48 research outputs found
Lessons learnt developing and deploying grading mechanisms for EiPE code-reading questions in CS1 classes
No full textPrevious research has identified that the ability to understand the high-level purpose of a piece of code is an important developmental skill that is harder to master than executing the same piece of code in one’s head for a given input (“code tracing”), but easier to master than writing the code. One way to help students to practice this skill in the middle ground is by asking them Explain in Plain English (EiPE) questions, where they are asked to explain the purpose of a piece of code at a high level. Prior works involving EiPE questions have used scoring rubrics that do not adequately handle the three dimensions of answer quality: correctness, level of abstraction, and ambiguity. Also, these studies have been carried out in limited experimental settings with manual grading, which did not shed light on how EiPE questions can be deployed in real world classrooms without overwhelming grading workload.
In this work, we cover both unaddressed issues. First, we describe our efforts in validating a 7-point rubric that the research group has developed for scoring student responses to EiPE questions. Second, we describe the deployment of an imperfect NLP-based automatic grading system for these EiPE responses on an exam in CS105, a large-enrollment CS1 course at the University of Illinois, finding that the auto-grader has an accuracy similar to that of TA’s who teach the course. We study allowing students to attempt an EiPE question multiple times (without penalty based on the number of attempts used) in exam settings as a strategy to mitigate potential student dissatisfaction due to the imperfect grading system mistakenly rejecting a correct answer. We also characterize common student errors, auto-grader failure, and discuss the lessons learnt in this process.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2022-05-01The student, Sushmita Azad, accepted the attached license on 2020-05-13 at 11:51.The student, Sushmita Azad, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-05-13 at 12:01.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-05-14 at 16:37.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15379 on 2020-08-25 at 17:31:24Made available in DSpace on 2020-08-26T23:58:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Previous issue date: 2020-05-14Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 115812
Lift date: 2022-08-26T23:58:55Z
Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Onl
Yang-Mills heatflow on gauged holomorphic maps
No full textWe study the gradient flow lines of a Yang-Mills-type functional on the space of gauged holomorphic maps whose domain is a principal bundle on a Riemann surface and the target is a Kahler Hamiltonian manifold. When the Riemann surface in the domain is compact, possibly with boundary, we prove long time existence of the gradient flow. The flow lines converge to critical points of the functional. So, there is a stratification of the space of gauged holomorphic maps that is invariant under the action of the complexified gauge group. Symplectic vortices are the zeros of the functional we study. When the Riemann surface has boundary, similar to Donaldson's result for the Hermitian Yang-Mills equations, we show that there is only a single stratum - any gauged-holomorphic map can be complex gauge transformed to a symplectic vortex. This is a version of Mundet's Hitchin-Kobayashi result on a surface with boundary.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Sushmita Venugopala
Author Exchange
No full textAnthropologist Mukulika Banerjee and political scientist Sushmita Pati have a conversation about their recently published books set in rural Bengal and Delhi’s urban villages, respectively. They situate their analyses of the intersections between democracy, capitalism, urbanization, and globalization in events, relations, and cultures of the everyday. Their exchange offers important insights for how political subjectivities and social ties are differently constituted or, to use Banerjee’s term, “cultivated” in these two settings. The two books offer a fine-grained view of how active citizenship in rural and urban India is refracted through distinct social and institutional structures. India is home to some of the world’s largest cities while more than 900 million people continue to live in the countryside. Its democratic future is therefore inextricably tied to the evolution of political behavior and political economy in both contexts, and, as Banerjee and Pati’s joint response indicates, to how urban and rural dynamics shape each other through (but not only through) migrants and their networks.
Contents:
Review of Mukulika Banerjee’s \u27Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India\u27 by Sushmita Pati
Response from Mukulika Banerjee
Review of Sushmita Pati’s \u27Properties of Rent: Community, Capital and Politics in Globalising Delhi\u27 by Mukulika Banerjee
Response from Sushmita Pati
Joint Commentary from Banerjee and Pat
Prokaryotic diversity, physiology and function at Tor Caldara, a shallow-water gas vent in the Tyrrhenian Sea
No full textDespite being ubiquitous, shallow-water marine geothermal environments are under-studied compared to their deep-sea counterparts. In this study, I investigated the geochemistry and the composition, physiology and function of microbial communities at Tor Caldara, a shallow-water gas vent in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The four microbial habitats sampled included: crusts originated from compacted sediments, venting sandy sediments, control sediments and substrate-attached filamentous bacteria (young as well as established). At Tor Caldara, the venting gases are mainly composed of CO2 and H2S, with trace amounts of CH4, and a thermal anomaly could not be detected. The crust community is very unique, comprising phylotypes associated with sulfate reducing bacteria belonging to Deltaproteobacteria that are usually found in syntrophic association with anaerobic methane oxidizers at hydrocarbon seeps. The venting sediment community is dominated by sulfur-oxidizing chemoautotrophic and heterotrophic bacterial groups belonging to Alpha-, Gamma-, and Epsilonproteobacteria, while that of the non-venting sediment is dominated by phototrophic members belonging to Cyanobacteria. The established and young microbial filaments are dominated by chemoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing members of Gammaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria, respectively. Integrating geochemical measurements, microbial diversity surveys and physiological characterization of laboratory strains, I demonstrated that there is a temporal succession between the two filamentous microbial communities in response to age and possibly sulfide concentrations. Metagenomic and metaproteomic results showed presence of genes and proteins involved in nitrate reduction, denitrification, nitrogen fixation, sulfur oxidation/reduction, oxygen respiration, heavy metal detoxification and two carbon fixation pathways. Temporal succession between the young and established filamentous communities at a functional level was confirmed by differential abundance of key proteins involved in the carbon, sulfur and nitrogen cycles. Three metagenome-assembled genome (MAGs) representative of the filament community were also recovered. Based on taxonomic and functional diversity, chemoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing members of Epsilonproteobacteria dominated the young microbial filaments while the established microbial filaments are dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, demonstrating a shift in community over time. In addition to diversity and functional surveys, I isolated several bacterial strains and characterized a novel alphaproteobacterial genus with high metabolic versatility and sequenced its genome. Broadly, this study shows that Tor Caldara hosts very diverse and niche-specific microbial communities consisting of numerous previously uncharacterized bacterial and archaeal groups.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Sushmita S. Patwardha
Survey of Green Corrosion Inhibitor for Metal Surface
No full textAlmost every engineering profession and aspect of our everyday lives has suffered harm due to corrosion in recent decades. It is seen as a potentially catastrophic environmental issue that calls for continuous investigation into potential remedies. Green corrosion inhibitors, which are affordable, environmentally friendly, and derived from plant extracts, are the most effective solution to address this problem, according to recent research. The mechanism, categorization, and active functional group of green inhibitors are all explained in detail in this review. Furthermore, a variety of plant extracts that inhibit corrosion are discussed, along with the variables that influence their efficacy
An Investigation of Several Methodologies for Predicting the Solubility of Organic Compounds
No full textOne of the most important factors in achieving the desired concentration of drug in the systemic circulation for the desired pharmacological reaction is solubility, which is the process of solute in solvent to give a homogenous framework. Inadequate permeability solubility may be the cause of the bioavailability problem. The solubility problems affect the majority of mixed solutions. Therefore, as synthetic science advances, there is an increasing need for improved drug inventions. Homogeneous liquid phases with factor proportions of solute and solvent are expressed by the solute-solvent interaction mechanisms. The medication property, the retention site, and the necessary measurement structure attribute all influence the choice of solubility improvement technique
A Comparison of Peer Instruction and Collaborative Problem Solving in a Computer Architecture Course
No full textFuzzy indices of document reliability
No full textThis paper presents a first step toward the formalization of the concept of document reliability in the context of Information Retrieval (and Information Filtering).
Our proposal is based on the hypothesis that the evaluation of the relevance of a document can also depend on the concept of reliability of a document. This concept has the following properties: (i) it is user-dependent, i.e., a document may be reliable for a user and not reliable for another user; (ii) it is source-dependent, i.e., the source which a document comes from may influence its reliability for a user; and (iii) it is also author-dependent, i.e., the information about who wrote the document may also influence the user when assessing the reliability of a document
Breaking the Cycle: Addressing Psychological Distress and Aggression in Adolescents with Internet Gaming Disorder Symptoms to Promote Mental Health
No full textInternet Gaming Disorder (IGD) poses a substantial threat to adolescent mental health, prompting a nuanced exploration of its impact on psychological distress and aggressive behaviors. Employing a cross-sectional design, this study investigates the relationships between IGD symptoms, psychological distress (measured by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales), and aggressive behaviors (assessed via the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire) among adolescents aged 12-18. Results reveal a diverse spectrum of IGD symptomatology, emphasizing the need for comprehensive interventions. Significant positive correlations are found between IGD symptoms and psychological distress, psychological distress and aggressive behaviors, and IGD symptoms and aggressive behaviors. Implications for interventions highlight the importance of holistic strategies addressing both problematic gaming behaviors and mental well-being. Methodological limitations include potential recall bias and the cross-sectional design. Future research should explore specific gaming genres and moderating factors, contributing to a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics at play
