With the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT), the violation of information privacy has increased in recent years. The privacy concerns now re-emerge right because people perceives a threat...With the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT), the violation of information privacy has increased in recent years. The privacy concerns now re-emerge right because people perceives a threat from new ICT that are equipped with enhanced capabilities for surveillance, storage, retrieval, and diffusion of personal information. With the trend in the prevalence and the easy use of ICT, it is of necessary to pay much attention to the issue how the ICT can threaten the privacy of individuals on the Internet. While the Email and P2P (Peer-to-Peer) tools are the most popular ICT, this paper aims at understanding their respectively dissemination patterns in spreading of personal private information. To this purpose, this paper using dynamic model technique to simulate the pattern of sensitive or personal private information propagating situation. In this study, an Email propagation model and a Susceptible-lnfected-Removed (SIR) model are proposed to simulate the propagation patterns of Email and P2P network respectively. Knowing their dissemination patterns would be helpful for system designers, ICT manager, corporate IT personnel, educators, policy makers, and legislators to incorporate consciousness of social and ethical information issues into the protection of information privacy.展开更多
Our study aims to take a closer look at China's current information literacy(IL) program standards at secondary schools and to analyze their level of success and/or failures in a comparative way with those of the ...Our study aims to take a closer look at China's current information literacy(IL) program standards at secondary schools and to analyze their level of success and/or failures in a comparative way with those of the United States in terms of fulfilling their each other's mission-oriented mandates. Our research findings show that China's current IL standards of high schools contain a disproportionate emphasis on information technology(IT). Moreover, the stipulations of these IL standards are narrowly construed and without being solidly grounded on a broad and comprehensive educational perspective. We also suggest that there are two underlying causes for this set of unsound IL standards in China.Firstly, there is a lack of collaboration between two major competing forces engaged in the curricular development and research of IL in China: Those professionals in educational IT discipline vis-à-vis those in Library and Information Science. Secondly, library professionals have a very limited influence on major socio-cultural policies, even at their own institutions. As a result, this paper recommends the following three possible measures,which may help remedy this situation strategically: 1) Establishing a set of new IL curriculum standards based on an IL-centered educational perspective; 2) establishing a teacher-librarian's training program to promote school librarians' role in IL education; and 3) strengthening the research and development of an online IL education program and an accompanied evaluation mechanism.展开更多
Evaluating government openness is important in monitoring government performance and promoting government transparency. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an evaluation system for information openness of local gove...Evaluating government openness is important in monitoring government performance and promoting government transparency. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an evaluation system for information openness of local governments. In order to select evaluation indicators, we conducted a content analysis on current evaluation systems constructed by researchers and local governments and the materials of a case study on a local government. This evaluation system is composed of 5 first-tier indicators, 30 secondtier indicators and 69 third-tier indicators. Then Delphi Method and Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) Method are adopted to determine the weight of each indicator. At last, the practicability of the system is tested by an evaluation of the local government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, which has been undergoing administrative reform and attempting to reinvent itself in the past 5 years.展开更多
Purpose: This research aims to identify product search tasks in online shopplng ana analyze the characteristics of consumer multi-tasking search sessions. Design/methodology/approach: The experimental dataset contai...Purpose: This research aims to identify product search tasks in online shopplng ana analyze the characteristics of consumer multi-tasking search sessions. Design/methodology/approach: The experimental dataset contains 8,949 queries of 582 users from 3,483 search sessions. A sequential comparison of the Jaccard similarity coefficient between two adjacent search queries and hierarchical clustering of queries is used to identify search tasks. Findings: (1) Users issued a similar number of queries (1.43 to 1.47) with similar lengths (7.3-7.6 characters) per task in mono-tasking and multi-tasking sessions, and (2) Users spent more time on average in sessions with more tasks, but spent less time for each task when the number of tasks increased in a session. Research limitations: The task identification method that relies only on query terms does not completely reflect the complex nature of consumer shopping behavior.Practical implications: These results provide an exploratory understanding of the relationships among multiple shopping tasks, and can be useful for product recommendation and shopping task prediction. Originality/value: The originality of this research is its use of query clustering with online shopping task identification and analysis, and the analysis of product search session characteristics.展开更多
The recent rapid development of China’s foreign trade has led to the significant increase in waterway transportation and automated container ports. Automated terminals can significantly improve the loading and unload...The recent rapid development of China’s foreign trade has led to the significant increase in waterway transportation and automated container ports. Automated terminals can significantly improve the loading and unloading efficiency of container terminals. These terminals can also increase the port’s transportation volume while ensuring the quality of cargo loading and unloading, which has become an inevitable trend in the future development of ports. However, the continuous growth of the port’s transportation volume has increased the horizontal transportation pressure on the automated terminal, and the problems of route conflicts and road locks faced by automated guided vehicles (AGV) have become increasingly prominent. Accordingly, this work takes Xiamen Yuanhai automated container terminal as an example. This work focuses on analyzing the interference problem of path conflict in its horizontal transportation AGV scheduling. Results show that path conflict, the most prominent interference factor, will cause AGV scheduling to be unable to execute the original plan. Consequently, the disruption management was used to establish a disturbance recovery model, and the Dijkstra algorithm for combining with time windows is adopted to plan a conflict-free path. Based on the comparison with the rescheduling method, the research obtains that the deviation of the transportation path and the deviation degree of the transportation path under the disruption management method are much lower than those of the rescheduling method. The transportation path deviation degree of the disruption management method is only 5.56%. Meanwhile, the deviation degree of the transportation path under the rescheduling method is 44.44%.展开更多
Purpose:The purpose of this research is to investigate Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior,with an emphasis on exploration of the intervening variables that influence information ...Purpose:The purpose of this research is to investigate Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior,with an emphasis on exploration of the intervening variables that influence information needs and information seeking behavior.Design/methodology/approach:The sample consisted of 27 women from 9 villages in Gansu Province,Anhui Province and Tianjin City,China.Data were collected through in-depth individual interview.Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze the data.Findings:Chinese rural women’s needs are basically tied to agricultural technologies,employment and health information.Social network,rather than the Internet,serves as the most frequently used information channel.Women’s cognitive ability,social role and their living environment are the 3 intervening variables that have an impact on their information needs and their information seeking behavior.Research limitations:This qualitative research is based on a small sample and conducted on specific socio-economic settings in China,which may restrict the generalization and application of relevant findings in other settings and countries.Practical implications:The study results will help librarians and information professionals better understand Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior in an effort to find ways to solve problems they may encounter in their information seeking process.Originality/value:This paper introduced an analysis framework that provides an integrated perspective on understanding information needs and information seeking behavior of Chinese women in rural areas.展开更多
With increased global economic development, the air traffic volume (including passengers and parcels) increases every year. Thus, the business-related load on air traffic controllers becomes heavier, which influences ...With increased global economic development, the air traffic volume (including passengers and parcels) increases every year. Thus, the business-related load on air traffic controllers becomes heavier, which influences their need for frequent learning and training opportunities. Therefore, the only solution is to enhance the performance of the training for the air traffic controllers (ATCs) and to build uniform training procedures and standardized training content, which constitute a shared framework with ontology knowledge. Taking departure operation control processes as an example, the research analyzes an aviation organization framework, with information communication procedures and relevant knowledge assets from the viewpoint of departure processes, to explore a knowledge management model of aviation control. This research studies how explicit knowledge is transformed by CommonKADS methodology using the CommonKADS sheet, and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) graph presentation and ontology model are discussed in this research. This analysis procedure can be applied to the systematic analysis and establishment of similar business-based information systems, allowing this research result to be further shared in different industries展开更多
This paper introduced first a conceptual framework of 'information literacy training of farmers' based on the widely recognized understanding of the term 'information literacy(IL).' It then followed wi...This paper introduced first a conceptual framework of 'information literacy training of farmers' based on the widely recognized understanding of the term 'information literacy(IL).' It then followed with a discussion based on these three authors' field investigation regarding to Hubei peasants' current information literacy training in such perspectives as information consciousness,information ability and ways and means of information access.It concluded by pointing out some of the more apparent factors that had adverse impacts on the farmers' information literacy training in central China and suggested a few possible remedial measures to guide the course for those who are involved in such undertakings.展开更多
Based on the comparison between ontology and thesaurus, and the analysis of an ontology-based Information Retrieval (IR) model, the potential advantages that ontology may contribute to IR are analyzed. Then a genera...Based on the comparison between ontology and thesaurus, and the analysis of an ontology-based Information Retrieval (IR) model, the potential advantages that ontology may contribute to IR are analyzed. Then a general architecture of ontology-based Information Retrieval System (IRS) and the approach of constructing it are presented. Based on the researches, the role of ontology in IR is summarized from four aspects and a typical system called Textpresso is analyzed. Finally, a conclusion is drawn that utilizing ontology is the trend of IR and can really improve the IRS.展开更多
Public libraries should be vigilant and responsive to the ever changing information needs of their clientele functioning in a society undergoing through rapid change due to technological innovations. China is currentl...Public libraries should be vigilant and responsive to the ever changing information needs of their clientele functioning in a society undergoing through rapid change due to technological innovations. China is currently experiencing a social and technological transformation of great magnitude in terms of metamorphosing itself from a traditional society to one that is driven by information technologies. Our research study, taking this proposition into account, did a questionnaire survey on 954 library information users at five major public libraries. This research study has discovered that the information needs of public library users today reflect some of the peculiar characteristics of their society in changing times which is driven largely by the rapid development and application of new information technologies. It shows that there is a newly added demand emphasis on certain categories of library resources and services by the Chinese reading public. Our research findings have identified such needs basically in the following five functional areas of public libraries, namely, 1) Increased demands for economic resources, 2) rising expectations for more effective and efficient library services, 3) a convenient location and an amicable environment congenial to learning, 4) a suitable place for engaging in intellectual dialogues and in socialization, and 5) a few other technological amenities and information technology-based digital resources and facilities in addition to a rich repository of library materials in print format. Finally, our paper concludes its discussion with a few observation remarks about the changing trend of public libraries' visions, missions and operations vis-à-vis a contextual background of the ever heightened public expectations for getting quality information services in a timely manner in order for them to function effectively in an information-oriented society such as that of ours today.展开更多
Hybrid renewable energy systems(HRES)offer cost-effectiveness,low-emission power solutions,and reduced dependence on fossil fuels.However,the renewable energy allocation problem remains challenging due to complex syst...Hybrid renewable energy systems(HRES)offer cost-effectiveness,low-emission power solutions,and reduced dependence on fossil fuels.However,the renewable energy allocation problem remains challenging due to complex system interactions and multiple operational constraints.This study develops a novel Multi-Neighborhood Enhanced Harris Hawks Optimization(MNEHHO)algorithm to address the allocation of HRES components.The proposed approach integrates key technical parameters,including charge-discharge efficiency,storage device configurations,and renewable energy fraction.We formulate a comprehensive mathematical model that simultaneously minimizes levelized energy costs and pollutant emissions while maintaining system reliability.The MNEHHO algorithm employs multiple neighborhood structures to enhance solution diversity and exploration capabilities.The model’s effectiveness is validated through case studies across four distinct institutional energy demand profiles.Results demonstrate that our approach successfully generates practically feasible HRES configurations while achieving significant reductions in costs and emissions compared to conventional methods.The enhanced search mechanisms of MNEHHO show superior performance in avoiding local optima and achieving consistent solutions.Experimental results demonstrate concrete improvements in solution quality(up to 46% improvement in objective value)and computational efficiency(average coefficient of variance of 24%-27%)across diverse institutional settings.This confirms the robustness and scalability of our method under various operational scenarios,providing a reliable framework for solving renewable energy allocation problems.展开更多
Traditional agricultural irrigation systems waste significant amounts of water and energy due to inefficient scheduling and the absence of real-time monitoring capabilities.This research developed a comprehensive IoT-...Traditional agricultural irrigation systems waste significant amounts of water and energy due to inefficient scheduling and the absence of real-time monitoring capabilities.This research developed a comprehensive IoT-based smart irrigation control systemto optimize water and energy management in agricultural greenhouses while enhancing crop productivity.The system employs a sophisticated four-layer Internet ofThings(IoT)architecture based on an ESP32 microcontroller,integrated with multiple environmental sensors,including soil moisture,temperature,humidity,and light intensity sensors,for comprehensive environmental monitoring.The system utilizes the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport(MQTT)communication protocol for reliable data transmission and incorporates a Random Forest machine learning algorithm for automated irrigation decision-making processes.The Random Forest model achieved exceptional performance with 99.3%overall accuracy,demonstrating high model reliability.Six operational modules were developed and implemented with three distinct control methods:manual operation,condition-based automatic control,and AI-driven intelligent control systems.A comprehensive one-month comparative analysis demonstrated remarkable improvements across multiple performance metrics:a 50%reduction in both water consumption(from 140 to 70 L/day)and energy usage(from 7.00 to 3.50 kWh/day),a substantial 130%increase in water use efficiency,and a significant 50%decrease in CO_(2) emissions.Furthermore,detailed factor importance analysis revealed soil moisture as the primary decision factor(38.6%),followed by temporal factors(20.3%)and light intensity(18.4%).The system demonstrates exceptional potential for annual energy conservation of 1277.5 kWh and CO_(2) emission reduction of 638.75 kg,contributing substantially to sustainable development goals and advancing smart agriculture technologies.展开更多
An Interval Type-2(IT-2)fuzzy controller design approach is proposed in this research to simultaneously achievemultiple control objectives inNonlinearMulti-Agent Systems(NMASs),including formation,containment,and coll...An Interval Type-2(IT-2)fuzzy controller design approach is proposed in this research to simultaneously achievemultiple control objectives inNonlinearMulti-Agent Systems(NMASs),including formation,containment,and collision avoidance.However,inherent nonlinearities and uncertainties present in practical control systems contribute to the challenge of achieving precise control performance.Based on the IT-2 Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model(T-SFM),the fuzzy control approach can offer a more effective solution for NMASs facing uncertainties.Unlike existing control methods for NMASs,the Formation and Containment(F-and-C)control problem with collision avoidance capability under uncertainties based on the IT-2 T-SFM is discussed for the first time.Moreover,an IT-2 fuzzy tracking control approach is proposed to solve the formation task for leaders in NMASs without requiring communication.This control scheme makes the design process of the IT-2 fuzzy Formation Controller(FC)more straightforward and effective.According to the communication interaction protocol,the IT-2 Containment Controller(CC)design approach is proposed for followers to ensure convergence into the region defined by the leaders.Leveraging the IT-2 T-SFM representation,the analysis methods developed for linear Multi-Agent Systems(MASs)are successfully extended to perform containment analysis without requiring the additional assumptions imposed in existing research.Notably,the IT-2 fuzzy tracking controller can also be applied in collision avoidance situations to track the desired trajectories calculated by the avoidance algorithm under the Artificial Potential Field(APF).Benefiting from the combination of vortex and source APFs,the leaders can properly adjust the system dynamics to prevent potential collision risk.Integrating the fuzzy theory and APFs avoidance algorithm,an IT-2 fuzzy controller design approach is proposed to achieve the F-and-C purposewhile ensuring collision avoidance capability.Finally,amulti-ship simulation is conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the designed IT-2 fuzzy controller.展开更多
BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)remains a lethal malignancy due to its molecular complexity and chemoresistance.Rac family small GTPase 3(RAC3),a tumorigenic GTPase understudied in HCC,drives recurrence via E2...BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)remains a lethal malignancy due to its molecular complexity and chemoresistance.Rac family small GTPase 3(RAC3),a tumorigenic GTPase understudied in HCC,drives recurrence via E2F transcription factor 1(E2F1)-mediated transcriptional activation.This study integrates multiomics and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)screening to delineate RAC3’s roles.RAC3 overexpression correlates with advanced HCC and patient age,while its knockout suppresses proliferation.Mechanistically,RAC3 dysregulates cell-cycle checkpoints through E2F1 binding.Pharmacological RAC3 inhibition disrupts tumor growth and synergizes with chemotherapy to overcome resistance.AIM To explore RAC3’s expression,clinical links,and HCC mechanisms via multiomics and functional genomics.METHODS Multiomic integration of The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA),Gene Expression Omnibus,and Genotype-Tissue Expression datasets was performed to analyze RAC3 mRNA expression.Immunohistochemistry quantified RAC3 protein in 108 HCC/adjacent tissue pairs.Kaplan–Meier/Cox regression assessed prognostic significance using TCGA data.CRISPR screening validated RAC3’s necessity for HCC proliferation.Functional enrichment identified associated pathways;hTFtarget/JASPAR predicted transcription factors,validated via chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing(ChIP-seq).RESULTS RAC3 exhibited significant mRNA and protein overexpression in HCC tissues,which was correlated with advanced tumor stages and reduced overall survival rates(hazard ratio=1.82,95%CI:1.31–2.53).Genetic ablation of RAC3 suppressed HCC cell proliferation across 16 cell lines.Pathway analysis revealed RAC3’s predominant involvement in cell-cycle regulation,DNA replication,and nucleocytoplasmic transport.Mechanistic investigations identified E2F1 as a pivotal upstream transcriptional regulator,and ChIP-seq analysis validated its direct binding to the RAC3 promoter region.These findings suggest that RAC3 drives HCC progression through E2F1-mediated cell-cycle dysregulation.CONCLUSION This study identified RAC3 as a key HCC oncogenic driver;its overexpression links to poor prognosis/resistance.Targeting the RAC3/E2F1 axis offers a new therapy,which highlights RAC3 as a biomarker/target.展开更多
BACKGROUND Ki-67 is a routine test item in clinical pathology departments.However,its prognostic value requires further investigation,especially in the context of research using machine learning(ML),which remains rela...BACKGROUND Ki-67 is a routine test item in clinical pathology departments.However,its prognostic value requires further investigation,especially in the context of research using machine learning(ML),which remains relatively underdeveloped.AIM To investigate the prognostic value of Ki-67 in cases of colorectal carcinoma(CRC)and explore the potential application of ML algorithms to predict the Ki-67 index.METHODS Case data and pathological sections from two centers were systematically collected.To analyze the prognostic value of the Ki-67 index in CRC,multiple cutoff values were established.Meanwhile,by virtue of the histological features presented in the hematoxylin and eosin-stained CRC images,three mainstream ML algorithms,support vector machine(SVM),random forest(RF),and eXtreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)were employed to construct prediction models.Subsequently,the potential of these algorithms to classify and predict the Ki-67 index was explored.RESULTS Non-parametric tests revealed that Ki-67≥40%correlated with a high histological grade(P=0.017),deficient mismatch repair protein status associated with≥50%-90%cutoffs(all P≤0.028),and≥80%linked to lymph node metastasis(P=0.006).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that Ki-67≥50%predicted higher survival(log-rank P=0.0299,hazard ratio=2.142),with no differences for other cutoffs.COX regression identified the Ki-67 positive rate as a significant predictor(P=0.027,hazard ratio=2.583),while other variables had no association.In algorithmic model predictions,the SVM,RF,and XGBoost models achieved training area under the curve(AUC)values of 0.851,0.948,and 0.872,respectively,with corresponding test set AUC values of 0.795,0.755,and 0.750,respectively.During external validation,their AUC values for predicting Ki-67 status reached 0.757,0.749,and 0.783,respectively.CONCLUSION In algorithmic model predictions,the SVM,RF,and XGBoost models achieved training AUC values of 0.851,0.948,and 0.872,respectively,with corresponding test set AUC values of 0.795,0.755,and 0.750,respectively.During external validation,their AUC values for predicting Ki-67 status reached 0.757,0.749,and 0.783,respectively.展开更多
A multi-partite-controlled quantum secret sharing scheme using several non-orthogonal entanglement states is presented with unconditional security. In this scheme, the participants share the secret quantum state by ex...A multi-partite-controlled quantum secret sharing scheme using several non-orthogonal entanglement states is presented with unconditional security. In this scheme, the participants share the secret quantum state by exchanging the secret polarization angles of the disordered travel particles. The security of the secret quantum state is also guaranteed by the non-orthogonal multi-partite-controlled entanglement states, the participants' secret polarizations, and the disorder of the travelling particles. Moreover, the present scheme is secure against the particle-number splitting attack and the intercept-and-resend attack. It may be still secure even if the distributed quantum state is embedded in a not-so-weak coherent-state pulse.展开更多
Influences of temperature and Sn-Cu droplet's composition on reactive wettings of Cu(100), Cu(110), and Cu(111) surfaces were analyzed, by using molecular dynamics(MD) calculations. As a result, the spreading on C...Influences of temperature and Sn-Cu droplet's composition on reactive wettings of Cu(100), Cu(110), and Cu(111) surfaces were analyzed, by using molecular dynamics(MD) calculations. As a result, the spreading on Cu(110)(Cu(100)) has the fastest(slowest) wetting kinetics. A higher temperature or a diluter Cu content in the Sn-Cu alloy droplet results in a higher wettability. Moreover, this work has addressed a theory for positioning the interface separating the liquidus and solidus alloys in the spreading film to confirm the hypothesis that the reactive wetting will come to the end when the interface saturates with the temperature-dependent solidus weight fraction of Cu.展开更多
After a comprehensive literature review and analysis, a unified cloud computing framework is proposed, which comprises MapReduce, a vertual machine, Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS), Hbase, Hadoop, and virtuali...After a comprehensive literature review and analysis, a unified cloud computing framework is proposed, which comprises MapReduce, a vertual machine, Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS), Hbase, Hadoop, and virtualization. This study also compares Microsoft, Trend Micro, and the proposed unified cloud computing architecture to show that the proposed unified framework of the cloud computing service model is comprehensive and appropriate for the current complexities of businesses. The findings of this study can contribute to the knowledge for academics and practitioners to understand, assess, and analyze a cloud computing service application.展开更多
To improve the crashworthiness and energy absorption performance,a novel crash box negative Poisson’s ratio(NPR)structure is proposed according to the characteristics of low speed collision of bumper system.Taking th...To improve the crashworthiness and energy absorption performance,a novel crash box negative Poisson’s ratio(NPR)structure is proposed according to the characteristics of low speed collision of bumper system.Taking the peak collision force and the average collision force as two subsystems,a multidisciplinary collaborative optimization design is carried out,and its optimization results are compared with the ones optimized by NSGA-II algorithm.Simulation results show that the crashworthiness and energy absorption performance of the novel crash box is improved effectively based on the multidisciplinary optimization method.展开更多
Tongue squamous cell carcinoma is highly malignant and has a poor prognosis.In this study,we aimed to combine whole-genome sequencing,whole-genome methylation,and whole-transcriptome analyses to understand the molecul...Tongue squamous cell carcinoma is highly malignant and has a poor prognosis.In this study,we aimed to combine whole-genome sequencing,whole-genome methylation,and whole-transcriptome analyses to understand the molecular mechanisms of tongue squamous cell carcinoma better.Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma and adjacent normal tissues from five patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma were included as five paired samples.After multi-omics sequencing,differentially methylated intervals,methylated loop sites,methylated promoters,and transcripts were screened for variation in all paired samples.Correlations were analyzed to determine biological processes in tongue squamous cell carcinoma.We found five mutated methylation promoters that were significantly associated with mRNA and lncRNA expression levels.Functional annotation of these transcripts revealed their involvement in triggering the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade,which is associated with cancer progression and the development of drug resistance during treatment.The prognostic signature models constructed based on WDR81 and HNRNPH1 and combined clinical phenotype-gene prognostic signature models showed high predictive efficacy and can be applied to predict patient prognostic risk in clinical settings.We identified biological processes in tongue squamous cell carcinoma that are initiated by mutations in the methylation promoter and are associated with the expression levels of specific mRNAs and lncRNAs.Collectively,changes in transcript levels affect the prognosis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma patients.展开更多
文摘With the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT), the violation of information privacy has increased in recent years. The privacy concerns now re-emerge right because people perceives a threat from new ICT that are equipped with enhanced capabilities for surveillance, storage, retrieval, and diffusion of personal information. With the trend in the prevalence and the easy use of ICT, it is of necessary to pay much attention to the issue how the ICT can threaten the privacy of individuals on the Internet. While the Email and P2P (Peer-to-Peer) tools are the most popular ICT, this paper aims at understanding their respectively dissemination patterns in spreading of personal private information. To this purpose, this paper using dynamic model technique to simulate the pattern of sensitive or personal private information propagating situation. In this study, an Email propagation model and a Susceptible-lnfected-Removed (SIR) model are proposed to simulate the propagation patterns of Email and P2P network respectively. Knowing their dissemination patterns would be helpful for system designers, ICT manager, corporate IT personnel, educators, policy makers, and legislators to incorporate consciousness of social and ethical information issues into the protection of information privacy.
文摘Our study aims to take a closer look at China's current information literacy(IL) program standards at secondary schools and to analyze their level of success and/or failures in a comparative way with those of the United States in terms of fulfilling their each other's mission-oriented mandates. Our research findings show that China's current IL standards of high schools contain a disproportionate emphasis on information technology(IT). Moreover, the stipulations of these IL standards are narrowly construed and without being solidly grounded on a broad and comprehensive educational perspective. We also suggest that there are two underlying causes for this set of unsound IL standards in China.Firstly, there is a lack of collaboration between two major competing forces engaged in the curricular development and research of IL in China: Those professionals in educational IT discipline vis-à-vis those in Library and Information Science. Secondly, library professionals have a very limited influence on major socio-cultural policies, even at their own institutions. As a result, this paper recommends the following three possible measures,which may help remedy this situation strategically: 1) Establishing a set of new IL curriculum standards based on an IL-centered educational perspective; 2) establishing a teacher-librarian's training program to promote school librarians' role in IL education; and 3) strengthening the research and development of an online IL education program and an accompanied evaluation mechanism.
基金jointly supported by the Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences of the Chinese Ministry of Education(Grant No.10YJA870021)Center for Asia Research of Nankai University(Grant No.AS0917)
文摘Evaluating government openness is important in monitoring government performance and promoting government transparency. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an evaluation system for information openness of local governments. In order to select evaluation indicators, we conducted a content analysis on current evaluation systems constructed by researchers and local governments and the materials of a case study on a local government. This evaluation system is composed of 5 first-tier indicators, 30 secondtier indicators and 69 third-tier indicators. Then Delphi Method and Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) Method are adopted to determine the weight of each indicator. At last, the practicability of the system is tested by an evaluation of the local government of Tianjin Binhai New Area, which has been undergoing administrative reform and attempting to reinvent itself in the past 5 years.
基金supported by the National Science Foundation of China(NSFC)Grant(No.71373015)
文摘Purpose: This research aims to identify product search tasks in online shopplng ana analyze the characteristics of consumer multi-tasking search sessions. Design/methodology/approach: The experimental dataset contains 8,949 queries of 582 users from 3,483 search sessions. A sequential comparison of the Jaccard similarity coefficient between two adjacent search queries and hierarchical clustering of queries is used to identify search tasks. Findings: (1) Users issued a similar number of queries (1.43 to 1.47) with similar lengths (7.3-7.6 characters) per task in mono-tasking and multi-tasking sessions, and (2) Users spent more time on average in sessions with more tasks, but spent less time for each task when the number of tasks increased in a session. Research limitations: The task identification method that relies only on query terms does not completely reflect the complex nature of consumer shopping behavior.Practical implications: These results provide an exploratory understanding of the relationships among multiple shopping tasks, and can be useful for product recommendation and shopping task prediction. Originality/value: The originality of this research is its use of query clustering with online shopping task identification and analysis, and the analysis of product search session characteristics.
文摘The recent rapid development of China’s foreign trade has led to the significant increase in waterway transportation and automated container ports. Automated terminals can significantly improve the loading and unloading efficiency of container terminals. These terminals can also increase the port’s transportation volume while ensuring the quality of cargo loading and unloading, which has become an inevitable trend in the future development of ports. However, the continuous growth of the port’s transportation volume has increased the horizontal transportation pressure on the automated terminal, and the problems of route conflicts and road locks faced by automated guided vehicles (AGV) have become increasingly prominent. Accordingly, this work takes Xiamen Yuanhai automated container terminal as an example. This work focuses on analyzing the interference problem of path conflict in its horizontal transportation AGV scheduling. Results show that path conflict, the most prominent interference factor, will cause AGV scheduling to be unable to execute the original plan. Consequently, the disruption management was used to establish a disturbance recovery model, and the Dijkstra algorithm for combining with time windows is adopted to plan a conflict-free path. Based on the comparison with the rescheduling method, the research obtains that the deviation of the transportation path and the deviation degree of the transportation path under the disruption management method are much lower than those of the rescheduling method. The transportation path deviation degree of the disruption management method is only 5.56%. Meanwhile, the deviation degree of the transportation path under the rescheduling method is 44.44%.
基金supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China(Grant No.:11CTQ009)
文摘Purpose:The purpose of this research is to investigate Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior,with an emphasis on exploration of the intervening variables that influence information needs and information seeking behavior.Design/methodology/approach:The sample consisted of 27 women from 9 villages in Gansu Province,Anhui Province and Tianjin City,China.Data were collected through in-depth individual interview.Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze the data.Findings:Chinese rural women’s needs are basically tied to agricultural technologies,employment and health information.Social network,rather than the Internet,serves as the most frequently used information channel.Women’s cognitive ability,social role and their living environment are the 3 intervening variables that have an impact on their information needs and their information seeking behavior.Research limitations:This qualitative research is based on a small sample and conducted on specific socio-economic settings in China,which may restrict the generalization and application of relevant findings in other settings and countries.Practical implications:The study results will help librarians and information professionals better understand Chinese rural women’s information needs and information seeking behavior in an effort to find ways to solve problems they may encounter in their information seeking process.Originality/value:This paper introduced an analysis framework that provides an integrated perspective on understanding information needs and information seeking behavior of Chinese women in rural areas.
文摘With increased global economic development, the air traffic volume (including passengers and parcels) increases every year. Thus, the business-related load on air traffic controllers becomes heavier, which influences their need for frequent learning and training opportunities. Therefore, the only solution is to enhance the performance of the training for the air traffic controllers (ATCs) and to build uniform training procedures and standardized training content, which constitute a shared framework with ontology knowledge. Taking departure operation control processes as an example, the research analyzes an aviation organization framework, with information communication procedures and relevant knowledge assets from the viewpoint of departure processes, to explore a knowledge management model of aviation control. This research studies how explicit knowledge is transformed by CommonKADS methodology using the CommonKADS sheet, and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) graph presentation and ontology model are discussed in this research. This analysis procedure can be applied to the systematic analysis and establishment of similar business-based information systems, allowing this research result to be further shared in different industries
文摘This paper introduced first a conceptual framework of 'information literacy training of farmers' based on the widely recognized understanding of the term 'information literacy(IL).' It then followed with a discussion based on these three authors' field investigation regarding to Hubei peasants' current information literacy training in such perspectives as information consciousness,information ability and ways and means of information access.It concluded by pointing out some of the more apparent factors that had adverse impacts on the farmers' information literacy training in central China and suggested a few possible remedial measures to guide the course for those who are involved in such undertakings.
文摘Based on the comparison between ontology and thesaurus, and the analysis of an ontology-based Information Retrieval (IR) model, the potential advantages that ontology may contribute to IR are analyzed. Then a general architecture of ontology-based Information Retrieval System (IRS) and the approach of constructing it are presented. Based on the researches, the role of ontology in IR is summarized from four aspects and a typical system called Textpresso is analyzed. Finally, a conclusion is drawn that utilizing ontology is the trend of IR and can really improve the IRS.
基金supported by National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science of China(GrantNo.06CTQ002)
文摘Public libraries should be vigilant and responsive to the ever changing information needs of their clientele functioning in a society undergoing through rapid change due to technological innovations. China is currently experiencing a social and technological transformation of great magnitude in terms of metamorphosing itself from a traditional society to one that is driven by information technologies. Our research study, taking this proposition into account, did a questionnaire survey on 954 library information users at five major public libraries. This research study has discovered that the information needs of public library users today reflect some of the peculiar characteristics of their society in changing times which is driven largely by the rapid development and application of new information technologies. It shows that there is a newly added demand emphasis on certain categories of library resources and services by the Chinese reading public. Our research findings have identified such needs basically in the following five functional areas of public libraries, namely, 1) Increased demands for economic resources, 2) rising expectations for more effective and efficient library services, 3) a convenient location and an amicable environment congenial to learning, 4) a suitable place for engaging in intellectual dialogues and in socialization, and 5) a few other technological amenities and information technology-based digital resources and facilities in addition to a rich repository of library materials in print format. Finally, our paper concludes its discussion with a few observation remarks about the changing trend of public libraries' visions, missions and operations vis-à-vis a contextual background of the ever heightened public expectations for getting quality information services in a timely manner in order for them to function effectively in an information-oriented society such as that of ours today.
文摘Hybrid renewable energy systems(HRES)offer cost-effectiveness,low-emission power solutions,and reduced dependence on fossil fuels.However,the renewable energy allocation problem remains challenging due to complex system interactions and multiple operational constraints.This study develops a novel Multi-Neighborhood Enhanced Harris Hawks Optimization(MNEHHO)algorithm to address the allocation of HRES components.The proposed approach integrates key technical parameters,including charge-discharge efficiency,storage device configurations,and renewable energy fraction.We formulate a comprehensive mathematical model that simultaneously minimizes levelized energy costs and pollutant emissions while maintaining system reliability.The MNEHHO algorithm employs multiple neighborhood structures to enhance solution diversity and exploration capabilities.The model’s effectiveness is validated through case studies across four distinct institutional energy demand profiles.Results demonstrate that our approach successfully generates practically feasible HRES configurations while achieving significant reductions in costs and emissions compared to conventional methods.The enhanced search mechanisms of MNEHHO show superior performance in avoiding local optima and achieving consistent solutions.Experimental results demonstrate concrete improvements in solution quality(up to 46% improvement in objective value)and computational efficiency(average coefficient of variance of 24%-27%)across diverse institutional settings.This confirms the robustness and scalability of our method under various operational scenarios,providing a reliable framework for solving renewable energy allocation problems.
文摘Traditional agricultural irrigation systems waste significant amounts of water and energy due to inefficient scheduling and the absence of real-time monitoring capabilities.This research developed a comprehensive IoT-based smart irrigation control systemto optimize water and energy management in agricultural greenhouses while enhancing crop productivity.The system employs a sophisticated four-layer Internet ofThings(IoT)architecture based on an ESP32 microcontroller,integrated with multiple environmental sensors,including soil moisture,temperature,humidity,and light intensity sensors,for comprehensive environmental monitoring.The system utilizes the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport(MQTT)communication protocol for reliable data transmission and incorporates a Random Forest machine learning algorithm for automated irrigation decision-making processes.The Random Forest model achieved exceptional performance with 99.3%overall accuracy,demonstrating high model reliability.Six operational modules were developed and implemented with three distinct control methods:manual operation,condition-based automatic control,and AI-driven intelligent control systems.A comprehensive one-month comparative analysis demonstrated remarkable improvements across multiple performance metrics:a 50%reduction in both water consumption(from 140 to 70 L/day)and energy usage(from 7.00 to 3.50 kWh/day),a substantial 130%increase in water use efficiency,and a significant 50%decrease in CO_(2) emissions.Furthermore,detailed factor importance analysis revealed soil moisture as the primary decision factor(38.6%),followed by temporal factors(20.3%)and light intensity(18.4%).The system demonstrates exceptional potential for annual energy conservation of 1277.5 kWh and CO_(2) emission reduction of 638.75 kg,contributing substantially to sustainable development goals and advancing smart agriculture technologies.
基金founded by the National Science and Technology Council of the Republic of China under contract NSTC113-2221-E-019-032.
文摘An Interval Type-2(IT-2)fuzzy controller design approach is proposed in this research to simultaneously achievemultiple control objectives inNonlinearMulti-Agent Systems(NMASs),including formation,containment,and collision avoidance.However,inherent nonlinearities and uncertainties present in practical control systems contribute to the challenge of achieving precise control performance.Based on the IT-2 Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model(T-SFM),the fuzzy control approach can offer a more effective solution for NMASs facing uncertainties.Unlike existing control methods for NMASs,the Formation and Containment(F-and-C)control problem with collision avoidance capability under uncertainties based on the IT-2 T-SFM is discussed for the first time.Moreover,an IT-2 fuzzy tracking control approach is proposed to solve the formation task for leaders in NMASs without requiring communication.This control scheme makes the design process of the IT-2 fuzzy Formation Controller(FC)more straightforward and effective.According to the communication interaction protocol,the IT-2 Containment Controller(CC)design approach is proposed for followers to ensure convergence into the region defined by the leaders.Leveraging the IT-2 T-SFM representation,the analysis methods developed for linear Multi-Agent Systems(MASs)are successfully extended to perform containment analysis without requiring the additional assumptions imposed in existing research.Notably,the IT-2 fuzzy tracking controller can also be applied in collision avoidance situations to track the desired trajectories calculated by the avoidance algorithm under the Artificial Potential Field(APF).Benefiting from the combination of vortex and source APFs,the leaders can properly adjust the system dynamics to prevent potential collision risk.Integrating the fuzzy theory and APFs avoidance algorithm,an IT-2 fuzzy controller design approach is proposed to achieve the F-and-C purposewhile ensuring collision avoidance capability.Finally,amulti-ship simulation is conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the designed IT-2 fuzzy controller.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.82260581.
文摘BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)remains a lethal malignancy due to its molecular complexity and chemoresistance.Rac family small GTPase 3(RAC3),a tumorigenic GTPase understudied in HCC,drives recurrence via E2F transcription factor 1(E2F1)-mediated transcriptional activation.This study integrates multiomics and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)screening to delineate RAC3’s roles.RAC3 overexpression correlates with advanced HCC and patient age,while its knockout suppresses proliferation.Mechanistically,RAC3 dysregulates cell-cycle checkpoints through E2F1 binding.Pharmacological RAC3 inhibition disrupts tumor growth and synergizes with chemotherapy to overcome resistance.AIM To explore RAC3’s expression,clinical links,and HCC mechanisms via multiomics and functional genomics.METHODS Multiomic integration of The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA),Gene Expression Omnibus,and Genotype-Tissue Expression datasets was performed to analyze RAC3 mRNA expression.Immunohistochemistry quantified RAC3 protein in 108 HCC/adjacent tissue pairs.Kaplan–Meier/Cox regression assessed prognostic significance using TCGA data.CRISPR screening validated RAC3’s necessity for HCC proliferation.Functional enrichment identified associated pathways;hTFtarget/JASPAR predicted transcription factors,validated via chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing(ChIP-seq).RESULTS RAC3 exhibited significant mRNA and protein overexpression in HCC tissues,which was correlated with advanced tumor stages and reduced overall survival rates(hazard ratio=1.82,95%CI:1.31–2.53).Genetic ablation of RAC3 suppressed HCC cell proliferation across 16 cell lines.Pathway analysis revealed RAC3’s predominant involvement in cell-cycle regulation,DNA replication,and nucleocytoplasmic transport.Mechanistic investigations identified E2F1 as a pivotal upstream transcriptional regulator,and ChIP-seq analysis validated its direct binding to the RAC3 promoter region.These findings suggest that RAC3 drives HCC progression through E2F1-mediated cell-cycle dysregulation.CONCLUSION This study identified RAC3 as a key HCC oncogenic driver;its overexpression links to poor prognosis/resistance.Targeting the RAC3/E2F1 axis offers a new therapy,which highlights RAC3 as a biomarker/target.
基金Supported by the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Health Commission Scientific Research Project,No.Z20210442。
文摘BACKGROUND Ki-67 is a routine test item in clinical pathology departments.However,its prognostic value requires further investigation,especially in the context of research using machine learning(ML),which remains relatively underdeveloped.AIM To investigate the prognostic value of Ki-67 in cases of colorectal carcinoma(CRC)and explore the potential application of ML algorithms to predict the Ki-67 index.METHODS Case data and pathological sections from two centers were systematically collected.To analyze the prognostic value of the Ki-67 index in CRC,multiple cutoff values were established.Meanwhile,by virtue of the histological features presented in the hematoxylin and eosin-stained CRC images,three mainstream ML algorithms,support vector machine(SVM),random forest(RF),and eXtreme gradient boosting(XGBoost)were employed to construct prediction models.Subsequently,the potential of these algorithms to classify and predict the Ki-67 index was explored.RESULTS Non-parametric tests revealed that Ki-67≥40%correlated with a high histological grade(P=0.017),deficient mismatch repair protein status associated with≥50%-90%cutoffs(all P≤0.028),and≥80%linked to lymph node metastasis(P=0.006).Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that Ki-67≥50%predicted higher survival(log-rank P=0.0299,hazard ratio=2.142),with no differences for other cutoffs.COX regression identified the Ki-67 positive rate as a significant predictor(P=0.027,hazard ratio=2.583),while other variables had no association.In algorithmic model predictions,the SVM,RF,and XGBoost models achieved training area under the curve(AUC)values of 0.851,0.948,and 0.872,respectively,with corresponding test set AUC values of 0.795,0.755,and 0.750,respectively.During external validation,their AUC values for predicting Ki-67 status reached 0.757,0.749,and 0.783,respectively.CONCLUSION In algorithmic model predictions,the SVM,RF,and XGBoost models achieved training AUC values of 0.851,0.948,and 0.872,respectively,with corresponding test set AUC values of 0.795,0.755,and 0.750,respectively.During external validation,their AUC values for predicting Ki-67 status reached 0.757,0.749,and 0.783,respectively.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 60773012, and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province under Grant No 07JJ3128.
文摘A multi-partite-controlled quantum secret sharing scheme using several non-orthogonal entanglement states is presented with unconditional security. In this scheme, the participants share the secret quantum state by exchanging the secret polarization angles of the disordered travel particles. The security of the secret quantum state is also guaranteed by the non-orthogonal multi-partite-controlled entanglement states, the participants' secret polarizations, and the disorder of the travelling particles. Moreover, the present scheme is secure against the particle-number splitting attack and the intercept-and-resend attack. It may be still secure even if the distributed quantum state is embedded in a not-so-weak coherent-state pulse.
文摘Influences of temperature and Sn-Cu droplet's composition on reactive wettings of Cu(100), Cu(110), and Cu(111) surfaces were analyzed, by using molecular dynamics(MD) calculations. As a result, the spreading on Cu(110)(Cu(100)) has the fastest(slowest) wetting kinetics. A higher temperature or a diluter Cu content in the Sn-Cu alloy droplet results in a higher wettability. Moreover, this work has addressed a theory for positioning the interface separating the liquidus and solidus alloys in the spreading film to confirm the hypothesis that the reactive wetting will come to the end when the interface saturates with the temperature-dependent solidus weight fraction of Cu.
文摘After a comprehensive literature review and analysis, a unified cloud computing framework is proposed, which comprises MapReduce, a vertual machine, Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS), Hbase, Hadoop, and virtualization. This study also compares Microsoft, Trend Micro, and the proposed unified cloud computing architecture to show that the proposed unified framework of the cloud computing service model is comprehensive and appropriate for the current complexities of businesses. The findings of this study can contribute to the knowledge for academics and practitioners to understand, assess, and analyze a cloud computing service application.
文摘To improve the crashworthiness and energy absorption performance,a novel crash box negative Poisson’s ratio(NPR)structure is proposed according to the characteristics of low speed collision of bumper system.Taking the peak collision force and the average collision force as two subsystems,a multidisciplinary collaborative optimization design is carried out,and its optimization results are compared with the ones optimized by NSGA-II algorithm.Simulation results show that the crashworthiness and energy absorption performance of the novel crash box is improved effectively based on the multidisciplinary optimization method.
基金supported by the National Nature Science Foundations of China(grant numbers 81772275 and 32071462)。
文摘Tongue squamous cell carcinoma is highly malignant and has a poor prognosis.In this study,we aimed to combine whole-genome sequencing,whole-genome methylation,and whole-transcriptome analyses to understand the molecular mechanisms of tongue squamous cell carcinoma better.Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma and adjacent normal tissues from five patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma were included as five paired samples.After multi-omics sequencing,differentially methylated intervals,methylated loop sites,methylated promoters,and transcripts were screened for variation in all paired samples.Correlations were analyzed to determine biological processes in tongue squamous cell carcinoma.We found five mutated methylation promoters that were significantly associated with mRNA and lncRNA expression levels.Functional annotation of these transcripts revealed their involvement in triggering the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade,which is associated with cancer progression and the development of drug resistance during treatment.The prognostic signature models constructed based on WDR81 and HNRNPH1 and combined clinical phenotype-gene prognostic signature models showed high predictive efficacy and can be applied to predict patient prognostic risk in clinical settings.We identified biological processes in tongue squamous cell carcinoma that are initiated by mutations in the methylation promoter and are associated with the expression levels of specific mRNAs and lncRNAs.Collectively,changes in transcript levels affect the prognosis of tongue squamous cell carcinoma patients.