def METHOD_NAME(self, tag):
    """ check if either the node does not exist or is empty
    :param tag: tag in dot notation (section.item)
    :return: boolean
    """
    node = self.getNodeByTag(tag)
    if node is None:
        return True
    elif len(node) == 0:
        return True
    elif hasattr(node, 'strip') and node.strip() in ('', '0'):
        return True
    else:
        return False