165 research outputs found
Gamification and Marketing Management: A Literature Review and Future Agenda
Given the motivational effect of game elements and mechanisms on user experience in various non-game contexts, gamification has widely been used as an effective marketing technique to enhance the performance of business practices. In the past decade, a variety of studies have explored and investigated the value that gamification can provide in consumer-facing marketing activities. However, there is still a dearth of granular understanding of how gamification in marketing has been studied in the current literature. This paper follows the PRISMA literature review process and systematically reviews 93 papers consisting of 111 empirical studies on gamification and marketing management. The synthesized findings provide a holistic picture of the adopted research methods, different investigated gamification affordances and advergames, various gamified industries, and marketing performance indicators regarding products, services, and brands. Five agenda points, mainly relating to methodology and themes, are further suggested.Peer reviewe
GASZ promotes germ cell derivation from embryonic stem cells
AbstractPrimordial germ cells (PGCs) are the first germ-line population that forms from the proximal epiblast of the developing embryo. Despite their biological importance, the regulatory networks whereby PGCs arise, migrate, and differentiate into gametes during embryonic development remains elusive, largely due to the limited number of germ cells in the early embryo. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms that govern early germ cell development, we utilized an in vitro differentiation model of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and screened a series of candidate genes with specific expression in the adult reproductive organs. We discovered that gain of function of Gasz, a gene previously reported to participate in meiosis of postnatal spermatocytes, led to the most robust upregulation of PGC formation from both human and murine ESCs. In contrast, Gasz deficiency resulted in pronounced reduction of germ cells during ESC differentiation and decreased expression of MVH and DAZL in genital ridges during early embryonic development. Further analyses demonstrated that GASZ interacted with DAZL, a key germ cell regulator, to synergistically promote germ cell derivation from ESCs. Thus, our data reveal a potential role of GASZ during embryonic germ cell development and provide a powerful in vitro system for dissecting the molecular pathways in early germ cell formation during embryogenesis
Abundance ratios of OH/CO and HCO+/CO as probes of the cosmic ray ionization rate in diffuse clouds
The cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR, ) is one of the key parameters
controlling the formation and destruction of various molecules in molecular
clouds. However, the current most commonly used CRIR tracers, such as H,
OH, and HO, are hard to detect and require the presence of
background massive stars for absorption measurements. In this work, we propose
an alternative method to infer the CRIR in diffuse clouds using the abundance
ratios of OH/CO and HCO/CO. We have analyzed the response of chemical
abundances of CO, OH, and HCO on various environmental parameters of the
interstellar medium in diffuse clouds and found that their abundances are
proportional to . Our analytic expressions give an excellent
calculation of the abundance of OH for 10 s,
which are potentially useful for modelling chemistry in hydrodynamical
simulations. The abundances of OH and HCO were found to monotonically
decrease with increasing density, while the CO abundance shows the opposite
trend. With high-sensitivity absorption transitions of both CO (1--0) and
(2--1) lines from ALMA, we have derived the H number densities () toward 4 line-of-sights (LOSs); assuming a kinetic temperature of
, we find a range of
(0.140.03--1.20.1)10 cm}. By comparing the
observed and modelled HCO/CO ratios, we find that in our diffuse
gas sample is in the { range of 10 10 s. This is 2 times higher
than the average value measured at higher extinction, supporting an attenuation
of CRs as suggested by theoretical models.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap
Effects of a step-by-step inpatient rehabilitation program on self-care ability and quality of life in patients with acute cerebral infarction following intravascular stent implantation: a prospective cohort study
ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the influence of a step-by-step inpatient rehabilitation program (SIRP) on the self-care capability and quality of life of patients who have undergone intravascular stent implantation to treat large vessel occlusion during acute cerebral infarction (ACI).MethodsThis study included a cohort of 90 patients with ACI who received intravascular stent implantations at a tertiary hospital in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2020 to February 2024. The patients were followed up for at least 3 months. Cohort grouping was based on the type of nursing care each patient received. The observation group participated in SIRP along with receiving routine nursing care, whereas the control group received only routine nursing care. Key outcome measures included the Barthel index, the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, the incidence of complications, length of hospital stay, and 36-item short-form survey (SF-36) scores. These parameters were compared between the two groups.ResultsAt the time of admission, there were no significant differences in demographic data, NIHSS score, Barthel index, or SF-36 scores between the observation and control groups (all p > 0.05). However, at 3 months postoperatively, the observation group showed significant improvements, with higher average scores in the Barthel index (62.49 ± 7.32 vs. 53.16 ± 4.37, p < 0.001) and SF-36 scores (502.33 ± 14.28 vs. 417.64 ± 9.65, p < 0.001). Additionally, this group had significantly lower NIHSS scores (3.38 ± 1.19 vs. 10.24 ± 2.10, p < 0.001), fewer complications (3 vs. 15, p = 0.002), and shorter hospital stays (12.40 ± 1.68 vs. 15.56 ± 1.87, p < 0.001).ConclusionImplementing SIRP notably enhanced self-care capabilities and overall quality of life, while also reducing complication rates and the length of hospital stays for patients with ACI who underwent intravascular stent implantation. This underscores the potential benefits of incorporating structured rehabilitation programs in the treatment and recovery processes of such patients
Haemodynamic mechanism of formation and distribution of coronary atherosclerosis: A lesion-specific model
© IMechE 2020. Coronary arterial disease, as the most devastated cardiovascular disease, is caused by the atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, which blocks the blood flow to the heart, resulting in the deficient supply of oxygen and nutrition to the heart, and eventually leading to heart failure. To date, haemodynamic mechanisms for atherosclerosis development are not fully understood although it is believed that the haemodynamic disturbance at the region of the arterial bifurcation, particular, bifurcation angle, plays an important role in the atherosclerosis development. In this study, two types of computational fluid dynamics models, lesion-specific and idealized models, combined with the computer tomography imaging techniques, are used to explore the mechanism of formation and distribution of the atherosclerosis around the bifurcation of left coronary artery and its association with the bifurcation angle. The lesion-specific model is used to characterize the effect of personalized features on the haemodynamic performance, while the idealized model is focusing on the effect of single factor, bifurcation angle, on the haemodynamic performance. The simulated results from both types of the models, combined with the clinical observation, revealed that the three key areas around the bifurcations are prone to formation of the atherosclerosis. Unlike the idealized models, lesion-specific modelling results did not show the significant correlation between the wall shear stress and bifurcation angle, although the mean value of the wall shear stress in smaller bifurcation angles (less than 90°) is higher than that with larger bifurcation angles (greater than 90°). In conclusion, lesion-specific computational fluid dynamics modelling is an efficient and convenient way to predict the haemodynamic performance around the bifurcation region, allowing the comprehensive information for the clinicians to predict the atherosclerosis development. The idealized models, which only focus on single parameter, may not provide the sufficient and reliable information for the clinical application. A novel multi-parameters modelling technique, therefore, is suggested to be developed in future, allowing the effects of many parameters on the haemodynamic performance to be evaluated
Dependence of Chemical Abundance on the Cosmic Ray Ionization Rate in IC 348
Ions (e.g., H, HO) have been used extensively to quantify the
cosmic-ray ionization rate (CRIR) in diffuse sightlines. However, measurements
of CRIR in low-to-intermediate density gas environments are rare, especially
when background stars are absent. In this work, we combine molecular line
observations of CO, OH, CH, and HCO in the star-forming cloud IC~348, and
chemical models to constrain the value of CRIR and study the response of the
chemical abundances distribution. The cloud boundary is found to have an
of approximately 4 mag. From the interior to the exterior of the
cloud, the observed CO line intensities drop by an order of magnitude.
The calculated average abundance of CO (assuming C/C = 65)
is (1.20.9) 10, which increases by a factor of 6 from the
interior to the outside regions. The average abundance of CH (3.30.7
10) is in good agreement with previous findings in diffuse and
translucent clouds ( 5 mag). However, we did not find a decline
in CH abundance in regions of high extinction (8 mag) as
previously reported in Taurus. By comparing the observed molecular abundances
and chemical models, we find a decreasing trend of CRIR as
increases. The inferred CRIR of = (4.71.5)
10 s at low is consistent with H measurements
toward two nearby massive stars.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Ap
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