Building Effective Ontology for Semantic Web: a Discussion Based on Practical Examples

The study aims to investigate semantic web and create useful ontology as a teaching and educational tool for others interested in learning more about Semantic web. This paper discussed several emerging issues about the semantic web and ontology building. This paper combines ontology implementation examples with research topics to identify current issues and potential solution in both application and theoretical level. It concludes that although semantic web and ontology technology are not mature enough currently, there is a clear tendency for them to be integrated into various applications to exert synergies

Detecting influenza and emerging avian influenza virus by influenza and pneumonia surveillance systems in a large city in China, 2005 to 2016.

BACKGROUND(#br)Detecting avian influenza virus has become an important public health strategy for controlling the emerging infectious disease.(#br)METHODS(#br)The HIS (hospital information system) modified influenza surveillance system (ISS) and a newly built pneumonia surveillance system (PSS) were used to monitor the influenza viruses in Changsha City, China. The ISS was used to monitor outpatients in two sentinel hospitals and to detect mild influenza and avian influenza cases, and PSS was used to monitor inpatients in 49 hospitals and to detect severe and death influenza cases.(#br)RESULTS(#br)From 2005 to 2016, there were 3,551,917 outpatients monitored by the ISS system, among whom 126,076 were influenza-like illness (ILI) cases, with the ILI proportion (ILI%) of 3.55%. After the HIS was used, the reported incident cases of ILI and ILI% were increased significantly. From March, 2009 to September, 2016, there were 5,491,560 inpatient cases monitored by the PSS system, among which 362,743 were pneumonia cases, with a proportion of 6.61%. Among pneumonia cases, about 10.55% (38,260/362,743) of cases were severe or death cases. The pneumonia incidence increased each year in the city. Among 15 avian influenza cases reported from January, 2005 to September, 2016, there were 26.7% (4/15) mild cases detected by the HIS-modified ISS system, while 60.0% (9/15) were severe or death cases detected by the PSS system. Two H5N1 severe cases were missed by the ISS system in January, 2009 when the PSS system was not available.(#br)CONCLUSIONS(#br)The HIS was able to improve the efficiency of the ISS for monitoring ILI and emerging avian influenza virus. However, the efficiency of the system needs to be verified in a wider area for a longer time span in China

Assessment of transmissibility and measures effectiveness of SARS in 8 regions, China, 2002-2003

BackgroundSevere acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a form of atypical pneumonia which took hundreds of lives when it swept the world two decades ago. The pathogen of SARS was identified as SARS-coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and it was mainly transmitted in China during the SARS epidemic in 2002-2003. SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 have emerged from the SARS metapopulation of viruses. However, they gave rise to two different disease dynamics, a limited epidemic, and an uncontrolled pandemic, respectively. The characteristics of its spread in China are particularly noteworthy. In this paper, the unique characteristics of time, space, population distribution and transmissibility of SARS for the epidemic were discussed in detail.MethodsWe adopted sliding average method to process the number of reported cases per day. An SEIAR transmission dynamics model, which was the first to take asymptomatic group into consideration and applied indicators of R0, Reff, Rt to evaluate the transmissibility of SARS, and further illustrated the control effectiveness of interventions for SARS in 8 Chinese cities.ResultsThe R0 for SARS in descending order was: Tianjin city (R0 = 8.249), Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shanxi Province, Hebei Province, Beijing City, Guangdong Province, Taiwan Province, and Hong Kong. R0 of the SARS epidemic was generally higher in Mainland China than in Hong Kong and Taiwan Province (Mainland China: R0 = 6.058 ± 1.703, Hong Kong: R0 = 2.159, Taiwan: R0 = 3.223). All cities included in this study controlled the epidemic successfully (Reff<1) with differences in duration. Rt in all regions showed a downward trend, but there were significant fluctuations in Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Taiwan Province compared to other areas.ConclusionThe SARS epidemic in China showed a trend of spreading from south to north, i.e., Guangdong Province and Beijing City being the central regions, respectively, and from there to the surrounding areas. In contrast, the SARS epidemic in the central region did not stir a large-scale transmission. There were also significant differences in transmissibility among eight regions, with R0 significantly higher in the northern region than that in the southern region. Different regions were able to control the outbreak successfully in differences time

Profitability and Productivity of the Chinese Textile Industry

This paper considers the cost structure, profitability and productivity of the Chinese textile industry and estimates the impacts of RMB appreciation on this industry. Using data for 1999-2006, we found that the industry has suffered from very low profit margins and returns on capital. Because input prices have been increasing, particularly since 2001, generating profits has become more difficult for the industry. Nevertheless, the industry achieved substantial productivity growth over the period examined. Although at an inadequate level, the profitability of the industry did show some signs of improvement. As long as this trend continues, the industry could obtain a decent level of profitability. Since 2005, however, the industry has faced a new challenge: the appreciation of the RMB. Based on 2006 data, we estimated the maximum rate of RMB appreciation that the industry would be able to sustain to be approximately 5 percent a year. Copyright (c) 2010 The Authors China & World Economy (c) 2010 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Profitability and productivity of the Chinese textile industry

This paper considers the cost structure, profitability and productivity of the Chinese textile industry and estimates the impacts of RMB appreciation on this industry. Using data for 1999–2006, we found that the industry has suffered from very low profit margins and returns on capital. Because input prices have been increasing, particularly since 2001, generating profits has become more difficult for the industry. Nevertheless, the industry achieved substantial productivity growth over the period examined. Although at an inadequate level, the profitability of the industry did show some signs of improvement. As long as this trend continues, the industry could obtain a decent level of profitability. Since 2005, however, the industry has faced a new challenge: the appreciation of the RMB. Based on 2006 data, we estimated the maximum rate of RMB appreciation that the industry would be able to sustain to be approximately 5 percent a year

Serum lipidomics reveals phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine disorders in patients with myocardial infarction and post-myocardial infarction-heart failure

Abstract Background Myocardial infarction (MI) and post-MI-heart failure (pMIHF) are a major cause of death worldwide, however, the underlying mechanisms of pMIHF from MI are not well understood. This study sought to characterize early lipid biomarkers for the development of pMIHF disease. Methods Serum samples from 18 MI and 24 pMIHF patients were collected from the Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University and analyzed using lipidomics with Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography and Q-Exactive High Resolution Mass Spectrometer. The serum samples were tested by the official partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to find the differential expression of metabolites between the two groups. Furthermore, the metabolic biomarkers of pMIHF were screened using the subject operating characteristic (ROC) curve and correlation analysis. Results The average age of the 18 MI and 24 pMIHF participants was 57.83 ± 9.28 and 64.38 ± 10.89 years, respectively. The B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level was 328.5 ± 299.842 and 3535.96 ± 3025 pg/mL, total cholesterol(TC) was 5.59 ± 1.51 and 4.69 ± 1.13 mmol/L, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was 5.24 ± 2.15 and 7.20 ± 3.49 mmol/L, respectively. In addition, 88 lipids, including 76 (86.36%) down-regulated lipids, were identified between the patients with MI and pMIHF. ROC analysis showed that phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) (12:1e_22:0) (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.9306) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) (22:4_14:1) (AUC = 0.8380) could be potential biomarkers for the development of pMIHF. Correlation analysis showed that PE (12:1e_22:0) was inversely correlated with BNP and BUN, but positively correlated with TC. In contrast, PC (22:4_14:1) was positively associated with both BNP and BUN, and was negatively associated with TC. Conclusions Several lipid biomarkers were identified that could potentially be used to predict and diagnose patients with pMIHF. PE (12:1e_22:0) and PC (22:4_14:1) could sufficiently differentiate between patients with MI and pMIHF

Risk of imported Ebola virus disease in China

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Background More than 600,000 annual arrivals from Africa, 1.4 billion population and developing health care systems render China at non-negligible risk of imported Ebola virus disease (EVD). Method According to the natural history of EVD, we constructed a deterministic SEIR model. Three published EVD outbreaks in Africa were enrolled to calculate the basic reproduction number (R0) of EVD. Scenarios representing unreported and reported (with n weeks delay) imported EVD in China were simulated to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions assumed to be implemented in different periods of the outbreaks. Results Based on previous Africa outbreak incidence datasets, our mathematical model predicted the basic reproduction number of EVD in the range of 1.53-3.54. Adopting EVD prevalence at 0.04-0.16% from the same datasets and estimated missing information and monitoring rates at 1-10%, a total of 6-194 imported cases were predicted. Be a single case left unidentified/unreported, total attack rate was predicted to reach 60.19%-96.74%. Curve fitting results showed that earlier intervention benefits in exponential and linear decrease in prevalence and duration of outbreak respectively. Conclusion Based on past outbreak experience in China, there is a need to implement an internet-based surveillance and monitoring system in order to reinforce health policy, track suspected cases and protect the general public by timely interventions.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex