A Taxonomy of Operation Priorities in China

This paper presents taxonomy of operations priorities using data collected from 175 companies in China. The taxonomy of operations priorities in China are found to be quite different from what was observed in previous studies (Miller and Roth 1994; Kathuria 2000; Frohlich and Dixon 2001). The result of this study supports the view that the types of the operations strategies used by companies are different in different parts of the world and are influenced by the competitive environment (Frohlin and Dixon 2001). This paper also compares the use of the competitive strength and importance rating of the operation priorities to develop the taxonomy and found that competitive strength measures are more reliable and can better explain company\u27s performance and their emphases on management programs. The paper advocates the use of competitive strength rather than importance in future research on operations strategy

Facial age recognition based on deep manifold learning

Facial age recognition has been widely used in real-world applications. Most of current facial age recognition methods use deep learning to extract facial features to identify age. However, due to the high dimension features of faces, deep learning methods might extract a lot of redundant features, which is not beneficial for facial age recognition. To improve facial age recognition effectively, this paper proposed the deep manifold learning (DML), a combination of deep learning and manifold learning. In DML, deep learning was used to extract high-dimensional facial features, and manifold learning selected age-related features from these high-dimensional facial features for facial age recognition. Finally, we validated the DML on Multivariate Observations of Reactions and Physical Health (MORPH) and Face and Gesture Recognition Network (FG-NET) datasets. The results indicated that the mean absolute error (MAE) of MORPH is 1.60 and that of FG-NET is 2.48. Moreover, compared with the state of the art facial age recognition methods, the accuracy of DML has been greatly improved

Complete genome analysis of a novel E3-partial-deleted human adenovirus type 7 strain isolated in Southern China

Human adenovirus (HAdV) is a causative agent of acute respiratory disease, which is prevalent throughout the world. Recently there are some reports which found that the HAdV-3 and HAdV-5 genomes were very stable across 50 years of time and space. But more and more recombinant genomes have been identified in emergent HAdV pathogens and it is a pathway for the molecular evolution of types. In our paper, we found a HAdV-7 GZ07 strain isolated from a child with acute respiratory disease, whose genome was E3-partial deleted. The whole genome was 32442 bp with 2864 bp deleted in E3 region and was annotated in detail (GenBank: HQ659699). The growth character was the same as that of another HAdV-7 wild strain which had no gene deletion. By comparison with E3 regions of the other HAdV-B, we found that only left-end two proteins were remained: 12.1 kDa glycoprotein and 16.1 kDa protein. E3 MHC class I antigen-binding glycoprotein, hypothetical 20.6 kDa protein, 20.6 kDa protein, 7.7 kDa protein., 10.3 kDa protein, 14.9 kDa protein and E3 14.7 kDa protein were all missing. It is the first report about E3 deletion in human adenovirus, which suggests that E3 region is also a possible recombination region in adenovirus molecular evolution

Early transition from insulin to sulfonylureas in neonatal diabetes and follow-up: experience from China

Background: Sulfonylurea therapy can improve glycemic control and ameliorate neurodevelopmental outcomes in patients suffering from neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM) with KCNJ11 or ABCC8 mutations. As genetic testing results are often delayed, it remains controversial whether sulfonylurea treatment should be attempted immediately at diagnosis or doctors should await genetic confirmation. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of sulfonylurea therapy in Chinese NDM patients during infancy before genetic testing results were available. Methods: The medical records of NDM patients with their follow‐up details were reviewed and molecular genetic analysis was performed. Sulfonylurea transfer regimens were applied in patients diagnosed after May 2010, and glycemic status and side effects were evaluated in each patient. Results: There were 23 NDM patients from 22 unrelated families, 10 had KCNJ11 mutations, 3 harbored ABCC8 mutations, 1 had INS mutations, 4 had chromosome 6q24 abnormalities, 1 had a deletion at chromosome 1p36.23p36.12, and 4 had no genetic abnormality identified. Sixteen NDM infants were treated with glyburide at an average age of 49 days (range 14‐120 days) before genetic confirmation. A total of 11 of 16 (69%) were able to successfully switch to glyburide with a more stable glucose profile. The responsive glyburide dose was 0.51 ± 0.16 mg/kg/d (0.3‐0.8 mg/kg/d), while the maintenance dose was 0.30 ± 0.07 mg/kg/d (0.2‐0.4 mg/kg/d). No serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: Molecular genetic diagnosis is recommended in all patients with NDM. However, if genetic testing results are delayed, sulfonylurea therapy should be considered before such results are received, even in infants with newly diagnosed NDM

Clinical and mutational features of three Chinese children with congenital generalized lipodystrophy

Objective: To investigate the clinical and molecular features of congenital generalized lipodystrophy (CGL) in three Chinese patients with various typical manifestations. Methods: Data on clinical symptoms, results of laboratory analyses, and previous treatments in three Chinese patients were collected by a retrospective review of medical records. All coding regions and adjacent exon–intron junction regions of AGPAT2 and BSCL2 genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced.Results: Generalized lipodystrophy, acanthosis nigricans, muscular hypertrophy, severe hypertriglyceridemia, and hepatomegaly were features in all three patients. Patient 1 developed diabetes mellitus at the early age of 2 months and he was the youngest CGL patient reported with overt diabetes. Patient 2 was found to have cardiomyopathy when she was aged 6 months. All of the patients were found to have mutations in the BSCL2 gene, but none of these was a novel mutation. We did not find any AGPAT2 mutation in our patients.Conclusion: All of our patients exhibited characteristic features of CGL due to mutations in the BSCL2 gene

Mechanism of DNA trapping in nanoporous structures during asymmetric pulsed-field electrophoresis

We investigate the trapping mechanism of individual DNA molecules in ordered nanoporous structures generated by crystalline particle arrays. Two requisites for trapping are revealed by the dynamics of single trapped DNA, fully-stretched U/J shapes and hernia formation. The experimental results show there is a stronger possibility for hernias to lead the reorientation upon switching directions of the voltage at high field strengths, where trapping occurs. Fully stretched DNA has longer unhooking times than expected by a classic rope-on-pulley model. We propose a dielectrophoretic (DEP) force reduces the mobility of segments at the apex of the U or J, where field gradients are highest, based on simulations and observations of the trapping force dependence on field strength. A modified model for unhooking time is obtained after the DEP force is introduced. The new model explains the unhooking time data by predicting an infinite trapping time when the ratio of arm length differences (of the U or J) to molecule length \u394x/L < \u3b2, where \u3b2 is a DEP parameter that is found to strongly increase with electric field. The DNA polarizability calculated with the DEP model and experimental value of \u3b2 is of the same magnitude of reported value. The results indicate the tension at the apex of U/J shape DNA is the primary reason for DNA trapping during pulsed field separation, instead of hernias.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Analysis of Factors Contributing to the Injury Severity of Overloaded-Truck-Related Crashes on Mountainous Highways in China

Overloaded transport can certainly improve transportation efficiency and reduce operating costs. Nevertheless, several negative consequences are associated with this illegal activity, including road subsidence, bridge collapse, and serious casualties caused by accidents. Given the complexity and variability of mountainous highways, this study examines 1862 overloaded-truck-related crashes that happened in Yunnan Province, China, and attempts to analyze the key factors contributing to the injury severity. This is the first time that the injury severity has been studied from the perspective of crashes involving overloaded trucks, and meanwhile in a scenario of mountainous highways. For in-depth analysis, three models are developed, including a binary logit model, a random parameter logit model, and a classification and regression tree, but the results show that the random parameter logit model outperforms the other two. In the best-performing model, a total of fifteen variables are found to be significant at the 99% confidence level, including random variables such as freeway, broadside hitting, impaired braking performance, spring, and evening. In regards to the fixed variables, it is likely that the single curve, rollover, autumn, and winter variables will increase the probability of fatalities, whereas the provincial highway, country road, urban road, cement, wet, and head-on variables will decrease the likelihood of death. Our findings are useful for industry-related departments in formulating and implementing corresponding countermeasures, such as strengthening the inspection of commercial trucks, increasing the penalties for overloaded trucks, and installing certain protective equipment and facilities on crash-prone sections

Severity Analysis of Multi-Truck Crashes on Mountain Freeways Using a Mixed Logit Model

Many studies have analyzed the road characteristics that affect the severity of truck crashes. However, most of these studies have only examined road alignment or grade separately, without considering their combined effects. The purpose of this article is to address this gap in the literature. Our study uses truck crash data from 2015 to 2019 on freeways in the Yunnan Province of China, where the severity levels of the crashes were determined by taking into account economic loss and the number of injuries and fatalities. Our study develops three models to examine the severity of truck crashes: a multinomial logit model, a mixed logit model, and a generalized ordered logit model. The findings suggest that the mixed logit model, which can suffer from unobserved heterogeneity, is more suitable because of the higher pseudo-R-squared (ρ2) value and lower Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion. The estimation results show that the combination of curve and slope significantly increases the severity of truck crashes compared to curves and slopes alone. In addition, risk factors such as crash type, vehicle type, surface condition, time of day, pavement structure, and guardrails have a significant impact on the severity of truck crashes on mountainous freeways. Based on these findings, we developed policy recommendations for reducing the severity of multi-truck collisions on mountainous highways and improving transport sustainability. For example, if possible, the combination of curve and slope should be avoided. Additionally, it is recommended that trucks use tires with good heat resistance

Research on the construction of carbon emission evaluation system of low-carbon-oriented urban planning scheme: taking the West New District of Jinan city as example

Carbon emissions caused by human activities are closely linked to the process of urbanization, urban land use and traffic system are two important factors that may influence it. On the basis of clarifying the space structure of low-carbon eco-city, this paper constructing an evaluation system of urban carbon emission from four dimensions: construction land compact, traffic carbon emission potential, road network accessibility, and public transportation accessibility. Based on the evaluation system, the author took the West New District of Jinan city as an example, evaluated urban planning scheme by using several spatial models such as landscape pattern index, Spatial syntax, POI (Point of Interest) kernel density analysis, and OD (Origin Destination) matrix in support of GIS (Geographic Information System) and RS (Remote Sensing) techniques

Primary Mapping and Analysis of the <i>CmARM14</i> Candidate Gene for Mature Fruit Abscission in Melon

Mature fruit abscission (MFA) is an important trait in terms of both harvest and yield. MFA can affect the production and economic value of melon fruit. An F3 population segregating for a single gene and derived from a cross between line M2-10, which shows no mature fruit abscission (None MFA), and the MFA line ZT00091 was used to map candidate genes. Specific length amplified fragment (SLAF) sequencing, in conjunction with bulked-segregant analysis (BSA), was used to map loci governing the natural fruit abscission of plants composing the F3-57 family. A candidate locus, mfa10.1, located on chromosome 10 between genomic positions 73,229 and 818,251, was obtained. An insertion-deletion (InDel) marker and 46 recombinant individuals were used to narrow the candidate region to within 35 kb at the genomic position of 650,203 to 685,250; this region included six candidate genes. qRT–PCR gene expression and gene sequence data showed that the CmARM14 gene, which encodes a RING-type E3 ubiquitin transferase (MELO3C012406), was a candidate for melon MFA. Subcellular localization observations revealed that the CmARM14 fusion protein was localized to the golgi apparatus. Taken together, these results provide a molecular basis for melon breeding