Gender Diversity in Computer Science at a Large Public R1 Research University: Reporting on a Self-study

With the number of jobs in computer occupations on the rise, there is a greater need for computer science (CS) graduates than ever. At the same time, most CS departments across the country are only seeing 25–30% of women students in their classes, meaning that we are failing to draw interest from a large portion of the population. In this work, we explore the gender gap in CS at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, a large public R1 research university, using three data sets that span thousands of students across six academic years. Specifically, we combine these data sets to study the gender gaps in four core CS courses and explore the correlation of several factors with retention and the impact of these factors on changes to the gender gap as students proceed through the CS courses toward completing the CS major. For example, we find that a significant percentage of women students taking the introductory CS1 course for majors do not intend to major in CS, which may be a contributing factor to a large increase in the gender gap immediately after CS1. This finding implies that part of the retention task is attracting these women students to further explore the major. Results from our study include both novel findings and findings that are consistent with known challenges for increasing gender diversity in CS. In both cases, we provide extensive quantitative data in support of the findings.

Through (Tracking) Their Eyes: Abstraction and Complexity in Program Comprehension

Previous studies on writing and understanding programs presented evidence that programmers beyond a novice stage utilize plans or plan-like structures. Other studies on code composition showed that learners have difficulties with writing, reading, and debugging code where interacting plans are merged into a short piece of code. In this article, we focus on the question of how different code-composition strategies and the familiarity with code affect program comprehension on a more abstract, i.e., algorithmic level. Using an eye-tracking setup, we explored how advanced students comprehend programs and their underlying algorithms written in either a merged or abutted (sequenced) composition of code blocks of varying familiarity. The effects of familiarity and code composition were studied both isolated and in combination. Our analysis of the quantitative data adds to our understanding of the behavior reported in previous studies and the effects of plans and their composition on the programs’ difficulty. Using this data along with retrospective interviews, we analyze students’ reading patterns and provide support that subjects were able to form mental models of program execution during task performance. Furthermore, our results suggest that subjects are able to retrieve and create schemata when the program is composed of familiar templates, which may improve their performance; we found indicators for a higher element-interactivity for programs with a merged code composition compared to abutted code composition.

Ansiedad ante el fracaso en educación física ¿puede la gamificación promover cambios en las alumnas de primaria? (Anxiety about failure in physical education. Can gamification promote changes in elementary school girls?)

Esta investigación valoró los efectos de un programa didáctico gamificado sobre la ansiedad ante el fracaso en Educación Física. Además, pudimos reconocer las posibles causas al analizar las impresiones del alumnado sobre la experiencia. Participaron 143 estudiantes de 5º y 6º de primaria. Se siguió un diseño pre-experimental, pre-test, post-test de un solo grupo, cuantitativo-cualitativo. Se administró la subescala Ansiedad y Agobio ante el Fracaso del Test de Motivación del Logro para el Aprendizaje en Educación Física (versión validada por Ruiz-Pérez et al. (2015) del Achievement Motivation in Physical Education Test, AMPET, de Nishida (1988)) y un cuestionario ad hoc con cuatro preguntas abiertas. Los datos cuantitativos mostraron que, tras la intervención didáctica, la ansiedad disminuyó de manera significativa. Los resultados cualitativos desvelaron aspectos positivos que pudieron promover dicha disminución, como: la superación de pruebas, el trabajo cooperativo, el disfrute de los elementos de la gamificación, la superación personal, el aprendizaje y la mejora de aspectos curriculares. Sin embargo, también se reconocieron otros aspectos negativos, como el trabajo de la resistencia y los grupos estables, lo cual deja entrever algunos aspectos de mejora en este planteamiento gamificado. Abstract: This research assessed the effects of a gamified project on anxiety about failure in Physical Education, perceiving the possible causes through the impressions of the students. 143 students from 5th and 6th grade participated. A pre-experimental, pre-test, post-test single-group, quantitative-qualitative design was followed. The Anxiety and Stress subscale was administered before the Failure of the Motivation Test of Achievement for Learning in Physical Education and open questions were used after the experience (version validated by Ruiz-Pérez et al. (2015) of the Achievement Motivation in Physical Education Test, AMPET, by Nishida (1988)) and an ad hoc questionnaire with four open questions. The quantitative data showed that anxiety decreased significantly after the intervention. The qualitative results revealed positive aspects that could promote said decrease: passing tests, cooperative work, enjoyment of the elements of gamification, personal improvement, learning and improvement of curricular aspects. However, other negative aspects were also recognized, such as resistance work and stable groups, which suggests some aspects of improvement in this gamified approach.

Planning implementation and scale-up of physical activity interventions for people with walking difficulties: study protocol for the process evaluation of the ComeBACK trial

Background There is currently little evidence of planning for real-world implementation of physical activity interventions. We are undertaking the ComeBACK (Coaching and Exercise for Better Walking) study, a 3-arm hybrid Type 1 randomised controlled trial evaluating a health coaching intervention and a text messaging intervention. We used an implementation planning framework, the PRACTical planning for Implementation and Scale-up (PRACTIS), to guide the process evaluation for the trial. The aim of this paper is to describe the protocol for the process evaluation of the ComeBACK trial using the framework of the PRACTIS guide. Methods A mixed methods process evaluation protocol was developed informed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance on process evaluations for complex interventions and the PRACTIS guide. Quantitative data, including participant questionnaires, health coach and administrative logbooks, and website and text message usage data, is being collected over the trial period. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with trial participants, health coaches and health service stakeholders will explore expectations, factors influencing the delivery of the ComeBACK interventions and potential scalability within existing health services. These data will be mapped against the steps of the PRACTIS guide, with reporting at the level of the individual, provider, organisational and community/systems. Quantitative and qualitative data will elicit potential contextual barriers and facilitators to implementation and scale-up. Quantitative data will be reported descriptively, and qualitative data analysed thematically. Discussion This process evaluation integrates an evaluation of prospective implementation and scale-up. It is envisaged this will inform barriers and enablers to future delivery, implementation and scale-up of physical activity interventions. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to describe the application of PRACTIS to guide the process evaluation of physical activity interventions. Trial registration Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) Registration date: 10/12/2018.

Effect of Inventory Management Activities on Retailers’ Satisfaction in Inyange Industries Limited in Gasabo District, Rwanda

This research examined the effect of inventory management activities on retailer satisfaction in manufacturing industries in Rwanda from the year of 2016 to 2021. The mixed approach of both qualitative and quantitative data were used as research design to collect results from 121 respondents from 174 who were expected as sample size of the study by the use of simple random and stratified sampling techniques. Before, the actual process of data collection the researcher pre-tested the questionnaire survey and the key informant interview, which were used later for collecting data from the field. Thus, the quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive as percentage distribution and inferential statistics represented by multiple linear regressions. Thus, the regression coefficients demonstrated that ?1 =.241, with p=0.002 < 0.05 at sig. level of 5% which proves that IOP had a statistically positive and significant effect on the satisfaction of retailers; ?2 = .311 with p=0.001 < 0.05 at a sig. level of 5% implying that ISM had a positive and statistical significant effect on satisfaction of retailers; and ?1 = .402 with p= 0.000 < 0.05 at a sig. level of 5% implying that IDM had demonstrated a positive and statistical significant effect on retailers’ satisfaction in IIL between 2016 and 2021. The respective coefficients further indicate that 24.1 %, 31.1% and 40.2% of the variability in retailers’ satisfaction can be attributed to inventory order processing, inventory storage management and inventory distribution management respectively. The research recommends IIL to adopt JIT inventory practices all the time to avoid inventory costs while retailers need to accurately forecast demand and make orders before they experience stock-outs which affects the supply chain. It is hoped that this study will encourage IIL to sustainably adopt inventory management activities that will continue to sustain their retailer satisfaction. The study may also motivate other researchers to conduct research covering the whole country in order to improve its reliability. Keywords: Inventory Management Activities, Retailer Satisfaction, Manufacturing Industries, Rwanda

Improving Students Speaking Ability Through Storytelling at Eleventh Grade of SMAN I Lambitu

Speaking Ability was the important aspect in communication. The aim of the study was to investigate the improving speaking ability through storytelling in teaching speaking at eight grade of SMAN 1 Lambitu. This research used classroom action research. The subjects in this research were the students at the eleventh grade of SMAN 1 Lambitu. The sample were 16 students in one class. The researcher used the technique of storytelling through recount text to improve speaking skill. Quantitative data analysis technique used this research through average score and percentage of students’ test, while qualitative data analysis was taken from analysis of observation during the classroom. The result of this study was in cycle I was at fair category (60-70) which average score was 67,4. It indicated the students’ ability in storytelling was not active (<50%)., which the critical success 31,5%. While in cycle II, the result of students’ score was 75,3, which means that the students were good category (60-79). The result was indicated that the students habits in storytelling technique in cycle II was active (<80%). Moreover the result of observation were student enjoy the lesson and follow the teaching and learning process smoothly and regularly. So, the conclusion that story telling technique was improving students’ speaking ability at Eleventh Grade of SMA 1 Lambitu.

Effect of Inventory Management Activities on Retailers’ Satisfaction in Inyange Industries Limited in Gasabo District, Rwanda

This research examined the effect of inventory management activities on retailer satisfaction in manufacturing industries in Rwanda from the year of 2016 to 2021. The mixed approach of both qualitative and quantitative data were used as research design to collect results from 121 respondents from 174 who were expected as sample size of the study by the use of simple random and stratified sampling techniques. Before, the actual process of data collection the researcher pre-tested the questionnaire survey and the key informant interview, which were used later for collecting data from the field. Thus, the quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive as percentage distribution and inferential statistics represented by multiple linear regressions. Thus, the regression coefficients demonstrated that ?1 =.241, with p=0.002 < 0.05 at sig. level of 5% which proves that IOP had a statistically positive and significant effect on the satisfaction of retailers; ?2 = .311 with p=0.001 < 0.05 at a sig. level of 5% implying that ISM had a positive and statistical significant effect on satisfaction of retailers; and ?1 = .402 with p= 0.000 < 0.05 at a sig. level of 5% implying that IDM had demonstrated a positive and statistical significant effect on retailers’ satisfaction in IIL between 2016 and 2021. The respective coefficients further indicate that 24.1 %, 31.1% and 40.2% of the variability in retailers’ satisfaction can be attributed to inventory order processing, inventory storage management and inventory distribution management respectively. The research recommends IIL to adopt JIT inventory practices all the time to avoid inventory costs while retailers need to accurately forecast demand and make orders before they experience stock-outs which affects the supply chain. It is hoped that this study will encourage IIL to sustainably adopt inventory management activities that will continue to sustain their retailer satisfaction. The study may also motivate other researchers to conduct research covering the whole country in order to improve its reliability. Keywords: Inventory Management Activities, Retailer Satisfaction, Manufacturing Industries, Rwanda

Approximated Gene Expression Trajectories (AGETs) for Gene Regulatory Network Inference on Cell Tracks

The study of pattern formation has benefited from reverse-engineering gene regulatory network (GRN) structure from spatio-temporal quantitative gene expression data. Traditional approaches omit tissue morphogenesis, hence focusing on systems where the timescales of pattern formation and morphogenesis can be separated. In such systems, pattern forms as an emergent property of the underlying GRN. This is not the case in many animal patterning systems, where patterning and morphogenesis are simultaneous. To address pattern formation in these systems we need to adapt our methodologies to explicitly accommodate cell movements and tissue shape changes. In this work we present a novel framework to reverse-engineer GRNs underlying pattern formation in tissues experiencing morphogenetic changes and cell rearrangements. By combination of quantitative data from live and fixed embryos we approximate gene expression trajectories (AGETs) in single cells and use a subset to reverse-engineer candidate GRNs using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach. GRN fit is assessed by simulating on cell tracks (live-modelling) and comparing the output to quantitative data-sets. This framework outputs candidate GRNs that recapitulate pattern formation at the level of the tissue and the single cell. To our knowledge, this inference methodology is the first to integrate cell movements and gene expression data, making it possible to reverse-engineer GRNs patterning tissues undergoing morphogenetic changes.

Assessing a Nation’s Competitiveness in Global Food Innovation: Creating a Global Food Innovation Index

While food innovation is heavily influenced by the myriad of policies, regulations and other environmental factors within a country, globalization means that food innovation is also a matter of international competitiveness. This benchmarking exercise uses 24 variables to compare the different innovation environments across ten countries: Canada, the US, Mexico, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Australia. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from publicly available sources only to measure each variable and ultimately provide a ranking. Qualitative data was evaluated using thematic coding to establish baseline practices and then compare each country to the baseline. Quantitative data was evaluated by constructing an average to which each country was compared. Countries whose data showed they met the average were awarded two points, and those who performed above or below average were either awarded an additional point or saw a point deducted. A final ranking was established from the scores across all four pillars, and the ranking was weighted to account for lacking data. The final weighted ranking saw the UK rank first, followed by the US, Germany, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Mexico, France and finally, Italy in tenth place.