Deaf readers may have larger perceptual spans than ability-matched hearing native English readers, allowing them to read more efficiently (Belanger & Rayner, 2015). To further test the hypothesis that deaf and hearing readers have different perceptual spans, the current study uses eye-movement data from two experiments in which deaf American Sign Language–English bilinguals, hearing native English speakers, and hearing Chinese–English bilinguals read semantically unrelated sentences and answered comprehension questions after a proportion of them. We analyzed skip rates, fixation times, and accuracy on comprehension questions. In addition, we analyzed how lexical properties of words affected skipping behavior and fixation durations. Deaf readers skipped words more often than native English speakers, who skipped words more often than Chinese–English bilinguals. Deaf readers had shorter first-pass fixation times than the other two groups. All groups’ skipping behaviors were affected by lexical frequency. Deaf readers’ comprehension did not differ from hearing Chinese–English bilinguals, despite greater skipping and shorter fixation times. Overall, the eye-tracking findings align with Belanger’s word processing efficiency hypothesis. Effects of lexical frequency on skipping behavior indicated further that eye movements during reading remain under cognitive control in deaf readers.

Mobile devices with health apps, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, crowd-sourced information, and other data sources have enabled research by new classes of researchers. Independent researchers, citizen scientists, patient-directed researchers, self-experimenters, and others are not covered by federal research regulations because they are not recipients of federal financial assistance or conducting research in anticipation of a submission to the FDA for approval of a new drug or medical device. This article addresses the difficult policy challenge of promoting the welfare and interests of research participants, as well as the public, in the absence of regulatory requirements and without discouraging independent, innovative scientific inquiry. The article recommends a series of measures, including education, consultation, transparency, self-governance, and regulation to strike the appropriate balance.

Background: Measurement of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) competency is often resource intensive. A popular emerging alternative to independent observers’ ratings is using other perspectives for rating competency. Aims: This pilot study compared ratings of CBT competency from four perspectives – patient, therapist, supervisor and independent observer using the Cognitive Therapy Scale (CTS). Method: Patients (n = 12, 75% female, mean age 30.5 years) and therapists (n = 5, female, mean age 26.6 years) completed the CTS after therapy sessions, and clinical supervisor and independent observers rated recordings of the same session. Results: Analyses of variance revealed that therapist average CTS competency ratings were not different from supervisor ratings, and supervisor ratings were not different from independent observer ratings; however, therapist ratings were higher than independent observer ratings and patient ratings were higher than all other raters. Conclusions: Raters differed in competency ratings. Implications for potential use and adaptation of CBT competency measurement methods to enhance training and implementation are discussed.

Anomalous aortic origin of the coronary arteries is associated with exercise-induced ischaemia, leading some physicians to restrict exercise in patients with this condition. We sought to determine whether exercise restriction was associated with increasing body mass index over time. From 1998 to 2015, 440 patients ⩽30 years old were enrolled into an inception cohort. Exercise-restriction status was documented in 143 patients. Using linear mixed model repeated-measures regression, factors associated with increasing body mass index z-score over time, including exercise restriction and surgical intervention as time-varying covariates, were investigated. The 143 patients attended 558 clinic visits for which exercise-restriction status was recorded. The mean number of clinic visits per patient was 4, and the median duration of follow-up was 1.7 years (interquartile range (IQR) 0.5–4.4). The median age at first clinic visit was 10.3 years (IQR 7.1–13.9), and 71% (101/143) were males. All patients were alive at their most recent follow-up. At the first clinic visit, 54% (78/143) were exercise restricted, and restriction status changed in 34% (48/143) during follow-up. The median baseline body mass index z-score was 0.2 (IQR 0.3–0.9). In repeated-measures analysis, neither time-related exercise restriction nor its interaction with time was associated with increasing body mass index z-score. Surgical intervention and its interaction with time were associated with decreasing body mass index z-score. Although exercise restriction was not associated with increasing body mass index over time, surgical intervention was associated with decreasing body mass index z-score over time in patients with anomalous aortic origin of the coronary arteries.

We describe the performance of the Boolardy Engineering Test Array, the prototype for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. Boolardy Engineering Test Array is the first aperture synthesis radio telescope to use phased array feed technology, giving it the ability to electronically form up to nine dual-polarisation beams. We report the methods developed for forming and measuring the beams, and the adaptations that have been made to the traditional calibration and imaging procedures in order to allow BETA to function as a multi-beam aperture synthesis telescope. We describe the commissioning of the instrument and present details of Boolardy Engineering Test Array’s performance: sensitivity, beam characteristics, polarimetric properties, and image quality. We summarise the astronomical science that it has produced and draw lessons from operating Boolardy Engineering Test Array that will be relevant to the commissioning and operation of the final Australian Square Kilometre Array Path telescope.

This paper describes the system architecture of a newly constructed radio telescope – the Boolardy engineering test array, which is a prototype of the Australian square kilometre array pathfinder telescope. Phased array feed technology is used to form multiple simultaneous beams per antenna, providing astronomers with unprecedented survey speed. The test array described here is a six-antenna interferometer, fitted with prototype signal processing hardware capable of forming at least nine dual-polarisation beams simultaneously, allowing several square degrees to be imaged in a single pointed observation. The main purpose of the test array is to develop beamforming and wide-field calibration methods for use with the full telescope, but it will also be capable of limited early science demonstrations.

We report a case of two brothers with Marfan syndrome and coexistent anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery from the wrong sinus of Valsalva. To our knowledge, this is the first ever report of siblings with Marfan syndrome who also have anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery. The treatment and management options in the context of sudden death risk are discussed.

This new architectural class of macromolecules has received substantial attention during the past decade. Three dendritic subclasses, which include (a) random hyperbranched (i.e., one-pot ABx, polymerizations), (b) dendritic grafted (i.e., Combburst® polymers) and (c) regular dendrons/dendrimers (e.g., Starburst® dendrimers) have been synthesized and characterized at a well-defined level in our laboratory. It is clear that their precisely controlled, nanoscale dimensions and architecture play critical roles in influencing physical properties and performance characteristics. Furthermore, these parameters have also distinguished dendrimers as fundamental modules for many nanotechnology applications, as well as for the construction of a new class of larger nanoscale entities which we have termed core-shell tecto(dendrimers). This account will overview these activities and focus on certain unique de Gennes dense packing (or congestion phenomena) and nanoscale container properties that have emerged from this novel architecture.

Ab initio Hartree-Fock and second-order Möller-Plesset theory calculations have been performed to investigate the stability of triply-coordinated 0+ centers in the Si-O-Si network of amorphous SiO2. The calculations reveal that the H+ ion binds with a bridging O center to form a very stable (De > 6 eV) trivalent O complex. Capture of an electron by the positively charged protonated complex, however, is predicted to immediately lead to the dissociation of the O-H bond. A relatively weaker, but stable bond is also formed between the bridging O atom and a +SiH3 ion.