Fitting direct covariance structures by the MSTRUCT modeling language of the CALIS procedure

This paper demonstrates the usefulness and flexibility of the general structural equation modelling (SEM) approach to fitting direct covariance patterns or structures (as opposed to fitting implied covariance structures from functional relationships among variables). In particular, the MSTRUCT modelling language (or syntax) of the CALIS procedure (SAS/STAT version 9.22 or later: SAS Institute, 2010) is used to illustrate the SEM approach. The MSTRUCT modelling language supports a direct covariance pattern specification of each covariance element. It also supports the input of additional independent and dependent parameters. Model tests, fit statistics, estimates, and their standard errors are then produced under the general SEM framework. By using numerical and computational examples, the following tests of basic covariance patterns are illustrated: sphericity, compound symmetry, and multiple‐group covariance patterns. Specification and testing of two complex correlation structures, the circumplex pattern and the composite direct product models with or without composite errors and scales, are also illustrated by the MSTRUCT syntax. It is concluded that the SEM approach offers a general and flexible modelling of direct covariance and correlation patterns. In conjunction with the use of SAS macros, the MSTRUCT syntax provides an easy‐to‐use interface for specifying and fitting complex covariance and correlation structures, even when the number of variables or parameters becomes large.     

The structure of vocational interests in Filipino adolescents

The structure of vocational interests was investigated in Filipino high school students (N = 503), who rated their interest in 303 culture-relevant occupational titles and 93 major fields of study. Item-level principal components analyses identified general interest, prestige, and sex-type dimensions, rather than Prediger's (1982) People/Things and Data/Ideas dimensions. Additional factor analyses were conducted to derive scales that measure more specific interests, including Unskilled/Semiskilled Labor, Male-dominated, Engineering/Technology, Science, Medical, Arts, Commerce, Government/Law, and Education. The interest scales showed some resemblance or overlap with Holland's types, and gender differences on the scales conformed to expectations. However, the relationships among the scales and occupations were better accounted for by prestige and sex-type than by People/Things and Data/Ideas dimensions or by Holland's circular model. Developmental, cultural, educational, and economic factors that might account for Filipino students' focus on prestige and sex-type were discussed.     

Reducing the Gap in Reading Performance Between Israeli Lower- and Middle-Class First-Grade Pupils

This study investigated the impact of prompting to achieve a faster reading rate on the reading performance of 100 Israeli first-grade students from lower- and middle-class backgrounds. In both groups, reading comprehension and decoding skills improved under the fast-pace condition. However, the children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds showed the greatest degree of overall improvement. Having scored significantly lower at self-pace, disadvantaged pupils nearly attained the level demonstrated by advantaged children when reading at the faster pace. The enhanced reading skills exhibited under accelerated speed are explained.     

Review of Evnine,Simon J., Epistemic Dimensions of Personhood,New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. viii + 176, £32.50 (cloth)

The different occurrences of a word in a sentence cannot be identified with the one word type, nor with its many tokens. What then are occurrences of a word? How can one type occur more than once in another type? Is the conception of ‘structural universals’ that leads to these questions incoherent, as Lewis maintained? I argue against the answer Wetzel suggested, which identifies sentences with functions from numbers to expressions, and propose instead that occurrences of one type in another are subtypes with different relative positions in the whole. Types have subtypes as well as tokens. Occurrences in non-symmetrical types like sequences are individuated by their relative positions in the type. Occurrences in a symmetrical whole have different positions but stand in the same relations to the other components. They are numerically different subtypes that do not differ from each other qualitatively.     

Content analysis of food advertising strategies and ethical implications on South African television

The study aimed to investigate strategies and ethical implications of food advertising in South African television. The sample included 343 food advertisements recorded over two weeks and 224 hours from two major South African TV channels. Results indicate 45 products of food advertisements. Fast food, restaurant and convenience food type had the highest number of products (17), followed by “beverage, drink and juice” (6), and “candy and sweets” group (6). Conceptual consumption (people are as interested in consuming ideas, information, and concepts as they are physically consuming things) was used as the main strategy (76.2%) for advertising food, while only 7% focused on physical consumption (fiber, energy and vitality). The majority of food advertisement used human models (78.5%), adults only (38%) and about half used both sexes. White models were used twice as often as Black models. Other advertisement strategies included claims to having fun (majority), being perceived of a higher status, acquiring a superior of products and adding social worth to the quality of person who consume the products. A few claims related to the physical benefit to the consumer, such as high fibre, whole grain, and weight loss.     

Sacrifice and At-one-ment: Joseph de Maistre and Cudworth's Types and Shadows Admired

This article pursues the perhaps surprising interest of the Savoyard polemicist and counter-revolutionary philosopher Joseph de Maistre for the early work of the Cambridge Platonist Ralph Cudworth. I argue that their shared Platonism and fascination for the imagery of the Temple of the Hebrews helps explain this unlikely alliance. I refer to the innovative work of Margaret Barker on Temple imagery in Christian theology to elucidate the biblical dimension of the theory of correspondences employed by both men.     

Predicting consumer satisfaction from CD players

This paper explores the relationship between expectations and product satisfaction evaluations in a high‐involvement product category. While doing so, the paper attempts to develop a regression model to predict the overall level of consumer satisfaction derived from CD players, using a number of explanatory variables within an ordinary least squares framework. This regression model links overall satisfaction to confidence in other people's opinions, expectations of product quality, experience with product quality, replacement rate and the importance of price. The model predicts fairly well for cross‐sectional data, with an adjusted R² of 57 per cent, and appears to be robust. Finally, the implications of these results for marketers are discussed. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Optimal human functioning around the world: A new index of eudaimonic well-being in 166 nations

As more and more people realize that wealth fails to fully capture the essence of human well-being, interest in non-monetary measures of well-being has intensified. Eudaimonic well-being (EWB; i.e., optimal psychosocial functioning) is a largely overlooked aspect of national well-being that has never been examined at the global level. This study uses data from nearly 1,800,000 respondents recruited probabilistically from 166 countries between the years of 2005 and 2017 to construct an index of EWB. EWB demonstrates moderate positive associations with other quality-of-life indicators (i.e., national life satisfaction, national prosperity, overall quality of life, and gross domestic product), indicating that it captures information not reflected by them. The distribution of EWB at national, regional, and global levels, as well as its global trend, is explored. The study also examines the relationships between EWB and a number of theoretically related individual- and country-level variables. Presented are also the results of multilevel modelling including a wide range of predictors.     

Embedding Logics into Product Logic

We construct a faithful interpretation of ukasiewicz's logic in product logic (both propositional and predicate). Using known facts it follows that the product predicate logic is not recursively axiomatizable.We prove a completeness theorem for product logic extended by a unary connective of Baaz [1]. We show that Gödel's logic is a sublogic of this extended product logic.We also prove NP-completeness of the set of propositional formulas satisfiable in product logic (resp. in Gödel's logic).