Dimensional Comparison Research Articles

Measuring Comparison Effects: A Critical View on the Internal/External Frame of Reference Model

AbstractThe internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model describes the formation of students’ math and verbal self‐concepts by the joint effects of social comparisons (where students compare their subject‐specific achievements with those of their classmates) and dimensional comparisons (where students compare their math and verbal achievements with each other). To date, researchers have examined this model in dozens of studies. However, these studies have overestimated the effects of social comparisons because they did not recognize that the social comparison effects in the I/E model also result from dimensional comparisons. This article aims to explain this misunderstanding by developing the difference I/E (dIff/E) model, which represents the joint effects of social and dimensional comparisons more adequately than the classic I/E model. Specific findings of prior I/E model studies are discussed, which require a reinterpretation or only become plausible in light of this research's insights (e.g., where researchers compared the social comparison effects in the I/E model between groups). Moreover, empirical data are analyzed to provide support for the validity of the dIff/E model. As a key conclusion, researchers should understand that the social comparison effects in the I/E model do not only represent effects of social comparisons.

The influence of cognitive tasks on sensory organization test performance

IntroductionMany static postural tasks requiring vestibular contributions are completed while dual- tasking. ObjectiveWe investigated the influence of dual-tasks on sensory integration for postural control and cognitive performance during the sensory organization test and examined the relationship between cognitive function and dual-task cost during the sensory organization test. MethodsTwenty adults completed single and dual-task versions of the six conditions of the sensory organization test were completed during two visits separated by one week. A subset of 13 participants completed three National Institute of Health (NIH)-toolbox cognitive tests including the Flanker inhibitory control and attention test, dimensional change card sort test and pattern comparison processing speed test. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to compare postural sway during single and dual-task sensory organization test. Friedman’s test, with pairwise comparison post-hoc tests, was used to compare single task serial subtraction performance to the 6 dual-task sensory organization test conditions. Spearman’s correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between cognitive performance on NIH-toolbox test and postural and cognitive dual-task cost during the sensory organization test. ResultsPerforming a cognitive dual-task during the sensory organization test resulted in a significant increase in postural sway during condition 1 (Z=−3.26, p=0.001, ES=0.73), condition 3 (Z=−2.53, p=0.012, ES=0.56), and condition 6 (Z=−2.02, p=0.044, ES=0.45). Subtraction performance significantly decreased in during condition 6 (Z=−2.479, p=0.011, ES=0.55) compared to single-task. The dimensional change card sort test demonstrated moderate correlations with dual-task cost of serial subtraction performance in condition 5 (dimensional change card sort test: r=−0.62, p=0.02) and condition 6 (dimensional change card sort test: r=−0.56, p=0.04). Pattern comparison processing speed test scores were significantly correlated with dual-task cost of postural control during condition 2. ConclusionPerforming a cognitive task during the sensory organization test resulted in significantly increased postural sway during three conditions, particularly during visual environment manipulation oppose to vestibular and somatosensory manipulation. Cognitive performance decreased during the most complex sensory organization test condition. Additionally, we found participants with poorer executive function had greater dual-task cost during more complex sensory integration demands.

Diagnostic differentiation by NIH Toolbox‐Cognition (iPAD) for Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and healthy control participants

AbstractBackgroundAge‐associated impairment among older adults is a significant public health concern. The NIH Toolbox for Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function® (NIHTB) was developed for use in studies for which standardized, computer‐based measurement of cognitive, motor, sensory, and behavioral processes is of importance. The NIH Toolbox–Cognition battery measures both crystallized and fluid cognitive functions. The goal of this study was to compare performance of the newly available tablet‐version of the Cognition battery across healthy and impaired older adults and to analyze if race and gender effects would be evident even when using NIHTB fully‐adjusted T‐scores.MethodA total of 104 individuals (28 men, 56 women; 45% African American) completed the NIH Toolbox–Cognition as part of a National Alzheimer’s Disease Coordinating Center (NACC) longitudinal study of memory and aging through the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (Michigan ADRC). All participants received the Unified Data Set (UDS) and consensus diagnosis of normal cognition (NL), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), or Alzheimer’s dementia (AD). Univariate analyses of variance with post‐hoc comparisons were used to compare fully adjusted (age, gender, race/ethnicity, education) Toolbox T‐Score performance across the groups.ResultsUnivariate ANOVAs revealed significant findings for the Total and Fluid composites (both p<0.001) and Crystallized Composite (p<0.05). For Crystallized subtests, only Oral Reading demonstrated group differences, with NL>AD. Though NL and aMCI groups performed similarly, both groups outperformed AD on Dimensional Card Sort, Flanker, and Pattern Comparison Fluid subtests. NL>aMCI>AD on List Sorting Working Memory and Picture Sequence Memory. Main effects for race or gender were not seen for comparisons of NL to aMCI, but some group sizes were too small for adequate testing in the AD participants.ConclusionsAs expected, NL, aMCI, and AD demonstrated significant performance differences on NIH Toolbox—Cognition composite and scale scores. As expected, Crystallized tasks were least effective, traditionally representing cognitive areas least sensitive to neurologic dysfunction. Fluid tasks were noticeably more effective, with the working memory and learning measures showing a significant tiered difference, with NL highest and AD lowest. The fully adjusted scores were successful in accounting for demographic variables.

Measuring the Level of Motivation among the Teachers of Disabled Students from Their Viewpoints and Its Relationship to Some Variables

This study aimed to measure the level of motivation at work among teachers of disabled students from their points of view. The study sample comprised (71) male and female teachers of disabled students. The researchers chose them intentionally, considering the variables of the type of centre (public and private) and scientific qualification (Diploma, Bachelor, and Postgraduate Studies). The current study is a descriptive study aimed at measuring the level of motivation at work among teachers of students with disabilities from their point of view. To achieve the objective of the study, the researchers developed an instrument to measure their level of motivation. The researchers used arithmetic means, T-Test, ANOVA, and Scheffet's Test. The results of the study showed that the level of motivation at work among teachers of disabled students was an average of (4.14) with a high rating degree. The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the (T) test at the level of significance (α = 0.05) because of the centre type variable. The researchers relied on the results of the (ANOVA) and Scheffee's Test, for dimensional comparisons. The results showed the absence of statistically significant differences in the level of motivation at work among teachers of disabled students following the scientific qualification variable.

How am I doing compared to different standards? Comparative thinking and well-being following exposure to a vehicle-ramming attack

ABSTRACT Background: Exposure to potentially adverse events might intensify thinking about different comparison standards in relation to one’s own well-being. Objective: To examine how frequently survivors of a recent potentially traumatic event use different comparison standards to evaluate their current well-being. Method: A survey with 223 participants directly or indirectly exposed to a vehicle-ramming attack was conducted. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, quality of life, and the sum score of the frequency of different types of comparison standards were assessed. The latter consisted of temporal, counterfactual, social, dimensional, and criteria-based comparisons. Results: In total, 98% of participants reported some form of comparative thinking during the last two weeks. The most frequent comparison types were temporal and dimensional comparisons, with 94 and 87% of participants reporting them, respectively. Notably, comparative thinking predicted unique variance in PTSD symptoms, over and above depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The results suggest that comparative thinking may be a significant factor in understanding psychological distress following exposure to aversive events. Replication of the results in larger samples and using longitudinal and experimental designs is clearly necessary.

Dimensional Comparison Theory: Minimal Intervention Affects Strength of Dimensional Comparison Effects

Dimensional comparisons between math and verbal achievements affect students’ academic self-concepts by increasing (decreasing) students’ self-concept in the subject with their intraindividual higher (lower) achievement. Dimensional comparison theory assumes that dimensional comparisons are also triggered by external influences. The present research aimed to test this assumption by examining whether a minimal intervention, asking students to think more or less intensively about their subject-specific abilities, would affect the strength of dimensional comparison effects. In two experimental studies, N = 415 (Study 1) and N = 204 (Study 2) students from Germany rated their self-concepts in the subjects math and German after they had written down three thoughts about their math abilities and one or five thoughts about their German abilities (Study 1) or after they had written down three thoughts about their German abilities and one or five thoughts about their math abilities (Study 2). As expected, multiple group comparisons showed in particular a stronger negative dimensional comparison effect of students’ German (math) achievement on their math (German) self-concept after students had written down five thoughts instead of one thought about their German (math) abilities. This finding suggests that, as predicted in dimensional comparison theory, external influences can trigger dimensional comparisons.

Social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons by students and parents: An investigation of the 2I/E model at the transition from elementary to junior high school.

The present research examined the joint effects of social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons on students’ academic self-concepts and parents’ beliefs about their children’s competencies during students’ transition phase from elementary school to junior high school. To this end, we tested the newly developed 2I/E model using longitudinal data including 2,417 students between Grades 6 and 7 and 1,846 parents. We found strong social comparison effects and moderate dimensional and temporal comparison effects on students’ self-concepts. In line with our assumption that students should be particularly sensitive to changes in their achievements during phases of school transition, the temporal comparison effects were stronger than in any prior study of the 2I/E model. Parents’ ratings of their children’s competencies were also predicted by social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons. However, whereas the social comparison effects on students’ and parents’ ratings were equally strong, the dimensional and temporal comparison effects were stronger on students’ ratings. We finally tested how social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons affected changes in students’ self-concepts and parents’ competence beliefs over 1 year. Although the effects of all 3 comparisons were still significant, we found drastic changes in their strengths, with the strongest effects on changes in competence beliefs occurring for temporal comparisons. Overall, our study provides a variety of new insights into the impact of comparison processes on the formation of competence beliefs. In particular, it emphasizes the role of temporal comparisons. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

Secondary School Leaving Examinations: The Impact of Expectancies, Values, and Dimensional Comparisons on Male and Female Students’ Science-Oriented Choices

In Germany, secondary school students have to choose at least one STEM subject (mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics) for their Secondary School Leaving Examinations. In a representative sample of students in grade 13 in one federal state in Germany, we explore boys’ and girls' subject choices in an expectancy-value framework by considering students’ prior performance, ability self-concept, and values in the chosen subject. We extend previous research by including dimensional comparisons that students make between the varying subjects they have to choose from. We discriminate between two opposing groups. One group shows a science-avoidance choice pattern by selecting only one science subject: biology (n = 439). The other group shows a science-oriented choice pattern by selecting physics or chemistry or two STEM subjects of which one was at least physics or chemistry (n = 248). We measured achievement test scores, relative and absolute midterm grades, ability self-concepts as well as attainment and utility values in chosen and non-chosen subjects and calculated logistic regressions as well as multigroup models. Our results showed that science-oriented final exam choices depended highly on ability self-concept in mathematics for boys and girls and on the relative mathematics-English midterm grade for boys. When controlling for the other predictors, attainment and utility values seemed to be irrelevant for science-oriented final exam subject choice. Our findings raise the question whether boys and girls should be encouraged differently in order to stay in the STEM pipeline and how structural conditions may shape pathways into or out of this pipeline.

Dendritic needle network modeling of the Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition. Part II: three dimensional formulation, implementation and comparison with experiments

The dendritic needle network (DNN) model tracks the diffusion-controlled growth of branches in the hierarchically structured dendritic network, thereby bridging the well-separated scales traditionally simulated by phase-field and coarse-grained models. In particular, the DNN model relaxes the assumptions on the dendrite growth kinetics and grain structures commonly used in the coarse-grained models. In part I of this paper, we proposed a two-dimensional (2D) version of the DNN model and applied it to investigate the Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition (CET) to clarify the influence of these assumptions on the prediction of the CET. In order to overcome the limitations inherent in a 2D model, part II presents here a fully three-dimensional (3D) version of the DNN model and its application to the CET. After validation of the 3D model, we perform simulations to study the solidification of Al-7 wt.% Si alloy and compare the results to the experimental measurements conducted on board of the International Space Station in the framework of the CET in SOLidification processing (CETSOL) project. The comparison shows that the present 3D DNN model is able to provide quantitative prediction of the position and the type of CET at experimental time and length-scales, without any adjustable parameters.

Dendritic needle network modeling of the Columnar-to-Equiaxed transition. Part I: two dimensional formulation and comparison with theory

The columnar-to-equiaxed transition is a technologically important phenomenon that controls the grain structure in the casting of alloys. Analytical and coarse-grained models, used to investigate this transition, rely on several assumptions concerning dendrite growth kinetics and grain structures. In the first part of this two part paper, we test these assumptions using a two-dimensional (2D) dendritic needle network model that describes both the transient growth dynamics of primary, secondary and higher order branches of the dendritic network within each grain and the solutal interactions between grains that can grow with arbitrary shapes. Our results provide novel insights into the columnar-to-equiaxed transition, distinguishing between abrupt and progressive transitions with different grain structures. Furthermore, they highlight the limitations of commonly used assumptions in analytical and coarse-grained numerical models of this transition. These results are extended to 3D in part II of the paper.

Multi-Level Viewing Points in the Urban Structure of a City

The authors of this research substantiate the statement that the proportional capture of the visual plane of the city panorama will be in constant dynamics in the context of both the planar expression and 3D observation of the volumetric solution of the spacial combination. A constant change of the viewing angle provides for the limitless quantity of viewing points concentrating on a cumulative picture of the angular perception. The article covers applied aspects of design and perception of the vertical and horizontal sector of capturing of the viewing panorama allowing obtaining multi-proportional correlations of the diagonal perspective and plane that in its turn impacts the general perception of the urban structure as a whole. The paper shows the importance of the spherical and angular range of the visual location that impact the psychological aspect of perception of the architecture as a whole, describes the dimensional and scale comparison of the main functional zones of a city, activation and concentration of accents of its mass with respect to the area of the general layout with addition of angular aspects of gravitational laws and identification of fundamentals of the linear and tonal perspective.

Facile Analytical Extraction of the Hyperelastic Constants for the Two-Parameter Mooney-Rivlin Model from Experiments on Soft Polymers.

Having accurate data to represent hyperelastic materials that underpin soft robotics would facilitate their analysis, design, and validation. We seek to provide the reader with a useful tool to overcome a mundane but crucially important problem in determining the hyperelastic material properties. We show how to employ first dimensionless and then dimensional comparisons between experimental data and the classic theoretical model representing this system to produce C1 and C2 for the Mooney-Rivlin model, closely representing a variety of soft polymers.

Supplemental Material for Moderators of Dimensional Comparison Effects: A Comprehensive Replication Study Putting Prior Findings on Five Moderators to the Test and Going Beyond

Supplemental Material for Moderators of Dimensional Comparison Effects: A Comprehensive Replication Study Putting Prior Findings on Five Moderators to the Test and Going Beyond

Supplemental Material for Dimensional Comparison Effects on (Gendered) Educational Choices

Supplemental Material for Dimensional Comparison Effects on (Gendered) Educational Choices

Supplemental Material for How Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Quality in One Subject Are Impacted by the Grades They Receive in Another Subject: Dimensional Comparisons in Student Evaluations of Teaching Quality

Supplemental Material for How Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Quality in One Subject Are Impacted by the Grades They Receive in Another Subject: Dimensional Comparisons in Student Evaluations of Teaching Quality

Simplicial degree in complex networks. Applications of topological data analysis to network science

Network Science provides a universal formalism for modelling and studying complex systems based on pairwise interactions between agents. However, many real networks in the social, biological or computer sciences involve interactions among more than two agents, having thus an inherent structure of a simplicial complex. We propose new notions of higher-order degrees of adjacency for simplices in a simplicial complex, allowing any dimensional comparison among them and their faces, which as far as we know were lacked in the literature. We introduce multi-parameter boundary and coboundary operators in an oriented simplicial complex and also a novel multi-combinatorial Laplacian is defined, which generalises the graph and combinatorial Laplacian. To illustrate the potential applications of these theoretical results, we perform a structural analysis of higher-order connectivity in simplicial-complex networks by studying the associated distributions with these simplicial degrees in 17 real-world datasets coming from different domains such as coauthor networks, cosponsoring Congress bills, contacts in schools, drug abuse warning networks, e-mail networks or publications and users in online forums. We find rich and diverse higher-order connectivity structures and observe that datasets of the same type reflect similar higher-order collaboration patterns. Furthermore, we show that if we use what we have called the maximal simplicial degree (which counts the distinct maximal communities in which our simplex and all its strict sub-communities are contained), then its degree distribution is, in general, surprisingly different from the classical node degree distribution.

Additively Manufactured Patient-Specific Anthropomorphic Thorax Phantom With Realistic Radiation Attenuation Properties.

Conventional medical imaging phantoms are limited by simplified geometry and radiographic skeletal homogeneity, which confines their usability for image quality assessment and radiation dosimetry. These challenges can be addressed by additive manufacturing technology, colloquially called 3D printing, which provides accurate anatomical replication and flexibility in material manipulation. In this study, we used Computed Tomography (CT)-based modified PolyJetTM 3D printing technology to print a hollow thorax phantom simulating skeletal morphology of the patient. To achieve realistic heterogenous skeletal radiation attenuation, we developed a novel radiopaque amalgamate constituting of epoxy, polypropylene and bone meal powder in twelve different ratios. We performed CT analysis for quantification of material radiodensity (in Hounsfield Units, HU) and for identification of specific compositions corresponding to the various skeletal structures in the thorax. We filled the skeletal structures with their respective radiopaque amalgamates. The phantom and isolated 3D printed rib specimens were rescanned by CT for reproducibility tests regarding verification of radiodensity and geometry. Our results showed that structural densities in the range of 42–705HU could be achieved. The radiodensity of the reconstructed phantom was comparable to the three skeletal structures investigated in a real patient thorax CT: ribs, ventral vertebral body and dorsal vertebral body. Reproducibility tests based on physical dimensional comparison between the patient and phantom CT-based segmentation displayed 97% of overlap in the range of 0.00–4.57 mm embracing the anatomical accuracy. Thus, the additively manufactured anthropomorphic thorax phantom opens new vistas for imaging- and radiation-based patient care in precision medicine.

A Meta-Analysis of Relations Between Achievement and Self-Concept

According to the internal/external frame of reference model, academic achievement has a strong impact on people’s self-concept, both within and between subjects. We conducted a series of meta-analyses of k = 505 data sets containing the six bivariate correlations between achievement and self-concept in two subjects. Negative paths from achievement to noncorresponding self-concept, indicating dimensional comparison effects, were strongest when the subjects were dissimilar with regard to the math-verbal continuum, reduced but still significantly negative when both subjects belonged to the verbal domain, and near-zero when both subjects belonged to the math/science domain. Additionally, we found stronger positive paths from achievements to corresponding self-concepts, indicating social comparison effects, and stronger dimensional comparison effects for grades than for standardized test scores, and for older rather than younger students. We extend dimensional comparison theory by discussing these results with particular regard to the nonexistence of assimilation effects, the effects of subject similarity on dimensional comparison effects, and other moderators of dimensional comparison effects.

How Dimensional Comparisons Help to Understand Linkages Between Expectancies, Values, Performance, and Choice

The authors connect Moller and Marsh’s dimensional comparison theory with Eccles, Wigfield, and colleagues’ expectancy-value theory of achievement performance and choice, to help explain the observed relations between key constructs in expectancy-value theory and their relations to individuals’ achievement outcomes by specifying processes that underlie those relations. Dimensional comparison processes concern individuals’ comparisons of their ability in one domain with their ability in another domain. The authors posit that these (along with social and temporal comparisons) play a critical role not just in the development of individuals’ self-concepts of ability but also in the development of their subjective task values for different activities, and the connections of these to performance and choice. Dimensional comparison theory and the evidence for the strong impact of dimensional comparisons on individuals’ self-concepts of ability is presented, followed by a brief overview of expectancy-value theory. The authors then discuss how dimensional comparisons can impact subjective task values but why the relations are weaker than for self-concepts of ability. They then describe how dimensional comparisons influence individuals’ interpretations of their achievement outcomes and their affective reactions to those outcomes and conclude with suggestions for future research.

Selective Importance in Self-Enhancement: Patterns of Feedback Adolescents Use to Improve Math Self-Concept

We illustrate how early adolescents use different patterns of ability feedback to promote a positive self-concept of ability (SCA) in mathematics. Students can simultaneously use ability appraisals from parents and teachers, while also drawing information from peer, dimensional, and temporal comparisons. Although we find these five sources are equally important for promoting students’ positive SCA, on average, we use a pattern-centered approach to show that students who believe they are good at math often select certain feedback sources as more important to develop this belief. We find that students’ patterns of ability feedback are unstable, with evidence suggesting different patterns may emerge depending on the availability of ability feedback. Findings suggest early adolescents attempting to promote their own positive SCA in mathematics may know to seek different feedback sources depending on their individual circumstances. Implications are discussed through the lens of social comparison theory.