Preparing Grades K-12 Computer Science Educators in Iowa

Computer Science (CS) is arguably one of the fastest growing disciplines in K12 education. Educators have choices from a variety of curricula at all levels in the K-12 spectrum and two different AP exams. Iowa is finalizing statewide Grades K-12 standards for CS Education and has added a CS endorsement to state licensure. In this talk we will discuss the state of CS Education in Iowa at both the school and BOEE levels. We will make teachers aware of some of the resources out there to use with students. We will also discuss CS professional development opportunities for teachers being conducted at UNI and around the state

How Grading for Equity Changed the Way I Teach

If you are anything like us, you are likely frustrated with the amount of time you spend both grading and then quibbling with students about grades - oftentimes in situations that have no real connection with classroom learning. Members of the computer science department at UNI have been discussing teaching and learning together for years and we were thrilled to discover the 2019 book Grading for Equity by author and educator Joe Feldman. In it he writes There is growing awareness that traditional grading practices have become a barrier to meaningful student learning. From this belief he presents a style of classroom management and grading built on three pillars: that grades should be accurate, bias-resistant, and provide intrinsic student motivation. For the last three years we have been using this style of grading in a variety of computer science and education courses and it has fundamentally changed the way we teach. In this session we will present on the WHAT and WHY of Grading for Equity and share with you the HOW as we discuss the ways we have used this grading structure in our own classrooms

Test Verification of the Effect of Stress Gradient on Webs of Cees and Zee Sections

This report details the work performed under a research grant funded by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) entitled “Test Verification of the Effect of Stress Gradient on Webs of Cee and Zee Sections.” The project evolved in response to the inconclusive nature of existing test data on Cees and Zees in bending and the need for a set of simple repeatable tests on industry standard sections that account for typical details in current practice and provide the actual bending capacity in local buckling. Findings and recommendations from the research follow.American Iron and Steel Institute, Metal Building Manufacturers Associatio

Quantifying barriers to monovalent anion transport in narrow non-polar pores

The transport of anionic drinking water contaminants (fluoride, chloride, nitrate and nitrite) through narrow pores ranging in effective radius from 2.5 to 6.5 Å was systematically evaluated using molecular dynamics simulations to elucidate the magnitud

Tumour-derived leukaemia inhibitory factor is a major driver of cancer cachexia and morbidity in C26 tumour-bearing mice

BACKGROUND: Cancer cachexia is a metabolic wasting syndrome that is strongly associated with a poor prognosis. The initiating factors causing fat and muscle loss are largely unknown. Previously, we found that leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) secreted by C26 colon carcinoma cells was responsible for atrophy in treated myotubes. In the present study, we tested whether C26 tumour‐derived LIF is required for cancer cachexia in mice by knockout of Lif in C26 cells. METHODS: A C26 Lif null tumour cell line was made using CRISPR‐Cas9. Measurements of cachexia were compared in mice inoculated with C26 vs. C26^Lif−/− tumour cells, and atrophy was compared in myotubes treated with medium from C26 vs. C26^Lif−/− tumour cells. Levels of 25 cytokines/chemokines were compared in serum of mice bearing C26 vs. C26^Lif−/− tumours and in the medium from these tumour cell lines. RESULTS: At study endpoint, C26 mice showed outward signs of sickness while mice with C26^Lif−/− tumours appeared healthy. Mice with C26^Lif−/− tumours showed a 55–75% amelioration of body weight loss, muscle loss, fat loss, and splenomegaly compared with mice with C26 tumours (P < 0.05). The heart was not affected by LIF levels because the loss of cardiac mass was the same in C26 and C^26Lif−/− tumour‐bearing mice. LIF levels in mouse serum was entirely dependent on secretion from the tumour cells. Serum levels of interleukin‐6 and G‐CSF were increased by 79‐fold and 68‐fold, respectively, in C26 mice but only by five‐fold and two‐fold, respectively, in C26^Lif−/− mice, suggesting that interleukin‐6 and G‐CSF increases are dependent on tumour‐derived LIF. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the first use of CRISPR‐Cas9 knockout of a candidate cachexia factor in tumour cells. The results provide direct evidence for LIF as a major cachexia initiating factor for the C26 tumour in vivo. Tumour‐derived LIF was also a regulator of multiple cytokines in C26 tumour cells and in C26 tumour‐bearing mice. The identification of tumour‐derived factors such as LIF that initiate the cachectic process is immediately applicable to the development of therapeutics to treat cachexia. This is a proof of principle for studies that when carried out in human cells, will make possible an understanding of the factors causing cachexia in a patient‐specific manner.This work was supported by NIAMS R01AR060217 to S. C. K. and R. W. J. and NIAMS R01 R01AR060209 to A. R. J., and by the Dudley Allen Sargent Research Fund. The authors certify that they comply with the ethical guidelines for publishing in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle: update 2017.40 (R01AR060217 - NIAMS; R01 R01AR060209 - NIAMS; Dudley Allen Sargent Research Fund)Published versio

QGP flow fluctuations and the characteristics of higher moments

The dynamical development of expanding Quark-gluon Plasma (QGP) flow is studied in a 3+1D fluid dynamical model with a globally symmetric, initial condition. We minimize fluctuations arising from complex dynamical processes at finite impact parameters and from fluctuating random initial conditions to have a conservative fluid dynamical background estimate for the statistical distributions of the thermodynamical parameters. We also avoid a phase transition in the equation of state, and we let the matter supercool during the expansion. Then central Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76$ TeV are studied in an almost perfect fluid dynamical model, with azimuthally symmetric initial state generated in a dynamical flux-tube model. The general development of thermodynamical extensives are also shown for lower energies. We observe considerable deviations from a thermal equilibrium source as a consequence of the fluid dynamical expansion arising from a least fluctuating initial state

Severe Withdrawal Syndrome Possibly Associated With Cessation of a Midazolam and Fentanyl Infusion

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90212/1/j.1875-9114.1995.tb02877.x.pd

An Architecture for Multi-User Software Development Environments

We present an architecture for multi-user software development environments, covering general, process-centered and rule-based MUSDEs. Our architecture is founded on componentization, with particular concern for the capability to replace the synchronization component - to allow experimentation with novel concurrency control mechanisms - with minimal effects on other components while still supporting integration. The architecture has been implemented in the MARVEL SD

Efficiency-Effectiveness Trade-offs in Recommendation Systems

Throughout the years, numerous recommendation algorithms have been developed to address the information filtering problem by leveraging users’ tastes through implicit or explicit feedback. In this paper, we present the work undertaken as part of a PhD thesis focused on exploring new evaluation dimensions centred around the efficiency-effectiveness trade-offs present in state-of-the-art recommendation systems. Firstly, we highlight the lack of efficiency-oriented studies and we formulate the research problem. Then, we propose a mapping of the design space and a classification of the recommendation algorithms/models with respect to salient attributes and characteristics. At the same time, we explain why and how assessing the recommendations on an accuracy versus training cost curve would advance the current knowledge in the area of evaluation, as well as open new research avenues for exploring parameter configurations within well-known algorithms. Finally, we make the case for a comprehensive methodology that incorporates predictive efficiency-effectiveness models, which illustrate the performance and behaviour of the recommendation systems under different recommendation tasks, while satisfying user-defined quality of service constraints and goals