bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Real-Time Query Processing on Live Videos in Networks of Distributed Cameras
Authors: Peng Rui , Aved Alex J. , Hua Kien A.
Published: February 2012

With the proliferation of inexpensive cameras and the availability of high-speed wired and wireless networks, systems of distributed cameras are becoming an enabling technology for a broad range of interdisciplinary applications in domains such as public safety and security, manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare. Today’s live video processing systems on networks of distributed cameras, however, are designed for specific classes of applications. To provide a generic query processing platform for applications of distributed camera networks, the authors designed and implemented a new class of general purpose database management systems, the live video database management system (LVDBMS). The authors view networked video cameras as a special class of interconnected storage devices, and allow the user to formulate ad hoc queries expressed over real-time live video feeds. This paper introduces their system and presents the live video data model, the query language, and the query processing and optimization technique.
Optimizing the Traffic of Voice Core Domain in UMTS Network through RNC Re-Homing
Authors: Ouyang Ye , Fallah Hosein
Published: February 2012

The past few years have seen mobile operators transition to next-generation mobile networks, specifically from third-generation networks (3G) to long term evolution (LTE). This paper describes the basic architecture and topology of UMTS R4 core network and introduces two options in network planning, i.e., flat structure or layered structure. This paper introduces the re-homing of radio network controller (RNC) and base station controller (BSC) and studies the impact on the performance of voice core of UMTS networks. The proposed RNC re-homing models are created and analyzed for voice core of UMTS networks. The paper concludes that the appropriate RNC re-homing optimizes the traffic of voice core in UMTS network.
Using Levels of Inquiry in the Classroom
Authors: Rylander Jeffrey
Published: February 2012

The development of major concepts in a science classroom is explored through the instructional framework of varying the level of student inquiry. An exploration experience, interactive demonstration, discovery experiment, and application challenge serve as this framework for increasing the level in which the students ask questions, devise methods to answer these questions, and develop answers to the questions. Instructional technology tools such as classroom response systems, Google Docs, the use of blogs, and WebAssign are integrated into the inquiry experience to support the learning process. This inquiry model shifts the locus of control from the teacher to the student, as the student’s familiarity with new concepts deepens.
Concept Maps as Tools for Learning Scientific Language
Authors: Schroeder Noah L. , Adesope Olusola O.
Published: February 2012

Learning scientific language continues to be challenging for many students because of its inherent complexity, volume of specific terminology, and many fields of science which incorporate the same terminology for different applications. In order to more effectively learn and apply the language of science, the authors propose the use of concept mapping. Research on concept mapping suggests that it is more effective than traditional teaching methods in students’ knowledge retention and transfer when compared to control groups that did not use concept mapping, but rather participated in class discussions, attended lectures, and read text passages regardless of educational level, settings, or subject domain (Nesbit & Adesope, 2006). Based on this synthesis of research, teachers are encouraged to adopt concept mapping as a pedagogical strategy in their science classrooms as no detrimental findings have been found related to its use. By providing students with a concept map of the terms which explains how the terms are related to the overarching concept or allowing them to build their own, students can begin to develop a deeper understanding of the language of science.
Where Are We Heading To?
Authors: Kumtepe Evrim Genç , Bozkaya Müjgan , Aydin Irem Erdem
Published: February 2012

The major intent of this content analysis of 126 articles published in six leading journals from three distinctive fields in education is to evaluate current trends in distance science education. The specific objectives of this attempt are to explore the major research themes studied, the popular teaching and learning approaches, and research methods employed in distance science education research from 2000 -2010. Major findings revealed that the number of articles published on distance science education displayed a lesser degree of publication than that of all distance related articles published in the journals examined during this period of time. Collaborative research efforts in distance science education have been more popular than solo papers and only a few studies were conducted in international contexts within these years. Distance science education research has been noticeably focused on upper grade levels, referring to high schools and colleges. Studies in this field also put more emphasis on evaluation and trends, instructional and communicational technology, learner attributes, and teaching and learning issues. Most studies employed survey and case study methodologies. Finally, three pedagogical approaches: science as inquiry-based teaching, collaborative learning, and problem-based teaching, have been widely investigated throughout this period.
Handover Procedure in Femtocells
Authors: Becvar Zdenek , Mach Pavel , Vondra Michal
Published: February 2012

Implementation of small base stations, known as femtocells, increases the throughput of indoor as well as outdoor users. However it brings several issues that need to be addressed. This chapter is focused on mobility management and problems closely related to the handover procedure. The main challenge is to guarantee efficient handover from/to/between femtocells. It means to ensure minimum signaling overhead due to unnecessary handovers, to minimize handover interruption, and to mitigate interference caused by elimination of redundant handovers. The basic principle of the handover is explained together with the main challenges concerning the handover in a scenario with deployed femtocells. Furthermore, individual issues are described in detail and possible ways to solve them are contemplated. The chapter does not stick to any specific standard; however, it is focused on the general principles and problems of the handover procedure from the femtocell’s point of view.
Game Theory and Femtocell Communications
Authors: Bennis Mehdi , Perlaza Samir Medina , Debbah Merouane
Published: February 2012

Game Theory (GT) is a natural paradigm to study and analyze wireless networks where players compete for the same resources. The importance of studying the coexistence between macro- and femtocells from a game theoretical perspective is multi-fold: First, by modeling the dynamic spectrum sharing among network players as games, the behaviors and actions of players can be analyzed in a formalized structure, by which the theoretical achievements in GT can be fully utilized. Second, GT equips us with various optimality criteria for the spectrum sharing problems, which are of key importance when it comes to analyzing the equilibrium of the game. Third, the application of GT enables us to derive efficient distributed algorithms for femtocell networks relying only on partial information. Without a doubt, the theory of learning in games is instrumental in allowing players to choose the right strategies and gradually learn from their environment until convergence.
On Uplink Channel Estimation in WiMAX Systems
Authors: Shen Yushi , Cosman Pamela C. , Milstein Laurence B. , Martinez Eduardo F.
Published: February 2012

In this paper, channel estimation algorithms are proposed and compared for uplink WiMAX systems, which are OFDMA based. These algorithms are investigated based on a dynamic resource allocation scheme, and it is shown that each of them is suitable to specific system scenarios. For example, for a system with a bandwidth of 10MHz operating in the low frequency region (2-11GHz), a two-dimensional averaging algorithm outperforms other algorithms, such as a bilinear interpolation algorithm, because the correlations between the pilots and signals are sufficiently high in both the frequency and the time dimensions.
Utilization of an Improvement Manuel Configuration for Multimedia in 6to4 Tunneling
Authors: Jamali Abdellah , Naja Najib , El Ouadghiri Driss
Published: February 2012

IPv6 is a next-generation Internet layer protocol designed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to solve the problem of IP address depletion under the current Internet layer protocol. It has been developed to replace the current Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). Various operating systems support IPv6 protocol stacks and network infrastructures are currently being deployed to support the functions of IPv6. During the course of the deployment of IPv6 protocol, the authors found several critical implementation and operational issues which distract user and possibly prevent wide deployment of IPv6. Among the problems identified are the stateless IP auto-configuration, which provides for each node connected to the network an IP address. The authors have previously examined the problem in Fedora Core operating system, and in this work, they make a slight modification on the same method using Red Hat operating system. The proposed method is independent of rebooting NIC. This method ensures the establishment of addresses if problems occur.
Pertinent Prosodic Features for Speaker Identification by Voice
Authors: Sayoud Halim , Ouamour Siham
Published: February 2012

Most existing systems of speaker recognition use “state of the art” acoustic features. However, many times one can only recognize a speaker by his or her prosodic features, especially by the accent. For this reason, the authors investigate some pertinent prosodic features that can be associated with other classic acoustic features, in order to improve the recognition accuracy. The authors have developed a new prosodic model using a modified LVQ (Learning Vector Quantization) algorithm, which is called MLVQ (Modified LVQ). This model is composed of three reduced prosodic features: the mean of the pitch, original duration, and low-frequency energy. Since these features are heterogeneous, a new optimized metric has been proposed that is called Optimized Distance for Heterogeneous Features (ODHEF). Tests of speaker identification are done on Arabic corpus because the NIST evaluations showed that speaker verification scores depend on the spoken language and that some of the worst scores were got for the Arabic language. Experimental results show good performances of the new prosodic approach.
Utilization and Perceived Benefit for Diverse Users of Communities of Practice in a Healthcare Organization
Authors: Walczak Steven , Mann Richard
Published: February 2012

Communities of practice have been heralded as a powerful knowledge management tool, especially for geographically disparate workgroups. Research into knowledge management (KM) in healthcare organizations is a needed research focus, given that differences exist in knowledge and knowledge management processes between healthcare and other organization types. The research presented in this paper examines the effectiveness of communities of practice as a knowledge sharing tool in a large and geographically disparate healthcare organization. Findings suggest that job role affects community members’ perceptions of the benefit and impact of communities of practice as well as their participation in such communities.
A Model of System Re-Configurability and Pedagogical Usability in an E-Learning Context
Authors: Wang Jianfeng , Doll William J. , Deng Xiaodong
Published: February 2012

Course management systems (CMSs) enable institutions to engage users efficiently, increase enrollment without major facilities investments, and serve geographically dispersed student markets on an ongoing basis. The full benefits of technology cannot be realized if faculty do not adopt the new technology and use it to achieve their instructional design objectives. From a faculty perspective, pedagogical usability of the software is an important factor affecting technology adoption and effective implementation. Pedagogical usability is measured using Chickering and Gamson’s seven principles of good educational practice. In a distance learning context, this paper provides an initial exploratory study of how faculty perceptions of CMS software characteristics like content re-configurability, interaction re-configurability, and modularity design help faculty implement good pedagogical principles. Additionally, a model is presented that links CMS software design characteristics like content re-configurability, interaction re-configurability, and modularity design with the pedagogical usability assessments of faculty. This model is tested using a sample of 56 faculty members using WebCT at a mid-western university.
End-User Software Engineering and Why It Matters
Authors: Burnett Margaret
Published: February 2012

End-user programming has become ubiquitous; so much so that there are more end-user programmers today than there are professional programmers. End-user programming empowers—but to do what? Make bad decisions based on bad programs? Enter software engineering’s focus on quality. Considering software quality is necessary, because there is ample evidence that the programs end users create are filled with expensive errors. In this paper, we consider what happens when we add considerations of software quality to end-user programming environments, going beyond the “create a program” aspect of end-user programming. We describe a philosophy of software engineering for end users, and then survey several projects in this area. A basic premise is that end-user software engineering can only succeed to the extent that it respects that the user probably has little expertise or even interest in software engineering.
Investigating Technology Commitment in Instant Messaging Application Users
Authors: Wang Y. Ken , Datta Pratim
Published: February 2012

Although much research in the IS field has examined IS adoption, less is known about post-adoption behavior among IS users, especially when competing alternatives are available. Incorporating commitment theory from social psychology and management science literature, this paper proposes an IS continuance model that explains why some IS technologies enjoy continued use after adoption and others are often relegated to the basement as shelfware. This paper uses a technology commitment perspective to unravel why adopted technologies experience mixed success. Specifically, the authors argue that IS continuance may be best understood by investigating user commitment toward specific technologies. Three components of technology commitment, that is, affective commitment, calculative commitment, and normative commitment, are used to formulate a research model. The model is empirically tested in the context of instant messaging software. Results show a strong support for the model and explicate commitment differentials among users across different brands of instant messaging software. The study ends with a discussion of the results and their implications for research and practice.
Appropriation Infrastructure
Authors: Stevens Gunnar , Pipek Volkmar , Wulf Volker
Published: February 2012

End User Development offers technological flexibility to encourage the appropriation of software applications within specific contexts of use. Appropriation needs to be understood as a phenomenon of many collaborative and creative activities. To support appropriation, we propose integrating communication infrastructure into software application that follows an“easy-to-collaborate”-principle. Such an appropriation infrastructure stimulates the experience sharing among a heterogeneous product community and supports the situated development of usages. Taking the case of the BSCWeasel groupware, we demonstrate how an appropriation infrastructure can be realized. Empirical results from the BSCWeasel project demonstrate the impact of such an infrastructure on the appropriation and design process. Based on these results, we argue that the social construction of IT artifacts should be tightly integrated in the material construction of IT artifacts in bridging design and use discourses.
The Influence of Perceived Source Credibility on End User Attitudes and Intentions to Comply with Recommended IT Actions
Authors: Johnston Allen , Warkentin Merrill
Published: February 2012

Through persuasive communications, information technology (IT) executives hope to align the actions of end users with the expectations of senior management and of the firm regarding technology usage. One highly influential factor of persuasive effectiveness is the source of the persuasive message. This study presents a conceptual model for explaining the influence of source credibility on end user attitudes and behavioral intentions to comply with organizationally motivated, recommended IT actions within a decentralized, autonomous environment. The results of this study suggest that the elements of source competency, trustworthiness, and dynamism are significant determinants of attitudes and behavioral intentions to engage in recommended IT actions. These findings reveal the importance of these elements of effective communication in persuading end users to follow recommended IT activities and advance IT acceptance and adoption research through the application of persuasive communication theory to the domain.
Reflective Practice - Political Paper Tiger, Bone of Contention in the Professions, or Pedagogical Challenge?
Authors: Bräuer Gerd , Spangenberg (translator) Brady
Published: February 2012

The professional field of primary and secondary education can through reflective practice become visible and serviceable when the field itself is open to systematic research and exploration. Facilitating the development of such competencies stands at the center of instructional and pedagogical efforts, and portfolios in particular are currently enjoying a swell of interest. This chapter works to describe the Anglo-American concept of reflective practice in more detail in order to come up with suggestions on how to adapt this concept to the specific needs of education in Europe in general and in specific regard to electronic portfolios. When learners experience that working with a portfolio—a writing portfolio, for example—contributes to their continued long-term development as writers and readers, then they are able to better understand the reason for the portfolio work instead of merely mimicking some sort of predetermined model.
Can We Do Both? Eportfolios for Student Learning and Assessment
Authors: Reynolds Candyce , Patton Judith
Published: February 2012

The use of eportfolios in American universities has proliferated over the last ten years as administrators and educators have discovered the rich opportunities that they provide for both promoting and assessing student learning. However, too often institutions of higher education prioritize assessment over student learning, creating assignments and protocols that ease assessment of student work while at the same time ignoring the valuable aspects that creating an eportfolio can provide for students, rendering the eportfolio as merely another assignment. This chapter focuses on lessons learned in University Studies, Portland State University’s four-level interdisciplinary general education program, about the importance of balancing assessment needs with student learning needs.
ePortfolios for Higher Education
Authors: Fisher Dean , Cheung Hok Ling , Pickard Valerie , Chen Yingjun , Chan Yin Fan , Wong Man Chun
Published: February 2012

This article discusses the issues of and solutions to ePortfolio adoption in the Hong Kong higher education context. Over the past few years, all eight government-funded universities in Hong Kong have been piloting different types of ePortfolios for different purposes. However, the piloting and use of ePortfolios have been rather fragmented. This article discusses the issues of and solutions to ePortfolio adoption in the Hong Kong higher education context. The aim of this project is to develop an ePortfolio culture which will encompass both the academic/course-based, self-learning approach and the support/personal development/professional approach.
Customer Decision Making in Web Services
Authors: Sun Zhaohao , Zhang Ping , Dong Dong
Published: February 2012

Web services play an important role in successful business integration and other application fields such as e-commerce and e-business. Customer decision making (CDM) is an indispensable factor for e-business and Web services. This chapter examines customer decision making in Web services. More specifically, it first looks at decision making in Web services, and proposes a novel P6 model for CDM in Web services, which consists of 6 Ps: privacy, perception, propensity, preference, personalization, and promised experience. This model integrates the existing 6 P elements of marketing mix as the environment of customer decision making in Web services. The new integrated P6 model deals with the inner world of the customer for decision making (DM) and incorporates what the customer sees and thinks during a DM process. The purpose of this novel P6 model is to assist customers in the decision process to acquire the most satisfactory Web service. This chapter also examines case-based decision making in Web services and provides a theoretical foundation for case-based decision making under the condition of one problem with multiple solutions in Web services. The proposed approach will facilitate research and development of e-business, Web services, decision support systems, intelligent systems, and soft computing.
Service Quality
Authors: Conger Sue
Published: February 2012

Once a service is defined, its quality must also be defined. Many service quality measures from marketing, supply chain, and Information Systems have been formulated and tested over the last 50 years, developing generic user satisfaction measures. This research reviews the research from the three disciplines, developing directions for future research on service quality. Suggested future research directions include a more context-specific, medium-sensitized approach to services, that is able to measure not only human services but also co-produced and machine-produced services.
An Ontological Business Process Modeling Approach for Public Administration
Authors: Savvas Ioannis , Bassiliades Nick , Kravari Kalliopi , Meditskos Georgios
Published: February 2012

In this chapter, an electronic model of Public Administration’s operation using an ontology as a means to a formalized representation of knowledge is presented. According to the proposed model, every public administration procedure is viewed as a service offered to some external entity and is represented as a (Semantic) Web service, semantically annotating its functional parameters, profile, and workflow. The modeling of public administration services/procedures involved the commonly used IOPE (Inputs – Outputs – Preconditions – Effects) model of OWL-S for Semantic Web Service description. This chapter also presents a specific use case about the Human Resource Management department of the Region of Central Macedonia. In order to do so, certain extensions/adaptations of the general methodology were needed. In this chapter the authors fully present and justify these adaptations that were deployed in order to turn the general methodology into a really flexible and re-usable tool to model any public administration procedure. Furthermore, the authors describe the full knowledge engineering cycle for developing the ontology of this department’s business processes.
SIGA3D
Authors: Mignard Clément , Nicolle Christophe
Published: February 2012

The interoperability of Information Systems has been a research topic for over thirty years. While some forms of heterogeneity have been settled by the adoption of standards, some domains, such as the Urban Information Modeling (UIM), require specific research. The UIM combines information from the domain of Building Information Modeling (BIM) with Geographic Information System (GIS) within a collaborative platform. Using this platform, a set of heterogeneous actors takes part in the lifecycle of the urban environment through a 3D digital model. This ambition is faced with several gaps such as resolution of semantic heterogeneity in the lifecycle management system, the resolution of structural heterogeneity between 2D geo-referenced modeling and 3D geometric modeling, or problem solving scalability for real-time 3D display from a remote server for managing a real environment of several million square meters. In this chapter, the authors present the SIGA3D European Project trying to overcome these obstacles into a Web collaborative platform combining BIM and GIS data and processes for Urban Facility Management.
Files are Siles
Authors: Schandl Bernhard , Haslhofer Bernhard
Published: February 2012

With the increasing storage capacity of personal computing devices, the problems of information overload and information fragmentation are apparent on users’ desktops. For the Web, semantic technologies solve this problem by adding a machine-interpretable information layer on top of existing resources. It has been shown that the application of these technologies to desktop environments is helpful for end users. However, certain characteristics of the Semantic Web architecture that are commonly accepted in the Web context are not desirable for desktops. To overcome these limitations, the authors propose the sile model, which combines characteristics of the Semantic Web and file systems. This model is a conceptual foundation for the Semantic Desktop and serves as underlying infrastructure on which applications and further services can be built. The authors present one service, a virtual file system based on siles, which allows users to semantically annotate files and directories and keeps full compatibility to traditional hierarchical file systems. The authors also discuss how Semantic Web vocabularies can be applied for meaningful annotation of files and present a prototypical implementation of the model and analyze the performance of typical access operations, both on the file system and metadata level.
The Why and How of Transnational Teaching
Authors: Baijnath Narend
Published: February 2012

Most countries today are facing the challenge of trying to increase enrolment in higher education but to do so in ways that are affordable and sustainable and in which increased access represents a reasonable chance of ultimate success. The increasing ubiquity and flexibility of technology creates multiple avenues for institutions to open access to higher education and for students to access this provision. This has yielded a steady increase in cross-border/transnational provisions for higher education. In this, the developing countries of Africa have tended to be consumers of services and materials rather than producers. The potential of TDL in reaching large numbers of people is obvious, but there are still a number of militating factors that need to be addressed if this potential is to be fully realised. This chapter explores some of the reservations that have existed among African higher education institutions, until recently, regarding transnational provisions, and then looks at why this is now changing, with examples of recent developments, and reflects on some lessons for how meaningful transnational engagement can be facilitated.
Internationalization of Indian Higher Education
Authors: Kumar Sunil
Published: February 2012

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) makes provisions for the internationalization of higher education. India signed the World Trade Organization agreement, including GATS, in 1994. GATS and WTO have the potential to impact the import and export of higher education within India. At the present time, India has begun making appropriate changes in legislation to formalize trade in the higher education sector. This chapter narrates the experiences of India in the internationalization of education. The chapter examines political, economic, socio-cultural, academic, and political issues of cross-nation education in India. The analysis is based on document surveys and critical analyses of the policies of India regarding the internationalization of education.
Business Process Reengineering a Sustained Trend?
Authors: Hess Thomas , Schuller Dagmar
Published: February 2012

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is an important aspect of Business Process Management. The concept of BPR has been widely discussed in the past decade; however, it remains undetermined how prevalent the applications of Davenport, Hammer and Champy’s ideas are, especially with respect to their relevancy for actual business practice. This paper analyses which ideas of BPR actually have been implemented in practice many years after the “hype”. Based on a survey, the BPR-practices of major German enterprises listed in the German stock market are investigated. The study indicates that BPR is important in practice, although not all ideas of BPR seem to be wholly implemented. Especially the ideas of radical redesign of business processes and the process-oriented organizational structure could not be confirmed by the survey.
Aesthetic Expectations for Information Visualization
Authors: Ursyn Anna
Published: February 2012

This article explores the landscape of creative endeavors in the new media art and reflects on aesthetics of information visualization. When using computer based information visualization to show data interactively in many dimensions, the user can navigate across big data sets, find patterns, relationships, and structures that would be invisible if presented numerically. The authors also explore ways of combining information visualization techniques with the principles of creative design, enhancing artistic influences on the technical implementations, and raising the level of training in design. Finally, the authors offer suggestions for creating knowledge visualizations with the use of art and graphics to strengthen the readiness of computer scientists to fulfill aesthetic expectations and gain recognition from art world specialists for factual solutions done in visualization projects and new forms of art.
A Simple Physically-Based 3D Liquids Surface Tracking Algorithm
Authors: Amador Gonçalo N. P. , Gomes Abel J. P.
Published: February 2012

Navier-Stokes-based methods have been used in computer graphics to simulate liquids, especially water. These physically based methods are computationally intensive, and require rendering the water surface at each step of the simulation process. The rendering of water surfaces requires knowing which 3D grid cells are crossed by the water’s surface, that is, tracking the surface across the cells is necessary. Solutions to water surface tracking and rendering problems exist in literature, but they are either too computationally intensive to be appropriate for real-time scenarios, as is the case of deformable implicit surfaces and ray-tracing, or too application-specific, as is the case of height-fields to simulate and render water mantles (e.g., lakes and oceans). This paper proposes a novel solution to water surface tracking that does not compromise the overall simulation performance. This approach differs from previous solutions in that it directly classifies and annotates the density of each 3D grid cell as either water, air, or water-air (i.e., water surface), opening the opportunity for easily reconstructing the water surface at an interactive frame rate.
Carotenoids Intake and Asthma Prevalence in Thai Children
Authors: Rerksuppaphol Sanguansak , Rerksuppaphol Lakkana
Published: February 2012

Several antioxidant nutrients have been described to inversely correlate with asthma. In order to quantify the intake of these substances, it is possible to measure skin levels by Raman spectroscopy, a novel non-invasive technique that can also be used in children. This cross-sectional school-based study involved 423 children from a rural area of Thailand. Asthmatic children were diagnosed according to a Health Interview for Asthma Control questionnaire. Skin carotenoid levels were measured with Raman spectroscopy. Demographic data were obtained by directly interviewing children and their parents, whereas anthropometric parameters were measured by trained staff. Intake of carotenoids, vitamin A and C were evaluated by a food frequency questionnaire. Overall incidence of asthma in Thai schoolchildren (aged 3.5-17.8 years) was 17.3%. There was no significant difference in dietary intake of carotenoids and vitamin A and C, and skin carotenoid level between asthmatic and nonasthmatic children. Skin carotenoid level significantly correlated with all carotenoids and vitamin A intake (P<0.05). Carotenoids and vitamin A and C intakes, and skin carotenoid levels were not associated with the risk of asthma in Thai children. Skin carotenoids correlated with all carotenoids and vitamin A intake in mild to moderate degrees. Raman spectroscopy was confirmed to be a useful tool to determine antioxidant skin levels.
Cervical Cancer Screening Rates Among Rural and Urban Females, From 2019 to 2022
Authors: Borders Tyrone F. , Thaxton Wiggins Amanda
Published: June 2024

Importance

Little nationally representative research has examined Papanicolaou testing rates from before the pandemic in 2019 through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. Papanicolaou testing rates among rural females are a concern as they have historically had lower screening rates than their urban counterparts.

Objective

To examine the receipt of a Papanicolaou test in the past year among US females overall and females residing in rural and urban areas in 2019, 2020, and 2022.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This repeated cross-sectional study used data from 3 years of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative survey that asks respondents about cancer screenings, sources of health information, and health and health care technologies. Study participants were females aged 21 to 65 years. Individuals who received a Papanicolaou test more than 1 to 3 years prior to a HINTS interview were excluded as they were likely not due for a Papanicolaou test.

Exposures

Survey year (2019, 2020, and 2022) and rural or urban residence were the main exposure variables.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Self-reported receipt of a Papanicolaou test within the past year.

Results

Among the 188 243 531 (weighted; 3706 unweighted) females included in the analysis, 12.5% lived in rural areas and 87.5% in urban areas. Participants had a mean (SE) age of 43.7 (0.27) years and were of Hispanic (18.8%), non-Hispanic Asian (5.2%), non-Hispanic Black (12.2%), non-Hispanic White (59.6%), or non-Hispanic other (4.1%) race and ethnicity. In 2022, unadjusted past-year Papanicolaou testing rates were significantly lower among rural vs urban residents (48.6% [95% CI, 39.2%-58.1%] vs 64.0% [95% CI, 60.0%-68.0%]; P < .001). Adjusted odds of past-year Papanicolaou testing were lower in 2022 than 2019 (odds ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.52-0.95; P = .02).

Conclusions and Relevance

This repeated cross-sectional study found that past-year Papanicolaou testing rates were lower in 2022 than 2019, pointing to a need to increase access to screenings to prevent an uptick in cervical cancer incidence. Rural-vs-urban differences in 2022 indicate a need to specifically target rural females.
Development of a Longitudinal Prostate Cancer Transcriptomic and Clinical Data Linkage
Authors: Leapman Michael S. , Ho Julian , Liu Yang , Filson Christopher P. , Zhao Xin , Hakansson Alexander , Proudfoot James A. , Davicioni Elai , Martin Darryl T. , An Yi , Seibert Tyler M. , Lin Daniel W. , Spratt Daniel E. , Cooperberg Matthew R. , Ross Ashley E. , Sprenkle Preston C.
Published: June 2024

Importance

Although tissue-based gene expression testing has become widely used for prostate cancer risk stratification, its prognostic performance in the setting of clinical care is not well understood.

Objective

To develop a linkage between a prostate genomic classifier (GC) and clinical data across payers and sites of care in the US.

Design, Setting, and Participants

In this cohort study, clinical and transcriptomic data from clinical use of a prostate GC between 2016 and 2022 were linked with data aggregated from insurance claims, pharmacy records, and electronic health record (EHR) data. Participants were anonymously linked between datasets by deterministic methods through a deidentification engine using encrypted tokens. Algorithms were developed and refined for identifying prostate cancer diagnoses, treatment timing, and clinical outcomes using diagnosis codes, Common Procedural Terminology codes, pharmacy codes, Systematized Medical Nomenclature for Medicine clinical terms, and unstructured text in the EHR. Data analysis was performed from January 2023 to January 2024.

Exposure

Diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcomes were biochemical recurrence and development of prostate cancer metastases after diagnosis or radical prostatectomy (RP). The sensitivity of the linkage and identification algorithms for clinical and administrative data were calculated relative to clinical and pathological information obtained during the GC testing process as the reference standard.

Results

A total of 92 976 of 95 578 (97.2%) participants who underwent prostate GC testing were successfully linked to administrative and clinical data, including 53 871 who underwent biopsy testing and 39 105 who underwent RP testing. The median (IQR) age at GC testing was 66.4 (61.0-71.0) years. The sensitivity of the EHR linkage data for prostate cancer diagnoses was 85.0% (95% CI, 84.7%-85.2%), including 80.8% (95% CI, 80.4%-81.1%) for biopsy-tested participants and 90.8% (95% CI, 90.5%-91.0%) for RP-tested participants. Year of treatment was concordant in 97.9% (95% CI, 97.7%-98.1%) of those undergoing GC testing at RP, and 86.0% (95% CI, 85.6%-86.4%) among participants undergoing biopsy testing. The sensitivity of the linkage was 48.6% (95% CI, 48.1%-49.1%) for identifying RP and 50.1% (95% CI, 49.7%-50.5%) for identifying prostate biopsy.

Conclusions and Relevance

This study established a national-scale linkage of transcriptomic and longitudinal clinical data yielding high accuracy for identifying key clinical junctures, including diagnosis, treatment, and early cancer outcome. This resource can be leveraged to enhance understandings of disease biology, patterns of care, and treatment effectiveness.
Thyroid Nodule Rupture Following Radiofrequency Ablation for Benign Thyroid Nodules
Authors: Austerlitz Joaquin , Mann Daljit Singh , Noel Julia E. , Orloff Lisa A.
Published: June 2024

Importance

Nodule rupture is a rare but serious complication of thyroid radiofrequency ablation (RFA). With growing adoption of thyroid RFA across the US, an understanding of thyroid nodule rupture (TNR) is crucial for recognition, management, and, ultimately, prevention.

Objective

To determine procedural and patient factors that may contribute to TNR and describe experiences in managing TNR while synthesizing existing literature.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This retrospective case series examined all RFA procedures for benign thyroid nodules performed by 2 attending physicians at a single academic referral center between December 2019 and January 2024. A total of 298 consecutive patients underwent RFA for benign thyroid nodules. Criteria for offering RFA included nodules with 2 benign fine-needle aspirations, no suspicious ultrasonography features, a greatest dimension of 2 cm or greater, compressive or cosmetic concerns, and accessibility to a straight needle.

Exposures

All RFAs were performed using ultrasonography guidance using the moving-shot technique and a 7-mm or 10-mm active tip.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The primary outcome was TNR, and measures were procedure, nodule, and patient characteristics that may have contributed to its pathogenesis. Secondary outcomes were nodule volume reduction, thyroid function, and management and sequelae of TNR. The hypothesis on the pathogenesis of TNR was formed before data collection.

Results

Six of 298 patients (2%; 4 women [67%]) with a mean age of 48.5 years (range, 34-65 years) experienced TNR for a mean of 36 days postprocedure (range, 19-54 days). The mean (SD) initial nodule volume among patients with TNR was 31.45 (16.52) mL, and 3 of 6 patients (50%) underwent prior lobectomy. All ruptures were anterior. All patients were treated conservatively, and none required surgery. Five patients recovered completely; the sixth and most recent patient was healing as of last follow-up.

Conclusions and Relevance

There are limited data on the etiology and optimal management of TNR. These 6 cases of anterior rupture suggest that a potential contributor to TNR is thermal and mechanical trauma exerted at the fulcrum point during the moving-shot technique. The use of a smaller active tip (eg, 7 mm) and cessation of energy delivery before this point may help avoid TNR. More robust reporting of this complication may clarify risk factors for and enhance prevention of TNR.
Focus Groups
Authors: Ho Debbie G. E.
Published: June 2024

The focus group discussion is a qualitative method of data collection which has been increasingly used to address research enquiries in the field of social sciences. This entry provides a comprehensive overview of the focus group discussion, specifically for any qualitative researcher keen on using the focus group discussion as a method of data collection. It is divided into a number of sections, beginning with a description of two key features that characterize the focus group discussion: it is a collective activity and it is interactive. Following from this are sections on reasons for the use of focus groups, the types of focus group discussion and how they differ from semi‐structured and group interviews. There is a section containing information for a qualitative researcher to gauge if the focus group discussion is an appropriate tool for data collection for a particular research topic. Information on how one can conduct a focus group discussion is presented via a flow chart that traces the stages in organizing a focus group discussion. Two other aspects that are important for a successful focus group discussion are also explained in this entry: the design of the interview guide and the role(s) of the moderator. Perhaps the most comprehensive section is on the analysis of focus group data: what types of data are used and the methods of analysis. The entry ends with the ethical issues to be considered when carrying out a focus group discussion.
Equitable Material Development for Multilingual Education
Authors: Guzmán Ana , Yalikun Feidana , Wong Kevin M.
Published: June 2024

This entry emphasizes material development in multilingual settings and presents a pragmatic and equitable approach to supporting educators in developing teaching materials that are beneficial, meaningful, and engaging to students. It will further take into consideration the needs of multilinguals acquiring an additional language to provide a foundation that facilitates the language acquisition process. This entry then discusses a potential framework that can assist in material development and concludes with implications for equity work in multilingual material development.
Vocabulary and Writing
Authors: Laufer Batia
Published: June 2024

The relationship between vocabulary and writing is that of mutual contribution and support. Lexical quality of a piece of writing is contingent upon lexical sophistication (the percent of infrequent words), lexical diversity (the ratio of unique words), and collocational competence (the number of accurate and closely associated unique collocations). The use of lexis in writing improves with the growth in proficiency, but the pace of the improvement seems to lag behind the pace of vocabulary knowledge growth. Writing practice has been one of the most effective ways of entrenching the practiced vocabulary in learners' memory. However, there is not enough evidence to show whether writing leads to long‐term use of better vocabulary of learners' free choice. The effectiveness of writing tasks has been attributed to their cognitive demands, and explained in terms of three learning theories: the Pushed Output Hypothesis, the Involvement Load Hypothesis, and the Technique Feature Analysis.
Gender and Pragmatics
Authors: Okamoto Shigeko
Published: June 2024

Pragmatics plays a vital role in language and gender research because to adequately understand how gender is involved in the use and interpretation of linguistic expressions in real‐world contexts requires consideration of pragmatic matters, such as indexicality, performativity, stance, politeness, implicature, presupposition, and cultural norms. Conversely, gender is highly important to pragmatics research because considering gender's role enhances our understanding of these pragmatic matters. This entry offers an overview of language and gender research with a focus on the role of pragmatics in investigating: (a) the relationship between gender and ways of speaking and (b) representations of gender.
The Semantics‐Pragmatics Boundary
Authors: Bezuidenhout Anne
Published: June 2024

Linguists and philosophers of language have characterized the semantics‐pragmatics distinction in many different ways. A couple of the more prominent characterizations are presented and some of their shortcomings are noted. The idea that the semantics‐pragmatics boundary is porous, as well as the consequences of this porosity, are briefly explored.
Effect of Annealing on the Microstructure, Mechanical Properties, and Intergranular Corrosion of a Novel Al–Mg–Zn Alloy
Authors: Gao Jieming , Wei Wu , Huang Hui , Shi Wei , Zhou Xiaorong , Nie Zuoren
Published: June 2024

The effect of annealing on the mechanical properties, intergranular corrosion (IGC) properties, and microstructure of Al–Mg–Zn alloys is studied. The results show that with the increase of annealing temperature, the strength of the alloy decreases, the elongation increases, and the corrosion resistance firstly increases and then decreases. The alloy exhibits a high corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties when the annealing treatment is 270 °C for 2 h. Meanwhile, the IGC mass loss value is less than 15 mg cm−2. In addition, the ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation are 416, 250 MPa, and 16.0%, respectively. The T‐Mg32(Al, Zn)49 phases are directly precipitated when annealing at 270 °C for 2 h. After sensitization, T phase gradually grows and coarsens. When the alloy is annealing at 400 °C for 2 h, a part of T phase gradually dissolves in the Al matrix. After sensitization, the Mg atoms with higher supersaturation gradually diffuse to grain boundary by bulk diffusion due to the low dislocation density and form a thin precipitate film, which deteriorates the corrosion resistance of the alloy. The details of corrosion mechanism analysis are as follows.