Spatiotemporal Variation in Emotional Responses to 2017 Terrorist Attacks in London Using Twitter Data

Terrorist attacks have a significant impact on human lives. This study examined emotional responses after the terrorist attacks in London in March and June of 2017, respectively. This research extracted tweets related to the two attacks by developing a Python tool interacting with the Twitter Application Program Interface (API). The tweets were analyzed for its negative emotion expression such as sadness. This study then analyzed these negative tweets using the space-time permutation model in SatScan and assessed their variation in space and time. Results suggested two significant clusters of negative tweets after the first attack. These clusters located in the metropolitan area of London and between Manchester and Liverpool within ten days of the attack. The findings may contribute to quick surveillance of emotional responses on the Twitter users

Orf Virus: A New Class of Immunotherapy Drugs

Orf is one of the most widespread viral diseases worldwide, usually benign and self-limiting, and mainly affects not only sheep and goats, but also various other ruminants and mammals. The causative agent, orf virus (ORFV) is a member of the genus parapoxvirus, owing to its zoonotic importance and ability to cross-infect other species sporadically. ORFV encodes virulence and immunomodulatory factors that interfere with host inflammatory effect and antiviral immune mechanisms and induces a transient and complex cytokine response, initially represented by Th1-related cytokines followed by Th2-related cytokines. The ORFV has evolved several mechanisms to survive in the presence of the immune system, resulting in repeated infections. Currently, ORFV has been developed as vaccines in veterinary field. The unique host immune escape ability obtained by ORFV has made it one of the important candidates for prevention and treatment of various diseases (including chronic viral diseases, tumor, and liver fibrosis)

3D Dynamic Motion Planning for Robot-Assisted Cannula Flexible Needle Insertion into Soft Tissue

In robot-assisted needle-based medical procedures, insertion motion planning is a crucial aspect. 3D dynamic motion planning for a cannula flexible needle is challenging with regard to the nonholonomic motion of the needle tip, the presence of anatomic obstacles or sensitive organs in the needle path, as well as uncertainties due to the dynamic environment caused by the movements and deformations of the organs. The kinematics of the cannula flexible needle is calculated in this paper. Based on a rapid and robust static motion planning algorithm, referred to as greedy heuristic and reachability-guided rapidly-exploring random trees, a 3D dynamic motion planner is developed by using replanning. Aiming at the large detour problem, the convergence problem and the accuracy problem that replanning encounters, three novel strategies are proposed and integrated into the conventional replanning algorithm. Comparisons are made between algorithms with and without the strategies to verify their validity. Simulations showed that the proposed algorithm can overcome the above-noted problems to realize real-time replanning in a 3D dynamic environment, which is appropriate for intraoperative planning. © 2016 Author

Modulation of CXCR4, CXCL12, and Tumor Cell Invasion Potential In Vitro by Phytochemicals.

CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor frequently overexpressed on primary tumor cells. Organs to which these cancers metastasize secrete CXCL12, the unique ligand for CXCR4, which stimulates invasion and metastasis to these sites. Similar to our previous work with the chemoprotective phytochemical, 3,3'-diindolylmethane (DIM), we show here that genistein also downregulates CXCR4 and CXCL12 and subsequently lowers the migratory and invasive potentials of breast and ovarian cancer cells. Moreover, genistein and DIM elicit a significantly greater cumulative effect in lowering CXCR4 and CXCL12 levels than either compound alone. Our data suggest a novel mechanism for the protective effects of phytochemicals against cancer progression and indicate that in combination, these compounds may prove even more efficacious

Determinants of Automobile Part Packaging Optimization : An fsQCA Approach

In this study, we examine the factors that determine the success or failure of package planning that involves adjusting the shape or size of automobile parts and their assembly processes. Using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis of 15 cases identified in four Japanese automobile companies, we found that to optimize the packaging by adjusting parts’ shape or size and assembly processes, collaboration between the logistics department and other departments is a necessary (core) condition, while front-loading of package planning based on early input of parts design information, transportation distance, and changes in production equipment or layout are included in the combination of sufficient conditions, but are not necessary conditions

Research Progress in the Treatment of Pituitary Tumors

Pituitary tumor is a common intracranial neuroendocrine tumor, generally belonging to benign tumors. It mainly originates from pituitary cells in the sella region. There is no significant difference in the ratio of men to women. The tumor grows to the lower part of the parasellar thalamus, and may even reach the third ventricle to involve the cavernous sinus, extend into the middle cranial fossa, grow into the interpeduncular cistern, and enter the nasopharynx in the sphenoid sinus. A few tumors are rich in blood supply and easy to bleed, leading to pituitary tumor stroke. The incidence of pituitary tumor ranks the third among intracranial tumors. In recent years, with the development of endocrine examination and imaging technology, the detection rate is increasing year by year. The hormone disorder and the pressure on the surrounding important tissues will have a great impact on the quality of life of patients, and have a great impact on the growth and development of patients, labor ability, growth and development and social psychology. In this paper, the research progress of three methods for the treatment of pituitary tumor (surgical therapy, drug therapy, radiation therapy) is reviewed, aiming to provide reference for the clinical treatment of this disease

Surgical Treatment of Hypertensive Cerebral Hemorrhage

Intracerbral hemorrhage (ICH) refers to primary non-traumatic hemorrhage in the parenchyma, also known as spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage, accounting for 20%-30% of acute cerebrovascular diseases. Every year 2 million to 3 million people in the world suffer from intracerebral hemorrhage, accounting for 10%-15% of all new strokes, and the total incidence of intracerebral hemorrhage in the world is 24.6/ (100,000 · year). In China, the incidence of cerebral hemorrhage is 60-80/ (100,000 · year), which is much higher than that of other Asian countries. Primary intracerebral hemorrhage accounts for 80%-85%, and primary hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage combined with hypertension accounts for 50%-70% [1]. Hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage accounts for about 50% of the causes of non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage, and its mortality rate takes the first place in non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage [2]. Hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage has rapid onset, high mortality rate and slow recovery, and often leaves various degrees of neurological dysfunction. This paper analyzes the pathological features of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, the clinical features of the bleeding site, the indications, timing, surgical methods and the advantages and disadvantages of surgical treatment, hoping to provide reference for the selection of surgery for clinicians

An Empirical Study on Speaking Proficiency Training for Chinese EFL Learners

Improving students’ speaking proficiency has always been a challenge for Chinese EFL teachers. With the traditional training mode students had low motivation to speak, insufficient exposure to authentic language input, inadequate teachers’ instruction on social strategies and no collaborative learning environment to find a partner to practice English with. Aiming at solving the above-mentioned problems of traditional training mode, the research proposes a multi-dimensional training mode with DV as its media, task as its center, cooperative learning as its form, campus English native speakers as its resources, textbooks as its content. Results of the empirical study prove the mode to be effective in increasing the students’ levels of speaking proficiency, social strategy and motivation.Key words: EFL teaching in Chinese context; Speaking proficiency training; Task-based learning; Cooperative learning; D

Travel time models for the Rack-moving Mobile Robot System

The rack-moving mobile robot (RMMR) system is a special parts-to-picker automated warehousing system that uses hundreds of rack-moving machines to accomplish the repetitive tasks of storing and retrieving parts by lifting and transporting unit racks autonomously. This paper investigates the operation cycle of the rack-moving machine for storage and retrieval from the perspective of the lane depth, especially exploring the particularity of the RMMR system in multi-deep lanes, and proposes expected travel time models of the rack-moving machine for single- and multi-deep layouts of the RMMR system. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed models, an experimental simulation was conducted with a 1–4-deep layout under six scenarios of different numbers of aisles and layers, and results were compared with results obtained using proposed models. The paper presents useful guidelines for the configuration of the RMMR system layout including the determination of the optimal lane depth