Automatic Evaluation of Wheat Resistance to Fusarium Head Blight Using Dual Mask-RCNN Deep Learning Frameworks in Computer Vision

In many regions of the world, wheat is vulnerable to severe yield and quality losses from the fungus disease of Fusarium head blight (FHB). The development of resistant cultivars is one means of ameliorating the devastating effects of this disease, but the breeding process requires the evaluation of hundreds of lines each year for reaction to the disease. These field evaluations are laborious, expensive, time-consuming, and are prone to rater error. A phenotyping cart that can quickly capture images of the spikes of wheat lines and their level of FHB infection would greatly benefit wheat breeding programs. In this study, mask region convolutional neural network (Mask-RCNN) allowed for reliable identification of the symptom location and the disease severity of wheat spikes. Within a wheat line planted in the field, color images of individual wheat spikes and their corresponding diseased areas were labeled and segmented into sub-images. Images with annotated spikes and sub-images of individual spikes with labeled diseased areas were used as ground truth data to train Mask-RCNN models for automatic image segmentation of wheat spikes and FHB diseased areas, respectively. The feature pyramid network (FPN) based on ResNet-101 network was used as the backbone of Mask-RCNN for constructing the feature pyramid and extracting features. After generating mask images of wheat spikes from full-size images, Mask-RCNN was performed to predict diseased areas on each individual spike. This protocol enabled the rapid recognition of wheat spikes and diseased areas with the detection rates of 77.76% and 98.81%, respectively. The prediction accuracy of 77.19% was achieved by calculating the ratio of the wheat FHB severity value of prediction over ground truth. This study demonstrates the feasibility of rapidly determining levels of FHB in wheat spikes, which will greatly facilitate the breeding of resistant cultivars.

An Analysis Of Rater Error In Recruitment And Selection Process Of IT Organizations

This paper attempts to study the extent to which rater error is prevalent in recruitment and selection process in Islamabad based Information Technology (IT) organizations. The study observed, evaluated and analyzed complete recruitment process of the 03 selected organizations to find out any conscious or unconscious activity of rater error during the selection process. The study employed qualitative research methodology in which whole selection process was monitored in person, all recruitment forms and documents were studied, unstructured interviews were conducted with the Chief Operating Officers, the Human Resource managers, the technical managers of the organizations and even the candidates. After thorough analysis, the findings of the study reveal that rater errors exist in all of the three organizations, influenced by several conscious and unconscious factors. Results show that stereotyping, halo effect, contrast effect, similarto- me effect and first impression effect were prevalent in the organizations which undermine the objective evaluation of candidates to a greater extent. The study recommends the organizations should pursue rater training programs of the all managers, executives involved in the recruitment process and conducting panel interviews for minimizing the rater errors.

COMPARING THE STANDARD AND ELECTRONIC VERSIONS OF THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE ASSESSMENT SCALE – COGNITIVE SUBSCALE: A VALIDATION STUDY

The Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS-Cog) has become the de facto gold-standard for assessing the efficacy of putative anti-dementia treatments. There has been an increasing interest in providing greater standardization, automation, and administration consistency to the scale. Recently, electronic versions of the ADAS-Cog (eADAS-Cog) have been utilized in clinical trials and demonstrated significant reductions in frequency of rater error as compared to paper. In order to establish validity of the electronic version (eADAS-Cog), 20 subjects who had received a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at a private US Memory Clinic completed a single-center, randomized, counterbalanced, prospective trial comparing a version of the eADAS-Cog to the standard paper scale. Interclass Correlation Coefficient on total scores and Kappa analysis on domain scores yielded high agreement (0.88 – 0.99). Effects of order and mode of administration on ADAS-Cog total scores did not demonstrate a significant main effect. Overall, this study establishes adequate concurrent validity between the ADAS-Cog and eADAS-Cog among an adult population with diagnosed AD.

An Analysis Of Rater Error In Recruitment And Selection Process Of IT Organizations

This paper attempts to study the extent to which rater error is prevalent in recruitment and selection process in Islamabad based Information Technology (IT) organizations. The study observed, evaluated and analyzed complete recruitment process of the 03 selected organizations to find out any conscious or unconscious activity of rater error during the selection process. The study employed qualitative research methodology in which whole selection process was monitored in person, all recruitment forms and documents were studied, unstructured interviews were conducted with the Chief Operating Officers, the Human Resource managers, the technical managers of the organizations and even the candidates. After thorough analysis, the findings of the study reveal that rater errors exist in all of the three organizations, influenced by several conscious and unconscious factors. Results show that stereotyping, halo effect, contrast effect, similarto- me effect and first impression effect were prevalent in the organizations which undermine the objective evaluation of candidates to a greater extent. The study recommends the organizations should pursue rater training programs of the all managers, executives involved in the recruitment process and conducting panel interviews for minimizing the rater errors.

Towards Developing an Integrity Framework in Performance Appraisal System (PAS) in the Malaysian Public Sector: A Preliminary Analysis from Justice and Ethical Perspectives

The implementation of Performance Appraisal System (PAS) is seen as a strategic move to foster performance-basedwork culture in the Malaysia’s public sector. Embedded in pay-for performance system, the new appraisal systemwhich was first introduced in 1992 establishes linkage between pay system, performance and competenciesdevelopment. However, the chain tying pay to performance appears to be weak. Massive disappointment signalspoor implementation as the appraisal system was overshadowed by inappropriate instrument design, rater error,inaccurate rating, bias assessment, etc. These major setbacks have evoked concern over ethical and fairness in thepractices of PAS. Occurrence of problems in the implementation of PAS signified erosion of justice and ethics in thepractices of PAS, thus lead to growing demand for integrity-based performance assessment system. This preliminaryanalysis therefore seeks to examine the relationship between ethic, justice and the practices of PAS in the Malaysia’spublic sector. Correlation coefficient results disclosed positive association between variables as the instrument used,process employed are moderately associated with ethics and justice dimensions. The appraisal system is likelyperceived to be good if fair assessment and ethical supervision were present and vice versa. This study deliberatelydiscusses the aforementioned issues through integrated framework based on organizational justice and workcharacter ethics theories and proposed framework for integrity enhancement in the implementation of PAS.Significantly, this article makes a theoretical contribution towards developing higher integrity capacity which oftenrequires in HRM practice.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM IN MAJAN ELECTRICITY COMPANY (SOHAR, OMAN) AND ITS IMPACT ON EMPLOYEES’ MOTIVATION

Purpose The objective of the study is to investigate whether the performance appraisal system used is in Majan Electricity Company, (Oman), measures the employees’ performance accurately and to ensure motivation and satisfaction of its employees.Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted with 106 employees from all the departments of the main office of the company located at Sohar, who were selected on stratified random sampling basis and were contacted through a well-defined questionnaire. Findings The study reveals that even if there is a problem with the accuracy of performance appraisal system in measuring the performance accurately, or due to rater error in the evaluation process, the employees’ performance appraisal is not affected by them and has got positive impact on employees’ motivation and satisfaction.Practical Implications The study demonstrates that there is a strong association between the (i) performance appraisal system and (ii) motivation of the employees and the employees’ satisfaction. It is also found that there is no relationship between performance appraisal system, rater errors, and the accuracy of performance appraisal system.Social Implications Performance appraisal system is dependent on motivation of the employees and employees’ satisfaction. So, there exists necessity for the company to pay attention towards motivating the employees through concentrating on increasing the satisfaction of the employees.Originality/value No study have examined the impact of performance appraisal system of the Majan Electricity Company in Sohar ever before considering employee’s motivation and the welfare of the employees in one hand and the management on the other, and it is first hand study of its kind.Research limitations/Implications The study was restricted to the main office of the company located at Sohar, Oman. The study could be extended to know the insight of the personnel involved in the entire Majan Electricity Company, Oman.

A Faculty Development Program to Reduce Rater Error on Milestone-Based Assessments

Background Rater errors, such as halo/reverse halo, range restriction, and leniency errors, are frequently cited as threats to the validity of resident assessment by faculty. Objective We studied whether participation in faculty development on the use of a new Milestone-based assessment tool reduced rater error for participants compared to individuals who did not participate. Methods We reviewed evaluations of resident Milestones completed by faculty at the end of rotations between July 2012 and June 2013. The 2 Milestones in each competency with the greatest number of ratings were selected for analysis. Results A total of 412 evaluations were analyzed, including 217 completed by faculty who participated in the development activity, and 240 completed by nonparticipant faculty. All evaluations that contained identical scores for all Milestones (16%) were completed by nonparticipant faculty (χ2 = 37.498, P < .001). Faculty who had participated in development assigned a wider range of scores and lower minimum scores to residents, and provided the highest ratings for residents less frequently (P < .001) than nonparticipants. Conclusions Faculty who participated in education about the Milestones demonstrated significantly less halo, range restriction, and leniency errors than faculty members who did not participate. These findings support a recommendation to develop a cadre of “core faculty” by training them in the use of Milestone assessment tools, and making them responsible for a significant portion of resident assessments.

The Influence of Collectivism and Rater Error on Organizational Citizenship and Impression Management Behaviors

Although the employer may not necessarily recognize this, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) enhances organizational performance. However, most contemporary appraisal measures fail to distinguish between OCB and other types of employee behaviors such as impression management behavior (IMB) and in-role behavior (IRB), all of which employees could display in order to gain higher performance ratings. In this paper we distinguished empirically between OCB, IMB, and IRB, and examined their selection factors. Our regression results showed that an employee's collectivism was positively associated with his/her OCBs. Contrary to our prediction, however, collectivism was also positively related to IMBs. In the context of human resource management, an employee's perception of rater error had a negative effect on OCBs and IRBs. Implications for management and future research are discussed.