Participatory Design of Purdue University’s Active Learning Center Final Report

Purdue University’s commitment to active learning requires facilities that support small-­‐group work, peer learning, the use of technology, and other classroom innovations. The Active Learning Center is intended to provide classroom space combined seamlessly with library space to meet these needs. Members of the Libraries faculty and staff conducted a series of information-­‐gathering activities to gain insight into the range of activities, work practices and preferences that the new building must support. It is our hope that the building will indeed support these activities, serve as a centrally located, flagship building for Purdue University, and support and inspire learning for years to come

The PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics, Version 1.0: A Valid and Equitable Tool to Measure Transformation of Life Sciences Departments at All Institution Types

The PULSE Vision & Change Rubrics, version 1.0, assess life sciences departments’ progress toward implementation of the principles of the Vision and Change report. This paper reports on the development of the rubrics, their validation, and their reliability in measuring departmental change aligned with the Vision and Change recommendations. The rubrics assess 66 different criteria across five areas: Curriculum Alignment, Assessment, Faculty Practice/Faculty Support, Infrastructure, and Climate for Change. The results from this work demonstrate the rubrics can be used to evaluate departmental transformation equitably across institution types and represent baseline data about the adoption of the Vision and Change recommendations by life sciences programs across the United States. While all institution types have made progress, liberal arts institutions are farther along in implementing these recommendations. Generally, institutions earned the highest scores on the Curriculum Alignment rubric and the lowest scores on the Assessment rubric. The results of this study clearly indicate that the Vision & Change Rubrics, version 1.0, are valid and equitable and can track long-term progress of the transformation of life sciences departments. In addition, four of the five rubrics have broad applicability and can be used to evaluate departmental transformation by other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines

A Complete Axiom System for Propositional Interval Temporal Logic with Infinite Time

Interval Temporal Logic (ITL) is an established temporal formalism for reasoning about time periods. For over 25 years, it has been applied in a number of ways and several ITL variants, axiom systems and tools have been investigated. We solve the longstanding open problem of finding a complete axiom system for basic quantifier-free propositional ITL (PITL) with infinite time for analysing nonterminating computational systems. Our completeness proof uses a reduction to completeness for PITL with finite time and conventional propositional linear-time temporal logic. Unlike completeness proofs of equally expressive logics with nonelementary computational complexity, our semantic approach does not use tableaux, subformula closures or explicit deductions involving encodings of omega automata and nontrivial techniques for complementing them. We believe that our result also provides evidence of the naturalness of interval-based reasoning

Dorsoventral Patterning in Hemichordates: Insights into Early Chordate Evolution

We have compared the dorsoventral development of hemichordates and chordates to deduce the organization of their common ancestor, and hence to identify the evolutionary modifications of the chordate body axis after the lineages split. In the hemichordate embryo, genes encoding bone morphogenetic proteins (Bmp) 2/4 and 5/8, as well as several genes for modulators of Bmp activity, are expressed in a thin stripe of ectoderm on one midline, historically called “dorsal.” On the opposite midline, the genes encoding Chordin and Anti-dorsalizing morphogenetic protein (Admp) are expressed. Thus, we find a Bmp-Chordin developmental axis preceding and underlying the anatomical dorsoventral axis of hemichordates, adding to the evidence from Drosophila and chordates that this axis may be at least as ancient as the first bilateral animals. Numerous genes encoding transcription factors and signaling ligands are expressed in the three germ layers of hemichordate embryos in distinct dorsoventral domains, such as pox neuro, pituitary homeobox, distalless, and tbx2/3 on the Bmp side and netrin, mnx, mox, and single-minded on the Chordin-Admp side. When we expose the embryo to excess Bmp protein, or when we deplete endogenous Bmp by small interfering RNA injections, these expression domains expand or contract, reflecting their activation or repression by Bmp, and the embryos develop as dorsalized or ventralized limit forms. Dorsoventral patterning is independent of anterior/posterior patterning, as in Drosophila but not chordates. Unlike both chordates and Drosophila, neural gene expression in hemichordates is not repressed by high Bmp levels, consistent with their development of a diffuse rather than centralized nervous system. We suggest that the common ancestor of hemichordates and chordates did not use its Bmp-Chordin axis to segregate epidermal and neural ectoderm but to pattern many other dorsoventral aspects of the germ layers, including neural cell fates within a diffuse nervous system. Accordingly, centralization was added in the chordate line by neural-epidermal segregation, mediated by the pre-existing Bmp-Chordin axis. Finally, since hemichordates develop the mouth on the non-Bmp side, like arthropods but opposite to chordates, the mouth and Bmp-Chordin axis may have rearranged in the chordate line, one relative to the other

Interactive Verification of Statecharts

This paper presents an approach to the integration of statecharts, temporal logic and algebraic specification within an interactive verification environment. Currently some integrated formalisms exist, but there is no proof support for theses approaches. Also model checkers are able to prove temporal properties of statecharts, but they can only be used to verify properties based on a small, finite data domain. Our goal is to provide a uniform, interactive proof support for verifying temporal properties of statecharts with algebraic data types and functions over infinite data domains. As an implementation platform the KIV system is used

Interactive Verification of Concurrent Systems using Symbolic Execution

This technical report presents an interactive proof method for the verification of temporal properties of concurrent systems based on symbolic execution. Symbolic execution is a well known and very intuitive strategy for the verification of sequential programs. We have carried over this approach to the interactive verification of arbitrary linear temporal logic properties of (infinite state) parallel programs. The resulting proof method is very intuitive to apply and can be automated to a large extent. It smoothly combines first order reasoning with reasoning in temporal logic. The proof method has been implemented in the interactive verification environment KIV and has been used in several case studies

Interactive verification of UML state machines

Interactive verification of UML state machines / M. Balser ... - In: Formal methods and software engineering : 6th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2004, Seattle, WA, USA, November 8 - 12, 2004 ; proceedings / Jim Davies ... (eds.). - Berlin u.a. : Springer, 2004. - S. 434-448. - (Lecture notes in computer science ; 3308

Experiences in the formalisation and verification of medical protocols

Experiences in the formalisation and verification of medical protocols / M. Balser ... - In: Artificial intelligence in medicine : 9th Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in Europe, AIME 2003, Protaras, Cyprus, October 18 - 22, 2003 ; proceedings / Michel Dojat ... (eds.). - Berlin u.a. : Springer, 2003. - S. 132-141. - (Lecture notes in computer science ; 2780 : Lecture notes in artificial intelligence