Examination of the inter-rater agreement among faculty marking a research proposal on an undergraduate health course

Copyright @ 2009 The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice.Purpose: This research looked at inter-rater agreement among faculty marking a research proposal on an undergraduate health course. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there were significant differences between marks as well as the comments given on research proposals that were double marked by two faculty members, where faculty were blind to the other marker’s marks and comments. Subjects: The subjects for this study consisted of 80 final year health students who submitted a research proposal and 13 full-time and 10 part-time faculty members who double marked the proposals. Methods: Faculty pairs marked the proposals independently and were required to meet with each other and discuss the marks given, reasons for the mark and the comments. Markers were asked to come to an agreement about the mark and the comments. Analyses: Agreement in marks was assessed using a Bland-Altman plot. Weighted Cohen's Kappa was used to estimate the agreement between the classifications given by markers. Comments were analyzed for differences using thematic analysis. Results: There was a wide discrepancy in the classification of students between markers. The weighted proportions found to agree on classification was 46%. Analysis of the comments indicated a wide discrepancy between markers. Conclusion: The outcomes of this study are similar to previous studies that have looked at inter-rater agreement when double marking was used to mark various types of written assignments. Further exploration of the inter-rater agreement in the marking process and other marking processes that results in a transparent system is needed

Poly(2-oxazolines) in biological and biomedical application contexts.

Polyoxazolines of various architectures and chemical functionalities can be prepared in a living and therefore controlled manner via cationic ring-opening polymerisation. They have found widespread applications, ranging from coatings to pigment dispersants. Furthermore, several polyoxazolines are water-soluble or amphiphilic and relatively non-toxic, which makes them interesting as biomaterials. This paper reviews the development of polyoxazoline-based polymers in biological and biomedical application contexts since the beginning of the millennium. This includes nanoscalar systems such as membranes and nanoparticles, drug and gene delivery applications, as well as stimuli-responsive systems

Jet-Like Correlations between Forward and Mid-Rapidity

Mid-rapidity azimuthal correlations probe di-jets originating mainly from gluon-gluon hard-scattering. Measurements of such correlations have revealed significant (gluon-)jet modification in central Au+Au collisions. Azimuthal correlations at forward rapidity with a mid-rapidity high-pt hadron, on the other hand, are sensitive primarily to quark-gluon hard-scattering and may probe quark-jet modification in nuclear medium. They may be also sensitive to the Color Glass Condensate by separating d-side and Au-side in d+Au collisions. We present the first results on correlations of charged hadrons at forward rapidity in the STAR FTPCs (2.7 < |eta| < 3.9, pt < 2 GeV/c) with high-pt charged hadrons at mid-rapidity from the main TPC (|eta| 3 GeV/c). Preliminary results from pp, d+Au, and Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV are compared. Implications of the results are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Invited talk at Hard Probes 2006, Asilomar, C

High stability amplifier

An electrical RF signal amplifier for providing high temperature stability and RF isolation and comprised of an integrated circuit voltage regulator, a single transistor, and an integrated circuit operational amplifier mounted on a circuit board such that passive circuit elements are located on side of the circuit board while the active circuit elements are located on the other side is described. The active circuit elements are embedded in a common heat sink so that a common temperature reference is provided for changes in ambient temperature. The single transistor and operational amplifier are connected together to form a feedback amplifier powered from the voltage regulator with transistor implementing primarily the desired signal gain while the operational amplifier implements signal isolation. Further RF isolation is provided by the voltage regulator which inhibits cross-talk from other like amplifiers powered from a common power supply. Input and output terminals consisting of coaxial connectors are located on the sides of a housing in which all the circuit components and heat sink are located

Effective ways to use nonpersonal information in healthcare: report from a workshop held at University College London 15-16 April 2004

New information technologies are being introduced in the UK National Health Service as resources for the acquisition of clinical knowledge. These are forcing working practices to adapt and are affecting and challenging perceived roles, relationships and expectations of patients and health professionals alike. Effective ways to use nonpersonal information in healthcare was a two-day workshop hosted by UCL Interaction Centre at University College London intended to provide a forum for practioners and researchers working in the area of clinical health information delivery to come together to discuss access to health information, and to consider how the various challenges and opportunities relating to electronic information provision can be managed most effectively. For the first day of the workshop, the theme for presentations and discussion was information provision for and access by health professionals. Talks were given by Julius Weinberg (City University, London), Roger Slack (University of Edinburgh) and Anne Adams (University College London). The theme for the second day was information provision and access by patients. Presentations were given by Mig Muller (NHS Direct), Jane Wilson (Whittington Hospital and Medi-notes), Andrew Herxheimer (University of Oxford) and Henry Potts (University College London). On both days, delegates formed into three groups for breakout sessions in which they discussed and reported back on: information quality and use, social and organisational context, and user requirements and training in relation to the respective daily theme (health practitioners/patients). This report summerises each of the presentations and the reports by the breakout groups

Pretreatment method for anti-wettable materials

Anti-wettable materials brazing processes using titanium and zirconium for surface pretreatmen

High performance associative memory models and weight dilution

The consequences of diluting the weights of the standard Hopfield architecture associative memory model, trained using perceptron like learning rules, is examined. A proportion of the weights of the network are removed; this can be done in a symmetric and asymmetric way and both methods are investigated. This paper reports experimental investigations into the consequences of dilution in terms of: capacity, training times and size of basins of attraction. It is concluded that these networks maintain a reasonable performance at fairly high dilution rates.Final Accepted Versio