Effects of temporary mark withholding on academic performance

The authors would further acknowledge that part of this research was supported by the Proctor's Teaching Development Fund at the University of St Andrews, UK.Although feedback engagement is important for learning, students often do not engage with provided feedback to inform future assignments. One factor for low feedback uptake is the easy access to grades. Thus, systematically delaying the grade release in favor of providing feedback first—temporary mark withholding—may increase students’ engagement with feedback. We tested the hypothesis that temporary mark withholding would have positive effects on (a) future academic performance (Experiments 1 and 2) and (b) feedback engagement (Experiment 2) in authentic psychology university settings. For Experiment 1, 116 Year 2 students were randomly assigned to either a Grade-before-feedback or Feedback-before-grade condition for their report in semester 1 and performance was measured on a similar assessment in semester 2. In Experiment 2, a Year 3 student cohort (t) was provided with feedback on their lab report before marks were released in semester 1 (mark withholding group, N = 97) and compared to the previous Year 3 cohort (t-1) where individual feedback and grades were released simultaneously (historical control group, N = 90). Using this multi-methodological approach, we reveal positive effects of temporary mark withholding on future academic performance and students’ feedback engagement in authentic higher education settings. Practical implications are discussed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Portable Flux Tower Deployments Field Campaign Report

Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations...................................................................... iii 1.0 Summary ....................................................... 1 2.0 Results ........................................... 1 3.0 Publications and References ................................................. 2 4.0 Lessons Learned ....................................................................

Acute responsivity of the serotonergic system to S-citalopram and positive emotionality : the moderating role of the 5-HTTLPR

According to the idea that the central serotonergic system has a modulatory function on behavior and personality in general, we aimed to highlight its association to habitual positive emotionality. In a placebo-controlled double-blind and randomized cross-over neuroendocrine challenge design (n = 72 healthy males) we investigated the association of the central serotonergic responsivity, 5-HTTLPR-genotype as well as their combined effects on positive emotionality. Regression analyses revealed an involvement of the serotonergic system in positive emotionality. There was, however, no direct association between positive emotionality and cortisol responses to S-citalopram; rather 5-HTTLPR-genotype showed an association (p < 0.05). That is, positive emotionality scores increased with the number of s-alleles carried by the individuals. Most notable was the moderating role of 5-HTTLPR-genotype (p < 0.05) on the association between acute serotonergic responsivity and positive emotionality. Indeed, this association was only found in ss-homozygotes, in which the acute responsivity of the serotonergic system additionally seems to contribute to the level of positive emotionality (r = 0.70, p < 0.05). The findings correspond to previous research demonstrating that the 5-HTTLPR is not only involved in the negative-emotional aspects of behavior and temperament, but is associated, moreover, with positive affectivity—supporting the assumption of its valence-neutrality. In addition, our data are in line with the idea of possible influences of the 5-HTTLPR-genotype on early neuronal development. They also indicate the need for further studies in order to clearly elucidate the role of the serotonergic system and its subcomponents in the regulation of positive emotionality

Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering Studies of Elementary Excitations

In the past decade, Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) has made remarkable progress as a spectroscopic technique. This is a direct result of the availability of high-brilliance synchrotron X-ray radiation sources and of advanced photon detection instrumentation. The technique's unique capability to probe elementary excitations in complex materials by measuring their energy-, momentum-, and polarization-dependence has brought RIXS to the forefront of experimental photon science. We review both the experimental and theoretical RIXS investigations of the past decade, focusing on those determining the low-energy charge, spin, orbital and lattice excitations of solids. We present the fundamentals of RIXS as an experimental method and then review the theoretical state of affairs, its recent developments and discuss the different (approximate) methods to compute the dynamical RIXS response. The last decade's body of experimental RIXS data and its interpretation is surveyed, with an emphasis on RIXS studies of correlated electron systems, especially transition metal compounds. Finally, we discuss the promise that RIXS holds for the near future, particularly in view of the advent of x-ray laser photon sources.Comment: Review, 67 pages, 44 figure

Morphological, genotypic and metabolomic signatures confirm interfamilial hybridization between the ubiquitous kelps Macrocystis (Arthrothamnaceae) and Lessonia (Lessoniaceae)

We thank the support from G. Millne (UoA), M. Rateb (UoA) and D. Zagal (UACh) in the histological preparations, mass spectrometry set-up and the cultivation of the hybrid progeny, respectively. PM and LM developed part of this work with BecasChile (Fondecyt) funding, specifically grants No. 72130422 (PM) and No. 73140389 (LM). We would like to acknowledge the British Council Newton Fund Institutional Links, project No. 261781172 for funding SS a postdoctoral research fellow. We are also grateful to the UK Natural Environment Research Council for their support to FCK (program Oceans 2025–WP 4.5 and grants NE/D521522/1 and NE/ J023094/1). This work also received support from the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland pooling initiative. MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011) and contributing institutions. RW thanks financial support from Gobierno Regional de Los Lagos (grants FIC 2012 E7259-2 and FIC 2013 BIP30234872-0) and Fondef, Conicyt (HUAM AQ12I0010), which allows the sampling expeditions at Chiloe Island by PM, LM, DJP.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Imaging Molecular Structure through Femtosecond Photoelectron Diffraction on Aligned and Oriented Gas-Phase Molecules

This paper gives an account of our progress towards performing femtosecond time-resolved photoelectron diffraction on gas-phase molecules in a pump-probe setup combining optical lasers and an X-ray Free-Electron Laser. We present results of two experiments aimed at measuring photoelectron angular distributions of laser-aligned 1-ethynyl-4-fluorobenzene (C8H5F) and dissociating, laseraligned 1,4-dibromobenzene (C6H4Br2) molecules and discuss them in the larger context of photoelectron diffraction on gas-phase molecules. We also show how the strong nanosecond laser pulse used for adiabatically laser-aligning the molecules influences the measured electron and ion spectra and angular distributions, and discuss how this may affect the outcome of future time-resolved photoelectron diffraction experiments.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Faraday Discussions 17

Using Electronic Technology to Improve Clinical Care -- Results from a Before-after Cluster Trial to Evaluate Assessment and Classification of Sick Children According to Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) Protocol in Tanzania.

Poor adherence to the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) protocol reduces the potential impact on under-five morbidity and mortality. Electronic technology could improve adherence; however there are few studies demonstrating the benefits of such technology in a resource-poor settings. This study estimates the impact of electronic technology on adherence to the IMCI protocols as compared to the current paper-based protocols in Tanzania. In four districts in Tanzania, 18 clinics were randomly selected for inclusion. At each site, observers documented critical parts of the clinical assessment of children aged 2 months to 5 years. The first set of observations occurred during examination of children using paper-based IMCI (pIMCI) and the next set of observations occurred during examination using the electronic IMCI (eIMCI). Children were re-examined by an IMCI expert and the diagnoses were compared. A total of 1221 children (671 paper, 550 electronic) were observed. For all ten critical IMCI items included in both systems, adherence to the protocol was greater for eIMCI than for pIMCI. The proportion assessed under pIMCI ranged from 61% to 98% compared to 92% to 100% under eIMCI (p < 0.05 for each of the ten assessment items). Use of electronic systems improved the completeness of assessment of children with acute illness in Tanzania. With the before-after nature of the design, potential for temporal confounding is the primary limitation. However, the data collection for both phases occurred over a short period (one month) and so temporal confounding was expected to be minimal. The results suggest that the use of electronic IMCI protocols can improve the completeness and consistency of clinical assessments and future studies will examine the long-term health and health systems impact of eIMCI

Transfer: a review for biology and the life sciences

Transfer of knowledge from one context to another is one of the paramount goals of education. Educators want their students to transfer what they are learning from one topic to the next, between courses, and into the “real world.” However, it is also notoriously difficult to get students to successfully transfer concepts. This issue is of particular concern in biology and the life sciences, for which transfer of concepts between disciplines is especially critical to understanding. Students not only struggle to transfer concepts like energy from chemistry to biology but also struggle to transfer concepts like chromosome structures in cell division within biology courses. This paper reviews the current research and understanding of transfer from cognitive psychology. We discuss how learner abilities, taught material, and lesson characteristics affect transfer and provide best practices for biology and life sciences education

Ferromagnetism and suppression of metallic clusters in Fe implanted ZnO - a phenomenon related to defects?

We investigated ZnO(0001) single crystals annealed in high vacuum with respect to their magnetic properties and cluster formation tendency after implant-doping with Fe. While metallic Fe cluster formation is suppressed, no evidence for the relevance of the Fe magnetic moment for the observed ferromagnetism was found. The latter along with the cluster suppression is discussed with respect to defects in the ZnO host matrix, since the crystalline quality of the substrates was lowered due to the preparation as observed by x-ray diffraction.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Electrical resistivity, magnetism and electronic structure of the intermetallic 3d/4f Laves phase compounds ErNi2Mnx

The non-stoichiometric intermetallic compounds RENi2Mnx (RE = rare earth) with the cubic MgCu2-type structure display a large variety of magnetic properties which is due to a complex interplay between the degrees of freedom of the 3d and 4f electrons and their interactions. We performed a comprehensive study of the electrical resistivity, magnetic properties and the electronic structure of ErNi2Mnx (x =0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25) compounds by employing a suitable set of complementary experimental approaches. We find an increase in electrical resistance compared to ErNi2 upon Mn doping, the residual resistivity ratio decreases with increasing manganese content. The Curie temperature exhibits a sharp increase to around 50 K for Mn concentrations x 0.5, whereas the saturation magnetization decreases with growing Mn content x 0.5. Valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals an increasing intensity of Mn 3d states near Fermi energy in dependence of Mn concentration and Curie temperature. Resonant photoelectron spectroscopy of ErNi2Mn0.75 reveals that the photoemission decay channels dominate the valence band spectra across the Er N5 and Mn L3 X-ray absorption maxima, whereas the L3VV Auger dictates the resonant valence band spectra close to and at the Ni L3 X-ray absorption edge