Occupational Therapy’s Role in Early Language Development of Babies and Young Children

Occupational therapy practitioners in their interactions with babies, young children and their families, can be change-agents who promote rich language environments as a foundation to social interactions, social participation and academic successes. OTPs may be the sole provider working with a family or may reinforce with families the plan of care developed by speech-language pathologists (SLP) or early intervention teachers. The first step for OTPs is deeper knowledge of the importance of early language exposure, social interaction and participation development in young children and approaches that promotes rich language environments

Generalized Hot Enhancons

We review what has been learnt and what remains unknown about the physics of hot enhancons following studies in supergravity. We recall a rather general family of static, spherically symmetric, non-extremal enhancon solutions describing D4 branes wrapped on K3 and discuss physical aspects of the solutions. We embed these solutions in the six dimensional supergravity describing Type IIA strings on K3 and generalize them to have arbitrary charge vector. This allows us to demonstrate the equivalence with a known family of hot fractional D0 brane solutions, to widen the class of solutions of this second type and to carry much of the discussion across from the D4 brane analysis. In particular we argue for the existence of a horizon branch for these branes.Comment: 25 pages, Late

A Systematic Review: Light Therapy for Individuals with Dementia and Implications for Practice

This systematic review seeks to answer the question: is light therapy an effective intervention for sundowning symptoms experienced by individuals who have dementia

A Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Motivational Interviewing on Occupational Performance

This systematic review aims to review the efficacy of MI to address such performance goals falling within the occupational therapy scope of practice

The Quark-Hadron Phase Transition, QCD Lattice Calculations and Inhomogeneous Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis

We review recent lattice QCD results for the surface tension at the finite temperature quark-hadron phase transition and discuss their implications on the possible scale of inhomogeneities. In the quenched approximation the average distance between nucleating centers is smaller than the diffusion length of a protron, so that inhomogeneities are washed out by the time nucleosynthesis sets in. Consequently the baryon density fluctuations formed by a QCD phase transition in the early universe cannot significantly affect standard big-bang nucleosynthesis calculations and certainly cannot allow baryons to close the universe. At present lattice results are inconclusive when dynamical fermions are included.Comment: 8 pages, LaTe

The quantum structure of black holes

We give an elementary review of black holes in string theory. We discuss black hole entropy from string microstates and Hawking radiation from these states. We then review the structure of 2-charge microstates, and explore how `fractionation' can lead to quantum effects over macroscopic length scales of order the horizon radius.Comment: Review article, 58 pages, 2 figures; references added, note about topics covere

Effects of Slotted Water Control Structures on Nekton Movement within Salt Marshes

Water control structures (WCSs) restrict hydrological connectivity in salt marshes and thereby impede nekton movement within the greater habitat mosaic. Transient fishery species, which spawn outside salt marshes and must get past these barriers to reach spawning areas or salt-marsh nurseries, are especially vulnerable to these structures. Water control structures incorporating slots (narrow vertical openings spanning most of the water column) are thought to improve nekton passage; however, few studies have directly examined nekton passage through WCS slots. Dual-frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) acoustic imaging was used monthly (April-September 2010) on diurnal flood tides to examine nekton movement through 15-cm-wide slots at two identical WCSs located in Louisiana tidal marsh channels. Nekton behavior was compared between these WCSs and a nearby natural salt-marsh creek. Examination of 12 h of subsampled acoustic data revealed large concentrations of salt-marsh nekton at the WCSs (n = 2,970 individuals total), but passage rates through the slots were low (\u3c= 10% of total observed individuals migrated via the slots). Most migrating fish were observed leaving the managed area and swimming against a flood tide. The mean size of migrating individuals (similar to 25 cm TL) did not differ in relation to swimming direction (going into versus exiting the managed marsh) and was similar to that reported from other studies examining similar slot widths. Nekton formed congregations in the WCS channel, but no congregations were observed in the natural salt-marsh creek, even though nekton species composition and sizes were similar among sites. The WCSs in our study appear to function as ecological hot spots, where large individuals may encounter enhanced foraging opportunities but also fishing mortality and where smaller individuals may experience greater predation rates

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Framework, principles and recommendations for utilising participatory methodologies in the co-creation and evaluation of public health interventions

Background: Due to the chronic disease burden on society, there is a need for preventive public health interventions to stimulate society towards a healthier lifestyle. To deal with the complex variability between individual lifestyles and settings, collaborating with end-users to develop interventions tailored to their unique circumstances has been suggested as a potential way to improve effectiveness and adherence. Co-creation of public health interventions using participatory methodologies has shown promise but lacks a framework to make this process systematic. The aim of this paper was to identify and set key principles and recommendations for systematically applying participatory methodologies to co-create and evaluate public health interventions. Methods: These principles and recommendations were derived using an iterative reflection process, combining key learning from published literature in addition to critical reflection on three case studies conducted by research groups in three European institutions, all of whom have expertise in co-creating public health interventions using different participatory methodologies. Results: Key principles and recommendations for using participatory methodologies in public health intervention co-creation are presented for the stages of: Planning (framing the aim of the study and identifying the appropriate sampling strategy); Conducting (defining the procedure, in addition to manifesting ownership); Evaluating (the process and the effectiveness) and Reporting (providing guidelines to report the findings). Three scaling models are proposed to demonstrate how to scale locally developed interventions to a population level. Conclusions: These recommendations aim to facilitate public health intervention co-creation and evaluation utilising participatory methodologies by ensuring the process is systematic and reproducible

Postsecondary Education Students with Disabilities’ Perceptions of Occupational Therapy-Led Coaching

Background: Students with disabilities attending postsecondary education (PSE) institutions have poor degree progression, retention, and graduation rates. PSE institutions are addressing these challenges in various ways, including the delivery of occupational therapy (OT)-led coaching. There is emerging evidence that coaching increases academic success and self-determination in PSE. The students’ perspectives about the benefits of OT-led coaching intervention has yet to be explored. Method: A phenomenological study was conducted using transcribed semi-structured interviews with 18 college students with disabilities. Qualitative data analysis was conducted through an immersive inter-coder process that included independent coding, comparison of codes, discrepancy resolution to combine or redefine codes, and theme identification. Results: Overall, the participants reported perceiving the OT-led coaching intervention as beneficial to them. Specifically, four major themes emerged from the data: the personal and academic growth achieved, the benefits of an open and supportive environment in the coaching program, the participants’ perception of self-identified goal achievement, and the importance of accountability and engagement. Conclusion: The students with disabilities perceived that the OT-led coaching intervention was beneficial and identified aspects of the intervention that were most useful to them, including the emotional and material support