TROM: A Testing-based Method for Finding Transcriptomic Similarity of Biological Samples

Comparative transcriptomics has gained increasing popularity in genomic research thanks to the development of high-throughput technologies including microarray and next-generation RNA sequencing that have generated numerous transcriptomic data. An important question is to understand the conservation and differentiation of biological processes in different species. We propose a testing-based method TROM (Transcriptome Overlap Measure) for comparing transcriptomes within or between different species, and provide a different perspective to interpret transcriptomic similarity in contrast to traditional correlation analyses. Specifically, the TROM method focuses on identifying associated genes that capture molecular characteristics of biological samples, and subsequently comparing the biological samples by testing the overlap of their associated genes. We use simulation and real data studies to demonstrate that TROM is more powerful in identifying similar transcriptomes and more robust to stochastic gene expression noise than Pearson and Spearman correlations. We apply TROM to compare the developmental stages of six Drosophila species, C. elegans, S. purpuratus, D. rerio and mouse liver, and find interesting correspondence patterns that imply conserved gene expression programs in the development of these species. The TROM method is available as an R package on CRAN (http://cran.r-project.org/) with manuals and source codes available at http://www.stat.ucla.edu/ jingyi.li/software-and-data/trom.html

Experiencing Finnish Lapland: Design for Sustainability Through Cultural Communication in Tourism

Tourism, as an important domestic economy booster, has been heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and severely declined. Governments are rethinking tourism for future new opportunities. Previous research has shown that large development scale of tourism is not conducive to sustainability, nevertheless, researchers have also found that managing tourists’ behavior can reduce the adverse effects, while other studies are proposing the effectiveness of environmental education on sustainability. However, little attention has been paid to the combination of environmental education and tourist management for sustainability purpose. This study aims to explore the potential of sustainability-oriented design through cultural communication in tourism. No matter what method is used to communicate sustainability, this research believes that the impacts of communication should seek to be sustainable and far-reaching, and more importantly to be applied in reality to present its value. To achieve the goal, this study takes Finnish Lapland as a practical entry point, follows service design thinking and takes ethnography as the research strategy, conducting qualitative research through semi-structured interviews, field studies, and workshops. The data from 57 stakeholders have been collected to quest opportunities and needs, based on which, a design outcome was produced as feedback for iterate. The findings show that sensory design can prolong the impact of sustainability, and the application of environmental education as a cultural content can meet the needs of stakeholders while contributing to sustainability. Furthermore, online sales may provide alternative options to alleviate COVID-19 impact on tourism industry and to build economic resilience and consumer confidence. The results show considerable potential in cultural communication for sustainability in tourism, which offers directions for future research in the area

Long time asymptotic behavior for the nonlocal nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with weighted Sobolev initial data

In this paper, we extend $\overline\partial$ steepest descent method to study the Cauchy problem for the nonlocal nonlinear Schr\"odinger (NNLS) equation with weighted Sobolev initial data %and finite density initial data \begin{align*} &iq_{t}+q_{xx}+2\sigma q^2(x,t)\overline{q}(-x,t)=0, & q(x,0)=q_0(x), \end{align*} where $q_0(x)\in L^{1,1}(\mathbb{R})\cap L^{2,1/2}(\mathbb{R})$. Based on the spectral analysis of the Lax pair, the solution of the Cauchy problem is expressed in terms of solutions of a Riemann-Hilbert problem, which is transformed into a solvable model after a series of deformations. Finally, we obtain the asymptotic expansion of the Cauchy problem for the NNLS equation in solitonic region. The leading order term is soliton solutions, the second term is the error term is the interaction between solitons and dispersion, the error term comes from the corresponding $\bar{\partial}$ equation. Compared to the asymptotic results on the classical NLS equation, the major difference is the second and third terms in asymptotic expansion for the NNLS equation were affected by a function ${\rm Im}\nu(\xi)$ for the stationary phase point $\xi$.Comment: 34 page

Red Blood Cell Transfusion Strategy for Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is a potentially lethal and frequent digestive disease. It is mainly divided into the nonvariceal UGIB and variceal bleeding according to the source of bleeding. Red blood cell transfusion is the core therapeutic option for the management of acute UGIB. In this chapter, we reviewed the primary evidence from meta‐analyses and large‐scale randomized controlled trials regarding red blood cell transfusion strategy for acute UGIB

Exposure to various abscission-promoting treatments suggests substantial ERF subfamily transcription factors involvement in the regulation of cassava leaf abscission

AP2/ERF genes that exhibited the same expression patterns during ethylene and water-deficit stress treatments. (XLS 19 kb

An Exploratory Study of the Effects of CRM Practices on CRM Effectiveness and Business Performance

Continual advances in information technology (IT) have opened new business opportunities in global marketplaces. As a result, many businesses have turned to CRM to gain greater insights into their customers and apply this knowledge toward forging long-term relationships with them. This study examines the relationships of CRM practices (marketing and operational programs) with three antecedent elements (IT investments, absorptive capacity, strategic alignment), CRM effectiveness and firm (business) performance. The results of a survey suggest the following: absorptive capacity and strategic alignment have positive effects on CRM practices, CRM practices affect CRM effectiveness, CRM effectiveness affects firm performance, and CRM effectiveness mediates the effect of CRM practices (marketing programs) on firm performance. Hence, the CRM practices a business adopts will have an impact on its performance

Exploring the potential effect and mechanisms of protocatechuic acid on human hair follicle melanocytes

This study aims to evaluate the effect of Protocatechuic acid (PCA) on human hair follicle melanocytes (HFM). Normal primary HFM were isolated and cultured till logarithmic period of second passage, then treated with different concentrations of PCA (0.1~200 μmol L–1) to study the cell proliferation, melanin contents, tyrosinase activity and protein and mRNA expression of melanogenic genes (tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP-2), and microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF)) in the cultured HFM. In addition, we have also measured the contents of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) in PCA treated HFM. Vitamin C was used as a positive control. The result showed that PCA can decrease the synthesis of melanin and the tyrosinase activity with IC50 = 8.9 μmol L–1 and IC50 = 6.4 μmol L–1, respectively, at the treatment time of 24 hours, without inducing any cytotoxicity in HFM cells. In addition, the mRNA transcription and protein expression levels of TRP-1, TRP-2 and MITF significantly decreased with a dose-dependent manner after 24-hour PCA treated in HFM cells. Furthermore, PCA has significantly increased the SOD and GSH activity in a dose-dependent manner for 24-hour PCA treatment. This study suggested that PCA has an inhibitory effect on the production of melanin through down-regulation of the expression of melanogenesis-related protein and the effect of anti-oxidation, which could be useful for the therapy of melanin overproduction or skin whitening