Identical Variances Research Articles

Social Attitudes as the Factors of Environmental Identity of Ukrainian and Turkish Students

The problem of socio-psychological and cultural factors influencing environmental identity is considered. The results of a cross-cultural study of the relationship of such social attitudes as belief in a just world, individualism-collectivism, belief in the power of money, with environmental identity in groups of Ukrainian and Turkish students are presented. Differences in the environmental identity and social attitudes of students - representatives of Ukrainian and Turkish cultures are revealed. Turkish students differ from Ukrainian students by a more pronounced environmental identity. At the same time, in each cultural group, the indicators of environmental identity among female students are higher than those among male students. The differences between Turkish and Ukrainian female students are more pronounced than between Ukrainian and Turkish male students. Within the framework of the study as a whole, it is gender and cultural differences that are more significant predictors of environmental identity than the studied social attitudes. It was found that indicators of belief in a just world for others are higher for Turkish students than for Ukrainian students, while vertical individualism is higher in the group of Ukrainian students. Thus, Ukrainian students demonstrate a more pronounced commitment to an individualistic culture. The most closely related to the environmental identity of students, regardless of cultural influences, are the belief in a just world for all and belief in the power of money. If belief in general justice reinforces environmental identity and is reinforced by environmental identity, then belief in the power of money opposes to identification with the natural world. Based on the data from the sample as a whole, a regression model was built, which includes predictors: culture, gender, belief in the justice of the world for all, belief in the power of money. This model explains 34% of the total variance in environmental identity.

Relationship between Career Decision, Self Efficacy and Vocational Identity among UiTM Shah Alam Generation Z

The concept of career decision self-efficacy has been a topic of discussion for a long time and remains an important concept up to this day. Career counselling is effective in helping students in their career development. The current study examined the relationship between career decision self-efficacy and vocational identity. We followed the expectations of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and hypothesized that there is a significant relationship between career decision self-efficacy and vocational identity. We also studied the differences between genders on the two variables and the effect of career decision self-efficacy on vocational identity. The sample of the study comprised of 243 Generation Z participants from UiTM Shah Alam. The finding shows that there are no differences between genders on the career decision self-efficacy and female and vocational identity and female, which finding is in contrast to previous findings. The result of the study also shows that there is a significant relationship between career decision self-efficacy and vocational identity. The last finding shows a statistically significant result where career decision self-efficacy contributes significantly to vocational identity and career decision-making self-efficacy explains 13 % of the variance in Vocational Identity. Therefore, this research provides information that can help to enhance students in the context of career counselling.

Development and properties of the parental support of leisure exploration measure

Leisure figures prominently in adolescent identity work. This paper tested the psychometric properties and validity of a new measure, Parental Support of Leisure Exploration (PSLE). We used three distinct samples: college undergraduates (n = 409, M age 19.4), high school students (n = 70, M age 16.8), and middle school students (n = 126, M age 14.05). Factor analysis indicated two factors: encouragement of autonomous exploration and parental control and intrusion. The PSLE autonomous exploration scale was correlated with developmental measures in the expected directions; however, the control and intrusion scale was not consistently correlated with these measures. In the high school sample, PSLE correlated with established measures of parenting, and after controlling for more general parenting, the PSLE scales explained additional, unique variance in identity. Results suggest that promoting parenting behaviors that encourage identity exploration through leisure experiences could be a promising avenue for fostering identity development.

Vocational identity of veterans with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders

BACKGROUND: No studies have examined vocational identity among individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. OBJECTIVE: Influenced by Blustein’s relational theory of working (2011), this study examined the relationships between several social-environmental variables (external/relational conflicts, employment barriers, substance abuse stigma) and vocational identity. METHODS: Eighty-four veterans receiving treatment from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders participated in this survey study. RESULTS: Education, employment, clinical, disability, and substance abuse factors were not associated with vocational identity, but external/relational conflicts, employment barriers, and substance abuse stigma were. Multiple regression analysis found that these variables accounted for 34%of the variance in vocational identity and that external/relational conflicts was the only significant predictor. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that more conflictual messages about work from external/relational sources is related to less clarity around one’s vocational interests, goals, and talents.

Path integral contour deformations for observables in SU(N) gauge theory

Path integral contour deformations have been shown to mitigate sign and signal-to-noise problems associated with phase fluctuations in lattice field theories. We define a family of contour deformations applicable to $SU(N)$ lattice gauge theory that can reduce sign and signal-to-noise problems associated with complex actions and complex observables. For observables, these contours can be used to define deformed observables with identical expectation value but different variance. As a proof-of-principle, we apply machine learning techniques to optimize the deformed observables associated with Wilson loops in two dimensional $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$ gauge theory. We study loops consisting of up to 64 plaquettes and achieve variance reduction of up to 4 orders of magnitude.

Understanding and Managing Gender Identity Variance in Minors: A Qualitative Research on the Parental Role in Italy

Identities that differ from what is expected of each gender challenge the crystallised binary form of social organisation. Furthermore, having a gender-variant child is an experience that confronts parents with something unknown to them that questions most of their assumptions. In the Italian context, there is a lack of awareness about the population of transgender and gender-variant minors, and what their or their families’ needs are. In the present study, we interviewed the parents of gender-variant minors from Italy and asked them to describe the ways they got to know their child’s gender identity and how they managed such a completely new situation. The interviews were transcribed literally and analysed through discourse analysis. We carried out descriptions of how parents configure this topic and the different positionings adopted thorough their experience of understanding and managing gender variance. Overall, we discussed and promoted parent-children interacting modalities aimed at co-constructing and sharing the process of gender identity development, instead of adopting self-referential or ideological positionings. The present article offers a qualitative exploratory study of gender-variant minors and their families in the Italian context. The limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also presented.

Accurate Statistical Model of Radiation Patterns in Analog Beamforming Including Random Error, Quantization Error, and Mutual Coupling

Analog beamforming technology is being used to overcome various technical drawbacks of mm-wave wireless communications systems. However, the errors caused by circuit implementations, quantized control, and imperfect isolation between antenna elements result in radiation pattern (RP) distortion and performance deterioration. In particular, the quantization error and mutual coupling cause the active reflection coefficient (ARC) of each antenna element to vary with respect to the main beam direction, resulting in statistical behavior changes depending on steering angles. In this article, we derive the statistical behavior of RPs with all those dominant errors taken into account. The analysis reveals that Beckmann distribution offers the exact solution for the cumulative distribution of the sidelobe level (SLL), which is very consistent with a Monte Carlo simulation including the ARC. In addition, the Rician distribution reflecting the three errors exhibits overall good accuracy, with inherent deviation from the Monte Carlo simulation results at certain steering angles due to the approximation of uncorrelated RPs and identical variances that are not valid in real antenna arrays. Our analysis also indicates that, to define the maximum probability of exceeding a certain SLL, the variance and correlation should be considered along with the mean of the RPs.

Exercise Identity, Self-Regulatory Efficacy, and Self-Compassion Prepared for Psychological Studies

Individuals may struggle to engage in regular physical activity because of self-regulatory failure and a lack of an exercise identity. One promising mechanism that has the potential to improve self-regulation of exercise is self-compassion. The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between self-compassion, self-regulation of exercise, and exercise identity. Participants included 1043 adults from across the USA (59.10% female; 40.30% male). Participants completed the self-compassion scale, exercise self-regulatory efficacy, and the exercise identity scale. Males reported significantly greater exercise identity (M =41.66, SD = 13.83) than females (M = 36.39, SD = 14.94). There was not a significant difference between gender for self-compassion (p = .07). Furthermore, males reported significantly greater exercise self-regulatory efficacy across all categories when compared to females. There was a statistically significant correlation between all outcome variables. Finally, a linear regression was used to determine the predictive value of exercise self-regulation and self-efficacy in predicting exercise identity in males and females. The variables accounted for 28% of the variance in exercise identity in males and 27% of the variance in females. The results contribute to the concept that how an individual relates to themselves (e.g., self-compassion) may promote domain-specific (e.g., exercise) efficacy and identity.

Predicting Math Identity Through Language and Click-Stream Patterns in a Blended Learning Mathematics Program for Elementary Students

This study builds on prior research by leveraging natural language processing (NLP), click-stream analyses, and survey data to predict students’ mathematics success and math identity (namely, self-concept, interest, and value of mathematics). Specifically, we combine NLP tools designed to measure lexical sophistication, text cohesion, and sentiment with analyses of student click-stream data within an online mathematics tutoring system. We combine these data sources to predict elementary students’ success within the system as well as components of their math identity as measured though a standardized survey. Data from 147 students was examined longitudinally over a year of study. The results indicated links between math success and non-cognitive measures of math identity. Additionally, the results indicate that math identity was strongly predicted by click-stream variables and the production of more lexically sophisticated and cohesive language. In addition, significant variance in math identity was explained by affective and cognitive variables. The results indicate that NLP and click-stream data can combine to provide insights into non-cognitive constructs such as math identity.

A Review of Closed-Form Cramér-Rao Bounds for DOA Estimation in the Presence of Gaussian Noise Under a Unified Framework

The Cramer-Rao Bound (CRB) for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation has been extensively studied over the past four decades, with a plethora of CRB expressions reported for various parametric models. In the literature, there are different methods to derive a closed-form CRB expression, but many derivations tend to involve intricate matrix manipulations which appear difficult to understand. Starting from the Slepian-Bangs formula and following the simplest derivation approach, this paper reviews a number of closed-form Gaussian CRB expressions for the DOA parameter under a unified framework, based on which all the specific CRB presentations can be derived concisely. The results cover three scenarios: narrowband complex circular signals, narrowband complex noncircular signals, and wideband signals. Three signal models are considered: the deterministic model, the stochastic Gaussian model, and the stochastic Gaussian model with the a priori knowledge that the sources are spatially uncorrelated. Moreover, three Gaussian noise models distinguished by the structure of the noise covariance matrix are concerned: spatially uncorrelated noise with unknown either identical or distinct variances at different sensors, and arbitrary unknown noise. In each scenario, a unified framework for the DOA-related block of the deterministic/stochastic CRB is developed, which encompasses one class of closed-form deterministic CRB expressions and two classes of stochastic ones under the three noise models. Comparisons among different CRBs across classes and scenarios are presented, yielding a series of equalities and inequalities which reflect the benchmark for the estimation efficiency under various situations. Furthermore, validity of all CRB expressions are examined, with some specific results for linear arrays provided, leading to several upper bounds on the number of resolvable Gaussian sources in the underdetermined case.

Genetic analysis on body weight at different ages in broiler chicken raised in commercial environment.

A multivariate model was developed and used to estimate genetic parameters of body weight (BW) at 1-6weeks of age of broilers raised in a commercial environment. The development of model was based on the predictive ability of breeding values evaluated from a cross-validation procedure that relied on half-sib correlation. The multivariate model accounted for heterogeneous variances between sexes through standardization applied to male and female BWs differently. It was found that the direct additive genetic, permanent environmental maternal and residual variances for BW increased drastically as broilers aged. The drastic increase in variances over weeks of age was mainly due to scaling effects. The ratio of the permanent environmental maternal variance to phenotypic variance decreased gradually with increasing age. Heritability of BW traits ranged from 0.28 to 0.33 at different weeks of age. The direct genetic effects on consecutive weekly BWs had high genetic correlations (0.85-0.99), but the genetic correlations between early and late BWs were low (0.32-0.57). The difference in variance components between sexes increased with increasing age. In conclusion, the permanent environmental maternal effect on broiler chicken BW decreased with increasing age from weeks 1 to 6. Potential bias of the model that considered identical variances for sexes could be reduced when heterogeneous variances between sexes are accounted for in the model.

Cramér-Rao Lower Bound of Target Localization Method Based on TOA Measurements

The Cramér-Rao bound of target localization method based on time-of-arrival measurements is analyzed. For the localization error analysis, the CRLB is derived under the assumptions that the measurement errors are independent and characterized by zero-mean Gaussian distributed process with identical variance, which is not satisfied in the situation of localizing noncooperative targets. Cramér-Rao bound is deduced by using the fact that the variances of TOA measurements of different sensors are affected by the signal-to-noise ratio of the echo signal and are different from each other. Simulations of Monte Carlo experiments are carried out so as to verify the analytical results.

Mindfulness and Decision‐Making Style: Predicting Career Thoughts and Vocational Identity

Mindfulness has been a focus of psychological research and practice in recent decades. Yet, there is limited research on the relationship between mindfulness and vocational decision‐making. This study’s purpose was to examine the role of mindfulness in a career context by investigating the relationships among mindfulness, decision‐making style, negative career thoughts, and vocational identity. The sample included 258 undergraduate students (204 women, 54 men) at a large southeastern U.S. university. Mindfulness was significantly (p < .01) associated with fewer negative career thoughts, external and thinking‐based decision‐making styles, and higher vocational identity. Multiple regression procedures found that mindfulness, coupled with decision‐making style, accounted for 31% of the variance in negative career thoughts and 22% of the variance in vocational identity. These findings suggest that more holistic career counseling interventions could incorporate mindfulness techniques to help reduce anxiety and negative thoughts while increasing self‐clarity and problem‐solving skills. Future research could include more diverse samples, additional constructs (e.g., choice volition, self‐efficacy), and a pretest–posttest design to examine the efficacy of mindfulness‐based career interventions.

The Sense of Classroom Belonging Among Pre-Service Teachers: Testing a Theoretical Model

<p>The purpose of the present study is to test a hypothetical model in order to examine the association between students’ sense of classroom belonging along with four other university class-level variables including faculty-student relationships, connected classroom climate referring peer relationships, loneliness and classroom identity. It is intended to draw attention of teacher educators to the importance of creating sense of community at classroom level through this study in order to improve the quality of teacher education. With this aim, pre-service teachers attending the faculty of education were selected as sample of the study (N= 1425). Each measures used in this study was adapted for college-level students through confirmatory factor analysis in order to test specific predictions concerning each measure’s structure and the results revealed that all measures have adequate psychometric properties. The model examined with structural equation modeling was an excellent fit with the data, and the results indicated that the fitted model explained 50% of the variance in classroom identity; 47% of the variance in sense of classroom belonging; 14% of the variance in classroom climate; and 9% of the variance in loneliness. Results and implications are discussed.</p>

DEVELOPING A MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN MEDICAL STUDENTS: THE ROLE OF MOTIVATION AND PARTICIPATION

Background: It is very important to develop professional identity among medical students, as it will affect how they work in the future. Factors affecting professional identity in medical education context need to be explored. This study aimed to develop a model of professional identity in medical students which examine the role of motivation, self-efficacy, personal reflection, social interaction, curriculum in action perceived by students and participation in determining professional identity. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among medical students in Mataram University. A total of 303 pre-clinical (year 1 to 4) and clinical students (year 5 to 6) filled out the questionnaires. Partial least square - structural equation model analysis was performed.Results: The modification model had a good model fit (GoF 0.404). The average path coefficient was 0.303 (p<0.001) and the adjusted average R square was 0.321 (p<0.001). Forty percent of variance in professional identity could be explained by motivation (β=0.51, p<0.001, f2=0.281) and participation (β=0.32, p<0.001, f2=0.118).Conclusions: Motivation and participation of medical students may influence the professional identity. Based on the model, within the medical education processes, academic motivation of students should be maintained and fostered and participation should be supported.

Acculturation and Career Development of International and Domestic College Students

The authors examined the relationships between career and cultural characteristics among 53 international and 54 domestic students at a large university in the southeastern United States. One‐way multivariate analysis of variance results showed an overall significant difference between groups for mainstream acculturation, but not for vocational identity, dysfunctional career thoughts, goal instability, or heritage acculturation. Regression results indicated that 71% of the variance in vocational identity of domestic college students was explained by dysfunctional career thoughts and acculturation, whereas dysfunctional career thoughts were the only significant predictor of vocational identity for international college students. Thus, a key implication from this study is for career practitioners to address and challenge the dysfunctional thinking of all students to improve their vocational identity. Future researchers should also explore how other potential moderator variables (e.g., age, gender, race/ethnicity, parental education) may influence vocational identity, as well as include more qualitative approaches to better understand an individual’s worldview, including career and cultural characteristics.

Team-level identification predicts perceived and actual team performance: Longitudinal multilevel analyses with sports teams.

Social identification and team performance literatures typically focus on the relationship between individual differences in identification and individual‐level performance. By using a longitudinal multilevel approach, involving 369 members of 45 sports teams across England and Italy, we compared how team‐level and individual‐level variance in social identification together predicted team and individual performance outcomes. As hypothesized, team‐level variance in identification significantly predicted subsequent levels of both perceived and actual team performance in cross‐lagged analyses. Conversely, individual‐level variance in identification did not significantly predict subsequent levels of perceived individual performance. These findings support recent calls for social identity to be considered a multilevel construct and highlight the influence of group‐level social identification on group‐level processes and outcomes, over and above its individual‐level effects.

On outperforming social-screening-indexing by multiple-objective portfolio selection

Socially responsible investment has been rapidly growing over the past two decades and is typically fulfilled by screening and indexing. Recently, scholars propose multiple-objective portfolio selection for corporate social responsibility (CSR). The proposal raises the question whether multiple-objective portfolio selection can outperform screening and indexing. The question is not fully answered although researchers have made some encouraging trial. By formulating multiple-objective portfolio selection for CSR, I propose a theorem to demonstrate that investors can outperform screening and indexing in expected CSR with identical or better expected return and with identical variance, and can outperform screening and indexing in expected return with identical or better expected CSR and with identical variance. I empirically test the outperformance by component stocks of Dow Jones Industrial Average and report the results.

Joint monitoring of mean and dispersion of count data

Count data are often described by the Poisson distribution, which requires identical mean and variance, namely equi-dispersion. However, in practical situations, count data usually exhibit either over-dispersion with variance larger than mean, or under-dispersion with variance smaller than mean. Therefore, traditional approaches that focus on only mean shifts, such as the c-chart, cannot monitor count data with over/under-dispersion efficiently. To monitor mean and dispersion of count data simultaneously, this paper adopts Conway–Maxwell–Poisson (COM–Poisson) distributions to fit count data with over/under-dispersion, and constructs a control chart based on the likelihood ratio test. The proposed chart is powerful in detecting both mean and dispersion shifts of count data with either over-dispersion or under-dispersion. Numerical simulations have demonstrated its performance in various cases.

Effects of phase correlations in naturalistic stimuli on quantitative information coding by fly photoreceptors.

Natural visual scenes are rarely random. Instead, intensity and wavelength change slowly in time and space over many regions of the scene, so that neighboring temporal and spatial visual inputs are more correlated and contain less information than truly random signals. It has been suggested that sensory optimization to match these higher order correlations (HOC) occurs at the earliest visual stages, and that photoreceptors can process temporal natural signals more efficiently than random signals. We tested this early-stage hypothesis by comparing the information content of Calliphora vicina photoreceptor responses to naturalistic inputs before and after removing HOC by randomizing phase. Forty different, 60-s long, naturalistic sequences (NS) were used, together with randomized-phase versions of the same sequences to give pink noise (PN) so that each input pair had identical means, variances, mean contrasts, and power spectra. We measured the information content of inputs and membrane potential responses by three different methods: coherence, mutual information, and compression entropy. We also used entropy and phase statistics of each pair as measures of HOC. Responses to randomized signals generally had higher gain, signal-to-noise ratio, and information rates than responses to NS. Information rate increased with a strong, positive, linear correlation to phase randomization within sequence pairs. This was confirmed by varying the degree of phase randomization. Our data indicate that individual photoreceptors encode input information by Weber's law, with HOC within natural sequences reducing information transfer by decreasing the number of local contrast events that exceed the noise-imposed threshold. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Natural visual scenes feature statistical regularities, or higher order correlations (HOC), both in time and space, to encode surfaces, textures, and object boundaries. Visual systems rely on this information; however, it remains controversial whether individual photoreceptors can discriminate and enhance information encoded in HOC. Here we show that the more HOC the stimulus contains, the lower the information transfer rate of photoreceptors. We explain our findings by applying the Weber's paradigm of differential signal perception.