The Effects of Altered Auditory Feedback (AAF) on Fluency in Adults Who Stutter: A Systematic Review

Background and Objectives: Stuttering affects 70 million people worldwide, which is about 1% of the population. Altered auditory feedback (AAF) is a process by which an individual’s auditory speech signal is electronically changed to temporarily increase the fluency of a person who stutters. For the purpose of this systematic review, AAF includes delayed auditory feedback (DAF) and frequency-altered feedback (FAF). This systematic review examines fluency enhancement in adults who stutter when using AAF devices. Methods: A review of the literature was searched using PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases with key search terms related to stuttering and AAF. Inclusion criteria included: 1) adults ages ≥ 18 years old who stutter, 2) comparison of altered auditory feedback forms and/or no altered auditory feedback forms in the treatment of stuttering, 3) inclusion of DAF or FAF, 4) outcomes related to aspects of stuttering or people who stutter (e.g., fluency level, speech naturalness, speech rate), and 5) experimental research. Studies were quality assessed and rated by the authors. Results: A total of 16 articles were included in this review. Articles were of ‘moderate’ quality. Conclusions: AAF devices are generally effective in reducing stuttering frequency, with most notable fluency enhancement occurring during oral reading. The degree of fluency enhancement between individuals who stutter is variable and is influenced by factors such as stuttering severity. While research generally supports the use of AAF devices in reducing stuttering frequency, there are inconsistent findings regarding speech naturalness. AAF is likely most effective when used in conjunction with traditional speech therapy. Further research is needed to better understand the relationship between AAF and stuttering, particularly regarding unstructured speaking tasks and speech naturalness.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/csdms/1004/thumbnail.jp

A Congeries of Absorption Cross Sections for Wavelengths Less Than 3000 degrees Angstrom

The absorption of ultraviolet solar radiation is of prime importance for the study of planetary atmospheres.The absorption coefficients of most of the atmospheric gases have been measured by a number of investigators, but the results are scattered throughout the literature. This report contains a detailed collection of absorption cross sections of the gases listed in Table 1 for wavelengths less than 3000 degrees angstroms. The data on each gas are given together with a historical sketch of the study of the gas and a list of the pertinent references. Also included is a study of the absorption and photoionization coefficients of the major atmospheric gases at intense solar emission lines

Has Foreign Entry Made Domestic Banks More Efficient?

Has foreign entry indeed made domestic banks more efficient? Unite's and Sullivan's study, based on a sample of 16 expanded commercial banks (ECBs) and general macroeconomic data for the Philippines for the period 1990-1998, on the whole, supports the view of a general weakening of relationship-style banking brought about by the liberalization of foreign presence in the Philippine banking sector. This has consequences, of course, to the practices in the domestic banking industry. Read more in this Policy Notes.financial liberalization, foreign bank entry, domestic banks, expanded commercial banks

Age constraints on the evolution of the Quetico belt, Superior Province, Ontario

Much attention has been focused on the nature of Archean tectonic processes and the extent to which they were different from modern rigid-plate tectonics. The Archean Superior Province has linear metavolcanic and metasediment-dominated subprovinces of similar scale to cenozoic island arc-trench systems of the western Pacific, suggesting an origin by accreting arcs. Models of the evolution of metavolcanic belts in parts of the Superior Province suggest an arc setting but the tectonic environment and evolution of the intervening metasedimentary belts are poorly understood. In addition to explaining the setting giving rise to a linear sedimentary basin, models must account for subsequent shortening and high-temperature, low-pressure metamorphism. Correlation of rock units and events in adjacent metavolcanic and metasedimentary belts is a first step toward understanding large-scale crustal interactions. To this end, zircon geochronology has been applied to metavolcanic belts of the western Superior Province; new age data for the Quetico metasedimentary belt is reported, permitting correlation with the adjacent Wabigoon and Wawa metavolcanic subprovinces

Elastic, Viscous, and Mass Load Effects on Poststroke Muscle Recruitment and Co-contraction During Reaching: A Pilot Study

Background: Resistive exercise after stroke can improve strength (force-generating capacity) without increasing spasticity (velocity-dependent hypertonicity). However, the effect of resistive load type on muscle activation and co-contraction after stroke is not clear. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of load type (elastic, viscous, or mass) on muscle activation and co-contraction during resisted forward reaching in the paretic and nonparetic arms after stroke. Design: This investigation was a single-session, mixed repeated-measures pilot study. Methods: Twenty participants (10 with hemiplegia and 10 without neurologic involvement) reached forward with each arm against equivalent elastic, viscous, and mass loads. Normalized shoulder and elbow electromyography impulses were analyzed to determine agonist muscle recruitment and agonist-antagonist muscle co-contraction. Results: Muscle activation and co-contraction levels were significantly higher on virtually all outcome measures for the paretic and nonparetic arms of the participants with stroke than for the matched control participants. Only the nonparetic shoulder responded to load type with similar activation levels but variable co-contraction responses relative to those of the control shoulder. Elastic and viscous loads were associated with strong activation; mass and viscous loads were associated with minimal co-contraction. Limitations: A reasonable, but limited, range of loads was available. Conclusions: Motor control deficits were evident in both the paretic and the nonparetic arms after stroke when forward reaching was resisted with viscous, elastic, or mass loads. The paretic arm responded with higher muscle activation and co-contraction levels across all load conditions than the matched control arm. Smaller increases in muscle activation and co-contraction levels that varied with load type were observed in the nonparetic arm. On the basis of the response of the nonparetic arm, this study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that viscous loads elicited strong muscle activation with minimal co-contraction. Further intervention studies are needed to determine whether viscous loads are preferable for poststroke resistive exercise programs

Self-contained breathing apparatus

A self-contained breathing apparatus with automatic redundant fluid pressure controls and a facemask mounted low pressure whistle alarm is described. The first stage of the system includes pair of pressure regulators connected in parallel with different outlet pressures, both of which reduce the pressure of the stored supply gas to pressures compatible with the second stage breathing demand regulator. A primary regulator in the first stage delivers a low output pressure to the demand regulator. In the event of a failure closed condition of the primary regulator an automatic transfer valve switches on the backup regulator. A warning that the supply pressure has been depleted is also provided by a supply pressure actuated transfer valve which transfers the output of the first stage pressure regulators from the primary to the backup regulator. The alarm is activated in either the failure closed condition or if the supply pressure is reduced to a dangerously low level

Strong convergence rates of probabilistic integrators for ordinary differential equations

Probabilistic integration of a continuous dynamical system is a way of systematically introducing model error, at scales no larger than errors introduced by standard numerical discretisation, in order to enable thorough exploration of possible responses of the system to inputs. It is thus a potentially useful approach in a number of applications such as forward uncertainty quantification, inverse problems, and data assimilation. We extend the convergence analysis of probabilistic integrators for deterministic ordinary differential equations, as proposed by Conrad et al.\ (\textit{Stat.\ Comput.}, 2017), to establish mean-square convergence in the uniform norm on discrete- or continuous-time solutions under relaxed regularity assumptions on the driving vector fields and their induced flows. Specifically, we show that randomised high-order integrators for globally Lipschitz flows and randomised Euler integrators for dissipative vector fields with polynomially-bounded local Lipschitz constants all have the same mean-square convergence rate as their deterministic counterparts, provided that the variance of the integration noise is not of higher order than the corresponding deterministic integrator. These and similar results are proven for probabilistic integrators where the random perturbations may be state-dependent, non-Gaussian, or non-centred random variables.Comment: 25 page