The Efficacy of Tele-practice on Expressive Language Outcomes for Adults with Aphasia

Access to skilled speech and language intervention can be difficult for individuals residing in rural areas as well as for individuals with complex health and mobility issues. Telehealth (including therapy and rehabilitation) can provide effective services in the context of one’s home, allowing clinicians to reach a wider population of individuals. Purpose: To determine whether tele-practice service delivery produces positive expressive language outcomes that are comparable to direct service delivery for adults with aphasia. Method: A variety of databases were searched utilizing systematic inclusionary and exclusionary criteria. Research focused on adults over the age of 18 with a formal diagnosis of aphasia who engaged in telehealth intervention. Various research designs were identified and analyzed. Identified articles included a total of 235 participants. Results: The identified studies supported the implementation of tele-practice as a means of providing individuals with aphasia access to services that produce positive expressive language outcomes. Several studies indicated that tele-practice produces similar outcomes when compared to traditional direct therapy. Several studies also included qualitative data regarding patient satisfaction and quality of life, much of which produced positive outcomes. Conclusion: The chosen studies were found to largely support the inclusion of tele-practice as an effective option for producing positive expressive language outcomes for individuals with aphasia. Potential limitations include variability in treatment times and programs, assessment tools used, clinical training of individuals providing treatment, small sample sizes, and variable patient characteristics. Future research should focus on implementing research designs using larger numbers of individuals to increase generalizability.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/csdms/1003/thumbnail.jp

Climate variability impacts on coastal dune slack ecohydrology

The hydrological regime of freshwater systems plays a crucial role in shaping the dynamics of the different biological communities that inhabit them. Climate change is expected to cause major alterations in the hydrological regime of dune slacks by producing shifts in temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration. Across seasons, we explore the controls on common water fleas (Cladocera) and aquatic plant communities relative to water level regime, water chemistry, weather and geomorphological setting, in a slack of the Sheskinmore dune system, Co. Donegal, northwest Ireland. Cladoceran abundance and diversity peak in summer, but also vary inter-annually, and drivers for this and hydrological variability are discussed. Vegetation is likewise affected by hydrology in a spatial sense, where distribution follows wet/dry patches of water. Water chemistry is more variable within the same season than across different years, particularly related to the drying out of the slack. Rainfall through 2016-2017 was lower than average and evapotranspiration showed higher values than average for the same time period. The influence on the slack of this decreased precipitation extended across successive seasons. The water table is the most important driver of slack ecology, with incidence on biological communities expressed by the increased variability inter-annually, as opposed to seasonal variation

Developments in Canadian Adult Guardianship and Co-Decision-Making Law

Guardianship was originally developed as a social and legal tool meant to protect vulnerable persons. It is now evolving as a mechanism to promote autonomy. This paper examines the Canadian law of guardianship, including its historical evolution, the social and legal catalysts for its reform and related constitutional issues. Guardianship law has a long history in Western society, and has traditionally been paternalistic and property-focused. Early Canadian guardianship laws were largely based on English lunacy acts, and continued unchanged into the second half of the twentieth century. Reformation in Canadian guardianship law began in the 1970s and 80s, with criticism that the current law intruded unjustifiably into an individual’s personal sphere of autonomy. This criticism arose from an increased understanding of human capacity and the recognition of autonomy as a foundational human right. In 2000, Saskatchewan introduced comprehensive guardianship legislation: The Adult Guardianship and Co-decision-making Act. This Act authorizes the appointment of co-decision-makers as an alternative to the traditional court- appointed guardian. This alternative provides Saskatchewan courts the ability to effectively address the need and capacity of the adult in question. The co-decision- making provisions of the Act are unique in Canadian guardianship law: the co- decision-maker shares legal authority with the adult, must acquiesce to an adult’s reasonable decision and is statutorily required to minimally interfere in the adult’s life and decision-making process. The co-decision-maker is further required to act in a manner that protects the adult’s civil and human rights. The Saskatchewan Act represents an important attempt to rethink guardianship concepts in Canada, and should form the model for future guardianship legislation in this country

The Relevance of Government Practice in Constitutional Decision-Making: A Review of the Supreme Court’s Federalism Jurisprudence

This article explores the role of government practice in the Supreme Court of Canada’s (“SCC”) constitutional jurisprudence. With the exception of conventions, practices of government actors are not usually thought to have constitutional force or significance. However, a systematic review of the SCC’s federalism decisions from the last five decades reveals that government practice has a gravitational pull in the Court’s decision-making. This article investigates the ways in which justices understand and attribute significance to government traditions or practices when resolving jurisdictional challenges. It also explores possible explanations for why justices might believe government practices are relevant to validity determinations

Practicing Environmental Etiquette in Utah\u27s Deserts

World-renown for its desert climate and recreational opportunities, Utah’s southern desert attracts millions of visitors each year. With nearly 75% of the land in Utah being public[1], much of it is dedicated to recreation and tourism in the form of National Parks, Monuments, National Forests and open space

The discovery of a T6.5 subdwarf

We report the discovery of ULAS J131610.28+075553.0, an sdT6.5 dwarf in the UKIDSS Large Area Survey 2 epoch proper motion catalogue. This object displays significant spectral peculiarity, with the largest yet seen deviations from T6 and T7 templates in the Y and K bands for this subtype. Its large, similar to 1 arcsec yr(-1), proper motion suggests a large tangential velocity of V-tan approximate to 240-340 km s(-1), if we assume its M-J lies within the typical range for T6.5 dwarfs. This makes it a candidate for membership of the Galactic halo population. However, other metal-poor T dwarfs exhibit significant under luminosity both in specific bands and bolometrically. As a result, it is likely that its velocity is somewhat smaller, and we conclude it is a likely thick disc or halo member. This object represents the only T dwarf earlier than T8 to be classified as a subdwarf, and is a significant addition to the currently small number of known unambiguously substellar subdwarfs.Peer reviewe

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationPrestressed concrete has been a significant contributor to the success of modern civil engineering projects because it allows longer spans and lighter members to be constructed. Despite the usefulness of prestressed concrete, a major disadvantage is the susceptibility of steel prestressing tendons to corrosion. Corrosion can be accelerated by vehicular impact damage which removes concrete cover, exposing the tendons to the elements. If damaged members can be repaired with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, total replacement of the structure can be avoided. FRP composites are excellent candidates for use in prestressing because of their light weight, superior resistance to corrosion, and comparable strength to steel. Post-tensioned external FRP tendons can be implemented to restore capacity lost through corrosion or damage or meet increased load requirements; however, there are three obstacles that have hindered wide implementation of external FRP post-tensioning in rehabilitation and retrofit applications. The following obstacles inhibit implementation: the lack of a suitable anchorage device to maintain the post-tensioning force in the FRP tendons, the lack of an innovative stressing device that reduces the requirement for a significant amount of free space behind the post-tensioned member, and the lack of design equations detailing the use of FRP tendons for field applications. This research involves overcoming the three aforementioned obstacles. The first part of this research is concerned with the development of a unibody clamp anchor that controls slip and stress concentrations in post-tensioned carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods. Additionally, finite element modeling was employed to conduct a relative comparison of the anchor performance across four different design generations. A second objective of the research was to design and implement a simple mechanical stressing device and the unibody clamp anchors to damaged reinforced concrete beams controlled by shear and damaged prestressed concrete beams controlled by flexure. The final objective considered in the research was an evaluation of design equations from the literature. In short, this research as a whole demonstrates the ability to utilize external post-tensioned CFRP rods for structural repair applications, and forecasts their potential for more widespread use

Seabed dynamics in a large coastal embayment: 180 years of morphological change in the outer Thames estuary

This article analyses the morphological history of the outer Thames seabed, covering over 3,000 km 2 from Aldeburgh (Suffolk), to Southend-on-Sea (Essex) and Margate (Kent). The region has been depicted on bathymetric charts since the sixteenth century, and has been formally charted since the eighteenth century. Charts published since the early 1800s incorporate sufficient grid reference or ground control detail for georectification onto a common coordinate system (British National Grid). The morphological history of the outer seabed was thus reconstructed through the digitisation and interpolation of soundings onto a regular grid (3D surface). The evolution of seabed morphology was examined using transects, bathymetric change maps and spatial statistics. The results show considerable spatial variability in seabed behaviour. Within the central Thames, banks have experienced significant depth changes can be associated with lateral shifts in individual banks. Some of the outer banks in this region exhibit progressive elongation. Shifts in bank position across the Suffolk shoreface appear to be more subtle, and there is evidence here of both onshore and offshore migration. There is no clear evidence of any regionally coherent response to large-scale historical forcing such as sea-level rise

An Investigation of the Impact of Changing Social Norms on Female Clothing Attire Pre and Post WW II

Not only did World War II bring about changes to the economy and policy in the United States, it also changed women\u27s fashion and, consequently, the way in which women\u27s fashion was presented through marketing efforts. This study is an investigation of how changing social norms, as seen in various marketing material, may have impacted women\u27s attire before and after World War II. The study will be conducted by analyzing various reports on how changes came to pass throughout this time, and how different factors may have instigated the change. Additionally, an analysis of marketing materials used pre and post World War II will be analyzed to better understand how the changes in fashion were presented to the general public. This evaluation and analysis will be conducted by research through various historical books and journals that discuss how changes in fashion took place due to economic changes around the world. This information will then be used to gain a deeper understanding as marketing material is reviewed to evaluate how these changes were presented to the public. It is expected that the study will reveal women being depicted as stronger, more independent, and wearing clothing that may be slightly more revealing than previous styles due to the availability of materials during the wa

Large-scale spatial variability in the contemporary coastal sand and gravel resource, Suffolk, eastern UK

The response of coastal systems to changes in sea level and storm events is often dependent on the availability of sediment and sustainability of sediment supply. This paper analyses the changing sediment resource of a driftaligned shoreline in eastern England, UK, over centennial and decadal timescales. Spatial variability in cross-shore extent and elevational distribution of this mixed sand and gravel system exerts a significant control on the ability of different stretches of this shoreline to respond dynamically to changes in marine forcing. Furthermore, anthropogenic interference has led to the development of unnaturally high beach ridges in some places, which contrasts with the absence of intertidal or supratidal sediment along stretches dominated by seawalls