The Hospital Costs of Firearm Assaults

In the wake of recent high profile incidents of gun violence, there is renewed national attention on the prevalence and cost of firearm assaults in the United States. To make informed policy decisions, lawmakers are calling for current and accurate data on the costs of these assaults. This brief examines the costs of emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions for firearm assault victims in the United States in 2010. These costs are further examined according to patient gender, age, median household income, and insurance status

Temporal and spatial variability in speakers with Parkinson's Disease and Friedreich's Ataxia

Speech variability in groups of speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and with Friedreich's ataxia was compared with healthy controls. Speakers repeated the same phrase 20 times at one of two rates (fast or habitual). A non-linear analysis of variability was performed which used some of the principles behind the spatio-temporal index (STI). The STI usually employs variation in lip displacement over repetitions of the same utterance and a linear analysis of such signals is conducted to represent the combined variation in spatial and temporal control. When working with patients, audio measures (here we used speech energy) are preferred over kinematics ones as they are minimally disruptive to speech. Non-linear methods allow spatial variability to be estimated separately from temporal variability. The results are tentatively interpreted as showing that PD speakers were distinguished from healthy control speakers in spatial variability and ataxic speakers were distinguished from controls in temporal variability. These findings are consistent with the speech symptoms reported for these disorders. We conclude that the non-linear analysis using the speech energy measure is worth investigating further as it is potentially revealing of the differences underlying these two pathologies

The effects of delayed and frequency shifted feedback on speakers with Parkinson disease

Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) has been assessed as a rate reduction and intelligibility enhancing tool in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) for some time. However, there are contradictory results in the literature regarding the success of this device. Also, little is known about the effects of DAF on speech other than influences on speech rate and intelligibility. Frequency shifted feedback (FSF) is known to produce more natural sounding speech than DAF and to improve the fluency of persons who stutter. However, there are currently no studies reporting how PD speakers perform under FSF. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of both types of altered feedback on the speech of PD and control participants on a broad range of measures. The performance of 16 PD speakers and 11 control speakers in a reading task under DAF, FSF, and no altered feedback (NAF) are reported here. The results showed that all groups responded to altered feedback in a similar way and showed a prominent reduction of speech rate. The conditions evoked changes in pause frequency (increases), loudness levels (increases), pitch variation (increases), and intelligibility and naturalness (decreases) for all or some of the groups. Few effects could be observed on articulation/pause time ratio, pause duration, pitch range, and speech rhythm. Previous reports on differences in susceptibility of PD speaker to altered feedback were confirmed, and some speakers benefited from the system despite the negative group results for intelligibility and naturalness. In general, FSF resulted in performance closer to the NAF state than to DAF on all variables, and for those PD speakers who benefited from altered feedback, the FSF condition evoked the greatest improvement

Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease : is it a unified phenomenon?

Parkinson's disease (PD) has long been associated with dementia. This has been found to correlate with participant age, age at onset of PD and severity of PD. In addition, a large corpus of research points to the fact that participants with, as well as without, dementia can be impaired in a variety of cognitive tasks. Among these, set-shifting and dual-tasking skills have received particular focus. Most studies report that a reduction in attentional resources can lead to problems with these tasks. However, none have been able to determine exactly which systems are involved in these skills and which neurological impairments underlie the observed cognitive deficits. The current study set out to investigate how performance on tasks requiring set-shifting and dual tasking related to each other, as well as overall measures of cognition gained across a variety of tasks. Fifteen participants with PD and 12 control participants underwent screening tests for dementia, as well as specific tests to assess attention, set-shifting and dual tasking. The results indicate that set-shifting ability correlated well with other measures of cognitive performance, whereas dualtasking skills did not. This could suggest that set-shifting and dual tasking are not necessarily controlled by the same process, or that a particular process is involved to different degrees. In addition, many participants showed individual performance variations and dissociations between tasks that were not necessarily evident from the statistical analysis. This indicates that it can be difficult to make assumptions on overall cognitive performance from specific tasks and vice versa. This observation has implications for clinical practice as well as research methodology

小説化作品とその教育的可能性

最近に至るまで小説化作品はその文学的な価値という点には不賛成を唱えられ，言語教育の議論から無視されてきた。本論は小説化作品のもつ3つの側面に注意を向けることでその無関心の是正を模索するものである。最初に，小説化作品は文学的・学問的な興味の価値のある作品として認識され始め，研究の対象とされている。次に，小説化作品は異種類の作品を含む異種混淆の文章形式を構成している。最後に，小説化作品は外国語としての英語教育を含め教育での使用に興味深い可能性をもっている。Until recently novelizations have been deprecated in terms of their literary value and ignored in discussions of language teaching. This article seeks to redress this neglect by drawing attention to three aspects of novelizations: firstly, that they are beginning to be recognized in print as a works worthy of literary and academic interest; secondly, that they constitute a heterogeneous text form which includes differing kinds of novelization; and thirdly, that they have interesting potential for use in education, including in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language

パフォーマティヴィティ（遂行性）と異文化演劇教授 : 外国語教育における演劇教授に関するドイツ語文献にみる二つの重要語

本稿は，外国語教育における演劇教授の使用に関わる二つの重要語，つまり「パフォーマティヴィティ（遂行性）」と「異文化演劇教授」を扱った，近年のドイツ語文献をまとめ，報告しようとするものである。具体的には， Manfred Schewe教授の文献を扱い，とりわけ，教授や学びはもとより，教室内での教授を超えた研究への幅広いアプローチとしての演劇教授の推奨に焦点をあてている。さらに，高等学校英語学習者の異文化コミュニケーション能力の伸長を目指した文学テキストの使用と演劇活動の統合を扱った，近年のドイツにおける博士課程研究のいくつかを約言している。This article summarizes recent German-language writings about the use of drama pedagogy in foreign language teaching focusing on two key expressions, performativity and intercultural drama pedagogy. The work of Professor Manfred Schewe is highlighted, in particular his advocacy of drama pedagogy as a wide-ranging approach to teaching, learning, and research that goes beyond just classroom methodology. An outline is also given of recent German doctoral projects integrating the use of literary texts with drama activities aimed at developing intercultural communicative competence in high school learners of English

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Future of Timber Investing in the North Woods -- A Conversation with Clark S. Binkley

In this conversation with Peter Howell, Clark Binkley draws on his long-term experience as a timberland investment manager to give his analysis of and forecast for timber markets and timber investing in the Northern Forest. While he is not optimistic about the current prospects for such investments, he does believe that there are some opportunities in conservation easements, residential development, and possibly biofuels and carbon credits

ティム・バートン作『バットマン』を用いた英語指導 : Three-Block Movie-English Method の漫画による補足

本稿は，ティム・バートンの映画『バットマン』を題材にした，英語語学コースで使用された教材や活動を説明することにより，革新的な教育実践の事例報告を行うものである。その革新性は映画や小説化された題材を漫画から抜粋した教材で補うことにある。本稿の目的は，言語習得に関する効果について主張するというよりも，むしろ実践を共有することである。まずはバットマンの歴史について簡単に説明し，また，キャラクターの文化的・社会的な関心に注目する。続いて，本稿の目的である授業の各ブロックで実施した活動を簡潔に列挙し，使用した教材について詳述する。最後に，授業参加者の主観的な考察を報告する。This article presents a report of innovative pedagogical practice, outlining the materials and activities used in an English language course based on Tim Burton’s film, Batman. The innovation consisted in supplementing movie and novelization materials with extracts from a comic book. The aim of the article is primarily to share practice rather than advancing any claims for effectiveness in terms of language acquisition. A brief outline of the history of Batman is provided, and attention is drawn to the cultural and social interest of the character. The core of the article is a simple listing of the activities implemented in each block of the lesson and a description of the materials deployed. Subjective reflections of course participants are also presented

The effectiveness of traditional methods and altered auditory feedback in improving speech rate and intelligibility in speakers with Parkinson's disease

Communication problems are a frequent symptom for people with Parkinson's disease (PD) which can have a significant impact on their quality-of-life. Deciding on the right management approach can be problematic though, as, with the exception of LSVT (R), very few studies have been published demonstrating the effectiveness of treatment techniques. The aim of this study was to compare traditional rate reduction methods with altered auditory feedback (AAF) with respect to their effectiveness to reduce speech rate and improve intelligibility in speakers with PD. Ten participants underwent both types of treatments in once weekly sessions for 6 weeks. Outcomes measures were speech rate for passage reading as well as intelligibility on both a passage reading and a monologue task. The results showed that, as a group, there was no significant change in either speech rate or intelligibility resulting from either treatment type. However, individual speakers showed improvements in speech performance as a result of each therapy technique. In most cases, these benefits persisted for at least 6 months post-treatment. Possible reasons for the variable response to treatment, as well as issues to consider when planning to use AAF devices in treatment are discussed