bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The influence of test and sample dimensionality on latent trait person ability and item difficulty calibrations
Authors: Henning Grant 
Published: March 2008

The present study was designed to test the effects of violation of the unidimen sionality assumption on Rasch Model estimates of item difficulty and person ability. Also considered was the sensitivity of the Bejar Method, Rasch Model fit statistics, classical internal consistency estimation and principal components analysis in detecting the nature and extent of violations of unidimensionality. For the study of test item dimensionality, use was made of a simulated testing situation involving a two-dimensional 60-item test administered to an illustra tive 120-person sample. For investigation of person sample dimensionality, the simulation involved use of a 120-item test with an illustrative 60-person sample. Results clearly suggested that violations of item unidimensionality produced distorted estimates of person ability, and violations of person unidimen sionality produced distorted estimates of item difficulty. The Bejar Method was found to be sensitive to such distortions, and results of applying the Bejar Method along with internal consistency estimation and principal components analysis were mutually confirmatory.
Latent structure analysis of the Test of English as a Foreign Language
Authors: Boldt Robert F. 
Published: March 2008

Equating studies support the use of IRT methods for TOEFL equating, but there remains a discrepancy between IRT assumptions and diversity of the population served. The model assumes that a single latent proficiency variable underlies item performance, but the TOEFL candidate population is diverse, perhaps containing many groups with separate latent variables. This study attempted to identify such groups. The basic and very suprising outcome of this study was that a single factor accurately accounted for the proportions of joint item successes; proportions of joint item success were proportional to the products of item difficulties. These results indicate that latent group effects are small. The search for groups included assessing the relative importance of two factors in accounting for examinees' item successes, but the balance of importance of the two factors was rather smoothly distributed, with much overlap between different national origins, and between different language backgrounds. Neither of these variables accounted for more than 25% of the variation of importance of the factors. The present study supports equating with item response theory and suggests the use of a restrictive assumption of proportionality of item response curves. This single parameter model (not Rasch) could lead to simplified statistical procedures.
Crossvalidation of item response curve models using TOEFL data
Authors: Boldt Robert F. 
Published: March 2008

In a previous research study, factor analyses for TOEFL item phi-coefficients yielded a single factor for each section. This result conforms to the assumption that, within TOEFL sections, the item response curves are proportional. This assumption, called PIRC for 'proportional item response curve', could serve as a basis for simpler application methods than are now being used. Use of the assumption entails estimating fewer parameters and simpler computations than with current methods. Other anticipated benefits are reduced chances of error in calibrating items and smaller equating samples, which would in turn allow pretest evaluation of substantially more items for possible operational use. To evaluate the model further, a crossvalidation study was undertaken in which PIRC was used to predict item scores of selected examinees on selected items. The three-parameter logist model and a modified Rasch (one-parameter) model were used as well. The study also compared pre dicted half-test scores with actual scores for each method. These comparisons were made using varying sampling sizes to calibrate the items and calculate scores for the examinees. Surprisingly, the models' accuracies of prediction were approximately the same, and the estimation sample size appeared to make little difference.
What are the characteristics of natural cloze tests?
Authors: Brown James Dean 
Published: March 2008

This study investigates the characteristics of natural cloze tests. Natural cloze tests are defined here as cloze procedures developed without intercession based on the test developer's knowledge and intuitions about passage difficulty, suitable topics, etc. (i.e., the criteria which are often used to select a cloze passage appropriate for a particular group of students). Fifty reading passages were randomly selected from an American public library. Each passage was made into a 30-item cloze test (every twelfth word deletion). The subjects were 2298 EFL students from 18 colleges and universities in Japan. Each student completed one of the 30-item cloze tests. The 50 cloze tests were randomly administered across all of the subjects so that any variations in statistical characteristics could be assumed to be due to other than sampling differences. The students also took a 10-item cloze test that was common to all students. The 50 cloze tests were compared in terms of descriptive, reliability and validity testing characteristics. The results indicate that natural cloze tests are not necessarily well-centred, reliable and valid. A typical natural cloze is described, but considerable variations were also found in the characteristics of these cloze tests (with many of them having skewed distributions and/or poor reliability). The implications for cloze test construction and use are discussed.
The effects of note-taking on listening comprehension in the Test of English as a Foreign Language
Authors: Hale Gordon A. , Courtney Rosalea 
Published: March 2008

This study examined the effects of taking notes in the portion of the TOEFL listening comprehension section that contains short monologues, or 'mini talks'. These effects were assessed in experimental testing sessions with students in intensive English language programmes and with undergraduate and graduate international students. A multiple-choice questionnaire sur veyed the students' reactions to the opportunity to take notes and their previous note-taking experiences. Allowing students to take notes had little effect on their performance, and urging students to take notes significantly impaired their performance. These effects were observed even for students who reported being in the habit of taking many notes or reported having had classroom instruction in note taking. Apparently, then, little benefit is gained by taking notes in the context of the present TOEFL minitalks, perhaps because they are designed to assess listening comprehension with minimal demand placed on memory. Responses to the questionnaire aid in understanding the results and provide useful general information about the students' note-taking experiences and habits.
Rater characteristics and rater bias: implications for training
Authors: Lumley Tom , McNamara T.F. 
Published: March 2008

Recent developments in multifaceted Rasch measurement (Linacre, 1989) have made possible new kinds of investigation of aspects (or 'facets') of performance assessments. Relevant characteristics of such facets (for exam ple, the relative harshness of individual raters, the relative difficulty of test tasks) are modelled and reflected in the resulting person ability measures. In addition, bias analyses, that is interactions between elements of any facet, can also be analysed. (For the facet 'person', an element is an individual candidate; for the facet 'rater', an element is an individual judge, and so on.) This permits investigation of the way a particular aspect of the test situation (type of candidate, choice of prompt, etc.) may elicit a consistently biased pattern of responses from a rater. The purpose of the research is to investigate the use of these analytical techniques in rater training for the speaking subtest of the Occupational English Test (OET), a specific-purpose ESL performance test for health professionals. The test involves a role-play based, profession-specific inter action, involving some degree of choice of role-play material. Data are presented from two rater training sessions separated by an 18-month interval and a subsequent operational test administration session. The analysis is used to establish 1) consistency of rater characteristics over different occasions; and 2) rater bias in relation to occasion of rating. The study thus addresses the question of the stability of rater characteristics, which has practical implications in terms of the accreditation of raters and the requirements of data analysis following test administration sessions. It also has research implications concerning the role of multifaceted Rasch measurement in understanding rater behaviour in performance assessment contexts.
Examining validity in a performance test: the listening summary translation exam (LSTE) - Spanish version
Authors: Lee Scott Mary , Stansfield Charles W. , Kenyon Dorry Mann 
Published: March 2008

This article reports on a project undertaken by the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) to develop and validate a criterion-referenced perform ance test of listening summary translation ability for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).1 The listening summary translation exam (LSTE- Spanish version) is designed to assess ability to comprehend and summarize in written English recorded conversations spoken in Spanish. The language and topics of these conversations are intended to be representative of the conversations which the FBI routinely monitors. Bachman (1991) mentions two fundamental requirements for ensuring the validity of effective language testing procedures. First, the language abilities measured by the test must correspond to those abilities needed to carry out tasks in the target-language use situation. Secondly, features of the test tasks, or test method characteristics, must correspond to critical features of target- language use tasks. Bachman (1990; 1991) has suggested that the degree to which a language test meets these requirements can be assessed by evaluating the situational and interactional authenticity of the test tasks. Although the Bachman framework was not available to us at the time we developed this test (1988-89), we employ the framework here to present the test and to provide evidence of its validity. Evidence of the situational and interactional authenticity of the LSTE-Spanish is offered, as well as for convergent/divergent validity through comparisons of correlations with cri terion measures.
Examining the test-taking process: a cognitive perspective on the discourse cloze test
Authors: Storey Peter 
Published: March 2008

Testing consists of making a generalization about a population on the basis of what can be observed in a sample. This principle underlies not only the composition of the sample of individuals to be tested but also the selection of content for the testing instrument itself. Careful attention to the content of assessment tasks is needed to ensure that they are representative of the domain of tasks about which generalizations are to be drawn. However, content representativeness extends beyond mere attention to the problems posed and materials provided in the test. What is more crucially important is the manner in which test tasks are performed. Attention to test-taking process is especially crucial and problematic in the testing of cognitive processing skills. The sample will only be representative if the cogni tive processes involved in task performance are representative of those involved in performance of the domain of tasks in the real world. Thus the validation of tests involving cognitive processes will not be complete unless it includes some examination of the processes by which solutions to test tasks are reached. This line of thinking was propounded 40 years ago by Lennon but has only recently been taken up with the application of ethnographic methods to the study of the test-taking process. This article looks at the findings of a study of the processes employed by sub jects engaged in a discourse cloze test. Think-aloud protocols obtained from test- takers give indications of the reasoning employed in selecting items to complete gaps in the cloze passage and of the strategies employed in doing so. From these indications, cognitive processes are inferred. Comparing observed behaviours and inferred processes with those predicted in a model of ideal performance gives a measure of the construct validity both of the items and of the discourse cloze procedure in general. This introspective validation procedure reveals the test-tak ing behaviour of subjects engaged in cloze tasks and provides a cognitive perspec tive on the vexed question of what cloze actually measures.
The Ketogenic Diet: An Effective Medical Therapy With Side Effects
Authors: Wheless James W. 
Published: March 2008

Attention is directed to the fact that the ketogenic diet is much less toxic than some of the medications currently used in the treatment of epilepsy. (Dr Samuel Livingston, 1972) 1 The ketogenic diet... is an effective and safe medical treatment for epilepsy, but it must be judiciously applied and carefully monitored. (Drs Doug R. Nordli and Daryl C. DeVivo, 2001)2
A Contemporary Credo of Clinical Ethics in Terminal Care
Authors: McCartney James J. 
Published: March 2008

This article summarizes the convictions of a profes sional ethicist and director of a hospital-based bioeth ics institute with regard to decisions of clinical ethics, especially those surrounding care of the terminally ill. An ethical and legal distinction is made between refusal of treatment on the one hand, and assisted suicide and euthanasia on the other. However, no ethical distinction is maintained between withholding treatment or withdrawing it when it seems inappro priate. The importance of consent for all invasive medical treatment is emphasized, including all artificial deliv ery of nutrition and hydration. The rights of patients and legitimate proxies to refuse treatment on the basis of burdensomeness and uselessness are under scored. The importance of palliative care is noted, brain death is considered, organ donation is encouraged, and the article ends with a reminder that life is a basic, but not absolute, value.
Generic Screening as an Integral Part of Quality Management
Authors: Chirico-Post Jeannette A. , Creech Deborah F. , Stoelting H. Ingrid 
Published: March 2008

Comprehensive quality management programs are vital to the evaluation and improvement of the deliv ery of health care today and in the future. These programs must address issues which include quality assurance, risk management, and utilization manage ment. The programs should be designed to promote and assist in the safe delivery of patient care as well as the provision of a safe environment for all patients, visitors, and employees. Various methodologies have been advocated to en sure quality care, the majority of which are retro spective evaluations. One of the more recent meth odologies developed is generic screening. The Boston Veterans Medical Center has utilized generic screen ing since 1986 in its Quality Management Program. Our generic screening program has been successful as a result of multidisciplinary collaboration, com mitment, and support from the medical center's top management, both administrative and clinical. We have developed a credible system that may be used to fulfill many requirements of both internal and exter nal reviews. The program is easily reproducible and provides a basis for trend analysis within specific groups in order to better plan and meet patient care needs, minimize risk, and maximize outcome.
Ten Lessons for Leaders and Leadership Developers
Authors: Posner Barry Z. , Kouzes James M. 
Published: March 2008

In the early 1980's we set upon a quest to discover what it took to become a leader. We wanted to know the common practices of ordinary men and women when they were at their leadership best--when they were able to take people to places they had never been before. But knowing that the portrait emerging from the study of personal-best leadership experiences was only a partial picture, we also explored the expectations that the constituents have of people they would be willing to follow. Strategies, tactics, skills, and practices are empty (or worse yet, manipulative and exploitative) unless we understand the fundamental human aspirations that connect leaders and constituents. Our analysis of thousands of cases and surveys from over a dozen years of research has revealed a consistent pattern of exemplary leadership practices and fundamental constituent expectations. What we've learned from studies specifically with college student leaders over the past five years has only strengthened our fundamental appreciation that leadership is not a mysterious, mystical or etherial concept--one that is somehow beyond the scope and imagination of the vast majority of people. Leadership is certainly not conveyed in a gene, and it's most definitely not a secret code that can't be understand by ordinary folks. Our research has shown us that leadership is an observable, learnable set of practices. Indeed, the belief that leadership can't be learned is a far more powerful deterrent to development than is the nature of the leadership process itself. In this article we discuss ten lessons we've learned from thousands of ventures about what it takes to get extraordinary things done in organizations.
Military Leadership is Not a Dirty Word
Authors: Bruce Stephan R. , Vermakis Dean S. 
Published: March 2008

Leadership! The very word strikes into the heart and soul of people throughout the American business world. New books abound, just look at the surprising success of The One Minute Manager and Love & Profit: The Art of Caring Leadership. However, is there anything really new in either book? Or have they merely recapped and re-emphasized old --- But classic --- truisms of leadership? Military leadership has been stereotyped by many authors and practitioners without knowing all the facts that surround the individual, mission objectives, and mission goals. Military leadership tends to be lumped into one great generalization of perceived style - a style that is considered "tainted" and not relevant to the civilian business world at large. Let's not throw out the study of military leadership simply because we don't like the wartime environment or scenario. A study of the best [and the worst] can be used to everyone's benefit.
Leading and Managing Change through Adaptors and Innovators
Authors: Prato Previde Guido , Rotondi Paolo 
Published: March 2008

This study outlines an Italian experience with a large organization in the field of Health Care where major strategical and organizational changes have been carried out during the past 5 years. One of the aspects which has been studied is the relationship between leadership (cognitive) styles and change. The Adaption-Innovation concept and measure (Kirton, 1976, 1989) were applied to the top planning team and the operating team of the structure causing amazing results. The cognitive profile of the leaders of the organizations reflects the kind of vision, mission and managerial decisions they possessed. When leading change, cognitive style has proven to be a strategical weapon and a resource, both at an individual and at a team level. The management of change is in the particular case assumed to be a magical and scientific ability to deal with both the styles within departments, units and offices, in order to keep both the cognitive strategies alive and effective. Implications and application so these finding might be relevant for change management theory and practice.
The Sears X-Y Study
Authors: Worthy James C. 
Published: March 2008

In the aftermath of a sharp but temporary downturn of sales in 1949, the national personnel department of Sears, Roebuck undertook a study of how representative store mangers were coping with the problems of falling sales and profits and what could be learned from their experience. One of the specific problems the study addressed was that of payroll expense. Of special concern was the tendency observed in some stores to increase the number of persons in staff and supervisory positions. In order to secure factual information on this question, two groups of midsize stores were selected for study. They were carefully chosen for comparability in all respects but one. They were of similar size, carried the same lines of merchandise, and were located in communities of comparable size and demography. In number of employees they ranged from a low of 96 to a high of 113. They differed in only one important respect: structure of organization. Because in Sears terminology all stores in both groups were "B" stores, for purposes of the study one group was labeled "X" and the other "Y." Stores in the X group had a simple type of organization structure with a minimum number of staff and supervisory employees. There was a store manager at the top, a single assistant manager, and approximately thirty (actual range: twenty-seven to thirty-two) heads of selling departments ("division managers" in Sears parlance). There were, in addition, the usual non-selling or "service" activities such as shipping and receiving, customer service, maintenance, and unit control (the auditing and credit functions reported up separate lines of authority independent of the store managers).
Space-Age Refractory Fibers Improve Gas-Fired Infrared Generators for Heat Processing Textile Webs
Authors: Smith Thomas M. , Baukal Charles E. 
Published: March 2008

Gas-fired infrared neaters have been in use in industrial processing for a number of years. Recent material technology advances have made significant heating efficiency improvements. This technology pertains to the infrared generators that utilize a refractory fiber matrix material originally developed for use in rocket nose cones. The matrix contains thousands of specially treated, high emissive power, alumina silica fibers, which upon heating become incandescent and release their energy outwardly, at the speed of light, in the form of infrared radiation. The heating zone is contained in the upper 1/16" of the face of the matrix while the rest of the matrix acts as an insulator to prevent heat energy from being conducted backwards where it will be lost as heat available to do work. This narrow heating zone has several dramatic advantages. The generators are operating within 95% of full output within 5 seconds, can cool down enough to touch within about 3 seconds, and can be modulated to change the heat intensity rapidly because of the low mass of fibers that are actually heated. This is an important consideration in textile web processing because burning and fires can be prevented and no time or money is wasted waiting for heaters to cool down or warm up. The conversion of gross fuel gas energy to emitted radiant energy is highly efficient because the flame front produced by the combusting fuel is maintained in the presence of thousands of fibers per square inch. This very large surface area, per unit area, provides an excellent means for the hot gas molecules to conduct their heat energy to the fiber molecules. In most cases, textile manufacturers have reported fuel savings of 40-60% in their heating operations using this new technology. This paper will briefly review the three types of heat transfer, discuss the physics involved in radiation heat transfer, specifically in vestigate infrared heating, present the various types of infrared heaters available, detail how the special refractory fibers have improved heating efficiency and control, and finally delve into the various ap plications for this new type of heater.