Maximal Reliability Research Articles

Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Version of the Modified Online Compulsive Buying Scale among Chinese Young Consumers

ABSTRACT This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese translation of the modified online compulsive buying scale. A convenience sample of 539 Chinese university students were recruited in four major cities in China. The scale was translated from English to Chinese using forward-backward method. Performing a maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis revealed one factor consisting of 10 items, which was confirmed by conducting a confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability, face validity, content validity, and construct validity of the scale were assessed. The Chinese version of the modified online compulsive buying scale showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = .909), and good construct reliability (composite reliability = .911, maximal reliability = .919, McDonald’s omega = .910). Moreover, convergent validity of the scale was established (average variance extracted = .510). The validated instrument can be used in future studies to measure young consumers’ online compulsive buying behavior in China.

Validation of the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation Scale in Pediatric Patients.

The Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) is a disease specific quality of life instrument developed and validated in adults. The objective of this study is to evaluate the validity of the NOSE scale for pediatric nasal obstruction. We also examined the effect of septoplasty with bilateral inferior turbinate reduction in this population. A validation study at a tertiary care children's hospital. Thirty-eight pediatric patients who underwent septoplasty and bilateral inferior turbinate reduction between 2014 and 2018 were included. Patients were administered the NOSE instrument on the day of their clinic evaluation, the day of surgery, and at their 6 to 8-week post-operative appointment. A sample of 40 pediatric patients with non-rhinologic complaints was also included. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the factorial validity of the NOSE instrument. Of the 78 patients included, the mean age was 15.4 years (SD 3.4). In the confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings were all significant and ranged from 0.95 to 0.99. Internal consistency reliability using Omega and maximal reliability H indices were well above recommended standards (Omega=0.983 and maximal H=0.988). Test-retest reliability was also adequate. Mean NOSE scores significantly improved following surgery (from 96.7 [SD 6.2] to 8.8 [SD 7.8]; mean difference=-87.9; 95% CI: -84.5, -91.3; P < .001). Similar improvements were observed across age groups. The NOSE scale is a valid and reliable quality of life instrument for pediatric patients with nasal obstruction. Nasal septoplasty with bilateral turbinate reduction substantially improved symptoms of nasal obstruction. 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E2594-E2598, 2021.

Development and Testing of the Quality of Life Osteoporosis Scale-Nonvertebral Fractures (QoLOS-NVFX).

The aim of this study was developing and testing a new tool for measuring quality of life (QoL) in patients with osteoporosis who had experienced nonvertebral fractures (NVFXs). Two main phases were carried out. First, the tool was developed based on expert opinion through three focus groups. Second, the tool was tested with exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 458 postmenopausal women. The reliability of the developed Quality of Life Osteoporosis Scale-Nonvertebral Fractures (QoLOS-NVFX) was measured using Cronbach's α, maximal reliability (MR), composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE). The QoLOS-NVFX resulted in a unidimensional scale with 23 items and showed good reliability, with a Cronbach's α of 0.94, an MR of 0.96, a CR of 0.96, and an AVE of 0.70. The QoLOS-NVFX shows good psychometric properties and can be used to assess the impact of NVFX on QoL in osteoporotic women. Furthermore, it can be easily used in clinical practice and research.

Aerial Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface-Enabled URLLC UAV Systems

In this paper, we propose an aerial reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) system to support the stringent constraints of ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). Specifically, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) employed onboard RIS panels can act as repeaters to reflect the signal from macro base station (MBS) to all users in the networks. To overcome the dense networks’ interference, we propose to use zero-forcing beamforming and time division multiplexing access (TDMA) scheme where each UAV can serve a number of users in its own cluster. We formulate a optimisation framework in terms of UAVs’ deployment, power allocation at MBS, phase-shift of RIS, and blocklength of URLLC. Due to highly nonconvex and complex optimisation problem, we first consider to use a deep neural network (DNN) to solve the optimal UAVs’ deployment. Then, the optimal resource allocation is proposed to provide the maximal reliability of the considered system with respect to the users’ fairness. From the representative numerical results, our proposed scheme is shown to superior to other benchmarks which exhibits the positive impact of aerial RIS in supporting stringent demands of URLLC.

Comparison of performances between three commercial ELISA kits for detection of antibodies against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PPRSV) in swine sera samples

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is one of the most economically important diseases in pigs, worldwide. Just in the US, the total costs to the swine industry have been estimated at $664 million per year. Therefore, the continuous and reliable monitoring of the PRRS status of a pig herd is required in order to prevent and reduce costs due to this infection. Mostly used methods for diagnosis of PRRS infection nowadays are serological (ELISA) and molecular (PCR) ones. This study aimed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of three different commercially available ELISA kits for detection of antibodies against PRRSV (IDEXX PRRS X3 Ab Test (IDEXX, USA), INgezim PRRS Universal (Ingenasa, Spain), Pigtype PRRSV Ab (Qiagen, Germany)) using 91 blood serum samples collected from pigs in Serbia. Our study showed no significant differences in specificity and sensitivity between three commercially available ELISA kits. However, IDEXX ELISA proved to be more reliable kit for detecting antibodies against PRRSV with sensitivity of 97,4% and specificity of 98,1%, considering INgezim and Qiagen kits specificity of 92,5% and 83%, respectively, and sensitivity of 94,7 % for both kits. In order to achieve maximal reliability of obtained results, ELISA diagnostic protocol for diagnosis of PRRS infection should be complemented with additional tests such as PCR and virus neutralization test.

Reliable and Time-Efficient Virtualized Function Placement

Reliability and time-efficiency are two key elements to consider in network design. Commonly, each is measured per service—availability probability of a specific service, the latency of a specific service, and overall—system average reliability and average latency, considering the demand for every service. Intuitively, minimizing latency requires minimizing the number of network elements a service makes use of. In a nonredundant environment, this would also guarantee the maximal reliability of a service, as reliability degrades when relying on more elements. However, reliability is often guaranteed by allocating backup resources. We explain that such redundancy or the joint support for multiple services can impose a tradeoff between reliability and time-efficiency criteria. In this article, we study the conditions for the existence of such a tradeoff and design solutions that jointly take care of both design goals.

Determination of methotrexate in spiked human urine using SERS-active sorbent.

This report is dedicated to determination of anticancer drug methotrexate (MTX) in human urine using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Aluminum oxide loaded with silver nanoparticles (AO-Ag) was proposed as SERS-active sorbent and used for solid-phase extraction (SPE) of the analyte and its SERS-based determination (SPE-SERS protocol). MTX has strong SERS signal only in alkaline media that challenges its determination in urine due to strong background signal caused by creatinine. The application of SPE step enables to purify and concentrate the analyte making MTX determination possible. Also, the application of the same material for SPE pretreatment and SERS analysis enables to simplify and speed-up the protocol. The protocol was developed and tested using artificially spiked samples of human urine collected during different time of day to account deviating composition of the urine matrix. The use of dilution step of the analyte-containing urine was proposed prior SPE-SERS protocol to reduce the difference between morning-time- and daytime-collected urine achieving maximal reliability of the analysis. Additional physicochemical study was performed to estimate an influence of the primary intrinsic urine components (salts, urea, creatinine) and their mixtures on the analytical signal. Final protocol enables MTX determination in human urine within 20-300μgmL-1 range of concentrations with satisfactory precision (11-19% RSD), accuracy (97-104% apparent recovery), and limit of detection (4.2μgmL-1). Accounting that the analysis requires less than 15min and portable Raman spectrometer, the protocol seems to be promising for therapeutic drug monitoring in hospitals to identify poor MTX clearance in a timely manner and minimize adverse effects of therapy. Graphical Abstract.

A Novel Approach for Determination of Reliability of Covering a Node from K Nodes

In this paper, a stochastic problem of multicenter location on a graph was formulated through the modification of the existing p-center problem to determine the location of a given number of facilities, to maximize the reliability of supplying the system. The system is represented by a graph whose nodes are the locations of demand and the potential facilities, while the weights of the arcs represent the reliability, i.e., the probability that an appropriate branch is available. First, k locations of facilities are randomly determined. Using a modified Dijkstra’s algorithm, the elementary path of maximal reliability for every demand node is determined. Then, a graph of all of elementary paths for demand node is formed. Finally, a new algorithm for calculating the reliability of covering a node from k nodes (k—covering reliability) was formulated.

Development and Validation of a Self-Determination Theory-Based Measure of Motivation to Exercise and Diet in Children.

Objective: To develop and test the factorial structure of a new self-determination theory–based measure of behavioral regulation in children.Methods: Five hundred ninety 590 (F = 51.7%) children aged 7 to 11 years completed the Motivation to Exercise and Diet (MED-C) questionnaire, which comprises 16 items (eight for exercise and eight for diet) grouped into eight factors (five motivations and three needs). Psychometric testing included confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency. Measurement invariance analyses were also performed to evaluate whether the factorial structure of the MED-C was equivalent for gender (male vs. female), age (≤9 vs. ≥10 years), and the perception of having at least one parent with overweight or obesity (yes vs. no).Results: Factorial analysis confirmed an acceptable factors solution for the MED-C and a good fit to the data for both the exercise and the diet subscales assessed independently. The maximal reliability coefficient revealed good reliability for the exercise and the diet subscales. Moreover, the MED-C factor structure was invariant across group comparisons.Discussion: Findings support the construct validity and reliability of the MED-C. Therefore, it represents the first validated instrument simultaneously measuring motivational regulation and psychological need satisfaction in the context of children’s exercise and diet. Considering the goodness of these results, scale percentile ranks of the total score distribution as well as the z score and the T score were provided for clinical and research purposes.Conclusion: The MED-C might support the understanding of motivations and needs of children with weight problems and assist their process of behavioral change in primary and secondary prevention programs. Psychological factors represent, in fact, potential targets for interventions to increase children’s motivation to exercise and diet.

Validity and Reliability of the Antepartum Gastrointestinal Symptom Assessment Instrument

ObjectiveTo examine the psychometric properties of the nine-item Antepartum Gastrointestinal Symptom Assessment (AP-GI-SA) instrument. DesignSingle-group prospective design. SettingUrban prenatal clinic serving a diverse population. ParticipantsConvenience sample of 45 pregnant women. MethodsParticipants completed the AP-GI-SA before a scheduled prenatal care appointment. We used Bayesian structural equation modeling to evaluate the construct validity of the scale and assessed known-groups validity. We assessed reliability through maximal reliability coefficient estimate and measured internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. ResultsParticipants completed the instrument in 2 minutes or less. Construct validity was supported by confirmatory factor analysis (posterior predictive p value = 0.49, gamma-hat = 0.970, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.065), which indicated that the single-factor model is a plausible data-generative model for GI symptoms. The maximal reliability coefficient of 0.75 and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.67 supported reliability. Average AP-GI-SA scores were the highest for women in the third trimester. Of all nine GI symptoms, heartburn in the third trimester received the highest score. ConclusionOur findings provide preliminary support for the validity and reliability of the AP-GI-SA. The instrument may be used as a measure in intervention studies where GI symptoms of pregnancy are an outcome. The AP-GI-SA could also be useful in clinical settings to quickly evaluate GI symptoms.

Quality road surfacing: two stages of control over design concept

This article examines the questions of improving the quality of design concepts on construction and reconstruction of roads. The primary subject of this research is the road surface, the quality of which directly affects the convenience and safety of traffic. The author also assesses the effectiveness of the system &amp;ldquo;subgrade &amp;ndash; road surface&amp;rdquo; in the conditions of cyclical dynamic load from vehicles and temporal variability of the characteristics of soil ground-geological environment. An overview is conducted on the relevant requirements to engineering of road surface and efficiency assessment of design concepts. The author considers the national and foreign experience of road construction, including modern software &amp;nbsp;solutions. The two key aspects of selection and efficiency assessment of design solutions are formulated. The article describes the concept, algorithm and results of implementation of comprehensive methodology for assessing efficiency of engineering and construction of road surfaces. Detailed analysis is conducted on the stages of mathematical modeling and effectiveness of the system &amp;ldquo;subgrade &amp;ndash; road surface&amp;rdquo;. An undisputable scientific novelty of this research consists in application of the modern mathematical apparatus, methods and techniques of linear programming, together with the leading company on the development of software for design and construction of roads. The necessity and practical importance of the elaborated concept on efficiency assessment of design concepts is confirmed by implementation into the practice of road construction. The conclusion is made that the application of integrated index of the effectiveness of construction of road surfaces, coupled with software packages for assessing the stress-deformed condition of soil ground-geological systems, allow eliminated the design errors and ensure maximal reliability and safety of roads under construction of reconstruction.

Psychometric Analysis of a Proposed Model to Determine Factors Influencing Selection of a Research Supervisor

Aim/Purpose: This paper found some factors which influence research supervisees’ selection of their research supervisors. Background: Research on supervisor-supervisee relationship is mostly conducted when research students have already initiated their studies. Research on how a supervisor is selected before the research begins is researched less. How do supervisees select their supervisors? Which factors do they consider important? These questions were not clearly answered in the literature so far. Methodology: A scale was developed to measure factors which influence the selection of research supervisors. Using an online survey, data was collected from 315 research students in Malaysia between August and October 2018. Psychometric properties of the scale were assessed using exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Construct reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the scale were assessed using composite reliability, maximal reliability, average variance extracted, and maximum shared variance. Contribution: How research supervisees select their supervisors is an understudied area. Most of the research on supervisor selection is done after the research journey has begun. This research focuses on the thought processes before supervisor selection. Findings: Demographics, expertise, and physical appearance emerge as important constructs that influence the thought process of a research supervisee. Each of these constructs is composed of several dimensions, each with its own weight and importance. Recommendations for Practitioners: Research supervision is an integral part of contemporary teaching profession. To develop this important dimension of an academic’s career, this research holds high significance. The emerging factors will help researcher supervisors enhance their profiles and become more visible. This has practical implications for higher education institutions as well. Recommendation for Researchers: Further studies in this area can explore these factors across different cultures, distinction between undergraduate and postgraduate students, public and private higher education institutions, and scholarship or self-funded students. Impact on Society: Attracting better and relevant research students will result in a better match between researcher’s capability and supervisor’s expertise leading to high impact research. Future Research: This research was done on only 315 respondents. More respondents from diverse population might influence the outcome.

A combined simulation-optimization approach for minimizing travel time and delays in railway timetables

Minimal travel time and maximal reliability are two of the most important properties of a railway transportation service. This paper considers the problem of finding a timetable for a given set of departures that minimizes the weighted sum of scheduled travel time and expected delay, thereby capturing these two important socio-economic properties of a timetable. To accurately represent the complex secondary delays in operational railway traffic, an approach combining microscopic simulation and macroscopic timetable optimization is proposed. To predict the expected delay in the macroscopic timetable, a surrogate function is formulated, as well as a subproblem to calibrate the parameters in the model. In a set of computational experiments, the approach increased the socio-economic benefit by 2–5% and improved the punctuality by 8–25%.

A cautionary note on the finite sample behavior of maximal reliability.

Several calls have been made for replacing coefficient α with more contemporary model-based reliability coefficients in psychological research. Under the assumption of unidimensional measurement scales and independent measurement errors, two leading alternatives are composite reliability and maximal reliability. Of these two, the maximal reliability statistic, or equivalently Hancock's H, has received a significant amount of attention in recent years. The difference between composite reliability and maximal reliability is that the former is a reliability index for a scale mean (or unweighted sum), whereas the latter estimates the reliability of a scale score where indicators are weighted differently based on their estimated reliabilities. The formula for the maximal reliability weights has been derived using population quantities; however, their finite-sample behavior has not been extensively examined. Particularly, there are two types of bias when the maximal reliability statistic is calculated from sample data: (a) the sample maximal reliability estimator is a positively biased estimator of population maximal reliability, and (b) the true reliability of composites formed with maximal reliability weights calculated from sample data is on average less than the population reliability. Both effects are more pronounced in small-sample scenarios (e.g., <100). We also demonstrate that the composite reliability estimator for equally weighted composite exhibits substantially less bias, which makes it a more appropriate choice for the small-sample case. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Improving the Reliability of V-Wave Responses in the Soleus Muscle.

The V wave is an electrophysiologic variant of the H reflex that is evoked with supramaximal stimulus intensity. In this study, we explored whether the between-day reliability of V-wave normalized amplitude varies as a function of the number of intrasession measurement trials. We also determined whether the reliability of the V wave improves after the exclusion of the initial testing trials. Eighteen healthy, young participants (10 men and 8 women) were included in this study. Test-retest reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients and the standard error of the measurement (1.96*SEM). The intraclass correlation coefficient values of the V-wave normalized amplitude increased in a progressive fashion with the inclusion of more than two measurement trials (from 0.41 to 0.75). The 1.96*SEM scores also decreased from 12.47% to 7.60% after calculating the V-wave normalized amplitude from five versus two measurement trials. After excluding the first two trials from V-wave calculations, the intraclass correlation coefficient and the 1.96*SEM score attained values of 0.88 and 6.54%, respectively. Our findings indicate that the test-retest reliability of the V-wave response increases in a progressive fashion with more than two intrasession measurement trials (up to five trials). It also shows that to ensure maximal reliability, the first two measurement trials should be discarded from V-wave computations.

Strong Consistency of Reliability Estimators for Multiple-Component Measuring Instruments

It is shown that the maximum likelihood estimator of the widely used omega coefficient for reliability of multicomponent measuring instruments converges almost surely to the population reliability coefficient for normal congeneric measures with uncorrelated errors as sample size increases indefinitely. This strong consistency implies convergence in probability (consistency) as well as in distribution for the omega estimator. Strong consistency is also demonstrated for the maximal reliability estimator associated with the optimal linear combination of the instrument components. The findings of this note add (i) to the recommendation to use in the general normality case the omega estimator in empirical research, (ii) to the critical literature on the popular coefficient alpha then, and (iii) to the literature on the properties of the optimal linear combination of observed measures and the maximal reliability estimator.

Croatian Adaptation of the Revised Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)

The aim of this research was to translate and adapt the revised version of the "Reading the mind in the eyes test" (Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) to the Croatian language, and to provide preliminary data on its reliability, factor structure and convergent validity in a healthy population of Croatian students. After translation and adaptation, the Croatian version of the RMET was administered to 146 undergraduate and graduate students (84 female and 62 male participants). Together with the RMET, we administered the Emotional Empathy Scale (Raboteg-Šarić, 1993). Results show low internal consistency reliability of the Croatian adaptation of the RMET and adequate reliability measured with maximal reliability H coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis marginally supports the unidimensional model. Convergent validity was marginally confirmed by a significant positive correlation between REMT and empathy. Additionally, we created a short version of the RMET, showing adequate fit indices, but containing only seven items. Internal consistency reliability and composite reliability for this scale were satisfactory. We propose further investigation of psychometric properties of the Croatian adaptation of the RMET with research in general, more representative population. We also propose investigating test-retest reliability, as well as discriminant validity of the test.

Supplemental Material for A Cautionary Note on the Finite Sample Behavior of Maximal Reliability

Supplemental Material for A Cautionary Note on the Finite Sample Behavior of Maximal Reliability

The Effects of Sample Size, Correlation Technique, and Factor Extraction Method on Reliability Coefficients

This study aims to compare reliability coefficients according to sample size (250, 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 9,773), EFA factor extraction methods (PCA, PA, ULS, WLS, and MLE), CFA estimation methods (UL, ML, and GL), and correlation matrices (Pearson, phi, and tetrachoric). Therefore, it employs a basic research method. The study was conducted with real data, and the data were collected from students’ answers to a Turkish sub-test in the Test for Transition from Basic Education into Secondary Education administered in 2014. Within the scope of the study, McDonald ω, McDonald ωh, maximal reliability, Armor Ɵ, Heise and Bohrnstedt Ω, Revelle β, and standardized alpha coefficients were compared. Consequently, it was found that sample size in the same correlation matrices did not lead to serious changes. It was also found that McDonald ωh and Revelle β coefficients calculated with a tetrachoric correlation were bigger than 1 in some conditions. It was recommended in consequence that those coefficients should be calculated through phi correlations for congeric one-factor structures. Other findings obtained support the literature, and necessary suggestions are made.

The Total Score With Maximal Reliability and Maximal Criterion Validity: An Illustration Using a Career Satisfaction Measure.

The maximal reliability of a congeneric measure is achieved by weighting item scores to form the optimal linear combination as the total score; it is never lower than the composite reliability of the measure when measurement errors are uncorrelated. The statistical method that renders maximal reliability would also lead to maximal criterion validity. Using a career satisfaction measure as an example, the present article calculated the maximal reliability and maximal criterion validity and compared them with the composite reliability and the scale criterion validity, respectively. The improvement of reliability and validity indicated that the optimal linear combination is preferred when forming a total score of a measure. The Mplus codes for analyzing maximal reliability, maximal criterion validity, and related parameters are provided.