Pressure ulcer prevention algorithm content validation: a mixed-methods, quantitative study.

PubMed

van Rijswijk, Lia; Beitz, Janice M

2015-04-01

Translating pressure ulcer prevention (PUP) evidence-based recommendations into practice remains challenging for a variety of reasons, including the perceived quality, validity, and usability of the research or the guideline itself. Following the development and face validation testing of an evidence-based PUP algorithm, additional stakeholder input and testing were needed. Using convenience sampling methods, wound care experts attending a national wound care conference and a regional wound ostomy continence nursing (WOCN) conference and/or graduates of a WOCN program were invited to participate in an Internal Review Board-approved, mixed-methods quantitative survey with qualitative components to examine algorithm content validity. After participants provided written informed consent, demographic variables were collected and participants were asked to comment on and rate the relevance and appropriateness of each of the 26 algorithm decision points/steps using standard content validation study procedures. All responses were anonymous. Descriptive summary statistics, mean relevance/appropriateness scores, and the content validity index (CVI) were calculated. Qualitative comments were transcribed and thematically analyzed. Of the 553 wound care experts invited, 79 (average age 52.9 years, SD 10.1; range 23-73) consented to participate and completed the study (a response rate of 14%). Most (67, 85%) were female, registered (49, 62%) or advanced practice (12, 15%) nurses, and had > 10 years of health care experience (88, 92%). Other health disciplines included medical doctors, physical therapists, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse specialists. Almost all had received formal wound care education (75, 95%). On a Likert-type scale of 1 (not relevant/appropriate) to 4 (very relevant and appropriate), the average score for the entire algorithm/all decision points (N = 1,912) was 3.72 with an overall CVI of 0.94 (out of 1). The only decision point/step recommendation

40 CFR 761.392 - Preparing validation study samples.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 30 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Preparing validation study samples..., AND USE PROHIBITIONS Comparison Study for Validating a New Performance-Based Decontamination Solvent Under § 761.79(d)(4) § 761.392 Preparing validation study samples. (a)(1) To validate a procedure to...

40 CFR 761.392 - Preparing validation study samples.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 31 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Preparing validation study samples..., AND USE PROHIBITIONS Comparison Study for Validating a New Performance-Based Decontamination Solvent Under § 761.79(d)(4) § 761.392 Preparing validation study samples. (a)(1) To validate a procedure to...

29 CFR 1607.5 - General standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false General standards for validity studies. 1607.5 Section 1607... studies. A. Acceptable types of validity studies. For the purposes of satisfying these guidelines, users may rely upon criterion-related validity studies, content validity studies or construct validity...

Performing a Content Validation Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spool, Mark D.

Content validity is concerned with three components: (1) the job content; (2) the test content, and (3) the strength of the relationship between the two. A content validation study, to be considered adequate and defensible should include at least the following four procedures: (1) A thorough and accurate job analysis (to define the job content);…

Validation sampling can reduce bias in healthcare database studies: an illustration using influenza vaccination effectiveness

PubMed Central

Nelson, Jennifer C.; Marsh, Tracey; Lumley, Thomas; Larson, Eric B.; Jackson, Lisa A.; Jackson, Michael

2014-01-01

Objective Estimates of treatment effectiveness in epidemiologic studies using large observational health care databases may be biased due to inaccurate or incomplete information on important confounders. Study methods that collect and incorporate more comprehensive confounder data on a validation cohort may reduce confounding bias. Study Design and Setting We applied two such methods, imputation and reweighting, to Group Health administrative data (full sample) supplemented by more detailed confounder data from the Adult Changes in Thought study (validation sample). We used influenza vaccination effectiveness (with an unexposed comparator group) as an example and evaluated each method’s ability to reduce bias using the control time period prior to influenza circulation. Results Both methods reduced, but did not completely eliminate, the bias compared with traditional effectiveness estimates that do not utilize the validation sample confounders. Conclusion Although these results support the use of validation sampling methods to improve the accuracy of comparative effectiveness findings from healthcare database studies, they also illustrate that the success of such methods depends on many factors, including the ability to measure important confounders in a representative and large enough validation sample, the comparability of the full sample and validation sample, and the accuracy with which data can be imputed or reweighted using the additional validation sample information. PMID:23849144

Measurement of predictive validity in violence risk assessment studies: a second-order systematic review.

PubMed

Singh, Jay P; Desmarais, Sarah L; Van Dorn, Richard A

2013-01-01

The objective of the present review was to examine how predictive validity is analyzed and reported in studies of instruments used to assess violence risk. We reviewed 47 predictive validity studies published between 1990 and 2011 of 25 instruments that were included in two recent systematic reviews. Although all studies reported receiver operating characteristic curve analyses and the area under the curve (AUC) performance indicator, this methodology was defined inconsistently and findings often were misinterpreted. In addition, there was between-study variation in benchmarks used to determine whether AUCs were small, moderate, or large in magnitude. Though virtually all of the included instruments were designed to produce categorical estimates of risk - through the use of either actuarial risk bins or structured professional judgments - only a minority of studies calculated performance indicators for these categorical estimates. In addition to AUCs, other performance indicators, such as correlation coefficients, were reported in 60% of studies, but were infrequently defined or interpreted. An investigation of sources of heterogeneity did not reveal significant variation in reporting practices as a function of risk assessment approach (actuarial vs. structured professional judgment), study authorship, geographic location, type of journal (general vs. specialized audience), sample size, or year of publication. Findings suggest a need for standardization of predictive validity reporting to improve comparison across studies and instruments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A simulations approach for meta-analysis of genetic association studies based on additive genetic model.

PubMed

John, Majnu; Lencz, Todd; Malhotra, Anil K; Correll, Christoph U; Zhang, Jian-Ping

2018-06-01

Meta-analysis of genetic association studies is being increasingly used to assess phenotypic differences between genotype groups. When the underlying genetic model is assumed to be dominant or recessive, assessing the phenotype differences based on summary statistics, reported for individual studies in a meta-analysis, is a valid strategy. However, when the genetic model is additive, a similar strategy based on summary statistics will lead to biased results. This fact about the additive model is one of the things that we establish in this paper, using simulations. The main goal of this paper is to present an alternate strategy for the additive model based on simulating data for the individual studies. We show that the alternate strategy is far superior to the strategy based on summary statistics.

Validation study and routine control monitoring of moist heat sterilization procedures.

PubMed

Shintani, Hideharu

2012-06-01

The proposed approach to validation of steam sterilization in autoclaves follows the basic life cycle concepts applicable to all validation programs. Understand the function of sterilization process, develop and understand the cycles to carry out the process, and define a suitable test or series of tests to confirm that the function of the process is suitably ensured by the structure provided. Sterilization of product and components and parts that come in direct contact with sterilized product is the most critical of pharmaceutical processes. Consequently, this process requires a most rigorous and detailed approach to validation. An understanding of the process requires a basic understanding of microbial death, the parameters that facilitate that death, the accepted definition of sterility, and the relationship between the definition and sterilization parameters. Autoclaves and support systems need to be designed, installed, and qualified in a manner that ensures their continued reliability. Lastly, the test program must be complete and definitive. In this paper, in addition to validation study, documentation of IQ, OQ and PQ concretely were described.

Validation of the FEA of a deep drawing process with additional force transmission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behrens, B.-A.; Bouguecha, A.; Bonk, C.; Grbic, N.; Vucetic, M.

2017-10-01

In order to meet requirements by automotive industry like decreasing the CO2 emissions, which reflects in reducing vehicles mass in the car body, the chassis and the powertrain, the continuous innovation and further development of existing production processes are required. In sheet metal forming processes the process limits and components characteristics are defined through the process specific loads. While exceeding the load limits, a failure in the material occurs, which can be avoided by additional force transmission activated in the deep drawing process before the process limit is achieved. This contribution deals with experimental investigations of a forming process with additional force transmission regarding the extension of the process limits. Based on FEA a tool system is designed and developed by IFUM. For this purpose, the steel material HCT600 is analyzed numerically. Within the experimental investigations, the deep drawing processes, with and without the additional force transmission are carried out. Here, a comparison of the produced rectangle cups is done. Subsequently, the identical deep drawing processes are investigated numerically. Thereby, the values of the punch reaction force and displacement are estimated and compared with experimental results. Thus, the validation of material model is successfully carried out on process scale. For further quantitative verification of the FEA results the experimental determined geometry of the rectangular cup is measured optically with ATOS system of the company GOM mbH and digitally compared with external software Geomagic®QualifyTM. The goal of this paper is the verification of the transferability of the FEA model for a conventional deep drawing process to a deep drawing process with additional force transmission with a counter punch.

An integrated bioanalytical method development and validation approach: case studies.

PubMed

Xue, Y-J; Melo, Brian; Vallejo, Martha; Zhao, Yuwen; Tang, Lina; Chen, Yuan-Shek; Keller, Karin M

2012-10-01

We proposed an integrated bioanalytical method development and validation approach: (1) method screening based on analyte's physicochemical properties and metabolism information to determine the most appropriate extraction/analysis conditions; (2) preliminary stability evaluation using both quality control and incurred samples to establish sample collection, storage and processing conditions; (3) mock validation to examine method accuracy and precision and incurred sample reproducibility; and (4) method validation to confirm the results obtained during method development. This integrated approach was applied to the determination of compound I in rat plasma and compound II in rat and dog plasma. The effectiveness of the approach was demonstrated by the superior quality of three method validations: (1) a zero run failure rate; (2) >93% of quality control results within 10% of nominal values; and (3) 99% incurred sample within 9.2% of the original values. In addition, rat and dog plasma methods for compound II were successfully applied to analyze more than 900 plasma samples obtained from Investigational New Drug (IND) toxicology studies in rats and dogs with near perfect results: (1) a zero run failure rate; (2) excellent accuracy and precision for standards and quality controls; and (3) 98% incurred samples within 15% of the original values. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Highlights from the 1998-2000 SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere Additional Ozonesondes) Satellite Validation Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Witte, J. C.; Thompson, A. M.; Fortuin, P.; Einsudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

There are three years of data (more than 1000 individual ozone profiles) available from a network of 10 southern hemisphere tropical and subtropical stations, designated the Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ) project. Since late 1999, a tropical station in the northern hemisphere (Paramaribo, Surinam; lat/long) joined SHADOZ, providing coordinated weekly ozone and radiosonde data from the surface to approx. 7 hPa for satellite validation, process studies, and model evaluation. Profiles are also collected at: Ascension Island; Nairobi, Kenya; Irene, South Africa; R (union Island; Watukosek, Java; Fiji; Tahiti; American Samoa; San Cristobal, Galapagos; Natal, Brazil. The archive, station characteristics and photos are available at http://code9l6.gsfc.nasa.gov/Data_ services/shadoz>. SHADOZ ozone time-series and profiles in 1998-2000 display highly variable tropospheric ozone, a zonal wave-one pattern in total (and tropospheric) column ozone, and signatures of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) in stratospheric ozone. Total, stratospheric and tropospheric column ozone amounts peak between August and November and are lowest between March and May. Integrated total ozone column amounts from the sondes are lower than independent measurements from a ground-based network and from the TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) satellite (version 7 data).

Antiandrogenic activity of phthalate mixtures: Validity of concentration addition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christen, Verena; Crettaz, Pierre; Oberli-Schrämmli, Aurelia

2012-03-01

Phthalates and bisphenol A have very widespread use leading to significant exposure of humans. They are suspected to interfere with the endocrine system, including the androgen, estrogen and the thyroid hormone system. Here we analyzed the antiandrogenic activity of six binary, and one ternary mixture of phthalates exhibiting complete antiandrogenic dose–response curves, and binary mixtures of phthalates and bisphenol A at equi-effective concentrations of EC{sub 10}, EC{sub 25} and EC{sub 50} in MDA-kb2 cells. Mixture activity followed the concentration addition (CA) model with a tendency to synergism at high and antagonism at low concentrations. Isoboles and the toxic unit approachmore » (TUA) confirmed the additive to synergistic activity of the binary mixtures BBP + DBP, DBP + DEP and DEP + BPA at high concentrations. Both methods indicate a tendency to antagonism for the EC{sub 10} mixtures BBP + DBP, BBP + DEP and DBP + DEP, and the EC{sub 25} mixture of DBP + BPA. A ternary mixture revealed synergism at the EC{sub 50}, and weak antagonistic activity at the EC{sub 25} level by the TUA. A mixture of five phthalates representing a human urine composition and reflecting exposure to corresponding parent compounds showed no antiandrogenic activity. Our study demonstrates that CA is an appropriate concept to account for mixture effects of antiandrogenic phthalates and bisphenol A. The interaction indicates a departure from additivity to antagonism at low concentrations, probably due to interaction with the androgen receptor and/or cofactors. This study emphasizes that a risk assessment of phthalates should account for mixture effects by applying the CA concept. -- Highlights: ► Antiandrogenic activity of mixtures of 2 and 3 phthalates are assessed in MDA-kb2 cells. ► Mixture activities followed the concentration addition model. ► A tendency to synergism at high and antagonism at low levels occurred.« less

Practical Aspects of Designing and Conducting Validation Studies Involving Multi-study Trials.

PubMed

Coecke, Sandra; Bernasconi, Camilla; Bowe, Gerard; Bostroem, Ann-Charlotte; Burton, Julien; Cole, Thomas; Fortaner, Salvador; Gouliarmou, Varvara; Gray, Andrew; Griesinger, Claudius; Louhimies, Susanna; Gyves, Emilio Mendoza-de; Joossens, Elisabeth; Prinz, Maurits-Jan; Milcamps, Anne; Parissis, Nicholaos; Wilk-Zasadna, Iwona; Barroso, João; Desprez, Bertrand; Langezaal, Ingrid; Liska, Roman; Morath, Siegfried; Reina, Vittorio; Zorzoli, Chiara; Zuang, Valérie

This chapter focuses on practical aspects of conducting prospective in vitro validation studies, and in particular, by laboratories that are members of the European Union Network of Laboratories for the Validation of Alternative Methods (EU-NETVAL) that is coordinated by the EU Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL ECVAM). Prospective validation studies involving EU-NETVAL, comprising a multi-study trial involving several laboratories or "test facilities", typically consist of two main steps: (1) the design of the validation study by EURL ECVAM and (2) the execution of the multi-study trial by a number of qualified laboratories within EU-NETVAL, coordinated and supported by EURL ECVAM. The approach adopted in the conduct of these validation studies adheres to the principles described in the OECD Guidance Document on the Validation and International Acceptance of new or updated test methods for Hazard Assessment No. 34 (OECD 2005). The context and scope of conducting prospective in vitro validation studies is dealt with in Chap. 4 . Here we focus mainly on the processes followed to carry out a prospective validation of in vitro methods involving different laboratories with the ultimate aim of generating a dataset that can support a decision in relation to the possible development of an international test guideline (e.g. by the OECD) or the establishment of performance standards.

Validity Studies of the Filial Anxiety Scale.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Paul D.; And Others

1996-01-01

Factor analytic and construct validity studies were conducted to explore the validity of Cicirelli's 13-item Filial Anxiety Scale (FAS). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale were a part of the investigation. Results offer support for the validity of the FAS subscales and the FAS' usefulness as an…

Simulators' validation study: Problem solution logic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoultz, M. B.

1974-01-01

A study was conducted to validate the ground based simulators used for aircraft environment in ride-quality research. The logic to the approach for solving this problem is developed. The overall problem solution flow chart is presented. The factors which could influence the human response to the environment on board the aircraft are analyzed. The mathematical models used in the study are explained. The steps which were followed in conducting the validation tests are outlined.

Validation sampling can reduce bias in health care database studies: an illustration using influenza vaccination effectiveness.

PubMed

Nelson, Jennifer Clark; Marsh, Tracey; Lumley, Thomas; Larson, Eric B; Jackson, Lisa A; Jackson, Michael L

2013-08-01

Estimates of treatment effectiveness in epidemiologic studies using large observational health care databases may be biased owing to inaccurate or incomplete information on important confounders. Study methods that collect and incorporate more comprehensive confounder data on a validation cohort may reduce confounding bias. We applied two such methods, namely imputation and reweighting, to Group Health administrative data (full sample) supplemented by more detailed confounder data from the Adult Changes in Thought study (validation sample). We used influenza vaccination effectiveness (with an unexposed comparator group) as an example and evaluated each method's ability to reduce bias using the control time period before influenza circulation. Both methods reduced, but did not completely eliminate, the bias compared with traditional effectiveness estimates that do not use the validation sample confounders. Although these results support the use of validation sampling methods to improve the accuracy of comparative effectiveness findings from health care database studies, they also illustrate that the success of such methods depends on many factors, including the ability to measure important confounders in a representative and large enough validation sample, the comparability of the full sample and validation sample, and the accuracy with which the data can be imputed or reweighted using the additional validation sample information. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

External Validation of the HERNIAscore: An Observational Study.

PubMed

Cherla, Deepa V; Moses, Maya L; Mueck, Krislynn M; Hannon, Craig; Ko, Tien C; Kao, Lillian S; Liang, Mike K

2017-09-01

The HERNIAscore is a ventral incisional hernia (VIH) risk assessment tool that uses only preoperative variables and predictable intraoperative variables. The aim of this study was to validate and modify, if needed, the HERNIAscore in an external dataset. This was a retrospective observational study of all patients undergoing resection for gastrointestinal malignancy from 2011 through 2015 at a safety-net hospital. The primary end point was clinical postoperative VIH. Patients were stratified into low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk groups based on HERNIAscore. A revised HERNIAscore was calculated with the addition of earlier abdominal operation as a categorical variable. Cox regression of incisional hernia with stratification by risk class was performed. Incidence rates of clinical VIH formation within each risk class were also calculated. Two hundred and forty-seven patents were enrolled. On Cox regression, in addition to the 3 variables of the HERNIAscore (BMI, COPD, and incision length), earlier abdominal operation was also predictive of VIH. The revised HERNIAscore demonstrated improved predictive accuracy for clinical VIH. Although the original HERNIAscore effectively stratified the risk of an incisional radiographic VIH developing, the revised HERNIAscore provided a statistically significant stratification for both clinical and radiographic VIHs in this patient cohort. We have externally validated and improved the HERNIAscore. The revised HERNIAscore uses BMI, incision length, COPD, and earlier abdominal operation to predict risk of postoperative incisional hernia. Future research should assess methods to prevent incisional hernias in moderate-to-high risk patients. Copyright © 2017 American College of Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Additional Evidence of Convergent Validity between SRSS-IE and SSiS-PSG Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Kathleen Lynne; Oakes, Wendy Peia; Ennis, Robin Parks; Royer, David James

2015-01-01

We report findings of a validity study comparing two screening tools: the Student Risk Screening Scale-Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE) and the Social Skills Improvement System-Performance Screening Guide (SSiS-PSG; Elliott & Gresham, 2007). Participants were 1,680 kindergarten through sixth-grade elementary students from three…

Design, development, testing and validation of a Photonics Virtual Laboratory for the study of LEDs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naranjo, Francisco L.; Martínez, Guadalupe; Pérez, Ángel L.; Pardo, Pedro J.

2014-07-01

This work presents the design, development, testing and validation of a Photonic Virtual Laboratory, highlighting the study of LEDs. The study was conducted from a conceptual, experimental and didactic standpoint, using e-learning and m-learning platforms. Specifically, teaching tools that help ensure that our students perform significant learning have been developed. It has been brought together the scientific aspect, such as the study of LEDs, with techniques of generation and transfer of knowledge through the selection, hierarchization and structuring of information using concept maps. For the validation of the didactic materials developed, it has been used procedures with various assessment tools for the collection and processing of data, applied in the context of an experimental design. Additionally, it was performed a statistical analysis to determine the validity of the materials developed. The assessment has been designed to validate the contributions of the new materials developed over the traditional method of teaching, and to quantify the learning achieved by students, in order to draw conclusions that serve as a reference for its application in the teaching and learning processes, and comprehensively validate the work carried out.

Using wound care algorithms: a content validation study.

PubMed

Beitz, J M; van Rijswijk, L

1999-09-01

Valid and reliable heuristic devices facilitating optimal wound care are lacking. The objectives of this study were to establish content validation data for a set of wound care algorithms, to identify their associated strengths and weaknesses, and to gain insight into the wound care decision-making process. Forty-four registered nurse wound care experts were surveyed and interviewed at national and regional educational meetings. Using a cross-sectional study design and an 83-item, 4-point Likert-type scale, this purposive sample was asked to quantify the degree of validity of the algorithms' decisions and components. Participants' comments were tape-recorded, transcribed, and themes were derived. On a scale of 1 to 4, the mean score of the entire instrument was 3.47 (SD +/- 0.87), the instrument's Content Validity Index was 0.86, and the individual Content Validity Index of 34 of 44 participants was > 0.8. Item scores were lower for those related to packing deep wounds (P < .001). No other significant differences were observed. Qualitative data analysis revealed themes of difficulty associated with wound assessment and care issues, that is, the absence of valid and reliable definitions. The wound care algorithms studied proved valid. However, the lack of valid and reliable wound assessment and care definitions hinders optimal use of these instruments. Further research documenting their clinical use is warranted. Research-based practice recommendations should direct the development of future valid and reliable algorithms designed to help nurses provide optimal wound care.

29 CFR 1607.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Use of other validity studies. 1607.7 Section 1607.7 Labor... EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES (1978) General Principles § 1607.7 Use of other validity studies. A. Validity studies not conducted by the user. Users may, under certain circumstances, support the use of selection...

The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE): translation and validation study of the Iranian version

PubMed Central

Tavoli, Azadeh; Melyani, Mahdiyeh; Bakhtiari, Maryam; Ghaedi, Gholam Hossein; Montazeri, Ali

2009-01-01

Background The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) is a commonly used instrument to measure social anxiety. This study aimed to translate and to test the reliability and validity of the BFNE in Iran. Methods The English language version of the BFNE was translated into Persian (Iranian language) and was used in this study. The questionnaire was administered to a consecutive sample of 235 students with (n = 33, clinical group) and without social phobia (n = 202, non-clinical group). In addition to the BFNE, two standard instruments were used to measure social phobia severity: the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). All participants completed a brief background information questionnaire, the SPIN, the SIAS and the BFNE scales. Statistical analysis was performed to test the reliability and validity of the BFNE. Results In all 235 students were studied (111 male and 124 female). The mean age for non-clinical group was 22.2 (SD = 2.1) years and for clinical sample it was 22.4 (SD = 1.8) years. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (to test reliability) was acceptable for both non-clinical and clinical samples (α = 0.90 and 0.82 respectively). In addition, 3-week test-retest reliability was performed in non-clinical sample and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was quite high (ICC = 0.71). Validity as performed using convergent and discriminant validity showed satisfactory results. The questionnaire correlated well with established measures of social phobia such as the SPIN (r = 0.43, p < 0.001) and the SIAS (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). Also the BFNE discriminated well between men and women with and without social phobia in the expected direction. Factor analysis supported a two-factor solution corresponding to positive and reverse-worded items. Conclusion This validation study of the Iranian version of BFNE proved that it is an acceptable, reliable and valid measure of social phobia. However, since the scale showed a

The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE): translation and validation study of the Iranian version.

PubMed

Tavoli, Azadeh; Melyani, Mahdiyeh; Bakhtiari, Maryam; Ghaedi, Gholam Hossein; Montazeri, Ali

2009-07-09

The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) is a commonly used instrument to measure social anxiety. This study aimed to translate and to test the reliability and validity of the BFNE in Iran. The English language version of the BFNE was translated into Persian (Iranian language) and was used in this study. The questionnaire was administered to a consecutive sample of 235 students with (n = 33, clinical group) and without social phobia (n = 202, non-clinical group). In addition to the BFNE, two standard instruments were used to measure social phobia severity: the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). All participants completed a brief background information questionnaire, the SPIN, the SIAS and the BFNE scales. Statistical analysis was performed to test the reliability and validity of the BFNE. In all 235 students were studied (111 male and 124 female). The mean age for non-clinical group was 22.2 (SD = 2.1) years and for clinical sample it was 22.4 (SD = 1.8) years. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (to test reliability) was acceptable for both non-clinical and clinical samples (alpha = 0.90 and 0.82 respectively). In addition, 3-week test-retest reliability was performed in non-clinical sample and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was quite high (ICC = 0.71). Validity as performed using convergent and discriminant validity showed satisfactory results. The questionnaire correlated well with established measures of social phobia such as the SPIN (r = 0.43, p < 0.001) and the SIAS (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). Also the BFNE discriminated well between men and women with and without social phobia in the expected direction. Factor analysis supported a two-factor solution corresponding to positive and reverse-worded items. This validation study of the Iranian version of BFNE proved that it is an acceptable, reliable and valid measure of social phobia. However, since the scale showed a two-factor structure and this does

CANFOR Portuguese version: validation study.

PubMed

Talina, Miguel; Thomas, Stuart; Cardoso, Ana; Aguiar, Pedro; Caldas de Almeida, Jose M; Xavier, Miguel

2013-05-30

The increase in prisoner population is a troublesome reality in several regions of the world. Along with this growth there is increasing evidence that prisoners have a higher proportion of mental illnesses and suicide than the general population. In order to implement strategies that address criminal recidivism and the health and social status of prisoners, particularly in mental disordered offenders, it is necessary to assess their care needs in a comprehensive, but individual perspective. This assessment must include potential harmful areas like comorbid personality disorder, substance misuse and offending behaviours. The Camberwell Assessment of Need - Forensic Version (CANFOR) has proved to be a reliable tool designed to accomplish such aims. The present study aimed to validate the CANFOR Portuguese version. The translation, adaptation to the Portuguese context, back-translation and revision followed the usual procedures. The sample comprised all detainees receiving psychiatric care in four forensic facilities, over a one year period. A total of 143 subjects, and respective case manager, were selected. The forensic facilities were chosen by convenience: one prison hospital psychiatric ward (n=68; 47.6%), one male (n=24; 16.8%) and one female (n=22; 15.4%) psychiatric clinic and one civil security ward (n=29; 20.3%), all located nearby Lisbon. Basic descriptive statistics and Kappa weighted coefficients were calculated for the inter-rater and the test-retest reliability studies. The convergent validity was evaluated using the Global Assessment of Functioning and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores. The majority of the participants were male and single, with short school attendance, and accused of a crime involving violence against persons. The most frequent diagnosis was major depression (56.1%) and almost half presented positive suicide risk. The reliability study showed average Kappa weighted coefficients of 0.884 and 0.445 for inter-rater and test

The Students' Perceptions of School Success Promoting Strategies Inventory (SPSI): development and validity evidence based studies.

PubMed

Moreira, Paulo A S; Oliveira, João Tiago; Dias, Paulo; Vaz, Filipa Machado; Torres-Oliveira, Isabel

2014-08-04

Students' perceptions about school success promotion strategies are of great importance for schools, as they are an indicator of how students perceive the school success promotion strategies. The objective of this study was to develop and analyze the validity evidence based of The Students' Perceptions of School Success Promoting Strategies Inventory (SPSI), which assesses both individual students' perceptions of their school success promoting strategies, and dimensions of school quality. A structure of 7 related factors was found, which showed good adjustment indices in two additional different samples, suggesting that this is a well-fitting multi-group model (p < .001). All scales presented good reliability values. Schools with good academic results registered higher values in Career development, Active learning, Proximity, Educational Technologies and Extra-curricular activities (p < .05). SPSI showed to be adequate to measure within-schools (students within schools) dimensions of school success. In addition, there is preliminary evidence for its adequacy for measuring school success promotion dimensions between schools for 4 dimensions. This study supports the validity evidence based of the SPSI (validity evidence based on test content, on internal structure, on relations to other variables and on consequences of testing). Future studies should test for within- and between-level variance in a bigger sample of schools.

Critical validation studies of neurofeedback.

PubMed

Gruzelier, John; Egner, Tobias

2005-01-01

The field of neurofeedback training has proceeded largely without validation. In this article the authors review studies directed at validating sensory motor rhythm, beta and alpha-theta protocols for improving attention, memory, and music performance in healthy participants. Importantly, benefits were demonstrable with cognitive and neurophysiologic measures that were predicted on the basis of regression models of learning to enhance sensory motor rhythm and beta activity. The first evidence of operant control over the alpha-theta ratio is provided, together with remarkable improvements in artistic aspects of music performance equivalent to two class grades in conservatory students. These are initial steps in providing a much needed scientific basis to neurofeedback.

Development of a Valid and Reliable Knee Articular Cartilage Condition-Specific Study Methodological Quality Score.

PubMed

Harris, Joshua D; Erickson, Brandon J; Cvetanovich, Gregory L; Abrams, Geoffrey D; McCormick, Frank M; Gupta, Anil K; Verma, Nikhil N; Bach, Bernard R; Cole, Brian J

2014-02-01

Condition-specific questionnaires are important components in evaluation of outcomes of surgical interventions. No condition-specific study methodological quality questionnaire exists for evaluation of outcomes of articular cartilage surgery in the knee. To develop a reliable and valid knee articular cartilage-specific study methodological quality questionnaire. Cross-sectional study. A stepwise, a priori-designed framework was created for development of a novel questionnaire. Relevant items to the topic were identified and extracted from a recent systematic review of 194 investigations of knee articular cartilage surgery. In addition, relevant items from existing generic study methodological quality questionnaires were identified. Items for a preliminary questionnaire were generated. Redundant and irrelevant items were eliminated, and acceptable items modified. The instrument was pretested and items weighed. The instrument, the MARK score (Methodological quality of ARticular cartilage studies of the Knee), was tested for validity (criterion validity) and reliability (inter- and intraobserver). A 19-item, 3-domain MARK score was developed. The 100-point scale score demonstrated face validity (focus group of 8 orthopaedic surgeons) and criterion validity (strong correlation to Cochrane Quality Assessment score and Modified Coleman Methodology Score). Interobserver reliability for the overall score was good (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC], 0.842), and for all individual items of the MARK score, acceptable to perfect (ICC, 0.70-1.000). Intraobserver reliability ICC assessed over a 3-week interval was strong for 2 reviewers (≥0.90). The MARK score is a valid and reliable knee articular cartilage condition-specific study methodological quality instrument. This condition-specific questionnaire may be used to evaluate the quality of studies reporting outcomes of articular cartilage surgery in the knee.

Assessing reliability and validity measures in managed care studies.

PubMed

Montoya, Isaac D

2003-01-01

To review the reliability and validity literature and develop an understanding of these concepts as applied to managed care studies. Reliability is a test of how well an instrument measures the same input at varying times and under varying conditions. Validity is a test of how accurately an instrument measures what one believes is being measured. A review of reliability and validity instructional material was conducted. Studies of managed care practices and programs abound. However, many of these studies utilize measurement instruments that were developed for other purposes or for a population other than the one being sampled. In other cases, instruments have been developed without any testing of the instrument's performance. The lack of reliability and validity information may limit the value of these studies. This is particularly true when data are collected for one purpose and used for another. The usefulness of certain studies without reliability and validity measures is questionable, especially in cases where the literature contradicts itself

40 CFR 761.392 - Preparing validation study samples.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... establish a surface concentration to be included in the standard operating procedure. The surface levels of... Under § 761.79(d)(4) § 761.392 Preparing validation study samples. (a)(1) To validate a procedure to... surfaces must be ≥20 µg/100 cm2. (2) To validate a procedure to decontaminate a specified surface...

40 CFR 761.392 - Preparing validation study samples.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... establish a surface concentration to be included in the standard operating procedure. The surface levels of... Under § 761.79(d)(4) § 761.392 Preparing validation study samples. (a)(1) To validate a procedure to... surfaces must be ≥20 µg/100 cm2. (2) To validate a procedure to decontaminate a specified surface...

40 CFR 761.392 - Preparing validation study samples.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... establish a surface concentration to be included in the standard operating procedure. The surface levels of... Under § 761.79(d)(4) § 761.392 Preparing validation study samples. (a)(1) To validate a procedure to... surfaces must be ≥20 µg/100 cm2. (2) To validate a procedure to decontaminate a specified surface...

Validation of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale: factor, convergent, and divergent validity.

PubMed

Levinson, Cheri A; Rodebaugh, Thomas L

2011-09-01

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) was created to assess fear of overall appearance evaluation. Initial psychometric work indicated that the measure had a single-factor structure and exhibited excellent internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. In the current study, the authors further examined the factor, convergent, and divergent validity of the SAAS in two samples of undergraduates. In Study 1 (N = 323), the authors tested the factor structure, convergent, and divergent validity of the SAAS with measures of the Big Five personality traits, negative affect, fear of negative evaluation, and social interaction anxiety. In Study 2 (N = 118), participants completed a body evaluation that included measurements of height, weight, and body fat content. The SAAS exhibited excellent convergent and divergent validity with self-report measures (i.e., self-esteem, trait anxiety, ethnic identity, and sympathy), predicted state anxiety experienced during the body evaluation, and predicted body fat content. In both studies, results confirmed a single-factor structure as the best fit to the data. These results lend additional support for the use of the SAAS as a valid measure of social appearance anxiety.

41 CFR 60-3.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... studies. 60-3.7 Section 60-3.7 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... of other validity studies. A. Validity studies not conducted by the user. Users may, under certain circumstances, support the use of selection procedures by validity studies conducted by other users or conducted...

41 CFR 60-3.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... studies. 60-3.7 Section 60-3.7 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... of other validity studies. A. Validity studies not conducted by the user. Users may, under certain circumstances, support the use of selection procedures by validity studies conducted by other users or conducted...

Performance of the Tariff Method: validation of a simple additive algorithm for analysis of verbal autopsies

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Verbal autopsies provide valuable information for studying mortality patterns in populations that lack reliable vital registration data. Methods for transforming verbal autopsy results into meaningful information for health workers and policymakers, however, are often costly or complicated to use. We present a simple additive algorithm, the Tariff Method (termed Tariff), which can be used for assigning individual cause of death and for determining cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMFs) from verbal autopsy data. Methods Tariff calculates a score, or "tariff," for each cause, for each sign/symptom, across a pool of validated verbal autopsy data. The tariffs are summed for a given response pattern in a verbal autopsy, and this sum (score) provides the basis for predicting the cause of death in a dataset. We implemented this algorithm and evaluated the method's predictive ability, both in terms of chance-corrected concordance at the individual cause assignment level and in terms of CSMF accuracy at the population level. The analysis was conducted separately for adult, child, and neonatal verbal autopsies across 500 pairs of train-test validation verbal autopsy data. Results Tariff is capable of outperforming physician-certified verbal autopsy in most cases. In terms of chance-corrected concordance, the method achieves 44.5% in adults, 39% in children, and 23.9% in neonates. CSMF accuracy was 0.745 in adults, 0.709 in children, and 0.679 in neonates. Conclusions Verbal autopsies can be an efficient means of obtaining cause of death data, and Tariff provides an intuitive, reliable method for generating individual cause assignment and CSMFs. The method is transparent and flexible and can be readily implemented by users without training in statistics or computer science. PMID:21816107

Expert system verification and validation study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

French, Scott W.; Hamilton, David

1992-01-01

Five workshops on verification and validation (V&V) of expert systems (ES) where taught during this recent period of performance. Two key activities, previously performed under this contract, supported these recent workshops (1) Survey of state-of-the-practice of V&V of ES and (2) Development of workshop material and first class. The first activity involved performing an extensive survey of ES developers in order to answer several questions regarding the state-of-the-practice in V&V of ES. These questions related to the amount and type of V&V done and the successfulness of this V&V. The next key activity involved developing an intensive hands-on workshop in V&V of ES. This activity involved surveying a large number of V&V techniques, conventional as well as ES specific ones. In addition to explaining the techniques, we showed how each technique could be applied on a sample problem. References were included in the workshop material, and cross referenced to techniques, so that students would know where to go to find additional information about each technique. In addition to teaching specific techniques, we included an extensive amount of material on V&V concepts and how to develop a V&V plan for an ES project. We felt this material was necessary so that developers would be prepared to develop an orderly and structured approach to V&V. That is, they would have a process that supported the use of the specific techniques. Finally, to provide hands-on experience, we developed a set of case study exercises. These exercises were to provide an opportunity for the students to apply all the material (concepts, techniques, and planning material) to a realistic problem.

Development and validation of a multi-analyte method for the regulatory control of carotenoids used as feed additives in fish and poultry feed.

PubMed

Vincent, Ursula; Serano, Federica; von Holst, Christoph

2017-08-01

Carotenoids are used in animal nutrition mainly as sensory additives that favourably affect the colour of fish, birds and food of animal origin. Various analytical methods exist for their quantification in compound feed, reflecting the different physico-chemical characteristics of the carotenoid and the corresponding feed additives. They may be natural products or specific formulations containing the target carotenoids produced by chemical synthesis. In this study a multi-analyte method was developed that can be applied to the determination of all 10 carotenoids currently authorised within the European Union for compound feedingstuffs. The method functions regardless of whether the carotenoids have been added to the compound feed via natural products or specific formulations. It is comprised of three steps: (1) digestion of the feed sample with an enzyme; (2) pressurised liquid extraction; and (3) quantification of the analytes by reversed-phase HPLC coupled to a photodiode array detector in the visible range. The method was single-laboratory validated for poultry and fish feed covering a mass fraction range of the target analyte from 2.5 to 300 mg kg - 1 . The following method performance characteristics were obtained: the recovery rate varied from 82% to 129% and precision expressed as the relative standard deviation of intermediate precision varied from 1.6% to 15%. Based on the acceptable performance obtained in the validation study, the multi-analyte method is considered fit for the intended purpose.

41 CFR 60-3.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... likely to affect validity differences; or that these factors are included in the design of the study and... construct validity is both an extensive and arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which... validity studies. 60-3.14 Section 60-3.14 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions...

41 CFR 60-3.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... likely to affect validity differences; or that these factors are included in the design of the study and... construct validity is both an extensive and arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which... validity studies. 60-3.14 Section 60-3.14 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions...

41 CFR 60-3.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... likely to affect validity differences; or that these factors are included in the design of the study and... construct validity is both an extensive and arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which... validity studies. 60-3.14 Section 60-3.14 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions...

41 CFR 60-3.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... likely to affect validity differences; or that these factors are included in the design of the study and... construct validity is both an extensive and arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which... validity studies. 60-3.14 Section 60-3.14 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions...

41 CFR 60-3.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... likely to affect validity differences; or that these factors are included in the design of the study and... construct validity is both an extensive and arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which... validity studies. 60-3.14 Section 60-3.14 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions...

41 CFR 60-3.5 - General standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... should avoid making employment decisions on the basis of measures of knowledges, skills, or abilities... General standards for validity studies. A. Acceptable types of validity studies. For the purposes of... of these guidelines, section 14 of this part. New strategies for showing the validity of selection...

The validity of the 4-Skills Scan: A double validation study.

PubMed

van Kernebeek, W G; de Kroon, M L A; Savelsbergh, G J P; Toussaint, H M

2018-06-01

Adequate gross motor skills are an essential aspect of a child's healthy development. Where physical education (PE) is part of the primary school curriculum, a strong curriculum-based emphasis on evaluation and support of motor skill development in PE is apparent. Monitoring motor development is then a task for the PE teacher. In order to fulfil this task, teachers need adequate tools. The 4-Skills Scan is a quick and easily manageable gross motor skill instrument; however, its validity has never been assessed. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the construct and concurrent validity of both 4-Skills Scans (version 2007 and version 2015). A total of 212 primary school children (6 - 12 years old), was requested to participate in both versions of the 4-Skills Scan. For assessing construct validity, children covered an obstacle course with video recordings for observation by an expert panel. For concurrent validity, a comparison was made with the MABC-2, by calculating Pearson correlations. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to determine the contribution of each subscale to the construct of gross motor skills, according to the MABC-2 and the expert panel. Correlations between the 4-Skills Scans and expert valuations were moderate, with coefficients of .47 (version 2007) and .46 (version 2015). Correlations between the 4-Skills Scans and the MABC-2 (gross) were moderate (.56) for version 2007 and high (.64) for version 2015. It is concluded that both versions of the 4-Skills Scans are satisfactory valid instruments for assessing gross motor skills during PE lessons. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS): translation and validation study of the Iranian version.

PubMed

Montazeri, Ali; Torkan, Behnaz; Omidvari, Sepideh

2007-04-04

The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) is a widely used instrument to measure postnatal depression. This study aimed to translate and to test the reliability and validity of the EPDS in Iran. The English language version of the EPDS was translated into Persian (Iranian language) and was used in this study. The questionnaire was administered to a consecutive sample of 100 women with normal (n = 50) and caesarean section (n = 50) deliveries at two points in time: 6 to 8 weeks and 12 to 14 weeks after delivery. Statistical analysis was performed to test the reliability and validity of the EPDS. Overall 22% of women at time 1 and 18% at time 2 reported experiencing postpartum depression. In general, the Iranian version of the EPDS was found to be acceptable to almost all women. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (to test reliability) was found to be 0.77 at time 1 and 0.86 at time 2. In addition, test-rest reliability was performed and the intraclass correlation coefficient was found to be 0.80. Validity as performed using known groups comparison showed satisfactory results. The questionnaire discriminated well between sub-groups of women differing in mode of delivery in the expected direction. The factor analysis indicated a three-factor structure that jointly accounted for 58% of the variance. This preliminary validation study of the Iranian version of the EPDS proved that it is an acceptable, reliable and valid measure of postnatal depression. It seems that the EPDS not only measures postpartum depression but also may be measuring something more.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Reliability and Validity Study of the Persian Version of the Clinical COPD Questionnaire.

PubMed

Hasanpour, Neda; Attarbashi Moghadam, Behrouz; Sami, Ramin; Tavakol, Kamran

2016-08-01

The clinical COPD questionnaire (CCQ) has been developed to measure the health status of COPD patients. The aim of this study was to translate CCQ into the Persian language and assess the validity and reliability of the translated version. We used a forward-backward procedure to translate the questionnaire. In a cross-sectional study 100 COPD patients and 50 healthy subjects over 40 years old were selected to assess the reliability and construct validity of the instrument. The face and content validity were used for the questionnaire validity. Validity was examined in a population of patients with COPD, using the Persian validated version of the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (PSGRQ). In order to assess the questionnaire's reliability, the Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cronbach's alpha were calculated. Test-retest reliability was tested by re-administering the Persian version of the CCQ (PCCQ) after 1 week. Test-retest carry out of data demonstrates that the PCCQ has excellent reliability (ICC for all 3 domains were higher than 0.9). Internal consistency was found by Cronbach's alpha to be 0.96, 0.94, 0.97, and 0.98 for the symptom, mental state, functional state and total scores respectively. In addition, the correlation between the components of PCCQ and PSGRQ showed satisfactory construct validity. Analyzing the data from healthy subjects and patients divulged that the PCCQ has acceptable discriminant validity. In general, the PCCQ had satisfactory reliability and validity for assessing health-related quality of life status of Iranian COPD patients.

Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA) for Teen Drivers: Results from a Validation Study

PubMed Central

McDonald, Catherine C.; Kandadai, Venk; Loeb, Helen; Seacrist, Thomas S.; Lee, Yi-Ching; Winston, Zachary; Winston, Flaura K.

2015-01-01

Background Driver error and inadequate skill are common critical reasons for novice teen driver crashes, yet few validated, standardized assessments of teen driving skills exist. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct and criterion validity of a newly developed Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA) for novice teen drivers. Methods The SDA's 35-minute simulated drive incorporates 22 variations of the most common teen driver crash configurations. Driving performance was compared for 21 inexperienced teens (age 16–17 years, provisional license ≤90 days) and 17 experienced adults (age 25–50 years, license ≥5 years, drove ≥100 miles per week, no collisions or moving violations ≤3 years). SDA driving performance (Error Score) was based on driving safety measures derived from simulator and eye-tracking data. Negative driving outcomes included simulated collisions or run-off-the-road incidents. A professional driving evaluator/instructor reviewed videos of SDA performance (DEI Score). Results The SDA demonstrated construct validity: 1.) Teens had a higher Error Score than adults (30 vs. 13, p=0.02); 2.) For each additional error committed, the relative risk of a participant's propensity for a simulated negative driving outcome increased by 8% (95% CI: 1.05–1.10, p<0.01). The SDA demonstrated criterion validity: Error Score was correlated with DEI Score (r=−0.66, p<0.001). Conclusions This study supports the concept of validated simulated driving tests like the SDA to assess novice driver skill in complex and hazardous driving scenarios. The SDA, as a standard protocol to evaluate teen driver performance, has the potential to facilitate screening and assessment of teen driving readiness and could be used to guide targeted skill training. PMID:25740939

Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA) for teen drivers: results from a validation study.

PubMed

McDonald, Catherine C; Kandadai, Venk; Loeb, Helen; Seacrist, Thomas S; Lee, Yi-Ching; Winston, Zachary; Winston, Flaura K

2015-06-01

Driver error and inadequate skill are common critical reasons for novice teen driver crashes, yet few validated, standardised assessments of teen driving skills exist. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the construct and criterion validity of a newly developed Simulated Driving Assessment (SDA) for novice teen drivers. The SDA's 35 min simulated drive incorporates 22 variations of the most common teen driver crash configurations. Driving performance was compared for 21 inexperienced teens (age 16-17 years, provisional license ≤90 days) and 17 experienced adults (age 25-50 years, license ≥5 years, drove ≥100 miles per week, no collisions or moving violations ≤3 years). SDA driving performance (Error Score) was based on driving safety measures derived from simulator and eye-tracking data. Negative driving outcomes included simulated collisions or run-off-the-road incidents. A professional driving evaluator/instructor (DEI Score) reviewed videos of SDA performance. The SDA demonstrated construct validity: (1) teens had a higher Error Score than adults (30 vs. 13, p=0.02); (2) For each additional error committed, the RR of a participant's propensity for a simulated negative driving outcome increased by 8% (95% CI 1.05 to 1.10, p<0.01). The SDA-demonstrated criterion validity: Error Score was correlated with DEI Score (r=-0.66, p<0.001). This study supports the concept of validated simulated driving tests like the SDA to assess novice driver skill in complex and hazardous driving scenarios. The SDA, as a standard protocol to evaluate teen driver performance, has the potential to facilitate screening and assessment of teen driving readiness and could be used to guide targeted skill training. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Validity and Reliability of the Clinical Competency Evaluation Instrument for Use among Physiotherapy Students: Pilot study.

PubMed

Muhamad, Zailani; Ramli, Ayiesah; Amat, Salleh

2015-05-01

The aim of this study was to determine the content validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability of the Clinical Competency Evaluation Instrument (CCEVI) in assessing the clinical performance of physiotherapy students. This study was carried out between June and September 2013 at University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A panel of 10 experts were identified to establish content validity by evaluating and rating each of the items used in the CCEVI with regards to their relevance in measuring students' clinical competency. A total of 50 UKM undergraduate physiotherapy students were assessed throughout their clinical placement to determine the construct validity of these items. The instrument's reliability was determined through a cross-sectional study involving a clinical performance assessment of 14 final-year undergraduate physiotherapy students. The content validity index of the entire CCEVI was 0.91, while the proportion of agreement on the content validity indices ranged from 0.83-1.00. The CCEVI construct validity was established with factor loading of ≥0.6, while internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) overall was 0.97. Test-retest reliability of the CCEVI was confirmed with a Pearson's correlation range of 0.91-0.97 and an intraclass coefficient correlation range of 0.95-0.98. Inter-rater reliability of the CCEVI domains ranged from 0.59 to 0.97 on initial and subsequent assessments. This pilot study confirmed the content validity of the CCEVI. It showed high internal consistency, thereby providing evidence that the CCEVI has moderate to excellent inter-rater reliability. However, additional refinement in the wording of the CCEVI items, particularly in the domains of safety and documentation, is recommended to further improve the validity and reliability of the instrument.

Mechanistic Study of Electrolyte Additives to Stabilize High-Voltage Cathode-Electrolyte Interface in Lithium-Ion Batteries.

PubMed

Gao, Han; Maglia, Filippo; Lamp, Peter; Amine, Khalil; Chen, Zonghai

2017-12-27

Current developments of electrolyte additives to stabilize electrode-electrolyte interface in lithium-ion batteries highly rely on a trial-and-error search, which involves repetitive testing and intensive amount of resources. The lack of understandings on the fundamental protection mechanisms of the additives significantly increases the difficulty for the transformational development of new additives. In this study, we investigated two types of individual protection routes to build a robust cathode-electrolyte interphase at high potentials: (i) a direct reduction in the catalytic decomposition of the electrolyte solvent; and (ii) formation of a "corrosion inhibitor film" that prevents severely attack and passivation from protons that generated from the solvent oxidation, even the decomposition of solvent cannot be mitigated. Effect of two exemplary electrolyte additives, lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate (LiDFOB) and 3-hexylthiophene (3HT), on LiNi 0.6 Mn 0.2 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC 622) cathode were investigated to validate our hypothesis. It is demonstrated that understandings of both electrolyte additives and solvent are essential and careful balance between the cathode protection mechanism of additives and their side effects is critical to obtain optimum results. More importantly, this study opens up new directions of rational design of functional electrolyte additives for the next-generation high-energy-density lithium-ion chemistries.

Beware of external validation! - A Comparative Study of Several Validation Techniques used in QSAR Modelling.

PubMed

Majumdar, Subhabrata; Basak, Subhash C

2018-04-26

Proper validation is an important aspect of QSAR modelling. External validation is one of the widely used validation methods in QSAR where the model is built on a subset of the data and validated on the rest of the samples. However, its effectiveness for datasets with a small number of samples but large number of predictors remains suspect. Calculating hundreds or thousands of molecular descriptors using currently available software has become the norm in QSAR research, owing to computational advances in the past few decades. Thus, for n chemical compounds and p descriptors calculated for each molecule, the typical chemometric dataset today has high value of p but small n (i.e. n < p). Motivated by the evidence of inadequacies of external validation in estimating the true predictive capability of a statistical model in recent literature, this paper performs an extensive and comparative study of this method with several other validation techniques. We compared four validation methods: leave-one-out, K-fold, external and multi-split validation, using statistical models built using the LASSO regression, which simultaneously performs variable selection and modelling. We used 300 simulated datasets and one real dataset of 95 congeneric amine mutagens for this evaluation. External validation metrics have high variation among different random splits of the data, hence are not recommended for predictive QSAR models. LOO has the overall best performance among all validation methods applied in our scenario. Results from external validation are too unstable for the datasets we analyzed. Based on our findings, we recommend using the LOO procedure for validating QSAR predictive models built on high-dimensional small-sample data. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Early Prediction of Intensive Care Unit-Acquired Weakness: A Multicenter External Validation Study.

PubMed

Witteveen, Esther; Wieske, Luuk; Sommers, Juultje; Spijkstra, Jan-Jaap; de Waard, Monique C; Endeman, Henrik; Rijkenberg, Saskia; de Ruijter, Wouter; Sleeswijk, Mengalvio; Verhamme, Camiel; Schultz, Marcus J; van Schaik, Ivo N; Horn, Janneke

2018-01-01

An early diagnosis of intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) is often not possible due to impaired consciousness. To avoid a diagnostic delay, we previously developed a prediction model, based on single-center data from 212 patients (development cohort), to predict ICU-AW at 2 days after ICU admission. The objective of this study was to investigate the external validity of the original prediction model in a new, multicenter cohort and, if necessary, to update the model. Newly admitted ICU patients who were mechanically ventilated at 48 hours after ICU admission were included. Predictors were prospectively recorded, and the outcome ICU-AW was defined by an average Medical Research Council score <4. In the validation cohort, consisting of 349 patients, we analyzed performance of the original prediction model by assessment of calibration and discrimination. Additionally, we updated the model in this validation cohort. Finally, we evaluated a new prediction model based on all patients of the development and validation cohort. Of 349 analyzed patients in the validation cohort, 190 (54%) developed ICU-AW. Both model calibration and discrimination of the original model were poor in the validation cohort. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC-ROC) was 0.60 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54-0.66). Model updating methods improved calibration but not discrimination. The new prediction model, based on all patients of the development and validation cohort (total of 536 patients) had a fair discrimination, AUC-ROC: 0.70 (95% CI: 0.66-0.75). The previously developed prediction model for ICU-AW showed poor performance in a new independent multicenter validation cohort. Model updating methods improved calibration but not discrimination. The newly derived prediction model showed fair discrimination. This indicates that early prediction of ICU-AW is still challenging and needs further attention.

29 CFR 1607.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES (1978) General Principles § 1607.7 Use of other validity studies. A. Validity studies not conducted by the user. Users may, under certain circumstances, support the use of selection... described in test manuals. While publishers of selection procedures have a professional obligation to...

29 CFR 1607.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES (1978) General Principles § 1607.7 Use of other validity studies. A. Validity studies not conducted by the user. Users may, under certain circumstances, support the use of selection... described in test manuals. While publishers of selection procedures have a professional obligation to...

29 CFR 1607.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES (1978) General Principles § 1607.7 Use of other validity studies. A. Validity studies not conducted by the user. Users may, under certain circumstances, support the use of selection... described in test manuals. While publishers of selection procedures have a professional obligation to...

Measuring Long-Distance Romantic Relationships: A Validity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pistole, M. Carole; Roberts, Amber

2011-01-01

This study investigated aspects of construct validity for the scores of a new long-distance romantic relationship measure. A single-factor structure of the long-distance romantic relationship index emerged, with convergent and discriminant evidence of external validity, high internal consistency reliability, and applied utility of the scores.…

The Self-Consciousness Scale: A Discriminant Validity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carver, Charles S.; Glass, David C.

1976-01-01

A validity study is conducted of the Self-Consciousness Scale components with male undergraduates. The components, Private and Public Self Consciousness and Social Anxiety did not correlate with any other measures used to establish their validity and thus seem to be independent of other measures tested. (Author/DEP)

Validation of measures from the smartphone sway balance application: a pilot study.

PubMed

Patterson, Jeremy A; Amick, Ryan Z; Thummar, Tarunkumar; Rogers, Michael E

2014-04-01

A number of different balance assessment techniques are currently available and widely used. These include both subjective and objective assessments. The ability to provide quantitative measures of balance and posture is the benefit of objective tools, however these instruments are not generally utilized outside of research laboratory settings due to cost, complexity of operation, size, duration of assessment, and general practicality. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the value and validity of using software developed to access the iPod and iPhone accelerometers output and translate that to the measurement of human balance. Thirty healthy college-aged individuals (13 male, 17 female; age = 26.1 ± 8.5 years) volunteered. Participants performed a static Athlete's Single Leg Test protocol for 10 sec, on a Biodex Balance System SD while concurrently utilizing a mobile device with balance software. Anterior/posterior stability was recorded using both devices, described as the displacement in degrees from level, and was termed the "balance score." There were no significant differences between the two reported balance scores (p = 0.818. Mean balance score on the balance platform was 1.41 ± 0.90, as compared to 1.38 ± 0.72 using the mobile device. There is a need for a valid, convenient, and cost-effective tool to objectively measure balance. Results of this study are promising, as balance score derived from the Smartphone accelerometers were consistent with balance scores obtained from a previously validated balance system. However, further investigation is necessary as this version of the mobile software only assessed balance in the anterior/posterior direction. Additionally, further testing is necessary on a healthy populations and as well as those with impairment of the motor control system. Level 2b (Observational study of validity)(1.)

Validating the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hassan, Karma El; Madhum, Ghida

2007-01-01

This study validated the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) on a sample of 273 private university students in Lebanon. For that purpose, evidence for construct validation was investigated through identifying the test's factor structure and subscale total correlations, in addition to differences in scores by gender, different levels,…

Strengthen forensic entomology in court--the need for data exploration and the validation of a generalised additive mixed model.

PubMed

Baqué, Michèle; Amendt, Jens

2013-01-01

Developmental data of juvenile blow flies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are typically used to calculate the age of immature stages found on or around a corpse and thus to estimate a minimum post-mortem interval (PMI(min)). However, many of those data sets don't take into account that immature blow flies grow in a non-linear fashion. Linear models do not supply a sufficient reliability on age estimates and may even lead to an erroneous determination of the PMI(min). According to the Daubert standard and the need for improvements in forensic science, new statistic tools like smoothing methods and mixed models allow the modelling of non-linear relationships and expand the field of statistical analyses. The present study introduces into the background and application of these statistical techniques by analysing a model which describes the development of the forensically important blow fly Calliphora vicina at different temperatures. The comparison of three statistical methods (linear regression, generalised additive modelling and generalised additive mixed modelling) clearly demonstrates that only the latter provided regression parameters that reflect the data adequately. We focus explicitly on both the exploration of the data--to assure their quality and to show the importance of checking it carefully prior to conducting the statistical tests--and the validation of the resulting models. Hence, we present a common method for evaluating and testing forensic entomological data sets by using for the first time generalised additive mixed models.

Pinaverium Bromide: Development and Validation of Spectrophotometric Methods for Assay and Dissolution Studies.

PubMed

Martins, Danielly da Fonte Carvalho; Florindo, Lorena Coimbra; Machado, Anna Karolina Mouzer da Silva; Todeschini, Vítor; Sangoi, Maximiliano da Silva

2017-11-01

This study presents the development and validation of UV spectrophotometric methods for the determination of pinaverium bromide (PB) in tablet assay and dissolution studies. The methods were satisfactorily validated according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The response was linear (r2 > 0.99) in the concentration ranges of 2-14 μg/mL at 213 nm and 10-70 μg/mL at 243 nm. The LOD and LOQ were 0.39 and 1.31 μg/mL, respectively, at 213 nm. For the 243 nm method, the LOD and LOQ were 2.93 and 9.77 μg/mL, respectively. Precision was evaluated by RSD, and the obtained results were lower than 2%. Adequate accuracy was also obtained. The methods proved to be robust using a full factorial design evaluation. For PB dissolution studies, the best conditions were achieved using a United States Pharmacopeia Dissolution Apparatus 2 (paddle) at 50 rpm and with 900 mL 0.1 M hydrochloric acid as the dissolution medium, presenting satisfactory results during the validation tests. In addition, the kinetic parameters of drug release were investigated using model-dependent methods, and the dissolution profiles were best described by the first-order model. Therefore, the proposed methods were successfully applied for the assay and dissolution analysis of PB in commercial tablets.

Validation of new psychosocial factors questionnaires: a Colombian national study.

PubMed

Villalobos, Gloria H; Vargas, Angélica M; Rondón, Martin A; Felknor, Sarah A

2013-01-01

The study of workers' health problems possibly associated with stressful conditions requires valid and reliable tools for monitoring risk factors. The present study validates two questionnaires to assess psychosocial risk factors for stress-related illnesses within a sample of Colombian workers. The validation process was based on a representative sample survey of 2,360 Colombian employees, aged 18-70 years. Worker response rate was 90%; 46% of the responders were women. Internal consistency was calculated, construct validity was tested with factor analysis and concurrent validity was tested with Spearman correlations. The questionnaires demonstrated adequate reliability (0.88-0.95). Factor analysis confirmed the dimensions proposed in the measurement model. Concurrent validity resulted in significant correlations with stress and health symptoms. "Work and Non-work Psychosocial Factors Questionnaires" were found to be valid and reliable for the assessment of workers' psychosocial factors, and they provide information for research and intervention. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Independent validation of the MMPI-2-RF Somatic/Cognitive and Validity scales in TBI Litigants tested for effort.

PubMed

Youngjohn, James R; Wershba, Rebecca; Stevenson, Matthew; Sturgeon, John; Thomas, Michael L

2011-04-01

The MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008) is replacing the MMPI-2 as the most widely used personality test in neuropsychological assessment, but additional validation studies are needed. Our study examines MMPI-2-RF Validity scales and the newly created Somatic/Cognitive scales in a recently reported sample of 82 traumatic brain injury (TBI) litigants who either passed or failed effort tests (Thomas & Youngjohn, 2009). The restructured Validity scales FBS-r (restructured symptom validity), F-r (restructured infrequent responses), and the newly created Fs (infrequent somatic responses) were not significant predictors of TBI severity. FBS-r was significantly related to passing or failing effort tests, and Fs and F-r showed non-significant trends in the same direction. Elevations on the Somatic/Cognitive scales profile (MLS-malaise, GIC-gastrointestinal complaints, HPC-head pain complaints, NUC-neurological complaints, and COG-cognitive complaints) were significant predictors of effort test failure. Additionally, HPC had the anticipated paradoxical inverse relationship with head injury severity. The Somatic/Cognitive scales as a group were better predictors of effort test failure than the RF Validity scales, which was an unexpected finding. MLS arose as the single best predictor of effort test failure of all RF Validity and Somatic/Cognitive scales. Item overlap analysis revealed that all MLS items are included in the original MMPI-2 Hy scale, making MLS essentially a subscale of Hy. This study validates the MMPI-2-RF as an effective tool for use in neuropsychological assessment of TBI litigants.

Agreeing on Validity Arguments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sireci, Stephen G.

2013-01-01

Kane (this issue) presents a comprehensive review of validity theory and reminds us that the focus of validation is on test score interpretations and use. In reacting to his article, I support the argument-based approach to validity and all of the major points regarding validation made by Dr. Kane. In addition, I call for a simpler, three-step…

Helping Students Evaluate the Validity of a Research Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, George A.; Gliner, Jeffrey A.

Students often have difficulty in evaluating the validity of a study. A conceptually and linguistically meaningful framework for evaluating research studies is proposed that is based on the discussion of internal and external validity of T. D. Cook and D. T. Campbell (1979). The proposal includes six key dimensions, three related to internal…

Mechanistic Study of Electrolyte Additives to Stabilize High-Voltage Cathode–Electrolyte Interface in Lithium-Ion Batteries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gao, Han; Maglia, Filippo; Lamp, Peter

Current developments of electrolyte additives to stabilize electrode-electrolyte interface in Li-ion batteries highly rely on a trial-and-error search, which involves repetitive testing and intensive amount of resources. The lack of understandings on the fundamental protection mechanisms of the additives significantly increases the difficulty for the transformational development of new additives. In this study, we investigated two types of individual protection routes to build a robust cathode-electrolyte interphase at high potentials: (i) a direct reduction in the catalytic decomposition of the electrolyte solvent; and (ii) formation of a “corrosion inhibitor film” that prevents severely attack and passivation from protons that generatedmore » from the solvent oxidation, even the decomposition of solvent cannot not mitigated. Effect of three exemplary electrolyte additives: (i) lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate (LiDFOB); (ii) 3-hexylthiophene (3HT); and (iii) tris(hexafluoro-iso-propyl)phosphate (HFiP), on LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC 622) cathode were investigated to validate our hypothesis. It is demonstrated that understandings of both electrolyte additives and solvent are essential and careful balance between the cathode protection mechanism of additives and their side effects is critical to obtain optimum results. More importantly, this study opens up new directions of rational design of functional electrolyte additives for the next generation high-energy density lithium-ion chemistries.« less

Medical student quality-of-life in the clerkships: a scale validation study.

PubMed

Brannick, Michael T; Horn, Gregory T; Schnaus, Michael J; Wahi, Monika M; Goldin, Steven B

2015-04-01

Many aspects of medical school are stressful for students. To empirically assess student reactions to clerkship programs, or to assess efforts to improve such programs, educators must measure the overall well-being of the students reliably and validly. The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a measure designed to achieve these goals. The authors developed a measure of quality of life for medical students by sampling (public domain) items tapping general happiness, fatigue, and anxiety. A quality-of-life scale was developed by factor analyzing responses to the items from students in two different clerkships from 2005 to 2008. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Validity was assessed by factor analysis, convergence with additional theoretically relevant scales, and sensitivity to change over time. The refined nine-item measure is a Likert scaled survey of quality-of-life items comprised of two domains: exhaustion and general happiness. The resulting scale demonstrated good reliability and factorial validity at two time points for each of the two samples. The quality-of-life measure also correlated with measures of depression and the amount of sleep reported during the clerkships. The quality-of-life measure appeared more sensitive to changes over time than did the depression measure. The measure is short and can be easily administered in a survey. The scale appears useful for program evaluation and more generally as an outcome variable in medical educational research.

JaCVAM-organized international validation study of the in vivo rodent alkaline comet assay for the detection of genotoxic carcinogens: I. Summary of pre-validation study results.

PubMed

Uno, Yoshifumi; Kojima, Hajime; Omori, Takashi; Corvi, Raffaella; Honma, Masamistu; Schechtman, Leonard M; Tice, Raymond R; Burlinson, Brian; Escobar, Patricia A; Kraynak, Andrew R; Nakagawa, Yuzuki; Nakajima, Madoka; Pant, Kamala; Asano, Norihide; Lovell, David; Morita, Takeshi; Ohno, Yasuo; Hayashi, Makoto

2015-07-01

The in vivo rodent alkaline comet assay (comet assay) is used internationally to investigate the in vivo genotoxic potential of test chemicals. This assay, however, has not previously been formally validated. The Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM), with the cooperation of the U.S. NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM)/the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM), the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), and the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society/Mammalian Mutagenesis Study Group (JEMS/MMS), organized an international validation study to evaluate the reliability and relevance of the assay for identifying genotoxic carcinogens, using liver and stomach as target organs. The ultimate goal of this validation effort was to establish an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test guideline. The purpose of the pre-validation studies (i.e., Phase 1 through 3), conducted in four or five laboratories with extensive comet assay experience, was to optimize the protocol to be used during the definitive validation study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Absorption in Sport: A Cross-Validation Study

PubMed Central

Koehn, Stefan; Stavrou, Nektarios A. M.; Cogley, Jeremy; Morris, Tony; Mosek, Erez; Watt, Anthony P.

2017-01-01

Absorption has been identified as readiness for experiences of deep involvement in the task. Conceptually, absorption is a key psychological construct, incorporating experiential, cognitive, and motivational components. Although, no operationalization of the construct has been provided to facilitate research in this area, the purpose of this research was the development and examination of the psychometric properties of a sport-specific measure of absorption that evolved from the use of the modified Tellegen Absorption Scale (MODTAS; Jamieson, 2005) in mainstream psychology. The study aimed to provide evidence of the psychometric properties, reliability, and validity of the Measure of Absorption in Sport Contexts (MASCs). The psychometric examination included a calibration sample from Scotland and a cross-validation sample from Australia using a cross-sectional design. The item pool was developed based on existing items from the modified Tellegen Absorption Scale (Jamieson, 2005). The MODTAS items were reworded and translated into a sport context. The Scottish sample consisted of 292 participants and the Australian sample of 314 participants. Congeneric model testing and confirmatory factor analysis for both samples and multi-group invariance testing across samples was used. In the cross-validation sample the MASC subscales showed acceptable internal consistency and construct reliability (≥0.70). Excellent fit indices were found for the final 18-item, six-factor measure in the cross-validation sample, χ(120)2 = 197.486, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.957; TLI = 0.945; RMSEA = 0.045; SRMR = 0.044. Multi-group invariance testing revealed no differences in item meaning, except for two items. The MASC and the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 showed moderate-to-strong positive correlations in both samples, r = 0.38, p < 0.001 and r = 0.42, p < 0.001, supporting the external validity of the MASC. This article provides initial evidence in support of the psychometric properties

Improving machine learning reproducibility in genetic association studies with proportional instance cross validation (PICV).

PubMed

Piette, Elizabeth R; Moore, Jason H

2018-01-01

Machine learning methods and conventions are increasingly employed for the analysis of large, complex biomedical data sets, including genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Reproducibility of machine learning analyses of GWAS can be hampered by biological and statistical factors, particularly so for the investigation of non-additive genetic interactions. Application of traditional cross validation to a GWAS data set may result in poor consistency between the training and testing data set splits due to an imbalance of the interaction genotypes relative to the data as a whole. We propose a new cross validation method, proportional instance cross validation (PICV), that preserves the original distribution of an independent variable when splitting the data set into training and testing partitions. We apply PICV to simulated GWAS data with epistatic interactions of varying minor allele frequencies and prevalences and compare performance to that of a traditional cross validation procedure in which individuals are randomly allocated to training and testing partitions. Sensitivity and positive predictive value are significantly improved across all tested scenarios for PICV compared to traditional cross validation. We also apply PICV to GWAS data from a study of primary open-angle glaucoma to investigate a previously-reported interaction, which fails to significantly replicate; PICV however improves the consistency of testing and training results. Application of traditional machine learning procedures to biomedical data may require modifications to better suit intrinsic characteristics of the data, such as the potential for highly imbalanced genotype distributions in the case of epistasis detection. The reproducibility of genetic interaction findings can be improved by considering this variable imbalance in cross validation implementation, such as with PICV. This approach may be extended to problems in other domains in which imbalanced variable distributions are a concern.

Verification, Validation and Sensitivity Studies in Computational Biomechanics

PubMed Central

Anderson, Andrew E.; Ellis, Benjamin J.; Weiss, Jeffrey A.

2012-01-01

Computational techniques and software for the analysis of problems in mechanics have naturally moved from their origins in the traditional engineering disciplines to the study of cell, tissue and organ biomechanics. Increasingly complex models have been developed to describe and predict the mechanical behavior of such biological systems. While the availability of advanced computational tools has led to exciting research advances in the field, the utility of these models is often the subject of criticism due to inadequate model verification and validation. The objective of this review is to present the concepts of verification, validation and sensitivity studies with regard to the construction, analysis and interpretation of models in computational biomechanics. Specific examples from the field are discussed. It is hoped that this review will serve as a guide to the use of verification and validation principles in the field of computational biomechanics, thereby improving the peer acceptance of studies that use computational modeling techniques. PMID:17558646

California Diploma Project Technical Report III: Validity Study--Validity Study of the Health Sciences and Medical Technology Standards

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGaughy, Charis; Bryck, Rick; de Gonzalez, Alicia

2012-01-01

This study is a validity study of the recently revised version of the Health Science Standards. The purpose of this study is to understand how the Health Science Standards relate to college and career readiness, as represented by survey ratings submitted by entry-level college instructors of health science courses and industry representatives. For…

Grid workflow validation using ontology-based tacit knowledge: A case study for quantitative remote sensing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jia; Liu, Longli; Xue, Yong; Dong, Jing; Hu, Yingcui; Hill, Richard; Guang, Jie; Li, Chi

2017-01-01

Workflow for remote sensing quantitative retrieval is the ;bridge; between Grid services and Grid-enabled application of remote sensing quantitative retrieval. Workflow averts low-level implementation details of the Grid and hence enables users to focus on higher levels of application. The workflow for remote sensing quantitative retrieval plays an important role in remote sensing Grid and Cloud computing services, which can support the modelling, construction and implementation of large-scale complicated applications of remote sensing science. The validation of workflow is important in order to support the large-scale sophisticated scientific computation processes with enhanced performance and to minimize potential waste of time and resources. To research the semantic correctness of user-defined workflows, in this paper, we propose a workflow validation method based on tacit knowledge research in the remote sensing domain. We first discuss the remote sensing model and metadata. Through detailed analysis, we then discuss the method of extracting the domain tacit knowledge and expressing the knowledge with ontology. Additionally, we construct the domain ontology with Protégé. Through our experimental study, we verify the validity of this method in two ways, namely data source consistency error validation and parameters matching error validation.

Addressing Participant Validity in a Small Internet Health Survey (The Restore Study): Protocol and Recommendations for Survey Response Validation

PubMed Central

Dewitt, James; Capistrant, Benjamin; Kohli, Nidhi; Mitteldorf, Darryl; Merengwa, Enyinnaya; West, William

2018-01-01

Background While deduplication and cross-validation protocols have been recommended for large Web-based studies, protocols for survey response validation of smaller studies have not been published. Objective This paper reports the challenges of survey validation inherent in a small Web-based health survey research. Methods The subject population was North American, gay and bisexual, prostate cancer survivors, who represent an under-researched, hidden, difficult-to-recruit, minority-within-a-minority population. In 2015-2016, advertising on a large Web-based cancer survivor support network, using email and social media, yielded 478 completed surveys. Results Our manual deduplication and cross-validation protocol identified 289 survey submissions (289/478, 60.4%) as likely spam, most stemming from advertising on social media. The basic components of this deduplication and validation protocol are detailed. An unexpected challenge encountered was invalid survey responses evolving across the study period. This necessitated the static detection protocol be augmented with a dynamic one. Conclusions Five recommendations for validation of Web-based samples, especially with smaller difficult-to-recruit populations, are detailed. PMID:29691203

Measuring Nutrition Literacy in Spanish-Speaking Latinos: An Exploratory Validation Study.

PubMed

Gibbs, Heather D; Camargo, Juliana M T B; Owens, Sarah; Gajewski, Byron; Cupertino, Ana Paula

2017-11-21

Nutrition is important for preventing and treating chronic diseases highly prevalent among Latinos, yet no tool exists for measuring nutrition literacy among Spanish speakers. This study aimed to adapt the validated Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument for Spanish-speaking Latinos. This study was developed in two phases: adaptation and validity testing. Adaptation included translation, expert item content review, and interviews with Spanish speakers. For validity testing, 51 participants completed the Short Assessment of Health Literacy-Spanish (SAHL-S), the Nutrition Literacy Assessment Instrument in Spanish (NLit-S), and socio-demographic questionnaire. Validity and reliability statistics were analyzed. Content validity was confirmed with a Scale Content Validity Index of 0.96. Validity testing demonstrated NLit-S scores were strongly correlated with SAHL-S scores (r = 0.52, p < 0.001). Entire reliability was substantial at 0.994 (CI 0.992-0.996) and internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's α = 0.92). The NLit-S demonstrates validity and reliability for measuring nutrition literacy among Spanish-speakers.

Chemotherapy effectiveness and mortality prediction in surgically treated osteosarcoma dogs: A validation study.

PubMed

Schmidt, A F; Nielen, M; Withrow, S J; Selmic, L E; Burton, J H; Klungel, O H; Groenwold, R H H; Kirpensteijn, J

2016-03-01

Canine osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer, and an important cause of mortality and morbidity, in large purebred dogs. Previously we constructed two multivariable models to predict a dog's 5-month or 1-year mortality risk after surgical treatment for osteosarcoma. According to the 5-month model, dogs with a relatively low risk of 5-month mortality benefited most from additional chemotherapy treatment. In the present study, we externally validated these results using an independent cohort study of 794 dogs. External performance of our prediction models showed some disagreement between observed and predicted risk, mean difference: -0.11 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]-0.29; 0.08) for 5-month risk and 0.25 (95%CI 0.10; 0.40) for 1-year mortality risk. After updating the intercept, agreement improved: -0.0004 (95%CI-0.16; 0.16) and -0.002 (95%CI-0.15; 0.15). The chemotherapy by predicted mortality risk interaction (P-value=0.01) showed that the chemotherapy compared to no chemotherapy effectiveness was modified by 5-month mortality risk: dogs with a relatively lower risk of mortality benefited most from additional chemotherapy. Chemotherapy effectiveness on 1-year mortality was not significantly modified by predicted risk (P-value=0.28). In conclusion, this external validation study confirmed that our multivariable risk prediction models can predict a patient's mortality risk and that dogs with a relatively lower risk of 5-month mortality seem to benefit most from chemotherapy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

TURKISH VERSION QUALITY OF LIFE IN ESSENTIAL TREMOR QUESTIONNAIRE (QUEST): VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY STUDY.

PubMed

Güler, Sibel; Turan, F Nesrin

2015-09-30

Our aim was to translate the Quality of Life in Essential Tremor Questionnaire (QUEST) advanced by Troster (2005) and to analyse the validity and reliability of this questionnaire. Two hundred twelve consecutive patients with essential tremor (ET) and forty-three control subjects were included in the study. Permission for the translation and validation of the QUEST scale was obtained. The translation was performed according to the guidelines provided by the publisher. After the translation, the final version of the scale was administered to both groups to determine its reliability and validity. The QUEST Physical, Psychosocial, communication, Hobbies/leisure and Work/finance scores were 0.967, 0.968, 0.933, 0.964 and 0.925, respectively. There were good correlations between each of the QUEST scores that were indicative of good internal consistency. Additionally, we observed that all of the QUEST scores were most strongly related to the right and left arms (p=0.0001). However, we observed that all of the QUEST scores were weakly related to the voice, head and right leg (p=0.0001). These findings support the notion that the Turkish version of the Quality of Life in Essential Tremor (QUEST) questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of the quality of life of patients with ET.

Cyber Victim and Bullying Scale: A Study of Validity and Reliability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cetin, Bayram; Yaman, Erkan; Peker, Adem

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid scale, which determines cyber victimization and bullying behaviors of high school students. Research group consisted of 404 students (250 male, 154 male) in Sakarya, in 2009-2010 academic years. In the study sample, mean age is 16.68. Content validity and face validity of the scale was…

Measuring leprosy-related stigma - a pilot study to validate a toolkit of instruments.

PubMed

Rensen, Carin; Bandyopadhyay, Sudhakar; Gopal, Pala K; Van Brakel, Wim H

2011-01-01

Stigma negatively affects the quality of life of leprosy-affected people. Instruments are needed to assess levels of stigma and to monitor and evaluate stigma reduction interventions. We conducted a validation study of such instruments in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, India. Four instruments were tested in a 'Community Based Rehabilitation' (CBR) setting, the Participation Scale, Internalised Scale of Mental Illness (ISMI) adapted for leprosy-affected persons, Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) for leprosy-affected and non-affected persons and the General Self-Efficacy (GSE) Scale. We evaluated the following components of validity, construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reproducibility and reliability to distinguish between groups. Construct validity was tested by correlating instrument scores and by triangulating quantitative and qualitative findings. Reliability was evaluated by comparing levels of stigma among people affected by leprosy and community controls, and among affected people living in CBR project areas and those in non-CBR areas. For the Participation, ISMI and EMIC scores significant differences were observed between those affected by leprosy and those not affected (p = 0.0001), and between affected persons in the CBR and Control group (p < 0.05). The internal consistency of the instruments measured with Cronbach's α ranged from 0.83 to 0.96 and was very good for all instruments. Test-retest reproducibility coefficients were 0.80 for the Participation score, 0.70 for the EMIC score, 0.62 for the ISMI score and 0.50 for the GSE score. The construct validity of all instruments was confirmed. The Participation and EMIC Scales met all validity criteria, but test-retest reproducibility of the ISMI and GSE Scales needs further evaluation with a shorter test-retest interval and longer training and additional adaptations for the latter.

Addressing Participant Validity in a Small Internet Health Survey (The Restore Study): Protocol and Recommendations for Survey Response Validation.

PubMed

Dewitt, James; Capistrant, Benjamin; Kohli, Nidhi; Rosser, B R Simon; Mitteldorf, Darryl; Merengwa, Enyinnaya; West, William

2018-04-24

While deduplication and cross-validation protocols have been recommended for large Web-based studies, protocols for survey response validation of smaller studies have not been published. This paper reports the challenges of survey validation inherent in a small Web-based health survey research. The subject population was North American, gay and bisexual, prostate cancer survivors, who represent an under-researched, hidden, difficult-to-recruit, minority-within-a-minority population. In 2015-2016, advertising on a large Web-based cancer survivor support network, using email and social media, yielded 478 completed surveys. Our manual deduplication and cross-validation protocol identified 289 survey submissions (289/478, 60.4%) as likely spam, most stemming from advertising on social media. The basic components of this deduplication and validation protocol are detailed. An unexpected challenge encountered was invalid survey responses evolving across the study period. This necessitated the static detection protocol be augmented with a dynamic one. Five recommendations for validation of Web-based samples, especially with smaller difficult-to-recruit populations, are detailed. ©James Dewitt, Benjamin Capistrant, Nidhi Kohli, B R Simon Rosser, Darryl Mitteldorf, Enyinnaya Merengwa, William West. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 24.04.2018.

JaCVAM-organized international validation study of the in vivo rodent alkaline comet assay for detection of genotoxic carcinogens: II. Summary of definitive validation study results.

PubMed

Uno, Yoshifumi; Kojima, Hajime; Omori, Takashi; Corvi, Raffaella; Honma, Masamistu; Schechtman, Leonard M; Tice, Raymond R; Beevers, Carol; De Boeck, Marlies; Burlinson, Brian; Hobbs, Cheryl A; Kitamoto, Sachiko; Kraynak, Andrew R; McNamee, James; Nakagawa, Yuzuki; Pant, Kamala; Plappert-Helbig, Ulla; Priestley, Catherine; Takasawa, Hironao; Wada, Kunio; Wirnitzer, Uta; Asano, Norihide; Escobar, Patricia A; Lovell, David; Morita, Takeshi; Nakajima, Madoka; Ohno, Yasuo; Hayashi, Makoto

2015-07-01

The in vivo rodent alkaline comet assay (comet assay) is used internationally to investigate the in vivo genotoxic potential of test chemicals. This assay, however, has not previously been formally validated. The Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM), with the cooperation of the U.S. NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM)/the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM), the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), and the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society/Mammalian Mutagenesis Study Group (JEMS/MMS), organized an international validation study to evaluate the reliability and relevance of the assay for identifying genotoxic carcinogens, using liver and stomach as target organs. The ultimate goal of this exercise was to establish an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test guideline. The study protocol was optimized in the pre-validation studies, and then the definitive (4th phase) validation study was conducted in two steps. In the 1st step, assay reproducibility was confirmed among laboratories using four coded reference chemicals and the positive control ethyl methanesulfonate. In the 2nd step, the predictive capability was investigated using 40 coded chemicals with known genotoxic and carcinogenic activity (i.e., genotoxic carcinogens, genotoxic non-carcinogens, non-genotoxic carcinogens, and non-genotoxic non-carcinogens). Based on the results obtained, the in vivo comet assay is concluded to be highly capable of identifying genotoxic chemicals and therefore can serve as a reliable predictor of rodent carcinogenicity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Construct Validation Theory Applied to the Study of Personality Dysfunction

PubMed Central

Zapolski, Tamika C. B.; Guller, Leila; Smith, Gregory T.

2013-01-01

The authors review theory validation and construct validation principles as related to the study of personality dysfunction. Historically, personality disorders have been understood to be syndromes of heterogeneous symptoms. The authors argue that the syndrome approach to description results in diagnoses of unclear meaning and constrained validity. The alternative approach of describing personality dysfunction in terms of homogeneous dimensions of functioning avoids the problems of the syndromal approach and has been shown to provide more valid description and diagnosis. The authors further argue that description based on homogeneous dimensions of personality function/dysfunction is more useful, because it provides direct connections to validated treatments. PMID:22321263

Investigating Attitudes toward Physical Education: Validation across Two Instruments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donovan, Corinne Baron; Mercier, Kevin; Phillips, Sharon R.

2015-01-01

The Centers for Disease Control have suggested that physical education plays a role in promoting healthy lifestyles. Prior research suggests a link between attitudes toward physical education and physical activity outside school. The current study provides additional evidence of construct validity through a validation across two instruments…

Reliable Digit Span: A Systematic Review and Cross-Validation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schroeder, Ryan W.; Twumasi-Ankrah, Philip; Baade, Lyle E.; Marshall, Paul S.

2012-01-01

Reliable Digit Span (RDS) is a heavily researched symptom validity test with a recent literature review yielding more than 20 studies ranging in dates from 1994 to 2011. Unfortunately, limitations within some of the research minimize clinical generalizability. This systematic review and cross-validation study was conducted to address these…

An initial validation of the Virtual Reality Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test in a college sample.

PubMed

Parsons, Thomas D; Courtney, Christopher G

2014-01-30

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) has utility for the detection of cognitive processing deficits. While the PASAT has demonstrated high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability, administration of the PASAT has been known to create undue anxiety and frustration in participants. As a result, degradation of performance may be found on the PASAT. The difficult nature of the PASAT may subsequently decrease the probability of their return for follow up testing. This study is a preliminary attempt at assessing the potential of a PASAT embedded in a virtual reality environment. The Virtual Reality PASAT (VR-PASAT) was compared with a paper-and-pencil version of the PASAT as well as other standardized neuropsychological measures. The two modalities of the PASAT were conducted with a sample of 50 healthy university students, between the ages of 19 and 34 years. Equivalent distributions were found for age, gender, education, and computer familiarity. Moderate relationships were found between VR-PASAT and other putative attentional processing measures. The VR-PASAT was unrelated to indices of learning, memory, or visuospatial processing. Comparison of the VR-PASAT with the traditional paper-and-pencil PASAT indicated that both versions require the examinee to sustain attention at an increasingly demanding, externally determined rate. Results offer preliminary support for the construct validity (in a college sample) of the VR-PASAT as an attentional processing measure and suggest that this task may provide some unique information not tapped by traditional attentional processing tasks. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Problem-solving style and multicultural personality dispositions: a study of construct validity.

PubMed

Houtz, John C; Ponterotto, Joseph G; Burger, Claudia; Marino, Cherylynn

2010-06-01

This exploratory study examined the relationship between problem-solving styles and multicultural personality dispositions among 91 graduate students enrolled in an urban university located in the northeast United States. Problem-solving style was assessed with the three dimensions of the VIEW: an Assessment of Problem Solving Style. Multicultural personality was assessed with the five-factor Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ); its factors of Cultural Empathy, Open-mindedness, Social Initiative, and Flexibility correlated significantly with Explorer and External problem-solving styles, as predicted. The Emotional Stability subscale also correlated significantly with scores on Explorer style, suggesting that individuals who prefer "thinking in new directions" in problem solving are more likely to report remaining calm under stressful situations. Collectively, study results provided additional evidence of construct validity for the VIEW.

QSAR prediction of additive and non-additive mixture toxicities of antibiotics and pesticide.

PubMed

Qin, Li-Tang; Chen, Yu-Han; Zhang, Xin; Mo, Ling-Yun; Zeng, Hong-Hu; Liang, Yan-Peng

2018-05-01

Antibiotics and pesticides may exist as a mixture in real environment. The combined effect of mixture can either be additive or non-additive (synergism and antagonism). However, no effective predictive approach exists on predicting the synergistic and antagonistic toxicities of mixtures. In this study, we developed a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model for the toxicities (half effect concentration, EC 50 ) of 45 binary and multi-component mixtures composed of two antibiotics and four pesticides. The acute toxicities of single compound and mixtures toward Aliivibrio fischeri were tested. A genetic algorithm was used to obtain the optimized model with three theoretical descriptors. Various internal and external validation techniques indicated that the coefficient of determination of 0.9366 and root mean square error of 0.1345 for the QSAR model predicted that 45 mixture toxicities presented additive, synergistic, and antagonistic effects. Compared with the traditional concentration additive and independent action models, the QSAR model exhibited an advantage in predicting mixture toxicity. Thus, the presented approach may be able to fill the gaps in predicting non-additive toxicities of binary and multi-component mixtures. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Fast Scattering Code (FSC): Validation Studies and Program Guidelines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tinetti, Ana F.; Dunn, Mark H.

2011-01-01

The Fast Scattering Code (FSC) is a frequency domain noise prediction program developed at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to simulate the acoustic field produced by the interaction of known, time harmonic incident sound with bodies of arbitrary shape and surface impedance immersed in a potential flow. The code uses the equivalent source method (ESM) to solve an exterior 3-D Helmholtz boundary value problem (BVP) by expanding the scattered acoustic pressure field into a series of point sources distributed on a fictitious surface placed inside the actual scatterer. This work provides additional code validation studies and illustrates the range of code parameters that produce accurate results with minimal computational costs. Systematic noise prediction studies are presented in which monopole generated incident sound is scattered by simple geometric shapes - spheres (acoustically hard and soft surfaces), oblate spheroids, flat disk, and flat plates with various edge topologies. Comparisons between FSC simulations and analytical results and experimental data are presented.

Sulfonamide-containing PTP 1B inhibitors: Docking studies, synthesis and model validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Enli; Gan, Qiang; Chen, Xi; Feng, Changgen

2017-01-01

PTP 1B plays an important role in regulating insulin signaling pathway and is regarded as a valid target for curing diabetes and obesity. In this paper, two novel sulfonamide-containing PTP 1B inhibitors were designed, synthesized in mild condition, and characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and elemental analysis. The single crystal of compounds 7 and 8 were obtained and their structures were determined by X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis. In addition, their inhibitory activity were predicted by genetic algorithm, and carried on in vitro enzyme activity test. Of which compound 8 showed good inhibitory activity, in consistent with docking studies.

[Turkish validity and reliability study of fear of pain questionnaire-III].

PubMed

Ünver, Seher; Turan, Fatma Nesrin

2018-01-01

This study aimed to develop a Turkish version of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-III developed by McNeil and Rainwater (1998) and examine its validity and reliability indicators. The study was conducted with 459 university students studying in the nursing department. The Turkish translation of the scale was conducted by language experts and the original scale owner. Expert opinions were taken for language validity, and the Lawshe's content validity ratio formula was used to calculate the content validity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity. The factors were rotated using the Varimax rotation (orthogonal) method. For reliability indicators of the questionnaire, the internal consistency coefficient and test re-test reliability were utilized. Explanatory factor analyses using the three-factor model (explaining 50.5% of the total variance) revealed that the item factor loads varied were above the limit value of 0.30 which indicated that the questionnaire had good construct validity. The Cronbach's alpha value for the total questionnaire was 0.938, and test re-test value was 0.846 for the total scale. The Turkish version of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-III had sufficiently high reliability and validity to be used as a tool in evaluating the fear of pain among the young Turkish population.

Validation study of an electronic method of condensed outcomes tools reporting in orthopaedics.

PubMed

Farr, Jack; Verma, Nikhil; Cole, Brian J

2013-12-01

Patient-reported outcomes (PRO) instruments are a vital source of data for evaluating the efficacy of medical treatments. Historically, outcomes instruments have been designed, validated, and implemented as paper-based questionnaires. The collection of paper-based outcomes information may result in patients becoming fatigued as they respond to redundant questions. This problem is exacerbated when multiple PRO measures are provided to a single patient. In addition, the management and analysis of data collected in paper format involves labor-intensive processes to score and render the data analyzable. Computer-based outcomes systems have the potential to mitigate these problems by reformatting multiple outcomes tools into a single, user-friendly tool.The study aimed to determine whether the electronic outcomes system presented produces results comparable with the test-retest correlations reported for the corresponding orthopedic paper-based outcomes instruments.The study is designed as a crossover study based on consecutive orthopaedic patients arriving at one of two designated orthopedic knee clinics.Patients were assigned to complete either a paper or a computer-administered questionnaire based on a similar set of questions (Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score, International Knee Documentation Committee form, 36-Item Short Form survey, version 1, Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale). Each patient completed the same surveys using the other instrument, so that all patients had completed both paper and electronic versions. Correlations between the results from the two modes were studied and compared with test-retest data from the original validation studies.The original validation studies established test-retest reliability by computing correlation coefficients for two administrations of the paper instrument. Those correlation coefficients were all in the range of 0.7 to 0.9, which was deemed satisfactory. The present study computed correlation coefficients between

Design Characteristics Influence Performance of Clinical Prediction Rules in Validation: A Meta-Epidemiological Study.

PubMed

Ban, Jong-Wook; Emparanza, José Ignacio; Urreta, Iratxe; Burls, Amanda

2016-01-01

Many new clinical prediction rules are derived and validated. But the design and reporting quality of clinical prediction research has been less than optimal. We aimed to assess whether design characteristics of validation studies were associated with the overestimation of clinical prediction rules' performance. We also aimed to evaluate whether validation studies clearly reported important methodological characteristics. Electronic databases were searched for systematic reviews of clinical prediction rule studies published between 2006 and 2010. Data were extracted from the eligible validation studies included in the systematic reviews. A meta-analytic meta-epidemiological approach was used to assess the influence of design characteristics on predictive performance. From each validation study, it was assessed whether 7 design and 7 reporting characteristics were properly described. A total of 287 validation studies of clinical prediction rule were collected from 15 systematic reviews (31 meta-analyses). Validation studies using case-control design produced a summary diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) 2.2 times (95% CI: 1.2-4.3) larger than validation studies using cohort design and unclear design. When differential verification was used, the summary DOR was overestimated by twofold (95% CI: 1.2 -3.1) compared to complete, partial and unclear verification. The summary RDOR of validation studies with inadequate sample size was 1.9 (95% CI: 1.2 -3.1) compared to studies with adequate sample size. Study site, reliability, and clinical prediction rule was adequately described in 10.1%, 9.4%, and 7.0% of validation studies respectively. Validation studies with design shortcomings may overestimate the performance of clinical prediction rules. The quality of reporting among studies validating clinical prediction rules needs to be improved.

Validation of GC and HPLC systems for residue studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Williams, M.

1995-12-01

For residue studies, GC and HPLC system performance must be validated prior to and during use. One excellent measure of system performance is the standard curve and associated chromatograms used to construct that curve. The standard curve is a model of system response to an analyte over a specific time period, and is prima facia evidence of system performance beginning at the auto sampler and proceeding through the injector, column, detector, electronics, data-capture device, and printer/plotter. This tool measures the performance of the entire chromatographic system; its power negates most of the benefits associated with costly and time-consuming validation ofmore » individual system components. Other measures of instrument and method validation will be discussed, including quality control charts and experimental designs for method validation.« less

An empirical assessment of validation practices for molecular classifiers

PubMed Central

Castaldi, Peter J.; Dahabreh, Issa J.

2011-01-01

Proposed molecular classifiers may be overfit to idiosyncrasies of noisy genomic and proteomic data. Cross-validation methods are often used to obtain estimates of classification accuracy, but both simulations and case studies suggest that, when inappropriate methods are used, bias may ensue. Bias can be bypassed and generalizability can be tested by external (independent) validation. We evaluated 35 studies that have reported on external validation of a molecular classifier. We extracted information on study design and methodological features, and compared the performance of molecular classifiers in internal cross-validation versus external validation for 28 studies where both had been performed. We demonstrate that the majority of studies pursued cross-validation practices that are likely to overestimate classifier performance. Most studies were markedly underpowered to detect a 20% decrease in sensitivity or specificity between internal cross-validation and external validation [median power was 36% (IQR, 21–61%) and 29% (IQR, 15–65%), respectively]. The median reported classification performance for sensitivity and specificity was 94% and 98%, respectively, in cross-validation and 88% and 81% for independent validation. The relative diagnostic odds ratio was 3.26 (95% CI 2.04–5.21) for cross-validation versus independent validation. Finally, we reviewed all studies (n = 758) which cited those in our study sample, and identified only one instance of additional subsequent independent validation of these classifiers. In conclusion, these results document that many cross-validation practices employed in the literature are potentially biased and genuine progress in this field will require adoption of routine external validation of molecular classifiers, preferably in much larger studies than in current practice. PMID:21300697

A non-additive repulsive contribution in an equation of state: The development for homonuclear square well chains equation of state validated against Monte Carlo simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Trinh, Thi-Kim-Hoang; Laboratoire de Science des Procédés et des Matériaux; Passarello, Jean-Philippe, E-mail: Jean-Philippe.Passarello@lspm.cnrs.fr

This work consists of the adaptation of a non-additive hard sphere theory inspired by Malakhov and Volkov [Polym. Sci., Ser. A 49(6), 745–756 (2007)] to a square-well chain. Using the thermodynamic perturbation theory, an additional term is proposed that describes the effect of perturbing the chain of square well spheres by a non-additive parameter. In order to validate this development, NPT Monte Carlo simulations of thermodynamic and structural properties of the non-additive square well for a pure chain and a binary mixture of chains are performed. Good agreements are observed between the compressibility factors originating from the theory and thosemore » from molecular simulations.« less

Validation of a track repeating algorithm for intensity modulated proton therapy: clinical cases study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yepes, Pablo P.; Eley, John G.; Liu, Amy; Mirkovic, Dragan; Randeniya, Sharmalee; Titt, Uwe; Mohan, Radhe

2016-04-01

Monte Carlo (MC) methods are acknowledged as the most accurate technique to calculate dose distributions. However, due its lengthy calculation times, they are difficult to utilize in the clinic or for large retrospective studies. Track-repeating algorithms, based on MC-generated particle track data in water, accelerate dose calculations substantially, while essentially preserving the accuracy of MC. In this study, we present the validation of an efficient dose calculation algorithm for intensity modulated proton therapy, the fast dose calculator (FDC), based on a track-repeating technique. We validated the FDC algorithm for 23 patients, which included 7 brain, 6 head-and-neck, 5 lung, 1 spine, 1 pelvis and 3 prostate cases. For validation, we compared FDC-generated dose distributions with those from a full-fledged Monte Carlo based on GEANT4 (G4). We compared dose-volume-histograms, 3D-gamma-indices and analyzed a series of dosimetric indices. More than 99% of the voxels in the voxelized phantoms describing the patients have a gamma-index smaller than unity for the 2%/2 mm criteria. In addition the difference relative to the prescribed dose between the dosimetric indices calculated with FDC and G4 is less than 1%. FDC reduces the calculation times from 5 ms per proton to around 5 μs.

Clinical validity of new genetic biomarkers of irinotecan neutropenia: an independent replication study.

PubMed

Crona, D J; Ramirez, J; Qiao, W; de Graan, A-J; Ratain, M J; van Schaik, R H N; Mathijssen, R H J; Rosner, G L; Innocenti, F

2016-02-01

The overall goal of this study was to provide evidence for the clinical validity of nine genetic variants in five genes previously associated with irinotecan neutropenia and pharmacokinetics. Variants associated with absolute neutrophil count (ANC) nadir and/or irinotecan pharmacokinetics in a discovery cohort of cancer patients were genotyped in an independent replication cohort of 108 cancer patients. Patients received single-agent irinotecan every 3 weeks. For ANC nadir, we replicated UGT1A1*28, UGT1A1*93 and SLCO1B1*1b in univariate analyses. For irinotecan area under the concentration-time curve (AUC0-24), we replicated ABCC2 -24C>T; however, ABCC2 -24C>T only predicted a small fraction of the variance. For SN-38 AUC0-24 and the glucuronidation ratio, we replicated UGT1A1*28 and UGT1A1*93. In addition to UGT1A1*28, this study independently validated UGT1A1*93 and SLCO1B1*1b as new predictors of irinotecan neutropenia. Further demonstration of their clinical utility will optimize irinotecan therapy in cancer patients.

40 CFR 152.93 - Citation of a previously submitted valid study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Data Submitters' Rights § 152.93 Citation of a previously submitted valid study. An applicant may demonstrate compliance for a data requirement by citing a valid study previously submitted to the Agency. The... the original data submitter, the applicant may cite the study only in accordance with paragraphs (b...

Turkish Version of Kolcaba's Immobilization Comfort Questionnaire: A Validity and Reliability Study.

PubMed

Tosun, Betül; Aslan, Özlem; Tunay, Servet; Akyüz, Aygül; Özkan, Hüseyin; Bek, Doğan; Açıksöz, Semra

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Immobilization Comfort Questionnaire (ICQ). The sample used in this methodological study consisted of 121 patients undergoing lower extremity arthroscopy in a training and research hospital. The validity study of the questionnaire assessed language validity, structural validity and criterion validity. Structural validity was evaluated via exploratory factor analysis. Criterion validity was evaluated by assessing the correlation between the visual analog scale (VAS) scores (i.e., the comfort and pain VAS scores) and the ICQ scores using Spearman's correlation test. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin coefficient and Bartlett's test of sphericity were used to determine the suitability of the data for factor analysis. Internal consistency was evaluated to determine reliability. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 15.00 for Windows. Descriptive statistics were presented as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. A p value ≤ .05 was considered statistically significant. A moderate positive correlation was found between the ICQ scores and the VAS comfort scores; a moderate negative correlation was found between the ICQ and the VAS pain measures in the criterion validity analysis. Cronbach α values of .75 and .82 were found for the first and second measurements, respectively. The findings of this study reveal that the ICQ is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the comfort of patients in Turkey who are immobilized because of lower extremity orthopedic problems. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Study of the validity of a job-exposure matrix for the job strain model factors: an update and a study of changes over time.

PubMed

Niedhammer, Isabelle; Milner, Allison; LaMontagne, Anthony D; Chastang, Jean-François

2018-03-08

The objectives of the study were to construct a job-exposure matrix (JEM) for psychosocial work factors of the job strain model, to evaluate its validity, and to compare the results over time. The study was based on national representative data of the French working population with samples of 46,962 employees (2010 SUMER survey) and 24,486 employees (2003 SUMER survey). Psychosocial work factors included the job strain model factors (Job Content Questionnaire): psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, job strain and iso-strain. Job title was defined by three variables: occupation and economic activity coded using standard classifications, and company size. A JEM was constructed using a segmentation method (Classification and Regression Tree-CART) and cross-validation. The best quality JEM was found using occupation and company size for social support. For decision latitude and psychological demands, there was not much difference using occupation and company size with or without economic activity. The validity of the JEM estimates was higher for decision latitude, job strain and iso-strain, and lower for social support and psychological demands. Differential changes over time were observed for psychosocial work factors according to occupation, economic activity and company size. This study demonstrated that company size in addition to occupation may improve the validity of JEMs for psychosocial work factors. These matrices may be time-dependent and may need to be updated over time. More research is needed to assess the validity of JEMs given that these matrices may be able to provide exposure assessments to study a range of health outcomes.

Additional Evidence for the Reliability and Validity of the Student Risk Screening Scale at the High School Level: A Replication and Extension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lane, Kathleen Lynne; Oakes, Wendy P.; Ennis, Robin Parks; Cox, Meredith Lucille; Schatschneider, Christopher; Lambert, Warren

2013-01-01

This study reports findings from a validation study of the Student Risk Screening Scale for use with 9th- through 12th-grade students (N = 1854) attending a rural fringe school. Results indicated high internal consistency, test-retest stability, and inter-rater reliability. Predictive validity was established across two academic years, with Spring…

Moral judgment reloaded: a moral dilemma validation study

PubMed Central

Christensen, Julia F.; Flexas, Albert; Calabrese, Margareta; Gut, Nadine K.; Gomila, Antoni

2014-01-01

We propose a revised set of moral dilemmas for studies on moral judgment. We selected a total of 46 moral dilemmas available in the literature and fine-tuned them in terms of four conceptual factors (Personal Force, Benefit Recipient, Evitability, and Intention) and methodological aspects of the dilemma formulation (word count, expression style, question formats) that have been shown to influence moral judgment. Second, we obtained normative codings of arousal and valence for each dilemma showing that emotional arousal in response to moral dilemmas depends crucially on the factors Personal Force, Benefit Recipient, and Intentionality. Third, we validated the dilemma set confirming that people's moral judgment is sensitive to all four conceptual factors, and to their interactions. Results are discussed in the context of this field of research, outlining also the relevance of our RT effects for the Dual Process account of moral judgment. Finally, we suggest tentative theoretical avenues for future testing, particularly stressing the importance of the factor Intentionality in moral judgment. Additionally, due to the importance of cross-cultural studies in the quest for universals in human moral cognition, we provide the new set dilemmas in six languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Catalan, and Danish). The norming values provided here refer to the Spanish dilemma set. PMID:25071621

An observational study of patient satisfaction with fesoterodine in the treatment of overactive bladder: effects of additional educational material.

PubMed

Schneider, T; Arumi, D; Crook, T J; Sun, F; Michel, M C

2014-09-01

To compare the effects of additional educational material on treatment satisfaction of overactive bladder (OAB) patients treated with a muscarinic receptor antagonist. In an observational study of OAB patients being treated by their physician with fesoterodine for 4 months (FAKTEN study), sites were randomised to providing standard treatment or additional educational material including the SAGA tool. Patient satisfaction was assessed by three validated patient-reported outcomes including the Treatment Satisfaction Question. Because of premature discontinuation of the study, descriptive statistical analysis was performed. A total of 431 and 342 patients received standard treatment or additional educational material, respectively. At study end, 76.1% [95% CI = 71.3, 80.4] of patients with standard care and 79.6% [95% CI = 74.4, 84.1] with additional SAGA tool were satisfied with treatment (primary end-point). Comparable outcomes with and without the additional educational material were also found in various patient subgroups, at the 1-month time point, and for the other patient-reported outcomes. A notable exception was the subgroup of treatment-naïve patients in which the percentage of satisfied patients was 77.2% vs. 89.5% with standard treatment and additional SAGA tool, respectively (post hoc analysis). In an observational study, most overactive bladder patients were satisfied with fesoterodine treatment. Because of the small sample size, the study does not support or refute the hypothesis that adding the SAGA tool will improve patient satisfaction with treatment. The potential effect of additional educational material in treatment-naïve patients warrants further dedicated studies. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Preliminary validation study of the Russian Birmingham Cognitive Screen.

PubMed

Kuzmina, E; Humphreys, G W; Riddoch, M J; Skvortsov, A A; Weekes, B S

2018-02-01

The Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) is designed for use with individuals who have acquired language impairment following stroke. Our goal was to develop a Russian version of the BCoS (Rus-BCoS) by translating the battery following cultural and linguistic adaptations and establishing preliminary data on its psychometric properties. Fifty patients with left-hemisphere stroke were recruited, of whom 98% were diagnosed with mild to moderate aphasia. To check whether the Rus-BCoS provides stable and consistent scores, internal consistency, test-retest, and interrater types of reliability were determined. Eight participants with stroke and 20 neurologically intact participants were assessed twice. To inspect the discriminative power of the battery, 63 participants without brain impairment were tested with the Rus-BCoS. Additionally, the Russian version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Quantitative Assessment of Speech in Aphasia, and Luria's Neuropsychological Assessment Battery were used to examine convergent validity, sensitivity, and specificity of the Rus-BCoS. The internal consistency as well as test-retest and interrater reliability of the Rus-BCoS satisfied criteria for the research use. Performance on a majority of tasks in the battery correlated significantly with independently validated tests that putatively measure similar cognitive processes. Critically, all patients with aphasia returned nonzero scores in at least one task in all the Rus-BCoS sections, with the exception of the Controlled Attention section where two patients with severe executive control deficits could not perform. The Rus-BCoS shows promise as a comprehensive cognitive screening tool that can be used by clinicians working with Russian-speaking persons experiencing poststroke aphasia after much further validation and development of reliable normative standards. Given a lack of quantitative neuropsychological assessment tools in Russia, however, we contend the Rus-BCoS offers

Design Characteristics Influence Performance of Clinical Prediction Rules in Validation: A Meta-Epidemiological Study

PubMed Central

Ban, Jong-Wook; Emparanza, José Ignacio; Urreta, Iratxe; Burls, Amanda

2016-01-01

Background Many new clinical prediction rules are derived and validated. But the design and reporting quality of clinical prediction research has been less than optimal. We aimed to assess whether design characteristics of validation studies were associated with the overestimation of clinical prediction rules’ performance. We also aimed to evaluate whether validation studies clearly reported important methodological characteristics. Methods Electronic databases were searched for systematic reviews of clinical prediction rule studies published between 2006 and 2010. Data were extracted from the eligible validation studies included in the systematic reviews. A meta-analytic meta-epidemiological approach was used to assess the influence of design characteristics on predictive performance. From each validation study, it was assessed whether 7 design and 7 reporting characteristics were properly described. Results A total of 287 validation studies of clinical prediction rule were collected from 15 systematic reviews (31 meta-analyses). Validation studies using case-control design produced a summary diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) 2.2 times (95% CI: 1.2–4.3) larger than validation studies using cohort design and unclear design. When differential verification was used, the summary DOR was overestimated by twofold (95% CI: 1.2 -3.1) compared to complete, partial and unclear verification. The summary RDOR of validation studies with inadequate sample size was 1.9 (95% CI: 1.2 -3.1) compared to studies with adequate sample size. Study site, reliability, and clinical prediction rule was adequately described in 10.1%, 9.4%, and 7.0% of validation studies respectively. Conclusion Validation studies with design shortcomings may overestimate the performance of clinical prediction rules. The quality of reporting among studies validating clinical prediction rules needs to be improved. PMID:26730980

World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI: an international validation study of clinical competencies for advanced training in oral medicine.

PubMed

Steele, John C; Clark, Hadleigh J; Hong, Catherine H L; Jurge, Sabine; Muthukrishnan, Arvind; Kerr, A Ross; Wray, David; Prescott-Clements, Linda; Felix, David H; Sollecito, Thomas P

2015-08-01

To explore international consensus for the validation of clinical competencies for advanced training in Oral Medicine. An electronic survey of clinical competencies was designed. The survey was sent to and completed by identified international stakeholders during a 10-week period. To be validated, an individual competency had to achieve 90% or greater consensus to keep it in its current format. Stakeholders from 31 countries responded. High consensus agreement was achieved with 93 of 101 (92%) competencies exceeding the benchmark for agreement. Only 8 warranted further attention and were reviewed by a focus group. No additional competencies were suggested. This is the first international validated study of clinical competencies for advanced training in Oral Medicine. These validated clinical competencies could provide a model for countries developing an advanced training curriculum for Oral Medicine and also inform review of existing curricula. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of applying the more stringent validation criteria of the revised European Society of Hypertension International Protocol 2010 on earlier validation studies.

PubMed

Stergiou, George S; Karpettas, Nikos; Atkins, Neil; O'Brien, Eoin

2011-04-01

Since 2002 when the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol (ESH-IP) was published it has become the preferred protocol for validating blood pressure monitors worldwide. In 2010, a revised version of the ESH-IP with more stringent criteria was published. This study assesses the impact of applying the revised ESH-IP criteria. A systematic literature review of ESH-IP studies reported between 2002 and 2010 was conducted. The impact of applying the ESH-IP 2010 criteria retrospectively on the data reported in these studies was investigated. The performance of the oscillometric devices in the last decade was also investigated on the basis of the ESH-IP criteria. Among 119 published studies, 112 with sufficient data were analyzed. According to ESH-IP 2002, the test device failed in 19 studies, whereas by applying the ESH-IP 2010 criteria in 28 additional studies increased the failure rate from 17 to 42%. Of these 28 studies, in 20 (71%) the test device failed at part 1 (accuracy per measurement) and in 22 (79%) at part 2 (accuracy per subject). Most of the failures involved the '5 mmHg or less' criterion. In the last decade there has been a consistent trend toward improved performance of oscillometric devices assessed on the basis of the ESH-IP criteria. This retrospective analysis shows that the stricter revised ESH-IP 2010 criteria will noticeably increase the failure rate of devices being validated. Oscillometric devices are becoming more accurate, and the revised ESH-IP by acknowledging this trend will allow more accurate devices to enter the market.

Validating a Fidelity Scale to Understand Intervention Effects in Classroom-Based Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckley, Pamela; Moore, Brooke; Boardman, Alison G.; Arya, Diana J.; Maul, Andrew

2017-01-01

K-12 intervention studies often include fidelity of implementation (FOI) as a mediating variable, though most do not report the validity of fidelity measures. This article discusses the critical need for validated FOI scales. To illustrate our point, we describe the development and validation of the Implementation Validity Checklist (IVC-R), an…

Dimensions of Intuition: First-Round Validation Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vrugtman, Rosanne

2009-01-01

This study utilized confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), canonical correlation analysis (CCA), regression analysis (RA), and correlation analysis (CA) for first-round validation of the researcher's Dimensions of Intuition (DOI) instrument. The DOI examined 25 personal characteristics and situations purportedly predictive of intuition. Data was…

When Educational Material Is Delivered: A Mixed Methods Content Validation Study of the Information Assessment Method

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background The Information Assessment Method (IAM) allows clinicians to report the cognitive impact, clinical relevance, intention to use, and expected patient health benefits associated with clinical information received by email. More than 15,000 Canadian physicians and pharmacists use the IAM in continuing education programs. In addition, information providers can use IAM ratings and feedback comments from clinicians to improve their products. Objective Our general objective was to validate the IAM questionnaire for the delivery of educational material (ecological and logical content validity). Our specific objectives were to measure the relevance and evaluate the representativeness of IAM items for assessing information received by email. Methods A 3-part mixed methods study was conducted (convergent design). In part 1 (quantitative longitudinal study), the relevance of IAM items was measured. Participants were 5596 physician members of the Canadian Medical Association who used the IAM. A total of 234,196 ratings were collected in 2012. The relevance of IAM items with respect to their main construct was calculated using descriptive statistics (relevance ratio R). In part 2 (qualitative descriptive study), the representativeness of IAM items was evaluated. A total of 15 family physicians completed semistructured face-to-face interviews. For each construct, we evaluated the representativeness of IAM items using a deductive-inductive thematic qualitative data analysis. In part 3 (mixing quantitative and qualitative parts), results from quantitative and qualitative analyses were reviewed, juxtaposed in a table, discussed with experts, and integrated. Thus, our final results are derived from the views of users (ecological content validation) and experts (logical content validation). Results Of the 23 IAM items, 21 were validated for content, while 2 were removed. In part 1 (quantitative results), 21 items were deemed relevant, while 2 items were deemed not relevant

When Educational Material Is Delivered: A Mixed Methods Content Validation Study of the Information Assessment Method.

PubMed

Badran, Hani; Pluye, Pierre; Grad, Roland

2017-03-14

The Information Assessment Method (IAM) allows clinicians to report the cognitive impact, clinical relevance, intention to use, and expected patient health benefits associated with clinical information received by email. More than 15,000 Canadian physicians and pharmacists use the IAM in continuing education programs. In addition, information providers can use IAM ratings and feedback comments from clinicians to improve their products. Our general objective was to validate the IAM questionnaire for the delivery of educational material (ecological and logical content validity). Our specific objectives were to measure the relevance and evaluate the representativeness of IAM items for assessing information received by email. A 3-part mixed methods study was conducted (convergent design). In part 1 (quantitative longitudinal study), the relevance of IAM items was measured. Participants were 5596 physician members of the Canadian Medical Association who used the IAM. A total of 234,196 ratings were collected in 2012. The relevance of IAM items with respect to their main construct was calculated using descriptive statistics (relevance ratio R). In part 2 (qualitative descriptive study), the representativeness of IAM items was evaluated. A total of 15 family physicians completed semistructured face-to-face interviews. For each construct, we evaluated the representativeness of IAM items using a deductive-inductive thematic qualitative data analysis. In part 3 (mixing quantitative and qualitative parts), results from quantitative and qualitative analyses were reviewed, juxtaposed in a table, discussed with experts, and integrated. Thus, our final results are derived from the views of users (ecological content validation) and experts (logical content validation). Of the 23 IAM items, 21 were validated for content, while 2 were removed. In part 1 (quantitative results), 21 items were deemed relevant, while 2 items were deemed not relevant (R=4.86% [N=234,196] and R=3.04% [n

Latency-Based and Psychophysiological Measures of Sexual Interest Show Convergent and Concurrent Validity.

PubMed

Ó Ciardha, Caoilte; Attard-Johnson, Janice; Bindemann, Markus

2018-04-01

Latency-based measures of sexual interest require additional evidence of validity, as do newer pupil dilation approaches. A total of 102 community men completed six latency-based measures of sexual interest. Pupillary responses were recorded during three of these tasks and in an additional task where no participant response was required. For adult stimuli, there was a high degree of intercorrelation between measures, suggesting that tasks may be measuring the same underlying construct (convergent validity). In addition to being correlated with one another, measures also predicted participants' self-reported sexual interest, demonstrating concurrent validity (i.e., the ability of a task to predict a more validated, simultaneously recorded, measure). Latency-based and pupillometric approaches also showed preliminary evidence of concurrent validity in predicting both self-reported interest in child molestation and viewing pornographic material containing children. Taken together, the study findings build on the evidence base for the validity of latency-based and pupillometric measures of sexual interest.

The Internal Consistency and Validity of the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale: A Replication Study.

PubMed

Wood, Louise; Smith, Michael; Miller, Christopher B; O'Carroll, Ronan E

2018-06-19

Vaccinations are important preventative health behaviors. The recently developed Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) Scale aims to measure the reasons behind refusal/hesitancy regarding vaccinations. The aim of this replication study is to conduct an independent test of the newly developed VAX Scale in the UK. We tested (a) internal consistency (Cronbach's α); (b) convergent validity by assessing its relationships with beliefs about medication, medical mistrust, and perceived sensitivity to medicines; and (c) construct validity by testing how well the VAX Scale discriminated between vaccinators and nonvaccinators. A sample of 243 UK adults completed the VAX Scale, the Beliefs About Medicines Questionnaire, the Perceived Sensitivity to Medicines Scale, and the Medical Mistrust Index, in addition to demographics of age, gender, education levels, and social deprivation. Participants were asked (a) whether they received an influenza vaccination in the past year and (b) if they had a young child, whether they had vaccinated the young child against influenza in the past year. The VAX (a) demonstrated high internal consistency (α = .92); (b) was positively correlated with medical mistrust and beliefs about medicines, and less strongly correlated with perceived sensitivity to medicines; and (c) successfully differentiated parental influenza vaccinators from nonvaccinators. The VAX demonstrated good internal consistency, convergent validity, and construct validity in an independent UK sample. It appears to be a useful measure to help us understand the health beliefs that promote or deter vaccination behavior.

Design and validation of instruments to measure knowledge.

PubMed

Elliott, T E; Regal, R R; Elliott, B A; Renier, C M

2001-01-01

Measuring health care providers' learning after they have participated in educational interventions that use experimental designs requires valid, reliable, and practical instruments. A literature review was conducted. In addition, experience gained from designing and validating instruments for measuring the effect of an educational intervention informed this process. The eight main steps for designing, validating, and testing the reliability of instruments for measuring learning outcomes are presented. The key considerations and rationale for this process are discussed. Methods for critiquing and adapting existent instruments and creating new ones are offered. This study may help other investigators in developing valid, reliable, and practical instruments for measuring the outcomes of educational activities.

A new questionnaire to assess endorsement of normative ethics in primary health care: development, reliability and validity study.

PubMed

González-de Paz, Luis; Devant-Altimir, Meritxell; Kostov, Belchin; Mitjavila-López, Joan; Navarro-Rubio, M Dolors; Sisó-Almirall, Antoni

2013-12-01

Assessing ethical endorsement is crucial to the study of professional performance and moral conduct. There are no specific instruments that verify patients and professional experiences of ethical practice in the specific area of primary health care (PHC). To study the psychometric properties of two questionnaires to identify professional and patient endorsement of normative ethics. A methodological study conducted in PHC centres from an urban area (Barcelona). A group of items from an ethical code were generated using a qualitative study with focus groups. Items underwent expert validation, item refinement and test-retest reliability. Two groups of items for PHC professionals and patients were validated. The structure of the constructs and the internal consistency were studied after participants completed the questionnaires. Principal component analysis with supplementary variables showed the utility of the validated questionnaires. The patients' questionnaire consisted of 17 general items plus 11 additional items on specific conditions, and the health professional's contained 24 general and 9 specific items. The construct of the questionnaires comprised a three-factor solution for patients and a five-factor solution for professionals. Principal component analysis with supplementary variables showed that patients with higher scores on ethical perception were associated with better opinions on health care quality and more confidence in professionals. In PHC professionals, higher scores were associated with effective knowledge of the code. Both questionnaires showed good psychometric properties and are valid to screen ethical attitudes. The instrument warrants further testing and use with culturally diverse patients and PHC professionals.

Test of Creative Imagination: Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gundogan, Aysun; Ari, Meziyet; Gonen, Mubeccel

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate validity and reliability of the test of creative imagination. This study was conducted with the participation of 1000 children, aged between 9-14 and were studying in six primary schools in the city center of Denizli Province, chosen by cluster ratio sampling. In the study, it was revealed that the…

Validation study of the in vitro skin irritation test with the LabCyte EPI-MODEL24.

PubMed

Kojima, Hajime; Ando, Yoko; Idehara, Kenji; Katoh, Masakazu; Kosaka, Tadashi; Miyaoka, Etsuyoshi; Shinoda, Shinsuke; Suzuki, Tamie; Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro; Yoshimura, Isao; Yuasa, Atsuko; Watanabe, Yukihiko; Omori, Takashi

2012-03-01

A validation study on an in vitro skin irritation assay was performed with the reconstructed human epidermis (RhE) LabCyte EPI-MODEL24, developed by Japan Tissue Engineering Co. Ltd (Gamagori, Japan). The protocol that was followed in the current study was an optimised version of the EpiSkin protocol (LabCyte assay). According to the United Nations Globally Harmonised System (UN GHS) of classification for assessing the skin irritation potential of a chemical, 12 irritants and 13 non-irritants were validated by a minimum of six laboratories from the Japanese Society for Alternatives to Animal Experiments (JSAAE) skin irritation assay validation study management team (VMT). The 25 chemicals were listed in the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) performance standards. The reconstructed tissues were exposed to the chemicals for 15 minutes and incubated for 42 hours in fresh culture medium. Subsequently, the level of interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 α) present in the conditioned medium was measured, and tissue viability was assessed by using the MTT assay. The results of the MTT assay obtained with the LabCyte EPI-MODEL24 (LabCyte MTT assay) demonstrated high within-laboratory and between-laboratory reproducibility, as well as high accuracy for use as a stand-alone assay to distinguish skin irritants from non-irritants. In addition, the IL-1α release measurements in the LabCyte assay were clearly unnecessary for the success of this model in the classification of chemicals for skin irritation potential. 2012 FRAME.

Development and validation of a rapid multi-class method for the confirmation of fourteen prohibited medicinal additives in pig and poultry compound feed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Cronly, Mark; Behan, P; Foley, B; Malone, E; Earley, S; Gallagher, M; Shearan, P; Regan, L

2010-12-01

A confirmatory method has been developed to allow for the analysis of fourteen prohibited medicinal additives in pig and poultry compound feed. These compounds are prohibited for use as feed additives although some are still authorised for use in medicated feed. Feed samples are extracted by acetonitrile with addition of sodium sulfate. The extracts undergo a hexane wash to aid with sample purification. The extracts are then evaporated to dryness and reconstituted in initial mobile phase. The samples undergo an ultracentrifugation step prior to injection onto the LC-MS/MS system and are analysed in a run time of 26 min. The LC-MS/MS system is run in MRM mode with both positive and negative electrospray ionisation. The method was validated over three days and is capable of quantitatively analysing for metronidazole, dimetridazole, ronidazole, ipronidazole, chloramphenicol, sulfamethazine, dinitolimide, ethopabate, carbadox and clopidol. The method is also capable of qualitatively analysing for sulfadiazine, tylosin, virginiamycin and avilamycin. A level of 100 microg kg(-1) was used for validation purposes and the method is capable of analysing to this level for all the compounds. Validation criteria of trueness, precision, repeatability and reproducibility along with measurement uncertainty are calculated for all analytes. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study on thermal effects & sulfurized additives, in lubricating greases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, Ami Atul

Lithium Base grease constitutes about 50% of market. The greases are developed to be able to work in multiple working conditions and have longer working life. Greases with extreme pressure additives and anti-wear additives have been developed as a solution to many of the applications. These developed greases are tested under ASTM D2266 testing conditions to meet the requirements. The actual working conditions, although, differ than the real testing conditions. The loading, speed and temperature conditions can be more harsh, or fluctuating in nature. The cyclic nature of the parameters cannot be directly related to the test performance. For this purpose studies on the performance under spectrum loading, variable speed and fluctuating temperature must be performed. This study includes tests to understand the effect of thermal variation on some of the most commonly used grease additives that perform well under ASTM D2266 testing conditions. The studied additives include most widely used industrial extreme pressure additive MoS2. Performance of ZDDP which is trying to replace MoS2 in its industrial applications has also been studied. The tests cover study of extreme pressure, anti-wear and friction modifier additives to get a general idea on the effects of thermal variation in three areas. Sulphur is the most common extreme pressure additive. Sulphur based MoS 2 is extensively used grease additive. Study to understand the tribological performance of this additive through wear testing and SEM/EDX studies has been done. This performance is also studied for other metallic sulfides like WS2 and sulphur based organic compound. The aim is to study the importance of the type of bond that sulphur shares in its additive's structure on its performance. The MoS2 film formation is found to be on the basis of the FeS formation on the substrate and protection through sacrificial monolayer deposition of the MoS2 sheared structure. The free Mo then tends to oxidise. An attempt to

Workplace status: The development and validation of a scale.

PubMed

Djurdjevic, Emilija; Stoverink, Adam C; Klotz, Anthony C; Koopman, Joel; da Motta Veiga, Serge P; Yam, Kai Chi; Chiang, Jack Ting-Ju

2017-07-01

Research suggests that employee status, and various status proxies, relate to a number of meaningful outcomes in the workplace. The advancement of the study of status in organizational settings has, however, been stymied by the lack of a validated workplace status measure. The purpose of this manuscript, therefore, is to develop and validate a measure of workplace status based on a theoretically grounded definition of status in organizations. Subject-matter experts were used to examine the content validity of the measure. Then, 2 separate samples were employed to assess the psychometric properties (i.e., factor structure, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity) and nomological network of a 5-item, self-report Workplace Status Scale (WSS). To allow for methodological flexibility, an additional 3 samples were used to extend the WSS to coworker reports of a focal employee's status, provide additional evidence for the validity and reliability of the WSS, and to demonstrate consensus among coworker ratings. Together, these studies provide evidence of the psychometric soundness of the WSS for assessing employee status using either self-reports or other-source reports. The implications of the development of the WSS for the study of status in organizations are discussed, and suggestions for future research using the new measure are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Elbow-specific clinical rating systems: extent of established validity, reliability, and responsiveness.

PubMed

The, Bertram; Reininga, Inge H F; El Moumni, Mostafa; Eygendaal, Denise

2013-10-01

The modern standard of evaluating treatment results includes the use of rating systems. Elbow-specific rating systems are frequently used in studies aiming at elbow-specific pathology. However, proper validation studies seem to be relatively sparse. In addition, these scoring systems might not always be used for appropriate populations of interest. Both of these issues might give rise to invalid conclusions being reported in the literature. Our aim was to investigate the extent to which the available elbow-specific outcome measurement tools have been validated and the quality of the validation itself. We also aimed to provide characteristics of the populations used for validation of these scales to enable clinicians to use them appropriately. A literature search identified 17 studies of 12 different elbow-specific scoring systems. These were assessed for validity, reliability, and responsiveness characteristics. The quality of these assessments was rated according to the Consensus Based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) checklist criteria, a standardized and validated tool developed specifically for this purpose. Currently, the only elbow-specific rating system that is validated using high-quality methodology is the Oxford Elbow Score, a patient-administered outcome measure tool that has been validated on heterogeneous study populations. Other rating systems still have to be proven in the future to be as good as the Oxford Elbow Score for clinical or research purposes. Additional validation studies are needed. Copyright © 2013 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

A reliability and validity study of the Palliative Performance Scale

PubMed Central

Ho, Francis; Lau, Francis; Downing, Michael G; Lesperance, Mary

2008-01-01

Background The Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) was first introduced in1996 as a new tool for measurement of performance status in palliative care. PPS has been used in many countries and has been translated into other languages. Methods This study evaluated the reliability and validity of PPS. A web-based, case scenarios study with a test-retest format was used to determine reliability. Fifty-three participants were recruited and randomly divided into two groups, each evaluating 11 cases at two time points. The validity study was based on the content validation of 15 palliative care experts conducted over telephone interviews, with discussion on five themes: PPS as clinical assessment tool, the usefulness of PPS, PPS scores affecting decision making, the problems in using PPS, and the adequacy of PPS instruction. Results The intraclass correlation coefficients for absolute agreement were 0.959 and 0.964 for Group 1, at Time-1 and Time-2; 0.951 and 0.931 for Group 2, at Time-1 and Time-2 respectively. Results showed that the participants were consistent in their scoring over the two times, with a mean Cohen's kappa of 0.67 for Group 1 and 0.71 for Group 2. In the validity study, all experts agreed that PPS is a valuable clinical assessment tool in palliative care. Many of them have already incorporated PPS as part of their practice standard. Conclusion The results of the reliability study demonstrated that PPS is a reliable tool. The validity study found that most experts did not feel a need to further modify PPS and, only two experts requested that some performance status measures be defined more clearly. Areas of PPS use include prognostication, disease monitoring, care planning, hospital resource allocation, clinical teaching and research. PPS is also a good communication tool between palliative care workers. PMID:18680590

VALUE - A Framework to Validate Downscaling Approaches for Climate Change Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maraun, Douglas; Widmann, Martin; Gutiérrez, José M.; Kotlarski, Sven; Chandler, Richard E.; Hertig, Elke; Wibig, Joanna; Huth, Radan; Wilke, Renate A. I.

2015-04-01

VALUE is an open European network to validate and compare downscaling methods for climate change research. VALUE aims to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between climatologists, impact modellers, statisticians, and stakeholders to establish an interdisciplinary downscaling community. A key deliverable of VALUE is the development of a systematic validation framework to enable the assessment and comparison of both dynamical and statistical downscaling methods. Here, we present the key ingredients of this framework. VALUE's main approach to validation is user-focused: starting from a specific user problem, a validation tree guides the selection of relevant validation indices and performance measures. Several experiments have been designed to isolate specific points in the downscaling procedure where problems may occur: what is the isolated downscaling skill? How do statistical and dynamical methods compare? How do methods perform at different spatial scales? Do methods fail in representing regional climate change? How is the overall representation of regional climate, including errors inherited from global climate models? The framework will be the basis for a comprehensive community-open downscaling intercomparison study, but is intended also to provide general guidance for other validation studies.

VALUE: A framework to validate downscaling approaches for climate change studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maraun, Douglas; Widmann, Martin; Gutiérrez, José M.; Kotlarski, Sven; Chandler, Richard E.; Hertig, Elke; Wibig, Joanna; Huth, Radan; Wilcke, Renate A. I.

2015-01-01

VALUE is an open European network to validate and compare downscaling methods for climate change research. VALUE aims to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between climatologists, impact modellers, statisticians, and stakeholders to establish an interdisciplinary downscaling community. A key deliverable of VALUE is the development of a systematic validation framework to enable the assessment and comparison of both dynamical and statistical downscaling methods. In this paper, we present the key ingredients of this framework. VALUE's main approach to validation is user- focused: starting from a specific user problem, a validation tree guides the selection of relevant validation indices and performance measures. Several experiments have been designed to isolate specific points in the downscaling procedure where problems may occur: what is the isolated downscaling skill? How do statistical and dynamical methods compare? How do methods perform at different spatial scales? Do methods fail in representing regional climate change? How is the overall representation of regional climate, including errors inherited from global climate models? The framework will be the basis for a comprehensive community-open downscaling intercomparison study, but is intended also to provide general guidance for other validation studies.

Can We Study Autonomous Driving Comfort in Moving-Base Driving Simulators? A Validation Study.

PubMed

Bellem, Hanna; Klüver, Malte; Schrauf, Michael; Schöner, Hans-Peter; Hecht, Heiko; Krems, Josef F

2017-05-01

To lay the basis of studying autonomous driving comfort using driving simulators, we assessed the behavioral validity of two moving-base simulator configurations by contrasting them with a test-track setting. With increasing level of automation, driving comfort becomes increasingly important. Simulators provide a safe environment to study perceived comfort in autonomous driving. To date, however, no studies were conducted in relation to comfort in autonomous driving to determine the extent to which results from simulator studies can be transferred to on-road driving conditions. Participants ( N = 72) experienced six differently parameterized lane-change and deceleration maneuvers and subsequently rated the comfort of each scenario. One group of participants experienced the maneuvers on a test-track setting, whereas two other groups experienced them in one of two moving-base simulator configurations. We could demonstrate relative and absolute validity for one of the two simulator configurations. Subsequent analyses revealed that the validity of the simulator highly depends on the parameterization of the motion system. Moving-base simulation can be a useful research tool to study driving comfort in autonomous vehicles. However, our results point at a preference for subunity scaling factors for both lateral and longitudinal motion cues, which might be explained by an underestimation of speed in virtual environments. In line with previous studies, we recommend lateral- and longitudinal-motion scaling factors of approximately 50% to 60% in order to obtain valid results for both active and passive driving tasks.

The brief negative symptom scale: validation of the German translation and convergent validity with self-rated anhedonia and observer-rated apathy.

PubMed

Bischof, Martin; Obermann, Caitriona; Hartmann, Matthias N; Hager, Oliver M; Kirschner, Matthias; Kluge, Agne; Strauss, Gregory P; Kaiser, Stefan

2016-11-22

Negative symptoms are considered core symptoms of schizophrenia. The Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) was developed to measure this symptomatic dimension according to a current consensus definition. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the German version of the BNSS. To expand former findings on convergent validity, we employed the Temporal Experience Pleasure Scale (TEPS), a hedonic self-report that distinguishes between consummatory and anticipatory pleasure. Additionally, we addressed convergent validity with observer-rated assessment of apathy with the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES), which was completed by the patient's primary nurse. Data were collected from 75 in- and outpatients from the Psychiatric Hospital, University Zurich diagnosed with either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. We assessed convergent and discriminant validity, internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. We largely replicated the findings of the original version showing good psychometric properties of the BNSS. In addition, the primary nurses evaluation correlated moderately with interview-based clinician rating. BNSS anhedonia items showed good convergent validity with the TEPS. Overall, the German BNSS shows good psychometric properties comparable to the original English version. Convergent validity extends beyond interview-based assessments of negative symptoms to self-rated anhedonia and observer-rated apathy.

Effort, symptom validity testing, performance validity testing and traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Bigler, Erin D

2014-01-01

To understand the neurocognitive effects of brain injury, valid neuropsychological test findings are paramount. This review examines the research on what has been referred to a symptom validity testing (SVT). Above a designated cut-score signifies a 'passing' SVT performance which is likely the best indicator of valid neuropsychological test findings. Likewise, substantially below cut-point performance that nears chance or is at chance signifies invalid test performance. Significantly below chance is the sine qua non neuropsychological indicator for malingering. However, the interpretative problems with SVT performance below the cut-point yet far above chance are substantial, as pointed out in this review. This intermediate, border-zone performance on SVT measures is where substantial interpretative challenges exist. Case studies are used to highlight the many areas where additional research is needed. Historical perspectives are reviewed along with the neurobiology of effort. Reasons why performance validity testing (PVT) may be better than the SVT term are reviewed. Advances in neuroimaging techniques may be key in better understanding the meaning of border zone SVT failure. The review demonstrates the problems with rigidity in interpretation with established cut-scores. A better understanding of how certain types of neurological, neuropsychiatric and/or even test conditions may affect SVT performance is needed.

Fun and Games: The Validity of Games for the Study of Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlenker, Barry R.; Bonoma, Thomas V.

1978-01-01

Examines claimed advantages and criticisms of the use of games in the study of social conflict, differentiating the advantages and criticisms into questions of internal validity, external validity, and ecological validity. Available from: Sage Publications, Inc., 275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212. (JG)

Reliability and Validity of a Questionnaire for Physical Activity Assessment in South American Children and Adolescents: The SAYCARE Study.

PubMed

Nascimento-Ferreira, Marcus Vinícius; De Moraes, Augusto César Ferreira; Toazza-Oliveira, Paulo Vinícius; Forjaz, Claudia L M; Aristizabal, Juan Carlos; Santaliesra-Pasías, Alba M; Lepera, Candela; Nascimento-Junior, Walter Viana; Skapino, Estela; Delgado, Carlos Alberto; Moreno, Luis Alberto; Carvalho, Heráclito Barbosa

2018-03-01

The objective of this article is to test the reliability and validity of the new and innovative physical activity (PA) questionnaire. Subsamples from the South American Youth/Child Cardiovascular and Environment Study (SAYCARE) study were included to examine its reliability (children: n = 161; adolescents: n = 177) and validity (children: n = 82; adolescents: n = 60). The questionnaire consists of three dimensions of PA (leisure, active commuting, and school) performed during the last week. To assess its validity, the subjects wore accelerometers for at least 3 days and 8 h/d (at least one weekend day). The reliability was analyzed by correlation coefficients. In addition, Bland-Altman analysis and a multilevel regression were applied to estimate the measurement bias, limits of agreement, and influence of contextual variables. In children, the questionnaire showed consistent reliability (ρ = 0.56) and moderate validity (ρ = 0.46), and the contextual variable variance explained 43.0% with -22.9 min/d bias. In adolescents, the reliability was higher (ρ = 0.76) and the validity was almost excellent (ρ = 0.88), with 66.7% of the variance explained by city level with 16.0 min/d PA bias. The SAYCARE PA questionnaire shows acceptable (in children) to strong (in adolescents) reliability and strong validity in the measurement of PA in the pediatric population from low- to middle-income countries. © 2018 The Obesity Society.

Sensor data validation and reconstruction. Phase 1: System architecture study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The sensor validation and data reconstruction task reviewed relevant literature and selected applicable validation and reconstruction techniques for further study; analyzed the selected techniques and emphasized those which could be used for both validation and reconstruction; analyzed Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) hot fire test data to determine statistical and physical relationships between various parameters; developed statistical and empirical correlations between parameters to perform validation and reconstruction tasks, using a computer aided engineering (CAE) package; and conceptually designed an expert system based knowledge fusion tool, which allows the user to relate diverse types of information when validating sensor data. The host hardware for the system is intended to be a Sun SPARCstation, but could be any RISC workstation with a UNIX operating system and a windowing/graphics system such as Motif or Dataviews. The information fusion tool is intended to be developed using the NEXPERT Object expert system shell, and the C programming language.

Examining the Factor Structure and Reliability of the Safe Patient Handling Perception Scale: An Initial Validation Study.

PubMed

White-Heisel, Regina; Canfield, James P; Young-Hughes, Sadie

Perceiving imminent safe patient handling and movement (SPH&M) dangers may reduce musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries for nurses in the workplace. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the 17-item Safe Patient Handling Perception Scale (SPHPS) as an evaluation instrument assessing perceptual risk of MSK injury based on SPH&M knowledge, practice, and resource accessibility in the workplace. Data were collected from a convenience sample (N = 117) of nursing employees at a Veteran Affairs Medical Center. Factor analysis identified three factors: knowledge, practice, and accessibility. The SPHPS demonstrated high levels of reliability, supported by acceptable alpha scores (SPHM knowledge [α = .866], SPHM practices [α = .901], and access to SPHM resources [α = .855]), in addition to the relatively low standard error of measurement scores (SEM). The study outcomes suggest that the SPHPS is a valid and reliable tool that can measure participants' perceived risk factors for MSK injuries.

Nursing Student Self-efficacy in Psychomotor Skills: Findings From a Validation, Longitudinal, and Correlational Study.

PubMed

Bulfone, Giampiera; Fida, Roberta; Ghezzi, Valerio; Macale, Loreana; Sili, Alessandro; Alvaro, Rosaria; Palese, Alvisa

Student perceptions of self-efficacy (SE) prevent stress and burnout and improve engagement in nursing education, thus increasing learning outcomes. The study aims were to (1) validate a scale measuring nursing SE in psychomotor skills (NSE-PS), (2) describe changes in NSE-PS over time, and (3) explore NSE-PS correlations with burnout and engagement. A total of 1117 nursing students participated. A significant increase in the NSE-PS scores over the years has emerged; in addition, all NSE-PS dimensions were correlated negatively with burnout and positively with engagement.

Validation of self-reported cannabis dose and potency: an ecological study.

PubMed

van der Pol, Peggy; Liebregts, Nienke; de Graaf, Ron; Korf, Dirk J; van den Brink, Wim; van Laar, Margriet

2013-10-01

To assess the reliability and validity of self-reported cannabis dose and potency measures. Cross-sectional study comparing self-reports with objective measures of amount of cannabis and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration. Ecological study with assessments at participants' homes or in a coffee shop. Young adult frequent cannabis users (n = 106) from the Dutch Cannabis Dependence (CanDep) study. The objectively measured amount of cannabis per joint (dose in grams) was compared with self-reported estimates using a prompt card and average number of joints made from 1 g of cannabis. In addition, objectively assessed THC concentration in the participant's cannabis was compared with self-reported level of intoxication, subjective estimate of cannabis potency and price per gram of cannabis. Objective estimates of doses per joint (0.07-0.88 g/joint) and cannabis potency (1.1-24.7%) varied widely. Self-reported measures of dose were imprecise, but at group level, average dose per joint was estimated accurately with the number of joints made from 1 g [limit of agreement (LOA) = -0.02 g, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.29; 0.26], whereas the prompt card resulted in serious underestimation (LOA = 0.14 g, 95% CI = -0.10; 0.37). THC concentration in cannabis was associated with subjective potency ['average' 3.77% (P = 0.002) and '(very) strong' 5.13% more THC (P < 0.001) than '(very) mild' cannabis] and with cannabis price (about 1% increase in THC concentration per euro spent on 1 g of cannabis, P < 0.001), but not with level of intoxication. Self-report measures relating to cannabis use appear at best to be associated weakly with objective measures. Of the self-report measures, number of joints per gram, cannabis price and subjective potency have at least some validity. © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

The Jackson Career Explorer: Two Further Validity Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schermer, Julie Aitken

2012-01-01

The present report consists of two further validity studies using the Jackson Career Explorer (JCE), a short form and continuous version of the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey, measuring 34 interests. The first study examined the relationships between the JCE and five personality factors, from a sample of 528 individuals. The correlations found…

Reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study, part I: validation and replication.

PubMed

Krewski, D; Burnett, R T; Goldberg, M; Hoover, K; Siemiatycki, J; Abrahamowicz, M; White, W

2005-01-01

Because the results of the Harvard Six Cities Study played a critical role in the establishment of the current U.S. ambient air quality objective for fine particles (PM(2.5)), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, industry, and nongovernmental organizations called for an independent reanalysis of this study to validate the original findings reported by Dockery and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 329, pp. 1753-1759) in 1993. Validation of the original findings was accomplished by a detailed statistical audit and replication of original results. With the exception of occupational exposure to dust (14 discrepancies of 249 questionnaires located for evaluation) and fumes (15/249), date of death (2/250), and cause of death (2/250), the audit identified no discrepancies between the original questionnaires and death certificates in the audit sample and the analytic file used by the original investigators. The data quality audit identified a computer programming problem that had resulted in early censorship in 5 of the 6 cities, which resulted in the loss of approximately 1% of the reported person-years of follow-up; the reanalysis team updated the Six Cities cohort to include the missing person-years of observation, resulting in the addition of 928 person-years of observation and 14 deaths. The reanalysis team was able to reproduce virtually all of the original numerical results, including the 26% increase in all-cause mortality in the most polluted city (Stubenville, OH) as compared to the least polluted city (Portage, WI). The audit and validation of the Harvard Six Cities Study conducted by the reanalysis team generally confirmed the quality of the data and the numerical results reported by the original investigators. The discrepancies noted during the audit were not of epidemiologic importance, and did not substantively alter the original risk estimates associated with particulate air pollution, nor the main conclusions reached by the

29 CFR 1607.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... in the design of the study and their effects identified. (5) Statistical relationships. The degree of...; or such factors should be included in the design of the study and their effects identified. (f... arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which include criterion related validity studies...

29 CFR 1607.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... in the design of the study and their effects identified. (5) Statistical relationships. The degree of...; or such factors should be included in the design of the study and their effects identified. (f... arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which include criterion related validity studies...

29 CFR 1607.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... in the design of the study and their effects identified. (5) Statistical relationships. The degree of...; or such factors should be included in the design of the study and their effects identified. (f... arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which include criterion related validity studies...

29 CFR 1607.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... in the design of the study and their effects identified. (5) Statistical relationships. The degree of...; or such factors should be included in the design of the study and their effects identified. (f... arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which include criterion related validity studies...

29 CFR 1607.14 - Technical standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... in the design of the study and their effects identified. (5) Statistical relationships. The degree of...; or such factors should be included in the design of the study and their effects identified. (f... arduous effort involving a series of research studies, which include criterion related validity studies...

Validation of the German version of the Kujala score in patients with patellofemoral instability: a prospective multi-centre study.

PubMed

Dammerer, D; Liebensteiner, M C; Kujala, U M; Emmanuel, K; Kopf, S; Dirisamer, F; Giesinger, J M

2018-04-01

The Kujala score is the most frequently used questionnaire for patellofemoral disorders like pain, instability or osteoarthritis. Unfortunately, we are not aware of a validated German version of the Kujala score. The aim of our study was the translation and linguistic validation of the Kujala score in German-speaking patients with patella instability and the assessment of its measurement characteristics. The German Kujala score was developed in several steps of translation. In addition to healthy controls, the Kujala German was assessed in consecutive patients undergoing reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament for recurrent patellar dislocations. Pre-op, 6 and 12 months postop the patients completed the Kujala German score, the KOOS, the Lysholm score, a VAS Pain, and the SF-12v2 scores. In addition, there was a Kujala German Score retest preop after a 1-week interval. We found high reliability in terms of internal consistency for the Kujala score (Cronbach's alpha = 0.87). Convergent validity with the KOOS (symptom r = 0.65, pain r = 0.78, ADL r = 0.74, sports/recreation r = 0.84, quality of life r = 0.70), the Lysholm score (r = 0.88) and the SF-12 physical component summary score (r = 0.79) and VAS pain (r = - 0.71) was also very high. Discriminant validity in terms of correlation with the SF-12 mental component summary Score was satisfactory (r = 0.14). In conclusion, the German version of the Kujala score proved to be a reliable and valid instrument in the setting of a typical patellofemoral disease treated with a standard patellofemoral procedure.

Rediscovery rate estimation for assessing the validation of significant findings in high-throughput studies.

PubMed

Ganna, Andrea; Lee, Donghwan; Ingelsson, Erik; Pawitan, Yudi

2015-07-01

It is common and advised practice in biomedical research to validate experimental or observational findings in a population different from the one where the findings were initially assessed. This practice increases the generalizability of the results and decreases the likelihood of reporting false-positive findings. Validation becomes critical when dealing with high-throughput experiments, where the large number of tests increases the chance to observe false-positive results. In this article, we review common approaches to determine statistical thresholds for validation and describe the factors influencing the proportion of significant findings from a 'training' sample that are replicated in a 'validation' sample. We refer to this proportion as rediscovery rate (RDR). In high-throughput studies, the RDR is a function of false-positive rate and power in both the training and validation samples. We illustrate the application of the RDR using simulated data and real data examples from metabolomics experiments. We further describe an online tool to calculate the RDR using t-statistics. We foresee two main applications. First, if the validation study has not yet been collected, the RDR can be used to decide the optimal combination between the proportion of findings taken to validation and the size of the validation study. Secondly, if a validation study has already been done, the RDR estimated using the training data can be compared with the observed RDR from the validation data; hence, the success of the validation study can be assessed. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the Newest Vital Sign: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Kogure, Takamichi; Sumitani, Masahiko; Suka, Machi; Ishikawa, Hirono; Odajima, Takeshi; Igarashi, Ataru; Kusama, Makiko; Okamoto, Masako; Sugimori, Hiroki; Kawahara, Kazuo

2014-01-01

Health literacy (HL) refers to the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services, and is thus needed to make appropriate health decisions. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) is comprised of 6 questions about an ice cream nutrition label and assesses HL numeracy skills. We developed a Japanese version of the NVS (NVS-J) and evaluated the validity and reliability of the NVS-J in patients with chronic pain. The translation of the original NVS into Japanese was achieved as per the published guidelines. An observational study was subsequently performed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the NVS-J in 43 Japanese patients suffering from chronic pain. Factor analysis with promax rotation, using the Kaiser criterion (eigenvalues ≥1.0), and a scree plot revealed that the main component of the NVS-J consists of three determinative factors, and each factor consists of two NVS-J items. The criterion-related validity of the total NVS-J score was significantly correlated with the total score of Ishikawa et al.'s self-rated HL Questionnaire, the clinical global assessment of comprehensive HL level, cognitive function, and the Brinkman index. In addition, Cronbach's coefficient for the total score of the NVS-J was adequate (alpha = 0.72). This study demonstrated that the NVS-J has good validity and reliability. Further, the NVS-J consists of three determinative factors: "basic numeracy ability," "complex numeracy ability," and "serious-minded ability." These three HL abilities comprise a 3-step hierarchical structure. Adequate HL should be promoted in chronic pain patients to enable coping, improve functioning, and increase activities of daily living (ADLs) and quality of life (QOL).

Utilization of Titanium Particle Impact Location to Validate a 3D Multicomponent Model for Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faizan-Ur-Rab, M.; Zahiri, S. H.; King, P. C.; Busch, C.; Masood, S. H.; Jahedi, M.; Nagarajah, R.; Gulizia, S.

2017-12-01

Cold spray is a solid-state rapid deposition technology in which metal powder is accelerated to supersonic speeds within a de Laval nozzle and then impacts onto the surface of a substrate. It is possible for cold spray to build thick structures, thus providing an opportunity for melt-less additive manufacturing. Image analysis of particle impact location and focused ion beam dissection of individual particles were utilized to validate a 3D multicomponent model of cold spray. Impact locations obtained using the 3D model were found to be in close agreement with the empirical data. Moreover, the 3D model revealed the particles' velocity and temperature just before impact—parameters which are paramount for developing a full understanding of the deposition process. Further, it was found that the temperature and velocity variations in large-size particles before impact were far less than for the small-size particles. Therefore, an optimal particle temperature and velocity were identified, which gave the highest deformation after impact. The trajectory of the particles from the injection point to the moment of deposition in relation to propellant gas is visualized. This detailed information is expected to assist with the optimization of the deposition process, contributing to improved mechanical properties for additively manufactured cold spray titanium parts.

Validation of questionnaire-reported hearing with medical records: A report from the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study

PubMed Central

Scheinemann, Katrin; Grotzer, Michael; Kompis, Martin; Kuehni, Claudia E.

2017-01-01

Background Hearing loss is a potential late effect after childhood cancer. Questionnaires are often used to assess hearing in large cohorts of childhood cancer survivors and it is important to know if they can provide valid measures of hearing loss. We therefore assessed agreement and validity of questionnaire-reported hearing in childhood cancer survivors using medical records as reference. Procedure In this validation study, we studied 361 survivors of childhood cancer from the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS) who had been diagnosed after 1989 and had been exposed to ototoxic cancer treatment. Questionnaire-reported hearing was compared to the information in medical records. Hearing loss was defined as ≥ grade 1 according to the SIOP Boston Ototoxicity Scale. We assessed agreement and validity of questionnaire-reported hearing overall and stratified by questionnaire respondents (survivor or parent), sociodemographic characteristics, time between follow-up and questionnaire and severity of hearing loss. Results Questionnaire reports agreed with medical records in 85% of respondents (kappa 0.62), normal hearing was correctly assessed in 92% of those with normal hearing (n = 249), and hearing loss was correctly assessed in 69% of those with hearing loss (n = 112). Sensitivity of the questionnaires was 92%, 74%, and 39% for assessment of severe, moderate and mild bilateral hearing loss; and 50%, 33% and 10% for severe, moderate and mild unilateral hearing loss, respectively. Results did not differ by sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, and survivor- and parent-reports were equally valid. Conclusions Questionnaires are a useful tool to assess hearing in large cohorts of childhood cancer survivors, but underestimate mild and unilateral hearing loss. Further research should investigate whether the addition of questions with higher sensitivity for mild degrees of hearing loss could improve the results. PMID:28333999

Visual analogue scales for interstitial lung disease: a prospective validation study.

PubMed

Yates, Helen; Adamali, Huzaifa I; Maskell, Nick; Barratt, Shaney; Sharp, Charles

2018-05-16

Visual analogue scales (VAS) are simple symptom assessment tools which have not been validated in interstitial lung disease (ILD). Simple measures of ILD disease burden would be valuable for non-specialist clinicians monitoring disease away from ILD specialist centres. To validate VAS to assess change in dyspnoea, cough and fatigue in ILD, and to define the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for change in these. 64 patients with ILD completed VAS for dyspnoea, cough and fatigue. Baseline King's Brief ILD questionnaire (K-BILD) scores, lung function and 6-minute walk test results were collected. Tests were repeated 3-6 months later, in addition to a 7-point Likert scale. The MCID was estimated using median change in VAS in patients who reported "small but just worthwhile change" in symptoms at follow-up. Methods were repeated in a validation cohort of 31 ILD patients to confirm findings. VAS scores were significantly higher for patients who reported a "small but just worthwhile change" in symptoms versus "no change" or "not worthwhile change" (p < 0.01). The MCID for VAS Dyspnoea was estimated as 22.0mm and 14.5mm for VAS Fatigue. These results were reproducible in the validation cohort. Results were not significant for VAS Cough. Change in VAS Dyspnoea correlated with change in K-BILD (r=-0.51, p < 0.01), forced vital capacity (r=-0.32, p = 0.01) and 6-minute walking distance (r=-0.37, p = 0.01). The VAS is valid for assessing change in dyspnoea and fatigue in ILD. The MCID is estimated as 22.0mm for dyspnoea and 14.5mm for fatigue. This could be used to monitor disease in settings away from ILD specialist review.

Incremental Validity of the New MCAT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Charles P.; Bakewell, William E., Jr.

1980-01-01

The ability of the new Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) to predict performance of first-year medical students at the University of North Carolina was studied. Its incremental validity, determined by computing the additional variance in performance explainable by the MCAT after the effects of other admissions variables were taken into account,…

Preliminary validation of the Yale Food Addiction Scale.

PubMed

Gearhardt, Ashley N; Corbin, William R; Brownell, Kelly D

2009-04-01

Previous research has found similarities between addiction to psychoactive substances and excessive food consumption. Further exploration is needed to evaluate the concept of "food addiction," as there is currently a lack of psychometrically validated measurement tools in this area. The current study represents a preliminary exploration of the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), designed to identify those exhibiting signs of addiction towards certain types of foods (e.g., high fat and high sugar). Survey data were collected from 353 respondents from a stratified random sample of young adults. In addition to the YFAS, the survey assessed eating pathology, alcohol consumption and other health behaviors. The YFAS exhibited adequate internal reliability, and showed good convergent validity with measures of similar constructs and good discriminant validity relative to related but dissimilar constructs. Additionally, the YFAS predicted binge-eating behavior above and beyond existing measures of eating pathology, demonstrating incremental validity. The YFAS is a sound tool for identifying eating patterns that are similar to behaviors seen in classic areas of addiction. Further evaluation of the scale is needed, especially due to a low response rate of 24.5% and a non-clinical sample, but confirmation of the reliability and validity of the scale has the potential to facilitate empirical research on the concept of "food addiction".

Toddler physical activity study: laboratory and community studies to evaluate accelerometer validity and correlates.

PubMed

Hager, Erin R; Gormley, Candice E; Latta, Laura W; Treuth, Margarita S; Caulfield, Laura E; Black, Maureen M

2016-09-06

Toddlerhood is an important age for physical activity (PA) promotion to prevent obesity and support a physically active lifestyle throughout childhood. Accurate assessment of PA is needed to determine trends/correlates of PA, time spent in sedentary, light, or moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA), and the effectiveness of PA promotion programs. Due to the limited availability of objective measures that have been validated and evaluated for feasibility in community studies, it is unclear which subgroups of toddlers are at the highest risk for inactivity. Using Actical ankle accelerometry, the objectives of this study are to develop valid thresholds, examine feasibility, and examine demographic/ anthropometric PA correlates of MVPA among toddlers from low-income families. Two studies were conducted with toddlers (12-36 months). Laboratory Study (n = 24)- Two Actical accelerometers were placed on the ankle. PA was observed using the Child Activity Rating Scale (CARS, prescribed activities). Analyses included device equivalence reliability (correlation: activity counts of two Acticals), criterion-related validity (correlation: activity counts and CARS ratings), and sensitivity/specificity for thresholds. Community Study (n = 277, low-income mother-toddler dyads recruited)- An Actical was worn on the ankle for > 7 days (goal >5, 24-h days). Height/weight was measured. Mothers reported demographics. Analyses included frequencies (feasibility) and stepwise multiple linear regression (sMLR). Laboratory Study- Acticals demonstrated reliability (r = 0.980) and validity (r = 0.75). Thresholds demonstrated sensitivity (86 %) and specificity (88 %). Community Study- 86 % wore accelerometer, 69 % had valid data (mean = 5.2 days). Primary reasons for missing/invalid data: refusal (14 %) and wear-time ≤2 days (11 %). The MVPA threshold (>2200 cpm) yielded 54 min/day. In sMLR, MVPA was associated with age (older > younger, β = 32.8, p < 0

Adsorption of molecular additive onto lead halide perovskite surfaces: A computational study on Lewis base thiophene additive passivation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lei; Yu, Fengxi; Chen, Lihong; Li, Jingfa

2018-06-01

Organic additives, such as the Lewis base thiophene, have been successfully applied to passivate halide perovskite surfaces, improving the stability and properties of perovskite devices based on CH3NH3PbI3. Yet, the detailed nanostructure of the perovskite surface passivated by additives and the mechanisms of such passivation are not well understood. This study presents a nanoscopic view on the interfacial structure of an additive/perovskite interface, consisting of a Lewis base thiophene molecular additive and a lead halide perovskite surface substrate, providing insights on the mechanisms that molecular additives can passivate the halide perovskite surfaces and enhance the perovskite-based device performance. Molecular dynamics study on the interactions between water molecules and the perovskite surfaces passivated by the investigated additive reveal the effectiveness of employing the molecular additives to improve the stability of the halide perovskite materials. The additive/perovskite surface system is further probed via molecular engineering the perovskite surfaces. This study reveals the nanoscopic structure-property relationships of the halide perovskite surface passivated by molecular additives, which helps the fundamental understanding of the surface/interface engineering strategies for the development of halide perovskite based devices.

Validation of sterilizing grade filtration.

PubMed

Jornitz, M W; Meltzer, T H

2003-01-01

Validation consideration of sterilizing grade filters, namely 0.2 micron, changed when FDA voiced concerns about the validity of Bacterial Challenge tests performed in the past. Such validation exercises are nowadays considered to be filter qualification. Filter validation requires more thorough analysis, especially Bacterial Challenge testing with the actual drug product under process conditions. To do so, viability testing is a necessity to determine the Bacterial Challenge test methodology. Additionally to these two compulsory tests, other evaluations like extractable, adsorption and chemical compatibility tests should be considered. PDA Technical Report # 26, Sterilizing Filtration of Liquids, describes all parameters and aspects required for the comprehensive validation of filters. The report is a most helpful tool for validation of liquid filters used in the biopharmaceutical industry. It sets the cornerstones of validation requirements and other filtration considerations.

Development and validation study of the Smartphone Overuse Screening Questionnaire.

PubMed

Lee, Han-Kyeong; Kim, Ji-Hae; Fava, Maurizio; Mischoulon, David; Park, Jae-Hyun; Shim, Eun-Jung; Lee, Eun-Ho; Lee, Ji Hyeon; Jeon, Hong Jin

2017-11-01

The aim of this study was to develop a screening questionnaire that could distinguish individuals at high risk of smartphone overuse from casual users. The reliability, validity, and diagnostic ability of the Smartphone Overuse Screening Questionnaire (SOS-Q) were evaluated. Preliminary items were assessed by 50 addiction experts on-line, and 28 questions were selected. A total of 158 subjects recruited from six community centers for internet addiction participated in this study. The SOS-Q, Young's internet addiction scale, Korean scale for internet addiction, and Smartphone Scale for Smartphone Addiction (S-Scale) were used to assess the concurrent validity. Construct validity was supported by a six-factor model using an exploratory factor analysis. The internal consistency and the item-total correlations were favorable (α = 0.95, r = 0.35-0.81). The test-retest reliability was moderate (r = 0.70). The SOS-Q showed superior concurrent validity with the highest correlation between the S-Scale (r = 0.76). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed an area under the curve of 0.877. A cut-off point of 49 effectively categorized addiction high-risk group with a sensitivity of 0.81 and specificity of 0.86. Overall, the current study supports the use of SOS-Q as both a primary and supplementary measurement tool in a variety of settings. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Predictive Validity Study of the APS Writing and Reading Tests [and] Validating Placement Rules for the APS Writing Test.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

College of the Canyons, Valencia, CA. Office of Institutional Development.

California's College of the Canyons has used the College Board Assessment and Placement Services (APS) test to assess students' abilities in basic and college English since spring 1993. These two reports summarize data from a May 1994 study of the predictive validity of the APS writing and reading tests and a June 1994 effort to validate the cut…

EOS Terra Validation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starr, David

1999-01-01

The EOS Terra mission will be launched in July 1999. This mission has great relevance to the atmospheric radiation community and global change issues. Terra instruments include ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT. In addition to the fundamental radiance data sets, numerous global science data products will be generated, including various Earth radiation budget, cloud and aerosol parameters, as well as land surface, terrestrial ecology, ocean color, and atmospheric chemistry parameters. Significant investments have been made in on-board calibration to ensure the quality of the radiance observations. A key component of the Terra mission is the validation of the science data products. This is essential for a mission focused on global change issues and the underlying processes. The Terra algorithms have been subject to extensive pre-launch testing with field data whenever possible. Intensive efforts will be made to validate the Terra data products after launch. These include validation of instrument calibration (vicarious calibration) experiments, instrument and cross-platform comparisons, routine collection of high quality correlative data from ground-based networks, such as AERONET, and intensive sites, such as the SGP ARM site, as well as a variety field experiments, cruises, etc. Airborne simulator instruments have been developed for the field experiment and underflight activities including the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), AirMISR, MASTER (MODIS-ASTER), and MOPITT-A. All are integrated on the NASA ER-2, though low altitude platforms are more typically used for MASTER. MATR is an additional sensor used for MOPITT algorithm development and validation. The intensive validation activities planned for the first year of the Terra mission will be described with emphasis on derived geophysical parameters of most relevance to the atmospheric radiation community. Detailed information about the EOS Terra validation Program can be found on the EOS Validation program

Measuring striving for understanding and learning value of geometry: a validity study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ubuz, Behiye; Aydınyer, Yurdagül

2017-11-01

The current study aimed to construct a questionnaire that measures students' personality traits related to striving for understanding and learning value of geometry and then examine its psychometric properties. Through the use of multiple methods on two independent samples of 402 and 521 middle school students, two studies were performed to address this issue to provide support for its validity. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis indicated the two-factor model. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis indicated the better fit of two-factor model compared to one or three-factor model. Convergent and discriminant validity evidence provided insight into the distinctiveness of the two factors. Subgroup validity evidence revealed gender differences for striving for understanding geometry trait favouring girls and grade level differences for learning value of geometry trait favouring the sixth- and seventh-grade students. Predictive validity evidence demonstrated that the striving for understanding geometry trait but not learning value of geometry trait was significantly correlated with prior mathematics achievement. In both studies, each factor and the entire questionnaire showed satisfactory reliability. In conclusion, the questionnaire was psychometrically sound.

Clinical audit project in undergraduate medical education curriculum: an assessment validation study

PubMed Central

Steketee, Carole; Mak, Donna

2016-01-01

Objectives To evaluate the merit of the Clinical Audit Project (CAP) in an assessment program for undergraduate medical education using a systematic assessment validation framework. Methods A cross-sectional assessment validation study at one medical school in Western Australia, with retrospective qualitative analysis of the design, development, implementation and outcomes of the CAP, and quantitative analysis of assessment data from four cohorts of medical students (2011- 2014). Results The CAP is fit for purpose with clear external and internal alignment to expected medical graduate outcomes.  Substantive validity in students’ and examiners’ response processes is ensured through relevant methodological and cognitive processes. Multiple validity features are built-in to the design, planning and implementation process of the CAP.  There is evidence of high internal consistency reliability of CAP scores (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.8) and inter-examiner consistency reliability (intra-class correlation>0.7). Aggregation of CAP scores is psychometrically sound, with high internal consistency indicating one common underlying construct.  Significant but moderate correlations between CAP scores and scores from other assessment modalities indicate validity of extrapolation and alignment between the CAP and the overall target outcomes of medical graduates.  Standard setting, score equating and fair decision rules justify consequential validity of CAP scores interpretation and use. Conclusions This study provides evidence demonstrating that the CAP is a meaningful and valid component in the assessment program. This systematic framework of validation can be adopted for all levels of assessment in medical education, from individual assessment modality, to the validation of an assessment program as a whole.  PMID:27716612

Clinical audit project in undergraduate medical education curriculum: an assessment validation study.

PubMed

Tor, Elina; Steketee, Carole; Mak, Donna

2016-09-24

To evaluate the merit of the Clinical Audit Project (CAP) in an assessment program for undergraduate medical education using a systematic assessment validation framework. A cross-sectional assessment validation study at one medical school in Western Australia, with retrospective qualitative analysis of the design, development, implementation and outcomes of the CAP, and quantitative analysis of assessment data from four cohorts of medical students (2011- 2014). The CAP is fit for purpose with clear external and internal alignment to expected medical graduate outcomes.  Substantive validity in students' and examiners' response processes is ensured through relevant methodological and cognitive processes. Multiple validity features are built-in to the design, planning and implementation process of the CAP.  There is evidence of high internal consistency reliability of CAP scores (Cronbach's alpha > 0.8) and inter-examiner consistency reliability (intra-class correlation>0.7). Aggregation of CAP scores is psychometrically sound, with high internal consistency indicating one common underlying construct.  Significant but moderate correlations between CAP scores and scores from other assessment modalities indicate validity of extrapolation and alignment between the CAP and the overall target outcomes of medical graduates.  Standard setting, score equating and fair decision rules justify consequential validity of CAP scores interpretation and use. This study provides evidence demonstrating that the CAP is a meaningful and valid component in the assessment program. This systematic framework of validation can be adopted for all levels of assessment in medical education, from individual assessment modality, to the validation of an assessment program as a whole.

Turkish Adaptation of the Mentorship Effectiveness Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yirci, Ramazan; Karakose, Turgut; Uygun, Harun; Ozdemir, Tuncay Yavuz

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is to adapt the Mentoring Relationship Effectiveness Scale to Turkish, and to conduct validity and reliability tests regarding the scale. The study group consisted of 156 university science students receiving graduate education. Construct validity and factor structure of the scale was analyzed first through exploratory…

The 12-item medical outcomes study short form health survey version 2.0 (SF-12v2): a population-based validation study from Tehran, Iran

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The SF-12v2 is the improved version of the SF-12v1. This study aimed to validate the SF-12v2 in Iran. Methods A random sample of the general population aged 18 years and over living in Tehran, Iran completed the instrument. Reliability was estimated using internal consistency and validity was assessed using known-groups comparison and convergent validity. In addition the factor structure of the questionnaire was extracted by performing both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA). Results In all, 3685 individuals were studied (1887male and 1798 female). Internal consistency for both summary measures was satisfactory. Cronbach's α for the Physical Component Summary (PCS-12) was 0.87 and for the Mental Component Summary (MCS-12) it was 0.82. Known-groups comparison showed that the SF-12v2 discriminated well between men and women and those who differed in age and educational status (P < 0.05). Furthermore, as hypothesized the physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain and general health subscales correlated higher with the PCS-12, while the vitality, social functioning, role emotional and mental health subscales correlated higher with the MCS-12. Finally the exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor structure (physical and mental health) that jointly accounted for 59.9% of the variance. The confirmatory factory analysis also indicated a good fit to the data for the two-latent structure (physical and mental health). Conclusion Although the findings could not be generalized to the Iranian population, overall the findings suggest that the SF-12v2 is a reliable and valid measure of health related quality of life among Iranians and now could be used in future health outcome studies. However, further studies are recommended to establish its stability, responsiveness to change, and concurrent validity for this health survey in Iran. PMID:21385359

The 12-item medical outcomes study short form health survey version 2.0 (SF-12v2): a population-based validation study from Tehran, Iran.

PubMed

Montazeri, Ali; Vahdaninia, Mariam; Mousavi, Sayed Javad; Asadi-Lari, Mohsen; Omidvari, Sepideh; Tavousi, Mahmoud

2011-03-07

The SF-12v2 is the improved version of the SF-12v1. This study aimed to validate the SF-12v2 in Iran. A random sample of the general population aged 18 years and over living in Tehran, Iran completed the instrument. Reliability was estimated using internal consistency and validity was assessed using known-groups comparison and convergent validity. In addition the factor structure of the questionnaire was extracted by performing both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA). In all, 3685 individuals were studied (1887 male and 1798 female). Internal consistency for both summary measures was satisfactory. Cronbach's α for the Physical Component Summary (PCS-12) was 0.87 and for the Mental Component Summary (MCS-12) it was 0.82. Known-groups comparison showed that the SF-12v2 discriminated well between men and women and those who differed in age and educational status (P < 0.05). Furthermore, as hypothesized the physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain and general health subscales correlated higher with the PCS-12, while the vitality, social functioning, role emotional and mental health subscales correlated higher with the MCS-12. Finally the exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor structure (physical and mental health) that jointly accounted for 59.9% of the variance. The confirmatory factory analysis also indicated a good fit to the data for the two-latent structure (physical and mental health). Although the findings could not be generalized to the Iranian population, overall the findings suggest that the SF-12v2 is a reliable and valid measure of health related quality of life among Iranians and now could be used in future health outcome studies. However, further studies are recommended to establish its stability, responsiveness to change, and concurrent validity for this health survey in Iran.

Validation of self-reported anthropometrics in the Adventist Health Study 2

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Relying on self-reported anthropometric data is often the only feasible way of studying large populations. In this context, there are no studies assessing the validity of anthropometrics in a mostly vegetarian population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of self-reported anthropometrics in the Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2). Methods We selected a representative sample of 911 participants of AHS-2, a cohort of over 96,000 adult Adventists in the USA and Canada. Then we compared their measured weight and height with those self-reported at baseline. We calculated the validity of the anthropometrics as continuous variables, and as categorical variables for the definition of obesity. Results On average, participants underestimated their weight by 0.20 kg, and overestimated their height by 1.57 cm resulting in underestimation of body mass index (BMI) by 0.61 kg/m2. The agreement between self-reported and measured BMI (as a continuous variable), as estimated by intraclass correlation coefficient, was 0.97. The sensitivity of self-reported BMI to detect obesity was 0.81, the specificity 0.97, the predictive positive value 0.93, the predictive negative value 0.92, and the Kappa index 0.81. The percentage of absolute agreement for each category of BMI (normoweight, overweight, and obese) was 83.4%. After multivariate analyses, predictors of differences between self-reported and measured BMI were obesity, soy consumption and the type of dietary pattern. Conclusions Self-reported anthropometric data showed high validity in a representative subsample of the AHS-2 being valid enough to be used in epidemiological studies, although it can lead to some underestimation of obesity. PMID:21466678

Validation of self-reported anthropometrics in the Adventist Health Study 2.

PubMed

Bes-Rastrollo, Maira; Sabaté, Joan; Jaceldo-Siegl, Karen; Fraser, Gary E

2011-04-05

Relying on self-reported anthropometric data is often the only feasible way of studying large populations. In this context, there are no studies assessing the validity of anthropometrics in a mostly vegetarian population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of self-reported anthropometrics in the Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2). We selected a representative sample of 911 participants of AHS-2, a cohort of over 96,000 adult Adventists in the USA and Canada. Then we compared their measured weight and height with those self-reported at baseline. We calculated the validity of the anthropometrics as continuous variables, and as categorical variables for the definition of obesity. On average, participants underestimated their weight by 0.20 kg, and overestimated their height by 1.57 cm resulting in underestimation of body mass index (BMI) by 0.61 kg/m(2). The agreement between self-reported and measured BMI (as a continuous variable), as estimated by intraclass correlation coefficient, was 0.97. The sensitivity of self-reported BMI to detect obesity was 0.81, the specificity 0.97, the predictive positive value 0.93, the predictive negative value 0.92, and the Kappa index 0.81. The percentage of absolute agreement for each category of BMI (normoweight, overweight, and obese) was 83.4%. After multivariate analyses, predictors of differences between self-reported and measured BMI were obesity, soy consumption and the type of dietary pattern. Self-reported anthropometric data showed high validity in a representative subsample of the AHS-2 being valid enough to be used in epidemiological studies, although it can lead to some underestimation of obesity.

Large Scale Simulation Platform for NODES Validation Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sotorrio, P.; Qin, Y.; Min, L.

2017-04-27

This report summarizes the Large Scale (LS) simulation platform created for the Eaton NODES project. The simulation environment consists of both wholesale market simulator and distribution simulator and includes the CAISO wholesale market model and a PG&E footprint of 25-75 feeders to validate the scalability under a scenario of 33% RPS in California with additional 17% of DERS coming from distribution and customers. The simulator can generate hourly unit commitment, 5-minute economic dispatch, and 4-second AGC regulation signals. The simulator is also capable of simulating greater than 10k individual controllable devices. Simulated DERs include water heaters, EVs, residential and lightmore » commercial HVAC/buildings, and residential-level battery storage. Feeder-level voltage regulators and capacitor banks are also simulated for feeder-level real and reactive power management and Vol/Var control.« less

Assessing validity of observational intervention studies - the Benchmarking Controlled Trials.

PubMed

Malmivaara, Antti

2016-09-01

Benchmarking Controlled Trial (BCT) is a concept which covers all observational studies aiming to assess impact of interventions or health care system features to patients and populations. To create and pilot test a checklist for appraising methodological validity of a BCT. The checklist was created by extracting the most essential elements from the comprehensive set of criteria in the previous paper on BCTs. Also checklists and scientific papers on observational studies and respective systematic reviews were utilized. Ten BCTs published in the Lancet and in the New England Journal of Medicine were used to assess feasibility of the created checklist. The appraised studies seem to have several methodological limitations, some of which could be avoided in planning, conducting and reporting phases of the studies. The checklist can be used for planning, conducting, reporting, reviewing, and critical reading of observational intervention studies. However, the piloted checklist should be validated in further studies. Key messages Benchmarking Controlled Trial (BCT) is a concept which covers all observational studies aiming to assess impact of interventions or health care system features to patients and populations. This paper presents a checklist for appraising methodological validity of BCTs and pilot-tests the checklist with ten BCTs published in leading medical journals. The appraised studies seem to have several methodological limitations, some of which could be avoided in planning, conducting and reporting phases of the studies. The checklist can be used for planning, conducting, reporting, reviewing, and critical reading of observational intervention studies.

Validating an Elicited Imitation Task as a Measure of Implicit Knowledge: Comparisons with Other Validation Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spada, Nina; Shiu, Julie Li-Ju; Tomita, Yasuyo

2015-01-01

This study builds on research investigating the construct validity of elicited imitation (EI) as a measure of implicit second language (L2) grammatical knowledge. It differs from previous studies in that the EI task focuses on a single grammatical feature and time on task is strictly controlled. Seventy-three EFL learners and 20 native English…

Process Modeling and Validation for Metal Big Area Additive Manufacturing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simunovic, Srdjan; Nycz, Andrzej; Noakes, Mark W.

Metal Big Area Additive Manufacturing (mBAAM) is a new additive manufacturing (AM) technology based on the metal arc welding. A continuously fed metal wire is melted by an electric arc that forms between the wire and the substrate, and deposited in the form of a bead of molten metal along the predetermined path. Objects are manufactured one layer at a time starting from the base plate. The final properties of the manufactured object are dependent on its geometry and the metal deposition path, in addition to depending on the basic welding process parameters. Computational modeling can be used to acceleratemore » the development of the mBAAM technology as well as a design and optimization tool for the actual manufacturing process. We have developed a finite element method simulation framework for mBAAM using the new features of software ABAQUS. The computational simulation of material deposition with heat transfer is performed first, followed by the structural analysis based on the temperature history for predicting the final deformation and stress state. In this formulation, we assume that two physics phenomena are coupled in only one direction, i.e. the temperatures are driving the deformation and internal stresses, but their feedback on the temperatures is negligible. The experiment instrumentation (measurement types, sensor types, sensor locations, sensor placements, measurement intervals) and the measurements are presented. The temperatures and distortions from the simulations show good correlation with experimental measurements. Ongoing modeling work is also briefly discussed.« less

Development of Creative Behavior Observation Form: A Study on Validity and Reliability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dere, Zeynep; Ömeroglu, Esra

2018-01-01

This study, Creative Behavior Observation Form was developed to assess creativity of the children. While the study group on the reliability and validity of Creative Behavior Observation Form was being developed, 257 children in total who were at the ages of 5-6 were used as samples with stratified sampling method. Content Validity Index (CVI) and…

Assessing Meritorious Teacher Performance: A Differential Validity Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellett, Chad D; Capie, William

The Teacher Assessment and Development System (TADS) - Meritorious Teacher Program (MTP) FORM instrument is used in the Dade County Public Schools, Miami, Florida, to evaluate teachers. Its validity for decisions concerning merit pay for master teachers was examined in this study. Specifically, its ability to discriminate between high performing…

Study on the Validity and Reliability of Melbourne Decision Making Scale in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çolakkadioglu, Oguzhan; Deniz, M. Engin

2015-01-01

This study is to analyze the validity and reliability of Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ). The sample consisted of 650 university students. The structural validity of the MDMQ, as well as correlations among its sub-scales, measure-bound validity, internal consistency, item total correlations and test-retest reliability coefficients…

Human Rights Attitude Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ercan, Recep; Yaman, Tugba; Demir, Selcuk Besir

2015-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop a valid and reliable attitude scale having quality psychometric features that can measure secondary school students' attitudes towards human rights. The study group of the research is comprised by 710 6th, 7th and 8th grade students who study at 4 secondary schools in the centre of Sivas. The study group…

29 CFR 1607.5 - General standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... experience on the job. J. Interim use of selection procedures. Users may continue the use of a selection... studies. A. Acceptable types of validity studies. For the purposes of satisfying these guidelines, users... which has an adverse impact and which selection procedure has an adverse impact, each user should...

29 CFR 1607.5 - General standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... experience on the job. J. Interim use of selection procedures. Users may continue the use of a selection... studies. A. Acceptable types of validity studies. For the purposes of satisfying these guidelines, users... which has an adverse impact and which selection procedure has an adverse impact, each user should...

29 CFR 1607.5 - General standards for validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... experience on the job. J. Interim use of selection procedures. Users may continue the use of a selection... studies. A. Acceptable types of validity studies. For the purposes of satisfying these guidelines, users... which has an adverse impact and which selection procedure has an adverse impact, each user should...

Understanding Foreign Language Learning Strategies: A Validation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tragant, Elsa; Thompson, Marilyn S.; Victori, Mia

2013-01-01

The present work aims to contribute to our understanding of the underlying dimensions of language learning strategies in foreign language contexts. The study analyzes alternative factor structures underlying a recently developed instrument (Tragant and Victori, 2012) and it includes the age factor in the examination of its construct validity. The…

Teachers' Engagement at Work: An International Validation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klassen, Robert M.; Aldhafri, Said; Mansfield, Caroline F.; Purwanto, Edy; Siu, Angela F. Y.; Wong, Marina W.; Woods-McConney, Amanda

2012-01-01

This study explored the validity of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale in a sample of 853 practicing teachers from Australia, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Indonesia, and Oman. The authors used multigroup confirmatory factor analysis to test the factor structure and measurement invariance across settings, after which they examined the relationships…

A Validation Study of the Existential Anxiety Scale.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hullett, Michael A.

Logotherapy is a meaning-centered psychotherapy which focuses on both the meaning of human existence and the personal search for meaning. If the will to search for meaning is frustrated, "existential frustration" may result. This study validates the Existential Anxiety Scale (EAS) developed by Good and Good (1974). Basic principles of…

Validation Study of a Gatekeeping Attitude Index for Social Work Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tam, Dora M. Y.; Coleman, Heather

2011-01-01

This article reports on a study designed to validate the Gatekeeping Attitude Index, a 14-item Likert scaling index. The authors collected data from a convenience sample of social work field instructors (N = 188) with a response rate of 74.0%. Construct validation by exploratory factor analysis identified a 2-factor solution on the index after…

Metal Big Area Additive Manufacturing: Process Modeling and Validation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simunovic, Srdjan; Nycz, Andrzej; Noakes, Mark W

Metal Big Area Additive Manufacturing (mBAAM) is a new additive manufacturing (AM) technology for printing large-scale 3D objects. mBAAM is based on the gas metal arc welding process and uses a continuous feed of welding wire to manufacture an object. An electric arc forms between the wire and the substrate, which melts the wire and deposits a bead of molten metal along the predetermined path. In general, the welding process parameters and local conditions determine the shape of the deposited bead. The sequence of the bead deposition and the corresponding thermal history of the manufactured object determine the long rangemore » effects, such as thermal-induced distortions and residual stresses. Therefore, the resulting performance or final properties of the manufactured object are dependent on its geometry and the deposition path, in addition to depending on the basic welding process parameters. Physical testing is critical for gaining the necessary knowledge for quality prints, but traversing the process parameter space in order to develop an optimized build strategy for each new design is impractical by pure experimental means. Computational modeling and optimization may accelerate development of a build process strategy and saves time and resources. Because computational modeling provides these opportunities, we have developed a physics-based Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation framework and numerical models to support the mBAAM process s development and design. In this paper, we performed a sequentially coupled heat transfer and stress analysis for predicting the final deformation of a small rectangular structure printed using the mild steel welding wire. Using the new simulation technologies, material was progressively added into the FEM simulation as the arc weld traversed the build path. In the sequentially coupled heat transfer and stress analysis, the heat transfer was performed to calculate the temperature evolution, which was used in a stress

40 CFR 152.92 - Submission of a new valid study.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Submitters' Rights § 152.92 Submission of a new valid study. An applicant may demonstrate compliance for a... study previously submitted to the Agency should not be resubmitted but should be cited in accordance...

Modeling the Relationship between Safety Climate and Safety Performance in a Developing Construction Industry: A Cross-Cultural Validation Study

PubMed Central

Zahoor, Hafiz; Chan, Albert P. C.; Utama, Wahyudi P.; Gao, Ran; Zafar, Irfan

2017-01-01

This study attempts to validate a safety performance (SP) measurement model in the cross-cultural setting of a developing country. In addition, it highlights the variations in investigating the relationship between safety climate (SC) factors and SP indicators. The data were collected from forty under-construction multi-storey building projects in Pakistan. Based on the results of exploratory factor analysis, a SP measurement model was hypothesized. It was tested and validated by conducting confirmatory factor analysis on calibration and validation sub-samples respectively. The study confirmed the significant positive impact of SC on safety compliance and safety participation, and negative impact on number of self-reported accidents/injuries. However, number of near-misses could not be retained in the final SP model because it attained a lower standardized path coefficient value. Moreover, instead of safety participation, safety compliance established a stronger impact on SP. The study uncovered safety enforcement and promotion as a novel SC factor, whereas safety rules and work practices was identified as the most neglected factor. The study contributed to the body of knowledge by unveiling the deviations in existing dimensions of SC and SP. The refined model is expected to concisely measure the SP in the Pakistani construction industry, however, caution must be exercised while generalizing the study results to other developing countries. PMID:28350366

Modeling the Relationship between Safety Climate and Safety Performance in a Developing Construction Industry: A Cross-Cultural Validation Study.

PubMed

Zahoor, Hafiz; Chan, Albert P C; Utama, Wahyudi P; Gao, Ran; Zafar, Irfan

2017-03-28

This study attempts to validate a safety performance (SP) measurement model in the cross-cultural setting of a developing country. In addition, it highlights the variations in investigating the relationship between safety climate (SC) factors and SP indicators. The data were collected from forty under-construction multi-storey building projects in Pakistan. Based on the results of exploratory factor analysis, a SP measurement model was hypothesized. It was tested and validated by conducting confirmatory factor analysis on calibration and validation sub-samples respectively. The study confirmed the significant positive impact of SC on safety compliance and safety participation , and negative impact on number of self-reported accidents/injuries . However, number of near-misses could not be retained in the final SP model because it attained a lower standardized path coefficient value. Moreover, instead of safety participation , safety compliance established a stronger impact on SP. The study uncovered safety enforcement and promotion as a novel SC factor, whereas safety rules and work practices was identified as the most neglected factor. The study contributed to the body of knowledge by unveiling the deviations in existing dimensions of SC and SP. The refined model is expected to concisely measure the SP in the Pakistani construction industry, however, caution must be exercised while generalizing the study results to other developing countries.

Self-Disclosure Between Friends: A Validity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Panyard, Christine Marie

1973-01-01

Subjects reported that they had disclosed approximately the same amount of information as they had received. The consensual validation of the amount of personal information exchanged between friends suggested that the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire is a valid measure of self-disclosure to a specific target person. (Author)

A Validity Study of the Self-Esteem Inventory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landis, H. John

Results of this validation study of a slightly modified version of the Coppersmith Self-Esteem Inventory substantiate its use with seventh graders to assess Goal I (concerning self-understanding and appreciation of self-worth) of the Educational Quality Assessment Program in Pennsylvania. Appendixes include the definition and rationale for Goal I,…

41 CFR 60-3.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... study was conducted perform substantially the same major work behaviors, as shown by appropriate job analyses both on the job or group of jobs on which the validity study was performed and on the job for...

41 CFR 60-3.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... study was conducted perform substantially the same major work behaviors, as shown by appropriate job analyses both on the job or group of jobs on which the validity study was performed and on the job for...

Use of Daily Phone Diary to study religiosity and mood: Convergent validity

PubMed Central

Szczesniak, Rhonda D.; Zou, Yuanshu; Dimitriou, Sophia M.; Quittner, Alexandra L.; Grossoehme, Daniel H.

2017-01-01

Studies of religious/spiritual behavior frequently rely on self-reported questionnaire data, which is susceptible to bias. The Daily Phone Diary (DPD) was developed to minimize bias in reporting activities and behavior across a 24-hour period. A cross-sectional study of 126 parents of children with cystic fibrosis was used to establish the validity of the DPD to study religious/spiritual behaviors. Longitudinal models were used to determine the odds of improved mood during religious/spiritual activities. Convergent validity was found. Participants had increased odds of improved mood during religious/spiritual activities compared to non-religious/spiritual activities. Associations with gender and religious affiliations were found. The DPD is a valid tool for studying religious/spiritual activities and opens novel avenues for chaplaincy research and the development of chaplaincy interventions incorporating these findings. PMID:27869567

Development and validation of an open source quantification tool for DSC-MRI studies.

PubMed

Gordaliza, P M; Mateos-Pérez, J M; Montesinos, P; Guzmán-de-Villoria, J A; Desco, M; Vaquero, J J

2015-03-01

This work presents the development of an open source tool for the quantification of dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced (DSC) perfusion studies. The development of this tool is motivated by the lack of open source tools implemented on open platforms to allow external developers to implement their own quantification methods easily and without the need of paying for a development license. This quantification tool was developed as a plugin for the ImageJ image analysis platform using the Java programming language. A modular approach was used in the implementation of the components, in such a way that the addition of new methods can be done without breaking any of the existing functionalities. For the validation process, images from seven patients with brain tumors were acquired and quantified with the presented tool and with a widely used clinical software package. The resulting perfusion parameters were then compared. Perfusion parameters and the corresponding parametric images were obtained. When no gamma-fitting is used, an excellent agreement with the tool used as a gold-standard was obtained (R(2)>0.8 and values are within 95% CI limits in Bland-Altman plots). An open source tool that performs quantification of perfusion studies using magnetic resonance imaging has been developed and validated using a clinical software package. It works as an ImageJ plugin and the source code has been published with an open source license. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Developing the Irrational Beliefs in Mathematics Scale (IBIMS): A Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaya, Deniz

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is developing a valid and reliable scale intended to determine the irrational beliefs of students in mathematics. The study was conducted with a study group consisting of 700 students in 2015-2016 academic year. Expert opinions were received for the content and face validity of the scale, and the Exploratory Factor…

Quantifying Human Movement Using the Movn Smartphone App: Validation and Field Study

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Background The use of embedded smartphone sensors offers opportunities to measure physical activity (PA) and human movement. Big data—which includes billions of digital traces—offers scientists a new lens to examine PA in fine-grained detail and allows us to track people’s geocoded movement patterns to determine their interaction with the environment. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the validity of the Movn smartphone app (Moving Analytics) for collecting PA and human movement data. Methods The criterion and convergent validity of the Movn smartphone app for estimating energy expenditure (EE) were assessed in both laboratory and free-living settings, compared with indirect calorimetry (criterion reference) and a stand-alone accelerometer that is commonly used in PA research (GT1m, ActiGraph Corp, convergent reference). A supporting cross-validation study assessed the consistency of activity data when collected across different smartphone devices. Global positioning system (GPS) and accelerometer data were integrated with geographical information software to demonstrate the feasibility of geospatial analysis of human movement. Results A total of 21 participants contributed to linear regression analysis to estimate EE from Movn activity counts (standard error of estimation [SEE]=1.94 kcal/min). The equation was cross-validated in an independent sample (N=42, SEE=1.10 kcal/min). During laboratory-based treadmill exercise, EE from Movn was comparable to calorimetry (bias=0.36 [−0.07 to 0.78] kcal/min, t82=1.66, P=.10) but overestimated as compared with the ActiGraph accelerometer (bias=0.93 [0.58-1.29] kcal/min, t89=5.27, P<.001). The absolute magnitude of criterion biases increased as a function of locomotive speed (F1,4=7.54, P<.001) but was relatively consistent for the convergent comparison (F1,4=1.26, P<.29). Furthermore, 95% limits of agreement were consistent for criterion and convergent biases, and EE from Movn was strongly

The CPT Reading Comprehension Test: A Validity Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Napoli, Anthony R.; Raymond, Lanette A.; Coffey, Cheryl A.; Bosco, Diane M.

1998-01-01

Describes a study done at Suffolk County Community College (New York) that assessed the validity of the College Board's Computerized Placement Test in Reading Comprehension (CPT-R) by comparing test results of 1,154 freshmen with the results of the Degree of Power Reading Test. Results confirmed the CPT-R's reliability in identifying basic…

Reflective Thinking Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basol, Gulsah; Evin Gencel, Ilke

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to adapt Reflective Thinking Scale to Turkish and investigate its validity and reliability over a Turkish university students' sample. Reflective Thinking Scale (RTS) is a 5 point Likert scale (ranging from 1 corresponding Agree Completely, 3 to Neutral, and 5 to Not Agree Completely), purposed to measure reflective…

A Validation Study of the Impression Replica Technique.

PubMed

Segerström, Sofia; Wiking-Lima de Faria, Johanna; Braian, Michael; Ameri, Arman; Ahlgren, Camilla

2018-04-17

To validate the well-known and often-used impression replica technique for measuring fit between a preparation and a crown in vitro. The validation consisted of three steps. First, a measuring instrument was validated to elucidate its accuracy. Second, a specimen consisting of male and female counterparts was created and validated by the measuring instrument. Calculations were made for the exact values of three gaps between the male and female. Finally, impression replicas were produced of the specimen gaps and sectioned into four pieces. The replicas were then measured with the use of a light microscope. The values received from measuring the specimen were then compared with the values received from the impression replicas, and the technique was thereby validated. The impression replica technique overvalued all measured gaps. Depending on location of the three measuring sites, the difference between the specimen and the impression replicas varied from 47 to 130 μm. The impression replica technique overestimates gaps within the range of 2% to 11%. The validation of the replica technique enables the method to be used as a reference when testing other methods for evaluating fit in dentistry. © 2018 by the American College of Prosthodontists.

Excavator Design Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pholsiri, Chalongrath; English, James; Seberino, Charles; Lim, Yi-Je

2010-01-01

The Excavator Design Validation tool verifies excavator designs by automatically generating control systems and modeling their performance in an accurate simulation of their expected environment. Part of this software design includes interfacing with human operations that can be included in simulation-based studies and validation. This is essential for assessing productivity, versatility, and reliability. This software combines automatic control system generation from CAD (computer-aided design) models, rapid validation of complex mechanism designs, and detailed models of the environment including soil, dust, temperature, remote supervision, and communication latency to create a system of high value. Unique algorithms have been created for controlling and simulating complex robotic mechanisms automatically from just a CAD description. These algorithms are implemented as a commercial cross-platform C++ software toolkit that is configurable using the Extensible Markup Language (XML). The algorithms work with virtually any mobile robotic mechanisms using module descriptions that adhere to the XML standard. In addition, high-fidelity, real-time physics-based simulation algorithms have also been developed that include models of internal forces and the forces produced when a mechanism interacts with the outside world. This capability is combined with an innovative organization for simulation algorithms, new regolith simulation methods, and a unique control and study architecture to make powerful tools with the potential to transform the way NASA verifies and compares excavator designs. Energid's Actin software has been leveraged for this design validation. The architecture includes parametric and Monte Carlo studies tailored for validation of excavator designs and their control by remote human operators. It also includes the ability to interface with third-party software and human-input devices. Two types of simulation models have been adapted: high-fidelity discrete

CASL Verification and Validation Plan

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mousseau, Vincent Andrew; Dinh, Nam

2016-06-30

This report documents the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of LWRs (CASL) verification and validation plan. The document builds upon input from CASL subject matter experts, most notably the CASL Challenge Problem Product Integrators, CASL Focus Area leaders, and CASL code development and assessment teams. This document will be a living document that will track progress on CASL to do verification and validation for both the CASL codes (including MPACT, CTF, BISON, MAMBA) and for the CASL challenge problems (CIPS, PCI, DNB). The CASL codes and the CASL challenge problems are at differing levels of maturity with respect to validation andmore » verification. The gap analysis will summarize additional work that needs to be done. Additional VVUQ work will be done as resources permit. This report is prepared for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) CASL program in support of milestone CASL.P13.02.« less

Validity Evidence in Scale Development: The Application of Cross Validation and Classification-Sequencing Validation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acar, Tu¨lin

2014-01-01

In literature, it has been observed that many enhanced criteria are limited by factor analysis techniques. Besides examinations of statistical structure and/or psychological structure, such validity studies as cross validation and classification-sequencing studies should be performed frequently. The purpose of this study is to examine cross…

An Italian multicentre validation study of the coma recovery scale-revised.

PubMed

Estraneo, A; Moretta, P; De Tanti, A; Gatta, G; Giacino, J T; Trojano, L

2015-10-01

Rate of misdiagnosis of disorders of consciousness (DoC) can be reduced by employing validated clinical diagnostic tools, such as the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). An Italian version of the CRS-R has been recently developed, but its applicability across different clinical settings, and its concurrent validity and diagnostic sensitivity have not been estimated yet. To perform a multicentre validation study of the Italian version of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). Analysis of inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity and diagnostic sensitivity of the scale. One Intensive Care Unit, 8 Post-acute rehabilitation centres and 2 Long-term facilities Twenty-seven professionals (physicians, N.=11; psychologists, N.=5; physiotherapists, N.=3; speech therapists, N.=6; nurses, N.=2) from 11 Italian Centres. CRS-R and Disability Rating Scale (DRS) applied to 122 patients with clinical diagnosis of Vegetative State (VS) or Minimally Conscious State (MCS). CRS-R has good-to-excellent inter-rater reliability for all subscales, particularly for the communication subscale. The Italian version of the CRS-R showed a high sensitivity and specificity in detecting MCS with reference to clinical consensus diagnosis. The CRS-R showed good concurrent validity with the Disability Rating Scale, which had very low specificity with reference to clinical consensus diagnosis. The Italian version of the CRS-R is a valid scale for use from the sub-acute to chronic stages of DoC. It can be administered reliably by all members of the rehabilitation team with different specialties, levels of experience and settings. The present study promote use of the Italian version of the CRS-R to improve diagnosis of DoC patients, and plan tailored rehabilitation treatment.

Food additives: an ethical evaluation.

PubMed

Mepham, Ben

2011-01-01

Food additives are an integral part of the modern food system, but opinion polls showing most Europeans have worries about them imply an urgent need for ethical analysis of their use. The existing literature on food ethics, safety assessment and animal testing. Food additives provide certain advantages in terms of many people's lifestyles. There are disagreements about the appropriate application of the precautionary principle and of the value and ethical validity of animal tests in assessing human safety. Most consumers have a poor understanding of the relative benefits and risks of additives, but concerns over food safety and animal testing remain high. Examining the impacts of food additives on consumer sovereignty, consumer health and on animals used in safety testing should allow a more informed debate about their appropriate uses.

Assessing South China (Guangzhou) High School Students' Views on Nature of Science: A Validation Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deng, Feng; Chai, Ching Sing; Tsai, Chin-Chung; Lin, Tzung-Jin

2014-04-01

Research on students' views on nature of science (VNOS) in Asian countries such as China is notably lacking. This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to measure South China high school students' VNOS. Based on the previously acquired qualitative data, the instrument included seven VNOS dimensions which reflect the crucial aspects of NOS indicated by the literature and/or the dominating ideology in China (i.e., Marxism). A sample (N = 604) was randomly divided into two groups used for exploratory analyses and confirmatory analyses. The results indicated that the instrument expressed satisfactory reliability and validity and the seven NOS dimensions could be explained by a higher-order dimension. That is, the data of this study supported the multi-dimensional framework that treats VNOS as comprising several more-or-less correlated dimensions. Two distinct dimensions, namely "Accumulative-Empirical Source" and "Pragmatic Justification" which have not been explicitly specified in the past literature, were found. In addition, the Chinese high school students generally held a constructivist/relativist-oriented view of all seven dimensions. Differences in gender and grade level were hardly observed in any dimension of the instrument. The findings are further discussed through a socio-cultural lens to enrich the current understanding of VNOS.

The Reliability and Validity of Big Five Inventory Scores with African American College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Worrell, Frank C.; Cross, William E., Jr.

2004-01-01

This article describes a study that examined the reliability and validity of scores on the Big Five Inventory (BFI; O. P. John, E. M. Donahue, & R. L. Kentle, 1991) in a sample of 336 African American college students. Results from the study indicated moderate reliability and structural validity for BFI scores. Additionally, BFI subscales had few…

A Validation Study of the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keck Seeley, Susan. M.; Perosa, Sandra, L.; Perosa, Linda, M.

2004-01-01

Objective: The purpose of this study was to further the validation process of the Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (A-DES). In this study, a 6-item Likert response format with descriptors was used when responding to the A-DES rather than the 11-item response format used in the original A-DES. Method: The internal reliability and construct…

Basic School Skills Inventory-3: Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildiz, F. Ülkü; Çagdas, Aysel; Kayili, Gökhan

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to perform the validity-reliability analysis of the three subtests of Basic School Skills Inventory 3--Mathematics, Classroom Behavior and Daily Life skills--and do its adaptation for four to six year-old Turkish children. The sample of the study included 595 four to six year-old Turkish children attending public and…

A Genome-wide Association Study of Dupuytren Disease Reveals 17 Additional Variants Implicated in Fibrosis.

PubMed

Ng, Michael; Thakkar, Dipti; Southam, Lorraine; Werker, Paul; Ophoff, Roel; Becker, Kerstin; Nothnagel, Michael; Franke, Andre; Nürnberg, Peter; Espirito-Santo, Ana Isabel; Izadi, David; Hennies, Hans Christian; Nanchahal, Jagdeep; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Furniss, Dominic

2017-09-07

Individuals with Dupuytren disease (DD) are commonly seen by physicians and surgeons across multiple specialties. It is an increasingly common and disabling fibroproliferative disorder of the palmar fascia, which leads to flexion contractures of the digits, and is associated with other tissue-specific fibroses. DD affects between 5% and 25% of people of European descent and is the most common inherited disease of connective tissue. We undertook the largest GWAS to date in individuals with a surgically validated diagnosis of DD from the UK, with replication in British, Dutch, and German individuals. We validated association at all nine previously described signals and discovered 17 additional variants with p ≤ 5 × 10 -8 . As a proof of principle, we demonstrated correlation of the high-risk genotype at the statistically most strongly associated variant with decreased secretion of the soluble WNT-antagonist SFRP4, in surgical specimen-derived DD myofibroblasts. These results highlight important pathways involved in the pathogenesis of fibrosis, including WNT signaling, extracellular matrix modulation, and inflammation. In addition, many associated loci contain genes that were hitherto unrecognized as playing a role in fibrosis, opening up new avenues of research that may lead to novel treatments for DD and fibrosis more generally. DD represents an ideal human model disease for fibrosis research. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 761.386 - Required experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. 761.386 Section 761.386 Protection of... experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. The following experimental conditions apply for any solvent: (a) Temperature and pressure. Conduct the validation study and...

40 CFR 761.386 - Required experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. 761.386 Section 761.386 Protection of... experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. The following experimental conditions apply for any solvent: (a) Temperature and pressure. Conduct the validation study and...

40 CFR 761.386 - Required experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. 761.386 Section 761.386 Protection of... experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. The following experimental conditions apply for any solvent: (a) Temperature and pressure. Conduct the validation study and...

Research Vessel Meteorological and Oceanographic Systems Support Satellite and Model Validation Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, S. R.; Lopez, N.; Bourassa, M. A.; Rolph, J.; Briggs, K.

2012-12-01

The research vessel data center at the Florida State University routinely acquires, quality controls, and distributes underway surface meteorological and oceanographic observations from vessels. The activities of the center are coordinated by the Shipboard Automated Meteorological and Oceanographic System (SAMOS) initiative in partnership with the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) project. The data center evaluates the quality of the observations, collects essential metadata, provides data quality feedback to vessel operators, and ensures the long-term data preservation at the National Oceanographic Data Center. A description of the SAMOS data stewardship protocols will be provided, including dynamic web tools that ensure users can select the highest quality observations from over 30 vessels presently recruited to the SAMOS initiative. Research vessels provide underway observations at high-temporal frequency (1 min. sampling interval) that include navigational (position, course, heading, and speed), meteorological (air temperature, humidity, wind, surface pressure, radiation, rainfall), and oceanographic (surface sea temperature and salinity) samples. Recruited vessels collect a high concentration of data within the U.S. continental shelf and also frequently operate well outside routine shipping lanes, capturing observations in extreme ocean environments (Southern Ocean, Arctic, South Atlantic and Pacific). The unique quality and sampling locations of research vessel observations and there independence from many models and products (RV data are rarely distributed via normal marine weather reports) makes them ideal for validation studies. We will present comparisons between research vessel observations and model estimates of the sea surface temperature and salinity in the Gulf of Mexico. The analysis reveals an underestimation of the freshwater input to the Gulf from rivers, resulting in an overestimation of near coastal salinity in the model. Additional comparisons

Anxiety measures validated in perinatal populations: a systematic review.

PubMed

Meades, Rose; Ayers, Susan

2011-09-01

Research and screening of anxiety in the perinatal period is hampered by a lack of psychometric data on self-report anxiety measures used in perinatal populations. This paper aimed to review self-report measures that have been validated with perinatal women. A systematic search was carried out of four electronic databases. Additional papers were obtained through searching identified articles. Thirty studies were identified that reported validation of an anxiety measure with perinatal women. Most commonly validated self-report measures were the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scales (HADS). Of the 30 studies included, 11 used a clinical interview to provide criterion validity. Remaining studies reported one or more other forms of validity (factorial, discriminant, concurrent and predictive) or reliability. The STAI shows criterion, discriminant and predictive validity and may be most useful for research purposes as a specific measure of anxiety. The Kessler 10 (K-10) may be the best short screening measure due to its ability to differentiate anxiety disorders. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21 (DASS-21) measures multiple types of distress, shows appropriate content, and remains to be validated against clinical interview in perinatal populations. Nineteen studies did not report sensitivity or specificity data. The early stages of research into perinatal anxiety, the multitude of measures in use, and methodological differences restrict comparison of measures across studies. There is a need for further validation of self-report measures of anxiety in the perinatal period to enable accurate screening and detection of anxiety symptoms and disorders. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Clinical Validation of Heart Rate Apps: Mixed-Methods Evaluation Study

PubMed Central

Stans, Jelle; Mortelmans, Christophe; Van Haelst, Ruth; Van Schelvergem, Gertjan; Pelckmans, Caroline; Smeets, Christophe JP; Lanssens, Dorien; De Cannière, Hélène; Storms, Valerie; Thijs, Inge M; Vaes, Bert; Vandervoort, Pieter M

2017-01-01

Background Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a proven way to measure heart rate (HR). This technology is already available in smartphones, which allows measuring HR only by using the smartphone. Given the widespread availability of smartphones, this creates a scalable way to enable mobile HR monitoring. An essential precondition is that these technologies are as reliable and accurate as the current clinical (gold) standards. At this moment, there is no consensus on a gold standard method for the validation of HR apps. This results in different validation processes that do not always reflect the veracious outcome of comparison. Objective The aim of this paper was to investigate and describe the necessary elements in validating and comparing HR apps versus standard technology. Methods The FibriCheck (Qompium) app was used in two separate prospective nonrandomized studies. In the first study, the HR of the FibriCheck app was consecutively compared with 2 different Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared HR devices: the Nonin oximeter and the AliveCor Mobile ECG. In the second study, a next step in validation was performed by comparing the beat-to-beat intervals of the FibriCheck app to a synchronized ECG recording. Results In the first study, the HR (BPM, beats per minute) of 88 random subjects consecutively measured with the 3 devices showed a correlation coefficient of .834 between FibriCheck and Nonin, .88 between FibriCheck and AliveCor, and .897 between Nonin and AliveCor. A single way analysis of variance (ANOVA; P=.61 was executed to test the hypothesis that there were no significant differences between the HRs as measured by the 3 devices. In the second study, 20,298 (ms) R-R intervals (RRI)–peak-to-peak intervals (PPI) from 229 subjects were analyzed. This resulted in a positive correlation (rs=.993, root mean square deviation [RMSE]=23.04 ms, and normalized root mean square error [NRMSE]=0.012) between the PPI from FibriCheck and the RRI from the wearable

Test-retest reliability and validity of a web-based food-frequency questionnaire for adolescents aged 13-14 to be used in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

PubMed

Overby, Nina Cecilie; Johannesen, Elisabeth; Jensen, Grete; Skjaevesland, Anne-Kirsti; Haugen, Margaretha

2014-01-01

The assessment of food intake is challenging and prone to errors; it is therefore important to consider the reliability and validity of the assessment methods. The aim of this study was to analyze the reproducibility and validity of a developed food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use among adolescents. In total, 58 students (aged 13-14) from four different schools in the southern part of Norway participated in the reproducibility study of filling out the FFQ 4 weeks apart. In addition, 93 students participated in the relative validity study where the FFQ was compared to 2×24-hour dietary recalls, while 92 students participated in the absolute validity study where the intakes of fatty acids and vitamin D from the FFQ were compared to fatty acids and 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 in whole blood. The median Spearman correlation coefficient for all nutrients in the test-retest reliability study was 0.57. The median Spearman correlation for all nutrients in the relative validity study was 0.26, while the correlations coefficients were low in the absolute validity study with n-3 fatty acid coefficients ranging from 0.05 to 0.25, and absent for vitamin D (r=0.000). The test-retest reproducibility was considered good, the relative validity was considered poor to good, and the absolute validity was considered poor. However, the results are comparable to other studies among adolescents.

The Chinese version of the Outcome Expectations for Exercise scale: validation study.

PubMed

Lee, Ling-Ling; Chiu, Yu-Yun; Ho, Chin-Chih; Wu, Shu-Chen; Watson, Roger

2011-06-01

Estimates of the reliability and validity of the English nine-item Outcome Expectations for Exercise (OEE) scale have been tested and found to be valid for use in various settings, particularly among older people, with good internal consistency and validity. Data on the use of the OEE scale among older Chinese people living in the community and how cultural differences might affect the administration of the OEE scale are limited. To test the validity and reliability of the Chinese version of the Outcome Expectations for Exercise scale among older people. A cross-sectional validation study was designed to test the Chinese version of the OEE scale (OEE-C). Reliability was examined by testing both the internal consistency for the overall scale and the squared multiple correlation coefficient for the single item measure. The validity of the scale was tested on the basis of both a traditional psychometric test and a confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modelling. The Mokken Scaling Procedure (MSP) was used to investigate if there were any hierarchical, cumulative sets of items in the measure. The OEE-C scale was tested in a group of older people in Taiwan (n=108, mean age=77.1). There was acceptable internal consistency (alpha=.85) and model fit in the scale. Evidence of the validity of the measure was demonstrated by the tests for criterion-related validity and construct validity. There was a statistically significant correlation between exercise outcome expectations and exercise self-efficacy (r=.34, p<.01). An analysis of the Mokken Scaling Procedure found that nine items of the scale were all retained in the analysis and the resulting scale was reliable and statistically significant (p=.0008). The results obtained in the present study provided acceptable levels of reliability and validity evidence for the Chinese Outcome Expectations for Exercise scale when used with older people in Taiwan. Future testing of the OEE-C scale needs to be carried out

Alterations of the Subgingival Microbiota in Pediatric Crohn's Disease Studied Longitudinally in Discovery and Validation Cohorts

PubMed Central

Kelsen, Judith; Bittinger, Kyle; Pauly-Hubbard, Helen; Posivak, Leah; Grunberg, Stephanie; Baldassano, Robert; Lewis, James D; Wu, Gary D; Bushman, Frederic D

2016-01-01

Background Oral manifestations are common in Crohn's disease (CD). Here we characterized the subgingival microbiota in pediatric CD patients initiating therapy and after 8 weeks to identify microbial community features associated with CD and therapy. Methods Pediatric CD patients were recruited from The Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania. Healthy control subjects were recruited from primary care or orthopedics clinic. Subgingival plaque samples were collected at initiation of therapy and after 8 weeks. Treatment exposures included 5-ASAs, immunomodualtors, steroids, and infliximab. The microbiota was characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The study was repeated in separate discovery (35 CD, 43 healthy) and validation cohorts (43 CD, 31 healthy). Results A majority of subjects in both cohorts demonstrated clinical response after 8 weeks of therapy (discovery cohort 88%, validation cohort 79%). At week 0, both antibiotic exposure and disease state were associated with differences in bacterial community composition. Seventeen genera were identified in the discovery cohort as candidate biomarkers, of which 11 were confirmed in the validation cohort. Capnocytophaga, Rothia, and TM7 were more abundant in CD relative to healthy controls. Other bacteria were reduced in abundance with antibiotic exposure among CD subjects. CD-associated genera were not enriched compared to healthy controls after 8 weeks of therapy. Conclusions Subgingival microbial community structure differed with CD and antibiotic use. Results in the discovery cohort were replicated in a separate validation cohort. Several potentially pathogenic bacterial lineages were associated with CD but were not diminished in abundance by antibiotic treatment, suggesting targets for additional surveillance. PMID:26288001

Alterations of the Subgingival Microbiota in Pediatric Crohn's Disease Studied Longitudinally in Discovery and Validation Cohorts.

PubMed

Kelsen, Judith; Bittinger, Kyle; Pauly-Hubbard, Helen; Posivak, Leah; Grunberg, Stephanie; Baldassano, Robert; Lewis, James D; Wu, Gary D; Bushman, Frederic D

2015-12-01

Oral manifestations are common in Crohn's disease (CD). Here we characterized the subgingival microbiota in pediatric patients with CD initiating therapy and after 8 weeks to identify microbial community features associated with CD and therapy. Pediatric patients with CD were recruited from The Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania. Healthy control subjects were recruited from primary care or orthopedics clinic. Subgingival plaque samples were collected at initiation of therapy and after 8 weeks. Treatment exposures included 5-ASAs, immunomodulators, steroids, and infliximab. The microbiota was characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The study was repeated in separate discovery (35 CD, 43 healthy) and validation cohorts (43 CD, 31 healthy). Most subjects in both cohorts demonstrated clinical response after 8 weeks of therapy (discovery cohort 88%, validation cohort 79%). At week 0, both antibiotic exposure and disease state were associated with differences in bacterial community composition. Seventeen genera were identified in the discovery cohort as candidate biomarkers, of which 11 were confirmed in the validation cohort. Capnocytophaga, Rothia, and TM7 were more abundant in CD relative to healthy controls. Other bacteria were reduced in abundance with antibiotic exposure among CD subjects. CD-associated genera were not enriched compared with healthy controls after 8 weeks of therapy. Subgingival microbial community structure differed with CD and antibiotic use. Results in the discovery cohort were replicated in a separate validation cohort. Several potentially pathogenic bacterial lineages were associated with CD but were not diminished in abundance by antibiotic treatment, suggesting targets for additional surveillance.

Validation of Student and Parent Reported Data on the Basic Grant Application Form: Pre-Award Validation Analysis Study. Revised Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Applied Management Sciences, Inc., Silver Spring, MD.

The 1978-1979 pre-award institution validation process for the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG) program was studied, based on applicant and grant recipient files as of the end of February 1979. The objective was to assess the impact of the validation process on the proper award of BEOGs, and to determine whether the criteria for…

[French validation study of the levels of emotional awareness scale].

PubMed

Bydlowski, S; Corcos, M; Paterniti, S; Guilbaud, O; Jeammet, P; Consoli, S M

2002-01-01

According to a thesis based on the idea of an influence of cognitions in the structuring of internal reality, emotional awareness, ie the capacity of representing your own emotional experience and that of others, is a cognitive process that goes into maturation. Defining this concept, Lane and Schwartz present a cognitivo-developmental model in five stages of the processes of symbolization, accounting for the differences in levels of emotional awareness observed in individuals. The organization of these cognitive processes would thus be structured in well differentiated stages, in which the development of the emotions would be inseparable from the development of ego and of the relation to others. These authors focus on the capacity of representing in a conscious way the emotional experience and consider that verbal representations used to describe the contents of what is experience constitute a good reflection of the organization structural of the emotional awareness. Therefore, they worked out an instrument of evaluation: the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), which measures the capacity to describe your own emotional experience and the one you allow to others, in an emotional situation. The system of quotation of this scale is based on the analysis of the verbal contents of the provided answers, in direct reference to the authors' theory of the levels of differentiation and integration of the emotional experience. It is therefore an empirical measurement which is centered specifically on the structural organization of the emotional experience. The various studies of validation of this instrument show that it presents solid metrological properties. This work presents the validation of the French version of Lane and Schwartz's LEAS. Validity and fidelity were studied in a group of 121 healthy subjects. This setting is part of a larger clinical evaluation, also including a collection of socio-demographic and clinical data, and other instruments of self

Indicators of the relative availability of healthy versus unhealthy foods in supermarkets: a validation study.

PubMed

Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Mackenzie, Tara; Mhurchu, Cliona Ni

2017-04-26

In-store availability of healthy and unhealthy foods may influence consumer purchases. Methods used to measure food availability, however, vary widely. A simple, valid, and reliable indicator to collect comparable data on in-store food availability is needed. Cumulative linear shelf length of and variety within 22 healthy and 28 unhealthy food groups, determined based on a comparison of three nutrient profiling systems, were measured in 15 New Zealand supermarkets. Inter-rater reliability was tested in one supermarket by a second researcher. The construct validity of five simple indicators of relative availability of healthy versus unhealthy foods was assessed against this 'gold standard'. Cumulative linear shelf length was a more sensitive and feasible measure of food availability than variety. Four out of five shelf length ratio indicators were significantly associated with the gold standard (ρ = 0.70-0.75). Based on a non-significant difference from the 'gold standard' (d = 0.053 ± 0.040) and feasibility, the ratio of cumulative linear shelf length of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables versus soft and energy drinks, crisps and snacks, sweet biscuits and confectionery performed best for use in New Zealand supermarkets. Four out of the five shelf length ratio indicators of the relative availability of healthy versus unhealthy foods in-store tested could be used for future research and monitoring, but additional validation studies in other settings and countries are recommended. Consistent use of those shelf length ratio indicators could enhance comparability of supermarket food availability between studies, and help inform policies to create healthy consumer food retail environments.

Sources of Self-Efficacy in Mathematics: A Validation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Usher, Ellen L.; Pajares, Frank

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate items with which to assess A. Bandura's (1997) theorized sources of self-efficacy among middle school mathematics students. Results from Phase 1 (N=1111) were used to develop and refine items for subsequent use. In Phase 2 of the study (N=824), a 39-item, four-factor exploratory model fit best.…

Convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of DSM-5 traits.

PubMed

Yalch, Matthew M; Hopwood, Christopher J

2016-10-01

Section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edi.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) contains a system for diagnosing personality disorder based in part on assessing 25 maladaptive traits. Initial research suggests that this aspect of the system improves the validity and clinical utility of the Section II Model. The Computer Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder (CAT-PD; Simms et al., 2011) contains many similar traits as the DSM-5, as well as several additional traits seemingly not covered in the DSM-5. In this study we evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity between the DSM-5 traits, as assessed by the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5; Krueger et al., 2012), and CAT-PD in an undergraduate sample, and test whether traits included in the CAT-PD but not the DSM-5 provide incremental validity in association with clinically relevant criterion variables. Results supported the convergent and discriminant validity of the PID-5 and CAT-PD scales in their assessment of 23 out of 25 DSM-5 traits. DSM-5 traits were consistently associated with 11 criterion variables, despite our having intentionally selected clinically relevant criterion constructs not directly assessed by DSM-5 traits. However, the additional CAT-PD traits provided incremental information above and beyond the DSM-5 traits for all criterion variables examined. These findings support the validity of pathological trait models in general and the DSM-5 and CAT-PD models in particular, while also suggesting that the CAT-PD may include additional traits for consideration in future iterations of the DSM-5 system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Research Measures for Dyscalculia: A Validity and Reliability Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geiman, R. M.

1986-01-01

This study sought to evaluate a measure of dyscalculia to determine its validity and reliability. It also tested use of the instrument with seventh graders and ascertained where errors attributed to dyscalculia were also present in an average sample of seventh graders. Results varied. (MNS)

Validating the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children in Rwanda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Betancourt, Theresa; Scorza, Pamela; Meyers-Ohki, Sarah; Mushashi, Christina; Kayiteshonga, Yvonne; Binagwaho, Agnes; Stulac, Sara; Beardslee, William R.

2012-01-01

Objective: We assessed the validity of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) as a screen for depression in Rwandan children and adolescents. Although the CES-DC is widely used for depression screening in high-income countries, its validity in low-income and culturally diverse settings, including sub-Saharan…

Cross-Cultural Validation of the Preventive Health Model for Colorectal Cancer Screening: An Australian Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flight, Ingrid H.; Wilson, Carlene J.; McGillivray, Jane; Myers, Ronald E.

2010-01-01

We investigated whether the five-factor structure of the Preventive Health Model for colorectal cancer screening, developed in the United States, has validity in Australia. We also tested extending the model with the addition of the factor Self-Efficacy to Screen using Fecal Occult Blood Test (SESFOBT). Randomly selected men and women aged between…

Geometrical accuracy of metallic objects produced with additive or subtractive manufacturing: A comparative in vitro study.

PubMed

Braian, Michael; Jönsson, David; Kevci, Mir; Wennerberg, Ann

2018-07-01

To evaluate the accuracy and precision of objects produced by additive manufacturing systems (AM) for use in dentistry and to compare with subtractive manufacturing systems (SM). Ten specimens of two geometrical objects were produced by five different AM machines and one SM machine. Object A mimics an inlay-shaped object, while object B imitates a four-unit bridge model. All the objects were sorted into different measurement dimensions (x, y, z), linear distances, angles and corner radius. None of the additive manufacturing or subtractive manufacturing groups presented a perfect match to the CAD file with regard to all parameters included in the present study. Considering linear measurements, the precision for subtractive manufacturing group was consistent in all axes for object A, presenting results of <0.050mm. The additive manufacturing groups had consistent precision in the x-axis and y-axis but not in the z-axis. With regard to corner radius measurements, the SM group had the best overall accuracy and precision for both objects A and B when compared to the AM groups. Within the limitations of this in vitro study, the conclusion can be made that subtractive manufacturing presented overall precision on all measurements below 0.050mm. The AM machines also presented fairly good precision, <0.150mm, on all axes except for the z-axis. Knowledge regarding accuracy and precision for different production techniques utilized in dentistry is of great clinical importance. The dental community has moved from casting to milling and additive techniques are now being implemented. Thus all these production techniques need to be tested, compared and validated. Copyright © 2018 The Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electrostatic Levitation for Studies of Additive Manufactured Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

SanSoucie, Michael P.; Rogers, Jan R.; Tramel, Terri

2014-01-01

The electrostatic levitation (ESL) laboratory at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is a unique facility for investigators studying high temperature materials. The laboratory boasts two levitators in which samples can be levitated, heated, melted, undercooled, and resolidified. Electrostatic levitation minimizes gravitational effects and allows materials to be studied without contact with a container or instrumentation. The lab also has a high temperature emissivity measurement system, which provides normal spectral and normal total emissivity measurements at use temperature. The ESL lab has been instrumental in many pioneering materials investigations of thermophysical properties, e.g., creep measurements, solidification, triggered nucleation, and emissivity at high temperatures. Research in the ESL lab has already led to the development of advanced high temperature materials for aerospace applications, coatings for rocket nozzles, improved medical and industrial optics, metallic glasses, ablatives for reentry vehicles, and materials with memory. Modeling of additive manufacturing materials processing is necessary for the study of their resulting materials properties. In addition, the modeling of the selective laser melting processes and its materials property predictions are also underway. Unfortunately, there is very little data for the properties of these materials, especially of the materials in the liquid state. Some method to measure thermophysical properties of additive manufacturing materials is necessary. The ESL lab is ideal for these studies. The lab can provide surface tension and viscosity of molten materials, density measurements, emissivity measurements, and even creep strength measurements. The ESL lab can also determine melting temperature, surface temperatures, and phase transition temperatures of additive manufactured materials. This presentation will provide background on the ESL lab and its capabilities, provide an approach to using the ESL

Simulating direct shear tests with the Bullet physics library: A validation study.

PubMed

Izadi, Ehsan; Bezuijen, Adam

2018-01-01

This study focuses on the possible uses of physics engines, and more specifically the Bullet physics library, to simulate granular systems. Physics engines are employed extensively in the video gaming, animation and movie industries to create physically plausible scenes. They are designed to deliver a fast, stable, and optimal simulation of certain systems such as rigid bodies, soft bodies and fluids. This study focuses exclusively on simulating granular media in the context of rigid body dynamics with the Bullet physics library. The first step was to validate the results of the simulations of direct shear testing on uniform-sized metal beads on the basis of laboratory experiments. The difference in the average angle of mobilized frictions was found to be only 1.0°. In addition, a very close match was found between dilatancy in the laboratory samples and in the simulations. A comprehensive study was then conducted to determine the failure and post-failure mechanism. We conclude with the presentation of a simulation of a direct shear test on real soil which demonstrated that Bullet has all the capabilities needed to be used as software for simulating granular systems.

The consumer quality index anthroposophic healthcare: a construction and validation study.

PubMed

Koster, Evi B; Ong, Rob R S; Heybroek, Rachel; Delnoij, Diana M J; Baars, Erik W

2014-04-02

Accounting for the patients' perspective on quality of care has become increasingly important in the development of Evidence Based Medicine as well as in governmental policies. In the Netherlands the Consumer Quality (CQ) Index has been developed to measure the quality of care from the patients' perspective in different healthcare sectors in a standardized manner. Although the scientific accountability of anthroposophic healthcare as a form of integrative medicine is growing, patient experiences with anthroposophic healthcare have not been measured systematically. In addition, the specific anthroposophic aspects are not measured by means of existing CQ Indexes. To enable accountability of quality of the anthroposophic healthcare from the patients' perspective the aim of this study is the construction and validation of a CQ Index for anthroposophic healthcare. Construction in three phases: Phase 1. Determining anthroposophic quality aspects: literature study and focus groups. Phase 2. Adding new questions and validating the new questionnaire. Research population: random sample from 7910 patients of 22 anthroposophic GPs. survey, mixed mode by means of the Dillman method. Measuring instrument: experience questionnaire: CQ Index General Practice (56 items), added with 27 new anthroposophic items added and an item-importance questionnaire (anthroposophic items only). Factor analysis, scale construction, internal consistency (Chronbach's Alpha), inter-item-correlation, discriminative ability (Intra Class Correlation) and inter-factor-correlations. Phase 3. Modulation and selection of new questions based on results. Criteria of retaining items: general: a limited amount of items, statistical: part of a reliable scale and inter-item-correlation <0,7, and theoretical. Phase 1. 27 anthroposophic items. Phase 2. Two new anthroposophic scales: Scale AntroposophicTreatmentGP: seven items, Alpha=0,832, ICC=4,2 Inter-factor-correlation with existing GP-scales range from r=0

One-range addition theorems for derivatives of Slater-type orbitals.

PubMed

Guseinov, Israfil

2004-06-01

Using addition theorems for STOs introduced by the author with the help of complete orthonormal sets of psi(alpha)-ETOs (Guseinov II (2003) J Mol Model 9:190-194), where alpha=1, 0, -1, -2, ..., a large number of one-range addition theorems for first and second derivatives of STOs are established. These addition theorems are especially useful for computation of multicenter-multielectron integrals over STOs that arise in the Hartree-Fock-Roothaan approximation and also in the Hylleraas function method, which play a significant role for the study of electronic structure and electron-nuclei interaction properties of atoms, molecules, and solids. The relationships obtained are valid for arbitrary quantum numbers, screening constants and location of STOs.

Translational validity of PASAT and the effect of fatigue and mood in patients with relapsing remitting MS: A functional MRI study.

PubMed

Iancheva, Dessislava; Trenova, Anastasiya G; Terziyski, Kiril; Kandilarova, Sevdalina; Mantarova, Stefka

2018-04-03

Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) is used for assessment of information processing speed, attention, and working memory, which are the most frequently affected cognitive domains in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, and may be significantly affected by fatigue. However, the effect of fatigue and mood on the PASAT performance in MS patients translationally validated by fMRI has not been studied yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the translational validity of the PASAT, using fMRI during a paced visual serial addition test (PVSAT) paradigm in patients with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and to assess the impact of fatigue and mood on test performance. Fourteen patients with RRMS in remission and 14 healthy controls, matched by sex, age, and educational status, were enrolled in the study. The subjects underwent a standard neurological examination, neuropsychological evaluation with the PASAT 3', fMRI scanning with a PVSAT paradigm, and Beck Depression Inventory. All patients were assessed by the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale. Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test score was lower in patients (41.4 ± 15.5 vs 51.6 ± 7.5, P = .035). A moderate negative correlation (P = -0.563, P = 0.036) was found between PASAT and MIFS scores. The fMRI scanning showed significant activations in several clusters that differed between patients and controls. The patient group presented wider cluster activation; Brodmann area (BA) 6-bilaterally; left BA7, 8, and 9; and right BA40, while controls presented with activations in left BA6 and BA44. Significant negative correlations between PASAT score and cortical activations in left BA23, right BA32, and left BA7 were observed in patients only. Our results show that poorer performance on the PASAT is associated with higher activation in areas connected with working memory, attention, and emotional processes during the fMRI assessment with PVSAT paradigm, which provides evidence for the translational validity of the

External Validation Study of First Trimester Obstetric Prediction Models (Expect Study I): Research Protocol and Population Characteristics.

PubMed

Meertens, Linda Jacqueline Elisabeth; Scheepers, Hubertina Cj; De Vries, Raymond G; Dirksen, Carmen D; Korstjens, Irene; Mulder, Antonius Lm; Nieuwenhuijze, Marianne J; Nijhuis, Jan G; Spaanderman, Marc Ea; Smits, Luc Jm

2017-10-26

A number of first-trimester prediction models addressing important obstetric outcomes have been published. However, most models have not been externally validated. External validation is essential before implementing a prediction model in clinical practice. The objective of this paper is to describe the design of a study to externally validate existing first trimester obstetric prediction models, based upon maternal characteristics and standard measurements (eg, blood pressure), for the risk of pre-eclampsia (PE), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), spontaneous preterm birth (PTB), small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants, and large-for-gestational-age (LGA) infants among Dutch pregnant women (Expect Study I). The results of a pilot study on the feasibility and acceptability of the recruitment process and the comprehensibility of the Pregnancy Questionnaire 1 are also reported. A multicenter prospective cohort study was performed in The Netherlands between July 1, 2013 and December 31, 2015. First trimester obstetric prediction models were systematically selected from the literature. Predictor variables were measured by the Web-based Pregnancy Questionnaire 1 and pregnancy outcomes were established using the Postpartum Questionnaire 1 and medical records. Information about maternal health-related quality of life, costs, and satisfaction with Dutch obstetric care was collected from a subsample of women. A pilot study was carried out before the official start of inclusion. External validity of the models will be evaluated by assessing discrimination and calibration. Based on the pilot study, minor improvements were made to the recruitment process and online Pregnancy Questionnaire 1. The validation cohort consists of 2614 women. Data analysis of the external validation study is in progress. This study will offer insight into the generalizability of existing, non-invasive first trimester prediction models for various obstetric outcomes in a Dutch obstetric population

Development and validation of the Salzburg COPD-screening questionnaire (SCSQ): a questionnaire development and validation study.

PubMed

Weiss, Gertraud; Steinacher, Ina; Lamprecht, Bernd; Kaiser, Bernhard; Mikes, Romana; Sator, Lea; Hartl, Sylvia; Wagner, Helga; Studnicka, M

2017-01-26

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prevalence rates are still high. However, the majority of subjects are not diagnosed. Strategies have to be implemented to overcome the problem of under-diagnosis. Questionnaires could be used to pre-select subjects for spirometry and thereby help reducing under-diagnosis. We report a brief, simple, self-administrable and validated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease questionnaire to increase the pre-test probability for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease diagnosis in subjects undergoing confirmatory spirometry. In 2005, we completed the Austrian Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease-study in 1258 subjects aged >40 years. Post-bronchodilator spirometry was performed, and non-reversible airflow limitation defined by FEV 1 /FVC ratio below the lower limit of normal. Questions from the Salzburg chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening-questionnaire were selected using a logistic regression model, and risk scores were based on regression-coefficients. A training sub-sample (n = 800) was used to create the score, and a test sub-sample (n = 458) was used to test it. In 2008, an external validation study was done, using the same protocol in 775 patients from primary care. The Salzburg chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening questionnaire was composed of items related to "breathing problems", "wheeze", "cough", "limitation of physical activity", and "smoking". At the >=2 points cut-off of the Salzburg chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening questionnaire, sensitivity was 69.1% [95%CI: 56.6%; 79.5%], specificity 60.0% [95%CI: 54.9%; 64.9%], the positive predictive value 23.2% [95%CI: 17.7%; 29.7%] and the negative predictive value 91.8% [95%CI: 87.5%; 95.7%] to detect post bronchodilator airflow limitation. The external validation study in primary care confirmed these findings. The Salzburg chronic obstructive pulmonary disease screening questionnaire was derived from the highly standardized Burden of

Community validation of the IDEA study cognitive screen in rural Tanzania.

PubMed

Gray, William K; Paddick, Stella Maria; Collingwood, Cecilia; Kisoli, Aloyce; Mbowe, Godfrey; Mkenda, Sarah; Lissu, Carolyn; Rogathi, Jane; Kissima, John; Walker, Richard W; Mushi, Declare; Chaote, Paul; Ogunniyi, Adesola; Dotchin, Catherine L

2016-11-01

The dementia diagnosis gap in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is large, partly because of difficulties in screening for cognitive impairment in the community. As part of the Identification and Intervention for Dementia in Elderly Africans (IDEA) study, we aimed to validate the IDEA cognitive screen in a community-based sample in rural Tanzania METHODS: Study participants were recruited from people who attended screening days held in villages within the rural Hai district of Tanzania. Criterion validity was assessed against the gold standard clinical dementia diagnosis using DSM-IV criteria. Construct validity was assessed against, age, education, sex and grip strength and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Internal consistency and floor and ceiling effects were also examined. During community screening, the IDEA cognitive screen had high criterion validity, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.855 (95% CI 0.794 to 0.915). Higher scores on the screen were significantly correlated with lower age, male sex, having attended school, better grip strength and improved performance in activities of daily living. Factor analysis revealed a single factor with an eigenvalue greater than one, although internal consistency was only moderate (Cronbach's alpha = 0.534). The IDEA cognitive screen had high criterion and construct validity and is suitable for use as a cognitive screening instrument in a community setting in SSA. Only moderate internal consistency may partly reflect the multi-domain nature of dementia as diagnosed clinically. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) Validation Study Designs. CEELO FastFacts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schilder, D.

2013-01-01

In this "Fast Facts," a state has received Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge funds and is seeking information to inform the design of the Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) validation study. The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) responds that according to Resnick (2012), validation of a QRIS is an…

Validation study of the Japanese version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale.

PubMed

Tatsuzawa, Yasutaka; Yoshimasu, Haruo; Moriyama, Yasushi; Furusawa, Teruyuki; Yoshino, Aihide

2002-02-01

The Obsessive-Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) is a self-rating questionnaire that measures cognitive and behavioral aspects of craving for alcohol. The OCDS consists of two subscales: the obsessive thoughts of drinking subscale (OS) and the compulsive drinking subscale (CS). This study aims to validate the Japanese version of the OCDS. First, internal consistency and discriminant validity were evaluated. Second, a prospective longitudinal 3-month outcome study of 67 patients with alcohol dependence who participated in a relapse prevention program was designed to assess the concurrent and predictive validity of the OCDS. The OCDS demonstrated high internal consistency. The OS had high discriminant validity, while the CS did not. Twenty-three patients (34.3%) dropped out of treatment. These patients had significantly higher OS scores than those who completed the program. At 3 months, the relapse group had significantly higher OCDS scores than the no relapse group. Also, the OCDS score was higher in subjects who had early-onset alcohol dependence than late-onset dependence. The OCDS is useful for evaluating cognitive aspect of craving and predicts dropout and relapse.

External model validation of binary clinical risk prediction models in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.

PubMed

Hickey, Graeme L; Blackstone, Eugene H

2016-08-01

Clinical risk-prediction models serve an important role in healthcare. They are used for clinical decision-making and measuring the performance of healthcare providers. To establish confidence in a model, external model validation is imperative. When designing such an external model validation study, thought must be given to patient selection, risk factor and outcome definitions, missing data, and the transparent reporting of the analysis. In addition, there are a number of statistical methods available for external model validation. Execution of a rigorous external validation study rests in proper study design, application of suitable statistical methods, and transparent reporting. Copyright © 2016 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A new framework to enhance the interpretation of external validation studies of clinical prediction models.

PubMed

Debray, Thomas P A; Vergouwe, Yvonne; Koffijberg, Hendrik; Nieboer, Daan; Steyerberg, Ewout W; Moons, Karel G M

2015-03-01

It is widely acknowledged that the performance of diagnostic and prognostic prediction models should be assessed in external validation studies with independent data from "different but related" samples as compared with that of the development sample. We developed a framework of methodological steps and statistical methods for analyzing and enhancing the interpretation of results from external validation studies of prediction models. We propose to quantify the degree of relatedness between development and validation samples on a scale ranging from reproducibility to transportability by evaluating their corresponding case-mix differences. We subsequently assess the models' performance in the validation sample and interpret the performance in view of the case-mix differences. Finally, we may adjust the model to the validation setting. We illustrate this three-step framework with a prediction model for diagnosing deep venous thrombosis using three validation samples with varying case mix. While one external validation sample merely assessed the model's reproducibility, two other samples rather assessed model transportability. The performance in all validation samples was adequate, and the model did not require extensive updating to correct for miscalibration or poor fit to the validation settings. The proposed framework enhances the interpretation of findings at external validation of prediction models. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The birth satisfaction scale: Turkish adaptation, validation and reliability study

PubMed Central

Cetin, Fatma Cosar; Sezer, Ayse; Merih, Yeliz Dogan

2015-01-01

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to investigate the validity and the reliability of Birth Satisfaction Scale (BSS) and to adapt it into the Turkish language. This scale is used for measuring maternal satisfaction with birth in order to evaluate women’s birth perceptions. METHODS: In this study there were 150 women who attended to inpatient postpartum clinic. The participants filled in an information form and the BSS questionnaire forms. The properties of the scale were tested by conducting reliability and validation analyses. RESULTS: BSS entails 30 Likert-type questions. It was developed by Hollins Martin and Fleming. Total scale scores ranged between 30–150 points. Higher scores from the scale mean increases in birth satisfaction. Three overarching themes were identified in Scale: service provision (home assessment, birth environment, support, relationships with health care professionals); personal attributes (ability to cope during labour, feeling in control, childbirth preparation, relationship with baby); and stress experienced during labour (distress, obstetric injuries, receiving sufficient medical care, obstetric intervention, pain, prolonged labour and baby’s health). Cronbach’s alfa coefficient was 0.62. CONCLUSION: According to the present study, BSS entails 30 Likert-type questions and evaluates women’s birth perceptions. The Turkish version of BSS has been proven to be a valid and a reliable scale. PMID:28058355

Validation of computer simulation training for esophagogastroduodenoscopy: Pilot study.

PubMed

Sedlack, Robert E

2007-08-01

Little is known regarding the value of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) simulators in education. The purpose of the present paper was to validate the use of computer simulation in novice EGD training. In phase 1, expert endoscopists evaluated various aspects of simulation fidelity as compared to live endoscopy. Additionally, computer-recorded performance metrics were assessed by comparing the recorded scores from users of three different experience levels. In phase 2, the transfer of simulation-acquired skills to the clinical setting was assessed in a two-group, randomized pilot study. The setting was a large gastroenterology (GI) Fellowship training program; in phase 1, 21 subjects (seven expert, intermediate and novice endoscopist), made up the three experience groups. In phase 2, eight novice GI fellows were involved in the two-group, randomized portion of the study examining the transfer of simulation skills to the clinical setting. During the initial validation phase, each of the 21 subjects completed two standardized EDG scenarios on a computer simulator and their performance scores were recorded for seven parameters. Following this, staff participants completed a questionnaire evaluating various aspects of the simulator's fidelity. Finally, four novice GI fellows were randomly assigned to receive 6 h of simulator-augmented training (SAT group) in EGD prior to beginning 1 month of patient-based EGD training. The remaining fellows experienced 1 month of patient-based training alone (PBT group). Results of the seven measured performance parameters were compared between three groups of varying experience using a Wilcoxon ranked sum test. The staffs' simulator fidelity survey used a 7-point Likert scale (1, very unrealistic; 4, neutral; 7, very realistic) for each of the parameters examined. During the second phase of this study, supervising staff rated both SAT and PBT fellows' patient-based performance daily. Scoring in each skill was completed using a 7-point

Effects of Coaching on the Validity of the SAT: A Simulation Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baydar, Nazli

The effects of student coaching in preparation for the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) on the predictive validity of this test for freshman year performance were studied using data on 1985 freshman year students from four colleges. After the validity of the SAT was estimated for each school, a given proportion of students was picked,…

Turkish adaptation of the pregnancy-related anxiety questionnaire-revised 2: Validity and reliability study in multiparous and primiparous pregnancy.

PubMed

Aksoy Derya, Yeşim; Timur Taşhan, Sermin; Duman, Mesude; Durgun Ozan, Yeter

2018-07-01

The purpose of this study was to create a Turkish version of the Pregnancy-Related Anxiety Questionnaire-Revised 2 (PRAQR2), which was revised for application to multiparous and primiparous pregnancy, and to explore its psychometric characteristics in multiparous and primiparous pregnancy. This study was methodologically designed to assess the reliability and validity of the PRAQ-R2. The study was carried out in the obstetrics clinic of a training and research hospital in Malatya. A total of 616 healthy pregnant women (399 multiparous and 217 primiparous) constituted the sample of the study. The cultural adaptation process of the questionnaire was conducted in three phases: language validity, content validity, and pilot application. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test the construct validity of the questionnaire. The reliability of the PRAQ-R2 was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient, item-total correlation, test-retest analysis, and parallel forms reliability. The EFA revealed that the PRAQ-R2 consists of 10 items for the multiparous group and 11 for the primiparous group after adding the item ``I am anxious about the delivery because I have never experienced one before.'' The CFA for both groups supported the three-factor questionnaire yielded by the EFA. Good fit index values were obtained in both groups. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient ranged from 0.81 to 0.93 for the multiparous group and 0.87 to 0.94 for the primiparous group for the complete PRAQ-R2 and each of its subdimensions. In addition, the item-total correlation, test-retest analysis, and parallel forms reliability of the questionnaire were highly correlated. The PRAQ-R2 is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to evaluate the level of anxiety in Turkish pregnant women irrespective of parity. The use of the PRAQ-R2 in prenatal healthcare services will contribute to the early diagnosis

Conservative Exposure Predictions for Rapid Risk Assessment of Phase-Separated Additives in Medical Device Polymers.

PubMed

Chandrasekar, Vaishnavi; Janes, Dustin W; Saylor, David M; Hood, Alan; Bajaj, Akhil; Duncan, Timothy V; Zheng, Jiwen; Isayeva, Irada S; Forrey, Christopher; Casey, Brendan J

2018-01-01

A novel approach for rapid risk assessment of targeted leachables in medical device polymers is proposed and validated. Risk evaluation involves understanding the potential of these additives to migrate out of the polymer, and comparing their exposure to a toxicological threshold value. In this study, we propose that a simple diffusive transport model can be used to provide conservative exposure estimates for phase separated color additives in device polymers. This model has been illustrated using a representative phthalocyanine color additive (manganese phthalocyanine, MnPC) and polymer (PEBAX 2533) system. Sorption experiments of MnPC into PEBAX were conducted in order to experimentally determine the diffusion coefficient, D = (1.6 ± 0.5) × 10 -11  cm 2 /s, and matrix solubility limit, C s  = 0.089 wt.%, and model predicted exposure values were validated by extraction experiments. Exposure values for the color additive were compared to a toxicological threshold for a sample risk assessment. Results from this study indicate that a diffusion model-based approach to predict exposure has considerable potential for use as a rapid, screening-level tool to assess the risk of color additives and other small molecule additives in medical device polymers.

A content validity study of signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems expressed in LIBRAS.

PubMed

Aragão, Jamilly da Silva; de França, Inacia Sátiro Xavier; Coura, Alexsandro Silva; de Sousa, Francisco Stélio; Batista, Joana D'arc Lyra; Magalhães, Isabella Medeiros de Oliveira

2015-01-01

To validate the content of signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems expressed in LIBRAS for people with deafness. Method: Methodological development study, which involved 36 people with deafness and three LIBRAS specialists. The study was conducted in three stages: investigation of the signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems, referred to by people with deafness, reported in a questionnaire; video recordings of how people with deafness express, through LIBRA, the signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems; and validation of the contents of the recordings of the expressions by LIBRAS specialists. Data were processed in a spreadsheet and analyzed using univariate tables, with absolute frequencies and percentages. The validation results were analyzed using the Content Validity Index (CVI). 33 expressions in LIBRAS, of signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems were evaluated, and 28 expressions obtained a satisfactory CVI (1.00). The signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems expressed in LIBRAS presented validity, in the study region, for health professionals, especially nurses, for use in the clinical anamnesis of the nursing consultation for people with deafness.

Ride qualities criteria validation/pilot performance study: Flight test results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nardi, L. U.; Kawana, H. Y.; Greek, D. C.

1979-01-01

Pilot performance during a terrain following flight was studied for ride quality criteria validation. Data from manual and automatic terrain following operations conducted during low level penetrations were analyzed to determine the effect of ride qualities on crew performance. The conditions analyzed included varying levels of turbulence, terrain roughness, and mission duration with a ride smoothing system on and off. Limited validation of the B-1 ride quality criteria and some of the first order interactions between ride qualities and pilot/vehicle performance are highlighted. An earlier B-1 flight simulation program correlated well with the flight test results.

Development and validation of a smartphone addiction scale (SAS).

PubMed

Kwon, Min; Lee, Joon-Yeop; Won, Wang-Youn; Park, Jae-Woo; Min, Jung-Ah; Hahn, Changtae; Gu, Xinyu; Choi, Ji-Hye; Kim, Dai-Jin

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop a self-diagnostic scale that could distinguish smartphone addicts based on the Korean self-diagnostic program for Internet addiction (K-scale) and the smartphone's own features. In addition, the reliability and validity of the smartphone addiction scale (SAS) was demonstrated. A total of 197 participants were selected from Nov. 2011 to Jan. 2012 to accomplish a set of questionnaires, including SAS, K-scale, modified Kimberly Young Internet addiction test (Y-scale), visual analogue scale (VAS), and substance dependence and abuse diagnosis of DSM-IV. There were 64 males and 133 females, with ages ranging from 18 to 53 years (M = 26.06; SD = 5.96). Factor analysis, internal-consistency test, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis were conducted to verify the reliability and validity of SAS. Based on the factor analysis results, the subscale "disturbance of reality testing" was removed, and six factors were left. The internal consistency and concurrent validity of SAS were verified (Cronbach's alpha = 0.967). SAS and its subscales were significantly correlated with K-scale and Y-scale. The VAS of each factor also showed a significant correlation with each subscale. In addition, differences were found in the job (p<0.05), education (p<0.05), and self-reported smartphone addiction scores (p<0.001) in SAS. This study developed the first scale of the smartphone addiction aspect of the diagnostic manual. This scale was proven to be relatively reliable and valid.

Validation of general job satisfaction in the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study.

PubMed

Park, Shin Goo; Hwang, Sang Hee

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to assess the validity and reliability of general job satisfaction (JS) in the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS). We used the data from the 17th wave (2014) of the nationwide KLIPS, which selected a representative panel sample of Korean households and individuals aged 15 or older residing in urban areas. We included in this study 7679 employed subjects (4529 males and 3150 females). The general JS instrument consisted of five items rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The general JS reliability was assessed using the corrected item-total correlation and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The validity of general JS was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Pearson's correlation. The corrected item-total correlations ranged from 0.736 to 0.837. Therefore, no items were removed. Cronbach's alpha for general JS was 0.925, indicating excellent internal consistency. The CFA of the general JS model showed a good fit. Pearson's correlation coefficients for convergent validity showed moderate or strong correlations. The results obtained in our study confirm the validity and reliability of general JS.

Clinical Validation of Heart Rate Apps: Mixed-Methods Evaluation Study.

PubMed

Vandenberk, Thijs; Stans, Jelle; Mortelmans, Christophe; Van Haelst, Ruth; Van Schelvergem, Gertjan; Pelckmans, Caroline; Smeets, Christophe Jp; Lanssens, Dorien; De Cannière, Hélène; Storms, Valerie; Thijs, Inge M; Vaes, Bert; Vandervoort, Pieter M

2017-08-25

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a proven way to measure heart rate (HR). This technology is already available in smartphones, which allows measuring HR only by using the smartphone. Given the widespread availability of smartphones, this creates a scalable way to enable mobile HR monitoring. An essential precondition is that these technologies are as reliable and accurate as the current clinical (gold) standards. At this moment, there is no consensus on a gold standard method for the validation of HR apps. This results in different validation processes that do not always reflect the veracious outcome of comparison. The aim of this paper was to investigate and describe the necessary elements in validating and comparing HR apps versus standard technology. The FibriCheck (Qompium) app was used in two separate prospective nonrandomized studies. In the first study, the HR of the FibriCheck app was consecutively compared with 2 different Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared HR devices: the Nonin oximeter and the AliveCor Mobile ECG. In the second study, a next step in validation was performed by comparing the beat-to-beat intervals of the FibriCheck app to a synchronized ECG recording. In the first study, the HR (BPM, beats per minute) of 88 random subjects consecutively measured with the 3 devices showed a correlation coefficient of .834 between FibriCheck and Nonin, .88 between FibriCheck and AliveCor, and .897 between Nonin and AliveCor. A single way analysis of variance (ANOVA; P=.61 was executed to test the hypothesis that there were no significant differences between the HRs as measured by the 3 devices. In the second study, 20,298 (ms) R-R intervals (RRI)-peak-to-peak intervals (PPI) from 229 subjects were analyzed. This resulted in a positive correlation (rs=.993, root mean square deviation [RMSE]=23.04 ms, and normalized root mean square error [NRMSE]=0.012) between the PPI from FibriCheck and the RRI from the wearable ECG. There was no significant difference

An exploratory study into the effect of time-restricted internet access on face-validity, construct validity and reliability of postgraduate knowledge progress testing

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Yearly formative knowledge testing (also known as progress testing) was shown to have a limited construct-validity and reliability in postgraduate medical education. One way to improve construct-validity and reliability is to improve the authenticity of a test. As easily accessible internet has become inseparably linked to daily clinical practice, we hypothesized that allowing internet access for a limited amount of time during the progress test would improve the perception of authenticity (face-validity) of the test, which would in turn improve the construct-validity and reliability of postgraduate progress testing. Methods Postgraduate trainees taking the yearly knowledge progress test were asked to participate in a study where they could access the internet for 30 minutes at the end of a traditional pen and paper test. Before and after the test they were asked to complete a short questionnaire regarding the face-validity of the test. Results Mean test scores increased significantly for all training years. Trainees indicated that the face-validity of the test improved with internet access and that they would like to continue to have internet access during future testing. Internet access did not improve the construct-validity or reliability of the test. Conclusion Improving the face-validity of postgraduate progress testing, by adding the possibility to search the internet for a limited amount of time, positively influences test performance and face-validity. However, it did not change the reliability or the construct-validity of the test. PMID:24195696

Sample size determination for disease prevalence studies with partially validated data.

PubMed

Qiu, Shi-Fang; Poon, Wai-Yin; Tang, Man-Lai

2016-02-01

Disease prevalence is an important topic in medical research, and its study is based on data that are obtained by classifying subjects according to whether a disease has been contracted. Classification can be conducted with high-cost gold standard tests or low-cost screening tests, but the latter are subject to the misclassification of subjects. As a compromise between the two, many research studies use partially validated datasets in which all data points are classified by fallible tests, and some of the data points are validated in the sense that they are also classified by the completely accurate gold-standard test. In this article, we investigate the determination of sample sizes for disease prevalence studies with partially validated data. We use two approaches. The first is to find sample sizes that can achieve a pre-specified power of a statistical test at a chosen significance level, and the second is to find sample sizes that can control the width of a confidence interval with a pre-specified confidence level. Empirical studies have been conducted to demonstrate the performance of various testing procedures with the proposed sample sizes. The applicability of the proposed methods are illustrated by a real-data example. © The Author(s) 2012.

[Validation of the German version of the Oxford Elbow Score : A cross-sectional study].

PubMed

Marquardt, J; Schöttker-Königer, T; Schäfer, A

2016-08-01

Elbow complaints are complex problems leading to severe consequences for affected people and the healthcare system. The German version of the Oxford Elbow Score (OES) is the first German-speaking instrument that specifically measures elbow complaints from the patient's perspective and changes of their health status. The aim of this study is the validation of the German version of the OES. In this context the internal consistency and the construct validity were investigated. 59 patients with elbow complaints completed the German version of the OES, the DASH and the SF-36 in a cross-sectional study. The internal consistency was calculated with Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Spearman's correlation coefficients were used to confirm construct validity. Cronbach's alpha for pain, function and psychological subscales was 0.88, 0.81 and 0.90, respectively. The whole questionnaire presents a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.93. Convergent construct validity was confirmed with correlation coefficients containing values of -0.84, -0.77 and -0.82 compared to DASH and values ranging from 0.41 to 0.80 compared with the physical domains of the SF-36. The divergent construct validity presented values ranging from 0.07 to 0.20 with the SF-36 domains of "general health perception" and "mental health". The German OES is an internal consistent instrument with good convergent and divergent construct validity. Other aspects of the validity, the reliability and the responsiveness should be confirmed through further studies.

Bem Sex Role Inventory Validation in the International Mobility in Aging Study.

PubMed

Ahmed, Tamer; Vafaei, Afshin; Belanger, Emmanuelle; Phillips, Susan P; Zunzunegui, Maria-Victoria

2016-09-01

This study investigated the measurement structure of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) with different factor analysis methods. Most previous studies on validity applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the BSRI. We aimed to assess the psychometric properties and construct validity of the 12-item short-form BSRI in a sample administered to 1,995 older adults from wave 1 of the International Mobility in Aging Study (IMIAS). We used Cronbach's alpha to assess internal consistency reliability and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess psychometric properties. EFA revealed a three-factor model, further confirmed by CFA and compared with the original two-factor structure model. Results revealed that a two-factor solution (instrumentality-expressiveness) has satisfactory construct validity and superior fit to data compared to the three-factor solution. The two-factor solution confirms expected gender differences in older adults. The 12-item BSRI provides a brief, psychometrically sound, and reliable instrument in international samples of older adults.

Factor structure and validation of the Attentional Control Scale.

PubMed

Judah, Matt R; Grant, DeMond M; Mills, Adam C; Lechner, William V

2014-04-01

The Attentional Control Scale (ACS; Derryberry & Reed, 2002) has been used to assess executive control over attention in numerous studies, but no published data have examined the factor structure of the English version. The current studies addressed this need and tested the predictive and convergent validity of the ACS subscales. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis yielded a two-factor model with Focusing and Shifting subscales. In Study 2, confirmatory factor analysis supported this model and suggested superior fit compared to the factor structure of the Icelandic version (Ólafsson et al., 2011). Study 3 examined correlations between the ACS subscales and measures of working memory, anxiety, and cognitive control. Study 4 examined correlations between the subscales and reaction times on a mixed-antisaccade task, revealing positive correlations for antisaccade performance and prosaccade latency with Focusing scores and between switch trial performance and Shifting scores. Additionally, the findings partially supported unique relationships between Focusing and trait anxiety and between Shifting and depression that have been noted in recent research. Although the results generally support the validity of the ACS, additional research using performance-based tasks is needed.

Do placebo based validation standards mimic real batch products behaviour? Case studies.

PubMed

Bouabidi, A; Talbi, M; Bouklouze, A; El Karbane, M; Bourichi, H; El Guezzar, M; Ziemons, E; Hubert, Ph; Rozet, E

2011-06-01

Analytical methods validation is a mandatory step to evaluate the ability of developed methods to provide accurate results for their routine application. Validation usually involves validation standards or quality control samples that are prepared in placebo or reconstituted matrix made of a mixture of all the ingredients composing the drug product except the active substance or the analyte under investigation. However, one of the main concerns that can be made with this approach is that it may lack an important source of variability that come from the manufacturing process. The question that remains at the end of the validation step is about the transferability of the quantitative performance from validation standards to real authentic drug product samples. In this work, this topic is investigated through three case studies. Three analytical methods were validated using the commonly spiked placebo validation standards at several concentration levels as well as using samples coming from authentic batch samples (tablets and syrups). The results showed that, depending on the type of response function used as calibration curve, there were various degrees of differences in the results accuracy obtained with the two types of samples. Nonetheless the use of spiked placebo validation standards was showed to mimic relatively well the quantitative behaviour of the analytical methods with authentic batch samples. Adding these authentic batch samples into the validation design may help the analyst to select and confirm the most fit for purpose calibration curve and thus increase the accuracy and reliability of the results generated by the method in routine application. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing validity of observational intervention studies – the Benchmarking Controlled Trials

PubMed Central

Malmivaara, Antti

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Benchmarking Controlled Trial (BCT) is a concept which covers all observational studies aiming to assess impact of interventions or health care system features to patients and populations. Aims: To create and pilot test a checklist for appraising methodological validity of a BCT. Methods: The checklist was created by extracting the most essential elements from the comprehensive set of criteria in the previous paper on BCTs. Also checklists and scientific papers on observational studies and respective systematic reviews were utilized. Ten BCTs published in the Lancet and in the New England Journal of Medicine were used to assess feasibility of the created checklist. Results: The appraised studies seem to have several methodological limitations, some of which could be avoided in planning, conducting and reporting phases of the studies. Conclusions: The checklist can be used for planning, conducting, reporting, reviewing, and critical reading of observational intervention studies. However, the piloted checklist should be validated in further studies.Key messagesBenchmarking Controlled Trial (BCT) is a concept which covers all observational studies aiming to assess impact of interventions or health care system features to patients and populations.This paper presents a checklist for appraising methodological validity of BCTs and pilot-tests the checklist with ten BCTs published in leading medical journals. The appraised studies seem to have several methodological limitations, some of which could be avoided in planning, conducting and reporting phases of the studies.The checklist can be used for planning, conducting, reporting, reviewing, and critical reading of observational intervention studies. PMID:27238631

Development and validation of a measure of food choice values.

PubMed

Lyerly, Jordan E; Reeve, Charlie L

2015-06-01

Food choice values (FCVs) are factors that individuals consider when deciding which foods to purchase and/or consume. Given the potentially important implications for health, it is critical for researchers to have access to a validated measure of FCV. Though there is an existing measure of FCV, this measure was developed 20 years ago and recent research suggests additional FCVs exist that are not included in this measure. A series of four studies was conducted to develop a new expanded measure of FCV. An eight-factor model of FCV was supported and confirmed. In aggregate, results from the four studies indicate that the measure is content valid, and has internally consistent scales that also demonstrated acceptable temporal stability and convergent validity. In addition, the eight scales of the measures were independent of social desirability, met criteria for measurement invariance across income groups, and predicted dietary intake. The development of this new measure of FCV may be useful for researchers examining FCVs (FCVs) in the future, as well as for use in intervention and prevention efforts targeting dietary choices. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genotypic variability-based genome-wide association study identifies non-additive loci HLA-C and IL12B for psoriasis.

PubMed

Wei, Wen-Hua; Massey, Jonathan; Worthington, Jane; Barton, Anne; Warren, Richard B

2018-03-01

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified a number of loci for psoriasis but largely ignored non-additive effects. We report a genotypic variability-based GWAS (vGWAS) that can prioritize non-additive loci without requiring prior knowledge of interaction types or interacting factors in two steps, using a mixed model to partition dichotomous phenotypes into an additive component and non-additive environmental residuals on the liability scale and then the Levene's (Brown-Forsythe) test to assess equality of the residual variances across genotype groups genome widely. The vGWAS identified two genome-wide significant (P < 5.0e-08) non-additive loci HLA-C and IL12B that were also genome-wide significant in an accompanying GWAS in the discovery cohort. Both loci were statistically replicated in vGWAS of an independent cohort with a small sample size. HLA-C and IL12B were reported in moderate gene-gene and/or gene-environment interactions in several occasions. We found a moderate interaction with age-of-onset of psoriasis, which was replicated indirectly. The vGWAS also revealed five suggestive loci (P < 6.76e-05) including FUT2 that was associated with psoriasis with environmental aspects triggered by virus infection and/or metabolic factors. Replication and functional investigation are needed to validate the suggestive vGWAS loci.

Discriminant validity study of Achilles enthesis ultrasound.

PubMed

Expósito Molinero, María Rosa; de Miguel Mendieta, Eugenio

2016-01-01

We want to know if the ultrasound examination of the Achilles tendon in spondyloarthritis is different compared to other rheumatic diseases. We studied 97 patients divided into five groups: rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, gout, chondrocalcinosis and osteoarthritis, exploring six elementary lesions in 194 Achilles entheses examined. In our study the total index ultrasonographic Achilles is higher in spondyloarthritis with significant differences. The worst elementary spondyloarthritis lesions for discriminations against other pathologies were calcification. This study aims to demonstrate the discriminant validity of Achilles enthesitis observed by ultrasound in spondyloarthritis compared with other rheumatic diseases that may also have ultrasound abnormalities such enthesis level. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and Sociedad Española de Reumatología y Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología. All rights reserved.

Empirical validation of an agent-based model of wood markets in Switzerland

PubMed Central

Hilty, Lorenz M.; Lemm, Renato; Thees, Oliver

2018-01-01

We present an agent-based model of wood markets and show our efforts to validate this model using empirical data from different sources, including interviews, workshops, experiments, and official statistics. Own surveys closed gaps where data was not available. Our approach to model validation used a variety of techniques, including the replication of historical production amounts, prices, and survey results, as well as a historical case study of a large sawmill entering the market and becoming insolvent only a few years later. Validating the model using this case provided additional insights, showing how the model can be used to simulate scenarios of resource availability and resource allocation. We conclude that the outcome of the rigorous validation qualifies the model to simulate scenarios concerning resource availability and allocation in our study region. PMID:29351300

Turkish Metalinguistic Awareness Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varisoglu, Behice

2018-01-01

The aim of this study is to develop a useful, valid and reliable measurement tool that will help teacher candidates determine their Turkish metalinguistic awareness. During the development of the scale, a pool of items was created by scanning the relevant literature and examining other awareness scales. The materials prepared were re-examined…

A Validation Study of Early Adolescents' Pubertal Self-Assessments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitz, Katharine E.; Hovell, Melbourne F.; Nichols, Jeanne F.; Irvin, Veronica L.; Keating, Kristen; Simon, Gayle M.; Gehrman, Christine; Jones, Kenneth Lee

2004-01-01

This study aimed to determine whether self-assessed puberty is sufficiently reliable and valid to substitute for physician examination when feasibility of physician examination is low (e.g., behavioral research). Adolescents (convenience sample N = 178 endocrinology patients and N = 125 from educational trial; mean age 12.7 and 11.3 years,…

Correction for FDG PET dose extravasations: Monte Carlo validation and quantitative evaluation of patient studies.

PubMed

Silva-Rodríguez, Jesús; Aguiar, Pablo; Sánchez, Manuel; Mosquera, Javier; Luna-Vega, Víctor; Cortés, Julia; Garrido, Miguel; Pombar, Miguel; Ruibal, Alvaro

2014-05-01

Current procedure guidelines for whole body [18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) state that studies with visible dose extravasations should be rejected for quantification protocols. Our work is focused on the development and validation of methods for estimating extravasated doses in order to correct standard uptake value (SUV) values for this effect in clinical routine. One thousand three hundred sixty-seven consecutive whole body FDG-PET studies were visually inspected looking for extravasation cases. Two methods for estimating the extravasated dose were proposed and validated in different scenarios using Monte Carlo simulations. All visible extravasations were retrospectively evaluated using a manual ROI based method. In addition, the 50 patients with higher extravasated doses were also evaluated using a threshold-based method. Simulation studies showed that the proposed methods for estimating extravasated doses allow us to compensate the impact of extravasations on SUV values with an error below 5%. The quantitative evaluation of patient studies revealed that paravenous injection is a relatively frequent effect (18%) with a small fraction of patients presenting considerable extravasations ranging from 1% to a maximum of 22% of the injected dose. A criterion based on the extravasated volume and maximum concentration was established in order to identify this fraction of patients that might be corrected for paravenous injection effect. The authors propose the use of a manual ROI based method for estimating the effectively administered FDG dose and then correct SUV quantification in those patients fulfilling the proposed criterion.

Correction for FDG PET dose extravasations: Monte Carlo validation and quantitative evaluation of patient studies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Silva-Rodríguez, Jesús, E-mail: jesus.silva.rodriguez@sergas.es; Aguiar, Pablo, E-mail: pablo.aguiar.fernandez@sergas.es; Servicio de Medicina Nuclear, Complexo Hospitalario Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

Purpose: Current procedure guidelines for whole body [18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) state that studies with visible dose extravasations should be rejected for quantification protocols. Our work is focused on the development and validation of methods for estimating extravasated doses in order to correct standard uptake value (SUV) values for this effect in clinical routine. Methods: One thousand three hundred sixty-seven consecutive whole body FDG-PET studies were visually inspected looking for extravasation cases. Two methods for estimating the extravasated dose were proposed and validated in different scenarios using Monte Carlo simulations. All visible extravasations were retrospectively evaluated using a manualmore » ROI based method. In addition, the 50 patients with higher extravasated doses were also evaluated using a threshold-based method. Results: Simulation studies showed that the proposed methods for estimating extravasated doses allow us to compensate the impact of extravasations on SUV values with an error below 5%. The quantitative evaluation of patient studies revealed that paravenous injection is a relatively frequent effect (18%) with a small fraction of patients presenting considerable extravasations ranging from 1% to a maximum of 22% of the injected dose. A criterion based on the extravasated volume and maximum concentration was established in order to identify this fraction of patients that might be corrected for paravenous injection effect. Conclusions: The authors propose the use of a manual ROI based method for estimating the effectively administered FDG dose and then correct SUV quantification in those patients fulfilling the proposed criterion.« less

Designing and validation of a yoga-based intervention for schizophrenia.

PubMed

Govindaraj, Ramajayam; Varambally, Shivarama; Sharma, Manjunath; Gangadhar, Bangalore Nanjundaiah

2016-06-01

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness which causes significant distress and dysfunction. Yoga has been found to be effective as an add-on therapy in schizophrenia. Modules of yoga used in previous studies were based on individual researcher's experience. This study aimed to develop and validate a specific generic yoga-based intervention module for patients with schizophrenia. The study was conducted at NIMHANS Integrated Centre for Yoga (NICY). A yoga module was designed based on traditional and contemporary yoga literature as well as published studies. The yoga module along with three case vignettes of adult patients with schizophrenia was sent to 10 yoga experts for their validation. Experts (n = 10) gave their opinion on the usefulness of a yoga module for patients with schizophrenia with some modifications. In total, 87% (13 of 15 items) of the items in the initial module were retained, with modification in the remainder as suggested by the experts. A specific yoga-based module for schizophrenia was designed and validated by experts. Further studies are needed to confirm efficacy and clinical utility of the module. Additional clinical validation is suggested.

Assessing Motivation to Learn Chemistry: Adaptation and Validation of Science Motivation Questionnaire II with Greek Secondary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salta, Katerina; Koulougliotis, Dionysios

2015-01-01

In educational research, the availability of a validated version of an original instrument in a different language offers the possibility for valid measurements obtained within the specific educational context and in addition it provides the opportunity for valid cross-cultural comparisons. The present study aimed to adapt the Science Motivation…

Reliability and validity in a nutshell.

PubMed

Bannigan, Katrina; Watson, Roger

2009-12-01

To explore and explain the different concepts of reliability and validity as they are related to measurement instruments in social science and health care. There are different concepts contained in the terms reliability and validity and these are often explained poorly and there is often confusion between them. To develop some clarity about reliability and validity a conceptual framework was built based on the existing literature. The concepts of reliability, validity and utility are explored and explained. Reliability contains the concepts of internal consistency and stability and equivalence. Validity contains the concepts of content, face, criterion, concurrent, predictive, construct, convergent (and divergent), factorial and discriminant. In addition, for clinical practice and research, it is essential to establish the utility of a measurement instrument. To use measurement instruments appropriately in clinical practice, the extent to which they are reliable, valid and usable must be established.

Contributions of Middle Grade Students to the Validation Process of a National Science Assessment Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morell, Linda

2008-01-01

This study used a national validity project to investigate specific research questions regarding the intersections among aspects of validity, educational measurement, and cognitive theory. Validity evidence was collected through traditional paper and pencil tests, surveys, think-alouds, and exit interviews of fifth and sixth grade students, as…

The scoring of arousal in sleep: reliability, validity, and alternatives.

PubMed

Bonnet, Michael H; Doghramji, Karl; Roehrs, Timothy; Stepanski, Edward J; Sheldon, Stephen H; Walters, Arthur S; Wise, Merrill; Chesson, Andrew L

2007-03-15

The reliability and validity of EEG arousals and other types of arousal are reviewed. Brief arousals during sleep had been observed for many years, but the evolution of sleep medicine in the 1980s directed new attention to these events. Early studies at that time in animals and humans linked brief EEG arousals and associated fragmentation of sleep to daytime sleepiness and degraded performance. Increasing interest in scoring of EEG arousals led the ASDA to publish a scoring manual in 1992. The current review summarizes numerous studies that have examined scoring reliability for these EEG arousals. Validity of EEG arousals was explored by review of studies that empirically varied arousals and found deficits similar to those found after total sleep deprivation depending upon the rate and extent of sleep fragmentation. Additional data from patients with clinical sleep disorders prior to and after effective treatment has also shown a continuing relationship between reduction in pathology-related arousals and improved sleep and daytime function. Finally, many suggestions have been made to refine arousal scoring to include additional elements (e.g., CAP), change the time frame, or focus on other physiological responses such as heart rate or blood pressure changes. Evidence to support the reliability and validity of these measures is presented. It was concluded that the scoring of EEG arousals has added much to our understanding of the sleep process but that significant work on the neurophysiology of arousal needs to be done. Additional refinement of arousal scoring will provide improved insight into sleep pathology and recovery.

Digit Span as a measure of everyday attention: a study of ecological validity.

PubMed

Groth-Marnat, Gary; Baker, Sonya

2003-12-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of the WAIS-III Digit Span subtest to predict the everyday attention of 75 participants with heterogeneous neurological conditions who were administered the Digit Span subtest as well as the ecologically valid Test of Everyday Attention. In addition, the more visually oriented Picture Completion subtest along with the verbally loaded National Adult Reading Test were administered. Analysis indicated that, although Digit Span was a weak but statistically significant predictor of attentional ability (accounting for 12.7% of the unique variance). Picture Completion was a somewhat stronger predictor (accounting for 19% of the unique variance). The weak association of Digit Span and the Test of Everyday Attention, along with the finding that Picture Completion was a better predictor of performance on the Test of Everyday Attention, question the clinical utility of using Digit Span as a measure of everyday attention.

Test–retest reliability and validity of a web-based food-frequency questionnaire for adolescents aged 13–14 to be used in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

PubMed Central

Øverby, Nina Cecilie; Johannesen, Elisabeth; Jensen, Grete; Skjaevesland, Anne-Kirsti; Haugen, Margaretha

2014-01-01

Background The assessment of food intake is challenging and prone to errors; it is therefore important to consider the reliability and validity of the assessment methods. Objective The aim of this study was to analyze the reproducibility and validity of a developed food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use among adolescents. Design In total, 58 students (aged 13–14) from four different schools in the southern part of Norway participated in the reproducibility study of filling out the FFQ 4 weeks apart. In addition, 93 students participated in the relative validity study where the FFQ was compared to 2×24-hour dietary recalls, while 92 students participated in the absolute validity study where the intakes of fatty acids and vitamin D from the FFQ were compared to fatty acids and 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 in whole blood. Results The median Spearman correlation coefficient for all nutrients in the test–retest reliability study was 0.57. The median Spearman correlation for all nutrients in the relative validity study was 0.26, while the correlations coefficients were low in the absolute validity study with n-3 fatty acid coefficients ranging from 0.05 to 0.25, and absent for vitamin D (r=0.000). Conclusion The test–retest reproducibility was considered good, the relative validity was considered poor to good, and the absolute validity was considered poor. However, the results are comparable to other studies among adolescents. PMID:25371661

Design and Implementation Content Validity Study: Development of an instrument for measuring Patient-Centered Communication

PubMed Central

Zamanzadeh, Vahid; Ghahramanian, Akram; Rassouli, Maryam; Abbaszadeh, Abbas; Alavi-Majd, Hamid; Nikanfar, Ali-Reza

2015-01-01

Introduction: The importance of content validity in the instrument psychometric and its relevance with reliability, have made it an essential step in the instrument development. This article attempts to give an overview of the content validity process and to explain the complexity of this process by introducing an example. Methods: We carried out a methodological study conducted to examine the content validity of the patient-centered communication instrument through a two-step process (development and judgment). At the first step, domain determination, sampling (item generation) and instrument formation and at the second step, content validity ratio, content validity index and modified kappa statistic was performed. Suggestions of expert panel and item impact scores are used to examine the instrument face validity. Results: From a set of 188 items, content validity process identified seven dimensions includes trust building (eight items), informational support (seven items), emotional support (five items), problem solving (seven items), patient activation (10 items), intimacy/friendship (six items) and spirituality strengthening (14 items). Content validity study revealed that this instrument enjoys an appropriate level of content validity. The overall content validity index of the instrument using universal agreement approach was low; however, it can be advocated with respect to the high number of content experts that makes consensus difficult and high value of the S-CVI with the average approach, which was equal to 0.93. Conclusion: This article illustrates acceptable quantities indices for content validity a new instrument and outlines them during design and psychometrics of patient-centered communication measuring instrument. PMID:26161370

Cognitive Bias in the Verification and Validation of Space Flight Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larson, Steve

2012-01-01

Cognitive bias is generally recognized as playing a significant role in virtually all domains of human decision making. Insight into this role is informally built into many of the system engineering practices employed in the aerospace industry. The review process, for example, typically has features that help to counteract the effect of bias. This paper presents a discussion of how commonly recognized biases may affect the verification and validation process. Verifying and validating a system is arguably more challenging than development, both technically and cognitively. Whereas there may be a relatively limited number of options available for the design of a particular aspect of a system, there is a virtually unlimited number of potential verification scenarios that may be explored. The probability of any particular scenario occurring in operations is typically very difficult to estimate, which increases reliance on judgment that may be affected by bias. Implementing a verification activity often presents technical challenges that, if they can be overcome at all, often result in a departure from actual flight conditions (e.g., 1-g testing, simulation, time compression, artificial fault injection) that may raise additional questions about the meaningfulness of the results, and create opportunities for the introduction of additional biases. In addition to mitigating the biases it can introduce directly, the verification and validation process must also overcome the cumulative effect of biases introduced during all previous stages of development. A variety of cognitive biases will be described, with research results for illustration. A handful of case studies will be presented that show how cognitive bias may have affected the verification and validation process on recent JPL flight projects, identify areas of strength and weakness, and identify potential changes or additions to commonly used techniques that could provide a more robust verification and validation of

Anatomically ordered tapping interferes more with one-digit addition than two-digit addition: a dual-task fMRI study.

PubMed

Soylu, Firat; Newman, Sharlene D

2016-02-01

Fingers are used as canonical representations for numbers across cultures. In previous imaging studies, it was shown that arithmetic processing activates neural resources that are known to participate in finger movements. Additionally, in one dual-task study, it was shown that anatomically ordered finger tapping disrupts addition and subtraction more than multiplication, possibly due to a long-lasting effect of early finger counting experiences on the neural correlates and organization of addition and subtraction processes. How arithmetic task difficulty and tapping complexity affect the concurrent performance is still unclear. If early finger counting experiences have bearing on the neural correlates of arithmetic in adults, then one would expect anatomically and non-anatomically ordered tapping to have different interference effects, given that finger counting is usually anatomically ordered. To unravel these issues, we studied how (1) arithmetic task difficulty and (2) the complexity of the finger tapping sequence (anatomical vs. non-anatomical ordering) affect concurrent performance and use of key neural circuits using a mixed block/event-related dual-task fMRI design with adult participants. The results suggest that complexity of the tapping sequence modulates interference on addition, and that one-digit addition (fact retrieval), compared to two-digit addition (calculation), is more affected from anatomically ordered tapping. The region-of-interest analysis showed higher left angular gyrus BOLD response for one-digit compared to two-digit addition, and in no-tapping conditions than dual tapping conditions. The results support a specific association between addition fact retrieval and anatomically ordered finger movements in adults, possibly due to finger counting strategies that deploy anatomically ordered finger movements early in the development.

Verification and Validation Studies for the LAVA CFD Solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moini-Yekta, Shayan; Barad, Michael F; Sozer, Emre; Brehm, Christoph; Housman, Jeffrey A.; Kiris, Cetin C.

2013-01-01

The verification and validation of the Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver is presented. A modern strategy for verification and validation is described incorporating verification tests, validation benchmarks, continuous integration and version control methods for automated testing in a collaborative development environment. The purpose of the approach is to integrate the verification and validation process into the development of the solver and improve productivity. This paper uses the Method of Manufactured Solutions (MMS) for the verification of 2D Euler equations, 3D Navier-Stokes equations as well as turbulence models. A method for systematic refinement of unstructured grids is also presented. Verification using inviscid vortex propagation and flow over a flat plate is highlighted. Simulation results using laminar and turbulent flow past a NACA 0012 airfoil and ONERA M6 wing are validated against experimental and numerical data.

An exploratory study examining the influence of translation on the validity and reliability of qualitative data in nursing research.

PubMed

Twinn, S

1997-08-01

Although the complexity of undertaking qualitative research with non-English speaking informants has become increasingly recognized, few empirical studies exist which explore the influence of translation on the findings of the study. The aim of this exploratory study was therefore to examine the influence of translation on the reliability and validity of the findings of a qualitative research study. In-depth interviews were undertaken in Cantonese with a convenience sample of six women to explore their perceptions of factors influencing their uptake of Pap smears. Data analysis involved three stages. The first stage involved the translation and transcription of all the interviews into English independently by two translators as well as transcription into Chinese by a third researcher. The second stage involved content analysis of the three data sets to develop categories and themes and the third stage involved a comparison of the categories and themes generated from the Chinese and English data sets. Despite no significant differences in the major categories generated from the Chinese and English data, some minor differences were identified in the themes generated from the data. More significantly the results of the study demonstrated some important issues to consider when using translation in qualitative research, in particular the complexity of managing data when no equivalent word exists in the target language and the influence of the grammatical style on the analysis. In addition the findings raise questions about the significance of the conceptual framework of the research design and sampling to the validity of the study. The importance of using only one translator to maximize the reliability of the study was also demonstrated. In addition the author suggests the findings demonstrate particular problems in using translation in phenomenological research designs.

EOS Terra Validation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starr, David

2000-01-01

The EOS Terra mission will be launched in July 1999. This mission has great relevance to the atmospheric radiation community and global change issues. Terra instruments include Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). In addition to the fundamental radiance data sets, numerous global science data products will be generated, including various Earth radiation budget, cloud and aerosol parameters, as well as land surface, terrestrial ecology, ocean color, and atmospheric chemistry parameters. Significant investments have been made in on-board calibration to ensure the quality of the radiance observations. A key component of the Terra mission is the validation of the science data products. This is essential for a mission focused on global change issues and the underlying processes. The Terra algorithms have been subject to extensive pre-launch testing with field data whenever possible. Intensive efforts will be made to validate the Terra data products after launch. These include validation of instrument calibration (vicarious calibration) experiments, instrument and cross-platform comparisons, routine collection of high quality correlative data from ground-based networks, such as AERONET, and intensive sites, such as the SGP ARM site, as well as a variety field experiments, cruises, etc. Airborne simulator instruments have been developed for the field experiment and underflight activities including the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) AirMISR, MASTER (MODIS-ASTER), and MOPITT-A. All are integrated on the NASA ER-2 though low altitude platforms are more typically used for MASTER. MATR is an additional sensor used for MOPITT algorithm development and validation. The intensive validation activities planned for the first year of the Terra

Kinetic studies of retinol addition radicals.

PubMed

El-Agamey, Ali; Fukuzumi, Shunichi; Naqvi, K Razi; McGarvey, David J

2011-03-07

Retinol neutral radicals (RS-retinol˙), generated from the reaction of retinol with 4-pyridylthiyl and 2-pyridylthiyl radicals in argon-saturated methanol, undergo β-elimination, which can be monitored via the slow secondary absorption rise at 380 nm attributed to the rearrangement of the unstable retinol neutral addition radicals to the more stable addition radicals. Rate constants for the β-elimination reactions (k(β)) of 4-PyrS-retinol˙ were measured at different temperatures and the Arrhenius equation for the reaction is described by log (k(β)/s(-1)) = (12.7 ± 0.2) - (54.3 ± 1.3)/θ, where θ = 2.3RT kJ mol(-1). The reactivities of retinol addition radicals (RS-retinol˙), generated from the reaction of retinol with various thiyl radicals, towards oxygen have also been investigated in methanol. In the presence of oxygen, the decay of RS-retinol˙ fits to biexponential kinetics and both observed rate constants for the RS-retinol˙ decay are oxygen-concentration dependent. This suggests that at least two thiyl addition radicals, formed from the reaction of RS˙ with retinol, undergo oxygen addition reactions. In light of the estimated rate constants for oxygen addition to RS-retinol˙ and RS-CAR˙ (CAR: carotenoid), the antioxidant-prooxidant properties of retinol are discussed.

Shape Optimization by Bayesian-Validated Computer-Simulation Surrogates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patera, Anthony T.

1997-01-01

A nonparametric-validated, surrogate approach to optimization has been applied to the computational optimization of eddy-promoter heat exchangers and to the experimental optimization of a multielement airfoil. In addition to the baseline surrogate framework, a surrogate-Pareto framework has been applied to the two-criteria, eddy-promoter design problem. The Pareto analysis improves the predictability of the surrogate results, preserves generality, and provides a means to rapidly determine design trade-offs. Significant contributions have been made in the geometric description used for the eddy-promoter inclusions as well as to the surrogate framework itself. A level-set based, geometric description has been developed to define the shape of the eddy-promoter inclusions. The level-set technique allows for topology changes (from single-body,eddy-promoter configurations to two-body configurations) without requiring any additional logic. The continuity of the output responses for input variations that cross the boundary between topologies has been demonstrated. Input-output continuity is required for the straightforward application of surrogate techniques in which simplified, interpolative models are fitted through a construction set of data. The surrogate framework developed previously has been extended in a number of ways. First, the formulation for a general, two-output, two-performance metric problem is presented. Surrogates are constructed and validated for the outputs. The performance metrics can be functions of both outputs, as well as explicitly of the inputs, and serve to characterize the design preferences. By segregating the outputs and the performance metrics, an additional level of flexibility is provided to the designer. The validated outputs can be used in future design studies and the error estimates provided by the output validation step still apply, and require no additional appeals to the expensive analysis. Second, a candidate-based a posteriori

Screening for cognitive impairment in older individuals. Validation study of a computer-based test.

PubMed

Green, R C; Green, J; Harrison, J M; Kutner, M H

1994-08-01

This study examined the validity of a computer-based cognitive test that was recently designed to screen the elderly for cognitive impairment. Criterion-related validity was examined by comparing test scores of impaired patients and normal control subjects. Construct-related validity was computed through correlations between computer-based subtests and related conventional neuropsychological subtests. University center for memory disorders. Fifty-two patients with mild cognitive impairment by strict clinical criteria and 50 unimpaired, age- and education-matched control subjects. Control subjects were rigorously screened by neurological, neuropsychological, imaging, and electrophysiological criteria to identify and exclude individuals with occult abnormalities. Using a cut-off total score of 126, this computer-based instrument had a sensitivity of 0.83 and a specificity of 0.96. Using a prevalence estimate of 10%, predictive values, positive and negative, were 0.70 and 0.96, respectively. Computer-based subtests correlated significantly with conventional neuropsychological tests measuring similar cognitive domains. Thirteen (17.8%) of 73 volunteers with normal medical histories were excluded from the control group, with unsuspected abnormalities on standard neuropsychological tests, electroencephalograms, or magnetic resonance imaging scans. Computer-based testing is a valid screening methodology for the detection of mild cognitive impairment in the elderly, although this particular test has important limitations. Broader applications of computer-based testing will require extensive population-based validation. Future studies should recognize that normal control subjects without a history of disease who are typically used in validation studies may have a high incidence of unsuspected abnormalities on neurodiagnostic studies.

Evaluation of methyl methanesulfonate, 2,6-diaminotoluene and 5-fluorouracil: Part of the Japanese center for the validation of alternative methods (JaCVAM) international validation study of the in vivo rat alkaline comet assay.

PubMed

Plappert-Helbig, Ulla; Junker-Walker, Ursula; Martus, Hans-Joerg

2015-07-01

As a part of the Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM)-initiative international validation study of the in vivo rat alkaline comet assay (comet assay), we examined methyl methanesulfonate, 2,6-diaminotoluene, and 5-fluorouracil under coded test conditions. Rats were treated orally with the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and two additional descending doses of the respective compounds. In the MMS treated groups liver and stomach showed significantly elevated DNA damage at each dose level and a significant dose-response relationship. 2,6-diaminotoluene induced significantly elevated DNA damage in the liver at each dose and a statistically significant dose-response relationship whereas no DNA damage was obtained in the stomach. 5-fluorouracil did not induce DNA damage in either liver or stomach. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

10-Year Coronary Heart Disease Risk Prediction Using Coronary Artery Calcium and Traditional Risk Factors: Derivation in the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) With Validation in the HNR (Heinz Nixdorf Recall) Study and the DHS (Dallas Heart Study).

PubMed

McClelland, Robyn L; Jorgensen, Neal W; Budoff, Matthew; Blaha, Michael J; Post, Wendy S; Kronmal, Richard A; Bild, Diane E; Shea, Steven; Liu, Kiang; Watson, Karol E; Folsom, Aaron R; Khera, Amit; Ayers, Colby; Mahabadi, Amir-Abbas; Lehmann, Nils; Jöckel, Karl-Heinz; Moebus, Susanne; Carr, J Jeffrey; Erbel, Raimund; Burke, Gregory L

2015-10-13

Several studies have demonstrated the tremendous potential of using coronary artery calcium (CAC) in addition to traditional risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) risk prediction. However, to date, no risk score incorporating CAC has been developed. The goal of this study was to derive and validate a novel risk score to estimate 10-year CHD risk using CAC and traditional risk factors. Algorithm development was conducted in the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis), a prospective community-based cohort study of 6,814 participants age 45 to 84 years, who were free of clinical heart disease at baseline and followed for 10 years. MESA is sex balanced and included 39% non-Hispanic whites, 12% Chinese Americans, 28% African Americans, and 22% Hispanic Americans. External validation was conducted in the HNR (Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study) and the DHS (Dallas Heart Study). Inclusion of CAC in the MESA risk score offered significant improvements in risk prediction (C-statistic 0.80 vs. 0.75; p < 0.0001). External validation in both the HNR and DHS studies provided evidence of very good discrimination and calibration. Harrell's C-statistic was 0.779 in HNR and 0.816 in DHS. Additionally, the difference in estimated 10-year risk between events and nonevents was approximately 8% to 9%, indicating excellent discrimination. Mean calibration, or calibration-in-the-large, was excellent for both studies, with average predicted 10-year risk within one-half of a percent of the observed event rate. An accurate estimate of 10-year CHD risk can be obtained using traditional risk factors and CAC. The MESA risk score, which is available online on the MESA web site for easy use, can be used to aid clinicians when communicating risk to patients and when determining risk-based treatment strategies. Copyright © 2015 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Validation Study of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clay, Rex J.

A study was conducted to expand the body of research that tests the validity of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory in a work context where it often serves as a guide for the supervisor's relationships with his subordinates. Data was gathered by questionnaire which tested for a hierarchy of needs among instructors at four community colleges…

A Framework for Conducting ESL/EFL Construct Validation Studies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mouw, John T.; Perkins, Kyle

The purpose for which a test is used and the examinees' stage of learning are two anchor points that are incorporated into a suggested framework for conducting construct validation studies for tests of students with English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL). The framework includes the use of generalizability theory,…

Rap-Music Attitude and Perception Scale: A Validation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyson, Edgar H.

2006-01-01

Objective: This study tests the validity of the Rap-music Attitude and Perception (RAP) Scale, a 1-page, 24-item measure of a person's thoughts and feelings surrounding the effects and content of rap music. The RAP was designed as a rapid assessment instrument for youth programs and practitioners using rap music and hip hop culture in their work…

SHADOZ (Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes): An Ozonesonde Network for Satellite Validation, Climatology and Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Anne M.; Witte, Jacquelyn C.; Schmidlin, Francis J.; Oltmans, Samuel J.; McPeters, Richard D.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

In the past 5 years, new tropical ozone data products have been developed from TOMS and other satellites, During this period, global chemical-transport models have been used for ozone assessment studies. However, there has been a lack of independent ozone profiles in the tropics for evaluation of the data sets and models. In 1998, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Wallops Flight Facility and NOAA's CMDL (Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Lab), began a 2-year project to collect a consistent data set by augmenting ozonesonde launches at southern hemisphere tropical sites The measurements are available to the scientific community at a single electronic location - the SHADOZ website at NASA/Goddard: http://code9l6.gsfc.nasa.gov/Data services/Shadoz/shadoz hmpg2.html. Stations in SHADOZ include four islands in the Pacific: Fiji, Tahiti, San Cristobal (Galapagos) and American Samoa. Two sites are at and in the Atlantic: Natal (Brazil) and Ascension Island. Three other sites span Africa (Nairobi and Irene, South Africa) and the Indian Ocean (Reunion Island and Watukosek in Java, Indonesia). All SHADOZ sites are using ECC-type sondes, with the conversion from JMD sondes at Java in 1999, but there are variations in sonde preparation technique and data processing. During the 1998-1999 period, more than 550 sondes were incorporated into the SHADOZ data base. Examples from these measurements illustrate the tropical wave-one pattern in total ozone which is easily detectable by satellite. They also show that the wave-one pattern appears to be in the troposphere, as assumed in creating the modified-residual tropospheric ozone data product from TOMS. SHADOZ will add data from intensive field campaigns from time to time. Recent contributions to the SHADOZ archive are from the INDOEX (Indian Ocean Experiment January-March 1999)sondes at the Maldives (5N, 73E) and 27 sondes on the US NOAA oceanographic vessel, the FIN Ronald H Brown between Virginia (US) and Mauritius via Cape

Development and Validation of a Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS)

PubMed Central

Kwon, Min; Lee, Joon-Yeop; Won, Wang-Youn; Park, Jae-Woo; Min, Jung-Ah; Hahn, Changtae; Gu, Xinyu; Choi, Ji-Hye; Kim, Dai-Jin

2013-01-01

Objective The aim of this study was to develop a self-diagnostic scale that could distinguish smartphone addicts based on the Korean self-diagnostic program for Internet addiction (K-scale) and the smartphone's own features. In addition, the reliability and validity of the smartphone addiction scale (SAS) was demonstrated. Methods A total of 197 participants were selected from Nov. 2011 to Jan. 2012 to accomplish a set of questionnaires, including SAS, K-scale, modified Kimberly Young Internet addiction test (Y-scale), visual analogue scale (VAS), and substance dependence and abuse diagnosis of DSM-IV. There were 64 males and 133 females, with ages ranging from 18 to 53 years (M = 26.06; SD = 5.96). Factor analysis, internal-consistency test, t-test, ANOVA, and correlation analysis were conducted to verify the reliability and validity of SAS. Results Based on the factor analysis results, the subscale “disturbance of reality testing” was removed, and six factors were left. The internal consistency and concurrent validity of SAS were verified (Cronbach's alpha = 0.967). SAS and its subscales were significantly correlated with K-scale and Y-scale. The VAS of each factor also showed a significant correlation with each subscale. In addition, differences were found in the job (p<0.05), education (p<0.05), and self-reported smartphone addiction scores (p<0.001) in SAS. Conclusions This study developed the first scale of the smartphone addiction aspect of the diagnostic manual. This scale was proven to be relatively reliable and valid. PMID:23468893

Concurrent validity of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI): a study of African American precollege students.

PubMed

Flowers, Lamont A; Bridges, Brian K; Moore III, James L

2012-01-01

Concurrent validation procedures were employed, using a sample of African American precollege students, to determine the extent to which scale scores obtained from the first edition of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) were appropriate for diagnostic purposes. Data analysis revealed that 2 of the 10 LASSI scales (i.e., Anxiety and Test Strategies) significantly correlated with a measure of academic ability. These results suggested that scores obtained from these LASSI scales may provide valid assessments of African American precollege students’ academic aptitude. Implications for teachers, school counselors, and developmental studies professionals were discussed.

Validation Study of Maternal Recall on Breastfeeding Duration 6 Years After Childbirth.

PubMed

Amissah, Emma Ayorkor; Kancherla, Vijaya; Ko, Yi-An; Li, Ruowei

2017-05-01

Breastfeeding duration is an important indicator commonly measured in maternal and child health and nutrition research. Maternal short-term recall for both initiation and duration of breastfeeding has been shown to be valid; however, validity of long-term recall is not well understood. Research aim: This study aims to assess the validity of maternal recall of breastfeeding duration 6 years after childbirth and its association with sociodemographic factors. Among 635 mother-child pairs, breastfeeding duration data collected monthly throughout the 1st year after childbirth in the Infant Feeding Practices Study II (IFPS II) were compared to recall data obtained 6 years later during the Year 6 Follow-Up. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots were examined to study the agreement between the two data sets. Sociodemographic factors associated with accurate recall to within 1 month of the IFPS II breastfeeding duration were assessed using multivariable logistic regression modeling. Maternal recall of breastfeeding duration was found to be valid 6 years after childbirth with a small median overall bias (1 week) toward overestimation. The overall concordance was high (ICC = 0.84), except for high school graduates (ICC = 0.63) and smokers (ICC = 0.61). Smokers (adjusted odds ratio = 0.52; 95% confidence interval [0.4, 0.8]) and multiparous women (adjusted odds ratio = 0.57; 95% confidence interval [0.4, 0.9]) were also less likely to give an accurate recall of their breastfeeding duration to within 1 month. Our study found that maternal recall of breastfeeding duration varies by sociodemographic factors but is accurate 6 years after childbirth.

Development and Validation Study of the Internet Overuse Screening Questionnaire

PubMed Central

Lee, Han-Kyeong; Lee, Hae-Woo; Han, Joo Hyun; Park, Subin; Ju, Seok-Jin; Choi, Kwanwoo; Lee, Ji Hyeon; Jeon, Hong Jin

2018-01-01

Objective Concerns over behavioral and emotional problems caused by excessive internet usage have been developed. This study intended to develop and a standardize questionnaire that can efficiently identify at-risk internet users through their internet usage habits. Methods Participants (n=158) were recruited at six I-will-centers located in Seoul, South Korea. From the initial 36 questionnaire item pool, 28 preliminary items were selected through expert evaluation and panel discussions. The construct validity, internal consistency, and concurrent validity were examined. We also conducted Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analysis to assess diagnostic ability of the Internet Overuse Screening-Questionnaire (IOS-Q). Results The exploratory factor analysis yielded a five factor structure. Four factors with 17 items remained after items that had unclear factor loading were removed. The Cronbach’s alpha for the IOS-Q total score was 0.91, and test-retest reliability was 0.72. The correlation between Young’s internet addiction scale and K-scale supported concurrent validity. ROC analysis showed that the IOS-Q has superior diagnostic ability with the Area Under the Curve of 0.87. At the cut-off point of 25.5, the sensitivity was 0.93 and specificity was 0.86. Conclusion Overall, this study supports the use of IOS-Q for internet addiction research and for screening high-risk individuals. PMID:29669406

Multi-analyte validation in heterogeneous solution by ELISA.

PubMed

Lakshmipriya, Thangavel; Gopinath, Subash C B; Hashim, Uda; Murugaiyah, Vikneswaran

2017-12-01

Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) is a standard assay that has been used widely to validate the presence of analyte in the solution. With the advancement of ELISA, different strategies have shown and became a suitable immunoassay for a wide range of analytes. Herein, we attempted to provide additional evidence with ELISA, to show its suitability for multi-analyte detection. To demonstrate, three clinically relevant targets have been chosen, which include 16kDa protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, human blood clotting Factor IXa and a tumour marker Squamous Cell Carcinoma antigen. Indeed, we adapted the routine steps from the conventional ELISA to validate the occurrence of analytes both in homogeneous and heterogeneous solutions. With the homogeneous and heterogeneous solutions, we could attain the sensitivity of 2, 8 and 1nM for the targets 16kDa protein, FIXa and SSC antigen, respectively. Further, the specific multi-analyte validations were evidenced with the similar sensitivities in the presence of human serum. ELISA assay in this study has proven its applicability for the genuine multiple target validation in the heterogeneous solution, can be followed for other target validations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intent inferencing by an intelligent operator's associate - A validation study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Patricia M.

1988-01-01

In the supervisory control of a complex, dynamic system, one potential form of aiding for the human operator is a computer-based operator's associate. The design philosophy of the operator's associate is that of 'amplifying' rather than automating human skills. In particular, the associate possesses understanding and control properties. Understanding allows it to infer operator intentions and thus form the basis for context-dependent advice and reminders; control properties allow the human operator to dynamically delegate individual tasks or subfunctions to the associate. This paper focuses on the design, implementation, and validation of the intent inferencing function. Two validation studies are described which empirically demonstrate the viability of the proposed approach to intent inferencing.

Assessing students' communication skills: validation of a global rating.

PubMed

Scheffer, Simone; Muehlinghaus, Isabel; Froehmel, Annette; Ortwein, Heiderose

2008-12-01

Communication skills training is an accepted part of undergraduate medical programs nowadays. In addition to learning experiences its importance should be emphasised by performance-based assessment. As detailed checklists have been shown to be not well suited for the assessment of communication skills for different reasons, this study aimed to validate a global rating scale. A Canadian instrument was translated to German and adapted to assess students' communication skills during an end-of-semester-OSCE. Subjects were second and third year medical students at the reformed track of the Charité-Universitaetsmedizin Berlin. Different groups of raters were trained to assess students' communication skills using the global rating scale. Validity testing included concurrent validity and construct validity: Judgements of different groups of raters were compared to expert ratings as a defined gold standard. Furthermore, the amount of agreement between scores obtained with this global rating scale and a different instrument for assessing communication skills was determined. Results show that communication skills can be validly assessed by trained non-expert raters as well as standardised patients using this instrument.

Evaluation of the confusion matrix method in the validation of an automated system for measuring feeding behaviour of cattle.

PubMed

Ruuska, Salla; Hämäläinen, Wilhelmiina; Kajava, Sari; Mughal, Mikaela; Matilainen, Pekka; Mononen, Jaakko

2018-03-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate empirically confusion matrices in device validation. We compared the confusion matrix method to linear regression and error indices in the validation of a device measuring feeding behaviour of dairy cattle. In addition, we studied how to extract additional information on classification errors with confusion probabilities. The data consisted of 12 h behaviour measurements from five dairy cows; feeding and other behaviour were detected simultaneously with a device and from video recordings. The resulting 216 000 pairs of classifications were used to construct confusion matrices and calculate performance measures. In addition, hourly durations of each behaviour were calculated and the accuracy of measurements was evaluated with linear regression and error indices. All three validation methods agreed when the behaviour was detected very accurately or inaccurately. Otherwise, in the intermediate cases, the confusion matrix method and error indices produced relatively concordant results, but the linear regression method often disagreed with them. Our study supports the use of confusion matrix analysis in validation since it is robust to any data distribution and type of relationship, it makes a stringent evaluation of validity, and it offers extra information on the type and sources of errors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sexual behavioral abstine HIV/AIDS questionnaire: Validation study of an Iranian questionnaire.

PubMed

Najarkolaei, Fatemeh Rahmati; Niknami, Shamsaddin; Shokravi, Farkhondeh Amin; Tavafian, Sedigheh Sadat; Fesharaki, Mohammad Gholami; Jafari, Mohammad Reza

2014-01-01

This study was designed to assess the validity and reliability of the designed sexual, behavioral abstinence, and avoidance of high-risk situation questionnaire (SBAHAQ), with an aim to construct an appropriate development tool in the Iranian population. A descriptive-analytic study was conducted among female undergraduate students of Tehran University, who were selected through cluster random sampling. After reviewing the questionnaires and investigating face and content validity, internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS 16 Software, respectively. The sample consisted of 348 female university students with a mean age of 20.69 ± 1.63 years. The content validity ratio (CVR) coefficient was 0.85 and the reliability of each section of the questionnaire was as follows: Perceived benefit (PB; 0.87), behavioral intention (BI; 0.77), and self-efficacy (SE; 0.85) (Cronbach's alpha totally was 0.83). Explanatory factor analysis showed three factors, including SE, PB, and BI, with the total variance of 61% and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index of 88%. These factors were also confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis [adjusted goodness of fitness index (AGFI) = 0.939, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.039]. This study showed the designed questionnaire provided adequate construct validity and reliability, and could be adequately used to measure sexual abstinence and avoidance of high-risk situations among female students.

Sexual behavioral abstine HIV/AIDS questionnaire: Validation study of an Iranian questionnaire

PubMed Central

Najarkolaei, Fatemeh Rahmati; Niknami, Shamsaddin; Shokravi, Farkhondeh Amin; Tavafian, Sedigheh Sadat; Fesharaki, Mohammad Gholami; Jafari, Mohammad Reza

2014-01-01

Background: This study was designed to assess the validity and reliability of the designed sexual, behavioral abstinence, and avoidance of high-risk situation questionnaire (SBAHAQ), with an aim to construct an appropriate development tool in the Iranian population. Materials and Methods: A descriptive–analytic study was conducted among female undergraduate students of Tehran University, who were selected through cluster random sampling. After reviewing the questionnaires and investigating face and content validity, internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's alpha. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS 16 Software, respectively. Results: The sample consisted of 348 female university students with a mean age of 20.69 ± 1.63 years. The content validity ratio (CVR) coefficient was 0.85 and the reliability of each section of the questionnaire was as follows: Perceived benefit (PB; 0.87), behavioral intention (BI; 0.77), and self-efficacy (SE; 0.85) (Cronbach's alpha totally was 0.83). Explanatory factor analysis showed three factors, including SE, PB, and BI, with the total variance of 61% and Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) index of 88%. These factors were also confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis [adjusted goodness of fitness index (AGFI) = 0.939, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.039]. Conclusion: This study showed the designed questionnaire provided adequate construct validity and reliability, and could be adequately used to measure sexual abstinence and avoidance of high-risk situations among female students. PMID:24741650

The Clinical Impression of Severity Index for Parkinson's Disease: international validation study.

PubMed

Martínez-Martín, Pablo; Rodríguez-Blázquez, Carmen; Forjaz, Maria João; de Pedro, Jesús

2009-01-30

This study sought to provide further information about the psychometric properties of the Clinical Impression of Severity Index for Parkinson's Disease (CISI-PD), in a large, international, cross-culturally diverse sample. Six hundred and fourteen patients with PD participated in the study. Apart from the CISI-PD, assessments were based on Hoehn & Yahr (HY) staging, the Scales for Outcomes in PD-Motor (SCOPA-M), -Cognition (SCOPA-COG) and -Psychosocial (SCOPA-PS), the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatrics, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The total CISI-PD score displayed no floor or ceiling effects. Internal consistency was 0.81, the test-retest intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.84, and item homogeneity was 0.52. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.07) confirmed CISI-PD's unifactorial structure. The CISI-PD showed adequate convergent validity with SCOPA-COG and SCOPA-M (r(S) = 0.46-0.85, respectively) and discriminative validity for HY stages and disease duration (P < 0.0001). In a multiple regression model, main CISI-PD predictors were SCOPA-M, disease duration, and depression. The results obtained were not only comparable to but also extended those yielded by the preliminary validation study, thus showing that the CISI-PD is a valid instrument to measure clinical impression of severity in PD. Its simplicity and easy application make it an attractive and useful tool for clinical practice and research.

A content validity study of signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems expressed in LIBRAS1

PubMed Central

Aragão, Jamilly da Silva; de França, Inacia Sátiro Xavier; Coura, Alexsandro Silva; de Sousa, Francisco Stélio; Batista, Joana D'arc Lyra; Magalhães, Isabella Medeiros de Oliveira

2015-01-01

Objectives: to validate the content of signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems expressed in LIBRAS for people with deafness Method: methodological development study, which involved 36 people with deafness and three LIBRAS specialists. The study was conducted in three stages: investigation of the signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems, referred to by people with deafness, reported in a questionnaire; video recordings of how people with deafness express, through LIBRA, the signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems; and validation of the contents of the recordings of the expressions by LIBRAS specialists. Data were processed in a spreadsheet and analyzed using univariate tables, with absolute frequencies and percentages. The validation results were analyzed using the Content Validity Index (CVI). Results: 33 expressions in LIBRAS, of signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems were evaluated, and 28 expressions obtained a satisfactory CVI (1.00). Conclusions: the signs, symptoms and diseases/health problems expressed in LIBRAS presented validity, in the study region, for health professionals, especially nurses, for use in the clinical anamnesis of the nursing consultation for people with deafness. PMID:26625991

Validation of verbal autopsy methods using hospital medical records: a case study in Vietnam.

PubMed

Tran, Hong Thi; Nguyen, Hoa Phuong; Walker, Sue M; Hill, Peter S; Rao, Chalapati

2018-05-18

Information on causes of death (COD) is crucial for measuring the health outcomes of populations and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. In many countries such as Vietnam where the civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system is dysfunctional, information on vital events will continue to rely on verbal autopsy (VA) methods. This study assesses the validity of VA methods used in Vietnam, and provides recommendations on methods for implementing VA validation studies in Vietnam. This validation study was conducted on a sample of 670 deaths from a recent VA study in Quang Ninh province. The study covered 116 cases from this sample, which met three inclusion criteria: a) the death occurred within 30 days of discharge after last hospitalisation, and b) medical records (MRs) for the deceased were available from respective hospitals, and c) the medical record mentioned that the patient was terminally ill at discharge. For each death, the underlying cause of death (UCOD) identified from MRs was compared to the UCOD from VA. The validity of VA diagnoses for major causes of death was measured using sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV). The sensitivity of VA was at least 75% in identifying some leading CODs such as stroke, road traffic accidents and several site-specific cancers. However, sensitivity was less than 50% for other important causes including ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and diabetes. Overall, there was 57% agreement between UCOD from VA and MR, which increased to 76% when multiple causes from VA were compared to UCOD from MR. Our findings suggest that VA is a valid method to ascertain UCOD in contexts such as Vietnam. Furthermore, within cultural contexts in which patients prefer to die at home instead of a healthcare facility, using the available MRs as the gold standard may be meaningful to the extent that recall bias from the interval between last hospital discharge and death

Collaborative study for the validation of alternative in vitro potency assays for human tetanus immunoglobulin.

PubMed

Gross, S; Janssen, S W J; de Vries, B; Terao, E; Daas, A; Buchheit, K-H

2009-10-01

The European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) monograph Human tetanus immunoglobulin (0398) gives a clear outline of the in vivo assay to be performed to determine the potency of human tetanus immunoglobulins during their development. Furthermore, it states that an in vitro method shall be validated for the batch potency estimation. Since no further guidance is given on the in vitro assay, every control laboratory concerned is free to design and validate an in-house method. At the moment there is no agreed in vitro method available. The aim of this study was to validate and compare 2 alternative in vitro assays, i.e. an enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA) and a toxoid inhibition assay (TIA), through an international collaborative study, in view of their eventual inclusion into the Ph. Eur.. The study was run in the framework of the Biological Standardisation Programme (BSP), under the aegis of the European Commission and the Council of Europe. The collaborative study reported here involved 21 laboratories (public and industry) from 15 countries. Initially, 3 samples with low, medium and high potencies were tested by EIA and TIA. Results showed good reproducibility and repeatability of the 2 in vitro methods. The correlation of the data with the in vivo potency assigned by the manufacturers however appeared initially poor for high potency samples. Thorough re-examination of the data showed that the in vivo potencies assigned by the manufacturers had to be corrected: one for potency loss at the time of in vitro testing and one because of a reporting error. After these corrections the values obtained by in vivo and in vitro methods were in close agreement. A supplementary collaborative work was carried out to validate the 2 methods for immunoglobulin products with high potencies. Eight laboratories (public and industry) took part in this additional study to test 3 samples with medium and high potencies by EIA and TIA. Results confirmed that the 2 alternative methods are

40 CFR 761.386 - Required experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. 761.386 Section 761.386 Protection of... (PCBs) MANUFACTURING, PROCESSING, DISTRIBUTION IN COMMERCE, AND USE PROHIBITIONS Comparison Study for... experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. The following...

40 CFR 761.386 - Required experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. 761.386 Section 761.386 Protection of... (PCBs) MANUFACTURING, PROCESSING, DISTRIBUTION IN COMMERCE, AND USE PROHIBITIONS Comparison Study for... experimental conditions for the validation study and subsequent use during decontamination. The following...

The EORTC information questionnaire, EORTC QLQ-INFO25. Validation study for Spanish patients.

PubMed

Arraras, Juan Ignacio; Manterola, Ana; Hernández, Berta; Arias de la Vega, Fernando; Martínez, Maite; Vila, Meritxell; Eito, Clara; Vera, Ruth; Domínguez, Miguel Ángel

2011-06-01

The EORTC QLQ-INFO25 evaluates the information received by cancer patients. This study assesses the psychometric properties of the QLQ-INFO25 when applied to a sample of Spanish patients. A total of 169 patients with different cancers and stages of disease completed the EORTC QLQINFO25, the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the information scales of the inpatient satisfaction module EORTC IN-PATSAT32 on two occasions during the patients' treatment and follow- up period. Psychometric evaluation of the structure, reliability, validity and responsiveness to changes was conducted. Patient acceptability was assessed with a debriefing questionnaire. Multi-trait scaling confirmed the 4 multi-item scales (information about disease, medical tests, treatment and other services) and eight single items. All items met the standards for convergent validity and all except one met the standards of item discriminant validity. Internal consistency for all scales (α>0.70) and the whole questionnaire (α>0.90) was adequate in the three measurements, except information about the disease (0.67) and other services (0.68) in the first measurement, as was test-retest reliability (intraclass correlations >0.70). Correlations with related areas of IN-PATSAT32 (r>0.40) supported convergent validity. Divergent validity was confirmed through low correlations with EORTC QLQ-C30 scales (r<0.30). The EORTC QLQ-INFO-25 discriminated among groups based on gender, age, education, levels of anxiety and depression, treatment line, wish for information and satisfaction. One scale and an item showed changes over time. The EORTC QLQ-INFO 25 is a reliable and valid instrument when applied to a sample of Spanish cancer patients. These results are in line with those of the EORTC validation study.

Novel Automated Morphometric and Kinematic Handwriting Assessment: A Validity Study in Children with ASD and ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dirlikov, Benjamin; Younes, Laurent; Nebel, Mary Beth; Martinelli, Mary Katherine; Tiedemann, Alyssa Nicole; Koch, Carolyn A.; Fiorilli, Diana; Bastian, Amy J.; Denckla, Martha Bridge; Miller, Michael I.; Mostofsky, Stewart H.

2017-01-01

This study presents construct validity for a novel automated morphometric and kinematic handwriting assessment, including (1) convergent validity, establishing reliability of automated measures with traditional manual-derived Minnesota Handwriting Assessment (MHA), and (2) discriminant validity, establishing that the automated methods distinguish…

Observational study to calculate addictive risk to opioids: a validation study of a predictive algorithm to evaluate opioid use disorder.

PubMed

Brenton, Ashley; Richeimer, Steven; Sharma, Maneesh; Lee, Chee; Kantorovich, Svetlana; Blanchard, John; Meshkin, Brian

2017-01-01

Opioid abuse in chronic pain patients is a major public health issue, with rapidly increasing addiction rates and deaths from unintentional overdose more than quadrupling since 1999. This study seeks to determine the predictability of aberrant behavior to opioids using a comprehensive scoring algorithm incorporating phenotypic risk factors and neuroscience-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The Proove Opioid Risk (POR) algorithm determines the predictability of aberrant behavior to opioids using a comprehensive scoring algorithm incorporating phenotypic risk factors and neuroscience-associated SNPs. In a validation study with 258 subjects with diagnosed opioid use disorder (OUD) and 650 controls who reported using opioids, the POR successfully categorized patients at high and moderate risks of opioid misuse or abuse with 95.7% sensitivity. Regardless of changes in the prevalence of opioid misuse or abuse, the sensitivity of POR remained >95%. The POR correctly stratifies patients into low-, moderate-, and high-risk categories to appropriately identify patients at need for additional guidance, monitoring, or treatment changes.

Compulsive sexual behavior inventory: a preliminary study of reliability and validity.

PubMed

Coleman, E; Miner, M; Ohlerking, F; Raymond, N

2001-01-01

This preliminary study was designed to develop empirically a scale of compulsive sexual behavior (CSB) and to test its reliability and validity in a sample of individuals with nonparaphilic CSB (N = 15), in a sample of pedophiles (N = 35) in treatment for sexual offending, and in a sample of normal controls (N = 42). Following a factor analysis and a varimax rotation, those items with factor loadings on the rotated factors of greater than .60 were retained. Three factors were identified, which appeared to measure control, abuse, and violence. Cronbach's alphas indicated that the subscales have good reliability. The 28-item scale was then tested for validity by a linear discriminant function analysis. The scale successfully discriminated the nonparaphilic CSB sample and the pedophiles from controls. Further analysis indicated that this scale is a valid measure of CSB in that there were significant differences between the three groups on the control subscale. Pedophiles scored significantly lower than the other two groups on the abuse subscale, with the other two groups not scoring significantly differently from one another. This indicated that pedophiles were more abusive than the nonparaphilic CSB individuals or the controls. Pedophiles scored significantly lower than controls on the violence subscale. Nonparaphilic individuals with compulsive sexual behavior scored slightly lower on the violence subscale, although not significantly different. As a preliminary study, there are several limitations to this study, which should be addressed, in further studies with larger sample sizes.

The Nottingham Adjustment Scale: a validation study.

PubMed

Dodds, A G; Flannigan, H; Ng, L

1993-09-01

The concept of adjustment to acquired sight loss is examined in the context of existing loss models. An alternative conceptual framework is presented which addresses the 'blindness experience', and which suggests that the depression so frequently encountered in those losing their sight can be understood better by recourse to cognitive factors than to psychoanalytically based theories of grieving. A scale to measure psychological status before and after rehabilitation is described, its factorial validity is demonstrated, and its validity in enabling changes to be measured. Practitioners are encouraged to adopt a similar perspective in other areas of acquired disability.

Multicentre study for validation of the French addictovigilance network reports assessment tool

PubMed Central

Hardouin, Jean Benoit; Rousselet, Morgane; Gerardin, Marie; Guerlais, Marylène; Guillou, Morgane; Bronnec, Marie; Sébille, Véronique; Jolliet, Pascale

2016-01-01

Aims The French health authority (ANSM) is responsible for monitoring medicinal and other drug dependencies. To support these activities, the ANSM manages a network of 13 drug dependence evaluation and information centres (Centres d'Evaluation et d'Information sur la Pharmacodépendance ‐ Addictovigilance ‐ CEIP‐A) throughout France. In 2006, the Nantes CEIP‐A created a new tool called the EGAP (Echelle de GrAvité de la Pharmacodépendance‐ drug dependence severity scale) based on DSM IV criteria. This tool allows the creation of a substance use profile that enables the drug dependence severity to be homogeneously quantified by assigning a score to each substance indicated in the reports from health professionals. This article describes the validation and psychometric properties of the drug dependence severity score obtained from the scale ( Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01052675). Method The validity of the EGAP construct, the concurrent validity and the discriminative ability of the EGAP score, the consistency of answers to EGAP items, the internal consistency and inter rater reliability of the EGAP score were assessed using statistical methods that are generally used for psychometric tests. Results The total EGAP score was a reliable and precise measure for evaluating drug dependence (Cronbach alpha = 0.84; ASI correlation = 0.70; global ICC = 0.92). In addition to its good psychometric properties, the EGAP is a simple and efficient tool that can be easily specified on the official ANSM notification form. Conclusion The good psychometric properties of the total EGAP score justify its use for evaluating the severity of drug dependence. PMID:27302554

Progress Towards a Microgravity CFD Validation Study Using the ISS SPHERES-SLOSH Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Storey, Jedediah M.; Kirk, Daniel; Marsell, Brandon (Editor); Schallhorn, Paul (Editor)

2017-01-01

Understanding, predicting, and controlling fluid slosh dynamics is critical to safety and improving performance of space missions when a significant percentage of the spacecrafts mass is a liquid. Computational fluid dynamics simulations can be used to predict the dynamics of slosh, but these programs require extensive validation. Many CFD programs have been validated by slosh experiments using various fluids in earth gravity, but prior to the ISS SPHERES-Slosh experiment1, little experimental data for long-duration, zero-gravity slosh existed. This paper presents the current status of an ongoing CFD validation study using the ISS SPHERES-Slosh experimental data.

Progress Towards a Microgravity CFD Validation Study Using the ISS SPHERES-SLOSH Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Storey, Jed; Kirk, Daniel (Editor); Marsell, Brandon (Editor); Schallhorn, Paul (Editor)

2017-01-01

Understanding, predicting, and controlling fluid slosh dynamics is critical to safety and improving performance of space missions when a significant percentage of the spacecrafts mass is a liquid. Computational fluid dynamics simulations can be used to predict the dynamics of slosh, but these programs require extensive validation. Many CFD programs have been validated by slosh experiments using various fluids in earth gravity, but prior to the ISS SPHERES-Slosh experiment, little experimental data for long-duration, zero-gravity slosh existed. This paper presents the current status of an ongoing CFD validation study using the ISS SPHERES-Slosh experimental data.

The Fruit & Vegetable Screener in the 2000 California Health Interview Survey: Validation Results

Cancer.gov

In this study, multiple 24-hour recalls in conjunction with a measurement error model were used to assess validity. The screeners used in the EATS included additional foods and reported portion sizes.

Validation of biomarkers of food intake-critical assessment of candidate biomarkers.

PubMed

Dragsted, L O; Gao, Q; Scalbert, A; Vergères, G; Kolehmainen, M; Manach, C; Brennan, L; Afman, L A; Wishart, D S; Andres Lacueva, C; Garcia-Aloy, M; Verhagen, H; Feskens, E J M; Praticò, G

2018-01-01

Biomarkers of food intake (BFIs) are a promising tool for limiting misclassification in nutrition research where more subjective dietary assessment instruments are used. They may also be used to assess compliance to dietary guidelines or to a dietary intervention. Biomarkers therefore hold promise for direct and objective measurement of food intake. However, the number of comprehensively validated biomarkers of food intake is limited to just a few. Many new candidate biomarkers emerge from metabolic profiling studies and from advances in food chemistry. Furthermore, candidate food intake biomarkers may also be identified based on extensive literature reviews such as described in the guidelines for Biomarker of Food Intake Reviews (BFIRev). To systematically and critically assess the validity of candidate biomarkers of food intake, it is necessary to outline and streamline an optimal and reproducible validation process. A consensus-based procedure was used to provide and evaluate a set of the most important criteria for systematic validation of BFIs. As a result, a validation procedure was developed including eight criteria, plausibility, dose-response, time-response, robustness, reliability, stability, analytical performance, and inter-laboratory reproducibility. The validation has a dual purpose: (1) to estimate the current level of validation of candidate biomarkers of food intake based on an objective and systematic approach and (2) to pinpoint which additional studies are needed to provide full validation of each candidate biomarker of food intake. This position paper on biomarker of food intake validation outlines the second step of the BFIRev procedure but may also be used as such for validation of new candidate biomarkers identified, e.g., in food metabolomic studies.

Validation Study of a Predictive Algorithm to Evaluate Opioid Use Disorder in a Primary Care Setting.

PubMed

Sharma, Maneesh; Lee, Chee; Kantorovich, Svetlana; Tedtaotao, Maria; Smith, Gregory A; Brenton, Ashley

2017-01-01

Opioid abuse in chronic pain patients is a major public health issue. Primary care providers are frequently the first to prescribe opioids to patients suffering from pain, yet do not always have the time or resources to adequately evaluate the risk of opioid use disorder (OUD). This study seeks to determine the predictability of aberrant behavior to opioids using a comprehensive scoring algorithm ("profile") incorporating phenotypic and, more uniquely, genotypic risk factors. In a validation study with 452 participants diagnosed with OUD and 1237 controls, the algorithm successfully categorized patients at high and moderate risk of OUD with 91.8% sensitivity. Regardless of changes in the prevalence of OUD, sensitivity of the algorithm remained >90%. The algorithm correctly stratifies primary care patients into low-, moderate-, and high-risk categories to appropriately identify patients in need for additional guidance, monitoring, or treatment changes.

GOSAT validation out standing in the field: A case study of satellite validation using the SSEC Portable Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, T. J.; Borg, L. A.; Feltz, M.; Gero, P. J.; Knuteson, R. O.; Olson, E.

2016-12-01

The Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed the SSEC Portable Atmospheric Research Center (SPARC), a mobile 11 m trailer that houses numerous in situ and ground-based remote sensing instruments. Available instrumentation includes the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI), a hyperspectral infrared radiometer from which trace gas concentrations and profiles of temperature and water vapor can be retrieved; the High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL), a multichannel lidar capable of directly retrieving profiles of optical depth and backscatter depolarization; and a Doppler lidar wind profiler. The remote instrumentation suite is complemented by surface meteorology observations and a radiosonde ground station. Collectively, these instruments enable SPARC to participate in a wide variety of field studies, including meteorological field experiments and ground-based satellite calibration and validation studies. In August 2016, SPARC traveled to the Chequamegon National Forest in northern Wisconsin for a two week long deployment alongside the WLEF-TV tower. This 447 m tower houses long-term observations of thermodynamic and atmospheric composition at multiple heights, enabling studies of phenomena like atmospheric/land surface interactions and carbon uptake. During this deployment, SPARC launched radiosondes coincident with clear-sky overpasses of the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). Thermodynamic profiles from the radiosondes and AERI combined with the trace gas observations from the tower were used to validate the GOSAT observations of carbon dioxide and methane. The on-site presence of SPARC allowed for better characterization of the environment and greater observational certainty than was possible with the tower alone. Examples from this particular validation study as well as a discussion of how SPARC can contribute to other satellite calibration and validation investigations will be

Validating the Riverside Acculturation Stress Inventory with Asian Americans.

PubMed

Miller, Matthew J; Kim, Jungeun; Benet-Martínez, Verónica

2011-06-01

An emerging body of empirical research highlights the impact of acculturative stress in the lives of culturally diverse populations. Therefore, to facilitate future research in this area, we conducted 3 studies to examine the psychometric properties of the Riverside Acculturation Stress Inventory (RASI; Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005) and its 5 subscales in a total sample of 793 self-identified Asian American participants. The reliability and validity of RASI scores and the hypothesized 1-factor higher order model (with 1st-order factors Language Skills, Work Challenges, Intercultural Relations, Discrimination, and Cultural Isolation) of the RASI were examined in Study 1. The RASI higher order structure and score validity and reliability were examined across different generational groups in Study 2. The stability of RASI scores over a 3-week period was examined in Study 3. Overall, findings from these studies support the hypothesized structure of the RASI and indicate that this brief instrument provides reliable and valid acculturative stress scores. In addition, results suggest that RASI items are interpreted in an equivalent manner across different generations of Asian American individuals. Implications for research and assessment are discussed. 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Development and validation of a stock addiction inventory (SAI).

PubMed

Youn, HyunChul; Choi, Jung-Seok; Kim, Dai-Jin; Choi, Sam-Wook

2016-01-01

Investing in financial markets is promoted and protected by the government as an essential economic activity, but can turn into a gambling addiction problem. Until now, few scales have widely been used to identify gambling addicts in financial markets. This study aimed to develop a self-rating scale to distinguish them. In addition, the reliability and validity of the stock addiction inventory (SAI) were demonstrated. A set of questionnaires, including the SAI, south oaks gambling screen (SOGS), and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, for gambling disorder was completed by 1005 participants. Factor analysis, internal consistency testing, t tests, analysis of variance, and partial correlation analysis were conducted to verify the reliability and validity of SAI. The factor analysis results showed the final SAI consisting of two factors and nine items. The internal consistency and concurrent validity of SAI were verified. The Cronbach's α for the total scale was 0.892, and the SAI and its factors were significantly correlated with SOGS. This study developed a specific scale for financial market investments or trading; this scale proved to be reliable and valid. Our scale expands the understanding of gambling addiction in financial markets and provides a diagnostic reference.

Validity and Feasibility of a Digital Diet Estimation Method for Use with Preschool Children: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicklas, Theresa A.; O'Neil, Carol E.; Stuff, Janice; Goodell, Lora Suzanne; Liu, Yan; Martin, Corby K.

2012-01-01

Objective: The goal of the study was to assess the validity and feasibility of a digital diet estimation method for use with preschool children in "Head Start." Methods: Preschool children and their caregivers participated in validation (n = 22) and feasibility (n = 24) pilot studies. Validity was determined in the metabolic research unit using…

Validation and Spatiotemporal Analysis of CERES Surface Net Radiation Product

DOE PAGES

Jia, Aolin; Jiang, Bo; Liang, Shunlin; ...

2016-01-23

The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) generates one of the few global satellite radiation products. The CERES ARM Validation Experiment (CAVE) has been providing long-term in situ observations for the validation of the CERES products. However, the number of these sites is low and their distribution is globally sparse, and particularly the surface net radiation product has not been rigorously validated yet. Therefore, additional validation efforts are highly required to determine the accuracy of the CERES radiation products. In this study, global land surface measurements were comprehensively collected for use in the validation of the CERES netmore » radiation (R n) product on a daily (340 sites) and a monthly (260 sites) basis, respectively. The validation results demonstrated that the CERES R n product was, overall, highly accurate. The daily validations had a Mean Bias Error (MBE) of 3.43 W·m −2, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 33.56 W·m −2, and R 2 of 0.79, and the monthly validations had an MBE of 3.40 W·m −2, RMSE of 25.57 W·m −2, and R 2 of 0.84. The accuracy was slightly lower for the high latitudes. Following the validation, the monthly CERES R n product, from March 2000 to July 2014, was used for a further analysis. We analysed the global spatiotemporal variation of the R n, which occurred during the measurement period. In addition, two hot spot regions, the southern Great Plains and south-central Africa, were then selected for use in determining the driving factors or attribution of the R n variation. We determined that R n over the southern Great Plains decreased by −0.33 W·m −2 per year, which was mainly driven by changes in surface green vegetation and precipitation. In south-central Africa, R n decreased at a rate of −0.63 W·m −2 per year, the major driving factor of which was surface green vegetation.« less

Validation and Spatiotemporal Analysis of CERES Surface Net Radiation Product

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jia, Aolin; Jiang, Bo; Liang, Shunlin

The Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) generates one of the few global satellite radiation products. The CERES ARM Validation Experiment (CAVE) has been providing long-term in situ observations for the validation of the CERES products. However, the number of these sites is low and their distribution is globally sparse, and particularly the surface net radiation product has not been rigorously validated yet. Therefore, additional validation efforts are highly required to determine the accuracy of the CERES radiation products. In this study, global land surface measurements were comprehensively collected for use in the validation of the CERES netmore » radiation (R n) product on a daily (340 sites) and a monthly (260 sites) basis, respectively. The validation results demonstrated that the CERES R n product was, overall, highly accurate. The daily validations had a Mean Bias Error (MBE) of 3.43 W·m −2, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 33.56 W·m −2, and R 2 of 0.79, and the monthly validations had an MBE of 3.40 W·m −2, RMSE of 25.57 W·m −2, and R 2 of 0.84. The accuracy was slightly lower for the high latitudes. Following the validation, the monthly CERES R n product, from March 2000 to July 2014, was used for a further analysis. We analysed the global spatiotemporal variation of the R n, which occurred during the measurement period. In addition, two hot spot regions, the southern Great Plains and south-central Africa, were then selected for use in determining the driving factors or attribution of the R n variation. We determined that R n over the southern Great Plains decreased by −0.33 W·m −2 per year, which was mainly driven by changes in surface green vegetation and precipitation. In south-central Africa, R n decreased at a rate of −0.63 W·m −2 per year, the major driving factor of which was surface green vegetation.« less

Clinical Predictive Models for Chemotherapy-Induced Febrile Neutropenia in Breast Cancer Patients: A Validation Study

PubMed Central

Zhu, Liling; Su, Fengxi; Jia, Weijuan; Deng, Xiaogeng

2014-01-01

Background Predictive models for febrile neutropenia (FN) would be informative for physicians in clinical decision making. This study aims to validate a predictive model (Jenkin’s model) that comprises pretreatment hematological parameters in early-stage breast cancer patients. Patients and Methods A total of 428 breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemotherapy without any prophylactic use of colony-stimulating factor were included. Pretreatment absolute neutrophil counts (ANC) and absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) were used by the Jenkin’s model to assess the risk of FN. In addition, we modified the threshold of Jenkin’s model and generated Model-A and B. We also developed Model-C by incorporating the absolute monocyte count (AMC) as a predictor into Model-A. The rates of FN in the 1st chemotherapy cycle were calculated. A valid model should be able to significantly identify high-risk subgroup of patients with FN rate >20%. Results Jenkin’s model (Predicted as high-risk when ANC≦3.1*10∧9/L;ALC≦1.5*10∧9/L) did not identify any subgroups with significantly high risk (>20%) of FN in our population, even if we used different thresholds in Model-A(ANC≦4.4*10∧9/L;ALC≦2.1*10∧9/L) or B(ANC≦3.8*10∧9/L;ALC≦1.8*10∧9/L). However, with AMC added as an additional predictor, Model-C(ANC≦4.4*10∧9/L;ALC≦2.1*10∧9/L; AMC≦0.28*10∧9/L) identified a subgroup of patients with a significantly high risk of FN (23.1%). Conclusions In our population, Jenkin’s model, cannot accurately identify patients with a significant risk of FN. The threshold should be changed and the AMC should be incorporated as a predictor, to have excellent predictive ability. PMID:24945817

The multi-dimensional measure of informed choice: a validation study.

PubMed

Michie, Susan; Dormandy, Elizabeth; Marteau, Theresa M

2002-09-01

The aim of this prospective study is to assess the reliability and validity of a multi-dimensional measure of informed choice (MMIC). Participants were 225 pregnant women in two general hospitals in the UK, women receiving low-risk results following serum screening for Down syndrome. The MMIC was administered before testing and the Ottawa Decisional Conflict Scale was administered 6 weeks later. The component scales of the MMIC, knowledge and attitude, were internally consistent (alpha values of 0.68 and 0.78, respectively). Those who made a choice categorised as informed using the MMIC rated their decision 6 weeks later as being more informed, better supported and of higher quality than women whose choice was categorised as uninformed. This provides evidence of predictive validity, whilst the lack of association between the MMIC and anxiety shows construct (discriminant) validity. Thus, the MMIC has been shown to be psychometrically robust in pregnant women offered the choice to undergo prenatal screening for Down syndrome and receiving a low-risk result. Replication of this finding in other groups, facing other decisions, with other outcomes, should be assessed in future research.

Modified Moral Distress Scale (MDS-11): Validation Study Among Italian Nurses.

PubMed

Badolamenti, Sondra; Fida, Roberto; Biagioli, Valentina; Caruso, Rosario; Zaghini, Francesco; Sili, Alessandro; Rea, Teresa

2017-01-01

Moral distress (MD) has significant implications on individual and organizational health. However there is a lack of an instrument to assess it among Italian nurses. The main aim of this study was to validate a brief instrument to assess MD, developed from the Corley's Moral Distress Scale (MDS). The modified MDS scale was subjected to content and cultural validity. The scale was administered to 347 nurses. Psychometric analysis were performed to assess construct validity. The scale consists of 11 items, investigating MD in nursing practice in different clinical settings. The dimensionality of the scale was investigated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), which showed a two-dimensional structure labeled futility and potential damage. The futility refers to feelings of powerlessness and ineffectiveness in some clinical situations; the potential damage dimension captures feelings of powerlessness when nurses are forced to tolerate or perform perceived abusive clinical proceedings. Nurses who experienced higher MD, were more lilely to experience burnout. The modified MDS showed good psychometric properties, and it is valid and reliable for assessing moral distress among Italian nurses. Hence, the modified MDS allows to monitor the distress experienced by nurses and it is an important contribution to the scientific community and all those dealing with well-being of health workers.

A French validation study of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R).

PubMed

Schnakers, Caroline; Majerus, Steve; Giacino, Joseph; Vanhaudenhuyse, Audrey; Bruno, Marie-Aurelie; Boly, Melanie; Moonen, Gustave; Damas, Pierre; Lambermont, Bernard; Lamy, Maurice; Damas, Francois; Ventura, Manfredi; Laureys, Steven

2008-09-01

The aim of the present study was to explore the concurrent validity, inter-rater agreement and diagnostic sensitivity of a French adaptation of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) as compared to other coma scales such as the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), the Full Outline of UnResponsiveness scale (FOUR) and the Wessex Head Injury Matrix (WHIM). Multi-centric prospective study. To test concurrent validity and diagnostic sensitivity, the four behavioural scales were administered in a randomized order in 77 vegetative and minimally conscious patients. Twenty-four clinicians with different professional backgrounds, levels of expertise and CRS-R experience were recruited to assess inter-rater agreement. Good concurrent validity was obtained between the CRS-R and the three other standardized behavioural scales. Inter-rater reliability for the CRS-R total score and sub-scores was good, indicating that the scale yields reproducible findings across examiners and does not appear to be systematically biased by profession, level of expertise or CRS-R experience. Finally, the CRS-R demonstrated a significantly higher sensitivity to detect MCS patients, as compared to the GCS, the FOUR and the WHIM. The results show that the French version of the CRS-R is a valid and sensitive scale which can be used in severely brain damaged patients by all members of the medical staff.

Automated detection using natural language processing of radiologists recommendations for additional imaging of incidental findings.

PubMed

Dutta, Sayon; Long, William J; Brown, David F M; Reisner, Andrew T

2013-08-01

As use of radiology studies increases, there is a concurrent increase in incidental findings (eg, lung nodules) for which the radiologist issues recommendations for additional imaging for follow-up. Busy emergency physicians may be challenged to carefully communicate recommendations for additional imaging not relevant to the patient's primary evaluation. The emergence of electronic health records and natural language processing algorithms may help address this quality gap. We seek to describe recommendations for additional imaging from our institution and develop and validate an automated natural language processing algorithm to reliably identify recommendations for additional imaging. We developed a natural language processing algorithm to detect recommendations for additional imaging, using 3 iterative cycles of training and validation. The third cycle used 3,235 radiology reports (1,600 for algorithm training and 1,635 for validation) of discharged emergency department (ED) patients from which we determined the incidence of discharge-relevant recommendations for additional imaging and the frequency of appropriate discharge documentation. The test characteristics of the 3 natural language processing algorithm iterations were compared, using blinded chart review as the criterion standard. Discharge-relevant recommendations for additional imaging were found in 4.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.5% to 5.5%) of ED radiology reports, but 51% (95% CI 43% to 59%) of discharge instructions failed to note those findings. The final natural language processing algorithm had 89% (95% CI 82% to 94%) sensitivity and 98% (95% CI 97% to 98%) specificity for detecting recommendations for additional imaging. For discharge-relevant recommendations for additional imaging, sensitivity improved to 97% (95% CI 89% to 100%). Recommendations for additional imaging are common, and failure to document relevant recommendations for additional imaging in ED discharge instructions occurs

Validation of selected temperament and personality questionnaires for diagnosing drivers' aptitude for safe driving. A Polish study.

PubMed

Łuczak, Anna; Tarnowski, Adam

2014-09-01

This paper presents the results of a study aimed at validating psychological questionnaires evaluating temperamental and personality features. It discusses their usefulness in diagnosing drivers' aptitude for safe driving and working as professional drivers. Three psychological questionnaires were validated: the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour - Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI), the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - Revised and Short Scale (EPQ-R (S)) and the Impulsiveness Questionnaire (IVE). Three groups of drivers (n=246) aged 19-75 participated in the study. Group I (professional drivers; n=96) and Group II (nonprofessional drivers; n=75) had never been involved in road crashes, whereas Group III (nonprofessional drivers; n=75) were offenders involved in fatal injury road crashes. Criterion-related validity, Cronbach's alpha and Guttman split-half reliability coefficient were in assessing the psychometric properties of the questionnaires. There were some significant differences between Groups II and III for most traits. However, contrary to expectations, higher Emotional Reactivity, Perseveration and lower Endurance as well as higher Neuroticism, Impulsiveness and Venturesomeness were determined for Group II than for Group III. Additionally, the temperament and personality profile of Group II turned out to be less fitted to the profile of safe drivers than that of Group III, whose profile was actually similar to that of Group I. This seems to result from a high tendency for a positive self-presentation among Group I and Group III (a significantly higher result on the Lie scale in comparison with Group II). The results suggest that if psychological tests are to decide on whether a person may be a professional driver or may drive vehicles, the three questionnaires (FCB-TI, EPQ-R(S) and IVE) do not provide a valid diagnosis of professional drivers' aptitude because of drivers' high tendency for positive self-presentation. However, they can be used in job

Development and validation of an Arab family food security scale.

PubMed

Sahyoun, Nadine R; Nord, Mark; Sassine, Anniebelle J; Seyfert, Karin; Hwalla, Nahla; Ghattas, Hala

2014-05-01

The objective of this article was to describe 1) the validation of 2 similar but not identical food security modules used to collect data from 2 vulnerable populations, southern Lebanon residents (n = 815) and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (n = 2501), and 2) the development and validation of an Arab Family Food Security Scale (AFFSS). The surveys used a cluster-randomized sampling design. The 2 food security subscales underwent face and construct validity. In addition, both of these tools and the AFFSS underwent psychometric assessment for internal validity by using statistical methods based on Item Response Theory. The food security questions tested by focus groups were understood and accepted in all regions of Lebanon. The food security subscales and the AFFSS had acceptable levels of internal consistency. The psychometric assessment confirmed that the 7 items of the AFFSS had good internal validity and reasonable reliability with item in-fits from 0.73 to 1.16. Food insecurity was identified among 42% of southern Lebanese and 62% of Palestinian refugee households. The determinants and consequences of food security measured in this study provide additional support for the validity of the modules. Using multivariate logistic regression, the higher the mean monthly income per household member and the higher the educational attainment of the head of household, the lower the risk of food insecurity [ORs (95% CIs): 0.99 (0.98, 0.99) and 0.66 (0.54, 0.80), respectively]. There was a strong significant association between food insecurity and lower food expenditure and lower intake of all food categories except for legumes, which was significantly associated in the opposite direction (P < 0.001). The odds of borrowing money and accepting gifts/donations were significantly higher among moderately and severely food-insecure households (P < 0.000). The AFFSS has been validated within Lebanon and can potentially be extended to other Arab-speaking populations.

Measuring suicidality using the personality assessment inventory: a convergent validity study with federal inmates.

PubMed

Patry, Marc W; Magaletta, Philip R

2015-02-01

Although numerous studies have examined the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the Personality Assessment Inventory in correctional contexts, only two studies to date have specifically focused on suicide ideation. This article examines the convergent validity of the Suicide Ideation Scale and the Suicide Potential Index on the Personality Assessment Inventory in a large, nontreatment sample of male and female federal inmates (N = 1,120). The data indicated robust validity support for both the Suicide Ideation Scale and Suicide Potential Index, which were each correlated with a broad group of validity indices representing multiple assessment modalities. Recommendations for future research to build upon these findings through replication and extension are made. © The Author(s) 2014.

Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form: The Reliability and Validity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sahin, Cengiz

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine the social media addictions of secondary school, high school and university students. 998 students participated in the study. 476 students from secondary schools, high schools and universities participated in the first application during which the…

A Cross-Validation Study of the School Attitude Assessment Survey (SAAS).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCoach, D. Betsy

Factors commonly associated with underachievement in the research literature include low self-concept, low self-motivation/self-regulation, negative attitude toward school, and negative peer influence. This study attempts to isolate these four factors within a secondary school population. The purpose of the study was to design a valid and reliable…

A Validation Study of the Dutch Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Known-Groups Validity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thombs, Brett D.; Bernstein, David P.; Lobbestael, Jill; Arntz, Arnoud

2009-01-01

Objective: The 28-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) has been translated into at least 10 different languages. The validity of translated versions of the CTQ-SF, however, has generally not been examined. The objective of this study was to investigate the factor structure, internal consistency reliability, and known-groups…

A semi-automatic method for left ventricle volume estimate: an in vivo validation study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corsi, C.; Lamberti, C.; Sarti, A.; Saracino, G.; Shiota, T.; Thomas, J. D.

2001-01-01

This study aims to the validation of the left ventricular (LV) volume estimates obtained by processing volumetric data utilizing a segmentation model based on level set technique. The validation has been performed by comparing real-time volumetric echo data (RT3DE) and magnetic resonance (MRI) data. A validation protocol has been defined. The validation protocol was applied to twenty-four estimates (range 61-467 ml) obtained from normal and pathologic subjects, which underwent both RT3DE and MRI. A statistical analysis was performed on each estimate and on clinical parameters as stroke volume (SV) and ejection fraction (EF). Assuming MRI estimates (x) as a reference, an excellent correlation was found with volume measured by utilizing the segmentation procedure (y) (y=0.89x + 13.78, r=0.98). The mean error on SV was 8 ml and the mean error on EF was 2%. This study demonstrated that the segmentation technique is reliably applicable on human hearts in clinical practice.

Assessing Cognitive Performance in Badminton Players: A Reproducibility and Validity Study

PubMed Central

van de Water, Tanja; Faber, Irene; Elferink-Gemser, Marije

2017-01-01

Abstract Fast reaction and good inhibitory control are associated with elite sports performance. To evaluate the reproducibility and validity of a newly developed Badminton Reaction Inhibition Test (BRIT), fifteen elite (25 ± 4 years) and nine non-elite (24 ± 4 years) Dutch male badminton players participated in the study. The BRIT measured four components: domain-general reaction time, badminton-specific reaction time, domain-general inhibitory control and badminton-specific inhibitory control. Five participants were retested within three weeks on the badminton-specific components. Reproducibility was acceptable for badminton-specific reaction time (ICC = 0.626, CV = 6%) and for badminton-specific inhibitory control (ICC = 0.317, CV = 13%). Good construct validity was shown for badminton-specific reaction time discriminating between elite and non-elite players (F = 6.650, p < 0.05). Elite players did not outscore non-elite players on domain-general reaction time nor on both components of inhibitory control (p > 0.05). Concurrent validity for domain-general reaction time was good, as it was associated with a national ranking for elite (p = 0.70, p < 0.01) and non-elite (p = 0.70, p < 0.05) players. No relationship was found between the national ranking and badminton-specific reaction time, nor both components of inhibitory control (p > 0.05). In conclusion, reproducibility and validity of inhibitory control assessment was not confirmed, however, the BRIT appears a reproducible and valid measure of reaction time in badminton players. Reaction time measured with the BRIT may provide input for training programs aiming to improve badminton players’ performance. PMID:28210347

Assessing Cognitive Performance in Badminton Players: A Reproducibility and Validity Study.

PubMed

van de Water, Tanja; Huijgen, Barbara; Faber, Irene; Elferink-Gemser, Marije

2017-01-01

Fast reaction and good inhibitory control are associated with elite sports performance. To evaluate the reproducibility and validity of a newly developed Badminton Reaction Inhibition Test (BRIT), fifteen elite (25 ± 4 years) and nine non-elite (24 ± 4 years) Dutch male badminton players participated in the study. The BRIT measured four components: domain-general reaction time, badminton-specific reaction time, domain-general inhibitory control and badminton-specific inhibitory control. Five participants were retested within three weeks on the badminton-specific components. Reproducibility was acceptable for badminton-specific reaction time (ICC = 0.626, CV = 6%) and for badminton-specific inhibitory control (ICC = 0.317, CV = 13%). Good construct validity was shown for badminton-specific reaction time discriminating between elite and non-elite players (F = 6.650, p < 0.05). Elite players did not outscore non-elite players on domain-general reaction time nor on both components of inhibitory control (p > 0.05). Concurrent validity for domain-general reaction time was good, as it was associated with a national ranking for elite (p = 0.70, p < 0.01) and non-elite (p = 0.70, p < 0.05) players. No relationship was found between the national ranking and badminton-specific reaction time, nor both components of inhibitory control (p > 0.05). In conclusion, reproducibility and validity of inhibitory control assessment was not confirmed, however, the BRIT appears a reproducible and valid measure of reaction time in badminton players. Reaction time measured with the BRIT may provide input for training programs aiming to improve badminton players' performance.

Palliative sedation: reliability and validity of sedation scales.

PubMed

Arevalo, Jimmy J; Brinkkemper, Tijn; van der Heide, Agnes; Rietjens, Judith A; Ribbe, Miel; Deliens, Luc; Loer, Stephan A; Zuurmond, Wouter W A; Perez, Roberto S G M

2012-11-01

Observer-based sedation scales have been used to provide a measurable estimate of the comfort of nonalert patients in palliative sedation. However, their usefulness and appropriateness in this setting has not been demonstrated. To study the reliability and validity of observer-based sedation scales in palliative sedation. A prospective evaluation of 54 patients under intermittent or continuous sedation with four sedation scales was performed by 52 nurses. Included scales were the Minnesota Sedation Assessment Tool (MSAT), Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS), Vancouver Interaction and Calmness Scale (VICS), and a sedation score proposed in the Guideline for Palliative Sedation of the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG). Inter-rater reliability was tested with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Cohen's kappa coefficient. Correlations between the scales using Spearman's rho tested concurrent validity. We also examined construct, discriminative, and evaluative validity. In addition, nurses completed a user-friendliness survey. Overall moderate to high inter-rater reliability was found for the VICS interaction subscale (ICC = 0.85), RASS (ICC = 0.73), and KNMG (ICC = 0.71). The largest correlation between scales was found for the RASS and KNMG (rho = 0.836). All scales showed discriminative and evaluative validity, except for the MSAT motor subscale and VICS calmness subscale. Finally, the RASS was less time consuming, clearer, and easier to use than the MSAT and VICS. The RASS and KNMG scales stand as the most reliable and valid among the evaluated scales. In addition, the RASS was less time consuming, clearer, and easier to use than the MSAT and VICS. Further research is needed to evaluate the impact of the scales on better symptom control and patient comfort. Copyright © 2012 U.S. Cancer Pain Relief Committee. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multireader multicase reader studies with binary agreement data: simulation, analysis, validation, and sizing.

PubMed

Chen, Weijie; Wunderlich, Adam; Petrick, Nicholas; Gallas, Brandon D

2014-10-01

We treat multireader multicase (MRMC) reader studies for which a reader's diagnostic assessment is converted to binary agreement (1: agree with the truth state, 0: disagree with the truth state). We present a mathematical model for simulating binary MRMC data with a desired correlation structure across readers, cases, and two modalities, assuming the expected probability of agreement is equal for the two modalities ([Formula: see text]). This model can be used to validate the coverage probabilities of 95% confidence intervals (of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], or [Formula: see text] when [Formula: see text]), validate the type I error of a superiority hypothesis test, and size a noninferiority hypothesis test (which assumes [Formula: see text]). To illustrate the utility of our simulation model, we adapt the Obuchowski-Rockette-Hillis (ORH) method for the analysis of MRMC binary agreement data. Moreover, we use our simulation model to validate the ORH method for binary data and to illustrate sizing in a noninferiority setting. Our software package is publicly available on the Google code project hosting site for use in simulation, analysis, validation, and sizing of MRMC reader studies with binary agreement data.

The Arabic version of the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory 4: a validation study.

PubMed

Hamed, Razan; Tariah, Hashem Abu; Malkawi, Somaya; Holm, Margo B

2012-09-01

The Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory 4 (MPAI-4) is a valid and reliable assessment tool to detect clinical impairments in patients with acquired brain injury. The tool is widely used by rehabilitation therapists worldwide, given its good psychometric properties and its availability in several languages. The purpose of this study was to translate the tool into Arabic and to examine its validity and reliability with multiple sclerosis and stroke patients. A total of 128 participants were enrolled in this study: 49 with multiple sclerosis, 17 with stroke, and 62 healthy adults. The psychometric properties of discriminative and convergent construct validity as well as test-retest reliability were tested. The translated tool, the Arabic-MPAI-4 (A-MPAI-4), significantly discriminated among the three subgroups (F=50.93, P<0.001), correlated moderately but significantly with the Arabic version of the Performance Assessment of Self-Care Skills Self-Report as a measure of functional independence in daily activities (r=-0.35, P<0.001), and showed good stability over time (r=0.73, P<0.001). The A-MPAI-4 is a valid and reliable tool for clinical use with multiple sclerosis and stroke patients who speak Arabic.

Cross-Validation of the Work Organization Assessment Questionnaire Across Genders: A Study in the Australian Health Care Sector.

PubMed

Karimi, Leila; Karanika-Murray, Maria; Meyer, Denny

2016-03-01

The main aim of this study was to examine the measurement invariance of the Work Organization Assessment Questionnaire (WOAQ) across genders in a group of health care employees, using bifactor modeling. There is a very limited research that uses invariance testing of bifactor models, despite their usefulness. Establishing validity of the WOAQ in this way is important for demonstrating its relevance for both men and women. A bifactor modeling procedure was used here to examine the validity of the WOAQ with a sample of 946 paramedics employed in a large Australian organization in the health care sector. The results of this study show that the WOAQ has good psychometric properties across genders in health care settings. In addition, there were significant mean differences between men and women in their perceptions of "quality of relationships with colleagues," and "reward and recognition." There were no differences between men and women in the remaining factors: "quality of relationships with the management," "quality of relationships with colleagues," and "quality of the physical environment." The use of bifactor modeling to establish the cross-validity of the WOAQ across male and female paramedics adds to evidence for the measure's good psychometric properties. The findings confirm those of previous research that has used higher order confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, mean differences between men and women were found to be significant in two of the five WOAQ subscales. These findings have practical implications for health care organizations, in terms of assessing work characteristics and developing activities to support the health and well-being of their employees.

75 FR 62462 - Additions to the List of Validated End-Users in the People's Republic of China: Hynix...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-12

...In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to add three end-users, Hynix Semiconductor (China) Ltd., Hynix Semiconductor (Wuxi) Ltd. and Lam Research Corporation to the list of validated end-users in the People's Republic of China (PRC). With this rule, exports, reexports and transfers (in-country) of certain items to one facility of Hynix Semiconductor (China) Ltd., one facility of Hynix Semiconductor (Wuxi) Ltd. and nine facilities of Lam Research Corporation in the PRC are now authorized under Authorization Validated End-User (VEU).

Criterion validity of a competency-based assessment center in medical education--a 4-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Rotthoff, Thomas; Ostapczuk, Martin S; Kröncke, Klaus D; Zimmerhofer, Alexander; Decking, Ulrich; Schneider, Matthias; Ritz-Timme, Stefanie

2014-01-01

Core competencies have progressively gained importance in medical education. In other contexts, especially personnel selection and development, assessment centers (ACs) are used to assess competencies, but there is only a limited number of studies on competency-based ACs in medical education. To the best of our knowledge, the present study provides the first data on the criterion-related validity of a competency-based AC in medical education. We developed an AC tailored to measure core competencies relevant to medical education (social-ethical, communicative, self, and teaching) and tested its validity in n=30 first-year medical students using 3- to 4-year follow-up measures such as (a) objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) on basic clinical skills (n=26), (b) OSCE on communication skills (n=21), and (c) peer feedback (n=18). The AC contained three elements: interview, group discussion, and role play. Additionally, a self-report questionnaire was provided as a basis for the interview. Baseline AC average score and teaching competency correlated moderately with the communication OSCE average score (r=0.41, p=0.03, and r=0.38, p=0.04, respectively). Social-ethical competency in the AC showed a very strong convergent association with the communication OSCE average score (r=0.60, p<0.01). The AC total score also showed a moderate correlation with the overall peer feedback score provided in Year 4 (r=0.38, p=0.06). In addition, communicative competency correlated strongly with the overall peer feedback (r=0.50, p=0.02). We found predominantly low and insignificant correlations between the AC and the OSCE on basic clinical skills (r=-0.33 to 0.30, all p's>0.05). The results showed that competency-based ACs can be used at a very early stage of medical training to successfully predict future performance in core competencies.

Criterion validity of a competency-based assessment center in medical education - a 4-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Rotthoff, Thomas; Ostapczuk, Martin S; Kröncke, Klaus D; Zimmerhofer, Alexander; Decking, Ulrich; Schneider, Matthias; Ritz-Timme, Stefanie

2014-01-01

Introduction Core competencies have progressively gained importance in medical education. In other contexts, especially personnel selection and development, assessment centers (ACs) are used to assess competencies, but there is only a limited number of studies on competency-based ACs in medical education. To the best of our knowledge, the present study provides the first data on the criterion-related validity of a competency-based AC in medical education. Methods We developed an AC tailored to measure core competencies relevant to medical education (social-ethical, communicative, self, and teaching) and tested its validity in n=30 first-year medical students using 3- to 4-year follow-up measures such as (a) objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE) on basic clinical skills (n=26), (b) OSCE on communication skills (n=21), and (c) peer feedback (n=18). The AC contained three elements: interview, group discussion, and role play. Additionally, a self-report questionnaire was provided as a basis for the interview. Results Baseline AC average score and teaching competency correlated moderately with the communication OSCE average score (r=0.41, p=0.03, and r=0.38, p=0.04, respectively). Social-ethical competency in the AC showed a very strong convergent association with the communication OSCE average score (r=0.60, p<0.01). The AC total score also showed a moderate correlation with the overall peer feedback score provided in Year 4 (r=0.38, p=0.06). In addition, communicative competency correlated strongly with the overall peer feedback (r=0.50, p=0.02). We found predominantly low and insignificant correlations between the AC and the OSCE on basic clinical skills (r=-0.33 to 0.30, all p's>0.05). Conclusion The results showed that competency-based ACs can be used at a very early stage of medical training to successfully predict future performance in core competencies.

41 CFR 60-3.7 - Use of other validity studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 1 2012-07-01 2009-07-01 true Use of other validity studies. 60-3.7 Section 60-3.7 Public Contracts and Property Management Other Provisions Relating to... the professional literature, will be considered acceptable for use by another user when the following...

Relearning To Teach Arithmetic Addition and Subtraction: A Teacher's Study Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Susan Jo

This package features videotapes and a study guide that are designed to help teachers revisit the operations of addition and subtraction and consider how students can develop meaningful approaches to these operations. The study guides' sessions are on addition, subtraction, the teacher's role, and goals for students and teachers. The readings in…

Advantages of a validated UPLC-MS/MS standard addition method for the quantification of A-type dimeric and trimeric proanthocyanidins in cranberry extracts in comparison with well-known quantification methods.

PubMed

van Dooren, Ines; Foubert, Kenn; Theunis, Mart; Naessens, Tania; Pieters, Luc; Apers, Sandra

2018-01-30

The berries of Vaccinium macrocarpon, cranberry, are widely used for the prevention of urinary tract infections. This species contains A-type proanthocyanidins (PACs), which intervene in the initial phase of the development of urinary tract infections by preventing the adherence of Escherichia coli by their P-type fimbriae to uroepithelial cells. Unfortunately, the existing clinical studies used different cranberry preparations, which were poorly standardized. Because of this, the results were hard to compare, which led sometimes to conflicting results. Currently, PACs are quantified using the rather non-specific spectrophotometric 4-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (DMAC) method. In addition, a normal phase HPTLC-densitometric method, a HPLC-UV method and three LC-MS/MS methods for quantification of procyanidin A2 were recently published. All these methods contain some shortcomings and errors. Hence, the development and validation of a fast and sensitive standard addition LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous quantification of A-type dimers and trimers in a cranberry dry extract was carried out. A linear calibration model could be adopted for dimers and, after logaritmic transformation, for trimers. The maximal interday and interconcentration precision was found to be 4.86% and 4.28% for procyanidin A2, and 5.61% and 7.65% for trimeric PACs, which are all acceptable values for an analytical method using LC-MS/MS. In addition, twelve different cranberry extracts were analyzed by means of the newly validated method and other widely used methods. There appeared to be an enormous variation in dimeric and trimeric PAC content. Comparison of these results with LC-MS/MS analysis without standard addition showed the presence of matrix effects for some of the extracts and proved the necessity of standard addition. A comparison of the well-known and widely used DMAC method, the butanol-HCl assay and this newly developed LC-MS/MS method clearly indicated the need for a reliable

Validation of Aura Data: Needs and Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Froidevaux, L.; Douglass, A. R.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Hilsenrath, E.; Kinnison, D. E.; Kroon, M.; Sander, S. P.

2003-12-01

Validation of Aura data: needs and implementation L. Froidevaux, A. R. Douglass, M. R. Schoeberl, E. Hilsenrath, D. Kinnison, M. Kroon, and S. P. Sander We describe the needs for validation of the Aura scientific data products expected in 2004 and for several years thereafter, as well as the implementation plan to fullfill these needs. Many profiles of stratospheric and tropospheric composition are expected from the combination of four instruments aboard Aura, along with column abundances, aerosol and cloud information. The Aura validation working group and the Aura Project have been developing programs and collaborations that are expected to lead to a significant number of validation activities after the Aura launch (in early 2004). Spatial and temporal variability in the lower stratosphere and troposphere present challenges to validation of Aura measurements even where cloud contamination effects can be minimized. Data from ground-based networks, balloons, and other satellites will contribute in a major way to Aura data validation. In addition, plans are in place to obtain correlative data for special conditions, such as profiles of O3 and NO2 in polluted areas. Several aircraft campaigns planned for the 2004-2007 time period will provide additional tropospheric and lower stratospheric validation opportunities for Aura; some atmospheric science goals will be addressed by the eventual combination of these data sets. A team of "Aura liaisons" will assist in the dissemination of information about various correlative measurements to be expected in the above timeframe, along with any needed protocols and agreements on data exchange and file formats. A data center is being established at the Goddard Space Flight Center to collect and distribute the various data files to be used in the validation of the Aura data.

Measuring preparedness for mammography in women with intellectual disabilities: a validation study of the Mammography Preparedness Measure.

PubMed

Wang, Claire Tienwey; Greenwood, Nechama; White, Laura F; Wilkinson, Joanne

2015-05-01

Women with intellectual disabilities have similar breast cancer rates as the general population, but lower rates of regular mammography and higher breast cancer mortality rates. Although prior qualitative work demonstrates that women with intellectual disabilities face unique, disability-specific barriers to mammography, the present authors lack standardized, validated instruments for measuring knowledge of breast cancer screening in this population. In addition, much research related to adults with intellectual disabilities focuses on family or carer perspectives, rather than involving women with intellectual disabilities, themselves. The present authors first pilot tested a general population instrument measuring breast cancer knowledge, and found that it did not perform adequately in women with intellectual disabilities. In response, the present authors developed the Mammography Preparedness Measure (MPM), a direct short interview tool to measure knowledge and preparedness in women with intellectual disabilities, themselves, rather than relying on caregiver or other reports, and using inclusive methodology. The present authors validated the MPM by assessing test-retest reliability. Average test-retest per cent agreement of 84%, ranging from 74 to 91% agreement per item, with an overall kappa of 0.59. The MPM appears to be a valid instrument appropriate for measuring mammography preparedness in women with intellectual disabilities. The success of this innovative tool suggests that direct, rather than informant-directed tools can be developed to measure health knowledge and cancer screening readiness in adults with intellectual disabilities, an important measure in studying and reducing disparities. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Validity and Reliability Study of Bahasa Malaysia Version of Voice Handicap Index-10.

PubMed

Ong, Fei Ming; Husna Nik Hassan, Nik Fariza; Azman, Mawaddah; Sani, Abdullah; Mat Baki, Marina

2018-05-21

This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of Bahasa Malaysia version of Voice Handicap Index-10 (mVHI-10). This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Department of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) from June 2015 to May 2016. The mVHI-10 was produced following a rigorous forward and backward translation. One hundred participants, including 50 healthy volunteers (17 male, 33 female) and 50 patients with voice disorders (26 male, 24 female), were recruited to complete the mVHI-10 before flexible laryngoscopic examinations and acoustic analysis. The mVHI-10 was repeated in 2 weeks via telephone interview or clinic visit. Its reliability and validity were assessed using interclass correlation. The test-retest reliability for total mVHI-10 and each item score was high, with the Cronbach alpha of >0.90. The total mVHI-10 score and domain scores were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the pathology groups (20.92 ± 8.74) than healthy volunteers (1.54 ± 1.97), depicting excellent discriminant validity. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure was 0.92, which depicted excellent construct validity. There was a significant positive correlation between the mVHI-10 score and jitter and shimmer result (P < 0.001). The present study showed good reliability and validity of the mVHI-10 when applied to both healthy volunteers and patients with voice disorders. We recommend the use of the mVHI-10 in daily clinical practice among Bahasa Malaysia-speaking population. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Validation study of Polar V800 accelerometer.

PubMed

Hernández-Vicente, Adrián; Santos-Lozano, Alejandro; De Cocker, Katrien; Garatachea, Nuria

2016-08-01

The correct quantification of physical activity (PA) and energy expenditure (EE) in daily life is an important target for researchers and professionals. The objective of this paper is to study the validity of the Polar V800 for the quantification of PA and the estimation of EE against the ActiGraph (ActiTrainer) in healthy young adults. Eighteen Caucasian active people (50% women) aged between 19-23 years wore an ActiTrainer on the right hip and a Polar V800 on the preferred wrist during 7 days. Paired samples t-tests were used to analyze differences in outcomes between devices, and Pearson's correlation coefficients to examine the correlation between outcomes. The agreement was studied using the Bland-Altman method. Also, the association between the difference and the magnitude of the measurement (heteroscedasticity) was examined. Sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC value) were calculated to evaluate the ability of the devices to accurately define a person who fulfills the recommendation of 10,000 daily steps. The devices significantly differed from each other on all outcomes (P<0.05), except for Polar V800's alerts vs. ActiTrainer's 1 hour sedentary bouts (P=0.595) and Polar V800's walking time vs. ActiTrainer's lifestyle time (P=0.484). Heteroscedasticity analyses were significant for all outcomes, except for Kcal and sitting time. The ROC-AUC value was fair (0.781±0.048) and the sensitivity and specificity was 98% and 58%, respectively. The Polar V800 accelerometer has a comparable validity to the accelerometer in free-living conditions, regarding "1 hour sedentary bouts" and "V800's walking time vs. ActiTrainer's lifestyle time" in young adults.

Curriculum Design Orientations Preference Scale of Teachers: Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bas, Gokhan

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable scale for preferences of teachers in regard of their curriculum design orientations. Because there was no scale development study similar to this one in Turkey, it was considered as an urgent need to develop such a scale in the study. The sample of the research consisted of 300…

A Korean validation study of the Clinically Useful Anxiety Outcome Scale: Comorbidity and differentiation of anxiety and depressive disorders

PubMed Central

Jeon, Sang Won; Ko, Young-Hoon; Yoon, Seoyoung; Pae, Chi-Un; Choi, Joonho; Kim, Jae-Min; Yoon, Ho-Kyoung; Lee, Hoseon; Patkar, Ashwin A.; Zimmerman, Mark

2017-01-01

Background This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Clinically Useful Anxiety Outcome Scale (CUXOS) and to examine the current diagnostic comorbidity and differential severity of anxiety symptoms between major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders. Methodology In total, 838 psychiatric outpatients were analyzed at their intake appointment. Diagnostic characteristics were examined using the structured clinical interview from the DSM-IV because the DSM5 was not available at the start of the study. The CUXOS score was measured and compared with that of 3 clinician rating scales and 4 self-report scales. Principal findings The CUXOS showed excellent results for internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.90), test–retest reliability (r = 0.74), and discriminant and convergent validity. The CUXOS significantly discriminated between different levels of anxiety severity, and the measure was sensitive to change after treatment. Approximately 45% of patients with MDD were additionally diagnosed with anxiety disorders while 55% of patients with anxiety disorders additionally reported an MDD. There was a significant difference in CUXOS scores between diagnostic categories (MDD only, anxiety only, both disorders, and no MDD or anxiety disorder). The CUXOS scores differed significantly between all categories of depression (major, minor, and non-depression) except for the comparison between minor depression and non-depression groups. Conclusions The Korean version of the CUXOS is a reliable and valid measure of the severity of anxiety symptoms. The use of the CUXOS could broaden the understanding of coexisting and differentiating characteristics of anxiety and depression. PMID:28604808

Representational Flexibility and Problem-Solving Ability in Fraction and Decimal Number Addition: A Structural Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deliyianni, Eleni; Gagatsis, Athanasios; Elia, Iliada; Panaoura, Areti

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to propose and validate a structural model in fraction and decimal number addition, which is founded primarily on a synthesis of major theoretical approaches in the field of representations in Mathematics and also on previous research on the learning of fractions and decimals. The study was conducted among 1,701 primary…

Using standardised patients to measure physicians' practice: validation study using audio recordings

PubMed Central

Luck, Jeff; Peabody, John W

2002-01-01

Objective To assess the validity of standardised patients to measure the quality of physicians' practice. Design Validation study of standardised patients' assessments. Physicians saw unannounced standardised patients presenting with common outpatient conditions. The standardised patients covertly tape recorded their visit and completed a checklist of quality criteria immediately afterwards. Their assessments were compared against independent assessments of the recordings by a trained medical records abstractor. Setting Four general internal medicine primary care clinics in California. Participants 144 randomly selected consenting physicians. Main outcome measures Rates of agreement between the patients' assessments and independent assessment. Results 40 visits, one per standardised patient, were recorded. The overall rate of agreement between the standardised patients' checklists and the independent assessment of the audio transcripts was 91% (κ=0.81). Disaggregating the data by medical condition, site, level of physicians' training, and domain (stage of the consultation) gave similar rates of agreement. Sensitivity of the standardised patients' assessments was 95%, and specificity was 85%. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve was 90%. Conclusions Standardised patients' assessments seem to be a valid measure of the quality of physicians' care for a variety of common medical conditions in actual outpatient settings. Properly trained standardised patients compare well with independent assessment of recordings of the consultations and may justify their use as a “gold standard” in comparing the quality of care across sites or evaluating data obtained from other sources, such as medical records and clinical vignettes. What is already known on this topicStandardised patients are valid and reliable reporters of physicians' practice in the medical education settingHowever, validating standardised patients' measurements of quality of care in

Validation of the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Schiehser, Dawn M; Ayers, Catherine R; Liu, Lin; Lessig, Stephanie; Song, David S; Filoteo, J Vincent

2013-03-01

Fatigue is a common symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, a multidimensional scale that measures the impact of fatigue on functioning has yet to be validated in this population. The aim of this study was to examine the validity of the Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS), a self-report measure that assesses the effects of fatigue on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial functioning, in a sample of nondemented PD patients. PD patients (N = 100) completed the MFIS, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-X), and several additional measures of psychosocial, cognitive, and motor functioning. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and item analysis using Cronbach's alpha were conducted to determine structural validity and internal consistency of the MFIS. Correlational analyses were performed between the MFIS and the PANAS-X fatigue subscale to evaluate convergent validity and between the MFIS and measures of depression, anxiety, apathy, and disease-related symptoms to determine divergent validity. The PCA identified two viable MFIS subscales: a cognitive subscale and a combination of the original scale's physical and psychosocial subscales as one factor. Item analysis revealed high internal consistency of all 21 items and the items within the two subscales. The MFIS had strong convergent validity with the PANAS-X fatigue subscale and adequate divergent validity with measures of disease stage, motor function, and cognition. Overall, this study demonstrates that the MFIS is a valid multidimensional measure that can be used to evaluate the impact of fatigue on cognitive and physical/social functioning in PD patients without dementia. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Display format, highlight validity, and highlight method: Their effects on search performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Donner, Kimberly A.; Mckay, Tim D.; Obrien, Kevin M.; Rudisill, Marianne

1991-01-01

Display format and highlight validity were shown to affect visual display search performance; however, these studies were conducted on small, artificial displays of alphanumeric stimuli. A study manipulating these variables was conducted using realistic, complex Space Shuttle information displays. A 2x2x3 within-subjects analysis of variance found that search times were faster for items in reformatted displays than for current displays. Responses to valid applications of highlight were significantly faster than responses to non or invalidly highlighted applications. The significant format by highlight validity interaction showed that there was little difference in response time to both current and reformatted displays when the highlight validity was applied; however, under the non or invalid highlight conditions, search times were faster with reformatted displays. A separate within-subject analysis of variance of display format, highlight validity, and several highlight methods did not reveal a main effect of highlight method. In addition, observed display search times were compared to search time predicted by Tullis' Display Analysis Program. Benefits of highlighting and reformatting displays to enhance search and the necessity to consider highlight validity and format characteristics in tandem for predicting search performance are discussed.

Cultural Validation of the Maslach Burnout Inventory for Korean Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shin, Hyojung; Puig, Ana; Lee, Jayoung; Lee, Ji Hee; Lee, Sang Min

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the factorial validity of the MBI-SS in Korean students. Specifically, we investigated whether the original three-factor structure of the MBI-SS was appropriate for use with Korean students. In addition, by running multi-group structural equation model analyses with factorial invariance tests simultaneously…

SAMICS Validation. SAMICS Support Study, Phase 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

SAMICS provides a consistent basis for estimating array costs and compares production technology costs. A review and a validation of the SAMICS model are reported. The review had the following purposes: (1) to test the computational validity of the computer model by comparison with preliminary hand calculations based on conventional cost estimating techniques; (2) to review and improve the accuracy of the cost relationships being used by the model: and (3) to provide an independent verification to users of the model's value in decision making for allocation of research and developement funds and for investment in manufacturing capacity. It is concluded that the SAMICS model is a flexible, accurate, and useful tool for managerial decision making.

Probability of Detection (POD) as a statistical model for the validation of qualitative methods.

PubMed

Wehling, Paul; LaBudde, Robert A; Brunelle, Sharon L; Nelson, Maria T

2011-01-01

A statistical model is presented for use in validation of qualitative methods. This model, termed Probability of Detection (POD), harmonizes the statistical concepts and parameters between quantitative and qualitative method validation. POD characterizes method response with respect to concentration as a continuous variable. The POD model provides a tool for graphical representation of response curves for qualitative methods. In addition, the model allows comparisons between candidate and reference methods, and provides calculations of repeatability, reproducibility, and laboratory effects from collaborative study data. Single laboratory study and collaborative study examples are given.

Validation of physical activity instruments: Black Women's Health Study.

PubMed

Carter-Nolan, Pamela L; Adams-Campbell, Lucile L; Makambi, Kepher; Lewis, Shantell; Palmer, Julie R; Rosenberg, Lynn

2006-01-01

Few studies have reported on the validity of physical activity measures in African Americans. The present study was designed to determine the validity of a self-administered physical activity questionnaire (PAQ) that was used in a large prospective study of African American women in the United States against an accelerometer (actigraph), an objective assessment of movement, and a seven-day activity diary. The study was conducted among 101 women enrolled in the Black Women's Health Study (BWHS) cohort who resided in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, representing 11.2% (101/900) of this sample. Physical activity levels were obtained from the parent BWHS PAQ (eg, 1997 and 1999) and repeated in the present study. This information entailed hours per week of participation in walking for exercise, hours per week of moderate activity (eg, housework, gardening, and bowling), and hours per week of strenuous activity (eg, basketball, swimming, running, and aerobics) during the previous year. The participants were required to wear actigraphs for seven days and then record their physical activities in their diaries (seven-day physical activity diary) during this time. The diaries were used to record the amount and pattern of daily energy expenditure. Significant positive correlations were seen between the BWHS PAQ and the actigraph for total activity, r=.28; walking, r=.26; and vigorous activity, r=.40, P<.001. For the seven-day physical activity diary, the BWHS PAQ also demonstrated significant correlations for total (r=0.42, P<.01); moderate (r=.26, P<.05); and vigorous activities (r=.41, P<.01). The BWHS PAQ is a useful measure of physical activity in the BWHS cohort and thus has utility in prospective epidemiologic research.

[MISSCARE Survey - Italian Version: findings from an Italian validation study].

PubMed

Sist, Luisa; Contini, Carla; Bandini, Anna; Bandini, Stefania; Massa, Licia; Zanin, Roberta; Maricchio, Rita; Gianesini, Gloria; Bassi, Erika; Tartaglini, Daniela; Palese, Alvisa; Ferraresi, Annamaria

2017-01-01

The Missed Nursing Care (MNC) refers to nursing interventions that are not completed, partially completed, or postponed. Despite the relevance of MNC, no assessment tools are available in the Italian context, and no data regarding the occurrence of this phenomenon has been documented on a large scale to date. The study aims were: (1) to validate the Italian version of the MISSCARE Survey tool; (2) to measure the prevalence of missed interventions and reasons for missed care as perceived by clinical nurses working in Italian health care settings. After having conducted the forward and backward translation, pre-pilot and pilot phases were developed to ensure face and content validity as well as semantic and conceptual equivalence of the Italian version with the original version. The MISSCARE survey questionnaire was then distributed to 1,233 clinical nurses of whom 1,003 completed the questionnaire. Overall, 979 questionnaires were analysed. The questionnaires were completed from January to March 2012, by nurses working in medical and surgical hospital departments in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. Construct validity and internal consistency of the instrument were assessed. The face and content validity were ascertained by a group of experts. The instrument acceptability was good given that 79.4% of respondents replied to all items. Construct validity was investigated by an Exploratory Factor Analysis. Four factors explaining 64.18% of variance emerged: communication, lack of facilities/supplies, lack of staff, and unexpected events. Internal consistency, evaluated with Cronbach a, was 0.94. The nursing interventions omitted with greater frequency were, in order: ambulation (74.8%), passive mobilization (69.6%) and oral care (51.3%). The three main reasons for missed interventions were: an unexpected increase in the number of patients (90.5%), increased instability of the clinical condition (86.1%) and insufficient human resources (85.5%). The Italian version of

Assessment of bachelor's theses in a nursing degree with a rubrics system: Development and validation study.

PubMed

González-Chordá, Víctor M; Mena-Tudela, Desirée; Salas-Medina, Pablo; Cervera-Gasch, Agueda; Orts-Cortés, Isabel; Maciá-Soler, Loreto

2016-02-01

Writing a bachelor thesis (BT) is the last step to obtain a nursing degree. In order to perform an effective assessment of a nursing BT, certain reliable and valid tools are required. To develop and validate a 3-rubric system (drafting process, dissertation, and viva) to assess final year nursing students' BT. A multi-disciplinary study of content validity and psychometric properties. The study was carried out between December 2014 and July 2015. Nursing Degree at Universitat Jaume I. Spain. Eleven experts (9 nursing professors and 2 education professors from 6 different universities) took part in the development and content validity stages. Fifty-two theses presented during the 2014-2015 academic year were included by consecutive sampling of cases in order to study the psychometric properties. First, a group of experts was created to validate the content of the assessment system based on three rubrics (drafting process, dissertation, and viva). Subsequently, a reliability and validity study of the rubrics was carried out on the 52 theses presented during the 2014-2015 academic year. The BT drafting process rubric has 8 criteria (S-CVI=0.93; α=0.837; ICC=0.614), the dissertation rubric has 7 criteria (S-CVI=0.9; α=0.893; ICC=0.74), and the viva rubric has 4 criteria (S-CVI=0.86; α=8.16; ICC=0.895). A nursing BT assessment system based on three rubrics (drafting process, dissertation, and viva) has been validated. This system may be transferred to other nursing degrees or degrees from other academic areas. It is necessary to continue with the validation process taking into account factors that may affect the results obtained. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Anomalous Sentences Repetition Test: Replication and Validation Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weeks, David J.

1986-01-01

Presents a brief clinical test, derived from earlier neuropsychological instruments, with evidence for its reliability, interscorer agreement, and validity. The latter is based upon correlations with both CAT scan measures of cortical atrophy and ventricular enlargement, as well as correlations with seven other previously validated cognitive…

Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire - A validation study using the Job Demand-Resources model.

PubMed

Berthelsen, Hanne; Hakanen, Jari J; Westerlund, Hugo

2018-01-01

This study aims at investigating the nomological validity of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II) by using an extension of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model with aspects of work ability as outcome. The study design is cross-sectional. All staff working at public dental organizations in four regions of Sweden were invited to complete an electronic questionnaire (75% response rate, n = 1345). The questionnaire was based on COPSOQ II scales, the Utrecht Work Engagement scale, and the one-item Work Ability Score in combination with a proprietary item. The data was analysed by Structural Equation Modelling. This study contributed to the literature by showing that: A) The scale characteristics were satisfactory and the construct validity of COPSOQ instrument could be integrated in the JD-R framework; B) Job resources arising from leadership may be a driver of the two processes included in the JD-R model; and C) Both the health impairment and motivational processes were associated with WA, and the results suggested that leadership may impact WA, in particularly by securing task resources. In conclusion, the nomological validity of COPSOQ was supported as the JD-R model-can be operationalized by the instrument. This may be helpful for transferral of complex survey results and work life theories to practitioners in the field.

Validation and Estimation of Additive Genetic Variation Associated with DNA Tests for Quantitative Beef Cattle Traits

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The U.S. National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium (NBCEC) has been involved in the validation of commercial DNA tests for quantitative beef quality traits since their first appearance on the U.S. market in the early 2000s. The NBCEC Advisory Council initially requested that the NBCEC set up a syst...

Measuring Students' Writing Ability on a Computer-Analytic Developmental Scale: An Exploratory Validity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burdick, Hal; Swartz, Carl W.; Stenner, A. Jackson; Fitzgerald, Jill; Burdick, Don; Hanlon, Sean T.

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to explore the validity of a novel computer-analytic developmental scale, the Writing Ability Developmental Scale. On the whole, collective results supported the validity of the scale. It was sensitive to writing ability differences across grades and sensitive to within-grade variability as compared to human-rated…

Validation of a Computerized Cognitive Assessment System for Persons with Stroke: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yip, Chi Kwong; Man, David W. K.

2009-01-01

This study investigates the validity of a newly developed computerized cognitive assessment system (CCAS) that is equipped with rich multimedia to generate simulated testing situations and considers both test item difficulty and the test taker's ability. It is also hypothesized that better predictive validity of the CCAS in self-care of persons…

The Bronchiectasis Severity Index. An International Derivation and Validation Study

PubMed Central

Goeminne, Pieter; Aliberti, Stefano; McDonnell, Melissa J.; Lonni, Sara; Davidson, John; Poppelwell, Lucy; Salih, Waleed; Pesci, Alberto; Dupont, Lieven J.; Fardon, Thomas C.; De Soyza, Anthony; Hill, Adam T.

2014-01-01

Rationale: There are no risk stratification tools for morbidity and mortality in bronchiectasis. Identifying patients at risk of exacerbations, hospital admissions, and mortality is vital for future research. Objectives: This study describes the derivation and validation of the Bronchiectasis Severity Index (BSI). Methods: Derivation of the BSI used data from a prospective cohort study (Edinburgh, UK, 2008–2012) enrolling 608 patients. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to identify independent predictors of mortality and hospitalization over 4-year follow-up. The score was validated in independent cohorts from Dundee, UK (n = 218); Leuven, Belgium (n = 253); Monza, Italy (n = 105); and Newcastle, UK (n = 126). Measurements and Main Results: Independent predictors of future hospitalization were prior hospital admissions, Medical Research Council dyspnea score greater than or equal to 4, FEV1 < 30% predicted, Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization, colonization with other pathogenic organisms, and three or more lobes involved on high-resolution computed tomography. Independent predictors of mortality were older age, low FEV1, lower body mass index, prior hospitalization, and three or more exacerbations in the year before the study. The derived BSI predicted mortality and hospitalization: area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) 0.80 (95% confidence interval, 0.74–0.86) for mortality and AUC 0.88 (95% confidence interval, 0.84–0.91) for hospitalization, respectively. There was a clear difference in exacerbation frequency and quality of life using the St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire between patients classified as low, intermediate, and high risk by the score (P < 0.0001 for all comparisons). In the validation cohorts, the AUC for mortality ranged from 0.81 to 0.84 and for hospitalization from 0.80 to 0.88. Conclusions: The BSI is a useful clinical predictive tool that identifies patients at risk of future mortality

Validation Study of a Predictive Algorithm to Evaluate Opioid Use Disorder in a Primary Care Setting

PubMed Central

Sharma, Maneesh; Lee, Chee; Kantorovich, Svetlana; Tedtaotao, Maria; Smith, Gregory A.

2017-01-01

Background: Opioid abuse in chronic pain patients is a major public health issue. Primary care providers are frequently the first to prescribe opioids to patients suffering from pain, yet do not always have the time or resources to adequately evaluate the risk of opioid use disorder (OUD). Purpose: This study seeks to determine the predictability of aberrant behavior to opioids using a comprehensive scoring algorithm (“profile”) incorporating phenotypic and, more uniquely, genotypic risk factors. Methods and Results: In a validation study with 452 participants diagnosed with OUD and 1237 controls, the algorithm successfully categorized patients at high and moderate risk of OUD with 91.8% sensitivity. Regardless of changes in the prevalence of OUD, sensitivity of the algorithm remained >90%. Conclusion: The algorithm correctly stratifies primary care patients into low-, moderate-, and high-risk categories to appropriately identify patients in need for additional guidance, monitoring, or treatment changes. PMID:28890908

Validation Study of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale: Spanish Adaptation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Jennifer L.; Sifuentes, Lucía Macías

2016-01-01

With growing numbers of Hispanic students enrolling in post-secondary school, there is a need to increase retention and graduation rates. The purpose of this study was to validate the Spanish adaptation of the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS). The AMAS was translated and administered to 804 freshman students at a post-secondary institution in…

Value-Eroding Teacher Behaviors Scale: A Validity and Reliability Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arseven, Zeynep; Kiliç, Abdurrahman; Sahin, Seyma

2016-01-01

In the present study, it is aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale for determining value-eroding behaviors of teachers, hence their values of judgment. The items of the "Value-eroding Teacher Behaviors Scale" were designed in the form of 5-point likert type rating scale. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to…

Preliminary Face and Construct Validation Study of a Virtual Basic Laparoscopic Skill Trainer

PubMed Central

Sankaranarayanan, Ganesh; Lin, Henry; Arikatla, Venkata S.; Mulcare, Maureen; Zhang, Likun; Derevianko, Alexandre; Lim, Robert; Fobert, David; Cao, Caroline; Schwaitzberg, Steven D.; Jones, Daniel B.

2010-01-01

Abstract Background The Virtual Basic Laparoscopic Skill Trainer (VBLaST™) is a developing virtual-reality–based surgical skill training system that incorporates several of the tasks of the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) training system. This study aimed to evaluate the face and construct validity of the VBLaST™ system. Materials and Methods Thirty-nine subjects were voluntarily recruited at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA) and classified into two groups: experts (PGY 5, fellow and practicing surgeons) and novice (PGY 1–4). They were then asked to perform three FLS tasks, consisting of peg transfer, pattern cutting, and endoloop, on both the VBLaST and FLS systems. The VBLaST performance scores were automatically computed, while the FLS scores were rated by a trained evaluator. Face validity was assessed using a 5-point Likert scale, varying from not realistic/useful (1) to very realistic/useful (5). Results Face-validity scores showed that the VBLaST system was significantly realistic in portraying the three FLS tasks (3.95 ± 0.909), as well as the reality in trocar placement and tool movements (3.67 ± 0.874). Construct-validity results show that VBLaST was able to differentiate between the expert and novice group (P = 0.015). However, of the two tasks used for evaluating VBLaST, only the peg-transfer task showed a significant difference between the expert and novice groups (P = 0.003). Spearman correlation coefficient analysis between the two scores showed significant correlation for the peg-transfer task (Spearman coefficient 0.364; P = 0.023). Conclusions VBLaST demonstrated significant face and construct validity. A further set of studies, involving improvement to the current VBLaST system, is needed to thoroughly demonstrate face and construct validity for all the tasks. PMID:20201683

The JaCVAM international validation study on the in vivo comet assay: Selection of test chemicals.

PubMed

Morita, Takeshi; Uno, Yoshifumi; Honma, Masamitsu; Kojima, Hajime; Hayashi, Makoto; Tice, Raymond R; Corvi, Raffaella; Schechtman, Leonard

2015-07-01

The Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (JaCVAM) sponsored an international prevalidation and validation study of the in vivo rat alkaline pH comet assay. The main objective of the study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the assay for correctly identifying genotoxic carcinogens, as compared with the traditional rat liver unscheduled DNA synthesis assay. Based on existing carcinogenicity and genotoxicity data and chemical class information, 90 chemicals were identified as primary candidates for use in the validation study. From these 90 chemicals, 46 secondary candidates and then 40 final chemicals were selected based on a sufficiency of carcinogenic and genotoxic data, differences in chemical class or genotoxic or carcinogenic mode of action (MOA), availability, price, and ease of handling. These 40 chemicals included 19 genotoxic carcinogens, 6 genotoxic non-carcinogens, 7 non-genotoxic carcinogens and 8 non-genotoxic non-carcinogens. "Genotoxicity" was defined as positive in the Ames mutagenicity test or in one of the standard in vivo genotoxicity tests (primarily the erythrocyte micronucleus assay). These chemicals covered various chemicals classes, MOAs, and genotoxicity profiles and were considered to be suitable for the purpose of the validation study. General principles of chemical selection for validation studies are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Number of organ dysfunctions predicts mortality in emergency department patients with suspected infection: a multicenter validation study.

PubMed

Jessen, Marie K; Skibsted, Simon; Shapiro, Nathan I

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to validate the association between number of organ dysfunctions and mortality in emergency department (ED) patients with suspected infection. This study was conducted at two medical care center EDs. The internal validation set was a prospective cohort study conducted in Boston, USA. The external validation set was a retrospective case-control study conducted in Aarhus, Denmark. The study included adult patients (>18 years) with clinically suspected infection. Laboratory results and clinical data were used to assess organ dysfunctions. Inhospital mortality was the outcome measure. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the independent mortality odds for number and types of organ dysfunctions. We enrolled 4952 (internal) and 483 (external) patients. The mortality rate significantly increased with increasing number of organ dysfunctions: internal validation: 0 organ dysfunctions: 0.5% mortality, 1: 3.6%, 2: 9.5%, 3: 17%, and 4 or more: 37%; external validation: 2.2, 6.7, 17, 41, and 57% mortality (both P<0.001 for trend). Age-adjusted and comorbidity-adjusted number of organ dysfunctions remained an independent predictor. The effect of specific types of organ dysfunction on mortality was most pronounced for hematologic [odds ratio (OR) 3.3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0-5.4)], metabolic [OR 3.3 (95% CI 2.4-4.6); internal validation], and cardiovascular dysfunctions [OR 14 (95% CI 3.7-50); external validation]. The number of organ dysfunctions predicts sepsis mortality.

Further validation of the Internet-based Dementia Risk Assessment.

PubMed

Brandt, Jason; Blehar, Justin; Anderson, Allan; Gross, Alden L

2014-01-01

Most approaches to the detection of presymptomatic or prodromal Alzheimer's disease require the costly collection and analysis of biological samples or neuroimaging measurements. The Dementia Risk Assessment (DRA) was developed to facilitate this detection by collecting self-report and proxy-report of dementia risk variables and episodic memory performance on a free Internet website. We now report two validation studies. In Study 1, 130 community-residing older adults seeking memory screening at senior health fairs were tested using the Mini-Cog, and were then observed while taking the DRA. They were compared to a demographically-matched subsample from our anonymous Internet sample. Participants seeking memory screening had more dementia risk factors and obtained lower scores on the DRA's recognition memory test (RMT) than their Internet controls. In addition, those who failed the Mini-Cog obtained much lower scores on the RMT than those who passed the Mini-Cog. In Study 2, 160 older adults seeking evaluation of cognitive difficulties took the DRA prior to diagnostic evaluations at outpatient dementia clinics. Patients who ultimately received the diagnosis of a dementia syndrome scored significantly lower on the RMT than those diagnosed with other conditions or deemed normal. Lower education, family history of dementia, presence of hypercholesterolemia and diabetes, and memory test score distinguished the dementia and no-dementia groups with around 82% accuracy. In addition, score on the RMT correlated highly with scores on other instruments widely used to detect cognitive decline. These findings support the concurrent validity of the DRA for detecting prevalent cognitive impairment. Prospective studies of cognitively normal persons who subsequently develop dementia will be necessary to establish its predictive validity.

A Case for Transforming the Criterion of a Predictive Validity Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patterson, Brian F.; Kobrin, Jennifer L.

2011-01-01

This study presents a case for applying a transformation (Box and Cox, 1964) of the criterion used in predictive validity studies. The goals of the transformation were to better meet the assumptions of the linear regression model and to reduce the residual variance of fitted (i.e., predicted) values. Using data for the 2008 cohort of first-time,…

A Study of Validity and Reliability on the Instructional Capacity Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yalçin, Mehmet Tufan; Eres, Figen

2018-01-01

The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool that can determine the instructional capacity, according to teacher opinions. In the academic year of 2016-2017, 1011 teachers working in the public high schools and vocational technical schools in Ankara participated in the study. The total number of items on the scale was…

Tackling Missing Data in Community Health Studies Using Additive LS-SVM Classifier.

PubMed

Wang, Guanjin; Deng, Zhaohong; Choi, Kup-Sze

2018-03-01

Missing data is a common issue in community health and epidemiological studies. Direct removal of samples with missing data can lead to reduced sample size and information bias, which deteriorates the significance of the results. While data imputation methods are available to deal with missing data, they are limited in performance and could introduce noises into the dataset. Instead of data imputation, a novel method based on additive least square support vector machine (LS-SVM) is proposed in this paper for predictive modeling when the input features of the model contain missing data. The method also determines simultaneously the influence of the features with missing values on the classification accuracy using the fast leave-one-out cross-validation strategy. The performance of the method is evaluated by applying it to predict the quality of life (QOL) of elderly people using health data collected in the community. The dataset involves demographics, socioeconomic status, health history, and the outcomes of health assessments of 444 community-dwelling elderly people, with 5% to 60% of data missing in some of the input features. The QOL is measured using a standard questionnaire of the World Health Organization. Results show that the proposed method outperforms four conventional methods for handling missing data-case deletion, feature deletion, mean imputation, and K-nearest neighbor imputation, with the average QOL prediction accuracy reaching 0.7418. It is potentially a promising technique for tackling missing data in community health research and other applications.

The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory: A Construct Validation Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Brian W.

1983-01-01

Regression analyses indicated that the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory has convergent validity with regard to the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale and the Coopersmith Behavioral Academic Assessment Scale, has discriminant validity with regard to the Children's Social Desirability Scale, is sensitive to differences in achievement level,…

Validation of the Spanish version of the Hip Outcome Score: a multicenter study.

PubMed

Seijas, Roberto; Sallent, Andrea; Ruiz-Ibán, Miguel Angel; Ares, Oscar; Marín-Peña, Oliver; Cuéllar, Ricardo; Muriel, Alfonso

2014-05-13

The Hip Outcome Score (HOS) is a self-reported questionnaire evaluating the outcomes of treatment interventions for hip pathologies, divided in 19 items of activities of daily life (ADL) and 9 sports' items. The aim of the present study is to translate and validate HOS into Spanish. A prospective and multicenter study with 100 patients undergoing hip arthroscopy was performed between June 2012 and January 2013. Crosscultural adaptation was used to translate HOS into Spanish. Patients completed the questionnaire before and after surgery. Feasibility, reliability, internal consistency, construct validity (correlation with Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index), ceiling and floor effects and sensitivity to change were assessed for the present study. Mean age was 45.05 years old. 36 women and 64 men were included. Feasibility: 13% had at least one missing item within the ADL subscale and 17% within the sport subscale. Reliability: the translated version of HOS was highly reproducible with intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.95 for ADL and 0.94 for the sports subscale. Internal consistency was confirmed with Cronbach's alpha >0.90 in both subscales. Construct validity showed statistically significant correlation with WOMAC. Ceiling effect was observed in 6% and 12% for ADL and sports subscale, respectively. Floor effect was found in 3% and 37% ADL and sports subscale, respectively. Large sensitivity to change was shown in both subscales. The translated version of HOS into Spanish has shown to be feasible, reliable and sensible to changes for patients undergoing hip arthroscopy. This validated translation of HOS allows for comparisons between studies involving either Spanish- or English-speaking patients. Prognostic study, Level I.

American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale: A cross-cultural adaptation and validation study from Iran.

PubMed

Vosoughi, Amir Reza; Roustaei, Narges; Mahdaviazad, Hamideh

2018-06-01

The use of valid and reliable outcome rating scales is essential for evaluating the result of different treatments and interventions. The purposes of this study were to translate and culturally adapt the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale (AOFAS-AHFS) into Persian languages and evaluate its psychometric properties. Forward-backward translation and cultural adaptation method were used to develop Persian version of AOFAS-AHFS. From March to July 2016, one hundred consecutive patients with ankle and hindfoot injuries were included. Internal consistency and reproducibility were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) respectively. Construct validity reported which compare the outcome rating scale measurements with Short Form-36 (SF-36), also convergent and discriminant validity evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Mean age (SD) of the patients was 41.95±13.45years. Cronbach's α coefficient, Spearman's rho and ICC values were 0.71, 0.89 and 0.90 respectively. Total score of AOFAS-AHFS and SF-36 domains has a correlation ranged between 0.17-0.55. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient of 0.4 was exceeded by all items with the exception of stability. The Spearman's rank correlation between each item in functional subscales with its own subscales was higher than the correlation between these items and other subscales. Persian version of AOFAS-AHFS provides additional reliable and valid instrument which can be used to assess broad range of patients with foot and ankle disorders that speaking in Persian. However, it seems that the original version of AOFAS-AHFS needs some revisions. Copyright © 2017 European Foot and Ankle Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Expert validation of a teamwork assessment rubric: A modified Delphi study.

PubMed

Parratt, Jenny A; Fahy, Kathleen M; Hutchinson, Marie; Lohmann, Gui; Hastie, Carolyn R; Chaseling, Marilyn; O'Brien, Kylie

2016-01-01

Teamwork is a 'soft skill' employability competence desired by employers. Poor teamwork skills in healthcare have an impact on adverse outcomes. Teamwork skills are rarely the focus of teaching and assessment in undergraduate courses. The TeamUP Rubric is a tool used to teach and evaluate undergraduate students' teamwork skills. Students also use the rubric to give anonymised peer feedback during team-based academic assignments. The rubric's five domains focus on planning, environment, facilitation, conflict management and individual contribution; each domain is grounded in relevant theory. Students earn marks for their teamwork skills; validity of the assessment rubric is critical. To what extent do experts agree that the TeamUP Rubric is a valid assessment of 'teamwork skills'? Modified Delphi technique incorporating Feminist Collaborative Conversations. A heterogeneous panel of 35 professionals with recognised expertise in communications and/or teamwork. Three Delphi rounds using a survey that included the rubric were conducted either face-to-face, by telephone or online. Quantitative analysis yielded item content validity indices (I-CVI); minimum consensus was pre-set at 70%. An average of the I-CVI also yielded sub-scale (domain) (D-CVI/Ave) and scale content validity indices (S-CVI/Ave). After each Delphi round, qualitative data were analysed and interpreted; Feminist Collaborative Conversations by the research team aimed to clarify and confirm consensus about the wording of items on the rubric. Consensus (at 70%) was obtained for all but one behavioural descriptor of the rubric. We modified that descriptor to address expert concerns. The TeamUP Rubric (Version 4) can be considered to be well validated at that level of consensus. The final rubric reflects underpinning theory, with no areas of conceptual overlap between rubric domains. The final TeamUP Rubric arising from this study validly measures individual student teamwork skills and can be used with

[Development and validation of the Family Vulnerability Index to Disability and Dependence (FVI-DD)].

PubMed

Amendola, Fernanda; Alvarenga, Márcia Regina Martins; Latorre, Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira; Oliveira, Maria Amélia de Campos

2014-02-01

This exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional, and quantitative study aimed to develop and validate an index of family vulnerability to disability and dependence (FVI-DD). This study was adapted from the Family Development Index, with the addition of social and health indicators of disability and dependence. The instrument was applied to 248 families in the city of Sao Paulo, followed by exploratory factor analysis. Factor validation was performed using the concurrent and discriminant validity of the Lawton scale and Katz Index. The descriptive level adopted for the study was p < 0.05. The final vulnerability index comprised 50 questions classified into seven factors contemplating social and health dimensions, and this index exhibited good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.82). FVI-DD was validated using both the Lawton scale and Katz Index. We conclude that FVI-DD can accurately and reliably assess family vulnerability to disability and dependence.

Optimal selection of markers for validation or replication from genome-wide association studies.

PubMed

Greenwood, Celia M T; Rangrej, Jagadish; Sun, Lei

2007-07-01

With reductions in genotyping costs and the fast pace of improvements in genotyping technology, it is not uncommon for the individuals in a single study to undergo genotyping using several different platforms, where each platform may contain different numbers of markers selected via different criteria. For example, a set of cases and controls may be genotyped at markers in a small set of carefully selected candidate genes, and shortly thereafter, the same cases and controls may be used for a genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association study. After such initial investigations, often, a subset of "interesting" markers is selected for validation or replication. Specifically, by validation, we refer to the investigation of associations between the selected subset of markers and the disease in independent data. However, it is not obvious how to choose the best set of markers for this validation. There may be a prior expectation that some sets of genotyping data are more likely to contain real associations. For example, it may be more likely for markers in plausible candidate genes to show disease associations than markers in a genome-wide scan. Hence, it would be desirable to select proportionally more markers from the candidate gene set. When a fixed number of markers are selected for validation, we propose an approach for identifying an optimal marker-selection configuration by basing the approach on minimizing the stratified false discovery rate. We illustrate this approach using a case-control study of colorectal cancer from Ontario, Canada, and we show that this approach leads to substantial reductions in the estimated false discovery rates in the Ontario dataset for the selected markers, as well as reductions in the expected false discovery rates for the proposed validation dataset. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The Borderline Syndrome Index: a validation study using the personality assessment schedule.

PubMed

Marlowe, M J; O'Neill-Byrne, K; Lowe-Ponsford, F; Watson, J P

1996-01-01

This study examines the validity and screening properties of the Borderline Syndrome Index--BSI (developed in the USA) for categories of the Personality Assessment Schedule--PAS (developed in the UK). Patients were recruited by case control sampling. Chance corrected agreement between instruments and screening properties of the BSI were calculated. The BSI proved a moderately sensitive but non-specific screen. Questionnaire scores were highly correlated with symptom measures. The results do not support the validity of the BSI or its use as a screening instrument. BSI scores may be distorted by current symptoms.

Multireader multicase reader studies with binary agreement data: simulation, analysis, validation, and sizing

PubMed Central

Chen, Weijie; Wunderlich, Adam; Petrick, Nicholas; Gallas, Brandon D.

2014-01-01

Abstract. We treat multireader multicase (MRMC) reader studies for which a reader’s diagnostic assessment is converted to binary agreement (1: agree with the truth state, 0: disagree with the truth state). We present a mathematical model for simulating binary MRMC data with a desired correlation structure across readers, cases, and two modalities, assuming the expected probability of agreement is equal for the two modalities (P1=P2). This model can be used to validate the coverage probabilities of 95% confidence intervals (of P1, P2, or P1−P2 when P1−P2=0), validate the type I error of a superiority hypothesis test, and size a noninferiority hypothesis test (which assumes P1=P2). To illustrate the utility of our simulation model, we adapt the Obuchowski–Rockette–Hillis (ORH) method for the analysis of MRMC binary agreement data. Moreover, we use our simulation model to validate the ORH method for binary data and to illustrate sizing in a noninferiority setting. Our software package is publicly available on the Google code project hosting site for use in simulation, analysis, validation, and sizing of MRMC reader studies with binary agreement data. PMID:26158051

A Validation Study of the Revised Personal Safety Decision Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, HaeJung; Hopkins, Karen M.

2017-01-01

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of an 11-item Personal Safety Decision Scale (PSDS) in a sample of child welfare workers. Methods: Data were derived from a larger cross-sectional online survey to a random stratified sample of 477 public child welfare workers in a mid-Atlantic State. An exploratory…

Urdu version of the neck disability index: a reliability and validity study.

PubMed

Farooq, Muhammad Nazim; Mohseni-Bandpei, Mohammad A; Gilani, Syed Amir; Hafeez, Ambreen

2017-04-08

Despite the wide use of the neck disability index (NDI) for assessing disability in patients with neck pain, the NDI has not yet been translated and validated in Urdu. The first purpose of the present study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the NDI into the Urdu language (NDI-U). The second purpose was to investigate the reliability, validity and responsiveness of the NDI-U in Urdu-speaking patients experiencing chronic mechanical neck pain (CMNP). Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original version of the NDI were carried out using previously described procedures. Seventy-six patients with CMNP and thirty healthy participants were recruited for the study. NDI-U and visual analogue scales for pain intensity (VAS pain ) and disability (VAS disability ) were administered to all the participants at baseline and to the patients 3 weeks after receiving physiotherapy intervention. The global rating of change scale (GROC) was also administered at this time. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency were carried out on forty-six randomly selected patients two days after they completed the NDI-U. The NDI-U was evaluated for factor analysis, content validity, construct validity (discriminative and convergent validity) and responsiveness. An intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC 2,1 ) revealed excellent test-retest reliability for all items (ICC 2,1  = 0.86-0.98) and total scores (ICC 2,1  = 0.99) of the NDI-U. The NDI-U was found internally consistent with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.90 and a fair to good correlation between single items and the NDI-U total scores (r = 0.34 to 0.89). Factor analysis of the NDI-U produced two factors explaining 66.71% of the variance. Content validity was good, as no floor or ceiling effects were detected for the NDI-U total score. To determine discriminative validity, an independent t-test revealed a significant difference in the NDI-U total scores between the patients and healthy controls (P�

Validation of the Impostor Phenomenon among Managers

PubMed Central

Rohrmann, Sonja; Bechtoldt, Myriam N.; Leonhardt, Mona

2016-01-01

Following up on earlier investigations, the present research aims at validating the construct impostor phenomenon by taking other personality correlates into account and to examine whether the impostor phenomenon is a construct in its own right. In addition, gender effects as well as associations with dispositional working styles and strain are examined. In an online study we surveyed a sample of N = 242 individuals occupying leadership positions in different sectors. Confirmatory factor analyses provide empirical evidence for the discriminant validity of the impostor phenomenon. In accord with earlier studies we show that the impostor phenomenon is accompanied by higher levels of anxiety, dysphoric moods, emotional instability, a generally negative self-evaluation, and perfectionism. The study does not reveal any gender differences concerning the impostor phenomenon. With respect to working styles, persons with an impostor self-concept tend to show perfectionist as well as procrastinating behaviors. Moreover, they report being more stressed and strained by their work. In sum, the findings show that the impostor phenomenon constitutes a dysfunctional personality style. Practical implications are discussed. PMID:27313554

The Johns Hopkins Fall Risk Assessment Tool: A Study of Reliability and Validity.

PubMed

Poe, Stephanie S; Dawson, Patricia B; Cvach, Maria; Burnett, Margaret; Kumble, Sowmya; Lewis, Maureen; Thompson, Carol B; Hill, Elizabeth E

Patient falls and fall-related injury remain a safety concern. The Johns Hopkins Fall Risk Assessment Tool (JHFRAT) was developed to facilitate early detection of risk for anticipated physiologic falls in adult inpatients. Psychometric properties in acute care settings have not yet been fully established; this study sought to fill that gap. Results indicate that the JHFRAT is reliable, with high sensitivity and negative predictive validity. Specificity and positive predictive validity were lower than expected.

Validity and Reliability of Accelerometers in Patients With COPD: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.

PubMed

Gore, Shweta; Blackwood, Jennifer; Guyette, Mary; Alsalaheen, Bara

2018-05-01

Reduced physical activity is associated with poor prognosis in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Accelerometers have greatly improved quantification of physical activity by providing information on step counts, body positions, energy expenditure, and magnitude of force. The purpose of this systematic review was to compare the validity and reliability of accelerometers used in patients with COPD. An electronic database search of MEDLINE and CINAHL was performed. Study quality was assessed with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology checklist while methodological quality was assessed using the modified Quality Appraisal Tool for Reliability Studies. The search yielded 5392 studies; 25 met inclusion criteria. The SenseWear Pro armband reported high criterion validity under controlled conditions (r = 0.75-0.93) and high reliability (ICC = 0.84-0.86) for step counts. The DynaPort MiniMod demonstrated highest concurrent validity for step count using both video and manual methods. Validity of the SenseWear Pro armband varied between studies especially in free-living conditions, slower walking speeds, and with addition of weights during gait. A high degree of variability was found in the outcomes used and statistical analyses performed between studies, indicating a need for further studies to measure reliability and validity of accelerometers in COPD. The SenseWear Pro armband is the most commonly used accelerometer in COPD, but measurement properties are limited by gait speed variability and assistive device use. DynaPort MiniMod and Stepwatch accelerometers demonstrated high validity in patients with COPD but lack reliability data.

RhinAsthma patient perspective: A Rasch validation study.

PubMed

Molinengo, Giorgia; Baiardini, Ilaria; Braido, Fulvio; Loera, Barbara

2018-02-01

In daily practice, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) tools are useful for supplementing clinical data with the patient's perspective. To encourage their use by clinicians, the availability of tools that can quickly provide valid results is crucial. A new HRQoL tool has been proposed for patients with asthma and rhinitis: the RhinAsthma Patient Perspective-RAPP. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric robustness of the RAPP using the Item Response Theory (IRT) approach, to evaluate the scalability of items and test whether or not patients use the items response scale correctly. 155 patients (53.5% women, mean age 39.1, range 16-76) were recruited during a multicenter study. RAPP metric properties were investigated using IRT models. Differential item functioning (DIF) was used for gender, age, and asthma control test (ACT). The RAPP adequately fitted the Rating Scale model, demonstrating the equality of the rating scale structure for all items. All statistics on items were satisfactory. The RAPP had adequate internal reliability and showed good ability to discriminate among different groups of participants. DIF analysis indicated that there were no differential item functioning issues for gender. One item showed a DIF by age and four items by ACT. The psychometric evaluation performed using IRT models demonstrated that the RAPP met all the criteria to be considered a reliable and valid method of measurement. From a clinical perspective, this will allow physicians to confidently interpret scores as good indicators of Quality of Life of patients with asthma.

Additional confirmation of the validity of laboratory simulation of cloud radiances

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, J. M.; Cox, S. K.

1986-01-01

The results of a laboratory experiment are presented that provide additional verification of the methodology adopted for simulation of the radiances reflected from fields of optically thick clouds using the Cloud Field Optical Simulator (CFOS) at Colorado State University. The comparison of these data with their theoretically derived counterparts indicates that the crucial mechanism of cloud-to-cloud radiance field interaction is accurately simulated in the CFOS experiments and adds confidence to the manner in which the optical depth is scaled.

[A Validation Study of the Modified Korean Version of Ethical Leadership at Work Questionnaire (K-ELW)].