Innovating in less developed regions: What drives patenting in the lagging regions of Europe and North America

Not all economically disadvantaged—“less developed” or “lagging”—regions are the same. They are, however, often bundled together for the purposes of innovation policy design and implementation. This paper attempts to determine whether such bundling is warranted by conducting a regional level investigation for Canada, the United States, on the one hand, and Europe, on the other, to (a) identify the structural and socioeconomic factors that drive patenting in the less developed regions of North America and Europe, respectively; and (b) explore how these factors differ between the two contexts. The empirical analysis, estimated using a mixed‐model approach, reveals that, while there are similarities between the drivers of innovation in North America's and Europe's lagging regions, a number of important differences between the two continents prevail. The analysis also indicates that the territorial processes of innovation in North America's and Europe's less developed regions are more similar to those of their more developed counterparts than to one another.     

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.     

花生栽野种间杂交异源多倍化早期世代基因表达变化分析

为了进一步认识花生种间杂交异源多倍体进化过程中的基因表达变化规律,采用cDNA-HFO-TAG技术,研究花生种间杂交组合(四倍体栽培种‘仲恺花4号’×二倍体野生种Arachis. diogio)杂种F_1和早期多倍体世代S0~S3的基因表达变化情况。14条HFO-TAG引物共扩增出121条cDNA片段,其中差异片段84个,主要包括三种类型:亲本转录物完全沉默(3个),双亲转录物在后代部分材料中沉默(59个)和新转录物激活(22个),上述变化在F1代即开始发生。筛选其中大小为500~2 000 bp的35个TDFs进行克隆测序,有27个和NCBI数据库中已录入的基因具有较高的相似性,包括抗逆相关基因(10条)、未知功能蛋白基因(8条)、能量与代谢相关基因(7条)和转录因子相关的基因(2条)。这些研究结果进一步表明在花生种间杂交异源多倍化早期发生着快速、剧烈的基因表达变化,从中获得的差异基因片段,有助于了解花生属种间杂交异源多倍化早期分子机制变化,这对有效利用野生花生种质优异基因具有重要意义。cDNA-HFO-TAG技术简单、有效且实用,完全适用于花生属基因表达变化研究,可以作为花生属及其它物种基因表达变化分析技术的有效补充。     

茶树几丁质酶基因的克隆及其在干旱胁迫下的表达分析在干旱胁迫下的表达分析

以铁观音茶树叶片为材料,利用逆转录PCR及RACE法,克隆了茶树几丁质酶基因CsChi(GenBank登录号为KR078345).CsChi基因的cDNA全长为1 192 bp,包含972 bp的开放阅读框(ORF),编码323个氨基酸.生物信息学分析结果表明,CsChi蛋白的分子量为34.33 ku;理论等电点pI为8.44;原子组成为C1519H2285N413O464S18,总原子数为4 699;蛋白质结构分析显示该蛋白有6个蛋白的跨膜区域,属于跨膜蛋白;存在于细胞外;没有卷曲螺旋结构存在;CsChi基因编码的蛋白属于糖苷水解酶19家族,含有保守的ChtBD1结构域,与溶菌酶的保守结构域类似,可能兼具几丁质酶活性和溶菌酶活性,qPCR定量分析结果显示在不同干旱胁迫处理下茶树的CsChi基因的表达量,与对照组相比有所增加.推测CsChi基因在茶树干旱等逆境胁迫中起重要作用.     

乡村振兴人才队伍建设存在的问题与对策研究

党的十九大提出了乡村振兴战略，人才振兴是乡村振兴的关键。目前乡村人才队伍存在总体规模偏少、整体素质偏低、后备力量不足等问题。文章结合这些实际问题，提出相应的对策建议，以期助力乡村振兴人才队伍建设。     

橡胶园酸性、中性土壤交换性钙、镁测定方法研究

为了获得简单、易操作、准确度高的橡胶园酸性、中性土壤交换性钙、镁测定方法,本试验通过响应面优化试验,建立称样量、提取液体积、提取方式与交换性钙测定结果之间的数学模型。结果表明：在25℃条件下,以1 mol/L的乙酸铵为土壤浸提液,称样量为2 g、提取液体积175 mL、振荡36 min,为橡胶园酸性、中性土壤的最佳提取条件。将上述条件下得到的结果与标准方法条件下得到的结果相对比,两结果的相对误差在1.25~3.04之间,均属合理范围。利用标准样品对优化方法进行试验验证,结果与推荐值相符。改进后的方法分析成本低、操作简便、测定结果准确、稳定性好,可用于橡胶园酸性、中性土壤交换性钙、镁的测定。     

The efficiency of nitrogen in cattle manures when applied to a double‐annual forage cropping system

The use of cattle manure (CM) for fertilization presents challenges for optimizing nitrogen (N) use. Our work aimed to assess N efficiencies, in a 6‐year experiment with three biennial rotations of four crops: oat–sorghum (first year) and ryegrass–maize (second year) in a rainfed humid Mediterranean area of Spain. Fertilization treatments included the following: control (no N), 250 kg mineral N ha^?1 year^?1 (250MN), three CM rates (supplying 170, 250 and 500 kg N ha^?1 year^?1) and four treatments where the two lowest CM rates were complemented with either 80 or 160 kg mineral N ha^?1 year^?1. Treatments were distributed randomly in each of three blocks. Maximum dry‐matter yield (~44–49 t ha^?1 rotation^?1) was achieved in the third rotation, and only the control and the 170CM yielded significantly less. Within the limitations of the EU Nitrate Directive, the N steady state supply of 170CM always requires a complement of mineral N (80 kg N ha^?1) to maximize N agronomic efficiency. The maximum N‐fertilizer replacement value (250CM vs. 250MN) was 0·67, without significant differences between the two treatments in other N‐related efficiency indexes, which indicates that plants took advantage of residual‐N effects. Nitrogen losses by leaching in the 250CM treatment were around 5–7% of the N applied. This reinforces the sustainability of manure recycling in long cropping seasons.