Business Process Analysis and Implementation Strategies of Greening Logistics in Appliances Retail Industry

The whole world ecological environment worsens, and low-carbon economical and sustainable development becomes the general trend. The retail trade as the middle link of the whole economic cycle plays an important role on the relations of each essential factor in the entire economic environment. The concepts of low-carbon economy, and green logistics, and electrical appliances retail trade are discussed and the problems existing in the green logistics of the electrical appliances retail trade are explored. Based on the analysis of the business process and functions of green logistics in the electrical appliances retail trade, the system architecture of green logistics in the electrical appliances retail trade is established. Finally, the strategies and measures of greening logistics in the electrical appliances retail industry are proposed

Functional reconstitution of the mitochondrial Ca2+/H+ antiporter Letm1

The leucine zipper, EF hand–containing transmembrane protein 1 (Letm1) gene encodes a mitochondrial inner membrane protein, whose depletion severely perturbs mitochondrial Ca2+ and K+ homeostasis. Here we expressed, purified, and reconstituted human Letm1 protein in liposomes. Using Ca2+ fluorophore and 45Ca2+-based assays, we demonstrate directly that Letm1 is a Ca2+ transporter, with apparent affinities of cations in the sequence of Ca2+ ≈ Mn2+ > Gd3+ ≈ La3+ > Sr2+ >> Ba2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+. Kinetic analysis yields a Letm1 turnover rate of 2 Ca2+/s and a Km of ∼25 µM. Further experiments show that Letm1 mediates electroneutral 1 Ca2+/2 H+ antiport. Letm1 is insensitive to ruthenium red, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter, and CGP-37157, an inhibitor of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger. Functional properties of Letm1 described here are remarkably similar to those of the H+-dependent Ca2+ transport mechanism identified in intact mitochondria

The Galactic extinction and reddening from the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey: u band galaxy number counts and u−ru-r color distribution

We study the integral Galactic extinction and reddening based on the galaxy catalog of the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey (SCUSS), where $u$ band galaxy number counts and $u-r$ color distribution are used to derive the Galactic extinction and reddening respectively. We compare these independent statistical measurements with the reddening map of \citet{Schlegel1998}(SFD) and find that both the extinction and reddening from the number counts and color distribution are in good agreement with the SFD results at low extinction regions ($E(B-V)^{SFD}<0.12$ mag). However, for high extinction regions ($E(B-V)^{SFD}>0.12$ mag), the SFD map overestimates the Galactic reddening systematically, which can be approximated by a linear relation $\Delta E(B-V)= 0.43[E(B-V)^{SFD}-0.12$]. By combing the results of galaxy number counts and color distribution together, we find that the shape of the Galactic extinction curve is in good agreement with the standard $R_V=3.1$ extinction law of \cite{ODonnell1994}

The accuracy of echocardiography versus surgical and pathological classification of patients with ruptured mitral chordae tendineae: a large study in a Chinese cardiovascular center

BACKGROUND: The accuracy of echocardiography versus surgical and pathological classification of patients with ruptured mitral chordae tendineae (RMCT) has not yet been investigated with a large study. METHODS: Clinical, hemodynamic, surgical, and pathological findings were reviewed for 242 patients with a preoperative diagnosis of RMCT that required mitral valvular surgery. Subjects were consecutive in-patients at Fuwai Hospital in 2002-2008. Patients were evaluated by thoracic echocardiography (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). RMCT cases were classified by location as anterior or posterior, and classified by degree as partial or complete RMCT, according to surgical findings. RMCT cases were also classified by pathology into four groups: myxomatous degeneration, chronic rheumatic valvulitis (CRV), infective endocarditis and others. RESULTS: Echocardiography showed that most patients had a flail mitral valve, moderate to severe mitral regurgitation, a dilated heart chamber, mild to moderate pulmonary artery hypertension and good heart function. The diagnostic accuracy for RMCT was 96.7% for TTE and 100% for TEE compared with surgical findings. Preliminary experiments demonstrated that the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing anterior, posterior and partial RMCT were high, but the sensitivity of diagnosing complete RMCT was low. Surgical procedures for RMCT depended on the location of ruptured chordae tendineae, with no relationship between surgical procedure and complete or partial RMCT. The echocardiographic characteristics of RMCT included valvular thickening, extended subvalvular chordae, echo enhancement, abnormal echo or vegetation, combined with aortic valve damage in the four groups classified by pathology. The incidence of extended subvalvular chordae in the myxomatous group was higher than that in the other groups, and valve thickening in combination with AV damage in the CRV group was higher than that in the other groups. Infective endocarditis patients were younger than those in the other groups. Furthermore, compared other groups, the CRV group had a larger left atrium, higher aortic velocity, and a higher pulmonary arterial systolic pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Echocardiography is a reliable method for diagnosing RMCT and is useful for classification. Echocardiography can be used to guide surgical procedures and for preliminary determination of RMCT pathological types

Visualization Research on Flow Pattern of R290 Flow Boiling in Horizontal Micro-tubes

This study conducts visualization research on the flow pattern of R290 flow boiling in horizontal micro-tubes. The main flow patterns and influence factors of flow boiling heat transfer under different pipe diameters were analyzed, in addition to the summary of the flow pattern transformation law by comparing to the theoretical flow pattern diagrams. The experimental conditions were as follows: heat flux (1–70 kW/m2), mass flow rate (50–1 020 kg/(m2?s), saturation temperature (-10–25 °C), pipe diameter (1–3 mm), and vapor quality (0–1). Eight types of flow patterns of R290 flow boiling heat transfer in micro-channels were observed, among which intermittent flow and wave flow were the main flow patterns in 3 mm-tubes, while slug flow and annular flow were the main heat transfer patterns in 1 mm-tubes. Bubble flow and mixed flow in 3 mm-tubes, bubble flow in 2 mm-tubes, and slug flow in 1 mm-tubes were consistent with the Damianides and Westwater flow pattern transition criterion. However, the discrete flow regions in 2 mm-tubes and 1 mm-tubes were poorly matched; the change in pipe diameter had an important influence on the flow pattern. A decrease in pipe diameter caused changes in the bubble shape, flow pattern, flow pattern distribution, and flow pattern transition curve, and the micro-scale effect of the pipe diameter can be observed

Task-driven Semantic-aware Green Cooperative Transmission Strategy for Vehicular Networks

Considering the infrastructure deployment cost and energy consumption, it is unrealistic to provide seamless coverage of the vehicular network. The presence of uncovered areas tends to hinder the prevalence of the in-vehicle services with large data volume. To this end, we propose a predictive cooperative multi-relay transmission strategy (PreCMTS) for the intermittently connected vehicular networks, fulfilling the 6G vision of semantic and green communications. Specifically, we introduce a task-driven knowledge graph (KG)-assisted semantic communication system, and model the KG into a weighted directed graph from the viewpoint of transmission. Meanwhile, we identify three predictable parameters about the individual vehicles to perform the following anticipatory analysis. Firstly, to facilitate semantic extraction, we derive the closed-form expression of the achievable throughput within the delay requirement. Then, for the extracted semantic representation, we formulate the mutually coupled problems of semantic unit assignment and predictive relay selection as a combinatorial optimization problem, to jointly optimize the energy efficiency and semantic transmission reliability. To find a favorable solution within limited time, we proposed a low-complexity algorithm based on Markov approximation. The promising performance gains of the PreCMTS are demonstrated by the simulations with realistic vehicle traces generated by the SUMO traffic simulator.Comment: Accepted by IEEE Transactions on Communication

Effects of ovarian stimulation protocols on outcomes of assisted reproductive technology in adenomyosis women: a retrospective cohort study

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effects of different ovarian stimulation protocols on in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) outcomes in infertile women with adenomyosis.MethodsWe carried out a retrospective cohort study among infertile women with adenomyosis receiving IVF/ICSI treatment, including 257 fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycles and 305 frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles. In fresh ET cycles, ultra-long, long, short, and antagonist protocols were adopted. In FET cycles, patients received long-acting GnRH agonist (GnRHa) pretreatment or not. The primary outcome was clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), and the secondary outcomes included implantation rate (IR), miscarriage rate (MR), and live birth rate (LBR).ResultsIn fresh ET cycles, compared with ultra-long and long protocols, IR (49.7%, 52.1% versus 28.2%, P=0.001) and CPR (64.3%, 57.4% versus 35.6%, P=0.004) significantly decreased in the short protocol. Similarly, compared with ultra-long and long protocols, a decreased inclination of IR (49.7%, 52.1% versus 33.3%) and CPR (57.4%, 64.3% versus 38.2%) existed in the antagonist protocol, although no statistical significance was detected because of strict P adjustment of Bonferroni method (Padj=0.008). Compared with long protocol, LBR in short protocol decreased obviously (48.2% versus 20.3%, P&lt;0.001). In FET cycles, no matter which origin of embryos, there were no statistical differences in IR, CPR, and LBR. For women ≥35 years receiving fresh ET, CPR was higher in ultra-long and long protocols (52.1%, 50.0% versus 20.0%, 27.5%, P=0.031) compared to antagonist and short protocols. For women ≥35 years receiving FET, compared with ultra-long and antagonist protocols, cycles with embryos originating from long and short protocols had higher proportions of long-acting GnRHa pretreatment (30.4%,30.00 versus 63.9%, 51.4%, P=0.009). IR (61.1%, 48.6% versus 32.6%, 25.0%, P=0.020) and CPR (58.3%, 48.6% versus 30.4%, 25.0%, P=0.024) in long and short protocols were higher than rates of ultra-long and antagonist protocols, but no statistical differences were supported because of strict Bonferroni method (Padj=0.008).ConclusionIn infertile women with adenomyosis, if a fresh embryo was planned for transfer, an ultra-long or long protocol might be beneficial. If antagonist and short protocols were used, whole embryos frozen followed by FET was recommended. In FET cycles, embryos derived from different protocols had no impact on pregnancy outcomes

An experimental study of heat transfer in pulsed fluidised beds via infrared thermography

This work investigates the heat transfer process in a quasi-2D pulsed fluidised bed, created by applying a pulsating gas flow around the state of minimum fluidisation. Heat transfer characteristics are quantified using infrared thermography (IRT). Digital detail enhancement and image restoration are employed to enhance image quality, minimise noise, and facilitate identification of local temperature fields. Under conditions close to minimum fluidisation, an oscillatory flow allows for the mixing of the solid phase, providing up to a 19% increase in the average overall heat transfer coefficient compared to a constant flow condition, while also leading to more homogeneous local mixing. Analysis of the local temperature fields suggests that bubble patterns formed by an oscillating gas flow lead to the creation of compartments, akin to Rayleigh-Bénard convection cells. The oscillatory flow regulates spatial and temporal temperature distributions in the solid phase and enhances powder mixing without the need to increase the gas flow rate. These findings highlight some advantages of using oscillating, dynamically structured fluidised beds to intensify gas–solid operations operating at a low gas throughput

Effects of duration of long-acting GnRH agonist downregulation on assisted reproductive technology outcomes in patients with adenomyosis: a retrospective cohort study

ObjectivesTo elucidate the relationship between long-acting GnRH agonist (GnRHa) downregulation and assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes and identify the optimal duration of downregulation in patients with adenomyosis.DesignRetrospective cohort study.ParticipantsThe study was designed to evaluate ART outcomes in adenomyosis patients with and without GnRHa downregulation between January 2016 and December 2020. A total of 374 patients with adenomyosis (621 cycles) were included with 281 cycles in downregulation group versus 340 cycles in non-downregulation group. After 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM), a sample size of 272 cycles in each group was matched. The matched downregulation group was further divided into 1-month (147 cycles), 2-months (72 cycles), and ≥3 months downregulation (53 cycles) subgroups. Stratification analysis was conducted on pregnancy outcomes in 239 fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycles and 305 frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles.ResultsThe downregulation group had larger mean diameter of initial uterus and higher proportion of severer dysmenorrhea compared to non-downregulation group. The pregnancy-related parameters in GnRHa downregulation group were similar to those in non-downregulation group, except for higher late miscarriage rate (MR) (13.4% vs. 3.1%, P = 0.003). The subgroup comparisons in fresh ET cycles indicated that implantation rate (75.0% vs. 39.2%, P = 0.002), biochemical pregnancy rate (91.7% vs. 56.0%, P = 0.036) and clinical pregnancy rate (83.3% vs. 47.0%, P = 0.016) could be improved by prolonged GnRHa downregulation (≥3 months), whereas late MR was difficult to be reversed (30.0% vs. 3.2%, P = 0.017). In FET cycles, higher MR (53.6% vs. 29.9%, P = 0.029; 58.8% vs. 29.9%, P = 0.026) and lower live birth rate (18.8% vs. 34.1%, P = 0.023; 17.1% vs. 34.1%, P = 0.037) were observed in the 1-month and ≥3 months downregulation group, while no differences were found in the 2-months downregulation group compared to the non-downregulation group.ConclusionIn patients with severer adenomyosis, long-acting GnRHa downregulation might be correlated with improved ART outcomes. In fresh ET cycles, prolonged downregulation (≥3 months) might be beneficial to improve live birth rate, which needed to be verified by further study with larger sample. In FET cycles, the optimal duration of downregulation was not certain and still needed further exploration