Natural language processing techniques for researching and improving peer feedback

Peer review has been viewed as a promising solution for improving studennts' writing, which still remains a great challenge for educators. However, one core problem with peer review of writing is that potentially useful feedbback from peers is not always presented in ways that lead to revision. Our prior investigations found that whether students implement feedback is significantly correlated with two feedback features: localization information and concrete solutions. But focusing on feedback features is time-intensive for researchers and instructors. We apply data mining and Natural Languagee Processing techniques to automatically code reviews for these feedback features. Our results show that it is feasible to provide intelligent suppport to peer review systems to automatically assess students' reviewing performance with respect to problem localization and solution. We also show that similar research conclusions about helpfulness perceptions of feedback across students and different expert types can be drawn from automatically coded data and from hand-coded data. © Earli

Is the link from working memory to analogy causal? no analogy improvements following working memory training gains

Analogical reasoning has been hypothesized to critically depend upon working memory through correlational data [1], but less work has tested this relationship through experimental manipulation [2]. An opportunity for examining the connection between working memory and analogical reasoning has emerged from the growing, although somewhat controversial, body of literature suggests complex working memory training can sometimes lead to working memory improvements that transfer to novel working memory tasks. This study investigated whether working memory improvements, if replicated, would increase analogical reasoning ability. We assessed participants' performance on verbal and visual analogy tasks after a complex working memory training program incorporating verbal and spatial tasks [3,4]. Participants' improvements on the working memory training tasks transferred to other short-term and working memory tasks, supporting the possibility of broad effects of working memory training. However, we found no effects on analogical reasoning. We propose several possible explanations for the lack of an impact of working memory improvements on analogical reasoning

Geotechnical Offshore Seabed Tool (GOST): CPTu measurements and operations in New Zealand.

The Geotechnical Offshore Seabed Tool (GOST) was used in three field campaigns in on-and offshore areas in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Offshore measurements were performed along the main shipping channel in the Tauranga Harbor and onshore measurements were conducted at the locations of two landslides at Pyes Pa and Omokoroa. From each of these sites a sample static CPTu profile is described and reviewed. Additionally, a vibratory CPTu from the Pyes Pa landslide is presented. The CPTu results were used for subsurface sediments investigations at the tested locations

Postpyloric enteral nutrition in the critically ill child with shock: a prospective observational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tolerance to enteral nutrition in the critically ill child with shock has not been studied. The purpose of the study was to analyze the characteristics of enteral nutrition and its tolerance in the critically ill child with shock and to compare this with non-shocked patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A prospective, observational study was performed including critically ill children with shock who received postpyloric enteral nutrition (PEN). The type of nutrition used, its duration, tolerance, and gastrointestinal complications were assessed. The 65 children with shock who received PEN were compared with 461 non-shocked critically ill children who received PEN.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sixty-five critically ill children with shock, aged between 21 days and 22 years, received PEN. 75.4% of patients with shock received PEN exclusively. The mean duration of the PEN was 25.2 days and the maximum calorie intake was 79.4 kcal/kg/day. Twenty patients with shock (30.7%) presented gastrointestinal complications, 10 (15.4%) abdominal distension and/or excessive gastric residue, 13 (20%) diarrhoea, 1 necrotising enterocolitis, and 1 duodenal perforation due to the postpyloric tube. The frequency of gastrointestinal complications was significantly higher than in the other 461 critically ill children (9.1%). PEN was suspended due to gastrointestinal complications in 6 patients with shock (9.2%). There were 18 deaths among the patients with shock and PEN (27.7%). In only one patient was the death related to complications of the nutrition.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although most critically ill children with shock can tolerate postpyloric enteral nutrition, the incidence of gastrointestinal complications is higher in this group of patients than in other critically ill children.</p

The etiology and prevention of feeding intolerance paralytic ileus – revisiting an old concept

Gastro-intestinal (G-I) motility is impaired ("paralytic ileus") after abdominal surgery. Premature feeding attempts delay recovery by inducing "feeding intolerance," especially abdominal distention that compromises respiration. Controlled studies (e.g., from Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital) have lead to recommendations that patients not be fed soon after major abdominal surgery to avoid this complication