Altering Assessment for Greater Achievement: An Evaluation of Students’ Attitudes and Level of Engagement with mTuner

With technology at the fingertips of most undergraduate students, it has been difficult for instructors to fully engage them in the classroom, which has resulted in the creation of several innovative interventions, such as mTuner. mTuner integrates several cognitive learning strategies within an assessment, with the goal of actually enhancing learning, as opposed to just measuring it. In the current study, students’ attitudes, level of engagement, and performance were evaluated, with specific explorations into academic entitlement (AE), test anxiety (TA), learning orientation (LO) and grade orientation (GO). Results indicated that students had very positive attitudes toward mTuner, especially in comparison to traditional multiple-choice paper and pencil (MCPP) formats. Additionally, students had very high performance scores on the mTuner assessment despite their limited engagement in the cognitive learning features, putting to question mTuner’s facilitation of long-term learning. Implications and future recommendations of mTuner implementation in educational environments are discussed

Findings of the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial and the National Study of Subarachnoid Haemorrhage in context.

Concern has been expressed about the applicability of the findings of the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) with respect to the relative effects on outcome of coiling and clipping. It has been suggested that the findings of the National Study of Subarachnoid Haemorrhage may have greater relevance for neurosurgical practice. The objective of this paper was to interpret the findings of these two studies in the context of differences in their study populations, design, execution and analysis. Because of differences in design and analysis, the findings of the two studies are not directly comparable. The ISAT analysed all randomized patients by intention-to-treat, including some who did not undergo a repair, and obtained the primary outcome for 99% of participants. The National Study only analysed participants who underwent clipping or coiling, according to the method of repair, and obtained the primary outcome for 91% of participants. Time to repair was also considered differently in the two studies. The comparison between coiling and clipping was susceptible to confounding in the National Study, but not in the ISAT. The two study populations differed to some extent, but inspection of these differences does not support the view that coiling was applied inappropriately in the National Study. Therefore, there are many reasons why the two studies estimated different sizes of effect. The possibility that there were real, systematic differences in practice between the ISAT and the National Study cannot be ruled out, but such explanations must be seen in the context of other explanations relating to chance, differences in design or analysis, or confounding

The Relationship Between the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities in a Clinically Referred Pediatric Population

This research involves an investigation of the construct validity of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-; Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) when compared to the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ III COG) to provide evidence for the utility of using the WISC-IV in assessing cognitive abilities according to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory. The study was conducted using archival data consisting of 92 children and adolescents between the ages of 6 years and 16 years, 11 months referred for a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation at a university-affiliated assessment center. Data for all participants were collected following administration of a battery of measures as part of a neuropsychological evaluation, with tests administered in no particular order. The mean age of children was 9.82 years (SD= 2.81) with a mean grade level of 3.95 (SD= 2.63). Ten hypotheses were investigated specifically to examine the comparability of the general intellectual functioning scores for each battery among a sample of children with neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as to examine the convergent and discriminate validity of the WISC-IV index scores. The first hypothesis utilized a paired samplest&n-test and found that the WISC-IV Full Scale IQ score was significantly below that of the WJ III COG General Intellectual Ability-Extended score. For the remaining hypotheses, Pearson product-moment correlations revealed large correlations between the WISC-IV and WJ III COG convergent constructs of general intellectual functioning, comprehension-knowledge, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. For correlations between divergent constructs, the WISC-IV Verbal Comprehension Index and the WJ III COG Visual-Spatial Thinking (Gv) factor demonstrated a large correlation. Both the WISC-IV Processing Speed Index and Working Memory Index correlated moderately with the WJ III COGGvfactor, while the WISC-IV Perceptual Reasoning Index correlated moderately with the WJ III COG Auditory Processing factor. Fisher\u27s r to Z transformation was used to assess for significant differences between the observed correlations and stipulated values determined. Results indicated that correlations between the global IQ, fluid reasoning, and short-term memory composite scores of the two measures were significantly greater than that found for the WISC-III and WJ III COG, while the relationship between the verbal ability and processing speed composite scores were consistent with past findings. Correlations between divergent constructs revealed a reliable pattern of significantly greater relationships than was found for research concerning the WISC-III and WJ III COG. Primarily, results of this study provided evidence that the substantive changes made to the WISC-IV have improved the ability to interpret the Full Scale IQ score as a measure of general intelligence similar to that obtained by the WJ III COG. However, the global IQ scores between the two measures cannot be assumed to be equivalent among children with neuropsychiatric disorders. Results also suggested that the WISC-IV appears to provide improved measurement of the CHC broad abilities of fluid reasoning (Gf) and short-term memory (Gsm). Correlations between divergent constructs provided evidence for relationships between cognitive abilities suggested to be significantly related to academic achievement. This study concluded that research findings for the WISC-III cannot be applied conclusively to the WISC-IV and that the substantive changes made to the WISC-IV have improved the ability to interpret the battery under the CHC framework. However, findings underscore the importance of examining performance across second-order factors that may contribute to differences in general intelligence, as well as remaining aware of differences in narrow ability constructs measured, task demands, or shared variance between subtests when making interpretations of test performance

Isohemagglutinins of Graft Origin after ABO-Unmatched Liver Transplantation

THE increasing success of liver transplantation in recent years has provided an experimental model to study and document the hepatic synthesis of many plasma proteins.12345 The normal hepatobiliary tract has not been regarded as a major source of antibody,6,7 aside from the enteric IgA secreted from plasma into the biliary tree.8 Liver transplantation affords the opportunity to study the production of antibody to red cells. Recipient ABO incompatibility to the donor (a mismatched transplant, e.g., a group A liver transplanted into a group B recipient), although not absolutely contraindicated in liver transplantation, is avoided when possible. However, ABO-unmatched transplants (defined. © 1984, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved

Library and Information Science across Disciplines

At the heart of library and information science (LIS) is the process of seeking information, gathering and storing it, and then putting it to use - often by its dissemination to others. LIS is a field that immerses itself in the continual improvement of this process- which consequently is also the lifeblood of every academic domain. Using concrete examples, this panel proposes to discuss how LIS as an interdisciplinary field threads through other fields. Just as information is fundamental to knowledge, the processes regarding information retrieval, storage, and use that LIS is constantly seeking to refine are integral to all academic domains. The five members of this panel represent five institutions and five disparate areas of LIS research. What they have in common is their expertise in developing collaborative research partnerships with outside areas. Each panelist will discuss their experiences in seeking out and creating these productive collaborative relationships and how they see the interdisciplinary nature of LIS impacting their work. In addition to the panelists presentations, the audience will be polled on their research and professional collaborations with outside disciplines and the results will be displayed using data visualization software. Finally, the panelists will solicit crowd participation and open the floor for a discussion on experiences significant to the theme

In Defense of the Internet: The Relationship between Internet Communication and Depression, Loneliness, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Social Support

As more people connect to the Internet, researchers are beginning to examine the effects of Internet use on users' psychological health. Due in part to a study released by Kraut and colleagues in 1998, which concluded that Internet use is positively correlated with depression, loneliness, and stress, public opinion about the Internet has been decidedly negative. In contrast, the present study was designed to test the hypothesis that Internet usage can affect users beneficially. Participants engaged in five chat sessions with an anonymous partner. At three different intervals they were administered scales measuring depression, loneliness, self-esteem, and social support. Changes in their scores were tracked over time. Internet use was found to decrease loneliness and depression significantly, while perceived social support and self-esteem increased significantly.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63277/1/109493102753770552.pd

Apostasy versus legitimacy:relational dynamics and routes to resource acquisition in entrepreneurial ventures

This article explores the relational dynamics of legitimation within a professional service venture context, using a Bourdieusian framework to elucidate the struggles for capital and legitimacy that characterise the venture development process. Two profiles of individual business owners who renounce or adhere to established norms of the professional field are identified: apostate and traditional. Small accounting ventures may benefit from improved access to resources if they concentrate on fitting in with prevailing small firm professional logics, eschewing logics from outside the focal field associated with apostates. A model of legitimacy is developed that accounts for the efficacy of institutional and strategic modes of legitimacy relative to the maturity of the field and objectification of its social formations. We propose that entrepreneurial habitus mediates field-level conditions and capital formations that, when combined, create symbolic capital and resource acquisition possibilities

The Efficacy of an Online Cognitive Assessment Tool for Enhancing and Improving Student Academic Outcomes

With technology at the fingertips of most undergraduate students, it has been difficult for instructors to fully engage students in the classroom, which has resulted in the creation of several innovative assessment platforms, such as mTuner. mTuner integrates several cognitive learning strategies within an assessment, with the goal of actually enhancing learning, as opposed to just measuring it. In the current study, students’ level of engagement and performance with mTuner were compared to their final multiple-choice paper and pencil exam mark to determine the efficacy of mTuner in achieving improved learning outcomes. Results indicated that students had high performance scores on the mTuner assessment despite their limited engagement in the cognitive learning features, putting to question mTuner’s facilitation of long-term learning. Implications and future recommendations of mTuner implementation in educational environments are discussed

An MCMC Fitting Method for Triaxial Dark Matter Haloes

Measuring the 3D distribution of mass on galaxy cluster scales is a crucial test of the LCDM model, providing constraints on the behaviour of dark matter. Recent work investigating mass distributions of individual galaxy clusters (e.g. Abell 1689) using weak and strong gravitational lensing has revealed potential inconsistencies between the predictions of structure formation models relating halo mass to concentration and those relationships as measured in massive clusters. However, such analyses employ simple spherical halo models while a growing body of work indicates that triaxial 3D halo structure is both common and important in parameter estimates. The very strong assumptions about the symmetry of the lensing halo implied with circular or perturbative elliptical NFW models are not physically motivated and lead to incorrect parameter estimates with significantly underestimated error bars. We here introduce a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method to fit fully triaxial models to weak lensing data that gives parameter and error estimates that fully incorporate the true uncertainty present in nature. Applying the MCMC triaxial fitting method to a population of NFW triaxial lenses drawn from the shape distribution of structure formation simulations, we find that including triaxiality cannot explain a population of massive, highly concentrated clusters within the framework of LCDM, but easily explains rare cases of apparently massive, highly concentrated, very efficient lensing clusters. Our MCMC triaxial NFW fitting method is easily expandable to include constraints from additional data types, and its application returns model parameters and errors that more accurately capture the true (and limited) extent of our knowledge of the structure of galaxy cluster lenses. (abridged)Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures. Updated to match published versio