989 resultados para criterion-referenced assessment


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This research has brought new scientific insight into the characteristics of airborne engineered nanoparticles, which is essential when considering their effects on human health. The key findings of the work were a harmonised and traceable protocol for the size characterisation of engineered nanoparticles, and quantification of their emissions and dynamics in workplaces. The novelty of this project is in coupling a comprehensive experimental measurement approach with innovative and effective data interpretation. Also, for the first time, the existence of a general trend in the emission of nanoparticles from a nanotechnology process was investigated.

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"Using the nursing process as a framework for practice, the fourth edition has been extensively revised to reflect the rapid changing nature of nursing practice and the increasing focus on key nursing care priorities. Building on the strengths of the third Australian and New Zealand edition and incorporating relevant global nursing research and practice from the prominent US title Medical-Surgical Nursing, 9Th Edition, Lewis’s Medical-Surgical Nursing, 4th Edition is an essential resource for students seeking to understand the role of the professional nurse in the contemporary health environment."--Publisher website

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This case study investigated EFL assessment practices at one public and one private university to explore the support of assessment for English language learning (ELL) within the Vietnamese sociocultural context. Findings demonstrated the potential of assessment to engage students in learning; enhance their understanding of the learning objectives; and facilitate their learning reflection. Findings also identified strong influences of contextual factors such as teachers' language assessment literacy, high-stakes testing and institutional administrative policies on the practices of assessment for ELL. This study contributes to research on Assessment for Learning and EFL education at tertiary level in Vietnam and other similar sociocultural contexts.

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Social Audits play an important role in the measurement and analysis of a company's social performance. They provide corporations with a tool to plan and manage their social responsibility activities. Similarly, they provide stakeholders with a tool which they could use when monitoring, assessing and analysing concrete and accurate company data. Whilst the topic of social audits has been raised and discussed by a number of scholars, industry representatives and government institutions over the years, such contributions have mostly revolved around the general notion and importance of social audit, rather than addressing the most effective ways to achieve a widespread and reliable adoption of the practice through the implementation of specific legal regulation and other methods. This matter is of significant importance as corporations can exert a considerable amount control over the entire social audit process, allowing them to disclose only information deemed beneficial to their own corporate image instead of releasing all relevant social and environmental data. In order to achieve a truly transparent system promoting corporate accountability, there is an obvious need for social audits to be regulated. One of the purposes of this book is to provide an overview of the development of social audit practices and regulation. It also sets out to explore the issues and challenges which have arisen relating to this matter around the world.

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This thesis represents a significant step forward in developing a validated measure for diabetic peripheral neuropathy – a debilitating and prevalent complication of diabetes. The candidate investigated corneal nerve structure in healthy people as well as in type 1 diabetic individuals in a 4-year longitudinal study. The outcomes of stability of the corneal small nerve fibre in healthy people and evidence of significant decline in diabetic individuals with peripheral neuropathy over time provide justification for the ongoing efforts to establish corneal nerve structure as an objective and appropriate adjunct to conventional measures of peripheral neuropathy.

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This study assessed environmental health risk from dioxin in foods and sustainability of risk reduction programs at two heavily contaminated former military sites in Vietnam. The study involved 1000 household surveys, analysis of food samples and in-depth discussions with residents and officials. The findings indicate that more than 40 years after the war, local residents still experience high exposure to dioxin if they consume local high risk foods. Public health intervention programs were rated moderately to well sustained. Internal migration, and lack of clear, official guidance and sensitivity regarding dioxin issues were the main challenges for sustainability of prevention programs.

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Background The improved treatment protocols and subsequent improved survival rates amongst childhood cancer patients has shifted the focus towards the long-term consequences arising from cancer treatment. Children who have completed cancer treatment are at a greater risk of delayed development, diminished functioning, disability, compromised fundamental movement skill (FMS) attainment and long term chronic health conditions. The aim of the study was to compare FMS of childhood cancer patients with an aged matched healthy reference group. Methods Pediatric cancer patients aged 5-8 years of age (n=26; median age 6.91 years), who completed cancer treatment (<5 years) at the Sydney Children’s Hospital were assessed performing 7 key FMS; sprint, side-gallop, vertical-jump, catch, over-arm throw, kick and leap. Results were compared to the reference group (n=430; 6.56 years). Results Childhood cancer patients scored significantly lower on 3 out of 7 FMS tests when compared to the reference group. These results equated to a significantly lower overall score for FMS. Conclusion This study highlighted the significant deficits in FMS within pediatric patients having completed cancer treatment. In order to reduce the occurrence of significant FMS deficits in this population, FMS interventions maybe warranted to assist in recovery from childhood cancer, prevent late effects and improve the quality of life in survivors of childhood cancer.

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Background The purpose of this study was to adapt and validate the Foot Function Index to the Spanish (FFI-Sp) following the guidelines of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Methods A cross-sectional study 80 participants with some foot pathology. A statistical analysis was made, including a correlation study with other questionnaires (the Foot Health Status Questionnaire, EuroQol 5-D, Visual Analogue Pain Scale, and the Short Form SF-12 Health Survey). Data analysis included reliability, construct and criterion-related validity and factor analyses. Results The principal components analysis with varimax rotation produced 3 principal factors that explained 80% of the variance. The confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable fit with a comparative fit index of 0.78. The FFI-Sp demonstrated excellent internal consistency on the three subscales: pain 0.95; disability 0.96; and activity limitation 0.69, the subscale that scored lowest. The correlation between the FFI-Sp and the other questionnaires was high to moderate. Conclusions The Spanish version of the Foot Function Index (FFI-Sp) is a tool that is a valid and reliable tool with a very good internal consistency for use in the assessment of pain, disability and limitation of the function of the foot, for use both in clinic and research.

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Background The diagnosis of frailty is based on physical impairments and clinicians have indicated that early detection is one of the most effective methods for reducing the severity of physical frailty. Maybe, an alternative to the classical diagnosis could be the instrumentalization of classical functional testing, as Romberg test or Timed Get Up and Go Test. The aim of this study was (I) to measure and describe the magnitude of accelerometry values in the Romberg test in two groups of frail and non-frail elderly people through instrumentation with the iPhone 4®, (II) to analyse the performances and differences between the study groups, and (III) to analyse the performances and differences within study groups to characterise accelerometer responses to increasingly difficult challenges to balance. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of 18 subjects over 70 years old, 9 frail subjects and 9 non-frail subjects. The non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test was used for between-group comparisons in means values derived from different tasks. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test was used to analyse differences between different variants of the test in both independent study groups. Results The highest difference between groups was found in the accelerometer values with eyes closed and feet parallel: maximum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01), minimum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01) and minimum peak acceleration from the resultant vector (p < 0.01). Subjects with eyes open and feet parallel, greatest differences found between the groups were in the maximum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01), minimum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01) and minimum peak acceleration from the resultant vector (p < 0.001). With eyes closed and feet in tandem, the greatest differences found between the groups were in the minimum peak acceleration in the lateral axis (p < 0.01). Conclusions The accelerometer fitted in the iPhone 4® is able to study and analyse the kinematics of the Romberg test between frail and non-frail elderly people. In addition, the results indicate that the accelerometry values also were significantly different between the frail and non-frail groups, and that values from the accelerometer accelerometer increased as the test was made more complicated.

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Pharmacological MRI (phMRI) techniques can be used to monitor the neurophysiological effects of central nervous system (CNS) active drugs. In this study, we investigated whether dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) perfusion imaging employing the use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Resovist) could be used to measure hemodynamic response to d-amphetamine challenge in human subjects at both 1.5 and 4 T. Significant changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) were found in focal regions associated with the nigrostriatal circuit and mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic pathways. More significant CBF responses were found at higher field strength, mainly within striatal structures. The results from this study indicate that DSC perfusion imaging using Resovist can be used to assess the efficacy of CNS-active drugs and may play a role in the development of novel psychiatric therapies at the preclinical level. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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This study involves teaching engineering students concepts in lubrication engineering that are heavily dependent on mathematics. Excellent learning outcomes have been observed when assessment tasks are devised for a diversity of learning styles. Providing different pathways to knowledge reduces the probability that a single barrier halts progress towards the ultimate learning objective. The interdisciplinary nature of tribology can be used advantageously to tie together multiple elements of engineering to solve real physical problems—an approach that seems to benefit a majority of engineering students. To put this into practice, various assessment items were devised on the study of hydrodynamics, culminating in a project to provide a summative evaluation of the students’ learning achievement. A survey was also conducted to assess other aspects of students’ learning experiences under the headings: ‘perception of learning’ and ‘overall satisfaction’. High degrees of achievement and satisfaction were observed. An attempt has been made to identify the elements contributing to success so that they may be applied to other challenging concepts in engineering education.

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Skin temperature is an important physiological measure that can reflect the presence of illness and injury as well as provide insight into the localised interactions between the body and the environment. The aim of this systematic review was to analyse the agreement between conductive and infrared means of assessing skin temperature which are commonly employed in in clinical, occupational, sports medicine, public health and research settings. Full-text eligibility was determined independently by two reviewers. Studies meeting the following criteria were included in the review: 1) the literature was written in English, 2) participants were human (in vivo), 3) skin surface temperature was assessed at the same site, 4) with at least two commercially available devices employed—one conductive and one infrared—and 5) had skin temperature data reported in the study. A computerised search of four electronic databases, using a combination of 21 keywords, and citation tracking was performed in January 2015. A total of 8,602 were returned. Methodology quality was assessed by 2 authors independently, using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. A total of 16 articles (n = 245) met the inclusion criteria. Devices are classified to be in agreement if they met the clinically meaningful recommendations of mean differences within ±0.5 °C and limits of agreement of ±1.0 °C. Twelve of the included studies found mean differences greater than ±0.5 °C between conductive and infrared devices. In the presence of external stimulus (e.g. exercise and/or heat) five studies foundexacerbated measurement differences between conductive and infrared devices. This is the first review that has attempted to investigate presence of any systemic bias between infrared and conductive measures by collectively evaluating the current evidence base. There was also a consistently high risk of bias across the studies, in terms of sample size, random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding and incomplete outcome data. This systematic review questions the suitability of using infrared cameras in stable, resting, laboratory conditions. Furthermore, both infrared cameras and thermometers in the presence of sweat and environmental heat demonstrate poor agreement when compared to conductive devices. These findings have implications for clinical, occupational, public health, sports science and research fields.

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While the indirect and direct cost of occupational musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) causes a significant burden on the health system, lower back pain (LBP) is associated with a significant portion of MSD. In Australia, the highest prevalence of MSD exists for health care workers, such as nurses. The digital human model (DHM) Siemens JACK was used to investigate if hospital bed pushing, a simple task and hazard that is commonly associated with LBP, can be simulated and ergonomically assessed in a virtual environment. It was found that while JACK has implemented a range of common physical work assessment methods, the simulation of dynamic bed pushing remains a challenge due to the complex interface between the floor and wheels, which can only be insufficiently modelle

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In life cycle assessment studies, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from direct land-use change have been estimated to make a significant contribution to the global warming potential of agricultural products. However, these estimates have a high uncertainty due to the complexity of data requirements and difficulty in attribution of land-use change. This paper presents estimates of GHG emissions from direct land-use change from native woodland to grazing land for two beef production regions in eastern Australia, which were the subject of a multi-impact life cycle assessment study for premium beef production. Spatially- and temporally consistent datasets were derived for areas of forest cover and biomass carbon stocks using published remotely sensed tree-cover data and regionally applicable allometric equations consistent with Australia's national GHG inventory report. Standard life cycle assessment methodology was used to estimate GHG emissions and removals from direct land-use change attributed to beef production. For the northern-central New South Wales region of Australia estimates ranged from a net emission of 0.03 t CO2-e ha-1 year-1 to net removal of 0.12 t CO2-e ha-1 year-1 using low and high scenarios, respectively, for sequestration in regrowing forests. For the same period (1990-2010), the study region in southern-central Queensland was estimated to have net emissions from land-use change in the range of 0.45-0.25 t CO2-e ha-1 year-1. The difference between regions reflects continuation of higher rates of deforestation in Queensland until strict regulation in 2006 whereas native vegetation protection laws were introduced earlier in New South Wales. On the basis of liveweight produced at the farm-gate, emissions from direct land-use change for 1990-2010 were comparable in magnitude to those from other on-farm sources, which were dominated by enteric methane. However, calculation of land-use change impacts for the Queensland region for a period starting 2006, gave a range from net emissions of 0.11 t CO2-e ha-1 year-1 to net removals of 0.07 t CO2-e ha-1 year-1. This study demonstrated a method for deriving spatially- and temporally consistent datasets to improve estimates for direct land-use change impacts in life cycle assessment. It identified areas of uncertainty, including rates of sequestration in woody regrowth and impacts of land-use change on soil carbon stocks in grazed woodlands, but also showed the potential for direct land-use change to represent a net sink for GHG.