Manipulation of Online Reviews: Analysis of Negative Reviews for Healthcare Providers

There is a growing reliance on online reviews in today’s digital world. As the influence of online reviews amplified in the competitive marketplace, so did the manipulation of reviews and evolution of fake reviews on these platforms. Like other consumer-oriented businesses, the healthcare industry has also succumbed to this phenomenon. However, health issues are much more personal, sensitive, complicated in nature requiring knowledge of medical terminologies and often coupled with myriad of interdependencies. In this study, we collated the literature on manipulation of online reviews, identified the gaps and proposed an approach, including validation of negative reviews of the 500 doctors from three different states: New York and Arizona in USA and New South Wales in Australia from the RateMDs website. The reviews of doctors was collected, which includes both numerical star ratings (1-low to 5-high) and textual feedback/comments. Compared to other existing research, this study will analyse the textual feedback which corresponds to the clinical quality of doctors (helpfulness and knowledge criteria) rather than process quality experiences. Our study will explore pathways to validate the negative reviews for platform provider and rank the doctors accordingly to minimise the risks in healthcare

Estudio de calidad de las visitas guiadas en Sevilla

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo realizar un estudio de calidad de un subsector del turismo que es cada vez más importante: las visitas turísticas o culturales. En primer lugar, se explican brevemente los principales conceptos, los orígenes y evolución de las visitas turísticas guiadas, para luego realizar un estudio de calidad que permite ver cuál es el grado de satisfacción real de los turistas que han disfrutado de ese tipo de visitas comparado con el nivel de calidad de las empresas que ofrecen esas empresas, por ejemplo, se tendrá en cuenta el nivel de idiomas, el conocimiento en historia, la capacidad de transmitir y de explicar sin aburrir a los turistas. Para elaborar este estudio, han colaborado 3 empresas de visitas guiadas ubicadas en Sevilla capital: Cultural Routes Sevilla, Macarena Tours y Artetours Sevilla Ocio y Cultura S.L. Durante el periodo comprendido entre el 17 al 24 de mayo, estas empresas han realizado una encuesta, de carácter voluntario, a los turistas que han contratado una visita guiada. El cuestionario sigue el modelo de calidad Servqual, adaptando las preguntas al sector de visitas guiadas. Al final del trabajo se encuentran las conclusiones, en las que se analizan las respuestas del cuestionario según cada dimensión, ítem y escala de valores. También se incluyen las limitaciones a la hora de recabar la información, contabilizar los cuestionarios y la problemática en la participación de las empresas. Esto puede ayudar a ver qué es lo que hay que mejorar para ofrecer un servicio de calidad, además de servir como herramienta de marketing para complementar información sobre el perfil de los turistas y el tipo de servicio demandado.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Turism

Travel Patterns of University Students in North Carolina

University students have unique travel patterns compared to the general population. This research project uses the university student travel survey data collected from six university campuses in North Carolina to conduct travel behavior analyses and develop travel demand models for university students. The travel pattern analyses help us understand how university students make their daily trips. The university student models developed can be incorporated into the current regional travel demand models in North Carolina to improve the models built for trips made by university students. The major findings of the travel pattern analyses are as follows. The average daily trip rate of university students in the six campuses surveyed is 5.34 trips/day. Whether a university student is living on campus is a significant and the most important factor for the differences in trip rate. On-campus students make more trips than off-campus students but most of them are within the campus. The average trip distance is 3.55 miles and the average travel time is 12.44 minutes. Most of the universities follow the similar time-of-day patterns. Trips start increasing at 7 am and the AM peak falls between 9 am to 10 am. The peak hours of the whole day are identified between 12pm and 2 pm. The PM peak may occur either between 3 pm and 4 pm or between 5 pm and 6 pm. On-campus students choose to walk most while more than half of the off-campus students’ trips are done by auto vehicles. More than half of the trips generated by students who have parking permits are made by driving alone. University students without parking permits are most likely to walk.Master of City and Regional Plannin

Metabolic regulation of functional decline during in vitro expansion of human mesenchymal stem cells

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) isolated from various adult tissues are primary candidates in cell therapy and being tested in clinical trials for a wide range of diseases. The pro-regenerative and therapeutic properties of hMSCs are largely attributed to their trophic effects that coordinately modulate the progression of inflammation and enhance the endogenous tissue repair by host progenitor cells. However, immediately after isolation and upon culture expansion, hMSCs lose their in vivo quiescent state and start to accumulate genetic and phenotypic changes that significantly alter their phenotypic properties with reduced clonogenic population and therapeutic potential [1]. The culture-induced changes lead to both cellular senescence and metabolic alteration, resulting in reduced therapeutic outcome in various disease models. Since clinical application requires defined cellular properties and large-scale production of hMSCs, preserving cellular homeostasis during hMSCs in vitro expansion is a major barrier for hMSCs-based therapy and production. Once viewed as a mere consequence of the state of a cell, metabolism is now known to play active roles in regulating cellular events that govern stem cell phenotype and age-related functional properties during in vitro culture. Replicative passaging of hMSCs leads to cellular senescence following with insufficient energy production, decline of stemness and functional properties. Here, we report that energy metabolism in regulating hMSC aging-related properties due to in vitro replicative culture expansion in 2D planner or spinner flask bioreactor. hMSCs under in vitro culture up to 15 passages exhibited higher senescence with significant morphological alteration. 13C-glucose-based GC-MS metabolomics analysis suggested that metabolically heterogeneity at low passage hMSCs population while metabolic shift from glycolysis towards OXPHOS at high passage hMSCs. Rapid production of energy required for maintaining cellular properties of hMSCs alters mitochondrial function and leads to breakdown of cellular homeostasis with metabolic and redox imbalance. The alteration of metabolic profile and disruption of cellular homeostasis results in the replicative senescence and decline of therapeutic potentials of hMSCs. Understanding of hMSCs aging during in vitro culture expansion provides the insight of metabolic regulation for stem cell fate and engineering aspects for preserving and rejuvenating hMSCs functions via 3D culture or restore of metabolic balance [2]. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Metabolism Regulation Of Phenotypic And Therapeutic Properties Of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Introduction Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) isolated from various adult tissues are primary candidates in cell therapy and tissue regeneration. The pro-regenerative properties of hMSCs are largely attributed to their trophic effects by the release of factors that coordinately modulate the progression of inflammation and enhance the endogenous tissue repair by host progenitor cells. However, immediately after isolation and upon culture expansion, hMSCs acquire and accumulate genetic and phenotypic changes that significantly alter their phenotypic properties with reduced clonogenic and therapeutic potential. The culture-induced changes are not only correlated with reduced clonogenicity and proliferation but also with reduced therapeutic outcome in various disease models. Thus, preserving hMSC therapeutic potency following in vitro expansion is an important goal in hMSC application. Once viewed as a mere consequence of the state of a cell, metabolism is now known to play active roles in regulating cellular events that govern stem cell phenotype and functional properties. Our long term objective is to understand the role of energy metabolism in regulating hMSC cell fate with ultimate goals of developing metabolic strategies to augment hMSCs therapeutic properties. Results Our recent studies show that hMSCs have heterogeneity at the level of primary energy metabolism [1] and possess metabolic plasticity to reconfigure their metabolic network in their reacquisition of stem cell primitive properties and immune-modulatory property [2]. First, 13C-glucose-based metabolomics analysis suggested that hMSC are metabolically heterogeneous and that clonogenic subpopulation of hMSCs enriched in low density culture (100 cells/cm2) possesses a metabolic phenotype that differs from that of hMSCs in high-density (3,000 cells/cm2) in their levels of glycolysis metabolism and pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). Metabolic inhibition studies revealed that glycolysis and PPP play active roles in maintaining hMSCs clonogenicity by regulating ATP generation, maintaining cellular redox state, and scavenging exogenous reactive oxygen species [1]. Second, we showed that hMSCs possess metabolic plasticity and effectively reconfigure their metabolism during 3D aggregation culture, and that this metabolic reconfiguration plays a central role in their reacquisition of primitive phenotypic properties [2]. Specifically, aggregate formation of hMSCs remodeled their mitochondrial network with reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, resulting in metabolic reconfiguration with reduced mitochondrial citric acid cycle (TCA cycle) activity, increased aerobic glycolysis, and anaplerotic flux. The effects of metabolic reconfiguration on stem cell gene expression and secretory function was recapitulated in the gain- and loss-of-function experiments using small molecule metabolic modulators, confirming its functional role in regulating hMSC properties. Finally, we showed that hMSC immuno-activation in response to interferon-γ (IFN-γ) treatment is associated with metabolic reconfiguration towards increased aerobic glycolysis, characterized by increased glucose consumption and upregulation of glycolysis-related genes and enzymes. We further demonstrated that both glucose deprivation and glycolysis inhibition were sufficient to abolish the secretion of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) a critical anti-inflammatory cytokine secreted by hMSCs, suggesting the central role of aerobic glycolysis in regulating hMSC immunomodulatory properties. Conclusions Together, the results revealed the mechanistic connection between metabolic regulation and hMSC therapeutic phenotype, and demonstrated the regulation of metabolism as a strategy in potentiating hMSCs properties for cell therapy. In the presentation, the implication of these findings in hMSC bioprocessing and therapeutic application will be discussed. References [1]. Liu, Y., N. Munoz, B.A. Bunnell, T.M. Logan, and T. Ma, Density-Dependent Metabolic Heterogeneity in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Stem Cells, 2015. 33(11): p. 3368-81. [2]. Liu, Y., N. Munoz, A.C. Tsai, B.A. Bunnell, T.M. Logan, and T. Ma, Metabolic Reconfiguration Supports Reacquisition of Primitive Phenotype in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell Aggregates. Stem Cells, 2016. August 2016, (Accepted

Class-Imbalanced Learning on Graphs: A Survey

The rapid advancement in data-driven research has increased the demand for effective graph data analysis. However, real-world data often exhibits class imbalance, leading to poor performance of machine learning models. To overcome this challenge, class-imbalanced learning on graphs (CILG) has emerged as a promising solution that combines the strengths of graph representation learning and class-imbalanced learning. In recent years, significant progress has been made in CILG. Anticipating that such a trend will continue, this survey aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of the current state-of-the-art in CILG and provide insights for future research directions. Concerning the former, we introduce the first taxonomy of existing work and its connection to existing imbalanced learning literature. Concerning the latter, we critically analyze recent work in CILG and discuss urgent lines of inquiry within the topic. Moreover, we provide a continuously maintained reading list of papers and code at https://github.com/yihongma/CILG-Papers.Comment: submitted to ACM Computing Survey (CSUR

Printed texture guided color feature fusion for impressionism style rendering of oil paintings.

As a major branch of Non-Photorealistic Rendering (NPR), image stylization mainly uses computer algorithms to render a photo into an artistic painting. Recent work has shown that the ex-traction of style information such as stroke texture and color of the target style image is the key to image stylization. Given its stroke texture and color characteristics, a new stroke rendering method is proposed. By fully considering the tonal characteristics and the representative color of the original oil painting, it can fit the tone of the original oil painting image into a stylized image whilst keeping the artist's creative effect. The experiments have validated the efficacy of the proposed model in comparison to three state-of-the-arts. This method would be more suitable for the works of pointillism painters with a relatively uniform style, especially for natural scenes, otherwise, the results can be less satisfactory

Two binary Darboux transformations for the KdV hierarchy with self-consistent sources

Two binary (integral type) Darboux transformations for the KdV hierarchy with self-consistent sources are proposed. In contrast with the Darboux transformation for the KdV hierarchy, one of the two binary Darboux transformations provides non auto-B\"{a}cklund transformation between two n-th KdV equations with self-consistent sources with different degrees. The formula for the m-times repeated binary Darboux transformations are presented. This enables us to construct the N-soliton solution for the KdV hierarchy with self-consistent sources.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, no figures, to be published in Journal of Mathematical Physic