Explore the vast range of titles available.

China plays a critical role in global carbon reduction in the context of mitigating climate change as the essence of climate change and the associated environmental issues is energy consumption, especially the combustion of fossil fuels. This paper provides a clear picture of China’s energy consumption in the past, present and future to facilitate the understanding of what has happened, the main cause and what is likely coming. First, an extended energy flow chart is presented based on the adjusted energy balance table for China, and the detailed energy chains of final services, subsectors and the corresponding technologies are linked to the chart. This work enriches the information about sources of energy demand and contributes to the identification of key areas that should be given priority for energy transitions and technological innovations. Second, three development modes describing the relationship between energy consumption and GDP per capita are proposed based on the experiences of developed countries, and it is noted that China’s trajectory is more likely to follow the medium or low energy consumption modes. Finally, the future energy demand of China is projected in a more comprehensive and precise manner by summarizing and comparing the results of outlook reports published by well-known international organizations. The overall trend is that China’s energy consumption will continue to grow, while the growth rate will gradually slow.

Background Failure to thrive is a common reason for referral to paediatric services. Malnutrition or inadequate caloric intake is the most common cause, while organic form is unlikely in children who are asymptomatic and healthy on examination. By this study we evaluate the application of a cost-effective flow chart that helps the clinician in a hospital setting discern accurately organic and non-organic failure to thrive. Methods Conduct a prospective single-center study in children up to 2 years of age with growth faltering. The pediatricians used a practical flow chart, took the medical history, created a growth chart, performed clinical examinations, and requested blood test and consultations in a step by step approach. Results Among the 74 subjects included in the study, the diagnosis of organic failure to thrive was reached by 42%. Gastrointestinal and genetic diagnoses were the most frequent. Patients with organic failure to thrive had significantly lower gestational age and birth weight. Age at diagnosis and Z-score weight were lower in organic than in non-organic forms. Most patients with non-organic forms (88%) did not undergo in-depth blood test or specialist advice. Conclusion The flow chart we presented was accurate for diagnosing children with failure to thrive in a hospital setting and distinct organic and non-organic forms. It was cost-effective to avoid unnecessary blood test or consultations in most non-organic diagnoses.

Expand your professional vocabulary by learning to communicate with diagrams as easily and naturally as speaking or writing. This book will provide you with the skills and tools to turn ideas into clear, meaningful, and attractive diagrams in mere minutes, using nothing more complicated than text-based markup. You'll learn what kinds of diagrams are suited to each of a variety of use cases, from documenting your domain to understanding how complex code pieces together. Model your software's architecture, creating diagrams focused broadly or narrowly, depending on the audience. Visualize application and user flows, design database schemas, and use diagrams iteratively to design and refactor your application. You'll be able to use technical diagramming to improve your day-to-day workflow. You will better understand the codebase you work in, communicate ideas more effectively and immediately with others, and more clearly document the architecture with C4 diagrams. Manually creating diagrams is cumbersome and time-consuming. You'll learn how to use text-based tools like Mermaid to rapidly turn ideas into diagrams. And you'll learn how to keep your diagrams up to date and seamlessly integrated into your engineering workflow. You'll be better at visualizing and communicating when you add diagrams to your standard vocabulary.

Experimental and clinical evidence has demonstrated the potential of probiotic strains in the prevention or treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, there is little data on what the methodology leading to the identification of such strains should be. In this work, we propose a new flowchart to identify strains with probiotic potential for the management of IBS and IBD, which we tested on a collection of 39 lactic acid bacteria and Bifidobacteria strains. This flowchart included in vitro tests of immunomodulatory properties on intestinal and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), assessment of the barrier-strengthening effect by measuring transepithelial electric resistance (TEER) and quantification of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonists produced by the strains. The in vitro results were then combined in a principal component analysis (PCA) to identify strains associated with an anti-inflammatory profile. To validate our flowchart, we tested the two most promising strains identified in the PCA in mouse models of post-infectious IBS or chemically induced colitis to mimic IBD. Our results show that this screening strategy allows the identification of strains with potential beneficial effects on colonic inflammation and colonic hypersensitivity.

Background The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement aims to improve transparent reporting of randomised clinical trials. It comprises a participant flow diagram with the reporting of essential numbers for enrolment, allocation and analyses. We aimed to quantify the use of participant flow diagrams in randomised clinical trials on postoperative pain management after total hip and knee arthroplasty. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase and CENTRAL up till January 2020. The primary outcome was the proportion of trials with adequate reporting of participant flow diagrams, defined as reporting of number of participants screened for eligibility, randomised and included in the primary analysis. Secondary outcomes were recruitment (randomised:screened) and retention (analysed:randomised) rates, reporting of a statistical strategy, reasons for exclusion from the primary analysis and handling of missing outcome data. Trends over time were assessed with statistical process control. Results Of the 570 included trials, we found adequate reporting in 240 (42%). Reporting with participant flow diagram increased significantly over time. Median recruitment was 73% (IQR 44–91%), and retention was 97% (IQR 93–100%). These rates did not change over time. Trials with adequate reporting of participant flow were more likely to report a statistical strategy (41% vs 8%), reasons for post-randomisation exclusions (100% vs 55%) and handling of missing outcome data (14% vs 6%). Conclusions Adherence to participant flow diagrams for RCTs has increased significantly over time. Still, there is room for improvement of adequate reporting of flow diagrams, to increase transparency of trials details.

Background: Tobacco use remains a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, with persistent disparities in cessation outcomes across socioeconomic and racial groups. While numerous interventions exist, their effectiveness is shaped by complex interrelated factors at individual, social, and healthcare system levels. Identifying and modeling these causal pathways is essential to inform equitable intervention design. Methods: This study applied the Evidence Synthesis for Constructing Directed Acyclic Graphs (ESC-DAG) protocol to integrate empirical findings from 35 quantitative studies examining barriers and facilitators of tobacco cessation intervention uptake in the United States. Using the Andersen and Aday Health Services Research Model as a guiding framework, we extracted, harmonized, and synthesized significant causal relationships into a unified DAG, distinguishing exposures, outcomes, mediators, and confounders. Results: The integrated DAG revealed that structural factors such as socioeconomic disadvantage, digital inequities, rurality, and cultural barriers exerted substantial influence on cessation outcomes. These upstream determinants operated through mediators including motivation, treatment engagement, and access barriers, while healthcare system factors such as provider engagement and proactive outreach emerged as consistent facilitators. Digital access and culturally tailored interventions were identified as underexplored yet potentially high-impact pathways. Discussion: The ESC-DAG methodology provided a structured approach to visualize and synthesize causal mechanisms beyond traditional review synthesis, highlighting points of intervention at both policy and practice levels. The findings underscore the importance of multi-level strategies, including financial support, digital equity initiatives, provider outreach, and culturally tailored cessation services. Conclusions: By applying ESC-DAG methodology, this study contributes a novel causal framework for understanding disparities in tobacco cessation intervention uptake. The resulting DAG can inform future statistical modeling, simulation studies, and equity-focused program design, supporting more effective public health strategies to reduce smoking prevalence and associated inequities.

The three-dimensional (3D) modeling of Chinese landscape painting is of great significance for the digital protection of cultural heritage and the production of virtual reality content. A fast modeling method to create 3D landscape scenes for traditional Chinese painting is proposed in this paper, based on integrated terrain modeling and the water flow rendering algorithm. A height map generation algorithm based on auxiliary lines is first proposed to carry out fast modeling from a simple two-dimensional contour to create a 3D mountain model. A realistic flow simulation that fits the topography is then undertaken, based on a flow chart which is calculated using the particle force in the normal grid of topography, and the theory of smoothing particle hydrodynamics. Finally, a stylistic scene that conforms to the artistic concept of traditional Chinese painting is acquired by optimizing the parameters. The interactive modeling platform of the integrated algorithm is tested in this study, and compared with existing research. Results show the method can achieve real-time rendering and realistic rendering to rapidly generate a 3D scene model consistent with a traditional painting scene, and provide support for the follow up development of virtual reality applications.

The studies aimed to evaluate longwall productivity in the Talda-Zapadnaya 1 Mine are carried out with regard to the technological parameters of the drum shearer and capacity of the armored face conveyor in mining thick methane-bearing coal seam. It is found that methane release reduces with increasing output of the shearer, and allowable longwall length and capacity by the gas criterion are determined. The length of longwall 6605 is optimized by the maximum annual profit of the mine.