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In this study, qualitative, in-depth interviews were conducted with 100 formerly incarcerated mothers to explore the relationship between attachment to children and desistance from criminal behavior. Exploratory data analysis revealed that mothers do believe that children play important roles in their desistance, consistent with the tenets of life course theory. However, children were also described as sources of great stress, which may in turn promote criminal behavior. Women also related desistance to reliance on self and a higher power, and to a desire to avoid future involvement with the criminal justice system. The article concludes with a call for more research on women's desistance, and increased consideration of parent–child relationships in corrections policy decision making.

School-based and early intervention occupational therapy evaluation is influenced by federal policy and prevailing ideas regarding best practice. Current best practice considers a child's performance in appropriate contexts and natural environments, as well as the impact of the environment on occupational functioning and participation across settings. As a recent report suggested 3.4% to 15.6% of children in a community sample of 4-year-olds may demonstrate sensory processing difficulties, occupational therapists should be familiar with multiple methods of assessment to address these concerns. One such assessment tool, the Sensory Processing Measure–Preschool (SPM-P) for children 2- to 5-years old, provides 8 scaled scores: Vision, Hearing, Touch, Body Awareness, Balance and Motion, Total Sensory System Score, Planning and Ideas, and Social Participation. Through discussion on the development, usage, and implementation of both Home and School forms, this article illustrates how the SPM-P provides a mechanism for preschool educational teams to meet best practice initiatives.

Two approaches to systematic word review were integrated into an 18-week program of extended vocabulary instruction with kindergarten students from three high-need urban schools. Words in the embedded and semantically related review conditions received systematic and distributed review. In the embedded review condition, brief word definitions were integrated into the narratives of multiple storybooks. In the semantically related review condition, in-depth word review with explicit emphasis on semantic features and associations was provided during extension activities. Systematic review resulted in an almost twofold increase in target word learning. Embedded review was effective and time efficient, whereas semantically related review was time intensive but resulted in higher levels of word learning. There was a significant gain in Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test—III standard scores following the intervention.

Background:  Pulmonary aspiration is a leading cause of nosocomial infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) and step-down unit (SDU). A key goal is to identify patients who exhibit increased aspiration risk before beginning oral alimentation. This study investigated the success of recommending specific oral diets to ICU and SDU patients based on passing a 3-oz water swallow challenge. Methods:  A referral-based sample of 401 ICU and 92 SDU patients were prospectively analyzed. Amount of liquid and food ingested at the next day's meal 12 hours to 24 hours after passing a 3-oz challenge and specific diet recommendations were accessed electronically from oral intake information entered on each participant's daily care sheets. Drinking and eating success, clinically evident aspiration events, and accuracy of diet order recommendations were recorded. Care providers were blinded to the purpose of the study. Results:  All 401 ICU and 92 SDU patients were successfully drinking thin liquids and eating 12 hours to 24 hours after passing a 3-oz challenge. Mean volume of liquid ingested at the next day's meal was 360 mL ± 181.2 mL for ICU and 356.4 mL ± 173.5 mL for SDU patients. Percent of meal eaten ranged from 10% to 100%. Patient care sheets indicated specific diet recommendations were followed with 100% accuracy. Conclusions:  Successfully recommending specific oral diets for ICU and SDU patients based on passing a 3-oz water swallow challenge was supported. Importantly, when a simple bedside 3-oz challenge administered by a trained provider is passed, specific diet recommendations can be made safely and confidently without the need for further objective dysphagia testing.

Objective. To determine what effect, if any, the presence or absence of a nasogastric (NG) tube in the same person had on the incidence of anterograde aspiration. Design. Case series with planned data collection. Setting. Large, urban, tertiary care teaching hospital. Subjects and Methods. Referred sample of 62 consecutively enrolled adult inpatients for fiber-optic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). Group 1 (n = 21) had either small-bore (n = 13) or large-bore (n = 8) NG tubes already in place and had a FEES first with the NG tube in place and a second FEES after NG tube removal. Group 2 (n = 41) did not have an NG tube and had a FEES first without an NG tube and a second FEES after placement of a small-bore NG tube. Time between FEES was approximately 5 minutes. Patients were tested with thin liquid and puree food consistencies. Occurrence of aspiration for each consistency dependent on the presence or absence of an NG tube was recorded. Results. There were no significant differences (P > .05) in aspiration status for both liquid and puree consistencies in the same person dependent on presence or absence of either a small-bore or large-bore NG tube. Conclusions. Since objective swallowing evaluation (eg, FEES) can be performed with an NG tube in place, it is not necessary to remove an NG tube to evaluate for aspiration. Similarly, there is no contraindication to leaving an NG tube in place to supplement oral alimentation until nutritional requirements are achieved.

After the success of Hanbury Brown, Davis, and their collaborators in measuring all stellar diameters resolvable by the 166-m interferometer at Narrabri nearly four decades ago, research into optical intensity interferometry was largely discontinued. Signal-to-noise ratios and timing resolutions limited the technique to relatively bright stars over a narrow bandwidth. Modern photon-correlation electronics, however, may help to revive the technique, allowing for increased temporal resolution and longer baselines. In this paper, the PicoHarp 300 Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting System is characterized in order to demonstrate its ability to perform interferometric measurements. Time correlations of coherent and incoherent source apertures are measured and their autocorrelations compared with theory. The speed of light is also directly measured using the shift in temporal correlation between offset detectors. Finally, the possibility of two independent systems, linked between two large-aperture telescopes, is discussed with the goal of determining whether longer baselines can be achieved.

Electron-multiplying CCD cameras are now being widely used in speckle imaging, and have been shown to deliver excellent photometric precision under good observing conditions. Successful image reconstructions have been made on binary stars fainter than 14th magnitude. However, improving the speckle signal-to-noise ratio and the fidelity of image reconstructions for faint sources would be extremely helpful in several areas of research where diffraction-limited images are required, including our own ongoing speckle observations of Kepler exoplanet candidate stars using the WIYN Telescope at Kitt Peak. In this paper, we investigate (1) robust cosmic ray rejection and (2) removal of low signal-to-noise frames as two ways to maximize data quality for faint source observations. Cosmic ray rejection is not normally a major concern in speckle imaging due to the brightness of the targets traditionally observed and the short frame times. Nonetheless, when imaging faint targets, more frames are needed to achieve a given signal-to-noise ratio, increasing the chance of cosmic ray events on the detector, and even a single cosmic ray hit in the frame sequence can significantly affect the source detection ability and photometry obtained in the observation. Similarly, faint sources often exhibit some frames with a well-defined image core while in other frames it is difficult to tell if the source is even present, primarily due to seeing variation during the observation. A new speckle reduction algorithm has been created that removes cosmic rays without throwing out frames and rejects frames with bad seeing, and its performance is investigated to determine to what extent this can improve source detection and photometric reliability in the final reconstructed image. Funding for this work was provided by the Kepler Science Center and by NSF Grant AST-0908125.

The Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) is a dual-channel speckle imaging system that takes speckle patterns in two colors simultaneously using two electron-multiplying CCD cameras. The system has been shown to deliver excellent photometry of binary stars under good observing conditions, which raises the question of whether results of similar quality can be obtained on extended objects such as minor planets, and if so, to what limiting magnitude. In this study, we present speckle image reconstructions of images of 2 Pallas, 216 Kleopatra, and 283 Emma made from data taken at the WIYN 3.5-m Telescope at Kitt Peak. We compare two different phase reconstruction algorithms: (1) an iterative technique, and (2) a relaxation technique. Since Pallas is a flattened disk, Kleopatra has a dumbbell shape, and Emma is a binary asteroid with known orbital parameters, these three targets represent three distinct image morphologies that allow for a robust comparison of the two phase reconstruction programs. Prospects for future work in this area with DSSI are discussed. This work is funded by NSF grant AST-0908125.

Dr. Jackson worked on her Curriculum Innovation Program fellowship, "Serving the community through service learning," completed write-up for Ethnic Studies Curriculum-Related Activity Grant for "Ethnic Studies Program Development at Southern Connecticut State University," worked on several articles and two book proposals encompassing research of race issues and their representation in contemporary cartoons, as well as attended conferences, both as a presenter and a chair, participated in workshops, and reviewed textbook chapters and an article.

Studied contemporary poetry in Spanish by Spanish-speaking authors living in Connecticut. Works of four poets were chosen for a bilingual anthology. Seventy five percent of poems selected for this publication were translated and their analytical study completed. In addition, audio interviews were completed, and multimedia presentation, including photos, biographies, and bilingual readings was compiled and given. Publishing companies were identified for submission of the anthology's proposal.

Dr. Petto completed chapters 2 and 3 and a book proposal for her second manuscript, The lion and the lily: map and atlas production in early modern England and France. Chapter 2 describes local mapping and hydrographic charting initiatives in the 17th and 18th century; chapter 3 focuses on scientific cartography and the efforts of both crowns to map colonial interests in the Americas and Asia. She obtained book contract with Lexington Books, with release date of July 2013.