Use Of Profile Analysis Research Articles

Beyond borders: analysis of the students' mobility flows at Sapienza University of Rome

The promotion of mobility among academic staff and students is one of the main objectives of the Bologna Process, a mechanism that has been defined by the European Commission aimed to promote intergovernmental cooperation between the European countries in the field of the higher education. In this respect, according to the last Erasmus+ Annual Report (2019), almost 10 million people took part in the Erasmus program during the last three decades and the increase of this phenomenon has been recorded in all of the European countries. As far as Italy is concerned, in 2018 (year of last available data), 76,847 participants in 1,055 Italian projects benefited from mobility in higher education, vocational education and training, school education, adult learning and youth for a total grant amount of €147.83 million. Going into detail, the number of incoming students and trainees increased by 45.8% from the 2010/2011 academic year to the 2017/2018 academic year while the number of outgoing students and trainees increased by 75.6%. Starting from this consideration, the purpose of the study was to analyze data regarding mobility flows (both incoming and outgoing) during the last academic year (2018/2019) at Sapienza University of Rome, which, together with Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna and the University of Padua, is one of the top three Italian universities with the highest rate of incoming foreign students. Data will be analyzed through the use of profile analysis whose aim is to compare the same dependent variable (i.e., the opportunity for a mobility period abroad) between two different groups of incoming and outgoing students taking into account both demographic variables (i.e., gender, student age at the beginning of the experience, countries of the original and destination institutions) and variables of the academic career (i.e., exam grades and credits obtained).

Word Memory Test Performance in Canadian Adolescents With Learning Disabilities: A Preliminary Study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate Word Memory Test (WMT) performances in students with identified learning disabilities (LDs) providing good effort to examine the influence of severe reading or learning problems on WMT performance. Participants were 63 students with LDs aged 11 to 14 years old (M = 12.19 years), who completed psychoeducational assessments as part of a transition program to secondary school. Participants were administered a battery of psychodiagnostic tests including the WMT. Results indicated that 9.5% of students with LD met Criterion A on the WMT (i.e., perform below cut-offs on any of the first three subtests of the WMT), but less than 1% met both criteria necessary for identification of low effort. Failure on the first three subtests of the WMT was associated with word reading at or below the 1st percentile and severely impaired phonetic decoding and phonological awareness skills. These results indicate that the majority of students with a history of LD are capable of passing the WMT, and use of profile analysis reduces the false-positive rate to below 1%.

Best practices in the identification of gifted students with learning disabilities

AbstractIn recent years, researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in students who have both learning disabilities and intellectual gifts. Intellectually gifted students are defined as those who demonstrate outstanding ability to grapple with complexity, or superior academic potential. The definition of learning disability states that the level of performance in a particular academic area is substantially below what would be expected based on one's general intellectual ability and that this incongruity cannot be explained by lack of educational opportunity in that academic area. This article explores several controversial issues surrounding the identification of students as both gifted and learning disabled. How does a discrepancy manifest itself in a student who is intellectually gifted? Do gifted students with learning disabilities experience masking effects? How can we effectively identify intellectually gifted students with learning disabilities? In addition, we argue against the use of profile analysis to identify gifted students with learning disabilities. Finally, we propose guidelines for school psychologists to identify students with intellectual gifts and learning disabilities, and we provide suggestions for how to best serve this unique population of students within the school environment. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Profile Analysis with the Wechsler Scales

Despite the overwhelming evidence that mitigates against the use of profile analysis, the practice of diagnosing specific cognitive or processing disabilities continues. The reason that profile analysis remains popular is probably because school psychologists are simply unfamiliar with the literature. They have a difficult time understanding the notion of g, along with its implications. Generally, the users of profile analysis assume that because the IQ tests, particularly the WISC scales, generate scores from subtests that differ in content, they must be measuring different types of cognitive abilities, and therefore the profile of these cognitive abilities should be diagnostically important. Finally, they find profile analysis more socially acceptable in that it implies the existence of multiple intelligences. The notion that a single IQ score captures all that is meaningful and practical about the IQ test is simply not acceptable, regardless of evidence to the contrary.

Use of profile analysis for the measurement of organ dimensions

We have developed a method for measurement of organ dimension based on the use of the full width half maximum (FWHM) of profiles taken through an organ. In vitro studies were performed using a large rectangular lucite box filled with water. Five circular lucite phantoms with internal diameters of 1.4-10.2 cm and 1 elliptical phantom with dimensions 9.6 x 4.0 cm were filled with 99mTc-pertechnetate at various concentrations. Phantoms were imaged on a gamma camera at a depth of 5-25 cm in water and the FWHM calculated from horizontal profiles taken across the cylinders. The FWHM showed no variation with 99mTc concentration in the same cylinder. Phantom profiles were deconvolved with a system line spread function measured under similar conditions of scatter and depth. The correction factor to convert the deconvolved profile FWHM to true diameter was independent of cylinder depth and diameter over a range of FWHM 3-10 cm and depth 5-25 cm. The mean value for the correction factor was 1.23 +/- 0.04 for circular phantoms and 1.14 +/- 0.02 for the elliptical phantom. This technique should allow an objective and reproducible estimate of organ dimensions from planar images that is relatively independent of the depth and size of an organ.