A Dynamic View of the Relationship between Software Development Outsourcing Propensity and Industry Environment

Despite the progress scholars have made on the relationship between IT outsourcing (ITO) and industry environment, our knowledge of this link is still ambiguous and limited. Drawing on recent research on the evolvement of ITO market, we extend our understanding by taking a dynamic view of this issue. Specifically, we focus on software development outsourcing (SDO) and three key elements of industry environment, namely resource munificence, industry concentration and technology change. We argue that the evolvement of ITO market has a moderating effect onthe relationship between SDO propensity and industry environment. Using industry-level data for U.S. private industries from 1998 to 2015, we find that industry environment’s impact on SDO propensity does change with the evolvement of the ITO market. Our findings provide insights on the relationship between SDO propensity and industry environment andindicate the importance of a dynamic view for understanding ITO-related phenomena

Hydrothermal Synthesis and Acetylene Sensing Properties of Variety Low Dimensional Zinc Oxide Nanostructures

Various morphologies of low dimensional ZnO nanostructures, including spheres, rods, sheets, and wires, were successfully synthesized using a simple and facile hydrothermal method assisted with different surfactants. Zinc acetate dihydrate was chosen as the precursors of ZnO nanostructures. We found that polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), glycine, and ethylene glycol (EG) play critical roles in the morphologies and microstructures of the synthesized nanostructures, and a series of possible growth processes were discussed in detail. Gas sensors were fabricated using screen-printing technology, and their sensing properties towards acetylene gas (C2H2), one of the most important arc discharge characteristic gases dissolved in oil-filled power equipments, were systematically measured. The ZnO nanowires based sensor exhibits excellent C2H2 sensing behaviors than those of ZnO nanosheets, nanorods, and nanospheres, indicating a feasible way to develop high-performance C2H2 gas sensor for practical application

“You Should Have Seen the Look on Your Face…”: Self-awareness of Facial Expressions

The awareness of facial expressions allows one to better understand, predict, and regulate his/her states to adapt to different social situations. The present research investigated individuals’ awareness of their own facial expressions and the influence of the duration and intensity of expressions in two self-reference modalities, a real-time condition and a video-review condition. The participants were instructed to respond as soon as they became aware of any facial movements. The results revealed that awareness rates were 57.79% in the real-time condition and 75.92% in the video-review condition. The awareness rate was influenced by the intensity and (or) the duration. The intensity thresholds for individuals to become aware of their own facial expressions were calculated using logistic regression models. The results of Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) revealed that video-review awareness was a significant predictor of real-time awareness. These findings extend understandings of human facial expression self-awareness in two modalities

Insights into the Ecological Roles and Evolution of Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase-Containing Hot Spring Archaea

Several recent studies have shown the presence of genes for the key enzyme associated with archaeal methane/alkane metabolism, methyl-coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), in metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) divergent to existing archaeal lineages. Here, we study the mcr-containing archaeal MAGs from several hot springs, which reveal further expansion in the diversity of archaeal organisms performing methane/alkane metabolism. Significantly, an MAG basal to organisms from the phylum Thaumarchaeota that contains mcr genes, but not those for ammonia oxidation or aerobic metabolism, is identified. Together, our phylogenetic analyses and ancestral state reconstructions suggest a mostly vertical evolution of mcrABG genes among methanogens and methanotrophs, along with frequent horizontal gene transfer of mcr genes between alkanotrophs. Analysis of all mcr-containing archaeal MAGs/genomes suggests a hydrothermal origin for these microorganisms based on optimal growth temperature predictions. These results also suggest methane/alkane oxidation or methanogenesis at high temperature likely existed in a common archaeal ancestor

Development of marker-free transgenic Jatropha plants with increased levels of seed oleic acid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Jatropha curcas </it>is recognized as a new energy crop due to the presence of the high amount of oil in its seeds that can be converted into biodiesel. The quality and performance of the biodiesel depends on the chemical composition of the fatty acids present in the oil. The fatty acids profile of the oil has a direct impact on ignition quality, heat of combustion and oxidative stability. An ideal biodiesel composition should have more monounsaturated fatty acids and less polyunsaturated acids. Jatropha seed oil contains 30% to 50% polyunsaturated fatty acids (mainly linoleic acid) which negatively impacts the oxidative stability and causes high rate of nitrogen oxides emission.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The enzyme 1-acyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine delta 12-desaturase (FAD2) is the key enzyme responsible for the production of linoleic acid in plants. We identified three putative <it>delta </it><it>12 </it><it>fatty acid desaturase </it>genes in <it>Jatropha </it>(<it>JcFAD2s</it>) through genome-wide analysis and downregulated the expression of one of these genes, <it>JcFAD2-1</it>, in a seed-specific manner by RNA interference technology. The resulting <it>JcFAD2-1 </it>RNA interference transgenic plants showed a dramatic increase of oleic acid (> 78%) and a corresponding reduction in polyunsaturated fatty acids (< 3%) in its seed oil. The control <it>Jatropha </it>had around 37% oleic acid and 41% polyunsaturated fatty acids. This indicates that FAD2-1 is the major enzyme responsible for converting oleic acid to linoleic acid in <it>Jatropha</it>. Due to the changes in the fatty acids profile, the oil of the <it>JcFAD2-1 </it>RNA interference seed was estimated to yield a cetane number as high as 60.2, which is similar to the required cetane number for conventional premium diesel fuels (60) in Europe. The presence of high seed oleic acid did not have a negative impact on other <it>Jatropha </it>agronomic traits based on our preliminary data of the original plants under greenhouse conditions. Further, we developed a marker-free system to generate the transgenic <it>Jatropha </it>that will help reduce public concerns for environmental issues surrounding genetically modified plants.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study we produced seed-specific <it>JcFAD2-1 </it>RNA interference transgenic <it>Jatropha </it>without a selectable marker. We successfully increased the proportion of oleic acid versus linoleic in <it>Jatropha </it>through genetic engineering, enhancing the quality of its oil.</p

SARS-CoV-2 Causes a Significant Stress Response Mediated by Small RNAs in the Blood of COVID-19 Patients

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had a serious impact on the world. In this study, small RNAs from the blood of COVID-19 patients with moderate or severe symptoms were extracted for high-throughput sequencing and analysis. Interestingly, the levels of a special group of tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) were found to be dramatically upregulated after SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with severe symptoms. In particular, the 3′CCA tsRNAs from tRNA-Gly were highly consistent with the inflammation indicator C-reactive protein (CRP). In addition, we found that the majority of significantly changed microRNAs (miRNAs) were associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER)/unfolded protein response (UPR) sensors, which may lead to the induction of proinflammatory cytokine and immune responses. This study found that SARS-CoV-2 infection caused significant changes in the levels of stress-associated small RNAs in patient blood and their potential functions. Our research revealed that the cells of COVID-19 patients undergo tremendous stress and respond, which can be reflected or regulated by small non-coding RNA (sncRNAs), thus providing potential thought for therapeutic intervention in COVID-19 by modulating small RNA levels or activities

A Novel Non-Coherent SCMA With Massive MIMO

The synergistic amalgamation of sparse code multiple access (SCMA) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies can be exploited for improving spectral efficiency and providing enhanced wireless services to massive users. In this case, however, channel estimation is a burning issue with the increasing number of users and/or antennas. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel non-coherent transmission scheme for SCMA, referred to as NC-SCMA. In the proposed NC-SCMA, each user first maps its binary data to sparse codewords, and then perform differential modulation on the non-zero dimensions. Upon receiving all users’ signals, we leverage the channel hardening effect to carry out differential demodulation and multi-user detection without any instantaneous channel state information. In addition, the design of the sparse codebooks in the NC-SCMA system is investigated with the aid of the pair-wise probability. Numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed technique over the benchmark scheme in terms of bit error rate performance

Efficient design principle for interfacial charge separation in hydrogen-intercalated nonstoichiometric oxides

Establishing effective strategies to boost the separation of interfacial charge carriers is necessary to address the limiting bottlenecks of photocatalysis. Although oxygen vacancy modulation has become the prevalent strategy to improve the photoactivity, controversy persists regarding the real role of these defects in charge separation. To exert the great potential of nonstoichiometric semiconductors, one needs not only to establish a full atomistic picture of oxygen vacancies, but also to deliberate their possible interactions with other interfacial structures (represented by the ubiquitous intercalated hydrogen). Herein, WO3 was used as a typical model to demonstrate the principle of hydrogen-intercalated nonstoichiometric oxides for photoelectrochemical water splitting. Both experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations evidenced the synergetic interactions between oxygen vacancies and intercalated hydrogen. The sequential formation of subsurface defect clusters and surface O–H bonds contributed significantly to the spatial separation of charge carriers and the impressive stability of nonstoichiometric photoanodes. Profiting from this principle, an unprecedented photocurrent of 2.94 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE was achieved, apart from a 100 mV cathodic shift in the onset potential. Our principle is applicable to several semiconductors, e.g. TiO2 and Fe2O3. Thus, it opens up a promising avenue into designing high-performance nonstoichiometric nanoarchitectures for a wide range of applications. The termination-dependent surface reactivity also provides new opportunities of reactive species modulation for high-performance photocatalysis