Learner-focused evaluation cycles : facilitating learning using feedforward, concurrent and feedback evaluation

There is a growing trend to offer students learning opportunities that are flexible, innovative and engaging. As educators embrace student-centred agile teaching and learning methodologies, which require continuous reflection and adaptation, the need to evaluate students’ learning in a timely manner has become more pressing. Conventional evaluation surveys currently dominate the evaluation landscape internationally, despite recognition that they are insufficient to effectively evaluate curriculum and teaching quality. Surveys often: (1) fail to address the issues for which educators need feedback, (2) constrain student voice, (3) have low response rates and (4) occur too late to benefit current students. Consequently, this paper explores principles of effective feedback to propose a framework for learner-focused evaluation. We apply a three-stage control model, involving feedforward, concurrent and feedback evaluation, to investigate the intersection of assessment and evaluation in agile learning environments. We conclude that learner-focused evaluation cycles can be used to guide action so that evaluation is not undertaken simply for the benefit of future offerings, but rather to benefit current students by allowing ‘real-time’ learning activities to be adapted in the moment. As a result, students become co-producers of learning and evaluation becomes a meaningful, responsive dialogue between students and their instructors.

Sustainability outcomes of infrastructure sustainability rating schemes for road projects

The construction and operation of infrastructure assets can have significant impact on society and the region. Using a sustainability assessment framework can be an effective means to build sustainability aspects into the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets. The conventional evaluation processes and procedures for infrastructure projects do not necessarily measure the qualitative/quantitative effectiveness of all aspects of sustainability: environment, social wellbeing and economy. As a result, a few infrastructure sustainability rating schemes have been developed with a view to assess the level of sustainability attained in the infrastructure projects. These include: Infrastructure Sustainability (Australia); CEEQUAL (UK); and Envision (USA). In addition, road sector specific sustainability rating schemes such as Greenroads (USA) and Invest (Australia) have also been developed. These schemes address several aspects of sustainability with varying emphasis (weightings) on areas such as: use of resources; emission, pollution and waste; ecology; people and place; management and governance; and innovation. The attainment of sustainability of an infrastructure project depends largely on addressing the whole-of-life environmental issues. This study has analysed the rating schemes’ coverage of different environmental components for the road infrastructure under the five phases of a project: material, construction, use, maintenance and end-of-life. This is based on a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) system boundary. The findings indicate that there is a need for the schemes to consider key (high impact) life cycle environmental components such as traffic congestion during construction, rolling resistance due to surface roughness and structural stiffness of the pavement, albedo, lighting, and end-of-life management (recycling) to deliver sustainable road projects.

Calacarus heveae Feres (Eriophyidae) e Tenuipalpus heveae Baker (Tenuipalpidae) em seringueira: planos de amostragem, efeito da adubação silicatada no desenvolvimento populacional e validação de escala de notas para avaliação do desfolhamento

Pós-graduação em Agronomia - FEIS

Avaliação convencional e estesiômetro: resultados controversos na avaliação sensitiva no câncer de mama

This study, clinical, prospective, randomized study was conducted from August 2004 to February 2008 in a convenience sample of 60 women who underwent breast surgery with axillary dissection, divided into two groups (n = 30). The GI (Guidance Kit with different textures, to perform at home) and GII (control). The objective was to analyze the effect of home orientation in patients after surgery for breast cancer complaining of numbness, evaluation, and the conventional esthesiometer. The surface sensitivity was assessed by monofilament Semmes-Weinstein and evaluation using conventional two test tubes with hot water (38 to 43o C) and cold (16 to 27o C), paintbrush, needle. The GI was subjected to 10 sessions and assessments in both 3 times. The M1 (pre intervention), the M2 (post-intervention) after 10 sessions of physical therapy intervention and M3 (washout) after 3 months the second time for assessment. The region targeted for evaluation and intervention was the sensory nerve dermatome intercostobrachial. In the test of Goodman (conventional assessment) there was improvement in both groups, the P1, during the thermal evaluation. The t-test of student (esthesiometer) there was improvement in P2 only in GI (p = 0.003) between points 1 and 2 while the time 3 (p = 0.121 and p = 0.733 respectively). It was concluded that there were divergent and opposite results after examining the effect of home orientation in the nerve dermatome intercostobrachial, evaluation, and the conventional esthesiometer.

Evidence of disagreement between patient-perceived change and conventional longitudinal evaluation of change in health-related quality of life among older adults

Objective: To identify agreement levels between conventional longitudinal evaluation of change (post–pre) and patient-perceived change (post–then test) in health-related quality of life. Design: A prospective cohort investigation with two assessment points (baseline and six-month follow-up) was implemented. Setting: Community rehabilitation setting. Subjects: Frail older adults accessing community-based rehabilitation services. Intervention: Nil as part of this investigation. Main measures: Conventional longitudinal change in health-related quality of life was considered the difference between standard EQ-5D assessments completed at baseline and follow-up. To evaluate patient-perceived change a ‘then test’ was also completed at the follow-up assessment. This required participants to report (from their current perspective) how they believe their health-related quality of life was at baseline (using the EQ-5D). Patient-perceived change was considered the difference between ‘then test’ and standard follow-up EQ-5D assessments. Results: The mean (SD) age of participants was 78.8 (7.3). Of the 70 participants 62 (89%) of data sets were complete and included in analysis. Agreement between conventional (post–pre) and patient-perceived (post–then test) change was low to moderate (EQ-5D utility intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)¼0.41, EQ-5D visual analogue scale (VAS) ICC¼0.21). Neither approach inferred greater change than the other (utility P¼0.925, VAS P¼0.506). Mean (95% confidence interval (CI)) conventional change in EQ-5D utility and VAS were 0.140 (0.045,0.236) and 8.8 (3.3,14.3) respectively, while patient-perceived change was 0.147 (0.055,0.238) and 6.4 (1.7,11.1) respectively. Conclusions: Substantial disagreement exists between conventional longitudinal evaluation of change in health-related quality of life and patient-perceived change in health-related quality of life (as measured using a then test) within individuals.

Test and evaluation of non conventional instrument transformers and sampled value process bus on Powerlink's transmission network

IEC 61850 Process Bus technology has the potential to improve cost, performance and reliability of substation design. Substantial costs associated with copper wiring (designing, documentation, construction, commissioning and troubleshooting) can be reduced with the application of digital Process Bus technology, especially those based upon international standards. An IEC 61850-9-2 based sampled value Process Bus is an enabling technology for the application of Non-Conventional Instrument Transformers (NCIT). Retaining the output of the NCIT in its native digital form, rather than conversion to an analogue output, allows for improved transient performance, dynamic range, safety, reliability and reduced cost. In this paper we report on a pilot installation using NCITs communicating across a switched Ethernet network using the UCAIug Implementation Guideline for IEC 61850-9-2 (9-2 Light Edition or 9-2LE). This system was commissioned in a 275 kV Line Reactor bay at Powerlink Queensland’s Braemar substation in 2009, with sampled value protection IEDs 'shadowing' the existing protection system. The results of commissioning tests and twelve months of service experience using a Fibre Optic Current Transformer (FOCT) from Smart Digital Optics (SDO) are presented, including the response of the system to fault conditions. A number of remaining issues to be resolved to enable wide-scale deployment of NCITs and IEC 61850-9-2 Process Bus technology are also discussed.

Evaluation of the conventional surveying equipment applied to deformation analysis of heritage buildings. A case study: the bell tower of Santa María la Blanca church in Agoncillo (La Rioja, Spain)

Contributed to: "Measuring the Changes": 13th FIG International Symposium on Deformation Measurements and Analysis; 4th IAG Symposium on Geodesy for Geotechnical and Structural Enginering (Lisbon, Portugal, May 12-15, 2008).

A techno-economic evaluation of changing from conventional vehicles to range extended electric vehicles

Transportation accounts for 22% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, and increases to 25% in Northern Ireland. Surface transport carbon dioxide emissions, consisting of road and rail, are dominated by cars. Demand for mobility is rising rapidly and vehicle numbers are expected to more than double by 2050. Car manufacturers are working towards reducing their carbon footprint through improving fuel efficiency and controlling exhaust emissions. Fuel efficiency is now a key consideration of consumers purchasing a new vehicle. While measures have been taken to help to reduce pollutants, in the future, alternative technologies will have to be used in the transportation industry to achieve sustainability. There are currently many alternatives to the market leader, the internal combustion engine. These alternatives include hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles, a term which is widely used to cover battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles. This study draws direct comparisons measuring the differing performance in terms of fuel consumption, carbon emissions and range of a typical family saloon car using different fuel types. These comparisons will then be analysed to see what effect switching from a conventionally fuelled vehicle to a range extended electric vehicle would have not only on the end user, but also the UK government.

Evaluation of the matabolic response of osteosarcoma cells to conventional and new anticancer drugs by NMR metabolomics

The main scope of this work was to evaluate the metabolic effects of anticancer agents (three conventional and one new) in osteosarcoma (OS) cells and osteoblasts, by measuring alterations in the metabolic profile of cells by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy metabolomics. Chapter 1 gives a theoretical framework of this work, beginning with the main metabolic characteristics that globally describe cancer as well as the families and mechanisms of action of drugs used in chemotherapy. The drugs used nowadays to treat OS are also presented, together with the Palladium(II) complex with spermine, Pd2Spm, potentially active against cancer. Then, the global strategy for cell metabolomics is explained and the state of the art of metabolomic studies that analyze the effect of anticancer agents in cells is presented. In Chapter 2, the fundamentals of the analytical techniques used in this work, namely for biological assays, NMR spectroscopy and multivariate and statistical analysis of the results are described. A detailed description of the experimental procedures adopted throughout this work is given in Chapter 3. The biological and analytical reproducibility of the metabolic profile of MG-63 cells by high resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR is evaluated in Chapter 4. The metabolic impact of several factors (cellular integrity, spinning rate, temperature, time and acquisition parameters) on the 1H HRMAS NMR spectral profile and quality is analysed, enabling the definition of the best acquisition parameters for further experiments. The metabolic consequences of increasing number of passages in MG-63 cells as well as the duration of storage are also investigated. Chapter 5 describes the metabolic impact of drugs conventionally used in OS chemotherapy, through NMR metabolomics studies of lysed cells and aqueous extracts analysis. The results show that MG-63 cells treated with cisplatin (cDDP) undergo a strong up-regulation of lipid contents, alterations in phospholipid constituents (choline compounds) and biomarkers of DNA degradation, all associated with cell death by apoptosis. Cells exposed to doxorubicin (DOX) or methotrexate (MTX) showed much slighter metabolic changes, without any relevant alteration in lipid contents. However, metabolic changes associated with altered Krebs cycle, oxidative stress and nucleotides metabolism were detected and were tentatively interpreted at the light of the known mechanisms of action of these drugs. The metabolic impact of the exposure of MG-63 cells and osteoblasts to cDDP and the Pd2Spm complex is described in Chapter 6. Results show that, despite the ability of the two agents to bind DNA, the metabolic consequences that arise from exposure to them are distinct, namely in what concerns to variation in lipid contents (absent for Pd2Spm). Apoptosis detection assays showed that, differently from what was seen for MG-63 cells treated with cDDP, the decreased number of living cells upon exposure to Pd2Spm was not due to cell death by apoptosis or necrosis. Moreover, the latter agent induces more marked alterations in osteoblasts than in cancer cells, while the opposite seemed to occur upon cDDP exposure. Nevertheless, the results from MG-63 cells exposure to combination regimens with cDDP- or Pd2Spm-based cocktails, described in Chapter 7, revealed that, in combination, the two agents induce similar metabolic responses, arising from synergy mechanisms between the tested drugs. Finally, the main conclusions of this thesis are summarized in Chapter 8, and future perspectives in the light of this work are presented.

Inconclusive results in conventional serological screening for Chagas` disease in blood banks: evaluation of cellular and humoral response

To find the most reliable screening method for Trypanosoma cruzi infection in blood banks. Epidemiological data, lymphoproliferation assay, parasitological, conventional serological tests: immunofluorescence, haemagglutination, ELISA with epimastigote and trypomastigote antigens and reference serological tests: trypomastigote excreted-secreted antigens (TESA) blot and chemiluminescent ELISA assay with mucine from trypomastigote forms were applied to individuals with inconclusive serology, non-chagasic individuals and chronic chagasic patients. TESA blot had the best performance when used as a single test in all the groups. In the inconclusive group 20.5% of individuals were positive for TESA blot, 23.3% for either lymphoproliferation or TESA blot, and 17.8% for lymphoproliferation only. Positive lymphoproliferation without detectable antibodies was observed in 5.47% of all inconclusive serology cases. Analysis of six parameters (three serological assays, at least one parasitological test, one lymphoproliferation assay and epidemiological data) in the inconclusive group showed that diagnosis of Chagas` disease was probable in 15 patients who were positive by two or more serological tests or for whom three of those six parameters were positive. TESA blot is a good confirmatory test for Chagas` disease in the inconclusive group. Although lymphoproliferation suggests the diagnosis of Chagas` disease in the absence of antibodies when associated with a high epidemiological risk of acquiring Chagas` disease, the data from this study and the characteristics of the lymphoproliferation assay (which is both laborious and time-consuming) do not support its use as a confirmatory test in blood-bank screening. However, our findings underscore the need to develop alternative methods that are not based on antibody detection to improve the diagnosis when serological tests are inconclusive.

Evaluation of some metals in Brazilian coffees cultivated during the process of conversion from conventional to organic agriculture

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of nutrients and toxic elements in coffees cultivated during the process of conversion, on organic agriculture, in southwest Bahia, Brazil. Levels of the nutrients and toxic elements were determined in samples of soils and coffee tissues from two transitional organic farms by atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The metals in soil samples were extracted by Mehlich1 and USEPA-3050 procedures. Coffee samples from both farms presented relatively high levels of Cd, Zn and Cu (0.75,45.4 and 14.9 mu g g(-1). respectively), but were still below the limits specified by the Brazilian Food Legislation. The application of statistical methods showed that this finding can be attributed to the addition of high amounts of organic matter during the flowering tree period which can act on the bioavailability of metal ions in soils. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In vitro evaluation of conventional and locking miniplate/screw systems for the treatment of mandibular angle fractures

This in vitro study evaluated the influence of the type of miniplate and the number of screws installed in the proximal and distal segments on the stability and resistance of Champy's osteosynthesis in mandibular angle fractures. Sixty polyurethane hemimandibles with bone-like consistency were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 15) and sectioned in the mandibular angle region to simulate fracture. The bone segments were fixed by different osteosynthesis methods using 2.0 mm miniplates and 2.0 mm x 6 mm rnonocortical screws. In groups 1 and 2, two conventional (G1) or locking (G2) screws were installed in each bone segment using a conventional (G1) or a locking (02) straight miniplate; in groups 3 and 4, three conventional (03) or locking (04) screws were installed in the proximal segment and four conventional (G3) or locking (04) screws were installed in the distal segment using a conventional (G3) or a locking (G4) seven-hole straight miniplate. The hemimandibles were loaded in compressive strength until a 4 mm displacement occurred between the segments, vertically or horizontally. Locking plate/screw systems provided significantly greater resistance to displacement than conventional ones (p < .01). Locking miniplates offered more resistance than conventional miniplates. Long locking miniplates provided greater stability than short ones.