Studying Underlying Characteristics of Computing and Engineering Student Success (SUCCESS) Survey

This survey was developed to measure underlying factors that may influence student success including personality, community, grit, thriving, identity, mindset, motivation, perceptions of faculty caring, stress, gratitude, self-control, mindfulness, and belongingness. We measure these underlying factors because each engineering and computing student admitted to a university has clear potential for academic and personal success in their undergraduate curriculum based upon admissions criteria. However, while some thrive academically, others struggle in a variety of ways. In our NSF-funded project (1626287/1626185/1626148), we posit that some collection of characteristics—apparently not visible on their admission applications and perhaps not related to their talent or intelligence—is an important piece of the student performance puzzle. We developed a survey to measure various non-cognitive and affective factors that we believe are important for student achievement, academically, personally, and professionally. These non-cognitive and affective factors are representative of multifaceted aspects of undergraduate student success in prior literature. Each of the constructs we chose had validity evidence from prior studies, some within an engineering population. An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis have been conducted on the original list of items to develop this finalized survey (Scheidt et al., 2018). The survey takes approximately 30 minutes for students to complete. Scheidt, M., & Godwin, A., & Senkpeil, R. R., & Ge, J. S., & Chen, J., & Self, B. P., & Widmann, J. M., & Berger, E. J. (2018, June), Validity Evidence for the SUCCESS Survey: Measuring Non-Cognitive and Affective Traits of Engineering and Computing Students. Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah. https://peer.asee.org/3122

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Generating properties for runtime monitoring from software specification patterns

The paper presents an approach to support run-time verification of software systems that combines two existing tools, Prospec and Java-MaC, into a single framework. Prospec can be used to clarify natural language specifications for sequential, concurrent, and nondeterministic behavior. In addition, the tool assists the user in reading, writing, and understanding formal specifications through the use of property patterns and visual abstractions. Currently, Prospec automatically generates a specification written in Future Interval Logic (FIL). The goal is to automate the generation of MEDL formulas that can be used by the Java-MaC tool to check run-time compliance of system execution to properties. The paper describes the mapping that translates FIL formulas into MEDL formulas and demonstrates its correctness. 1

A Technique for Using Model Checkers to Teach Formal Specifications

The difficulty of writing, reading, and understanding formal specifications is one of the main obstacles in adopting formal verification techniques such as model checking and runtime verification. Introducing concepts in formal methods in an undergraduate program is essential for training a workforce that can develop and test high-assurance systems. This paper presents educational outcomes and outlines an instructive component that can be used in an undergraduate course to teach formal approaches and languages. The component uses a model checker and a specification tool to teach Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), a specification language that is widely used in a variety of verification tools. The paper also introduces a novel technique that analyzes LTL specifications by using the SPIN model checker to elucidate the behaviors accepted by the specifications

FasTLInC: A Constraint-based Tracing Approach

In an approach to software monitoring called Dynamic Monitoring with Integrity Constraints (DynaMICs), integrity constraints are used to monitor program behavior at runtime. The constraints capture domain knowledge, limitations imposed by the design, and assumptions made by programmers. This paper introduces Fast Tracing with Links using Integrity Constraints (FasTLInC), a component of DynaMICs, that manages integrity-constraint specifications, software artifacts, and program state information, permitting tracing of constraints and artifacts, specifically requirements and source code. Because DynaMICs verifies that a program behaves in accordance to constraints, the traceability provided by FasTLInC is significant since the monitor targets the detection of faults that result from ambiguity and changes in requirements, conflicts among requirements, and change in program use. The automated identification of bi-directional links between constraints and code eliminates the laborious task of managing links, which can be problematic because of the evolutionary nature of code

NSF Advance: Institutional Transformation for Faculty Diversity - Faculty Worklife Survey Results

The The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) received an NSF ADVANCE grant in October 2003 to create an initiative for institutional change with the goal of serving as a model for other institutions that desire to increase the representation and advancement of women, including underrepresented minorities, in academic science and engineering careers. In the first year of the grant, co-PI\u27s Ann Gates and Patricia Witherspoon worked with the ADVANCE Program Evaluator, Manuela Romero, to create an instrument to survey faculty work life at UTEP. The instrument is based on the Study of Faculty Work Life survey instrument that was developed by the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute at the University of Wisconsin Madison. The ADVANCE team administered the survey in spring 2004 to full-time faculty in the 18 NSF-designated departments. The survey establishes a baseline of the issues concerning recruitment, retention and departmental, college and overall university climate and culture. This report presents the results of the survey

Strassen\u27s Algorithm Made (Somewhat) More Natural: A Pedagogical Remark

Strassen\u27s 1969 algorithm for fast matrix multiplication is based on the possibility to multiply two 2 x 2 matrices A and B by using 7 multiplications instead of the usual 8. The corresponding formulas are an important part of any algorithms course, but, unfortunately, even in the best textbook expositions. they look very ad hoc. In this paper, we show that the use of natural symmetries can make these formulas more natural