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Business process management (BPM) has been the main driver behind company optimization and operational efficiency. However, the digitization era we live in necessitates that organizations be agile and adaptable. Delivering unprecedented rates of automation-fueled agility is necessary to be a part of this digital revolution. On the other hand, BPM automation cannot be done only by concentrating on procedure space and traditional planning methodologies. With the introduction of BPM, where the deployment of BPM with cloud computing has undergone enormous development lately, cloud computing has been considered a particularly active topic of study. Cloud computing points to the provision of dependable computing environments based on improved infrastructure availability and service quality without imposing a significant cost load. This research aims to discover the relationship between technical factors, financial factors, environmental factors, security of the cloud-based information systems, and the agile development of industrial BPM (IBPM). The present study aims to fill this gap and show how partial least squares structural equation modeling (SEM) can be employed in this field. Importance–performance map analysis (IPMA) evaluated the importance and performance of factors in the SEM. IPMA enables the identification of factors with relatively low performance but relatively high importance in shaping dependent variables. The empirical findings showed that four key factors (technical, financial, environmental, and security) positively influence the agile development of IBPM.
By combining multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology and multiple matched filters with frequency diverse array (FDA), FDA-MIMO radar can be used to achieve two-dimensional target localization with range and angle. In this paper, we propose two FDA-MIMO multi-pulse target localization methods based on tensor decomposition. Based on the canonical polyadic decomposition theory, the signal models of CPD-DP-FDA with double-pulse and CPD-SP-FDA with stepped frequency pulses are established. By analyzing the signal processing procedures of the two schemes, the indicator beampattern used for target localization is obtained. The parameter estimation accuracy of the proposed method is investigated in single target and multiple targets scenarios, and the proposed method is compared with the traditional double-pulse method. The results show that the target localization method based on tensor decomposition can effectively solve the problem of multi-target indication ambiguity. The target positioning effect can be further improved by combining stepped frequency pulses. The derivation of Cramer–Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) demonstrates the superiority of the method.
To examine the mediating effects of maternal perception of child weight (weight perception) and concern about overweight (weight concern) on the paths between child weight and maternal feeding practices.
Setting:
Pudong District, Shanghai, China.
Participants:
A convenience sample of 1164 mothers who were primary caregivers of preschool children.
Results:
Sixty per cent of the mothers perceived their overweight/obese children as normal weight or even underweight. The disagreement between actual child weight and maternal weight perception was statistically significant (Kappa = 0·212, P < 0·001). Structural equation modelling indicated that weight perception fully mediated the relationship between child BMI Z-scores and pressure to eat. Weight concern fully mediated the relationships between child BMI Z-scores and the other three feeding practices. The serial mediating effects of weight perception and concern were statistically significant for the paths between child BMI Z-score and monitoring (β = 0·035, P < 0·001), restriction (β = 0·022, P < 0·001), and food as a reward (β = –0·017, P < 0·05).
Conclusion:
Child weight may influence maternal feeding practices through weight perception and concern. Thus, interventions are needed to increase the accuracy of weight perception, which may influence several maternal feeding practices and thereby contribute to child health.
Extensive magmatism in NE China, eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, has produced multi-stage granitic plutons and accompanying W mineralization. The Narenwula complex in the southwestern Great Xing’an Range provides important insights into the petrogenesis, geodynamic processes and relationship with W mineralization. The complex comprises granodiorites, monzogranites and granite porphyry. Mafic microgranular enclaves are common in the granodiorites, and have similar zircon U–Pb ages as their host rocks (258.5–253.9 Ma), whereas the W-bearing granitoids yield emplacement ages of 149.8–148.1 Ma. Permian granodiorites are I-type granites that are enriched in large-ion lithophile elements and light rare earth elements, and depleted in high field strength elements and heavy rare earth elements. Both the mafic microgranular enclaves and granodiorites have nearly identical zircon Hf isotopic compositions. The results suggest that the mafic microgranular enclaves and granodiorites formed by the mixing of mafic and felsic magmas. W-bearing granitoids are highly fractionated A-type granites, enriched in Rb, Th, U and Pb, and depleted in Ba, Sr, P, Ti and Eu. They have higher W concentrations and Rb/Sr ratios, and lower Nb/Ta, Zr/Hf and K/Rb ratios than the W-barren granodiorites. These data and negative ϵHf(t) values (–6.0 to –2.1) suggest that they were derived from the partial melting of ancient lower crust and subsequently underwent extreme fractional crystallization. Based on the regional geology, we propose that the granodiorites were generated in a volcanic arc setting related to the subduction of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean, whereas the W-bearing granitoids and associated deposits formed in a post-orogenic extensional setting controlled by the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean and Palaeo-Pacific Ocean tectonic regimes.
This study explored the effects of condition notification based on virtual reality technology on the anxiety levels of parents of children with simple CHD.
Methods:
The subjects of the study were the parents of 60 children with simple CHD who were treated in our centre. The state anxiety scale was used to assess the anxiety status of the parents of the children before and after the condition notification in different ways (based on virtual reality explanations and written explanations).
Results:
In this study, a total of 55 parents of children with CHD successfully completed the survey. At the time of admission, there was no significant difference in the state anxiety scale scores of the parents between the two groups. The anxiety status of the virtual reality group was relieved after the condition notification assisted by virtual reality technology, and there was a significant difference compared with the control group.
Conclusion:
Condition notification based on virtual reality technology can effectively alleviate the anxiety of parents of children with simple CHD, which is worthy of clinical application.
This study aimed to explore the effects of eye masks on the sleep quality and pain of school-age children with CHD after surgery.
Methods:
Forty school-age children with CHD who underwent open-heart surgery in the Cardiac Surgery Department of a provincial hospital in China from January 2020 to December 2020 were selected. The children were randomly divided into the experimental group (n = 20) and the control group (n = 20). Children in the control group were given routine sleep care, and the children in the experimental group were given a sleep intervention with eye masks for three nights following the removal of tracheal intubation. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to evaluate the sleep quality of the children. The Children’s Pain Behaviour Scale was used to evaluate the pain of the children.
Results:
After three nights of receiving the eye masks intervention, the sleep quality scores of the children in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05) and the sleep quality of the children in the experimental group was higher. The pain scores of the children in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the children in the control group, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05), and the children in the experimental group suffered less post-operative pain.
Conclusion:
Eye masks are a simple, safe and economical intervention, that is beneficial for improving the post-operative sleep quality and relieving post-operative pain in school-age children with congenital heart disease.
Based on hubs of neural circuits associated with addiction and their degree centrality (DC), this study aimed to construct the addiction-related brain networks for patients diagnosed with heroin dependence undertaking stable methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and further prospectively identify the ones at high risk for relapse with cluster analysis.
Methods
Sixty-two male MMT patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HC) underwent brain resting-state functional MRI data acquisition. The patients received 26-month follow-up for the monthly illegal-drug-use information. Ten addiction-related hubs were chosen to construct a user-defined network for the patients. Then the networks were discriminated with K-means-clustering-algorithm into different groups and followed by comparative analysis to the groups and HC. Regression analysis was used to investigate the brain regions significantly contributed to relapse.
Results
Sixty MMT patients were classified into two groups according to their brain-network patterns calculated by the best clustering-number-K. The two groups had no difference in the demographic, psychological indicators and clinical information except relapse rate and total heroin consumption. The group with high-relapse had a wider range of DC changes in the cortical−striatal−thalamic circuit relative to HC and a reduced DC in the mesocorticolimbic circuit relative to the low-relapse group. DC activity in NAc, vACC, hippocampus and amygdala were closely related with relapse.
Conclusion
MMT patients can be identified and classified into two subgroups with significantly different relapse rates by defining distinct brain-network patterns even if we are blind to their relapse outcomes in advance. This may provide a new strategy to optimize MMT.
A kinetostatic approach applied to the design of a backflip strategy for quadruped robots is proposed in this paper. Inspired by legged animals and taking the advantage of the leg workspace, this strategy provides an optimal design idea for the low-cost quadruped robots to achieve self-recovery after overturning. Through kinetostatic and energy analysis, a four-stepped backflip strategy based on the selected rotation axis with minimum energy is proposed, with a process of selection, lifting, rotating, and protection. The kinematic factors that affect the backflip are investigated, along with the relationship between the design parameters of the leg and trunk being analyzed. At the end of this paper, the strategy is validated by a simulation and experiments with a prototype called DRbot, demonstrating that the strategy endows the robot a strong self-recovery ability in various terrains.
Electromagnetic inverse-scattering problems (ISPs) are concerned with determining the properties of an unknown object using measured scattered fields. ISPs are often highly nonlinear, causing the problem to be very difficult to address. In addition, the reconstruction images of different optimization methods are distorted which leads to inaccurate reconstruction results. To alleviate these issues, we propose a new linear model solution of generative adversarial network-based (LM-GAN) inspired by generative adversarial networks (GAN). Two sub-networks are trained alternately in the adversarial framework. A linear deep iterative network as a generative network captures the spatial distribution of the data, and a discriminative network estimates the probability of a sample from the training data. Numerical results validate that LM-GAN has admirable fidelity and accuracy when reconstructing complex scatterers.
The present study aimed to explore the association between dietary patterns in abdominal obesity obtained by reduced-rank regression (RRR) with visceral fat index (VFI) as a dependent variable and dyslipidemia in rural adults in Henan, China. A total of 29538 people aged 18–79 were selected from the Henan Rural Cohort Study. RRR analysis was used to identify dietary patterns; logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic spline regression models were applied to analyze the association between dietary patterns in abdominal obesity and dyslipidemia. VFI was used as a mediator to estimate the mediation effect. The dietary pattern in abdominal obesity was characterized by high carbohydrate and red meat intake and low consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, etc. After full adjustment, the highest quartile of dietary pattern scores was significantly associated with an increased risk of dyslipidemia (OR: 1·33, 95 % CI 1·23–1·44, Ptrend < 0·001), there was a non-linear dose–response relationship between them (Poverall-association < 0·001, Pnon-lin-association = 0·022). The result was similar in dose-response between the dietary pattern scores and VFI. The indirect effect partially mediated by VFI was significant (OR: 1·07, 95 % CI 1·06–1·08). VIF explained approximately 53·3 % of odds of dyslipidemia related to the dietary pattern. Abdominal obesity dietary pattern scores positively affected VFI and dyslipidemia; there was a dose-response in both relationships. Dyslipidemia progression increased with higher abdominal obesity dietary pattern scores. In addition, VFI played a partial mediating role in relationship between abdominal obesity dietary pattern and dyslipidemia.
The Harihada–Chegendalai ophiolitic mélange, which is located between the Bainaimiao arc and the North China Craton, holds significant clues regarding the tectonic setting of the southern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The ophiolitic mélange is mainly composed of gabbroic and serpentinized ultramafic rocks. Here, zircon U–Pb dating, in situ zircon Hf isotopic, whole-rock geochemical and in situ mineral chemical data from the ophiolitic mélange are reported. The zircons in the gabbroic rocks yielded concordia U–Pb ages of 450–448 Ma and exhibited slightly positive ϵHf(t) values (0.87–4.34). The geochemical characteristics of the gabbroic rocks indicate that they were generated from a mantle wedge metasomatized by subduction-derived melts from sediments with continental crust contamination, in a fore-arc tectonic setting. These rocks also experienced the accumulation of plagioclase. The geochemical characteristics of the ultramafic rocks and their Cr-spinels indicate that they may constitute part of residual mantle that has experienced a high degree of partial melting and has interacted with fluids/melts released from the subducted slab in the same fore-arc tectonic setting. The ophiolitic mélange may therefore have formed in this fore-arc tectonic setting, resulting from the northward subduction of the South Bainaimiao Ocean beneath the Bainaimiao arc during Late Ordovician time, prior to the collision between the Bainaimiao arc and the North China Craton during the Silurian to Carboniferous periods.
The aim of the present study was to compare the rate of preterm birth (PTB) and growth from birth to 18 years between twins conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and twins conceived by spontaneous conception (SC) in mainland China. The retrospective cohort study included 1164 twins resulting from IVF and 25,654 twins conceived spontaneously, of which 494 from IVF and 6338 from SC were opposite-sex twins. PTB and low birth weight (LBW), and growth, including length/height and weight, were compared between the two groups at five stages: infancy (0 year), toddler period (1–2 years), preschool (3–5 years), primary or elementary school (6–11 years), and adolescence (10–18 years). Few statistically significant differences were found for LBW and growth between the two groups after adjusting for PTB and other confounders. Twins born by IVF faced an increased risk of PTB compared with those born by SC (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 8.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] [3.19, 21.13], p < .001 in all twins and aOR 10.12, 95% CI [2.32, 44.04], p = .002 in opposite-sex twins). Twins born by IVF experienced a similar growth at five stages (0–18 years old) when compared with those born by SC. PTB risk, however, is significantly higher for twins conceived by IVF than those conceived by SC.
Maternal folic acid (FA) plays an important role in the fetus development, but it is unknown the response of hepatic metabolism in the offspring from different litter sizes to maternal FA supplementation. In the present study, this was done by feeding the ewes with 0, 16 and 32 mg/(kg·DM) FA supplemented diet during pregnancy and analysing the hepatic one-carbon metabolism-related indices and gene expression in the neonatal lambs of different litter sizes (twins, TW; triplets, TR). Regardless of litter sizes, the concentrations of folate, methionine, S-adenosylmethionine and DNA methyltransferase increased significantly, but homocysteine and S-adenosylhomocysteine decreased in the liver of newborn lambs from ewes whose diet was supplemented with FA. In TW, maternal FA status has little effect on hepatic genes expression profile of newborn lambs, and no significant enriched pathway was found. However, DEG involved in cell proliferation such as CCNA2, CCNB2, CCNE2, CDK1 and BUB1 were significantly enriched when the ewes were supplemented with FA in TR groups. In addition, nucleotide synthesis-related genes such as POLD1, POLD2, MCM4 and MCM5 were enriched markedly in DNA replication and pyrimidine metabolism pathways in triplets when a higher FA ingestion [32 mg/(kg·DM)] was implemented in ewes. This finding demonstrated that the hepatic methyl metabolism in TW and TR newborn lambs was regulated by maternal FA status. The hepatic cell proliferation and nucleotide metabolism related genes in TR were more susceptible to maternal dietary FA supplementation during pregnancy.
Few surges on the Central Tibetan Plateau have been reported. Here, we report observations of a recent surging event of the Gangjiaquba Glacier in the Geladandong Peak region using surface velocity and morphology changes that were extracted from Landsat MSS/TM/ETM+/OLI images obtained from 1973 to 2019. The results reveal that the active surge of this glacier initiated at the end of summer in 2014 and terminated in 2016. The surge resulted in a total advance of 500 ± 11.2 m and many fresh crevasses in the surging zone. The maximum velocity was 1100 m a−1 during the active surge phase, which is much smaller than those observed in Karakoram but similar to observations in West Kunlun.
What are the major factors contributing to ship accidents, and how do these factors evolve in the long term? This study addresses these two questions by leveraging an unsupervised machine learning method named structural topic modelling to identify the causes of ship accidents. The study analysed 2,341 task errors manually collected from 441 reports issued by four government agencies covering a 45-year time span. The results show that the structure of causes of ship accidents remained essentially the same during this period. This highlights the social-material aspect of navigation technology, indicating that the use of advanced technology may not necessarily lead to safer navigation practices, and the interaction between the technology and human agency must be focused on in the bridge management context. Additionally, the computer-assisted textual data analysis highlights pilot-related factors, which might be rooted in the unsupervised and difficult-to-verify handover procedures between pilots and captains, thereby underlining the importance of appropriate piloting regulations.
The generation of germ cells from embryonic stem cells in vitro has current historical significance. Western blot, qPCR, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry assays were used to investigate the differences in expression levels of totipotency and specific markers for Wnt regulation and the related signalling pathways during primordial germ cell-like cell (PGCLC) induction and differentiation. During PGCLC induction, activation of WNT3a increased the expression of NANOG, SOX2 and OCT4, but Mvh, DAZL, Blimp1, TFAP2C, Gata4, SOX17, EOMES, Brachyury and PRDM1 expression levels were significantly reduced. Inhibition of the WNT signal demonstrated the opposite effect. Similarly, inhibitors of BMP and the Nodal/Activin signal were used to determine the effect of signal pathways on differentiation. CER1 affected the Wnt signal and differentiation, but the inhibitor SB only regulated differentiation. BMP–WNT–NODAL were mainly responsible for regulating differentiation. Our results provide a reliable theoretical basis and feasibility for further clinical medical research.
To investigate the safety and feasibility of midazolam for conscious sedation in transcatheter device closure of atrial septal defects guided solely by transthoracic echocardiography.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis was performed on 55 patients who underwent transcatheter device closure of atrial septal defects from October, 2019 to May, 2020. All patients received intravenous midazolam and local anesthesia with lidocaine to maintain sedation. A group of previous patients with unpublished data who underwent the same procedure with general anesthesia was set as the control group. The relevant clinical parameters, the Ramsay sedation scores, the numerical rating scale, and the post-operative satisfaction questionnaire were recorded and analyzed.
Results:
In the midazolam group, the success rate of atrial septal defect closure was 98.2%. Hemodynamic stability was observed during the procedure. None of the patients needed additional endotracheal intubation for general anesthesia. Compared with the control group, the midazolam group had no statistically significant differences in the Ramsay sedation score and numerical rating scale scores. Patients in the midazolam group experienced more post-operative satisfaction than those in the control group.
Conclusions:
Conscious sedation using midazolam is a safe and effective anesthetic technique for transcatheter device closure of atrial septal defects guided solely by transthoracic echocardiography.