Social Beliefs and Ergonomics on Traditional Seat of Wooden Furniture Review of Related Literature

The main purpose of this review paper was to highlight Social Beliefs and Ergonomics on Traditional Seat of Wooden Furniture Review of Related Literature. More specifically, the review of limited literature on traditional seat of wooden furniture in view of ergonomics which characterized the basic structure, safety, functions and aesthetics properties. The paper then provides possible solutions to redesign traditional seats that promote healthier sitting behaviours centered on appropriate configuration of its components. The paper also explores the cross-cultural considerations associated with traditional seat furniture design.   &nbsp

Do financial asset holdings affect investor expectations under negative events? The shock of COVID-19 pandemic

Holding excessive financial assets will lead to corporate financialization, making investors underestimate its risks in front of extreme benefits and the “reservoir effect” in boom periods, especially in rapid-growing emerging economies. Few studies have explored the investors’ real perceptions and attitudes towards such risks when dealing with unexpected shocks. The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) provides new insights into these questions. Using event study method, this study examines how investors react to corporate financialization in the risk-release condition. First, we find that firms with more financial asset holdings experience significant lower market return during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, we find that the pandemic-induced drop in stock returns is milder when firms hold more low-liquidity or safe financial assets, have higher solvency, are less exposed to COVID- 19 pandemic and have better information environment. These findings show that the investors’ attitude is widely negative towards corporate financialization when the negative shock comes and strong financial flexibility and good corporate governance can alleviate the risk. It implicates that the hidden risks of corporate financialization can be perceived by investors and responded by “voting with their feet” and the managers should be alert to it rather than just seeking financial benefits

Giant-cavity-based quantum sensors with enhanced performance

Recent progresses have revealed that quantum systems with multiple position-dependent couplings, e.g., giant atoms, can exhibit some unconventional phenomena, such as non-exponential decay etc. However, their potential applications are still open questions. In this paper, we propose a giant-cavity-based quantum sensor for the first time, whose performance can be greatly enhanced compared to traditional cavity-based sensors. In our proposal, two cavities couple to a dissipative reservoir at multiple points while they couple to a gain reservoir in a single-point way. To detecting a unknown parameter using this sensor, a waveguide is coupled to one of the cavities where detecting fields can pass through for homodyne detection. We find that multiple position-dependent couplings can induce an inherent non-reciprocal coupling between the cavities, which can enhance the performance of sensors. Output noise in our scheme can be reduced to the shot noise level, which is about one order magnitude lower than the results in Ref. [Nature Communications, 2018, 9, 4320.]. Besides, the signal-to-noise ratio per photon is also enhanced by about one order of magnitude. These results show that the multiple-point-coupling structure is beneficial to nowadays quantum devices.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Frontiers in Physics ( Research Topic on Quantum Optics with Giant Atoms: Theory, Experiment and Application

Correlation between glomerular filtration rate and insulin resistance index in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease

Objective: To investigate the changes of insulin resistance index[Homa-IR (CP)] in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) at different stages of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and to analyze the relationship between them. Methods: From January 2015 to June 2019, 1013 patients with T2DM and CKD were admitted to Mudanjiang Cardiovascular Disease Hospital Diabetes Branch Hospital (grade three grade a hospital). The general conditions of the patients were collected, and the biochemical indexes were measured by the laboratory department of our hospital. After calculating the HOMA IR (CP) and EGFR values according to the obtained data, the patients were divided into five groups according to the CKD grouping criteria: 0 ~ 15 ml·(min·1. 73m2)-1 for group A, 15 ~ 30 ml·(min·1. 73m2)-1 for group B, 30 ~ 45 ml·(min·1. 73m2)-1 for group C, 45 ~ 60 ml·(min·1. 73m2)-1 for group D and 60 ~ 90 mL·(min·1. 73m2)-1 for group E. The relevant data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software. Results: (1) There was a negative correlation between EGFR and HOMA IR (CP) in T2DM patients with CKD (r = - 0.25, P = 0.000). (2) The comparison results between HOMA IR (CP) groups showed that there was significant difference between group A and group B and other groups, and there was significant difference between group C and group D and other groups (P0.05). (3) The pairwise comparison between fasting blood glucose groups showed that there was significant difference between group A and group B (LSD-t = -1.74, P = 0.034). There was significant difference in insulin dosage between group A and other groups (P0.05), and there was significant difference between group D and group E (LSD-t = 0.06, P = 0.005). (4) Logistic analysis of EGFR showed that age, serum creatinine and HOMA IR (CP) were the main influencing factors of EGFR (P0.05). Conclusion: there is a significant negative correlation between EGFR and HOMA IR (CP) in T2DM patients with CKD. In the process of aggravating insulin resistance, EGFR increased more significantly in the two stages of 45 ~ 60 ml·(min·1. 73m2)-1 and 15 ~ 30 ml·(min·1. 73m2)-1

Store-Assistance Management for a Supply Chain with Consumer Return under Consignment Contract

In this paper, the strategy problems of pricing and store-assistance service investment are investigated for a supply chain with consumer return, where the considered supply chain under consignment contract consists of a single manufacturer and a single retailer. Firstly, we use differential equation to model the evolution of store-assistance service level and depict the effect of store-assistance service level on the return rate. By applying two-stage game, both optimal pricing and store-assistance service strategies are obtained based on the presented optimal control model. Subsequently, the committed dynamic consignment price contract is designed to coordinate and improve the performance of supply chain. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the impacts of the effectiveness of store-assistance service level and decay rate on the feasible region of corresponding contract

Exercise Activates p53 and Negatively Regulates IGF-1 Pathway in Epidermis within a Skin Cancer Model

Citation: Yu M, King B, Ewert E, Su X, Mardiyati N, Zhao Z, et al. (2016) Exercise Activates p53 and Negatively Regulates IGF-1 Pathway in Epidermis within a Skin Cancer Model. PLoS ONE 11(8): e0160939. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0160939Exercise has been previously reported to lower cancer risk through reducing circulating IGF-1 and IGF-1-dependent signaling in a mouse skin cancer model. This study aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms by which exercise may down-regulate the IGF-1 pathway via p53 and p53-related regulators in the skin epidermis. Female SENCAR mice were pair-fed an AIN-93 diet with or without 10-week treadmill exercise at 20 m/min, 60 min/day and 5 days/week. Animals were topically treated with TPA 2 hours before sacrifice and the target proteins in the epidermis were analyzed by both immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Under TPA or vehicle treatment, MDM2 expression was significantly reduced in exercised mice when compared with sedentary control. Meanwhile, p53 was significantly elevated. In addition, p53-transcriptioned proteins, i.e., p21, IGFBP-3, and PTEN, increased in response to exercise. There was a synergy effect between exercise and TPA on the decreased MDM2 and increased p53, but not p53-transcripted proteins. Taken together, exercise appeared to activate p53, resulting in enhanced expression of p21, IGFBP-3, and PTEN that might induce a negative regulation of IGF-1 pathway and thus contribute to the observed cancer prevention by exercise in this skin cancer model