Bats, balls, and substitution sensitivity: cognitive misers are no happy fools.

PubMed

De Neys, Wim; Rossi, Sandrine; Houdé, Olivier

2013-04-01

Influential work on human thinking suggests that our judgment is often biased because we minimize cognitive effort and intuitively substitute hard questions by easier ones. A key question is whether or not people realize that they are doing this and notice their mistake. Here, we test this claim with one of the most publicized examples of the substitution bias, the bat-and-ball problem. We designed an isomorphic control version in which reasoners experience no intuitive pull to substitute. Results show that people are less confident in their substituted, erroneous bat-and-ball answer than in their answer on the control version that does not give rise to the substitution. Contrary to popular belief, this basic finding indicates that biased reasoners are not completely oblivious to the substitution and sense that their answer is questionable. This calls into question the characterization of the human reasoner as a happy fool who blindly answers erroneous questions without realizing it.

Availability of Instructional Materials at the Basic Education Level in Enugu Educational Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chukwu, Leo C.; Eze, Thecla A. Y.; Agada, Fidelia Chinyelugo

2016-01-01

The study examined the availability of instructional materials at the basic education level in Enugu Education Zone of Enugu State, Nigeria. One research question and one hypothesis guided the study. The research question was answered using mean and grand mean ratings, while the hypothesis was tested using t-test statistics at 0.05 level of…

Advertising, a Distributive Education Manual and Answer Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Charles H.; Cyrus, Cinda L.

This revised manual for individualized instruction of distributive education trainees at the high school or junior college level in basic advertising and sales promotion activities includes 15 self-study assignments, teaching suggestions, and a bibliography. Together with a separate answer key, each assignment provides student questions and…

Keys to Transition: The California Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearly, Patt

This publication addresses basic issues related to the concept of transition as it is applied to students with disabilities in California. Following a pretest (and its answer key), the document uses a question and answer format to discuss common concerns about transition, normalization, the school role, the "Bridges" model developed by…

Counterfactual Reasoning: Developing a sense of “nearest possible world”

PubMed Central

Rafetseder, Eva; Cristi-Vargas, Renate; Perner, Josef

2011-01-01

We investigated at what point in development 3- to 6-year-old children begin to demonstrate counterfactual reasoning by controlling for fortuitously correct answers that result from basic conditional reasoning. Basic conditional reasoning occurs when one applies typical regularities (such as “If it doesn’t rain the street is dry”) to counterfactual questions (such as “If it had not rained, would the street be wet or dry?”) without regard to actual events (for example, if street cleaners had just been washing the street). In counterfactual reasoning, however, the conditional reasoning must be constrained by actual events (according to the “nearest possible world”). In situations when counterfactual reasoning and basic conditional reasoning would yield the same answers, even the youngest children gave mostly correct answers. However, tasks in which the two reasoning strategies resulted in different answers proved unusually difficult even for the older children. PMID:20331674

Regenerative endodontics and tissue engineering: what the future holds?

PubMed

Goodis, Harold E; Kinaia, Bassam Michael; Kinaia, Atheel M; Chogle, Sami M A

2012-07-01

The work performed by researchers in regenerative endodontics and tissue engineering over the last decades has been superb; however, many questions remain to be answered. The basic biologic mechanisms must be elucidated that will allow the development of dental pulp and dentin in situ. Stress must be placed on the many questions that will lead to the design of effective, safe treatment options and therapies. This article discusses those questions, the answers to which may become the future of regenerative endodontics. The future remains bright, but proper support and patience are required. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Testing Intercultural Competence in (International) English: Some Basic Questions and Suggested Answers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camerer, Rudi

2014-01-01

The testing of intercultural competence has long been regarded as the field of psychometric test procedures, which claim to analyse an individual's personality by specifying and quantifying personality traits with the help of self-answer questionnaires and the statistical evaluation of these. The underlying assumption is that what is analysed and…

[Understanding questions: a specific difficulty in children with pragmatic communication and language disorders].

PubMed

Monfort, I; Monfort, M

2010-03-03

The question-answer schema is the basis for communicative interaction and is therefore a fundamental aim of the work carried out with children with severe communication and language impairment. Answering questions requires basic skills that enable the listener to identify intonation and facial expression, as well as skills in interpreting intentions and in understanding linguistic content. Some questions can rest on contextual-social keys and others may be based on lexical or structural keys. Some questions, however, call for a more complex understanding, such as 'what' and 'who' questions. Here, we propose an analysis of the skills involved in understanding questions and the consequences on intervention strategies. Intervention in understanding questions should combine different approaches (cognitive, social, linguistic) depending on the type of question, the specific difficulties the child has and the context.

Attention Deficit Disorder. NICHCY Briefing Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowler, Mary

This briefing paper uses a question-and-answer format to provide basic information about children with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Questions address the following concerns: nature and incidence of ADD; causes of ADD; signs of ADD (impulsivity, hyperactivity, disorganization, social skill deficits); the diagnostic ADD assessment; how to get…

Basic Skills Achievement, 1981-82.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin Independent School District, TX. Office of Research and Evaluation.

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) office of Research and Evaluation presents Basic Skills Achievement, 1981-82 (BSA). The BSA answers the following questions: (1) How does AISD student achievement compare to student achievement nationwide? (2) How does AISD's 1981-82 student achievement compare to the achievement of students in past…

Science 101: Can Electromagnetic Waves Affect Emotions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, Bill

2017-01-01

The answer to this month's question, "Can electromagnetic waves affect emotions," is yes. Wherever there are electromagnetic (EM) waves (basically everywhere!), there is the potential for them directly or indirectly to affect the emotions. But what about the likely motivation behind the originally-posed question? Can EM waves affect your…

Accessing Programs for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers with Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horne, Richard, Ed.

1990-01-01

Intended for use by parents of infants, toddlers and preschoolers, this guide presents, in question and answer format, basic information about early intervention and special education services. Questions about services for the period from birth through 2 years include the following: "What are early intervention services?""What is an…

Borrowing and Repaying Student Loans

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillman, Nicholas W.

2015-01-01

This essay synthesizes the most recent and rigorous research on student loan debt. It focuses on basic questions about who borrows, how much, and whether debt affects behaviors. Answers to these questions are necessary for informing federal student loan policymaking, yet the research findings are surprisingly mixed because of poor data quality,…

Chapter 1 Basic Skills Improvement Program. An Information Booklet for Parents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Jersey State Dept. of Education, Trenton.

This information booklet for parents answers some of the questions parents often ask about their children's participation in basic skills improvement programs. It suggests ways in which parents can support and reinforce the school's role and offers suggestions for parent involvement and ideas for at-home activities to support skill development.…

Analyzing the BBOB results by means of benchmarking concepts.

PubMed

Mersmann, O; Preuss, M; Trautmann, H; Bischl, B; Weihs, C

2015-01-01

We present methods to answer two basic questions that arise when benchmarking optimization algorithms. The first one is: which algorithm is the "best" one? and the second one is: which algorithm should I use for my real-world problem? Both are connected and neither is easy to answer. We present a theoretical framework for designing and analyzing the raw data of such benchmark experiments. This represents a first step in answering the aforementioned questions. The 2009 and 2010 BBOB benchmark results are analyzed by means of this framework and we derive insight regarding the answers to the two questions. Furthermore, we discuss how to properly aggregate rankings from algorithm evaluations on individual problems into a consensus, its theoretical background and which common pitfalls should be avoided. Finally, we address the grouping of test problems into sets with similar optimizer rankings and investigate whether these are reflected by already proposed test problem characteristics, finding that this is not always the case.

Questions and Answers about TB

MedlinePlus

... Search Form Controls Cancel Submit Search The CDC Tuberculosis (TB) Note: Javascript is disabled or is not ... message, please visit this page: About CDC.gov . Tuberculosis Basic TB Facts How TB Spreads Latent TB ...

Response: Training Doctoral Students to Be Scientists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollio, David E.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article is to begin framing doctoral training for a science of social work. This process starts by examining two seemingly simple questions: "What is a social work scientist?" and "How do we train social work scientists?" In answering the first question, some basic assumptions and concepts about what constitutes a "social work…

GIS, Pollution Prevention and Public Health

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Using examples of preventing pollution and reducing risk of exposure to communities, this guide answers basic interest and start-up questions, addresses benefits and limitations and illustrates the value of GIS for local health departments.

Questions and Answers about Stroke

MedlinePlus

... Strategy Current Research Research Funded by NINDS Basic Neuroscience Clinical Research Translational Research Research at NINDS Focus ... Diversity Resources Jobs at NINDS Director, Division of Neuroscience Director, NIH BRAIN Initiative® Health Scientist Administrator Channels ...

Questions and Answers about Carotid Endarterectomy

MedlinePlus

... Strategy Current Research Research Funded by NINDS Basic Neuroscience Clinical Research Translational Research Research at NINDS Focus ... Diversity Resources Jobs at NINDS Director, Division of Neuroscience Director, NIH BRAIN Initiative® Health Scientist Administrator Channels ...

A Computerized Content Analysis of the Perceived Criterion Categories for the "Speech to Inform" of Inexperienced and Experienced Basic Course Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Tom; Di Salvo, Vince

A computerized content analysis of the "theory input" for a basic speech course was conducted. The questions to be answered were (1) What does the inexperienced basic speech student hold as a conceptual perspective of the "speech to inform" prior to his being subjected to a college speech class? and (2) How does that inexperienced student's…

[Tracking study to improve basic academic ability in chemistry for freshmen].

PubMed

Sato, Atsuko; Morone, Mieko; Azuma, Yutaka

2010-08-01

The aims of this study were to assess the basic academic ability of freshmen with regard to chemistry and implement suitable educational guidance measures. At Tohoku Pharmaceutical University, basic academic ability examinations are conducted in chemistry for freshmen immediately after entrance into the college. From 2003 to 2009, the examination was conducted using the same questions, and the secular changes in the mean percentage of correct response were statistically analyzed. An experience survey was also conducted on 2007 and 2009 freshmen regarding chemical experiments at senior high school. Analysis of the basic academic ability examinations revealed a significant decrease in the mean percentage of correct responses after 2007. With regard to the answers for each question, there was a significant decrease in the percentage of correct answers for approximately 80% of questions. In particular, a marked decrease was observed for calculation questions involving percentages. A significant decrease was also observed in the number of students who had experiences with chemical experiments in high school. However, notable results have been achieved through the implementation of practice incorporating calculation problems in order to improve calculation ability. Learning of chemistry and a lack of experimental experience in high school may be contributory factors in the decrease in chemistry academic ability. In consideration of the professional ability demanded of pharmacists, the decrease in calculation ability should be regarded as a serious issue and suitable measures for improving calculation ability are urgently required.

Visual Basic Programming Impact on Cognitive Style of College Students: Need for Prerequisites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Garry L.

2012-01-01

This research investigated the impact learning a visual programming language, Visual Basic, has on hemispheric cognitive style, as measured by the Hemispheric Mode Indicator (HMI). The question to be answered is: will a computer programming course help students improve their cognitive abilities in order to perform well? The cognitive styles for…

Warning Signals: Basic Criteria for Tracking At-Risk Infants and Toddlers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blackman, James

Developed by a multidisciplinary group (convened by Project Zero to Three) of 17 experts in the identification and evaluation of high risk infants and young children, this manual presents basic criteria for tracking at risk infants and toddlers. The first section answers such questions about the criteria as the following: What is a tracking system…

A survey on patients' knowledge and expectations during informed consent for spinal surgery: can we improve the shared decision-making process?

PubMed

Weckbach, Sebastian; Kocak, Tugrul; Reichel, Heiko; Lattig, Friederike

2016-01-01

The informed medical consent in surgery requires to some point basic medical knowledge. The treating physicians while explaining the details and risks of the recommended procedure often imply this. We hypothesized, that patients do not have adequate medical understanding to decide about the ongoing therapy and its potential complications based on knowledge jeopardizing the patients' safety. We conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospective database using a multiple choice questionnaire with 10 basic questions about anatomy, clinical symptoms and therapies of spinal diseases in our spine clinic at a German university hospital. Included were all patients at the spine clinic who agreed to the study and to fill in the questionnaire. Furthermore the patients age, mother tongue, the past spinal surgical history, the length of duration of symptoms and the patients education were inquired. The data were analyzed descriptive. Included were 248 patients with an average age of 59 years (16-88 a). 70 % of all patients used German as their mother tongue. 30 % of the included patients already had spinal surgery and suffered on average for 13.4 years because of their spinal disorder. Overall 32.6 % of all questions were answered correctly (range 0.8-68 %). A correlation of correctly answered questions and the patients' age, duration of symptoms, mother tongue, education and past surgical history could not be described. The percentage of correctly answered questions is almost as low as the likelihood of nearness in guessing. Having this in mind the patients do not choose any treatment option based on knowledge. The physicians need to provide more basic knowledge to the patients. This would increase the amount of successful therapies, content patients and the patients safety.

Operator Certification Study Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Water Works Association, Denver, CO.

This study guide contains typical questions and answers that all levels of water treatment plant operators might expect to find on a certification examination. The manual covers the basic sciences, treatment techniques, testing procedures, and federal legislation. (Author/SB)

TRI.NET Tutorial with Examples

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This tutorial walks users through some sample TRI.NET searches to illustrate some of the ways this application can be used to access TRI data and answer basic questions about toxic chemical releases in a specific geographic area.

CAT Model with Personalized Algorithm for Evaluation of Estimated Student Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andjelic, Svetlana; Cekerevac, Zoran

2014-01-01

This article presents the original model of the computer adaptive testing and grade formation, based on scientifically recognized theories. The base of the model is a personalized algorithm for selection of questions depending on the accuracy of the answer to the previous question. The test is divided into three basic levels of difficulty, and the…

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. NICHCY Briefing Paper. 3rd Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowler, Mary

This briefing paper uses a question-and-answer format to provide basic information about children and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). It is intended to help parents, teachers, and others interested in AD/HD know what to look for, what to do, and how to get help. Questions address the following concerns: nature…

Be Your Own Boss: Introducing Entrepreneurship. Professional Development Series, No. 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Persons, Edgar A.

Suitable for use by teachers as an introductory unit on entrepreneurship, this booklet is organized around 10 basic questions that the aspiring entrepreneur should be able to answer. The following issues are covered in the questions: the suitability of the individual to the entrepreneur role and vice versa, the ability of the individual to make…

From the Laboratory to the Classroom: The Effects of Equivalence-Based Instruction on Neuroanatomy Competencies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fienup, Daniel M.; Mylan, Sanaa E.; Brodsky, Julia; Pytte, Carolyn

2016-01-01

Equivalence-based instruction (EBI) has been used to successfully teach college-level concepts in research laboratories, but few studies have examined the results of such instruction on classroom performance. The current study answered a basic question about the ordering of training stimuli as well as an applied question regarding the effects of…

The effects of cumulative practice on mathematics problem solving.

PubMed

Mayfield, Kristin H; Chase, Philip N

2002-01-01

This study compared three different methods of teaching five basic algebra rules to college students. All methods used the same procedures to teach the rules and included four 50-question review sessions interspersed among the training of the individual rules. The differences among methods involved the kinds of practice provided during the four review sessions. Participants who received cumulative practice answered 50 questions covering a mix of the rules learned prior to each review session. Participants who received a simple review answered 50 questions on one previously trained rule. Participants who received extra practice answered 50 extra questions on the rule they had just learned. Tests administered after each review included new questions for applying each rule (application items) and problems that required novel combinations of the rules (problem-solving items). On the final test, the cumulative group outscored the other groups on application and problem-solving items. In addition, the cumulative group solved the problem-solving items significantly faster than the other groups. These results suggest that cumulative practice of component skills is an effective method of training problem solving.

The effects of cumulative practice on mathematics problem solving.

PubMed Central

Mayfield, Kristin H; Chase, Philip N

2002-01-01

This study compared three different methods of teaching five basic algebra rules to college students. All methods used the same procedures to teach the rules and included four 50-question review sessions interspersed among the training of the individual rules. The differences among methods involved the kinds of practice provided during the four review sessions. Participants who received cumulative practice answered 50 questions covering a mix of the rules learned prior to each review session. Participants who received a simple review answered 50 questions on one previously trained rule. Participants who received extra practice answered 50 extra questions on the rule they had just learned. Tests administered after each review included new questions for applying each rule (application items) and problems that required novel combinations of the rules (problem-solving items). On the final test, the cumulative group outscored the other groups on application and problem-solving items. In addition, the cumulative group solved the problem-solving items significantly faster than the other groups. These results suggest that cumulative practice of component skills is an effective method of training problem solving. PMID:12102132

Your Scores in Basic Skills: Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. AISD Junior High Schools, School Year 1981-82. AISD Senior High Schools, School Year 1981-82.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin Independent School District, TX.

Designed for junior high and high school students and their parents, this brochure explains the structure, function, and method for interpretation of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Sequential Tests of Educational Progress. A question and answer format is used to provide information on scope and purposes of the tests, meaning and accuracy…

Your Child's Scores in Basic Skills: Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. AISD Kindergarten, School Year 1981-82. AISD Elementary Schools, School Year 1981-82.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin Independent School District, TX.

Designed for parents of kindergarten and elementary school children in Austin, Texas, this brochure explains the structure and function of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. A question and answer format is used to provide information on the scope and purposes of the tests, grade level differences in testing, meaning and accuracy of the scores, and…

Effectiveness of Active Learning Strategy in Improving the Acoustic Awareness Skills and Understanding What Is Heard by the Basic Stage Students in Jordan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Odwan, Yaser

2016-01-01

This research aims to get acquainted with the effectiveness of the active learning strategy in improving the acoustic awareness skills and understanding what is heard by the basic stage students in Jordan by answering the two following questions: This research has been applied to a sample of 60 students from the basic third grade in Al-Ahnaf Ben…

Emergy in 60 Minutes

EPA Science Inventory

This web presentation answers basic questions about the relatively new scientific concept, emergy. It dispels some of the confusion surrounding this idea in a PowerPoint presentation. The presentation is written in common language and uses straightforward examples. Emergy indic...

Questions and Answers about Treating Arterial Stenosis and Preventing Stroke

MedlinePlus

... Strategy Current Research Research Funded by NINDS Basic Neuroscience Clinical Research Translational Research Research at NINDS Focus ... Diversity Resources Jobs at NINDS Director, Division of Neuroscience Director, NIH BRAIN Initiative® Health Scientist Administrator Channels ...

The Role of School Culture and Basic Psychological Needs on Iranian Adolescents' Academic Alienation: A Multi-Level Examination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahmoudi, Hojjat; Brown, Monica R.; Amani Saribagloo, Javad; Dadashzadeh, Shiva

2018-01-01

This aim of this current research was a multi-level analysis of the relationship between school culture, basic psychological needs, and adolescents' academic alienation. One thousand twenty-nine (N = 1,029) high school students from Qom City were randomly selected through a multi-phase cluster sampling method and answered questions regarding…

Answering Gauguin’s Questions: Where Are We Coming From, Where Are We Going, and What Are We?

ScienceCinema

Ellis, John [CERN

2017-12-09

The knowledge of matter revealed by the current reigning theory of particle physics, the so-called Standard Model, still leaves open many basic questions. What is the origin of the matter in the Universe? How does its mass originate? What is the nature of the dark matter that fills the Universe? Are there additional dimensions of space? The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, where high-energy experiments have now started, will take physics into a new realm of energy and time, and will address these physics analogues of Gauguin's questions. The answers will set the stage for possible future experiments beyond the scope of the LHC.

Internet delivered question and answer column for patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Maijala, Riikka; Anttila, Minna; Koivunen, Marita; Pitkänen, Anneli; Kuosmanen, Lauri; Välimäki, Maritta

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the use of an Internet delivered question and answer column among patients with schizophrenia. The column was developed for research purposes. The study sample consisted of patients (N = 100) admitted to acute inpatient psychiatric care in two hospital districts. Descriptive data were collected from the column to which a nurse replied within 3 days and analysed using qualitative content analysis. The column had four to five questions weekly. The most common age of users was 18-24 years, and the gender distribution was almost equal. Column use was heaviest among students (44%) and least among unemployed people (19%). Out of 85 questions or comments sent to the column, 25 (29%) were related to program training and the remaining 60 (71%) were related to medication (31%), illness and tests (25%), other questions or comments (9%), daily life and coping with it (4%), and places to receive treatment (2%). An Internet delivered question and answer column can be included in the care of patients with schizophrenia. However, it requires a new type of basic and additional education in the field of mental health care in order for nurses to be able to provide nursing via the Internet forum.

The Development and Evaluation of Software to Foster Professional Development in Educational Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benton, Morgan C.

2008-01-01

This dissertation sought to answer the question: Is it possible to build a software tool that will allow teachers to write better multiple-choice questions? The thesis proceeded from the finding that the quality of teaching is very influential in the amount that students learn. A basic premise of this research, then, is that improving teachers…

Hippocrates takes a blow: the Family and Medical Leave Act and health care administration.

PubMed

Wyld, D C

1995-12-01

This article examines the special legal and administrative issues for health care management that are posed by the recently enacted Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Following a question-and-answer format, the article outlines the basic provisions of the law and answers what will likely be the most commonly faced administrative questions. It will be seen that FMLA issues and administration will be of significant concern to managers at all levels in health care organizations for some time to come. The conclusion of the article outlines a series of administrative steps that health care managers should undertake to proactively administer the federal leave law.

Degree of Availability of Good Teacher Characteristics among the English Language (EL) Teachers of Basic Stage Schools from Their Principals' Views in Tafila Governorate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alroud, Attalla; Qomoul, Mohammad

2017-01-01

The study aimed to investigate the Degree of Availability of Good Teacher Characteristics Among English Language (EL) Teachers of Basic Stage Schools from Their Principals' views in Tafila Governorate. This could be achieved through answering the following questions: 1-What is the degree of availability of good teacher characteristics among…

Comparative Elections: Building a Basic Reference Collection.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nalen, James E.

2001-01-01

This annotated bibliography focuses on resources for the study of international elections and electoral systems and outcomes that will be useful for collection development and for answering reference questions about foreign elections. Discusses comparative politics, comparative elections, and possible electoral reform. (LRW)

Copyright Catechism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Edmund B.

1993-01-01

Provides a basic introduction to copyright through a question-and-answer format. Topics covered include definition of copyright, copyright notices and registration, rights to owners, duration, software, civil and criminal penalties, the work-made-for-hire doctrine, fair use, transfer, international scope, licenses, and student materials. (EAM)

Modernism, Postmodernism, or Neither? A Fresh Look at "Fine Art"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamhi, Michelle Marder

2006-01-01

Numerous incidents have been reported in recent years wherein a work of art is mistaken as trash. The question is, how have people reached the point in the civilized world where a purported work of art cannot be distinguished from a pile of rubbish or a grid of condensation pipes? The answer to that question lies in the basic assumption of nearly…

Commentary on Sommer et al. 'A randomized experiment of the effects of including alternative medicine in the mandatory benefit package of health insurance.

PubMed

Heusser, P

2000-03-01

The study by Sommer et al. recently reported in Complementary Therapies in Medicine has been heavily criticised in Switzerland since its original publication. Its major problems are an inadequate reflection of real practice, an inadequate study design relative to the central research objective, questionable value of the applied instrument and procedure for health assessment, methodological and statistical problems, and failure to consider literature relevant to the topic. For these reasons, this experimental study does not allow an answer to its central questions as to costs and effectiveness of complementary medicine made available within Switzerland's mandatory basic health insurance provisions. We propose more practice-related, non-experimental prospective study designs to realistically answer these questions.

A Slice of Advice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glass, Gene V.

1992-01-01

Questions that beginning educational researchers and evaluators will have to answer are discussed concerning: (1) which intellectual tradition to select; (2) the roles of basic and theoretical inquiry; (3) qualitative and quantitative distinctions; (4) the theory-practice relationship; (5) political influences; and (6) the correct emphasis on…

Oral Health Basics-What Every Pediatrician Should Know.

PubMed

Fernandez, Sabrina

2016-11-01

As soon as teeth are present, dental care should be discussed at every pediatric well-child visit. Many parents do not ask their pediatricians about dental care, assuming that it is the dentists' domain, but some families do ask lots of questions. Either way, pediatricians should discuss dental care at well visits, answering any questions and offering anticipatory guidance, especially on how to prevent caries. There are many questions from parents about dental care: how to brush, what kind of toothpaste to use, how to stop their child from grinding his or her teeth, whether or not pacifiers are bad for tooth development, and other inquiries that are addressed in the article. This article acts as a quick reference guide for pediatricians, so they are prepared to answer common questions about oral health. [Pediatr Ann. 2016;45(11):e379-e381.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

Previniendo el Uso de Drogas entre Ninos y Adolescentes: Una Guia Basada en Investigaciones (Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloboda, Zili; David, Susan L.

This question and answer guide provides an overview of the research on the origins and pathways of drug abuse, the basic principles derived from effective drug abuse prevention research, and the application of research results to the prevention of drug use among young people. The basic principles derived from drug abuse prevention research are…

Regulatory Requirements for Devices for the Handicapped.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stigi, John, Ed.; Rivera, Richard J., Ed.

This booklet explains in question/answer form the basic regulatory requirements established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the federal government concerning the manufacture, marketing and distribution of medical devices (including implantable devices and devices previously regulated as drugs) for persons with disabilities. Topics…

Production Scheduling for Rehabilitation Workshops.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hietala, David A.

This publication examines production scheduling procedures for sheltered workshops. The manual includes three major sections: (1) the importance and benefits of production scheduling; (2) how-to information on performing basic scheduling in the workshop; and (3) answers to the question, What makes production scheduling work? The scheduling…

Clover, Red (Trifolium pretense)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Genetic modification of plants by the insertion of transgenes can be a powerful experimental approach to answer basic questions about gene product function. This technology can also be used to make improved crop varieties for use in the field. To apply this powerful tool to red clover, an important ...

Microcomputers in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Cheryl A.

Designed to answer basic questions educators have about microcomputer hardware and software and their applications in teaching, this paper describes the revolution in computer technology that has resulted from the development of the microchip processor and provides information on the major computer components; i.e.; input, central processing unit,…

WHAT MAKES THINGS GO.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mobilization for Youth, Inc., New York, NY.

THE INITIAL QUESTION IN THE TITLE IS ANSWERED THROUGH SIMPLE EXPERIMENTS FOR CULTURALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. MUSCLES, RUNNING, WATER, WIND, STEAM, FAST BURNING AND ELECTRICITY ARE FOUND TO "MAKE THINGS GO." USING THESE BASIC DISCOVERIES, VOCABULARY IS BUILT UP BY WORKING WITH DIFFERENT WORDS RELATING TO THE…

Google Search Mastery Basics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Paul; MacArthur, Stacey; Read, Nick

2014-01-01

Effective Internet search skills are essential with the continually increasing amount of information available on the Web. Extension personnel are required to find information to answer client questions and to conduct research on programs. Unfortunately, many lack the skills necessary to effectively navigate the Internet and locate needed…

Patents & Inventions: An Information Aid for Inventors. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patent Office (DOC), Washington, DC.

This pamphlet explains what a patent is, discusses the importance of patents, and gives basic steps to take in obtaining a patent. A section on marketing and developing inventions is also included along with answers to questions frequently asked concerning patents and inventions. (MN)

IEP Common Talk. PAGE Bulletin.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education, Norristown.

This bulletin presents basic information for parents about identification and services for gifted students in Pennsylvania. Written in a question and answer format, the bulletin addresses the following concerns: the Individualized Education Program (IEP) required for all exceptional students in the state; the multi-disciplinary evaluation process;…

Facts about Hib Disease. ARC Facts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Retarded Citizens, Arlington, TX.

The fact sheet provides basic information about Hib Disease in young children, which may involve a bacterial meningitis causing mental retardation, hearing loss, partial blindness, speech disorders, partial paralysis, behavioral problems, or seizures. Stressed is prevention of Hib Disease through immunization. The question and answer format…

How do primary care physicians seek answers to clinical questions? A literature review.

PubMed

Coumou, Herma C H; Meijman, Frans J

2006-01-01

The authors investigated the extent to which changes occurred between 1992 and 2005 in the ways that primary care physicians seek answers to clinical problems. What search strategies are used? How much time is spent on them? How do primary care physicians evaluate various search activities and information sources? Can a clinical librarian be useful to a primary care physician? Twenty-one original research papers and three literature reviews were examined. No systematic reviews were identified. Primary care physicians seek answers to only a limited number of questions about which they first consult colleagues and paper sources. This practice has basically not changed over the years despite the enormous increase in and better accessibility to electronic information sources. One of the major obstacles is the time it takes to search for information. Other difficulties primary care physicians experience are related to formulating an appropriate search question, finding an optimal search strategy, and interpreting the evidence found. Some studies have been done on the supporting role of a clinical librarian in general practice. However, the effects on professional behavior of the primary care physician and on patient outcome have not been studied. A small group of primary care physicians prefer this support to developing their own search skills. Primary care physicians have several options for finding quick answers: building a question-and-answer database, consulting filtered information sources, or using an intermediary such as a clinical librarian.

How do primary care physicians seek answers to clinical questions? A literature review

PubMed Central

Coumou, Herma C. H.; Meijman, Frans J.

2006-01-01

Objectives: The authors investigated the extent to which changes occurred between 1992 and 2005 in the ways that primary care physicians seek answers to clinical problems. What search strategies are used? How much time is spent on them? How do primary care physicians evaluate various search activities and information sources? Can a clinical librarian be useful to a primary care physician? Methods: Twenty-one original research papers and three literature reviews were examined. No systematic reviews were identified. Results: Primary care physicians seek answers to only a limited number of questions about which they first consult colleagues and paper sources. This practice has basically not changed over the years despite the enormous increase in and better accessibility to electronic information sources. One of the major obstacles is the time it takes to search for information. Other difficulties primary care physicians experience are related to formulating an appropriate search question, finding an optimal search strategy, and interpreting the evidence found. Some studies have been done on the supporting role of a clinical librarian in general practice. However, the effects on professional behavior of the primary care physician and on patient outcome have not been studied. A small group of primary care physicians prefer this support to developing their own search skills. Discussion: Primary care physicians have several options for finding quick answers: building a question-and-answer database, consulting filtered information sources, or using an intermediary such as a clinical librarian. PMID:16404470

What does the American Board of Surgery In-Training/Surgical Basic Science Examination tell us about graduate surgical education?

PubMed

DaRosa, D A; Shuck, J M; Biester, T W; Folse, R

1993-01-01

This research sought to identify the strengths and weakness in residents' basic science knowledge and, second, to determine whether they progressively improve in their abilities to recall basic science information and clinical management facts, to analyze cause-effect relationships, and to solve clinical problems. Basic science knowledge was assessed by means of the results of the January 1990 American Board of Surgery's In-Training/Surgical Basic Science Exam (IT/SBSE). Postgraduate year (PGY) 1 residents' scores were compared with those of PGY5 residents. Content related to a question was considered "known" if 67% or more of the residents in each of the two groups answered it correctly. Findings showed 44% of the content tested by the basic science questions were unknown by new and graduating residents. The second research question required the 250 IT/SBSE questions to be classified into one of three levels of thinking abilities: recall, analysis, and inferential thinking. Profile analysis (split-plot analysis of variance) for each pair of resident levels indicated significant (P < 0.001) differences in performance on questions requiring factual recall, analysis, and inference between all levels except for PGY3s and PGY4s. The results of this research enable program directors to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in residency training curricula and the cognitive development of residents.

Coping with Copyright. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Merriam, Elizabeth B.; And Others

Intended to help librarians, library media specialists, administrators, and educators better understand the ramifications of the copyright law, Public Law 94-553, this document asks and answers some of the basic questions concerning compliance with the law. Topics covered include definition of the copyright law; scope of copyright protection;…

78 FR 75353 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Public Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-11

... cognitive interviews, focus groups, usability tests, field tests/pilot interviews, and experimental research... as more basic research on response errors in surveys. HRSA staff use various techniques to evaluate... interview structure consists of respondents first answering a draft survey question and then providing...

Plug-In Electric Vehicle Handbook for Consumers (Spanish Version); Clean Cities, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

This is a Spanish-language handbook designed to answer a consumer's basic questions, as well as point them to additional information they need, to make the best decision about whether an electric-drive vehicle is right for them.

Gender In Interviewing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrd, Marquita L.; Robinson, Andrea

The interview is a special case of interpersonal communication. It is a communication event with a serious and predetermined purpose with the basic mode of communication being the asking and answering of questions. People are engaged in interviews throughout their lives from the employment setting to the counseling setting. This annotated…

Anatomy of a Book Controversy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Homstad, Wayne

A major controversy arose in 1987 in a midwestern school district, after a middle school teacher assigned the novel "Go Ask Alice" to her seventh-grade class. This book describes the district's attempt to answer two basic questions: What should students read? and Who should decide what students read? The book controversy is first…

Sex Differences in Mental and Behavioral Traits.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garai, Josef E.; Scheinfeld, Amram

1968-01-01

This review of research conducted on sex differences attempts to answer the following questions: (1) Do the sexes differ in their basic capacities for specific types of mental performance and occupational achievement? (2) If such differences exist, to what extent are they genetically determined? (3) Are sex differences in abilities, interests, and…

Guidebook : potential policies and incentives to encourage movement of containerized freight on Texas inland waterways.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-02-01

This guidebook is designed to answer three basic questions: : 1. Why is the Texas Department of Transportation interested in moving more cargo by water? : 2. What are the potential benefits of moving more cargo by water? : 3. What specific steps can ...

Potential policies and incentives to encourage movement of containerized freight on Texas inland waterways.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-03-01

This report is designed to answer three basic questions: : 1. Why is the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) interested in moving more cargo by water? : 2. What are the potential benefits of moving more cargo by water? : 3. What specific steps...

Perhaps the Professor Should Cut Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Lester A.; Murray, Donald M.

A basic college composition course without class meetings in which the instructors responded individually to each student's writing is described. The content of the course was each student's writing and the teaching method was the student writing and the teacher reacting in conference. Each student received a question-and-answer sheet, a brief…

OCCUPATIONS FOR YOU, PART ONE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DES ROCHES, DEAN L.

DEVELOPED AS PART OF A CURRICULUM PROJECT DESCRIBED IN VT 004 454 TO HELP YOUNG PEOPLE LEARN BASIC PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF MECHANICS AND TECHNOLOGY, THIS BOOK WAS DESIGNED TO STIMULATE INTEREST AND ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT VOCATIONAL CHOICE, STIMULATE INTEREST IN READING, AND PROVIDE CONTENT TO RELATE TO ACADEMIC STUDY. THE MATERIALS DEVELOPED IN…

A Question and Answer Guide to Astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christian, Carol; Roy, Jean-René

2017-03-01

Preface; 1. The sky viewed from Earth; 2. The Earth and Moon system; 3. The Solar System; 4. Stars and stellar systems; 5. Galaxies and the Universe; 6. Life in the Universe; 7. Amateur astronomy; 8. Telescopes and instruments; Unit conversion and basic physical and astronomical measurements; References; Bibliography; Index.

Innovation Learning in Comprehensive Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindfors, Eila; Hilmola, Antti

2016-01-01

The goal of this article is to clarify the concept of innovation and by presenting a research on the basic education outcome assessment data from an innovation learning perspective, answer to a question: Do students learn innovation in comprehensive education? The empirical information in this research is based on data collected in the national…

Dan Says - Continuum Magazine | NREL

Science.gov Websites

good science will reward you with unexpected insights - some more profound than you ever could have insights we gain through the basic science we perform is essential to our applied technology R&D, and answer the fundamental questions of science. Their colleagues forge those new insights into workable

Community Participation in Schools in Developing Countries: Characteristics, Methods and Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Kenneth A.

2009-01-01

This study examines how communities participate in schools across diverse contexts in developing countries and the results attributed to community participation. It reviews evaluations of participatory approaches to education in developing countries to answer two basic questions: 1) How do communities participate in school in developing countries?…

Disability Awareness: A Guidebook for Families and Educators. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

PACER Center, Inc., Minneapolis, MN.

This manual provides basic information for teachers and others who are interested in helping children learn about different disabilities. Each section includes information about a particular disability and answers questions that children might have about the disability. The first section addresses visual impairments and contains information on…

The Chronically Poor: Breaking the Cycle.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris-Bilotti, Sharon

This question-and-answer format paper looks at some of the basic issues surrounding the chronically poor and initiatives and services designed to break the poverty cycle. A first section explores some of the myths and realities surrounding the characteristics of the chronically poor population and notes that this population is comprised of…

Thai Basic Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

These 10 volumes comprise Lessons 1-80 in an introductory course in Thai. The general format, as presented in the first unit, consists of (1) a question-answer pattern drill, which introduces new grammatical structures, (2) a dialog, containing the new structures and vocabulary, (3) a recombination dialog, presenting the new words and patterns in…

Volcanoes on the Beach?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleinert, Katrin

2009-01-01

How could a rock formed by volcanic activity get to this shoreline, surrounded by sedimentary rocks? That was the question a group of third-grade students asked--and answered--during an inquiry-based summer camp. Over a two week timeframe, the students practiced basic inquiry skills such as observing; measuring; describing and drawing; sharing…

Children and Adolescents: Should We Teach Them or Let Them Learn?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rohwer, William D., Jr.

Research to date has provided too few answers for vital educational questions concerning teaching children or letting them learn. A basic problem is that experimentation usually begins by accepting conventional assumptions about schooling, ignoring experiments that would entail disturbing the ordering of current educational priorities.…

What can posturography tell us about vestibular function?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Black, F. O.

2001-01-01

Patients with balance disorders want answers to the following basic questions: (1) What is causing my problem? and (2) What can be done about my problem? Information to fully answer these questions must include status of both sensory and motor components of the balance control systems. Computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) provides quantitative assessment of both sensory and motor components of postural control along with how the sensory inputs to the brain interact. This paper reviews the scientific basis and clinical applications of CDP. Specifically, studies describing the integration of vestibular inputs with other sensory systems for postural control are briefly summarized. Clinical applications, including assessment, rehabilitation, and management are presented. Effects of aging on postural control along with prevention and management strategies are discussed.

Investigation of technical problems related to deployment and retrieval of spinning satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, M. H.

1973-01-01

Results of a three-year research effort on retrieval and deployment problems associated with orbiting payloads are summarized. Answers to several basic questions about rendezvous, docking, and deployment dynamics and controls were obtained. A basic retrieval mission profile was formulated in order to develop relevant technology. A remotely controlled retrieval package was conceived. Special deployment dynamics problems associated with high altitude deployment were investigated, and new knowledge of payload spin reorientation was obtained.

Six Questions for the Resource Model of Control (and Some Answers)

PubMed Central

Inzlicht, Michael; Berkman, Elliot

2017-01-01

The resource model of self-control casts self-control as a capacity that relies on some limited resource that exhausts with use. The model captured our imagination and brought much-needed attention on an important yet neglected psychological construct. Despite its success, basic issues with the model remain. Here, we ask six questions: (i) Does self-control really wane over time? (ii) Is ego depletion a form of mental fatigue? (iii) What is the resource that is depleted by ego depletion? (iv) How can changes in motivation, perception, and expectations replenish an exhausted resource? (v) Has the revised resource model unwittingly become a model about motivation? (vi) Do self-control exercises increase self-control? By providing some answers to these questions – including conducting a meta-analysis of the self-control training literature – we highlight how the resource model needs to be revised if not supplanted altogether. PMID:28966660

Affective science perspectives on cancer control: Strategically crafting a mutually beneficial research agenda

PubMed Central

Ferrer, Rebecca A.; McDonald, Paige Green; Barrett, Lisa Feldman

2015-01-01

Cancer control research involves the conduct of basic and applied behavioral and social sciences to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and improve quality of life. Given the importance of behavior in cancer control, fundamental research is necessary to identify psychological mechanisms underlying cancer risk, prevention, and management behaviors. Cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are often emotionally-laden. As such, affective science research to elucidate questions related to basic phenomenological nature of emotion, stress, and mood is necessary to understand how cancer control can be hindered or facilitated by emotional experiences. To date, the intersection of basic affective science research and cancer control remains largely unexplored. The goal of this paper is to outline key questions in the cancer control research domain that provide an ecologically valid context for new affective science discoveries. We also provide examples of ways in which basic affective discoveries could inform future cancer prevention and control research. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive or prescriptive, but instead are offered to generate creative thought about the promise of a cancer research context for answering basic affective science questions. Together, these examples provide a compelling argument for fostering collaborations between affective and cancer control scientists. PMID:25987511

How To Develop a Resource Center for a Career Education Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eversole, Opal

Intended to guide local school systems in the development of a resource center for a career education program, this booklet identifies three kinds of resources which should be included: Human resources, community resources, and material resources. Then in a question/answer format, the guide explains the basic steps in identifying all resources…

Teaching Reaction Engineering Using the Attainable Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Metzger, Matthew J.; Glasser, Benjamin J.; Glasser, David; Hausberger, Brendon; Hildebrandt, Diane

2007-01-01

Ask a graduating chemical engineering student the following question: What makes one reactor different from the next? The answers received will often be unsatisfactory and will vary widely in scope. Some may cite the difference between the basic design equations, others may point out a PFR is "longer," and still others may state that it…

Facts about Alcohol and Other Drug Use during Pregnancy. ARC Facts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association for Retarded Citizens, Arlington, TX.

The fact sheet provides basic information about how alcohol and drug use during pregnancy can lead to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBD), resulting in such problems as mental retardation, sleep disturbances, learning disabilities, muscle problems, heart defects, and small head size. The question and answer format…

78 FR 5035 - Final Priorities; Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-23

... flexibility where possible, and develop and implement a study design that would answer important questions... basic design requirements--for both program management and evaluation purposes--for data and account... commenter stated that based on its experience with schools, local governments, and others in the design and...

Answers to Science Questions from the "Stop Faking It!" Guy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robertson, William C.

2009-01-01

This valuable and entertaining compendium of Bill Robertson's popular "Science 101" columns, from NSTA member journal "Science and Children," proves you don't have to be a science geek to understand basic scientific concepts. The author of the best-selling "Stop Faking It!" series explains everything from quarks to photosynthesis, telescopes to…

School Resources and Student Achievement: Data from Rural India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chudgar, Amita; Chandra, Madhur; Iyengar, Radhika; Shanker, Rishikesh

2015-01-01

In addition to basic infrastructure, what school resources are important to improve learning? This question is hard to answer due to lack of availability of appropriate data. Collaboration between researchers at US universities and a large, well-established educational foundation in India enabled this study to overcome the challenge of data…

Cognitive Research and Elementary Science Instruction: From the Laboratory, to the Classroom, and Back

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klahr, David; Li, Junlei

2005-01-01

Can cognitive research generate usable knowledge for elementary science instruction? Can issues raised by classroom practice drive the agenda of laboratory cognitive research? Answering yes to both questions, we advocate building a reciprocal interface between basic and applied research. We discuss five studies of the teaching, learning, and…

COLUG: Chicago Online Users Introductory Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Alexandra L., Ed.; Pyrce, Sharon R., Ed.

Intended to serve as an introduction to online searching in the Chicago area, the guide answers these basic questions for those considering going online for the first time: what is online searching, starting out online, local training for online searching, how to choose a terminal, 1200 baud equipment selection, how to prepare for and evaluate a…

The Peer Reference Counseling Program at Odum Library. Training Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence, Tamiko Danielle; Thomas, Susan; Winston, Mark

The Peer Reference Counseling Program at Valdosta State University (Georgia) is a program designed to provide students with a unique opportunity to work at the Reference Desk at Odum Library. This program employs minority students and trains them to work at the Reference Desk answering basic reference questions and utilizing as well as…

What Coping Strategies and Support Mechanisms Have Elementary Teachers Found Most Effective?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrd, Kristie M.

2017-01-01

This basic qualitative research study explored the lives of 14 elementary teachers in their classroom environment to answer two central research questions which are: what coping strategies do teachers find most effective and what coping mechanisms provided by administration helps them cope with classroom stress? Data were collected through…

Basic Visual Merchandising. Second Edition. [Student's Manual and] Answer Book/Teacher's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luter, Robert R.

This student's manual that features content needed to do tasks related to visual merchandising is intended for students in co-op training stations and entry-level, master employee, and supervisory-level employees. It contains 13 assignments. Each assignment has questions covering specific information and also features activities in which students…

Designing Evaluations. 2012 Revision. Applied Research and Methods. GAO-12-208G

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Government Accountability Office, 2012

2012-01-01

GAO assists congressional decision makers in their deliberations by furnishing them with analytical information on issues and options. Many diverse methodologies are needed to develop sound and timely answers to the questions the Congress asks. To provide GAO evaluators with basic information about the more commonly used methodologies, GAO's…

A Demonstration of the Analysis of Variance Using Physical Movement and Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owen, William J.; Siakaluk, Paul D.

2011-01-01

Classroom demonstrations help students better understand challenging concepts. This article introduces an activity that demonstrates the basic concepts involved in analysis of variance (ANOVA). Students who physically participated in the activity had a better understanding of ANOVA concepts (i.e., higher scores on an exam question answered 2…

AED (Automated External Defibrillator) Programs: Questions and Answers

MedlinePlus

... take. AEDs are very accurate and easy to use. With training, anyone can learn to operate an AED safely. There are many different brands of AEDs, but the same basic steps apply to all of them. The AHA does not recommend a specific model. What’s the AHA position on placement of ...

Empirical ethics and its alleged meta-ethical fallacies.

PubMed

de Vries, Rob; Gordijn, Bert

2009-05-01

This paper analyses the concept of empirical ethics as well as three meta-ethical fallacies that empirical ethics is said to face: the is-ought problem, the naturalistic fallacy and violation of the fact-value distinction. Moreover, it answers the question of whether empirical ethics (necessarily) commits these three basic meta-ethical fallacies.

Tactile Speech Indicator: Adaptive Telephone Device for Deaf-Blind Clients.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, M. R.

1990-01-01

This article describes basic applications of an adaptive telephone device for deaf-blind persons with speaking voices. The deaf-blind caller poses questions requiring one-word answers, and the device vibrates in response to touch-tone pulses from the other party. Specific suggestions for such uses as making appointments and emergency calls are…

Feeding Behaviors in Cellular Slime Molds: A Microbial System To Study Competition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bozzone, Donna M.

1997-01-01

Describes a laboratory project for first-year biology students that examines competition among various cellular slime molds. After a brief introduction to the topic of competition and basic life history information about cellular slime molds, students choose a question and design original experiments to seek an answer. (Author/AIM)

Changing Attitudes toward the Old in Oriental Families in Israel.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stahl, Abraham

1993-01-01

Notes change in central position held by old people in traditional Jewish-Oriental family and society following migration to Israel. Changing attitudes within family are reflected in discussions by disadvantaged soldiers of Oriental origin in classes for basic training in Israeli army and by answers of fifth-grade children to questions on their…

Troubleshooting in Medical Offices

PubMed Central

Gillespie, A. B.

1977-01-01

Physicians usually go into practice with little or no instruction in how to manage their business affairs or organize their offices. Many questions, such as where to practice, whether to join a group and whether to incorporate, must be answered. Several sources of help are available, but nothing substitutes for knowledge of the basic principles outlined in this article.

NASCAR Winston Cup Race Results for 1975-2003

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winner, Larry

2006-01-01

Stock car racing has seen tremendous growth in popularity in recent years. We introduce two datasets containing results from all Winston Cup races between 1975 and 2003, inclusive. Students can use any number of statistical methods and applications of basic probability on the data to answer a wide range of practical questions. Instructors and…

Planning a Financial Aid Awareness Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Education, Washington, DC.

This booklet is intended to be used with a set of slides as part of presentations to students. Each page usually includes an illustration of the accompanying slide, the basic information to be communicated, background notes and answers to common questions as appropriate. The presentation first considers why a student should go to college or career…

Mommy, Daddy--What's AIDS?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of Pediatric Nurse Associates and Practitioners, Cherry Hill, NJ.

This brochure is designed to help parents answer the questions that their children may ask them about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. It provides basic information about AIDS and HIV, as well as sources for further information, such as the National AIDS Hotline. It…

Guiding Reinvention of Conventional Tools of Mathematical Logic: Students' Reasoning about Mathematical Disjunctions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawkins, Paul Christian; Cook, John Paul

2017-01-01

Motivated by the observation that formal logic answers questions students have not yet asked, we conducted exploratory teaching experiments with undergraduate students intended to guide their reinvention of truth-functional definitions for basic logical connectives. We intend to reframe the relationship between reasoning and logic by showing how…

A multi-instructor, team-based, active-learning exercise to integrate basic and clinical sciences content.

PubMed

Kolluru, Srikanth; Roesch, Darren M; Akhtar de la Fuente, Ayesha

2012-03-12

To introduce a multiple-instructor, team-based, active-learning exercise to promote the integration of basic sciences (pathophysiology, pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry) and clinical sciences in a doctor of pharmacy curriculum. A team-based learning activity that involved pre-class reading assignments, individual-and team-answered multiple-choice questions, and evaluation and discussion of a clinical case, was designed, implemented, and moderated by 3 faculty members from the pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacy practice departments. Student performance was assessed using a multiple-choice examination, an individual readiness assurance test (IRAT), a team readiness assurance test (TRAT), and a subjective, objective, assessment, and plan (SOAP) note. Student attitudes were assessed using a pre- and post-exercise survey instrument. Students' understanding of possible correct treatment strategies for depression improved. Students were appreciative of this true integration of basic sciences knowledge in a pharmacotherapy course and to have faculty members from both disciplines present to answer questions. Mean student score on the on depression module for the examination was 80.4%, indicating mastery of the content. An exercise led by multiple instructors improved student perceptions of the importance of team-based teaching. Integrated teaching and learning may be achieved when instructors from multiple disciplines work together in the classroom using proven team-based, active-learning exercises.

Does Anyone Know the Answer to that Question? Individual Differences in Judging Answerability

PubMed Central

Karlsson, Bodil S. A.; Allwood, Carl Martin; Buratti, Sandra

2016-01-01

Occasionally people may attempt to judge whether a question can be answered today, or if not, if it can be answered in the future. For example, a person may consider whether enough is known about the dangers of living close to a nuclear plant, or to a major electricity cable, for them to be willing to do so, and state-authorities may consider whether questions about the dangers of new technologies have been answered, or in a reasonable future can be, for them to be willing to invest money in research aiming develop such technologies. A total of 476 participants, for each of 22 knowledge questions, either judged whether it was answerable today (current answerability), or judged when it could be answered (future answerability). The knowledge questions varied with respect to the expected consensus concerning their answerability: consensus questions (high expected consensus), non-consensus questions (lower expected consensus), and illusion questions (formulated to appear answerable, but with crucial information absent). The questions’ judged answerability level on the two scales was highly correlated. For both scales, consensus questions were rated more answerable than the non-consensus questions, with illusion questions falling in-between. The result for the illusion questions indicates that a feeling of answerability can be created even when it is unlikely that somebody can come up with an answer. The results also showed that individual difference variables influenced the answerability judgments. Higher levels of belief in certainty of knowledge, mankind’s knowledge, and mankind’s efficacy were related to judging the non-consensus questions as more answerable. Participants rating the illusion questions as answerable rated the other answerability questions as more, or equally, answerable compared to the other participants and showed tendencies to prefer a combination of more epistemic default processing and less intellectual processing. PMID:26793164

Interpretation of Genomic Data Questions and Answers

PubMed Central

Simon, Richard

2008-01-01

Using a question and answer format we describe important aspects of using genomic technologies in cancer research. The main challenges are not managing the mass of data, but rather the design, analysis and accurate reporting of studies that result in increased biological knowledge and medical utility. Many analysis issues address the use of expression microarrays but are also applicable to other whole genome assays. Microarray based clinical investigations have generated both unrealistic hyperbole and excessive skepticism. Genomic technologies are tremendously powerful and will play instrumental roles in elucidating the mechanisms of oncogenesis and in devlopingan era of predictive medicine in which treatments are tailored to individual tumors. Achieving these goals involves challenges in re-thinking many paradigms for the conduct of basic and clinical cancer research and for the organization of interdisciplinary collaboration. PMID:18582627

Understanding Creation: Cosmology at the Dawn of the 21st Century

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lang, Andrew E.

1997-01-01

Cosmology attempts to answer questions concerning the origin of the universe, the way in which it evolves, and the way in which it will end. These are ancient questions that fascinate humanity and attendant metaphysical answers predate recorded history. The dawn of the 21st century has witnessed the first scientific answers. The goal of modern cosmology is to determine the basic properties of the universe. Numerous discoveries have been made in the last century which have had a profound influence on cosmology such as the expansion of the universe and the existence of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). CMB and other phenomena act as fossils for cosmologists who attempt to characterize the early universe through an interpretive methodology similar to that of archaeologists. Programs and tools such as NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) have been designed to illuminate the morphologic history of the universe including the big bang theory and the current density of the universe. In this primer for cosmology, these and other discoveries and postulations are discussed.

Can Clinical Scenario Videos Improve Dental Students' Perceptions of the Basic Sciences and Ability to Apply Content Knowledge?

PubMed

Miller, Cynthia Jayne; Metz, Michael James

2015-12-01

Dental students often have difficulty understanding the importance of basic science classes, such as physiology, for their future careers. To help alleviate this problem, the aim of this study was to create and evaluate a series of video modules using simulated patients and custom-designed animations that showcase medical emergencies in the dental practice. First-year students in a dental physiology course formatively assessed their knowledge using embedded questions in each of the three videos; 108 to 114 of the total 120 first-year students answered the questions, for a 90-95% response rate. These responses indicated that while the students could initially recognize the cause of the medical emergency, they had difficulty in applying their knowledge of physiology to the scenario. In two of the three videos, students drastically improved their ability to answer high-level clinical questions at the conclusion of the video. Additionally, when compared to the previous year of the course, there was a significant improvement in unit exam scores on clinically related questions (6.2% increase). Surveys were administered to the first-year students who participated in the video modules and fourth-year students who had completed the course prior to implementation of any clinical material. The response rate for the first-year students was 96% (115/120) and for the fourth-year students was 57% (68/120). The first-year students indicated a more positive perception of the physiology course and its importance for success on board examinations and their dental career than the fourth-year students. The students perceived that the most positive aspects of the modules were the clear applications of physiology to real-life dental situations, the interactive nature of the videos, and the improved student comprehension of course concepts. These results suggest that online modules may be used successfully to improve students' perceptions of the basic sciences and enhance their ability to apply basic science content to clinically important scenarios.

Desorden Deficitario de la Atencion. Segunda Edicion. NICHCY Briefing Paper [and] El Desorden Deficitario de la Atencion: Una Bibliografia de Materiales en Ingles y Espanol (Attention Deficit Disorder. Second Edition. NICHCY Briefing Paper [and] Attention Deficit Disorder: A Bibliography of Materials in English and Spanish).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowler, Mary

This briefing paper uses a question-and-answer format to provide basic information about children with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Questions address the following concerns: nature and incidence of ADD; causes of ADD; signs of ADD (impulsivity, hyperactivity, disorganization, social skill deficits); the diagnostic ADD assessment; how to…

Que Tal la Justicia Social en los Alumnos de la UIA (Universidad Iberoamericana)? Investigacion sobre los Logros en la Formacion Valoral (What about Social Justice among the Students of the Iberoamerican University? Survey on the Achievements in the Acquisition of Values).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bazdresch Parada, Juan E.

This survey investigates how the students of social philosophy modify their criteria on basic questions of social justice. A questionnaire of 30 questions, with 5 options, was developed. The five answer/options correspond to the following five schools of social philosophy (five ways of thinking): (1) liberal individualism; (2) humanitarianism; (3)…

Dynamics of the Molten Contact Line

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sonin, Ain A.; Schiaffino, Stefano

1996-01-01

In contrast to the ordinary contact line problem, virtually no information is available on the similar problem associated with a molten material spreading on a solid which is below the melt's fusion point. The latter is a more complex problem which heat transfer and solidification take place simultaneously with spreading, and requires answers not only for the hot melt's advance speed over the cold solid as a function of contact angle, but also for how one is to predict the point of the molten contact line's arrest by freezing. This issues are of importance in evolving methods of materials processing. The purpose of our work is to develop, based on both experiments and theory, an understanding of the dynamic processes that occur when a molten droplet touches a subcooled solid, spreads partly over it by capillary action, and freezes. We seek answers to the following basic questions. First, what is the relationship between the melt's contact line speed and the apparent (dynamic) contact angle? Secondly, at what point will the contact line modon be arrested by freezing? The talk will describe three components of our work: (1) deposition experiments with small molten droplets; (2) investigation of the dynamics of the molten contact line by means of a novel forced spreading method; and (3) an attempt to provide a theoretical framework for answering the basic questions posed above.

Turkish Young Children's Views on Science and Scientists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozgelen, Sinan

2012-01-01

The purpose of the study was to investigate 3rd grade primary students' views on science and scientists. The sample consisted of 254 3rd grade public school students in Mersin. Primary students were asked to answer three basic questions; 1) What is science? 2) Who does science? 3) How is science done? Primary students were requested to give…

The Characteristics of Religious Education Teachers and Respecting Diversity in Religious Education in Croatia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Filipovic, Ana Thea; Rihtar, Stanko

2017-01-01

The first part of the article deals with the European and, specifically, Croatian sociopolitical and cultural framework of inclusive pedagogy and presents its basic postulates. The second part contains answers to questions linked to the treatment of differences in religious education in Croatia and characteristics of teachers that can be linked to…

Proceedings: guidelines for managing immature Appalachian hardwood stands

Treesearch

H Clay Smith; Maxine C. Eye

1986-01-01

How to do it, that is what this workshop is all about. This proceedings will provide field foresters and landowners with an update of current available information for managing immature Appalachian hardwood stands. We all have dozens of questions and concerns and though several of these will be answered, some will not. Basically, guidelines are "guides" and...

The Only Land I Know: A History of the Lumbee Indians.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dial, Adolph L.; Eliades, David K.

This book is basically a narrative of the major personalities, experiences, and fears of the Lumbee Indians of southeastern North Carolina. A pioneering effort to record the history of the Lumbees, the book is necessarily based on "logical supposition and oral history". It attempts to answer 2 questions: (1) Who are the Lumbee Indians;…

Developing Professionalism in the Child Care Industry. An Instructional Program Guide for Child Care Workers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Ann; And Others

This program guide documents a child care job family curriculum that develops competence in generic work force education skills through two minicourses: Basic Issues in Child Care and Child Development Associate. An annotated table of contents lists a brief description of the questions answered in each section. An introduction presents a program…

Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Isaacs, Julia B.; Sawhill, Isabel V.; Haskins, Ron

2008-01-01

While the American Dream remains a unifying cultural tenet for an increasingly diverse society, it may be showing signs of wear. Growing income inequality and slower growth suggest that now is an important moment to review the facts about opportunity and mobility in America and to attempt to answer the basic question: Is the American Dream alive…

Where Cognitive Conflict Arises from?: The Structure of Creating Cognitive Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Gyoungho; Yi, Jinseog

2013-01-01

In this study, our basic contention was that it is essential for researchers to answer the question, "Where does cognitive conflict really arise from?" with more precision than has heretofore been attempted. First, we examined how the term "cognitive conflict" has been treated in the existing literature and try to pinpoint some difficulties,…

Isozyme studies of forest insect populations

Treesearch

Molly W. Stock

1981-01-01

Data from isozyme analyses are being used to help answer many basic biological questions about forest insect pests and to provide information for a variety of other purposes as well. This paper summarizes the uses of isozymes in quality control of laboratory insect colonies, in studies of insecticide response, as markers of insect parasitoids, and in investigations of...

Cultivating the Moral Character of Learning and Teaching: A Neglected Dimension of Educational Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starratt, Robert J.

2005-01-01

This essay intends to examine the moral character of learning and teaching and the concomitant implications for educational leaders. With the academic curriculum in mind, I ask the basic question: why should young people learn the standard academic curriculum that schools confront them with? Although the expected answer might be, in the present…

Staff Accountability Plan for New Mexico Schools: Provisions and Directives. [and] Questions and Answers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Carroll L.

In an effort to explain the Staff Accountability Plan for New Mexico's schools, two pamphlets were developed. Designed to address the issue of teacher accountability and certification, pamphlet 1 presents the three provisions of the New Mexico Staff Accountability Plan. The plan requires: (1) a written basic skills assessment as part of teacher…

Protecting log cabins from decay

Treesearch

R. M. Rowell; J. M. Black; L. R. Gjovik; W. C. Feist

1977-01-01

This report answers the questions most often asked of the Forest Service on the protection of log cabins from decay, and on practices for the exterior finishing and maintenance of existing cabins. Causes of stain and decay are discussed, as are some basic techniques for building a cabin that will minimize decay. Selection and handling of logs, their preservative...

A Genre Conversation Begins

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jameson, Juanita

2013-01-01

Keeping a uniform, basic arrangement of the school library is essential if students are to be comfortable finding resources in other libraries. Two questions that must be answered if a new system were to be devised are: Who would decide on the particulars of that system? What criteria would be used to make the decision to ensure that use of the…

The Teaching of the Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educator Preparation Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davenport, Marvin; Thompson, J. Ray; Templeton, Nathan R.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this descriptive quantitative research study was to answer three basic informational questions: (1) To what extent ethics training, as stipulated in Texas Administrative Code Chapter 247, was included in the EPP curriculum; (2) To what extent Texas public universities with approved EPP programs provided faculty opportunities for…

Autismo: Lo Que Miembros de Familia Necesitan Saber (Autism: What the Family Members Need to Know).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bancroft School, Haddonfield, NJ.

In Spanish, the booklet addresses basic information for families with children who have autism. Facts about the syndrome are listed, followed by signs and symptoms, a summary of programmatic requirements, answers to questions frequently asked by families, suggestions to help parents cope, concerns facing adolescents and adults with autism, and…

The Characteristics of an Effective Performance Appraisal Interview: A Rules Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Sheryl L.

A study was conducted to answer the following research questions: (1) to what extent is there consensus in the organizational culture on basic rules for an effective performance; (2) to what extent are there variations in rule consensus for an effective performance appraisal interview among groups within the organization; and (3) to what extent do…

Optical coating in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bunner, A. N.

1983-01-01

A technological appraisal of the steps required to approach the goal of in-situ optical coating, cleaning and re-coating the optical elements of a remote telescope in space is reported. Emphasis is placed on the high ultraviolet throughput that a telescope using bare aluminum mirrors would offer. A preliminary design is suggested for an Orbital Coating Laboratory to answer basic technical questions.

The Role of Artistic Experiences in the Comprehensive Inductive Educational Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kroflic, Robi

2012-01-01

Postmodern pedagogy is constantly confronted with Lyotard's condemnation of grand narratives found in the philosophy of modernity, on the basis of which basic patterns of moral education were developed. In searching for new answers to the question of how education can prepare individuals for life in an age of late modernity, this paper presents…

Fact Sheets from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children, 1980.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children, Reston, VA.

The document is a compilation of 15 fact sheets developed during 1980 by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Handicapped and Gifted Children. Fact sheets are single sheets which provide basic information in a question-answer format and include additional resources and references. The fact sheets have the following titles: "Sex Education for Retarded…

Individual responsibility and health-risk behaviour: a contingent valuation study from the ex ante societal perspective.

PubMed

van der Star, Sanne M; van den Berg, Bernard

2011-08-01

This study analyzes peoples' social preferences for individual responsibility to health-risk behaviour in health care using the contingent valuation method adopting a societal perspective. We measure peoples' willingness to pay for inclusion of a treatment in basic health insurance of a hypothetical lifestyle dependent (smoking) and lifestyle independent (chronic) health problem. Our hypothesis is that peoples' willingness to pay for the independent and the dependent health problems are similar. As a methodological challenge, this study also analyzes the extent to which people consider their personal situation when answering contingent valuation questions adopting a societal perspective. 513 Dutch inhabitants responded to the questionnaire. They were asked to state their maximum willingness to pay for inclusion of treatments in basic health insurance package for two health problems. We asked them to assume that one hypothetical health problem was totally independent of behaviour (for simplicity called chronic disease). Alternatively, we asked them to assume that the other hypothetical health problem was totally caused by health-risk behaviour (for simplicity called smoking disease). We applied the payment card method to guide respondents to answer the contingent valuation method questions. Mean willingness to pay was 42.39 Euros (CI=37.24-47.55) for inclusion of treatment for health problem that was unrelated to behaviour, with '5-10' and '10-20 Euros' as most frequently stated answers. In contrast, mean willingness to pay for inclusion treatment for health-risk related problem was 11.29 Euros (CI=8.83-14.55), with '0' and '0-5 Euros' as most frequently provided answers. Difference in mean willingness to pay was substantial (over 30 Euros) and statistically significant (p-value=0.000). Smokers were statistically significantly more (p-value<0.01) willing to pay for the health-risk related (smoking) problem compared with non-smokers, while people with chronic condition were not willing to pay more for the health-risk unrelated (chronic) problem than people without chronic condition. This suggests that sub groups of people might differ in terms of abstracting from their personal situation when answering valuation questions from a societal perspective. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-assessment of current knowledge in nuclear medicine (second edition)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Selby, J.B.; Frey, G.D.; Cooper, J.F.

1981-01-01

In this updated second edition, the order of contents of the textbook has been reorganized. It has been divided into main parts: Basic Science and Clinical Nuclear Medicine. Basic Science, Part I, encompasses basic physics, radiation protection, interaction of radiation with matter and radiation detection, imaging, nuclear pharmacy, and radiation biology. Part II, Clinical Nuclear Medicine, covers the central nervous system, bone, gastroenterology (liver/spleen), cardiovascular system, pulmonary system, genitourinary system, thyroid and endocrine systems, gallium studies, radioassay, hematology, and therapy. The total number of pages of the current edition is increased to 250 from the 213 of the first editionmore » but there are fewer questions because those in the basic science area have been carefully selected to 60 of the original 98 questions. Compared with the previous edition, there are two advantages in the current one: (1) the addition of explanatory answers; and (2) the inclusion of up-to-date scintiphotos replacing rectilinear scan illustrations.« less

Use of olivine and plagioclase saturation surfaces for the petrogenetic modeling of recrystallized basic plutonic systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hanson, G. N.

1983-01-01

During petrogenetic studies of basic plutonic rocks, there are at least three major questions to be considered: (1) what were the relative proportions of cumulate crystals and intercumulus melt in a given sample? (2) what is the composition and variation in composition of the melts within the pluton? and (3) what is the original composition of the liquids, their source and evolution prior to the time of emplacement? Use of both saturation surfaces can place strong limits on the compositions of potential cumulate phases and intercumulus melts. Consideration of appropriate trace elements can indicate whether a sample is an orthocumulate, adcumulate or mesocumulate. Thus, when trace element and petrographic data are considered together with the saturation surfaces, it should be possible to begin to answer the three major questions given above, even for strongly recrystallized basic plutons.

Favouring more rigour when investigating human eating behaviour is like supporting motherhood and apple pie: A response to Robinson, Bevelander, Field, and Jones (2018).

PubMed

Hetherington, Marion M; Rolls, Barbara J

2018-05-11

In a 1987 paper, addressing questions about factors that influence the initiation, maintenance, and termination of food intake, we wrote, "development of systematic procedures to measure eating behaviour is essential if descriptive and inferential statistics are to be applied to answering such questions, giving them power and replicability" (Hetherington & Rolls, 1987 page 77). Therefore, as longstanding advocates of rigorous procedures in laboratory-based investigations of food intake, we welcome Robinson et al.'s (2018) clear recommendations for laboratory studies. However, this is akin to voting for "motherhood and apple pie", and few would argue against deployment of improved procedures for these studies. What then can we contribute to the debate in order to refine the recommendations made or add to them? Our most important message for researchers is that the central hypothesis or main research question will determine the most appropriate methods for any study. If a laboratory-based study is planned, then there are basic methodological questions that must be answered before proceeding to a final protocol. While such guidelines are needed to ensure basic methodological rigour, these should not be so prescriptive as to inhibit creativity. Here we provide several thoughts on how to advance studies of ingestive behaviour, including the need to apply appropriate controls, encouragement to move beyond convenience samples, and to remember the value of exploratory, observational, and naturalistic studies to complement laboratory-based studies. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Descriptive Question Answering with Answer Type Independent Features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Yeo-Chan; Lee, Chang-Ki; Kim, Hyun-Ki; Jang, Myung-Gil; Ryu, Pum Mo; Park, So-Young

In this paper, we present a supervised learning method to seek out answers to the most frequently asked descriptive questions: reason, method, and definition questions. Most of the previous systems for question answering focus on factoids, lists or definitional questions. However, descriptive questions such as reason questions and method questions are also frequently asked by users. We propose a system for these types of questions. The system conducts an answer search as follows. First, we analyze the user's question and extract search keywords and the expected answer type. Second, information retrieval results are obtained from an existing search engine such as Yahoo or Google. Finally, we rank the results to find snippets containing answers to the questions based on a ranking SVM algorithm. We also propose features to identify snippets containing answers for descriptive questions. The features are adaptable and thus are not dependent on answer type. Experimental results show that the proposed method and features are clearly effective for the task.

Nautical officers at sea: emergency experience and need for medical training

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background On merchant ships, the medical treatment including emergency interventions on the high seas are carried out by nautical officers who have to pass a forty hours medical refresher course every five years in order to meet international requirements. This study aims to show the most frequent kinds of medical emergencies on the high seas and to assess the seafarers’ knowledge about their treatment. Methods 465 nautical officers who participated in the medical refresher course at the Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine in Hamburg, within the period from 2006 to 2013, were interviewed about their experience of serious diseases and accidents on board, which had led to an emergency port call, a course deviation or an evacuation. Furthermore, prior to the course the officers were asked to answer 18 basic medical questions about common medical issues on board. Results 133 seafarers (28.6%) reported that they had been confronted with at least one serious medical emergency at sea. These emergencies encompassed trauma (37.9%), cardiovascular diseases (18.2%), severe gastrointestinal diseases (15.9%), serious skin or pulmonary infections (9.8%), neurological (9.1%) and urological diseases (4.5%) as well as burns (4.5%). With regards to the basic medical questions, an average of 70.7% of the total score had been achieved (from 26.8% to 100%). On average, 65.5% of internal and 65.6% of surgical questions had been answered correctly. Proper answers to toxicological and infectious questions had been given by 93.3% and 94.1% respectively and to topics of hypothermia and medical treatment by 59.4% and 61.0%. In total, a significant number of younger seafarers answered the questions correctly (p = 0.001). Conclusions According to this study, serious emergencies on board are most frequently related to trauma or cardiovascular diseases. Taking into account the acquired medical knowledge, there seems to be a need to train deck officers within these fields more intensively. Considering the knowledge of seafarers about medical issues directly before attending their medical refresher course, the 5 years interval without any form of refresher course appears to be too long to guarantee adequate medical treatment by the lay persons on board. PMID:24817903

Retrieval practice with short-answer, multiple-choice, and hybrid tests.

PubMed

Smith, Megan A; Karpicke, Jeffrey D

2014-01-01

Retrieval practice improves meaningful learning, and the most frequent way of implementing retrieval practice in classrooms is to have students answer questions. In four experiments (N=372) we investigated the effects of different question formats on learning. Students read educational texts and practised retrieval by answering short-answer, multiple-choice, or hybrid questions. In hybrid conditions students first attempted to recall answers in short-answer format, then identified answers in multiple-choice format. We measured learning 1 week later using a final assessment with two types of questions: those that could be answered by recalling information verbatim from the texts and those that required inferences. Practising retrieval in all format conditions enhanced retention, relative to a study-only control condition, on both verbatim and inference questions. However, there were little or no advantages of answering short-answer or hybrid format questions over multiple-choice questions in three experiments. In Experiment 4, when retrieval success was improved under initial short-answer conditions, there was an advantage of answering short-answer or hybrid questions over multiple-choice questions. The results challenge the simple conclusion that short-answer questions always produce the best learning, due to increased retrieval effort or difficulty, and demonstrate the importance of retrieval success for retrieval-based learning activities.

Affective science perspectives on cancer control: strategically crafting a mutually beneficial research agenda.

PubMed

Ferrer, Rebecca A; Green, Paige A; Barrett, Lisa Feldman

2015-05-01

Cancer control research involves the conduct of basic and applied behavioral and social sciences to reduce cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality and improve quality of life. Given the importance of behavior in cancer control, fundamental research is necessary to identify psychological mechanisms underlying cancer risk, prevention, and management behaviors. Cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are often emotionally laden. As such, affective science research to elucidate questions related to the basic phenomenological nature of emotion, stress, and mood is necessary to understand how cancer control can be hindered or facilitated by emotional experiences. To date, the intersection of basic affective science research and cancer control remains largely unexplored. The goal of this article is to outline key questions in the cancer control research domain that provide an ecologically valid context for new affective science discoveries. We also provide examples of ways in which basic affective discoveries could inform future cancer prevention and control research. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive or prescriptive but instead are offered to generate creative thought about the promise of a cancer research context for answering basic affective science questions. Together, these examples provide a compelling argument for fostering collaborations between affective and cancer control scientists. © The Author(s) 2015.

The argument for property rights in body parts: scarcity of resources.

PubMed

Douglas, Simon

2014-01-01

This article attempts to answer two basic questions. First, can body parts be the subject of property rights? This requires us to start with a definition of property rights, and this is set out in the first section. In the second section, it will be argued that rights in relation to body parts can come within this definition of property rights. However, as explained in the third section, the fact that body parts can be the subject of property rights does not mean that they should. To answer the question of whether body parts should be the subject of property rights we need to consider policy arguments. This article will develop an argument in favour of the recognition of property rights in body parts which focuses on the notion of scarcity of resources.

The hypercorrection effect in younger and older adults.

PubMed

Eich, Teal S; Stern, Yaakov; Metcalfe, Janet

2013-01-01

ABSTRACT The hypercorrection effect, which refers to the finding that errors committed with high confidence are more likely to be corrected than are low confidence errors, has been replicated many times, and with both young adults and children. In the present study, we contrasted older with younger adults. Participants answered general-information questions, made confidence ratings about their answers, were given corrective feedback, and then were retested on questions that they had gotten wrong. While younger adults showed the hypercorrection effect, older adults, despite higher overall accuracy on the general-information questions and excellent basic metacognitive ability, showed a diminished hypercorrection effect. Indeed, the correspondence between their confidence in their errors and the probability of correction was not significantly greater than zero, showing, for the first time, that a particular participant population is selectively impaired on this error correction task. These results potentially offer leverage both on the mechanisms underlying the hypercorrection effect and on reasons for older adults' memory impairments, as well as on memory functions that are spared.

Determinants of quality, latency, and amount of Stack Overflow answers about recent Android APIs

PubMed Central

Filkov, Vladimir

2018-01-01

Stack Overflow is a popular crowdsourced question and answer website for programming-related issues. It is an invaluable resource for software developers; on average, questions posted there get answered in minutes to an hour. Questions about well established topics, e.g., the coercion operator in C++, or the difference between canonical and class names in Java, get asked often in one form or another, and answered very quickly. On the other hand, questions on previously unseen or niche topics take a while to get a good answer. This is particularly the case with questions about current updates to or the introduction of new application programming interfaces (APIs). In a hyper-competitive online market, getting good answers to current programming questions sooner could increase the chances of an app getting released and used. So, can developers anyhow, e.g., hasten the speed to good answers to questions about new APIs? Here, we empirically study Stack Overflow questions pertaining to new Android APIs and their associated answers. We contrast the interest in these questions, their answer quality, and timeliness of their answers to questions about old APIs. We find that Stack Overflow answerers in general prioritize with respect to currentness: questions about new APIs do get more answers, but good quality answers take longer. We also find that incentives in terms of question bounties, if used appropriately, can significantly shorten the time and increase answer quality. Interestingly, no operationalization of bounty amount shows significance in our models. In practice, our findings confirm the value of bounties in enhancing expert participation. In addition, they show that the Stack Overflow style of crowdsourcing, for all its glory in providing answers about established programming knowledge, is less effective with new API questions. PMID:29547620

Determinants of quality, latency, and amount of Stack Overflow answers about recent Android APIs.

PubMed

Kavaler, David; Filkov, Vladimir

2018-01-01

Stack Overflow is a popular crowdsourced question and answer website for programming-related issues. It is an invaluable resource for software developers; on average, questions posted there get answered in minutes to an hour. Questions about well established topics, e.g., the coercion operator in C++, or the difference between canonical and class names in Java, get asked often in one form or another, and answered very quickly. On the other hand, questions on previously unseen or niche topics take a while to get a good answer. This is particularly the case with questions about current updates to or the introduction of new application programming interfaces (APIs). In a hyper-competitive online market, getting good answers to current programming questions sooner could increase the chances of an app getting released and used. So, can developers anyhow, e.g., hasten the speed to good answers to questions about new APIs? Here, we empirically study Stack Overflow questions pertaining to new Android APIs and their associated answers. We contrast the interest in these questions, their answer quality, and timeliness of their answers to questions about old APIs. We find that Stack Overflow answerers in general prioritize with respect to currentness: questions about new APIs do get more answers, but good quality answers take longer. We also find that incentives in terms of question bounties, if used appropriately, can significantly shorten the time and increase answer quality. Interestingly, no operationalization of bounty amount shows significance in our models. In practice, our findings confirm the value of bounties in enhancing expert participation. In addition, they show that the Stack Overflow style of crowdsourcing, for all its glory in providing answers about established programming knowledge, is less effective with new API questions.

Toward an Instructional Philosophy: "A Theoretical Framework for Teaching and Training at Salman Bin Abdulaziz University (SAU)"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qandile, Yasine A.; Al-Qasim, Wajeeh Q.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to construct a clear instructional philosophy for Salman bin Abdulaziz University as a fundamental basis for teaching and training as well as a theoretical framework for curriculum design and development. The study attempts to answer the main questions about pertaining to the basic structure of contemporary higher…

Starting and Teaching Basic Robotics in the Classroom: Modern, Engaging Engineering in Technology Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bianco, Andrew S.

2014-01-01

All technology educators have favorite lessons and projects that they most desire to teach. Many teachers might ask why teach robotics when there are many other concepts to cover with the students? The answer to this question is to engage students in science, technology, engineering, and math (commonly referred to as STEM) concepts. In order for…

Stubborn Roots: Race, Culture, and Inequality in U.S. and South African Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Prudence L.

2012-01-01

What are the features of the school environment that make students' of color incorporation greater at some schools than at others? Prudence L. Carter seeks to answer this basic but bedeviling question through a rich comparative analysis of the organizational and group dynamics in eight schools located within four cities in the United States and…

The Basics of School Law: A Guide for School Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington State School Directors' Association (NJ1), 2010

2010-01-01

This guide is intended to give individual school board directors an introduction to some of the legal issues they may encounter in their board service. This material is not intended to answer every question, even in the subject matter areas they cover. This guide is merely intended to alert directors to the legal issues that they will encounter…

Marketing Is Not a Luxury - Marketing Is a Necessity.

PubMed

Price, Sean

2017-10-01

Physicians who work in small practices constantly face a basic marketing question: What's the best way to sell myself and my business to the community? Because few physicians studied business principles, many won't know the answer. That's why the Texas Medical Association is publishing a book titled Marketing Smart: A Guide for Medical Practices.

[Ultrasound in the emergency department as an extension of the practitioner's clinical examination].

PubMed

Schmit, Aline; Pécoul, David; Lebret, Yannick; Dussoix, Philippe

2018-01-31

Ultrasound in the emergency department and general practice can be used as an extension of the physical examination, answering simple questions. It requires a short basic training that is easily accessible. This article illustrates with a few examples (kidney, lung and fractures) the interest of this formidable tool becoming unavoidable in the emergency department and general practice.

Using Data to Address Equity Issues in Special Education. Education Policy Brief. Volume 6, Number 3, Winter 2008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibb, Ashley C.; Skiba, Russell

2008-01-01

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have increased the emphasis on analyzing data on disproportionality. Data required to answer basic questions include: (1) total number of students enrolled; (2) total number of each racial/ethnic group enrolled; (3) total number of students in the category under…

NudtMDP at TREC 2015 LiveQA Track

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

that are from real-user. All the testing questions are from Yahoo Answer. YA questions have many question types such as opinion, advice, polls, which...Secondly, all of the questions are from Yahoo Answer questioners. Most ques- tions are asked by spoken language. There exist many oral words and the...in Sept.2. One sys- tem(nudtmdp 2) just use CQAs which include eight community question answer websites such as Yahoo Answer, AnswerBag and Answers as

The history of space exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collins, Martin J.; Kraemer, Sylvia K.

1994-01-01

Presented are the acknowledgements and introduction sections of the book 'Space: Discovery and Exploration.' The goal of the book is to address some basic questions of American space history, including how this history compares with previous eras of exploration, why the space program was initiated when it was, and how the U.S. space program developed. In pursuing these questions, the intention is not to provide exhaustive answers, but to point the reader toward a more varied picture of how our venture in space has intersected with American government, politics, business, and science.

A topic clustering approach to finding similar questions from large question and answer archives.

PubMed

Zhang, Wei-Nan; Liu, Ting; Yang, Yang; Cao, Liujuan; Zhang, Yu; Ji, Rongrong

2014-01-01

With the blooming of Web 2.0, Community Question Answering (CQA) services such as Yahoo! Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com), WikiAnswer (http://wiki.answers.com), and Baidu Zhidao (http://zhidao.baidu.com), etc., have emerged as alternatives for knowledge and information acquisition. Over time, a large number of question and answer (Q&A) pairs with high quality devoted by human intelligence have been accumulated as a comprehensive knowledge base. Unlike the search engines, which return long lists of results, searching in the CQA services can obtain the correct answers to the question queries by automatically finding similar questions that have already been answered by other users. Hence, it greatly improves the efficiency of the online information retrieval. However, given a question query, finding the similar and well-answered questions is a non-trivial task. The main challenge is the word mismatch between question query (query) and candidate question for retrieval (question). To investigate this problem, in this study, we capture the word semantic similarity between query and question by introducing the topic modeling approach. We then propose an unsupervised machine-learning approach to finding similar questions on CQA Q&A archives. The experimental results show that our proposed approach significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.

Retrieval attempts enhance learning, but retrieval success (versus failure) does not matter.

PubMed

Kornell, Nate; Klein, Patricia Jacobs; Rawson, Katherine A

2015-01-01

Retrieving information from memory enhances learning. We propose a 2-stage framework to explain the benefits of retrieval. Stage 1 takes place as one attempts to retrieve an answer, which activates knowledge related to the retrieval cue. Stage 2 begins when the answer becomes available, at which point appropriate connections are strengthened and inappropriate connections may be weakened. This framework raises a basic question: Does it matter whether Stage 2 is initiated via successful retrieval or via an external presentation of the answer? To test this question, we asked participants to attempt retrieval and then randomly assigned items (which were equivalent otherwise) to be retrieved successfully or to be copied (i.e., not retrieved). Experiments 1, 2, 4, and 5 tested assumptions necessary for interpreting Experiments 3a, 3b, and 6. Experiments 3a, 3b, and 6 did not support the hypothesis that retrieval success produces more learning than does retrieval failure followed by feedback. It appears that retrieval attempts promote learning but retrieval success per se does not. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

ECNU at TREC 2015: LiveQA Track

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

user questions, extracted from the stream of most recent questions submitted on the Yahoo Answers (YA) site that have not yet been answered by humans...extracting answers for real- user questions in real time. Since many questions submitted on these CQA sites like Yahoo Answers, have been asked by...Framework pages on Yahoo Answers as the candidates. Then, we utilize our question selection module to find out the most similar question and choose the best

Parallel computing works

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

An account of the Caltech Concurrent Computation Program (C{sup 3}P), a five year project that focused on answering the question: Can parallel computers be used to do large-scale scientific computations '' As the title indicates, the question is answered in the affirmative, by implementing numerous scientific applications on real parallel computers and doing computations that produced new scientific results. In the process of doing so, C{sup 3}P helped design and build several new computers, designed and implemented basic system software, developed algorithms for frequently used mathematical computations on massively parallel machines, devised performance models and measured the performance of manymore » computers, and created a high performance computing facility based exclusively on parallel computers. While the initial focus of C{sup 3}P was the hypercube architecture developed by C. Seitz, many of the methods developed and lessons learned have been applied successfully on other massively parallel architectures.« less

Cosmology solved? Maybe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Michael S.

1999-03-01

For two decades the hot big-bang model as been referred to as the standard cosmology - and for good reason. For just as long cosmologists have known that there are fundamental questions that are not answered by the standard cosmology and point to a grander theory. The best candidate for that grander theory is inflation + cold dark matter. It holds that the Universe is flat, that slowly moving elementary particles left over from the earliest moments provide the cosmic infrastructure, and that the primeval density inhomogeneities that seed all the structure arose from quantum fluctuations. There is now prima facie evidence that supports two basic tenets of this paradigm. An avalanche of high-quality cosmological observations will soon make this case stronger or will break it. Key questions remain to be answered; foremost among them are: identification and detection of the cold dark matter particles and elucidation of the dark-energy component. These are exciting times in cosmology!

The Review on the Charge Distribution on the Conductor Surface

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matehkolaee, M. Jafari; Asrami, A. Naderi

2013-01-01

In this paper we have a full review on the surface charge density at disordered conductor surfaces. Basically, reading text books does not resolve ambiguities in this field. As far as is possible, we have tried to the concepts easier to turn. In fact we will answer two questions. One of them is that why do charges tend to go where the curvature is…

The Answer Is in the Question: A Guide for Describing and Investigating the Conceptual Foundations and Statistical Properties of Cognitive Psychometric Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rupp, Andre A.

2007-01-01

One of the most revolutionary advances in psychometric research during the last decades has been the systematic development of statistical models that allow for cognitive psychometric research (CPR) to be conducted. Many of the models currently available for such purposes are extensions of basic latent variable models in item response theory…

Worms Eat My Garbage. How To Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System. First Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Appelhof, Mary

This book is a resource for parents and teachers who want to teach about recycling and composting by setting up and maintaining a worm composting system. It is designed to be a detailed yet simple manual of vermicomposting. The manual covers the basics of vermicomposting and answers such questions as where to store a composting container, what…

Domain and Intelligence Based Multimedia Question Answering System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kumar, K. Magesh; Valarmathie, P.

2016-01-01

Multimedia question answering systems have become very popular over the past few years. It allows users to share their thoughts by answering a given question or obtain information from a set of answered questions. However, existing QA systems support only textual answer which is not so instructive for many users. The user's discussion can be…

Revealing Learner Interests through Topic Mining from Question-Answering Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dun, Yijie; Wang, Na; Wang, Min; Hao, Tianyong

2017-01-01

In a question-answering system, learner generated content including asked and answered questions is a meaningful resource to capture learning interests. This paper proposes an approach based on question topic mining for revealing learners' concerned topics in real community question-answering systems. The authors' approach firstly preprocesses all…

QU at TREC-2015: Building Real-Time Systems for Tweet Filtering and Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

from Yahoo ! An- swers. We adopted a very simple approach that searched an archived Yahoo ! Answers QA dataset for similar questions to the asked ones and...users to post and answer questions. Yahoo ! An- swers1 is by far one of the largest sQA platforms. Questions and answers on such platforms share some...multiple domains [5]. However, the existence of large social question answering websites, such as Yahoo ! Answers specifically, makes the development of

A cross-sectional comparison between the perception of physicians and pharmacists concerning the role of the pharmacist in physician training.

PubMed

Béchet, C; Pichon, R; Giordan, A; Bonnabry, P

2018-05-22

This study aimed to identify and compare physician-pharmacist perceptions concerning drug teaching to physicians by pharmacists in Swiss hospital settings. Questionnaires were emailed to all French-speaking physicians (survey A) and pharmacists (survey B) working in Swiss hospitals where medical directors/chief-pharmacists had approved the study. Questions were developed based on previous physician interviews. Most questions used four Likert-type response alternatives. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare answers to survey A and B. Fourteen out of 18 medical directors and 16/16 chief-pharmacists gave permission for the study. In total, 244 (11%) physicians answered survey A, and 115 (74%) pharmacists answered survey B. Nearly all participants agreed that pharmacists should take part in both medical student and physician postgraduate training. Most physicians answered wanting additional training and pharmacists are unaware of this need. Only two thirds of physicians reported having acquired knowledge about drugs thanks to pharmacists; document diffusion and direct answers to their questions having contributed the most to their training. Participants agreed that physician training by pharmacists needs a clearer delineation regarding the type of training, its aim, its targeted public, when and what pharmaceutical benefits are used. Physicians' priority-training topics are high-risk drugs, novelties and areas in which they consider their basic training was insufficient. Methods preferred for training are: case studies; exercises with individual corrections; and group work. Improved resources and planning are needed to meet physicians' expectations. Training is often carried out implicitly, through activities with various other aims, and needs to be better defined and formalized collaboratively. Copyright © 2018 Académie Nationale de Pharmacie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

ADAPT.DCU at TREC LiveQA: A Sentence Retrieval based Approach to Live Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

list of conceptually similar questions from an index of previously asked on “ Yahoo ! An- swers”. We then extract the best matching sentences from the...answer Japanese why questions. The work in Surdeanu et al. (2011) address the problem of ranking answers to non-factoid how questions from Yahoo ...answering real questions from Yahoo ! Answers in real time. each participant needed to submit a web service application that on receiving a question responds

Protein Electrochemistry: Questions and Answers.

PubMed

Fourmond, V; Léger, C

This chapter presents the fundamentals of electrochemistry in the context of protein electrochemistry. We discuss redox proteins and enzymes that are not photoactive. Of course, the principles described herein also apply to photobioelectrochemistry, as discussed in later chapters of this book. Depending on which experiment is considered, electron transfer between proteins and electrodes can be either direct or mediated, and achieved in a variety of configurations: with the protein and/or the mediator free to diffuse in solution, immobilized in a thick, hydrated film, or adsorbed as a sub-monolayer on the electrode. The experiments can be performed with the goal to study the protein or to use it. Here emphasis is on mechanistic studies, which are easier in the configuration where the protein is adsorbed and electron transfer is direct, but we also explain the interpretation of signals obtained when diffusion processes affect the response.This chapter is organized as a series of responses to questions. Questions 1-5 are related to the basics of electrochemistry: what does "potential" or "current" mean, what does an electrochemical set-up look like? Questions 6-9 are related to the distinction between adsorbed and diffusive redox species. The answers to questions 10-13 explain the interpretation of slow and fast scan voltammetry with redox proteins. Questions 14-19 deal with catalytic electrochemistry, when the protein studied is actually an enzyme. Questions 20, 21 and 22 are general.

WaterlooClarke: TREC 2015 LiveQA Track

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

from Yahoo ! An- swers1 – a community question answering website. Each question was broadcasted to all registered systems. The participants had to...were coming from Yahoo ! Answers – a community question answering website. Questions there vary greatly between all topics and question types. Yahoo ...in your opinion? Body: I can’t decide they are all gorgeousss ɛ :) Table 1: Various types of questions asked on Yahoo ! Answers 1). The questions were

The Yes-No Question Answering System and Statement Verification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akiyama, M. Michael; And Others

1979-01-01

Two experiments investigated the relationship of verification to the answering of yes-no questions. Subjects verified simple statements or answered simple questions. Various proposals concerning the relative difficulty of answering questions and verifying statements were considered, and a model was proposed. (SW)

Two layers LSTM with attention for multi-choice question answering in exams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yongbin

2018-03-01

Question Answering in Exams is typical question answering task that aims to test how accurately the model could answer the questions in exams. In this paper, we use general deep learning model to solve the multi-choice question answering task. Our approach is to build distributed word embedding of question and answers instead of manually extracting features or linguistic tools, meanwhile, for improving the accuracy, the external corpus is introduced. The framework uses a two layers LSTM with attention which get a significant result. By contrast, we introduce the simple long short-term memory (QA-LSTM) model and QA-LSTM-CNN model and QA-LSTM with attention model as the reference. Experiment demonstrate superior performance of two layers LSTM with attention compared to other models in question answering task.

The Act of Answering Questions Elicited Differentiated Responses in a Concealed Information Test.

PubMed

Otsuka, Takuro; Mizutani, Mitsuyoshi; Yagi, Akihiro; Katayama, Jun'ichi

2018-04-17

The concealed information test (CIT), a psychophysiological detection of deception test, compares physiological responses between crime-related and crime-unrelated items. In previous studies, whether the act of answering questions affected physiological responses was unclear. This study examined effects of both question-related and answer-related processes on physiological responses. Twenty participants received a modified CIT, in which the interval between presentation of questions and answering them was 27 s. Differentiated respiratory movements and cardiovascular responses between items were observed for both questions (items) and answers, while differentiated skin conductance response was observed only for questions. These results suggest that physiological responses to questions reflected orientation to a crime-related item, while physiological responses during answering reflected inhibition of psychological arousal caused by orienting. Regarding the CIT's accuracy, participants' perception of the questions themselves more strongly influenced physiological responses than answering them. © 2018 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Trustworthiness and relevance in web-based clinical question answering.

PubMed

Cruchet, Sarah; Boyer, Célia; van der Plas, Lonneke

2012-01-01

Question answering systems try to give precise answers to a user's question posed in natural language. It is of utmost importance that the answers returned are relevant to the user's question. For clinical QA, the trustworthiness of answers is another important issue. Limiting the document collection to certified websites helps to improve the trustworthiness of answers. On the other hand, limited document collections are known to harm the relevancy of answers. We show, however, in a comparative evaluation, that promoting trustworthiness has no negative effect on the relevance of the retrieved answers in our clinical QA system. On the contrary, the answers found are in general more relevant.

Answers to Health Questions: Internet Search Results Versus Online Health Community Responses.

PubMed

Kanthawala, Shaheen; Vermeesch, Amber; Given, Barbara; Huh, Jina

2016-04-28

About 6 million people search for health information on the Internet each day in the United States. Both patients and caregivers search for information about prescribed courses of treatments, unanswered questions after a visit to their providers, or diet and exercise regimens. Past literature has indicated potential challenges around quality in health information available on the Internet. However, diverse information exists on the Internet-ranging from government-initiated webpages to personal blog pages. Yet we do not fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of different types of information available on the Internet. The objective of this research was to investigate the strengths and challenges of various types of health information available online and to suggest what information sources best fit various question types. We collected questions posted to and the responses they received from an online diabetes community and classified them according to Rothwell's classification of question types (fact, policy, or value questions). We selected 60 questions (20 each of fact, policy, and value) and the replies the questions received from the community. We then searched for responses to the same questions using a search engine and recorded the Community responses answered more questions than did search results overall. Search results were most effective in answering value questions and least effective in answering policy questions. Community responses answered questions across question types at an equivalent rate, but most answered policy questions and the least answered fact questions. Value questions were most answered by community responses, but some of these answers provided by the community were incorrect. Fact question search results were the most clinically valid. The Internet is a prevalent source of health information for people. The information quality people encounter online can have a large impact on them. We present what kinds of questions people ask online and the advantages and disadvantages of various information sources in getting answers to those questions. This study contributes to addressing people's online health information needs.

[Trueness of modern natural science (1): the scientific revolution and the problem of philosophy].

PubMed

Maeda, Y

2001-12-01

How can one characterize modern Europe? This problem is essentially related to the meaning of modern natural science, which was developed during the scientific revolution. Then how did viewpoints change during this revolution? The answer to this question also determined the basic character of modern philosophy. Through the examination of Aristotle's geocentric theory and kinematics, I have come to believe that the defect of Aristotle's was that he concluded that a visible sense image is an actual reflection of the reality as it is. From this point of view, the traditional theory of truth called "correspondence theory" is found to be an insufficient one. Therefore, in this paper I will show that the methodological and philosophical question "How do we see reality among phenomena?" is a very important one. This question is the one Plato struggled with, and also the one which guided Kant. It may be said that this can be seen as a group for a new metaphysics as a basic theory of reality.

Can workers answer their questions about occupational safety and health: challenges and solutions.

PubMed

Rhebergen, Martijn; Van Dijk, Frank; Hulshof, Carel

2012-01-01

Many workers have questions about occupational safety and health (OSH). Answers to these questions empower them to further improve their knowledge about OSH, make good decisions about OSH matters and improve OSH practice when necessary. Nevertheless, many workers fail to find the answers to their questions. This paper explores the challenges workers may face when seeking answers to their OSH questions. Findings suggest that many workers may lack the skills, experience or motivation to formulate an answerable question, seek and find information, appraise information, compose correct answers and apply information in OSH practice. Simultaneously, OSH knowledge infrastructures often insufficiently support workers in answering their OSH questions. This paper discusses several potentially attractive strategies for developing and improving OSH knowledge infrastructures: 1) providing courses that teach workers to ask answerable questions and to train them to find, appraise and apply information, 2) developing information and communication technology tools or facilities that support workers as they complete one or more stages in the process from question to answer and 3) tailoring information and implementation strategies to the workers' needs and context to ensure that the information can be applied to OSH practice more easily.

Structural marsh management research priorities

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cahoon, Donald R.; Groat, Charles G.

1989-01-01

The paper presents a prioritized list of research issues related to structural marsh management developed by a multidisciplinary panel of regulatory agency representatives, landowners, and scientists. More than 75 issues were identified concerning landscape changes, influence on ecological processes (i.e., hydrologic, biologic, and edaphic factors), habitat quality, cumulative impacts, and management approach. These issues were prioritized and organized around six basic questions regulatory personnel must try to answer for each marsh management plan application. The six questions deal with the influence of marsh management on, in order of most immediate need, marsh loss and health, fisheries, wildlife, habitat change, water quality, and cumulative effects.

Metacognitive effects of initial question difficulty on subsequent memory performance.

PubMed

Pansky, Ainat; Goldsmith, Morris

2014-10-01

In two experiments, we examined whether relative retrieval fluency (the relative ease or difficulty of answering questions from memory) would be translated, via metacognitive monitoring and control processes, into an overt effect on the controlled behavior-that is, the decision whether to answer a question or abstain. Before answering a target set of multiple-choice general-knowledge questions (intermediate-difficulty questions in Exp. 1, deceptive questions in Exp. 2), the participants first answered either a set of difficult questions or a set of easy questions. For each question, they provided a forced-report answer, followed by a subjective assessment of the likelihood that their answer was correct (confidence) and by a free-report control decision-whether or not to report the answer for a potential monetary bonus (or penalty). The participants' ability to answer the target questions (forced-report proportion correct) was unaffected by the initial question difficulty. However, a predicted metacognitive contrast effect was observed: When the target questions were preceded by a set of difficult rather than easy questions, the participants were more confident in their answers to the target questions, and hence were more likely to report them, thus increasing the quantity of freely reported correct information. The option of free report was more beneficial after initial question difficulty than after initial question ease, in terms of both the gain in accuracy (Exp. 2) and a smaller cost in quantity (Exps. 1 and 2). These results demonstrate that changes in subjective experience can influence metacognitive monitoring and control, thereby affecting free-report memory performance independently of forced-report performance.

A Hypothesis-Driven Approach to Site Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nowak, W.

2008-12-01

Variability of subsurface formations and the scarcity of data lead to the notion of aquifer parameters as geostatistical random variables. Given an information need and limited resources for field campaigns, site investigation is often put into the context of optimal design. In optimal design, the types, numbers and positions of samples are optimized under case-specific objectives to meet the information needs. Past studies feature optimal data worth (balancing maximum financial profit in an engineering task versus the cost of additional sampling), or aim at a minimum prediction uncertainty of stochastic models for a prescribed investigation budget. Recent studies also account for other sources of uncertainty outside the hydrogeological range, such as uncertain toxicity, ingestion and behavioral parameters of the affected population when predicting the human health risk from groundwater contaminations. The current study looks at optimal site investigation from a new angle. Answering a yes/no question under uncertainty directly requires recasting the original question as a hypothesis test. Otherwise, false confidence in the resulting answer would be pretended. A straightforward example is whether a recent contaminant spill will cause contaminant concentrations in excess of a legal limit at a nearby drinking water well. This question can only be answered down to a specified chance of error, i.e., based on the significance level used in hypothesis tests. Optimal design is placed into the hypothesis-driven context by using the chance of providing a false yes/no answer as new criterion to be minimized. Different configurations apply for one-sided and two-sided hypothesis tests. If a false answer entails financial liability, the hypothesis-driven context can be re-cast in the context of data worth. The remaining difference is that failure is a hard constraint in the data worth context versus a monetary punishment term in the hypothesis-driven context. The basic principle is discussed and illustrated on the case of a hypothetical contaminant spill and the exceedance of critical contaminant levels at a downstream location. An tempting and important side question is whether site investigation could be tweaked towards a yes or no answer in maliciously biased campaigns by unfair formulation of the optimization objective.

Participatory assessment of the environment from children's viewpoints: development of a method and its trial.

PubMed

Moriyama, M; Suwa, T; Kabuto, M; Fukushima, T

2001-02-01

To understand the actual viewpoints of children about daily life and the environment, the authors, adopting a participatory strategy, visited 21 classes of Japanese school children, improved in a stepwise process their ways of question-asking, and developed "WIFY"(what is important for you); a set of interactive questions composed of a basic question and three accompanying instructions. In applying WIFY, 59 fourth graders, 22 in Nagasaki, Japan and 37 in Beijing, China, reported their viewpoints in each of classroom settings. In both settings, when children were allowed to communicate with each other by the use of WIFY answering sheet, spontaneous exchanges arose and continued. WIFY itself is supposed to bring out and enhance mutual collaboration and spontaneous networking. In this instance, WIFY functioned as a communication tool. When answering sheets were collected and obtained responses were analyzed as cases, a rather materialistic view was suggested among Japanese children and a more disciplined view, which put much value on school and home, was suggested among Chinese children. Further studies are needed to confirm the changing environmental views of children from the collaborative research framework.

What Do We Know about Students' Learning and How Do We Know It? Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE.7.05

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cross, K. Patricia

2005-01-01

The instruction that we provide, the intellectual climate that we create, and the policy decisions that we make should all start with the question, "But will it improve students' learning?" Basic to any answer is the state of our knowledge about learning. A spate of recent research has resulted in comprehensive and lengthy reviews of surveys of…

The Basics of Boiler Operation and Maintenance. Part 2, Air Pollution Training Institute Self-Instructional Course SI-466.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Air Pollution Training Inst.

This workbook is part two of a self-instructional course prepared for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The student proceeds at his own pace and when questions are asked, after answering, he either turns to the next page to check his response or refers to the previously covered material. The purpose of this course is to prepare…

The Incinerator: Section One, Basic Parts and Fundamentals. Part 5, Air Pollution Training Institute Self-Instructional Course SI-466.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Air Pollution Training Inst.

This workbook is part five of a self-instructional course prepared for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The student proceeds at his own pace and when questions are asked, after answering, he either turns to the next page to check his response or refers to the previously covered material. The purpose of this course is to prepare…

Current Interruption and Particle Beam Generation by a Plasma Focus.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-11-30

Through collaboration with Dr. K. H. Schoenbach of Texas Tech University the plasma focus opening switch (PFOS) was revised to answer basic questions...results are consistent with the snowplow model. The final analysis of the plasma focus particle beam generation experiments was completed and a...strong correlation was found for the beam-target model as the mechanism for neutron production in the Illinois plasma focus device. (Author)

The Effect of Using Exercise-Based Computer Games during the Process of Learning on Academic Achievement among Education Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kablan, Zeynel

2010-01-01

The aim of this study is to define whether using exercise-based games increase the performance of learning. For this reason, two basic questions were tried to be answered in the study. First, is there any difference in learning between the group that was given exercise-based games and the group that was not? Second, is there any difference in…

A model for integrating clinical care and basic science research, and pitfalls of performing complex research projects for addressing a clinical challenge.

PubMed

Steck, R; Epari, D R; Schuetz, M A

2010-07-01

The collaboration of clinicians with basic science researchers is crucial for addressing clinically relevant research questions. In order to initiate such mutually beneficial relationships, we propose a model where early career clinicians spend a designated time embedded in established basic science research groups, in order to pursue a postgraduate qualification. During this time, clinicians become integral members of the research team, fostering long term relationships and opening up opportunities for continuing collaboration. However, for these collaborations to be successful there are pitfalls to be avoided. Limited time and funding can lead to attempts to answer clinical challenges with highly complex research projects characterised by a large number of "clinical" factors being introduced in the hope that the research outcomes will be more clinically relevant. As a result, the complexity of such studies and variability of its outcomes may lead to difficulties in drawing scientifically justified and clinically useful conclusions. Consequently, we stress that it is the basic science researcher and the clinician's obligation to be mindful of the limitations and challenges of such multi-factorial research projects. A systematic step-by-step approach to address clinical research questions with limited, but highly targeted and well defined research projects provides the solid foundation which may lead to the development of a longer term research program for addressing more challenging clinical problems. Ultimately, we believe that it is such models, encouraging the vital collaboration between clinicians and researchers for the work on targeted, well defined research projects, which will result in answers to the important clinical challenges of today. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Educational Intervention in a Medically Underserved Area.

PubMed

Atance, Joel; Mickalis, Morgan; Kincade, Brianna

2018-04-01

Medical students from rural and medically underserved areas (MUAs) are more likely than their peers to practice medicine in rural areas and MUAs. However, students from MUAs are also more likely to face socioeconomic barriers to a career in medicine. To determine whether a week-long summer enrichment experience (SEE) at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Carolinas could successfully teach high school students from MUAs basic biomedical concepts and foster an interest in medicine and the health sciences. The SEE program is open to high school students in the Spartanburg, South Carolina, area. The program includes interactive lectures, laboratories, demonstrations on gross anatomy prosections, demonstrations on medical simulation models, tours of emergency vehicles, an introduction to osteopathic manipulative medicine, and student-led research projects. Participants were asked to complete a 15-question quiz that assessed their knowledge of basic biomedical concepts and a 10-question survey that assessed their attitudes toward careers in medicine and health sciences. Both the quiz and the survey were completed on both the first and final days of the program. The data were analyzed using paired t tests. Participant knowledge of basic biomedical concepts, as determined by the quiz scores, increased after completion of the program (9.1 average correct answers vs 12.6 average correct answers) (P<.001). Participant attitude toward medicine and the health sciences improved in 9 of the 10 items surveyed after completion of the program (P<.05). Participant knowledge of basic biomedical concepts and their knowledge of and interest in careers in the health sciences improved after completing the SEE program. These findings suggest that educational interventions for high school students could help to develop primary care physicians for rural areas and MUAs and that there is a role for osteopathic medical schools to nurture these students as early as possible.

Those Responsible for Approving Research Studies Have Poor Knowledge of Research Study Design: a Knowledge Assessment of Institutional Review Board Members.

PubMed

Mhaskar, Rahul; Pathak, Elizabeth Barnett; Wieten, Sarah; Guterbock, Thomas M; Kumar, Ambuj; Djulbegovic, Benjamin

2015-08-01

Institutional Review Board (IRB) members have a duty to protect the integrity of the research process, but little is known about their basic knowledge of clinical research study designs. A nationwide sample of IRB members from major US research universities completed a web-based questionnaire consisting of 11 questions focusing on basic knowledge about clinical research study designs. It included questions about randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other observational research study designs. Potential predictors (age, gender, educational attainment, type of IRB, current IRB membership, years of IRB service, clinical research experience, and self-identification as a scientist) of incorrect answers were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression models. 148 individuals from 36 universities participated. The majority of participants, 68.9% (102/148), were holding a medical or doctoral degree. Overall, only 26.5% (39/148) of participants achieved a perfect score of 11. On the six-question subset addressing RCTs, 46.6% (69/148) had a perfect score. Most individual questions, and the summary model of overall quiz score (perfect vs. not perfect), revealed no significant predictors - indicating that knowledge deficits were not limited to specific subgroups of IRB members. For the RCT knowledge score there was one significant predictor: compared with MDs, IRB members without a doctoral degree were three times as likely to answer at least one RCT question incorrectly (Odds Ratio: 3.00, 95% CI 1.10-8.20). However, even among MD IRB members, 34.1% (14/41) did not achieve a perfect score on the six RCT questions. This first nationwide study of IRB member knowledge about clinical research study designs found significant knowledge deficits. Knowledge deficits were not limited to laypersons or community advocate members of IRBs, as previously suggested. Akin to widespread ethical training requirements for clinical researchers, IRB members should undergo systematic training on clinical research designs.

Genetic literacy series: Primer part 2-Paradigm shifts in epilepsy genetics.

PubMed

Helbig, Ingo; Heinzen, Erin L; Mefford, Heather C

2018-05-09

This is the second of a 2-part primer on the genetics of the epilepsies within the Genetic Literacy Series of the Genetics Commission of the International League Against Epilepsy. In Part 1, we covered types of genetic variation, inheritance patterns, and their relationship to disease. In Part 2, we apply these basic principles to the case of a young boy with epileptic encephalopathy and ask 3 important questions: (1) Is the gene in question an established genetic etiology for epilepsy? (2) Is the variant in this particular gene pathogenic by established variant interpretation criteria? (3) Is the variant considered causative in the clinical context? These questions are considered and then answered for the clinical case in question. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2018 International League Against Epilepsy.

Web-Based Evaluation System to Measure Learning Effectiveness in Kampo Medicine

PubMed Central

Usuku, Koichiro; Segawa, Makoto; Wang, Yue; Ogashiwa, Kahori; Fujita, Yusuke; Ogihara, Hiroyuki; Tazuma, Susumu

2016-01-01

Measuring the learning effectiveness of Kampo Medicine (KM) education is challenging. The aim of this study was to develop a web-based test to measure the learning effectiveness of KM education among medical students (MSs). We used an open-source Moodle platform to test 30 multiple-choice questions classified into 8-type fields (eight basic concepts of KM) including “qi-blood-fluid” and “five-element” theories, on 117 fourth-year MSs. The mean (±standard deviation [SD]) score on the web-based test was 30.2 ± 11.9 (/100). The correct answer rate ranged from 17% to 36%. A pattern-based portfolio enabled these rates to be individualized in terms of KM proficiency. MSs with scores higher (n = 19) or lower (n = 14) than mean ± 1SD were defined as high or low achievers, respectively. Cluster analysis using the correct answer rates for the 8-type field questions revealed clear divisions between high and low achievers. Interestingly, each high achiever had a different proficiency pattern. In contrast, three major clusters were evident among low achievers, all of whom responded with a low percentage of or no correct answers. In addition, a combination of three questions accurately classified high and low achievers. These findings suggest that our web-based test allows individual quantitative assessment of the learning effectiveness of KM education among MSs. PMID:27738440

Web-Based Evaluation System to Measure Learning Effectiveness in Kampo Medicine.

PubMed

Iizuka, Norio; Usuku, Koichiro; Nakae, Hajime; Segawa, Makoto; Wang, Yue; Ogashiwa, Kahori; Fujita, Yusuke; Ogihara, Hiroyuki; Tazuma, Susumu; Hamamoto, Yoshihiko

2016-01-01

Measuring the learning effectiveness of Kampo Medicine (KM) education is challenging. The aim of this study was to develop a web-based test to measure the learning effectiveness of KM education among medical students (MSs). We used an open-source Moodle platform to test 30 multiple-choice questions classified into 8-type fields (eight basic concepts of KM) including "qi-blood-fluid" and "five-element" theories, on 117 fourth-year MSs. The mean (±standard deviation [SD]) score on the web-based test was 30.2 ± 11.9 (/100). The correct answer rate ranged from 17% to 36%. A pattern-based portfolio enabled these rates to be individualized in terms of KM proficiency. MSs with scores higher ( n = 19) or lower ( n = 14) than mean ± 1SD were defined as high or low achievers, respectively. Cluster analysis using the correct answer rates for the 8-type field questions revealed clear divisions between high and low achievers. Interestingly, each high achiever had a different proficiency pattern. In contrast, three major clusters were evident among low achievers, all of whom responded with a low percentage of or no correct answers. In addition, a combination of three questions accurately classified high and low achievers. These findings suggest that our web-based test allows individual quantitative assessment of the learning effectiveness of KM education among MSs.

Question Popularity Analysis and Prediction in Community Question Answering Services

PubMed Central

Liu, Ting; Zhang, Wei-Nan; Cao, Liujuan; Zhang, Yu

2014-01-01

With the blooming of online social media applications, Community Question Answering (CQA) services have become one of the most important online resources for information and knowledge seekers. A large number of high quality question and answer pairs have been accumulated, which allow users to not only share their knowledge with others, but also interact with each other. Accordingly, volumes of efforts have been taken to explore the questions and answers retrieval in CQA services so as to help users to finding the similar questions or the right answers. However, to our knowledge, less attention has been paid so far to question popularity in CQA. Question popularity can reflect the attention and interest of users. Hence, predicting question popularity can better capture the users’ interest so as to improve the users’ experience. Meanwhile, it can also promote the development of the community. In this paper, we investigate the problem of predicting question popularity in CQA. We first explore the factors that have impact on question popularity by employing statistical analysis. We then propose a supervised machine learning approach to model these factors for question popularity prediction. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can effectively distinguish the popular questions from unpopular ones in the Yahoo! Answers question and answer repository. PMID:24837851

Question popularity analysis and prediction in community question answering services.

PubMed

Liu, Ting; Zhang, Wei-Nan; Cao, Liujuan; Zhang, Yu

2014-01-01

With the blooming of online social media applications, Community Question Answering (CQA) services have become one of the most important online resources for information and knowledge seekers. A large number of high quality question and answer pairs have been accumulated, which allow users to not only share their knowledge with others, but also interact with each other. Accordingly, volumes of efforts have been taken to explore the questions and answers retrieval in CQA services so as to help users to finding the similar questions or the right answers. However, to our knowledge, less attention has been paid so far to question popularity in CQA. Question popularity can reflect the attention and interest of users. Hence, predicting question popularity can better capture the users' interest so as to improve the users' experience. Meanwhile, it can also promote the development of the community. In this paper, we investigate the problem of predicting question popularity in CQA. We first explore the factors that have impact on question popularity by employing statistical analysis. We then propose a supervised machine learning approach to model these factors for question popularity prediction. The experimental results show that our proposed approach can effectively distinguish the popular questions from unpopular ones in the Yahoo! Answers question and answer repository.

A Semi-Supervised Learning Approach to Enhance Health Care Community–Based Question Answering: A Case Study in Alcoholism

PubMed Central

Klabjan, Diego; Jonnalagadda, Siddhartha Reddy

2016-01-01

Background Community-based question answering (CQA) sites play an important role in addressing health information needs. However, a significant number of posted questions remain unanswered. Automatically answering the posted questions can provide a useful source of information for Web-based health communities. Objective In this study, we developed an algorithm to automatically answer health-related questions based on past questions and answers (QA). We also aimed to understand information embedded within Web-based health content that are good features in identifying valid answers. Methods Our proposed algorithm uses information retrieval techniques to identify candidate answers from resolved QA. To rank these candidates, we implemented a semi-supervised leaning algorithm that extracts the best answer to a question. We assessed this approach on a curated corpus from Yahoo! Answers and compared against a rule-based string similarity baseline. Results On our dataset, the semi-supervised learning algorithm has an accuracy of 86.2%. Unified medical language system–based (health related) features used in the model enhance the algorithm’s performance by proximately 8%. A reasonably high rate of accuracy is obtained given that the data are considerably noisy. Important features distinguishing a valid answer from an invalid answer include text length, number of stop words contained in a test question, a distance between the test question and other questions in the corpus, and a number of overlapping health-related terms between questions. Conclusions Overall, our automated QA system based on historical QA pairs is shown to be effective according to the dataset in this case study. It is developed for general use in the health care domain, which can also be applied to other CQA sites. PMID:27485666

Use of Credibility Heuristics in a Social Question-Answering Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, Paul

2015-01-01

Introduction: This study looked at the effect of community peripheral cues (specifically voting score and answerer's reputation) on the user's credibility rating of answers. Method: Students in technology and philosophy were asked to assess the credibility of answers to questions posted on a social question-answering platform. Through the use of a…

Instructor-Aided Asynchronous Question Answering System for Online Education and Distance Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wen, Dunwei; Cuzzola, John; Brown, Lorna; Kinshuk

2012-01-01

Question answering systems have frequently been explored for educational use. However, their value was somewhat limited due to the quality of the answers returned to the student. Recent question answering (QA) research has started to incorporate deep natural language processing (NLP) in order to improve these answers. However, current NLP…

Answers to Health Questions: Internet Search Results Versus Online Health Community Responses

PubMed Central

Vermeesch, Amber; Given, Barbara; Huh, Jina

2016-01-01

Background About 6 million people search for health information on the Internet each day in the United States. Both patients and caregivers search for information about prescribed courses of treatments, unanswered questions after a visit to their providers, or diet and exercise regimens. Past literature has indicated potential challenges around quality in health information available on the Internet. However, diverse information exists on the Internet—ranging from government-initiated webpages to personal blog pages. Yet we do not fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of different types of information available on the Internet. Objective The objective of this research was to investigate the strengths and challenges of various types of health information available online and to suggest what information sources best fit various question types. Methods We collected questions posted to and the responses they received from an online diabetes community and classified them according to Rothwell’s classification of question types (fact, policy, or value questions). We selected 60 questions (20 each of fact, policy, and value) and the replies the questions received from the community. We then searched for responses to the same questions using a search engine and recorded the Results Community responses answered more questions than did search results overall. Search results were most effective in answering value questions and least effective in answering policy questions. Community responses answered questions across question types at an equivalent rate, but most answered policy questions and the least answered fact questions. Value questions were most answered by community responses, but some of these answers provided by the community were incorrect. Fact question search results were the most clinically valid. Conclusions The Internet is a prevalent source of health information for people. The information quality people encounter online can have a large impact on them. We present what kinds of questions people ask online and the advantages and disadvantages of various information sources in getting answers to those questions. This study contributes to addressing people’s online health information needs. PMID:27125622

The Artful Dodger: Answering the Wrong Question the Right Way

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Todd; Norton, Michael I.

2011-01-01

What happens when speakers try to "dodge" a question they would rather not answer by answering a different question? In 4 studies, we show that listeners can fail to detect dodges when speakers answer similar--but objectively incorrect--questions (the "artful dodge"), a detection failure that goes hand-in-hand with a failure to rate dodgers more…

What Are the "Right" Questions and the "Right" Answers in Teaching Practice Supervision?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jyrhama, Riitta

This paper links the problem of questioning and answering in student teacher supervision with teachers' pedagogical thinking. The first section discusses whether asking the right questions or giving the right answers is more important and what is actually involved when the questions and answers are correct. The second section discusses the…

Investigating the potential influence of established multiple-choice test-taking cues on item response in a pharmacotherapy board certification examination preparatory manual: a pilot study.

PubMed

Gettig, Jacob P

2006-04-01

To determine the prevalence of established multiple-choice test-taking correct and incorrect answer cues in the American College of Clinical Pharmacy's Updates in Therapeutics: The Pharmacotherapy Preparatory Course, 2005 Edition, as an equal or lesser surrogate indication of the prevalence of such cues in the Pharmacotherapy board certification examination. All self-assessment and patient case question-and-answer sets were assessed individually to determine if they were subject to selected correct and incorrect answer cues commonly seen in multiple-choice question writing. If the question was considered evaluable, correct answer cues-longest answer, mid-range number, one of two similar choices, and one of two opposite choices-were tallied. In addition, incorrect answer cues- inclusionary language and grammatical mismatch-were also tallied. Each cue was counted if it did what was expected or did the opposite of what was expected. Multiple cues could be identified in each question. A total of 237 (47.7%) of 497 questions in the manual were deemed evaluable. A total of 325 correct answer cues and 35 incorrect answer cues were identified in the 237 evaluable questions. Most evaluable questions contained one to two correct and/or incorrect answer cue(s). Longest answer was the most frequently identified correct answer cue; however, it was the least likely to identify the correct answer. Inclusionary language was the most frequently identified incorrect answer cue. Incorrect answer cues were considerably more likely to identify incorrect answer choices than correct answer cues were able to identify correct answer choices. The use of established multiple-choice test-taking cues is unlikely to be of significant help when taking the Pharmacotherapy board certification examination, primarily because of the lack of questions subject to such cues and the inability of correct answer cues to accurately identify correct answers. Incorrect answer cues, especially the use of inclusionary language, almost always will accurately identify an incorrect answer choice. Assuming that questions in the preparatory course manual were equal or lesser surrogates of those in the board certification examination, it is unlikely that intuition alone can replace adequate preparation and studying as the sole determinant of examination success.

Impression formation of tests: retrospective judgments of performance are higher when easier questions come first.

PubMed

Jackson, Abigail; Greene, Robert L

2014-11-01

Four experiments are reported on the importance of retrospective judgments of performance (postdictions) on tests. Participants answered general knowledge questions and estimated how many questions they answered correctly. They gave higher postdictions when easy questions preceded difficult questions. This was true when time to answer each question was equalized and constrained, when participants were instructed not to write answers, and when questions were presented in a multiple-choice format. Results are consistent with the notion that first impressions predominate in overall perception of test difficulty.

The artful dodger: answering the wrong question the right way.

PubMed

Rogers, Todd; Norton, Michael I

2011-06-01

What happens when speakers try to "dodge" a question they would rather not answer by answering a different question? In 4 studies, we show that listeners can fail to detect dodges when speakers answer similar-but objectively incorrect-questions (the "artful dodge"), a detection failure that goes hand-in-hand with a failure to rate dodgers more negatively. We propose that dodges go undetected because listeners' attention is not usually directed toward a goal of dodge detection (i.e., Is this person answering the question?) but rather toward a goal of social evaluation (i.e., Do I like this person?). Listeners were not blind to all dodge attempts, however. Dodge detection increased when listeners' attention was diverted from social goals toward determining the relevance of the speaker's answers (Study 1), when speakers answered a question egregiously dissimilar to the one asked (Study 2), and when listeners' attention was directed to the question asked by keeping it visible during speakers' answers (Study 4). We also examined the interpersonal consequences of dodge attempts: When listeners were guided to detect dodges, they rated speakers more negatively (Study 2), and listeners rated speakers who answered a similar question in a fluent manner more positively than speakers who answered the actual question but disfluently (Study 3). These results add to the literatures on both Gricean conversational norms and goal-directed attention. We discuss the practical implications of our findings in the contexts of interpersonal communication and public debates.

GASB 35 Implementation Guide: Questions and Answers for Public Colleges and Universities Using Business Type Activity (BTA) Reporting. A Supplement to GASB's Implementation Guide for Statement 34

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Association of College and University Business Officers (NJ1), 2001

2001-01-01

This guide was prepared for public institution business officers as a supplement to the "Guide to Implementation of GASB Statement 54 on Basic Financial Statements--and Management's Discussion and Analysis--for State and Local Governments, published in April 2000 by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) on GASB Statements 34 and 35.…

Boilers: The Basics of Preventing Air Pollution Emissions from Boilers. Part 1, Air Pollution Training Institute Self-Instructional Course SI-466.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. Air Pollution Training Inst.

This workbook is part one of a self-instructional course prepared for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The student proceeds at his own pace and when questions are asked, the answers appear on the next page. The purpose of this course is to prepare the student for the APC Training Certificate and to help him do a better job. (BT)

An Assessment of Need for Developing and Implementing Technical and Skilled Worker Training for the Solar Energy Industry. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orsak, Charles G., Jr.; And Others

The objective of this project was to determine the need for manpower training in solar energy technology and report it on a regional and/or state basis. Three basic questions were to be answered by the project: (1) Based on a survey of solar heating and cooling systems equipment, what types of systems are being manufactured? (2) What is the…

Dynamics and control of detumbling a disabled spacecraft during rescue operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaplan, M. H.

1973-01-01

Results of a two-year research effort on dynamics and control of detumbling a disabled spacecraft during rescue operations are summarized. Answers to several basic questions about associated techniques and hardware requirements were obtained. Specifically, efforts have included development of operational procedures, conceptual design of remotely controlled modules, feasibility of internal moving mass for stabilization, and optimal techniques for minimum-time detumbling. Results have been documented in several reports and publications.

A Stakeholder Analysis of the Navy’s Thirty-Year Shipbuilding Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

new.items/d05183.pdf Mankiw , N. Gregory (2004). Principles of economics (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western. McCaffery, J.L. and Jones, L.R...Shipbuilding Association, 2007). 11 III. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Stakeholder theory confronts the traditional economic model of the... Mankiw , 2004). By completing these steps, the manager attains answers to basic questions about the stakeholder (Freeman, 1984): Over the long run

Generic Drugs: Questions and Answers

MedlinePlus

... Vaccines, Blood & Biologics Animal & Veterinary Cosmetics Tobacco Products Drugs Home Drugs Resources for You Information for Consumers (Drugs) Questions & Answers Generic Drugs: Questions & Answers Share Tweet Linkedin Pin it More ...

Responding to Children's Answers: Questions Embedded in the Social Context of Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bateman, Amanda

2013-01-01

This article presents analysis of question-answer sequences during problem inquiry between a teacher and two children in an early childhood crèche in New Zealand. Conversation analysis is used to reveal which questions the teacher asks, how children answer the questions, and the teacher's responses to the child's answers. Although adults'…

The Effect of the States of Prior Knowledge on Question Answering.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Betty C.

A study was conducted to gain insight into the question answering abilities of good and poor readers by comparing how well they answered questions when their prior knowledge was at two different levels (high, low) and in four different states. These states of prior knowledge consisted of the ways in which answers to the questions were stored in…

SU-E-E-02: An Excel-Based Study Tool for ABR-Style Exams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cline, K; Stanley, D; Defoor, D

2015-06-15

Purpose: As the landscape of learning and testing shifts toward a computer-based environment, a replacement for paper-based methods of studying is desirable. Using Microsoft Excel, a study tool was developed that allows the user to populate multiple-choice questions and then generate an interactive quiz session to answer them. Methods: The code for the tool was written using Microsoft Excel Visual Basic for Applications with the intent that this tool could be implemented by any institution with Excel. The base tool is a template with a setup macro, which builds out the structure based on user’s input. Once the framework ismore » built, the user can input sets of multiple-choice questions, answer choices, and even add figures. The tool can be run in random-question or sequential-question mode for single or multiple courses of study. The interactive session allows the user to select answer choices and immediate feedback is provided. Once the user is finished studying, the tool records the day’s progress by reporting progress statistics useful for trending. Results: Six doctoral students at UTHSCSA have used this tool for the past two months to study for their qualifying exam, which is similar in format and content to the American Board of Radiology (ABR) Therapeutic Part II exam. The students collaborated to create a repository of questions, met weekly to go over these questions, and then used the tool to prepare for their exam. Conclusion: The study tool has provided an effective and efficient way for students to collaborate and be held accountable for exam preparation. The ease of use and familiarity of Excel are important factors for the tool’s use. There are software packages to create similar question banks, but this study tool has no additional cost for those that already have Excel. The study tool will be made openly available.« less

Differences in medication knowledge and risk of errors between graduating nursing students and working registered nurses: comparative study.

PubMed

Simonsen, Bjoerg O; Daehlin, Gro K; Johansson, Inger; Farup, Per G

2014-11-21

Nurses experience insufficient medication knowledge; particularly in drug dose calculations, but also in drug management and pharmacology. The weak knowledge could be a result of deficiencies in the basic nursing education, or lack of continuing maintenance training during working years. The aim of this study was to compare the medication knowledge, certainty and risk of error between graduating bachelor students in nursing and experienced registered nurses. Bachelor students in closing term and registered nurses with at least one year job experience underwent a multiple choice test in pharmacology, drug management and drug dose calculations: 3x14 questions with 3-4 alternative answers (score 0-42). Certainty of each answer was recorded with score 0-3, 0-1 indicating need for assistance. Risk of error was scored 1-3, where 3 expressed high risk: being certain that a wrong answer was correct. The results are presented as mean and (SD). Participants were 243 graduating students (including 29 men), aged 28.2 (7.6) years, and 203 registered nurses (including 16 men), aged 42.0 (9.3) years and with a working experience of 12.4 years (9.2). The knowledge among the nurses was found to be superior to that of the students: 68.9%(8.0) and 61.5%(7.8) correct answers, respectively, (p < 0.001). The difference was largest in drug management and dose calculations. The improvement occurred during the first working year. The nurses expressed higher degree of certainty and the risk of error was lower, both overall and for each topic (p < 0.01). Low risk of error was associated with high knowledge and high sense of coping (p < 0.001). The medication knowledge among experienced nurses was superior to bachelor students in nursing, but nevertheless insufficient. As much as 25% of the answers to the drug management questions would lead to high risk of error. More emphasis should be put into the basic nursing education and in the introduction to medication procedures in clinical practice to improve the nurses' medication knowledge and reduce the risk of error.

A pharmacy practice laboratory exercise to apply biochemistry concepts.

PubMed

Harrold, Marc W; McFalls, Marsha A

2010-10-11

To develop exercises that allow pharmacy students to apply foundational knowledge discussed in a first-professional year (P1) biochemistry course to specific disease states and patient scenarios. A pharmacy practice laboratory exercise was developed to accompany a lecture sequence pertaining to purine biosynthesis and degradation. The assignment required students to fill a prescription, provide patient counseling tips, and answer questions pertaining to the disease state, the underlying biochemical problem, and the prescribed medication. Students were graded on the accuracy with which they filled the prescription, provided patient counseling, and answered the questions provided. Overall, students displayed mastery in all of these areas. Additionally, students completed a course survey on which they rated this exercise favorably, noting that it helped them to integrate basic science concepts and pharmacy practice. A laboratory exercise provided an opportunity for P1 students to apply foundational pharmacy knowledge to a patient case and can serve as a template for the design of additional exercises.

Tossing on a Rotating Space Station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paetkau, Mark

2004-10-01

The following analysis was inspired by a question posed by a listener of a radio science show. The listener asked the question: "If an astronaut in a space station that was rotating to simulate gravity threw a ball up, where would the ball go?" The physicist answered, "The ball would travel straight across the space station (assuming an open structure). "The main point is that to an outside observer the ball would not "fall" back down as on Earth. As I pondered this it occurred to me that while the answer is correct, it is a special case with a more general solution. Below is an analysis of the motions a thrown object can undergo on a rotating space station. The first part of the discussion is aimed at lower-level undergraduates who have a basic understanding of vectors and circular motion, and the motion is described from the point of view of an external reference frame. Further analysis of the motion by an observer on the space station is appropriate for upper-level students.

Progress in obstetrics or the road to the Promised Land

PubMed Central

2008-01-01

The exceptional progress in obstetrics, especially in the second half of the 20th century, creates a series of dilemmas, without having yet the answer to old, basic questions, such as premature delivery and prevention of preeclampsia. Sexual liberty and the delay of the first pregnancy are responsible for the drop in natality rate and the increasing demand for assisted reproductive technologies. Their success is marked, though, by a drastic increase in the multiple birth rate and its complications. The advancing maternal age brings along a number of cardiovascular pathologies that endanger not only the present pregnancy, but also the long distance health prognosis. Plus, there is a marked risk for foetal chromosomal anomalies, which explains the need and the importance of prenatal diagnosis. Probably the newest branch in materno–foetal medicine, it offers many answers and solutions, but there are still a lot of question marks. In conclusion, the progress is necessary, is expected, but it should always be filtered by time and experience. PMID:20108480

Cloning: can it be good for us? An overview of cloning technology and its moral implications.

PubMed

FitzGerald, K

2001-01-01

Adequate answers to moral questions about cloning require a working knowledge of the science and technology involved, both present and anticipated. This essay presents an overview of the current state of somatic cell nuclear transfer technology (SCNT), the type of cloning that now permits whole organism reproduction from adult DNA. This essay explains the basic science and technology of SCNT and explores its potential uses. Next, this essay notes remaining scientific obstacles and unanswered moral questions that must be resolved before SCNT can be used for human reproduction. Attention is given to aspects related to cloning for therapeutic and research purposes.

Visual Cortex Inspired CNN Model for Feature Construction in Text Analysis

PubMed Central

Fu, Hongping; Niu, Zhendong; Zhang, Chunxia; Ma, Jing; Chen, Jie

2016-01-01

Recently, biologically inspired models are gradually proposed to solve the problem in text analysis. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) are hierarchical artificial neural networks, which include a various of multilayer perceptrons. According to biological research, CNN can be improved by bringing in the attention modulation and memory processing of primate visual cortex. In this paper, we employ the above properties of primate visual cortex to improve CNN and propose a biological-mechanism-driven-feature-construction based answer recommendation method (BMFC-ARM), which is used to recommend the best answer for the corresponding given questions in community question answering. BMFC-ARM is an improved CNN with four channels respectively representing questions, answers, asker information and answerer information, and mainly contains two stages: biological mechanism driven feature construction (BMFC) and answer ranking. BMFC imitates the attention modulation property by introducing the asker information and answerer information of given questions and the similarity between them, and imitates the memory processing property through bringing in the user reputation information for answerers. Then the feature vector for answer ranking is constructed by fusing the asker-answerer similarities, answerer's reputation and the corresponding vectors of question, answer, asker, and answerer. Finally, the Softmax is used at the stage of answer ranking to get best answers by the feature vector. The experimental results of answer recommendation on the Stackexchange dataset show that BMFC-ARM exhibits better performance. PMID:27471460

Visual Cortex Inspired CNN Model for Feature Construction in Text Analysis.

PubMed

Fu, Hongping; Niu, Zhendong; Zhang, Chunxia; Ma, Jing; Chen, Jie

2016-01-01

Recently, biologically inspired models are gradually proposed to solve the problem in text analysis. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) are hierarchical artificial neural networks, which include a various of multilayer perceptrons. According to biological research, CNN can be improved by bringing in the attention modulation and memory processing of primate visual cortex. In this paper, we employ the above properties of primate visual cortex to improve CNN and propose a biological-mechanism-driven-feature-construction based answer recommendation method (BMFC-ARM), which is used to recommend the best answer for the corresponding given questions in community question answering. BMFC-ARM is an improved CNN with four channels respectively representing questions, answers, asker information and answerer information, and mainly contains two stages: biological mechanism driven feature construction (BMFC) and answer ranking. BMFC imitates the attention modulation property by introducing the asker information and answerer information of given questions and the similarity between them, and imitates the memory processing property through bringing in the user reputation information for answerers. Then the feature vector for answer ranking is constructed by fusing the asker-answerer similarities, answerer's reputation and the corresponding vectors of question, answer, asker, and answerer. Finally, the Softmax is used at the stage of answer ranking to get best answers by the feature vector. The experimental results of answer recommendation on the Stackexchange dataset show that BMFC-ARM exhibits better performance.

Comparison between Long-Menu and Open-Ended Questions in computerized medical assessments. A randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Rotthoff, Thomas; Baehring, Thomas; Dicken, Hans-Dieter; Fahron, Urte; Richter, Bernd; Fischer, Martin R; Scherbaum, Werner A

2006-01-01

Background Long-menu questions (LMQs) are viewed as an alternative method for answering open-ended questions (OEQs) in computerized assessment. So far this question type and its influence on examination scores have not been studied sufficiently. However, the increasing use of computerized assessments will also lead to an increasing use of this question type. Using a summative online key feature (KF) examination we evaluated whether LMQs can be compared with OEQs in regard to the level of difficulty, performance and response times. We also evaluated the content for its suitability for LMQs. Methods We randomized 146 fourth year medical students into two groups. For the purpose of this study we created 7 peer-reviewed KF-cases with a total of 25 questions. All questions had the same content in both groups, but nine questions had a different answer type. Group A answered 9 questions with an LM type, group B with an OE type. In addition to the LM answer, group A could give an OE answer if the appropriate answer was not included in the list. Results The average number of correct answers for LMQs and OEQs showed no significant difference (p = 0.93). Among all 630 LM answers only one correct term (0.32%) was not included in the list of answers. The response time for LMQs did not significantly differ from that of OEQs (p = 0.65). Conclusion LMQs and OEQs do not differ significantly. Compared to standard multiple-choice questions (MCQs), the response time for LMQs and OEQs is longer. This is probably due to the fact that they require active problem solving skills and more practice. LMQs correspond more suitable to Short answer questions (SAQ) then to OEQ and should only be used when the answers can be clearly phrased, using only a few, precise synonyms. LMQs can decrease cueing effects and significantly simplify the scoring in computerized assessment. PMID:17032439

Beyond Information Retrieval—Medical Question Answering

PubMed Central

Lee, Minsuk; Cimino, James; Zhu, Hai Ran; Sable, Carl; Shanker, Vijay; Ely, John; Yu, Hong

2006-01-01

Physicians have many questions when caring for patients, and frequently need to seek answers for their questions. Information retrieval systems (e.g., PubMed) typically return a list of documents in response to a user’s query. Frequently the number of returned documents is large and makes physicians’ information seeking “practical only ‘after hours’ and not in the clinical settings”. Question answering techniques are based on automatically analyzing thousands of electronic documents to generate short-text answers in response to clinical questions that are posed by physicians. The authors address physicians’ information needs and described the design, implementation, and evaluation of the medical question answering system (MedQA). Although our long term goal is to enable MedQA to answer all types of medical questions, currently, we currently implement MedQA to integrate information retrieval, extraction, and summarization techniques to automatically generate paragraph-level text for definitional questions (i.e., “What is X?”). MedQA can be accessed at http://www.dbmi.columbia.edu/~yuh9001/research/MedQA.html. PMID:17238385

Prevalence of answers to orthopaedic in-training examination questions in 3 commonly used orthopedic review sources.

PubMed

Krueger, Chad A; Shakir, Irshad; Fuller, Brian C

2012-09-01

One of the greatest predictors for resident success on the Orthopaedic In-Training Examination (OITE) is reviewing previous OITE questions. However, no studies have examined which review sources contain the most answers to previously asked OITE questions. The goal of this study was to determine which review source contains the most answers to previously asked OITE questions. Each question from the 2006 to 2010 OITEs was examined. The questions were placed into 1 of 13 categories based on their topic. The publication date of the recommended readings associated with each question was recorded. The answer to each question was then searched for in 3 commonly used review sources: Miller's Review of Orthopaedics, 5th edition (MRO), American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Comprehensive Orthopaedic Review (COR), and www.orthobullets.com (OB). Searchable electronic versions of each textbook were used, and each question had a 12-minute time limit. Of 1358 questions, 665 (49%) were found in all 3 sources. Significantly more answers were found on OB (99.4%) compared with MRO (60%) and COR (62%) (P<.0001). Significantly more answers to questions in each question category were found on OB compared with MRO or COR (P<.0001). More than 50% of all recommended readings for OITE questions were published within 5 years of the OITE. Residents using OB to review for the OITE will be exposed to significantly more answers of previously asked OITE questions than residents using MRO or COR (P<.0001). Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

Interactions and user-perceived helpfulness in diet information social questions & answers.

PubMed

Zhang, Yin; Wang, Peilin

2016-12-01

Online health information seeking using social questions and answers (Social Q&A) sites has been increasingly popular in recent years. It calls for better understanding of health information seeking behaviour and interactions between information seekers and information providers. The study investigates how diet information seekers interact with information providers on WebMD Answers, which is a Social Q&A site devoted to health-related topics, and examines the factors that constitute a 'helpful' answer from an information seeker's perspective. Bales' interaction process analysis was applied as the framework to analyse 568 diet-related Q&As from WebMD Answers to identify interaction patterns. Most diet information seekers post questions anonymously and without any detailed description. Individual experts or health organisations provide most answers. Overall, answers are positively received and had a high satisfaction rating. It was also found that information seeker-perceived helpfulness does not depend on who answered the question but to how an information seeker posted the question. This study indicates that answers at WebMD Answers are helpful for diet information seekers. It sheds new light on the interactions during the Q&A process, preferred site functions and important factors that contribute to perceived helpful answers. © 2016 Health Libraries Group.

Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

ScienceCinema

Kaufmann, Robert [Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

2018-04-19

In the coming decades, US consumers will face a series of important decisions about oil. To make effective decisions, consumers must confront some disturbing answers to questions they would rather not ask. These questions include: is the US running out of oil, is the world running out of oil, is OPEC increasing its grip on prices, is the US economy reducing its dependence on energy, and will the competitive market address these issues in a timely fashion? Answers to these questions indicate that the market will not address these issues: the US has already run out of inexpensive sources of oil such that rising prices no longer elicit significant increases in supply. The US experience implies that within a couple of decades, the world oil market will change from increasing supply at low prices to decreasing supply at higher prices. As the world approaches this important turning point, OPEC will strengthen its grip on world oil prices. Contrary to popular belief, the US economy continues to be highly dependent on energy, especially inexpensive sources of energy. Together, these trends threaten to undermine the basic way in which the US economy generates a high standard of living.

Answerers' Motivations and Strategies for Providing Information and Social Support in Social Q&A an Investigation of Health Question Answering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oh, Sanghee

2010-01-01

Social Q&A allows people to ask and answer questions for each other and to solve problems in everyday life collaboratively. The purpose of the current study is to understand the motivations and strategies of answerers in social Q&A. Thus, three research questions were investigated: (1) Why do answerers participate and contribute in social Q&A? (2)…

Posttraumatic Headache: Basic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets.

PubMed

Kamins, Joshua; Charles, Andrew

2018-06-01

Frequent or continuous headache, often refractory to medical therapy, is a common occurrence after head trauma. In addition to being the most common acute symptom after traumatic brain injury (TBI), headache is also one of the most persistent and disabling symptoms. Different studies indicate that 18-58% of those suffering a TBI will have significant headache at 1 year following the trauma. In addition to being disabling on its own, posttraumatic headache (PTH) is a predictor of overall outcome after concussion. Despite its remarkable prevalence and associated social and economic costs, many fundamental and important questions about PTH remain unanswered. The purpose of this review is to identify key questions regarding the clinical characteristics of posttraumatic headache, its basic mechanisms, and its optimal management. We discuss phenotypic features of PTH, pathophysiological mechanisms of TBI including potential overlaps with those of migraine and other primary headache disorders, and potential novel targets for treatment. We suggest different strategies to finding answers to the questions regarding PTH in order to advance the understanding of the disorder and develop more effective therapies. © 2018 American Headache Society.

The Importance of Mixing Virtual and Real Information in Games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaonach, H.

2014-12-01

Educational technology is rapidly evolving, today's classrooms are replete with ipads, iphones, interactive white boards, and other Internet tools and gadgets. However we mustn't be diverted by the technology and lose the basic focus on the communication of scientific ideas to the students. What do we want to teach them? I will present new educational kits including games about active volcanoes as well as climates and climate change. These tools have been created for 8-12 year olds who play on teams. The teams use question-cards and basic geographic knowledge to move on a regular play board by answering scientific questions. In addition to learning the science, through interpreting latitudes and longitudes, children will better understand the link between Google map and the world map after such exercises! With their teacher, they will be able to play with traditional pieces but also use tablets or computers to listen to videos as well as obtain additional subject related questions and activities. In this way, the Web is an infinite extension of the regular game played on a table with physical pieces. Let's see how it works!

Plant Growth Module (PGM) conceptual design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartzkopf, Steven H.; Rasmussen, Daryl

1987-01-01

The Plant Growth Module for the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS), designed to answer basic science questions related to growing plants in closed systems, is described functionally with artist's conception drawings. Subsystems are also described, including enclosure and access; data acquisition and control; gas monitor and control; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; air delivery; nutrient monitor and control; microbial monitoring and control; plant support and nutrient delivery; illumination; and internal operations. The hardware development plan is outlined.

Unmet Needs of Low Academic Level Adult (0-4th Grade Level) Students: A Follow-Up Study. A Special Demonstration/Teacher Training Project. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portage Township Schools, IN.

An Indiana 310 Project was conducted to determine the needs of very low level adult basic education students (0-4th grade). Specifically, the study sought to answer the following four questions: (1) What brings low academic level students into ABE programs? (2) What aspects of the ABE programs do low academic level students dislike? (3) Why do low…

Plug-In Electric Vehicle Handbook for Workplace Charging Hosts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2013-08-01

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) have immense potential for increasing the country's energy, economic, and environmental security, and they will play a key role in the future of U.S. transportation. By providing PEV charging at the workplace, employers are perfectly positioned to contribute to and benefit from the electrification of transportation. This handbook answers basic questions about PEVs and charging equipment, helps employers assess whether to offer workplace charging for employees, and outlines important steps for implementation.

Pneumocystis

PubMed Central

Gigliotti, Francis; Limper, Andrew H.; Wright, Terry

2014-01-01

Since its initial misidentification as a trypanosome some 100 years ago, Pneumocystis has remained recalcitrant to study. Although we have learned much, we still do not have definitive answers to such basic questions as, where is the reservoir of infection, how does Pneumocystis reproduce, what is the mechanism of infection, and are there true species of Pneumocystis? The goal of this review is to provide the reader the most up to date information available about the biology of Pneumocystis and the disease it produces. PMID:25367973

OPERATION IVY. Report of Commander, Task Group 132.1. Pacific Proving Grounds. Joint Task Force 132

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-10-31

3.4.1 Device Planning One of the major purposes of Operation Greenhouse was to answer key questions relating to the possibility of developing...thermonuclear explosions. The Greenhouse George and Item Shots were Important steps in the investigation of basic problems in the development of a...January 1952, staff studies were made which were based on Greenhouse experience and on the best available estimates of the requirements pe- culiar to

Questions and Answers for Reporting for the 2006 Partial Updating of the TSCA Chemical Inventory Database: Inorganic Chemicals Addendum

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This document addresses specific questions related to reporting inorganic chemicals under the IUR and is an addendum to the Questions and Answers for Reporting for the 2006 Partial Updating of the TSCA Chemical Inventory Database (Questions and Answers Document).

Reducing Our Ignorance: Finding Answers to Certain Epistemic Questions for Software Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holloway, C. Michael; Johnson, Christopher W.

2011-01-01

In previous papers, we asserted that software system safety is primarily concerned with epistemic questions, that is, questions concerning knowledge and the degree of confidence that can be placed in that knowledge. We also enumerated a set of 21 foundational epistemic questions, discussed some of the difficulties that exist in answering these questions adequately today, and speculated briefly on possible research that may provide improved confidence in the sufficiency of answers in the future. This paper focuses on three of the foundational questions. For each of these questions, current answers are discussed and potential research is proposed to help increase the justifiable level of confidence.

Questions and Answers about Sex (For Parents)

MedlinePlus

... Educators Search English Español Questions and Answers About Sex KidsHealth / For Parents / Questions and Answers About Sex ... extent can parents depend on schools to teach sex education? Parents should begin the sex education process ...

Radiology Residents' Awareness about Ionizing Radiation Doses in Imaging Studies and Their Cancer Risk during Radiological Examinations

PubMed Central

Divrik Gökçe, Senem; Coşkun, Melek

2012-01-01

Objective Imaging methods that use ionizing radiation have been more frequent in various medical fields with advances in imaging technology. The aim of our study was to make residents be aware of the radiation dose they are subjected to when they conduct radiological imaging methods, and of cancer risk. Materials and Methods A total of 364 residents participated in this descriptive study which was conducted during the period between October, 2008 and January, 2009. The questionnaires were completed under strict control on a one-to-one basis from each department. A χ2-test was used for the evaluation of data obtained. Results Only 7% of residents correctly answered to the question about the ionizing radiation dose of a posteroanterior (PA) chest X-ray. The question asking about the equivalent number of PA chest X-rays to the ionizing dose of a brain CT was answered correctly by 24% of residents; the same question regarding abdominal CT was answered correctly by 16% of residents, thorax CT by 16%, thyroid scintigraphy by 15%, intravenous pyelography by 9%, and lumbar spine radiography by 2%. The risk of developing a cancer throughout lifetime by a brain and abdominal CT were 33% and 28%, respectively. Conclusion Radiologic residents should have updated knowledge about radiation dose content and attendant cancer risks of various radiological imaging methods during both basic medical training period and following practice period. PMID:22438688

Teaching and learning of medical biochemistry according to clinical realities: A case study.

PubMed

Jabaut, Joshua M; Dudum, Ramzi; Margulies, Samantha L; Mehta, Akshita; Han, Zhiyong

2016-01-01

To foster medical students to become physicians who will be lifelong independent learners and critical thinkers with healthy skepticism and provide high-quality patient care guided by the best evidence, teaching of evidence-based medicine (EBM) has become an important component of medical education. Currently, the teaching and learning of biochemistry in medical schools incorporates its medical relevance and applications. However, to our knowledge there have been no reports on integrating EBM with teaching and learning medical biochemistry. Here, we present a case study to illustrate the significance of this approach. This case study was based on a biochemistry/nutrition question in a popular board review book about whether a homeless alcoholic man is at risk of developing a deficiency of vitamin E. The possible answers and explanation provided in the book raised a question about the correct answer, which provided us with an opportunity to adapt the philosophy and certain basic EBM principles to find evidence for the clinical applicability of a commonly taught biochemistry topic. The outcome of this case study not only taught us how to conduct an EBM exercise to answer a specific patient question, but also provided us with an opportunity for in-depth teaching and learning of the medical relevance of a specific biochemistry topic based on the best clinical evidence obtained from a systematic research of medical literature. © 2015 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Comparing the use of an online expert health network against common information sources to answer health questions.

PubMed

Rhebergen, Martijn D F; Lenderink, Annet F; van Dijk, Frank J H; Hulshof, Carel T J

2012-02-02

Many workers have questions about occupational safety and health (OSH). It is unknown whether workers are able to find correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions when they use common information sources, such as websites, or whether they would benefit from using an easily accessible, free-of-charge online network of OSH experts providing advice. To assess the rate of correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions in a group of workers who used an online network of OSH experts (intervention group) compared with a group of workers who used common information sources (control group). In a quasi-experimental study, workers in the intervention and control groups were randomly offered 2 questions from a pool of 16 standardized OSH questions. Both questions were sent by mail to all participants, who had 3 weeks to answer them. The intervention group was instructed to use only the online network ArboAntwoord, a network of about 80 OSH experts, to solve the questions. The control group was instructed that they could use all information sources available to them. To assess answer correctness as the main study outcome, 16 standardized correct model answers were constructed with the help of reviewers who performed literature searches. Subsequently, the answers provided by all participants in the intervention (n = 94 answers) and control groups (n = 124 answers) were blinded and compared with the correct model answers on the degree of correctness. Of the 94 answers given by participants in the intervention group, 58 were correct (62%), compared with 24 of the 124 answers (19%) in the control group, who mainly used informational websites found via Google. The difference between the 2 groups was significant (rate difference = 43%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 30%-54%). Additional analysis showed that the rate of correct main conclusions of the answers was 85 of 94 answers (90%) in the intervention group and 75 of 124 answers (61%) in the control group (rate difference = 29%, 95% CI 19%-40%). Remarkably, we could not identify differences between workers who provided correct answers and workers who did not on how they experienced the credibility, completeness, and applicability of the information found (P > .05). Workers are often unable to find correct answers to OSH questions when using common information sources, generally informational websites. Because workers frequently misjudge the quality of the information they find, other strategies are required to assist workers in finding correct answers. Expert advice provided through an online expert network can be effective for this purpose. As many people experience difficulties in finding correct answers to their health questions, expert networks may be an attractive new source of information for health fields in general.

Comparing the Use of an Online Expert Health Network against Common Information Sources to Answer Health Questions

PubMed Central

Lenderink, Annet F; van Dijk, Frank JH; Hulshof, Carel TJ

2012-01-01

Background Many workers have questions about occupational safety and health (OSH). It is unknown whether workers are able to find correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions when they use common information sources, such as websites, or whether they would benefit from using an easily accessible, free-of-charge online network of OSH experts providing advice. Objective To assess the rate of correct, evidence-based answers to OSH questions in a group of workers who used an online network of OSH experts (intervention group) compared with a group of workers who used common information sources (control group). Methods In a quasi-experimental study, workers in the intervention and control groups were randomly offered 2 questions from a pool of 16 standardized OSH questions. Both questions were sent by mail to all participants, who had 3 weeks to answer them. The intervention group was instructed to use only the online network ArboAntwoord, a network of about 80 OSH experts, to solve the questions. The control group was instructed that they could use all information sources available to them. To assess answer correctness as the main study outcome, 16 standardized correct model answers were constructed with the help of reviewers who performed literature searches. Subsequently, the answers provided by all participants in the intervention (n = 94 answers) and control groups (n = 124 answers) were blinded and compared with the correct model answers on the degree of correctness. Results Of the 94 answers given by participants in the intervention group, 58 were correct (62%), compared with 24 of the 124 answers (19%) in the control group, who mainly used informational websites found via Google. The difference between the 2 groups was significant (rate difference = 43%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 30%–54%). Additional analysis showed that the rate of correct main conclusions of the answers was 85 of 94 answers (90%) in the intervention group and 75 of 124 answers (61%) in the control group (rate difference = 29%, 95% CI 19%–40%). Remarkably, we could not identify differences between workers who provided correct answers and workers who did not on how they experienced the credibility, completeness, and applicability of the information found (P > .05). Conclusions Workers are often unable to find correct answers to OSH questions when using common information sources, generally informational websites. Because workers frequently misjudge the quality of the information they find, other strategies are required to assist workers in finding correct answers. Expert advice provided through an online expert network can be effective for this purpose. As many people experience difficulties in finding correct answers to their health questions, expert networks may be an attractive new source of information for health fields in general. PMID:22356848

Evaluation of knowledge of students in paediatric dentistry concerning cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills in children.

PubMed

De Mauro, L M; Oliveira, L B; Bergamaschi, C De Cássia; Ramacciato, J C; Motta, R H L

2018-05-10

The study evaluated the theoretical knowledge and practical ability of students in paediatric dentistry concerning basic life support (BLS) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in children and babies. Seventy paediatric dentistry students answered a questionnaire and also performed a simulation of the manoeuvres of BLS and CPR on baby and child manikins. The results showed that 41 (58%) students had never received BLS training. When questioned about the correct ratio of compression and ventilation during CPR, most students answered incorrectly. For the CPR of babies in the presence of a first responder only 19 (27.1%) answered correctly (30 × 2), and for babies with two rescuers, 23 (32.8%) answered correctly (15 × 2); in relation to the correct rhythm of chest compressions, 38 (54.4%) answered incorrectly; when asked if they felt prepared to deal with a medical emergency in their dental surgeries, only 12 (17.1%) stated "yes". In the practice evaluation, 51 (73%) students who had been assessed in CPR manoeuvres for children and 55 (78%) in the manoeuvres for babies scored inadequately. The evaluated students did not have adequate knowledge about CPR in children and babies.

Experiential curriculum improves medical students' ability to answer clinical questions using the internet.

PubMed

Alper, Brian S; Vinson, Daniel C

2005-09-01

Teaching about evidence-based medicine (EBM) is widespread, yet physicians still use rapid references preferentially over EBM techniques such as literature searching and appraisal of original research. The Internet now provides rapid access to preappraised evidence. We provided clinically integrated teaching of using the Internet to answer clinical questions for third-year medical students and assessed the change in their search skills. The curriculum included two 90-minute computer lab sessions with teaching of search skills related to clinical questions. Immediately before the first and after the second session, students recorded sites searched, time needed for searching, and answers found for three standardized questions. Pretest and posttest questions were matched and reversed with each block. Eighty-six students completed pretests and posttests. For two questions about conventional medical care, posttest answer quality was significantly higher, and posttest search times were significantly shorter, by 1.6 minutes for question 1 (mean pretest search time 6.3 minutes, mean posttest search time 4.7 minutes) and 1.9 minutes for question 2 (mean pretest search time 8 minutes, mean posttest search time 6.1 minutes). For a question about herbal medicine, results were similar, but there were smaller differences that did not reach statistical significance. Students used or found significantly fewer sites on the posttest than on the pretest to find answers for all three question types (absolute difference=0.3 sites for each question). CONCLUSIONS Introducing students to useful Web sites, practicing answering clinical questions, and integrating this process with clinical rotation experiences can reduce the effort that students need to find answers and improve the quality of answers they find.

Can online networks provide quality answers to questions about occupational safety and health?

PubMed

Rhebergen, Martijn D F; Lenderink, Annet F; van Dijk, Frank J H; Hulshof, Carel T J

2012-05-01

To assess whether experts can provide high-quality answers to occupational safety and health (OSH) questions in online Question & Answer (Q&A) networks. The authors evaluated the quality of answers provided by qualified experts in two Dutch online networks: ArboAntwoord and the Helpdesk of the Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases. A random sample of 594 answers was independently evaluated by two raters using nine answer quality criteria. An additional criterion, the agreement of answers with the best available evidence, was explored by peer review of a sample of 42 answers. Reviewers performed an evidence search in Medline. The median answer quality score of ArboAntwoord (N=295) and the Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases Helpdesk (N=299) was 8 of 9 (IQR 2). The inter-rater reliability of the first nine quality criteria was high (κ 0.82-0.90, p<0.05). A question answered by two or more experts had a greater probability of a high-quality score than questions answered by one expert (OR 4.9, 95% CI 2.7 to 9.0). Answers most often scored insufficient on the use of evidence to underpin the answer (36% and 38% for the networks, respectively) and on conciseness (35% and 31%, respectively). Peer review demonstrated that 43%-72% of the answers in both online networks were in complete agreement with the best available evidence. OSH experts are able to provide quality answers in online OSH Q&A networks. Our answer quality appraisal instrument was feasible and provided information on how to improve answer quality.

Selective Benefits of Question Self-Generation and Answering for Remembering Expository Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bugg, Julie M.; McDaniel, Mark A.

2012-01-01

The present study examined possible memory and metacomprehension benefits of using a combined question self-generation and answering technique, relative to rereading, as a study strategy for expository passages. In the 2 question self-generation and answering conditions (detail or conceptual questions), participants were prompted on how to…

Questions and Answers About Nuclear Power Plants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.

This pamphlet is designed to answer many of the questions that have arisen about nuclear power plants and the environment. It is organized into a question and answer format, with the questions taken from those most often asked by the public. Topics include regulation of nuclear power sources, potential dangers to people's health, whether nuclear…

A Support System for Error Correction Questions in Programming Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hachisu, Yoshinari; Yoshida, Atsushi

2014-01-01

For supporting the education of debugging skills, we propose a system for generating error correction questions of programs and checking the correctness. The system generates HTML files for answering questions and CGI programs for checking answers. Learners read and answer questions on Web browsers. For management of error injection, we have…

The Life Sciences program at the NASA Ames Research Center - An overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vernikos-Danellis, Joan; Sharp, Joseph C.

1989-01-01

The research projects planned for the Life Sciences program have a goal of answering basic questions concerning the nature of life itself and its evolution in the universe from basic elements, as well as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The program also includes studies of the evolution and development of life on the planet earth, and the global changes occurring today that affect life on the earth. The paper describes the simulation models developed to study the effects of space, the flight projects of the program, and the biomedical program, which currently focuses on the physiological changes in the human body that are associated with space flights and the interactions among these changes.

International Linear Collider Reference Design Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brau, James,; Okada, Yasuhiro,; Walker, Nicholas J.,

2007-08-13

{lg_bullet} What is the universe? How did it begin? {lg_bullet} What are matter and energy? What are space and time? These basic questions have been the subject of scientific theories and experiments throughout human history. The answers have revolutionized the enlightened view of the world, transforming society and advancing civilization. Universal laws and principles govern everyday phenomena, some of them manifesting themselves only at scales of time and distance far beyond everyday experience. Particle physics experiments using particle accelerators transform matter and energy, to reveal the basic workings of the universe. Other experiments exploit naturally occurring particles, such as solarmore » neutrinos or cosmic rays, and astrophysical observations, to provide additional insights.« less

What Is the Correct Answer about The Dress' Colors? Investigating the Relation between Optimism, Previous Experience, and Answerability.

PubMed

Karlsson, Bodil S A; Allwood, Carl Martin

2016-01-01

The Dress photograph, first displayed on the internet in 2015, revealed stunning individual differences in color perception. The aim of this study was to investigate if lay-persons believed that the question about The Dress colors was answerable. Past research has found that optimism is related to judgments of how answerable knowledge questions with controversial answers are (Karlsson et al., 2016). Furthermore, familiarity with a question can create a feeling of knowing the answer (Reder and Ritter, 1992). Building on these findings, 186 participants saw the photo of The Dress and were asked about the correct answer to the question about The Dress' colors (" blue and black," "white and gold," "other, namely…," or "there is no correct answer" ). Choice of the alternative "there is no correct answer" was interpreted as believing the question was not answerable. This answer was chosen more often by optimists and by people who reported they had not seen The Dress before. We also found that among participants who had seen The Dress photo before, 19%, perceived The Dress as "white and gold" but believed that the correct answer was "blue and black ." This, in analogy to previous findings about non-believed memories (Scoboria and Pascal, 2016), shows that people sometimes do not believe the colors they have perceived are correct. Our results suggest that individual differences related to optimism and previous experience may contribute to if the judgment of the individual perception of a photograph is enough to serve as a decision basis for valid conclusions about colors. Further research about color judgments under ambiguous circumstances could benefit from separating individual perceptual experience from beliefs about the correct answer to the color question. Including the option "there is no correct answer " may also be beneficial.

Basic life support: knowledge and attitude of medical/paramedical professionals.

PubMed

Roshana, Shrestha; Kh, Batajoo; Rm, Piryani; Mw, Sharma

2012-01-01

Basic life support (BLS), a key component of the chain of survival decreases the arrest - cardiopulmonary resuscitation interval and increases the rate of hospital discharge. The study aimed to explore the knowledge of and attitude towards basic life support (BLS) among medical/paramedical professionals. An observational study was conducted by assessing response to self prepared questionnaire consisting of the demographic information of the medical/paramedical staff, their personnel experience/attitude and knowledge of BLS based on the 2005 BLS Guidelines of European Resuscitation Council. After excluding incomplete questionnaires, the data from 121 responders (27 clinical faculty members, 21 dental and basic sciences faculty members, 29 house officers and 44 nurses and health assistants) were analyzed. Only 9 (7.4%) of the 121 responders answered ≥11, 53 (43%) answered 7-10, and 58 (48%) answered <7 of 15 questions correctly. The clinical faculty members, house officers and nurses/HA had a mean score of 7.4±3.15, 7.37±2.02 and 6.63±2.16 respectively, while dental/basic sciences faculty members attained a least mean score of 4.52 ±2.13 (P<0.001). Those who had received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training within 5 years obtained a highest mean score of 8.62±2.49, whereas those who had the training more than 5 years back or no training obtained a mean score of 5.54±2.38 and 6.1±2.29 respectively (P=0.001). Those who were involved in resuscitation frequently had a higher median score of 8 in comparison to those who were seldom involved or not involved at all (P<0.001). The average health personnel in our hospital lack adequate knowledge in CPR/BLS. Training and experience can enhance knowledge of CPR of these personnel. Thus standard of CPR/BLS training and assessment are recommended at our hospital.

Design of a Low-Cost Adaptive Question Answering System for Closed Domain Factoid Queries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toh, Huey Ling

2010-01-01

Closed domain question answering (QA) systems achieve precision and recall at the cost of complex language processing techniques to parse the answer corpus. We propose a "query-based" model for indexing answers in a closed domain factoid QA system. Further, we use a phrase term inference method for improving the ranking order of related questions.…

A Comparison of Study Strategies for Passages: Rereading, Answering Questions, and Generating Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinstein, Yana; McDermott, Kathleen B.; Roediger, Henry L., III

2010-01-01

Students are often encouraged to generate and answer their own questions on to-be-remembered material, because this interactive process is thought to enhance memory. But does this strategy actually work? In three experiments, all participants read the same passage, answered questions, and took a test to get accustomed to the materials in a…

Randomized trial for answers to clinical questions: evaluating a pre-appraised versus a MEDLINE search protocol.

PubMed

Patel, Manesh R; Schardt, Connie M; Sanders, Linda L; Keitz, Sheri A

2006-10-01

The paper compares the speed, validity, and applicability of two different protocols for searching the primary medical literature. A randomized trial involving medicine residents was performed. An inpatient general medicine rotation was used. Thirty-two internal medicine residents were block randomized into four groups of eight. Success rate of each search protocol was measured by perceived search time, number of questions answered, and proportion of articles that were applicable and valid. Residents randomized to the MEDLINE-first (protocol A) group searched 120 questions, and residents randomized to the MEDLINE-last (protocol B) searched 133 questions. In protocol A, 104 answers (86.7%) and, in protocol B, 117 answers (88%) were found to clinical questions. In protocol A, residents reported that 26 (25.2%) of the answers were obtained quickly or rated as "fast" (<5 minutes) as opposed to 55 (51.9%) in protocol B, (P = 0.0004). A subset of questions and articles (n = 79) were reviewed by faculty who found that both protocols identified similar numbers of answer articles that addressed the questions and were felt to be valid using critical appraisal criteria. For resident-generated clinical questions, both protocols produced a similarly high percentage of applicable and valid articles. The MEDLINE-last search protocol was perceived to be faster. However, in the MEDLINE-last protocol, a significant portion of questions (23%) still required searching MEDLINE to find an answer.

Soliciting and Responding to Patients' Questions about Diabetes Through Online Sources.

PubMed

Crangle, Colleen E; Bradley, Colin; Carlin, Paul F; Esterhay, Robert J; Harper, Roy; Kearney, Patricia M; Lorig, Kate; McCarthy, Vera J C; McTear, Michael F; Tuttle, Mark S; Wallace, Jonathan G; Savage, Eileen

2017-03-01

When patients cannot get answers from health professionals or retain the information given, increasingly they search online for answers, with limited success. Researchers from the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom explored this problem for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In 2014, patients attending an outpatient clinic (UK) were asked to submit questions about diabetes. Ten questions judged representative of different types of patient concerns were selected by the researchers and submitted to search engines within trusted and vetted websites in the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Two researchers independently assessed if answers could be found in the three top-ranked documents returned at each website. The 2014 search was repeated in June, 2016, examining the two top-ranked documents returned. One hundred and sixty-four questions were collected from 120 patients during 12 outpatient clinics. Most patients had T2DM (95%). Most questions were about diabetes (N = 155) with the remainder related to clinic operation (N = 9). Of the questions on diabetes, 152 were about T2DM. The 2014 assessment found no adequate answers to the questions in 90 documents (10 questions, 3 websites, 3 top documents). In the 2016 assessment, 1 document out of 60 (10 questions, 3 websites, 2 top documents) provided an adequate answer relating to 1 of the 10 questions. Available online sources of information do not provide answers to questions from patients with diabetes. Our results highlight the urgent need to develop novel ways of providing answers to patient questions about T2DM.

Breast cancer information communicated on a public online platform: an analysis of 'Yahoo! Answer Japan'.

PubMed

Ohigashi, An; Ahmed, Salim; Afzal, Arfan R; Shigeta, Naoko; Tam-Tham, Helen; Kanda, Hideyuki; Ishikawa, Yoshihiro; Turin, Tanvir C

2017-06-01

INTRODUCTION Japan is a developed country with high use of Internet and online platforms for health information. 'Yahoo! Answer Japan' is the most commonly used question-and-answer service in Japan. AIM To explore the information users seek regarding breast cancer from the 'Yahoo! Answer Japan' web portal. METHODS The 'Yahoo! Answer Japan' portal was searched for the key word 'breast cancer' and all questions searched for the period of 1 January to 31 December 2014 were obtained. The selected questions related to human breast cancer and were not advertisements or promotional material. The questions were categorized using a coding schema. High and low access of the questions were defined by the number of view-counts. RESULTS Among the 2392 selected questions, six major categories were identified; (1) suspected breast cancer, (2) breast cancer screening, (3) treatment of breast cancer, (4) life with breast cancer, (5) prevention of breast cancer and (6) others. The highest number of questions were treatment related (28.8%) followed by suspected breast cancer-related questions (23.4%) and screening-related questions (20%). Statistical analysis revealed that the treatment-related questions were more likely to be highly accessed. CONCLUSION Content analysis of Internet question-answer communities is important, as questions posted on these sites would serve as a rich source of direct reflection regarding the health-related information needs of the general population.

Robotic insects: Manufacturing, actuation, and power considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Robert

2015-12-01

As the characteristic size of a flying robot decreases, the challenges for successful flight revert to basic questions of fabrication, actuation, fluid mechanics, stabilization, and power - whereas such questions have in general been answered for larger aircraft. When developing a robot on the scale of a housefly, all hardware must be developed from scratch as there is nothing "off-the-shelf" which can be used for mechanisms, sensors, or computation that would satisfy the extreme mass and power limitations. With these challenges in mind, this talk will present progress in the essential technologies for insect-like robots with an emphasis on multi-scale manufacturing methods, high power density actuation, and energy-efficient power distribution.

Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program. Risk Analysis of the Continued Storage of Chemical Munitions

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-08-01

Grass Army Depot LIC liquid incinerator LPF leakers processing facility LPG liquified propane gas MD)B munitions demilitarization building"I 1DIA mu...screening process , con- sidering both frequency and magnitude of agent release, are included in the deliverables of this project. S.1.3. Scove of Study...simplistic terms the PRA process focuses on answering the fol- •• loving three basic questions: 1. Wh.t can go wrong? 2. How frequently is it expected to

Applications of fractals in ecology.

PubMed

Sugihara, G; M May, R

1990-03-01

Fractal models describe the geometry of a wide variety of natural objects such as coastlines, island chains, coral reefs, satellite ocean-color images and patches of vegetation. Cast in the form of modified diffusion models, they can mimic natural and artificial landscapes having different types of complexity of shape. This article provides a brief introduction to fractals and reports on how they can be used by ecologists to answer a variety of basic questions, about scale, measurement and hierarchy in, ecological systems. Copyright © 1990. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Quantum Social Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haven, Emmanuel; Khrennikov, Andrei

2013-01-01

Preface; Part I. Physics Concepts in Social Science? A Discussion: 1. Classical, statistical and quantum mechanics: all in one; 2. Econophysics: statistical physics and social science; 3. Quantum social science: a non-mathematical motivation; Part II. Mathematics and Physics Preliminaries: 4. Vector calculus and other mathematical preliminaries; 5. Basic elements of quantum mechanics; 6. Basic elements of Bohmian mechanics; Part III. Quantum Probabilistic Effects in Psychology: Basic Questions and Answers: 7. A brief overview; 8. Interference effects in psychology - an introduction; 9. A quantum-like model of decision making; Part IV. Other Quantum Probabilistic Effects in Economics, Finance and Brain Sciences: 10. Financial/economic theory in crisis; 11. Bohmian mechanics in finance and economics; 12. The Bohm-Vigier Model and path simulation; 13. Other applications to economic/financial theory; 14. The neurophysiological sources of quantum-like processing in the brain; Conclusion; Glossary; Index.

A question-answer pair (QAP) database integrated with websites to answer complex questions submitted to the Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS): a descriptive study.

PubMed

Schjøtt, Jan; Reppe, Linda A; Roland, Pål-Didrik H; Westergren, Tone

2012-01-01

To assess a question-answer pair (QAP) database integrated with websites developed for drug information centres to answer complex questions effectively. Descriptive study with comparison of two subsequent 6-year periods (1995-2000 and 2001-2006). The Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS). A randomised sample of QAPs from the RELIS database. Answer time in days compared with Mann-Whitney U test. Number of drugs involved (one, two, three or more), complexity (judgemental and/or patient-related or not) and literature search (none, simple or advanced) compared with χ(2) tests. 842 QAPs (312 from 1995 to 2000 and 530 from 2001 to 2006) were compared. The fraction of judgemental and patient-related questions increased (66%-75% and 54%-72%, respectively, p<0.01). Number of drugs and literature search (>50% advanced) was similar in the two periods, but the fraction of answers referring to the RELIS database increased (13%-31%, p<0.01). Median answer time was reduced from 2 days to 1 (p<0.01), although the fraction of complex questions increased from the first to the second period. Furthermore, the mean number of questions per employee per year increased from 66 to 89 from the first to the second period. The authors conclude that RELIS has a potential to efficiently answer complex questions. The model is of relevance for organisation of drug information centres.

15 CFR Supplement No. 1 to Part 734 - Questions and Answers-Technology and Software Subject to the EAR

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Questions and Answers-Technology and... Supplement No. 1 to Part 734—Questions and Answers—Technology and Software Subject to the EAR This Supplement No. 1 contains explanatory questions and answers relating to technology and software that is subject...

99 Facts about the FBI: Questions and Answers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Quantico, VA.

This booklet on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attempts to provide an overview of the FBI's functions. Presented in a question and answer format, the 99 questions and answers discuss the federal government agency's history, administrative matters, jurisdiction, criminal investigations, security matters, foreign counter-intelligence, and…

Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rees, A.F.; Alfaro-Shigueto, J.; Barata, P.C.R.; Bjorndal, K.A.; Bolten, A.B.; Bourjea, J.; Broderick, A.C.; Campbell, L.M.; Cardona, L.; Carreras, C.; Casale, P.; Ceriani, S.A.; Dutton, P.H.; Eguchi, T.; Formia, A.; Fuentes, M.M.P.B.; Fuller, W.J.; Girondot, M.; Godfrey, M.H.; Hamann, M.; Hart, Kristen M.; Hays, G.C.; Hochscheid, S.; Kaska, Y.; Jensen, M.P.; Mangel, J.C.; Mortimer, J.A.; Naro-Maciel, E.; Ng, C.K.Y.; Nichols, W.J.; Phillott, A.D.; Reina, R.D.; Revuelta, O.; Schofield, G.; Seminoff, J.A.; Shanker, K.; Tomás, J.; van de Merwe, J.P.; Van Houtan, K.S.; Vander Zanden, H.B.; Wallace, B.P.; Wedemeyer-Strombel, K.R.; Work, Thierry M.; Godley, B.J.

2016-01-01

In 2010, an international group of 35 sea turtle researchers refined an initial list of more than 200 research questions into 20 metaquestions that were considered key for management and conservation of sea turtles. These were classified under 5 categories: reproductive biology, biogeography, population ecology, threats and conservation strategies. To obtain a picture of how research is being focused towards these key questions, we undertook a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature (2014 and 2015) attributing papers to the original 20 questions. In total, we reviewed 605 articles in full and from these 355 (59%) were judged to substantively address the 20 key questions, with others focusing on basic science and monitoring. Progress to answering the 20 questions was not uniform, and there were biases regarding focal turtle species, geographic scope and publication outlet. Whilst it offers some meaningful indications as to effort, quantifying peer-reviewed literature output is obviously not the only, and possibly not the best, metric for understanding progress towards informing key conservation and management goals. Along with the literature review, an international group based on the original project consortium was assigned to critically summarise recent progress towards answering each of the 20 questions. We found that significant research is being expended towards global priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles. Although highly variable, there has been significant progress in all the key questions identified in 2010. Undertaking this critical review has highlighted that it may be timely to undertake one or more new prioritizing exercises. For this to have maximal benefit we make a range of recommendations for its execution. These include a far greater engagement with social sciences, widening the pool of contributors and focussing the questions, perhaps disaggregating ecology and conservation.

Reply & Supply: Efficient crowdsourcing when workers do more than answer questions

PubMed Central

McAndrew, Thomas C.; Guseva, Elizaveta A.

2017-01-01

Crowdsourcing works by distributing many small tasks to large numbers of workers, yet the true potential of crowdsourcing lies in workers doing more than performing simple tasks—they can apply their experience and creativity to provide new and unexpected information to the crowdsourcer. One such case is when workers not only answer a crowdsourcer’s questions but also contribute new questions for subsequent crowd analysis, leading to a growing set of questions. This growth creates an inherent bias for early questions since a question introduced earlier by a worker can be answered by more subsequent workers than a question introduced later. Here we study how to perform efficient crowdsourcing with such growing question sets. By modeling question sets as networks of interrelated questions, we introduce algorithms to help curtail the growth bias by efficiently distributing workers between exploring new questions and addressing current questions. Experiments and simulations demonstrate that these algorithms can efficiently explore an unbounded set of questions without losing confidence in crowd answers. PMID:28806413

Aura Science and Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilsenrath, E.; Schoeberl, M.; Douglass, A.; Anderson, J.; Bhartia, P. K. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The EOS-Aura Mission is designed to answer three basic questions concerning the Earth's atmosphere: 1) Is ozone recovering as predicted, 2) is air quality getting worse, and 3) how is climate changing? Aura's four instruments work synergistically and are dedicated to answering these questions. These questions relate to NASA Earth Science Enterprise's overall strategic questions, which seek to understand the consequences of climate change for human civilization and determine if these changes can be predicted. NASA supports an ongoing research and analysis program, which is conducted independently and in support of satellite missions. The research program conducts several on-going field campaigns employing aircraft, balloons, and ground based systems. These campaigns have focused on exploring processes in the tropics, high latitudes, and continental outflow to explain the chemistry and transport in the troposphere and stratosphere and how these regions interact. NASA is now studying how the Aura mission and requirements of the research and analysis program might be merged to achieve its strategic goals related to global atmospheric chemistry changes. In addition, NASA field campaign resources will be folded into Aura's validation requirements. Aura validation requires correlative measurements throughout the troposphere and stratosphere under a range of observing and geophysical conditions. Because of the recent launches of Envisat and other smaller international chemistry satellites, the NASA program plans to collaborate with European space agencies in developing a series of campaigns that will provide continuity between those satellites missions and Aura.

77 FR 74671 - Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Food Facility Registration (Fifth Edition)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-17

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Food and Drug Administration [Docket No. FDA-2012-D-1002] Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Food Facility Registration (Fifth Edition) AGENCY... announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled ``Questions and Answers Regarding Food...

The influence of question design on the response to self-assessment in www.elearnSCI.org: a submodule pilot study.

PubMed

Liu, N; Li, X-W; Zhou, M-W; Biering-Sørensen, F

2015-08-01

This is an interventional training session. The objective of this study was to investigate the difference in response to self-assessment questions in the original and an adjusted version for a submodule of www.elearnSCI.org for student nurses. The study was conducted in a teaching hospital affiliated to Peking University, China. In all, 28 student nurses divided into two groups (groups A and B; 14 in each) received a print-out of a Chinese translation of the slides from the 'Maintaining skin integrity following spinal cord injury' submodule in www.elearnSCI.org for self-study. Both groups were then tested using the 10 self-assessment multiple-choice questions (MCQs) related to the same submodule. Group A used the original questions, whereas group B received an adjusted questionnaire. The responses to four conventional single-answer MCQs were nearly all correct in both groups. However, in three questions, group A, with the option 'All of the above', had a higher number of correct answers than group B, with multiple-answer MCQs. In addition, in another three questions, group A, using the original multiple-answer MCQs, had fewer correct answers than group B, where it was only necessary to tick a single incorrect answer. Variations in design influence the response to questions. The use of conventional single-answer MCQs should be reconsidered, as they only examine the recall of isolated knowledge facts. The 'All of the above' option should be avoided because it would increase the number of correct answers arrived at by guessing. When using multiple-answer MCQs, it is recommended that the questions asked should be in accordance with the content within the www.elearnSCI.org.

Computer literacy for life sciences: helping the digital-era biology undergraduates face today's research.

PubMed

Smolinski, Tomasz G

2010-01-01

Computer literacy plays a critical role in today's life sciences research. Without the ability to use computers to efficiently manipulate and analyze large amounts of data resulting from biological experiments and simulations, many of the pressing questions in the life sciences could not be answered. Today's undergraduates, despite the ubiquity of computers in their lives, seem to be largely unfamiliar with how computers are being used to pursue and answer such questions. This article describes an innovative undergraduate-level course, titled Computer Literacy for Life Sciences, that aims to teach students the basics of a computerized scientific research pursuit. The purpose of the course is for students to develop a hands-on working experience in using standard computer software tools as well as computer techniques and methodologies used in life sciences research. This paper provides a detailed description of the didactical tools and assessment methods used in and outside of the classroom as well as a discussion of the lessons learned during the first installment of the course taught at Emory University in fall semester 2009.

Responsiveness to Self-Report Interview Questions by Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disability.

PubMed

Stancliffe, Roger J; Tichá, Renáta; Larson, Sheryl A; Hewitt, Amy S; Nord, Derek

2015-06-01

An important line of research involves asking people with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) to self-report their experiences and opinions. We analyzed the responsiveness of 11,391 adult users of IDD services to interview questions from Section 1 of the 2008-2009 National Core Indicators-Adult Consumer Survey (NCI-ACS). Proxy responses were not allowed for the selected questions. Overall, 62.1% of participants answered the questions and were rated by interviewers as understanding the questions and as responding consistently. Most participants responded in an all-or-none fashion, answering either all or most questions or few to none. Individuals with milder levels of IDD and with speech as their primary means of expression were more likely to answer the questions and provide a scoreable response. Interviewer ratings of interviewees' answering questions, understanding of questions, and consistent responding were each related to responsiveness.

Coupling Conceptual and Quantitative Problems to Develop Expertise in Introductory Physics Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Chandralekha

2008-10-01

We discuss the effect of administering conceptual and quantitative isomorphic problem pairs (CQIPP) back to back vs. asking students to solve only one of the problems in the CQIPP in introductory physics courses. Students who answered both questions in a CQIPP often performed better on the conceptual questions than those who answered the corresponding conceptual questions only. Although students often took advantage of the quantitative counterpart to answer a conceptual question of a CQIPP correctly, when only given the conceptual question, students seldom tried to convert it into a quantitative question, solve it and then reason about the solution conceptually. Even in individual interviews, when students who were only given conceptual questions had difficulty and the interviewer explicitly encouraged them to convert the conceptual question into the corresponding quantitative problem by choosing appropriate variables, a majority of students were reluctant and preferred to guess the answer to the conceptual question based upon their gut feeling.

Promoting an active form of learning out-of-class via answering online "study questions" leads to higher than expected exam scores in General Biology.

PubMed

Gibson, Susan I

2015-01-01

A rising need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has fueled interest in improving teaching within STEM disciplines. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of active learning approaches on student learning outcomes. However, many of these studies have been conducted in experimental, rather than real-life class, settings. In addition, most of these studies have focused on in-class active learning exercises. This study tested the effects of answering questions outside of class on exam performance for General Biology students at the University of Minnesota. An online database of 1,020 multiple-choice questions covering material from the first half of the course was generated. Students in seven course sections (with an average of ∼265 students per section) were given unlimited access to the online study questions. These students made extensive use of the online questions, with students answering an average of 1,323 questions covering material from the half of the semester for which the questions were available. After students answered a set of questions, they were shown the correct answers for those questions. More specific feedback describing how to arrive at the correct answer was provided for the 73% of the questions for which the correct answers were not deemed to be self-explanatory. The extent to which access to the online study questions improved student learning outcomes was assessed by comparing the performance on exam questions of students in the seven course sections with access to the online study questions with the performance of students in course sections without access to the online study questions. Student performance was analyzed for a total of 89 different exams questions that were not included in the study questions, but that covered the same material covered by the study questions. Each of these 89 questions was used on one to five exams given to students in course sections that had access to the online study questions and on three to 77 exams given to students in sections that lacked such access. Data from over 1,800 students in sections with access to the online study questions show that those students scored a statistically significant average of 6.6% points higher on the exam questions analyzed than students in sections without access to the study questions. This difference was greater than the average amount necessary to raise students' exam grades by one grade (e.g., from a "B-" to a "B"). In addition, there was a higher correlation between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material related to the study questions than between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material unrelated to the study questions. The online study question system required substantial effort to set up, but required minimal effort to maintain and was effective in significantly raising average exam scores for even very large course sections.

Net Improvement of Correct Answers to Therapy Questions After PubMed Searches: Pre/Post Comparison

PubMed Central

Keepanasseril, Arun

2013-01-01

Background Clinicians search PubMed for answers to clinical questions although it is time consuming and not always successful. Objective To determine if PubMed used with its Clinical Queries feature to filter results based on study quality would improve search success (more correct answers to clinical questions related to therapy). Methods We invited 528 primary care physicians to participate, 143 (27.1%) consented, and 111 (21.0% of the total and 77.6% of those who consented) completed the study. Participants answered 14 yes/no therapy questions and were given 4 of these (2 originally answered correctly and 2 originally answered incorrectly) to search using either the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries narrow therapy filter via a purpose-built system with identical search screens. Participants also picked 3 of the first 20 retrieved citations that best addressed each question. They were then asked to re-answer the original 14 questions. Results We found no statistically significant differences in the rates of correct or incorrect answers using the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries. The rate of correct answers increased from 50.0% to 61.4% (95% CI 55.0%-67.8%) for the PubMed main screen searches and from 50.0% to 59.1% (95% CI 52.6%-65.6%) for Clinical Queries searches. These net absolute increases of 11.4% and 9.1%, respectively, included previously correct answers changing to incorrect at a rate of 9.5% (95% CI 5.6%-13.4%) for PubMed main screen searches and 9.1% (95% CI 5.3%-12.9%) for Clinical Queries searches, combined with increases in the rate of being correct of 20.5% (95% CI 15.2%-25.8%) for PubMed main screen searches and 17.7% (95% CI 12.7%-22.7%) for Clinical Queries searches. Conclusions PubMed can assist clinicians answering clinical questions with an approximately 10% absolute rate of improvement in correct answers. This small increase includes more correct answers partially offset by a decrease in previously correct answers. PMID:24217329

Net improvement of correct answers to therapy questions after pubmed searches: pre/post comparison.

PubMed

McKibbon, Kathleen Ann; Lokker, Cynthia; Keepanasseril, Arun; Wilczynski, Nancy L; Haynes, R Brian

2013-11-08

Clinicians search PubMed for answers to clinical questions although it is time consuming and not always successful. To determine if PubMed used with its Clinical Queries feature to filter results based on study quality would improve search success (more correct answers to clinical questions related to therapy). We invited 528 primary care physicians to participate, 143 (27.1%) consented, and 111 (21.0% of the total and 77.6% of those who consented) completed the study. Participants answered 14 yes/no therapy questions and were given 4 of these (2 originally answered correctly and 2 originally answered incorrectly) to search using either the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries narrow therapy filter via a purpose-built system with identical search screens. Participants also picked 3 of the first 20 retrieved citations that best addressed each question. They were then asked to re-answer the original 14 questions. We found no statistically significant differences in the rates of correct or incorrect answers using the PubMed main screen or PubMed Clinical Queries. The rate of correct answers increased from 50.0% to 61.4% (95% CI 55.0%-67.8%) for the PubMed main screen searches and from 50.0% to 59.1% (95% CI 52.6%-65.6%) for Clinical Queries searches. These net absolute increases of 11.4% and 9.1%, respectively, included previously correct answers changing to incorrect at a rate of 9.5% (95% CI 5.6%-13.4%) for PubMed main screen searches and 9.1% (95% CI 5.3%-12.9%) for Clinical Queries searches, combined with increases in the rate of being correct of 20.5% (95% CI 15.2%-25.8%) for PubMed main screen searches and 17.7% (95% CI 12.7%-22.7%) for Clinical Queries searches. PubMed can assist clinicians answering clinical questions with an approximately 10% absolute rate of improvement in correct answers. This small increase includes more correct answers partially offset by a decrease in previously correct answers.

Parameterized examination in econometrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinova, Anna; Kyurkchiev, Vesselin; Spasov, Georgi

2018-01-01

The paper presents a parameterization of basic types of exam questions in Econometrics. This algorithm is used to automate and facilitate the process of examination, assessment and self-preparation of a large number of students. The proposed parameterization of testing questions reduces the time required to author tests and course assignments. It enables tutors to generate a large number of different but equivalent dynamic questions (with dynamic answers) on a certain topic, which are automatically assessed. The presented methods are implemented in DisPeL (Distributed Platform for e-Learning) and provide questions in the areas of filtering and smoothing of time-series data, forecasting, building and analysis of single-equation econometric models. Questions also cover elasticity, average and marginal characteristics, product and cost functions, measurement of monopoly power, supply, demand and equilibrium price, consumer and product surplus, etc. Several approaches are used to enable the required numerical computations in DisPeL - integration of third-party mathematical libraries, developing our own procedures from scratch, and wrapping our legacy math codes in order to modernize and reuse them.

Authorship matrix: a rational approach to quantify individual contributions and responsibilities in multi-author scientific articles.

PubMed

Clement, T Prabhakar

2014-06-01

We propose a rational method for addressing an important question-who deserves to be an author of a scientific article? We review various contentious issues associated with this question and recommend that the scientific community should view authorship in terms of contributions and responsibilities, rather than credits. We propose a new paradigm that conceptually divides a scientific article into four basic elements: ideas, work, writing, and stewardship. We employ these four fundamental elements to modify the well-known International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines. The modified ICMJE guidelines are then used as the basis to develop an approach to quantify individual contributions and responsibilities in multi-author articles. The outcome of the approach is an authorship matrix, which can be used to answer several nagging questions related to authorship.

Muscle Satellite Cells: Exploring the Basic Biology to Rule Them.

PubMed

Almeida, Camila F; Fernandes, Stephanie A; Ribeiro Junior, Antonio F; Keith Okamoto, Oswaldo; Vainzof, Mariz

2016-01-01

Adult skeletal muscle is a postmitotic tissue with an enormous capacity to regenerate upon injury. This is accomplished by resident stem cells, named satellite cells, which were identified more than 50 years ago. Since their discovery, many researchers have been concentrating efforts to answer questions about their origin and role in muscle development, the way they contribute to muscle regeneration, and their potential to cell-based therapies. Satellite cells are maintained in a quiescent state and upon requirement are activated, proliferating, and fusing with other cells to form or repair myofibers. In addition, they are able to self-renew and replenish the stem pool. Every phase of satellite cell activity is highly regulated and orchestrated by many molecules and signaling pathways; the elucidation of players and mechanisms involved in satellite cell biology is of extreme importance, being the first step to expose the crucial points that could be modulated to extract the optimal response from these cells in therapeutic strategies. Here, we review the basic aspects about satellite cells biology and briefly discuss recent findings about therapeutic attempts, trying to raise questions about how basic biology could provide a solid scaffold to more successful use of these cells in clinics.

Awareness of basic life support among dental practitioners.

PubMed

Baduni, Neha; Prakash, Prem; Srivastava, Dhirendra; Sanwal, Manoj Kumar; Singh, Bijender Pal

2014-01-01

It is important that every member of our community should be trained in effective BLS technique to save lives. At least doctors including dental practitioners, and medical and paramedical staff should be trained in high quality CPR, as it is a basic medical skill which can save many lives if implemented timely. Our aim was to study the awareness of Basic Life Support (BLS) among dental students and practitioners in New Delhi. This cross sectional study was conducted by assessing responses to 20 selected questions pertaining to BLS among dental students, resident doctors/tutors, faculty members and private practitioners in New Delhi. All participants were given a printed questionnaire where they had to mention their qualifications and clinical experience, apart from answering 20 questions. Data was collected and evaluated using commercially available statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 12). One hundred and four responders were included. Sadly, none of our responders had complete knowledge about BLS. The maximum mean score (9.19 ± 1.23) was obtained by dentists with clinical experience between 1-5 years. To ensure better and safer healthcare, it is essential for all dental practitioners to be well versed with BLS.

The myopia of crowds: Cognitive load and collective evaluation of answers on Stack Exchange

PubMed Central

Burghardt, Keith; Alsina, Emanuel F.; Girvan, Michelle; Rand, William; Lerman, Kristina

2017-01-01

Crowds can often make better decisions than individuals or small groups of experts by leveraging their ability to aggregate diverse information. Question answering sites, such as Stack Exchange, rely on the “wisdom of crowds” effect to identify the best answers to questions asked by users. We analyze data from 250 communities on the Stack Exchange network to pinpoint factors affecting which answers are chosen as the best answers. Our results suggest that, rather than evaluate all available answers to a question, users rely on simple cognitive heuristics to choose an answer to vote for or accept. These cognitive heuristics are linked to an answer’s salience, such as the order in which it is listed and how much screen space it occupies. While askers appear to depend on heuristics to a greater extent than voters when choosing an answer to accept as the most helpful one, voters use acceptance itself as a heuristic, and they are more likely to choose the answer after it has been accepted than before that answer was accepted. These heuristics become more important in explaining and predicting behavior as the number of available answers to a question increases. Our findings suggest that crowd judgments may become less reliable as the number of answers grows. PMID:28301531

Integrating Electromagnetic Data with Other Geophysical Observations for Enhanced Imaging of the Earth: A Tutorial and Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moorkamp, Max

2017-09-01

In this review, I discuss the basic principles of joint inversion and constrained inversion approaches and show a few instructive examples of applications of these approaches in the literature. Starting with some basic definitions of the terms joint inversion and constrained inversion, I use a simple three-layered model as a tutorial example that demonstrates the general properties of joint inversion with different coupling methods. In particular, I investigate to which extent combining different geophysical methods can restrict the set of acceptable models and under which circumstances the results can be biased. Some ideas on how to identify such biased results and how negative results can be interpreted conclude the tutorial part. The case studies in the second part have been selected to highlight specific issues such as choosing an appropriate parameter relationship to couple seismic and electromagnetic data and demonstrate the most commonly used approaches, e.g., the cross-gradient constraint and direct parameter coupling. Throughout the discussion, I try to identify topics for future work. Overall, it appears that integrating electromagnetic data with other observations has reached a level of maturity and is starting to move away from fundamental proof-of-concept studies to answering questions about the structure of the subsurface. With a wide selection of coupling methods suited to different geological scenarios, integrated approaches can be applied on all scales and have the potential to deliver new answers to important geological questions.

76 FR 4360 - Draft Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Implementation of the Menu Labeling...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-25

...] Draft Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Implementation of the Menu Labeling...: Questions and Answers Regarding Implementation of the Menu Labeling Provisions of Section 4205 of the... Implementation of the Menu Labeling Provisions of Section 4205 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act...

Postsecondary Education Issues: Visible Questions. Invisible Answers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, Boulder, CO. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

With some justification, the inability to answer most of the important questions in higher education is due to the lack of necessary information. But careful examination of our many faceted questions suggests that more information may not be the only answer. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) has found other…

Discussion of papers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Discussion times were lively and highly fruitful. The Editors have organised questions and answers for each paper alphabetically by the speaker's surname. Although the discussion was recorded, only those questions and answers for which written versions were submitted have been included here. We are deeply indebted to Bev Lynds for transcribing the hand-written questions and answers.

Computational Natural Language Inference: Robust and Interpretable Question Answering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharp, Rebecca Reynolds

2017-01-01

We address the challenging task of "computational natural language inference," by which we mean bridging two or more natural language texts while also providing an explanation of how they are connected. In the context of question answering (i.e., finding short answers to natural language questions), this inference connects the question…

Spin, mass, and symmetry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peskin, M.E.

1994-12-01

When the strong interactions were a mystery, spin seemed to be just a complication on top of an already puzzling set of phenomena. But now that particle physicists have understood the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions, to be gauge theories, with matter built of quarks and leptons, it is recognized that the special properties of spin 1/2 and spin 1 particles have taken central role in the understanding of Nature. The lectures in this summer school will be devoted to the use of spin in unravelling detailed questions about the fundamental interactions. Thus, why not begin by posing a deepermore » question: Why is there spin? More precisely, why do the basic pointlike constituents of Nature carry intrinsic nonzero quanta of angular momentum? Though the authos has found no definite answer to this question, the pursuit of an answer has led through a wonderful tangle of speculations on the deep structure of Nature. Is spin constructed or is it fundamental? Is it the requirement of symmetry? In the furthest flights taken, it seems that space-time itself is too restrictive a notion, and that this must be generalized in order to gain a full appreciation of spin. In any case, there is no doubt that spin must play a central role in unlocking the mysteries of fundamental physics.« less

Building generalized inverses of matrices using only row and column operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stuart, Jeffrey

2010-12-01

Most students complete their first and only course in linear algebra with the understanding that a real, square matrix A has an inverse if and only if rref(A), the reduced row echelon form of A, is the identity matrix I n . That is, if they apply elementary row operations via the Gauss-Jordan algorithm to the partitioned matrix [A | I n ] to obtain [rref(A) | P], then the matrix A is invertible exactly when rref(A) = I n , in which case, P = A -1. Many students must wonder what happens when A is not invertible, and what information P conveys in that case. That question is, however, seldom answered in a first course. We show that investigating that question emphasizes the close relationships between matrix multiplication, elementary row operations, linear systems, and the four fundamental spaces associated with a matrix. More important, answering that question provides an opportunity to show students how mathematicians extend results by relaxing hypotheses and then exploring the strengths and limitations of the resulting generalization, and how the first relaxation found is often not the best relaxation to be found. Along the way, we introduce students to the basic properties of generalized inverses. Finally, our approach should fit within the time and topic constraints of a first course in linear algebra.

The influence of question type, reasoning level, and wait time on student participation rates when using clicker questions with large classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartman, K.; Koh, J.; Murty, S. A.; Ramos, R. D. P.; Goodkin, N.

2017-12-01

"Wait time" is defined as the length of the pause between an instructor initiating a question and either the student answering it or the instructor interjecting (Rowe, 1974). However, the nature of the question-answer dynamic changes with student response systems that allow hundreds of students to answer the same question simultaneously before displaying the results to the class. In this study, we looked at 129 student response questions asked across 240 minutes of class lectures to determine if longer wait times were associated with higher student response rates. We also examined whether the type and reasoning level of the questions were diagnostic of their response rates. 644 undergraduate science students enrolled in an interdisciplinary environmental science course. During each of the course's lessons, the instructor presented a mix of lecture content, short student response activities (clicker questions), and small group discussion opportunities. Using the recorded videos, we coded each student response question for its question type and reasoning level. We divided the question types into three categories: yes/no questions, yes/no/maybe questions, and other questions. To code for the reasoning level necessary to answer each question, we used a collapsed version of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002). Questions that had a definite answer and relied on recalling facts or paraphrasing the lecture content were coded as "knowledge" questions. Questions that required students to apply what they had learned to analyze a new scenario, or come to a judgement were coded as "higher order" questions. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the question type and reasoning level as fixed factors and wait time as a covariate to predict student response rate indicated a strong interaction between question type and reasoning level F(6, 94) = 4.53, p<.01. In general, knowledge questions were answered by a higher percentage (M=91%) of students than higher order questions (M=85%). In particular, yes/no/maybe questions targeting higher order reasoning were the least answered (M=71%). Interestingly, wait time was not associated with increased response rates. The implication is certain types of yes/no/maybe questions may lend themselves to lower response rates due to the introduction of ambiguity into the question.

Retention of Knowledge following training of students in Basic Trauma Life Support.

PubMed

Lim, K G; Lum, S K; Burud, I A S

2016-12-01

In the course of their undergraduate training at the International Medical University, students receive a Basic Trauma Life Support course. We wanted to test the long-term retention of knowledge (after 16 months) of third year medical students who had received training in Basic Trauma Life Support Method: To assess the retention of knowledge one cohort of students who received the training course were tested again 16 months later using the same 30 question One Best Answer quiz. Seventy-three students who underwent the course sat for the Retention test. The number of students who passed the Retention test was not significantly different from the test taken immediately after the course. The mean scores, 62.5% and 59.5% respectively, were however significantly different. Our study involves a relatively long interval between the course and retention of knowledge test shows encouraging results.

Using Case Studies to Promote Student Engagement in Primary Literature Data Analysis and Evaluation

PubMed Central

Cook-Snyder, Denise R.

2017-01-01

Analyzing and evaluating primary literature data is a common learning objective in undergraduate neuroscience courses. However, students with more clinically focused career goals often dismiss the relevance of evaluating basic neuroscience literature. Here, we describe using case studies to promote student engagement in primary literature in a cellular and molecular neuroscience course. Two example literature-based case studies are provided: Untwisting Pretzel Syndrome, a neurodevelopment case exploring synapse formation in a pretzel syndrome patient, and The Trials of ALS, a neurodegeneration case exploring axon degeneration and repair in an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient. These cases were assigned after neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration lectures covering key concepts. Both cases begin by introducing the patient and hypothesizing symptoms and diagnoses, followed by scenes incorporating primary data to illustrate disease pathogenesis and treatments. Students complete questions embedded in these cases as homework, and class time is used to discuss their answers. Discussion emphasizes that there can be multiple “correct” answers, and the best answers are accurate and well-supported. Accordingly, students edit their answers in class, and these annotations are factored into a pass/fail grade on the case. Additional scenes and questions from the same case studies are used on the course’s take-home exams, thereby allowing students to practice primary data analysis and evaluation before a graded assignment. Student evaluations support literature-based case studies as an effective learning tool, with students identifying cases as the most valuable aspect of the course, and reporting increased confidence in understanding cellular and molecular neuroscience. PMID:29371850

Using Case Studies to Promote Student Engagement in Primary Literature Data Analysis and Evaluation.

PubMed

Cook-Snyder, Denise R

2017-01-01

Analyzing and evaluating primary literature data is a common learning objective in undergraduate neuroscience courses. However, students with more clinically focused career goals often dismiss the relevance of evaluating basic neuroscience literature. Here, we describe using case studies to promote student engagement in primary literature in a cellular and molecular neuroscience course. Two example literature-based case studies are provided: Untwisting Pretzel Syndrome, a neurodevelopment case exploring synapse formation in a pretzel syndrome patient, and The Trials of ALS, a neurodegeneration case exploring axon degeneration and repair in an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patient. These cases were assigned after neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration lectures covering key concepts. Both cases begin by introducing the patient and hypothesizing symptoms and diagnoses, followed by scenes incorporating primary data to illustrate disease pathogenesis and treatments. Students complete questions embedded in these cases as homework, and class time is used to discuss their answers. Discussion emphasizes that there can be multiple "correct" answers, and the best answers are accurate and well-supported. Accordingly, students edit their answers in class, and these annotations are factored into a pass/fail grade on the case. Additional scenes and questions from the same case studies are used on the course's take-home exams, thereby allowing students to practice primary data analysis and evaluation before a graded assignment. Student evaluations support literature-based case studies as an effective learning tool, with students identifying cases as the most valuable aspect of the course, and reporting increased confidence in understanding cellular and molecular neuroscience.

41 CFR 300-2.20 - What is the purpose of the question & answer format?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What is the purpose of the question & answer format? 300-2.20 Section 300-2.20 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Travel Regulation System GENERAL INTRODUCTION 2-HOW TO USE THE FTR Question & Answer Format § 300...

41 CFR 300-2.21 - How is the rule expressed in the question and answer format?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false How is the rule expressed in the question and answer format? 300-2.21 Section 300-2.21 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Travel Regulation System GENERAL INTRODUCTION 2-HOW TO USE THE FTR Question & Answer...

Ask an Earth-Scientist

Science.gov Websites

Minerals General/Other Question Answering Criteria We try to respond to all requests; However we do not US Geological Survey . We do not answer overly general questions. We do not answer questions. by students trying to avoid normal studying or library research (i.e., we will not do your homework or provide

Analyzing Electronic Question/Answer Services: Framework and Evaluations of Selected Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Marilyn Domas, Ed.

This report develops an analytical framework based on systems analysis for evaluating electronic question/answer or AskA services operated by a wide range of types of organizations, including libraries. Version 1.0 of this framework was applied in June 1999 to a selective sample of 11 electronic question/answer services, which cover a range of…

The Effect of Randomized Homework Contingencies on College Students' Daily Homework and Unit Exam Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galyon, Charles E.; Voils, Kyle L.; Blondin, Carolyn A.; Williams, Robert L.

2015-01-01

Students in an introductory educational psychology course submitted answers to daily homework questions for which they received credit either for percentage of questions answered in every homework assignment or for the accuracy of their answers to 10% of randomly selected questions. Potential credit was the same under both homework contingencies,…

Questions and Answers about AFTERSCHOOL CARE: A Sloan Work and Family Research Network Fact Sheet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloan Work and Family Research Network, 2008

2008-01-01

The Sloan Work and Family Research Network has prepared Fact Sheets that provide statistical answers to some important questions about work-family and work-life issues. This Fact Sheet includes statistics about Afterschool Care, and answers the following questions about afterschool programs: (1) How does afterschool care help children?; (2) How…

The Answering Process for Multiple-Choice Questions in Collaborative Learning: A Mathematical Learning Model Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakamura, Yasuyuki; Nishi, Shinnosuke; Muramatsu, Yuta; Yasutake, Koichi; Yamakawa, Osamu; Tagawa, Takahiro

2014-01-01

In this paper, we introduce a mathematical model for collaborative learning and the answering process for multiple-choice questions. The collaborative learning model is inspired by the Ising spin model and the model for answering multiple-choice questions is based on their difficulty level. An intensive simulation study predicts the possibility of…

Social Question and Answer Services versus Library Virtual Reference: Evaluation and Comparison from the Users' Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yin; Deng, Shengli

2014-01-01

Introduction: In recent years, the introduction of social question and answer services and other Internet tools have expanded the ways in which people have their questions answered. There has been speculation and debate over whether such services and other Internet tools are replacing library virtual reference services. Method: Most previous…

Violations of Information Structure: An Electrophysiological Study of Answers to Wh-Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowles, H. W.; Kluender, Robert; Kutas, Marta; Polinsky, Maria

2007-01-01

This study investigates brain responses to violations of information structure in wh-question-answer pairs, with particular emphasis on violations of focus assignment in it-clefts (It was the queen that silenced the banker). Two types of ERP responses in answers to wh-questions were found. First, all words in the focus-marking (cleft) position…

The "Individualised Accounting Questions" Technique: Using Excel to Generate Quantitative Exercises for Large Classes with Unique Individual Answers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nnadi, Matthias; Rosser, Mike

2014-01-01

The "individualised accounting questions" (IAQ) technique set out in this paper encourages independent active learning. It enables tutors to set individualised accounting questions and construct an answer grid that can be used for any number of students, with numerical values for each student's answers based on their student enrolment…

Answering Questions and Questioning Answers. Part II. University of Central Florida Conference Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, C. C.; And Others

1982-01-01

Brief analyses are provided of presentations made at a conference, held at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, which addressed questions and answers relating to research and education. Conference sessions explored the role of research in relation to educational practices with special focus on theory, research, issues and application.…

Students' Knowledge of Nuclear Science and Its Connection with Civic Scientific Literacy in Two European Contexts: The Case of Newspaper Articles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsaparlis, Georgios; Hartzavalos, Sotiris; Nakiboğlu, Canan

2013-08-01

Nuclear science has uses and applications that are relevant and crucial for world peace and sustainable development, so knowledge of its basic concepts and topics should constitute an integral part of civic scientific literacy. We have used two newspaper articles that deal with uses of nuclear science that are directly relevant to life, society, economy, and international politics. One article discusses a new thermonuclear reactor, and the second one is about depleted uranium and its danger for health. 189 first-year undergraduate physics and primary education Greek students were given one of the two articles each, and asked to answer a number of accompanying questions dealing with knowledge that is part of the Greek high school curriculum. The study was repeated with 272 first-year undergraduate physics, physics education, science education, and primary education Turkish students. Acceptable or partially acceptable answers were provided on average by around 20 % of Greek and 11 % of Turkish students, while a large proportion (on the average, around 50 % of Greek and 27 % of Turkish students) abstained from answering the questions. These findings are disappointing, but should be seen in the light of the limited or no coverage of the relevant learning material in the Greek and the Turkish high-school programs. Student conceptual difficulties, misconceptions and implications for research and high school curricula are discussed.

Correlating Student Knowledge and Confidence Using a Graded Knowledge Survey to Assess Student Learning in a General Microbiology Classroom †

PubMed Central

Favazzo, Lacey; Willford, John D.; Watson, Rachel M.

2014-01-01

Knowledge surveys are a type of confidence survey in which students rate their confidence in their ability to answer questions rather than answering the questions. These surveys have been discussed as a tool to evaluate student in-class or curriculum-wide learning. However, disagreement exists as to whether confidence is actually an accurate measure of knowledge. With the concomitant goals of assessing content-based learning objectives and addressing this disagreement, we present herein a pretest/posttest knowledge survey study that demonstrates a significant difference correctness on graded test questions at different levels of reported confidence in a multi-semester timeframe. Questions were organized into Bloom’s taxonomy, allowing for the data collected to further provide statistical analyses on strengths and deficits in various levels of Bloom’s reasoning with regard to mean correctness. Collectively, students showed increasing confidence and correctness in all levels of thought but struggled with synthesis-level questions. However, when students were only asked to rate confidence and not answer the accompanying test questions, they reported significantly higher confidence than the control group which was asked to do both. This indicates that when students do not attempt to answer questions, they have significantly greater confidence in their ability to answer those questions. Additionally, when students rate only confidence without answering the question, resolution across Bloom’s levels of reasoning is lost. Based upon our findings, knowledge surveys can be an effective tool for assessment of both breadth and depth of knowledge, but may require students to answer questions in addition to rating confidence to provide the most accurate data. PMID:25574291

The Sun to the Earth - and Beyond: A Decadal Research Strategy in Solar and Space Physics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

The sun is the source of energy for life on earth and is the strongest modulator of the human physical environment. In fact, the Sun's influence extends throughout the solar system, both through photons, which provide heat, light, and ionization, and through the continuous outflow of a magnetized, supersonic ionized gas known as the solar wind. While the accomplishments of the past decade have answered important questions about the physics of the Sun, the interplanetary medium, and the space environments of Earth and other solar system bodies, they have also highlighted other questions, some of which are long-standing and fundamental. The Sun to the Earth--and Beyond organizes these questions in terms of five challenges that are expected to be the focus of scientific investigations in solar and space physics during the coming decade and beyond. While the accomplishments of the past decades have answered important questions about the physics of the Sun, the interplanetary medium, and the space environments of Earth and other solar system bodies, they have also highlighted other questions, some of which are long-standing and fundamental. This report organizes these questions in terms of five challenges that are expected to be the focus of scientific investigations in solar and space physics during the coming decade and beyond: Challenge 1: Understanding the structure and dynamics of the Sun's interior, the generation of solar magnetic fields, the origin of the solar cycle, the causes of solar activity, and the structure and dynamics of the corona. Challenge 2: Understanding heliospheric structure, the distribution of magnetic fields and matter throughout the solar system, and the interaction of the solar atmosphere with the local interstellar medium. Challenge 3: Understanding the space environments of Earth and other solar system bodies and their dynamical response to external and internal influences. Challenge 4: Understanding the basic physical principles manifest in processes observed in solar and space plasmas. Challenge 5: Developing a near-real-time predictive capability for understanding and quantifying the impact on human activities of dynamical processes at the Sun, in the interplanetary medium, and in Earth's magnetosphere and ionosphere. This report summarizes the state of knowledge about the total heliospheric system, poses key scientific questions for further research, and presents an integrated research strategy, with prioritized initiatives, for the next decade. The recommended strategy embraces both basic research programs and targeted basic research activities that will enhance knowledge and prediction of space weather effects on Earth. The report emphasizes the importance of understanding the Sun, the heliosphere, and planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres as astrophysical objects and as laboratories for the investigation of fundamental plasma physics phenomena.

Questions and Answers for Architectural Coatings Rule

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The EPA compiled this question and answer document from inquiries received after the publication of the 1999 final architectural coatings rule and from questions raised at meetings with industry associations.

Analysis of Student Responses to Peer-Instruction Conceptual Questions Answered Using an Electronic Response System: Trends by Gender and Ethnicity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steer, David; McConnell, David; Gray, Kyle; Kortz, Karen; Liang, Xin

2009-01-01

This descriptive study investigated students' answers to geoscience conceptual questions answered using electronic personal response systems. Answer patterns were examined to evaluate the peer-instruction pedagogical approach in a large general education classroom setting. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

A Noisy-Channel Approach to Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

question “When did Elvis Presley die?” To do this, we build a noisy channel model that makes explicit how answer sentence parse trees are mapped into...in Figure 1, the algorithm above generates the following training example: Q: When did Elvis Presley die ? SA: Presley died PP PP in A_DATE, and...engine as a potential candidate for finding the answer to the question “When did Elvis Presley die?” In this case, we don’t know what the answer is

Promoting an active form of learning out-of-class via answering online “study questions” leads to higher than expected exam scores in General Biology

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

A rising need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has fueled interest in improving teaching within STEM disciplines. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of active learning approaches on student learning outcomes. However, many of these studies have been conducted in experimental, rather than real-life class, settings. In addition, most of these studies have focused on in-class active learning exercises. This study tested the effects of answering questions outside of class on exam performance for General Biology students at the University of Minnesota. An online database of 1,020 multiple-choice questions covering material from the first half of the course was generated. Students in seven course sections (with an average of ∼265 students per section) were given unlimited access to the online study questions. These students made extensive use of the online questions, with students answering an average of 1,323 questions covering material from the half of the semester for which the questions were available. After students answered a set of questions, they were shown the correct answers for those questions. More specific feedback describing how to arrive at the correct answer was provided for the 73% of the questions for which the correct answers were not deemed to be self-explanatory. The extent to which access to the online study questions improved student learning outcomes was assessed by comparing the performance on exam questions of students in the seven course sections with access to the online study questions with the performance of students in course sections without access to the online study questions. Student performance was analyzed for a total of 89 different exams questions that were not included in the study questions, but that covered the same material covered by the study questions. Each of these 89 questions was used on one to five exams given to students in course sections that had access to the online study questions and on three to 77 exams given to students in sections that lacked such access. Data from over 1,800 students in sections with access to the online study questions show that those students scored a statistically significant average of 6.6% points higher on the exam questions analyzed than students in sections without access to the study questions. This difference was greater than the average amount necessary to raise students’ exam grades by one grade (e.g., from a “B-” to a “B”). In addition, there was a higher correlation between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material related to the study questions than between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material unrelated to the study questions. The online study question system required substantial effort to set up, but required minimal effort to maintain and was effective in significantly raising average exam scores for even very large course sections. PMID:26500828

Problem-based learning: Using students' questions to drive knowledge construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chin, Christine; Chia, Li-Gek

2004-09-01

This study employed problem-based learning for project work in a year 9 biology class. The purpose of the study was to investigate (a) students' inspirations for their self-generated problems and questions, (b) the kinds of questions that students asked individually and collaboratively, and (c) how students' questions guided them in knowledge construction. Data sources included observation and field notes, students' written documents, audiotapes and videotapes of students working in groups, and student interviews. Sources of inspiration for students' problems and questions included cultural beliefs and folklore; wonderment about information propagated by advertisements and the media; curiosity arising from personal encounters, family members' concerns, or observations of others; and issues arising from previous lessons in the school curriculum. Questions asked individually pertained to validation of common beliefs and misconceptions, basic information, explanations, and imagined scenarios. The findings regarding questions asked collaboratively are presented as two assertions. Assertion 1 maintained that students' course of learning were driven by their questions. Assertion 2 was that the ability to ask the right'' questions and the extent to which these could be answered, were important in sustaining students' interest in the project. Implications of the findings for instructional practice are discussed.

Asking good clinical research questions and choosing the right study design.

PubMed

Bragge, P

2010-07-01

Clinicians and researchers seek answers to clinical research questions, primarily by accessing the results of clinical research studies. This paper moves the focus of research enquiry from getting answers to developing good clinical research questions. Using worked examples, the steps involved in refining questions drawn from various sources to create 'answerable' clinical research questions using the 'PICO' principle are described. Issues to consider in prioritising clinical research questions are also identified. Theoretical and practical considerations involved in choosing the right study design for a clinical research question are then discussed using the worked examples. These include: Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Assessment of learning activities using streaming video for laboratory practice education: aiming for development of E-learning system that promotes self-learning].

PubMed

Takeda, Naohito; Takeuchi, Isao; Haruna, Mitsumasa

2007-12-01

In order to develop an e-learning system that promotes self-learning, lectures and basic operations in laboratory practice of chemistry were recorded and edited on DVD media, consisting of 8 streaming videos as learning materials. Twenty-six students wanted to watch the DVD, and answered the following questions after they had watched it: "Do you think the video would serve to encourage you to study independently in the laboratory practice?" Almost all students (95%) approved of its usefulness, and more than 60% of them watched the videos repeatedly in order to acquire deeper knowledge and skill of the experimental operations. More than 60% answered that the demonstration-experiment should be continued in the laboratory practice, in spite of distribution of the DVD media.

How much flower-rich habitat is enough for wild pollinators? Answering a key policy question with incomplete knowledge.

PubMed

Dicks, Lynn V; Baude, Mathilde; Roberts, Stuart P M; Phillips, James; Green, Mike; Carvell, Claire

2015-09-01

In 2013, an opportunity arose in England to develop an agri-environment package for wild pollinators, as part of the new Countryside Stewardship scheme launched in 2015. It can be understood as a 'policy window', a rare and time-limited opportunity to change policy, supported by a narrative about pollinator decline and widely supported mitigating actions. An agri-environment package is a bundle of management options that together supply sufficient resources to support a target group of species. This paper documents information that was available at the time to develop such a package for wild pollinators. Four questions needed answering: (1) Which pollinator species should be targeted? (2) Which resources limit these species in farmland? (3) Which management options provide these resources? (4) What area of each option is needed to support populations of the target species? Focussing on wild bees, we provide tentative answers that were used to inform development of the package. There is strong evidence that floral resources can limit wild bee populations, and several sources of evidence identify a set of agri-environment options that provide flowers and other resources for pollinators. The final question could only be answered for floral resources, with a wide range of uncertainty. We show that the areas of some floral resource options in the basic Wild Pollinator and Farmland Wildlife Package (2% flower-rich habitat and 1 km flowering hedgerow), are sufficient to supply a set of six common pollinator species with enough pollen to feed their larvae at lowest estimates, using minimum values for estimated parameters where a range was available. We identify key sources of uncertainty, and stress the importance of keeping the Package flexible, so it can be revised as new evidence emerges about how to achieve the policy aim of supporting pollinators on farmland.

Decision making in family medicine

PubMed Central

Labrecque, Michel; Ratté, Stéphane; Frémont, Pierre; Cauchon, Michel; Ouellet, Jérôme; Hogg, William; McGowan, Jessie; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Njoya, Merlin; Légaré, France

2013-01-01

Abstract Objective To compare the ability of users of 2 medical search engines, InfoClinique and the Trip database, to provide correct answers to clinical questions and to explore the perceived effects of the tools on the clinical decision-making process. Design Randomized trial. Setting Three family medicine units of the family medicine program of the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University in Quebec city, Que. Participants Fifteen second-year family medicine residents. Intervention Residents generated 30 structured questions about therapy or preventive treatment (2 questions per resident) based on clinical encounters. Using an Internet platform designed for the trial, each resident answered 20 of these questions (their own 2, plus 18 of the questions formulated by other residents, selected randomly) before and after searching for information with 1 of the 2 search engines. For each question, 5 residents were randomly assigned to begin their search with InfoClinique and 5 with the Trip database. Main outcome measures The ability of residents to provide correct answers to clinical questions using the search engines, as determined by third-party evaluation. After answering each question, participants completed a questionnaire to assess their perception of the engine’s effect on the decision-making process in clinical practice. Results Of 300 possible pairs of answers (1 answer before and 1 after the initial search), 254 (85%) were produced by 14 residents. Of these, 132 (52%) and 122 (48%) pairs of answers concerned questions that had been assigned an initial search with InfoClinique and the Trip database, respectively. Both engines produced an important and similar absolute increase in the proportion of correct answers after searching (26% to 62% for InfoClinique, for an increase of 36%; 24% to 63% for the Trip database, for an increase of 39%; P = .68). For all 30 clinical questions, at least 1 resident produced the correct answer after searching with either search engine. The mean (SD) time of the initial search for each question was 23.5 (7.6) minutes with InfoClinique and 22.3 (7.8) minutes with the Trip database (P = .30). Participants’ perceptions of each engine’s effect on the decision-making process were very positive and similar for both search engines. Conclusion Family medicine residents’ ability to provide correct answers to clinical questions increased dramatically and similarly with the use of both InfoClinique and the Trip database. These tools have strong potential to increase the quality of medical care. PMID:24130286

Decision making in family medicine: randomized trial of the effects of the InfoClinique and Trip database search engines.

PubMed

Labrecque, Michel; Ratté, Stéphane; Frémont, Pierre; Cauchon, Michel; Ouellet, Jérôme; Hogg, William; McGowan, Jessie; Gagnon, Marie-Pierre; Njoya, Merlin; Légaré, France

2013-10-01

To compare the ability of users of 2 medical search engines, InfoClinique and the Trip database, to provide correct answers to clinical questions and to explore the perceived effects of the tools on the clinical decision-making process. Randomized trial. Three family medicine units of the family medicine program of the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University in Quebec city, Que. Fifteen second-year family medicine residents. Residents generated 30 structured questions about therapy or preventive treatment (2 questions per resident) based on clinical encounters. Using an Internet platform designed for the trial, each resident answered 20 of these questions (their own 2, plus 18 of the questions formulated by other residents, selected randomly) before and after searching for information with 1 of the 2 search engines. For each question, 5 residents were randomly assigned to begin their search with InfoClinique and 5 with the Trip database. The ability of residents to provide correct answers to clinical questions using the search engines, as determined by third-party evaluation. After answering each question, participants completed a questionnaire to assess their perception of the engine's effect on the decision-making process in clinical practice. Of 300 possible pairs of answers (1 answer before and 1 after the initial search), 254 (85%) were produced by 14 residents. Of these, 132 (52%) and 122 (48%) pairs of answers concerned questions that had been assigned an initial search with InfoClinique and the Trip database, respectively. Both engines produced an important and similar absolute increase in the proportion of correct answers after searching (26% to 62% for InfoClinique, for an increase of 36%; 24% to 63% for the Trip database, for an increase of 39%; P = .68). For all 30 clinical questions, at least 1 resident produced the correct answer after searching with either search engine. The mean (SD) time of the initial search for each question was 23.5 (7.6) minutes with InfoClinique and 22.3 (7.8) minutes with the Trip database (P = .30). Participants' perceptions of each engine's effect on the decision-making process were very positive and similar for both search engines. Family medicine residents' ability to provide correct answers to clinical questions increased dramatically and similarly with the use of both InfoClinique and the Trip database. These tools have strong potential to increase the quality of medical care.

Biophysical EPR Studies Applied to Membrane Proteins

PubMed Central

Sahu, Indra D; Lorigan, Gary A

2015-01-01

Membrane proteins are very important in controlling bioenergetics, functional activity, and initializing signal pathways in a wide variety of complicated biological systems. They also represent approximately 50% of the potential drug targets. EPR spectroscopy is a very popular and powerful biophysical tool that is used to study the structural and dynamic properties of membrane proteins. In this article, a basic overview of the most commonly used EPR techniques and examples of recent applications to answer pertinent structural and dynamic related questions on membrane protein systems will be presented. PMID:26855825

Quantitative and qualitative methods in medical education research: AMEE Guide No 90: Part II.

PubMed

Tavakol, Mohsen; Sandars, John

2014-10-01

Abstract Medical educators need to understand and conduct medical education research in order to make informed decisions based on the best evidence, rather than rely on their own hunches. The purpose of this Guide is to provide medical educators, especially those who are new to medical education research, with a basic understanding of how quantitative and qualitative methods contribute to the medical education evidence base through their different inquiry approaches and also how to select the most appropriate inquiry approach to answer their research questions.

The business of negotiating for hospital librarians.

PubMed

Orick, Jan T

2004-01-01

Although many hospital librarians may find it difficult, negotiating with vendors has become a basic skill of library acquisitions. This article reports the results of a non-scientific questionnaire administered to hospital librarians and vendors attending a chapter meeting of the Medical Library Association in 2003. The answers revealed that vendors regard libraries as businesses, and while admitting that the role is often uncomfortable for them, librarians acknowledged that negotiating skills have become an important aspect of their jobs. Questions to help guide librarians through the negotiation process are provided in the Appendix.

Quantitative and qualitative methods in medical education research: AMEE Guide No 90: Part I.

PubMed

Tavakol, Mohsen; Sandars, John

2014-09-01

Medical educators need to understand and conduct medical education research in order to make informed decisions based on the best evidence, rather than rely on their own hunches. The purpose of this Guide is to provide medical educators, especially those who are new to medical education research, with a basic understanding of how quantitative and qualitative methods contribute to the medical education evidence base through their different inquiry approaches and also how to select the most appropriate inquiry approach to answer their research questions.

Intelligent tutoring systems as tools for investigating individual differences in learning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shute, Valerie J.

1987-01-01

The ultimate goal of this research is to build an improved model-based selection and classification system for the United States Air Force. Researchers are developing innovative approaches to ability testing. The Learning Abilities Measurement Program (LAMP) examines individual differences in learning abilities, seeking answers to the questions of why some people learn more and better than others and whether there are basic cognitive processes applicable across tasks and domains that are predictive of successful performance (or whether there are more complex problem solving behaviors involved).

Inga Fischer-Hjalmars (1918-2008): Swedish Pharmacist, Humanist, and Pioneer Quantum Chemist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansson, Adam Johannes

2012-01-01

A wide variety of questions can be asked about the molecules that compose the physical reality around us and constitute biological life. Some of these questions are answered by the science called biology, others find their answer in chemistry, whereas the answers to the most fundamental questions are only to be found in the theories of physics.…

Americans with Disabilities Act: Responsibilities for Postsecondary Institutions Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students. Questions and Answers. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kincaid, Jeanne M.; Rawlinson, Sharaine J.

This publication provides answers to questions concerning responsibilities of institutions of postsecondary education toward students who are deaf or hard of hearing under the Americans with Disabilities Act. These questions were originally received but not answered due to time constraints during two satellite conferences held by the Midwest…

26 CFR 1.505(c)-1T - Questions and answers relating to the notification requirement for recognition of exemption under...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 7 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Questions and answers relating to the... Questions and answers relating to the notification requirement for recognition of exemption under paragraphs... taxation need not submit the notification required by section 505(c). [T.D. 8073, 51 FR 4330, Feb. 4, 1986...

26 CFR 1.512(a)-5T - Questions and answers relating to the unrelated business taxable income of organizations...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 7 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 true Questions and answers relating to the unrelated... TREASURY (CONTINUED) INCOME TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED) Taxation of Business Income of Certain Exempt Organizations § 1.512(a)-5T Questions and answers relating to the unrelated business taxable...

Investigations of Human Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-01

information sources and search through the structures systematically. The formal,,ms and insights from these fields obviously must be tested in psychological ...experiments before we can incorporate them into psychological models of human question answering. One objective of this ONR contract was to test some... psychological model of human question answering. Tests of the QUEST Model QUEST was tested in four different informational contexts. These contexts

CMU OAQA at TREC 2015 LiveQA: Discovering the Right Answer with Clues

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-11-20

QA) system that was evaluated in the TREC 2015 LiveQA Challenge. This system answers real-user questions freshly submitted to the Yahoo ! Answers...questions on the Yahoo ! Answers site 1, which have not yet received a human answer. As per the requirements for this track, participants must deploy their... Yahoo ! Answers. We also designed and im- plemented a new data model and novel relevance ranking methods for LiveQA. During the official run, our QA web

Why do they not answer and do they really learn? A case study in analysing student response flows in introductory physics using an audience response system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jääskeläinen, Markku; Lagerkvist, Andreas

2017-07-01

In this paper we investigate teaching with a classroom response system in introductory physics with emphasis on two issues. First, we discuss retention between question rounds and the reasons why students avoid answering the question a second time. A question with declining response rate was followed by a question addressing the student reasons for not answering. We find that there appear to be several reasons for the observed decline, and that the students need to be reminded. We argue that small drops are unimportant as the process appears to work despite the drops. Second, we discuss the dynamics of learning in a concept-sequence in electromagnetism, where a majority of the students, despite poor statistics in a first round, manage to answer a followup question correctly. In addition, we analyse the response times for both situations to connect with research on student reasoning on situations with misconception-like answers. From the combination of the answer flows and response time behaviours we find it plausible that conceptual learning occurred during the discussion phase.

Climate change 'understanding' and knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamilton, L.

2011-12-01

Recent surveys find that many people report having "a great deal" of understanding about climate change. Self-assessed understanding does not predict opinions, however, because those with highest "understanding" tend also to be most polarized. These findings raise questions about the relationship between "understanding" and objectively-measured knowledge. In summer 2011 we included three new questions testing climate-change knowledge on a statewide survey. The multiple-choice questions address basic facts that are widely accepted by contrarian as well as mainstream scientists. They ask about trends in Arctic sea ice, in CO2 concentrations, and the meaning of "greenhouse effect." The questions say nothing about impacts, attribution or mitigation. Each has a clear and well-publicized answer that does not presume acceptance of anthropogenic change. About 30% of respondents knew all three answers, and 36% got two out of three. 34% got zero or one right. Notably, these included 31% of those who claimed to have "a great deal" of understanding. Unlike self-assessed understanding, knowledge scores do predict opinions. People who knew more were significantly more likely to agree that climate change is happening now, caused mainly by human activities. This positive relationship remains significant controlling for gender, age, education, partisanship and "understanding." It does not exhibit the interaction effects with partisanship that characterize self-assessed understanding. Following the successful statewide test, the same items were added to a nationwide survey currently underway. Analyses replicated across both surveys cast a new light on the problematic connections between "understanding," knowledge and opinions about climate science.

Practical question-and-answer guide on VDTS (video display terminals) for BEES (base bioenvironmental engineer). Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Olson, B.M.

1985-01-01

The USAF OEHL conducted an extensive literature review of Video Display Terminals (VDTs) and the health problems commonly associated with them. The report is presented in a question-and-answer format in an attempt to paraphrase the most commonly asked questions about VDTs that are forwarded to USAF OEHL/RZN. The questions and answers have been divided into several topic areas: Ionizing Radiation; Nonionizing Radiation; Optical Radiation; Ultrasound; Static Electricity; Health Complaints/Ergonomics; Pregnancy.

A cognitive evaluation of four online search engines for answering definitional questions posed by physicians.

PubMed

Yu, Hong; Kaufman, David

2007-01-01

The Internet is having a profound impact on physicians' medical decision making. One recent survey of 277 physicians showed that 72% of physicians regularly used the Internet to research medical information and 51% admitted that information from web sites influenced their clinical decisions. This paper describes the first cognitive evaluation of four state-of-the-art Internet search engines: Google (i.e., Google and Scholar.Google), MedQA, Onelook, and PubMed for answering definitional questions (i.e., questions with the format of "What is X?") posed by physicians. Onelook is a portal for online definitions, and MedQA is a question answering system that automatically generates short texts to answer specific biomedical questions. Our evaluation criteria include quality of answer, ease of use, time spent, and number of actions taken. Our results show that MedQA outperforms Onelook and PubMed in most of the criteria, and that MedQA surpasses Google in time spent and number of actions, two important efficiency criteria. Our results show that Google is the best system for quality of answer and ease of use. We conclude that Google is an effective search engine for medical definitions, and that MedQA exceeds the other search engines in that it provides users direct answers to their questions; while the users of the other search engines have to visit several sites before finding all of the pertinent information.

Evidence-based medicine Training: Kazakhstan experience.

PubMed

Kamalbekova, G; Kalieva, M

2015-01-01

Understanding principles of evidence-based medicine is of vital importance for improving quality of care, promoting public health and health system development. Understanding principles of evidence-based medicine allows using the most powerful information source, which have ever existed in medicine. To evaluate the effectiveness of teaching Evidence-Based Medicine, including long-term outcomes of training. The study was conducted at the Medical University of Astana, where the Scientific and Educational Center of Evidence-Based Medicine was established in 2010 with the help of the corresponding project of the World Bank. The participants of the study were the faculty trained in Evidence-Based Medicine at the workshop "Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine" for the period of 2010-2015 years. There were a total of 16 workshops during the period, and 323 employees were trained. All participants were asked to complete our questionnaire two times: before the training - pre-training (to determine the initial level of a listener) and after the training - post-training (to determine the acquired level and get the feedback). Questionnaires were prepared in such a way, that the majority of questions before and after training were identical. Thus, it provided a clear picture of the effectiveness of training. Questions in the survey were open-ended so that the respondents had the opportunity to freely and fully express their views. The main part of the questionnaires included the following questions: "Do you understand what evidence-based medicine is", "how do you understand what the study design means", "what is randomization", "how research is classified", "do you know the steps of decision-making according to Evidence-Based Medicine, list them", "what literature do you prefer to use when searching for information (print, electronic, etc.)", "what resources on the Internet do you prefer to use". Only 30-35% of respondents gave correct answers to the questions on understanding EBM, understanding study designs, randomization. There were no correct or complete answers to the question on study classification. Again, 35% of respondents provided correct answer to the question about the stages of decision-making process from the perspective of EBM, 65% - provided no answer. One fourth (25%) of the respondents preferred using printed literature. Only very few respondents indicated Cochrane Library, Medline (PubMed), Tripdatabasa as preferred Internet sources of information, with 40% indicating Google and 60% - other sources.The results of post-training survey showed that nearly 90% of the respondents gave correct answers to all the questions.With the aim to identify knowledge survival (the long-term training outcomes) we conducted the third survey in May 2014 in previously trained people at the seminar "Introduction to Evidence-Based Medicine". The respondents were asked to answer 4 questions, and to assess previously obtained information on the basics of Evidence-Based Medicine on a 10-point scale.We found that 100% of the respondents answered «Yes» to the question: «Have you changed your behavior after the seminar?» To the question: «Have you encountered difficulties in implementing the principles of evidence-based medicine in the educational process?» 56% of the respondents answered that they had not encountered any difficulties. The other 44% faced the difficulties associated with implementation of Evidence-Based Medicine: lack of understanding by students, low knowledge survival rate among students, too many questions from the students, difficult disputes and discussions.To the question: «Have you encountered difficulties in implementing the principles of Evidence-Based Medicine in practical health-care?» only 37.5% of the respondents answered that they had not encountered difficulties. But the remaining 62.5% of the respondents faced the problems and difficulties in implementing the principles of evidence-based medicine in their practice. These were: failure in implementing, lack of understanding on the part of colleagues, commitment to traditional obsolete methods of treatment, discrepancy between some of the existing standards of diagnosis and treatment and principles of evidence-based medicine.To the question: «Are there any end products after listening to the seminar?» 67% of the respondents answered in affirmative. The end products were mainly marked by the publication of articles and abstracts, including international publications, and participation in the working group on the revision and development of clinical protocols. Barriers to implementation of Evidence-Based Medicine in education and practice are lack of funding to provide access to reliable sources of information, websites; outdated research methodology skills in medical education, lack of skills in critical evaluation of medical information; tradition of authoritarian relationships, use of past experience stencils; failure to comply with continuing education programs ("from training to professional development"). Knowledge of Evidence-Based Medicine, skills to perform searches for scientific data, to evaluate their validity and to transform scientific data into practical solutions are necessary for health workers in their daily activities. This culture needs to be rooted in modern medical education.

Questions and Answers about Child Care: A Sloan Work and Family Research Network Fact Sheet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloan Work and Family Research Network, 2008

2008-01-01

The Sloan Work and Family Research Network has prepared Fact Sheets that provide statistical answers to some important questions about work-family and work-life issues. This Fact Sheet includes statistics about Child Care, and answers the following questions about child care: (1) How many children are in child care?; (2) How many hours per week do…

Verbal Paradata and Survey Error: Respondent Speech, Voice, and Question-Answering Behavior Can Predict Income Item Nonresponse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jans, Matthew E.

2010-01-01

Income nonresponse is a significant problem in survey data, with rates as high as 50%, yet we know little about why it occurs. It is plausible that the way respondents answer survey questions (e.g., their voice and speech characteristics, and their question- answering behavior) can predict whether they will provide income data, and will reflect…

26 CFR 35.3405-1T - Questions and answers relating to withholding on pensions, annuities, and certain other deferred...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... payment for the year? A. No. Periodic payments can vary during a calendar year because of make-up of past... 26 Internal Revenue 15 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Questions and answers relating to withholding... REGULATIONS UNDER THE TAX EQUITY AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1982 § 35.3405-1T Questions and answers...

The Communication Skills Used by Deaf Children and Their Hearing Peers in a Question-and-Answer Game Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toe, Dianne M.; Paatsch, Louise E.

2010-01-01

Communication is frequently characterized by a sequence of questions and answers. Little is known about how well students who are deaf or hard of hearing (deaf/HH) understand their hearing classmates in the context of an inclusive setting. This study explored the communication skills used by deaf/HH children when asking and answering questions in…

Questions and Answers about School-Age Children in Self-Care: A Sloan Work and Family Research Network Fact Sheet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloan Work and Family Research Network, 2009

2009-01-01

The Sloan Work and Family Research Network has prepared Fact Sheets that provide statistical answers to some important questions about work-family and work-life issues. This Fact Sheet includes statistics about Children in Self-Care, and answers the following questions about school-age children in self-care: (1) How many school-age children are in…

Using the regulation of accuracy to study performance when the correct answer is not known.

PubMed

Luna, Karlos; Martín-Luengo, Beatriz

2017-08-01

We examined memory performance in multiple-choice questions when correct answers were not always present. How do participants answer when they are aware that the correct alternative may not be present? To answer this question we allowed participants to decide on the number of alternatives in their final answer (the plurality option), and whether they wanted to report or withhold their answer (report option). We also studied the memory benefits when both the plurality and the report options were available. In two experiments participants watched a crime and then answered questions with five alternatives. Half of the questions were presented with the correct alternative and half were not. Participants selected one alternative and rated confidence, then selected three alternatives and again rated confidence, and finally indicated whether they preferred the answer with one or with three alternatives (plurality option). Lastly, they decided whether to report or withhold the answer (report option). Results showed that participants' confidence in their selections was higher, that they chose more single answers, and that they preferred to report more often when the correct alternative was presented. We also attempted to classify a posteriori questions as either presented with or without the correct alternative from participants' selection. Classification was better than chance, and encouraging, but the forensic application of the classification technique is still limited since there was a large percentage of responses that were incorrectly classified. Our results also showed that the memory benefits of both plurality and report options overlap. © 2017 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Patient understanding and impression of hematology/oncology fellows.

PubMed

Curley, Brendan; Thomas, Roby; Curley, Anjaly; Truong, Quoc; Culp, Mark; Hu, Yanqing; Almubarak, Mohammed

2014-09-01

Hematologists/Oncologists spend years of training in a fellowship program. At academic centers, patients receiving treatment are often seen by fellows. It has not been established what patients understand about fellowship training, therefore the purpose of this study was to explore their understanding and whether they are content with fellows taking part in their care. At West Virginia University/Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, the authors drafted a survey. This anonymous and voluntary survey abstracted basic patient demographic data and experience being cared for by fellows and basic knowledge of a Hematology/Oncology fellowship. Multiple-choice questions were drafted with 4 to 6 answer choices with no option for unknown. Surveys were collected over a 3-week period in July 2012. Patients were surveyed at outpatient appointments, infusion center visits, and laboratory draws. Two hundred twenty-six surveys were collected. Statistical analysis was performed and a binomial regression was fit to the data. There is evidence that higher levels of education are more likely to give correct answers (P = 0.035). Patients who stated that they had not seen a fellow or were unsure whether they had seen a fellow were more likely to select incorrect answers (P = 0.001). There is no statistical significance differentiating between cancer types in likelihood of getting answers correct. Of those surveyed, 1.77% felt that they completely understand the role of a fellow in their care, whereas 80.45% desired further information about fellows. Only 2.2% disliked having a fellow involved in their care. Patients at academic centers being seen by Hematology/Oncology fellows appear to have a lack of knowledge of a fellow's role and background but have a desire to be educated. Educational initiatives can be introduced to teaching institutions to help patients better understand the role of a fellow.

Deep Question Answering for protein annotation

PubMed Central

Gobeill, Julien; Gaudinat, Arnaud; Pasche, Emilie; Vishnyakova, Dina; Gaudet, Pascale; Bairoch, Amos; Ruch, Patrick

2015-01-01

Biomedical professionals have access to a huge amount of literature, but when they use a search engine, they often have to deal with too many documents to efficiently find the appropriate information in a reasonable time. In this perspective, question-answering (QA) engines are designed to display answers, which were automatically extracted from the retrieved documents. Standard QA engines in literature process a user question, then retrieve relevant documents and finally extract some possible answers out of these documents using various named-entity recognition processes. In our study, we try to answer complex genomics questions, which can be adequately answered only using Gene Ontology (GO) concepts. Such complex answers cannot be found using state-of-the-art dictionary- and redundancy-based QA engines. We compare the effectiveness of two dictionary-based classifiers for extracting correct GO answers from a large set of 100 retrieved abstracts per question. In the same way, we also investigate the power of GOCat, a GO supervised classifier. GOCat exploits the GOA database to propose GO concepts that were annotated by curators for similar abstracts. This approach is called deep QA, as it adds an original classification step, and exploits curated biological data to infer answers, which are not explicitly mentioned in the retrieved documents. We show that for complex answers such as protein functional descriptions, the redundancy phenomenon has a limited effect. Similarly usual dictionary-based approaches are relatively ineffective. In contrast, we demonstrate how existing curated data, beyond information extraction, can be exploited by a supervised classifier, such as GOCat, to massively improve both the quantity and the quality of the answers with a +100% improvement for both recall and precision. Database URL: http://eagl.unige.ch/DeepQA4PA/ PMID:26384372

Deep Question Answering for protein annotation.

PubMed

Gobeill, Julien; Gaudinat, Arnaud; Pasche, Emilie; Vishnyakova, Dina; Gaudet, Pascale; Bairoch, Amos; Ruch, Patrick

2015-01-01

Biomedical professionals have access to a huge amount of literature, but when they use a search engine, they often have to deal with too many documents to efficiently find the appropriate information in a reasonable time. In this perspective, question-answering (QA) engines are designed to display answers, which were automatically extracted from the retrieved documents. Standard QA engines in literature process a user question, then retrieve relevant documents and finally extract some possible answers out of these documents using various named-entity recognition processes. In our study, we try to answer complex genomics questions, which can be adequately answered only using Gene Ontology (GO) concepts. Such complex answers cannot be found using state-of-the-art dictionary- and redundancy-based QA engines. We compare the effectiveness of two dictionary-based classifiers for extracting correct GO answers from a large set of 100 retrieved abstracts per question. In the same way, we also investigate the power of GOCat, a GO supervised classifier. GOCat exploits the GOA database to propose GO concepts that were annotated by curators for similar abstracts. This approach is called deep QA, as it adds an original classification step, and exploits curated biological data to infer answers, which are not explicitly mentioned in the retrieved documents. We show that for complex answers such as protein functional descriptions, the redundancy phenomenon has a limited effect. Similarly usual dictionary-based approaches are relatively ineffective. In contrast, we demonstrate how existing curated data, beyond information extraction, can be exploited by a supervised classifier, such as GOCat, to massively improve both the quantity and the quality of the answers with a +100% improvement for both recall and precision. Database URL: http://eagl.unige.ch/DeepQA4PA/. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

Comparative exploration of multidimensional flow cytometry software: a model approach evaluating T cell polyfunctional behavior.

PubMed

Spear, Timothy T; Nishimura, Michael I; Simms, Patricia E

2017-08-01

Advancement in flow cytometry reagents and instrumentation has allowed for simultaneous analysis of large numbers of lineage/functional immune cell markers. Highly complex datasets generated by polychromatic flow cytometry require proper analytical software to answer investigators' questions. A problem among many investigators and flow cytometry Shared Resource Laboratories (SRLs), including our own, is a lack of access to a flow cytometry-knowledgeable bioinformatics team, making it difficult to learn and choose appropriate analysis tool(s). Here, we comparatively assess various multidimensional flow cytometry software packages for their ability to answer a specific biologic question and provide graphical representation output suitable for publication, as well as their ease of use and cost. We assessed polyfunctional potential of TCR-transduced T cells, serving as a model evaluation, using multidimensional flow cytometry to analyze 6 intracellular cytokines and degranulation on a per-cell basis. Analysis of 7 parameters resulted in 128 possible combinations of positivity/negativity, far too complex for basic flow cytometry software to analyze fully. Various software packages were used, analysis methods used in each described, and representative output displayed. Of the tools investigated, automated classification of cellular expression by nonlinear stochastic embedding (ACCENSE) and coupled analysis in Pestle/simplified presentation of incredibly complex evaluations (SPICE) provided the most user-friendly manipulations and readable output, evaluating effects of altered antigen-specific stimulation on T cell polyfunctionality. This detailed approach may serve as a model for other investigators/SRLs in selecting the most appropriate software to analyze complex flow cytometry datasets. Further development and awareness of available tools will help guide proper data analysis to answer difficult biologic questions arising from incredibly complex datasets. © Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Visual Turing test for computer vision systems

PubMed Central

Geman, Donald; Geman, Stuart; Hallonquist, Neil; Younes, Laurent

2015-01-01

Today, computer vision systems are tested by their accuracy in detecting and localizing instances of objects. As an alternative, and motivated by the ability of humans to provide far richer descriptions and even tell a story about an image, we construct a “visual Turing test”: an operator-assisted device that produces a stochastic sequence of binary questions from a given test image. The query engine proposes a question; the operator either provides the correct answer or rejects the question as ambiguous; the engine proposes the next question (“just-in-time truthing”). The test is then administered to the computer-vision system, one question at a time. After the system’s answer is recorded, the system is provided the correct answer and the next question. Parsing is trivial and deterministic; the system being tested requires no natural language processing. The query engine employs statistical constraints, learned from a training set, to produce questions with essentially unpredictable answers—the answer to a question, given the history of questions and their correct answers, is nearly equally likely to be positive or negative. In this sense, the test is only about vision. The system is designed to produce streams of questions that follow natural story lines, from the instantiation of a unique object, through an exploration of its properties, and on to its relationships with other uniquely instantiated objects. PMID:25755262

Drug Facts Chat Day: NIH Experts Answer Students' Drug Questions

MedlinePlus

... Home Current Issue Past Issues Drug Facts Chat Day: NIH Experts Answer Students' Drug Questions Past Issues / ... Drug Abuse during their first Drug Facts Chat Day. Photo courtesy of NIDA The questions poured in… ...

The career goals of nurses in some health care settings in Gauteng.

PubMed

Jooste, K

2005-08-01

In nursing, purposeful career planning is essential if nurse practitioners want to make the right decisions about their work in order to strive towards and accomplish a meaningful quality of working life. Nurses should identify their career goals to be able to investigate their different career opportunities in their field of interest and direct their work according to a work strategy for years ahead. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the career goals of post-basic nursing students with the aim of describing management strategies to guide the future career of post-basic nursing students in climbing the career ladder effectively and obtaining their set career goals. An explorative, descriptive, qualitative design was selected where the researcher worked inductively to explore and describe the needs (goals) and future planned actions of the participants regarding their career management as viewed for a period of five years. The researcher purposively and conveniently identified the sample as all the post-basic nursing students, namely 250 students, who were registered for the first, second and third year of nursing management courses in that period at a South African residential university. Two structured, open questions were developed. Each participant received the questions in writing and was asked to answer them. The QSR NUD*IST program was used for the qualitative management (categorization) of data. The results of the research questions related to five categories, namely becoming empowered, being promoted, being educated and professionally developed, partaking in research and taking up new projects.

Toward automated consumer question answering: automatically separating consumer questions from professional questions in the healthcare domain.

PubMed

Liu, Feifan; Antieau, Lamont D; Yu, Hong

2011-12-01

Both healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers have information needs that can be met through the use of computers, specifically via medical question answering systems. However, the information needs of both groups are different in terms of literacy levels and technical expertise, and an effective question answering system must be able to account for these differences if it is to formulate the most relevant responses for users from each group. In this paper, we propose that a first step toward answering the queries of different users is automatically classifying questions according to whether they were asked by healthcare professionals or consumers. We obtained two sets of consumer questions (~10,000 questions in total) from Yahoo answers. The professional questions consist of two question collections: 4654 point-of-care questions (denoted as PointCare) obtained from interviews of a group of family doctors following patient visits and 5378 questions from physician practices through professional online services (denoted as OnlinePractice). With more than 20,000 questions combined, we developed supervised machine-learning models for automatic classification between consumer questions and professional questions. To evaluate the robustness of our models, we tested the model that was trained on the Consumer-PointCare dataset on the Consumer-OnlinePractice dataset. We evaluated both linguistic features and statistical features and examined how the characteristics in two different types of professional questions (PointCare vs. OnlinePractice) may affect the classification performance. We explored information gain for feature reduction and the back-off linguistic category features. The 10-fold cross-validation results showed the best F1-measure of 0.936 and 0.946 on Consumer-PointCare and Consumer-OnlinePractice respectively, and the best F1-measure of 0.891 when testing the Consumer-PointCare model on the Consumer-OnlinePractice dataset. Healthcare consumer questions posted at Yahoo online communities can be reliably classified from professional questions posted by point-of-care clinicians and online physicians. The supervised machine-learning models are robust for this task. Our study will significantly benefit further development in automated consumer question answering. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Question Generation, Question Answering and Reading on Prose Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owens, Anthony Mathew

Eighty-seven students took part in a study (using three experimental conditions) of the effect of question generation, question answering, and rereading on an immediate posttest and on a delayed test of knowledge of a text passage. In condition G, subjects generated multiple-choice questions that would test knowledge of each of the six content…

Using Written-Answer Questions To Complement Numerical Problems. Case Study: A Separation Processes Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iveson, Simon M.

2002-01-01

Describes the process and outcome of including in assignments and examinations some questions requiring written answers along with traditional questions requiring only numerical calculations. Lists questions used in a chemical engineering course on separation processes along with sample responses from students. Student feedback indicates a…

Answering Wh- Questions About Sentences and Text.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singer, Murray

1986-01-01

Describes a study designed to identify the mental operations that contribute to people's ability to answer wh- questions, that is, questions which request information that plays a particular role in relation to some action or event. Wh- questions are signaled by interrogative pronouns and adverbs like who, what, when, and where. (SED)

Evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of sending pregnancy and abortion history surveys through SMS text messaging to help reach sustainable development goal 3.

PubMed

Leidich, Aimee; Jayaweera, Ruvani; Arcara, Jennet; Clawson, Shannon; Chalker, Chad; Rochat, Roger

2018-06-01

In Kenya, abortion is illegal under most circumstances, yet about 48 abortions per 1,000 women occurred in 2012. Given the stigma around abortion, little is known about the availability of safe abortion. Thus, we explored the feasibility and acceptability of using SMS mobile surveys to collect information about women's pregnancy and abortion histories in Kenya. We sent a one-time mobile survey to 500 18-24year old women who had opted-in to a 16,000-person mobile survey panel. Women elected to answer questions about pregnancy only (number of pregnancies, number of births, age at first pregnancy) or pregnancy and abortion (ever tried to obtain an abortion and whether medical treatment was sought for any complications). The final question for all survey versions was an open-ended question asking respondents how they felt answering these questions. 356 (71%) responded to the initial survey question and 333 (94%) consented to answer questions about pregnancy. Of these, 233 (70%) agreed to answer questions about just pregnancy and 76 (23%) agreed to answer questions about pregnancy and abortion. Three-quarters of respondents indicated that they had positive or neutral feelings about answering these questions over SMS. Lastly, all data was retrieved within 24h of survey distribution allowing for immediate analysis and dissemination. Women's willingness to share their pregnancy history suggests mobile surveys are a cost-effective and accessible method for gathering information on abortion in Kenya. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Creation and implementation of a flipped jigsaw activity to stimulate interest in biochemistry among medical students.

PubMed

Williams, Charlene; Perlis, Susan; Gaughan, John; Phadtare, Sangita

2018-05-06

Learner-centered pedagogical methods that are based on clinical application of basic science concepts through active learning and problem solving are shown to be effective for improving knowledge retention. As the clinical relevance of biochemistry is not always apparent to health-profession students, effective teaching of medical biochemistry should highlight the implications of biochemical concepts in pathology, minimize memorization, and make the concepts memorable for long-term retention. Here, we report the creation and successful implementation of a flipped jigsaw activity that was developed to stimulate interest in learning biochemistry among medical students. The activity combined the elements of a flipped classroom for learning concepts followed by a jigsaw activity to retrieve these concepts by solving clinical cases, answering case-based questions, and creating concept maps. The students' reception of the activity was very positive. They commented that the activity provided them an opportunity to review and synthesize information, helped to gage their learning by applying this information and work with peers. Students' improved performance especially for answering the comprehension-based questions correctly in the postquiz as well as the depth of information included in the postquiz concept maps suggested that the activity helped them to understand how different clinical scenarios develop owing to deviations in basic biochemical pathways. Although this activity was created for medical students, the format of this activity can also be useful for other health-professional students as well as undergraduate and graduate students. © 2018 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2018. © 2018 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

[Mechanism of drug dependency: answers to the questions of KATO].

PubMed

Takigawa, M

2000-01-01

The complicated mechanisms of drug dependency were discussed from the perspective of a reward, especially the perspective of psychic dependency of the brain. In Kato's article, the following questions were raised. (1) Improper usage of terminology in describing the objective pharmacological behavior and describing the subjective psychic experience, e.g. the term "obsessional comfort". (2) The enhanced effects of morphine and d-amphetamine in ICSS (intracranial self-stimulation) were not suitably regarded, as these might be the results of stimulus current running in the brain. The conclusion that "morphine and d-amphetamine are 2 kinds of addictive drugs due to the reinforcement effects on ICSS" appears to be putting the incidental before the fundamental because these are addictive drugs in clinical use. (3) It was unknown why the basic problem of drug dependency was limited to psychic stimulant (antihypnotic, etc.), and why only opiates were represented as an addictive drug. (4) The conclusion that the reinforcement effects of barbital and benzodiazepine were not observed in ICSS contradicted Kato's conclusion, in which the reinforcement effects were detected in an experiment involving self-administration. (5) He reiterated that the usage of terminology was confused in describing the psychic experience and pharmacological behavioral. In response to the comments of the editors, I would answer the questions as follows: It is well-known that the terminologies used in psychiatry are strict and prudent. This should also be the case in the description of pharmacological behaviors in animal models. The author admitted Kato's profound relevant experiences in drug dependency, and did not disapprove of his criticisms about the terminology used in the article to describe objective behaviors and observe subjective experience. That article was excerpted from one of my lectures, which to some extent allowed freedom in phrases and sentences. The following are my answers to Kato's questions.

Rethinking intractable conflict: the perspective of dynamical systems.

PubMed

Vallacher, Robin R; Coleman, Peter T; Nowak, Andrzej; Bui-Wrzosinska, Lan

2010-01-01

Intractable conflicts are demoralizing. Beyond destabilizing the families, communities, or international regions in which they occur, they tend to perpetuate the very conditions of misery and hate that contributed to them in the first place. Although the common factors and processes associated with intractable conflicts have been identified through research, they represent an embarrassment of riches for theory construction. Thus, the current task in this area is integrating these diverse factors into an account that provides a coherent perspective yet allows for prediction and a basis for conflict resolution in specific conflict settings. We suggest that the perspective of dynamical systems provides such an account. This article outlines the key concepts and hypotheses associated with this approach. It is organized around a set of basic questions concerning intractable conflict for which the dynamical perspective offers fresh insight and testable propositions. The questions and answers are intended to provide readers with basic concepts and principles of complexity and dynamical systems that are useful for rethinking the nature of intractable conflict and the means by which such conflict can be transformed. Copyright 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Willingness and Ability of Older Adults in the Emergency Department to Provide Clinical Information Using a Tablet Computer.

PubMed

Brahmandam, Sruti; Holland, Wesley C; Mangipudi, Sowmya A; Braz, Valerie A; Medlin, Richard P; Hunold, Katherine M; Jones, Christopher W; Platts-Mills, Timothy F

2016-11-01

To estimate the proportion of older adults in the emergency department (ED) who are willing and able to use a tablet computer to answer questions. Prospective, ED-based cross-sectional study. Two U.S. academic EDs. Individuals aged 65 and older. As part of screening for another study, potential study participants were asked whether they would be willing to use a tablet computer to answer eight questions instead of answering questions orally. A custom user interface optimized for older adults was used. Trained research assistants observed study participants as they used the tablets. Ability to use the tablet was assessed based on need for assistance and number of questions answered correctly. Of 365 individuals approached, 248 (68%) were willing to answer screening questions, 121 of these (49%) were willing to use a tablet computer; of these, 91 (75%) were able to answer at least six questions correctly, and 35 (29%) did not require assistance. Only 14 (12%) were able to answer all eight questions correctly without assistance. Individuals aged 65 to 74 and those reporting use of a touchscreen device at least weekly were more likely to be willing and able to use the tablet computer. Of individuals with no or mild cognitive impairment, the percentage willing to use the tablet was 45%, and the percentage answering all questions correctly was 32%. Approximately half of this sample of older adults in the ED was willing to provide information using a tablet computer, but only a small minority of these were able to enter all information correctly without assistance. Tablet computers may provide an efficient means of collecting clinical information from some older adults in the ED, but at present, it will be ineffective for a significant portion of this population. © 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.

The Difference between Uncertainty and Information, and Why This Matters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nearing, G. S.

2016-12-01

Earth science investigation and arbitration (for decision making) is very often organized around a concept of uncertainty. It seems relatively straightforward that the purpose of our science is to reduce uncertainty about how environmental systems will react and evolve under different conditions. I propose here that approaching a science of complex systems as a process of quantifying and reducing uncertainty is a mistake, and specifically a mistake that is rooted in certain rather hisoric logical errors. Instead I propose that we should be asking questions about information. I argue here that an information-based perspective facilitates almost trivial answers to environmental science questions that are either difficult or theoretically impossible to answer when posed as questions about uncertainty. In particular, I propose that an information-centric perspective leads to: Coherent and non-subjective hypothesis tests for complex system models. Process-level diagnostics for complex systems models. Methods for building complex systems models that allow for inductive inference without the need for a priori specification of likelihood functions or ad hoc error metrics. Asymptotically correct quantification of epistemic uncertainty. To put this in slightly more basic terms, I propose that an information-theoretic philosophy of science has the potential to resolve certain important aspects of the Demarcation Problem and the Duhem-Quine Problem, and that Hydrology and other Earth Systems Sciences can immediately capitalize on this to address some of our most difficult and persistent problems.

An exploratory investigation of the translation of Pacific Northwest Laboratory's print manuals system to an on-line manuals system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heubach, J.G.; Hunt, S.T.; Pond, L.R.

1992-06-01

Information management technology has proliferated in the past decade in response to the information explosion. As documentation accumulates, the need to access information residing in manuals, handbooks and regulations conveniently, accurately, and quickly has increased. However, studies show that only fractions of the available information is read (Martin, 1978). Consequently, one of the biggest challenges in linking information and electronic management of information is to use the power of communication technology to meet the information needs of the audience. Pacific Northwest Laboratories' (PNL) investigation of translating its print manual system to an on-line system fits this challenge precisely. PNL's manualsmore » contain a tremendous amount of information for which manual holders are responsible. To perform their tasks in compliance with policy and procedure guidelines, users need to access information accurately, conveniently, and quickly. In order to select and use information management tools wisely, answers must be sought to a few basic questions. Communication experts cite four key questions: What do users want What do users need What characteristics of an on-line information system affect its usefulness Who are the users whose wants and needs are to be met Once these questions are answered, attention can be focused on finding the best match between user requirements and technology characteristics and weighing the costs and benefits of proposed options.« less

An exploratory investigation of the translation of Pacific Northwest Laboratory`s print manuals system to an on-line manuals system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heubach, J.G.; Hunt, S.T.; Pond, L.R.

1992-06-01

Information management technology has proliferated in the past decade in response to the information explosion. As documentation accumulates, the need to access information residing in manuals, handbooks and regulations conveniently, accurately, and quickly has increased. However, studies show that only fractions of the available information is read (Martin, 1978). Consequently, one of the biggest challenges in linking information and electronic management of information is to use the power of communication technology to meet the information needs of the audience. Pacific Northwest Laboratories` (PNL) investigation of translating its print manual system to an on-line system fits this challenge precisely. PNL`s manualsmore » contain a tremendous amount of information for which manual holders are responsible. To perform their tasks in compliance with policy and procedure guidelines, users need to access information accurately, conveniently, and quickly. In order to select and use information management tools wisely, answers must be sought to a few basic questions. Communication experts cite four key questions: What do users want? What do users need? What characteristics of an on-line information system affect its usefulness? Who are the users whose wants and needs are to be met? Once these questions are answered, attention can be focused on finding the best match between user requirements and technology characteristics and weighing the costs and benefits of proposed options.« less

Basic Research on the Composition of Heavy Cosmic Rays: The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder Experiment (TIGER)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Binns, W. Robert

2004-01-01

Among the most fundamental astrophysical problems is understanding the mechanism by which particles are accelerated to the enormous energies observed in the cosmic rays. That problem can be conveniently divided into two questions: (1) What is the source of the energy and the mechanism for converting the energy of that source into the energy of individual cosmic-ray nuclei, and (2) what is the source of the material that is accelerated and the mechanism for injecting that material into the cosmic-ray accelerator? There is a general consensus that the answer to the first of these questions, for nuclei with energy eV, is that the source of their energy is almost certainly from supernova explosions (e.g., Ginzburg & Syrovatskii, 1964). The answer to the second question is still uncertain, although evidence in favor of a superbubble origin of cosmic rays is becoming quite significant (Higdon et al, 2203 and Binns, 2005 (Submitted to ApJ). There are several ways of interpreting available data that lead to quite different models for the source of the material and its injection mechanism. With the The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder Experiment (TIGER) instrument we have obtained data that will help to distinguish among these possible models. In the report, the TIGER flights, the instrument itself, results, and a publication list as a result of the work are presented.

The Evolution of Dust in the Multiphase Interstellar Medium

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor); Slavin, Jonathan

2003-01-01

Interstellar dust has a profound effect on the structure and evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM) and on the processes by which stars form from it. Dust obscures regions of star formation from view, and the uncertain quantities of elements in dust makes it difficult to measure accurately the abundances of the elements in low density regions. Despite the central importance of dust in astrophysics, we cannot answer some of the most basic questions about it: Why is it that most of the refractory elements are in dust grains? What determines the sizes of interstellar grains? It has been the goal of our proposed theoretical investigations to address these questions by studying the destruction of interstellar grains, and to develop observational diagnostics that can test the models we develop.

The Aunt Gladys Letter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritter, Mark

1992-01-01

Describes an activity in which students receive individual questions (i.e., What is a sparkler made of and what makes it sparkle?) to answers from their "Aunt Gladys." Students must research the everyday question, discover the answer, and then translate the answer into the common language of the masses. (PR)

The recent evolution of the question "What is life"?

PubMed

Morange, Michel

2012-01-01

The question "What is life?" is absent from the writings of present-day biologists and scientists. However, an answer to this question, even if only partial, is needed for successful completion of projects in astrobiology and synthetic biology. The reasons for this absence are metaphysical, epistemological, and historical. No one has a full answer to this question, but there are many good reasons to keep posing it. Answers are no longer sought in the existence of strengths or mechanisms specific to life. The secret of life has been unveiled and it is nothing other than physical chemistry. What remains to be understood is the way the characteristics of organisms have emerged and been combined within one unique "object." The answer to the question "What is life?" is now looked for in the scenario that generated life.

Impact of web searching and social feedback on consumer decision making: a prospective online experiment.

PubMed

Lau, Annie Y S; Coiera, Enrico W

2008-01-22

The World Wide Web has increasingly become an important source of information in health care consumer decision making. However, little is known about whether searching online resources actually improves consumers' understanding of health issues. The aim was to study whether searching on the World Wide Web improves consumers' accuracy in answering health questions and whether consumers' understanding of health issues is subject to further change under social feedback. This was a pre/post prospective online study. A convenience sample of 227 undergraduate students was recruited from the population of the University of New South Wales. Subjects used a search engine that retrieved online documents from PubMed, MedlinePlus, and HealthInsite and answered a set of six questions (before and after use of the search engine) designed for health care consumers. They were then presented with feedback consisting of a summary of the post-search answers provided by previous subjects for the same questions and were asked to answer the questions again. There was an improvement in the percentage of correct answers after searching (pre-search 61.2% vs post-search 82.0%, P <.001) and after feedback with other subjects' answers (pre-feedback 82.0% vs post-feedback 85.3%, P =.051). The proportion of subjects with highly confident correct answers (ie, confident or very confident) and the proportion with highly confident incorrect answers significantly increased after searching (correct pre-search 61.6% vs correct post-search 95.5%, P <.001; incorrect pre-search 55.3% vs incorrect post-search 82.0%, P <.001). Subjects who were not as confident in their post-search answers were 28.5% more likely than those who were confident or very confident to change their answer after feedback with other subjects' post-search answers (chi(2) (1)= 66.65, P <.001). Searching across quality health information sources on the Web can improve consumers' accuracy in answering health questions. However, a consumer's confidence in an answer is not a good indicator of the answer being correct. Consumers who are not confident in their answers after searching are more likely to be influenced to change their views when provided with feedback from other consumers.

The rainbow and the worm

PubMed Central

Hunt, Tam

2013-01-01

What is life? Many have asked this question, and no definitive answer is yet widely accepted. Is life something truly distinct from non-living stuff, as many dualists have suggested for millennia? Is there an élan vital that distinguishes living from dead stuff? Or is life about certain types of organization, metabolism, reproduction, goal-oriented behavior? None of these answers have yet won the debate. There is, however, an intriguing new set of ideas that have been developed by Mae-Wan Ho, a biophysicist and science activist (as she calls herself) based in London. Ho’s basic assertion is that life exists on a spectrum and is at its root organized, quantum coherent energy. Ho’s work attempts to bridge the gap between physics and biology by recognizing that there is no real gap at all—just a gap in current methods and habits of thinking. PMID:23795236

Response switching and self-efficacy in Peer Instruction classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Kelly; Schell, Julie; Ho, Andrew; Lukoff, Brian; Mazur, Eric

2015-06-01

Peer Instruction, a well-known student-centered teaching method, engages students during class through structured, frequent questioning and is often facilitated by classroom response systems. The central feature of any Peer Instruction class is a conceptual question designed to help resolve student misconceptions about subject matter. We provide students two opportunities to answer each question—once after a round of individual reflection and then again after a discussion round with a peer. The second round provides students the choice to "switch" their original response to a different answer. The percentage of right answers typically increases after peer discussion: most students who answer incorrectly in the individual round switch to the correct answer after the peer discussion. However, for any given question there are also students who switch their initially right answer to a wrong answer and students who switch their initially wrong answer to a different wrong answer. In this study, we analyze response switching over one semester of an introductory electricity and magnetism course taught using Peer Instruction at Harvard University. Two key features emerge from our analysis: First, response switching correlates with academic self-efficacy. Students with low self-efficacy switch their responses more than students with high self-efficacy. Second, switching also correlates with the difficulty of the question; students switch to incorrect responses more often when the question is difficult. These findings indicate that instructors may need to provide greater support for difficult questions, such as supplying cues during lectures, increasing times for discussions, or ensuring effective pairing (such as having a student with one right answer in the pair). Additionally, the connection between response switching and self-efficacy motivates interventions to increase student self-efficacy at the beginning of the semester by helping students develop early mastery or to reduce stressful experiences (i.e., high-stakes testing) early in the semester, in the hope that this will improve student learning in Peer Instruction classrooms.

National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Area Source Standards for Prepared Feeds Manufacturing: Commonly Asked Questions and Answers

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This 2011 document answers common questions about the NESHAP for Area Sources for Prepared Feeds Manufacturing. The questions range in topics including applicability, specific requirements, and recordkeeping.

Elementary school teachers' techniques of responding to student questions regarding sexuality issues.

PubMed

Price, James H; Dake, Joseph A; Kirchofer, Gregg; Telljohann, Susan K

2003-01-01

Fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school teachers' (n = 277) techniques of responding to students' human sexuality-related questions were assessed. Few teachers (34%) reported receiving formal training in sexuality education. The most commonly asked student questions dealt with STDs, puberty, homosexuality, pregnancy, and abortion. Teachers' willingness to answer sexually-related questions in front of the class varied (73% to 14%) by content of the question. There were no questions on the questionnaire in which more than one in five teachers would choose not to answer. The most common questions the teachers identified they would not respond to dealt with topics such as abortion, masturbation, homosexuality, and issues about the male genitals. Finally, none of the questions was perceived by more than one in eight of the teachers as questions they would not be allowed to answer.

An overview of the BIOASQ large-scale biomedical semantic indexing and question answering competition.

PubMed

Tsatsaronis, George; Balikas, Georgios; Malakasiotis, Prodromos; Partalas, Ioannis; Zschunke, Matthias; Alvers, Michael R; Weissenborn, Dirk; Krithara, Anastasia; Petridis, Sergios; Polychronopoulos, Dimitris; Almirantis, Yannis; Pavlopoulos, John; Baskiotis, Nicolas; Gallinari, Patrick; Artiéres, Thierry; Ngomo, Axel-Cyrille Ngonga; Heino, Norman; Gaussier, Eric; Barrio-Alvers, Liliana; Schroeder, Michael; Androutsopoulos, Ion; Paliouras, Georgios

2015-04-30

This article provides an overview of the first BIOASQ challenge, a competition on large-scale biomedical semantic indexing and question answering (QA), which took place between March and September 2013. BIOASQ assesses the ability of systems to semantically index very large numbers of biomedical scientific articles, and to return concise and user-understandable answers to given natural language questions by combining information from biomedical articles and ontologies. The 2013 BIOASQ competition comprised two tasks, Task 1a and Task 1b. In Task 1a participants were asked to automatically annotate new PUBMED documents with MESH headings. Twelve teams participated in Task 1a, with a total of 46 system runs submitted, and one of the teams performing consistently better than the MTI indexer used by NLM to suggest MESH headings to curators. Task 1b used benchmark datasets containing 29 development and 282 test English questions, along with gold standard (reference) answers, prepared by a team of biomedical experts from around Europe and participants had to automatically produce answers. Three teams participated in Task 1b, with 11 system runs. The BIOASQ infrastructure, including benchmark datasets, evaluation mechanisms, and the results of the participants and baseline methods, is publicly available. A publicly available evaluation infrastructure for biomedical semantic indexing and QA has been developed, which includes benchmark datasets, and can be used to evaluate systems that: assign MESH headings to published articles or to English questions; retrieve relevant RDF triples from ontologies, relevant articles and snippets from PUBMED Central; produce "exact" and paragraph-sized "ideal" answers (summaries). The results of the systems that participated in the 2013 BIOASQ competition are promising. In Task 1a one of the systems performed consistently better from the NLM's MTI indexer. In Task 1b the systems received high scores in the manual evaluation of the "ideal" answers; hence, they produced high quality summaries as answers. Overall, BIOASQ helped obtain a unified view of how techniques from text classification, semantic indexing, document and passage retrieval, question answering, and text summarization can be combined to allow biomedical experts to obtain concise, user-understandable answers to questions reflecting their real information needs.

75 FR 54347 - Draft Guidance for Industry: Bar Code Label Requirements-Questions and Answers (Question 12...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-07

...] Draft Guidance for Industry: Bar Code Label Requirements-- Questions and Answers (Question 12 Update... Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a draft document entitled ``Guidance for Industry: Bar... guidance provides you, manufacturers of a licensed vaccine, with advice concerning compliance with the bar...

Berkeley Lab Answers Your Home Energy Efficiency Questions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, Iain

2013-02-14

In this follow-up "Ask Berkeley Lab" video, energy efficiency expert Iain Walker answers some of your questions about home energy efficiency. How do you monitor which appliances use the most energy? Should you replace your old windows? Are photovoltaic systems worth the cost? What to do about a leaky house? And what's the single biggest energy user in your home? Watch the video to get the answers to these and more questions.

Berkeley Lab Answers Your Home Energy Efficiency Questions

ScienceCinema

Walker, Iain

2018-01-16

In this follow-up "Ask Berkeley Lab" video, energy efficiency expert Iain Walker answers some of your questions about home energy efficiency. How do you monitor which appliances use the most energy? Should you replace your old windows? Are photovoltaic systems worth the cost? What to do about a leaky house? And what's the single biggest energy user in your home? Watch the video to get the answers to these and more questions.

Constructive evaluation: a pedagogy of student-contributed assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luxton-Reilly, Andrew; Denny, Paul

2010-06-01

We present an innovative pedagogical approach that we call constructive evaluation, which shifts students from being consumers of knowledge to participants in a community of peers engaged in actively producing and sharing knowledge. Students are required to author a question that assesses one or more of the learning outcomes of a course. In addition to the question, students write a sample solution. These questions and solutions are stored in a question item bank where they become available for other students to use as a learning resource. Once a student answers a question from the item bank, they can see how other students have answered the question and can reflect on their own response. Additionally, students must review the questions they have answered and are given an opportunity to engage in discussion of questions or answers via a feedback mechanism. In addition to improving content knowledge, students develop important meta-skills such as organising and communicating knowledge; judging the quality of information; giving and receiving feedback and improving self-assessment skills. This approach is aligned with both reflective professional practice and social theories of learning.

A Deep Learning-Based Method for Similar Patient Question Retrieval in Chinese.

PubMed

Tang, Guo Yu; Ni, Yuan; Xie, Guo Tong; Fan, Xin Li; Shi, Yan Ling

2017-01-01

The online patient question and answering (Q&A) system, either as a website or a mobile application, attracts an increasing number of users in China. Patients will post their questions and the registered doctors then provide the corresponding answers. A large amount of questions with answers from doctors are accumulated. Instead of awaiting the response from a doctor, the newly posted question could be quickly answered by finding a semantically equivalent question from the Q&A achive. In this study, we investigated a novel deep learning based method to retrieve the similar patient question in Chinese. An unsupervised learning algorithm using deep neural network is performed on the corpus to generate the word embedding. The word embedding was then used as the input to a supervised learning algorithm using a designed deep neural network, i.e. the supervised neural attention model (SNA), to predict the similarity between two questions. The experimental results showed that our SNA method achieved P@1 = 77% and P@5 = 84%, which outperformed all other compared methods.

Understanding the Factors Influencing User Experience of Social Question and Answer Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deng, Shengli; Fang, Yuling; Liu, Yong; Li, Hongxiu

2015-01-01

Introduction: The popularity of social question and answer sites has made it an important and convenient source for obtaining knowledge. This study quantifies how three different system characteristics (interface design, interaction and answer quality) affect users' perceptions (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment),…

Pragmatic Language Development in Language Impaired and Typically Developing Children: Incorrect Answers in Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryder, Nuala; Leinonen, Eeva

2014-01-01

This study focused on young children's incorrect answers to pragmatically demanding questions. Children with specific language impairment (SLI), including a subgroup with pragmatic language difficulties (PLD) and typically developing children answered questions targeting implicatures, based on a storybook and short verbal scenarios.…

Ninety-three pictures and 108 questions for the elicitation of homophones

PubMed Central

FERREIRA, VICTOR S.; CUTTING, J. COOPER

2007-01-01

Homographs and homophones have interesting linguistic properties that make them useful in many experiments involving language. To assist researchers in the elicitation of homophones, this paper presents a set of 93 line-drawn pictures of objects with homophonic names and a set of 108 questions with homophonic answers. Statistics are also included for each picture and question: Picture statistics include name-agreement percentages, dominance, and frequency statistics of depicted referents, and picture-naming latencies both with and without study of the picture names. For questions, statistics include answer-agreement percentages, difficulty ratings, dominance, frequency statistics, and naming latencies for 60 of the most consistently answered questions. PMID:18185842

Paper and Other Web Coating National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) Questions and Answers

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This May 2003 document contains questions and answers on the Paper and Web Coating National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulation. The questions cover topics such as compliance, applicability, and initial notification.

Conscience in Childhood: Old Questions, New Answers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aksan, Nazan; Kochanska, Grazyna

2005-01-01

Although conscience has been the focus of reflection for centuries, fundamental questions regarding its organization have not been fully answered. To address those questions, the authors applied structural equation modeling techniques to longitudinal data comprising multiple behavioral measures of children's conscience, obtained in parallel…

Computer Analysis in HSC German

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clutterbuck, Michael; Mowchanuk, Timothy

1977-01-01

In October, 1976, a new type of question was introduced into the Victorian HSC German test: A listening comprehension question with multiple-choice answers has replaced the written reproduction question. Results of a computer analysis of the answers given in the exam are reported. (SW)

Questions about complementary and alternative medicine to the Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS): a descriptive pilot study.

PubMed

Schjøtt, Jan; Erdal, Hilde

2014-02-14

Provision of clinically relevant information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to health care professionals is not well described. The aim of the study was to assess questions about CAM to the Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS). All question-answers pairs (QAPs) in the RELIS database indexed with alternative medicine from 2005-2010 constituted the study material. A randomly selected sample of 100 QAPs was characterized with regard to type of question (category, patient-specific or general), occupation and workplace of enquirer, the type of information search performed (simple or advanced), and if the answers contained information to provide factual or consultative replies (facts about or advice on clinical use of CAM, respectively). Proportions were compared with Fisher's exact test with significance at the 0.05 level. One thousand and thirty-eight (7.7%) out of 13 482 questions involved CAM. Eighty-two out of 100 questions concerned products containing one or more herbs, vitamins and minerals as well as other substances. Thirty-eight out of 100 questions concerned the category documentation (substance identification and/or literature reports about clinical effects), 36 interactions, 16 adverse effects, 9 pregnancy and lactation, and 1 question concerned contraindications. Sixty-three questions were patient-specific and 37 general. Fifty-four questions came from physicians, 33 from pharmacists and 13 from others (including nurses, midwives, students, CAM practitioners, and the public). Pharmacists asked more frequently about interactions while physicians asked more frequently about adverse effects (p < 0.05). Seventy-six of the questions came from outside hospital, mainly general practice and community pharmacies. Fifty-nine answers were based on a simple and 41 on an advanced information search. Thirty-three factual and 38 consultative answers were provided. In 29 answers, search provided no information. Lack of information to provide an answer was not significantly different between patient-specific (31.7%) and general questions (24.3%). General practice and community pharmacies are the main sources for questions about CAM to RELIS. Physicians are concerned about adverse effects while pharmacists are concerned about interactions. Lack of information to provide answers to patient-specific and general questions about CAM represents a problem.

Questions about complementary and alternative medicine to the Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS): a descriptive pilot study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Provision of clinically relevant information about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to health care professionals is not well described. The aim of the study was to assess questions about CAM to the Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS). Methods All question-answers pairs (QAPs) in the RELIS database indexed with alternative medicine from 2005-2010 constituted the study material. A randomly selected sample of 100 QAPs was characterized with regard to type of question (category, patient-specific or general), occupation and workplace of enquirer, the type of information search performed (simple or advanced), and if the answers contained information to provide factual or consultative replies (facts about or advice on clinical use of CAM, respectively). Proportions were compared with Fisher’s exact test with significance at the 0.05 level. Results One thousand and thirty-eight (7.7%) out of 13 482 questions involved CAM. Eighty-two out of 100 questions concerned products containing one or more herbs, vitamins and minerals as well as other substances. Thirty-eight out of 100 questions concerned the category documentation (substance identification and/or literature reports about clinical effects), 36 interactions, 16 adverse effects, 9 pregnancy and lactation, and 1 question concerned contraindications. Sixty-three questions were patient-specific and 37 general. Fifty-four questions came from physicians, 33 from pharmacists and 13 from others (including nurses, midwives, students, CAM practitioners, and the public). Pharmacists asked more frequently about interactions while physicians asked more frequently about adverse effects (p < 0.05). Seventy-six of the questions came from outside hospital, mainly general practice and community pharmacies. Fifty-nine answers were based on a simple and 41 on an advanced information search. Thirty-three factual and 38 consultative answers were provided. In 29 answers, search provided no information. Lack of information to provide an answer was not significantly different between patient-specific (31.7%) and general questions (24.3%). Conclusions General practice and community pharmacies are the main sources for questions about CAM to RELIS. Physicians are concerned about adverse effects while pharmacists are concerned about interactions. Lack of information to provide answers to patient-specific and general questions about CAM represents a problem. PMID:24529279

Analytic concepts for assessing risk as applied to human space flight

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Garrick, B J

Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) principles provide an effective framework for quantifying individual elements of risk, including the risk to astronauts and spacecraft of the radiation environment of space flight. The concept of QRA is based on a structured set of scenarios that could lead to different damage states initiated by either hardware failure, human error, or external events. In the context of a spacecraft risk assessment, radiation may be considered as an external event and analyzed in the same basic way as any other contributor to risk. It is possible to turn up the microscope on any particular contributor tomore » risk and ask more detailed questions than might be necessary to simply assess safety. The methods of QRA allow for as much fine structure in the analysis as is desired. For the purpose of developing a basis for comprehensive risk management and considering the tendency to {open_quotes}fear anything nuclear,{close_quotes} radiation risk is a prime candidate for examination beyond that necessary to answer the basic question of risk. Thus, rather than considering only the customary damage states of fatalities or loss of a spacecraft, it is suggested that the full range of damage be analyzed to quantify radiation risk. Radiation dose levels in the form of a risk curve accomplish such a result. If the risk curve is the complementary cumulative distribution function, then it answers the extended question of what is the likelihood of receiving a specific dose of radiation or greater. Such results can be converted to specific health effects as desired. Knowing the full range of the radiation risk of a space mission and the contributors to that risk provides the information necessary to take risk management actions [operational, design, scheduling of missions around solar particle events (SPE), etc.] that clearly control radiation exposure.« less

What is Basic Research? Insights from Historical Semantics.

PubMed

Schauz, Désirée

2014-01-01

For some years now, the concept of basic research has been under attack. Yet although the significance of the concept is in doubt, basic research continues to be used as an analytical category in science studies. But what exactly is basic research? What is the difference between basic and applied research? This article seeks to answer these questions by applying historical semantics. I argue that the concept of basic research did not arise out of the tradition of pure science. On the contrary, this new concept emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when scientists were being confronted with rising expectations regarding the societal utility of science. Scientists used the concept in order to try to bridge the gap between the promise of utility and the uncertainty of scientific endeavour. Only after 1945, when United States science policy shaped the notion of basic research, did the concept revert to the older ideals of pure science. This revival of the purity discourse was caused by the specific historical situation in the US at that time: the need to reform federal research policy after the Second World War, the new dimension of ethical dilemmas in science and technology during the atomic era, and the tense political climate during the Cold War.

Mentoring: Making a Difference for Tomorrow's Workers. A Handbook for Business and Industry Personnel Involved in School-to-Work Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Partnership for Academic and Career Education, Pendleton, SC.

Presented in a question-and-answer format, this guide is designed to answer the questions of persons who have agreed to become mentors for students in school-to-work programs. The guide answers the following 12 questions: (1) Why am I here? (2) What is mentoring all about? (3) What does mentoring have to do with School-to-Work? (4) Where do I fit…

Student opinion in England about science and technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, Edgar W.

2006-05-01

An earlier paper in this Journal (Jenkins & Nelson, 2005) drew upon the findings of the Relevance of Science Education Project (ROSE) to report the attitudes of students in England towards their secondary school science education. The present paper draws upon the same project to explore what the same students, almost all in their penultimate year of compulsory schooling, think about science and technology. It suggests that several basic research questions need to be addressed and answered if the present widespread decline in the industrialised world in the popularity of the physical sciences as subjects of advanced study is to be halted.

Living and working in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allen, J.

1977-01-01

The feasibility of space colonization depends partly on the answer to the practical question whether construction workers can exist and work in zero-g for the time necessary to build the colony framework to the point just prior to spinning it into its artificial-g mode. Based on definitive Skylab experience, there seems to be every reason to believe that workers in zero-g can perform their construction tasks with the same skill as under 1-g conditions. Attention is also given to basic reasons and motivations for the conduction of space flights and the establishment of space colonies.

Covariance Manipulation for Conjunction Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hejduk, M. D.

2016-01-01

Use of probability of collision (Pc) has brought sophistication to CA. Made possible by JSpOC precision catalogue because provides covariance. Has essentially replaced miss distance as basic CA parameter. Embrace of Pc has elevated methods to 'manipulate' covariance to enable/improve CA calculations. Two such methods to be examined here; compensation for absent or unreliable covariances through 'Maximum Pc' calculation constructs, projection (not propagation) of epoch covariances forward in time to try to enable better risk assessments. Two questions to be answered about each; situations to which such approaches are properly applicable, amount of utility that such methods offer.

Electrochemical characterization of nanodimensional metal oxide materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Paul Enle

Energy storage devices have become a bottleneck in performance improvements for portable electronics. This research seeks to answer basic science questions that may lead to the necessary improvements. First, this work demonstrates that insertion of multivalent ions into vanadium oxide greatly exceeds the storage capacity of materials presently used. Second, this work demonstrates that potassium ferrate exhibits a uniquely large pseudocapacitive effect. This effect can be used to great advantage when high power density and high energy density are required. Lastly, this work proposes a model of pseudocapacitance that has a greater descriptive power than that of previous models.

SHC Meeting Documents for November 2-4, 2016: Charge Questions

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This document contains three (3) questions that the Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program is asking the BOSC Subcommitte to answer at the Nov 2-4 BOSC meeting. The answers to these questions will help SHC evaluate if their ongoing and future

Questions and Answers Regarding the 1997 State Plan Requirements for Hospital, Medical, and Infectious Waste Incinerators (HMIWI)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This November 1997 document contains questions and answers on the state plan requirements for HMIWI regulations. The questions cover topics such as re-opening existing sources, timelines for submission, consequences for failure to submit, and more.

Are Interactional Behaviors Exhibited When the Self-Reported Health Question is Asked Associated with Health Status?*

PubMed Central

Garbarski, Dana; Schaeffer, Nora Cate; Dykema, Jennifer

2011-01-01

The self-reported health question summarizes information about health status across several domains of health and is widely used to measure health because it predicts mortality well. We examine whether interactional behaviors produced by respondents and interviewers during the self-reported health question-answer sequence reflect complexities in the respondent’s health history. We observed more problematic interactional behaviors during question-answer sequences in which respondents reported worse health. Furthermore, these behaviors were more likely to occur when there were inconsistencies in the respondent’s health history, even after controlling for the respondent’s answer to the self-reported health question, cognitive ability, and sociodemographic characteristics. We also found that among respondents who reported “excellent” health, and to a lesser extent among those who reported their health was “very good,” problematic interactional behaviors were associated with health inconsistencies. Overall, we find evidence that the interactional behaviors exhibited during the question-answer sequence are associated with respondents’ health status. PMID:21927518

Current knowledge of scoliosis in physiotherapy students trained in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Black, D A Jason; Pilcher, Christine; Drake, Shawn; Maude, Erika; Glynn, David

2017-01-01

It has been highlighted in both Poland and the United States of America (USA) that knowledge of idiopathic scoliosis (IS) among physiotherapy students is limited with respect to the 2011 International Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT) guidelines. Early detection of scoliosis and correct initial management is essential in effective care, and thus physiotherapists should be aware of the basic criteria for diagnosis and indications for treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the basic knowledge of IS in physiotherapy students trained in the United Kingdom (UK). A previously designed and tested 10-question survey, including knowledge of the 2011 SOSORT guidelines, was transcribed onto an online-survey platform. Questions were designed to analyse knowledge of definition, cause, development, prevalence, diagnosis, treatment and bracing of scoliosis. All UK universities offering physiotherapy degrees were invited to participate, with the programme lead of each institution asked to distribute the questionnaire to all penultimate and final year physiotherapy students (bachelor's and master's degrees). The final number of students who received the study invitation is unknown. The survey link closed after 8 weeks of data collection. Two hundred and six students, split over 12 institutions, successfully completed the questionnaire. Analysis showed that 79% of students recognised when IS is likely to develop, yet only 52% recognised that IS's aetiology is unknown. Eighty-eight percent of students incorrectly defined IS as a 2-dimensional deformity, with only 24% successfully recognising the prevalence of IS within the scoliosis population. Just 12% knew the criteria for diagnosis; however, 93% were unable to recognise the appropriate treatment approach through therapeutic exercise. Finally, 54% of students managed to identify correctly when bracing is recommended for IS. In comparison to previous studies within the USA, students in the UK performed worse in relation to all questions except treatment (7% answered correctly vs 3% in the American study). With only 7% of students able to answer > 50% of the survey questions correctly, there is a clear lack of knowledge of appropriate IS diagnosis and care which could directly impact the information these patients are given within the first contact primary care in the UK.

Constructive and problem-based learning using blended learning anchored instruction approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayer, M.

2012-04-01

Based on an anchored instruction approach, an enriched blended learning lecture course ("Introduction into GNSS positioning") was established in order to enable constructive and problem-based learning. The lecture course "Introduction into GNSS positioning" is a compulsory part of the Bachelor study course "Geodesy and Geoinformatics" and also a supplementary module of the Bachelor study course "Geophysics". Within the lecture course, basic knowledge and basic principles of Global Navigation Satellite Systems, like GPS, are imparted. The presented higher education technique "anchored instruction" uses a real and up-to-date and therefore authentic scientific paper dealing with a recent large-scale geodetic project (Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link) in order to introduce the topic of GNSS-based positioning to the students. In the beginning of the semester, the students have to read the paper individually and carefully. This enables them to realize a lot of not-known GNSS-related facts. Therefore, questions can be formulated focusing on new, unclear or not-understood aspects of the paper. The lecture course deals with these questions, in order to answer them throughout the semester. During the lecture course this paper is referred, e.g., in the middle of the semester, the paper has to be read again in order to check which questions have been answered; in addition, new question arise. At the end of the lecture course, the author of the scientific paper gave a concluding lecture. The framing anchor technique enables the students to anchor their GNSS knowledge. The presented case study uses a teaching resp. learning setting consisting of classroom lectures (given by teachers and learners), practical trainings (e.g., field exercises, students select topics individually), and online lectures (learning management system ILIAS is used as data, result, and asynchronous communication platform). The implementation and the elements of the anchoring technique, which enables student-centered, cooperative, and individual learning, are going to be discussed in detail. A special focus of the presentation is on work assignments, time schedule, and work load. The anchor technique is applied within a blended learning teaching concept, therefore the role of the learning management system ILIAS will be treated as well.

Working with Second Language Learners: Answers to Teachers' Top Ten Questions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cary, Stephen

This book aims to provide practical, research-informed answers to the questions most frequently asked by teachers of second language learners. Every question targets one of the key instructional issues teachers must address to ensure success for their second language students. Included among the questions are: How do I assess a student's English?…

Unpark Those Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ness, Molly

2013-01-01

Whenever Mr. Henderson's 3rd grade students had a question that he couldn't immediately answer or that seemed off-topic, he asked them to write the question on a sticky note and place it on a poster dubbed the "Parking Lot." His intention was to find time later to answer those questions, but too often, he said, the parking lot…

Answers to Health Questions in Physical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaplan, Robert, Ed.

Culled from the answers of physical education teachers and coaches, this booklet attempts to indicate the scope of health problems and suggests some directions which the solutions may take. It is divided into three parts. Part 1, Health and Safety in Activity Programs, answers questions on first aid, excused absences, and desirability of…

An Online Partner for Holocaust Remembrance Education: Students Approaching the Yahoo! Answers Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazar, Alon; Litvak Hirsch, Tal

2015-01-01

Holocaust education has gained increased importance in recent decades and attention has latterly been directed to the role of the Internet within the field. Of major importance within the virtual space are Question and Answer communities. We investigated the interactions taking place within the Yahoo! Answers community following questions posted…

Physics For Dummies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzner, Steve; Ph., D.

2005-11-01

The fun and easy way to understand the basic principles of physics How does gravity work? What does e=mc2 really mean? And what's a charm quark? Physics For Dummies answers these questions and more, explaining the basics of physical science and its importance in our everyday lives in a simple, clear, and entertaining fashion. Whether readers are taking a class, helping kids with homework, or are simply interested in how the world works, this plain-English guide gives them the knowledge they need to understand basic physics. Through real-world examples and problems, it covers such key topics as motion, energy, and waves (sound, light, wave-particle); solids, liquids, and gases; thermodynamics; electromagnetism; relativity; atomic and nuclear structures; and the Big Bang and stars. Steven Holzner, PhD (Ithaca, NY), is the author of more than 40 books and a former contributing editor at PC Magazine. He has been on the faculty of MIT and taught Physics 101 and 102 at Cornell for over ten years.

Reye's Syndrome

MedlinePlus

... of the research on RS focuses on answering fundamental questions about the disorder such as how problems ... of the research on RS focuses on answering fundamental questions about the disorder such as how problems ...

Accuracy of Answers Provided by Digital/Face-to-Face Reference Services in Japanese Public Libraries and Q & A Sites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsuji, Keita; To, Haruna; Hara, Atsuyuki

2011-01-01

We asked the same 60 questions using DRS (digital reference services) in Japanese public libraries, face-to-face reference services and Q & A (question and answer) sites. It was found that: (1) The correct answer ratio of DRS is higher than that of Q & A sites; (2) DRS takes longer to provide answers as compared to Q & A sites; and (3)…

CULTURAL DISPLAY RULES DRIVE EYE GAZE DURING THINKING.

PubMed

McCarthy, Anjanie; Lee, Kang; Itakura, Shoji; Muir, Darwin W

2006-11-01

The authors measured the eye gaze displays of Canadian, Trinidadian, and Japanese participants as they answered questions for which they either knew, or had to derive, the answers. When they knew the answers, Trinidadians maintained the most eye contact, whereas Japanese maintained the least. When thinking about the answers to questions, Canadians and Trinidadians looked up, whereas Japanese looked down. Thus, for humans, gaze displays while thinking are at least in part culturally determined.

Capabilities and applications of the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories (POST). Program summary document

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brauer, G. L.; Cornick, D. E.; Stevenson, R.

1977-01-01

The capabilities and applications of the three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) version and the six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) version of the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories (POST) are summarized. The document supplements the detailed program manuals by providing additional information that motivates and clarifies basic capabilities, input procedures, applications and computer requirements of these programs. The information will enable prospective users to evaluate the programs, and to determine if they are applicable to their problems. Enough information is given to enable managerial personnel to evaluate the capabilities of the programs and describes the POST structure, formulation, input and output procedures, sample cases, and computer requirements. The report also provides answers to basic questions concerning planet and vehicle modeling, simulation accuracy, optimization capabilities, and general input rules. Several sample cases are presented.

FAQs | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

New to NIH: Frequently Asked Questions Traveling to a new hospital can be stressful. We hope the information provided here will answer your questions before your first visit to the Pediatric Oncology Branch, located within the NIH Clinical Center. You can find answers to the following frequently asked questions below:

Surface Coating of Wood Building Products National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) Questions and Answers (Q&A's)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This September 2004 document contains questions and answers on the Surface Coating of Wood Building Products National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulation. The questions cover topics such as compliance, and applicability, etc

Answering Your Questions about AIDS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalichman, Seth C.

This book focuses on AIDS education and answers 350 commonly asked questions about Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) taken from questions addressed to two major urban AIDS hotlines (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Houston, Texas). Chapter 1, "HIV - The Virus That Causes AIDS," discusses: the HIV…

Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology

PubMed Central

William, Adrienne E.; Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M.; Tsai, Michelle; Wong, Matthew; Beaupré, Marin Moravec; O’Dowd, Diane K.

2011-01-01

This study evaluates the impact of an independent postmidterm question analysis exercise on the ability of students to answer subsequent exam questions on the same topics. It was conducted in three sections (∼400 students/section) of introductory biology. Graded midterms were returned electronically, and each student was assigned a subset of questions answered incorrectly by more than 40% of the class to analyze as homework. The majority of questions were at Bloom's application/analysis level; this exercise therefore emphasized learning at these higher levels of cognition. Students in each section answered final exam questions matched by topic to all homework questions, providing a within-class control group for each question. The percentage of students who correctly answered the matched final exam question was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the Topic Analysis versus Control Analysis group for seven of 19 questions. We identified two factors that influenced activity effectiveness: 1) similarity in topic emphasis of the midterm–final exam question pair and 2) quality of the completed analysis homework. Our data suggest that this easy-to-implement exercise will be useful in large-enrollment classes to help students develop self-regulated learning skills. Additional strategies to help introductory students gain a broader understanding of topic areas are discussed. PMID:22135369

Assessment of learning gains associated with independent exam analysis in introductory biology.

PubMed

Williams, Adrienne E; William, Adrienne E; Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M; Tsai, Michelle; Wong, Matthew; Beaupré, Marin Moravec; O'Dowd, Diane K

2011-01-01

This study evaluates the impact of an independent postmidterm question analysis exercise on the ability of students to answer subsequent exam questions on the same topics. It was conducted in three sections (∼400 students/section) of introductory biology. Graded midterms were returned electronically, and each student was assigned a subset of questions answered incorrectly by more than 40% of the class to analyze as homework. The majority of questions were at Bloom's application/analysis level; this exercise therefore emphasized learning at these higher levels of cognition. Students in each section answered final exam questions matched by topic to all homework questions, providing a within-class control group for each question. The percentage of students who correctly answered the matched final exam question was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the Topic Analysis versus Control Analysis group for seven of 19 questions. We identified two factors that influenced activity effectiveness: 1) similarity in topic emphasis of the midterm-final exam question pair and 2) quality of the completed analysis homework. Our data suggest that this easy-to-implement exercise will be useful in large-enrollment classes to help students develop self-regulated learning skills. Additional strategies to help introductory students gain a broader understanding of topic areas are discussed.

What Does the Law Say?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zirkel, Perry A.

2009-01-01

In this article, the author identifies and answers questions related to IDEA eligibility issues and the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) regulation. The author's answers to several questions concerning legal issues are presented.

Evaluation of students' knowledge about paediatric dosage calculations.

PubMed

Özyazıcıoğlu, Nurcan; Aydın, Ayla İrem; Sürenler, Semra; Çinar, Hava Gökdere; Yılmaz, Dilek; Arkan, Burcu; Tunç, Gülseren Çıtak

2018-01-01

Medication errors are common and may jeopardize the patient safety. As paediatric dosages are calculated based on the child's age and weight, risk of error in dosage calculations is increasing. In paediatric patients, overdose drug prescribed regardless of the child's weight, age and clinical picture may lead to excessive toxicity and mortalities while low doses may delay the treatment. This study was carried out to evaluate the knowledge of nursing students about paediatric dosage calculations. This research, which is of retrospective type, covers a population consisting of all the 3rd grade students at the bachelor's degree in May, 2015 (148 students). Drug dose calculation questions in exam papers including 3 open ended questions on dosage calculation problems, addressing 5 variables were distributed to the students and their responses were evaluated by the researchers. In the evaluation of the data, figures and percentage distribution were calculated and Spearman correlation analysis was applied. Exam question on the dosage calculation based on child's age, which is the most common method in paediatrics, and which ensures right dosages and drug dilution was answered correctly by 87.1% of the students while 9.5% answered it wrong and 3.4% left it blank. 69.6% of the students was successful in finding the safe dose range, and 79.1% in finding the right ratio/proportion. 65.5% of the answers with regard to Ml/dzy calculation were correct. Moreover, student's four operation skills were assessed and 68.2% of the students were determined to have found the correct answer. When the relation among the questions on medication was examined, a significant relation (correlation) was determined between them. It is seen that in dosage calculations, the students failed mostly in calculating ml/dzy (decimal). This result means that as dosage calculations are based on decimal values, calculations may be ten times erroneous when the decimal point is placed wrongly. Moreover, it is also seen that students lack maths knowledge in respect of four operations and calculating safe dose range. Relations among the medications suggest that a student wrongly calculating a dosage may also make other errors. Additional courses, exercises or utilisation of different teaching techniques may be suggested to eliminate the deficiencies in terms of basic maths knowledge, problem solving skills and correct dosage calculation of the students. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Report on Questions Raised and Requests Made at the 1980 National Conference of Librarians Serving Blind and Physically Handicapped Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Library of Congress, Washington, DC. National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Using a question and answer format, this report provides answers to a wide variety of questions and requests about National Library Service policies and procedures, planning and development, reading materials, equipment, and publication services of concern to librarians serving these user groups. Questions directed to guest speakers and panelists…

Las Preguntas Que Hacen los Padres sobre la Escuela (Questions Parents Ask about School).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Opinion Research Center, Chicago, IL.

This guide presents questions that parents frequently ask about their children's school along with answers to those questions. The questions and answers were prepared based on the results of studies conducted by the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, the U.S. Department of Education, the GTE Foundation, and by the National Center for…

Quora.com: Another Place for Users to Ask Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ovadia, Steven

2011-01-01

Quora (www.quora.com) is a contemporary, web-based take on reference. Users post questions within Quora and other users answer the questions. Users can vote for and against answers (or not vote at all). It is users asking questions of friends and strangers and then sorting through the results. If the model sounds familiar, it's because it is.…

Questions and Answers: The Education of Exceptional Children. Report Number 73.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hensley, Gene; And Others

Written in question and answer form, the booklet provides brief responses to often asked questions by legislators and educators concerning the education of exceptional children. Among the topics covered are state and federal legislation; planning and accountability; finance; administration, classification, and placement; personnel utilization;…

Two Preferences in Question-Answer Sequences in Language Classroom Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hosoda, Yuri; Aline, David

2013-01-01

Discussing two preferences associated with question-answer sequences, this study examines student responses to teacher questions in primary school English-as-a-foreign-language classes. The paper starts out with a reconsideration of institutional context, with a focus on classroom context from a conversation analysis perspective. We then introduce…

From Asking to Answering: Making Questions Explicit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington, Gene

2006-01-01

"From Asking To Answering: Making Questions Explicit" describes a pedagogical procedure the author has used in writing classes (expository, technical and creative) to help students better understand the purpose, and effect, of text-questions. It accomplishes this by means of thirteen discrete categories (e.g., CLAIMS, COMMITMENT, ANAPHORA, or…

It's about the Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bearwald, Ronald R.

2011-01-01

The best coaching partnerships are built on conversation and listening, and they are not built on a coach giving answers to a mentee. Ronald Bearward explains how coaches can use questions to help mentees find answers for themselves. Effective questions lead to greater reflection and solutions that teachers can use now and in the future.

Questions and Answers Regarding the 2009 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) Emissions Guidelines, and State Plan Process for Hospital, Medical, and Infectious Waste Incinerators (HMIWI)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This July 2011 document contains questions and answers on the Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste Incinerators (HMIWI) regulations. The questions cover topics such as state plan requirements, compliance, applicability, operator training, and more.

Answers to the 50 Most Important Questions about Private Mental Health Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forman, Bruce D.; Silverman, Wade H.

Designed for anyone contemplating or presently established in private mental health practice, this book provides the answers to 50 pertinent questions concerning private practice. Questions were culled from a survey of graduate students in psychology, as well as experienced psychotherapists, psychiatrists, social workers, mental health counselors,…

What then do we do about computer security?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Suppona, Roger A.; Mayo, Jackson R.; Davis, Christopher Edward

This report presents the answers that an informal and unfunded group at SNL provided for questions concerning computer security posed by Jim Gosler, Sandia Fellow (00002). The primary purpose of this report is to record our current answers; hopefully those answers will turn out to be answers indeed. The group was formed in November 2010. In November 2010 Jim Gosler, Sandia Fellow, asked several of us several pointed questions about computer security metrics. Never mind that some of the best minds in the field have been trying to crack this nut without success for decades. Jim asked Campbell to leadmore » an informal and unfunded group to answer the questions. With time Jim invited several more Sandians to join in. We met a number of times both with Jim and without him. At Jim's direction we contacted a number of people outside Sandia who Jim thought could help. For example, we interacted with IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center and held a one-day, videoconference workshop with them on the questions.« less

Unit: Minerals and Crystals, First Trial Materials, Inspection Set.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Australian Science Education Project, Toorak, Victoria.

This unit, one of a series being developed for Australian secondary school science courses, consists of a teacher's guide, two student booklets, a test booklet, and a student workbook which also contains answers to questions raised in the student booklets, and a answer sheet containing comments on the answers to the questions in the test booklet.…

Use of Feedback-Oriented Online Exercises to Help Physiology Students Construct Well-Organized Answers to Short-Answer Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carnegie, Jacqueline

2015-01-01

Postsecondary education often requires students to use higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as analysis, evaluation, and creation as they assess situations and apply what they have learned during lecture to the formulation of solutions. Summative assessment of these abilities is often accomplished using short-answer questions (SAQs). Quandary…

So, What Is the Answer? Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Don

2005-01-01

Leaders are barraged daily by teachers, administrators, and students seeking answers to questions ranging from the simplistic to the metaphysical in their complexity. The author is sure leaders wonder at times, "How in the world can I free up enough time to answer them all?" Well, the author states that he hates to break the news, but it is…

Instance-Based Question Answering

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

answer clustering, composition, and scoring. Moreover, with the effort dedicated to improving monolingual system performance, system parameters are...text collections: document type, manual or automatic annotations (if any), and stylistic and notational differences in technical terms. Monolingual ...forum in which cross language retrieval systems and question answering systems are tested for various Eu- ropean languages. The CLEF QA monolingual task

A medical consultation service on Facebook: descriptive analysis of questions answered.

PubMed

Helve, Otto

2014-09-04

Social media is used increasingly by the general public to access health information. However, a lack of models for health information distribution limits the presence of publicly funded services on social media sites. The goal of the study was to present a model for delivering child health information to parents through a social media site. A Facebook site was launched for 11 months based on a question-and-answer service produced by a pediatrician and open to Facebook users over 18 years old. If the answer did not include a further referral to a health care service provider, the question was considered comprehensively answered. The site was funded by a pharmaceutical company, and it included an advertisement of a pharmaceutical product for children's fever and pain. During the study, 768 questions were submitted: an average of 69.8 (SD 31.7) per month. There were 245,533 independent Facebook users on the site, with an average of 727.0 (SD 2280.6) per day. Infections were the most common theme in questions (355/768, 46.2%). Questions were more likely to be comprehensively answered if they were related to infections (279/355, 78.6%) than questions related to non-infectious symptoms (265/423, 64.2%, P=.003). On this site aimed at parents of small children, personalized answers were an effective way of delivering information. The service is likely to have reduced the need for further contacts with a health care service provider in more than half of the cases. The site could serve as a model for publicly funded health information distribution.

Learning Biology through Research Papers: A Stimulus for Question-Asking by High-School Students

PubMed Central

Brill, Gilat; Yarden, Anat

2003-01-01

Question-asking is a basic skill, required for the development of scientific thinking. However, the way in which science lessons are conducted does not usually stimulate question-asking by students. To make students more familiar with the scientific inquiry process, we developed a curriculum in developmental biology based on research papers suitable for high-school students. Since a scientific paper poses a research question, demonstrates the events that led to the answer, and poses new questions, we attempted to examine the effect of studying through research papers on students' ability to pose questions. Students were asked before, during, and after instruction what they found interesting to know about embryonic development. In addition, we monitored students' questions, which were asked orally during the lessons. Questions were scored according to three categories: properties, comparisons, and causal relationships. We found that before learning through research papers, students tend to ask only questions of the properties category. In contrast, students tend to pose questions that reveal a higher level of thinking and uniqueness during or following instruction with research papers. This change was not observed during or following instruction with a textbook. We suggest that learning through research papers may be one way to provide a stimulus for question-asking by high-school students and results in higher thinking levels and uniqueness. PMID:14673492

Comparing Crowdsourcing and Friendsourcing: A Social Media-Based Feasibility Study to Support Alzheimer Disease Caregivers

PubMed Central

Brady, Erin; Wilkerson, David; Yi, Eun-Hye; Karanam, Yamini; Callahan, Christopher M

2017-01-01

Background In the United States, over 15 million informal caregivers provide unpaid care to people with Alzheimer disease (AD). Compared with others in their age group, AD caregivers have higher rates of stress, and medical and psychiatric illnesses. Psychosocial interventions improve the health of caregivers. However, constraints of time, distance, and availability inhibit the use of these services. Newer online technologies, such as social media, online groups, friendsourcing, and crowdsourcing, present alternative methods of delivering support. However, limited work has been done in this area with caregivers. Objective The primary aims of this study were to determine (1) the feasibility of innovating peer support group work delivered through social media with friendsourcing, (2) whether the intervention provides an acceptable method for AD caregivers to obtain support, and (3) whether caregiver outcomes were affected by the intervention. A Facebook app provided support to AD caregivers through collecting friendsourced answers to caregiver questions from participants’ social networks. The study’s secondary aim was to descriptively compare friendsourced answers versus crowdsourced answers. Methods We recruited AD caregivers online to participate in a 6-week-long asynchronous, online, closed group on Facebook, where caregivers received support through moderator prompts, group member interactions, and friendsourced answers to caregiver questions. We surveyed and interviewed participants before and after the online group to assess their needs, views on technology, and experience with the intervention. Caregiver questions were pushed automatically to the participants’ Facebook News Feed, allowing participants’ Facebook friends to see and post answers to the caregiver questions (Friendsourced answers). Of these caregiver questions, 2 were pushed to crowdsource workers through the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform. We descriptively compared characteristics of these crowdsourced answers with the friendsourced answers. Results In total, 6 AD caregivers completed the initial online survey and semistructured telephone interview. Of these, 4 AD caregivers agreed to participate in the online Facebook closed group activity portion of the study. Friendsourcing and crowdsourcing answers to caregiver questions had similar rates of acceptability as rated by content experts: 90% (27/30) and 100% (45/45), respectively. Rates of emotional support and informational support for both groups of answers appeared to trend with the type of support emphasized in the caregiver question (emotional vs informational support question). Friendsourced answers included more shared experiences (20/30, 67%) than did crowdsourced answers (4/45, 9%). Conclusions We found an asynchronous, online, closed group on Facebook to be generally acceptable as a means to deliver support to caregivers of people with AD. This pilot is too small to make judgments on effectiveness; however, results trended toward an improvement in caregivers’ self-efficacy, sense of support, and perceived stress, but these results were not statistically significant. Both friendsourced and crowdsourced answers may be an acceptable way to provide informational and emotional support to caregivers of people with AD. PMID:28396304

Development and Evaluation of Internet-Based Hypermedia Chemistry Tutorials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tissue, Brian M.; Earp, Ronald L.; Yip, Ching-Wan; Anderson, Mark R.

1996-05-01

This progress report describes the development and student use of World-Wide-Web-based prelaboratory exercises in senior-level Instrumental Analysis during the 1995 Fall semester. The laboratory preparation exercises contained hypermedia tutorials and multiple-choice questions that were intended to familiarize the students with the experiments and instrumentation before their laboratory session. The overall goal of our work is to explore ways in which computer and network technology can be applied in education to improve the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of teaching. The course material can be accessed at http://www.chem.vt.edu/chem-ed/4114/Fall1995.html. The students were instructed to read their experimental procedure and to do the relevant laboratory preparation exercise. The individual tutorial documents were primarily text that provided basic theoretical and experimental descriptions of analytical and instrumental methods. The documents included hyperlinks to basic concepts, simple schematics, and color graphics of experimental set-ups or instrumentation. We chose the World-Wide Web (WWW) as the delivery platform for this project because of the ease of developing, distributing, and modifying hypermedia material in a client-server system. The disadvantage of the WWW is that network bandwidth limits the size and sophistication of the hypermedia material. To minimize internet transfer time, the individual documents were kept short and usually contained no more than 3 or 4 inline images. After reading the tutorial the students answered several multiple-choice questions. The figure shows one example of a multiple-choice question and the response page. Clicking on the "Submit answer" button calls a *.cgi file, which contains instructions in the PERL interpretive language, that generates the response page and saves the date, time, and student's answer to a file on the server. Usage and student perception of the on-line material was evaluated from server logs and student surveys. On-time completion of the assignments was 75%, but use of other on-line resources such as a question-and-answer page was minimal. Responses from student surveys indicated that the students had sufficient access to the internet. Approximately half of the students completed the prelaboratory exercises from one of several computers in the laboratory, and half worked from a workplace, university library, or home. Greater than 85% of all student usage from the laboratory computers occurred between 11 am and 4 pm. A mid-semester student survey indicated that the spectroscopy prelabs with three multiple-choice questions were better for increasing conceptual understanding rather than preparing the students for the actual lab work. An end-of-the-semester survey based on the electrochemistry assignments, which consisted of two multiple-choice questions and one clickable-map graphical exercise, produced a slightly higher rating for preparing students for the laboratory work. The differences between the spectroscopy and electrochemistry exercises prevent drawing any real conclusions from these two surveys, however, they do help guide the preparation of the content of future exercises. Next year's materials will contain three multiple-choice questions and one graphics-based exercise. The clickable-map graphics and at least one of the multiple-choice questions will be designed to test an understanding of the experimental procedure and instrument use to better prepare students for the actual laboratory work. Acknowledgment. We would like to thank Professor Gary Long for his assistance with the course, and the NSF for financial support through the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE-9455382) and a CAREER award (CHE-9502460). Literature Cited. Laurillard, D. Rethinking Teaching, a Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology; Routledge: London, 1993. Tissue, B. M.; Earp, R. L.; Yip, C.-W. Chem. Educator 1996, 1(1), S1430-4171(96)01010-2. Only available at http://journals.springer-ny.com/chedr.

A questions-based investigation of consumer mental-health information

PubMed Central

Kart, Joyce Brothers

2015-01-01

Despite the wealth of mental-health information available online to consumers, research has shown that the mental-health information needs of consumers are not being met. This study contributes to that research by soliciting consumer questions directly, categorizing them, analyzing their form, and assessing the extent to which they can be answered from a trusted and vetted source of online information, namely the website of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). As an alternative to surveys and analyses of online activity, this study shows how consumer questions provide new insight into what consumers do not know and how they express their information needs. The study crowdsourced 100 consumer questions through Amazon Inc.’s Mechanical Turk. Categorization of the questions shows broad agreement with earlier studies in terms of the content of consumer questions. It also suggests that consumers’ grasp of mental health issues may be low compared to other health topics. The majority of the questions (74%) were simple in form, with the remainder being multi-part, multifaceted or narrative. Even simple-form questions could, however, have complex interpretations. Fifty four questions were submitted to the search box at the NIMH website. For 32 questions, no answer could be found in the top one to three documents returned. Inadequacies in the search and retrieval technology deployed at websites account for some of the failure to find answers. The nature of consumer questions in mental health also plays a role. A question that has a false presupposition is less likely to have an answer in trusted and vetted sources of information. Consumer questions are also expressed with a degree of specificity that makes the retrieval of relevant information difficult. The significance of this study is that it shows what an analysis of consumer mental-health questions can tell us about consumer information needs and it provides new insight into the difficulties facing consumers looking for answers to their questions in online resources. PMID:25870768

A questions-based investigation of consumer mental-health information.

PubMed

Crangle, Colleen E; Kart, Joyce Brothers

2015-01-01

Despite the wealth of mental-health information available online to consumers, research has shown that the mental-health information needs of consumers are not being met. This study contributes to that research by soliciting consumer questions directly, categorizing them, analyzing their form, and assessing the extent to which they can be answered from a trusted and vetted source of online information, namely the website of the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). As an alternative to surveys and analyses of online activity, this study shows how consumer questions provide new insight into what consumers do not know and how they express their information needs. The study crowdsourced 100 consumer questions through Amazon Inc.'s Mechanical Turk. Categorization of the questions shows broad agreement with earlier studies in terms of the content of consumer questions. It also suggests that consumers' grasp of mental health issues may be low compared to other health topics. The majority of the questions (74%) were simple in form, with the remainder being multi-part, multifaceted or narrative. Even simple-form questions could, however, have complex interpretations. Fifty four questions were submitted to the search box at the NIMH website. For 32 questions, no answer could be found in the top one to three documents returned. Inadequacies in the search and retrieval technology deployed at websites account for some of the failure to find answers. The nature of consumer questions in mental health also plays a role. A question that has a false presupposition is less likely to have an answer in trusted and vetted sources of information. Consumer questions are also expressed with a degree of specificity that makes the retrieval of relevant information difficult. The significance of this study is that it shows what an analysis of consumer mental-health questions can tell us about consumer information needs and it provides new insight into the difficulties facing consumers looking for answers to their questions in online resources.

Understanding the essentials of economic evaluation.

PubMed

Schmid, G P

1995-01-01

Economic evaluation (EE) answers the following simple question: "From which course of action do we get the most value for our money?" We ask this question because resources are always limited, i.e., we never have enough money to do all the things we would like to do. Three types of economic evaluations are used: cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis, and cost-benefit analysis. Although all involve a monetary and outcome comparison of two or more courses of action, the methodologies and outcomes of each type vary, making each one particularly suited for specific and different indications. Although the performance of an EE may be complex, its concept is intuitively simple. Understanding the basic elements of economic analysis is more and more important to all health-care providers because health-care policy makers at all levels are increasingly using EE for allocating resources.

Non-abelian anyons and topological quantum information processing in 1D wire networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alicea, Jason

2012-02-01

Topological quantum computation provides an elegant solution to decoherence, circumventing this infamous problem at the hardware level. The most basic requirement in this approach is the ability to stabilize and manipulate particles exhibiting non-Abelian exchange statistics -- Majorana fermions being the simplest example. Curiously, Majorana fermions have been predicted to arise both in 2D systems, where non-Abelian statistics is well established, and in 1D, where exchange statistics of any type is ill-defined. An important question then arises: do Majorana fermions in 1D hold the same technological promise as their 2D counterparts? In this talk I will answer this question in the affirmative, describing how one can indeed manipulate and harness the non-Abelian statistics of Majoranas in a remarkably simple fashion using networks formed by quantum wires or topological insulator edges.

Perspectives from the Avian Phylogenomics Project: Questions that Can Be Answered with Sequencing All Genomes of a Vertebrate Class.

PubMed

Jarvis, Erich D

2016-01-01

The rapid pace of advances in genome technology, with concomitant reductions in cost, makes it feasible that one day in our lifetime we will have available extant genomes of entire classes of species, including vertebrates. I recently helped cocoordinate the large-scale Avian Phylogenomics Project, which collected and sequenced genomes of 48 bird species representing most currently classified orders to address a range of questions in phylogenomics and comparative genomics. The consortium was able to answer questions not previously possible with just a few genomes. This success spurred on the creation of a project to sequence the genomes of at least one individual of all extant ∼10,500 bird species. The initiation of this project has led us to consider what questions now impossible to answer could be answered with all genomes, and could drive new questions now unimaginable. These include the generation of a highly resolved family tree of extant species, genome-wide association studies across species to identify genetic substrates of many complex traits, redefinition of species and the species concept, reconstruction of the genomes of common ancestors, and generation of new computational tools to address these questions. Here I present visions for the future by posing and answering questions regarding what scientists could potentially do with available genomes of an entire vertebrate class.

Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue

MedlinePlus

... skin. Epidermolysis bullosa affects the skin, causing blisters. Marfan syndrome can affect the heart, blood vessels, lungs, eyes, ... Disorders of Connective Tissue, Questions and Answers about Marfan Syndrome, Questions and Answers about Marfan Syndrome, Easy-to- ...

American Iron and Steel Requirement - Guidance and Questions and Answers

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Explanation of the P.L. 113-76, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 its implementation for the American Iron and Steel (AIS) requirement and other questions and answers in regards to AIS requirements

[How are the hypothesis and the objectives established in a Radiology research project?].

PubMed

Alústiza Echeverría, J M; Salvador Pardo, E; Castiella Eguzkiza, A

2012-01-01

Research is a systematic process designed to answer a question. This is the starting point of the whole project and specifically formulates a problem observed in the analysis of the reality. The answer to this attempts to clarify an uncertainty in our knowledge. The conceptual hypothesis is the theoretical answer to the question set out. The operational hypothesis is the particular form that which sets out to demonstrate the conceptual hypothesis. The objectives are the justification for conducting the research. They help to define what it attempts to obtain, and what answers it will give to the formulated questions. It must show a clear and consistent relationship with the description of the problem and, specifically, with the questions and/or hypothesis that are to be resolved. Copyright © 2011 SERAM. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Applying translabial ultrasound to detect synthetic slings-You can do it too! A comparison of urology trainees to an attending radiologist.

PubMed

Shen, Jim K; Faaborg, Daniel; Rouse, Glenn; Kelly, Isaac; Li, Roger; Alsyouf, Muhannad; Myklak, Kristene; Distelberg, Brian; Staack, Andrea

2017-09-01

Translabial ultrasound (TUS) is a useful tool for identifying and assessing synthetic slings. This study evaluates the ability of urology trainees to learn basic pelvic anatomy and sling assessment on TUS. Eight urology trainees (six residents and two medical students) received a lecture reviewing basic anatomy and sling assessment on TUS followed by review of two training cases. Next, they underwent a 126-question examination assessing their ability to identify anatomic planes and structures in those planes, identify the presence of slings, and assess the location and intactness of a sling. The correct response rate was compared to that of an attending radiologist experienced in reading TUS. Non-parametric tests (Fisher's exact, chi-squared tests, and Yates correction) were used for statistical analysis, with P < 0.05 considered significant. 847/1008 (84.0%) of questions were answered correctly by eight trainees compared to 119/126 (94.4%) by the radiologist (P = 0.001). The trainees' correct response rates and Fisher's exact test P values associated with the difference in correct answers between radiologist and trainee were as follows: identification of anatomic plane (94.4%; P = 0.599), identification of structure in sagittal view (80.6%; P = 0.201), identification of structure in transverse view (88.2%; P = 0.696), presence of synthetic sling (95.8%; P = 1.000), location of sling along the urethra in (71.5%; P = 0.403), intactness of sling (82.6%; P = 0.311), and laterality of sling disruption (75.0%; P = 0.076). Urology trainees can quickly learn to identify anatomic landmarks and assess slings on TUS with reasonable proficiency compared to an experienced attending radiologist. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Lake Representations in Global Climate Models: An End-User Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rood, R. B.; Briley, L.; Steiner, A.; Wells, K.

2017-12-01

The weather and climate in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada are strongly influenced by the lakes. Within global climate models, lakes are incorporated in many ways. If one is interested in quantitative climate information for the Great Lakes, then it is a first principle requirement that end-users of climate model simulation data, whether scientists or practitioners, need to know if and how lakes are incorporated into models. We pose the basic question, how are lakes represented in CMIP models? Despite significant efforts by the climate community to document and publish basic information about climate models, it is unclear how to answer the question about lake representations? With significant knowledge of the practice of the field, then a reasonable starting point is to use the ES-DOC Comparator (https://compare.es-doc.org/ ). Once at this interface to model information, the end-user is faced with the need for more knowledge about the practice and culture of the discipline. For example, lakes are often categorized as a type of land, a counterintuitive concept. In some models, though, lakes are specified in ocean models. There is little evidence and little confidence that the information obtained through this process is complete or accurate. In fact, it is verifiably not accurate. This experience, then, motivates identifying and finding either human experts or technical documentation for each model. The conclusion from this exercise is that it can take months or longer to provide a defensible answer to if and how lakes are represented in climate models. Our experience with lake finding is that this is not a unique experience. This talk documents our experience and explores barriers we have identified and strategies for reducing those barriers.

Results achieved by emergency physicians in teaching basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation to secondary school students.

PubMed

Jiménez-Fábrega, Xavier; Escalada-Roig, Xavier; Sánchez, Miquel; Culla, Alexandre; Díaz, Núria; Gómez, Xavier; Villena, Olga; Rodríguez, Esther; Gaspar, Alberto; Molina, José Emilio; Salvador, Jordi; Miró, Oscar

2009-06-01

We investigated the results obtained with a basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (b-CPR) program (PROCES) specifically designed for secondary school students (14-16 years old) and taught by emergency physicians. We used a multiple-choice test with 20 questions (10 on theory and 10 on skills) answered before and immediately after and 1 year after receiving the b-CPR course. Satisfactory learning was considered when at least 8 out of 10 skill questions were correctly answered. We investigated student variables associated with better immediate and deferred (1 year after) PROCES performance. We compared the results with those obtained using a more standardized program to teach b-CPR to police cadets. We enrolled 600 high school students. PROCES achieved significant improvement in overall, theory and skill marks immediately after the course (P<0.001), with a significant decay in all of them 1 year after the course (P<0.001). Satisfactory learning was achieved by 57% of school students immediately after PROCES and by 37% when assessed 1 year later. Students without pending study subjects (P=0.001) and those from private schools (P<0.01) achieved significantly better performance immediately after PROCES and only female students achieved greater performance 1 year after the course (P<0.05). With respect to police cadets instructed through a standardized course, immediate satisfactory learning of school students was lower (79 vs. 57%, respectively; P<0.001), whereas deferred satisfactory learning was higher (23 vs. 37%, respectively; P<0.05). Emergency physicians can satisfactorily instruct secondary school students in b-CPR using PROCES, and this specific program achieves a reasonable amount of satisfactory learning.

An Introduction to Markov Modeling: Concepts and Uses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyd, Mark A.; Lau, Sonie (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

Kharkov modeling is a modeling technique that is widely useful for dependability analysis of complex fault tolerant systems. It is very flexible in the type of systems and system behavior it can model. It is not, however, the most appropriate modeling technique for every modeling situation. The first task in obtaining a reliability or availability estimate for a system is selecting which modeling technique is most appropriate to the situation at hand. A person performing a dependability analysis must confront the question: is Kharkov modeling most appropriate to the system under consideration, or should another technique be used instead? The need to answer this gives rise to other more basic questions regarding Kharkov modeling: what are the capabilities and limitations of Kharkov modeling as a modeling technique? How does it relate to other modeling techniques? What kind of system behavior can it model? What kinds of software tools are available for performing dependability analyses with Kharkov modeling techniques? These questions and others will be addressed in this tutorial.

Student-Posed Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harper, Kathleen A.; Etkina, Eugenia

2002-10-01

As part of weekly reports,1 structured journals in which students answer three standard questions each week, they respond to the prompt, If I were the instructor, what questions would I ask or problems assign to determine if my students understood the material? An initial analysis of the results shows that some student-generated problems indicate fundamental misunderstandings of basic physical concepts. A further investigation explores the relevance of the problems to the week's material, whether the problems are solvable, and the type of problems (conceptual or calculation-based) written. Also, possible links between various characteristics of the problems and conceptual achievement are being explored. The results of this study spark many more questions for further work. A summary of current findings will be presented, along with its relationship to previous work concerning problem posing.2 1Etkina, E. Weekly Reports;A Two-Way Feedback Tool, Science Education, 84, 594-605 (2000). 2Mestre, J.P., Probing Adults Conceptual Understanding and Transfer of Learning Via Problem Posing, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 23, 9-50 (2002).

An online network tool for quality information to answer questions about occupational safety and health: usability and applicability.

PubMed

Rhebergen, Martijn D F; Hulshof, Carel T J; Lenderink, Annet F; van Dijk, Frank J H

2010-10-22

Common information facilities do not always provide the quality information needed to answer questions on health or health-related issues, such as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) matters. Barriers may be the accessibility, quantity and readability of information. Online Question & Answer (Q&A) network tools, which link questioners directly to experts can overcome some of these barriers. When designing and testing online tools, assessing the usability and applicability is essential. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the usability and applicability of a new online Q&A network tool for answers on OSH questions. We applied a cross-sectional usability test design. Eight occupational health experts and twelve potential questioners from the working population (workers) were purposively selected to include a variety of computer- and internet-experiences. During the test, participants were first observed while executing eight tasks that entailed important features of the tool. In addition, they were interviewed. Through task observations and interviews we assessed applicability, usability (effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction) and facilitators and barriers in use. Most features were usable, though several could be improved. Most tasks were executed effectively. Some tasks, for example searching stored questions in categories, were not executed efficiently and participants were less satisfied with the corresponding features. Participants' recommendations led to improvements. The tool was found mostly applicable for additional information, to observe new OSH trends and to improve contact between OSH experts and workers. Hosting and support by a trustworthy professional organization, effective implementation campaigns, timely answering and anonymity were seen as important use requirements. This network tool is a promising new strategy for offering company workers high quality information to answer OSH questions. Q&A network tools can be an addition to existing information facilities in the field of OSH, but also to other healthcare fields struggling with how to answer questions from people in practice with high quality information. In the near future, we will focus on the use of the tool and its effects on information and knowledge dissemination.

Supporting Mediated Peer-Evaluation to Grade Answers to Open-Ended Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Marsico, Maria; Sciarrone, Filippo; Sterbini, Andrea; Temperini, Marco

2017-01-01

We show an approach to semi-automatic grading of answers given by students to open ended questions (open answers). We use both peer-evaluation and teacher evaluation. A learner is modeled by her Knowledge and her assessments quality (Judgment). The data generated by the peer- and teacher-evaluations, and by the learner models is represented by a…

The Answering System to Yes-No Truth-Functional Questions in Korean-English Bilingual Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Choi, Hansook

2014-01-01

This study presents an experiment that explores the patterns of answers to yes-no truth-functional questions in English and Korean. The answering patterns are examined from 12 Korean-English bilingual children and 10 Korean-monolingual children. Four types of sentences in relation to given situations (Wason in "Br J Psychol" 52:133-142,…

Questions & Answers about Aeronautics and Space.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC.

Answers to 27 questions about aeronautics, space, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are provided in this pamphlet. Among the topics dealt with in these questions are: costs of the space program; NASA's role in aeronautics; benefits received from the space program; why the United States hasn't developed means of rescuing…

29 CFR 2509.75-5 - Questions and answers relating to fiduciary responsibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... 2509.75-5 Section 2509.75-5 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SECURITY... SECURITY ACT OF 1974 § 2509.75-5 Questions and answers relating to fiduciary responsibility. On June 25, 1975, the Department of Labor issued an interpretive bulletin, ERISA IB 75-5, containing questions and...

Written Justifications to Multiple-Choice Concept Questions during Active Learning in Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koretsky, Milo D.; Brooks, Bill J.; Higgins, Adam Z.

2016-01-01

Increasingly, instructors of large, introductory STEM courses are having students actively engage during class by answering multiple-choice concept questions individually and in groups. This study investigates the use of a technology-based tool that allows students to answer such questions during class. The tool also allows the instructor to…

Memetic Algorithms, Domain Knowledge, and Financial Investing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Du, Jie

2012-01-01

While the question of how to use human knowledge to guide evolutionary search is long-recognized, much remains to be done to answer this question adequately. This dissertation aims to further answer this question by exploring the role of domain knowledge in evolutionary computation as applied to real-world, complex problems, such as financial…

When Less Is More: Prioritizing Open Access

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mullin, Christopher M.

2017-01-01

In policy circles, the first question of the year often relates to college enrollment. Most common is the question: "Are you up or down in enrollment?" More often than not, the enrollment question may be answered in terms of full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment. While the answer does have programmatic implications, the initial interest…

Questions and Answers: EPA's Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment and Supplemental Guidance from Assessing Susceptibility from Early-Life Exposure to Carcinogens

EPA Science Inventory

Questions and Answers

The following questions ...

Let's Switch Questioning Around

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tovani, Cris

2015-01-01

English teacher Cris Tovani knows from her experiences teaching elementary school that students are naturally curious. But, too often, students are so trained to be question answerers that by the time they reach high school, they no longer form questions of their own and instead focus on trying to figure out what answer the teacher wants. Tovani…

Questions Often Asked about Special Education Services = Preguntas sobre los servicios de educacion especial.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kupper, Lisa, Ed.

This guide, available in both English and Spanish, answers questions often asked by parents about special education services. Questions and answers address the following topics: where to begin if a parent believes a child needs special education services, services available to very young children, the evaluation process, the Individualized…

What Is Green?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pokrandt, Rachel

2010-01-01

Green is a question with varying answers and sometimes no answer at all. It is a question of location, resources, people, environment, and money. As green really has no end point, a teacher's goal should be to teach students to question and consider green. In this article, the author provides several useful metrics to help technology teachers…

Providing Adequate Interactions in Online Discussion Forums Using Few Teaching Assistants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chih-Kai; Chen, Gwo-Dong; Hsu, Ching-Kun

2011-01-01

In order to encourage students to participate in online learning forums, prompt responses to their questions are essential. To answer students' online questions, teaching assistants are assigned to manage discussions and answer questions in online learning forums. To minimize the response time, many teaching assistants may be needed to interact…

Area Source Boiler National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP), 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart JJJJJJ: Questions and Answers

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This October 2016 question and answer (Q&A) document is in response to a number of questions the EPA has received from delegated state and local agencies and the regulated community regarding the NESHAP for Area source boilers. Document updates 4/2014 PDF.

Records--The Achilles' Heel of School Nursing: Answers to Bothersome Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwab, Nadine C.; Pohlman, Katherine J.

2004-01-01

This article addresses practice issues related to school health records and school nursing documentation. Because the issues have been posed by practicing school nurses, the article is in Question and Answer (Q&A) format. Specifically, the questions addressed concern the following: ownership and storage location of student health records when…

32 CFR 705.6 - Releasing public information material to the media.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... for questions without specific subject matter in mind, but the press should be clearly informed of the... should be present. (iv) Official spokesmen will be prepared to answer questions in a frank and candid... questions in advance. If this is considered advisable, as in cases where highly technical answers may be...

32 CFR 705.6 - Releasing public information material to the media.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... for questions without specific subject matter in mind, but the press should be clearly informed of the... should be present. (iv) Official spokesmen will be prepared to answer questions in a frank and candid... questions in advance. If this is considered advisable, as in cases where highly technical answers may be...

Express Authorization Questions and Answers about What is Generally the Content of a Program Revision Application?

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Frequently asked questions about express authorization with answers organized into five categories: attorney general's statement, statutory checklist, rule checklists, program description, and state initiated regulatory changes.

Questions and Answers About SNAP Alternatives in Each Sector

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The following list of questions and answers provides an overview of the regulations governing the use of substitutes that are reviewed under the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program in various industrial sectors.

Olympics: Questions & Answers on the Major Events.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibbon, Alan

This book presents background information on the major Olympic events with a question-answer format. Events considered include track and field, swimming, diving, boxing, weightlifting, the equestrian events, and gymnastics. Line drawings illustrate the text. (MM)

Using mixed methods to identify and answer clinically relevant research questions.

PubMed

Shneerson, Catherine L; Gale, Nicola K

2015-06-01

The need for mixed methods research in answering health care questions is becoming increasingly recognized because of the complexity of factors that affect health outcomes. In this article, we argue for the value of using a qualitatively driven mixed method approach for identifying and answering clinically relevant research questions. This argument is illustrated by findings from a study on the self-management practices of cancer survivors and the exploration of one particular clinically relevant finding about higher uptake of self-management in cancer survivors who had received chemotherapy treatment compared with those who have not. A cross-sectional study generated findings that formed the basis for the qualitative study, by informing the purposive sampling strategy and generating new qualitative research questions. Using a quantitative research component to supplement a qualitative study can enhance the generalizability and clinical relevance of the findings and produce detailed, contextualized, and rich answers to research questions that would be unachievable through quantitative or qualitative methods alone. © The Author(s) 2015.

An Expert-System Engine With Operative Probabilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orlando, N. E.; Palmer, M. T.; Wallace, R. S.

1986-01-01

Program enables proof-of-concepts tests of expert systems under development. AESOP is rule-based inference engine for expert system, which makes decisions about particular situation given user-supplied hypotheses, rules, and answers to questions drawn from rules. If knowledge base containing hypotheses and rules governing environment is available to AESOP, almost any situation within that environment resolved by answering questions asked by AESOP. Questions answered with YES, NO, MAYBE, DON'T KNOW, DON'T CARE, or with probability factor ranging from 0 to 10. AESOP written in Franz LISP for interactive execution.

Is that your final answer? Relationship of changed answers to overall performance on a computer-based medical school course examination.

PubMed

Ferguson, Kristi J; Kreiter, Clarence D; Peterson, Michael W; Rowat, Jane A; Elliott, Scott T

2002-01-01

Whether examinees benefit from the opportunity to change answers to examination questions has been discussed widely. This study was undertaken to document the impact of answer changing on exam performance on a computer-based course examination in a second-year medical school course. This study analyzed data from a 2 hour, 80-item computer delivered multiple-choice exam administered to 190 students (166 second-year medical students and 24 physician's assistant students). There was a small but significant net improvement in overall score when answers were changed: one student's score increased by 7 points, 93 increased by 1 to 4 points, and 38 decreased by 1 to 3 points. On average, lower-performing students benefited slightly less than higher-performing students. Students spent more time on questions for which they changed the answers and were more likely to change items that were more difficult. Students should not be discouraged from changing answers, especially to difficult questions that require careful consideration, although the net effect is quite small.

Scientific Networks on Data Landscapes: Question Difficulty, Epistemic Success, and Convergence

PubMed Central

Grim, Patrick; Singer, Daniel J.; Fisher, Steven; Bramson, Aaron; Berger, William J.; Reade, Christopher; Flocken, Carissa; Sales, Adam

2014-01-01

A scientific community can be modeled as a collection of epistemic agents attempting to answer questions, in part by communicating about their hypotheses and results. We can treat the pathways of scientific communication as a network. When we do, it becomes clear that the interaction between the structure of the network and the nature of the question under investigation affects epistemic desiderata, including accuracy and speed to community consensus. Here we build on previous work, both our own and others’, in order to get a firmer grasp on precisely which features of scientific communities interact with which features of scientific questions in order to influence epistemic outcomes. Here we introduce a measure on the landscape meant to capture some aspects of the difficulty of answering an empirical question. We then investigate both how different communication networks affect whether the community finds the best answer and the time it takes for the community to reach consensus on an answer. We measure these two epistemic desiderata on a continuum of networks sampled from the Watts-Strogatz spectrum. It turns out that finding the best answer and reaching consensus exhibit radically different patterns. The time it takes for a community to reach a consensus in these models roughly tracks mean path length in the network. Whether a scientific community finds the best answer, on the other hand, tracks neither mean path length nor clustering coefficient. PMID:24683416

Scientific Networks on Data Landscapes: Question Difficulty, Epistemic Success, and Convergence.

PubMed

Grim, Patrick; Singer, Daniel J; Fisher, Steven; Bramson, Aaron; Berger, William J; Reade, Christopher; Flocken, Carissa; Sales, Adam

2013-12-01

A scientific community can be modeled as a collection of epistemic agents attempting to answer questions, in part by communicating about their hypotheses and results. We can treat the pathways of scientific communication as a network. When we do, it becomes clear that the interaction between the structure of the network and the nature of the question under investigation affects epistemic desiderata, including accuracy and speed to community consensus. Here we build on previous work, both our own and others', in order to get a firmer grasp on precisely which features of scientific communities interact with which features of scientific questions in order to influence epistemic outcomes. Here we introduce a measure on the landscape meant to capture some aspects of the difficulty of answering an empirical question. We then investigate both how different communication networks affect whether the community finds the best answer and the time it takes for the community to reach consensus on an answer. We measure these two epistemic desiderata on a continuum of networks sampled from the Watts-Strogatz spectrum. It turns out that finding the best answer and reaching consensus exhibit radically different patterns. The time it takes for a community to reach a consensus in these models roughly tracks mean path length in the network. Whether a scientific community finds the best answer, on the other hand, tracks neither mean path length nor clustering coefficient.

Better Living Through Metadata: Examining Archive Usage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becker, G.; Winkelman, S.; Rots, A.

2013-10-01

The primary purpose of an observatory's archive is to provide access to the data through various interfaces. User interactions with the archive are recorded in server logs, which can be used to answer basic questions like: Who has downloaded dataset X? When did she do this? Which tools did she use? The answers to questions like these fill in patterns of data access (e.g., how many times dataset X has been downloaded in the past three years). Analysis of server logs provides metrics of archive usage and provides feedback on interface use which can be used to guide future interface development. The Chandra X-ray Observatory is fortunate in that a database to track data access and downloads has been continuously recording such transactions for years; however, it is overdue for an update. We will detail changes we hope to effect and the differences the changes may make to our usage metadata picture. We plan to gather more information about the geographic location of users without compromising privacy; create improved archive statistics; and track and assess the impact of web “crawlers” and other scripted access methods on the archive. With the improvements to our download tracking we hope to gain a better understanding of the dissemination of Chandra's data; how effectively it is being done; and perhaps discover ideas for new services.

Physician knowledge of and attitudes toward the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

PubMed

Rocke, Daniel J; Thomas, Steven; Puscas, Liana; Lee, Walter T

2014-02-01

To assess otolaryngology physician knowledge of and attitudes toward the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and compare the association of bias toward the PPACA with knowledge of the provisions of the PPACA. Cross-sectional survey. Nationwide assessment. Members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. Otolaryngology physicians answered 10 true/false questions about major provisions of the PPACA. They also indicated their level of agreement with 9 statements about health care and the PPACA. Basic demographic information was collected. Email solicitation was sent to 9972 otolaryngologists and 647 responses were obtained (6.5% response rate). Overall correct response rate was 74%. Fewer than 60% of physicians correctly answered questions on whether small businesses receive tax credits for providing health insurance, the effect of the PPACA on Medicare benefits, and whether a government-run health insurance plan was created. Academic center practice setting, bias toward the PPACA, and Democratic Party affiliation were associated with significantly more correct responses. Overall physician knowledge of the PPACA is assessed as fair, although better than the general public in 2010. There are several areas where knowledge of physicians regarding the PPACA is poor, and this knowledge deficit is more pronounced within certain subgroups. These knowledge issues should be addressed by individual physicians and medical societies.

A Medical Consultation Service on Facebook: Descriptive Analysis of Questions Answered

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Social media is used increasingly by the general public to access health information. However, a lack of models for health information distribution limits the presence of publicly funded services on social media sites. Objective The goal of the study was to present a model for delivering child health information to parents through a social media site. Methods A Facebook site was launched for 11 months based on a question-and-answer service produced by a pediatrician and open to Facebook users over 18 years old. If the answer did not include a further referral to a health care service provider, the question was considered comprehensively answered. The site was funded by a pharmaceutical company, and it included an advertisement of a pharmaceutical product for children’s fever and pain. Results During the study, 768 questions were submitted: an average of 69.8 (SD 31.7) per month. There were 245,533 independent Facebook users on the site, with an average of 727.0 (SD 2280.6) per day. Infections were the most common theme in questions (355/768, 46.2%). Questions were more likely to be comprehensively answered if they were related to infections (279/355, 78.6%) than questions related to non-infectious symptoms (265/423, 64.2%, P=.003). Conclusions On this site aimed at parents of small children, personalized answers were an effective way of delivering information. The service is likely to have reduced the need for further contacts with a health care service provider in more than half of the cases. The site could serve as a model for publicly funded health information distribution. PMID:25189182

Inorganic chemical analysis of environmental materials—A lecture series

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crock, J.G.; Lamothe, P.J.

2011-01-01

At the request of the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, the authors prepared and presented a lecture series to the students of a graduate level advanced instrumental analysis class. The slides and text presented in this report are a compilation and condensation of this series of lectures. The purpose of this report is to present the slides and notes and to emphasize the thought processes that should be used by a scientist submitting samples for analyses in order to procure analytical data to answer a research question. First and foremost, the analytical data generated can be no better than the samples submitted. The questions to be answered must first be well defined and the appropriate samples collected from the population that will answer the question. The proper methods of analysis, including proper sample preparation and digestion techniques, must then be applied. Care must be taken to achieve the required limits of detection of the critical analytes to yield detectable analyte concentration (above "action" levels) for the majority of the study's samples and to address what portion of those analytes answer the research question-total or partial concentrations. To guarantee a robust analytical result that answers the research question(s), a well-defined quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) plan must be employed. This QA/QC plan must include the collection and analysis of field and laboratory blanks, sample duplicates, and matrix-matched standard reference materials (SRMs). The proper SRMs may include in-house materials and/or a selection of widely available commercial materials. A discussion of the preparation and applicability of in-house reference materials is also presented. Only when all these analytical issues are sufficiently addressed can the research questions be answered with known certainty.

Diabetes mellitus treatment-Related medical knowledge among health care providers.

PubMed

Shahla, Leena; Vasudev, Rahul; Chitturi, Chandrika; Rodriguez, Cindy; Paul, Namrata

To compare the knowledge of physicians, residents and medical students in diagnosis, use of insulin and oral medication in management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) working in different healthcare specialties. A cross sectional survey of faculty, residents and medical students of different subspecialties in a single center was conducted. Questionnaire consisting of 20 questions was used. These questions were designed to assess knowledge about diagnosis, nomenclature of different insulin/oral medications and management of DM. There were 4 answers to every question with only one correct answer based on ADA guidelines and most recent literature. The overall percentage correctly answered questions was ∼74% for IM faculty, 64% for EM faculty, 71% for IM residents, 60% for FM residents, 56% for EM residents and 59% for students. Questions based on knowledge of insulin nomenclature and characteristics were answered correctly 74% of the time by IM faculty, 62% by EM faculty, 66% by IM residents, 69% by FM residents, 45% by EM residents and 49% by medical students. Questions on the use of insulin and inpatient DM management were answered correctly 66% for IM faculty, 54% for EM faculty, 66% for IM residents, 46% for FM residents, 55% for EM Residents, and 44% medical students. Questions based on oral medications and DM diagnosis were answered correctly by 81% for IM faculty, 73% for EM faculty, 78% for IM Resident, 76% FM Resident, 64% for EM residents and 79% for students. This study demonstrates the need for focused educational initiatives required in all subspecialties involved in management of diabetes mellitus for safe and efficient management of diabetes mellitus. Copyright © 2016 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Use of a simulation laboratory to train radiology residents in the management of acute radiologic emergencies.

PubMed

Sarwani, Nabeel; Tappouni, Rafel; Flemming, Donald

2012-08-01

Simulation laboratories use realistic clinical scenarios to train physicians in a controlled environment, especially in potentially life-threatening complications that require prompt management. The objective of our study was to develop a comprehensive program using the simulation laboratory to train radiology residents in the management of acute radiologic emergencies. All radiology residents attended a dedicated simulation laboratory course lasting 3 hours, divided over two sessions. Training included basic patient management skills, management of a tension pneumothorax, massive hemorrhage, and contrast agent reactions. Participants were presented with 20 multiple-choice questions before and after the course. Pre- and posttest results were analyzed, and the McNemar test was used to compare correct responses by individual question. Twenty-six radiology residents attended the class. The average pre- and posttest scores and the average difference between the scores for all residents were 13.8, 17.1, and 3.3, respectively (p < 0.0001). Incorrect answers on the pretest examination that were subsequently answered correctly concerned administration of epinephrine for severe reactions, management of a tension pneumothorax, oxygen therapy, ECG placement, cardiopulmonary resuscitation technique, and where to stand during a code situation. Persistent incorrect answers concerned vasovagal reactions and emergency telephone numbers at an off-site imaging center. Simulation laboratories can be used to teach crisis management and crisis resource management for radiology residents and should be part of the education toolbox. Defined objectives lead to a comprehensive course dealing with the management of acute radiologic emergencies. Such programs can improve the role of radiologists as members of the health care team.

The Relative Effectiveness of Expository Methods of Teaching Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babikian, Elijah

1973-01-01

Two methods of instruction (question-answer and question-incomplete-answer) are utilized in teaching a unit on thermal energy. Effectiveness, as measured by a posttest, confirmed significant differences in the two modes of instruction. (DF)

Science Matters Podcast: Questions and Answers with EPA's Dr. Peter Grevatt

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Listen to a podcast with Dr. Peter Grevatt, the director of EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection, as he answers questions about children's health, or read some of the highlights from the conversation here.

[Clinical practice guide for the management of low cardiac output syndrome in the postoperative period of heart surgery].

PubMed

Pérez Vela, J L; Martín Benítez, J C; Carrasco González, M; de la Cal López, M A; Hinojosa Pérez, R; Sagredo Meneses, V; del Nogal Saez, F

2012-05-01

The low cardiac output syndrome is a potential complication in cardiac surgery patients and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. This guide is to provide recommendations for the management of these patients, immediately after surgery, admitted to the ICU. The recommendations are grouped into different sections, trying to answer from the most basic concepts such as the definition to the different sections of basic and advanced monitoring and ending with the complex management of this syndrome. We propose an algorithm for initial management, as well as two other for ventricular failure (predominantly left or right). Most of the recommendations are based on expert consensus because of the lack of randomized trials of adequate design and sample size in this group of patients. The quality of evidence and strength of the recommendations were made following the GRADE methodology. The guide is presented as a list of recommendations (and level of evidence for each recommendation) for each question on the selected topic. Then for each question, we proceed to the justification of the recommendations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier España, S.L. y SEMICYUC. All rights reserved.

Exploring Actinobacteria assemblages in coastal marine sediments under contrasted Human influences in the West Istria Sea, Croatia.

PubMed

Duran, Robert; Bielen, Ana; Paradžik, Tina; Gassie, Claire; Pustijanac, Emina; Cagnon, Christine; Hamer, Bojan; Vujaklija, Dušica

2015-10-01

The exploration of marine Actinobacteria has as major challenge to answer basic questions of microbial ecology that, in turn, will provide useful information to exploit Actinobacteria metabolisms in biotechnological processes. The ecological functions performed by Actinobacteria in marine sediments are still unclear and belongs to the most burning basic questions. The comparison of Actinobacteria communities inhabiting marine sediments that are under the influence of different contamination types will provide valuable information in the adaptation capacities of Actinobacteria to colonize specific ecological niche. In the present study, the characterization of different Actinobacteria assemblages according to contamination type revealed the ecological importance of Actinobacteria for maintaining both general biogeochemical functions through a "core" Actinobacteria community and specific roles associated with the presence of contaminants. Indeed, the results allowed to distinguish Actinobacteria genera and species operational taxonomic units (OTUs) able to cope with the presence of either (i) As, (ii) metals Ni, Fe, V, Cr, and Mn, or (iii) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and toxic metals (Hg, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn). Such observations highlighted the metabolic capacities of Actinobacteria and their potential that should be taken into consideration and advantage during the implementation of bioremediation processes in marine ecosystems.

When pretesting fails to enhance learning concepts from reading texts.

PubMed

Hausman, Hannah; Rhodes, Matthew G

2018-05-03

Prior research suggests that people can learn more from reading a text when they attempt to answer pretest questions first. Specifically, pretests on factual information explicitly stated in a text increases the likelihood that participants can answer identical questions after reading than if they had not answered pretest questions. Yet, a central goal of education is to develop deep conceptual understanding. The present experiments investigated whether conceptual pretests facilitate learning concepts from reading texts. In Experiment 1, participants were given factual or conceptual pretest questions; a control group was not given a pretest. Participants then read a passage and took a final test consisting of both factual and conceptual questions. Some of the final test questions were repeated from the pretest and some were new. Although factual pretesting improved learning for identical factual questions, conceptual pretesting did not enhance conceptual learning. Conceptual pretest errors were significantly more likely to be repeated on the final test than factual pretest errors. Providing correct answers (Experiment 2) or correct/incorrect feedback (Experiment 3) following pretest questions enhanced performance on repeated conceptual test items, although these benefits likely reflect memorization and not conceptual understanding. Thus, pretesting appears to provide little benefit for learning conceptual information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

On the placement of practice questions during study.

PubMed

Weinstein, Yana; Nunes, Ludmila D; Karpicke, Jeffrey D

2016-03-01

Retrieval practice improves retention of information on later tests. A question remains: When should retrieval occur during learning-interspersed throughout study or at the end of each study period? In a lab experiment, an online experiment, and a classroom study, we aimed to determine the ideal placement (interspersed vs. at-the-end) of retrieval practice questions. In the lab experiment, 64 subjects viewed slides about APA style and answered short-answer practice questions about the content or restudied the slides (restudy condition). The practice questions either appeared 1 every 1-2 slides (interspersed condition), or all at the end of the presentation (at-the-end condition). One week later, subjects returned and answered the same questions on a final test. In the online experiment, 175 subjects completed the same procedure. In the classroom study, 62 undergraduate students took quizzes as part of class lectures. Short-answer practice questions appeared either throughout the lectures (interspersed condition) or at the end of the lectures (at-the-end condition). Nineteen days after the last quiz, students were given a surprise final test. Results from the 3 experiments converge in demonstrating an advantage for interspersing practice questions on the initial tests, but an absence of this advantage on the final test. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Answering Contextually Demanding Questions: Pragmatic Errors Produced by Children with Asperger Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loukusa, Soile; Leinonen, Eeva; Jussila, Katja; Mattila, Marja-Leena; Ryder, Nuala; Ebeling, Hanna; Moilanen, Irma

2007-01-01

This study examined irrelevant/incorrect answers produced by children with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism (7-9-year-olds and 10-12-year-olds) and normally developing children (7-9-year-olds). The errors produced were divided into three types: in Type 1, the child answered the original question incorrectly, in Type 2, the child gave a…

Translating Answers to Open-Ended Survey Questions in Cross-Cultural Research: A Case Study on the Interplay between Translation, Coding, and Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Behr, Dorothée

2015-01-01

Open-ended probing questions in cross-cultural surveys help uncover equivalence problems in cross-cultural survey research. For languages that a project team does not understand, probe answers need to be translated into a common project language. This article presents a case study on translating open-ended, that is, narrative answers. It describes…

Children's Event Reports: Factors Affecting Responses to Repeated Questions in Vignette Scenarios and Event Recall Interviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howie, Pauline; Nash, Laura; Kurukulasuriya, Nadezhda; Bowman, Alison

2012-01-01

When adults repeat questions, children often give inconsistent answers. This study aimed to test the claim that these inconsistencies occur because children infer that their first answer was unsatisfactory, and that the adult expects them to change their answer. Children aged 4, 6, and 8 years (N= 134) were asked about vignettes in which an adult…

Improving Students' Capacity to Show Their Knowledge, Understanding and Skills in Exams by Using Combined Question and Answer Papers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crisp, Victoria

2008-01-01

This research set out to compare the quality, length and nature of (1) exam responses in combined question and answer booklets, with (2) responses in separate answer booklets in order to inform choices about response format. Combined booklets are thought to support candidates by giving more information on what is expected of them. Anecdotal…

Blurriness in Live Forensics: An Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savoldi, Antonio; Gubian, Paolo

The Live Forensics discipline aims at answering basic questions related to a digital crime, which usually involves a computer-based system. The investigation should be carried out with the very goal to establish which processes were running, when they were started and by whom, what specific activities those processes were doing and the state of active network connections. Besides, a set of tools needs to be launched on the running system by altering, as a consequence of the Locard’s exchange principle [2], the system’s memory. All the methodologies for the live forensics field proposed until now have a basic, albeit important, weakness, which is the inability to quantify the perturbation, or blurriness, of the system’s memory of the investigated computer. This is the very last goal of this paper: to provide a set of guidelines which can be effectively used for measuring the uncertainty of the collected volatile memory on a live system being investigated.

EFFECTS OF INTERVIEWER BEHAVIOR ON ACCURACY OF CHILDREN'S RESPONSES

PubMed Central

Sparling, Jessica; Wilder, David A; Kondash, Jennifer; Boyle, Megan; Compton, Megan

2011-01-01

Previous research has shown that certain interviewer behaviors can evoke inaccurate answers by children. In the current study, we examined the effects of approving and disapproving statements on the accuracy of 3 children's answers to questions in an interview (Experiment 1). We then evaluated 3 questioning techniques that may be used by interviewers during a forensic interview in which a child provides eyewitness testimony (Experiment 2). All participants responded with more inaccurate answers when approving statements followed inaccurate information and disapproving statements followed accurate information in Experiment 1. During Experiment 2, 1 participant responded most inaccurately when she was requestioned after providing an initial answer, whereas the remaining 2 participants responded most inaccurately when the interviewer provided cowitness information and suggestive questions. PMID:21941387

Common Timberland Tax Questions and Answers

Treesearch

William C. Siegel

1999-01-01

I recieve numerous letters and telephone calls from non-industrial forest landowners throughout the country who have timber tax questions. Many of the questions I've been asked during the last year should also be of interest to the readers of National Woodlands. I've therefore selected some of them and my answers, for this issue's "Timber and...