CDAscal: An algorithm for assessing the correspondence of one or more vectors to a symmetric matrix using ordinal regression

An algorithm for assessing the correspondence of one or more attribute rating variables to a symmetric matrix of dissimilarities is presented. The algorithm is useful as an alternative to fitting property variables into a multidimensional scaling space. Rather than requiring a two step process of first deriving a multidimensional space and then fitting variables individually into the space, the algorithm directly assesses the correspondence of each variable to the symmetric matrix and permits a regression extension such that a set of variables can be considered simultaneously. The relation between the matrix and the variables is determined by evaluating pairs of pairs relations, . Though the algorithm requires only ordinal assumptions, the correspondence may be computed intervally also. Multiple ordinal regression is performed with the values derived from the matrix serving as the dependent variable and those derived from the attribute ratings serving as the independent variables. Standard multiple regression statistics forR-square,F, andt are calculated as well as measures of ordinal association between the vectors and the matrix.     

Knowledge Justice: An Opportunity for Counter-expertise in Security vs. Science Debates

ABSTRACT

Knowledge justice provides a conceptual framework to apply principles of social justice in environments of competing interests regarding science. Both knowledge and its making can be seen as a good to be distributed, including all voices for whom the science will matter. In this framework, knowledge production is shared among a broader constituency of knowers representing both local and cosmopolitan voices. The problem of knowledge injustice can be seen in the U.S. government’s recent attempt to secure scientific knowledge about H5N1 or avian bird flu virus. The censorship produced a global debate between scientists and policy-makers over how to balance the nation-state’s desire for security with the life science’s tradition of open and shared research. This conundrum, known as the dual-use dilemma, obscures larger questions that lie outside of expert-centered domains—namely the concerns of many communities in the Global South struggling with the impact of the virus in their daily lives. An example of such counter-expertise is that of the backyard poultry farmer whose ways of knowing are foreign to science and policy experts who frame the ways in which knowledge about H5N1 should be developed, controlled, and used. While the H5N1 debate illuminated competing positions regarding knowledge production between powerful elites, it ignored the social justice inequities produced by the dual-use dilemma. The concept of knowledge justice provides a way of thinking about science that can include locally situated counter-expertise, disrupting the dual-use dilemma produced by competing dominant priorities of security and public health.     

An automated bisection device for assessing attentional neglect in clinical populations

An automated bisection device (ABD) is described that is designed for use in assessing the direction of three-dimensional neglect in various clinical populations. This device features an apparatus containing two base sections and a connecting rod, on which is located a bisection indicator assemblage that can be moved either by hand or by a calibrated motor-drive system. The indicator assemblage is, in turn, connected to a motor-control box with variable speed settings and a digital readout. The ABD can be used to measure bisection estimations along all three linear axes (lateral, vertical, and depth) by providing visual cues alone, tactile cues alone, or a combination of visual and tactile cues.     

An algorithm for comparing medians

An algorithm is presented for computing a test statistic for comparing medians based on a small-sample size estimate of the variance of the usual sample median.     

Implications-as-Rules vs. Implications-as-Links: An Alternative Implication-Left Schema for the Sequent Calculus

The interpretation of implications as rules motivates a different left-introduction schema for implication in the sequent calculus, which is conceptually more basic than the implication-left schema proposed by Gentzen. Corresponding to results obtained for systems with higher-level rules, it enjoys the subformula property and cut elimination in a weak form.     

IMINCE: An unrestricted factor-analysis-based program for assessing measurement invariance

In this article, a Windows program for analyzing measurement invariance in two different populations is described. Factor analysis is a common way of assessing measurement invariance, and restricted factor analysis is now the most popular method. However, applied researchers have usually found that the theoretical advantages of restricted factor analysis do not always apply in practical situations. For example, when the participant sample is large, as is the case in Internet-based questionnaires, the available software for restricted factor analysis might fail to converge on a solution. Our program is based on unrestricted factor analysis and considers the three parameters that define factor invariance: difficulties, discriminations, and residual variances. The statistical significance of the tests for evaluating invariance is obtained using Bootstrap resampling procedures. A real-life example demonstrates the usefulness of the program.     

An inventory for assessing interpersonal communication competence of college students

We have developed and validated a new Interpersonal Communication Competence Inventory (ICCI) for college students. Study 1 describes the development of the ICCI and results of an exploratory factor analysis of data from 1336 Chinese students, which identified a four-factor model with reasonable internal consistency. Study 2 describes results of a confirmatory factor analysis of data from 593 Chinese students, which cross-validated the four-factor model as well as supporting the validity of the overall scale. Taken together, these results suggest that the ICCI is a psychometrically valid measure of interpersonal communication competence of college students.     

An evolutionary perspective on effective vs. ineffective pick-up lines

This experiment examined women's impressions of men using various "pick-up" lines. Seventy women imagined being approached by a man using a flippant and flirtatious "pick-up" line, a direct complimentary line, or an innocuous line that masks his interest. His attractiveness varied too. They then considered him for long-term or short-term relationships. Matching a "good dad" hypothesis, they favored him for a long-term relationship if he used a direct or innocuous line instead of the flippant line, because the latter conveyed lower trustworthiness and intelligence. Matching a "good genes" hypothesis, they favored him for a short-term relationship if he was attractive instead of unattractive, regardless of his pick-up line, presumably because attractiveness signals heritable fitness. Limitations and theoretical implications are discussed.     

An algorithm for finite conjoint additivity

A complete solution to the problem of finite conjoint additivity is provided, not only to answer the question of whether a particular order is conjointly additive, but also to detail the possible value assignments which demonstrate conjoint additivity for the order. In the process, a complete solution is given to the problem of solving a finite number of homogeneous linear inequalities in a finite number of variables. While others have reduced the problem to the solution of systems of linear inequalities, the algorithm presented here is based on “basic inequalities,” and it provides considerable computational simplicity over previous algorithms.     

An Evolutionary Perspective on Effective vs. Ineffective Pick-up Lines

ABSTRACT

The present study integrates social exchange, role theory, and climate research to suggest that employees who have contact with customers (“contact employees”) will reciprocate felt obligations of high-quality employment relationships (i.e., perceived organizational support [POS]). They do this by expanding their role in ways that are consistent with contextual behavioral expectations. A longitudinal survey of 1,387 contact employees and 666 supervisors in a large supermarket chain in Taiwan demonstrated that the positive relationship between POS and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (SOCB) role definitions was strengthened by service climate. In summary, organizational support resulted in expanded SOCB role definitions within a strong service climate, while this relationship was much weaker and not significant in weak service climate. I discuss theoretical and managerial implications through this empirical examination.     

Group vs. Individual Performance in a Price-Searching Experiment

We report results of an experiment evaluating performance of small groups relative to individuals in an iterated monopoly-pricing problem. Profits generated by 10 three-person groups and 18 individuals in six nominal groups are compared. Half of the sessions were conducted under a “coarse-grid” treatment in which price choices were restricted to 25-cent increments. The remaining sessions were conducted under a more complicated “fine-grid” treatment in which price choices were allowed in 5-cent increments. The problem is well suited to an investigation of learning by groups relative to individuals: solutions are not obvious and substantial learning occurs in both environments. Although in the coarse-grid treatment groups perform no better than individuals, in the fine-grid treatment groups respond better to feedback than individuals and generate higher profits in later periods. We conjecture that superior learning by groups is a consequence of error-checking by groups, unhampered by any source of bias that would induce common errors across individuals.     

An exploration of the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire for assessing female recidivism in South Africa

This study profiled incarcerated female offenders’ criminogenic-oriented self-appraisals. Respondents were 77 female offenders between the ages of 20 and 56 years, serving custodial sentences within the South African Department of Correctional Services ranging from under a year to 25 years, and of whom 7 per cent were reoffenders. They completed the Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQ: Loza, 2005 Loza, W. (2005). Self-Appraisal Questionnaire (SAQTM). Technical manual. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems. [Google Scholar]), which is a self-report measure for assessing violent and non-violent recidivism. Findings suggest offenders with a history of violence to be at risk for reoffending compared to non-violent offenders.     

Interference suppression vs. response inhibition: An explanation for the absence of a bilingual advantage in preschoolers’ Stroop task performance

The well-documented advantage that bilingual speakers demonstrate across the lifespan on measures of controlled attention is not observed in preschoolers’ performance on Stroop task variations. We examined the role of task demands in explaining this discrepancy. Whereas the Color/Word Stroop used with adult participants requires interference suppression, the Stroop task typically used with preschoolers requires only response inhibition. We developed an age-appropriate conflict task that measures interference suppression. Fifty-one preschool children (26 bilinguals) completed this new Bivalent Shape Task and the Day/Night task used in previous research. Bilingual in comparison to monolingual children performed better on incongruent trials of the Bivalent Shape Task, but did not differ on other measures. The results indicate that the discrepancy between preschoolers and older individuals in performance on Stroop task adaptations results from characteristics of the task rather than developmental differences. Further, the findings provide additional support for the importance of interference suppression as a mechanism underlying the bilingual advantage.     

A two-stage algorithm for assessing violations of additivity via axiomatic and numerical conjoint analysis

An algorithm for assessing additivity conjunctively via both axiomatic conjoint analysis and numerical conjoint scaling is described. The algorithm first assesses the degree of individual differences among sets of rankings of stimuli, and subsequently examines either individual or averaged data for violations of axioms necessary for an additive model. The axioms are examined at a more detailed level than has been previously done. Violations of the axioms are broken down into different types. Finally, a nonmetric scaling of the data can be done based on either or both of two different badness-of-fit scaling measures. The advantages of combining all of these features into one algorithm for improving the diagnostic value of axiomatic conjoint measurement in evaluating additivity are discussed.     

An improved algorithm for predicting free recalls

Laming [Laming, D. (2006). Predicting free recalls. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 1146-1163] has shown that, in a free-recall experiment in which the participants rehearsed out loud, entire sequences of recalls could be predicted, to a useful degree of precision, from the prior sequences of stimuli and rehearsals. This article describes an improved predictive algorithm, which is then used to re-analyse two further sets of free-recall data. Prediction is compared, generically, with conventional modelling, represented here by three recent models of free recall that are concerned with recalls only, not with rehearsals. Some implications are drawn, from the use of rehearsal data by the predictive algorithm, for some of the constituent assumptions embodied in those three models.     

An algorithm for generating artificial test clusters

An algorithm for generating artificial data sets which contain distinct nonoverlapping clusters is presented. The algorithm is useful for generating test data sets for Monte Carlo validation research conducted on clustering methods or statistics. The algorithm generates data sets which contain either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 clusters. By default, the data are embedded in either a 4, 6, or 8 dimensional space. Three different patterns for assigning the points to the clusters are provided. One pattern assigns the points equally to the clusters while the remaining two schemes produce clusters of unequal sizes. Finally, a number of methods for introducing error in the data have been incorporated in the algorithm.     

An efficient algorithm for joint correspondence analysis

Joint correspondence analysis is a technique for constructing reduced-dimensional representations of pairwise relationships among categorical variables. The technique was proposed by Greenacre as an alternative to multiple correspondence analysis. Joint correspondence analysis differs from multiple correspondence analysis in that it focuses solely on between-variable relationships. Greenacre described one alternating least-squares algorithm for conducting joint correspondence analysis. Another alternating least-squares algorithm is described in this article. The algorithm is guaranteed to converge, and does so in fewer iterations than does the algorithm proposed by Greenacre. A modification of the algorithm for handling Heywood cases is described. The algorithm is illustrated on two data sets.