Personality as a Predictor of Student Success in Programming Principles

Large numbers of college students continue to fail to successfully complete programming principles courses. However, little research has addressed potential reasons for student failure. Many educators simply assume that high failure rates are acceptable – that computer programming is difficult and some students simply “don’t get it.” Some researchers (i.e., Bishop-Clark & Wheeler, 1994; Carland & Carland, 1990) have studied personality as a predictor of success in computer programming courses. However, with the exception of Woszczynski & Guthrie (2003), few studies have attempted to gather cognitive profiles (Krause, 2000) and match performance to profile type exhibited. Krause’s work shows that students with identified profiles can apply certain study skills to improve the probability of success in the classroom, and Woszczynski & Guthrie (2003) extended this research to the programming classroom, identifying underperforming cognitive profile groups. This study identified the primary cognitive profile of 236 students in a programming principles course at a southeastern university and matched profile to final average in programming principles I. Overall, intuitive thinkers (NT) tended to perform better in programming principles I than sensor feelers (SF). We found no other differences in performance between other paired profiles. We recommend a number of interventions to reach underperforming groups

Gaseous, PM2.5 Mass, and Speciated Emission Factors from Laboratory Chamber Peat Combustion

Peat fuels representing four biomes of boreal (western Russia and Siberia), temperate (northern Alaska, USA), subtropical (northern and southern Florida, USA), and tropical (Borneo, Malaysia) regions were burned in a laboratory chamber to determine gas and particle emission factors (EFs). Tests with 25 % fuel moisture were conducted with predominant smoldering combustion conditions (average modified combustion efficiency (MCE) =0.82+/-0.08). Average fuel-based EFCO2 (carbon dioxide) are highest (1400 +/- 38 g kg(-1)) and lowest (1073 +/- 63 g kg(-1)) for the Alaskan and Russian peats, respectively. EFCO (carbon monoxide) and EFCH4 (methane) are similar to 12 %15 % and similar to 0.3 %0.9 % of EFCO2, in the range of 157171 and 310 g kg(-1), respectively. EFs for nitrogen species are at the same magnitude as EFCH4, with an average of 5.6 +/- 4.8 and 4.7 +/- 3.1 g kg(-1) for EFNH3 (ammonia) and EFHCN (hydrogen cyanide); 1.9+/-1.1 g kg(-1) for EFNOx (nitrogen oxides); and 2.4+/-1.4 and 2.0 +/- 0.7 g kg(-1) for EFNOy (total reactive nitrogen) and EFN2O (nitrous oxide). An oxidation flow reactor (OFR) was used to simulate atmospheric aging times of similar to 2 and similar to 7 d to compare fresh (upstream) and aged (downstream) emissions. Filter-based EFPM2.5 varied by \u3e 4-fold (1461 g kg(-1)) without appreciable changes between fresh and aged emissions. The majority of EFPM2.5 consists of EFOC (organic carbon), with EFOC / EFPM2.5 ratios in the range of 52 %98 % for fresh emissions and similar to 14 %23 % degradation after aging. Reductions of EFOC (similar to 79 g kg(-1)) after aging are most apparent for boreal peats, with the largest degradation in low-temperature OC1 that evolves at \u3c 140 degrees C, indicating the loss of high-vapor-pressure semivolatile organic compounds upon aging. The highest EFLevoglucosan is found for Russian peat (similar to 16 g kg(-1)), with similar to 35 %50 % degradation after aging. EFs for water-soluble OC (EFWSOC) account for similar to 20 %62 % of fresh EFOC. The majority (\u3e 95 %) of the total emitted carbon is in the gas phase, with 54 %75 % CO2, followed by 8 %30 % CO. Nitrogen in the measured species explains 24 %52 % of the consumed fuel nitrogen, with an average of 35 +/- 11 %, consistent with past studies that report similar to 1/3 to 2/3 of the fuel nitrogen measured in biomass smoke. The majority (\u3e 99 %) of the total emitted nitrogen is in the gas phase, with an average of 16.7 % as NH3 and 9.5 % as HCN center dot N2O and NOy constituted 5.7 % and 2.9 % of consumed fuel nitrogen. EFs from this study can be used to refine current emission inventories

Mir-434-5p mediates skin whitening and lightening

Utilization of gene silencing effectors, such as microRNA (miRNA) and small hairpin RNA (shRNA), provides a powerful new strategy for human skin care in vivo, particularly for hyperpigmentation treatment and aging prevention. In this study, tyrosinase (Tyr), the rate-limiting enzyme of melanin (black pigment) biosynthesis, was served as a target for treatment of hyperpigmentation in mouse and human skins. There are over 54 native microRNA capable of silencing human tyrosinase for skin whitening and lightening. To this, we have designed a mir-434-5p homologue and used it to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of miRNA-mediated skin whitening and lightening in vitro and in vivo. Under the same experimental condition in the trials, Pol-II-directed intronic mir-434-5p expression did not cause any detectable sign of cytotoxicity, whereas siRNAs targeting the same sequence often induced certain nonspecific mRNA degradation as previously reported. Because the intronic miRNA-mediated gene silencing pathway is tightly regulated by multiple intracellular surveillance systems, including Pol-II transcription, RNA splicing, exosomal digestion and nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD), the current findings underscore the fact that intronic miRNA agents, such as manually re-designed mir-434-5p homologues, are effective, target-specific and safe to be used for skin whitening without any detectable cytotoxic effect. Given that the human skins also express a variety of other native miRNAs, we may re-design these miRNAs based on their individual functions for skin care, which may provide significant insights into areas of opportunity for new cosmetic and/or therapeutical applications

Yang's gravitational theory

Yang's pure space equations (C.N. Yang, Phys. Rev. Lett. v.33, p.445 (1974)) generalize Einstein's gravitational equations, while coming from gauge theory. We study these equations from a number of vantage points: summarizing the work done previously, comparing them with the Einstein equations and investigating their properties. In particular, the initial value problem is discussed and a number of results are presented for these equations with common energy-momentum tensors.Comment: 28 pages, to appear in Gen. Rel. Gra

Association of DRD4 uVNTR and TP53 codon 72 polymorphisms with schizophrenia: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The tumour supressor gene TP53 is thought to be involved in neural apoptosis. The polymorphism at codon 72 in TP53 and the long form variants of the upstream variable number of tandem repeats (uVNTR) polymorphism in the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene are reported to confer susceptibility to schizophrenia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We recruited 934 patients with schizophrenia and 433 healthy individuals, and genotyped the locus of the TP53 codon 72 and DRD4 uVNTR polymorphisms by combining the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method (PCR-RFLP) with direct sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant differences were found in the frequency of the genotype of the TP53 codon72 polymorphism between patients with schizophrenia and their controls. However, the long form alleles (≥ 5 repeats) of the DRD4 uVNTR polymorphism were more frequent in patients with schizophrenia than in controls (p = 0.001). Hence, this class of alleles might be a risk factor for enhanced vulnerability to schizophrenia (odds ratio = 3.189, 95% confidence interval = 1.535-6.622). In the logistic regression analysis, the long form variants of the DRD4 polymorphism did predict schizophrenia after the contributions of the age and gender of the subjects were included (p = 0.036, OR = 2.319), but the CC and GG genotypes of the codon 72 polymorphism of TP53 did not.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The long form variants of the uVNTR polymorphism in DRD4 were associated with schizophrenia, in a manner that was independent of the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism. In addition, given that the genetic effect of the TP53 codon 72 polymorphism on the risk of developing schizophrenia was very small, this polymorphism is unlikely to be associated with schizophrenia. The roles that other single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TP53 gene or in other apoptosis-related genes play in the synaptic dysfunction involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia should be investigated.</p

Microarray meta-analysis database (M2DB): a uniformly pre-processed, quality controlled, and manually curated human clinical microarray database

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Over the past decade, gene expression microarray studies have greatly expanded our knowledge of genetic mechanisms of human diseases. Meta-analysis of substantial amounts of accumulated data, by integrating valuable information from multiple studies, is becoming more important in microarray research. However, collecting data of special interest from public microarray repositories often present major practical problems. Moreover, including low-quality data may significantly reduce meta-analysis efficiency.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>M²DB is a human curated microarray database designed for easy querying, based on clinical information and for interactive retrieval of either raw or uniformly pre-processed data, along with a set of quality-control metrics. The database contains more than 10,000 previously published Affymetrix GeneChip arrays, performed using human clinical specimens. M²DB allows online querying according to a flexible combination of five clinical annotations describing disease state and sampling location. These annotations were manually curated by controlled vocabularies, based on information obtained from GEO, ArrayExpress, and published papers. For array-based assessment control, the online query provides sets of QC metrics, generated using three available QC algorithms. Arrays with poor data quality can easily be excluded from the query interface. The query provides values from two algorithms for gene-based filtering, and raw data and three kinds of pre-processed data for downloading.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>M²DB utilizes a user-friendly interface for QC parameters, sample clinical annotations, and data formats to help users obtain clinical metadata. This database provides a lower entry threshold and an integrated process of meta-analysis. We hope that this research will promote further evolution of microarray meta-analysis.</p

Evidence of near-infrared partial photonic bandgap in polymeric rod-connected diamond structures

We present the simulation, fabrication, and optical characterization of low-index polymeric rod-connected diamond (RCD) structures. Such complex three-dimensional photonic crystal structures are created via direct laser writing by two-photon polymerization. To our knowledge, this is the first measurement at near-infrared wavelengths, showing partial photonic bandgaps for this structure. We characterize structures in transmission and reflection using angular resolved Fourier image spectroscopy to visualize the band structure. Comparison of the numerical simulations of such structures with the experimentally measured data show good agreement for both P- and S-polarizations

Microstructure-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals

We show that micron-scale two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb microwells can significantly improve the stability of blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs). Polymeric microwells made by direct laser writing improve various features of the blue phase (BP) including a dramatic extension of stable temperature range and a large increase both in reflectivity and thermal stability of the reflective peak wavelength. These results are mainly attributed to the omni-directional anchoring of the isotropically oriented BP molecules at the polymer walls of the hexagonal microwells and at the top and bottom substrates. This leads to an omni-directional stabilization of the entire BPLC system. This study not only provides a novel insight into the mechanism for the BP formation in the 2D microwell but also points to an improved route to stabilize BP using 2D microwell arrays.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

A New SFF Process for Functional Ceramic Components

SRI International in collaboration with Saint-Gobain/Norton Industrial Ceramics Corporation and Allison Engine Company is developing a new SFF process, Direct Photo Shaping, for the fabrication of functional ceramic components. The process is based on the layerby-layer photocuring of ceramic slurries containing monomers curable by visible light. Each layer is photoimaged by a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a digital light processing (DLP) projection system. After binder removal and sintering, the properties of silicon nitride tiles prepared according to the Dire~t Photo Shaping process were found to be comparable to properties of tiles formed by conventional methods.Mechanical Engineerin

Spanning trees on the Sierpinski gasket

We obtain the numbers of spanning trees on the Sierpinski gasket $SG_d(n)$ with dimension $d$ equal to two, three and four. The general expression for the number of spanning trees on $SG_d(n)$ with arbitrary $d$ is conjectured. The numbers of spanning trees on the generalized Sierpinski gasket $SG_{d,b}(n)$ with $d=2$ and $b=3,4$ are also obtained.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl