Variability in nutrient concentrations around Elephant Island, Antarctica, during 1991-1993

The nutrient status of the various water mass structures within a large sampling grid around Elephant Island are reported and the nutrient concentrations relative to jata from the physical and biological components of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Programme are discussed. Concentrations of silicic acid, nitrate and phosphate (Si/N/P) were measured in the upper water column during January-March of three successive years. Samples were taken from eleven depths at 17 stations in 1991, and at four depths at 144 stations in 1992 and 182 stations in 1993. There was considerable variability in the concentrations of all three nutrients within the study area, but silicic acid showed the greatest variance among the water masses present in the sampling grid. The ratios (Si/N/P) of the nutrient deficits (difference in winter and summer values) in the upper 100 m differed considerably in Drake Passage waters as compared to Bransfield Strait waters, with both nitrate and silicic acid showing the greatest variance. Nutrient deficits did not increase from January to February, indicating that rates of replenishment of nutrients to the euphotic zone by physical processes and/or biological regeneration were approximately equal to the rate of uptake and assimilation by phytoplankton during that time period. The seasonal deficits, however, were substantial. Estimates of daily rates of primary production based on these nutrient deficits were comparable to the rates as measured by radiocarbon for Drake Passage waters, but much smaller for Bransfield Strait waters

An extended approach to adjust inconsistent minority peer- and self-assessment scores of teamwork using assessor’s reliability

Teamwork is generally assessed either solely by academic staff or by both academic staff andstudents themselves confidentially as well as collaboratively. Peer- and self-assessments have beenused primarily to assess teamwork process and teacher assessment to assess teamwork product.Peer- and self-assessments are useful to elicit team members’ contribution towards teamwork and toconvert team mark into individual marks, provided the scores are reliable (the extent to which thescores are consistent). However, not all peer- and self-assessment scores are reliable. Anecdotal andliterature evidence suggest that there are several cases of inconsistencies in these scores. Individualcontribution scores given by teammates to an assessee (including himself/herself) can sometimesvary significantly due to both intentional and unintentional reasons. Simply using total individual ratingscores without considering an assessor’s reliability to estimate individual contribution factors cansometime results unfair grades and becomes hindrance to learning through teamwork.PURPOSEThis study proposes an extended approach to adjust inconsistent and/or distorted minority peer andself-assessment scores of teamwork using standard normal probability concept.APPROACHIn order to adjust inconsistent and/or distorted minority peer-and self-assessment scores of teamwork,an extended approach has been proposed. The approach uses the reliability of assessor’s scores ofan assessee using standard normal probability curve. The evaluation of the extended approach isconducted by comparing with the existing approaches using two case examples of peer- and selfassessmentof teamwork where minority team members’ scores are inconsistent.RESULTSThe evaluation of the extended approach shows that the proposed method is superior to the availableapproaches in order to adjust inconsistent peer- and self-assessment scores for special cases wherescores of minority team members are inconsistent. The extended approach helps both to automaticallydetect such scoring anomalies and to adjust the scores so that the fairer contributions to the teamworkwould be obtained and utilised.CONCLUSIONSThe extended approach is useful in that it helps both to automatically detect scoring anomalies and todevise the methods to adjust them. However, the approach does not address the issue of scoringinconsistencies by majority of team members as it uses average score as a basis for identifyinginconsistencies. Moreover, the approach needs to be implemented in the real teamwork environmentin order to identify the impacts of these scoring adjustments in teamwork process and teamworkproduct