Abstract
Brands often encourage consumers to compare themselves to two types of standards: other people (i.e., social comparisons) and their own past (i.e., temporal comparisons). Although research ...has drawn many parallels between these two self‐comparisons, relatively little work has examined how they diverge. Moreover, existing research on their differences focuses on individuals engaging in—rather than brands encouraging—different self‐comparisons. The present research identifies moral perceptions as one critical dimension on which brand‐elicited temporal and social comparisons differ. Four studies find that evoking downward social (vs. temporal) comparisons undermines brand morality perceptions and, consequently, brand evaluations and choice. Providing preliminary insight into the mechanism, when brands evoke downward social (vs. temporal) comparisons, consumers perceive them as promoting status‐seeking behavior, which mediates morality judgments. Furthermore, the effects of comparison type are eliminated among consumers with stronger status motives—those who are less prone to condemn status‐seeking behavior. Altogether, these findings reveal a lay belief in the moral superiority of downward temporal (vs. social) comparisons and the downstream consequences for brands that elicit such comparisons.
This paper evaluates five strategies for mitigating imbalanced data: oversampling, undersampling, ensemble methods, specialized algorithms, class weight adjustments, plus a no-mitigation approach ...referred to as the baseline. These strategies were tested on 58 real-life binary imbalanced datasets with imbalance rates ranging from 3 to 120. We conducted a comparative analysis of 10 under-sampling algorithms, 5 over-sampling algorithms, 2 ensemble methods, and 3 specialized algorithms across eight different performance metrics: accuracy, area under the ROC curve (AUC-ROC), balanced accuracy, F1-measure, G-mean, Matthew’s correlation coefficient, precision, and recall. Additionally, we assessed the five strategies plus the baseline on altered datasets, derived from real-life data, with both low (3) and high (100 or 300) imbalance ratios (IR).
This paper tries to assist a practitioner in selecting a small set of algorithms within one or few of the strategies for testing for a specific imbalanced problem.
The principal finding indicates that the effectiveness of each strategy significantly varies depending on the metric used. The paper also examines a selection of newer algorithms within the categories of specialized algorithms, oversampling, and ensemble methods. The findings suggest that the current hierarchy of best-performing strategies for each metric is unlikely to change with the introduction of newer algorithms.
•This paper tests imbalanced algorithms grouped under five strategies.•The paper tests 20 algorithms on 53 imbalanced data sets, testing 6 different metrics of quality.•The effectiveness of each strategy varies significantly depending on the evaluation metric employed.•The paper suggests that the ranking of the strategies remains stable with the introduction of new algorithms within each strategy.
•We compared trauma service structures, processes and outcomes between the integrated trauma systems of Victoria and Québec.•In-hospital mortality and length of stay for major trauma patients were ...higher in Québec than in Victoria.•Results might be explained by the observed differences in the structural components and care processes in Québec and Victoria's trauma systems.
Background: Quality improvement activities in trauma systems are widely based on comparisons between trauma centers within the same system. Comparisons across different trauma systems may reveal further opportunities for quality improvement.
Objectives: This study aimed to compare the integrated trauma systems in Québec, Canada and in Victoria, Australia, regarding their structures, care processes and patient outcomes.
Methodology: The elements recommended by the American College of Surgeons were used to compare trauma systems structures. Comparisons of care processes and patient outcomes were based on data from major trauma admissions extracted from trauma registries (2013 and 2017). Care processes included time to reach a definitive care facility, time spent in the emergency department, and time lapsed before the first head computed tomography (CT) scan. These care processes were compared using a z-test of log-transformed times. Hospital mortality and hospital length of stay (LOS) were compared using indirect standardization based on multiple logistic and linear regression.
Results: Major differences in trauma system structure were Advanced Trauma Life Support at the scene of injury (Victoria), the use of validated prehospital triage tools (Québec), and mandatory accreditation of all trauma centers (Québec). Patients in Québec arrived at their definitive care hospital earlier than their counterparts in Victoria (median: 1.93 vs. 2.13 h, p = 0.002), but spent longer in the emergency department (median: 8.23 vs. 5.15 h, p<0.0001) and waited longer before having their first head CT (median: 1.90 vs. 1.52 h, p<0.0001). In-hospital mortality and hospital LOS were higher in Québec than in Victoria (standardized mortality ratio: 1.15, 95% CI: 1.09 - 1.20; standardized LOS ratio: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.09 - 1.11).
Conclusion: We observed important differences in the structural components and care processes in Québec and Victoria's trauma systems, which might explain some of the observed differences in patient outcomes. This study shows the potential value of international comparisons in trauma care and identifies possible opportunities for quality improvement.
The Alzheimer's Association convened a multidisciplinary workgroup to develop appropriate use criteria to guide the safe and optimal use of the lumbar puncture procedure and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) ...testing for Alzheimer's disease pathology detection in the diagnostic process.
The workgroup, experienced in the ethical use of lumbar puncture and CSF analysis, developed key research questions to guide the systematic review of the evidence and developed clinical indications commonly encountered in clinical practice based on key patient groups in whom the use of lumbar puncture and CSF may be considered as part of the diagnostic process. Based on their expertise and interpretation of the evidence from systematic review, members rated each indication as appropriate or inappropriate.
The workgroup finalized 14 indications, rating 6 appropriate and 8 inappropriate.
In anticipation of the emergence of more reliable CSF analysis platforms, the manuscript offers important guidance to health-care practitioners and suggestions for implementation and future research.
Abstract Research into smartphone addiction has followed the scientific literature on problematic mobile phone use developed during the last decade, with valid screening scales being developed to ...identify maladaptive behaviour associated with this technology, usually in adolescent populations. This study adapts the short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale SAS-SV into Spanish and into French. The aim of the study was to (i) examine the scale's psychometric properties in both languages, (ii) estimate the prevalence of potential excessive smartphone use among Spanish and Belgian adults, and (iii) compare the addictive symptomatology measured by the SAS-SV between potentially excessive users from both countries. Data were collected via online surveys administered to 281 and 144 voluntary participants from both countries respectively, aged over 18 years and recruited from academic environments. Results indicated that the reliability was excellent (i.e., Cronbach alphas: Spain: .88 and Belgium: .90), and the validity was very good (e.g., unifactoriality with a 49% and 54% of variance explained through explorative factor analysis, respectively). Findings showed that the prevalence of potential excessive smartphone use 12.5% for Spanish and 21.5% for francophone Belgians. The scale showed that at least 60% of excessive users endorsed withdrawal and tolerance symptoms in both countries, although the proposed addictive symptomatology did not cover the entire group of estimated excessive users and cultural differences appeared. This first cross-cultural study discusses the smartphone excessive use construct from its addictive pathway.
Previous research has shown that three comparison types are involved in the formation of students’ academic self-concepts: social comparisons (where students compare their achievement with their ...classmates), dimensional comparisons (where students compare their achievement in different subjects), and temporal comparisons (where students compare their achievement across time). The 2I/E model provides a framework to describe the joint effects of these comparisons. To date, it has been tested in 12 empirical studies. However, integration of these findings is lacking, especially in terms of yielding reliable estimates of the strength of social, dimensional, and temporal comparison effects. We therefore conducted an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis, in which we reanalyzed the data used in all prior 2I/E model studies (
N
= 45,248). This IPD meta-analysis provided strong support for the 2I/E model: There were moderate social comparison effects, small to moderate dimensional comparison effects, and small temporal comparison effects on students’ math and verbal self-concepts. Moreover, several moderating variables affected the strength of these effects. In particular, the social and temporal comparison effects were stronger in studies using grades instead of test scores as achievement indicators. Older students showed weaker social comparison effects but stronger dimensional comparison effects compared to younger students. Social comparison effects were also stronger in academic track schools compared to nonacademic track schools. Gender and migration background had only very small impacts on the strength of single comparison effects. In sum, this IPD meta-analysis significantly enhances our knowledge of comparison making in the process of students’ self-concept formation.
Mental state reasoning has been theorized as a core feature of how we navigate our social worlds, and as especially vital to moral reasoning. Judgments of moral wrong-doing and punish-worthiness ...often hinge upon evaluations of the perpetrator’s mental states. In two studies, we examine how differences in cultural conceptions about how one should think about others’ minds influence the relative importance of intent vs. outcome in moral judgments. We recruit participation from three societies, differing in emphasis on mental state reasoning: Indigenous iTaukei Fijians from Yasawa Island (Yasawans) who normatively avoid mental state inference in favor of focus on relationships and consequences of actions; Indo-Fijians who normatively emphasize relationships but do not avoid mental state inference; and North Americans who emphasize individual autonomy and interpreting others’ behaviors as the direct result of mental states. In study 1, Yasawan participants placed more emphasis on outcome than Indo-Fijians or North Americans by judging accidents more harshly than failed attempts. Study 2 tested whether underlying differences in the salience of mental states drives study 1 effects by inducing Yasawan and North American participants to think about thoughts vs. actions before making moral judgments. When induced to think about thoughts, Yasawan participants shifted to judge failed attempts more harshly than accidents. Results suggest that culturally-transmitted concepts about how to interpret the social world shape patterns of moral judgments, possibly via mental state inference.
Saaty's approach in the AHP framework divides inconsistent pairwise comparisons (PC) matrices into two categories, those with the acceptable inconsistency (with the consistency ratio equal to or ...under 0.10 threshold) and those with unacceptable inconsistency (above that threshold). The aim of this paper is to show that such a division is not appropriate, hence a new categorization of inconsistent matrices is proposed with respect to a satisfaction/violation of selected logical properties, such as the fundamental selection (FS) condition, the preservation of order preference (POP) condition, and the preservation of order of intensity of preference (POIP) condition. Moreover, a new non-linear optimization method for the derivation of weights (i.e. priority vector) is proposed such that the three aforementioned logical conditions are met. In the numerical part of the paper it is examined how frequently are the FS, POP and POIP conditions satisfied or violated for randomly generated PC matrices.
The Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) is a major innovation that provides, for the first time, harmonized data for cross‐national comparisons of later‐life cognitive functions that are ...sensitive to linguistic, cultural, and educational differences across countries. However, cognitive function does not lend itself to direct comparison across diverse populations without careful consideration of the best practices for such comparisons. This perspective discusses theoretical and methodological considerations and offers a set of recommended best practices for conducting cross‐national comparisons of risk factor associations using HCAP data. Because existing and planned HCAP studies provide cognition data representing an estimated 75% of the global population ≥65 years of age, these recommended best practices will support high‐quality comparative analyses of cognitive aging around the world. The principles described in this perspective are applicable to any researcher aiming to integrate or compare harmonized data on cognitive outcomes and their risk and protective factors across diverse populations.
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