Factors determining spawning success in Penaeus monodon Fabricius

Spawning success in relation to the size of spawner, clumping of eggs, percentage of spawning and frequency of spawning was studied in Penaeus monodon collected off Tamil Nadu, India. The results indicated positive correlation between the size of spawner and the fecundity and hatching percentage, but not the start of hatching. Hatching characteristics were influenced by clumping of eggs or abortive spawning; the greater the clumping, the longer the time taken for hatching, resulting in a lower hatching percentage. The start of hatching time increased when the frequency of spawning increased. Lower hatching rate was observed as the frequency of spawning increased

Beyond Average: Contemporary statistical techniques for analysing student evaluations of teaching

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) have been used to evaluate higher education teaching performance for decades. Reporting SET results often involves the extraction of an average for some set of course metrics, which facilitates the comparison of teaching teams across different organisational units. Here, we draw attention to ongoing problems with the naive application of this approach. Firstly, a specific average value may arise from data that demonstrates very different patterns of student satisfaction. Furthermore, the use of distance measures (e.g. an average) for ordinal data can be contested, and finally, issues of multiplicity increasingly plague approaches using hypothesis testing. It is time to advance the methodology of the field. We demonstrate how multinomial distributions and hierarchical Bayesian methods can be used to contextualise the SET scores of a course to different organisational units and student cohorts, and then show how this approach can be used to extract sensible information about how a distribution is changing

Enhancing the ethical use of learning analytics in Australian higher education

Ensuring the ethical use of data about students is an important consideration in the use of learning analytics in Australian higher education. In early 2019 a discussion paper was published by a group of learning analytics specialists in the sector to help promote the conversation around the key ethical issues institutions need to address in order to ensure the ethical use of learning analytics. This panel session will explore these ethical issues in more detail and update the conversation with new perspectives and provocations. The panel will include authors of the discussion paper and structured so the audience will have an active role in considering the key issues and advancing the ongoing conversations about these important issues

Protocol for a systematic scoping review of reasons given to justify the performance of randomised controlled trials.

IntroductionRandomised controlled trials (RCTs) are widely viewed to generate the most reliable medical knowledge. However, RCTs are not always scientifically necessary and therefore not always ethical. Unfortunately, it is not clear when an RCT is not necessary or how this should be established. This study seeks to systematically catalogue justifications offered throughout the medical and ethics literature for performing randomisation within clinical trials.Methods and analysisWe will systematically search electronic databases of the medical literature including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Clinical Trials Register, Web of Science Proceedings, ClinicalTrials.gov; databases of philosophical literature including Philosopher's Index, Phil Papers, JSTOR, Periodicals Archive Online, Project MUSE, National Reference Centre for Bioethics; the library catalogue at the University of Ottawa; bibliographies of retrieved papers; and the grey literature. We will also pursue suggestions from experts in the fields of medical ethics, philosophy and clinical trial methodology. Article screening, selection and data extraction will be performed by two independent reviewers based on prespecified inclusion/exclusion criteria. A third reviewer will be consulted to resolve any discrepancies. We will then extract the reasons given to justify randomisation using methodology established to extract data in a defensible, systematic manner. We will track the reasons given, their frequency of use and changes over time. Finally, using grounded theory, we will combine the reasons into broader themes. These themes will form the foundation of our subsequent analysis from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. This review will map existing arguments that clinicians, ethicists and philosophers use to ethically justify randomisation in clinical trials.Ethics and disseminationNo research ethics board approval is necessary because we are not examining patient-level data. This protocol complies with the reported guidance for conducting systematic scoping reviews. The findings of this paper will be disseminated via presentations and academic publication. In a subsequent phase of this research, we hope to engage with stakeholders and translate any recommendations derived from our findings into operational guidelines

What Makes an Effective Early Childhood Parenting Programme: a Systematic Review of Reviews and Meta analyses

The widely acknowledged importance of educating parents in children's early years has led to a substantial number of parenting programmes aimed at various aspects of early childhood care and education (ECEC). A vast amount of research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of existing parenting programmes. By synthesising the research evidence, this study seeks to address the questions of whether early childhood parenting programmes are effective in improving parenting and enhancing children's development; and which factors of the programme design and implementation contribute to the successful outcomes of parenting programmes. A systematic search of bibliographic databases for reviews and meta-analyses of existing early childhood parenting programmes in the past ten years (2010-2020) was conducted through ProQuest, Ovid and EBSCOhost. Forty-seven review studies are eligible for inclusion. A thematic approach is adopted to synthesise the findings of reviews and meta-analyses. Overall, short-term positive effects on the various parent outcomes measured by the programmes have been reported with small to medium effect size across reviews. But the positive programme effects on parents do not guarantee improvement in children's development as mixed results are reported regarding the children's outcomes. Evidence of long-term effects has been far from conclusive due to the paucity of empirical research as well as the inconsistent results within the existing literature, suggesting more studies are needed to address this gap. Evidence of programme effectiveness is discussed with reference to theoretical frameworks, programme length/intensity, delivery modes, family-centred approach (incl., father-inclusiveness) and cultural adaptation. Based on the research evidence, a list of practical suggestions is proposed in order to improve the design, implementation and evaluation of early childhood parenting programmes

An isomorphism between the p-adic integers and a ring associated with a tiling of N-space by permutohedra

AbstractThe classical lattice A∗n, whose Voronoi cells tile Euclidean n-space by permutohedra, can be given the generalized balance ternary ring structure GBTn in a natural way as a quotient ring of Z[x]. The ring GBTn can also be considered as the set of all finite sequences s0 s1…sk, with si ∈ GBTn⧸αGBTn for all i, where α is an appropriately chosen element in GBTn. The extended generalized balance ternary (EGBTn) ring consists of all such infinite sequences. A primary goal of this paper is to prove that if 2n+1−1 and n+1 are relatively prime, then EGBTn is isomorphic as a ring to the (2n+1−1)-adic integers

A sociological exploration of the tensions related to interprofessional collaboration in acute-care discharge planning

Patient discharge is a key concern in hospitals, particularly in acute care, given the multifaceted and challenging nature of patients' healthcare needs. Policies on discharge have identified the importance of interprofessional collaboration, yet research has described its limitations in this clinical context. This study aimed to extend our understanding of interprofessional interactions related to discharge in a general internal medicine setting by using sociological theories to illuminate the existence of, and interplay between, structural factors and microlevel practices. An ethnographic approach was employed to obtain an in-depth insight into healthcare providers' perspectives, behaviours, and interactions regarding discharge. Data collection involved observations, interviews, and document analysis. Approximately 65 hours of observations were undertaken, 23 interviews were conducted with healthcare providers, and government and hospital discharge documents were collected. Data were analysed using a directed content approach. The findings indicate the existence of a medically dominated division of healthcare labour in patient discharge with opportunities for some interprofessional negotiations; the role of organizational routines in facilitating and challenging interprofessional negotiations in patient discharge; and tensions in organizational priorities that impact an interprofessional approach to discharge. The findings provide insight into the various levels at which interventions can be targeted to improve interprofessional collaboration in discharge while recognizing the organizational tensions that challenge an interprofessional approach