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Objective: This article describes the process of determining the need for a pass/fail grading system for APPE rotations and the development and implementation of a pass/fail grading process. Methods: Preceptors, faculty, and students were surveyed prior to the development and implementation of pass/fail grading and a new evaluation tool. Preceptors were surveyed after the new grading scheme had been in place for one year about their perceptions of student performance. Rates of APPE commendations under a pass/fail system and the number of students achieving a 4.0 under a point-based system are reported. Results: Surveys from preceptors indicate that pass/fail grading decreased preceptors concerns about distinguishing between student performances (56.6% had concerns prior to switching versus 30.6% having concerns after switching to pass/fail). Survey results also indicate that pass/fail grading did not affect preceptor's perception of student motivation (61.4% felt concerned under a graded system versus 12.2% were concerned after switching to pass/fail). A pass with honors commendation was given in 17.2% of rotation evaluations, contrasting with 83.1% of students achieving a 4.0 grade in a rotation prior to switching to pass/fail. Conclusions: The transition to a pass/fail grading system for APPE rotations is not associated with reductions in student motivation or performance, and is acceptable to preceptors. The implementation of a pass/fail system is complicated and takes a significant investment of time, but resulted in an APPE evaluation system which preserves student motivation, fosters robust feedback, decreases grade inflation, and allows preceptors to distinguish and reward student performance.

The southern pine species group is the main softwood resource used in the U.S, and the majority of southern pine is used in lumber production. The use of lumber in structural purpose requires feasible strength and stiffness grading method ensuring characteristics allowable stress values. The stiffness and strength of most of southern pine lumber is assessed using visual grading system. The objective of this study was to evaluate a production weighted sample of 2 × 4, 2 × 6, 2 × 8, and 2 × 10 No. 2 grade southern pine lumber collected across its geographic range. The results of this research show a snapshot of the material commercially sold in the southern U.S. region. Over one third of the specimens contained pith, and had an average mean value of 4.6 for number of rings per inch (RPI) and 43.8% for latewood (LW). The overall specific gravity (SG), modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) were 0.54, 10.1 GPa, and 41.7 MPa, respectively. The allowable design bending strength (Fb) for 2 × 4, 2 × 6, 2 × 8, and 2 × 10 was 11.2, 9.2, 8.1, and 7.1 MPa, respectively. Specimens containing no pith, RPI higher or equal then 4.0, and LW higher or equal then 33.0% were greater in MOE and MOR. The effect of grading controlling characteristics of the material was also studied. The presence of knots had the most significant impact on mechanical properties. Specimens with wane and shake had greater SG, MOE, MOR, Fb values than specimens with others grading controlling characteristics. The mean values found for RPI, LW, and SG met the requirements recommended for southern pine No. 2 lumber. The MOE and Fb values found therein met the previous and the new allowable design value. The results of this research can be used to identify and to select the best variables to improve the prediction of bending properties of visually graded lumber.

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Two topics related to near infrared (NIR) imaging technology are studied in this thesis. The first is on the calibration of line-scan NIR imaging systems, the second covers the feasibility of applying the NIR imaging technology for wheat grading. In the first study, a methodology is proposed to pretreat the NIR image data acquired by the line-scan NIR imaging system used in this thesis to reduce the systematic noise introduced by the imaging system. This calibration in a standardization methodology is shown to improve the result of multivariate image analysis (MIA) based on multi-way principal component analysis (MPCA). This method represents a practical and easily used tool for calibration of line-scan NIR imaging systems in that it does not employ expensive standard reflectance material. In the second study, two projects are accomplished. In the first project, NIR imaging is used to classify different classes of wheat kernels. Multivariate statistical algorithms, soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) and partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) are used to discriminate between different types of wheat kernels using spectral features from NIR images. A new strategy of implementing multiclass PLS-DA algorithm is proposed in this part. The results from this study show that NIR imaging provides a potentially fast and objective method for qualitatively evaluating certain characteristics of wheat samples, such as fungal infection, sprout damage and foreign types of grain, which are now graded manually in wheat industry. In the second project, NIR imaging is used to predict the "falling number" (FN) of wheat samples. Three models are built between the features extracted from NIR images of the wheat kernels and the falling number measurements made on bulk samples. One uses a regular PLS algorithm, one uses the orthogonal partial least square (O-PLS) algorithm and the other uses the PLS plus canonical correlation analysis (PLS+CCA) algorithm. The models are analyzed and the performance of the algorithms is discussed. The errors in the prediction of the O-PLS model are investigated. The results from this study indicate that NIR imaging is a promising method for the rapid assessment of the FN of wheat samples. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The status of non-punitive grading practices and policies in the two-year college remained highly uncertain due to a lack of substantive research. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to answer the following research questions: (1) How many public and private two-year colleges are currently using non-punitive grading practices? (2) What are the different forms of non-punitive grading practices now in use in public and private two-year colleges? (3) Are there differences in non-punitive grading practices among two-year colleges with different enrollment classification? (4) Are there differences in non-punitive grading practices among public and among private two-year colleges with different levels of academic policy control? (5) Are there differences in non-punitive grading practices among public and among private two-year colleges with different curricular emphasis? (6) What is the level of satisfaction among Deans of Instruction with the current non-punitive grading in public and private two-year colleges? (7) What are the future trends of non-punitive grading practices in public and private two-year colleges? The Non-Punitive Grading Practices Survey was designed to address the seven major research questions and was sent to 1,030 chief academic officers of public (n=866) and private (n=164} two-year colleges located in the continental United States. Seven hundred seventy-eight usable returns were received, representing a 75.5 percent response rate. The following conclusions were drawn from the findings: (1) Nonpunitive grading practices, in its purest forms, remain a viable grading system in a limited number of public and private two-year colleges during 1980-1981. (2) Non-punitive grading practices are considered to be "experimental" by many administrators and the majority of users of non-punitive grading do so on a limited basis. (3) Most academic deans in two-year colleges do not believe that non-punitive grading is consistent with the mission of their respective institutions. (4) An overwhelming majority of the deans in institutions with non-punitive grading practices favor non-punitive grades which represent the least change from traditional grading systems. (5) For non-punitive grading systems to be the exclusive methods of student evaluation academic policy control must be maintained at the local or state level. (6) University control over the academic policy of a two-year college is detrimental to the existence of non-punitive grading systems. (7) Curricular emphasis within pµblic community colleges has no apparent effect on the utilization of non-punitive grading practices. (8) Deans of instruction who utilize non-punitive grading practices, exclusively or experimentally, are very satisfied with these grading systems and practices. (9) No revolutionary changes in grading. systems are likely to occur in the next five years. (10) Non-punitive grading. systems will remain the minority grading systems in public two-year colleges.· (11) It is further concluded that faculty support is vital to the implementation and the deletion of non-punitive grading practices in two-year colleges. / Ed. D.

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