Chinese Pure Online-Channel Retailers Implement the Strategy Transformation to Omni-Channel Retailing

As an emerging market strategy in the retail sector, omni-channel retailing aims to coordinate processes and technologies across supply and sales channels. In academia, the concepts of omni-channel retailing are still nascent, and the number of academic literature on this subject is very limited. This dissertation aims to explore the concept of omni-channel and its implement in relevant firm operating in the Chinese market. Lots of retailers have become the player to develop multichannel and omnichannel strategies by adding touchpoints to interact with their customers. Therefore, a managerial perspective is vital for gathering insights into the retailer’s current strategy and the challenges they face when configuring omni-channel integration. This research employs an interpretive-based approach and takes the form of an exploratory a case study through the in-depth investigation of the relevant retailer. Qualitative data was collected from the semi-interviews. The conclusion of this dissertation is that the investigated retailer still has a long way to go in their integrative efforts. Since there are some undeveloped channel strategies in their omni-channel implementation. While it can be said that the investigated retailer channel integration degree is far ahead in the Chinese market. Additionally, through empirical research, the final survey results show that although the omni-channel concept in the literature needs to be modified, it is also basically applicable to China's developing market context

I run as fast as a rabbit, can you? A Multilingual Simile Dialogue Dataset

A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things (called the tenor and the vehicle) via shared properties. The tenor and the vehicle are usually connected with comparator words such as "like" or "as". The simile phenomena are unique and complex in a real-life dialogue scene where the tenor and the vehicle can be verbal phrases or sentences, mentioned by different speakers, exist in different sentences, or occur in reversed order. However, the current simile research usually focuses on similes in a triplet tuple (tenor, property, vehicle) or a single sentence where the tenor and vehicle are usually entities or noun phrases, which could not reflect complex simile phenomena in real scenarios. In this paper, we propose a novel and high-quality multilingual simile dialogue (MSD) dataset to facilitate the study of complex simile phenomena. The MSD is the largest manually annotated simile data ($\sim$20K) and it contains both English and Chinese data. Meanwhile, the MSD data can also be used on dialogue tasks to test the ability of dialogue systems when using similes. We design 3 simile tasks (recognition, interpretation, and generation) and 2 dialogue tasks (retrieval and generation) with MSD. For each task, we provide experimental results from strong pre-trained or state-of-the-art models. The experiments demonstrate the challenge of MSD and we have released the data/code on GitHub.Comment: 13 Pages, 1 Figure, 12 Tables, ACL 2023 finding

Mechanical Properties of Gas Storage Sandstone under Uniaxial Cyclic Loading and Unloading Condition

In order to study the mechanical properties and damage evolution of the gas storage surrounding rock under the periodic injection-production process, the uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading tests of sandstone were carried out by TFD-2000 microcomputer servo-controlled rock triaxial testing machine. Results shown that the compressive strength of gas storage sandstone specimens were gradually decreases with increasing of the stress amplitude after 200 cycles. The stress-strain curve under uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading condition formed hysteresis loops, and the hysteresis loop presented sparse-dense-sparse when the stress amplitude was relative higher. The residual strains can be divided into three stages of decay deformation stage, stable deformation stage and accelerated deformation stage when the stress amplitude is 8~32 MPa, this phenomenon is very similar to the creep behavior of rocks. The energy evolution of sandstone under cyclic loading and unloading was analyzed and the damage evolution low of which was also discussed in detail, the damage variable defined by energy dissipative ratio accumulation can well reflect the damage development of sandstone under uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading. A nonlinear visco-plastic body was proposed by considering the accelerate stage of curves of the axial residual strains, and used the nonlinear visco-plastic body to replace the visco-plastic body of the traditional Nishihara model, a nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic model for cyclic loads was established and the applicability of the model is verified. The research results provide certain reference value for the construction and maintenance of gas storage

Hypoxic acclimatization training improves the resistance to motion sickness

ObjectiveVestibular provocation is one of the main causes of flight illusions, and its occurrence is closely related to the susceptibility of motion sickness (MS). However, existing training programs have limited effect in improving the resistance to motion sickness. In this study, we investigated the effects of hypoxia acclimatization training (HAT) on the resistance to motion sickness.MethodsHealthy military college students were identified as subjects according to the criteria. MS model was induced by a rotary chair. Experimental groups included control, HAT, 3D roller training (3DRT), and combined training.ResultsThe Graybiel scores were decreased in the HAT group and the 3DRT group and further decreased in the combined training group in MS induced by the rotary chair. Participants had a significant increase in blood pressure after the rotary chair test and a significant increase in the heart rate during the rotary chair test, but these changes disappeared in all three training groups. Additionally, LFn was increased, HFn was decreased, and LF/HF was increased accordingly during the rotary chair test in the control group, but the changes of these three parameters were completely opposite in the three training groups during the rotary chair test. Compared with the control group, the decreasing changes in pupillary contraction velocity (PCV) and pupillary minimum diameter (PMD) of the three training groups were smaller. In particular, the binocular PCV changes were further attenuated in the combined training group.ConclusionOur research provides a possible candidate solution for training military pilots in the resistance to motion sickness

Novel Evolved Immunoglobulin (Ig)-Binding Molecules Enhance the Detection of IgM against Hepatitis C Virus

Detection of specific antibodies against hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most widely available test for viral diagnosis and monitoring of HCV infections. However, narrowing the serologic window of anti-HCV detection by enhancing anti-HCV IgM detection has remained to be a problem. Herein, we used LD5, a novel evolved immunoglobulin-binding molecule (NEIBM) with a high affinity for IgM, to develop a new anti-HCV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using horseradish peroxidase-labeled LD5 (HRP-LD5) as the conjugated enzyme complex. The HRP-LD5 assay showed detection efficacy that is comparable with two kinds of domestic diagnostic kits and the Abbott 3.0 kit when tested against the national reference panel. Moreover, the HRP-LD5 assay showed a higher detection rate (55.9%, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 0.489, 0.629) than that of a domestic diagnostic ELISA kit (Chang Zheng) (53.3%, 95% CI 0.463, 0.603) in 195 hemodialysis patient serum samples. Five serum samples that were positive using the HRP-LD5 assay and negative with the conventional anti-HCV diagnostic ELISA kits were all positive for HCV RNA, and 4 of them had detectable antibodies when tested with the established anti-HCV IgM assay. An IgM confirmation study revealed the IgM reaction nature of these five serum samples. These results demonstrate that HRP-LD5 improved anti-HCV detection by enhancing the detection of anti-HCV IgM, which may have potential value for the early diagnosis and screening of hepatitis C and other infectious diseases

Seizing the window of opportunity to mitigate the impact of climate change on the health of Chinese residents

The health threats posed by climate change in China are increasing rapidly. Each province faces different health risks. Without a timely and adequate response, climate change will impact lives and livelihoods at an accelerated rate and even prevent the achievement of the Healthy and Beautiful China initiatives. The 2021 China Report of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change is the first annual update of China’s Report of the Lancet Countdown. It comprehensively assesses the impact of climate change on the health of Chinese households and the measures China has taken. Invited by the Lancet committee, Tsinghua University led the writing of the report and cooperated with 25 relevant institutions in and outside of China. The report includes 25 indicators within five major areas (climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement) and a policy brief. This 2021 China policy brief contains the most urgent and relevant indicators focusing on provincial data: The increasing health risks of climate change in China; mixed progress in responding to climate change. In 2020, the heatwave exposures per person in China increased by 4.51 d compared with the 1986–2005 average, resulting in an estimated 92% increase in heatwave-related deaths. The resulting economic cost of the estimated 14500 heatwave-related deaths in 2020 is US$176 million. Increased temperatures also caused a potential 31.5 billion h in lost work time in 2020, which is equivalent to 1.3% of the work hours of the total national workforce, with resulting economic losses estimated at 1.4% of China’s annual gross domestic product. For adaptation efforts, there has been steady progress in local adaptation planning and assessment in 2020, urban green space growth in 2020, and health emergency management in 2019. 12 of 30 provinces reported that they have completed, or were developing, provincial health adaptation plans. Urban green space, which is an important heat adaptation measure, has increased in 18 of 31 provinces in the past decade, and the capacity of China’s health emergency management increased in almost all provinces from 2018 to 2019. As a result of China’s persistent efforts to clean its energy structure and control air pollution, the premature deaths due to exposure to ambient particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) and the resulting costs continue to decline. However, 98% of China’s cities still have annual average PM2.5 concentrations that are more than the WHO guideline standard of 10 μg/m3. It provides policymakers and the public with up-to-date information on China’s response to climate change and improvements in health outcomes and makes the following policy recommendations. (1) Promote systematic thinking in the related departments and strengthen multi-departmental cooperation. Sectors related to climate and development in China should incorporate health perspectives into their policymaking and actions, demonstrating WHO’s and President Xi Jinping’s so-called health-in-all-policies principle. (2) Include clear goals and timelines for climate-related health impact assessments and health adaptation plans at both the national and the regional levels in the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy for 2035. (3) Strengthen China’s climate mitigation actions and ensure that health is included in China’s pathway to carbon neutrality. By promoting investments in zero-carbon technologies and reducing fossil fuel subsidies, the current rebounding trend in carbon emissions will be reversed and lead to a healthy, low-carbon future. (4) Increase awareness of the linkages between climate change and health at all levels. Health professionals, the academic community, and traditional and new media should raise the awareness of the public and policymakers on the important linkages between climate change and health.</p

Chinese Pure Online-Channel Retailers Implement the Strategy Transformation to Omni-Channel Retailing

As an emerging market strategy in the retail sector, omni-channel retailing aims to coordinate processes and technologies across supply and sales channels. In academia, the concepts of omni-channel retailing are still nascent, and the number of academic literature on this subject is very limited. This dissertation aims to explore the concept of omni-channel and its implement in relevant firm operating in the Chinese market. Lots of retailers have become the player to develop multichannel and omnichannel strategies by adding touchpoints to interact with their customers. Therefore, a managerial perspective is vital for gathering insights into the retailer’s current strategy and the challenges they face when configuring omni-channel integration. This research employs an interpretive-based approach and takes the form of an exploratory a case study through the in-depth investigation of the relevant retailer. Qualitative data was collected from the semi-interviews. The conclusion of this dissertation is that the investigated retailer still has a long way to go in their integrative efforts. Since there are some undeveloped channel strategies in their omni-channel implementation. While it can be said that the investigated retailer channel integration degree is far ahead in the Chinese market. Additionally, through empirical research, the final survey results show that although the omni-channel concept in the literature needs to be modified, it is also basically applicable to China's developing market context