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This study draws on evaluation data to investigate the success of collaborative R&D project proposals submitted to Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP). Data on project status and evaluation score are used to identify successful and rejected project proposals. We hypothesize that the social or institutional composition of the project consortium explains the outcome of an early-stage R&D collaboration. Using regression analysis, we identify “success factors” at the consortium level, related to (a) the network visibility; (b) level of experience and degree of acquaintance; and (c) the research capabilities and excellence or reputation of consortium members. We show that consortia with high levels of experience and reputation, involving a large share of Western European partners and engaged in more application-oriented consortia, have greater chances of success in acquiring H2020 project funding. This result has implications for the scientific community, as well as for the direction of EU research policy.

Background The effectiveness of patient decision aids (PtDA) is rarely evaluated in the “real world” where patients vary in their preferences related to decision support. Purpose To determine how Canadian patients use and evaluate our widely available PtDA for early-stage prostate cancer treatment with its 8 components. Methods Google Analytics and online tracking provided usage information. A Usability Assessment (UA) following the PtDA provided evaluation data; main outcomes [scale: 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)] were (a) the aid was helpful, and (b) I would recommend it to other patients. Results Usage data were from 993 users, and UAs from 168 of them. Mean “helpfulness” score was 4.1(5 max); mean “recommend” score was 4.2 (5 max). For each PtDA component, there was no significant difference on each main outcome, between those who used it and those who did not. Conclusion Overall, patients who completed the UA rated the PtDA as helpful and would recommend it to other patients. The widely available PtDA accommodated expected variation in decision support desired, and helpfulness was not associated with variation in components used. Practice implication The internet can be an effective medium for making appropriately designed decision support widely available to prostate cancer patients.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the application of ideas and practice from Organisation Development to the creation of a leadership development programme, based in a UK Business School. When leadership development is constructed as a personal and relational endeavour, rather than using competences to create identikit heroes, faculty need to draw less on the espoused certainties of “expert” power and adapt their teaching style and language. Design/methodology/approach This case study of an ongoing Masters programme in health leadership, draws on external evaluation data and action research. Findings The paper’s prime contribution is as a conceptual stimulus to rethink leadership development programmes based on OD. Practical implications The practical implications could be far reaching if business schools want to offer an alternative to perpetuating heroic, individualist models of leadership. Social implications As leaders take charge of their own learning, as much as their leading, faculty become powerful participants and draw on OD skills rather than those of expert knowledge. Originality/value The paper thus offers a practical example with evaluation of how leadership development can be redesigned congruent with seeing leadership as a socially constructed, relational, dynamic and context specific.

The Partnerships to Improve Community Health Project focused on making improvements to farmers’ markets, including adding welcome signs and accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/Elect...

Health care delivery science focuses on ways to improve health and health care services provided to individuals and populations. Health care professionals must be trained in health care delivery science in order to diagnose and treat the sources of health care system dysfunction and achieve better outcomes while controlling costs. The ideal model for health care delivery science training has not been fully defined, but doing so is critical especially for frontline mid-career health care professionals whose original clinical training omitted these concepts. To better prepare leaders to address the complex challenges of health care, we created a novel hybrid residential/online 18-month master's degree in health care delivery science. Key strengths of the program are the curriculum, pedagogy, teaching team and close-knit cohort. Here, we discuss the program design rationale and six years of evaluation data of a novel master of health care delivery science program. Novel online education in health care delivery science can empower inter-professional leaders in multiple leadership positions throughout health care to improve the United States health care system.

In oil field practice tracer (indicator) studies are an effective and efficient method of monitoring the state of field development. Using the multifactor mathematical analysis, the nature and intensity of the impact of injection wells on production wells have been compared with the results of injection of indicator liquids. Injection of indicator liquids was carried out along the AS1-3 formation at the Severo-Orekhovskoye oil field through the wellheads of the injection wells. The technique provides for correlation of injection in all potentially possible directions within a given range of action (usually no more than 2 rows), excluding one or more of the wells and more from the analysis. There is a direct positive correlation between evaluation data on indicator downloads and multivariate mathematical analysis data. The convergence of the results is 65%.

Using conventional and unconventional oil and gas resource evaluation methods with play as a unit, this study evaluates the oil and gas geology and resource potential of conventional oil and gas resources and seven types of unconventional resources in the global major oil and gas basins (excluding China). For the first time, resource evaluation data with independent intellectual property rights has been obtained. According to evaluation and calculation, the global recoverable conventional oil resources are 5 350.0×108 t, the recoverable condensate oil resources are 496.2×108 t, and the recoverable natural gas resources are 588.4×1012 m3. The remaining oil and gas 2P recoverable reserves are 4 212.6×108 t, the reserve growth of oil and gas fields are 1 531.7×108 t. The undiscovered oil and gas recoverable resources are 3 065.5×108 t. The global unconventional oil recoverable resources are 4 209.4×108 t and the unconventional natural gas recoverable resources are 195.4×1012 m3. The evaluation results show that the global conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources are still abundant. Key words: global oil and gas bearing basins, resource evaluation, conventional oil and gas resources, oil and gas reserve growth, unconventional oil and gas resources

In practical applications, speaker verification systems have to be developed and trained using data which is outside the domain of the intended application as the collection of significant amount of in-domain data could be difficult. Experimental studies have found that when a GPLDA system is trained using out-domain data, it significantly affects the speaker verification performance due to the mismatch between development data and evaluation data. This paper proposes several unsupervised inter-dataset variability compensation approaches for the purpose of improving the performance of GPLDA systems trained using out-domain data. We show that when GPLDA is trained using out-domain data, we can improve the performance by as much as 39% by using by score normalisation using small amounts of in-domain data. Also in situations where rich out-domain data and only limited in-domain data are available, a pooled-linear-weighted technique to estimate the GPLDA parameters shows 35% relative improvements in equal error rate (EER) on int–int conditions. We also propose a novel inter-dataset covariance normalization (IDCN) approach to overcome in- and out-domain data mismatch problem. Our unsupervised IDCN-compensated GPLDA system shows 14 and 25% improvement respectively in EER over out-domain GPLDA speaker verification on tel–tel and int–int training–testing conditions. We provide intuitive explanations as to why these inter-dataset variability compensation approaches provide improvements to speaker verification accuracy.

Using the performance evaluation data of Korean SOEs, the impact of information asymmetry within target setting on ratcheting intensity and the ratchet effect is investigated. It was found that rat...

Introduction and aims Take-home naloxone (THN) programs commenced in Australia in 2012 in the Australian Capital Territory and programs now operate in five Australian jurisdictions. The purpose of this paper is to record the progress of THN programs in Australia, to provide a resource for others wanting to start THN projects, and provide a tool for policy makers and others considering expansion of THN programs in this country and elsewhere. Design and methods Key stakeholders with principal responsibility for identified THN programs operating in Australia provided descriptions of program development, implementation and characteristics. Short summaries of known THN programs from each jurisdiction are provided along with a table detailing program characteristics and outcomes. Results Data collected across current Australian THN programs suggest that to date over 2500 Australians at risk of overdose have been trained and provided naloxone. Evaluation data from four programs recorded 146 overdose reversals involving naloxone that was given by THN participants. Discussion and conclusions Peer drug user groups currently play a central role in the development, delivery and scale-up of THN in Australia. Health professionals who work with people who use illicit opioids are increasingly taking part as alcohol and other drug-related health agencies have recognised the opportunity for THN provision through interactions with their clients. Australia has made rapid progress in removing regulatory barriers to naloxone since the initiation of the first THN program in 2012. However, logistical and economic barriers remain and further work is needed to expand access to this life-saving medication.

The goal of this paper is to find differencies between men and women perception quality in rural tourits'destinations in the Czech Republic. Respondents were residents from the Czech Republic. Data was collected by paper and electronic questionaire in 2016. Number of respondents was 660 - 330 men and 330 women. Kruskal - Wallis test was uesd for evaluation data. 23 factors of destination quality were evaluated. The most important factor was sence of security, cleanliness of the destination and natural attractivities for both genders. The perception of the 10 quality factors were gender-specific. This research can help in creating a destination marketing communications.

Africa is facing resource problems due to increasing demand combined with potential climate-induced changes in supply. Here we aim to quantify resources in terms of net primary production (NPP [g C m−2 yr−1]) of vegetation in the Sahel region for 2000–2014. Using time series of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) from MODIS, NPP was estimated for the Sahel region with a 500 × 500 m spatial resolution and 8-day temporal resolution. The estimates were based on local eddy covariance flux measurements from six sites in the Sahel region and the carbon use efficiency originating from a dynamic vegetation model. No significant NPP change was found for the Sahel as a region but, for sub-regions, significant changes, both increasing and decreasing, were observed. Substantial uncertainties related to NPP estimates and the small availability of evaluation data makes verification difficult. The simplicity of the methodology used, dependent on earth observation only, is considered an advantage.

Enormous economic losses and reported cases of bird-to-human transmission alert us the importance of AIVs surveillance in natural foci. However, the limited multiplexing capacity of PCR or real-time PCR method made AIVs surveillance insufficient, costly and labor intensive. In this study, we developed a multi-analyte suspension assay (MASA) to detect AIVs subtypes based on Luminex xMAP technology. With this MASA, 7 HA and 5 NA subtypes could be identified in a single reaction. The evaluation data showed that these subtype-specific amplified primers had high specificity and the coverage of each primer pairs ranged from 82% to 97%. Our studies provide a rapid and economical method for AIVs surveillance of natural foci.

In 2010, the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems Hydrology Committee (NRES-21) of ASABE initiated a long-term process to develop guidelines to improve modeling practice through better understanding of the calibration, validation, and evaluation process across applications and more effective interpretation and communication of model performance. This effort generated a compilation of 23 articles with model-specific descriptions and guidance (2012), a position paper outlining guidance for evaluating, interpreting, and communicating performance of hydrologic and water quality models considering intended use (2014), and a compilation of ten articles addressing key topics related to model calibration and validation (2015). In 2016, the first draft of ASABE Engineering Practice 621 (EP621), “Guidelines for Calibrating, Validating, and Evaluating Hydrologic and Water Quality (H/WQ) Models,” was developed, subsequently revised, and ultimately approved by the ASABE Standards Committee in 2017. EP621 provides guidelines, not prescriptive requirements, and as such recommends “good” modeling practices to enhance calibration, validation, evaluation, and communication of H/WQ models through establishment of consistent terminology; model selection; compilation and processing of input data and calibration, validation, and evaluation data; determination of model performance measures; model parameterization and calibration; re-examination of input and calibration data and/or consideration of model refinement; re-evaluation of model performance; and documentation of modeling process and results. EP621 can be obtained from the ASABE Technical Library at https://elibrary.asabe.org/abstract.asp?aid=47804. The objectives of this technical note are to review the process and rationale used to develop EP621 and to briefly summarize its major components. Keywords: Hydrologic processes, Hydrology, Model calibration, Modeling, Model validation, Water quality.

The Covid pandemic enforced a rapid transition to online delivery of language courses worldwide, a different situation from carefully planned online courses. Our paper contributes to shedding light on the mechanisms and challenges of online language learning under emergency circumstances. We draw on evaluation data of the Covid semester in spring 2020 at a large languages centre in Germany, where 69 teachers were forced to deliver 224 language courses for over 2400 students online with no preparation time. All were invited to an evaluation, where 35 teachers and 898 students reported challenges of this rapid transition and responses to overcome these. The mixed-methods analysis revealed that one major challenge lay in creating learning-conducive interaction, the reasons for which are rooted mainly in unclear expectations regarding the new roles of teachers and students, insufficient social presence and inappropriate communication channels and settings. Our findings have implications also beyond the pandemic, as they reveal promising responses towards overcoming these challenges. Most importantly, they point towards the potential of a collaborative effort between teachers and students with the aim of creating innovative meeting spaces, choosing appropriate communication channels and designing synchronous activities that are conducive to stimulating meaningful interaction and fostering social presence.

We evaluated use of a program to improve blood pressure measurement at 6 primary care clinics over a 6-month period. The program consisted of automated devices, clinical training, and support for systems change. Unannounced audits and electronic medical records provided evaluation data. Clinics used devices in 81.0% of encounters and used them as intended in 71.6% of encounters, but implementation fidelity varied. Intervention site systolic and diastolic blood pressure with terminal digit "0" decreased from 32.1% and 33.7% to 11.1% and 11.3%, respectively. Improvement occurred uniformly, regardless of sites' adherence to the measurement protocol. Providers rechecked blood pressure measurements less often post-intervention (from 23.5% to 8.1% of visits overall). Providers at sites with high protocol adherence were less likely to recheck measurements than those at low adherence sites. Comparison sites exhibited no change in terminal digit preference or repeat measurements. This study demonstrates that clinics can apply a pragmatic intervention to improve blood pressure measurement. Additional refinement may improve implementation fidelity.

Characterization of plant genetic resources is the major description of germplazm for breeding. Their morpho-agronomic, biochemistry and molecular evoluation also plays an important role for creation new valuable varieties. With the support of information technologies it can be more effective collection, conservation and use of characterization and evluation data as a database format. So, for this purpose there were created characterization databases on leguminous plants within the structure of Central Databases System. As we mentioned above characterizing of each sample with more traits is very important for the breeding issues. We have tried to achieve it in our research also. For characterization and evaluation data we used international plant descriptors prepared by ICARDA (International Center of Agriculture in Dry Areas), FAO and Bioversity International . It was created the leguminous plants (bean, cow pea, chickpea, horse bean, grass pea) databases by proper database management systems within the structure of Central Database (CDB) on PGR of Azerbaijan based on MS FoxPro. Evaluated samples were taken from the National Genebank collection by proper crop groups.

Traditionally, the continued professional development of healthcare professionals has been completed through classroom-based educational courses, workshops, and conferences. These can prove costly and time intensive. Online learning is becoming increasingly common, is easy to access, and can save learners' time which is important in a healthcare system where job demands are high and study leave is limited. Well-designed internet-based learning has been shown to be as effective as traditional classroom-based learning in the skill and knowledge development of healthcare professionals, however the reach, adoption, and effectiveness of such training is largely underreported in the literature.\ud \ud This short communication reports on evaluation data from delivery of a 60-min online training session to healthcare professionals, between January and November 2016.

At the undergraduate medical education level, many U.S. medical students have only experienced interprofessional patient care by observation or intermittent discussion-based educational activities. However, we believe medical students will gain the most impactful understanding of the allied health professionals they will collaborate with in the future through both real or simulated practice as learners as well as witnessing the direct benefit to patient care. Given the lack of objective assessment of interprofessional education (IPE) competencies, specifically those with a direct impact on patients, we developed an innovative simulated exercise focusing on a medical student discharge plan before and after an interprofessional team meeting. We hypothesized that the interprofessional team of medical, nursing, and pharmacy students will assist the medical student in producing a discharge summary with higher specificity and completeness than a discharge summary produced by a medical student alone. Data obtained from discharge plan scoring and post-intervention narrative survey was analyzed via convergent parallel mixed-methods design. The mean post-intervention score of the discharge plan showed improvement, but did not meet statistical significance. However, when evaluated by each individual domain, the Follow-up section of the post-intervention discharge plan showed significant improvement. This exercise is a first step in the direction of obtaining more objective outcomes data as a result of students engaging in simulated interprofessional team-based care. Evaluation data demonstrated a positive trend towards a more comprehensive, and by extension, safer discharge plan. We are hopeful that our work contributes to other exercises intended to help move from students merely “enjoying” the IPE experience toward demonstrating the first-hand benefit to patients, which substantiates and supports the motivation for future physicians to move toward competence in team based care.

Awakening lighting has an important influence on circadian rhythm, alertness, mood and other physiological and psychological indexes. In a real situation with no electric awakening light, psychological suggestion or interference, the influencing mechanism of awakening daylight on human physiology and psychology is explored from the awakening data of dynamic daylight. This data can further guide the application of electric awakening lighting. The effects of daylight exposure at eye level on sleep quality, morning alertness, mood and fatigue of college students in dormitories in Beijing were studied. The subjects were 8 male and 8 female students from 4 dormitories in two adjacent apartments, and field experiments were conducted for 36 days in winter and 30 days in summer. The real-time illuminance of daylight before awakening was recorded by a wireless illuminance sensor, and the amount of light exposure and the maximum illuminance before awakening were calculated. The evaluation data of physiological and psychological indexes such as sleep quality, morning alertness, mood and fatigue were obtained by using sleep monitoring equipment—Jawbone UP3, PSQI, KSS, positive and negative semantic scales. The results showed that the lighting exposure accumulation before awakening in summer were significantly correlated with morning alertness, mood and deep sleep duration and there was a significant correlation between the Emax and morning alertness in summer. In addition, there were significant differences in deep sleep duration and morning alertness between different groups of lighting exposure accumulation in summer. There was no significant correlation between the lighting exposure accumulation or max value of illuminance and the physiological and psychological indexes in winter.

Using gel based model foods with different structural inclusions, five stimuli were designed to represent a range of textural complexities. Compression tests showed structural differences between the inclusions (p To investigate perceived textural complexity, participants (n = 37) statically rated the construct on a 100 mm line-scale, and a subgroup (n = 18) took part in temporal evaluation. Principal component analysis and partial least squares regression were performed on both descriptive data and static ratings of textural complexity. Results highlighted the importance of attributes requiring more mastication effort, such as hardness, roughness and texture contrast. Similarly, in the analysis of TDS and temporal evaluation data, these attributes were highlighted as temporal drivers of textural complexity. Ratings of novelty, familiarity and liking provided additional information; liking and textural complexity were inversely correlated, while only novelty was found to predict textural complexity in multiple linear regression. Although perceived textural complexity was not in line with the designed levels, insight to the nature of textural complexity is suggested.

Zusammenfassung. Die Dialektisch-Behaviorale Therapie für Adoleszente (DBT-A) zur Behandlung impulsiver und suizidaler Jugendlicher wird seit Februar 2005 in leicht abgeänderter Form ambulant im Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrischen Dienst Zürich umgesetzt. Diese DBT-A umfasst Einzeltherapie, ein Gruppen- bzw. Skills-Training sowie einen Elternabend und dauert jeweils ein halbes Jahr. Der vorliegende Erfahrungsbericht zeigt die Umsetzung dieses Ansatzes und präsentiert eine Evaluation im Rahmen der klinikinternen Qualitätssicherung. Die insgesamt 43 Teilnehmerinnen des Therapie-Programms waren weibliche Jugendliche im Alter von 14–19 Jahren, die impulsive und selbstschädigende Verhaltensweisen sowie Probleme in der Regulierung ihrer Emotionen und in der zwischenmenschlichen Beziehungsgestaltung aufwiesen. An einem Skills-Training nahmen jeweils 4–6 Jugendliche teil. Unsere mehrheitlich positiven Erfahrungen mit diesem Ansatz in der Therapie wurden durch die Auswertungen der Daten aus der Qualitätssicherung von 19 Teilnehmerinnen bestätigt, welche sowohl Selbst- wie auch Fremdurteile umfassten. Es liegen Hinweise vor, dass die DBT-A mit zu einer Abnahme sowohl verschiedener Indikatoren der allgemeinen als auch der spezifischen Psychopathologie führt.

Objectives The objective of this study was to assess the diagnostic usefulness of thoracic and nonthoracic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) imaging in patients with implantable cardiac devices (permanent pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators [ICDs]) to determine if there was a substantial benefit to patients with regard to diagnosis and/or management. Background MRI is infrequently performed on patients with conventional pacemakers or ICDs. Multiple studies have documented the safety of MRI scans in patients with implanted devices, yet the diagnostic value of this approach has not been established. Methods Evaluation data were acquired in 136 patients with implanted cardiac devices who underwent MRIs during a 10-year period at a single institution. Specific criteria were followed for all patients to objectively define if the diagnosis by MRI enhanced patient care; 4 questions were answered after scan interpretation by both MRI technologists and MRI physicians who performed the scan. 1) Did the primary diagnosis change? 2) Did the MRI provide additional information to the existing diagnosis? 3) Was the pre-MRI (tentative) diagnosis confirmed? 4) Did patient management change? Results If “Yes” was answered to any of the preceding questions, the MRI scan was considered to be of value to patient diagnosis and/or therapy. In 97% (n = 132) of patients, MR added value to patient diagnosis and management. In 49% (n = 67) of patients, MRI added additional valuable information to the primary diagnosis, and in 30% (n = 41) of patients, MRI changed the principle diagnosis and subsequent management of the patient. No safety issues were encountered, and no adverse effects of undergoing the MRI scan were noted in any patient. Conclusions MRI in patients with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators added value to patient diagnosis and management, which justified the risk of the procedure.

Sudden changes in the structural and geotechnical properties of railway tracks along its course are normally associated with subgrade stiffness transitions, differential settlements and, ultimately, hanging sleepers that reduce the performance of the railway system. This paper aims at analysing and quantifying the impact of such situations, particularly cut-fill transitions combined with the presence of culverts, on the train-track system response. A cut-fill transition on a buried culvert is used as case study for which track geometry and stiffness evaluation data were available. A numerical model, considering the coupled train-track interaction, was developed using a 3D FEM dynamic analysis tool that was further improved here with a mixed implicit-explicit time integration scheme. The results suggest that the faster degradation rates typically found at similar locations are mostly related to the development of early permanent deformations in the subgrade layers, rather than to sudden stiffness transitions, which then aggravate the problem by causing important dynamic amplifications in the train-track interaction. Therefore, numerical approaches similar to the one presented herein can be valuable tools for designers and railway infrastructure managers in order to anticipate and mitigate such negative effects at these locations.

In developing objective tissue softness evaluation methods, reliable and reproducible subjective evaluation data are a prerequisite. A trade-off relationship generally exists between the relevance to a consumer’s in-use situations and the test variability. At present, sensory panel test (SPT) has been most widely used. It provides the least variable data, but it has the problem of being the least relevant to the real world. Recently we have developed a new sensory panel test which is referred to as new sensory panel test (NSPT). It performs like a HUT (home-user-test) for the relevance and like a physical test for the test variability. Since the pioneering work by Hollmark, it is now widely accepted that subjective tissue softness should primarily consist of the bulk softness component and the surface softness component. The bulk softness component can be determined by the tissue flexibility. The surface softness component can be determined by measuring the surface roughness and the surface friction. In the present study, the NSPT was performed on 7 commercial bathroom tissue products. For subjective softness evaluation, the Thurstone interval scale values have been determined for the 7 products. For the bulk softness component, the flexibilities of these samples were measured using a tensile tester (Criterion model-41, MTS, U.S.A.). For the surface softness component, the surface roughness and the surface friction were measured using the surface roughness/friction tester (KES-SESRU, Kato Tech., Japan). The result validates the hypothesis that the bulk flexibility and the surface roughness/friction should be sufficient for developing an objective tissue softness evaluation method.

Building on role congruity theory, we predict that innovative work behaviors are stereotypically ascribed to men more than to women. Because of this bias, women who innovate may not receive better performance evaluations than those who do not innovate, whereas engaging in innovative work behaviors is beneficial for men. These predictions were supported across 3 complementary field and experimental studies. The results of an experiment (Study 1; N = 407) revealed that innovative work behaviors are stereotypically associated with men more than women. In Studies 2 and 3, using multisource employee evaluation data (N = 153) and by experimentally manipulating innovative work behaviors (N = 232), respectively, we found that favorable performance evaluations were associated with innovative work behaviors for men but not for women. These studies highlight a previously unidentified form of sex bias and are particularly important for those wishing to increase innovative behaviors in the workplace: We need to address this phenomenon of “think innovation-think male.”

Aims Accurate evaluation of health care quality requires high-quality data, and case ascertainment (confirming eligible cases and deaths) is a foundation for accurate data collection. This study examined the accuracy of case ascertainment from two Japanese data sources. Methods Using hospital-level data, we investigated the concordance in ascertaining trauma cases between a nationwide trauma registry (the Japan Trauma Data Bank) and annual government evaluations of tertiary hospitals between April 2012 and March 2013. We compared the median values for trauma case volumes, numbers of deaths, and case fatality rates from both data sources, and also evaluated the variability in discrepancies for the intrahospital differences of these outcomes. Results The analyses included 136 hospitals. In the registry and annual evaluation data, the median case volumes were 120.5 cases and 180.5 cases, respectively; the median numbers of deaths were 11 and 12, respectively; and the median case fatality rates were 8.1% and 6.4%, respectively. There was broad variability in the intrahospital differences in these outcomes. Conclusions The observed discordance between the two data sources implies that these data sources may have inaccuracies in case ascertainment. Measures are needed to evaluate and improve the accuracy of data from these sources.

Higher education institutions prepare future faculty members for multiple roles, including teaching. However, teaching professional development programs for graduate students vary widely. We present evaluation data from a high engagement program for STEM doctoral students. We analyzed the impact on three cohorts of participants over three academic years and identified the components most influential upon their teaching professional development. Participants found the year-long teaching assessment project and the disciplinary and reflective focus instrumental for improving their knowledge of teaching and learning. We recommend these components for the design of other such high-engagement programs.

Quality control of large-scale flash flood survey and evaluation data is vital and refers to various social and natural factors. In this study, we present a quality validation approach that uses a data model, Anselin Local Moran’s I (DM-Moran), which is based on a model of the flash flood data and a spatial data mining algorithm. The approach of the DM-Moran model involves examining logical relationships and detecting anomalous survey units, which effectively integrates the advantages of certainty rules and checking for reasonableness. It resolves the inconsistencies in massive amounts of flash flood survey data that result from inconsistencies. We used the DM-Moran model to validate the quality of the data of the Chinese Flash Flood Survey and Evaluation (CFFSE) project. The kappa coefficients of the two steps of this approach were 0.95 and 0.99, which meet the requirements of the CFFSE project. We consider the DM-Moran model an effective approach to checking the quality of various other large-scale disaster datasets.

Evaluation is an integral part of good professional practice and the systematic development of teaching expertise. In this paper I look into some of the sources of evaluation in the Hospitality, Events and Tourism subject area and note that evaluation practice in the subject area varies according to its purpose and the actors undertaking it. I contend that if evaluation is to feed our practice, we must triangulate evaluation data received from various sources. Such an integrated approach to evaluation would be helpful as it can capture a comprehensive picture of various teaching and learning practices.

Problem identification Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a dose-limiting chemotherapy toxicity, which has a long-lasting effect and decreases quality of life. Although several tools have been developed to detect CIPN, the study quality, psychometric properties, and practicality of CIPN assessment tools have not been systematically reviewed. . Literature search Electronic searches using keywords were conducted in Medline, PubMed, CINAHL®, and Cochrane Library for articles published from 1980-2015. Eligible studies were included if they involved patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy, provided CIPN assessment tools with psychometric properties, and were published in English. . Data evaluation Data were extracted, and study quality was assessed. CIPN tools were evaluated in terms of psychometric properties and practicality. . Synthesis A total of 19 studies describing 20 tools were reviewed. The quality of studies varied from strong to weak. The validity ranged from low to high, and the reliability with internal consistency ranged from 0.56-0.96. Poor inter-rater agreement was found. Not all of the tools were deemed practical. . Conclusions Considering the psychometric properties and practicality, two tools (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity [FACT/GOG-Ntx] and Total Neuropathy Score [TNS]) are recommended for assessing CIPN. . Implications for nursing Routine assessment of CIPN and choosing appropriate assessment tools are imperative. The FACT/GOG-Ntx and TNS are recommended for clinical use.

Social work education is well positioned for workforce development initiatives that prepare practitioners to use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) with people at risk for alcohol use disorders. This article presents preliminary process and outcome evaluation data from the first year of a three-year grant which suggests that the training is acceptable and results in significant changes in trainees’ knowledge, attitudes, and self-perceived SBIRT skills. Training was embedded within the curricula of an urban school of social work, which includes a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program and a single-concentration clinical Master of Social Work (MSW). Trainees included social work students (n = 134) and field instructors (n = 38). More than 90% of students were very satisfied or satisfied with the training, and 100% of field instructors rated the training as excellent or good. Students demonstrated significant changes from pre- to posttraining in substance use knowledge, confidenc...

Based on the 2015 evaluation of response-to-intervention (RTI) efforts and our own 2 decades of experience in supporting educators’ implementation of RTI efforts, four recommendations are presented to advance effective implementation of tiered systems of intervention. We suggest that by (a) assessing readiness and capacity, (b) providing content and coaching as part of professional development, (c) using evaluation data, and (d) including students with disabilities, educators can make strides to implement RTI more effectively and help to meet the needs of all students in today’s schools.

Objectives. To demonstrate the use of evaluation data in determining the effectiveness of a series of community-based educational seminars designed to educate substance abuse treatment counselors on the latest science regarding the effects of alcohol abuse on diseases of the liver and pancreas; in the process, to highlight the use of difference scores versus lagged regression as alternative approaches to conducting such evaluations. Methods. Data were collected from 338 seminar participants during 4 half-day seminars in 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2014. Pre- and post-seminar data were collected immediately before and after the seminar, approximately 3 hours apart. Survey questions included demographics and a series of multiple-choice knowledge questions that were identical at pre- and posttest. Results. Analyses showed that, on average, participants improved their knowledge by 19.7 percentage points from 0.44 to 0.63, or 44.7%. Factors associated with learning using difference scores revealed that only survey wave (time) was associated with learning. In contrast, lagged regression results showed that in addition to wave, participants who reported attending the seminar because they were required to for their job learned less, whereas those attending because they wanted to learn the material learned more. Education was also significantly associated with knowledge change. Conclusions. This study illustrates that relying on difference score analyses to estimate programmatic effects and changes in knowledge for educational programs can lead to faulty conclusions whereas lagged regression is a better approach to assess program impact.

Project HOPE comprises a health science career pipeline program based in social cognitive career theory. The program aims to promote health science career exploration for rural and Latino middle school students while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of achieving in math and science subjects. The authors conducted 2 studies to evaluate Project HOPE using baseline and follow-up evaluation data. Results of Study 1 indicated that Project HOPE was associated with increases in math/science self-efficacy for both Latino (n = 42) and European American (n = 31) students. Results of Study 2 indicated that Project HOPE was associated with higher health science career self-efficacy beliefs for European American students (n = 22) and higher health science career interests for Latino students (n = 28). These results suggest that domain-specific career interventions for middle school students that focus on jobs tied to the local economy may be a useful way to engage students in career exploration.

Normal neutrosophic set, which allows a combination of the normal fuzzy number and the neutrosophic number, is a powerful tool for handling the incompleteness, indeterminacy and inconsistency of evaluation information. Based on the opinion of prioritized aggregation operators developed to describe the prioritization relationships among several attributes, this paper investigates some prioritized aggregation operators for aggregating the normal neutrosophic information, such as normal neutrosophic prioritized weighted averaging operator and normal neutrosophic prioritized weighted geometric operator, and then extends these operators to the generalized prioritized weighted aggregation operators, including normal neutrosophic generalized prioritized weighted averaging operator and normal neutrosophic generalized prioritized weighted geometric operator, respectively. They can take into account the prioritization facts in the aggregated information. Moreover, some of their desirable properties are investigated in detail. A multiple attribute decision-making method is developed for solving a kind of problems in which the decision attributes have different priority level commonly and they take the form of normal neutrosophic numbers. Finally, an illustrative example based on the prioritization relationship over the evaluation data is given to depict the effectiveness and feasibility of the developed decision-making method, which are then compared to the existing approaches. © 2017, The Natural Computing Applications Forum.

Bacterial populations of teat skin are associated with risk of intramammary infection and may be influenced by anatomical characteristics of teats. The objective of this study was to evaluate associations of selected anatomical characteristics of teats with bacterial counts of teat skin of cows exposed to different types of bedding. Primarily primiparous Holstein cows (n = 128) were randomly allocated to 4 pens within a single barn. Each pen contained 1 type of bedding [new sand (NES), recycled sand (RS), deep-bedded manure solids (DBMS), and shallow-bedded manure solids over foam core mattresses (SBMS)]. During a single farm visit udders (n = 112) were scored for hygiene and 1 front (n = 112) and 1 rear teat (n = 111) of each enrolled cow were scored for hyperkeratosis (HK). Teat length, teat barrel diameter, and teat apex diameter were measured and teat skin swabs were systematically collected for microbiological analysis. Linear type evaluation data for udders of each cow were retrieved for each cow. Teat position (front or rear) was associated with occurrence of clinical mastitis during the 12 mo before the farm visit and more cases occurred in front quarters. The proportion of udders that were classified as clean (score 1 or 2) was 68, 82, 54, and 95% for cows housed in pens containing NES, RS, SBMS, and DBMS, respectively. No association was found between HK score and teat position and no association was found between HK score and teat skin bacterial count. Bacterial counts of teat skin swabs from front teats of cows in pens containing RS and SBMS were significantly less than those of rear teats of cows in pens containing DBMS or NES. Teat skin bacterial counts were significantly greater for swabs obtained from teats of cows with udder hygiene scores of 3 and 4 as compared with swabs obtained from cows with cleaner udders. Of all udder conformation traits evaluated, only narrower rear teat placement was positively associated with bacterial counts on teat skin.

Little is known about how the experience of an earthquake affects young children's cognitive outcomes. On February 27, 2010, a severe earthquake shook southern Chile. The earthquake occurred during the course of a large-scale evaluation of an early childhood education intervention (child average age = 53 months) in Santiago, such that one cohort of children ( n = 698) experienced baseline data collection 3–12 weeks after the earthquake occurred, while a different cohort of children ( n = 720) did not. In this paper, we used these available evaluation data to conduct two sets of analyses that explore the relationship between preschool children’s exposure to the 2010 Chilean earthquake and their early language, pre-literacy, mathematics and executive function outcomes. In the first set of analyses, we employed a propensity score analysis to estimate the short-term effect of the earthquake on preschool- aged children’s early learning and executive function outcomes. Results suggest that children who experienced the earthquake had lower scores on some early language and pre-literacy assessments than those who did not, with effect sizes of approximately 20% of a standard deviation. Results from the second set of analyses suggest that among the families who experienced the earthquake, children whose parents reported more earthquake- related stressors performed significantly lower on some early language and pre-literacy outcomes. Implications of these findings for disaster relief efforts and future research are discussed.

Analysis of postrandom assignment (endogenous) events or experiences in experimental evaluation data is becoming increasingly widespread. This chapter highlights some analytic strategies for revealing mediators of program impacts. In particular, it considers the kinds of research questions that instrumental variables (IV) estimation is suited to answer and how using IV in conjunction with a randomized experiment can advance what we know about the mediational effects of policies or programs. It also explains how the Analysis of Symmetrically Predicted Endogenous Subgroups (ASPES) can assist in answering other, related kinds of evaluation questions. It illustrates how these approaches have been used in practice with an example from the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Demonstration.

Blackboard-style videos with simple drawings illustrating concepts have become immensely popular in recent years. However, there has been no published research evaluating their efficacy in nursing education. This pilot study evaluates the use of blackboard-style videos in an online pathophysiology course. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation data were analyzed to evaluate student satisfaction. The data indicated that students were highly satisfied with the course and the delivery of content using blackboard-style videos. The qualitative analysis uncovered two key themes explaining the high level of satisfaction: visual plus narrative explanations support learning and student control over pacing enhances learning.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses an infection risk for international military deployments. In the presented mini-review, the history of MRSA in the medical service and modern warfare is highlighted. To allow rapid diagnosis, various molecular diagnostic point-of-care solutions are available. Most evaluation studies, however, are focused on screening swabs rather than clinical materials and evaluation data from harsh environments are widely lacking. Accordingly, studies with complex sample materials under difficult environmental conditions, e.g., in the desert or in the tropics, are desirable to close this gap of knowledge regarding the diagnostic reliability of such modern molecular point-of-care devices.

Objective To describe a pharmacist-delivered Medicare counseling service in a rural community health center for providing patients and community members with information and resources to facilitate informed Medicare plan selection(s). Setting Federally-qualified health center. Practice innovation Health center patients and community members met with a pharmacist for individual Medicare counseling. The appointments provided an opportunity to educate clients on Original Medicare and private plan options for supplemental medical and drug coverage, compare specific plans, and assess eligibility for financial assistance programs. Evaluation Data were collected from client contact forms completed for individuals counseled between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2018. Data were then summarized with descriptive statistics and analyzed with Fisher exact tests. Results A total of 47 appointments were completed with 31 unique clients. They were mostly women (n = 18, 58.1%) and aged 65 years or more (n = 17; 54.8%) but evenly divided between patients established with the health center (n = 15; 48.4%) and community members (n = 16; 51.6%). During appointments, the most common topic was an explanation of medical or drug benefits (n = 40; 85.1%) followed by comparison of specific plans (n = 25; 53.2%) and then screening individuals for Original Medicare or private plan eligibility (n = 27; 57.4%). There were no statistically significant differences when comparing topics discussed for current versus new Medicare beneficiaries. During follow-up visits, patients were less likely to be screened for Original Medicare or private plan eligibility (74.2% vs. 25%; P = 0.002), financial assistance programs (77.4% vs. 37.5%; P = 0.011), or have specific plans compared (71.0% vs. 37.5%; P = 0.034). Conclusion A pharmacist-provided Medicare counseling service in a rural community health center was used by both patients and community members. This may be an effective strategy to improve beneficiary understanding of Medicare benefits and enable the selection of better insurance plans in underserved populations. Further research is needed to assess individual-level outcomes and scalability to other settings.

With the increasing concerns on food safety, foodborne toxicants, particularly advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have drawn large attention ascribing to their central role in the pathogenic process of diabetic complications. In this study, the antiglycative ability and action mechanism of 10 dried flowers were measured in fructose/glucose-BSA model with apple flower as the most effective one, probably through trapping reactive carbonyl species. Furthermore, apple flower was added in cookies to evaluate its antiglycative effect and data suggested that the fortification of cookies with apple flower powders significantly inhibited the formation of methylglyoxal and fluorescent AGEs. Moreover, sensory evaluation data showed that 2.5% (w/w) apple flower-fortified cookies had the highest acceptance. The active component in apple flower was further identified as phlorizin by chromatographic analysis. Our results highlighted the health benefits of consuming apple flower fortified foods which might possibly be developed into functional foods especially for diabetic patients.

A tanulmány a klasszikus és modern migráció elméletek tanait követve, azok elemzésének felhasználásával, tudományelméleti módszertan alkalmazásával vizsgálja Magyarország schengeni külső határain a reguláris és irreguláris migráció (Hautzinger, 2018, 11-21.) hatásait. Az elemzések értékelési adataiból beazonosíthatóvá válik egy olyan jellemző, amely korábban nem jelentkezett európai viszonylatban, illetve más földrészek nemzeteit sem érintette abban a komplexitásában, mint Magyarországot a 2014. és 2015. években, a hatályos nemzeti és nemzetközi, valamint schengeni normatív szabályozókeretek közti elvárásokkal. Az adatok vizsgálatának és a kapcsolódó elemek összefüggéseinek elemzéséből beazonosíthatóvá vált a migráció hatásainak újszerű, korábban nem kutatott és publikált megközelítése, annak leírása, egy új fogalom megalkotása. A reguláris és irreguláris migrációra jellemző túlterhelés módszertani kutatási eredményei önálló tanulmányok tárgyát képezhetik.

Keyphrase extraction is a task of automatically selecting topical phrases from a document. We present KeyVector, an unsupervised approach with weighted topics via semantic relatedness for keyphrase extraction. Our method relies on various measures of semantic relatedness of documents, topics and keyphrases in the same vector space, which allow us to compute three keyphrase ranking scores: global semantic score, find more important keyphrases for a given document by measuring the semantic relation between documents and keyphrase embeddings; topic weight, pruning/selecting the candidate keyphrases on the topic level; topic inner score, ranking the keyphrases inside each topic. Keyphrases are then generated by ranking the values of combined three scores for each candidate. We conducted experiments on three evaluation data sets of different length documents and domains. Results show that KeyVector out performs state of the art methods on short, medium and long documents.

Centers and institutes are created to support interdisciplinary collaboration. However, all centers and institutes face the challenge of how best to evaluate their impact since traditional counts of productivity may not fully capture the interdisciplinary nature of this work. The authors applied techniques from social network analysis (SNA) to evaluate the impact of a center for interprofessional education (IPE), a growing area for centers because of the global emphasis on IPE.The authors created networks based on the connections between faculty involved in programs supported by an IPE center at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2014 to 2017. They used mathematical techniques to describe these networks and the change in the networks over time. The results of these analyses demonstrated that, while the number of programs and involved faculty grew, the faculty maintained a similar amount of connection between members. Additional faculty clusters emerged, and certain key faculty were important connectors between clusters. The analysis also confirmed the interprofessional nature of faculty collaboration within the network.SNA added important evaluation data beyond typical metrics such as counts of learners or faculty. This approach demonstrated how a center was evolving and what strategies might be needed to support further growth. With further development of benchmarks, SNA could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of centers and institutes relative to each other. SNA should guide strategic decisions about the future of centers and institutes as they strive to meet their overarching goal of tackling a social challenge through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Based on evaluation data of brand value in our country from 2013 to 2017, we will explore the influences of enterprises’ RD when the coupling is more than 0.620, R&D input will greatly facilitate the brand value.

The method of association rule data mining is applied to college teaching. Data mining is carried out from teaching evaluation data to find out the relationship between classroom teaching effect and teacher's status. Mining association rule in large transaction databases plays an important role in solving practical problems in different fields. This dissertation focuses on the research of association rules algorithm and its application. In a better hardware and software environment and with the aid of some data in the real supermarket transaction database, the paper adopts Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and VB. NET is used as a development platform to build a simple association rule mining system and apply the BMSL algorithm to the generation of association rules. It is proved through the mining results that the algorithm did achieve a good digging effect.