How Does Suppliers’ Fairness Affect the Relationship Quality of Agricultural Product Supply Chains?

Although many studies have suggested that the relationship between different supply chain members significantly affects agricultural product quality, suppliers’ perceptions of fairness, which greatly influence their decisions on building the relationship quality, are often overlooked. Particularly, the empirical evidence to investigate the impacts of suppliers’ fairness on the relationship quality and the factors that affect the suppliers’ fairness is missing, and therefore this knowledge gap needs to be filled by new research. Herein, we conducted a survey of 450 agricultural product suppliers and systemically analyzed the impact of antecedents on fairness perception and the impact of fairness perception on relationship quality. In addition, we developed a structural equation model and found that information sharing and price satisfaction had significantly positive effects on procedural fairness and distributive fairness, respectively. Furthermore, our studies demonstrated that procedural fairness is more important in improving the relationship quality than distributive fairness. However, supplier dependence is another important impact factor, and it greatly decreases the positive effects of suppliers’ fairness on relationship quality. In summary, the study results provide several managerial implications and extend our understanding of the importance of suppliers’ fairness in the relationship quality, which involves product development with respect to the supplier’s performance

Surgical treatment of the osteoporotic spine with bone cement-injectable cannulated pedicle screw fixation: technical description and preliminary application in 43 patients

OBJECTIVES: To describe a new approach for the application of polymethylmethacrylate augmentation of bone cement-injectable cannulated pedicle screws. METHODS: Between June 2010 and February 2013, 43 patients with degenerative spinal disease and osteoporosis (T-scor

Human Action Recognition from Various Data Modalities:A Review

Human Action Recognition (HAR), aiming to understand human behaviors and then assign category labels, has a wide range of applications, and thus has been attracting increasing attention in the field of computer vision. Generally, human actions can be represented using various data modalities, such as RGB, skeleton, depth, infrared sequence, point cloud, event stream, audio, acceleration, radar, and WiFi, etc., which encode different sources of useful yet distinct information and have various advantages and application scenarios. Consequently, lots of existing works have attempted to investigate different types of approaches for HAR using various modalities. In this paper, we give a comprehensive survey for HAR from the perspective of the input data modalities. Specifically, we review both the hand-crafted feature-based and deep learning-based methods for single data modalities, and also review the methods based on multiple modalities, including the fusion-based frameworks and the co-learning-based approaches. The current benchmark datasets for HAR are also introduced. Finally, we discuss some potentially important research directions in this area

Anti-IFN-γ Antibody Promotes Osteoclastogenesis in Human Bone Marrow Monocyte-Derived Macrophages Co-Cultured with Tuberculosis-Activated Th1 Cells

Background/Aims: Tuberculosis induces bone loss and activates Th1 cells that play an important role in the host defense of Bacille Calmette-Guérin tuberculosis vaccine. However, the role of tuberculosis-activated Th1 cells in differentiation of osteoclast precursors to osteoclasts is unclear. As secretion of IFN-γ in Th1 cells is induced by tuberculosis, we aimed to investigate the role of anti-IFN-γ antibody on the differentiation and activation of osteoclasts in bone marrow monocyte-derived macrophages (BMMs). Methods: BMMs were isolated and co-cultured with CD4+T helper 1 cells (Th1 cells), pretreated with anti-IFN-γ antibody. Then, cell proliferation, expression and release of cytokines, formation of actin ring, differentiation of osteoclasts and bone resorption function were measured by CCK8 assay, qRT-PCR/Western blot/flow cytometry, ELISA, immunofluorescence, tartrate-resistant acidic phosphatase (TRAP) staining and bone absorbance assay, respectively. Results: Anti-IFN-γ antibody inhibited the cell viability of BMMs, and induced the expressions of RANKL, TNF-α, NF-κB and TRAF6 in BMMs. In addition, it led to increased expression levels of RANK on cell surfaces, and increased production of RANKL, TNF-α, MCP-1 and SDF-1. Anti-IFN-γ antibody also induced the expression of osteoclast differentiation factor and actin ring formation, but inhibited the expression of osteoprotegerin. TRAP staining and bone resorption assays showed that anti-IFN-γ antibody induced an increase in osteoclast formation and bone resorption. Conclusion: The anti-IFN-γ antibody induced osteoclast formation, and is probably mediated by RANKL-induced activation of NF-κB, that induces TRAF6 in the RANKL-RANK signaling pathway. Our data suggest an inhibitory role for IFN-γ in osteoclast formation induced by tuberculosis

Advance on the Application of Magnetic Field-assisted Freezing Technology in Food

Freezing is one of the most common and effective method of preserving food. However, the formation of large ice crystals during traditional freezing process will destroy food tissues and lead to quality deterioration. Therefore, how to improve the quality of frozen food by new freezing technology has become a research hotspot. Magnetic field-assisted freezing is a novel method for controlling ice crystal nucleation. The mechanism of magnetic field-regulated ice crystal nucleation and its applications in the fields of fruits and vegetables, livestock and poultry meat, cereals and other food products are reviewed in the present paper. According to the review results, although magnetic field freezing technology has been applied in many food fields, the current research mainly focuses on the effect of magnetic field on frozen food quality and freezing parameters, while there are few consensus on the mechanism of magnetic field-assisted freezing to regulate ice crystal nucleation. Therefore, more systematic research is required to reveal the mechanism of magnetic field-assisted freezing and promote the application of magnetic field-assisted freezing technology in the food field, to promote the quality of frozen food

Identification of a HIV Gp41-Specific Human Monoclonal Antibody With Potent Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity

Antibody-Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a major mechanism of protection against viral infections in vivo. Identification of HIV-1-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with potent ADCC activity may help develop an effective HIV-1 vaccine. In present study, we isolated such human mAb, designated E10, from an HIV-1-infected patient sample by single B cell sorting and single cell PCR. E10 bound to gp140 trimer and linear peptides derived from gp41 membrane proximal external region (MPER). E10 epitope (QEKNEQELLEL) overlapped with mAb 2F5 epitope. However, E10 differentiated from 2F5 in neutralization breadth and potency, as well as ADCC activity. E10 showed low neutralization activity and narrow spectrum of neutralization compared to 2F5, but it mediated higher ADCC activity than 2F5 at low antibody concentration. Fine mapping of E10 epitope may potentiate MPER-based subunit vaccine development

A new p-terphenyl derivative from the insect-derived fungus Aspergillus candidus Bdf-2 and the synergistic effects of terphenyllin

A new p-terphenyl derivative 4″-deoxy-2′-methoxyterphenyllin (1), along with six known p-terphenyl derivatives (2–7), a known flavonoid derivative dechlorochlorflavonin (8) and a known fellutanine A (9), were isolated from the insect-derived strain of the fungus Aspergillus candidus Bdf-2, associated with Blaptica dubia. The structure of 1 was established by the analysis of the 1D and 2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS spectra. Compounds 1–9 were evaluated for antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29213, Escherichia coli ATCC25922 and Ralstonia solanacearum, and for antioxidant activities. Synergistic effects of compound 2 with the other compounds were also investigated. As a result, compound 6 displayed the best antibacterial activities in all single compound with MIC value of 32 µg/mL against S. aureus ATCC29213 and R. solanacearum, respectively. However, no antibacterial effect against E. coli ATCC25922 was detected from any single compound. The combination of 2 + 6 exhibited obvious synergistic effect against S. aureus ATCC29213 and the MIC value was 4 µg/mL. Compound 6 also showed the best antioxidant activity as a single compound with an IC50 value of 17.62 µg/mL. Combinations of 5 + 6, 2 + 4 + 5 and 2 + 4 + 5 + 6 displayed synergistic effect and their antioxidant activities were better than that of any single compound

Supporting field study with personalized project spaces in a geographical digital library

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Potent neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 by human antibody heavy-chain variable domains isolated from a large library with a new stable scaffold

Effective therapies are urgently needed for COVID-19. Here we describe the identification of a new stable human immunoglobulin G1 heavy-chain variable (VH) domain scaffold that was used for the construction of a large library, lCAT6, of engineered human VHs. This library was panned against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein. Two VH domains (VH ab6 and VH m397) were selected and fused to Fc for increased half-life in circulation. The VH-Fc ab6 and m397 specifically neutralized SARS-CoV-2 with high potencies (50% neutralization at 0.35 μg/ml and 1.5 μg/ml, respectively) as measured by two independent replication-competent virus neutralization assays. Ab6 and m397 competed with ACE2 for binding to RBD, suggesting a competitive mechanism of virus neutralization. These VH domains may have potential applications for prophylaxis and therapy of COVID-19 alone or in combination, as well as for diagnosis and as tools for research

Acanthopagrus latus migration patterns and habitat use in Wanshan Islands, Pearl River Estuary, determined using otolith microchemical analysis

IntroductionThe waters surrounding the Wanshan Islands are important traditional fishing grounds in China, with rich habitat types. Acanthopagrus latus is an economically important species in this area; however, the distribution of its spawning grounds and habitat use patterns remain unknown.MethodsThus 100 otolith samples of A. latus were collected from three geographic areas (MW: Qi’ao Island Mangrove Water Habitat; OW: Yamen Estuary Oyster Farm Water Habitat; RW: Dong’ao-Guishan Island Reef Water Habitat), and the concentrations of Sr and Ca along the shortest axis of the vertical otolith annual or lunar rings were measured to span the entire life cycle of A. latus, with the core and edge areas corresponding to environmental characteristics at birth and capture, respectively.Results and discussionAnalysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that the ratios of Sr/Ca in otolith edges of RW samples are significantly higher than those of OW and MW samples; however, both the values of Sr/Ca ratio in otolith cores collected from OW and MW are comparable with those of RW samples. Cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) indicated that at the juvenile stage, RW and MW individuals in the two main clusters belonged to the same cluster. There was no significant difference between the cores of the RW samples and the edges of the MW and OW samples. Therefore, the spawning area of A. latus in the Wanshan Islands is thought to have originated from low to medium-salinity waters with mangroves and oyster farm habitats in the Pearl River Estuary. A. latus from RW was found to have three distinct habitat-use patterns: 1) Marine Resident (7.2% of sampled fish) fish that remain in marine habitats for life; 2) Marine Migrant (16.4% of sampled fish) juveniles inhabit low to moderate salinity habitats and migrate to marine habitats as they grow; 3) Estuarine Visitor (76.4% of sampled fish) repeated migration between low to moderate salinity and marine habitats. This suggests widespread migration between estuarine and marine habitats throughout the ontogeny. The plasticity of this habitat use and the protection of spawning grounds should be considered in future fisheries management because A. Latus in this area has been the victim of the overexploitation of resources