RekomGNN: Visualizing, Contextualizing and Evaluating Graph Neural Networks Recommendations

Content recommendation tasks increasingly use Graph Neural Networks, but it remains challenging for machine learning experts to assess the quality of their outputs. Visualization systems for GNNs that could support this interrogation are few. Moreover, those that do exist focus primarily on exposing GNN architectures for tuning and prediction tasks and do not address the challenges of recommendation tasks. We developed RekomGNN, a visual analytics system that supports ML experts in exploring GNN recommendations across several dimensions and making annotations about their quality. RekomGNN straddles the design space between Neural Network and recommender system visualization to arrive at a set of encoding and interaction choices for recommendation tasks. We found that RekomGNN helps experts make qualitative assessments of the GNN's results, which they can use for model refinement. Overall, our contributions and findings add to the growing understanding of visualizing GNNs for increasingly complex tasks

Impacting Student Satisfaction, Engagement and Motivation in Online and Traditional Classrooms

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the higher education landscape in a number of ways. It, specifically, made the online/distance learning environment more prominent among institutions as 96% of colleges and universities in the U.S. shifted at least some of their course offerings online. The contrast of in-person and online teaching outcomes has become increasingly relevant due to these circumstances. Given the necessity and ubiquity of online classes, it is as important as ever to understand how to best implement an online course. The current project explored how student characteristics, instructor characteristics, and classroom characteristics in both traditional and online classes in the U.S. differed in terms of motivation, engagement, and satisfaction. Results indicate that only instructor rapport and credibility were perceived as important in online classes whereas perceived classroom interaction was important for in-person classes. Student reports of motivation, engagement, and satisfaction were higher for in-person classes than online classes

Copy number variation genotyping using family information

BACKGROUND: In recent years there has been a growing interest in the role of copy number variations (CNV) in genetic diseases. Though there has been rapid development of technologies and statistical methods devoted to detection in CNVs from array data, the inherent challenges in data quality associated with most hybridization techniques remains a challenging problem in CNV association studies. RESULTS: To help address these data quality issues in the context of family-based association studies, we introduce a statistical framework for the intensity-based array data that takes into account the family information for copy-number assignment. The method is an adaptation of traditional methods for modeling SNP genotype data that assume Gaussian mixture model, whereby CNV calling is performed for all family members simultaneously and leveraging within family-data to reduce CNV calls that are incompatible with Mendelian inheritance while still allowing de-novo CNVs. Applying this method to simulation studies and a genome-wide association study in asthma, we find that our approach significantly improves CNV calls accuracy, and reduces the Mendelian inconsistency rates and false positive genotype calls. The results were validated using qPCR experiments. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we have demonstrated that the use of family information can improve the quality of CNV calling and hopefully give more powerful association test of CNVs

Exile Vol. LII No. 2

Title Page 2 Epigraph by Ezra Pound 3 Table of Contents 4 Editor\u27s Note 6 Contributors\u27 Notes 45 Editorial Board 46 ART Wallace Monument by Casey Flax 9 Blind Man by Abbe Wright 18 Untitled by Adrienne Hunter 20 Sentinel by Eric Ahnmark 28 Untitled by Abbe Wright 32 Under Charles by Medha Jaishankar 43 FICTION The Great Lego Wall by Dawson West 12-16 Gods by Nick Wright 21-24 Some Days Hit like Mack Trucks by Sarah Broderick 33-42 POETRY The Liberation from Jack Kerouac by Katie Berta 7-8 Fragmented Grief by Jen Humbert 10 Rauschenberg Painting Iris Clért by Jeremy Heartberg 11 Outgrowing by Sarah Rogers 17 Garden of Eden by Jen Humbert 19 She whispered to the moon by Dave Murrin-von Ebers 25 A Joke by Jeremy Heartberg 26 Retrospective by Casey Flax 27 Ketchup Fetish by Dawson West 29 Winter Raspberries by Jennifer Luebbers 30-31 Knot by Sarah Rogers 44 Editor\u27s Note The process by which Exile comes into being each semester is by no means a quick or simple one, and was further confounded in this instance by having me at its core. I do not necessarily mean to discredit myself ad nauseam as some editors would, but they will all tell you that transitional periods are the toughest on a publication. The collaborative effort of Jeremy Heartberg and Jennifer Humbert over the past several semesters, not to mention the competent and eager editorial staff they have recruited, has seen to it that the transition made in these past few months has not been bulky or awkward, but rather quite seamless. It is appropriate then, that the two of them are both prominently featured in the edition of Exile on which you presently fix your gaze. In recent years, you have benefited from Jeremy\u27s and Jen\u27s dedication to Exile as a whole; this year, enjoy their dedication to the flexibility and nuance of language, to the manipulation of form, to poetry. Jeremy, Jen, Sarah, and Emily, thank you, you will be missed. / April 2006 -6 Front Cover Art by Chris Davis: Reflections / Back Cover Art by Eric Ahnmark: Trucks Only -46 All submissions are reviewed on an anonymous basis, and all editorial decisions are shared equally among the members of the editorial board. -4

Application of artificial intelligence in measuring novel pH-impedance metrics for optimal diagnosis of GERD

Novel metrics extracted from pH-impedance monitoring can augment the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Artificial intelligence (AI) is being widely used to improve the diagnostic capabilities of various diseases. In this review, we update the current literature regarding applications of artificial intelligence in measuring novel pH-impedance metrics. AI demonstrates high performance in the measurement of impedance metrics, including numbers of reflux episodes and post-reflux swallow-induced peristaltic wave index and, furthermore, extracts baseline impedance from the entire pH-impedance study. AI is expected to play a reliable role in facilitating measuring novel impedance metrics in patients with GERD in the near future

Exile Vol. XL No. 2

38th Year Title Page by Carrie Horner \u2797 i Epigraph by Ezra Pound ii Table of Contents iii-iv Remembering Sundays by Allison Lemieux \u2795 1 Untitled by James Oliver \u2794 2 \u2778 Beige Chevy Malibu by Craig J. McDonough \u2794 3-4 Brushtown Road by Lelei Jennings \u2795 5 In Memoriam: River Phoenix, 1970-93 by Kirstin Rogers \u2794 6 Untitled by Kira Pollack \u2794 7 Checkmate by Kevin Nix \u2794 8 Anywhere in Ohio by Jen Hanysh \u2795 9 Untitled by Nicky Taylor \u2794 10 Under Your Influence by Katherine Anne Campo \u2794 11 Tulips by Tricia B. Swearingen \u2794 12 Untitled by Keith Chapman \u2795 12 December Storm by Erin Lott \u2796 13-19 On Meeting Phil Levine After a Reading at Denison University April 6, 1993 by Christopher Harnish \u2794 20 The 422 Bypass by Joel Husenits \u2795 21 Untitled by Ken Tyburski \u2794 22 Shakespeare\u27s Foreskin by Carey Christie \u2795 23 The Thaw by Chris Iven \u2794 24 The Rockbridge County Fair by Morgan Roper \u2794 25 Let it Drop Through by Carey Christie \u2795 26-27 Aladdin\u27s by Paul Rinkes \u2794 28-29 Untitled by Aileen Jones \u2794 30 The Tango by Hope Layne Morgan \u2794 31 Icarus by Carey Christine \u2795 32-33 fad by Jeremy Aufrance \u2795 34 Untitled by James Oliver \u2794 35 Desert Villanelle by Christopher Harnish \u2794 36 The Skull by Nicky Taylor \u2794 37 Rodeo Bar by Carl Jeffrey Boon \u2796 38 I, Mordred by Carey Christie \u2795 39-43 Between Centuries by Leslie Dana Wells \u2794 44-45 Untitled by Carrie Horner \u2797 45 Untitled by Alex Emmons \u2796 46 Coleridge\u27s Curse by Allison Lemieux \u2795 47 Untitled by Jenny Baker \u2794 48 five by Jeremy Aufrance \u2795 49 Untitled by James Oliver \u2794 50 Lobster Boy by Kirstin Rogers \u2794 51 Fire on the Mountain by Christopher Harnish \u2794 52-53 Yosemite by Morgan Roper \u2794 54 Untitled by Carrie Horner \u2797 54 Untitled by Ken Tyburski \u2794 55 Sleepless Nights Fades to Credits by Allison Lemieux \u2794 56 Dancing Days by Julie McDonald \u2794 57 Immobile by Adrienne Fair \u2796 58-59 Untitled by Kira Pollack \u2794 60 Dorm Fire by Lisa Marie Antonille \u2795 Untitled by Carrie Horner \u2797 61 The Book by Matt Wanat \u2795 62-63 Distance by Carl Jeffrey Boon \u2796 64 Untitled by Jenny Baker \u2794 65 Cover by Ken Tyburski \u2794 Editorial decision is shared equally among the Editorial Board. -6

Ultrathin Oxide Films by Atomic Layer Deposition on Graphene

In this paper, a method is presented to create and characterize mechanically robust, free standing, ultrathin, oxide films with controlled, nanometer-scale thickness using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) on graphene. Aluminum oxide films were deposited onto suspended graphene membranes using ALD. Subsequent etching of the graphene left pure aluminum oxide films only a few atoms in thickness. A pressurized blister test was used to determine that these ultrathin films have a Young's modulus of 154 \pm 13 GPa. This Young's modulus is comparable to much thicker alumina ALD films. This behavior indicates that these ultrathin two-dimensional films have excellent mechanical integrity. The films are also impermeable to standard gases suggesting they are pinhole-free. These continuous ultrathin films are expected to enable new applications in fields such as thin film coatings, membranes and flexible electronics.Comment: Nano Letters (just accepted

More Than Just Puck Bunnies: Female Hockey Fans

The sporting world continues to expand, as evidenced by growing legions of fans (Van Schaik, 2012). Those who follow professional hockey and attend its games tend to have a higher annual income than fans of other professional sports (Thompson, 2014), and are typically thought of as primarily male (Esmonde et al., 2015). The stereotype of the male hockey fan and its proliferation by the media create struggles for women as they become or remain fans (Crawford et al, 2004; MacDonald, 2014). Yet women are showing up for professional hockey games more than ever. The current study investigated the nature of the female hockey fan. Areas studied include motivation for being a fan, inclusion/exclusion, marketing, merchandising and the idea of “fan first.” Evidence supporting the importance of focusing on all fans--not just men--is clear, and professional hockey has an opportunity to both reverse the male-dominant profile of its fans and capitalize on the burgeoning female hockey fan market. Interview research--both formal and informal--was conducted at local professional hockey games during the 2015-16 season. Results point to how female hockey fans consider themselves, how they prefer to be treated by the sport industry as well as the media, and what it will take for their numbers and satisfaction to increase

The whiff of decay: Linking volatile production and extracellular enzymes to outcomes of fungal interactions at different temperatures

The terrestrial carbon cycle is largely driven by photosynthetic plants and decomposer organisms that process biomass to CO2. In forest ecosystems, the decomposers are predominantly wood decay fungi, and the response of community structure and activity to increasing global temperatures is likely critical to forest biogeochemical processes. Metabolic products can drive community structure and substrate utilisation, and the role of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as extracellular enzymes, are of particular interest. Pair-wise interactions of a community of basidiomycetes were made under 3 different microclimate conditions that mimic fluctuations in local climate conditions, and the outcome of interactions was assessed in terms of: (1) which fungus won the confrontation or whether it was a draw (deadlock); (2) the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and enzyme activities; and (3) the rate of decomposition. While substrate utilisation and exploitation in terms of decomposition was not affected, community response to changing temperature was underpinned by altered outcomes of interactions and changes to territory occupation, which were reflected by changes in VOC production and extracellular enzyme activity. This study underlines the importance of understanding the impact of community structure on carbon cycling in forest ecosystems under a changing climate