The Potential for Student Performance Prediction in Small Cohorts with Minimal Available Attributes

The measurement of student performance during their progress through university study provides academic leadership with critical information on each student’s likelihood of success. Academics have traditionally used their interactions with individual students through class activities and interim assessments to identify those “at risk” of failure/withdrawal. However, modern university environments, offering easy on-line availability of course material, may see reduced lecture/tutorial attendance, making such identification more challenging. Modern data mining and machine learning techniques provide increasingly accurate predictions of student examination assessment marks, although these approaches have focussed upon large student populations and wide ranges of data attributes per student. However, many university modules comprise relatively small student cohorts, with institutional protocols limiting the student attributes available for analysis. It appears that very little research attention has been devoted to this area of analysis and prediction. We describe an experiment conducted on a final-year university module student cohort of 23, where individual student data are limited to lecture/tutorial attendance, virtual learning environment accesses and intermediate assessments. We found potential for predicting individual student interim and final assessment marks in small student cohorts with very limited attributes and that these predictions could be useful to support module leaders in identifying students potentially “at risk.”.Peer reviewe

Ethanol Vapours to Complement or Replace Sulfur Dioxide Fumigation of Table Grapes

Recent studies have shown that dipping table grapes in ethanol solutions at harvest improved storage of the fruit. We report here the first results obtained by treating "Chasselas" table grapes (Vitis vinifera) with ethanol vapours over the storage period. We tested the effect of ethanol at 0, 4 and 8 g/kg fruit during cold storage for 2, 4 and 6 weeks. We measured berry shatter, stem browning, Botrytis rot incidence and sensory appreciation by tasting panels. Ethanol vapours reduced Botrytis rot incidence and berry shatter, but hastened stem browning. Sensory analyses did not detect any differences between treatments

File management in a mobile DHT-based P2P environment

The emergence of mobile P2P systems is largely due to the evolution of mobile devices into powerful information processing units. The relatively structured context that results from the mapping of mobile patterns of behaviour onto P2P models is however constrained by the vulnerabilities of P2P networks and the inherent limitations of mobile devices. Whilst the implementation of P2P models gives rise to security and reliability issues, the deployment of mobile devices is subject to efficiency constraints. This paper presents the development and deployment of a mobile P2P system based on distributed hash tables (DHT). The secure, reliable and efficient dispersal of files is taken as an application. Reliability was addressed by providing two methods for file dispersal: replication and erasure coding. Security constraints were catered for by incorporating an authentication mechanism and three encryption schemes. Lightweight versions of various algorithms were selected in order to attend to efficiency requirements

No margin, no mission? : a field experiment on incentives for public service delivery

The lecture was delivered by Oriana Bandiera on 19 November 2014.We conduct a field experiment to evaluate the effect of extrinsic rewards, both financial and non-financial, on the performance of agents recruited by a public health organization to promote HIV prevention and sell condoms. In this setting: (i) non-financial rewards are effective at improving performance; (ii) the effect of both types of rewards is stronger for pro-socially motivated agents; and (iii) both types of rewards are effective when their relative value is high. The findings illustrate that extrinsic rewards can improve the performance of agents engaged in public service delivery, and that non-financial rewards can be effective in settings where the power of financial incentives is limited

Information and Subsidies: Complements or Substitutes?

Does providing information about a product affect the impact of price subsidies on purchases of new or unfamiliar products? This question is particularly relevant for the introduction of health products in developing countries where consumers may be uncertain about product quality and price subsidies are common policy instruments. Through a field experiment selling an unfamiliar health product in Zambia, we find that providing precise information about product specifications significantly increases the impact of the price subsidy on take-up. Taken alone, the information manipulation has no significant impact on demand while the price subsidy substantially increases demand. However, evaluation of either intervention in isolation fails to capture the significant complementarity between the two

ATHENA: A Phase 3, Open-Label Study Of The Safety And Effectiveness Of Oliceridine (TRV130), A G-Protein Selective Agonist At The µ-Opioid Receptor, In Patients With Moderate To Severe Acute Pain Requiring Parenteral Opioid Therapy.

Background:Pain management with conventional opioids can be challenging due to dose-limiting adverse events (AEs), some of which may be related to the simultaneous activation of β-arrestin (a signaling pathway associated with opioid-related AEs) and G-protein pathways. The investigational analgesic oliceridine is a G-protein-selective agonist at the µ-opioid receptor with less recruitment of β-arrestin. The objective of this phase 3, open-label, multi-center study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability, of IV oliceridine for moderate to severe acute pain in a broad, real-world patient population, including postoperative surgical patients and non-surgical patients with painful medical conditions. Methods:Adult patients with a score ≥4 on 11-point NRS for pain intensity received IV oliceridine either by bolus or PCA; multimodal analgesia was permitted. Safety was assessed using AE reports, study discontinuations, clinical laboratory and vital sign measures. Results:A total of 768 patients received oliceridine. The mean age (SD) was 54.1 (16.1) years, with 32% ≥65 years of age. Most patients were female (65%) and Caucasian (78%). Surgical patients comprised the majority of the study population (94%), most common being orthopedic (30%), colorectal (15%) or gynecologic (15%) procedures. Multimodal analgesia was administered to 84% of patients. Oliceridine provided a rapid reduction in NRS pain score by 2.2 ± 2.3 at 30 mins from a score of 6.3 ± 2.1 (at baseline) which was maintained to the end of treatment. No deaths or significant cardiorespiratory events were reported. The incidence of AEs leading to early discontinuation and serious AEs were 2% and 3%, respectively. Nausea (31%), constipation (11%), and vomiting (10%) were the most common AEs. AEs were mostly of mild (37%) or moderate (25%) severity and considered possibly or probably related to oliceridine in 33% of patients. Conclusion:Oliceridine IV for the management of moderate to severe acute pain was generally safe and well tolerated in the patients studied. ClinicalTrialsgov identifier:NCT02656875

Call Blocking Probabilities Reduction of Channel Assignment in Mobile Communication Systems

In wireless mobile communication systems, the radio spectrum is limited resource. However, efficient use of such limited spectrum becomes more important when the two, three or more cells in the network become hot - spot. The use of available channels has been shown to improve the system capacity. The role of channel assignment scheme is to allocate channels to cells in such way as to minimize call-blocking probability or call dropping probability and also maximize the quality of service. Different channel allocation schemes are in use for mobile communication systems, of which the Hybrid channel allocation (HCA) a combination of Fixed and Dynamic channel allocation schemes (FCA and DCA respectively) was effective. In this paper, the performance of three different channel allocation schemes FCA, DCA and HCA will be analytically compared and the results are presented

Experimental Study on the Mechanical Behaviors of PVA-ECC after Freeze-Thaw Cycles

yesIn order to study the mechanical behaviors of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) reinforced with various types of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers and different fiber volume fractions after the freeze-thaw cycles, the rapid freeze-thaw method was used to test the mass loss ratios, longitudinal relative dynamic elastic modulus, compressive strength and flexural strength. The results showed that specimens incurred more serious damage with the increasing of freeze-thaw cycles; however their performance would be improved by fiber type and dosage. Mass loss rate of JPA (specimen with 2% volume content of JP fiber) was lower than JPB (specimen with 1% volume content of JP fiber). Furthermore, the mass loss rate of JPB was lower than that of CPB (specimen with 1% volume content of CP fiber). The longitudinal relative dynamic elastic modulus of JPA was higher than that of JPB while the longitudinal relative dynamic elastic modulus of JPB was higher than that of CPB. In addition, the compressive strength and flexural strength decreased with the increasing of freeze-thaw cycles. Mechanical behaviors of specimens with fiber exhibited better strength than specimens without fiber. Based on the SL 211-2006 code for the design of hydraulic structures against ice and freezing action, JPA and JPB specimens are adequate for use in severe cold regions, while specimen CPA and CPB can be used in cold regions, specimen JPC only can be used in warm regions