Assessment Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

Background: Competency-based education and the validity and reliability of workplace-based assessment of postgraduate trainees have received increasing attention worldwide.Family medicine was recognised as a speciality in South Africa six years ago and a satisfactory portfolio of learning is a prerequisite to sit the national exit exam. A massive scaling up of the number of family physicians is needed in order to meet the health needs of the country.Aim: The aim of this study was to develop a reliable, robust and feasible portfolio assessment tool (PAT) for South Africa.Methods: Six raters each rated nine portfolios from the Stellenbosch University programme, using the PAT, to test for inter-rater reliability. This rating was repeated three months later to determine test–retest reliability. Following initial analysis and feedback the PAT was modified and the inter-rater reliability again assessed on nine new portfolios. An acceptable intra-classcorrelation was considered to be > ...

2025, Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools

Over- and underdiagnosis of language and literacy problems are common with low-socioeconomic status ethnically and racially diverse children. In recent years, a number of alternative assessment procedures have been developed that reduce some of the biases inherent in norm-referenced standardized tests. Problems and recent solutions to the use of norm-referenced testing will be discussed, with a focus on processing-dependent and dynamic assessment procedures.

2025

Una plataforma para la implementación de cursos en línea adaptativos: descripción y punto de vista de los docentes

2025, Ecology and Society

Scenario analyses have been used in multiple science-policy assessments to better understand complex plausible futures. Scenario archetype approaches are based on the fact that many future scenarios have similar underlying storylines, assumptions, and trends in drivers of change, which allows for grouping of scenarios into typologies, or archetypes, facilitating comparisons between a large range of studies. The use of scenario archetypes in environmental assessments foregrounds important policy questions and can be used to codesign interventions tackling future sustainability issues. Recently, scenario archetypes were used in four regional assessments and one ongoing global assessment within the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The aim of these assessments was to provide decision makers with policy-relevant knowledge about the state of biodiversity, ecosystems, and the contributions they provide to people. This paper reflects on the usefulness of the scenario archetype approach within science-policy processes, drawing on the experience from the IPBES assessments. Using a thematic analysis of (a) survey data collected from experts involved in the archetype analyses across IPBES assessments, (b) notes from IPBES workshops, and (c) regional assessment chapter texts, we synthesize the benefits, challenges, and frontiers of applying the scenario archetype approach in a science-policy process. Scenario archetypes were perceived to allow syntheses of large amounts of information for scientific, practice-, and policy-related purposes, streamline key messages from multiple scenario studies, and facilitate communication of them to end users. In terms of challenges, they were perceived as subjective in their interpretation, oversimplifying information, having a limited applicability across scales, and concealing contextual information and novel narratives. Finally, our results highlight what methodologies, applications, and frontiers in archetype-based research should be explored in the future. These advances can assist the design of future large-scale sustainability-related assessment processes, aiming to better support decisions and interventions for equitable and sustainable futures.

2025, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

This study examines Puerto Rican bilinguals' attitudes towards five speech varieties (Spanish, English, Spanish with English lexical insertions, intersentential code-switching, and intra-sentential code-switching). While previous research on language attitudes in Puerto Rico has exclusively employed direct methods (i.e. interviews, surveys, questionnaires), ours is the first to use the matched-guise test. The participants are students at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, who report codeswitching to different degrees. They judged the speech varieties on personality, socio-economic, and ethnicity/identity attributes; their judgements on each of the fifteen attributes were analysed with cumulative link mixed-effects models accounting for the ordinal nature of the ratings. Some findings, such as certain negative attitudes towards English and code-switching and an association between these speech varieties and attributes pertaining to higher socio-economic classes, replicate those from earlier studies in Puerto Rico. However, other results, coinciding with recent studies conducted in Puerto Rico, reflect an attitudinal change in progress, by which participants seem more accepting of lexical insertions and intra-sentential code-switching. New results emerging from this study evidence participants' sensitivity towards different types of code-switching, hence, their awareness of the types of switching that predominate in different speech communities.

2025, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development

2025, American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities

Communication Complexity Scale (CCS) scores for 269 minimally verbal participants were examined to determine if communicator behavior and task and communicator characteristics were related to scores in a manner consistent with theoretical and research evidence expectations. Each participant completed an interactive assessment with 6 joint attention tasks and 6 behavior regulation tasks. Caregivers completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Results indicated (a) joint attention tasks yielded lower scores than behavior regulation tasks, (b) older participants had lower scores, (c) individuals with autism spectrum disorder scored more similarly than those without, (d) the difference between joint attention and behavior regulation scores was greater for the autism spectrum disorder group, and (e) adaptive behavior was significantly positively related to complexity scores.

2025, Paediatrics and Child Health

The behaviour and wellbeing of children and adults with severe intellectual disability and complex needs: the Be-Well checklist for carers and professionals', Paediatrics and Child Health.

2025, Articles

An innovative approach to providing “care” to Aboriginal child who are making a transition into adulthood embodies the concept of culturally restorative practice. This paper is a literature review on Aboriginal child development for children and youth transitioning from a youth to an adult. This paper contains excerpts from “Developing a Culturally Restorative Approach to Aboriginal Child and Youth Development: Transitions to Adulthood” published as a social policy paper for Ontario’s Ministry of Child and Youth Services. The paper was a review of the literature of the following: culturally restorative practices, best practices for successful engagement with Aboriginal populations, thematic of Aboriginal development, as well as implications for child and youth services.

2025, MedEdPublish

Grounded in the literature and the authors' experience running faculty development programs on inclusive teaching, we present twelve tips to ensure equitable access to learning for all students. Teaching inclusively begins with having an inclusive mindset and recognizing our biases. Faculty must embrace a growth mindset about their learners and themselves and accept that failure is a necessary part of learning. Providing structured learning that is multimodal and consistent with evidence from the cognitive sciences helps all learners. By fostering personal connections and offering regular feedback, faculty can ensure the success of all health professions students. Specific tips for teaching in the classroom, clinical, and online environments are provided.

2025, Current and Emerging Challenges in the Diseases of Trees

The planted forest area in Sarawak is the largest planted forest in Malaysia, which has been developed since 1997 to sustain the decline in the production of natural forests. As of December 2021, the total area of plantation forests reached 551,704 hectares (ha), dominated by fast-growing exotic species mainly Acacia species (55%), Falcataria moluccana (15%) and Eucalyptus (14%). The study showed Acacia was infected with red root rot disease of Ganoderma philippii and brown root rot of Phellinus noxius, Ceratocystis wilt disease caused by Ceratocystis. fimbriata sensu stricto (s.s) complex and pink disease caused by Erythricium salmonicolor, while F. moluccana was infected by gall disease namely Uromycladium falcatarium. Eucalyptus pellita diseases were infected namely by G. philippii red root rot disease, stem canker disease caused by Botryosphaeriaceae pathogen and bacterial wild disease caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Ceratocystis wilt disease of Acacia mangium shows disease in...

2025, Journal of Education and Learning

This research aims to construct and validate progress maps of digital technology for diagnosing the multidimensional mathematical proficiency (MP) in Number and Algebra for Grade 7 students utilizing the Construct Modeling Approach. Researchers employed four building blocks as follows. Firstly, researchers developed the progress maps as an assessment framework of multidimensional MP. This is followed by creating the test for diagnosing MP. Next, researchers assigned scoring criteria and created the transition points of students’ MP levels. Finally, researchers validated the quality of the progress maps through empirical evidence. A total sample 1,500 Grade 7 students was used to support the validity and reliability evidence of the progress maps through the Wright Map using Multidimensional Random Coefficients Multinomial Logit Model. Results revealed that there were two dimensions of progress maps, namely mathematical procedures (MAP) and structure of learning outcome (SLO), and the...

2025, Current Psychology

In Western cultural context, grandiose (overt) narcissism has been shown to be either unrelated or negatively related to negative mental health (depression, suicide ideation). Grandiose narcissism may be differently related to depression and suicide ideation variables in Eastern cultural contexts. The current study therefore aims to investigate associations between grandiose narcissism, depression, and suicide ideation in a sample of metropolitan Chinese students as well as in a sample of German students. A total of N = 935 Chinese students (73.3% female; M age = 22.62, SD age = .89) and of N = 389 German students (75.6% female; M age = 23.13, SD age = 2.94) completed paper-and-pencil and/or online measures of grandiose narcissism, depression, and suicide ideation. Grandiose narcissism was positively associated with depression and suicide ideation in Chinese students. Depression fully mediated the association between grandiose narcissism and suicide ideationcontrolling for gender, age, and survey method. In contrast, in the German sample, no significant associations could be found. Grandiose narcissism obviously has different consequences in China than in Germany.

2025, Adolescents

Background: Medically ill youth are at increased suicide risk, necessitating early detection. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of administering the Death Implicit Association Test (Death IAT) to pediatric medical inpatients. Methods: Participants completed measures including the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) and the Death IAT. Results: Over 90% of participants found the Death IAT to be acceptable and more than 75% of participants were comfortable completing the task. There was a small, but statistically significant, improvement from pre-survey to post-survey reports of mood (t(174) = 3.02, p = 0.003, d = 0.15). Participants who endorsed a past suicide attempt on the ASQ had significantly higher "suicide" trial D-scores than those without a past suicide attempt (Wilcoxon W = 1312; p = 0.048; d = 0.61). Conclusions: Implementing an IAT measure among pediatric medical inpatients was feasible and acceptable. In exploratory analyses, "suicide" trial IAT D-scores were associated with past suicide attempts, suggesting future studies should examine whether implicit measures may be useful in hospital settings to augment detection of youth suicide risk.

2025, From Diagnostics to Learning Success

2025, Frontiers in Psychology

Intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) is an epidemic social and public health problem. Research has consistently found evidence for a complex etiology of IPVAW resulting from the interaction of many factors, among which gender-related norms and attitudes are among the main drivers of this violence. Public attitudes toward IPVAW are especially important because attitudes rejecting, condoning, or fostering such behavior are social factors that contribute to a climate of tolerance or refusal that can shape the social environment in which such violence takes place. Given the importance of these attitudes, the availability of reliable, valid, and concise measures is critical for both research and intervention purposes. The evidence shows a probable bias of direct or explicit assessment measures of IPVAW attitudes, and it has been suggested that they should be complemented by indirect or implicit measures. In this context, the main aim of this paper was to examine how implicit and explicit attitudes toward IPVAW differ among a Spanish population. An opportunity sample of 693 students took part in this study. Two direct or explicit measures (the Inventory of Distorted Thoughts about Women and Violence, IPDMV, and the Inventory of Beliefs about Intimate Partner Violence, IBIPV) and one indirect or implicit measure [the Gender Violence Implicit Association Test (GV-IAT), a personalized form of the Implicit Association Test (IAT)] were applied. The results obtained show that the psychometric characteristics of the implicit measure used (GV-IAT) are acceptable. Additionally, we obtained significant differences by gender, IPVAW knowledge, IPVAW involvement, and political opinion when we measured IPVAW attitudes by implicit measures. However, when we measured these attitudes by explicit measures, we only obtained significant differences by gender and political opinion. Finally, the results highlight the important differences between the levels of strong IPVAW rejection measured with explicit and implicit measures, confirming the traditional discrepancy between explicit and implicit measures of attitudes. In summary, the results obtained provide additional support for the idea that GV-IAT constitutes a promising assessment tool to complement explicit measures for attitudes toward IPVAW.

2025, Journal of Interpersonal Violence

There is consistent evidence that attitudes are important in understanding how people react and behave toward victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women. Researchers have typically measured these attitudes through self-reports. However, explicit measures are prone to socially desirable responding. The overall objective of our research is to provide multimethod measures of public attitudes (explicit and implicit) toward intimate partner violence against women. An opportunity sample of 190 Psychology undergraduates (32 men and 158 women) took part in this study and completed two self-reports: the Inventory of Distorted Thoughts about Women and Violence, and the Inventory of Beliefs about Wife Beating. In addition, they completed a personalized Implicit Association Test, the Gender Violence Implicit Association Test. This study provides evidence of the best way to apply the Gender Violence Implicit Association Test (with feedback) and the best procedure for est...

2025

This paper proposes an evolutionary algorithm based approach for evolving architecture alternatives using quality attributes as design drivers. A novel fuzzy architecture assessment approach is presented to quantitatively evaluate the set of possible solutions based on linguistic assessments of architecture quality attributes elicited from the stakeholders. The proposed approach makes a valuable contribution to the systems architecting knowledge base by presenting a measurable and quantifiable approach to architecture design and evaluation.

2025, IARJSET

A sequence of large scale direct shear tests were carried out to evaluate the involvement of passive bearing resistance at the interface of the cohesion less soil-geogrid in shear mode.Soil samples used are with varying proportions of Sand, 6mm aggregates and 12mm aggregates at different densities. The study results revealed that the transverse ribs contribute 17% of the total interface resistance for soil samples tested with the geogrid. From the test results it is observed that the shear strength at sandgeogrid interface mobilized under direct shear mode is depending on the density, size of the particles and thickness of ribs. Moreover, it is observed that the 21 % of passive resistance contributed by transverse ribs with respect to the total shear resistance found decreasing with increase of normal load at constant density and the passive resistance found decreasing with decreasing of density.

2025, Educational Research Review

The present review examines research on the effects of technology use on reading achievement in K-12 classrooms. Unlike previous reviews, this review applies consistent inclusion standards to focus on studies that met high methodological standards. In addition, methodological and substantive features of the studies are investigated to examine the relationship between education technology and study features. A total of 85 qualified studies based on over 60,000 K-12 participants were included in the final analysis. Consistent with previous reviews of similar focus, the findings suggest that education technology generally produced a positive, though small, effect (ES=+0.16) in comparison to traditional methods. However, the effects may vary by education technology type. In particular, the types of supplementary computer-assisted instruction programs that have dominated the classroom use of education technology in the past few decades are not producing educationally meaningful effects in reading for K-12 students. In contrast, innovative technology applications and integrated literacy interventions with the support of extensive professional development showed somewhat promising evidence. However, too few randomized studies for these promising approaches are available at this point for firm conclusions.

2025, Journal of Nursing Education

Background: Rubrics positively affect student academic performance; however, accuracy and consistency of the rubric and its use is imperative. The researchers in this study developed a standardized rubric for use across an undergraduate nursing curriculum, then evaluated the interrater reliability and general usability of the tool. Method: Faculty raters graded papers using the standardized rubric, submitted their independent scoring for interrater reliability analyses, then participated in a focus group discussion regarding rubric use experience. Results: Quantitative analysis of the data showed a high interrater reliability (α = .998). Content analysis of transcription revealed several positive themes: Consistency, Emphasis on Writing Ability, and Ability to Use the Rubric as a Teaching Tool. Areas for improvement included use of value words and difficulty with point allocation. Conclusion: Investigators recommend effective faculty orientation for rubric use and future work in dev...

2025, Bukal Life Journal

A pastoral care and counseling periodical of Bukal Life Journal, based in Baguo City, Philippines

2025, Journal of Hydrometeorology

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite products constitute valuable precipitation datasets over regions with sparse rain gauge networks. Downscaling is an effective approach to estimating the precipitation over ungauged areas with high spatial resolution. However, a large bias and low resolution of original TRMM satellite images constitute constraints for practical hydrologic applications of TRMM precipitation products. This study contributes two precipitation downscaling algorithms by exploring the nonstationarity relations between precipitation and various environment factors [daytime surface temperature (LTD), terrain slope, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), altitude, longitude, and latitude] to overcome bias and low-resolution constraints of TRMM precipitation. Downscaling of precipitation is achieved with the geographically weighted regression model (GWR) and the backward-propagation artificial neural networks (BP_ANN). The probability density functio...

2025, PloS one

Given the important role of lake ecosystems in social and economic development, and the current severe environmental degradation in China, a systematic diagnosis of the ecological security of lakes is essential for sustainable development. A Driving-force, Pressure, Status, Impact, and Risk (DPSIR) model, combined with data screening for lake ecological security assessment was developed to overcome the disadvantages of data selection in existing assessment methods. Correlation and principal component analysis were used to select independent and representative data. The DPSIR model was then applied to evaluate the ecological security of Dianchi Lake in China during 1988-2007 using an ecological security index. The results revealed a V-shaped trend. The application of the DPSIR model with data screening provided useful information regarding the status of the lake's ecosystem, while ensuring information efficiency and eliminating multicollinearity. The modeling approach described h...

2025, Psychiatry

All individuals have cultural identity, but this aspect may be more relevant in patients from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. In this paper, some of the key issues are highlighted and suggestions are made for assessment.

2025, Frontiers in Psychology

There is a strong urge to foster lifelong learning (LLL) competencies with its key components -motivation and self-regulated learning -from early on in the education system. School in general is presently not considered to be successful in systematically imparting motivation and self-regulated learning strategies. There is strong evidence that decisive motivational determinants decrease the longer students stay in school. At present, the central sources of information about the situation in Austria are international monitoring studies, which only examine selected aspects of specific target groups, and their interpretability concerning mean values is constricted due to cultural differences. Thus, it is important to conduct additional and more differentiated national surveys of the actual state. This is why this study aimed at answering the following questions: (1) how well are Austrian students equipped for the future, in terms of their lifelong learning competencies, (2) can perceived classroom structure predict students' LLL, and (3) is there a correlation of students' LLL with their achievement in the school subjects math and German language. 5366 students (52.1% female) from 36 Austrian schools took part in the online-questionnaire (mean age 15.35 years, SD = 2.45), which measured their perceived LLL competencies in the subjects math and German language, their perceived classroom structure and their achievement. Results showed that the great majority of Austrian students -independent from domain and sex -know and are able to apply cognitive as well as metacognitive learning strategies. With regard to motivation the picture is less satisfactory: whilst students' self-efficacy is not the problem, there is a lack of interest in the school subjects and they often report to follow performance approach goals. Classroom structure positively predicted students' goals, interest, self-efficacy and learning strategies. Self-efficacy, performance approach goals, meta-cognitive and deep learning strategies in turn predicted achievement positively, and performance avoidance goals negatively.

2025, Evolving Technologies and Ubiquitous Impacts

This chapter describes the most important aspects of RFID and NFC technology, illustrating their applicative potential, and provides a vision of the future in which the virtual and real worlds merge together as if an osmosis took place.

2025, Water

Surface water quality management is an important facet of the effort to meet increasing demand for water. For that purpose, water quality must be monitored and assessed via the use of innovative techniques, such as water quality indices (WQIs), spectral reflectance indices (SRIs), and multivariate modeling. Throughout the Rosetta and Damietta branches of the Nile River, water samples were collected, and WQIs were assessed at 51 different distinct locations. The drinking water quality index (DWQI), metal index (MI), pollution index (PI), turbidity (Turb.) and total suspended solids (TSS) were assessed to estimate water quality status. Twenty-three physicochemical parameters were examined using standard analytical procedures. The average values of ions and metals exhibited the following sequences: Ca2+ > Na2+ > Mg2+ > K+, HCO32− > Cl− > SO42− > NO3− > CO3− and Al > Fe > Mn > Ba > Ni > Zn > Mo > Cr > Cr, respectively. Furthermore, under the ...

2025, Forced Migration Review

It is a daunting task to follow in the footstepsof Roberta Cohen as the new co-director of theBrookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement

2025, South African Journal of Surgery

Background: An audit of the Fellowship of the College of Surgeons (FCS) of South Africa examination results has not been previously performed. The purpose of this study was to review and determine any predictors of outcome (pass or fail). Methods: The results of the FCS(SA) final examinations from October 2005 to and including October 2014, were retrieved from the College of Medicine of South Africa database. The current format of the examinations consists of two written essay question papers, an objectively structured clinical examination (OSCE), two clinical cases and two oral examinations. These were retrospectively reviewed and analysed. Predictors of failure or success were determined. Results: During the 10-year study period, 472 candidates attempted the examinations. A total of 388 (82%) candidates were successful in the written component of the examination and were subsequently invited to participate in the clinical component of the examinations. Overall, 296 (63%) candidates passed and 176 (37%) failed. There were 51 candidates who were invited to the oral examinations despite an average of less than 50% in the two papers, and 34 (67%) failed the overall examination. Similarly, 126 candidates were invited having failed one of the two papers of which 81 (64%) ultimately failed. A total of 49 candidates failed the OSCE, 82% of these candidates failed overall. There were strong correlations between the averages of the papers versus the orals (Spearman ρ = 0.51), the papers versus the cases (Spearman ρ = 0.50), and the papers versus the OSCE (Spearman ρ = 0.55). The written papers are the main determinant of invitation to the second part of the examination. Candidates with marginal scores in the written component had an overall failure rate of 67%. Failing one paper and passing the other, resulted in an overall failure rate of 64%. Failing the OSCE resulted in an overall 82% failure rate. With the high failure rate of candidates with marginal scores and with the inter-examination variability of the papers, it might be prudent to revisit both the process of invitation selection and the decision to continue with the long-form of the written component.

2025, Revista Mexicana de Psicología

Resumen: En el presente estudio se desarrolla un cuestionario para el estudio del afrontamiento en niños de 8 a 12 años y se analiza su estructura factorial y las propiedades psicométricas del mismo. Se construyeron 27 reactivos con posibilidades de respuesta sí (3), a veces (2), no (1), que fueron administrados a una muestra de 890 niños, de ambos sexos, de entre 8 y 12 años, de nivel socioeconómico medio, residentes en Buenos Aires. El análisis factorial de los ítems indicó dos factores: afrontamiento funcional y afrontamiento disfuncional. Cuando se estudió la relación entre el estilo parental percibido y el afrontamiento en los niños, medido a través del Cuestionario Argentino de Afrontamiento para niños de 8 a 12 años, los resultados obtenidos apoyaron la hipótesis de que los ítems del cuestionario reflejan el constructo afrontamiento en los niños. Los coeficientes alpha de Cronbach, calculados para analizar la consistencia interna del cuestionario, indican índices de fiabilidad aceptables.

2025

Assessment is defined as a process to obtain information about learning, to pose judgments and take decisions. At present, there is no strict divi sion between learning activities and assessment activities. Evaluation strategies have a strong influence on thought development and attitudes as well as on the self - esteem of the assessed individual. If, from ethno -mathematics, the teaching of mathematic s is an in-culturation process the aim of which is to facilitate students the appropriation of a specific part of their culture: How are the above mentioned practices assessed? By which criteria? Is ethno -mathematic knowledge assessable?

2025, CDELT Occasional Papers in the Development of English Education

This mixed-method study investigated the effects of writing e-journals on the metacognitive listening awareness and listening comprehension of EFL university students. Participants were 70 sophomores English major at New Valley University in Egypt who studied English Phonology and Listening course. They were assigned randomly into a control (N=36) and an experimental (N=34) groups. While the two groups received in-class instruction and were assigned online listening home tasks, the experimental group was asked to submit listening e-journals after each listening task. Metacognition Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) (Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal & Tafaghodtari, 2006) and a paper-based Longman TOEFL Listening Test were administered to the groups before and after the experiment. Analysis of listening post-test results showed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group. Analysis of the MALQ revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups with the advantage of the experimental group in the planning and evaluation, directed attention, person knowledge and problem-solving subscales; but not in mental translation. A positive correlation was also found between the two variables. High proficient listeners were found to use more planning and directed attention strategies and less mental translation than low-skilled listeners. Additionally, qualitative data gathered from the journals and interviews showed that students perceived keeping listening e-journals as helpful in setting goals, learning new vocabulary and monitoring learning. However, they identified some challenges in using ejournals like time-consuming and difficulty in reflecting on the listening process. Implications and recommendations for further research were provided.

2025, Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice

Written communication skills are one of the most assessed criteria in higher education contexts, especially in humanities disciplines, including teacher education. There is a need to research and develop an assessment grading tool (i.e. criteria sheet or rubric) that would assist students in pre-service teacher education programs to better understand and practice written communication and to assist markers when grading academic essays that include this criterion. When rubrics are used the criterion that covers the written communication skills part of the task is often too general to truly assist students to know what they must do in order to obtain the grade to which they aspire. Using substantive conversation in focus group discussions, we defined written communication and designed a criteria sheet using a model known as the Continua model of a Guide to Making Judgments (GTMJ). We found that this tool not only had the potential to help students to better understand key features of ...

2025, Brain Impairment

The La Trobe Communication Questionnaire (LCQ) was developed to measure perceived social communication ability from various sources including the self-perceptions of individuals as well as those of others with whom they converse regularly (e.g., family members, friends and clinicians). It has been psychometrically evaluated with healthy young adults and adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and found to have acceptable reliability and validity. The present study was conducted to gauge the ability of the LCQ to distinguish between a group of adolescents who had sustained TBI and a control group of neurologically normal adolescents matched on the variables of socio-economic status (SES), age, gender and level of education completed. Method: Participants were 19 TBI dyads (TBI adolescents and close relatives) and 19 control dyads. All TBI adolescents had sustained severe injury (mean posttraumatic amnesia duration 33.76 days, SD 18.13) due to moving vehicle-related trauma. Mean age at the time of injury was 16.33 years (SD 1.67) and at the time of assessment 17.11years (SD 1.90). The LCQ was administered to all participants at home. Results: Perceptions of TBI adolescents and their relatives were significantly different from those of control dyads and consistent with a higher frequency of social communication difficulties in the TBI group. Difficulties reflected reduced conversational fluency and problems with managing the multiple demands of social discourse. Conclusions: The LCQ is a clinical tool that has sound potential to contribute to the multifaceted assessment of social communication in adolescents with TBI.

2025, Biological Conservation

Australia is a global hotspot of reptile diversity, hosting ~10% of the world's squamate (snake and lizard) species. Yet the conservation status of the Australian squamate fauna has not been assessed for more than 25 years; a period during which the described fauna has risen by ~40%. Here we provide the first comprehensive conservation assessment of Australian terrestrial squamates using IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Most (86.4%; n=819/948) Australian squamates were categorised as Least Concern, 4.5% were Data Deficient, and 7.1% (range 6.8%-11.3%, depending on the treatment of Data Deficient species) were threatened (3.0% Vulnerable, 2.7% Endangered, 1.1% Critically Endangered). This level of threat is low relative to the global average (~18%). One species (Emoia nativitatis) was assessed as Extinct, and two species (Lepidodactylus listeri and Cryptoblepharus egeriae) are considered Extinct in the Wild: all three were endemic to Christmas Island. Most (75.1%) threat assessments were based on geographic range attributes, due to limited data on population trends or relevant proxies. Agriculture, fire, and invasive species were the threats that affected the most species, and there was substantial geographic variation in the number of species affected by each threat. Threatened species richness peaked on islands, in the Southern Alps, and across northern Australia. Data deficiency was greatest in northern Australia and in coastal Queensland. Approximately one-in-five threatened species were not represented in a single protected area. Our analyses shed light on the species, regions, and threats in most urgent need of conservation intervention.

2025, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology

A risk assessor's confidence has been shown to influence both the rater as well as those evaluating the risk assessment. It is important to consider the impact of confidence on accuracy in the risk assessment field given the significant implications of risk assessments for the assessed (e.g. available treatment options vs. restrictions of liberties) and the safety of the public. While prior research in the risk assessment field has used correlations to investigate the confidenceaccuracy (C-A) relationship, a number of fields in psychology have introduced additional techniques, including calibration analysis, to understand this relationship. In this study, we examined the C-A relationship across various adverse clinical outcomes using the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START) and compared and contrasted the C-A relationship using conventional methods (i.e. correlations/ROC analysis) and calibration. Raters completed START assessments for a sample of 106 civil psychiatric inpatients. Overall, calibration provided greater detail into the C-A relationship compared to correlations/ROC analysis. Our results also suggested that the C-A relationship varied as a function of the outcome assessed (e.g. violence, substance abuse, unauthorized leave). These results provide insights into the C-A relationship in medico-legal settings and can inform best practices for risk assessment training and implementation.

2025, Journal of Personality Assessment

The Padua Inventory-Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR) is a frequently used test to assess obsessive-compulsive symptoms in screening and clinical contexts. A reliability generalization meta-analysis was carried out to estimate the average reliability of the PI-WSUR scores and its subscales and to search for characteristics of the studies that can explain the heterogeneity among reliability coefficients. A total of 124 independent samples reported some coefficient alpha or test-retest correlation with the data at hand for the PI-WSUR scores. The average internal consistency reliability of the PI-WSUR total scores was .929 (95%CI: .922 and .936), and for the subscales, the means ranged from .792 to .900. The test-retest reliability for PI-WSUR total scores was .767 (95%CI: .700 and .820), with the subscales ranging from .540 to .790. Moderator analyses revealed a positive relationship between the standard deviation of PI-WSUR total scores and alpha coefficients, as well as higher reliability estimates for the original version of the test and for studies from North America. The reliability induction rate for the PI-WSUR was 53.7%. Regarding reliability, the PI-WSUR ranks among the best scales for assessing obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Internal consistency reliability was excellent for the PI-WSUR total score and good for the subscales.

2025, The Spanish journal of psychology

The Padua Inventory (PI) of obsessions and compulsions is one of the most usually applied tests to assess obsessive-compulsive symptomatology in research contexts as well as for clinical and screening purposes. A reliability generalization meta-analysis was accomplished to estimate the average reliability of the PI scores and to search for characteristics of the samples and studies that can explain the variability among reliability estimates. An exhaustive literature search enabled us to select 39 studies (53 independent samples) that reported alpha and/or test-retest coefficients with the data at hand for the PI total score and subscales. An excellent average coefficient alpha was found for the PI total score (M = .935; 95%CI = .922-.949) and for Impaired Mental Control subscale (M = .911; 95%CI = .897-.924), being good for Contamination (M = .861; 95%CI = .841-.882) and Checking (M = .880; 95%CI = .856-.903), and fair for Urges and Worries (M = .783; 95%CI = .745-.822). The averag...

2025

The Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) is one of the most used tests in clinical psychology for assessing the obsessive and compulsive symptoms in psychiatric patients and as a screening tool in nonclinical population. A reliability generalization meta-analysis was carried out with the purpose of studying how test scores reliability varies along different applications of this test. An exhaustive search of the literature enabled us to select 51 studies that reported some reliability estimate and, by means of the KR-21 formula, we were able to increase the database to 308 internal consistency reliability estimates. On average, the internal consistency reliability of test scores was .76 for the original 30-items version. The reliability coefficients exhibited a large heterogeneity. The analyses of moderator variables revealed a predictive model composed of two predictors: the standard deviation and the mean of test scores. Our results confirmed that reliability is not a property of the test itself, but it varies from one application to the next. As a consequence, the erroneous practice of inducing reliability from previous studies should be avoided in psychological research.

2025, Noro Psikiyatri Arsivi

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate Turkish transcultural adaptation, reliability, and validity of "Parkinson' s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire" (PDQL), which has been developed to assess the quality of life of patients with Parkinson' s disease. Methods: Eighty-nine patients who were included in the study were diagnosed with Parkinson' s disease. They were presented to the outpatient clinic of the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department between July 2005 and April 2008. The Turkish translated version of PDQL (PDQL-TR), "Unified Parkinson' s Disease Rating Scale" (UPDRS), and Hoehn & Yahr (HY) were used as the main outcome measures. The calculated Pearson correlation coefficient for PDQL, H&Y, and UPDRS ranged between -0.36 and -0.80. Cronbach' s alpha coefficients of the PDQL-TR complete questionnaire and subdomains were higher than 0.80. The absolute value of item-total score correlation coefficients by Pearson fluctuated between 0.40 (question 4-total score) and 0.88 (question 26-total score), whereas the subdomain-total score correlation coefficients ranged between 0.81 and 0.96. PDQL-TR showed high stability according to the ICC results, ranging between 0.75 (Emotional Function) and 0.88 (Parkinsonian Symptoms). The psychometric features of PDQL-TR are satisfactory, and our results are consistent with the previous literature findings. PDQL-TR is a valid and reliable tool to measure health-related quality of life in patients with Parkinson' s disease.

2025, Semantic Mining in Biomedicine

Text mining challenges have been organised to measure the performance of automatic text mining solutions against a manually annotated gold standard corpus (GSC). The preparation of the GSC is timeconsuming and costly and the final corpus consists at the most of a few thousand documents annotated with a limited set of semantic groups. To overcome these shortcomings, the CALBC project partners (PPs) have produced a large-scale annotated biomedical corpus with four different semantic groups through the harmonisation of annotations from automatic text mining solutions, the first version of the Silver Standard Corpus (SSC-I). The four semantic groups were chemical entities and drugs (CHED), genes and proteins (PRGE), diseases and disorders (DISO) and species (SPE). This corpus has been used for the First CALBC Challenge asking the participants to annotate the corpus with their annotation solutions. All four PPs from the CALBC project and in addition, 12 challenge participants (CPs) contributed annotated data sets for evaluation against the SSC-I. CPs could ignore the training data and deliver the annotations from their annotation system, or could train a machine-learning approach on the provided preannotated data. In general, the performances of the annotation solutions were lower for the CHED and PRGE in comparison to the identification of DISO and SPE. The best performance over all semantic groups were achieved from two annotation solutions that have been trained on the SSC-I.

2025

RESUMEN: Factores como las nuevas tecnologías, la competitividad o la globalización han propiciado un cambio en los modelos de gestión empresarial. Dentro de estos, la gestión por competencias se presenta como la herramienta más útil, práctica y flexible para la gestión de las personas dentro de las organizaciones. La competitividad también ha llegado a la captación de talento, y por eso, resulta interesante saber como y cuando realizan una u otra técnica, así como saber si han sabido identificar a la persona correcta y que competencias o características prefieren incorporar a sus plantillas. El presente trabajo se estructura en dos partes, una revisión bibliográfica sobre las competencias laborales más demandadas, seguido de un análisis empírico de estas, y, en segundo lugar, sobre las técnicas de selección empleadas para evaluar dichas competencias en Cantabria. Con ese propósito se han llevado a cabo varias encuestas dirigidas a los responsables de los departamentos de recursos h...

2025, Neke. The New Zealand Journal of Translation Studies

I have chosen to translate passages from two works by Italo Calvino (1923-1985) into English. The first, a novel, was his first publication, Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno, Torino: Einaudi, October 1947. Two English translations of it have been published: the first, The Path to the Nest of Spiders by Archibald Colquhoun, London: Jonathan Cape, 1956, and the second, The Path to the Spiders’ Nests (including the author’s 1964 Preface, translated by William Weaver), by Martin McLaughlin, New York: Random House, 1998. It is the first of these that I have used as a comparison with my own translation. Interestingly, Colquhoun’s translation was re-published by Penguin in 2009 in a form revised by McLaughlin. Colquhoun (1912-1964) was a leading early translator of modern Italian literature into English. As well as those of Calvino, his translations of Manzoni and Lampedusa were highly successful. He was the first recipient of the PEN Translation prize.

2025, Journal of Loss and Trauma

Her expertise is in the analysis of clinical trials, psychometrics, and longitudinal data analysis.

2025, International journal of linguistics & communication

The present study investigated the effect of using a computerized dynamic test of writing (CDTW) on L2 writing performance of Iranian EFL students. 60 upper-intermediate junior EFL students from three different universities in Iran participated in this experimental study. Using an interventionist approach to DA, the researcher used CDTW as treatment providing students with a set of pre-formulated supportive hints embedded in three steps of pre-writing, writing-drafting, and reformulationduring the testadministration. It was found that through the interactive and strategy-based learning environment, CDTW could be used to assess students' writing development. Also, the performance of the students improved in terms of the development of four major sub-skills of writing.The findings also indicated that low achievers could benefit more than high achievers from the implementation of CDTW. Students' attitude as measured by a questionnaire confirmed the effective role of computerized dynamic assessment procedures in writing development.