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The sensing of left ventricular (LV) activity is fundamental in the diagnosis and monitoring of cardiovascular health in high-risk patients after cardiac surgery to achieve better short- and long-term outcome. Conventional approaches rely on noninvasive measurements even if, in the latest years, invasive microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors have emerged as a valuable approach for precise and continuous monitoring of cardiac activity. The main challenges in designing cardiac MEMS sensors are represented by miniaturization, biocompatibility, and long-term stability. Here, we present a MEMS piezoresistive cardiac sensor capable of continuous monitoring of LV activity over time following epicardial implantation with a pericardial patch graft in adult minipigs. In acute and chronic scenarios, the sensor was able to compute heart rate with a root mean square error lower than 2 BPM. Early after up to 1 month of implantation, the device was able to record the heart activity during the most important phases of the cardiac cycle (systole and diastole peaks). The sensor signal waveform, in addition, closely reflected the typical waveforms of pressure signal obtained via intraventricular catheters, offering a safer alternative to heart catheterization. Furthermore, histological analysis of the LV implantation site following sensor retrieval revealed no evidence of myocardial fibrosis. Our results suggest that the epicardial LV implantation of an MEMS sensor is a suitable and reliable approach for direct continuous monitoring of cardiac activity. This work envisions the use of this sensor as a cardiac sensing device in closed-loop applications for patients undergoing heart surgery.

This conversation between the 2018 American Academy of Religion Excellence in Teaching Award winner Jill DeTemple and the editors of "Teaching Theology and Religion" continues an occasional series of interviews that has previously featured Jonathan Z. Smith, Stephen Prothero, Mary Pierce Brosmer, Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, and two previous AAR Teaching Award Winners, Joanne Maguire and Lynn Neal. After initial discussion about teaching the intro course we launch into a long discussion of "Reflective Structured Dialogue" -- an effective teaching technique for staging contentious conversations, building trust and understanding, and a dialogic culture of curiosity.

This article focuses on Reflective Structured Dialogue as a set of practices developed in the context of conflict resolution that are well suited to handling quotidian uneasiness and extraordinary moments of disruption in religious studies classrooms. After introducing Reflective Structured Dialogue's history, goals, and general practices, the authors consider its uses in classroom settings. They argue that a classroom in which teachers understand themselves as facilitators, and in which students are experienced in structured dialogue practices--including being comfortable in a state of intellectual "wobble"--is one more apt to be able to engage with, and more likely to benefit from, disruptive events.

There has been significant and growing interest in teaching religious studies, and specifically world religions, in a "global' context. Bringing globalization into the classroom as a specific theoretical and pedagogical tool, however, requires not just an awareness that religions exist in an ever-globalizing environment, but a willingness to engage with globalization as a cultural, spatial, and theoretical arena within which religions interact. This article is concerned with the ways that those of us interested in religion employ globalization in the classroom conceptually and pedagogically, and argues that "lived religion" provides a useful model for incorporating globalization into religious studies settings. (Contains 2 footnotes.)

Purely combinatorial proofs are given for the sum of squares formula, 1[superscript 2] + 2[superscript 2] + ... + n[superscript 2] = n(n + 1) (2n + 1) / 6, and the sum of sums of squares formula, 1[superscript 2] + (1[superscript 2] + 2[superscript 2]) + ... + (1[superscript 2] + 2[superscript 2] + ... + n[superscript 2]) = n(n + 1)[superscript 2] (n + 2) / 12. More precisely, the following algebraic equivalents are derived, [image omitted]. The proofs obtained literally count squares, namely lattice squares whose vertices are in an "n" x "n" grid. For the first formula, only lattice squares aligned to the grid are counted; for the second formula, aligned "and" tilted squares are counted.

Combinatorial identities are proved by counting the number of arrangements of a flagpole and guy wires on a row of blocks that satisfy a set of conditions. An identity is proved by first deriving and then equating two expressions that each count the number of permissible arrangements. Identities for binomial coefficients and recursion relations are obtained.

Correlated parents' reports of children's literacy prepared when they were 3 and 4 years old with children's subsequent test performance and teachers' evaluation. Found that parental reports accounted for about a quarter of the variance in kindergarten tests and grade 1 teacher assessments and over a third of the variance in a decoding assessment given near the end of first grade. (Author)

Reports findings regarding home language environments of children in the longitudinal Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development project. Data about family practices concerning book reading, toy play, elicited reports, and mealtime conversations were gathered. Cases support a multi-componential view of language. (BB)

Describes how to get equations for parabolas, ellipses, and hyperbolas from conic sections. Provides diagrams both in perspective and in cross-section for each case. (YP)

How tedious algebraic manipulations for simplifying general quadratic equations can be supplemented with simple geometric procedures is discussed. These procedures help students determine the type of conic and its axes and allow a graph to be sketched quickly. (MNS)

Discusses expected future developments in full text databases (FTDs) in three main areas: host-based menu-driven systems; menu and front end interfaces on gateway and mailbox services; and microcomputer or front end computer-based systems which already have good retrieval interactions and input output processing features. (24 references) (Author/CLB)

Discussed are two Euclidean constructions (synthetic approach and coordinate method) to inscribe regular polygons of 5 and 17 sides in a circle. Each step of the constructions is described using diagrams and mathematical expressions. (YP)