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Banks today have been increasingly reducing their physical presence and redirecting customers to digital channels, and yet, the consequences of this strategy are not well studied. This research investigates the effects of banks’ branch network changes (i.e., branch openings and branch closures) on customer omnichannel banking behavior. Using a proprietary data set from a large commercial bank in the United States, this paper shows the asymmetric effects of branch openings and branch closures on customer omnichannel banking behavior. In particular, it finds that branch openings increase customers’ branch transactions. However, the first branch opening leads to a migration of complex transactions to the branches, which might result in a net decrease in online banking in the short term. As consumers interact more with the physical channel, there is a gradual synergistic increase in customers’ transactions via online banking as well as alternative channels due to a learning spillover effect. This learning spillover effect goes from easy online inquiries to more complex online transactions as additional branches open. On the contrary, branch closures result in a favorable migration pattern from the branch channel to online banking. This pattern, however, could be reversed once the last branch closes within the customer’s residential neighborhood.

Background In tibial plateau fractures, the posterolateral segment of the tibia plateau is frequently affected and challenging to treat. Although there are many surgical approaches and fixation methods for the treatment of these fractures, all of these methods have limitations. We designed a new rotational support plate (RSP) and a special pressurizer that can fix the fracture directly via the anterolateral approach. This method is advantageous because it leads to little trauma, involves a simple operation, and has a reliable fixation effect. This study details the technique of treating these fractures with the RSP and special pressurizer and provides the outcomes. Methods From May 2016 to January 2019, the data of 12 patients with posterolateral tibial plateau fractures treated with the RSP and special pressurizer in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Postoperative rehabilitation was advised, knee X-rays were taken at follow-ups, and fracture healing, complications, and knee range of motion were assessed. The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee score and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) were used to evaluate knee function at the last follow-up. Results The average follow-up time of all patients was 16.5 months (range, 12–25 months). The average bony union time was 3.2 months (range, 3–4.5 months). At the last follow-up, the average knee range of motion was 138° (range, 107–145°). The average HSS score was 91 (range, 64–98). The average KOOS Symptoms score was 90 (range, 75–96). The average KOOS Pain score was 91 (range, 72–97). The average KOOS ADL score was 91 (range, 74–97). The average KOOS sport/recreation score was 83 (range, 70–90). The average KOOS QOL score was 88 (range, 69–93). Skin necrosis, incision infections, and fixation failure did not occur during the follow-up period. Conclusions With our newly designed RSP and special pressurizer, posterolateral tibial plateau fractures can be easily and effectively reduced and fixed through the anterolateral approach, which serves as a novel treatment for posterolateral tibial plateau fractures.

Background Although large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) is the most common type of cerebral infarction, non-LAA is not uncommon. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the prognosis of patients with non-LAA and to establish a corresponding nomogram. Patients and methods Between June 2016 and June 2017, we had 1101 admissions for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Of these, 848 were LAA and 253 were non-LAA. Patients were followed up every 3 months with a minimum of 1 year of follow-up. After excluding patients who were lost follow-up and patients who did not meet the inclusion criteria, a total of 152 non-LAA patients were included in this cohort study. After single-factor analysis and multifactor logistic regression analysis, the risk factors associated with prognosis were derived and different nomograms were developed based on these risk factors. After comparison, the best model is derived. Results Logistics regression found that the patient’s National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, ejection fraction (EF), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), age, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and serum albumin were independently related to the patient’s prognosis. We thus developed three models: model 1: single NIHSS score, AUC = 0.8534; model 2, NIHSS + cardiac parameters (CK-MB, EF), AUC = 0.9325; model 3, NIHSS + CK−MB + EF + age + AST + NLR + albumin, AUC = 0.9598. We compare the three models: model 1 vs model 2, z = − 2.85, p = 0.004; model 2 vs model 3, z = − 1.58, p = 0.122. Therefore, model 2 is considered to be the accurate and convenient model. Conclusions Predicting the prognosis of patients with non-LAA is important, and our nomogram, built on the NIHSS and cardiac parameters, can predict the prognosis accurately and provide a powerful reference for clinical decision making.

Background: Post-stroke depression (PSD) constitutes an essential complication of stroke and is associated with high-risk unfavorable outcome after stroke. The main objective of this prospective study was to determine the relationship between early-onset PSD (1 month after stroke) and functional outcomes 5 years after baseline enrollment.Methods: Four hundred thirty-six patients who met the criteria were included in this study from October 2013 to February 2015. The follow-up time for each patient was ~5 years, with follow-up every 3 months. Patients received questionnaires including the 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), and the Barthel Index (BI).Results: Of the 436 patients, 154 (35.3%) patients with the prevalence of PSD status at baseline, 26 (7.2%) patients with the prevalence of PSD status, and 73 (20.1%) had an unfavorable outcome 5 years after stroke. The odds ratio (OR) for unfavorable outcome at 5 years in the PSD group was ~2.2 relative to the non-PSD group after adjusting for potential risk factors [OR = 2.217, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.179–4.421, P = 0.015]. In the early-onset PSD group, HAMD scores were independently associated with 5-year unfavorable outcome rates (OR = 1.168, 95% CI = 1.015–1.345, P = 0.031).Conclusions: Our findings indicate that early-onset PSD status in Chinese patients is an independent risk factor for unfavorable outcome 5 years after stroke, and that the severity of PSD is also related to unfavorable outcome.

In our study, we explored changes in the redox status and inflammatory response in the testes of the SAMP8 model of varying ages (2, 4, 8, 10 months old) compared with control mice SAMR1 by the methods of immunohistochemical staining, Western blotting, RT-PCR and Luminex multi-analyte cytokine profiling. We found that as ROS and inflammation levels increased during aging, steroidogenic enzymes (StAR and P450scc) reduced and led to the decline of testosterone production eventually. The pathways of P38 MAPK → COX2 and NF-κB → COX2 were detected by using specific inhibitors of SB203580 and Bay 11-7082 in isolated Leydig cells. These results indicated that activation of both p38 MAPK → COX2 and NF-κB → COX2 signaling pathways are functionally linked to the oxidative stress response and chronic inflammation during aging, and mediate their inhibitory effects on testosterone production.

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and estrogen deficiency both predispose fracture patients to increased risk of delayed union or nonunion. The present study investigated the effects of strontium ranelate (SR) on fracture healing in ovariectomized (OVX) diabetic rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS A mid-shaft fracture was established in female normal control (CF), diabetic (DF), and OVX diabetic (DOF) rats. Treated DOF rats received either insulin alone (DOFI) or combined with SR (DOFIS). All rats were euthanized at 2 or 3 weeks after fracture. Fracture healing was evaluated using radiological, histological, immunohistochemical, and micro-computed tomography analyses. RESULTS At 3 weeks after fracture, radiological and histological evaluations demonstrated delayed fracture healing in the DF group compared with the CF group, which was exacerbated by OVX, as indicated by the significantly lower X-ray score, BMD, BV/TV, and Md.Ar/Ps.Cl.Ar, and the markedly decreased OCN and Col I expression in the DOF group. All these changes were prevented by insulin alone or combined with SR treatment. In comparison with the DOFI group, DOFIS rats displayed markedly higher OCN expression at 2 weeks after fracture and Col I expression at 2 and 3 weeks after fracture. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrated delayed fracture healing with preexisting estrogen deficiency and T2DM. While insulin alone and combined with SR were both effective in promoting bone fracture healing in this model, their combined treatment showed significant improvement in promoting osteogenic marker expression, but not of the radiological appearance, compared with insulin alone.

The earthquake disaster not only caused great damage to the original ecological environment system, but also even formed a new ecological system. Remote sensing technology has played an important role in post-earthquake emergency and disaster assessment with its rapid, high revisit cycle and macro-micro comprehensive observation. The effective use of multi-period remote sensing data combined with the theory of eco-environmental impact assessment can build an effective model to evaluate the dynamic changes of ecological environment. In this paper, taking Wenchuan County in Wenchuan Earthquake as a case study, we proposed a comprehensive evaluation index method and the eco-environmental quality evaluation of Wenchuan County after 10-year earthquake were constructed and the changes of eco-environmental quality were analyzed. The result of the analysis showed that ten years after the earthquake (2018), the eco-environmental quality of poor regions in the county had also exhibited an obvious improvement. The eco-environmental quality in some regions in the county had fully recovered. The results are of great significance to scientific disaster relief and reasonable restoration and reconstruction.

Based on the characteristics of low temperature and strong oxidation of liquid oxygen, a new temperature control method is proposed for optical measurement device in liquid oxygen medium. In order to ensure the temperature of the optical system satisfied the design requirements, the polyurethane is used as insulation materials and the heat-insulating is considered for the initial part design to increase the thermal resistance between optical system and the outside environment (passive thermal control). At the same time, the method of heating the optical lens with an electric heating film is adopted for active thermal control. According to the heat transfer theory, we analyze the heat transmission patterns and the heat influencing factors of the optical system. Making the finite element model of the optical measurement device on the ANSYS Workbench software, and simulate the heat transmission for different thickness and heating power. The result shows that the design of the optical measurement device is satisfied when the thickness of the insulating layer is 20mm, and the heating power is 19W.

In order to reduce the number of cameras which are equipped in spacecraft, and using a small amount of cameras to monitor the whole spacecraft, an optical system of fisheye lens is designed based on the principle of non-similarity. The optical system uses a high definition CCD which has 1920×1080 pixels (the size of pixel is 5.5μm×5.5μm). The effective focal length of the fisheye optical system is 5.0 mm, the F number is 5.0, and the full field of view (FOV) is 180°. Its modulation transfer function (MTF) in all FOV is more than 0.5 at 91 lp/mm with great image. And the relative illumination of marginal FOV reaches 85.2%, this guarantees that the optical system has a good of illumination uniformity. Taken into account that the camera will be used in the intricate space environment, the article was analyzed the influence of environmental factors, the changing temperatures and vacuum environment, on the imaging quality of the optical system. The results show that the optical system of fisheye lens still has good imaging performance under the temperature -40?~+60? in vacuum environment. In the imaging process, the stray light which likes a red ring has been found at the edge of the image when the strong light source appeared in the middle of the image, it is similar to a positive ghost. After analysis, the results show that stray light mainly comes from the reflected light among the lens surfaces. So, there is a proposal that the radius of these lens surfaces should be restricted under optimization. Through the further optimizing and experiment, the consequence proves that the stray light was successfully eliminated. © 2017 SPIE.

This study surveys the quality of life of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and the factors associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients' self-perceived burden and their caregivers' burden.Burdens of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and their caregivers in Chinese population are largely unknown.A cross-sectional study was conducted among 81 pairs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients and their caregivers.Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients' self-perceived burden and caregivers' burden were assessed by the Self-Perceived Burden Scale and Zarit-Burden Interview, respectively. Quality of life of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients was measured using the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref. The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised questionnaire was used to estimate patients' physical function.Both patients and caregivers reported a mild to moderate burden. The World Health Organization quality of life-Bref scores were decreased in respondents with lower amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised, higher Self-Perceived Burden Scale and higher Zarit-Burden Interview scores. Self-Perceived Burden Scale scores were associated with patients' knowledge of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, respiratory function and female sex. Zarit-Burden Interview scores were associated with caregivers' age, patients' motor function and out-of-pocket payment.With increase in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients' self-perceived burden and caregivers' burden, quality of life of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients decreased. Female patients, who had known more about the disease, and those with severe respiratory dysfunction were subject to higher self-perceived burden. Older caregivers and caregivers of patients with severe motor dysfunction and more out-of-pocket payment experienced more care burdens.Our study suggests that paying more attention to female amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients might benefit patients in China or other South-East Asian countries under the Confucian concept of ethics. There is an urgent demand to expand medical insurance coverage to cover amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in China and other developing countries. Long and adequate supports are needed for relieving caregiver's burden. To improve the quality of life of patients, relieving the patients' SBP and caregivers' burden is likely to be not only required, but also essential.

Background Urinary incontinence (UI), affects women more frequently than men, with a prevalence to 30-40% of perimenopausal women and almost 50% among women aged over 70 years. caused severe psychological burden and bringing negatively impact to the quality of life, increased caregiver burden and economic cost. Acupuncture is often used to treat them. We aim to conduct a systematic review to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture for women experiencing UI. Methods The following electronic databases will be searched from inception to Jan. 2020: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wan-Fang Database and Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP database).All published randomized controlled trials in English or Chinese related to acupuncture for urinary incontinence in women will be included. The primary outcome will be the change from baseline in the amount of urine leakage measured by the 1-hour pad test. Adverse events will be the secondary outcome. Study selection, data extraction, and assessment of study quality will be performed independently by two reviewers. RevMan V.5.3.5 software will be used for the assessment of risk of bias and data synthesis. Results This study will provide a high-quality synthesis of current evidence of acupuncture for UI from the 1-hour pad test. Conclusion The conclusion of our study will provide an evidence to judge whether acupuncture is an effective intervention for patients suffered from UI. Prospero registration number CRD42019133195.

One of the significant features of CNC technological superiority is in the practical applications, according to the necessary movement of processed parts required, we can use generating method to transform CNC machine tools and receive the desired results. This article discussed under the premise that lack of special equipment, transforming ordinary horizontal CNC milling to machine worm gear. The advantage of this numerical transformation approach is using the processing functions of thread and tapered thread instruction, skillfully translating into control of the CNC machining worm, expanding the CNC machining capabilities and the scope of practical application. Also apply the advantages of CNC technology, reduce or eliminate the accumulation of worm in the processing of pitch error which makes the worm processing precision and smoothness of worm drive better. This paper discussed the principles of numerical control transformation, transformation of milling machine structure and the conversion calculation of parameters in programming, analyzed the causes and processing effects of worm gear processing errors control and accuracy improving.

The special section tube was machined by special NC reconstruction according to constituents of rolling motion. The rotation of driving and driven roller was controlled directly by servo motors and the rolling machining was controlled by converting linear motion into rotary motion. The principle, control and implementation and the analysis of the bending deformation regularity and influencing factors affecting the uniformly accelerated motion and measures were elaborated. The structural reconstruction and the parameters conversion and the reason why the machining accuracy improved were analysizedanalyzed. The NC reconstruction in rolling machining of the special section tube had good effects on the practical application and the function and application scope of NC technology were expanded

A novel all-optical technique for microwave generation using photonic crystal fiber Brillouin laser is presented, and a 9.78-GHz microwave signal generator based on the Brillouin laser is experimentally realized. The Brillouin laser is based on a fiber Fabry-Perot cavity with fiber Bragg gratings as reflectors along with 25-m photonic crystal fiber as Brillouin gain medium. The fiber Bragg gratings are chosen to realize low laser threshold and suppress the higher-order Stokes waves. Predictions of numerical simulations are compared with experimental results and both are in good agreement with each other. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 809–814, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23221

An S band and a C band distributed fiber Raman amplifiers (DFRAs) with flattened gain and compensated dispersion have been studied and implemented with 1 427 nm and 1 455 nm mono-wavelength fiber Raman lasers as the pumped sources respectively. The gain of single-wave pumped S band and C band can reach 10 dB and 15 dB respectively. And a 50 nm gain flattened width was successfully obtained by using a chirp fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) gain flattened filter with gain ripple of ±0.6 dB. The C band DFRA has been applied to CDMA wireless communication system successfully.

An experimental research on the wavelength conversion utilizing non-degenerate four-wave mixing in photonic crystal fiber is presented. Two pumps and a 25 m dispersion flattened and highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber are used in our non-degenerate four-wave mixing experimental study. The wavelength conversion bandwidth is about 65 nm. The wavelength conversion efficiency is -22.7 dB when the powers of two pumps are 17.3 dBm and 13.4 dBm. The conversion efficiency in the wavelength range of 1 530 to 1 560 nm is stable.

Higher capacity and larger scales have always been the top targets for the evolution of optical access networks, driven by the ever-increasing demand from the end users. One thing that started to attract wide attention not long ago, but with at least equal importance as capacity and scale, is energy efficiency, a metric essential nowadays as human beings are confronted with severe environmental issues like global warming, air pollution, and so on. Here, different from the conventional energy consumption analysis of tree-topology networks, we propose an effective energy consumption calculation method to compare the energy efficiency of the tree-topology 10 gigabit ethernet passive optical network (10G-EPON) and ring-topology time- and wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network (TWDM-PON), two experimental networks deployed in China. Numerical results show that the ring-topology TWDM-PON networks with 2, 4, 8, and 16 wavelengths are more energy efficient than the tree-topology 10G-EPON, although 10G-EPON consumes less energy. Also, TWDM-PON with four wavelengths is the most energy-efficient network candidate and saves 58.7% more energy than 10G-EPON when fully loaded.

Now the communication band of fiber focuses on C-band, but with increasing demand of fiber communication capacity, the communication band will extend to the S-band and L-band and fiber Raman amplifier will play a very important role in this process. In this paper, actual fiber Raman gain spectrum using single high power fiber Raman laser as pump was tested and the proper chirped Bragg fiber grating as gain flattening filter was designed to flatten actually tested gain spectrum. Besides, FWDM (film wavelength division multiplexer) is used as the multiplexer of signals and 1427nm/1505nm CWDM (coarse wavelength division multiplexer) is used as pump-signal coupler. The gain media are 50 km G652 fiber and 5km DCF (dispersion compensation fiber). The gain is 10dB of S-band fiber dispersion compensation Raman amplifier from1487.88nm~1541.88nm (total 53nm bandwidth) with gain ripple ± 0.6 dB was successfully obtained. Besides, the effect caused by different location ways of different type fibers was also discussed. It is very significant for extending range of communication band of fiber and increasing the capacity of fiber communication especially for ultra-long haul and ultra-high capacity communication system.

The forward and backward cascaded stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) in the backward pumped S band distributed G652 fiber Raman amplifier have been researched, pumped by the tunable power at 1428nm fiber Raman laser and signal source is a tunable power external cavity laser (ECL) with narrow spectral bandwidth (

C-band and S-band fiber Raman gain spectrum pumped by single wavelength high power fiber Raman laser were tested and the proper chirped Bragg fiber grating as gain flattening filter was designed to flatten actually tested gain spectrum. Besides, FWDM (filter wavelength division multiplexer) and 1427nm/1505nm CWDM (coarse wavelength division multiplexer) are used as C-band and S-band fiber Raman amplifier pump-signal couplers respectively. The gain media are 50 km G652 fiber and 5km DCF (dispersion compensation fiber). C-band fiber dispersion compensation Raman amplifier with bandwidth from 1519nm to 1574nm (55nm) and average gain 15.2dB and ripple ±0.8dB was successfully obtained. S-band fiber dispersion compensation Raman amplifier with bandwidth from 1488nm to 1541nm (53nm) and average gain 10.1dB and ripple ±0.9dB was successfully obtained. During the test of C-band fiber Raman amplifiers, broadband ASE light source and WDM-emulator were used to simulate the DWDM (dense wavelength division multiplexing) signal source that can make the whole test more accurate. It is very significant for extending range of communication band of fiber and increasing the capacity of fiber communication especially for ultra-long haul and ultra-high capacity communication system. At last, the result of experiment using these setup and influence caused by gain flattening filter and different type fibers location arrangements (G652 fiber and DCF) and corresponding solutions were also discussed.

The forward and backward cascaded stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the backward pumped S band distributed G652 fiber Raman amplifier have been researched, pumped by the tunable power 1428nm fiber Raman laser and signal source is a tunable narrow spectral bandwidth (

The cascaded forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in the S band distributed G652 fiber Raman amplifier forward pumped and backward pumped by the tunable power fiber laser and signal source is a tunable narrow spectral bandwidth(

5kmDCF-50kmG652 fiber dispersion compensation FRA pumped by three-wavelength Raman fiber laser has been researched. Dispersion and dispersion slope can be compensated in the dispersion compensation FRA simultaneously. Cascaded pump fiber laser is an all fiber technology, and high output power above 3W can be achieved. The Raman fiber lasers which operating at wavelengths of 1428,1455 and 1466nm have been used to simultaneously pump dispersion compensation fiber Raman amplifier. Simulated annealing algorithm is adopted to give automatic pump power configuration in multiwave backward-pumped dispersion compensation FRA. Simulated annealing algorithm imitates physical annealing process in order to seek the most optimal key. We studied the dispersion compensation FRA with the pump power configuration of optimal design in experiment, and the spectrums of gain and noise figure (NF) have been measured. When pump power is 1250mw and signal power is 0dBm,we get 55nm flat-gain bandwidth, and noise figure is less than –0.93dB, while the gain flatness is less than 3dB and gain is more than 21.32dB;when pump power is 1500mw,we get 45nm flat-gain bandwidth, and noise figure is less than -1.79dB,while the gain flatness is less than 3dB and gain is more than 27.77dB.

A 31 km long range distributed optical fiber Raman photon temperature sensor (DOFRPTS) system have been developed based on temperature effect of the amplified spontaneous Raman scattering in fiber, and using fiber laser as a pumped source. The results show that temperature measuring uncertainty is ±2 °C, temperature resolution is 0.1 °C, measurement time is 432 s, spatial resolution is less than 4 m.