Detecting Tweets Containing Cannabidiol-Related COVID-19 Misinformation Using Transformer Language Models and Warning Letters From Food and Drug Administration: Content Analysis and Identification.

Background: COVID-19 has introduced yet another opportunity to web-based sellers of loosely regulated substances, such as cannabidiol (CBD), to promote sales under false pretenses of curing the disease. Therefore, it has become necessary to innovate ways to identify such instances of misinformation. Objective: We sought to identify COVID-19 misinformation as it relates to the sales or promotion of CBD and used transformer-based language models to identify tweets semantically similar to quotes taken from known instances of misinformation. In this case, the known misinformation was the publicly available Warning Letters from Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Methods: We collected tweets using CBD- and COVID-19-related terms. Using a previously trained model, we extracted the tweets indicating commercialization and sales of CBD and annotated those containing COVID-19 misinformation according to the FDA definitions. We encoded the collection of tweets and misinformation quotes into sentence vectors and then calculated the cosine similarity between each quote and each tweet. This allowed us to establish a threshold to identify tweets that were making false claims regarding CBD and COVID-19 while minimizing the instances of false positives. Results: We demonstrated that by using quotes taken from Warning Letters issued by FDA to perpetrators of similar misinformation, we can identify semantically similar tweets that also contain misinformation. This was accomplished by identifying a cosine distance threshold between the sentence vectors of the Warning Letters and tweets. Conclusions: This research shows that commercial CBD or COVID-19 misinformation can potentially be identified and curbed using transformer-based language models and known prior instances of misinformation. Our approach functions without the need for labeled data, potentially reducing the time at which misinformation can be identified. Our approach shows promise in that it is easily adapted to identify other forms of misinformation related to loosely regulated substances.

Guest editorial

The original call for papers for the first special issue on this topic published last year welcomed contributions that would enhance the extant literature by analyzing experiences from different countries and contrasting stakeholder perspectives on the transition from education to work, at the same time providing insights into human capital formation to meet future needs and ease the transition to Industry 4.0. Global shift, the term first used by Dicken in 1986 to describe globalization, the ascendancy of Brazil, Russia, India and China, and the growing influence of developing countries in South East Asia has continued to transform the world economy (Dicken, 2015). To survive in the global marketplace, graduates will need “international” competencies that we elaborate using the classic four dimensions of competence: cognitive competencies;functional competencies;social competencies and meta-competencies (Winterton, 2009). [...]graduates entering global markets will need over-arching meta-competencies like learning to learn and coping with uncertainty, as well as the “robustness” to cope with the post-pandemic variances in climates and cuisine.

The Impact of Scarcity on Consumers' Impulse Buying Based on the S-O-R Theory.

Purpose: The global COVID-19 pandemic impacted the healthcare systems of every nation. The scarcity of medical protective equipment led to impulse buying at the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in China which resulted in stockpiling and the increase of prices by retailers and insufficiencies among frontline workers. This situation impacted epidemic control work and market order and is the context from which this paper identifies how the scarcity of medical protective equipment affected Chinese consumers' impulse buying based on the theories of S-O-R model and bandwagon effect. The research provides insight into the mechanism of mediation (fear of missing out) and moderation (bandwagon) in the relationship between scarcity and impulse buying. Design/Methodology/Approach: This study uses convenience sampling, surveying 488 Chinese consumers through an online questionnaire. Smart-PLS was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The empirical findings demonstrate that scarcity makes consumers fear missing the chance of getting protective medical equipment, leading ultimately to impulse buying. Besides, the scarcity effect on consumers' impulse buying was found to depend on other consumers' follow up behaviour in such emergency situations. Research Limitations/Implications: The findings provide managerial and theoretical insight and a point of reference for businesses in the implementation of a scarcity strategy. The findings will also prove useful to the Chinese Risk Response Department as it continuously improves its responses to the risk of consumers' impulse buying during a pandemic. Originality/Value: This study consolidates and takes research forward in the areas of impulse buying and consumer behaviour, confirming the mediating effect of fear of missing out and the moderating effect of the bandwagon in the relationship between scarcity and impulse buying.

The Impact of Scarcity of Medical Protective Products on Chinese Consumers’ Impulsive Purchasing during the COVID-19 Epidemic in China

In 2020, during the peak period of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the scarcity of medical protective products significantly influenced consumers’ impulsive purchasing and affected the public order. It is important to identify the effect of scarcity on consumers’ impulsive purchasing during this difficult time. However, scant research has been conducted on the impact of scarcity of medical protective products on Chinese consumers’ impulsive purchasing. This paper investigates the impact of the scarcity of medical protective products on consumers’ impulsive purchasing during the pandemic in China based on the theories of scarcity, S-O-R and bandwagon effect. Simultaneously, this study identifies the different mediating mechanisms (fear of missing out and perception) and the moderation (bandwagon) in the relationship between scarcity and impulsive purchasing. Finally, 509 validity data were collected by using an online questionnaire, and SmartPLS was used for data analysis. The findings present that the fear of missing out, perception and bandwagon dominate the scarcity effect on impulsive purchasing. The findings provide more information on consumers’ impulsive purchasing in the context of scarcity of medical protective products. Marketers and the Chinese government can adopt measures to reduce their effect, which may help maintain the public order during the epidemic.

Surviving a Part-Virtual CAHME Site Visit Through COVID-19: Key Insights to Success

Graduate programs in health administration invest time, money, and energy to prepare for the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) accreditation. The three-day CAHME site visit serves as one of the last major steps in the accreditation process for programs. So, what happens when a program spends months planning for a site visit that is drastically disrupted? The program at California State University, Northridge, found itself in the middle of its CAHME site visit during the COVID-19 pandemic and strategically navigated the situation. The site visitors conducted a part-virtual site visit utilizing videoconferencing capabilities to connect the remote site team member and to gather feedback from students and stakeholders. In this case study, the program's leadership and CAHME site visitors provide practical strategies and insights on how to manage and conduct a successful site visit through disruption, discuss lessons learned from the virtual site visit, and provide recommendations on how to ensure a thorough review of evidence.