Application of Support Vector Machines in Assessing Conceptual Cost Estimates

Total conceptual cost estimates and the assessment of the quality of these estimates are critical in the early stages of a building construction project. In this study, the support vector machine (SVM) model for assessing the quality of conceptual cost estimates is proposed, and the application of SVM in construction areas is investigated. The results show that the SVM model assessed the quality of conceptual cost estimates slightly more accurately than the discriminant analysis model. This shows that using the SVM has potential in construction areas. In addition, the SVM model can assist clients in their evaluation of the quality of the estimated cost and the probability of exceeding the target cost, and in their decision on whether or not it is necessary to seek a more accurate estimate in the early stages of a project.     

Conceptual models of aging: The challenge of a new frontier.

Explores a range of social, professional, and scientific conceptual models to examine their potential impact on the scientific and professional approach to the aging. These models include an economic/productive model, the behavioral medical model, and conceptual models of mental health care. Narrow models have led to beliefs, training, and approaches to practice that reinforce the models and perpetuate a mythology of aging to the detriment of all involved. An opportunity to broaden conceptual horizons by learning about the aged is described. It is proposed that a biopsychosocial model best conceptualizes the complexity of the situation. A commitment to a broad model must incorporate a stance by which strategies are examined in terms of how effective they are, where they are best applied and where they are appropriate, what insights they provide, what risks and benefits accrue to patient and family, and who makes decisions about care. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stage analysis of reaction time.

Stage analysis of reaction time includes the decomposition of reaction time into stages and the analysis of processing within those stages. This report reviews the analytic methodology employed in stage analysis and includes suggested improvements in this methodology. The major topics covered are the construction of models of the stage, the combination of stage models into a model of the complete reaction process, the use of process models in the decomposition of reaction time, and the use of stage models in the analysis of component stages. The methods of analysis presented are applicable to a wide range of reaction processes, including processes in which the execution of stages is not strictly serial, or in which the stage times are interdependent. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Cultural Context and the Psychotherapeutic Process: Toward a Culturally Sensitive Psychotherapy.

Cross-cultural psychotherapy has striven to refine its intervention strategies during the last 2 decades. However, many authors have noted that these advances seem disconnected from each other and from traditional psychotherapeutic approaches. This article offers a conceptual framework that groups very diverse psychotherapeutic approaches into 3 broad categories according to some of their basic assumptions. Some cross-cultural psychotherapeutic models are also located within these 3 categories as a means to link different and apparently fragmented cross-cultural models to traditional psychotherapeutic models. It is argued that the proposed conceptual framework allows clinicians to intervene in a more effective manner than if these different psychotherapeutic models remained fragmented and disconnected. The proposed conceptual framework allows clinicians to benefit in a coherent manner from the advantages of different psychotherapeutic recommendations. Finally, the psychotherapeutic usefulness of this model is illustrated through a case presentation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental model for teaching and learning in psychotherapy supervision.

Contends that supervision of psychotherapy is a complicated responsibility because the supervisor's commitment is divided between supporting the growth of the student and protecting the welfare of the client. The phenomenon of the treatment relationship can be obscured by parallel processes in the supervision. A model based on a set of developmental crises that reflect stages of learning and maturation in therapist growth is proposed. Crises in learning psychotherapy include (1) the demand for wide-ranging tolerance of ambiguity, (2) recognition and acceptance of the limits of one's capacity to offer therapeutic conditions, (3) the discovery of therapy as deep communication, and (4) the emergence of a conceptual set in which a variety of models of therapeutic intervention are related to the needs of varying patients. It is suggested that the behavior of the supervisor in dealing with problems in supervised psychotherapy is the real modeling. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empirical and Conceptual Problems With Longitudinal Trait-State Models: Introducing a Trait-State-Occasion Model.

The latent trait-state-error model (TSE) and the latent state-trait model with autoregression (LST-AR) represent creative structural equation methods for examining the longitudinal structure of psychological constructs. Application of these models has been somewhat limited by empirical or conceptual problems. In the present study, Monte Carlo analysis revealed that TSE models tend to generate improper solutions when N is too small, when waves are too few, and when occasion factor stability is either too large or too small. Mathematical analysis of the LST-AR model revealed its limitation to constructs that become more highly auto-correlated over time. The trait-state-occasion model has fewer empirical problems than does the TSE model and is more broadly applicable than is the LST-AR model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual systems functioning as a mediating factor in the development of counseling skills.

Investigated the relationship between counseling systems stages and counselor effectiveness as measured by the Carkhuff Empathy Scale. 97 advanced undergraduate and graduate students taking their 1st interview skills course were rated for stage of conceptual functioning with the This I Believe Test. At the completion of training, audiotapes of actual counseling interviews were rated for level of empathic responding. Conceptual theory predicts that individuals at lower stages of conceptual functioning will not be as effective in responding empathically as those at higher levels of conceptional functioning after experiencing similar training programs. Results conform to theoretical expectations in that there were markedly significant differences between and among conceptual stage groups. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual knowledge in the interpretation of idioms.

The authors examined how people determine the contextual appropriateness of idioms. In Experiment 1, idioms referring to the same temporal stage of a conceptual prototype were judged to be more similar in meaning than idioms referring to different temporal stages. In Experiment 2, idioms in a prototypical temporal sequence were more meaningful than idioms in sentences that violated the temporal sequence. In Experiment 3, idioms referring to the same stage of a conceptual prototype were differentiable on the basis of conceptual information. The conceptual coherence between idioms and contexts facilitated the processing speed of idioms in Experiment 4. Experiment 5 showed that speakers can recover the underlying conceptual metaphors that link an idiom to its figurative meaning. Experiment 6 showed that the metaphoric information reflected in the lexical makeup of idioms also determined the metaphoric appropriateness of idioms in certain contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality differences and expectations about counseling.

We assessed the relation between conceptual system functioning and expectations about counseling and extend earlier research in 2 ways: (a) Client expectations are linked to a stable personality dimension, and (b) the conceptual system, rather than the conceptual level, model provided the theoretical rationale. Implications of these extensions are discussed. Measures of client conceptual stage and their expectations were taken immediately prior to initial meetings with counselors. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a discriminant analysis of data from 60 clients revealed theoretically consistent separation between the 4 stages of conceptual functioning on 2 dimensions of expectations about counselor characteristics, attitudes and behaviors. The need to consider the influence of conceptual functioning in counseling process research is supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of cue salience in the development of time concepts: Duration comparisons in young children.

It has been claimed that in the course of developing time concepts, young children go through a stage in which they conceptualize duration as being dependent on endings of events rather than on beginnings and endings. This conceptual deficit was proposed to account for children's greater success in comparing durations that differ in their endings than durations that differ in their beginnings. The present study analyzes the possibility that this phenomenon may be attributed mainly to perceptual salience rather than to conceptual deficit. 360 children from nursery school, kindergarten, and 1st grade were asked to compare the burning times of 2 lights that started and/or ended simultaneously. The role of attention to beginning vs end points in duration judgment was investigated by manipulating beginning- vs end-point salience via systematic variations of sequence of the problems presented. Correct comparisons of duration problems were found to be a function of the relative salience of beginning vs end points. Results support the salience attention model rather than the conceptual deficit account of duration judgments of young children. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional Models.

Psychology needs conceptual models which will deal multidimensional processes operating in the human organism-personality, living in and continuously maintaining a symbolic cultural world. As McKay (1954) has stated, these conceptual models are not theories or explanations but rather are instrumentalities for understanding processes that are multidimensional, the way a template is used to scan situations and for discovering what has been omitted. A good illustration of such a model is offered by Ashby (1951), which offers an approach to the organizing process, the communicating process, the stabilizing process, through which the organism-personality operates. Into these areas we should be urging the more imaginative graduate students to explore and create new methods instead of continuing to work with accepted methods on variations of the same old problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analyzing the transtheoretical model using the framework of Weinstein, Rothman, and Sutton (1998): The example of smoking cessation.

Objective: To assess the transtheoretical model applied to smoking cessation using the framework of N. D. Weinstein, A. J. Rothman, and S. R. Sutton (1998), which is the general framework for designing and evaluating stage models of health behavior. Design: Systematic review. Results and Conclusion: The transtheoretical model applied to smoking cessation does not satisfy the criteria required of a valid stage model. Most significantly, the evidence indicates that the stages of change are not qualitatively distinct categories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The case for performance-based instructional models.

Examines evidence supporting performance-based instructional models. Performance-based instructional models posit change in students' classroom behavior and academic achievement to be a function of changes in instruction. These models stand in contrast to other models of schooling evident in the literature that are based on variables not readily alterable or under the control of teachers (e.g., socioeconomic status); these models therefore, have limited implications for instructional practice. A conceptual model for understanding the alterable elements and outcomes of the classroom instructional environment is described. The relative fit of the conceptual model in comparison to 2 different alternative models is examined. A conceptual model that included student engagement as a construct mediating the effects of instruction and achievement outcome is supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a richer view of the scientific method: The role of conceptual analysis.

Within the complex set of activities that comprise the scientific method, three clusters of activities can be recognized: experimentation, mathematization, and conceptual analysis. In psychology, the first two of these clusters are well-known and valued, but the third seems less known and valued. The authors show the value of these three clusters of scientific method activities in the works of the quintessential scientist Galileo Galilei. They then illustrate how conceptual analysis can be used in psychology to clarify the grammar and meaning of concepts, expose conceptual problems in models, reveal unacknowledged assumptions and steps in arguments, and evaluate the consistency of theoretical accounts. The article concludes with a discussion of three criticisms of conceptual analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing the Predictions of the Central Capacity Sharing Model.

The divergent predictions of 2 models of dual-task performance are investigated. The central bottleneck and central capacity sharing models argue that a central stage of information processing is capacity limited, whereas stages before and after are capacity free. The models disagree about the nature of this central capacity limitation. The central bottleneck model claims that central processing acts on only 1 task at a time and, therefore, constitutes a bottleneck that processes tasks serially. The central capacity sharing model postulates that the central stage is a limited-capacity parallel processor that divides resources among to-be-performed tasks. As a result of this difference, in the psychological refractory period paradigm, the central capacity sharing model predicts that lengthening Task 2 precentral processing will improve Task 1 performance at short stimulus onset asynchronies, whereas the central bottleneck model does not. Results of 2 experiments confirm the prediction of the central capacity sharing model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The current contribution of molecular factors to risk estimation in neuroblastoma patients

The association of molecular characteristics with prognosis has been reported, but not their relationship with each other and their impact in the context of known clinical risk factors. In this study, data of 1249 consecutive intent-to-treat-neuroblastoma patients with more than 1 year follow-up were examined by multivariate analysis using loglinear and Cox proportional hazard regression models on a stage-related basis (stages 1-3: 600, 4S: 116, 4: 533). In a first step, risk factors were identified from 18 selected clinical variables, and risk groups defined. The second step investigated whether molecular characteristics (MYCN, LOH 1p, del 1p, CD44, N-ras, NGF-R, bcl-2, APO-1 (CD95)) contributed additional prognostic information to the model. The loglinear model demonstrated several interactions between clinical factors. By the Cox regression model, seven independent clinical risk factors were found for stages 1-3, seven for stage 4 and two for stage 4S. By subsequent introduction of all molecular variables, MYCN amplification only added significant prognostic information to the clinical factors in localised and stage 4 neuroblastoma. The models allowed the definition of risk groups for stages 1-3 patients by age (e beta = 5.09) and MYCN (e beta = 4.26), for stage 4 by MYCN (e beta = 2.78) and number of symptoms (e beta = 2.44) and for stage 4S by platelet count (e beta = 3.91) and general condition (e beta = 2.99). Molecular factors and in particular MYCN contribute significantly to risk estimation. In conjunction with clinical factors, they are powerful tools to define risk groups in neuroblastoma.     

The temporal selectivity of additive factor effects on the reaction process revealed in ERP component latencies

An experiment was conducted to relate individual components of the event-related brain potential to specific stages of information processing in a two-choice reaction time (RT) task in a group of undergraduate students. Specifically, the latency of the P300 component and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) were studied as a function of variations in stimulus degradation and response complexity. It was hypothesized that degrading the stimulus would delay the P300 and LRP to the same extent as RT, and that increasing response complexity would affect RT but not P300 latency. The extant literature did not permit any hypothesis regarding the effect of response complexity on LRP latency. The two task variables were found to have additive effects on RT. As predicted, variations in stimulus degradation influenced the latencies of both components, whereas alterations in response complexity had no effect on P300 latency. A significant new finding was that the onset latency of the LRP remained unchanged across levels of response complexity. The overall pattern of results supports the notion of temporal selectivity of stage manipulations that is derived from discrete stage models of human information processing. Furthermore, these results refine the functional interpretation of the LRP by indicating that within the conceptual framework of a stage model the processes this component indexes succeed the start of response choice but preceded the start of motor programming.     

Is the sequencing of change processes by stage consistent across health problems? A meta-analysis.

Clinicians and researchers applying the transtheoretical model (J. O. Prochaska, C.C. DiClemente, & J.C. Norcross, 1992) to health promotion often assume that relationships of processes and stages observed in smoking cessation can be generalized to other problems. A reanalysis of 47 cross-sectional studies determined that use of change processes varies by stage, but the sequencing of processes is not consistent across health problems. In smoking cessation, cognitive processes were used in earlier stages than were behavioral processes. In exercise adoption and diet change, use of behavioral and cognitive processes increased together. Results for substance abuse and psychotherapy were less consistent. Substituting new behaviors, making a commitment, considering consequences, seeking information, controlling cues, and using rewards varied most by stage. Future longitudinal studies should assess these processes as potential mediators of lifestyle change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence for role-neutral initial processing of metaphors.

Two models of metaphor processing are contrasted. The structure-mapping model postulates an initially role-neutral alignment process, followed by directional projection of inferences. The attributive categorization model postulates role-specific processing throughout comprehension. To test between these models, the early stages of metaphor comprehension were probed using a technique based on S. Glucksberg, R. Gildea, and H. Bookin's (1982) finding that metaphorical meaning interferes with literal truthfulness judgments. In Experiment 1, interference effects did not differ between normal metaphors and metaphors with reversed terms, suggesting that initial processing is role-neutral. In Experiment 2, we again found no role dependence in interference effects, even for highly conventional metaphors. In Experiment 3, it was verified that (a) full comprehension is role-sensitive and (b) full comprehension reaction times (RTs) are far longer than interference RTs, buttressing the claim that interference is an early-stage effect. Overall, the results support the structure-mapping model of metaphor processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)