Inter- and Intra-Rater Consistency: Armies of Graduate TAs Grading in First Year

In the introductory chemistry course for first year students at the University of Guelph, written answer questions are included on midterm and final exams, despite the logistical hurdles involved in grading 1800-2400 students’ solutions. The process was improved with the development of a customized Scantron® form on which students wrote their answers. Teaching assistants (TAs) graded students’ work and bubbled in the grades on the sheet which was then read into the computer. As well as improving the grade entry process, it also allowed for students to have their results (and grader comments) conveniently emailed to them. For this study, we have used one of the Scantron® fields as a “TA identifier” to correlate grading with the specific grader. This allows for comparison between TAs’ grading rate, grade averages, variances, and distributions. Group and individual trends were also observed over time. Averages for four questions increased by 0.1-2.4 % points between the first and second hour of grading, and the probability of the more extreme findings occurring without a correlational link was 53-92%, based on c2 tests. In the same manner, the probabilities that differences in distributions between the population and a particular TA’s sampling occurred by chance ranged from ~0-99 %. We discuss these results and how they may impact our confidence in the final grade assigned to a particular student. We also aim to use these results to develop new statistical treatments of inter-rater consistency for large sample sizes that require minimal to no exams to be graded multiple times, resulting in saving time when studying a large number of graders

Evaluation of noninvasive cardiac output methods during exercise

Noninvasive techniques to estimate cardiac output (Qc) will be used during future space flight. This retrospective literature survey compared the Qc techniques of carbon dioxide rebreathing (CO2-R), CO2 single breath (CO2-S), Doppler (DOP), impedance (IM), and inert gas (IG: acetylene or nitrous oxide) to direct (DIR) assessments measured at rest and during exercise

On Investigating the Potential Effects of Private Autonomous Vehicle Use on Home/Work Relocations and Commute Times

You're viewing a past article from the Good Systems Grand Challenge team at The University of Texas at Austin published in 2020.Office of the VP for Researc

"Metabolic staging" after major trauma - a guide for clinical decision making?

Metabolic changes after major trauma have a complex underlying pathophysiology. The early posttraumatic stress response is associated with a state of hyperinflammation, with increased oxygen consumption and energy expenditure. This hypercatabolic state must be recognized early and mandates an early nutritional management strategy. A proactive concept of early enteral "immunonutrition" in severely injured patients, is aimed at counterbalancing the negative aspects of hyperinflammation and hypercatabolism in order to reduce the risk of late complications, including infections and posttraumatic organ failure. Recently, the concept of "metabolic staging" has been advocated, which takes into account the distinct inflammatory phases and metabolic phenotypes after major trauma, including the "ischemia/reperfusion phenotype", the "leukocytic phenotype", and the "angiogenic phenotype". The potential clinical impact of metabolic staging, and of an appropriately adapted "metabolic control" and nutritional support, remains to be determined

Widespread paleopolyploidy, gene tree conflict, and recalcitrant relationships among the carnivorous Caryophyllales

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142317/1/ajb20858.pd

Optical and electrochemical properties of hydrogen-bonded phenol-pyrrolidino[60]fullerenes

We report the photophysical and electrochemical properties of phenol-pyrrolidino[60]fullerenes 1 and 2, in which the phenol hydroxyl group is ortho and para to the pyrrolidino group, respectively, as well as those of a phenyl-pyrrolidino[60]fullerene model compound, 3. For the ortho analog 1, the presence of an intramolecular hydrogen bond is supported by 1H NMR and FTIR characterization. The redox potential of the phenoxyl radical-phenol couple in this architecture is 240 mV lower than that observed in the associated para compound 2. Further, the C60 excited-state lifetime of the hydrogen-bonded compound 1 in benzonitrile is 260 ps, while the corresponding lifetime for 2 is identical to that of the model compound 3 at 1.34 ns. Addition of excess organic acid to a benzonitrile solution of 1 gives rise to a new species, 4, with an excited-state lifetime of 1.40 ns. In nonpolar aprotic solvents such as toluene, all three compounds have a C60 excited-state lifetime of ∼1 ns. These results suggest that the presence of an intramolecular H-bond in 1 poises the potential of phenoxyl radical-phenol redox couple at a value that it is thermodynamically capable of reducing the photoexcited fullerene. This is not the case for the para analog 2 nor is it the case for the protonated species 4. This work illustrates that in addition to being used as light activated electron acceptors, pyrrolidino fullerenes are also capable of acting as built-in proton-accepting units that influence the potential of an attached donor when organized in an appropriate molecular design.Fil: Moore, Gary F.. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Megiatto, Jackson D.. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Hambourger, Michael. Arizona State University; Estados Unidos. Appalachian State University (appstate);Fil: Gervaldo, Miguel Andres. Arizona State University; Estados Unidos. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnologías Energéticas y Materiales Avanzados; ArgentinaFil: Kodis, Gerdenis. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Moore, Thomas A.. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Gust, Devens. Arizona State University; Estados UnidosFil: Moore, Ana L.. Arizona State University; Estados Unido

Chemical impacts in fish and shellfish from Cape Cod and Massachusetts Bays

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Environment Cape Cod 1, no. 3 (1998): 68-85.Mununichogs, soft shell clams, and blue mussels from some or all of 10 sites in Boston Harbor and Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays were examined histologically: a suite of pathological changes previously known to be associated with chemical contamination were found in animals from the more contaminated sites. In particular, liver tumors were evident in 14% of the adult mununichogs from the Island End River, a tributary of the Mystic River in Boston Harbor. Additionally, a number of pathologies previously shown to be associated with chemical exposure were seen in the two bivalve species at a number of contaminated sites. Induction of cytochrome P45() IA (CYPIA) was also seen in muntntichogs from the more contaminated sites: CYPIA induction is a biochemical change associated with exposure to dioxin and other planar halogenated and aromatic hydrocarbons. These findings suggest that there are measurable biochemical and pathological changes in intertidal fish and shellfish from the more contaminated parts of the Massachusetts Bays system. These types of changes were less evident in the two reference sites in Cape Cod Bay

Rationale, design and conduct of a comprehensive evaluation of a school-based peer-led anti-smoking intervention in the UK: the ASSIST cluster randomised trial [ISRCTN55572965]

No abstract available