A Mathematical Approach to the Study of the United States Code

The United States Code (Code) is a document containing over 22 million words that represents a large and important source of Federal statutory law. Scholars and policy advocates often discuss the direction and magnitude of changes in various aspects of the Code. However, few have mathematically formalized the notions behind these discussions or directly measured the resulting representations. This paper addresses the current state of the literature in two ways. First, we formalize a representation of the United States Code as the union of a hierarchical network and a citation network over vertices containing the language of the Code. This representation reflects the fact that the Code is a hierarchically organized document containing language and explicit citations between provisions. Second, we use this formalization to measure aspects of the Code as codified in October 2008, November 2009, and March 2010. These measurements allow for a characterization of the actual changes in the Code over time. Our findings indicate that in the recent past, the Code has grown in its amount of structure, interdependence, and language.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

Professional Learning Communities: A Case Study of the Implementation of PLCs at an Elementary School Based on Huffman and Hipp\u27s Five Dimensions and Critical Attributes

The purpose of this case study was to examine the change in perceptions of instructional staff in regards to five dimensions as it proceeded in establishing a professional learning community. The researcher utilized focused interview sessions, group interview questionnaires, and Huffman and Hipp\u27s Professional Learning Survey to determine how the staff perceived the implementation of professional learning communities. The findings of this study will help the school of study determine the next steps of their journey of implementing professional learning communities

PRESERVING, INTERPRETING, AND DISPLAYING MENTAL HEALTH HISTORY: ESTABLISHING THE PATTON STATE HOSPITAL MUSEUM AND ARCHIVE

There are few museums in the western half of the United States that provide an opportunity to educate the public about the history of mental health care. Recently, a mental health museum and archive of artifacts, photographs, and documents was established on the grounds of Patton State Hospital in Highland, California. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the establishment of this museum and archive and to provide an account of the 125 year history of Patton State Hospital. Understanding the history of Patton provides an opportunity to understand the history of mental health care in the United States from the late 19th century to the present. The establishment of this museum and archive became a joint initiative between Patton and California State University, San Bernardino’s History Department in January 2014. The museum and archive are meant to provide an educational venue that will increase awareness of the plight of the mentally ill, decrease stigmatization of those afflicted with mental illness, and further efforts to improve the care of patients through preservation and display of the artifacts, photographs, and documents related to Patton’s history. The goal of this paper is to assist future public historians with the design and establishment of a museum and/or archive, be it related to mental health history or to projects with other themes, and to provide information to other mental health facilities that wish to establish their own museums

Staff Education Regarding Breastfeeding for Perinatal Nurses

AbstractExclusive breastfeeding in the U.S. is the optimal form of nutrition up to the age of 1 year; however, the current U.S. rate of 49% and Kentucky rate of 39% fall below the Healthy People 2020 goal of 60.6%. Researchers have shown that perinatal nurses often lack knowledge to ensure mothers begin and maintain this optimal form of human nourishment. Framed within the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation model of instructional design, the purpose of this project was to present a continuing education program on breastfeeding for 10 staff nurses at the target hospital. The program presented was the Breastfeeding Counselor Prep Course by the Prepared Childbirth Educators, a national organization of nurses who educate perinatal nurses on current evidence-based breastfeeding practices. Two sources of evidence were produced by the project. The first was the evaluation of the educational program objectives by participants stating yes or no on whether the objectives were met. The 10 participants agreed that all 12 objectives were met. The second source of evidence showed the change in knowledge from pretest to posttest. Using descriptive statistics, the mean of the pretest was 56.9%, and the mean of the posttest was 90%. Increase in change of knowledge ranged from 31%-52% indicating a positive change in knowledge among the participants. The social change facilitated by this project was to improve the population\u27s overall health by promoting breastfeeding initiation in the hospital setting and sustained breastfeeding upon discharge, thus improving the lives of infants, mothers, and families

Exchange biased anomalous Hall effect driven by frustration in a magnetic kagome lattice.

Co[Formula: see text]Sn[Formula: see text]S[Formula: see text] is a ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal that has been the subject of intense scientific interest due to its large anomalous Hall effect. We show that the coupling of this material's topological properties to its magnetic texture leads to a strongly exchange biased anomalous Hall effect. We argue that this is likely caused by the coexistence of ferromagnetism and geometric frustration intrinsic to the kagome network of magnetic ions, giving rise to spin-glass behavior and an exchange bias

A descriptive study of year-round schools.

The purpose of this descriptive study was to locate and describe types and characteristics of year-round schools that had been in operation at least one year as of December 1, 1981. This study was developed from the reports and opinions of the principals currently assigned to the year-round schools. The product of this research was to be a comprehensive resource for educators and laymen to use when investigating the year-round school programs.Two hundred and thirty schools were identified with the aid of personnel in the fifty State Departments of Education and the National Council of Year-Round Education directory. A questionnaire was developed based on review of the literature and was validated through three pilots. The questionnaire consisted of four sections: scheduling, financial, educational, and administrative/staff matters. One hundred and seventy-four of the principals, or 75%, responded to the questionnaire.From the information received, tables were developed to display the information relevant to the questions. Descriptive statistics were utilized in the forms of tabulated data, actual responses, and percentages. Patterns observed in the displayed data were interpreted.Some of the findings from the research were: (1) The 45-15 Plan was the most commonly used year-round plan. (2) Concept 6 was the second most commonly used plan. (3) California had the most year-round schools. (4) Colorado had most of the Concept 6 schools. (5) Year-round schools were located in California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, and Oregon. (6) No significant savings in money were noted, other than construction costs. (7) Pupil attendance remained stable or improved in the year-round school. (8) Air-conditioning was listed most frequently as an added expense in year-round schools. (9) Student referrals for discipline and vandalism decreased in approximately 50% of the year-round schools. (10) Teacher attendance improved, as noted by 77 principals. (11) The main disadvantage reported was the difficulty in meeting with the entire staff for planning. (12) The main advantage reported was frequent breaks, which allowed for more rested students. (13) The review of the literature revealed a scarcity of comparison, experimental, or descriptive studies of the year-round school programs

Incentive Labor Payments…

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Controlled order rearrangement encryption for quantum key distribution

A novel technique is devised to perform orthogonal state quantum key distribution. In this scheme, entangled parts of a quantum information carrier are sent from Alice to Bob through two quantum channels. However before the transmission, the orders of the quantum information carrier in one channel is reordered so that Eve can not steal useful information. At the receiver's end, the order of the quantum information carrier is restored. The order rearrangement operation in both parties is controlled by a prior shared control key which is used repeatedly in a quantum key distribution session.Comment: 5 pages and 2 figure