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Advertising click-through rate (CTR) prediction is a fundamental task in recommender systems, aimed at estimating the likelihood of users interacting with advertisements based on their historical behavior. This prediction process has evolved through two main stages: from traditional shallow interaction models to more advanced deep learning approaches. Shallow models typically operate at the level of individual features, failing to fully leverage the rich, multilevel information available across different feature sets, leading to less accurate predictions. In contrast, deep learning models exhibit superior feature representation and learning capabilities, enabling a more realistic simulation of user interactions and improving the accuracy of CTR prediction. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of CTR prediction algorithms in the context of recommender systems. The algorithms are categorized into two groups: shallow interactive models and deep learning-based prediction models, including deep neural networks, convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and graph neural networks. Additionally, this paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the aforementioned algorithms, as well as the benchmark datasets and model evaluation methods used for CTR prediction. Finally, it identifies potential future research directions in this rapidly advancing field.
The emotion regulation network (ERN) in the brain provides a framework for understanding the neuropathology of affective disorders. Although previous neuroimaging studies have investigated the neurobiological correlates of the ERN in major depressive disorder (MDD), whether patients with MDD exhibit abnormal functional connectivity (FC) patterns in the ERN and whether the abnormal FC in the ERN can serve as a therapeutic response signature remain unclear.
Methods
A large functional magnetic resonance imaging dataset comprising 709 patients with MDD and 725 healthy controls (HCs) recruited across five sites was analyzed. Using a seed-based FC approach, we first investigated the group differences in whole-brain resting-state FC of the 14 ERN seeds between participants with and without MDD. Furthermore, an independent sample (45 MDD patients) was used to evaluate the relationship between the aforementioned abnormal FC in the ERN and symptom improvement after 8 weeks of antidepressant monotherapy.
Results
Compared to the HCs, patients with MDD exhibited aberrant FC between 7 ERN seeds and several cortical and subcortical areas, including the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, bilateral occipital gyrus, right thalamus, calcarine cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and the bilateral superior temporal gyrus. In an independent sample, these aberrant FCs in the ERN were negatively correlated with the reduction rate of the HAMD17 score among MDD patients.
Conclusions
These results might extend our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings underlying unadaptable or inflexible emotional processing in MDD patients and help to elucidate the mechanisms of therapeutic response.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China play a critical role in national economic development and the country's positioning on the global stage. Chinese SOEs have undergone substantial transformations from traditional government-run entities to a variety of corporate forms exhibiting different levels of state involvement. Despite their substantial influence, the internal diversity of SOEs – from wholly state-owned to mixed-ownership – has not been thoroughly examined. This paper provides an overview of SOEs' critical roles in the Chinese economy, the relationship between SOEs and privately owned enterprises (POEs), and the challenges of SOEs in different stages of Chinese economic development. It then introduces five research papers that explore the institutional, strategic, and organizational perspectives on how SOEs manage the dual pressures of state and market logic, respond to policy adjustments, tackle leadership challenges, and navigate current global trends such as digital transformation, technological innovation, and environmental sustainability. In this paper, we provide important implications for policy and managerial practices and highlight a future research agenda for the heterogeneity of Chinese SOEs, and how SOEs respond to these challenges in the evolving geopolitical landscape, adapt their strategies, and manage relationships with foreign governments and enterprises under such conditions.
Soft robots show an advantage when conducting tasks in complex environments due to their enormous flexibility and adaptability. However, soft robots suffer interactions and nonlinear deformation when interacting with soft and fluid materials. The reason behind is the free boundary interactions, which refers to undetermined contact between soft materials, specifically containing nonlinear deformation in air and nonlinear interactions in fluid for soft robot simulation. Therefore, we propose a new approach using material point method (MPM), which can solve the free boundary interactions problem, to simulate soft robots under such environments. The proposed approach can autonomously predict the flexible and versatile behaviors of soft robots. Our approach entails incorporating automatic differentiation into the algorithm of MPM to simplify the computation and implement an efficient implicit time integration algorithm. We perform two groups of experiments with an ordinary pneumatic soft finger in different free boundary interactions. The results indicate that it is possible to simulate soft robots with nonlinear interactions and deformation, and such environmental effects on soft robots can be restored.
To compare how clinical researchers generate data-driven hypotheses with a visual interactive analytic tool (VIADS, a visual interactive analysis tool for filtering and summarizing large datasets coded with hierarchical terminologies) or other tools.
Methods:
We recruited clinical researchers and separated them into “experienced” and “inexperienced” groups. Participants were randomly assigned to a VIADS or control group within the groups. Each participant conducted a remote 2-hour study session for hypothesis generation with the same study facilitator on the same datasets by following a think-aloud protocol. Screen activities and audio were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Hypotheses were evaluated by seven experts on their validity, significance, and feasibility. We conducted multilevel random effect modeling for statistical tests.
Results:
Eighteen participants generated 227 hypotheses, of which 147 (65%) were valid. The VIADS and control groups generated a similar number of hypotheses. The VIADS group took a significantly shorter time to generate one hypothesis (e.g., among inexperienced clinical researchers, 258 s versus 379 s, p = 0.046, power = 0.437, ICC = 0.15). The VIADS group received significantly lower ratings than the control group on feasibility and the combination rating of validity, significance, and feasibility.
Conclusion:
The role of VIADS in hypothesis generation seems inconclusive. The VIADS group took a significantly shorter time to generate each hypothesis. However, the combined validity, significance, and feasibility ratings of their hypotheses were significantly lower. Further characterization of hypotheses, including specifics on how they might be improved, could guide future tool development.
Circulating n-3 PUFA, which integrate endogenous and exogenous n-3 PUFA, can be better used to investigate the relationship between n-3 PUFA and disease. However, studies examining the associations between circulating n-3 PUFA and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk were limited, and the results remained inconclusive. This case–control study aimed to examine the association between serum n-3 PUFA and CRC risk in Chinese population. A total of 680 CRC cases and 680 sex- and age-matched (5-year interval) controls were included. Fatty acids were assayed by GC. OR and 95 % CI were calculated using multivariable logistic regression after adjustment for potential confounders. Higher level of serum α-linolenic acid (ALA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), DHA, long-chain n-3 PUFA and total n-3 PUFA were associated with lower odds of CRC. The adjusted OR and 95 % CI were 0·34 (0·24, 0·49, Pfor trend < 0·001) for ALA, 0·57 (0·40, 0·80, Pfor trend < 0·001) for DPA, 0·48 (0·34, 0·68, Pfor trend < 0·001) for DHA, 0·39 (0·27, 0·56, Pfor trend < 0·001) for long-chain n-3 PUFA and 0·31 (0·22, 0·45, Pfor trend < 0·001) for total n-3 PUFA comparing the highest with the lowest quartile. However, there was no statistically significant association between EPA and odds of CRC. Analysis stratified by sex showed that ALA, DHA, long-chain n-3 PUFA and total n-3 PUFA were inversely associated with odds of CRC in both sexes. This study indicated that serum ALA, DPA, DHA, long-chain n-3 PUFA and total n-3 PUFA were inversely associated with odds of having CRC in Chinese population.
During pregnancy, a variety of psychological and physical changes occur in women, which may have different impacts on risk decision-making involving different processes systems. Based on the dual-process theories of decision-making, using the Columbia Card Task (CCT) as the experimental paradigm, which can trigger deliberative versus affective decision-makings respectively, this study recruited 240 pregnant women and non-pregnant women aged 20-40 as the experimental group and control group respectively, investigated how pregnancy impacted on women’s risk decision-making, as well as the possible roles played by a series of psychological factors (impulsivity; sensation seeking; emotional state) and physiological factors (gestational age; human Chorionic Gonadotropin, hCG; progesterone) in the above process. The results were as follows: (a) Compared with non-pregnant women, pregnant women tended to choose fewer cards, indicating a higher risk aversion consistent with a more conservative strategy, both in cold and hot CCTs; in both cold and hot CCTs, compared with pregnant women in the second trimester of pregnancy, pregnant women in the first and the third trimesters of pregnancy had a higher risk aversion tendency. (b) Pregnant women had lower levels of all dimensions of sensation seeking than did non-pregnant women, pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy had lower levels of Disinhibition (DIS) and Boredom Susceptibility (BS) of sensation seeking than pregnant women in the first and the second trimesters of pregnancy, but there was no significant difference in levels of emotional state or impulsivity between pregnant woman and non-pregnant women. (c) DIS of sensation seeking played a fully mediating role in the impact of pregnancy on hot CCT performance. (d) Both hCG and progesterone levels were negatively correlated with pregnant women’s hot CCT performances. (e) Positive emotion played a partial mediating role in the effect of progesterone on hot CCT performance of pregnant women.
We conducted three experiments to investigate the effects of physical and psychological pains on intertemporal choices. In Experiments 1 and 2, physical pain was induced by the self-created Shiatsu sheet treading method (SSTM) and the classical cold pressor task (CPT), respectively. In Experiment 3, psychological pain was induced by the video induction method. All types of pain increased preference for smaller immediate rewards. Theoretical implications and practical implications are discussed.
With the rapid development of the national economy, the demand for electricity is also growing. Thermal power generation accounts for the highest proportion of power generation, and coal is the most commonly used combustion material. The massive combustion of coal has led to serious environmental pollution. It is significant to improve energy conversion efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions effectively. In this paper, an extreme learning machine model based on improved Kalman particle swarm optimization (ELM-IKPSO) is proposed to establish the boiler combustion model. The proposed modeling method is applied to the combustion modeling process of a 300 MWe pulverized coal boiler. The simulation results show that compared with the same type of modeling method, ELM-IKPSO can better predict the boiler thermal efficiency and NOx emission concentration and also show better generalization performance. Finally, multi-objective optimization is carried out on the established model, and a set of mutually non-dominated boiler combustion solutions is obtained.
We present an experimental and numerical study of turbulent thermal convection in the presence of an effective horizontal buoyancy that generates extra shear at the boundary. Geometrical confinements are also applied by varying the streamwise and spanwise aspect ratios of the convection cell to condense the plumes. With these, we systematically explore the effects of plume and shear on heat transfer. It is found that a streamwise confinement results in increased plume coverage but decreased shear compared with spanwise confinement. The fact that streamwise confinement leads to a higher vertical heat transfer efficiency than the spanwise confined case suggests that the increase of plume coverage is the dominant effect responsible for the enhanced heat transfer. Our results highlight the potential applications of coherent structure manipulation in efficient passive heat transfer control and thermal engineering. We also analyse the energetics of the present system and derive the expression of mixing efficiency accordingly. The mixing efficiency is found to increase with both the buoyancy ratio and streamwise dimension.
This study examined the influences of coated folic acid (CFA) and coated riboflavin (CRF) on bull performance, nutrients digestion and ruminal fermentation. Forty-eight Angus bulls based on a randomised block and 2 × 2 factorial design were assigned to four treatments. The CFA of 0 or 6 mg of folic acid/kg DM was supplemented in diets with CRF 0 or 60 mg riboflavin (RF)/kg DM. Supplementation of CRF in diets with CFA had greater increase in daily weight gain and feed efficiency than in diets without CFA. Supplementation with CFA or CRF enhanced digestibility of DM, organic matter, crude protein, neutral-detergent fibre and non-fibre carbohydrate. Ruminal pH and ammonia N content decreased and total volatile fatty acids concentration and acetate to propionate ratio elevated for CFA or CRF addition. Supplement of CFA or CRF increased the activities of fibrolytic enzymes and the numbers of total bacteria, protozoa, fungi, dominant fibrolytic bacteria and Prevotella ruminicola. The activities of α-amylase, protease and pectinase and the numbers of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens and Ruminobacter amylophilus were increased by CFA but were unaffected by CRF. Blood concentration of folate elevated and homocysteine decreased for CFA addition. The CRF supplementation elevated blood concentrations of folate and RF. These findings suggested that CFA or CRF inclusion had facilitating effects on performance and ruminal fermentation, and combined addition of CFA and CRF had greater increase in performance than CFA or CRF addition alone in bulls.
The provenance and tectonic setting of the Lower–Middle Triassic clastic sediments from the Napo basin, South China, have been examined here using detrital modes, whole-rock geochemistry and detrital zircon U–Pb ages. Field investigations indicate that these sediments consist of fan delta, slope and turbidity fan facies with dominantly southward palaeocurrent directions. Detrital modes and geochemical characteristics of the clastic rocks indicate that they were derived from mixed magmatic arc and Palaeozoic successions in a continental island arc setting, with no significant sediment recycling. The U–Pb age spectra of sandstone detrital zircons from different stratigraphic positions are similar, with one major group (300–230 Ma), two subordinate groups (400–320 Ma and 480–420 Ma, respectively) and two scattered groups (1200–800 Ma and 2000–1700 Ma, respectively). Thus, we consider that the north late Permian – Middle Triassic volcanic rocks and the uplifted Palaeozoic sedimentary/volcanic sequences constituted the predominant sources. The detritus derived from the late Permian Emeishan mafic rocks is subordinate and limited. The pre-Devonian zircons are likely sedimentary-recycled or magmatic-captured instead of directly derived from the early Palaeozoic orogen (e.g. Yunkai massif) and Neoproterozoic Jiangnan orogen because of the topographic barrier of a magmatic arc and carbonate platform. Considering the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the volcanic arc and ophiolite, we suggest that the Triassic Napo basin was a fore-arc basin within a continental island arc setting, which developed in response to the northward subduction of the Babu–Cao Bang branch ocean beneath the South China Block.
It is important to maintain the psychological well-being of front-line healthcare staff during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Aims
To examine COVID-19-related stress and its immediate psychological impact on healthcare staff.
Method
All healthcare staff working in the fever clinic, from 20 January 2020 to 26 March 2020, of a tertiary general hospital were enrolled. Stress management procedures were in place to alleviate concerns about the respondents’ own health and the health of their families, to help them adjust their work and to provide psychological support via a hotline. Qualitative interviews were undertaken and the Sources of Distress and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were administered.
Results
Among the 102 participants (25 males; median age 30 years, interquartile range (IQR) = 27–36), the median IES-R total score was 3 (IQR = 0–8), and 6 participants (6.0%) scored above the cut-off on the IES-R (≥20). Safety and security were acceptable or better for 92 (90.2%) participants. The top four sources of distress were worry about the health of one's family/others at 0.88 (IQR = 0.25–1.25), worry about the virus spread at 0.50 (IQR = 0.00–1.00), worry about changes in work at 0.50 (IQR = 0.00–1.00) and worry about one's own health at 0.25 (IQR = 0.25–0.75). There was a moderate correlation between the IES-R score and the Sources of Distress score (rho = 0.501, P = 0.001).
Conclusions
The stress levels of healthcare staff in the fever clinic during the COVID-19 epidemic were not elevated. Physio-psychosocial interventions, including fulfilment of basic needs, activation of self-efficacy and psychological support, are helpful and worth recommending in fighting COVID-19.
This study aimed to evaluate to what extent the different interval times between trophectoderm (TE) biopsy and vitrification influence the clinical outcomes in preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) cycles. Patients who underwent frozen embryo transfer (FET) after PGT between 2015 and 2019 were recruited. In total, 297 cycles with single day 5 euploid blastocyst transfer were included. These cycles were divided into three groups according to the interval times: <1 h group, 1–2 h group, and ≥2 h group. Blastocyst survival, clinical pregnancy, miscarriage, and ongoing pregnancy rates were compared. The results showed that, in PGT-SR cycles, survival rate in the ≥2 h group (96.72%) was significantly lower than in the <1 h group (100%, P = 0.047). The clinical pregnancy rate in the ≥2 h group was 55.93%, significantly lower than in the <1 h group (74.26%, P = 0.017). The ongoing pregnancy rates in the 1–2 h group and the ≥2 h group were 48.28% and 47.46%, respectively, significantly lower than that in the <1 h group (67.33%, P < 0.05). The miscarriage rate in the 1–2 h group was 18.42%, significantly higher than that in the <1 h group (5.33%, P = 0.027). In PGT-A cycles, the clinical pregnancy and ongoing pregnancy rates in the <1 h group were 67.44% and 53.49%, respectively, higher than that in the 1–2 h group (52.94%, 47.06%, P > 0.05) and the ≥2 h group (52.63%, 36.84%, P > 0.05). In conclusion, vitrification of blastocysts beyond 1 h after biopsy significantly influences embryo survival and clinical outcomes and is therefore not recommended.
This paper presents a general framework for human-like motion control of 7-DOF S-R-S-redundant manipulators. The new framework simultaneously accomplishes five objectives: Cartesian trajectory tracking, obstacle avoidance, joint limit avoidance, human-like movement, and a feasibility evaluation of the Cartesian trajectory.We exhaustively compute all feasible arm configurations. This allows for quick evaluations of the feasibility of the Cartesian trajectories. They are applied to inverse kinematics of the redundant manipulator to improve the capability to handle multiple constraints, and enable the manipulator to imitate human movements. The efficiency of the proposed framework is demonstrated by kinematic experiments with a humanoid robot.
Patients with schizophrenia and individuals with schizotypy, a subclinical group at risk for schizophrenia, have been found to have impairments in cognitive control. The Dual Mechanisms of Cognitive Control (DMC) framework hypothesises that cognitive control can be divided into proactive and reactive control. However, it is unclear whether individuals with schizotypy have differential behavioural impairments and neural correlates underlying these two types of cognitive control.
Method:
Twenty-five individuals with schizotypy and 26 matched healthy controls (HCs) completed both reactive and proactive control tasks with electroencephalographic data recorded. The proportion of congruent and incongruent trials was manipulated in a classic colour-word Stroop task to induce proactive or reactive control. Proactive control was induced in a context with mostly incongruent (MI) trials and reactive control in a context with mostly congruent (MC) trials. Two event-related potential (ERP) components, medial frontal negativity (MFN, associated with conflict detection) and conflict sustained potential (conflict SP, associated with conflict resolution) were examined.
Results:
There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of behavioural results. In terms of ERP results, in the MC context, HC exhibited significantly larger MFN (360–530 ms) and conflict SP (600–1000 ms) amplitudes than individuals with schizotypy. The two groups did not show any significant difference in MFN or conflict SP in the MI context.
Conclusions:
The present findings provide initial evidence for dissociation of neural activation between proactive and reactive cognitive control in individuals with schizotypy. These findings help us understand cognitive control deficits in the schizophrenia spectrum.
Inflammation has been suggested to play an important role in the development and progression of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Dietary inflammatory index (DII), a measurement of inflammatory potential in diets, was suggested to be associated with MetS. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to establish the associations of DII with MetS and its components based on available observational studies.
Design:
Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Setting:
A comprehensive literature search of studies that assessed the associations between DII and MetS was conducted in PubMed, Medline and Embase, using a combination of search terms relating to DII and MetS.
Participants:
Eighteen articles were eligible, of which fourteen were cross-sectional and four were cohort in design.
Results:
Results from the random effects meta-analysis showed significantly positive associations of higher DII (top v. bottom quartiles) with MetS (OR: 1·23 (95 % CI 1·10, 1·37)), abdominal obesity (OR: 1·15 (95 % CI 1·02, 1·29)), high blood pressure (OR: 1·17 (95 % CI 1·07, 1·29)), hyperglycaemia (OR: 1·18 (95 % CI 1·05, 1·33)) and hypertriacylglycerolaemia (OR: 1·17 (95 % CI 1·07, 1·28)). The effects of summary OR became stronger when analyses were restricted to cohorts, studies that adjudged for covariates (including BMI, physical activity and total energy intake).
Conclusions:
Higher DII, representing pro-inflammatory diet, is associated with higher odds of MetS and its components, except for low HDL-cholesterol. The findings prompt dietary interventions for preventing MetS from the aspect of inflammation.
This study aimed to explore the impacts of COVID-19 outbreak on mental health status in general population in different affected areas in China.
Methods
This was a comparative study including two groups of participants: (1) general population in an online survey in Ya'an and Jingzhou cities during the COVID-19 outbreak from 10–20 February 2020; and (2) matching general population selected from the mental health survey in Ya'an in 2019 (from January to May 2019). General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used.
Results
There were 1775 participants (Ya'an in 2019 and 2020: 537 respectively; Jingzhou in 2020: 701). Participants in Ya'an had a significantly higher rate of general health problems (GHQ scores ⩾3) in 2020 (14.7%) than in 2019 (5.2%) (p < 0.001). Compared with Ya'an (8.0%), participants in Jingzhou in 2020 had a significantly higher rate of anxiety (SAS scores ⩾50, 24.1%) (p < 0.001). Participants in Ya'an in 2020 had a significantly higher rate of depression (SDS scores ⩾53, 55.3%) than in Jingzhou (16.3%) (p < 0.001). The risk factors of anxiety symptoms included female, number of family members (⩾6 persons), and frequent outdoor activities. The risk factors of depression symptoms included participants in Ya'an and uptake self-protective measures.
Conclusions
The prevalence of psychological symptoms has increased sharply in general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. People in COVID-19 severely affected areas may have higher scores of GHQ and anxiety symptoms. Culture-specific and individual-based psychosocial interventions should be developed for those in need during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Toxoplasma gondii rhoptry protein TgROP18 is a polymorphic virulence effector that targets immunity-related GTPases (IRGs) in rodents. Given that IRGs are uniquely diversified in rodents and not in other T. gondii intermediate hosts, the role of TgROP18 in manipulating non-rodent cells is unclear. Here we show that in human cells TgROP18I interacts with the interferon-gamma-inducible protein N-myc and STAT interactor (NMI) and that this is a property that is unique to the type I TgROP18 allele. Specifically, when expressed ectopically in mammalian cells only TgROP18I co-immunoprecipitates with NMI in IFN-γ-treated cells, while TgROP18II does not. In parasites expressing TgROP18I or TgROP18II, NMI only co-immunoprecipitates with TgROP18I and this is associated with allele-specific immunolocalization of NMI on the parasitophorous vacuolar membrane (PVM). We also found that TgROP18I reduces NMI association with IFN-γ-activated sequences (GAS) in the IRF1 gene promoter. Finally, we determined that polymorphisms in the C-terminal kinase domain of TgROP18I are required for allele-specific effects on NMI. Together, these data further define new host pathway targeted by TgROP18I and provide the first function driven by allelic differences in the highly polymorphic ROP18 locus.
The clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 were analysed to determine the factors influencing the prognosis and virus shedding time to facilitate early detection of disease progression. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationships among prognosis, clinical characteristics and laboratory indexes. The predictive value of this model was assessed with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, calibration and internal validation. The viral shedding duration was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the prognostic factors were analysed by univariate log-rank analysis and the Cox proportional hazards model. A retrospective study was carried out with patients with COVID-19 in Tianjin, China. A total of 185 patients were included, 27 (14.59%) of whom were severely ill at the time of discharge and three (1.6%) of whom died. Our findings demonstrate that patients with an advanced age, diabetes, a low PaO2/FiO2 value and delayed treatment should be carefully monitored for disease progression to reduce the incidence of severe disease. Hypoproteinaemia and the fever duration warrant special attention. Timely interventions in symptomatic patients and a time from symptom onset to treatment <4 days can shorten the duration of viral shedding.