scholarly journals Item-based assessment of translation competence: Chimera of objectivity versus prospect of reliable measurement

Author(s):  
June Eyckmans ◽  
Philippe Anckaert

In the course of the past decade, scholars in Translation Studies have repeatedly expressed the need for more empirical research on translation assessment. Notwithstanding the many pleas for “objectivity” that have been voiced in the literature, the issue of reliability remains unaddressed. Although there is no consensus on the best method for measuring the quality of human or machine translations, it is clear that in both cases measurement error will need to be accounted for. This is especially the case in high-stake situations such as assessments that lead to translation competence being certified. In this article we focus on the summative assessment of translation competence in an educational context. We explore the psychometric quality of two assessment methods: the CDI method (Eyckmans, Anckaert, & Segers, 2009) and the PIE method (Kockaert & Segers, 2014; 2017; Segers & Kockaert, 2016). In our study, the reliability of both methods is compared empirically by scoring the same set of translations (n > 100) according to each method.

Author(s):  
Peter Avery ◽  
Alexandra D’Arcy ◽  
Keren Rice

The past twenty-five years have seen an enormous growth in research into World Englishes, reflecting a new recognition of the status of the many national English dialects. Canadian English has been no exception to this trend and we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the quantity and quality of research into this variety. The stature it is now accorded as a separate dialect of English is reflected in the number of dictionaries, thesauruses, usage guides, and other reference works published since the late 1990s that were devoted specifically to Canadian English (e.g., Guide to Canadian English usage; Canadian Oxford dictionary; Oxford Canadian Dictionary; Collins essential Canadian English dictionary and thesaurus; Fitzhenry and Whiteside Canadian thesaurus) as well as audio-visual productions (e.g., Dialects of Canadian English; Talking Canadian).


Author(s):  
Mark Liponis ◽  
Bettina Martin

The past two decades have seen great progress in recognizing the importance of inflammation in medicine. Increased focus on inflammation in both prevention and treatment has improved outcomes and quality of life in chronic diseases. Science has improved our understanding of inflammation’s many causes and effects on health, and many advances have been made in the availability of targeted therapeutic options for treating inflammation. This chapter gives an overview of recognizing the many causes of inflammation, its many targeted treatments strategies, and the questions that still surround it. It discusses several integrative approaches to reducing inflammation, including exercise, diet, and different strategies for managing sleep, mood, and stress, such as meditation and massage.


2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy T. Campbell ◽  
Jay Sicklick ◽  
Paula Galowitz ◽  
Randye Retkin ◽  
Stewart B. Fleishman

Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) — collaborative endeavors between health care clinicians and lawyers to more effectively address issues impacting health care — have proliferated over the past decade. The goal of this interdisciplinary approach is to improve the health outcomes and quality of life of patients and families, recognizing the many non-medical influences on health care and thus the value of an interdisciplinary team to enhance health. There are currently over 180 MLPs at over 200 hospitals and health centers in the United States, with increasing federal interest and potential legislative support of this model.This article examines the unique, interrelated, and often similar (although at times conflicting) ethical issues that confront the clinical and legal partners involved in MLPs. We contend that the ethical precepts of the clinical and legal professions should be seen as opportunities, not barriers, to further the interdisciplinary nature of MLPs.


2002 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shouyi Fan

Abstract This article attempts to highlight the thoughts of some of the prominent figures in translation studies over the past hundred years or so. With the onset of the third wave in translation activities, some patriotic scholars called for the establishment of translator training schools to meet the challenges coming from the West, while others set about introducing Western literature and philosophy into China. In the course of translating, problems cropped up, translators and scholars began to argue about what criteria they should follow, what methods they should use, and how to judge the quality of translation. As China moved into a new era, translation activities boomed and translation studies flourished, all proceeding in an orderly fashion and on a mass scale. A new wave emerged, bringing China closer to the outside world.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Primi ◽  
Paul Silvia ◽  
Mathias Benedek ◽  
Emanuel Jauk

Creativity assessment with open-ended production tasks relies heavily on scoring the quality of a subject’s ideas. This creates a faceted measurement structure involving persons, tasks (and ideas within tasks), and raters. Most studies, however, don’t model possible systematic differences among raters. The present study examines the impact of individual rater differences in the reliability and validity of creativity assessments. It applies the Many-Facet-Rasch-Model (MFRM) to model and correct for these differences. We reanalyzed data from two studies (Ns=132 and 298) where subjects produced metaphors, alternate uses for common objects, and creative instances. Each idea was scored by two to four raters. We simulated several conditions of reduced load on raters where they scored subsets of responses. We then compared the reliability and validity of IRT estimated scores (original versus IRT adjusted) on various conditions of missing data. Results show that (a) raters vary substantially on the lenient-severity dimension, so rater differences should be modeled; (b) when different combinations of raters assess different subsets of ideas, systematic rater differences confound subjects’ scores, increasing measurement error and lowering validity; and (c) MFRM adjustments effectively correct for rater effects, thus increasing validity. We conclude that MFRM is a powerful means to model rater differences and reduce rater load in creativity research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakmini Perera

Lightning is a captivating natural phenomenon but indisputably terrifying. Therefore, lightning studies have played an essential role in establishing safety regulations to protect lives and infrastructures. Among the many simulating functions that were utilized in the past for modelling the lightning return-stroke current, Heidler and Pulse functions overcame certain limitations, including the time derivative discontinuities. Incompletely-recorded current derivative signals represent another challenge in lightning research. This thesis proposes a double-term Pulse function that could be investigated with the double-term Heidler function for modelling the lightning return-stroke current. The time derivative of both Pulse and Heidler functions have been used to simulate the current derivative signals recorded on June 10, 1996. Some of these return-stroke signals exceded the maximum set level. Consequently, the double-term simulating functions were used to recover a large incompletely recorded return-stroke current derivative signal. The R2 fitting factor was used to evaluate the quality of each fitting to determine which simulating function is better suited to model and recover valuable return-stroke current signals.


1970 ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Arthur MacGregor

Of the many attributes that may deem an object worthy of inclusion in a museum, that of antiquity is one of the most potent - in a sense the most powerful of all, for other considerations such as beauty of form, originality of design, quality of workmanship or historical association may all be glossed over in the presence of extreme age. While antiquities have formed common components of museums throughout the history of collecting, striking changes have taken place in the significance attributed to them, not merely in the light of better understanding but more fundamentally in the way in which perceptions of antiquity itself have been repeatedly revised and reinterpreted within the museum context. These twin considerations of expanding understanding and changing perceptions of the past within the museum programme will form the basis of my paper. 


1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC J. MASH ◽  
DAVID A. WOLFE

Considerable effort has been expended over the past 2 decades to advance our knowledge of the causes and cures for child abuse. Although important gains have been made, unfortunately the knowledge base that guides our policies and interventions in the area of physical child abuse still reflects an abundance of clinical folklore and/or research that is seriously methodologically flawed. Many inconsistent and contradictory research findings exist which simply cannot be reconciled because of the many differences in samples, methods, and definitions of independent and dependent variables that characterize studies in this area. These methodological issues are highlighted, with some suggestions for improving the scientific quality of future studies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakmini Perera

Lightning is a captivating natural phenomenon but indisputably terrifying. Therefore, lightning studies have played an essential role in establishing safety regulations to protect lives and infrastructures. Among the many simulating functions that were utilized in the past for modelling the lightning return-stroke current, Heidler and Pulse functions overcame certain limitations, including the time derivative discontinuities. Incompletely-recorded current derivative signals represent another challenge in lightning research. This thesis proposes a double-term Pulse function that could be investigated with the double-term Heidler function for modelling the lightning return-stroke current. The time derivative of both Pulse and Heidler functions have been used to simulate the current derivative signals recorded on June 10, 1996. Some of these return-stroke signals exceded the maximum set level. Consequently, the double-term simulating functions were used to recover a large incompletely recorded return-stroke current derivative signal. The R2 fitting factor was used to evaluate the quality of each fitting to determine which simulating function is better suited to model and recover valuable return-stroke current signals.


Author(s):  
K. T. Tokuyasu

During the past investigations of immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in ultrathin frozen sections, we found that the degree of negative staining required to delineate u1trastructural details was often too dense for the recognition of ferritin particles. The quality of positive staining of ultrathin frozen sections, on the other hand, has generally been far inferior to that attainable in conventional plastic embedded sections, particularly in the definition of membranes. As we discussed before, a main cause of this difficulty seemed to be the vulnerability of frozen sections to the damaging effects of air-water surface tension at the time of drying of the sections.Indeed, we found that the quality of positive staining is greatly improved when positively stained frozen sections are protected against the effects of surface tension by embedding them in thin layers of mechanically stable materials at the time of drying (unpublished).


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