This study examines how university-firm (U-F) interactions affect innovation speed in science-intensive small and medium-sized firms (SISMEs). We distinguish between formal and informal U-F ...interactions and build on dynamic capability theory to argue that (1) U-F R&D alliances enhance innovation speed through firm-level entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and (2) frequent U-F informal contacts weaken the effects of U-F R&D alliances on innovation speed. Analyzing a sample of 268 SISMEs from 10 science parks in China, the results of the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) support our hypotheses. Furthermore, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) identifies various configurations of U-F R&D alliances, U-F informal contacts and EO, along with other organizational, science park and environmental conditions, that lead to higher or lower innovation speed in SISMEs. Our findings offer valuable theoretical and practical insights, advancing our understanding of the complex relationship between U-F interactions and innovation speed in SISMEs.
•Both University-Firm (U-F) R&D alliances and informal contacts enhance innovation speed.•Entrepreneurial orientation is an effective mechanism through which U-F R&D alliances accelerate innovation.•Frequent U-F informal contacts diminish the effects of U-F R&D alliances on innovation speed.
A four-year（2008–2011） field study was implemented in a major rice-growing region of China to better understand the effect of urea and controlled release fertilier（CRF, thermoplastic resin-coated ...urea in this study） on CH4 emission from paddy fields. Over the four years, the average CH4 emission during the rice growing seasons was 76.9, 65.8 and 64.9 kg CH4ha-1in treatments CK（zero N）, U（urea） and C（CRF）, respectively. Urea and CRF significantly reduced CH4 emission by 14.4% and 15.6%, and increased average rice grain yield by 25.8% and 19.7%（P 〈 0.05）, respectively, compared with treatment CK. Flooding duration would affect CRF＇s effect on CH4 emission from paddy fields. Under normal aeration conditions, CH4 emission tended to be 3.9%–15.2% lower in treatment C than in treatment U from 2009 to 2011, while it tended to be 4.2% higher under delayed aeration conditions in 2008. The findings suggest that mid-season aeration（MSA） starting on D30（30 days after rice transplanting）, just like the local practice, would optimize the CRF＇s effect on CH4 emission from rice fields in China. Over the four years, average rice yield did not differ between treatments U and C, and tended to be 5% lower in treatment C than in treatment U.
Little is known about the stable carbon isotopes of methane （CH4） emitted （δ13CH4elnitted） from permanently flooded rice fields and double rice-cropping fields. The CH4 emission and corresponding ...（δ13CH4emitted under various field managements （mulching, water regime, tillage, and nitrogen （N） fertilization） were simultaneously measured in three typical Chinese rice fields, a permanently flooded rice field in Ziyang City, Sichuan Province, Southwest China, a double-rice cropping field in Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, Southeast China, and a rice-wheat rotation field in Jurong City, Jiangsu Province, East China, from 2010 to 2012. Results showed different seasonal variations of δ13CH4emitted among the three fields during the rice-growing season. The values of （δ13CH4emitted were negatively correlated with corresponding CH4 emissions in seasonal variation and mean, indicating the importance of CH4 production, oxidation, and transport associated with isotopic fractionation effects to the δ13CH4emitted. Seasonal variations of δ13CH4emltted were slightly impacted by mulching cultivation, tillage, and N application, but highly controlled by drainage. Meanwhile, tillage, N application, and especially mulching cultivation had important effects on seasonal mean CH4 emissions and corresponding δ13CH4emitted with low emissions accompanied by high values of δ13CH4emitted. Seasonal mean values of （δ13CH4emitted from the three fields were similar, mostly ranging from -60‰ to -50‰ which are well in agreement with previously published data. These demonstrated that seasonal variations of （δ13CH4emitted mainly depended on the changes in CH4 emission from rice fields and further indicated the important effects of methanogenic pathways, CH4 oxidation, and CH4 transport associated with isotope fractionation effects influenced by field managements on δ13CH4emitted.
After separation of bacterial colonies on solid plates, purification, and screening through the agar cup-plate method, an antibiotic-resistant bacterial isolate was obtained, and named strain ...L20190601, the 16S rRNA gene sequence data of strain L20190601 to GenBank, NCBI have provided GenBank accession number MW931615. 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that this isolate was highly similar to a number of
Streptomyces
species. Among them, the homology with
S. spectabilis
was the highest, reaching 99.9, together with curved hyphal morphology and biochemical tests, allowed us to identify strain L20190601 as
S. spectabilis
. The red pigment produced by
S. spectabilis
strain L20190601 was structurally identified. An acid–base color reaction assay showed that when this pigment was dissolved in a solution at pH 3.0 and 9.0, the color of the solution was red and yellow, respectively. In addition, the analysis of absorption spectra revealed that at pH 8.0 and 3.0, the maximum absorption peaks were at 466 and 531 nm, respectively. These results are consistent with the spectral absorption characteristics of metacycloprodigiosin reported in the literature. Moreover, the retention time of purified pigments was identical to those of standard metacycloprodigiosin solutions. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the molecular weight of the red compound was 392.2 M + H
+
. Finally, metacycloprodigiosin was found to be effective against eight clinically common pathogens:
Staphylococcus aureus
,
Bacillus subtilis
,
Escherichia coli
,
Streptococcus pyogenes
,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
,
Bacillus typhi
,
Candida albicans
, and
Trichophyton rubrum
. In summary, metacycloprodigiosin exhibited strong antibacterial activity and a broad antibacterial spectrum, and thus is a promising compound for the development of a new type of antibacterial drug.
Objective To understand the willingness of undergraduate nursing students to participate in Time Banking voluntary pension service and analyze the reasons that affect the willingness of undergraduate ...nursing students to participate. Methods Totally 208 students in a certain university of Luoyang were investigated with self-designed questionnaire about willingness of Time Banking voluntary elderly care service. Results Totally 94. 71%(197/208)of the students were willing to participate in the Time Banking voluntary pension service, and they had different understandings on the service provided by the Time Banking service. The results of chi square test showed that age, gender, political status, whether to engage in medical related majors had an impact on the time saving willingness of nursing undergraduates (P＜0. 05). Conclusion Multiple factors influence the willingness of undergraduate nursing students to participate and provide volunteer care in a variety of ways. (目的 了解高校护理本科学生参与“时间银行”志愿养老服务的意愿, 分析影响护理本科学生参与意愿的原因。方法 采用自行设计的“时间银行”志愿养老服务意愿调查问卷, 对洛阳市某本科护理院校208名学生进行问卷调查。结果 94. 71%(197/208)学生愿意参加“时间银行”志愿养老服务, 学生在“时间储蓄”志愿养老提供的服务等内容上有不同理解。卡方检验结果分析显示年龄、性别、政治面貌、是否从事医学相关专业对护理本科学生的“时间银行”志愿养老服务意愿有影响(P＜0. 05)。结论 高校护理本科生愿意参与并提供多方面的志愿照护服务, 多种因素影响学生的志愿服务意愿。)
Research agendas in science are fundamentally important to the generation of new knowledge and innovation. Yet, there remains a lack of scholarly attention and poor understanding on how science teams ...engage with research agendas in ways that influence their development. New insights are needed to better understand the factors that contribute to research agenda development and adaptation. In this paper, we draw on the framing perspective to explore how research agendas are framed in science teams over time. Research agendas can be understood as collective action frames within science teams that mobilize, guide, and coordinate the transformation of innovative but abstract science aspirations into something more concrete. Our research utilises a longitudinal case study analysis of two science teams over seven years (2016–2022). Our findings provide several new insights. First, we detail two ways in which research agendas are framed. Through centralised framing, research agendas are embodied and dictated by a visionary science team leader. In contrast, through decentralised framing, team leadership is weakly enacted and multiple team members discuss and deliberate the composition and direction of the research agenda. Second, we show centralised and decentralised approaches to framing enable and constrain the reframing and transformation of research agendas. Third, we demonstrate centralised and decentralised framing of research agendas are respectively stabilised by passive and active team learning environments across three areas: research agenda responsibility and accountability, nature of autonomy, and leadership development pathways. Finally, we theorise that, to enhance spillover, leaders who centralise framing of the research agenda need to balance between the benefits of reframing efficiency, and enabling greater team interaction and opportunities for S&T human capital development. On the other hand, when framing of research agendas is decentralised, team leaders need to balance between the benefits of team collaboration and leader development, and path dependent decision making. These insights lead to propositions that offer implications for theory and practice.
•Seven-year study of science teams to explore how Research Agendas (RAs) are framed.•In centralised framing, RAs are embodied and dictated by a visionary leader.•In decentralised framing, teams deliberate the composition and direction of RAs.•Framing processes influence RA reframing efficiency and the nature of RA spinoff.•How RAs are framed influences team learning and science team spillover.
Luteolin is an active ingredient found early from Fofium perillae and Flos Ionicerae, and has a specific inhibition on phosphodiesterase 4 （PDE4） activity in vitro. Researches show luteolin has ...pharmacological effects of anti-inflammation, anti-anaphylaxis, antitumor, antioxidant, protection of nervous system and so on, and has mainly been used for the treatment of respiratory inflammatory diseases, cancer and cardiovascular disease in clinic. PDE4, specific to hydrolyze cyclic AMP （cAMP）, is considered to be a new anti-inflammatory target due to the decisive role on cAMP signal in inflammatory cells such as neutrophils. In order to explore the anti-inflammatory mechanism, we further studied the effects of luteolin on the activity and expression of PDE4, the expression of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 （LFA-1） and macrophage-1 （MAC-l） in neutrophils, and the adhesion of neutrophils and endothelial cells. The results showed that luteolin had a dose-dependent inhibition on both bare PDE4 activity and PDE4 in cultured neutrophils, and had an obviously promotive effect on gene expressions of PDE4A, 4B and 4D in later period. Luteolin had a significant inhibitory effect on neutrophils adhesion and LFA-1 expression in early stage, and had no obvious effect on MAC-1 expression. Therefore, luteolin can inhibit LFA-1 expression of neutrophils, then inhibit the adhesion of neutrophils and endothelial cells, and the mechanism is at least related with the inhibition of PDE4 activity.
Elevated CO2 (eCO2) and rice cultivars can strongly alter CH4 and N2O emissions from paddy fields. However, detailed information on how their interaction affects greenhouse gas fluxes in the field is ...still lacking. In this study, we investigated CH4 and N2O emissions and rice growth under two contrasting rice cultivars (the strongly and weakly responsive cultivars) in response to eCO2, 200 μmol mol-1 higher than the ambient CO2 (aCO2), in Chinese subtropical rice systems relying on a multi-year in-situ free-air CO2 enrichment platform from 2016 to 2018. The results showed that compared to aCO2, eCO2 increased rice yield by 7%–31%, while it decreased seasonal cumulative CH4 and N2O emissions by 11%–59% and 33%–70%, respectively, regardless of rice cultivar. The decrease in CH4 emissions under eCO2 was possibly ascribed to the lower CH4 production potential (MPP) and the higher CH4 oxidation potential (MOP) correlated with the higher soil redox potential (Eh) and O2 concentration (O2) in the surface soil. The mitigating effect of eCO2 on N2O emissions was likely associated with the reduction of soil soluble N content. The strongly responsive cultivars had lower CH4 and N2O emissions than the weakly responsive cultivars, and the main reason might be that the former induced higher soil Eh and O2 in the surface soil and had larger plant biomass and greater N uptake. The findings indicated that breeding strongly responsive cultivars with the potential for greater rice production and lower greenhouse gas emissions is an effective agricultural practice to ensure food security and environmental sustainability under future climate change scenarios.
Substantial evidence has indicated that osteoblastic differentiation may be regulated by mechanical loads or bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). BMP-2-induced in vivo osteogenesis can be ...significantly enhanced in the presence of mechanical stimuli, revealing the therapeutic potential of the combined application of BMP-2 and mechanical loads in clinical bone diseases (e.g., bone fractures and osteoporosis); however, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we found that cyclic stretch or BMP-2 alone increased the expression of osteoblastic differentiation markers, including alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), as shown by RT-qPCR, western blot analysis and ALP activity test. Furthermore, our results revealed that cyclic mechanical stretch with 10% elongation at 0.1 Hz significantly enhanced the BMP-2-induced upregulation of ALP and Runx2 expression in osteoblast-like MC3T3-E1 cells. Cyclic stretch also inhibited the BMP-2-induced upregulation of Hes-related family bHLH transcription factor with YRPW motif 1 (Hey1, measured by RT-qPCR and immunofluorescence staining), a potent negative regulator of osteogenesis. Moreover, the transient transfection of a Hey1 expression plasmid (pcDNA3.1-Hey1) significantly reversed the effects of cyclic stretch on the BMP-2-induced upregulation of differentiation markers in the MC3T3-E1 cells. This revealed the importance of Hey1 in modulating BMP-2-induced osteoblastic differentiation in response to cyclic stretch. Taken together, our results demonstrated that cyclic stretch enhanced the BMP-2‑induced osteoblastic differentiation through the inhibition of Hey1. The present study broadens our fundamental knowledge of osteoblastic mechanotransduction and also sheds new insight into the mechanisms through which the combined application of BMP-2 and mechanical load promotes osteogenesis.
Our previous studies showed that the anti-inflammatory effects of Paeonia lactiflora roots extract may be mediated, at least in part, through its gallic acid content, and this effect may be regulated ...in part by an inhibition on cAMP-phosphodiesterase (PDE). To explore the anti-inflammatory effect and mechanism, the influence of gallic acid on neutrophils PDE4 activity and expression, TNF-α and IL-6 content and rat arthritis model were further studied. PDE4 activity and gene express were calculated respectively by substrate cAMP change examined with HPLC and real-time RT-PCR. The concentration of IL-6 and TNF-α in supernatant were assayed by ELISA method. Model of rat arthritis was caused by complete Freund’s adjuvant. Results showed that gallic acid had a dose-dependent restraint on PDE4 activity of neutrophils in vitro, promoted significantly PDE4A expression (P<0.01), and had no influence on the expressions of PDE4B and 4D. However, PDE4C expression was not detected. Gallic acid could promote IL-6 release (P<0.05), and inhibit TNF-α release of neutrophils (P<0.05). The experiment in vivo showed that gallic acid had obvious restraint on local inflammation of animal model (P<0.05). Therefore, the anti-inflammatory effect of gallic acid may be mediated in part through an inhibition on PDE4 activity and further an increase of IL-6 and a decrease of TNF-α of neutrophils, and this effect seemed to have no relationship with PDE4 expression.
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