Developing and Refining a Model for Measuring Implementation Fidelity for an Instructionally Embedded Assessment System

We developed a six-step iterative process for developing and evaluating a model of implementation fidelity appropriate for use in an instructionally embedded assessment system. Our work explicitly connects the literature on theories of actions for assessment systems with the implementation fidelity literature originating from the program evaluation field. The steps include (a) developing a logic model identifying critical and optional implementation components; (b) identifying process data and indicators from the assessment system to represent each component; (c) developing hypotheses about expected patterns in the indicators representing different levels of implementation fidelity and identifying criteria for defining implementation levels; (d) conducting analyses to test the hypotheses; (e) using the results to refine the indicators and criteria; and (f) evaluating strength of the evidence and identifying gaps. This process facilitates measuring action mechanisms and making and testing hypotheses about how critical implementation components are related to intended outcomes of an assessment. Studying implementation fidelity for assessment systems can help us better understand how teachers use assessment results and where additional support may be needed. This work can also help evaluate the extent to which instructionally embedded or formative assessments are implemented as intended and that all students are provided with sufficient opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned

Reversible control of the electronic density of states at the Fermi level of Ca3Co4O9+δ misfit-layered oxide single crystals through O+/H+ plasma exposure

Misfit-layered Ca3Co4O9 crystals were grown and characterized via XRD, SEM, and photo-emission spectroscopy (PES). The evolution of the intensity at the Fermi level (E F) with varying oxygen content was studied by PES. Oxygen species were successfully introduced and removed through O+ and H+ microwave-plasma (2.45GHz, 2-5mbar) treatments, respectively. A 5min O+ plasma exposure was observed to result into a drastic enhancement in the E F intensity, demonstrating the influence of oxygen content to the charge carrier population in layered cobalt-oxide material

Low schoolwork engagement and schoolwork difficulties predict smoking in adolescence?

Low academic achievement has been associated with smoking but factors behind this association are poorly known. Such factors could include schoolwork disengagement and schoolwork difficulties. To assess the extent to which they contribute to the explanation of how health inequalities emerge, we study in a longitudinal design whether these have an independent effect on smoking or whether their effect is mediated through academic achievement. Longitudinal data were collected in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland in 2011 and 2014. Participants were seventh-graders (12 13 years, N=9497). In the follow-up, 6534 students reported their smoking status in the ninth grade (15 16 years). Smoking, schoolwork behavioural engagement, i.e. participation in academic activities, and disengagement, schoolwork difficulties and cognitive competence were self-reported by adolescents. Academic achievement was obtained from the Finnish national application register on upper secondary education. A mediation analysis was executed with bootstrapped confidence intervals. Higher schoolwork behavioural engagement and cognitive competence in the seventh grade predicted that adolescents were more likely not to smoke in the ninth grade (all P <0.001) while higher schoolwork disengagement and schoolwork difficulties predicted adolescents smoking (all P <0.001). The effects were mediated through academic achievement. Students behavioural disengagement with schoolwork and schoolwork difficulties are risks for smoking initiation. Their effect is mediated through poor school achievement. As smoking often continues in adulthood and poor school performance typically leads to lower education, schoolwork disengagement and difficulties in adolescence constitute potential pathways to inequalities in health.Peer reviewe

Water and nitrogen processes along a typical water flowpath and streamwater exports from a forested catchment and changes after clear-cutting: a modelling study

International audienceA two dimensional model, FEMMA, to describe water and nitrogen (N) fluxes within and from a forested first-order catchment (Kangasvaara in Eastern Finland) was constructed by linking the most significant processes affecting the fluxes of water, ammonium, nitrate and dissolved organic nitrogen along a hillslope from the water divide to the stream. The hillslope represents the average flowpath of water in the catchment and the model was used to estimate the N fluxes for a catchment in eastern Finland before and after clear-cutting. The simulated results were in reasonable agreement with the nitrate, dissolved organic N and dissolved total N measurements from the study catchment and with other results in the literature. According to the simulations, the major sinks of N after clear-cutting were immobilisation by soil microbes, uptake by ground vegetation and sorption to soil. These sinks increased downslope from the clear-cut area, indicating the importance of an uncut buffer zone between the stream and the clear-cut area in reducing N exports. The buffer zone retained 76% of the N flux coming from the clear-cut area. Nitrification was a key process in controlling the N export after clear-cutting and N increases were mainly as nitrate. Most of the annual N export took place during the spring flood, when uptake of N by plants was minimal

The menopause transition and women\u27s health at midlife: a progress report from the Study of Women\u27s Health Across the Nation (SWAN)

OBJECTIVE: Our initial understanding of the menopause transition (MT) has been framed by clinical samples of women seeking treatment rather than by population-based studies. The Study of Women\u27s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) initiated in 1996 with an overall goal to define the MT, to characterize its biological and psychosocial antecedents and sequelae in an ethnically and racially diverse sample of midlife women. METHODS: This review summarizes the central findings of SWAN to date that can inform women and their healthcare providers about the impact of the MT and midlife aging on overall health and well-being. RESULTS: SWAN characterized changes in reproductive axis and menstrual cycle patterns that informed the development of the reproductive aging staging system Staging of Reproductive Aging Workshop+10; MT-related symptoms and mental health (vasomotor symptoms, sleep complaints, psychological symptoms, cognitive performance, and urogenital and sexual health); and physiological systems and functions (cardiovascular and cardiometabolic health, bone health, physical function performance) that are influenced by the MT. SWAN demonstrated substantial interrelations among these changes and significant racial/ethnic differences in the rate and magnitude of change in multiple health indictors in midlife women. The findings point to midlife as a critical stage for adopting healthy behavior and preventive strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Over the past 23 years, SWAN has advanced our understanding of the impact of the MT and midlife aging on health and well-being in women. SWAN will be instrumental to determine whether MT-related changes during midlife are related to unfavorable health and well-being in early old age

Etätyön vaikutukset työhyvinvointiin

Tiivistelmä. Tämän tutkielman tavoitteena on tarkastella etätyön ja työhyvinvoinnin välistä suhdetta sekä selvittää, miten etätyö vaikuttaa työhyvinvointiin. Tarkastelu tapahtuu yksilön eli työntekijän näkökulmasta. Tutkielman tavoitteena on koota yhteen työhyvinvoinnin osa-alueita ja pohtia niitä etätyön näkökulmasta. Tutkielmassa nostetaan esille sekä etätyön positiivisia että negatiivisia vaikutuksia työhyvinvointiin. Työhyvinvointi on laajasti yhteiskuntaa puhuttava aihe ja koronapandemian myötä räjähdysmäisesti lisääntynyt etätyö on nostanut työhyvinvoinnin ja etätyön välisen tarkastelun hyvin ajankohtaiseksi. Hyvinvointi, työhyvinvointi ja etätyö ovat tämän tutkielman pääkäsitteitä, joita avataan tutkielmassa tarkemmin. Tutkimusmenetelmänä on käytetty kuvailevaa kirjallisuuskatsausta, sillä tutkielman tekemisessä on hyödynnetty useita eri lähteitä monipuolisesti. Etätyötä ja työhyvinvointia käsitteleviä aineistoja on olemassa siinä määrin, että niiden perusteella on mahdollista tarjota kattava vastaus tutkielmassa esitettyyn tutkimuskysymykseen. Tutkielman tekemisessä on hyödynnetty aihetta käsittelevää kirjallisuutta. Lähteinä on käytetty sekä suomalaisia että kansainvälisiä aineistoja, mutta pääosin käytetyt lähteet ovat suomalaisia. Tulosten mukaan etätyöllä on niin positiivisia kuin negatiivisiakin vaikutuksia työhyvinvointiin. Kirjallisuuden monipuolisen tarkastelun perusteella voidaan todeta, että työntekijän näkökulmasta tarkasteltuna etätyö tuo mukanaan useita hyötyjä, joista osa vaikuttaa positiivisesti myös työntekijän työhyvinvointiin. Esimerkkinä etätyön positiivisista vaikutuksista on työn aikaan ja paikkaan sitoutumattomuus, mikä lisää työntekijöiden mahdollisuuksia valita työaika oman vireystilan mukaan. Työntekijän mahdollisuus vaikuttaa työaikaan on yhteydessä myös työhyvinvoinnin kokemukseen, sillä hyvä vireystila vahvistaa työhyvinvointia. Hyötyjen lisäksi etätyöhön liittyy myös haittoja, joista osa vaikuttaa negatiivisesti myös työntekijän työhyvinvointiin. Esimerkkinä etätyön negatiivisista vaikutuksista on kasvanut vastuun määrä. Liian suuri vastuu kuormittaa työntekijää ja jatkuva liiallinen kuormitus vähentää työhyvinvointia

Participative Facility Planning for Obstetrical and Neonatal Care Processes: Beginning of Life Process

Introduction. Old hospitals may promote inefficient patient care processes and safety. A new, functionally planned hospital presents a chance to create an environment that supports streamlined, patient-centered healthcare processes and adapts to users' needs. This study depicts the phases of a facility planning project for pregnant women and newborn care processes (beginning of life process) at Turku University Hospital. Materials and Methods. Project design reports and meeting documents were utilized to assess the beginning of life process as well as the work processes of the Women's and Children's Hospital. Results. The main elements of the facility design (FD) project included rigorous preparation for the FD phase, functional planning throughout the FD process, and setting key values: (1) family-centered care, (2) Lean thinking and Lean tools as the framework for the FD process, (3) safety, and (4) cooperation. Conclusions. A well-prepared FD project with sufficient insight into functional planning, Lean thinking, and user-centricity seemed to facilitate the actual FD process. Although challenges occurred, the key values were not forgone and were successfully incorporated into the new hospital building

Green areas around homes reduce atopic sensitization in children

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Life-history genotype explains variation in migration activity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

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