Interval time-varying delay is common in control process, e.g., automatic robot control system, and its stability analysis is of great significance to ensure the reliable control of industrial processes. In order to improve the conservation of the existing robust stability analysis method, this paper considers a class of linear systems with norm-bounded uncertainty and interval time-varying delay as the research object. Less conservative robust stability criterion is put forward based on augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional method and reciprocally convex combination. Firstly, the (...) delay interval is partitioned into multiple equidistant subintervals, and a new Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional comprising quadruple-integral term is introduced for each subinterval. Secondly, a novel delay-dependent stability criterion in terms of linear matrix inequalities is given by less conservative Wirtinger-based integral inequality approach. Three numerical comparative examples are given to verify the superiority of the proposed approach in reducing the conservation of conclusion. For the first example about closed-loop control systems with interval time-varying delays, the proposed robust stability criterion could get MADB about 0.3 more than the best results in the previous literature; and, for two other uncertain systems with interval time-varying delays, the MADB results obtained by the proposed method are better than those in the previous literature by about 0.045 and 0.054, respectively. All the example results obtained in this paper clearly show that our approach is better than other existing methods. (shrink)

本书收录了《西方的自由哲学与中国的圣学》、《哈耶克论中国之法治评议》、《论中国历史上可以无保障人权的制度》等文章。.

With the continuous enrichment of material life and the increasing improvement of spiritual life, the quality of life of people in the new era has improved comprehensively. After achieving technological advancements, further improving people's living standards will become the first priority, and indicators concerning quality of life will become more important, including spiritual needs, environmental conditions and social order. In particular, the degree of spiritual and cultural satisfaction is a prominent indicator for consideration. The current research investigates how new-age art (...) is changing and how it may affect society dynamics in the future. It explores how new-age art, as a phenomenon in culture, adjusts to shifting environments, emphasizing the social roles, realization of values, and influencing elements of the art. With a focus on spiritual and cultural fulfillment, the study highlights the value of art in improving people's quality of life while taking into account elements such as social order, environmental influences, and spiritual demands. The primary goal is to comprehend the ways in which new age art raises living standards and general well-being. The results demonstrate the lasting contributions that new-age art makes to enjoyment, cultural transmission, and education, thereby reaffirming its important position in society. The paper emphasizes how crucial the socialist culture sector with Chinese characteristics will become to the future economic framework. This study found that new-age art continuously produces excellent literary and artistic works in addition to preserving traditional Chinese culture and fostering cultural self-confidence through its support for the improvement of living standards and industrial growth. This illustrates its practical importance in upholding economic supremacy and promoting cultural advancement. (shrink)

Objective: This study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the suicide stroop task in a Chinese college population. Methods: College students who were in the 1st–4th grade, fluent in Chinese, and without color blindness were recruited from a university in Guangzhou, China from September to December 2019. Participants were administered the suicide stroop task at baseline and 1-month follow-up. Results: The suicide stroop task showed excellent internal reliability. However, the suicide stroop task did not reveal suicide-related attentional biases among (...) current suicide ideators and was not significantly associated with the severity of suicidal ideation, depression, hopelessness, nor anhedonia, indicating a lack of concurrent validity for the task. Additionally, the two-time data of interference scores could not generate intraclass correlation coefficients due to a negative average covariance among data, which indicated poor test–retest consistency for the task. Conclusion: The results of this study did not support the use of the suicide stroop task on the identification of suicidal risk among Chinese college students. It is crucial to assess the psychometric properties of behavioral measures rigorously as self-report measures before large applications in clinical and community settings. (shrink)

Technology licensing as a vital part of business behavior in many industries has drawn a fair amount of attention in industrial organization literature. Most existing literature on licensing decisions assumes that all firms engage in Cournot or Bertrand competition, while the type of mixed competition may affect the choice of the licensor. In this context, what decision will the licensor make faced with different mixed competitions? This paper studies the optimal technology licensing contract of a licensor firm engaging in different (...) mixed competitions with a potential licensee in a differentiated duopoly market considering one upstream firm that provides key inputs. We find that if either the royalty or fixed-fee licensing is applied, the licensor favors royalty licensing under Bertrand-Cournot competition when the degree of substitution is small and prefers the fixed-fee licensing no matter under what kind of mixed competition as the degree of substitution increases. In the case of fixed-fee licensing, the result shows that the profits of licensors are the same under different types of mixed competition. Besides, fixed-fee licensing is not always the optimal choice for consumers, and they would prefer royalty licensing when the degree of substitution is very small. (shrink)

Previous work has shown that children with dyslexia are impaired in speech recognition in adverse listening conditions. Our study further examined how semantic context and fundamental frequency contours contribute to word recognition against interfering speech in dyslexic and non-dyslexic children. Thirty-two children with dyslexia and 35 chronological-age-matched control children were tested on the recognition of words in normal sentences versus wordlist sentences with natural versus flat F0 contours against single-talker interference. The dyslexic children had overall poorer recognition performance than non-dyslexic (...) children. Furthermore, semantic context differentially modulated the effect of F0 contours on the recognition performances of the two groups. Specifically, compared with flat F0 contours, natural F0 contours increased the recognition accuracy of dyslexic children less than non-dyslexic children in the wordlist condition. By contrast, natural F0 contours increased the recognition accuracy of both groups to a similar extent in the sentence condition. These results indicate that access to semantic context improves the effect of natural F0 contours on word recognition in adverse listening conditions by dyslexic children who are more impaired in the use of natural F0 contours during isolated and unrelated word recognition. Our findings have practical implications for communication with dyslexic children when listening conditions are unfavorable. (shrink)

BackgroundIndividuals with mind-wandering experience their attention decoupling from their main task at hand while others with flow experience fully engage in their task with the optimum experience. There seems to be a negative relationship between mind-wandering and flow. However, it remains unclear to what extent mind-wandering exerts an impact on flow. And it is also elusive whether physical activity and mindfulness, which are as important factors that affected individuals’ attentional control and psychological health, are beneficial in explaining the association between (...) mind-wandering and flow. The current study investigated the relationship between mind-wandering and flow, and the potential mediation effects of physical activity and mindfulness in this association.MethodsA cross-sectional exploratory study design, including multiple scales such as the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form, Mindfulness Attention and Awareness Scale, and the Short Dispositional Flow Scale was applied. Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation coefficients were applied in the analysis of these data. A multiple mediation model was used to examine the relationships between mind-wandering, flow, physical activity, and mindfulness.ResultsMind-wandering was inversely associated with physical activity, mindfulness and flow, respectively; and flow was positively related to physical activity and mindfulness, respectively. Moreover, multiple mediation results demonstrated that physical activity and mindfulness, respectively, mediated the relationship between mind-wandering and flow.ConclusionThese findings are helpful to understand how our minds attend to the present moment, and the crucial roles of physical activity and mindfulness in the association between mind-wandering and flow. An implication of these is the possibility that the effective strategies aimed at enhancing both the levels of physical activity and mindfulness are needed to reduce the negative impact of mind-wandering on flow. (shrink)

Machery et al. presented data suggesting the existence of cross-cultural variation in judgments about the reference of proper names. In this paper, we examine a previously overlooked confound in the subsequent studies that attempt to replicate the results of Machery et al. using East Asian languages. Machery et al. and Sytsma et al. claim that they have successfully replicated the original finding with probes written in Chinese and Japanese, respectively. These studies, however, crucially rely on uses of articleless, ‘bare noun (...) phrases’ in Chinese and Japanese, which according to the linguistic literature are known to be multiply ambiguous. We argue that it becomes questionable whether the extant studies using East Asian languages revealed genuine cross-cultural variation when the probes are reevaluated based on a proper linguistic understanding of Chinese and Japanese bare noun phrases and English definite descriptions. We also present two experiments on native Japanese speakers that controlled the use of ambiguous bare noun phrases, the results of which suggest that the judgments of Japanese speakers concerning the reference of proper names may not diverge from those of English speakers. (shrink)

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis, the public keeps getting epidemic-related information on the media. News reports on the increasing number of fatalities have exposed individuals to death, which causes negative emotional experiences such as tension, anxiety, and fear. This study aimed to investigate whether creativity could serve as an anxiety-buffer when mortality is salient. Based on previous findings, the present study utilized type of creative task and personal search for meaning as moderators. In Study 1, a 2 × (...) 2 between-subject design was utilized, and 168 subjects were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions. In Study 2, 221 subjects were recruited. The experimental procedure was similar to Study 1, except that the priming paradigm of mortality was changed and search for meaning was included as an additional moderating variable. State anxiety was measured as the dependent variable in both studies. Results of Study 1 showed that, while the benevolent creative task could buffer anxiety in the mortality salience condition, the malevolent creative task did not have the same effect. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between mortality salience, type of creative task, and search for meaning in life on anxiety. In Study 2, the buffering function of benevolent creativity was more intense for participants with a higher level of search for meaning. Together, these findings reveal the influence of different types of creative tasks on individual anxiety levels under death priming conditions and the moderating effect of search for meaning in this relationship. Further, they suggest the need to focus on the role of creativity in terror management. (shrink)

Several functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have demonstrated abnormalities in static intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity among diverse brain regions in patients with major depressive disorder. However, the dynamic changes in intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity patterns in patients with MDD remain unclear. Fifty-eight first-episode, drug-naive patients with MDD and 48 age-, sex-, and education level-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI. Whole-brain functional connectivity, analyzed using the functional connectivity density approach, was decomposed into ipsilateral and contralateral functional connectivity. We computed (...) the intra- and interhemispheric dynamic FCD using a sliding window analysis to capture the dynamic patterns of functional connectivity. The temporal variability in functional connectivity was quantified as the variance of the dFCD over time. In addition, intra- and interhemispheric static FCD patterns were calculated. Associations between the dFCD variance and sFCD in abnormal brain regions and the severity of depressive symptoms were analyzed. Compared to HCs, patients with MDD showed lower interhemispheric dFCD variability in the inferior/middle frontal gyrus and decreased sFCD in the medial prefrontal cortex/anterior cingulate cortex and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus in both intra- and interhemispheric comparisons. No significant correlations were found between any abnormal dFCD variance or sFCD at the intra- and interhemispheric levels and the severity of depressive symptoms. Our results suggest intra- and interhemispheric functional connectivity alterations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and default mode network regions involved in cognition, execution and emotion. Furthermore, our study emphasizes the essential role of altered interhemispheric communication dynamics in the DLPFC in patients with MDD. These findings contribute to our understanding of the pathophysiology of MDD. (shrink)

Senior executives in major corporations have drawn attention in recent years for a range of unethical activities. Despite a rise in measures to protect against such lapses, executives still make decisions whether or not to comply with reporting standards, best practices, industry norms and legislation. The prior literature in this area addresses individual characteristics of decision makers and social networks between executives and boards of directors, but to this point has largely overlooked group dynamics of the executive team. Our study (...) addresses this gap and examines the relationship between an occupational community of top executives and the quality of internal control. We construct a unique measure for the executive occupational community based on CEO and CFO’s joint tenure. Our findings show that the number of years of CEO/cfo’s joint tenure is significantly and negatively associated with internal control weakness, suggesting that the longer the executive relationship, the lower the likelihood of internal control weakness. Our study indicates that the presence of an occupational community contributes to better internal control. (shrink)

Grounded on the social exchange theory (SET), social cognitive theory (SCT), and self-determination theory (SDT), this study aims to explore the mediating role of self-efficacy (SE) and work engagement (WE) on the effect of social support (SS) on job satisfaction (JS) among Chinese ethnic minority kindergarten teachers (KTs). The results show that: (1) SS has a directly significant effect on JS; (2) WE mediates the relationship between SS and JS; and (3) SE mediates the relationship between SS and WE. Although (...) the mediation of SE on the relationship between SS and JS is not found, the posited multiple mediations of SE and WE on the relationship between SS and JS are totally accepted. The results reveal that SS mainland Chinese ethnic minority KTs received can not only have a direct effect on JS but also have an indirect impact through the one-path mediating role of WE and the chain mediating role of SE and WE. The results suggest that governments, supervisors, and sponsors should work together to provide ethnic minority KTs with more prioritized SS from both cultural psychology and financial material and opportunities for facilitating professional knowledge and skills in order to enhance their SE, inspire their WE, and eventually accumulate their JS. (shrink)

BackgroundAt present, adherence to antipsychotic treatment is often poor, leading to the recurrence of symptoms. This increases the likelihood of the patient experiencing disability and thus increases the disease burden for the patient, their family, and society as a whole. However, to date, there is no clear evidence regarding the effect of medication adherence interventions on outcomes for patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, the traditional intervention methods are limited by manpower and resources in low- and middle-income countries. Recent studies have demonstrated (...) that increasing a patient’s level of self-compassion may improve their treatment adherence. Online mental health care interventions have advantages in terms of feasibility and acceptability for patients with schizophrenia. In this regard, a WeChat-based self-compassion training protocol to improve patient treatment adherence was designed in this study and will be evaluated in the future to determine its impact on patients with schizophrenia.MethodsThe protocol for the randomized controlled trial is based on the SPIRIT 2013 statement. This parallel RCT will aim to recruit 392 patients with schizophrenia who will be randomized at a 1:1 ratio into a 3-week intervention or control group. Both groups will receive routine care. The intervention group will also receive WeChat-based self-compassion training, which requires participants to complete three tasks every day, including a reading task, a meditation task, and a self-compassion journal task. The control group will receive WeChat-based psychological health education, which will only require participants to read positive articles about psychological health every day. Medication adherence, self-compassion, stigma, and social support will be measured at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 3 weeks after the intervention. Program feasibility will be evaluated throughout the course of the study, and acceptability will be measured immediately after the intervention.Expected results:The intervention described here will address the barriers to accessing mental health care for people with schizophrenia, including patients’ desire for independent management, difficulty accessing providers, and concerns about privacy and stigma. The current study provides guidance for clinical nurses to carry out psychological intervention, with the ultimate aim of addressing the problems associated with a shortage of psychological professionals in low- and middle-income countries. (shrink)

ObjectiveTo investigate the short-term effect of music therapy combined with binaural frequency difference therapy on patients with consciousness disorder.Materials and methodsNinety patients with definite diagnosis of disorders of consciousness were selected. These patients were randomly divided into control group, experiment 1 group and experiment 2 group, with 30 patients in each group. The control group was treated with routine clinical treatment and rehabilitation. In experiment 1 group, music therapy was added to the control group. In experimental group 2, music therapy (...) combined with binaural α frequency difference therapy was added to the control group. All patients were assessed before and after 30 treatments. The assessment items included Glasgow Coma Scale, Coma Recovery Scale revised, electroencephalogram, upper somatosensory evoked potential, and brainstem auditory evoked potential.ResultsBefore treatment, there were no significant differences in GCS score, CRS-R score, USEP, BAEP, and EEG scores among the three groups. After 30 times of treatment, GCS score, CRS-R score, USEP, BAEP, and EEG scores in 3 groups were significantly higher than those before treatment. And the consciousness rate of experimental group 2 was better than experimental group 1, experimental group 1 was better than the control group and the difference was statistically significant.ConclusionMusic therapy combined with binaural α frequency difference therapy is more effective in stimulating DOC patients. (shrink)

Background: It has been reported that type 2 diabetes is associated with olfactory identification impairments and cognitive decline. However, the relationship between OI impairments and cognitive decline is largely unknown in T2DM patients.Methods: Sixty-eight T2DM patients and 68 healthy controls underwent 3D-T1 MRI scans, olfactory and cognitive assessments. The cortical thickness of olfaction-related brain regions, olfactory and cognitive scores were compared between groups. Correlation analyses were carried out among cognition, olfaction, and cortical thickness of olfaction-related brain regions.Results: First, the cognitive (...) and olfactory test scores of T2DM patients were lower than healthy subjects. Second, higher olfactory scores were associated with increased cortical thickness in the left parahippocampal gyrus and bilateral insula in T2DM. Third, higher olfactory scores were associated with higher cognitive performance in T2DM. Fourth, some cognitive performances were related to cortical thickness in the left parahippocampal gyrus and left insula in T2DM.Conclusion: These findings indicated that olfactory dysfunction may be useful for future applications that attempt to predict cognitive decline or develop tailored therapies in T2DM patients. (shrink)

Hydromechanical continuously variable transmission is capable of bearing large torque and has wide transmission range, which is suitable for high-power tractors. Dynamic characteristics could influence the tractor life, especially in a high-power tractor. Wet clutch is the crucial component in the HMCVT, which could smooth and soft power transmission. Therefore, it is important to study the dynamic characteristics and implement the wet clutch test of HMCVT. In this paper, AMESim is used to establish virtual models of gearbox, pump-controlled hydraulic motor (...) system, and shifting hydraulic system. Then, a simulation study of tractor operation under working condition is carried out. The internal and external meshing forces of the planetary row are analyzed. Finally, the wet clutch engagement process of HMCVT in the high-power tractor is tested to verify the oil pressure. The simulation results show that the values of internal and external meshing force become larger as the throttle opening increases. At the moment of shifting change, the meshing forces of the planetary gear have great impact. The clutch test shows that the trend of the oil filling curve obtained from the bench test is similar to that obtained from the theoretical curve, which verifies the simulation results. (shrink)

In this paper, a novel no-equilibrium 5D memristive hyperchaotic system is proposed, which is achieved by introducing an ideal flux-controlled memristor model and two constant terms into an improved 4D self-excited hyperchaotic system. The system parameters-dependent and memristor initial conditions-dependent dynamical characteristics of the proposed memristive hyperchaotic system are investigated in terms of phase portrait, Lyapunov exponent spectrum, bifurcation diagram, Poincaré map, and time series. Then, the hidden dynamic attractors such as periodic, quasiperiodic, chaotic, and hyperchaotic attractors are found under (...) the variation of its system parameters. Meanwhile, the most striking phenomena of hidden extreme multistability, transient hyperchaotic behavior, and offset boosting control are revealed for appropriate sets of the memristor and other initial conditions. Finally, a hardware electronic circuit is designed, and the experimental results are well consistent with the numerical simulations, which demonstrate the feasibility of this novel 5D memristive hyperchaotic system. (shrink)

In this study, we tested a possible mechanism of the association between math anxiety and math achievement: the mediating role of math-specific grit. In Study 1, a sample of 10th grade students completed a battery of personality and attitude questionnaires, and math achievement was indexed by curriculum-based examination scores. Mediation analyses indicated that math-specific grit, but not domain-general grit, mediated the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement. In Study 2, we replicated and extended the above findings with another sample (...) of 11th grade students. Mediation analyses indicated that math-specific grit and math-specific procrastination played sequential mediating roles in the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement. That is, individuals with higher math anxiety were less gritty in math learning, possibly further leading them to be more procrastinated in performing math work, which may finally result in worse math achievement. In summary, the current study provides the first evidence that math-specific grit may mediate the relationship between math anxiety and math achievement. Furthermore, it also demonstrated the value of math-specific grit over domain-general grit in predicting math success, which invites a broader investigation on subject-specific grit. (shrink)

Chinese mind-body exercises are positively associated with executive function, but their effects on EF, from synthesized evidence using systematic and meta-analytic reviews, have not been conducted. Therefore, the present systematic review with meta-analysis attempted to determine whether CMBEs affect EF and its sub-domains, as well as how exercise, sample, and study characteristics moderate the causal relationship between CMBEs and EF in middle-aged and older adults. Seven electronic databases were searched for relevant studies published from the inception of each database through (...) June 2020. Randomized controlled trials with at least one outcome measure of CMBEs on EF in adults of mean age ≥ 50 years with intact cognition or mild cognitive impairment and with or without chronic diseases were included. A total of 29 studies ultimately were included in this study. The results indicated that CMBEs improved overall EF, as well as its sub-domains of working memory and shifting. The beneficial effects of CMBEs on EF occurred regardless of type, frequency of group classes, session time, total training time, and length of the CMBEs, in addition to that more frequent participation in both group classes and home practice sessions resulted in more beneficial effects. The positive effects of CMBEs on EF were also demonstrated, regardless of participants mean age, sex, and cognitive statuses, health status, as well as training mode and study language. This review thus suggests that CMBEs can be used as an effective method with small to moderate and positive effects in enhancing EF, and that more frequent group classes and home practice sessions may increase these effects. However, certain limitations, including strictly design studies, limited ES samples for specific variables, and possible biased publications, required paying particular attention to, for further exploring the effects of CMBEs on EF. (shrink)

Background and purposeThis study aimed to analyze the feasibility and safety of endovascular therapy (EVT) in patients with acute posterior circulation stroke and vertebrobasilar dolichoectasia (VBD).Materials and methodsBASILAR was a national prospective registry of consecutive patients with symptomatic and imaging-confirmed acute stroke in the posterior circulation within 24 h of symptom onset. We evaluated EVT feasibility and safety in patients with VBD. Primary outcomes included improvement in modified Rankin Scale scores (mRS) at 90 days and mortality within 90 days. The (...) secondary outcome was the rate of favorable functional outcome, defined as mRS ≤ 3 (indicating independent ambulation) at 90 days. Safety outcomes included surgery-related complications and other serious adverse events.ResultsA total of 534 cases were included: 159 with VBD and 375 controls. No significant difference in mRS at 90 days was found between groups, but patients with VBD had a higher baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score [30 (19–33) vs. 25 (15–32)] and were older [65 (59–74) vs. 63 (55–72) year]. After propensity score matching, there were no significant differences in baseline NIHSS score between the two groups, and the efficacy and safety of EVT were similar between patients with or without VBD. Furthermore, the prognostic effect of puncture-to-recanalization time on the probability of mortality within 90 days in EVT-treated patients with VBD was significant {adjusted odds ratio, 1.008 [95% confidence interval (1.001–1.015)]}.ConclusionEndovascular therapy is safe and feasible in patients with acute posterior circulation stroke and VBD. The puncture-to-recanalization time is important for predicting the prognosis of EVT-treated patients with VBD. (shrink)

When humans are confronted with an epidemic situation or a continuous natural disaster, success depends largely on how critical information is conveyed to as many people as possible, how individuals' emotional experiences of the crisis are elicited, and how their behaviors are directed going forward. Efficient publicity is key to successful epidemic prevention and control. This study explores the role of creative publicity by comparing the influence of creative publicity and general publicity in different periods of the COVID-19 outbreak in (...) China. The effects of creative and general publicity differed across varying periods of the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, compared to general publicity, creative publicity had a significant impact on individuals' emotional arousal in the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak while it significantly promoted individuals' emotional arousal, behavioral regulation, and willingness to actively disseminate information in the middle period. In the stable period of the COVID-19 outbreak, creative publicity performed better than general publicity in regulating individuals' behavior. On the other hand, general publicity was more effective than creative publicity in regulating individuals' behavior and actively disseminating information about the epidemic in the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak. In conclusion, creative and general publicity had differing effects in different periods of the COVID-19 outbreak, which may relate to the characteristics of the publicity format and people's psychological conditions in different periods of the COVID-19 outbreak. (shrink)

ObjectiveInvestigating the mental health status of Chinese resident physicians during the 2019 new coronavirus outbreak.MethodsA cluster sampling method was adopted to collect all China-wide resident physicians during the epidemic period as the research subjects. The Symptom Checklist-90 self-rating scale was used to assess mental health using WeChat electronic questionnaires.ResultsIn total, 511 electronic questionnaires were recovered, all of which were valid. The negative psychological detection rate was 93.9%. Among the symptoms on the self-rating scale, more than half of the Chinese resident (...) physicians had mild to moderate symptoms of mental unhealthiness, and a few had asymptomatic or severe unhealthy mental states. In particular, the detection rate of abnormality was 88.3%, obsessive-compulsive symptoms was 90.4%, the sensitive interpersonal relationship was 90.6%, depression abnormality was 90.8% /511), anxiety abnormality was 88.3%, hostility abnormality was 85.3%, terror abnormality was 84.9%, paranoia abnormality was 86.9%, psychotic abnormalities was 89.0%, and abnormal sleeping and eating status was 90.8%. The scores of various psychological symptoms of pediatric resident physicians were significantly lower than those of non-pediatrics.ConclusionThe new coronavirus epidemic has a greater impact on the mental health of Chinese resident physicians. (shrink)

BackgroundThe neural activity of irritable bowel syndrome patients in the resting state without any intervention has not been systematically studied. The purpose of this study was to compare the resting-state brain functions of IBS patients with healthy controls.MethodsThe published neuroimage studies were obtained from electronic databases including PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science Core, CNKI Database, Wanfang Database, VIP Database, and CBMdisc. Search dates were from inception to March 14th, 2022. The studies were identified by the preidentified inclusion and exclusion (...) criteria. Two independent reviewers compiled the studies and evaluated them for quality and bias.ResultsAltogether 22 fMRI studies were included in this review. The risk of bias of the included studies was generally low. The findings indicated that in IBS patients, increased or decreased brain areas were mostly associated with visceral sensations, emotional processing, and pain processing. According to brain network research, IBS may exhibit anomalies in the DMN, CEN, and emotional arousal networks. The fluctuations in emotion and symptoms in IBS patients were associated with alterations in the relevant brain regions.ConclusionThis study draws a preliminary conclusion that there are insufficient data to accurately distinguish the different neurological features of IBS in the resting state. Additional high-quality research undertaken by diverse geographic regions and teams is required to reach reliable results regarding resting-state changed brain regions in IBS. (shrink)

This study aimed to investigate the effects of customers’ motivations on online purchase intentions as mediated by commitment toward online fashion retailers. The survey method was used to collect data from Chinese respondents using a questionnaire. The convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from 275 respondents. Collected data were analyzed on smart-PLS using the structural equation modeling technique. Results of the study show a significant and positive impact of social empowerment and remuneration motivations on consumer commitment online purchase (...) intention. Further results show that consumer commitment partially mediates the relationship between social empowerment, remuneration, and online purchase intention. This study contributes to the literature in the domain of consumer commitment by focusing on the underlying needs and motivations of consumers. The researchers have demonstrated a strong need to understand the dynamics of commitment due to its importance in affecting purchase intention. This study also has several implications that guide online retailers how to motivate consumers with social, remuneration and empowerment incentives to develop their intention to purchase online. Fashion retailers are suggested to gratify certain consumer motives to increase commitment. Specifically, among the three motives, empowerment motivation emerged as the strongest predictor of consumer commitment in social media environment. This study will help to the online brands to attract more customers by providing the motivation such financial, empowerment and socialization. (shrink)

Blasting in water-conveyance tunnels that cross rivers is vital for the safety and stability of embankments. In this work, a tunnel project that crosses the Yellow River in the north district of the first-phase Eastern Line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was selected as the research object. A complex modeling and numerical simulation on embankment stability with regard to the blasting power of the tunnel was conducted using the professional finite difference software FLAC3D to disclose the relationships between the (...) blasting seismic waves with vibration velocity and embankment displacement under different excavation steps. Calculation results demonstrated that displacement generally attenuated from the tunnel wall to the internal structure of rocks under the effect of blasting seismic waves. The tunnel wall was in tension, and tensile stress gradually transformed into compressive stress with increased depth into the rocks. The curtain-grouting zone was mainly concentrated in the compressive zones. For different excavation steps, the vibration velocity at different feature points was high at the beginning of blasting and then gradually decreased. The resultant displacement was relatively small in the early excavation period and slowly increased as blasting progressed. The effects of different excavation steps on the safety of surrounding rocks and embankment under blasting seismic waves were simulated. We found that the blasting-induced vibration velocity was within the safe range of the code and that the calculated displacement was within the allowed range. Numerical simulation was feasible to assess the safety and stability of engineering projects. (shrink)

Specific to the NCSs where sensor signals can be processed centrally, a collaborative design scheme of dynamic game scheduling and advanced control theory was proposed in the present study. Firstly, by using the Jordan standard state space equation of the research object, the three elements of state noncooperative game were built, and the existence and uniqueness of Nash equilibrium solution were verified. In addition, the iterative equation of the scheduling matrix was derived by complying with the designed utility function. Secondly, (...) refer to the number of restricted states the order of sliding mode was determined. And based on it, the corresponding sliding surface was designed. Subsequently, the quadratic optimization theory was adopted to regulate the control value following the implementation of the scheduling strategy to ensure that the control quality was further enhanced in the limited network service. Lastly, a TrueTime simulation example is established to verify the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. (shrink)

Empirical research is largely supportive of the assertion of instrumental stakeholder theory that a positive relationship exists between “managing for stakeholders” and firm performance. However, despite considerable debate on the subject, the amount of variation across firm investments in stakeholders (stakeholder management performance) has not been adequately investigated. We address this gap using a sample of more than eighteen thousand firm-level observations over ten years. We find evidence to support an inverted U–shaped relationship between variation in stakeholder management performance and (...) Tobin’sq, suggesting that firms that have some imbalance in their stakeholder management, but not too much, perform best. We discuss the implications of our study for instrumental stakeholder theory and managerial practice. (shrink)