Exploiting a Grading Policy Shift as an Instrument to Estimate Impact of Grading on Teacher Evaluations

Professors at a university plausibly have an incentive to give higher grades to students, and these higher grades will be reflected in student evaluations, which are used to assess teaching quality, which could have career impacts. This paper takes advantage of a policy shift at the business school at Utah State University that introduced suggested caps on the average course grades that teachers gave. This allowed instrumental variable analysis to correct for bias in OLS estimations of these impacts. The correlation between grades and students\u27 evaluations of teachers was found to be positive suggesting that student evaluations of teachers are biased by the grades that teachers give, making them less useful as a guiding metric

A Survey of the Murray State University CSIS Department of Student and Instructor Attitudes in Relation to Earlier Introduction of Version Control Systems

Over the previous 20 years, the software development industry has overseen an evolution in application of Version Control Systems (VCS) from a Centralized Version Control System (CVCS) format to a Decentralized Version Control Format (DVCS). Examples of the former include Perforce and Subversion whilst the latter of the two include Github and BitBucket. As DVCS models allow software contributors to maintain their respective local repositories of relevant code bases, developers are able to work offline and maintain their work with relative fault tolerance. This contrasts to CVCS models, which require software contributors to be connected online to a main server. Given this expansion in capabilities of productivity under the DVCS model, the Open Source Software (OSS) development scene has transformed accordingly by moving to a DVCS system from the previous CVCS one. Previous work has shown that security breaches and bugs existing on any given application are patched more efficiently, albeit with occasional latency. Accordingly, many software development businesses in the contemporary industry require potential applicants to have knowledge of a VCS model of some sort for employment, with preference given to a DVCS model. Despite this necessity, many universities, including Murray State University, fail to introduce their students to any VCS system until the last year of their undergraduate experience in Computer Science during their work throughout their senior capstone project. Additionally, many students do not apply a VCS model until their senior capstone project as well. Preliminary literature review has found that students who are permitted to conduct academic work on assignments within the Computer Science profession in their earlier years have been found to have greater engagement (Hsing and Gennarelli, 1,2). They also found community through the VCS model they used and consequently were more motivated to complete course assignments (Hsing and Gennarelli, 2). Additionally, DVCS models, such as github, maintain a log of commits through securing hashing algorithms, preventing students from violating submission standards by modifying logs to give inaccurate submission dates (Lawrence et. al., 2). However, there appears to be a gap in research concerning enthusiasm of Computer Science students specifically to integrate VCS models earlier in their education. Given the aforementioned benefits of the DVCS model, the goal of this study is to determine the academic benefits of introducing Computer Science students to DVCS models earlier in their education by measuring student and instructor attitudes to doing so. The first part of this study shall consist of obtaining data of student familiarity to VCS models and professor instructors on VCS models through a survey. The second part of this study aims to capture their attitudes towards integrating VCS education earlier in their academic career. The final part of this study shall consist of a regression model to determine enthusiasm of students. This will include VCS instructions earlier in their education based on their year in college and whether or not they have used VCS for software development. Likewise, a second regression model will assess the enthusiasm of professors to incorporate VCS in their lower-level courses will be determined by the amount of years they have taught and the course level they teach

The safety and feasibility of early cardiorespiratory fitness testing after stroke

Background Cardiorespiratory fitness testing is recommended as part of a pre-exercise evaluation to aid the programming of safe, tailored cardiorespiratory fitness training after stroke. But there is limited evidence for its safety and feasibility in people with stroke with varying impairment levels in the early subacute phase of stroke recovery. Objective To assess the safety and feasibility of cardiorespiratory fitness testing in the early subacute phase after stroke. Design A sub-study of a larger single service, multi-site, prospective cohort feasibility study (Cardiac Rehabilitation in Stroke Survivors to Improve Survivorship [CRiSSIS]). Setting Private subacute inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Participants Consecutive admissions of people with ischemic stroke admitted to subacute rehabilitation facilities. Intervention Not applicable. Main Outcome(s) Safety was determined by the occurrence of adverse or serious adverse events. Feasibility was determined by assessing the (1) number of participants recruited and (2) number of participants able to complete the fitness test. Results Between April 2018 and December 2019, a total of 165 people with stroke were screened to participate; 109 were eligible and 65 were recruited. Of the 62 who completed testing, 41 participants were able to complete a submaximal fitness test at a median of 12 days post-stroke. One minor adverse event was recorded. Of the 21 participants unable to complete the fitness test; 4 declined to complete the test, 9 were unable to commence the test, and 8 were unable to complete the first stage of the protocol due to stroke-related impairments. Participants with mild stroke, greater motor and cognitive function, and fewer depressive symptoms were more likely to be able to complete the cardiorespiratory fitness test. Conclusion Cardiorespiratory fitness testing was safe for most people with mild-to-moderately severe ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack in the early subacute phase, but only two-thirds of the participants could complete the test

Experimental Investigation into the Radar Anomalies on the Surface of Venus

Radar mapping of thc surface of Venus shows areas of high reflectivity (low emissivity) in the Venusian highlands at altitudes between 2.5-4.75 kilometers. The origin of the radar anomalies found in the Venusian highlands remains unclear. Most explanations of the potential causes for these radar anomalies come from theoretical work. Previous studies suggest increased surface roughness or materials with higher dielectric constants as well as surface atmospheric interactions. Several possible candidates of high-dielectric materials are tellurium) ferroelectric materials, and lead or bismuth sulfides. While previous studies have been influential in determining possible sources for the Venus anomalies, only a very few hypotheses have been verified via experimentation. This work intends to experimentally constrain the source of the radar anomalies on Venus. This study proposes to investigate four possible materials that could potentially cause the high reflectivities on the surface of Venus and tests their behavior under simulated Venusian conditions

An Analysis of the Status of Undergraduate Transportation Management Education in the United States

This paper examines 170 of the non-engineering undergraduate degrees in the fields of supply chain management, logistics, and transportation, including joint majors, present within universities in the United States. The curriculum for each degree was evaluated to determine the extent to which the students were taught transportation and related courses. Each university’s website was also examined to catalog additional best practices in education, such as required internships, used to support teaching transportation outside of formal classroom instruction

Use of phosphorus fertiliser for increased productivity of legume-based sown pastures in the Brigalow Belt region – a review

The Brigalow Belt bioregion of southern and central Queensland supports a large percentage of northern Australia's sown pastures and beef herd. The Brigalow soils were widely thought to have adequate phosphorus (P) for cropping, sown pastures and grazing animals, which has led to almost no use of P fertiliser on sown pastures. The majority of pastures established in the region were sown with tropical grasses only (i.e. no legumes were sown). Under grass-only pastures, nitrogen (N) mineralisation rates decline with time since establishment as N is 'tied-up' in soil organic matter. This process leads to a significant decline in pasture and animal productivity and is commonly called 'pasture rundown'. Incorporating pasture legumes has been identified as the best long-term solution to improve the productivity of rundown sown grass pastures. Pasture legumes require adequate P to grow well and fix large amounts of N to increase the productivity of rundown sown grass pastures. Producers and farm advisors have traditionally thought that P fertiliser is not cost-effective for legume-based improved pastures growing on inland areas of Queensland despite there being little, if any, data on production responses or their economic outcomes. Recent studies show large and increasing areas of low plant available soil P and large responses by pasture legumes to P fertiliser on Brigalow soils. The economic analysis in this scoping study indicates potential returns of 9–15% on extra funds invested from the application of P fertiliser, when establishing legumes into grass pastures on low P soils (i.e. lower than the critical P requirement of the legume grown). Higher returns of 12–24% may be possible when adding P fertiliser to already established grass/legume pastures on such soils. As these results suggest potential for significant returns from applying P fertiliser on legume pastures, it is recommended that research be conducted to better quantify the impacts of P fertiliser on productivity and profit. Research priorities include: quantifying the animal production and economic impact of fertilising legume-based pastures in the sub-tropics for currently used legumes; quantifying the comparative P requirements and responses of available legume varieties; understanding clay soil responses to applied P fertiliser; testing the P status of herds grazing in the Brigalow Belt; and quantifying the extent of other nutrient deficiencies (e.g. sulphur and potassium) for legume based pastures. Development and extension activities are required to demonstrate the commercial impacts of applying P fertiliser to legume based pastures

Use of phosphorus fertiliser for increased productivity of legume-based sown pastures in the Brigalow Belt region – a review

The Brigalow Belt bioregion of southern and central Queensland supports a large percentage of northern Australia's sown pastures and beef herd. The Brigalow soils were widely thought to have adequate phosphorus (P) for cropping, sown pastures and grazing animals, which has led to almost no use of P fertiliser on sown pastures. The majority of pastures established in the region were sown with tropical grasses only (i.e. no legumes were sown). Under grass-only pastures, nitrogen (N) mineralisation rates decline with time since establishment as N is 'tied-up' in soil organic matter. This process leads to a significant decline in pasture and animal productivity and is commonly called 'pasture rundown'. Incorporating pasture legumes has been identified as the best long-term solution to improve the productivity of rundown sown grass pastures. Pasture legumes require adequate P to grow well and fix large amounts of N to increase the productivity of rundown sown grass pastures. Producers and farm advisors have traditionally thought that P fertiliser is not cost-effective for legume-based improved pastures growing on inland areas of Queensland despite there being little, if any, data on production responses or their economic outcomes. Recent studies show large and increasing areas of low plant available soil P and large responses by pasture legumes to P fertiliser on Brigalow soils. The economic analysis in this scoping study indicates potential returns of 9–15% on extra funds invested from the application of P fertiliser, when establishing legumes into grass pastures on low P soils (i.e. lower than the critical P requirement of the legume grown). Higher returns of 12–24% may be possible when adding P fertiliser to already established grass/legume pastures on such soils. As these results suggest potential for significant returns from applying P fertiliser on legume pastures, it is recommended that research be conducted to better quantify the impacts of P fertiliser on productivity and profit. Research priorities include: quantifying the animal production and economic impact of fertilising legume-based pastures in the sub-tropics for currently used legumes; quantifying the comparative P requirements and responses of available legume varieties; understanding clay soil responses to applied P fertiliser; testing the P status of herds grazing in the Brigalow Belt; and quantifying the extent of other nutrient deficiencies (e.g. sulphur and potassium) for legume based pastures. Development and extension activities are required to demonstrate the commercial impacts of applying P fertiliser to legume based pastures