The Making Assessment Count (MAC) consortium- maximising assessment and feedback design by working together

The Making Assessment Count (MAC) project started at the University of Westminster in 2008. It sought to align staff and student expectations of feedback and support greater use of feed-forward approaches. A baseline analysis of staff views in the School of Life Sciences suggested that students did not make strategic use of the feedback they received. A similar analysis of the student position revealed that as a group they felt that the feedback provided to them was often insufficiently helpful. To address this dichotomy, a MAC process was developed in the School of Life Sciences and trialled with a cohort of about 350 first year undergraduate students. The process was based on a student-centred, three-stage model of feedback: Subject specific, Operational, and Strategic (SOS model). The student uses the subject tutor’s feedback on an assignment to complete an online self-review questionnaire delivered by a simple tool. The student answers are processed by a web application called e-Reflect to generate a further feedback report. Contained within this report are personalised graphical representations of performance, time management, satisfaction and other operational feedback designed to help the student reflect on their approach to preparation and completion of future work. The student then writes in an online learning journal, which is shared with their personal tutor to support the personal tutorial process and the student’s own development plan (PDP). Since the initial development and implementation of the MAC process within Life Sciences at Westminster, a consortium of universities has worked together to maximise the benefits of the project outcomes and collaboratively explore how the SOS model and e-Reflect can be exploited in different institutional and subject contexts. This paper presents and discusses an evaluation of the use of the MAC process within Life Sciences at Westminster from both staff and student perspective. In addition, the paper will show how the consortium is working to develop a number of scenarios for utilisation of the process as a whole as well as the key individual process components, the SOS model and e-Reflec

s-Process Abundances in Planetary Nebulae

The s-process should occur in all but the lower mass progenitor stars of planetary nebulae, and this should be reflected in the chemical composition of the gas which is expelled to create the current planetary nebula shell. Weak forbidden emission lines are expected from several s-process elements in these shells, and have been searched for and in some cases detected in previous investigations. Here we extend these studies by combining very high signal-to-noise echelle spectra of a sample of PNe with a critical analysis of the identification of the emission lines of Z>30 ions. Emission lines of Br, Kr, Xe, Rb, Ba, and Pb are detected with a reasonable degree of certainty in at least some of the objects studied here, and we also tentatively identify lines from Te and I, each in one object. The strengths of these lines indicate enhancement of s-process elements in the central star progenitors, and we determine the abundances of Br, Kr, and Xe, elements for which atomic data relevant for abundance determination have recently become available. As representative elements of the ``light'' and ``heavy'' s-process peaks Kr and Xe exhibit similar enhancements over solar values, suggesting that PNe progenitors experience substantial neutron exposure.Comment: 56 Pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ This version corrects missing captions in Figure 1-3 and minor typo

Recent applications and potential of near-term (interannual to decadal) climate predictions

Following efforts from leading centres for climate forecasting, sustained routine operational near-term climate predictions (NTCP) are now produced that bridge the gap between seasonal forecasts and climate change projections offering the prospect of seamless climate services. Though NTCP is a new area of climate science and active research is taking place to increase understanding of the processes and mechanisms required to produce skillful predictions, this significant technical achievement combines advances in initialisation with ensemble prediction of future climate up to a decade ahead. With a growing NTCP database, the predictability of the evolving externally-forced and internally-generated components of the climate system can now be quantified. Decision-makers in key sectors of the economy can now begin to assess the utility of these products for informing climate risk and for planning adaptation and resilience strategies up to a decade into the future. Here, case studies are presented from finance and economics, water management, agriculture and fisheries management demonstrating the emerging utility and potential of operational NTCP to inform strategic planning across a broad range of applications in key sectors of the global economy

Intensivists’ beliefs about rapid multiplex molecular diagnostic testing and its potential role in improving prescribing decisions and antimicrobial stewardship: a qualitative study

Background Rapid molecular diagnostic tests to investigate the microbial aetiology of pneumonias may improve treatment and antimicrobial stewardship in intensive care units (ICUs). Clinicians’ endorsement and uptake of these tests is crucial to maximise engagement; however, adoption may be impeded if users harbour unaddressed concerns or if device usage is incompatible with local practice. Accordingly, we strove to identify ICU clinicians’ beliefs about molecular diagnostic tests for pneumonias before implementation at the point-of-care. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 35 critical care doctors working in four ICUs in the United Kingdom. A clinical vignette depicting a fictitious patient with signs of pneumonia was used to explore clinicians’ beliefs about the importance of molecular diagnostics and their concerns. Data were analysed thematically. Results Clinicians’ beliefs about molecular tests could be grouped into two categories: perceived potential of molecular diagnostics to improve antibiotic prescribing (Molecular Diagnostic Necessity) and concerns about how the test results could be implemented into practice (Molecular Diagnostic Concerns). Molecular Diagnostic Necessity stemmed from beliefs that positive results would facilitate targeted antimicrobial therapy; that negative results would signal the absence of a pathogen, and consequently that having the molecular diagnostic results would bolster clinicians’ prescribing confidence. Molecular Diagnostic Concerns included unfamiliarity with the device’s capabilities, worry that it would detect non-pathogenic bacteria, uncertainty whether it would fail to detect pathogens, and discomfort with withholding antibiotics until receiving molecular test results. Conclusions Clinicians believed rapid molecular diagnostics for pneumonias were potentially important and were open to using them; however, they harboured concerns about the tests’ capabilities and integration into clinical practice. Implementation strategies should bolster users’ necessity beliefs while reducing their concerns; this can be accomplished by publicising the tests’ purpose and benefits, identifying and addressing clinicians’ misconceptions, establishing a trial period for first-hand familiarisation, and emphasising that, with a swift (e.g., 60–90 min) test, antibiotics can be started and refined after molecular diagnostic results become available

Recent applications and potential of near-term (interannual to decadal) climate predictions

Following efforts from leading centres for climate forecasting, sustained routine operational near-term climate predictions (NTCP) are now produced that bridge the gap between seasonal forecasts and climate change projections offering the prospect of seamless climate services. Though NTCP is a new area of climate science and active research is taking place to increase understanding of the processes and mechanisms required to produce skillful predictions, this significant technical achievement combines advances in initialisation with ensemble prediction of future climate up to a decade ahead. With a growing NTCP database, the predictability of the evolving externally-forced and internally-generated components of the climate system can now be quantified. Decision-makers in key sectors of the economy can now begin to assess the utility of these products for informing climate risk and for planning adaptation and resilience strategies up to a decade into the future. Here, case studies are presented from finance and economics, water management, agriculture and fisheries management demonstrating the emerging utility and potential of operational NTCP to inform strategic planning across a broad range of applications in key sectors of the global economy

Loss-Making Marginal Spending on Crop Variable Inputs

AIM : Crop variable inputs (CVI's) are critical to successful crops. So we here ask: "What are the marginal returns to crop variable inputs?" And explore whether observed CVI levels maximise economic returns to farmers. We compare results to national aggregates in India. DATA: Analysed Farm Business Survey 2004-2012, where crop gross margins and input spending are available, for conventional winter wheat and oilseed in England and Wales. RESULTS: Marginal spending on variable inputs (e.g. seed, fertiliser, crop protection) returns in economic product significantly less than GBP£1 per marginal pound spent. Therefore, expenditure allocation on those inputs could be quite far from economic optima. However marginal physical products (yields) are positive, but small, and significantly different from zero. These conclusions hold across a wide range of alternative economic models and subsets of the data. The same conclusions are observed, in estimations for Indian grain production, and for maize in China where lower national rates of fertiliser application appear optimal. DISCUSSION: Unknowns, including yield, quality and price, make it difficult to optimise ex ante input levels. Tied advice could reduce the efficiency in the farm sector - owing to possible perverse incentives. And the preferences of farmers, may be to avoid risk, or to maximise yields. Farmers may also be biased - relative to full information and perfect competition. All of which might distort prices from the neoclassical equilibria with perfect information and perfect competition. Thus, one could ask "How useful are the prices seen in practice, for allocation in the context of the farmer behaviour reported here?

Farmers’ Spending on Variable Inputs Tends to Maximise Crop Yields, Not Profit

We estimate the marginal returns to spending on Crop Variable Inputs (CVI) (such as fertilizers and crop protection), to explore whether observed spending maximises physical or economic returns to farmers. Data are taken from the Farm Business Survey for 2004-2013, where gross margins and input spending are available, in over 10,300 crops of conventional winter wheat or oilseed rape in England and Wales. Marginal spending on CVIs generate financial returns significantly less than £1 per marginal pound spent. This suggests that expenditure on CVIs exceeds an economic optimum that would maximise profit. However marginal physical products (crop yields) are positive, but small and significantly different from zero. This suggests that, on average, farmers approximately maximise yields. These results hold across a wide range of alternative economic models and two crop species. Similar results have been reported in estimations for Indian grain production and for maize in China. In practice, farmers are making decisions on input use in advance of having information on a variety of factors, including future yield, product quality and price, making it difficult to optimise input levels according to expected profit. Farmers may be consistently optimistic, prefer to avoid risk, or deliberately seek to maximise yields. Some farmers may put on the standard recommended application irrespective of input or expected output price. It is also possible that advice may sometimes aim to maximise yield, influenced by an incentive to encourage greater sales. Excessive input use both reduces private profits and is a cause of environmental damage. There are thus potential private as well as social benefits to be gained from optimising levels of input use