1,391 research outputs found

    A multi-location newsboy problem with lost sale depends on holding time

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    [[abstract]]The classical newsboy problem is an important issue in inventory theory. The characteristic of newsboy problem is that the goods are perishable. In the selling period, the goods will decrease the degree of freshness as the expiration date of the goods gets closer. Then this will decrease the buying willingness of the customer. In this article, we assume that there are several selling locations and buying willingness will depend on the degree of freshness of the goods. Then the decision makers should determine the optimal selling period and distribute suitable quantity of goods to each location such that the expected profit per unit time is maximized.[[notice]]補正完

    Differential regulation of morphine antinociceptive effects by endogenous enkephalinergic system in the forebrain of mice

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mice lacking the preproenkephalin (<it>ppENK</it>) gene are hyperalgesic and show more anxiety and aggression than wild-type (WT) mice. The marked behavioral changes in <it>ppENK </it>knock-out (KO) mice appeared to occur in supraspinal response to painful stimuli. However the functional role of enkephalins in the supraspinal nociceptive processing and their underlying mechanism is not clear. The aim of present study was to compare supraspinal nociceptive and morphine antinociceptive responses between WT and <it>ppENK </it>KO mice.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The genotypes of bred KO mice were confirmed by PCR. Met-enkephalin immunoreactive neurons were labeled in the caudate-putamen, intermediated part of lateral septum, lateral globus pallidus, intermediated part of lateral septum, hypothalamus, and amygdala of WT mice. Met-enkephalin immunoreactive neurons were not found in the same brain areas in KO mice. Tail withdrawal and von Frey test results did not differ between WT and KO mice. KO mice had shorter latency to start paw licking than WT mice in the hot plate test. The maximal percent effect of morphine treatments (5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, i.p.) differed between WT and KO mice in hot plate test. The current source density (CSD) profiles evoked by peripheral noxious stimuli in the primary somatosenstory cortex (S1) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were similar in WT and KO mice. After morphine injection, the amplitude of the laser-evoked sink currents was decreased in S1 while the amplitude of electrical-evoked sink currents was increased in the ACC. These differential morphine effects in S1 and ACC were enhanced in KO mice. Facilitation of synaptic currents in the ACC is mediated by GABA inhibitory interneurons in the local circuitry. Percent increases in opioid receptor binding in S1 and ACC were 5.1% and 5.8%, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present results indicate that the endogenous enkephalin system is not involved in acute nociceptive transmission in the spinal cord, S1, and ACC. However, morphine preferentially suppressed supraspinal related nociceptive behavior in KO mice. This effect was reflected in the potentiated differential effects of morphine in the S1 and ACC in KO mice. This potentiation may be due to an up-regulation of opioid receptors. Thus these findings strongly suggest an antagonistic interaction between the endogenous enkephalinergic system and exogenous opioid analgesic actions in the supraspinal brain structures.</p

    Plant-Microbe Ecology: Interactions of Plants and Symbiotic Microbial Communities

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    Plant community dynamics are driven by the microbial mediation of soil resource partitioning and sharing by the inhibition of other host symbionts or sharing the broadly specific symbiotic fungi. The plant phenotype and ecology can be affected by the impact of the symbiotic microbes on the environment and competition for soil resources

    Factors associated with the utilization of antenatal care services among pregnant women in Eswatini - A cross-sectional study

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    The study aimed to assess the utilization of antenatal care services and its associated factors among pregnant women in Eswatini. A cross-sectional study was adopted. Convenience sampling was conducted in a public referral hospital in central Eswatini from 1st of August to the 30 of September 2021. A total of 400 newly delivered women who met the inclusion criteria were recruited. SPSS version 22.0 was used to analyze data including descriptive and bivariate analysis. Results indicated that only 13% of pregnant women booked their first ANC in the first trimester and 24.8% of them attended less than four ANC visits. Maternal education, gestational age, gravity, pregnant-related complications, medical history, and maternal health literacy were significantly associated with the utilization of ANC services (p&lt; .05). To increase the utilization of ANC service, healthcare professionals should pay special attention to pregnant women with tertiary education, gave birth below 38 weeks, multi-gravities, medical history, and poor maternal health literacy. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12]: 67-77). L'étude visait à évaluer l'utilisation des services de soins prénatals et ses facteurs associés chez les femmes enceintes en Eswatini. Une étude transversale a été retenue. Un échantillonnage de commodité a été effectué dans un hôpital public de référence du centre d'Eswatini du 1er août au 30 septembre 2021. Un total de 400 femmes nouvellement accouchées qui répondaient aux critères d'inclusion ont été recrutées. La version SPSS 22.0 a été utilisée pour analyser les données, y compris l'analyse descriptive et bivariée. Les résultats ont indiqué que seulement 13 % des femmes enceintes ont réservé leur première CPN au cours du premier trimestre et 24,8 % d'entre elles ont assisté à moins de quatre visites CPN. L'éducation de la mère, l'âge gestationnel, la gravité, les complications liées à la grossesse, les antécédents médicaux et les connaissances en matière de santé maternelle étaient significativement associés à l'utilisation des services de soins prénatals (p &lt; 0,05). Pour accroître l'utilisation des services de soins prénatals, les professionnels de la santé doivent accorder une attention particulière aux femmes enceintes ayant fait des études supérieures, ayant accouché à moins de 38 semaines, multigravités, ayant des antécédents médicaux et une faible littératie en matière de santé maternelle. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26[12]: 67-77)

    The Role of Digital-Media-Based Pedagogical Aids in Elementary Entomology: An Innovative and Sustainable Approach

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    It has been challenging for city school pupils to learn about insects, given the lack of live insects. To overcome this challenge, the objective of this study is to propose the use of emerging digital media, namely three-dimensional printing (3DP) technologies, to create reusable, fake, “live” insects. In this study, we designed two 3D-printed pedagogical aids to support elementary entomology. The first aid was a set of cards showing photos of the 3D-printed insect prototype, which could help the learners in close observation of the insect body’s regions and parts, and the second 3D-printed aid was a construction kit mimicking physical insects, which were made of an enlarged 3D-printed insect prototype. The two aids were used in our field experiment to examine the effectiveness in learning and motivation. A total of 153 pupils were grouped into three groups (one using the existing multimedia e-book, one using the first 3DP aid, and one using the second aid). The results confirm that the digital media application—in this case, 3DP technologies—were able to compensate for the lack of the live insects. These results raised our confidence in using a customized size 3D-printed insect prototype to enhance rudimentary entomology inside the classroom. If the 3DP technologies are used properly, they could offer an innovative and sustainable solution

    To Explore the Research and Development Competence and School-to-Work Transition for Hospitality Students

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    This research focuses on the research and development competence and school-to-work transition on occupation selection for hospitality students with the use of social cognitive career theory. The positive attitude construct is the most identifiable for the research and development competences. For the school-to-work constructs, the most identifiable is the construct of learning and exploration, while the most identifiable among the self-efficacy constructs is the personal work attitude construct. The students' research and development competence and school-to-work transition to occupation selection are revealed. While the expectation result of professional competence is not significant; the others show significantly positive impact

    A Parallel Thrombolysis Protocol with Nurse Practitioners As Coordinators Minimized Door-to-Needle Time for Acute Ischemic Stroke

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    Introduction. Quick thrombolysis after stroke improved clinical outcomes. The study objective was to shorten door-to-needle time for thrombolysis. Methods. After identifying the sources of in-hospital delays, we developed a protocol with a parallel algorithm and recruited nurse practitioners into the acute stroke team. We applied the new protocol on stroke patients from October 2009 to September 2010. Patients from the previous two years were used for comparison. Results. For ischemic stroke patients within 3 hours of onset, the median time from arrival to computed tomography scanning was reduced from 29 to 20 minutes (P < 0.001) and the median time from arrival to neurology evaluation decreased from 61 to 43 minutes (P < 0.001). For those patients who received thrombolysis, the median door-to-needle time was shortened from 68.5 to 58 minutes (P < 0.05). Conclusions. The parallel thrombolysis protocol successfully improved the median door-to-needle time to below the guideline-recommended 60 minutes

    Transformer-based Variable-rate Image Compression with Region-of-interest Control

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    This paper proposes a transformer-based learned image compression system. It is capable of achieving variable-rate compression with a single model while supporting the region-of-interest (ROI) functionality. Inspired by prompt tuning, we introduce prompt generation networks to condition the transformer-based autoencoder of compression. Our prompt generation networks generate content-adaptive tokens according to the input image, an ROI mask, and a rate parameter. The separation of the ROI mask and the rate parameter allows an intuitive way to achieve variable-rate and ROI coding simultaneously. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our proposed method and confirm its superiority over the other competing methods.Comment: Accepted to IEEE ICIP 202
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