The Bayesian structural equation model integrates the principles of Bayesian statistics, providing a more flexible and comprehensive modeling framework. In exploring complex relationships between variables, handling u...The Bayesian structural equation model integrates the principles of Bayesian statistics, providing a more flexible and comprehensive modeling framework. In exploring complex relationships between variables, handling uncertainty, and dealing with missing data, the Bayesian structural equation model demonstrates unique advantages. Therefore, Bayesian methods are used in this paper to establish a structural equation model of innovative talent cognition, with the measurement of college students’ cognition of innovative talent being studied. An in-depth analysis is conducted on the effects of innovative self-efficacy, social resources, innovative personality traits, and school education, aiming to explore the factors influencing college students’ innovative talent. The results indicate that innovative self-efficacy plays a key role in perception, social resources are significantly positively correlated with the perception of innovative talents, innovative personality tendencies and school education are positively correlated with the perception of innovative talents, but the impact is not significant.展开更多
Background:Meta-analysis is a quantitative approach that systematically integrates results from previous research to draw conclusions.Structural equation modelling is a statistical method that integrates factor analys...Background:Meta-analysis is a quantitative approach that systematically integrates results from previous research to draw conclusions.Structural equation modelling is a statistical method that integrates factor analysis and path analysis.Meta-analytic structural equation modeling(MASEM)combines meta-analysis and structural equation modeling.It allows researchers to explain relationships among a group of variables across multiple studies.Methods:We used a simulated dataset to conduct a univariate MASEM analysis,using Comprehensive Meta Analysis 3.3,Analysis of Moment Structures 24.0 software.Results:Despite the lack of concise literature on the methodology,our study provided a practical step-by-step guide on univariate MASEM.Conclusion:Researchers can employ MASEM analysis in applicable fields based on the description,principles,and practices expressed in this study and our previous publications mentioned in this study.展开更多
With the expanding enrollments in higher education,the quality of col-lege education and the learning gains of students have attracted much attention.It is important to study the influencing factors and mechanisms of ...With the expanding enrollments in higher education,the quality of col-lege education and the learning gains of students have attracted much attention.It is important to study the influencing factors and mechanisms of individual stu-dents’acquisition of learning gains to improve the quality of talent cultivation in colleges.However,in the context of information security,the original data of learning situation surveys in various universities involve the security of educa-tional evaluation data and daily privacy of teachers and students.To protect the original data,data feature mining and correlation analyses were performed at the model level.This study selected 12,181 pieces of data from X University,which participated in the Chinese College Student Survey(CCSS)from 2018 to 2021.A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted and a structural equation modeling was conducted using AMOS 24.0.Through hypothesis testing,this study explored the mechanisms that influence learning gains from the per-spectives of student involvement,teacher involvement,and school support.The results indicated that the quality of student involvement has an important mediat-ing effect on learning gains and that a supportive campus environment has the greatest influence on learning gains.Establishing positive emotional communica-tions between teachers and students is a more direct and effective method than improving the teaching level to improve the quality of student involvement.This study discusses the implications of these results on the research and practice of connotative development in higher education.展开更多
Work injuries in mines are complex and generally characterized by several factors starting from personal to technical and technical to social characteristics.In this paper,investigation was made through the applicatio...Work injuries in mines are complex and generally characterized by several factors starting from personal to technical and technical to social characteristics.In this paper,investigation was made through the application of structural equation modeling to study the nature of relationships between the influencing/associating personal factors and work injury and their sequential relationships leading towards work injury occurrences in underground coal mines.Six variables namely,rebelliousness,negative affectivity,job boredom,job dissatisfaction and work injury were considered in this study.Instruments were developed to quantify them through a questionnaire survey.Underground mine workers were randomly selected for the survey.Responses from 300 participants were used for the analysis.The structural model of LISREL was used to estimate the interrelationships amongst the variables.The case study results show that negative affectivity and job boredom induce more job dissatisfaction to the workers whereas risk taking attitude of the individual is positively influenced by job dissatisfaction as well as by rebelliousness characteristics of the individual.Finally,risk taking and job dissatisfaction are having positive significant direct relationship with work injury.The findings of this study clearly reveal that rebelliousness,negative affectivity and job boredom are the three key personal factors influencing work related injuries in mines that need to be addressed properly through effective safety programs.展开更多
A households′production behavior directly influences the quality of the environment and determines the successful development of nature reserves.Meanwhile,the households′production behaviors are complicated by inter...A households′production behavior directly influences the quality of the environment and determines the successful development of nature reserves.Meanwhile,the households′production behaviors are complicated by interrelated factors,such as protection attitudes,resource endowment,and family wealth.This research evaluated households near the Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province,acquiring data from 436 households around Yang County and Ningshan County in the south slope of Qinling Mountains,China.Based on the collected data,we developed a structural equation model to evaluate the coupling relationships among households′ protection attitudes,production behaviors,resource endowment,and family wealth.The results showed that:1) households with great resource endowment had more negative attitudes,probably due to their greater protection costs;2) the households with higher education levels had worse protection attitudes;3) the households with more family wealth were likely to use fewer fertilizers,pesticides,and firewood;4) the households with more resource endowment showed less production and management behaviors;5) the enhancement of households' attitudes improved production behaviors to protection the environment,but the effects were not statistically significant.Our results provide a basis for the government's protection policy making,exploring the effective management measures that are beneficial for both nature reserve management and community development.展开更多
Purpose:This paper aims to examine how the adoption decision of the internet banking in North Cyprus would be affected based on the following dimensions;the technology features,the personal characteristics,the social ...Purpose:This paper aims to examine how the adoption decision of the internet banking in North Cyprus would be affected based on the following dimensions;the technology features,the personal characteristics,the social environment and the expected risk.Design/methodology/approach:A self-administered survey was conducted with 291 participants responded to it.The partial least square approach of the structural equation modeling(PLS-SEM)is employed to investigate the direct effects of the proposed factors on the adoption decision.Additionally,the mediation test is used to examine indirect effects.Findings:Results showed that even though the participants appreciated the benefits of the online banking as the perceived usefulness factor exerts the greatest direct effect,they would rather use clear and easy-to-use websites,adding to that their assessments of the usefulness of these services are significantly influenced by the surrounding people’s views and prior experience.This is demonstrated by the total effects of the perceived ease of use and the subjective norm factors,which are greater than the direct effect of the perceived usefulness factor since both of these factors have significant direct and indirect effects mediated by the perceived usefulness factor.The negative impact of the perceived risk factor is weak compared to the previous factors.While the personal innovativeness factor showed the weakest effect among the proposed factors.展开更多
This study aimed to construct a quality management model for phase I clinical drug trials.A cross-sectional survey was conducted and data were collected from 604 respondents at 69 institutions in China engaged in phas...This study aimed to construct a quality management model for phase I clinical drug trials.A cross-sectional survey was conducted and data were collected from 604 respondents at 69 institutions in China engaged in phase I clinical drug trials.Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to develop the survey tool.Structural equation modeling was used to construct a quality management model for phase I clinical drug trials.The results showed that the final survey tool had good reliability and validity(Cronbach’sα=0.938,root mean square error of approximation=0.074,comparative fit index=0.962,and Tucker—Lewis index=0.955).The model included five dimensions:government regulation,industry management,medical institution management,research team management,and contract research organization(CRO)management.In total,22 measurement items were obtained.The structural equation model indicated government regulation,industry management,medical institution management,and CRO management significantly affected the quality of phase I clinical drug trials(β=0.195,β=0.331,β=0.279,andβ=−0.267,respectively;P<0.05).Research team management had no effect on the quality of trials(β=0.041,P=0.610).In conclusion,the model is valuable for identifying factors influencing phase I clinical drug trials and guiding quality management practices.展开更多
This paper describes a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis of factors influencing architects' trust in project design teams. We undertook a survey of architects, during which we distributed 193 questionnair...This paper describes a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis of factors influencing architects' trust in project design teams. We undertook a survey of architects, during which we distributed 193 questionnaires in 29 A-level architectural design institutes selected radomly from the altogether 59 ones in Shenzhen, P. R. China, and received 130 valid questionnaires. We used Amos 6.0 for SEM to identify significant personal construct based factors affecting interpersonal trust. The results show that only social interaction between architects significantly affects their interpersonal trust. The explained variance of trus~ is not very high in the model. Therefore, future research should add more factors into the current model. The practical implication is that team managers should promote the social interactions between team members such that the interpersonal trust level between team members can be improved.展开更多
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) used widely in sociology, economics and psychology is adopted. Based on data obtained from marketing research, and using statistical analysis software SPSSll. 0 and LISRELS. 7, The...Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) used widely in sociology, economics and psychology is adopted. Based on data obtained from marketing research, and using statistical analysis software SPSSll. 0 and LISRELS. 7, Theory of Five Dimensions of service quality is proved to be suitable in sportswear retailing in China. It analyzes the relationship among five dimensions and puts them in order of importance as to service quality in sportswear retailing. Advices are given for sportswear retail companies to improve their .Service quality and enhance customer loyalty.展开更多
Bayesian networks (BN) have many advantages over other methods in ecological modeling, and have become an increasingly popular modeling tool. However, BN are flawed in regard to building models based on inadequate e...Bayesian networks (BN) have many advantages over other methods in ecological modeling, and have become an increasingly popular modeling tool. However, BN are flawed in regard to building models based on inadequate existing knowledge. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new method that links BN with structural equation modeling (SEM). In this method, SEM is used to improve the model structure for BN. This method was used to simulate coastal phytoplankton dynamics in the Bohai Bay. We demonstrate that this hybrid approach minimizes the need for expert elicitation, generates more reasonable structures for BN models, and increases the BN model's accuracy and reliability. These results suggest that the inclusion of SEM for testing and verifying the theoretical structure during the initial construction stage improves the effectiveness of BN models, especially for complex eco-environment systems. The results also demonstrate that in the Bohai Bay, while phytoplankton biomass has the greatest influence on phytoplankton dynamics, the impact of nutrients on phytoplankton dynamics is larger than the influence of the physical environment in summer. Furthermore, although the Redfield ratio indicates that phosphorus should be the primary nutrient limiting factor, our results show that silicate plays the most important role in regulating phytoplankton dynamics in the Bohai Bay.展开更多
Rural human settlement is a significant indicator of the living standards of rural residents,and its improvement can contribute to promoting the positive interaction between inhabited environment and the social,econom...Rural human settlement is a significant indicator of the living standards of rural residents,and its improvement can contribute to promoting the positive interaction between inhabited environment and the social,economic,and resource environment in the countryside.Based on 557 valid questionnaires of satisfaction evaluation of human settlement in the peripheral metropolitan area of Beijing,this paper analyzed the elemental characteristics and factors influencing human settlement quality using multivariate statistical analysis and a structural equation model.The result shows that,first,the rural residents in a peripheral metropolitan area of Beijing are generally satisfied with the quality of human settlement(satisfaction rate is 66.2%).Specifically,the natural and social environment of the countryside is excellent and harmonious and corresponding standard of countryside infrastructure is advanced,but the quality of public services and follow-up management of facilities are in urgent need of improvement and the imbalance between revenue and expenditure of rural households has led to a continuous increase in the pressures of life.Second,factors such as social atmosphere,appearance of the village,entertainment,living costs,fundamental public services,and production costs have significant effects on human settlement quality in this peripheral metropolitan area,with social atmosphere as the main one.Living costs and supporting services are the main constraints to improvement in the quality of human settlement.展开更多
In order to know about the essence of service employees' innovation behavior, the service employees' innovation behavior scale based on their unique characteristics is designed. Data were collected from high-s...In order to know about the essence of service employees' innovation behavior, the service employees' innovation behavior scale based on their unique characteristics is designed. Data were collected from high-star hospitalities. Through the issuance and the collection of questionnaires, the scale is verified to have good reliability and validity by SPSS software analysis. Meanwhile,the structural equation model( SEM) is suited for testing structural dimensions of service employees' innovation behavior. The results showed that service employees' innovation behavior could be decomposed into a four-dimensional structure,namely innovation orientation, ideas generation, innovation implementation and innovation practice. In addition,there are significant differences in service employees' innovation behavior about subjects' gender,position,education background and years of working.展开更多
Tracing the origins of business cost, to define the satisfaction assessment factors on the business cost in Shanghai was investigated in this paper. Arguing that these effects: a single low cost is not only the criter...Tracing the origins of business cost, to define the satisfaction assessment factors on the business cost in Shanghai was investigated in this paper. Arguing that these effects: a single low cost is not only the criterion determining satisfaction. Other important factors, such as enterprise internal cognitive attitude,stability of the external environment,the quality of perceptions of government services can affect satisfaction. Within structural equation modeling( SEM) approach, six sets of hypotheses are drawn up and tested with a sample of 338 enterprises using questionnaires. Additionally,the analyses of findings introduce the crucial importance of these features in the assessment of satisfaction with business cost in Shanghai. Finally, the results show that internal cognitive has a positive impact on satisfaction. Stability of the external environment has a significant relationship with the effectiveness of government services. Stability of the external environmeat and the effectiveness of government servises have a positive effect on satisfaction.展开更多
Purpose: General linear modeling (GLM) is usually applied to investigate factors associated with the domains of Quality of Life (QOL). A summation score in a specific sub-domain is regressed by a statistical model inc...Purpose: General linear modeling (GLM) is usually applied to investigate factors associated with the domains of Quality of Life (QOL). A summation score in a specific sub-domain is regressed by a statistical model including factors that are associated with the sub-domain. However, using the summation score ignores the influence of individual questions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) can account for the influence of each question’s score by compositing a latent variable from each question of a sub-domain. The objective of this study is to determine whether a conventional approach such as GLM, with its use of the summation score, is valid from the standpoint of the SEM approach. Method: We used the Japanese version of the Maugeri Foundation Respiratory Failure Questionnaire, a QOL measure, on 94 patients with heart failure. The daily activity sub-domain of the questionnaire was selected together with its four accompanying factors, namely, living together, occupation, gender, and the New York Heart Association’s cardiac function scale (NYHA). The association level between individual factors and the daily activity sub-domain was estimated using SEM?and GLM, respectively. The standard partial regression coefficients of GLM and standardized path coefficients of SEM were compared. If?these coefficients were similar (absolute value of the difference -0.06 and -0.07 for the GLM and SEM. Likewise, the estimates of occupation, gender, and NYHA were -0.18 and -0.20, -0.08 and -0.08, 0.51 and 0.54, respectively. The absolute values of the difference for each factor were 0.01, 0.02, 0.00, and 0.03, respectively. All differences were less than 0.05. This means that these two approaches lead to similar conclusions. Conclusion: GLM is a valid method for exploring association factors with a domain in QOL.展开更多
Factors affecting equipment maintenance quality usually include personnel,equipment and facilities,raw materials and spare parts, craft, environment and quality management. These six factors affecting maintenance qual...Factors affecting equipment maintenance quality usually include personnel,equipment and facilities,raw materials and spare parts, craft, environment and quality management. These six factors affecting maintenance quality are not all the same degree. In order to find out which factor can influence equipment maintenance quality greatly and achieve sophisticated management,characteristic quantities of six factors are presented. A structural equation modeling( SEM) is designed using the six factors as latent variables and their characteristic quantities as the observed variable.According to the basic data obtained from the questionnaire survey,calculate the standardized regression weight by parameter estimation of the SEM. Then the key factors affecting the quality of the equipment maintenance are determined with the help of the standardized regression weight.展开更多
The aim of this article is to develop a structural equation model to assess key factors of residents' support for hosting mega event based on previous literature.The model consisted of five latent constructs and e...The aim of this article is to develop a structural equation model to assess key factors of residents' support for hosting mega event based on previous literature.The model consisted of five latent constructs and eight path hypotheses.A survey was conducted in Shanghai before 2010 World Expo.It was found that the support for mega events is affected directly and/or indirectly by four determinants factors:perceived benefits,perceived costs,personal benefits and community attachment,and support relies heavily on perceived benefits rather than costs.This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in an attempt to understand local residents' support for a mega event in different economic and cultural settings.展开更多
Human cadaver dissection remains a core and preferred method of anatomical instruction at most low- and middle-income health professional training institutions. Dissection, which is both traumatic and stressful, sets ...Human cadaver dissection remains a core and preferred method of anatomical instruction at most low- and middle-income health professional training institutions. Dissection, which is both traumatic and stressful, sets the tone of the students’ responses to later and or similar stressful learning opportunities like the post-mortems or care for terminally ill patients. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to determine the effect of the students’: personality, perception of the learning environment, learning approach, and effect of the environment on the student, on undergraduate health professional student’s activity in the human cadaver dissection room. This was a secondary analysis of previously collected data from a cross sectional survey of undergraduate health professional students. We found that personality type and perception of the environment had a positive effect on dissection room activity. Approach to learning and being affected by the dissection room experience (impact), had a negative effect on dissection room activity. All the above effects on dissection room activity were not significant. This study showed that personality, perception of the learning environment, learning approach and effect of the environment on the student, had effects on undergraduate health professional student’s activity in the human cadaver dissection room. The modelled effects are opportunities for educational interventions aimed at increasing student activity in the dissection room.展开更多
Under different conditions,gene regulatory networks(GRNs)of the same gene set could be similar but different.The differential analysis of GRNs under different conditions is important for understanding condition-specif...Under different conditions,gene regulatory networks(GRNs)of the same gene set could be similar but different.The differential analysis of GRNs under different conditions is important for understanding condition-specific gene regulatory relationships.In a naive approach,existing GRN inference algorithms can be used to separately estimate two GRNs under different conditions and identify the differences between them.However,in this way,the similarities between the pairwise GRNs are not taken into account.Several joint differential analysis algorithms have been proposed recently,which were proved to outperform the naive approach apparently.In this paper,we model the GRNs under different conditions with structural equation models(SEMs)to integrate gene expression data and genetic perturbations,and re-parameterize the pairwise SEMs to form an integrated model that incorporates the differential structure.Then,a Bayesian inference method is used to make joint differential analysis by solving the integrated model.We evaluated the performance of the proposed re-parametrization-based Bayesian differential analysis(ReBDA)algorithm by running simulations on synthetic data with different settings.The performance of the ReBDA algorithm was demonstrated better than another state-of-the-art joint differential analysis algorithm for SEMs ReDNet obviously.In the end,the ReBDA algorithm was applied to make differential analysis on a real human lung gene data set to illustrate its applicability and practicability.展开更多
Objective: With the goal of improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in cancer patients, we previously reported a structural equation model (SEM) of subjected QOL and qualifications of pharmacists, based on a ...Objective: With the goal of improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in cancer patients, we previously reported a structural equation model (SEM) of subjected QOL and qualifications of pharmacists, based on a series of questionnaires completed by patients and pharmacists. However, several patients and pharmacists were excluded from the previous study because it was not always possible to obtain all the data intended for collection. In order to reveal the effect of missing data on the SEM, we established SEMs of HRQOL and the competency of pharmacists, using correlation matrices derived by two different statistical methods for handling missing data. Method: Fifteen cancer patients hospitalized for cancer and were receiving opioid analgesics for pain control, and eight pharmacists were enrolled in this study. Each subject was asked four times weekly to answer questions presented in a questionnaire. SEMs were explored using two correlation matrices derived with pair-wise deletion (PD matrix) and list-wise deletion (LD matrix). The final models were statistically evaluated with certain goodness-of-fit criteria. Results: Data were intended to be collected four times weekly for each patient, but there were some missing values. The same SEMs for HRQOL were optimized using both the LD and PD matrices. Although the path diagrams of the SEMs were not identical in the “competency of pharmacists,” the two models suggested that a higher competency of a pharmacist lowered the “severity” of condition and increased the “comfort” of patients, resulting in an increase in the subjected QOL. Conclusion: In collecting data for clinical research, missing values are unavoidable. When the structure of the model was robust enough, the missing data had a minor effect on our SEM of QOL. In QOL research, the LD matrix as well as the PD matrix would be effective, provided the model is sufficiently robust.展开更多
The structural equation model (SEM) concept is generally influenced by the presence of outliers and controlling variables. To a very large extent, this could have consequential effects on the parameters and the model ...The structural equation model (SEM) concept is generally influenced by the presence of outliers and controlling variables. To a very large extent, this could have consequential effects on the parameters and the model fitness. Though previous researches have studied outliers and controlling observations from various perspectives including the use of box plots, normal probability plots, among others, the use of uniform horizontal QQ plot is yet to be explored. This study is, therefore, aimed at applying uniform QQ plots to identifying outliers and possible controlling observations in SEM. The results showed that all the three methods of estimators manifest the ability to identify outliers and possible controlling observations in SEM. It was noted that the Anderson-Rubin estimator of QQ plot showed a more efficient or visual display of spotting outliers and possible controlling observations as compared to the other methods of estimators. Therefore, this paper provides an efficient way identifying outliers as it fragments the data set.展开更多
文摘The Bayesian structural equation model integrates the principles of Bayesian statistics, providing a more flexible and comprehensive modeling framework. In exploring complex relationships between variables, handling uncertainty, and dealing with missing data, the Bayesian structural equation model demonstrates unique advantages. Therefore, Bayesian methods are used in this paper to establish a structural equation model of innovative talent cognition, with the measurement of college students’ cognition of innovative talent being studied. An in-depth analysis is conducted on the effects of innovative self-efficacy, social resources, innovative personality traits, and school education, aiming to explore the factors influencing college students’ innovative talent. The results indicate that innovative self-efficacy plays a key role in perception, social resources are significantly positively correlated with the perception of innovative talents, innovative personality tendencies and school education are positively correlated with the perception of innovative talents, but the impact is not significant.
文摘Background:Meta-analysis is a quantitative approach that systematically integrates results from previous research to draw conclusions.Structural equation modelling is a statistical method that integrates factor analysis and path analysis.Meta-analytic structural equation modeling(MASEM)combines meta-analysis and structural equation modeling.It allows researchers to explain relationships among a group of variables across multiple studies.Methods:We used a simulated dataset to conduct a univariate MASEM analysis,using Comprehensive Meta Analysis 3.3,Analysis of Moment Structures 24.0 software.Results:Despite the lack of concise literature on the methodology,our study provided a practical step-by-step guide on univariate MASEM.Conclusion:Researchers can employ MASEM analysis in applicable fields based on the description,principles,and practices expressed in this study and our previous publications mentioned in this study.
基金This work was supported by the Education Department of Henan,China.The fund was obtained from the general project of the 14th Plan of Education Science of Henan Province in 2021(No.2021YB0037).
文摘With the expanding enrollments in higher education,the quality of col-lege education and the learning gains of students have attracted much attention.It is important to study the influencing factors and mechanisms of individual stu-dents’acquisition of learning gains to improve the quality of talent cultivation in colleges.However,in the context of information security,the original data of learning situation surveys in various universities involve the security of educa-tional evaluation data and daily privacy of teachers and students.To protect the original data,data feature mining and correlation analyses were performed at the model level.This study selected 12,181 pieces of data from X University,which participated in the Chinese College Student Survey(CCSS)from 2018 to 2021.A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted and a structural equation modeling was conducted using AMOS 24.0.Through hypothesis testing,this study explored the mechanisms that influence learning gains from the per-spectives of student involvement,teacher involvement,and school support.The results indicated that the quality of student involvement has an important mediat-ing effect on learning gains and that a supportive campus environment has the greatest influence on learning gains.Establishing positive emotional communica-tions between teachers and students is a more direct and effective method than improving the teaching level to improve the quality of student involvement.This study discusses the implications of these results on the research and practice of connotative development in higher education.
文摘Work injuries in mines are complex and generally characterized by several factors starting from personal to technical and technical to social characteristics.In this paper,investigation was made through the application of structural equation modeling to study the nature of relationships between the influencing/associating personal factors and work injury and their sequential relationships leading towards work injury occurrences in underground coal mines.Six variables namely,rebelliousness,negative affectivity,job boredom,job dissatisfaction and work injury were considered in this study.Instruments were developed to quantify them through a questionnaire survey.Underground mine workers were randomly selected for the survey.Responses from 300 participants were used for the analysis.The structural model of LISREL was used to estimate the interrelationships amongst the variables.The case study results show that negative affectivity and job boredom induce more job dissatisfaction to the workers whereas risk taking attitude of the individual is positively influenced by job dissatisfaction as well as by rebelliousness characteristics of the individual.Finally,risk taking and job dissatisfaction are having positive significant direct relationship with work injury.The findings of this study clearly reveal that rebelliousness,negative affectivity and job boredom are the three key personal factors influencing work related injuries in mines that need to be addressed properly through effective safety programs.
基金Under the auspices of Forestry Industry Research Special Funds for Public Welfare Projects(No.201004008)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.71003007)Research Program of Food and Agriculture Organization(No.CHN/2011/077/LOA)
文摘A households′production behavior directly influences the quality of the environment and determines the successful development of nature reserves.Meanwhile,the households′production behaviors are complicated by interrelated factors,such as protection attitudes,resource endowment,and family wealth.This research evaluated households near the Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province,acquiring data from 436 households around Yang County and Ningshan County in the south slope of Qinling Mountains,China.Based on the collected data,we developed a structural equation model to evaluate the coupling relationships among households′ protection attitudes,production behaviors,resource endowment,and family wealth.The results showed that:1) households with great resource endowment had more negative attitudes,probably due to their greater protection costs;2) the households with higher education levels had worse protection attitudes;3) the households with more family wealth were likely to use fewer fertilizers,pesticides,and firewood;4) the households with more resource endowment showed less production and management behaviors;5) the enhancement of households' attitudes improved production behaviors to protection the environment,but the effects were not statistically significant.Our results provide a basis for the government's protection policy making,exploring the effective management measures that are beneficial for both nature reserve management and community development.
文摘Purpose:This paper aims to examine how the adoption decision of the internet banking in North Cyprus would be affected based on the following dimensions;the technology features,the personal characteristics,the social environment and the expected risk.Design/methodology/approach:A self-administered survey was conducted with 291 participants responded to it.The partial least square approach of the structural equation modeling(PLS-SEM)is employed to investigate the direct effects of the proposed factors on the adoption decision.Additionally,the mediation test is used to examine indirect effects.Findings:Results showed that even though the participants appreciated the benefits of the online banking as the perceived usefulness factor exerts the greatest direct effect,they would rather use clear and easy-to-use websites,adding to that their assessments of the usefulness of these services are significantly influenced by the surrounding people’s views and prior experience.This is demonstrated by the total effects of the perceived ease of use and the subjective norm factors,which are greater than the direct effect of the perceived usefulness factor since both of these factors have significant direct and indirect effects mediated by the perceived usefulness factor.The negative impact of the perceived risk factor is weak compared to the previous factors.While the personal innovativeness factor showed the weakest effect among the proposed factors.
基金This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.5003516009).
文摘This study aimed to construct a quality management model for phase I clinical drug trials.A cross-sectional survey was conducted and data were collected from 604 respondents at 69 institutions in China engaged in phase I clinical drug trials.Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to develop the survey tool.Structural equation modeling was used to construct a quality management model for phase I clinical drug trials.The results showed that the final survey tool had good reliability and validity(Cronbach’sα=0.938,root mean square error of approximation=0.074,comparative fit index=0.962,and Tucker—Lewis index=0.955).The model included five dimensions:government regulation,industry management,medical institution management,research team management,and contract research organization(CRO)management.In total,22 measurement items were obtained.The structural equation model indicated government regulation,industry management,medical institution management,and CRO management significantly affected the quality of phase I clinical drug trials(β=0.195,β=0.331,β=0.279,andβ=−0.267,respectively;P<0.05).Research team management had no effect on the quality of trials(β=0.041,P=0.610).In conclusion,the model is valuable for identifying factors influencing phase I clinical drug trials and guiding quality management practices.
基金Funded by the R & D Project of the Ministry of Construction of China.
文摘This paper describes a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis of factors influencing architects' trust in project design teams. We undertook a survey of architects, during which we distributed 193 questionnaires in 29 A-level architectural design institutes selected radomly from the altogether 59 ones in Shenzhen, P. R. China, and received 130 valid questionnaires. We used Amos 6.0 for SEM to identify significant personal construct based factors affecting interpersonal trust. The results show that only social interaction between architects significantly affects their interpersonal trust. The explained variance of trus~ is not very high in the model. Therefore, future research should add more factors into the current model. The practical implication is that team managers should promote the social interactions between team members such that the interpersonal trust level between team members can be improved.
文摘Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) used widely in sociology, economics and psychology is adopted. Based on data obtained from marketing research, and using statistical analysis software SPSSll. 0 and LISRELS. 7, Theory of Five Dimensions of service quality is proved to be suitable in sportswear retailing in China. It analyzes the relationship among five dimensions and puts them in order of importance as to service quality in sportswear retailing. Advices are given for sportswear retail companies to improve their .Service quality and enhance customer loyalty.
基金supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin(Grant No.16JCYBJC23000)the Open Foundation of the Key Laboratory for Ecological Environment in Coastal Areas of the State Oceanic Administration(Grant No.201604)Science and Technology Foundation for Young Scholars from Tianjin Fisheries Bureau(Grant No.J2014-05)
文摘Bayesian networks (BN) have many advantages over other methods in ecological modeling, and have become an increasingly popular modeling tool. However, BN are flawed in regard to building models based on inadequate existing knowledge. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new method that links BN with structural equation modeling (SEM). In this method, SEM is used to improve the model structure for BN. This method was used to simulate coastal phytoplankton dynamics in the Bohai Bay. We demonstrate that this hybrid approach minimizes the need for expert elicitation, generates more reasonable structures for BN models, and increases the BN model's accuracy and reliability. These results suggest that the inclusion of SEM for testing and verifying the theoretical structure during the initial construction stage improves the effectiveness of BN models, especially for complex eco-environment systems. The results also demonstrate that in the Bohai Bay, while phytoplankton biomass has the greatest influence on phytoplankton dynamics, the impact of nutrients on phytoplankton dynamics is larger than the influence of the physical environment in summer. Furthermore, although the Redfield ratio indicates that phosphorus should be the primary nutrient limiting factor, our results show that silicate plays the most important role in regulating phytoplankton dynamics in the Bohai Bay.
基金supported jointly by the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences[grant number KZZD-EW-06-01]the State Key Program of National Natural Science of China[grant number 40830741]
文摘Rural human settlement is a significant indicator of the living standards of rural residents,and its improvement can contribute to promoting the positive interaction between inhabited environment and the social,economic,and resource environment in the countryside.Based on 557 valid questionnaires of satisfaction evaluation of human settlement in the peripheral metropolitan area of Beijing,this paper analyzed the elemental characteristics and factors influencing human settlement quality using multivariate statistical analysis and a structural equation model.The result shows that,first,the rural residents in a peripheral metropolitan area of Beijing are generally satisfied with the quality of human settlement(satisfaction rate is 66.2%).Specifically,the natural and social environment of the countryside is excellent and harmonious and corresponding standard of countryside infrastructure is advanced,but the quality of public services and follow-up management of facilities are in urgent need of improvement and the imbalance between revenue and expenditure of rural households has led to a continuous increase in the pressures of life.Second,factors such as social atmosphere,appearance of the village,entertainment,living costs,fundamental public services,and production costs have significant effects on human settlement quality in this peripheral metropolitan area,with social atmosphere as the main one.Living costs and supporting services are the main constraints to improvement in the quality of human settlement.
基金Shanghai University of Engineering Science's Research Cultivation Fund Project,China(No.A25001201194)National Natural Science Foundation,China(No.71301100)+1 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China(No.JB-SK1204)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2014M561655)
文摘In order to know about the essence of service employees' innovation behavior, the service employees' innovation behavior scale based on their unique characteristics is designed. Data were collected from high-star hospitalities. Through the issuance and the collection of questionnaires, the scale is verified to have good reliability and validity by SPSS software analysis. Meanwhile,the structural equation model( SEM) is suited for testing structural dimensions of service employees' innovation behavior. The results showed that service employees' innovation behavior could be decomposed into a four-dimensional structure,namely innovation orientation, ideas generation, innovation implementation and innovation practice. In addition,there are significant differences in service employees' innovation behavior about subjects' gender,position,education background and years of working.
基金National Social Science Foundation of China(No.10BJL044)Doctoral Innovation Project of Donghua University:the Central Universities Science Fundamental Research in China(No.CUSF-DH-D-2015064)
文摘Tracing the origins of business cost, to define the satisfaction assessment factors on the business cost in Shanghai was investigated in this paper. Arguing that these effects: a single low cost is not only the criterion determining satisfaction. Other important factors, such as enterprise internal cognitive attitude,stability of the external environment,the quality of perceptions of government services can affect satisfaction. Within structural equation modeling( SEM) approach, six sets of hypotheses are drawn up and tested with a sample of 338 enterprises using questionnaires. Additionally,the analyses of findings introduce the crucial importance of these features in the assessment of satisfaction with business cost in Shanghai. Finally, the results show that internal cognitive has a positive impact on satisfaction. Stability of the external environment has a significant relationship with the effectiveness of government services. Stability of the external environmeat and the effectiveness of government servises have a positive effect on satisfaction.
文摘Purpose: General linear modeling (GLM) is usually applied to investigate factors associated with the domains of Quality of Life (QOL). A summation score in a specific sub-domain is regressed by a statistical model including factors that are associated with the sub-domain. However, using the summation score ignores the influence of individual questions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) can account for the influence of each question’s score by compositing a latent variable from each question of a sub-domain. The objective of this study is to determine whether a conventional approach such as GLM, with its use of the summation score, is valid from the standpoint of the SEM approach. Method: We used the Japanese version of the Maugeri Foundation Respiratory Failure Questionnaire, a QOL measure, on 94 patients with heart failure. The daily activity sub-domain of the questionnaire was selected together with its four accompanying factors, namely, living together, occupation, gender, and the New York Heart Association’s cardiac function scale (NYHA). The association level between individual factors and the daily activity sub-domain was estimated using SEM?and GLM, respectively. The standard partial regression coefficients of GLM and standardized path coefficients of SEM were compared. If?these coefficients were similar (absolute value of the difference -0.06 and -0.07 for the GLM and SEM. Likewise, the estimates of occupation, gender, and NYHA were -0.18 and -0.20, -0.08 and -0.08, 0.51 and 0.54, respectively. The absolute values of the difference for each factor were 0.01, 0.02, 0.00, and 0.03, respectively. All differences were less than 0.05. This means that these two approaches lead to similar conclusions. Conclusion: GLM is a valid method for exploring association factors with a domain in QOL.
文摘Factors affecting equipment maintenance quality usually include personnel,equipment and facilities,raw materials and spare parts, craft, environment and quality management. These six factors affecting maintenance quality are not all the same degree. In order to find out which factor can influence equipment maintenance quality greatly and achieve sophisticated management,characteristic quantities of six factors are presented. A structural equation modeling( SEM) is designed using the six factors as latent variables and their characteristic quantities as the observed variable.According to the basic data obtained from the questionnaire survey,calculate the standardized regression weight by parameter estimation of the SEM. Then the key factors affecting the quality of the equipment maintenance are determined with the help of the standardized regression weight.
基金supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Grant no.egd08025)
文摘The aim of this article is to develop a structural equation model to assess key factors of residents' support for hosting mega event based on previous literature.The model consisted of five latent constructs and eight path hypotheses.A survey was conducted in Shanghai before 2010 World Expo.It was found that the support for mega events is affected directly and/or indirectly by four determinants factors:perceived benefits,perceived costs,personal benefits and community attachment,and support relies heavily on perceived benefits rather than costs.This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in an attempt to understand local residents' support for a mega event in different economic and cultural settings.
文摘Human cadaver dissection remains a core and preferred method of anatomical instruction at most low- and middle-income health professional training institutions. Dissection, which is both traumatic and stressful, sets the tone of the students’ responses to later and or similar stressful learning opportunities like the post-mortems or care for terminally ill patients. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to determine the effect of the students’: personality, perception of the learning environment, learning approach, and effect of the environment on the student, on undergraduate health professional student’s activity in the human cadaver dissection room. This was a secondary analysis of previously collected data from a cross sectional survey of undergraduate health professional students. We found that personality type and perception of the environment had a positive effect on dissection room activity. Approach to learning and being affected by the dissection room experience (impact), had a negative effect on dissection room activity. All the above effects on dissection room activity were not significant. This study showed that personality, perception of the learning environment, learning approach and effect of the environment on the student, had effects on undergraduate health professional student’s activity in the human cadaver dissection room. The modelled effects are opportunities for educational interventions aimed at increasing student activity in the dissection room.
基金supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.61502198,61572226,61472161,61876069)。
文摘Under different conditions,gene regulatory networks(GRNs)of the same gene set could be similar but different.The differential analysis of GRNs under different conditions is important for understanding condition-specific gene regulatory relationships.In a naive approach,existing GRN inference algorithms can be used to separately estimate two GRNs under different conditions and identify the differences between them.However,in this way,the similarities between the pairwise GRNs are not taken into account.Several joint differential analysis algorithms have been proposed recently,which were proved to outperform the naive approach apparently.In this paper,we model the GRNs under different conditions with structural equation models(SEMs)to integrate gene expression data and genetic perturbations,and re-parameterize the pairwise SEMs to form an integrated model that incorporates the differential structure.Then,a Bayesian inference method is used to make joint differential analysis by solving the integrated model.We evaluated the performance of the proposed re-parametrization-based Bayesian differential analysis(ReBDA)algorithm by running simulations on synthetic data with different settings.The performance of the ReBDA algorithm was demonstrated better than another state-of-the-art joint differential analysis algorithm for SEMs ReDNet obviously.In the end,the ReBDA algorithm was applied to make differential analysis on a real human lung gene data set to illustrate its applicability and practicability.
文摘Objective: With the goal of improving health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in cancer patients, we previously reported a structural equation model (SEM) of subjected QOL and qualifications of pharmacists, based on a series of questionnaires completed by patients and pharmacists. However, several patients and pharmacists were excluded from the previous study because it was not always possible to obtain all the data intended for collection. In order to reveal the effect of missing data on the SEM, we established SEMs of HRQOL and the competency of pharmacists, using correlation matrices derived by two different statistical methods for handling missing data. Method: Fifteen cancer patients hospitalized for cancer and were receiving opioid analgesics for pain control, and eight pharmacists were enrolled in this study. Each subject was asked four times weekly to answer questions presented in a questionnaire. SEMs were explored using two correlation matrices derived with pair-wise deletion (PD matrix) and list-wise deletion (LD matrix). The final models were statistically evaluated with certain goodness-of-fit criteria. Results: Data were intended to be collected four times weekly for each patient, but there were some missing values. The same SEMs for HRQOL were optimized using both the LD and PD matrices. Although the path diagrams of the SEMs were not identical in the “competency of pharmacists,” the two models suggested that a higher competency of a pharmacist lowered the “severity” of condition and increased the “comfort” of patients, resulting in an increase in the subjected QOL. Conclusion: In collecting data for clinical research, missing values are unavoidable. When the structure of the model was robust enough, the missing data had a minor effect on our SEM of QOL. In QOL research, the LD matrix as well as the PD matrix would be effective, provided the model is sufficiently robust.
文摘The structural equation model (SEM) concept is generally influenced by the presence of outliers and controlling variables. To a very large extent, this could have consequential effects on the parameters and the model fitness. Though previous researches have studied outliers and controlling observations from various perspectives including the use of box plots, normal probability plots, among others, the use of uniform horizontal QQ plot is yet to be explored. This study is, therefore, aimed at applying uniform QQ plots to identifying outliers and possible controlling observations in SEM. The results showed that all the three methods of estimators manifest the ability to identify outliers and possible controlling observations in SEM. It was noted that the Anderson-Rubin estimator of QQ plot showed a more efficient or visual display of spotting outliers and possible controlling observations as compared to the other methods of estimators. Therefore, this paper provides an efficient way identifying outliers as it fragments the data set.