Using a trait complex model to predict types of academic performance in undergraduate medical education in the UK

There is a growing interest in determining whether factors other than cognitive ability and previous academic performance can influence academic success in medical school (Ferguson, James, & Madeley, 2002). This is due to the limited number of places available on a medical degree and the focus upon personal qualities that are expected of medical students when they graduate and become practicing physicians (Powis, Bore, Munro, & Lumsden, 2005). There are a large numbers of potential characteristics that may be useful in medical school. However, few have attempted to reduce this number into more meaningful dimensions. In addition, the academic performance literature has focussed on the psychometric properties of assessments and largely overlooked the structure of academic performance. The aim is to combine the two divergent literatures and explore the dimensionality of medical student’s dispositional characteristics, and the underlying structure of medical school assessments. This is in order to determine whether dimensions of dispositional characteristics are predictive of different types of assessment. 181 medical students completed a battery of questionnaires during the first week of term in Year 1. Academic performance variables consisted of assessment undertaken by students during the first two years of medical school. Chapter 5 presents a Principal Components Analysis of assessments. Results suggest that there are three underlying dimensions in the data corresponding to Scientific Knowledge Assessment, Interpersonal Skills Assessment, and Practical Skills Assessment. The results are discussed in terms of current models of desired outcomes in education. Chatper 6 presents a Principal Components Analysis of dispositional characteristics in medical students. The results suggest that the 21 measured dispositions had three underlying dimensions corresponding to Emotionality, Intrinsic Motivation, and Interpersonal Traits. The results are discussed in terms of how the traits might theoretically combine in addition to the statistical combination of traits. Chapter 7 presents a series of five Hierarchical Linear Regressions to determine if the trait complexes identified in chapter 6 differentially predict performance on traditional measures of academic performance, and the three dimensions of performance identified in chapter six. Overall results suggest that previous academic performance and cognitive ability are consistent predictors of academic performance in medical school as such their continued use in selection procedures seems appropriate. Both GCSE and A-Levels differentially predicted types of performance. In addition, emotionality significantly predicted Year 1 performance and performance in practical skills assessment. This study therefore provided support for a three dimensional model of medical student academic performance. However the influence of trait complexes warrants further investigation later in a medical career

Using a trait complex model to predict types of academic performance in undergraduate medical education in the UK

There is a growing interest in determining whether factors other than cognitive ability and previous academic performance can influence academic success in medical school (Ferguson, James, & Madeley, 2002). This is due to the limited number of places available on a medical degree and the focus upon personal qualities that are expected of medical students when they graduate and become practicing physicians (Powis, Bore, Munro, & Lumsden, 2005). There are a large numbers of potential characteristics that may be useful in medical school. However, few have attempted to reduce this number into more meaningful dimensions. In addition, the academic performance literature has focussed on the psychometric properties of assessments and largely overlooked the structure of academic performance. The aim is to combine the two divergent literatures and explore the dimensionality of medical student’s dispositional characteristics, and the underlying structure of medical school assessments. This is in order to determine whether dimensions of dispositional characteristics are predictive of different types of assessment. 181 medical students completed a battery of questionnaires during the first week of term in Year 1. Academic performance variables consisted of assessment undertaken by students during the first two years of medical school. Chapter 5 presents a Principal Components Analysis of assessments. Results suggest that there are three underlying dimensions in the data corresponding to Scientific Knowledge Assessment, Interpersonal Skills Assessment, and Practical Skills Assessment. The results are discussed in terms of current models of desired outcomes in education. Chatper 6 presents a Principal Components Analysis of dispositional characteristics in medical students. The results suggest that the 21 measured dispositions had three underlying dimensions corresponding to Emotionality, Intrinsic Motivation, and Interpersonal Traits. The results are discussed in terms of how the traits might theoretically combine in addition to the statistical combination of traits. Chapter 7 presents a series of five Hierarchical Linear Regressions to determine if the trait complexes identified in chapter 6 differentially predict performance on traditional measures of academic performance, and the three dimensions of performance identified in chapter six. Overall results suggest that previous academic performance and cognitive ability are consistent predictors of academic performance in medical school as such their continued use in selection procedures seems appropriate. Both GCSE and A-Levels differentially predicted types of performance. In addition, emotionality significantly predicted Year 1 performance and performance in practical skills assessment. This study therefore provided support for a three dimensional model of medical student academic performance. However the influence of trait complexes warrants further investigation later in a medical career

Preschool teachers' well-being. Impact of relationships between happiness, emotional intelligence, affect, burnout, and engagement for their initial and permanent training

From a Positive Psychology model applied to Education, the objective is to analyze emotional and motivational competencies of 82 preschool teachers, using the TMMS-24, PANAS, UWES, SHS and MBI and to establish recommendations for teacher training and student’s well-being. High levels of happiness, commitment, emotional intelligence and positive affect were found. Results ratify relationships between emotional intelligence, positive affect, engagement and personal accomplishment observed by studies in that population. Strong correlations (p> .01) were found between clarity, repair and positive affect, repair and vigor, and between vigor, dedication, absorption, and personal accomplishment. The 40.6% of the variance in teacher well-being was explained by emotional intelligence and affective competencies, with positive affect and repair competence the most important to predict happiness level. These results allow us to identify the competencies that should be included in pre-service university plans and in permanent training centers.Desde un modelo de Psicología positiva aplicado a la Educación, el objetivo es analizar las competencias emocionales y motivacionales de 82 docentes de Infantil, utilizando las pruebas TMMS- 24, PANAS, UWES, SHS y MBI y establecer recomendaciones para la formación docente y el bienestar del alumnado. Se encontraron altos niveles de felicidad, compromiso laboral, inteligencia emocional y afecto positivo. Los resultados también ratifican, en esta población, las relaciones encontradas por otros estudios entre inteligencia emocional, afecto positivo, implicación en el trabajo y compromiso personal. Se encontraron altas correlaciones (p> ,01) entre claridad y reparación y afecto positivo, y entre reparación y energía, y entre energía, dedicación, absorción y compromiso personal. El 40,6% de la varianza del bienestar docente (felicidad) se explicó por las puntuaciones en inteligencia emocional y afecto, siendo la capacidad afectiva positiva y la de reparación emocional las que mejor predijeron el nivel en felicidad. Estos resultados permiten identificar las competencias que deberían incluirse en los planes universitarios y en los centros de formación permanente

Eficiencia en el uso del agua en trigo y lino oleaginoso con distintos aportes de nitrógeno en la región semiárida pampeana central

La región agrícola de la provincia de La Pampa con aptitud para el cultivo de trigo, posee también condiciones agro-ecológicas adecuadas para el desarrollo de lino oleaginoso, ofreciendo excelentes posibilidades, con lo cual esta especie surge como un interesante cultivo invernal alternativo al trigo u otros cereales de invierno. Los cereales de invierno experimentan limitaciones para expresar su rendimiento potencial en regiones semiáridas. Estas limitaciones pueden deberse al genotipo, a los factores ambientales y/o a la interacción de ambos. El propósito de este trabajo fue analizar el efecto de la fertilización nitrogenada sobre los distintos componentes del rendimiento y su impacto en la eficiencia en el uso del agua (EUA) en trigo pan y lino oleaginoso En el campo experimental de la Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad Nacional de La Pampa se condujo el ensayo, en el cual se compararon las dos especies: trigo pan y lino oleaginoso, bajo cuatro condiciones de fertilidad. En las condiciones en las cuales se llevó a cabo el ensayo no se pudo comprobar la hipótesis de que el agregado de fertilizante nitrogenado aumenta la EUA. Por el contrario, parece que en condiciones de sequía tendría un efecto inverso. Se encontró que el trigo presenta una mayor eficiencia en el uso del agua que el lino en cuanto a la producción de materia seca, y este último no presentó ninguna respuesta significativa en a EUA frente al agregado de fertilizante nitrogenado

El beneficio anormal en el modelo de Ohlson: una propuesta para su estimación: Abnormal earnings in the Ohlson’s model: a proposal for their estimation

In this paper we propose a model to estimate the expected abnormal earnings required by the linear information dynamics of the Ohlson’s (1995) model. Our proposal, based on bootstrapping techniques, allows us to estimate easily the value of the expected abnormal earnings. Furthermore, it allows us the estimation of confidence intervals for this value and for the estimated values of stock prices. The empirical application of the model that we have done in the paper has provided the following results: the forecasting power of our proposal is as good as the one provided by other models that, as ours, assume persistence in the expected abnormal earnings, but, additionally, require subjective opinions for their estimation.En el presente trabajo se realiza una propuesta metodológica para la estimación del beneficio anormal esperado que requiere la dinámica lineal de la información del modelo de Ohlson (1995). Dicha propuesta, basada en técnicas de remuestreo, permite tanto la estimación de un valor para el beneficio esperado, como el establecimiento de intervalos de confianza para dicho valor y para el valor estimado de las acciones. La metodología propuesta, sin necesidad de recurrir a estimaciones subjetivas, proporciona resultados tan buenos como los de otros modelos que, asumiendo persistencia en los beneficios anormales esperados, utilizan predicciones de los analistas

Fifty-Year Trend Towards Suppression of Wolbachia-Induced Male-Killing by Its Butterfly Host, Hypolimnas bolina

Some intracellular symbionts of arthropods induce a variety of reproductive alterations in their hosts, and the alterations tend to spread easily within the host populations. A few cases involving the spread of alteration-inducing Wolbachia bacteria in natural populations with time have been reported, but the investigations on the increasing trend in counteracting the bacterial effect on hosts in natural populations (i.e., increased resistance in hosts against the alterations) have been limited. In the present study, the prevalence of an alteration, killing of male Hypolimnas bolina (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) butterflies by their inherited Wolbachia strain in the wild in Japan, was surveyed over a continuous 50-year period, which is far longer than ever before analyzed in studies of dynamics between reproductive alteration-inducing symbionts and their host arthropods. Thus, the results in this study provide the first instance of a long-term trend involving a change in reproductive alteration; and it strongly suggests a change in the opposite direction (i.e., suppression of male-killing) in natural populations. This change in the current combination of the Wolbachia and butterflies appears to be dependent upon the host taxon (race)

Telomere Shortening and Tumor Formation by Mouse Cells Lacking Telomerase RNA

To examine the role of telomerase in normal and neoplastic growth, the telomerase RNA component (mTR) was deleted from the mouse germline. mTR-/- mice lacked detectable telomerase activity yet were viable for the six generations analyzed. Telomerase-deficient cells could be immortalized in culture, transformed by viral oncogenes, and generated tumors in nude mice following transformation. Telomeres were shown to shorten at a rate of 4.8+/-2.4 kb per mTR-/- generation. Cells from the fourth mTR-/- generation onward possessed chromosome ends lacking detectable telomere repeats, aneuploidy, and chromosomal abnormalities, including end-to-end fusions. These results indicate that telomerase is essential for telomere length maintenance but is not required for establishment of cell lines, oncogenic transformation, or tumor formation in mice