Sheroes: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Community-Driven, Group-Level HIV Intervention Program for Transgender Women.

Transgender women experience disproportionate risk of HIV acquisition and transmission. We piloted 'Sheroes', a peer-led group-level intervention for transgender women of any HIV status emphasizing empowerment and gender affirmation to reduce HIV risk behaviors and increase social support. Participants (N = 77) were randomized to Sheroes (n = 39) or a time- and attention-matched control (n = 38). Sheroes is 5 weekly group sessions; topics include sexuality, communication, gender transition, and coping skills. Control participants attended 5 weekly group movie sessions. At 6-month follow up, HIV-negative and unknown status Sheroes participants reported reductions in condomless intercourse and improved social support compared to control. Among participants living with HIV, both the control and intervention groups reduced their total number of sex partners; this change was sustained at 6-month follow-up for Sheroes participants but not for control participants relative to baseline. Sheroes was deemed highly feasible and acceptable to participants; findings support preliminary efficacy of Sheroes

Scalable Freeze-Tape-Casting Fabrication and Pore Structure Analysis of 3D LLZO Solid-State Electrolytes.

Nonflammable solid-state electrolytes can potentially address the reliability and energy density limitations of lithium-ion batteries. Garnet-structured oxides such as Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO) are some of the most promising candidates for solid-state devices. Here, three-dimensional (3D) solid-state LLZO frameworks with low tortuosity pore channels are proposed as scaffolds, into which active materials and other components can be infiltrated to make composite electrodes for solid-state batteries. To make the scaffolds, we employed aqueous freeze tape casting (FTC), a scalable and environmentally friendly method to produce porous LLZO structures. Using synchrotron radiation hard X-ray microcomputed tomography, we confirmed that LLZO films with porosities of up to 75% were successfully fabricated from slurries with a relatively wide concentration range. The acicular pore size and shape at different depths of scaffolds were quantified by fitting the pore shapes with ellipses, determining the long and short axes and their ratios, and investigating the equivalent diameter distribution. The results show that relatively homogeneous pore sizes and shapes were sustained over a long range along the thickness of the scaffold. Additionally, these pores had low tortuosity and the wall thickness distributions were found to be highly homogeneous. These are desirable characteristics for 3D solid electrolytes for composite electrodes, in terms of both the ease of active material infiltration and also minimization of Li diffusion distances in electrodes. The advantages of the FTC scaffolds are demonstrated by the improved conductivity of LLZO scaffolds infiltrated with poly(ethylene oxide)/lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (PEO/LITFSI) compared to those of PEO/LiTFSI films alone or composites containing LLZO particles

The Relationship of Residence to Academic Performance in NCAA Division I Freshman Athletes

Numerous studies have been completed examining academic ability of student athletes. Since the mid 1980s, the NCAA has emphasized the importance of academics and mandated more stringent requirements for participation in intercollegiate athletics. These initial-eligibility standards have been successful in increasing overall graduation rates of student-athletes, but a number of concerns remain. The purpose of this study was to determine if a NCAA Division-I freshman student athlete’s place of residence on campus, as opposed to off campus, during his/her freshman year had a statistically significant relationship to academic performance. The participants of this study (N = 205) were surveyed individually to determine their place of residence and preference of residence during their freshman year. Academic performance at the end of the freshman year was obtained via the school’s database of academic records (Access Banner). Based on the results of this study, it was concluded that living in an on campus or off campus environment had no statistical relationship with how the NCAA D-I freshman student athletes performed academically. There were however, significant differences between gender. The findings warrant further discussion and continued research

The Queue-Number of Posets of Bounded Width or Height

Heath and Pemmaraju conjectured that the queue-number of a poset is bounded by its width and if the poset is planar then also by its height. We show that there are planar posets whose queue-number is larger than their height, refuting the second conjecture. On the other hand, we show that any poset of width $2$ has queue-number at most $2$, thus confirming the first conjecture in the first non-trivial case. Moreover, we improve the previously best known bounds and show that planar posets of width $w$ have queue-number at most $3w-2$ while any planar poset with $0$ and $1$ has queue-number at most its width.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, Appears in the Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2018