The research of operation management of private elderly care institutions of Anshun city of Guizhou province of China: case study of red sunset elderly care center

Classificações JEL: M1, I30In the last few years, due to the aging population of China, the elderly care has been a major focus for the government. The government itself has taken such problem as one of the important issues in China. The research is focus on operation and management mode of elderly care institutions by following the developmental trend of market economy and the research results may help elderly care industry develop rapidly and effectively, solving current tension problem of elderly care and improving the life quality of aging population in their old age According to the official data, most of the operating situation of private elderly care institutions of China are in the losing-money situation under the background of enormous marketing demands of elderly care service, and some of such institutions realized that it is difficult to keep a normal daily operation, especially for those located in the provinces where elderly care industry is undeveloped, such as Guizhou province. The purpose of this thesis is to find out the real operation difficulties in operating process of private elderly care institutions of Anshun city of Guizhou province by the method of quantitative and qualitative research, providing practical suggestions in order to ease or even eliminate such difficulties and combing the future development of such institutions with the developing trend of elderly care industry, provide effective suggestions in operation, management and strategy orientation areas with such institutions, which may help develop in right way.Devido ao crescente envelhecimento da população chinesa o tratamento da população idosa tem vindo a assumir-se como um dos mais importantes problemas de saúde pública. Na tentativa de melhorar a qualidade de vida dos idosos, o governo está a focar a sua atenção na gestão das instituições que prestam cuidados aos idosos. Os resultados da presente pesquisa podem, eventualmente, possibilitar uma melhoria do desempenho dos serviços prestados e da eficiência das organizações, melhorando a qualidade de vida da população alvo. De acordo com a informação recolhida, muitas das instituições privadas estão a ter prejuízo devido às elevadas exigências deste sector de atividade, não conseguindo, por vezes, continuar a prestar estes serviços, especialmente em zonas como a província de Guizhou, onde este sector de atividade tem ainda uma expressão modesta. O objetivo desta tese é, não sóidentificar as dificuldades que estas instituições (na cidade Anshun da provincia de Guizhou) enfrentam, mas também propor soluções práticas que possam contribuir para o desenvolvimento de estratégias mais adequadas com vista à qualidade dos serviços prestados e à auto-sustentabilidade organizacional

Modern Chinese Banking Networks during the Republican Era

This thesis examines three themes that focus on inter-banking connections and their impact on modern banking development in the 1930s. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the modern bank sector and highlights the inter-banking relations. Tracing the shape, structure, and development of links within the sector, I find that it was characterized by a strong network of interlocking directorates. This network shows a dominating central cluster, indicating that the sector was characterized by internal cooperation rather than competition. Similarly, new entrants were usually linked to existing banks, indicating that entry was driven by the expansion of existing banks rather than the rise of new competition. Finally, central locations of public banks within the cluster indicate that the government gained influence over the sector through direct bank ownership. Chapter 3 investigates how board connections in an inter-bank network affect their corporate policy decisions. I find evidence that corporate decisions of banks are influenced by their social peers — the more directors two banks share with each other, the more similar are their corporate strategies. Also, banks with a central position in the boardroom network make corporate decisions less distinctively. Additionally, the empirical outcomes show that co-moved corporate policies are mainly driven by banks’ intentions to pursue profits and eliminate risks, known as profitability and insurance effects. I further examine whether inter-banking connections based on interlocking directorates contributed to the overall performance in Chapter 4 . I find characteristics of banks, which share directors with other banks, are significantly different compared to those of unconnected counterparts. The empirical results elucidate a high positive correlation between banks’ profitability and their connections with rivals through interlocking directors. Last but not least, Chapter 5 investigates the development of the interlocking directorate network between domestic Chinese banks from 1933 to 1936 to understand how financial institutions structure cooperation within the sector in response to uncertain external environments and weak property rights. This part uses a dynamic network simulation approach to address the reflection problem between bank performance and network formation, illuminating the factors driving the network evolution and shaping the structure of cooperation between Chinese banks.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Economics, 201

Prediction of the anti-inflammatory effects of bioactive components of a Hippocampus species-based TCM formulation on chronic kidney disease using network pharmacology

Purpose: To systematically study and predict the therapeutic targets and signaling pathways of Hippocampus (HPC) against chronic kidney disease (CKD) using network pharmacology.Methods: By combining database mining, literature searching, screening of disease targets, and network construction, the effects of various components of HPC on several proteins related to CKD were predicted and the active compounds were screened. Genes related to the selected compounds were linked using the SEA database. The correlation between CKD and genes was determined using OMIM, DisGenNet, and GeneCards databases. Pathway-enrichment analyses of overlapping genes were undertaken using online databases.Results: A total of 144 compounds in HPC were identified. Analyses of clusters suggest that the active components of HPC and the target genes against the inflammation caused by CKD were due to 10 compounds and 25 genes. Metascape results showed that these HPC targets are related to CKD inflammation.Conclusion: The active components of HPC and the target genes against CKD inflammation are involved in multiple signaling pathways, such as AGE-RAGE, TLR, TNF, and NF-κB. This work provides scientific evidence to support the clinical use of HPC against CKD

Preparation and emulsifying properties of trace elements fortified gum arabic

Gum arabic was enriched with trace elements (Zn2+, Fe3+, Fe2+) by ion exchange against ZnCl2, FeCl3 and FeCl2. Trace elements content, molecular parameters and emulsifying properties of the gum arabic rich in trace elements (GARTE) were characterized by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), gel permeation chromatography-multi angle laser light scattering (GPC-MALLS), interfacial rheometer, laser particle analyzer and zeta potentiometry. With trace elements, molecular weight and arabinogalactan protein (AGP) content of gum arabic have increased probably due to the high surface energy leading to the aggregation of protein. GARTE has good emulsion stability performance with increasing molecular weight and AGP content compared to the control gum arabic. GARTE can be applied as a natural functional ingredient for trace element fortification, where the ferric ions and zinc ions are chelated by the self-assembled polymer host

Effectiveness of resistance training in modulating inflammatory biomarkers among Asian patients with sarcopenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

ObjectiveGiven the high incidence of sarcopenia among Asians, it is imperative to identify appropriate intervention methods. The International Clinical Practice Guidelines for Sarcopenia, developed by the International Conference on Sarcopenia and Frailty Research (ICFSR) task force, recommends resistance training (RT) as a primary treatment for managing sarcopenia. Inflammatory biomarkers serve as indicators of sarcopenia. However, there is currently insufficient conclusive evidence regarding the effectiveness of RT in modulating inflammatory biomarker levels among Asian participants with sarcopenia.Data sourcesFour databases were utilized for this study until October 9, 2023. This study focused on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined the effects of RT on interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) about sarcopenia. This study has been registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42024501855).ResultsThe meta-analysis included six studies from Asians involving 278 participants. The results showed a significant decrease in RT for IL-6 (weighted mean difference (WMD) = -0.73, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.02 to -0.44; n=5). However, no significant differences were found for TNF-α (WMD = -1.00, 95% CI = -2.47 to 0.46; n=5), CRP (WMD = -0.45, 95% CI = -1.14 to 0.23; n=3), and IL-10 (WMD = 0.13, 95% CI = -3.99 to 4.25; n=2). Subgroup analysis revealed that factors including gender selection, intervention methods, frequency, period, and duration could have a particular effect on the part of inflammatory biomarkers.ConclusionRT has been shown to reduce part of the level of inflammatory markers, specifically IL-6, in Asian sarcopenia participants. However, other inflammatory factors, such as TNF-α, CRP, and IL-10, did not show significant changes. Further research should confirm the impact of RT on these indicators and explore the potential effects of various factors on different inflammatory markers, such as diet, body composition, and medications.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=501855, identifier CRD42024501855

Small Language Model Meets with Reinforced Vision Vocabulary

Playing Large Vision Language Models (LVLMs) in 2023 is trendy among the AI community. However, the relatively large number of parameters (more than 7B) of popular LVLMs makes it difficult to train and deploy on consumer GPUs, discouraging many researchers with limited resources. Imagine how cool it would be to experience all the features of current LVLMs on an old GTX1080ti (our only game card). Accordingly, we present Vary-toy in this report, a small-size Vary along with Qwen-1.8B as the base ``large'' language model. In Vary-toy, we introduce an improved vision vocabulary, allowing the model to not only possess all features of Vary but also gather more generality. Specifically, we replace negative samples of natural images with positive sample data driven by object detection in the procedure of generating vision vocabulary, more sufficiently utilizing the capacity of the vocabulary network and enabling it to efficiently encode visual information corresponding to natural objects. For experiments, Vary-toy can achieve 65.6% ANLS on DocVQA, 59.1% accuracy on ChartQA, 88.1% accuracy on RefCOCO, and 29% on MMVet. The code will be publicly available on the homepage

Research progress on the application of shoulder orthosis in rehabilitation of abnormal gait post-stroke hemiplegia

Post-stroke hemiplegia usually has an adverse impact on motor ability and stability. Patients often develop shoulder subluxation and abnormal gait due to muscle weakness， bilateral limb muscle tension imbalance， sensory abnormalities and poor joint and posture control， etc. Shoulder orthosis is often used to prevent or treat shoulder subluxation in the early stage of stroke hemiplegia， but it is still controversial. To explore the role of shoulder orthosis beyond the prevention and treatment of shoulder subluxation， and to provide theoretical basis for the selection and wearing of shoulder orthosis，the mechanism underlying the role of shoulder orthosis in improving abnormal gait post-stroke hemiplegia was elaborated， and the effects of different types of shoulder orthosis on the rehabilitation of abnormal gait post-stroke were compared

INHIBITORY EFFECT OF SAPONINS AND POLYSACCHARIDES FROM RADIX RANUNCULI TERNATI ON HUMAN GASTRIC CANCER BGC823 CELLS

The effects of different Radix ranunculi ternati extracts on human gastric cancer BGC823 cells were investigated, different methods were used to extract the saponins and polysaccharides from Radix ranunculi ternati, and MTT assay and colony formation assay were used to observe the effects of saponins and polysaccharides from Radix ranunculi ternati on in-vitro cultured human gastric cancer BGC823 cells. The results found that the saponins and polysaccharides from Radix Ranunculi Ternati had certain effects on both the growth and colony formation of human gastric cancer BGC823 cells, while improving the immune function of normal mice, of which saponins had more significant effects than polysaccharides

Overcoming the Size Limit of First Principles Molecular Dynamics Simulations with an In-Distribution Substructure Embedding Active Learner

Large-scale first principles molecular dynamics are crucial for simulating complex processes in chemical, biomedical, and materials sciences. However, the unfavorable time complexity with respect to system sizes leads to prohibitive computational costs when the simulation contains over a few hundred atoms in practice. We present an In-Distribution substructure Embedding Active Learner (IDEAL) to enable efficient simulation of large complex systems with quantum accuracy by maintaining a machine learning force field (MLFF) as an accurate surrogate to the first principles methods. By extracting high-uncertainty substructures into low-uncertainty atom environments, the active learner is allowed to concentrate on and learn from small substructures of interest rather than carrying out intractable quantum chemical computations on large structures. IDEAL is benchmarked on various systems and shows sub-linear complexity, accelerating the simulation thousands of times compared with conventional active learning and millions of times compared with pure first principles simulations. To demonstrate the capability of IDEAL in practical applications, we simulated a polycrystalline lithium system composed of one million atoms and the full ammonia formation process in a Haber-Bosch reaction on a 3-nm Iridium nanoparticle catalyst on a computing node comprising one single A100 GPU and 24 CPU cores

Ultralow thermal conductivity of single crystalline porous silicon nanowires

Porous materials provide a large surface to volume ratio, thereby providing a knob to alter fundamental properties in unprecedented ways. In thermal transport, porous nanomaterials can reduce thermal conductivity by not only enhancing phonon scattering from the boundaries of the pores and therefore decreasing the phonon mean free path, but also by reducing the phonon group velocity. Here we establish a structure-property relationship by measuring the porosity and thermal conductivity of individual electrolessly etched single crystalline silicon nanowires using a novel electron beam heating technique. Such porous silicon nanowires exhibit extremely low diffusive thermal conductivity (as low as 0.33 Wm-1K-1 at 300K for 43% porosity), even lower than that of amorphous silicon. The origin of such ultralow thermal conductivity is understood as a reduction in the phonon group velocity, experimentally verified by measuring the Young modulus, as well as the smallest structural size ever reported in crystalline Silicon (less than 5nm). Molecular dynamics simulations support the observation of a drastic reduction in thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires as a function of porosity. Such porous materials provide an intriguing platform to tune phonon transport, which can be useful in the design of functional materials towards electronics and nano-electromechanical systems