Failure rates in introductory programming revisited.

Whilst working on an upcoming meta-analysis that synthesized fifty years of research on predictors of programming performance, we made an interesting discovery. Despite several studies citing a motivation for research as the high failure rates of introductory programming courses, to date, the majority of available evidence on this phenomenon is at best anecdotal in nature, and only a single study by Bennedsen and Caspersen has attempted to determine a worldwide pass rate of introductory programming courses. In this paper, we answer the call for further substantial evidence on the CS1 failure rate phenomenon, by performing a systematic review of introductory programming literature, and a statistical analysis on pass rate data extracted from relevant articles. Pass rates describing the outcomes of 161 CS1 courses that ran in 15 different countries, across 51 institutions were extracted and analysed. An almost identical mean worldwide pass rate of 67.7% was found. Moderator analysis revealed significant, but perhaps not substantial differences in pass rates based upon: grade level, country, and class size. However, pass rates were found not to have significantly differed over time, or based upon the programming language taught in the course. This paper serves as a motivation for researchers of introductory programming education, and provides much needed quantitative evidence on the potential difficulties and failure rates of this course

The reduced cost of providing a nationally recognised service for familial hypercholesterolaemia

OBJECTIVE: Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) affects 1 in 500 people in the UK population and is associated with premature morbidity and mortality from coronary heart disease. In 2008, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended genetic testing of potential FH index cases and cascade testing of their relatives. Commissioners have been slow to respond although there is strong evidence of cost and clinical effectiveness. Our study quantifies the recent reduced cost of providing a FH service using generic atorvastatin and compares NICE costing estimates with three suggested alternative models of care (a specialist-led service, a dual model service where general practitioners (GPs) can access specialist advice, and a GP-led service).METHODS: Revision of existing 3?year costing template provided by NICE for FH services, and prediction of costs for running a programme over 10?years. Costs were modelled for the first population-based FH service in England which covers Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth (SHIP). Population 1.95 million.RESULTS: With expiry of the Lipitor (Pfizer atorvastatin) patent the cost of providing a 10-year FH service in SHIP reduces by 42.5% (£4.88 million on patent vs £2.80 million off patent). Further cost reductions are possible as a result of the reduced cost of DNA testing, more management in general practice, and lower referral rates to specialists. For instance a dual-care model with GP management of patients supported by specialist advice when required, costs £1.89 million.CONCLUSIONS: The three alternative models of care are now <50% of the cost of the original estimates undertaken by NICE

No tests required : comparing traditional and dynamic predictors of programming success.

Research over the past fifty years into predictors of programming performance has yielded little improvement in the identification of at-risk students. This is possibly because research to date is based upon using static tests, which fail to reflect changes in a student's learning progress over time. In this paper, the effectiveness of 38 traditional predictors of programming performance are compared to 12 new data-driven predictors, that are based upon analyzing directly logged data, describing the programming behavior of students. Whilst few strong correlations were found between the traditional predictors and performance, an abundance of strong significant correlations based upon programming behavior were found. A model based upon two of these metrics (Watwin score and percentage of lab time spent resolving errors) could explain 56.3% of the variance in coursework results. The implication of this study is that a student's programming behavior is one of the strongest indicators of their performance, and future work should continue to explore such predictors in different teaching contexts

Differential Increase in Taurine Levels by Low-Dose Ethanol in the Dorsal and Ventral Striatum Revealed by Microdialysis With On-Line Capillary Electrophoresis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66164/1/01.ALC.0000131979.78003.34.pd

Representational precision in visual cortex reveals outcome encoding and reward modulation during action preparation

According to ideomotor theory, goal-directed action involves the active perceptual anticipation of actions and their associated effects. We used multivariate analysis of fMRI data to test if preparation of an action promotes precision in the perceptual representation of the action. In addition, we tested how reward magnitude modulates this effect. Finally, we examined how expectation and uncertainty impact neural precision in the motor cortex. In line with our predictions, preparation of a hand or face action increased the precision of neural activation patterns in the extrastriate body area (EBA) and fusiform face area (FFA), respectively. The size of this effect of anticipation predicted individuals\u27 efficiency at performing the prepared action. In addition, increasing reward magnitude increased the precision of perceptual representations in both EBA and FFA although this effect was limited to the group of participants that learned to associate face actions with high reward. Surprisingly, examination of representations in the hand motor cortex and face motor cortex yielded effects in the opposite direction. Our findings demonstrate that the precision of representations in visual and motor areas provides an important neural signature of the sensorimotor representations involved in goal-directed action

Chemical diffusion of fluorine in melts in the system Na2OAl2O3SiO2

The volatilization of fluorine from three melts in the system Na2OAl2O3SiO2 has been investigated at 1 atm pressure and 1200–1400°C. The melts chosen have base compositions corresponding to albite, jadeite and a peraluminous melt with 75 mole % SiO2. Melt spheres were suspended from platinum loops in a vertical tube furnace in a flow of oxygen gas, then quenched, sectioned and analysed by electron microprobe. The microprobe scans indicate that transport of fluorine to the melt-vapor interface is by binary, concentration-independent interdiffusion of fluorine and oxygen. FO interdiffusivity increases in the order albite < peraluminous < jadeite. There is no simple reciprocal relationship between FO interdiffusivity and melt viscosity. Comparison with data on high-pressure interdiffusivity of fluorine and oxygen in jadeite melt indicates that FO interdiffusivity increases with pressure from 0.001 to 10 kbar while the activation energy remains unchanged. Fluorine chemical diffusivity in albite melt is substantially lower than H2O chemical diffusivity in obsidian melts suggesting that different diffusive mechanisms are responsible for the transport of F and H2O in igneous melts. Fluorine diffuses in albite melt via an anionic exchange with oxygen whereas water probably diffuses in obsidian melt via an alkali exchange mechanism

Long non-coding RNA LCAL62 / LINC00261 is associated with lung adenocarcinoma prognosis

Background: More than half of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients present with metastatic disease at initial diagnosis with an estimated five-year survival rate of ~5%. Despite advances in understanding primary lung cancer oncogenesis metastatic disease remains poorly characterized. Recent studies demonstrate important roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tumor physiology and as prognostic markers. Therefore, we present the first transcriptome analysis to identify lncRNAs altered in metastatic lung adenocarcinoma leading to the discovery and characterization of the lncRNA Patients and methods: RNA-Seq, microarray, nanoString expression, and clinical data from 1,116 LUAD patients across six independent cohorts and 83 LUAD cell lines were used to discover and evaluate the survival association of metastasis associated lncRNAs. Coexpression and gene set enrichment analyses were used to establish gene regulatory networks and implicate metastasis associated lncRNAs in specific biological processes. Results: Our integrative analysis discovered Conclusion: We discovered tha