The validity and structure of culture-level personality scores: Data from ratings of young adolescents

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N=5,109) ages 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, 8 of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted.

Measuring transit service reliability using data from web-based transit user survey : a case study at Brisbane, Australia

This paper reports an empirical study on measuring transit service reliability using the data from a Web-based passenger survey on a major transit corridor in Brisbane, Australia. After an introduction of transit service reliability measures, the paper presents the results from the case study including study area, data collection, and reliability measures obtained. This includes data exploration of boarding/arrival lateness, in-vehicle time variation, waiting time variation, and headway adherence. Impacts of peak-period effects and separate operation on service reliability are examined. Relationships between transit service characteristics and passenger waiting time are also discussed. A summary of key findings and an agenda of future research are offered in conclusions.

Statistical analyses of weigh-in-motion data for bridge live load development

This paper discusses the statistical analyses used to derive bridge live loads models for Hong Kong from a 10-year weigh-in-motion (WIM) data. The statistical concepts required and the terminologies adopted in the development of bridge live load models are introduced. This paper includes studies for representative vehicles from the large amount of WIM data in Hong Kong. Different load affecting parameters such as gross vehicle weights, axle weights, axle spacings, average daily number of trucks etc are first analyzed by various stochastic processes in order to obtain the mathematical distributions of these parameters. As a prerequisite to determine accurate bridge design loadings in Hong Kong, this study not only takes advantages of code formulation methods used internationally but also presents a new method for modelling collected WIM data using a statistical approach.

Data-driven accountability in Australia : an unfolding story with lessons for leaders

Throughout the world, state and nation standardised testing of children, has become a "huge industry" (English, 2002). Although English is referring to the American system which has been involved in standardised testing for over half a century, the same could be said of many other countries, including Australia. It has been only in recent years that Australia has embraced national testing as part of a wider reform effort to bring about increased accountability in schooling. The results of high-stakes tests in Australia are now published in newspapers and electronically on the Australian federal government's MySchool website (www.myschoold.edu.au). MySchool provides results on the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) for students in Years 3,5, 7 and 9. Data are available that compare schools to statistically similar schools. This more recent publication of national testing results in Australia is a visible example of "contractual accountability", described by Mulford, Edmunds, Kendall, Kendall and Bishop (2008) as " the degree to which [actors] are fulfilling the expectations of particular audiences in terms of standards, outcomes and results" (p.20).