Significant ambiguity remains in the literature regarding the conceptualization of organizational ambidexterity. We unpack this construct into one with two dimensions we term the balance dimension of ...ambidexterity (BD) and the combined dimension of ambidexterity (CD) . BD corresponds to a firm's orientation to maintain a close relative balance between exploratory and exploitative activities, whereas CD corresponds to their combined magnitude. We reason that these dimensions are conceptually distinct, and rely on different causal mechanisms to enhance firm performance. We find that over and above their independent effects, concurrent high levels of BD and CD yield synergistic benefits. We also find that BD is more beneficial to resource-constrained firms, whereas CD is more beneficial to firms having greater access to internal and/or external resources. These results indicate that managers in resource-constrained contexts may benefit from a focus on managing trade-offs between exploration and exploitation demands, but for firms that have access to sufficient resources, the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation is both possible and desirable.
Purpose/Significance The existing research on the subject of readers' recommendation lacks in-depth discussion on the reasons for readers' recommendation. This paper analyzes and interprets the ...reader's recommendations from a new perspective in order to explore the multiple values of reader recommendation and purchase services, and build relevant theoretical models. It provides a theoretical basis for giving better play to the role of reader recommendation service. Method/Process In recent years, grounded theoretical application has attracted much attention of more and more scholars. It is also considered to be a reliable and effective data processing and analysis method in the field of library and information science (LIS), which is especially helpful to improve the effectiveness of user based qualitative research. This study uses the research method of grounded theory to analyze the "recommendation reasons" based on the reader's recommendation data. We extracted and conceptualized the main meaning of th
Conductive hydrogels (CHs) have gained significant attention for their wide applications in biomedical engineering owing to their structural similarity to soft tissues. However, designing CHs that ...combine biocompatibility with good mechanical and electrical properties is still challenging. Herein, we report a new strategy for the fabrication of tough CHs with excellent conductivity, superior mechanical properties, and good biocompatibility by using chitosan framework as molecular templates for controlling conducting polypyrrole (PPy) nanorods in situ formation inside the hydrogel networks. First, polyacrylamide/chitosan (CS) interpenetrating polymer network hydrogel was synthesized by UV photopolymerization; second, hydrophobic and conductive pyrrole monomers were absorbed and fixed on CS molecular templates and then polymerized with FeCl3 in situ inner hydrophilic hydrogel network. This strategy ensured that the hydrophobic PPy nanorods were uniformly distributed and integrated with the hydrophilic polymer phase to form highly interconnected conductive path in the hydrogel, endowing the hydrogel with high conductivity (0.3 S/m). The CHs exhibited remarkable mechanical properties after the chelation of CS by Fe3+ and the formation of composites with the PPy nanorods (fracture energy 12 000 J m–2 and compression modulus 136.3 MPa). The use of a biopolymer molecular template to induce the formation of PPy nanostructures is an efficient strategy to achieve conductive multifunctional hydrogels.
Dual-frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) Real-time Kinematics (RTK) has been proven in the past few years to be a reliable and efficient technique to obtain high accuracy positioning. However, ...there are still challenges for GPS single-frequency RTK, such as low reliability and ambiguity resolution (AR) success rate, especially in kinematic environments. Recently, multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (multi-GNSS) has been applied to enhance the RTK performance in terms of availability and reliability of AR. In order to further enhance the multi-GNSS single-frequency RTK performance in terms of reliability, continuity and accuracy, a low-cost micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU) is adopted in this contribution. We tightly integrate the single-frequency GPS/BeiDou/GLONASS and MEMS-IMU through the extended Kalman filter (EKF), which directly fuses the ambiguity-fixed double-differenced (DD) carrier phase observables and IMU data. A field vehicular test was carried out to evaluate the impacts of the multi-GNSS and IMU on the AR and positioning performance in different system configurations. Test results indicate that the empirical success rate of single-epoch AR for the tightly-coupled single-frequency multi-GNSS RTK/INS integration is over 99% even at an elevation cut-off angle of 40°, and the corresponding position time series is much more stable in comparison with the GPS solution. Besides, GNSS outage simulations show that continuous positioning with certain accuracy is possible due to the INS bridging capability when GNSS positioning is not available.
In order to improve the performance of precise point positioning (PPP), this paper presents a new data processing scheme to shorten the convergence time and the observation time required for a ...reliable ambiguity-fixing. In the new scheme, L1 and L2 raw observations are used and the slant ionospheric delays are treated as unknown parameters. The empirical spatial and temporal constraints and the ionospheric delays derived from a real-time available ionospheric model are all considered as pseudo-observations into the estimation for strengthening the solution. Furthermore, we develop a real-time computational procedure for generating uncalibrated phase delays (UPDs) on L1 and L2 frequencies. The PPP solution is first carried out on all reference stations based on the proposed scheme, undifferenced float ambiguities on L1 and L2 frequencies can be directly obtained from the new scheme. The L1 and L2 UPDs are then generated and broadcasted to users in real-time. This data product and also the performance of the new PPP scheme are evaluated. Our results indicate that the new processing scheme considering ionospheric characteristics can reduce the convergence time by about 30 % for float kinematic solutions. The observation time for a reliable ambiguity-fixing is shortened by 25 % compared to that of the traditional ambiguity-fixed kinematic solution. When the new method is used for static reference stations, the observation time for ambiguity-fixing is about 10 min in static mode and only 5 min if the coordinates are fixed to well-known values.
The integration of Global Positioning System (GPS) real-time kinematics (RTK) and an inertial navigation system (INS) has been widely used in many applications, such as mobile mapping and autonomous ...vehicle control. Such applications require high-accuracy position information. However, continuous and reliable high-accuracy positioning is still challenging for GPS/INS integration in urban environments because of the limited satellite visibility, increasing multipath, and frequent signal blockages. Recently, with the rapid deployment of multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (multi-GNSS) and the great advances in low-cost micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) inertial measurement units (IMUs), it is expected that the positioning performance could be improved significantly. In this contribution, the tightly-coupled single-frequency multi-GNSS RTK/MEMS-IMU integration is developed to provide precise and continuous positioning solutions in urban environments. The innovation-based outlier-resistant ambiguity resolution (AR) and Kalman filtering strategy are proposed specifically for the integrated system to resist the measurement outliers or poor-quality observations. A field vehicular experiment was conducted in Wuhan City to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Results indicate that it is feasible for the proposed algorithm to obtain high-accuracy positioning solutions in the presence of measurement outliers. Moreover, the tightly-coupled single-frequency multi-GNSS RTK/MEMS-IMU integration even outperforms the dual-frequency multi-GNSS RTK in terms of AR and positioning performance for short baselines in urban environments.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumors and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. It was reported that sophocarpine could attenuate the progression ...of CRC in mice. However, the mechanisms by which sophocarpine regulate the proliferation and migration in CRC remain unclear. Thus, this study aimed to investigate anti-tumor mechanisms of sophocarpine in CRC cells. CCK-8 assay, wound healing assay and transwell migration were used to detect cell proliferation and migration, respectively. In addition, Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to further detect protein expressions and cytokines in vitro. The results revealed that sophocarpine significantly inhibited proliferation in HCT116 and SW620 cells, respectively. Meanwhile, sophocarpine inhibited CRC cells migration via downregulation of the levels of N-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9, phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK), p-mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A, VEGF-C and VEGF-D. Moreover, overexpression of MEK reversed the anti-migration effects of sophocarpine on CRC cells via upregulation of VEGF-A/C/D. Our findings indicated that sophocarpine could inhibit CRC cells migration via downregulation of MEK/ERK/VEGF pathway. Thus, sophocarpine may act as a potential agent for the treatment of CRC.
Precise position, velocity, and attitude is essential for self-driving cars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The integration of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) real-time kinematics ...(RTK) and inertial measurement units (IMUs) is able to provide high-accuracy navigation solutions in open-sky conditions, but the accuracy will be degraded severely in GNSS-challenged environments, especially integrated with the low-cost microelectromechanical system (MEMS) IMUs. In order to navigate in GNSS-denied environments, the visual–inertial system has been widely adopted due to its complementary characteristics, but it suffers from error accumulation. In this contribution, we tightly integrate the raw measurements from the single-frequency multi-GNSS RTK, MEMS-IMU, and monocular camera through the extended Kalman filter (EKF) to enhance the navigation performance in terms of accuracy, continuity, and availability. The visual measurement model from the well-known multistate constraint Kalman filter (MSCKF) is combined with the double-differenced GNSS measurement model to update the integration filter. A field vehicular experiment was carried out in GNSS-challenged environments to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Results indicate that both multi-GNSS and vision contribute significantly to the centimeter-level positioning availability in GNSS-challenged environments. Meanwhile, the velocity and attitude accuracy can be greatly improved by using the tightly-coupled multi-GNSS RTK/INS/Vision integration, especially for the yaw angle.
Abstract
High-performance and low-cost photocatalysts play the key role in achieving the large-scale solar hydrogen production. In this work, we report a liquid-exfoliation approach to prepare NiPS
3
...ultrathin nanosheets as a versatile platform to greatly improve the light-induced hydrogen production on various photocatalysts, including TiO
2
, CdS, In
2
ZnS
4
and C
3
N
4
. The superb visible-light-induced hydrogen production rate (13,600 μmol h
−1
g
−1
) is achieved on NiPS
3
/CdS hetero-junction with the highest improvement factor (~1,667%) compared with that of pure CdS. This significantly better performance is attributed to the strongly correlated NiPS
3
/CdS interface assuring efficient electron-hole dissociation/transport, as well as abundant atomic-level edge P/S sites and activated basal S sites on NiPS
3
ultrathin nanosheets advancing hydrogen evolution. These findings are revealed by the state-of-art characterizations and theoretical computations. Our work for the first time demonstrates the great potential of metal phosphorous chalcogenide as a general platform to tremendously raise the performance of different photocatalysts.
This study investigated the mechanism through which fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) protects against angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction.
Male silent information ...regulator 1 (SIRT1) flox/flox and cardiomyocyte-specific inducible SIRT1 knockout mice (SIRT1-iKO) were generated and treated with Ang II (1.1 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks) at the age of 8–12-week-old. FGF21 treatment 2.5 mg/kg/day for 4 weeks by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection was initiated at the same time as the Ang II infusion. For in vitro studies, neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs), H9c2 rat cardiomyocytes and isolated adult mouse cardiomyocytes were treated with Ang II (1 μM) and FGF21 (20 nM) for 24 h with or without SIRT1 silencing.
FGF21 treatment significantly attenuated Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction. SIRT1 knockout abolished the ability of FGF21 to prevent Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and apoptosis, without affecting the beneficial effects of FGF21 in Ang II-induced hypertension, and did not influence the hypertension itself. FGF21 markedly increased the deacetylase activity of SIRT1 and promoted the interaction of SIRT1 with liver kinase B1 (LKB1) and forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1), resulting in decreased acetylation of these SIRT1 target proteins. Consequently, FGF21 promoted the activation of the LKB1 target adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and altered the transcriptional activity of FoxO1 on its downstream target genes catalase (Cat), MnSOD (Sod2), and Bim, resulting in reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and cardiomyocyte apoptosis.
FGF21 improves cardiac function and alleviates Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy in a SIRT1-dependent manner.
•FGF21 could protect the heart from Ang II-induced cardiac hypertrophy.•SIRT1 is essential for FGF21-mediated cardiac protection but does not affect the blood pressure-lowering effect.•FGF21 upregulates SIRT1-related AMPK activation and FoxO1 deacetylation.•Cardiomyocyte SIRT1 does not affect Ang II-induced hypertension.