The Use of Student Portfolios in Engineering Instruction

Student portfolios are listed as a possible means of assessment under the basic level accreditation criteria for ABET “Engineering Criteria 2000.” Efforts to initiate student portfolios in engineering instruction have been reported anecdotally in the literature, but a formal study on student portfolios in engineering has not been presented. We assigned student portfolios to freshmen and seniors taking biological engineering core courses containing a significant design component, and evaluated their effectiveness based on exit surveys, course evaluations, and instructor reflection. Portfolios were used to initiate student-centered learning, and to address the assessment issues raised by ABET. Results showed that 78% of seniors and 80% of freshmen believed that the use of student portfolios enhanced their learning. Among the freshmen, 69% of those students who were identified as sensing types by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator found portfolios useful, while 87% of the intuitive types found them useful. In this paper, the methodologies for using portfolios are detailed, the results of applying the portfolio method are presented, and implications and recommendations are discussed.     

Optical properties of undoped and oxygen doped CuCl films on silicon substrates

Semiconductor photonic emitters operating in the UV range remain an elusive goal. Attention has focused mainly on III-Nitrides. However, a large lattice constant difference between the III-Nitride layers and the compatible substrates results in high densities of misfit dislocations and consequently the device performance is adversely affected. An alternative novel material system, γ-CuCl on silicon, is investigated. Properties of the exciton luminescence from vacuum deposited undoped and oxygen doped CuCl films on Si are studied using temperature dependent photoluminescence spectroscopy. Oxygen doping degrades the optical quality and introduces an intermediate state leading to negative thermal quenching behaviour.     

Day hospital and residential addiction treatment: Randomized and nonrandomized managed care clients.

Male and female managed care clients randomized to day hospital (n=154) or community residential treatment (n=139) were compared on substance use outcomes at 6 and 12 months. To address possible bias in naturalistic studies, outcomes were also examined for clients who self-selected day hospital (n=321) and for clients excluded from randomization and directed to residential treatment because of high environmental risk (n=82). American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria defined study and randomization eligibility. More than 50% of followed clients reported past-30-day abstinence at follow-ups (unadjusted rates, not significant between groups). Despite differing baseline severities, randomized, self-selecting, and directed clients displayed similar abstinence outcomes in multivariate longitudinal models. Index treatment days and 12-step attendance were associated with abstinence (p     

Career decision-making and career search activities: Relative effects of career search self-efficacy and human agency.

The nature of the relationship between 3 human agency indices (assertiveness, instrumentality, and interpersonal facility), career search self-efficacy, and 3 career indices (vocational identity, career decision needs, and career activities performed) is examined. Data from 426 college men and women were analyzed using hierarchical regression to assess whether career search self-efficacy was able to mediate the relationship between human agency and each career index. For all 3 career indices, the mediator hypothesis was supported. No support was found for human agency mediating the relationship between career search self-efficacy and the career indices, nor for human agency moderating the relationship between career search self-efficacy and career indices. Implications for conducting counseling intervention programs focusing on development of career search self-efficacy expectations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal prescribing patterns of psychotropic drugs in nursing home residents.

Changes in the use of psychotropic drugs in a large nursing home were examined both in terms of usage for the total facility and in longitudinal changes within individuals. Data for the nursing home showed a gradual increase in use of antidepressants; a decrease in use of antianxiety medications and of sedative-hypnotics. Changes in the number of residents prescribed antipsychotics were not marked. Data within residents showed a great variability in number of psychotropic drugs used, in number of changes in dosage, and in specific patterns of medication change. The first drug change after admission (excluding day of admission) was more likely to involve initiation rather than discontinuation of psychotropic drugs. The medications studied were used over 4–7 months on the average, covering 20–30% of the resident's nursing home stay. The findings suggest that there is continued monitoring of psychotropic medications in the nursing home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploratory study of individual assessment practices: Interrater reliability and judgments of assessor effectiveness.

Three psychologists who regularly conduct individual assessments were asked to assess 3 individuals posing as job candidates for the same position. The materials from these 9 assessments—test scores, biographical information, and audiotapes of interviews—served as protocols for 50 industrial/organizational psychologists who rated the candidates and assessors. Comparisons of the approaches and conclusions of the assessors indicated variability in job/organizational information obtained, test instruments used, personal history information gathered, interview and the report generated, and conclusions regarding the candidates. On average, only one third of the raters agreed with the conclusions of the assessor whose protocol they were reviewing. Significant differences were found in the raters' evaluations of 2 of the assessors, depending on which candidate the assessor had evaluated. The study's design limits generalizability; however, the low interrater agreement is disturbing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Towards standards for the validation of expert systems

The paper provides a basis for the standardization of the validation of knowledge-based systems. The place of validation within the development process is discussed and a model is proposed. Knowledge-based system validation problems are decomposed using sequences of independent and dependent generic tasks. A model for validation of KBS causal processes as well as performance outcomes is presented. Practical applications to real systems are described.     

Where do I go next? Intelligent searching by very young children.

A memory-based search task was used to investigate the organization of searching by 24 young children. The task required Ss to remember in what natural location a toy had been hidden. Both an older (25–30 mo of age) and a younger (18–23 mo of age) group of Ss achieved a high level of errorless retrievals. To examine Ss' ability to search differentially as a function of their own level of certainty that they remembered the location of the toy, 2 surprise trials were included in which the toy was hidden as usual but was then moved without the S's knowledge. Ss' search behavior on these surprise trials was compared to their error trials. Both age groups showed greater persistence in their initial search on surprise than on error trials, indicating that their retrieval effort was based on their level of subjective certainty. The 2 age groups displayed different patterns in the subsequent searching that they did: The older, but not the younger, Ss searched differently on surprise and error trials. On surprise trials they searched selectively and intelligently, confining their search primarily to locations that were nearby or in some way related to the place where the toy had actually been hidden. The related searching of the older Ss suggests that they had made intelligent guesses about plausible alternative locations for the missing toy. Data provide evidence of early manifestations of metamemory. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Freud as Pegasus yoked to the plough.

In a letter to Fliess at the time of Freud's father's death, Freud referred to himself as "Pegasus yoked to the plough." Meanings condensed in this phrase have remained unexamined for over 30 years. Part I identifies and analyzes references embedded in the phrase and proposes an interpretation: Important early experiences, stirred up by his father's death, were grasped momentarily and expressed in an image from a poem by Schiller (1796). I believe that in writing the phrase, Freud revealed a well-kept secret: that his early experiences included maternal seduction and the primal scene. Part II examines the fate of the memories of these traumatic experiences and discusses the implication of their repression for Freud's rejection of the Seduction Theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)