Pursuing the Qualities of a “Good” Test

This article examines the issue of the quality of teacher-produced tests, limiting itself in the current context to objective, multiple-choice tests. The article investigates a short, two-part 20-item English language test. After a brief overview of the key test qualities of reliability and validity, the article examines the two subtests in terms of test and item quality, using standard classical test statistics. Unsurprisingly, the pretested items outperform the teacher-produced test. The differences between the two subtests underscore issues about the quality (or lack thereof) of teacher-produced tests. The article ends with suggestions of how teacher-produced tests might be improved.     

标准参照考试及其反拨效应

本研究从两个层面( TEM4 和TEM8) 和三个维度( 学科负责人、教师和学生) ,通过问卷调查方式探讨TEM 考试对高校英语专业教学与学习的影响。研究结果显示,学科负责人、教师和学生对考试的关注点 ( 或熟悉程度) 不尽相同;考试成绩在不同程度上给各校提供了评估教学质量和检验学习成果的信息; 然而随着考试影响度的上升,考试成绩也用于院系排名、学位授予、绩效考核、就业与深造等方面;考试未对正常教学秩序或课程造成冲击,但教师和学生受访者内部对考试持不同态度。本研究结果对今后英语专业教学改革具有参考价值。     

The new oral anticoagulants and the future of haemostasis laboratory testing

The tests currently employed within most haemostasis laboratories to monitor anticoagulant therapy largely comprise the prothrombin time (PT)/ International Normalised Ratio (INR) and the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). These are respectively used to monitor Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) such as warfarin, and unfractionated heparin. Additional tests that laboratories may also employ for assessing or monitoring unfractionated heparin include thrombin time (TT) and the anti-Xa assay, which can also be used to monitor low molecular weight heparin. Several new anti-thrombotic agents have recently emerged, or are in the final process of clinical evaluation. These novel drugs that include Dabigatran etexilate and Rivaroxaban would not theoretically require monitoring; however, testing is useful in specific situations. The tests currently used to monitor VKAs and heparin are typically either too sensitive or too insensitive to the new drugs to be used as ‘typically performed in laboratories’, and may thus require some methodological adjustments to increase or decrease their sensitivity. Alternately, different tests may be better employed in these assessments. Whatever the case, laboratories may soon be performing a reduced or possibly increased number of tests, the same kind of tests but perhaps differently, or conceivably different assay panels. Specific laboratory guidance on the choice of the appropriate test to be ordered according to the drug being administered, as well as on appropriate interpretation of test results, will also be necessary. The current report reviews the current state of play and provides a glimpse to the possible future of the coagulation laboratory.     

基于面板数据的我国人口城市化与经济增长动态比较研究

从面板数据的角度,对我国1989～2010年人口城市化水平与经济增长之间的关系进行动态比较研究,结果发现我国31个省市人口城市化水平与经济增长之间关系都表现为显著地正相关。总体来看,二者之间存在长期稳定的协整关系,但对不同地区来说,人口城市化水平对经济增长的促进作用差异较大,促进作用最大的为东部地区,依次为中部、东北和西部。误差修正模型显示人口城市化水平对经济增长的短期影响并不如长期影响明显。因此,贯彻落实户籍制度改革,有利于提高人口城市化水平,促进经济协调增长,消除区域间经济差距。     

浅谈国内体育设施功能检测的主要内容和发展情况

本文采用文献综述、调查访问,比较分析等研究方法,阐述了体育设施检测的主要意义和重要作用,介绍了体育设施检测的范围和主要内容,总结了国内体育设施检测的简要发展过程,归纳了国内体育设施功能检测工作"依托于国内、外检测标准和依据的发展""同步于大型国际体育赛事场馆建设的发展"的特点,对体育设施功能检测工作提出了展望与工作建议。     

Reliability assessment and correlation analysis of 3 protocols to measure trunk muscle strength and endurance

Different methods have been developed to quantify trunk muscle strength and endurance. However, some important protocol characteristics are still unclear, hindering the selection of the most suitable tests in each specific situation. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability and the relationship between 3 representative tests of the most common type of protocols used to assess trunk muscle strength and endurance. Twenty-seven healthy men performed each test twice spaced 1 month apart.Trunk strength and endurance were evaluated with an isokinetic dynamometer and 2 field tests including Biering-Sørensen test and Flexion–rotation trunk test.

All tests showed a good relative consistency (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]> 0.75), except for the isokinetic endurance variables which had low–moderate reliability (0.37 < ICC > 0.65). Absolute reliability seemed slightly better in the isokinetic protocol than in the field tests, which showed about 12% of test–retest score increase. No significant correlations were found between test scores.

After a familiarisation period for the field tests, the 3 protocols can be used to obtain reliable measures of trunk muscle strength and endurance. Based on the correlation analysis, these measures are not related, which highlights the importance of selecting the most suitable trunk test for each situation.     

What counts as part of a game? Reconsidering skills

The first goal of this paper is to reply to a number of criticisms levied by Gunnar Breivik and Robert L. Simon against an account of sporting skills I published almost 20 years ago in which I distinguished between constitutive and restorative skills and examined their normative significance. To accomplish this goal, I first summarize my characterization and classification of skills and then detail the criticisms. After responding to the latter, and thus reconsidering and hopefully strengthening my account of skill in sport, I turn my attention to Scott Kretchmar and Tim Elcombe’s inquiry into the skills involved in competitive sport. These authors claim that contesting skills demand the same respect usually accorded to testing skills. The second goal of this paper is then to explore Kretchmar and Elcombe’s inquiry under the light of my reconsidered analysis of skill. I specifically advocate a plausible relationship, both in terms of their distinctive character and relative import, between testing and contesting skills and constitutive and restorative skills. In doing so, I seek to present a more comprehensive account of skill in non-competitive and competitive sport.     

Does a perceptuomotor skills assessment have added value to detect talent for table tennis in primary school children?

ABSTRACT

Talent detection intends to support lifelong sports participation, reduce dropouts and stimulate sports at the elite level. For this purpose it is important to reveal the specific profile which directs children to the sports that connect to their strengths and preferences. This study evaluated a perceptuomotor skills assessment as part of talent detection for table tennis, a sport in which perceptuomotor skills are considered essential to cope with the difficult technical aspects. Primary school children (n = 121) and gifted young table tennis players (n = 146) were assessed using the Dutch perceptuomotor skills assessment measuring “ball control” and “gross motor function”. A discriminant function analysis confirmed the added value by identifying primary school children fitting the table tennis perceptuomotor profile of the young gifted table tennis players (28%). General linear model analyses for the assessment’s individual test items showed that the table tennis players outperformed their primary school peers on all “ball control” items (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the assessment appears to be of added value for talent detection in table tennis at this young age. Longitudinal studies need to reveal the predictive value for sports participation and elite sports.     

Evaluation of the performances of free-diving fins

Free diving is a sport that in the past few years has increased in importance, in terms of the number and the level of practising athletes. To reach depths close to 100 m in constant ballast, new physical and mental training techniques have been developed, and innovative materials and new shapes have been adopted for the fins. Usually the introduction of such improvements is based on manufacturers’ experience, while their evaluation is remitted to athlete’s opinions and not to quantitative measures. The aim of this study is to assess a new simple methodology to determine quantitatively the performance of free-diving fins. This methodology is shown in detail and the results of an analysis on a very popular fin are reported.     

搜索引擎用于测定网络影响因子时的一致性比较及原因分析

当前,搜索引擎用于测定网络影响因子时检索结果的一致性问题是网络计量学研究的普遍难题之一。首先,本文采用熵值法和非参数假设检验的方法比较了测定网络影响因子时常用的3种搜索引擎Google、Alltheweb及Altavista检索结果的一致性,以利于今后测定网络影响因子时准确选取工具。结果表明,Google检索结果一致性最好,Alltheweb次之,Altavista再次之。然后,从搜索引擎基本原理出发,对检索结果的不一致性的原因作了深入分析。最后,在原因分析的基础上,提出了适用于测定网络影响因子的搜索引擎应满足的条件。