A Comparison of Rewarded Responses versus Nonincentivized Responses Using Clickers as a More Defined Method of Feedback

Audience response systems (ARS), clickers, when used in classrooms are said to improve a myriad of learning outcomes, including engagement, retaining information, student involvement and class attendance. The purpose of this research was to determine if audience response systems improve classroom learning outcomes, as measured by how it measures attendance, pre and post-knowledge, and performance assessments. This study took place in four sections of Introduction to Human Communication, all taught by the same instructor at a comprehensive university in the southeastern United States. A 2 x 2 quasi-experimental design was employed, with three of the classes randomly assigned a condition, and a fourth class randomly assigned as the control group. Students in the three sections with conditions were given questions during the daily class lectures. Of the three sections with a condition, one answered the questions on paper and received points, the second used clickers to answer the questions and received points, and the third used clickers to answer questions and did not receive points. The fourth group, the control group, was not given any questions during the same lecture. For the two classes that received points for correctly answering questions during the lecture, the points available from the questions accounted for .06% of the final grade. The study also looked at student attendance to determine if points given during the lecture for the three conditions resulted in fewer absences. In addition, scores from a pre and post-test, and pre and post-speech, were used to determine if learning was improved equally across the four sections.TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………… 1 Audience Response System Use…………………………………………….. 1 Purpose of Study…………………………………………………………….. 6 A Brief Look Back…………………………………………………………... 8 Audience Response System Products……………………………………….. 12 Challenges in Selecting an ARS Provider…………………………………... 15 Introduction to the Problem…………………………………………………. 19 Research Questions………………………………………………………….. 19 II. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………… 22 Audience Response Systems Through The Years…………………………... 22 Audience Response Systems and Learning Theories……………………….. 39 How Clickers Impact Learning……………………………………………… 41 Motivation…………………………………………………………………… 42 III. METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………….. 46 Operational Definitions and Research Design………………………………. 46 Instruments…………………………………………………………………... 47 Participants…………………………………………………………………... 48 Procedure……………………………………………………………………. 49 IV. RESULTS……………………………………………………………………. 49 Demographics……………………………………………………………….. 57 Attendance…………………………………………………………………… 61 Pre and Post Test…………………………………………………………….. 63 Pre and Post Speech…………………………………………………………. 61 Final Course Grades…………………………………………………………. 67 V. DISCUSSION………………………………………………………………... 70 Attendance…………………………………………………………………… 70 Pre and Post Test…………………………………………………………….. 73 Pre and Post Speech…………………………………………………………. 74 Final Course Grades…………………………………………………………. 76 Future Research……………………………………………………………… 76 Implications………………………………………………………………….. 80 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………. 81 APPENDICES Appendix A: Institutional Review Board Protocol Exemption Report……... 91 Appendix B: Consent to Participate in Research…………………………… 93 Appendix C: Opt-Out Email Sent to Students……………………………… 97 Appendix D: Pre-Post Test…………………………………………………. 99 Appendix E: Pre-Post Speech Grading Rubric……………………………... 109Hilgon, LarryLowney, KathleenBrowne, BlaineSiegrist, GeraldEd.D.Educatio

CT ​EvaLuation ​by ​ARtificial ​Intelligence ​For ​Atherosclerosis, Stenosis and Vascular ​MorphologY ​(CLARIFY): ​A ​Multi-center, international study

Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis evaluation by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is promising for coronary artery disease (CAD) risk stratification, but time consuming and requires high expertise. Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to CCTA for comprehensive CAD assessment may overcome these limitations. We hypothesized AI aided analysis allows for rapid, accurate evaluation of vessel morphology and stenosis. METHODS: This was a multi-site study of 232 patients undergoing CCTA. Studies were analyzed by FDA-cleared software service that performs AI-driven coronary artery segmentation and labeling, lumen and vessel wall determination, plaque quantification and characterization with comparison to ground truth of consensus by three L3 readers. CCTAs were analyzed for: % maximal diameter stenosis, plaque volume and composition, presence of high-risk plaque and Coronary Artery Disease Reporting & Data System (CAD-RADS) category. RESULTS: AI performance was excellent for accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value as follows: >70% stenosis: 99.7%, 90.9%, 99.8%, 93.3%, 99.9%, respectively; >50% stenosis: 94.8%, 80.0%, 97.0, 80.0%, 97.0%, respectively. Bland-Altman plots depict agreement between expert reader and AI determined maximal diameter stenosis for per-vessel (mean difference -0.8%; 95% CI 13.8% to -15.3%) and per-patient (mean difference -2.3%; 95% CI 15.8% to -20.4%). L3 and AI agreed within one CAD-RADS category in 228/232 (98.3%) exams per-patient and 923/924 (99.9%) vessels on a per-vessel basis. There was a wide range of atherosclerosis in the coronary artery territories assessed by AI when stratified by CAD-RADS distribution. CONCLUSIONS: AI-aided approach to CCTA interpretation determines coronary stenosis and CAD-RADS category in close agreement with consensus of L3 expert readers. There was a wide range of atherosclerosis identified through AI.proofpublishe

a CLARIFY trial sub-study

Publisher Copyright: © 2022Background: The difference between expert level (L3) reader and artificial intelligence (AI) performance for quantifying coronary plaque and plaque components is unknown. Objective: This study evaluates the interobserver variability among expert readers for quantifying the volume of coronary plaque and plaque components on coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) using an artificial intelligence enabled quantitative CCTA analysis software as a reference (AI-QCT). Methods: This study uses CCTA imaging obtained from 232 patients enrolled in the CLARIFY (CT EvaLuation by ARtificial Intelligence For Atherosclerosis, Stenosis and Vascular MorphologY) study. Readers quantified overall plaque volume and the % breakdown of noncalcified plaque (NCP) and calcified plaque (CP) on a per vessel basis. Readers categorized high risk plaque (HRP) based on the presence of low-attenuation-noncalcified plaque (LA-NCP) and positive remodeling (PR; ≥1.10). All CCTAs were analyzed by an FDA-cleared software service that performs AI-driven plaque characterization and quantification (AI-QCT) for comparison to L3 readers. Reader generated analyses were compared among readers and to AI-QCT generated analyses. Results: When evaluating plaque volume on a per vessel basis, expert readers achieved moderate to high interobserver consistency with an intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.78 for a single reader score and 0.91 for mean scores. There was a moderate trend between readers 1, 2, and 3 and AI with spearman coefficients of 0.70, 0.68 and 0.74, respectively. There was high discordance between readers and AI plaque component analyses. When quantifying %NCP v. %CP, readers 1, 2, and 3 achieved a weighted kappa coefficient of 0.23, 0.34 and 0.24, respectively, compared to AI with a spearman coefficient of 0.38, 0.51, and 0.60, respectively. The intra-class correlation coefficient among readers for plaque composition assessment was 0.68. With respect to HRP, readers 1, 2, and 3 achieved a weighted kappa coefficient of 0.22, 0.26, and 0.17, respectively, and a spearman coefficient of 0.36, 0.35, and 0.44, respectively. Conclusion: Expert readers performed moderately well quantifying total plaque volumes with high consistency. However, there was both significant interobserver variability and high discordance with AI-QCT when quantifying plaque composition.publishersversionpublishe

Promising insights into the health related quality of life for children with severe obesity

Background Childhood obesity is a growing health concern known to adversely affect quality of life in children and adolescents. The Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) pediatric measures were developed to capture child self-reports across a variety of health conditions experienced by children and adolescents. The purpose of this study is to begin the process of validation of the PROMIS pediatric measures in children and adolescents affected by obesity. Methods The pediatric PROMIS instruments were administered to 138 children and adolescents in a cross-sectional study of patient reported outcomes in children aged 8–17 years with age-adjusted body mass index (BMI) greater than the 85th percentile in a design to establish known-group validity. The children completed the depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger, peer relationships, pain interference, fatigue, upper extremity, and mobility PROMIS domains utilizing a computer interface. PROMIS domains and individual items were administered in random order and included a total of 95 items. Patient responses were compared between patients with BMI 85 to < 99th percentile versus ≥ 99th percentile. Results 136 participants were recruited and had all necessary clinical data for analysis. Of the 136 participants, 5% ended the survey early resulting in missing domain scores at the end of survey administration. In multivariate analysis, patients with BMI ≥ 99th percentile had worse scores for depressive symptoms, anger, fatigue, and mobility (p < 0.05). Parent-reported exercise was associated with better scores for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and fatigue (p < 0.05). Conclusions Children and adolescents ranging from overweight to severely obese can complete multiple PROMIS pediatric measures using a computer interface in the outpatient setting. In the 5% with missing domain scores, the missing scores were consistently found in the domains administered last, suggesting the length of the assessment is important. The differences in domain scores found in this study are consistent with previous reports investigating the quality of life in children and adolescents with obesity. We show that the PROMIS instrument represents a feasible and potentially valuable instrument for the future study of the effect of pediatric obesity on quality of life

Maximizing dose reductions with cardiac CT

Multidetector computed tomography has come a long way in a short time, quickly becoming a standard tool in the cardiac imaging armamentarium. The promise of plaque imaging, combined with both anatomical visualization and stenosis detection, has made this a preferred first line test of many cardiologists and radiologists. This test is well suited to rule out coronary artery disease (obstruction) and still diagnosing subclinical plaque, with may be a good target for anti-atherosclerotic therapies. There has been recent criticism against CT imaging, and cardiac CT specifically, due to the high radiation doses that being employed. New advances have allowed for dramatic dose reductions. These include more routinely performed methods such as dose modulation, and newer methods such as prospective gating or minimizing the field of view. This paper will review the different applications to reduce cardiac CT radiation doses to nominal levels, potentially expanding the applications of cardiac CT by removing one of the biggest barriers

The Moderating Effects of Peer and Parental Support on the Relationship Between Vicarious Victimization and Substance Use

General strain theory (GST) hypothesizes that youth are more likely to engage in delinquency when they experience vicarious victimization, defined as knowing about or witnessing violence perpetrated against others, but that this relationship may be attenuated for those who receive social support from significant others. Based on prospective data from youth aged 8 to 17 participating in the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), this article found mixed support for these hypotheses. Controlling for prior involvement in delinquency, as well as other risk and protective factors, adolescents who reported more vicarious victimization had an increased likelihood of alcohol use in the short term, but not the long term, and victimization was not related to tobacco or marijuana use. Peer support did not moderate the relationship between vicarious victimization and substance use, but family support did. In contrast to strain theory’s predictions, the relationship between vicarious victimization and substance use was stronger for those who had higher compared with lower levels of family support. Implications of these findings for strain theory and future research are discussed

Preliminary Study of Prospective ECG-Gated 320-Detector CT Coronary Angiography in Patients with Ventricular Premature Beats

BACKGROUND: To study the applicability of prospective ECG-gated 320-detector CT coronary angiography (CTCA) in patients with ventricular premature beats (VPB), and determine the scanning mode that best maximizes image quality and reduces radiation dose. METHODS: 110 patients were divided into a VPB group (60 cases) and a control group (50 cases) using CTCA. All the patients then underwent coronary angiography (CAG) within one month. CAG served as a reference standard through which the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of CTCA in diagnosing significant coronary artery stenosis (luminal stenosis ≥50%) could be analyzed. The two radiologists with more than 3 years' experience in cardiac CT each finished the image analysis after consultation. A personalized scanning mode was adopted to compare image quality and radiation dose between the two groups. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: At the coronary artery segment level, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV in the premature beat group were 92.55%, 98.21%, 88.51%, and 98.72% respectively. In the control group these values were found to be 95.79%, 98.42%, 90.11%, and 99.28% respectively. Between the two groups, specificity, sensitivity PPV, NPV was no significant difference. The two groups had no significant difference in image quality score (P>0.05). Heart rate (77.20±12.07 bpm) and radiation dose (14.62±1.37 mSv) in the premature beat group were higher than heart rate (58.72±4.73 bpm) and radiation dose (3.08±2.35 mSv) in the control group. In theVPB group, the radiation dose (34.55±7.12 mSv) for S-field scanning was significantly higher than the radiation dose (15.10±1.12 mSv) for M-field scanning. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: With prospective ECG-gated scanning for VPB, the diagnostic accuracy of coronary artery stenosis is very high. Scanning field adjustment can reduce radiation dose while maintaining good image quality. For patients with slow heart rates and good rhythm, there was no statistically significant difference in image quality

High resolution time-course mapping of early transcriptomic, molecular and cellular phenotypes in Huntington\u27s disease CAG knock-in mice across multiple genetic backgrounds.

Huntington\u27s disease is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion of a CAG repeat in the HTT gene. In addition to the length of the CAG expansion, factors such as genetic background have been shown to contribute to the age at onset of neurological symptoms. A central challenge in understanding the disease progression that leads from the HD mutation to massive cell death in the striatum is the ability to characterize the subtle and early functional consequences of the CAG expansion longitudinally. We used dense time course sampling between 4 and 20 postnatal weeks to characterize early transcriptomic, molecular and cellular phenotypes in the striatum of six distinct knock-in mouse models of the HD mutation. We studied the effects of the HttQ111 allele on the C57BL/6J, CD-1, FVB/NCr1, and 129S2/SvPasCrl genetic backgrounds, and of two additional alleles, HttQ92 and HttQ50, on the C57BL/6J background. We describe the emergence of a transcriptomic signature in HttQ111/+  mice involving hundreds of differentially expressed genes and changes in diverse molecular pathways. We also show that this time course spanned the onset of mutant huntingtin nuclear localization phenotypes and somatic CAG-length instability in the striatum. Genetic background strongly influenced the magnitude and age at onset of these effects. This work provides a foundation for understanding the earliest transcriptional and molecular changes contributing to HD pathogenesis