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Explanatory Value (explanatory + value)
Selected AbstractsUsing the PRISM to Compare the Explanatory Value of General and Role-Contextualized Trait RatingsJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 6 2007Dustin Wood ABSTRACT In an earlier work (Wood & Roberts, 2006), the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM) was proposed as a model for organizing the relations between diverse self-perceptions, with a person's general identity ("how I am in general") organized above diverse role identities (e.g., "how I am as an employee"), which in turn is organized above role-specific behaviors and experiences (e.g., typical interactions with coworkers). In the present article, I argue that despite the fact that role trait measures are often much more related to role behaviors than general trait measures in cross-sectional analyses, general trait measures better capture the dispositional causes of a person's role behavior. In support of this, a brief study is presented illustrating how general traits may be better predictors than role-contextualized trait ratings of the evolution of an individual's experiences or behaviors within a given context. Finally, I contend that the basic framework of the PRISM, where a person's behaviors and identities within multiple contexts are assessed simultaneously and longitudinally alongside general personality ratings, is necessary to make strong statements concerning the nature of the relationships between personality traits and role experiences. [source] Phytogeographical evidence for post-glacial dispersal limitation of European beech forest speciesECOGRAPHY, Issue 6 2009Wolfgang Willner The post-glacial migration of European beech Fagus sylvatica has been addressed by many studies using either genetic or fossil data or a combination of both. In contrast to this, only little is known about the migration history of beech forest understorey species. In a review of phytosociological literature, we identified 110 plant species which are closely associated with beech forest. We divided the distribution range of European beech forests into 40 geographical regions, and the presence or absence of each species was recorded for each region. We compared overall species numbers per region and numbers of narrow-range species (species present in <10 regions). A multiple regression model was used to test for the explanatory value of three potential diversity controls: range in elevation, soil type diversity, and distance to the nearest potential refuge area. A hierarchical cluster analysis of the narrow-range species was performed. The frequency of range sizes shows a U-shaped distribution, with 42 species occurring in <10 regions. The highest number of beech forest species is found in the southern Alps and adjacent regions, and species numbers decrease with increasing distance from these regions. With only narrow-range species taken into consideration, secondary maxima are found in Spain, the southern Apennines, the Carpathians, and Greece. Distance to the nearest potential refuge area is the strongest predictor of beech forest species richness, while altitudinal range and soil type diversity had little or no predictive value. The clusters of narrow-range species are in good concordance with the glacial refuge areas of beech and other temperate tree species as estimated in recent studies. These findings support the hypothesis that the distribution of many beech forest species is limited by post-glacial dispersal rather than by their environmental requirements. [source] Do Characteristics of Parental Child Homicide in Sweden Fit Evolutionary Predictions?ETHOLOGY, Issue 11 2007Johanna Nordlund Evolutionary models have been used to explain parental child homicide. One idea is that children with low fitness value to their parents will be less loved and cared for and therefore more at risk in conflict situations. It is then important to investigate if conflicts with the children are the major pattern in cases of parental child homicide. The aim of this study is to survey the background circumstances of parental child homicide in Sweden and relate them to the evolutionary model suggested. We more specifically investigate if the homicides occur in conflict situations with the child, the frequency of several victims (including the partner or former partner) and if there are differences in characteristics of homicides between stepparents and genetic parents. Our results show that parental child homicide is a heterogeneous phenomenon, where relatively few cases were the result of a conflict with the child-victims. Instead severe conflicts between parents were the most common circumstance in which children were killed. Many children were victims of an extended suicide, which often included several members of the family. Step-parents were more likely to kill children aggressively in conflicts with them than genetic parents. The complexity of the phenomenon suggests that an evolutionary model based upon a mechanism related to conflicts with the child-victim has limited explanatory value on parental child homicide in general. [source] 1. NARRATIVE EXPLANATION AND ITS MALCONTENTSHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2008DAVID CARR ABSTRACT In this paper I look at narrative as a mode of explanation and at various ways in which the explanatory value of narrative has been criticized. I begin with the roots of narrative explanation in everyday action, experience, and discourse, illustrating it with the help of a simple example. I try to show how narrative explanation is transformed and complicated by circumstances that take us beyond the everyday into such realms as jurisprudence, journalism, and history. I give an account of why narrative explanation normally satisfies us, and how or in what sense it actually explains. Then I consider how narrative is challenged and rejected as a mode of explanation in many scientific and other contexts and why attempts are made to replace it with something else. I try to evaluate the nature and sources of these challenges, and I describe this controversy over narrative against the historical background of its emergence. My paper ends with a pragmatic defense of narrative explanation against these challenges. [source] Factors explaining the abundance of rodents in the city of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, as revealed by field and household surveysINTEGRATIVE ZOOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2008Prasartthong PROMKERD Abstract A field and a household survey, the latter of which included inspections and interviews with the residents of a total of 1370 properties, were conducted in 2004 in 30 villages of the city of Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, in order to assess the degree of rodent infestation and to identify potential factors influencing infestations. Roof rats, Rattus rattus, and the Polynesian rat, Rattus exulans, were the only rodents found in the city, and trapping results showed a clear dominance of roof rats (80,90% of all individuals). Measurements of rodent activity using tracking patches correlated positively with the trapping data, and revealed a significantly higher degree of rat infestation during the rainy season (September) than during the dry season (November). If households in the vicinity of the sampling locations were considered, villagers' accounts of indoor rodent infestations recorded during the household survey correlated positively with measurements of rodent activity. At least every second household reported indoor infestations. Using explorative statistical analyses (classification trees, factor analysis) we checked the predictive or explanatory value of up to 28 variables assessed during household inspections for villagers' observations on rodent infestation as the dependent variable. Trophic factors such as exposed food (indoors) and garbage (outdoors), and structural features such as open ceilings (indoors) and rat harborage in gardens (outdoors) ranked highest as explanatory variables. Assessment of a small sample of roof rat droppings collected inside houses revealed the presence of the potential disease agents Salmonella javiana, Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia duodenalis and the parasitic nematode Calodium hepaticum (syn. Capillaria hepatica). These results underline the need for an appropriate rodent management strategy for the city, whereby simple sanitation and rodent-proofing measures could be cheap means of reducing rat infestation rates. [source] What do we know about quality of life in dementia?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2009A review of the emerging evidence on the predictive, explanatory value of disease specific measures of health related quality of life in people with dementia Abstract Objective Given its complexity, there is growing consensus on the need to measure patient-rated broad outcomes like health-related quality of life (HRQL) as well as discrete functions like cognition and behaviour in dementia. This review brings together current data on the distribution, determinants and course of HRQL in dementia to investigate the predictive and explanatory value of measures of HRQL in people with dementia. Design A systematic review of papers in English published up to October 2007 to identify data on the use of disease-specific measures of HRQL in dementia. Results There are no clear or consistent associations between socio-demographic variables and HRQL. There is no convincing evidence that lower cognition or greater activity limitation is associated with lower HRQL. There is a strong suggestion that depression is consistently associated with decreased HRQL in dementia. However, the magnitude of the associations observed is moderate only and the proportion of variance explained is low suggesting that depression and HRQL are different constructs. We currently know almost nothing about the natural history of HRQL in dementia or what attributes or interventions promote or inhibit HRQL life for people with dementia. Conclusions While in other illnesses there may be simple association between HRQL and an easily measurable clinical variable, in dementia this is not so. There are now instruments available with which to measure disease-specific HRQL directly in clinical trials and other studies that can yield informative data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Patterns of density, diversity, and the distribution of migratory strategies in the Russian boreal forest avifaunaJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 11 2008Russell Greenberg Abstract Aim, Comparisons of the biotas in the Palaearctic and Nearctic have focused on limited portions of the two regions. The purpose of this study was to assess the geographic pattern in the abundance, species richness, and importance of different migration patterns of the boreal forest avifauna of Eurasia from Europe to East Asia as well as their relationship to climate and forest productivity. We further examine data from two widely separated sites in the New World to see how these conform to the patterns found in the Eurasian system. Location, Boreal forest sites in Russia and Canada. Methods, Point counts were conducted in two to four boreal forest habitats at each of 14 sites in the Russian boreal forest from near to the Finnish border to the Far East, as well as at two sites in boreal Canada. We examined the abundance and species richness of all birds, and specific migratory classes, against four gradients (climate, primary productivity, latitude, and longitude). We tested for spatial autocorrelation in both dependent and independent variables using Moran's I to develop spatial correlograms. For each migratory class we used maximum likelihood to fit models, first assuming uncorrelated residuals and then assuming spatially autocorrelated residuals. For models assuming unstructured residuals we again generated correlograms on model residuals to determine whether model fitting removed spatial autocorrelation. Models were compared using Akaike's information criterion, adjusted for small sample size. Results, Overall abundance was highest at the eastern and western extremes of the survey region and lowest at the continent centre, whereas the abundance of tropical and short-distance migrants displayed an east,west gradient, with tropical migrants increasing in abundance in the east (and south), and short-distance migrants in the west. Although overall species richness showed no geographic pattern, richness within migratory classes showed patterns weaker than, but similar to, their abundance patterns described above. Overall abundance was correlated with climate variables that relate to continentality. The abundances of birds within different migration strategies were correlated with a second climatic gradient , increasing precipitation from west to east. Models using descriptors of location generally had greater explanatory value for the abundance and species-richness response variables than did those based on climate data and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Main conclusions, The distribution patterns for migrant types were related to both climatic and locational variables, and thus the patterns could be explained by either climatic regime or the accessibility of winter habitats, both historically and currently. Non-boreal wintering habitat is more accessible from both the western and eastern ends than from the centre of the boreal forest belt, but the tropics are most accessible from the eastern end of the Palaearctic boreal zone, in terms of distance and the absence of geographical barriers. Based on comparisons with Canadian sites, we recommend that future comparative studies between Palaearctic and Nearctic faunas be focused more on Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as on central and western Canada. [source] Exploring complex interactions in designed data using GEMANOVA.JOURNAL OF CHEMOMETRICS, Issue 6 2002Color changes in fresh beef during storage Abstract Data from a severely reduced experimental design are investigated in order to obtain detailed information on important factors affecting the changes in quality of meat during storage under different conditions. It is possible to model the response, meat color, using traditional ANOVA (analysis of variance) techniques, but the exploratory and explanatory value of this model is somewhat restricted owing to the number of factors and the fact that several interactions exist. For those reasons, it is not possible to visualize the model in a simple way and therefore not possible to have a clear overview of the total variation in the data. Using a recently suggested alternative to traditional analysis of variance, GEMANOVA (generalized multiplicative ANOVA), it is possible to analyze the data effectively and obtain a more interpretable solution that enables a simple overview of the whole sampling domain. Whereas traditional analysis of variance typically seeks a model with main effects and as few and simple interactions and cross-products as possible, the GEMANOVA model seeks to describe the data primarily by means of higher-order interactions, albeit in a straightforward way. The two approaches are thus complementary. It is shown that the GEMANOVA model is simple to interpret, primarily because the GEMANOVA structure is in agreement with the nature of the data. It is shown that the GEMANOVA model used is mathematically unique, which leads to attractive simplified ways of interpreting the model. The results presented are the first published results where the GEMANOVA model is not simply equivalent to an ordinary PARAFAC model, thus taking full advantage of the additional structural power of GEMANOVA. A new algorithm for fitting the GEMANOVA model is developed and is available from the authors. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Life satisfaction among older people (65+) with reduced self-care capacity: the relationship to social, health and financial aspectsJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 5 2006Christel Borg RN Aims and objectives., This study aimed at investigating life satisfaction and its relation to living conditions, overall health, self-care capacity, feeling lonely, physical activities and financial resources among people (65+) with reduced self-care capacity. Background., Knowledge about factors related to low life satisfaction among older people with reduced self-care capacity is sparse, although this is important in health care and nursing so that the care is adapted to their needs and perspective. Previous research has mainly focused on isolated aspects such as pain in relation to life satisfaction among older people in general and less among so those with reduced self-care capacity in general. Design and method., A subsample of 522 persons was selected from a randomly selected cross-sectional survey using a modified form of the Older Americans' Resources Schedule and Life Satisfaction Index Z. Results., The mean age in the total sample was 77·9; women (79·5) were significantly older than men (77·0). Low life satisfaction was found among women, as well as those living in special accommodations. Life Satisfaction Index Z was 15·3 (SD 5·6) in the total sample. Gender and living conditions did not explain life satisfaction whilst poor overall self-reported health and poor financial resources in relation to needs had the strongest explanatory value. Also of significant importance were loneliness, the degree of reduced self-care capacity and feeling worried. Conclusion., Life satisfaction in older people with reduced self-care capacity is determined by several factors, with social, physical, mental and financial aspects probably interacting with each other; especially feeling lonely, degree of self-care capacity, poor overall health, feeling worried and poor financial resources in relation to needs. These factors need to be considered in the care of these people to preserve or improve their life satisfaction. Relevance to clinical practice., Nursing interventions in terms of preventive home visits, rehabilitation, health education directed towards physical, psychological, social and economic aspects of importance may help to preserve or improve life satisfaction for those with reduced self-care capacity. [source] Autopoietic Law and the ,Epistemic Trap': A Case Study of Adoption and ContactJOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2004Carole Smith This paper examines autopoietic theory with reference to functionally differentiated social sub-systems, particularly law, science, and politics. It sets out to ,test' the practical relevance of autopoietic theory in relation to ongoing debates about post-adoption contact and personal identity issues. Law has resisted social scientific pressure to regulate post-adoption contact in the context of a social policy approach, which emphasizes the relationship between identity development and genealogical continuity. I argue that law's response to this pressure relates to the particular nature of adoption as this is expressed through legislation and case law. Law's refusal to intervene in post-adoption contact reflects its self-referential operations and its attempts to avoid epistemic entrapment by a social scientific discourse. Applying autopoietic theory to law's practical operations in adoption clarifies its explanatory value, provides a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between law, politics, and social science and indicates areas that require theoretical refinement. [source] Psychosocial work environment and medical symptoms among Swedish commercial airline cabin crewAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 7 2010Kurt Wahlstedt MD Abstract Background Associations between stress measured by the demands-control model, iso-strain model, and stress-related symptoms among cabin crew were studied. Methods A questionnaire about psychosocial work environment and symptoms was answered by 918 (82%) flight attendants, stewards, and pursers at one airline company in 2005. Adjustment was made for age, gender, smoking, job category, and flight length using multiple logistic regression. Results Weekly headaches, concentration difficulties, fatigue, and gastrointestinal symptoms were reported at rates of 18%, 10%, 56%, and 13%, respectively. Pursers scored higher on control than the others and they had lower associations between the strain measured by the demands-control model and symptoms than stewards and flight attendants. All symptoms were more common in the high strain situation than in the low strain (reference). An active situation was related to an excess of symptoms. Low social support in the iso-strain model increased risk of symptoms. Conclusions Demands-control and iso-strain models are useful in studying stress-related symptoms in cabin crews. The dimension of social support adds explanatory value. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:716,723, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Variations in Kinship Networks Across Geographic and Social SpacePOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 1 2008Michael Murphy This article analyzes variations in interaction with non-coresident adult kin based on comparable cross-national surveys conducted in 2001 in 27 countries. The two main dimensions of kin contact are considered: (1) overall levels and (2) the relative emphasis given to contacts with primary kin (parents, adult children, siblings) and secondary kin (aunts, cousins, in-laws). Age-adjusted variations in kin contact between countries are much greater than those within countries. These results do not confirm the commonly hypothesized existence of well-defined family system boundaries in Europe arising from historical factors. The similarity of patterns of countries outside Europe with European countries with which they have historical ties suggests cultural factors are important in explaining interaction with kin, whereas welfare regimes appear to have little explanatory value. Within Europe, kin contact levels are more strongly related to a north/south divide than to indicators of economic development or religiosity. The findings suggest that neither of the extreme assumptions,homogenizing pressures toward a nuclear family model or persistent well-defined groupings arising from historical contexts,can be substantiated. Rather, there is a continuum in family behaviors over a substantial range, related to a number of explanatory factors. [source] | ||||||||||||||||