Promoting Innovation in Hospitality Companies through Human Resource Management Practices

In this study, we investigate how hospitality companies can promote incremental and radical innovation through human resource management practices (i.e., selection and training). Data from 196 independent hotels and restaurants operating in the People’s Republic of China show that hiring multi-skilled core customer-contact employees and training core customer-contact employees for multiple skills both have a significant and positive effect on incremental and radical innovation among hotel and restaurant companies. The two human resource management practices are also found to have a negative joint impact on incremental but not radical innovation. The implications for promoting innovation in hospitality companies are discussed

Tryptophan-kynurenine pathway as a novel link between gut microbiota and schizophrenia: A review

Gut microbiota and its metabolite tryptophan play an important role in regulating neurotransmission, immune homeostasis and oxidative stress which are critical for brain development. The kynurenine pathway is the main route of tryptophan catabolism. Kynurenine metabolites regulate many biological processes including host-microbiome communication, immunity and oxidative stress, as well as neuronal excitability. The accumulation of metabolites produced by kynurenine pathway in brain results in the activation of the immune system (increase in the levels of inflammatory factors) and oxidative stress (production of reactive oxygen species, ROS), which are associated with mental disorders, for example schizophrenia. Thus, it was hypothesized that perturbations in kynurenine pathway could cause activation of immunity, and that oxidative stress may be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia. The present work is a review of the latest studies on the possible role of kynurenine pathway in schizophrenia, and mechanism(s) involved

Does Haze Removal Help CNN-based Image Classification?

Hazy images are common in real scenarios and many dehazing methods have been developed to automatically remove the haze from images. Typically, the goal of image dehazing is to produce clearer images from which human vision can better identify the object and structural details present in the images. When the ground-truth haze-free image is available for a hazy image, quantitative evaluation of image dehazing is usually based on objective metrics, such as Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity (SSIM). However, in many applications, large-scale images are collected not for visual examination by human. Instead, they are used for many high-level vision tasks, such as automatic classification, recognition and categorization. One fundamental problem here is whether various dehazing methods can produce clearer images that can help improve the performance of the high-level tasks. In this paper, we empirically study this problem in the important task of image classification by using both synthetic and real hazy image datasets. From the experimental results, we find that the existing image-dehazing methods cannot improve much the image-classification performance and sometimes even reduce the image-classification performance

Identification of SNPs in chemerin gene and association with carcass and meat quality traits of Qinchuan Cattle

Chemerin is a novel adipokine that regulates adipogenesis and adipocyte metabolism via its own receptor. In this study, two novel SNPs (868A>G in exon 2 and 2692C>T in exon 5) of chemerin gene were identified by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing technology. The allele frequencies of the novel SNPs were determined in the genetically diverse bovine breeds including six Chinese indigenous cattle breeds (Caoyuan red, Jiaxian red, Luxi, Nanyang, Qinchuan and Xia’nan cattle). We evaluated the potential association of the SNPs with traits measured by ultrasound measurement in 214 Qinchuan individuals. Furthermore, meat quality traits data gotten from carcass measurement in another 69 Qinchuan individuals were analyzed by the comparison between the genotypes and their phenotypic data. Results showed that SNP 868A>G had a significant association with the ultrasound loin-muscle area (P < 0.05), loin-eye area and water holding capability (P < 0.05). And also revealed significant effects of genotype on the ultrasound backfat thickness (P < 0.05), backfat thickness and water holding capability (P < 0.05) of SNP 2692C>T. It was shown that associations do exist between chemerin gene and carcass and meat quality traits. As a result of the small sample size of this study, it is proposed that further effort is required to validate these findings in larger populations. It could be concluded that ultrasound measurements are similar in accuracy to carcass measurements for predicting carcass and meat quality traits in cattle, and could be a useful predictor of retail yield in live animals.Keywords: Bos bovine, chemerin gene, PCR-SSCP, SNP, meat quality trait

Birefringent Anti-Resonant Hollow-Core Fiber

Hollow-core fibers have demonstrated record performance in applications such as high-power pulse delivery, quantum computing, and sensing. However, their routine use is yet to become reality. A major obstacle is the ability to maintain the polarization state of light over a broad range of wavelengths, while also ensuring single-mode guidance and attenuation that is low enough for practical applications that require only a few meters of fiber length (&lt;1 dB/m). Here we simulated, fabricated, and characterized a single-mode birefringent anti-resonant hollow-core fiber. The birefringence was achieved by introducing capillary tubes of different thicknesses, thereby creating reduced symmetry in the structure. The measured group birefringence is in good agreement with the calculated group birefringence from simulations across the fiber guidance band within the telecommunications C-band. At 1550 nm, we measured a group birefringence of 4.4 × 10-5, which corresponds to a phase birefringence of 2.5 × 10-5. The measured loss of the fiber was 0.46 dB/m at 1550 nm. The measured polarization extinction ratio of the fiber at 1550 nm was 23.1 dB (25.7 dB) along the x-(y-) polarization axis, relating to an h-parameter of 9.8 × 10-4 (5.3 × 10-4).</p

Prognostic value of serum nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase in patients with bladder cancer

Aim To analyze the serum nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt) level and its prognostic value in bladder cancer (BC). Methods The study included 131 patients with transitional cell BC and 109 healthy controls from the West China Hospital of Sichuan University in the period between 2007 and 2013. Nampt concentration in serum was measured by commercial ELISA kits for human Nampt. Results The serum Nampt protein level in patients with BC (mean ± standard deviation, 16.02 ± 7.95 ng/mL) was significantly higher than in the control group (6.46 ± 2.08 ng/ mL) (P < 0.001). Serum Nampt level was an independent prognostic marker of non-muscle-invasive BC, with a higher serum Nampt level (>14.74 ng/mL) indicating shorter recurrence-free survival rate (hazard ratio = 2.85, 95% confidence interval, 1.01-8.06; P = 0.048). Conclusion Our results suggest that serum Nampt level may serve as a biomarker of BC and an independent prognostic marker of non-muscle-invasive BC

Bacoside-A exerts protective effect against Parkinson’s disease-induced functional damage in mice via inhibition of apoptosis and oxidative response

Purpose: To determine the effect of bacoside-A on Parkinson's disease (PD) in a rat model, and elucidate its mechanism of action.Methods: A rat model of PD was established by administration of 5 µL of 6-hydroxydopamine in ascorbic acid (0.1 %). Measurement of serum levels of inflammatory factors was carried out using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Western blotting was used to assay Bax, cytochrome c and Bcl-2 in rat hippocampus.Results: Bacoside-A treatment significantly reduced PD-induced high turning values in rats (p &lt; 0.05). Treatment with bacoside-A reversed PD-mediated suppression of serum activities of CAT and glutathione peroxidase (GPx). In bacoside-A-treated PD rats, dose-dependent suppression of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activities were observed (p &lt; 0.05). Bacoside-A-treated PD rats significantly (p &lt; 0.018) reduced interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 levels. Treatment of PD rats with bacoside-A effectively reduced levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, NF-κB p65, (COX)-2 and p53 protein, and also reversed up-regulations of Bax, cytochrome C, caspase-3 and caspase-9.Conclusion: Bacoside-A exhibits a protective effect against Parkinson disease-induced oxidative damage and neuronal degeneration in rats through downregulation of iNOS, AChE, inflammatory cytokines and pro-apoptotic proteins. Therefore, bacoside-A has potentials for use in the management of Parkinson disease. Keywords: Parkinson disease, Neuroprotective, Pro-apoptotic, Cytokines, Neurotoxicit