A new marking technique in semi-automated assessment

The number of students learning programming languages in higher education and secondary schools has substantially increased, especially in the last decade. The increasing number of (novice) programmers makes code script assessment more important. Thus, this study proposes a new marking technique based on a semi-automated assessment approach. It advocates providing detailed and consistent feedback for novice programmers based on formative assessment. An experiment was carried out to check the feasibility of the proposed marking technique. The initial results and findings show that this is a potentially valuable approach

Semi-automatic assessment approach to programming code for novice students

Programming languages have been an integral element of the taught skills of many technical subjects in Higher Education for the last half century. Moreover, secondary school students have also recently started learning programming languages. This increase in the number of students learning programming languages makes the efficient and effective assessment of student work more important. This research focuses on one key approach to assessment using technology: the semi-automated marking of novice students’ program code. The open-ended, flexible nature of programming ensures that no two significant pieces of code are likely to be the same. However, it has been observed that there are a number of common code fragments within these dissimilar solutions. This observation forms the basis of our proposed approach. The initial research focuses on the ‘if’ structure to evaluate the theory behind the approach taken, which is appropriate given its commonality across programming languages. The paper also discusses the results of real world analysis of novice students’ programming code on ‘if’ structures. The paper concludes that the approach taken could form a more effective and efficient method for the assessment of student coding assignments

The effect of anesthesia technique on tumor reccurrence rate after mastectomy

Background: Breast cancer is most common cancer in women. Although surgical and chemotherapy methods have improved survival, mortality is seen secondary to metastasis and recurrence. Neuroaxial anesthesia has been shown to suppress neuroendocrine stress response due to surgery with sympathetic blockade and has a positive effect on tumor recurrence. In this study, the hypothesis was regional anesthesia may have a positive effect on patient comfort, surgical success rate and complications in the short term, tumor recurrence and metastasis in the long term.Methods: Patients who underwent mastectomy for breast cancer were divided into two groups as thoracic epidural or general anesthesia retrospectively. Preoperative patient characteristics, intraoperative hemodynamic data and postoperative complications were recorded. Static and dynamic pain was evaluated at 12, 24 and 48 hours, at 1 week, 3 and 6 months, and at the end of 1 and 3 years. The presence of metastasis and recurrence was evaluated.Results: In this study, no relationship between recurrence and anesthesia type (p=1.0) could be found. Intraoperative hemodynamic data and pain scores were lower in patients who underwent thoracic epidural anesthesia.Conclusions: As a result, thoracic epidural anesthesia had hemodynamic effects and lower pain scores in postoperative pain control, but had no effect on tumor recurrence in breast cancer patients

Improving marking efficiency for longer programming solutions based on a semi-automated assessment approach

In recent years, many students in higher education have begun to learn programming languages. In doing so they will complete a variety of programming tasks of varying degrees of complexity. The students need to get consistent and personalised feedback to develop their programming skills. Human markers can provide personalised feedback using traditional manual approaches to assessment, but they may provide inconsistent feedback (especially for long programming solutions) since marking the programming solutions of multiple students can represent a significant workload for them. While full-automated assessment systems are the best to provide consistent feedback, they may not provide sufficiently personalised feedback for novice programmers. This study develops a novel semi-automated assessment approach in order to improve efficiency of human marker in the marking process and increase consistency of feedback (for both short and long programming solutions). It advocates the reuse of human marker’s comments for similar code snippets, defined as segmented marking in this study. New full and partial marking models are developed based on segmented marking and they are tested by expert markers. The findings show that the two models are similar in efficiency, but that a partial marking approach potentially offers an improved efficiency for longer programming solutions. Such a finding has significant potential to reduce time spent on marking throughout the sector, which would have significant impact on both resourcing and timeliness of feedback

Increasing the similarity of programming code structures to accelerate the marking process in a new semi-automated assessment approach

The increased number of students (in higher education) learning programming languages makes the efficient and effective assessment of student work more important. Thus, academic researchers have focused on the automation of programming assignment marking. However, the fully automated approach to marking has its issues. This study provides an approach geared towards the reduction of marking times while providing comprehensive, effective and consistent feedback on novice programmers’ code script. To assess novices’ code script, a new semi-automated assessment approach has been developed. This paper focuses on the semi-automatic assessment of programming code segments, partially explaining the increasing similarity between code segments using generic rules. The code segments referred to are ‘for’ and ‘while’ loops and sequence parts of code script. The initial results and findings for the proposed approach are positive and point to the need for further research in this area

Late toxicity and biochemical recurrence after external-beam radiotherapy combined with permanent-source prostate brachytherapy

BACKGROUND The combination of external-beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy is used commonly to treat men with prostate cancer. In this analysis, the authors examined the rate of biochemical recurrence (BR) and late grade ≥3 genitourinary (GU) and gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity after treatment with external-beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy in a multiinstitutional, cooperative group setting. METHODS All eligible patients received external-beam radiotherapy (45 Gray [Gy] in 25 fractions) followed 2 to 6 weeks later by an interstitial implant using iodine-125 to deliver an additional 108 Gy. BR was defined in 2 ways: according to the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) Consensus Definition (ACD) and according to the Phoenix definition (PD) (prostate-specific antigen nadir +2 ng/mL). The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group(RTOG)/European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer late radiation morbidity scoring system was used to grade all toxicity. RESULTS One hundred thirty-eight patients were enrolled, and 130 were eligible for the current analysis. The median follow-up for surviving patients was 49 months (range, 20–60 months). The 48-month estimate of late grade ≥3 GU/GI toxicity was 15% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 8–21%), and the 48-month estimate of BR was 19% (95% CI, 12–26%) and 14% (95% CI, 8–20%) according to the ACD and PD, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The morbidity observed in this multiinstitutional, cooperative group study was slightly higher than that reported in recent RTOG studies using brachytherapy alone or high-dose external-beam radiotherapy. The BR rate observed in this report was similar to that observed with high-dose external-beam radiotherapy alone in similar patients. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55987/1/22560_ftp.pd

The Effect of Iloprost and N-Acetylcysteine on Skeletal Muscle Injury in an Acute Aortic Ischemia-Reperfusion Model: An Experimental Study

Objective. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of iloprost and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injuries to the gastrocnemius muscle, following the occlusion-reperfusion period in the abdominal aorta of rats. Materials and Methods. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four equal groups. Group 1: control group. Group 2 (IR): aorta was occluded. The clamp was removed after 1 hour of ischemia. Blood samples and muscle tissue specimens were collected following a 2-hour reperfusion period. Group 3 (IR + iloprost): during a 1-hour ischemia period, iloprost infusion was initiated from the jugular catheter. During a 2-hour reperfusion period, the iloprost infusion continued. Group 4 (IR + NAC): similar to the iloprost group. Findings. The mean total oxidant status, CK, and LDH levels were highest in Group 2 and lowest in Group 1. The levels of these parameters in Group 3 and Group 4 were lower compared to Group 2 and higher compared to Group 1 (P<0.05). The histopathological examination showed that Group 3 and Group 4, compared to Group 2, had preserved appearance with respect to hemorrhage, necrosis, loss of nuclei, infiltration, and similar parameters. Conclusion. Iloprost and NAC are effective against ischemia-reperfusion injury and decrease ischemia-related tissue injury

Semi-Automatic Assessment Approach to Programming Code for Novice Students

This is a conference paper. It was presented at the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Education, Rome, Italy, 21-23 April 2016.Programming languages have been an integral element of the taught skills of many technical subjects in Higher Education for the last half century. Moreover, secondary school students have also recently started learning programming languages. This increase in the number of students learning programming languages makes the efficient and effective assessment of student work more important. This research focuses on one key approach to assessment using technology: the semi-automated marking of novice students’ program code. The open-ended, flexible nature of programming ensures that no two significant pieces of code are likely to be the same. However, it has been observed that there are a number of common code fragments within these dissimilar solutions. This observation forms the basis of our proposed approach. The initial research focuses on the ‘if’ structure to evaluate the theory behind the approach taken, which is appropriate given its commonality across programming languages. The paper also discusses the results of real world analysis of novice students’ programming code on ‘if’ structures. The paper concludes that the approach taken could form a more effective and efficient method for the assessment of student coding assignments

Increasing the similarity of programming code structures to accelerate the marking process in a new semi-automated assessment approach

Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The increased number of students (in higher education) learning programming languages makes the efficient and effective assessment of student work more important. Thus, academic researchers have focused on the automation of programming assignment marking. However, the fully automated approach to marking has its issues. This study provides an approach geared towards the reduction of marking times while providing comprehensive, effective and consistent feedback on novice programmers’ code script. To assess novices’ code script, a new semi-automated assessment approach has been developed. This paper focuses on the semi-automatic assessment of programming code segments, partially explaining the increasing similarity between code segments using generic rules. The code segments referred to are ‘for’ and ‘while’ loops and sequence parts of code script. The initial results and findings for the proposed approach are positive and point to the need for further research in this area

A new marking technique in semi-automated assessment

The number of students learning programming languages in higher education and secondary schools has substantially increased, especially in the last decade. The increasing number of (novice) programmers makes code script assessment more important. Thus, this study proposes a new marking technique based on a semi-automated assessment approach. It advocates providing detailed and consistent feedback for novice programmers based on formative assessment. An experiment was carried out to check the feasibility of the proposed marking technique. The initial results and findings show that this is a potentially valuable approach