A Model of Understanding Choice of University by International Students: A Two-Case Study

Students from all over the world who study in the United States contribute to the economy, participate in scientific and technical research, foster a diverse campus environment, enrich the learning environment with cultural perspectives, and help prepare domestic students for global careers, which often lead to long-term business relationships. However, in the United States, higher education institutions are facing ever-increasing challenges in enrolling international students. In the past three years, many universities faced difficulties in increasing or maintaining international student enrollment, forcing colleges and universities to search for the most effective ways to attract international students with limited resources. This is particularly true for those Master’s colleges and universities with limited marketing funding for international student enrollment. By conducting surveys and interviews at two universities, the study examined university administrators’ perceptions of university-related strategies of international student enrollment, the most influential factors in international student college choice based on student perceptions, and the degree to which student and administrator perceptions converge and diverge in relation to enrollment strategies and student college choice. This study is expected to provide a tool and knowledge for university policy makers and administrators to adjust appropriate recruiting strategies under limited budget in order to optimize resource outputs

Feasibility of automated 3-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging pancreas segmentation.

PurposeWith the advent of MR guided radiotherapy, internal organ motion can be imaged simultaneously during treatment. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of pancreas MRI segmentation using state-of-the-art segmentation methods.Methods and materialT2 weighted HASTE and T1 weighted VIBE images were acquired on 3 patients and 2 healthy volunteers for a total of 12 imaging volumes. A novel dictionary learning (DL) method was used to segment the pancreas and compared to t mean-shift merging (MSM), distance regularized level set (DRLS), graph cuts (GC) and the segmentation results were compared to manual contours using Dice's index (DI), Hausdorff distance and shift of the-center-of-the-organ (SHIFT).ResultsAll VIBE images were successfully segmented by at least one of the auto-segmentation method with DI >0.83 and SHIFT ≤2 mm using the best automated segmentation method. The automated segmentation error of HASTE images was significantly greater. DL is statistically superior to the other methods in Dice's overlapping index. For the Hausdorff distance and SHIFT measurement, DRLS and DL performed slightly superior to the GC method, and substantially superior to MSM. DL required least human supervision and was faster to compute.ConclusionOur study demonstrated potential feasibility of automated segmentation of the pancreas on MRI images with minimal human supervision at the beginning of imaging acquisition. The achieved accuracy is promising for organ localization

A Self-Adaptive Chaos Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

As a new evolutionary algorithm, particle swarm optimization (PSO) achieves integrated evolution through the information between the individuals. All the particles have the ability to adjust their own speed and remember the optimal positions they have experienced. This algorithm has solved many practical engineering problems and achieved better optimization effect. However, PSO can easily get trapped in local extremum, making it fail to get the global optimal solution and reducing its convergence speed. To settle these deficiencies, this paper has proposed an adaptive chaos particle swarm optimization (ACPSO) based on the idea of chaos optimization after analyzing the basic principles of PSO. This algorithm can improve the population diversity and the ergodicity of particle search through the property of chaos; adjust the inertia weight according to the premature convergence of the population and the individual fitness; consider the global optimization and local optimization; effectively avoid premature convergence and improve algorithm efficiency. The experimental simulation has verified its effectiveness and superiority

Characterization of Francisella species isolated from the cooling water of an air conditioning system.

Strains of Francisella spp. were isolated from cooling water from an air conditioning system in Guangzhou, China. These strains are Gram negative, coccobacilli, non-motile, oxidase negative, catalase negative, esterase and lipid esterase positive. In addition, these bacteria grow on cysteine-supplemented media at 20 °C to 40 °C with an optimal growth temperature of 30 °C. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that these strains belong to the genus Francisella. Biochemical tests and phylogenetic and BLAST analyses of 16S rRNA, rpoB and sdhA genes indicated that one strain was very similar to Francisella philomiragia and that the other strains were identical or highly similar to the Francisella guangzhouensis sp. nov. strain 08HL01032 we previously described. Biochemical and molecular characteristics of these strains demonstrated that multiple Francisella species exist in air conditioning systems

Convergence of the variational iteration method for solving multi-order fractional differential equations

AbstractIn this paper, the variational iteration method (VIM) is applied to obtain approximate solutions of multi-order fractional differential equations (M-FDEs). We can easily obtain the satisfying solution just by using a few simple transformations and applying the VIM. A theorem for convergence and error estimates of the VIM for solving M-FDEs is given. Moreover, numerical results show that our theoretical analysis are accurate and the VIM is a powerful method for solving M-FDEs

Preparation of ultra-porous UPM/PHBV nanofibres using solvent-etching technology and drug-loading efficiency

In this study, ultra-porous fibres have been produced by partly washing out poly(3-hydroxybutyrateco-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) from the heat-crosslinked electrospun unsaturated polyester macromonomers/poly(3-hydroxybutyrateco-3-hydroxyvalerate) (UPM/PHBV) fibrous composite using chloroform. Tetracycline hydrochloride has been used as the module drug to test the drug-loading efficiency of porous fibres. Field emission scanning electron microscope images show that the etched UPM/PHBV fibres have lost the original smooth surface. The result demonstrates that the PHBV is successfully washed by chloroform, but most of UPM is remained because of the heat-crosslinking. Furthermore, with the increase of PHBV ratio in composite fibres, the etched fibres show much rougher surface. The drug absorption behavior also varies with the different PHBV ratios

MicroRNA-612 regulates the proliferation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of human colon cancer cells via G protein-coupled receptor 132 (GPR132)

Purpose: To investigate the effect of microRNA-612 (miR-612) on human colon cancer cells, and the mechanism involved. Methods: Expressions of miR-612 and GPR132 were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR)el , while cell viability was evaluated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK8) and colony formation assays. Dual luciferase assay was used to determine the interaction between miR-612 and GPR132, while cell migration and invasion were measured by Transwell assay. Results: The expression levels of miR-612 in colon cancer tissues and cell lines were significantly down-regulated (p < 0.05). Overexpression of miR-612 in colon cancer cells led to significant inhibition of their proliferation and colony formation. Transwell assays revealed that miR-612 overexpression markedly stopped the migration, invasion and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Conclusion: These results indicate that miR-612 exerts anti-cancer effect by suppressing the expression of GPR132 at the translational level. The in vitro tumor suppressive activity of miR-612 against colon cancer reveals its potential for the management of colon cancer

P-body components LSM1, GW182, DDX3, DDX6 and XRN1 are recruited to WNV replication sites and positively regulate viral replication

AbstractIn mammalian cells, proteins involved in mRNA silencing and degradation localize to discrete cytoplasmic foci called processing or P-bodies. Here we show that microscopically visible P-bodies are greatly diminished following West Nile viral infection, but the component proteins are not depleted. On the other hand, many P-body components including LSM1, GW182, DDX3, DDX6 and XRN1, but not others like DCP1a and EDC4 are recruited to the viral replication sites, as evidenced by their colocalization at perinuclear region with viral NS3. Kinetic studies suggest that the component proteins are first released from P-bodies in response to WNV infection within 12h post-infection, followed by recruitment to the viral replication sites by 24–36 h post-infection. Silencing of the recruited proteins individually with siRNA interfered with viral replication to varying extents suggesting that the recruited proteins are required for efficient viral replication. Thus, the P-body proteins might provide novel drug targets for inhibiting viral infection