The present study aims to investigate longitudinal changes in mental well-being as well as the role of individual differences in personality traits (Big Five) and the level of Personality ...Organisation during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Overall, 272 adults (Mage= 36.94, SDage= 16.46; 68.62% female, 23.45% male, 0.69% non-binary) took part in our study with four weekly surveys during the lockdown as well as a follow-up one month after restrictions were lifted. To analyse the development of mental well-being during and shortly after the first lockdown in Germany latent growth curve models (LGCM) were calculated. The considered facets of well-being differ by their trajectory. Additionally, results suggest that the lockdown did not affect all facets to the same extent. While Life Satisfaction decreases in the short term as a reaction to the lockdown, Stress and Psychological Strain were reduced after the second week of contact restrictions. When adding personality characteristics, our results showed that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness were the two dimensions associated most strongly with SWB during the first month of the pandemic. Thus, our research suggests that personality traits should be considered when analysing mental well-being.
Purpose
Asthma is associated with abnormal autonomic function, and heart rate variability is considered a simple, accurate, and noninvasive tool for monitoring the autonomic system. Thus, the aim of ...this study was to investigate the impact of asthma on heart rate variability in children and adolescents.
Methods
This systematic review of observational studies and clinical trials evaluated heart rate variability in children and adolescents with asthma compared to healthy controls. The data were extracted independently by two reviewers. The quality of the selected articles was assessed using Agency for Health Care Research and Quality indicators. Random effects meta‐analysis was performed for each outcome, with the effect size reported as standardized mean difference.
Results
Fifteen studies were included, of which five were classified as having high methodological quality. In the meta‐analysis, long‐term recording of the standard deviation of all normal‐to‐normal sinus R‐R intervals differed significantly between groups (standardized mean difference SMD = −0.46 95% confidence interval {CI}: −0.79 to −0.14, p < 0.005, I2 = 0%). Moreover, R‐R intervals (long‐term) were significantly shorter in asthmatic children than controls (SMD = −0.47 95% CI: −0.68 to −0.25, p < 0.0001, I2 = 0). There were no significant differences between adjacent normal R‐R intervals that exceed 50 ms (long‐term) and the root mean square of successive differences between normal sinus R‐R intervals (short‐term). Regarding frequency‐domain variables, long‐term low frequency measurements differed significantly between groups (SMD = −0.34 95% CI: −0.58 to −0.10, p < 0.005, I2 = 15%). There were no differences in high frequency measurements or in the ratio between low/high frequency powers (short‐ or long‐term) between groups.
Conclusion
The results confirm the impact of asthma on heart rate variability in children and adolescents, indicating lower heart rate variability and sympathetic modulation.
It is well documented that training the rules employed in figural matrices tests enhances test performance. Previous studies only compare experimental conditions in which all or no rules were trained ...and therefore ignore the particular influence of knowledge about the easy and difficult rules. With the current study, we wanted to provide some first insights into this topic. Respondents were assigned to four groups that received training for no rules, only the easy rules, only the difficult rules, or for all rules. The results show that a training only for the difficult rules was more effective than the other trainings. This applies also to performance in the easy rules that were actually not part of the training. A possible explanation for this finding is a facilitation of the solution process that is primarily driven by knowledge about the difficult rules. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that taking differences between the rules into account may provide a deeper understanding of the effects of trainings for figural matrices tests.
Open Source Software (OSS) communities are often international, bringing together people from diverse regions with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. National user groups can bolster ...these international communities by convening local events, championing the software to peers, welcoming and onboarding new contributors, raising money to support the broader community, and collecting important information on user’s needs. The open source community-led software DSpace has had great success encouraging the creation of national user groups; in the UK, North America, and Germany, the Groups have been active for many years. However, it was in 2018, thanks to a renewed focus on international engagement and more diverse representation of the global community in governance groups, that the national communities entered into a new phase: 15 new national User Groups have been formed all over the world since then, while the German user group evolved into the “DSpace-Konsortium Deutschland”, founded by 25 institutions, marking a pivotal point for membership options and National User Group participation within DSpace Governance. This article will offer an overview of the historical development of the DSpace community and its governance model, as well as DuraSpace’s international engagement strategy, including its benefits and challenges. Subsequently, we will present a case study on the DSpace-Konsortium Deutschland and explain its relation to the broader context of how to build national user groups within global communities.
Figural matrices tasks are one of the most prominent item formats used in intelligence tests, and their relevance for the assessment of cognitive abilities is unquestionable. However, despite ...endeavors of the open science movement to make scientific research accessible on all levels, there is a lack of royalty-free figural matrices tests. The Open Matrices Item Bank (OMIB) closes this gap by providing free and unlimited access (GPLv3 license) to a large set of empirically validated figural matrices items. We developed a set of 220 figural matrices based on well-established construction principles commonly used in matrices tests and administered them to a sample of N = 2572 applicants to medical schools. The results of item response models and reliability analyses demonstrate the excellent psychometric properties of the items. In the discussion, we elucidate how researchers can already use the OMIB to gain access to high-quality matrices tests for their studies. Furthermore, we provide perspectives for features that could additionally improve the utility of the OMIB.
Aims
Patients with heart failure (HF) have poor outcomes, including poor quality of life, and high morbidity and mortality. In addition, they have a high medication burden due to the multiple drug ...therapies now recommended by guidelines. Previous reviews, including studies in hospital settings, provided evidence that pharmacist care improves outcomes in patients with HF. Because most HF is managed outside of hospitals, we aimed to synthesize the evidence for pharmacist care in outpatients with HF.
Methods and results
We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and integrated the evidence on patient outcomes in a meta‐analysis. We found 24 RCTs performed in 10 countries, including 8029 patients. The data revealed consistent improvements in medication adherence (independent of the measuring instrument) and knowledge, physical function, and disease and medication management. Sixteen RCTs were included in meta‐analyses. Differences in all‐cause mortality (odds ratio (OR) = 0.97 95% CI, 0.84–1.12, Q‐statistic, P = 0.49, I2 = 0%), all‐cause hospitalizations (OR = 0.86 0.73–1.03, Q‐statistic, P = 0.01, I2 = 45.5%), and HF hospitalizations (OR = 0.89 0.77–1.02, Q‐statistic, P = 0.11, I2 = 0%) were not statistically significant. We also observed an improvement in the standardized mean difference for generic quality of life of 0.75 (0.49–1.01, P < 0.01), with no indication of heterogeneity (Q‐statistic, P = 0.64; I2 = 0%).
Conclusions
Results indicate that pharmacist care improves medication adherence and knowledge, symptom control, and some measures of quality of life in outpatients with HF. Given the increasing complexity of guideline‐directed medical therapy, pharmacists' unique focus on medication management, titration, adherence, and patient teaching should be considered part of the management strategy for these vulnerable patients.
As a component of many intelligence test batteries, figural matrices tests are an effective way to assess reasoning, which is considered a core ability of intelligence. Traditionally, the sum of ...correct items is used as a performance indicator (total solution procedure). However, recent advances in the development of computer-based figural matrices tests allow additional indicators to be considered for scoring. In two studies, we focused on the added value of a partial solution procedure employing log file analyses from a computer-based figural matrices test. In the first study (
= 198), we explored the internal validity of this procedure by applying both an exploratory bottom-up approach (using sequence analyses) and a complementary top-down approach (using rule jumps, an indicator taken from relevant studies). Both approaches confirmed that higher scores in the partial solution procedure were associated with higher structuredness in participants' response behavior. In the second study (
= 169), we examined the external validity by correlating the partial solution procedure in addition to the total solution procedure with a Grade Point Average (GPA) criterion. The partial solution procedure showed an advantage over the total solution procedure in predicting GPA, especially at lower ability levels. The implications of the results and their applicability to other tests are discussed.
Standardized ability tests that are associated with intelligence are often used for student selection. In Germany two different admission procedures to select students for medical studies are used ...simultaneously; the TMS and the HAM-Nat. Due to this simultaneous use of both a detailed analysis of the construct validity is mandatory. Therefore, the aim of the study is the construct validation of both selection procedures by using data of 4,528 participants (
M
age
= 20.42,
SD
= 2.74) who took part in a preparation study under low stakes conditions. This study compares different model specifications within the correlational structure of intelligence factors as well as analysis the g-factor consistency of the admission tests. Results reveal that all subtests are correlated substantially. Furthermore, confirmatory factor analyses demonstrate that both admission tests (and their subtests) are related to
g
as well as to a further test-specific-factor. Therefore, from a psychometric point of view, the simultaneous use of both student selection procedures appears to be legitimate.
This meta-analysis summarizes 74 studies (N = 80,145) that simultaneously examined the predictive power of intelligence and motivation for school achievement. First, we found average correlations ...between intelligence (r = 0.44) and motivation (r = 0.27) with school achievement and between intelligence and motivation (r = 0.17). Moderator analyses showed that the correlation between motivation and school achievement was higher for expectancies than for values. No moderator effects were found for grade level, school form or gender. Second, in a path model, 24% of variance in school achievement was explained overall. From this overall explained variance in school achievement, 66.6% was uniquely explained by intelligence and 16.6% uniquely by motivation, whereas the two predictors commonly explained 16.6%. Thus, the results show that both intelligence and motivation contribute substantial, unique shares to the prediction of school achievement as well as an additional share of commonly explained variance.
•Intelligence was the strongest predictor of school achievement.•Motivation predicted school achievement over intelligence.•Intelligence and motivation commonly explained 16.6% of the variance of school achievement.•Expectancies explained a higher portion of variance in school achievement compared to values.•No significant moderator effects were found for Grade level, school form, gender and continent.
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