A Typology of Perceived Negative Course Evaluations

Instructors and administrators continue to debate the merit and value of using course evaluations to assess instructor effectiveness and course outcomes, especially when students see course evaluations as satisfaction surveys where they can unload negative and/or hurtful comments directed at instructors. Little is known about instructors’ perceptions of negative course evaluations. This study qualitatively examined faculty’s (N = 90) perceptions of negative course evaluation qualitative comments. Using a grounded analyst-constructed typologies approach, three types of negative course evaluation comments were identified: professional, personal, and performance. These types of negative comments call into question the disconnection between what students and instructors perceive as negative comments and how instructors and administrators should evaluate their performance in the classroom. The findings offer recommendations for how instructors and administrators can better navigate how to use negative comments in performance reviews

Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) as a safe alternative for the resection of pulmonary metastases: a retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>VATS has become a preferred method for benign surgical conditions, yet still remains controversial for malignancies. The purpose of this study was to review our results of pulmonary metastasectomies using both conventional open thoracotomy and VATS techniques.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a retrospective chart review of pulmonary metastasectomies performed from 1986 to 2006. The surgical approach used for the initial pulmonary metastasectomy was either open thoracotomy or VATS. Main outcomes were overall survival and recurrence free survival, evaluated using Kaplan Meier analysis. A non-inferiority margin was set at 0.2.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 280 surgical procedures were performed on 186 patients. From 171 eligible individuals, 135 patients were treated with thoracotomy (82 M, 53 F; median age 49 years), and 36 with VATS (18 M, 18 F; median age 58.5 years). Primary cancers were mainly: 81 sarcoma (47%), 26 colorectal adenocarcinoma (15%) and 22 renal cell carcinoma (13%). Median postoperative follow was 26.2 months. The conversion rate was 10.3% and there were no cases of pleural cavity seeding. The 5-year overall survival rates were 58.8% for thoracotomy and 69.6% for VATS, with median overall survival of 53.2 months and 30.1 months, respectively (p = 0.03). The estimated difference in 5-year overall survival was 10.8%. Second occurrences were noted in 59 thoracotomy and 10 VATS patients. The 5-year recurrence free survival rates were 51% in thoracotomy and 67% in VATS (p = 0.27), with median recurrence free survival of 24.8 months and 25.6 months, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In cases of pulmonary metastases, VATS is an acceptable alternative that is both safe and efficacious. Non-inferiority analysis of 5-year overall survival demonstrates that VATS is equivalent to thoracotomy. VATS patients also have a longer recurrence free survival. Based on our experience, it is permissible to use VATS resection in these circumstances: small tumor, fewer nodules, single lesion, age ≤ 53, unilateral, tumor size amenable to wedge resection, and non-recurrent disease.</p

Bering Strait transports from satellite altimetry

TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetry data are used to compute sea level slopes across the Bering Strait and associated geostrophic transport anomalies through the strait during ice-free periods from 1992 to 2002. The satellite turning latitude near 66N is just north of the strait, allowing us to use data from seven nearly zonal altimeter tracks close to the strait and to provide estimates of mean slopes, geostrophic currents and water transports approximately every 1.5 days. The altimeter-derived transport anomalies far exceed the mean value and are in good agreement with those derived from in situ observations. Comparison to wind data from a nearby meteorological station in Uelen, Russia, shows that computed transport anomalies correlate well with strong along-strait winds and less so with winds from other directions, thus making the transport predictions from winds alone more successful in seasons with strong and persistent meridional winds

PhyloScan: identification of transcription factor binding sites using cross-species evidence

BACKGROUND: When transcription factor binding sites are known for a particular transcription factor, it is possible to construct a motif model that can be used to scan sequences for additional sites. However, few statistically significant sites are revealed when a transcription factor binding site motif model is used to scan a genome-scale database. METHODS: We have developed a scanning algorithm, PhyloScan, which combines evidence from matching sites found in orthologous data from several related species with evidence from multiple sites within an intergenic region, to better detect regulons. The orthologous sequence data may be multiply aligned, unaligned, or a combination of aligned and unaligned. In aligned data, PhyloScan statistically accounts for the phylogenetic dependence of the species contributing data to the alignment and, in unaligned data, the evidence for sites is combined assuming phylogenetic independence of the species. The statistical significance of the gene predictions is calculated directly, without employing training sets. RESULTS: In a test of our methodology on synthetic data modeled on seven Enterobacteriales, four Vibrionales, and three Pasteurellales species, PhyloScan produces better sensitivity and specificity than MONKEY, an advanced scanning approach that also searches a genome for transcription factor binding sites using phylogenetic information. The application of the algorithm to real sequence data from seven Enterobacteriales species identifies novel Crp and PurR transcription factor binding sites, thus providing several new potential sites for these transcription factors. These sites enable targeted experimental validation and thus further delineation of the Crp and PurR regulons in E. coli. CONCLUSION: Better sensitivity and specificity can be achieved through a combination of (1) using mixed alignable and non-alignable sequence data and (2) combining evidence from multiple sites within an intergenic region

Surface salinity under transitioning ice cover in the Canada Basin: Climate model biases linked to vertical distribution of fresh water

The Canada Basin has exhibited a significant trend toward a fresher surface layer and thus a more stratified upper-ocean over the past three decades. State-of-the-art ice-ocean models, by contrast, tend to simulate a surface layer that is saltier and less stratified than observed. Here, we examine decadal changes to seasonal processes that may contribute to this wide-reaching model bias using climate model simulations from the Community Earth System Model and below-ice observations from the Arctic Ice Dynamics Joint Experiment in 1975 and Ice Tethered Profilers in 2006-2012. In contrast to the observations, the models simulate salinity profiles that show relatively little variation between 1975 and 2012. We demonstrate that this bias can be mainly attributed to unrealistically deep vertical mixing in the model, creating a surface layer that is saltier than observed. The results provide insight for climate model improvement with broad implications for Arctic sea ice and ecosystem dynamics

Interannual variability of the outflow of Weddell Sea bottom water

The Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW) export from 1999 to 2019 displays distinct seasonal and interannual variability. From 2014 into 2017 a marked salinity decrease was recorded, with the lowest salinity, 34.615, attained in early 2016. The reduced salinity is derived from the V‐shaped trough formed by a double front along the shelf break of the Weddell Gyre's western boundary, which is filled with a blend of surface water and modified Weddell Deep Water. We estimate that when the V‐shaped apex attains a depth of greater than ~700m, the thermobaric effect promotes its descent into the WSBW. We propose that this occurred during anomalously strong cyclonic wind stress curl over the Weddell Gyre from 2014 into 2017, which increased the intensity of the gyre and its western boundary current, deepening the V‐shape trough. The WSBW salinity increased to its prior to 2014 values as the wind stress relaxed in 2018

Transcript copy number estimation using a mouse whole-genome oligonucleotide microarray

The ability to quantitatively measure the expression of all genes in a given tissue or cell with a single assay is an exciting promise of gene-expression profiling technology. An in situ-synthesized 60-mer oligonucleotide microarray designed to detect transcripts from all mouse genes was validated, as well as a set of exogenous RNA controls derived from the yeast genome (made freely available without restriction), which allow quantitative estimation of absolute endogenous transcript abundance

Oceanography of Cowichan Bay: A background view for early marine survival of Chinook and Coho salmon

Early Marine Survival (EMS) of Chinook and Coho salmon in the Salish Sea has plummeted over the past decades, and both bottom-up and top-down mechanisms for decline have been proposed. As a background for an ecosystem-based assessment of EMS, a pilot study on the basic oceanography of a small sub-component of the system was launched in spring and early summer, 2013. A repeat sampling grid covering Cowichan Bay and immediately connected waters was established, and then sampled on weekly intervals for temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence, nutrients and zooplankton. Oceanographic studies were carried out concurrently with fisheries assessments. A longer section was carried out at monthly intervals, with the purpose of connecting Cowichan Bay to the Strait of Georgia. This talk will present findings from this study, identify key shortcoming and suggest an approach to expand the pilot study to the scale of the Salish Sea

A Steady Regime of Volume and Heat Transports in the Eastern Arctic Ocean in the Early 21st Century

Mooring observations in the eastern Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean showed that mean 2013–2018 along-slope volume and heat (calculated relative to the freezing temperature) transports in the upper 800 m were 4.8 ± 0.1 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3/s) and 34.8 ± 0.6 TW, respectively. Volume and heat transports within the Atlantic Water (AW) layer (∼150–800 m) in 2013–2018 lacked significant temporal shifts at annual and longer time scales: averaged over the two periods of mooring deployment in 2013–2015 and 2015–2018, volume transports were 3.1 ± 0.1 Sv, while AW heat transports were 31.3 ± 1.0 TW and 34.8 ± 0.8 TW. Moreover, the reconstructed AW volume transports over longer, 2003–2018, period of time showed strong interannual variations but lacked a statistically significant trend. However, we found a weak positive trend of 0.08 ± 0.07 Sv/year in the barotropic AW volume transport estimated using dynamic ocean topography (DOT) measurements in 2003–2014 – the longest period spanned by the DOT dataset. Vertical coherence of 2013–2018 transports in the halocline (70–140 m) and AW (∼150–800 m) layers was high, suggesting the essential role of the barotropic forcing in constraining along-slope transports. Quantitative estimates of transports and their variability discussed in this study help identify the role of atlantification in critical changes of the eastern Arctic Ocean.publishedVersio