The Differential Contributions of Auditory-verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory on Decoding Skills in Children Who Are Poor Decoders

This study investigated the differential contribution of auditory-verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) on decoding skills in second- and fifth-grade children identified with poor decoding. Thirty-two second-grade students and 22 fifth-grade students completed measures that assessed simple and complex auditory-verbal and visuospatial memory, phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, listening comprehension and verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Bivariate correlations revealed that complex auditory-verbal WM was moderately and significantly correlated to word attack at second grade. The simple auditory-verbal WM measure was moderately and significantly correlated to word identification in fifth grade. The complex visuospatial WM measures were not correlated to word identification or word attack for second-grade students. However, for fifth-grade participants, there was a negative correlation between a complex visuospatial WM measure and word attack and a positive correlation between orthographic knowledge and word identification. Different types of WM measures predicted word identification and word attack ability in second and fifth graders. We wondered whether the processes involved in visuospatial memory (the visuospatial sketchpad) or auditory-verbal memory (the phonological loop), acting alone, would predict decoding skills. They did not. Similarly, the cognitive control abilities related to executive functions (measured by our complex memory tasks), acting alone, did not predict decoding at either grade. The optimal prediction models for each grade involved various combinations of storage, cognitive control, and retrieval processes. Second graders appeared to rely more on the processes involved in auditory-verbal WM when identifying words, while fifth-grade students relied on the visuospatial domains to identify words. For second-grade students, both complex visuospatial and auditory-verbal WM predicted word attack ability, but by fifth grade, only the visual domains predicted word attack. This study has implications for training instruction in reading. It was not the individual contributions of auditory-verbal or visuospatial WM that best predicted reading ability in second and fifth grade decoders, but rather, a combination of factors. Training WM in isolation of other skills does not increase reading ability. In fact, for young students, too much WM storage can interfere with learning to decode

Narratives of Expert Speech-Language Pathologists: Defining Clinical Expertise and Supporting Knowledge Transfer

Clinical expertise is a component of evidence-based practice; however, relatively little attention has been paid to this phenomenon in the professional literature of speech-language pathology. This may have negative impacts on the training of pre-professional and novice speech-language pathologists. The purpose of this study was to examine professional narratives of expert Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) to consider applications for knowledge transfer between expert clinicians and novice clinicians. Collection of the professional narratives of 10 expert SLPs were obtained through in-depth interviews. Interviews were transcribed and coded for themes. Themes that impacted expertise in SLP included: training; work sites; individual and clinician traits; a holistic versus disorder-specific view; technical excellence; acknowledgment of and reflection upon mistakes; professional networking; peer and patient recognition; and, embracing the creative. Within the narratives, implications toward knowledge transfer for novice clinicians were evident. Narratives of expert SLPs may facilitate knowledge transfer of clinical expertise. Of the nine themes identified, seven were consistent with previous literature, and two were not. The themes provide an opportunity for further research and development, largely concerning knowledge transfer in clinical education

Clustering approaches to improve the performance of low cost air pollution sensors

Low cost air pollution sensors have substantial potential for atmospheric research and for the applied control of pollution in the urban environment, including more localized warnings to the public. The current generation of single-chemical gas sensors experience degrees of interference from other co-pollutants and have sensitivity to environmental factors such as temperature, wind speed and supply voltage. There are uncertainties introduced also because of sensor-to-sensor response variability, although this is less well reported. The sensitivity of Metal Oxide Sensors (MOS) to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) changed with relative humidity (RH) by up to a factor of five over the range 19-90%RH and with an uncertainty in the correction of a factor two at any given RH. The short-term (second to minute) stabilities of MOS and electrochemical CO sensor responses were reasonable. During more extended use inter-sensor quantitative comparability was degraded due to unpredictable variability in individual sensor responses (to either measurand or interference or both) drifting over timescales of several hours to days. For timescales longer than a week identical sensors showed slow, often downwards, drifts in their responses which diverged across six CO sensors by up to 30% after two weeks. The measurement derived from the median sensor within clusters of 6, 8 and up to 21 sensors was evaluated against individual sensor performance and external reference values. The clustered approach maintained the cost competitiveness of a sensor device, but the median concentration from the ensemble of sensor signals largely eliminated the randomised hour-to-day response drift seen in individual sensors and excluded the effects of small numbers of poorly performing sensors that drifted significantly over longer time periods. The results demonstrate that for individual sensors to be optimally comparable to one another, and to reference instruments, they would likely require frequent calibration. The use of a cluster median value eliminates unpredictable medium term response changes, and other longer term outlier behaviours, extending the likely period needed between calibration and making a linear interpolation between calibrations more appropriate. Through the use of sensor clusters rather than individual sensors existing low cost technologies could deliver significantly improved quality of observations

Shaping electron wave functions in a carbon nanotube with a parallel magnetic field

A magnetic field, through its vector potential, usually causes measurable changes in the electron wave function only in the direction transverse to the field. Here we demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that in carbon nanotube quantum dots, combining cylindrical topology and bipartite hexagonal lattice, a magnetic field along the nanotube axis impacts also the longitudinal profile of the electronic states. With the high (up to 17T) magnetic fields in our experiment the wave functions can be tuned all the way from "half-wave resonator" shape, with nodes at both ends, to "quarter-wave resonator" shape, with an antinode at one end. This in turn causes a distinct dependence of the conductance on the magnetic field. Our results demonstrate a new strategy for the control of wave functions using magnetic fields in quantum systems with nontrivial lattice and topology.Comment: 5 figure

MFA12 (MFA 2012)

Catalogue of a culminating student exhibition held at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum May 4-Aug. 6, 2012. Contents include Introduction / Buzz Spector -- Think, make, show and tell / Patricia Olynyk -- Ifeoma Ugonnwa Anyaeji -- J.E. Baker / Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt -- Natalie Baldeon / Emily Hanson -- As in a turning gear : E. Thurston Belmer / Rickey Laurentiis -- Lauren Cardenas / Nicholas Tamarkin -- Megan Sue Collins / Catherine Chiodo -- Adrian Cox -- Maya Durham / Dolly Laninga -- Erin Falker / Melissa Olson -- St. Louis dreamscape : Jieun Kim / Caitlin Tyler -- Howard Krohn -- Scape : Robert Long / Robert Whitehead -- Marie Bannerot McInerney / Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt -- Ghost : Nikki McMahan / Rickey Laurentiis -- Michael T. Meier -- Katie Millitzer -- Reid G. Norris / Ross Rader -- Kathleen Perniciaro / Melissa Olson -- Emily Squires / Nicholas Tamarkin -- Jamie Presson Wells -- Whitney Lorene Wood / Reid G. Norris -- Andrew Woodard -- Kelly K. Wright -- Contributors -- About the Sam Fox School.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/books/1003/thumbnail.jp

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Student testimonies

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatschapelservices/7828/thumbnail.jp

Student testimonies (Video)

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatschapelservices/7827/thumbnail.jp