Information Units Research Articles

Semasiological management

The development of society is accompanied by an increase in the complexity of management objects and management mechanisms. To counteract the growth of complexity, new management models and methods should be introduced. New methods include semasiological management which uses a model approach and induction principle. It borrows the ideas of semasiology from linguistics and forms management decisions on the basis of application of information management units. Despite the fact that this complicates the preliminary process of preparing for management, it also gives an advantage in the comparability of different management decisions and technologies. Semasiological management allows, when reconfiguring management, not to create management models anew, but to modernise them by replacing management information units or forming new combinations of these units. Semasiological management is related to onomasiological information modeling and requires its use. In addition, it can be used in automated management, smart management, and digital twin management. Semasiological management requires special organisation and specific training, such as a special management language. The research proposes a variant of semasiological management which is based on the application of the theory of information units.

Delay model for the dynamics of information units in the digital environment

The digital revolution has transformed the exchange of information between people, blurring the traditional roles of sources and recipients as active and passive entities. To study this, we build on a publicly available database of quotes, organized as units of information flowing through media and blogs with minimal distortion. Building on this, we offer an innovative interpretation of the observed temporal patterns through a minimal model with two ingredients: a two-way feedback between sources and recipients, and a delay in the media’s response to activity on blogs. Our model successfully fits the variety of observed patterns, revealing different attention decays in media and blogs, with rebounds of information typically occurring between 1 and 4 days after the initial dissemination. More important perhaps, the model uncovers a functional relationship between the rate of information flow from media to blogs and the decay of public attention, suggesting a simplification in the mechanisms of information exchange in digital media. Although further research is required to generalize these findings fully, our results demonstrate that even a bare-bones model can capture essential mechanisms of information dynamics in the digital environment.

Experimental observation of current-driven antiskyrmion sliding in stripe domains.

Magnetic skyrmions are promising as next-generation information units. Their antiparticle-the antiskyrmion-has also been discovered in chiral magnets. Here we experimentally demonstrate antiskyrmion sliding in response to a pulsed electric current at room temperature without the requirement of an external magnetic field. This is realized by embedding antiskyrmions in helical stripe domains, which naturally provide one-dimensional straight tracks along which antiskyrmion sliding can be easily launched with low current density and without transverse deflection from the antiskyrmion Hall effect. The higher mobility of the antiskyrmions in the background of helical stripes in contrast to the typical ferromagnetic state is a result of intrinsic material parameters and elastic energy of the stripe domain, thereby smearing out the random pinning potential, as supported by micromagnetic simulations. The demonstration and comprehensive understanding of antiskyrmion movement along naturally straight tracks offers a new perspective for (anti)skyrmion application in spintronics.

Universal and Language-Specific Connected Speech Characteristics of Bilingual Speakers With Alzheimer's Disease: Insights From Case Studies of Structurally Distinct Languages.

Connected speech analysis has been effectively utilized for the diagnosis and disease monitoring of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Existing research has been conducted mostly in monolingual English speakers with a noticeable lack of evidence from bilinguals and non-English speakers, particularly in non-European languages. Using a case study approach, we characterized connected speech profiles of two Bengali-English bilingual speakers with AD to determine the universal features of language impairments in both languages, identify language-specific differences between the languages, and explore language impairment characteristics of the participants with AD in relation to their bilingual language experience. Participants included two Bengali-English bilingual speakers with AD and a group of age-, gender-, education-, and language-matched neurologically healthy controls. Connected speech samples were collected in first language (L1; Bengali) and second language (L2; English) using a novel storytelling task (i.e., Frog, Where Are You?). These samples were analyzed using an augmented quantitative production analysis and correct information unit analyses for productivity, fluency, syntactic and morphosyntactic features, and lexical and semantic characteristics. Irrespective of the language, AD impacted speech productivity (speech rate and fluency) and semantic characteristics in both languages. Unique language-specific differences were noted on syntactic measures (reduced sentence length in Bengali), lexical distribution (fewer pronouns and absence of reduplication in Bengali), and inflectional properties (no difficulties with noun or verb inflections in Bengali). Among the two participants with AD, the individual who showed lower proficiency and usage in L2 (English) demonstrated reduced syntactic complexity and morphosyntactic richness in English. Evidence from these case studies suggests that language impairment features in AD are not universal across languages, particularly in comparison to impairments typically associated with language breakdowns in English. This study underscores the importance of establishing connected speech profiles in AD for non-English-speaking populations, especially for structurally different languages. This would in turn lead to the development of language-specific markers that can facilitate early detection of language deterioration and aid in improving diagnosis of AD in individuals belonging to underserved linguistically diverse populations. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25412458.

Linking preoperative and early intensive care unit data for prolonged intubation prediction.

Prolonged intubation (PI) is a frequently encountered severe complication among patients following cardiac surgery (CS). Solely concentrating on preoperative data, devoid of sufficient consideration for the ongoing impact of surgical, anesthetic, and cardiopulmonary bypass procedures on subsequent respiratory system function, could potentially compromise the predictive accuracy of disease prognosis. In response to this challenge, we formulated and externally validated an intelligible prediction model tailored for CS patients, leveraging both preoperative information and early intensive care unit (ICU) data to facilitate early prophylaxis for PI. We conducted a retrospective cohort study, analyzing adult patients who underwent CS and utilizing data from two publicly available ICU databases, namely, the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care and the eICU Collaborative Research Database. PI was defined as necessitating intubation for over 24 h. The predictive model was constructed using multivariable logistic regression. External validation of the model's predictive performance was conducted, and the findings were elucidated through visualization techniques. The incidence rates of PI in the training, testing, and external validation cohorts were 11.8%, 12.1%, and 17.5%, respectively. We identified 11 predictive factors associated with PI following CS: plateau pressure [odds ratio (OR), 1.133; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.111-1.157], lactate level (OR, 1.131; 95% CI, 1.067-1.2), Charlson Comorbidity Index (OR, 1.166; 95% CI, 1.115-1.219), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (OR, 1.096; 95% CI, 1.061-1.132), central venous pressure (OR, 1.052; 95% CI, 1.033-1.073), anion gap (OR, 1.075; 95% CI, 1.043-1.107), positive end-expiratory pressure (OR, 1.087; 95% CI, 1.047-1.129), vasopressor usage (OR, 1.521; 95% CI, 1.23-1.879), Visual Analog Scale score (OR, 0.928; 95% CI, 0.893-0.964), pH value (OR, 0.757; 95% CI, 0.629-0.913), and blood urea nitrogen level (OR, 1.011; 95% CI, 1.003-1.02). The model exhibited an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.853 (95% CI, 0.840-0.865) in the training cohort, 0.867 (95% CI, 0.853-0.882) in the testing cohort, and 0.704 (95% CI, 0.679-0.727) in the external validation cohort. Through multicenter internal and external validation, our model, which integrates early ICU data and preoperative information, exhibited outstanding discriminative capability. This integration allows for the accurate assessment of PI risk in the initial phases following CS, facilitating timely interventions to mitigate adverse outcomes.

Graph of Thoughts: Solving Elaborate Problems with Large Language Models

We introduce Graph of Thoughts (GoT): a framework that advances prompting capabilities in large language models (LLMs) beyond those offered by paradigms such as Chain-of-Thought or Tree of Thoughts (ToT). The key idea and primary advantage of GoT is the ability to model the information generated by an LLM as an arbitrary graph, where units of information ("LLM thoughts") are vertices, and edges correspond to dependencies between these vertices. This approach enables combining arbitrary LLM thoughts into synergistic outcomes, distilling the essence of whole networks of thoughts, or enhancing thoughts using feedback loops. We illustrate that GoT offers advantages over state of the art on different tasks, for example increasing the quality of sorting by 62% over ToT, while simultaneously reducing costs by >31%. We ensure that GoT is extensible with new thought transformations and thus can be used to spearhead new prompting schemes. This work brings the LLM reasoning closer to human thinking or brain mechanisms such as recurrence, both of which form complex networks

Secondary language impairment in posterior cortical atrophy: insights from sentence repetition.

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by progressive impairment in visuospatial and perceptual function linked to atrophy of the occipito-parietal cortex. Besides the salient visual impairment, several studies have documented subtle changes in language may also be present. Sentence repetition is a highly constrained linguistic task involving multiple linguistic and cognitive processes and have been shown to be impaired in other AD spectrum disorders, with little consensus on its relevance in PCA. This aim of this study was to further delineate the linguistic and cognitive features of impaired language in PCA using a sentence repetition task. Seven PCA patients and 16 healthy controls verbally repeated 16 sentences from the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination. Responses were transcribed orthographically and coded for accuracy (percentage accuracy; percentage Correct Information Units; Levenshtein Distance) and for temporal characteristics (preparation duration (ms); utterance duration (ms); silent pause duration (ms); speech duration (ms); dysfluency duration (ms)). The potential modulating effects of attentional control and working memory capacity were explored. PCA patients showed lower overall accuracy with retained semantic content of the sentences, and lower phonological accuracy. Temporal measures revealed longer preparation and utterance duration for PCA patients compared to controls, alongside longer speech duration but comparable dysfluency duration. PCA patients also showed comparable silent pause duration to controls. Attentional control, measured using the Hayling sentence completion task, predicted accuracy of sentence repetition. The findings suggest that sentence repetition is impaired in PCA and is characterized by phonological, response planning and execution difficulties, underpinned in part by attentional control mechanisms. The emerging profile of language impairment in PCA suggests vulnerability of similar cognitive systems to other Alzheimer's syndromes, with subtle differences in clinical presentation.

Core Lexicon analysis of spoken discourse production by Mandarin Chinese speakers with Aphasia

ABSTRACT Background Spoken discourse production has been increasingly recognised as an important source for assessing language competence of persons with aphasia (PWA). Most linguistic measures rely on transcripts of spoken discourse, so they have seldom been used in clinical practice. Thus, there is a need for standardized and norm-referenced measures that can be easily applied in clinical settings. Aims The present study aims to develop core lexicon lists for Mandarin Chinese PWA using AphasiaBank data elicited with different discourse production tasks and test their validity in detecting language deficiency. Methods & Procedures We selected seven semispontaneous discourse tasks within three major task types, i.e., picture descriptions, procedural discourse and story narrative, for core lexicon list development and for examining task type effects. Transcripts from 61 control speakers were split into two sets with age – and education matched: one set (n = 43) as a normative sample used to generate the core lexicon lists and the other (n = 18) as a healthy control group served as a baseline for comparison with PWA productions. Transcripts of 18 age- and education- matched PWA were retrieved from the AphasiaBank database. We selected the top 30 words with the widest distribution in the normative sample to generate core lexicon lists. Then for both PWA and control groups, we calculated agreement percentage as core lexicon scores. Outcomes & Results Core lexicon scores of PWA were significantly lower than the control group participants for all seven tasks and positively correlated with aphasia severity for two story narrative tasks, suggesting that story narrative tasks were more effective in assessing discourse productions compared with picture and procedural descriptions. In addition, core lexicon scores also correlated with lexical diversity (R scores) and discourse informativeness (Correct Information Units) for all seven tasks. Conclusions & Implications Core lexicon scores can effectively distinguish discourse production by Mandarin PWA and healthy controls and they reflect lexical diversity and informativeness of discourse. Our findings, thus, have clinical implications in that these lists could serve as an alternative transcription-less approach in quick Mandarin PWA discourse production assessment.

Discourse Production Across the Adult Lifespan: Microlinguistic Processes.

Successful spoken discourse requires aspeaker to be informative to deliver a coherent, meaningful message. The informativeness of discourse can be conveyed by the variety of vocabularyproduced(i.e., lexical diversity [LD]), the typicality of vocabulary items used (i.e., core lexicon [CL]), and the amount of relevant content produced (i.e., information units).Yet, it is well documented that older adults produce less informative content compared to younger adults despite relatively subtle changes to LD. The typicalityof core lexicalitems has not been assessed in healthy aging.Paradoxically, these results indicate that some aspects of discourse informativeness remain stable or even improve across the adult lifespan, while other aspects decline. The purpose of the current studyisto understand howmicrolinguisticprocesses of informativeness change across the adultlifespan.The cross-sectional study included narrative language samples fromtwowordless picture books collected from420 healthy participants between 20 and 89 years old. LD and percent of correct information units (%CIUs) were analyzed, as well as CL nouns and verbs.The results indicate that %CIUs and CL nounsdemonstratea quadratic decline starting around the ages of 40and 60, respectively. LD showsa slight linear decline as afunction of age. CL verbs areresistant to age-related changes but are influenced greater by education. The differing findings across the microlinguistic measures can be explained by the weakened connections within the language system and the differential characteristics of the measures. The findings contribute to the aging literature bysystematically identifyingthe trajectory of how variables ofinformativenesschangewith age.

Symbolic and Figurative Information Units

Symbolic and Figurative Information Units

An overview of the calibration process for a digital hydrophone

Digital hydrophones are instruments for measuring underwater sound that incorporate the entire data chain into a single unit. Calibration of analog and digital hydrophones is largely similar but differs in measurement signal type. Digital hydrophone calibration is not currently captured in the standards outlining hydrophone calibration (such as IEC 60565), so they currently cannot be calibrated to a recognized standard. The testing setup and calibration methods are the same as for an analog hydrophone but without needing external digitization or analog signal conditioning. Potential issues regarding digital hydrophone calibration: careful calculation of signal amplitudes is required at upper frequency band; the lack of analog output requires different units of measure or information on counts/volt conversion. The first point here is also a current issue for analog hydrophones where the digitization and the processing of data during the calibration are not prescribed. Ideally, both of these issues would be addressed in future standards updates, which would improve the operation of both analog and digital hydrophones. This paper will expand on the issues highlighted here involving digital hydrophone calibration and offer recommendations for best practice. It will also provide an outline of the current calibration procedure as used at Ocean Sonics.

Community Pharmacy Needle Exchange Programme: What Can Analysis of the Data Tell Us about the Changing Drug Market in Ireland?

Community Pharmacy Needle Exchanges are a harm reduction measure that have been established in a number of countries to provide access to sterile injecting equipment for people who inject drugs (PWID). To ensure that they are meeting needs, it is important to monitor the use of the services. This study aimed to determine patterns of needle distribution and return in community pharmacies in Ireland over time. The number of pharmacies, needle packs, clean needles and returned packs was obtained from the Health Service Executive (HSE) Planning and Business Information Unit (PBI). Yearly totals were calculated to show patterns from 2015 to 2022. There has been an 18% decline in the number of pharmacies providing the service since 2015, with a 19% decline in the number of packs provided and a 21% decline in the number of packs returned. The proportion of packs returned was 23% in 2015 and 18% in 2022. There has been a 16% decline in the number of sterile needles provided and a 6% reduction in the average number of needles per individual since 2017. Declining needle use and low rates of used needle return (against a backdrop of large numbers of PWID that have not significantly reduced over time) suggest that there is a need to investigate if community pharmacies in Ireland have the scope to improve their harm reduction impact. This raises questions in terms of the need to both improve and adapt the service against a backdrop of changing drug markets. Key recommendations include the need to review the harm reduction services employed by participating pharmacies when providing new equipment and organising the return of used equipment.

A quantum of information in black hole evaporation

Black holes evolve by evaporation of their event horizon. While this process is believed to be unitary, there is no consensus on the recovery of information in black hole entropy. A missing link is a quantum of information in black hole evaporation. Distinct from Hawking radiation, we identify evaporation in entangled pairs by P2 topology of the event horizon consistent with the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy in a uniformly spaced horizon area. It derives by continuation of P2 in Rindler spacetime prior to gravitational collapse, subject to a tight correlation of the fundamental frequency of quasi-normal-mode ringing in gravitational and electromagnetic radiation. Information extraction from entangled pairs by detecting one over the surface spanned by three faces of a large cube carries a quantum of information 2kBlog3 upon including measurement of spin.

Customised weight-based volume contrast media protocol for multiphase abdominal computed tomography.

Multiphase computed tomography (CT) using fixed volume contrast media may lead to high radiation exposure and toxicity in patients with low body weight. We evaluated a customised weight-based protocol for multiphase CT in terms of radiation exposure, image quality and cost savings. A total of 224 patients were recruited. An optimised CT protocol was applied using 100 kV and 1 mL/kg of contrast media dosing. The image quality and radiation dose exposure of this CT protocol were compared to those of a standard 120 kV, 80 mL fixed volume protocol. The radiation dose information and CT Hounsfield units were recorded. The signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and figure of merit (FOM) were used as comparison metrics. The images were assessed for contrast opacification and visual quality by two radiologists. The renal function, contrast media volume and cost were also evaluated. The median effective dose was lowered by 16% in the optimised protocol, while the arterial phase images achieved significantly higher CNR and FOM. The radiologists' evaluation showed more than 97% absolute agreement with no significant differences in image quality. No significant differences were found in the pre- and post-CT estimated glomerular filtration rate. However, contrast media usage was significantly reduced by 1,680 mL, with an overall cost savings of USD 421 in the optimised protocol. The optimised weight-based protocol is cost-efficient and lowers radiation dose while maintaining overall contrast enhancement and image quality.

An updated checklist of the marine birds (Aves) of Golfo Dulce, southern Costa Rica

Golfo Dulce is a fjord-like embayment on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, which encompasses the marine protected area of Piedras Blancas National Park. The gulf is surrounded by mangroves, rocky shores, and sandy beaches that are home to migratory and resident bird species. Here, we provide a checklist of 73 marine birds, including records of six years of annual counts and incidental observations in Golfo Dulce. This paper represents an updated bird list, based on the 1998 Basic Information Units from Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad. We added 16 species to the list, showing the importance of maintaining a monitoring program of marine birds in the Golfo Dulce area. We have also demonstrated the valuable contributions of citizen science for obtaining scientific information.

ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GOVERNANCE MANAGEMENT OF WORK UNITS IN XYZ AGENCIES WITH THE COBIT FRAMEWORK 2019

Information Technology (IT) governance has become an important topic in information system management because it can affect the ability of companies/organizations and government agencies to achieve goals. Maturity level assessment in the Information and Communication Technology Division (Div TIK) work unit needs to be carried out in order to determine the current condition of IT governance. Maturity level measurement is carried out using the COBIT 2019 framework, namely by mapping organizational goals into COBIT 2019 so that related domains are obtained. Measuring the level of maturity in the Div TIK work unit shows that there are 8 process domains. The EDM01, APO07, APO08, BAI01, and MEA04 domains are at level 3 while the APO04, BAI11, and DSS04 domains are at level 4. Measuring the value of the gap between the current maturity level and the expected maturity level is also carried out. The biggest discrepancy value is in the APO04 domain with a value of 1.48, and the smallest is in the APO07 domain with a value of 0.59. Analysis of improvements that can be carried out to increase the maturity level include periodically assessing whether the agreed IT governance mechanisms are operating effectively; conducting regular reviews to assess skills evolution; and controlling IT services, assets and resources.

Connected Language Performance in Neurotypical and Persons with Aphasia: Use of the Brazilian-Portuguese Story Retell Procedure

Introduction: It is important to analyze the micro- and macrostructure of connected language production across languages in neurotypical and impaired speakers such as people with aphasia (PWA). However, the validity, reliability, sensitivity, or specificity of the available Brazilian-Portuguese connected language production batteries remains untested. Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide a preliminary assessment of the translated Brazilian-Portuguese Story Retell Procedure (SRP-BP) in PWA and neurotypical control participants (NCPs) and investigate whether the SRP can serve as a measure of overall communication impairment in PWA. Methods: This cross-sectional study was developed at the Federal University of São Paulo. Seven right-handed PWA and 14 NCPs were recruited. PWA had a single left-hemisphere post-stroke lesion and were without severe aphasia or non-fluent aphasia that might interfere with performing the SRP. The connected language measures calculated from the SRP-BP were the numbers of words, information units, and propositions produced. The data were analyzed with the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. Results: The NCPs produced significantly more information units and propositions in each of the 12 SRP-BP stories than the PWA group. The same group results were found for the number of words for 11 of the 12 stories, with no statistically significant difference between groups for the Água (Water) story. Conclusion: The SRP-BP distinguished the connected language production of PWA from that of NCPs. These results motivate additional psychometric assessment and test development of the SRP-BP in neurotypical, PWA, and other language and cognitively impaired populations.

Users of information units as central elements for access to information and culture

A presente resenha objetiva sintetizar a obra “A perspectiva social nos estudos de usuários em arquivos, bibliotecas e museus: teoria e prática”. Organizada por Andréia Sousa da Silva e Fernanda Frasson Martendal, o livro apresenta estudos de usuários em arquivos, bibliotecas e museus por um viés sociológico. A estrutura do livro divide-se em três seções: discussões epistemológicas, ensino e os estudos de usuários postos em prática. Apresenta em seus doze capítulos e no prefácio, uma discussão mais teórica. No decorrer da obra, não é possível identificar informações suficientes à compreensão da temática proposta no campo museológico. Além disso, há predominância de teóricos do campo da Biblioteconomia e Ciência da Informação, mesmo nos textos que tratam dos Estudos de Usuários nas áreas da Arquivologia e Museologia. A obra tem o mérito de ser uma das poucas obras dedicadas inteiramente ao assunto dos estudos de usuário, constantes na literatura brasileira, e apresenta algumas experiências internacionais. Sua tessitura traz a reflexão teórica, epistemológica, além de ensaiar de forma tímida, algumas práticas sobre o assunto nos campos dos Arquivos e Bibliotecas, exceto no campo dos museus.

Functional information guided adaptive radiation therapy.

Functional informaton is introduced as the mechanism to adapt cancer therapies uniquely to individual patients based on changes defined by qualified tumor biomarkers. To demonstrate the methodology, a tumor volume biomarker model, characterized by a tumor volume reduction rate coefficient, is used to adapt a tumor cell survival bioresponse radiotherapy model in terms of therapeutic radiation dose. Tumor volume, acquired from imaging data, serves as a surrogate measurement for tumor cell death, but the biomarker model derived from this data cannot be used to calculate the radiation dose absorbed by the target tumor. However, functional information does provide a mathematical connection between the tumor volume biomarker model and the tumor cell survival bioresponse model by quantifying both data sets in the units of information, thus creating an analytic conduit from bioresponse to biomarker. The information guided process for individualized dose adaptations using information values acquired from the tumor cell survival bioresponse model and the tumor volume biomarker model are presented in detailed form by flowchart and tabular data. Clinical data are used to generate a presentation that assists investigator application of the information guided methodology to adaptive cancer therapy research. Information guided adaptation of bioresponse using surrogate data is extensible across multiple research fields because functional information mathematically connects disparate bioresponse and biomarker data sets. Thus, functional information offers adaptive cancer therapy by mathematically connecting immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy cancer treatment processes to implement individualized treatment plans.

A preliminary investigation on core lexicon analysis in dementia of the Alzheimer's type.

Core lexicon (CL) analysis is a time efficient and possibly reliable measure that captures discourse production abilities. For people with aphasia, CL scores have demonstrated correlations with aphasia severity, as well as other discourse and linguistic measures. It was also found to be clinician-friendly and clinically sensitive enough to capture longitudinal changes in aphasia. To our knowledge, CL has never been investigated in individuals with neurologically progressive disease. As a preliminary investigation, we sought to investigate (1) whether CL scores correlate with dementia severity, (2) whether CL scores correlate with measures of discourse quality, and (3) whether CL scores correlate with other measures of lexical/semantic access. Twelve participants with a cognitive impairment associated with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) completed several measures of language and cognitive ability, as well as provide a language sample from the wordless picture book, Picnic. Results are informative, as they provide insight into characteristics of CL and provide support for potential use of CL in individuals with neurologically progressive disease. The results indicated that CL scores do correlate with dementia severity and several measures of language ability, indicating they may provide a useful measure of language abilities in DAT, but more research is needed. What is already known on the subject Core lexicon (CL) analysis is an assessment measure of discourse ability, most closely related to informativeness or productivity, used in aphasiology that is easier to use and less time consuming than previous measures of informativeness, such as correct information units or type-token ratio (TTR). For people with aphasia, CL analysis correlates with aphasia severity, measures of informativeness, as well as other measures of discourse quality. It has also been shown to be faster and more reliable between scorers than other informativeness measures. What this study adds Core lexicon analysis is a new simple and online method for assessing the informativeness of a discourse sample without the need to record or transcribe the language sample. CL is receiving a lot of attention in aphasia, correlating with everything from aphasia severity to measures of productivity and lexical access, as well as measures of informativeness. Unfortunately, no one has investigated CL analysis in dementia. The study demonstrates the first evidence that CL analysis may be a useful measure for determining dementia severity and language quality in people with dementia. What are the clinical implications of this work? Core lexicon analysis may provide clinicians and researchers with an easy method for assessing the discourse of people with a cognitive impairment associated with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. This will improve initial assessment, as well as improve ongoing language assessment that may provide clues into their functional ability to communicate effectively.