Examining the Mediating Role Supply Chain Identity Salience in the Relationship between Its Antecedents and Supply Chain Social Capital: A Case of Thai Manufacturing Firms

The main reason behind carrying out the current study is to examine the mediating role supply chain identity salience in the relationship between its antecedents and supply chain social capital. In this study a new paradigm is presented by supply chain management (SCM) where a systems approach is adopted by firms to manage the supply chain not as a set of fragments but as s single entity, having a sole purpose of synchronizing and adjusting the supply chain activities of partnering firms to develop greater customer value as compared to other supply chain. It is proposed in this study that successful functioning of managed supply chain only takes place when supply chain partners that are involved in crucial relationships actively share a feeling of identity or belonging with the supply chain. Such strong sense of identity plays an essential role in a context of the managed supply chain, as the supply chain management majorly depends upon the cooperation of resultant voluntary independent organizations and social processes and not on the financial or legal ownership. The study has used the SEM-PLS to achieve the objectives of the current study. The study is carried out on the sample of manufacturing firms operating in Thailand. This study presents a detailed view of social processes with respect to SCM context, with the purpose of indicating the contributory role played by supply chain identity salience in the social capital formation

Absorptive Capacity in Supply Chains: Does Responsive Strategy of a Firm Matter?

The main purpose of the current study is to investigate the impact of absorptive capacity on supply chains. In addition to that, the study has examined the mediating role of responsive strategy in the relationship between absorptive capacity in supply chain and performance. This research is based on the analysis of absorptive capacity to be an organizational value making a firm able to gather, use, and implement the information from outside. The study demonstrates the association between absorptive capacity and responsive strategy. It has been analyzed the way in which absorptive capacity has been developed by firms through examination of curvilinear impact of responsive strategy. the study is among the pioneering studies on the issues. So, current study has used SEM-PLS as statistical tool to answer the research questions raised in this study and research objectives envisaged in the current study. The findings of the current study have provided support to with the hypothesized results. This study will be helpful for policymakers and researchers in examining the link absorptive capacity on supply chains, responsive strategy and performance

Dengue virus sero-cross-reactivity drives antibody-dependent enhancement of infection with zika virus

Zika virus (ZIKV) was discovered in 1947 and was thought to lead to relatively mild disease. The recent explosive outbreak of ZIKV in South America has led to widespread concern, with reports of neurological sequelae ranging from Guillain Barré syndrome to microcephaly. ZIKV infection has occurred in areas previously exposed to dengue virus (DENV), a flavivirus closely related to ZIKV. Here we investigated the serological cross-reaction between the two viruses. Plasma immune to DENV showed substantial cross-reaction to ZIKV and was able to drive antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of ZIKV infection. Using a panel of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to DENV, we showed that most antibodies that reacted to DENV envelope protein also reacted to ZIKV. Antibodies to linear epitopes, including the immunodominant fusion-loop epitope, were able to bind ZIKV but were unable to neutralize the virus and instead promoted ADE. Our data indicate that immunity to DENV might drive greater ZIKV replication and have clear implications for disease pathogenesis and future vaccine programs for ZIKV and DENV

Characterization of a potent and highly unusual minimally enhancing antibody directed against dengue virus

Dengue virus is a major pathogen and severe infections can lead to life threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). Dengue exists as four serotypes and DHF is often associated with secondary heterologous infections. Antibody dependent enhancement (ADE) may drive higher virus loads in these secondary infections, and is purported to result from antibodies that recognize dengue but fail to fully neutralize. We have characterized two antibodies, 2C8 and 3H5, which bind to the envelope protein. 3H5 is highly unusual as it is both potently neutralizing, but promotes little if any ADE, whereas 2C8 has strong capacity to promote ADE. We show that 3H5 shows resilient binding in endosomal pH conditions and neutralizes at low occupancy. Immune complexes of 3H5 and dengue virus do not efficiently interact with Fcγ receptors, which we propose is due to the binding mode of 3H5 and which constitutes the primary mechanism of how ADE is avoided