Effects of real -time captioning and sign language interpreting on the learning of college students who are deaf or hard of hearing

College personnel are required to provide accommodations for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HoH), but few empirical studies have been conducted on D/HoH students as they learn under the various accommodation conditions (sign language interpreting, SLI, real-time captioning, RTC, and both). Guided by the experiences of students who are D/HoH at Miami-Dade College (MDC) who requested RTC in addition to SLI as accommodations, the researcher adopted Merten’s transformative-emancipatory theoretical framework that values perceptions and voice of students who are D/HoH. A mixed methods design addressed two research questions: Did student learning differ for each accommodation? What did students experience while learning through accommodations? Participants included 30 students who were D/HoH (60% women). They represented MDC’s majority minority population: 10% White (non-Hispanic), 20% Black (non-Hispanic, including Haitian/Caribbean), 67% Hispanic, and 3% other. Hearing loss, ranged from severe-profound (70%) to mild-moderate (30%). All were able to communicate with American Sign Language: Learning was measured while students who were D/HoH viewed three lectures under three accommodation conditions (SLI, RTC, SLI+RTC). The learning measure was defined as the difference in pre- and post-test scores on tests of the content presented in the lectures. Using repeated measure ANOVA and ANCOVA, confounding variables of fluency in American Sign Language and literacy skills were treated as covariates. Perceptions were obtained through interviews and verbal protocol analysis that were signed, videotaped, transcribed, coded, and examined for common themes and metacognitive strategies. No statistically significant differences were found among the three accommodations on the learning measure. Students who were D/HoH expressed thoughts about five different aspects of their learning while they viewed lectures: (a) comprehending the information, (b) feeling a part of the classroom environment, (c) past experiences with an accommodation, (d) individual preferences for an accommodation, (e) suggestions for improving an accommodation. They exhibited three metacognitive strategies: (a) constructing knowledge, (b) monitoring comprehension, and (c) evaluating information. No patterns were found in the types of metacognitive strategies used for any particular accommodation. The researcher offers recommendations for flexible applications of the standard accommodations used with students who are D/HoH.

Prisons, Profits, and Hard Labor: A Brief History of Convict Labor In Florida

The purpose of this research is to develop a broader understanding of the system in Florida. Specifically, I am looking at the privatization of convict labor programs by the Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises Corporation (PRIDE) in the 1980s and 1990s in state correctional institutions. This research will contribute to historiography of prisons in Florida in the context of the developing research about the Prison-Industrial Complex. Many scholars studying the Prison-Industrial Complex have drawn comparisons to today’s prison industries and the convict lease system of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing the prison system go full circle drawing attention to the exploitative and institutionally racist nature of the modern prison system. This researched showed that the trend other scholars have studied also exist in Florida and Florida was actually a pioneer in the Prison-Industrial Complex. It was the first state to privatize its convict labor programs, becoming a model for other states. This research also shows that political and economic motivations were the primary forces governing prison policies, rather than education, rehabilitation, and safety. To complete this project, I analyzed articles from South Florida newspapers, such as the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald, published during this period as well as literature published by the Department of Corrections. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and spends more money on prisons than education. Being such a large part of country, prisons warrant more critical study. This research will shed light on the nature of prisons, specifically here in Florida, in the hopes of seeking alternatives.

Prisons, Profits, and Hard Labor: A Brief History of Convict Labor In Florida

The purpose of this research is to develop a broader understanding of the system in Florida. Specifically, I am looking at the privatization of convict labor programs by the Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises Corporation (PRIDE) in the 1980s and 1990s in state correctional institutions. This research will contribute to historiography of prisons in Florida in the context of the developing research about the Prison-Industrial Complex. Many scholars studying the Prison-Industrial Complex have drawn comparisons to today’s prison industries and the convict lease system of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeing the prison system go full circle drawing attention to the exploitative and institutionally racist nature of the modern prison system. This researched showed that the trend other scholars have studied also exist in Florida and Florida was actually a pioneer in the Prison-Industrial Complex. It was the first state to privatize its convict labor programs, becoming a model for other states. This research also shows that political and economic motivations were the primary forces governing prison policies, rather than education, rehabilitation, and safety. To complete this project, I analyzed articles from South Florida newspapers, such as the Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald, published during this period as well as literature published by the Department of Corrections. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and spends more money on prisons than education. Being such a large part of country, prisons warrant more critical study. This research will shed light on the nature of prisons, specifically here in Florida, in the hopes of seeking alternatives.

Acute primary actinomycosis involving the hard palate of a diabetic patient

Actinomycosis is a relatively rare infection caused by saprophytic bacteria of the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract that can become pathogenic. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes mellitus induces events that promote structural changes in various tissues and are associated with problems in wound healing. This infection remains largely unknown to most clinicians because of its different presentations, and palatal involvement is extremely rare. This report describes the case of a 46-year-old woman who was diagnosed with actinomycosis involving the hard palate. The main clinical, histopathologic, and therapeutic characteristics and differential diagnosis of actinomycosis are reviewed. To date, 3 cases of actinomycosis involving the hard palate have been reported.

Acute primary actinomycosis involving the hard palate of a diabetic patient

Actinomycosis is a relatively rare infection caused by saprophytic bacteria of the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract that can become pathogenic. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes mellitus induces events that promote structural changes in various tissues and are associated with problems in wound healing. This infection remains largely unknown to most clinicians because of its different presentations, and palatal involvement is extremely rare. This report describes the case of a 46-year-old woman who was diagnosed with actinomycosis involving the hard palate. The main clinical, histopathologic, and therapeutic characteristics and differential diagnosis of actinomycosis are reviewed. To date, 3 cases of actinomycosis involving the hard palate have been reported.

Practical engineering of hard spin-glass instances

Recent technological developments in the field of experimental quantum annealing have made prototypical annealing optimizers with hundreds of qubits commercially available. The experimental demonstration of a quantum speedup for optimization problems has since then become a coveted, albeit elusive goal. Recent studies have shown that the so far inconclusive results, regarding a quantum enhancement, may have been partly due to the benchmark problems used being unsuitable. In particular, these problems had inherently too simple a structure, allowing for both traditional resources and quantum annealers to solve them with no special efforts. The need therefore has arisen for the generation of harder benchmarks which would hopefully possess the discriminative power to separate classical scaling of performance with size from quantum. We introduce here a practical technique for the engineering of extremely hard spin-glass Ising-type problem instances that does not require "cherry picking" from large ensembles of randomly generated instances. We accomplish this by treating the generation of hard optimization problems itself as an optimization problem, for which we offer a heuristic algorithm that solves it. We demonstrate the genuine thermal hardness of our generated instances by examining them thermodynamically and analyzing their energy landscapes, as well as by testing the performance of various state-of-the-art algorithms on them. We argue that a proper characterization of the generated instances offers a practical, efficient way to properly benchmark experimental quantum annealers, as well as any other optimization algorithm.

Reflecting on Whether Checklists Can Tick the Box for Cloud Security.

Postprint

'Digital by Default' and the 'hard to reach' : exploring solutions to digital exclusion in remote rural areas

The research reported here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub [award reference: EP/G066051/1].

Bella Abzug with Hard Hats at the Ellis Island Dedication

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Demonstration against hard hats

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Accommodation as Compromise: Turning Hard Cases into Easier Ones

Recent developments seem to present a stark choice: either we protect religious liberty or we allow discrimination. But do we have to choose? In this talk, Chad Flanders tries to present a way out of current conflicts between religious liberty and laws against discrimination.

Has your work worked you too hard? Physically demanding work and disability in a sample of the older Irish population

There is a heightened need for the practitioner to be alert to the determinants of functional limitations and disabilities owing to the ageing workforce. This study investigated the association between work type and disability in older age in both the paid and the previously unexplored, unpaid worker (household labour).Data on demographic factors, physical measurements, work history and functional status were collected on three hundred and fifty seven 57-80-year-olds. Past or present work was identified as either physically demanding or not. Functional limitations and activities of daily living (ADL) disabilities were assessed using validated scales. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between the dependent variables and work type (physically demanding work or not physically demanding work).Over half of the sample reported doing physically demanding work. 20 % had complete function (n = 67), 65 % (n = 223) functional limitations and 15 % (n = 53) ADL disability. Physically demanding work was associated with functional limitations [OR 2.52 (1.41, 4.51), p = 0.01] and ADL disability [OR 2.10 (1.06, 4.17), p = 0.03] after adjustment for a measure of obesity and gender. When gender stratified, looking only at females, physically demanding work was associated with ADL disability [OR 2.79 (1.10, 7.07), p = 0.03] adjusted for a measure of obesity and household labour. Physically demanding work was related to functional limitations and ADL disability in older age. This is valuable information to inform practitioners in the treatment of older people with functional limitations and disabilities and in guiding interventions in the prevention of work related disability.

A Hard Bargain? A cost-benefit analysis of an improved cookstove program in India

In developing countries, access to modern energy for cooking and heating still remains a challenge to raising households out of poverty. About 2.5 billion people depend on solid fuels such as biomass, wood, charcoal and animal dung. The use of solid fuels has negative outcomes for health, the environment and economic development (Universal Energy Access, UNDP). In low income countries, 1.3 million deaths occur due to indoor smoke or air pollution from burning solid fuels in small, confined and unventilated kitchens or homes. In addition, pollutants such as black carbon, methane and ozone, emitted when burning inefficient fuels, are responsible for a fraction of the climate change and air pollution. There are international efforts to promote the use of clean cookstoves in developing countries but limited evidence on the economic benefits of such distribution programs. This study undertook a systematic economic evaluation of a program that distributed subsidized improved cookstoves to rural households in India. The evaluation examined the effect of different levels of subsidies on the net benefits to the household and to society. This paper answers the question, “Ex post, what are the economic benefits to various stakeholders of a program that distributed subsidized improved cookstoves?” In addressing this question, the evaluation used empirical data from India applied to a cost-benefit model to examine how subsidies affect the costs and the benefits of the biomass improved cookstove and the electric improved cookstove to different stakeholders.