We show how randomly scrambling the output classes of various fractions of the training data may be used to improve predictive accuracy of a classification algorithm. We present a method for calculating the "noise sensitivity signature" of a learning algorithm which is based on scrambling the output classes. This signature can be used to indicate a good match between the complexity of the class...

For peer assessments to be helpful, student reviewers need to submit reviews of good quality. This requires certain training or guidance from teaching staff, lest reviewers read each other’s work uncritically, and assign good scores but offer few suggestions. One approach to improving the review quality is calibration. Calibration refers to comparing students’ individual reviews to a standard—u...

Mobile learning has seen a large uptake in use in lowand middleincome countries. This is driven by rhetorics of easy scaling, reaching the hard-to-reach and the potential for generating analytics from the applications used by learners. Healthcare training has seen a proliferation of apps aimed at improving accountability through tracking and measuring workplace learning. A view of the mobile ph...

Functional recovery of the paretic upper extremity eludes the majority of patients post stroke. Although many tasks require the coordinated participation of both hands, rehabilitation strategies for the most part have focused on the paretic limb. This article reviews the behavioral basis of bimanual coordination both in health and after stroke hemiparesis and reviews clinical research studies t...

Pain is the most common complaint in the emergency department (ED), and emergency physicians face unique challenges in making opioid-related treatment decisions. Medical students and residents experience significant variation in the quality of education they receive both about opioid prescribing as well as substance-use detection and intervention in the ED. To achieve a better standard of educa...

Residency Training Requirements: For Better or Worse? A proposal has recently been put forward to increase the duration of the nuclear medicine residency and implement a 3-tier residency training requirement beginning in 2005 or 2006. The proposal includes increasing the length of the nuclear medicine residency from 3 to 4 years (1 basic clinical year [PGY-1] plus 3 years of nuclear medicine) f...

Two National Research Council panels have released new reports on improving science and math education in the United States. One panel says that the best way to improve teacher education is to make it a continuum, with school districts taking more responsibility for the initial preparation of new teachers and university faculty playing a bigger role in ongoing professional development. The othe...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation, including use of automated external defibrillators, unequivocally saves lives. However, even when motivated, those wishing to acquire training traditionally have faced a myriad of barriers including the typical time commitment (3-4 h) and the number of certified instructors and equipment caches required. RECENT FINDINGS The recent introdu...

Articles which compare practical examples of diVerent methods of involving users are rare, so the paper by van Wersch and Eccles in this issue of Quality in Health Care is of particular interest. It examines four methods of involving patients in the development of clinical guidelines which, in itself, is an area that has received relatively little attention. The four methods tested were: + incl...

In theory, a good experiment is supposed to be a multiple-choice question with only a few well-defined possible answers. In fact, the outcome of the most productive experiments is frequently “None of the above.” The study in this issue of Neurology by Dobkin et al.1 is an excellent example of a welldesigned study with an outcome substantially different from any of those anticipated. In 1951, Sh...