Because You Can\u27t Teach It All and They Won\u27t Read It All: Student Response Systems Do Improve Learning

In Introductory Psychology, 30 graduate TAs/faculty teach 2700 students annually. This year we developed an assessment program to improve student learning and graduate teaching training (Shigeto et al., 2010). Part of the program studied the pedagogical value of using student response systems to answer in-class multiple choice questions. Prior research lacks scientific rigor and provides equivocal evidence that SRSs improve learning (Caldwell, 2007)

Left Behind: Despite Positive Attitudes, Learning Is Modulated by Prior Academic Achievement

In our Introductory Psychology (Psych 100) program, 30 graduate TAs/faculty teach 2,700 undergraduates annually. While the program has received many accolades and TAs are often recognized for their teaching skills, we have not systematically investigated the program’s strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, in Fall 2009, we studied 3 questions: 1. What are students’ attitudes toward the course? 2. Do students in Psych 100 learn the core psychological concepts? 3. Are there differences in learning based on students’ characteristics

Psychophysiological Arousal and Auditory Sensitivity in a Cross-Clinical Sample of Autistic and Non-autistic Anxious Adults

Many autistic people report overwhelming sensory experiences and also elevated levels of anxiety. Understanding how these experiences are linked to each other can contribute to improved support and intervention for reducing sensory overload and anxiety. This study included 95 young adult participants including autistic adults, non-autistic adults reporting to a psychotherapy clinic with high levels of anxiety, and neurotypical adults with no psychiatric concerns. We measured pupil size using including a baseline task with no auditory stimulus followed by two blocks of simple auditory habituation. In a subset of 80 participants we also measured self-report levels of sensory processing, anxious apprehension, and intolerance of uncertainty. The autism group showed atypical sensory processing on all four measured domains of the Adolescent and Adult Sensory Profile including sensory sensitivity, sensory seeking, sensory avoidance, and low registration subscales. Dimensional analyses across all participants showed significant positive correlations between sensory sensitivity, sensory seeking, and sensory avoidance domains with scores from the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-Short Form and Penn State Worry Questionnaire. The autism group showed significantly larger pupil size than other groups at baseline, before any auditory stimulation. There were no group differences in the rate of auditory habituation, nonetheless the overall, absolute larger pupil size remained in the autism group throughout the experiment. We suggest that this and other findings could indicate chronic hyperarousal in many autistic people. Treatment for anxiety in autism should be informed by knowledge of unique aspects of anxiety in autism and consider the role of sensory experience and everyday psychophysiological arousal

An iterative and targeted sampling design informed by habitat suitability models for detecting focal plant species over extensive areas

Prioritizing areas for management of non-native invasive plants is critical, as invasive plants can negatively impact plant community structure. Extensive and multi-jurisdictional inventories are essential to prioritize actions aimed at mitigating the impact of invasions and changes in disturbance regimes. However, previous work devoted little effort to devising sampling methods sufficient to assess the scope of multi-jurisdictional invasion over extensive areas. Here we describe a large-scale sampling design that used species occurrence data, habitat suitability models, and iterative and targeted sampling efforts to sample five species and satisfy two key management objectives: 1) detecting non-native invasive plants across previously unsampled gradients, and 2) characterizing the distribution of non-native invasive plants at landscape to regional scales. Habitat suitability models of five species were based on occurrence records and predictor variables derived from topography, precipitation, and remotely sensed data. We stratified and established field sampling locations according to predicted habitat suitability and phenological, substrate, and logistical constraints. Across previously unvisited areas, we detected at least one of our focal species on 77% of plots. In turn, we used detections from 2011 to improve habitat suitability models and sampling efforts in 2012, as well as additional spatial constraints to increase detections. These modifications resulted in a 96% detection rate at plots. The range of habitat suitability values that identified highly and less suitable habitats and their environmental conditions corresponded to field detections with mixed levels of agreement. Our study demonstrated that an iterative and targeted sampling framework can address sampling bias, reduce time costs, and increase detections. Other studies can extend the sampling framework to develop methods in other ecosystems to provide detection data. The sampling methods implemented here provide a meaningful tool when understanding the potential distribution and habitat of species over multi-jurisdictional and extensive areas is needed for achieving management objectives

Dissociating temporal inhibition of return and saccadic momentum across multiple eye-movement tasks

Saccade latencies are longer prior to an eye movement to a recently fixated location than to control locations, a phenomenon known as oculomotor inhibition of return (O-IOR). There are theoretical reasons to expect that O-IOR would vary in magnitude across different eye movement tasks, but previous studies have produced contradictory evidence. However, this may have been because previous studies have not dissociated O-IOR and a related phenomenon, saccadic momentum, which is a bias to repeat saccade programs that also influences saccade latencies. The present study dissociated the influence of O-IOR and saccadic momentum across three complex visual tasks: scene search, scene memorization, and scene aesthetic preference. O-IOR was of similar magnitude across all three tasks, while saccadic momentum was weaker in scene search

Derivation and validation of an algorithm to predict transitions from community to residential long-term care among persons with dementia—A retrospective cohort study

Objectives: To develop and validate a model to predict time-to-LTC admissions among individuals with dementia. Design: Population-based retrospective cohort study using health administrative data. Setting and participants: Community-dwelling older adults (65+) in Ontario living with dementia and assessed with the Resident Assessment Instrument for Home Care (RAI-HC) between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2017. Methods: Individuals in the derivation cohort (n = 95,813; assessed before March 31, 2015) were followed for up to 360 days after the index RAI-HC assessment for admission into LTC. We used a multivariable Fine Gray sub-distribution hazard model to predict the cumulative incidence of LTC entry while accounting for all-cause mortality as a competing risk. The model was validated in 34,038 older adults with dementia with an index RAI-HC assessment between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2017. Results: Within one year of a RAI-HC assessment, 35,513 (37.1%) individuals in the derivation cohort and 10,735 (31.5%) in the validation cohort entered LTC. Our algorithm was well-calibrated (Emax = 0.119, ICIavg = 0.057) and achieved a c-statistic of 0.707 (95% confidence interval: 0.703–0.712) in the validation cohort. Conclusions and implications: We developed an algorithm to predict time to LTC entry among individuals living with dementia. This tool can inform care planning for individuals with dementia and their family caregivers

A review of paratuberculosis in dairy herds — Part 1: Epidemiology

Bovine paratuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease of cattle caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). This is the first in a two-part review of the epidemiology and control of paratuberculosis in dairy herds. Paratuberculosis was originally described in 1895 and is now considered endemic among farmed cattle worldwide. MAP has been isolated from a wide range of non-ruminant wildlife as well as humans and non-human primates. In dairy herds, MAP is assumed to be introduced predominantly through the purchase of infected stock with additional factors modulating the risk of persistence or fade-out once an infected animal is introduced. Faecal shedding may vary widely between individuals and recent modelling work has shed some light on the role of super-shedding animals in the transmission of MAP within herds. Recent experimental work has revisited many of the assumptions around age susceptibility, faecal shedding in calves and calf-to-calf transmission. Further efforts to elucidate the relative contributions of different transmission routes to the dissemination of infection in endemic herds will aid in the prioritisation of efforts for control on farm

A review of paratuberculosis in dairy herds — Part 2: On-farm control

Bovine paratuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease of cattle, caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). This is the second in a two-part review of the epidemiology and control of paratuberculosis in dairy herds. Several negative production effects associated with MAP infection have been described, but perhaps the most significant concern in relation to the importance of paratuberculosis as a disease of dairy cattle is the potential link with Crohn’s disease in humans. Milk is considered a potential transmission route to humans and it is recognised that pasteurisation does not necessarily eliminate the bacterium. Therefore, control must also include reduction of the levels of MAP in bulk milk supplied from dairy farms. There is little field evidence in support of specific control measures, although several studies seem to show a decreased prevalence associated with the implementation of a combined management and test-and-cull programme. Improvements in vaccination efficacy and reduced tuberculosis (TB) test interference may increase uptake of vaccination as a control option. Farmer adoption of best practice recommendations at farm level for the control of endemic diseases can be challenging. Improved understanding of farmer behaviour and decision making will help in developing improved communication strategies which may be more efficacious in affecting behavioural change on farm