Hogyan térnek el a papír-ceruza és számítógépes teszteredmények? - Szisztematikus szakirodalom áttekintés a PISA, TIMSS és PIRLS mérésekkel kapcsolatos tapasztalatokról

The National Assessment of Basic Competencies (NABC) is the largest student assessment operating in Hungary. The assessment has been measuring students in public education for twenty years. It assesses mathematical literacy and reading comprehension previously in two ( 6th and 8th), now in three grades (6th, 8th and 10th ). NABC was implemented for the first time with an electronic data collection in 2022. This is following the trends of international large scale student assessments (ILSA). PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS, in which Hungary typically participates since their beginning, have been changed to computer-based assessments during recent measurement cycles. An aim of the assessments above is to compare countries or grades and to report trends. To ensure the continuity, it is necessary to examine the possible difference between the two delivery methods, which is called mode effect. Since NABC typically follows the methodology of the ILSAs, we assumed that mode effect studies related to them could be a good source of information for the domestic assessment. Evidence can be in the own documents of the assessments or in independent analyses. Our research question was what scientific evidence can be obtained in connection with the PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS assessments in the domestic and international scientific space or in the documents of the ILSAs regarding the differences between paper-based and computer-based delivery. The documentation of the assessments typically showed a mode effect of 10-20 points. To ensure the continuity of trends mode effect was treated uniformly in forming trends, except for a few countries or items. However, critical studies point out that the mode effect may differ from country to country, leading to a false conclusion drawn from trends.Az Országos kompetenciamérés (OKM) a Magyarországon működő legnagyobb volumenű tanulói teljesítménymérés. A mérés húsz éve méri a közoktatásban tanulókat matematikai eszköztudás és szövegértési képesség területen korábban két (6. és 8.), később három (6., 8. és 10.) évfolyamon. Az OKM első alkalommal 2022-ben – követve a nemzetközi tanulói teljesítménymérések trendjét – valósult meg elektronikus adatfelvételi móddal. A PISA, TIMSS és PIRLS mérések, melyekben Magyarország jellemzően indulás óta részt vesz, a legutóbbi mérési ciklusok során a papír-ceruza teszteket elektronikusra váltották. A fenti négy mérés mindegyikének célja országok vagy évfolyamok összehasonlítása, trendek bemutatása, melyek folytonosságának biztosítása szükségessé teszi a papír-ceruza és a számítógép-alapú mérési módok lehetséges különbségének, azaz a médiahatásnak (mode effect) a vizsgálatát. Mivel az OKM jellemzően a nemzetközi tanulói teljesítménymérések módszertanát követi, feltételeztük, hogy a nemzetközi mérésekhez kapcsolódó médiahatás-vizsgálatok – akár a mérések saját dokumentumai, akár független elemzések – jó információforrások lehetnek a hazai mérés esetében. Kutatásunkban arra kerestük a választ, hogy a PISA, TIMSS és PIRLS mérésekhez kapcsolódóan a hazai térben, a nemzetközi adatbázisokban és a mérések saját dokumentumaiban milyen tudományosan megalapozott eredmények érhetőek el a papír-ceruza és a számítógép-alapú tesztelés közötti különbségekről. Vizsgálatunkat szisztematikus szakirodalomelemzés segítségével végeztük el. A mérések dokumentációja jellemzően 10–20 pontos médiahatást mutatott ki, amit a trendek folytonossága érdekében – néhány ország kivételével – egységes módon vettek figyelembe a trendek kialakításakor. A kritikai vizsgálatok ugyanakkor rámutatnak, hogy a médiahatás eltérő lehet az egyes országokban, ami a trendből levont hamis következtetéshez vezethet

Cronbach-alfa: vele vagy nélküle?

Háttér és célkitűzések: Tanulmányunkban arra vállalkozunk, hogy egy olyan eljárást mutassunk be, melynek segítségével megalapozottabban használható az eddig is széles körben alkalmazott Cronbach-alfa mutató. Módszer: Elemzésünkben egy olyan, egyszerűen elkészíthető szimulációs eljárás alkalmazását javasoljuk, melynek segítségével az adatainkhoz igazodva egy, az adott helyzetben elvárt együttes konzisztenciaszint (át- lagos korrelációs szint) eléréséhez szükséges Cronbach-alfa viszonyítási pontot adhatunk. Eredmények: Elemzésünk ugyanis rámutat arra, hogy nemcsak a kérdőívben használt itemek számától, hanem a kérdőívben alkalmazott Likert-skála értékeinek számától is függővé kellene tenni a Cronbach-alfa mutató viszonyítási pontját. Szintén eredménye az elemzésünknek, hogy az alkalmazott formulával nem a hagyományosan meghatározott 0,7-es értéket kapjuk, hanem mind a Likert-skálától, mind pedig az itemek számától, illetve az elvárt, itemek közötti kapcsolati erősségtől függővé lehet tenni az elvárt Cronbach-alfa értéket. Következtetések: A javasolt algoritmus segítségével a Cronbach-alfa mutatónak egy olyan alkalmazását lehet megvalósítani, mely alkalmas arra, hogy a kérdőívünkhöz (a válaszadási Likert-skálához) igazodva, illetve a skála itemszáma alapján referenciapontot adhassunk e megbízhatósági mutatóhoz

High-soluble CGA levels are associated with poor survival in bladder cancer

Recently, a neuroendocrine-like molecular subtype has been discovered in muscle-invasive urothelial bladder cancer (BC). Chromogranin A (CGA) is a widely used tissue and serum marker in neuroendocrine tumors. Our aim was to evaluate serum CGA (sCGA) concentrations and their associations with clinical and follow-up data in BC and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). sCGA concentrations were analyzed in the following cohorts: (1) BC training set (n = 188), (2) BC validation set (n = 125), (3) RCC patients (n = 77), (4) healthy controls (n = 97). CGA immunohistochemistry and RT-qPCR analyses were performed in 20 selected FFPE and 29 frozen BC tissue samples. Acquired data were correlated with clinicopathological parameters including comorbidities with known effect on sCGA as well as with patients’ follow-up data. sCGA levels were significantly higher in BC but not in RCC patients compared to healthy controls. High sCGA levels were independently associated with poor overall and disease-specific survival both in the BC training (P < 0.001, P = 0.002) and validation set (P = 0.009, P = 0.017). sCGA levels were inversely correlated with glomerulus filtrating rate (GFR) and linearly correlated with creatinine clearance and urea concentrations. These correlations were not related to the prognostic value of sCGA. Tissue CGA levels were low to absent independently of sCGA concentrations. Our results demonstrate elevated levels and an independent prognostic value for sCGA in BC but not in RCC. Despite the significant correlation between sCGA and GFR, the prognostic relevance of sCGA seems not related to impaired renal function or other comorbidities

Regular and chaotic orbits in barred galaxies - I. Applying the SALI/GALI method to explore their distribution in several models

The distinction between chaotic and regular behavior of orbits in galactic models is an important issue and can help our understanding of galactic dynamical evolution. In this paper, we deal with this issue by applying the techniques of the Smaller (and Generalized) ALingment Indices, SALI (and GALI), to extensive samples of orbits obtained by integrating numerically the equations of motion in a barred galaxy potential. We estimate first the fraction of chaotic and regular orbits for the two-degree-of-freedom (DOF) case (where the galaxy extends only in the (x,y)-space) and show that it is a non-monotonic function of the energy. For the three DOF extension of this model (in the z-direction), we give similar estimates, both by exploring different sets of initial conditions and by varying the model parameters, like the mass, size and pattern speed of the bar. We find that regular motion is more abundant at small radial distances from the center of the galaxy, where the relative non-axisymmetric forcing is relatively weak, and at small distances from the equatorial plane, where trapping around the stable periodic orbits is important. We also find that the variation of the bar pattern speed, within a realistic range of values, does not affect much the phase space's fraction of regular and chaotic motions. Using different sets of initial conditions, we show that chaotic motion is dominant in galaxy models whose bar component is more massive, while models with a fatter or thicker bar present generally more regular behavior. Finally, we find that the fraction of orbits that are chaotic correlates strongly with the bar strength.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, MNRAS, in pres

In Vitro Dedifferentiation of Melanocytes from Adult Epidermis

In previous work we described a novel culture technique using a cholera toxin and PMA-free medium (Mel-mix) for obtaining pure melanocyte cultures from human adult epidermis. In Mel-mix medium the cultured melanocytes are bipolar, unpigmented and highly proliferative. Further characterization of the cultured melanocytes revealed the disappearance of c-Kit and TRP-1 and induction of nestin expression, indicating that melanocytes dedifferentiated in this in vitro culture. Cholera toxin and PMA were able to induce c-Kit and TRP-1 protein expressions in the cells, reversing dedifferentiation. TRP-1 mRNA expression was induced in dedifferentiated melanocytes by UV-B irradiated keratinocyte supernatants, however direct UV-B irradiation of the cells resulted in further decrease of TRP-1 mRNA expression. These dedifferentiated, easily accessible cultured melanocytes provide a good model for studying melanocyte differentiation and possibly transdifferentiation. Because melanocytes in Mel-mix medium can be cultured with human serum as the only supplement, this culture system is also suitable for autologous cell transplantation

Evaluation of a Partial Genome Screening of Two Asthma Susceptibility Regions Using Bayesian Network Based Bayesian Multilevel Analysis of Relevance

Genetic studies indicate high number of potential factors related to asthma. Based on earlier linkage analyses we selected the 11q13 and 14q22 asthma susceptibility regions, for which we designed a partial genome screening study using 145 SNPs in 1201 individuals (436 asthmatic children and 765 controls). The results were evaluated with traditional frequentist methods and we applied a new statistical method, called Bayesian network based Bayesian multilevel analysis of relevance (BN-BMLA). This method uses Bayesian network representation to provide detailed characterization of the relevance of factors, such as joint significance, the type of dependency, and multi-target aspects. We estimated posteriors for these relations within the Bayesian statistical framework, in order to estimate the posteriors whether a variable is directly relevant or its association is only mediated. With frequentist methods one SNP (rs3751464 in the FRMD6 gene) provided evidence for an association with asthma (OR = 1.43(1.2–1.8); p = 3×10−4). The possible role of the FRMD6 gene in asthma was also confirmed in an animal model and human asthmatics. In the BN-BMLA analysis altogether 5 SNPs in 4 genes were found relevant in connection with asthma phenotype: PRPF19 on chromosome 11, and FRMD6, PTGER2 and PTGDR on chromosome 14. In a subsequent step a partial dataset containing rhinitis and further clinical parameters was used, which allowed the analysis of relevance of SNPs for asthma and multiple targets. These analyses suggested that SNPs in the AHNAK and MS4A2 genes were indirectly associated with asthma. This paper indicates that BN-BMLA explores the relevant factors more comprehensively than traditional statistical methods and extends the scope of strong relevance based methods to include partial relevance, global characterization of relevance and multi-target relevance

Dermacentor reticulatus: a vector on the rise

Dermacentor reticulatus is a hard tick species with extraordinary biological features. It has a high reproduction rate, a rapid developmental cycle, and is also able to overcome years of unfavourable conditions. Dermacentor reticulatus can survive under water for several months and is cold-hardy even compared to other tick species. It has a wide host range: over 60 different wild and domesticated hosts are known for the three active developmental stages. Its high adaptiveness gives an edge to this tick species as shown by new data on the emergence and establishment of D. reticulatus populations throughout Europe. The tick has been the research focus of a growing number of scientists, physicians and veterinarians. Within the Web of Science database, more than a fifth of the over 700 items published on this species between 1897 and 2015 appeared in the last three years (2013–2015). Here we attempt to synthesize current knowledge on the systematics, ecology, geographical distribution and recent spread of the species and to highlight the great spectrum of possible veterinary and public health threats it poses. Canine babesiosis caused by Babesia canis is a severe leading canine vector-borne disease in many endemic areas. Although less frequently than Ixodes ricinus, D. reticulatus adults bite humans and transmit several Rickettsia spp., Omsk haemorrhagic fever virus or Tick-borne encephalitis virus. We have not solely collected and reviewed the latest and fundamental scientific papers available in primary databases but also widened our scope to books, theses, conference papers and specialists colleagues’ experience where needed. Besides the dominant literature available in English, we also tried to access scientific literature in German, Russian and eastern European languages as well. We hope to inspire future research projects that are necessary to understand the basic life-cycle and ecology of this vector in order to understand and prevent disease threats. We conclude that although great strides have been made in our knowledge of the eco-epidemiology of this species, several gaps still need to be filled with basic research, targeting possible reservoir and vector roles and the key factors resulting in the observed geographical spread of D. reticulatus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1599-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users