State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are important components of the Chinese economy. Although SOEs are generally considered inefficient in operations, China’s economy, which relies heavily on SOEs, has ...been highly successful over the last four decades. This indicates the importance of SOEs in China’s past and future economic success. Therefore, in this study, we review the literature on economic theories and 40 years of practice of Chinese SOEs and discuss implications for future research. Our review consists of four parts: the theories of SOEs and their reform, the performance and financing strategies of SOEs, corporate governance in SOEs, and corporate social responsibility in SOEs.
Hydrogel-based devices are widely used as flexible electronics, biosensors, soft robots, and intelligent human-machine interfaces. In these applications, high stretchability, low hysteresis, and ...anti-fatigue fracture are essential but can be rarely met in the same hydrogels simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate a hydrogel design using tandem-repeat proteins as the cross-linkers and random coiled polymers as the percolating network. Such a design allows the polyprotein cross-linkers only to experience considerable forces at the fracture zone and unfold to prevent crack propagation. Thus, we are able to decouple the hysteresis-toughness correlation and create hydrogels of high stretchability (~1100%), low hysteresis (< 5%), and high fracture toughness (~900 J m
). Moreover, the hydrogels show a high fatigue threshold of ~126 J m
and can undergo 5000 load-unload cycles up to 500% strain without noticeable mechanical changes. Our study provides a general route to decouple network elasticity and local mechanical response in synthetic hydrogels.
Regulating stem cell functions by precisely controlling the nanoscale presentation of bioactive ligands has a substantial impact on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine but remains a major ...challenge. Here it is shown that bioactive ligands can become mechanically “invisible” by increasing their tether lengths to the substrate beyond a critical length, providing a way to regulate mechanotransduction without changing the biochemical conditions. Building on this finding, light switchable tethers are rationally designed, whose lengths can be modulated reversibly by switching a light‐responsive protein, pdDronpa, in between monomer and dimer states. This allows the regulation of the adhesion, spreading, and differentiation of stem cells by light on substrates of well‐defined biochemical and physical properties. Spatiotemporal regulation of differential cell fates on the same substrate is further demonstrated, which may represent an important step toward constructing complex organoids or mini tissues by spatially defining the mechanical cues of the cellular microenvironment with light.
A strategy is developed to regulate the behaviors and functions of stem cells by switching the states of light‐switchable tethers. This method offers the chance to study mechanotransduction via cellular tethers and realize spatiotemporal regulation of differential cell fates.
Data Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing Sun, Yunchuan; Zhang, Junsheng; Xiong, Yongping ...
International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks,
01/2014, Volume:
10, Issue:
7
Book Review, Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Data security has consistently been a major issue in information technology. In the cloud
computing environment, it becomes particularly serious because the data is located in
different places even ...in all the globe. Data security and privacy protection are the two
main factors of user's concerns about the cloud technology. Though many techniques on the
topics in cloud computing have been investigated in both academics and industries, data
security and privacy protection are becoming more important for the future development of
cloud computing technology in government, industry, and business. Data security and
privacy protection issues are relevant to both hardware and software in the cloud
architecture. This study is to review different security techniques and challenges from
both software and hardware aspects for protecting data in the cloud and aims at enhancing
the data security and privacy protection for the trustworthy cloud environment. In this
paper, we make a comparative research analysis of the existing research work regarding the
data security and privacy protection techniques used in the cloud computing.
The performance and phase-separated microstructures of epoxy asphalt binders greatly depend on the concentration of epoxy resin or bitumen. In this paper, the effect of the epoxy resin (ER) ...concentration (10–90%) on the viscosity, thermo-mechanical properties, and phase-separated morphology of warm-mix epoxy asphalt binders (WEABs) was investigated using the Brookfield rotational viscometer, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Due to the high reactivity of epoxy resin, the viscosity of WEABs increases with time. Furthermore, the initial viscosity of WEABs decreases with the ER concentration. Depending on the ER concentration, the viscosity–time behavior of WEABs is divided into three stages: slow (10–40%), fast (50–80%), and extremely slow (90%). In the slow stage, the viscosity slightly increases with the ER concentration, while the fast stage shows an opposite trend. DSC and DMA results reveal that WEABs with 10–80% ER exhibit two glass transition temperatures (Tgs) for cured epoxy resin and bitumen. Moreover, the Tgs of epoxy resin and bitumen increase with the ER concentration. However, WEAB with 90 % ER has only one Tg. LSCM observation shows that phase separation occurs in all WEABs. For WEABs containing 10–40% ER, spherical epoxy particles act as the discontinuous phase and disperse in the continuous bitumen phase. However, in WEABs with 50–90% ER, phase inversion takes place. Contrarily, bitumen particles disperse in the continuous epoxy phase. The damping properties of WEABs with the continuous epoxy phases increase with the ER concentration, while the crosslinking density shows an opposite trend. The occurrence of phase inversion results in a sharp increase in the tensile strength of WEABs. For WEABs with the continuous epoxy phases, the elongation at break increases with the ER concentration. The toughness first increases and then decreases with the ER concentration. A maximum toughness value shows at 70% ER.
Tumor immunotherapy, particularly the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, has yielded impressive clinical benefits. Therefore, it is critical to accurately screen individuals for immunotherapy ...sensitivity and forecast its efficacy. With the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical field in recent years, an increasing number of studies have indicated that the efficacy of immunotherapy can be better anticipated with the help of AI technology to reach precision medicine. This article focuses on the current prediction models based on information from histopathological slides, imaging-omics, genomics, and proteomics, and reviews their research progress and applications. Furthermore, we also discuss the existing challenges encountered by AI in the field of immunotherapy, as well as the future directions that need to be improved, to provide a point of reference for the early implementation of AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment systems in the future.
An in-fiber Michelson interferometer (MI)-based inclinometer, which consists of misalignment-spliced fiber with end coating, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The incident light divided at ...the misalignment-spliced joint is reflected at the end coating, and then re-coupled into the fiber core. Due to the phase difference between the core mode and the Formula: see text cladding mode, a typical MI is formed. The fiber near the misalignment-spliced joint is inserted in two capillary quartz tubes. The tilt of the capillary quartz tube leads to a significant deformation and curvature of the misalignment-spliced joint, which causes the wavelength and intensity of the MI spectrum to change. The experimental results indicate a good response within the angle range of 0°-50°. Both the wavelength modulation and intensity modulation are realized, with sensitivities of 0.55 nm/deg and 0.17 dB/deg, respectively. Moreover, the sensor shows a strong orientation dependence due to the asymmetric structure in the misalignment-spliced joint.
The forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors (TFs) family are frequently mutated, deleted, or amplified in various human cancers, making them attractive candidates for therapy. However, their ...roles in pan-cancer remain unclear. Here, we evaluated the expression, prognostic value, mutation, methylation, and clinical features of four FOXO family genes (FOXO1, FOXO3, FOXO4, and FOXO6) in 33 types of cancers based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. We used a single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) algorithm to establish a novel index called "FOXOs score". Moreover, we investigated the association between the FOXOs score and tumor microenvironment (TME), the responses to multiple treatments, along with drug resistance. We found that the FOXO family genes participated in tumor progression and were related to the prognosis in various types of cancer. We calculated the FOXOs score and found that it was significantly correlated with multiple malignant pathways in pan-cancer, including Wnt/beta-catenin signaling, TGF-beta signaling, and hedgehog signaling. In addition, the FOXOs score was also associated with multiple immune-related characteristics. Furthermore, the FOXOs score was sensitive for predicting the efficacy of diverse treatments in multiple cancers, especially immunotherapy. In conclusion, FOXO family genes were vital in pan-cancer and were strongly correlated with the TME. A high FOXOs score indicated an excellent immune-activated TME and sensitivity to multiple treatments. Hence, the FOXOs score might potentially be used as a biomarker in patients with a tumor.
With the increasing demand for high-specific-strength materials for high-temperature applications, particularly in the aerospace field, novel (TiVCrZr)100−xWx (x = 5, 10, 15 and 20) refractory ...high-entropy alloys (RHEAs) were developed. The phase formation, microstructure, and mechanical properties were studied. The (TiVCrZr)100−xWx RHEAs exhibit a relatively high specific strength and low density compared with the W-containing RHEAs and most of the W-free RHEAs. In (TiVCrZr)100−xWx RHEAs, Laves, BCC and Ti-rich phases are formed, where the Laves phase is the major phase, and the volume fraction of the BCC phase increases with increasing W content. (TiVCrZr)100−xWx RHEAs exhibit dendrite structures, where W is enriched in the dendrite region, and increasing W-rich precipitations corresponding to the BCC phase are observed. The improvement of the strength and hardness of RHEAs is mainly attributed to the evolution of the microstructure and corresponding strengthening effect of W. The empirical parameters and calculated phase diagram were investigated, which further explain and verify the formation and variation of phases. The present findings give more insights into the formation of multi phases in (TiVCrZr)100−xWx RHEAs, and explore their application potential in the aerospace industry and nuclear reactors due to their high specific strength and low-activation constituent elements.
In marine adhesives, cation-π interactions play an important role in their liquid-liquid phase separation process and underlying their strong interfacial bonding. However, it remains challenging to ...study the strength of cation-π interactions at the single-molecule level. Here, we engineer a recombinant chimeric polyprotein containing the mussel foot proteins-5 (MFP5) and a finger print domain GB1 to unambiguiously quantify the strength of cation-π interactions using atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single-molecule force spectroscopy. Our results show that the formation of intermolecular cation-π interactions can be triggered at elevated salt concentrations, consistent with previous ensemble studies. Individual cation-π interaction ruptures at about 70 pN at a pulling speed of 1.6 μm s−1, comparable to the strength of other non-covalent interactions. The strength of cation-π interactions is weakly dependent on pH, which is in stark contrast with the hydrogen bonding and charge-charge interactions. Moreover, we find that the position of the cation-π bonds are formed randomly along the polyprotein chains. The propensity of forming long range cation-π interactions increases considerably when increasing the pH from 4 to 8, presumably due to the neutralization of the positive changes of MFP5. Our study directly quantifies the mechanical strength of cation-π bonds in the biological relavent settings and reveals key design parameters that may inspire the design of biomimetic strong underwater adhesives.
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