Pre-Rate My Professor: Predicting Course Ratings And Response Rates From Lms Activity In College Courses

College teaching is primarily assessed through the use of course ratings, which are expected to act as both summative and formative feedback. Considering the significance of teaching in academia and the amount of time professors spend on teaching and related activities, it is particularly important that ratings are effective formative feedback. In this study, methods from learning analytics and data mining are used in an effort to predict course ratings and response rates on ratings surveys from students’ activity in the course learning management system, with the goal of making predicted ratings available to faculty early. Regression and classification methods used in this study included linear and logistic regression, random forests, and gradient boosting and features were chosen based on their inclusion in earlier studies predicting individual student success and motivation. However, none of the models created for this study were not able to accurately predict either course ratings or response rates on either the entire data sample or a subset of classes with higher LMS activity. This may have been caused by difficulties with aggregating features or outcome variables to the class level, which was necessary due to the confidentiality of the student ratings. It may also result from the complexity of good college teaching: unlike individual student grades or motivation, which have been successfully predicted, there are many successful and unsuccessful forms of teaching

Identification of Select Fumonisin Forming Fusarium Species Using PCR Applications of the Polyketide Synthase Gene and its Relationship to Fumonisin Production in vitro

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based diagnostic assay was used to develop markers for detection of Fusarium verticillioides (=F. moniliforme), a fumonisin producing fungus in maize tissues. Species-specific primers were designed based on sequence data from the polyketide synthase (PKS) gene (FUM1- previously FUM5) responsible for fumonisin production in fungi. Four sets of oligonucleotide primers were tested for their specificity using 24 strains of F. verticillioides, 10 F. proliferatum, and 12 of other Fusarium species. In addition, 13 species of other fungal genera, from four phyla, were tested as negative controls. Among the four sets, primer set B consistently amplified a 419-bp fragment from the DNA 96% of all F. verticillioides strains and 83% of F. proliferatum. All other fungi tested were negative using primer set B. A total of 38% of the F. verticillioides strains grown on a selective liquid medium produced fumonisin and 92% formed the toxin on standard rice medium. When fumonisin formed in culture, PCR assay using primer set B detected every strain of F. verticillioides, but only amplified 80% of F. proliferatum strains that produced the toxin. PCR detection was consistent at 100 pg/μl concentration of genomic DNA from 4 F. verticillioides strains, but varied at 10 pg/μl. Two duplicate greenhouse tests using artificially inoculated maize plants, had greater levels of F. verticillioides detected after re-evaluting using primer set B than from culturing of the tissues. The molecular protocols described in this study requires only 1 day for completion compared to approximately 10 days for cultural work and morphological determination. In conclusion, conventional PCR assay using primer set B provides a sensitive and accurate detection assay that can be used as a primary or secondary confirmation method for identification and occurrence of F. verticillioides within the maize tissues. However, studies using primer set B for fumonisin production determined by strains of F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum will require further verification

Prostaglandin E2 increases fibroblast geneâ specific and global DNA methylation via increased DNA methyltransferase expression

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154365/1/fsb2026009012.pd

Fluorescent Microangiography Is a Novel and Widely Applicable Technique for Delineating the Renal Microvasculature

Rarefaction of the renal microvasculature correlates with declining kidney function. However, current technologies commonly used for its evaluation are limited by their reliance on endothelial cell antigen expression and assessment in two dimensions. We set out to establish a widely applicable and unbiased optical sectioning method to enable three dimensional imaging and reconstruction of the renal microvessels based on their luminal filling. The kidneys of subtotally nephrectomized (SNx) rats and their sham-operated counterparts were subjected to either routine two-dimensional immunohistochemistry or the novel technique of fluorescent microangiography (FMA). The latter was achieved by perfusion of the kidney with an agarose suspension of fluorescent polystyrene microspheres followed by optical sectioning of 200 µm thick cross-sections using a confocal microscope. The fluorescent microangiography method enabled the three-dimensional reconstruction of virtual microvascular casts and confirmed a reduction in both glomerular and peritubular capillary density in the kidneys of SNx rats, despite an overall increase in glomerular volume. FMA is an uncomplicated technique for evaluating the renal microvasculature that circumvents many of the limitations imposed by conventional analysis of two-dimensional tissue sections

Fault weakening across the frictional-viscous transition zone, Karakoram Fault Zone, NW Himalaya

Exhumed fault rocks formed in the frictional-viscous transition zone (FVTZ) provide test material that can be used to assess the strength of natural fault zones. In the Karakoram Fault Zone (KFZ), such rocks contain evidence of several long-term weakening mechanisms associated with reduced coefficients of friction (<0.4). The Nubra, Tangtse, and Arganglas strands of the KFZ are focused along metavolcano-sedimentary formations indicating weakness relative to the bounding granitoids. Synkinematic retrogression suggests that reaction softening has weakened the margins of granitoids along the Nubra and Tangtse strands and the Nubra Formation within the Nubra strand. The resultant phyllosilicates have formed well-developed interconnected weak layers within phyllonites and granitic mylonites. Micaceous foliae with increased proportions of opaque minerals in granitic mylonites suggest that fluid-assisted diffusive mass transfer aided deformation within the Nubra and Tangtse strands. Microstructures within Nubra strand phyllonites suggest that frictional-viscous flow accommodated deformation at low shear stresses in the FVTZ. Multiple generations of veining within each strand indicate overpressured pore fluids within the fault zone across a range of depths. Active springs and travertines along the fault indicate ongoing suprahydrostatic fluid flow within the KFZ. Despite such evidence for weakening mechanisms, the KFZ is currently locked and most likely generates moment magnitude 7.5+ earthquakes. Evidence for multiple fault weakening mechanisms reduces potential for shear heating within the KFZ and suggests that the long-term strength of the lithosphere must reside below the depth of penetration of the fault