Supporting Introductory Test-Driven Labs with WebIDE

WebIDE is a new web-based development environment for entry-level programmers with two primary goals: minimize tool barriers to writing computer programs and introduce software engineering best practices early in a student\u27s educational career. Currently, WebIDE focuses on Test-Driven Learning (TDL) by using small iterative examples and introducing lock-step labs, which prevent the student from moving forward until they finish the current step. However, WebIDE does not require that labs follow TDL. Instructors can write their own labs for WebIDE using any software engineering or pedagogical approach. Likewise, instructors can build custom evaluators - written in any language - to support their approach and provide detailed error messages to students. We report on a pilot study in a CS0 course where students were split into two groups, one that used WebIDE and one that didn\u27t. The WebIDE group showed a significant improvement in performance when writing a simple Android application. Additionally, among students with some programming experience, the WebIDE group was more proficient in writing unit tests

First IBEX observations of the terrestrial plasma sheet and a possible disconnection event

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has recently provided the first all-sky maps of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) emitted from the edge of the heliosphere as well as the first observations of ENAs from the Moon and from the magnetosheath stagnation region at the nose of the magnetosphere. This study provides the first IBEX images of the ENA emissions from the nightside magnetosphere and plasma sheet. We show images from two IBEX orbits: one that displays typical plasma sheet emissions, which correlate reasonably well with a model magnetic field, and a second that shows a significant intensification that may indicate a near-Earth (similar to 10 R(E) behind the Earth) disconnection event. IBEX observations from similar to 0.5-6 keV indicate the simultaneous addition of both a hot (several keV) and colder (similar to 700 eV) component during the intensification; if IBEX directly observed magnetic reconnection in the magnetotail, the hot component may signify the plasma energization

Stand Characteristics and Leaf Litter Composition of a Dry Forest Hectare in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica

One hectare of tropical dry forest in Guanacaste Conservation Area, Costa Rica was mapped and all trees larger than 10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) identified. The same hectare was sampled for leaf litter and the two data sets, forest and litter, were compared. Dominant and subdominant species of the forest are represented in the leaf litter, whereas rare tree species are highly variable in their representation in the leaf litter. Relative abundance of dominant and subdominant tree species is represented well by the litter although absolute rank-order is nor identical between source forest basal area and leaf litter mass. The litter adds a significant component to the source forest data owing to the presence of vines and lianas, and more rarely small trees or shrubs. This indicates that litter studies may be able to add depth to forest diversity surveys. The source forest also was used to test foliar physiognomic reconstructions of climate that have been proposed recently by paleobotanists as an alternative to taxonomic affinities methods. The observed climate of the area does not conform to the climatic values that were predicted by application of these new methods. RESUMEN Una hectÁrea de bosque seco tropical en el Area de ConservaciÓn de Guanacaste, Costa Rica fue mapeada, y todos los Árboles mayores de 10 cm de dap fueron identificados. En la misma hectÁrea, se tomaron muestras de hojarasca y los dos colecciones de datos. bosque y hojarasca, fueron comparadas. Se encontrÓ que las especies dominantes y subdominantes del bosque estaban representadas en las muestras de hojarasca, mientras que la presencia de especias arbÓreas raras en las muestras de mojarasca fue muy variable. La abundancia relativa de especies arbÓreas dominantesestÁ bien representada en la hojarasca aunque el Área basal del bosque de origen y la masa de hojarasca no heron idÉnticos en rangos absolutos. La hojarasca aÑade un componente significativo a los datos del bosque de origen debido a la presencia de bejucos y lianas en la hojarasca, y mÁs raramente Árboles pequeÑos y arbustos. Estos datos indican que los estudios de hojarasca pueden incrementar la precisiÓn de las estimaciones de la diversidad de los bosques. El bosque de origen fue usado tarnbien para examinar reconstrucciones del clima basados en la fisiognomia foliar recientemenre propuesras por paleobotÁnicas como una alternativa a mÉtodos de afinidad raxonÓmicas. El clima observado en el Área no corresponde con los valores climÁticos que fueron predecidos por la aplicaciÓn de estos nuevos mÉtodos.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73234/1/j.1744-7429.1997.tb00034.x.pd

Understanding depletion forces beyond entropy

The effective interaction energy of a colloidal sphere in a suspension containing small amounts of non-ionic polymers and a flat glass surface has been measured and calculated using total internal reflection microscopy (TIRM) and a novel approach within density functional theory (DFT), respectively. Quantitative agreement between experiment and theory demonstrates that the resulting repulsive part of the depletion forces cannot be interpreted entirely in terms of entropic arguments but that particularly at small distances ($\lesssim$ 100 nm) attractive dispersion forces have to be taken into account

Effect of a single dose of subcutaneous meloxicam before knife castration alone or combined with hot-iron branding on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in 2-mo-old beef calves over 42 d post procedure

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single subcutaneous injection of meloxicam on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in castrated or castrated and branded beef calves for 42 d post procedure. Seventy-two 2-mo-old Angus crossbred bull calves were used to assess the effects of procedure (Trt): (1) sham control, (2) knife castration, and (3) knife castration and hot-iron branding; and pain mitigation (Med): (1) nonmedicated and (2) medicated with meloxicam according to a 3 × 2 factorial design. Body weight, scrotal circumference (SC), and healing scores were collected weekly until day 42. Blood samples were collected weekly until day 42 to assess haptoglobin, serum amyloid-A, and complete blood cell count. Hair was collected on day −1 and day 42 to assess cortisol concentrations. Lying and standing behaviour were recorded for 42 d, whereas pain-related behaviours were recorded on days 7, 15, 22, 29, and 34 post procedure. The inflammatory response (SC) and duration of standing was greater (P < 0.05) in calves castrated and branded than those only castrated. However, meloxicam did not reduce inflammation or improve wound healing in either castrated or castrated and branded calves.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolving outer heliosphere: Large-scale stability and time variations observed by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer

The first all-sky maps of Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) exhibited smoothly varying, globally distributed flux and a narrow ribbon of enhanced ENA emissions. In this study we compare the second set of sky maps to the first in order to assess the possibility of temporal changes over the 6 months between views of each portion of the sky. While the large-scale structure is generally stable between the two sets of maps, there are some remarkable changes that show that the heliosphere is also evolving over this short timescale. In particular, we find that (1) the overall ENA emissions coming from the outer heliosphere appear to be slightly lower in the second set of maps compared to the first, (2) both the north and south poles have significantly lower (similar to 10-15%) ENA emissions in the second set of maps compared to the first across the energy range from 0.5 to 6 keV, and (3) the knot in the northern portion of the ribbon in the first maps is less bright and appears to have spread and/or dissipated by the time the second set was acquired. Finally, the spatial distribution of fluxes in the southernmost portion of the ribbon has evolved slightly, perhaps moving as much as 6 degrees (one map pixel) equatorward on average. The observed large-scale stability and these systematic changes at smaller spatial scales provide important new information about the outer heliosphere and its global interaction with the galaxy and help inform possible mechanisms for producing the IBEX ribbon

The phase diagram of L\'evy spin glasses

We study the L\'evy spin-glass model with the replica and the cavity method. In this model each spin interacts through a finite number of strong bonds and an infinite number of weak bonds. This hybrid behaviour of L\'evy spin glasses becomes transparent in our solution: the local field contains a part propagating along a backbone of strong bonds and a Gaussian noise term due to weak bonds. Our method allows to determine the complete replica symmetric phase diagram, the replica symmetry breaking line and the entropy. The results are compared with simulations and previous calculations using a Gaussian ansatz for the distribution of fields.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure