terminal cancer diagnoses. To help those better understand the discrepancies in awareness and research of those going through a journey much overlooked. To encourage advocacy for not only their own health, but others. And to know that with great courage and perseverance, there is always hope for the future. I hope by viewing my show, you too are impacted by connections made through interactions with one another, and inspired to make a difference in your own community.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art498/1101/thumbnail.jp

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2014

A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in schools and colleges. This report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources--the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety, the Schools and Staffing Survey, EDFacts, and the Campus Safety and Security Survey. The report covers topics such as victimization, bullying, school conditions, fights, weapons, the presence of security staff at school, availability and student use of drugs and alcohol, student perceptions of personal safety at school, and criminal incidents at postsecondary institutions

Northern Territory safe streets audit

This audit examined crime and safety issues in the Northern Territory urban communities of Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs to help inform effective strategies to reduce the actual and perceived risk of victimisation. Abstract This Special Report is a research driven response to community concerns regarding the level of crime and fear of crime in the Northern Territory. The Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University and the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) were commissioned by the Northern Territory Police Force (NT Police) to undertake the NT Safe Streets Audit. The purpose of the Safe Streets Audit was to examine crime and safety issues in the Northern Territory urban communities of Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs and to help inform effective strategies to reduce the actual and perceived risk of victimisation. The audit involved a literature review exploring issues impacting on the fear of crime in the Northern Territory, focus groups with a range of stakeholders in Darwin, Alice Springs and Katherine, the analysis of media articles on crime and policing, the analysis of incident data from NT Police on assault offences and public disorder incidents, and a rapid evidence assessment of the effectiveness of strategies targeting NT crime problems. Implications for future crime reduction approaches in the Northern Territory were then identified

Asymmetric discrimination of non-speech tonal analogues of vowels

Published in final edited form as: J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2019 February ; 45(2): 285–300. doi:10.1037/xhp0000603.Directional asymmetries reveal a universal bias in vowel perception favoring extreme vocalic articulations, which lead to acoustic vowel signals with dynamic formant trajectories and well-defined spectral prominences due to the convergence of adjacent formants. The present experiments investigated whether this bias reflects speech-specific processes or general properties of spectral processing in the auditory system. Toward this end, we examined whether analogous asymmetries in perception arise with non-speech tonal analogues that approximate some of the dynamic and static spectral characteristics of naturally-produced /u/ vowels executed with more versus less extreme lip gestures. We found a qualitatively similar but weaker directional effect with two-component tones varying in both the dynamic changes and proximity of their spectral energies. In subsequent experiments, we pinned down the phenomenon using tones that varied in one or both of these two acoustic characteristics. We found comparable asymmetries with tones that differed exclusively in their spectral dynamics, and no asymmetries with tones that differed exclusively in their spectral proximity or both spectral features. We interpret these findings as evidence that dynamic spectral changes are a critical cue for eliciting asymmetries in non-speech tone perception, but that the potential contribution of general auditory processes to asymmetries in vowel perception is limited.Accepted manuscrip

KOREAN DANCE AND PANSORI IN D.C.: INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS, THE BODY, AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY AT A KOREAN PERFORMING ARTS STUDIO

This thesis is the result of seventeen months' field work as a dance and pansori student at the Washington Korean Dance Company studio. It examines the studio experience, focusing on three levels of interaction. First, I describe participants' interactions with each other, which create a strong studio community and a women's "Korean space" at the intersection of culturally hybrid lives. Second, I examine interactions with the physical challenges presented by these arts and explain the satisfaction that these challenges can generate using Csikszentmihalyi's theory of "optimal experience" or "flow." Third, I examine interactions with discourse on the meanings and histories of these arts. I suggest that participants can find deeper significance in performing these arts as a result of this discourse, forming intellectual and emotional bonds to imagined people of the past and present. Finally, I explain how all these levels of interaction can foster in the participant an increasingly rich and complex identity

The influence of whole-body vibration and axial rotation on musculoskeletal discomfort of the neck and trunk

Elements of an individuals occupational exposure, such as their posture can affect their comfort during work, and also their long term musculoskeletal health. Knowledge as to the extent of the influence of particular aspects of the exposures can help in providing guidance on risk evaluation, and direct future technical design focus. In many situations the exposures interact, and even if the effects of individual exposures are understood, the interactions are often less so. This is certainly the case with off-road driving exposures. Specific investigations have focussed on the effects of vibration exposure, resulting in the development of international standards and guidelines on measurement and evaluation of exposure. Consideration of the posture of the operator can be accomplished through postural assessment tools, although none of the currently available methods are developed specifically for use within a vehicle environment. The issues of both the posture of the operator and the seated vibration exposure are particularly apparent in off-road agricultural driving environments, where the driving task dictates that operator is often required to maintain specific postures whilst also exposed to whole-body vibration. In agriculture, many of the tasks require the operator to maintain axially rotated postures to complete the task effectively. The analysis of the combined effects of the axial rotation of the operator and the whole-body vibration exposure has been limited to a few studies within the literature, and is currently poorly understood. The overall aim of the thesis was to assess the influence of axial rotation and whole-body vibration on the musculoskeletal discomfort of the neck and trunk, in order that the true extent of the exposure risk may be evaluated. A field study was conducted to determine the common characteristics of some typical exposures, to provide a basis for the laboratory studies. A survey of expert opinion was conducted, examining the knowledge and experience of experts in assessing the relative influence of axial rotation and whole-body vibration on operators musculoskeletal health. The main investigations of the thesis are focussed in the laboratory, where the objective and subjective effects of axial rotation (static and dynamic) and whole-body vibration were investigated. Objective measures included the investigation of muscular fatigue in response to exposures. The tasks investigated in the field study indicated that the exposures often exceed the EU Physical Agents Exposure Limit Value, and that the axial rotation is a large component of the postures required. The survey of expert opinion concluded that combined exposure to axial rotation and whole-body vibration would increase the risks of lower back pain, and that acknowledgement of combined exposures should be included when assessing for risk. The results of the laboratory studies indicated that the greatest discomfort was present when subjects were exposed to axial rotation in the neck and shoulders. Out of the 8 muscles investigated, at most 6 of the 8 indicated fatigue during an experimental exposure. The muscle group which was affected most by the exposures was the m. trapezius pars decendens. Findings demonstrated that when subjects were exposed to axial rotation and whole-body vibration they indicated discomfort and their muscles fatigued. However, there was poor correlation between the sites of discomfort and the location of muscular fatigue. The discomfort findings suggest that there is an increased risk of discomfort from experiencing axial rotation together with whole-body vibration. Investigations of muscular fatigue do not substantiate this finding

Cities, The Sharing Economy and What's Next

This report seeks to provide an analysis of what is currently happening in American cities so that city leaders may better understand, encourage and regulate the growing sharing economy. Interviews were conducted with city officials on the impact of the sharing economy and related topics, and the report centers around five key themes: innovation, economic development, equity, safety and implementation.The sharing economy is also commonly referred to as collaborative consumption, the collaborative economy, or the peer-to-peer economy. This term refers to business models that enable providers and consumers to share resources and services, from housing to vehicles and more. These business models typically take the form of an online and/or application-based platform for business transactions

Beliefs in Internet Use

For this study, we are addressing the question: Does internet adherence effect an individual\u27s belief in conspiracy theories? We are predicting that individuals with a higher level of internet adherence will have a stronger belief in conspiracy theories, while individuals with a lower level of internet adherence will have less of a belief in conspiracy theories. To test this prediction, participants took two surveys which test these two variables. To measure an individual\u27s belief in conspiracy theories, we used the Conspiracist Belief Scale questionnaire and the Items of Internet Use questionnaire to measure levels of internet adherence