CS Circles: An In-Browser Python Course for Beginners

Computer Science Circles is a free programming website for beginners that is designed to be fun, easy to use, and accessible to the broadest possible audience. We teach Python since it is simple yet powerful, and the course content is well-structured but written in plain language. The website has over one hundred exercises in thirty lesson pages, plus special features to help teachers support their students. It is available in both English and French. We discuss the philosophy behind the course and its design, we describe how it was implemented, and we give statistics on its use.Comment: To appear in SIGCSE 201

Does the Form of Physician Compensation Affect the Quality of Care in Medicaid HMOS?

In the United States a growing fraction of Medicaid participants are enrolled in Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs). The HMOs contract with physicians to provide health care services to the enrollees. Generally the physicians are compensated either via fee for service (FFS) or capitated arrangements. This paper investigates whether the means by which the physicians are compensated influences the quality of care received by enrollees. Using data for all Medicaid HMO enrollees in a large state, we find that enrollees in HMOs that pay their Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) exclusively via FFS arrangements are more likely to receive services for which the HMO’s PCPs receive additional compensation. Further, these enrollees are less likely to receive services for which the HMO’s PCPs do not receive additional compensation. These findings suggest that financial incentives may influence the behavior of PCPs in Medicaid HMOs, and thus the health care received by Medicaid participants enrolled in HMOs.

Advanced Monte Carlo Methods for the Study of Nucleation

The process of nucleation is an essential part of understanding and controlling phase changes in a wide array of systems. In the past theories such as Classical Nucleation Theory have been used as a tool to aid experimentalist in the study of phase mechanisms. However, recent studies have shown in detail that theories such as this are not reliable, given that it can mispredict nucleation rates by several orders of magnitude. As a result newer methodologies must be developed into order to improve upon these deficiencies. In this study we use atomistic simulations to examine the non-ideal deviations from classical theory observed in both simple and complex systems. In addition to this we present new algorithms that can be used to improve the rate at which the nucleation properties of these simulations can be sampled. Lastly we apply these new methods to study an atmospherically relevant system that involves the nucleation of water in the presence of multiple charged ionic species. From these studies it was found that the deviation of more realistic systems from the classical theory can be attributed to both the creation of loosely bound clusters as well as the formation of highly ordered stacking in surface induced systems. The algorithms presented in this work have been shown to quickly and accurately replicate previously published data with very little increase to the computational overhead. Finally the application to the atmospherically relevant system showed an interesting trend where the nucleation rate was more heavily correlated to the number of water molecules that could be successfully bound to the ion pair instead of the quality of the bond

A solid phase extraction system for the isolation of the germination cue in smoky water when subjected to the light sensitive lettuce Lactuca Sativa v. Grand Rapids

The search for the chemical or set of chemicals that act as a germination stimulant in Lactuca sativa v. Grand rapids (a variety of lettuce seed) was the underlying basis of this project. Through the development of a solid phase extraction (SPE) system different fractions of smoky water were tested for their effects on germination enhancement. The project targeted streamlining the amount of solvents as well as time used in past research on smoky water. Previously, several steps involving high perfo1mance liquid chromatography (HPLC), thin layer chromatography (TLC) and Gas Chromatography (GC) were employed. This project used SPE cartridges to separate fractions and isolate components. Cartridges of the non-polar varieties were C­18, C8, Phenyl and Cyanopropyl. After cartridge loading with smoky water and flushing, three fractions of increasing concentration of methanol from a buffered ethanoic acid/methanol system were created. These fractions were extracted into hexane before application to bioassays. Polar cartridges were also loaded with smoky water and fractionated with mixtures of hexane, and increasing concentrations of dichloromethane and methanol. These four fractions were not extracted but applied directly to bioassays. Fraction activity was prevalent in early eluting fractions from non-polar cartridges but the pattern was more varied from the polar cartridges. Solutions not retained by cartridges enhanced germination except for solutions from 20H and Amino cartridges. GC fractions from the three C18 fractions highlighted differences in peak number and comparative peak ratios within chromatograms. This emphasised that component separation was resulting from the SPE system. An adsorption test on seed coats of L. sativa was unable to reject the hypothesis that germination enhancing components do adsorb irreversibly to the seed coat. An application of l, 8 -cineole as a result of a poor Mass Spectrometry (MS) library match proved to be a source of germination enhancement at low concentrations

What's Love Got to Do With It? Diamonds and the Accumulation of De Beers, 1935-55

What is accumulation? Visibly, accumulation is a quantitative process, demarcated in financial quantities. However, what is the meaning of those quantities? This question has been the subject of great debate within political economic thought. A new theory of accumulation, capital as power (CasP), argues that the financial quantities of accumulation express the distribution of power among the owners of capital over the qualitatively diverse, complex and mutating social order. With this dissertation, I explore the relationship between the quantities and qualities of accumulation by examining the De Beers diamond cartel, focusing on the period 1935-55. What does it mean to say capital is power in the specific setting of the global diamond assemblage? Research and analysis led me to focus on four important relationships that De Beers had to establish, maintain and transform in its struggle for differential accumulation: with diamonds themselves; with potential and actual diamond buyers; with governments; and, with families, especially the Oppenheimer family that controlled De Beers for over 80 years

MA

thesisIn the early 1950s, the Nationalist government on Taiwan sought to generate support for their regime by turning farmers into modern, Nationalist citizens. Using the journal, the "Farmers' Friend," the Nationalist government and Taiwan's Provincial Farmers' Association presented themselves as friends to farmers by teaching them what it meant to be modern, Nationalist citizens. At the same time, the organization's director, Ma You-yue, provided a model for farmers to emulate. While the journal was a tool the Nationalists used to further state penetration, it also provided a limited space for farmers to express their concerns. This thesis looks at the citizen creation strategies the Nationalists used in the journal. Although these strategies were similar to those used during the Republican period to "awaken" Chinese citizens, Taiwan's unique experience required the Nationalists to emphasize Chinese culture over modernization

Conditions Variable: Assemblage Theory and Systems Theory in Creative Practice

This dissertation will situate the twenty-first century phenomenon of Assemblage theory, which originated in the field of philosophy, within the last 100 years of creative practice. Drawing from Manuel DeLanda’s application of Assemblage theory, I will devise a means to discuss creative practice without reducing its analysis to ‘structured fields’ or ‘closed systems’. Rather, comparisons will be made between a system and an assemblage to illustrate how the two part ways, and find common ground. To better understand the way in which systems have been applied in artistic practice, an investigation of two major twentieth-century paradigm shifts will be examined. The first example is the Bauhaus school and its post-European formal offshoot in America, the New Bauhaus, and how it adapted its European predecessor’s principles of design. The second is the technological revolution, which engendered Jack Burnham’s Systems Esthetics, Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In light of these developments, I argue that a flexible, descriptive, Assemblage theory is needed to better articulate how art (the work and its making) functions within an expanded field of practice as it now exists. The adaptable and transmutable nature of Assemblage theory is also illustrated through example. In the process this dissertation will offer new ways to articulate and understand creative practice and propose a new strategy for art to be understood. Finally, I will employ Assemblage theory to analyze my own creative endeavours