Multi-group Comparison Research Articles

Detection of tumour boundary in metastatic liver disease with 2D multibreath-hold susceptibility-weighted imaging

PurposeTo investigate the feasibility of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in detecting tumour boundaries in metastatic liver disease (MLD) without contrast agent, and whether SWI can provide pathophysiologic information for preoperative evaluation. MethodsThirty patients with MLD underwent tumour resection. All patients underwent conventional MRI (T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging), contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI and multibreath-hold 2D SWI. The conspicuity of the tumour boundary was assessed using a 4-grade scale. The detection rate of tumour boundaries and areas were reviewed and measured. The longest dimension was used to estimate the tumour size from the MR image. The conspicuity of the tumour boundary and area were compared using a nonparametric multi-group comparison (Friedman M). The McNemar test was applied to examine differences in the detection rate of tumour boundaries. ResultsAmong four different MRI sequences, SWI exhibited increased conspicuity of the tumour boundary than the conventional MRI (P < 0.001). SWI (91.8%) and CE-MRI (64.4%) exhibited higher detection rates of the tumour boundary than T1WI and T2WI (6.8% and 12.3% respectively). Longer tumour maximum diameters were measured with SWI (29.1 ± 17.2 mm) and CE-MRI (28.2 ± 16.8) compared to conventional MRI (P < 0.05). Conclusion2D multibreath-hold SWI enables enhanced noninvasive detection of tumour boundaries in patients with MLD compared with conventional MRI and CE-MRI without using an exogenous contrast agent. SWI has the potential to become a preoperative assessment standard that complements conventional MRI.

Networking for better information-gathering performance at trade shows: A multigroup analysis

Trade shows provide unique networking opportunities for exhibitors' organizational learning, but little is known about the learning mechanism. Employing a resource-action-performance framework, this study investigates the effects of exhibitors' networking capabilities on their organizational learning and information-gathering performance. Data were collected from 416 exhibiting companies. The results show that the three networking capabilities of an exhibitor significantly influence both exploratory learning and exploitative learning behaviors, which in turn affect the exhibitors' information-gathering performance. The multigroup comparison suggests that the exploratory learning of novice exhibitors is more impacted by finding networking partners, whereas that of experienced exhibitors is more influenced by leveraging networking relationships. The current research not only highlights exhibitors’ information-gathering performance but also provides actionable implications for exhibitors to improve their information-gathering performance.

Effect of Frugality and Cognition on Forest Health Tourism Intention-A Mediating Effect Analysis Based on Multigroup Comparison.

At present, the market demand for forest health tourism is weak. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether frugality inhibits the intention of forest health tourism and whether the positive effect of cognition on the intention of forest health tourism can compensate for the inhibition of frugality. Based on mental account theory and planned behavior theory, this study constructs a structural equation model with intermediary variables—health consumption mental account and forest health consumption attitude. According to the results of the path analysis of the data, which was collected through the questionnaire survey of urban residents, the positive influence of cognition can compensate for the inhibitory effect of frugality. On this basis, mediating effect analysis based on multigroup comparison is further carried out. This study verifies for the first time the inhibitory effect of frugality on the intention for forest health tourism, enriches the theoretical system of tourism consumer behavior, and provides a scientific basis for the market positioning of forest health and the formulation of marketing strategies.

Adoption of Sustainable Technologies during Crisis: Examining Employees’ Perception and Readiness across Cultures

Studies on technology adoption have generally found significant variations across cultures, with the literature suggesting a strong reluctance to adopt new technologies, particularly in non-western countries. Given the accelerated increase in remote working and collaboration during the COVID-19 crisis, this paper compares the determinants of sustainable technology adoption by employees across Western and Non-Western countries. Using a survey of 302 participants from 13 Western and non-Western countries, four proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling and multi-group comparisons. The empirical results suggest a significant positive relationship between perceived ease of use and usefulness, influencing employees’ attitudes towards using sustainable technologies. We also found a significant positive effect between attitude towards using sustainable technologies and actual use. The indirect effect of perceived usefulness and ease of use on actual use via attitudes towards using was also positive and significant. We, however, found no significant differences between Western and non-Western countries in terms of the adoption of sustainable technologies.

Mediating effect of resilience in the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction during COVID-19: A cross-country study of Thai and Chinese college students.

This study investigated the compensating mediating mechanism of resilience in the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction in Thai and Chinese college students during a risk period of coronavirus disease 2019 transmission. A total of 262 Thai and 247 Chinese college students were enrolled in the study between December 2020 and January 2021. A measurement model was constructed with the items of loneliness, resilience, and life satisfaction by using structural equation models. Subsequently, structural mediating models were constructed according to the valid items and a multigroup comparison was performed. The relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction differed significantly between Thai and Chinese college students as a result of the mediating effect of resilience. Resilience in Thai college students partly compensated for the negative influence of loneliness on life satisfaction, and resilience in Chinese college students compensated completely for the negative influence of loneliness on life satisfaction.

M-DA: A Multifeature Text Data-Augmentation Model for Improving Accuracy of Chinese Sentiment Analysis

A neural network based on a word or character embedding is a mainstream model framework in text sentiment analysis and has achieved good results. However, there is a lack of learning about POS-Tagging and Sequence-Tagging. In this research, we propose a multifeature text data-augmentation model (M-DA) with a multiple-input single-output network structure to overcome this problem of Chinese text sentiment analysis. First, this paper sequentially obtains various sequences of Chinese text, including word sequence, pos sequence, char sequence, char_pos sequence, and char_4tag sequence, we use char_pos and the char_4tag to construct a new sequence (4tag_pos) and then use 4tag_pos to mark the characters to obtain the reconstructed characters sequence (char_4tag_pos), so as to achieve the purpose of text enhancement. Then, the Word2Vec method is used to train the initial reconstruction of the character embedding. Finally, the BiLSTM network is used to capture the long-term dependence between the sequences, and the dropout technology and attention are used to improve the accuracy. In the course of the experiment, we also realized that it is better to use the original sequence and the sequence after text enhancement technology as the input of the BiLSTM network. Therefore, our proposed model also discusses the concatenate or dot method to fuse multiple sequences as the final embedding. Multigroup comparison experiments are conducted on the data set, and the results show that the proposed M-DA model is superior to the traditional deep learning technology in terms of accuracy, recall rate, f-measure, and accuracy, and the relative time cost is small.

How Effective Are Social Media Influencers Recommendations The Effect of Message Source on Purchasing Intention and e-Word of Mouth (WOM) from a Para-Social Interaction Perspective

Purpose –The aim of this study was to eplainhow the source credibility, attitude homophily, interactivity, and para-social interaction are related and affect the attitude toward the post. Following this, the effect of this attitude on buying and e-WOM intention and the moderating role of risk aversion levels in this relationship also has been investigated. Design/methodology/approach –Data were collected from 570 followers of an influencer who mainly share content related to experience products on Instagram. The research model was tested with SEM and multi group comparison analysis using AMOS. Findings –This study revealed that para-social interaction of consumers with influencers results in the generation of a positive attitude towards the recommendation post of the influencer. Also, once a positive attitude towards the post has been generated, it results in the generation of purchase intention and e-WOM engagement. Relationships examined in the context of experience products showed that attitude homophily and influencer's interactivity were the most influential among the antecedents (influencer's credibility, attitude homophily, interactivity) examined in the formation of para-social interaction. In the study, it was also determined that the risk aversion levels of consumers have a moderating effect on the attitude-purchase intention relationship, and even in the context of experience products that are perceived as inherently risky, consumers with low risk aversion tended to make purchases by considering the influencer's share.Discussion –Today, where influencer marketing is used extensively by businesses, it is possible for these activities to create the desired effect by choosing the right influencer. It is crucial to determine what is necessary to ensure that the followers buy the product and have positive word-of-mouth communication that are among the ultimate goals of the influencer's posts. For experience products where the purchasing decision is relatively risky, it can be said that for the success of influencer marketing, the influencer's expertise, the attitude homophily, and the willingness of the influencer to interact are essential at the point of establishing para-social interaction. In order to ensure that consumers with high risk aversion levels buy the product, it can be recommended to pay great attention to the content shared and provide helpful information that reflects the truth.

Efficient isolation of human gingival stem cells in a new serum-free medium supplemented with platelet lysate and growth hormone for osteogenic differentiation enhancement

BackgroundThe use of distant autografts to restore maxillary bone defects is clinically challenging and has unpredictable outcomes. This variation may be explained by the embryonic origin of long bone donor sites, which are derived from mesoderm, whereas maxillary bones derive from neural crest. Gingival stem cells share the same embryonic origin as maxillary bones. Their stemness potential and ease of access have been repeatedly shown. One limitation in human cell therapy is the use of foetal calf serum during cell isolation and culture. To overcome this problem, a new serum-free medium enriched with an alternative to foetal calf serum, i.e., platelet lysate, needs to be adapted to clinical grade protocols.MethodsDifferent serum-free media enriched with platelet lysate at various concentrations and supplemented with different growth factors were developed and compared to media containing foetal calf serum. Phenotypic markers, spontaneous DNA damage, and stem cell properties of gingival stem cells isolated in platelet lysate or in foetal calf serum were also compared, as were the immunomodulatory properties of the cells by co-culturing them with activated peripheral blood monocellular cells. T-cell proliferation and phenotype were also assessed by flow cytometry using cell proliferation dye and specific surface markers. Data were analysed with t-test for two-group comparisons, one-way ANOVA for multigroup comparisons and two-way ANOVA for repeated measures and multigroup comparisons.ResultsSerum-free medium enriched with 10% platelet lysate and growth hormone yielded the highest expansion rate. Gingival stem cell isolation and thawing under these conditions were successful, and no significant DNA lesions were detected. Phenotypic markers of mesenchymal stem cells and differentiation capacities were conserved. Gingival stem cells isolated in this new serum-free medium showed higher osteogenic differentiation potential compared to cells isolated in foetal calf serum. The proportion of regulatory T cells obtained by co-culturing gingival stem cells with activated peripheral blood monocellular cells was similar between the two types of media.ConclusionsThis new serum-free medium is well suited for gingival stem cell isolation and proliferation, enhances osteogenic capacity and maintains immunomodulatory properties. It may allow the use of gingival stem cells in human cell therapy for bone regeneration in accordance with good manufacturing practice guidelines.

Explaining green consumption: A cross-cultural study on young adult consumers through a multi-group comparison

This research compared, through a multigroup analysis, green consumption among young adult consumers in Mexico and Spain. Thus, the effect of their connection to nature, environmental citizenship, activism and environmental social identity on green consumption was analyzed. A quantitative, explanatory, and cross-sectional methodology was developed, which involved the application of an instrument to 447 Mexican and 120 Spanish young adults. The primary results related to green consumption did not suggest different environmental behavior patterns between the samples. When combined, it was found that environmental social identity and environmental citizenship did not always translate into green consumption. However, young adult consumers who were more connected to nature were more likely to consume eco-friendly products.

Pandemic Exposure, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Conflict Behaviors, and Online Aggressive Behaviors Among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining the Moderating Role of Gender.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacts people’s mental health and behaviors, but the influence mechanism between pandemic exposure, conflict behaviors, and online aggressive behaviors during the COVID-19 outbreak remains unclear. This study will address this gap. Data were collected from 1,153 college students in an online survey that included an pandemic experiences scale, a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) scale, a conflict behaviors scale, and an online aggressive behaviors scale. Structural equation modeling and multi-group comparisons were used to analyze the data. Pandemic exposure positively predicted conflict and online aggressive behaviors through hyperarousal symptoms, and negatively predicted these behaviors through intrusive symptoms. The mediating roles of avoidance and negative alterations in cognition and mood symptoms in the relations between pandemic exposure and conflict behaviors and online aggressive behaviors were non-significant. Among male students, pandemic exposure directly predicted conflict and online aggressive behaviors, but for female students, pandemic exposure indirectly influenced these behaviors through intrusive and hyperarousal symptoms. The intrusive and hyperarousal symptoms play mediating roles in the relations between pandemic exposure and conflict behaviors and online aggressive behaviors. Gender plays a moderating role in the above mediating mechanism.

Attractive females versus trustworthy males: Explore gender effects in social media influencer marketing in Saudi restaurants

Social media influencer marketing is gaining importance in the restaurant industry, especially for independent restaurants. This study explores the underlying mechanism of social media influencer marketing in the context of independent restaurants in Arab and Islamic culture. The study combines the uncertainty reduction theory with the self-categorization theory to propose a research framework. Data were collected with Saudis. The results show that prototype clarity, self-prototypicality, and trust positively affect an influencer’s social attraction. Both trust and social attraction positively impact followers’ intentions to visit a restaurant recommended by an influencer. However, self-disclosure negatively influences the perceived trust of female influencers. The multi-group comparison results indicate that the trustworthiness of a male influencer and the social attraction of a female influencer lead to higher restaurant visit intentions. The findings provide independent restaurant owners in Arab and Islamic culture with meaningful insight into selecting appropriate influencers.

Ethnobotanical study on wild edible plants traditionally used by Messiwa people, Morocco

BackgroundThe traditional knowledge on wild edible plants has been shown in many studies a worrying decline throughout the last few decades. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to document the population knowledge on wild edible plants among the Messiwa people. The second objective was to assess the traditional knowledge of our informants according to their socio-economic status.MethodsThe survey was conducted among 149 informants through a semi-structured questionnaire. The relative importance of the plants was obtained by calculating the relative frequency of citation (RFC) for each species. To compare means, we used Student's t test for two-group comparisons and Snedecor's F-test for multi-group comparisons. The multi-range Duncan test was used for multiple mean comparisons. The correspondence factor analysis (CFA) was also used.ResultsA set of 64 species belonging to 56 genera from 34 families has been collected and identified. The species used for nutritional and medicinal purposes represent 56%, while 44% were used exclusively as nutritional plants. The most used parts are, respectively, the aerial parts (58%), the fruits (17%), the underground parts (13%), the seeds (8%), and finally the flowers (5%). On the other hand, the higher level of knowledge on wild edible plants was found among women, the elderly, illiterate, married people, and those engaged in agricultural occupations.ConclusionThis work could be a basis to be reproduced on other regions in Morocco and to be widened through pharmacological and nutritional studies in order to promote and valorize these wild edible plants.

Influence of motivational orientations on consumers’ adoption of virtual fitting rooms (VFRs): moderating effects of fashion leadership and technology visibility

ABSTRACT Virtual fitting rooms (VFRs) provide consumers with a fitting experience comparable to in-store fitting. However, despite the great potential of VFRs, their adoption is still in the preliminary stage. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between consumers’ motivational orientations, perceptions, and their adoption intentions toward VFRs. Additionally, the moderating effects of fashion leadership and technology visibility were examined. Data were collected from 324 Korean consumers and analysed using structural equation modelling as well as multi-group comparisons. The results reveal that respective motivational orientations exerted significant influence on consumers’ perceived functional and experiential values toward VFRs, which, in turn, had a positive influence on their adoption intention. Results also suggest that fashion leadership and technology visibility moderated the importance of rendering functional and experiential features of VFRs in increasing consumer adoption of VFRs.

The decision to sew: making face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to understand the motivations of individuals who sew face masks. This study uses an expanded Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model with data (n = 144) from a nationwide (United States) survey in late 2020. Data were analyzed with exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and multi-group comparison. Results indicated intention to sew face masks was predicted by subjective norm, perceived behaviour control, health consciousness, and fashion innovativeness. Making intention positively influenced individuals’ actual mask sewing behaviour. The relationship between making intention and actual behaviour is moderated by employment status and age.

Prioritizing Protection by Face Masks during COVID-19: The Application of Customer Open Innovation

This research investigated consumers’ purchase intention and preferences for face masks during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used as the theoretical framework. Empirical data (with 215 valid responses) were collected nationwide from the United States via Qualtrics Panel services. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multi-group comparison (chi-square difference) were used to estimate construct validity and test the proposed hypotheses and theoretical framework. Results indicated that consumers’ purchase intention towards face masks was predicted by consumers’ attitude towards functional attributes, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control. But, in contrast with previous research, purchase intention was not predicted by attitudes towards aesthetic attributes and attitude towards social attributes. Purchase intention positively influenced consumers’ actual purchase behavior towards face masks. Workplace association moderated the path from social attitudes to purchase intention. Based on these results, theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring maximizing, satisficing and minimizing tendency in decision-making among autistic and neurotypical individuals

BackgroundThe tendency to maximize is one of the most frequently studied personal traits in choice-making and decision-making. In spite of the large resemblances between the decision behaviour that is characteristic for maximizers and the decision behaviour displayed by individuals with autism, and the considerable overlap in the list of decision problems and decision experiences commonly reported by maximizers and individuals with autism, the question whether individuals with autism are more maximizing in decision-making as compared to neurotypical controls, has remained unexamined in the literature. The paper measures and compares the tendency to maximize, satisfice, and minimize in choice- and decision-making among autistic individuals and age, gender- and education degree-matched neurotypical individuals. MethodThe Decision Making Tendency Inventory measurement scale (Misuraca et al., 2015) is used to measure six types of decision-making tendency: fearful maximizing, resolute maximizing, more ambitious satisficing, less ambitious satisficing, parsimonious minimizing, and indolent minimizing. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and comparison of the differences in latent means is performed. ResultsThe results demonstrate that autistic individuals are similar to neurotypical individuals when it comes to having a tendency to satisfice or minimize in decision-making, however, autistic individuals do score higher in terms of adopting a fearful and resolute maximizing tendency than neurotypical individuals. ConclusionsResults suggest that higher maximizing tendency may explain for some of the difficulties experienced by autistic individuals in decision-making

How to compare multiple intervention effects: Educational research using network meta-analysis

ABSTRACT This study aims to introduce network meta-analysis (NMA) to provide educational researchers with an extended view of the reviewing educational research. Meta-analytic methods have been widely used in educational research reviews. However, weaknesses have emerged in the multi-group comparison analysis of educational studies where different interventions are applied because general meta-analysis is structured for a two-group comparison (i.e. treatment versus control group) of the same structure. Alternatively, when synthesizing experimental results of previous studies, NMA aims to verify related effect sizes by considering various experimental environments and research variables. Using NMA with simulation data, along with five types of online learning designs, this study describes how educational researchers could compare complex intervention effects between ten networks derived from five groups. The use of NMA in review research can provide rich interpretations of multi-group comparison results. Additionally, it can reflect on the complexity of real-world experimental design conditions.

COVID-19 pandemic influence on epilepsy course in pediatric patients

IntroductionIn 2020, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared as a global pandemic. Self-reported stress, anxiety, and insomnia, which are believed to be common triggers for epilepsy, are more likely to occur. We aimed to establish the influence of COVID-19 pandemic itself on changes in the daily life routine related to pandemic on epilepsy course in pediatric patients. The unique form of clinical care which is telemedicine was also taken into consideration. We wanted to evaluate patients' satisfaction with telemedicine and if changing stationary visits into telemedicine influenced epilepsy course in our patients. MethodsPatients, who attended developmental neurology outpatient clinic in the period March–December 2020 were collected. As patients were minors, legal guardians were asked to fill out the questionnaire. Patients were divided according to the outcome into three groups: those with a worsened, stable, or improved course of epilepsy during the pandemic. Appropriate statistical tests for two-group and multi-group comparisons have been implemented. Post hoc p values were also calculated. ResultsFour hundred and two questionnaires were collected. Most of the patients had a stable course of epilepsy during the pandemic; in 13% of participants an improvement has been observed, worsening of the disease was seen in 16% of patients. Age, sex, type of epilepsy, number of seizure incidents before pandemic, and duration of the disease had no statistically significant connection with changes in the course of the disease. Behavioral changes and altered sleep patterns were found to be more common in the worsened group.Fifty-eight percent of patients were satisfied with telemedicine. Poorer satisfaction was connected with less frequent visits, cancellation of scheduled appointments, and lack of help in case of need in an emergency situation. ConclusionEpilepsy course in pediatric patients seems to be stable during COVID-19 pandemic. Sleep disturbances and changes in a child’s behavior may be related to increase in seizure frequency. Telemedicine is an effective tool for supervising children with epilepsy. Patients should be informed about possible ways of getting help in urgent cases.

Government Communication, Perceptions of COVID-19, and Vaccination Intention: A Multi-Group Comparison in China.

Government communication has been playing an important role in mass vaccination to conduct the largest vaccination campaign of the world for COVID-19 and to counter vaccine hesitancy. This study employs the health belief model to examine the association between government communication and the COVID-19 vaccination intention. A survey of Chinese adults (N = 557) was conducted in March 2021, and partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to estimate the multi-construct relationships. The findings indicate that government communication has both direct positive association with vaccination intention and indirect association with vaccination intention through the mediation of perceived severity, benefits, and barriers. Multi-group comparisons suggest that individuals from private sectors are more easily mobilized to receive COVID-19 vaccination by government communication than those from public sectors. Similarly, the correlation between government communication and the vaccination intention of individuals with a good health status was stronger than that of those with a poor health status. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are further discussed.

College reopening and community spread of COVID-19 in the United States

ObjectiveAfter months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the US postsecondary institutions implemented different instruction approaches to bring their students back for the Fall 2020 semester. Given public health concerns with reopening campuses, the study evaluated the impact of Fall 2020 college reopenings on COVID-19 transmission within the 632 US university counties. Study designThis was a retrospective and observational study. MethodsBayesian Structural Time Series (BSTS) models were conducted to investigate the county-level COVID-19 case increases during the first 21 days of Fall 2020. The case increase for each county was estimated by comparing the observed time series (actual daily cases after school reopening) to the BSTS counterfactual time series (predictive daily cases if not reopening during the same time frame). We then used multilevel models to examine the associations between opening approaches (in-person, online, and hybrid) and county-level COVID-19 case increases within 21 and 42 days after classes began. The multigroup comparison between mask and non-mask-required states for these associations were also performed, given that the statewide guidelines might moderate the effects of college opening approaches. ResultsMore than 80% of our university county sample did not experience a significant case increase in Fall 2020. There were no significant relationships between opening approaches and community transmission in both mask-required and non-mask-required states. Only small metropolitan counties and counties with a non-community college or a higher percentage of student population showed significantly positive associations with the case number increase within the first 21-day period of Fall 2020. For the longer 42-day period, the counties with a higher percentage of the student population showed a significant case increase. ConclusionThe overall findings underscored the outcomes of US higher education reopening efforts when the vaccines were still under development in Fall 2020. For individual county results, we invite the college- and county-level decision-makers to interpret their results using our web application.