Assessing source-based writing is challenging for raters due to the complexity of language usage and source integration (Plakans & Ohta, 2021). During the rating process, raters draw upon their prior experience, but despite a substantial body of research (Barkaoui, 2010a; Lim, 2011), no consensus has been reached regarding the impact of experience on assessment quality. This explanatory mixed-methods study compares rating performance of six novice and four experienced raters, who rated text products from integrated writing tasks using an analytic rating scale. The quantitative strand examines differences between the groups in terms of interrater agreement, severity, and halo effect. For the qualitative strand, think-aloud protocol and focus group interview data were collected. A set of qualitative variables that could help to explain the quantitative findings was identified based on prior research (e.g., Crisp, 2008; Zhang, 2016; Wolfe et al., 1998). Concerning interrater agreement and severity, the study results indicate greater variance between individual raters than between groups. In the case of the halo effect, we found that experienced raters were more susceptible to this effect than novices. The findings enhance our understanding of the role of rater experience and rater training for scoring approaches and rating quality in the context of integrated writing assessment.
This paper examines the impact of a specific district-level measure, local energy agencies (LEAs), on solar PV adoption in Germany. These agencies, founded since 1992, serve as contact points for citizens, municipalities, and companies, focusing on consultancy and networking for renewable energy and energy efficiency. Using data from the Core Energy Market Data Registry and an originally compiled dataset on LEAs, the analysis utilizes augmented synthetic controls to account for staggered agency adoption. A significant effect of the foundation of LEAs on new solar adopters, measured as the number of actors installing solar PV for the first time per 10,000 inhabitants, cannot be established. The result holds for different subgroups of new adopters, model specifications, and dependent variables. Effect sizes are generally small and standard errors are large. A positive or negative significant effect cannot be established for LEAs in general or for LEAs with certain characteristics.
This perspective article addresses the role of systemic resilience in circular economy (CE) debates. It underlines resilience as an important feature and proposes ways of how CE metrics and decision-making could be better aligned.
The opening of the Southwest Sub-basin (SWSB) of the South China Sea was slow-spreading and has been propagated toward the southwest. Yet, the structural variability and magmatic accretion process of the SWSB are still enigmatic. Here, utilizing a wide-angle seismic profile traversing the central segment of the SWSB, we obtain detailed S-wave velocity and V-p/V-s ratio models to investigate oceanic accretion process. In the first stage of seafloor spreading (ages >19.2 Ma), the V-p/V-s in the northern conjugate flank is more variable, while the V-p/V-s in the southern flank is lower and more convergence, with V-p and V-s decreased, indicating more vigorous magmatism on the northern flank but more thick cracks developed on the southern flank. In the second stage of spreading (ages similar to 19.2-17 Ma), V-p/V-s ratios in different conjugated flanks indicate pronounced asymmetry in oceanic lithospheric structure. The V-p/V-s ratios in the southern flank reveal a partially serpentinized mantle overlain by possible continental fragments embedded in basaltic rocks, contrasting to the normal oceanic crust in the north. Our results suggest that magmatic budget in the SWSB during seafloor spreading was asymmetric and consistently stronger in the north flank of the spreading axis, which probably associated with a southward ridge jump event. The high V-p/V-s ratios at the extinct spreading center reveal the serpentinization beneath both flanks of the median valley. After the cessation of seafloor spreading, the tectonic extension of the frozen magma chamber formed a median valley composed of highly fractured mafic rocks overlain by remnant continental fragments.
Following the end-Permian mass extinction, temperatures remained elevated for similar to 5 Myr, suggesting a fundamental restructuring of the Earth's climate system. Both a weak silicate weathering feedback and CO2 release from enhanced marine authigenic clay precipitation are proposed to have sustained elevated temperatures during the Early Triassic. The lithium isotope (delta Li-7) proxy can reveal the roles of terrestrial and marine reverse weathering in maintaining elevated Early Triassic temperatures. We present the first delta Li-7 values from Upper Permian to Middle Triassic carbonate strata from the Panthalassa Ocean and the western Tethys Ocean. At the Permian/Triassic boundary, carbonate delta Li-7 values in these records, along with previously published data from the eastern Tethys, are consistently below 0 parts per thousand, and remain low in the Early Triassic. Differences in carbonate delta Li-7 values among sections are interpreted as the combined influence of diagenetic alteration and carbonate mineralogy on the isotopic fractionation from co-eval seawater. In the Early Triassic, we observe a large difference between carbonate delta Li-7 values and published siliciclastic records following the extinction. Even after accounting for carbonate diagenesis, these paired records imply Li isotope fractionation between carbonate minerals, authigenic marine clay, and seawater that are distinct from modern marine environments. Inferred minimum and maximum constraints on seawater delta Li-7 values from these Early Triassic records are also incompatible. We hypothesize that a reduced oceanic Li reservoir-and thus, short residence time-may account for the anomalous Early Triassic delta Li-7 records, implying a simultaneous increase in continental weathering and marine clay authigenesis. Heterogeneous seawater delta Li-7 records in the Early Triassic could be, therefore, a potential symptom of perturbed carbon-silica cycling that permitted elevated temperatures to persist far longer than the typical timescale for the silicate weathering feedback on Earth's climate.
