Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a widespread and commonly used approach to test substantive hypotheses in the social and behavioral sciences. When performing hypothesis tests, it is vital to rely on a sufficiently large sample size to achieve an adequate degree of statistical power to detect the hypothesized effect. However, applications of SEM rarely consider statistical power in informing sample size considerations or determine the statistical power for the focal hypothesis tests performed. One reason is the difficulty in translating substantive hypotheses into specific effect size values required to perform power analyses, as well as the lack of user-friendly software to automate this process. The present paper presents the second version of the R package semPower which includes comprehensive functionality for various types of power analyses in SEM. Specifically, semPower 2 allows one to perform both analytical and simulated a priori, post hoc, and compromise power analysis for structural equation models with or without latent variables, and also supports multigroup settings and provides user-friendly convenience functions for many common model types (e.g., standard confirmatory factor analysis [CFA] models, regression models, autoregressive moving average [ARMA] models, cross-lagged panel models) to simplify power analyses when a model-based definition of the effect in terms of model parameters is desired.
As smart city development deepens, its impact on the urban-rural income gap has become a key concern for both the government and society. This article uses panel data from Chinese prefecture-level cities between 2010 and 2022, treating the pilot smart city policy as a quasi-natural experiment, and applying a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method to empirically examine how smart city construction affects the urban-rural income gap. It also analyzes the role of economic agglomeration in this process. The research indicates that smart city development has significantly increased the incomes of urban and rural residents and has positively contributed to sharing development benefits between these areas. Mechanism analysis shows that economic agglomeration plays an important mediating and threshold role—smart cities indirectly influence the urban-rural income distribution by fostering economic agglomeration, with this effect showing nonlinear characteristics at different levels of agglomeration. Based on these findings, the article proposes policy recommendations aimed at optimizing economic agglomeration models and advancing urban-rural integrated development, offering theoretical insights and practical strategies for narrowing the income gap and promoting common prosperity.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social Sciences
W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badań na temat strategii komunikowania buddyjskich związków wyznaniowych zarejestrowanych w Polsce. Badanie przeprowadzono metodami analizy treści oraz analizy danych zastanych. Wykorzystano założenia etnografii wirtualnej, która ma na celu poznanie i opisanie zachowań ludzi i zjawisk dostępnych w internecie oraz ich efektów. Stwierdzono m.in., że buddyjskie związki wyznaniowe stosują nowe media do realizacji strategii komunikacji. Są one ukierunkowane na: autoprezentację, budowanie relacji między członkami wspólnoty, propagowanie buddyzmu, aksjologizację. Strony internetowe realizują wymienione strategie, zwłaszcza w zakresie autoprezentacji. Profile w mediach społecznościowych służą głównie budowaniu relacji oraz aksjologizacji. Buddyzm w Polsce nie jest zjawiskiem masowym, ale istotnym dla kultury polskiej. Badania w tym zakresie służą więc budowaniu wzajemnego szacunku w warunkach wielokulturowych społeczeństw.
History of scholarship and learning. The humanities, Social sciences (General)
Ching-Yun Wang, Shiuan-Chen Lin, Kao-Jung Chang
et al.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) establishes an immunosuppressive microenvironment that favors leukemic proliferation. The immune-suppressive cytokines altered antigen processing, and presentation collectively assist AML cells in escaping cytotoxic T-cell surveillance. These CD8+ T cell dysfunction features are emerging therapeutic targets in relapsed/refractory AML patients. Besides, CD8+ T cell exhaustion is a hotspot in recent clinical oncology studies, but its pathophysiology has yet to be elucidated in AML. In this review, we summarize high-quality original studies encompassing the phenotypic and genomic characteristics of T cell exhaustion events in the leukemia progression, emphasize the surface immuno-peptidome that dynamically tunes the fate of T cells to function or dysfunction states, and revisit the biochemical and biophysical properties of type 1 MHC antigen processing mechanism (APM) that pivots in the phenomenon of leukemia antigen dampening.
AbstractSociological general theories (or “grand theories”) have been criticized for being too abstract to be of any practical use for empirical sociological work. This paper presents the outline of a general theory that claims to be better linked to empirical social research than previous theoretical attempts. The theory analyzes social life as a multitude of interacting social games. A social game is an entity created by players with resources who engage in action that is shaped by goals, rules, and representations, that involves objects, and that leads to game outcomes. The general theory is as encompassing as previous theoretical attempts, while allowing us to integrate both instrumental and normative action at different levels of the social. Its main advantage is that it is linked to middle-range theory and empirical research by a descriptive-interpretive heuristic, an explanatory heuristic, and formal and agent-based modeling. The article provides many examples to illustrate the claims.
Abstract Cars are dominating urban traffic in cities around the world, even though daily trips in many cities are often realized with active modes of transportation or public transport. Urban transport planning processes need to adapt to this reality and the necessity of climate change mitigation. Against this background, the research project “Mobility Reporting”, a joint undertaking of the district Pankow in Berlin and researchers from TU Berlin and TU Dresden, established a new, goal-driven, and participative planning process. The process identified local mobility as one of the central planning goals. The 15-min city (FMC) was thus adduced as a benchmark to analyze the district’s current mobility system and development potential. We conducted extensive accessibility analyses to examine the status quo concerning the FMC. We calculated travel times to essential destinations in daily life by foot, public transport, and car. This analysis was accompanied by a mixed online and paper–pencil survey conducted to evaluate the perceived accessibility of people in Pankow. The survey results shed light on the question of which walking time thresholds constitute a “very good” or “good” accessibility. Further analyses included environmental and social variables, allowing us to check whether areas with different accessibility levels also differ regarding the socio-economic characteristics of their inhabitants. For example, do socially advantaged neighborhoods have better local accessibility? Is there a trade-off between exposure to environmental pollution and good accessibility? With this contribution, we shed light on what an FMC is and ought to be. Results from the survey support the normative and political vision of the FMC. Pankow generally offers the merits of a walkable city, showing the expected travel time differences between the dense inner city and the outskirts. Socially disadvantaged neighborhoods are not consistently less accessible. However, there seems to be a trade-off between good accessibility (especially PT accessibility) and correlated externalities of transport, namely air pollution and noise.
Transportation engineering, Transportation and communications
The digital advertising development features and prospects in the world and in the Russian Federation in particular have been considered. An approach to defining the advertising concept essence in the digital field has been presented. A summary of the scientific research results has made it possible to identify the industry’s growth constraints and its main development drivers, as well as define the importance and distinguishing features of modern advertising campaigns in the digital space. Based on analysis of current data from relevant organisations for the digital advertising market, an increase in growth rates has been identified overall by region and country, as well as for individual advertising segments.
Nadiya Dubrovina, Russell Gerrard, Stanislav Filip
et al.
Healthcare is one of the most important sectors of the public economy in the EU countries. An important task in the analysis and prediction of the values for healthcare funding is the development and application of quantitative models based on different mathematical methods. Three of the most popular indicators used for the macroeconomic description of the funding of healthcare are: (1) total government expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP; (2) total government expenditure on health as a percentage of total general government expenditure; and (3) total government expenditure on health per capita. The aim of this research is to study the trends for the main indicators of healthcare funding on the macroeconomic level and to develop models based on time series methods for analysis of the features of the trends and the prediction of the values for the next time period.
The paper presents findings of a survey into values of different generations conducted by Academy DTEK jointly with hh.ua|grc During two months of 2019 we polled 2,182 visitors of the Ukrainian Job portal hh.ua|grc (both job seekers and employers), followers of the survey organizers’ pages in social networks (Facebook and Telegram) aged between 15 and 72. The purpose of the study was to find out the central values of young people and older generations of Ukraine. To study the values of generations, the author used Shalom Schwartz’s method of ten fundamental individual values. The method was applied to three different generations. The findings of the poll enabled us to answer questions regarding values and job values of generations X, Y, and Z. What are the similarities and differences of generations, what motivates them at work, and which supervisor is more comfortable for them to work with. The outcome of this survey is a data-oriented database for Ukrainian businesses and the state and public sectors. As the survey shows, the youth upholds values related to individualistic preferences and openness to change: young people strive for new ideas, adventures, and risks and want to be creative and go their own way. The older generation holds values associated with the preservation of traditions and customs, conformity (following rules and norms), and security. Representatives of different generations need different things from their potential supervisors. For instance, Generation Z feels it is essential to be able to ask their supervisor any questions they like, even if they may sound “ridiculous”, and be treated as equals by their supervisor. For Generation Y, their supervisor must discuss professional development issues with them: their goals and expectations concerning career advancement. For Generation X, the supervisor must trust them and build a climate of mutual support and collaboration in the team.
The article carries out an analysis of the competitiveness of the Russian space industry in the international space services market according to the following indicators: the volume of budget of national space organizations, the volume of the commercial space exploration market, the number of space launches, positions in manned cosmonautics, production of spacecrafts, deep space exploration, staffing of the space industry and international integration in the space sphere. The paper conducts a SWOT-analysis of the Russian space industry. Its main strengths are: leading positions in manned cosmonautics, leading positions in the number of space launches per year, and extensive experience in space exploration. The greatest concern is caused by: the lack of development of space robotics, insufficient programs for the development of deep space, financial problems and the private sector of Russian cosmonautics, which is in its infancy. The author substantiates the necessity of reforming the Russian space industry.
This article investigates the developments during the last decades in the use of languages, publication types and publication channels in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). The purpose is to develop an understanding of the processes of internationalization and to apply this understanding in a critical examination of two often used general criteria in research evaluations in the SSH. One of them is that the coverage of a publication in Scopus or Web of Science is seen in itself as an expression of research quality and of internationalization. The other is that a specific international language, English, and a specific type of publication, journal articles, are perceived as supreme in a general hierarchy of languages and publication types. Simple distinctions based on these criteria are contrary to the heterogeneous publication patterns needed in the SSH to organize their research adequately, present their results properly, reach their audiences efficiently, and thereby fulfil their missions. Research quality, internationalization, and societal relevance can be promoted in research assessment in the SSH without categorical hierarchies of publications. I will demonstrate this by using data from scholarly publishing in the SSH that go beyond the coverage in the commercial data sources in order to give a more comprehensive representation of scholarly publishing in the SSH.