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Gnetum is a pantropical distributed gymnosperm genus. As being dioecious, Gnetum species apply female and male strobili to attract and provide nutrition to insect pollinators. Due to its unique gross morphology, a Gnetum male strobilus receives much attention in previous taxonomic and evolutionary studies. However, underlying molecular mechanisms that control male strobilus development and pollination adaptation have not been well studied. In the present study, nine full-length transcriptomes were sequenced from three developmental stages of the G. luofuense male strobili using Oxford Nanopore Technologies. In addition, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and RT-qPCR analysis were performed. Our results show that a total of 3138 transcription factors and 466 long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were identified, and differentially expressed lncRNAs and TFs reveal a dynamic pattern during the male strobilus development. Our results show that MADS-box and Aux/IAA TFs were differentially expressed at the three developmental stages, suggesting their important roles in the regulation of male strobilus development of G. luofuense. Results of WGCNA analysis and annotation of differentially expressed transcripts corroborate that the male strobilus development of G. luofuense is closely linked to plant hormone changes, photosynthesis, pollination drop secretion and reproductive organ defense. Our results provide a valuable resource for understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive organ evolution and pollination biology in Gnetum.

The tree Schima superba is important for afforestation and fire prevention in southern China. The wood of this tree can also be used for furniture and buildings. However, the lack of genetic background and genomic information for this species has lowered wood yield speed and quality improvement. Here, we aimed to discover genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 302 S. superba germplasms collected from southern China and to use these SNPs to investigate the population structure. Using genotyping by sequencing, a total of 785 high-quality SNP markers (minor allele frequency [MAF] ≥ 0.05) were identified from 302 accessions collected from seven geographical locations. Population structure analyses and principal coordinate analyses (PCoAs) indicated that these germplasm resources can be clearly separated into different populations. The S. superba accessions originating from Yunnan (YN) and Guangxi (GX) fell into the same population, separate from the accessions originating from Guangdong (GD), which indicated that these two regions should be regarded as major provenances of this species. In addition, two independent core germplasm sets with abundant genetic polymorphisms were constructed to support the breeding work. The identification of SNP markers, analyses of population genetics, and construction of core germplasm sets will greatly promote the molecular breeding work of S. superba.

Artificial intelligence speech recognition technology is an important direction in the field of human-computer interaction. The use of speech recognition technology to assist teachers in the correction of spoken English pronunciation in teaching has certain effects and can help students without being constrained by places, time and teachers. Based on artificial intelligence speech recognition technology, this paper improves and analyzes speech recognition algorithms, and uses effective algorithms as the system algorithms of artificial intelligence models. Meanwhile, based on phoneme-level speech error correction, after introducing the basic knowledge, construction and training of acoustic models, the basic process of speech cutting, including the front-end processing of speech and the extraction of feature parameters, is elaborated. In addition, this study designed a control experiment to verify and analyze the artificial intelligence speech recognition correction model. The research results show that the method proposed in this paper has a certain effect.

In the present paper, we obtain limit theorems for a catogary of Hull-White models with Hawkes jumps including law of large numbers, central limit theorem, and large deviations. In the field of interest rate modeling, it is meaningful in characterizing a long-term rate of return., Comment: There is a fundamental flaw in this paper. The positivity of the process can't be guaranteed. As a result, the intensity of the jumps may be meaningless

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Kava (Piper methysticum Forst) is a popular and favorable edible medicinal herb which was traditionally used to prepare a nonfermented beverage with relaxant beneficial for both social and recreational purposes. Numerous studies conducted on kava have confirmed the presence of kavalactones and flavokawains, two major groups of bioactive ingredients, in this miraculous natural plant. Expectedly, both kavalactone and flavokawain components exhibited potent antianxiety and anticancer activities, and their structure-activity relationships were also revealed. However, dozens of clinical data revealed the hepatotoxicity effect which is indirectly or directly associated with kava consumption, and most of the evidence currently seems to point the compounds of flavokawains in kava were responsible. Therefore, our aim is to conduct a systematic review of kavalactones and flavokawains in kava including their biological activities, structure-activity relationships, and toxicities, and as a result of our systematic investigations, suggestions on kava and its compounds are supplied for future research.

In the era of rapid development of informatization, the informatization construction of national higher vocational colleges has been in the period of application deepening. China's education system is deepening to the development of mass education, and higher vocational colleges’ adult continuing education plays a great role for the realization of education popularization. With the continuous expansion of continuing education enrollment scale, the diversified development of education mode, the higher complexity of continuing education management and the increase of management workload, the traditional management method has gradually become unapplicable. Higher vocational colleges can greatly improve the management level by promoting the informatization of education management according to their own professional or regional advantages.

BackgroundSemen Ziziphi spinosae and Radix Polygalae, two herbs commonly used together in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of insomnia and anxiety. The study aims to study the sedative-hypnotic effect of the active components of the herbal pair, the possible mechanisms of such effect, and related metabolic pathways in vivo.MethodsThe sedative and hypnotic effect of the active components (EI30) of the herbal pair was studied by recording influence on the proportion of sleeping within 30 min, sleep latency and sleep length of pentobarbital sodium-induced sleeping on mice. Possible mechanisms of the sedative-hypnotic effect of the active components were investigated by measuring the content of neurotransmitters in the total protein of mice brain tissue. The main chemical compounds of the herbal pair were identified by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). Serum samples of mice were studied, and related differential metabolites between the normal group and model group, and between model group and treatment group were identified by Gas Chromatography Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS), Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA).ResultsCompared with the control group, high dose EI30 group and the Clonazepam group were with significantly higher proportions of sleep within 30 min (P = 0.027 and 0.005 respectively). Compared with the control group, all of the high, medium and low dose of EI30 groups were with significantly shorter sleep latency (P P ConclusionsThis study reveals the mechanisms of sedative and hypnotic effects of herbal pair Semen Ziziphi spinosae and Radix Polygalae by using metabolomics methods. This study provides a basis for further development and utilization of this herbal pair.

In 2009, a new citrus viral disease caused by Citrus yellow vein clearing virus (CYVCV) was first discovered in Yunnan province of China. In this study, a survey was conducted in 27 orchards from Yunnan province from April 2017 to September 2018. In all, 45 of a total of 513 citrus samples were tested positive for CYVCV by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Furthermore, the complete genome sequences of six CYVCV isolates from different hosts were sequenced. Comparisons of the whole genome sequences of these six CYVCV isolates as well as 34 isolates previously reported from around the world revealed the sequence identity ranged from 96.9% to 99.8% at nucleotide level, indicating that there is a very low level of sequence heterogeneity among CYVCV isolates of different hosts in Yunnan province.

In the provision of linguistic evidence as one of the foci in Forensic Linguistics, Forensic Speaker Verification (FSV) includes an analysis of speech recordings to verify the voice of a criminal. As an inquiry into the validity of the available FSV, we present the analysis on Indonesian FSV system. The system consists of pairing, tagging, acoustic features extraction, and statistical analysis. There is a claim that the system meets the demand for presenting legal evidence in Indonesian court. In the system, one of the acoustic features extracted from the speech data is fundamental frequency (F0). Then, the paper aims at reviewing the method in Indonesian FSV system in terms of fundamental frequency (F0) used as the discriminatory potential. The results show that F0 has not represented an adequate interpretation of the linguistic evidence in our experimental data. It leads us to suggest that more experimental studies are required to scrutinize F0 in the system.

Our research is rooted in community operational research (community OR) and adopts a qualitative problem structuring approach to exploring potential solutions for addressing inequality in access to affordable healthy food in disadvantaged communities in Wales, UK. Existing food provisions are synthesised and barriers to their effectiveness are identified. A portfolio of actions and commitment packages is co-developed with multiple stakeholders in order to bring about desired changes. Although these solutions address concerns specific to local Welsh communities, they can be generalised and applied in similar settings where food desert problems prevail. We draw upon insights from the literature on inequality, food deserts, and social capital to conceptualise the solutions around both material (providing and accessing) and social (reconnecting and strengthening) aspects. By addressing both material and social aspects simultaneously, we show how community-driven intervention can contribute to reducing inequality in disadvantaged communities. Our research experience reveals that community OR is particularly effective in tackling a ‘wicked’ problem such as food deserts, and allows researchers to engage with communities, gain an understanding about the problematic situation and guide intervention efforts in a sustainable and systemic manner. A number of methodological reflections are offered as a way to contribute to the development of the field as a whole.

The map matching (MM) model plays an important role in revising the locations of floating car data (FCD) on a digital map. However, most existing MM models have multiple shortcomings, such as a low matching accuracy for complex roads, long running times, an inability to take full advantage of historical FCD information, and challenges in maintaining the topological adjacency and obeying traffic rules. To address these issues, an enhanced hidden Markov map matching (EHMM) model is proposed by adopting explicit topological expressions, using historical FCD information and introducing traffic rules. The EHMM model was validated against areal ground dataset at various sampling intervals and compared with the spatial and temporal matching model and the ordinary hidden Markov matching model. The empirical results reveal that the matching accuracy of the EHMM model is significantly higher than that of the reference models regarding real FCD trajectories at medium and high sampling rates. The running time of the EHMM model was notably shorter than those of the reference models. The matching results of the EHMM model retained topological adjacency and complied with traffic regulations better than the reference models.

In this study, we investigate the evolution of Chinese guarantee networks from the angle of sub-patterns. First, we find that the mutual, 2-out-stars and triangle sub-patterns are motifs in 2- and 3-node subgraphs. Considering the heterogeneous financial characteristics of nodes, we find that small firms tend to form a mutual guarantee relationship and large firms are likely to be the guarantors in 2-out-stars sub-patterns.

Considered an important macroeconomic indicator, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) on Manufacturing generally assumes that PMI announcements will produce an impact on stock markets. International experience suggests that stock markets react to negative PMI news. In this research, we empirically investigate the stock market reaction towards PMI in China. The asymmetric effects of PMI announcements on the stock market are observed: no market reaction is generated towards negative PMI announcements, while a positive reaction is generally generated for positive PMI news. We further find that the positive reaction towards the positive PMI news occurs 1 day before the announcement and lasts for nearly 3 days, and the positive reaction is observed in the context of expanding economic conditions. By contrast, the negative reaction towards negative PMI news is prevalent during downward economic conditions for stocks with low market value, low institutional shareholding ratios or high price earnings. Our study implies that China's stock market favors risk to a certain extent given the vast number of individual investors in the country, and there may exist information leakage in the market.

Online purchases of clothes are increasing rapidly and with it, the number of returns. Return rates of clothing bought online can be up to 70%, involving high reverse logistics costs to retailers as well as sustainability costs to society. This paper seeks to illustrate how digitalisation can potentially decrease both such costs. The paper is based on a literature review and subsequent empirical research. Qualitative information was obtained through detailed interviews with key personnel and observations of the reverse logistics operations of five major clothing retailers and two major logistics companies in Sweden, carried out in Spring 2017. The research confirmed the importance to the retailers of reverse logistics and highlighted some of the environmental consequences of the reverse logistics operations. It also unveiled several areas where digitalisation could both reduce the number of returns made in the first place and improve the efficiency of the reverse logistics processes involved in dealing with returns. There is very little research on reverse logistics in the online clothing industry despite it being the single biggest sector of online purchases in practically every country in the world. This paper brings to light some of the little-considered issues involved as well as suggesting ways in which technology can improve the sustainability of such operations. Both elements are original. Most retailers are concerned about the costs and sustainability of their operations. By providing insights into how these can be reduced, management can make better informed decisions.

IT flexibility is an increasingly important factor in today's dynamic business environment. However, earlier research lacks 1) an integrated framework that corresponds to diverse processes for supply chain management and 2) an explanation of how IT flexibility affects firms’ performance in the supply chain context. To fill these gaps, our study theorised a research model by integrating disparate streams of IT flexibility research with three types of IT flexibility, namely, operational, transactional, and strategic, and tested both the direct and indirect effects of the three IT flexibility types on firm performance. Our theoretical model uses an extended resource-based view to highlight the role of IT flexibility in managing interdependent firm relationships in supply chains. Using a partial least squares approach to structured equation modelling analysis on 162 questionnaires from supply chain practitioners, we found two significant relationships: (1) transactional IT flexibility affects operational IT flexibility, and (2) operational IT flexibility affects strategic IT flexibility. Transactional IT flexibility also affects strategic IT flexibility, thus playing a pivotal role in the effectiveness of the other two flexibility types. In addition, it was identified that transactional and operational flexibilities affect firm performance indirectly, via process integration capability, while strategic flexibility directly affects firm performance. By classifying diverse IT flexibility attributes into three types, a comprehensive and explicit concept of IT flexibility in inter-organisational relationships is attained, which allows practitioners to target key resource investments to realise the full potential of IT in the supply chain.

Glucose oxidase (GOD) and catalase (CAT) were co-immobilized on a novel crosslinked chitosan resin modified by L-lysine. The immobilized system exhibited the best performance when the immobilization process was conducted at 4 degrees C for 3 h with GOD/CAT activity ratio of 1:18 and pH 7.0. Under the optimum pH 4.0 and temperature 40 degrees C, the enzyme system could achieve to the maximum conversion of glucose, which was 68.9%. Acidoresistance and thermotolerance of the enzymes were both strengthened. The Km of the co-immobilized enzyme system obtained in this study was 31.02 mM. The GOD enzyme immobilized in this system could maintain 94% of initial activity after the 12th operational cycle. 95.8% of initial activity was left after 50 weeks' storage at 4 degrees C. GOD achieved better performance in this new immobilized enzyme system due to its effective elimination of H2O2, which showed potential applications for various commercial uses. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enzymatic removal of blood group B antigen is an effective method to develop universal red blood cells (RBCs) by α-galactosidase. Here we investigated the physicochemical properties of a novel α-galactosidase from B. Fragilis and the optimization of enzymatic conversion for RBC of blood group B to O. The results showed that α-galactosidase exhibited maximum activity at a broad optimal pH of 5.6-6.0 and an optimum temperature of 41°C. Furthermore, the enzyme was efficient in complete removal of B antigen. The conditions for B to O blood group conversion were 26°C, pH 6.8 (250 mmol/L glycine and 3 mmol/L NaCl) for 1 h. The structure and function indexes of the converted red blood cells showed no significant difference from those of normal RBCs. Consequently, the novel α-galactosidase described here was more suitable for enzymatic conversion for achieving the goal of producing universal RBCs, which would improve the blood supply while enhancing the safety of clinical transfusions.

Shikonin, a major component of Lithospermum erythrorhizon and Arnebia euchroma, exhibits antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory and antitumour activities. Although many recent studies have focused on the antitumour effects of shikonin, the exact mechanisms underlying its antitumour and immunomodulatory effects in tumour-bearing mice remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antitumour and immunomodulatory effects of shikonin derivatives (ShD) in tumour-bearing mice. Swiss mice inoculated with hepatoma HepA22 or sarcoma 180 (S180) cells were treated with ShD or 5-fluorouracil (5Fu). Survival time, immune organs, natural killer cell activity, lymphocytes, lymphocyte transformation and interleukin (IL)-2 production were analysed. ShD significantly prolonged the survival (median survival time prolonged by >7 days) of tumour-bearing mice in a dose-dependent manner, inhibited the growth of transplantable neoplasms (inhibitory rate, > 33%), and recovered (at [ShD] = 2.5 mg/kg/day) or increased (at [ShD] > 5 mg/kg/day) the number of CD3- and CD19-positive cells. ShD also played a role in protecting the immune organs from damage and reversed or enhanced immune responses, as noted by the nearly normal thymic structure; enlarged splenic corpuscles; and improved natural killer cell activity, lymphocyte transformation and IL-2 production in ShD-treated mice. ShD reduced the tumour load of tumour-bearing mice and protected the immune organs against tumour-induced damage and immune function impairment. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose To evaluate the effects of an anti-rat vascular endothelial growth factor antibody (ARVA) and bevacizumab (Avastin) on rat retinal Müller glial cells (RMGCs) in vivo and in vitro. Methods Rat RMGCs were identified and cultivated, and were then treated with bevacizumab (0.1, 0.25, and 1 mg/ml), ARVA (0.1, 0.5, and 1 µg/ml), or 1 mg/ml of rat immunoglobulin G (IgG) for 12, 24, 48, and 72 h. The numbers of viable RMGCs were determined using a trypan blue dye exclusion assay and a methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium colorimetric assay. In the in vivo study, the rats received intravitreal injections of 5 µl bevacizumab (3.75 mg/ml), ARVA (15 µg/ml), and rat IgG (1 mg/ml). The electroretinogram was recorded. Seven days after the injections, histopathologic changes and glial fibrillary acidic protein expression of RMGCs in the retina were analyzed by immunohistochemistry with hematoxylin-eosin and fluorescent staining. Results After exposure to bevacizumab at various concentrations for various periods of time, the stained cell numbers and optical density values of mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity of RMGCs had no significant differences (p>0.05) from those of the control group and IgG medium. In the stained cells, ARVA demonstrated a dose-dependent increase. Compared with those treated for 12 and 24 h, the increase of stained cells treated with 0.5 and 1 µg/ml ARVA at 48 and 72 h was very significant (p

A structural evaluating approach is presented by using influence matrix when the support displacements are known. The steps of the evaluating approach are given by applying the expression between the nodal displacements of the upper structure and the support displacements. A single span, two-story plane frame are analyzed for obtaining the nodal displacements and the internal forces of members of the upper structure when the uneven support settlement occurs. The results show that the proposed approach is simple and applicable for analyzing the upper structure due to the support settlement.

The plane frame structure of three-span, six-story reinforced concrete structure, is adopted to study whether wave passage effect should be considered in the seismic responses of frame structures or not. The influence factors of seismic wave's frequency and wave passage effect on the structure are studied. The earthquake responses of the frame structure to wave passage excitations and uniform excitations are computed respectively for the class III site seismic wave by using Midas Gen software. The results of column shear forces obtained from the wave passage excitations are compared with those of the uniform excitations. And the frequencies of seismic waves are analyzed. Numerical results showed that wave passage effect caused the shear force of the first-story column facing the seismic wave to increase remarkably for the plane frame structures. For the seismic waves with wave passage effect, the main peaks of frequency amplitude spectrum of seismic wave arise in low frequency domain.

The polycarbohydrate structure of Galα1-3Galβ1-4GluNAc-R (known as αGal epitopes of xenoantigen), produced by α1-3-galactosyltransferase (α1,3-GT) in the course of animal development, is the major xenoantigen on the cell surface of porcine which causes hyperacute rejection in pig-to-human xenotransplantation. Alpha-1,3-galactosidase (AGL), a hydrolytic enzyme, can remove the terminal α-1,3-galactosyl from the Galα1-3Galβ1-4GluNAc-R structure resulting in cleaning αGal epitopes from the porcine cells. Alpha-1,2-fucosyltransferase (HT) can modify the surface carbohydrate phenotype of porcine cells, bringing about reduction of αGal epitopes expression. In this study, human AGL and HT gene were co-transfected to porcine fetal fibro-blast (PFFb) in equimolar concentration to reduce the xenoantigen. Gene and protein of hAGL and HT were both detected to express at high level by RT-PCR and Western blot, respectively. There was an 84% reduction in αGal xenoantigen and an 82% increase in H antigen as assayed by flow cytometry in the AGL and HT gene co-transfected PFFb. The number and morphology of transgenic PFFb chromosome were normal. Findings indicate that Galα1-3Gal epitopes of PFFb could be down regulated byAGL and HT co-transfection without deleterious effects on the chromosomal profile of the transgenic cell.

Although there are many search engines based on the text content, that do not meet our extensive search for multimedia content, interests and effectiveness requirements.MPEG-7 is an important criterion for the multimedia content descriptions, so it has a great application value for us to have an in-depth study. Combined with the face recognition algorithm of face regions, feature relationships describing face images content in this paper, according to the study of MPEG-7 standard construction of face related structure models.

This article imitated personnel management strategy that expedition team used in the process of simulation adventure travel according to the competition strategy of regulatory site in wireless token ring network. Besides, this article designed ad-hoc network node and cluster head generating strategy suitable for multi-partition and multiple nodes. This paper studies the management strategy of the wireless sensor network based on token and selected a monitoring site to perform the functions of the captain. The monitor site needs strong processing capacity and superior energy and emission power. Besides, it needs to be located in the center of the network nodes, and be able to communication with a large majority of node communication in the shortest possible time.

The dissertation reaches the key management mechanism for wireless sensor networks, Key management can be divided into two categories: one is symmetric key management such as the KDC mechanism and random key pre-distribution mechanism, another is asymmetric key management mechanism such as the elliptic curve encryption algorithm. This paper presents a hybrid key management mechanism with double cluster heads based on the advantages and disadvantages of the two managements: a hybrid key management scheme based on the clustering structure, using asymmetric keys to aid in the distribution of symmetric key. This program sets up a spare cluster head within the cluster. Responsible for the safety of the nodes in the cluster. Spare cluster head can effectively prevent the cluster node does not work due to the cluster head invalid. Ensure the stability of each cluster and improve the efficiency of cluster head updates.

Since the first contrastive rhetoric study by Kaplan in 1966, many studies have been produced, and over several decades of development, there have been many contributions gained from previous contrastive rhetoric studies. Some researchers summarized and made critiques about certain studies. Stapleton (2002) claims the differences between academic writing in an L1 and an L2 are often misrepresented and overstated. The study disagrees with Stapleton. The study believes that there are differences between academic writing in L1 and L2. Results of many studies support my argument that there do exist differences between academic writing in L1 and L2 in various aspects and they are not overstated. The study will categorize the differences in three major parts as following: differences in the level of lexicon, differences in the level of sentence, and differences in the level of passage. Besides, one point worth’s further consideration, that is, languages is dynamic and they will change with many factors such as time, cross-cultural communication, etc. The dynamic development of language could push contrastive rhetoric studies to go further and wider and then help people understand each other better in the cross-cultural communication. Key words: Contrastive rhetoric studies, differences between academic writing, English and Chinese.

This article mainly is the top-hat algorithm which is applied to medical image to gray image processing, according to different image, take different gray value, in order to achieve the different disease case image processing. Top-hat algorithm by changing in the gray scale value, enhances the different medical image of the contrast of gray scale images, which can be more accurately prominent oral required on site. Using top-hat algorithm for image processing more accurately, obviously and more conducive to the medicine to the diagnosis of oral disease.

This project investigates the performance characteristics of Hollow-core Silicon Nanowires, specially the confinement in each layer of the slot waveguide. In order to undertake such analysis, an accurate and efficient full-vectorial Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to calculate the propagation constant and the modal field profiles of the optical waveguide. The variation of effective indices, effective areas, power density in slot region and the confinement factors of the slot waveguide are rigorous investigated. The modal magnetic and electric field profiles are also presented.

This paper summarizes the result from the provenance test of eight years oldPinus sylvestris var.mongolica in Liangshui Natural Reserve comprehensively. The main contents include:(l) the geographic variation of the growth characters ofPinus sylvestris var. mongolica, tends to negative change gradually at latitude and has obvious climatic nature, (2) no significant difference exists in the morphological adaptability and resistant characteristics and so on; (3)on the basis of the geographic variation study on the growth characteristics, the provenances ofPinus sylvestris var.mongolica were classified into two geographic populations and two subpopulations as follows: the northern population of the Daxing’an Mountain (I) and the southern population of the Daxing’an Mountain as well as the Xiaoxing’an Mountain (II), which includes Honghuarji subpopulation (II -1) and Kalunshan subpopulation (II-2). (4) the height growth rhythm was analyzed according to the divided population and subpopulation; (5) the best provenance was selected for the Liangshui Natural Reserve and its neighborhood according to the results from SSR test of the growth characteristics (the breast height diameter and height of eight year old trees), the possibility of the early provenance selection was also verified by the method of order correlation analysis on the height growth of three, five, seven and eight years old provenances.

Shikonin, a major component of Lithospermum erythrorhizon and Arnebia euchroma, exhibits antiinflammatory, immunomodulatory and antitumour activities. Although many recent studies have focused on the antitumour effects of shikonin, the exact mechanisms underlying its antitumour and immunomodulatory effects in tumour-bearing mice remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antitumour and immunomodulatory effects of shikonin derivatives (ShD) in tumour-bearing mice. Swiss mice inoculated with hepatoma HepA(22) or sarcoma 180 (S(180)) cells were treated with ShD or 5-fluorouracil (5Fu). Survival time, immune organs, natural killer cell activity, lymphocytes, lymphocyte transformation and interleukin (IL)-2 production were analysed. ShD significantly prolonged the survival (median survival time prolonged by7 days) of tumour-bearing mice in a dose-dependent manner, inhibited the growth of transplantable neoplasms (inhibitory rate,33%), and recovered (at [ShD] = 2.5 mg/kg/day) or increased (at [ShD] 5 mg/kg/day) the number of CD3- and CD19-positive cells. ShD also played a role in protecting the immune organs from damage and reversed or enhanced immune responses, as noted by the nearly normal thymic structure; enlarged splenic corpuscles; and improved natural killer cell activity, lymphocyte transformation and IL-2 production in ShD-treated mice. ShD reduced the tumour load of tumour-bearing mice and protected the immune organs against tumour-induced damage and immune function impairment.

In order to extract simple and effective diagnostic rules from inconsistent diagnostic information, the method of fault diagnosis based on rough set theory is proposed. The efficiency of diagnostic rules is improved by pruning rules with certainty factor and introducing the coverage factor of decision rules to remove redundant information effectively. The availability of this method is proved by a fault diagnosis example of induction motor.

Rough set theory for the lack of the adaptability of noise fault data, the fault diagnosis method based on variable precision rough set theory (VPRS) is proposed. The threshold value of discernibility set is selected. The sensitive of rough set theory to noise data is advoided. The accuracy of fault rules and accuracy rate of fault diagnosis are improved. The availability of this method is proved by a fault diagnosis example of the bearings.

To analyze the evolving pattern of finance holding companies in America, England, Germany and Japan, financial institutions are studied using the theory of financial agency and the theory of institution vicissitude. The tendency and feasibility in the financial industry that trust companies in China will develop into financial holding companies is also analysed. Master of Business Administration

By applying the theory of economics and from the angle of combining theory with practice, this thesis analyses the performance characteristics of water suppy enterprises, clarifies the theory and methos for controlling urban water prices by the government, and put forward four basic principles for fixing water prices and modes of price fixing selectible for both present stage and the future. Meanwhile, it also puts forward several questions that must be noted for controlled price fixing, which can be used for reference by all-level municipal governments in fixing waterprices. ​Master of Science (Managerial Economics)

In this dissertation, various methods of CVE video streaming strategies and face recognition algorithms have been explored and examined. It covers face recognition by facial feature or by color and face detection by motion. To achieve better performance and best integration with our Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE), a live facial image extraction based video streaming approach combining both color and motion analysis has been proposed and implemented in this project. Master of Science (Communications and Computer Networking)

This research sets out to explore what key factors senior executives should consider when they look to implement blockchain for supply chain. A number of design thinking workshops were organised with 86 senior executives representing a range of diverse supply chain stakeholders, including manufacturers, construction firms, government agencies, port authorities, law firms, banks, technology service providers and consulting companies. Further interviews with senior executives who have led blockchain initiatives were conducted in order to gain more in-depth insights on why those factors matter. The main outputs are a range of key factors that are critical to the successful implementation of a blockchain solution in supply chains. Those factors were grouped into: business viability, ecosystem management, technical feasibility and user desirability. This research makes valuable contribution to both practice and academic literature by highlighting what factors should be considered that will drive the successful adoption of blockchain

Urban resilience has been defined as the capacity of (amongst others) communities and\ud businesses to survive, adapt, and grow when faced with stresses and shocks. Redistributed\ud Manufacturing (RdM) exploits technologies, systems and strategies to change\ud the economics and organisation of manufacturing (in particular location and scale). A series\ud of studies are being undertaken, in the city of Bristol (population 450,000), into how RdM\ud can contribute to a city’s resilience and sustainability. Such as a ‘Maker Walk’, that\ud examines the manufacturing hidden within urban areas. The objective of this paper is to\ud report a pilot study within Bristol, to determine a range of logistics solutions that have the\ud potential to support re-distributed manufacturing to enhance its resilience. As well as\ud sustainability by helping address Bristol’s traffic congestion and pollution problems. This\ud paper proposes three potential logistics business models: 1) A logistics cooperative based\ud around locally located service providers; 2) An urban logistics consolidation network; 3) A\ud public transport integrated logistics service. These solutions could be used by logistics\ud service providers, policy makers and regional government. The models provide guidance\ud as to the interventions that require both private and public sector involvement.

In the last two decades, the role of e-business as a fundamental element that links organisations of the supply chain into a unified and coordinated system has been increasingly recognised in the literature. Recent technological advances enable a proliferation of B2B e-business systems in supporting interorganisational e-business integration, but also create more complexities for organisations in determining what form of electronic linkage and relationship configurations should be forged with what kind of business partner(s). At the same time, as customers become more demanding, there is a trend towards providing tailored logistics provisions in order to satisfy different customers' needs. Consequently, careful design of information flows within and between the organizations is required. In view of the aforementioned, there is need for a design of an overall e-business architecture which governs and specifies the different inter-organisation information coordinate and control (ICC) mechanisms for different logistics scenarios, referred to here as a B2B e-business reference architecture (ERA). Historically this research area has not received due attention from researchers or practitioners. Therefore, the primary aim of this thesis is to develop such an ERA and substantiate it through empirical research, focusing its application on an emerging e-business model termed an Electronic Logistics Marketplaces (ELM). The first part of this research is analytical, developing the B2B ERA through the synthesis of literature and the use of secondary case examples. Four architectures are proposed with detailed characterisation: Centralised Market, Traditional Hierarchical Coordination. Modified Hierarchical Coordination, and Heterarchical Network. The second part of the research is empirical, since it validates the conceptual model developed through six case studies. It shows that one size does not fit all, and there should be different architectures for different logistics scenarios. The study also establishes a fundamental understanding of closed ELMs which have not been studied in-depth and systematically. Through analysis of three key elements, namely, technology, collaboration and process, the likely operational models and the relationship between ELMs and tailored logistics are established. Reasons for using closed ELMs are also identified through the exploration of motives, barriers, costs and benefits. A major case study is conducted to investigate the Heterarchical Network type of ELM, later after being termed as 'collaborative ELM'. Reasons for the formation of this type of ELM, and the impact it brings to the supply chain are examined in detail, providing significant insights considering its rarity and novelty in practice. Finally the thesis summarises the research findings and their practical implications are discussed. Study limitations are acknowledged and possible future research directions are suggested.

This book shows how organisations can leverage emerging digital technologies to achieve operational effectiveness, build new capabilities, and develop innovative business models to underpin transformation in their supply chains. The contributing authors provide deep insights not only on how these emerging technologies work, but also how to use them to create value for multiple stakeholders and deliver sustainable supply chain outcomes. The book will be of great value to practitioners, students and academics who want to learn about state-of-the-art digital developments in the supply chain field. It helps readers to appreciate how various digital paradigms and tools can be used to create innovative products and services with supply chain viability. It also develops the reader’s critical ability to assess the range of technological solutions used to address contemporary supply chain issues and problems.