578 research outputs found

    A comparison of lexical access in adults who do and do not stutter

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    Previous work has postulated that a deficit in lexicalization may be an underlying cause of a stuttering disorder (Prins, Main, & Wampler, 1997; Wingate, 1988). This study investigates the time course of lexicalization of nouns and verbs in adults who stutter. A generalized phoneme monitoring (GPM) paradigm was used. Both populations showed a significant effect of word class (verbs yielded slower and less accurate monitoring than nouns), as well as phoneme position (word medial/final phonemes yielded slower and less accurate monitoring than word initial phonemes). Few significant differences were found between groups, although the experimental group showed poorer performance in all conditions, with the exception of null trials, where the experimental group actually out-performed the control group. The trends provide some level of support for the notion that people who stutter have a deficit in lexicalization, although the effect is mitigated by the lack of significance

    Intellectual Property Pirates: Congress Raises the Stakes in the Modern Battle to Protect Copyrights and Safeguard the United States Economy Comment.

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    Intellectual property pirates menace the industry by hijacking audio recordings, movies, television broadcasts, and software—posing an economic threat and accounting for billions of dollars in losses annually. This Comment examines legislative attempts to combat information piracy through criminalization of copyright infringement—focusing on the proposed Criminal Copyright Improvement Act of 1995 (Improvement Act). The Improvement Act contemplates expansion of criminal copyright infringement law, attempting to close the legal “loophole” exposed by United States v. LaMacchia, and providing a more effective means for deterring copyright piracy. Part II of this Comment provides a historical overview of United States copyright laws and introduces the concepts of civil and criminal copyright infringement. Part III focuses on a discussion of factors influencing the recent move to bolster the scope and deterrent effects of criminal infringement laws. Part IV explores the options available to combat modern piracy, concluding that passage of the Improvement Act represents the best solution. The Improvement Act would update current copyright laws to more effectively confront today’s piracy problems. Modern technology signals that it is time to update the Copyright Act of 1976 (Copyright Act). Human ingenuity will inevitably continue to produce creations which upset the balance of copyright laws, leaving them ill-suited to protect authors’ creations. This constant progression of new technology signifies that copyright laws are performing their avowed function—promoting the arts and sciences. Today, the same creativity which advances technology should be used in fashioning appropriate laws to protect it. The Improvement Act represents such an effort, providing a strong step toward conforming the copyright system to the modern technological world

    So Long Sweetheart - State Farm Fire & (and) Casualty Co. v. Gandy Swings the Pendulum further to the Right as the Latest in a Line of Setbacks for Texas Plaintiffs.

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    Some legal commentators would analogize the description of the prisoner of The Pit and the Pendulum to modern tort law and policy. Like a pendulum, tort law is always in motion, swinging between two ideologies: those being the plaintiff-oriented rights of the 1970s-80s, and the tort-reforms which began in the mid-80s. This trend continued until the 1990s and the decision of State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Gandy where Texas plaintiffs began experiencing setbacks. The Gandy decision likely curtails the use of the “sweetheart deal” a practice, in which an insured defendant first settles with the plaintiff, then assigns any claim it may have against its insurance carriers to the same plaintiff. This decision typifies the prevailing attitude of the Texas Supreme Court towards the underlying public policy justifications for tort law. The Texas Supreme Court analyzed assignment of “choses in action” both historically and under modern practice, determining such assignments distorted the litigation which followed. Whether Gandy will have profound effects on the insurance industry and the practice of assigning and settling tort claims remains debatable. Regardless of its ultimate precedential effect, it remains indisputable, Gandy reflects a current hostile climate towards plaintiffs in Texas. Due to the perceived tort crisis and tort reform campaigns, it has become clear compensating plaintiffs no longer reigns supreme in the hierarchy of public policy justification for tort law. Nevertheless, although some cases such as Gandy likely foreshadow the tough times which lay ahead for Texas plaintiffs, they may not represent the death knell for the state’s tort law and personal injury attorneys

    Specificity of the Minimal Clinically Important Difference of the Quick Disabilities of the Arm Shoulder and Hand (QDASH) for Distal Upper Extremity Conditions

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    Retrospective cohort design. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for the quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (QDASH) has been established using a pool of multiple conditions, and only exclusively for the shoulder. Understanding diagnoses-specific threshold change values can enhance the clinical decision-making process. Before and after QDASH scores for 406 participants with conditions of surgical distal radius fracture, non-surgical lateral epicondylitis, and surgical carpal tunnel release were obtained. The external anchor administered at each fourth visit was a 15-point global rating of change scale. The test-retest reliability of the QDASH was moderate for all diagnoses: intraclass correlation coefficient model 2, 1, for surgical distal radius = 0.71; non-surgical lateral epicondylitis = 0.69; and surgical carpal tunnel = 0.69. The minimum detectable change at the 90% confidence level was 25.28; 22.49; and 27.63 points respectively; and the MCID values were 25.8; 15.8 and 18.7, respectively. For these three distal upper extremity conditions, a QDASH MCID of 16-26 points could represent the estimate of change in score that is important to the patient and guide clinicians through the decision-making process

    A Retrospective Cohort Study of QuickDASH Scores for Three Hand Therapy Acute Upper Limb Conditions

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    Introduction: The QuickDASH is a valid and reliable outcome measure widely used to assess the function and pain in arm, shoulder, and hand disabilities. A recent study introduced a QuickDASH 80% cut point test to gauge patients at risk of poor outcomes. However, the utility of this test has not been validated. Purpose: To determine typical QuickDASH scores for three upper limb conditions and to test the sensitivity and specificity of the QuickDASH 80% cut point test in predicting patients at risk of poor outcomes. Methods: This is a retrospective study with a total of 406 patient records for whom QuickDASH scores were examined. The sensitivity and specificity of the QuickDASH 80% cut point test was investigated for three acute upper limb conditions seen in hand therapy: surgical distal radius fracture, nonsurgical lateral epicondylitis, and carpal tunnel release. Results: Typical scores were determined for three upper limb conditions. The QuickDASH 80% cut point test per upper limb condition returned poor sensitivity between 28.57% and 41.67%. Conclusion: The results did not support the QuickDASH 80% cut point test as a predictor of final outcome in these three patient populations. Patients with the worse initial 20% scores were not correctly classified as worse 20% final scores. This study provides summary data from three upper limb conditions to provide clinicians with comparison data to establish goals and educate patients

    Validation of the Exoplanet Kepler-21b using PAVO/CHARA Long-Baseline Interferometry

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    We present long-baseline interferometry of the Kepler exoplanet host star HD179070 (Kepler-21) using the PAVO beam combiner at the CHARA Array. The visibility data are consistent with a single star and exclude stellar companions at separations ~1-1000 mas (~ 0.1-113 AU) and contrasts < 3.5 magnitudes. This result supports the validation of the 1.6 R_{earth} exoplanet Kepler-21b by Howell et al. (2012) and complements the constraints set by adaptive optics imaging, speckle interferometry, and radial velocity observations to rule out false-positives due to stellar companions. We conclude that long-baseline interferometry has strong potential to validate transiting extrasolar planets, particularly for future projects aimed at brighter stars and for host stars where radial velocity follow-up is not available.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters; v2: minor changes added in proo

    Adherence of Individuals in Upper Extremity Rehabilitation: A Qualitative Study

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    OBJECTIVE: To describe the rehabilitation experiences, expectations, and treatment adherence of patients receiving upper extremity (UE) rehabilitation who demonstrated discrepancy between functional gains and overall improvement. DESIGN: Qualitative (phenomenologic) interviews and analysis. SETTING: Outpatient UE rehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with acute UE injuries (N=10). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Concerns related to UE rehabilitation patients demonstrating discrepancy between outcome measures. RESULTS: Five key themes emerged from the interviews of patients demonstrating discrepancy in their self-reported patient outcomes: (1) desire to return to normal, (2) initial anticipation of brief recovery, (3) trust of therapist, (4) cannot stop living, and (5) feelings of ambivalence. Challenges included living with the desire to move back into life. Multiple factors affected patient adherence: cost of treatment, patient-provider relation (difference between therapist and patient understanding on what is important for treatment), and patients expecting the treating therapists to be an expert and fix their problem. CONCLUSIONS: Patient adherence to UE rehabilitation presents many challenges. Patients view themselves as laypersons and seek the knowledge of a dedicated therapist who they trust to spend time with them to understand what they value as important and clarify their injury, collaboratively make goals, and explain the intervention to get them in essence, back into life, in the minimal required time. When categorized according to the World Health Organization\u27s multidimensional adherence model, domains identified in this model include social and economic, health care team and system, condition-related, therapy-related, and patient-related dimensions. Assessing factors identified to improve efficiency and effectiveness of clinical management can enhance patient adherence

    Extraction of Vehicle CAN Bus Data for Roadway Condition Monitoring

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    Obtaining timely information across the state roadway network is important for monitoring the condition of the roads and operating characteristics of traffic. One of the most significant challenges in winter roadway maintenance is identifying emerging or deteriorating conditions before significant crashes occur. For instance, almost all modern vehicles have accelerometers, anti-lock brake (ABS) and traction control systems. This data can be read from the Controller Area Network (CAN) of the vehicle, and combined with GPS coordinates and cellular connectivity, can provide valuable on-the-ground sampling of vehicle dynamics at the onset of a storm. We are rapidly entering an era where this vehicle data can provide an agency with opportunities to more effectively manage their systems than traditional procedures that rely on fixed infrastructure sensors and telephone reports. This data could also reduce the density of roadway weather information systems (RWIS), similar to how probe vehicle data has reduced the need for micro loop or side fire sensors for collecting traffic speeds

    Variably Transmittive, Electronically-Controlled Eyewear

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    A system and method for flight training and evaluation of pilots comprises electronically activated vision restriction glasses that detect the pilot's head position and automatically darken and restrict the pilot's ability to see through the front and side windscreens when the pilot-in-training attempts to see out the windscreen. Thus, the pilot-in-training sees only within the aircraft cockpit, forcing him or her to fly by instruments in the most restricted operational mode
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