Developing an Instrument to Observe and Evaluate Assessment System Maturity

Maturity models fill the need for a measure of overall growth in how outcomes assessment is defined and how feedback informs improvement to meet internal and external expectations at individual institutions of higher education. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted to develop an instrument, the Assessment System Maturity Matrix (ASMM), to observe and evaluate outcomes assessment system maturity. Research procedures included conducting a literature review and comparing business, software, and limited education maturity models; administering self-reported questionnaires to higher education outcomes assessment professionals; and piloting the instrument. Data collection results provided the ideal criteria for the ASMM design and content and led to ASMM development and refinement. Some deviation from the established maturity order sequence of plan, build, implement, and evaluate was noted. The ASMM can enable diverse institutions of higher education to focus on current assessment practice maturity efficiently to determine subsequent actions to improve outcomes assessment performance. Further research is required to explore the awareness and development of outcomes assessment system maturity awareness among the various types of institutions within the higher education community

Priming Immunization with DNA Augments Immunogenicity of Recombinant Adenoviral Vectors for Both HIV-1 Specific Antibody and T-Cell Responses

Induction of HIV-1-specific T-cell responses relevant to diverse subtypes is a major goal of HIV vaccine development. Prime-boost regimens using heterologous gene-based vaccine vectors have induced potent, polyfunctional T cell responses in preclinical studies.The first opportunity to evaluate the immunogenicity of DNA priming followed by recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5) boosting was as open-label rollover trials in subjects who had been enrolled in prior studies of HIV-1 specific DNA vaccines. All subjects underwent apheresis before and after rAd5 boosting to characterize in depth the T cell and antibody response induced by the heterologous DNA/rAd5 prime-boost combination.rAd5 boosting was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events. Compared to DNA or rAd5 vaccine alone, sequential DNA/rAd5 administration induced 7-fold higher magnitude Env-biased HIV-1-specific CD8(+) T-cell responses and 100-fold greater antibody titers measured by ELISA. There was no significant neutralizing antibody activity against primary isolates. Vaccine-elicited CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cells expressed multiple functions and were predominantly long-term (CD127(+)) central or effector memory T cells and that persisted in blood for >6 months. Epitopes mapped in Gag and Env demonstrated partial cross-clade recognition.Heterologous prime-boost using vector-based gene delivery of vaccine antigens is a potent immunization strategy for inducing both antibody and T-cell responses.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00102089, NCT00108654

Future directions in international financial integration research. A crowdsourced perspective

This paper is the result of a crowdsourced effort to surface perspectives on the present and future direction of international finance. The authors are researchers in financial economics who attended the INFINITI 2017 conference in the University of Valencia in June 2017 and who participated in the crowdsourcing via the Overleaf platform. This paper highlights the actual state of scientific knowledge in a multitude of fields in finance and proposes different directions for future research

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Achieving Excellence in Data Visualization

Assessment, like most other areas of the education field, has experienced a dramatic increase in the amount of data available for analysis. The data deluge and new demands from the public for educational accountability have required educational assessment professionals to examine new ways to present assessment data and analysis. Technological advancements over the past few decades have revolutionized the way we gather, analyze, and present data. Access to data, analytic tools, and graphic software are available to almost anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Unfortunately, access does not always equal excellence. The new wealth of data and analysis represents both promises and problems for the educational assessment community. Assessment professionals are faced with the conundrum of having more data to communicate; however, they must present it in a manner that informs rather than overwhelms the stakeholders. Visualization offers one possible solution for presenting data in an understandable format and new technological tools have simplified the task of producing visual representations of data

Achieving Excellence in Data Visualization

Assessment, like most other areas of the education field, has experienced a dramatic increase in the amount of data available for analysis. The data deluge and new demands from the public for educational accountability have required educational assessment professionals to examine new ways to present assessment data and analysis. Technological advancements over the past few decades have revolutionized the way we gather, analyze, and present data. Access to data, analytic tools, and graphic software are available to almost anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Unfortunately, access does not always equal excellence. The new wealth of data and analysis represents both promises and problems for the educational assessment community. Assessment professionals are faced with the conundrum of having more data to communicate; however, they must present it in a manner that informs rather than overwhelms the stakeholders. Visualization offers one possible solution for presenting data in an understandable format and new technological tools have simplified the task of producing visual representations of data