UNDERSTANDING THE MASSIVE ONLINE REVIEWS: A NOVEL REPRESENTATIVE SUBSET EXTRACTION METHOD

Online review hasalready been recognized as an important sales assistant for consumers to make their purchase decision. However, with the rapid development of electronic commerce,overwhelming informationoverloads and review manipulation make consumers lost in ocean of reviews and face huge cognitive stress. To address this issue, different types of online review have been developed by online marketplaces. Especially, except traditional types of online reviews (positive, neutral and negative), several new types of online review (review with picture and additional review) do not only contain plain text, but also pictures. Consumers could attach additional reviews to the original reviews to further share their experience sometimes later. Few studies have focused on which types of online reviews are able to influence consumers’ decisions more efficiently. Especially, research on new types of reviews is still unanswered.Using data from Taobao.com, the biggest electronic marketplace in China,this study conducts an empirical investigation to bridge the gap. Weinvestigatethat whether and howtraditional text reviewsand new types of reviews influence consumers’ purchase decision making. The results show that under the context of information overload and review manipulation, traditional reviewsare still influential, but less effective than new types of reviews. Although review with picture and additional review don’t show valence directly, they present more reliable references towards product quality and attract consumers’ attention more efficiently.And it is more interesting that new types of online review provide an effective channel for consumers to alleviate their dissatisfaction to effect potential consumers purchase decision making. The findings of this study can provide useful implications for researchers by highlighting the roles of different types of online review in consumers’ decision making. Also, the empirical investigation in this paper will remind business vendors to focus on online reviews especially new types of online reviews and conduct targeted marketing strategies to increase competitive advantage and improve their sales performance

Effects of LED spectrum on circadian rhythmic expression of clock genes and Aanat2 in the brain of juvenile European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

The circadian rhythm is a physiological phenomenon that occurs in various organisms with a cycle of about 24 hours. Light is one of the important environmental factors affecting biological rhythm. To clarify whether a shift in light spectrum can influence the circadian expression in fish brain, a total of 175 European seabasses [body weight: 32.5 ± 0.71) g; body length: (13.78 ± 0.35) cm] were exposed to white light (WL), red light (RL), yellow light (YL), green light (GL) or blue light (BL). After 50 days of exposure, circadian expressions of four core clock genes (Clock, Bmal1, Per2, Cry1) and Aanat2 gene in brain were examined. The results showed that the temporal expression patterns of positive clock gens (Clock and Bmal1) showed increases during the scotophase and decreases during the photophase, with peaks near the middle of the darkness. Clock gene expression showed a stable circadian rhythm (R2 = 0.578-0.824, P=0.000- 0.027) in all light groups while Bmal1 showed circadian rhythm in WL, GL and RL, not in BL and YL. Daily expression patterns of the negative clock genes oscillated in the opposite phase from the positive clock genes, showing increasing mRNA levels during the light, decreases during the dark, and peaks near the shift from night to day, except Per2 in RL and Cry1 in BL. Compared with WL, the acrophases of Clock and Bmal1 were delayed under all light treatments (BL: + 3.7h, +6.73h; RL: +2.4h,+1.35h; YL: + 4.94h, 2.00h; GL: +0.05, +0.16h). Cry1 showed advanced acrophase under all light treatments (BL: -10.74 h, GL: -3.81 h, RL: -3.93 h, YL: -7.56 h) but Per2 showed delayed acrophase in all light treatments (GL: +0.86 h, RL: +10.35 h, YL: +9.62 h), except in BL (-0.43 h). The acrophase of Aanat2 was advanced by all monochromatic light, the Aanat2 level was significantly increased in RL compared with other light treatment. Therefore, the results indicate that RL may regulate the expression of Aanat2 gene by affecting the expression of clock gene in fish brain. Spectrum can affect the biological clock system of fish, and unreasonable spectrum may disturb the rhythm of gene expression of biological clock of fish. Under the irradiation of light spectrum, some clock genes still maintain obvious circadian oscillation, while the rhythm of some clock genes is not obvious and may be destroyed. Our findings suggest a primary role of light spectrum information to the fish brain circadian system

Timing of uplift and evolution of the Lüliang Mountains, North China Craton

This study analyses evidence for reformed basin development and basin-mountain coupling associated with development of the Ordos Basin and the Lüliang Mountains, China. Gaining an improved understanding of the timing and nature of uplift and evolution of the Lüliang Mountains is important for the reconstruction of the eastern sedimentary boundary of the Ordos Basin (a major petroliferous basin) as well as for providing insight into the evolution and breakup of the North China Craton (NCC). Based on systematic sampling for fission track analysis, it is suggested that the main phase of uplift of the Lüliang Mountains occurred since later part of the Early Cretaceous. Three evolutionary stages of uplift and development are identified: slow initial uplift (120–65 Ma), accelerated uplift (65–23 Ma), and intensive uplift (23 Ma to present), with the majority of the uplift activity having occurred during the Cenozoic. The history of uplift is non-equilibrium and exhibits complexity in temporal and spatial aspects. The middle and northern parts of the Lüliang Mountains were uplifted earlier than the southern part. The most intensive episode of uplift activity commenced in the Miocene and was associated with a genetic coupling relationship with the eastern neighboring Cenozoic Shanxi Grabens. The uplifting and evolutionary processes of the Lüliang Mountains area since later part of the Early Cretaceous share a unified regional geodynamic setting, which was accompanied by uplift of the Mesozoic Ordos Basin and development of the neighboring Cenozoic Shanxi Grabens. Collectively, this regional orogenic activity is related principally to the far-field effects of both the compression sourced from the southwestern Tibet Plateau and westward subduction of the Pacific Plate in Cenozoic

Code for Multi-Animal Mesh Model ALignment (MAMMAL)

Three-dimensional surface motion capture of multiple freely moving pigs using MAMMAL A snapshot for the code and dataset used in the paper. Liang An, Jilong Ren, Tao Yu, Tang Hai*, Yichang Jia*, and Yebin Liu

Three-dimensional surface motion capture of multiple freely moving pigs using MAMMAL

Abstract Understandings of the three-dimensional social behaviors of freely moving large-size mammals are valuable for both agriculture and life science, yet challenging due to occlusions in close interactions. Although existing animal pose estimation methods captured keypoint trajectories, they ignored deformable surfaces which contained geometric information essential for social interaction prediction and for dealing with the occlusions. In this study, we develop a Multi-Animal Mesh Model Alignment (MAMMAL) system based on an articulated surface mesh model. Our self-designed MAMMAL algorithms automatically enable us to align multi-view images into our mesh model and to capture 3D surface motions of multiple animals, which display better performance upon severe occlusions compared to traditional triangulation and allow complex social analysis. By utilizing MAMMAL, we are able to quantitatively analyze the locomotion, postures, animal-scene interactions, social interactions, as well as detailed tail motions of pigs. Furthermore, experiments on mouse and Beagle dogs demonstrate the generalizability of MAMMAL across different environments and mammal species

The Nitrogen-Removal Efficiency of a Novel High-Efficiency Salt-Tolerant Aerobic Denitrifier, Halomonas Alkaliphile HRL-9, Isolated from a Seawater Biofilter

Aerobic denitrification microbes have great potential to solve the problem of NO3−-N accumulation in industrialized recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs). A novel salt-tolerant aerobic denitrifier was isolated from a marine recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) and identified as Halomonas alkaliphile HRL-9. Its aerobic denitrification performance in different dissolved oxygen concentrations, temperatures, and C/N ratios was studied. Investigations into nitrogen balance and nitrate reductase genes (napA and narG) were also carried out. The results showed that the optimal conditions for nitrate removal were temperature of 30 °C, a shaking speed of 150 rpm, and a C/N ratio of 10. For nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) (initial concentration 101.8 mg·L−1), the sole nitrogen source of the growth of HRL-9, the maximum NO3−-N removal efficiency reached 98.0% after 24 h and the maximum total nitrogen removal efficiency was 77.3% after 48 h. Nitrogen balance analysis showed that 21.7% of NO3−-N was converted into intracellular nitrogen, 3.3% of NO3−-N was converted into other nitrification products (i.e., nitrous nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, and organic nitrogen), and 74.5% of NO3−-N might be converted to gaseous products. The identification of functional genes confirmed the existence of the napA gene in strain HRL-9, but no narG gene was found. These results confirm that the aerobic denitrification strain, Halomonas alkaliphile HRL-9, which has excellent aerobic denitrification abilities, can also help us understand the microbiological mechanism and transformation pathway of aerobic denitrification in RASs

Development of 3D Printed Biodegradable Mesh with Antimicrobial Properties for Pelvic Organ Prolapse

To address the increasing demand for safe and effective treatment options for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) due to the worldwide ban of the traditional polypropylene meshes, this study intro-duced degradable polycaprolactone (PCL)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) composite meshes fabricated with melt-electrowriting (MEW). Two PCL/PEG mesh groups: 90:10 and 75:25 (PCL:PEG, wt%) were fabricated and characterized for their degradation rate and mechanical properties, with PCL meshes used as a control. The PCL/PEG composites showed controllable degradation rates by adjusting the PEG content and produced mechanical properties, such as maximal forces, that were higher than PCL alone. The antibacterial properties of the meshes were elicited by coating them with a commonly used antibiotic: azithromycin. Two dosage levels were used for the coating: 0.5 mg and 1 mg per mesh, and both dosage levels were found to be effective in suppressing the growth of S. aureus bacte-ria. The biocompatibility of the meshes was assessed using human immortalized adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC). In vitro assays were used to assess the cell viability (LIVE/DEAD assay), cell metabolic activity (alamarBlue assay) and cell morphology on the meshes (confocal and electron microscopy). The cell attachment was found to decrease with increased PEG content. The freshly drug-coated meshes showed signs of cytotoxicity during the cell study process. However, when pre-released for 14 days in phosphate buffered saline, the initial delay in cell attachment on the drug-coated mesh groups showed full recovery at the 14-day cell culture time point. These results indicated that the PCL/PEG meshes with antibiotics coating will be an effective anti-infectious device when first implanted into the patients, and, after about 2 weeks of drug release, the mesh will be supporting cell attachment and proliferation. These meshes demonstrated a potential effective treatment option for POP that may circumvent the issues related to the traditional polypropylene meshes.</p

The efficacies and biomarker investigations of anti-programmed death-1 (anti-PD-1)-based therapies for metastatic bone and soft tissue sarcoma

Objective: Sarcomas are a group of rare malignancies with various subtypes. Patients with metastatic sarcoma who have failed traditional treatments can possibly achieve better prognoses from using novel therapies, including anti-programmed death-1 (PD-1)-based therapies. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 24 metastatic sarcoma patients from June 15, 2016 to December 30, 2019. These patients mainly received angiogenesis inhibitors combined with anti-PD-1 therapy after they became resistant to traditional treatments. Furthermore, 8 patients underwent panel DNA and whole transcript sequencing. Results: Six patients received 2 cycles of anti-PD-1 therapy and were included in the safety evaluation only group. The median follow up time was 5.77 months. The median progression free survival was 7.59 months, the overall response rate was 16.7% and the disease control rate was 55.6%. Based on whole exome and transcript sequencing data, there was no association between 'FMB, TNB, MSI, IlLA-LOIL and PD-L1 expressions and sarcoma types with clinical responses. Immunotherapy efficacy and bioinformatics analyses indicated higher intratumoral heterogeneity (ITH) in progressive disease (PD) patients and lower ITH in partial response (PR) and stable disease patients. A higher percentage of immune cell infiltration, especially monocytes, was observed in PR patients. Active stromal gene expression was increased in PD patients but decreased in PR patients. Enrichment analysis revealed that an increased TGF-beta signaling pathway was reversely correlated with anti- PD-1 efficacy, while a decreased inflammatory response signaling pathway was positively correlated with anti-PD-1 efficacy. Conclusions: Our study showed PD-1 inhibitors combined with anti-angiogenesis agents were effective and well-tolerated. ITH, monocyte ratio, stroma subtypes, and the status of immune-associated signaling pathways may be related with anti-PD-1 based therapy