Strategic Asset Seeking and Innovation Performance: The Role of Innovation Capabilities and Host Country Institutions

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Valosin-containing protein regulates the proteasome-mediated degradation of DNA-PKcs in glioma cells.

DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) has an important role in the repair of DNA damage and regulates the radiation sensitivity of glioblastoma cells. The VCP (valosine-containing protein), a chaperone protein that regulates ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation, is phosphorylated by DNA-PK and recruited to DNA double-strand break sites to regulate DNA damage repair. However, it is not clear whether VCP is involved in DNA-PKcs (DNA-PK catalytic subunit) degradation or whether it regulates the radiosensitivity of glioblastoma. Our data demonstrated that DNA-PKcs was ubiquitinated and bound to VCP. VCP knockdown resulted in the accumulation of the DNA-PKcs protein in glioblastoma cells, and the proteasome inhibitor MG132 synergised this increase. As expected, this increase promoted the efficiency of DNA repair in several glioblastoma cell lines; in turn, this enhanced activity decreased the radiation sensitivity and prolonged the survival fraction of glioblastoma cells in vitro. Moreover, the VCP knockdown in glioblastoma cells reduced the survival time of the xenografted mice with radiation treatment relative to the control xenografted glioblastoma mice. In addition, the VCP protein was also downregulated in ~25% of GBM tissues from patients (WHO, grade IV astrocytoma), and the VCP protein level was correlated with patient survival (R(2)=0.5222, P<0.05). These findings demonstrated that VCP regulates DNA-PKcs degradation and increases the sensitivity of GBM cells to radiation

Who is energy poor? Evidence from the least developed regions in China

Energy poverty has become one of the major challenges faced by the world's energy system. However, there is no consensus on the measure of energy poverty. Several approaches have been proposed, among which the energy poverty line has been defined as the minimum quantity of energy required for basic life, particularly for cooking and heating. This paper estimates the relationship between energy expenditure and household income and identifies the energy poverty line based on the threshold above which the energy share becomes insensitive to household income using household survey data from rural Qinghai, China. Considering the ongoing energy transition and the negative impacts of biomass energy consumption for the environment and health, the study sets a scenario in which all bioenergy consumption is replaced with electricity. The findings show that 57% of rural households in rural Qinghai are energy poor. The phase of energy poverty in terms of basic energy access has passed, so increasing the share of efficient modern energy in household energy consumption requires more attention. Considering the existence of a population that is not income poor but is energy poor, a conventional policy design that primarily targets income-poor households may be inappropriate in this case

Intra-day variability observations and the VLBI structure analysis of quasar S4 0917+624

The IDV observations of S4 0917+624 were carried out monthly, from August 2005 to January 2010, with the Urumqi 25m radio telescope at 4.8 GHz. The quasar S4 0917+624 exhibits only very weak or no IDV during our 4.5 year observing interval. Prior to the year 2000, the source S4 0917+624 was one of the most prominent IDV sources. Our new data indicate that the previous strong IDV has ceased. We analyzed the long-term VLBI structural variability using Gaussian model-fitting. From this we obtained the flux densities and the deconvolved sizes of core and inner-jet components of the source. We studied the properties such as core fraction, angular size, spectral index, and brightness temperature of VLBI core for S4 0917+624, as well as the time delay between 5 and 15 GHz variations, and compared them with the IDV properties of S4 0917+624. The source shows ejection of several jet components that are suspected to have partially reduced the IDV amplitude of S4 0917+624. However, during 2005-2006, the VLBI core size was comparable to the size before the year 2000, but no strong IDV was detected in the period, suggesting that the quenching effect due to source size changes may not be responsible for the lack of strong IDV after the year 2000. The refractive scattering properties for the strong IDV phase of S4 0917+624 before the year 2000 are discussed. The disappearance of strong IDV in S4 0917+624 after the year 2000 is a mystery and cannot be explained via the quenching effect by changes in the observable VLBI structure. However, it may be caused by changes in the interstellar medium, i.e. by interstellar weather, which induces changes in the scintillation pattern on timescales of several years. Further coordinated multi-frequency observations will be required to distinguish between the effect of source-intrinsic variability and changing properties of the interstellar medium.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Dissipationless Anomalous Hall Current in Fe100−x(SiO2)xFe_{100-x}(SiO_2)_x Films

The observation of dissipationless anomalous Hall current is one of the experimental evidences to confirm the intrinsic origin of anomalous Hall effect. To study the origin of anomalous Hall effect in iron, Fe$_{100-x}$(SiO$_{2}$)$_{x}$ granular films with volume fraction of SiO$_{2}$ 0\le x \le 40.51 were fabricated using co-sputtering. Hall and longitudinal resistivities were measured in the temperature range 5 to 350 K with magnetic fields up to 5 Tesla. As x increased from 0 to 40.51, the anomalous Hall resistivity and longitudinal resistivity increased about 4 and 3 orders in magnitude, respectively. Analysis of the results revealed that the normalized anomalous Hall conductivity is a constant for all the samples, the evidence of dissipationless anomalous Hall current in Fe.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.20531

Fermi resonance-algebraic model for molecular vibrational spectra

A Fermi resonance-algebraic model is proposed for molecular vibrations, where a U(2) algebra is used for describing the vibrations of each bond, and Fermi resonances between stretching and bending modes are taken into account. The model for a bent molecule XY_2 and a molecule XY_3 is successfully applied to fit the recently observed vibrational spectrum of the water molecule and arsine (AsH_3), respectively, and results are compared with those of other models. Calculations show that algebraic approaches can be used as an effective method for describing molecular vibrations with small standard deviations

The carbon border adjustment mechanism is inefficient in addressing carbon leakage and results in unfair welfare losses

The European Commission has proposed a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to reduce carbon leakage and create a level playing field for its domestic products and imported goods. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of the proposal remains unclear, especially when it triggers threats of retaliation from trading partners of the European Union (EU). We apply a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model - Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) - to assess the economic and environmental impacts of different CBAM schemes. Here we show that the effectiveness of the CBAM to address carbon leakage risks is rather limited, and the CBAM raises concerns over global welfare costs, GDP losses, and violation of equality principles. Trade retaliation leads to multiplied welfare losses, which would mostly be borne by poor countries. Our results question the carbon leakage reduction effect of a unilateral trade policy and suggest that climate change mitigation still needs to be performed within the framework of international cooperation

Towards Sustainable Mobility and Improved Public Health: Lessons from bike sharing in Shanghai, China

Reliable, affordable and safe transport is key to making cities sustainable. At present, however, many cities are beset by congestion, inadequate connectivity, wasted public space and poor air quality. This policy brief presents lessons from Shanghai, where the world’s largest bicycle-sharing scheme has been implemented to address the challenges presented by inadequate current transport networks and climate change

Substantial emission reductions from Chinese power plants after the introduction of ultra-low emissions standards

In 2014, China introduced an ultra-low emissions (ULE) standards policy for renovating coal-fired power-generating units to limit SO2, NOx and particulate matter (PM) emissions to 35, 50 and 10 mg m−3, respectively. The ULE standard policy had ambitious levels (surpassing those of all other countries) and implementation timeline. We estimate emission reductions associated with the ULE policy by constructing a nationwide, unit-level, hourly-frequency emissions dataset using data from a continuous emissions monitoring systems network covering 96–98% of Chinese thermal power capacity during 2014–2017. We find that between 2014 and 2017 China’s annual power emissions of SO2, NOx and PM dropped by 65%, 60% and 72%, respectively. Our estimated emissions using actual monitoring data are 18–92% below other recent estimates. We detail the technologies used to meet the ULE standards and the determinants of compliance, underscoring the importance of ex post evaluation and providing insights for other countries wishing to reduce their power emissions

Intra- and Interband Electron Scattering in the Complex Hybrid Topological Insulator Bismuth Bilayer on Bi2_2Se3_3

The band structure, intra- and interband scattering processes of the electrons at the surface of a bismuth-bilayer on Bi$_2$Se$_3$ have been experimentally investigated by low-temperature Fourier-transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The observed complex quasiparticle interference patterns are compared to a simulation based on the spin-dependent joint density of states approach using the surface-localized spectral function calculated from first principles as the only input. Thereby, the origin of the quasiparticle interferences can be traced back to intraband scattering in the bismuth bilayer valence band and Bi$_2$Se$_3$ conduction band, and to interband scattering between the two-dimensional topological state and the bismuth-bilayer valence band. The investigation reveals that the bilayer band gap, which is predicted to host one-dimensional topological states at the edges of the bilayer, is pushed several hundred milli-electronvolts above the Fermi level. This result is rationalized by an electron transfer from the bilayer to Bi$_2$Se$_3$ which also leads to a two-dimensional electron state in the Bi$_2$Se$_3$ conduction band with a strong Rashba spin-splitting, coexisting with the topological state and bilayer valence band.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure