Amid the coronavirus outbreak, many countries are facing a dramatic situation in terms of the global economy and human social activities, including education. The shutdown of schools is affecting ...many students around the world, with face-to-face classes suspended. Many countries facing the disastrous situation imposed class suspension at an early stage of the coronavirus outbreak, and Asia was one of the earliest regions to implement live online learning. Despite previous research on online teaching and learning, students' readiness to participate in the real-time online learning implemented during the coronavirus outbreak is not yet well understood. This study explored several key factors in the research framework related to learning motivation, learning readiness and student's self-efficacy in participating in live online learning during the coronavirus outbreak, taking into account gender differences and differences among sub-degree (SD), undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students. Technology readiness was used instead of conventional online/internet self-efficacy to determine students' live online learning readiness. The hypothetical model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results revealed no statistically significant differences between males and females.
On the other hand, the mean scores for PG students were higher than for UG and SD students based on the post hoc test. We argue that during the coronavirus outbreak, gender differences were reduced because students are forced to learn more initiatively. We also suggest that students studying at a higher education degree level may have higher expectations of their academic achievement and were significantly different in their online learning readiness. This study has important implications for educators in implementing live online learning, particularly for the design of teaching contexts for students from different educational levels. More virtual activities should be considered to enhance the motivation for students undertaking lower-level degrees, and encouragement of student-to-student interactions can be considered.
•Explored key research questions in learning motivation, learning readiness, and student's efficacy in live online learning.•Multi-group analysis and post hoc test to compare different genders, and sub-degree, degree, and postgraduate students.•No significant differences between male and female students in live online learning readiness.•Postgraduate students have significantly higher readiness in most aspects than undergraduate and sub-degree students.•Educators should enhance the motivation of students from lower forms, and encourage their interactions and communication.
Boussinesq-Burgers (BB)-type equations have been proposed to model the shallow water waves. Under investigation in this Letter is a higher-order BB system. We obtain the Lie point symmetry ...generators, Lie symmetry groups and symmetry reductions for that system via the Lie group method. Hyperbolic-function, trigonometric-function and rational solutions for that system are derived.
•Measurement invariance assesses the psychometric equivalence of a construct across groups.•Comparison between groups depends first on testing measurement invariance of a construct across those ...groups.•Current practices for testing and reporting measurement invariance are reviewed in 126 articles with 269 tests of invariance.•Implications for the practice of measurement invariance and areas of research need are discussed.
Measurement invariance assesses the psychometric equivalence of a construct across groups or across time. Measurement noninvariance suggests that a construct has a different structure or meaning to different groups or on different measurement occasions in the same group, and so the construct cannot be meaningfully tested or construed across groups or across time. Hence, prior to testing mean differences across groups or measurement occasions (e.g., boys and girls, pretest and posttest), or differential relations of the construct across groups, it is essential to assess the invariance of the construct. Conventions and reporting on measurement invariance are still in flux, and researchers are often left with limited understanding and inconsistent advice. Measurement invariance is tested and established in different steps. This report surveys the state of measurement invariance testing and reporting, and details the results of a literature review of studies that tested invariance. Most tests of measurement invariance include configural, metric, and scalar steps; a residual invariance step is reported for fewer tests. Alternative fit indices (AFIs) are reported as model fit criteria for the vast majority of tests; χ2 is reported as the single index in a minority of invariance tests. Reporting AFIs is associated with higher levels of achieved invariance. Partial invariance is reported for about one-third of tests. In general, sample size, number of groups compared, and model size are unrelated to the level of invariance achieved. Implications for the future of measurement invariance testing, reporting, and best practices are discussed.
In the context of increasingly tight resource and environmental constraints, understanding why and how farmers were willing to engage in agricultural green production (AGP) had become a major ...practical issue that needed to be answered to promote sustainable development of agricultural economy. This study collected first-hand data of 645 grain growers and used structural equation model (SEM) to explore the impacts of farmers' perceptions on AGP willingness focusing on perceived value and its antecedent factors, namely perceived benefits and perceived risks. Results showed that perceived value and perceived benefits had significantly positive impacts on AGP willingness, while the impacts of perceived risks was significantly negative. Furthermore, it was found that although the direct effect from perceived value (0.364) on farmers' AGP willingness was greater than perceived benefits and perceived risks, the decisive factor that ultimately played a key role in AGP willingness was farmers' perceived benefits (0.501). This was because perceived value played an actively mediating role of 23.1% in the path from perceived benefits to green production willingness. Besides, the multi-group analysis (MGA) found that the variable ‘whether to join a cooperative or not’ had a positively moderating effect on the relationship between farmers' AGP perceived value and willingness. Meanwhile, the variable ‘joining cooperative group’ (0.552) had a greater impact on the perceived value-green production willingness path of farmers' AGP than the variable ‘non-joining cooperative group’ (0.251), which indicated that farmers' AGP willingness could be enhanced by joining a cooperative. This study provides some enlightenment and reference for policy makers and practitioners to design or adjust programs related to reducing rural environmental pollution and implementing AGP.
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•Determinants of farmers' willingness of agricultural green production were studied.•Perceived benefits were the key factor of farmers' green production willingness.•Farmers' perceived value played an actively mediating role of 23.1% in the path.•Negative impact of perceived risks on the willingness was relatively minimal.•Farmers' green production willingness could be enhanced by joining a cooperative.
•Nonlinear Modified Gardner Equation•Lie group analysis•Power series solution•Conservation laws•quantum electron-positron-ion magneto plasmas•Ion-acoustic waves
In this paper, the nonlinear modified ...Gardner (mG) equation is under consideration which represents the super nonlinear proliferation of the ion-acoustic waves and quantum electron-positronion magneto plasmas. The considered model is investigated with the help of Lie group analysis. Lie point symmetries are computed under the invariance criteria of Lie groups and symmetry group for each generator is reported. Furthermore, the one-dimensional optimal system of subalgebras is developed by adjoint technique and then we compute the similarity reductions corresponding to each vector field present in the optimal system, with the help of similarity reduction method we have to convert the PDE into the ODE. Some exact explicit solutions of obtained ordinary differential equations were constructed by the power series technique. With the aid of the Galilean transformation, the model is transformed into a planer dynamical system and the bifurcation behaviour is recorded. All practicable types of phase portraits with regard to the parameters of the problem considered are plotted. Meantime, sensitivity is observed by utilizing sensitivity analysis. In addition, the influence of physical parameters is studied by the application of an extrinsic periodic power. With additional perturbed term, quasi-periodic and quasi-periodic-chaotic behaviours is reported.
In graph theory, complex structures are studied, as well as the dynamics of the connectivity strength of this structure. However, in the estimation procedure, particular characteristics need to be ...considered at some level as informative when estimating the characteristics of a group. This work proposes a model that provides dynamic estimation of the network structure based on a model that makes it possible to incorporate hierarchy (individual information) in the process. In addition, we show the feasibility of modeling a complex structure by levels, exemplifying this by cluster analysis as a visualization of the embedding projection reduction space. Our case study is a neuroscience experiment, which needs to estimate the brain connectivity map, that is, to study the information flow of the brain in resting-stage subjects. Methods for estimating group networks can be grouped into the following 4 categories: group-structure (GS), virtual-typical-subject (VTS), common-structure (CS), and individual-structure (IS). These four group-structure estimation methods were compared in the context of the Multiregression Dynamic Models. Results showed that the proposed Bayesian Network Structure Dynamic estimation, using GS and hierarchical dynamic models, accommodates the latent/personal information in the estimation process by extracting the pattern shared between them. Moreover, the cluster analysis estimation corroborates the empirical results and expert judgments.
•New statistical methodological dynamic Bayesian Network structure estimation.•The Brain Group Hierarchical Dynamic Model accommodating latent/personal Brain information.•Embedding projection reduction space visualization, via cluster analysis.•Four BN group-structure estimation methods are compared.
Electron-positron-ion plasmas are found in the primordial Universe, active galactic nuclei, surroundings of black holes and peripheries of neutron stars. We focus our attention on a modified ...Zakharov-Kuznetsov (mZK) equation which describes the ion acoustic drift solitary waves in an electron-positron-ion magnetoplasma. Lie symmetry generators and groups are presented by virtue of the Lie symmetry method. Optimal system of the one-dimensional subalgebras is presented, which is influenced via the ratio of the unperturbed ion density to electron density nio/neo, the ratio of the unperturbed positron density to electron density npo/neo, the ratio of the electron temperature to positron temperature Te/Tp and the normalized ion drift velocity vo*. Based on the optimal system, we construct the power-series, multi-soliton, breather-like and periodic-wave solutions. Two types of the elastic interactions, including the overtaking and head-on interactions between (among) two (three) solitons are discussed. We find that the amplitudes of the solitons and periodic waves are positively related to the electron Debye length λDe and negatively related to |ρi| with ρi as the ion Larmor radius. Besides, we find that the mZK equation is not only strictly self-adjoint but also nonlinearly self-adjoint. Condition for the nonlinear self-adjointness is related to nio/neo, npo/neo, Te/Tp and vo*. Based on the nonlinear self-adjointness of the mZK equation, conservation laws, which are related to nio/neo, npo/neo, Te/Tp, vo*,λDe, ρi and may be associated with the conservation of momentum and energy, are obtained.
This study investigates the role of education as a moderator of the network of relationships among entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), innovation, and restaurant performance. Data were collected ...through an e-survey of 198 restaurant owners in Australia. The results of the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis revealed that the owners' ESE and the firms' innovation activities directly and positively affected performance, and that the ESE directly and positively affected the firms' innovation activities, including those concerning products, services, processes, management, and marketing. The structural model was also examined across two groups based on the owners' level of domain-specific education (Group 1: Owners with industry-related and entrepreneurship-specific education; Group 2: Owners with no such education). The results showed that the ESE-innovation-performance model remained invariant between the groups. The study made new contributions to the literature on firm performance drivers in the restaurant industry and the moderating effects of education.
•Depressed people rely on mobile phones to alleviate their negative moods.•Depressed people tend to engage in problematic use of mobile phone (PUMP).•Face-to-face communication can break the cycle ...leading to PUMP.
With the increasing penetration of mobile phones, problematic use of mobile phone (PUMP) deserves attention. In this study, using a path model we examined the relationship between depression and PUMP, with motivations as mediators. Findings suggest that depressed people may rely on mobile phone to alleviate their negative feelings and spend more time on communication activities via mobile phone, which in turn can deteriorate into PUMP. However, face-to-face communication with others played a moderating role, weakening the link between use of mobile phone for communication activities and deterioration to PUMP.
•Comparison was conducted among two-wheelers through multi-group analysis;•It is found that behavior tendencies of e-bike riders on illegal lane-transgressing were more like those of ...motorcyclists;•Illegal lane-transgressing was not perceived as high-risk behavior among two-wheeler riders.
Illegal lane-transgressing is a typical aberrant riding behavior of riders of two-wheelers, i.e., motorcycles, bicycles, and e-bikes, which is highly frequent in accident reports. However, there is insufficient attention to this behavior at present. This study aims to explore the socio-psychologic factors that influence the illegal lane-transgressing behavior of two-wheeler riders when overtaking. For this purpose, a questionnaire was first composed. The questionnaire included the behavioral intention of two-wheeler riders towards illegal overtaking behavior and five influencing factors: safety knowledge, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, perceived behavior control, and risk perception. Second, a survey was conducted on different two-wheeler riders in Xi’an. Third, various types of two-wheelers were analyzed jointly and separately by structural equation models and analyses of variance. Results show that e-bike riders were more similar to motorcycle riders in behavioral intentions, with their risk perception weaker than other riders. Descriptive norms and perceived behavior control played the most significant roles in the structural equation model. It was also found that two-wheeler riders with a car license had better traffic safety performance. Based on the above results, it is recommended that attention be paid to illegal lane-transgression in the process of law enforcement and education, and a higher level of safety training should be provided for two-wheeler riders.
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