Leveraging Communication Partner Speech to Automate Augmented Input for Children on the Autism Spectrum Who Are Minimally Verbal: Prototype Development and Preliminary Efficacy Investigation.

PURPOSE: Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology innovation is urgently needed to improve outcomes for children on the autism spectrum who are minimally verbal. One potential technology innovation is applying artificial intelligence (AI) to automate strategies such as augmented input to increase language learning opportunities while mitigating communication partner time and learning barriers. Innovation in AAC research and design methodology is also needed to empirically explore this and other applications of AI to AAC. The purpose of this report was to describe (a) the development of an AAC prototype using a design methodology new to AAC research and (b) a preliminary investigation of the efficacy of this potential new AAC capability. METHOD: The prototype was developed using a Wizard-of-Oz prototyping approach that allows for initial exploration of a new technology capability without the time and effort required for full-scale development. The preliminary investigation with three children on the autism spectrum who were minimally verbal used an adapted alternating treatment design to compare the effects of a Wizard-of-Oz prototype that provided automated augmented input (i.e., pairing color photos with speech) to a standard topic display (i.e., a grid display with line drawings) on visual attention, linguistic participation, and (for one participant) word learning during a circle activity. RESULTS: Preliminary investigation results were variable, but overall participants increased visual attention and linguistic participation when using the prototype. CONCLUSIONS: Wizard-of-Oz prototyping could be a valuable approach to spur much needed innovation in AAC. Further research into efficacy, reliability, validity, and attitudes is required to more comprehensively evaluate the use of AI to automate augmented input in AAC.

Carbanionic Friedel-Crafts equivalents. regioselective directed ortho and remote metalation-C-N cross coupling routes to acridones and dibenzo[b,f]azepinones.

Carbanion-mediated general regioselective routes to acridones 4 (Table 2) and dibenzo[b,f]azepinones 20 (Table 4) are described. Buchwald-Hartwig C-N cross coupling of o-halo benzamides 1 with anilines 2 or 16, followed by simple N-methylation, dependably provides N-methyl diarylamines 3 (Table 1) and 18 (Table 3). Upon treatment with LDA, 3 and 18 are converted into acridones 4 and dibenzo[b,f]azepinones 20, respectively, in good to excellent yields with regioselectivity which depends upon the presence or absence of directed metalation groups (DMGs). Brief investigations as follows are described: the synthesis of desmethyl acridone 15 (Scheme 4), an attempt to effect a double-directed remote metalation sequence which leads only to a monocyclization product 13 (Scheme 3), and an analogous but nonregioselective route to a xanthone 22 and dibenzo[b,f]oxepinone 24 (Scheme 5). DFT calculations reveal low energy conformations for compounds 18b and 23 which account for product formation and indicate that the cyclization reactions are under kinetic control.

Anionic N-fries rearrangement of N-carbamoyl diarylamines to anthranilamides. Methodology and application to acridone and pyranoacridone alkaloids.

[reaction: see text] A general alkyllithium/LDA-mediated rearrangement of N-carbamoyl diarylamines 7a-g into the anthranilamides 8a-g and 9a-g (Table 1) is presented and applied to a regioselective efficient construction of acridone (17) and pyranoacridone (18) alkaloids (Scheme 4).

Asymmetric total synthesis of (-)-panacene and correction of its relative configuration.

[reaction: see text] The first synthesis of (-)-panacene has been accomplished in concise, highly stereoselective fashion from commercially available 2-methoxy-6-methylbenzoic acid (15 steps, 8.3% overall yield). The synthesis unambiguously establishes the correct relative and absolute configuration of panacene, and demonstrates the serviceability of Pd(II)-mediated tandem intramolecular alkoxycarbonylation-lactonization for the expedient assembly of its tricyclic core, and the dual role of asymmetric alkynylation as an initial source of chirality and as a powerful tool for manipulating diastereoselectivity.

Beyond thermodynamic acidity: a perspective on the complex-induced proximity effect (CIPE) in deprotonation reactions.

The concept of the complex-induced proximity effect (CIPE) in deprotonations is helpful in elucidating the mechanisms involved in carbanion chemistry and in planning organic syntheses. In this Review, the consequences of complexation of organolithium bases to functional groups of the substrates before the proton-transfer step are discussed. Experimental data from kinetic measurements and isotope-labeling experiments as well as the results of calculations in many cases point to a prelithiation complex as a reaction intermediate. Some examples from natural products synthesis illustrate how this concept can be used to obtain intermediates in a regio- or stereoselective manner. Of particular interest is the functionalization of positions that are remote from the coordination group.