This study is performed to figure out how the presence of diabetes affects the infection, progression and prognosis of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and the effective therapy that can treat the diabetes-complicated patients with COVID-19. A multicentre study was performed in four hospitals. COVID-19 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) or hyperglycaemia were compared with those without these conditions and matched by propensity score matching for their clinical progress and outcome. Totally, 2444 confirmed COVID-19 patients were recruited, from whom 336 had DM. Compared to 1344 non-DM patients with age and sex matched, DM-COVID-19 patients had significantly higher rates of intensive care unit entrance (12.43% vs. 6.58%, P = 0.014), kidney failure (9.20% vs. 4.05%, P = 0.027) and mortality (25.00% vs. 18.15%, P < 0.001). Age and sex-stratified comparison revealed increased susceptibility to COVID-19 only from females with DM. For either non-DM or DM group, hyperglycaemia was associated with adverse outcomes, featured by higher rates of severe pneumonia and mortality, in comparison with non-hyperglycaemia. This was accompanied by significantly altered laboratory indicators including lymphocyte and neutrophil percentage, C-reactive protein and urea nitrogen level, all with correlation coefficients >0.35. Both diabetes and hyperglycaemia were independently associated with adverse prognosis of COVID-19, with hazard ratios of 10.41 and 3.58, respectively.

Prolonged sitting in a fixed or constrained position exposes aircraft passengers to long-term static loading of their bodies, which has deleterious effects on passengers’ comfort throughout the duration of the flight. The previous studies focused primarily on office and driving sitting postures and few studies, however, focused on the sitting postures of passengers in aircraft. Consequently, the aim of the present study is to detect and recognize the sitting postures of aircraft passengers in relation to sitting discomfort. A total of 24 subjects were recruited for the experiment, which lasted for 2 h. Furthermore, a total of 489 sitting postures were extracted and the pressure data between subjects and seat was collected from the experiment. After the detection of sitting postures, eight types of sitting postures were classified based on key parts (trunk, back, and legs) of the human bodies. Thereafter, the eight types of sitting postures were recognized with the aid of pressure data of seat pan and backrest employing several machine learning methods. The best classification rate of 89.26% was obtained from the support vector machine (SVM) with radial basis function (RBF) kernel. The detection and recognition of the eight types of sitting postures of aircraft passengers in this study provided an insight into aircraft passengers’ discomfort and seat design.

Hypertension represents one of the most common pre-existing conditions and comorbidities in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. To explore whether hypertension serves as a risk factor for disease severity, a multi-centre, retrospective study was conducted in COVID-19 patients. A total of 498 consecutively hospitalised patients with lab-confirmed COVID-19 in China were enrolled in this cohort. Using logistic regression, we assessed the association between hypertension and the likelihood of severe illness with adjustment for confounders. We observed that more than 16% of the enrolled patients exhibited pre-existing hypertension on admission. More severe COVID-19 cases occurred in individuals with hypertension than those without hypertension (21% vs. 10%, P = 0.007). Hypertension associated with the increased risk of severe illness, which was not modified by other demographic factors, such as age, sex, hospital geological location and blood pressure levels on admission. More attention and treatment should be offered to patients with underlying hypertension, who usually are older, have more comorbidities and more susceptible to cardiac complications.

This study focuses on the process of the circulation deposition in the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI). The growth rate of circulation and its sources are theoretically and numerically studied to reveal the physical mechanism of the viscosity in the circulation deposition process. We derive a predicting model of the circulation rate for RMI. More importantly, all the contributing sources are separately predicted. Particularly, the viscous source, which previously lacked theoretical or numerical investigations, is efficiently predicted. The RMI problems in a large range of initial conditions are simulated with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method to verify our predicting model and further reveal the circulation deposition mechanism. The DSMC simulations provide reliable quantification of the circulation deposition (especially viscous contribution) for RMI due to its molecular nature. Our model predicts the circulation rate, baroclinic and viscous sources accurately for all the cases in comparison with the simulations. A new physical insight into the mechanism of viscosity in RMI is provided. Unlike the previous understandings that nearly all circulation deposition in RMI comes from the baroclinic source, this study reveals the hidden positive contribution of the viscous source, especially for high Mach number conditions (up to 11 % of total circulation rate). For RMI, the large viscosity gradient inside the shock waves plays a crucial role in the circulation deposition even under high Reynolds number conditions. Our study also provides exciting opportunities to further understand the viscous contribution to the vorticity dynamics in the reshocked RMI and shock wave–turbulence interactions.

BiCuTeO is a potential thermoelectric material owing to its low thermal conductivity and high carrier concentration. However, the thermoelectric performance of BiCuTeO is still below average and has much scope for improvement. In this study, we manipulated the nominal oxygen content in BiCuTeO and synthesized BiCuTeOx (x = 0.94–1.06) bulks by a solid-state reaction and pelletized them by a cold-press method. The power factor was enhanced by varying the nominal oxygen deficiency due to the increased Seebeck coefficient. The thermal conductivity was also reduced due to the decrease in lattice thermal conductivity owing to the small grain size generated by the optimal nominal oxygen content. Consequently, the ZT value was enhanced by ∼11% at 523 K for stoichiometric BiCuTeO0.94 compared to BiCuTeO. Thus, optimal oxygen manipulation in BiCuTeO can enhance the thermoelectric performance. This study can be applied to developing oxides with high thermoelectric performances.

This article outlines the evolution of a rescue team in responding to adenovirus prevention with a deployable field hospital. The local governments mobilized a shelter hospital and a rescue team consisting of 59 members to assist with rescue and response efforts after an epidemic outbreak of adenovirus. We describe and evaluate the challenges of preparing for deployment, field hospital maintenance, treatment mode, and primary treatment methods. The field hospital established at the rescue scene consisted of a medical command vehicle, a computed tomography shelter, an X-ray shelter, a special laboratory shelter, an oxygen and electricity supply vehicle, and epidemic prevention and protection equipment. The rescue team comprised paramedics, physicians, X-ray technicians, respiratory therapists, and logistical personnel. In 22 days, more than 3000 patients with suspected adenovirus infection underwent initial examinations. All patients were properly treated, and no deaths occurred. After emergency measures were implemented, the spread of adenovirus was eventually controlled. An emergency involving infectious diseases in less-developed regions demands the rapid development of a field facility with specialized medical personnel when local hospital facilities are either unavailable or unusable. An appropriate and detailed prearranged action plan is important for infectious diseases prevention. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:109–114)

This study investigated how cross-functional teams can influence their business model innovation and firm performance through team learning, consisting of multiple modes of within-team, cross-team, and market learning. Using a matched dyadic data set from a study of 330 cross-functional team members and their supervisors sampled from 165 electronics and information industries in China, the empirical results clearly indicate that within-team, cross-team, and market learning can improve business model innovation and firm performance. The results of the mediating model show how the business model innovation mediates the relationship between team learning and firm performance.

Modern industrial society and its industrial processes can sometimes discourage the practice of traditional medicine. The existence and use of traditional Chinese medicine for several thousands of years indicates that it has sound elements. As has been true with features of other ancient, highly developed civilizations, the discipline of traditional Chinese medicine offers a valuable resource in the treatment and prevention of disease. Its scientific aspects and valuable experiences must continue to be developed according to Western scientific methodology. China has initiated a program to utilize modern industrialized technology in the integration of the traditional Chinese and modern Western medical systems. The policy and process aimed at integrating traditional Chinese medicine with Western medicine are presented in this paper.These measures have resulted in considerable utilization and development of the traditional Chinese medicine system, and have had a major impact on the development of public health care, as well as medical technology and science. The positive interactions between these fields of study and existing problems are discussed, and some comments on future expectations are presented.

Transient laser-induced anomalous photovoltaic effect hasbeen studied in La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 films grown on theSrTiO3 (001) substrates by laser molecular beam epitaxy. It isdemonstrated that the signal polarity is reversed when the films areirradiated through the substrate rather than at the air/filminterface. The microstructures in these films are clarified in termsof the oriented microdomains with their (101) plane parallel to thesubstrate surface, suggesting off-diagonal Seebeck effect plays animportant role for our observation. From the results, we obtain theanisotropy of the thermoelectric power $\Delta S=S_{ab}-S_{c}=0.3~\mu$ V/K, where S ab and S c are the ab-plane and c-axis Seebeck coefficients.

Eu(DBM)3phen-doped poly(methyl methacryate) (PMMA) with different doping concentration were prepared. The highest doping concentration sample (10000 ppm) was examined by near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) with a resolution of 50 nm; and the result showed that there were no aggregates larger than 50 nm in the doped polymer. This result was further confirmed by optical properties of the doping material. Concentration quenching was not detected by metastable-state lifetime measurements, indicating that no aggregates existed. According to the fluorescence spectra analysis, the relative intensity ratio (R) of 5D0→7F2 to 5D0→7F1 transition was not shown to be significantly changed with the increasing of Eu3+ content. The analysis reflected that the local structure and asymmetry in the vicinity of europium ions were not changed, and that the Eu3+ ions in PMMA were homogeneously dispersed.

Eu(DBM)3Phen-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with different doping concentrations was prepared. Judd–Ofelt parameters Ω2 and Ω4 and the fluorescence intensity ratio R were computed from the fluorescence emission spectra and were analyzed. The radiative properties, such as transition probabilities, emission cross section (46.47 × 10−22 cm2), fluorescence branching ratios (90.34%), and radiative lifetime (1.704 ms), reveal that Eu(DBM)3 Phen-doped PMMA has potential use as a laser material.