Training Students for Critical Thinking in an Electrical Engineering Core Course

Analysis and Design of Control Systems is a core course in most Electrical Engineering programs in the United States. This course is the first course that provides a systemic view of engineering designs and links classroom knowledge to real-world applications. Training students for critical thinking (CT) skills in this class is essential to their career success. However, a high D and F grades and withdraw (DFW) rate has been observed in this course for years. The goal of this study is to redesign the course components to integrate critical thinking training into classroom activities and reform students’ habits in problem-solving. The new course components include a series of lectures on cognition, critical thinking, examples of famous engineering projects with critical thinking, and decomposition of critical thinking skills in classroom examples. Evaluation of the new course module was conducted based on critical thinking assessment test, two student surveys through the semester, three classroom observations, and students’ performance comparing against an untrained control group in the previous semester. Our results illustrated an effective way to improve critical thinking with this training module.Cockrell School of Engineerin

An Efficient Numerical Method for Mean Curvature-Based Image Registration Model

Mean curvature-based image registration model firstly proposed by Chumchob-Chen-Brito (2011) offered a better regularizer technique for both smooth and nonsmooth deformation fields. However, it is extremely challenging to solve efficiently this model and the existing methods are slow or become efficient only with strong assumptions on the smoothing parameter β. In this paper, we take a different solution approach. Firstly, we discretize the joint energy functional, following an idea of relaxed fixed point is implemented and combine with Gauss-Newton scheme with Armijo's Linear Search for solving the discretized mean curvature model and further to combine with a multilevel method to achieve fast convergence. Numerical experiments not only confirm that our proposed method is efficient and stable, but also it can give more satisfying registration results according to image quality

Co-creation, Failure Learning, and Relaunch Success: Evidence from Online Crowdfunding Market

With intense competition and relatively inexperienced founders, the crowdfunding market has reported high failure rates. However, the IT components of the crowdfunding market provide entrepreneurs with more opportunities for experimentation and trial, leading to a new phenomenon of post-failure relaunches. Research into campaign relaunch success is urgently needed but under-researched. By combining failure learning theory with a collective perspective, the present study examines how investors\u27 co-creation, in terms of advocacy and feedback, can benefit crowdfunding relaunch success directly or indirectly (by motivating founders\u27 failure learning). The study tested the proposed mediation model with 1,902 failure-relaunched Kickstarter campaigns, with most hypotheses supported. Furthermore, the study explores the role of the time interval between crowdfunding relaunch and prior release. The findings indicate that an increased time interval enhances the positive effects of founders\u27 learning efforts on relaunch success while attenuating the potential positive effects of investors\u27 advocacy, implying a tradeoff in timing decisions

Advantage Actor-Critic with Reasoner: Explaining the Agent's Behavior from an Exploratory Perspective

Reinforcement learning (RL) is a powerful tool for solving complex decision-making problems, but its lack of transparency and interpretability has been a major challenge in domains where decisions have significant real-world consequences. In this paper, we propose a novel Advantage Actor-Critic with Reasoner (A2CR), which can be easily applied to Actor-Critic-based RL models and make them interpretable. A2CR consists of three interconnected networks: the Policy Network, the Value Network, and the Reasoner Network. By predefining and classifying the underlying purpose of the actor's actions, A2CR automatically generates a more comprehensive and interpretable paradigm for understanding the agent's decision-making process. It offers a range of functionalities such as purpose-based saliency, early failure detection, and model supervision, thereby promoting responsible and trustworthy RL. Evaluations conducted in action-rich Super Mario Bros environments yield intriguing findings: Reasoner-predicted label proportions decrease for ``Breakout" and increase for ``Hovering" as the exploration level of the RL algorithm intensifies. Additionally, purpose-based saliencies are more focused and comprehensible

Subtle mutations in the SMN1 gene in Chinese patients with SMA: p.Arg288Met mutation causing SMN1 transcript exclusion of exon7

BACKGROUND: Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a common neuromuscular disorder resulting in death during childhood. Around 81 ~ 95% of SMA cases are a result of homozygous deletions of survival motor neuron gene 1 (SMN1) gene or gene conversions from SMN1 to SMN2. Less than 5% of cases showed rare subtle mutations in SMN1. Our aim was to identify subtle mutations in Chinese SMA patients carrying a single SMN1 copy. METHODS: We examined 14 patients from 13 unrelated families. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification analysis was carried out to determine the copy numbers of SMN1 and SMN2. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and clone sequencing were used to detect subtle mutations in SMN1. SMN transcript levels were determined using quantitative RT-PCR. RESULTS: Six subtle mutations (p.Ser8LysfsX23, p.Glu134Lys, p.Leu228X, p.Ser230Leu, p.Tyr277Cys, and p.Arg288Met) were identified in 12 patients. The p.Tyr277Cys mutation has not been reported previously. The p.Ser8LysfsX23, p.Leu228X, and p.Tyr277Cys mutations have only been reported in Chinese SMA patients and the first two mutations seem to be the common ones. Levels of full length SMN1 (fl-SMN1) transcripts were very low in patients carrying p.Ser8LysfsX23, p.Leu228X or p.Arg288Met compared with healthy carriers. In patients carrying p.Glu134Lys or p.Ser230Leu, levels of fl-SMN1 transcripts were reduced but not significant. The SMN1 transcript almost skipped exon 7 entirely in patients with the p.Arg288Met mutation. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals a distinct spectrum of subtle mutations in SMN1 of Chinese SMA patients from that of other ethnicities. The p.Arg288Met missense mutation possibly influences the correct splicing of exon 7 in SMN1. Mutation analysis of the SMN1 gene in Chinese patients may contribute to the identification of potential ethnic differences and enrich the SMN1 subtle mutation database

人造血管在血液透析造瘘的应用及护理

Objective: To study the application of artificial blood vessels to build alternative standard arteriovenous fistula blood vessels for hemodialysis maintenance nursing. Methods: 17 cases of patients underwent artificial blood vessel transplantation, material for ptfe (PTEE), 30 cm in length, inner diameter 5mm, from 2012 to 2013 in Jinan military region general hospital. Artificial blood vessel transplantation is more operated on brachial vein, cephalic vein, median cubital vein and basilic vein. When the anastomosis among artificial blood vessels and brachial artery and vein anastomosis was established, the arterial end was on the inner side. When the anastomosis among brachial vein, median cubital vein and basilic vein was established, the arterial end was on the outside for the extension of vascular access. Results: 15 cases have hemodialysis after two months’ treatment, 1 case have artificial blood vessel fistula after swelling for 4 months, infection of thrombosis occurred one month after the operation in 1 case. Conclusion: Artificial blood vessel show good biocompatibility, high long-term patency rate, blood flow, and convenient puncture point. It builds the “lifeline” for the patients who are unable to establish a good vascular access. It is of great significance to improve the management of artificial blood vessel fistula for maintenance hemodialysis patients.目的  研究应用人造血管造瘘替代标准动静脉血管维持血液透析的护理。方法  本院自2012—2013年对17例血液透析患者进行人造血管移植术，材料为聚四氟乙烯（PTEE）材料，长度30cm，内径5mm。人造血管移植术多选择与肱动脉和头静脉或肘正中静脉、贵要静脉U型吻合。人造血管与肱动脉和头静脉吻合时，动脉端在内侧。但肱动脉与肘正中静脉、贵要静脉吻合时，为延长有效性血管通路，动脉端则在外侧。结果  15例术后2个月成熟顺利实施血液透析，1例持续肿胀4个月后开始应用，1例术后1个月出现感染血栓形成。结论  人造血管具有生物相容性好、长期通畅率高、血流量大、穿刺方便、穿刺部位充足等优点，为自身血管条件差、无法建立良好血管通路的透析患者提供了可靠的血管通路，为维持性血液透析患者建立了“生命线”。加强透析过程中的人造血管内瘘管理对于维持透析患者良好的血管通路具有重要意义