A Novel Method for Assessing Co-monotonicity: an Interplay between Mathematics and Statistics with Applications

Numerous problems in econometrics, insurance, reliability engineering, and statistics rely on the assumption that certain functions are monotonic, which may or may not be true in real life scenarios. To satisfy this requirement, from the theoretical point of view, researchers frequently model the underlying phenomena using parametric and semi-parametric families of functions, thus effectively specifying the required shapes of the functions. To tackle these problems in a non-parametric way, when the shape cannot be specified explicitly but only estimated approximately, we suggest indices for measuring the lack of monotonicity in functions. We investigate properties of these indices and offer convenient computational techniques for practical use. To illustrate the new technique, we analyze a data-set of student marks on mathematics, reading and spelling. In particular, we apply our technique to determine if the marks are co-monotonic, but if not, then how much they deviate from the co-monotonic pattern. This illustrative example is for convenience only, as our technique is applicable very widely. Indeed, measuring the lack of co-monotonicity between variables plays an important role in a great variety of research areas, as noted at the beginning of this abstract

Measuring the Uncanny Valley Effect

Using a hypothetical graph, Masahiro Mori proposed in 1970 the relation between the human likeness of robots and other anthropomorphic characters and an observer’s affective or emotional appraisal of them. The relation is positive apart from a U-shaped region known as the uncanny valley. To measure the relation, we previously developed and validated indices for the perceptual-cognitive dimension humanness and three affective dimensions: interpersonal warmth, attractiveness, and eeriness. Nevertheless, the design of these indices was not informed by how the untrained observer perceives anthropomorphic characters categorically. As a result, scatter plots of humanness vs. eeriness show the stimuli cluster tightly into categories widely separated from each other. The present study applies a card sorting task, laddering interview, and adjective evaluation ( N=30 ) to revise the humanness, attractiveness, and eeriness indices and validate them via a representative survey ( N=1311 ). The revised eeriness index maintains its orthogonality to humanness ( r=.04 , p=.285 ), but the stimuli show much greater spread, reflecting the breadth of their range in human likeness and eeriness. The revised indices enable empirical relations among characters to be plotted similarly to Mori’s graph of the uncanny valley. Accurate measurement with these indices can be used to enhance the design of androids and 3D computer animated characters

Words of Estimative Correlation: Studying Verbalizations of Scatterplots

Natural language and visualization are being increasingly deployed together for supporting data analysis in different ways, from multimodal interaction to enriched data summaries and insights. Yet, researchers still lack systematic knowledge on how viewers verbalize their interpretations of visualizations, and how they interpret verbalizations of visualizations in such contexts. We describe two studies aimed at identifying characteristics of data and charts that are relevant in such tasks. The first study asks participants to verbalize what they see in scatterplots that depict various levels of correlations. The second study then asks participants to choose visualizations that match a given verbal description of correlation. We extract key concepts from responses, organize them in a taxonomy and analyze the categorized responses. We observe that participants use a wide range of vocabulary across all scatterplots, but particular concepts are preferred for higher levels of correlation. A comparison between the studies reveals the ambiguity of some of the concepts. We discuss how the results could inform the design of multimodal representations aligned with the data and analytical tasks, and present a research roadmap to deepen the understanding about visualizations and natural language

Examining K-12 Teachers\u27 Affective Job Satisfaction and Perceptions of Blended Instruction

The increasing use of blended models of instruction within the U.S. public school system is transforming the K-12 education. However, few studies have been conducted of the innovation-adoption process involving blended instruction within the K-12 public school sector. In this nonexperimental, quantitative study, Rogers\u27s five perceived attributes of innovations was used as a theoretical lens to explore how teachers\u27 affective job satisfaction might affect the innovation-adoption process at the individual level. Research questions pertained to the relationship, if any, between affective job satisfaction among teachers and their perceptions of the complexity, compatibility, and relative advantage of blended instruction. Surveys were administered to middle school teachers (n = 40) in the core curriculum within southeastern U.S. schools. Data were analyzed for relationships using Spearman\u27s correlation; relationships found to have statistical significance were further explored using ordinal logistic regression. Affective job satisfaction had a moderately positive and statistically significant relationship with how participants perceived the compatibility and relative advantage of blended instruction (rs = .487). However, the relationship was inconsistent among subgroups, varying from rs = .181 (n = 13) to rs = .693 (n = 10). Findings could be used to promote positive social change by providing insight into the role of affective job satisfaction within the innovation-adoption process within the K-12 sector

Effects of Transformational Leadership on Safety Performance in the United States Commercial Trucking Industry

The purpose of this study was to research whether the leadership styles of safety professionals, supervisory and management leaders of commercial trucking companies, were related to their companies’ safety ratings. The theoretical framework employed in this study was based on the full range leadership model of Avolio and Bass (1991). Sixty-two long-haul commercial truck drivers participated in the study. This quantitative research was a quasi-experimental, correlational study comparing leadership styles with safety indices of trucking companies. The leadership styles were determined using the 45-question Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Rater Form (Avolio & Bass, 1991) and compared them to the safety indices of the participants’ trucking companies. The safety indices had two components, the companies’ safety ratings and their safety climate scores. The safety ratings were derived from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) database. The safety climate score was a content-validated 10-question Likert-scale survey derived from the Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50). Sixty-two truck drivers completed the MLQ Rater Forms and Safety Climate Scales. The study found that transformational leadership was negatively correlated to safety climates, and passive avoidant leadership had positive correlations to safety climates. These unexpected outcomes may be explained by the predisposition of long-haul truck drivers to share proactive, introverted personality types. These types respond better to the autonomy and self-reliance that passive avoidant leaders provide than that of transformational leaders. Future employee selection, training, and professional development may benefit from testing for leadership and personality types. These processes may then be utilized to improve the safety outcomes of trucking companies and other remote workforces

The Influence of Climate on Flourishing and Motivational Outcomes for U.S. Masters Swimmers

The climate in which older adults exercise and participate in sport may play a role in promoting a lifetime commitment to exercising. However, little research has examined the relationship of caring (C) and task-involving (TI) climates, motivation, and well-being with respect to older adult athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Masters swimmers’ perceptions of the climate, effort, enjoyment, and flourishing as well as explore the mediating effects of effort and enjoyment on the relationship between climate and flourishing. U.S. Masters swimmers (n = 294; Mage = 63.57 years; 84.40% White) with 1–80 years of swimming experience (M = 34.54 years) participating in coach-led programs completed an online survey. The results of latent variable, multiple-mediator analyses via structural equation modeling revealed two important contributions to the literature: (1) when Masters swimmers perceived that they were in C and TI climates, they were more likely to report higher levels of effort and greater enjoyment and flourishing; (2) the Masters swimmers’ effort levels directly influenced their flourishing, mediating the relationship between climates and flourishing. This research has important implications for practice and policy, as U.S. Masters Swimming appears to be a fruitful avenue for promoting an enjoyable physical activity that can be experienced throughout a lifetime

The development and validation of a conditional reasoning test of withdrawal

This study developed and evaluated a measure of implicit dispositional tendencies associated with lateness, absenteeism, and permanent withdrawal behaviors. The conditional reasoning framework developed by Lawrence James and colleagues was adopted. Novel cognitive biases or justification mechanisms associated with withdrawal were proposed, drawing on research and theory from the attribution (marginalization of withdrawal), commitment (revocable commitment), and fairness/equity (social injustice bias) domains. As part of the empirical validation design, college students enrolled in an Introductory Psychology course completed the conditional reasoning measure, and corresponding behavioral withdrawal criteria were collected unobtrusively throughout the 16-week course. Results of scale development analyses pointed to a subset of items (13 of 25) with positive evidence of predictive validity and indicated that the items assess largely heterogeneous content, possessing low internal consistency. Results of hypothesis testing revealed positive and statistically significant predictive relationships for revocable commitment and social injustice (i.e., higher scores on the conditional reasoning items associated with higher frequencies of the withdrawal behaviors), but not for marginalization of withdrawal. Taken together, these results provide initial evidence for the role of implicit dispositional tendencies in the withdrawal process and underscore potential avenues for further development of a conditional reasoning test of withdrawal

Perfectly Alone (and Anxious): A Test of the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model in Adolescents

Perfectionism contributes to psychopathology in youth. Yet, little research has examined the pathways that may explicate why perfectionism is a risk factor for poorer outcomes, particularly among youth. Consequently, in this program of research I examined associations between trait dimensions of perfectionism (i.e., perfectionistic strivings and concerns) and anxiety within the framework of the Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model (PSDM). In Study 1, I tested whether perfectionistic strivings and concerns (as measured by the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised; Slaney et al., 2001) were related to adolescent-reported and mother-reported anxiety via social disconnection in a high-risk sample of adolescents. Social disconnection was assessed as a latent variable comprised of three indicators: relational victimization, school connectedness, and parental acceptance. Overall, results indicated that perfectionistic concerns were related to higher levels of adolescent-reported anxiety and that social disconnection emerged as an explanatory pathway linking higher levels of perfectionistic concerns to higher levels of adolescent-reported anxiety. In Study 2, I tested whether perfectionistic strivings and concerns (as measured by the Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale; Flett et al., 2001) were related to adolescent-reported anxiety in a community sample of adolescents via social disconnection. For Study 2, I used a more comprehensive latent variable for social disconnection that was comprised of four indicators: relational victimization, school connectedness, parental acceptance, and subjective loneliness. Replicating the findings from Study 1, social disconnection again emerged as an explanatory pathway linking higher levels of perfectionistic concerns to higher levels of adolescent-reported anxiety. These findings support the PSDM in youth, raise important questions about the link between perfectionism and social functioning, and have implications for prevention and intervention development

White Matter Integrity And Age Related Differences In Reaction Time Components

Reduced speed in information processing is a well-documented phenomenon associated with advanced aging. Age-related deterioration in white matter integrity might play a role in age-related increase in reaction time (RT). However, the association between microstructural differences in particular white matter regions or tracts with RT is unclear. Decomposing RT into parts might be a better way to understand the relationship due to multiple processes involved in RT. In a lifespan sample of 90 healthy normotensive participants, this study examined the association between RT components derived from the Ratcliff diffusion model with age related difference in DTI indices of a wide variety of white matter tracts in both normal-appearing and whole white matter. The results revealed that advanced age was associated with lower drift rate, greater response conservativeness and longer non-decision time. Age-related reduction in FA and increase in MD was observed in most examined white matter tracts in both normal-appearing and whole white matter. Even in healthy normotensive adults, WMH burden could account for part of variance between age and DTI indices. Greater age-related difference in white matter integrity was observed in normotensive men than in normotensive women. Increased axial diffusivity of the superior corona radiata in normal appearing white matter was associated with longer non-decision time. However, there was no association between age-related differences in DTI indices of examined white matter tracts and both drift rate and response conservativeness in healthy normotensive participants