Proctored Versus Unproctored Online Exams: Studying the Impact of Exam Environment on Student Performance

Increasing numbers of universities are offering courses in online and hybrid formats. One challenge in online assessment is the maintenance of academic integrity. We present a thorough statistical analysis to uncover differences in student performance when online exams are administered in a proctored environment (i.e., in class) versus an unproctored environment (i.e., offsite). Controlling for student grade point average (GPA), no significant differences in mean overall course performance or exam performance between the two groups were found, nor were there any differences in the mean vectors of individual exam scores. The study reveals that the group taking online exams in the unproctored environment has significantly more variation in their performance results. In examining potential causes of the greater variation, analyses were performed to assess whether an increased level of possible cheating behavior could be observed from performance results for students in the unproctored section. No evidence of cheating behavior was found

Using Van Valens Procedure In Business Research To Assess Consistent Differences In Multidimensional Variability In Two Or More Groups

Much business research involves comparisons in two or more groups on many dimensions.  This paper primarily focuses on demonstrating and providing guidance as to how researchers should approach a multivariate analysis in the comparison of sets of corresponding characteristics in two or more independent groups.  In particular, this paper demonstrates the utility of a simple but not widely known procedure developed by Van Valen (1978) that should be employed to test for the significance of differences in overall variability in the sets of corresponding characteristics in two or more groups, a test that enjoys much statistical power in detecting significant subtle group differences when the set of characteristics in one group consistently demonstrates greater variability than the corresponding set of characteristics in the other group(s).

Using Van Valens Procedure In Business Research To Assess Consistent Differences In Multidimensional Variability In Two Or More Groups

Much business research involves comparisons in two or more groups on many dimensions. This paper primarily focuses on demonstrating and providing guidance as to how researchers should approach a multivariate analysis in the comparison of sets of corresponding characteristics in two or more independent groups. In particular, this paper demonstrates the utility of a simple but not widely known procedure developed by Van Valen (1978) that should be employed to test for the significance of differences in overall variability in the sets of corresponding characteristics in two or more groups, a test that enjoys much statistical power in detecting significant subtle group differences when the set of characteristics in one group consistently demonstrates greater variability than the corresponding set of characteristics in the other group(s)

The Russian Federation’s International Development Assistance Programme: A State of the Debate Report

Russia is unique among emerging donors for being a ‘re-emerging’ donor: the Soviet Union was one of the largest donor countries in the world, and Russia’s period as an aid recipient was relatively brief. Russian development cooperation is driven by key security and economic priorities, as well as resulting from commitments made to multilateral organisations. Russian official development assistance, according to official government sources, increased fivefold in the period 2004–11. Given a series of Russian presidencies in major international institutions, starting with the G20 in 2013, Russia is both interested in and well positioned to take new international initiatives through which it can promote its national priorities in the global agenda. This report discusses Russia’s growing role as a ‘re-emerging’ development cooperation partner, its increasing leadership in multilateral initiatives and the changing domestic policy landscape in Russia. It is unlikely that the global development cooperation agenda can be defined without strong participation by Russia, both as an individual actor and as a member of the G8, G20 and BRICS. It is therefore crucial for established donor countries to develop a clear understanding of Russian priorities.UK Department for International Developmen

Learning the Dynamics of Compliant Tool-Environment Interaction for Visuo-Tactile Contact Servoing

Many manipulation tasks require the robot to control the contact between a grasped compliant tool and the environment, e.g. scraping a frying pan with a spatula. However, modeling tool-environment interaction is difficult, especially when the tool is compliant, and the robot cannot be expected to have the full geometry and physical properties (e.g., mass, stiffness, and friction) of all the tools it must use. We propose a framework that learns to predict the effects of a robot's actions on the contact between the tool and the environment given visuo-tactile perception. Key to our framework is a novel contact feature representation that consists of a binary contact value, the line of contact, and an end-effector wrench. We propose a method to learn the dynamics of these contact features from real world data that does not require predicting the geometry of the compliant tool. We then propose a controller that uses this dynamics model for visuo-tactile contact servoing and show that it is effective at performing scraping tasks with a spatula, even in scenarios where precise contact needs to be made to avoid obstacles.Comment: 6th Conference on Robotic Learning (CoRL 2022), Auckland, New Zealand. 8 pages + references + appendi

Associations Between Screen-Based Sedentary Behavior and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Korean Youth

The purposes of this study were to: 1) describe the patterns of screen-based sedentary behaviors, and 2) examine the association between screen-based sedentary behavior and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in representative Korean children and adolescents, aged 12 to 18 yr, in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Screen-based sedentary behavior was measured using self-report questionnaires that included items for time spent watching TV and playing PC/video games. Physical activity was measured using items for frequency and duration of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). CVD risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure were measured. Boys spent more time playing PC/video games, and girls spent more time watching TV. After adjusting for age, gender, annual household income, and MVPA, an additional hour of watching TV was significantly associated with the risk of overweight (OR 1.17 [95% CI 1.03-1.33]), high abdominal adiposity (OR 1.27 [1.06-1.51]), and low HDL cholesterol (OR 1.27 [1.10-1.47]). An additional hour spent playing PC/video games also increased the risk of high abdominal adiposity (OR 1.20 [1.03-1.40]). Prospective observations and interventions are needed to determine causal relationships between screen-based sedentary behavior and CVD risk profiles in Korean youth

Bisphosphonate nephrotoxicity

Bisphosphonates are valuable agents for the treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis (PMO), hypercalcemia of malignancy, and osteolytic bone metastases. Oral bisphosphonates are used mainly to treat PMO and are not associated with significant nephrotoxicity. In contrast, nephrotoxicity is a significant potential limiting factor to the use of intravenous (IV) bisphosphonates, and the nephrotoxicity is both dose-dependent and infusion time-dependent. The two main IV bisphosphonates available to treat hypercalcemia of malignancy and osteolytic bone disease in the United States are zoledronate and pamidronate. Patterns of nephrotoxicity described with these agents include toxic acute tubular necrosis and collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, respectively. With both of these agents, severe nephrotoxicity can be largely avoided by stringent adherence to guidelines for monitoring serum creatinine prior to each treatment, temporarily withholding therapy in the setting of renal insufficiency, and adjusting doses in patients with pre-existing chronic kidney disease. In patients with PMO, zoledronate and pamidronate are associated with significantly less nephrotoxicity, which undoubtedly relates to the lower doses and longer dosing intervals employed for this indication. Ibandronate is approved in the US for treatment of PMO and in Europe for treatment of PMO and malignancy-associated bone disease. Available data suggest that ibandronate has a safe renal profile without evidence of nephrotoxicity, even in patients with abnormal baseline kidney function

Implantable or External Defibrillators for Individuals at Increased Risk of Cardiac Arrest: Where Cost-Effectiveness Hits Fiscal Reality

Objcetives:  Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are highly effective at preventing cardiac arrest, but their availability is limited by high cost. Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are likely to be less effective, but also less expensive. We used decision analysis to evaluate the clinical and economic trade-offs of AEDs, ICDs, and emergency medical services equipped with defibrillators (EMS-D) for reducing cardiac arrest mortality. Methods:  A Markov model was developed to compare the cost-effectiveness of three strategies in adults meeting entry criteria for the MADIT II Trial: strategy 1, individuals experiencing cardiac arrest are treated by EMS-D; strategy 2, individuals experiencing cardiac arrest are treated with an in-home AED; and strategy 3, individuals receive a prophylactic ICD. The model was then used to quantify the aggregate societal benefit of these three strategies under the conditions of a constrained federal budget. Results:  Compared with EMS-D, in-home AEDs produced a gain of 0.05 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) at an incremental cost of $5225 ($104,500 per QALY), while ICDs produced a gain of 0.90 QALYs at a cost of $114,660 ($127,400 per QALY). For every $1 million spent on defibrillators, 1.7 additional QALYs are produced by purchasing AEDs (9.6 QALYs/$million) instead of ICDs (7.9 QALYs/$million). Results were most sensitive to defibrillator complication rates and effectiveness, defibrillator cost, and adults’ risk of cardiac arrest. Conclusions:  Both AEDs and ICDs reduce cardiac arrest mortality, but AEDs are significantly less expensive and less effective. If financial constraints were to lead to rationing of defibrillators, it might be preferable to provide more people with a less effective and less expensive intervention (in-home AEDs) instead of providing fewer people with a more effective and more costly intervention (ICDs).Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74790/1/j.1524-4733.2006.00118.x.pd

Augmenting Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation to Improve Outcomes in Myeloma

Consolidation with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is the standard of care for transplantation-eligible patients with multiple myeloma, based on randomized trials showing improved progression-free survival with autologous transplantation after combination chemotherapy induction. These trials were performed before novel agents were introduced; subsequently, combinations of immunomodulatory drugs and proteasome inhibitors as induction therapy have significantly improved rates and depth of response. Ongoing randomized trials are testing whether conventional autologous transplantation continues to improve responses after novel agent induction. Although these results are awaited, it is important to review strategies for improving outcomes after ASCT. Conditioning before ASCT with higher doses of melphalan and combinations of melphalan with other agents, including radiopharmaceuticals, has been explored. Tandem ASCT, consolidation, and maintenance therapy after ASCT have been investigated in phase III trials. Experimental cellular therapies using ex vivo–primed dendritic cells, ex vivo–expanded autologous lymphocytes, Killer Immunoglobulin Receptor (KIR)-mismatched allogeneic natural killer cells, and genetically modified T cells to augment ASCT are also in phase I trials. This review summarizes these strategies and highlights the importance of exploring strategies to augment ASCT, even in the era of novel agent induction