BE02-KA200-000462 A c c e p t e d E u r o p e a n J o u r n a l o f P s y c h o l o g y o f E d u c a t i o n EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK STUDENTS 2 At-risk at the gate: Prediction of study success of first-year Science and Engineering students in an open-admission university in Flanders Any incremental validity of study strategies?

A plethora of studies have shown that procrastination is associated with deleterious consequences. Recently, some authors argued that for some students, purposefully delaying tasks might be a beneficial strategy that is positively related with desired outcomes. To measure purposeful delay, the Active Procrastination Scale (APS), developed by Choi and Moran (2009), discriminates between four subcomponents (i.e., outcome satisfaction, preference for pressure, intentional decision and ability to meet deadlines). The objective of the present study is threefold: (1) to corroborate the factor structure of the original APS instrument; (2) to empirically examine whether purposeful delay is associated with better achievement; and (3) to identify a subpopulation of students for whom purposefully delaying tasks is an effective strategy. Using a large sample of 1605 science and engineering students, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) supported a three-factor rather than a four-factor structure of the APS. Furthermore, results of the regression analyses showed no evidence for the beneficial effect of purposeful delay on student achievement. Finally, we were unable to identify a particular type of student for whom purposefully delaying tasks resulted in increased achievement. Critical considerations on the construct validity of the APS are discussed in greater detail.

Despite being a major focus in wine production, there are currently no standard procedures to measure the overall sensory quality of wine. While abundant, ratings from specialized guides and magazines lack scientific and statistical foundation and may confound preference with intrinsic quality. The presented method aims to bridge this gap by providing a 'quality assessment by merging ranks of an expert-consumer panel (QAMREC)' procedure, which ranks wines on a quantitative scale according to their sensory quality. While the methodology is essentially a preference testing method, by confining the sample space to wines with a similar origin and vinification and the recruitment of an expert panel, the effect of individual differences in preferences can be reduced and the resulting ranking is believed to provide a better representation of their intrinsic quality as valued by educated consumers who use an unconscious rationale for their judgement. It also takes into account human limitations and organizational constraints. Expert-consumers, consumers familiar with the rating of the sensory characteristics of wine, were selected as panellists with welldefined criteria including a high wine involvement profile. An optimized incomplete block design was deployed to guarantee a balanced tasting sequence. By applying the rank-order logit model, incomplete rankings obtained were converted into utility values for each wine compared to a reference wine. These utility values are an approximation of the intrinsic quality of the individual wines as judged by experts. The method was applied in ten tasting sessions each comprising 9 wines from one particular origin and 12 panellists. Most sessions, with the exception of the Pouilly Fumé and the Graves tasting, resulted in the identification of several wines with statistically different utilities. These findings introduce QAMREC as a valid approach for assessing the sensory quality of wines.

Synthesis of pure enantiomers is a key issue in industry, especially in areas connected to life sciences. Catalytic asymmetric synthesis has emerged as a powerful and practical tool. Here we describe an experiment on racemic reduction and asymmetric reduction via a catalytic hydrogen transfer process. Acetophenone and substituted acetophenones are reduced by NaBH4 either in the presence or in the absence of β-cyclodextrin, and by isopropanol in the presence of a rhodium catalyst with cyclopentadienyl and 1-amino-2-indanol ligands. After analysis by chiral gas chromatography, enantiomeric excess, conversion, and turnover frequency can be calculated. This experiment is suitable for upper-level undergraduate students. The experiment can be completed in a four hour laboratory session. It can also be extended in many ways: the influence of parameters such as reaction time; catalyst or substrate concentration; or temperature or catalyst type can be analyzed.