Understanding Faculty Engagement in Assessment through Feedback and Dialogues: A Mixed Methods Approach

The literature indicates faculty members' beliefs and attitudes toward assessment are crucial to the successful implementation of assessment.  However, few empirical studies have examined the culture of assessment among faculty members.  The intent of this single-level mixed methods case study is to identify the factors and examine how these factors influence faculty members' perceptions, attitudes, and their engagement in assessment activities by studying the case of a public teaching intensive university in the Southwest region of the U.S.  An online survey and asynchronous focus group interviews are used.  The implications for institutional policy making and professional development are discussed, based on the findings

Cognitive perceptions of second language acquisition in Chinese undergraduate ESL/EFL students: A mixed methods approach

With the continued demand for teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL/EFL) in China, colleges and universities in China continue to struggle with teaching oral English to high volumes of undergraduate students using faculty-centered strategies. This concurrent mixed-methods, single-level, case study intends to examine Chinese undergraduate students’ cognitive perceptions of their oral English ability as a segue to a more effective second language acquisition environment in a 21st Century global education. The data analysis revealed three main themes intersected by the findings of the quantitative and qualitative analyses. The findings from this and future studies are intended to guide leaders, administrators, scholars, and students to affect national and provincial policy, school and classroom-based practices, and personal strategies to enhance students’ ability to acquire their oral English skills

Cross-cultural L2 learning exchange: A qualitative examination of strategies, tools, cognition and translation outcomes

Amidst the milieu of free and at-cost L2 language software applications coming into existence for use on mobile devices and computers, adult L2 learners are faced with the challenge of selecting their best choice for them to use in acquiring a specific second language. Their selection is based on their individual need and the context in which they plan to use the second language. More importantly, it is well known there is no single tool, resource, or strategy that adult L2 learners can use to fully acquire a second language quickly and effectively, especially for intercultural couples who lack a common language for daily communication. While there is much literature on the topic of L2 acquisition and learning, the purpose of this auto-ethnographic study is to share with readers specific aspects of our journey in acquiring each other’s native language throughout their first year together. Included are subsequent findings involving cognition and translation issues as developing skills recognized during various phases of L2 acquisition

Estimating the implicit interest rate of a risky asset

AbstractHidden Markov Models provide an adaptive method of estimating random quantities, that is, they not only consider the quantity under investigation but also revise the parameters of the model. Results of a recent paper are used to determine the implicit interest rate of an asset whose value is given by an equation in log-normal form

CCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars from the Southern Hemisphere

We present 119 position angle and separation measures of 86 double stars observed by way of speckle interferometry with the University of Toronto Southern Observatory 60 cm telescope at Las Campanas, Chile. Speckle interferograms are recorded with a bare (unintensified) front-illuminated CCD in a fast subarray-readout mode. Position angles and separations are determined by a weighted least-squares fitting algorithm applied to the binary power spectra, and the 180-degree ambiguity in the position angle inherent in this approach is resolved by bispectral analysis. In this configuration the 60 cm telescope exhibits near-diffraction-limited performance. Initial results indicate that our separation measures have a root-mean-square (rms) deviation of 6.6 +/- 1.0 milliarcsecond (mas) and our position angles have an rms deviation of 1.73 +/- 0.26 degrees when judged against the ephemeris positions of a small sample of binaries with previously well-determined orbits (Refer to PDF file for exact formulas)

Bose-Einstein Quantum Phase Transition in an Optical Lattice Model

Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in cold gases can be turned on and off by an external potential, such as that presented by an optical lattice. We present a model of this phenomenon which we are able to analyze rigorously. The system is a hard core lattice gas at half-filling and the optical lattice is modeled by a periodic potential of strength $\lambda$. For small $\lambda$ and temperature, BEC is proved to occur, while at large $\lambda$ or temperature there is no BEC. At large $\lambda$ the low-temperature states are in a Mott insulator phase with a characteristic gap that is absent in the BEC phase. The interparticle interaction is essential for this transition, which occurs even in the ground state. Surprisingly, the condensation is always into the $p=0$ mode in this model, although the density itself has the periodicity of the imposed potential.Comment: RevTeX4, 13 pages, 2 figure

Conserved hydrogen bonding in tetrahydrocarbazolone derivatives: influence of solution-state assembly on crystal form nucleation

Two tetrahydocarbazolone derivatives were found to show multiple unsolvated crystal forms. A persistent dimer motif was detected in solution by FTIR spectroscopy that is maintained in the kinetic crystal forms. Rationally introduced steric bulk induces the formation of a more stable catemeric form

Trends in Kaposi's sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus antibodies prior to the development of HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma: a nested case-control study

HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a public health challenge in sub-Saharan Africa since both the causative agent, Kaposi's sarcoma associated-herpesvirus (KSHV), and the major risk factor, HIV, are prevalent. In a nested case-control study within a long-standing clinical cohort in rural Uganda, we used stored sera to examine the evolution of antibody titres against the KSHV antigens K8.1 and latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) among 30 HIV-infected subjects who subsequently developed HIV-related KS (cases) and among 108 matched HIV/KSHV coinfected controls who did not develop KS. Throughout the 6 years prior to diagnosis, antibody titres to K8.1 and LANA were significantly higher among cases than controls (p < 0.0001), and titres increased prior to diagnosis in the cases. K8.1 titres differed more between KS cases and controls, compared to LANA titres. These differences in titre between cases and controls suggest a role for lytic viral replication in the pathogenesis of HIV-related KS in this setting