Difficult Questions Research Articles

Time spent on active learning activities does not necessarily correlate with student exam performance: a controlled case study.

Active learning, including student thinking and discussion in class, has been shown to increase student learning gains. However, it is less clear how instructor-level variation in the implementation and timing of active learning activities affects student gains. Our study aims to investigate the extent to which the time spent on individual episodes of active learning activities influences student performance. We hypothesized that instructors who let students spend more time on peer discussion and individual thinking on practice problems associated with particular learning objectives would have better student exam scores on exam questions addressing those objectives. To test this hypothesis, we obtained a large data set of classroom recordings and student exam scores from an introductory biology course at a large 4-year university, where three instructors shared identical teaching materials and exams for different course offerings. Contrary to our hypothesis, although the three instructors spent significantly different amounts of time on episodes of thinking and peer discussion, there was no correlation between the total time spent on active learning activities and student performance on exam questions. Linear mixed-effects modeling of the effect of the length of episodes of student thinking and discussion on exam score found that in the context of shared instructional materials, the amount of course time spent on active learning activities did not reliably predict student performance on associated exam questions. This result held true even when only considering learning objectives with high variations in performance between offerings, difficult exam questions, or exam questions requiring higher-order thinking skills. Although our study was only conducted in one course, our results imply that time spent per individual episode of student thinking or peer discussion may not be the primary factor explaining the positive effects of active learning and that it may be worthwhile to explore other factors.

Commemorating the monkey bars, catalyst of debate at the intersection of human evolutionary biology and public health.

Play is an essential part of childhood, and growing attention has focused on the potential health benefits of 'risky' or 'thrill-seeking' play. Such play behavior is readily observed on any playground, where it can sometimes lead to injuries--most often from fall impacts--that require medical attention. Monkey bars account for ~7% of childhood arm fractures in the USA, an alarming statistic that raises difficult questions over its costs and benefits. Many authors view monkey bars as a public health hazard, but it is plausible that our childhood impulse toward thrill-seeking play is a result of selective pressures throughout our primate evolutionary history. Indeed, emerging evidence suggests that the developmental benefits of thrill-seeking play extend into adulthood, outweighing the occasional costs of injury. Disparate and consequential, these dueling perspectives have fueled debate among health professionals and policymakers, but with little attention to the work of biological anthropologists. Here we call attention to the hominin fossil record and play behaviors of non-human primates, providing a novel perspective that bolsters arguments for the adaptive significance of thrill-seeking play. The moment for such a review is timely, for it commemorates the centennial anniversaries of two playground icons: the jungle gym and monkey bars.

Doing place through data: Proliferation, profiling and the perils of portrayal in local climate action

Building on work which has shown the role of digital technologies in reframing environmental relations, this paper explores ethnographically how environmental data is reconfiguring the concept of place. The paper takes as its focus an action-research project within a UK based, citizen-oriented initiative called Newtown Energy Futures, in which we sought to enfold climate and energy data into a social-justice informed attempt at climate action. By exploring how the project used data as an invitation for citizens to engage with and participate in local infrastructural and environmental dynamics, the paper sheds light on how environmental data came to participate in the making of place and in doing so raised questions about how to rebuild the socio-material relations through which ‘a sense of place’ might be reproduced. As climate and energy data increasingly demand that places become enrolled into environmental projects our findings suggest that data enables place to emerge as a ‘socio-technical potentiality’ an observation that has implications both for both engagement with, and the study of data and place. In practical terms, we suggest that this refiguration of place has the effect of creating hopeful trajectories for change, whilst also posing difficult questions about the limits of participation in a data-infused form of place-based politics.

How an Android Expresses “Now Loading…”: Examining the Properties of Thinking Faces

The “thinking face” is a facial signal used to convey being in thought. For androids, the thinking face may be important to achieve natural human–robot interaction. However, the facial pattern necessary for portraying the thinking face remains unclear and has not yet been investigated in androids. The current study aims to (a) identify the facial patterns when people are engaged in answering complex questions (i.e., thinking face) and (b) clarify whether implementing the observed thinking faces in an android can facilitate natural human–robot interaction. In Study 1, we analyze the facial movements of 40 participants after they are prompted with difficult questions and indicate five facial patterns that corresponded to thinking faces. In Study 2, we further focus on the pattern of furrowing of the brows and narrowing of the eyes among the observed thinking facial patterns and implement this pattern in an android. The results show that thinking faces enhance the perception of being in thought, genuineness, human-likeness, and appropriateness in androids while decreasing eeriness. The free-description data also revealed that negative emotions are attributed to the thinking face. In Study 3, we compared the thinking vs. neutral faces in a question–answer situation. The results showed that the android's thinking face facilitated the perception of being in thought and human-likeness. These findings suggest that the thinking face of androids can facilitate natural human–robot interaction.

Beyond the Question: Reexamining a Parent's Unusual Request.

Pediatricians sometimes think about medical ethics as the field of determining right and wrong in in answering difficult moral questions that occur at the bedside. But an emphasis on rapidly determining right and wrong when faced with ethical dilemmas can lead clinicians to miss important issues underlying both the question and their approach to answering it. We argue that ethical reflection is not merely a process of getting to the right answer but also a way to probe beyond the original question to better understand the stakeholders' perspectives and priorities. In this Ethics Rounds, we present the case of an infant born at 23 weeks' gestation who initially faced numerous complications of prematurity, but has progressed beyond acute critical illness. His father requests a transition to palliative care at a point this option would not typically be offered. The straightforward response to this father's request is "no." However, we reexamine the father's request from the perspective of a neonatologist, a clinical ethicist, and a conflict mediator. Why is the father making this request? Why do clinicians feel rushed to respond? The authors discuss how elements of surprise and implicit biases can push clinicians to hasty answers. We introduce tools used in clinical ethics consultation and conflict mediation that can facilitate alternative responses from the clinical team. Employing the "Ladder of Inference," ascertaining the "View from Everywhere," and differentiating positions from interests can help clinicians explore the context of ethical questions and lead to more fruitful resolutions.

Communicating corporate social advocacy (CSA) in polarized times: A stoic turn from dancing to wrestling

In an age of increasing stakeholder activism, seen in movements like Fridays for Future, MeToo, and Black Lives Matter, and demands from socially conscious consumers, companies are expanding their roles beyond corporate social responsibility (CSR) and publicly addressing contentious social and political issues through corporate social advocacy (CSA). However, as stakeholders become more divided along ideological and socio-political lines, CSA can often lead to backlash from polarized audiences, damaging the company’s reputation, relationships, and legitimacy. This raises the question of whether it is prudent for companies to engage in CSA in polarized times? Can companies endure potential repercussions such as consumer boycotts, disaffected employees, and irate politicians and investors? This paper critiques the limitations of current approaches to communicating corporate societal responsibilities and explores Stoicism, an ancient Hellenistic philosophy, as an alternative lens to answer these difficult questions. As an applied philosophy and practical ethics, Stoicism not only offers a philosophical rationale for CSA, but also offers actionable principles to deal with agitated, divergent voices in polarized times. This paper discusses four selected Stoic thoughts and offers practical advice for managers on whether and how to effectively engage in CSA in polarized times. Recommendations include aligning CSA efforts with corporate identity, prioritizing factors within the organization’s control, remaining flexible and adaptable when encountering obstacles, and adopting reflective practice.

Role of Effective Assessment in Motivating Students with Learning Difficulties in Primary Schools from Teachers’ Perspectives in Abha

This study investigated the attitudes of teachers of students with learning difficulties toward the assessment methods used in primary schools in Abha City, Saudi Arabia. The descriptive analytical method was used and a questionnaire developed as research instrument. The study sample of 140 teachers was chosen randomly to represent part of the study population, namely teachers who teach students with learning difficulties. The teachers had positive attitudes toward the assessment method used for students with learning difficulties, resulting from the positive views of the community and the school principal. The teachers were a category of special education teachers who deal with a group that was marginalized in the past and have now garnered interest as they need dealing and providing care. The findings show that teachers of students with learning disabilities, regardless of their academic degrees or qualifications, try to structure the questions and explain them to the students in such way that they can understand and answer them, in addition to reducing the difficult essay questions that they cannot answer. In addition, classrooms are poorly staffed. The results show that, in comparison to primary school students, the students benefited from the oral reading component of the mathematics test, which is useful for students with learning difficulties.

Study on the Communication History of "Good Governance in Media" Mechanism from the Perspective of Crisis Situations and its Reconstruction

The process of globalization and the development of digital information technology highlight the research focus of public crisis management communication. As an important medium of communication, media is a key element in the process of public crisis resolution, and it does not exist in isolation in various single media vacuum, but is an important part of media environment ecology. Media shape society, and society in turn affects and reconstructs media and its entire system. From the perspective of crisis situation, whether it is the information dissemination trend of the risk itself or the media governance strategy, it greatly affects the breeding and trend of public opinion risk. Based on this, the history of media studies of the "good media governance" mechanism and the two dimensions of good media governance are more significant. The co-construction of mechanisms and the co-governance of technological risks reveal the power embedding and reconstruction in the media governance field, reflecting the difficult questions of media communication on the process of modernity and the theoretical prospect of the construction of a digital human value community after undergoing crisis and rebirth.

Minority groups, Indigenousness and Indigeneity, and place in social perceptions of future climate interventions

Radical climate intervention technologies such as carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management pose difficult questions as potential remedies for destructive climate change. The effect these technologies could have on Indigenous peoples and minority groups, and those living in rural areas, could be profound and potentially calamitous. Drawing on a large-scale, cross-country set of nationally representative surveys (n = 30,284 participants, with at least 1,000 in each country) in 30 countries and 19 languages, this article examines public preferences for climate intervention technologies through the three dimensions of minority groups, Indigenousness, and place. The survey explores 10 climate intervention or geoengineering technologies: stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening, space-based geoengineering, afforestation and reforestation, soil carbon sequestration, blue carbon and marine biomass, direct air capture with carbon storage, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, enhanced rock weathering, and biochar. Comparing the full sample of respondents with a subsample self-identifying as ethnic minorities or Indigenous peoples, it finds this latter category of respondents has greater familiarity with these technologies than non-members, are more positive about small-scale trials and have more positive attitudes towards engineered options (versus nature-based options). Those in cities also expressed stronger support for small-scale field trials. Moreover, members of Indigenous groups or ethnic minorities expressed significantly higher levels of support for small-scale trials for nearly all technologies, were more supportive of policy incentives, and, inter alia, less supportive of policy restrictions. Conversely, non-members of Indigenous or ethnic minority groups expressed small but significantly greater support for independent national restrictions being placed on solar radiation management and engineered forms of carbon removal.

TopoDoE: a design of experiment strategy for selection and refinement in ensembles of executable gene regulatory networks

BackgroundInference of Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) is a difficult and long-standing question in Systems Biology. Numerous approaches have been proposed with the latest methods exploring the richness of single-cell data. One of the current difficulties lies in the fact that many methods of GRN inference do not result in one proposed GRN but in a collection of plausible networks that need to be further refined. In this work, we present a Design of Experiment strategy to use as a second stage after the inference process. It is specifically fitted for identifying the next most informative experiment to perform for deciding between multiple network topologies, in the case where proposed GRNs are executable models. This strategy first performs a topological analysis to reduce the number of perturbations that need to be tested, then predicts the outcome of the retained perturbations by simulation of the GRNs and finally compares predictions with novel experimental data.ResultsWe apply this method to the results of our divide-and-conquer algorithm called WASABI, adapt its gene expression model to produce perturbations and compare our predictions with experimental results. We show that our networks were able to produce in silico predictions on the outcome of a gene knock-out, which were qualitatively validated for 48 out of 49 genes. Finally, we eliminate as many as two thirds of the candidate networks for which we could identify an incorrect topology, thus greatly improving the accuracy of our predictions.ConclusionThese results both confirm the inference accuracy of WASABI and show how executable gene expression models can be leveraged to further refine the topology of inferred GRNs. We hope this strategy will help systems biologists further explore their data and encourage the development of more executable GRN models.

Performance of three artificial intelligence (AI)-based large language models in standardized testing; implications for AI-assisted dental education.

The emerging rise in novel computer technologies and automated data analytics has the potential to change the course of dental education. In line with our long-term goal of harnessing the power of AI to augment didactic teaching, the objective of this study was to quantify and compare the accuracy of responses provided by ChatGPT (GPT-4 and GPT-3.5) and Google Gemini, the three primary large language models (LLMs), to human graduate students (control group) to the annual in-service examination questions posed by the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP). Under a comparative cross-sectional study design, a corpus of 1312 questions from the annual in-service examination of AAP administered between 2020 and 2023 were presented to the LLMs. Their responses were analyzed using chi-square tests, and the performance was juxtaposed to the scores of periodontal residents from corresponding years, as the human control group. Additionally, two sub-analyses were performed: one on the performance of the LLMs on each section of the exam; and in answering the most difficult questions. ChatGPT-4 (total average: 79.57%) outperformed all human control groups as well as GPT-3.5 and Google Gemini in all exam years (p < .001). This chatbot showed an accuracy range between 78.80% and 80.98% across the various exam years. Gemini consistently recorded superior performance with scores of 70.65% (p = .01), 73.29% (p = .02), 75.73% (p < .01), and 72.18% (p = .0008) for the exams from 2020 to 2023 compared to ChatGPT-3.5, which achieved 62.5%, 68.24%, 69.83%, and 59.27% respectively. Google Gemini (72.86%) surpassed the average scores achieved by first- (63.48% ± 31.67) and second-year residents (66.25% ± 31.61) when all exam years combined. However, it could not surpass that of third-year residents (69.06% ± 30.45). Within the confines of this analysis, ChatGPT-4 exhibited a robust capability in answering AAP in-service exam questions in terms of accuracy and reliability while Gemini and ChatGPT-3.5 showed a weaker performance. These findings underscore the potential of deploying LLMs as an educational tool in periodontics and oral implantology domains. However, the current limitations of these models such as inability to effectively process image-based inquiries, the propensity for generating inconsistent responses to the same prompts, and achieving high (80% by GPT-4) but not absolute accuracy rates should be considered. An objective comparison of their capability versus their capacity is required to further develop this field of study.

An evaluation of a final year multiple choice questions examination at Faculty of medicine-university of Benghazi

Background: Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are widely used in medical education, they have the feature of sampling broad domains of knowledge efficiently and reliably. They represent one of the most important examination tools used in undergraduate and postgraduate medical examinations. Exam analysis is an assessment tool that provides important information about validity and reliability of test. Item analysis is used to analyze the difficulty and the discrimination ability of individual items and the total test scores. The purpose of this study is to examine the quality of one of the final exam papers, that is composed of single best of five MCQs, and to examine the correlation between the difficulty and discrimination index of each item. Subject and method: The authors collected the exam results of 425 students who set for the final exam at the end of the a academic year 2021- 2022. The exam consisted of 70 MCQs and was aiming to assess the students` knowledge, understanding, application and analysis of the subject matter. The test was analyzed regarding content validity and reliability of the test as a whole as well as the difficulty coefficient and discrimination coefficient for each item. Results: Out of the 425 students who set for the exam about 86% has passed (scored ≥ 60% of the total marks), the test reliability was excellent (0.91) and the mean difficulty index (P) was 75.22 ± 19.4 (easy exam). Out of the 70 items six (8.57%) had a poor discrimination (D &lt; 0.1). When comparing the exam questions with the blueprint 90% of the topics of the subject materials were either over or under represented. About 77% of the exam questions were testing either students` knowledge or understanding. The correlation between the difficulty index and discrimination index was moderately positive which was statistically significant (0.633, P = 0.000). Conclusion: although the current study showed a good exam reliability, however the exam content validity was suffering from many weakness regarding the total number of the items, and distribution of the items according to the topics and the cognitive levels, therefore the number of exam questions should be increased and a blueprint should be developed for assessment. The overall exam difficulty was low as there were too many easy questions and this could impair both exam validity and reliability. The number of average and difficult questions should be considerably increased.

The Side-Effects of Imprisonment: Harm to the Family

AbstractImprisonment affects prisoners’ families. Empirical research tells us that some families benefit from this separation, particularly when they are victims of crime or abuse. But for many, imprisonment has a negative impact on family life, which can be intensified by other pre-existing factors. The main literature on the harm that imprisonment causes family members is empirical, but these empirical findings raise difficult moral questions. How might we approach these side-effects? One view, The Simple View, suggests these side-effects are proportionate so long as the overall harm produced does not outweigh the good punishment aims to achieve. This paper defends The Complex View. Here, proportionality requires us to think about factors beyond the magnitude of harm. Drawing upon existing moral and political philosophy, I aim to show three other factors that may alter how certain harms and benefits figure in proportionality calculations.

Discretionary Decisions in Public Administration Based on Machine Analytics: Challenges and Risks

The article is devoted to the problems and risks of machine analytics and other digital technological resources in making managerial decisions in public administration. The author raises the difficult question of the fact that against the background of loud victory speeches about mass measures of digital transformation in public administration, some timid and sensible voices have been lost, asking: can everything be perfect and without flaws? No technological nodes and solutions today work with 100 per cent reliability. The same is true of human organisations. No one and nothing is perfect. Therefore, defects, dysfunctions, imbalances, and errors in public administration have been in the past, are now, and will be in the future. The problem is that digital technologies, while helping to combat some of these defects, dysfunctions, imbalances, and errors in public administration, drive other defects, imbalances, and errors in public administration very deeply into the ground and create third ones. And we have not yet learnt how to diagnose all this. The article gives some eloquent examples of great harm caused by failures of machine analytics to support public administration decision-making. The author shows typical problems of digitalisation in public administration, but concludes that these problems are solvable.

Public Bioethics Amidst a Pluralist People: A Project of Presumption, Despair, or Hope?

Abstract Michael Lamb’s recent book A Commonwealth of Hope presents an opportunity for bioethicists to engage in critical self-evaluation in order to consider anew why and how to engage difficult bioethical problems and questions with those who maintain diverse moral and metaphysical perspectives. Drawing on an account of the virtue of hope from Augustine of Hippo, Lamb develops a political theory in which hope provides common ground for political cooperation between diverse citizens of a commonwealth. The purpose of this introduction is to sketch out a framework by which to assess and evaluate whether bioethics demonstrates hope. This article provides a summary description of Lamb’s presentation of Augustine’s virtue of hope and his concept of politics. Then it considers implications of Lamb’s politics of hope for bioethics, identifying three features of hopeful bioethics, with which bioethicists can engage in self-reflection and evaluation.

REVIVAL OF THE EVIL EMPIRE AS A THREAT TO HUMANITY

Empires are an extraordinary phenomenon in the history of mankind. The study of empires requires scientific understanding, thoughtful comparison and deep analysis. Such way of studding the comparative approach of the problem has arisen that will help us understand the nature of the emergence and disappearance of imperial formations, find answers to difficult questions: how empires grew, for what reasons some of them were powerful and others weak, why some empires disappeared and others flourished (John Hutchinson, 2017). Is there a connection between the instability of power, coups and the death of empires? And finally, what are the consequences for world development of the disappearance of imperial formations. Among the reasons for the demise of empires, researchers single out political and economic problems, social and cultural issues, and environmental challenges. The author of the article tries to explain how the Moscow Empire was formed and how the Russian Empire manages to survive despite a number of dangerous challenges. In the submitted article prof. L.Chekalenko for the first time revealed the phenomenon of "saving" the empire in historical and political dimensions. The author discovered that Russia was saved by its vassals – conquered peoples. So, the article examines the factors that support and revive imperial formations, and also makes cautious assumptions about the future scenarios of the development of events surrounding the current situation.

Large Databases Can Answer Difficult Questions: Commentary on an article by Ming-Xiang Zou, MD, PhD, et al.: "Is Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Associated with Spinal Degenerative Disorders? Evidence from Observational and 2-Sample Mendelian Randomization Analyses".

Large Databases Can Answer Difficult Questions: Commentary on an article by Ming-Xiang Zou, MD, PhD, et al.: "Is Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Associated with Spinal Degenerative Disorders? Evidence from Observational and 2-Sample Mendelian Randomization Analyses".

Identifying Difficult Questions and Student Difficulties in a Spanish Version of a Programming Assessment Instrument (SCS1)

Identifying Difficult Questions and Student Difficulties in a Spanish Version of a Programming Assessment Instrument (SCS1)

Un timp, multe timpuri. Principalele teorii ale timpului în dezbaterea filosofică actuală

When asked what time is, the first thing that comes to mind is the clock, that ticking which sets the rhythm of our daily lives. But what can we say if the question is more precise, if we are interested in the nature of time? In this case, many of us would echo Saint Augustine’s words and admit that it’s a difficult question. In this essay, I will focus on the current philosophical debate to highlight the main theories and their limitations. The goal is to show how none of them can fully capture the complexity of the notion of time, particularly when it comes to experience. We must acknowledge that we cannot provide a single answer to the definition of time. Instead, we can arrive at multiple answers depending on the context we consider.

Improving patient understanding of GEP test results (IMPARTER4): An RCT.

527 Background: We developed two 8 min films to aid patients’ understanding about gene expression profiling (GEP) tests (Oncotype DX or Prosigna) in breast cancer. A previous study of 120 women without breast cancer demonstrated significantly better knowledge after film viewing compared to that after reading written materials (1). We present results of an RCT testing the films’ utility when given in clinics to women with early HR+ breast cancer for whom the benefit of chemotherapy was uncertain. Methods: Standard information policies about GEP testing differ, some clinics may provide patients with leaflets, others only verbal information. Patients who had consented to a GEP test were invited to join IMPARTER4. At baseline they completed anxiety trait/state and intolerance of uncertainty (IoU) questionnaires and were then randomized to Gp A (hospitals’ standard information alone) or Gp B (standard information plus the relevant GEP patient film). Prior to learning their risk of recurrence scores, researchers interviewed patients and probed their understanding and knowledge about GEP testing together with the role risk scores had in helping determine management options (hormone therapy plus or minus chemotherapy). Following test result discussions with oncologists, patients completed two further questionnaires measuring anxiety and decisional conflict. Treating physicians all completed IoU questionnaires once at baseline, Satisfaction with their clinical interviews conducted with patients about risk scores and management decisions was measured using a study specific questionnaire. Results: To date 225/230 patients from 18 UK hospitals (Gp A (standard information alone) n=103; Gp B (standard plus information film) n=122) were seen by 79 physicians. Socio-demographics, anxiety trait/state and IoU did not differ between groups. Prior to the results discussion, written information was given to 128/225 (56.9%), (66 in Gp A, and 62 in Gp B). Linear regression analyses (adjusted for age and education) showed that mean knowledge scores were higher in those receiving standard information plus the film (Gp B), (2.5 points (95% C.I:1.7-3.4) p&lt;0.001). There was a trend for longer consultations in those patients having standard information alone (Gp A) (12.6% v 8.2%), who also asked more difficult questions (9.7% v 2.5%). Conclusions: Patient information films significantly improved knowledge about GEP tests and recurrence risk results compared to standard verbal and written information alone. Furthermore, the films appeared to enable shorter, more informed discussions between patients and their oncologists about the addition of chemotherapy to hormone therapy alone. Versions in Spanish, Italian, French, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, and Bengali are freely available. 1. Fallowfield et al, Br Ca Res &amp; Tmt. 2022. Clinical trial information: 28497350.