A Digital Practice Tool for Chemical Resonance

Digital practice tools support online learning in math, language, computer science, and other subjects, but practice with problems whose answers are not well represented by text or quantities is underrepresented in the digital learning ecosystem beyond multiple-choice questions. This thesis project explored an alternative to multiple choice practice problems in organic chemistry that does not rely on a molecule drawing interface. This project included development and evaluation of a proof-of-concept digital practice tool for chemical resonance problems. Results of a utility study strongly suggest that the practice tool could fill a learning niche within organic chemistry practice as part of a larger integrated learning environment. The study supported the idea that the digital practice tool and others like it can meet different needs for certain learners, such as reinforcing concepts visually, allowing learners to pace themselves, encouraging learners, and providing immediate feedback. Lastly, this project identified generalizable design challenges for similar practice tools, including the need for a known deployment context, curating content for diverse learner backgrounds, and managing appropriate difficulty for diverse learner backgrounds and needs

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are monitoring the sky and collecting gravitational-wave strain data with sufficient sensitivity to detect signals routinely. In this paper we describe the data recorded by these instruments during their first and second observing runs. The main data products are gravitational-wave strain time series sampled at 16384 Hz. The datasets that include this strain measurement can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at http://gw-openscience.org, together with data-quality information essential for the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data, documentation, tutorials, and supporting software