Influencing Factors of Smart Community Service Quality: Evidence from China

Smart community is an important constituent part of a smart city and an extension and deepening of the concept of the latter. When it comes to smart community, the digitalization upgrading of traditional community service is conducted via information technology, in an effort to improve the service experience of community residents and elevate their happiness index. From social functions, smart community also has the advantages in facilitating the smart transformation of cities, promoting the harmonious society construction, and improving governmental efficiency and image, among others. However, various problems persist in the construction and development process of a smart community, such as mismatching service contents and low service quality. To explore the influencing factors of smart community service quality, a total of 16 influencing factors were extracted from 5 dimensions: service object, service subject, government role, management system, and service content. The relationships among the influencing factors were analyzed via the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-interpretative structural modeling (ISM) composite model, and a multi-order explanation model was constructed for these influencing factors. Result shows that the legal guarantee is the root cause influencing the smart community service quality. Development standard, basic service, and expected service are deep influencing factors that play mediating roles. Middle-layer factors such as service and operating systems have a direct bearing on quality perception. The surface-layer factors directly decide residential assessment on the smart community service quality. This study has also manifested the feasibility of the integrated DEMATEL-ISM method in analyzing the action mechanism of influencing factors for smart community service quality, providing a new analytical idea and modeling method for the smart community service quality

Yeast-produced subunit protein vaccine elicits broadly neutralizing antibodies that protect mice against Zika virus lethal infection

International audienceZika virus (ZIKV) infection is a serious public health concern due to its ability to induce neurological defects and its potential for rapid transmission at a global scale. However, no vaccine is currently available to prevent ZIKV infection. Here, we report the development of a yeast-derived subunit protein vaccine for ZIKV. The envelope protein domain III (EDIII) of ZIKV was produced as a secretory protein in the yeast Pichia pastoris. The yeast-derived EDIII could inhibit ZIKV infection in vitro in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that it had acquired an appropriate conformation to bind to cellular receptors of ZIKV. Immunization with recombinant EDIII protein effectively induced antigen-specific binding antibodies and cellular immune responses. The resulting anti-EDIII sera could efficiently neutralize ZIKV representative strains from both Asian and African lineages. Passive transfer with the anti-EDIII neutralizing sera could confer protection against lethal ZIKV challenge in mice. Importantly, we found that purified anti-EDIII antibodies did not cross-react with closely related dengue virus (DENV) and therefore did not enhance DENV infection. Collectively, our results demonstrate that yeast-produced EDIII is a safe and effective ZIKV vaccine candidate

Nanopore Sequencing Accurately Identifies the Mutagenic DNA Lesion O; 6; -Carboxymethyl Guanine and Reveals Its Behavior in Replication

O; 6; -carboxymethylguanine (O; 6; -CMG) is a highly mutagenic alkylation product of DNA, triggering transition mutations relevant to gastrointestinal cancer. However, precise localization of a single O; 6; -CMG with conventional sequencing platforms is challenging. Here nanopore sequencing (NPS), which directly senses single DNA bases according to their physiochemical properties, was employed to detect O; 6; -CMG. A unique O; 6; -CMG signal was observed during NPS and a single-event call accuracy of >95 % was achieved. Moreover, O; 6; -CMG was found to be a replication obstacle for Phi29 DNA polymerase (Phi29 DNAP), suggesting this lesion could cause DNA sequencing biases in next generation sequencing (NGS) approaches

Native soils with their microbiotas elicit a state of alert in tomato plants

Several studies have investigated soil microbial biodiversity, but understanding of the mechanisms underlying plant responses to soil microbiota remains in its infancy. Here, we focused on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), testing the hypothesis that plants grown on native soils display different responses to soil microbiotas. Using transcriptomics, proteomics, and biochemistry, we describe the responses of two tomato genotypes (susceptible or resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici) grown on an artificial growth substrate and two native soils (conducive and suppressive to Fusarium). Native soils affected tomato responses by modulating pathways involved in responses to oxidative stress, phenol biosynthesis, lignin deposition, and innate immunity, particularly in the suppressive soil. In tomato plants grown on steam‐disinfected soils, total phenols and lignin decreased significantly. The inoculation of a mycorrhizal fungus partly rescued this response locally and systemically. Plants inoculated with the fungal pathogen showed reduced disease symptoms in the resistant genotype in both soils, but the susceptible genotype was partially protected from the pathogen only when grown on the suppressive soil. The ‘state of alert’ detected in tomatoes reveals novel mechanisms operating in plants in native soils and the soil microbiota appears to be one of the drivers of these plant responses

A peptide nucleic acid (PNA)-DNA ferrocenyl intercalator for electrochemical sensing

A ferrocenyl intercalator was investigated to develop an electrochemical DNA biosensor employing a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) sequence as capture probe. After hybridization with single strand DNA sequence, a naphthalene diimide intercalator bearing ferrocene moieties (FND) was introduced to bind with the PNA-DNA duplex and the electrochemical signal of the ferrocene molecules was used to monitor the DNA recognition.Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to characterize the different modification steps. Differential pulse voltammetry was employed to evaluate the electrochemical signal of the FND intercalator related to its interaction with the complementary PNA-DNA hybrid. The ferrocene oxidation peaks were utilised for the target DNA quantification.The developed biosensor demonstrated a good linear dependence of FND oxidation peak on DNA concentration in the range 1 fM to 100 nM of target DNA, with a low detection limit of 11.68 fM. Selectivity tests were also investigated with a non-complementary DNA sequence, indicating that the FND intercalator exhibits a selective response to the target PNA-DNA duplex

Feed Your Friends: Do Plant Exudates Shape the Root Microbiome?

Plant health in natural environments depends on interactions with complex and dynamic communities comprising macro- and microorganisms. While many studies have provided insights into the composition of rhizosphere microbiomes (rhizobiomes), little is known about whether plants shape their rhizobiomes. Here, we discuss physiological factors of plants that may govern plant-microbe interactions, focusing on root physiology and the role of root exudates. Given that only a few plant transport proteins are known to be involved in root metabolite export, we suggest novel families putatively involved in this process. Finally, building off of the features discussed in this review, and in analogy to well-known symbioses, we elaborate on a possible sequence of events governing rhizobiome assembly

Influencing Factors of Smart Government Information Security: Experience from China

Based on information technology, smart government processes information data to help improve the efficiency of government operations. Information security has become the key to the transformation of government wisdom and improvement of government service efficiency and transparency. To explore the influencing factors of government information security, 27 influencing factors from 6 dimensions of personnel, facilities, information, personnel management, system, and environment were extracted. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-interpretative structural modeling (ISM) composite model was used to determine the importance of each factor, the mechanism between the influencing factors was analyzed, and a smart government information security interpretation structure model was constructed. Results show that policies and regulations are the root factors affecting the information security of the smart government. The international environment is a deep-layer influencing factor on government information security. Infrastructure, moral training, and other factors are middle-layer influencing factors that are influenced by the superior factors. Psychological factors, platform construction, and others are surface-layer influencing factors that play a connecting role. Security awareness, behavior security, moral level, and others are directly influencing factors and determine the level of smart government information security. Results of this study also show the feasibility of DEMATEL-ISM model in identifying the relevant factors and analyzing their influencing mechanism on smart government information security. A novel modeling method and its analysis approach are provided for the government to improve the level of information security

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Resilient Community Construction Driven by Government Regulation and Market

As the basic unit of residents’ activities and social management, communities are the disaster bearers of various public security emergencies. To improve the ability and level of community governance, as well as to strengthen the construction of resilient communities, a tripartite evolutionary game model of local government, developers, and home buyers is built, and numerical simulation is carried out using Matlab to analyze the impact mechanism of main parameters on the evolutionary stability strategy. The results show that: (1) The three parties’ different initial intentions will lead to different evolutionary stability strategies of the system, and the system’s final evolution result will reach the ideal state only when the initial willingness of developers and buyers is high. (2) The greater the government’s subsidy coefficient and the greater the regulatory intensity, the more likely it is that developers will choose to build resilient communities. (3) Public awareness of disaster prevention and mitigation is an important determinant of the purchase of resilient community housing strategies. To achieve rapid development of resilient communities, the intensity of regulation must be continuously improved, the public’s awareness of disaster prevention and mitigation must be strengthened, and the government’s regulatory costs must be reduced