cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bitwise Neural Networks

Based on the assumption that there exists a neural network that efficiently represents a set of Boolean functions between all binary inputs and outputs, we propose a process for developing and deploying neural networks whose weight parameters, bias terms, input, and intermediate hidden layer output signals, are all binary-valued, and require only basic bit logic for the feedforward pass. The proposed Bitwise Neural Network (BNN) is especially suitable for resource-constrained environments, since it replaces either floating or fixed-point arithmetic with significantly more efficient bitwise operations. Hence, the BNN requires for less spatial complexity, less memory bandwidth, and less power consumption in hardware. In order to design such networks, we propose to add a few training schemes, such as weight compression and noisy backpropagation, which result in a bitwise network that performs almost as well as its corresponding real-valued network. We test the proposed network on the MNIST dataset, represented using binary features, and show that BNNs result in competitive performance while offering dramatic computational savings.
Seasonal Effects on Oviposition Behavior in Allonemobius socius (Orthoptera: Gryllidae): Test of the Sense of Malaise Hypothesis

For many temperate-zone insects, systematic changes in climate signal the coming of winter and effect changes in behavior and physiology. A late-summer female, for example, that senses a general reduction in temperature, photoperiod, or both may optimize the survivorship of her offspring by laying diapausing eggs. In our study of the bivoltine ground cricket, Allonemobius socius (Scudder), we manipulated the abiotic environment experienced by ovipositing females (i.e., maternal-oviposition environment) and that experienced by her eggs (i.e., egg-incubation environment) to test the hypothesis that mothers dump eggs (i.e., significantly increase egg-laying rate) in response to impending death at the end of the reproductive season. We found that mothers tended to lay more eggs in a summer-than a fall-like environment, and that egg viability (or hatchability) was generally higher in a fall-than a summer-like environment. Thus, our results run contrary to those expected from the sense of malaise hypothesis. We discuss other mechanisms that can explain the observed oviposition patterns.
Effect of Spray Adjuvants on Heliothis zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus Efficacy

Certain characteristics of Elcar ( Heliothis zea nuclear polyhedrosis virus) spray adjuvant treatments were determined in an effort to explain or identify properties of the combination which influence efficacy of the virus against Heliothis spp. on cotton. Neither Coax nor Gustol (adjuvants)affected the dosage mortality response of larvae of H. zea (Boddie) to Elcar. Laboratory studies also failed to detect ultraviolet screening properties of the adjuvant sat the rate tested (2.5% concentration). Coax and Gustol appeared to primarily affect efficacy by altering feeding or spray characteristics. Third-stage H. zea larvae consumed more cotton leaf discs treated with the virus when an adjuvant was included in the treatment. Correlation analysis showed adjuvant rate to be positively related (r = 0.92) to larval mortality, although percent concentration of adjuvant appeared to be more important than rate in influencing the spray characteristics of Elcar treatments.
Relationship Between Colored Sticky Panel Catches and Reproductive Behavior of Forest Tachinid Parasitoids

Sticky panels (7 colored, 1 clear) were placed at 2 heights in a Connecticut forest in the spring and summer of 1979. Of the tachinids captured, 9 species or species groups were analyzed to see whether trap catches could be related to the egg laying habits of each species. Macrotype egg depositors ( Parasetigena silvestris (Robineau-Desvoidy), Tachinomyia sp., and possibly Oswaldia sp.) were caught preferentially on white, yellow, and blue panels placed 15 m above the ground in trees. Males greatly outnumbered females. Microtype egg depositors ( Patelloa silvatica (Aldrich and Webber), Gonia sagax Townsend), on the other hand, were caught on panels placed 0.6 m above the ground as abundantly as on those 15 m high and preferred yellow and white panels. Males outnumbered females, but not to the same extent as for the macrotype egg depositors. Comparisons between other tachinid species groups were inconsistent.
Ciliary inhibitory effects of asthma patients' sputum

1. Sputum sols, obtained from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, were applied to frogs9 isolated palates and the effect on ciliary beat frequency was examined. 2. During clinical exacerbations, a significant number of asthmatic patients produced a distinct, slurry type of sputum, which induced ciliostasis. This ciliary inhibition largely disappeared with clinical improvement, at which time there was also a change of the type of sputum from slurry to mucoid. 3. Samples obtained from normal volunteers and from the great majority of the patients, excluding those with asthma, had no effect on ciliary beating.
The Spectrum of Inflammatory Myopathies: Dermatomyositis, Polymyositis, Necrotizing Myositis, and Inclusion-Body Myositis

Infammatory myopathies include a spectrum of different disorders. i.e. dermatomyositis, polymyositis and inclusion body myositis. While the first two disorders are suitable to treatment and specific immunotherapy are at disposition either by targeting sensitized B or T cells population, inclusion body myositis has both an inflammatory and degenerative component. In order to reduce its progression, there is a need of new controlled trials. In treating all these disorders, the balance of cost-benefit results should be done.
Transorbital Penetrating Intracranial Injury Caused by Sheppard’s Hook

Intracranial injury resulting from transorbital penetrating objects is rare in a noncombat setting. As such there is a significant lack of data pertaining to the management of non-projectile traumatic brain injuries due to foreign bodies entering the brain. Intracranial complications can include intracerebral hematoma, cerebral contusion, intraventricular hemorrhage, pneumocephalus, brain stem injury, and carotid cavernous sinus fistula. This is the first report of a transorbital penetrating intracranial injury caused by a Sheppard’s hook, which was managed utilizing a multi-disciplinary, non-operative approach.
Better choices than optical angular momentum multiplexing for communications

Using optical angular momentum (OAM) beams, Shi et al. (1) demonstrate multiple acoustic channels between arrays of sources and detection points. Even better channels with fewer resources are, however, possible. OAM is not an additional degree of freedom beyond normal spatial multiplexing; using only the OAM “topological charge,” l particularly limits the possible spatial channels, with no obvious advantage (2). Spatial multiplexing in optics is well known (see ref. 3 for a history). For continuous source and receiver functions on circular or rectangular surfaces, prolate spheroidal functions are optimal (3, 4). For arbitrary problems (3), the singular-value decomposition (SVD) of the coupling operator G between the source and receiver spaces gives the optimum orthogonal channels or “communications modes,” with a sum rule (and generalized diffraction limit) S = Tr ( G † G ) for the channel coupling strengths. Such truly … [↵][1]1Email: dabm{at}ee.stanford.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Do flexible work schedules reduce turnover in U.S. federal agencies

Abstract Agency theory suggests that when agencies adopt flexible work schedules, employees will be more likely to remain with the organization, because these programs demonstrate that the organization cares about their well-being in that flexible work schedules give them more flexibility regarding when, where, and how they perform their work. To test this proposition, cross-sectional panel data at the agency level were obtained from two federal government sources: Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and FedScope. Furthermore, transfers and quits were the two forms of turnover examined. After lagging the independent variables behind turnover over several years so as to provide a robust test of causality, the results show only limited support for agency theory. Specifically, teleworking was found to lower quits. However, teleworking was not found to reduce transfers or turnover, in general. Furthermore, alternative work schedules were not found to have an impact on quits, transfers, or turnover generally.
Catching a Wave: The Hypnosis-Sensitive Transference-Based Treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

In this article, I will describe the way in which I work with enactment-prone dissociative patients in the transference. This approach requires an appreciation of the phenomena of hypnosis and the auto-hypnotic aspects of some forms of dissociation. Essentially, I learn from the patient and my interactions with the patient how hypnotic phenomena and auto-hypnotic defenses manifest themselves in the therapeutic relationship in order both to understand them and ultimately to bring them under conscious control. Because of the fluidity and turbulence of these states, I use the analogy of catching a wave, in which timing and balance are essential, albeit elusive factors in effecting a successful treatment. The importance of having experience with many patients, attending conferences, seeking supervision, and undergoing one’s own therapy will be also discussed as important prerequisites for the clinician endeavoring to utilize this type of approach. This preparation, this quest for such a “balance,” is modeled ...
Cyber defense through hardware security

We will review cyber-security, and chart a course for the future. To understand the problems of cyber security is to know the risks and the fundamental issues encompassing it. Today, the internet and computers have no boundaries. Data is available locally, remotely, and distributed in the cloud. Connectivity, and sharing across software applications has caused a super-exponential growth in the number of possible ways to exploit systems. There is a great need for seamless cybersecurity protection covering: prevention, identification, and defense against attacks. We need cybersecurity that is simple to use, has low overhead, and really works. We believe the future of cybersecurity is at the hardware level. There are no boundaries to cybersecurity. Cyber attackers, intruders, pranksters, and malicious users can be external, internal, local, next door, or on the other side of the world. The attacker’s goal is to exploit a weakness, remain anonymous, and take advantage of stolen information. Risks are many covering simple to define to beyond the state-of-the art to understand. Traditional attack paths include viruses (malicious code hidden in software), worms (automatically selfpropagate), and Trojan horses (create remote back doors for attackers). More recent attack paths are taking advantage of hardware assisted virtualization, and hardware assisted virtual machines. The New Year 2018 brought, new information leakage attacks called Spectre [3] and Meldown [4]. Malicious code can combine viruses, worms, Trojan horses, scripts, et al. to attack multiple, cross-platform systems. For future cyber security, we need simple cyber mechanism(s) amicable to machine generated formal proofs for the whole system (including hardware and software). We present research directions for the future.
Words Become Worlds: The LIT ROOM, a Literacy Support Tool at Room-Scale

Illiteracy is a global problem impacting the growth and development of individuals and society. Studies indicate that picturebook reading within a facilitated storytime setting is an important tool for children's language acquisition. In the research reported here, we hypothesized that literacy, in an increasingly digital society, can be cultivated in a robot-embedded environment that is physical, digital and evocative of the picturebook being read. Words become worlds. To test our hypothesis, we designed, prototyped, and implemented the LIT ROOM, a cyber-physical room for literacy. As a Research through Design [RtD] exemplar for interactive systems at habitable scale, the LIT ROOM featured a multi-phase, iterative process of design and evaluation for usability and efficacy. Evaluations with 35 children and 6 librarians in a public library serving a population with grave literacy challenges suggest that our reconfigurable learning environment facilitates a diversity of children's literary responses during the dialogical reading of picturebooks.
Spanking and Other Corporal Punishment of Children by Parents: Undervaluing Children, Overvaluing Pain

For generations, parents have viewed spanking and slapping as important, though perhaps regrettable, methods of discipline for ensuring the appropriate social development of their children. As the proverbial dictum warns, to spare the rod is to spoil the child. To be sure, some parents abjure corporal punishment entirely, and other parents employ it as an infrequent and last resort, but corporal punishment of children has wide and deep roots in American society.This broad social imprimatur of corporal punishment is reflected in the law. Court decisions regularly show a good deal of tolerance for corporal punishment of children. Indeed, in the absence of significant bruising or worse, corporal punishment by parents does not run afoul of prohibitions against child abuse.Yet when we compare the legal acceptability of corporal punishment with the view of medical and other experts in child rearing and family violence, we see a substantial gap. Child-rearing experts are far less tolerant of corporal punishment than is the law. In the view of professionals in the field, corporal punishment has serious disadvantages, and its advantages can be achieved through less harmful, alternative means of discipline. Accordingly, experts see little, if any, role for corporal punishment in child rearing.This gap between the law and professional expertise needs to be explained. Why does the law permit much more corporal punishment than can be justified in terms of the purposes of discipline? The gap might reflect a distrust of professional expertise, but, in other areas of the law, particularly medical malpractice, the legal standard expressly incorporates a deference to professional expertise. The gap might also reflect some important legal principle, but consideration of legal principle indicates that this explanation is not adequate either. In this Article, I argue that the legal-professional disjunction reflects a combination of our society's views about pain and about children--we overvalue pain, and we undervalue children.
Microstructure and Stress Dependence of the Magnetic Properties of Steels

This paper is concerned with recent investigations of the effects of both microstructure and stress on the magnetic properties of steels. In particular the paper focuses on how the changes in material condition due to differences in microstructure and stress lead to changes in magnetic NDE measurements using techniques such as Barkhausen effect sensors, magneto acoustic emission sensors, hysteresis and the magnetoelastic (magnetically induced velocity change) method.
Pediatric Solid Tumors in Children and Adolescents: An Overview.

1. Wendy Allen-Rhoades, MD* 2. Sarah B. Whittle, MD, MS* 3. Nino Rainusso, MD* 1. *Department of Pediatrics, Section of Hematology-Oncology, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Centers, Houston, TX * Abbreviations: 131I: : iodine 131 AFP: : α-fetoprotein β-HCG: : β-human chorionic gonadotropin CT: : computed tomography EWS: : Ewing sarcoma GCT: : germ cell tumor MRI: : magnetic resonance imaging OS: : osteosarcoma PTC: : papillary thyroid cancer SNL: : sentinel lymph node XP: : xeroderma pigmentosum Pediatricians should recognize the role of age, genetic conditions, and environmental exposures in the development of malignant solid tumors in children and adolescents. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Identify the signs and symptoms of extracranial germ cell tumors, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, thyroid cancer, and melanoma in pediatric patients. 2. Identify the genetic conditions and environmental exposures associated with different cancer types in adolescents. 3. Recognize general aspects of the multidisciplinary treatment approach in patients with extracranial germ cell tumors, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, thyroid cancer, and melanoma. Although hematologic and central nervous system malignancies continue to be the most common cancers in adolescents, extracranial malignant solid tumors represent, as a group, 52% of cancers in patients in the 15- to 19-year-old age group (Fig 1). The tumor distribution of malignant pediatric solid tumors in adolescents is different compared with that of younger children, in whom embryonal or developmental cancers, such as retinoblastoma, neuroblastoma, or hepatoblastoma, are more prevalent. The most common malignant solid tumors in adolescents are extracranial germ cell tumors (GCTs), bone and soft tissue sarcomas, melanoma, and thyroid cancer. The diagnosis and treatment of adolescents with cancer also have particular challenges related to patient age, such as adherence to therapy, need for psychological support, concerns about body image, and fertility preservation. In this review, we offer a general description of the clinical presentation and treatment of the most common malignant pediatric solid tumors in adolescents. Figure 1. Distribution of pediatric cancers in adolescents aged …
Changes in Provider Treatment Patterns for Dupuytren's Contracture: Analysis of Trends in Medicare Beneficiaries.

Background Collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) injection has been shown to be a safe and effective treatment option for Dupuytren's contracture. We hypothesize that the gaining popularity of CCH has resulted in a change in treatment patterns among providers, with increased utilization of CCH injections in the management of Dupuytren's contracture from 2012 to 2014. Methods The Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data Public Use Files were used to identify all surgeons who submitted claims for surgical fasciectomy, needle aponeurotomy (NA), and CCH injection. The data were analyzed for number of providers performing the procedures, number of procedures per provider, and location of practice. Results From 2012 to 2014, the number of providers performing more than 10 open fasciectomies decreased from 141 to 131. In the same time, the number of providers performing more than 10 NAs increased from 63 to 70 with mean procedures per provider decreasing from 35 to 21. In contrast, the number of providers performing more than 10 CCH injections increased from 72 to 112, with mean injections per provider going from 24 to 20. The total number of injections performed increased from 1,734 to 2,220 from 2012 to 2014. The largest increase in number of injections and number of providers performing injections occurred in the South. Conclusions The introduction of collagenase has changed treatment patterns with more providers treating Dupuytren's contractures with CCH injections and a statistically significant decline in the number of NA procedures per provider.
Letter from the Editor: Registered Reports in Discourse Processes

Dear Readers,Discourse Processes is now considering submissions of registered reports, with this issue containing the first such published report for the journal. Registered reports involve peer re...
Trends in Trust in the Sources of Health Information on E-Cigarettes Among US Adults, 2015-2017.

Objectives. To evaluate recent levels and trends in trust in sources of health information on e-cigarettes in the United States.Methods. We obtained data from nationally representative samples of a...
Histogram-Free Reweighting with Grand Canonical MonteCarlo: Post-simulation Optimization of Non-bonded Potentials for PhaseEquilibria

Histogram reweighting (HR) is a standard approach for converting grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation output into vapor–liquid coexistence properties (saturated liquid density, ρliqsat, sa...
Feel-It: Personalized Audio-Tactile Web Browsing

Web browsing is a tedious exploratory process for blind people who have to primarily rely on the screen reader's keyboard shortcuts or gestures and the serial audio readout of the textual content to navigate web pages. In contrast, sighted users can review the 2D structure of the page and use the mouse or touch he screen to focus on any part of the page. In this paper, we describe the Feel-It system for audio-tactile web browsing. Feel-It uses a combination of hardware and software to provide a usable personalized web browsing experience for blind computer users.
A Toolkit for Prototyping Tabletop-Centric Cross-Device Interaction

Different types of devices are used in our daily lives, and each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Cross-device interaction that involves multiple devices can potentially overcome each...
Reliability of single-subject neural activation patterns across speech production tasks

Speech neuroimaging research targeting individual speakers could help elucidate differences that may be crucial to understanding speech disorders. However, this research necessitates reliable brain activation across multiple speech production sessions. In the present study, we evaluated the reliability of speech-related brain activity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging data from twenty neuro-typical subjects who participated in two experiments involving reading aloud simple speech stimuli. Using traditional methods like the Dice and intraclass correlation coefficients, we found that most individuals displayed moderate to high reliability. We also found that a novel machine-learning subject classifier could identify these individuals by their speech activation patterns with 97% accuracy from among a dataset of seventy-five subjects. These results suggest that single-subject speech research would yield valid results and that investigations into the reliability of speech activation in people with speech disorders are warranted.
Trisomy of group C in a myeloproliferative disorder. Report of case.

A patient with an atypical myeloproliferative syndrome characterized by leukocytosis with myeloid immaturity, ineffective extramedullary erythropoiesis, overt hemolysis and low leukocyte alkaline phosphatase activity demonstrated a trisomy in the C group of bone marrow metaphase chromosomes.
Safer Elections, Women Turnout, and Political Outcomes

This paper measures the effects of improving security at the polling booths in a significant state election in India. Using a novel dataset on voting and political outcomes at the booth-level and a regression discontinuity design, I find that the women share in total turnout is higher by 1.4 percentage points in the booths with a greater probability of treatment. Additionally, there are effects on political outcomes. In particular, the incumbent party, corrupt candidates lose, whereas the educated candidates gain vote shares, as a result of poll-booth safety. Overall, the evidence suggests that improving safety in elections has consequences for the political-economic equilibrium.
Obesity: A social and public policy perspective

Abstract Obesity is one of the most common chronic conditions that clinicians encounter, and it is associated with many comorbidities. Many factors contribute to the development of obesity in any one individual. These include both forces within the individual’s control and macrolevel forces outside the individual’s control. The macrolevel forces include influences at the interpersonal, organizational, community, and society levels. Appreciating these many influences may help clinicians approach patients with obesity without bias or judgment, recognize the challenges they face, and treat them with respect.
MANAGEMENT OF ENDOCRINE DISEASE: Bone complications of bariatric surgery: updates on sleeve gastrectomy, fractures, and interventions

Despite well recognized improvements in obesity-related comorbidities, increasing evidence implicates bariatric surgery in the onset of adverse skeletal health outcomes. The purpose of this review is to provide a focused update in three critical areas: (i) emergent data on sleeve gastrectomy and bone loss, (ii) evidence linking bariatric surgery to incident fracture, and (iii) intervention strategies designed to mitigate surgical bone loss. Better understanding of these issues will inform our treatment of skeletal health for patients planning bariatric surgery.
A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Quality of YouTube Videos as a Source of Patient Education for Treatments on Psoriasis:

Background:YouTube is currently the second most popular website in the world, with over 1 billion hours watched each day. Unlike peer-reviewed journals, there is no process to ensure the quality of...
A Demonstration of Interactive Exploration of Big Geospatial Data on UCR-Star

The ever rising volume of geospatial data is undeniable. So is the need to explore and analyze these datasets. However, these datasets vary widely in their size, coverage, and accuracy. Therefore, users need to assess these aspects of the data to choose the right dataset to use in their analysis. Unfortunately, all the publicly available repositories for geospatial datasets provide a list of datasets with some information about them with no way to explore the datasets beforehand. Through this demonstration, we propose the repository, UCR-Star, that is capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of geospatial datasets that a user can explore visually to judge their quality before even downloading them. This demo provides a deeper dive into the core engine behind UCR-Star. It provides a web interface geared towards database researchers to understand how the index internally works. It provides a comparison interface where the attendees can see side-by-side how two versions of the system work with the ability to customize each of them separately. Finally, the interface reports the response time of the indexes for a quantitative comparison.
Further development and testing of TCal: a mobile spectrophotometric calibration unit for astronomical imaging systems

We describe and present initial testing of TCal, a mobile spectrophotometric calibration system that will be used to characterize the throughput as a function of wavelength for imaging systems at observatories around the world. TCal measurements will enhance the science return from follow-up observations of imaging surveys such as LSST (Large Synoptic Survey Telescope) and DES (Dark Energy Survey) by placing all tested imaging systems on a common photometric baseline. TCal uses a ~ 1 nm bandpass tunable light source to measure the instrumental response function of imaging systems from 300 nm to 1100 nm, including the telescope, optics, filters, windows, and detector. The system is comprised of a monochromator-based light source illuminating a dome flat field screen monitored by a calibrated CCD, which allows determination of the telescope throughput as a function of wavelength. This calibration will be performed at 1-8m telescopes that expect to devote time towards survey follow-up. Performing the calibration on these telescopes will reduce systematic errors due to small differences in bandpass, making follow-up efforts more precise and accurate.
Determining a Need for Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Transport

Abstract Objective Point-of care-ultrasound (PoCUS) is useful in evaluating unstable emergency department patients. The portability of this technology increases its potential use in prehospital settings, including helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) programs. Identifying useful applications may support implementing a PoCUS program that develops sonography skills for prehospital providers. The aim of this study was to determine the HEMS patient population that would benefit from prehospital PoCUS for hypotension and how commonly the extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma (E-FAST) for trauma patients or the rapid ultrasound in shock (RUSH) for medical patients could be used by HEMS. Methods A retrospective chart review was performed over a 1-year period of adult patients transported by a midwestern HEMS system. Charts were reviewed for episodes of hypotension. Results The chart review included 216 charts, of which 3 were excluded. Of the 213 cases, 100 were trauma patients, and 113 were medical patients. Of the trauma patients, 51% experienced hypotension, as did 73 of 113 medical patients. Conclusion Fifty percent of HEMS patients may benefit from PoCUS to evaluate for hypotension in flight.
Forced Convection of a Power-Law Fluid in a Porous ChannelIntegral Solutions

A detailed numerical study of laminar forced convection in a porous channel which contains a fibrous medium saturated with a power-law fluid was performed. Hydrodynamic and heat transfer results are presented for a configuration that has uniform heat flux or uniform temperature heating at the walls. The flow in the porous medium was modeled using the modified Brinkman-Forchheimer-extended Darcy model for power law fluids in which the non-Darcy effects of inertia and boundary were considered. Parametric studies were conducted to examine the effects of Darcy number, power law index, inertia parameter and Prandtl number. The results indicate that when the power law index is decreased, the velocity gradient near the walls increases but these effects are reduced gradually as the Darcy number decreases until the Darcy regime (Da≤10−6) is reached in which case the effects of power law index become negligible. As the power law index is decreased, the thermal boundary layer thickness decreases significantly only in the non-Darcy regime. Consequently, as the power law index decreases, the fully developed Nusselt number increases considerably in the non-Darcy regime whereas in the Darcy regime the change in Nusselt number is very small. As the Prandtl number increases, the local Nusselt number increases and this effect is more significant for shear thinning fluids (n<1.0).
Readability of Online Hand Surgery Patient Educational Materials: Evaluating the Trend Since 2008.

Purpose Online patient educational materials have historically been written at a higher-than-recommended sixth grade reading level. The objectives of this study were to assess the readability of online hand surgery patient educational materials from the official online patient resource website of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) and to compare changes in the readability of the current ASSH online patient educational materials with those in 2008 and 2015. Methods An internet-based study of all 88 English language patient educational materials on HandCare.org , the official online patient resource website of the ASSH, was performed. The readability of each article was assessed using the Flesch reading ease formula, Flesch-Kincaid grade level, Coleman-Liau index, Gunning-Fog index, and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook grade level. To evaluate the trend in the readability of ASSH online hand surgery patient educational materials, the Flesch-Kincaid grade levels of articles published in 2020 were compared with those of data published in 2008 and 2015. Results The average Flesch reading ease score of the patient educational materials was 57.6, which is at the high-school reading level. The average reading grade level of patient educational materials ranged from 9.0 to 12.3 depending on the readability metric used. The average Flesch-Kincaid grade level of all the ASSH patient educational materials was 9.8 in 2020, which is significantly better than 10.4 in 2008 but significantly worse than 8.5 in 2015. Conclusions Online hand surgery patient educational materials continue to be written for the general public at a higher-than-recommended reading grade level. There has been no substantial improvement in the readability of online hand surgery patient educational materials since 2008. Clinical relevance Improvements are needed in the readability of online patient educational materials to ensure that patients with all health literacy levels are able to comprehend and benefit from health information.
A Database of Quantum Codes.

Quantum error correcting codes (QECC) is becoming an increasingly important branch of coding theory. For classical block codes, a \href{this http URL} {comprehensive database of best known codes} exists which is available online at \cite{codetables}. The same database contains data on best known quantum codes as well, but only for the binary field. There has been an increased interest in quantum codes over larger fields with many papers reporting such codes in the literature. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no database of best known quantum codes for most fields. We established a new database of QECC that includes codes over $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ for $q\leq 29$. We also present several methods of constructing quantum codes from classical codes based on the CSS construction. We have found dozens of new quantum codes that improve the previously known parameters and also hundreds new quantum codes that did not exist in the literature.
Estimating Test-Score Growth for Schools and Districts With a Gap Year in the Data

We evaluate the feasibility of estimating test-score growth for schools and districts with a gap year in test data. Our research design uses a simulated gap year in testing when a true test gap did...
Changes in Reactive Oxygen Species, Antioxidants and Carbohydrate Metabolism in Relation to Dormancy Transition and Bud Break in Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh) Cultivars.

Understanding the biochemical mechanisms underlying bud dormancy and bloom time regulation in deciduous woody perennials is critical for devising effective strategies to protect these species from spring frost damage. This study investigated the accumulation profiles of carbohydrates, ROS and antioxidants during dormancy in ‘Cripps Pink’ and ‘Honeycrisp’, two apple cultivars representing the early and late bloom cultivars, respectively. Our data showed that starch levels generally declined during dormancy, whereas soluble sugars increased. However, the present study did not record significant alternations in the carbohydrate accumulation profiles between the two cultivars that could account for the differences in their bloom dates. On the other hand, H2O2 accumulation patterns revealed an apparent correlation with the dormancy stage and bloom dates in both cultivars; peaking early in the early-blooming cultivar, sustaining high levels for a longer time in the late-blooming cultivars, and fading by the time of bud burst in both cultivars. Also, the redox balance during dormancy appeared to be maintained mainly by catalase and, to a lesser extent, by glutathione (GSH). Overall, the present study concludes that differences in ROS and the bud redox balance could, at least partially, explain the differences in dormancy duration and bloom date among apple cultivars.
Improving the Toolbox to Manage Phytophthora Diseases of Strawberry: Searching for Chemical Alternatives

Florida strawberry production is affected by two economically important Phytophthora diseases, Phytophthora crown rot (PhCR) and leather rot (LR), caused primarily by Phytophthora cactorum and P. n...
Scalability Problems in Multiprocessors with Private Caches

This paper addresses the performance problems caused by high memory access latencies and their effect on the scalability of shared-memory multiprocessor systems. We propose to take full advantage of weak ordering through lockup-free caches and delayed consistency protocols and to interconnect processors with point-to-point links. Simulation results show that these approaches are promising.
RISK, MARRIAGE, AND NEOLIBERAL GOVERNANCE: Learning from the Unwillingly Excluded

Drawing from my ethnography of one prominent same-sex marriage rights organization, I consider how activists' appropriation of a risk-based political rationality blends utilitarian claims for equal access to self-governance with moral assertions that posit the conjugal couple as a superior context for governing problems endemic to populations. When constructed according to risk-based rationalities, marriage operates as a compulsory system that orients subjects to neoliberalism by promising to decrease danger for all of the “gay community,” not just same-sex couples who marry. Articulating marriage according to a risk-based political rationality yields a sense of urgency that makes nonconjugal intimacies and alternatives to a neoliberal ethic of care appear untenable. I add to the literature on governmentality by utilizing qualitative methods that uniquely capture the diffusion of governance from experts to social activists who are unwillingly excluded from a form of neoliberal governance.
A Meta-Analysis of the Reliability of Free and For-Pay Big Five Scales

The present study meta-analytically compared coefficient alpha reliabilities reported for free and for-pay Big Five scales. We collected 288 studies from five previous meta-analyses of Big Five traits and harvested 1,317 alphas from these studies. We found that free and for-pay scales measuring Big Five traits possessed comparable reliabilities. However, after we controlled for the numbers of items in the scales with the Spearman-Brown formula, we found that free scales possessed significantly higher alpha coefficients than for-pay scales for each of the Big Five traits. Thus, the study offers initial evidence that Big Five scales that are free more efficiently measure these traits for research purposes than do for-pay scales.
Two-dimensional MHD calculations of a liner compressed MTF plasma

Summary form only given, as follows. Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is a generalized scheme for attaining burning plasma conditions by feeding power into a dense plasma by means of a fast liner implosion, at a rate faster than thermal transport diffuses it to the walls. The magnetic field is critical to inhibit these thermal losses, but it is neither intended nor needed to provide steady plasma confinement. Two-dimensional MHD calculations have been used previously to follow the highly transient process of injection of dense plasma into a chamber and the subsequent relaxation and decay of this plasma. Those calculations were sufficiently promising that more complete simulations are being performed to track the time-dependent evolution of the target plasma during liner implosion of the configuration. Zero-dimension studies show strong islands in parameter-space for which fusion conditions can be obtained. Initial conditions of hydrogenic plasma density, 10/sup +18/ cm/sup -3/, ion temperature, 100 eV, and initial magnetic fields of 5-30 T are typical for such islands. The issues we are attempting to elucidate with 2-D MHD calculations are the convective stability of the plasma-wall interface, wall heating and migration of cold wall material into the hot, dense plasma, and ultimately the state of the full plasma system after a radial compression ratio of 10:1. Both the static chamber walls and the imploding wall (the liner) are treated with realistic Equations of state and electrical conductivities. The liner implosion is driven by either existing pulsed power sources such as ATLAS or Disk Electromagnetic Generators (DEMG), or by conservative extrapolation of such sources. Liner stability during closure of the chamber flux/plasma input gap by the imploding wall is also studied. Previous studies have indicated that densities in excess of 10/sup +20/ cm/sup -3/ can be achieved, along with temperatures greater than 1 keV.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis and Deoxynucleotide Metabolism During Bacterial Spore Germination

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis during germination of Bacillus megaterium spores takes place in two stages. In stage I (0-55 min) DNA synthesis is slow and there is no detectable net synthesis, whereas in stage II (from 55 min on) the rate of synthesis is much faster and net DNA synthesis occurs. Deoxyribonucleotide pool sizes match the rates of DNA synthesis in stages I and II. The level of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates is not correlated with the level of deoxyribonucleotide kinases, but rather with that of ribonucleotide reductase activity.
The Conditional Analysis of Freedom

This is well said. But many philosophers do not see it that way. It is an uncomfortable view to take. It means that a fundamental assumption of our practical life — that we are continually free to determine which of several alternative courses events will take — is not known to be true, since determinism — the thesis that the entire state of the universe at any given time can be deduced from its state at any earlier time and the laws of nature — is not known to be false. It is not surprising that many philosophers believe that this assumption must be compatible with determinism. Many of them have hoped to make a convincing case for this compatibility by giving an analysis of what it means to say that a person could have brought about what in fact that person did not bring about. At least they have hoped to spell out a proposition that will necessarily be the same in truth-value as this one and also be clearly compatible with determinism.
Lecithin:Retinol Acyltransferase Expression Is Regulated by Dietary Vitamin A and Exogenous Retinoic Acid in the Lung of Adult Rats

Lecithin:retinol acyltransferase (LRAT), a retinol esterifying enzyme, plays a major role in the metabolism and storage of vitamin A in several animal tissues. Groups of vitamin A (VA)-adequate (control) and VA-deficient rats were treated with vehicle or 5 mg of all-trans-retinoic acid (RA); an additional group of VA-deficient rats were fed 100 microg of RA. In control rats, lung LRAT mRNA and LRAT specific activity were approximately 50% of the levels expressed in the liver. In the lung of VA-deficient rats, LRAT mRNA and specific activity levels were <10% of those in the control group. Treatment of VA-deficient rats with 100 microg RA increased lung LRAT mRNA (P < 0.005) and specific activity (P < 0.0001), and treatment with 5 mg of RA increased LRAT mRNA level and specific activity more than approximately 15- and 6-fold above those in control lung, respectively (both P < or = 0.001). The lung tissue of VA-adequate rats contained retinyl ester (approximately 3 nmol/g tissue), whereas none was detected in the lung tissue of VA-deficient rats. These results show that LRAT expression and vitamin A storage are regulated by vitamin A status and by treatment with all-trans-RA in the adult lung. These results suggest that the regulated storage of vitamin A may be important for maintaining the integrity and physiologic functions of the lung.
Pleuritis and Pleural Plaque

Pleuritis is a reactive process that may or may not include inflammatory cell infiltrates. In the typical frozen section, the patho­logist may see fibrinous exudates on the pleural surface (fibrinous pleuritis), organization of the fibrin by granulation tissue (organizing pleuritis), or maturing or mature connective tissue (fibrous pleuritis). Causes of fibrinous and fibrous pleuritis are listed in Table 4.1. In combination with any of these findings, or as a dominant finding, the pathologist may see lymphocytes, lymphoid aggregates and plasma cells (chronic pleuritis - see Table 4.1), eosinophils (eosinophilic pleuritis - see Table 4.2), or granulomas (granulomatous pleuritis - see Table 4.3). Eosinophilic pleuritis is often the result of air and/or blood in the pleura from any etiology and is commonly seen in specimens from patients with pneumothorax and/or hemothorax with a wide range of causes. Bacterial infections may produce empyema with neutrophils and leukocytoclastic necrosis with basophilic debris (Figs. 4.1-4.4).
Raman lidar techniques for air pollution measurements

Raman lidar has been demonstrated to provide vertical profiles of several of the key parameters needed for investigations of air quality. The time sequence of atmospheric profiles is most valuable for understanding the meteorological processes controlling the evolution of events and exposure associated with air pollution. The vibrational and rotational Raman lidar signals provide simultaneous profiles of meteorological data, ozone and measurements of airborne particulate matter. An operational prototype Raman lidar instrument makes use of 2nd and 4th harmonic generated laser beams of a Nd:YAG laser to provide both daytime and nighttime measurements. The Raman scatter signals from vibrational states of water vapor and nitrogen provide robust profiles of the specific humidity in the lower atmosphere. The temperature profiles are measured using the ratio of rotational Raman signals at 530 and 528 nm from the 532 nm beam of the Nd:YAG laser. In addition, the optical extinction profiles can be determined from the measured gradients in each of several molecular species scattering profiles compared to the molecular scale height. Wavelengths at 284 nm, 530 nm and 607 nm have been used routinely to determine profiles of optical extinction. The ozone profiles in the lower troposphere are measured using a DIAL analysis of the ratio of the vibrational Raman signals for nitrogen (284 nm) and oxygen (278 nm), which are on the steep side of the Hartley band of ozone. Examples from several data sets are used to demonstrate the utility of Raman lidar to describe the evolution of air pollution events. The examples presented have been selected to show the new level of understanding of air pollution events that is being gained from applications of lidar techniques.
Improving needed food intake of profoundly handicapped children through effective supervision of institutional staff

Abstract This study evaluated a program to increase the prescribed food intake of two profoundly mentally retarded children by improving institutional staff performance. Both children were dependent on staff for food intake because of multiple physical disabilities which prohibited self-feeding. The supervision program, consisting of a brief inservice followed by a series of supervisory prompts, supervisory feedback, and staff self-recording was implemented with 11 staff. Using a multiple baseline design, the program appeared effective in increasing the intake of targeted food categories for both children at supper and lunch. Each time the supervision program was implemented across food categories and children, intake increased for meals fed by an average of over 85% of the participating staff members. Although the amount of time necessary to feed the children increased somewhat, a staff acceptability survey indicated that, overall, staff viewed the various procedures of the supervisory program as very helpful and well-liked. However, some acceptability differences were noted across the procedures. Results were discussed in light of the need for effective yet practical staff management procedures, as well as procedures that are well received by staff members. Considerations for future research on the eating difficulties of the multihandicapped mentally retarded were also provided.