► We compare celebrity endorsements to online customer reviews on shopping behavior. ► An experiment investigated consumer responses to search and experience good. ► Search good endorsed by a ...celebrity evoked more attention, desire, and action. ► Experience good endorsed by an online customer evoked more memory, search and share.
The goal of this study is to compare the influence of celebrity endorsements to online customer reviews on female shopping behavior. Based on AIDMA and AISAS models, we design an experiment to investigate consumer responses to search good and experience good respectively. The results revealed that search good (shoes) endorsed by a celebrity in an advertisement evoked significantly more attention, desire, and action from the consumer than did an online customer review. We also found that online customer reviews emerged higher than the celebrity endorsement on the scale of participants’ memory, search and share attitudes toward the experience good (toner). Implications for marketers as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
Purpose
To fabricate a selective laser melting (SLM)-processed AlSi10Mg part with almost full density and free of any apparent pores, this study aims to investigate the effect of ambient argon ...pressure and laser scanning speed on the particles splash during the AlSi10Mg powder bed laser melting.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the discrete element method (DEM), a 3D model of random distribution of powder particles was established, and the 3D free surface of SLM forming process was dynamically tracked by the volume of fluid, where a Gaussian laser beam acts as the energy source melting the powder bed. Through the numerical simulation and process experimental research, the effect of the applied laser power and scanning speed on the operating laser melting temperature was studied.
Findings
The process stability has a fundamental role in the porosity formation, which is process-dependent. The effect of the processing conditions on the process stability and the resultant forming defects were clarified.
Research limitations/implications
The results shows that the pores were the main defects present in the SLM-processed AlSi10Mg sample, which decreases the densification level of the sample.
Practical implications
The optimal processing parameters (argon pressure of 1,000 Pa, laser power of 180 W, scan speed of 1,000 mm/s, powder layer thickness of 35 µm and hatch spacing of 50 µm ) applied during laser melting can improve the quality of selective laser melting of AlSi10Mg,
Social implications
It can provide a technological support for 3D printing.
Originality/value
Based on the analysis of the pore and balling formation mechanisms, the optimal processing parameters have been obtained, which were argon pressure of 1,000 Pa, laser power of 180 W, scan speed of 1,000 mm/s, powder layer thickness of 35 µm and hatch spacing of 50 µm. Then, a near-fully dense sample free of any apparent pores on the cross-sectional microstructure was produced by SLM, wherein the relative density of the as-built samples is larger than 97.5%.
This study is a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) to a control and to other nerve stimulation therapies (NSTs) ...for the treatment of chronic back pain.
Citations were identified in MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and ClinicalTrials.gov through June 2014 using the following keywords: nerve stimulation therapy, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, back pain, chronic pain. Control treatments included sham, placebo, or medication only. Other NSTs included electroacupuncture, percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and percutaneous neuromodulation therapy.
Twelve randomized controlled trials including 700 patients were included in the analysis. The efficacy of TENS was similar to that of control treatment for providing pain relief (standardized difference in means SDM = -0.20; 95% confidence interval CI, -0.58 to 0.18; P = 0.293). Other types of NSTs were more effective than TENS in providing pain relief (SDM = 0.86; 95% CI, 0.15-1.57; P = 0.017). Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation was more effective than control treatment in improving functional disability only in patients with follow-up of less than 6 weeks (SDM = -1.24; 95% CI, -1.83 to -0.65; P < 0.001). There was no difference in functional disability outcomes between TENS and other NSTs.
These results suggest that TENS does not improve symptoms of lower back pain, but may offer short-term improvement of functional disability.
Myocyte enhancer factor 2A (MEF2A) is widely distributed in various tissues or organs and plays crucial roles in multiple biological processes. To examine the potential effects of MEF2A on skeletal ...muscle myoblast, the functional role of MFE2A in myoblast proliferation and differentiation was investigated. In this study, we found that the mRNA expression level of Mef2a was dramatically increased during the myogenesis of bovine skeletal muscle primary myoblast. Overexpression of MEF2A significantly promoted myoblast proliferation, while knockdown of MEF2A inhibited the proliferation and differentiation of myoblast. RT-PCR and western blot analysis revealed that this positive effect of MEF2A on the proliferation of myoblast was carried out by triggering cell cycle progression by activating CDK2 protein expression. Besides, MEF2A was found to be an important transcription factor that bound to the myozenin 2 (MyoZ2) proximal promoter and performed upstream of MyoZ2 during myoblast differentiation. This study provides the first experimental evidence that MEF2A is a positive regulator in skeletal muscle myoblast proliferation and suggests that MEF2A regulates myoblast differentiation via regulating MyoZ2.
Enzymes have essential roles in catalyzing biological reactions and maintaining metabolic systems. Many in vitro enzymatic bioassays have been developed for use in industrial and research fields, ...such as cell biology, enzyme engineering, drug screening, and biofuel production. Of note, many of these require the use of high-throughput platforms. Although the microtiter plate remains the standard for high-throughput enzymatic bioassays, microfluidic arrays and droplet microfluidics represent emerging methods. Each has seen significant advances and offers distinct advantages; however, drawbacks in key performance metrics, including reagent consumption, reaction manipulation, reaction recovery, real-time measurement, concentration gradient range, and multiplexity, remain. Herein, we compare recent high-throughput platforms using the aforementioned metrics as criteria and provide insights into remaining challenges and future research trends.
Advances in microtiter plates, microfluidics arrays, and droplet microfluidics show unique advantages for high-throughput enzymatic bioassays regarding key performance metrics, including reagent consumption, reaction manipulation, reaction recovery, real-time measurement, concentration gradient range, and multiplexity.Advances in microtiter plates focus on their integration with accessory systems to improve their overall performance, such as sensitivity and reaction rates.Advances in microfluidic arrays aim to reduce reagent consumption, increase assay throughput, and enable multi-step bioassays and reaction recovery.Advances in droplet microfluidics enable binary detection with integrated sorting, kinetic screening under continuous flow, real-time measurement via in situ droplet trapping, and multiplexing and combinatorial screening.
Previous studies have compared different kinds of fixations for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Nevertheless, there is no optimal method to date. To the best of authors' knowledge, there ...is no article discussing the combination of adjustable suspensory device and interference screw for hybrid tibial fixation.
In total, 66 patients (n = 34, adjustable suspensory device and interference screw; n = 32, cortical screw and interference screw) were analyzed. Their International Knee Documentation Committee score and Tegner activity level scale were evaluated before and after a 2-year follow-up. The Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation score was evaluated after a 2-year follow-up. Physical exams such as range of motion, anterior knee pain (VAS > = 3) and Lachman test were assessed before and at least 12 months after surgery. To evaluate tunnel widening, anteroposterior and lateral view radiography was conducted 1 day and at least 12 months after surgery. A more than 10% change was considered tibial tunnel widening. Mann-Whitney U test, independent t test, paired t test, Fisher's exact test and chi-squared test were used to compare the variables. Linear and logistic regression models were applied to adjust for potential confounders.
No variable except gender (P = 0.006) showed significant difference with regard to demographic data. After adjustment, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups regarding post-operative physical exams. Patients who used adjustable suspensory device and interference screw had lower post-operative Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation score (adjusted β - 8.194; P = 0.017), Tegner activity level scale (adjusted β - 1.295; P = 0.001) and pre-operative degrees of knee flexion (adjusted β - 2.825; P = 0.026). Less percentage of tunnel widening in the lateral view of radiographs was seen in patients in group of adjustable suspensory device and interference screw (adjusted β - 1.733; P = 0.038). No significant difference was observed in the anteroposterior view of radiographs (adjusted β - 0.667; P = 0.26).
In these 66 patients, we observed less tibial tunnel widening and lower post-operative functional scores in the group of adjustable suspensory device and interference screw. Both groups displayed similar outcomes of physical exams as well as improvement after operation. The proposed method may become an alternative option. Nonetheless, the quality of our study is still limited, and thus further studies are warranted to determine the efficacy and further application.
Joint Institutional Review Board of Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (No: N201805094 ).
Prospective comparative cohort study; Level of evidence, II.
Two novel isoreticular cadmium metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the framework formula of Cd
(BPTC)(solvent)
(H
BPTC = 3,3',5,5'-biphenyltetracarboxylic acid) have been constructed under diverse ...reaction conditions and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, PXRD, IR and TGA. The neutral 3D frameworks of 1 and 2 with one-dimensional (1D) rhombic channels exhibit both distinct uptake and good selectivity for cationic methylene blue (MB) dye molecules. The adsorption capacity and adsorption kinetic constant of 2 are greater than those of 1, showing the importance of porosity and pore size during the adsorption. Moreover, both MOFs show effective degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes under UV light irradiation.
Ontology presents a field knowledge by defining the meaning of domain concepts and relations among them. To conduct the inter-operability between two heterogeneous ontologies, we need to determine a ...number of entity correspondences, the so-called Ontology Matching (OM). Traditional OM techniques dedicate to find the simple correspondences which cannot sufficiently express the diverse kinds of heterogeneity, and therefore, complex correspondences are required, which maps one or multiple entities from one ontology to those from the other. Due to the semantic complexity, automatically discovering large-scale simple and complex correspondences has become a challenge. To face this challenge, in this work, an Anchor-based Semantic Partitioning Technique (ASPT) is first presented to divide the large-scale ontologies into several semantic segments, whose computational complexity is lower than the existing ontology partitioning algorithms. Then, a Pattern-based Similarity Measure (PSM) is used to distinguish both simple and complex correspondences. Finally, a Confidence Matrix based Evolutionary Algorithm (CM-EA) is proposed to efficiently match the ontology segments. We compare our proposal with EA-based matching technique and state-of-the-art ontology matching systems on OAEI’s Complex track, and the experimental results show that our approach is able to efficiently match large-scale complex ontologies.
•An Anchor-based Semantic Partitioning Technique (ASPT) is proposed to reduce the matching process’s computational complexity.•A Pattern-based Similarity Measure (PSM) is presented to calculate the correspondence' similarity value.•A Confidence Matrix based Evolutionary Algorithm (CM-EA) is used to efficiently match the ontology segments.
Time-frequency distribution has received a growing utilization for analysis and interpretation of nonlinear and nonstationary processes in a variety of fields. Among them, two methods, such as, the ...empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with Hilbert transform (HT) which is termed as the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) and the Hilbert spectrum based on maximal overlap discrete wavelet package transform (MODWPT), are fairly noteworthy. Comparisons of HHT and MODWPT in analyzing several typical nonlinear systems and examinations of the effectiveness using these two methods are illustrated. This study demonstrates that HHT can provide comparatively more accurate identifications of nonlinear systems than MODWPT.
Obesity is a well‐known risk factor for breast cancer formation and is associated with elevated mortality and a poor prognosis. An obesity‐mediated inflammatory microenvironment is conducive to the ...malignant progression of tumors. However, the detailed molecular mechanism is still needed to be clarified. Herein, we identified that breast cancer cells from mice with diet‐induced obesity exhibited increased growth, invasiveness, and stemness capacities. A transcriptome analysis revealed that expressions of interleukin 33 (IL33) signaling pathway‐related genes were elevated in obesity‐associated breast cancer cells. Importantly, IL33 expression was significantly associated with the yes‐associated protein (YAP) signature, and IL33 was transcriptionally regulated by YAP. Suppression of IL33 reduced tumor migration and invasion, while the addition of IL33 activated nuclear factor (NF)‐κB signaling and revived tumor mobility in YAP‐silenced cells. Furthermore, suppression of YAP attenuated IL33 expression which was accompanied by relief of obesity‐mediated immunosuppression. Clinical analyses showed that IL33 expression was markedly associated with macrophage and regulatory T cell infiltration. These findings reveal a crucial role of the YAP/IL33 axis in promoting aggressiveness and immunosuppression of obesity‐associated breast cancer progression.
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