University of Hartford

About: University of Hartford is a education organization based out in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 1244 authors who have published 2481 publications receiving 48973 citations. The organization is also known as: UHart.

Can exercise influence low bone mineral density in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract: Purpose:Low bone mineral density (BMD) is a common secondary condition associated with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The purpose of this review was evaluate the literature pertinent to designing an effective, safe weight-bearing exercise program to reduce the risk of low BMD in children with

Yoga workshop impacts psychological functioning and mood of women with self-reported history of eating disorders.

Abstract: Eating disorders can lead to severe medical and psychological consequences. Traditional interventions may neglect some of the crucial elements of eating disorders, specifically mood and body awareness. Other modalities, particularly yoga, should be considered as an adjunct to traditional treatments. This pilot study explored the benefits of a 6-day yoga workshop for women with a history of eating disorders. Results indicated improvements in mood, psychological adjustment, physical and emotional awareness, and eating disorder symptoms. This study concluded that other modalities, such as yoga, may be efficacious in improving mood and psychological functioning for those with a self-reported history of eating disorders.

Developing students' writing skills: an early intervention approach.

Abstract: In what seems to be a universal situation, nurse educators are reading student papers and lamenting the fact that their students cannot write. The author explains a successful model of early intervention aimed at improving academic writing for new graduate students. The model and teaching strategies are helpful to nurse educators who struggle with the quality of their students' written work.

Decoding collective communications using information theory tools.

Abstract: Organisms have evolved sensory mechanisms to extract pertinent information from their environment, enabling them to assess their situation and act accordingly. For social organisms travelling in groups, like the fish in a school or the birds in a flock, sharing information can further improve their situational awareness and reaction times. Data on the benefits and costs of social coordination, however, have largely allowed our understanding of why collective behaviours have evolved to outpace our mechanistic knowledge of how they arise. Recent studies have begun to correct this imbalance through fine-scale analyses of group movement data. One approach that has received renewed attention is the use of information theoretic (IT) tools like mutual information, transfer entropy and causation entropy, which can help identify causal interactions in the type of complex, dynamical patterns often on display when organisms act collectively. Yet, there is a communications gap between studies focused on the ecological constraints and solutions of collective action with those demonstrating the promise of IT tools in this arena. We attempt to bridge this divide through a series of ecologically motivated examples designed to illustrate the benefits and challenges of using IT tools to extract deeper insights into the interaction patterns governing group-level dynamics. We summarize some of the approaches taken thus far to circumvent existing challenges in this area and we conclude with an optimistic, yet cautionary perspective.

Syntactic complexity measures: variation by genre, grade-level, students’ writing abilities, and writing quality

Abstract: Syntactic complexity has been recognized as an important construct in writing research, and for the past five decades, many syntactic complexity measures (SCMs) have been examined in numerous studies. This systematic review is the first study of its kind to synthesize 36 studies spanning from 1970 to 2019 by identifying and cataloging all SCMs examined during this period. An analysis was performed on how the use of SCMs varied by genre, grade level, students’ writing ability, and writing quality. Five online databases (Academic Search Premier, ERIC, PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, and PsycARTICLES) were searched. A total of 48 SCMs were grouped into six categories: T-units and sentences, clauses, phrases, words, combined measures, and other measures. Most studies examined three common SCMs: mean T-unit length, mean number of words per clause, and mean number of clauses per T-unit. The argumentative genre had the highest values for T-unit length and mean number of clauses per T-unit, which could indicate greater sentence complexity. Higher-grade-level students generally construct sentences that are syntactically complex, but comparison between studies was difficult because different studies investigated different SCMs. Although students with higher writing abilities generally construct sentences that are syntactically more complex compared to students with lower writing abilities, the findings are not conclusive, as only a few studies examined this relationship. A similarly inconclusive relationship was found between syntactic complexity and writing quality because only a few studies examined this relationship. More research is needed to examine the relationship between SCMs, writing quality, and genre.