Matthew Effect Research Articles

Finding critical nodes in a complex network from information diffusion and Matthew effect aggregation

The identification of critical nodes is a crucial aspect in studying the spread of diseases, vaccination strategies, power grid robustness, advertisement placement, and rumor control. Consequently, this topic has become of immense interest in recent times. In the last decade, numerous methods have been proposed for identifying critical nodes, but each method has its own strengths and weaknesses, which can be attributed to the complex nature of networks and different scenarios. Therefore, it is unlikely that a single method can be applicable to all networks. To address the need for improved critical node identification in propagation scenarios, we propose a new approach called IDME (Information Diffusion and Matthew Effect aggregation). This approach is inspired by the real-world phenomenon of information diffusion and the Matthew effect. IDME simulates the dissemination of information in the real world and obtains information from multilayer neighbors, which is then aggregated using the Matthew effect. By considering its own information as well as that of its multilayer neighbors, IDME can more accurately identify critical nodes in networks while maintaining low time complexity. Experimental results on numerous real-world networks demonstrate that the IDME approach is effective in detecting critical nodes in networks and outperforms representative algorithms on most networks.

Impact of digital economy on urban sustainable development: Evidence from Chinese cities

AbstractDigital economy takes data as its core input element and has high green value, but does the development of digital economy necessarily promote sustainable development? We use 286 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2019 as a case study to examine the impact of digital economy on urban sustainable development, and discuss the mechanisms of digital economy on urban sustainable development, heterogeneous impacts, threshold effects of environmental regulations, and the role of National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone. It was found that: (1) The digital economy has green value and can effectively contribute to urban sustainable development. (2) The digital economy can achieve urban sustainable development by enhancing green technological innovation and human capital. (3) Environmental regulation has a threshold effect in the digital economy driving urban sustainable development. (4) The establishment of National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone can promote urban sustainable development. (5) The polarization effect of the level of urban sustainable development in first‐tier and second‐tier cities is still increasing under the background of digital economy, which intensifies the “Matthew effect” among different levels of cities, and the inclusiveness of digital economy has not really been reflected in China. This study explores the influence and mechanism of digital economy on urban sustainable development in the context of China, which is of great theoretical and practical significance for developing countries to solve Solow productivity paradox and realize urban sustainable development in the new development stage.

Research on the influence mechanism of key halo effect and Matthew effect on product online word-of-mouth: considering the moderating role of online store service quality

Research on the influence mechanism of key halo effect and Matthew effect on product online word-of-mouth: considering the moderating role of online store service quality

The Matthew Effect: Prevalence of Doctor and Physician Parents among Ophthalmology Applicants.

Objective This article determines the prevalence of physician parents among ophthalmology residency applications. Design Retrospective, single-center cohort study. Subjects All applicants to the University of Kentucky Ophthalmology Residency between 2018 and 2023. Methods Residency applications were reviewed, with data collection including applicant gender, self-identified Under-Represented in Medicine (URiM) status, United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 score, USMLE Step 2 score, and whether the application identified a doctor or physician as a parent. Doctor was defined as a profession requiring a doctorate degree, and similarly, physician as a profession requiring a medical degree. Results A total of 2,057 applications were reviewed, representing 54% of all match participants during the study period. Fourteen percent (296) of applications indicated a parent was a doctor and 12% (253) a parent was a physician. There were no differences between gender, URiM, USMLE Step 1, and Step 2 scores between applicants indicating a doctor or physician as a parent and those that did not ( p all > 0.4 and Cohen's d all < 0.02). Of the type of doctors, 85% (253) were physicians, 6% (17) optometrists, 6% (17) Doctors of Philosophy, 3% (8) dentists, 1% (1) pharmacist, and 1% (1) veterinarian. Eighty-six percent (217) of applications with a physician parent provided the type of physician, with ophthalmologist the most common (93, 43%). Ninety-eight percent (249) of applications with a physician parent provided the gender of the parent, with father (168, 68%) more common than mother (42, 17%) or both parents (39, 16%). Conclusion Physician parents are substantially overrepresented in ophthalmology residency applicants. This raises concerns regarding diversity and inclusion efforts for recruitment in medicine.

Mapping the Landscape of Psychological Contract Literature: A Scopus-Based Bibliometric Analysis

The employment relationship between employees and organizations has changed with the advent of the knowledge economy era in the 21st century and the transformation of economic models. Psychological contracts are significant in understanding the employment relationship between employees and organizations. More and more scholars began to focus on psychological contracts. Therefore, the systematic arrangement of psychological contract literature is meaningful. This study used bibliometrics to review 2,097 articles and conference papers from psychological contracts. The Scopus database is the source of literature collection in this study. This study used VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel for the bibliometric analysis of these documents. Firstly, this study summarized the temporal trends and primary sources of psychological contracts. This study found an exponential increase in publications and a Matthew effect in sources of psychological contracts. Secondly, eight major co-authorship groups were found and discussed the significant contributions made by these scholars to psychological contract theory. Thirdly, this study also analyzed the countries, affiliations, funding sponsors, and subject areas of the psychological contract. Finally, the hot topic of psychological contracts and suggested future research were discussed. This study systematically summarized the literature on the psychological contract and future research direction.

The Structural Causes and Trend Evolution of Imbalance and Insufficiency of Development of Digital Inclusive Finance in China

In this paper, to provide references for coordinating the development of digital inclusive finance between provinces and regions in China, we measure the digital financial inclusion index of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 based on three dimensions: coverage breadth, depth of use and digitalization degree. By means of the weighted Dagum Gini coefficient and quantile standardization, we explored the degree of imbalance and insufficiency of the development of digital inclusive finance in China and four major regions and its structural causes. Using the Kernel density estimation method and Markov chain analysis method, we further investigate the evolution trend of imbalance and insufficiency. The study finds that (1) the Digital Inclusive Financial Index in China and the four major regions rose significantly, with the COVID-19 epidemic reducing its growth rate. Of these, the eastern region has the highest development level. (2) The imbalance level of digital inclusive finance development obviously has reduced. The level of imbalance is highest within the eastern region, and the development gap between the eastern and western regions is the widest. The imbalance of overall development is mainly due to regional imbalance. The imbalance of coverage breadth and depth of use is the main structural cause of unbalanced development in the four major regions. There is a trend of bipolarization or multipolarization in China and the other three major regions, with the exception of the central region. (3) The western region is the least developed. The development shortcoming of digital inclusive finance in China and the four major regions is the breadth of coverage. There are the “Club Convergence” and the “Matthew Effect” in the eastern, central and western regions.

Financial Literacy Research on The Mechanism of Action of Residents' Property Income and Path

Property income, as a kind of derived wealth, may produce the Matthew effect of "the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer", which in turn leads to further widening of the wealth gap and more serious income disparity among residents. Based on the 2014 data of the China Household Tracking Survey (CFPS), we analyze the relationship between financial literacy and residents' property income using Tobit model, Probit model, Poisson regression and Sobel test. This paper finds that financial literacy has an enhancing effect on residents' property income. Mechanism and path analysis found that risk attitude and financial planning play a mediating effect in the process of financial literacy affecting residents' property income.

Kinetic modeling of wealth distribution with saving propensity, earnings growth and Matthew effect

A kinetic model is presented for a closed economic market with random transactions involving the saving interest, earnings growth, and Matthew principle. Furthermore, the deviation (overlap) degree is defined to quantify the dissimilarity (similarity) between two arbitrary wealth distributions. It is interesting to find that the tendency of the entropy is similar to that of the particular overlap degree which measures the coincidence between the monetary distribution and the Boltzmann-Gibbs exponential function. In addition, both the Gini coefficient and Kolkata index decrease with increasing saving propensity, which helps to enhance wealth equality by raising the middle-class population and reducing the proportion of the rich and the poor. However, the economic profit and Matthew effect contribute to dispersion in the wealth distribution and exacerbate wealth inequality.

Equalizing or not? Public childcare and women’s labour market participation

Within the scientific literature and debate on social investment, public childcare provision plays a pivotal role. At the same time, critics have argued that social investment is often unable to reduce social inequalities and, to the contrary, tends to reproduce them (the so-called ‘Matthew effect’). The article focuses on a specific facet of social investment policies: their capacity to support mothers’ employment and its effect on social inequality, by investigating empirically to what extent an expansion of public childcare can help to increase women’s labour market participation and how this eventual support is homogenously distributed among different mothers’ profiles. To give a convincing answer to such a question requires careful attention to methodology, in order to avoid drawing the wrong conclusions. Whereas existing research has predominately focused on cross-national variation and has often been static in nature, the present study assesses the effects of public childcare expansion on women’s labour market participation and employment by examining region-specific within-variation over time of public childcare coverage. The study relies on data from the European Social Survey (2002–2018) that were integrated with an original collection of regional-level information on public childcare. It finds a positive association between increases in public childcare coverage and mothers’ labour market participation. Furthermore, it shows that public childcare helps to fight social inequalities among households with young children. Low-educated mothers are the ones who profit most from an increase in public childcare, and positive employment effects are most pronounced at lower levels of childcare coverage. Therefore, this contribution highlights the importance of public childcare policies as an equalizer in society, especially in contexts in which an intervention is most needed, because expanding childcare fosters mothers’ labour market participation

Matthew effects in reading and mathematics: Examining developmental patterns in population data

This study examined whether Matthew effects were evident in developmental patterns of reading and mathematics skills from middle childhood to adolescence. We obtained standardized reading and mathematics scores at Grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 for full cohorts of students in two Australian states, NSW (N = 88,958, 48% female) and Victoria (N = 65,984, 49% female). Latent growth curve models were used to identify the best-fitting longitudinal trajectories of reading and mathematics, and to examine whether cumulative (i.e. a Matthew effect), compensatory, or stable interindividual differences characterized development in each domain. For both reading and mathematics, and in both samples, growth decelerated as grade levels increased, with latent basis models fitting the data better than linear models. Negative intercept-slope covariances, and decreasing variances at increasing grades in both domains indicated compensatory growth patterns, rather than cumulative patterns or Matthew effects. These results indicate that students with below average achievement at Grade 3 make greater gains to Grade 9 than their initially higher-achieving peers. Modeling growth trajectories in two longitudinal population datasets allows strong tests of theorized growth patterns for both reading and mathematics, and presents insights about developmental change in academic skills from middle childhood to adolescence.

Research on the Construction of China’s Provincial Food Security Evaluation System and Regional Performance—Based on the “Great Food View”

Based on the internationally recognized concept of food security and the scientific connotation of the “Great Food View”. This research constructs China’s provincial food security evaluation system under the “Great Food View” by comprehensively considering the regional food supply logic and dietary habits differences. Combining the improved entropy weight method and AHP to quantitatively evaluate the current situation and trend of food security in China’s provinces (except Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) from 2009 to 2021 by using this system—on the basis of dividing China’s provinces into main food production provinces and non-main food production provinces. The results demonstrate that all provinces have entered the ranks of “security” and above food security, and the mismatch between “high vulnerability and low security” has been alleviated. Yet, the problem of “difficult growth” in the provinces with the lowest score of food security has emerged. The green and sustainability of the food security system in the main food production areas have been at a low level, and the food security in non-main food production areas has seen the “Matthew effect” of uneven development. Finally, policy implications are proposed from the aspects of diversified development of food sources, precision agriculture subsidy guide, optimization of farmland compensation and protection policies, and optimization of food storage and distribution.

The 'Matthew effect' in Chinese kindergarten principals' professional development: a mixed-methods study.

Principals play a leading role in kindergarten quality improvement, and thus their needs for professional development (PD) should be understood and met. This national study adopted a mixed-methods approach to survey 3,065 kindergarten principals in China and interviewed 16 of them. First, the latent profile analysis of survey data yielded three profiles of PD needs: (1) low (7.5%), (2) medium (22.2%), and (3) high profiles (70.3%), indicating 70.3% of Chinese principals need PD badly. The high-profile group features 'inexperienced principals working at newly established private kindergartens', the most disadvantaged among the three groups. Second, ANOVA tests revealed significant rural-urban and public-private differences in Chinese principals' professional backgrounds and PD needs. In particular, significant public-private and rural-urban differences were observed in the principals' 'current degree' (Fs > 63, ps < 0.001) and 'desired degree' (Fs > 39, ps < 0.001). The rural principals aspired more than their urban counterparts to obtain 'a higher degree" or 'a certificate' (ps < 0.05). Third, the follow-up interviews confirmed remarkable rural-urban and public-private gaps in PD needs, indicating a noticeable 'Matthew effect': the poor got less, whereas the rich got more. The implications for future PD policy and program development are discussed.

Financial Development and Energy Environmental Performance: Evidence from China's Regional Economies.

Financial development makes many contributions to promoting economic growth. With the deterioration of the ecological environment, scholars have begun to consider the role of financial development in sustainable economic development. This paper investigates the influence of financial development on China's energy environmental performance (EEP) by utilizing panel data from 2002 to 2017. The findings demonstrate that financial development has a significant impact on regional EEP, and the results remain robust through a series of assessments. The technological innovation level and human capital are the transmission paths through which financial development affects regional EEP. Furthermore, using the difference-in-differences (DID) method, we not only prove the causal relationship between financial development and EEP but also show that the allocation of financial assets can significantly affect energy consumption efficiency. Finally, heterogeneity analysis shows that financial development has varying impacts on energy efficiency in distinct regions across China. The influence of financial development on EEP displays a clear "Matthew Effect". To the best of our knowledge, our findings offer greater insight into the energy-saving and emission-reduction effects of financial development.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Big data simulation of science and technology finance supporting Shaanxi urban–rural integration development based on BP neural network algorithm

In the context of the current era, if China wants to implement the strategic goal of rural revitalization, it must promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas. This paper takes Shaanxi Province as the main research goal, which is at the strategic intersection of the "the Belt and Road", has an important position, can affect the process of regional coordination and urban and rural integration throughout the country, and is a major province of characteristic agriculture and a national transportation hub. In this context, this paper uses BP neural network algorithm to simulate and analyze the coordinated development of urban and rural areas based on the actual development of science and technology finance in Shaanxi Province. After obtaining the economic status data of the province, this paper builds a regional characteristic platform that can provide targeted science and technology finance services, which can achieve diversified processing, complete multi entity fund supply and maintain the transparency of information between the supply and demand sides. Based on the field survey and literature review and analysis, it can be seen that the ten prefecture level cities included in the study area and province have different levels of coordinated development of urban and rural economy, and there is a Matthew effect characteristic of uneven strength, so the regional differences show a weakening feature, and they need to be adjusted gradually to make them develop in an orderly manner. Based on the research conclusion, this paper carries out the construction of urban–rural economic coordinated development and scientific and technological financial model support, and analyzes the financial support function and actual effect of the province in detail. In this paper, the BP neural network algorithm is applied to the integration of urban and rural development in Shaanxi Province to conduct big data simulation for science and technology finance.

Оценка управления социально-экономическим развитием Волгоградской области

The article is devoted to the results of testing the methodology for assessing the management of the socio-economic development of the region on the example of the Volgograd region. The author’s methodology includes three main blocks and an additional one. The assessment of the overall level of socio-economic development of the Volgograd region was carried out on the basis of 67 indicators for eight regional subsystems considered as factors of regional development. The results of the current assessment were compared with the past conditions of the region as well as with the average indicators for the Southern Federal District (SFD), summarized in the assessment of its synthetic region. The evaluation results are presented in tabular, graphical and matrix forms, which significantly increases the analyticity of the probed technique. As a result of approbation of the methodology for calculations and assessments of the Volgograd region socio-economic development management, it was empirically revealed that: there is the Matthew effect; the least weight in the formation of the development level of Volgograd region is contributed by environmental and natural resource factors, the greatest – social, financial and infrastructure factors; socio-economic development of the Volgograd region is most sensitive to changes in the social, innovative and infrastructural factors-subsystems; factors limiting socio-economic development for the Volgograd region and the synthetic region of the SFD are the environmental on the lower boundary and social factors-subsystems – on the upper one. Further directions of development and application of the results of the approbation of the considered technique made by the authors are determined.

Matthew Effect and Achievement Gap in Rwandan Basic Education

Education is considered a vital cog in a country’s economic engine in terms of training, research and development. Accordingly, a formal education system remains a mode of rationing opportunities, differentiation and the allocation of individuals into various positions within a society’s social stratification structure. Certainly, the obtainment of educational credentials has been linked to occupational, trajectory, income, and attendant life chances. In light of this, the achievement gap remains an important issue since an education provided in a more equal and equitable manner could be an important tool to bridge the gap between the rich and poor citizens within a country. This study aimed to ascertain the Matthew effect and its contribution to students’ academic achievement gap in the basic education schools of Rwanda. The study was guided by descriptive and correlational research design, stratified and systematic random sampling as well as purposive sampling were used to select 350 participants, including 51.4% males and 48.6% females, mostly aged 30 to 40 years. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaire and interviews. The collected data were descriptively analysed using IBM-SPSS 21. The study established that socio-economically disadvantaged students mostly enrol in under-resourced and low-performing schools i.e. public and government-aided schools. Furthermore, the study identified that private and international school students outperform their counterparts enrolled in public or government-aided schools. Moreover, a significant (p-value .011) low degree of positive correlation (r= .159) was established between the students’ academic achievement and their parents’ socio-economic category. In conclusion, the Rwandan aim of ensuring access to quality, equitable and effective education for all is facing a bleak foreseeable future due to the existing academic achievement gap influenced by the Matthew effect. Recommendations were therefore formulated with a view to eradicating the Matthew effect in the basic education schools of Rwanda.

Spatiotemporal evolution and influence mechanism of the carbon footprint of energy consumption at county level in the Yellow River Basin

Implementing emission reduction policies at county level is important to realize high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin and achieve national “carbon peaking” and “carbon neutrality” goals. Based on remote-sensing data of night light, net primary productivity, and land use, the present study utilized the light‑carbon conversion and carbon footprint measurement models to quantify the carbon footprint of energy consumption. An exploratory spatiotemporal data analysis method was implemented to analyze the spatiotemporal evolution path. Panel quantile regression and spatiotemporal transition-nested models were used to reveal the influence mechanism of the spatiotemporal evolution of the carbon footprint. The following results were obtained. (1) The carbon footprint of counties increased from 2001 to 2020. Counties with high‑carbon footprint diffused around the “one center and two axes”. Carbon-deficit counties exhibited a diffused trend towards the west. In 2020, 506 counties exhibited carbon deficits, and the carbon balance of the ecosystem was severely unbalanced. (2) The carbon footprint showed evident path dependence and Matthew effect. The high‑carbon footprint lock-in area comprising 177 counties is a challenging zone for governance. The 86 counties that exhibit carbon footprint changes are the key zones to drive the carbon footprint changes in the Basin. The change direction of the county's carbon footprint type, with evident spatial correlation characteristics, is in accordance with adjacent counties. (3) The carbon footprint spatiotemporal transition types and influence mechanisms in counties exhibited significant differences, with the coexistence of low-carbon footprint driving, low-carbon footprint restriction, high-carbon footprint driving and high-carbon footprint restriction modes. As the influence mechanisms of different modes and the paths to achieve “dual carbon” goals are different, the governance of different modes should focus on optimizing and strengthening restriction factors or controlling and improving of driving factors.

Research on the Value Assessment System of Chinese Rural Preservation and Inheritance—The Example of Rural in the Western Liao River Basin in Inner Mongolia

In order to solve the problems of national and international research and the current situation, the following must be addressed: the research method is more traditional; the research perspective is relatively single; the index construction lacks a theoretical basis; the index selection is more one-sided; the data is only cross-sectional; the financial and talent support is insufficient; the service level of public service facilities is not good; the awareness of cultural preservation and inheritance is insufficient; and the level of management across administrative regions is differentiated. At the same time, to meet the top-level design needs of constructing a rural historical and cultural preservation and inheritance system, the non-oriented, region-wide EBM (Epsilon-Based Measure)-GML (Global-Malmquist) model is constructed under the condition of VRS (Variable Returns to Scale), which includes non-desired outputs. Additionally, an index system for assessing the value of rural preservation and inheritance in China is also constructed. Taking the typical rural area in the Western Liao River Basin of Inner Mongolia as an example, the panel data from 2019 to 2021 are selected for empirical analysis, and the conclusions and countermeasures are as follows: 1. The overall preservation improves year by year, and partly shows high preservation in the southwest and low preservation in the northeast. The advantageous areas should update the preservation and inheritance methods to enhance the driving effect on other areas; other areas should continuously improve the quality and efficiency. 2. The difference between rural areas with the highest and lowest assessed values increases year by year, showing the Matthew effect. It is necessary to realize the policy meaning of the value assessment index system by strengthening the overall preservation, integrating the preservation and inheritance into the rural development of the whole basin, strengthening the overall management, reforming the preservation and inheritance management mode, and improving the management efficiency of rural in the whole basin. 3. Strengthen the technical empowerment and scientific preservation and inheritance. It is necessary to learn the advanced technology concept and transform the technical achievements over time.

Cumulative advantage is a double-edge sword for cooperation

The Matthew effect emphasizes the influence of early advantage on shaping long-term development by amplifying it over time, and its implications for public cooperation are yet to be fully understood. In this letter, we propose and study a spatial public goods game driven by cumulative advantage, where players who achieve high payoffs in a given round receive greater allocations in the next. The simulation results show that the Matthew effect leads to an irreversible polarization of individual wealth on the network. Such polarization makes moderate cooperation levels more prevalent, which helps to explain the widespread coexistence of prosocial and antisocial behavior. Meanwhile, heterogeneous networks may restrict the polarization of wealth, but also inhibit the evolution of cooperation, requiring a reconsideration of the commonly held view that heterogeneous networks enhance cooperation.

107 Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00) Funding Trends and Prediction of Future NIH Research Project Funding

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The objective of this study was to use NIH RePORTER (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) to analyze K99 funding trends and determine if R00 to R01 or R21 achievement time correlates with the future success of an early-stage NIH-funded investigator. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: All award data were collected from NIH RePORTER. All K99 awards and funding data in this study were limited to All Clinical Departments (ACD). All researchers (n = 1,148) and awards (n = 2,022) were identified through a K99 search from FY 2007 to FY 2022 across ACD. Historic trends in K99 awards and funding from NIH Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 to FY 2022 were investigated. An R00 dataset was generated from NIH RePORTER. The K99 to R00 achievement statistics from FY 2007 to FY 2022 was investigated. NIH annual datafiles for FY 2007 to FY 2021 were aggregated to generate a master datafile of all R01 (n = 395,505) and R21 awards (n = 61,766). R01 and R21 award data were linked to the researcher previously identified through the K99 search. The connection between K99/R00 awardees and subsequent R01 or R21 awards was focused on. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: From FY 2008 to FY 2022, the number of K99 awards per year increased 123.4%, from 94 to 210. Over the same period, after correcting for inflation, the NIH K99 budget increased 127.0% while the NIH program level budget increased 17.3%. For researchers who achieved their first R01 or R21 0–3 years versus 3–6 years after the start of their R00, their average funding per year since the start of the R00 phase was $467,425 versus $290,604, respectively (p &lt; 0.001). In summary, NIH investment in the K99 award pathway has substantially outpaced the NIH program level budget increase, and there is a strong relationship between average funding per year since the start of the R00 phase and time from R00 to R01 or R21. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study offers additional evidence of the Matthew effect in science, where previous success generates future success. This analysis may be useful to clinical departments as they evaluate selecting new and retaining current biomedical scientists for independent research positions.