Methods and impact of correcting heart rate data errors during exercise in older adults

Heart rate (HR) by time curves could be useful as a measure of treatment fidelity (TF). The purposes were to describe the frequency of common recording irregularities (e.g. errors) observed during exercise, validate a process to correct those errors, and determine whether there is a clinically meaningful benefit to data correction. In total, 1895 exercise sessions from 69 older adults with hip fracture were inspected for errors in the placement of event markers (duration of exercise) and signal artifacts. Marker errors occurred in 33% of the participants and corrected in 324 sessions. Signal artifacts occurred in 96% of the participants and eliminated in 702 sessions. Computer code was 85% accurate in detecting signal artifacts, compared to 97% for investigators. HR was significantly higher after correction, but the average change was only 0.69 + 1.20 beats per minute. An HR monitor showing HR by time curves (HRxTC) can be used to evaluate TF during exercise.     

Social Status and the Effects of Legal Concealed Firearms on College Campuses

Research consistently shows that students and faculty are generally against expanding access to firearms on campus, and many stakeholders worry about the effects of campus carry laws on student violence, civility, and feelings of safety. We contribute to this literature by investigating how potential changes to campus carry policies affect students’ reported commitment to campus activities. Theories explaining fear of crime and social commitment led to hypotheses that predict members of socially disadvantaged groups—specifically women and minority students—would report less favorable attitudes toward gun possession on campus, greater feelings of vulnerability to victimization, and less commitment to the college environment when students or staff may possess guns. Hypotheses received support, and add to the growing literature documenting potential issues that legislators, administrators, and faculty might consider when debating the enactment of campus carry policies.     

Using Performance-Based Assessments to Prepare Safe Science Teachers

Standard 9 of the National Science Teachers Association Standards for Science Teacher Preparation is designed to ensure that science teacher preparation programs provide preservice science teachers with the knowledge and skills to understand and successfully engage students in a safe and ethical manner. This standard contains four components describing science teachers’ legal and ethical responsibilities, appropriate use of instructional materials (chemicals in particular), emergency procedures and safety equipment, and guidelines for proper use of living organisms in the classroom. In this article, we describe the requirements of Standard 9 and provide guidance on assessments that can be used to present evidence for preservice teachers’ competence in each of the four components.     

Recent Sexual Assault and Suicidal Behaviors in College Students: The Moderating Role of Anger

Sexual assault and suicide are 2 of many issues facing college students. Recent research calls for an examination of anger in suicidal behavior. Through a series of moderated logistic regression models, the authors examined the moderating effects of anger on the association of recent sexual assault and suicidal behaviors. Results support the moderating role of anger in the association of sexual assault with suicidal thinking, but not with self‐injury or suicide attempts. The authors discuss practitioner implications.     

Whose feedback? A multilevel analysis of student completion of end-of-term teaching evaluations

Student evaluation of teaching (SET) is now common practice across higher education, with the results used for both course improvement and quality assurance purposes. While much research has examined the validity of SETs for measuring teaching quality, few studies have investigated the factors that influence student participation in the SET process. This study aimed to address this deficit through the analysis of an SET respondent pool at a large Canadian research-intensive university. The findings were largely consistent with available research (showing influence of student gender, age, specialisation area and final grade on SET completion). However, the study also identified additional influential course-specific factors such as term of study, course year level and course type as statistically significant. Collectively, such findings point to substantively significant patterns of bias in the characteristics of the respondent pool. Further research is needed to specify and quantify the impact (if any) on SET scores. We conclude, however, by recommending that such bias does not invalidate SET implementation, but instead should be embraced and reported within standard institutional practice, allowing better understanding of feedback received, and driving future efforts at recruiting student respondents.     

It's a Holiday!!

This article studies various holiday distributions, the most interesting one being Easter. Gauss’ Easter algorithm and Microsoft Excel are used to determine that the Easter distribution can be closely approximated by the convolution of two well‐known uniform distributions.