Knowledge Engineering in Agent Oriented Business Process Management

The challenge of dynamic environment requires managing business processes with the ability to adapt to changes and to collaborate in activities. As a promising technology to process management, agent technology with its flexible, distributed and intelligent features has been studied in numerous studies. However, most existing approaches are special and ad-hoc. They have not looked much into the nature and characteristic of agents and their rational behaviours in process management. This paper intends to investigate the mechanism how to build intelligent agents in dynamic process management from the view of knowledge engineering. An agent-oriented approach to dynamic process management with its knowledge engineering is discussed, and a three-layer knowledge model of intelligent agents is proposed. By exploiting the knowledge involved in dynamic process management and transforming it into a computational model, this work provides an essential support of developing agent-oriented approaches to business process management

Early malperfusion, ischemia reperfusion injury, and respiratory failure in acute complicated type B aortic dissection after thoracic endovascular repair

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the early mortality and major complications of acute complicated type B aortic dissection (ACBD) after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). METHODS: Twenty-six consecutive patients with ACBD who underwent TEVAR were included. Clinical indications before TEVAR and in-hospital mortality and major complications after TEVAR were analyzed and compared with similar reports. RESULTS: TEVAR was technically successful in all cases. In-hospital mortality occurred in four patients (15%), and major complications occurred in an additional four patients (15%). Three of the four (75%) of the deaths were associated with malperfusion and ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI), and 3/4 (75%) of the major complications were caused by respiratory failure (RF). CONCLUSIONS: In-hospital mortality associated strongly with severe end-organ malperfusion and IRI, while major complications associated with RF, during TEVAR. Our results indicate that malperfusion, IRI and respiratory failure during TEVAR should be carefully monitored and aggressively treated

Computer-Based Scaffolding for Sustainable Project-Based Learning: Impact on High- and Low-Achieving Students

Project-based learning, in which students engage in meaningful learning with authentic projects and building agency and autonomy for sustainable learning, has been increasingly promoted in higher education. However, completing an authentic project involves a complex process, which may pose challenges to many students, especially low-achievers. This study incorporated computer-based scaffolding into a project-based programming course to make complex project learning accessible to students. The scaffolding was designed based on the four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model. The results show that with the support of computer-based scaffolding, all participants maintained a high level of motivation during the course. At the end of the course, their performance was improved by 35.49% in product quality and 38.98% in subject knowledge; their programming thinking skills were improved by 20.91% in problem understanding, 21.86% in modular design, and 25.70% in process design. Despite academic achievement discrepancies among the participants at the beginning of the course, low-achievers’ post-study performance in product quality and programming thinking skills became similar to that of high-achievers, and their post-study performance in subject knowledge became similar to that of medium-achievers. The findings reveal the promising role of computer-based scaffolding in making complex learning with real-world projects accomplishable by a wide range of students and reducing the gaps between high- and low-achieving students

Computer-Based Scaffolding for Sustainable Project-Based Learning: Impact on High- and Low-Achieving Students

Project-based learning, in which students engage in meaningful learning with authentic projects and building agency and autonomy for sustainable learning, has been increasingly promoted in higher education. However, completing an authentic project involves a complex process, which may pose challenges to many students, especially low-achievers. This study incorporated computer-based scaffolding into a project-based programming course to make complex project learning accessible to students. The scaffolding was designed based on the four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model. The results show that with the support of computer-based scaffolding, all participants maintained a high level of motivation during the course. At the end of the course, their performance was improved by 35.49% in product quality and 38.98% in subject knowledge; their programming thinking skills were improved by 20.91% in problem understanding, 21.86% in modular design, and 25.70% in process design. Despite academic achievement discrepancies among the participants at the beginning of the course, low-achievers’ post-study performance in product quality and programming thinking skills became similar to that of high-achievers, and their post-study performance in subject knowledge became similar to that of medium-achievers. The findings reveal the promising role of computer-based scaffolding in making complex learning with real-world projects accomplishable by a wide range of students and reducing the gaps between high- and low-achieving students

The mechanism of Qijing Mingmu decoction on cellular senescence of conjunctivochalasis

Abstract Background Qijing Mingmu decoction (QJMM), a compound Chinese medicine preparation, which consists of Lycium barbarum, Polygonatum, Ophiopogon japonicus, Poria cocos, Glycyrrhiza, Eclipta prostrata and Ligusticum striatum, has been confirmed to be effective for the treatment of conjunctivochalasis (CCH) in clinic and reduce cellular senescence. However, the underlying mechanism is still unknown. Our previous study revealed that p38-mediated cellular senescence contributed to the pathogenesis of CCH. Methods To explore whether p38 might be the potential therapeutic target of QJMM for CCH, CCH fibroblasts were treated with QJMM granule and then the effect of QJMM granule on the expression and promoter activity of p38α was determined by western blot and dual luciferase reporter gene assay, respectively. Meanwhile, the influence of QJMM granule on cell proliferation, oxidative stress, cellular senescence and the expression of the cellular senescence-associated genes were measured by corresponding methods. Results QJMM granule significantly decreased the protein expression of p38α and p-p38α in CCH fibroblasts in a dose-dependent manner and inhibited p38α promoter activity. QJMM granule as well as the p38 inhibitor SB203580 reduced the level of reactive oxygen species and increased the activity of superoxide dismutase in CCH fibroblasts. QJMM granule and SB203580 promoted cell proliferation and reduced the percentage of SA-β-Gal-positive cells. The mRNA and protein expression of p53 and p21 was remarkably down-regulated by QJMM granule as well as SB203580 and that of SMP30 was up-regulated in CCH fibroblasts. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that QJMM granule was effective for alleviating cellular senescence of CCH fibroblasts by p38 MAPK signaling and the followed p53/p21 signaling

Circ_0000235 targets MCT4 to promote glycolysis and progression of bladder cancer by sponging miR-330-5p

Abstract Warburg effect plays a crucial role in bladder cancer (Bca) development. However, the mechanism by which glycolysis is involved in Bca remains poorly understood. CircRNAs commonly play a regulatory role in tumor progression. Our study discovered and identified a novel circRNA, hsa_circ_0000235 (circ235), and investigated its role in the glycolytic process, which further results in the progression of Bca. We applied qRT-PCR to assess its clinicopathological relevance and evaluated its proliferation, migration, and glycolytic capacity. We investigated its mechanism using RNA immunoprecipitation, dual-luciferase reporters, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. The findings demonstrated that circ235 was dramatically increased in Bca tissues and was related to a worse prognosis. In vitro studies revealed that circ235 accelerated the rate of extracellular acidification and promoted glucose uptake and lactate manufacture in Bca cells. Additionally, it strengthened the proliferative and migratory capacities. Experiments on animals revealed that downregulating circ235 dramatically reduced carcinogenesis and tumor growth. Circ235 activates monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) by sponging miR-330-5p, which promotes glycolysis and tumor growth. In conclusion, these findings suggest that circ235 may be a viable molecular marker and therapeutic target for Bca

Deubiquitinase USP20 promotes breast cancer metastasis by stabilizing SNAI2

SNAI2/SLUG, a metastasis-promoting transcription factor, is a labile protein that is degraded through the ubiquitin proteasome degradation system. Here, we conducted comprehensive gain- and loss-of-function screens using a human DUB cDNA library of 65 genes and an siRNA library of 98 genes, and identified USP20 as a deubiquitinase (DUB) that regulates SNAI2 ubiquitination and stability. Further investigation of USP20 demonstrated its function in promoting migration, invasion, and metastasis of breast cancer. USP20 positively correlates with SNAI2 protein level in breast tumor samples, and higher USP20 expression is associated with poor prognosis in ER- breast cancer patients

Back-streaming ion emission and beam focusing on high power linear induction accelerator

Ions released from target surfaces by impact of a high intensity and current electron beam can be accelerated and trapped in the beam potential, and further destroy the beam focus. By solving the 2D Poisson equation, we found that the charge neutralization factor of the ions to the beam under space charge limited condition is 1/3, which is large enough to disrupt the spot size. Therefore, the ion emission at the target in a single-pulse beam/target system must be source limited. Experimental results on the time-resolved beam profile measurement have also proven that. A new focus scheme is proposed in this paper to focus the beam to a small spot size with the existence of back-streaming ions. We found that the focal spot will move upstream as the charge neutralization factor increases. By comparing the theoretical and experimental focal length of the Dragon-I accelerator (20 MeV, 2.5 kA, 60 ns flattop), we found that the average neutralization factor is about 5% in the beam/target system

Interface-coupling of CoFe-LDH on MXene as high-performance oxygen evolution catalyst

Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the bottleneck reaction of the overall water splitting process despite the intensive research in the past decades. Efficient yet stable low-cost OER catalysts have been widely explored but further improvement is still highly demanded. Herein, a type of hybrid OER catalyst was prepared by the growth of CoFe-LDH (layered double hydroxide) on the surface of Ti 3 C 2 MXene nanosheets, which exhibits superior OER performance than the state-of-the-art RuO 2 . The enhancement of the OER performance could be attributed to the combination of oxygen-breaking ability of CoFe-LDH and metallic conductivity of Ti 3 C 2 MXene substrate. Meanwhile, the direct growth of CoFe-LDH on the hydroxyl-rich surface of MXene effectively prevents itself from aggregation, exposing more CoFe-LDH edge active sites. What\u27s more important is that the intimate interface between CoFe-LDH and Ti 3 C 2 MXene brings in efficient charge transfer and oxygen activation, which is supported by the DFT calculation results. The direct growth of CoFe-LDH on MXene endows the insulating LDH with metallic features with the O 2p states become distributed above the Fermi level which is mediated by the possible anionic redox process. This work demonstrates the great potential of MXene-based hybrid nanostructure for energy conversion applications