Digital Commons Network^™

A Boot Camp Approach To Remediating Interdental /S/ In A School-Aged Child, Melanie Ellen Peris

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between speech articulation therapy dose (frequency, intensity, duration) and treatment outcomes are poorly understood. Identifying optimal therapy doses for specific articulation disorders is essential to providing efficient clinical care. Recent research indicates that intensive speech therapy doses-known as boot camps-may promote rapid improvement and generalization for certain speech disorders. Therefore the present investigation examined the effects of a boot camp speech therapy approach to remediate interdental /s/ production in an 8-year-old male. The boot camp included two days of speech therapy involving visual, tactile, and auditory feedback approaches. Therapy was administered 5.5 hours per day across morning and …

Auditory Stimuli Mimicking Ambient Sounds Drive Temporal "Delta Brushes" In Premature Infants, Mathilde Chipaux, Matthew Colonnese, Audrey Mauguen, Laure Fellous, Mostafa Mokhtari, Oscar Lezcano, Mathieu Milh, Olivier Dulac, Catherine Chiron, Rustem Khazipov, Anna Kaminska

Pharmacology and Physiology Faculty Publications

In the premature infant, somatosensory and visual stimuli trigger an immature electroencephalographic (EEG) pattern, “delta-brushes,” in the corresponding sensory cortical areas. Whether auditory stimuli evoke delta-brushes in the premature auditory cortex has not been reported. Here, responses to auditory stimuli were studied in 46 premature infants without neurologic risk aged 31 to 38 postmenstrual weeks (PMW) during routine EEG recording. Stimuli consisted of either low-volume technogenic “clicks” near the background noise level of the neonatal care unit, or a human voice at conversational sound level. Stimuli were administrated pseudo-randomly during quiet and active sleep. In another protocol, the cortical response …

Development And Evaluation Of An Ontology-Based Quality Metrics Extraction System, Sina Madani

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The Institute of Medicine reports a growing demand in recent years for quality improvement within the healthcare industry. In response, numerous organizations have been involved in the development and reporting of quality measurement metrics. However, disparate data models from such organizations shift the burden of accurate and reliable metrics extraction and reporting to healthcare providers. Furthermore, manual abstraction of quality metrics and diverse implementation of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems deepens the complexity of consistent, valid, explicit, and comparable quality measurement reporting within healthcare provider organizations.

The main objective of this research is to evaluate an ontology-based information extraction framework …

Flexiterm: A Flexible Term Recognition Method, Irena Spasić, Mark Greenwood, Alun Preece, Nick Francis, Glyn Elwyn

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: The increasing amount of textual information in biomedicine requires effective term recognition methods to identify textual representations of domain-specific concepts as the first step toward automating its semantic interpretation. The dictionary look-up approaches may not always be suitable for dynamic domains such as biomedicine or the newly emerging types of media such as patient blogs, the main obstacles being the use of non-standardised terminology and high degree of term variation.

Comparison Of Performance On Static And Dynamic Language Tasks Among Typically Developing Preschoolers With Bilingual Experience, Mireya Hernandez

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of a graduated prompting format for measuring modifiability in a screening context among preschool children with bilingual experience. The dynamic assessment framework, including graduated prompting, is an alternative to traditional, static assessment of language impairment. Performance on four dynamic language tasks by 16 typically developing 4-year-olds with more English than Spanish experience was compared to performance of 16 matched children on static versions of the same tasks. These included novel adjective learning, semantic comparison, phonological awareness, and false-belief theory of mind tasks. When prompted responses were credited, the dynamic group …

Predictive Modeling In Post-Reform Marketplace, Wu-Chyuan Gau, Andrew France, Maria E. Moutinho, Carl D. Smith, Morgan C. Wang

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Healthcare reform changes everything. Annual and lifetime dollar limits, underwriting, and preexisting condition exclusion will all be eliminated by 2014. Insurers must offer coverage to any individual regardless of their health status. An overwhelming majority of those who will be mandated to purchase individual insurance is currently uninsured or under-insured. Insurers have insufficient internal data to estimate costs for this new population. A study on how to apply predictive modeling to deal with risks and uncertainties facing healthcare industry in the post-reform marketplace is presented in this article.

Combined Erp/Fmri Evidence For Early Word Recognition Effects In The Posterior Inferior Temporal Gyrus, Joseph Dien, Eric S. Brian, Dennis L. Molfese, Brian T. Gold

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Two brain regions with established roles in reading are the posterior middle temporal gyrus and the posterior fusiform gyrus. Lesion studies have also suggested that the region located between them, the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG), plays a central role in word recognition. However, these lesion results could reflect disconnection effects since neuroimaging studies have not reported consistent lexicality effects in pITG. Here we tested whether these reported pITG lesion effects are due to disconnection effects or not using parallel ERP/fMRI studies. We predicted that the Recognition Potential (RP), a left-lateralized ERP negativity that peaks at about 200–250 ms, might …

Efinancial Health, Nan Taylor

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

No abstract provided.

From Kids, Through Kids, To Kids: Examining The Social Influence Strategies Used By Adolescents To Promote Prevention Among Peers, Janice L. Krieger, Samantha Coveleski, Michael L. Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day, John W. Graham, Jonathan Pettigrew, Allison Kootsikas

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent technological advances have increased the interest and ability of lay audiences to create messages; however, the feasibility of incorporating lay multimedia messages into health campaigns has seldom been examined. Drawing on the principle of cultural grounding and narrative engagement theory, this article seeks to examine what types of messages adolescents believe are most effective in persuading their peers to resist substance use and to provide empirical data on the extent to which audience-generated intervention messages are consistent with the associated campaign philosophy and branding. Data for the current study are prevention messages created by students as part of a …

Predicting Language Impairment Status: A Risk Factor Model, Johanna Maria Rudolph

Open Access Dissertations

The etiology of specific language impairment (SLI) is multifactorial. Research has shown that genetic, environmental, and developmental factors may influence the course of its development. Because many of these factors are present even before a child is born, it is possible that a child's risk of developing the disorder can be identified long before grammatical deficits are observed. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a screening tool to discriminate between children with SLI and typically developing (TD) children using risk factor information including gender, family history of communication or reading disorders, socioeconomic status, maternal and paternal …

Assessing The Preparedness Of The Veterinary Profession To Communicate With Limited English Proficient Spanish-Speaking Pet Owners, Ruth Ellen Landau

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to assess the preparedness of the veterinary profession to communicate with limited English proficient Spanish-speaking pet owners (LEP SSPOs). Results of surveys with 393 Latino pet owners, 383 small animal veterinarians and staff, and over 2000 veterinary students indicate that interaction between veterinary professionals and LEP SSPOs is not a rare occurrence: Veterinarians in states with large established or fast-growing Latino communities are seeing LEP SSPOs and their pets on a regular basis: 89% of veterinarians have LEP Spanish-speaking clients, over half of these practitioners are seeing LEP SSPOs weekly, and over half …

The Association Between Insurance Status And Cervical Cancer Screening In Community Health Centers: Exploring The Potential Of Electronic Health Records For Population-Level Surveillance, 2008-2010, Stuart Cowburn, Matthew J. Carlson, Jodi A. Lapidus, Jennifer E. Devoe

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States have decreased 67% over the past 3 decades, a reduction mainly attributed to widespread use of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test for cervical cancer screening. In the general population, receipt of cervical cancer screening is positively associated with having health insurance. Less is known about the role insurance plays among women seeking care in community health centers, where screening services are available regardless of insurance status. The objective of our study was to assess the association between cervical cancer screening and insurance status in Oregon and California community health centers …

Measuring Global Coherence In Aphasia, V. Galetto, S. Kintz, T. West, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Discourse coherence may be conceptualized as representing the listener's ability to interpret the overall meaning conveyed by the speaker. Discourse schemas serve as the organizing frameworks for placing the essential discourse elements within a language sample (Bloom, Borod, & Santschi-Haywoor, Pick, & Obler, 1996; Peterson & McCabe, 1983). When the essential elements are provided a logical consistency of the discourse schema is maintained and the listener perceives the discourse as coherent (Ditman & Kuperberg, 2010; Trabasso, van den Broek, & Suh, 1989; van den Broek, Virtue, Everson, Tzeng, & Sung, 2002). Global coherence refers to the ability to semantically relate …

Effects Of Truncation On Language Sample Analysis In Aphasia, Gerasimos Fergadiotis, Heather Harris Wright

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of this study is to determine if the length of a language sample elicited from a person with aphasia (PWA) is of consequence when making inferences about the patient's functional language ability. When conducting a language sample analysis, a sample representing a snapshot in time is used to make inferences about an individual's language capacity in general. However, current findings are inconclusive regarding the ideal length of the language sample necessary to draw valid conclusions about patients (e.g. Heilman, Nockerts, & Miller, 2010).

Articulatory Distinctiveness Of Vowels And Consonants: A Data-Driven Approach, Jun Wang, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal, Yana Yunusova

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Purpose: To quantify the articulatory distinctiveness of 8 major English vowels and 11 English consonants based on tongue and lip movement time series data using a data-driven approach.

Method: Tongue and lip movements of 8 vowels and 11 consonants from 10 healthy talkers were collected. First, classification accuracies were obtained using 2 complementary approaches: (a) Procrustes analysis and (b) a support vector machine. Procrustes distance was then used to measure the articulatory distinctiveness among vowels and consonants. Finally, the distance (distinctiveness) matrices of different vowel pairs and consonant pairs were used to derive articulatory vowel and consonant spaces …

Narrative Means To Preventative Ends: A Narrative Engagement Framework For Designing Prevention Interventions, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This article describes a Narrative Engagement Framework (NEF) for guiding communication-based prevention efforts. This framework suggests that personal narratives have distinctive capabilities in prevention. The article discusses the concept of narrative, links narrative to prevention, and discusses the central role of youth in developing narrative interventions. As illustration, the authors describe how the NEF is applied in the keepin' it REAL adolescent drug prevention curriculum, pose theoretical directions, and offer suggestions for future work in prevention communication.

Children And Homelessness In Massachusetts, Donna Haig Friedman, Katherine Calano, Marija Bingulac, Christine Miller, Alisa Zeliger

New England Journal of Public Policy

In Massachusetts, more than half a million children (15% of all children) live in poverty, 30% of all children live with parents who lack secure employment, and 41% live in households with high housing cost burdens. This article examines the root causes of poverty and its links to child homelessness in the state. Though the state has a long-standing progressive political legacy, the well-being of low-income families with children continues to decline. The article offers evidence about the extent of child homelessness and its profound effects on Massachusetts children and youth. The interconnectedness of what are usually thought of as …

A Comparison Of Attention Bias Paradigms Related To Insomnia, Nathaniel Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

Attentional bias to sleep related stimuli by poor sleepers has been reported as a factor in initiating and maintaining sleep disturbance. In this study, three paradigms (Flicker, Posner, and Stroop) were used in comparison to further investigate the role of attentional biases in Primary Insomnia. Participants (n=117) were split into good sleepers and poor sleepers using a median split with the Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale (PIRS). Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as the covariate, two-way mixed modality ANCOVAs were conducted for each paradigm revealing no significant differences in word type, quality of sleep, or the interaction …

De Novo Frameshift Mutation In Asxl3 In A Patient With Global Developmental Delay, Microcephaly, And Craniofacial Anomalies., Darrell L. Dinwiddie, Sarah E. Soden, Carol J. Saunders, Neil A. Miller, Emily G. Farrow, Laurie D. Smith, Stephen F. Kingsmore

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Currently, diagnosis of affected individuals with rare genetic disorders can be lengthy and costly, resulting in a diagnostic odyssey and in many patients a definitive molecular diagnosis is never achieved despite extensive clinical investigation. The recent advent and use of genomic medicine has resulted in a paradigm shift in the clinical molecular genetics of rare diseases and has provided insight into the causes of numerous rare genetic conditions. In particular, whole exome and genome sequencing of families has been particularly useful in discovering de novo germline mutations as the cause of both rare diseases and complex disorders.

CASE PRESENTATION: …

Impact Of Postpartum Anxiety And Depression On Child’S Mental Development From Two Peri-Urban Communities Of Karachi, Pakistan: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Niloufer Sultan Ali, Sadia Mahmud, Asia Khan, Badar Sabir Ali

Department of Family Medicine

Background

Postpartum anxiety and depression has detrimental effects on the overall mental development of children. This study aims to assess the impact of postpartum anxiety and depression on children’s mental development on all sub-scales in a Pakistani population.

Methods

A quasi-experimental study was conducted in two peri-urban communities of Karachi, a mega city of Pakistan, to assess the impact of postpartum anxiety and depression on children’s growth and mental development. A total of 420 women were enrolled, who had given consent out of 651 pregnant women identified, during February 2004 to December 2005. Data for socio-demographic, home environment and family …

Identifying Barriers To Patient Acceptance Of Active Surveillance: Content Analysis Of Online Patient Communications., Mark V Mishra, Michele Bennett, Armon Vincent, Olivia T Lee, Costas D Lallas, Edouard J Trabulsi, Leonard G Gomella, Adam P Dicker, Timothy N Showalter

Department of Urology Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVES: Qualitative research aimed at identifying patient acceptance of active surveillance (AS) has been identified as a public health research priority. The primary objective of this study was to determine if analysis of a large-sample of anonymous internet conversations (ICs) could be utilized to identify unmet public needs regarding AS.

METHODS: English-language ICs regarding prostate cancer (PC) treatment with AS from 2002-12 were identified using a novel internet search methodology. Web spiders were developed to mine, aggregate, and analyze content from the world-wide-web for ICs centered on AS. Collection of ICs was not restricted to any specific geographic region of …

The Use Of Interpreters To Improve The Quality And Safety Of Healthcare Through Better Communication In Obstetrical Patients: Effect On Primary Cesarean Delivery Rate, Stephen A. Pearlman, Md

Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety Capstone Presentations

Patients with limited English proficiency have poorer healthcare outcomes. An assessment of the cultural and linguistic competency of Christiana Care Health Systems revealed that our language services were not sufficiently robust and this was affecting care. Therefore, the purpose of this quality improvement study was to improve healthcare outcomes, specifically the rate of primary cesarean delivery, through improved language assistance, to patients with limited English proficiency presenting to labor and delivery. The methods employed included use of the TeamSTEPPS program to educate the staff on how to improve safety for patients with limited English proficiency, adding a live Spanish interpreter …

Word Recognition From Continuous Articulatory Movement Time-Series Data Using Symbolic Representations, Jun Wang, Arvind Balasubramanian, Luis Mojica De La Vega, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal, Balakrishnan Prabhakaran

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Although still in experimental stage, articulation-based silent speech interfaces may have significant potential for facilitating oral communication in persons with voice and speech problems. An articulation-based silent speech interface converts articulatory movement information to audible words. The complexity of speech production mechanism (e.g., co-articulation) makes the conversion a formidable problem. In this paper, we reported a novel, real-time algorithm for recognizing words from continuous articulatory movements. This approach differed from prior work in that (1) it focused on word-level, rather than phoneme-level; (2) online segmentation and recognition were conducted at the same time; and (3) a symbolic representation (SAX) was …

Cultural Competence Of Taiwanese Nurses, Chin-Nu Lin

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Research on the cultural competence in nursing care in Taiwan is scarce. Little information has been documented regarding the level of cultural competence among its health care professionals. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of cultural competence among Taiwanese nurses. This study employed a quantitative design using a self-report online survey. Research findings indicated that Taiwanese nurses had low to moderate level of cultural competence. They perceived themselves as being not culturally competent when caring for clients from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds. While Taiwanese nurses scored high on cultural sensitivity and awareness, they scored low …

Testing The Validity Of The Byu Taiwan Mandarin Speech Materials, Briana Rae, Dr. Richard Harris

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This study adds to the ongoing work of creating a system capable of administering accurate speech recognition threshold (SRT) tests to non-native English speakers. The SRT test helps in determining the brain’s ability to hear and understand speech. Bedke-Slade (2006) developed a SRT word list comprised of 28 words in the Taiwan Mandarin language which she recorded onto a compact disc. This word list, however, was not re-tested to ensure its performance matched the outcome predicted by Bedke-Slade. That’s where I came in.

Interests In High-Functioning Autism Are More Intense, Interfering, And Idiosyncratic Than Those In Neurotypical Development, Laura G. Anthony, Lauren Kenworthy, Benjamin E. Yerys, Kathryn F. Jankowski, Joette James, Madeline B. Harms, Alex Martin, Gregory L. Wallace

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Faculty Publications

Although circumscribed interests are pathognomonic with autism, much about these interests remains unknown. Using the Interests Scale (IS), this study compares interests between 76 neurotypical (NT) individuals and 109 individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) matched groupwise on age, IQ, and gender ratio. Participants and their parents/caregivers completed diagnostic measures (the Autism Diagnostic Interview—Revised and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule; HF-ASD only), cognitive tests (Wechsler IQ Scales), and questionnaires (the Repetitive Behavior Scale—Revised, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, and the Social Responsiveness Scale), in addition to the IS. Consistent with previous research, HF-ASD and NT individuals did …

Sodium (Na) Levels In Drinking Water (H20) And Development Of Hypertension In Children, Sara Schiffman

HIM 1990-2015

This integrative review of the literature focused on sodium (Na) content in drinking water (H?O) supplies and the subsequent effect on blood pressure levels in children. Studies for this review were drawn from the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health, PubMED, Science and Technology Databases, PsychInfo, United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EPA in Florida websites. Criterion for inclusion in the data base searches were hypertension, high blood pressure, sodium in drinking water, drinking water salinity, children or preg'. Subsequently, further article selection criteria included children (under 18 years of age) and published in the English language …

Interaction Between Human Resources Management And Ohs: Preparing Future Managers, Sylvie Gravel, Monique Lortie, Henriette Bilodeau, Jessica Dubé

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Plusieurs disciplines, dont l’ergonomie, la médecine, la toxicologie, l’andragogie et bien d’autres, ont contribué à l’avancement des connaissances en santé et sécurité au travail (SST). Malgré les avancées scientifiques, un défi demeure, celui de développer les habiletés des gestionnaires et de sensibiliser ces derniers à leur rôle dans la prise en charge des mesures correctrices et préventives en matière de santé et de sécurité. Une équipe de professeurs de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) a proposé de relever ce défi en constituant une banque d’études de cas destinée à l’enseignement aux futurs gestionnaires. Les cas ont été élaborés à …

Network Dynamics Of Visual Naming, Christopher R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recognition and naming of objects and actions are fundamental components of language. They involve several different systems working in coordination to accomplish a complex behavior. During visual naming, sensory and semantic processing are carried out by dedicated cortical substrates in the temporal and occipital lobes, while response selection and articulatory planning are handled by prefrontal cortex. Despite decades of research using lesion analysis, functional MRI and electro-encephalography, the precise dynamics involved remain unknown due to the inadequate spatio-temporal resolution of these methodologies. Of particular interest is the organization of semantic knowledge and the degree of serial and parallel organization of …

Relationship Between A Measure Of Social And Emotional Development And Early Communication Development In Young Children With Cleft Palate, Jenna L. Pugh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was an examination of responses to a standardized assessment of social-emotional behaviors and correlation with speech and language development in young children with cleft palate and/or lip. Twenty-eight participants aged 14-35 months with nonsyndromic cleft palate and or lip were included in this study. The Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) was used to identify emerging social and emotional behaviors. Descriptive analysis of ITSEA results was completed. Pearson correlation coefficient and effect size estimates were calculated between ITSEA domain raw scores and measures of speech and language development. A small proportion of participants (14%) showed ITSEA scores beyond …