As students stress and cram for final-year exams in the hope of getting into university, a small group of students prepares to finish high school without having to sit one test.

Student Liam Birrer was supposed to be sitting a HSC exam instead he was fighting a bushfire in his local community.

Survivors of sexual assault in regional Australia are driving for hours to access forensic medical examinations, even though any GP or nurse can be trained to administer them.

A Newcastle immunologist on trial for abusing dozens of women has argued vaginal and anal examinations he performed on patients were for medical, not sexual reasons.

(California Court of Appeal) - The denial of a petition for writ of administrative mandate to review the decision of the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners (Board) revoking petitioner's chiropractic license, is affirmed as the Board's findings are supported by substantial evidence and petitioner's other claims of error are meritless.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Held that an organization may not proceed with its defamation action alleging reputational harm from an article published in an American Bar Association law journal. The author's statements were non-actionable expressions of opinion. Affirmed a dismissal.

Over 45 new examples of hoaxes, scams and spam e-mails have been published today.

419 scams are on the rise again. We have published 11 new 419 scams on our site. Remember to subscribe to our RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/shpamee) if you are not already a subscriber of the SHPAMEE Project.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that a company offering bar exam review courses did not plausibly plead that a competitor conspired with certain law schools to enable it to obtain a monopoly. Affirmed the dismissal of this antitrust lawsuit.

The ABA Journal recently published an article entitled Bar Exam Does Little to Ensure Attorney Competence, Say Lawyers in Diploma Privilege State, describing the experience in Wisconsin, the only state that currently has the “diploma privilege.”  Under the Wisconsin rules, in-state law school graduates can become licensed without taking a bar exam.  These graduates must … Continue reading The Coronavirus Crisis Provides an Opportunity to Adopt Better Systems for Licensing Lawyers than the Bar Exam →

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on May 6, 2020.

The coronavirus pandemic and its associated lockdown in most countries has forced major changes in the way people live, work and study. Online learning is now routine for many, and is largely unproblematic, not least because it has been used for many years. However, online testing is more tricky, since there is a concern by many teachers that students might use their isolated situation to cheat during exams. One person's problem is another person's opportunity, and there are a number of proctoring services that claim to stop or at least minimize cheating during online tests. One thing they have in common is that they tend to be intrusive, and show little respect for the privacy of the people they monitor.

As an article in The Verge explains, some employ humans to watch over students using Zoom video calls. That's reasonably close to a traditional setup, where a teacher or proctor watches students in an exam hall. But there are also webcam-based automated approaches, as explored by Vox:

For instance, Examity also uses AI to verify students' identities, analyze their keystrokes, and, of course, ensure they're not cheating. Proctorio uses artificial intelligence to conduct gaze detection, which tracks whether a student is looking away from their screens.

It's not just in the US that these extreme surveillance methods are being adopted. In France, the University of Rennes 1 is using a system called Managexam, which adds a few extra features: the ability to detect "inappropriate" Internet searches by the student, the use of a second screen, or the presence of another person in the room (original in French). The Vox articles notes that even when these systems are deployed, students still try to cheat using new tricks, and the anti-cheating services try to stop them doing so:

it's easy to find online tips and tricks for duping remote proctoring services. Some suggest hiding notes underneath the view of the camera or setting up a secret laptop. It's also easy for these remote proctoring services to find out about these cheating methods, so they're constantly coming up with countermeasures. On its website, Proctorio even has a job listing for a "professional cheater" to test its system. The contract position pays between $10,000 and $20,000 a year.

As the arms race between students and proctoring services escalates, it's surely time to ask whether the problem isn't people cheating, but the use of old-style, analog testing formats in a world that has been forced by the coronavirus pandemic to move to a completely digital approach. Rather than spending so much time, effort and money on trying to stop students from cheating, maybe we need to come up with new ways of measuring what they have learnt and understood -- ones that are not immune to cheating, but where cheating has no meaning. Obvious options include "open book" exams, where students can use whatever resources they like, or even abolishing formal exams completely, and opting for continuous assessment. Since the lockdown has forced educational establishments to re-invent teaching, isn't it time they re-invented exams too?

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The teacher recently traveled to Italy and came back to class before noticing the symptoms, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The proposal comes as city officials announced that only 11% of students admitted to specialized schools this year were black or Latino, compared to 70% of all city students, a figure virtually unchanged from years past.

The annual math and English exams administered annually to New York 3rd-8th graders, as well as exams for English Language Learners, will no longer be given this school year, said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa and interim state Education Commissioner Shannon Tahoe.

The high-stakes exams are graduation requirements for New York high school students.

The next opportunity to take the test is Aug. 29, and the College Board will offer an additional chance to take the test in September if students are able to return to school.

Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' general manager and top basketball executive, discusses the uncertain future of the NBA and potential title chase for the team.

A Texas grand jury has been hearing evidence that could form the basis for criminal charges related to the opioid overdose death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Print readers of the Los Angeles Times are no doubt familiar with Donald Sterling's advertisements.

This example many will be able to repeat with possible grave danger to uncounted numbers, a letter to the editor says.

O presidente do STJ, João Otávio Noronha, suspendeu decisão que obrigava o presidente Jair Bolsonaro a entregar laudos de exames para detectar se ele foi infectado pelo coronavírus.

This example many will be able to repeat with possible grave danger to uncounted numbers, a letter to the editor says.

NAR Examines Nation's Flood Disclosure Policies

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government is confident that the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination could be held on April 24.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung made the statement when explaining the arrangements for the DSE examination at a press conference today.

Mr Yeung said the Government understands that some DSE candidates are concerned about their safety.

He said measures will be taken to make sure that examination venues will be as safe as possible.

Exam candidates will have to wear masks, which have already been distributed, before entering the examination centres. Hand sanitisers will also be given to them.

If a candidate has a fever or upper respiratory tract symptoms, they will not be allowed to take the exam.

Additionally, more classrooms will be turned into examination centres and desks will be separated by at least 1.8m in most centres.

Mr Yeung said: “We are now confident that the exam could be held on April 24.

“We believe that with everyone’s effort and hopefully with the support of the community in trying to control the spread of the disease, we will be able to complete the DSE exam by the end of May.”

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung said all the examination centres for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination are well prepared to provide a very safe environment for candidates to take the exams.

Mr Yeung made the statement when asked by reporters this morning about the arrangements schools have made to prepare for the DSE to be held on April 24.

He said: “In terms of the distance between the seats, in terms of all the procedures for cleansing, and also the detailed arrangements including the toilet arrangement and other things, all the schools, all the examination centres, are well prepared to provide a very safe environment for our candidates to take the examinations.”

Regarding school resumption, Mr Yeung said the Government has not made any firm decision nor set any deadline for schools to resume classes.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung today visited Queen Elizabeth School to inspect the preparatory work of an examination centre for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (DSE) Examination.

Mr Cheung was briefed on anti-epidemic precautionary measures for candidates and examination personnel before they enter the centres.

They will be required to wear masks, make health declarations, undergo temperature checks, disinfect the soles of their shoes and clean their hands with alcohol-based sanitiser.

He then visited the school hall to understand the preparation required for an examination centre, such as disinfection and widening the distance between candidates’ seats to 1.8m as much as possible.

The Chief Secretary also learnt about the arrangements for candidates during the sessional break and the use of washrooms to help ensure that social distancing is maintained.

Mr Cheung was pleased to know that the Education Bureau had earlier distributed masks to candidates and made available about 200,000 bottles of alcohol-based sanitiser for candidates at examination centres.

The bureau has also set fallback dates, should the DSE examination be halted if the epidemic situation worsens.

He thanked the bureau, relevant government departments, the Examinations & Assessment Authority, principals, teachers and school staff for the additional work they have done to protect the candidates’ health and safety.

He encouraged the some 50,000 candidates to tackle the examinations positively and optimistically and reminded them to heighten their anti-epidemic awareness and strictly follow examination arrangements.

Additionally, Mr Cheung appealed to all employers to allow their staff to follow flexible working hours to divert passenger flows on public transport during the morning peak hours between 7am and 8am, thus enabling candidates to reach examination centres on time.

Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang today visited the temporary operation centre for the special scheme for delivering urgently needed prescription medication to Hong Kong people in Guangdong and Fujian.

Under the compulsory quarantine arrangements, many Hong Kong people who are staying in Guangdong and Fujian provinces are unable to attend follow-up consultations in Hong Kong to replenish their prescription medication and return to the Mainland on the same day.

The Government introduced a special scheme on February 24 to deliver medicine to them, with priority given to those who would run out of prescription medication by end-April.

Mr Tsang was pleased to learn that as of April 29, prescription medication deliveries had been made to more than 7,600 Hong Kong residents in need.

He thanked the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions for offering voluntary services for the drug delivery scheme with its well-established service networks on the Mainland.

Mr Tsang also thanked the Pharmaceutical Society of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Care Foundation for deploying pharmacists to the temporary operation centre to help verify drug records and patients' information.

During his visit, he gave encouragement to participating volunteers and thanked them for their support for the scheme.

Mr Tsang said as the expiry date for the Compulsory Quarantine of Certain Persons Arriving at Hong Kong Regulation has been extended to June 7, the special scheme will be extended and give priority to cases in which prescription drugs will run out on or before that date.

Call 2343 2255 for enquiries about the scheme.

(University of Arkansas) Giant elliptical galaxies are not as likely as disk-shaped galaxies, such as our own Milky Way, to be cradles of technological civilizations, according to a recent paper by a University of Arkansas astrophysicist.

(University of Chicago Press Journals) A recent study confirms that Mesoamerican priests ripped the hearts out of their still-living victims in three different ways. New forensic evidence, historic witness accounts and native representations now show that the most common form of native heart extraction was from beneath the rib cage, second was forceful chest penetration between two ribs and at mid-chest level between the nipples, and thirdly, a mid-chest opening of one single blow, extracting the heart from the front.

(Bentham Science Publishers) Two authors representing environmental geomorphology and historical archaeology collaborated in an investigation that aimed to examine the material culture still evident in urban burial sites with dated, upstanding headstone memorials.

Invitation Only Research Event

Event participants

Beyza Unal, Senior Research Fellow, International Security Department, Chatham House
Patricia Lewis, Research Director, International Security Department, Chatham House

Purpose: To investigate differences between positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) and PET/computed tomography (PET/CT) in lesion detection and classification in oncological whole-body examinations and to investigate radiation exposure differences between both modalities. Material and Methods: In this prospective, single-center, observational study 1003 oncological examinations (918 patients, mean age 57.8±14.4y) were included. Patients underwent PET/CT and subsequent PET/MRI (149.8±49.7min after tracer administration). Examinations were reviewed by radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians in consensus. Additional findings, characterization of indetermiante findings in PETCT, missed findings in PET/MRI including their clinical relevance and effective dose of both modalities were investigated. McNemar’s test was used to compare lesion detection between both hybrid imaging modalities (p<0.001 indicating statistical significance). Results: Additional information in PET/MRI was reported in 26.3% (264/1003) of examinations compared to PET/CT (p<0.001). Of these, additional malignant findings were detected in 5.3% (53/1003), leading to a change in TNM-staging in 2.9% (29/1003) due to PET/MRI. Definite lesion classification of indeterminate PET/CT findings was possible in 11.1% (111/1003) with PET/MRI. In 2.9% (29/1003), lesions detected in PET/CT were not visible in PET/MRI. Malignant lesions were missed in 1.2% (12/1003) by PET/MRI leading to a change in TNM-staging in 0.5% (5/1003). The estimated mean effective-dose for whole-body PET/CT amounted to 17.6±8.7mSv in comparison to 3.6±1.4mSv in PET/MRI, resulting in a potential dose reduction of 79.6% (p<0.001). Conclusion: PET/MRI improves lesion detection and potentially reduces additional examinations in tumor staging. Especially younger patients may benefit from the clinically relevant dose reduction of PET/MRI compared to PET/CT.

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has announced that exams for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) are to be held in July.  Results are to be released in September.  The decision was taken at the...

DE Kelley
May 1, 2000; 49:677-683
Articles

ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC –A senior education official Thursday said students would sit the Grade Six National Assessment examinations later this year, despite the disruption caused to the education system by the coronavirus (COVID-19). Dominica...

Testimony of Marc R. Rosenblum, Deputy Director, U.S. Immigration Program, before the House Judiciary Committee on the efficacy of immigration enforcement at the U.S. border and in the interior.