Mediating Students’ Fixation with Grades in an Inquiry-Based Undergraduate Biology Course

The paper analyzes focus group data to explore student perceptions of an inquiry-based undergraduate biology course. Though the course was designed to mimic the scientific process by incorporating uncertainty, peer review, and self-reflection, students came to class focused on getting As and with a developed schema for didactic instruction and passive learning. They perceived the autonomy and self-directedness of the learning experience as a threat to their grades, and responded with strategies that protected their grades and ego, but were deleterious to learning. Students could identify merits of the inquiry-based approach; however, they made clear: they prioritized grades, and were unwilling to trust an unfamiliar pedagogy if they perceived it jeopardized their grades. In the framework of self-regulated learning, the discussion considers how to scaffold students to foreground learning over achievement.National Science Foundatio

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Original work by Hugo von Hofmannstha

Collage Vol. II

JUDY COCHRAN: Editorial, 4-5 ROBERTA CHAPMEN: Photo, 6 ANITRA CHUGHTAI (Translations): Haikus, 7 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 8 MARK VANDERLINDE-ABERNATHY, ALYSSA LANDRY (Translator): Memories of a Spider (Les souvenirs d\u27une araignee), 9 MARK VANDERLINE-ABERNATHY, AMY NORSKOG (Translator): Tomato Fields (Champ de tomates), 10 SARAH BISHOP, HEFEDH ZANINA (Translator): Dear John (Cher John), 11 RYAN BUTZ (Translator): Basho\u27s Haiku, Issa\u27s Haiku, 12-13 JENNIFER HUMBERT, FADOUA EL BOUAMRAOUI (Translator): Pressed Lips (Levres Serrees), 15 ADELE REEVES (Translator): Contemporary song by Mr. Children, 16-17 BRODY PAGEL, GRACE DUGAR (Translator): The Lizard King (Le Roi Lezard), 18 JIMMY PIPKIN (Translator): In Love with You, 19 MOLLY ROSCOE: Saturday Night at Rusty\u27s (Samedi Soir a Rusty\u27s), 20 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 21 MATT MESSMER (Translator): Waseda University School Song, 22-23 TIMOTHY COOPER: Wenn du grosh bist… (When you\u27re Tall…), 24 DAVID HARMAN: Der Dunkle Stern (The Dark Star), 25 ANN TOWNSEND, JUDY COCHRAN (Translator): From a Window (D\u27une Fenetre), 26-27 SARA CAHILL: El sauce lloron (The Weeping Willow), 28-32 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 30 JENNIFER HUMBERT, MATT BISHOP: Past, Present (passe, present), 33 CAROL GENEYA KAPLAN, FADOUA EL BOUAMRAOUI (Translator): Une Autre Femme (Another Woman), 34-35 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 36 ANN TOWNSEND, JUDY COCHRAN (Translator): The Mowers (Les Faucheurs), 37 PRISCILLA PATON: Photo, 38 GONZALO TUESTA: La Grande Dame De Paris (The Great Lady of Paris), 39 SARAH PILLERDORF (Translator): Japanese Cartoons by Tezuka Osamu, 41-45 DANIELLE GERKEN: Schuhe der Heimat (Boots of Home), 47 CURTIS PLOWGIAN: Le peste de la langue francaise, 48-52 PRISCILLA PATON: Photo, 50 ZANE HOUSEHOLDER: Vive la Republique! (Film), 54 JENNIFER ZIMMER: EL tenis y las frustraciones (Tennis and Frustrations), La tumba de Ben (Ben\u27s Grave), 56-57 AUTUMN LOTZE: Times Square in the rain, 58-59 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 60 STEPHEN M. JULKA: Colors of the Earth, 61 THOMAS BRESSOUD: Java, 62 ERIC NELSON: World, 63 SARAH CLAPP (Translator): At a long day\u27s end (Natsume Soseki), A friend has come and is now leaving, Eating persimmons (Masaoka Shiki), 64 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photo, 65 JOHN BURZYNSKI, MEGAN FETTER (Translator): Home is where the heart is, 66 RICHARD BANAHAN: Photo, 67 KIM FREEMAN: Baltimore, 68 JACOB RIDRIGUEZ-NOBLE: Home (Heimat), 69 SUZANNE KENNEDY: Oft verberge ich mich (Oft I hide myself), 70 RICHARD BANAHAN: Photo, 7

The effects of centralising electoral management board design

The public administration of elections frequently fails. Variation in the performance of electoral management boards around the world has been demonstrated, illustrated by delays in the count, inaccurate or incomplete voter registers, or severe queues at polling stations. Centralising the management of the electoral process has often been proposed as a solution. There has been little theorisation and no empirical investigations into the effects that centralising an already decentralised system would have, however. This article addresses this lacuna by conceptualising centralisation through the literature on bureaucratic control and discretion. It then empirically investigates the effects through a case study of centralisation in two UK referendums. Semi-structured interviews were used with those who devised the policy instrument and those who were subject to it. The introduction of central directions had some of the desired effects such as producing more consistent services and eliminating errors. It also had side effects, however, such as reducing economic efficiency in some areas and overlooking local knowledge. Furthermore, the reforms caused a decline of staff morale, job satisfaction and souring of relations among stakeholder organisations. The process of making organisational change therefore warrants closer attention by policy makers and future scholarship on electoral integrity

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment

Associations between an Obesity Related Genetic Variant (FTO rs9939609) and Prostate Cancer Risk

Observational studies suggest that obese men have a lower risk of incident prostate cancer, but an increased risk of advanced and fatal cancers. These observations could be due to confounding, detection bias, or a biological effect of obesity. Genetic studies are less susceptible to confounding than observational epidemiology and can suggest how associations between phenotypes (such as obesity) and diseases arise. To determine whether the associations between obesity and prostate cancer are causal, we conducted a genetic association study of the relationship between a single nucleotide polymorphism known to be associated with obesity (FTO rs9939609) and prostate cancer. Data are from a population-based sample of 1550 screen-detected prostate cancers, 1815 age- and general practice matched controls with unrestricted prostate specific antigen (PSA) values and 1175 low-PSA controls (PSA <0.5 ng/ml). The rs9939609 A allele, which was associated with higher BMI in the sample, was inversely associated with overall (odds ratio (OR) versus all controls  = 0.93; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85–1.02 p = 0.12 per allele) and low-grade (OR = 0.90; 0.81–0.99 p = 0.03 per allele) prostate cancer risk, but positively associated with high-grade cancer among cases (OR high- versus low-grade cancer  = 1.16; 0.99–1.37 p = 0.07 per allele). Although evidence for these effects was weak, they are consistent with observational data based on BMI phenotypes and suggest that the observed association between obesity and prostate cancer is not due to confounding. Further research should confirm these findings, extend them to other BMI-related genetic variants and determine whether they are due to detection bias or obesity-related hormonal changes