Photovoltaic performance and reliability workshop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mrig, L. [ed.

1993-12-01

This workshop was the sixth in a series of workshops sponsored by NREL/DOE under the general subject of photovoltaic testing and reliability during the period 1986--1993. PV performance and PV reliability are at least as important as PV cost, if not more. In the US, PV manufacturers, DOE laboratories, electric utilities, and others are engaged in the photovoltaic reliability research and testing. This group of researchers and others interested in the field were brought together to exchange the technical knowledge and field experience as related to current information in this evolving field of PV reliability. The papers presented here reflect this effort since the last workshop held in September, 1992. The topics covered include: cell and module characterization, module and system testing, durability and reliability, system field experience, and standards and codes.

DEVELOPING OF INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE ANXIETY SCALE: VALIDITY - RELIABILITY STUDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Esra DALKIRAN

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to develop a scale unique to our culture, concerning  individual instrument performance anxiety of the students  who are getting instrument training  in the Department of Music Education. In the study, the descriptive research model is used and qualitative research techniques are utilized. The study population consists of the students attending the 23 universities which has Music Education Department. The sample of the study consists of 438 girls and 312 boys, totally 750 students  who are studying in the Department of Music Education of randomly selected 10 universities. As a result of the explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses that were performed, a one-dimensional structure consisting of 14 items was obtained. Also, t-scores and  the coefficient scores of total item correlation concerning the distinguishing power of the items, the difference in the scores of the set of lower and upper 27% was calculated, and it was observed that the items are distinguishing as a result of both analyses. Of the scale, Cronbach's alpha coefficient of internal consistency was calculated as .94, and test-retest reliability coefficient was calculated as .93. As a result, a valid and reliable assessment and evaluation instrument that measures the exam performance anxiety of the students studying in the Department of Music Education, has been developed.Extended AbstractsIntroductionAnxiety is a universal phenomenon which people experience once or a few times during lives. It was accepted as concern for the future or as an unpleasant emotional experience regarding probable hitches of the events (Di Tomasso & Gosch, 2002.In general, the occasions on which negative feelings are experienced cause anxiety to arise (Baltaş and Baltaş, 2000. People also feel anxious in dangerous situations. Anxiety may lead a person to be creative, while it may have hindering characteristics. Anxiety is that an individual considers him

Assessing the Reliability of Student Evaluations of Teaching: Choosing the Right Coefficient

Science.gov (United States)

Morley, Donald

2014-01-01

Many of the studies used to support the claim that student evaluations of teaching are reliable measures of teaching effectiveness have frequently calculated inappropriate reliability coefficients. This paper points to three coefficients that would be appropriate depending on if student evaluations were used for formative or summative purposes.…

International Flipped Class for Chinese Honors Bachelor Students in the Frame of Multidisciplinary Fields: Reliability and Microelectronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Bonnaud

2018-07-01

Full Text Available This paper reports an innovative pedagogic experience performed at South-East University (SEU with electrical engineering Bachelor honors students (computer science, mechanics, and electronics. The purpose was to develop their motivation and to make them aware of the strategic importance of two aspects of electronic engineering i.e. integrated technologies and reliability assessment of devices and systems. The pedagogical approach was based on a flipped class and learning by project that consisted to involve the students in the two topics. After several lectures on the fundamentals of microelectronics and reliability of electronics components performed by foreign professors, twelve groups of five students were built. Each group had to develop one topic, chosen for its strategic importance. Thus, from a given set of main literature references, the students prepared during three days a twelve pages report and an oral presentation, both in English language. Results were generally very good. Most of the students succeeded in addressing issues that were completely new for them. They clearly built by themselves the skills allowing understanding of all the important aspects of the topics they had to approach. This paper gives details on the organization, the content and the final evaluation.

Assessing clinical reasoning abilities of medical students using clinical performance examination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunju Im

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the reliability and validity of new clinical performance examination (CPX for assessing clinical reasoning skills and evaluating clinical reasoning ability of the students. Methods: Third-year medical school students (n=313 in Busan-Gyeongnam consortium in 2014 were included in the study. One of 12 stations was developed to assess clinical reasoning abilities. The scenario and checklists of the station were revised by six experts. Chief complaint of the case was rhinorrhea, accompanied by fever, headache, and vomiting. Checklists focused on identifying of the main problem and systematic approach to the problem. Students interviewed the patient and recorded subjective and objective findings, assessments, plans (SOAP note for 15 minutes. Two professors assessed students simultaneously. We performed statistical analysis on their scores and survey. Results: The Cronbach α of subject station was 0.878 and Cohen κ coefficient between graders was 0.785. Students agreed on CPX as an adequate tool to evaluate students’ performance, but some graders argued that the CPX failed to secure its validity due to their lack of understanding the case. One hundred eight students (34.5% identified essential problem early and only 58 (18.5% performed systematic history taking and physical examination. One hundred seventy-three of them (55.3% communicated correct diagnosis with the patient. Most of them had trouble in writing SOAP notes. Conclusion: To gain reliability and validity, interrater agreement should be secured. Students' clinical reasoning skills were not enough. Students need to be trained on problem identification, reasoning skills and accurate record-keeping.

Reliability and Agreement in Student Ratings of the Class Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Peter M.; Christ, Theodore J.

2016-01-01

The current study estimated the reliability and agreement of student ratings of the classroom environment obtained using the Responsive Environmental Assessment for Classroom Teaching (REACT; Christ, Nelson, & Demers, 2012; Nelson, Demers, & Christ, 2014). Coefficient alpha, class-level reliability, and class agreement indices were…

Reliability of a questionnaire on substance use among adolescent students, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Machado Neto, Adelmo de Souza; Andrade, Tarcisio Matos; Fernandes, Gilênio Borges; Zacharias, Helder Paulo; Carvalho, Fernando Martins; Machado, Ana Paula Souza; Dias, Ana Carmen Costa; Garcia, Ana Carolina Rocha; Santana, Lauro Reis; Rolin, Carlos Eduardo; Sampaio, Cyntia; Ghiraldi, Gisele; Bastos, Francisco Inácio

2010-10-01

To analyze reliability of a self-applied questionnaire on substance use and misuse among adolescent students. Two cross-sectional studies were carried out for the instrument test-retest. The sample comprised male and female students aged 1119 years from public and private schools (elementary, middle, and high school students) in the city of Salvador, Northeastern Brazil, in 2006. A total of 591 questionnaires were applied in the test and 467 in the retest. Descriptive statistics, the Kappa index, Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation were estimated. The prevalence of substance use/misuse was similar in both test and retest. Sociodemographic variables showed a "moderate" to "almost perfect" agreement for the Kappa index, and a "satisfactory" (>0.75) consistency for Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation. The age which psychoactive substances (tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis) were first used and chronological age were similar in both studies. Test-retest reliability was found to be a good indicator of students' age of initiation and their patterns of substance use. The questionnaire reliability was found to be satisfactory in the population studied.

On predicting student performance using low-rank matrix factorization techniques

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lorenzen, Stephan Sloth; Pham, Dang Ninh; Alstrup, Stephen

2017-01-01

Predicting the score of a student is one of the important problems in educational data mining. The scores given by an individual student reflect how a student understands and applies the knowledge conveyed in class. A reliable performance prediction enables teachers to identify weak students...... that require remedial support, generate adaptive hints, and improve the learning of students. This work focuses on predicting the score of students in the quiz system of the Clio Online learning platform, the largest Danish supplier of online learning materials, covering 90% of Danish elementary schools...... and the current version of the data set is very sparse, the very low-rank approximation can capture enough information. This means that the simple baseline approach achieves similar performance compared to other advanced methods. In future work, we will restrict the quiz data set, e.g. only including quizzes...

[An instrument in Spanish to evaluate the performance of clinical teachers by students].

Science.gov (United States)

Bitran, Marcela; Mena, Beltrán; Riquelme, Arnoldo; Padilla, Oslando; Sánchez, Ignacio; Moreno, Rodrigo

2010-06-01

The modernization of clinical teaching has called for the creation of faculty development programs, and the design of suitable instruments to evaluate clinical teachers' performance. To report the development and validation of an instrument in Spanish designed to measure the students' perceptions of their clinical teachers' performance and to provide them with feedback to improve their teaching practices. In a process that included the active participation of authorities, professors in charge of courses and internships, clinical teachers, students and medical education experts, we developed a 30-item questionnaire called MEDUC30 to evaluate the performance of clinical teachers by their students. The internal validity was assessed by factor analysis of 5214 evaluations of 265 teachers, gathered from 2004 to 2007. The reliability was measured with the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the generalizability coefficient (g). MEDUC30 had good content and construct validity. Its internal structure was compatible with four factors: patient-centered teaching, teaching skills, assessment skills and learning climate, and it proved to be consistent with the structure anticipated by the theory. The scores were highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha: 0.97); five evaluations per teacher were sufficient to reach a reliability coefficient (g) of 0.8. MEDUC30 is a valid, reliable and useful instrument to evaluate the performance of clinical teachers. To our knowledge, this is the first instrument in Spanish for which solid validity and reliability evidences have been reported. We hope that MEDUC30 will be used to improve medical education in Spanish-speaking medical schools, providing teachers a specific feedback upon which to improve their pedagogical practice, and authorities with valuable information for the assessment of their faculty.

Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form: The Reliability and Validity Study

Science.gov (United States)

Sahin, Cengiz

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine the social media addictions of secondary school, high school and university students. 998 students participated in the study. 476 students from secondary schools, high schools and universities participated in the first application during which the…

Turkish Version of the Student Nurse Stress Index: Validity and Reliability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gamze Sarikoc, PhD, RN

2017-06-01

Conclusion: Results showed that the SNSI had a satisfactory level of reliability and validity in nursing students in Turkey. Multicenter studies including nursing students from different nursing schools are recommended for the SNSI to be generalized.

Nuclear performance and reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rothwell, G.

1993-01-01

If fewer forced outages are a sign of improved safety, nuclear power plants have become safer and more productive. There has been a significant improvement in nuclear power plant performance, due largely to a decline in the forced outage rate and a dramatic drop in the average number of forced outages per fuel cycle. If fewer forced outages are a sign of improved safety, nuclear power plants have become safer and more productive over time. To encourage further increases in performance, regulatory incentive schemes should reward reactor operators for improved reliability and safety, as well as for improved performance

Teaching accuracy and reliability for student projects

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Nick

2002-09-01

Physics students at Rugby School follow the Salters Horners A-level course, which involves working on a two-week practical project of their own choosing. Pupils often misunderstand the concepts of accuracy and reliability, believing, for example, that repeating readings makes them more accurate and more reliable, whereas all it does is help to check repeatability. The course emphasizes the ideas of checking anomalous points, improving accuracy and making readings more sensitive. This article describes how we teach pupils in preparation for their projects. Based on many years of running such projects, much of this material is from a short booklet that we give out to pupils, when we train them in practical project skills.

MHTGR thermal performance envelopes: Reliability by design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Etzel, K.T.; Howard, W.W.; Zgliczynski, J.B.

1992-05-01

This document discusses thermal performance envelopes which are used to specify steady-state design requirements for the systems of the Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor to maximize plant performance reliability with optimized design. The thermal performance envelopes are constructed around the expected operating point accounting for uncertainties in actual plant as-built parameters and plant operation. The components are then designed to perform successfully at all points within the envelope. As a result, plant reliability is maximized by accounting for component thermal performance variation in the design. The design is optimized by providing a means to determine required margins in a disciplined and visible fashion

Satisfactory reliability among nursing students using the instrument PVC ASSESS to evaluate management of peripheral venous catheters.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahlqvist, Margary; Berglund, Britta; Nordström, Gun; Klang, Birgitta; Johansson, Eva

2014-01-01

Nursing students should be given opportunities to participate in clinical audits during their education. However, audit tools are seldom tested for reliability among nursing students. The aim of this study was to present reliability among nursing students using the instrument PVC assess to assess management of peripheral venous catheters (PVCs) and PVC-related signs of thrombophlebitis. PVC assess was used to assess 67 inserted PVCs in 60 patients at ten wards at a university hospital. One group of nursing students (n=4) assessed PVCs at the bedside (inter-rater reliability) and photographs of these PVCs were taken. Another group of students (n=3) assessed the PVCs in the photographs after 4 weeks (test-retest reliability). To determine reliability, proportion of agreement [P(A)] and Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ) were calculated. For bedside assessment of PVCs, P(A) ranged from good to excellent (0.80-1.0) in 55% of the 26 PVC assess items that were tested. P(A) was poor (satisfactory reliability among nursing students. However, students need training in how to use the instrument before assessing PVCs.

Analyses of inter-rater reliability between professionals, medical students and trained school children as assessors of basic life support skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Stefanie; Ruhnke, Bjarne; Issleib, Malte; Daubmann, Anne; Harendza, Sigrid; Zöllner, Christian

2016-10-07

Training of lay-rescuers is essential to improve survival-rates after cardiac arrest. Multiple campaigns emphasise the importance of basic life support (BLS) training for school children. Trainings require a valid assessment to give feedback to school children and to compare the outcomes of different training formats. Considering these requirements, we developed an assessment of BLS skills using MiniAnne and tested the inter-rater reliability between professionals, medical students and trained school children as assessors. Fifteen professional assessors, 10 medical students and 111-trained school children (peers) assessed 1087 school children at the end of a CPR-training event using the new assessment format. Analyses of inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient; ICC) were performed. Overall inter-rater reliability of the summative assessment was high (ICC = 0.84, 95 %-CI: 0.84 to 0.86, n = 889). The number of comparisons between peer-peer assessors (n = 303), peer-professional assessors (n = 339), and peer-student assessors (n = 191) was adequate to demonstrate high inter-rater reliability between peer- and professional-assessors (ICC: 0.76), peer- and student-assessors (ICC: 0.88) and peer- and other peer-assessors (ICC: 0.91). Systematic variation in rating of specific items was observed for three items between professional- and peer-assessors. Using this assessment and integrating peers and medical students as assessors gives the opportunity to assess hands-on skills of school children with high reliability.

Performance and Reliability of Wind Turbines: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastian Pfaffel

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Performance (availability and yield and reliability of wind turbines can make the difference between success and failure of wind farm projects and these factors are vital to decrease the cost of energy. During the last years, several initiatives started to gather data on the performance and reliability of wind turbines on- and offshore and published findings in different journals and conferences. Even though the scopes of the different initiatives are similar, every initiative follows a different approach and results are therefore difficult to compare. The present paper faces this issue, collects results of different initiatives and harmonizes the results. A short description and assessment of every considered data source is provided. To enable this comparison, the existing reliability characteristics are mapped to a system structure according to the Reference Designation System for Power Plants (RDS-PP®. The review shows a wide variation in the performance and reliability metrics of the individual initiatives. Especially the comparison on onshore wind turbines reveals significant differences between the results. Only a few publications are available on offshore wind turbines and the results show an increasing performance and reliability of offshore wind turbines since the first offshore wind farms were erected and monitored.

[Reliability and Validity of the Scale for Homophobia in Medicine Students].

Science.gov (United States)

Campo-Arias, Adalberto; Lafaurie, María Mercedes; Gaitán-Duarte, Hernando G

2012-12-01

There are several scales to quantify homophobia in different populations. However, the reliability and validity of these instruments among Colombian students are unknown. Consequently, this work is intended to assess reliability (inner consistency) as well as the validity of the Scale for Homophobia in Medicine students from a private university in Bogotá (Colombia). Methodological study with 199 Medicine students from 1st to 5th semester that filled out the Homophobia Scale form, the general welfare questionnaire, the Attitude Towards Gays and Lesbians Scale (ATGL), WHO-5 (divergent validity) and the Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity (nomologic validity). Pearson's correlations were computed, the Cronbach's alfa coefficient, the omega coefficient (construct's reliability) and confirmatory factorial analysis. The Scale for Homophobia showed an alpha Cronbach coefficient of 0,785, an omega coefficient of 0,790 and a Pearson correlation with the ATGL of 0,844; with WHO-5, -0,059; and a Francis Scale of Attitude Toward Christianity, 0,187. The Scale toward Homophobia exhibited a relevant factor of 44,7% of the total variance. The Scale for Homophobia showed acceptable reliability and validity. New studies should investigate the stability of the scale and the nomologic validity regarding other constructs. Copyright © 2012 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Material and design considerations of FBGA reliability performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Teck Kheng; Ng, T.C.; Chai, Y.M.

2004-01-01

FBGA package reliability is usually assessed through the conventional approaches of die attach and mold compound material optimization. However, with the rapid changes and fast-moving pace of electronic packaging and the introduction of new soldermask and core materials, substrate design has also become a critical factor in determining overall package reliability. The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact design and soldermask material of a rigid substrate on overall package reliability. Three different soldermask patterns with a matrix of different die attach, mold compound, and soldermask materials are assessed using the moisture sensitivity test (MST). Package reliability is also assessed through the use of temperature cycling (T/C) at conditions 'B' and 'C'. For material optimization, three different mold compounds and die attach materials are used. Material adhesion between different die attach materials and soldermask materials are obtained through die shear performed at various temperatures and preset moisture conditions. A study correlating the different packaging material properties and their relative adhesion strengths with overall package reliability in terms of both MST and T/C performance was performed. Soldermask design under the die pads was found to affect package reliability. For example, locating vias at the edge of the die is not desirable because the vias acts as initiation point for delamination and moisture-induced failure. Through die shear testing, soldermask B demonstrated higher adhesion properties compared to soldermask A across several packaging materials and enhanced the overall package reliability in terms of both MST and T/C performance. Both MST JEDEC level 1 and the T/C of 'B' and 'C' at 1000 cycles have been achieved through design and package material optimization

Thermal performance envelopes for MHTGRs - Reliability by design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Etzel, K.T.; Howard, W.W.; Zgliczynski, J.

1992-01-01

Thermal performance envelopes are used to specify steady-state design requirements for the systems of the modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (MHTGR) to maximize plant performance reliability with optimized design. The thermal performance envelopes are constructed around the expected operating point to account for uncertainties in actual plant as-built parameters and plant operation. The components are then designed to perform successfully at all points within the envelope. As a result, plant reliability is maximized by accounting for component thermal performance variation in the design. The design is optimized by providing a means to determine required margins in a disciplined and visible fashion. This is accomplished by coordinating these requirements with the various system and component designers in the early stages of the design, applying the principles of total quality management. The design is challenged by the more complex requirements associated with a range of operating conditions, but in return, high probability of delivering reliable performance throughout the plant life is ensured

Measuring teacher regulating activities concerning student learning in secondary education classrooms : Reliability and validity of student perceptions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Beek, J. A.; de Jong, F. P. C. M.; Wubbels, Th.; Minnaert, A. E. M. G.

2014-01-01

This article describes the use and validation of the Pedagogical Practices Inventory, which uses student perceptions arranged into five subscales to measure teacher activities concerning the regulation of student learning in secondary education. To determine the reliability and validity of the

Principles of performance and reliability modeling and evaluation essays in honor of Kishor Trivedi on his 70th birthday

CERN Document Server

Puliafito, Antonio

2016-01-01

This book presents the latest key research into the performance and reliability aspects of dependable fault-tolerant systems and features commentary on the fields studied by Prof. Kishor S. Trivedi during his distinguished career. Analyzing system evaluation as a fundamental tenet in the design of modern systems, this book uses performance and dependability as common measures and covers novel ideas, methods, algorithms, techniques, and tools for the in-depth study of the performance and reliability aspects of dependable fault-tolerant systems. It identifies the current challenges that designers and practitioners must face in order to ensure the reliability, availability, and performance of systems, with special focus on their dynamic behaviors and dependencies, and provides system researchers, performance analysts, and practitioners with the tools to address these challenges in their work. With contributions from Prof. Trivedi's former PhD students and collaborators, many of whom are internationally recognize...

Validity and reliability of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Version in Sri Lanka.

Science.gov (United States)

Wickramasinghe, Nuwan Darshana; Dissanayake, Devani Sakunthala; Abeywardena, Gihan Sajiwa

2018-05-04

The present study was aimed at assessing the validity and the reliability of the Sinhala version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-Student Version (UWES-S) among collegiate cycle students in Sri Lanka. The 17-item UWES-S was translated to Sinhala and the judgmental validity was assessed by a multi-disciplinary panel of experts. Construct validity of the UWES-S was appraised by using multi-trait scaling analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on data obtained from a sample of 194 grade thirteen students in the Kurunegala district, Sri Lanka. Reliability of the UWES-S was assessed by using internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Except for item 13, all other items showed good psychometric properties in judgemental validity, item-convergent validity and item-discriminant validity. EFA using principal component analysis with Oblimin rotation, suggested a three-factor solution (including vigor, dedication and absorption subscales) explaining 65.4% of the total variance for the 16-item UWES-S (with item 13 deleted). All three subscales show high internal consistency with Cronbach's α coefficient values of 0.867, 0.819, and 0.903 and test-retest reliability was high (p valid and a reliable instrument to assess work engagement among collegiate cycle students in Sri Lanka.

Delivering high performance BWR fuel reliably

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schardt, J.F.

1998-01-01

Utilities are under intense pressure to reduce their production costs in order to compete in the increasingly deregulated marketplace. They need fuel, which can deliver high performance to meet demanding operating strategies. GE's latest BWR fuel design, GE14, provides that high performance capability. GE's product introduction process assures that this performance will be delivered reliably, with little risk to the utility. (author)

The Students\\' Knowledge, Attitude and Performance about Prevention of Using of Ecstasy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitra Zolfaghari

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In recent decades because of stimulant and hallucinogenic properties of ecstasy, it has been found so many users among adolescent and youth people. The aim of present study was the study of students' knowledge, attitude and performance related to prevention of using of ecstasy. Method: This descriptive – analytic study has done in 400 female students of government schools of zone no. 17. The sample selected by clustering random sampling and their knowledge, attitude, and performance measured by using of researchers developed questionnaire which shown sufficient level of validity and reliability. Results: The results showed that the majority of students (41% had low knowledge, 56% had positive attitude, and 55.1% had good performance related to prevention of using of ecstasy. Also, there was positive relationship between students' knowledge and attitude also attitude and performance. There was also positive relationship between some of the demographic characteristics and the students' knowledge, attitude and performance related to prevention of using of ecstasy. Conclusion: Finding of the research showed that the students' knowledge related to use of ecstasy is low, therefore appropriate instructional intervention in order to promote the students' knowledge is necessary.

Material and design considerations of FBGA reliability performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Teck Kheng; Ng, T.C.; Chai, Y.M

2004-09-01

FBGA package reliability is usually assessed through the conventional approaches of die attach and mold compound material optimization. However, with the rapid changes and fast-moving pace of electronic packaging and the introduction of new soldermask and core materials, substrate design has also become a critical factor in determining overall package reliability. The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact design and soldermask material of a rigid substrate on overall package reliability. Three different soldermask patterns with a matrix of different die attach, mold compound, and soldermask materials are assessed using the moisture sensitivity test (MST). Package reliability is also assessed through the use of temperature cycling (T/C) at conditions 'B' and 'C'. For material optimization, three different mold compounds and die attach materials are used. Material adhesion between different die attach materials and soldermask materials are obtained through die shear performed at various temperatures and preset moisture conditions. A study correlating the different packaging material properties and their relative adhesion strengths with overall package reliability in terms of both MST and T/C performance was performed. Soldermask design under the die pads was found to affect package reliability. For example, locating vias at the edge of the die is not desirable because the vias acts as initiation point for delamination and moisture-induced failure. Through die shear testing, soldermask B demonstrated higher adhesion properties compared to soldermask A across several packaging materials and enhanced the overall package reliability in terms of both MST and T/C performance. Both MST JEDEC level 1 and the T/C of 'B' and 'C' at 1000 cycles have been achieved through design and package material optimization.

Simulation and rubrics: technology and grading student performance in nurse anesthesia education.

Science.gov (United States)

Overstreet, Maria; McCarver, Lewis; Shields, John; Patterson, Jordan

2015-06-01

The use of simulation technology has introduced a challenge for simulation nurse educators: evaluation of student performance. The subjectivity of student performance evaluation has been in need of improvement. It is imperative to provide clear and consistent information to the learner of expectations for their performance. Educators use objectives to define for the learner what the primary focus will be in the learning activities. Creation of rubrics to replace checklists to evaluate learner performance is a team task. Improved rubrics assist instructors in providing valuable, immediate, and postactivity feedback and consistency among instructors, and improved inter-rater reliability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Delivering high performance BWR fuel reliably

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schardt, J.F. [GE Nuclear Energy, Wilmington, NC (United States)

1998-07-01

Utilities are under intense pressure to reduce their production costs in order to compete in the increasingly deregulated marketplace. They need fuel, which can deliver high performance to meet demanding operating strategies. GE's latest BWR fuel design, GE14, provides that high performance capability. GE's product introduction process assures that this performance will be delivered reliably, with little risk to the utility. (author)

Reliable predictions of waste performance in a geologic repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pigford, T.H.; Chambre, P.L.

1985-08-01

Establishing reliable estimates of long-term performance of a waste repository requires emphasis upon valid theories to predict performance. Predicting rates that radionuclides are released from waste packages cannot rest upon empirical extrapolations of laboratory leach data. Reliable predictions can be based on simple bounding theoretical models, such as solubility-limited bulk-flow, if the assumed parameters are reliably known or defensibly conservative. Wherever possible, performance analysis should proceed beyond simple bounding calculations to obtain more realistic - and usually more favorable - estimates of expected performance. Desire for greater realism must be balanced against increasing uncertainties in prediction and loss of reliability. Theoretical predictions of release rate based on mass-transfer analysis are bounding and the theory can be verified. Postulated repository analogues to simulate laboratory leach experiments introduce arbitrary and fictitious repository parameters and are shown not to agree with well-established theory. 34 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

Reliability-based performance simulation for optimized pavement maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chou, Jui-Sheng; Le, Thanh-Son

2011-01-01

Roadway pavement maintenance is essential for driver safety and highway infrastructure efficiency. However, regular preventive maintenance and rehabilitation (M and R) activities are extremely costly. Unfortunately, the funds available for the M and R of highway pavement are often given lower priority compared to other national development policies, therefore, available funds must be allocated wisely. Maintenance strategies are typically implemented by optimizing only the cost whilst the reliability of facility performance is neglected. This study proposes a novel algorithm using multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) technique to evaluate the cost-reliability tradeoff in a flexible maintenance strategy based on non-dominant solutions. Moreover, a probabilistic model for regression parameters is employed to assess reliability-based performance. A numerical example of a highway pavement project is illustrated to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed MOPSO algorithms. The analytical results show that the proposed approach can help decision makers to optimize roadway maintenance plans. - Highlights: →A novel algorithm using multi-objective particle swarm optimization technique. → Evaluation of the cost-reliability tradeoff in a flexible maintenance strategy. → A probabilistic model for regression parameters is employed to assess reliability-based performance. → The proposed approach can help decision makers to optimize roadway maintenance plans.

Reliability-based performance simulation for optimized pavement maintenance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chou, Jui-Sheng, E-mail: jschou@mail.ntust.edu.tw [Department of Construction Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech), 43 Sec. 4, Keelung Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan (China); Le, Thanh-Son [Department of Construction Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech), 43 Sec. 4, Keelung Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan (China)

2011-10-15

Roadway pavement maintenance is essential for driver safety and highway infrastructure efficiency. However, regular preventive maintenance and rehabilitation (M and R) activities are extremely costly. Unfortunately, the funds available for the M and R of highway pavement are often given lower priority compared to other national development policies, therefore, available funds must be allocated wisely. Maintenance strategies are typically implemented by optimizing only the cost whilst the reliability of facility performance is neglected. This study proposes a novel algorithm using multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) technique to evaluate the cost-reliability tradeoff in a flexible maintenance strategy based on non-dominant solutions. Moreover, a probabilistic model for regression parameters is employed to assess reliability-based performance. A numerical example of a highway pavement project is illustrated to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed MOPSO algorithms. The analytical results show that the proposed approach can help decision makers to optimize roadway maintenance plans. - Highlights: > A novel algorithm using multi-objective particle swarm optimization technique. > Evaluation of the cost-reliability tradeoff in a flexible maintenance strategy. > A probabilistic model for regression parameters is employed to assess reliability-based performance. > The proposed approach can help decision makers to optimize roadway maintenance plans.

An Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) Instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Taeho; Richardson, Jennifer C.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop an effective instrument to measure student readiness in online learning with reliable predictors of online learning success factors such as learning outcomes and learner satisfaction. The validity and reliability of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) instrument were tested using exploratory factor…

SGHWR fuel performance, safety and reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pickman, D.O.; Inglis, G.H.

1977-01-01

The design principles involved in fuel pins and elements need to take account of the sometimes conflicting requirements of performance, safety and reliability. The principal factors involved in this optimisation are discussed and it is shown from fuel irradiation experience in the Winfrith S.G.H.W.R. that the necessary bias toward safety has not resulted in a reliability level lower than that shown by other successful water reactor designs. Reliability has important economic implications and has to be paid for. By a detailed evaluation of S.G.H.W.R. fuel defects it is shown that very few defects can be shown to be related to design, rating or burn-up. This demonstrates that economic aspects have not over-ridden necessary criteria that must be met to achieve the desirable reliability level. It is possible that large-scale experience with S.G.H.W.R. fuel may eventually demonstrate that the balance is too much in favour of reliability and consideration may be given to whether design changes favouring economy could be achieved without compromising safety. The safety criteria applied to S.G.H.W.R. fuel are designed to avoid any possibility of a temperature runaway in any credible accident situation. The philosophy and supporting experimental work programme are outlined and the fuel design features which particularly contribute to maximising safety margins are outlined. Reference is made to new 60 pin fuel element to be used in the commercial S.G.H.W.R.'s and how it compares in design and performance aspects with the 36 pin element that has been used to date in the Winfrith S.G.H.W.R

Relationships between academic performance of medical students and their workplace performance as junior doctors.

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Sandra E; Celenza, Antonio; Puddey, Ian B; Lake, Fiona

2014-07-30

Little recent published evidence explores the relationship between academic performance in medical school and performance as a junior doctor. Although many forms of assessment are used to demonstrate a medical student's knowledge or competence, these measures may not reliably predict performance in clinical practice following graduation. This descriptive cohort study explores the relationship between academic performance of medical students and workplace performance as junior doctors, including the influence of age, gender, ethnicity, clinical attachment, assessment type and summary score measures (grade point average) on performance in the workplace as measured by the Junior Doctor Assessment Tool. There were two hundred participants. There were significant correlations between performance as a Junior Doctor (combined overall score) and the grade point average (r = 0.229, P = 0.002), the score from the Year 6 Emergency Medicine attachment (r = 0.361, P gender or ethnicity on the overall combined score of performance of the junior doctor. Performance on integrated assessments from medical school is correlated to performance as a practicing physician as measured by the Junior Doctor Assessment Tool. These findings support the value of combining undergraduate assessment scores to assess competence and predict future performance.

How Reliable Are Students' Evaluations of Teaching Quality? A Variance Components Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Feistauer, Daniela; Richter, Tobias

2017-01-01

The inter-rater reliability of university students' evaluations of teaching quality was examined with cross-classified multilevel models. Students (N = 480) evaluated lectures and seminars over three years with a standardised evaluation questionnaire, yielding 4224 data points. The total variance of these student evaluations was separated into the…

Development of student performance assessment based on scientific approach for a basic physics practicum in simple harmonic motion materials

Science.gov (United States)

Serevina, V.; Muliyati, D.

2018-05-01

This research aims to develop students’ performance assessment instrument based on scientific approach is valid and reliable in assessing the performance of students on basic physics lab of Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM). This study uses the ADDIE consisting of stages: Analyze, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. The student performance assessment developed can be used to measure students’ skills in observing, asking, conducting experiments, associating and communicate experimental results that are the ‘5M’ stages in a scientific approach. Each grain of assessment in the instrument is validated by the instrument expert and the evaluation with the result of all points of assessment shall be eligible to be used with a 100% eligibility percentage. The instrument is then tested for the quality of construction, material, and language by panel (lecturer) with the result: 85% or very good instrument construction aspect, material aspect 87.5% or very good, and language aspect 83% or very good. For small group trial obtained instrument reliability level of 0.878 or is in the high category, where r-table is 0.707. For large group trial obtained instrument reliability level of 0.889 or is in the high category, where r-table is 0.320. Instruments declared valid and reliable for 5% significance level. Based on the result of this research, it can be concluded that the student performance appraisal instrument based on the developed scientific approach is declared valid and reliable to be used in assessing student skill in SHM experimental activity.

Students' Evaluation Strategies in a Web Research Task: Are They Sensitive to Relevance and Reliability?

Science.gov (United States)

Rodicio, Héctor García

2015-01-01

When searching and using resources on the Web, students have to evaluate Web pages in terms of relevance and reliability. This evaluation can be done in a more or less systematic way, by either considering deep or superficial cues of relevance and reliability. The goal of this study was to examine how systematic students are when evaluating Web…

Performance reliability prediction for thermal aging based on kalman filtering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ren Shuhong; Wen Zhenhua; Xue Fei; Zhao Wensheng

2015-01-01

The performance reliability of the nuclear power plant main pipeline that failed due to thermal aging was studied by the performance degradation theory. Firstly, through the data obtained from the accelerated thermal aging experiments, the degradation process of the impact strength and fracture toughness of austenitic stainless steel material of the main pipeline was analyzed. The time-varying performance degradation model based on the state space method was built, and the performance trends were predicted by using Kalman filtering. Then, the multi-parameter and real-time performance reliability prediction model for the main pipeline thermal aging was developed by considering the correlation between the impact properties and fracture toughness, and by using the stochastic process theory. Thus, the thermal aging performance reliability and reliability life of the main pipeline with multi-parameter were obtained, which provides the scientific basis for the optimization management of the aging maintenance decision making for nuclear power plant main pipelines. (authors)

System reliability, performance and trust in adaptable automation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chavaillaz, Alain; Wastell, David; Sauer, Jürgen

2016-01-01

The present study examined the effects of reduced system reliability on operator performance and automation management in an adaptable automation environment. 39 operators were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups: low (60%), medium (80%), and high (100%) reliability of automation support. The support system provided five incremental levels of automation which operators could freely select according to their needs. After 3 h of training on a simulated process control task (AutoCAMS) in which the automation worked infallibly, operator performance and automation management were measured during a 2.5-h testing session. Trust and workload were also assessed through questionnaires. Results showed that although reduced system reliability resulted in lower levels of trust towards automation, there were no corresponding differences in the operators' reliance on automation. While operators showed overall a noteworthy ability to cope with automation failure, there were, however, decrements in diagnostic speed and prospective memory with lower reliability. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

SPSS Macros for Assessing the Reliability and Agreement of Student Evaluations of Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Morley, Donald D.

2009-01-01

This article reports and demonstrates two SPSS macros for calculating Krippendorff's alpha and intraclass reliability coefficients in repetitive situations where numerous coefficients are needed. Specifically, the reported SPSS macros were used to evaluate the interrater agreement and reliability of student evaluations of teaching in thousands of…

The development of a reliable amateur boxing performance analysis template.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomson, Edward; Lamb, Kevin; Nicholas, Ceri

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to devise a valid performance analysis system for the assessment of the movement characteristics associated with competitive amateur boxing and assess its reliability using analysts of varying experience of the sport and performance analysis. Key performance indicators to characterise the demands of an amateur contest (offensive, defensive and feinting) were developed and notated using a computerised notational analysis system. Data were subjected to intra- and inter-observer reliability assessment using median sign tests and calculating the proportion of agreement within predetermined limits of error. For all performance indicators, intra-observer reliability revealed non-significant differences between observations (P > 0.05) and high agreement was established (80-100%) regardless of whether exact or the reference value of ±1 was applied. Inter-observer reliability was less impressive for both analysts (amateur boxer and experienced analyst), with the proportion of agreement ranging from 33-100%. Nonetheless, there was no systematic bias between observations for any indicator (P > 0.05), and the proportion of agreement within the reference range (±1) was 100%. A reliable performance analysis template has been developed for the assessment of amateur boxing performance and is available for use by researchers, coaches and athletes to classify and quantify the movement characteristics of amateur boxing.

Human performance for the success of equipment reliability programs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woodcock, J.

2007-01-01

Human performance is a critical element of programs directed at equipment reliability. Reliable equipment performance requires broad support from all levels of plant management and throughout all plant departments. Experience at both nuclear power plants and fuel manufacturing plants shows that human performance must be addressed during all phases of program implementation from the beginning through the establishment of a living, on-going process. At the beginning, certain organizational and management actions during the initiation of the program set the stage for successful adoption by station personnel, leading to more rapid benefits. For the long term, equipment reliability is a living process needed throughout the lifetime of a station, a program which must be motivated and measured. Sustained acceptance and participation by the plant personnel is a requirement, and culture is a key ingredient. This paper will provide an overview of key human performance issues to be considered, using the application of the INPO AP-913 Equipment Reliability Guideline as a basis and gives some best practices for training, communicating and implementing programs. The very last part includes ways to tell if the program is effective

Construct Validity and Reliability of the Tolerance Scale among Iranian College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ersanli, Ercümend; Mameghani, Shiva Saeighi

2016-01-01

In the present study, the Tolerance Scale developed by Ersanli (2014) was adapted to the Iranian culture, and its validity and reliability were investigated in the case of Iranian college students. The participants consisted of 552 Iranian college students (62% male, M = 20.84, S.D.: 1.53) selected using the convenience sampling method. The sample…

Reliability-Related Issues in the Context of Student Evaluations of Teaching in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kalender, Ilker

2015-01-01

Student evaluations of teaching (SET) have been the principal instrument to elicit students' opinions in higher education institutions. Many decisions, including high-stake ones, are made based on SET scores reported by students. In this respect, reliability of SET scores is of considerable importance. This paper has an argument that there are…

SGHWR fuel performance, safety and reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pickman, D.O.; Inglis, G.H.

1977-05-01

The design principles involved in fuel pins and elements need to take account of the sometimes conflicting requirements of safety and reliability. The principal factors involved in this optimisation are discussed and it is shown from fuel irradiation experience in the Winfrith SGHWR that the necessary bias towards safety has not resulted in a reliability level lower than that shown by other successful water reactor designs. Reliability has important economic implications. By a detailed evaluation of SGHWR fuel defects it is shown that very few defects can be shown to be related to design, rating, or burn-up. This demonstrates that economic aspects have not over-ridden necessary criteria that most be met to achieve the desirable reliability level. It is possible that large scale experience on SGHWR fuel may eventually demonstrate that the balance is too much in favour of reliability and consideration may be given to whether design changes favouring economy could be achieved without compromising safety. The safety criteria applied to SGHWR fuel are designed to avoid any possibility of a temperature runaway in any credible accident situation. the philosophy and supporting experimental work programme are outlines and the fuel design features which particularly contribute to maximising safety margins are outlined. Reference is made to the new 60-pin fuel element to be used in the commercial SGHWRs and to its comparison in design and performance aspects with the 36-pin element that has been used to date in the Winfrith SGHWR. (author)

Validity and reliability of the Multidimensional Body Image Scale in Malaysian university students.

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, W Y; Mohd, Nasir M T; Siti, Aishah H; Zalilah, M S

2012-12-01

This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Multidimensional Body Image Scale (MBIS), a seven-factor, 62-item scale developed for Malaysian female adolescents. This scale was evaluated among male and female Malaysian university students. A total of 671 university students (52.2% women and 47.8% men) completed a self-administered questionnaire on MBIS, Eating Attitude Test-26, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Their height and weight were measured. Results in confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 62-item MBIS reported poor fit to the data, xhi2/df = 4.126, p self-esteem. Also, this scale discriminated well between participants with and without disordered eating. The MBIS-46 demonstrated good reliability and validity for the evaluation of body image among university students. Further studies need to be conducted to confirm the validation results of the 46-item MBIS.

Adapting Objective Structured Clinical Examinations to Assess Social Work Students' Performance and Reflections

Science.gov (United States)

Bogo, Marion; Regehr, Cheryl; Logie, Carmen; Katz, Ellen; Mylopoulos, Maria; Regehr, Glenn

2011-01-01

The development of standardized, valid, and reliable methods for assessment of students' practice competence continues to be a challenge for social work educators. In this study, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), originally used in medicine to assess performance through simulated interviews, was adapted for social work to…

Reliability performance of standby equipment with periodic testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sim, S.H.

1985-11-01

In this report, the reliability performance of standby equipment subjected to periodic testing is studied. analytical expressions have been derived for reliability measures, such as the man accumulated operating time to failure, the expected number of tests between two consecutive failures, the mean time to failure following an emergency start-up and the probability of failing to complete an emergency mission of a specified duration. These results are useful for the reliability assessment of standby equipment such as combustion turbine units of the emergency power supply system, and of the Class III power system at a nuclear generating station

[Knowledge of university students in Szeged, Hungary about reliable contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases].

Science.gov (United States)

Devosa, Iván; Kozinszky, Zoltán; Vanya, Melinda; Szili, Károly; Fáyné Dombi, Alice; Barabás, Katalin

2016-04-03

Promiscuity and lack of use of reliable contraceptive methods increase the probability of sexually transmitted diseases and the risk of unwanted pregnancies, which are quite common among university students. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of university students about reliable contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases, and to assess the effectiveness of the sexual health education in secondary schools, with specific focus on the education held by peers. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was carried out in a randomized sample of students at the University of Szeged (n = 472, 298 women and 174 men, average age 21 years) between 2009 and 2011. 62.1% of the respondents declared that reproductive health education lessons in high schools held by peers were reliable and authentic source of information, 12.3% considered as a less reliable source, and 25.6% defined the school health education as irrelevant source. Among those, who considered the health education held by peers as a reliable source, there were significantly more females (69.3% vs. 46.6%, p = 0.001), significantly fewer lived in cities (83.6% vs. 94.8%, p = 0.025), and significantly more responders knew that Candida infection can be transmitted through sexual intercourse (79.5% versus 63.9%, p = 0.02) as compared to those who did not consider health education held by peers as a reliable source. The majority of respondents obtained knowledge about sexual issues from the mass media. Young people who considered health educating programs reliable were significantly better informed about Candida disease.

Comparing standardized measures of diligence and achievement with dental student academic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Jedrychowski, Joseph; Lindemann, Robert

2005-04-01

Utilizing a reliable and valid instrument to measure a student's application of energy and effort towards a goal (diligence) or the ability to reach goals (achievement) would enable dental educators to anticipate academic performance. This knowledge could be used to better distribute faculty and educational resources, as additional tutors could be provided for students who score low on diligence and achievement instruments. In this study, fourth-year dental students completed the Diligence Inventory and the NachNaff Scale (which measures desire to achieve) immediately prior to graduation. The scores from both inventories were correlated with nine measures of academic performance. For males, the NachNaff Scale positively correlated (pDiligence mean positively correlated with EPR and National Board Parts I and II scores. For females, the Total Diligence mean positively correlated with EPR and a predental biology-chemistry-physics grade composite. Given the simplicity of the Diligence Inventory and its significant correlations with academic performance demonstrated in this study, it appears to be a useful tool to gain insight into students' diligence in striving to obtain goals.

Establishing reliability of performance indicator of sepak takraw ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of this study is to establish the necessary reliability in the notational analysis of sepak takraw. Two performance analysts were recruited to help in the collection of the data. The performances were analyzed based on the main performance indicators relevant to the demand of the game. Cronbach's alpha and ...

Relationship Between the Parenting Styles and Students' Educational Performance Among Iranian Girl High School Students, A Cross- Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahimpour, Parivash; Direkvand-Moghadam, Ashraf; Direkvand-Moghadam, Azadeh; Hashemian, Ataollah

2015-12-01

Parenting styles are effective in the educational performance of their child. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the parenting styles and students' educational performance among Iranian girl high school students. In a cross-sectional survey, female students in high schools of Ilam (Iran) evaluated during the academic year 2014-15. Multistage cluster random sampling was used to select the participants. Data were collected by two demographic and Baumrind's parenting styles questionnaire. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was measured as an index of internal identicalness of the questionnaire to verify its reliability. A total 400 students were studied. The Mean±SD of the students' age were 14±1.08. The students' school grades were the first year of high school to pre-university course. The Mean±SD of parenting styles were 35.37±5.8, 34.69±6.34 and 19.17±6.64 for permissive parenting style, authoritarian parenting style and authoritative parenting styles, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the score of permissive parenting style (p= 0.001, r= 0.151), authoritarian parenting style (p= 0.001, r= 0.343) and authoritative parenting style (p=0. 001, r= 0.261) with the students' average score for studying. The results of this study demonstrate that parental influence plays an important role in students' educational performance.

Emotional intelligence and clinical performance/retention of nursing students

Science.gov (United States)

Marvos, Chelsea; Hale, Frankie B.

2015-01-01

Objective: This exploratory, quantitative, descriptive study was undertaken to explore the relationship between clinical performance and anticipated retention in nursing students. Methods: After approval by the university's Human Subjects Committee, a sample of 104 nursing students were recruited for this study, which involved testing with a valid and reliable emotional intelligence (EI) instrument and a self-report survey of clinical competencies. Results: Statistical analysis revealed that although the group average for total EI score and the 6 score subsets were in the average range, approximately 30% of the individual total EI scores and 30% of two branch scores, identifying emotions correctly and understanding emotions, fell in the less than average range. This data, as well as the analysis of correlation with clinical self-report scores, suggest recommendations applicable to educators of clinical nursing students. Conclusions: Registered nurses make-up the largest segment of the ever-growing healthcare workforce. Yet, retention of new graduates has historically been a challenge for the profession. Given the projected employment growth in nursing, it is important to identify factors which correlate with high levels of performance and job retention among nurses. There is preliminary evidence that EI a nontraditional intelligence measure relates positively not only with retention of clinical staff nurses, but with overall clinical performance as well. PMID:27981096

Operational human performance reliability assessment (OHPRA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haas, P.M.; Swanson, P.J.; Connelly, E.M.

1993-01-01

Operational Human Performance Reliability Assessment (OHPRA) is an approach for assessing human performance that is being developed in response to demands from modern process industries for practical and effective tools to assess and improve human performance, and therefore overall system performance and safety. The single most distinguishing feature of the approach is that is defines human performance in open-quotes operationalclose quotes terms. OHPRA is focused not on generation of human error probabilities, but on practical analysis of human performance to aid management in (1) identifying open-quotes fixableclose quotes problems and (2) providing input on the importance and nature of potential improvements. Development of the model in progress uses a unique approach for eliciting expert strategies for assessing performance. A PC-based model incorporating this expertise is planned. A preliminary version of the approach has already been used successfully to identify practical human performance problems in reactor and chemical process plant operations

Portfolio assessment during medical internships: How to obtain a reliable and feasible assessment procedure?

Science.gov (United States)

Michels, Nele R M; Driessen, Erik W; Muijtjens, Arno M M; Van Gaal, Luc F; Bossaert, Leo L; De Winter, Benedicte Y

2009-12-01

A portfolio is used to mentor and assess students' clinical performance at the workplace. However, students and raters often perceive the portfolio as a time-consuming instrument. In this study, we investigated whether assessment during medical internship by a portfolio can combine reliability and feasibility. The domain-oriented reliability of 61 double-rated portfolios was measured, using a generalisability analysis with portfolio tasks and raters as sources of variation in measuring the performance of a student. We obtained reliability (Phi coefficient) of 0.87 with this internship portfolio containing 15 double-rated tasks. The generalisability analysis showed that an acceptable level of reliability (Phi = 0.80) was maintained when the amount of portfolio tasks was decreased to 13 or 9 using one and two raters, respectively. Our study shows that a portfolio can be a reliable method for the assessment of workplace learning. The possibility of reducing the amount of tasks or raters while maintaining a sufficient level of reliability suggests an increase in feasibility of portfolio use for both students and raters.

Intra- and inter-rater reliability of 3D passive intervertebral motion in subjects with nonspecific neck pain assessed by physical therapy students: A pilot study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossettini, Giacomo; Rondoni, Angie; Lovato, Tommaso; Strobe, Marco; Verzè, Elisa; Vicentini, Marco; Testa, Marco

2016-06-03

Passive Intervertebral Movements (PIVMs) are commonly used to assess and treat patients with nonspecific neck pain. Only very few studies have investigated 3D movements until now. This study assessed intra- and inter-rater reliability of three-dimensional (3D) cervical PIVMs performed by physical therapy students in patients with nonspecific neck pain. Thirty-one patients, mean age 47.2 ± 7.2 years, were independently evaluated by 2 physical therapy students. The raters (A and B) assessed mobility, end-feel and pain provocation performing bilaterally the 3D cervical segmental side-bending test (3D CSSB) from levels C2-C3 to C6-C7. Percentage agreement (raw, positive and negative), Cohen's kappa (95% CI), prevalence index and bias index were calculated to estimate intra- and inter-reliability. Intra-rater reliability showed kappa values ranging between fair and substantial (k 0.29-0.80) for pain provocation, mobility and end-feel, with percentage agreements between 61%-90%. Inter-rater reliability presented kappa values ranging between fair and substantial (k 0.22-0.62) for pain provocation, mobility and end-feel, with percentage agreements between 61% and 80%. Intra-rater reliability of 3D PIVMs was superior to inter-rater reliability in patients with nonspecific neck pain. The most repeatable evaluation parameter was pain. However overall poor reliability suggests avoiding the use of these techniques alone to examine patients and measure their outcome. Further studies are needed to investigate PIVMs reliability in combination with other assessment procedure in symptomatic patients.

Emotional intelligence and clinical performance/retention of nursing students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chelsea Marvos

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: This exploratory, quantitative, descriptive study was undertaken to explore the relationship between clinical performance and anticipated retention in nursing students. Methods: After approval by the university′s Human Subjects Committee, a sample of 104 nursing students were recruited for this study, which involved testing with a valid and reliable emotional intelligence (EI instrument and a self-report survey of clinical competencies. Results: Statistical analysis revealed that although the group average for total EI score and the 6 score subsets were in the average range, approximately 30% of the individual total EI scores and 30% of two branch scores, identifying emotions correctly and understanding emotions, fell in the less than average range. This data, as well as the analysis of correlation with clinical self-report scores, suggest recommendations applicable to educators of clinical nursing students. Conclusions: Registered nurses make-up the largest segment of the ever-growing healthcare workforce. Yet, retention of new graduates has historically been a challenge for the profession. Given the projected employment growth in nursing, it is important to identify factors which correlate with high levels of performance and job retention among nurses. There is preliminary evidence that EI "a nontraditional intelligence measure" relates positively not only with retention of clinical staff nurses, but with overall clinical performance as well.

Interrater reliability of the mind map assessment rubric in a cohort of medical students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zipp Genevieve

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Learning strategies are thinking tools that students can use to actively acquire information. Examples of learning strategies include mnemonics, charts, and maps. One strategy that may help students master the tsunami of information presented in medical school is the mind map learning strategy. Currently, there is no valid and reliable rubric to grade mind maps and this may contribute to their underutilization in medicine. Because concept maps and mind maps engage learners similarly at a metacognitive level, a valid and reliable concept map assessment scoring system was adapted to form the mind map assessment rubric (MMAR. The MMAR can assess mind map depth based upon concept-links, cross-links, hierarchies, examples, pictures, and colors. The purpose of this study was to examine interrater reliability of the MMAR. Methods This exploratory study was conducted at a US medical school as part of a larger investigation on learning strategies. Sixty-six (N = 66 first-year medical students were given a 394-word text passage followed by a 30-minute presentation on mind mapping. After the presentation, subjects were again given the text passage and instructed to create mind maps based upon the passage. The mind maps were collected and independently scored using the MMAR by 3 examiners. Interrater reliability was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC statistic. Statistics were calculated using SPSS version 12.0 (Chicago, IL. Results Analysis of the mind maps revealed the following: concept-links ICC = .05 (95% CI, -.42 to .38, cross-links ICC = .58 (95% CI, .37 to .73, hierarchies ICC = .23 (95% CI, -.15 to .50, examples ICC = .53 (95% CI, .29 to .69, pictures ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91, colors ICC = .73 (95% CI, .59 to .82, and total score ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91. Conclusion The high ICC value for total mind map score indicates strong MMAR interrater reliability. Pictures and colors demonstrated moderate

Interrater reliability of the mind map assessment rubric in a cohort of medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Antoni, Anthony V; Zipp, Genevieve Pinto; Olson, Valerie G

2009-04-28

Learning strategies are thinking tools that students can use to actively acquire information. Examples of learning strategies include mnemonics, charts, and maps. One strategy that may help students master the tsunami of information presented in medical school is the mind map learning strategy. Currently, there is no valid and reliable rubric to grade mind maps and this may contribute to their underutilization in medicine. Because concept maps and mind maps engage learners similarly at a metacognitive level, a valid and reliable concept map assessment scoring system was adapted to form the mind map assessment rubric (MMAR). The MMAR can assess mind map depth based upon concept-links, cross-links, hierarchies, examples, pictures, and colors. The purpose of this study was to examine interrater reliability of the MMAR. This exploratory study was conducted at a US medical school as part of a larger investigation on learning strategies. Sixty-six (N = 66) first-year medical students were given a 394-word text passage followed by a 30-minute presentation on mind mapping. After the presentation, subjects were again given the text passage and instructed to create mind maps based upon the passage. The mind maps were collected and independently scored using the MMAR by 3 examiners. Interrater reliability was measured using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) statistic. Statistics were calculated using SPSS version 12.0 (Chicago, IL). Analysis of the mind maps revealed the following: concept-links ICC = .05 (95% CI, -.42 to .38), cross-links ICC = .58 (95% CI, .37 to .73), hierarchies ICC = .23 (95% CI, -.15 to .50), examples ICC = .53 (95% CI, .29 to .69), pictures ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91), colors ICC = .73 (95% CI, .59 to .82), and total score ICC = .86 (95% CI, .79 to .91). The high ICC value for total mind map score indicates strong MMAR interrater reliability. Pictures and colors demonstrated moderate to strong interrater reliability. We conclude that the

Accuracy and reliability of peer assessment of athletic training psychomotor laboratory skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Marty, Melissa C; Henning, Jolene M; Willse, John T

2010-01-01

Peer assessment is defined as students judging the level or quality of a fellow student's understanding. No researchers have yet demonstrated the accuracy or reliability of peer assessment in athletic training education. To determine the accuracy and reliability of peer assessment of athletic training students' psychomotor skills. Cross-sectional study. Entry-level master's athletic training education program. First-year (n  =  5) and second-year (n  =  8) students. Participants evaluated 10 videos of a peer performing 3 psychomotor skills (middle deltoid manual muscle test, Faber test, and Slocum drawer test) on 2 separate occasions using a valid assessment tool. Accuracy of each peer-assessment score was examined through percentage correct scores. We used a generalizability study to determine how reliable athletic training students were in assessing a peer performing the aforementioned skills. Decision studies using generalizability theory demonstrated how the peer-assessment scores were affected by the number of participants and number of occasions. Participants had a high percentage of correct scores: 96.84% for the middle deltoid manual muscle test, 94.83% for the Faber test, and 97.13% for the Slocum drawer test. They were not able to reliably assess a peer performing any of the psychomotor skills on only 1 occasion. However, the φ increased (exceeding the 0.70 minimal standard) when 2 participants assessed the skill on 3 occasions (φ  =  0.79) for the Faber test, with 1 participant on 2 occasions (φ  =  0.76) for the Slocum drawer test, and with 3 participants on 2 occasions for the middle deltoid manual muscle test (φ  =  0.72). Although students did not detect all errors, they assessed their peers with an average of 96% accuracy. Having only 1 student assess a peer performing certain psychomotor skills was less reliable than having more than 1 student assess those skills on more than 1 occasion. Peer assessment of psychomotor skills

Performance assessment instrument to assess the senior high students' psychomotor for the salt hydrolysis material

Science.gov (United States)

Nahadi, Firman, Harry; Yulina, Erlis

2016-02-01

The purposes of this study were to develop a performance assessment instrument for assessing the competence of psychomotor high school students on salt hydrolysis concepts. The design used in this study was the Research & Development which consists of three phases: development, testing and application of instruments. Subjects in this study were high school students in class XI science, which amounts to 93 students. In the development phase, seven validators validated 17 tasks instrument. In the test phase, we divided 19 students into three-part different times to conduct performance test in salt hydrolysis lab work and observed by six raters. The first, the second, and the third groups recpectively consist of five, six, and eight students. In the application phase, two raters observed the performance of 74 students in the salt hydrolysis lab work in several times. The results showed that 16 of 17 tasks of performance assessment instrument developed can be stated to be valid with CVR value of 1,00 and 0,714. While, the rest was not valid with CVR value was 0.429, below the critical value (0.622). In the test phase, reliability value of instrument obtained were 0,951 for the five-student group, 0,806 for the six-student group and 0,743 for the eight-student group. From the interviews, teachers strongly agree with the performance instrument developed. They stated that the instrument was feasible to use for maximum number of students were six in a single observation.

Development of a measure of student self-evaluation of physics exam performance

Science.gov (United States)

Hagedorn, Eric Anthony

The central purpose of this study was to provide preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the SEVSI - P (Self- evaluation scaled instrument - physics). This instrument, designed to measure student self-evaluation of physics exam performance, was developed in congruence with social cognitive theory. Self-evaluation in this study is defined to consist of two of the three subprocesses of self-regulation: self-observation and judgmental process. As such, the SEVSI - P consists of two subscales, one measuring the frequency and types of self-observations made during a physics exam and one measuring the frequency and types of judgmental comparisons made after an exam. Data from 621 completed surveys, voluntarily taken by first semester algebra/trigonometry based physics students at six Midwestern universities and one Southern university, were analyzed for reliability and factorial validity. Cronbach alphas of .71 and .83 for the self-observation and judgment subscales, respectively, indicate acceptable reliability for the instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis indicates the acceptability of the hypothesis that the data analyzed could have indeed been obtained from the proposed two factor model (self-observation and judgment). The results of this confirmatory factor analysis provide preliminary construct validity for this instrument. A number of theoretically related items were included on the SEVSI - P form to elicity information about the use of goals and pre-planned strategies, actions taken in response to previous poor performances, and emotional responses to performance. A correlational analysis of these items along with the self-observation and judgment subscale scores provided a limited degree of convergent validity for the two subscales. Analyses of variance were done to determine the presence of differences in scoring patterns based on gender or reported ethnic origin. These results indicate slightly higher judgment subscale scores for women and

Using Decision Tree Analysis to Understand Foundation Science Student Performance. Insight Gained at One South African University

Science.gov (United States)

Kirby, Nicola Frances; Dempster, Edith Roslyn

2014-11-01

The Foundation Programme of the Centre for Science Access at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa provides access to tertiary science studies to educationally disadvantaged students who do not meet formal faculty entrance requirements. The low number of students proceeding from the programme into mainstream is of concern, particularly given the national imperative to increase participation and levels of performance in tertiary-level science. An attempt was made to understand foundation student performance in a campus of this university, with the view to identifying challenges and opportunities for remediation in the curriculum and processes of selection into the programme. A classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify which variables best described student performance. The explanatory variables included biographical and school-history data, performance in selection tests, and socio-economic data pertaining to their year in the programme. The results illustrate the prognostic reliability of the model used to select students, raise concerns about the inefficiency of school performance indicators as a measure of students' academic potential in the Foundation Programme, and highlight the importance of accommodation arrangements and financial support for student success in their access year.

A Fast Optimization Method for Reliability and Performance of Cloud Services Composition Application

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Zhao Wu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available At present the cloud computing is one of the newest trends of distributed computation, which is propelling another important revolution of software industry. The cloud services composition is one of the key techniques in software development. The optimization for reliability and performance of cloud services composition application, which is a typical stochastic optimization problem, is confronted with severe challenges due to its randomness and long transaction, as well as the characteristics of the cloud computing resources such as openness and dynamic. The traditional reliability and performance optimization techniques, for example, Markov model and state space analysis and so forth, have some defects such as being too time consuming and easy to cause state space explosion and unsatisfied the assumptions of component execution independence. To overcome these defects, we propose a fast optimization method for reliability and performance of cloud services composition application based on universal generating function and genetic algorithm in this paper. At first, a reliability and performance model for cloud service composition application based on the multiple state system theory is presented. Then the reliability and performance definition based on universal generating function is proposed. Based on this, a fast reliability and performance optimization algorithm is presented. In the end, the illustrative examples are given.

Validity, Reliability, and Performance Determinants of a New Job-Specific Anaerobic Work Capacity Test for the Norwegian Navy Special Operations Command.

Science.gov (United States)

Angeltveit, Andreas; Paulsen, Gøran; Solberg, Paul A; Raastad, Truls

2016-02-01

Operators in Special Operation Forces (SOF) have a particularly demanding profession where physical and psychological capacities can be challenged to the extremes. The diversity of physical capacities needed depend on the mission. Consequently, tests used to monitor SOF operators' physical fitness should cover a broad range of physical capacities. Whereas tests for strength and aerobic endurance are established, there is no test for specific anaerobic work capacity described in the literature. The purpose of this study was therefore to evaluate the reliability, validity, and to identify performance determinants of a new test developed for testing specific anaerobic work capacity in SOF operators. Nineteen active young students were included in the concurrent validity part of the study. The students performed the evacuation (EVAC) test 3 times and the results were compared for reliability and with performance in the Wingate cycle test, 300-m sprint, and a maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) test. In part II of the study, 21 Norwegian Navy Special Operations Command operators conducted the EVAC test, anthropometric measurements, a dual x-ray absorptiometry scan, leg press, isokinetic knee extensions, maximal oxygen uptake test, and countermovement jump (CMJ) test. The EVAC test showed good reliability after 1 familiarization trial (intraclass correlation = 0.89; coefficient of variance = 3.7%). The EVAC test correlated well with the Wingate test (r = -0.68), 300-m sprint time (r = 0.51), and 300-m mean power (W) (r = -0.67). No significant correlation was found with the MAOD test. In part II of the study, height, body mass, lean body mass, isokinetic knee extension torque, maximal oxygen uptake, and maximal power in a CMJ was significantly correlated with performance in the EVAC test. The EVAC test is a reliable and valid test for anaerobic work capacity for SOF operators, and muscle mass, leg strength, and leg power seem to be the most important determinants

Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Version of the Job Performance Scale Instrument.

Science.gov (United States)

Harmanci Seren, Arzu Kader; Tuna, Rujnan; Eskin Bacaksiz, Feride

2018-02-01

Objective measurement of the job performance of nursing staff using valid and reliable instruments is important in the evaluation of healthcare quality. A current, valid, and reliable instrument that specifically measures the performance of nurses is required for this purpose. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Job Performance Instrument. This study used a methodological design and a sample of 240 nurses working at different units in four hospitals in Istanbul, Turkey. A descriptive data form, the Job Performance Scale, and the Employee Performance Scale were used to collect data. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21.0 and LISREL Version 8.51. On the basis of the data analysis, the instrument was revised. Some items were deleted, and subscales were combined. The Turkish version of the Job Performance Instrument was determined to be valid and reliable to measure the performance of nurses. The instrument is suitable for evaluating current nursing roles.

Analysis of Student Satisfaction in The Process of Teaching and Learning Using Importance Performance Analysis

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Sembiring, P.; Sembiring, S.; Tarigan, G.; Sembiring, OD

2017-12-01

This study aims to determine the level of student satisfaction in the learning process at the University of Sumatra Utara, Indonesia. The sample size of the study consisted 1204 students. Students’ response measured through questionnaires an adapted on a 5-point likert scale and interviews directly to the respondent. SERVQUAL method used to measure the quality of service with five dimensions of service characteristics, namely, physical evidence, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and concern. The result of Importance Performance Analysis reveals that six services attributes must be corrected by policy maker of University Sumatera Utara. The quality of service is still considered low by students.

Reliability of the ECHOWS Tool for Assessment of Patient Interviewing Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Boissonnault, Jill S; Evans, Kerrie; Tuttle, Neil; Hetzel, Scott J; Boissonnault, William G

2016-04-01

History taking is an important component of patient/client management. Assessment of student history-taking competency can be achieved via a standardized tool. The ECHOWS tool has been shown to be valid with modest intrarater reliability in a previous study but did not demonstrate sufficient power to definitively prove its stability. The purposes of this study were: (1) to assess the reliability of the ECHOWS tool for student assessment of patient interviewing skills and (2) to determine whether the tool discerns between novice and experienced skill levels. A reliability and construct validity assessment was conducted. Three faculty members from the United States and Australia scored videotaped histories from standardized patients taken by students and experienced clinicians from each of these countries. The tapes were scored twice, 3 to 6 weeks apart. Reliability was assessed using interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and repeated measures. Analysis of variance models assessed the ability of the tool to discern between novice and experienced skill levels. The ECHOWS tool showed excellent intrarater reliability (ICC [3,1]=.74-.89) and good interrater reliability (ICC [2,1]=.55) as a whole. The summary of performance (S) section showed poor interrater reliability (ICC [2,1]=.27). There was no statistical difference in performance on the tool between novice and experienced clinicians. A possible ceiling effect may occur when standardized patients are not coached to provide complex and obtuse responses to interviewer questions. Variation in familiarity with the ECHOWS tool and in use of the online training may have influenced scoring of the S section. The ECHOWS tool demonstrates excellent intrarater reliability and moderate interrater reliability. Sufficient training with the tool prior to student assessment is recommended. The S section must evolve in order to provide a more discerning measure of interviewing skills. © 2016 American Physical Therapy

Effectiveness of simulation-based learning on student nurses' self-efficacy and performance while learning fundamental nursing skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Hsin-Hsin

2015-01-01

It was noted worldwide while learning fundamental skills and facing skills assessments, nursing students seemed to experience low confidence and high anxiety levels. Could simulation-based learning help to enhance students' self-efficacy and performance? Its effectiveness is mostly unidentified. This study was conducted to provide a shared experience to give nurse educators confidence and an insight into how simulation-based teaching can fit into nursing skills learning. A pilot study was completed with 50 second-year undergraduate nursing students, and the main study included 98 students where a pretest-posttest design was adopted. Data were gathered through four questionnaires and a performance assessment under scrutinized controls such as previous experiences, lecturers' teaching skills, duration of teaching, procedure of skills performance assessment and the inter-rater reliability. The results showed that simulation-based learning significantly improved students' self-efficacy regarding skills learning and the skills performance that nurse educators wish students to acquire. However, technology anxiety, examiners' critical attitudes towards students' performance and their unpredicted verbal and non-verbal expressions, have been found as possible confounding factors. The simulation-based learning proved to have a powerful positive effect on students' achievement outcomes. Nursing skills learning is one area that can benefit greatly from this kind of teaching and learning method.

A study on the effect of varying sequence of lab performance skills on lab performance of high school physics students

Science.gov (United States)

Bournia-Petrou, Ethel A.

The main goal of this investigation was to study how student rank in class, student gender and skill sequence affect high school students' performance on the lab skills involved in a laboratory-based inquiry task in physics. The focus of the investigation was the effect of skill sequence as determined by the particular task. The skills considered were: Hypothesis, Procedure, Planning, Data, Graph, Calculations and Conclusion. Three physics lab tasks based on the simple pendulum concept were administered to 282 Regents physics high school students. The reliability of the designed tasks was high. Student performance was evaluated on individual student written responses and a scoring rubric. The tasks had high discrimination power and were of moderate difficulty (65%). It was found that, student performance was weak on Conclusion (42%), Hypothesis (48%), and Procedure (51%), where the numbers in parentheses represent the mean as a percentage of the maximum possible score. Student performance was strong on Calculations (91%), Data (82%), Graph (74%) and Plan (68%). Out of all seven skills, Procedure had the strongest correlation (.73) with the overall task performance. Correlation analysis revealed some strong relationships among the seven skills which were grouped in two distinct clusters: Hypothesis, Procedure and Plan belong to one, and Data, Graph, Calculations, and Conclusion belong to the other. This distinction may indicate different mental processes at play within each skill cluster. The effect of student rank was not statistically significant according to the MANOVA results due to the large variation of rank levels among the participating schools. The effect of gender was significant on the entire test because of performance differences on Calculations and Graph, where male students performed better than female students. Skill sequence had a significant effect on the skills of Procedure, Plan, Data and Conclusion. Students are rather weak in proposing a

Photovoltaic Reliability Performance Model v 2.0

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2016-12-16

PV-RPM is intended to address more “real world” situations by coupling a photovoltaic system performance model with a reliability model so that inverters, modules, combiner boxes, etc. can experience failures and be repaired (or left unrepaired). The model can also include other effects, such as module output degradation over time or disruptions such as electrical grid outages. In addition, PV-RPM is a dynamic probabilistic model that can be used to run many realizations (i.e., possible future outcomes) of a system’s performance using probability distributions to represent uncertain parameter inputs.

Flash memories economic principles of performance, cost and reliability optimization

CERN Document Server

Richter, Detlev

2014-01-01

The subject of this book is to introduce a model-based quantitative performance indicator methodology applicable for performance, cost and reliability optimization of non-volatile memories. The complex example of flash memories is used to introduce and apply the methodology. It has been developed by the author based on an industrial 2-bit to 4-bit per cell flash development project. For the first time, design and cost aspects of 3D integration of flash memory are treated in this book. Cell, array, performance and reliability effects of flash memories are introduced and analyzed. Key performance parameters are derived to handle the flash complexity. A performance and array memory model is developed and a set of performance indicators characterizing architecture, cost and durability is defined.   Flash memories are selected to apply the Performance Indicator Methodology to quantify design and technology innovation. A graphical representation based on trend lines is introduced to support a requirement based pr...

Reliability and validity of the Safe Routes to school parent and student surveys

OpenAIRE

McDonald, Noreen C; Dwelley, Amanda E; Combs, Tabitha S; Evenson, Kelly R; Winters, Richard H

2011-01-01

Abstract Background The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of the U.S. National Center for Safe Routes to School's in-class student travel tallies and written parent surveys. Over 65,000 tallies and 374,000 parent surveys have been completed, but no published studies have examined their measurement properties. Methods Students and parents from two Charlotte, NC (USA) elementary schools participated. Tallies were conducted on two consecutive days using a hand-raisi...

Accuracy and Reliability of Peer Assessment of Athletic Training Psychomotor Laboratory Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Marty, Melissa C.; Henning, Jolene M.; Willse, John T.

2010-01-01

Abstract Context: Peer assessment is defined as students judging the level or quality of a fellow student's understanding. No researchers have yet demonstrated the accuracy or reliability of peer assessment in athletic training education. Objective: To determine the accuracy and reliability of peer assessment of athletic training students' psychomotor skills. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Entry-level master's athletic training education program. Patients or Other Participants: First-year (n  =  5) and second-year (n  =  8) students. Main Outcome Measure(s): Participants evaluated 10 videos of a peer performing 3 psychomotor skills (middle deltoid manual muscle test, Faber test, and Slocum drawer test) on 2 separate occasions using a valid assessment tool. Accuracy of each peer-assessment score was examined through percentage correct scores. We used a generalizability study to determine how reliable athletic training students were in assessing a peer performing the aforementioned skills. Decision studies using generalizability theory demonstrated how the peer-assessment scores were affected by the number of participants and number of occasions. Results: Participants had a high percentage of correct scores: 96.84% for the middle deltoid manual muscle test, 94.83% for the Faber test, and 97.13% for the Slocum drawer test. They were not able to reliably assess a peer performing any of the psychomotor skills on only 1 occasion. However, the ϕ increased (exceeding the 0.70 minimal standard) when 2 participants assessed the skill on 3 occasions (ϕ  =  0.79) for the Faber test, with 1 participant on 2 occasions (ϕ  =  0.76) for the Slocum drawer test, and with 3 participants on 2 occasions for the middle deltoid manual muscle test (ϕ  =  0.72). Conclusions: Although students did not detect all errors, they assessed their peers with an average of 96% accuracy. Having only 1 student assess a peer performing certain psychomotor skills was

Examining Reliability of Reading Comprehension Ratings of Fifth Grade Students' Oral Retellings

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Bernfeld, L. Elizabeth Shirley; Morrison, Timothy G.; Sudweeks, Richard R.; Wilcox, Brad

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to rate oral retellings of fifth graders to determine how passages, raters, and rating occasions affect those ratings, and to identify what combination of those elements produce reliable retelling ratings. A group of 36 fifth grade students read and orally retold three contemporary realistic fiction passages. Two…

A dissociation between engagement and learning: Enthusiastic instructions fail to reliably improve performance on a memory task.

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Benjamin A Motz

Full Text Available Despite widespread assertions that enthusiasm is an important quality of effective teaching, empirical research on the effect of enthusiasm on learning and memory is mixed and largely inconclusive. To help resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted a carefully-controlled laboratory experiment, investigating whether enthusiastic instructions for a memory task would improve recall accuracy. Scripted videos, either enthusiastic or neutral, were used to manipulate the delivery of task instructions. We also manipulated the sequence of learning items, replicating the spacing effect, a known cognitive technique for memory improvement. Although spaced study reliably improved test performance, we found no reliable effect of enthusiasm on memory performance across two experiments. We did, however, find that enthusiastic instructions caused participants to respond to more item prompts, leaving fewer test questions blank, an outcome typically associated with increased task motivation. We find no support for the popular claim that enthusiastic instruction will improve learning, although it may still improve engagement. This dissociation between motivation and learning is discussed, as well as its implications for education and future research on student learning.

A dissociation between engagement and learning: Enthusiastic instructions fail to reliably improve performance on a memory task.

Science.gov (United States)

Motz, Benjamin A; de Leeuw, Joshua R; Carvalho, Paulo F; Liang, Kaley L; Goldstone, Robert L

2017-01-01

Despite widespread assertions that enthusiasm is an important quality of effective teaching, empirical research on the effect of enthusiasm on learning and memory is mixed and largely inconclusive. To help resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted a carefully-controlled laboratory experiment, investigating whether enthusiastic instructions for a memory task would improve recall accuracy. Scripted videos, either enthusiastic or neutral, were used to manipulate the delivery of task instructions. We also manipulated the sequence of learning items, replicating the spacing effect, a known cognitive technique for memory improvement. Although spaced study reliably improved test performance, we found no reliable effect of enthusiasm on memory performance across two experiments. We did, however, find that enthusiastic instructions caused participants to respond to more item prompts, leaving fewer test questions blank, an outcome typically associated with increased task motivation. We find no support for the popular claim that enthusiastic instruction will improve learning, although it may still improve engagement. This dissociation between motivation and learning is discussed, as well as its implications for education and future research on student learning.

Student performance of the general physical examination in internal medicine: an observational study

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Many practicing physicians lack skills in physical examination. It is not known whether physical examination skills already show deficiencies after an early phase of clinical training. At the end of the internal medicine clerkship students are expected to be able to perform a general physical examination in every new patient encounter. In a previous study, the basic physical examination items that should standardly be performed were set by consensus. The aim of the current observational study was to assess whether medical students were able to correctly perform a general physical examination regarding completeness as well as technique at the end of the clerkship internal medicine. Methods One hundred students who had just finished their clerkship internal medicine were asked to perform a general physical examination on a standardized patient as they had learned during the clerkship. They were recorded on camera. Frequency of performance of each component of the physical examination was counted. Adequacy of performance was determined as either correct or incorrect or not assessable using a checklist of short descriptions of each physical examination component. A reliability analysis was performed by calculation of the intra class correlation coefficient for total scores of five physical examinations rated by three trained physicians and for their agreement on performance of all items. Results Approximately 40% of the agreed standard physical examination items were not performed by the students. Students put the most emphasis on examination of general parameters, heart, lungs and abdomen. Many components of the physical examination were not performed as was taught during precourses. Intra-class correlation was high for total scores of the physical examinations 0.91 (p internal medicine clerkship. Possible causes and suggestions for improvement are discussed. PMID:24712683

Reliable and Valid Assessment of Clinical Bronchoscopy Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Konge, Lars; Larsen, Klaus Richter; Clementsen, Paul

2012-01-01

: The interrater reliability was high, with Cronbach's a = 0.86. Assessment of 3 bronchoscopies by a single rater had a generalizability coefficient of 0.84. The correlation between experience and performance was good (Pearson correlation = 0.76). There were significant differences between the groups for all...

Investigating the Reliability and Factor Structure of Kalichman's "Survey 2: Research Misconduct" Questionnaire: A Post Hoc Analysis Among Biomedical Doctoral Students in Scandinavia.

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Søren; Hofmann, Bjørn

2017-10-01

A precondition for reducing scientific misconduct is evidence about scientists' attitudes. We need reliable survey instruments, and this study investigates the reliability of Kalichman's "Survey 2: research misconduct" questionnaire. The study is a post hoc analysis of data from three surveys among biomedical doctoral students in Scandinavia (2010-2015). We perform reliability analysis, and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using a split-sample design as a partial validation. The results indicate that a reliable 13-item scale can be formed (Cronbach's α = .705), and factor analysis indicates that there are four reliable subscales each tapping a different construct: (a) general attitude to misconduct (α = .768), (b) attitude to personal misconduct (α = .784), (c) attitude to whistleblowing (α = .841), and (d) attitude to blameworthiness/punishment (α = .877). A full validation of the questionnaire requires further research. We, nevertheless, hope that the results will facilitate the increased use of the questionnaire in research.

Neurology objective structured clinical examination reliability using generalizability theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Blood, Angela D; Park, Yoon Soo; Lukas, Rimas V; Brorson, James R

2015-11-03

This study examines factors affecting reliability, or consistency of assessment scores, from an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in neurology through generalizability theory (G theory). Data include assessments from a multistation OSCE taken by 194 medical students at the completion of a neurology clerkship. Facets evaluated in this study include cases, domains, and items. Domains refer to areas of skill (or constructs) that the OSCE measures. G theory is used to estimate variance components associated with each facet, derive reliability, and project the number of cases required to obtain a reliable (consistent, precise) score. Reliability using G theory is moderate (Φ coefficient = 0.61, G coefficient = 0.64). Performance is similar across cases but differs by the particular domain, such that the majority of variance is attributed to the domain. Projections in reliability estimates reveal that students need to participate in 3 OSCE cases in order to increase reliability beyond the 0.70 threshold. This novel use of G theory in evaluating an OSCE in neurology provides meaningful measurement characteristics of the assessment. Differing from prior work in other medical specialties, the cases students were randomly assigned did not influence their OSCE score; rather, scores varied in expected fashion by domain assessed. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

Value-Added Models for Teacher Preparation Programs: Validity and Reliability Threats, and a Manageable Alternative

Science.gov (United States)

Brady, Michael P.; Heiser, Lawrence A.; McCormick, Jazarae K.; Forgan, James

2016-01-01

High-stakes standardized student assessments are increasingly used in value-added evaluation models to connect teacher performance to P-12 student learning. These assessments are also being used to evaluate teacher preparation programs, despite validity and reliability threats. A more rational model linking student performance to candidates who…

The Influence of Reciprocal interactions in the Family on Academic Performance among Secondary School Students in Kenya

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Rael Achieng Ogwari

2014-08-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate the influence of reciprocal interactions in the family on academic performance among secondary school students in Siaya District. Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the study participants. The sample comprised of a total of 243 students (154 boys and 89 girls drawn from 27 public coeducational schools in the district.  Data was collected using student questionnaires. The researchers’ judgment of the representativeness of the items in the questionnaire to the study topic was used to determine content validity of the instrument while Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to ascertain validity and reliability of the instrument. Linear regression analysis and one way Analysis of Variance were used to analyze data. The results revealed significant relationship between reciprocal interactions in the family and academic performance of students. There was positive correlation between parental expectation, autonomy granting, cross-sex behaviour and students’ academic performance. Siblings’ sex dyads and birth order were also found to correlate with students’ academic performance. The findings may be used by policy makers to sensitize parents and students on the significance of specific interactions in the family on academic performance.

Validity & reliability of the Persian version of Grasha-Richmann student learning styles scale

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ALI REZA BANESHI

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scale. Method: The participants included 1039 students (421 students in human and 618 students in technical sciences, selected through the stratified sampling method from Tehran University. They answered the Grasha-Riechmann student learning style scale and the data was analyzed with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results: The findings acquired from exploratory factor analysis (n=561, using principal components analysis with varimax rotation showed that Grasha- Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scale includes six factors: Avoidant, Collaborative, Participative, Dependent, Competitive, and Independent. The factors acquired from confirmatory factor analysis (n=478, as model fit indices indicated, was confirmed by indices in exploratory factor analysis. The internal consistency of each subscale, ranging from 0.58 to 0.80, was at an acceptable level. Conclusion: According to the findings, it seems that Participative Styles Scale to be an instrument qualifying validity and reliability for measuring learning interactive styles.

Analysis of performance reliability of electrical and electronic equipment of car-tractor

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Kravchenko О.Р.

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The analysis of the operational reliability of electrical and electronic equipment of vehicles, trucks Mercedes-Benz Actros 1844 LS and Volvo FH 1242, conducting international cargo transportation is performed. It is established that the equipment is reliable, which meets modern requirements, but where there is a violation of the resolution. The reason for repair work is constructive and operational factors. Distribution of efficiency and overall performance of operational reliability is retrieved. Items with more bounce are found. Common factors of violation of efficiency cars, trucks in operation, are largely different stages in warranty runs are obtained.

Developing safety performance functions incorporating reliability-based risk measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Shewkar El-Bassiouni; Sayed, Tarek

2011-11-01

Current geometric design guides provide deterministic standards where the safety margin of the design output is generally unknown and there is little knowledge of the safety implications of deviating from these standards. Several studies have advocated probabilistic geometric design where reliability analysis can be used to account for the uncertainty in the design parameters and to provide a risk measure of the implication of deviation from design standards. However, there is currently no link between measures of design reliability and the quantification of safety using collision frequency. The analysis presented in this paper attempts to bridge this gap by incorporating a reliability-based quantitative risk measure such as the probability of non-compliance (P(nc)) in safety performance functions (SPFs). Establishing this link will allow admitting reliability-based design into traditional benefit-cost analysis and should lead to a wider application of the reliability technique in road design. The present application is concerned with the design of horizontal curves, where the limit state function is defined in terms of the available (supply) and stopping (demand) sight distances. A comprehensive collision and geometric design database of two-lane rural highways is used to investigate the effect of the probability of non-compliance on safety. The reliability analysis was carried out using the First Order Reliability Method (FORM). Two Negative Binomial (NB) SPFs were developed to compare models with and without the reliability-based risk measures. It was found that models incorporating the P(nc) provided a better fit to the data set than the traditional (without risk) NB SPFs for total, injury and fatality (I+F) and property damage only (PDO) collisions. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Embedded Sensors and Controls to Improve Component Performance and Reliability Conceptual Design Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kisner, R.; Melin, A.; Burress, T.; Fugate, D.; Holcomb, D.; Wilgen, J.; Miller, J.; Wilson, D.; Silva, P.; Whitlow, L.; Peretz, F.

2012-09-15

The objective of this project is to demonstrate improved reliability and increased performance made possible by deeply embedding instrumentation and controls (I&C) in nuclear power plant (NPP) components and systems. The project is employing a highly instrumented canned rotor, magnetic bearing, fluoride salt pump as its I&C technology demonstration platform. I&C is intimately part of the basic millisecond-by-millisecond functioning of the system; treating I&C as an integral part of the system design is innovative and will allow significant improvement in capabilities and performance. As systems become more complex and greater performance is required, traditional I&C design techniques become inadequate and more advanced I&C needs to be applied. New I&C techniques enable optimal and reliable performance and tolerance of noise and uncertainties in the system rather than merely monitoring quasistable performance. Traditionally, I&C has been incorporated in NPP components after the design is nearly complete; adequate performance was obtained through over-design. By incorporating I&C at the beginning of the design phase, the control system can provide superior performance and reliability and enable designs that are otherwise impossible. This report describes the progress and status of the project and provides a conceptual design overview for the platform to demonstrate the performance and reliability improvements enabled by advanced embedded I&C.

A Study of the Validity and Reliability of a Mathematics Lesson Attitude Scale and Student Attitudes

Science.gov (United States)

Tezer, Murat; Ozcan, Deniz

2015-01-01

Attitudes of the students towards mathematics lessons are very important in terms of their success and motivation. The purpose of this study is to develop a scale for the assessment of primary school students' attitudes towards mathematics courses in the 2nd and 3rd grades, to analyse its validity-reliability structure and to determine the…

Reliability and validity of the Student Perceptions of School Cohesion Scale in a sample of Salvadoran secondary school students

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Arrivillaga Marcela

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Despite a growing body of research from the United States and other industrialized countries on the inverse association between supportive social relationships in the school and youth risk behavior engagement, research on the measurement of supportive school social relationships in Central America is limited. We examined the psychometric properties of the Student Perceptions of School Cohesion (SPSC scale, a 10-item scale that asks students to rate with a 5-point Likert-type response scale their perceptions of the school social environment, in a sample of public secondary school students (mean age = 15 years living in central El Salvador. Methods Students (n = 982 completed a self-administered questionnaire that included the SPSC scale along with measures of youth health risk behaviors based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure of the scale, and two internal consistency estimates of reliability were computed. Construct validity was assessed by examining whether students who reported low school cohesion were significantly more likely to report physical fighting and illicit drug use. Results Results indicated that the SPSC scale has three latent factors, which explained 61.6% of the variance: supportive school relationships, student-school connectedness, and student-teacher connectedness. The full scale and three subscales had good internal consistency (rs = .87 and α = .84 for the full scale; rs and α between .71 and .75 for the three subscales. Significant associations were found between the full scale and all three subscales with physical fighting (p ≤ .001 and illicit drug use (p Conclusion Findings provide evidence of reliability and validity of the SPSC for the measurement of supportive school relationships in Latino adolescents living in El Salvador. These findings provide a foundation for further research on

Does student performance on preclinical OSCEs relate to clerkship grades?

Science.gov (United States)

Chima, Margot; Dallaghan, Gary Beck

2016-01-01

from class to class. Although there were no differences in preclinical scores based on M3 IM clerkship OSCE scores, students would benefit from a longitudinal review of their OSCE performance over their medical training. Additionally, students may benefit from more reliable and valid forms of assessing communication. In general, students who take the IM clerkship last in the academic year performed better on the required OSCE. More information is needed to determine why this is seen only at the end of the year.

Does student performance on preclinical OSCEs relate to clerkship grades?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margot Chima

2016-06-01

this is because of testing variability or heterogeneity from class to class. Although there were no differences in preclinical scores based on M3 IM clerkship OSCE scores, students would benefit from a longitudinal review of their OSCE performance over their medical training. Additionally, students may benefit from more reliable and valid forms of assessing communication. In general, students who take the IM clerkship last in the academic year performed better on the required OSCE. More information is needed to determine why this is seen only at the end of the year.

[Reliability and validity of assessment of educational outcomes obtained by students of Medical Rescue at Medical University of Warsaw].

Science.gov (United States)

Panczyk, Mariusz; Stachacz, Grzegorz; Gałązkowski, Robert; Gotlib, Joanna

2016-01-01

In the interest of preservation of high degree of objectivity of information about students' educational outcomes, a system of assessment needs to meet criteria of appropriate reliability and validity. Analysis of reliability and validity of the system of assessment of students' educational outcomes for courses followed by an examination and covered by a curriculum in Medical Rescue at Medical University of Warsaw (MU W). A retrospective study enrolling a group of 421 students of eight subsequent full education cycles. Detailed data concerning grades for fourteen courses followed by an examination in the entire course of studies were collected. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) and criteria validity (Spearman's rank correlation) were assessed. Internal consistency was estimated using a multiple regression model. The levels of assessment reliability for the general university, pre-clinical, and clinical scopes amounted to alpha: 0.42, 0.53, and 0.70, respectively. The strongest positive correlations between the results of pre-clinical and clinical trainings were found for the Anatomy course (r ≈ 0.30). Only in the case of the Pharmacology course it was found that students' achievements in this field were significantly correlated with all other courses of clinical training. The influence of educational outcomes in particular areas of clinical training on the final grade for the entire course of studies was diverse (β regression between 0.04 and 0.11). While the Pharmacology course had the strongest impact on final results, the Surgery course had the least influence on students' final grades (β = 0.04). 1. Sufficient reliability of the system of assessment of educational outcomes in Medical Rescue showed good precision and repeatability of assessment. 2. A low level of validity was caused by a failure to keep the appropriateness of the assessment of educational outcomes in several clinical courses. 3. Prognostic and diagnostic validity of methods used for

THE LINK BETWEEN STUDENTS' SATISFACTION WITH FACULTY, OVERALL STUDENTS' SATISFACTION WITH STUDENT LIFE AND STUDENT PERFORMANCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zoran Mihanović

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Customer satisfaction has long been recognized as a central concept of all business activities. Satisfaction can serve as an indicator of success of the company, both in the past and present, as well as an indicator of future performance. High quality service to students is a prerequisite of maintaining competitiveness in the market of higher education. A relationship that is created between the expectations of students and their satisfaction with the quality of service that provides educational institution plays an important role in shaping the reputation of academic institutions. Academic institutions are becoming aware of the importance of student satisfaction, because satisfaction positively influences their decision to continue their education at this institution, and the positive word of mouth that will attract prospective students. Satisfaction will affect student motivation, and therefore their performance. This paper provides insight into the marketing aspects of customer satisfaction, primarily insight into the satisfaction of students in the educational sector. The aim is to establish the influence of satisfaction various factors related to the university and higher education to the satisfaction of student life, and does student life satisfaction affect the overall happiness and student performance. The research was conducted on the student population of the University of Split, on a sample of 191 respondents. The research was conducted with the help of online survey questionnaire. The claim that student’s satisfactions with housing affect the satisfaction with the quality of student life is rejected. The results confirmed that the student’s satisfaction with university contents, university bodies and services, teaching, teaching methods and academic reputation affects the satisfaction of student life and student life satisfaction affect the student performance.

Clinical observed performance evaluation: a prospective study in final year students of surgery.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Markey, G C

2010-06-24

We report a prospective study of clinical observed performance evaluation (COPE) for 197 medical students in the pre-qualification year of clinical education. Psychometric quality was the main endpoint. Students were assessed in groups of 5 in 40-min patient encounters, with each student the focus of evaluation for 8 min. Each student had a series of assessments in a 25-week teaching programme. Over time, several clinicians from a pool of 16 surgical consultants and registrars evaluated each student by direct observation. A structured rating form was used for assessment data. Variance component analysis (VCA), internal consistency and inter-rater agreement were used to estimate reliability. The predictive and convergent validity of COPE in relation to summative OSCE, long case, and overall final examination was estimated. Median number of COPE assessments per student was 7. Generalisability of a mean score over 7 COPE assessments was 0.66, equal to that of an 8 x 7.5 min station final OSCE. Internal consistency was 0.88-0.97 and inter-rater agreement 0.82. Significant correlations were observed with OSCE performance (R = 0.55 disattenuated) and long case (R = 0.47 disattenuated). Convergent validity was 0.81 by VCA. Overall final examination performance was linearly related to mean COPE score with standard error 3.7%. COPE permitted efficient serial assessment of a large cohort of final year students in a real world setting. Its psychometric quality compared well with conventional assessments and with other direct observation instruments as reported in the literature. Effect on learning, and translation to clinical care, are directions for future research.

Improving Student Performance Using Nudge Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

Feild, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

Providing students with continuous and personalized feedback on their performance is an important part of encouraging self regulated learning. As part of our higher education platform, we built a set of data visualizations to provide feedback to students on their assignment performance. These visualizations give students information about how they…

Validity and reliability of tests determining performance-related components of wheelchair basketball

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Groot, Sonja; Balvers, Inge J. M.; Kouwenhoven, Sanne M.; Janssen, Thomas W. J.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of wheelchair basketball field tests. Nineteen wheelchair basketball players performed 10 test items twice to determine the reliability. The validity of the tests was assessed by relating the scores to the players'

Validity and reliability of tests determining performance-related components of wheelchair basketball

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, Sonja; Balvers, Inge J.M.; Kouwenhoven, Sanne M.; Janssen, Thomas W.J.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of wheelchair basketball field tests. Nineteen wheelchair basketball players performed 10 test items twice to determine the reliability. The validity of the tests was assessed by relating the scores to the players'

The SACADA database for human reliability and human performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

James Chang, Y.; Bley, Dennis; Criscione, Lawrence; Kirwan, Barry; Mosleh, Ali; Madary, Todd; Nowell, Rodney; Richards, Robert; Roth, Emilie M.; Sieben, Scott; Zoulis, Antonios

2014-01-01

Lack of appropriate and sufficient human performance data has been identified as a key factor affecting human reliability analysis (HRA) quality especially in the estimation of human error probability (HEP). The Scenario Authoring, Characterization, and Debriefing Application (SACADA) database was developed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to address this data need. An agreement between NRC and the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) was established to support the SACADA development with aims to make the SACADA tool suitable for implementation in the nuclear power plants' operator training program to collect operator performance information. The collected data would support the STPNOC's operator training program and be shared with the NRC for improving HRA quality. This paper discusses the SACADA data taxonomy, the theoretical foundation, the prospective data to be generated from the SACADA raw data to inform human reliability and human performance, and the considerations on the use of simulator data for HRA. Each SACADA data point consists of two information segments: context and performance results. Context is a characterization of the performance challenges to task success. The performance results are the results of performing the task. The data taxonomy uses a macrocognitive functions model for the framework. At a high level, information is classified according to the macrocognitive functions of detecting the plant abnormality, understanding the abnormality, deciding the response plan, executing the response plan, and team related aspects (i.e., communication, teamwork, and supervision). The data are expected to be useful for analyzing the relations between context, error modes and error causes in human performance

Emotional intelligence and academic performance in university students of natural science

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarez Cuellar, Jose Habacuc

This research presents the concept of emotional intelligence, more specifically of John D. Mayer, Peter Salovey and David R. Caruso, as an important element to be applied in learning science. It is an explanatory-correlation study between emotional intelligence and academic performance of students in natural sciences from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus. The population is approximately 2,539 students, with a sample of approximately 337 students. The instrument used to calculate the IE is the TMSS-24 composted of three dimensions of the original scale: Attention, Clarity and Repair. It was validated by Fernandez, B. P., Extremera, N. and Natalio, R. (2004), with reliability in Attention of (0.86), Clarity (0.90) and Repair (0.86). For the calculation of academic achievement (RA) was used an average of the courses seen by the students in the academic semester of 2007. The variables emotional intelligence and its components with academic achievement (RA), Index of general application of the student, gender, age and studies concentration were correlated but it was founded no correlation between them. It was founded a difference in the attention on gender, where it is concluded that woman express better and more the feelings than men.

Human Reliability Assessment and Human Performance Evaluation: Research and Analysis Activities at the U.S. NRC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramey-Smith, A.M.

1998-01-01

The author indicates the themes of the six programs identified by the US NRC mission on human performance and human reliability activities. They aim at developing the technical basis to support human performance, at developing and updating a model of human performance and human reliability, at fostering national and international dialogue and cooperation efforts on human performance evaluation, at conducting operating events analysis and database development, and at providing support to human performance and human reliability inspection

Reliability database development and plant performance improvement effort at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, S. J.; Hwang, S. W.; Na, J. H.; Lim, H. S.

2008-01-01

Nuclear utilities in recent years have focused on improved plant performance and equipment reliability. In U.S., there is a movement toward process integration. Examples are INPO AP-913 equipment reliability program and the standard nuclear performance model developed by NEI. Synergistic effect from an integrated approach can be far greater than as compared to individual effects from each program. In Korea, PSA for all Korean NPPs (Nuclear Power Plants) has been completed. Plant performance monitoring and improvement is an important goal for KHNP (Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company) and a risk monitoring system called RIMS has been developed for all nuclear plants. KHNP is in the process of voluntarily implementing maintenance rule program similar to that in U.S. In the future, KHNP would like to expand the effort to equipment reliability program and to achieve highest equipment reliability and improved plant performance. For improving equipment reliability, the current trend is moving toward preventive/predictive maintenance from corrective maintenance. With the emphasis on preventive maintenance, the failure cause and operation history and environment are important. Hence, the development of accurate reliability database is necessary. Furthermore, the database should be updated regularly and maintained as a living program to reflect the current status of equipment reliability. This paper examines the development of reliability database system and its application of maintenance optimization or Risk Informed Application (RIA). (authors)

Temporal Stability of Strength-Based Assessments: Test-Retest Reliability of Student and Teacher Reports

Science.gov (United States)

Romer, Natalie; Merrell, Kenneth W.

2013-01-01

This study focused on evaluating the temporal stability of self-reported and teacher-reported perceptions of students' social and emotional skills and assets. We used a test-retest reliability procedure over repeated administrations of the child, adolescent, and teacher versions of the "Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales".…

Validity and reliability of the Academic Motivation Scale in a sample of Slovenian students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melita Puklek Levpušček

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In this study we examined construct validity and reliability of the Academic Motivation Scale, College Version (Academic Motivation Scale, AMS-C 28, Vallerand et al., 1992 and its relationship with gender, certainty of study choice and career goals in Slovenian university students. The theoretical basis of AMS is derived from Self-Determination Theory, which identified different types of motivation on a continuum from amotivation to different types of external motivation and intrinsic (self-determined motivation. The AMS measures multidimensional motivational construct and contains seven scales. The validation sample consisted of 324 students of various studies at the University of Ljubljana. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable fit of the original 7-factor structure on Slovenian data and measurement invariance across gender. The highest were correlations among the three factors of intrinsic motivation and among the three factors of external motivation. Current certainty of study choice was positively associated with all three factors of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, and negatively correlated with amotivation. Extrinsic career goals had low to moderate positive correlations with factors of external motivation while intrinsic career goals correlated positively with the three factors of intrinsic motivation, identified and introjected regulation, and negatively with amotivation. Female students had higher scores on intrinsic motivation to accomplish, and identified and introjected regulation than male students. In sum, the AMS C-28 showed good construct and convergent validity and reliability in Slovenian university context.

RELIABILITY OF ANKLE-FOOT MORPHOLOGY, MOBILITY, STRENGTH, AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE MEASURES.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraser, John J; Koldenhoven, Rachel M; Saliba, Susan A; Hertel, Jay

2017-12-01

Assessment of foot posture, morphology, intersegmental mobility, strength and motor control of the ankle-foot complex are commonly used clinically, but measurement properties of many assessments are unclear. To determine test-retest and inter-rater reliability, standard error of measurement, and minimal detectable change of morphology, joint excursion and play, strength, and motor control of the ankle-foot complex. Reliability study. 24 healthy, recreationally-active young adults without history of ankle-foot injury were assessed by two clinicians on two occasions, three to ten days apart. Measurement properties were assessed for foot morphology (foot posture index, total and truncated length, width, arch height), joint excursion (weight-bearing dorsiflexion, rearfoot and hallux goniometry, forefoot inclinometry, 1 st metatarsal displacement) and joint play, strength (handheld dynamometry), and motor control rating during intrinsic foot muscle (IFM) exercises. Clinician order was randomized using a Latin Square. The clinicians performed independent examinations and did not confer on the findings for the duration of the study. Test-retest and inter-tester reliability and agreement was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC 2,k ) and weighted kappa ( K w ). Test-retest reliability ICC were as follows: morphology: .80-1.00, joint excursion: .58-.97, joint play: -.67-.84, strength: .67-.92, IFM motor rating: K W -.01-.71. Inter-rater reliability ICC were as follows: morphology: .81-1.00, joint excursion: .32-.97, joint play: -1.06-1.00, strength: .53-.90, and IFM motor rating: K w .02-.56. Measures of ankle-foot posture, morphology, joint excursion, and strength demonstrated fair to excellent test-retest and inter-rater reliability. Test-retest reliability for rating of perceived difficulty and motor performance was good to excellent for short-foot, toe-spread-out, and hallux exercises and poor to fair for lesser toe extension. Joint play measures had

Forward lunge as a functional performance test in ACL deficient subjects: test-retest reliability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alkjaer, Tine; Henriksen, Marius; Dyhre-Poulsen, Poul

2009-01-01

The forward lunge movement may be used as a functional performance test of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficient and reconstructed subjects. The purposes were 1) to determine the test-retest reliability of a forward lunge in healthy subjects and 2) to determine the required numbers...... of repetitions necessary to yield satisfactory reliability. Nineteen healthy subjects performed four trials of a forward lunge on two different days. The movement time, impulses of the ground reaction forces (IFz, IFy), knee joint kinematics and dynamics during the forward lunge were calculated. The relative...... reliability was determined by calculation of Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC). The IFz, IFy and the positive work of the knee extensors showed excellent reliability (ICC >0.75). All other variables demonstrated acceptable reliability (0.4>ICCreliability increased when more than...

Design of thermoelectric modules for both mechanical reliability and performance using FE simulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sarhadi, Ali; Bjørk, Rasmus; Pryds, Nini

for these two objectives. The current study deals with FE simulation of the TE modules to optimize their geometrical dimension in terms of mechanical reliability and performance. First, FE simulation of a TE module consisting of bismuth telluride alloys is carried out and the induced thermal stresses, output......, the geometrical dimensions of the TE elements for both mechanical reliability and performance are optimized to obtain a compromise design. The present work provides a basis for optimizing the TE modules in terms of their life time and performance.......Thermo-mechanical modeling of the TE modules provides an efficient tool for assessing the mechanical strength of the modules against the induced thermal stresses and subsequently optimizing them in terms of the mechanical reliability. However, the design of TE modules in terms of mechanical...

Pharmacy student absenteeism and academic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hidayat, Levita; Vansal, Sandeep; Kim, Esther; Sullivan, Maureen; Salbu, Rebecca

2012-02-10

To assess the association of pharmacy students' personal characteristics with absenteeism and academic performance. A survey instrument was distributed to first- (P1) and second-year (P2) pharmacy students to gather characteristics including employment status, travel time to school, and primary source of educational funding. In addition, absences from specific courses and reasons for not attending classes were assessed. Participants were divided into "high" and "low" performers based on grade point average. One hundred sixty survey instruments were completed and 135 (84.3%) were included in the study analysis. Low performers were significantly more likely than high performers to have missed more than 8 hours in therapeutics courses. Low performers were significantly more likely than high performers to miss class when the class was held before or after an examination and low performers were significantly more likely to believe that participating in class did not benefit them. There was a negative association between the number of hours students' missed and their performance in specific courses. These findings provide further insight into the reasons for students' absenteeism in a college or school of pharmacy setting.

Reliability and Validity of the ‘‘Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability’’ on Mentally Retarded Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza Agha Yousefi

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Objective:Having a good quality of life has always been desirable for humans, and the concept of a good life and the ways of achieving it have become important over the years. Personal wellbeing is the mental component of quality of life. Thus, the current study was conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the ‘‘Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability’’ on mentally retarded students.Method:200 mentally retarded students in north districts of Tehran (districts 1, 2 and 3 were selected by systematic random sampling. The collected data using Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability was analyzed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal consistency and linear multivariate regression for construct validity.Results:Results confirmed the reliability and validity for the Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability in mentally retarded students of exceptional schools. Studying the internal consistency of seven items showed that all the items were correlated with the total score and their scores averages were similar to each other. This indicates that the test’s questions have reliability with regard to evaluation of a common feature and results showed Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability had the most extensive coverage of construct validity .Conclusion:Personal Well-Being Index- Cognitive Disability scale could be applied to measure personal wellbeing in mentally retarded students.

Reliability and performance evaluation of stainless and mild steel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Reliability and performance of stainless and mild steel products in methanolic and aqueous sodium chloride media have been investigated. Weight-loss and pre-exposure methods were used. There was a higher rate of weight-loss of mild steels and stainless steels in 1% HCl methanolic solution than in aqueous NaCl ...

APPLICATION OF TRAVEL TIME RELIABILITY FOR PERFORMANCE ORIENTED OPERATIONAL PLANNING OF EXPRESSWAYS

Science.gov (United States)

Mehran, Babak; Nakamura, Hideki

Evaluation of impacts of congestion improvement scheme s on travel time reliability is very significant for road authorities since travel time reliability repr esents operational performance of expressway segments. In this paper, a methodology is presented to estimate travel tim e reliability prior to implementation of congestion relief schemes based on travel time variation modeling as a function of demand, capacity, weather conditions and road accident s. For subject expressway segmen ts, traffic conditions are modeled over a whole year considering demand and capacity as random variables. Patterns of demand and capacity are generated for each five minute interval by appl ying Monte-Carlo simulation technique, and accidents are randomly generated based on a model that links acci dent rate to traffic conditions. A whole year analysis is performed by comparing de mand and available capacity for each scenario and queue length is estimated through shockwave analysis for each time in terval. Travel times are estimated from refined speed-flow relationships developed for intercity expressways and buffer time index is estimated consequently as a measure of travel time reliability. For validation, estimated reliability indices are compared with measured values from empirical data, and it is shown that the proposed method is suitable for operational evaluation and planning purposes.

Proceedings of the 1998 Photovoltaic Performance and Reliability Workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kroposki, B.

1998-01-01

This proceedings is the compilation of all papers presented at the 11th PV Performance and Reliability Workshop held at the Doubletree Hotel in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on November 3-5, 1998. The workshop was hosted by the Florida Solar Energy Center. This year's workshop included presentations from 29 speakers and had 110 attendees

Developing a system engineering program to improve performance and reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keuter, D.

1985-01-01

After several maintenance, operational, and equipment problems last year, Trojan set out on a mission to improve plant performance and reliability by strengthening its on-site engineering organization. This paper presents Trojan's plans in developing an on-site system engineering organization

Validity, Reliability, and Potential Bias of Short Forms of Students' Evaluation of Teaching: The Case of UAE University

Science.gov (United States)

Dodeen, Hamzeh

2013-01-01

Students' opinions continue to be a significant factor in the evaluation of teaching in higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to psychometrically assess short students evaluation of teaching (SET) forms using the UAE University form as a model. The study evaluated the form validity, reliability, the overall question, and…

Assessing the reliability of skilled performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dougherty, E.M.; Collins, E.P.

1996-01-01

In some high-hazard military tasks, precision of motor skills is crucial to avoid a risk-sensitive drop or other mishap. Sparse data supports a basic level of reliability for this activity seemingly much lower than typical, individual action, slip-mode errors would yield. A typical occurrence failure rate seems to be of the order of 1 x 10 -5 per opportunity. A speculation is tendered that this represents a difference in kind; that the reliability of skills is a different taxon than previously called out in the typical scheme of human reliability

Measurement-based reliability/performability models

Science.gov (United States)

Hsueh, Mei-Chen

1987-01-01

Measurement-based models based on real error-data collected on a multiprocessor system are described. Model development from the raw error-data to the estimation of cumulative reward is also described. A workload/reliability model is developed based on low-level error and resource usage data collected on an IBM 3081 system during its normal operation in order to evaluate the resource usage/error/recovery process in a large mainframe system. Thus, both normal and erroneous behavior of the system are modeled. The results provide an understanding of the different types of errors and recovery processes. The measured data show that the holding times in key operational and error states are not simple exponentials and that a semi-Markov process is necessary to model the system behavior. A sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the significance of using a semi-Markov process, as opposed to a Markov process, to model the measured system.

Validating Student Satisfaction Related to Persistence, Academic Performance, Retention and Career Advancement within ODL Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maximus Gorky Sembiring

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Student satisfaction associated with persistence, academic performance, retention, and its relations to career advancement were examined. It was aimed at measuring service quality (Servqual dimensions as a foundation of satisfaction and how, in what comportments, they were interrelated. The study was conducted under explanatory-design. Data was collected proportionally and purposively followed by congregating them through unified interviews. Population was 1,814 Universitas Terbuka students domiciled overseas; 350 questionnaires were dispersed, 169 completed. Satisfaction was assessed by examining Servqual dimensions. Importance-performance analysis (IPA and customer-satisfaction index (CSI were applied to measure satisfaction and the level of its importance. Structural equation model (SEM was then employed to examine influencing variables. Nine hypotheses developed were all validated by the analysis. Responsiveness, assurance, tangible, reliability, and empathy were in harmony to satisfaction. Career advancement, retention, academic performance, and persistence were influenced by satisfaction. Qualitative inquiry implemented afterwards was basically coherent with the quantitative findings.

Reliability modeling of degradation of products with multiple performance characteristics based on gamma processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pan Zhengqiang; Balakrishnan, Narayanaswamy

2011-01-01

Many highly reliable products usually have complex structure, with their reliability being evaluated by two or more performance characteristics. In certain physical situations, the degradation of these performance characteristics would be always positive and strictly increasing. In such a case, the gamma process is usually considered as a degradation process due to its independent and non-negative increments properties. In this paper, we suppose that a product has two dependent performance characteristics and that their degradation can be modeled by gamma processes. For such a bivariate degradation involving two performance characteristics, we propose to use a bivariate Birnbaum-Saunders distribution and its marginal distributions to approximate the reliability function. Inferential method for the corresponding model parameters is then developed. Finally, for an illustration of the proposed model and method, a numerical example about fatigue cracks is discussed and some computational results are presented.

Reliability assessment of serviceability performance of braced retaining walls using a neural network approach

Science.gov (United States)

Goh, A. T. C.; Kulhawy, F. H.

2005-05-01

In urban environments, one major concern with deep excavations in soft clay is the potentially large ground deformations in and around the excavation. Excessive movements can damage adjacent buildings and utilities. There are many uncertainties associated with the calculation of the ultimate or serviceability performance of a braced excavation system. These include the variabilities of the loadings, geotechnical soil properties, and engineering and geometrical properties of the wall. A risk-based approach to serviceability performance failure is necessary to incorporate systematically the uncertainties associated with the various design parameters. This paper demonstrates the use of an integrated neural network-reliability method to assess the risk of serviceability failure through the calculation of the reliability index. By first performing a series of parametric studies using the finite element method and then approximating the non-linear limit state surface (the boundary separating the safe and failure domains) through a neural network model, the reliability index can be determined with the aid of a spreadsheet. Two illustrative examples are presented to show how the serviceability performance for braced excavation problems can be assessed using the reliability index.

Admission Math Level and Student Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

la Cour, Lisbeth

2015-01-01

In this paper we analyze the study performance data for three cohorts of students for the course in Economics at the Business Diploma (herafter HD) study program at Copenhagen Business School. Out main findings are 1) that students with the lowest level of math from high school are performing worse...

Pump performance and reliability follow-up by the French Safety Authorities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clausner, J.P.; De La Ronciere, X.; Scott de Martinville, E.; Courbiere, P.

1990-12-01

This paper will present, through actual examples, the methodology of the performance and reliability safety-related pumps evaluation applied by the French Safety Authorities and the lessons drawn from this evaluation

Validity evidence and reliability of a simulated patient feedback instrument.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlegel, Claudia; Woermann, Ulrich; Rethans, Jan-Joost; van der Vleuten, Cees

2012-01-27

In the training of healthcare professionals, one of the advantages of communication training with simulated patients (SPs) is the SP's ability to provide direct feedback to students after a simulated clinical encounter. The quality of SP feedback must be monitored, especially because it is well known that feedback can have a profound effect on student performance. Due to the current lack of valid and reliable instruments to assess the quality of SP feedback, our study examined the validity and reliability of one potential instrument, the 'modified Quality of Simulated Patient Feedback Form' (mQSF). Content validity of the mQSF was assessed by inviting experts in the area of simulated clinical encounters to rate the importance of the mQSF items. Moreover, generalizability theory was used to examine the reliability of the mQSF. Our data came from videotapes of clinical encounters between six simulated patients and six students and the ensuing feedback from the SPs to the students. Ten faculty members judged the SP feedback according to the items on the mQSF. Three weeks later, this procedure was repeated with the same faculty members and recordings. All but two items of the mQSF received importance ratings of > 2.5 on a four-point rating scale. A generalizability coefficient of 0.77 was established with two judges observing one encounter. The findings for content validity and reliability with two judges suggest that the mQSF is a valid and reliable instrument to assess the quality of feedback provided by simulated patients.

Teacher Reports of Student Health and Its Influence on Students' School Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Tara C.; Wehby, Joseph H.; Hollo, Alexandra; Robertson, Rachel E.; Maggin, Daniel M.

2014-01-01

Physical health may be an important variable that influences students' behavioral and academic performance in school settings. Poor health status is hypothesized to negatively influence student performance even in the presence of evidence-based practices. In this study, teachers reported their perceptions of students' health status as well as…

Performance and reliability of TPE-2 device with pulsed high power source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Y.; Takeda, S.; Kiyama, S.

1987-01-01

The performance and the reliability of TPE-2 device with pulsed high power sources are described. To obtain the stable high beta plasma, the reproducibility and the reliability of the pulsed power sources must be maintained. A new power crowbar system with high efficiency and the switches with low jitter time are adopted to the bank system. A monitor system which always watches the operational states of the switches is developed too, and applied for the fast rising capacitor banks of TPE-2 device. The reliable operation for the bank has been realized, based on the data of switch monitor system

Influence of organizational factors on performance reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haber, S.B.; O'Brien, J.N.; Metlay, D.S.; Crouch, D.A.

1991-12-01

This is the first volume of a two-volume report. Volume 2 will be published at a later date. This report presents the results of a research project conducted by Brookhaven National Laboratory for the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. The purpose of the project was to develop a general methodology to be use in the assessment of the organizational factors which affect performance reliability (safety) in a nuclear power plant. The research described in this report includes the development of the Nuclear Organization and Management Analysis Concept (GNOMIC). This concept characterizes the organizational factors that impact safety performance in a nuclear power plant and identifies some methods for systematically measuring and analyzing the influence of these factors on safety performance. This report is divided into two parts; Part 1 presents an overview of the development of the methodology, while Part 2 provides more details and a technical analysis of the methodological development. Specifically, the results of two demonstration studies, the feasibility of the methodology, and a specific applications for which the methodology was developed are presented

The revised Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale: a validity and reliability study.

Science.gov (United States)

Hale, W D; Fiedler, L R; Cochran, C D

1992-07-01

The Generalized Expectancy for Success Scale (GESS; Fibel & Hale, 1978) was revised and assessed for reliability and validity. The revised version was administered to 199 college students along with other conceptually related measures, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Life Orientation Test, and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. One subsample of students also completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory, while another subsample performed a criterion-related task that involved risk taking. Item analysis yielded 25 items with correlations of .45 or higher with the total score. Results indicated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability.

Academic performance of students admitted with different entry certificate in Nigeria certificate in education programme in federal college of education (technical, Omoku

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Japo Oweikeye Morto Amasuomo

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The study was an attempt to determine the levels of academic performance of two groups of students admitted with different entry certificates in the Nigeria certificate in Education (NCE Technical Programme and to find out whether both groups differ significantly in performance. Seventy (70 first year Technical students of the Federal College of Education (Technical, Omoku during the 2011/2012 academic session were used for the study. The data consisted of raw scores obtained by these students in five (5 courses. The Arithmetic Means and t-test were used to analyze the data. Reliability of t-test results were ascertained by the use of f-test of group variances. The study established that the secondary school certificate students performed significantly better than their City and Guilds certificate counterparts, and the both groups differed significantly in other academic performance. Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE

A Scale Development for 21st Century Skills of Primary School Students: A Validity and Reliability Study1

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Ş. Dilek Belet Boyacı

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of the present study is to develop a measurement tool to assess 21st Century learning and innovation skills of primary school students. Study data was collected from 632 fourth grade students in five different primary schools during 2014 – 2015 academic year and data obtained from 609 fourth grade students were utilized in the study. The scale was developed in six stages. These were; establishing the scale items, consultation of experts, pretest stage, determination of structural validity, reliability assessment, and finalization of the scale, respectively. Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for the whole scale, which consisted of three factors, was calculated as 0.95. 0.89. As a result of the current study, a Likert-type 21st Century learning and innovation skills scale with 39 items was developed. 20 items of the scale were related to creativity and innovation skills, 12 were related to critical thinking and problem solving skills, and 7 were related to cooperation and communication skills.

Comparability and Reliability Considerations of Adequate Yearly Progress

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Maier, Kimberly S.; Maiti, Tapabrata; Dass, Sarat C.; Lim, Chae Young

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to develop an estimate of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) that will allow for reliable and valid comparisons among student subgroups, schools, and districts. A shrinkage-type estimator of AYP using the Bayesian framework is described. Using simulated data, the performance of the Bayes estimator will be compared to…

Student Performance in Undergraduate Economics Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Mumford, Kevin J.; Ohland, Matthew W.

2011-01-01

Using undergraduate student records from six large public universities from 1990 to 2003, the authors analyze the characteristics and performance of students by major in two economics courses: Principles of Microeconomics and Intermediate Microeconomics. This article documents important differences across students by major in the principles course…

Reliability of didactic grades to predict practical skills in an undergraduate dental college in Saudi Arabia.

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Zawawi, Khalid H; Afify, Ahmed R; Yousef, Mohammed K; Othman, Hisham I; Al-Dharrab, Ayman A

2015-01-01

This longitudinal study was aimed to investigate the association between didactic grades and practical skills for dental students and whether didactic grades can reliability predict the dental students' practical performance. Didactic and practical grades for graduates from the Faculty of Dentistry, King Abdulaziz University, between the years 2009 and 2011 were collected. Four courses were selected: Dental Anatomy, Operative Dentistry, Prosthodontics, and Orthodontics. Pearson product-moment correlation analyses between didactic and practical scores were conducted. There was only a significant correlation between didactic and practical scores for the Dental Anatomy course (Pdidactic scores (Pdidactic and practical scores for all subjects. Based on the findings of this study, the relationship between didactic grades and practical performance is course specific. Didactic grades do not reliably predict the students' practical skills. Measuring practical performances should be independent from didactic grading.

Reliability issues and solutions for coding social communication performance in classroom settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Olswang, Lesley B; Svensson, Liselotte; Coggins, Truman E; Beilinson, Jill S; Donaldson, Amy L

2006-10-01

To explore the utility of time-interval analysis for documenting the reliability of coding social communication performance of children in classroom settings. Of particular interest was finding a method for determining whether independent observers could reliably judge both occurrence and duration of ongoing behavioral dimensions for describing social communication performance. Four coders participated in this study. They observed and independently coded 6 social communication behavioral dimensions using handheld computers. The dimensions were mutually exclusive and accounted for all verbal and nonverbal productions during a specified time frame. The technology allowed for coding frequency and duration for each entered code. Data were collected from 20 different 2-min video segments of children in kindergarten through 3rd-grade classrooms. Data were analyzed for interobserver and intraobserver agreements using time-interval sorting and Cohen's kappa. Further, interval size and total observation length were manipulated to determine their influence on reliability. The data revealed interval sorting and kappa to be a suitable method for examining reliability of occurrence and duration of ongoing social communication behavioral dimensions. Nearly all comparisons yielded medium to large kappa values; interval size and length of observation minimally affected results. Implications The analysis procedure described in this research solves a challenge in reliability: comparing coding by independent observers of both occurrence and duration of behaviors. Results indicate the utility of a new coding taxonomy and technology for application in online observations of social communication in a classroom setting.

A new approach for reliability analysis with time-variant performance characteristics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Zequn; Wang, Pingfeng

2013-01-01

Reliability represents safety level in industry practice and may variant due to time-variant operation condition and components deterioration throughout a product life-cycle. Thus, the capability to perform time-variant reliability analysis is of vital importance in practical engineering applications. This paper presents a new approach, referred to as nested extreme response surface (NERS), that can efficiently tackle time dependency issue in time-variant reliability analysis and enable to solve such problem by easily integrating with advanced time-independent tools. The key of the NERS approach is to build a nested response surface of time corresponding to the extreme value of the limit state function by employing Kriging model. To obtain the data for the Kriging model, the efficient global optimization technique is integrated with the NERS to extract the extreme time responses of the limit state function for any given system input. An adaptive response prediction and model maturation mechanism is developed based on mean square error (MSE) to concurrently improve the accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed approach. With the nested response surface of time, the time-variant reliability analysis can be converted into the time-independent reliability analysis and existing advanced reliability analysis methods can be used. Three case studies are used to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of NERS approach

Device Performance and Reliability Improvements of AlGaBN/GaN/Si MOSFET

Science.gov (United States)

2016-02-04

AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2016-0037 Device Performance and Reliablity Improvements of AlGaBN/GaN/Si MOSFET Robert Wallace UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS Final...GaN/Si MOSFET 5a.  CONTRACT NUMBER 5b.  GRANT NUMBER FA2386-14-1-4069 5c.  PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 61102F 6. AUTHOR(S) Robert Wallace 5d.  PROJECT...AOARD Grant FA2386-14-1-4069 Device Performance and Reliability Improvements of AlGaN/GaN/Si MOSFET US 12 month extension (2014 – 2015) for current

Factors influencing students' performance in a Brazilian dental school.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Erica Tatiane da; Nunes, Maria de Fátima; Queiroz, Maria Goretti; Leles, Cláudio R

2010-01-01

Comprehensive assessment of students' academic performance plays an important role in educational planning. The aim of this study was to investigate variables that influence student's performance in a retrospective sample including all undergraduate students who entered in a Brazilian dental school, in a 20-year period between 1984 and 2003 (n=1182). Demographic and educational variables were used to predict performance in the overall curriculum and course groups. Cluster analysis (K-means algorithm) categorized students into groups of higher, moderate or lower performance. Clusters of overall performance showed external validity, demonstrated by Chi-square test and ANOVA. Lower performance groups had the smallest number of students in overall performance and course groups clusters, ranging from 11.8% (clinical courses) to 19.2% (basic courses). Students' performance was more satisfactory in dental and clinical courses, rather than basic and non-clinical courses (pstudent's performance was predicted by lower time elapsed between completion of high school and dental school admission, female gender, better rank in admission test, class attendance rate and student workload hours in teaching, research and extension (R(2)=0.491). Findings give evidence about predictors of undergraduate students' performance and reinforce the need for curricular reformulation focused on with improvement of integration among courses.

The Reliability and Validity of a Campus Caring Instrument Developed for Undergraduate Students in Hong Kong

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Petrus; Su, Xiqing Susan; Chan, Vivien; Leung, Heidi; Cheung, Wendy; Tsun, Angela

2013-01-01

This study validated a Perceived Campus Caring Scale with 1,520 university students. Using factor analysis, seven factors namely, Faculty Support, Nonfaculty Support, Peer Relationship, Sense of Detachment, Sense of Belonging, Caring Attitude, and Campus Involvement, are identified with high reliability, validity, and close correlation with the…

Impact of hybrid delivery of education on student academic performance and the student experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Congdon, Heather Brennan; Nutter, Douglas A; Charneski, Lisa; Butko, Peter

2009-11-12

To compare student academic performance and the student experience in the first-year doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program between the main and newly opened satellite campuses of the University of Maryland. Student performance indicators including graded assessments, course averages, cumulative first-year grade point average (GPA), and introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) evaluations were analyzed retrospectively. Student experience indicators were obtained via an online survey instrument and included involvement in student organizations; time-budgeting practices; and stress levels and their perceived effect on performance. Graded assessments, course averages, GPA, and IPPE evaluations were indistinguishable between campuses. Students' time allocation was not different between campuses, except for time spent attending class and watching lecture videos. There was no difference between students' stress levels at each campus. The implementation of a satellite campus to expand pharmacy education yielded academic performance and student engagement comparable to those from traditional delivery methods.

Comparison of reading performance tests concerning difficulty of sentences and paragraphs and their reliability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brussee, T.; van Nispen, R.M.A.; Klerkx, E.M.F.J.; Knol, D.L.; van Rens, G.H.M.B.

2015-01-01

In research and practice, sentences or paragraphs of reading tests may be randomly chosen to assess reading performance. This means that in addition to test reliability, all sentences or paragraphs should be reliable and equally difficult to read. The sentences and paragraphs of five (un-)

Discomfort Intolerance Scale: A Study of Reliability and Validity

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Kadir ÖZDEL

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: Discomfort Intolerance Scale was developed by Norman B. Schmidt et al. to assess the individual differences of capacity to withstand physical perturbations or uncomfortable bodily states (2006. The aim of this study is to investigate the validity and reliability of Discomfort Intolerance Scale-Turkish Version (RDÖ. Method: From two different universities, total of 225 students (male=167, female=58 were participated in this study. In order to determine the criterion validity, Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI were used. Construct validity was evaluated by factor analysis after the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO and Barlett test had been performed. To assess the test-retest reliability the scale was re-applied to 54 participants 6 weeks later. Results: To assess construct validity of DIS, factor analyses were performed using varimax principal components analysis with varimax rotation. The factor analysis resulted in two factors named “discomfort (in tolerance” and “discomfort avoidance”. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire scale, discomfort-(intolerance subscale, discomfortavoidance subscale were, .592, .670, .600 respectively. Correlations between two factors of DIS, discomfort intolerance and discomfort avoidance, and Trait Anxiety Inventory of STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were statistically significant at the level of 0.05. Test-retest reliability was statistically significant at the level of 0.01. Conclusion: Analysis demonstrated that DIS had a satisfactory level of reliability and validity in Turkish university students.

Reliability and validity of the Positive Mental Health Questionnaire in a sample of Spanish university students.

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Roldán-Merino, J; Lluch-Canut, M T; Casas, I; Sanromà-Ortíz, M; Ferré-Grau, C; Sequeira, C; Falcó-Pegueroles, A; Soares, D; Puig-Llobet, M

2017-03-01

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: In general, the current studies of positive mental health use questionnaires or parts thereof. However, while these questionnaires evaluate aspects of positive mental health, they fail to measure the construct itself. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: The widespread use and the lack of specific questionnaires for evaluating the positive mental health construct justify the need to measure the robustness of the Positive Mental Health Questionnaire. Also six factors are proposed to measure positive mental health. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: The availability of a good questionnaire to measure positive mental health in university students is useful not only to promote mental health but also to strengthen the curricula of future professionals. Introduction Nursing has a relevant role in managing mental health. It is important to identify and thereafter to enhance positive aspects of mental health among university nursing students. Aim The aim of the present study was to analyse the psychometric properties of the Positive Mental Health Questionnaire (PMHQ) in terms of reliability and validity using confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of university students. Method A cross-sectional study was carried out in a sample of 1091 students at 4 nursing schools in Catalonia, Spain. The reliability of the PMHQ was measured by means of Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and the test-retest stability was measured with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the validity of the factorial structure. Results Cronbach's alpha coefficient was satisfactory (>0.70) for four of the six subscales or dimensions and ranged from 0.54 to 0.79. ICC analysis was satisfactory for the six subscales or dimensions. The hypothesis was confirmed in the analysis of the correlations between subclasses and the overall scale, with the strongest correlations being found between the majority of

Reliability of performance velocity for jump squats under feedback and nonfeedback conditions.

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Randell, Aaron D; Cronin, John B; Keogh, Justin Wl; Gill, Nicholas D; Pedersen, Murray C

2011-12-01

Randell, AD, Cronin, JB, Keogh, JWL, Gill, ND, and Pedersen, MC. Reliability of performance velocity for jump squats under feedback and nonfeedback conditions. J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3514-3518, 2011-Advancements in the monitoring of kinematic and kinetic variables during resistance training have resulted in the ability to continuously monitor performance and provide feedback during training. If equipment and software can provide reliable instantaneous feedback related to the variable of interest during training, it is thought that this may result in goal-oriented movement tasks that increase the likelihood of transference to on-field performance or at the very least improve the mechanical variable of interest. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of performance velocity for jump squats under feedback and nonfeedback conditions over 3 consecutive training sessions. Twenty subjects were randomly allocated to a feedback or nonfeedback group, and each group performed a total of 3 "jump squat" training sessions with the velocity of each repetition measured using a linear position transducer. There was less change in mean velocities between sessions 1-2 and sessions 2-3 (0.07 and 0.02 vs. 0.13 and -0.04 m·s), less random variation (TE = 0.06 and 0.06 vs. 0.10 and 0.07 m·s) and greater consistency (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.83 and 0.87 vs. 0.53 and 0.74) between sessions for the feedback condition as compared to the nonfeedback condition. It was concluded that there is approximately a 50-50 probability that the provision of feedback was beneficial to the performance in the squat jump over multiple sessions. It is suggested that this has the potential for increasing transference to on-field performance or at the very least improving the mechanical variable of interest.

Does School Choice Improve Student Performance?

OpenAIRE

Kaja Høiseth Brugård

2013-01-01

This paper studies the relationship between school choice and student performance for high school students in Norway. The analysis exploits both the fact that the degree of school choice formally differs between counties, and detailed information on travelling distances to high schools, which more closely reflects the students' actual school choice possibilities. Information on students' residence, high school location, and the degree of formal school choice is used to estimate the effect on ...

Establishing the reliability and validity of the Zagazig Depression Scale in a UK student population: an online pilot study

OpenAIRE

Ibrahim, Ahmed K; Kelly, Shona J; Challenor, Emily C; Glazebrook, Cris

2010-01-01

Abstract Background It is thought that depressive disorders will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide by 2020. Recently, there is a steady increase in the number of university students diagnosed and treated as depression patients. It can be assumed that depression is a serious mental health problem for university students because it affects all age groups of the students either younger or older equally. The current study aims to establish the reliability and validity of the Zag...

A comparison of educational strategies for the acquisition of nursing student's performance and critical thinking: simulation-based training vs. integrated training (simulation and critical thinking strategies).

Science.gov (United States)

Zarifsanaiey, Nahid; Amini, Mitra; Saadat, Farideh

2016-11-16

There is a need to change the focus of nursing education from traditional teacher-centered training programs to student-centered active methods. The integration of the two active learning techniques will improve the effectiveness of training programs. The objective of this study is to compare the effects of the integrated training (simulation and critical thinking strategies) and simulation-based training on the performance level and critical thinking ability of nursing students. The present quasi-experimental study was performed in 2014 on 40 students who were studying practical nursing principles and skills course in the first half of the academic year in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Students were randomly divided into control (n = 20) and experimental (n = 20) groups. After training students through simulation and integrated education (simulation and critical thinking strategies), the students' critical thinking ability and performance were evaluated via the use of California Critical Thinking Ability Questionnaire B (CCTST) and Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) comprising 10 stations, respectively. The external reliability of the California Critical Thinking questionnaire was reported by Case B.to be between 0.78 and 0.80 and the validity of OSCE was approved by 5 members of the faculty. Furthermore, by using Split Half method (the correlation between odd and even stations), the reliability of the test was approved with correlation coefficient of 0.66. Data were analyzed using t-test and Mann-Whitney test. A significance level of 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. The mean scores of the experimental group performance level were higher than the mean score of the control group performance level. This difference was statistically significant and students in the experimental group in OSCE stations had significantly higher performance than the control group (P critical thinking did not increase before and after the

Self-Esteem & Academic Performance among University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Arshad, Muhammad; Zaidi, Syed Muhammad Imran Haider; Mahmood, Khalid

2015-01-01

The current study was conducted to assess the self-esteem and academic performance among university students after arising of several behavioral and educational problems. A total number of 80 students, 40 male students and 40 female students were selected through purposive sampling from G. C. University Faisalabad. The participants were…

Learning Styles and Student Performance in Introductory Economics

Science.gov (United States)

Brunton, Bruce

2015-01-01

Data from nine introductory microeconomics classes was used to test the effect of student learning style on academic performance. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory was used to assess individual student learning styles. The results indicate that student learning style has no significant effect on performance, undermining the claims of those who…

Burnout Syndrome Among Medical Students at One University in Serbia: Validity and Reliability of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Ilic, Milena; Todorovic, Zeljko; Jovanovic, Milena; Ilic, Irena

2017-01-01

The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) contains 15 items that evaluate the following burnout dimensions: Emotional Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Academic Efficacy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dimensionality of the MBI-SS on a sample of Serbian medical students (N = 760). The overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the MBI-SS questionnaire was 0.757, while the Cronbach's α coefficients for Emotional Exhaustion, Cynicism, and Academic Efficacy were 0.869, 0.856, and 0.852, respectively. Principal Component Analysis with Oblimin rotation indicated 3 main components that explained 64.9% variance. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed good fit indices (χ 2 /df = 575.74/87, RMSEA = 0.086 (90% Confidence Interval for RMSEA = 0.079 to 0.092), CFI = 0.949, NNFI = 0.939, IFI = 0.949, GFI = 0.904) of the MBI-SS scale. The Serbian version of MBI-SS represents a valid and reliable instrument in the Serbian sample of medical students.

Simulated patient training: Using inter-rater reliability to evaluate simulated patient consistency in nursing education.

Science.gov (United States)

MacLean, Sharon; Geddes, Fiona; Kelly, Michelle; Della, Phillip

2018-03-01

Simulated patients (SPs) are frequently used for training nursing students in communication skills. An acknowledged benefit of using SPs is the opportunity to provide a standardized approach by which participants can demonstrate and develop communication skills. However, relatively little evidence is available on how to best facilitate and evaluate the reliability and accuracy of SPs' performances. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of an evidenced based SP training framework to ensure standardization of SPs. The training framework was employed to improve inter-rater reliability of SPs. A quasi-experimental study was employed to assess SP post-training understanding of simulation scenario parameters using inter-rater reliability agreement indices. Two phases of data collection took place. Initially a trial phase including audio-visual (AV) recordings of two undergraduate nursing students completing a simulation scenario is rated by eight SPs using the Interpersonal Communication Assessments Scale (ICAS) and Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale (QDTS). In phase 2, eight SP raters and four nursing faculty raters independently evaluated students' (N=42) communication practices using the QDTS. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were >0.80 for both stages of the study in clinical communication skills. The results support the premise that if trained appropriately, SPs have a high degree of reliability and validity to both facilitate and evaluate student performance in nurse education. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a valid and reliable test to assess trauma radiograph interpretation performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neep, M.J.; Steffens, T.; Riley, V.; Eastgate, P.; McPhail, S.M.

2017-01-01

Objectives: The purpose of this investigation was to develop and examine the preliminary validity and reliability among radiographers of a test to assess trauma radiograph interpretation performance suitable for use among health professionals. Methods: Stage 1 examined 14,159 consecutive appendicular and axial examinations from a hospital emergency department over a 12 month period to quantify a typical anatomical region case-mix of trauma radiographs. A sample of radiographic cases representative of affected anatomical regions was then developed into the Image Interpretation Test (IIT). Stage 2 involved prospective investigations of the IIT's reliability (inter-rater, intra-rater, internal consistency) and validity (concurrent) among 41 radiographers. Results: The IIT included 60 cases. The median (interquartile range) clinical experience of participants was 5 (2–10) years. Case scores were internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90). Favourable inter-rater reliability (kappa > 0.70 for 58/60 cases, Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) > 0.99 for total score) and intra-rater reliability (kappa > 0.90 for 60/60 cases, ICC > 0.99 for total score) was observed. There was a positive association between radiographers' confidence in image interpretation and IIT score (coefficient = 1.52, r-squared = 0.60, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The IIT developed during this investigation included a selection of radiographic cases consistent with anatomical regions represented in an adult trauma case-mix. This study has also provided foundational preliminary evidence to support the reliability and validity of the IIT among radiographers. The findings suggest that it is possible to assess image interpretation performance of adult trauma radiographs with this test. - Highlights: • Development of an Image Interpretation Test (IIT). • Cases consistent with anatomical regions represented in a typical adult trauma case-mix. • Development of a

Feasibility and Inter-Rater Reliability of Physical Performance Measures in Acutely Admitted Older Medical Patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bodilsen, Ann Christine; Juul-Larsen, Helle Gybel; Petersen, Janne

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Physical performance measures can be used to predict functional decline and increased dependency in older persons. However, few studies have assessed the feasibility or reliability of such measures in hospitalized older patients. Here we assessed the feasibility and inter-rater reliabi......OBJECTIVE: Physical performance measures can be used to predict functional decline and increased dependency in older persons. However, few studies have assessed the feasibility or reliability of such measures in hospitalized older patients. Here we assessed the feasibility and inter......-rater reliability of four simple measures of physical performance in acutely admitted older medical patients. DESIGN: During the first 24 hours of hospitalization, the following were assessed twice by different raters in 52 (≥ 65 years) patients admitted for acute medical illness: isometric hand grip strength, 4......, and 30-s chair stand were 8%, 7%, and 18%, and the SRD95% values were 22%, 17%, and 49%. CONCLUSION: In acutely admitted older medical patients, grip strength, gait speed, and the Cumulated Ambulation Score measurements were feasible and showed high inter-rater reliability when administered by different...

The reliability of in-training assessment when performance improvement is taken into account

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Lohuizen, M.T.; Kuks, J.B.; van Hell, E.A.; Raat, A.N.; Stewart, R.E.; Cohen-Schotanus, J.

2010-01-01

During in-training assessment students are frequently assessed over a longer period of time and therefore it can be expected that their performance will improve. We studied whether there really is a measurable performance improvement when students are assessed over an extended period of time and how

Validity and Reliability of the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) in University Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Tiburcio Sainz, Marcela; Rosete-Mohedano, Ma Guadalupe; Natera Rey, Guillermina; Martínez Vélez, Nora Angélica; Carreño García, Silvia; Pérez Cisneros, Daniel

2016-03-02

The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST), developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), has been used successfully in many countries, but there are few studies of its validity and reliability for the Mexican population. The objective of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the self-administered ASSIST test in university students in Mexico. This was an ex post facto non-experimental study with 1,176 undergraduate students, the majority women (70.1%) aged 18-23 years (89.5%) and single (87.5%). To estimate concurrent validity, factor analysis and tests of reliability and correlation were carried out between the subscale for alcohol and AUDIT, those for tobacco and the Fagerström Test, and those for marijuana and DAST-20. Adequate reliability coefficients were obtained for ASSIST subscales for tobacco (alpha = 0.83), alcohol (alpha = 0.76), and marijuana (alpha = 0.73). Significant correlations were found only with the AUDIT (r = 0.71) and the alcohol subscale. The best balance of sensitivity and specificity of the alcohol subscale (83.8% and 80%, respectively) and the largest area under the ROC curve (81.9%) was found with a cutoff score of 8. The self-administered version of ASSIST is a valid screening instrument to identify at-risk cases due to substance use in this population.

Methodology for performing RF reliability experiments on a generic test structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sasse, G.T.; de Vries, Rein J.; Schmitz, Jurriaan

2007-01-01

This paper discusses a new technique developed for generating well defined RF large voltage swing signals for on wafer experiments. This technique can be employed for performing a broad range of different RF reliability experiments on one generic test structure. The frequency dependence of a

A comparison between students' attitudes and their performance regarding the factors influencing learning and exam results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A Ebrahimi

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Various educational approaches to learning have been proposed. It is, of course, of vital importance to study those that have resulted in effective educational achievements.Purpose: To assess the student's attitudes and performance in order to evaluate educational approaches and identify the variables leading to students gaining good marks.Methods: The subjects of the study were medical students at pathophysiology  phase. A multiple-choice questionnaire was prepared, the reliability and validity of which were confirmed. A paired-sample T­ test was used to compare and analyze  the student's  Basic Sciences Comprehensive  Exam scores in each discipline and their average score during the basic sciences course.Results: With respect to attitudes, the students highly valued the importance of teacher's methodology and mutual  respect, as an influential  factor in Learning. Furthermore, the majority  of the students relied heavily  on their textbooks  as the main source of information  and preferred to study at home, rather than any other places. Most of the students prefer to study in the morning. They believed that mid-term exams, quizzes, and active class participation do not have much effect on learning. However, it was of high importance to them to attend practical claSSfS (labs. With respect to performance, most of the students used lecture notes as the main references, and considered their home as a good place to study and  preferred to study in the morning,  but have  participated  in theoretical  and  practical classes regularly.Conclusion: Most successful students attributed their success to active class participation,  takingmid-term exams, quizzes, and using library. Having analyzed the data, we recommend the authorities to provide more methodology  workshops for teachers,  sufficient  number of textbooks,  expanding  or increasing the number of the reading rooms with essential equipment

College Student Performance and Credit Card Usage.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinto, Mary Beth; Parente, Diane H.; Palmer, Todd Starr

2001-01-01

Examines the relationship between credit card usage, employment, and academic performance among a group of college students with credit cards. Results reveal that the students differed significantly in the level of anxiety felt from carrying debt, perceived need to work, and perceived impact of employment on academic performance. (Contains 57…

Forming Student Online Teams for Maximum Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Joel D.; Ringhand, Darlene G.; Kalinski, Ray C.; Ziegler, James G.

2015-01-01

What is the best way to assign graduate business students to online team-based projects? Team assignments are frequently made on the basis of alphabet, time zones or previous performance. This study reviews personality as an indicator of student online team performance. The personality assessment IDE (Insights Discovery Evaluator) was administered…

Satisfaction of Students and Academic Performance in Benadir University

Science.gov (United States)

Dhaqane, Mahad Khalif; Afrah, Nor Abdulle

2016-01-01

This study examines the role of satisfaction on students' academic performance and investigates the relationship between satisfaction of students and academic performance and explores other factors that contribute academic performance. A correlation research was used. The study population was the third and the last year students of Benadir…

The prone bridge test: Performance, validity, and reliability among older and younger adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Bohannon, Richard W; Steffl, Michal; Glenney, Susan S; Green, Michelle; Cashwell, Leah; Prajerova, Kveta; Bunn, Jennifer

2018-04-01

The prone bridge maneuver, or plank, has been viewed as a potential alternative to curl-ups for assessing trunk muscle performance. The purpose of this study was to assess prone bridge test performance, validity, and reliability among younger and older adults. Sixty younger (20-35 years old) and 60 older (60-79 years old) participants completed this study. Groups were evenly divided by sex. Participants completed surveys regarding physical activity and abdominal exercise participation. Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were measured. On two occasions, 5-9 days apart, participants held a prone bridge until volitional exhaustion or until repeated technique failure. Validity was examined using data from the first session: convergent validity by calculating correlations between survey responses, anthropometrics, and prone bridge time, known groups validity by using an ANOVA comparing bridge times of younger and older adults and of men and women. Test-retest reliability was examined by using a paired t-test to compare prone bridge times for Session1 and Session 2. Furthermore, an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to characterize relative reliability and minimal detectable change (MDC 95% ) was used to describe absolute reliability. The mean prone bridge time was 145.3 ± 71.5 s, and was positively correlated with physical activity participation (p ≤ 0.001) and negatively correlated with BMI and waist circumference (p ≤ 0.003). Younger participants had significantly longer plank times than older participants (p = 0.003). The ICC between testing sessions was 0.915. The prone bridge test is a valid and reliable measure for evaluating abdominal performance in both younger and older adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Regulatory Perspective on the Performance and Reliability of Nuclear Passive Safety Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quan, Pham Trung; Lee, Sukho

2016-01-01

Passive safety systems have been proven to enhance the safety of NPPs. When an accident such as station blackout occurs, these systems can perform the following functions: the decay heat removal, passive safety injection, containment cooling, and the retention of radioactive materials. Following the IAEA definitions, using passive safety systems reduces reliance on active components to achieve proper actuation and not requiring operator intervention in accident conditions. That leads to the deviations in boundary conditions of the critical process or geometric parameters, which activate and operate the system to perform accident prevention and mitigation functions. The main difficulties in evaluation of functional failure of passive systems arise because of (a) lack of plant operational experience; (b) scarcity of adequate experimental data from integral test facilities or from separate effect tests in order to understand the performance characteristics of these passive systems, not only at normal operation but also during accidents and transients; (c) lack of accepted definitions of failure modes for these systems; and (d) difficulty in modeling certain physical behavior of these systems. Reliability assessment of the PSS is still one of the important issues. Several reliability methodologies such as REPAS, RMPS and ASPRA have been applied to the reliability assessments. However, some issues are remained unresolved due to lack of understanding of the treatment of dynamic failure characteristics of components of the PSS, the treatment of dynamic variation of independence process parameters such as ambient temperature and the functional failure criteria of the PSS. Dynamic reliability methodologies should be integrated in the PSS reliability analysis to have a true estimate of system failure probability. The methodology should estimate the physical variation of the parameters and the frequency of the accident sequences when the dynamic effects are considered

Assessment of Equipment Capability to Perform Reliably under Severe Accident Conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-07-01

The experience from the last 40 years has shown that severe accidents can subject electrical and instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment to environmental conditions exceeding the equipment’s original design basis assumptions. Severe accident conditions can then cause rapid degradation or damage to various degrees up to complete failure of such equipment. This publication provides the technical basis to consider when assessing the capability of electrical and I&C equipment to perform reliably during a severe accident. It provides examples of calculation tools to determine the environmental parameters as well as examples and methods that Member States can apply to assess equipment reliability.

Advanced control rooms and crew performance issues: Implications for human reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Hara, J.M.; Hall, R.E.

1991-01-01

Recent trends in advanced control room (ACR) design are considered with respect to their impact on human performance. It is concluded that potentially negative influences exist, however, a variety of factors make it difficult to model, analyze, and quantify these effects for human reliability analyses (HRAs)

Social Studies Oriented Achievement Goal Scale (SOAGS: Validity and Reliability Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melehat GEZER

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring students' social studies achievement goal. The research was conducted on a study group consisted of 374 middle school students studying in the central district of Diyarbakır in 2014-2015 school year fall semester. Expert opinion was consulted with regard to the scale's content and face validity. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA were performed in order to measure the scale's construct validity. As a result of EFA, a 29-item and a six-factor structure model which explains 50.82% of the total variance was obtained. The emerging factors were called as a self-approach, task-approach, other-approach, task-avoidance, other-avoidance and self-avoidance respectively. The findings acquired CFA indicated that the 29-item and six-factor structure related to social studies oriented achievement goal scale have acceptable goodness of fit indices. The scale's reliability coefficients were calculated by means of internal consistency method. As a result of reliability analysis, it was determined that the reliability coefficients were within admissible limits. The finding of the item correlation and 27% of upper and lower group comparisons demonstrated that all of the items in the scale should remain. In light of these results, it could be argued that the scale is reliable and valid instrument and can be used in order to test students' social studies achievement goals.

Visuospatial training improves elementary students' mathematics performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowrie, Tom; Logan, Tracy; Ramful, Ajay

2017-06-01

Although spatial ability and mathematics performance are highly correlated, there is scant research on the extent to which spatial ability training can improve mathematics performance. This study evaluated the efficacy of a visuospatial intervention programme within classrooms to determine the effect on students' (1) spatial reasoning and (2) mathematics performance as a result of the intervention. The study involved grade six students (ages 10-12) in eight classes. There were five intervention classes (n = 120) and three non-intervention control classes (n = 66). A specifically designed 10-week spatial reasoning programme was developed collaboratively with the participating teachers, with the intervention replacing the standard mathematics curriculum. The five classroom teachers in the intervention programme presented 20 hr of activities aimed at enhancing students' spatial visualization, mental rotation, and spatial orientation skills. The spatial reasoning programme led to improvements in both spatial ability and mathematics performance relative to the control group who received standard mathematics instruction. Our study is the first to show that a classroom-based spatial reasoning intervention improves elementary school students' mathematics performance. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Medical student psychological distress and academic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Dendle, Claire; Baulch, Julie; Pellicano, Rebecca; Hay, Margaret; Lichtwark, Irene; Ayoub, Sally; Clarke, David M; Morand, Eric F; Kumar, Arunaz; Leech, Michelle; Horne, Kylie

2018-01-21

The impact of medical student psychological distress on academic performance has not been systematically examined. This study provided an opportunity to closely examine the potential impacts of workplace and study related stress factors on student's psychological distress and their academic performance during their first clinical year. This one-year prospective cohort study was performed at a tertiary hospital based medical school in Melbourne, Australia. Students completed a questionnaire at three time points during the year. The questionnaire included the validated Kessler psychological distress scale (K10) and the General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), as well as items about sources of workplace stress. Academic outcome scores were aggregated and correlated with questionnaire results. One hundred and twenty six students participated; 126 (94.7%), 102 (76.7%), and 99 (74.4%) at time points one, two, and three, respectively. 33.1% reported psychological distress at time point one, increasing to 47.4% at time point three. There was no correlation between the K10 scores and academic performance. There was weak negative correlation between the GHQ-28 at time point three and academic performance. Keeping up to date with knowledge, need to do well and fear of negative feedback were the most common workplace stress factors. Poor correlation was noted between psychological distress and academic performance.

Single-leg lateral, horizontal, and vertical jump assessment: reliability, interrelationships, and ability to predict sprint and change-of-direction performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Meylan, Cesar; McMaster, Travis; Cronin, John; Mohammad, Nur Ikhwan; Rogers, Cailyn; Deklerk, Melissa

2009-07-01

The purposes of this study were to determine the reliability of unilateral vertical, horizontal, and lateral countermovement jump assessments, the interrelationship between these tests, and their usefulness as predictors of sprint (10 m) and change-of-direction (COD) performance for 80 men and women physical education students. Jump performance was assessed on a contact mat and sprint, and COD performances were assessed using timing lights. With regard to the reliability statistics, the largest coefficient of variation (CV) was observed for the vertical jump (CV = 6.7-7.2%) of both genders, whereas the sprint and COD assessments had smallest variability (CV = 0.8 to 2.8%). All intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were greater than 0.85, except for the men's COD assessment with the alternate leg. The shared variance between the single-leg vertical, horizontal, and lateral jumps for men and women was less than 50%, indicating that the jumps are relatively independent of one another and represent different leg strength/power qualities. The ability of the jumps to predict sprint and COD performance was limited (R2 < 43%). It would seem that the ability to change direction with 1 leg is relatively independent of a COD with the other leg, especially in the women (R < 30%) of this study. However, if 1 jump assessment were selected to predict sprint and COD performance in a test battery, the single-leg horizontal countermovement jump would seem the logical choice, given the results of this study. Many of the findings in this study have interesting diagnostic and training implications for the strength and conditioning coach.

Establishing the reliability and validity of the Zagazig Depression Scale in a UK student population: an online pilot study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Challenor Emily C

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background It is thought that depressive disorders will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide by 2020. Recently, there is a steady increase in the number of university students diagnosed and treated as depression patients. It can be assumed that depression is a serious mental health problem for university students because it affects all age groups of the students either younger or older equally. The current study aims to establish the reliability and validity of the Zagazig Depression scale in a UK sample. Methods The study was a cross-sectional online survey. A sample of 133 out of 275 undergraduate students from a range of UK Universities in the academic year 2008-2009, aged 20.3 ± 6.3 years old were recruited. A modified back translated version of Zagazig Depression scale was used. In order to validate the Zagazig Depression scale, participants were asked to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire. Statistical analysis includes Kappa analysis, Cronbach's alpha, Spearman's correlation analysis, and Confirmatory Factor analysis. Results Using the recommended cut-off of Zagazig Depression scale for possible minor depression it was found that 30.3% of the students have depression and higher percentage was identified according to the Patient Health Questionnaire (37.4%. Females were more depressed. The mean ZDS score was 8.3 ± 4.2. Rates of depression increase as students get older. The reliability of The ZDS was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha was .894. For validity, ZDS score was strongly associated with PHQ, with no significant difference (p-value > 0.05, with strong positive correlation (r = +.8, p-value Conclusion The strong, significant correlation between the PHQ and ZDS, along with high internal consistency of the ZDS as a whole provides evidence that ZDS is a reliable measure of depressive symptoms and is promising for the use of the translated ZDS in a large-scale cross-culture study.

Distress Tolerance Scale: A Study of Reliability and Validity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmet Emre SARGIN

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS is developed by Simons and Gaher in order to measure individual differences in the capacity of distress tolerance.The aim of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of DTS. Method: One hundred and sixty seven university students (male=66, female=101 participated in this study. Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI, State-trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI and Discomfort Intolerance Scale (DIS were used to determine the criterion validity. Construct validity was evaluated with factor analysis after the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO and Barlett test had been performed. To assess the test-retest reliability, the scale was re-applied to 79 participants six weeks later. Results: To assess construct validity, factor analyses were performed using varimax principal components analysis with varimax rotation. While there were factors in the original study, our factor analysis resulted in three factors. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the entire scale and tolerance, regulation, self-efficacy subscales were .89, .90, .80 and .64 respectively. There were correlations at the level of 0.01 between the Trait Anxiety Inventory of STAI and BAI, and all the subscales of DTS and also between the State Anxiety Inventory and regulation subscale. Both of the subscales of DIS were correlated with the entire subscale and all the subscales except regulation at the level of 0.05.Test-retest reliability was statistically significant at the level of 0.01. Conclusion: Analysis demonstrated that DTS had a satisfactory level of reliability and validity in Turkish university students.

Reliability, validity and description of timed performance of the Jebsen-Taylor Test in patients with muscular dystrophies.

Science.gov (United States)

Artilheiro, Mariana Cunha; Fávero, Francis Meire; Caromano, Fátima Aparecida; Oliveira, Acary de Souza Bulle; Carvas, Nelson; Voos, Mariana Callil; Sá, Cristina Dos Santos Cardoso de

2017-12-08

The Jebsen-Taylor Test evaluates upper limb function by measuring timed performance on everyday activities. The test is used to assess and monitor the progression of patients with Parkinson disease, cerebral palsy, stroke and brain injury. To analyze the reliability, internal consistency and validity of the Jebsen-Taylor Test in people with Muscular Dystrophy and to describe and classify upper limb timed performance of people with Muscular Dystrophy. Fifty patients with Muscular Dystrophy were assessed. Non-dominant and dominant upper limb performances on the Jebsen-Taylor Test were filmed. Two raters evaluated timed performance for inter-rater reliability analysis. Test-retest reliability was investigated by using intraclass correlation coefficients. Internal consistency was assessed using the Cronbach alpha. Construct validity was conducted by comparing the Jebsen-Taylor Test with the Performance of Upper Limb. The internal consistency of Jebsen-Taylor Test was good (Cronbach's α=0.98). A very high inter-rater reliability (0.903-0.999), except for writing with an Intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.772-1.000. Strong correlations between the Jebsen-Taylor Test and the Performance of Upper Limb Module were found (rho=-0.712). The Jebsen-Taylor Test is a reliable and valid measure of timed performance for people with Muscular Dystrophy. Copyright © 2017 Associação Brasileira de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação em Fisioterapia. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

OSS reliability measurement and assessment

CERN Document Server

Yamada, Shigeru

2016-01-01

This book analyses quantitative open source software (OSS) reliability assessment and its applications, focusing on three major topic areas: the Fundamentals of OSS Quality/Reliability Measurement and Assessment; the Practical Applications of OSS Reliability Modelling; and Recent Developments in OSS Reliability Modelling. Offering an ideal reference guide for graduate students and researchers in reliability for open source software (OSS) and modelling, the book introduces several methods of reliability assessment for OSS including component-oriented reliability analysis based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP), analytic network process (ANP), and non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models, the stochastic differential equation models and hazard rate models. These measurement and management technologies are essential to producing and maintaining quality/reliable systems using OSS.

Reliability assessment of stress concentration performance state for a perforated composite plate under traction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jabbouri A.

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Considering a perforated sandwich plate made from two elastic homogenous and isotropic layers, and having a square hole, reliability assessment of stress concentration limit state for which the stress should not exceed a given threshold is performed in this work. Assuming that the plate dimensions and the applied loading are deterministic, focus is done on the square hole centre position and edge length considered to be random variables. The means and the standard deviations of these variables are assumed to be known, but no information is so far available about their densities of probabilities. To assess reliability of the performance state, reliability analysis known methods are applied to a response surface representation of the stress concentration factor of the perforated plate which is obtained through quadratic polynomial regression of finite element results. A parametric study is performed regarding the influence of the distributions of probabilities chosen to model the hole dimensions uncertainties. It is shown that the probability of failure depends largely on the selected densities of probabilities.

Assessing the impact of blended learning on student performance

OpenAIRE

Do Won Kwak; Flavio Menezes; Carl Sherwood

2013-01-01

This paper assesses quantitatively the impact on student performance of a blended learning experiment within a large undergraduate first year course in statistics for business and economics students. We employ a differences- in-difference econometric approach, which controls for differences in student characteristics and course delivery method, to evaluate the impact of blended learning on student performance. Although students in the course manifest a preference for live lectures over online...

Students Performance And Perception Of Neurophysiology ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We also surveyed learning experience of a batch of graduating doctors in neurosciences (n=50) and surveyed the staff and students' perception of the teaching of neurophysiology. The students performances in neurophysiology was comparatively poorer than in cardiovascular and endocrinology aspects of the subject over ...

Carbohydrate ingestion improves performance of a new reliable test of soccer performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Currell, Kevin; Conway, Steve; Jeukendrup, Asker E

2009-02-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the reliability of a new test of soccer performance and evaluate the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) on soccer performance. Eleven university footballers were recruited and underwent 3 trials in a randomized order. Two of the trials involved ingesting a placebo beverage, and the other, a 7.5% maltodextrin solution. The protocol comprised a series of ten 6-min exercise blocks on an outdoor Astroturf pitch, separated by the performance of 2 of the 4 soccer-specific tests, making the protocol 90 min in duration. The intensity of the exercise was designed to be similar to the typical activity pattern during soccer match play. Participants performed skill tests of dribbling, agility, heading, and shooting throughout the protocol. The coefficients of variation for dribbling, agility, heading, and shooting were 2.2%, 1.2%, 7.0%, and 2.8%, respectively. The mean combined placebo scores were 42.4 +/- 2.7 s, 43.1 +/- 3.7 s, 210 +/- 34 cm, and 212 +/- 17 points for agility, dribbling, heading, and kicking, respectively. CHO ingestion led to a combined agility time of 41.5 +/- 0.8 s, for dribbling 41.7 +/- 3.5 s, 213 +/- 11 cm for heading, and 220 +/- 5 points for kicking accuracy. There was a significant improvement in performance for dribbling, agility, and shooting (p soccer performance, and ingesting CHO leads to an improvement in soccer performance.

[Reliability and validity of the Chinese version on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, C; Yang, G P; Li, Z; Li, X N; Li, Y; Hu, J; Zhang, F Y; Zhang, X J

2017-08-10

Objective: To assess the reliability and validity of the Chinese version on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) among medical students in China and to provide correct way of application on the recommended scales. Methods: An E-questionnaire was developed and sent to medical students in five different colleges. Students were all active volunteers to accept the testings. Cronbach's α and split-half reliability were calculated to evaluate the reliability of AUDIT while content, contract, discriminant and convergent validity were performed to measure the validity of the scales. Results: The overall Cronbach's α of AUDIT was 0.782 and the split-half reliability was 0.711. Data showed that the domain Cronbach's α and split-half reliability were 0.796 and 0.794 for hazardous alcohol use, 0.561 and 0.623 for dependence symptoms, and 0.647 and 0.640 for harmful alcohol use. Results also showed that the content validity index on the levels of items I-CVI) were from 0.83 to 1.00, the content validity index of scale level (S-CVI/UA) was 0.90, content validity index of average scale level (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.99 and the content validity ratios (CVR) were from 0.80 to 1.00. The simplified version of AUDIT supported a presupposed three-factor structure which could explain 61.175% of the total variance revealed through exploratory factor analysis. AUDIT semed to have good convergent and discriminant validity, with the success rate of calibration experiment as 100%. Conclusion: AUDIT showed good reliability and validity among medical students in China thus worth for promotion on its use.

The performance shaping factors influence analysis on the human reliability for NPP operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farcasiu, M.; Nitoi, M.; Apostol, M.; Florescu, G.

2008-01-01

The Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is an important step in Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) studies and offers an advisability for concrete improvement of the man - machine - organization interfaces, reliability and safety. The goals of this analysis are to obtain sufficient details in order to understand and document all-important factors that affect human performance. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the human errors probabilities in view of the negative or positive effect of the human performance shaping factors (PSFs) for the mitigation of the initiating events which could occur in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). Using THERP and SPAR-H methods, an analysis model of PSFs influence on the human reliability is performed. This model is applied to more important activities, that are necessary to mitigate 'one steam generator tube failure' event at Cernavoda NPP. The results are joint human error probabilities (JHEP) values estimated for the following situations: without regarding to PSFs influence; with PSFs in specific conditions; with PSFs which could have only positive influence and with PSFs which could have only negative influence. In addition, PSFs with negative influence were identified and using the DOE method, the necessary activities for changing negative influence were assigned. (authors)

Impact of nuclear fuel performance and reliability in a deregulated electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnoski, M.; Kaiser, B.

1997-01-01

US nuclear plants are now placing a great deal of importance on fuel performance and reliability because of their direct effect on a plant's capacity factor, availability, operating flexibility, outage duration, and worker exposure. This is reflected by utilities making fuel reliability a principal vendor evaluation criterion and making fuel performance an important bonus/penalty provision. Defect-free fuel, combined with ever improving design features, makes it possible for plants to operate at higher outputs while reducing operating and maintenance costs. Higher electrical output at lower cost is essential for US nuclear plants to meet the expected competition in a deregulated market. Through continued investment in manufacturing improvements and a vigilant, systematic design process, ABB's nuclear fuel has contributed to helping its nuclear utility customers reduce their cost of doing business. (author) 1 fig., 1 tab

Reliability performance testing of totally encapsulating chemical protective suits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, J.S.; Swearengen, P.M.

1991-01-01

The need to assure a high degree of reliability for totally encapsulating chemical protective (TECP) suits has been recognized by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) Hazards Control Department for some time. The following four tests were proposed as necessary to provide complete evaluation of TECP suit performance: 1. Quantitative leak test (ASTM draft), 2. Worst-case chemical exposure test (conceptual), 3. Pressure leak-rate test (complete, ASTM F1057-87), and 4. Chemical leak-rate test (ASTM draft). This paper reports on these tests which should be applied to measuring TECP suit performance in two stages: design qualification tests and field use tests. Test 1, 2, and 3 are used as design qualification tests, and tests 3 and 4 are used as field use tests

The Effects of Performance-Based Assessment Criteria on Student Performance and Self-Assessment Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Fastre, Greet Mia Jos; van der Klink, Marcel R.; van Merrienboer, Jeroen J. G.

2010-01-01

This study investigated the effect of performance-based versus competence-based assessment criteria on task performance and self-assessment skills among 39 novice secondary vocational education students in the domain of nursing and care. In a performance-based assessment group students are provided with a preset list of performance-based…

Music Performance Anxiety among Students of the Academy in Lithuania

Science.gov (United States)

Paliaukiene, Vilma; Kazlauskas, Evaldas; Eimontas, Jonas; Skeryte-Kazlauskiene, Monika

2018-01-01

Music performance anxiety (MPA) affects amateurs, students and professional musicians. We aimed to analyse MPA among students of music performance in a higher education academy in Lithuania. A sample of 258 music performance arts students of the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy participated in this study. The Kenny Music Performance Anxiety…

Improving Student Performance through Parent Involvement.

Science.gov (United States)

Steventon, Candace E.

A personalized parenting program was implemented to address poor academic performance and low self-esteem of high school students. Student records, the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, the Behavior Evaluation Scale, and teacher surveys were employed to identify and measure academic and/or self-perception growth. Parents participated in an 8-week…

Influence of test reliability on the screening performance of frequency-doubling perimetry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heeg, GP; Jansonius, NM

PURPOSE: To investigate the influence of test reliability on the screening performance of frequency,doubling perimetry (FDT). DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: FDT sensitivity and specificity were calculated three times using three different strategies for handling unreliable (that is, > 0

Improved Yield, Performance and Reliability of High-Actuator-Count Deformable Mirrors, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The project team will conduct processing and design research aimed at improving yield, performance, and reliability of high-actuator-count micro-electro-mechanical...

The Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS): Reliability, validity, and gender invariance in an Indian adolescent sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Hashim, Jayana; Areepattamannil, Shaljan

2017-06-01

This study examined the internal consistency reliability, factorial, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity, as well as gender invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS; Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003) in a sample of 445 adolescents (M age  = 16.04 years) hailing from the southernmost state of India, Kerala. The study also examined the test-retest reliability (n = 392) of the BMSLSS. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient suggested that the BMSLSS was reliable. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the factorial validity of the BMSLSS. Bivariate correlational analyses provided support for the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the BMSLSS. The test-retest reliability coefficient indicated the temporal stability of the BMSLSS. Finally, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the gender invariance of the BMSLSS. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of E-Learning Strategy on Students' Academic Performance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examined the impact of e-learning strategies on students' academic performance at Strathmore University. The purpose of the study was to investigate the methodology, ideologies, output and ecology of ICT strategies and their impact on students' performance. This was done through comparing students' mean ...

Health Information Needs and Reliability of Sources Among Nondegree Health Sciences Students: A Prerequisite for Designing eHealth Literacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Haruna, Hussein; Tshuma, Ndumiso; Hu, Xiao

Understanding health information needs and health-seeking behavior is a prerequisite for developing an electronic health information literacy (EHIL) or eHealth literacy program for nondegree health sciences students. At present, interest in researching health information needs and reliable sources paradigms has gained momentum in many countries. However, most studies focus on health professionals and students in higher education institutions. The present study was aimed at providing new insight and filling the existing gap by examining health information needs and reliability of sources among nondegree health sciences students in Tanzania. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 15 conveniently selected health training institutions, where 403 health sciences students were participated. Thirty health sciences students were both purposely and conveniently chosen from each health-training institution. The selected students were pursuing nursing and midwifery, clinical medicine, dentistry, environmental health sciences, pharmacy, and medical laboratory sciences courses. Involved students were either in their first year, second year, or third year of study. Health sciences students' health information needs focus on their educational requirements, clinical practice, and personal information. They use print, human, and electronic health information. They lack eHealth research skills in navigating health information resources and have insufficient facilities for accessing eHealth information, a lack of specialists in health information, high costs for subscription electronic information, and unawareness of the availability of free Internet and other online health-related databases. This study found that nondegree health sciences students have limited skills in EHIL. Thus, designing and incorporating EHIL skills programs into the curriculum of nondegree health sciences students is vital. EHIL is a requirement common to all health settings, learning environments, and

Workplace-based assessment of communication skills: A pilot project addressing feasibility, acceptance and reliability.

Science.gov (United States)

Weyers, Simone; Jemi, Iman; Karger, André; Raski, Bianca; Rotthoff, Thomas; Pentzek, Michael; Mortsiefer, Achim

2016-01-01

Background: Imparting communication skills has been given great importance in medical curricula. In addition to standardized assessments, students should communicate with real patients in actual clinical situations during workplace-based assessments and receive structured feedback on their performance. The aim of this project was to pilot a formative testing method for workplace-based assessment. Our investigation centered in particular on whether or not physicians view the method as feasible and how high acceptance is among students. In addition, we assessed the reliability of the method. Method: As part of the project, 16 students held two consultations each with chronically ill patients at the medical practice where they were completing GP training. These consultations were video-recorded. The trained mentoring physician rated the student's performance and provided feedback immediately following the consultations using the Berlin Global Rating scale (BGR). Two impartial, trained raters also evaluated the videos using BGR. For qualitative and quantitative analysis, information on how physicians and students viewed feasibility and their levels of acceptance was collected in written form in a partially standardized manner. To test for reliability, the test-retest reliability was calculated for both of the overall evaluations given by each rater. The inter-rater reliability was determined for the three evaluations of each individual consultation. Results: The formative assessment method was rated positively by both physicians and students. It is relatively easy to integrate into daily routines. Its significant value lies in the personal, structured and recurring feedback. The two overall scores for each patient consultation given by the two impartial raters correlate moderately. The degree of uniformity among the three raters in respect to the individual consultations is low. Discussion: Within the scope of this pilot project, only a small sample of physicians and

Reliability- and performance-based robust design optimization of MEMS structures considering technological uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Martowicz, Adam; Uhl, Tadeusz

2012-10-01

The paper discusses the applicability of a reliability- and performance-based multi-criteria robust design optimization technique for micro-electromechanical systems, considering their technological uncertainties. Nowadays, micro-devices are commonly applied systems, especially in the automotive industry, taking advantage of utilizing both the mechanical structure and electronic control circuit on one board. Their frequent use motivates the elaboration of virtual prototyping tools that can be applied in design optimization with the introduction of technological uncertainties and reliability. The authors present a procedure for the optimization of micro-devices, which is based on the theory of reliability-based robust design optimization. This takes into consideration the performance of a micro-device and its reliability assessed by means of uncertainty analysis. The procedure assumes that, for each checked design configuration, the assessment of uncertainty propagation is performed with the meta-modeling technique. The described procedure is illustrated with an example of the optimization carried out for a finite element model of a micro-mirror. The multi-physics approach allowed the introduction of several physical phenomena to correctly model the electrostatic actuation and the squeezing effect present between electrodes. The optimization was preceded by sensitivity analysis to establish the design and uncertain domains. The genetic algorithms fulfilled the defined optimization task effectively. The best discovered individuals are characterized by a minimized value of the multi-criteria objective function, simultaneously satisfying the constraint on material strength. The restriction of the maximum equivalent stresses was introduced with the conditionally formulated objective function with a penalty component. The yielded results were successfully verified with a global uniform search through the input design domain.

The validity and reliability of the my jump 2 app for measuring the reactive strength index and drop jump performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Haynes, Tom; Bishop, Chris; Antrobus, Mark; Brazier, Jon

2018-03-27

This is the first study to independently assess the concurrent validity and reliability of the My Jump 2 app for measuring drop jump performance. It is also the first to evaluate the app's ability to measure the reactive strength index (RSI). Fourteen male sport science students (age: 29.5 ± 9.9 years) performed three drop jumps from 20 cm and 40 cm (totalling 84 jumps), assessed via a force platform and the My Jump 2 app. Reported metrics included reactive strength index, jump height, ground contact time, and mean power. Measurements from both devices were compared using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r), Cronbach's alpha (α), coefficient of variation (CV) and BlandAltman plots. Near perfect agreement was seen between devices at 20 cm for RSI (ICC = 0.95) and contact time (ICC = 0.99) and at 40 cm for RSI (ICC = 0.98), jump height (ICC = 0.96) and contact time (ICC = 0.92); with very strong agreement seen at 20 cm for jump height (ICC = 0.80). In comparison with the force plate the app showed good validity for RSI (20 cm: r = 0.94; 40 cm; r = 0.97), jump height (20 cm: r = 0.80; 40 cm; r = 0.96) and contact time (20 cm = 0.96; 40 cm; r = 0.98). The results of the present study show that the My Jump 2 app is a valid and reliable tool for assessing drop jump performance.

Analysis of Poor Performance of Senior Secondary Students in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated the poor performance of students in Chemistry. The widespread poor performance and the negative attitudes towards chemistry of secondary school students have been largely ascribed to teaching problems. A random sample of 109 students from St Pius X College Bodo City was used. The research ...

Effect of Family Type on Secondary School Students\\' Performance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated the effect of family type on Secondary School students\\' performance in physics in Ilorin metropolis. The sample comprised one hundred Senior Secondary II students from four schools in Ilorin metropolis. The instrument for the study titled \\"Effect of Family type on Students\\' Performance in Physics ...

STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE PREDICTION USING SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE

OpenAIRE

S.A. Oloruntoba1 ,J.L.Akinode2

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the relationship between students' preadmission academic profile and final academic performance. Data Sample of students in one of the Federal Polytechnic in south West part of Nigeria was used. The preadmission academic profile used for this study is the 'O' level grades(terminal high school results).The academic performance is defined using student's Grade Point Average(GPA). This research focused on using data mining technique to develop a model for predicting stude...

IMPACT OF SELF ESTEEM & SUPPORT ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Akmal SHAHZAD

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Education is life blood for development of country. This paper explores the impact of various factors on student performance. Data was collected from ten (10 Govt. & Private schools in Rawalpindi. Out of 1100 hundred responded 600 hundred responses inducted in this study. Simple regression employed in this study to test the hypothesis. The result concluded that both factor have significant negative relationship with student performance. In future, the difference of performance level among male and female may be explored in term of pick & drop facility, university distance from home and other responsibility due on male student as they grow.

Feasibility and reliability of digital imaging for estimating food selection and consumption from students' packed lunches.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jennifer C; Sutter, Carolyn; Ontai, Lenna L; Nishina, Adrienne; Zidenberg-Cherr, Sheri

2018-01-01

Although increasing attention is placed on the quality of foods in children's packed lunches, few studies have examined the capacity of observational methods to reliably determine both what is selected and consumed from these lunches. The objective of this project was to assess the feasibility and inter-rater reliability of digital imaging for determining selection and consumption from students' packed lunches, by adapting approaches previously applied to school lunches. Study 1 assessed feasibility and reliability of data collection among a sample of packed lunches (n = 155), while Study 2 further examined reliability in a larger sample of packed (n = 386) as well as school (n = 583) lunches. Based on the results from Study 1, it was feasible to collect and code most items in packed lunch images; missing data were most commonly attributed to packaging that limited visibility of contents. Across both studies, there was satisfactory reliability for determining food types selected, quantities selected, and quantities consumed in the eight food categories examined (weighted kappa coefficients 0.68-0.97 for packed lunches, 0.74-0.97 for school lunches), with lowest reliability for estimating condiments and meats/meat alternatives in packed lunches. In extending methods predominately applied to school lunches, these findings demonstrate the capacity of digital imaging for the objective estimation of selection and consumption from both school and packed lunches. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Students' performance on the Ghanaian junior high school ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

kofi.mereku

Mathematics education is considered as the basic right that all students have to .... Descriptive Statistics on the Total Score of Students. ( ). Minimum. Score .... where Ghanaian students' worst performances were recorded in applying. Also, the ...

Reliability assessment of a peer evaluation instrument in a team-based learning course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wahawisan J

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the reliability of a peer evaluation instrument in a longitudinal team-based learning setting. Methods: Student pharmacists were instructed to evaluate the contributions of their peers. Evaluations were analyzed for the variance of the scores by identifying low, medium, and high scores. Agreement between performance ratings within each group of students was assessed via intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC. Results: We found little variation in the standard deviation (SD based on the score means among the high, medium, and low scores within each group. The lack of variation in SD of results between groups suggests that the peer evaluation instrument produces precise results. The ICC showed strong concordance among raters. Conclusions: Findings suggest that our student peer evaluation instrument provides a reliable method for peer assessment in team-based learning settings.

Accounting Student's Learning Approaches And Impact On Academic Performance

OpenAIRE

Ismail, Suhaiza

2009-01-01

The objective of the study is threefold. Firstly, the study explores the learning approaches adopted by students in completing their Business Finance. Secondly, it examines the impact that learning approaches has on the student's academic performance. Finally, the study considers gender differences in the learning approaches adopted by students and in the relationship between learning approaches and academic performance. The Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) was used...

A Student Assessment Tool for Standardized Patient Simulations (SAT-SPS): Psychometric analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Castro-Yuste, Cristina; García-Cabanillas, María José; Rodríguez-Cornejo, María Jesús; Carnicer-Fuentes, Concepción; Paloma-Castro, Olga; Moreno-Corral, Luis Javier

2018-05-01

The evaluation of the level of clinical competence acquired by the student is a complex process that must meet various requirements to ensure its quality. The psychometric analysis of the data collected by the assessment tools used is a fundamental aspect to guarantee the student's competence level. To conduct a psychometric analysis of an instrument which assesses clinical competence in nursing students at simulation stations with standardized patients in OSCE-format tests. The construct of clinical competence was operationalized as a set of observable and measurable behaviors, measured by the newly-created Student Assessment Tool for Standardized Patient Simulations (SAT-SPS), which was comprised of 27 items. The categories assigned to the items were 'incorrect or not performed' (0), 'acceptable' (1), and 'correct' (2). 499 nursing students. Data were collected by two independent observers during the assessment of the students' performance at a four-station OSCE with standardized patients. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the variables. The difficulty levels and floor and ceiling effects were determined for each item. Reliability was analyzed using internal consistency and inter-observer reliability. The validity analysis was performed considering face validity, content and construct validity (through exploratory factor analysis), and criterion validity. Internal reliability and inter-observer reliability were higher than 0.80. The construct validity analysis suggested a three-factor model accounting for 37.1% of the variance. These three factors were named 'Nursing process', 'Communication skills', and 'Safe practice'. A significant correlation was found between the scores obtained and the students' grades in general, as well as with the grades obtained in subjects with clinical content. The assessment tool has proven to be sufficiently reliable and valid for the assessment of the clinical competence of nursing students using standardized patients

Simulation-based Assessment to Reliably Identify Key Resident Performance Attributes.

Science.gov (United States)

Blum, Richard H; Muret-Wagstaff, Sharon L; Boulet, John R; Cooper, Jeffrey B; Petrusa, Emil R; Baker, Keith H; Davidyuk, Galina; Dearden, Jennifer L; Feinstein, David M; Jones, Stephanie B; Kimball, William R; Mitchell, John D; Nadelberg, Robert L; Wiser, Sarah H; Albrecht, Meredith A; Anastasi, Amanda K; Bose, Ruma R; Chang, Laura Y; Culley, Deborah J; Fisher, Lauren J; Grover, Meera; Klainer, Suzanne B; Kveraga, Rikante; Martel, Jeffrey P; McKenna, Shannon S; Minehart, Rebecca D; Mitchell, John D; Mountjoy, Jeremi R; Pawlowski, John B; Pilon, Robert N; Shook, Douglas C; Silver, David A; Warfield, Carol A; Zaleski, Katherine L

2018-04-01

Obtaining reliable and valid information on resident performance is critical to patient safety and training program improvement. The goals were to characterize important anesthesia resident performance gaps that are not typically evaluated, and to further validate scores from a multiscenario simulation-based assessment. Seven high-fidelity scenarios reflecting core anesthesiology skills were administered to 51 first-year residents (CA-1s) and 16 third-year residents (CA-3s) from three residency programs. Twenty trained attending anesthesiologists rated resident performances using a seven-point behaviorally anchored rating scale for five domains: (1) formulate a clear plan, (2) modify the plan under changing conditions, (3) communicate effectively, (4) identify performance improvement opportunities, and (5) recognize limits. A second rater assessed 10% of encounters. Scores and variances for each domain, each scenario, and the total were compared. Low domain ratings (1, 2) were examined in detail. Interrater agreement was 0.76; reliability of the seven-scenario assessment was r = 0.70. CA-3s had a significantly higher average total score (4.9 ± 1.1 vs. 4.6 ± 1.1, P = 0.01, effect size = 0.33). CA-3s significantly outscored CA-1s for five of seven scenarios and domains 1, 2, and 3. CA-1s had a significantly higher proportion of worrisome ratings than CA-3s (chi-square = 24.1, P < 0.01, effect size = 1.50). Ninety-eight percent of residents rated the simulations more educational than an average day in the operating room. Sensitivity of the assessment to CA-1 versus CA-3 performance differences for most scenarios and domains supports validity. No differences, by experience level, were detected for two domains associated with reflective practice. Smaller score variances for CA-3s likely reflect a training effect; however, worrisome performance scores for both CA-1s and CA-3s suggest room for improvement.

Performance of International Medical Students In psychosocial medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Huhn, D; Lauter, J; Roesch Ely, D; Koch, E; Möltner, A; Herzog, W; Resch, F; Herpertz, S C; Nikendei, C

2017-07-10

Particularly at the beginning of their studies, international medical students face a number of language-related, social and intercultural challenges. Thus, they perform poorer than their local counterparts in written and oral examinations as well as in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) in the fields of internal medicine and surgery. It is still unknown how international students perform in an OSCE in the field of psychosocial medicine compared to their local fellow students. All students (N = 1033) taking the OSCE in the field of psychosocial medicine and an accompanying written examination in their eighth or ninth semester between 2012 and 2015 were included in the analysis. The OSCE consisted of four different stations, in which students had to perform and manage a patient encounter with simulated patients suffering from 1) post-traumatic stress disorder, 2) schizophrenia, 3) borderline personality disorder and 4) either suicidal tendency or dementia. Students were evaluated by trained lecturers using global checklists assessing specific professional domains, namely building a relationship with the patient, conversational skills, anamnesis, as well as psychopathological findings and decision-making. International medical students scored significantly poorer than their local peers (p International students showed poorer results in clinical-practical exams in the field of psychosocial medicine, with conversational skills yielding the poorest scores. However, regarding factual and practical knowledge examined via a multiple-choice test, no differences emerged between international and local students. These findings have decisive implications for relationship building in the doctor-patient relationship.

Development of self and peer performance assessment on iodometric titration experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Nahadi; Siswaningsih, W.; Kusumaningtyas, H.

2018-05-01

This study aims to describe the process in developing of reliable and valid assessment to measure students’ performance on iodometric titration and the effect of the self and peer assessment on students’ performance. The self and peer-instrument provides valuable feedback for the student performance improvement. The developed assessment contains rubric and task for facilitating self and peer assessment. The participants are 24 students at the second-grade student in certain vocational high school in Bandung. The participants divided into two groups. The first 12 students involved in the validity test of the developed assessment, while the remain 12 students participated for the reliability test. The content validity was evaluated based on the judgment experts. Test result of content validity based on judgment expert show that the developed performance assessment instrument categorized as valid on each task with the realibity classified as very good. Analysis of the impact of the self and peer assessment implementation showed that the peer instrument supported the self assessment.

[How medical students perform academically by admission types?].

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Se-Hoon; Lee, Keumho; Hur, Yera; Kim, Ji-Ha

2013-09-01

Despite the importance of selecting students whom are capable for medical education and to become a good doctor, not enough studies have been done in the category. This study focused on analysing the medical students' academic performance (grade point average, GPA) differences, flunk and dropout rates by admission types. From 2004 to 2010, we gathered 369 Konyang University College of Medicine's students admission data and analyzed the differences between admission method and academic achievement, differences in failure and dropout rates. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), ordinary least square, and logistic regression were used. The rolling students showed higher academic achievement from year 1 to 3 than regular students (p dropout rate by admission types, regular admission type students showed higher drop out rate than the rolling ones which demonstrates admission types gives significant effect on flunk or dropout rates in medical students (p students tend to show lower flunk rate and dropout rates and perform better academically. This implies selecting students primarily by Korean College Scholastic Ability Test does not guarantee their academic success in medical education. Thus we suggest a more in-depth comprehensive method of selecting students that are appropriate to individual medical school's educational goal.

Managing wind turbine reliability and maintenance via performance-based contract

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jin, Tongdan; Ding, Yi; Guo, Huairui

2012-01-01

between system cost, reliability and spare parts stocking. This analytical insight into the system performance allows the turbine manufacturer to optimize design, production, and after-sales services. The study aims to create a theoretical basis to facilitate the transition of the maintenance paradigm......Performance-based contracting (PBC) is reshaping the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of capital equipment. Under the PBC scheme, we propose a holistic approach for lowering the cost of wind turbine ownership while meeting the availability requirement. Our effects are focused on integrated...... firms who design and market wind turbines, and also provide maintenance and repair service. PBC differs from conventional service contracts in that the wind farmers compensate the service provider for the system performance, not the spare parts and repair labor. We explore the analytical relationship...

Performance and reliability of the Y-Balance TestTM in high school athletes.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Laura J; Creps, James R; Bean, Ryan; Rodda, Becky; Alsalaheen, Bara

2017-11-07

Lower extremity injuries account for 32.9% of the overall injuries in high school athletes. Previous research has suggested that asymmetry greater than 4cm using the Y-Balance TestTM Lower Quarter (YBT-LQ) in the anterior direction is predictive of non- contact injuries in adults and collegiate athletes. The prevalence of asymmetries or abnormal YBT-LQ performance is not well documented for adolescents. The primary purposes of this study are: 1) to characterize the prevalence of YBT-LQ asymmetries and performance in a cross-sectional sample of adolescents, 2) to examine possible differences in performance on the YBT-LQ between male and female adolescents, and 3) to describe the test-retest reliability of the YBT-LQ in a subsample of adolescents. Observational cross-sectional study. High-school athletes completed the YBT-LQ as main outcome measure. 51 male, 59 female high-school athletes participated in this study. Asymmetries greater than 4cm in the posteromedial (PM) reach direction were most prevalent for male (54.9%) and female (50.8%) participants. Females presented with slightly higher composite scores. Good reliability (ICC = 0.89) was found for the anterior (ANT) direction, and moderate reliability with 0.76 for posterolateral (PL) and 0.63 for PM directions. The MDC95 for the ANT direction was 6% and 12% for both the PL and PM directions. The YBT-LQ performance can be beneficial in assessing recovery in an injured extremity compared to the other limb. However, due to the large MDC95, noted in the PM and PL directions, the differences between sequential testing cannot be attributed to true change in balance unless they exceed the MDC95. In this study, 79% of the athletes presented with at least one asymmetry in YBT-LQ reach distances. Moderate reliability in the PL and PM directions warrants reexamination of the definition of asymmetry in these directions.

Older medical students' performances at McGill University.

Science.gov (United States)

Feil, D; Kristian, M; Mitchell, N

1998-01-01

To compare admission data and academic performances of medical students younger and older than 25, and to qualify older students' experiences and perceptions in medical school. The authors reviewed 1988-1991 data for applications to the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. Data included GPAs and MCAT scores, as well as ratings for reference letters, autobiographical statements, and interviews. For those same years, the authors measured students' academic performances in the preclinical and clinical years. The authors compared the data by students' age: "younger" students, aged 17 to 24; and "older" students, aged 25 and above. All enrolled students took the Derogatis Stress Profile, and the older students participated in focus groups. The older applicants had lower GPAs and MCAT scores, but higher interview and reference letter ratings. For older accepted students, basic science course scores were lower than those of younger students, but clinical scores did not differ significantly between the groups. The two groups had similar stress levels, although older students tested lower in driven behavior, relaxation potential, attitude posture, and hostility. In focus groups, the older students spoke of learning style differences, loss of social support, and loss of professional identity. Different scores in admission criteria suggest that McGill uses different standards to select older medical students. Older students admitted under different criteria, however, do just as well as do younger students by their clinical years. A broad-based study of admission criteria and outcomes for the older student population is warranted.

Academic Performance of Students without Disabilities in the Inclusive Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Fruth, Jason D.; Woods, Melanie N.

2015-01-01

This study examines the impact of inclusion on secondary students by focusing on the performance of students without disabilities in the inclusive environment compared to their performance in a segregated environment. Many studies exist demonstrating the positive impact of the inclusive environment on the performance of students with disabilities.…

A gross anatomy flipped classroom effects performance, retention, and higher-level thinking in lower performing students.

Science.gov (United States)

Day, Leslie J

2018-01-22

A flipped classroom is a growing pedagogy in higher education. Many research studies on the flipped classroom have focused on student outcomes, with the results being positive or inconclusive. A few studies have analyzed confounding variables, such as student's previous achievement, or the impact of a flipped classroom on long-term retention and knowledge transfer. In the present study, students in a Doctor of Physical Therapy program in a traditional style lecture of gross anatomy (n = 105) were compared to similar students in a flipped classroom (n = 112). Overall, students in the flipped anatomy classroom had an increase in semester average grades (P = 0.01) and performance on higher-level analytical questions (P flipped anatomy classroom performing at a higher level in kinesiology (P flipped anatomy class, outperformed their traditional anatomy class counterparts in anatomy semester grades (P flipped classroom may benefit lower performing student's knowledge acquisition and transfer to a greater degree than higher performing students. Future studies should explore the underlying reasons for improvement in lower performing students. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.

Inter-rater and test-retest reliability of quality assessments by novice student raters using the Jadad and Newcastle-Ottawa Scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Oremus, Mark; Oremus, Carolina; Hall, Geoffrey B C; McKinnon, Margaret C

2012-01-01

Quality assessment of included studies is an important component of systematic reviews. The authors investigated inter-rater and test-retest reliability for quality assessments conducted by inexperienced student raters. Student raters received a training session on quality assessment using the Jadad Scale for randomised controlled trials and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for observational studies. Raters were randomly assigned into five pairs and they each independently rated the quality of 13-20 articles. These articles were drawn from a pool of 78 papers examining cognitive impairment following electroconvulsive therapy to treat major depressive disorder. The articles were randomly distributed to the raters. Two months later, each rater re-assessed the quality of half of their assigned articles. McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study Program. 10 students taking McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study Program courses. The authors measured inter-rater reliability using κ and the intraclass correlation coefficient type 2,1 or ICC(2,1). The authors measured test-retest reliability using ICC(2,1). Inter-rater reliability varied by scale question. For the six-item Jadad Scale, question-specific κs ranged from 0.13 (95% CI -0.11 to 0.37) to 0.56 (95% CI 0.29 to 0.83). The ranges were -0.14 (95% CI -0.28 to 0.00) to 0.39 (95% CI -0.02 to 0.81) for the NOS cohort and -0.20 (95% CI -0.49 to 0.09) to 1.00 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.00) for the NOS case-control. For overall scores on the six-item Jadad Scale, ICC(2,1)s for inter-rater and test-retest reliability (accounting for systematic differences between raters) were 0.32 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.52) and 0.55 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.67), respectively. Corresponding ICC(2,1)s for the NOS cohort were -0.19 (95% CI -0.67 to 0.35) and 0.62 (95% CI 0.25 to 0.83), and for the NOS case-control, the ICC(2,1)s were 0.46 (95% CI -0.13 to 0.92) and 0.83 (95% CI 0.48 to 0.95). Inter-rater reliability was generally poor

Quantitative developments in the cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM) for the assessment of human performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marseguerra, Marzio; Zio, Enrico; Librizzi, Massimo

2006-01-01

The current 'second generation' approaches in human reliability analysis focus their attention on the contextual conditions under which a given action is performed rather than on the notion of inherent human error probabilities, as was done in the earlier 'first generation' techniques. Among the 'second generation' methods, this paper considers the Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (CREAM) and proposes some developments with respect to a systematic procedure for computing probabilities of action failure. The starting point for the quantification is a previously introduced fuzzy version of the CREAM paradigm which is here further extended to include uncertainty on the qualification of the conditions under which the action is performed and to account for the fact that the effects of the common performance conditions (CPCs) on performance reliability may not all be equal. By the proposed approach, the probability of action failure is estimated by rating the performance conditions in terms of their effect on the action

Students' Understanding of Cloud and Rainbow Formation and Teachers' Awareness of Students' Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Malleus, Elina; Kikas, Eve; Kruus, Sigrid

2016-01-01

This study describes primary school students' knowledge about rainfall, clouds and rainbow formation together with teachers' predictions about students' performance. In our study, primary school students' (N = 177) knowledge about rainfall and rainbow formation was examined using structured interviews with open-ended questions. Primary school…

The Development of the Functional Literacy Experience Scale Based upon Ecological Theory (FLESBUET) and Validity-Reliability Study

Science.gov (United States)

Özenç, Emine Gül; Dogan, M. Cihangir

2014-01-01

This study aims to perform a validity-reliability test by developing the Functional Literacy Experience Scale based upon Ecological Theory (FLESBUET) for primary education students. The study group includes 209 fifth grade students at Sabri Taskin Primary School in the Kartal District of Istanbul, Turkey during the 2010-2011 academic year.…

Perfectionism, Depression, Anxiety, and Academic Performance in Premedical Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melina Sevlever

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This study examined differences in perfectionism, depression, anxiety, and academic performance between premedical (N = 104 and non-premedical (N = 76 undergraduate students. Results indicated that premedical students did not differ significantly from non-premedical students in perfectionistic self-criticism, personal standards perfectionism, depression, or anxiety. Perfectionistic high standards were not correlated with depression or anxiety for either group. Self-critical perfectionism was positively correlated with depression and anxiety, with comparable effect sizes, for both groups of students. Premedical students and non-premedical students drastically differed in their reported academic performance (GPA. For premedical students, PS perfectionism was related to higher GPA, however PS perfectionism in non-premedical students had a negligible effect in increasing GPA. The implications of these results for interventions and future research are discussed.

Workplace-based assessment of communication skills: A pilot project addressing feasibility, acceptance and reliability

Science.gov (United States)

Weyers, Simone; Jemi, Iman; Karger, André; Raski, Bianca; Rotthoff, Thomas; Pentzek, Michael; Mortsiefer, Achim

2016-01-01

Background: Imparting communication skills has been given great importance in medical curricula. In addition to standardized assessments, students should communicate with real patients in actual clinical situations during workplace-based assessments and receive structured feedback on their performance. The aim of this project was to pilot a formative testing method for workplace-based assessment. Our investigation centered in particular on whether or not physicians view the method as feasible and how high acceptance is among students. In addition, we assessed the reliability of the method. Method: As part of the project, 16 students held two consultations each with chronically ill patients at the medical practice where they were completing GP training. These consultations were video-recorded. The trained mentoring physician rated the student’s performance and provided feedback immediately following the consultations using the Berlin Global Rating scale (BGR). Two impartial, trained raters also evaluated the videos using BGR. For qualitative and quantitative analysis, information on how physicians and students viewed feasibility and their levels of acceptance was collected in written form in a partially standardized manner. To test for reliability, the test-retest reliability was calculated for both of the overall evaluations given by each rater. The inter-rater reliability was determined for the three evaluations of each individual consultation. Results: The formative assessment method was rated positively by both physicians and students. It is relatively easy to integrate into daily routines. Its significant value lies in the personal, structured and recurring feedback. The two overall scores for each patient consultation given by the two impartial raters correlate moderately. The degree of uniformity among the three raters in respect to the individual consultations is low. Discussion: Within the scope of this pilot project, only a small sample of physicians and

Workplace-based assessment of communication skills: A pilot project addressing feasibility, acceptance and reliability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weyers, Simone

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Imparting communication skills has been given great importance in medical curricula. In addition to standardized assessments, students should communicate with real patients in actual clinical situations during workplace-based assessments and receive structured feedback on their performance. The aim of this project was to pilot a formative testing method for workplace-based assessment. Our investigation centered in particular on whether or not physicians view the method as feasible and how high acceptance is among students. In addition, we assessed the reliability of the method.Method: As part of the project, 16 students held two consultations each with chronically ill patients at the medical practice where they were completing GP training. These consultations were video-recorded. The trained mentoring physician rated the student’s performance and provided feedback immediately following the consultations using the Berlin Global Rating scale (BGR. Two impartial, trained raters also evaluated the videos using BGR. For qualitative and quantitative analysis, information on how physicians and students viewed feasibility and their levels of acceptance was collected in written form in a partially standardized manner. To test for reliability, the test-retest reliability was calculated for both of the overall evaluations given by each rater. The inter-rater reliability was determined for the three evaluations of each individual consultation.Results: The formative assessment method was rated positively by both physicians and students. It is relatively easy to integrate into daily routines. Its significant value lies in the personal, structured and recurring feedback. The two overall scores for each patient consultation given by the two impartial raters correlate moderately. The degree of uniformity among the three raters in respect to the individual consultations is low.Discussion: Within the scope of this pilot project, only a small sample

Determining the Drivers of Student Performance in Online Business Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Estelami, Hooman

2014-01-01

An emerging question in business education is whether all students would benefit from distance learning and if student performance can be predicted prior to enrollment in an online course based on student characteristics. In this paper, the role of student characteristics on academic performance is examined in the context two different online…

Factorial validity and reliability of the Malaysian simplified Chinese version of Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-SCV) among a group of university students.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Ng Chong; Seng, Loh Huai; Hway Ann, Anne Yee; Hui, Koh Ong

2015-03-01

This study was aimed at validating the simplified Chinese version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Support (MSPSS-SCV) among a group of medical and dental students in University Malaya. Two hundred and two students who took part in this study were given the MSPSS-SCV, the Medical Outcome Study social support survey, the Malay version of the Beck Depression Inventory, the Malay version of the General Health Questionnaire, and the English version of the MSPSS. After 1 week, these students were again required to complete the MSPSS-SCV but with the item sequences shuffled. This scale displayed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .924), high test-retest reliability (.71), parallel form reliability (.92; Spearman's ρ, P students. It could therefore be used as a simple screening tool among young educated Malaysian adolescents. © 2013 APJPH.

Attendance and Student Performance in Undergraduate Chemistry Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Lyubartseva, Ganna; Mallik, Uma Prasad

2012-01-01

Numerous studies suggest that attendance may be one of the key factors which influence student performance. Although there have been many studies in introductory science courses, there have been virtually no studies which analyze and compare students' performance from different types of institutions as well as different level of classes. Our study…

Thermal Performance and Reliability Characterization of Bonded Interface Materials (BIMs): Preprint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DeVoto, D.; Paret, P.; Mihalic, M.; Narumanchi, S.; Bar-Cohen, A.; Matin, K.

2014-08-01

Thermal interface materials are an important enabler for low thermal resistance and reliable electronics packaging for a wide array of applications. There is a trend towards bonded interface materials (BIMs) because of their potential for low thermal resistivity (< 1 mm2K/W). However, BIMs induce thermomechanical stresses in the package and can be prone to failures and integrity risks. Deteriorated interfaces can result in high thermal resistance in the package and degradation and/or failure of the electronics. DARPA's Thermal Management Technologies program has addressed this challenge, supporting the development of mechanically-compliant, low resistivity nano-thermal interface (NTI) materials. In this work, we describe the testing procedure and report the results of NREL's thermal performance and reliability characterization of an initial sample of four different NTI-BIMs.

Family and academic performance: identifying high school student profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alicia Aleli Chaparro Caso López

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to identify profiles of high school students, based on variables related to academic performance, socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family organization. A total of 21,724 high school students, from the five municipalities of the state of Baja California, took part. A K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify the profiles. The analyses identified two clearly-defined clusters: Cluster 1 grouped together students with high academic performance and who achieved higher scores for socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family involvement, whereas Cluster 2 brought together students with low academic achievement, and who also obtained lower scores for socioeconomic status and cultural capital, and had less family involvement. It is concluded that the family variables analyzed form student profiles that can be related to academic achievement.

Establishing the reliability and validity of the Zagazig Depression Scale in a UK student population: an online pilot study.

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Ibrahim, Ahmed K; Kelly, Shona J; Challenor, Emily C; Glazebrook, Cris

2010-12-10

It is thought that depressive disorders will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide by 2020. Recently, there is a steady increase in the number of university students diagnosed and treated as depression patients. It can be assumed that depression is a serious mental health problem for university students because it affects all age groups of the students either younger or older equally. The current study aims to establish the reliability and validity of the Zagazig Depression scale in a UK sample. The study was a cross-sectional online survey. A sample of 133 out of 275 undergraduate students from a range of UK Universities in the academic year 2008-2009, aged 20.3 ± 6.3 years old were recruited. A modified back translated version of Zagazig Depression scale was used. In order to validate the Zagazig Depression scale, participants were asked to complete the Patient Health Questionnaire. Statistical analysis includes Kappa analysis, Cronbach's alpha, Spearman's correlation analysis, and Confirmatory Factor analysis. Using the recommended cut-off of Zagazig Depression scale for possible minor depression it was found that 30.3% of the students have depression and higher percentage was identified according to the Patient Health Questionnaire (37.4%). Females were more depressed. The mean ZDS score was 8.3 ± 4.2. Rates of depression increase as students get older. The reliability of The ZDS was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha was .894). For validity, ZDS score was strongly associated with PHQ, with no significant difference (p-value > 0.05), with strong positive correlation (r = +.8, p-value depressive symptoms and is promising for the use of the translated ZDS in a large-scale cross-culture study.

NDE performance demonstration in the US nuclear power industry - applications, costs, lessons learned, and connection to NDE reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ammirato, F.

1997-01-01

Periodic inservice inspection (ISI) of nuclear power plant components is performed in the United States to satisfy legal commitments and to provide plant owners with reliable information for managing degradation. Performance demonstration provides credible evidence that ISI will fulfill its objectives. This paper examines the technical requirements for inspection and discusses how these technical needs are used to develop effective performance demonstration applications. NDE reliability is discussed with particular reference to its role in structural integrity assessments and its connection with performance demonstration. It is shown that the role of NDE reliability can range from very small to critical depending on the particular application and must be considered carefully in design of inspection techniques and performance demonstration programs used to qualify the inspection. Finally, the costs, benefits, and problems associated with performance demonstration are reviewed along with lessons learned from more than 15 years of performance demonstration experience in the US. (orig.)

Measuring Longitudinal Student Performance on Student Learning Outcomes in Sustainability Education

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Jarchow, Meghann E.; Formisano, Paul; Nordyke, Shane; Sayre, Matthew

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the student learning outcomes (SLOs) for a sustainability major, evaluate faculty incorporation of the SLOs into the courses in the sustainability major curriculum and measure student performance on the SLOs from entry into the major to the senior capstone course. Design/methodology/approach:…

Students' Metacomprehension Knowledge: Components That Predict Comprehension Performance

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Zabrucky, Karen M.; Moore, DeWayne; Agler, Lin-Miao Lin; Cummings, Andrea M.

2015-01-01

In the present study, we assessed students' metacomprehension knowledge and examined the components of knowledge most related to comprehension of expository texts. We used the Revised Metacomprehension Scale (RMCS) to investigate the relations between students' metacomprehension knowledge and comprehension performance. Students who evaluated and…

Sleep Quality and Academic Performance Among Medical College Students

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Ameer Kadhim Al-Humairi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background:Sleep plays a very important role in a human health. Poor sleep quality remains as a frequent feature of student life. Quantity and quality of sleep in addition to average sleep time are strongly linked with students’ learning abilities and academic performance. Subjects and method:The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted to assess sleep quality among medical college students – University of Babylon using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI. This study was done during April 2016. Results:Mean age of students was (20.63 ± 0.65. Majority was female. According to PSQI(60.4% of students were poor sleeper. Significant association between quality of sleep and academic performance was found in our study, (72.9% of those fail in one or more subjects have poor sleep quality. Conclusion: Poor sleep quality was regarded as an important problem among medical college students. Majority of students (60.4% was poor sleepers. Our study shows significant relation between sleep quality and academic performance among students of Babylon University –College of Medicine.

Performance Measurement at Universities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lueg, Klarissa

2014-01-01

This paper proposes empirical approaches to testing the reliability, validity, and organizational effectiveness of student evaluations of teaching (SET) as a performance measurement instrument in knowledge management at the institutional level of universities. Departing from Weber’s concept...

Perform qualify reliability-power tests by shooting common mistakes: practical problems and standard answers per Telcordia/Bellcore requests

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Yu, Zheng

2002-08-01

Facing the new demands of the optical fiber communications market, almost all the performance and reliability of optical network system are dependent on the qualification of the fiber optics components. So, how to comply with the system requirements, the Telcordia / Bellcore reliability and high-power testing has become the key issue for the fiber optics components manufacturers. The qualification of Telcordia / Bellcore reliability or high-power testing is a crucial issue for the manufacturers. It is relating to who is the outstanding one in the intense competition market. These testing also need maintenances and optimizations. Now, work on the reliability and high-power testing have become the new demands in the market. The way is needed to get the 'Triple-Win' goal expected by the component-makers, the reliability-testers and the system-users. To those who are meeting practical problems for the testing, there are following seven topics that deal with how to shoot the common mistakes to perform qualify reliability and high-power testing: ¸ Qualification maintenance requirements for the reliability testing ¸ Lots control for preparing the reliability testing ¸ Sampling select per the reliability testing ¸ Interim measurements during the reliability testing ¸ Basic referencing factors relating to the high-power testing ¸ Necessity of re-qualification testing for the changing of producing ¸ Understanding the similarity for product family by the definitions

Development of a performance anxiety scale for music students.

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Çirakoğlu, Okan Cem; Şentürk, Gülce Çoskun

2013-12-01

In the present research, the Performance Anxiety Scale for Music Students (PASMS) was developed in three successive studies. In Study 1, the factor structure of PASMS was explored and three components were found: fear of stage (FES), avoidance (AVD) and symptoms (SMP). The internal consistency of the subscales of PASMS, which consisted of 27 items, varied between 0.89 and 0.91. The internal consistency for the whole scale was found to be 0.95. The correlations among PASMS and other anxiety-related measures were significant and in the expected direction, indicating that the scale has convergent validity. The construct validity of the scale was assessed in Study 2 by confirmatory factor analysis. After several revisions, the final tested model achieved acceptable fits. In Study 3, the 14-day test-retest reliability of the final 24-item version of PASMS was tested and found to be extremely high (0.95). In all three studies, the whole scale and subscale scores of females were significantly higher than for males.

The Maastricht Clinical Teaching Questionnaire (MCTQ) as a valid and reliable instrument for the evaluation of clinical teachers.

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Stalmeijer, Renée E; Dolmans, Diana H J M; Wolfhagen, Ineke H A P; Muijtjens, Arno M M; Scherpbier, Albert J J A

2010-11-01

Clinical teaching's importance in the medical curriculum has led to increased interest in its evaluation. Instruments for evaluating clinical teaching must be theory based, reliable, and valid. The Maastricht Clinical Teaching Questionnaire (MCTQ), based on the theoretical constructs of cognitive apprenticeship, elicits evaluations of individual clinical teachers' performance at the workplace. The authors investigated its construct validity and reliability, and they used the underlying factors to test a causal model representing effective clinical teaching. Between March 2007 and December 2008, the authors asked students who had completed clerkship rotations in different departments of two teaching hospitals to use the MCTQ to evaluate their clinical teachers. To establish construct validity, the authors performed a confirmatory factor analysis of the evaluation data, and they estimated reliability by calculating the generalizability coefficient and standard error measurement. Finally, to test a model of the factors, they fitted a structural linear model to the data. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a five-factor model which fit the data well. Generalizability studies indicated that 7 to 10 student ratings can produce reliable ratings of individual teachers. The hypothesized structural linear model underlined the central roles played by modeling and coaching (mediated by articulation). The MCTQ is a valid and reliable evaluation instrument, thereby demonstrating the usefulness of the cognitive apprenticeship concept for clinical teaching during clerkships. Furthermore, a valuable model of clinical teaching emerged, highlighting modeling, coaching, and stimulating students' articulation and exploration as crucial to effective teaching at the clinical workplace.

Factors Affecting Students' Performance and Practice on Map ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The percentage is used to show that the level of the performance and achievement of the students. The findings suggest that possible intervention to help the students score high academic achievement should focus on teachers' training, enabling students to work hard persevere to succeed, identifying effective study ...

Reliability in perceptual analysis of voice quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2005-12-01

This study focuses on speaking voice quality in male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), who represent untrained and trained voice users, because we wanted to investigate normal and supranormal voices. In this study, both substantial and methodologic aspects were considered. It includes a method for perceptual voice evaluation, and a basic issue was rater reliability. A listening group of 10 listeners, 7 experienced speech-language therapists, and 3 speech-language therapist students evaluated the voices by 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. Two sets of voice signals were investigated: text reading (2 loudness levels) and sustained vowel (3 levels). The results indicated a high interrater reliability for most perceptual characteristics. Connected speech was evaluated more reliably, especially at the normal level, but both types of voice signals were evaluated reliably, although the reliability for connected speech was somewhat higher than for vowels. Experienced listeners tended to be more consistent in their ratings than did the student raters. Some vocal characteristics achieved acceptable reliability even with a smaller panel of listeners. The perceptual characteristics grouped in 4 factors reflected perceptual dimensions.

Evidence of Reliability and Validity for a Children’s Auditory Continuous Performance Test

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Michael J. Lasee

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Continuous Performance Tests (CPTs are commonly utilized clinical measures of attention and response inhibition. While there have been many studies of CPTs that utilize a visual format, there is considerably less research employing auditory CPTs. The current study provides initial reliability and validity evidence for the Auditory Vigilance Screening Measure (AVSM, a newly developed CPT. Participants included 105 five- to nine-year-old children selected from two rural Midwestern school districts. Reliability data for the AVSM was collected through retesting of 42 participants. Validity was evaluated through correlation of AVSM scales with subscales from the ADHD Rating Scale–IV. Test–retest reliability coefficients ranged from .62 to .74 for AVSM subscales. A significant (r = .31 correlation was obtained between the AVSM Impulsivity Scale and teacher ratings of inattention. Limitations and implications for future study are discussed.

Stressors, academic performance, and learned resourcefulness in baccalaureate nursing students.

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Goff, Anne-Marie

2011-01-01

High stress levels in nursing students may affect memory, concentration, and problem-solving ability, and may lead to decreased learning, coping, academic performance, and retention. College students with higher levels of learned resourcefulness develop greater self-confidence, motivation, and academic persistence, and are less likely to become anxious, depressed, and frustrated, but no studies specifically involve nursing students. This explanatory correlational study used Gadzella's Student-life Stress Inventory (SSI) and Rosenbaum's Self Control Scale (SCS) to explore learned resourcefulness, stressors, and academic performance in 53 baccalaureate nursing students. High levels of personal and academic stressors were evident, but not significant predictors of academic performance (p = .90). Age was a significant predictor of academic performance (p = learned resourcefulness scores than females and Caucasians. Studies in larger, more diverse samples are necessary to validate these findings.

Different Approaches for Ensuring Performance/Reliability of Plastic Encapsulated Microcircuits (PEMs) in Space Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Gerke, R. David; Sandor, Mike; Agarwal, Shri; Moor, Andrew F.; Cooper, Kim A.

2000-01-01

Engineers within the commercial and aerospace industries are using trade-off and risk analysis to aid in reducing spacecraft system cost while increasing performance and maintaining high reliability. In many cases, Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components, which include Plastic Encapsulated Microcircuits (PEMs), are candidate packaging technologies for spacecrafts due to their lower cost, lower weight and enhanced functionality. Establishing and implementing a parts program that effectively and reliably makes use of these potentially less reliable, but state-of-the-art devices, has become a significant portion of the job for the parts engineer. Assembling a reliable high performance electronic system, which includes COTS components, requires that the end user assume a risk. To minimize the risk involved, companies have developed methodologies by which they use accelerated stress testing to assess the product and reduce the risk involved to the total system. Currently, there are no industry standard procedures for accomplishing this risk mitigation. This paper will present the approaches for reducing the risk of using PEMs devices in space flight systems as developed by two independent Laboratories. The JPL procedure involves primarily a tailored screening with accelerated stress philosophy while the APL procedure is primarily, a lot qualification procedure. Both Laboratories successfully have reduced the risk of using the particular devices for their respective systems and mission requirements.

[Quality of sleep and academic performance in high school students].

Science.gov (United States)

Bugueño, Maithe; Curihual, Carolina; Olivares, Paulina; Wallace, Josefa; López-AlegrÍa, Fanny; Rivera-López, Gonzalo; Oyanedel, Juan Carlos

2017-09-01

Sleeping and studying are the day-to-day activities of a teenager attending school. To determine the quality of sleep and its relationship to the academic performance among students attending morning and afternoon shifts in a public high school. Students of the first and second year of high school answered an interview about socio-demographic background, academic performance, student activities and subjective sleep quality; they were evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). The interview was answered by 322 first year students aged 15 ± 5 years attending the morning shift and 364 second year students, aged 16 ± 0.5 years, attending the afternoon shift. The components: sleep latency, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, drug use and daytime dysfunction were similar and classified as good in both school shifts. The components subjective sleep quality and duration of sleep had higher scores among students of the morning shift. The mean grades during the first semester of the students attending morning and afternoon shifts were 5.9 and 5.8, respectively (of a scale from 1 to 7). Among students of both shifts, the PSQI scale was associated inversely and significantly with academic performance. A bad sleep quality influences academic performance in these students.

Adaptation of My Classroom Activities Scale to Turkish Culture: Validity and Reliability Study

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Kaan Zülfikar DENİZ

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Student interest in class activities, their enjoyment of activity topics, their ability to make choices about the activity topics, and opportunities for students to challenge themselves during activities are among basic components that support their higher level learning. Properties of educational activities that make them interesting, enjoyable, and challenging while allowing students with choices are also among properties that are known to be necessary in all educational content, processes, and products within educational systems of the 21st century. Consequently, measuring these properties is also of great importance. The goal of this study is to perform the Turkish adaptation of the My Class Activities Scale, developed by Gentry and Gable (2001 in the United States and subsequently adapted to the Korean, Chinese, and Arabic languages. To this end, data was collected from 214 students attending 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades during the 2015-2016 academic year. As part of the validity study for the scale, the factor structure obtained from the original development of the scale was tested using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA method. Moreover, item-total correlation and inter-dimensional correlation analyses were also performed as part of the validity study. In studying the reliability of the scale, the Cronbach-Alpha reliability coefficients were estimated (Cronbach alpha values ranged between 0.82-0.90. Based on the results, the factor structure of the scale was verified in parallel with the original development work for the scale. In conclusion, the validity and reliability of using the scale in Turkey was established, contributing a new scale adaptation to the Turkish literature for use in different studies.

Teachers' Competence and Students' Academic Performance in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated the influence of teacher's competence on students; academic performance in senior secondary chemistry. A random sampling technique was used to select 6 secondary schools out of 10 secondary schools in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State. 200 students, 20 teachers and 6 principals ...

Understanding Preclerkship Medical Students' Poor Performance in Prescription Writing.

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James, Henry; Al Khaja, Khalid A J; Tayem, Yasin I; Veeramuthu, Sindhan; Sequeira, Reginald P

2016-05-01

This study aimed to explore reasons for poor performance in prescription writing stations of the objective structured practical examination (OSPE) and absenteeism in prescription writing sessions among preclerkship medical students at the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) in Manama, Bahrain. This descriptive study was carried out between September 2014 and June 2015 among 157 preclerkship medical students at AGU. Data were collected using focus group discussions and a questionnaire with closed- and open-ended items. All 157 students participated in the study (response rate: 100.0%). The most frequently cited reasons for poor performance in OSPE stations were an inability to select the correct drugs (79.6%), treatment duration (69.4%), drug quantity (69.4%) and drug formulation (68.2%). Additionally, students reported inadequate time for completing the stations (68.8%). During focus group discussions, students reported other reasons for poor performance, including examination stress and the difficulty of the stations. Absenteeism was attributed to the length of each session (55.4%), lack of interest (50.3%), reliance on peers for information (48.4%) and optional attendance policies (47.1%). Repetitive material, large group sessions, unmet student expectations and the proximity of the sessions to summative examinations were also indicated to contribute to absenteeism according to open-ended responses or focus group discussions. This study suggests that AGU medical students perform poorly in prescription writing OSPE stations because of inadequate clinical pharmacology knowledge. Participation in prescription writing sessions needs to be enhanced by addressing the concerns identified in this study. Strategies to improve attendance and performance should take into account the learner-teacher relationship.

Increased body weight affects academic performance in university students

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Angela S. Anderson

2017-03-01

Full Text Available For K-12 students, obesity has been linked to student educational achievements. The study objective was to determine whether academic performance in university students is correlated with BMI. Students from two consecutive academic years (Jan–May 2013 and Jan–May 2014 were given an optional class survey in May, as extra credit. Of the 452 students that completed the survey, 204 females and 75 males (N = 279; 73% female and 27% male consented to participate in the study. The number of correct answers to problem-solving questions (PSQs and the overall final grade for the class were compared to the calculated BMI using linear regression with a Pearson's R correlation and unpaired t-tests. BMI was significantly negatively correlated with student's final grades (P = 0.001 Pearson's r = −0.190 and PSQs were positively correlated with final grades (P < 0.001; Pearson's r = 0.357. Our findings show a correlation between healthy body weight and improved academic performance. Further, the data suggest that future research in the area of body weight, diet, and exercise and any correlations of these with academic performance in college students are warranted.

Formation of homophily in academic performance: Students change their friends rather than performance.

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Ivan Smirnov

Full Text Available Homophily, the tendency of individuals to associate with others who share similar traits, has been identified as a major driving force in the formation and evolution of social ties. In many cases, it is not clear if homophily is the result of a socialization process, where individuals change their traits according to the dominance of that trait in their local social networks, or if it results from a selection process, in which individuals reshape their social networks so that their traits match those in the new environment. Here we demonstrate the detailed temporal formation of strong homophily in academic achievements of high school and university students. We analyze a unique dataset that contains information about the detailed time evolution of a friendship network of 6,000 students across 42 months. Combining the evolving social network data with the time series of the academic performance (GPA of individual students, we show that academic homophily is a result of selection: students prefer to gradually reorganize their social networks according to their performance levels, rather than adapting their performance to the level of their local group. We find no signs for a pull effect, where a social environment of good performers motivates bad students to improve their performance. We are able to understand the underlying dynamics of grades and networks with a simple model. The lack of a social pull effect in classical educational settings could have important implications for the understanding of the observed persistence of segregation, inequality and social immobility in societies.

The role of critical thinking skills and learning styles of university students in their academic performance.

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Ghazivakili, Zohre; Norouzi Nia, Roohangiz; Panahi, Faride; Karimi, Mehrdad; Gholsorkhi, Hayede; Ahmadi, Zarrin

2014-07-01

The Current world needs people who have a lot of different abilities such as cognition and application of different ways of thinking, research, problem solving, critical thinking skills and creativity. In addition to critical thinking, learning styles is another key factor which has an essential role in the process of problem solving. This study aimed to determine the relationship between learning styles and critical thinking of students and their academic performance in Alborz University of Medical Science. This cross-correlation study was performed in 2012, on 216 students of Alborz University who were selected randomly by the stratified random sampling. The data was obtained via a three-part questionnaire included demographic data, Kolb standardized questionnaire of learning style and California critical thinking standardized questionnaire. The academic performance of the students was extracted by the school records. The validity of the instruments was determined in terms of content validity, and the reliability was gained through internal consistency methods. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.78 for the California critical thinking questionnaire. The Chi Square test, Independent t-test, one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were used to determine relationship between variables. The Package SPSS14 statistical software was used to analyze data with a significant level of pstudents with convergent learning style have better performance than other groups. Also learning style had a relationship with age, gender, field of study, semester and job. The results about the critical thinking of the students showed that the mean of deductive reasoning and evaluation skills were higher than that of other skills and analytical skills had the lowest mean and there was a positive significant relationship between the students' performance with inferential skill and the total score of critical thinking skills (pskills and deductive reasoning had significant

Medical Students Circadian Sleep Rhythms and Academic Performance

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Isabel Pérez-Olmos

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Objective: to evaluate, with a preliminarystudy, the distribution of circadian rhythms, sleepschedule patterns and their relationship withacademic performance on medical students.Methodology: in this descriptive study, a 10 itemoriginal questionnaire about sleep rhythms andacademic performance was applied to medicalstudents from different semesters. Week (classtime and weekend schedules, preferences,daytime somnolence and academic performancewere asked. Three chronotypes (morningness,intermediate and eveningness were definedamong waking-sleeping preference, difficulty tosleep early, exam preparation preference hour and real sleep schedule. The sleep hour deficit perweek night was also calculated. Results: Of the318 medical students that answered the questionnaire,62.6% corresponded to intermediatechronotypes, 8.8% to evening-type and 28.7%to morning-type. Significant difference wasfound among the two chronotype tails (p=0.000,Chi-square 31.13. No correlation was foundbetween academic performance and age, sex,chronotype, week sleep deficit and sleep hours inweek and weekends. A 71.1% of the students slept6 or fewer hours during class time and 78% hada sleep deficit (more frequent in the eveningchronotype. Conclusions: No relation was foundbetween sleep chronotype and academic performance.Students tend to morningness. Fewstudies have been made on equatorial zones orwithout seasons.

Determinants of Perceived Students' Academic Performance in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AFRREV IJAH: An International Journal of Arts and Humanities ... Performance in Vocational Education in Tertiary Institutions in Lagos State. GO Ojo ... title Home- School Factors and Students' Academic Performance in Vocational Education ...

The Real World Significance of Performance Prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Pardos, Zachary A.; Wang, Qing Yang; Trivedi, Shubhendu

2012-01-01

In recent years, the educational data mining and user modeling communities have been aggressively introducing models for predicting student performance on external measures such as standardized tests as well as within-tutor performance. While these models have brought statistically reliable improvement to performance prediction, the real world…

Self-Esteem, Study Habits and Academic Performance Among University Students

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Manuel L. Chilca Alva

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study was intended to establish whether self-esteem and study habits correlate with academic performance among university students. Research conducted was descriptive observational, multivariate or cross-sectional factorial in nature. The study population consisted of 196 students enrolled in a Basic Mathematics 1 class at the School of Engineering of Universidad Tecnológica del Perú (Technical University of Peru, UTP in the third term of 2016, and the sample size numbered 86 students. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Luis Vicuña Peri’s Study Habits Inventory and the average grades obtained by students were used for research variable measurement. Results show that self-esteem does not significantly impact academic performance, but study habits do influence academic performance (p = .000 < α = .05. Hence students are expected to enhance academic performance as they refine study techniques.

Design for High Performance, Low Power, and Reliable 3D Integrated Circuits

CERN Document Server

Lim, Sung Kyu

2013-01-01

This book describes the design of through-silicon-via (TSV) based three-dimensional integrated circuits.  It includes details of numerous “manufacturing-ready” GDSII-level layouts of TSV-based 3D ICs, developed with tools covered in the book. Readers will benefit from the sign-off level analysis of timing, power, signal integrity, and thermo-mechanical reliability for 3D IC designs.  Coverage also includes various design-for-manufacturability (DFM), design-for-reliability (DFR), and design-for-testability (DFT) techniques that are considered critical to the 3D IC design process. Describes design issues and solutions for high performance and low power 3D ICs, such as the pros/cons of regular and irregular placement of TSVs, Steiner routing, buffer insertion, low power 3D clock routing, power delivery network design and clock design for pre-bond testability. Discusses topics in design-for-electrical-reliability for 3D ICs, such as TSV-to-TSV coupling, current crowding at the wire-to-TSV junction and the e...

Inter-rater and test–retest reliability of quality assessments by novice student raters using the Jadad and Newcastle–Ottawa Scales

Science.gov (United States)

Oremus, Carolina; Hall, Geoffrey B C; McKinnon, Margaret C

2012-01-01

Introduction Quality assessment of included studies is an important component of systematic reviews. Objective The authors investigated inter-rater and test–retest reliability for quality assessments conducted by inexperienced student raters. Design Student raters received a training session on quality assessment using the Jadad Scale for randomised controlled trials and the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) for observational studies. Raters were randomly assigned into five pairs and they each independently rated the quality of 13–20 articles. These articles were drawn from a pool of 78 papers examining cognitive impairment following electroconvulsive therapy to treat major depressive disorder. The articles were randomly distributed to the raters. Two months later, each rater re-assessed the quality of half of their assigned articles. Setting McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study Program. Participants 10 students taking McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study Program courses. Main outcome measures The authors measured inter-rater reliability using κ and the intraclass correlation coefficient type 2,1 or ICC(2,1). The authors measured test–retest reliability using ICC(2,1). Results Inter-rater reliability varied by scale question. For the six-item Jadad Scale, question-specific κs ranged from 0.13 (95% CI −0.11 to 0.37) to 0.56 (95% CI 0.29 to 0.83). The ranges were −0.14 (95% CI −0.28 to 0.00) to 0.39 (95% CI −0.02 to 0.81) for the NOS cohort and −0.20 (95% CI −0.49 to 0.09) to 1.00 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.00) for the NOS case–control. For overall scores on the six-item Jadad Scale, ICC(2,1)s for inter-rater and test–retest reliability (accounting for systematic differences between raters) were 0.32 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.52) and 0.55 (95% CI 0.41 to 0.67), respectively. Corresponding ICC(2,1)s for the NOS cohort were −0.19 (95% CI −0.67 to 0.35) and 0.62 (95% CI 0.25 to 0.83), and for the NOS case–control, the ICC(2

Impact of Metacognitive Awareness on Performance of Students in Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Fazal ur; Jumani, Nabi Bux; Chaudry, Muhammad Ajmal; Chisti, Saeed ul Hasan; Abbasi, Fahim

2010-01-01

The impact of metacognitive awareness on students' performance has been examined in the present study. 900 students of grade X participated in the study. Metacognitive awareness was measured using inventory, while performance of students was measured with the help of researcher made test in the subject of chemistry. Results indicated that…

Factors Affecting Performance of Undergraduate Students in Construction Related Disciplines

Science.gov (United States)

Olatunji, Samuel Olusola; Aghimien, Douglas Omoregie; Oke, Ayodeji Emmanuel; Olushola, Emmanuel

2016-01-01

Academic performance of students in Nigerian institutions has been of much concern to all and sundry hence the need to assess the factors affecting performance of undergraduate students in construction related discipline in Nigeria. A survey design was employed with questionnaires administered on students in the department of Quantity Surveying,…

Test anxiety inventory-State: Preliminary analysis of validity and reliability in psychology college students

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Sergio Dominguez-Lara

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of the present study was to examine the internal structure of the Test anxiety inventory-State (TAI-State in Spanish version. A sample of 125 college students from Lima (84.8% female between 18 and 31 years old (M = 22.51 was evaluated. The internal structure of the STAI was analyzed by a confirmatory factor analysis, evaluating three models: oblique, bifactor and unidimensional. The results indicate that a single dimension constitutes the STAI and there are coefficients of reliability with high magnitudes. In conclusion, the version studied shows favorable psychometric properties that support its use in Lima.

The Effect of Epoxy Molding Compound Floor Life to Reliability Performance and mold ability for QFN Package

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Peanpunga, Udom; Ugsornrat, Kessararat; Thorlor, Panakamol; Sumithpibul, Chalermsak

2017-09-01

This research studied about an epoxy molding compound (EMC) floor life to reliability performance of integrated circuit (IC) package. Molding is the process for protecting the die of IC package form mechanical and chemical reaction from external environment by shaping EMC. From normal manufacturing process, the EMC is stored in the frozen at 5oC and left at around room temperature for aging time or floor life before molding process. The EMC floor life effect to its properties and reliability performance of IC package. Therefore, this work interested in varied the floor life of EMC before molding process to analyze properties of EMC such as spiral flow length, gelation time, and viscosity. In experiment, the floor life of EMC was varied to check the effect of its property to reliability performance. The EMC floor life were varied from 0 hours to 60 hours with a step of 12 hours and observed wire sweep, incomplete EMC, and delamination inside the packages for 3x3, 5x5 and 8x8 mm2 of QFN packages. The evaluation showed about clearly effect of EMC floor life to IC packaging reliability. EMC floor life is not any concern for EMC property, moldabilty, and reliability from 0 hours to 48 hours for molding process of 3x3,5x5 and 8x8 mm2 QFN packaging manufacturing

The intra- and inter-rater reliability of five clinical muscle performance tests in patients with and without neck pain

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background This study investigates the reliability of muscle performance tests using cost- and time-effective methods similar to those used in clinical practice. When conducting reliability studies, great effort goes into standardising test procedures to facilitate a stable outcome. Therefore, several test trials are often performed. However, when muscle performance tests are applied in the clinical setting, clinicians often only conduct a muscle performance test once as repeated testing may produce fatigue and pain, thus variation in test results. We aimed to investigate whether cervical muscle performance tests, which have shown promising psychometric properties, would remain reliable when examined under conditions similar to those of daily clinical practice. Methods The intra-rater (between-day) and inter-rater (within-day) reliability was assessed for five cervical muscle performance tests in patients with (n = 33) and without neck pain (n = 30). The five tests were joint position error, the cranio-cervical flexion test, the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in supine and in a 45°-upright position and a new neck extensor test. Results Intra-rater reliability ranged from moderate to almost perfect agreement for joint position error (ICC ≥ 0.48-0.82), the cranio-cervical flexion test (ICC ≥ 0.69), the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in supine (ICC ≥ 0.68) and in a 45°-upright position (ICC ≥ 0.41) with the exception of a new test (neck extensor test), which ranged from slight to moderate agreement (ICC = 0.14-0.41). Likewise, inter-rater reliability ranged from moderate to almost perfect agreement for joint position error (ICC ≥ 0.51-0.75), the cranio-cervical flexion test (ICC ≥ 0.85), the neck flexor muscle endurance test performed in supine (ICC ≥ 0.70) and in a 45°-upright position (ICC ≥ 0.56). However, only slight to fair agreement was found for the neck extensor test (ICC�

Standardised clients as assessors in a veterinary communication OSCE: a reliability and validity study.

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Artemiou, E; Adams, C L; Hecker, K G; Vallevand, A; Violato, C; Coe, J B

2014-11-22

In human medicine, standardised patients (SP) have been shown to reliably and accurately assess learners' communication performance in high-stakes certification Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE), offering a feasible way to reduce the need for recruitment, time commitment and coordination of faculty assessors. In this study, we evaluated the use of standardised clients (SC) as a viable option for assessing veterinary students' communication performance. We designed a four-station, two-track communication skills OSCE. SC assessors used an adapted nine-item Liverpool Undergraduate Communication Assessment Scale (LUCAS). Faculty used a 21-item checklist derived from the Calgary-Cambridge Guide (CCG) and a five-point global rating scale. Participants were second year veterinary students (n=96). For the four stations, intrastation reliability (α) ranged from 0.63 to 0.82 for the LUCAS, and 0.73 to 0.87 for the CCG. The interstation reliability coefficients were 0.85 for the LUCAS and 0.89 for the CGG. The calculated Generalisability (G) coefficients were 0.62 for the LUCAS and 0.60 for the CGG. Supporting construct validity, SC and faculty assessors showed a significant correlation between the LUCAS and CCG total percent scores (r=0.45, PStudy results support that SC assessors offer a reliable and valid approach for assessing veterinary communication OSCE. British Veterinary Association.

Student Precision and Reliability of the Team Sport Assessment in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

TSAP) and formative assessment of invasion sport. The specific objectives were to determine the degree of agreement among expert observers, inter-observer reliability (internal consistency), and intra observer reliability (temporal reliability).

Assessing medical students' performance in core competencies using multiple admission programs for colleges and universities: from the perspective of multi-source feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Ji-Tseng; Ko, Yu-Shien; Chien, Chu-Chun; Yu, Kuang-Hui

2013-01-01

Since 1994, Taiwanese medical universities have employed the multiple application method comprising "recommendations and screening" and "admission application." The purpose of this study is to examine whether medical students admitted using different admission programs gave different performances. To evaluate the six core competencies for medical students proposed by Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), this study employed various assessment tools, including student opinion feedback, multi-source feedback (MSF), course grades, and examination results.MSF contains self-assessment scale, peer assessment scale, nursing staff assessment scale, visiting staff assessment scale, and chief resident assessment scale. In the subscales, the CronbachÊs alpha were higher than 0.90, indicating good reliability. Research participants consisted of 182 students from the School of Medicine at Chang Gung University. Regarding studentsÊ average grade for the medical ethics course, the performance of students who were enrolled through school recommendations exceeded that of students who were enrolled through the National College University Entrance Examination (NCUEE) p = 0.011), and all considered "teamwork" as the most important. Different entry pipelines of students in the "communication," "work attitude," "medical knowledge," and "teamwork" assessment scales showed no significant difference. The improvement rate of the students who were enrolled through the school recommendations was better than that of the students who were enrolled through the N CUEE in the "professional skills," "medical core competencies," "communication," and "teamwork" projects of self-assessment and peer assessment scales. However, the students who were enrolled through the NCUEE were better in the "professional skills," "medical core competencies," "communication," and "teamwork" projects of the visiting staff assessment scale and the chief resident assessment scale. Collectively

Assessing medical students' performance in core competencies using multiple admission programs for colleges and universities: From the perspective of multi-source feedback

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji-Tseng Fang

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Since 1994, Taiwanese medical universities have employed the multiple application method comprising "recommendations and screening" and "admission application." The purpose of this study is to examine whether medical students admitted using different admission programs gave different performances. Methods: To evaluate the six core competencies for medical students proposed by Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME, this study employed various assessment tools, including student opinion feedback, multi-source feedback (MSF, course grades, and examination results.MSF contains self-assessment scale, peer assessment scale, nursing staff assessment scale, visiting staff assessment scale, and chief resident assessment scale. In the subscales, the CronbachÊs alpha were higher than 0.90, indicating good reliability. Research participants consisted of 182 students from the School of Medicine at Chang Gung University. Results: Regarding studentsÊ average grade for the medical ethics course, the performance of students who were enrolled through school recommendations exceeded that of students who were enrolled through the National College University Entrance Examination (NCUEE p = 0.011, and all considered "teamwork" as the most important. Different entry pipelines of students in the "communication," "work attitude," "medical knowledge," and "teamwork" assessment scales showed no significant difference. The improvement rate of the students who were enrolled through the school recommendations was better than that of the students who were enrolled through the N CUEE in the "professional skills," "medical core competencies," "communication," and "teamwork" projects of self-assessment and peer assessment scales. However, the students who were enrolled through the NCUEE were better in the "professional skills," "medical core competencies," "communication," and "teamwork" projects of the visiting staff assessment scale and the

Performance of Distance Learning Students in a Small Business Management Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kotey, Bernice; Anderson, Phil

2006-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to compare the performance of distance-learning students in a Small Business Management (SBM) course with that of internal (on-campus) students, and to examine students' demographics and information processing systems for their moderating effects on performance of each student group.…

LOGICAL REASONING ABILITY AND STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY.

Science.gov (United States)

Bird, Lillian

2010-03-01

Logical reasoning skills of students enrolled in General Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras were measured using the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT) test. The results were used to determine the students' cognitive level (concrete, transitional, formal) as well as their level of performance by logical reasoning mode (mass/volume conservation, proportional reasoning, correlational reasoning, experimental variable control, probabilistic reasoning and combinatorial reasoning). This information was used to identify particular deficiencies and gender effects, and to determine which logical reasoning modes were the best predictors of student performance in the general chemistry course. Statistical tests to analyze the relation between (a) operational level and final grade in both semesters of the course; (b) GALT test results and performance in the ACS General Chemistry Examination; and (c) operational level and student approach (algorithmic or conceptual) towards a test question that may be answered correctly using either strategy, were also performed.

Reliability of functioning and reserves of system, controlling movements with different coordination structure of special health group girl students in physical education process

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A.A. Pryimakov

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: to study reliability of functioning and reserves of system, controlling movements with different coordination structure of special health group girl students (low health level in physical education process. Material: in the research special health group girl students (n=136, age 17-19 participated. They were divided into 2 groups - control and experimental. The program, directed to increase reliability and reserves of system controlling movements, was realized. It was based on physical exercises of complicated coordination with novelty elements, which were fulfilled under musical accompaniment. The research continued one academic year. Results: in girl students with health problems we registered higher differential thresholds, when reproducing local movements in complicated conditions. They used visual and hearing feedback channels for informing brain’s programming areas about made mistakes. They were worse teachable in training accurate movements. These girl students have less expressed compensation reserves under impact of hindering factors and interferences. It can be interpreted as non-specific crisscross negative response to motor functional system in case of health problems. All these determine reduction of reserve potentials of motor control system. Conclusions: The main reserve potentials’ criteria of control over different coordination structure movements are: quickness of passing to program mechanism of fine movements’ regulation in stable conditions of functioning; power and effectiveness of compensatory reactions, ensuring interference immunity of system, controlling movements under interfering factors; reliability of maintaining movements’ qualitative parameters in optimal range under interfering factors; reduction of sensor interconnections in stable functioning conditions.

Focusing on Student Performance Through Accountability. Challenge to Lead Series

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz, Alicia; Lord, Joan

2005-01-01

This report, Focusing on Student Performance Through Accountability, shows that more students, in all groups, are meeting state standards. And parents, communities and education leaders are better informed about student performance than ever before. It shows that large gaps remain in every state. If the state is to reach the No Child Left Behind…

Poor academic performance: A perspective of final year diagnostic radiography students

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gqweta, Ntokozo

2012-01-01

Introduction: A study was conducted on final year diagnostic radiography students at a University of Technology in Durban. The aim of the study was to investigate the final year diagnostic radiography students' opinions and views on academic performance in order to inform teaching and learning methods. The objectives were: •To explore the students' opinions regarding poor performance. •To identify strategies to improve academic performance. Method: A qualitative, interpretive approach was used to explain and understand the students' lived experiences of their academic performances. A short open ended questionnaire was administered to a cohort of final diagnostic radiography students following feedback on a written assessment. Questionnaire responses were then manually captured and analyzed. Results: Five (5) themes were identified that could possibly be associated with poor academic performance. These themes were, poor preparation, lack of independent study, difficulty in understanding learning content and misinterpretation of assessment questions, inefficient studying techniques as well as perceived improvement strategies. Conclusion: Students identified their inadequate preparation and the lack of dedicated independent studying as the main reasons for poor performance. Students preferred to be taught in an assessment oriented manner. However their identified improvement strategies were aligned with the learner centred approach.

Study on Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs) Quantification Method in Human Reliability Analysis (HRA)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ar Ryum; Jang, Inseok Jang; Seong, Poong Hyun; Park, Jinkyun; Kim, Jong Hyun

2015-01-01

The purpose of HRA implementation is 1) to achieve the human factor engineering (HFE) design goal of providing operator interfaces that will minimize personnel errors and 2) to conduct an integrated activity to support probabilistic risk assessment (PRA). For these purposes, various HRA methods have been developed such as technique for human error rate prediction (THERP), simplified plant analysis risk human reliability assessment (SPAR-H), cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM) and so on. In performing HRA, such conditions that influence human performances have been represented via several context factors called performance shaping factors (PSFs). PSFs are aspects of the human's individual characteristics, environment, organization, or task that specifically decrements or improves human performance, thus respectively increasing or decreasing the likelihood of human errors. Most HRA methods evaluate the weightings of PSFs by expert judgment and explicit guidance for evaluating the weighting is not provided. It has been widely known that the performance of the human operator is one of the critical factors to determine the safe operation of NPPs. HRA methods have been developed to identify the possibility and mechanism of human errors. In performing HRA methods, the effect of PSFs which may increase or decrease human error should be investigated. However, the effect of PSFs were estimated by expert judgment so far. Accordingly, in order to estimate the effect of PSFs objectively, the quantitative framework to estimate PSFs by using PSF profiles is introduced in this paper

Peer influence on students' estimates of performance: social comparison in clinical rotations.

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Raat, A N Janet; Kuks, Jan B M; van Hell, E Ally; Cohen-Schotanus, Janke

2013-02-01

During clinical rotations, students move from one clinical situation to another. Questions exist about students' strategies for coping with these transitions. These strategies may include a process of social comparison because in this context it offers the student an opportunity to estimate his or her abilities to master a novel rotation. These estimates are relevant for learning and performance because they are related to self-efficacy. We investigated whether student estimates of their own future performance are influenced by the performance level and gender of the peer with whom the student compares him- or herself. We designed an experimental study in which participating students (n = 321) were divided into groups assigned to 12 different conditions. Each condition entailed a written comparison situation in which a peer student had completed the rotation the participant was required to undertake next. Differences between conditions were determined by the performance level (worse, similar or better) and gender of the comparison peer. The overall grade achieved by the comparison peer remained the same in all conditions. We asked participants to estimate their own future performance in that novel rotation. Differences between their estimates were analysed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Students' estimates of their future performance were highest when the comparison peer was presented as performing less well and lowest when the comparison peer was presented as performing better (p influences students' estimates of their future performance in a novel rotation. The effect depends on the performance level and gender of the comparison peer. This indicates that comparisons against particular peers may strengthen or diminish a student's self-efficacy, which, in turn, may ease or hamper the student's learning during clinical rotations. The study is limited by its experimental design. Future research should focus on students' comparison behaviour in real transitions

Influence of course characteristics, student characteristics, and behavior in learning management systems on student performance

OpenAIRE

Conijn, Rianne; Kleingeld, Ad; Matzat, Uwe; Snijders, Chris; van Zaanen, Menno

2016-01-01

The use of learning management systems (LMS) in education make it possible to track students’ online behavior. This data can be used for educational data mining and learning analytics, for example, by predicting student performance. Although LMS data might contain useful predictors, course characteristics and student characteristics have shown to influence student performance as well. However, these different sets of features are rarely combined or compared. Therefore, in the current study we...

Effects of flipped instruction on the performance and attitude of high school students in mathematics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Remalyn Q. Casem

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to determine the effects of flipped instruction on the performance and attitude of high school students in Mathematics. The study made use of the true experimental design, specifically the pretest-posttest control group design. There were two instruments used to gather data, the pretest-posttest which was subjected to validity and reliability tests and the Modified Fennema-Sherman Attitudes Scale. It was found out that the experimental and control groups were comparable in the pretest and posttest. Comparison on their gain scores revealed significant difference with performance of the experimental group higher than the control group. There was no significant difference on the level of attitude of the participants in the experimental group before and after the study in terms of confidence in learning mathematics, attitude toward success in mathematics, mathematics anxiety and perception of teacher's attitudes. A very weak positive relationship existed between performance and attitudes toward mathematics.

Performance of Senior Tourism Students in Using Foreign Language

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Dr. Dexter R. Buted

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The study generally intended to reckon the previous and present condition of senior tourism students with regards on their foreign language class. Specifically, it described the profile of the professors teaching foreign language; determined the senior tourism student’s performances on their foreign language class; assessed the teaching strategies used by the professors; tested the significant relationship between the performances of the students to the teaching strategies used; and lastly, proposed an action plan to help tourism students in the study of foreign language. The researchers used the descriptive method of research, with one hundred seventy-eight (178 respondents composed of all senior tourism students who are enrolled in foreign language class. The result of the study revealed that the professors who are teaching foreign language are 61 years old and above, masters degree holder, 10 years and above, with a unit of 21 and can speak Spanish. Also, the students are able to speak and comprehend Mandarin, French and Spanish. The teaching techniques used by the professors in teaching the language was giving and evaluating student’s performance more often. Moreover, the performances of the students in foreign language are affected by the teaching strategies used by the professors. And a proposed plan was formulated to improve foreign language subject of the study

Assessing students' performance in software requirements engineering education using scoring rubrics

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Mkpojiogu, Emmanuel O. C.; Hussain, Azham

2017-10-01

The study investigates how helpful the use of scoring rubrics is, in the performance assessment of software requirements engineering students and whether its use can lead to students' performance improvement in the development of software requirements artifacts and models. Scoring rubrics were used by two instructors to assess the cognitive performance of a student in the design and development of software requirements artifacts. The study results indicate that the use of scoring rubrics is very helpful in objectively assessing the performance of software requirements or software engineering students. Furthermore, the results revealed that the use of scoring rubrics can also produce a good achievement assessments direction showing whether a student is either improving or not in a repeated or iterative assessment. In a nutshell, its use leads to the performance improvement of students. The results provided some insights for further investigation and will be beneficial to researchers, requirements engineers, system designers, developers and project managers.

The role of critical thinking skills and learning styles of university students in their academic performance

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GHAZIVAKILI, ZOHRE; NOROUZI NIA, ROOHANGIZ; PANAHI, FARIDE; KARIMI, MEHRDAD; GHOLSORKHI, HAYEDE; AHMADI, ZARRIN

2014-01-01

Introduction: The Current world needs people who have a lot of different abilities such as cognition and application of different ways of thinking, research, problem solving, critical thinking skills and creativity. In addition to critical thinking, learning styles is another key factor which has an essential role in the process of problem solving. This study aimed to determine the relationship between learning styles and critical thinking of students and their academic performance in Alborz University of Medical Science. Methods: This cross-correlation study was performed in 2012, on 216 students of Alborz University who were selected randomly by the stratified random sampling. The data was obtained via a three-part questionnaire included demographic data, Kolb standardized questionnaire of learning style and California critical thinking standardized questionnaire. The academic performance of the students was extracted by the school records. The validity of the instruments was determined in terms of content validity, and the reliability was gained through internal consistency methods. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.78 for the California critical thinking questionnaire. The Chi Square test, Independent t-test, one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were used to determine relationship between variables. The Package SPSS14 statistical software was used to analyze data with a significant level of pcritical thinking of the students showed that the mean of deductive reasoning and evaluation skills were higher than that of other skills and analytical skills had the lowest mean and there was a positive significant relationship between the students’ performance with inferential skill and the total score of critical thinking skills (pcritical thinking had significant difference between different learning styles. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the learning styles, critical thinking and academic performance are significantly associated

The Influence of Virtual Learning Environments in Students' Performance

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Alves, Paulo; Miranda, Luísa; Morais, Carlos

2017-01-01

This paper focuses mainly on the relation between the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) and students' performance. Therefore, virtual learning environments are characterised and a study is presented emphasising the frequency of access to a VLE and its relation with the students' performance from a public higher education institution…

THE LINK BETWEEN STUDENTS' SATISFACTION WITH FACULTY, OVERALL STUDENTS' SATISFACTION WITH STUDENT LIFE AND STUDENT PERFORMANCES

OpenAIRE

Mihanović, Zoran; Batinić, Ana Barbara; Pavičić, Jurica

2016-01-01

Customer satisfaction has long been recognized as a central concept of all business activities. Satisfaction can serve as an indicator of success of the company, both in the past and present, as well as an indicator of future performance. High quality service to students is a prerequisite of maintaining competitiveness in the market of higher education. A relationship that is created between the expectations of students and their satisfaction with the quality of service that provides educatio...

Improving student satisfaction of Andalas University Dormitory through Service Quality and Importance Performance Analysis

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Putri, Nilda Tri; Anggraini, Larisa

2018-03-01

Residential satisfaction of university dormitories serve as one of the significant aspects in the framework of sustainability in higher education. This research investigated the quality of dormitory services in Andalas University Dormitory based on student’s satisfaction. According to management residential, the enrollment of residential student has increased gradually in Andalas University. In 2016, capacity of residential student is 1686, but only 1081 students can stay at dormitory because some rooms in bad condition. There are a lot of problems and complaints regarding dormitory’s service quality i.e water problems, leaky rooms and bathrooms, cleanliness and inadequate facilities in residential college. In addition, there are 20% of last year student’s residential check out before the time of contract runs out. The aim of this research are understanding the level of GAP exists between expectation and perception students’ residential in the content of service quality and evaluating the improvement priority services using Importance Performance Analysis. This study is measuring service quality by using Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, Reliability and Tangible dimension. A negative GAP indicates that the actual services are than what was expected and the GAP is highlighted area for improvement. Based on IPA, management should improve this following dimension services : responsiveness, tangible and assurance dimension.

Maintenance personnel performance simulation (MAPPS): a model for predicting maintenance performance reliability in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knee, H.E.; Krois, P.A.; Haas, P.M.; Siegel, A.I.; Ryan, T.G.

1983-01-01

The NRC has developed a structured, quantitative, predictive methodology in the form of a computerized simulation model for assessing maintainer task performance. Objective of the overall program is to develop, validate, and disseminate a practical, useful, and acceptable methodology for the quantitative assessment of NPP maintenance personnel reliability. The program was organized into four phases: (1) scoping study, (2) model development, (3) model evaluation, and (4) model dissemination. The program is currently nearing completion of Phase 2 - Model Development

A Technique for Continuous Evaluation of Student Performance in Two Different Domains: Structural Engineering and Computer Information Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Desai, Niranjan; Stefanek, George

2017-01-01

Student access to the Internet has made it much easier for students to find solutions to traditional homework problems online and thereby has made this traditional assessment method of monitoring student progress and gauging the assimilation of knowledge in engineering and technology courses less reliable. This paper presents an in-class,…

Measures of small business success/performance: Importance, reliability and usability

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Leković Božidar

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this paper is to assess the reliability of selected measures of success/performance of small enterprises taking into account all the advantages and disadvantages of objective (traditional, financial and subjective (personal perception indicators. The realization of the basic objective will enable removal of doubt in different categories of success / performance of small businesses, which would be a secondary objective of the paper. The research methodology involves the use parametric procedures due to the characteristics of the selected variables and the number of observations in the sample. Univariate ANOVA and Pearson's coefficient correlation will be the main methods used. The basis of this study consists of data gathered from e-survey of 260 entrepreneurs/ owners/ managers of small enterprises in administrative sub-region of the Republic of Serbia. The analysis results show the correlation between subjective estimate of success of owners/ entrepreneurs/ managers and objective performance indicators, which can be characterized as complementary, meaning that subjective assessment as well as formally stated performance indicators are realistic. In addition, it is important to emphasize as an important result within the group of objective performance indicators, the differences between two groups, financial and non-financial, performance indicators.

Predicting students' intention to use stimulants for academic performance enhancement.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponnet, Koen; Wouters, Edwin; Walrave, Michel; Heirman, Wannes; Van Hal, Guido

2015-02-01

The non-medical use of stimulants for academic performance enhancement is becoming a more common practice among college and university students. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of students' intention to use stimulant medication for the purpose of enhancing their academic performance. Based on an extended model of Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, we examined the predictive value of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, psychological distress, procrastination, substance use, and alcohol use on students' intention to use stimulants to improve their academic performance. The sample consisted of 3,589 Flemish university and college students (mean age: 21.59, SD: 4.09), who participated anonymously in an online survey conducted in March and April 2013. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationships among the study variables. Our results indicate that subjective norm is the strongest predictor of students' intention to use stimulant medication, followed by attitude and perceived behavioral control. To a lesser extent, procrastinating tendencies, psychological distress, and substance abuse contribute to students' intention. Conclusions/ Importance: Based on these findings, we provide several recommendations on how to curtail students' intention to use stimulant medication for the purpose of improving their academic performance. In addition, we urge researchers to identify other psychological variables that might be related to students' intention.

Factors affecting dance exercise performance in students at a special needs school.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Yukiko; Hiramoto, Izumi; Kodama, Hideya

2017-09-01

In Japan, dance exercise has been introduced as a compulsory element of health and physical education, but there is a considerable discrepancy in the levels of performance among students with intellectual disability (ID) at special needs schools. The aim of this study was therefore to identify the factors affecting the performance of dance exercise in students with ID. A 4 month dance exercise program was implemented for junior high school students at a special needs school, and the performance of 32 students at 22 sessions was assessed quantitatively according to calorie use during exercise and performance proficiency score. The measures were compared according to gender, age, body mass index, diagnosis, and development quotient (DQ) score. Performance in many students improved with repetition and reached the highest attainment level at around the third month. Male gender and older age had a significant positive impact on calorie use, whereas diagnosis of Down syndrome and higher DQ score had a significant positive impact on proficiency score. Four students with poor performance were all female students with autism. This study provides some possible explanations for differences in the levels of dance performance among students with ID. © 2017 Japan Pediatric Society.

Student Learning Motivation as a Mediator of the Relationship between Service Quality and Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Hamdi H. M.

2016-01-01

Students look for evidence of service quality when selecting a university to attend. Student dissatisfaction with the quality of service may reduce student motivation in online higher-education settings, and low levels of motivation may lead to inferior student performance and a persistently high dropout rate. The purpose of this quantitative,…

Performance evaluation of nursing students following competency-based education.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Jun-Yu; Wang, Yu Hsin; Chao, Li Fen; Jane, Sui-Whi; Hsu, Li-Ling

2015-01-01

Competency-based education is known to improve the match between educational performance and employment opportunities. This study examined the effects of competency-based education on the learning outcomes of undergraduate nursing students. The study used a quasi-experimental design. A convenience sample of 312 second-year undergraduate nursing students from northern and southern Taiwan participated in the study. The experimental group (n=163) received competency-based education and the control group received traditional instruction (n=149) in a medical-surgical nursing course. Outcome measures included students' scores on the Objective Structured Clinical Examination, Self-Evaluated Core Competencies Scale, Metacognitive Inventory for Nursing Students questionnaire, and academic performance. Students who received competency-based education had significantly higher academic performance in the medical-surgical nursing course and practicum than did the control group. Required core competencies and metacognitive abilities improved significantly in the competency-based education group as compared to the control group after adjusting for covariates. Competency-based education is worth implementing and may close the gap between education and the ever-changing work environment. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reliability and effect of sodium bicarbonate: buffering and 2000-m rowing performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Amelia J; Slater, Gary J; Gore, Christopher J; Dawson, Brian; Burke, Louise M

2012-06-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effect and reliability of acute and chronic sodium bicarbonate ingestion for 2000-m rowing ergometer performance (watts) and blood bicarbonate concentration [HCO3-]. In a crossover study, 7 well-trained rowers performed paired 2000-m rowing ergometer trials under 3 double-blinded conditions: (1) 0.3 grams per kilogram of body mass (g/kg BM) acute bicarbonate; (2) 0.5 g/kg BM daily chronic bicarbonate for 3 d; and (3) calcium carbonate placebo, in semi-counterbalanced order. For 2000-m performance and [HCO3-], we examined differences in effects between conditions via pairwise comparisons, with differences interpreted in relation to the likelihood of exceeding smallest worthwhile change thresholds for each variable. We also calculated the within-subject variation (percent typical error). There were only trivial differences in 2000-m performance between placebo (277 ± 60 W), acute bicarbonate (280 ± 65 W) and chronic bicarbonate (282 ± 65 W); however, [HCO3-] was substantially greater after acute bicarbonate, than with chronic loading and placebo. Typical error for 2000-m mean power was 2.1% (90% confidence interval 1.4 to 4.0%) for acute bicarbonate, 3.6% (2.5 to 7.0%) for chronic bicarbonate, and 1.6% (1.1 to 3.0%) for placebo. Postsupplementation [HCO3-] typical error was 7.3% (5.0 to 14.5%) for acute bicarbonate, 2.9% (2.0 to 5.7%) for chronic bicarbonate and 6.0% (1.4 to 11.9%) for placebo. Performance in 2000-m rowing ergometer trials may not substantially improve after acute or chronic bicarbonate loading. However, performances will be reliable with both acute and chronic bicarbonate loading protocols.

Factors affecting academic performance of Pharmacy students in the ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... performance of undergraduate Pharmacy students of the University of Jos, Nigeria ... was conducted using self-completed questionnaires among Pharmacy students of ... Pharmacy students; Test Competence, Time Management; Test Anxiety ... By Country · List All Titles · Free To Read Titles This Journal is Open Access.

Burnout syndrome among dental students.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos, Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini; Jordani, Paula Cristina; Zucoloto, Miriane Lucindo; Bonafé, Fernanda Salloume Sampaio; Maroco, João

2012-03-01

The burnout syndrome is characterized by professional exhaustion and has been reported in college students. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of Burnout Syndrome among dentistry students from a public university, and its relationship to socio-demographic characteristics. All students (n = 300) were invited to participate. We used the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Version (MBI-SS). We carried out an analysis of the MBI-SS' psychometric properties. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was performed, followed by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's post-hoc tests to compare the mean scores of burnout dimensions. Of the 235 participants, 72.8% were women and the mean age was 21.0 ± 1.8 years. The MBI-SS was reliable and valid. Of the students, 17.0% had Burnout Syndrome. There was a significant relation between Burnout Syndrome and a student's performance during the course (F = 4.433, p students most affected were those with poor performance, those who took medication because of studies, and those with thoughts of dropping the course. We concluded that the prevalence of the syndrome among dentistry students was high, with a significant relation between the syndrome and a student's academic performance, use of medication because of studies, and thoughts of dropping the course.

Human factor reliability program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoblochova, L.

2017-01-01

The human factor's reliability program was at Slovenske elektrarne, a.s. (SE) nuclear power plants. introduced as one of the components Initiatives of Excellent Performance in 2011. The initiative's goal was to increase the reliability of both people and facilities, in response to 3 major areas of improvement - Need for improvement of the results, Troubleshooting support, Supporting the achievement of the company's goals. The human agent's reliability program is in practice included: - Tools to prevent human error; - Managerial observation and coaching; - Human factor analysis; -Quick information about the event with a human agent; -Human reliability timeline and performance indicators; - Basic, periodic and extraordinary training in human factor reliability(authors)

Hierarchical Effects of School-, Classroom-, and Student-Level Factors on the Science Performance of Eighth-Grade Taiwanese Students

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Liang-Ting; Yang, Chih-Chien

2015-05-01

This study was conducted to understand the effect of student-, classroom-, and school-level factors on the science performance of 8th-grade Taiwanese students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 by using multilevel analysis. A total of 5,042 students from 153 classrooms of 150 schools participated in the TIMSS 2011 study, in which they were required to complete questionnaires. A 3-level multilevel analysis was used to assess the influence of factors at 3 levels on the science performance of 8th-grade Taiwanese students. The results showed that the provision of education resources at home, teachers' level of education, and school climate were the strongest predictor of science performance at the student, classroom, and school level, respectively. It was concluded that the science performance of 8th-grade Taiwanese students is driven largely by individual factors. Classroom-level factors accounted for a smaller proportion of the total variance in science performance than did school-level factors.

MYRRHA cryogenic system study on performances and reliability requirements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Junquera, T.; Chevalier, N.R.; Thermeau, J.P.; Medeiros Romao, L.; Vandeplassche, D.

2015-01-01

A precise evaluation of the cryogenic requirements for accelerator-driven system such as the MYRRHA project has been performed. In particular, operation temperature, thermal losses, and required cryogenic power have been evaluated. A preliminary architecture of the cryogenic system including all its major components, as well as the principles for the cryogenic fluids distribution has been proposed. A detailed study on the reliability aspects has also been initiated. This study is based on the reliability of large cryogenic systems used for accelerators like HERA, LHC or SNS Linac. The requirements to guarantee good cryogenic system availability can be summarised as follows: 1) Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM) should be > 8 000 hours; 2) Valves, heat exchangers and turbines are particularly sensitive elements to impurities (dust, oil, gases), improvements are necessary to keep a minimal level in these components; 3) Redundancy studies for all elements containing moving/vibrating parts (turbines, compressors, including their respective bearings and seal shafts) are necessary; 4) Periodic maintenance is mandatory: oil checks, control of screw compressors every 10.000-15.000 hours, vibration surveillance programme, etc; 5) Special control and maintenance of utilities equipment (supply of cooling water, compressed air and electrical supply) is necessary; 6) Periodic vacuum checks to identify leakage appearance such as insulation vacuum of transfer lines and distribution boxes are necessary; 7) Easily exchangeable cold compressors are required

The reliability and validity of a soccer-specific nonmotorised treadmill simulation (intermittent soccer performance test).

Science.gov (United States)

Aldous, Jeffrey W F; Akubat, Ibrahim; Chrismas, Bryna C R; Watkins, Samuel L; Mauger, Alexis R; Midgley, Adrian W; Abt, Grant; Taylor, Lee

2014-07-01

This study investigated the reliability and validity of a novel nonmotorised treadmill (NMT)-based soccer simulation using a novel activity category called a "variable run" to quantify fatigue during high-speed running. Twelve male University soccer players completed 3 familiarization sessions and 1 peak speed assessment before completing the intermittent soccer performance test (iSPT) twice. The 2 iSPTs were separated by 6-10 days. The total distance, sprint distance, and high-speed running distance (HSD) were 8,968 ± 430 m, 980 ± 75 m and 2,122 ± 140 m, respectively. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was found between repeated trials of the iSPT for all physiological and performance variables. Reliability measures between iSPT1 and iSPT2 showed good agreement (coefficient of variation: 0.80). Furthermore, the variable run phase showed HSD significantly decreased (p ≤ 0.05) in the last 15 minutes (89 ± 6 m) compared with the first 15 minutes (85 ± 7 m), quantifying decrements in high-speed exercise compared with the previous literature. This study validates the iSPT as a NMT-based soccer simulation compared with the previous match-play data and is a reliable tool for assessing and monitoring physiological and performance variables in soccer players. The iSPT could be used in a number of ways including player rehabilitation, understanding the efficacy of nutritional interventions, and also the quantification of environmentally mediated decrements on soccer-specific performance.

The Reliability, Validity, and Evaluation of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination in Podiatry (Chiropody).

Science.gov (United States)

Woodburn, Jim; Sutcliffe, Nick

1996-01-01

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), initially developed for undergraduate medical education, has been adapted for assessment of clinical skills in podiatry students. A 12-month pilot study found the test had relatively low levels of reliability, high construct and criterion validity, and good stability of performance over time.…

Stress level and academic performance of university students in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study examined the relationship between level of stress and students' academic performance in Universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Proportional stratified random sampling was used to select 300 students for the study. A “Students' Stress Level Questionnaire ...

Factors affecting the performance of undergraduate medical students: A perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ananya Mandal

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Context: Performance of medical students in developing nations like India is perceived to have largely declined. Aims: We attempted to assess the reasons behind such trends. Settings and Design: Students in their third year of medical study were given a predesigned, pretested structured and validated questionnaire that they filled in anonymously. The key areas assessed were concentration, interest and understanding of the subject and other perceived causes of poor performance. Tests for descriptive statistics were applied for evaluation. Results and Conclusions: One hundred and fifty students participated in the study. Fifty-five (36.66% students performed poorly. Male gender, inability to clear the previous professional examination at the first attempt, difficulty in understanding medium of instruction, self-assessed depression, sleep disorders and perceived parental and peer pressure and dissatisfaction with career choice were significantly linked with poor performance (P<0.05 for each factor. Socioeconomic status and regularity in class were not linked to academic performance.

The Australian Medical Schools Assessment Collaboration: benchmarking the preclinical performance of medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Mara, Deborah A; Canny, Ben J; Rothnie, Imogene P; Wilson, Ian G; Barnard, John; Davies, Llewelyn

2015-02-02

To report the level of participation of medical schools in the Australian Medical Schools Assessment Collaboration (AMSAC); and to measure differences in student performance related to medical school characteristics and implementation methods. Retrospective analysis of data using the Rasch statistical model to correct for missing data and variability in item difficulty. Linear model analysis of variance was used to assess differences in student performance. 6401 preclinical students from 13 medical schools that participated in AMSAC from 2011 to 2013. Rasch estimates of preclinical basic and clinical science knowledge. Representation of Australian medical schools and students in AMSAC more than doubled between 2009 and 2013. In 2013 it included 12 of 19 medical schools and 68% of medical students. Graduate-entry students scored higher than students entering straight from school. Students at large schools scored higher than students at small schools. Although the significance level was high (P performance. The effect on performance of multiple assessments compared with the test items as part of a single end-of-year examination was negligible. The variables investigated explain only 12% of the total variation in student performance. An increasing number of medical schools are participating in AMSAC to monitor student performance in preclinical sciences against an external benchmark. Medical school characteristics account for only a small part of overall variation in student performance. Student performance was not affected by the different methods of administering test items.

Human reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Embrey, D.E.

1987-01-01

Concepts and techniques of human reliability have been developed and are used mostly in probabilistic risk assessment. For this, the major application of human reliability assessment has been to identify the human errors which have a significant effect on the overall safety of the system and to quantify the probability of their occurrence. Some of the major issues within human reliability studies are reviewed and it is shown how these are applied to the assessment of human failures in systems. This is done under the following headings; models of human performance used in human reliability assessment, the nature of human error, classification of errors in man-machine systems, practical aspects, human reliability modelling in complex situations, quantification and examination of human reliability, judgement based approaches, holistic techniques and decision analytic approaches. (UK)

Measuring functional, interactive and critical health literacy of Chinese secondary school students: reliable, valid and feasible?

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Shuaijun; Davis, Elise; Yu, Xiaoming; Naccarella, Lucio; Armstrong, Rebecca; Abel, Thomas; Browne, Geoffrey; Shi, Yanqin

2018-04-01

Health literacy is an increasingly important topic in the global context. In mainland China, health literacy measures mainly focus on health knowledge and practices or on the functional domain for adolescents. However, little is known about interactive and critical domains. This study aimed to adopt a skills-based and three-domain (functional, interactive and critical) instrument to measure health literacy in Chinese adolescents and to examine the status and determinants of each domain. Using a systematic review, the eight-item Health Literacy Assessment Tool (HLAT-8) was selected and translated from English to Chinese (c-HLAT-8). Following the translation process, a cross-sectional study was conducted in four secondary schools in Beijing, China. A total of 650 students in Years 7-9 were recruited to complete a self-administered questionnaire that assessed socio-demographics, self-efficacy, social support, school environment, community environment and health literacy. Results showed that the c-HLAT-8 had satisfactory reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.79; intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.72) and strong validity (translation validity index (TVI) ≥0.95; χ 2 / df = 3.388, p students had an average score of 26.37 (±5.89) for the c-HLAT-8. When the determinants of each domain of health literacy were examined, social support was the strongest predictor of interactive and critical health literacy. On the contrary, self-efficacy and school environment played more dominant roles in predicting functional health literacy. The c-HLAT-8 was demonstrated to be a reliable, valid and feasible instrument for measuring functional, interactive and critical health literacy among Chinese students. The current findings indicate that increasing self-efficacy, social support and creating supportive environments are important for promoting health literacy in secondary school settings in China.

Medical student case presentation performance and perception when using mobile learning technology in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Tews, Matthew; Brennan, Kimberly; Begaz, Tomer; Treat, Robert

2011-01-01

Hand-held mobile learning technology provides opportunities for clinically relevant self-instructional modules to augment traditional bedside teaching. Using this technology as a teaching tool has not been well studied. We sought to evaluate medical students' case presentation performance and perception when viewing short, just-in-time mobile learning videos using the iPod touch prior to patient encounters. Twenty-two fourth-year medical students were randomized to receive or not to receive instruction by video, using the iPod Touch, prior to patient encounters. After seeing a patient, they presented the case to their faculty, who completed a standard data collection sheet. Students were surveyed on their perceived confidence and effectiveness after using these videos. Twenty-two students completed a total of 67 patient encounters. There was a statistically significant improvement in presentations when the videos were viewed for the first time (p=0.032). There was no difference when the presentations were summed for the entire rotation (p=0.671). The reliable (alpha=0.97) survey indicated that the videos were a useful teaching tool and gave students more confidence in their presentations. Medical student patient presentations were improved with the use of mobile instructional videos following first time use, suggesting mobile learning videos may be useful in medical student education. Clinical educators should consider whether, in an instance where live bedside or direct interactive teaching is unavailable, using just-in-time educational videos on a handheld device might be useful as a supplemental instructional strategy.

Online learning in speech and language therapy: Student performance and attitudes.

Science.gov (United States)

Upton, Dominic

2006-03-01

Behavioural studies form an essential component of the Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) undergraduate degree. This study aimed to produce online teaching material in behavioural studies suitable for undergraduate SLT students, explore students' views on the online material, record their performance when taught through this innovative method and compare their performance to a group taught through the traditional lecture based method. Finally, it aimed to explore the relationship between engagement with the module and performance. SLT students completed an online health psychology/sociology module and their performance was compared to students who completed a traditional lecture based course. Student evaluations of the online course were also recorded as was their engagement with the online module. Results suggested that there was no significant difference between students taught through an online medium compared to those taught through "traditional lectures". An evaluation survey suggested that students appeared to enjoy the material although there was some reluctance to develop an independent learning style. Online learning has a great deal to offer SLT education. However, material has to be developed that can both engage and motivate learners, thereby enhancing student independent learning.

Microgrid Design Analysis Using Technology Management Optimization and the Performance Reliability Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stamp, Jason E. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Eddy, John P. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Jensen, Richard P. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Munoz-Ramos, Karina [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-01-01

Microgrids are a focus of localized energy production that support resiliency, security, local con- trol, and increased access to renewable resources (among other potential benefits). The Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) Joint Capa- bility Technology Demonstration (JCTD) program between the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) resulted in the pre- liminary design and deployment of three microgrids at military installations. This paper is focused on the analysis process and supporting software used to determine optimal designs for energy surety microgrids (ESMs) in the SPIDERS project. There are two key pieces of software, an ex- isting software application developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) called Technology Management Optimization (TMO) and a new simulation developed for SPIDERS called the per- formance reliability model (PRM). TMO is a decision support tool that performs multi-objective optimization over a mixed discrete/continuous search space for which the performance measures are unrestricted in form. The PRM is able to statistically quantify the performance and reliability of a microgrid operating in islanded mode (disconnected from any utility power source). Together, these two software applications were used as part of the ESM process to generate the preliminary designs presented by SNL-led DOE team to the DOD. Acknowledgements Sandia National Laboratories and the SPIDERS technical team would like to acknowledge the following for help in the project: * Mike Hightower, who has been the key driving force for Energy Surety Microgrids * Juan Torres and Abbas Akhil, who developed the concept of microgrids for military instal- lations * Merrill Smith, U.S. Department of Energy SPIDERS Program Manager * Ross Roley and Rich Trundy from U.S. Pacific Command * Bill Waugaman and Bill Beary from U.S. Northern Command * Tarek Abdallah, Melanie

Student Cyberloafing In and Out of the Classroom in China and the Relationship with Student Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jinnan; Mei, Wenjuan; Ugrin, Joseph C

2018-03-01

This study investigates the in-class and out-of-class cyberloafing activities of students in China, and tests the relationship between those activities and academic performance. A sample of 1,050 undergraduate students at a large University in China reported their in-class (N = 548) and out-of-class (N = 502) cyberloafing activities, which were tested against the students' academic performance. The test results show a negative relationship between in-class cyberloafing and academic performance, but an inverted U-shaped relationship between out-of-class cyberloafing and academic performance. The results support our propositions that cyberloafing is a harmful distraction in the classroom, but can have positive effects when performed in moderation outside the classroom as a means of effort recovery.

Performance and Reliability of Bonded Interfaces for High-Temperature Packaging (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Devoto, D.

2014-11-01

The thermal performance and reliability of sintered-silver is being evaluated for power electronics packaging applications. This will be experimentally accomplished by the synthesis of large-area bonded interfaces between metalized substrates that will be subsequently subjected to thermal cycles. A finite element model of crack initiation and propagation in these bonded interfaces will allow for the interpretation of degradation rates by a crack-velocity (V)-stress intensity factor (K) analysis. The experiment is outlined, and the modeling approach is discussed.

SU-F-E-01: Pitfalls: Reliability and Performance of Diagnostic X-Sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Behling, R [Philips Medical Systems DMC GmbHHamburg (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Performance and reliability of medical X-ray tubes for imaging are crucial from an ethical, clinical and economic perspective. This lecture will deliver insight into the aspects to consider during the decision making process to invest in X-ray imaging equipment. Outdated metric still hampers realistic product comparison. It is time to change this and to comply with latest standards, which consider current technology. Failure modes and ways to avoid down-time of the equipment shall be discussed. In view of the increasing number of interventional procedures and the hazards associated with ionizing radiation, toxic contrast agents, and the combination thereof, the aspect of system reliability is of paramount importance. Methods: A comprehensive picture of trends for different modalities (CT, angiography, general radiology) has been drawn and led to the development of novel X-ray tube technology. Results: Recent X-ray tubes feature enhanced reliability and unprecedented performance. Relevant metrics for product comparison still have to be implemented in practice. Conclusion: The speed of scientific and industrial development of new diagnostic and therapeutic X-ray sources remains tremendous. Still, users suffer from gaps between desire and reality in day-to-day diagnostic routine. X-ray sources are still limiting cutting-edge medical procedures. Side-effects of wear and tear, limitations of the clinical work flow, costs, the characteristics of the X-ray spectrum and others topics need to be further addressed. New applications and modalities, like detection-based color-resolved X-ray and phase-contrast / dark-field imaging will impact the course of new developments of X-ray sources. The author is employee of Royal Philips.

SU-F-E-01: Pitfalls: Reliability and Performance of Diagnostic X-Sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Behling, R

2016-01-01

Purpose: Performance and reliability of medical X-ray tubes for imaging are crucial from an ethical, clinical and economic perspective. This lecture will deliver insight into the aspects to consider during the decision making process to invest in X-ray imaging equipment. Outdated metric still hampers realistic product comparison. It is time to change this and to comply with latest standards, which consider current technology. Failure modes and ways to avoid down-time of the equipment shall be discussed. In view of the increasing number of interventional procedures and the hazards associated with ionizing radiation, toxic contrast agents, and the combination thereof, the aspect of system reliability is of paramount importance. Methods: A comprehensive picture of trends for different modalities (CT, angiography, general radiology) has been drawn and led to the development of novel X-ray tube technology. Results: Recent X-ray tubes feature enhanced reliability and unprecedented performance. Relevant metrics for product comparison still have to be implemented in practice. Conclusion: The speed of scientific and industrial development of new diagnostic and therapeutic X-ray sources remains tremendous. Still, users suffer from gaps between desire and reality in day-to-day diagnostic routine. X-ray sources are still limiting cutting-edge medical procedures. Side-effects of wear and tear, limitations of the clinical work flow, costs, the characteristics of the X-ray spectrum and others topics need to be further addressed. New applications and modalities, like detection-based color-resolved X-ray and phase-contrast / dark-field imaging will impact the course of new developments of X-ray sources. The author is employee of Royal Philips

The Psychometric Characteristics of Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey: A Study Students of Isfahan University

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zeinab Rostami

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Background: In order to fill the gap of tool for measurement of student burnout in Iran, this study was performed on the 238 female students of Isfahan university that were selected by simple random sampling. Materials and Methods: The inventory is including 15 items and three subscales. Data were presented by analytical and descriptive statistic and draw table. In order to determine reliability of MBI-SS were used internal consistency method and test-retest. Results: Coefficient Cronbach's alpha for the exhaustion, cynicism and academic efficacy respectively was 88, 90, 84 (p<0.05 and showed good internal consistency. Also test-retest reliability about 4 weeks later, obtaining a reliability coefficient of 89, 84 and 67 (p<0.01 respectively for exhaustion, cynicism and academic efficacy. Principle component factor analysis with exploration method with warimax rotation was used to determine construct validity. In order to check the concurrent validity and divergent validity of this inventory were used respectively from the University Student Depression Inventory and the researcher made of scale interest to academic filed and coefficients for the exhaustion, cynicism and academic efficacy respectively were obtained -21, -53, -32 (p<0.01. Also concurrent validity for exhaustion, cynicism and academic efficacy respectively were obtained 74, 68 and 50 (p<0.01. Conclusion: This finding was that the Maslach burnout inventory-student survey is a valid and reliable instrument to measure academic burnout girls.

Students' Academic Performance: Academic Effort Is an Intervening ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... Students' Academic Performance: Academic Effort Is an Intervening Variable ... This study was designed to seek explanations for differences in academic performance among junior ...

Analyzing Reliability and Performance Trade-Offs of HLS-Based Designs in SRAM-Based FPGAs Under Soft Errors

Science.gov (United States)

Tambara, Lucas Antunes; Tonfat, Jorge; Santos, André; Kastensmidt, Fernanda Lima; Medina, Nilberto H.; Added, Nemitala; Aguiar, Vitor A. P.; Aguirre, Fernando; Silveira, Marcilei A. G.

2017-02-01

The increasing system complexity of FPGA-based hardware designs and shortening of time-to-market have motivated the adoption of new designing methodologies focused on addressing the current need for high-performance circuits. High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools can generate Register Transfer Level (RTL) designs from high-level software programming languages. These tools have evolved significantly in recent years, providing optimized RTL designs, which can serve the needs of safety-critical applications that require both high performance and high reliability levels. However, a reliability evaluation of HLS-based designs under soft errors has not yet been presented. In this work, the trade-offs of different HLS-based designs in terms of reliability, resource utilization, and performance are investigated by analyzing their behavior under soft errors and comparing them to a standard processor-based implementation in an SRAM-based FPGA. Results obtained from fault injection campaigns and radiation experiments show that it is possible to increase the performance of a processor-based system up to 5,000 times by changing its architecture with a small impact in the cross section (increasing up to 8 times), and still increasing the Mean Workload Between Failures (MWBF) of the system.

The role of critical thinking skills and learning styles of university students in their academic performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZOHRE GHAZIVAKILI

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The current world needs people who have a lot of different abilities such as cognition and application of different ways of thinking, research, problem solving, critical thinking skills and creativity. In addition to critical thinking, learning styles is another key factor which has an essential role in the process of problem solving. This study aimed to determine the relationship between learning styles and critical thinking of students and their academic performance in Alborz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This cross-correlation study was performed in 2012, on 216 students of Alborz University who were selected randomly by the stratified method. The data was obtained via a three-part questionnaire included demographic data, Kolb standardized questionnaire of learning style and California critical thinking standardized questionnaire. The academic performance of the students was extracted by the school records. The validity of the instruments was determined in terms of content validity, and the reliability was gained through internal consistency methods. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.78 for the California critical thinking questionnaire. The Chi Square test, Independent T-test, one way ANOVA and Pearson Correlation test were used to determine relationship between variables. The Package SPSS14 statistical software was used to analyze data with a significant level of p<0.05. Results: Our findings indicated the significant difference of mean score in four learning style, suggesting university students with convergent learning style have better performance than other groups. Also learning style had a relationship with age, gender, field of study, semester and job. The results about the critical thinking of the students showed that the mean of deductive reasoning and evaluation skills were higher than that of other skills and analytical skills had the lowest mean and there was a positive significant

Neurotological symptoms and academic performance of university students.

Science.gov (United States)

Marques, Marcia Mattos; Ganança, Mauricio Malavasi; Marques, Carolina Mattos; Ganança, Fernando Freitas; Caovilla, Heloisa Helena

2010-02-01

To compare the academic performance of university students with or without neurotological symptoms. 100 students enrolled in the Biomedical Sciences Graduate School - Medical Modality of UNIFESP-EPM in 2007 and answered a neurotological screening questionnaire. The symptoms presented once, sometimes, many times or always, in a decreasing order of prevalence, were headache (74.0%), difficulty with concentration (57.0%), lack of memory (45.0%), physical indisposition, nausea /dizziness when in moving vehicle (37.0%), fainting (27.0%), nausea (26.0%), sensation of fullness in the ear (26.0%), hypersensitivity to sounds (26.0%), tinnitus (22.0%), vertigo and other kinds of dizziness (21.0%), imbalance when walking (21.0%), difficulty in hearing (21.0%), imminent sensation of fainting (11.0%) and vomiting (8.0%), alone or in different associations; convulsion was not mentioned. The final academic performance score ranged from 5.1 to 10.0. University students with or without neurotological symptoms have manifested similar academic performance.

After-School Tutoring and the Distribution of Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Min-Hsiung

2013-01-01

As more primary and secondary students worldwide seek after-school tutoring in academic subjects, concerns are being raised about whether after-school tutoring can raise average test scores without widening the variability in student performance, and whether students of certain ability levels may benefit more than others from after-school…

Sleep disorder among medical students: relationship to their academic performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdulghani, Hamza M; Alrowais, Norah A; Bin-Saad, Norah S; Al-Subaie, Nourah M; Haji, Alhan M A; Alhaqwi, Ali I

2012-01-01

Medical students are exposed to a significant level of pressure due to academic demands. Their sleep pattern is characterized by insufficient sleep duration, delayed sleep onset, and occurrence of napping episodes during the day. To examine the prevalence of sleep disorder among medical students and investigate any relationship between sleep disorder and academic performance. This is a cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire-based study. The participants were medical students of the first, second, and third academic years. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was also included to identify sleep disorder and grade point average was recorded for academic performance. There were 491 responses with a response rate of 55%. The ESS score demonstrated that 36.6% of participants were considered to have abnormal sleep habits, with a statistically significant increase in female students (p = 0.000). Sleeping between 6-10 h per day was associated with normal ESS scores (p = 0.019) as well as the academic grades ≥ 3.75. Abnormal ESS scores were associated with lower academic achievement (p = 0.002). A high prevalence of sleep disorder was found in this group of students, specifically female students. Analysis of the relationship between sleep disorder and academic performance indicates a significant relationship between abnormal ESS scores, total sleeping hours, and academic performance.

Teacher performance goal practices and elementary students' behavioral engagement: a developmental perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Jan N; Wu, Wei; West, Stephen G

2011-02-01

We investigated growth trajectories for classroom performance goal practices and for student behavioral engagement across grades 2 to 5 for 497 academically at-risk elementary students. This study is the first longitudinal investigation of performance goal practices in the early elementary years. On average, teacher use of performance goal practices increased and students' behavioral engagement declined across the four years. Using autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) models, we examined the synchronous relations between teacher-reported performance goal practices and teacher-reported student behavioral engagement. As expected, as students move into classrooms with a new teacher with less emphasis on performance goal practices, they become more behaviorally engaged in school. Gender did not moderate these results. Implications for teacher professional development are discussed. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Reliability and validity of the test of incremental respiratory endurance measures of inspiratory muscle performance in COPD.

Science.gov (United States)

Formiga, Magno F; Roach, Kathryn E; Vital, Isabel; Urdaneta, Gisel; Balestrini, Kira; Calderon-Candelario, Rafael A; Campos, Michael A; Cahalin, Lawrence P

2018-01-01

The Test of Incremental Respiratory Endurance (TIRE) provides a comprehensive assessment of inspiratory muscle performance by measuring maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) over time. The integration of MIP over inspiratory duration (ID) provides the sustained maximal inspiratory pressure (SMIP). Evidence on the reliability and validity of these measurements in COPD is not currently available. Therefore, we assessed the reliability, responsiveness and construct validity of the TIRE measures of inspiratory muscle performance in subjects with COPD. Test-retest reliability, known-groups and convergent validity assessments were implemented simultaneously in 81 male subjects with mild to very severe COPD. TIRE measures were obtained using the portable PrO2 device, following standard guidelines. All TIRE measures were found to be highly reliable, with SMIP demonstrating the strongest test-retest reliability with a nearly perfect intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.99, while MIP and ID clustered closely together behind SMIP with ICC values of about 0.97. Our findings also demonstrated known-groups validity of all TIRE measures, with SMIP and ID yielding larger effect sizes when compared to MIP in distinguishing between subjects of different COPD status. Finally, our analyses confirmed convergent validity for both SMIP and ID, but not MIP. The TIRE measures of MIP, SMIP and ID have excellent test-retest reliability and demonstrated known-groups validity in subjects with COPD. SMIP and ID also demonstrated evidence of moderate convergent validity and appear to be more stable measures in this patient population than the traditional MIP.

Reliability Calculations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Kurt Erling

1986-01-01

Risk and reliability analysis is increasingly being used in evaluations of plant safety and plant reliability. The analysis can be performed either during the design process or during the operation time, with the purpose to improve the safety or the reliability. Due to plant complexity and safety...... and availability requirements, sophisticated tools, which are flexible and efficient, are needed. Such tools have been developed in the last 20 years and they have to be continuously refined to meet the growing requirements. Two different areas of application were analysed. In structural reliability probabilistic...... approaches have been introduced in some cases for the calculation of the reliability of structures or components. A new computer program has been developed based upon numerical integration in several variables. In systems reliability Monte Carlo simulation programs are used especially in analysis of very...

Relationship Between Academic Performance and Student Self-Assessment of Clinical Performance in the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoho, Robert M; Vardaxis, Vassilios; Millonig, Kelsey

2016-05-01

Student self-assessment is viewed as an important tool in medical education. We sought to identify the relationship between student academic performance and third-year clinical performance self-assessment. No such study exists in podiatric medical education. Third-year podiatric medical students from the classes of 2012 through 2014 completed a self-assessment of their performance for each of five broad clinical podiatric medical domains (Professionalism, Medicine, Radiology, Surgery, and Biomechanics/Orthopedics). The assessment was completed after students finished the first 12 weeks of their third-year clinical rotations (PRE) and a second time at the conclusion of the third year (POST). The mean self-assessment score for PRE and POST surveys for all combined domains was determined for each student. This mean was compared with the student's 3-year cumulative grade point average (GPA). Students' clinical experiences for the year were essentially identical. No statistically significant correlation was identified between cumulative GPA and the PRE and POST clinical self-assessments or with the change between PRE and POST assessments based on the Pearson correlation test for each class separately or on the pooled data. Published studies in allopathic medical education have shown that students with lower GPAs tend to rate their clinical performance higher in initial clinical performance self-assessment. Our results show that student academic performance was not correlated with clinical performance self-assessment. These findings may be due to the explicit description of successful clinical competency completion, the orientation students receive before the start of clinical training, and the continuous feedback received from clinical preceptors.

A Rubric for Evaluating Student Analyses of Business Cases

Science.gov (United States)

Riddle, Emma Jane; Smith, Marilyn; Frankforter, Steven A.

2016-01-01

This article presents a rubric for evaluating student performance on written case assignments that require qualitative analysis. This rubric is designed for three purposes. First, it informs students of the criteria on which their work will be evaluated. Second, it provides instructors with a reliable instrument for accurately measuring and…

The relationship between sleep habits and academic performance in dental students in Croatia.

Science.gov (United States)

Valic, M; Pecotic, R; Lusic, L; Peros, K; Pribudic, Z; Dogas, Z

2014-11-01

It is well accepted that sleep and lifestyle habits affect academic success in students. However, sleep patterns and sleep problems amongst dental students have been insufficiently addressed in the literature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate sleep habits of dental students and the relationship between sleep habits and academic performance. A self-administered questionnaire on sleep habits, academic performance and lifestyle was administered. The participants were 447 dental students from Split University Dental Medicine School and Zagreb University Dental Medicine School from the six academic years. The subjects were classified into two groups based on academic success (high-performing vs. low-performing students) for comparison of sleep and lifestyle habits. Amongst the whole group of students, average bedtime and wake time during weekday was significantly earlier compared with weekend. Main findings indicate that students with high academic performance had earlier bedtimes during weekdays and weekends, earlier wake times during weekends and shorter sleep latency compared with low academic performing students. Self-reported academic performance of dental students in Croatia is associated with timing of sleep and wakefulness, rather than with total sleep time duration. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Communicating Learning Outcomes and Student Performance through the Student Transcript

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, George; Barnes, Cynthia

2010-01-01

The university accreditation process now puts more emphasis on self assessment. This change requires universities to identify program objectives, performance indicators, and areas for improvement. Many accrediting institutions are requiring that institutions communicate clearly to constituents: 1) what learning outcomes were achieved by students,…

Balance Assessment in Sports-Related Concussion: Evaluating Test-Retest Reliability of the Equilibrate System.

Science.gov (United States)

Odom, Mitchell J; Lee, Young M; Zuckerman, Scott L; Apple, Rachel P; Germanos, Theodore; Solomon, Gary S; Sills, Allen K

2016-01-01

This study evaluated the test-retest reliability of a novel computer-based, portable balance assessment tool, the Equilibrate System (ES), used to diagnose sports-related concussion. Twenty-seven students participated in ES testing consisting of three sessions over 4 weeks. The modified Balance Error Scoring System was performed. For each participant, test-retest reliability was established using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The ES test-retest reliability from baseline to week 2 produced an ICC value of 0.495 (95% CI, 0.123-0.745). Week 2 testing produced ICC values of 0.602 (95% CI, 0.279-0.803) and 0.610 (95% CI, 0.299-0.804), respectively. All other single measures test-retest reliability values produced poor ICC values. Same-day ES testing showed fair to good test-retest reliability while interweek measures displayed poor to fair test-retest reliability. Testing conditions should be controlled when using computerized balance assessment methods. ES testing should only be used as a part of a comprehensive assessment.

Investigating the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students.

Science.gov (United States)

Soleymani, Mohammad Reza

2014-01-01

Nowadays, no student can ever pursue the ends of his studies unless he makes use of his information literacy skills. To become lifelong learners, they do need these skills. Information literacy is a set of information needed for searching, retrieval, evaluating, and making best use of information. This study uncovers the relationship between information literacy and academic performance among students at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. This is a practical study using a survey method. All MA students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences make the statistical population for this study, according to the sample size determined by using Cochran formula 265 samples that were selected by stratified random sampling. Data collection was through information literacy questionnaires designed by Davarpanah and Siamak, verified by Library and Information Sciences experts; and finally, gave a Cronbach's alpha of 0.83. To determine academic performance, the average scores of the students in previous semesters were considered. The information literacy of all other students was significantly higher than medium except for students at Nursing and Nutrition faculties. The students of Management and Information Sciences faculty had the highest level of information literacy and students of nutrition faculty were attributed with the least level. There was no significant difference between male and female students' information literacy. We also found out that there was a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students' academic performance in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Information literacy is one of the most important factors that leads to educational success. As there is a significant positive relationship between information literacy and students' academic performance, we should necessarily provide them with relative skills dealing with information literacy to improve their academic performance.

What effects do student jobs have on the study performance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This research examines the effects student jobs have on the study performance, and the competency and career development of hospitality management students. A 13-item survey was administered to a sample of 82 hospitality management students to see how they think about their student job. Qualitative data was ...

Student Engagement and Academic Performance in the Colombian University Context.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pineda-Báez, Clelia

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Despite the increase in Latin America of Higher Education coverage, grave dropout problems persist that question the role of educational experiences to foster students’ academic engagement. This study was carried out in Colombia and sought to establish the relationship between the five benchmarks that compose academic engagement and the academic performance of a group of Colombian university students. The transversal and correlational study used the Spanish version of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE that measures students’ level of participation in five dimensions: Academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, and supportive campus environment and its relationship to academic performance. The findings of 1906 students from 7 universities indicate that there are statistically significant, but weak correlations between the items that compose the benchmarks and students’ academic performance, which lead to reflect upon key aspects to strengthen the education experiences offered to university students.

Stochastic reliability and maintenance modeling essays in honor of Professor Shunji Osaki on his 70th birthday

CERN Document Server

Nakagawa, Toshio

2013-01-01

In honor of the work of Professor Shunji Osaki, Stochastic Reliability and Maintenance Modeling provides a comprehensive study of the legacy of and ongoing research in stochastic reliability and maintenance modeling. Including associated application areas such as dependable computing, performance evaluation, software engineering, communication engineering, distinguished researchers review and build on the contributions over the last four decades by Professor Shunji Osaki. Fundamental yet significant research results are presented and discussed clearly alongside new ideas and topics on stochastic reliability and maintenance modeling to inspire future research. Across 15 chapters readers gain the knowledge and understanding to apply reliability and maintenance theory to computer and communication systems. Stochastic Reliability and Maintenance Modeling is ideal for graduate students and researchers in reliability engineering, and workers, managers and engineers engaged in computer, maintenance and management wo...

Student mathematical imagination instruments: construction, cultural adaptation and validity

Science.gov (United States)

Dwijayanti, I.; Budayasa, I. K.; Siswono, T. Y. E.

2018-03-01

Imagination has an important role as the center of sensorimotor activity of the students. The purpose of this research is to construct the instrument of students’ mathematical imagination in understanding concept of algebraic expression. The researcher performs validity using questionnaire and test technique and data analysis using descriptive method. Stages performed include: 1) the construction of the embodiment of the imagination; 2) determine the learning style questionnaire; 3) construct instruments; 4) translate to Indonesian as well as adaptation of learning style questionnaire content to student culture; 5) perform content validation. The results stated that the constructed instrument is valid by content validation and empirical validation so that it can be used with revisions. Content validation involves Indonesian linguists, english linguists and mathematics material experts. Empirical validation is done through a legibility test (10 students) and shows that in general the language used can be understood. In addition, a questionnaire test (86 students) was analyzed using a biserial point correlation technique resulting in 16 valid items with a reliability test using KR 20 with medium reability criteria. While the test instrument test (32 students) to find all items are valid and reliability test using KR 21 with reability is 0,62.

An integrated methodology for the dynamic performance and reliability evaluation of fault-tolerant systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dominguez-Garcia, Alejandro D.; Kassakian, John G.; Schindall, Joel E.; Zinchuk, Jeffrey J.

2008-01-01

We propose an integrated methodology for the reliability and dynamic performance analysis of fault-tolerant systems. This methodology uses a behavioral model of the system dynamics, similar to the ones used by control engineers to design the control system, but also incorporates artifacts to model the failure behavior of each component. These artifacts include component failure modes (and associated failure rates) and how those failure modes affect the dynamic behavior of the component. The methodology bases the system evaluation on the analysis of the dynamics of the different configurations the system can reach after component failures occur. For each of the possible system configurations, a performance evaluation of its dynamic behavior is carried out to check whether its properties, e.g., accuracy, overshoot, or settling time, which are called performance metrics, meet system requirements. Markov chains are used to model the stochastic process associated with the different configurations that a system can adopt when failures occur. This methodology not only enables an integrated framework for evaluating dynamic performance and reliability of fault-tolerant systems, but also enables a method for guiding the system design process, and further optimization. To illustrate the methodology, we present a case-study of a lateral-directional flight control system for a fighter aircraft

Predictors of Academic Performance among Indian Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ganguly, Sohinee; Kulkarni, Mrinmoyi; Gupta, Meenakshi

2017-01-01

There are two dominant strains in the literature on academic performance, the attribution studies and the self-efficacy studies. The present study attempted to incorporate these two strains while examining the academic performance of engineering undergraduate students in India. Time management and perceived stress were included in the model to…

Measuring Student Performance in General Organic Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Ara C.; Ben-Daat, Hagit; Zhu, Mary; Atkinson, Robert; Barrows, Nathan; Gould, Ian R.

2015-01-01

Student performance in general organic chemistry courses is determined by a wide range of factors including cognitive ability, motivation and cultural capital. Previous work on cognitive factors has tended to focus on specific areas rather than exploring performance across all problem types and cognitive skills. In this study, we have categorized…

Approach to reliability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Green, A.E.; Bourne, A.J.

1975-01-01

Experience has shown that reliability assessments can play an important role in the early design and subsequent operation of technological systems where reliability is at a premium. The approaches to and techniques for such assessments, which have been outlined in the paper, have been successfully applied in variety of applications ranging from individual equipments to large and complex systems. The general approach involves the logical and systematic establishment of the purpose, performance requirements and reliability criteria of systems. This is followed by an appraisal of likely system achievment based on the understanding of different types of variational behavior. A fundamental reliability model emerges from the correlation between the appropriate Q and H functions for performance requirement and achievement. This model may cover the complete spectrum of performance behavior in all the system dimensions

Factors affecting the academic performance of optometry students in Mozambique.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Kajal; Naidoo, Kovin; Bilotto, Luigi; Loughman, James

2015-06-01

The Mozambique Eyecare Project is a higher education partnership for the development, implementation, and evaluation of a model of optometry training at UniLúrio in Mozambique. There are many composite elements to the development of sustainable eye health structures, and appropriate education for eye health workers remains a key determinant of successful eye care development. However, from the first intake of 16 students, only 9 students graduated from the program, whereas only 6 graduated from the second intake of 24 students. This low graduation rate is attributable to a combination of substandard academic performance and student dropout. The aim of this article was to identify factors affecting the academic performance of optometry students in Mozambique. Nine lecturers (the entire faculty) and 15 students (9 from the first intake and 6 from the second) were recruited to the study. Clinical competency assessments were carried out on the students, semistructured individual interviews were conducted with the course lecturers, and a course evaluation questionnaire was completed by students. The results were combined to understand the complexities surrounding the optometry student training and performance. One student out of nine from the first intake and three students out of six from the second were graded as competent in all the elements of the refraction clinical competency examination. Analysis of data from the interviews and questionnaire yielded four dominant themes that were viewed as important determinants of student refraction competencies: student learning context, teaching context, clinic conditions and assessment, and the existing operating health care context. The evaluations have helped the university and course partners to better structure the teaching and adapt the learning environments by recommending a preparatory year and a review of the curriculum and clinic structure, implementing more transparent entry requirements, increasing awareness of

Turkish version of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2: Validity and reliability among university students.

Science.gov (United States)

Bas, Murat; Karaca, Kezban Esen; Saglam, Duygu; Arıtıcı, Gozde; Cengiz, Ecem; Köksal, Selen; Buyukkaragoz, Aylin Hasbay

2017-07-01

Intuitive Eating is defined as "the dynamic process-integrating attunement of mind, body, and food". The purpose of this study was, therefore, adapt the IES-2 to the Turkish language and reliability and validity of IES-2 among Turkish populations. We also examined the instrument's internal consistency and test-retest reliability and analysed the relationships between the IES-2 and several variables so as to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity. Three hundred seventy-seven undergraduate and postgraduate women and men between the ages of 19-31 years (mean 22.3, SD = 3.53) attending two large private universities in Istanbul, Turkey. The best solution from the principal factors analysis of the 23 items of the IES-2 revealed four factors corresponding to the four subscales (F1: Eating for physical rather than emotional reasons; F2: Unconditional permission to eat; F3: Reliance on hunger and satiety cues; F4: Body-food choice congruence), as reported by the authors of the questionnaire. Bartlett's test of sphericity gave X 2  = 9043.49 (p Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index was 0.87 (KMO were 0.89 for women and 0.83 for men). The test-retest reliability of the IES-2 was 0.88 for the IES-2 total score. The IES-2 had a = 0.82. These findings support the notion that intuitive eating is a viable concept for university students and the IES can be used to examine adaptive eating behaviors in this population. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Academic Entitlement and Academic Performance in Graduating Pharmacy Students

OpenAIRE

Jeffres, Meghan N.; Barclay, Sean M.; Stolte, Scott K.

2014-01-01

Objectives. To determine a measurable definition of academic entitlement, measure academic entitlement in graduating doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students, and compare the academic performance between students identified as more or less academically entitled.

SELF-ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS PERFORMANCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prof. dr.sc. Mirna Andrijašević

2009-11-01

Full Text Available Students spend a larger portion of your time in studying and preparing for the- ir future profession and occupation. Since professional status and influence will be on all other aspects of their lives (financial status, social status, choice of friends, etc.. Is extremely important that students during the study to be aware of the importance of the- ir profession, because it will help them to successfully end the study commenced. The differences in performance are linked with the fundamental human characteristics such as abilities, skills, knowledge, motivation, etc. Given the Bologna process, the socio-eco- nomic conditions markedly that students do not have clear knowledge about their futu- re profession. For this reason, we have conducted research with the aim to investigate whether there is a difference in self-performance among students of social science and bio-tehnical area of science. The study also participated students of Kinesiology and Agriculture faculty at the University of Zagreb, who are representatives of the mentio- ned areas of science. Surveyed the 374 students (46.25% female student. Applied the anonymous questionnaire of 12 statements that students are assessed on the scale of 1 to 5, where 1 indicates “completely false “ 5 “completely true “. The results showed that the surveyed students differ in assessing the performance of self-efficacy to gender and the area of science. Pearson χ2 analysis showed statisti- cally significant difference in the variables applied given the gender and faculty

Application of objective clinical human reliability analysis (OCHRA) in assessment of technical performance in laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, J D; Miskovic, D; Allison, A S; Conti, J A; Ockrim, J; Cooper, E J; Hanna, G B; Francis, N K

2016-06-01

Laparoscopic rectal resection is technically challenging, with outcomes dependent upon technical performance. No robust objective assessment tool exists for laparoscopic rectal resection surgery. This study aimed to investigate the application of the objective clinical human reliability analysis (OCHRA) technique for assessing technical performance of laparoscopic rectal surgery and explore the validity and reliability of this technique. Laparoscopic rectal cancer resection operations were described in the format of a hierarchical task analysis. Potential technical errors were defined. The OCHRA technique was used to identify technical errors enacted in videos of twenty consecutive laparoscopic rectal cancer resection operations from a single site. The procedural task, spatial location, and circumstances of all identified errors were logged. Clinical validity was assessed through correlation with clinical outcomes; reliability was assessed by test-retest. A total of 335 execution errors identified, with a median 15 per operation. More errors were observed during pelvic tasks compared with abdominal tasks (p technical performance of laparoscopic rectal surgery.

Parent Involvement and Student Performance: The Influence of School Context

Science.gov (United States)

McNeal, Ralph B., Jr.

2015-01-01

Researchers focusing on parent involvement continue to concentrate their efforts on the relationship between involvement and student performance in isolation of the school context in which involvement occurs. This research outlines an ecology of involvement and how this social context affects parent involvement and student performance. Relying on…

Attitude towards statistics and performance among post-graduate students

Science.gov (United States)

Rosli, Mira Khalisa; Maat, Siti Mistima

2017-05-01

For student to master Statistics is a necessity, especially for those post-graduates that are involved in the research field. The purpose of this research was to identify the attitude towards Statistics among the post-graduates and to determine the relationship between the attitude towards Statistics and post-graduates' of Faculty of Education, UKM, Bangi performance. 173 post-graduate students were chosen randomly to participate in the study. These students registered in Research Methodology II course that was introduced by faculty. A survey of attitude toward Statistics using 5-points Likert scale was used for data collection purposes. The instrument consists of four components such as affective, cognitive competency, value and difficulty. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 22 in producing the descriptive and inferential Statistics output. The result of this research showed that there is a medium and positive relation between attitude towards statistics and students' performance. As a conclusion, educators need to access students' attitude towards the course to accomplish the learning outcomes.

Monitoring student attendance, participation, and performance improvement: an instrument and forms.

Science.gov (United States)

Kosta, Joanne

2012-01-01

When students receive consistent and fair feedback about their behavior, program liability decreases. To help students to have a clearer understanding of minimum program standards and the consequences of substandard performance, the author developed attendance and participation monitoring and performance improvement instruments. The author discusses the tools that address absenteeism, tardiness, unprofessional, and unsafe clinical behaviors among students.

Assessing the psychometric questioner for students rating teachers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Razaghi Reza Sharif

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Educational institutions use different ways to evaluate their teachers. Asking students to rate their teachers is common practice. The purpose of this research was to examine the reliability of the instruments used to evaluate the instructors in a college of medicine. This cross-sectional descriptive research used questioners that evaluated instructors. The questioner was targeting different dimensions of instructors. Item analysis in addition to exploratory factor analysis was performed on 1040questioners answered by the students of the College of Medicine of Kashan University of Medical Sciences. SPSS software was used to perform the analysis. The psychometric properties of questionnaires including Cronbach alpha was determined. The result of exploratory factor analysis and item analysis indicated that three of the subscales of the questioner showed sufficient reliability to evaluate the instructors and two subscales needed further examination. This type of evaluations is necessary to ensure quality of instructors working in an institution as well as providing reliable feedback to the instructors. The result showed that while some subscales of the questioner seems to target the concept of interest; a re-evaluation of the instrument would be valuable to increase its reliability for the administrators in the colleges.

Equipment Reliability Program in NPP Krsko

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skaler, F.; Djetelic, N.

2006-01-01

Operation that is safe, reliable, effective and acceptable to public is the common message in a mission statement of commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs). To fulfill these goals, nuclear industry, among other areas, has to focus on: 1 Human Performance (HU) and 2 Equipment Reliability (EQ). The performance objective of HU is as follows: The behaviors of all personnel result in safe and reliable station operation. While unwanted human behaviors in operations mostly result directly in the event, the behavior flaws either in the area of maintenance or engineering usually cause decreased equipment reliability. Unsatisfied Human performance leads even the best designed power plants into significant operating events, which can be found as well-known examples in nuclear industry. Equipment reliability is today recognized as the key to success. While the human performance at most NPPs has been improving since the start of WANO / INPO / IAEA evaluations, the open energy market has forced the nuclear plants to reduce production costs and operate more reliably and effectively. The balance between these two (opposite) goals has made equipment reliability even more important for safe, reliable and efficient production. Insisting on on-line operation by ignoring some principles of safety could nowadays in a well-developed safety culture and human performance environment exceed the cost of electricity losses. In last decade the leading USA nuclear companies put a lot of effort to improve equipment reliability primarily based on INPO Equipment Reliability Program AP-913 at their NPP stations. The Equipment Reliability Program is the key program not only for safe and reliable operation, but also for the Life Cycle Management and Aging Management on the way to the nuclear power plant life extension. The purpose of Equipment Reliability process is to identify, organize, integrate and coordinate equipment reliability activities (preventive and predictive maintenance, maintenance

Impact of scaling on the performance and reliability degradation of metal-contacts in NEMS devices

KAUST Repository

Dadgour, Hamed F.; Hussain, Muhammad Mustafa; Cassell, Alan M.; Singh, Navab R.; Banerjee, Kaustav

2011-01-01

thoroughly investigated in the literature. Such a study is essential because metal contacts play a critical role in determining the overall performance and reliability of NEMS. Therefore, the comprehensive analytical study presented in this paper highlights

Computerised self-evaluation of performance in professional English

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Galina Kavaliauskienė

2014-10-01

raise a question of the reliability of the findings. The statistical computation of the reliability of the obtained responses will prove whether the data are reliable and may be extended beyond the studied samples.The hypothesis for the research: students’ performance might depend on their specialization. Practical implications. The respondents were asked to indicate the degree of difficulty in performing various online tasks on the Likert’s scale ranging from “very difficult” to “very easy”. The analysis of the responses by a means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS software proves that despite the limited number of the respondents, the results may be extended beyond the studied samples. It means that self-evaluation of computerized activities by students studying professional English is recommended at the university level.Originality/Value. The value of this study encompasses the statistical processing of the responses, which should prove whether the findings are reliable or not.Research type: research paper.

Free Improvisation and Performance Anxiety among Piano Students

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Robert

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of anxiety that students experienced according to whether their public performance consisted of a free improvisation or a repertory piece. The researcher had two objectives: (1) examine the relationship of students' levels of anxiety to free improvisation and repertory pieces during a…

Determinants of Students Academic Performance in Senior High ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A binary logit model is used to investigate the determinants of students' performance in the final high school examination. Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 1,129 final year students (614 boys and 515 girls) in ten senior high schools (SHSs) during the 2008/2009 academic year. Respondents were requested ...

An Agency Theory Perspective on Student Performance Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Michael E.; Zsidisin, George A.; Adams, Laural L.

2005-01-01

The emphasis in recent research on the responsibility of college and university business instructors to prepare students for future employment underscores a need to refine the evaluation of student performance. In this article, an agency theory framework is used to understand the trade-offs that may be involved in the selection of various…

Performance Anxiety at English PBL Groups Among Taiwanese Medical Students: A Preliminary Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng-Sheng Chen

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Students' performance anxiety can impact negatively on the effectiveness of medical education reform, including performance in problem-based learning (PBL and in using English in discussion. This study aimed to investigate the nature of performance anxiety among Taiwanese medical students in an English-language PBL group. Eighteen Taiwanese, one American and four Asian medical students who were attending an international PBL workshop were enrolled. A questionnaire seeking demographic data and experience in use of PBL and eight questions evaluating performance anxiety were administered. The performance anxiety of Taiwanese medical students was compared to that of the Asians and the one American. Frequencies of each performance anxiety were calculated. The results suggested that the Taiwanese students showed more anxiety than the one student from the United States, but less than other Asian students. The acts of giving a report, being the center of attention, and talking in the PBL group were the most common situations related to anxiety in PBL groups. Using English and working in a new PBL environment are possible sources of anxiety. The presence of anxiety among the Taiwanese medical students in English PBL groups implies the necessity for developing an effective strategy to deal with students' performance anxiety.

Reliability and validity of match performance analysis in soccer : a multidimensional qualitative evaluation of opponent interaction

OpenAIRE

Tenga, Albin

2010-01-01

Avhandling (doktorgrad) – Norges idrettshøgskole, 2010. Match performance analysis is widely used as a method for studying technical, tactical and physical aspects of player and team performance in a soccer match. Therefore, ensuring the validity and reliability of the collected data is important for match performance analysis to meet its intents and purposes effectively. However, most studies on soccer match performance use unidimensional frequency data based on analyses done ...

Portuguese state university performance according to students: an efficiency analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emerson Wagner Mainardes

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research project is to evaluate the performance of Portuguese state universities in accordance with the expectations and satisfactions of their students and through recourse to the DEA methodology and thus representing one of the very few studies analysing university performance based upon student perceptions. According to an output oriented Variable Returns to Scale model, handling the responses returned by 1,669 students, the results demonstrate that faculties generally attain a good relationship between student expectations and their levels of satisfaction. We furthermore conclude that university scale does not guarantee efficiency. Hence, irrespective of size, universities are able to ensure the satisfaction of their students. Finally, the results show that satisfying only certain expectations related to specific aspects does not prove sufficient to guaranteeing overall student satisfaction. The analysis also correspondingly finds that while some decision making units prove efficient in satisfying expectations on specific aspects, they fail to attain such efficiency in the overall perspective of students.

Predictive validity of measurements of clinical competence using the team objective structured bedside assessment (TOSBA): assessing the clinical competence of final year medical students.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Meagher, Frances M

2009-11-01

The importance of valid and reliable assessment of student competence and performance is gaining increased recognition. Provision of valid patient-based formative assessment is an increasing challenge for clinical teachers in a busy hospital setting. A formative assessment tool that reliably predicts performance in the summative setting would be of value to both students and teachers.

Students academic performance based on behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Maulida, Juwita Dien; Kariyam

2017-12-01

Utilization of data in an information system that can be used for decision making that utilizes existing data warehouse to help dig useful information to make decisions correctly and accurately. Experience API (xAPI) is one of the enabling technologies for collecting data, so xAPI can be used as a data warehouse that can be used for various needs. One software application whose data is collected in xAPI is LMS. LMS is a software used in an electronic learning process that can handle all aspects of learning, by using LMS can also be known how the learning process and the aspects that can affect learning achievement. One of the aspects that can affect the learning achievement is the background of each student, which is not necessarily the student with a good background is an outstanding student or vice versa. Therefore, an action is needed to anticipate this problem. Prediction of student academic performance using Naive Bayes algorithm obtained accuracy of 67.7983% and error 32.2917%.

Teacher characteristics and student performance: An analysis using hierarchical linear modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Armstrong

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This research makes use of hierarchical linear modelling to investigate which teacher characteristics are significantly associated with student performance. Using data from the SACMEQ III study of 2007, an interesting and potentially important finding is that younger teachers are better able to improve the mean mathematics performance of their students. Furthermore, younger teachers themselves perform better on subject tests than do their older counterparts. Identical models are run for Sub Saharan countries bordering on South Africa, as well for Kenya and the strong relationship between teacher age and student performance is not observed. Similarly, the model is run for South Africa using data from SACMEQ II (conducted in 2002 and the relationship between teacher age and student performance is also not observed. It must be noted that South African teachers were not tested in SACMEQ II so it was not possible to observe differences in subject knowledge amongst teachers in different cohorts and it was not possible to control for teachers’ level of subject knowledge when observing the relationship between teacher age and student performance. Changes in teacher education in the late 1990s and early 2000s may explain the differences in the performance of younger teachers relative to their older counterparts observed in the later dataset.

Analysis Of Students' Performance In Clothing And Textiles In ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Analysis Of Students' Performance In Clothing And Textiles In Colleges Of ... in Clothing and Textiles more than foods and Nutrition and Home Management. ... poor attitude of students towards clothing and Textiles, lack of enough time ...

Class modality, student characteristics, and performance in a community college introductory STEM course

Science.gov (United States)

Fogle, Thomas Ty

Research on introductory STEM course performance has indicated that student characteristics (age, ethnicity and gender) and Grade Point Average (G.P.A.) can be predictive of student performance, and by implication, a correlation among these factors can help determine course design interventions to help certain types of students perform well in introductory STEM courses. The basis of this study was a community college Visual Basic programming course taught in both online and hybrid format. Beginning students in this course represented a diverse population residing in a large, mid-western, city and surrounding communities. Many of these students were defined as "at-Risk" or "non-traditional, which generally means any combination of socio-economic, cultural, family and employment factors that indicate a student is non-traditional. Research has shown these students struggle academically in technologically dense STEM courses, and may require student services and support to achieve their individual performance goals. The overall number in the study range was 392 distance students and 287 blended course students. The main question of this research was to determine to what extent student characteristics in a community college context, and previous success, as measured in overall G.P.A., were related to course performance in an introductory Visual Basic programming (STEM) course; and, whether or not a combination of these factors and course modality was predictive of success. The study employed a quantitative, quasi-experimental design to assess whether students' course performance was linked to course modality, student characteristics and overall G.P.A. The results indicated that the only predictor of student performance was overall G.P.A. Despite the research analyzed in Chapter 2, there was no statistically significant relationship to modality, age, ethnicity, or gender to performance in the course. Cognitive load is significant in a computer programming course and it

Influence of Strategies-Based Feedback in Students' Oral Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Sisquiarco, Angie; Rojas, Santiago Sánchez; Abad, José Vicente

2018-01-01

This article reports on an action research study that assessed the influence of cognitive and metacognitive strategies-based feedback in the oral performance of a group of 6th grade students at a public school in Medellin, Colombia. Researchers analyzed students' oral performance through assessment and self-assessment rubrics, applied inventories…

Student Learning Styles and Performance in an Introductory Finance Class

Science.gov (United States)

Seiver, Daniel Alan; Haddad, Kamal; Do, Andrew

2014-01-01

Many academic disciplines have examined the role that variation in Jungian personality types plays in the academic performance of college students. Different personality types tend to have different learning styles, which in turn influence student performance in a variety of college courses. To measure the impact of learning styles on student…

Team Satisfaction and Student Group Performance: A Cross-Cultural Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zeitun, Rami M.; Abdulqader, Khalid Shams; Alshare, Khaled A.

2013-01-01

The authors examined the relationship between team satisfaction and students' performance in group projects in two universities, one from the United States and one from Qatar. The results showed that there is a significant positive correlation between team satisfaction and group performance only for the American students. Demographic factors such…

Reliable and valid assessment of performance in thoracoscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Konge, Lars; Lehnert, Per; Hansen, Henrik Jessen

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND: As we move toward competency-based education in medicine, we have lagged in developing competency-based evaluation methods. In the era of minimally invasive surgery, there is a need for a reliable and valid tool dedicated to measure competence in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery....... The purpose of this study is to create such an assessment tool, and to explore its reliability and validity. METHODS: An expert group of physicians created an assessment tool consisting of 10 items rated on a five-point rating scale. The following factors were included: economy and confidence of movement...

The Effect of School Design on Student Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ariani, Mohsen Ghasemi; Mirdad, Fatemeh

2016-01-01

The present study aims at exploring the influence of school design on student performance. The participants consisted of 150 students who studied at two Iranian public school and private school in Mashhad City. School Design and Planning Laboratory (SDPL) model of Georgia University (and Tanner (2009)) was used as an appraisal indicator of school…

Clinical skills-related learning goals of senior medical students after performance feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Anna; Chou, Calvin L; Teherani, Arianne; Hauer, Karen E

2011-09-01

Lifelong learning is essential for doctors to maintain competence in clinical skills. With performance feedback, learners should be able to formulate specific and achievable learning goals in areas of need. We aimed to determine: (i) the type and specificity of medical student learning goals after a required clinical performance examination; (ii) differences in goal setting among low, average and high performers, and (iii) whether low performers articulate learning goals that are concordant with their learning needs. We conducted a single-site, multi-year, descriptive comparison study. Senior medical students were given performance benchmarks, individual feedback and guidelines on learning goals; each student was subsequently instructed to write two clinical skills learning goals. Investigators coded the learning goals for specificity, categorised the goals, and performed statistical analyses to determine their concordance with student performance level (low, average or high) in data gathering (history taking and physical examination) or communication skills. All 208 students each wrote two learning goals and most (n=200, 96%) wrote two specific learning goals. Nearly two-thirds of low performers in data gathering wrote at least one learning goal that referred to history taking or physical examination; one-third wrote learning goals pertaining to the organisation of the encounter. High performers in data gathering wrote significantly more patient education goals and significantly fewer history-taking goals than average or low performers. Only 50% of low performers in communication wrote learning goals related to communication skills. Low performers in communication were significantly more likely than average or high performers to identify learning goals related to improving performance in future examinations. The provision of performance benchmarking, individual feedback and brief written guidelines helped most senior medical students in our study to write specific

Reliability and validity of the student stress inventory-stress manifestations questionnaire and its association with personal and academic factors in university students.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonelli-Muñoz, Agustín J; Balanza, Serafín; Rivera-Caravaca, José Miguel; Vera-Catalán, Tomás; Lorente, Ana María; Gallego-Gómez, Juana I

2018-05-01

Stress affects us in every environment and it is also present in the educational sphere. Previous studies have reported a high prevalence of stress in university students. The Student Stress Inventory-Stress Manifestations (SSI-SM), identify stressors and evaluate stress manifestations in adolescents but its validity in university students remains uncertain. We aimed to determine the internal consistency and validity of an adapted version of the Student Stress Inventory-Stress Manifestations (SSI-SM) for university students and to investigate if high stress levels are associated with personal and academic factors. In this quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study, we included 115 university students of the Nursing Degree during the second semester of the 2014/2015 academic year. Information about personal issues, lifestyle and academic performance was recorded and the stress was evaluated with the SSI-SM questionnaire. The internal consistency and homogeneity of the SSI-SM questionnaire was tested and a factorial analysis was performed. After the homogeneity analysis, the final version of the SSI-SM questionnaire included 19 items, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.924. In the factorial analysis, 4 factors were found ('Self-concept', 'Sociability', 'Uncertainty' and 'Somatization'; all Cronbach's alpha >0.700). Students with higher values on the SSI-SM were, in overall, women (41.0 ± 12.7 vs. 33.2 ± 9.5; p = 0.001) and had significantly more family conflicts (47.6 ± 13.8 vs. 35.2 ± 9.6; p < 0.001), consumed less alcohol (R = -0.184, p = 0.048), slept less hours (R = -0.193, p = 0.038) and had worse academic performance in Clinical Nursing (36.3 ± 10.4 vs. 41.2 ± 13.3, p = 0.039). After exclude three items of the original SSI-SM, higher scores in the SSI-SM are correlated with stress level in a cohort of university students of the Nursing Degree. Family conflicts, female gender, absence of alcohol

Academic Performance, School Desertion and Emotional Paradigm in University Students

Science.gov (United States)

Sosa, Emma Rosa Cruz; Barrientos, Laura Gática; Castro, Patricia Eugenia García; García, Jesús Hernández

2010-01-01

The present work aims to describe academic performance, school desertion and the emotional paradigm of the university students of the accounting school of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (FCPBUAP). We have found that low academic performance is related to students' economic deficiency, which affects their concentration on their…

Training less-experienced faculty improves reliability of skills assessment in cardiac surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Xiaoying; Lee, Richard; Feins, Richard H; Enter, Daniel; Hicks, George L; Verrier, Edward D; Fann, James I

2014-12-01

Previous work has demonstrated high inter-rater reliability in the objective assessment of simulated anastomoses among experienced educators. We evaluated the inter-rater reliability of less-experienced educators and the impact of focused training with a video-embedded coronary anastomosis assessment tool. Nine less-experienced cardiothoracic surgery faculty members from different institutions evaluated 2 videos of simulated coronary anastomoses (1 by a medical student and 1 by a resident) at the Thoracic Surgery Directors Association Boot Camp. They then underwent a 30-minute training session using an assessment tool with embedded videos to anchor rating scores for 10 components of coronary artery anastomosis. Afterward, they evaluated 2 videos of a different student and resident performing the task. Components were scored on a 1 to 5 Likert scale, yielding an average composite score. Inter-rater reliabilities of component and composite scores were assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and overall pass/fail ratings with kappa. All components of the assessment tool exhibited improvement in reliability, with 4 (bite, needle holder use, needle angles, and hand mechanics) improving the most from poor (ICC range, 0.09-0.48) to strong (ICC range, 0.80-0.90) agreement. After training, inter-rater reliabilities for composite scores improved from moderate (ICC, 0.76) to strong (ICC, 0.90) agreement, and for overall pass/fail ratings, from poor (kappa = 0.20) to moderate (kappa = 0.78) agreement. Focused, video-based anchor training facilitates greater inter-rater reliability in the objective assessment of simulated coronary anastomoses. Among raters with less teaching experience, such training may be needed before objective evaluation of technical skills. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Numerical versus narrative: A comparison between methods to measure medical student performance during clinical clerkships.

Science.gov (United States)

Bartels, Josef; Mooney, Christopher John; Stone, Robert Thompson

2017-11-01

Medical school evaluations typically rely on both language-based narrative descriptions and psychometrically converted numeric scores to convey performance to the grading committee. We evaluated inter-rater reliability and correlation of numeric versus narrative evaluations for students on their Neurology Clerkship. 50 Neurology Clerkship in-training evaluation reports completed by their residents and faculty members at the University of Rochester School of Medicine were dissected into narrative and numeric components. 5 Clerkship grading committee members retrospectively gave new narrative scores (NNS) while blinded to original numeric scores (ONS). We calculated intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) and their associated confidence intervals for the ONS and the NNS. In addition, we calculated the correlation between ONS and NNS. The ICC was greater for the NNS (ICC = .88 (95% CI = .70-.94)) than the ONS (ICC = .62 (95% CI = .40-.77)) Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the ONS and NNS were highly correlated (r = .81). Narrative evaluations converted by a small group of experienced graders are at least as reliable as numeric scoring by individual evaluators. We could allow evaluators to focus their efforts on creating richer narrative of greater value to trainees.

Performance of engineering undergraduate students in mathematics: A case study in UniMAP

Science.gov (United States)

Saad, Syafawati Ab.; Azziz, Nor Hizamiyani Abdul; Zakaria, Siti Aisyah; Yazid, Nornadia Mohd

2015-12-01

The purpose of this paper is to study the trend performance of the first year engineering students at a public university in Mathematics course: Engineering Mathematics I. We analyze how ethnicity factor influenced students' performance in mathematics course over three years period. The performance of the undergraduate students in this study is measured by their cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the first semester. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) will be used to test the significance difference between three variables (Malay, Chinese and Indian). Method of simple linear regression (SLR) is used to test the relationship between the performances and to predict the future performance for this course. The findings of the study show that Chinese students perform better than Malay and Indian students.

Accounting for Non-Accounting Students: What Affects Their Performance?

OpenAIRE

Suhaiza Ismail; Nurkamariah Kasim

2012-01-01

This study aims to examine the factors affecting the examination performance of non-accounting students in completing an accounting course, that is, Management Accounting. A questionnaire survey was administered to a total of 147 non-accounting students who enrolled in a Management Accounting course for a semester. The factors considered are gender, prior academic performance, year of study and learning approaches adopted which include deep, surface and strategic approaches. Using multiple re...

Reliability Engineering

CERN Document Server

Lazzaroni, Massimo

2012-01-01

This book gives a practical guide for designers and users in Information and Communication Technology context. In particular, in the first Section, the definition of the fundamental terms according to the international standards are given. Then, some theoretical concepts and reliability models are presented in Chapters 2 and 3: the aim is to evaluate performance for components and systems and reliability growth. Chapter 4, by introducing the laboratory tests, puts in evidence the reliability concept from the experimental point of view. In ICT context, the failure rate for a given system can be

Active learning and student-centered pedagogy improve student attitudes and performance in introductory biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Armbruster, Peter; Patel, Maya; Johnson, Erika; Weiss, Martha

2009-01-01

We describe the development and implementation of an instructional design that focused on bringing multiple forms of active learning and student-centered pedagogies to a one-semester, undergraduate introductory biology course for both majors and nonmajors. Our course redesign consisted of three major elements: 1) reordering the presentation of the course content in an attempt to teach specific content within the context of broad conceptual themes, 2) incorporating active and problem-based learning into every lecture, and 3) adopting strategies to create a more student-centered learning environment. Assessment of our instructional design consisted of a student survey and comparison of final exam performance across 3 years-1 year before our course redesign was implemented (2006) and during two successive years of implementation (2007 and 2008). The course restructuring led to significant improvement of self-reported student engagement and satisfaction and increased academic performance. We discuss the successes and ongoing challenges of our course restructuring and consider issues relevant to institutional change.

[Learning strategies of autonomous medical students].

Science.gov (United States)

Márquez U, Carolina; Fasce H, Eduardo; Ortega B, Javiera; Bustamante D, Carolina; Pérez V, Cristhian; Ibáñez G, Pilar; Ortiz M, Liliana; Espinoza P, Camila; Bastías V, Nancy

2015-12-01

Understanding how autonomous students are capable of regulating their own learning process is essential to develop self-directed teaching methods. To understand how self-directed medical students approach learning in medical schools at University of Concepción, Chile. A qualitative and descriptive study, performed according to Grounded Theory guidelines, following Strauss & Corbin was performed. Twenty medical students were selected by the maximum variation sampling method. The data collection technique was carried out by a semi-structured thematic interview. Students were interviewed by researchers after an informed consent procedure. Data were analyzed by the open coding method using Atlas-ti 7.5.2 software. Self-directed learners were characterized by being good planners and managing their time correctly. Students performed a diligent selection of contents to study based on reliable literature sources, theoretical relevance and type of evaluation. They also emphasized the discussion of clinical cases, where theoretical contents can be applied. This modality allows them to gain a global view of theoretical contents, to verbalize knowledge and to obtain a learning feedback. The learning process of autonomous students is intentional and planned.

Social support and performance anxiety of college music students.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Erin; Chesky, Kris

2011-09-01

This study characterized perceived social support and performance anxiety of college music students, compared characteristics to those of non-music majors, and explored the relationships between social support and performance anxiety. Subjects (n = 609) completed a questionnaire that included demographics, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and visual analog scale measures of performance anxiety. Results showed that music majors perceived significantly lower levels of social support from significant others when compared to non-music majors. Perceived social support was significantly correlated with measures of performance anxiety. Students with greater perceived social support reported less frequent anxiety and lower levels of impact of anxiety on ability to perform. These findings may have practical implications for schools of music and conservatories.

Test anxiety and academic performance in chiropractic students.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Niu; Henderson, Charles N R

2014-01-01

Objective : We assessed the level of students' test anxiety, and the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance. Methods : We recruited 166 third-quarter students. The Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) was administered to all participants. Total scores from written examinations and objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) were used as response variables. Results : Multiple regression analysis shows that there was a modest, but statistically significant negative correlation between TAI scores and written exam scores, but not OSCE scores. Worry and emotionality were the best predictive models for written exam scores. Mean total anxiety and emotionality scores for females were significantly higher than those for males, but not worry scores. Conclusion : Moderate-to-high test anxiety was observed in 85% of the chiropractic students examined. However, total test anxiety, as measured by the TAI score, was a very weak predictive model for written exam performance. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that replacing total anxiety (TAI) with worry and emotionality (TAI subscales) produces a much more effective predictive model of written exam performance. Sex, age, highest current academic degree, and ethnicity contributed little additional predictive power in either regression model. Moreover, TAI scores were not found to be statistically significant predictors of physical exam skill performance, as measured by OSCEs.

Effect of students' learning styles on classroom performance in problem-based learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Alghasham, Abdullah A

2012-01-01

Since problem-based learning (PBL) sessions require a combination of active discussion, group interaction, and inductive and reflective thinking, students with different learning styles can be expected to perform differently in the PBL sessions. Using "Learning Style Inventory Questionnaire," students were divided into separate active and reflective learner groups. Tutors were asked to observe and assess the students' behavioral performance during the PBL sessions for a period of 5 weeks. A questionnaire of 24 items was developed to assess students' behavioral performance in PBL sessions. Active students tended to use multiple activities to obtain the needed information were more adjusted to the group norms and regulation and more skillful in using reasoning and problem-solving skills and in participation in discussion. On the other hand, reflective students used independent study more, listened actively and carefully to others and used previously acquired information in the discussion more frequently. Formative assessment quizzes did not indicate better performance of either group. There were no significant gender differences in PBL behavioral performance or quizzes' scores. Active and reflective learners differ in PBL class behavioral performance but not in the formative assessment. We recommend that students should be informed about their learning style and that they should learn strategies to compensate for any lacks in PBL sessions through self-study. Also, educational planners should ensure an adequate mix of students with different learning styles in the PBL groups to achieve PBL desired objectives.

Effects of Conducting Instruction on the Musical Performance of Beginning Band Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Steven N.

1997-01-01

Investigates the effects of conducting instruction on beginning band students' individual rhythmic performance, group rhythmic performance, group performance of legato and staccato, and group performance of phrasing and dynamics. The students represented diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Concludes the conducting instruction is a useful tool…

Obesity and Student Performance at School

Science.gov (United States)

Taras, Howard; Potts-Datema, William

2005-01-01

To review the state of research on the association between obesity among school-aged children and academic outcomes, the authors reviewed published studies investigating obesity, school performance, and rates of student absenteeism. A table with brief descriptions of each study's research methodology and outcomes is included. Research demonstrates…

Application of reliability methods in Ontario Hydro

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeppesen, R.; Ravishankar, T.J.

1985-01-01

Ontario Hydro have established a reliability program in support of its substantial nuclear program. Application of the reliability program to achieve both production and safety goals is described. The value of such a reliability program is evident in the record of Ontario Hydro's operating nuclear stations. The factors which have contributed to the success of the reliability program are identified as line management's commitment to reliability; selective and judicious application of reliability methods; establishing performance goals and monitoring the in-service performance; and collection, distribution, review and utilization of performance information to facilitate cost-effective achievement of goals and improvements. (orig.)

Learning Style Scales: a valid and reliable questionnaire

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdolghani Abdollahimohammad

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Learning-style instruments assist students in developing their own learning strategies and outcomes, in eliminating learning barriers, and in acknowledging peer diversity. Only a few psychometrically validated learning-style instruments are available. This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable learning-style instrument for nursing students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted in two nursing schools in two countries. A purposive sample of 156 undergraduate nursing students participated in the study. Face and content validity was obtained from an expert panel. The LSS construct was established using principal axis factoring (PAF with oblimin rotation, a scree plot test, and parallel analysis (PA. The reliability of LSS was tested using Cronbach’s α, corrected item-total correlation, and test-retest. Results: Factor analysis revealed five components, confirmed by PA and a relatively clear curve on the scree plot. Component strength and interpretability were also confirmed. The factors were labeled as perceptive, solitary, analytic, competitive, and imaginative learning styles. Cronbach’s α was > 0.70 for all subscales in both study populations. The corrected item-total correlations were > 0.30 for the items in each component. Conclusion: The LSS is a valid and reliable inventory for evaluating learning style preferences in nursing students in various multicultural environments.

Learning Style Scales: a valid and reliable questionnaire.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdollahimohammad, Abdolghani; Ja'afar, Rogayah

2014-01-01

Learning-style instruments assist students in developing their own learning strategies and outcomes, in eliminating learning barriers, and in acknowledging peer diversity. Only a few psychometrically validated learning-style instruments are available. This study aimed to develop a valid and reliable learning-style instrument for nursing students. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted in two nursing schools in two countries. A purposive sample of 156 undergraduate nursing students participated in the study. Face and content validity was obtained from an expert panel. The LSS construct was established using principal axis factoring (PAF) with oblimin rotation, a scree plot test, and parallel analysis (PA). The reliability of LSS was tested using Cronbach's α, corrected item-total correlation, and test-retest. Factor analysis revealed five components, confirmed by PA and a relatively clear curve on the scree plot. Component strength and interpretability were also confirmed. The factors were labeled as perceptive, solitary, analytic, competitive, and imaginative learning styles. Cronbach's α was >0.70 for all subscales in both study populations. The corrected item-total correlations were >0.30 for the items in each component. The LSS is a valid and reliable inventory for evaluating learning style preferences in nursing students in various multicultural environments.

Triple jump examination evaluation of faculty examiners by dental student examinees.

Science.gov (United States)

Navazesh, Mahvash; Rich, Sandra K; Keim, Robert G

2014-05-01

The triple jump examination (TJE) is an oral examination that poses challenges for objective assessment. Student satisfaction levels with faculty assessment can provide information on quality of teaching and students' perceptions of the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to determine scale and interrater reliability of an instrument used by approximately 576 first-year dental students at one U.S. dental school for assessment of their faculty evaluators following midterm and final TJEs over a three-year period. One hundred and one faculty members served as administrators of the TJE with a range of one to 187 times (mean=44.10, median=29, mode=11). The grand mean for six items on a six-point Likert scale was 5.39 with a pooled standard deviation of 1.01. Results indicate positive agreement toward performance of examiners with strong interrater reliability (Average Measures ICC=0.936, Single Measures ICC=0.708) (F5,23475 = 51.564, pperform acceptable assessment from the students' perspective. Overall, these students expressed a high level of satisfaction with TJE faculty performance.

Smelling Anxiety Chemosignals Impairs Clinical Performance of Dental Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Preet Bano; Young, Alix; Lind, Synnøve; Leegaard, Marie Cathinka; Capuozzo, Alessandra; Parma, Valentina

2018-05-15

Despite the fact that human body odors can transfer anxiety-related signals, the impact of such signals in real-life situations is scant. In this study, the effects of anxiety chemosignals on the performance of dental students operating on simulation units, wearing t-shirts imbued with human sweat and masked with eugenol were tested. Twenty-four 4th year dental students (17F) donated their body odors in two sessions (Anxiety and Rest). Twenty-four normosmic, sex- and age-matched test subjects who were3rd year dental students performed three dental procedures while smelling masked anxiety body odors, masked rest body odors or masker alone. The intensity and pleasantness ratings showed that the test subjects could not report perceptual differences between the odor conditions. When exposed to masked anxiety body odors the test subject's dental performance was significantly worse than when they were exposed to masked rest body odors and masker alone, indicating that their performance was modulated by exposure to the emotional tone of the odor. These findings call for a careful evaluation of the anxiety-inducing effects of body odors in performance-related tasks and provide the first ecological evaluation of human anxiety chemosignal communication.

Sleep difficulties and academic performance in Norwegian higher education students.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayley, Amie C; Sivertsen, Børge; Hysing, Mari; Vedaa, Øystein; Øverland, Simon

2017-12-01

Sleep difficulties are common among university students and may detrimentally affect academic outcomes. Despite this, remarkably little information is currently available during this critical developmental period of early adulthood, and thus, the direct effect on measurable domains of academic ability and proficiency is equivocal. To evaluate the associations between difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep (DIMS) and subjective and objective academic performance in a large sample of university students. A total of 12,915 students who participated in large student survey in Norway from 24 February 2014 to 27 March 2014. DIMS was assessed by the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25), and academic outcomes included failed examinations, delayed study progress, and school-related self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale). Difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep was independently associated with increased odds for poor school performance for all academic outcomes. Reporting 'extreme' DIMS was associated with increased odds of reporting delayed study progress (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.25, 95% CI 1.01-1.57, p academic outcomes as well as poorer self-rated academic proficiency among higher education students. Amelioration of sleep difficulties may improve overall academic performance and health outcomes in affected students. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

Relationship Between the Parenting Styles and Students’ Educational Performance Among Iranian Girl High School Students, A Cross- Sectional Study

Science.gov (United States)

Rahimpour, Parivash; Direkvand-Moghadam, Ashraf; Direkvand-Moghadam, Azadeh

2015-01-01

Introduction Parenting styles are effective in the educational performance of their child. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the parenting styles and students’ educational performance among Iranian girl high school students. Materials and Methods In a cross–sectional survey, female students in high schools of Ilam (Iran) evaluated during the academic year 2014-15. Multistage cluster random sampling was used to select the participants. Data were collected by two demographic and Baumrind’s parenting styles questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was measured as an index of internal identicalness of the questionnaire to verify its reliability. Results: A total 400 students were studied. The Mean±SD of the students’ age were 14±1.08. The students’ school grades were the first year of high school to pre-university course. The Mean±SD of parenting styles were 35.37±5.8, 34.69±6.34 and 19.17±6.64 for permissive parenting style, authoritarian parenting style and authoritative parenting styles, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the score of permissive parenting style (p= 0.001, r= 0.151), authoritarian parenting style (p= 0.001, r= 0.343) and authoritative parenting style (p=0. 001, r= 0.261) with the students’ average score for studying. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that parental influence plays an important role in students’ educational performance. PMID:26813692

Poor Physical Performance is Associated with Obesity Among University Students in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Tianhua; Zhu, Ergang; Jiao, Suhua

2017-05-05

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between physical performance and BMI (body mass index) of university students in China. MATERIAL AND METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study evaluating the physical performance and BMI of university students. BMI was calculated based on height and weight. Overweight and obesity were defined by the Working Group on Obesity references in China. RESULTS A total of 2313 participants (978 males and 1335 females) were recruited in our study. The mean value of the 50-meter dash and standing long jump in male students was higher than in female students (Pobesity) and obesity for male students were 17.9% and 4.2%, respectively, and 5.1% and 0.5%, respectively, for female university students. BMI was weakly positively associated with the 50-meter dash score, but was negatively associated with the score for standing long jump and pull-ups. CONCLUSIONS Our study suggested that overweight and obesity are associated with physical performance of university students, especially in male students. University students should exercise more to improve physical health.