Modelling Work Effort of Workers in the Crowdsourcing Intermediary Market

This study examines crowdsourcing task characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback, and task clarity) and the online work situation factor; that is, the trust in evaluations on work effort in the crowdsourcing intermediary market. An e-questionnaire was released as a crowdsourcing task on the Time Fortune website in China; data from 231 valid questionnaires were analyzed using SmartPLS 3 software. Results show that under the conditions of this study, crowdsourcing workers’ internal motivation has a significant positive relationship with their effort. Task autonomy and feedback have significant and positive relationship with internal motivation. Skill variety, task significance, task clarity, and task identity have no significant correlation with internal motivation. However, task clarity has a significant and positive relationship with work effort. The study also finds that the effect of workers’ trust in the task requester on work effort is mediated by internal motivation

Application of fibrin glue with bandage contact lens in pterygium surgery

AIM: To explore the efficacy of fibrin glue with bandage contact lens for pain relief after pterygium surgery performed with limbal autograft transplantation.<p>METHODS: A prospective clinical trial was carried out in 52 patients(72 eyes)operated for primary nasal pterygium. All patients were randomly divided into the fibrin glue with bandage contact lens group(experimental group, 28 cases, 38 eyes)and suture group(control group, 24 cases, 34 eyes). Autologous limbal graft taken from the superotemporal limbus was used to cover the sclera after pterygium excision under local anesthesia with 20g/L lidocaine. In experimental group, the transplant was attached to the sclera with fibrin tissue adhesive and in control group with 10-0 Virgin silk sutures. Experimental group weared bandage contact lens after surgery while the control group did not. The degree of pain after surgery was evaluated at 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7d after surgery. Follow-up was 6mo, matching degree of graft and complication such as infection, relapse, implant healing badness and subconjunctival cyst were mainly observed and recorded.<p>RESULTS: The pain index scores of the experimental group were significantly less than those of control group(all <i>P</i>=0.000). In observation period, all conjunctival autografts in both groups were successfully attached and were intact without falling off, dissolution or recurrence and there were no complications such as infection, relapse, implant healing badness and subconjunctival cyst.<p>CONCLUSION: Fibrin glue with bandage contact lens could significantly release pain response afterpterygium excision surgery

Preparation and Evaluation of Intravaginal Ring Containing Drospirenone

In the present study, we investigated the feasibility of the vaginal administration of drospirenone silicone IVR. The in vitro release characteristics of matrix-type and reservoir-type IVR were compared under sink conditions in 21 days. At the same time, API excipients compatibility and preformulation study was performed by HPLC, IR, and DSC methods. Biocompatibility of reservoir system was evaluated by tolerability on tissue level in rats. It was found that, under strong light exposure, high temperature, and high humidity conditions, drospirenone and excipients had no significant interactions. The daily release of reservoir-type IVR was about 0.5 mg/d sustaining 21 days, which significantly decreased the burst effect compared with the matrix system. When drospirenone was modified by the PVPk30 in the reservoir system formulation, the daily release rate increased to 1.0 mg/d sustaining 21 days. The cumulative release of reservoir-type IVR was fitted to zero release equation. In addition, biocompatibility of drospirenone IVR system in this dosage is safe. It is feasibility feasibile to further developed for safe, convenient, and effective contraceptive drug delivery with reduced dosing interval

Onsite data processing and monitoring for the Daya Bay Experiment

The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment started running on September 23, 2011. The offline computing environment, consisting of 11 servers at Daya Bay, was built to process onsite data. With current computing ability, onsite data processing is running smoothly. The Performance Quality Monitoring system (PQM) has been developed to monitor the detector performance and data quality. Its main feature is the ability to efficiently process multi-data-stream from three experimental halls. The PQM processes raw data files from the Daya Bay data acquisition system, generates and publishes histograms via a graphical web interface by executing the user-defined algorithm modules, and saves the histograms for permanent storage. The fact that the whole process takes only around 40 minutes makes it valuable for the shift crew to monitor the running status of all the sub-detectors and the data quality

Tuning adaptive computations for the performance improvement of applications in JEE server

With the increasing use of autonomic computing technologies, a Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) application server is implemented with more and more adaptive computations for self-managing the Middleware as well as its hosted applications. However, these adaptive computations consume resources such as CPU and memory, and can interfere with the normal business processing of applications at runtime due to resource competition, especially when the whole system is under heavy load. Tuning these adaptive computations from the perspective of resource management becomes necessary. In this article, we propose a tuning model for adaptive computations. Based on the model, tuning is carried out dynamically by upgrading or degrading the autonomic level of an adaptive computation so as to control its resource consumption. We implement the RSpring tuner and use it to optimize autonomic JEE servers such as PkuAS and JOnAS. RSpring is evaluated on ECperf and RUBiS benchmark applications. The results show that it can effectively improve the application performance by 13.6 % in PkuAS and 19.2 % in JOnAS with the same amount of resources. ? 2012 The Brazilian Computer Society.EI02143-158

Preparation of FeO(OH) Modified with Polyethylene Glycol and Its Catalytic Activity on the Reduction of Nitrobenzene with Hydrazine Hydrate

Iron oxyhydroxide was prepared by dropping ammonia water to Fe(NO3)3.9H2O dispersed in polyethylene glycol (PEG) 1000. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and laser particle size analyzer. The results showed the catalyst modified with polyethylene glycol was amorphous. The addition of PEG during the preparation make the particle size of the catalyst was smaller and more uniform. The catalytic performance was tested in the reduction of nitroarenes to corresponding amines with hydrazine hydrate, and the catalyst showed excellent activity and stability.

Changes of plasma fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) in oral glucose tolerance test and effects of metformin on FGF-21 levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Wstęp: Badanie przeprowadzono w celu ustalenia, czy czynnik wzrostu fibroblastów-21 (FGF-21) uczestniczy w regulacji stężenia glukozy i czy zastosowanie metforminy u chorych na cukrzycę wpływa na stężenie FGF-21. Materiał i metody: Do badania włączono 43 osoby, w tym 27 chorych z nowo rozpoznaną cukrzycą typu 2 (nT2DM). U wszystkich przeprowadzono test doustnego obciążenia 75 g glukozy (OGTT). Próbki krwi pobrano w 0., 60.,120. i 180. minucie testu. Osobom z nT2DM zaproponowano udział w dalszych badaniach; zastosowano u nich metforminę w dawce 1,0 g/dobę przez tydzień. Wyniki: Zmiany stężenia FGF-21 w osoczu podczas OGTT zaobserwowano tylko w grupie chorych na nT2DM; w grupie kontrolnej stężenie FGF-21 pozostało niezmienione. Nie stwierdzono, by stężenia FGF-21 w poszczególnych punktach czasowych różniły się w zależności od płci badanych (p < 0,05). Zastosowanie metforminy u osób z nT2DM spowodowało istotne zmniejszenie stężeń glukozy i FGF-21 we wszystkich punktach czasowych OGTT oraz zmniejszenie stężenia insuliny w 60. i 180. minucie, co wskazuje na obniżenie wskaźnika HOMA-IR. Wnioski: FGF-21 nie uczestniczy w krótkoterminowej regulacji glikemii u ludzi, a zmiany jego stężenia podczas OGTT są opóźnione w T2DM. Być może FGF-21 bierze udział w metabolizowaniu metforminy, zwiększając wrażliwość na glukozę i insulinę. (Endokrynol Pol 2013; 64 (3): 220&#8211;224)Introduction: The objectives of our study were to investigate whether fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) is involved in short-term regulation of glucose and the change of FGF-21 after metformin use in diabetic subjects. Material and methods: 43 subjects were recruited in the study, including 27 new-onset type 2 diabetes patients (nT2DM). A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was administered to them. Blood samples were taken at 0, 60 ,120 and 180 minute of OGTT. nT2DM subjects were invited for further investigation, metformin was administered in a dose of 1.0 g every day for 1 week. Results: Plasma FGF-21 changed significantly in the nT2DM group during the OGTT administration but not in the control group. No gender differences were observed at different time points in FGF-21 levels (p < 0.05). Administration of metformin for nT2DM resulted in a significant decrease in both glucose and FGF-21 at all OGTT times and in insulin at 60 min and 180 min, indicative of a decrease in HOMA-IR. Conclusion: FGF-21 does not seem to be involved in short-term regulation of glycaemia in human subjects, and the change in OGTT delayed in T2DM. FGF-21 may participate in the processing of metformin, improving glucose and insulin sensitivity. (Pol J Endocrinol 2013; 64 (3): 220&#8211;224