A FORMATIVE MEASURE OF VERY YOUNG CHILDREN’S PERSUASION KNOWLEDGE

Shasha Wang,Dick Mizerski,Fang Liu,Doina Olaru,Victoria Mallinckrodt 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

Introduction An individual’s Persuasion Knowledge is his or her knowledge of the persuasive nature of messages (Freisted and Wright 1994). Most adults are assumed to have this knowledge that enables them to be sceptical of persuasive messages, and to incorporate this information in their decision-making about promoted products. Children are viewed as vulnerable to persuasive messages (Nelson 2016) because they have not developed the appropriate knowledge base to be sceptical of messages (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) and thus unable to discount the claims made by marketers. This lack of ability to be sceptical is argued to lead to “…the vulnerability of young audiences to the negative effects of advertising” (Nelson 2016, p. 169) like obesity, materialism, poor quality of life and higher rates of mortality. Because of the wide acceptance that young children are particularly vulnerable to persuasive messages, advertising targeting children has been banned in several countries and proposed for others (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Many studies about Persuasion Knowledge or Advertising Knowledge (communication research) have been published over the 40 plus years since Ward (1972) first discussed the concept. However, few studies have tested whether Persuasion Knowledge is an antecedent to children’s sceptical responses to persuasive messages. The 11 studies that have tested the link (see Mizerski et al. (2016) for a review) used a wide variety of single item or reflective measures (measures that reflect the construct). They provide inconsistent findings except that the child’s age is positively associated with acquiring knowledge about persuasive messages like advertising or playing advergames. For example, while most researchers assumed or argued a positive link between young children’s persuasion knowledge and their scepticism, Buijzen (2007) and Christenson (1982) failed to find this link. Robertson and Rossiter (1974) reported children’s understanding of persuasive intent (commercials persuade one to buy things) was positively related with young children’s scepticism, but assistive intent (commercials tell one about things) was negatively related. The inconsistent findings of children’s responses to commercial messages may be due to more than the lack of consistent measures. The use of reflective rather than formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge may be another reason for inconsistent findings. “Young” children are those under eight years old (Mizerski 1) shashaatperth@gmail.com et al. 2016), but a lack of sufficient persuasion knowledge has been found with children over 16 years old (Carter et al. 2011). Most recent studies have adopted the Freisted and Wright (1994) Persuasion Knowledge Model that is based on the information processing of an adult buyer. Adults tend to have obtained Persuasion Knowledge so their knowledge may be captured with measures that reflect the construct. Young children are in the process of obtaining Persuasion Knowledge. The ability to understand the source of the message and the persuasive intent of the source are often cited as antecedents to having Persuasion Knowledge. These constructs form over time and cause persuasion knowledge (Nelson 2016). Therefore, it should be a formative measure. Measuring social class is a classical formative measure because causal elements like where you live and your profession can’t be accurately calculated for children. Social class forms over time. The use of a reflective measure when a formative measure should be used leads to several problems (Diamantopoulos and Siguaw 2006; Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001), particularly an increase in Type II errors-“false negatives” (MacKenzie, Podsakoff and Jarvis 2005). For example, this means ruling out a causal element of persuasion knowledge when it is causal. This paper will compare existing single item or multi-item reflective measures used with young children, with a formative measure of the Persuasive Knowledge construct. The best way to validate a construct is to test it with external variables empirically and theoretically linked to the construct, including both antecedents and consequences (Diamantopoulos and Winklhofer 2001). Three variables, theoretically and/or empirically linked with young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, are tested in a baseline model to assess the external validity of the construct. These variables are age (Ward 1972), responses toward persuasive marketing messages (such as scepticism) and affect toward the persuasive messages (Mizerski et al. 2016; Wang 2016). Therefore, it is expected that the goodness-of-fit measures for the model using the formative measure of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge will provide a better fit to the data than the reflective measures. To further test the formative nature of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge, two additional models are tested. Researchers are responsible to set the weights of indicators of a formative construct, so a formative model with expert knowledge weights is developed (Figure 1). The indicators or elements of a formative construct should be able to reveal different facets so another model with different facets is developed. Consistent findings of the two models and the proposed baseline model will further support the formative nature of this construct. Apart from content validity and external validity, we also test the measures of the construct with another data set (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007) to test the models’ generalisability. The Mallinckrodt and Mizerski study used children from a different cultural background (Australian vs. Chinese young children), but have similar ages and measures of Persuasion Knowledge and external variables. Further confirmation of the structure of the measurement model is provided if the same relationships are found with the second data set. Methodology Sample The population to be sampled are young Chinese children. China was selected because it has the largest population of young children, is the largest market for toys and a children’s toy is the stimulus product in the experimental study. The sample frame is day care schools in a Northern Chinese city of approximately eight million people. Procedure This is an experiment-based study with a control group. After individual exposure to a toy TV advertisement for a “magic ruler” that can be made into many different shapes with a Dinosaur shape shown in the ad, participants were each asked to answer questions. Cartoon pictures of the question options accompanied by verbal statements were used to reduce the possibility of misunderstanding young children’s responses on Persuasion Knowledge related questions. To reduce any effects of young children choosing the first option they see, pictures or options were shown in a random order. Children were told that there is no right or wrong answer, and they could withdraw at any point. Measures Persuasion knowledge was measured three ways; including a single-item measure, a summated-items measure, and a formative measure. Through an analysis and coding of 20 studies that tested the effect of young children’s persuasion knowledge (Mizerski et al. 2016), six items were found to measure the Persuasion Knowledge construct. The single-item measure used is the children’s understanding of the advertisers’ intention to make them ask their parents to buy (parent-buying intent). This was treated as the most important aspect of persuasion knowledge by several researchers (Carter et al. 2011; Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A summated-items measure included six items, frequently used in prior scholarly work. The formative measurement model was built using the same six items but by changing the direction of influence, with the causal flow from measures to the construct. Other variables include the children’s scepticism, their belief of false claims made in the ad and affect toward the toy TV advertisement (see Figure). After a CFA analysis with five questions, the scepticism factor score was derived as a standardised measure that followed a normal distribution. Scepticism ranged from -0.59 to 1.35, with an average of 0.07 and SD of 0.68. Belief of false claims (named as “false beliefs”) shown in the TV advertisement indicated that most children did not believe the two false claims included in the ad (84% and 69% respectively). Affect towards the toy TV ad was measured using one question: “Do you like this video?” to which most children (88%) indicated yes. Results, Discussion And Implication Fifty-four different patterns or combinations of the six persuasion knowledge items were found. This pattern show substantial heterogeneity in children’s Persuasion Knowledge, and further illustrates that young children are accumulating or forming their Persuasion Knowledge (Friestad and Wright 1994). In addition, these items have low correlations to one another that are typical of a formative measure. These findings of variability of knowledge levels and weak association between them indicate the potential multiple-dimension, formative nature of the construct of persuasion knowledge for young children. This may apply specifically to young children who are at the stage of increasing their learning abilities and developing or forming their knowledge. No relationship was found in the structural models using the reflective single-item measure and summated-items measure of persuasion knowledge, and the models showed a poor fit. However, relationships were found in the structural model that applied the formative measure of persuasion knowledge, with good model fit (see Table 1). Because a formative measure is supported, we tested the formative nature of Persuasion Knowledge on a previous study’s data (Mallinckrodt and Mizerski 2007). A formative model using that study’s data showed the same relationships between Persuasion Knowledge and its external variables. This consistency supports a formative measure of young children’s persuasion knowledge. Any review of future or past research should note the possible impact of using reflective measures of young children’s Persuasive Knowledge. To generalise the findings more research needs to be done for different product categories and age groups. More product categories, such as food and movies, and age groups could be taken into consideration. While few studies have tested the association of young children’s Persuasion Knowledge to scepticism toward the message, even fewer have tested the link of scepticism to young children’s responses to the advertised product (e.g. like, prefer, choose). Most of these studies do not find a link. If having Persuasion Knowledge doesn’t influence a young child’s desire for the brand, why teach it (e.g. Nelson 2016) or ban advertising because the children don’t have Persuasion Knowledge? Perhaps using a formative measure the link will be found.

Weather optimal area-keeping control for underactuated autonomous surface vehicle with input time-delay

Wang Shasha,Tuo Yulong,Wang Dan 대한조선학회 2022 International Journal of Naval Architecture and Oc Vol.14 No.1

The problem of the underactuated Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) area-keeping control under unknown slow time-varying external environment disturbances and input time-delay, an integral timedelay sliding mode control algorithm based on weather optimal intermittent strategy is proposed in this article. Firstly, integral time-delay sliding mode control law is constructed, with controller parameters chosen according to the upper bound of time-delay. In the control law, a geometric updating rule is designed for the virtual suspension point, which enables ASV at a particular small area with a weather optimal heading. And, weather optimal intermittent strategy is developed to extend the area-keeping control method, while reducing ASV energy consumption. Besides, the closed-loop system is globally asymptotically stable through Lyapunov-Krasovskii analysis. Finally, the performance of the proposed algorithm is illustrated through the simulation examples.

Key Trends in Supertall Buildings - A Review of the World's 100 Tallest Buildings in the Last 30 Years

Shasha Wang,Daniel Safarik,Zhendong Wang Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat Korea 2023 International journal of high-rise buildings Vol.12 No.1

The last 30 years have seen a rapid growth in the number of supertall buildings across the world, with newly completed buildings continuing to rank among the tallest 100 every year. Chinese projects notably play a pivotal role in these constant updates. It is caused by the interweaving of population and urbanization, economic considerations, and further, a series of accompanying urban problems. This paper focuses on the world's 100 tallest buildings in the last 30 years, and compares this collection of projects across five years via the dimensions of height, distribution, function and structural material. The intention is to discuss and interpret the influence factors and developing trends, some of which have been apparent over a dozen years, while others are just beginning to take shape, thus to provide an opportunity to preview the types of supertall buildings in the future.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE TOWARD FEAR APPEALS IN SOCIAL MARKETING ADVERGAMES: THE MODERATING ROLE OF TELEPRESENCE

Shasha Wang,Lye Weng Boey,Jason Weismueller 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2019 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2019 No.07

MicroRNA analysis reveals the role of miR-214 in duck adipocyte differentiation

Wang Laidi,Hu Xiaodan,Wang Shasha,Yuan Chunyou,Wang Zhixiu,Chang Guobin,Chen Guohong 아세아·태평양축산학회 2022 Animal Bioscience Vol.35 No.9

Objective: Fat deposition in poultry is an important factor in production performance and meat quality research. miRNAs also play important roles in regulating adipocyte differentiation process. This study was to investigate the expression patterns of miRNAs in duck adipocytes after differentiation and explore the role of miR-214 in regulating carnitine palmitoyltransferases 2 (CPT2) gene expression during duck adipocyte differentiation. Methods: Successful systems for the isolation, culture, and induction of duck primary fat cells was developed in the experiment. Using Illumina next-generation sequencing, the miRNAs libraries of duck adipocytes were established. miRanda was used to predict differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and their target genes. The expression patterns of miR-214 and CPT2 during the differentiation were verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Luciferase reporter assays were used to explore the specific regions of CPT2 targeted by miR-214. We used a miR-214 over-expression strategy in vitro to further investigate its effect on differentiation process and CPT2 gene transcription. Results: There were 481 miRNAs identified in duck adipocytes, included 57 DE miRNA candidates. And the 1,046 targets genes of DE miRNAs were mainly involved in p53 signaling, FoxO signaling, and fatty acid metabolism pathways. miR-214 and CPT2 showed contrasting expression patterns before and after differentiation, and they were selected for further research. The expression of miR-214 was decreased during the first 3 days of duck adipocytes differentiation, and then increased, while the expression of CPT2 increased both in the transcriptional and protein level. The luciferase assay suggested that miR-214 targets the 3’untranslated region of CPT2. Overexpression of miR-214 not only promoted the formation of lipid droplets but also decreased the protein abundance of CPT2. Conclusion: Current study reports the expression profile of miRNAs in duck adipocytes differentiated for 4 days. And miR-214 has been proved to have the regulator potential for fat deposition in duck. Objective: Fat deposition in poultry is an important factor in production performance and meat quality research. miRNAs also play important roles in regulating adipocyte differentiation process. This study was to investigate the expression patterns of miRNAs in duck adipocytes after differentiation and explore the role of miR-214 in regulating carnitine palmitoyltransferases 2 (CPT2) gene expression during duck adipocyte differentiation.Methods: Successful systems for the isolation, culture, and induction of duck primary fat cells was developed in the experiment. Using Illumina next-generation sequencing, the miRNAs libraries of duck adipocytes were established. miRanda was used to predict differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and their target genes. The expression patterns of miR-214 and CPT2 during the differentiation were verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Luciferase reporter assays were used to explore the specific regions of CPT2 targeted by miR-214. We used a miR-214 over-expression strategy in vitro to further investigate its effect on differentiation process and CPT2 gene transcription.Results: There were 481 miRNAs identified in duck adipocytes, included 57 DE miRNA candidates. And the 1,046 targets genes of DE miRNAs were mainly involved in p53 signaling, FoxO signaling, and fatty acid metabolism pathways. miR-214 and CPT2 showed contrasting expression patterns before and after differentiation, and they were selected for further research. The expression of miR-214 was decreased during the first 3 days of duck adipocytes differentiation, and then increased, while the expression of CPT2 increased both in the transcriptional and protein level. The luciferase assay suggested that miR-214 targets the 3’untranslated region of CPT2. Overexpression of miR-214 not only promoted the formation of lipid droplets but also decreased the protein abundance of CPT2.Conclusion: Current study reports the expression profile of miRNAs in duck adipocytes differentiated for 4 days. And miR-214 has been proved to have the regulator potential for fat deposition in duck.

Naked-eye sensitive ELISA-like assay based on gold-enhanced peroxidase-like immunogold activity

Wang, Shasha,Chen, Zhaopeng,Choo, Jaebum,Chen, Lingxin Springer 2016 Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Vol.408 No.4

<P>A naked-eye sensitive ELISA-like assay was developed based on gold-enhanced peroxidase-like activity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Using human IgG (H-IgG) as an analytical model, goat anti-human IgG antibody (anti-IgG) adsorbed on microtiter plate and AuNPs-labeled anti-IgG acted as capture antibody and detection antibody, respectively. Because the surfaces of AuNPs were blocked by protein molecules, the peroxidase-like activity of AuNPs was almost inhibited, evaluated by the catalytic oxidation of peroxidase enzyme substrate 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB), which could produce a bright blue color in the presence of H2O2. Fortunately, the catalytic ability of AuNPs was dramatically increased by the deposition of gold due to the formation of a new gold shell on immunogold. Under optimal reaction conditions, the colorimetric immunoassay presented a good linear relationship in the range of 0.7-100 ng/mL and the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.3 ng/mL calculated by 3 sigma/S for UV-vis detection, and obtained LOD of 5 ng/mL for naked-eye detection. The obtained results were competitive with conventional sandwich ELISA with the LOD of 1.6 ng/mL. Furthermore, this developed colorimetric immunoassay was successfully applied to diluted human serum and fetal bovine serum samples, and predicted a broad prospect for the use of peroxidase-like activity involving nanomaterials in bioassay and diagnostics.</P>

Map-based cloning and functional analysis of the chromogen gene C in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Shasha Zhao,Cuihong Wang,Jian Ma,Shuai Wang,Peng Tian,Jiulin Wang,Zhijun Cheng,Xin Zhang,Xiuping Guo,Cailin Lei 한국식물학회 2016 Journal of Plant Biology Vol.59 No.5

The chromogen gene C is critical for anthocyanin regulation in rice, and apiculus color is an important agronomic trait in selective breeding and variety purification. Mapbased cloning and in-depth functional analysis of the C gene will be useful for understanding the molecular mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis and for rice breeding. Japonica landrace Lijiangxintuanheigu (LTH) has red apiculi and purple stigmas. Genetic analysis showed that red apiculus and purple stigma in LTH co-segregated indicating control by a single dominant gene, or by two completely linked genes. Using 1,851 recessive individuals from two F2 populations, the target gene OsC was delimited to a 70.8 kb interval on chromosome 6 that contains the rice homologue of the maize anthocyanin regulatory gene C1. When the entire OsC gene and its full-length cDNA cloned from LTH were transformed into japonica cultivar Kitaake with colorless apiculi and stigmas all positive transformants had red apiculi but non-colored stigmas, validating that OsC alone was responsible for the apiculus color and represented the functional C gene. OsC was constitutively expressed in all tissues examined, with strongest expression in leaf blades. These results set a foundation to clarify the regulatory mechanisms of OsC in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway.

Vertical Handoff Decision Algorithm combined Improved Entropy Weighting with GRA for Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

( Shasha Zhao ),( Fei Wang ),( Yueqiang Ning ),( Yi Xiao ),( Dengying Zhang ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2020 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.14 No.11

Future network scenario will be a heterogeneous wireless network environment composed of multiple networks and multimode terminals (MMT). Seamless switching and optimal connectivity for MMT among different networks and different services become extremely important. Here, a vertical handoff algorithm combined an improved entropy weighting method based on grey relational analysis (GRA) is proposed. In which, the improved entropy weight method is used to obtain the objective weights of the network attributes, and GRA is done to rank the candidate networks in order to choose the best network. Through simulation and comparing the results with other vertical handoff decision algorithms, the number of handoffs and reversal phenomenon are reduced with the proposed algorithm, which shows a better performance.

Facile Synthesis, Morphology Evolution and Tunable Luminescence of NaGdF4:Yb,Er Nanorods with Various Aspect Ratios

Shasha Gai,Jiqing Jiao,Wei Wei,Yao Li,Lihua Liu,Yi Liu,Baize Lv,Yao Wang,Laurence A. Bel¯ore,Jianguo Tang 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2018 NANO Vol.13 No.08

The well-defined NaGdF4:Yb,Er nanorods (NRs) with various aspect ratios were synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method. The morphology and crystal phase of NRs could be controlled by reaction conditions. NaGdF4:Yb,Er NRs with various aspect ratios could be synthesized and their upconversion (UC) luminescence was tuned. It is displayed that the NRs with aspect ratios about 5 exhibited the strongest UC luminescence among samples. The growth mechanism and morphology transition of NRs had been deduced by schematic diagram. And UC mechanism had been determined by energy level diagrams. Compared with previous reports, the work provided a facial method for UCNRs with various aspect ratios at lower temperature.

Effect of a Nursing Comprehensive Skill Training Course (NCST-C) on Nursing Students' Metacognitive Awareness: A Quasi-experimental Study

Li Shasha,de Ala Minerva,Mao Dandan,Wang Afeng,Wu Chongwen 한국간호과학회 2022 Asian Nursing Research Vol.16 No.5

Purpose: This study explored the effect of a nursing comprehensive skill training course (NCST-C) on the metacognitive awareness of nursing students to provide a scientific foundation for improving metacognitive awareness. Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental two-group matched pretest, post-test, and follow-up test. Ninety-six junior nursing students were recruited using convenience sampling and assigned to two groups by drawing lots with odd and even numbers in a nursing school at Huzhou University. The control group received a traditional skill-training course. The intervention group received NCST-C. Nursing students' metacognitive awareness inventory (MAI) was evaluated at the baseline, 16-week, and 20-week follow-up points. A repeated-measures analysis of variance and a simple effect test was used to compare each outcome measure of the two groups three times. Results: The NCST-C resulted in greater benefits for nursing students' metacognitive awareness as well as various dimensions (knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition) in the intervention group. Combined with a simple effects test, the MAI and dimension scores of those in the intervention group significantly improved at 16 weeks after the baseline (F ¼ 9.78e44.03; all ps < .01). The sustainable effect of NCST-C lasted 1 month after the intervention (F ¼ 14.24e62.36; ps < .01), reaching statistical significance (p < .05). Conclusions: The NCST-C effectively developed metacognitive awareness among nursing students. Its design provides a new type of experimental course for improving metacognitive awareness. Trial registration: chictr.org.cn: ChiCTR2200057910. First registration date: 1/11/2020.