VBTO Simulation: Effect of Dealer Trading and Reconfiguration Flexibility on Performance of Automaker and Its Dealers

The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which fulfillment performance is affected by the ability of dealers to trade products, and how reconfiguration flexibility amplifies or diminishes the benefit of trading. The objectives of the study are (a) to identify how trading policy is good to manufacturer, (b) to examine how trading policy impacts dealer's performance and whether it's also good to different dealers, and (c) to illustrate how reconfiguration flexibility has effects on the performance of manufacturer and dealers. Through an intensive literature and practical cases review, some findings of some research efforts on order fulfillment system, simulation methodology and mass customization are introduced. Data were collected via several experiments by running a modified model which is based on a core model, and were analyzed by drawing graphs with data table, and several comparisons made between experiment results. Some implications were given from the experiment results that manufacturer can benefit a lot from dealer trading, performance was improved significantly for instance lead time and stock level, pipe sales percentage as well. Dealer also performed quite good under trading policy, no matter how big they are, reflected by shorter lead time and less stock level. Manufacturer's reconfiguration flexibility has influence on both manufacturer and dealer, the difference of performance between zero and 100% reconfiguration flexibility is remarkable. However, experiments under 50% reconfiguration flexibility give very interesting results, it seems to encourage manufacturer to try to get dealers involved in trading products, other than try to increase reconfiguration flexibility

Co-benefits from CO2-emission reduction measures in Shanxi, China: A first assessment

This paper analyses a set of CO2-reducing abatement options related to coal consumption in Shanxi, China. The costs and potential for abatement are investigated for different economic sectors, and the entailed emission reductions are estimated in terms of CO2, SO2, and particles. The present population-weighted exposure level for particles and SO2 is estimated using air quality monitoring data, and a simplified methodology is applied to estimate the reduced population exposure resulting from the abatement measures. By means of exposure-response functions from Chinese and international epidemiology, the health effects from implementing the measures are indicated. An economic evaluation of the reduced health effect is made by employing unit prices of health impacts based on the damage cost approach. Estimates of the present agricultural crop loss attributable to enhanced levels of surface ozone are also given. The impact of emission reductions within Shanxi province is, however, limited due to the regional feature of ozone formation. This first assessment of CO2-reducing abatement options in Shanxi demonstrates that the measures are profitable in a socioeconomic sense. However, the study also demonstrates a certain lack of synergy between the options with respect to their effectiveness in meeting local, regional and global environmental concerns

Relationship between four tumor-associated bio-markers and prognosis of gastric cancer

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between prognosis of gastric cancer (GC) and the expression of P53, Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2), and Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).Methods: One hundred and forty-seven patients admitted to People's Liberation Army General Hospital (Beijing, China) with diagnosis of locally advanced GC were enrolled in the study. Follow-up data were obtained by outpatient review or telephone follow-up. Expressions of P53, EGFR, HER-2 and VEGF were determined by immunohistochemical staining. The relationship between protein expression, clinico-pathological factors, disease-free survival time (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed.Results: The expressions of EGER, HER-2, P53 and VEGF in GC were 17.7, 17.0, 41.0 and 55.9%, respectively. The expressions of EGFR and P53 were positively correlated (r = 0.306, p < 0.05), while the expressions of VEGF and HER-2 were negatively correlated (r = -0.2, p < 0.05). The expressions of EGFR, HER-2 and VEGF were not related to the clinico-pathological factors (p > 0.05) while expression of P53 was related only to histological grade (p < 0.05). Univariate analysis showed that OS and DFS were longer (p < 0.05) when P53 was lowly expressed. Multiple-factor analysis revealed that histological grade, infiltration depth and P53 expression were independent factors that influenced DFS.Conclusion: These results indicate that the expression of P53, EGFR, HER2 and VEGF can be used to predict prognosis of GC and screening of patients’ benefits from adjuvant chemotherapy.Keywords: Gastric cancer, Prognosis, Biomarkers, Adjuvant chemotherap

NLH: A Blind Pixel-level Non-local Method for Real-world Image Denoising

Non-local self similarity (NSS) is a powerful prior of natural images for image denoising. Most of existing denoising methods employ similar patches, which is a patch-level NSS prior. In this paper, we take one step forward by introducing a pixel-level NSS prior, i.e., searching similar pixels across a non-local region. This is motivated by the fact that finding closely similar pixels is more feasible than similar patches in natural images, which can be used to enhance image denoising performance. With the introduced pixel-level NSS prior, we propose an accurate noise level estimation method, and then develop a blind image denoising method based on the lifting Haar transform and Wiener filtering techniques. Experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that, the proposed method achieves much better performance than previous non-deep methods, and is still competitive with existing state-of-the-art deep learning based methods on real-world image denoising. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/njusthyk1972/NLH.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 10 tables, accept by IEEE TI

Daily time-use patterns and obesity and mental health among primary school students in shanghai: a population-based cross-sectional study

Physical activity, screen viewing, sleep, and homework among children have been independently linked to health outcomes. However, few studies have assessed the independent associations between time spent in daily activities and children’s physical and mental health. This study describes time spent in four activities among primary school students in Shanghai, and examines the relationship between daily time-use patterns and obesity and mental health. The representative sample consists of 17,318 children aged 6–11 years in Shanghai. Time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activities (MVPA), screen viewing, sleep, and homework was measured by validated questionnaires. Logistic regressions were performed. We also fitted generalized additive models (GAM) and performed two-objective optimization to minimize the probability of poor mental health and obesity. In 2014, 33.7% of children spent ˂1 hour/day on MVPA, 15.6% spent ≥ 2 hours/day on screen viewing, 12.4% spent ˂ 9 hours/day on sleep, and 27.2% spent ≥ 2 hours/day on homework. The optimization results suggest that considering the 24-hour time limit, children face trade-offs when allocating time. A priority should be given to the duration of sleep and MVPA. Screen exposure should be minimized to save more time for sleep and other beneficial activities

Isolation, characterization, and genomic analysis of a novel bacteriophage MA9V-1 infecting Chryseobacterium indologenes: a pathogen of Panax notoginseng root rot

Chryseobacterium indologenes is one of the primary causative agents of root rot of Panax notoginseng, which significantly affected plant growth and caused economic losses. With the increasing incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial phytopathogens, phage therapy has been garnered renewed attention in treating pathogenic bacteria. However, the therapeutic potential of phage therapy on root rot of P. notoginseng has not been evaluated. In this study, we isolated a novel lytic phage MA9V-1 infecting C. indologenes MA9 from sewage and monitored the formation of clear and round plaques with a diameter of approximately 0.5–1.5 mm. Phage MA9V-1 exhibited rapid absorption (>75% in 8 min), a latency period of 20 min, and a burst size of 10 particles per cell. Transmission electron microscopy indicated that the phage MA9V-1 is a new myovirus hosting C. indologenes MA9. Sequencing of phage genomes revealed that phage MA9V-1 contained a linear double-stranded DNA genome of 213,507 bp with 263 predicted open reading frames, including phage structure, host lysing, and DNA polymerase/helicase but no genes of tRNA, virulence, and antibiotic resistance. Our proteomic tree and genomic analysis revealed that phage MA9V-1 shares identity with Sphingomonas phage PAU and Tenacibaculum phage PTm1; however, they also showed apparent differences. Further systemic evaluation using phage therapy experiments on P. notoginseng suggested that phage MA9V-1 can be a potential candidate for effectively controlling C. indologenes MA9 infection. Thus, we have presented a novel approach to solving root rot in P. notoginseng

Surfactant-Assisted in situ Chemical Etching for the General Synthesis of ZnO Nanotubes Array

In this paper, a general low-cost and substrate-independent chemical etching strategy is demonstrated for the synthesis of ZnO nanotubes array. During the chemical etching, the nanotubes array inherits many features from the preformed nanorods array, such as the diameter, size distribution, and alignment. The preferential etching along c axis and the surfactant protection to the lateral surfaces are considered responsible for the formation of ZnO nanotubes. This surfactant-assisted chemical etching strategy is highly expected to advance the research in the ZnO nanotube-based technology

Safety and efficacy of Hypofractionated stereotactic radiosurgery for high-grade Gliomas at first recurrence: a single-center experience.

BACKGROUND: The optimal treatment for recurrent high-grade gliomas (rHGGs) remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of hypofractionated stereotactic radiosurgery (HSRS) as a first-line salvage treatment for in-field recurrence of high-grade gliomas. METHODS: Between January 2016 and October 2019, 70 patients with rHGG who underwent HSRS were retrospectively analysed. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), and secondary endpoints included both progression-free survival (PFS) and adverse events, which were assessed according to Common Toxicity Criteria Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 5. The prognostic value of key clinical features (age, performance status, planning target volume, dose, use of bevacizumab) was evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 70 patients were included in the study. Forty patients were male and 30 were female. Forty-nine had an initial diagnosis of glioblastoma (GBM), and the rest (21) were confirmed to be WHO grade 3 gliomas. The median planning target volume (PTV) was 16.68 cm3 (0.81–121.96 cm3 ). The median prescribed dose was 24 Gy (12–30 Gy) in 4 fractions (2–6 fractions). The median baseline of Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) was 70 (40–90). With a median follow-up of 12.1 months, the median overall survival after salvage treatment was 17.6 months (19.5 and 14.6 months for grade 3 and 4 gliomas, respectively; p = .039). No grade 3 or higher toxicities was recorded. Multivariate analysis showed that concurrent bevacizumab with radiosurgery and KPS \u3e 70 were favourable prognostic factors for grade 4 patients with HGG. CONCLUSIONS: Salvage HSRS showed a favourable outcome and acceptable toxicity for rHGG. A prospective phase II study (NCT04197492) is ongoing to further investigate the value of hypofractionated stereotactic radiosurgery (HSRS) in rHGG