“Does Your Arm Hurt?” A Content Analysis of Upper Limb Differences in Children\u27s Books

Approximately 1,500 children are born with upper limb differences (ULDs) each year in the United States. Recently, public media attention has brought a greater awareness of individuals with upper limb differences (ULDs), but educational research on the PreK-12 experiences, available curricular materials, and effective educational strategies are lacking for this group of people. Researchers in this study identified and performed a content analysis of 24 children’s books with characters with ULDs. Findings indicated more of these books were being published recently, that they represented a number of genres, and were largely informative about experiences of people with ULDs. Most were more appropriate to use with prekindergarten aged children, and nearly all books contained stereotypes typically resolved as a tool to teach children about stereotypes. A discussion of the features that appeared largely missing from the books, and ways for teachers to approach these books with students, is offered

A Glimpse Behind the Curtain: The Detailed Structure of The May Literacy Center, a University-based Literacy Clinic

Literacy centers have existed in the United States since the 1920s and have seen many changes over their vast and essential history. Initially, clinics focused on remediation with a deficit view that positioned struggling readers as lazy and unmotivated. Over time, clinics shifted to a medical model, which also held a deficit view that involved pathologizing, testing, and diagnosing to fix what was wrong with the struggling reader. Today, university-based reading clinics focus on research-based literacy practices providing opportunities for undergraduate teacher candidates and graduate students to support struggling readers. Research on literacy clinics primarily focused on funding, student demographics, assessment, and instructional materials used, and family involvement; yet, there is little documentation about tutorial session logistics. Therefore, this manuscript provides a detailed description of the structure for the May Literacy Center, a university-based literacy clinic

Learning to Facilitate Highly Interactive Literary Discussions to Engage Students as Thinkers

Helping novices learn to facilitate interactive whole-class discussions is an important “high-leverage practice” for becoming an effective teacher due to its strong potential to increase students’ learning opportunities. A semester-long classroom-based assignment in a senior-level elementary literacy methods course supported preservice teachers in developing the practice of leading one text-based interactive literary discussion, along with learning to establish norms and routines for discussions, and to analyze instruction for the purpose of improving it. Analysis of 83 preservice teachers’ written work investigated their learning during the beginning stages of developing the complex practice of leading discussions. We propose a learning trajectory outlining three areas of development that may offer direction for helping preservice teachers improve in specific areas and provide a focus for future research

Differential effects of chronotype on physical activity and cognitive performance in older adults

IntroductionChronotypes reflect individuals' preferred activity and sleep patterns (e.g., “morning-types” vs. “evening-types”) and are associated with health and physical activity. Less is known about the relationship between chronotype and cognitive health in older adults. It is unclear whether chronotype's influence is driven by sleep timing or disruption. This study explored the relationship between chronotype, physical activity, and cognitive performance in older adults with and without self-reported sleep disorders.MethodsParticipants were 153 older adults (M = 70.35, SD = 5.89) who wore an Actigraph on the non-dominant wrist for seven days to measure total physical activity, peak physical activity, and chronotype (sleep interval midpoint). We categorized participants as morning-, evening-, and intermediate-chronotypes and assessed cognitive performance in domains of attention, executive function, and verbal memory.ResultsMANCOVAs showed patterns of activity across the 24-hour day differed between chronotypes such that morning-types were active earlier and evening-types active later, ps > .001. Total physical activity and average peak activity did not differ between chronotypes, (ps ≥ .117). Timing of peak activity followed expectations (morning-types peaked earliest (p = .019). Evening-types exhibited significantly worse executive function and attention than intermediate-types, p = .008. When excluding participants with sleep disorders, evening-types engaged in significantly less total physical activity than other groups, but cognitive performance did not differ.DiscussionWe found no differences in total or peak physical activity between groups, which is inconsistent with findings from studies in younger samples. This suggests the role of chronotype on physical activity may change with age and points to the potential impact of methodological discrepancies. While evening-types exhibited worse executive function and attention performance, this finding disappeared when participants with sleep disorders were excluded. Sleep dysregulation rather than sleep timing may be driving this difference. Recent trends in physical activity research explore activity patterns across the 24-hour day and acknowledge codependence between different activity types. Our findings suggest chronotype and activity timing may be important as researchers advance this line of research in older adults

THE EFFECT OF ACTIGRAPHY MEASURED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON EXECUTIVE FUNCTION IN OLDER ADULTS

Executive function (i.e., decision making, self-control, planning) is important for facilitating independent living in older adults. Physical activity may preserve executive function, but previous research has demonstrated sex differences in both physical activity and executive function among older adults. Few studies have investigated sex differences in the association between the two. We examined associations between objectively measured physical activity and executive function with attention to sex differences. We recruited N = 204 participants (Mage =71, SD=6.36; 57% women) with (n=47) and without (n=157) Alzheimer’s disease from the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. We used wrist-worn accelerometers (Actigraph GT9X) to measure physical activity 24 hours a day for 7 days in a free-living environment. We categorized physical activity as moderate to vigorous (MVPA) based on the Montoye (2020) Adult Vector Magnitude cut-points. We evaluated sex differences in the association between executive function and MVPA using multiple regression with an interaction term, adjusting for age, education, and dementia status. We used a composite score to combine tests of executive function (Digit Symbol Substitution, Stroop Interference, Trail making Part B, and Verbal Fluency). Results indicated, older age and lower education were associated with lower executive function scores (β=-2.12, p < 0.001; B=2.13, p < .05). In contrast to previous research, we did not find evidence for sex differences in the MVPA, executive function, nor the association between the two in our sample. Future research should investigate whether individualized exercise-based interventions and treatment between men and women may differentially benefit cognitive function

Concert recording 2013-04-25a

[Track 01]. English madrigal suite. Late in my rash accounting ; [Track 02]. Rest, sweet nymphs ; [Track 03]. My bonny lass / Weelkes ; Pilkington ; Morley ; arranged by Michael Forbes -- [Track 04]. Auburn is the colour... / Michael Forbes -- [Track 05]. Royal garden blues / traditional ; arranged by Michael Forbes -- [Track 06]. Tuba juba duba / Terry Hutchinson -- [Track 07]. Allegro / Roger Jones -- [Track 08]. Now hear this! / Ray Dempsey -- [Track 09]. Pari intervallo / Arvo Part -- [Track 10]. To a wild rose / Edward MacDowell ; arranged by Lockhart -- [Track 11]. Kierkegaard / Meyer Kupferman -- [Track 12]. Bill Bailey / Hughie Cannon ; arranged by James Garrett

Alexa?: Possibilities of Voice Assistant Technology and Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom

The following paper represents the combined effort of 10 educators exploring the experience and use of voice assistant technology in classrooms. This reflection and study of our classrooms looks to better understand both our use of technology and students’ use of technology in very specific ways. Is there a place for voice assistant technology in our classrooms? What benefits are there? What obstacles exist? We tell our stories and experiences here with the intent to provide context and continue the discussion among more of our colleagues

Designing systems for the care we need: A transformation journey in Southwestern Ontario.

Primary care is considered the foundation of any health system. In Ontario, Canada Bills 41 and 74 introduced in 2016 and 2019, respectively, aimed to move towards a primary care-focused and sustainable integrated care approach designed around the needs of local populations. These bills collectively set the stage for integrated care and population health management in Ontario, with Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) introduced as a model of integrated care delivery systems. OHTs aim to streamline patient connectivity through the healthcare system and improve outcomes aligned with the Quadruple Aim. When Ontario released a call for health system partners to apply to become an OHT, providers, administrators, and patient/caregiver partners from the Middlesex-London area were quick to respond. We highlight the critical elements and journey of the Middlesex-London Ontario Health Team since its start

Hydrogen bond arrangement is shown to differ in coexisting phases of aqueous two-phase systems

Analysis by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows that each coexisting phase in aqueous two-phase systems has a different arrangement of hydrogen bonds. Specific arrangements vary for systems formed by different solutes. The hydrogen bond arrangement is shown to correlate with differences in hydrophobic and electrostatic properties of the different phases of five specific systems, four formed by two polymers and one by a single polymer and salt. The results presented here suggest that the arrangement of hydrogen bonds may be an important factor in phase separation.P.P.M. acknowledges University of Aveiro, CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials for funding in the framework of the project UIDB/5011/2020 and UIDP/50011/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19.publishe