The impact of external knowledge sourcing on innovation outcomes in rural and urban businesses in the U.S.

This paper examines the relationship between external knowledge sourcing and a diverse set of innovation outcomes in rural and urban establishments in the U.S. Existing studies in the broader knowledge management literature principally examine firms in a single industry, overwhelmingly rely on patent data to proxy for innovation, and cannot account for the innovations of businesses in rural American markets. By addressing these limitations using data from the 2014 Rural Establishment Innovation Survey of the USDA's Economic Research Service, this research provides novel insights into how externally acquired knowledge by American establishments may support innovation. Results of the analysis suggest that external knowledge sourcing may specifically promote product, process, and green innovation in U.S. firms. While collective results when external sources of information are divided by industry orientation fail to show that sources outside of a firm's industry play a dominant role in the innovation processes of American establishments in general, findings provide evidence for an outsized impact of these relationships within rural establishments specifically and suggest that external knowledge sourcing from extra‐industry organizations is most critical for promoting successful innovation in rural firms. Results additionally indicate that knowledge sourcing from non‐local organizations may be more important for supporting innovation in rural compared to urban markets.     

Backshoring and nearshoring: An overview

Increasingly, economies that have traditionally benefited from offshoring are losing some of their strategical advantages, with a consequent increase in backshoring by developed economies. This paper describes the phenomenon and tries to shed light on the current challenges, trends, and debates in the area, and on the main determinants of backshoring. A new phenomenon known as nearshoring is also analysed—this consists of relocating some previously offshored manufacturing activities so that they are now close to previous core locations, but not so close as to suffer from disagglomeration effects. This combines the advantages of offshoring and backshoring.     

Spatial–temporal evolution of the port–hinterland relationship: A case study of the Midstream Yangtze River,China

Most scientific attention on port studies centers on deep sea ports, especially container ports. In this paper, in contrast, attention is focused on the spatial–temporal development of inland waterway ports on the Midstream Yangtze River from 2001 to 2013. The aim of this study is to assess two relevant and complementary questions of the hinterland evolution: its geographical extent and the coordination relationship with the inland port. To conduct the study, it was necessary to first identify the boundaries of the ports' hinterlands within the given timeframe. Then, the coupling coordination degree model was introduced to explore the underlying relationship between the port service and hinterland economy. Furthermore, to better depict the intricate economic characteristics of the hinterland, the development stage theory was applied in the models. The results highlight the emergence of a discontinuous hinterland at Wuhan Port and its reinforcement of primacy with respect to fierce hinterland rivalry. It also demonstrates that an interplay between major ports and their corresponding hinterlands evolves from the transitional stage, characterized by lagging port service, to the multi‐stage, wherein the supply of ports partly outstrips hinterland demand.     

The role of ear environment in postharvest susceptibility of maize to toxigenic Aspergillus flavus

A kernel screening assay (KSA) was used to assess the genetic and environmental effects on the vulnerability of maize to aflatoxin accumulation. Kernels of 26 inbred lines that had been grown in seven environments, and 190 lines of the Intermated B73xMo17 (IBM) population grown in one location in the United States, were inoculated with a toxigenic strain of A. flavus and incubated in the dark at 30°C for 6 days. Percent kernel colonization (PKC), sporulation and aflatoxin were influenced by the maize genotypes (G), the location (“ear environment” or E) and the GxE interactions. Overall, low broad‐sense heritabilities were observed for PKC, sporulation and aflatoxin. PKC was significantly correlated with sporulation in all environments. Aflatoxin was positively correlated with colonization for two and with sporulation for all ear environments. Higher grain sulphur or magnesium in IBM was associated with less colonization or aflatoxin. Postharvest susceptibility of maize to aflatoxin is thus influenced by factors that are modulated by the ear environment. In a KSA, sporulation could be a proxy test for aflatoxin accumulation.     

Development of colchicine‐induced tetraploid St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) lines

St. Augustinegrass is well suited for lawns and commercial landscapes. While many genotypes are cross‐fertile, all cultivars are propagated vegetatively in sod production. To ensure varietal purity, development of sterile triploid hybrids by crossing tetraploid and diploid genotypes has been successfully used in other warm‐season turfgrasses. Applying this model in St. Augustinegrass would be beneficial to sod producers and turf managers who require purity for certification and uniformity for performance, respectively. This study was conducted to develop colchicine‐induced tetraploid lines of St. Augustinegrass. Seeds of cultivar ‘Raleigh’ were treated with four colchicine concentrations at four exposure times. A non‐treated control was included among the treatments. Seedlings that germinated were screened for genome size changes using flow cytometry. Line DSA 13005 and two progeny lines derived through selfing, DSA 16001 and DSA 16016, were corroborated as tetraploids (2n = 4x = 36) through chromosome counts. These lines will be used in future breeding efforts to attempt development of sterile triploid cultivars of St. Augustinegrass.     

工业级棉短绒清理回收工艺的改进

为降低棉短绒中的杂质含量，提高棉短绒的质量及收率，对棉短绒清理回收的生产工艺进行了改进，创新连续化多级除杂装备和短绒精细化分离工艺。棉籽清理除杂工艺中，增加了圆筛、棒条机，并且调整了风力清籽机组配置；短绒分离工艺中，增加了五联筛和新型棒条机。改进后的工艺能够提升对毛棉籽的除杂效果，彻底清理剥绒得到的棉短绒中的碎棉仁、棉壳及棉秆等杂质。此外，该工艺还能回收棉短绒下脚料，满足大型生产线的生产要求。     

EPS364, a Novel Deep-Sea Bacterial Exopolysaccharide,Inhibits Liver Cancer Cell Growth and Adhesion

The prognosis of liver cancer was inferior among tumors. New medicine treatments are urgently needed. In this study, a novel exopolysaccharide EPS364 was purified from Vibrio alginolyticus 364, which was isolated from a deep-sea cold seep of the South China Sea. Further research showed that EPS364 consisted of mannose, glucosamine, gluconic acid, galactosamine and arabinose with a molar ratio of 5:9:3.4:0.5:0.8. The relative molecular weight of EPS364 was 14.8 kDa. Our results further revealed that EPS364 was a β-linked and phosphorylated polysaccharide. Notably, EPS364 exhibited a significant antitumor activity, with inducing apoptosis, dissipation of the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in Huh7.5 liver cancer cells. Proteomic and quantitative real-time PCR analyses indicated that EPS364 inhibited cancer cell growth and adhesion via targeting the FGF19-FGFR4 signaling pathway. These findings suggest that EPS364 is a promising antitumor agent for pharmacotherapy.     

紫花槭秋季叶色表达转录组初步分析

为了丰富紫花槭转录组数据,进一步开展紫花槭秋季叶片呈色机制研究.本研究以紫花槭秋季转色期三个阶段(前期,中期,后期)叶片为材料,采用高通量测序技术进行转录组初步分析.转录组数据共获得50501条Unigene,有35316条Unigene在数据库中得到注释,其中NR数据库中注释到的Unigene数量最多,共35024条,占69.4％.在注释到的物种中,紫花槭比对的Unigene与甜橙(Citrus sinensis)相似度最高,共有4290条,占12.25％.紫花槭转录组中的Unigene根据GO功能可分为生物学过程、细胞组分和分子功能3大类,共有25375条,其中生物学过程的基因最多,主要聚集于代谢过程和细胞过程等.基于Unigene库的基因结构分析,其中SSR分析共获得12711个SSR标记,占Unigene总数的36％.SSR位点共包含150种重复基元,单碱基重复所占比例最高(7184个,61.86％),四碱基重复、五碱基重复和六碱基重复所占比例较低.Unigene库中共有328239个SNP位点,发生频率为1/190 bp,SNP位点分为转换和颠换两种类型的碱基替换方式,其中碱基转换位点213787个(65.13％),碱基颠换位点114452个(34.87％),碱基转换类型发生频率高于颠换类型.6种单碱基变异中,2种转换类型A/G、C/T的发生频率分别为33.03％和32.10％;4种颠换类型中A/T发生频率最高,为11.52％;C/G发生频率最低,为5.79％.紫花槭转录组秋季叶色表达的转录组分析,可为紫花槭叶色基因调控、定向分子育种和培育彩叶新品种提供研究提供基础的数据信息.     

Proteomic profiles during adventitious rooting of Eucalyptus species relevant to the cellulose industry

New Forests - Adventitious rooting (AR) is an obligatory step for vegetative propagation of commercial woody species. Paper industries have interest in Eucalyptus globulus Labill and its hybrids...