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Children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are multimodal communicators. However, in classroom interactions involving children and staff, achieving mutual understanding and accomplishing task-oriented goals by attending to the child's unaided AAC can be challenging. This study draws on excerpts of video recordings of interactions in a classroom for 6–9-year-old children who used AAC to explore how three child participants used the range of multimodal resources available to them – vocal, movement-based, and gestural, technological, temporal – to shape (and to some degree, co-control) classroom interactions. Our research was concerned with examining achievements and problems in establishing a sense of common ground and the realization of child agency. Through detailed multimodal analysis, this paper renders visible different types of practices rejecting a request for clarification, drawing new parties into a conversation, disrupting whole-class teacher talk-through which the children in the study voiced themselves in persuasive ways. It concludes by suggesting that multimodal accounts paint a more nuanced picture of children's resourcefulness and conversational asymmetry that highlights children's agency amidst material, semiotic, and institutional constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe relationships between the use of nouns and verbs, and other word classes have been well established in the typical language development literature. However, questions remain as to whether the same relationships are seen in the language use of individuals who use graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The aim of the study was to examine relationships between the use of verbs and nouns, and the use of prepositions, adverbs, and adjectives through a secondary analysis of language transcripts taken from 12 children and adolescents who used aided AAC in conversation with an adult. A series of multiple linear mixed-effect regression analyses showed a positive predictive association between the use of verbs and the use of prepositions and adverbs, as well as a positive predictive relationship between the use of nouns and the use of adjectives. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPurposeResultsConclusions\nIMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONLittle is known about how children learn to control eye-gaze technology, and clinicians lack information to guide decision-making. This paper examines whether typically developing 2–3 year olds can infer for themselves the causal mechanisms by which eye-gaze technology is controlled, whether a teaching intervention based on causal language improves performance and how their performance compares to the same task accessed via a touchscreen.Methods and materials: Typically developing children’s (n = 9, Mean Age 28.7 months) performance on a cause and effect game presented on eye-gaze and touchscreen devices was compared. The game was presented first with no specific instruction on how to control the devices. This was followed by a subsequent presentation with explicit instruction about how the access methods worked, using a causal language approach. A final presentation examined whether children had retained any learning.Performance in the eye-gaze condition without instruction (42.5% successful trials) was significantly below performance in the corresponding touchscreen condition (75%). However, when causal language instruction was added, performance with both access methods rose to comparable levels (90.7% eye-gaze and 94.6% touchscreen success). Performance gains were not retained post-intervention.Although 2–3 years in the study could make use of eye-gaze technology with support, this study found no evidence that these children could infer the causal mechanisms of control independently or intuitively. The lack of spatial contiguity and the comparative lack of feedback from eye-gaze devices are discussed as possible contributory factors.There are challenges in young children inferring for themselves the causal link between eye movements and control of an eye-gaze device.Explicit instruction may improve children’s performance in a specific task, but it is debatable whether this translates to the establishment of causal mechanisms for control of the device.Clinicians should be cautious of making assumptions about what children are learning from activities claiming to teach cause and effect or other foundational eye-gaze control skills.There are challenges in young children inferring for themselves the causal link between eye movements and control of an eye-gaze device.Explicit instruction may improve children’s performance in a specific task, but it is debatable whether this translates to the establishment of causal mechanisms for control of the device.Clinicians should be cautious of making assumptions about what children are learning from activities claiming to teach cause and effect or other foundational eye-gaze control skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the relationship between lexicon and grammar in individuals who use graphic symbol-based aided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Data came from 60 transcripts of generalization sessions that were part of two previous intervention studies, aimed at improving the expressive vocabulary and grammar of 12 children and youth who used graphic symbol-based AAC. The specific aims of the current study were to (a) describe vocabulary composition across different levels of expressive vocabulary and (b) analyze the relationship between global measures of expressive vocabulary and the use of grammar in individuals who use aided AAC. A series of multiple linear mixed effect regression analyses showed a positive predictive association between overall vocabulary size and the use of closed-class words, and a positive relationship between the use of verbs and the use of closed-class words. Additionally, the use of verbs had a significant positive association with the use of inflectional morphology, while the use of nouns did not. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presumed universality of Chaplin's film persona, which Robinson emphasizes, has long been a component of the conversation around Chaplin's films, and it was rooted in part in persistent links between Chaplin's Tramp and the common man. Most critics and reviewers of that film affirm Chaplin's view that granting the tramp a voice would transform him into another person; they suggest that when Chaplin delivers a speech at the end of the film, he steps out of his film persona and speaks in his own voice.[3] Critics have offered a variety of explanations for Chaplin's reluctance to embrace sound technology. A great deal of critical conversation surrounding the films of Charlie Chaplin has focused on Chaplin's reluctance to move from the silent film technology of the 1910s and 1920s to the talkies of the 1930s. Against hagiographic treatments of Chaplin's films and career as well as laudatory assessments of Chaplin's representation of the everyman among contemporary critics, it is important, I believe, to acknowledge the abiding association between Chaplin's Tramp and the little man, and the ways in which that association is informed by the profoundly denigrating mainstream conception of the common person during his era. [Extracted from the article]

The activity of close reading lies at the heart of literary studies, a "signature pedagogy" that distinguishes English from other disciplines. Despite its centrality to the discipline, however, close reading has been curiously resistant to analysis. This lesson study aimed to determine where students encounter challenges in close reading. Contrary to dominant narratives in the discipline, the university students in this study were adept at formal analysis. They were challenged, on the other hand, by invitations to make intertextual and personal connections to the text. Analyzing features of successful close reading, the essay proposes that intertextual thinking and personal connection are important components. The essay recommends assessing student skills in the initial stages of teaching close reading and, when warranted, integrating instruction in intertextual thinking and making personal connections alongside formal analysis. It also suggests group discussion may help leverage these neglected components of close reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hydrogen Economy concept is being proposed as a means of reducing and eventually decarbonising the world's energy use. It looks to hydrogen as being a replacement for methane (natural gas) and generally as a way of removing all fossil fuels from the energy supply. The concept, however, has at least four flaws, as follows: (1) hydrogen has significantly different properties to methane; (2) hydrogen has properties that create significant hazards; (3) hydrogen has a very small initiation (activation) energy; and (4) liquid hydrogen cannot readily replace liquefied natural gas (LNG). Hydrogen's hazards will prevent it from being accepted in a societal sense. To the question 'Can the Hydrogen Economy concept be the solution to the future energy crisis?', the answer is 'no'. Hydrogen has and will have a role in world energy but that role will be limited to industry. For the future we need an advanced electric economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locations that support high densities of a species ('population hotspots') often have a disproportionate influence on species' persistence. In fire‐prone ecosystems, managers attempting to promote population hotspots of multiple species must understand how hotspot locations might shift with post‐fire succession and how much overlap exists in the locations of population hotspots for multiple species. Mangers are then tasked with resolving fire‐management conflicts in overlapping locations.We studied three co‐occurring threatened bird species in a fire‐prone 'mallee' region of south‐eastern Australia. We undertook field surveys for each species (1,508 surveys, 540 sites; 9‐ha each). We used N‐mixture models to determine (a) what factors affect species' density (including post‐fire succession); (b) species' population sizes; (c) locations of species' current population hotspots and locations that may become population hotspots in the future as the post‐fire successional state changes and (d) the degree of overlap in the current and possible future hotspots of species.We found substantial variation in the densities of the three species across the study area, with roughly half of each species' population occurring in only 20% of potential habitat (i.e. population hotspots). All species shared a preference for subtle depressions in the landscape, resulting in substantial overlap in their population hotspots. Two species had contrasting responses to post‐fire succession in the subtle depressions. As a result, there was only a narrow post‐fire period that supported population hotspots of both species, creating a challenge for fire managers in these shared locations.Synthesis and applications. Many studies make vague recommendations for fire‐age mosaics that do not provide conservation managers with the detail they need to implement appropriate fire‐age mosaics. By contrast, we explicitly quantify, then balance the conflicting post‐fire needs of species in locations that support population hotspots of multiple species. Using this approach, we develop principles to guide the implementation of fire‐age mosaics in such locations. This approach represents an important step towards applying fire‐age mosaic theory to effectively support species conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The book review discusses Chi Zhang's work, "Legitimacy of China's Counter-Terrorism Approach," which examines China's rationale and mindset regarding counter-terrorism in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The author argues that external observers should not dismiss China's justifications for repression, but rather seek to understand them. Zhang focuses on the concept of the "mass line ethos" and its role in China's approach to counter-terrorism. The book provides valuable insights into Chinese security policy and is relevant to scholars studying Xinjiang, Uyghur studies, and terrorism and counter-terrorism. However, it does not fully address the question of why the Chinese Communist Party has taken such drastic measures in Xinjiang. [Extracted from the article]

The aim of this study was to develop and test a new classification scale to describe looking behaviours (gaze fixations and gaze shifts) in relation to eye-pointing. The Eye-pointing Classification Scale (EpCS) was developed and tested following established procedures for the construction and evaluation of equivalent scales, and involved 2 phases: Drawing on research literature, Phase 1 involved initial drafting of the scale through a series of multi-disciplinary group discussions; evaluation of the scale through a survey procedure, and subsequent expert group evaluation. Phase 2, was an examination of scale reliability and relationships between child characteristics and level of EpCS classification. In Phase 1, an initial draft of the scale was developed and then evaluated by 52 participants in 10 countries, leading to its refinement. Subsequent expert evaluation of content, style and structure indicated that no further refinement was required. In Phase 2, the scale achieved excellent levels of reliability in clinical testing. A significant relationship was identified between level of child motor ability and EpCS classification, and level of child language understanding and EpCS classification. Non-speaking children with severe bilateral cerebral palsy who have limited upper limb movement may communicate by using controlled looking behaviours to point to objects and people, referred to as eye-pointing. However, there is little consensus as to which looking behaviours represent eye-pointing and which do not. The Eye-pointing Classification Scale (EpCS) was developed to describe looking behaviours related to eye-pointing in this population of children The EpCS provides a new robust tool for clinical management and research with children with cerebral palsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Application of a self-practice self-reflection (SP/SR) framework to clinical training programmes for those learning cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) have demonstrated positive outcomes. These programmes have typically resulted in reports of enhanced learning, improved clinical skills, heightened empathy, improved interpersonal skills, increased self-awareness, and self-development for those undertaking such training. However, the utility of specific activities within this framework for enhancing trainees' learning still requires exploration. This study sought to explore the use of a low frustration tolerance (LFT) exercise to enhance trainee's learning around issues relating to frustration and discomfort tolerance. It also further explored the possible application of SP/SR as a form of competency-based assessment. The study was based on 41 student trainees that engaged in a self-directed LFT exercise. Written reflections on these exercises were then thematically analysed. From a competency basis, the exercise provided an approach for observing the trainee's competency with formulation skills, intervention planning, and self-reflective capacity. Participants reported both personal and professional development outcomes from the exercise. These included a 'deepened' understanding of cognitive behavioural principles related to their experiences, both in terms of principles relating to maintenance of dysfunction and to creating change. Increased self-awareness and learning outcomes relating to the development of interpersonal skills were also commonly reported by trainees. Key learning aims: (1) To understand the usefulness of a behavioural experiment [a low frustration tolerance (LFT) exercise] for training within a SP/SR framework. (2) To examine the potential for using SP/SR as a form of competency-based training. (3) To demonstrate the benefits of experiential learning through SP/SR in training CBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentioning the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a seminary, and slavery in the same breath seems incongruous. Nonetheless, within the account of Codrington College, Barbados, the Anglican Communion's first theological college, we find these three inextricably linked. Using a historical-analytical approach, this paper reveals the troubling missionizing principles which advanced oppressive colonial structures, while failing to fully develop the personhood, agency, and full emancipation of the oppressed. We reassess the ways that particular top-down framings of Christianity and missions were used to enslave/oppress Afro-Barbadians, even under the guise of emancipation. Advocating instead for a framework centering emancipation from below, we outline the ways in which this historical account provides insight for contemporary missional hermeneutics/praxis that seeks to uproot racial and economic inequalities, thus pursuing liberation for all. Resumen: Parece incongruente nombrar al mismo tiempo la Sociedad para la propagación del evangelio, el seminario y la esclavitud; sin embargo, estos tres están estrechamente vinculados en la historia de Codrington College, Barbados, el primer colegio teológico de la Comunión anglicana. Este trabajo utiliza un enfoque histórico-analítico para poner de manifiesto los preocupantes principios misioneros que extendieron estructuras coloniales opresivas, y fallaron en desarrollar plenamente la personalidad, la organización y la plena emancipación de los oprimidos. Reevaluamos las maneras en que ciertos marcos verticalistas del cristianismo y las misiones, aún bajo el pretexto de emancipación, se utilizaron para esclavizar / oprimir a los afrobarbadenses. Se promueve, en lugar de ello, un modelo centrado en la emancipación desde abajo; se delinea cómo este relato histórico provee una mirada para la hermenéutica / praxis misional contemporánea que busca erradicar las desigualdades raciales y económicas para la liberación de todos. 摘要: 一口气同时提到福音传播的团体、神学院和奴隶制似乎很不协调。然而，在圣公会第一所神学院巴巴多斯的科德林顿学院，我们发现这三者有着千丝万缕的联系。本文运用历史分析方法，揭示了令人烦扰的宣教原则，这些原则推进了压迫性的殖民结构，而未能充分培养被压迫者的人格和媒介以致他们得到充分的解放。我们重新评估了基督教和宣教机构自上而下的框架，即使打着解放的幌子，是被用来奴役/压迫非洲巴巴迪亚人的方式。相反，我们主张建立一个以从下解放为中心的框架，概述了这一历史叙述如何为当代宣教诠释/实践提供见解，这些诠释/实践寻求根除种族和经济的不平等，追求人人解放。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with partially intelligible speech and language difficulties are often provided with speech-generating devices (SGDs) to support their spoken communication. However, little is known about how SGDs can be used best to facilitate language development. This study evaluated the effects of a conversation-based intervention using SGDs, on the rate of expressive clause production in children with speech that is partially intelligible (SPI). A multiple probe across participants design was used to evaluate intervention with four children aged 8 to 10 years. Following baseline monitoring, the children received language-focused intervention involving adult recasting, SGD modeling, and prompting to repair. Participants showed increases in their rate, complexity and length of clause use. Gains were sustained and generalized. Intervention using conversation, recasting, and SGD modeling can increase clause production and grammaticality of children with SPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous explanations on China's counterterrorism strategy have highlighted the results of China's strategy of repression in Xinjiang, the historical antecedents and institutional foundations of its counterterrorism policies, as well as international and domestic sources of China's counterterrorism strategy. While acknowledging the importance of all these dimensions, this article draws attention to a largely neglected feature of China's counterterrorism strategy: the Chinese party-state's social engineering of Xinjiang. Building on Maoist-era practices such as the mass line and the 'friend vs. enemy' binary, the Communist party under Xi Jinping has integrated surveillance technologies as part of its strategy of preventive counterterrorism and 'de-extremization'. This article argues that the Chinese party-state's embrace of modern technologies, a weak liberal tradition in China, Xi Jinping's rise to power in late 2012, and the appointment of Chen Quanguo as Xinjiang's party-secretary in 2016, provides the socio-political background for the intensification of securitization, surveillance and introduction of 're-education and training centres' in Xinjiang. Surveillance technologies now complement collective, face-to-face methods of surveillance and Maoist-era techniques of mass mobilization, enabling the Chinese party-state to govern and manage the biopolitical spaces of Uyghurs with greater intensity, according to the state's precise norms. The legalization and institutionalization of 'de-extremization' has also led to the shift from mass 'de-extremization' propaganda to 'drip-irrigation' ideological and political re-education of individuals deemed at risk of extremism. The result is an increased capacity by the Chinese party-state to surveil and control the region, and to more effectively negate the possibility of individual resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to contribute to ongoing debates about the causes and consequences of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It argues via a neoclassical realist analysis that BRI can be seen as the product of the convergence of Aussenpolitik (foreign policy) and Innenpolitik (domestic politics) factors in China's grand strategy, specifically enduring desires to balance against American primacy and to secure China's frontier regions such as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The article concludes that the intersection of these objectives with the geopolitical logic of BRI (i.e. combating American primacy in the maritime domain of the Indo-Pacific through China-led Eurasian integration) provides an explanation for the timing and intensity of Beijing's imposition of a pervasive 'security state' in Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents few examples of Irish text production from the early twelfth century, one an extended marginal gloss of some theological subtlety and the other a complex heroic image in a narrative eulogy. It compares these examples with parallel manifestations in three sources from the heart of mainstream European creativity in the period: an encyclopedic compilation of history and theology, a sequence of newly composed hymns for the Divine Office, and the of stained windows.

Background: Salivary measurement of hormones and vitamins is gaining prominence as a minimally invasive procedure with the negligible potential for harm. We aimed to assess the utility of saliva for assessing vitamin A status in extremely preterm infants. Methods: Paired saliva and blood samples were collected at 4 weeks of age from infants born <28 weeks of gestation using a proprietary polymer swab. Plasma retinol was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography, and salivary retinol was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Thirty infants were recruited with a median (IQR) gestation and birth weight of 26.2 weeks (24.8–27.2) and 865 g (718–1,002), respectively. An adequate volume of saliva (>50 µL) was obtained in 68%. There was no significant correlation (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.16, p = 0.3) between individual plasma and salivary retinol levels. Bland-Altman analysis showed wide limits of agreement (–113 to +119%) between individual plasma and salivary retinol levels. Conclusion: Individual vitamin A status cannot be determined reliably from saliva in extremely preterm infants using current collection materials and analysis techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key pointsScholarly publishing is unusual because of the substantial involvement of non‐profit organizations and the way in which they work with commercial publishers.Publishing services agreements (PSAs) may provide predictable revenues, access to transformative agreements, and wider distribution.The largest disadvantage of PSAs is publisher lock‐in, where revenues derived from publisher packages are not portable.Deciding to enter a publisher services agreement should not be taken lightly and must be carefully aligned with the society's value and strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) programmes in training cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) have shown promising outcomes over the past decade. To date, the SP/SR framework research has generally focused on entire programmes and has rarely assessed the utility of specific exercises as teaching tools. This study aimed to determine the utility of an exposure intervention known as a shame attack in helping to facilitate CBT training in a clinical psychology programe when delivered in a SP/SR framework. It also sought to examine the potential for the exercise to be used as a form of competency-based assessment. Forty-one student trainees engaged in self-directed shame attack exercises and provided written reflections on their experiences. The reflections were then studied via thematic analysis. The results indicate that the exercise provides an avenue for competency-based assessment of trainee therapists' conceptual knowledge, formulation skills and intervention planning. It also promoted learning outcomes relating to a 'deeper' and more nuanced appreciation of CBT theory and practice. The shame attack exercise provided for personal development and the opportunity to experience typical client challenges with engaging in exposure interventions, which have the potential for enhancing empathy and cognitive behavioural skills. Key learning aims: (1) To understand the usefulness of a shame attack exercise for training within a SP/SR framework. (2) To examine the potential for using SP/SR as a form of competency-based training. (3) To demonstrate the benefits of experiential learning through SP/SR in training CBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The last three decades have seen a growth in the number of children requiring long-term ventilation. Children with long-term ventilation present with underlying respiratory and neurological conditions that place them at risk of feeding and swallowing difficulties. To date, a scoping review or systematic review investigating the feeding and swallowing outcomes of children with long-term ventilation needs has not been conducted. Aims: This paper describes a protocol for a scoping review of the feeding and swallowing outcomes of children receiving long-term ventilation. Methods: This scoping review protocol will utilize the Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology guideline. Our review will focus on the feeding and swallowing outcomes of children aged 0 to 18 years with long-term ventilation needs. A full search strategy initially created by the authors and a research librarian was conducted on the PubMed database. Following this, pilot testing took place to determine discrepancies in eligibility criteria. A full search strategy will be conducted across several databases. A data extraction form has been developed by the authors and will be used during the scoping review process. Discussion: This protocol has been created to provide a rigorous and comprehensive basis for undertaking a scoping review. All necessary steps have been completed in order to commence the scoping review. Registration: This scoping review protocol was registered on Open Science Framework on the 26th November 2021 (Registration DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/NQBPD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information regarding clinical and therapeutic implications of cancer stem cells. It mentions that when hematopoietic stem cells do divide, they can give rise to either another stem cell or to progenitor cells that eventually differentiate into mature cells such as red cells, platelets, granulocytes, and lymphocytes.

This study evaluated the effects of a conversation-based intervention on the use of verbs, personal pronouns, bound morphemes and spontaneous clauses in adolescents with cerebral palsy who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Four teenage girls aged from 14 to 18 years participated in the study. After a baseline period, a conversation-based intervention was provided for each participant in the context of a personal collage-building activity. The conversations were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT™). While the results are mixed, all four participants increased their use of at least one linguistic target, three increased their use of verbs and grammatically correct spontaneous clauses, two increased their use of personal pronouns, and one produced more bound morphemes during intervention than in baseline. These findings, and future research needs, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is provided which discusses impact that Canada's public health experience with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic of 2003 had on the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including in regard to providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to long-term care (LTC) facilities. Canada's government policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including stay-at-home orders (lockdowns), are discussed.

This paper explores whether a structured history-taking tool yields useful descriptions of children's looking skills. Parents of 32 children referred to a specialist communication clinic reported their child's looking skills using the Functional Vision for Communication Questionnaire (FVC-Q), providing descriptions of single object fixation, fixation shifts between objects and fixation shifts from object to person. Descriptions were compared with clinical assessment. 24/32 children were reported to have some limitation in fixation. Limitation was subsequently seen in 30/32 children. Parental report and assessment agreed fully in 23/32 (72%). The largest area of discrepancy was object-person fixation shifts, with five children not observed to show this behavior despite its being reported. Findings indicate a structured questionnaire yields description of fixations, which correspond well with clinical assessment. Descriptions supported discussion between parents and clinicians. It is proposed that the FVC-Q is a valuable tool in supporting clinicians in eliciting information about fixation skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: Evolution; habitat; wildlife management; fire ecology EN Evolution habitat wildlife management fire ecology 184 186 3 07/11/20 20200501 NES 200501 Recent catastrophic fires in Australia, the Amazon and the USA, along with insights from climate science, indicate the frequency of large-scale wildfires has increased, and will continue to increase, globally. If we cannot, perhaps some of these species are not really obligate early successional specialists but rather just casualties of earlier habitat loss that destroyed their formerly more widespread, but different, preferred habitat (e.g. Takahe, I Porphyrio hochstetteri i ). Evolution, habitat, wildlife management, fire ecology. [Extracted from the article]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on the topic of Australian national security as a field of study.

The foreign policy crises that the USA has confronted under the administration of President Barack Obama have generated profound uncertainty about whether the USA can maintain what has been its consistent grand strategy since the end of the Cold War: primacy. The authors argue, drawing on a neoclassical realist framework, that this uncertainty has been driven not so much by fundamental changes in the international system itself, but rather by how such changes have beeninterpretedby the Obama administration and its critics. US grand strategy is now caught between approaches best described as the ‘decline management’ of the Obama administration and the ‘decline denial’ of president Donald Trump, which reflects the fracturing of the domestic ‘political support system’ that has underpinned primacy since the end of the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Scholars of modernism have recently redefined the field in ways that privilege cultural rather than aesthetic considerations, a move that has encouraged attention to texts by Native American authors and has brought imperialism into a more central role in the history of modernist writing. This move is not without its problems, however, and this essay explores the implications of the shifting conception of modernism. Focusing on N. Scott Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969), this essay suggests the work both supports and troubles some of the central contentions of New Modernism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the wellsprings of Donald Trump's nascent foreign policy program. It argues that the locus of the Republican president's foreign policy agenda is found within the Jacksonian tradition of American foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead. Here, notions of “national honor” and “reputation” are the driving factors that underpin Trump's emerging narrative. The implications of this for U.S. strategic and defense policy may be an enhanced reliance on nuclear deterrence and the downgrading of the U.S. military's forward posture in Asia and the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Barack Obama’s foreign policy has confounded critics from both the left and right in American politics. This analysis argues that this is because Obama’s foreign policy exhibits affinities with the least prominent of the four traditions of American foreign policy identified by Walter Russell Mead: the Jeffersonian tradition. In contrast to the more prominent Wilsonian and Hamiltonian traditions, the Jeffersonian tradition exhibits more introverted tendencies that seek to perfect and protect rather than export the virtues of the Republic. The Jeffersonian understanding of foreign policy is, in Walter Lippman’s phrase, primarily the “shield of the republic.” This analysis tracks the influence and implications of this perspective through examination of the Obama Administration’s approach to two prominent foreign policy challenges after 2008: intervention in Libya and the ongoing Syrian crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a conversation-based intervention on the expressive vocabulary and grammatical skills of children with severe motor speech disorders and expressive language delay who use augmentative and alternative communication. Method: Eight children aged from 8 to 13 years participated in the study. After a baseline period, a conversation-based intervention was provided for each participant, in which they were supported to learn and use linguistic structures essential for the formation of clauses and the grammaticalization of their utterances, such as pronouns, verbs, and bound morphemes, in the context of personally meaningful and scaffolded conversations with trained clinicians. The conversations were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT; Miller & Chapman, 1991). Results: Results indicate that participants showed improvements in their use of spontaneous clauses, and a greater use of pronouns, verbs, and bound morphemes. These improvements were sustained and generalized to conversations with familiar partners. Conclusion: The results demonstrate the positive effects of the conversation-based intervention for improving the expressive vocabulary and grammatical skills of children with severe motor speech disorders and expressive language delay who use augmentative and alternative communication. Clinical and theoretical implications of conversation-based interventions are discussed and future research needs are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For children with typical development, language is learned through everyday discursive interaction. Adults mediate child participation in such interactions through the deployment of a range of co-constructive strategies, including repeating, questioning, prompting, expanding, and reformulating the child’s utterances. Adult reformulations of child utterances, also known as recasts, have also been shown to relate to the acquisition of linguistic structures in children with language and learning disabilities and children and adults learning a foreign language. In this paper we discuss the theoretical basis and empirical evidence for the use of different types of recasts as a major language learning catalyst, and what may account for their facilitative effects. We consider the occurrence of different types of recasts in AAC-mediated interactions and their potential for language facilitation, within the typical operational and linguistic constraints of such interactions. We also consider the benefit of explicit and corrective forms of recasts for language facilitation in conversations with children who rely on AAC. We conclude by outlining future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The 2016 presidential election demonstrated the rise of a “restraint constituency” in American politics that openly questions Washington's bipartisan post-Cold War pursuit of a grand strategy of primacy or liberal hegemony. This constituency has been animated by the return of the Jacksonian tradition of American foreign policy, most notably in the candidacy of Donald Trump, which directly questions the benefits of alliance relationships as well as U.S. underwriting of an open global economic system. It also stresses the need for the United States to act unilaterally in defense of its core foreign policy interests. The resurgence of the Jacksonian tradition will make it difficult for the next President to reestablish a foreign policy consensus and combat perceptions of American decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that China's approach to Afghanistan since the end of the Cold War has been shaped by the desire both for security in Xinjiang and for geopolitical advantage in Central Asia. While Beijing's Xinjiang calculus was ascendant from 1991 to 2001, since 2001 a broader geopolitical calculus has emerged. This latter factor has been encapsulated in President Xi Jinping's 'One Belt, One Road' strategy, which, at its core, is an outgrowth of Beijing's decades-long agenda to integrate Xinjiang and utilise this region's unique geopolitical position to facilitate a Chinacentric Eurasian geo-economic system. While China's Xinjiang calculus determines that it shares an interest with the USA in combating radical Islamism in Afghanistan (and Central Asia more broadly), the geopolitical calculus of the 'One Belt, One Road' strategy points to a fundamental incompatibility between US and Chinese interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-report measures of empathy and emotional intelligence have frequently revealed significant gender differences, with females typically scoring higher than males on these dimensions. In this study, we investigated whether, in line with a social identity approach, manipulating the gender normativity of empathy and emotional intelligence would ameliorate typically observed differences. Male and female participants (N = 330) were randomly assigned to read one of three narratives comprising fictitious neurological research evidence which claimed that males (Condition 1) or females (Condition 2) or neither males nor females (Condition 3) scored higher on measures of empathy and emotional intelligence. Results indicated that, in Conditions 2 and 3, females scored significantly higher than males on self-reported empathy. However, when information suggested that males were superior to females (Condition 1), no significant gender differences in self-reported empathy were observed. A similar pattern was found for emotional intelligence, however the predicted interaction effect failed to reach significance. The role of social context in determining gender differences in emotional functioning is discussed with particular reference to gender differences in motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented which suggests that a different theory of social stratification is potentially more helpful for understanding the complexities of Edith Wharton's novel "The House of Mirth" than the Marxian methods previously employed. It mentions that while critics of Wharton's novel have historically overlooked the theories of Max Weber, his distinction between class and status is useful for understanding the uneasy relationship between Wall Street, and Fifth Avenue, New York.

China's Eurasian frontiers have emerged as a major factor in Beijing's foreign policy through President Xi Jinping's “One Belt, One Road” strategy. The article argues that this strategy has been given impetus by the shifting geopolitical landscape in Central Asia resulting from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia's relative decline, and Beijing's quest for stability in its restive province of Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To review how articles are retrieved from bibliographic databases, what article identification and translation problems have affected research, and how these problems can contribute to research waste and affect clinical practice. Methods This literature review sought and appraised articles regarding identification- and translation-bias in the medical and dental literature, which limit the ability of users to find research articles and to use these in practice. Results Articles can be retrieved from bibliographic databases by performing a word or index-term (for example, MeSH for MEDLINE) search. Identification of articles is challenging when it is not clear which words are most relevant, and which terms have been allocated to indexing fields. Poor reporting quality of abstracts and articles has been reported across the medical literature at large. Specifically in dentistry, research regarding time-to-event survival analyses found the allocation of MeSH terms to be inconsistent and inaccurate, important words were omitted from abstracts by authors, and the quality of reporting in the body of articles was generally poor. These shortcomings mean that articles will be difficult to identify, and difficult to understand if found. Use of specialized electronic search strategies can decrease identification bias, and use of tailored reporting guidelines can decrease translation bias. Research that cannot be found, or cannot be used results in research waste, and undermines clinical practice. Significance Identification- and translation-bias have been shown to affect time-to-event dental articles, are likely affect other fields of research, and are largely unrecognized by authors and evidence seekers alike. By understanding that the problems exist, solutions can be sought to improve identification and translation of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Uyghur Muslims community in China's autonomous territory of Xinjiang. It discusses the terrorists attacks in Xinjiang as inspired by the Islamist organizations Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It looks at the possibility of Palestinization of the Uyghur conflict as reflected through the book "My West China: Your East Turkestan" by Chinese dissident Wang Lixiong due to the policy of repression, restriction, and investment by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949.

Previous studies have often revealed differences between the acknowledgment of same-sex attraction and rates of bisexual or homosexual identification. This study contends that social influences (including the perception that same-sex sexual attraction is not gender normative) as well as prejudice toward bisexual persons (biphobia), may help explain this discrepancy. In this study, the authors tested whether, in line with a social identity approach, manipulating social factors regarding the gender normativity of bisexuality influenced participants’ self-perceptions of their sexualities and expression of biphobia. Male and female participants (N = 416) were randomly assigned to read one of two narratives comprising fictitious neurological research evidence, which claimed that their own gender was more naturally bisexual than the other gender (Condition 1), whereas a control group (Condition 2) did not receive any information regarding the gender normativity of bisexuality. Results indicated that men endorsed significantly more same-sex attraction when bisexuality was presented as being more normative for their gender. Gender-normative information produced no significant difference in terms of men's sexual behavior and identity, or women's sexual attraction, behavior, and identity. Results also indicated no significant differences between conditions in biphobia toward bisexual persons of either gender. Irrespective of condition, male and female participants endorsed significantly more biphobia toward bisexual men than bisexual women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conversation among the editors of ARIEL and Timothy Clark addresses his 2012 essay, "Derangements of Scale," published in Telemorphosis: Theory in the Era of Climate Change. In his essay, Clark suggests that scale effects play an important role in contemporary global politics and climate change, and he proposes a new, larger scale of literary study commensurate with an awareness of these issues. The editors discuss the implications of Clark's essay for postcolonial studies, the merits of his proposed method of literary interpretation, and the ramifications of his discussion of human agency. Clark takes up all of these issues in his response to the editors' conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel 4′-substituted β- d -2′-deoxy-2′-α-fluoro (2′d2′F) nucleoside inhibitors of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are reported. The introduction of 4′-substitution onto 2′d2′F nucleoside analogs resulted in compounds demonstrating potent cell based RSV inhibition, improved inhibition of the RSV polymerase by the nucleoside triphosphate metabolites, and enhanced selectivity over incorporation by mitochondrial RNA and DNA polymerases. Selectivity over the mitochondrial polymerases was found to be extremely sensitive to the specific 4′-substitution and not readily predictable. Combining the most potent and selective 4′-groups from N -nucleoside analogs onto a 2′d2′F C -nucleoside analog resulted in the identification of β- d -2′-deoxy-2′-α-fluoro-4′-α-cyano-5-aza-7,9-dideaza adenosine as a promising nucleoside lead for RSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To assess the impact of cataract surgery on cognition, mood, and visual hallucinations in a cohort of patients aged 75 years and older. Setting Secondary care ophthalmology unit in Northeast England. Design Prospective observational cohort study. Methods Participants aged 75 years or older with bilateral cataract and scheduled for cataract surgery were recruited consecutively. Participants were assessed preoperatively and followed for 1 year postoperatively. Cognition was assessed using the revised Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-R), mood was measured with the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, visual hallucinations were elicited using the North East Visual Hallucinations Inventory, and visual acuity was assessed using a logMAR chart. Results One hundred twelve participants were recruited at baseline; 91 (81%) completed 1 year of follow-up. Significant improvements in ACE-R scores were seen between baseline and 1 year postoperatively (95% confidence interval for improvement, 0.5-2.8; P = .005). Improved cognition did not correlate with improved visual acuity ( r = −0.13, P = .22). No significant changes in mood were seen during the course of the study ( P = .314, repeated-measures 1-way analysis of variance). Complete resolution of complex visual hallucinations occurred in 2 patients after surgery. Conclusions Small improvements in cognition and reports of resolved complex visual hallucinations indicate that the benefits of cataract surgery might extend beyond visual improvement. Financial Disclosure No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Identify the words and phrases that authors used to describe time-to-event outcomes of dental treatments in patients. Materials and methods: A systematic handsearch of 50 dental journals with the highest Citation Index for 2008 identified articles reporting dental treatment with time-to-event statistics (included "case" articles, n = 95), without time-to-event statistics (active "control" articles, n = 91), and all other articles (passive "control" articles n = 6796). The included and active controls were read, identifying 43 English words across the title, aim and abstract, indicating that outcomes were studied over time. Once identified, these words were sought within the 6796 passive controls. Words were divided into six groups. Differences in use of words were analyzed with Pearson's chisquare across these six groups, and the three locations (title, aim, and abstract). Results: In the abstracts, included articles used group 1 (statistical technique) and group 2 (statistical terms) more frequently than the active and passive controls (group 1: 35%, 2%, 0.37%, P < 0.001 and group 2: 31%, 1%, 0.06%, P < 0.001). The included and active controls used group 3 (quasi-statistical) equally, but significantly more often than the passive controls (82%, 78%, 3.21%, P < 0.001). In the aims, use of target words was similar for included and active controls, but less frequent for groups 1-4 in the passive controls (P < 0.001). In the title, group 2 (statistical techniques) and groups 3-5 (outcomes) were similar for included and active controls, but groups 2 and 3 were less frequent in the passive controls (P < 0.001). Significantly more included articles used group 6 words (stating the study duration) (54%, 30%, P = 0.001). Conclusion: All included articles used time-to-event analyses, but two-thirds did not include words to highlight this in the abstract. There is great variation in the words authors used to describe dental time-to-event outcomes. Electronic identification of such articles would be inconsistent, with low sensitivity and specificity. Authors should improve the reporting quality. Journals should allow sufficient space in abstracts to summarize research, and not impose unrealistic word limits. Readers should be mindful of these problems when searching for relevant articles. Additional research is required in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In light of the growing number of people with dementia and age-related cataract, as well as changing anesthetic practices for cataract surgery, this study aimed to explore the experiences of cataract surgeons in managing patients with dementia and making anesthetic decisions. Methods: This was a qualitative study using semistructured interviews with senior cataract surgeons from two centers in England. Fourteen surgeons were interviewed, and a thematic approach informed by grounded theory was used for the analysis. Results: Choice of anesthesia for people with dementia was a central theme arising from the data. Surgeons varied in their thresholds for using general anesthesia. Decisions about suitability for local anesthesia were limited by time constraints and generally made rapidly and based on instinct; dementia was not always apparent at the point of preassessment. Surgeons used a variety of topical, sub-Tenon's, and sharp needle blocks for people with dementia. Surgeons discussed techniques to help patients tolerate local anesthesia, such as clear communication, a primary nurse, hand-holding, and support from an anesthetist. However, within our sample, some surgeons had had negative experiences of operating on people with dementia, where an incorrect judgment had been made that they could tolerate local anesthetic cataract surgery. Conclusion: This study highlights the differing practices of cataract surgeons when making anesthetic choices for people with dementia and the challenges they face. In order to avoid the situation of a patient with dementia becoming distressed during awake surgery, increased time at preassessment and anesthetic support may be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]