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While university change initiatives have become more common in the face of changing learner needs and higher education funding, many fail to produce desired effects, even when guided by organizational change models. The purpose of this study was to document a successful change process in an engineering department at a Hispanic-serving institution in the southwestern United States. The change effort focused on enhancing faculty capacity to support diverse student success. The change process was planned using Kotter's eight-step change model (1996) and was therefore a prescribed, linear, sequential change process. Qualitative analysis of audio-recorded faculty interviews and meetings, artifacts, field notes, and participant observation highlights how Kotter's change model was implemented iteratively and emergently. Early steps were revisited and strategies were treated as improvable. This approach enhanced faculty buy-in and project success. Characterization of each step provides insight into ways to apply Kotter's change model in higher education settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ICU readmissions and post-discharge mortality pose significant challenges. Previous studies used EHRs and machine learning models, but mostly focused on structured data. Nursing records contain crucial unstructured information, but their utilization is challenging. Natural language processing (NLP) can extract structured features from clinical text. This study proposes the Crucial Nursing Description Extractor (CNDE) to predict post-ICU discharge mortality rates and identify high-risk patients for unplanned readmission by analyzing electronic nursing records. Developed a deep neural network (NurnaNet) with the ability to perceive nursing records, combined with a bio-clinical medicine pre-trained language model (BioClinicalBERT) to analyze the electronic health records (EHRs) in the MIMIC III dataset to predict the death of patients within six month and two year risk. A cohort and system development design was used. Based on data extracted from MIMIC-III, a database of critically ill in the US between 2001 and 2012, the results were analyzed. We calculated patients' age using admission time and date of birth information from the MIMIC dataset. Patients under 18 or over 89 years old, or who died in the hospital, were excluded. We analyzed 16,973 nursing records from patients' ICU stays. We have developed a technology called the Crucial Nursing Description Extractor (CNDE), which extracts key content from text. We use the logarithmic likelihood ratio to extract keywords and combine BioClinicalBERT. We predict the survival of discharged patients after six months and two years and evaluate the performance of the model using precision, recall, the F 1 -score, the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve), the area under the curve (AUC), and the precision–recall curve (PR curve). The research findings indicate that NurnaNet achieved good F 1 -scores (0.67030, 0.70874) within six months and two years. Compared to using BioClinicalBERT alone, there was an improvement in performance of 2.05 % and 1.08 % for predictions within six months and two years, respectively. CNDE can effectively reduce long-form records and extract key content. NurnaNet has a good F 1 -score in analyzing the data of nursing records, which helps to identify the risk of death of patients after leaving the hospital and adjust the regular follow-up and treatment plan of relevant medical care as soon as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a mixed-methods study about using virtual reality (VR) tools (Google Cardboard and Expeditions) for developing students' oral proficiency in learning Chinese as a second language. Twelve students role-played as tour guides for six locations throughout a semester: four of them with VR tools and two without. Data collection included oral presentations recorded at four different times of the semester (for Presentations 1, 3, 4, and 6), class observations, participants' reflection papers, and individual interviews at the end of the semester. Results revealed that the content and vocabulary of participants' oral presentations when using VR tools scored statistically significantly higher than when not using VR tools. Qualitative data showed that participants felt that VR tools facilitated preparation and encouraged active learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have been focusing on the impact of the shale gas boom on our society, but the reverse relationship is not well documented. The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of oil and gas prices on shale gas drilling activities. We analyze the well-level production data from all major producing shale gas plays in the United States (US) and identify a major productivity shock in 2009. We then estimate the price elasticity of shale gas drilling using the econometric methods. Our results show that the oil price elasticity increases from insignificant in the pilot stage (2000–2008) to 1.1 (significant) in the expansion stage (2009–2016), and the gas price elasticity increases from insignificant in the pilot stage to 0.6 (significant) in the expansion stage. This is the first quantitative estimation of shale gas drilling responsiveness to oil and gas prices based on near-full-sample well-level drilling data while taking account the structural break. The change in price elasticities indicates that the shale gas drilling becomes more responsive to oil and gas prices after the major productivity shock around 2009. The high oil-price elasticity after 2009 shows the importance of natural gas condensate in supporting shale gas drilling. The estimated oil and gas elasticities are important to forecasting shale gas supply and economic impacts in the new normal. • Examine the influence of energy prices on shale gas drilling and production. • Define two phases in shale gas development: the pilot stage and expansion stage. • Estimate the price elasticities using play-level fixed effects model for the first time. • Oil price elasticity increases from insignificant to 1.1 after the productivity shock. • Gas prices elasticity increases from insignificant to 0.6 across the structural break. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer ranks as one of the top malignancies and the leading cause of cancer death in both males and females in the US. Using a cancer database covering the entire population, this study was to determine the gender disparities in lung cancer incidence during 2001–2019. Cancer patients were obtained from the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. The SEER*Stat software was applied to calculate the age-adjusted incidence rates (AAIR). Temporal changes in lung cancer incidence were analyzed by the Joinpoint software. A total of 4,086,432 patients (53.3% of males) were diagnosed with lung cancer. Among them, 52.1% were 70 years or older, 82.7% non-Hispanic white, 39.7% from the South, and 72.6% non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The AAIR of lung cancer continuously reduced from 91.0 per 100000 to 59.2 in males during the study period, while it increased from 55.0 in 2001 to 56.8 in 2006 in females, then decreased to 48.1 in 2019. The female to male incidence rate ratio of lung cancer continuously increased from 2001 to 2019. Gender disparities were observed among age groups, races, and histological types. In those aged 0–54 years, females had higher overall incidence rates of lung cancer than males in recent years, which was observed in all races (except non-Hispanic black), all regions, and adenocarcinoma and small cell (but not squamous cell). Non-Hispanic black females aged 0–54 years had a faster decline rate than males since 2013. API females demonstrated an increased trend during the study period. Lung cancer incidence continues to decrease with gender disparities among age groups, races, regions, and histological types. Continuous anti-smoking programs plus reduction of related risk factors are necessary to lower lung cancer incidence further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the context sensitivity of users' online security perceptions and behaviors to national and individual attributes, and there is inadequate research about the spectrum of users' behaviors in dealing with online security threats. In addressing this gap, this paper draws on two complementary theoretical bases: (1) the contextualization of the protection motivation theory (PMT) to online security behavior and (2) a polycontextual lens for the cross-national comparison of users' security behaviors in the United States and China. The conceptualized model is tested based on 718 survey observations collected from the United States and China. The results support our model and show the divergence between the United States, an exemplar of modern Western society, and China, an exemplar of traditional Eastern society, in forming threat perceptions and in seeking help and avoidance as coping behaviors. Our results also uncovered the significant moderating impacts of espoused culture on the way perceptions of security threats and coping appraisals influence security behaviors. Our findings underline the importance of context-sensitive theory building in security research and provide insights into the motivators and moderators of individuals' online security behaviors in the two nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The pandemic A/H1N1 influenza viruses emerged in both Mexico and the United States in March 2009, and were transmitted efficiently in the human population. They were transmitted occasionally from humans to other mammals including pigs, dogs and cats. In this study, we report the isolation and genetic analysis of novel viruses in pigs in China. These viruses were related phylogenetically to the pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza viruses isolated from humans and pigs, which indicates that the pandemic virus is currently circulating in swine populations, and this hypothesis was further supported by serological surveillance of pig sera collected within the same period. Furthermore, we isolated another two H1N1 viruses belonging to the lineages of classical swine H1N1 virus and avian-like swine H1N1 virus, respectively. Multiple genetic lineages of H1N1 viruses are co-circulating in the swine population, which highlights the importance of intensive surveillance for swine influenza in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While the incorporation of geographical and environmental modeling with GIS requires software support for storage and retrieval of spatial information that changes over time, it continues to be an unresolved issue with modern GIS software. Two complementary approaches have been used to manage the spatial and temporal heterogeneity within datasets that use a field-based representation of the world. Some researchers have proposed new data models that partition space into discrete elements on an as-needed basis following each temporal event, while others have focused on eliminating duplication of repeated data elements present in spatio-temporal information. It is proposed in this paper that both approaches have merit and can be combined to create a Hybrid Spatio-Temporal Data Model and Structure (HST-DMS) that efficiently supports spatio-temporal data storage and querying. Specifically, Peuquet and Duan's (1995) Event-based Spatio-Temporal Data Model (ESTDM) and the Overlapping R-tree (Guttman 1984, Tzourmanis et al. 2000) are utilized to create a prototype used to store information about urban expansion for the town of Carbondale, Illinois. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] S. melliferum infection was detected in honey bee colonies. [•] S. melliferum infection occurred with high variation in a year. [•] The study indicated that spiroplasma need to be included for the consideration of the impacts on honey bee health. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Food waste (FW) accounts for the largest category of municipal solid wastes in the United States and the proper disposal of FW is a unique challenge with urgent environmental concerns. Solid-state anaerobic digestion (SSAD) is a viable option to treat FW but still hindered by poor mass transfer and severe inhibition caused by the accumulation of acidic intermediates. To improve the treatment capacity and process stability using high-solid FW as the sole feedstock via AD, a bench-scale two-stage system comprising of a first-stage solid-state digester (Stage 1; 2 L) and a second-stage liquid digester (Stage 2; 1.4 L) was established and carried out in a semi-batch mode for 99 days. When one-stage SSAD started to encounter acid accumulation and methanogenesis inhibition at a FW loading of 300 g (15% of working volume), the two-stage system secured robust and stable biogas production when the FW loading continued rising to 400 g (20% of working volume), and an increase of 2.4 kJ/gVS (equivalent to 18.2% in one-stage system) in energy yield was achieved. Stage 1 served as a hydrolysis/acidogenesis reactor with a total acids level of 28.5 g/L and a pH of 5.65. A large portion of lactic acid in total acids indicated shifts of metabolic pathways. The transfer of acid-rich leachate from Stage 1 to Stage 2 ensured a high methane yield of 393.0 mL/gVS (90.2% of the biological methane potential), while the liquid effluent recirculation provided buffering to Stage 1. Further increase of FW loading triggered a system instability. The enhanced buffering capacity and increased free ammonia molecules, synergistically induced certain inhibitory effects on FW acidogenesis in Stage 1. To conclude, the two-stage system outpaced the one-stage SSAD with higher FW loading and energy yield. Image 1 • First-stage solid-state digester and second-stage liquid digester were connected. • Stage 1 served hydrolysis and acidogenesis while Stage 2 served methanogenesis. • Shift of acetic and butyric pathways to lactic pathway was shown in Stage 1. • Food waste loading to two-stage increased by 33.3% as compared to one-stage. • Two-stage outweighed one-stage in specific methane yield by 18.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building energy codes are essential tools for achieving energy efficiency in buildings. However, the full energy savings potential of these codes can only be realized if buildings are constructed in compliance with them. Therefore, evaluating building energy code compliance is crucial in bridging the gap between the energy efficiency requirements set by energy codes and the actualized energy savings achieved. An energy code compliance evaluation serves as a mechanism to assess construction practices, evaluate the effectiveness of code enforcement, identify gaps in compliance, and guide strategies for improvement through training and education. Conducting code compliance evaluation activities involves field studies that require careful design and significant resources. Historically, more emphasis has been placed on developing and adopting building energy codes, while efforts to evaluate compliance have been relatively limited and lacking consistent approaches. The passage of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which mandated that states create plans for achieving 90% compliance within eight years, stimulated the need for an energy code compliance evaluation. As a result, federal, state, and local governments, and utilities have invested in the development of methodologies and tools for code compliance evaluation studies. This paper reviews the code compliance evaluation studies conducted in the United States over the past three decades. It describes and compares the methodologies and metrics used to assess building energy code compliance, summarizes the general elements and steps involved in the evaluation process, and discusses common issues in these studies. Over time, code compliance evaluation methodologies have evolved from isolated development within individual states, regions, and utilities, to widely accepted protocols applicable across different states and local jurisdictions. There has been a transition in compliance metrics, shifting from historical compliance rates to energy-consumption-oriented approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is unclear whether late-effect risks among childhood cancer survivors vary internationally. We compared late mortality in the North American Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS) and British Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (BCCSS).Methods: Late mortality was assessed among 49 822 5-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed before 15 years of age from 1970 to 1999 (CCSS, n = 31 596; BCCSS, n = 18 226) using cumulative mortality probabilities (CM%) and adjusted ratios of the standardized mortality ratio.Results: The all-cause CM% at 10 years from diagnosis was statistically significantly lower in the CCSS (4.7%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.5% to 5.0%) compared with the BCCSS (6.9%, 95% CI = 6.5% to 7.2%), attributable to a lower probability of death from recurrence or progression of the primary cancer, with statistically significant differences observed in survivors of leukemia, lymphoma, central nervous system tumors, and sarcoma. However, at 40 years from diagnosis, the CCSS had a greater CM% (22.3% vs 19.3%), attributable to a twofold higher risk of mortality from subsequent malignant neoplasms, cardiac and respiratory diseases, and other health-related causes. Differences increased when assessed by follow-up interval, with the CCSS faring worse as time-since-diagnosis increased. Finally, the gap in all-cause mortality widened more recently, with CCSS survivors diagnosed in 1990-1999 experiencing one-half the excess deaths observed in the BCCSS (ratios of the standardized mortality ratio = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.5 to 0.6).Conclusions: Our findings suggest that US survivors may have received more intensive regimens to achieve sustainable remission and cure, but the cost of this approach was a higher risk of death from late effects. Although the clinical impact of these differences is unclear, our results provide important evidence to aid the discussion of late effects management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Interventional Pain Management referral system that applies not only to pain but also to other medical conditions. It offers information on a Pain Management Directive issued by the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in 2009. The article also mentions several reasons for the success of the innovative referral system.

Background: Among patients in whom childhood cancer was diagnosed in the 1970s and 1980s, 18% of those who survived for 5 years died within the subsequent 25 years. In recent decades, cancer treatments have been modified with the goal of reducing life-threatening late effects.Methods: We evaluated late mortality among 34,033 patients in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study cohort who survived at least 5 years after childhood cancer (i.e., cancer diagnosed before the age of 21 years) for which treatment was initiated during the period from 1970 through 1999. The median follow-up was 21 years (range, 5 to 38). We evaluated demographic and disease factors that were associated with death from health-related causes (i.e., conditions that exclude recurrence or progression of the original cancer and external causes but include the late effects of cancer therapy) using cumulative incidence and piecewise exponential models to estimate relative rates and 95% confidence intervals.Results: Of the 3958 deaths that occurred during the study period, 1618 (41%) were attributable to health-related causes, including 746 deaths from subsequent neoplasms, 241 from cardiac causes, 137 from pulmonary causes, and 494 from other causes. A reduction in 15-year mortality was observed for death from any cause (from 12.4% in the early 1970s to 6.0% in the 1990s, P<0.001 for trend) and from health-related causes (from 3.5% to 2.1%, P<0.001 for trend). These reductions were attributable to decreases in the rates of death from subsequent neoplasm (P<0.001), cardiac causes (P<0.001), and pulmonary causes (P=0.04). Changes in therapy according to decade included reduced rates of cranial radiotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (85% in the 1970s, 51% in the 1980s, and 19% in the 1990s), of abdominal radiotherapy for Wilms' tumor (78%, 53%, and 43%, respectively), of chest radiotherapy for Hodgkin's lymphoma (87%, 79%, and 61%, respectively), and of anthracycline exposure. Reduction in treatment exposure was associated with reduced late mortality among survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Wilms' tumor.Conclusions: The strategy of lowering therapeutic exposure has contributed to an observed decline in late mortality among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute and the American Lebanese-Syrian Associated Charities.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is associated with various prenatal risks and postnatal adverse outcomes. The aim of this study is to choose the most sensitive newborn anthropometric measure, which is closely associated with IUGR-related risks and outcomes, to substitute IUGR after delivery. Data were obtained from the Collaborative Perinatal Project, a multicenter prospective cohort study in the United States from 1959 to 1976. Maternal heavy smoking and severe hypertensive disorders during pregnancy, neonatal polycythemia and hypothermia, low intelligence quotient (<70) at age 7 years were chosen as IUGR-related risks and outcomes. Eight anthropometric measures at birth were tested by logistic regression model. Birth weight-to-head circumference (W/HC) had the largest odds ratio (OR) for neonatal polycythemia (OR = 1.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5-2.0), severe hypertensive disorders (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.5-2.2), and maternal heavy smoking (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.7-2.1) during pregnancy. It also had the highest summary OR (9.3). Thus, W/HC may be a good measure for IUGR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence shows that asthma originates in early life. Studies have found that phototherapy and/or neonatal jaundice may be associated with asthma. We investigated the association between neonatal bilirubin levels and childhood asthma without phototherapy intervention in the Collaborative Perinatal Project, a multicenter prospective cohort study conducted in the United States from 1959 to 1965. A total of 54,795 livebirths were included, and 40,063 children were followed up until 7 years of age or older. Total serum bilirubin (TSB) levels were examined at 48 hours postpartum in newborns with birthweights of 2,250 g or more. Information on asthma and other diseases through age 7 years was summarized and confirmed by a group of pediatricians and child neurologists. Among 28,807 term infants, the overall prevalence of asthma was 5.26%. Risks of asthma increased with both maximum TSB levels and TSB levels at 48 hours postpartum (P for trend < 0.01). Neonatal maximum TSB levels greater than 15 mg/dL were associated with a 61% increase in the risk of childhood asthma (odds ratio = 1.61, 95% confidence interval: 1.04, 2.08) after adjustment for confounders. In this prospective cohort study of infants born at a time when phototherapy was unavailable, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia was associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Land surface temperature (LST) is a crucial parameter for hydrology, climate monitoring, and ecological and environmental research. LST products from thermal infrared (TIR) satellite data have been widely used for that. However, TIR information cannot provide LST data under cloudy-sky conditions. All-sky LST can be estimated from microwave measurements, but their coarse spatial resolution, narrow swaths, and short temporal range make it impossible to generate a long-term, high-resolution, accurate global all-sky LST global. This study proposes a methodology for generating the all-sky LST product by combining multiple data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), reanalysis, and ground in situ measurements using a random forest. Field measurements from the AmeriFlux and Surface Radiation Budget (SURFRAD) networks were used for model training and validation. Cloudy-sky and clear-sky LST models were developed separately. To further improve the accuracy of the cloudy-sky LST model, the conventional RF model was extended to incorporate temporal information. The models were validated using in situ LST measurements from 2010, 2011, and 2017 that were not used for the model training. For the cloudy-sky and clear-sky models, root-mean-square-error (RMSE) = 2.767 and 2.756 K, R2 = 0.943 and 0.963, and bias = −0.143 and − 0.138 K, respectively. The same validation samples were used to validate both the MODIS LST product under clear-sky conditions and all-sky Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) LST product at 0.25° spatial resolution, with RMSE = 3.033 and 4.157 K, bias = −0.362 and − 0.224 K, and R2 = 0.904 and 0.955, respectively. Additionally, the 10-fold cross-validation results using all the training datasets further indicate the model stability. The models were applied to generate the all-sky LST product from 2000 to 2015 over the conterminous United States (CONUS). Our product shows similar spatial patterns to the MODIS and GLDAS LST products, but it is more accurate. Both validation and product comparisons demonstrated the robustness of our proposed models in generating the all-sky LST product. • A new scheme using RF method is developed to estimate all-sky LST by utilizing multisource data. • An improved RF method combing temporal information is proposed for the cloudy-sky model. • Our product shows similar spatial patterns to the MODIS and GLDAS LST products, but it is more accurate. • An all-sky LST data (2000–2015) is generated over the conterminous United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]