The value of additional reviews in reputation systems: Evidence from a car review platform

Online reviews, especially additional reviews, have become an important channel for consumers to obtain information about product quality. Based on review data obtained from “AutoHome”, which is a most popular car review platform in China, this study explores the influence of additional review function on the initial reviews from both the reader and reviewer levels. At the reader-level, the introduction of the additional review function improves readers’ perceived usefulness of the reviews. At the reviewer-level, it can drive reviewers to write more initial reviews. In general, the introduction of such a function can be regarded as an improvement of the existing review mechanism. The findings of this study can not only enrich the research on online word-of-mouth, but also provide valuable reference for related practitioners

A sigmoid attractiveness based improved firefly algorithm and its applications in IIR filter design

Recently, a novel population-based optimisation algorithm, namely firefly algorithm (FA), which mimics the flashing and attraction behaviour of fireflies, has shown promising performance in solving global optimisation problems. However, the preliminary studies have shown that FA often gets stuck in local optima. In this paper, we investigate the reasons why the FA suffers from getting stuck in local optima; and then propose an improved firefly algorithm (IFA). These improvements are twofold: first, a sigmoid-based attractiveness is employed to reformulate its definition and strengthen its local refinement ability; second, a dynamic step parameter tuning strategy is designed to adjust the random search intensity and narrow the search space iteratively to strengthen its global search ability. The empirical results indicate IFA can well balance between the global exploration and the local exploitation, and provides the best solutions, at least the competitive results, for most of 12 global optimisation problems over other FA variants. Besides, by employing IFA to solve well-known infinite impulse response filter design problems, we evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of IFA. The experimental results and comparisons show that IFA performs better than, at least as competent again, other meta-heuristics in terms of the solution accuracy, solution robustness, and convergence rate

Model and algorithm for pharmaceutical distribution routing problem considering customer priority and carbon emissions

Pharmaceutical distribution routing problem is a key problem for pharmaceutical enterprises, since efficient schedules can enhance resource utilization and reduce operating costs. Meanwhile, it is a complicated combinatorial optimization problem. Existing research mainly focused on delivery route lengths or distribution costs minimization, while seldom considered customer priority and carbon emissions simultaneously. However, considering the customer priority and carbon emissions simultaneously will not only help to enhance customer satisfaction, but also help to reduce the carbon emissions. In this article, we consider the customer priority and carbon emission minimization simultaneously in the pharmaceutical distribution routing problem, the corresponding problem is named pharmaceutical distribution routing problem considering customer priority and carbon emissions. A corresponding mathematical model is formulated, the objectives of which are minimizing fixed cost, refrigeration cost, fuel consumption cost, carbon emission cost, and penalty cost for violating time windows. Moreover, a hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is proposed to solve the problem. The framework of the proposed HGA is genetic algorithm (GA), where an effective local search based on variable neighborhood search (VNS) is specially designed and incorporated to improve the intensification abilities. In the proposed HGA, crossover with adaptive probability and mutation with adaptive probability are utilized to enhance the algorithm performance. Finally, the proposed HGA is compared with four optimization algorithms, and experimental results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the HGA

Molecular Characterization and Expression of <i>CmobHLH</i> Genes in Pumpkin

The transcription factor bHLH gene family plays fundamental roles in plant development and mitigating diverse biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the information of bHLH genes in pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) is still unknown. In this current study, 222 CmobHLH genes were identified and mapped onto different chromosomes through bioinformatics analysis in pumpkin. CmobHLH and AtbHLH proteins could be classified into 19 subfamilies according to the phylogenetic tree. CmobHLH proteins within the same subfamily had similar motif composition and gene structures. Gene ontology (GO), cis-regulatory elements (CREs) and protein–protein interaction analyses suggested the potential regulatory roles of CmobHLH genes during the plant development process and abiotic stresses response in pumpkin. Tissue expression patterns based on transcriptome data demonstrated that CmobHLH genes were involved in pumpkin development process, and they had unique functions in different tissues. The expression patterns of five selected CmobHLH genes after exposure to abiotic stresses showed that the CmobHLH genes played varied roles in the stress responses of pumpkin to NaCl, waterlogging, cold, ABA and drought. In brief, these findings offer important information for further functional research of CmobHLH genes and resistance breeding in pumpkin

Metabolic Profiling for Unveiling Mechanisms of Kushenol F against Imiquimod-Induced Psoriasis with UHPLC/MS Analysis

Psoriasis is a common chronic immune-mediated inflammatory skin disorder. Sophora flavescens Alt. (S. flavescens) has been widely acknowledged in the prevention and treatment of psoriasis. Kushenol F (KSCF) is a natural isopentenyl flavonoid extracted from the root of S. flavescens. We aimed to investigate the effect and mechanism of KSCF on imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis-like skin lesions in mice. A mouse model of psoriasis was induced with 5% IMQ for 5 days, and the mice were given KSCF dermally for 5 days. Changes in skin morphology, the psoriasis area, the severity index (PASI), and inflammatory factors of psoriasis-like skin lesions were evaluated. Metabolites in the psoriasis-like skin lesions were analyzed with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry followed by a multivariate statistical analysis to identify the differential metabolites and metabolic pathway. The results of the present study confirmed that KSCF significantly reduced PASI scores, epidermal thickening, and epidermal cell proliferation and differentiation. KSCF also reduced the levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17A, IL-22, IL-23, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in the injured skin tissues while increasing IL-10 content. KSCF significantly regulated metabolites in the skin samples, and a total of 161 significant metabolites were identified. These differential metabolites involved sphingolipid and linoleic acid metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Collectively, KSCF inhibited the inflammatory response to prevent IMQ-induced psoriasis-like skin lesions in mice by call-backing the levels of 161 endogenous metabolites and affecting their related metabolic pathways. KSCF has the potential to be developed as a topical drug for treating psoriasis symptoms

Morphology transformation between nanofibres and vesicles controlled by ultrasound and heat in tryptamine-based assembly

<p>A novel low-molecular-mass organic gelator <b>T1</b> containing tryptamine and sugar segments was designed and synthesised which can gelate alcohols accelerated by heat and sonication. Interestingly, morphology exchange between vesicles as precipitate and a three-dimensional gel network tuned by heating and ultrasound was observed. The mechanism was studied by IR, FL, X-ray diffraction. It was presented that the effect of ultrasound was to disturb the spontaneous self-assembly of <b>T1</b> molecule, and promote the long arrangement and disordered assembly of <b>T1</b> molecules into fibrous networks, thus resulting in the gelation in methanol.</p

Efficacy and Safety of Direct Oral Anticoagulants Compared With Heparin for Preventing Thromboembolism in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

A high rate of thromboembolism and a high risk of death have been reported regarding hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Recently, we noticed that clinicians in some comparative studies used direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) to prevent thromboembolism in patients with COVID-19. However, it is uncertain whether DOACs are better than recommended heparin for hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Therefore, a direct comparison of the prophylactic effects and safety between DOACs and heparin is needed. We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from 2019 to December 1, 2022. Randomized controlled trials or retrospective studies comparing the efficacy or safety of DOACs with that of heparin in preventing thromboembolism for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were included. We assessed endpoints and publication bias using Stata 14.0. Five studies comprising 1360 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate cases were identified in the databases. Comparing the embolism incidence, we found that DOACs had a better effect than heparin, mainly low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), in preventing thromboembolism (risk ratio [RR] = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.43-0.91], P  = 0.014). Considering safety, DOACs resulted in less bleeding than heparin during hospitalization (RR = 0.52, 95% CI [0.11-2.44], P  = 0.411). Similar mortality was discovered in the 2 groups (RR = 0.94, 95% CI [0.59-1.51], P  = 0.797). In noncritically hospitalized patients with COVID-19, DOACs are superior to heparin, even LMWH, in preventing thromboembolism. Compared with heparin, DOACs have a lower trend of bleeding and yield a similar mortality rate. Therefore, DOACs may be a better alternative for patients with mild to moderate COVID-19