Assessing the Quality of MCQs in the Final Examination of UUM Foundation Students

The multiple-choice question (MCQ) format is commonly used to assess student knowledge as it is able to accommodate a large number of participants. The advantages of MCQs are that they are easy to handle and the results are able to be obtained quickly. To ensure that students are effectively tested, it is important to analyse the quality of MCQs by assessing the questions or items using educational measurements. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of MCQs of final exam questions of foundation students by using the Difficulty Index and Discriminant Index. The sample for this study is the Introduction to Philosophy final exam paper which is one of the courses taken by foundation students. The analysis involves 33 graded final exams and 20 MCQ items. The findings showed that there are 3 items that are ‘good’ that can be retained, 9 items that are considered as ‘fair acceptable/not acceptable’ which can be retained or revised, and 8 items that should be revised or discarded. The results of this study show that it is important to assess the quality of items in the assessment as it is able to change the selection of items in the assessment.

Discriminant indices for distinguishing thalassemia and iron deficiency in patients with microcytic anemia: a meta-analysis

More than 40 mathematical indices have been proposed in the hematological literature for discriminating between iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait in subjects with microcytic red blood cells (RBCs). None of these discriminant indices is 100% sensitive and specific and also the ranking of the discriminant indices is not consistent. Therefore, we decided to conduct the first meta-analysis of the most frequently used discriminant indices.An extensive literature search yielded 99 articles dealing with 12 indices that were investigated five or more times. For each discriminant index we calculated the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and summary ROC analysis was done for comparing the performance of the indices.The ratio of microcytic to hypochromic RBCs (M/H ratio) showed the best performance, DOR=100.8. This was significantly higher than that of all other indices investigated. The RBC index scored second (DOR=47.0), closely followed by the Sirdah index (DOR=46.7) and the Ehsani index (DOR=44.7). Subsequently, there was a group of four indices with intermediate and three with lower DOR. The lowest performance (DOR=6.8) was found for the RDW (Bessman index). Overall, the indices performed better for adults than for children.The M/H ratio outperformed all other discriminant indices for discriminating between iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait. Although its sensitivity and specificity are not high enough for making a definitive diagnosis, it is certainly of value for identifying those subjects with microcytic RBC in whom diagnostic tests for confirming thalassemia are indicated.

Study on the Construction Time of Secondary Lining in Loess Tunnel

The construction time of secondary lining in loess tunnel has been the focus of attention in the tunnel field, but no specific quantitative discriminant index of the construction time of the secondary lining has been applied. Relying on the Wofosi tunnel of Zhangjiakou-Zhuolu highway, based on the deformation characteristics and deformation rate analysis of the crown settlement and surrounding convergence, proposed that the stability of basic rate as the indicators of construction time of secondary lining, determined preliminarily the construction time of secondary lining by optimizing the regression model, combined with the characteristics of the rock pressure and pressure distribution state along the hole to determine the best construction time of secondary lining

Study on Regularity of early-Age Plastic Shrinkage Cracking in Cement Concrete Pavement

In order to study the occurrence regularity of early-age plastic shrinkage cracking, a series of indoor and outdoor experiments have been done in this paper. The synthesized discriminant index which is used to discriminate the situation that whether the early-age plastic shrinkage cracking happens or not has been put forward in this paper. It includes the index of unit volume accumulated evaporation besides the index of evaporation rate. Meanwhile, using Bayes Discriminant Method, based on the former indexes, the critical figure which is in connection with given environment conditions has been obtained and it can be used to detect whether early-age plastic shrinkage cracking happens or not by plotting the sense data which comes from the check specimen. The precision of prediction results that whether early-age plastic shrinkage cracking happens or not has been raised substantially by using this kind of discrimination method. The theory and method are useful for engineering application.

Value of measuring C-terminal parathyrin in differential diagnosis of hypercalcemia.

We measured calcium, phosphate, chloride, albumin, C-terminal parathyrin, and beta 2-microglobulin in serum from 102 hypercalcemic patients: 42 with primary hyperparathyroidism and 60 with neoplasia. The calcium concentrations and the discriminant function index of Johnson et al. (Clin Chem 28, 333-338, 1982) were higher in malignant hypercalcemia than in primary hyperparathyroidism. The diagnostic efficiency of the index and of parathyrin concentration was 82% and 78%, respectively. Using the ratio of parathyrin to beta 2-microglobulin increased the diagnostic efficiency to 98%; the ratio of the discriminant index to parathyrin concentration had a diagnostic efficiency of 100%. We conclude that C-terminal assay by itself is no better than the discriminant function index.