Addressing Data Absenteeism and Technology Chauvinism in the Use of Gamified Wearable Gloves Among Older Adults: Moderated Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Digital health technologies have the potential to improve health outcomes for older adults, especially for those recovering from stroke. However, there are challenges to developing these technologies, such as data absenteeism (where older adults' views are often underrepresented in research and development) and technology chauvinism (the belief that sophisticated technology alone is the panacea to addressing health problems), which hinder their effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to address these challenges by developing a wearable glove integrated with culturally relevant exergames to motivate older adults to exercise and, for those recovering from stroke, to adhere to rehabilitation. METHODS: We conducted a moderated usability study with 19 older adults, of which 11 (58%) had a history of stroke. Our participants engaged in a 30-minute gameplay session with the wearable glove integrated with exergames, followed by a quantitative survey and an in-depth interview. We used descriptive analysis to compare responses to the System Usability Scale between those who had a history of stroke and those who did not. In addition, we analyzed the qualitative interviews using a bottom-up thematic analysis to identify key themes related to the motivations and barriers regarding the use of wearable gloves for rehabilitation and exercise. RESULTS: Our study generated several key insights. First, making the exergames exciting and challenging could improve exercise and rehabilitation motivation, but it could also have a boomerang effect, where participants may become demotivated if the games were very challenging. Second, the comfort and ease of use of the wearable gloves were important for older adults, regardless of their stroke history. Third, for older adults with a history of stroke, the functionality and purpose of the wearable glove were important in helping them with specific exercise movements. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the importance of providing contextual support for the effective use of digital technologies, particularly for older adults recovering from stroke. In addition to technology and usability factors, other contextual factors such as gamification and social support (from occupational therapists or caregivers) should be considered to provide a comprehensive approach to addressing health problems. To overcome data absenteeism and technology chauvinism, it is important to develop digital health technologies that are tailored to the needs of underserved communities. Our study provides valuable insights for the development of digital health technologies that can motivate older adults recovering from stroke to exercise and adhere to rehabilitation.

Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children.

BACKGROUND: The dialect spoken by children influences diagnostic decision-making regarding the identification and severity of speech sound disorder (SSD). AIMS: The primary objective was to review papers that examined the influence of dialect on the identification of SSD in Vietnamese-speaking children. METHODS & PROCEDURES: Five studies of mono- and multilingual Vietnamese-speaking children living in Vietnam and Australia were reviewed to examine the influence of dialect on the assessment and analysis children's speech. The main Vietnamese dialects (Standard, Northern, Central, Southern) differ in the production of consonants, vowels and tones. MAIN CONTRIBUTION: Most speech assessments define correct production using the standard dialect of a language. Insights from recent studies of Vietnamese provide recommendations for also considering dialect in diagnostic decision-making. First, we recommend adding column(s) to the assessment score sheet that includes the dialectal variants spoken by adults in the child's family or community. Second, we calculate the accuracy of production twice, based on the standard form and dialectal form. Third, we report the percentage of consonants correct-standard (PCC-S) and percentage of consonants correct-dialect (PCC-D). CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Diagnostic decision-making is influenced by dialectal variation in children's speech, so speech and language therapists need to compare standard and dialectal productions when undertaking assessments, analysis and diagnostic decision-making. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Most speech assessments use the standard form of a dialect as the correct production. The standard dialect is used for diagnosis of SSD and identification of intervention targets. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge This paper examines five research studies of Vietnamese to identify ways to consider dialect in speech and language therapy assessment and analysis. Vietnamese provides a complex environment for this examination since there are numerous Vietnamese dialects and they differ according to consonants, vowels and tones. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Speech and language therapists are encouraged to add column(s) to their assessment score sheet that includes the dialectal variants spoken by adults and to report the PCC-S and PCC-D.

Multilingual Speech Acquisition by Vietnamese-English-Speaking Children and Adult Family Members.

PURPOSE: This article presents a large-scale example of culturally responsive assessment and analysis of multilingual Vietnamese-English-speaking children and their family members using the VietSpeech Protocol involving (a) examining all spoken languages, (b) comparing ambient phonology produced by family members, (c) including dialectal variants in the definition of accuracy, and (d) clustering participants with similar language experience. METHOD: The VietSpeech participants (N = 154) comprised 69 children (2;0-8;10 [years;months]) and 85 adult family members with Vietnamese heritage living in Australia. Speech was sampled using the Vietnamese Speech Assessment (Vietnamese) and the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (English). RESULTS: Children's Vietnamese consonant accuracy was significantly higher when dialectal variants were accepted (percentage of consonants correct-dialect [PCC-D]: M = 87.76, SD = 8.18), compared to when only Standard Vietnamese was accepted as the correct production (percentage of consonants correct-standard [PCC-S]: M = 70.34, SD = 8.78), Cohen's d = 3.55 (large effect). Vietnamese voiced plosives, nasals, semivowels, vowels, and tones were more often correct than voiceless plosives and fricatives. Children's Standard Australian English consonant accuracy (PCC-S) was 82.51 (SD = 15.57). English plosives, nasals, glides, and vowels were more often correct than fricatives and affricates. Vietnamese word-initial consonants had lower accuracy than word-final consonants, whereas English consonant accuracy was rarely influenced by word position. Consonant accuracy and intelligibility were highest for children with high proficiency in both Vietnamese and English. Children's consonant productions were most similar to their mothers' than other adults or siblings' productions. Adults' Vietnamese consonants, vowels, and tones were more likely to match Vietnamese targets than their children's productions. CONCLUSIONS: Children's speech acquisition was influenced by cross-linguistic, dialectal, maturational, language experience, and environmental (ambient phonology) factors. Adults' pronunciation was influenced by dialectal and cross-linguistic factors. This study highlights the importance of including all spoken languages, adult family members, dialectal variants, and language proficiency to inform differential diagnosis of speech sound disorders and identify clinical markers in multilingual populations. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23290055.

Speech acquisition within a 3-generation Vietnamese-English family: the influence of maturation and ambient phonology.

The emergence approach to speech acquisition theorises the influence of intrinsic capabilities (e.g., maturation), interactional capabilities, and extrinsic contexts (e.g., ambient phonology). Intrinsic and extrinsic influences were examined via a case study of a 3-generation Vietnamese-English family with two brothers (C1 aged 5;6 and C2 aged 3;10), their mother (M), grandfather (GF) and grandmother (GM). Their speech was assessed using the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) and the Vietnamese Speech Assessment (VSA). Standard Australian English/Standard Vietnamese productions were defined as 'correct', even though the adults spoke different Vietnamese dialects. Their percentage of standard consonants correct (PSCC) was: C1 (English:92.27%, Vietnamese:89.05%), C2 (E:86.47%, VN:86.13%), M (E:90.34%, VN:96.35%), GF (E:82.61%, VN:97.81%), GM (VN:99.27%). Percentages were higher when dialectal variants were included. C1 and C2 had more pronunciation matches with English (86.96%) than Vietnamese (79.56%). C1's pronunciation matched: M (E:85.02%, VN:83.94%), GF (E:79.23%, VN:77.37%), GM (VN:73.72%) and C2's pronunciation matched: M (E:79.23%, VN:73.72%), GF (E:73.91%, VN:75.18%), GM (VN:72.26%). There was evidence of ambient phonology influences and cross-linguistic transfer. For example, in Vietnamese 'r' is produced as /ʐ/ or /r/ , but was produced by C1 as [ɹ] (English approximant) and by C2 [w] (age-appropriate/ɹ/substitution). The children demonstrated maturation influences for late-occurring English consonants (e.g., English /θ/ →[f]). This study found evidence for the emergence approach and recommends knowledge of the ambient phonology augments traditional child-focused understandings of children's speech acquisition.

Transcription of Vietnamese Adults' and Children's Consonants by English-Speaking Speech-Language Pathologists.

OBJECTIVE: To examine English-speaking speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) transcription of consonants in Vietnamese words and identification of correct/incorrect productions of Vietnamese children's speech. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Twenty English-speaking SLPs completed three tasks. Task 1: transcription of 22 English words using the International Phonetic Alphabet. Task 2: transcription of 47 words spoken by Vietnamese adults. Task 3: transcription of 94 Vietnamese words spoken by Vietnamese children and identification of correct/incorrect productions. Participants completed questionnaires exploring language proficiency, transcription skill, musicality and confidence with multilingual clients. RESULTS: Task 1: participants demonstrated good accuracy transcribing English words (M = 97.2%). Task 2: an average of 52.9% consonants were transcribed correctly (89.4% when Vietnamese-English common transcription errors were considered). Common transcription errors included voicing of plosives, place and syllable-final omission. Accuracy was higher on shared English and Vietnamese consonantal articulations (e.g., /b/ and /m/). Task 3: on average, SLPs correctly identified accuracy of 73.8% of Vietnamese children's productions and transcribed 69.2% consonants correctly (83.8% when Vietnamese-English common transcription errors were considered). Musicality was correlated with SLPs' accuracy of transcription. CONCLUSION: English-speaking SLPs have some skills transcribing Vietnamese adults and transcribing and identifying correct/incorrect productions of children's speech. SLPs may use knowledge of common transcription errors to support understanding of their transcription of speech.

The Toxicity of Nonaged and Aged Coated Silver Nanoparticles to Freshwater Alga Raphidocelis subcapitata.

The transformation of coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and their impacts on aquatic organisms require further study. The present study investigated the role of aging on the transformation of differently coated AgNPs and their sublethal effects on the freshwater alga Raphidocelis subcapitata. The stability of AgNPs was evaluated over 32 d, and the results indicated that transformation of AgNPs occurred during the incubation; however, coating-specific effects were observed. Fresh AgNPs increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, whereas aged AgNPs induced excessive ROS generation compared with their fresh counterparts. Increased ROS levels caused increased lipid peroxidation (LPO) in treatment groups exposed to both fresh and aged NPs, although LPO was comparatively higher in algae exposed to aged AgNPs. The observed increase in catalase (CAT) activity of algal cells was attributed to early stress responses induced by excessive intracellular ROS generation, and CAT levels were higher in the aged NP treatment groups. In conclusion, AgNPs increased ROS levels and LPO in algae and caused the activation of antioxidant enzymes such as CAT. Overall, the results suggest that aging and coating of AgNPs have major impacts on AgNP transformation in media and their effects on algae. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2371-2382. © 2019 SETAC.

Vietnamese-Speaking Children's Acquisition of Consonants, Semivowels, Vowels, and Tones in Northern Viet Nam.

Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate children's acquisition of Vietnamese speech sounds. Method Participants were 195 children aged 2;2-5;11 (years;months) living in Northern Viet Nam who spoke Vietnamese as their 1st language. Single-word samples were collected using the Vietnamese Speech Assessment (Pham, Le, & McLeod, 2016) to measure accuracy of consonants, semivowels, vowels, and tones. Results Percentage of consonants correct for children aged 2;0-2;5 was 46.39 (SD = 7.95) and increased to 93.13 (SD = 6.13) for children aged 5;6-5;11. The most difficult consonants were /ɲ, s, z, x/. Percentage of semivowels correct for children aged 2;0-2;5 was 70.74 (SD = 14.38) and increased to 99.60 (SD = 1.55) for children aged 5;6-5;11. Percentage of vowels correct for children aged 2;0-2;5 was 91.93 (SD = 3.13) and increased to 98.11 (SD = 2.79) for children aged 5;6-5;11. Percentage of tones correct for children aged 2;0-2;5 was 91.05 (SD = 1.42) and increased to 96.65 (SD = 3.42) for children aged 5;6-5;11. Tones 1, 2, 5, and 6 were acquired by the youngest age group, whereas Tone 3 (creaky thanh ngã) and Tone 4 (dipping-rising thanh hoi) did not achieve 90% accuracy by the oldest age group. Common phonological patterns (> 10%) were fronting, stopping, deaspiration, aspiration, and semivowel deletion for children aged 2;0-3;11 and were fronting and deaspiration for children aged 4;0-5;11. Conclusion This is the 1st comprehensive study of typically developing Northern Vietnamese children's speech acquisition and provides preliminary data to support the emerging speech-language pathology profession in Viet Nam.

Identifying Developmental Language Disorder in Vietnamese Children.

Purpose Developmental language disorder (DLD), defined by low language performance despite otherwise normal development, can negatively impact children's social and academic outcomes. This study is the 1st to examine DLD in Vietnamese. To lay the foundation, we identified cases of DLD in Vietnam and explored language-specific characteristics of the disorder. Method Teacher ratings of 1,250 kindergarteners living in Hanoi, Vietnam, were used to recruit children with and without risk for DLD. One hundred four children completed direct measures of vocabulary and language sampling, and their parents completed in-depth surveys. We examined convergence and divergence across tasks to identify measures that could serve as reliable indicators of risk. Then, we compared performance on direct language measures across ability levels. Results There were positive associations between teacher and parent report and between report and direct language measures. Three groups were identified based on convergence across measures: DLD, some risk for DLD, and no risk. The DLD group performed lowest on measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary, mean length of utterance, and grammaticality. Although children with DLD exhibited a greater number of errors, the types of errors found were similar across DLD and No Risk groups. Conclusions Similar to rates found globally, 7% of the kindergarten population in Vietnam exhibited risk for DLD. Results highlight the importance of parent and teacher report and the value of multiple measures to identify DLD. We discuss potential clinical markers for DLD in the Vietnamese language and outline future directions.

The toxicity of non-aged and aged coated silver nanoparticles to the freshwater shrimp Paratya australiensis.

Nanoparticles (NPs) transform in the environment which result in alterations to their physicochemical properties. However, the effects of aging on the toxicity of NPs to aquatic organisms remain to be determined. Further the reports that have been published present contradictory results. The aim of this study was to examine the stability of differently coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in media and the influence of aging of these NP on potential toxicity to freshwater shrimp Paratya australiensis. Coating-dependent changes in the stability of AgNP were observed with aging. Curcumin (C) coated AgNPs were stable, while tyrosine (T) coated AgNPs and epigallocatechin gallate (E) coated AgNPs aggregated in the P. australiensis medium. Increased lipid peroxidation and catalase activity was noted in P. australiensis exposed to AgNPs, suggesting oxidative stress was associated with NP exposure. The enhanced oxidative stress initiated by aged C-AgNPs suggests that aging of these NPs produced different toxicological responses. In summary, data suggest that coating-dependent alterations in NPs, together with aging affect both persistence and subsequent toxicity of NPs to freshwater organisms. Thus, the coating-dependent fate and toxicity of AgNPs together with the effect of their aging need to be considered in assessing the environmental risk of AgNPs to aquatic organisms.

Assessing interactive mixture toxicity of carbamate and organophosphorus insecticides in the yabby (Cherax destructor).

Carbamate (CB) and organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are commonly detected in aquatic ecosystems and predominantly occur as mixtures of varying complexity. These pesticides inhibit the activity of total cholinesterase (ChE) and thus have the potential to interfere with behaviours that may be essential for the survival of aquatic species. Although the effects of individual ChE insecticides on aquatic species have been reported for decades, the neurotoxicity of mixtures is still poorly understood. This study examined the chronic toxicities of two OP insecticides (chlorpyrifos (CPF) and malathion (MAL)) and one carbamate insecticide (methomyl (METH)) in binary and ternary mixtures on the ChE activity of the yabby (C. destructor). Using the concentration addition approach to estimate mixture toxicity, the observed inhibition of ChE activity caused by all binary mixtures of CPF plus MAL, CPF plus METH and MAL plus METH was additive. In ternary mixtures, all combinations of CPF, MAL and METH were either additive or antagonistic depending on the relative ratios of these chemicals in the mixtures. The effect of mixtures of these three insecticides on C. destructor has not previously been assessed, and the data suggest that individual chemical risk assessments are likely to incorrectly estimate the effect of these insecticides on C. destructor in the aquatic environment where combinations of such chemicals occur.

Evaluating the non-lethal effects of organophosphorous and carbamate insecticides on the yabby (Cherax destructor) using cholinesterase (AChE, BChE), Glutathione S-Transferase and ATPase as biomarkers.

The toxicity of two organophosphorus insecticides, chlorpyrifos (CPF), malathion (MAL), and one carbamate insecticide, methomyl (METH), to the yabby (Cherax destructor) was assessed by measuring cholinesterase (AChE, BChE), Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) and Na+/K+ATPase activity after 96h of exposure. Yabbies exposed to all three insecticides at 2 and 5µgL-1 exhibited significant AChE, BChE, GST and Na+/K+ATPase inhibition. Based on these enzyme inhibition tests, the toxicity of the three insecticides to C. destructor was CPF > MAL > METH. After 14 days of recovery the yabbies enzymatic activities of AChE, BChE, GST and Na+/K+ATPase was measured. Recovery of The enzyme activity recovery was faster after the exposure to METH than for the yabbies exposed to CPF and MAL. Slow recovery of enzyme activity could affect the physical activities of organisms and produce indirect effects on populations if such crayfish are less able to elude predators or search for food.

Validation and norming of the Intelligibility in Context Scale in Northern Viet Nam.

Vietnamese is one of the 20 most commonly spoken languages in the world; however, there are no standardised tools to assess Vietnamese children's speech. This study aimed to validate and norm the Vietnamese version of the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS-VN). Data were collected from parents of 181 children (aged 2;0-5;11) living in Ha Noi, Northern Viet Nam. The mean ICS-VN score was 4.43 (out of a maximum of 5), indicating that children were 'usually' to 'always' intelligible; however, item-level scores demonstrated significant differences between communication partners. Children with parental concerns about speech and language had significantly lower mean scores than children without parental concerns. Scores also differed by children's age, parents' occupation and mothers' education level but not by sex of child or fathers' education level. The ICS-VN had good psychometric properties indicating it to be a valid tool for use with Vietnamese-speaking children in Northern Viet Nam.