An Examination of Performance of First Year Students at an Ontario University: An Admission Perspective

Major changes in the Ontario secondary school system over the last 15 years have increased the concerns within some universities about the use of Grade 13 marks as the principal criterion for evaluating applicants. These concerns focus on grade inflation, variability of marks among schools, and how appropriate some subjects are for university admission. This paper reports on a study of these issues conducted at McMaster University. The relationship between Grade 13 admission and Year I university averages was examined. Two issues that have received little attention elsewhere were also examined: how Year I performance varied by applicant status, and the relationship between individual Grade 13 subjects and Year I performance. The results indicate that Grade 13 marks, which are the only measure of a student's achievement available, continue to be a reasonable predictor of subsequent performance in Year I. Grade 13 subjects were identified that were more consistently associated with Year I performance than others. There was also evidence that some Grade 13 subjects may be contributing to an "inflated" admission average. The results of this study should be useful in evaluating existing admission policies and in the development of the new Ontario Academic Courses.Au cours des 15 dernières années, de sérieux changements dans le système des écoles secondaires de l'Ontario ont ajouté à l'inquiétude qui règne au sein de certaines universités face à l'emploi des notes de la 13e année comme critère principal d'évaluation des candidats universitaires. Ces craintes se centrent sur des notes "gonflées", sur une notation variable d'école en école et sur la pertinence de certains cours à l'entrée universitaire. Ce papier traite d'une étude à ce sujet, menée à l'université McMaster, qui visait à percevoir les rapports entre la moyenne d'admission de la 13e année et celle de la lere année universitaire. L'étude porta également sur l'écart entre la performance universitaire et le statut du candidat et sur la performance universitaire reliée à certaines matières de la 13e année, deux questions qui avaient suscité jusqu 'ici peu d'intérêt. Les résultats de cette étude indiquent que les notes de la 13e année, qui sont le seul système de mesure actuel du rendement scolaire, n'en demeurent pas moins un indice valide de la performance post-secondaire. Dans ce rapport, certaines matières de 13e année furent identifiées et étroite-ment associées au succès universitaire. Les découvertes signalèrent également un rapport probable entre certains sujets de 13e année et la hausse dans la moyenne d'admission. Toutes ces données devraient servira évaluer les procédures actuelles d'admission et servir à la mise sur pied de nouveaux 'cours pré-universitaires'

The Lantern Vol. 44, No. 2, Spring 1978

• Ode To the Death of a Patient • The Bloody Brand of Honor • Deserted Trail • The Apple Revisited • Consciousness in Awares • Middle Class • Clock • Snow • The Case • Your Eyes Speak Falsely • Finding a Place • Legacy of Ellis Island • John • Work • A Gift • When She is Gone • Qual. Lamenthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1112/thumbnail.jp

COVID-19 reopening strategies at the county level in the face of uncertainty: Multiple Models for Outbreak Decision Support

Policymakers make decisions about COVID-19 management in the face of considerable uncertainty. We convened multiple modeling teams to evaluate reopening strategies for a mid- sized county in the United States, in a novel process designed to fully express scientific uncertainty while reducing linguistic uncertainty and cognitive biases. For the scenarios considered, the consensus from 17 distinct models was that a second outbreak will occur within 6 months of reopening, unless schools and non-essential workplaces remain closed. Up to half the population could be infected with full workplace reopening; non-essential business closures reduced median cumulative infections by 82%. Intermediate reopening interventions identified no win-win situations; there was a trade-off between public health outcomes and duration of workplace closures. Aggregate results captured twice the uncertainty of individual models, providing a more complete expression of risk for decision-making purposes.Integrative Biolog

Mammalian telomeres end in a large duplex loop

Mammalian telomeres contain a duplex array of telomeric repeats bound to the telomeric repeat–binding factors TRF1 and TRF2. Inhibition of TRF2 results in immediate deprotection of chromosome ends, manifested by loss of the telomeric 3′ overhang, activation of p53, and end-to-end chromosome fusions. Electron microscopy reported here demonstrated that TRF2 can remodel linear telomeric DNA into large duplex loops (t loops) in vitro. Electron microscopy analysis of psoralen cross-linked telomeric DNA purified from human and mouse cells revealed abundant large t loops with a size distribution consistent with their telomeric origin. Binding of TRF1 and single strand binding protein suggested that t loops are formed by invasion of the 3′ telomeric overhang into the duplex telomeric repeat array. T loops may provide a general mechanism for the protection and replication of telomeres