This study examines students' understanding of the normative connections between key concepts of cell division, including both mitosis and meiosis, and underlying biological principles that are critical for an in-depth understanding of genetic inheritance. Using a structural equation modeling method, we examine middle school students' understanding of these relationships. A total of 209 seventh-grade students participated in this study and completed a technology-enhanced unit on genetics. Content-based assessments were administered to all students. Findings from a confirmatory factor analysis supplemented with an analysis of students' responses revealed a strong relationship between the concepts of genetic inheritance and cell division and provided evidence of the nature of the difficulties that students have when trying to understand these concepts. Specifically, students were challenged to demonstrate an integrated understanding of the differences between mitosis and meiosis processes. Also some students struggled to explain
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the effects of providing more information (e.g. product and price) and enhancing the interactivity of a website on consumers' willingness to pay price premiums. Design/methodology/approach – An experiment tests the proposed framework and corresponding hypotheses. The test features eight versions of an experimental website, with varying combinations of online information (e.g. price information, product information, and interactivity). Findings – Providing more information, whether about the product or price, leads to increased trust among consumers, which has the capacity to reduce consumer price consciousness and thereby enhance price premiums. E-tailers can earn price premiums by enhancing the interactivity on their websites. Originality/value – Previous studies are ambivalent about the impacts of providing information online. This study examines two paths by which information provision influences price premiums: trusting beliefs and price consciousness. The results demonstrate that providing rich information, together with enhanced interactivity, increases the perceived trustworthiness of the e-tailer, which reduces consumers' price consciousness and increases the price premiums.
Distant metastasis frequently occurs in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and contributes to the adverse prognosis for patients with OSCC. However, the potential mechanisms behind the metastasis have not yet been clarified. This study investigated the role of miR-378 in the migration and invasiveness of OSCC in vitro and in vivo. According to our results, the migration and invasiveness of OSCC cells were increased in cells overexpressing miR-378, and reduced in cells where miR-378-3p/5p was silenced. In addition, overexpression of miR-378 suppressed the expressions and activities of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) and MMP-2. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) was restrained by overexpression of miR-378, as evidenced by an increase in E-cadherin expression and decrease in N-cadherin and uPA expression. However, knockdown of miR-378-3p/5p produced the opposite results. Moreover, kallikrein-related peptidase 4 (KLK4) was confirmed to be a target gene of miR-378. Overexpression of KLK4 reversed the induced decrease in migration and invasiveness of cells overexpressing miR-378 by upregulating the levels of MMP-9, MMP-2, and N-cadherin, and downregulating the level of E-cadhrin. Finally, the number of metastasis nodules in the lung tissues of nude mice was reduced by overexpression of miR-378, whereas the number of metastases increased with knockdown of miR-378. Taken together, our results suggest that the miR-378–KLK4 axis is involved in the mechanisms behind the migration and invasiveness of OSCC cells. Targeting the miR-378–KLK4 axis may be an effective measure for treating OSCC.
For companies offering complex and professional products, customer education will be useful to gain competitive advantage. But the unresolved customer education paradox has hampered the strategic decision on customer education. Through introduction of motivation-opportunity-ability model and investigation of fund investor, the result demonstrates that, customer education is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it will improve loyalty through switching motivation; on the other hand, it will decrease loyalty through switching ability and opportunity. Furthermore, switching motivation will moderate the relationship between switching ability, switching opportunity and loyalty.
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