Relational Rhetoric in Congressional Speeches

Speeches given by members of Congress are used to express policy priorities, argue their positions, and to advocate for various issues. This rhetoric provides us with an understanding of the rhetorical representation employed by members of Congress, and how legislators relate to one another through the statements they make. Applying well known natural language processing methods to the Congressional Record from 1981 to 2017, we develop relational networks between members of Congress using their statements given on the House floor. From these networks, we provide a measure of the relationships Congress members have with one another. These networks illuminate the lexical similarities between legislators and demonstrate how rhetorical relationships relate to partisanship and legislative effectiveness and provides a means for examining these relationships over time.No embargoAcademic Major: Computer Science and Engineerin

Total Knee Arthroplasty in Rheumatoid Arthritis

The course of rheumatoid arthritis varies from mild disease to severe joint destructive variant that progresses rapidly, eventually leading to unremitting pain and joint deformity. In advanced disease, total knee arthroplasty has proven to be the most successful intervention that reduces knee pain and improves physical function in rheumatoid arthritis patients. However, as rheumatoid arthritis patients carry additional potential for late complications, many important considerations regarding preoperative evaluation and surgical technique must be taken into account in order to improve the results of total knee arthroplasty in this subgroup of patients