Inside Connecticut and the Civil War: Essays on One State\u27s Struggles

Essays on Memories and Commemeration This book’s title aptly summarizes its nine unique essays that are ably introduced and edited by Professor Matthew Warshauer of Central Connecticut State University. Warshauer, who also co-chairs the Connecticut Civil War Commemoration Commission, has ...

Living Communication Pedagogy: Instructors with Visible Disabilities

In this paper, I argue that critical communication pedagogy, as a discipline, can benefit from an inclusion of instructors with visible disabilities in its literature and analysis. In particular, I employ my experiences as a teaching assistant with a visible disability to situate my own embodied knowledge as a way of understanding, in concert with literature reviews of critical communication pedagogy and instructors with visible disabilities. I also interview instructors with visible disabilities about their experiences to argue for our inclusion in critical communication pedagogy

Children\u27s Responses to Cooperative and Competitive Games: A Person x Situation Analysis

This dissertation examined the relations between goal structure, task-completion order, time, and individual differences in agreeableness for school-aged children completing a tower building task. The tower building task (Graziano et al., 1997) allows for the study of in-game behavior during competitive and cooperative tasks with a similar structure. Children completed a total of 13-trials (six per goal structure) under two different goal structures in order to observe changes both prosocial and destructive behaviors over time. Results revealed that children engage in more destructive behaviors over time under contrient goal structure conditions after working together relative to groups that completed contrient goal structure conditions without prior cooperative experiences. Additionally, low agreeable individuals engage in significantly more peer-directed negative vocalizations in contrient trials only if they worked cooperative prior to the experience, suggesting that high agreeable individuals may be less inclined to target peers when frustrated by a shift in task demands

Matching theory and practice in International Service-Learning (ISL)

Drawing upon a wealth of recent scholarship, this interactive workshop explores key challenges, questions, and contradictions inherent in International Service-Learning (ISL) while showcasing effective programs offered through Southern Utah University (SUU). A public university of 8,000 students with an emphasis on the liberal arts, SUU is one of 311 universities and colleges in the USA designated as a Carnegie Community Engaged Institution. The co-presenters are, respectively, the Director of the Community Engagement Center and the founding Director of the Rural Health Scholars Program. Together and separately, they have organized innovative short-term ISL programs in Mexico, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, and Ghana (most recently in May 2012). This presentation explores important theoretical concepts such as “intercultural competencies” and “global citizenship” while also discussing proven and practical strategies for successful ISL programs. The co-presenters address key questions: What is “learned” in a typical ISL program? What “skills” can ISL programs claim to develop for participants? How does ISL differ when promoted in different cultural contexts and for varied durations? To what degree can any ISL program promote “mutuality” and “reciprocity,” the central concepts of authentic service-learning? To address these questions, the co-presenters will engage workshop participants in a meaningful discussion about ISL, “a pedagogy that is best suited to prepare college graduates to be active global citizens in the 21st century,” according to scholars Robert Bringle and Julie Hatcher. To move beyond theoretical concerns, the workshop will also showcase best practices at SUU and other institutions. The co-presenters will discuss effective partnerships, assessment, and reflection exercises and share materials that have been helpful to scores of students in multiple ISL environments. In promoting more skilled service-learning programs, this workshop seeks to advance ISL as a rich pedagogy with great potential to transform individual students, varied campuses, and the larger global community. Moreover, the co-presenters are eager to learn from others engaged in service-learning programs and practices from around the world

Cerebral blood flow and behavioural effects of caffeine in habitual and non-habitual consumers of caffeine: A near infrared spectroscopy study

Caffeine has been shown to modulate cerebral blood flow, with little evidence of tolerance to these effects following habitual use. However, previous studies have focused on caffeine levels much higher than those found in dietary servings and have compared high caffeine consumers with low consumers rather than 'non-consumers'. The current placebo-controlled double-blind, balanced-crossover study employed near infrared spectroscopy to monitor pre-frontal cerebral-haemodynamics at rest and during completion of tasks that activate the pre-frontal cortex. Twenty healthy young habitual and non-habitual consumers of caffeine received 75mg caffeine or placebo. Caffeine significantly decreased cerebral blood flow but this was subject to a significant interaction with consumption status, with no significant effect being shown in habitual consumers and an exaggerated effect in non-habitual consumers. These findings suggest that caffeine, at levels typically found in a single dietary serving, is able to modulate cerebral blood flow but these effects are subject to tolerance

Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Stroke: Early versus Late Time Window Outcomes

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSERecent trials have shown benefit of thrombectomy in patients selected by penumbral imaging in the late (>6 hours) window. However, the role penumbral imaging is not clear in the early (0‐6 hours) window. We sought to evaluate if time to treatment modifies the effect of endovascular reperfusion in stroke patients with evidence of salvageable tissue on CT perfusion (CTP).METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients who underwent thrombectomy in a single center. Demographics, comorbidities, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), rtPA administration, ASPECTS, core infarct volume, onset to skin puncture time, recanalization (mTICI IIb/III), final infarct volume were compared between patients with good and poor 90‐day outcomes (mRS 0‐2 vs. 3‐6). Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent predictors of a good (mRS 0‐2) 90‐day outcome.RESULTSA total of 235 patients were studied, out of which 52.3% were female. Univariate analysis showed that the groups (early vs. late) were balanced for age (P = .23), NIHSS (P = .63), vessel occlusion location (P = .78), initial core infarct volume (P = .15), and recanalization (mTICI IIb/III) rates (P = .22). Favorable outcome (mRS 0‐2) at 90 days (P = .30) were similar. There was a significant difference in final infarct volume (P = .04). Shift analysis did not reveal any significant difference in 90‐day outcome (P = .14). After adjustment; age (P < .001), NIHSS (P = .01), recanalization (P = .008), and final infarct volume (P < .001) were predictive of favorable outcome.CONCLUSIONSPenumbral imaging‐based selection of patients for thrombectomy is effective regardless of onset time and yields similar functional outcomes in early and late window patients.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155458/1/jon12698_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155458/2/jon12698.pd

phMRI: methodological considerations for mitigating potential confounding factors

Dr. Bourke is supported by a strategic research grant from Barts Charity (470/1700)

Contributions and complexities from the use of in-vivo animal models to improve understanding of human neuroimaging signals.

Many of the major advances in our understanding of how functional brain imaging signals relate to neuronal activity over the previous two decades have arisen from physiological research studies involving experimental animal models. This approach has been successful partly because it provides opportunities to measure both the hemodynamic changes that underpin many human functional brain imaging techniques and the neuronal activity about which we wish to make inferences. Although research into the coupling of neuronal and hemodynamic responses using animal models has provided a general validation of the correspondence of neuroimaging signals to specific types of neuronal activity, it is also highlighting the key complexities and uncertainties in estimating neural signals from hemodynamic markers. This review will detail how research in animal models is contributing to our rapidly evolving understanding of what human neuroimaging techniques tell us about neuronal activity. It will highlight emerging issues in the interpretation of neuroimaging data that arise from in-vivo research studies, for example spatial and temporal constraints to neuroimaging signal interpretation, or the effects of disease and modulatory neurotransmitters upon neurovascular coupling. We will also give critical consideration to the limitations and possible complexities of translating data acquired in the typical animals models used in this area to the arena of human fMRI. These include the commonplace use of anaesthesia in animal research studies and the fact that many neuropsychological questions that are being actively explored in humans have limited homologues within current animal models for neuroimaging research. Finally we will highlighting approaches, both in experimental animals models (e.g. imaging in conscious, behaving animals) and human studies (e.g. combined fMRI-EEG), that mitigate against these challenges