The Influence of Corporate Social Relations on the Stability of Strategic Alliances

Our study aims to verify the effects of social relations, opportunistic behavior and trust among partners on the stability of strategic alliance. In order to test the hypotheses, 221 valid questionnaires collected from top managers of 50 strategic alliances in China. Moreover, the results also indicate that contractual governance can moderate the influence of high-level social relations on opportunistic behavior and trust between partners. It is found that the social relationship of senior managers cannot directly affect the stability of the alliance but can negatively affect the opportunistic behavior and positively affect the trust between partners. Opportunistic behavior and trust among alliance partners affect the stability of strategic alliance negatively and positively, respectively. Contract governance can enhance the influence of senior managers' social relationships on opportunistic behavior. In addition, contract governance shows the inverted U-shaped moderating effects on the relationship between senior managers' social relations and trust. Keywords: social relations, alliance stability, opportunistic behaviour, trust, contract governance DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-6-11 Publication date: February 29th 202

Investigation of the interaction between the MIR-503 and CD40 genes in irradiated U937 cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small noncoding RNAs that take part in diverse biological processes by suppressing target gene expression. Relatively few miRNAs have been studied in detail, especially miR-503, and hence the biological relevance of majority remains to be uncovered. Whether altered expression of miRNA-503 affects the immunity response to radiotherapy has yet to be addressed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, we applied ionizing radiation with a dose of either 0.1 Gy or 5 Gy to irradiate U937 cells to confirm CD40 as a miR-503 target, which was identified using a bioimformatics tool. In high dose (5 Gy) ionizing-irradiated U937 cells, expression of miR-503 was up regulated while the expression of CD40 gene was down regulated. Using the transfection of the miR-503 gene into U937 cells and Luciferase assay, we confirmed that miR-503 suppressed the expression of CD40, and was a negtive regulator of CD40.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To our knowledge, we are the first to describe involvement of miR-503 in radiobiological effect at a molecular level. This initial finding suggested the evidence that ionizing radiation could alter the expression of miR-503 and its target gene CD40, and may be very important to shed light on a possible mechanism regarding regulation of immune responses to irradiation.</p

Evaluation of wave retrieval for Chinese Gaofen-3 synthetic aperture radar

The goal of this study was to investigate the performance of a spectral-transformation wave retrieval algorithm and confirm the accuracy of wave retrieval from C-band Chinese Gaofen-3 (GF-3) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. More than 200 GF-3 SAR images of the coastal China Sea and the Japan Sea for dates from January to July 2020 were acquired in the Quad-Polarization Strip (QPS) mode. The images had a swath of 30 km and a spatial resolution of 8 m pixel size. They were processed to retrieve Significant Wave Height (SWH), which is simulated from a numerical wave model called Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN). The first-guess spectrum is essential to the accuracy of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) wave spectrum retrieval. Therefore, we proposed a wave retrieval scheme combining the theocratic-based Max Planck Institute Algorithm (MPI), a Semi-Parametric Retrieval Algorithm (SPRA), and the Parameterized First-guess Spectrum Method (PFSM), in which a full wave-number spectrum and a non-empirical ocean spectrum proposed by Elfouhaily are applied. The PFSM can be driven using the wind speed without calculating the dominant wave phase speed. Wind speeds were retrieved using a Vertical-Vertical (VV) polarized geophysical model function C-SARMOD2. The proposed algorithm was implemented for all collected SAR images. A comparison of SAR-derived wind speeds with European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-5 data showed a 1.95 m/s Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE). The comparison of retrieved SWH with SWAN-simulated results demonstrated a 0.47 m RMSE, which is less than the 0.68 m RMSE of SWH when using the PFSM algorithm.Output Status: Forthcoming/Available Onlin

Analysis of Wave-Induced Stokes Transport Effects on Sea Surface Temperature Simulations in the Western Pacific Ocean

This study investigated the performance of two ocean wave models, that is, Simulation Wave Nearshore (SWAN) and WAVEWATCH-III (WW3), and the interannual and seasonal variability of transport induced by Stokes drift during the period from 1989 to 2019. Three types of sea surface wind products were used for wave simulation: the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Interim, the Cross Calibrated Multi-Platform Version 2.0 (CCMP V2.0) from Remote Sensing Systems (RSS), and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS). The modeling was validated against wave measurements from the Jason-2 altimeter in 2015. The analysis found that the root mean square error (RMSE) of significant wave height (SWH) from the WW3 model using CCMP wind data was 0.17 m, which is less than the ~0.6-m RMSE of SWH from the SWAN model using the other types of wind data. The simulations from the WW3 model using CCMP wind data indicated that the Stokes transport is up to 2 m2/s higher in the South China Sea and Japan Sea than that at other ocean regions in January. The interannual variation showed that the Stokes transport generally increased from 0.25 m2/s in 1989 to 0.35 m2/s in 2018. We also found that the accuracy of the sea surface temperature (SST) simulation using the Stony Brook Parallel Ocean Model (sbPOM) is improved by as much as 0.5 °C when Stokes transport is considered to validate the sbPOM-simulated SST against the measurements from Argo in 2012–2015. In particular, the Stokes transport has a negative effect on Summer (March to June) and has a positive effect in Autumn (July to September), which is probably caused by the tropical cyclones

The evolutionary dynamics of group-level terrorist network

In the age of globalization and information, terrorist groups cooperate and interact with each other frequently and have formed a complex and dynamic system. For the purpose to explore the evolutionary dynamics of transnational terrorism, the paper mapped location-based networks to model the terrorism system, followed with preference attachment model to discover laws that how terrorism developed. The work gave an outline about how terrorist groups evolved and explained how terrorism would develop and expand. The findings would supply significant suggestion to counterterrorism organizations

The evolutionary dynamics of group-level terrorist network

In the age of globalization and information, terrorist groups cooperate and interact with each other frequently and have formed a complex and dynamic system. For the purpose to explore the evolutionary dynamics of transnational terrorism, the paper mapped location-based networks to model the terrorism system, followed with preference attachment model to discover laws that how terrorism developed. The work gave an outline about how terrorist groups evolved and explained how terrorism would develop and expand. The findings would supply significant suggestion to counterterrorism organizations

Terrorist Group Behavior Prediction by Wavelet Transform-Based Pattern Recognition

Predicting terrorist attacks by group networks is an important but difficult issue in intelligence and security informatics. Effective prediction of the behavior not only facilitates the understanding of the dynamics of organizational behaviors but also supports homeland security’s missions in prevention, preparedness, and response to terrorist acts. There are certain dynamic characteristics of terrorist groups, such as periodic features and correlations between the behavior and the network. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive framework that combines social network analysis, wavelet transform, and the pattern recognition approach to investigate the dynamics and eventually predict the attack behavior of terrorist group. Our ideas rely on social network analysis to model the terrorist group and extract relevant features for group behaviors. Next, based on wavelet transform, the group networks (features) are predicted and mutually checked from two aspects. Finally, based on the predicted network, the behavior of the group is recognized based on the correlation between the network and behavior. The Al-Qaeda data are investigated with the proposed framework to show the strength of our approaches. The results show that the proposed framework is highly accurate and is of practical value in predicting the behavior of terrorist groups

Impact <i>Eichhornia crassipes</i> Cultivation on Water Quality in the Caohai Region of Dianchi Lake Using Multi-Temporal Sentinel-2 Images

In order to comprehensively and accurately evaluate the adsorption effect of Eichhornia crassipes planting on algae in water, this study used 131 cloudless Sentinel-2 images to monitor the scale and growth dynamics of Eichhornia crassipes planting in Caohai and its surrounding waters. Based on the single and multi-peak histogram characteristics of the NDWI image in the study area, the empirical threshold and the optimized histogram slope adaptive threshold (OHSAT) segmentation methods were respectively used and manual inspection was added to accurately segment the water bodies and Eichhornia crassipes. The results of the analysis of Eichhornia crassipes area, growth status (NDVI), water body algae density (NDVI), and their spatial–temporal co-variation and trends show that the Eichhornia crassipes has a significant enrichment effect on algae, showing a significant decreasing trend of water bloom centered on it. The size and growth status of Eichhornia crassipes are inversely proportional to the water body NDVI, and reasonable harvesting plans based on these findings are expected to achieve optimized pollution control effects