Sensory refreshment: TCM reconsidered

With the rapid development and expansion of our cities and the economic demand placed on residents, city dwellers are under more personal stress than ever. Long commutes, overtime work, irregular rest, unhealthy diets, urban pollution and noise all adversely impact wellbeing. These unhealthy conditions overwhelm the mind and make residents mentally and physically sub-healthy. Sub-health is a state between complete health and sickness, which is especially common in large cities. The sub-health rate in Shanghai and Beijing has reached more than 70%. Chinese medicine can regulate the human body from a holistic perspective and help solve sub-health problems. Chinese medicine refreshes the human body by sensory experience. The environment and atmosphere of the traditional Chinese dispensary are similar to those of ordinary hospitals: serious, calm and rational. These characteristics don’t encourage a good experience, and even bring some further psychological pressure to adjust to the sub-health problem. This thesis proposes a Chinese medicine center to facilitate people’s understanding of TCM using multiple senses, through immersive experiences. The host site for this TCM rest center is the Shanghai Botanical Garden, which is distinctly separate from the external urban landscape in order to create a relaxing setting to readjust your perspective and learn about TCM. At the urban scale, Shanghai\u27s subway system serves as a network connecting the entire city. People in Shanghai spend 40 minutes commuting to work every day. The broad ambition of this thesis is to incorporate the healing and relaxing elements of traditional Chinese medicine, such as aroma, into part of the subway system. City dwellers can temporarily escape from the high-paced urban city and be refreshed and healed, through both active engagement with a Traditional Chinese Medicine center and passively as they go through the work day

Curcumin Promoted the Apoptosis of Cisplain-resistant Human Lung Carcinoma Cells A549/DDP through Down-regulating miR-186*

Background and objective Curcumin, a natural compound, is derived from the rthizom of Curcuma longa. In vitro and in vivo preclinical studies have shown its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer activities and so on. miR-186*, which was found by microarray technology, was highly expressed in lung carcinoma cells A549/DDP. The aim of this study is to illustrate whether Curcumin could promote the apoptosis of A549/DDP cells through regulating the expression of miR-186*. Methods An oligonucleotide microarray chip was used to profile microRNA (miRNA) expressions in A549/DDP cells treated with and without Curcumin. The significantly differentially expressed miRNA, which was selected from microarray chip, validated by quantitative real-time PCR. Ultimately, the remarkably expressed miRNA modulated the apoptosis assaying by flow cytometry expriments and the survival rate was measured by MTT method. Results The microarray chip results demonstrated: Curcumin altered the expression level of miRNAs compared with untreated control in A549/DDP cell line, miR-186* was significantly down-regulated after Curcumin treatment, which confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Downregulation of miR-186* expression by curcumin elevated the apoptosis, and the survival rate of A549/DDP cells decreased; but up-regulation of miR-186* expression by transfection its mimics restrained the apoptosis, the survival rate of A549/DDP cells increased, which were assayed by flow cytometry expriments and MTT method. Conclusion Modulation of miRNAs expression may be an important mechanism underlying the biological roles of Curcumin

Production costs, scope economies, and multi-client outsourcing under quantity competition

Two game models are developed based on production costs and scope economies to investigate the widely observed multi-client outsourcing (MCO) phenomenon. Analytical results demonstrate that outsourcers’ high in-house production costs and the advantage of scope economies motivate firms to outsource collectively to an independent vendor. Under certain conditions, if both firms make their outsourcing decisions simultaneously, collective outsourcing is one of the two equilibria; if both firms make decisions sequentially, collective outsourcing becomes the unique equilibrium. Furthermore, the comparative statics of the critical degree of scope economies are examined for the occurrence of MCO with regard to diverse market parameters. Finally, it is proved that market prices decrease as the degree of scope economies increases when MCO occurs. This research helps explain some widely observed phenomena such as malls, supply chain cities, and the China price

Orbit Simulation for the Determination of Relativistic and Solar-System Parameters for the ASTROD Space Mission

ASTROD (Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices) mission concept is to conduct high-precision measurement of relativistic effects,solar-system parameters and gravitational waves. In this paper, we first extend the stochastic model to simulate the determination of the masses of three big asteroids (Ceres, Vesta and Pallas). With one range observation per day for each spacecraft from 25 days to 800 days of the mission and ten range observations per day for each spacecraft from 800 days to 1050 days of the mission (when the apparent positions of the two spacecraft are close to the Sun), the accuracies of determining these parameters are 4.6*10**(-7) for gamma, 4.0*10**(-7) for beta, 1.2*10**(-8) for J2, and 6.4*10**(-5) M_Ceres, 7.6*10**(-4) M_Pallas, 8.1*10**(-5) M_Vesta for the mass determination of Ceres, Pallas and Vesta respectively. We then include in the simulation and determination the rate of change of the gravitational constant (G-dot), and an anomalous constant acceleration (aa) directed towards the Sun (Pioneer Anomaly). At the end of 1050 days of simulation, the accuracies of determining these two parameters are 9.5*10**(-15)/yr for G-dot/G and 2.0*10**(-16) m/s2 for a_a. The mass loss rate of the inner solar system is at the level of 1*10**(-13) M_Sun/yr. The accurate determinat-ion of Ġ/G will mean a need to simultaneously determine the mass loss rate. In other words, the mission gives a way to monitor the mass loss rate of the Sun if Ġ/G can be determined independently.Comment: 6 pages; 4 figures; presented to 33rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Warsaw, 16-23 July, 2000; submitted to Advances in Space Researc

Social responsibility allocation in two-echelon supply chains: Insights from wholesale price contracts

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is considered in a two-echelon supply chain consisting of an upstream supplier and a downstream firm that are bound by a wholesale price contract. CSR performance (the outcome of CSR conduct) of the whole supply chain is gauged by a global variable and the associated cost of achieving this CSR performance is only incurred by the supplier with an expectation of being shared with the downstream firm via the wholesale price contract. As such, the key issue is to determine who should be allocated as the responsibility holder with the right of offering the contract and how this right should be appropriately restricted. Game-theoretical analyses are carried out on six games, resulting from different interaction schemes between the supplier and the firm, to derive their corresponding equilibriums. Comparative institutional analyses are then conducted to determine the optimal social responsibility allocation based on both economic and CSR performance criteria. Main results are furnished in a series of propositions and their implications to the real-world business practice are discussed. The key findings are threefold: under the current model settings: (1) the optimal allocation scheme is to assign the supplier as the responsibility holder with appropriate restrictions on the corresponding rights to determine the wholesale price; (2) inherent conflict exists between the economic and CSR performance criteria and, hence, the two maxima cannot be achieved simultaneously; and (3) although integrative channel profit is not attainable, the system-wide profit will be improved by implementing optimal social responsibility allocation schemes