E-Business Investment in the Travel Industry: A Preliminarily Study

E-business has been rapidly growing in the retailing and service industries. As an innovative mode for selling and delivering products/services, e-business model involves both technological and strategic changes. It has been observed that firms in the same industry may adopt e-business model at different paces. Questions remain why some firms tend to actively implement e-business while others take cautious attitudes toward it. Scholars from different research fields have approached to the innovation adoption issue from various theoretical perspectives. Drawing upon the innovation adoption literature as well as institutional theory, market orientation theory, and strategic choice perspective, this study proposes a multi-level explanatory model about e -business adoption in the travel industry. We identified some important enviro nmental, organizational, and managerial variables that may affect e-business investment. Using survey data from a sample of travel agencies in Taiwan, we found that external competitive pressure, the firm’s innovation orientation, its IT human resource base, the CEO’s perception of e-business advantage, and CEO openness to experience were associated to e-business investment

Plasticity of muscle synergies through fractionation and merging during development and training of human runners

Complex motor commands for human locomotion are generated through the combination of motor modules representable as muscle synergies. Recent data have argued that muscle synergies are inborn or determined early in life, but development of the neuromusculoskeletal system and acquisition of new skills may demand fine-tuning or reshaping of the early synergies. We seek to understand how locomotor synergies change during development and training by studying the synergies for running in preschoolers and diverse adults from sedentary subjects to elite marathoners, totaling 63 subjects assessed over 100 sessions. During development, synergies are fractionated into units with fewer muscles. As adults train to run, specific synergies coalesce to become merged synergies. Presences of specific synergy-merging patterns correlate with enhanced or reduced running efficiency. Fractionation and merging of muscle synergies may be a mechanism for modifying early motor modules (Nature) to accommodate the changing limb biomechanics and influences from sensorimotor training (Nurture)

A Chan Dietary Intervention Enhances Executive Functions and Anterior Cingulate Activity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Executive dysfunctions have been found to be related to repetitive/disinhibited behaviors and social deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study aims to investigate the potential effect of a Shaolin-medicine-based dietary modification on improving executive functions and behavioral symptoms of ASD and exploring the possible underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. Twenty-four children with ASD were randomly assigned into the experimental (receiving dietary modification for one month) and the control (no modification) groups. Each child was assessed on his/her executive functions, behavioral problems based on parental ratings, and event-related electroencephalography (EEG) activity during a response-monitoring task before and after the one month. The experimental group demonstrated significantly improved mental flexibility and inhibitory control after the diet modification, which continued to have a large effect size within the low-functioning subgroup. Such improvements coincided with positive evaluations by their parents on social communication abilities and flexible inhibitory control of daily behaviors and significantly enhanced event-related EEG activity at the rostral and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, the control group did not show any significant improvements. These positive outcomes of a one-month dietary modification on children with ASD have implicated its potential clinical applicability for patients with executive function deficits

A Chan Dietary Intervention Enhances Executive Functions and Anterior Cingulate Activity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Executive dysfunctions have been found to be related to repetitive/disinhibited behaviors and social deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study aims to investigate the potential effect of a Shaolin-medicine-based dietary modification on improving executive functions and behavioral symptoms of ASD and exploring the possible underlying neurophysiological mechanisms. Twenty-four children with ASD were randomly assigned into the experimental (receiving dietary modification for one month) and the control (no modification) groups. Each child was assessed on his/her executive functions, behavioral problems based on parental ratings, and event-related electroencephalography (EEG) activity during a response-monitoring task before and after the one month. The experimental group demonstrated significantly improved mental flexibility and inhibitory control after the diet modification, which continued to have a large effect size within the low-functioning subgroup. Such improvements coincided with positive evaluations by their parents on social communication abilities and flexible inhibitory control of daily behaviors and significantly enhanced event-related EEG activity at the rostral and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, the control group did not show any significant improvements. These positive outcomes of a one-month dietary modification on children with ASD have implicated its potential clinical applicability for patients with executive function deficits

Code Transpilation for Hardware Accelerators

DSLs and hardware accelerators have proven to be very effective in optimizing computationally expensive workloads. In this paper, we propose a solution to the challenge of manually rewriting legacy or unoptimized code in domain-specific languages and hardware accelerators. We introduce an approach that integrates two open-source tools: Metalift, a code translation framework, and Gemmini, a DNN accelerator generator. The integration of these two tools offers significant benefits, including simplified workflows for developers to run legacy code on Gemmini generated accelerators and a streamlined programming stack for Gemmini that reduces the effort required to add new instructions. This paper provides details on this integration and its potential to simplify and optimize computationally expensive workloads

Dejian Mind-Body Intervention on Depressive Mood of Community-Dwelling Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a short-term mind-body intervention program on improving the depressive mood of an adult community sample. Forty adult volunteers with various degrees of depressive mood were randomly assigned to the experimental group (Dejian Mind-Body Intervention, DMBI) and control group (Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, CBT). For each group, a total of four 90-min weekly sessions were conducted. Treatment-related changes were measured using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), an electroencephalographic indicator of positive affect (i.e., prefrontal activation asymmetry), and self-report ratings on physical health. Results indicated that both the DMBI and the CBT group demonstrated significant reduction in depressive mood. However, among individuals with moderate to severe depressive mood at baseline, only those in the DMBI but not the CBT group showed significant reduction in depressive mood. Besides, only the DMBI group demonstrated a significant increase in prefrontal activation asymmetry, suggesting increase in positive affect. While most psychological therapies for depressive mood normally take several months to show treatment effect, the present findings provided initial data suggesting that the DMBI was effective in improving depressive mood of community adults after 1 month of training

An Herbal Nasal Drop Enhanced Frontal and Anterior Cingulate Cortex Activity

The present study examined the neuro-electrophysiological activity of the brain associated with the application of a herbal remedy developed by a Shaolin monk based upon the Chan healing principle of clearing the orifices (i.e., the nasal cavities). A repeated-measures design was used. Fourteen normal adults were administered herbal remedy and saline solution intranasally on separate sessions. Two intervals of eyes-closed resting EEG data were obtained individually before and after each administration. Results showed that only the herbal remedy but not the saline solution induced elevation in cordance, an index correlated with cerebral perfusion, in the anterior brain region. In addition, the activity of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), as examined by the LORETA analysis, was also increased after the application of the herbal remedy but not saline solution. The present study provided some preliminary evidence suggesting that the herbal nasal drop enhanced the activity of the frontal lobe and ACC. Implications for the potential clinical application of the herbal remedy to treat patients with frontal lobe disorders were discussed

Shaolin Dan Tian Breathing Fosters Relaxed and Attentive Mind: A Randomized Controlled Neuro-Electrophysiological Study

Neuro-electrophysiological studies on meditative breathing revealed its association with either a relaxed or an attentive state. The present study aimed to investigate whether the Shaolin Dan Tian Breathing (DTB) technique, which consists of the Passive and Active subtypes and can be considered as a relaxation exercise and Qigong, would induce both relaxed and attentive states. Twenty-two adults and 22 age-, gender- and education-matched controls received training on the Shaolin DTB (experimental group) and the progressive muscle relaxation respectively for one month. Eyes-closed resting EEG data before and immediately after each type of breathing were obtained individually at baseline and after one-month training. At baseline, the EEG changes after the Shaolin DTB between both groups were comparable. After one-month training, participants in the experimental, but not the control, group showed enhanced temporal alpha asymmetry (an index of relaxation and positive mood) after performing the Passive DTB for five minutes, and enhanced intra- and inter-hemispheric theta coherence (an index of attention and alertness) after performing the Active DTB. The present findings suggested a positive effect of the Shaolin DTB technique on enhancing human neural activity and connectivity, which may possibly enhance mood state and cognitive functions

Ur Next GF: Urine as Next Generation Fertilizer with Meat and Bone Meal Applied on Vigna radiata (Monggo plant)

Fertilizers play an important role in providing crops with essential nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), which supplements plant growth. Compared to synthetically composed commercial fertilizers, next generation fertilizers are manufactured from low-energy mechanisms and are composed of nutrients from repurposed wastes which make them cost-efficient and sustainable. With the objective of determining which would deem to be an effective next generation fertilizer, we focus on human urine and meat and bone meal, to which its processing included solar drying, freezing, grinding, and utilizing additives to prevent fungal growth as well as improve efficacy. Three iterations, each with four set ups: plain urine, urine and meat and bone meal, control, and meat and bone meal only; were used to examine which content would prove more beneficial to the growth and quality of the chosen plant, Vigna radiata. The study adapted a quantitative analysis that aimed to measure the plant height, leaf area index, and dark green color index through the conduction of statistical tests and the use of ImageJ. As a result, the paper was able to conclude that the combination of urine and meat and bone meal poses a great potential for future fertilizer use