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This paper investigates the impact of marketing innovation on firms' participation in global value chains (GVCs) marketing activities. We test the moderating effect of international experience and technological turbulence on the relationship between firms' participation in GVCs marketing activities and firm performance, using data from 503 Chinese firms. The results highlight that firms' GVC marketing activity participation relies on marketing innovation to improve performance. Moreover, international experience strengthens the positive relationship between participation in GVCs marketing activities and firm performance. Surprisingly, the positive moderating effect is different under different levels of technological turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant diseases caused by pathogenic fungi seriously affect the yield and quality of crops, cause huge economic losses, and pose a considerable threat to global food security. Phenylpyrrole analogues were designed and synthesized based on alkaloid lycogalic acid. All target compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. Their antifungal activities against seven kinds of phytopathogenic fungi were evaluated. The results revealed that most compounds had broadspectrum fungicidal activities at 50 µg/mL; 14 compounds displayed more than 60% fungicidal activities against Rhizoctonia cerealis and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and in particular, the fungicidal activities of compounds 8g and 8h against Rhizoctonia cerealis were more than 90%, which could be further developed as lead agents for water-soluble fungicides. The molecular docking results indicate that compounds 8g and 8h can interact with 14α-demethylase (RcCYP51) through hydrogen bonding with strong affinity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new method to solve nonlinear semidefinite complementarity problem by combining a continuous method and a trust-region-type method. At every iteration, we need to calculate a second-order cone subproblem. We show the well-definedness of the method. The global convergent result is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a serious, life-threatening inflammation of the lungs that still lacks effective treatment. We previously showed that serine protease inhibitor B1 (SerpinB1) protects against ALI induced by orthotopic autologous liver transplantation. However, the role of SerpinB1 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI and its regulatory mechanisms are not known. Experimental Approach: Wild-type (WT) and SerpinB1 knockout (KO) mice were treated with intratracheal LPS stimulation to induce ALI. Some of the WT and KO mice were injected i.p. with melatonin, a rhythm-related protein Rev-erbα agonist. The circadian rhythm in WT mice was disrupted by exposing mice to 24 h of continuous dark or light conditions after intratracheal LPS. Neutrophils were isolated from alveolar lavage fluid of WT and KO mice, and from human peripheral blood. Neutrophils were treated with LPS and melatonin. Key Results: Disruption of circadian rhythm by either 24-h dark or light conditions exacerbated LPS-induced ALI and decreased expression of Rev-erbα and SerpinB1 protein in lung, whereas melatonin treatment increased SerpinB1 expression and attenuated LPS-induced ALI in WT mice, but not in KO mice. In isolated neutrophils, Rev-erbα was co-localized with SerpinB1 and bound to its promoter to trigger SerpinB1 transcription. Furthermore, LPS stimulation increased formation of neutrophil extracellular traps, which was reversed by melatonin treatment in neutrophils from WT mice, but not from KO mice. Conclusion and Implications: In mice, SerpinB1 is rhythmically regulated by Reverbα, and its down-regulation exacerbates LPS-induced ALI by inducing formation of neutrophil extracellular traps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment of displaced calcaneal fractures is controversial.Open reduction and internal fixation are widely described as the gold standard in the literature,but these technique shave many complications,including skin necrosis,internal fixation leakage and deep infection and wound healing problems.Percutaneous reduction and unilateral external fixation have received increasing attention because they can provide a good, stable reduction and reduce the soft tissue complications caused by open surgery(such as deep infection and delayed wound healing).The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the reduction imaging and clinical results of calcaneus traction compressionwith orthopaedic compression reduction forceps combined with percutaneous minimally invasive external fixation for intra-articular calcaneal fractures. This was a retrospective analysis. A total of 35 patients with unilateral calcaneal fractures were divided into two groups: 1) the open reduction, internal fixation group (19 feet)and 2) the percutaneous minimally invasive, closed reduction external fixation group (16 feet).Evaluation of the reduction include dimaging measurements of the calcaneus length,width,and height,and the Bohler angle and Gissane angle before and after surgery.Clinical outcomes included the time of surgery,length of hospital stay,operation time,wound-related complications,the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society hindfoot score,the visual analogue score for pain, and the SF-36 score. The average follow-up time was 25.52 ± 1.68 months.There was no significant difference in reduction between the open group and the closed group (P > 0.05).The operation time of the open group was significantly longer than that of the closed group(P = 0.0001).The length of hospitalization and waiting time for surgery in the open reduction group were significantly longer than those in the closed reduction group (P < 0.05).Incidence-related complications in the open group and closed group were 21.1 %(4/19) and 6.3 %(1/16),respectively (P = 0.0001).The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) hindfoot scores in the open and closed groups were 81.35 ± 5.25 and 82.52 ± 4.78, respectively (P = 0.0875). The visual analogues cale (VAS) scores of the open group and the closed group were 1.81 ± 1.32 and 0.78 ± 0.91, respectively (P = 0.0412).The SF-36 scores were 80 ± 4.5 and 79 ± 4.2, respectively. Our research shows that for various types of intra-articular calcaneal fractures compared with open reduction,internal plate fixation,calcaneus traction compression with orthopaedic reduction forceps combined with percutaneous minimally invasive external fixation is a simple and effective method for treating calcaneal fractures; not only can the calcaneus be corrected, but it can also provide notable imaging and clinical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the four types of resource allocation (randomly oriented, relationship-oriented, cooperation oriented, and knowledge-embedded) as its premise and investigates the complex characteristics of knowledge flow network evolution in strategic alliances, taking into account the mutual variance effects of the evolution mechanism. Existing research has neglected the differences in resource allocation types, by and large employed statistical analysis methods, and identified only the linear relationships among experimental variances of cross-sectional data. The present study differs from existing research in the following ways: First, we thoroughly consider the multi-faceted nature of resource allocation. Second, we use the method of multi-agent imitation according to perspective of dynamic system evolution and the principle of phase theory, allowing the explicitly analysis of nonlinear functional logic, forms and patterns in the variance. Finally, we analyze the appropriateness of different resource allocation models. Our paper features several significant findings: (1) The evolution of the knowledge flow network of a strategic alliance can produce a bifurcation phenomenon composed of saddle-node bifurcation and transcritical bifurcation. (2) The number of nodes exhibits a logarithmic growth distribution, the connection intensity and the network gain exhibit exponential growth distributions, and the connectivity and knowledge flow frequency are mutually influential in the form of a power function. (3) Knowledge-embedded resource allocation is most effective for improving the knowledge flow rate of networks and can further supply ample impetus for evolution. (4) Cooperation-oriented resource allocation is most beneficial for quickly propelling the network into the evolution realm. (5) Relationship-oriented resource allocation can aid the network in capturing more profit. Furthermore, this research is beneficial for understanding the key problems of each resource allocation model and the evolution of strategic alliance in knowledge flow networks. Our proposed methods and framework can be more widely applied to the fields of complex networks, knowledge management, and strategic innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]