Reducing the item number to obtain same-length self-assessment scales: a systematic approach using result of graphical loglinear Rasch modeling

The Revised Danish Learning Styles Inventory (R-D-LSI) (Nielsen 2005), which is an adaptation of Sternberg-Wagner Thinking Styles Inventory (Sternberg, 1997), comprises 14 subscales, each measuring a separate learning style. Of these 14 subscales, 9 are eight items long and 5 are seven items long. For self-assessment, self-scoring and self-interpretational purposes it is deemed prudent that subscales measuring comparable constructs are of the same item length. Consequently, in order to obtain a self-assessment version of the R-D-LSI with an equal number of items in each subscale, a systematic approach to item reduction based on results of graphical loglinear Rasch modeling (GLLRM) was designed. This approach was then used to reduce the number of items in the subscales of the R-D-LSI which had an item-length of more than seven items, thereby obtaining the Danish Self-Assessment Learning Styles Inventory (D-SA-LSI) comprising 14 subscales each with an item length of seven. The systematic approach to item reduction based on results of GLLRM will be presented and exemplified by its application to the R-D-LSI.     

Effect of item redundancy on Rasch item and person estimates

One of the assumptions of many latent trait models is local independence. This assumption specifies that, after controlling for the underlying trait, item responses are independent. Given the lack of studies of model robustness against such violations, it appears that this assumption is frequently taken for granted. Therefore, this study investigated the robustness of Rasch item and person estimates with simulated data under varying number of items, sample sizes, and levels of item redundancy. Item and person reliabilities, the standard deviations of the person and item estimates, the root mean squared differences and mean signed differences among person and item estimates, the correlations between person estimates, and the percentage of person estimates shifting by more than .50 logits were used to evaluate the impact of item redundancy. Both norm and criterion-reference interpretations may be influenced by the imputation of redundancy into the data. However, it appears that the amount of redundancy needs to be considerable before such interpretations would be adversely impacted. Suggestions for further simulation research are provided.     

Rasch fit statistics as a test of the invariance of item parameter estimates

The invariance of the estimated parameters across variation in the incidental parameters of a sample is one of the most important properties of Rasch measurement models. This is the property that allows the equating of test forms and the use of computer adaptive testing. It necessarily follows that in Rasch models if the data fit the model, than the estimation of the parameter of interest must be invariant across sub-samples of the items or persons. This study investigates the degree to which the INFIT and OUTFIT item fit statistics in WINSTEPS detect violations of the invariance property of Rasch measurement models. The test in this study is a 80 item multiple-choice test used to assess mathematics competency. The WINSTEPS analysis of the dichotomous results, based on a sample of 2000 from a very large number of students who took the exam, indicated that only 7 of the 80 items misfit using the 1.3 mean square criteria advocated by Linacre and Wright. Subsequent calibration of separate samples of 1,000 students from the upper and lower third of the person raw score distribution, followed by a t-test comparison of the item calibrations, indicated that the item difficulties for 60 of the 80 items were more than 2 standard errors apart. The separate calibration t-values ranged from +21.00 to -7.00 with the t-test value of 41 of the 80 comparisons either larger than +5 or smaller than -5. Clearly these data do not exhibit the invariance of the item parameters expected if the data fit the model. Yet the INFIT and OUTFIT mean squares are completely insensitive to the lack of invariance in the item parameters. If the OUTFIT ZSTD from WINSTEPS was used with a critical value of | t | > 2.0, then 56 of the 60 items identified by the separate calibration t-test would be identified as misfitting. A fourth measure of misfit, the between ability-group item fit statistic identified 69 items as misfitting when a critical value of t > 2.0 was used. Clearly relying solely on the INFIT and OUTFIT mean squares in WINSETPS to assess the fit of the data to the model would cause one to miss one of the most important threats to the usefulness of the measurement model.     

Simulation of micromechanical damage to obtain mechanical properties of bimodal Al using XFEM

In this paper, we focus on the stress–strain behavior prediction of the bimodal bulk Al5083 series which are comprised of Ultra-Fine Grains (UFG) separated by Coarse Grain (CG) regions. This material is selected due to the availability of the required data in the literature. The CGs in the UFG matrix effectively prevents microcracks from propagation, leading to enhance ductility and toughness while the strength remains high. In this work, initially the dependency of stress–strain behavior of the model on the CG distribution in constant volume fraction is investigated by extraction of RVEs from optical microscopy (OM) images of the real material. Then, XFEM is implemented for bimodal materials considering various fracture criteria for brittle and ductile phases in maximum traction and cohesive law. The solution convergence of such a problem with irregular geometry, plasticity and crack initiation–propagation without any defined pre-cracks demanded extreme effort that accomplished by refining and arranging meshes and adding damage stabilizations. As a result of the above procedures, the sensitivity of the modeling procedure to various RVEs is obtained, the crack initiation–propagation pattern in microscale is predicted and consequently, the global stress–strain behavior result is obtained. It is shown that the predicted results are in good agreement with the available experimental results.     

Determination of vapor pressure of low-volatility compounds using a method to obtain saturated vapor with coated capillary columns

The vapor pressures of O-ethyl S-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate (VX), O-isobutyl S-2-diethylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate (RVX), and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) were determined with the gas saturation method in temperatures ranging from -12 to 103 degrees C. The saturated vapor was generated using a fused-silica column coated with the compound. This column was placed in a gas chromatograph, and the vapor pressure was determined directly from the detector signal or by sampling on Tenax tubes that were subsequently analyzed. From the linear relationships obtained by plotting log P vs 1/T, the enthalpies of vaporization (deltaHvap) and the vapor pressures at selected temperatures were determined. The vapor pressure of VX at 25 degrees C was 0.110 Pa and the deltaHvap 77.9 kJ x mol(-1). The corresponding results for RVX were 0.082 Pa and 76.6 kJ x mol(-1). The vapor pressure of 2,4-DNT at 72 degrees C (melting point) was determined to 6.0 Pa, and the enthalpies of the solid and the liquid state were 94.2 and 75.3 kJ x mol(-1), respectively. Using capillary columns to generate saturated vapors has three major advantages: short equilibrium time, low consumption of sample, and safe handling of toxic compounds.     

A procedure to obtain a fully stressed shape of elastic continuum

In this paper, a procedure for obtaining a fully stresses shape of elastic continuum under arbitrary design conditions is proposed, by using the optimum distribution of the material properties such as the Young's modulus or the plate thickness. By using this technique, the optimum multiple-connected shape can be created from the original shape of simply body. The optimum shape of a road-pole subjected to an uniformly distributed load is determined by using the technique, and from the results the effectiveness of the technique is examined numerically.     

Cooling slope casting to obtain thixotropic feedstock I: observations with a transparent analogue

New Rheocasting (the NRC process) is a recently developed semisolid processing route. There are two versions of this route. In one, molten alloy is poured directly into a tilted mould and through careful temperature control during cooling a spheroidal semisolid microstructure is achieved, before the material in the mould is upended into a shot sleeve and hence forced into a die. Alternatively, the molten alloy is poured onto a cooling slope and thence into a mould before processing. The aim of the work described in this article, and its companion, was to develop understanding of the microstructural development during the initial stages of this process i.e. in the mould before processing and with the cooling slope/mould combination. In this first article, an analogue system based on aqueous ammonium chloride has been used to visualise what happens when an alloy is poured into a tilted mould with a chill wall. In the companion article, the results for pouring A356 aluminium alloy directly into a mould, and also via a cooling slope into a mould are presented.     

Moldable optical element: a new tool to obtain the infrared attenuated-total-reflection spectrum of a rough surface

The air gap between an attenuated-total-reflection (ATR) element (prism) and a sample surface reduces the intensity of each recorded spectrum from that sample and distorts the IR-band contours. Recently, the air-gap problem was solved with a moldable ATR element made of IR-transparent chalcogenide glass. When heated to the softening temperature (60-90 °C) and then cooled to room temperature together with a pressed specimen, such an element provides perfect contact with the surface of a rough sample. Some advantages of this new technique are demonstrated.     

Sensitivity analysis of availability estimates to input data characterization using design of experiments

Reliability analysts are often faced with the challenge of characterizing the behaviour of system components based on limited data. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into which availability model input data are most significant and how many data are necessary to achieve desired accuracy requirements. The overall goal is to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the data collection and data characterization processes. A 2^5-1_V factorial designed experiment was conducted to determine which of five input data characterization factors (for a simple series–parallel structure) may significantly affect availability model accuracy. The results from this experiment show that in this instance the factors under study do not have a significant effect on model output accuracy. Additional research is planned to more closely scrutinize the effects of these factors. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper was produced under the auspices of the US Government and is therefore not subject to copyright in the US.     

Assessing sustainability when data availability limits real-time estimates: using near-time indicators to extend sustainability metrics

The goal of this paper is to highlight the problem of time lags in data releases that are necessary for calculating sustainability metrics and its effect on making informed management decisions. We produced a methodology to assess whether a regional system is on a sustainable path and tested it in south-central Colorado. We identified key components of the system and selected four sustainability metrics that measure those components. Metrics included: (1) ecological footprint (i.e., environmental burden), (2) green net regional product (GNRP) (i.e., economic well-being), (3) emergy (i.e., energy flows), and (4) Fisher information (i.e., dynamic order). Having calculated these metrics, we identified future research recommendations and limitations. One limitation was the delay between when an event occurred and when data on the event were released. Given, the recent push in government agencies for calculating sustainability metrics, finding solutions for the time lag will be important. To address this limitation, we explore the potential of using both sustainability metrics and indicators that are available near-time to provide decision makers with better decision support. For the pilot study in Colorado, the metric calculations were 3 years behind present. Using near-time indicators that are publicly available before the metrics can be calculated might help to predict the path of the metric. As an example, we examine if specific near-time indicators are correlated with ecological balance (a component of ecological footprint) and GNRP. We use Spearman rank correlations and scatter plots to identify the relationship of the metrics and near-time indicators in an exploratory analysis. We offer research recommendations to consider.     

Instantaneous liquid release from a rail tanker: the influence of noise shields on pool shape and pool size

In the Netherlands, the Betuweline is a dedicated freight railway. It will, among other things, be used for transportation of all kinds of hazardous materials from the Port of Rotterdam to the German Hinterland and vice versa. The line is approximately 150 km long. Alongside the line, more than 100 km noise shields have been constructed. The question is how, and to what extent, this noise shield will affect the pool shape and size of an instantaneous release of a flammable liquid, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). In case of an instantaneous release of liquid from a rail tanker (50 m(3)), both risk analysts and emergency responders use a circular pool shape of about 600 m(2) would result. To assess the influence of a noise shield, a full scale test was conducted on an already constructed part of the Betuweline. A rail tanker was filled with 50 m(3) red-colored environmentally safe liquid. The liquid was instantaneously released. A very peculiar pool shape actually results due to the presence of a noise shield. A zone between the rails and the noise shield (2m wide and 90 m long) is within 2-3 min filled with 15 cm of liquid. The total pool size area was about 750 m(2). Both shape and size deviate substantially from the traditional figures. These insights are both relevant to emergency responders for disaster abatement purposes and to risk analysts for effective modeling purposes. The Dutch Ministry of Transport is examining possible strategies to deal with these results. The results of this study are based upon one single instantaneous release test. In addition, it is valuable to find out what the pool shape and size would be in case of a continuous release from the rail tanker near a noise shield.     

An efficient and practical approach to obtain a better optimum solution for structural optimization

For many structural optimization problems, it is hard or even impossible to find the global optimum solution owing to unaffordable computational cost. An alternative and practical way of thinking is thus proposed in this research to obtain an optimum design which may not be global but is better than most local optimum solutions that can be found by gradient-based search methods. The way to reach this goal is to find a smaller search space for gradient-based search methods. It is found in this research that data mining can accomplish this goal easily. The activities of classification, association and clustering in data mining are employed to reduce the original design space. For unconstrained optimization problems, the data mining activities are used to find a smaller search region which contains the global or better local solutions. For constrained optimization problems, it is used to find the feasible region or the feasible region with better objective values. Numerical examples show that the optimum solutions found in the reduced design space by sequential quadratic programming (SQP) are indeed much better than those found by SQP in the original design space. The optimum solutions found in a reduced space by SQP sometimes are even better than the solution found using a hybrid global search method with approximate structural analyses.     

Engineering preliminaries to obtain reproducible mixtures of atelocollagen and polysaccharides

The critical stage in producing blends of biomacromolecules consists in the mixing of component solutions to generate homogenous diluted colloidal systems. Simple experimental investigations allow the establishment of the design rules of recipes and the procedures for preparing homogenous and compositionally reproducible mixtures. Starting from purified solutions of atelocollagen, hyaluronan and native gellan, having as low as possible inorganic salts content, initial binary and ternary mixtures can be prepared up to a total dry matter content of 0.150 g/dL, in no co-precipitating conditions. Two pH manipulation ways are feasible for homogenous mixing: (i) unbuffered prior correction at pH 5.5, and (ii) “rigid” buffering at pH 9.0, using organic species. Atelocollagen including co-precipitates can be obtained in the presence of one or both polysaccharides, preferably in pH domains far from the isoelectric point of scleroprotein. A critical behavior has been observed in mixtures containing gellan, due to its macromolecular dissimilarities compared with atelocollagen. In optimal binary mixtures, the coordinates of threshold points on the phase diagrams are 0.028% w/w atelocollagen/0.025% w/w hyaluronan, and 0.022% w/w atelocollagen/0.020% w/w gellan. Uni- or bi-phasic ternary systems having equilibrated ratios of co-precipitated components can be prepared starting from initial mixtures containing up to 0.032 g/dL atelocollagen, associated with, for example, 0.040 g/dL hyaluronan and 0.008 g/dL gellan, following the first pH manipulation way.     

An experimental investigation of a method to obtain isoclinic data from isochromatic data

If the photoelastic model has a line of symmetry and is made from a stress frozen sheet, then it is shown how the isoclinics can be obtained from isochromatic measurements only. The accuracy is investigated with experimental examples. The method should have applications in transient problems and where the sandwich method is used.     

The impact of subsidiary top management team national diversity on subsidiary performance: Knowledge and legitimacy perspectives

Abstract and Key Results

Improved scatterer property estimates from ultrasound backscatter using gate-edge correction and a pseudo-Welch technique

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) techniques have been widely used to estimate the size, shape and mechanical properties of tissue microstructure for specified regions of interest (ROIs). For conventional methods, an ROI size of 4 to 5 beamwidths laterally and 15 to 20 spatial pulse lengths axially has been suggested to estimate accuracy and precision better than 10% and 5%, respectively. A new method is developed to decrease the standard deviation of the quantitative ultrasound parameter estimate in terms of effective scatterer diameter (ESD) for small ROIs. The new method yielded estimates of the ESD within 10% of actual values at an ROI size of five spatial pulse lengths axially by two beamwidths laterally, and the estimates from all the ROIs had a standard deviation of 15% of the mean value. Such accuracy and precision cannot be achieved using conventional techniques with similar ROI sizes.     

Organic carbon and elemental carbon in Asia: a review from 1996 to 2006

The principal sources of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) are anthropogenic or biogenic, whereas secondary sources are atmospheric oxidation processes of specific precursor gases. These compounds are considered atmospheric contaminants and adversely affect human health. Numerous studies have monitored atmospheric particulates and gaseous phases of OC and EC in Asia over the last decade. This work compares and analyzes different sample collection, pretreatment and analytical approaches. The principal carbonaceous sources are traffic exhaust and industrial emissions. The OC and EC concentrations are highest in high traffic areas, followed by urban sites, and lowest in suburban sites. Many characteristics of these sites, such a dense population, are important to research. The major OC to EC ratios in Asia cities were 1.0-3.0. This work elucidates the characteristics, sources, distributions, and characteristics of atmospheric carbonaceous species in Asia.