How Embeddedness Affects the Evolution of Collaboration: The Role of Knowledge Stock and Social Interactions

Science and technology are becoming increasingly collaborative. This paper aims to explore the factors and mechanisms that impact the dynamic changes of collaborative innovation networks. We consider both collaborative interactions of organizations and their knowledge element exchanges to reveal how social and knowledge network embeddedness affects the collaboration dynamics. Knowledge elements are extracted to present the core concepts of scientific and technical information, overcoming the limitations of using predefined categorizations such as IPC when representing the content. Based on multiple collaboration and knowledge networks, we then conduct a longitudinal analysis and apply a stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM) to model network dynamics over different periods. The influence of network features and structures, individual node characteristics, and various dimensions of proximity on collaboration dynamics is tested and analyzed.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. Conference presentatio

Optimization on the container loading sequence based on hybrid dynamic programming

Retrieving export containers from a container yard is an important part of the ship loading process during which arranging the retrieving sequence to enhance port efficiency has become a vital issue. This paper presents a twophase hybrid dynamic algorithm aiming at obtaining an optimized container loading sequence for a crane to retrieve all the containers from the yard to the ship. The optimization goal is to minimize the number of relocation operations which has a direct impact upon container loading operation efficiency. The two phases of the proposed dynamic algorithms are designed as follows: at the first phase, a heuristic algorithm is developed to retrieve the containers subset which needs no relocation and may be loaded directly onto the ship; at the second phase, a dynamic programming with heuristic rules is applied to solve the loading sequence problem for the rest of the containers. Numerical experiments showed the effectiveness and practicability of the model and the algorithm by comparing with the loading proposals from an existing research and actual rules respectively. First published online: 14 Jan 201

Regulation of Prostate Development and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Autocrine Cholinergic Signaling via Maintaining the Epithelial Progenitor Cells in Proliferating Status

SummaryRegulation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells is important in prostate development and prostate diseases. Our previous study demonstrated a function of autocrine cholinergic signaling (ACS) in promoting prostate cancer growth and castration resistance. However, whether or not such ACS also plays a role in prostate development is unknown. Here, we report that ACS promoted the proliferation and inhibited the differentiation of prostate epithelial progenitor cells in organotypic cultures. These results were confirmed by ex vivo lineage tracing assays and in vivo renal capsule recombination assays. Moreover, we found that M3 cholinergic receptor (CHRM3) was upregulated in a large subset of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissues compared with normal tissues. Activation of CHRM3 also promoted the proliferation of BPH cells. Together, our findings identify a role of ACS in maintaining prostate epithelial progenitor cells in the proliferating state, and blockade of ACS may have clinical implications for the management of BPH

Composition and protein precipitation capacity of condensed tannins in purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea Vent.)

The objectives of this study were to determine the concentration and composition of condensed tannins (CT) in different tissues of purple prairie clover (PPC; Dalea purpurea Vent.) at different maturities and to determine their protein-precipitating capacity. The compositions of CT were elucidated after thiolysis with benzyl mercaptan followed by high-performance liquid chromatography and 1H−13C HSQC NMR spectroscopy. Results indicated that PPC flowering heads contained the highest CT concentration. Purple prairie clover CT consisted mainly of epicatechin (EC) and epigallocatechin (EGC) subunits. Condensed tannins in leaves were composed of more EC and less EGC than CT in stems and flowering heads at both early flowering and late flowering head stages. The mean degree of polymerization was the highest for CT in stems and increased with maturity. Condensed tannins isolated from PPC leaves at the early flowering head stage exhibited the greatest biological activity in terms of protein precipitation. Overall, condensed tannins in PPC were predominantly procyanidins and the concentration and composition varied among plant tissues and with maturity

Prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with ultrasound anomalies by whole-exome sequencing in Luoyang city, China

Background: There is a great obstacle in prenatal diagnosis of fetal anomalies due to their considerable genetic and clinical heterogeneity. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) has been confirmed as a successful option for genetic diagnosis in pediatrics, but its clinical utility for prenatal diagnosis remains to be limited.Methods: A total of 60 fetuses with abnormal ultrasound findings underwent karyotyping or chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA), and those with negative results were further subjected to WES. The identified variants were classified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic (P/LP) and the variant of uncertain significance (VUS). Pregnancy outcomes were obtained through a telephone follow-up.Results: Twelve (20%, 12/60) fetuses were diagnosed to have chromosomal abnormalities using karyotyping or CMA. Of the remaining 48 cases that underwent WES, P/LP variants were identified in 14 cases (29.2%), giving an additional diagnostic yield of 23.3% (14/60). The most frequently affected organ referred for prenatal WES was the head or neck system (40%), followed by the skeletal system (39.1%). In terms of pathogenic genes, FGFR3 was the most common diagnostic gene in this cohort. For the first time, we discovered five P/LP variants involved in SEC24D, FIG4, CTNNA3, EPG5, and PKD2. In addition, we identified three VUSes that had been reported previously. Outcomes of pregnancy were available for 54 cases, of which 24 cases were terminated.Conclusion: The results confirmed that WES is a powerful tool in prenatal diagnosis, especially for fetuses with ultrasonographic anomalies that cannot be diagnosed using conventional prenatal methods. Additionally, newly identified variants will expand the phenotypic spectrum of monogenic disorders and greatly enrich the prenatal diagnostic database

A clinical prognostic model for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma based on circulating tumor DNA mutation features

BackgroundFew predictive models have included circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) indicators to predict prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. Here, we aimed to explore whether ctDNA can be used as a predictive biomarker in nomogram models to predict the prognosis of patients with ESCC.MethodsWe included 57 patients who underwent surgery and completed a 5-year follow-up. With next-generation sequencing, a 61-gene panel was used to evaluate plasma cell-free DNA and white blood cell genomic DNA from patients with ESCC. We analyzed the relationship between the mutation features of ctDNA and the prognosis of patients with ESCC, identified candidate risk predictors by Cox analysis, and developed nomogram models to predict the 2- and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, concordance index (C-index), calibration plot, and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were used to evaluate the performance of the nomogram model. The model was compared with the traditional tumor-nodes-metastasis (TNM) staging system.ResultsThe ROC curve showed that the average mutant allele frequency (MAF) of ctDNA variants and the number of ctDNA variants were potential biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of patients with ESCC. The predictors included in the models were common candidate predictors of ESCC, such as lymph node stage, angiolymphatic invasion, drinking history, and ctDNA characteristics. The calibration curve demonstrated consistency between the observed and predicted results. Moreover, our nomogram models showed clear prognostic superiority over the traditional TNM staging system (based on C-index, 2-year DFS: 0.82 vs. 0.64; 5-year DFS: 0.78 vs. 0.65; 2-year OS: 0.80 vs. 0.66; 5-year OS: 0.77 vs. 0.66; based on IDI, 2-year DFS: 0.33, p <0.001; 5-year DFS: 0.18, p = 0.04; 2-year OS: 0.28, p <0.001; 5-year OS: 0.15, p = 0.04). The comprehensive scores of the nomogram models could be used to stratify patients with ESCC.ConclusionsThe novel nomogram incorporating ctDNA features may help predict the prognosis of patients with resectable ESCC. This model can potentially be used to guide the postoperative management of ESCC patients in the future, such as adjuvant therapy and follow-up

Interface Engineering of Solution-Processed Hybrid Organohalide Perovskite Solar Cells

Engineering the interface between the perovskite absorber and the charge-transporting layers has become an important method for improving the charge extraction and open-circuit voltage ( V) of hybrid perovskite solar cells. Conjugated polymers are particularly suited to form the hole-transporting layer, but their hydrophobicity renders it difficult to solution-process the perovskite absorber on top. Herein, oxygen plasma treatment is introduced as a simple means to change the surface energy and work function of\ua0hydrophobic polymer interlayers for use as p-contacts in perovskite solar cells. We find that upon oxygen plasma treatment, the\ua0hydrophobic\ua0surfaces of different prototypical p-type polymers became sufficiently hydrophilic to enable subsequent perovskite junction processing. In addition, the oxygen plasma treatment also increased the ionization potential of the polymer such that it became closer to the valance band energy of the perovskite. It was also found that the oxygen plasma treatment could increase the electrical conductivity of the p-type polymers, facilitating more efficient charge extraction. On the basis of this concept, inverted MAPbI perovskite devices with different oxygen plasma-treated polymers such as P3HT, P3OT, polyTPD, or PTAA were fabricated with power conversion efficiencies of up to 19%

Anion-induced robust ferroelectricity in sulfurized pseudo-rhombohedral epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films via polarization rotation

Polarization rotation caused by various strains, such as substrate and/or chemical strain, is essential to control the electronic structure and properties of ferroelectric materials. This study proposes anion-induced polarization rotation with chemical strain, which effectively improves ferroelectricity. A method for the sulfurization of BiFeO3 thin films by introducing sulfur anions is presented. The sulfurized films exhibited substantial enhancement in room-temperature ferroelectric polarization through polarization rotation and distortion, with a 170% increase in the remnant polarization from 58 to 100.7 μC cm−2. According to first-principles calculations and the results of X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy, this enhancement arose from the introduction of S atoms driving the re-distribution of the lone-pair electrons of Bi, resulting in the rotation of the polarization state from the [001] direction to the [110] or [111] one. The presented method of anion-driven polarization rotation might enable the improvement of the properties of oxide materials.This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFA0703700, 2017YFE0119700, 2021YFA1400300 and 2018YFA0305700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21801013, 51774034, 22271309, 11721404, 11934017, 12261131499, and 51961135107), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (FRF-IDRY-19-007 and FRF-TP-19-055A2Z), the National Program for Support of Top-notch Young Professionals, the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2019-2021QNRC), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Z200007), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB33000000). This research used the resources of the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (1W1A and 4B9B beamlines) of the Chinese Academy of Science.Peer reviewe

Limb development genes underlie variation in human fingerprint patterns

Fingerprints are of long-standing practical and cultural interest, but little is known about the mechanisms that underlie their variation. Using genome-wide scans in Han Chinese cohorts, we identified 18 loci associated with fingerprint type across the digits, including a genetic basis for the long-recognized “pattern-block” correlations among the middle three digits. In particular, we identified a variant near EVI1 that alters regulatory activity and established a role for EVI1 in dermatoglyph patterning in mice. Dynamic EVI1 expression during human development supports its role in shaping the limbs and digits, rather than influencing skin patterning directly. Trans-ethnic meta-analysis identified 43 fingerprint-associated loci, with nearby genes being strongly enriched for general limb development pathways. We also found that fingerprint patterns were genetically correlated with hand proportions. Taken together, these findings support the key role of limb development genes in influencing the outcome of fingerprint patterning