bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Understanding validity issues in test-based models of school and teacher evaluation
Authors: L. Bridglall Beatrice , Caines Jade , Chatterji Madhabi 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– This policy brief, the second AERI-NEPC eBrief in the series “Understanding validity issues around the world”, focuses on validity as it applies to test-based models of evaluation employed for schools, instructional programs, and teachers around the world. It discusses validity issues that could arise when data from student achievement test administrations and other sources are used for conducting personnel appraisals, program evaluations, or for external accountability purposes, suggesting solutions and recommendations for improving validity in such applications of test-based information.

Design/methodology/approach
– This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users.

Findings
– The authors conclude that systematic improvement and transformation of schools depends on thoughtfully conceptualizing, implementing, and using data from testing and broad-based evaluation systems that incorporate multiple kinds of evidence. Evaluation systems that are valid and fair to students, teachers and education leaders need all three of the following: assessment resources and training for all participants and evaluation users; knowledgeable staff to continuously monitor processes and use assessment results appropriately to improve teaching and learning activities; and a strengths-based approach to make improvements to the education system based on relevant data and reports (as opposed to a deficits-based one in which blame or punishment is leveled at individuals or groups of workers when gaps in performance are observed).

Originality/value
– To improve validity in interpretations of results from test-based teacher and school evaluation models, the authors provide recommendations for measurement and evaluation specialists as well as for educators, policy makers, and public users of data. Standardized test use in formative and more “high stakes” educational accountability contexts is rapidly spreading to various regions of the world. This eBrief shows that understandings of validity are still uneven among key stakeholders. By translating complex information pertinent to current validity issues, this policy brief attempts to address this need, and also bridge knowledge and communications gaps among different constituencies.
Mediation effect of sustainability competencies on the relation between barriers and project sustainability (the case of Egyptian higher education enhancement projects)
Authors: H. Abou- Warda Sherein 
Published: January 2014

Purpose
– This study aims to explore the relation between barriers and project sustainability by adding competencies in the mediating role.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study uses a mediation model including project sustainability as the dependent variable, sustainability barriers as the independent variable and project managers' sustainability competencies as the mediator variable. Data were gathered from project managers, executive teams, and experts/advisors, working in Egyptian higher education enhancement projects (HEEPs) using self-administered questionnaires; the total number collected was 159, representing a response rate of 93.5 percent. Correlations and multiple regression analysis were employed to analyze the mediation impact of project manager's sustainability competencies.

Findings
– The results indicate that sustainability competencies mediate the relation between barriers to sustainability and project sustainability. Sustainability competencies facilitate project achievements, and the sustainability and future expansion of these achievements. The analysis suggests that “continuous competencies” are extremely important, more so than “self-competencies”.

Research limitations/implications
– This study was undertaken at the level of the projects management unit in the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, which manages the HEEPs.

Practical implications
– The analysis helps to understand the complex and nuanced nature of the projects; these are distinguished when the author considers the different practices.

Originality/value
– This study offers two principal contributions: first, a guideline for the development, measurement, and application of an uncommon concept of project sustainability; second, a concept of project managers' sustainability competencies and barriers to sustainability.
Health Literacy, Cognitive Ability, and Functional Health Status among Older Adults
Authors: Serper Marina , Patzer Rachel E. , Curtis Laura M. , Smith Samuel G. , O'Conor Rachel , Baker David W. , Wolf Michael S. 
Published: January 2014

ObjectiveTo investigate whether previously noted associations between health literacy and functional health status might be explained by cognitive function.Data Sources/Study SettingHealth Literacy and Cognition in Older Adults (“LitCog,” prospective study funded by National Institute on Aging). Data presented are from interviews conducted among 784 adults, ages 55–74 years receiving care at an academic general medicine clinic or one of four federally qualified health centers in Chicago from 2008 to 2010.Study DesignStudy participants completed structured, in‐person interviews administered by trained research assistants.Data CollectionHealth literacy was measured using the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine, and Newest Vital Sign. Cognitive function was assessed using measures of long‐term and working memory, processing speed, reasoning, and verbal ability. Functional health was assessed with SF‐36 physical health summary scale and Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System short form subscales for depression and anxiety.Principal FindingsAll health literacy measures were significantly correlated with all cognitive domains. In multivariable analyses, inadequate health literacy was associated with worse physical health and more depressive symptoms. After adjusting for cognitive abilities, associations between health literacy, physical health, and depressive symptoms were attenuated and no longer significant.ConclusionsCognitive function explains a significant proportion of the associations between health literacy, physical health, and depression among older adults. Interventions to reduce literacy disparities in health care should minimize the cognitive burden in behaviors patients must adopt to manage personal health.
Institutional Environment and Technical Efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Cotton Producers in West Africa
Authors: Theriault Veronique , Serra Renata 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThis paper examines the effects of the institutional environment on West African cotton farmers’ technical efficiency (TE). First, key aspects of the cotton sector institutional environment are discussed, including input and credit access, and producers’ organisations. Then, a stochastic frontier production function, which incorporates technical inefficiency effects, is applied to farm level data collected in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. The survey includes farmers’ evaluations of the cotton sector institutional environment. Results suggest that institutional level features influence producers’ TE, besides farm‐level characteristics. Cotton growers who report a negative experience with the joint liability programme, who identify the cotton price mechanism or access to credit as the main constraints to performance, and who cultivate more hectares of cereals are technically more inefficient in producing cotton. Findings suggest that cotton farmers in Mali are less technically efficient in producing cotton than in Burkina Faso and Benin. Agricultural development policies focusing on reducing farmers’ financial stress, particularly through the establishment of adequate price mechanisms (i.e. higher farm‐gate prices and timely payments to farmers) and improvement in the input–credit markets should be encouraged to improve TE in West Africa.
Country‐Specific Determinants of Horizontal and Vertical Intra‐industry Agri‐food Trade: The Case of the EU New Member States
Authors: Jambor Attila 
Published: January 2014

AbstractIntra‐industry trade (IIT) has become a widespread phenomenon with a growing role in international trade, though agricultural trade is usually neglected in empirical works. This article identifies the determinants of horizontal and vertical intra‐industry agri‐food trade between New Member States (NMS) and the EU‐27 in 1999–2010, by applying static and dynamic models with different specifications to panel data. Results show that IIT is mainly of a vertical nature in the NMS, though the majority of NMS export low quality agri‐food products to EU‐27 markets. Factor endowments are negatively related to agri‐food horizontal intra‐industry trade (HIIT), but positively to vertical intra‐industry trade (VIIT). Economic size is positively and significantly related to both types of IIT, while distance and IIT are found to be negatively related in both cases. Results also suggest that HIIT and VIIT are greater if a New Member State exports agri‐food products to another NMS while EU accession has had positive and significant impacts on both HIIT and VIIT, suggesting that economic integration fosters IIT.
Evolutionary relationships of Pemphigus and allied genera (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Eriosomatinae) and their primary endosymbiont, Buchnera aphidicola
Authors: Liu Lin , Li Xing‐Yi , Huang Xiao‐Lei , Qiao Ge‐Xia 
Published: January 2014

AbstractAphids harbor primary endosymbionts, Buchnera aphidicola, in specialized cells within their body cavities. Aphids and Buchnera have strict mutualistic relationships in nutrition exchange. This ancient association has received much attention from researchers who are interested in endosymbiotic evolution. Previous studies have found parallel phylogenetic relationships between non‐galling aphids and Buchnera at lower taxonomic levels (genus, species). To understand whether relatively isolated habitats such as galls have effect on the parallel relationships between aphids and Buchnera, the present paper investigated the phylogenetic relationships of gall aphids from Pemphigus and allied genera, which induce pseudo‐galls or galls on Populus spp. (poplar) and Buchnera. The molecular phylogenies inferred from three aphid genes (COI, COII and EF‐1α) and two Buchnera genes (gnd, 16S rRNA gene) indicated significant congruence between aphids and Buchnera at generic as well as interspecific levels. Interestingly, both aphid and Buchnera phylogenies supported three main clades corresponding to the galling locations of aphids, namely leaf, the joint of leaf blade and petiole, and branch of the host plant. The results suggest phylogenetic conservatism of gall characters, which indicates gall characters are more strongly affected by aphid phylogeny, rather than host plants.
Effect of the Mild Temperature and Traditional Treatments on Residual Peroxidase Activity, Color, and Chlorophyll Content on Storage of Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) Tea
Authors: Nabechima Gilson Hideki , Provesi João Gustavo , Henriquez Mantelli Márcia Barbosa , Vieira Manoela Alano , De Mello Castanho Amboni Renata Dias , Amante Edna Regina 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThe green coloring is the first characteristic in mate tea (chimarrão). Mate producers perform the sapeco process by rapidly passing the leaves through flames. It has been proven that this procedure leads to high energy consumption and also to excessive exposure of the raw material to heat. In this present work, the effect of sapeco on the inactivation of peroxidase, the color, and degradation of the chlorophyll in mate was evaluated by performing the sapeco procedure in a conveyor oven, without any direct contact with the flames. The mate processed in a conveyor oven was compared with mate processed in mate factories. Inactivation of peroxidase showed that sapeco performed in a conveyor oven at 255 ºC for 20 s can replace the traditional process of the industrial sapeco. This time/temperature binomial is significantly important for the green coloring and the minimization of chlorophyll degradation, besides representing a significant reduction in the temperature traditionally applied in the industrial sapeco of mate.
Divorce or end of cohabitation among Danish women evaluated for fertility problems
Authors: Kjaer Trille , Albieri Vanna , Jensen Allan , Kjaer Susanne K. , Johansen Christoffer , Dalton Susanne O. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractObjectiveCouples with fertility problems may experience marital or sexual distress which could potentially result in dissolved relationships. We investigated the likelihood of ending a relationship among women who did not have a child after a fertility evaluation.DesignLongitudinal cohort study.SettingDanish women ever referred for primary or secondary fertility problems to a public Danish hospital or private fertility clinic between 1990 and 2006.PopulationA total of 47 515 women.MethodsThe data were linked to Danish administrative population‐based registries containing demographic and socioeconomic information. Discrete‐time survival models were used with person‐period data. Each woman was followed from the year of her initial fertility evaluation through to 2007.Main outcome measuresEffects of parity after a fertility evaluation on the likelihood of ending a marital or cohabitation relationship.ResultsAfter up to 12 years of follow up, nearly 27% of the women were no longer living with the person with whom they had lived at the time of the fertility evaluation. Women who did not have a child after the evaluation had significantly higher odds ratios for ending a relationship up to 12 years after the evaluation (with odds ratios up to 3.13, 95% CI 2.88–3.41) than women who had a child, regardless of their parity before the evaluation.ConclusionsParity after a fertility evaluation may be an important component in the longitudinal relationships of couples with fertility problems. Studies with detailed information on marital quality and relational well‐being of couples with fertility problems are needed.
Effects of walking combined with restricted leg blood flow on mTOR and MAPK signalling in young men
Authors: Ozaki H. , Kakigi R. , Kobayashi H. , Loenneke J. P. , Abe T. , Naito H. 
Published: January 2014

AbstractWalking combined with blood flow reduction (BFR‐walk) elicits muscle hypertrophy. However, the skeletal muscle intracellular signalling behind this response is currently unknown.AimTo investigate the effects of BFR‐walk on mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways in young men.MethodsSix young men performed 20 min of treadmill walking at 55% of their predetermined maximum oxygen uptake. A pressure cuff belt was applied to the most proximal thigh of only one leg (BFR‐Leg, external compression was 240 mmHg), whereas the other leg (CON‐Leg) was without BFR during walking. Muscle biopsies were taken from the vastus lateralis of the CON‐Leg before exercise and in both legs 3 h after exercise.ResultsErk1/2 phosphorylation levels were significantly (P < 0.05) increased after exercise in both legs; however, only the BFR‐Leg saw an increased phosphorylation of p38. For mTOR signalling, there were no changes in Akt, mTOR or S6K1 phosphorylation levels before or after walking. However, eEF2 phosphorylation level was significantly (P < 0.05) lower for the BFR‐Leg 3 h after walking compared with CON‐Leg.ConclusionBFR‐walk exercise may activate some intracellular signalling cascades that are associated with muscle hypertrophy in young men.
Methods for observed‐cluster inference when cluster size is informative: A review and clarifications
Authors: Seaman Shaun R. , Pavlou Menelaos , Copas Andrew J. 
Published: January 2014

SummaryClustered data commonly arise in epidemiology. We assume each cluster member has an outcome Y and covariates . When there are missing data in Y, the distribution of Y given in all cluster members (“complete clusters”) may be different from the distribution just in members with observed Y (“observed clusters”). Often the former is of interest, but when data are missing because in a fundamental sense Y does not exist (e.g., quality of life for a person who has died), the latter may be more meaningful (quality of life conditional on being alive). Weighted and doubly weighted generalized estimating equations and shared random‐effects models have been proposed for observed‐cluster inference when cluster size is informative, that is, the distribution of Y given in observed clusters depends on observed cluster size. We show these methods can be seen as actually giving inference for complete clusters and may not also give observed‐cluster inference. This is true even if observed clusters are complete in themselves rather than being the observed part of larger complete clusters: here methods may describe imaginary complete clusters rather than the observed clusters. We show under which conditions shared random‐effects models proposed for observed‐cluster inference do actually describe members with observed Y. A psoriatic arthritis dataset is used to illustrate the danger of misinterpreting estimates from shared random‐effects models.
Clinical value of pre‐transplant minimal residual disease in childhood lymphoblastic leukaemia: the results of the French minimal residual disease‐guided protocol
Authors: Gandemer Virginie , Pochon Cécile , Oger Emmanuel , Dalle Jean‐Hugues H. , Michel Gérard , Schmitt Claudine , de Berranger Eva , Galambrun Claire , Cavé Hélène , Cayuela Jean‐Michel , Grardel Nathalie , Macintyre Elizabeth , Margueritte Geneviève , Méchinaud Françoise , Rorhlich Pierre , Lutz Patrick , Demeocq François , Schneider Pascale , Plantaz Dominique , Poirée Marilyne , Bordigoni Pierre 
Published: January 2014

SummaryMinimal residual disease (MRD) is a major predictive factor of the cure rate of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Haematopoietic cell transplantation is a treatment option for patients at high risk of relapse. Between 2005 and 2008, we conducted a prospective study evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of the reduction of immunosuppressive medication shortly after a non‐ex vivo T depleted myeloablative transplantation. Immunoglobulin (Ig)H/T‐cell receptor MRD 30 d before transplant could be obtained in 122 of the 133 cases of high‐risk paediatric ALL enrolled. There were no significant demographic differences except remission status (first or second complete remission) between the 95 children with MRD <10−3 and the 27 with MRD ≥10−3. Multivariate analysis identified sex match and MRD as being significantly associated with 5‐year survival. MRD ≥10−3 compromised the 5‐year cumulative incidence of relapse (43·6 vs. 16·7%). Complete remission status and stem cell source did not modify the relationship between MRD and prognosis. Thus, pre‐transplant MRD is still a major predictor of outcome for ALL. The MRD‐guided strategy resulted in survival for 72·3% of patients with MRD<10−3 and 40·4% of those with MRD ≥10−3.
Patterns of transport and introduction of exotic amphibians in Australia
Authors: García‐Díaz Pablo , Cassey Phillip 
Published: February 2014

AbstractAimResearch on amphibian invasions has largely focused on the likelihood of successful establishment, while analysis of the previous stages in the invasion pathway (transport and introduction) is scarce despite its critical importance. Here, we investigate the patterns of taxonomic and geographic non‐randomness as well as the factors affecting the transport and introduction of amphibians.LocationAustralia.MethodsWe compiled and analysed a database on the identity of transported and introduced amphibians. First, we tested for taxonomic (family level) and geographic non‐randomness by comparing transported and introduced species with all extant caudates and anurans. Second, we constructed models to examine the influence of different factors upon the probability of transport and introduction of amphibians in Australia.ResultsAmphibians were transported via two main pathways: trade (71 species) and stowaway (38 species). In addition, several species were transported through both pathways. Transported species represented a taxonomic and geographic non‐random sample of all extant amphibian species. Conversely, introduced species constituted a random sample of the transported amphibians. Regardless of the transport pathway, the probability of transport of amphibians increased with increasing extent of their native geographical range. A large number of native Australian species have been transported outside their naturally occurring ranges, representing over 65% of the introduced species. Introduction is strongly correlated with the transport pathway, that is, species transported through two pathways were more likely to be released or escape from captivity.Main conclusionsThe probability of amphibians being transported and introduced to, or within, Australia is critically affected by their availability to be captured, bred and housed in captivity. Management strategies to prevent the future introduction and establishment of new amphibians need to include the people involved in species trade, as well as continued vigilance by biosecurity and custom agencies.
The increased efficiency of fish swimming in a school
Authors: Hemelrijk CK , Reid DAP , Hildenbrandt H , Padding JT 
Published: January 2014

AbstractThere is increasing evidence that fish gain energetic benefits from the hydrodynamic interactions when they swim in a school. The most recent indications of such benefits are a lower tail (or fin) beat at the back of a school and reduced oxygen consumption in schooling fish versus solitary ones. How such advantages may arise is poorly understood. Current hydrodynamic theories concern either fish swimming side by side or in a diamond configuration and they largely ignore effects of viscosity and interactions among wakes and individuals. In reality, however, hydrodynamic effects are complex and fish swim in many configurations. Since these hydrodynamic effects are difficult to study empirically, we investigate them in a computer model by incorporating viscosity and interactions among wakes and with individuals. We compare swimming efficiency of model fish (based on shapes of mullets of 126 mm) travelling solitarily and in schools at several interindividual distances in four different configurations (diamond, rectangular, phalanx and line). We show that these fish always swim more efficiently in a school than alone (except in a dense phalanx). We indicate how this efficiency may emerge from several kinds of interactions between wakes and individuals. As individuals in our simulations are not even intending to exploit the wake, gains in efficiency are obtained more easily than previously thought.